Fourth stop: Darwin (Northern Territory) (July 4-12)

Day 1: We left our Perth hotel at 7am and had some breakfast at the airport. (Yellow = kids pillows! On these long trips, we bring their pillows!)

None of us have ever ever been to the Northern Territory, but today, we landed in Darwin! Darwin is the capital of  Northern Territory (NT), and the NT is one of Australia’s 7 states. Darwin is also one of the most northern cities in Australia and this area is referred to as “The Top End” or “Australia’s Top End”. It took us a little under 3 hours to get here. And - wild - Darwin is on its own timezone. We are 30 minutes - yes, 30 minutes - behind Brisbane and 90 minutes ahead of Perth and Exmouth!

We checked into our apartment hotel - The H on Mitchell - and the kids went straight to the pool while I got my bearings while walking around. Then we made dinner and started a Guess Who and Crazy Eights competition. 

Day 2: we had do much fun! Being 90 minutes ahead in time, we all slept in and we’re finally all up at 9. We had some breakfast before going to check out the playgtound at the Esplenade. 

And Aussie birds, some we know and love, some that are new to us (and we now also love!)!

Then to Aquascene, a Darwin must-do. Daily, at high tide, hundreds of wild fish come in to be fed. Tons of birds gather, too. It was quite an experience! https://www.aquascene.com.au/

Next, we went to the FREE and absolutely exceptional Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (https://www.magnt.net.au/). To get there, we “Beam’d” (rent-a-scooter):

The museum was displaying the 2025 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards and the art was breathtaking:

And we met Sweetheart, a 1500+ pound crocodile who was harassing and menacing fishing boats in the 70s:

And learned about the cool (and highly social) termites and their mounds!

Pool time, of course:

Then, after eating dinner at our place, we went to Deckchair Cinema (https://www.deckchaircinema.com/about-deckchair-cinema), an open-air cinema and perhaps the coolest cinema we’ve been to. 

For a 7pm showing of a famous movie filmed in the Northern Territory …

G’nite, mates!

Day 3: we slept in again, had breaky at our place, then head out to the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. It was wonderful and a much wilder than more manicured gardens on the east coast. 

Despite being less colonialized-feeling, we did find our first scones (said “sc-on-s” not “sc-own-s”) of the trip!

We found a great Indie bookstore and some cool street art on our way home. 

Before more pool time!

Next stop was the Mindil Beach Sunset Market (https://mindil.com.au/) that happens Thursdays and Sundays. It was HUGE. And wonderful. So many food cart options and so many vendors of beautiful art and wares. And the sunset was stunning. It felt like absolutely everyone in Darwin was at the market this evening! 

Then dinner at Hanuman (https://www.hanuman.com.au/), a superb Southeast Asian / Indian restaurant. Of course, card games were played. 

Day 4: we had to move places today. I originally booked only one spot, an air b&b further out of Darwin CBD than I expected. And I wanted us to be able to explore the CBD so I changed things up and booked half and half. It worked out great as we now are in a suburb called Nightcliff with a lovely large pool. 

But we started the day with breakfast at Ray’s and a sunglass purchase. Then a family Beam and a swim in the apartment hotel’s lovely pool. Then we moved spots. 

Our new place has a terrific outdoor pool and Geoff got to watch the Tour de France highlights. 

Dinner and a movie before bed. We rented a car today so we can take some bush tours. Tomorrow’s is a river cruise on a billabong on the Mary River!

Day 5: an early morning wake up to hit the road for a 75 minute drive to the Corroboree Park Tavern where we caught a shuttle bus to get us to the Top End Wetland Cruises 1.5 hour river cruise (https://www.tourismtopend.com.au/tours/darwin-region/wetland-cruises)

We saw so many crocodiles - salt water and fresh water - and more birds than we could count. 

Birds seen:

Flycatcher 

Snake necked Dart - anhinga

Purple swamp hen

Rufous night heron- rufous describes the color 

Pied heron

Black necked stork - only stork in Australia 

Greater egret

Kettle egret

Sea eagle - top of the food pyramid 

Magpie geese

Whistling kite

Wedge tail eagle 

Sea eagles

Back to the crocs!

2 minutes into our tour, we saw our first adult saltwater croc: 

A few minutes later, a baby croc tucked away in the lily pads (“baby” our guide guessed 12-24 months old):

Another adult. They hunt at night and come up on the banks to warm up by day. 

Below is a fresh water crocodile. Australia is the only place that has both fresh and salt water crocs. 

