After a year and a half in Australia, our last stop was Darwin. The capital of the Northern Territory, it’s a small city. With a population of under 150,000 people, it’s even smaller than Cairns. This is the Australian tropics, and we felt the heat and humidity daily. Darwin is also home to lots of crocs and croc tours, and seeing the crocs is on our list of what to do in Darwin, Australia.
Arriving In Darwin
For us, just arriving in Darwin was interesting. We sailed there from across the top of Australia, with good wind pushing us west from Thursday island and east. Once we arrived in Darwin, we had to wait to get into the marina because of timing the tides. You see, tides in this part of the world are pretty extreme, with differences up to almost 8 meters. With those big tides, we didn’t want to anchor out and then wait all day to leave or return to our boat.
Instead we made a booking at Cullen Bay Marina. To get into the marina, we had to navigate a lock, which we haven’t done since the Panama Canal. It was a much shorter trip, but still stressful. We put out lots of lines and not enough fenders and got bumped and jostled. On both the entry and exit, the lockmaster was very helpful, but we ended up sweaty from the stress and the heat. Darwin is a hot place!
Getting Around Darwin
On our first day at the marina in Darwin, we got out the bikes and rode downtown. From Cullen Bay Marina, the CBD is about 3km away, so not far. It’s also pretty flat, but the heat of the blazing sun deterred us from cycling again. We used Uber to get to the car rental place and that was that. Some of the big attractions aren’t downtown, so it made sense to have a car. If you’re using our list for what to do in Darwin, renting a car is handy.
Jumping Croc Tour
Darwin is proud of its status as the croc capital of Australia. We drove an hour or so out of town for a riverboat tour where they dangle raw chicken off fishing poles to attract the crocs. It works. We saw quite a few juvenile and female crocs jumping for the poultry, hence the name Jumping Crocs tours.
It was a fun tour, and we kept all our limbs inside the boat with no casualties. We learned that crocs swim very fast when they want to, so everyone made a concerted effort to stay on the boat.
Darwin has loads of opportunities to see crocs, including an aquarium style scenario. The riverboat tour seemed better for us and them, and we had a good time. We visited in October, the end of the season for Jumping Croc tours. They close down for the wet season so we were very lucky with our timing. If jumping crocs is on your list of what to do in Darwin, go in the dry season.
On the way to and from the jumping crocs are a few crocodile themed roadside attractions, and we had to stop for them. Both the jumping croc and the boxing croc are on the main road out of Darwin towards the Adelaide River.
Street Art Gems
I love checking out street art and was really impressed by Darwin’s high quality murals. As host of an annual street art festival every winter, Darwin’s downtown is filled with beautiful outdoor art.
The best street art is conveniently located in the downtown core. Wander the major streets and duck into the alleyways like Austin Lane and West Lane. You’ll find the murals.
Food, Glorious Food
While not as big and varied as Cairns, Darwin has a pretty good food scene. It’s especially known for its laksa, a spicy noodle dish offered in multiple varieties. There is so much laksa that the city’s called Australia’s Laksa Capital. We went to a couple of really good laksa spots, and even tried a laksa pizza, which was delicious.
Our favorite restaurant was so good we went back with friends. Ella by Minoli is located in the heart of the CBD and serves high end Sri Lankan food. We sampled a lot of dishes over two dinners, and our favorite was the eggplant. If you are in Darwin, it’s the best.
Historic Sights
As the northernmost city in Australia, Darwin has an interesting history. As the closest point to Asia, it featured in some wild WWII battles. Our what to do in Darwin includes exploring some of this history. We enjoyed the RFDS Darwin Wharf with its interactive experience about the 1942 bombing.
If you’re looking for multiple ways to fill a day, you can’t go wrong by visiting The Wharf area. With museums and restaurants, you’ll stay entertained. You can visit the underground oil storage tunnels where they hid the oil from the Japanese bombers during WWII. It’s a fascinating history.
What to Do in Darwin: Stay Cool
An important addition to your list of what to do in Darwin is to stay cool. You’ll most likely choose not to swim with the crocs in the sea, but you can still swim. We visited some community pools that are either free – like the spacious Wharf lagoon – or inexpensive.
Otherwise, many museums and shops have air conditioning, or just stay in the shade. When we were there in late October, it was high 30s C in the daytime and very humid. Maybe not Cartagena, Colombia humid, but humid.
Darwin After Dark: Markets and Cocktails
The best time to explore Darwin is after dark: the temperatures cool down and the fun begins.
night market
On one of our first nights, we attended a night market. It was family oriented, with lots of food (including laksas), face painting for the kids, some local artisan stalls, and a few bars. It reminded me a bit of the Fish Fry in Provo, Turks and Caicos, because of its proximity to the beach and its timing around sunset. Darwin has a few night markets. We went to the Mindil Beach Market, which runs Thursday and Sunday nights and definitely attracts locals.
at the marina
We were lucky that the marina offers a variety of restaurants and a great bar for sundowners. Lola’s Pergola is a popular spot with nice views and a good food and drinks menu.
cocktails and breweries
After dark, you can also head downtown for a pretty good mix of cocktail bars and breweries. We had a nice charcuterie plate and some good wine at Stone House Wine Bar in downtown Darwin.
Darwin is also home to a few breweries, including Six Tanks Brewery, also downtown. We walked up to the bar to sample some Crocs branded beer and hang out for a bit. It’s a pretty relaxed place.
Another cool spot with a large outdoor area and live music is Bustard Town, where we stopped for a cold beverage before dinner one night. They also serve pizza and other meals, so you could make a night of it.
Finally, the aforementioned Wharf has a whole line-up of bars and restaurants. We had to visit the Oyster Bar knowing it was our last stop in Australia and maybe last chance for the bivalves in a while.
Nature
If you hired a rental car, use it to get out of town and explore. The bushland outside of Darwin is full of national parks with waterfalls, wildlife, and natural beauty. We visited Litchfield National Park on a day trip and swam in some beautiful waterfalls, a great way to cool off in the heat.
The Darwin region is known for its national parks. Aside from Litchfield, Kakadu National Park and the Adelaide River are well recommended. Also, keep in mind the season, as we would not have been able to swim in the wet season due to, you guessed it, crocodiles.
Thanks for reading about all the fun we had in Darwin. Hope you get to go, and if you’ve been, share your favorites in the comments. G’day!
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What a great write up about Darwin, makes me want to go back again.
We both love Darwin.
Looking forward to read about Broome.
Loved this blog entry, especially so as were were there 10-13 October so not long before you. We’re from the UK so the heat and humidity were quite something. We’d been in the Red Centre for over a week and managed with the 40C dry heat there surprisingly well but the 33C in Darwin was a real challenge due to the humidity. Our solution was to use the Beam electric scooters which were surprisingly good despite my not being convinced I could balance and ride one being in my 60s! They were really good and the movement provided a breeze which was a welcome respite from the heat. We had Mary’s Laksa at the Saturday morning Parap Market and have been craving it since. Attempts to cook it back home in Cambridge, UK are disappointing compared to the real thing! Even the Darwin Laksa at Mindil Sunset market were not as good as Mary’s!
Wow I bet the temperature difference from the UK was huge! Smart idea to use the Beam scooters and so glad you got to try Mary’s Laksa. It was so delicious.