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Comprising a sixth of the country's landmass, this northern outpost stands distant and distinct. Isolation and climate set it apart. After all, Darwin is much nearer Indonesia than other Australian capitals, and the city's population reflects a wide range of ethnicity. This flows on, of course, into the foods that are grown and sold here, the hawker-stall ambience of night markets, and the languid air of the place. Yet the Northern Territory extends almost 1800 kilometres south from Darwin to the South Australian border, one of the world's most inhospitable landscapes dotted with deserts and dingos, mountains and monoliths, but redeemed by amazing sunsets and night skies ablaze with stars. This is not a land to be trifled with. Here beef-cattle stations spread for hundreds of square kilometres, and you can play station-hand on some, or dine under more stars than you thought existed at others. There are bush-tucker tours and camel excursions. You'll bump into eccentric escapees from society, and inevitably encounter the unique 'pull of the Territory' that compels people to return. Yet you could never call this place barren. Here fruit and vegetables grow and ripen almost overnight. Its bananas, mangos, oranges, vegetables and herbs are prized by other states 'out of season' and specialty meats include the local wildlife - crocodile, buffalo, camel and venison. Seafood such as tiger prawns, barramundi, mud crabs and dozens of varieties of fish feature on menus both in Darwin and throughout the country. |
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