Kate Phillips Backpacking in Australia

After the Outback trip I needed some relaxation time; not getting up at 5am, hopping on a bus and then chasing round the countryside trying to see every last thing (not that that wasn’t fun!!) so I gave myself 13 days to enjoy Darwin!!

The morning after the tour (after waving people off at 3am and having the worst bed in Oz to sleep in) I went downstairs to check out the pool at the hostel and it definitely met my expectations!!! So for about 3 days I did nothing but sit by the pool sunning myself (enjoying the warmth after shivverring my way through Melbourne and Adelaide) with a group of people I’d met earlier on in the trip (between Adelaide and Alice Springs) whilst Katy went on a job hunt (successfully).

For about 4 days we had Teresa and Pauric still in Darwin which was cool. We met up in the evenings for our $1 meals and went over to their (posher) hostel one night to watch Braveheart on the outdoor screen. We also spent a day at The Darwin Show with them - checking out the chainsaw race amongst other delights!!

On Sundays and Wednesdays the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets are on. Its about a half hour walk out of town (and a two minute bus ride home!!) and after the sunset you can go and get some food (every nationality you can imagine) and then have a look at all the stalls selling jewellry, souvenirs, clothes, etc. etc. So each Sunday and Wednesday we’ve been down there, having our prawns or Chinese food or roast dinner and crepes for desert then buying little knick knacks to fill our rucksacks with!!!

All in all there isn’t a huge deal to do in Darwin. One day we checked out the out-of-town shopping centre and another day we went down to Mindil Beach to sunbathe (got absolutely covered in sand that was like glue) so yesterday we hired a car (me, Katy and Vicky) for 24 hours so we could whizz about the local area checking out Darwin’s surroundings!

On the first evening we picked Herbert the Hyundai up at 4pm and then headed out of Darwin to check out East Point Reserve and Nightcliff. We took LOTS of photos (well I’m coming home soon so I may as well) and then headed back to Darwin to catch the sunset at Mindil Beach and to check out the markets (for my final time). On the way back I managed to stall the car at the lights when I was trying to be clever (oops) and then after the market we had our second ditzy moment when we “lost” the car in the massive field car park!! For a while we were like “is it that one?” “or maybe it’s that one?” “nah, I think we were further that way!” until we found our little grey car (that has no distinguishing features whatsoever) nowhere near where I was looking!!

After parking the car in Darwin’s tightest spot we went to bed and the following morning we were up bright and early (well I was, katy took some persuasion and nudging) to set off again after manouevering ourselves out of Darwin’s tightest spot!! This day we headed over to Fannie Bay to check out the Gaol which was quite cool. Managed to get lots of pics of us pretending to be prisoners and then we headed over to Lake Alexander which is near East Point Reserve for a swim. Only when we got there it was all slimey round the edges and even though plenty of other people were braving it I wimped out and sunbathed instead for an hour!!

After this we headed along to Casuarina and stopped at the shopping centre for lunch. We didn’t have a clue how the car park worked (after I’d taken a wrong turning and got in there by accident) and I think we eventually ended up parked in the staff parking for K-Mart - oh well, we didn’t get caught and we didn’t have to pay!!

After lunch we thought we’d check out Casuarina Beach and I’m so glad we did because it was really beautiful (and pretty much deserted because you need a car to get there - although we did see some guys from our room randomly) and so we stayed here for about an hour, having a paddle, writing messages in the sand and finding sand dollars (shell kind of things with the imprint of a small star fish in them).

After Casuarina Beach (which we didn’t want to leave) we headed back to Darwin; this time via The Stuart Highway just so I can say I’ve driven at both ends of it (it starts in Adelaide) and had a really quick stop at Port Darwin before it was time to hand the car park. We headed to the garage to fill it up and then didn’t know which side the fuel thing was on, or how you opened it and then what to fill Herbert up with!! A very unsuccessful trip to the garage so we decided to hand it back and pay the fuel charge but the guy persuaded us to drive back round and fill it up (and I hated pulling out of the car rental place in fornt of everyone). So we did fill it up, then drove off and it still wasn’t full so we drove round the block and then pulled back into the garage for the third time!! I think they thought we were staking the place out for a robbery!!! Or that we were three ditzy girls who shouldn’t be allowed in a car!!

Following the roadtrip we went out last night to The Vic again for our $1 meals and a bit of a dance for my (almost) final night in Darwin!! I have today left here and I think we’re going to take the bus to the shopping centre and then tomorrow I fly to Perth where I have 4 days of being a tourist and then its home time!!!

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