Australian Geographic

Top End beginnings

The Northern Territory exudes a kind of ‘don’t give a rats’, ‘she’ll be right’, slightly edgy, larrikin attitude that the rest of Australia is in danger of losing.

It’s not that Territorians don’t have to deal with the same issues that engender insecurity in us all: Darwin property prices are just as overinflated as in any other major city; secure employment is as tenuous; and the cost of living spirals along the same upward trajectory. Maybe the freewheeling, laid-back approach to life is just a front or stems from living way beyond the physical reach of the rest of the country in a dynamic, dramatic and occasionally dangerous climate. It’s hard to know. But the Territory and those who call it home are different alright.

THIS IS MY FIRST time in the Top End and whatever preconceptions I had about Darwin dissipate with every kilometre as I’m whisked by taxi from the wonderfully central international airport to my waterfront hotel. We head along a six-lane highway flanked by utes and four-wheel-drives, passing blocks of industrial and retail sprawl with the occasional hint of a smart suburban estate in between. Gleaming multi-storey office buildings and apartment blocks reflect a cloudless blue sky

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