Darwin and Surrounds

We had a leisurely exploration of the Darwin area as we travelled there quickly from Kununurra due to needed car investigations and then friends we were to meet there were delayed coming from Brisbane (Covid restrictions). Darwin had just finished its first lockdown when we arrived and everyone was wearing masks and adhering to remaining restrictions. Fortunately they finished a few days later. 

The city centre was pleasant and compact with extensive recent development along the south waterfront comprising a convention centre, myriad apartments and restaurants and attractions including a wave pool. To the north, Cullen Bay is an upmarket marina development with residential towers, dining establishments and a beach setting. There is also a small precinct of preserved 1950’s houses showing the architectural style of that time. These areas bookend Darwin’s largely low rise downtown. There is a mall main shopping street which culminates in the civic precinct of the Court House, Parliament and Government House. Mitchell Street, parallel to the mall is the nightlife centre with lots of eateries, bars and backpacker establishments. It was lively and provided an array of eating options. 

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There are lots of great outdoor recreation areas around Darwin. Beautiful swimming holes were available at Berry Springs where natural springs had been made into idyllic swimming spots with safe access with ladders down to the water and pedestrian platforms for a series of swimming holes. The adjacent Territory Wildlife Park provided an excellent overview of the local wildlife and the ‘shows’ were great. The wallaby muster provided a roll-up of several wallabies coming to feeding posts where people could see up them close up and pat the different species, mainly agile wallabies – great for littlees. The bird show was outstanding showing the prowess of silent flight for the barn owl, red collared lorikeets in noisy action, an enormous wedge-tailed eagle, a red buzzard (who cracked an emu egg with a rock), a brahminy kite, an emu (who did the most beautiful sit for the crowd), and a black-necked stork who really wasn’t supposed to be in the show. He was from another enclosure but liked the reward based system on offer at the bird show. 

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 We went to the freshwater rays show after that which was very impressive. It doesn’t sound like a crowd draw but we’d heard some guys talking about it in the aviary beforehand – ‘we have to see the barramundi show’ they said. Anyway, the performance started first with the barramundi – bait was put on the surface and the barramundi snapped at it making a loud noise and a percussive force that would have stunned their prey. There was noise and a lot of action. Barramundi fishing is a very popular pursuit in the Territory. People can apparently only catch barramundi between 55cm and 90cm in length. They have to be put back if they are different in size to that. They are also all born male and only become female when they go into the sea when they get to a certain size. Then the archer fish did amazing target shooting with prawns to about a metre above the water. It was phenomenal. Apparently they have to hone their skills from a young age to be proficient. Then the freshwater rays which were over a metre across had their turn. This involved almost landing on the sandy beach to get their food and was very impressive. These whip rays occur at Geikie Gorge and are the only freshwater rays in the world. Our visit was a bit marred after that by seeing a family of feral pigs at the magpie goose pond and our car not starting (our car issue needing attention – we had a workaround). The Territory Wildlife Park was an outstanding tourist offering. 

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Howard Springs (also known for its Covid quarantine facilities) has a large waterpark and attractive parkland. Swimming wasn’t available due to a crocodile sighting. Holmes Conservation Park and Charles Darwin National Park also provide recreation opportunities. 

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Sea water bathing was available in large pools at East Point. The coastline to the north of Darwin offers beautiful beaches, with some flagged swimming areas and lots of foreshore areas for picnicking and recreation. There is also an extensive bikeway system along the foreshore from the city to the northern beaches and elsewhere.

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Evidence of Darwin’s military past is visible at East Point with its large gun emplacements from WW2. Charles Darwin National Park, (which has extensive mountain biking trails) also had several preserved explosives stores in the park  area. Being situated in close proximity to Darwin and the port, waterfront lands were of strategic significance. Regarding contemporary military significance, we also heard loud flights each night whilst at Litchfield which we conjectured were military surveillance planes from Tindall aircraft base near Darwin heading north. 

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Further afield, the Mary River area about an hour east of Darwin is a very worthwhile area to visit. It was initially the site for experimental rice farming testing crops and varieties. This project was unsuccessful with local birdlife benefitting from the trials of rice growing rather than crop production.  Mangoes seem to be the most common crop currently. Fogg Dam was an element of the project and now this water infrastructure protects a significant area of key waterbird habitat. It also has one of the world’s densest biota’s for weight of life (equivalent to Serengeti) apparently for the water pythons and dusky rats. Apparently at night in the warmer months, it’s a busy place. Fogg Dam has some excellent walks including extensive boardwalks showing off the different vegetation of the area from paperbark forest, to mangroves and monsoon rainforest. There are many opportunities to observe birdlife with hides and viewing platforms. 

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We took a couple of boat tours on the Mary River. One was the ‘spectacular jumping crocodile cruise’. It was amusing. The crocodiles are aware of the regular boat turning up and offering them relatively small bits of meat if they put in a bit of effort and jump out of the water to get the meat. There was one crocodile that had had three of its four limbs bitten off by other crocodiles who was keen to participate. The operators know all the crocodiles. There is the staggering density of one crocodile per fifty metres along this waterway. We also took a nature cruise that showed us a bit of the richness of other life in the wetlands. We saw myriad birds including Black necked storks, an azure kingfisher and white breasted fishing eagles as well as many crocodiles.   

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An hour south west of Darwin, Litchfield National Park is an elevated plateau, very popular with the locals. There are beautiful waterholes and swimming spots that were crowded with weekend visitors when we visited. Vehicles were lining up at the campsite entrance to the National Park campsite in the morning to take vacated sites. It wasn’t relaxing. It also has the famous magnetic termite mounds. These were a bit smaller than I’d imagined and we visited at the wrong time of day for the shadows to really show up the extraordinary symmetry. The termite mounds are also kept well-separated from the visitors. 

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Overall Darwin was a much more impressive city than I expected and felt like Singapore in many respects. However, the heat in July, presumably at its most benign is really full-on. I cannot imagine the conditions for the hot months. The sun and heat is intense. People would really, really appreciate all those nice recreation facilities, waterholes and swim spots, protected from crocodiles.  The roads were good too. I think they might have a good draw on the national treasury per capita but they probably deserve it at the most northerly part of our nation managing in the heat.