Recreation and culture Darwin, Northern Territory

1 recreation , culture

1.1 events , festivals
1.2 arts , entertainment
1.3 recreation
1.4 parks , gardens
1.5 sports

recreation , culture

mindil beach markets


events , festivals

didgeridoo , clapstick players performing @ seabreeze festival

on 1 july, territorians celebrate territory day. day of year, apart chinese new year , new year s eve, when fireworks permitted. in darwin, main celebrations occur @ mindil beach, large firework display commissioned government.

weekly markets include mindil beach sunset markets (thursdays , sundays during dry season), parap market, nightcliff market , rapid creek market. mindil beach sunset markets popular locals , tourists alike , feature food, souvenirs, clothes , local performing artists.

the darwin festival held annually, includes comedy, dance, theatre, music, film , visual art , nt indigenous music awards. other festivals include glenti, showcases darwin s large greek community, , india@mindil, similar festival held smaller indian community. chinese new year celebrated great festivity, highlighting asian influence in darwin.

the seabreeze festival, first started in 2005, held on second week of may in suburb of nightcliff. offers opportunity local talent showcased , popular event saturday family festivities along nightcliff foreshore 1 of darwin s popular fitness tracks.

the speargrass festival held annually week prior july s first full moon , celebrates alternative top end lifestyle. festival activities include music, screening of locally produced films, screen printing, basket weaving, sweat lodge, water slides, human pyramid, hot tub, frisbee golf, spear throwing, kubb competition, bingo, communal organic cooking, morning yoga, meditation, greasy pig , healing circles. festival occurs @ speargrass property, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of pine creek.

the darwin beer-can regatta, held in august, celebrates darwin s love affair beer , contestants race boats made exclusively of beer cans. in darwin during month of august, darwin cup horse race, , rodeo , mud crab tying competition.

the world solar challenge race attracts teams around world, of fielded universities or corporations although fielded high schools. race has 20-year history spanning 9 races, inaugural event taking place in 1987.

the royal darwin show held annually in july @ winnellie showgrounds. exhibitions include agriculture , livestock. horse events. entertainment , side shows included on 3 days of event.

arts , entertainment

darwin festival

the darwin symphony orchestra first assembled in 1989, , has performed throughout territory. darwin theatre company locally produced professional theatre production company, performing locally , nationally.

the darwin entertainment centre city s main concert venue , hosts theatre , orchestral performances. other theatres include darwin convention centre, opened in july 2008. darwin convention centre part of $1.1 billion darwin waterfront project.

darwin s casino opened in 1979 don casino operating out of don hotel on cavenagh street. present site of hotel , casino on darwin s mindil beach opened in 1983 @ point gambling operations ceased @ don hotel , commenced @ newly built facilities. new hotel , casino named mindil beach casino until 1985 when name changed diamond beach hotel casino. upon acquisition mgm grand hotel re-branded mgm grand darwin, before changed skycity darwin after skycity entertainment group purchased hotel in 2004.

the northern territory museum , art gallery (magnt) in darwin gives overview of history of area, including exhibits on cyclone tracy , boats of pacific islands. magnt organises annual telstra national aboriginal , torres strait islander art award, longest running indigenous art award in australia. magnt manages defence of darwin experience, multi-media installation tells story of japanese air raids on darwin during world war ii.

the darwin festival , darwin fringe festival annual events. range of art galleries including specialised aboriginal art galleries feature of darwin.

local , visiting musical bands can heard @ venues including darwin entertainment centre, vic hotel, happy yess, , brown s mart. yearly music festival, bass in grass, popular youth surrounding area. artists such jessica mauboy , groovesmiths call darwin home.

there have been no major films set in darwin; however, scenes australia baz luhrmann , black water both shot in darwin in 2007

mitchell street in central business district lined nightclubs, takeaways, , restaurants. city s entertainment hub. there several smaller theatres, 3 cinema complexes (cbd, casuarina, , palmerston), , deckchair cinema. open-air cinema operates through dry season, april october, , screens independent , arthouse films.

recreation

casuarina beach popular tourists , locals alike



lake alexander

the city has many kilometres of wide, unpolluted beaches, including casuarina beach , renowned mindil beach, home of mindil beach markets. darwin city council has designated area of casuarina beach free beach offers designated nudist beach area since 1976. swimming in sea during months of october–may should avoided due presence of deadly box jellyfish, known locally stingers.

saltwater crocodiles common in waterways surrounding darwin , found swimming in darwin harbour , on local beaches. active trapping program carried out nt government limit numbers of crocodiles within darwin urban waterway area.

fishing 1 of recreations of darwin locals. visitors around world flock darwin aiming catch prized barramundi, iconic fish region. mary river, daly river, south , east alligator river few of water bodies barramundi thrive.

blue-water fishing available off coast of darwin; spanish mackerel, black jewfish, queenfish, snapper , other varieties found in area , accessible in day trip darwin. lake alexander man-made swimming lake located @ east point reserve. considered crocodile , jellyfish safe, freak outbreak of non-deadly jellyfish in 2003 caused closure brief period of time.

the darwin surf lifesaving club operates long boats , surf skis , provides events , lifesaving accreditations.

parks , gardens

darwin has extensive parks , gardens. these include george brown darwin botanic gardens, east point reserve, casuarina coastal reserve, charles darwin national park, knuckey lagoons conservation reserve, leanyer recreation park, nightcliff foreshore, bicentennial park , jingili water gardens.

sports

the marrara sports complex near airport has stadiums aussie rules (tio stadium), cricket, rugby union, basketball (and indoor court sports), soccer, athletics , field hockey. every 2 years since 1991 (excluding 2003 due sars outbreak), darwin has played host arafura games, major regional sporting event. in july 2003, city hosted first international test cricket match between australia , bangladesh, followed australia , sri lanka in 2004.

australian-rules football played year round. melbourne s western bulldogs australian football league side plays 1 home game @ marrara oval each year. atsic aboriginal all-stars participate in afl pre-season competition. in 2003, record crowd of 17,500 attended pre-season game between all-stars , carlton football club @ marrara.

rugby league , rugby union club competitions played in darwin each year, organised ntrl , ntru respectively. heineken hottest 7s in world tournament hosted in darwin each january, rugby sevens club teams countries including australia, new zealand, papua new guinea, malaysia, , singapore competing. darwin s hottest 7s richest rugby 7s tournament in southern hemisphere.

darwin hosts round of supercars championship every year bringing thousands of motorsports fans hidden valley raceway. located hidden valley, adjacent road racing circuit, darwin s dirt track racing venue, northline speedway. speedway has hosted number of australian championships on years different categories including sprintcars, speedcars, , super sedans.

the darwin cup culminating on first monday of august popular horse race event darwin , draws large crowds every year fannie bay racecourse. while not popular melbourne cup, draw crowd and, in 2003, sky racing began televising of races. darwin cup day public holiday northern territory (picnic day public holiday).