DARWIN

FROM THE BUDGET TRAVELER'S POINT OF VIEW    
(visited November 2016)

Budget accommodation doesn't have to be basic - relaxing by the pool on the free WIFI at the YHA.

Listen up, there's a heap of DARWIN travel sites will give you bulk info about attractions, trips, where to stay etc.....but this one is slightly different from most in that it attacks the above from the point of view of a bucks-down traveler. I won't say BACKPACKER because my experience is that backpackers these days tend to be a lot more cashed up than 20 years back. Although some are still doing it on the proverbial shoestring....

LOCATION - SIZE - LAYOUT
DARWIN is at the top end of the TOP END. Distance from SYDNEY - approx 3200km in a straight line: MELBOURNE abt the same:PERTH - 2700km. Interesting, JAKARTA capital of INDONESIA is closer at 2650km. No wonder so many Top Enders holiday in BALI - 1900km.

DARWIN - top end of THE TOP END. Plus other NT locations of note.

For a capital city DARWIN has a modest population - abt 150,000. But it's the fastest growing capital in the nation. Put this down to the present infrastructure boom connected with planned onshore processing of TIMOR SEAS gas plus the continuation of DARWIN's reputation as a frontier town offering new opportunities to escapists and adventurous types from down south. The latter has attracted not only southerners but people from all over - lotsa Asians and immigrants from further afield including a surprising amount of Africans. Historically the first wave of immigrants way back were Chinese and Greek - people from these backgrounds still dominate the non-Anglo Saxon/non-Aboriginal population. Darwin has a sizable Aboriginal population - not only from the original LARRAKIA people but also from further afield: jobs and better social services have drawn rural native-Australians to the city.

For its population, DARWIN is a pretty dispersed city, measuing 15+km north south (TIWI to CBD) and 20km coast to south-east inland (it's pretty hard to determine where Darwin ends in the south-east because several outlying settlements are growing out along the STUART HIGHWAY past the PALMERSTON-MOULDEN conurbation which is my limit). 
There tends to be big gaps between some suburb clusters - close to the coast these are largely filled with parks etc which along with the wide main roads gives a pretty ordered appearance. A lot of  money has been spent making the place a pretty attractive looking town. The road system is not too bad either - quite a lot of 4 laners with cross-overs etc. Much is made of the CROSS-SUBSIDY of taxes from the south of Australia to the NT - it's nice to see where our money is being spent.

A fairly dispersed place for its population.



BUDGET ACCOMMODATION
Darwin has a huge range of places to stay - from 5 star resorts down to modest motels (the average person's budget alternative) plus a bunch of backpacker joints which are less expensive again. 5 of the latter are within the CBD area - I stayed in 3 (DARWIN YHA, YOUTH SHACK and MELALEUCA) between trips out of DARWIN to other TOP END locations.
I gave the other 2 a  miss (DINGO MOON on account this small place has the same edge of the CBD general location as YHA and I favoured the latter being a member - CHILLIS because this sister hostel to MELAEUCA doesn't seem much different except guests need to share a neighbouring joint's pool).
I favoured YHA. Converted motels are often inferior to purpose built backpacker joints, but this place was most laid back, had the biggest dorms with small refrigerators and ensuites, most spacious grounds, a nice pool area and several specialist rooms like a reading room, TV room, airconned wet weather dining room with ensuite. It wasn't perfect - the kitchen was a bit pokey, as was reception and it was a 10 minute walk in the heat to the supermarkets and top entertainment area - doesn't seem long, but very trying on a 40C day.
People looking for a party atmosphere will prefer one of the other joints.

A COMPARISON - YHA, YOUTH SHACK, MELALEUCA

MOST RELAXED/LAID BACK/QUIET – YHA

MOST SPACIOUS DORMS - YHA

BEST POOL – YOUTH SHACK

BEST SUN DECK – YOUTH SHACK

BEST DINING AREA – YOUTH SHACK (although not airconed like YHA’s small overflow area)

BEST BAR AREA/PARTY  ATMOSPHERE  – YOUTH SHACK and MELALEUCA

BEST RECEPTION AREA – YOUTH SHACK most spacious. All had efficient check in staff.

