The Seagull has landed...

Back to Darwin

I'm back on Mitchell St in Darwin, it's pouring with rain, but a lot cooler than the last time I was here. I had quite a trip over from Broome, and I learnt a valuable lesson too - don't drive at night in Australia.

On Sunday 25th I was packing up the car in the hostel car park in Broome. A young lad came over and asked me where I was going, when I said Darwin he asked for a lift. He had just come up on a tour bus from Perth, I agreed and we decided to split the fuel costs. My new passenger was Simon from Stuttgart in Germany. He was on his gap year before university and was travelling around Australia solo, like me.

I was glad of the company, and Simon was a nice lad. So off we went at 10:30am, first drama was a bush fire near Fitzroy Crossing, we passed just east of this beauty. I decided before setting off to try the 1039km from Broome to Kununurra in one jump. It was a bit ambitious, and after leaving Hall's Creek after 6pm, we were soon driving in the dark - not too clever.

At dusk all the Aussie cows seem to want to roam around the main road, it was stop-start for miles as I tooted the horn and weaved among these stupid animals. Birds too seem to lose their wits when it gets dark and we hit a fair few on the road into Kununurra. I felt bad, but even cruising at 70km/h we still clipped a few feathers. The night was oppressive and I wasn't enjoying the drive at all. Ahead of us was a huge thunderstorm, how far away I couldn't tell, but it didn't look good.

As it was we missed the storm to our north by a few km, we trundled into Kununurra at exactly 9pm, shaken and dog-tired after that two hour night drive. I've learnt my lesson now - daytime driving only from now on.

Next morning I showed Simon the Hidden Valley park and then we were off to Katherine. We checked out the Victoria River - looking for big crocs, but there was nothing but a cool Danish family, hunting for the same thing. At Katherine we got two beds in a dorm for $19 - cheapest yet. We shared the room with an Aussie who was working in the bush as an employment consultant with the aboriginals. He had to catch a Cessna the next morning at 6am to hold a job session in the south east of the Territory.

So, this morning Simon and I checked out the Katherine Hot Springs (crap), and Katherine Gorge (fair to middling). But the weather has been shit since we crossed over from Western Australia, it looks more like a damp Northern Irish summer than Australia at the minute.

We're now in Darwin, and we had a welcome beer or two in the same hostel I stayed in last time. There should be some good storms in the next few days - the monsoon has finally arrived in the Top End. Sydney in four days - looking forward to seeing V and the big smoke.

Looking east again

My last day in Broome, tomorrow I retrace my steps back to Darwin. I've booked my flight to Sydney: leaving Darwin at 1:30am on the 3rd, taking 7 1/2 hours via Brisbane! But it was the cheapest option at AUS$261 all in.

I've touched the tan up nicely and had a refreshing stay here beside the Indian Ocean. Anyone thinking of visiting Australia should consider Broome, and I suppose the Kimberley as a whole, although it is very, very hot at the moment.It's a better bet in the dry season I reckon. I'll be back with any news of the return trip, I should arrive at Darwin no later than the 27th. See you soon.

Life is a beach

You know, the highlights of this around the world trip so far have been the beaches, from Koh Phangan to the Perhentians, and Broome is no different. Only it is different, it's better than that - Broome is the best place I've been to yet. How the Aussies keep this place so quiet and to themselves I don't know. It is simply paradise.

I've been a total Cable Beach bum since getting here. I'm staying a few hundred metres from this perfect stretch of pure white sand. Because it's the wet season it's virtually deserted, like the rest of the Top End and the Kimberley at this time of year. For you people in NI - Cable beach is like Portstewart Strand, only with the heat turned on.

The town of Broome is a couple of km south of Cable Beach, it too is tranquil and beautiful, with it's ordered little Chinatown and tidy streets. It reminds me of Miami, a mini-Miami, with Cable Beach acting as Miami Beach, although in very small scale, and with no crime. One downside, and it's a very minor one for a bookhead like me - no proper bookshop. Ah well, if it was too perfect it might be verging on the boring.

