Day 6: Up to the Top End

I was up well before my 05:00 alarm, as is often the case when I have a morning flight to catch. Unfortunately I wasn’t as well rested as I had hoped, but I got ready and checked out, and was on my way to the train station before 06:00.

It was interesting to see the city waking up, as there’s no way I’d be up at that time if I didn’t have a reason to be. The Coles at Wynyard station was just opening its doors as I walked passed, and commuters coming off the first trains into the CBD were waiting to get their breakfast.

Before long, I was at Terminal 3, and I made my way to drop off my bag. There aren’t any human check-in desks – everything is self-service here. This really speeds things up. Even though it took me a bit to figure out how to get the tag on, there was no line up to wait in, and I was on my way to security within minutes.

I had heard a lot of negative things about Sydney Airport and had arrived a bit earlier than usual to make sure I had some extra time to deal with delays. This turned out to be quite unnecessary – from the Domestic Airport train station to passing through security took less than 15 minutes. Again, Sydney really seems to have things figured out here.

Since I was up too early to take advantage of my hotel breakfast, I stopped to get some food and a coffee at the terminal. This would turn out to be somewhat of a mistake as I was unaware they would be serving breakfast on the plane.

After breakfast, I made my way towards the gate and found a spot with a great view of the apron and runway 34L. Most takeoffs were happening on 34R today but I was able to see planes coming in after landing.

Lots of Airbus A380s serve Sydney; Qantas, Emirates, Qatar and Singapore Airlines, just to name a few. It’s a shame they’ll be museum relics soon, but given the shift to smaller, more fuel efficient planes, the economics just don’t make sense for their continued use. On my way home, I’ll be flying on one with Emirates, so I’m glad I’ll have my chance to experience it before their retirement.

Soon enough it was time to board the 737 to Darwin. We made the long taxi to runway 34L and took off to the north, which provided fantastic views of Sydney on the way out.

I was very surprised to see just how much Qantas includes on their flights for a standard economy ticket. Free checked bags, free wifi, free meals; I was quite impressed. I’m so used to flying in North America where pretty much everything other than your ability to board the plane comes with an additional charge.

The flight took a little over four hours, and was rather uneventful. The free wifi allowed me to catch up with blog posts and watch the latest episode of Jet Lag. Before long, we were on approach to a hot and sticky Darwin.

Since Qantas offers free checked bags, there was plenty of room onboard for carry-ons (and nobody was asked to gate check their bag), but it also meant lots of people waiting at the baggage carousel. This time, mine was one of the last off, but I was still relieved to see it.

I made my way over to the shuttle bus desk to see a sign saying they weren’t operating today. Checking the bus schedule showed a journey time of 90 minutes, including a 50 minute walk. No thanks. I decided to bite the bullet and take a cab, which cost twice as much as the $15 shuttle.

Darwin is the capital and largest city of the Northern Territory, a territory over twice the size of Alberta, with a population of only 250,000. It really puts into perspective just how large and sparse Australia is, even compared to Canada. Over half of territory residents live in Darwin, and I was quite impressed with the city’s skyline, given its population of around 150,000.

My hotel was located right on the esplanade in the CBD. I didn’t have anything planned for the day, so after checking into my room, I went for a walk along the water to try and get used to the heat.

I made my way passed the Northern Territory Legislature, stopping at a sheltered area with benches. Up above were information panels detailing the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in 1942. In my short stay in Darwin, I’d come to learn just how much its went through in the last hundred years.

There’s lots of public water fountains around which is great, since you always want to be drinking in the heat. The water is pretty warm, but its certainly better than nothing.

I made my way down Smith Street, the main pedestrian mall, in search of some food, but found that most places didn’t open until 17:30. It was only 16:00 and I was pretty hungry, so I went closer to my hotel and found a bar that served croc burgers. This was the main thing I wanted to try in Darwin.

The croc burger was… interesting. I can’t say it’s something I’d order again but I’m glad I got to try it. I also had an IPA from Alice Springs, which was nice in the heat. I’ve noticed that craft beer market doesn’t seem to be as strong as back home.

Since there was no breakfast included with my stay, I stopped by the Coles on the way back to pick up some food and made my way to bed.

Today by the numbers

Distance travelled: 1,963 miles (3,159 km)

Steps taken: 9,611

Daily high: 34