CHEAPEST BOOZE – YHA (byo)

MOST TRAVELERS – MELALUECA seemed to have more short term traveling backpackers as against semi-permanent working backpackers.

BEST KITCHEN – MELALEUCLA most spacious and most storage.

BEsT PLATES/CUTLERY ETC – YHA (others ask you to hire eating kit at reception)

BEST BASIC WIFI – YOUTH SHACK. WHA not as powerful, MELALEUCA not free.

BEST AIRCON - MELALEUCLA

CLEANEST – all good but MELALUECLA by a small margin

BEST SECURITY – all good but the night guy at MELALEUCLA seemed particularly conscientious.

BEST FOR WOMEN – YHA and YOUTH SHACK have women only dorms but MELALEUCA goes one step further with  a women – only floor. On reflection, I dunno if this is a big advantage.

BEST LAUNDRY – MELALEUCA

BEST CLOTHES LINES – YHA. YOUTH SHACK HAS NONE.

BEST PARKING – YHA.

MOST SPACIOUS GROUNDS - YHA

POOL COMPARISON

YHA - old style motel pool still good

YOUTH SHACK shot from nice sundeck - spacious dining/lounge upper background. Bar below camera,

MELALEUKA - pool pokey. Good eats/bar area surrounding. My camera u/s - had to borrow this one from TravelBlog


DARWIN BEACHES
As I've said elsewhere, you don't come to DARWIN for the beaches. Not only are they pretty ordinary in appearance, but you also have the threat of crocodiles and (in wet season), deadly stingers. But for what it's worth:

BEST BEACH - CASUARINA

This 6km long stretch of sand towards the north of DARWIN's coast is about the most attractive I saw. Even has a 500m clothing-optional area mid beach. I have a lot more info on this and the town's other beaches on a special BEACHES page.

BEST FAMILY BEACH and MOST ACCESSIBLE - CITY BEACH

This man-made beach in the WHARF/WATERFRONT PRECINCT redevelopment just south of the CBD has no charge, plenty of lawns/shade/nearby refreshments. The adjacent WAVE POOL has a modest charge but the kids will love it. 


BEST SUNSET
DARWIN's coast faces west and has no shortage of good places to enjoy sunset. But my research on the best place to enjoy a not too expensive sunset beer turned up ....

DARWIN SKI CLUB

The water ski club has spacious grounds and seemed to be a favoured spot for Darwinian's to enjoy a sunset beer. Small twin pools, meals, frequent live entertainment are pluses. 
GETTING THERE– the CLUB is just over 4km from downtown which makes for a relatively short drive. There is plenty of parking. Bus 6 goes from downtown right into the adjacent museum precinct but only runs hourly. I caught a more frequent (half hourly) bus 4 which runs along the main road near the museum – jump out on EAST POINT ROAD just past the DARWIN BOWLS CLUB  (this is a little over 10 mins from downtown – the bus driver will know where to put you out) and take CONNACHER ST about 100 m behind the bus-stop. The club is about 5 mins down CONNACHER on the left. Of course if you are keen you could walk from town in about 50 minutes –although  that didn’t seem such a good idea to me in all the heat and humidity of early wet season.


BEST FREE ATTRACTIONS
Darwin has a huge range of touristy attractions. Being a backpacking cheap-skate I naturally gravitated to the FREE ones.

LAKE ALEXANDER AND EAST POINT RESERVE

LAKE ALEXANDER is a former marshy lagoon which has been deepened and cleaned up – cleared of crocs and stingers (with traps/inspections and filters against re-encroachment) and further improved by the dumping of sand to create several extensive beach areas plus plus plenty of surrounding grass/trees, picnic facilities, an extensive kids’ playground, change sheds/toilets and even one of those outdoor exercise areas with my favourite things – chin up bars.

