Visiting Friends in Darwin
Norm Cramp is Darwin’s Military Museum Manager. His story of living and working in Darwin starts as many do, whilst travelling around Australia their car breaks down…
We loaded up the Kombi and headed north toward Darwin. We had friends in Darwin that we wanted to visit. My uncle had been stationed there during the war and I wanted to check the place out.
Our plan was to catch up with friends, leave the Kombi at their place and head to the UK, Europe and America then return to Darwin, pick up the van and continue our trip around Australia – if we had any money left.
As things go the old Kombi gave up the ghost in Camooweal, Queensland, and after arranging for it to be trucked to Darwin, we arrived by plane.
We both got jobs easily and quickly. We stayed with our friends until we found a place of our own. We only planned to stay in Darwin a couple of months.
We quickly realised how much we enjoyed the free and easy Darwin lifestyle, the friendliness of the people and the peace and quiet of the place – after having lived all of our lives in capital cities. Besides that, I became involved in Rugby League and so sport and socialising became a big part of enjoying life in Darwin. I became heavily involved with the South Darwin Sporting League.
What I really loved about Darwin and the NT was ‘going bush’ to do our work, and seeing parts of the NT that not many people were able to see – and I got paid for it!
Over time I was promoted ‘through the ranks’ from Foreman, to Supervisor, Senior Coordinator and then Manager. There’s a lot of opportunity in Darwin.
We decided to stay for a couple more years before going overseas and continuing our ‘Oz tour’ and, although I don’t recall making a conscious decision to stay in Darwin, we purchased our first house.
Coming to Darwin was the best decision my wife and I have ever made. The wet season build-up is tough, but the storms are spectacular and not to be missed. The dry season is busy as there’s always something to do. There’s plenty of open, green spaces, a lack of crowds, traffic, smoke, noise and pollution and we love it.
Darwin has been good to us, we made it our home and have no intention of leaving. I still think it’s the best place in Australia to live.