ACTIVITIES FANNIE BAY

Pull up a plastic chair on a patch of Darwin's best real estate. The "Ski Club" is probably the best place in town to stop and settle for a sunset drink. There's plenty of room for everyone to stretch out and enjoy a tipple. Outdoor tables and chairs are spread across the lawns and the sunset view across Darwin Harbour is interrupted only by fairy lights strung between palm trees. It's a great place to take kids, there's a load of lawn and two salt water pools and there's live music on weekends. Friday and Saturday nights, the Ski Club plays host to local and interstate bands. Drinks at this outdoor bar are 'club' in style, inexpensive and in stubby holders. Bistro meals and bar snacks are perfect for the laid-back setting. Officially a hub for water sports aficionados and their guests (the club is home to the NT Waterski Association), visitors are required to sign in as temporary club members in a quick and easy process that's well worth the time and ink.

Park your trailer boat in Fannie Bay and join Darwin's boating and fishing crew. A top spot to talk rods and reels, the Trailer Boat Club organises regular boating and fishing trips and competitions, including the "epic" Bluewater Classic fishing competition. It's the perfect place to meet for social and sporting occasions. It's not all about boating though, land lovers can enjoy the fruits of the fishing at the Blue Marlin bistro, which serves excellent seafood along with steaks and other favourites, and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As the sun goes down, indulge in a drink and gorgeous views across Darwin Harbour. The Club offers membership to boating and fishing enthusiasts, and welcomes non-member guests and visitors to Darwin. It's a great club for the whole family where the adults soak up the serenity and kids can run riot on the beach or in the children's playground, or even cool off in the Club pool.

Opened in 1883, the Fannie Bay Gaol was the major detention centre in Darwin for almost 100 years until 1979, when prisoners were relocated to the new correctional facility located in Berrimah. Now open as an historic site, the integrity of the precinct and the severity of the buildings still convey the oppressive atmosphere for which they were originally intended. The original buildings comprise of cell blocks, a kitchen and wash house, an infirmary, a watch tower, and a 'native section' for Aboriginal prisoners. The infirmary contains the gallows, installed for executions held in the Territory until 1952.

Join the colour and excitement of a day of thoroughbred racing at the Fannie Bay Racecourse. As well as a popular place for a flutter throughout the year, the track is where the Darwin Turf Club hosts the annual Darwin Cup - the biggest day of racing on the Northern Territory calendar. On the first Monday of August every year the annual Darwin Cup is off and racing. Over 8 days large crowds of punters dressed in their finest suits, frocks and fascinators flock to the racetrack for the Northern Territory's premier racing festival. This historic meet has been running since 1956 when just four horses competed in six feature races for a record post-war prize money pool of £235. Today over $1.85 million of prize money is up for grabs during the Carlton Mid Darwin Cup Carnival. Fannie Bay Racecourse is only 7 minutes' travel from Darwin city. The racecourse has a circumference of 1780 metres and is unique in its choice of surface - sand mixed with treated oil substance, as opposed to the traditional turf overlay.