Australia > Darwin

Travel Specials > Destination Information > Darwin, Australia

Darwin is located in and the capitol city of the Northern Territory (NT) and considered to be the “real Outback” of Australia. With a population of 120,900, Darwin is the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated NT. Located on a beautiful harbor twice the size of Sydney’s and surrounded by the sea on three sides, Darwin is the hub for tours to Kakadu National Park, Litchfield National Park and Katherine Gorge making it a great destination for outdoor lovers!

Get In

The two main methods to arrive in Darwin are:

By plane

Darwin International Airport is located in the suburb of Marrara, and is Darwin's only airport, which shares its runways with the Royal Australian Air Force's RAAF Base Darwin.

By train

The Alice Springs to Darwin rail line was completed in 2003 linking Darwin to Adelaide. The first service ran in 2004. The Ghan train runs two to three times a week from Adelaide and Alice Springs.

Driving to Darwin is not very common, as the nearest city to drive from is Alice Springs, which is about 925 miles away across rough roads and miles of road with no services.

Get Around

• Options include: rail, buses, ferries and taxis.
• Darwin has no intra city rail system, but their public bus system is fairly thorough.
• Taxis only operate on a call out basis during the peak times of the year. Service is generally prompt and courteous, and prices are reasonable.
• Ferries leave from Port Darwin to island locations, mainly for tourists. A ferry service to the Tiwi Islands, the Arafura Pearl operates from Cullen Bay.

See

The Seabreeze Festival, which first started in 2005, is held on the second week of May in the suburb of Nightcliff. It offers the opportunity for local talent to be showcased and a popular event is Saturday family festivities along the Nightcliff foreshore which is one of Darwin's most popular fitness tracks.

The Darwin Beer-Can Regatta, held in August, celebrates Darwin's love affair with beer and contestants' race boats made exclusively of beer cans.

Also in Darwin during the month of August, are the Darwin Cup horse race, the Rodeo and Mud Crab Tying Competition.

George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens span over 42 hectares and showcase the flora of northern Australia and also other tropical habitats from around the world.  Open every day of the year.

The Darwin Entertainment Centre is the city's main concert venue and hosts theatre and orchestral performances year round.

The Darwin Theatre Company is one of Australia's oldest theatre companies, providing a mix of new work and contemporary adaptations of the classics.

Australian Aviation Heritage Centre is filled with aircraft and memorabilia, including a mammoth American B52 bomber and the wreck of a Japanese Zero fighter shot down in 1942. Guided tours are offered twice daily.

Bicentennial Park, also called The Esplanade runs the length of Darwin's waterfront. Shaded by tropical trees, the park is an excellent place for a stroll.

Museums and Galleries

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory houses a great display of Aboriginal art, a maritime museum, an exhibit about Cyclone Tracey (the fierce cyclone that devastated Darwin in 1974) and natural history displays. Admission is free!  Open year round, except for major holidays.

Indo-Pacific Marine & Australian Pearling Exhibition, which houses an aquarium complete with living coral, and its complementary sea life.

The East Point Military museum tells the story of the Japanese air raids on Darwin during WWII.

National Parks

Charles Darwin National Park is notable for a number of World War 2-era concrete bunkers, one of which has been converted into a visitors centre and display of World War 2 memorabilia. Charles Darwin National Park is also home to a number of excellent lookouts from the Park towards the city of Darwin. The park has extensive fire trails suitable for bush walking plus an excellent mountain bike trail.

Kakadu National Park is located about 100 miles southeast of Darwin, within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 4,894,000 acres. The park is a major tourist attraction in Australia’s north.  Kakadu’s dramatic landscape, Aboriginal cultural significance and diverse and abundant wildlife are what visitors are drawn to. There are many beautiful waterfalls and gorges within the Park also.

Litchfield National Park is 1,500 square kilometres, and approximately an hour-and-a-half drive from Darwin. It encloses much of the spectacular Tabletop Range, which is a wide sandstone plateau mostly surrounded by cliffs. During the monsoon season, from October to May, four major waterfalls thunder from the cliffs to tropical rock pools many metres below.

Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park) is created by the Katherine River cutting it's way through the dramatic sandstone park.  With rapids and falls present in all thirteen gorges, this makes for a great way to cool off in the otherwise hot heat of the Northern Territory. The Katherine Gorge starts in Kakadu and cruises can be taken on the river.

Some of the most popular attractions in Darwin include:

·         Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory houses a great display of Aboriginal art, a maritime museum, an exhibit about Cyclone Tracey (the fierce cyclone that devastated Darwin in 1974) and natural history displays. Admission is free!  Open year round, except for major holidays.

·         Mindil Beach Markets are famous in Australia, offering a variety of unique arts and crafts, food, and local indigenous music and art. Located on the Mindil Beach, the market has a tropical feel, with beautiful sunsets every night. They are only open May – October during the dry season. Three additional weekly markets include Parap Market, Nightcliff Market and the Rapid Creek Market.

·         Crocodylus Park is home to over one thousand crocodiles, from baby hatchlings to massive adults. The park also includes a comprehensive crocodile museum through which the results of over three decades of crocodile research are extended to the public. Open year round, except for Christmas day.

·         Aquascene is located in the heart of Darwin at Doctors Gully. This is where hundreds of fish come to shore during high tide daily to be fed, including milkfish, mullet, catfish and bream come up close enough to see and touch. Also rays, cod, mangrove jack and diamond fish may also be seen a little further out, if you look closely. Check the day's feeding times in local publications.

·         George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens span over 42 hectares and showcase the flora of northern Australia and also other tropical habitats from around the world. Open every day of the year.

·         Sunset Cruises are a great way to see Darwin’s bay. Australian Harbor Cruises and Darwin Harbor Cruises both offer relaxing sunset cruises of the Darwin Harbor, departing from Cullen Bay marina.

·         Parliament House is reminiscent of Southeast Asian architecture that is designed to withstand Darwin's monsoonal climate. The building also houses the Northern Territory Library. Free guided tours are available year round.

·         Swimming or relaxing on one of Darwin’s wide, pristine beaches, including the Casuarina Beach and well renowned Mindil Beach, home of the famous Mindil Beach markets. Swimming in the sea between the months of October–May should be avoided due to the presence of the deadly box jellyfish.

·         Fishing is one of the most popular recreations of Darwin locals and visitors alike. People flock to Darwin aiming to catch the prized barramundi, an iconic fish for the region. The Mary River, Daly River, South and East Alligator River are some of the most popular spots for catching barramundi. Outstanding blue water fishing is also available off the coast of Darwin.

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The above data is courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin,_Northern_Territory, last modified on 28 February 2009.  Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.  If you would like to view the original page or edit its content, feel free to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin,_Northern_Territory.