I had a chance to visit Darwin on March 2009. This time, only Noy and I went together without any of our friends and entourage. When I asked some of my friends who love travelling if anyone had been to Darwin, non give a positive response. In fact some even ask why I choose Darwin.
To tell the truth, I'm sick of shopping and would love to be near nature. I knew, I knew, some of you must be thinking, why so far, Taman Negara in Malaysia is so much nearer. I choose Darwin partly I had a personal mission to complete my travelling pin on Australia map. I had been going to some other Australia city before and several times transited in Darwin. Plus, I really wanted to visit Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. So when Noy asked where I want to go for our March trip, I chose Darwin and its had bring a good and memorable memories. Plus this trip is totally brought us out of our comfort zone, so much things to learn and new experience gained.
We departed at 10.40 pm on 12 March via Jetstar from Singapore and arrived in Darwin at 4.40 am. Once we cleared the immigration, we proceeded to claim our luggage. Here, there was a custom officer with a dog waiting to do his work. Every passenger will be greeted by the dog and its caretaker (the custom officer) and the dog will start sniffing and following you around. Being a Muslim, being near a dog what more dog that sniff and lick tends to be a traumatic experience. Luckily, the dog only sniff at me. I couldn't imagine if the dog sniff at Noy or come any near her. I just hope that the Australian custom at Darwin be more sensitive on the Muslim travellers and would not let the dog sniff or lick at us. Perhaps they could have warn visitors on the dog issue and have a special counter in case some of them have phobia of dogs. Due to the dog licking at me, I had no choice but to qada my subuh prayer until I had the chance to change and wash myself.
To all my Muslims friends, just be aware and mentally prepare that you will have the same experience here. If you are afraid of dogs, please seek advise from the immigration officer before coming to the area to collect your luggage. This is to avoid any inconvenience or wrongly suspected from carrying anything illegal.
An airport transfer service is easily available at the airport itself. If you are staying in the city area, this is the convenience and cheapest mode of transportation if you do not have any plan to self drive. Do buy a return ticket to save you A$2 per trip. We paid A$40 for return ticket for 2.
We had booked at wotif.com Mediterranean All Suite for our stay in Darwin. It cost us A$109 for a spa room which sleep three. Here are some photos of the hotels.
The hotel has a swimming pool, tour reservation service and a restaurant. Reception time is from 7am to 11pm. Do indicate if you are checking early or later than the reception time when doing booking. They will leave your room key and give you an instructions when you request for the late check in when making your reservation.
This hotel is located at Cavenagh Street which is about 5 to 10 mins walk to Mitchel Street, where most of the happening happen in Darwin city. We choose this accommodation cause its near a bus station and not so noisy compare to those accommodation at Mitchel Street. Another reason for choosing this accommodation is its near a bus station. As we do not drive around while we were there, the hotel is so conveniently located and accessible to public transport in Darwin.
Day 1
We reached the hotel at about 6.30 am and had to wait outside as the reception only start at 7am. The check in time is supposed to be at 2pm. But we were lucky as the hotel staff, Ms Helen has promise to let us check in at 11am. We left our luggage and headed for a simple breakfast of coffee and rolls. After that bite, we headed to Mitchel Street to look see the area. We headed to Cole's to get some groceries for our stay in Darwin. Since only 2 of us, we did not buy much, only some egg, bread, vegetables and rice. We picked up some brochures at travel agents while we were at Mitchel Street.
There are several travel agents that operates internal tours to the places of interest in Darwin like the Jumping Crocodile tours, The Litchefield Park, Fishing Trips, Katherine Gorge tours, Kakadu National Park and many others.
We managed to check in at 11 am as promised. I cleaned up the utensils at the hotel with a sabun sertu that we brought and whipped up some simple noodle for our lunch. Noy meanwhile, unpacked our clothes and take a shower. After the simple meal, we thought of resting a while and plan to go for Darwin city tour in the afternoon. Guessed we were too tired and slept until 4 pm. Ah there goes our city tour plan.
Nevertheless, we change our plan and decided to go to Casuarina. Casuarina has the biggest shopping mall in Darwin. We asked the receptionist (not Helen though) and she told us that probably most of the shop in Casuarina is close at 5pm as its was Friday and the late nite shopping is on Thursday.
Hhhmm, now what to do then? We looked at each other with question mark on our face. Hahahh..serve you right, who asked you to sleep?..that's what trigger in my heart and mind.
Since we are eager to explore Darwin, we headed back to Mitchel Street and surround. We walked till the other end of Mitchel Street and only see some souvenirs shop and eateries joint that were opened. Bars were crowded and noisy. We don't have to enter to hear the noise. I wondered how the people can enjoy their conversation inside there plus the music at some pubs were blabbering loudly.
We reached the Esplanade and decided to stroll there. The weather seem to be in our favour and we can stroll the park with a nice evening breeze and sunset view.
The sunset view taken from the esplanade.
We had to leave Esplanade earlier as its started to rain. We rushed towards the nearest building to get a shelter. Fortunately, the rain stop and as its almost 7.00 pm, we decided to walk back to our hotel.
While I was preparing our dinner - a stir fried cabbage, an omellete and rice, Noy had her bath. I finished cooking just in time as Noy finished. Its my turn to take a shower, while Noy set the table with our dinner. Since its hard to eat outside due to our diet, a simple meal can be very sumptuous at this stage of situation. Noy cleaned up after that while I busied myself reading brochures that we picked up at those travel agent and planning for our next day trip to the weekend market.
I will share more on our trip to the famous Parap Market on my next posting.
Some tips for those who want to visit Darwin.
It is cheaper to take Jetstar than Qantas to fly to Darwin from Singapore.
There is not much activities for children or teenagers in Darwin.
If you are looking for budget accommodation, be prepared to stay in a backpackers type, motel or camping site.
Darwin is the most expensive city in Australia. A can of coke can cost you A$3.50 at most convenience store and a bottle of 500ml mineral water can cost you approximately A$3.00.
Be prepare to expect rain at any time of the day.
Darwin had only 2 seasons - The Wet Season - (Oct to March) and Dry Season (April to Sep).
If you plan to visit Darwin during the Dry Season, do book your accommodation way in advance.
