Day 29 - Darwin

Darwin has a lot of influence from Asia. Certainly the parking reminded us of KL
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Being a small City, all the attractions in the CBD are walking distance. After a restful night in aircon, we felt well prepared to tackle the walk and the heat. We started just after 11 am and made our way down the Esplanade with a memorial of the Second World War attack. Darwin was attacked in 1942 by Japanese aircrafts and had many of their ships and buildings destroyed. We walked along the sunny Esplanade. It is a pretty area, just that the humidity and sun made a combination hard to bear. We walked along the beach and by that time we were too heated up to continue and took refuge from the heat in the first restaurant. Not yet open for lunch, we managed to arrange for some cold drinks and sat in aircon. After half an hour we continued our walk, along the northern edge of the Esplanade and towards the wharf which is under development. We did not find the WWII oil tunnels and due to the heat, we rather made our way to the government house (not accessible to public) and then to the parliament. Finally a building we could enter and find some relieve from the heat.

Some more Asian influence... a Proton captured just after an illegal U-turn
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The NT parliament is a modern building built after a cyclone destroyed much of the old buildings in about 172. It is big and houses as well the national library. After a self guided tour, we think we covered pretty much the attraction of CBD Darwin. We made our track to the mall. The mall is similar to the Todd mall in Alice Springs: a pedestrian area with shops on both sides. There are some nice galleries with Aboriginal art and many didgeridoos and souvenir shops. However, the problem with souvenirs is that they look all the same and are made in China, though proudly labelled designed in Australia. The other thing which made us not buy them is that many items can as well be purchased in Sydney or for that matter anywhere in Australia. The Aboriginal art in the galleries are indeed very nice. The price although too and without a more detailed understanding on the art, the meaning and the history we did not intend to buy something this time. The last item we looked at was a didgeridoo. They are originals here and come with a certificate of the place the wood was found and of the artist. Also, it is evident that those are properly eaten by termites and not drilled manually. Then again, it is not cheap and the space in our campervan is limited. We ended our sightseeing at Mitchell Street with a cold drink.

Along the Travelers Walk where in the past many new immigrants landed and made their way up from the port to the city
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For the evening, we decided to explore Cullen Bay. This is about 5 minutes by car (or 10$ taxi fare) from where we stayed. The place has many restaurants at the port where the yachts and cruise boats are moored. The restaurants face the water and are linked with a boardwalk that allows us to browse the different restaurants, menus and is used as a sitting area too. We choose and Italian restaurant and tried their seafood. The food was good and the tiramisu portion was large. The service in the beginning was very attentive and good however later in the evening they have been overwhelmed with the number of guests and we had to wait for a long time for the bill and arrangement of the taxi. Nevertheless, we had a fun evening at the Top End and are ready to move on.