I spend most mornings catching the sun on the wide beach, about which I'll do the boring tourist information bit now. The beach was named Cable Beach in 1889, after engineers laid the 1650km long underwater cable from Banjoewangie in Java, to Broome. The cable emerged on this beach, and it linked Australia to Europe, the third such cable in operation. Aussies could send messages along these cables to anywhere in the world, at the time it was probably as big a revolution as the internet was in the 1990's.

Ok, enough of that anorak stuff. Hang on, not quite, last night I went to Gantheaume Point, at the southern tip of Cable Beach. At low tide you can see 120million year old dinosaur footprints. I took the Spirit of Doagh onto the sand, and had to get out and ask directions. A big middle-aged Aussie was out with his wife and his dog, supping a tinnie and getting ready to watch the sunset, which is as good as sunsets get anywhere I've ever been. He was in good shape for his age, and very, very tanned. What spoiled him was his tiny nut-cracking, budgie smuggler swimming trunks. He and the missus were very helpful - I was in the wrong place and needed to head further up the point to the lighthouse and the cliffs there.

They even rummaged about in their ute looking for a local map with the trail down to the footprints on it. I couldn't get away from them, and his budgie bulge was making me uneasy. Eventually I slipped away, but again - ask an Aussie for help and you'll get some, plus some more you didn't ask for. They are a credit to themselves, for every dickhead I meet like the lunatic in the Kununurra hostel, there's ten down to earth and neighbourly Aussies to more than even the equation up.

Getting to the cliffs I couldn't find the path down, it was getting late with the sun setting over the sea. I was just about to head back to the car when I saw two heads peeking up from the edge of a red rock outcrop. Two blokes were sitting there having a beer.

"Hi, where's the dinosaur fossils around here? " I ventured. One guy was Aussie and the other a Scot. The Aussie said he wasn't sure but they were around here somewhere. I sacked it, but as I walked away the Scot said, "Hey, it certainly beats the Giant's Causeway, eh pal?"

"Yeah, I suppose it does, but the heat isn't good, " I replied, but as I walked away I thought, "You know, it doesn't, but Cable Beach beats Portstewart Strand out of the water." There have been a couple of thunderstorms in the evening here, like Darwin - great to watch, but impossible to catch on film properly. I took this photo on the timer, just after sunset two days ago. The sky was one weird colour and my hair looks bright red in the picture, it's an odd one alright.

So, it's a very agreeable place, is Broome, I only wish V was here - she's love it, the bars are great too, the whole vibe is - relax mate. Hopefully today, after this in fact, I can book my flight from Darwin to Sydney on the 3rd March.

Kununurra - Wyndham - Broome

I've driven right across the Kimberley, from east to west, all 1039km from Kununurra to beautiful Broome on the Indian Ocean.

I left Kununurra before 12pm and headed the relatively short distance to crocodile country around the Ord River and Wyndham. I stopped off a few km's short of Wyndham to go for a swim in the Grotto - a deep gulley with thick vegetation, waterfalls and good swimming pools (no crocs here, they say).

When I got to the parking area I noticed a Britz campervan. I walked to the edge of the breathtaking gorge and had a good look around. Then, looking down into a big pool, I saw a big white arse swimming out from under the trees. The campervanners were skinny dipping together, and were obviously amourously engaged, and they hadn't spotted me. I cursed my luck, and decided to leave the Grotto to them, to save an embarassing episode for each of us. She did have a nice arse though, and I was sorely tempted to throw a big boulder in to shake them up a bit, but that would have been a bit nasty.

I carried on into Wyndham, which was a bit of a non-event. Deciding not to stay there after all, I drove up the steep spiralling road to Five Rivers Lookout, were these views speak for themselves. You can make out Wyndham port quite clearly. It was an invigorating experience, Australia is a ruggedly beautiful place.

