Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Northern Territory, including Arnhemland, Katherine, and Kakadu and Litchfield
National Parks. It's open Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:45pm, Saturday
from 9am to 2:45pm, and Sunday and public holidays from 10am to 1:45pm.
CITY LAYOUT
The city heart is the
Smith Street pedestrian mall.
One
street over is the
Mitchell Street Tourist Precinct
with backpacker lodges, cheap
eateries, and souvenir stores. Two streets away is the harbor-front
Esplanade.
In
the
Old Wharf precinct,
a walk from town, are a couple of tourist attractions,
a jetty popular with fishermen and a working dock.
Cullen Bay Marina
is a hub
for restaurants, cafes, and expensive boats; it's about a 25-minute walk northwest
of town. Northwest of town is
Fannie Bay,
where you'll find the Botanic Gar-
dens, sailing club, golf course, museum and art gallery, and casino.
GETTING AROUND
For car and four-wheel-drive rentals, call
Avis
(
&
08/
8981 9922),
Budget
(
&
08/8981 9800),
EuropCar
(
&
08/8941 0300),
Hertz
(
&
08/8941 0944), or
Thrifty
(
&
08/8924 0000).
Darwinbus
(
&
08/8924 7666
) is the local bus company. Its 1-day Tourcard
allows unlimited travel on the network until midnight for A$5 (US$3.25) adults,
A$2.50 (US$1.60) kids 5 to 14. The city terminus is on Harry Chan Avenue
(behind the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas buildings). Get timetables there,
or from the Tourism Top End visitor center (see “Visitor Information,” above).
The
Tour Tub bus
(
&
08/8985 6322
) does a loop of most city attractions
and major hotels between 9am and 4pm daily. Hop on and off as you like all
day for A$25 (US$16) for adults, A$15 (US$9.75) for children 4 to 12. It
departs the Knuckey Street end of Smith Street Mall, opposite Woolworths. The
Territory Shuttle
(
&
08/8928 1155
) is a minibus service that picks you up and
drops you off anywhere in the Darwin area—hotels, attractions, shops, the
wharf precincts, the burbs, and so on. It will come by as promptly as it can when
you call, or you can prebook it. It runs daily, usually 24 hours Wednesday
through Saturday. The fares are low; a trip within the downtown area or out as
far as the MGM Grand Casino and Mindil Beach Sunset Markets will set you
back just A$2.50 (US$1.60) per person.
Darwin Day Tours
(
&
1800/811 633
or 08/8924 1111) has a range of sight-
seeing tours.
Darwin Radio Taxis
(
&
131 008
) is the main cab company. The starting
rate is A$3.10 (US$2), or A$3.70 (US$2.40) on weekends and holidays. Taxi
stands are at the Knuckey Street and Bennett Street ends of Smith Street Mall.
EXPLORING DARWIN
Darwin's parks, harbor, and tropical clime make it lovely for strolling in during
the Dry. It's worth picking up the free map from the tourist office of a Histori-
cal Stroll of 17 points of interest around town. The
Esplanade
makes a pleas-
antly short and shady saunter, and the 42-hectare (104-acre)
George Brown
Darwin Botanic Gardens
(
&
08/8981 1958
), on Gardens Road 2km (1
1
⁄
4
mile)
from town, has paths through palms, orchids, every species of baobab in the
world, and mangroves. Entry is free. Take bus no. 4 or 6; the buses drop you at
the Gardens Road entrance, but you might want to walk straight to the visitor
center (open 8.30am-4pm daily) near the Geranium Street entrance (open 24 hr.)
to pick up self-guiding maps to the Aboriginal plant-use trails.
The pleasant 5km (3-mile) trail along
Fannie Bay
from the MGM Grand to
the East Point Military Museum is also worth doing. Keep a lookout for some
of the 2,000 wild wallabies on the east side of the road near the museum.
