The flight to Darwin was not too bad at just under 3 hours. This was an Air North flight and a small jet. As per Qantas, just a small snack and a bottle of water. Hardly anyone used the face masks, although we did use them. Before landing it was somewhat surreal as the cabin crew announced that anyone who did not satisfy entry requirements would be quarantined for 14 days at Howard Springs at our cost.
On arrival into Darwin, it was all very serious. As we had been through Brisbane, we were subjected to a lot of questions about our movements but I have to say, the security staff were very pleasant. No surprises for us in terms of access to the NT - we were ok. But there were hardly any taxis!! We learned later that most taxi and Uber drivers simply wont go to the airport as they are fearful of Covid. A guy from the army on our flight invited us into his cab as we may have otherwise had to wait another hour or so! Very grateful to him, but by the time we arrived to our apartment we were ready for bed as it was about 11pm.
We have stayed at the Argus apartments before and it was fine for what we needed but not the luxury of our previous stays! The location is pretty central to most things. On our first full day, we went to a nearby cafe for breakfast and then we visited the museum. Whilst we had been before, it’s a great free museum to visit with varied exhibits including the taxidermied Sweetheart the croc - a 5.1 metre saltwater crocodile that had been attacking boats in the 70’s.
He was accidentally drowned during a capture attempt. There is also an interesting exhibit of Cyclone Tracy.
We then visited the Trailer Boat Club for lunch. It’s a great water front club with good food. Following that, we went to our favourite watering hole - the Tap bar which is always great for people watching.
Then time to grab some supplies and head back to our unit to prepare for our night on Sail Darwin. This was a fantastic experience - 3 hours on a catamaran with endless champagne and lots and lots of great food which were delivered to you on your beanbag. The drinks, food and service were exceptional, and topped off with a fantastic Darwin sunset, it was a very enjoyable evening. After this, we headed back to the Tap before calling it a day.
Day 2 in Darwin was spent relaxing in the morning for a while, some shopping, lunch and some drinks at the Waterfront (Tim also caught up with a friend from school). The evening was spent watching the sunset at the Trailer Boat Club and then dinner at PeeWees - a beautiful venue on the water with fantastic food. Night time temperature is perfect here at about 26 degrees at dinner.
This brought our stay in Darwin to an end with a departure for Katherine in the morning. We will return to Darwin after this visit.
2025-02-12