I arrived in Darwin feeling a little bit under the weather but only having two days to explore there was no time to feel sorry for myself. I had two choices - to stay in bed all day in a hostel that was more than just a little dark and depressing or get up, go out and sweat the old bugs out of the body...so the sweating option it was and it didn't take long to get started. The humidity up there was incredible, after staggering just a few steps you could already feel the effects. But that didn't deter me, my first day was pretty packed with activity.

I started off with a stroll through the Bicentennial park which runs all the way along the esplanade overlooking the sea. There's a few war memorials and other artefacts to look at throughout the park and it's also a nice place to just sit and look out over the water, while you replenish your water stocks. I'd anticipated this would take me slightly longer than it did, so it was onto plan b and after consulting the map I decided I had plenty of time to walk to the Botanic gardens, a couple of kilometres out of town. Thankfully much of the walk was in the shade as by now the temperature was rising and the humidity must have been somewhere over 90%. With water supplies dwindling I made a short pit stop before wandering around the gardens. As botanic gardens go (and I am now becoming a bit of an expert having visited many over the past few months!) these weren't amazing, but had a nice rainforest section and a water fountain that was worth a picture.

From here I carried on my march to the Northern Territory museum that had been recommended to me. The map I had didn't seem overly accurate with it's scaling, so I wasn't sure how far it would be, only that most people had told me you should get the bus there...but who needs public transport when you've got two trusty feet. Along the way I got talking to an old jamaican australian guy who said he knew all about Southampton, where it was etc. I thought he was just blagging it to start with, as I kept a careful eye on my bag and belongings (you never can be too careful, especially in Darwin!), but it turned out he was genuine, had lived in the UK for a while and the previous day he'd been talking to some people who'd got off a cruise ship that set sail from Southampton! The museum itself kept me amused for a few hours, a strangely random selection of collections, from aboriginal art to maritime boats, underwater creatures and outer space (!) but plenty of information to absorb, and it did provide some respite from the searing heat for a while.

Once outside again I decided I should probably start heading back towards town and I managed to find a coastal walking track back along to Mindal beach. In the dry season this beach is renowned for it's sunset markets, with hundreds of tourists turning out to see the many offerings of the traders and try some exotic cuisine. Unfortunately I was there in the wet season so there were no markets, but the beach is pretty nice to look at and stroll along, just watch out for the killer jellyfish...I carried on back into town and rewarded myself with an ice cream and some dinner in the park, watching the sunset over the water and enjoying the fact that I felt remarkably better than I had when I woke up that morning. It seemed my 10k trek in the sun had done the job.

The next day the walking shoes were out again as I wandered down to Cullen Marina on the other side of town. I stayed down there for a while watching the boat activity, although it was hardly a bustling Sydney harbour! And then it was back into town for a more relaxing afternoon, taking in the delights of Darwin's shops and central attractions before a late lunch in the park and then back to pack for my trip to Kakadu and Lichfield national parks.