Last week I went to Darwin. Darwin is the capital and largest city in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Northern Territory is known for its sparsely populated towns and high percentage of Indigenous people. A group of us went to explore what this city had to offer, and of course, to soak up some sun and heat. The weather in Darwin is very hot and humid, it reminded me of Florida in the summertime.
After our four and a half hour flight, we arrived in Darwin at 1am. Three of our friends were already there, and had been there for three days already, so we met up with them at the hostel (Melaleuca). Since we are still young and viable, we all decided to go out for some drinks and discuss what we should do for the next four days. Our friends had already explored the city and had some input on where we should spend most of our time, which was quite useful.
Our first day included crocodiles. We read these advertisements and watched YouTube videos on "The Cage of Death," which involved being placed in a cage and lowered into crocodile infested water. This sounded awesome to me and a few of my friends, and I was ready for the adrenaline rush of being attacked by a 15 ft, 2000 lb beast. Fail. We arrived at the crocodile exhibit and apparently the crocs weren't in the mood to entertain a bunch of college kids. We stared in disappointment at the sleeping crocodiles hoping that at least one would make some sort of diminutive movement. Didn't happen. After wasting $25 to go watch crocodiles sleep, we decided to relax by the pool that was provided at the hostel. We were all so tired from the lack of sleep from the night before and were interested to check out the pool and deck area where everyone at the hostel seemed to congregate. We met some fellow travelers from Europe and Australia while absorbing the deathly sun rays. I'm still peeling. That night we went out for an amazing Tapas dinner to send off our friends who had been there for a few days.
The following day, we decided to check out the beaches and walk around the town. Darwin is very much a beach/touristy town with small souvenir shops and travel agents at every corner. We were mostly just passing the time until the evening beach market. The market included local artists and vendors, food ranging from Chinese to roadkill (we tried kangaroo!), live music and Indigenous performances. We watched the sunset on the beach and enjoyed the sand between our toes and the variety of people to watch. We finished the night off watching a man play the didgeridoo while Aboriginal girls danced to his beats. I have never seen someone shake their entire body like these girls did. It looked like their entire bodies were actually vibrating.
The next day was when the real fun started. Instead of taking a guided tour to Litchfield Park, a national park just outside of Darwin, we decided to rent two cars. There were eight of us, and out of the eight only me and my friend, Dan could legally rent a car and drive. I was so excited to finally get behind a wheel of a car and drive on the wrong side of the road! Luckily I had no accidents and everyone ended up alive and well. Even ask them, they said I was a good driver! The park was known for its beautiful waterfalls and termite mounds. The bad news was that we got separated from the other car. Before we left for our small road trip, we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on some snacks (mainly my favorite fruit snack, Chompies) and some PB&J for lunch. Our car had the chips (crisps) and bread loaf, and the other car hand the fruit and PB&J. Our picnic idea was put away, but we had fun anyway. We eventually found each other at the end. Oh, and did I mention, there was absolutely no mobile service anywhere, which was quite inconvenient. Before June, I had never swam, as much as seen a waterfall, but this trip and Israel has made me a professional waterfall swimmer, and I hope to swim in and explore more with my travels.
After our park adventure, it was time to go home. We had some time to kill before our flight so we hung out at a grocery store, ate some Domino's, and stopped to see the peer and fishing wharf in Darwin, We then made our way to the airport to find out or flight was about 45 minutes delayed. I have to say, flying around Australia is quite easy. You are allowed to bring any size liquid on board, they don't even check your ID to verify identity, and you usually end up getting a row to yourself (like I did!) or a row with no one in the middle. We decided to spend our time waiting in the airport with bloody marries and left over PB&J. We made it home by 6am on Tuesday morning, just in time to take a quick nap before class started! All in all, Darwin was a blast. I came back with a suntan and a clear head.
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| Termite Mound |
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| Thank you Mary Hannon for the photos. |
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