From the minute you get off the plane it feels like you have stepped back in time. Not just the 30min time change, I mean years. Everything slows down so much it feels like you are waking in slow motion. It is the perfect place if you want to step off the hamster wheel of life and take some time out.
Don’t come here and try to rush things or bring your southern city issues with you. It is a place where everyone is mate, and no one stands on ceremony. I even bumped into the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull at the breakfast buffet at the Hilton, no suit just a collared shirt and trousers. Even the locals have a laugh at themselves and quote often tell you that NT stands for not Tuesday, not Thursday, not today, not tomorrow but maybe next time.
On a more serious note Many Australians don't know just how much of an impact WW2 had here. It's is now believed there were 77 attacks on Australia and that is according to Japanese archives. If you are coming to Darwin make sure you take the Morning tour to visit an ammunition store and many sites around town that still stand today. The Bombing of Darwin experience has been laid out very well and the AV display puts you right in the middle of the bombing raids. One of the most interesting points I learned that out of the 3 major Japanese attacks (Singapore, Pearl Harbour and Darwin) the allied soldiers were all expecting to be attacked from the sea, and all 3 times the Japanese came from the land. It was also highly inferred that if the Japanese hadn’t bombed pearl harbour, the Americans would not have entered the war and things may have turned out a lot worse for Australia.
