Three years ago when my friend, Sue and I were both here in Darwin, we were truly impressed by a busker we saw at the Parap Markets. He was a good-looking young man, with a good voice, and a good stage presence. We were both immediately convinced he was destined for “greater things”.

To my delight he was back at Parap Markets this morning, still busking, and still in the same place. It was wonderful that he’s “keeping it real”. I dropped some money into his guitar case and was pleased to see others had done similarly.

Staying near the tourist and bar epicentre of Mitchell Street, I’ve heard quite a bit of live music over the last few weeks.

“There are far too many solo male singers with guitars doing cover versions”, I told a friend yesterday as we caught up for a drink. “There’s a lot of American soft rock from the 70s and 80s, and the occasional more recent number. But mostly, it’s lots of white blokes singing songs by white blokes to other white blokes”, I joked.

Spending most of my time in the CBD, I’ve probably missed out on some great local musicians, so if you know of some I could check out in my remaining week, please drop a comment below.

The one thing that’s really impressed me this time around is a large amount of public art on display. Here are a few examples of what’s on offer.