I carried on at quite a slow pace, tracing the northern edge of the Great Sandy Desert to my left and south, and the moonscape forms of the ancient Kimberley rock to my right and north. I got to Halls Creek, a one-horse town stuck onto the Great Northern Highway, and had to take a room at the only motel there for AUS$100, a bit steep, but the room was pretty classy.

Yesterday I had a long drive west to Broome. I got to Fitzroy Crossing at 12pm and pulled into my hostel near the picture postcard Cable Beach, all 22km of it. So, Broome looks like a very nice place to lay up and catch the sun for a few days before heading back to Darwin then on to Sydney.

West to the Kimberley

I left Elliott refreshed on the 15th and was eager to get some distance down the Stuart Highway. I was approaching Renner Springs again (this place is unlucky for me I guess) when I noticed a 4x4 and barrier blocking my side of the road. Puzzled, I turned off at Renner Roadhouse then turned round and drove slowly up to the official looking vehicle. Inside was a small, apologetic Transport Inspector in uniform. He told me the road was closed just south of Renner - there had been a tanker which had spilled it's load of cyanide! The road was closed until 8pm that night, it was now 10am. I would have to wait all day at Renner, with it's one Roadhouse, then drive through the night to Alice. I made a snap decision - Alice would have to wait. I turned round and headed north towards Elliott again, and decided to stay the night in Katherine; next day I would drive west and cross into Western Australia and the Kimberley.

I wasn't too disappointed about not seeing Alice and Uluru this time, when the wife gets out here we can always approach the area from Adelaide in the south. I quickly forgot my plans and set my mind on Katherine and the big drive west the next morning.

At 10:40am my first Kangaroo hopped in front of the car, about 100m away, it was probably a Wallaby though, it was pretty small. By midday I was nearing Mataranka from the south, I pulled in, fuelled up, and ate the biggest sausage roll I've ever seen under my favourite tree in the car park. As I sat stretching my right foot, the same police 4x4 from the day before sped past me and into the park, it screamed to a halt beside a huge crowd of seated aboriginals. The cops got out and I could hear heated exchanges of opinions. No time to hand around and rubberneck at other peoples' misfortunes, I got in and headed to Katherine.

Arriving at Katherine at 2:30pm, I headed to a motel, where they charged me AUS$80 for a room which was no better than the one in Elliott. I was too beat to care, and after a shower, headed out to eat and get some supplies at Woolworths. In the car park an old aboriginal woman was lying in a hedge, I had to walk past her and feared she could be dead. But, oh no, her mate came over, and with her heavy carrier bag started whumping her over the head and screaming at her to get up.

As I took a walk around the small main street later, another police wagon, with a metal cage on the back which I took for a dog cage, screeched into the Shell Garage forecourt and nicked two aboriginal blokes who were loitering there. In they went, into the cage. Katherine has huge amounts of aboriginals lying about, either drinking or begging. It was embarassing for me, I'm not used to scenes like this. I felt sorry for them, but the noise and the smell are pretty unnerving at the same time. The local whites just get on with whatever they're doing, I don't think the aboriginals pose a serious threat to anyone, including a tourist like me - if they did, the whites wouldn't be so relaxed around them. It's just a culture shock on my part, I suppose.

I was away early the next morning. The scenery west of Katherine is in stark contrast to the route south. The road winded through some spectacular cliffs and red hills and valleys. It was an exhilirating drive, already I was happy I now had nearly two weeks in the Kimberley and Broome. First stop was Timber Creek, a picturesque little hamlet surrounded by some awesome scenery. The supermarket bloke was really friendly again, I was on my way in jubilant mood. There was too much to see and driving at 110km/h I was missing much of it, so many times I slowed right down to take in a view. The lack of traffic, even less than the Stuart, made this safe and easy.

Soon I was at the NT/WA border, where I was asked if I had fruit or foodstuffs in the motor. I hadn't but the official had a brisk look in the boot and waved me on. I pulled into Kununurra at 3pm, and quickly booked into a backpacking hostel where I could leave the car safely.

