Friday, August 21, 2009

Things to do in Darwin

We've noticed this blog popping up in a few travel related forums (linked to it) and thought maybe we should include some information for people traveling to Darwin and the Top End.

Things to do in Darwin:

There are a number of places to visit in the city itself, but it really has oriented itself mostly to people just passing through on there way to Litchfield and Kakadu national parks. The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT is really pretty well done and covers a range of topics from local flora and fauna to Indigenous artwork and history. The Cyclone Tracy exhibit is perhaps the must-see of the entire museum. Might even be worth going to the museum last, so you can see all the places you've visited and how they've changed. The botanical gardens are not far from the museum and offer some nice walks, but it is pretty small.

Aquascene is a place to go feed some fish near the CBD, but we've only walked past it (closed when we there). There is an old fuel storage container near there that has been converted to a rock climbing gym.

We're all for seeing movies while on vacation, and the Deckchair Cinema has a great venue to do this. It's located just below the CBD, and is open during the Dry Season, and part of the build-up.Not far from the Deckchair are the old fuel tunnels from WWII, but we haven't visited them. We've heard the hours are a bit odd, so you might check when you get here if you're interested. There is a pearling exhibition down by the wharf, David has tried to get Jenni to go, but she doesn't seem interested.

East point is located outside the CBD, and is a nice nature reserve. There is a military history museum there, but we have never been.

You can catch a ferry across the bay to Mandorah from Cullen Bay (or ride your bikes like we've done). There really isn't much there besides the pub. We've heard there is a WWII plane wreckage, but not sure where it is.


Eating in the Darwin:
There are loads of restaurants on Mitchell street in the CBD. Beware, service can be terrible on some evenings, and fantastic at other times. Check out the Noodle House for Asian food, or Shenanigans for pub food. The Moorish cafe on Knuckey street offers pretty good tapas. A walk down to the wharf is worth the view, and the food is surprisingly good (most of the time at least :)). The Cornucopia restaurant is located in the Museum, open for lunch and breakfast, but you might need to make a booking if you're there during peak hours. There are a number of good (and more expensive) restaurants down in Cullen bay; which is also a nice place to get a coffee (and catch the ferry to Mandorah). On East Point there is a restaurant called PeeWees and that is supposed to be good but very expensive. Along the road to East Point there are three clubs: Jet Ski, Sailing, and Trailor Boat club. They allow visitors, and all offer a great view of the sunset. Last time we went the Sailing club had the best food of the lot, but it all depends on who's cooking.

There are several markets. Mindil Beach market is probably the most popular, and runs from the dry through the build-up Thursday and Sunday nights. Another good spot for sunset watching. There are plenty of food stalls (woodfire pizza is quite nice), and shopping. If you are looking to get some gifts for people, then probably do it there. The Parap market runs all year (closest to the CBD) on Saturday morning. There are some food stalls, and fresh food stalls. Nightcliff market is all year round on Sunday morning. It's sort of a hodgepodge of things, food, gifts, fresh fruit. Not far is the Rapid Creek market, same Sunday morning. There is more fresh vegetables and fruit here. If you are looking to make your own food, go there for the fresh stuff.

Quick Day Trips:
If you are willing to make a few hours drive there are a couple of places not far out of town to visit. If you read this blog, you know that we like to visit Fogg Dam. It's free and there are usually plenty of wildlife, albeit mostly birds. Not far is the Jumping Croc tour. Admittedly, this was fun. Look for the one next to the bridge with the tall croc statue. You can also go to the Territory Wildlife Park if you want to see more wildlife up close. It is well done, but expensive. The nocturnal exhibit is particularly good. Before getting to the Wildlife Park there is Berry Springs, if you want to cool off in some croc free springs (at least during the dry). It's easy enough to do Litchfield park in a day, but will require a lot of driving. Here's our entry.

Long Excursions:
Obviously Kakadu is a must. It is HUGE though, so expect to do some driving between places. It would take at least 3 hours to get to Jabiru at the northern end of the park from Darwin along the Arnhem Highway. If you are going to camp at the southern end, drive to pine creek and use that entrance along the Stuart Highway. Check out our entry on this for things to see and places to camp. Litchfield is great too, and some really nice camping spots.

You can keep going past Pine Creek and get to Katherine. Skip the town and go straight to the gorge. From here there are a multitude of options, from simple river cruises to longer excursions. You can canoe up the river, and camp along it, but they only rent canoes for a day, so you will need to find another means if you don't have your own. You can also start a 5-6 day backpacking trip along the Jatbula trail. You need to make advanced bookings to do it though. It's a moderate to difficult hike depending on your physical standing. David was able to do it, so you know it was too difficult.

