Darwin

The flight from Sydney to Darwin takes about 4 hours (as far as I can remember). You can fly with a number of airlines including Qantas and Ansett (although someone recently mentioned to me that Ansett have recently gone bankrupt). Our flight was good, and the first thing that struck us when we landed in Darwin at around midnight, one night in June, was the intense heat and the smell. As the plane doors opened there was a rush of warm, humid air, which made it slightly difficult for me to breathe. Wearing a thin skirt and a vest top I found was a good move as lugging our luggage around was sticky work. The smell I mentioned, was that of the outback. It’s hard to ...

Australia's Northern Territory is split into two extremely different worlds, the tropical "Top End" and the barren "Red Centre". My trip last year (2000) took me to the city of Darwin, to visit a "web-friend" my girlfriend had been talking to for a few years. We only had four days to do our exploring and meet this guy, but with his help we managed to cram loads into that time. ~~THE NORTHERN TERRITORY~~ Aboriginal beliefs tell how the landscape unfolded from mythical, creative beings, during a period known as 'Dreamtime'. Aboriginals have maintained their connections with these beliefs for over 40,000 ...

Named after noted evolutionist Charles Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territories in Australia has poetically much to owe to the forces of nature in its own growth as a town. Christmas Day in 1974 saw most of the town flattened by Cyclone Tracy, and the spirit of modern Darwin evolved during its reconstruction. The town is still haunted by the after effects of this natural phenomenon, but in the true style and spirit of a Darwinian, the modern and the feral blend to an exciting mix of almost-urban and comfortably psychotic. Darwin is one of the best cities Australia has to offer. It may be home to more than half of the entire Northern Territories population, but ...