Its kinda a peanut shape – max length north south abt 400m, width varying from around 150m each end to 70m in the middle. There’s plenty of sitting/wading depth water at the northern swimming end close to the sand and it gets to about 2m deep 150m off the beach – a sign said it is up to 8m deep in the southern watercraft zone. The water is salt – refreshed and filtered constantly from the adjacent bay.

LOCATION – LAKE ALEXANDER is in the EAST POINT RESERVE abt 6km north of downtown DARWIN. Head north along the main coastal road and turn left at the big sweeping right hand corner onto EAST POINT RD. Go another km to the RESERVE ENTRANCE GATE. No entrance fee. The lake begins less than 200m past the gate on the right. Plenty of free parking, particularly at the far end.

Without a car, the best bet is to jump on one of the fairly frequent (abt half hourly) BUS 4s and travel 15-20m to the first stop past FANNIE BAY JAIL (the driver will know where to put you off).  Walk back 200m to the sweeping corner across from the jail, walk directly ahead thru one of Darwin’s more upmarket suburbs for about 1km to the Reserve entrance. Bus 6 will get you a bit closer to the entrance gates but runs less frequently.

 Some Other East Point Reserve Venues. When you tire of sunning, splashing etc there are plenty of other venues in the Reserve to spend your time:

-      DEFENCE OF DARWIN WAR MUSEUM – a top attraction but not free. I spent hours wandering around the exhibits of this surprisingly compact place. Has very good audio-visual stuff along with a host of other things. It is towards the far end of the point – abt 2.5km from the reserve entrance (30-35 mins if you walk directly: more if you check other things along the way) and 3.3 from where the east point access road leaves the main (north south) highway. Well signposted. There is plenty of free parking at the museum.

-      OLD GUN EMPLACEMENTS etc – walk around the perimeter of EAST POINT: there are a number of WW2 historical sites with explanation boards. 

-      MONSOON RAINFOREST WALK – this begins about 1km back along the road to the highway from the WAR MUSEUM (well sign-posted). About a one hour circuit. I gained an admiration of the early explorers who had go push thru many kms of this as they approached the northern coast.

-  FANNIE BAY BEACH, the second best DARWIN BEACH I saw, wraps around the southern side of EAST POINT opposite LAKE ALEXANDER and is much more attractive than down by the SKI CLUB closer to Darwin city. Still has the possibility of stingers and crocs though.

 -  MANGROVE BOARDWALK, starting near the north car-park of LAKE ALEXANDER. Well sign-posted. Maybe 30 min return.

DARWIN WATERFRONT/WHARF PRECINCT - CITY BEACH/WAVE POOL etc

Not to be confused with the present operating wharf/waterfront area to the east, this is a redevelopment of the old waterfront/wharf area of KITCHENER BAY directly south of Darwin's CBD and compact administrative area. Good place for a dip, wander around or if you feell like spending, have a shop, drink, feed or visit the WAVE POOL. Walk from CBD in under 10minutes. Bus 14 comes down here. Fair bit of mostly paid parking.

A-CITY BEACH   B-WAVE POOL   C-CONVENTION CENTRE   D-SHOPS/FOOD/HOTELS/CONDOS   E-UNIVERSITY PROJECT   F-FOOTBRIDGE SHORTCUT TO CBD   G-CBD    J-STOKES HILL WHARF(harbour cruise boats, restaurant/bars/some smaller freighters.

Out of image bottom left - CRUISE TERMINAL and FORT HILL WHARF 

MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
(not exactly free: admission by donation - even cheapskate me threw in a coin on account it was my #1 IN-DARWIN attraction)

There are numerous spots in Darwin where you can check out indigenous art; past history including colonial days, WW2 Japanese bombing and Cyclone Tracy; prehistoric and present fauna (not live); items of maritime interest; and the Top End’s link to SE Asia, but this place brings them all together under one roof. And some roof it is – this is a very contemporary and attractive building. The displays themselves are of a top professional and high quality nature. Gets better – most places charge highly for such things but the museum/art gallery asks for a donation only.