I met Dave, Esther, and Al. Three graduate teachers from Tasmania, they were teaching aboriginal kids in a primary school out in the bush some distance from Kununurra. They had come into town to stay the night, have a nice meal and then get shitfaced. It was interesting hearing their stories about the kids, but they genuinely cared about them and loved their jobs.

We ended up in Gulliver's Tavern, the only youngish pub in the town. It was an ok bar, but entertainment was jukebox music only, and the choices the big butch Aussies were sticking on would make any urbane Brit laugh. A gang of female teachers (a popular job in Kununurra, it seems) latched onto us for a while, but they were pretty pissed, and kept calling Al "Hippie", with his blonde dreadlocks, it was all good natured, but I got bored and we headed back to the hostel at 11pm.

Saturday morning some pissed up yobbo burst into our room at 8am, he had been up all night and had punched a wall - proudly showing his bleeding mitt to everyone, a real rocket scientist. Soon, the Tasmanians had had enough and were off to buy a 4x4. I went to the pool around the back to sunbathe, but soon the wall-puncher was hassling me, jumping in the pool and kicking chairs and such. I knew if I stayed there I'd end up drowning the stupid bastard so I headed out onto the blazingly hot streets of Kununurra.

Yesterday I met the other guy in my room for the first time, he was up around 5am every morning and home again after 11pm, so I never met him until Sunday - his day off. His name was Nick, he was an ex- British soldier, then Merchant sailor, who had left London in 1978 to live in Australia with his  Aussie wife.  He's now working on a citrus farm in the Kimberley. I think he and the wife are separated and he has a daughter in Sydney who he never sees. He was a nice, quiet bloke and was pleased to hear all about Brighton - a place he used to love going to with his family as a kid.

Late in the morning I took a drive up to Hidden Valley (Mirima National Park) and took in these awesome views of Kununurra and the start of the Bungle Bungle. The heat on top of the ridges was unbearable, as were the flies so I took the shots and quickly returned gasping to the car - this is one harsh climate, I can see why the warnings to travelers are so important.

So, today I'm off to Wyndham for a day or possibly two, then taking a long, slow sun-soak on Cable Beach in Broome.

I also spoke to V on the phone last night - she's booked her flight to Sydney, getting there at 6am on the 6th March, I can hardly wait to see her, there's still so much we can see and do here in Australia, it's going to be fantastic.

On the Road

I've been all over the place in the last few days, I have had to postpone Alice Springs for now - through no fault of my own, but it was unavoidable.

I left Darwin in Spirit of Doagh at 10:30am on Wednesday 14th. The Stuart Highway beckoned, and soon I was whizzing through lush forest, still blooming in the wet season. In no time I was passing through Adelaide River and at 2pm I stopped in Katherine, a place I didn't want to hang around in, but I had to return here the next day, again, I'll explain later. I quickly bought two CD's in the sole music store - the radio was picking nothing up outside the larger towns. I bought the Ministry of Sound 2007 Clubbers' Guide, and the best of Chris Isaak (?), it was a limited choice, I can tell you.

I also stopped for fuel in Katherine, and when the female cashier heard my dulcet North Irish tones, she asked me quite frankly, " Where's that accent from mate?"

"Northern Ireland, but I live in England now"

"Belfast? That make you one of those bomb throwers?" My jaw dropped, but I could tell she meant no harm, and this was coarse Aussie humour, I'm thick-skinned anyhow. "Well, I'll try not to throw any here"

"Mind you don't, we don't want no bombs around here," she laughed

"Yeah, I left them in Darwin," after that, I was on my way again. Just to clarify though - since then I've stopped in numerous places in NT and Western Australia, everyone has been more than nice, "Hows your day goin' mate?" has been on everyone's lips. I can't stress how accommodating the Aussies I've met so far are.

Next stop was Mataranka, the scenery was getting drier, more grass and shrubs instead of trees - the outback was beckoning. I sat under a tree for a quick snack and a smoke. I noticed literally scores of aboriginals, loafing in the park under trees. As I watched them, a police 4x4 approached and two officers, one male, one female emerged to talk to the main crowd of aboriginals. I thought nothing of it, but later, when I had to drive north back through Mataranka, there was some trouble going on, of which I didn't stay around to see the outcome.

