Alluring Darwin Australia
TOP END, NORTHERN TERRITORY And that makes me sounds like I'm exploring uncharted waters. It's been almost a month since I have returned from NT Australia and it has been nothing short of a mesmerizing and eye-opening experience. I sat on a flight en route to Darwin on the day I turned 21 to experience what NT Australia has to offer, together with with a group of soon-to-be bloggers who won top honors at Singapore Blog Awards 2013.
To be honest I was a little scared and intimidated by the thought of travelling by myself (okay not quite, but close enough), but I was also beaming with excitement. Taking this trip meant something to me. It meant maturity, as a sign to let my mother know that I have the ability to take care of myself because some how or rather, she's always convinced that I'd get kidnapped on the streets (oh mummy you need to loose up the strings).
It also meant a journey to explore. I have always dream about travelling around the world, especially countries of western culture. The people, environment, nature, and even building architecture are.. different. Vast differences to what I have experienced growing up in Singapore. I have even thought about migrating one day, probably to Australia because it's the nearest country as such, without a 12-hour flight to take and it's closer to home.
We spent most of our days in Darwin, which was only a short 4 hours flight away from Singapore. There are only two seasons in Darwin, with 6 months of dry weather and 6 months of rain. September was somewhere in the middle of the dry season (temperature in the noon is approximately the same to Singapore's) although it could get warmer in October (think 40°C!). But I love it when night falls because it's so cooling. NT Australia was never a place I'd ever thought of visiting, until everything I saw mesmerized me. This place is such a gem.
I didn't know what to expect when I first read up about Northern Territory Australia. Perhaps, crocodiles.. and more crocodiles? Well at least that's what Google tells me. But I have never imagined this place to be so beautiful. Among the things I came to realize during the trip, I learnt to travel with my ears.
Okay so being the studious person myself I read up brochures about the place while we were on the road. And what captured my attention was words telling us to explore more with our hearing and less of our sight. To be honest I didn't gave much thought to it initially - I mean, apart from the occasional birds chirping and leaves ruffling, what else could there be? Then I was awe-struck. This place even hums to you. There's the sweet melancholy and pristine sounds of nature all playing into a delicate symphony (no it's not even the least bit exaggerating).
Honestly, I felt like I have been living my life under a rock an entire time. The closest experience I got to nature was the Bukit Timah Forest or perhaps the MacRitchie Reservoir Park. The widest landscape was conceivably the view down from Genting Highlands Malaysia. The most beautiful night sky was probably the view from a dimly lit tower somewhere in lower Seletar. None which raveled Australia's. I hope I could put what I saw and what I hear into words, but ultimately they are just words. If you were there with me, you could just tell that they are worlds (second thought, it might be even galaxies) apart.
Okay, so I'm trying to be completely unbiased here but just look at this. And a second take. It looks like it's straight out from Twilight. On one of the mornings we sat on a billabong cruise on Yellow Waters in Kakadu. I'm trying not to sound like a complete prude either, but it was such a surreal and mysterious sight seeing fog for the first time. Nights were cold in NT Australia, so were the early mornings where I was totally freezing as our boat cruised into the fog. But as romantic as it may sounds, the fog smelled a little acrid due to smoke from nearby fires which lingered in the air.
Then the sun rose up and the billabong was a dream. You could feel the stillness in the environment as the cruise guide easily spotted all the different wildlife species which I have trouble remembering what they were. Magpies? Okayyy.. I think.. that's a kind of bird...(?) It was such a therapeutic 2 hour cruise which never seemed to stretch enough and everything I saw reminds me of how big is our universe is. And the life-cycle of the wild which we learnt in geography class. There's beauty in the trees that stood out across the wide acres of land and the mangroves that hung low by the billabong.
Omy has filmed us throughout the entire trip and if you like here's an episode taken while we were on Yellow Waters. You have to see it for yourself!
Then the sun rose up and the billabong was a dream. You could feel the stillness in the environment as the cruise guide easily spotted all the different wildlife species which I have trouble remembering what they were. Magpies? Okayyy.. I think.. that's a kind of bird...(?) It was such a therapeutic 2 hour cruise which never seemed to stretch enough and everything I saw reminds me of how big is our universe is. And the life-cycle of the wild which we learnt in geography class. There's beauty in the trees that stood out across the wide acres of land and the mangroves that hung low by the billabong.
Omy has filmed us throughout the entire trip and if you like here's an episode taken while we were on Yellow Waters. You have to see it for yourself!
Australia's sunsets are equally gorgeous, where the sun cascades down the skyline, setting different hues in the skies every evening. The bunch of us are always going around catching sunsets almost every other day, be it on the scenic beach at Mindil Beach, from the deck of a cruise ship, on a mountain top or a camel's back, everyday's sunset shines a different light upon NT Australia.
Darwin's streets are equally attractive. The people are friendly and pace laid-back. Even the roads are pretty with the soft corners of the buildings and pavement by the corners. I mean, even as I sat in our hotel's cafe on the first morning for breakfast, glancing down to the streets with rounded corners are enough to make me swoon with delight. Even street cafes look like a scene out of music videos. Restaurants have high ceilings and at streets at night buzz with music from overflowing pubs. I am officially in love with Darwin, a place so understated for its nature landscape and beauty.
Special thanks to Tourism NT & Omy for sponsoring the trip.
If you would like to read up on all the rest of the bloggers and their experience (including mine!), we are all on My Ultimate Outback Adventure site where you can catch up on our diary, pictures and video entries.
(http://blog.omy.sg/australia-nt-experience/)
Wow, I always find your pictures so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe trip to Australia looks so interesting :)
Hope you had a great time!
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Beautiful..I am mesmerized with the sunset on the road pic...wow!
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oh very very nice pics!! amazing atmosphere! :) kisses
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