Eat . Travel . Dive: Mindil Beach Sunset Markets

Hey hey! Gaffa and I are in our last week of work! YAY!!! Only 3 days, 7hrs, 13 mins to go... haha I'm not counting down the time, I swear!

Anyway, Gaffa is working on his packing posts, so I thought I'd sneak one in about the markets in Darwin. We were told about these markets by close friends of Shrimp Dog and Shrimpette who use to live in NT. While we were travelling up through the National Parks and working out our itinerary for the last week, we found out that they were on Sunday and Thursday nights. So we had to rearrange our visits to Litchfield and Kakadu so we could visit the markets. Lucky enough, Kakadu was a quick visit and we made it to Litchfield and to Darwin in time for the markets on a Sunday night - yipeee! I love markets!!

Mindil Beach sunset

WINGAZ 01/05 2011

Mindil Beach is located close to the Dawrin CBD, between the high school and the casino. The markets start on the last Thursday in April, and run until the last Thursday in October. They are on Thursdays from 5-10pm and Sundays from 4-9pm. The markets have amply parking on the grass infront of the beach - when we got there we were amazed at how many cars there were!

Busy Mindil Markets

Waiting on the beach to watch the sun set

What attracts people to these markets every week are the 50+ food stores and the 200+ art and craft stores. Plus you can sit on the beach and watch the beautiful sunset - hence why they call it the sunset markets!

When we got there, we decided to walk around the art and craft markets first. They were mostly jewellery stalls, a few selling concoctions of stop itch sprays, lotions, etc, various art and craft gift type things, clothing....Very similar to The Rocks markets in Sydney.

I did buy a ring for $3, but left it in the showers the next morning. I only remembered a few hours later, and when we went back to try and find it, it was gone! I was abit sad, because the ring was quite pretty. Oh well, it was only $3. This is the only photo I have of the ring - if found please email me... :(

Lost ring :( the cocktail was nice though....

Gaffa bought some fisherman pants, the type that you see in Bali or Thailand. Here he is showing them off.

Before the sun set we got to have a look at the food stalls to try and decide what we wanted to eat. There is a large variety of foods, mainly Asian - Chinese, Viet, Malaysian, Indo, Thai, Japanese, there's also Mexican, Greek, Australian, Indian, Sri Lankan... argh! Too much for me to choose from!!! Then there was desserts and drink stalls, selling smoothies and juices, crepes, ice cream....

As the sun started to set, the masses of people flocked to the beach. The sun normally sets around 6.30pm each night. This is why so many people come to the markets - absolutely gorgeous sunset. So good that Gaffa and I went back the next night.

After sunset, we were getting pretty hungry. First we had a baked camembert for $3.50. Then we decided on Indian. $10 for a take-away tub full of your choice. We had a range of curries, rice and veges. The food was alright, it filled the holes in our stomachs. Then we went to try one of these smoothies, that we saw so many people walking around with. We had a tropical juice for $5.50. A great refreshing end to our visit to the markets.

There were crowds of people with their chairs, blankets and BYO alcohol at the markets sitting on the beach and on the grassy patches. This is allowed, just no pets. There are ATMs at the markets, as most of the stalls only accept cash. For more information, click here.

If you are taking a visit to Darwin and happen to be there between May-October on a Thursday or Sunday night, the markets are well worth the visit. The sunset photos above don't do it justice. I was playing around with my settings and found that the tungsten mode gave me pretty blues (middle photo above). You have to see for yourself the amazing colours that the clouds give off while the sun is setting over the water - reds, oranges yellows, purples, blues...

Afterwards, you can head to Fannie Bay (yes it's a real name of the suburb) and enjoy a dessert at the Cool Spot. (yep the Cool Spot in Fannie Bay, hilarious!) Funny enough, the girl that served us at the Cool Spot also worked at the bar we ended up at the next night. What a coincidence. The bar was Buzz Cafe at Cullen Bay. They serve great cocktails there, and you can relax outside on their funky triangular tables.