I have no passionate interest in any of the above fields but I found the displays fascinating and spent a good 3 hours wandering the joint. I thought the aboriginal dot and bark paintings plus wood carvings, the very comprehensive coverage of Cyclone Tracy plus the life-size reproduction and life history of a 5m croc which terrorised Darwin harbour for quite some time particularly engrossing. Delicious air conditioning

GETTING THERE - adjacent DARWIN SKI CLUB. See up-page for transport info. Plenty of free parking.

Note I didn't get to any of the well known DARWIN attractions like the MINDI BEACH/PARAP MARKETS or the BOTANIC GARDENS. My dance card was kinda full at the appropriate times.

BEST FREE PCs/WIFI + DELICIOUS AIRCON - DARWIN LIBRARY
I found the wifi at my backpackers patchy and in the case of MELALEUCA, not free.
SMITH ST MALL in the south of the CBD has free wifi, some outlets are airconned, but good luck finding a PC (old geezers like me prefer banging away a la the full QWERTY rather than that 2 fingers/thumbs nonsense on minuscule phone/tablet screens).

The Darwin Library is inside the imposing NT PARLIAMENTARY BUILDING in the compact administrative area immediately south of the CBD. (image vp9)


BEST PAID ATTRACTION
Here's the thing, trendsetters. I'm not real keen on paying fer anything - so I gave a lot of places the big miss. But one I heartily recommend......

DEFENCE OF DARWIN MILITARY MUSEUM

I’ve never been whelmed by museums and similar. Nevertheless I have no regrets opening my wallet at this place - it was my #2 DARWIN attraction. I thought it an excellent visit, spending some 3 hours checking the exhibits.  I judge it well worth the reasonable entry fee (even more reasonable if you qualify for the geezers’ discount old blokes like me get).

The museum's entrance is in a modern building containing some exhibits, the theater, other audio-visual aids (which include some great commentary from wartime residents and military people), a nice café and lovely aircon which is welcome in the early wet season (not very wet) HEAT AND HUMIDITY.

Outside over a surprisingly compact area are displays in both sheds and garden-type areas of a range of military hardware (vehicles of all types/firearms/big guns/torpedoes/anti-sub measures etc), uniforms, medals, separate NAVAL, WW1 and VIETNAM WAR displays. There’s a stack of photos and more audio-visual stuff. Sheds tend to be cooled by fan or aircon.

I thought the highlights were the small theatre’s surprisingly realistic short movie (put together with slide-photos and dubbed sound) of the first Japanese raid on Darwin (and I didn’t know this was carried out by the same carrier group which hit PEARL HARBOUR only 6 weeks before), plus the VIETNAM WAR display – largely because the guys shown in the photos were my age contemporaries.

I DIDN'T GO THERE BUT...

....CROCOSAURUS COVE would have been tempting had I not already lined up a visit to a croc jumping place (image Weekend NOTES)

Thing is, this place right in the CBD would probably be the most cost-effective way to see muggers for people not doing one of the out-of-DARWIN croc places. And as you can see, you can even swim in a pool with a live one (fer a lot extra $$$$$). Place has a variety of other outback fauna too.

TEZZA'S CUT RATE CRUISING

- MANDORAH FERRY TRIP

All the guides say do a HARBOUR CRUISE. But the prices of same were a bit out of my league. I thought SEALINK's ferry across the wide bay to MANDORAH would be a cheap substitute and give me somewhere new to look at between legs. Didn't quite turn out like that...but still a good day. I have a page HERE.

MANDORAH PIER - ferry way down there on account of low tide on an 8m tidal-variation day.

- TIWI ISLAND FERRY TRIP

Anyone who goes to DARWIN is so close to the TIWIS he/she is nuts not visiting IMHO. Once again the cost of organised tours was a bit eye-watering so I jumped on SEALINK for the 60km each-way trip. 

The TIWIS are a bit of a closed shop, which restricted my tour somewhat and made the visit a bit of a hoot. More info HERE.

The TIWI ferry handles the tidal-range problem by using front gangway onto the beach.

