There are a lot of great events you should get to before you kick the bucket, and in this part of the world, I reckon that the Darwin Supercars should top your list.

You see, of the 12 events that feature on this year’s Supercars schedule, there is a high level of sameness.

No matter the venue, the template is copied, pasted, and repeated.

But Mark, surely some other events would be chart toppers? What about Bathurst?

The 1000 is clearly top-tier, but go to the 12 Hour instead to get an awesome Mount Panorama experience.

The Melbourne Grand Prix is great, but put Silverstone or Singapore on your F1 bucket list.

The Gold Coast is a mega party, but head to the GC when it’s not adult schoolies.

Adelaide is fantastic, but I’d go to Darwin instead.

Hidden Valley is a genuine oddity – it’s a permanent track with street circuit infrastructure and a party atmosphere about the precinct – nowhere else on the schedule is like it.

Then there is the racing program – it’s a quality lineup, and this year the scheduling of the Superbikes is much better than last year, so there’s less faffing about during the days setting up and knocking down air barriers.

Then there are the Nitro Up North end-of-day drags – when the concept debuted last year, the number of Supercars folk who hung around was impressive – it’s something you simply don’t get anywhere else.

Quality, quantity, diversity. Tick, tick, tick.

It’s a big event in the scope of Darwin, it’s their Melbourne Cup, and the audience is always engaged with the product – they absolutely lap it up.

Walking around town, if you are near a driver, any driver, the common folk know who they are.

Also, nowhere on the tour does the downtown truck parade as well as Darwin, with the locals rolling up en masse for the spectacle.

Then, the city of Darwin itself is something special.

There’s no other stop on the tour that provides anything like it – the place has a frontier town feeling to it, the vibe is wild west, it just hits differently.

You have to go a long way off the beaten track to capture a feeling like this – it’s postcard Down Under, but at the same time, Darwin is unique in Australia.

It’s something that has to be experienced to be appreciated.

Then there’s the weather – it will be fine and 32 degrees.

I haven’t looked at the forecast, but every single bloody day we have ever raced at Hidden Valley in June, the weather is fine and 32 degrees.

Unlike southern states, Darwin has two seasons: wet and dry, and no matter the time of year, it’s 32 degrees.

I remember once rolling up to the airport with a couple of drivers who got massively excited about picking up an FJ Cruiser, especially because it came fitted with three front windscreen wipers.

“Bah, lads, calm your farm, you won’t be needing those…”

When three water drops landed on the windscreen one morning en route to the track, bang, the wipers were engaged at full pelt… the precipitation was probably overspray from another car’s windscreen washer, but that’s the extent of the bad weather this event has ever had.

What’s the forecast for your neck of the woods this week? I can guarantee you it will be no good in comparison.

If I had one criticism of the Supercars in Darwin, it’s that the motorsport really does get in the way of a good time.

Because of the aforementioned 32 degrees temperature, cold beer is absorbed oh so easily, and there are plenty of options to replenish your amber fluid levels.

Mitchell Street and the whole downtown grid is an absolute hoot, but then if you wander to the waterfront precinct, there are some quality options, even Stokes Hill Wharf has some hidden gems.

The Cullen Bay Marina is top-notch, but the undoubted champion venue is the Darwin Ski Club, it’s the quintessential drinking hole, with an atmosphere that’s as chilled as the ales.

If you go too hard, you could wake up feeling like you were in Bali.

Even if you simply have a beer on the balcony of your apartment, it’s peek living.

One year, a significant earthquake struck late one night, although it failed to wake the partygoers from their slumber, nor topple their earlier constructed empty beer can pyramid …so questions had to be asked about the validity of the seismologist’s readings.

Race car drivers are creatures of habit – at the end of the day at the racetrack, they tend to go back to the hotel, study data and video, before tuning in to the movie on 7mate.

Not in Darwin.

When the Mindil Beach Markets are up and running, every single man and his dog will be there.

It’s a thorough sea of humanity, with these finely tuned athletes chowing down on some disgustingly filthy street food like everyone else, possibly with a side of crocodile jerky.

Want to get your photo taken with a croc? Sure, it’s the Mindil Beach markets, anything goes.

Of course, if you are going to the effort of transporting yourself to Darwin, hanging around for a day or two or three is worthwhile.

Around Darwin itself, there are some cracking attractions.

It’d be rude not to go to Crocodylus Park – you aren’t going to see anything like it anywhere else on earth, while an evening cruise on the bay is simply delightful.

I could go on. And I will.

Museum-wise, the Darwin Aviation Museum, the Museum and Art Gallery of NT and the Darwin Military Museum are must-sees.

Being bowled over by both a World War and a cyclone, the joint has some serious ghosts, which have some incredible stories to tell.

We have previously reviewed the 1934 Qantas Hangar, and if you appreciate cars and bikes, it should be an agenda topper.

Of course, fishing charters are massively popular, while Litchfield National Park and Kakadu National Park are a little further afield, and utterly amazing.

I wish this was a paid ad, but here at TRT, will are all in for being tourists in the Top End – do yourself a favour, and make sure you get to the Darwin Triple Crown before you kick the bucket.