Darwin is stuck in one of the corners of Australia that gets almost zero surf. It might be a much different place if we did (crocodiles and toxic jellyfish notwithstanding). And as such we don’t have much of what would be considered stereotypical Australian beach culture up here.
Boating and fishing enthusiasts we have in spades, and you’ll certainly find a lot of people out on the cliffs of an evening watching the sunset with a glass of wine. But as for beach bums sunning on the sand and swimming in the seas? Very little. Even in the dry season when it’s relatively safe to swim (as far as stinging jellyfish goes, anyway), you generally won’t find many people in the water. In fact, I rarely used to swim at the beach either until I came back in 2012, but since returning I have reacquainted myself with the pleasure of taking a refreshing dip down at Nightcliff beach during peak dry season months.
Anyway, as for the surf…well, for a few days a year, when a tropical low pulls through some storms, the waves pick up some steam and all of a sudden the beaches around Casuarina are peppered with closet surfers.
Oh, and someone appears to have left a couch down by the shore. Great for a bit of beach therapy and my hairy woofer was in heaven to find a couch and a beach combined in one sweet spot – but I suspect it will be left to some good Samaritan beach clean up crews to get rid of eventually.
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