I was hanging out by late in the afternoon, my arms and neck were aching and I had decided earlier to stop in the small town of Elliott. But, as I approached the town, everything looked deserted, apart from the ubiquitous roaming aboriginal gangs. I looked at my fuel guage - 1/4 a tank left, next stop was Renner Springs 91km away - I decided to carry on and try my luck in Renner, sped up and headed off south, the sun getting low on the western horizon. The traffic, before now extremely light, was virtually non-existent.

23km south of Elliott my fuel light came on, I cursed and realised to go on, and risk conking out in the bush with no food and a little water, was foolish. Reluctantly, I turned around and crept slowly back into Elliott. The only people on the street were two aboriginal blokes and a woman; they flagged me down and I foolishly put down my passenger window, my bags, camera, and other valuables were lying on the passenger seat.

"G'day mate, where ya from?" said the biggest local, he put his head in my window, immediately fixing his eyes onto my bag and goodies. I was nervous now and kept my foot on the accelerator, ready to fly off in case of trouble. He asked me where I was from, never once taking his eyes off the stuff. I decided to ask where I could get a bed and food for the night, he pointed up the road towards the hotel which looked closed when I passed it nearly an hour ago. I then said I had to go and he was holding on grimly to the door, as I was just about to thump his hands and speed off he let go, then asked me for a cigarette. I gave him two, one went behind to his mate, the woman got nothing. This incident ended with him saying, "Thanks mate, ermmmm, have you got any spare change?" That was it, game over, "No, I'm sorry, I'm going now, " with that I drove off slowly.

The Elliott Hotel bar was a scene straight out of Crocodile Dundee, wooden walls, pot-bellied, vest-wearing locals supping beers, all it needed was a "Dunc" (see the movie). The half-caste barmaid gave me keys to a cabin out the back for AUS$45, not bad for self-contained with TV and fridge. I got rid of my stuff from the car, and was shocked at the size and the quantity of dead bugs, some as big as my little finger, stuck fast to my grille and numberplate, in a riot of wings, blood and crispy bodies.

Back in the bar I ordered two Vic's (VB Beer), and the lamb chops. The chops were lovely. I noticed that the names of people barred for life from the Elliott Hotel were put up in marker pen on paper behind the bar. The average notice said "David Larimmor - Barred for life - Assault and abusive language - 20/04/2005" I couldn't help a wry smile, the barmaid noticed it and smiled back, she was obviously proud of the Elliott Hotel Rogues Gallery.

Eating my dinner I picked up a local Territory paper. I was mildly alarmed to see a story about Bradley John Murdoch, the killer of Peter Falconio, the boyfriend of Joanne Lees from Hove back home. Joanne was notoriously under suspicion herself, for a long time, for the murder in 2001. Murdoch had had another appeal turned down, but what got my interest was that the murder and abduction occured right here, on the Stuart Highway, about 200km away. Scary.

I went to bed, knackered from my drive, I had travelled about 650km from Darwin, with only occasional road trains, and the odd campervan to keep me company. Driving here is a cinch, the only problem is boredom. Aussie drivers wave to each other, it took me a while to catch up to this strange phenomenon, you'd get thought of as a lunatic or smartarse if you did that in the UK!

Just before turning in I went for a piss, I saw two thin spiders in one corner of the dunny, I thought "It's a good thing all the spiders I've seen so far look pretty harmless." Just before the final shake something made me look into the other corner, and there, in all his glory, was an ugly-looking, as-big-as-half-your-hand spider, thick and hairy with yellow and black markings. "Shit" I said out loud. I decided to close the door and forget about him, but the dunny wall didn't reach up to the sloping ceiling, the spider had free range of the cabin. I went back in, picked up the bog brush, and belted the spider twice, once off the wall and the killer blow behind the toilet. I felt bad - I don't like killing any animal, but I know nothing about types of Aussie spiders apart from some can seriously disrupt your day if they decide to bite you. End of story.

