Stepping in to the Northern Territories
Early morning sojourn
Our first day in Northern Territories was a one beautiful sunny one that we spent in Darwin. The flight from Singapore to Darwin lasts about four and half hours. We reached in the early hours of the morning, picked up our rental car from the airport and headed for the East Point Reserve which is one of the largest nature reserves in the Darwin municipality.
East Point Reserve
As we entered the park, our first encounter was with a troop of wallabies. They watched us from a distance as we drove along slowly. We stopped and got out of the car to take a better look, but they scampered away when we tried to get close.
The kiosk within the reserve where we had planned to have our breakfast had not opened, so we stayed hungry as we continued our exploration. We walked up to the escarpment at Dudley Point to look out to Fannie Bay and the also the Darwin Harbour in the distance.
Mangrove Walk
Then, we drove around the reserve to reach the Mangrove Boardwalk. As we sat down on a park bench to munch some biscuits, we came across an aboriginal family who seemed to have made the place their home. There were parents, grandparents and small kids as well. A police car drove up, two officers got out and started talking to the family. It looked to us that the police were asking questions. The answers they got seemed to have satisfied them; they got back in to the car and drove away as we started our walk on the boardwalk.
The boardwalk was a perforated metal walkway that meandered through the magrove swamps. It ended in a platform which stood partially submerged in water. As we stepped on to the boardwalk, we could feel it sway gently to the rhythm of the waves.
Our next stop was the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. We headed straight to the café to have our breakfast before we walked to the waterfall and saw the flowers that bloomed. By then it was time for us to head to our accommodation, which was in the Cullen’s Bay neighbourhood.
Waterfront Precinct
The afternoon saw us heading out to the Darwin Waterfront. We had given lunch a by, so now we made a beeline for one of the sea-side restaurants for a drink and some lite bites. After our hnger pangs were satiated, we took a walk along the promenade. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and water that glistened in myriad hues of the same colour. As the afternoon progressed towards evening we followed the path of the sun to watch it go down into the sea in a red ball of fire. And then it was time for the highlight of the day – the Deckchair Cinema .
Deckchair Cinema
There was a huge screen hoisted in the open with deck chairs were lined up in front for seating. We bought our tickets at the counter and dinner from the caterer inside, who, to our surprise was serving Indian cuisine!
The sky had to darken sufficiently before the movie could start screening, so we finished dinner and waited, drinks in hand for the auspicious moment. We forgot even the name of the movie that we watched almost as soon as we walked out of the cinema, but the memory of the experience – sitting cuddled amongst cushions in a hammock like chair, under a clear starlit sky, while staring up at a movie screen, will stay with us for a long time to come.