The run from Katherine to Darwin’s outer suburbs is only 3 hrs. It wasn’t what I would call busy, but there was always traffic in sight front or back, compared to nothing as previously. It was fun riding at around the legal speed limit of 130kph, gathering up and sliding past everything in front. Most vehicles were travelling on around 100kph so there was plenty of overtaking to be had today.
I reached Darwin and had racked up 5000k’s. The bike had been faultless. It was absolutely in it’s element out here. This trip is all about the bike and at this point I was just so relieved. I said a few words of encouragement to my Italian beauty and patted the tank. As I rolled in to the suburbs it was 32 degrees and I thought quickly about how nice the weather had been so far, cloudless every day, great temperatures. I was feeling a bit chuffed that I had made it here, and was already thinking about the next stage of the trip into the west. That’s where the camping would start. That’s where I will be travelling into a real unknown of roads, lands and places.
I stayed in Darwin at Ernie’s, a long time mate from school days. It was nice to slow down for a while.
I found the water front and wharf area’s good to wander around. It felt nice to walk. You can see displays and memorabilia from Cyclone Tracy as well as the WW2 Japanese bombings of Darwin. The Mindil Beach Sunset Markets are a nice place to look and sit and watch. Sunset is a (very) popular time to be there. I ate from The Road Kill Cafe which sells any type of food that one might find on the side of the road including lizard’s and croc’s.
Motorbike Touring 