I will tell the tale of how I had to radically change my plans for Alice in my next post.

From Darwin into the Red Centre

I went out this evening to catch the sunset at Bicentennial Park, when I got there this huge cumulonimbus cloud was grumbling along, far out at sea. I tried to get a snap of the lightning bolts shooting down from it, but wasn't even close.

The sunset was beautiful, although I left a bit early - heading back to Mitchell Street the sky to the south behind me was aglow with the most beautiful hues of amber and red, I'll see plenty more sunsets in Australia, and I promise to catch as many on film as I can.

That's a funny thing about Darwin, being well inside the Tropic of Capricorn the sun hangs in the southern sky in the wet season, just like at home, in the dry season it travels through the northern sky, weird, huh?

Tomorrow I leave Darwin and head south into the outback, the "Red Centre" as it's also known. I pick up my hire Yaris at 10am, and will be driving down the Stuart Highway all the way to Alice Springs. It should take me two days. I'm looking forward to seeing some real Aussie desert dirt. I'm going to christen the Yaris Spirit of Doagh, for all the folks back in the "centre of the universe".

My face in this photo is the reddest thing in the Top End of Australia at the moment - I overdid the sun lounger this afternoon.

Darwin has been a great place from which to start my tour of Australia. I've been in contact with V back home, she should be flying into Sydney on the 6th March, so I've had to re-adjust my plans up until then. I should, if all goes well, get back to Darwin on the 28th, then I'll get a flight to Sydney on the 4th. After a while in the big city we might hire a campervan and drive along the south of Australia to Perth, we'll see.

 

Darwin

This is Lameroo Beach in Darwin, it's empty because swimming isn't advisable at this time of year due to jellyfish and whatever. It's a bit rocky, dirty and too full of creepies to be much of a sun beach anyway.

I've settled down a bit in Darwin now, and I can say it's one hell of a beautiful town.

Yesterday it rained, or I should say the sky emptied itself in a ferocious torrent, early in the morning. The day was cool until 2pm, then the heat and humidity rose quickly as the day cleared up and the Tropic of Capricorn sunshine pounded the streets. It is unbelievably sticky here, thank god my (very impressive - "Melaleuca on Mitchell") hostel has modern air-con.

Here's a couple of pictures of Mitchell Street - the happening area, with tourists, locals and dusty larrikins rubbing shoulders in the numerous bars at night. It's quiet as it's Sunday morning, last night (Saturday) was lively and full of noise. Aussie girls in Darwin seem to like being white and un-tanned, they also have a going out uniform of a black singlet and very skimpy black shorts. The backpackers are the tanned ones, even the Irish with their pink and red hues.

I've walked the length of Darwin's city centre, it's small, compact and pretty. The North Territorians are very friendly and the town has a nice vibe about it. I also visited the Parliament House, an astonishligly attractive modern building (it's not often you'll hear me say those words), I was going to visit the Territory Library but it's Sunday.

I watched this old girl paint outside a second-hand bookstore in Smith St Mall. It's lovely work, only I've never seen it being made before. I sat with her and her mate as she explained a bit about the meaning, I'm tempted to buy one off her - AUS$100 a pop though. I've noticed quite a few aboriginal people around the streets, but they seem to be a peripheral presence at best, and ignored and avoided at worst. I don't know enough about Australian/Aboriginal history to make any more comment than that.

In 1942, the Japanese fleet that attacked Pearl Harbour turned south and, ten weeks later, dropped twice as many bombs on Darwin. 292 people were killed that day. I snapped this brass remembrance plaque, the story is given a good summary on it, if you click on the photo you can read the plaque.

I've decided how I'd like to see Australia, at least the Northern Territory and the Kimberley in NE Western Australia: I'm going 'Jack Kerouac' as in On the Road, although I have no half-mad libertine like Dean Moriarty accompanying me to make the trip more enjoyable.

