Showing 1-14 of 14 results
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Australian Aviation Heritage Centre
The city's Australian Aviation Heritage Centre is crammed with aircraft and memorabilia, including a mammoth American B52 bomber and the wreck of a Japanese Zero fighter shot down in 1942. Guided one-hour tours take place at and . It's about 10km from Darwin's centre; buses 5 and 8 will get you there.
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Australian Pearling Exhibition
The Australian Pearling Exhibition has excellent audiovisual displays on harvesting and farming pearls. It covers historic hard-hat diving and modern techniques used in today's pearling industry, which is the Territory's largest fisheries export earner.
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Bicentennial Park
Bicentennial Park (The Esplanade) runs the length of Darwin's waterfront and Lameroo Beach - a sheltered cove popular in the '20s when it housed the saltwater baths, and traditionally a Larrakia camp area. Shaded by tropical trees, the park is an excellent place to stroll.
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Crocodylus Park
Ever wondered where cranky old crocs like Eric retire? (He was removed from Kakadu for nudging fishing boats and stalking anglers.) Or where all those skins for wallets, bags and shoes come from? Crocodylus Park houses hundreds of crocs, as well as a minizoo with big cats, monkeys and flightless birds. Tours, held at , noon and , include crocodile feeding and access to the informative croc museum. Take bus 5 from Darwin.
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Darwin Crocodile Farm
When a croc is taken out of one of the Territory's waterways, this is usually where it ends up. But don't imagine they're here out of human charity - this is a farm, not a rest home, and around 2000 of the beasts are killed each year for their skins and meat. Get here in the early afternoon for feeding time, if you can.
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East Point Military Museum
On the northern side of East Point Reserve is a series of WWII gun emplacements and the small East Point Military Museum. Video footage of Darwin Harbour being bombed is surprising to most visiting Australians (for whom war is something that happens elsewhere); military buffs and historians will delight in displays of wartime weapons, photos and curios.
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East Point Reserve
East Point Reserve, a spit of land north of Fannie Bay, is an unpeopled patch of land reserved for nature. Forage along Fannie Bay Beach, picnic along its adjacent parkland, swim year-round in the jellyfish-free waters of Lake Alexander, or walk the 1.5km mangrove boardwalk (open to ), with signs describing Larrakia uses of mangrove plants. Watch for wallabies that emerge from the surrounding forest late afternoon for a feed.
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Fannie Bay Gaol Museum
The interesting Fannie Bay Gaol Museum represents almost 100 years of solitude. Serving as Darwin's main jail from 1883 to 1979, the solid cells contain information panels that provide a window into the region's unique social history. Lepers, refugees and juveniles were among the groups of people confined here.
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George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens'
It doesn't take a botanist to appreciate the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens' self-guided Aboriginal plant-use walk, children's educational garden and comprehensive exhibition of the Top End's naturally occurring botany - including bulbous boabs, mangroves and coastal habitats.
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Indo-Pacific Marine
This excellent aquarium displays living coral ecosystems and an array of exotic creatures associated with coral, such as sea horses, clown fish and butterfly fish as well as nasties like the stonefish and box jellyfish. Originally established as a research facility into the region's marine environment, Indo-Pacific Marine has stayed true to its educational roots and promotes environmental awareness through its exhibits. Each display is self-supporting, requiring no introduced filtration or food. Flesh-eating fish are fed, however, to prevent them from eating the other exhibits.
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Mindil Beach Sunset Market
Thai, Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Greek and Portuguese meals and snacks are all available at this busy night market just out of town. There are cake stalls, fruit-salad bars, handicraft stalls, and sometimes entertainment in the form of a band or street theatre.
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Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
North of town, in Fannie Bay, is the superb Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Its good range of Top End-centric displays are well laid out in separate galleries. The Aboriginal art collection is a highlight, with carvings from the Tiwi Islands, bark paintings from Arnhem Land and dot paintings from the desert. The gallery also hosts visiting exhibitions, including the coveted National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
Read more about Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
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oil-storage tunnels
On the mainland is one of Darwin's more unusual gallery spaces. Two subterranean WWII oil-storage tunnels built to store the Navy's oil supplies (but never used) exhibit wartime photos.
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Parliament House
At the end of Mitchell St is the boxlike Parliament House, reminiscent of Southeast Asian architecture, that is designed to withstand Darwin's monsoonal climate. Book a free 45-minute tour exploring the cavernous interior. The building also houses the Northern Territory Library.
Showing 1-14 of 14 results
