Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/111460
drivetime Previous page, and right: Darwin's waterfront development includes hotels, short-term apartments and a public wave pool with a sandy beach; orientate yourself from the air. people in Darwin live. This far north, you can't just jump into the ocean for fear of crocs, but of course the searing temperatures have people crying out for a dip. So the waterfront development not only includes stylish hotels and short-term apartments (Vibe and Medina) with pools, and residential apartment blocks with pools and gym areas, it also includes a public wave pool with a sandy beach surrounded by sun lounges and umbrellas. The cafes, restaurants and bars that have sprung up around the development have given visitors and locals a playground of greenery and cool water that is a godsend in summer when temperatures easily reach the mid-40s. Up here, you could use the pools all year round (except when monsoonal rains are bucketing down). We fly out over the harbour to take in the ships coming and going, and to see how close Darwin is to outlying areas such as Litchfield National Park, which is a wonderland of ancient gorges, swimming holes and waterfalls only an hour and a half's drive out of town. It's among the many reasons why people who live here are happy with their lifestyle. "Before long we're gliding above the city, gazing down at its impressive waterfront precinct." Ancient art infusion The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is an incredible showcase of the many different types of Australian Indigenous art produced in this country, and it's also a walk-through diary of the Territory's history. If you think that Australian Aboriginal art is all about dot paintings, you have a lot more Indigenous art that you need to see, and this is where you can see it. However, when it does come to dot paintings, it astounds me to think that every dot has a place in the overall artwork, and that no dot is just randomly placed. I see one large painting in the gallery that is an extreme close-up of one dot on another of the artist's paintings. It's a world unto itself – kind of like Dr Seuss' planet on a speck of dust in Horton Hears a Who! (I keep that comparison to myself.) One of the most moving sections of MAGNT is the Cyclone Tracy exhibit. Here, in words, images and installations, a complete history of the catastrophe that occurred in Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 has been documented. Knowing how difficult it is for most people to grasp the immensity of the Category 4 cyclone, MAGNT has re-created rooms in homes as they were in the '70s – lounge rooms with chairs, radios, televisions and so on. Visitors can see how Darwin's residents were living before they step into a completely dark booth where the only sound is a recording of the cyclone by journalist Mike Hayes. Harrowing perhaps best describes the installation, as you stand in complete darkness, listening to what tens of thousands of people, holed up in their homes, heard that night. Taking refuge in bathtubs, dugouts 23