Darwin

Darwin - Northern Territory's Capital

Darwin is the Northern Territory's tropical capital and is located on the shores of the Timor Sea. After the devastation of Cyclone Tracey in 1974, the city was rebuilt into one of Australia's most modern cities with a multicultural population of over 20,000 people. The city is the Territory's regional centre for mining (gold, other valuable minerals and offshore oil and gas) and tourism, and is considered Australia's gateway to Asia" due to it's proximity to southeast Asia - it's closer to Singapore and East Timor than it is to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth. Its population is composed of roughly 37% Australian, 26% English, 10% Aboriginal, 8% Irish, 7% Scottish, 3% Chinese, with roughly 2% for each of Greek, Italian and New Zealanders, with smaller numbers from other southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, East Timor and Vietnam.

Darwin's climate is tropical, with a wet season (October - April) and a dry season (May - September) and the city is prone to great numbers of lightning strikes, with cyclones and thunderstorms in the wet. The dry season is considered balmy, and the wet, sultry with constant humidity of 70% or more. Tourism is thriving and there is a vital military presence in Darwin, both Australian and United Nations, due to the proximity of East Timor and Australia's role in stabilising East Timor. The city can be toured on foot, by means of the bus services and also by bicycle on the esplanade that rings the CBD. The city has a roughly triangular shape - the older southwestern suburbs and CBD in one corner, separated from the newer suburbs in the northwest corner by the international airport RAAF base, eith the eastern suburbs in the third corner sprawling southwards towards the satellite city of Palmerston. There are major works underway in the waterfront precinct to construct a convention and exhibition centre, including hotels, residential accommodation and public space.

The cosmopolitan, multicultural cuisine available from the restaurants, the stimulating nightlife of the clubs, bars and hotels and the weekend markets scattered throughout the city, with their arts and crafts, street theatre, music and performance artists and bush, poets add variety to this tropical capital's diverse social and cultural life, where you might also find barramundi, buffalo, crocodile and kangaroo on the menu.