Down Under in Darwin

We started our long weekend in the Northern Territory by flying into Darwin on Thursday night. I knew it would be a smaller city than Melbourne, but it's actually very small. You can't swim at the beaches there because of the threat of crocodiles and jellyfish, so they've created this lagoon down by the wharf. It seemed to be a pretty popular place to hang out, and there are several restaurants in the area.

We had dinner and watched the sunset at The Jetty Restaurant, which had a seafood buffet. It was nice to finally be in some warm weather and sitting by the water while we had dinner.

Darwin (and the whole Northern Territory) is so different from Melbourne in so many ways. News is dominated by crocodiles, most people seem to work in the mining or construction industries, the Aboriginal population is huge, and the weather is always warm and humid. It really felt like the Australia most Americans probably picture when they think of this country; it's certainly more similar to what we expected upon moving here.

I got a kick out of seeing road trains. These triple-trailer semi trucks go on forever...up to 50 meters long! It's especially scary when you have to pass one; they say to leave a full kilometer of passing room.

Yes, there is a third part to this truck that you can't see in the picture!

We spent the night at the Travelodge, where they had a really nice pool with a waterfall that we enjoyed in the evening. The next morning, we got some groceries and picked up our station wagon (camping and cooking equipment included) and started our drive to Kakadu National Park. More to come soon...