Travel to the Top End of Australia
In the Top End of Australia, one of the last remaining wild regions of the world, is Darwin, a thriving modern city with a relaxed multicultural lifestyle in the laid- back tropics.
Sitting up on a low bluff overlooking the harbour which leads out to the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of only 122,000 but it's one of our most modern and multicultural cities. Darwin has been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
Darwin is Australia's gateway to Asia. It's a beautiful city, with a tropical climate, small population and the relaxed atmosphere that goes with it. If you visit Australia you must get up to Darwin, you'll fall in love with it, as I have.
Sitting up on a low bluff overlooking the harbour which leads out to the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of only 122,000 but it's one of our most modern and multicultural cities. Darwin has been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
Darwin is Australia's gateway to Asia. It's a beautiful city, with a tropical climate, small population and the relaxed atmosphere that goes with it. If you visit Australia you must get up to Darwin, you'll fall in love with it, as I have.
Darwin looks outward
Darwin is like no other city in Australia. It looks outwards to Asia, after all it's closer to Jakarta than it is to Sydney, and closer to Singapore than it is to Melbourne. East Timor is a stones throw across the water and Port Moresby in Papua-New Guinea is just a hop, step and a jump away.Darwin is the entry point for those travelling via Asia, with a modern international airport terminal, connections to the national road and rail network and world-class seaport facilities in Australia's most northern natural deep water harbour.
But there's an almost indefinable beauty about Darwin. The tropical plants that are everywhere around you, the clean streets, the casual dress of the city centre, and, in the Dry Season, the clear lucid sunlight that's like nowhere else on earth.
Darwin has only two Seasons
There are just two seasons, the 'Wet' from November to March and the 'Dry' from April to November.
During the Wet, monsoons bring heavy rain and the weather is incredibly humid. You have to be hardy to go about your daily business in the average temperatures of 32C -90F and the humidity regularly over 70 per cent.
Wet Season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains, and thunderstorms are common. It may not rain every day but most days are very hot with heavy cloud cover.
During the Dry, the weather is warm, dry (naturally) and delightful, with temperatures ranging from 20C to 35C - 68F to 99F. Almost every day is bright and sunny with a low humidity of 10-50 per cent. It's hard to find a lovelier time of year in any city, anywhere in the world.
During the Wet, monsoons bring heavy rain and the weather is incredibly humid. You have to be hardy to go about your daily business in the average temperatures of 32C -90F and the humidity regularly over 70 per cent.
Wet Season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains, and thunderstorms are common. It may not rain every day but most days are very hot with heavy cloud cover.
During the Dry, the weather is warm, dry (naturally) and delightful, with temperatures ranging from 20C to 35C - 68F to 99F. Almost every day is bright and sunny with a low humidity of 10-50 per cent. It's hard to find a lovelier time of year in any city, anywhere in the world.
Darwin
More on Traveling in Australia
- Wander Dowunder
- All the delights of Downunder, food, places, wildlife, celebrities, the bold, bizarre and beautiful. Antipodean activities of anything and everything Australian.
Beautiful Darwin
An excellent little video showing the stunning surrounds of this multicultural city.
Runtime 4.24
Runtime 4.24
powered by Youtube
Getting around up North
The Bombing of Darwin
Photo. Australian War Museum. The explosion of the Neptuna, carrying depth charges, and hit during the first Japanese air raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942. In the foreground is HMAS Deloraine, which escaped damage
Darwin is attacked
Around 10,000 Allied troops arrived in Darwin in the early 1940s at the outset of World War II.
On 19 February 1942, Japanese warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves. This was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor, although a considerably larger number of bombs was dropped on Darwin. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town.
These were the first of many raids on Darwin and the most serious attacks on Australia in time of war.
Cosmopolitan Darwin
Darwin is a relaxed city, and cosmopolitan in a tropical atmosphere.
The largest proportional population of Indigenous Australians of any Australian capital city lives here, and a significant percentage of residents are recent migrants from South and East Asia.
In a country that prides itself on ethnic diversity, Darwin may be the most multicultural city of all.
Seventy-five nationalities are represented, and nearly a quarter of the population self-identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Many languages other than English are spoken and maintained in Darwin, languages such as Greek, Indonesian, Tagalog, Portuguese, including a number of both Australian Indigenous, and the Chinese languages.
Children dance at Cultural Festival
The Darwin Lifestyle
Evan Papandonakis, Darwin Restaurateur, shows his enviable life in tropical Darwin.... and why he loves it.
Runtime 1.01
Runtime 1.01
powered by Youtube
Accomodation
There's a wide range of accomodation to suit all pockets, hostel and backpacker lodges, inner city resorts and five star hotels.
Theres plenty to do in Darwin. Getting around is simple with easy to navigate roads and excellent public transport services.