This one below is named “The Boss” and he is HUGE. They grow to about 6-7 meters and about 1000 kg! Our guide says this guy is 80+ years old and probably remembers when the first white men came to this area and would shoot crocs. 

Crocodiles are true dinosaurs and are estimated to have been on earth for 220 million years and to have survived an asteroid hitting. 

Some of the birds:

Snake neck dart (an anhinga - we also saw them in the Florida Everglades!). Diving birds who dry off in the sun by spreading their wings. 

Sea eagle. Top of the food chain and has no natural predators. 

Black necked stork - Australia’s only native stork. 

Next to the stork, Magpie Geese who, incidentally, nest at the same spot as salt water crocs!

It was a wonderful tour!

We lunched in Nightcliff (our suburb) at a beachfront cafe called Foreshore Cafe before heading back for some much needed pool time!

 

More Tour de France, dinner, finishing a movie and some couch Olympics!

Day 6: today was pretty unexpectedly magical. We slept in, went out for breakfast at Laneway in a neighboring suburb. 

We then went to the Darwin Waterfront. Darwin has a museum on the pier that is about the Royal Flying Doctor Service. My uncle was a Flying Doctor and we really wanted to check out the museum. 

Inside was an extraordinary museum, complete with: a 20 minute movie about the almost 100 years of Flying Doctors (RFDS); a simulator for a patient experience and a pilot experience; a real life (retired) plane to explore; and lots to read about and stuffies to practice on. I feel really proud to be related to a Flying Doctor!

The museum doubles as a museum about the 1942 bombing of Darwin. There was another movie, a short standing film, another simulator, and a lot of history. 

We also saw the Ghostbuster Car. 

Back off the pier and at the Waterfront, the kids and Geoff did an inflatable obstacle course for an hour while I took an open water swim in their protected lagoon (no swimming off Darwin beaches due to crocs!)!

Then, the thing we’d been waiting for (after learning about it yesterday): the chance to meet and swim with Australia’s Open Water Swim Team, heading to the World Games in Singapore in a few weeks! They’re training up here to start acclimating to warm water and hot climate. The kids did a 500 meter open water swim with the team!

What a day. Home for (more) pool time then dinner and an early bedtime. But not before we watched fruit bats waking up ovet the gorgeous sunset. Tomorrow, we head into Litchfield National Park with a small tour program. Can’t wait!

Day 7: we woke up early to take our tour into the Litchfield National Park. 

Our first stop was Berry Springw Nature Park for a swim in a billabong there. The water was so warm and so clear!

Next stop, Litchfield NP (and a large “cathedral” termite mound - cathedral versus magnetic termite mounds). 

Next stop, Wagi Falls! This was colder and a stronger current. We swam all the way to under the waterfall, where the strength of the falling water made it hard to breathe!

Our tour guide kept recommending pool noodles, so we took them but didn’t need them. The kids are such terrific swimmers!!

Pit stop for ice cream before heading to Tabletop Swamp for lunch. The Tabletop is the highest part of Litchfield. 

Our third stop was Florence Falls, a long hike down to stunning falls. 

A monitor lizard. We saw lots!

On our way out, we were shown a crocodile trap. In the wet season, everything floods and crocs come in, then get stuck. To make sure it’s safe, the government sets up red balls (that the crocs apparently like to chomp on - pictured behind the trap) and then a trap where pig meat hangs. There are feral pigs in the bush and the meat draws the crocs in. They are then relocated. 

Last stop, Buley Rockhole. 

Another pit stop before the long drive home and we met a 14 year old “child’s python”, a python who stays small. 

Back at 6pm, the kids of course swam (more), we ate dinner and settled in for a chill movie night. 

Day 8: our last full day in the Northern Territory. Our rental car went back a few days ago and we had no plans. We slept late, walked around in Nightcliff to a popular breakfast spot (Cafe Central Darwin), then Sydney, Geoff and Calliope got their hair cut. Then we came back to the house to chill, do laundry and play in the pool. Our flight tomorrow is 6am so we’ll be up at 4. The flight options to anywhere from Darwin are 12 midnight, 1am, 2am or 6am. We chose what felt most reasonable! Fortunately, we’re only 10 minutes from the airport.

We made a list when we first got here of all the fun things to do in the Darwin area. We did research and crossed a few off (like the jumping crocs tour - a local tour guide and biologist said that while it’s super exciting, it’s not good for the territorial crocs as they get used to the bost feeding them and fight each other for the food. Great for tourist bucks, bad for crocs as they get injured in the fights). We were able to do everything on the list! Still of course lots to do in this giant tropical wonderland. We’ll be back (just not in October or November, which locals describe as “hell”!)!

Day 9: