Aida’s second visit and Maya’s first to Australia was to the Northern Territories hidden gem; Darwin. We were quite lucky as not longer after this (the following week) Malaysian Airlines stopped flying from KL to Darwin so it turned out to be a stroke of luck or genius as it was certainly a great 6 days. This was also to be my first visit to Darwin having only been close to there (Exmouth to the West and Alice Springs to the south).
We flew from KL overnight on June 24 2017 landing in Darwin at 3am. Arriving at the hotel at 5am is less than ideal and as check in was only 2pm we had to book for the evening too which was a pain but with a 1 year old child there was very little other option. The hotel was called Darwin City Edge Motel & Suites and was just on the outskirts of the town halfway between the Waterfront Precinct and Mindil Beach. Darwin City Centre is pretty small, smaller than my home town centre of St.helens so easy to navigate around.
The first day we spent chilling around the waterfront which is a great place to spend your day (if the weather is nice, which it was for us every day) as well as walking around the city centre seeing what was on offer. The one thing we both found rather disturbing, Aida more so as she hadn’t been to Perth or parts of Queensland with high indigenous neighbourhoods, was how poorly the local aborigine people were treated. They walked around town as though they were ghosts, with nobody interacting with them. We also saw the police but an indigineous man in the back of a police car, which was basically a cage for an animal. Would this have happened to a non indigenous person? I very much doubt it. Anyway, apart from that, it is a very nice place but I would like to have seen a more cosmopolitan city with less obvious segregation.
On the first night, the grass of the waterfront transformed into an open air cinema (free too!!). We didn’t stay too long as Maya was soon fast asleep and we were both tired from all the sun and early arrival.
Our hotel, motel, holiday inn, served a good buffet breakfast, and this filled us up for the day ahead as day 2 was to be a trip to crocosaurus cove. This is where Burt, star of Crocodile Dundee lives. It is slap bang in the middle of the city and we got a good deal from one of the vouchers picked up in our accommodation. There is enough to do there to spend a few hours before we grabbed our dinner in one of the pubs which had an offer on (otherwise food was pretty expensive). That evening we walked to the night market at Mindel Beach where there was lots going on including live music as well as the sunset.
What we liked about Darwin was the fact that there was lots going on in the evenings. The next night we went to The Deckchair Cinema which was showing The Salesman which is actually an Iranian film. Talk about luck! Sadly, Maya decided to chase the possums which scurried under the chairs, making far too much noise for a cinema so we left early.
The next day we had to be up early as we ventured on a 12 hour day trip to Lichfield Park and the jumping crocodile cruise. There were lots of trips we would have liked to do but with Maya being so young and the prices being pretty steep we only did this one. It was a great choice too as we got to cruise along the Adelaide river spotting many native creatures. We got to swim in the famous Wangi Falls, Buley Rock Hole and Florence Falls, all of us thankfully making it out alive after seeing many ‘swim at your own risk – crocodiles around’ signs. Meeting The Crocodile Man and seeing these magnificent creatures up close and in person was certainly well worth the trip. We headed back and Maya went straight to sleep, just a shame she won’t remember any of this even though we took plenty of photos to show here when she is older.
The next day we headed back to the Waterfront where there was a Silent Disco in the park. Quite strange dancing in the park in the daylight with your own music blaring through your headphones. It was a school holiday hence why quite a lot more activities were taking place. In the afternoon we headed to the Botanical Gardens which was nice but it was very hot which made walking around with Maya much more tiring. We walked back via the beach and stumbled upon a wedding which sadly we weren’t dressed for. It did look great though by the beach, the sun glaring down on them. The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory was also there so although we hadn’t planned to go in, whilst we were passing we went and saw a wide variety of cultural artifacts.
As eating out was quite expensive we tended to buy our dinner in the supermarket and head home as it was much easier especially with Maya.
Our final day was surprisingly again at the waterfront. This time we entered the wave pool which is a fun way to spend your day. Maya enjoys water so she enjoyed body boarding and playing in the doughnut tubes.
Our flight was at 4.10am so we headed to the airport around midnight. It’s not far to the airport but the price of a cab is not cheap, but then again, Australia and the Northern Territory is not a cheap place to visit. That said, we had a great time, Aida saying it was her favourite place to be. Personally, I’d be bored living here after a few weeks as you are pretty isolated from everywhere!
