Hello from Darwin, formerly known as Palmerston. Does it warrant us calling it Palmy? We found nothing during our search to suggest it has a nickname equivalent to Brissy or Tassie, but there are no cool nicknames for Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Adelaide either. So that’s that.
All the browsing was not a complete waste, though, as I also learned that Darwin has a sister city in Indonesia: Ambon. How neat is that? Also, how neat is the sister city concept? I want to learn more about these things. I am as curious about them as I am about antipodes, if not more. What does a sister city entail? What is Jakarta’s sister city? What are the sister cities of Singapore, Kyoto, Amsterdam, and London? Why do we not learn more about these things in school instead of chemistry? The school curriculum can be silly at times.
For now, back to Darwin. I am typing this on a big bed in a large room at the Travelodge. This hotel doesn’t have soundproof walls, and I can hear our next-door guest being loud all night, only to be drowned out by the sound of a chopper flying in and out.
SBS Food is playing on TV. A black boy, an Asian guy, and a white girl are competing on a cooking show. Gosh, I love the SBS Food channel. When I retire, I will always have this playing in the background at our house.
Once more, back to today’s Darwin—a Darwin food trail day, if I may.
We started the day at Rays Cafe, one of three highly-rated coffee shops near our hotel. There, I had the biggest cup of oat flat white I have ever been served. It cost more than I would pay in Melbourne and was only half as good.
Then we went to Lazy Susan’s Eating House for a proper Yum Cha, where we ate broccoli stir fry, an eggplant dish and Zongzi, followed by fried chicken and Vietnamese Lalor at Ruby. Then we walked to the waterfront (THIS IS THE BEST PLACE TO STAY WHEN YOU VISIT DARWIN!!!!) or some crispy Crocodile and cold Ceviche.
Sleepy and slightly sunburnt, we decided to rest at the hotel before heading out to Mindil Beach Sunset Market for a walk around the market and to watch the sunset on the beach.
For dinner, we went fancy at Pee Wee’s at the Point, where we were unable to see our food because it was too dark, served bottled water when we asked for still water and had to share a dessert because we couldn’t afford two.
Overall, it has been a very full (pun intended) day in Darwin.
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