"DARWIN AND DISTRICT" a Darwin Travel Page by tiabunna

In September 1839, Lieutenant John Stokes, on the HMS Beagle, named Port Darwin after the young scientist who earlier had travelled around the world with him on the ship (yep, the very Charles Darwin who identified evolution). The ship itself was commemorated with the name of the adjacent Beagle Gulf. It should be added that although Stokes liked the harbour, he described the adjacent country as “most thirsty looking” bushland, with a monotonous mangrove-lined shore and clouds of mosquitos. Maybe he didn’t look closely enough to see the crocodiles also there!

Back in the 1800s establishing Australia’s most northerly city, still the only one on over 5500 km of coastline between Cairns and Perth, proved difficult. It since has faced some hard times (see “General” tips - which I suggest you visit before reading the other tips) but now boasts a population of over 100,000. I also should add that the extent of its urban sprawl makes Australia’s other sprawling cities seem relatively compact in comparison!

Driven by a resources boom and tourism, the city is undergoing a rush of development. I’d also rank it as the most multicultural of all Australia’s cities, with a mixture of people of all shades and hordes of backpackers and other tourists from around the world. Not surprisingly, all this has led to an explosion of both the number and diversity of restaurants and food outlets: it would be absurd to compare Darwin with Singapore, but the combination of a food fixation and tropical climate certainly creates some similarities! Should you be heading there, as with other Australian cities, the real gems are to be found in the places 'around' rather than 'in' the city.

Located just over 12 degrees from the equator, the climate is very tropical with only two defined seasons: a monsoonal “Wet” and “Dry”. Most tourists visit during the “Dry” - as did we, for the Australasian 2008 VT Meeting and the special “VT Survivor” trip. I’ve put some travelogues of photos from the Darwin VT meeting with this page – I’ll also add some for the “VT Survivor” trip on a Kakadu page (though that will have to await our return from another trip). For now, would you care to wander with me through my Darwin page to find out more?