Darwin

We arrived in Darwin last Thursday and we are staying in Palmerston which is about 19km from the City. We are living it up in a resort style van park with the lovely Lange family right next door. All the kid -loving extras such as jumping pillows and huge swimming pools are being enjoyed. 

The city and harbour are very easy to access via the double lane Stuart Highway going right to the centre of everything.

Darwin has a very laid back, uncomplicated vibe to it, which is what I imagined really. Peak hour traffic in the heart of the city is nothing to be concerned about, relaxed as is everything else about the northern capital.

There is so much to see and do in Darwin. 

Our first night we visited the famous Mindil Beach markets and watched the sun set over the Ocean....

A quick game of tiggy and some shell collecting was on the agenda for the kids....

The night-time markets were alive with people enjoying the multicultural food, aboriginal art,  souvenirs, crafts, and fantastic musicians. Even though the locals seem to refer to this market as the ‘tourists’ market it was quite an enjoyable experience.

We have also visited AquaScene which is a harbour side ‘fish feeding’ attraction.  This was actually quite amazing and all the kids loved it!! Huge Catfish, Milk fish, and Diamond Mackerel came in on the high tide to feed on the many old loaves of bread being offered.

In they come...

Most of the fish took the bread with no harm. Some had a little nibble on your fingers which added an element of excitement for the kids.

Our little ‘Bindi Irwin’ (Ella) must have gone through three loaves of bread feeding the fish constantly without a break.

There is also plenty of evidence of Darwin’s WWII history with ammunition bunkers, airstrips, and oil tunnels to visit in and around the city.

We ‘accidentally’ came across this seaside ‘fortress’ and had a great time exploring it. These fortresses were constructed in the late 1930's as part of the Australian response to Japanese aggression in the region leading up to the war.

The walls of the fortress were TWO metres thick!

Possibly a canon was mounted in here??

Lots of nooks, staircases, and dark tunnels to investigate.

Frank and James headed out early today to do a Fishing and Harbour tour. Fingers crossed they bring home some dinner!!