Good morning everybody and welcome to Darwin in the northern territory.
this morning we're going to take a walk down smith street mall.
we're about two weeks away from christmas, actually about 10 days
we're just on knuckey street right now we'll go up here is raintree park uh the area in the evenings
is a little bit busier, we've got some nice restaurants . just past the lights here
they've been put here so you can come and take a photo in the evening
with these decorations all lit up i think there's some lights in the trees as well
quite often on a Saturday morning you'll get the Darwin city brass band playing christmas
carols here. just at the intersection there of smith street and knuckey street
little statue here of charles mcdoull Stuart and he explored from Adelaide to Darwin
fairly tough trip. okay so we'll just head into the smith street mall.
it is fully open .there's no restrictions about the only coid restriction is the check-in app
the northern territory check-in app but they're all open. as you can see it's reasonably quiet
particularly given it's about 11 30 in the morning but a lot of people do come into the city
for work from the outlying suburbs and from the outlying city of Palmerston.
so as you can see plenty of room no congestion plenty of parking.Not free tho.
it's reasonably warm but you can walk up
any of the arcades the fully air conditioned if you need a bit of a break
this area right in front of us now is a fountain but obviously with the construction on the left
no fountain going for the kids at the moment.
so enough shade with these smaller trees and shade sails
or i just had a small break there because the the gimbal for the camera overheated
so we just straighten that up and we will continue on
it will become a little bit busier in the afternoon but being in the darwin city center
not a lot of visitors this time of day we have the larger Casuarina shopping center
which does take quite a bit of business for the shoppers they will tend to go there
but there's plenty of room a lot of nice specialty shops in the mall here.
a few outdoor cafes
now this building on the left which is now the westpac bank
was originally i think the bank of new south wales and it was bombed fairly heavily
in 1942 by the japanese so we're almost at the end of the mall here . this road is Bennett street
now across the road here is the smith street social if you need a refreshment
it was originally the commonwealth bank for 40 or 50 years but now it's a Pub.
all right on our right here it's the charles darwin center which is the Paspali building
from the Paspali pearling company building maybe four or five years old of world-class standard.
just showing you this christmas tree here fully lit up at night.
and we'll just take a stroll down on the
the other side of the mall just so you can have a look at what sort of shops are here.
brand new Tommy Bahama store i haven't been in there to check it out as yet
looks like they've got a pretty good range
and we're just coming up here to what was the Victoria hotel people of my vintage
may remember it as a fairly busy and a very lively place to have a beer in the 80s and 90s
unfortunately it is closed as a Pub right now however there is some interest from
some business groups to get that up and running again, there's an arcade that runs underneath
but a beautiful old stone building
Paul Arnold gallery there one of our local wildlife and nature photographers.
just on the left here is the the Galleria arcade a few takeaway restaurants a lot of
shops in there it's a good chance to duck in and get some air conditioning
there are some vacant areas
and shop fronts on the mall if you're looking to get into a business plenty of opportunity there.
Darwin camera house moving to a better, bit bigger and better premises
around the corner near Delaney's , country and western store so it'd be interesting to
check that out in a week or so when they are fully open.
just on the left is the original Burns Philp
travel center so the building still remains but i don't think the company is in existence anymore
all right so we've just turned left now we're on Knuckey street so we'll just go for a
another stroll just up here a little bit so you can see what this looks like
a few more people getting about as we get closer to lunchtime.
just on our right here is the the Rydges hotel was the site of the original Darwin post office
this Deadly hair dude guy is doing some great work in training up a lot of indigenous hairstylists
and they actually go out to various communities where they would not see a a hairdresser very
often, so yeah some terrific terrific work going on there by the owner of the deadly hair dude
some interesting bikes here i used to ride a bike years ago
so maybe i'll get another one. I will check with my wife first tho.
you've probably noticed a lot of these orange scooters and bikes by neuron
you just need an app on your phone you can jump on one of these and zoom around
if you don't want to walk around in the sunshine it's a bit of fun.
and you will find them in most places around the city.
so we're just going for a look on the other side this is part of the Raintree park
a few restaurants here on the right i think this new one
sapphire is doing quite okay gets very busy in the evenings.
a lot of great asian fusion
style restaurants in Darwin now so whatever style you do prefer plenty of options available.
in front of us is the old woollies building.
and upstairs is the Charlie's bar.
so we'll just go for a little bit of a stroll just down Knuckey street just to the lights here
so yeah if you like to do some Christmas shopping without the crowds
Darwin city center is a great option all the shops are open.
just on the right here is where the new camera house
is going in and of course right next to Delaney's country in western
if you need your lee jeans or some new boots or a hat that's the place to go
reasonably famous restaurant the Moorish haven't been in there myself
but i hear it's a nice place to go
all right so we're just coming up to the intersection here of Cavanaugh street
and Knuckey street massive fishing store across on the other corner there
and the guys can give you all the tips on where
is a good place to go to catch your barramundi. Thankyou and see ya later.