TRAVEL | AUSTRALIA | DARWIN
D is for Darwin — My A-Z Of Favorite Travel Destinations
And the location of my 18th birthday!
I think I’m going to win the award for the slowest posting of my A-Z Favorite Travel Destination articles. Many others seem to be posting 2–3 destinations per week, and I’m lagging behind big time.
Part of my problem with my D is that I couldn’t decide which one to post. The truth is, I can only recall 3 D locations that I have been to; Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam, both in Tanzania, and Darwin, Australia.
As I was only in the other 2 for just a couple of days, I thought I would post about Darwin as I was actually there for about a week and I turned 18 there.
Darwin is also another stop on my round-the-world sailing trip that I did in 1994/95. I don’t remember much about the city itself, but I do remember that it was super hot and humid!
According to Wikipedia:
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory.
It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and serves as the Top End’s regional centre.
Darwin’s proximity to Southeast Asia makes the city’s location a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin, extends southerly across central Australia through Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, concluding in Port Augusta, South Australia. The city is built upon a low bluff overlooking Darwin Harbour.
It is in these moments that I wish that I had access to my travel journal that I kept while on this trip. Had I known, the last time I was in Canada that I would be writing on Medium, I would have taken them with me. But, c’est la vie, they are safely tucked in my parent's garage awaiting my return. I will get back to them someday.
In the meantime, I have to pull memories from the deep recesses of my 46-year-old brain, and I will admit that they are starting to get foggy!
I do remember, though, very clearly the night that I turned 18. We had one guy on the boat with us from Newfoundland (a province in Eastern Canada), well actually there were two, but this one guy was a real wheeler and dealer. He knew that my birthday was coming up and that we would be in Darwin, and he promised to find the best place in town for us to celebrate.
Sure enough, the night before the big day, he told me that he had managed to get us into some sort of private club. I asked my closest friends to join me, and away we went.
Of course, the drinking age in Australia is 18, as it is also where I was from in Canada, so I wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity to have a glass of wine. This is despite the fact that drinking alcohol was strictly forbidden in the rules of the program!
But, I wasn’t the only one!
We all enjoyed ourselves while tucked away in the club, and despite thinking we were so sneaky and secretive, I’m sure our director knew full well what we were up to, but thankfully turned a blind eye to it all.
It was a really special night, for sure.
We also visited Kakadu National Park which I remember had a huge waterfall. I will admit that I’m not 100% sure if this is the waterfall or not, but I think it is.
And we also camped at a lake for a couple of nights, though I have no recollection of which one it was, unfortunately, and I don’t seem to have any photos of it either, for some reason. But here I am with my tent mates!
One thing I will never forget about pulling into Darwin is the dolphins! Whenever we would come into a harbor, we would ‘dress the ship’ for our arrival. This is quite often done with ships like this as it makes a grand and impressive entrance.
I was one of the ones up in the yard arms and as we neared the entrance of the harbor we were joined by hundreds of dolphins that surrounded the ship to guide us into port. They were jumping and playing all around us, and we all squealed with joy from high up at the sight of them all.
What a fabulous welcoming it was!
I also remember that my friends and I were very excited about the modern conveniences that Darwin had on offer. We had just spent 2 months hopping through the South Pacific, visiting small and barely inhabited islands. Of course, the islanders live very simply, so when we got to Darwin we were all excited about the things we could buy and do.
One major excitement was going to the movie theatre. I know none of us had done that since we left Canada in mid-August.
It amazes me what excites young people as here I sit in Turkey and I’m trying to think of the last time I went to see a movie in the theatre. The last one I recall was in Oaxaca, Mexico back in 2018!
But I have my eye out for Avatar and if I see it, we are going!
While my memories of past travels are slowly fading away, I know that they are being replaced by new ones as we continue our travels around the world. But there are occasions that I will never forget, and turning 18 in Darwin is certainly one of them.
Thanks for joining me on my ‘D’ selection of my favorite travel destinations. I have a few E’s that will be difficult to choose just one from, so I may have to write about all of them.
Special thanks go out to Sam Millichap for starting this fun challenge! Please check out some of the recent articles from other Globetrotters writers that are taking part:
Dan Carlson | Meandering Naturist
Here are all of my favorites in one list:
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