Darwin

It's 360km from the town of Katherine to the city of Darwin.  I've visited Darwin on a number of previous occasions but it was a 'first' for Carlin.

The city is the most northerly one in Australia and is closer to nearby countries (eg: Indonesia, Timor, PNG) than the capital cities of other Australian States.  Being at the 'Top End' it has a tropical climate which we both noticed at night.  Shivering in our sleeping bags was replaced with sweating!

Darwin has an interesting history.  The Dutch first explored the area and remnants of their visit can be found in local names such as Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt.  HMS Beagle visited the port area in 1839 and the ship's captain named it after Charles Darwin.  The town was established in 1869 but was named Palmerston rather than Darwin.  That changed in 1911 when Palmerston was renamed Darwin.  In 1971 a lack of suitable residential land resulted in the establishment of a new satellite city 20km south of Darwin.  It was named Palmerston.

The city has been destroyed and then rebuilt four times.  Three times by cyclones;1897,1937,1974 and once by the Japanese during WW2.  After the last cyclone (Cyclone Tracy 1974) more stringent building codes were introduced and this can be seen in the design and structure of the current buildings.

With the onset of WW2 some 10,000 Australian and allied service personnel arrived in Darwin to defend the north.  Two months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour 188 Japanese aircraft from the same fleet attacked Darwin.  More bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour.  There were approximately 250 fatalities along with immense damage to the town and its infrastructure.  The attack was the first of  approximately 60 air attacks.   The government of the day was concerned about national public morale and censored information regarding the attacks, falsely reporting only 17 deaths and minimising the effect upon infrastructure.

Remains of the old Town Hall

The Northern Territory (NT) Parliament Buildings

Government House

The city is built on a low bluff with Government House on the edge of the bluff overlooking the harbour

Carlin's eye was drawn to the boat at anchor off the port

Old style stone building in the shopping precinct

There was an Aboriginal festival underway in the park

For those than don't make it to the croc jumping tours at Adelaide River

Some nice apartments along the linear park above the harbour.

Just east of Darwin CBD is the Charles Darwin National Park.  It's a relatively new National Park having only been created in 1998.  Prior to this it was occupied by the Department of Defence and used as an ammunition storage area.  A number of the magazines still exist and are used for display purposes

Buried ammunition bunker in the forest

Much of the park is now covered in mountain bike trails.

We decided to stay at a caravan park in Palmerston along with a large number of 'Grey Nomads' who appeared to be slowly doing the "Big Lap"