“Glamorous” isn’t necessarily the first word to pop into our heads when we think Northern Territory, but we’re forced to eat our words after Lucinda Price, our Lifestyle Editor, showed everyone how to do the NT in style and excess.
The crew eventually had to break down Lucinda’s door when the time came to head back to Sydney, finding her under the table desperately trying to order some last-minute room service and a $400 bottle of NT’s finest champagne. Cheeky gal.
Treating herself to an abundance of cocktails and lavish boat rides, Lucinda’s initial plans for the NT didn’t necessarily pan out.
“I’d love to go camping, first and foremost. You know, in the modern world, we often have a lot of mod cons that I think people do take for granted, so I like to shun them away and get back to basics.”
Check out Lucinda try and fail to get “back to basics”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA8laP17CJY&t=1s
Jelly? You’re jelly. If you want a slice of the action, have a peep at everything Lucinda got up to below with some envy-inducing snaps to boot.
SkyCity Lagoon Room
Cocktails by the pool, cocktails in the pool, cocktails served bloody anywhere you want really.
Situated on Mindil Beach, this lavish vacay joint has everything you need/want on a yay-cation. Room service, drinks in the pool, ridonk weather, the works. If you’re feeling extra fancy, pull a Lucinda and order basically everything on the menu with absolutely zero regrets.
Sunset Harbour Cruise
Darwin Harbour Cruises give you the chance to pull your very best Titanic pose (preferably a pose that happens pre-iceberg incident, it’d be quite morbid to re-enact the last hour or so of the James Cameron blockbuster), and while you mull over your best angles, you can feast on wine and cheese until you’re feeling sleepy and bloated.
Jump on board the Charles Darwin boat (see what they did there?) at Stokes Hill Wharf and bask in the sunset while you shake off the champagne-haze like the battler you are.
Lola’s Pergola
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba9Bo4NnHMk/?taken-at=832706556
https://www.instagram.com/p/BayYLzVA_sj/?taken-at=832706556
Dubbed “the carnival on the water”, Lola’s Pergola pulls out all the stops with its circus-themed bar on Marina Blvd. If you’re averse to clowns, as it appears 98% of the population is, you can always distract yourself with the crazy scene over the water.
Pro tip: Best not to drink too much if you’re planning to go on the carousel, anecdotal evidence suggests that never ends well. Ever.
Squeaky Windmill
The Squeaky Windmill, found in Alice Spring‘s Western MacDonnell Ranges, is perfect for anyone who loves the idea of camping but hates everything about it IRL.
This is as close to camping without actually having to camp as you’re going to get, as it’s essentially a lux hotel room disguised as a tent, situated in the bush (just like real camping!) and of course, as is mandatory with every down-and-dirty camping trip, champagne and food service. It’s a hard life, really.
Bojangles Saloon
While you wouldn’t expect to find any Grey Goose or Belvedere at Bojangles Saloon, you will discover some downright cray cocktails with intriguing names, as Lucinda discovered. Drinks include, but are not limited to, the Brain Haemorrhage, the 4am Thrust and the Hell’s Angel.
More importantly, the entrance to the saloon is through genuine saloon doors, the ones you see in literally every Western movie ever. Splendid. Head down to Todd Street in Alice Springs and have a Brain Haemorrhage with the locals.
Lastly, here’s Lucinda to succinctly sum up her time in the NT:
“God, okay, what can I tell you about Darwin? The people are divine. The food is divine. The boats – what do you reckon I’m gonna say? Divine.”
If you’re craving the finer things in life, get planning here.
