Kate Dinning: Local’s guide on where to take visitors in Darwin

Kate Dinning has done the hard yards so you don’t have to. Here’s where she thinks you should take your next guests on their trip to the Top End.

I don’t know about you, but it certainly feels like visitor season.

I am so fortunate to have visitors that want to come and spend time here in the Top End again and again – but what do you take friends and family to do, when they’ve done the tourist trail a couple of times over?

I wrote you (and myself) a list, which I tried and tested on my lovely parents last week.

Something I like to take all my visitors to do first, is get their bearings at the Zen Rooftop bar.

It’s 360 degrees, so you can grab a drink and do a lap as you point out your house, your work and important things like the markets and your favourite café – it really gets you some tour guide points.

Deckchair Cinema celebrated its 30th birthday this year. Picture: Kate Dinning

What next? Sometimes we forget about the obvious things we do all the time – have you taken them to a Deckchair Cinema movie?

I’d put my money on it being the most scenic permanent cinema in Australia.

The Deckchair is open 7 nights a week until the wet season creeps back in – and there are local food vendors and a bar.

What a lovely Darwin night.

What about the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens? Maybe they’ve been to the café, but have they actually gone on a walk?

I recently took my mum to check out the Boab Garden, and that was certainly a hit.

There’s a free self-guided walking trail you can follow too, and keep your eye out for the local wildlife.

If you get visitors in the next couple of weeks – a stroll along the Stokes Hill Wharf will be action-packed.

George Brown Botanic Gardens, Darwin, Northern Territory. Photograph: Che Chorley

Check out some of the new venues as you walk, duck into the museum if you visitors haven’t already done it, and then park up and watch as ships come in and out, and planes fly overhead.

What about something a little more… Darwin? Last weekend we hopped on the SeaLink ferry over to Wagait Beach, to the Cox Peninsula Country Club (I recommend calling ahead and making sure the Club’s courtesy bus will be at the other end to take you to the pub!)

It’s a leisurely 15 minutes across the harbour and gives a different perspective of the city as you go, and there’s a very ‘Territory’ venue with plenty of character waiting on the other side.

Sometimes, the best part of visiting a place is living like the locals do! So with that in mind, I added East Point, a coffee from De La Plage followed by a Casuarina beach walk, and a sunrise stroll / high tide swim at the Nightcliff foreshore to the Itinerary.

A casual walk around to the end of East Point gives another great perspective of our small, mighty city – make sure you see all the unique attractions on the way; the mangrove boardwalk, wildlife spotting, sunset viewing spot, the Rocksitters monument, and of course – the WWII remnants.

Most people have probably tackled the Arnhem Highway to Kakadu if they’ve been here a couple of times – but what about all the things on the way?

Stop in at Fogg Dam and do a bit of bird and croc spotting, or pull into Purple Mango Brewery for a pizza and NT Mango beer.

Next, get on board a boat of a different kind, and hire a BBQ boat on the Corrobboree Billabong.

A half day floating on a beautiful billabong with your nearest and dearest is always time well spent.

You can fit up to six people on one of these pontoons, and they literally have a BBQ in the front corner - so you can croc spot and cook while you cruise.

Assuming your visitors have swum at Berry Springs, head on past this time - out to Dundee Beach. It doesn’t get much more Territory than a Big Ass Fan and a Timor Sea lunch view.

I’d love to know your Tourist tips for the visitors that keep coming back? Tell me on our social posts today at @wearelocals_darwin / @TheNTNews