We’re settling into a really comfortable unit on Larrakia country, now known as Darwin. We pay our respects to the Larrakia people, who are the traditional owners of this land, and acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging.
We headed off from Kakadu around 9am – not really in any great rush, because the drive from Jabiru up to Darwin is only a short 250km.
Our first stop was at the Wetland View Top visitor and information centre (used to be known as Window on the Wetlands), just a little before Humpty Doo on the Arnhem Hwy. It’s a great little information centre about the wetlands, and the local people of the area – but it also has an incredible view from the top across the Adelaide River wetlands. The current owners have only been running it for just over a year, and they’ve done a really good job at resurrecting it from (what I understand) a fairly run down state when it closed down in ~2020.
A quick 15 minutes up the road was the next “big thing” on our trip – the big boxing crocodile! Not 100% sure what the story is with this one – there wasn’t any signage beside it at all, and he’s just sitting beside a United petrol station. But he featured in a book Alexander looked at last year in Kindergarten called Mr Chicken All Over Australia, and so this was close to the top of the list for Alexander to see on our trip (right under the changing colours of Uluṟu at sunrise, of course).
This evening we headed into the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. I’d been looking forward to these for quite a while now – I feel like it’s a very “Darwin” thing to do – not just touristy, but big with locals as well. We wandered through all the different arts and crafts markets around. Alexander picked up a small boomerang with a crocodile on it that he’d been wanting for a while. Then we grabbed some dinner and settled down on the beach – laksa for me, hotdog for Alexander, an enormous burger for Daniel, some dumplings for Eliza, and some rice paper rolls and spring rolls for Debbie.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of cloud hanging round on the horizon tonight, so the sunset wasn’t quite as spectacular as it could’ve been. It was still a lot of fun to watch together though, and the kids then enjoyed running around on the sand and paddling in the water a little at the end of the night. It was incredible how many people were down there for a Thursday evening – can only imagine how busy it would get on a Sunday evening, and further into the dry season.
We’re here in Darwin for 6 nights. Of course there’s plenty to see and do here, and that starts with the Jumping Crocodile Cruise tomorrow! But the length of time here was also deliberately longer to give us a couple of days where we could perhaps only do one thing, or even nothing, and just have a bit of breather. I’m so thankful for the place we’re staying in this week – a lovely apartment, with plenty of room. And a stunning view over the Bayview Marina and into the Darwin CBD. A perfect spot to relax for the next few days.