BEST VALUE OUT OF TOWN TOURS

Being wet season, a lot of the tours were not running. However you can still do trips to TOP END icons like KAKADU and LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARKS. Naturally elcheapo me scoured the websites for BEST VALUE. What I found was.........

#1 - WAYOUTBACK TOURS' ONE DAY LITCHFIELD TRIP

This is a winner. At less than $100 it was way cheaper than competitive day trips, but the vehicle, food, leadership/commentary and venues were first rate. Downsides - no morning or afternoon tea included: but you call in at roadhouses where you can purchase same. And some of the more expensive tours include a CROC JUMPING stop off on the way down.

WANGI FALLS - really good plunge pool and falls, but not my #1 LITCHFIELD location.

#2 - TERRITORY EXPEDITIONS' 2 DAY KAKADU TRIP

Some of the most attractive online KAKADU trips were not running in wet season. But this one tends to run all year and seemed best value of those available - largely because it includes the rather expensive KAKAUDU ENTRANCE FEEE in the price (note LITCHFIELD has no entrance fee for non-campers) and it has accommodation at a rather good campsite rather than aircon backpacker-style or better (I personally prefer camping - maybe if it had been raining I would have thought otherwise, but early wet season usually sees little rain). 

Seems heretical (is that a word?) but this trip did include an ADELAIDE R JUMPING CROC cruise on the way into KAKADU. Not even at the main location - but already the highlight of the trip.

IS LITCHFIELD BETTER THAN KAKADU?

Well better value yeah - but KAKADU is so big that it beats LITCHFIELD hands down as far as VARIETY of attractions is concerned. One thing for sure, there is no way I'd do a KAKADU one day trip - there is so much to see and distances are so great that even my 2 day trip had to miss certain things.

I'll do a page each on LITCHFIELD and KAKADU when I get the chance.

MY OTHER TOP END DESTINATIONS

KATHERINE (NIITMILUK) GORGE

You can do this great place as a tour out of DARWIN too - but the cost was way above my pension grade. So I hopped into a GREYHOUND bus and went down to KATHERINE town, found out there was no shuttle transfers to the GORGES, so hitch-hiked the 32km and camped 3 nights in the fabulous campground. The GORGES were fabulous - I'll do a page when I get the chance.

Cruising GORGE 2.

MATARANKA THERMAL POOLS

Having gone several hundred kms south of DARWIN, I searched around for another place with camping - and accessible by GREYHOUND.

The thermal pool at MATARANKA HOMESTEAD was excellent.....

....as was the nearby BITTER SPRINGS. 

GETTING AROUND DARWIN FOR BUDGET TRAVELERS
Darwin's inner area is pretty compact and so WALKING is a good option, although damn hot early wet season. But the spread-out nature of suburban areas mean that THE BUS is the go.

This is a pretty good service, although not too many buses run after abt 2000. It's cheap - with a whole bunch of fare options: I found the geezer's tap-and-go weekly worked best for me - at under 50c a trip (and some of those lasted 40 minutes). Prices/routes/timetables on the above link.
Note all buses which come into town go south down the main drag of MITCHELL ST past all my backpackers, the main entertainment zone and COLES supermart. After stopping at the CITY INTERCHANGE in the ADMINISTRATIVE ZONE end of town, they all leave by going north up CAVENAGH ST past WOOLWORTHS supermart.
Not all buses come into town - CASUARINA INTERCHANGE and PALMERSTON INTERCHANGE have a smaller number of local services. The former is a good one with the big CASUARINA SQUARE REGIONAL SHOPPING MALL adjacent the interchange. The mall has a bunch of shopping options not found in the CBD. Buses 4 and 10 will get you there from downtown.

THE BUDGET TRAVELERS GUIDE TO GETTING TO DARWIN (and away)

I waited for a dirt cheap JETSTAR special fare SYDNEY to DARWIN - got one at less than $90 each way - a bit extra because I had to take a bigger check-in-bag on account I had to pack my tent, camping mattress and pillow. Trouble is JETSTAR got into DARWIN around mid-night - I figured it would be 0130 by the time I arrived at YHA in town.

