Darwin, NT - A Travel Tale from the Northern Territory, Australia

Definitely not the time to go for a swim, I realized, particularly with large crocs being fished out of the water every week. That doesn't stop the hardy Northern Territorians, however – they just wave at salties as they waterski over their heads, casting disdainful looks at great big signs that say: Swim in this water, and your last words may be: “Of COURSE there aren't any crocs in h-”.

But they're a tough lot in the Top End, which may be due in part to the energy-sapping humidity and storms they endure for six months of the year and in part to the fact that their city keeps being destroyed on a regular basis. Cyclones whip through the territory's capital with the regularity of diarrhoea through a backpacker in India, ruining everyone's hairdo and causing people to anchor their pets and small children to lampposts. The city has survived three major cyclones, the worst of which – Tracey - is in living memory. On Christmas Day 1974, the townsfolk awoke to find their town had been flattened by winds exceeding 217km/hr, killing 65 people, and destroying nearly every building. Most of them had only recently been rebuilt after Japanese bombers annihilated the town during WWII.

As I had arrived in the dry season, the chances of me being blown about in a storm were slimmer than Lara Flynn Boyle, but it would have been excitingly terrifying to see one pass through and put the cyclone-proof buildings to the test. I was just going to have to sweat rather than swim my way around the shiny, modern streets that are filled with enough pubs and clubs to keep a backpacker happy after a hard day's sightseeing.

After a morning at the rewarding Territory Wildlife Park, being followed by young walleroos and watching stingrays swim over my head in the aquarium, I took a walk along the travellers' mecca that is Mitchell Street, lined with an extravagant number of hostels, travel agents and bars. But it was to the wharf that I later retired following a suitably cultural afternoon at the acclaimed museum. This surprisingly large and swanky museum is home to Sweetheart, the largest saltwater croc caught in local waters. The 5m long, 780 kg beast is terrifying, even stuffed. No less chilling is the display of the dreaded box jellyfish and other painful death-inducing species found in the area, bit it was the darkened room playing a recording made when Cyclone Tracey came to town that was most disturbing.

Sitting on the busy wharf later on, I gazed out at the illuminated sea rippling with fish and rays swarming around the chips being chucked off the pier by hordes of children and intrigued tourists. The pier is a hive of activity every evening, with people of all ages coming here to buy cheap Asian food, fish and chips, and even the odd pearl necklace. I sat back with a cool beer and enjoyed the warm night, trying to come to grips with the fact that Indonesia was just over the horizon. The city has strong ties with Asia, which is no surprise given that it's closer to East Timor than it is to Sydney, and an eastern influence mixes with its frontier history to give it a feel quite different to any other state capital.

The next morning, I was up early to get to Doctor's Gully for high tide, where I was promised the unusual experience of hand-feeding Mighty White to hundreds of exotic fish and rays as they swarmed around my ankles. The walk to Aquascene happily took me along the beautiful esplanade, passing the parliament and military museum, with views out to Melville Island and the Timor Sea beyond, but it was too hot to sit in the sun for too long. It was an overheated me who watched giant milkfish play volleyball with bread rolls, one of the many unusual attractions that Darwin is full of. Wandering around the palm-tree lined streets, random finds such as WWII oil storage tunnels and the Tree of Knowledge constantly appeared unexpectedly.

Whilst there was plenty in the relaxed tropical city to keep me occupied, Darwin is also the ideal base to explore the World heritage-listed Kakadu national park, canoe in Katherine Gorge and swim under waterfalls in Litchfield, and I didn't want to miss out on a crocodile cruise – if I wasn't brave enough to swim with them, the least I could do was wave at them as I zoomed past on a boat.