Our family moved to Darwin in mid-1986, after migrating from
Wellington, NZ to Katherine in May of that year. Sometime between my
birthday (5th December) and Christmas we moved into 4 Cunjevoi Cres,
Nightcliff. I can't remember exactly when; I was young. From
then on, my Dad worked on improving the house and garden. Over the
next fourteen years the garden evolved into (in my opinion) one of the
better examples of a tropical garden you're likely to find in
Darwin. A couple of points:
- There was a noticeable difference in temperature when you walked
through the front gate: it was at least a couple of degrees
cooler. And in the middle of the Darwin wet season, you appreciated
that.
- No grass. The green cancer is woefully unsuitable for all Australian
climates, but tropical gardens with large expanses of lawn are
virtually uninhabitable.
- We had a continuous set of native residents: skinks, possums,
blue-tongue lizards, green-tree snakes, honey-eaters nesting
off the balcony: we had it all.
I haven't been back to Darwin since sometime in 2003. My Dad finally
finished and sold the house at the end of 2004. I was the first of our
family back in the city since then, so I made sure to visit the old
house. The owners weren't home, but one of their tenants were. She
opened the gate; I circled the house and took some photos.
Overall, Darwin was something of an experience after so many years. I
always knew I didn't quite fit in, but you need to live somewhere else
before you can really understand why. Fun fact: the local Darwin
dialect has no equivalent word for Bogan. Make of that what
you will; I know what I make of it.
From the street.
A pergoda,
with a formal fish pond.
Old fig
with a home-made aviary: they're using it now to care for injured possums.
Looking
across the pool.
A
variegated pandanus.
The
natural pond.
The
natural pond: closer.
Lilies and
water plants run wild.
Front
garden with Alexandria and Betel nut palms.