Darwin, the compromising city? The capital of the sparsely populated Northern Territory is in two minds. On the one hand, the tropical city shows her characteristics as gateway to Asia. The city has a cosmopolitan bunch of inhabitants from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds. On the other hand, it is northern part of Australia and although Darwin is not reached that easily, it still belongs to this subcontinent.

When cyclone Tracy razed the city in 1974, it nearly vanished. However, these days Darwin is back as ever before and has turned into a modern energetic city. The city has a sparkling nightlife and extensive shopping areas. You can walk the city main sights in a day but youll need some extra days when you want to see the museums, the harbour site and the beaches. Darwin has two weird but very famous annual events, the Beer Can Regatta (vessels constructed almost entirely of beer cans race on Darwin Harbour), and the Mud Crab Tying Championships. Check out for yourself.

A lot of travellers use Darwin as their starting point for their trips to the nature parks in the vicinity, such as the Litchfield National Park, the Katherine Gorge and the famous Kakadu National Park, that stretches out for a many kilometres between Darwin and Katherine.