Friday 14 November 2008

Darwin, Australia

Yay here I am in a really English speaking country- you would not believe how good that feels!!!

I arrive here at about 3am and as usual I have not made any bookings for my accommodation! Customs is a nightmare here- they even want to know where you have been walking in your shoes in case you are bringing any dodgy soil into the country, it all seems a little extreme especially as I cannot remember the last time I walked through customs in the UK and it was manned!!!

they have a fantastic little airport shuttle that drops you to the door of your hostel, so I pick one and head there. unfortunately it does not have an all night reception, there is though a nice sign telling me to feel free to take a seat till it opens at 6am. I like this the chairs are comfy and there is a TV, and it saves me having to pay for a bed I wouldn't be getting into till nearly morning.

I really enjoyed my time at this backpackers, there are a group of long term residents here that do work around the place in return for their board and occasionally go out to do seasonal work to get a bit of drink money and to keep on top of their visa requirements. There is a kitchen for cooking your own food, a BBQ to use if you wish, and a swimming pool to cool off in. It has a really friendly party atmosphere.

Darwin is a really small as state capitals go, it it the capital of the Northern Territory. There are four or five main streets crossed by four or five smaller streets, there is one supermarket (Woolworths- how mads that- its like tescos over here!) and a small pedestrianised area for a shopping area. It also has sixteen backpackers and they are nearly all full during the dry season!

It was bombed during World War II by the Japanese and a few year later Cyclone Tracy leveled what was left- about 4 buildings remained standing.

The first place to go out and explore is the town, the harbour and the esplanade which runs right from one side of the town to the other, there is also a beach but it is not used, there is always a danger of a croc having made his way round the coast- they do that you know!!

Its in one of the parks that i came across my first crazy big bird with a big beak- it was just pecking about on the grass- i later learn this is an Ibis!

The main town has a mix of offices, bars and shops, many selling tourist paraphernalia, and plenty that are geared towards the great out doors- these shops look like they have been plucked right out of Americas wild west.

In the middle of the town is Crocasaurous Cove, this is a newly opened reptile house with the biggest residents being the aggressive saltwater crocodile (salties), obviously!! the most famous of these is Burt, who starred alongside Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee!! They also have the largest collection of Australian reptiles in the world. Each reptile has a little card on the tank explaining where they live and what they eat- most read 'Deadly to Humans'.

The crocs are obviously the main attraction, they have a section where you can swim with them. This is not as crazy as it first sounds, the beast will have his own area where he lives and swims, and behind a very tough clear partition is the area for us to swim. The idea is to get in and splash about enough to attract his attention so he comes to investigate. Already he seems bored of this game as no matter how much I splashed about he was not going to waste the energy. And didn't I look stupid, the swim area can also be seen by the people in the centre! Pay a bit extra and you can go in the cage of doom (or some such name) and be lowered into the water of one of the other crocs in a glass tank- its similar to a shark cage and i assume they do it at feeding time else its just a smaller version of the swim area.

Darwin is really a nice place to chill out and no nothing- there is not really a great deal of things to do here, it is more of a jumping point for the great national parks like Kakadu. I did find myself a little worse for wear for drink on a couple of occasions, especially when the backpackers run fancy dress competitions at the local pub and provide free beer!! (Thank you to Chelsea for the loan of a costume)

So my first few days in Darwin are spent chilling out (cause Bali was such a chore!) and waiting for Mark to arrive.

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