Our entry into the city of Darwin was as dramatic as it could’ve been as we rode some 1650 kms from Alice Springs to here. It was the longest day of the trip as we made it to Darwin in less than a day’s ride. And we’ll be staying here two nights.
Darwin is the capital and also the largest city of Northern Territory. The city sits on one of the northernmost points of Australia. One of the most interesting facts about Darwin is that it had to be almost completely rebuilt 4 times after cyclones destroyed it in 1897, 1937, and 1974, and also one time in World War II after the Japanese air raids.
We had planned to skip Darwin in the original route plan; however, had to include it again as we had to get the bikes serviced here. And glad we did it because by the time we reached Darwin, the Ninja H2’s rear tyre had asmost worn out and the metal wires had become visible, which could be attributed to the 250+ horses at the rear wheel which would give it brutal acceleration at any given RPM in any gear. So we got a new set of Pirelli tyres on both the bikes.
The bikes were promptly serviced in no time and in fact just in time to pay a quick visit to the local race track, the Hidden Valley MotoSport Complex, which was less than a kilometre away from where we were staying. The complex comprises of a race track with the longest main straight in Australia, a 1 km long drag strip, motocross circuit, and a go kart circuit. It also hosts an annual round of the V8 Supercars Championship and also a round of Australian SBK Championship. The manager of the track, Laurie, was kind enough to show us the track and also let us do a few quick laps on the track as well, which we gleefully did under a blistering hot sun. Though we were extra cautious on the track as we didn’t want to take unnecessary risks just halfway into the #powerTrip360. So it was more of a symbolic ride than an all out race to glory.
The later half of the day was spent meeting a couple of local bikers and that led to some funny and awkward situations. First, Sunny was in touch with a local biker who happens to belong to India originally and goes by the name of Rads. He runs his own youtube vlogging channel by the name of ‘myrandomlife247’. I was going to do some photography in the city when me & Rads bumped into each other at a traffic signal and a hurried conversation later, Rads told me that he’d guide me into the city and asked me to follow him. I didn’t hear him properly and thought that he was going to meet Sunny. So I took a different route to city and when I reached the Charles Darwin National Park, I found Rads already waiting for me, which was a bit embarrassing. Also, we ended up spending a little extra time in the National Park, trying to capture the city skyline and by the time we reached at the park entry/exit gate, it was already past 7.30 p.m. and the rangers had closed the park, locking us inside. It was not really an ideal situation to be locked inside a national park with no food or water and among millions of biting bugs. But we were laughing our asses out for the first few minutes before we found out a helpline number to call and inform the park authorities. It took around 30 minutes of wait and 2 calls on the same number, including one with warning that if they don’t get us out of the park in the next 10 minutes, we’d call a friend with a cutter to cut upon the gate and get us out. The trick worked and me and Rads were soon out from there and spent the next couple of hours riding and shooting in the city and talking about bikes and life in general in Darwin. Would’ve loved to explore the city more but had to come back early as we had to prepare and pack the bikes for the next day as well as we’d riding some 830 kms from Darwin to Kununurra and Lake Argyle.