Unlike Kerouac, my wheels will be a lot less exotic, a Toyota Yaris, which I've hired from Hertz for two weeks from the 14th. I intend to hit the road to Alice Springs, perhaps see the Rock, then head up to the Kimberley and Broome. I wanted to maybe drive off-road in the outback, but buying an old 4x4 is too much of a hassle, as will selling it be. Hiring a 4x4 starts at about AUS$110 a day - way too much (Yaris: AUS$45). I'm on my own too, so it's maybe more sensible to stay on the sealed roads. Less adventurous? probably, but I'm enjoying lazing around Darwin, not having to try to buy a car, register it, check it's servicable, buy equipment etc, etc. I'm on holiday, not exploring the Amazon!

Anyway, I can make my own adventure when I get to remote spots like the Kimberley. After that I'm thinking of flying to Perth, which is as cheap as getting a bus there, then hiring another car to see the west coast up to Shark Bay and beyond. This is going to be one hell of a trip!

Across the Equator

I'm in the southern hemisphere, I'll be south of the equator from now on until 29th June, how cool is that? For the record my co-ordinates now are Lat: S 12 27' 46.5, Long: E 130 50' 23.1

The flight from Singapore was fine, Jetstar are the Aussie equivalent of EasyJet, although as they're still part of Qantas you get a free meal (awful it was) thrown in.

I got to Darwin at 0500hrs, and the legendary Aussie customs gave me a free run - great start. Outside the terminal the heat hit me in the face like a sweaty old sock, it was still dark but the humidity was horrendous. The Airport Shuttle bus driver finished his cricket conversation with his oppo about the awful Poms (honest to God), and we were off into town, me and a grumpy little fellow passenger, who was F'ing this and F'ing that.

I got dropped of at my hostel on quiet Gardens Road. No-one was up, but the sign on the locked reception door said punters could ring out of hours and check -in. Being a relatively thoughtful (in things like this anyway) person I thought I would unwind by the soft drinks machines, eat some peanuts, and wait a while before waking anyone up - to be decent. It was 6am.

At 6:30, after I spent a nervous 30 minutes watching a multitude of huge critters crawl over everything, a young Aussie emerged from one of the rooms on the ground floor.

"Alright mate?" he greeted me chirpily, seeing my bergen he went on, "Where you headed mate?"

"I just got here, flew in from Singapore," pointing to reception "What time should I ring the bell?"

"Shit mate, you've got a bit of a wait until 8" He noticed my cigarette packet on the table (I started amoking again in Bangkok - dunno why), "Hey, you got a spare cigarette mate?" I gave him a tab, then after lighting him he left me. "Bugger this" I thought, "I'm not sitting around here sweating all morning"

When I rung the bell once, with the politest two second press I could manage, a gruff and irritated male voice bellowed down from the balcony "YEAH?"

"Erm, can I check in mate?" I'm using "mate" quite easy now, trying to get along and fit in.

A big larrikin appears in his shorts, scratching his head, with one eye staring malevolently at me he says, "Office opens at eight mate," he turns and heads back indoors, just like that - it was 6:45am!

I got up, put the bergen on and marched out towards town. As I walked along dawn was approaching, the heat was stifling already. I tabbed one and a half miles to Mitchell St, the backpacker area. When I finally got in and got a dorm bed for $20 a night, I was sweating like a pregnant nun.

Today I sunbathed on the roof for 20 minutes, it's all I could stick after a two hour sleep, and I'm just chilling out (?) and getting my bearings on Darwin. First impression - hot but looks pretty good, plenty of watering holes - as expected. I'll be back tomorrow with some more.

Changi Airport

I'm hanging around Changi Airport, so I thought I'd post to give me something to do for 10 minutes. I've still got nearly six hours until my flight, but couldn't hang around Singapore city any longer - it's so boring.

I'm really looking forward to Darwin in the rainy season, can't wait. I'll pop up with pics and news as soon as I can from Australia.