Mindil Beach Sunset Market

A must in Darwin is to visit the sunset market at Mindil Beach.  It’s held twice a week but everyone told us the Thursday night market was the one to attend.  It’s so popular that it can be difficult to find parking so we opted to park at the [huge] casino next door and walk over.  The market is right next to the beach so everyone gathers on the beach to watch the sunset and then hits the market to enjoy some food and entertainment.  We grabbed our mango smoothies and headed to the beach with everyone else.  It was our first sunset viewing in Darwin and what a beautiful one it was! At first we wondered whether we’d see much since it was a bit cloudy toward the horizon.  The colours were still beautiful. Then the sun peeked below the clouds, and wow, the sun was pink! There were a few other people watching the sunset with us.  :)  We wandered back in for some food.  JitterBug (8) was so happy with his swirly fried potato thing.  I’m sure it has a better name than that, but I can’t remember what they were called.  We hung around for a little while and watched them slicing the potatoes with what looked like one of those apple twirlers that you attach to the benchtop. There were a couple of entertainers.  We listened to one guy playing the didgeridoo but it wasn’t quite our taste, more like rap music, a very modern take on an ancient instrument.  But this guy was so interesting.  I don’t know what this was called but wow, he could make amazing music with it.  It looks like a wok with a lid! There was a lady with a young saltwater crocodile, she was there advertising for a local wildlife park.  This salty is about a year to a year and a half old.  We were once again amazed at how soft they are.  We got a good look at his feet and saw that only the back feet are webbed.  She pointed out his ears and nostrils and we got to have a good little chat with her. We watched a whip cracking demonstration.  JitterBug had a go and did his best but I don’t think he ever quite got the cracking noise, neither did many of the other participants.  The booth had some beautiful whips and leather goods for sale. There were a couple of booths that had various crocodile merchandise.  Genuine teeth, feet, things made out of their hide.  It all made me cringe a bit.  I don’t want to think about how they get all those crocodile feet. The market is really popular, a huge tourist draw.  We really aren’t huge fans of markets and this is one of the only ones we’ve visited on our trip.  We wandered around with the rest of the crowd and had a good look at all the various booths.  It made for a memorable evening in Darwin.