Hopefully that provides some helpful advice for people coming up to the Top End...or down to the Top End.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Bali and Back

Last weekend we took a little trip to Bali, Indonesia. Some of our friends called this a "babymoon," our last vacation as DINKs (double income no kids). We'd never been to Bali before, and it was little weird that we traveled to this exotic destination over a weekend. Many of the other tourists and visitors traveled there from Europe and Asia on very long flights. Our flight took less time than it did to drive to Kakadu (not too much difference in the cost of fuel and our CRV has far more leg room than JetStar). It's just funny that Bali is in our "backyard."
We had a really good time there, and hope that one day we will get to go back. It seemed like a family-friendly destination too.

We picked a great place to stay called Furama Village and Spa. Each private bungalow had its own pool and outdoor shower.


Jenni within an hour of waking up was asleep again...


View from Furama

The great cornfields of Bali
Jenni said that this was meant to be a relaxing vacation. David was, naturally, skeptical of this, and the first day after lounging around the pool Jenni suggested they go for a bike ride to Ubud. At the hotel they said it would be about a 40 minute bike ride, neglecting to mention it was an uphill bike ride. Yes, we grew up in Colorado, but we've been living in Darwin where we can count the hills on our thumbs. So it turned out to be a little more difficult than we planned. An hour later, drenched in sweat, we stopped at the art museum in Ubud and enjoyed some of the contemporary art work on display. On the grounds there were a number of roosters sitting in little cages. Apparently cockfighting is a very popular past time in Bali (maybe also in the rest of Indonesia). It is pretty violent, with the rooster having razor blades attached to their toes -- but it is part of the traditional Hindu ceremonies so it's been difficult to outlaw. The losing rooster has its foot cut off to make removal of the blades easier. Not sure why the museum had all of these, perhaps it was bring your rooster to work day.

Roosters

Downtown Ubud


Rice fields along the road
We decided to skip the monkey sanctuary, although we could see them right at the gates next to the banana sellers. We heard from other tourists that the monkeys will actually crawl on your back and comb through your hair. We weren't particularly disappointed we'd missed out on the experience. We took a back route through the winding roads, and got back to the hotel in time for a seafood bbq. We thought Australians had mastered the art of the grill, but they've got stiff competition. The next day we hired a driver for the day to take us around to a few spots. The first stop was the rice terraces of Jatiluwih.

After that our guide took us to a large Temple on a lake. Not sure what the name of this one was. It looked very beautiful in the fog coming off the lake. Even though Bali is closer to the equator than Darwin, because of the elevation it can be quite cold (especially if you are from Darwin).

We then asked our driver if we could do a short hike (still Jenni's idea of a relaxing vacation), and he suggested a walk around one of their smaller mountain lakes. In order to do this though, we needed a guide. It was not unreasonable since we had never done the walk before. Unfortunately there were no guides at the start of the walk. "Don't worry I know where he lives." So we turned off the main road and drove done a very steep bumpy road where they grew oranges. So we got a pretty good view of what local life was like. Turns out there was a bit of a conflict between guides at different villages, because of competition. So we needed two guides to stave off any guide-to-guide combat likely to erupt. They were both very friendly and the most English they knew was to apologize for how little English they knew...which was still better than our Indonesian. The walk took us around Danau Tamblingan. Where we visited several temples, including a large one in the village at the end. The large one reminded us a lot of Angkor, which isn't surprising given the Hindu and Buddhist influences throughout South East Asia.


Part of the reason for the timing of our trip was we had a friend from work who was returning to Bali for his son and daughter's tooth filing ceremony. Ida is Balinese and living in Darwin with his wife and family. He invited most everyone from work, but we were the only ones who went as far as we could tell. We felt really luck to be apart of it and get to see first hand a ceremony that is becoming rarer and rarer. This is partly because it is a very expensive ceremony to host, costing upwards of 15,000 US dollars. Most of this is just to cover the cost of food. Unfortunately, we could never get a hold of Ida, and had no idea when was a good time to go or where he lived exactly. So we risked it and went to the village and our taxi driver was able to find the place. We had missed both his son and daughter's ceremonies, which was disappointing, but there were still a few others who were having it done. Here is a little video, including David and Jenni in Balinese traditional wear.


David plans on using this to show to the baby when it gets older and say "See your dentist ain't so bad..."


By the end of the trip David had caught a bit of Bali belly, so was feeling ready to head home. What better way for a send off and an upset stomach than a little bit of McDonald's? Hopefully the grease and hormones sucked up some of the bacteria.