Strange beaches indeed

I remember my first visit to Darwin in early 2003. 'Where is the swimming beach?' I asked the taxi driver on my way from the airport to the hotel, catching a glimpse of the turquoise tropical sea. 'Can't swim in Darwin, love,' he said, chortling audibly.

It struck me then (and it strikes me now) how odd it is that Darwin has these beautiful stretches of inviting tropical sea that are too dangerous to swim in. If it's not the crocodiles, it'll be the box jellyfish or the blue-ringed octopus that get you. And watch out for the deadly cone-shell snails on the beaches.

But people do walk on the beaches. If you walk with your dog, keep watch for the lurking croc which will snatch your canine in a blink of an eye. The tidal range is large (see 'Cullen Bae'), so when it's low tide, the sand stretches away for hundreds of metres. Surely, one feels, one would see the wicked creatures as they approach. But still, there's a wariness.

Our weekly cycle takes us along the coastline from Cullen Bay to East Point and beyond. On that cycle, we go past Little Mindil Beach, which fringes the casino.

Onwards, past Mindil Beach (site of the beach markets from May to August) and Vesteys Beach, site of the Ski Club, Sailing Club and Trailer Boat Club. Yes! Three separate clubs! And that's just on this stretch of beach.

And yet on, towards Fannie Bay. Fannie Bay has a memorial that celebrates the Great Air Race in 1919 from England to Australia — the planes touched down with some relief, one imagines, after flying 135 hours over 28 days. (Puts our long flight whinges into perspective.) I do love the public art in Fannie Bay. The large bronze jellyfish installation by Darwin artist Aly de Groot is called 'Intertwined'.

From the artist's statement:

The woven jellyfish forms were created using basketmaking techniques along with reclaimed rope that I collected whilst working on a GhostNets Australia weaving project with Indigenous rangers and school children in North-East Arnhem Land. The woven rope forms were then fabricated into bronze by Phillip Piperides.

Once we get past East Point, the beaches become more wild and even less likely to be used by dog-walkers. We love this route towards the mangrove boardwalk ... but more on our East Point adventures in another post.

Nightcliff Beach and Casuarina Beach are about 15 km north of Darwin. Nightcliff Beach has a jetty, which we've been on in both low and high tides.

Casuarina Beach, the location of the Surf Lifesaving Club (yes! another beachside club!), is wide and sprawling and reminds us of far north Queensland, where the sands stretch for miles. Of course we are seeing these beaches in low season, when they're often deserted. During peak season we assume more people would use these beaches than, well, just us.

Having said all this, we do see intrepid people venturing into the sea along these beaches. And jolly good luck to them, I say.