The thing I hate most about backpackers is making up a bed in a dark dorm - invariably it is a top bunk to boot. So.......

....I slept at the airport. 

Research at SLEEPING IN AIRPORTS indicated that DARWIN AIRPORT is not bad; reasonably quiet and no hassles from security. So on arrival I selected a quiet area behind a closed money change booth at the eastern end of ARRIVALS-LANDSIDE, inflated my camping mattress and took it easy until about 0530. When I woke I noticed another 3 mattresses set up nearby and 2 other people cutting the zzzs on seats in the area. Hey, tezza the trendsetter!

I packed up my gear, walked abt 1km to the main road and caught the first city bus (#5 abt 0630) into town for $1 - it dropped me 150m from YHA.

Not only did I avoid setting up in the dark/disturbing other dorm occupants but also saved a night's accommodation cost and the relatively expensive shuttle into town (the city buses don't run late). Saving money always warms my heart! And I gotta say my camping mattress/pillow combo is not uncomfortable.

LEAVING DARWIN - I did the reverse bus trip. Had to wait around the airport a fair time because the last #5 leaves DARWIN CBD at 1805. No problem - spent the money saved not taking a later shuttle on beer at the airport bar.



TOP END WEATHER IN THE EARLY WET SEASON
I visited in the last 3 weeks of NOVEMBER. Dry season tends to end some time in OCTOBER. I had GREAT WEATHER - 80% sunshine, rained on 3 days (short sharp showers) and on about 10 nights. Apparently this is normal for early wet season according to locals I spoke to. My KAKADU and LITCHFIELD trip guides said tell all my friends! They say as soon as DRY SEASON officially ends in October tourist numbers drop away and they have trouble filling some tours - often having to reschedule them: this was the case for my LITCHFIELD trip. 
Besides the usual good weather, OTHER ADVANTAGES of early dry season are:
- domestic airfares into DARWIN are heavily discounted.
- so are some many accommodation places (but not backpackers) and some tours. Walk in vacancies are common - often booked out dry season.
- fewer crowds at popular venues. According to our guides it is often hard to find a parking spot at popular LITCHFIELD and KAKADU spots in high season and plunge pools etc are packed. We had no problems.

DISADVANTAGES include:
- some tours and locations shut down (they seem to run on the calendar, not conditions).
- as mentioned: your tour may be rescheduled.
- not as big a variety of tours into popular spots - this seemed particularly so for KAKADU.
- it sure gets HOT. Early wet season tends to be the hottest time of year (not much cloud, sun close-overhead) - I had several 40C days and most others at 35C+ which coupled with the humidity made it feel like 40.

Note at the time of writing (late December) the full wet season has kicked in. Locals told me a typical full wet season day still sees plenty of sunshine, but it rains MORE OFTEN and HEAVIER. However if a MONSOON TROUGH moves in, the TOP END can experience days of  PROLONGED TORRENTIAL RAIN. Roads and locations close due to flooding. Prolonged heavy rain seems to have be the case for 3 or 4 days recently. 
One good thing - with more cloud about it doesn't seemed to have been as hot (low 30s). Although humidity is even higher (can you tell I have been lurking on the BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY website?)

Plenty of sunshine in this shot of the stairway** into LITCHFIELD's FLORENCE FALLS fabulous plunge pool....

....ditto this one of WAGAIT BEACH near MANDORAH

**for those averse to stairways - a fabulous viewpoint is at top of stairs. Also some nice smaller sitting pools in the top area. See the LITCHFIELD PAGE when it's up.


PLACES MENTIONED ON THIS PAGE

DARWIN

OUT OF DARWIN.
The other markers around the KAKADU place marker are some park locations - gives an idea of size of KAKADU. I forgot the ADELAIDE R JUMPING CROCS - abt 25% of the way between DARWIN and KAKADU place markers.

If you see mistakes or have extra information, please post it below. But if you have questions, please ask it on THE FORUM access via THE INDEX. I check THE FORUM most days whereas I seldom revisit individual location pages like this one.