Darwin

It’s the classic story. When I arrived, fresh off a tour from Alice, I was planning to stay for a week or two, but by the end of my first night in town, I had somehow found myself a job and been won over by the sooo laid-back, but get-up-on-the-table-and-dance atmosphere of Darwin. I stayed for three months.

There are two huge pipelines that run along the Stuart Highway into Darwin. It’s rumoured they pump beer direct from the Coopers Brewery in Adelaide – and you could almost believe it. In the dry season here, every night is party night. One evening we even saw a drunk parrot happily stagger along the street and into a café, where it fell over on its side to sleep it off.

I’d heard about some of the weird and wonderful festivals in Australia, and one of the things I wanted to see here was the Beercan Regatta. This is a day when the locals put their empties to good use and make elaborate boats to race in the harbour. Considering that the water is infested with man-eating crocodiles, it’s not something I’d do, but imaginative engineering, athletic ability and a she’ll-be-right attitude seemed to see everyone through. It was a bizarre but brilliant day, made even better by a tasty bbq, good friends and blazing sunshine.

The following week I was then lucky enough to see a completely different aspect of Aussie culture at the Walking with Spirits festival. Presented by the Wugularr community, this is one of the few times each year that visitors are allowed into Arnhem Land without a permit. The setting was stunning: a stage on the shores of a lake, surrounded by curving cliffs. As night fell, the rocks were lit with colours and candles floated on the water. Although a lot of preparation had gone into the music, dance, puppetry and film, the mood was fun and relaxed. We sat on the sand by a fire, kids ran and tumbled everywhere – including the stage – and some of the performers had to be coaxed out of their shyness to play or sing. At the end, all the women in the audience were invited to stand up and join a traditional dance. It was a truly amazing experience.

Those were just the first two weeks of my stay. In the following weeks I had so much more to discover, like the open-air deckchair cinema, the wonderful food at the Mindil Beach sunset markets, beautiful Katherine Gorge, and the stunning swim holes and waterfalls of Kakadu – a national park the size of Switzerland. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Darwin was the highlight of my Australia trip.