Use the plentiful buses for market shopping, with around 50 different cultures, it's no surprise to find dynamic markets held all around the city, selling the cuisines of dozens of countries and plentiful fresh produce, clothing, arts and crafts.
Theres plenty to do in Darwin. Getting around is simple with easy to navigate roads and excellent public transport services.
Use the plentiful buses for market shopping, with around 50 different cultures, it's no surprise to find dynamic markets held all around the city, selling the cuisines of dozens of countries and plentiful fresh produce, clothing, arts and crafts.
Mindil Night Market
Darwin Night Market
Just out of town is the busy Mindil Beach Night Market with cake stalls, fruit-salad bars, handicraft stalls, and often local entertainment in the form of strolling players and street theatre. It's a friendly carnival of food sellers, craft hawkers, jugglers and magicians, with the stalls along almost a half-mile of walkway.
Almost every kind of cuisine that can be sold from a stall is represented.
People begin arriving at Mindil Beach around dusk on Thursday and Sunday nights during the dry season to eat a lesiurely meal and watch the sun set over the Arafura Sea. They bring tables, chairs, rugs, chilled wine and children and choose their meal from about 250 food-stalls cooking fresh Thai, Sri Lankan, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Laotian, Malaysian, Greek and Portuguese meals and snacks.
You won't find a Big Mac here.
Nightcliff Markets at the Nightcliff Shopping Centre is the best spot for a pleasant Sunday morning in a shady, continental cafe ambience. With lots of free live music, market-goers can choose from about 20 food stalls and about 180 others selling clothing, arts and crafts.
Almost every kind of cuisine that can be sold from a stall is represented.
People begin arriving at Mindil Beach around dusk on Thursday and Sunday nights during the dry season to eat a lesiurely meal and watch the sun set over the Arafura Sea. They bring tables, chairs, rugs, chilled wine and children and choose their meal from about 250 food-stalls cooking fresh Thai, Sri Lankan, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Laotian, Malaysian, Greek and Portuguese meals and snacks.
You won't find a Big Mac here.
Nightcliff Markets at the Nightcliff Shopping Centre is the best spot for a pleasant Sunday morning in a shady, continental cafe ambience. With lots of free live music, market-goers can choose from about 20 food stalls and about 180 others selling clothing, arts and crafts.
Beer Can Regatta
The Regatta is held in July or August each year with contestants racing boats made exclusively of beer cans. More on the Darwin Beer Can Regatta
Also in Darwin during the month of August, are the Darwin Cup horse race, and the Rodeo and Mud Crab Tying Competition.
Also in Darwin during the month of August, are the Darwin Cup horse race, and the Rodeo and Mud Crab Tying Competition.
The Darwin Beer Can Regatta
powered by Youtube
Crocodiles
Saltwater crocs, the most famous of the Territory's creatures, can be seen in most rivers and billabongs in the Top End or at the wildlife parks around Darwin.Saltwater crocs, or salties, as we affectionately call them, have an enormous range, populating the brackish and freshwater regions of eastern India, Southeast Asia, and the Top End of Australia. They are excellent swimmers and have often been spotted far out at sea.
Salties are classic opportunistic predators, they lurk patiently beneath the surface near the water's edge waiting for potential prey to stop for a sip of water.
They'll feed on anything they can get their jaws on.
Crocodylus Park
- Crocodylus Park
- Crocodylus Park is a park with a difference! Come face to face with the largest species of reptile on the planet, and learn croc facts in our unique and fascinating museum.
Thanks for calling in ....
Thanks very much for dropping by this lens. You're more than welcome to leave a note in the guest book above and, if you're a member of Squidoo, you can also rate this lens :)It's all much appreciated, Susanna
Feral Squid
Through a lens darkly
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMake your own lens!
Everybody has a favourite subject, everyone is an expert in something, Get your own revenue generating page about your favourite.
All you need is an email address, no complicated forms! Making a Squidoo Lens is a great way to get the word out about any topic, a garden gnome collection, your passion for scuba-diving, that recipe from your grandmother, tips for pruning hibiscus or tuning a truck, how to start a celebrity fan club or how to supplement your home income.
The first step is to think of your topic and make your first lens now. Come and join the Squidoo community.
Lonely Planet Working Holiday
When Patrizia Cadeleo left Italy to work and travel in Australia, she knew she wanted to work at a bar on a beach.
In Darwin she found just that, complete with a laid back tropical lifestyle and the perfect climate to enjoy the beach year-round.
Runtime 5.18
In Darwin she found just that, complete with a laid back tropical lifestyle and the perfect climate to enjoy the beach year-round.
Runtime 5.18
powered by Youtube
by susannaduffy
G'day, I'm in Melbourne, 2000 miles from Darwin as the crow flies. After Melbourne, it's my favourite spot, particularly in winter.
More about me at... (more)
More about me at... (more)
