A weekend in Darwin June 2-3 2018

We are told that Darwin has a population of 120,000. Small town, and a fairly well defined list of items to see. Still slightly more than we could fit into a leisurely Saturday and Sunday, even after ruling out swimming in a cage with crocodiles infested water.

Darwin's history seems to be defined by two 20th century events 3 decades apart: the World War II bombing and Cyclone Tracy. It says a lot that there are only 4 identified pre-1974 houses. A broad well kept field marks where Darwin Hospital once stood;  bombed days after it opened, and damaged by Tracy the empty space speaks volumes.

Our strategy, after a walk around the main shopping  drag on Saturday morning,  was to buy a 2 day ticket on the big hop-on hop-off bus that stopped at the major tour spots except the Air Museum, all of which were outside walking distance in the town centre. We chose the Art Gallery, the Botanic Gardens, and the Defence of Darwin. Reluctantly left out were the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, and Royal Flying Doctor holographic exhibition.

The Museum and Art Gallery of NT was featuring the 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, titled Defying Empire, the exhibits of which looked to us like a curation of rage against whiteys of all generations, starting with a bronze bust of "Captain Crook". We didn't regard this extended outburst as needing more than a minute or so from us.
The major permanent exhibit dealt with 1974 in micro-detail: 10 minutes in a blackout room with recorded cyclone sounds.
There were some stuffed birds and other animals.

The Defence of Darwin museum gave a thorough account of the history sliver at which it aimed—
eg How many bombs of what tonnage did Darwin receive in comparison to Pearl Harbour?

Images from  Google 

The bus back provided a good view across the bay to the town

The Botanic Gardens were a cool green space to walk. A few flowers were in bloom.

The industrial area near the wharves had landward 50cm exclusion barriers to deter cane toads from boarding ships. Possibly the only example of migrants getting illegally on boats to escape Australia for a better life. (The only live examples we saw on our trip were a couple on our path at Seven Spirit.)

On Saturday night we took cheap and efficient taxi rides to the Darwin Yacht Club for dinner and have ringside seats for yet another beautiful sunset.

The contrast between Arnhem Land and Victoria could hardly be greater — even with the gum trees identifying both places as Australia. Climate, plants, birds, fauna, and humans, all proclaim another country .

And on the morrow, before our flight to Melbourne, we had a morning stroll along the escarpment to  say farewell to our experience of  the Near North...