Not sure what led to me discontinuing the documentation of our travels in my WTF? - Where are The Farrows? blog over 15 months ago (last post was 14 June 2019 to be exact) but it certainly happened. Why I have resumed is not COVID19 related but it is well known to me - I will get to that after I have taken care of my backlog.
Given the passage of time between the actual experiences and me writing things down, it would be a good bet that descriptions will be briefer than those provided in near real-time and only the highlights will make it into print. Enough of the excuses, let’s get on with it…
Darwin
We rolled into Darwin on the 31st May 2019 with the intention to stay put for a couple of weeks in order to soak up the sights, sounds and flavours of the Top End.
Darwin is a pretty modern looking small city (pop ~ 150,000) - primarily because most of it has been rebuilt 4 times in the last 120 or so years: in 1897 following a cyclone, again in 1937 after a cyclone hit town, post-Japanese air raids during WWII and most recently after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy which delivered a direct hit late Christmas Eve / early Christmas morning 1974.
Being located in the tropics, just 12 degrees S of the equator it experiences a tropical climate with a wet and dry season. A period known locally as "the build up" leading up to Darwin's wet season sees temperature and humidity increase and people tend to go 'Troppo' (essentially they go crazy from the heat). Darwin's wet season typically arrives in late November to early December and brings with it heavy monsoonal downpours, spectacular lightning displays, & cyclone activity.
During the dry season, the city has clear skies and mild sea breezes from the harbour and all sorts of weekend and evening cultural events to enjoy. The weather is perfect and it is a great time to be there.
Rather than going into detail about each of the events we attended (mainly because the details elude me more than a year after the fact - that will teach me), I will cheat a little and let some pictures tell the story instead.
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| The 'Top End' is famous for it's Crocodiles. Heather posing with a life-sized sculpture of one of the critters. |
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| Heather peruses items on the menu at The Road Kill Cafe at Mindil Night Markets. Choices include Croc, Roo, & Buffalo Burgers |
The Mindil Night Markets are held every Thursday and Sunday so there is plenty opportunity to attend even if you are only in Darwin for a short stay.
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| After buying some dinner we, along with many others, sat on Mindil Beach to eat as the sun sank into the Arafura Sea |
We also went to the Greek Festival - 'Glenti', where some fine Greek food and music got Heather in the mood to reveal her inner Greek! (see pic below)
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| Heather the Greek! |
We also managed to have an evening at the footy to see my team, the Adelaide Crows, play Melbourne. They won (but they shouldn't have) so I went home happy!
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| Attendance at AFL footy in Darwin is far more relaxed than it is in the big cities! Bring a lawn chair and / or blanket and enjoy a picnic on the hill! |
We were having a terrific time in Darwin but before our planned 2 weeks was up an opportunity too good to refuse presented itself - return airfare direct from Darwin to Singapore for just $270 each! With no need to be anywhere at any particular time, we thought to ourselves, WTF? - Where are The Farrows? should go to Singapore! We bought a couple of tickets, booked a hotel room in Singapore for a week and off we went!
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