Accommodation in Darwin

[William]

Hello all,

Late August into mid September I'm off to Darwin. Two adults and two teenagers. I've been checking online the accomm sites. Hell, it seems expensive up there compared to say the Gold Coast. Any suggestions from our learned Aulro brains trust will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.:):):)

[dmdigital]

Yes, Darwin is expensive (even for us Territorians:( ).

I can recommend Darwin Airport Resort, Palms City Resort and a heap of others. Don't stay at Cullen Bay as most of the stuff down there is fairly old and rather ordinary now days (badly needs a clean up). Also the Novotel on the Esplanade is another I avoid.

[LSBob]

As it is the Dry season a lot of the accomodation is booked out. Suggest you visit Wotif.com: Hotels, Accommodation, Motels, Serviced Apartments, B&B - Online hotel bookings with instant confirmation (http://www.wotif.com/) which gives last minute deals. Late August might be a bit better as the V8 Super Cars and horse racing events have finished. Not all hotels are on the Wotif site. The Airport Resort is within walking distance to the airport so it is popular with all the night flights.
If you are driving, some of the caravan parks might have vacant cabins, there is one out at Lee Point or the Palms out midway between Darwin and Palmerston, (different place to Palm City Resort which is where the old Hotel Darwin was! (sob)) There is also one a Howard Springs about 25 kms out from Darwin. The Overlander Caravan Park has closed down now, the main 2 are side by side in McMillans road there are others around., PM me if you want their phone numbers.

[dmdigital]

The other thing is to ring Tourism NT (Darwin: 08 8999 3900 or 13 61 10) and ask about a serviced apartment if you're there for a few weeks.

Also note that car rental is mostly on a 100 or 200 km per day limit before you pay per extra km, not an issue if you have the vehicle for a few weeks. Also if you can use a corporate discount plan it often is better.

[Hymie]

The Botanic Gardens serviced apartments were OK last year.
The Golf Links Motel was good, if a bit dated but really close to town.
Buzz Cafe in Cullen Bay is worth checking out, just for the mens dunny!

[B92 8NW]

I forget the name of a place I stayed at, but it was on 64 Cavenagh St. A pretentious moron I spoke to referred to it as being "plebeian" however I found it fine for the one night I was there - it may have even had a four star accreditation.

The staff were very decent considering I arrived at 2.00 am a little tanked, and the outdoor-cafe-thing provided a decent antipokhmelin breakfast the next morning.

[EchiDna]

I'm assuming you aint staying in Darwin itself and will move around a bit?? if so, hire a campervan and move around, not THAT much to see in Darwin anyway, everything else is south! (think litchfield, kakadu, Katherine, Mataranka etc....)

[dmdigital]

... not THAT much to see in Darwin anyway ...

There in lies the difference between Singapore and Gove... for me Darwin is a big place to go shopping :woot:

Actually there is a reasonable amount to see in Darwin. Make sure you go to the Fish Feeding at Doctor's Gully. There's also some good exhibits & museums as well as the Territory Wildlife Park (cousin to the one in Alice). That said it won't take you a week and if its scenery you want then Litchfield is the pick of the places to go.

[Bushwanderer]

Please excuse my OT post (& my ignorance), but what is a "antipokhmelin breakfast"?

[Hymie]

Please excuse my OT post (& my ignorance), but what is a "antipokhmelin breakfast"?

I was going to ask, but I figure ignorance is bliss......

[dmdigital]

Found it on Google: Antipokhmelin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RU-21)

[B92 8NW]

I apologise, loanwords and obscure terminologies are an inherent feature of my lexicon. Whether it's necessary for them to cause digressions from the topic is another question:D.

I'm surprised no one has been game enough to mention the MGM Grand. Do they come any tackier in 1980s glory?:p

[LSBob]

I'm surprised no one has been game enough to mention the MGM Grand. Do they come any tackier in 1980s glory?:p

It dates you, :D there have been one or three name changes since, it is now SkyCity Darwin and has had several overhauls since. Latest upgrade is to expand and use the Little Mindil area. It was an area that no one visited until they wanted to develop it then some groups claimed it was unique for many reasons.
The Skycity is not the cheapest place, it aims for the well heeled older market ie Range Rover owners.

[Bushwanderer]

Ah!

Thanks dm_td5.

One more thing that I've learned. :)

Best Wishes,

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Interesting stuff this... Only 141 days till I touch down in Darwin...

I must make some notes so I know where to point the taxi!!

[dmdigital]

Jon, best option if flying in (I assume from Singapore at 0430 in the Morning) is the Darwin Airport Resort, free shuttle bus, 500m from Airport, very good. OK not the cheapest, but for the first day/night to just crash out is definitely the best.

[Larns]

If you don't mind being out from Darwin a little then I highly reccomend the BP Palms. They have camping groungs to serviced rooms.
Some family stayed in the self contained cabins recently and they were quiet nice. Just remember that in reality your only going to be sleeping there, not spending all day there.................hopefully. And the way I look at it is, you cant see what the place looks like with your eyes shut anyway:D

:twobeers:

[waynep]

I know Cullen Bay has been given the thumbs down in a previous post, but we stayed in one of the apartments (got on Wotif ) there a couple of nights last year and thought it was very good. Nice views and plenty of restuarants within walking distance, plus the beach market. The apartments are equipped with washing machines, full kitchen etc. If you do go there, ask for one overlooking the bay.

[d@rk51d3]

I can recommend the Palms too. Stayed there for about a week, a few years back. Very pleasant.

[EchiDna]

yeah, Darwin Airport Resort is the go if you are arriving via Singapore on Tiger (or whatever) - also very good for your last night prior to departure, so you can return the hire car a day early :)

only problem is getting to the 4x4/camper hire places as they are completly on the opposite side of the airport and take a 15 minute taxi ride to get there. If you get a 'normal' 2wd car, these can be picked up direct from the airport... if you get a britz camper, be prepared for a 2 hour pickup routine, and the same on the return...