Day 58: Darwin
We loved our hotel in Darwin. We could have lived there. Literally – it was a one-bedroom apartment with a view of the harbor. Gotta love Priceline mystery hotels – it’s like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get!
Awesome hotel.
So Darwin is hot. Like, oppressively muggy, super high humidity, sunburn in 15 minutes type hot. We tried to go for a morning walk around the Darwin waterfront, but were quickly chased indoors by the heat.
Shark & jellyfish protected swimming area at the Darwin waterfront. There was actually free Wifi in the park, but if was Just. Too. HOT.
We camped out in the Darwin Public Library for most of the day – air conditioning and fast Wifi was all we needed
Since it was Thursday night, we decided to head over to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market on the other side of town. Even though we had a rental car, we foolishly decided to walk there…did I mention it was HOT? We tried to stay in the shade, but we still arrived incredibly sweaty. We walked around the food stalls, listened to the live music, then found a spot on the sand to enjoy the ocean breeze and watch the sunset.
An optimistic start to our pilgrimage across town – it’s about to get really steamy
Mindil Beach Sunset Market – Darwin
Paella, oysters – dozens of food vendors to choose from – especially Asian cuisine
A meeting of cultures – this band with the digeridoo had both Aboriginal and European Australians and tourists dancing together
Staking our claim the sand
Sunset on Mindil Beach
We trekked back to our hotel as quickly was we could in the dark. After much needed showers, we cracked open a bottle of bubby and enjoyed our final home-cooked meal our lovely kichenette. We’d be camping for the next 3 nights in the Australian bush, so we soaked up all the homey comfort we could.
Raising a toast to our last night in civilization