Darwin NT

It was an easy 48km drive up to Darwin from Berry Springs this morning.

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory and is located between Beagle Gulf and Port Darwin. It situated on Fannie Bay and is a thriving and prosperous centre which has become the vital service centre for the Top End.

For tens of thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans along the coast, the area around Darwin was occupied people from the Larrakia language group.

In 1870 the first pole at the northern end of the Overland Telegraph was placed in the ground. The period from 1870 to 1900 saw successive waves of settlers.

During World War II, on 19 February, 1942 188 Japanese planes attacked Darwin, killing 243 people. For the next 20 months the area was bombed repeatedly by the Japanese imperial forces.

Another tragedy befell the city on Christmas Day, 1974, Cyclone Tracy, Australia's worst natural disaster, devastated the city.

Before we could go and start exploring we needed to do a few things…

We popped in to use the only  public dump point at the Greyhound Club.

Then it was off to do some shopping at Bunnings - swap gas bottle, get a new set of draw rollers and a new fusio lock basket, along with a few other things including a thermacell mosquito repellent and another noodle from BCF.

We filled up the fridge with some rations from Coles and Liquorland as well.

With that done we drove out to East Point Military Reserve. Originally established as Darwin’s main defence point to protect the precious oil stores at Stokes Hill. Some of these buildings (or remains) can still be found around the park. We visited the Military Museum ($20/$15con) lasting 2.5hours. Inside had an extensive display and movie focusing on the WWII bombings. Outside had many sheds and buildings with various war paraphernalia.

D2 tractor

Out in the reserve was also a very touching memorial dedicated to the lives lost during Cyclone Tracy.

We also got a view of the city from Dudley lookout.

We arrived at 3:30pm at our campsite (Paperbark Stay) for our stay here, located in the outskirts of the city in Leanyer ($45 power and water). It was a luxury to put on the air conditioner to keep cool in Buster for a change! No other facilities offered. 

That evening we were kindly picked up by Michael and Pam to enjoy a pleasant evening together, having dinner at a nearby pub and sharing our travel stories.