Karama

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The morning after getting back from my weekend of work at the Fred’s Pass Show was supposed to be a fairly slow one. Hillary and I were to sleep in, rest up and move to our new home in Karama. But an early phone call at 8am put a wrench into those plans. I was woken up by Julia Ross, one of the temp agencies I had applied to earlier in the week. Turns out they had some work for me! It was a week’s worth (Mon-Fri) doing custodial work at the only university in the Northern Territory, Charles Darwin University. Thing was, they needed me right that second. I was barely awake, but needed to catch the next bus out to the campus to work. Even worse was that I didn’t really have any clean clothes thanks to the previous weekend, and it meant that Hillary would have to pack both of our things and do her best taking our stuff by public transit to Karama. I really hesitated for a bit, but in the end I took the work. Turned out to be the right choice.

I’ll get into my work in another blog entry (and so will Hillary), but right now I’ll skip a little ahead to the room we’d be renting in Karama. Karama is basically a small suburb just outside of Darwin. Darwin is the city, and all the neighourhoods surrounding it has their own names. They’re not towns, more like blocks of homes which are usually divided by major roads. The most they have are their own small shopping centre in the middle of the suburb. It’s an interesting planning method, and is handy in terms of giving directions.

Our home is located on a court. Turns out almost all homes in these neighbourhoods are on courts. The layout for the majority of the subdivisions here usually consists of a few main streets, with several small courts which branch off the main street. It makes for a lot of dead ends, but for pedestrians almost every court has a walkway at the end, connecting one to the next. Sounds convenient, right? Well, these have become a point of controversy, which I’ll expand another time.

Anyways, more about our place. Well, it’s a bungalow. And if four years of architecture has taught me anything, I’d have to say it’s of concrete block design. No wood in any of the exterior walls. Odd thing for back at home in Canada, but makes sense here when you think of the climate. No freezing temperatures? No need for insulation. In fact, many houses, ours included, even have a few windows that open and close like shutters. You can tilt them enough to close them, but there’s no air seal. It’s like never really being able to close your window! As someone who studied about heat loss through windows back in Canada and the energy costs relating to it, it baffles my mind. Of course we’re in Australia now (northern Australia), so things are a bit different. And I’ll stop boring everyone with my architectural mumbo jumbo. Haha

Like I said earlier, our place is one level. Inside there are three bedrooms, one washroom, a living room and a kitchen. Funny thing is, there’s almost no furniture! The living room had no couch, TV or anything of the like when we first moved in. The kitchen had a table, but only 2 chairs. We were a little baffled at first, but Lucy and Chris (the owners) had been supposedly living like this for a couple of years now. Shocking, but we got used to it pretty quick. They even got a second fridge soon after we moved in, which was a huge help. You can never have too much fridge space. Lol Our room is nothing special, but it has air conditioning, which was a priority for us. We definitely didn’t want to live anywhere for 4 months that could be uncomfortable.

The first thing we did after moving in (well Hillary did, since I was working) was get a bed. The room was unfurnished, which was a shame, but we knew that before picking the place. We figured we didn’t need much, so she picked up an air mattress and some sheets. For someone like me, who tends to always have way too much furniture in his bedroom, it was a little weird sleeping in a room with nothing but a double bed air mattress and two big backpacks. But it definitely beat sleeping in a hostel again, and we finally had a place to call our own.

…Well, maybe not totally our own. It seemed we had an unknown roommate who came and went as he liked. His favourite spot in fact was the bathroom. This was one of our first up close encounters with a green tree frog. He was a big guy. We mentioned it to Lucy (Chris doesn’t speak English), and she laughed saying he pops in every now and then. Well, as we all know, Hillary loves animals, so it was fine by her. She even decided to name him. She spent a good long time thinking of a name, and decided on Henry. I warned her that once she named it, it was probably going to disappear leaving her worried about his whereabouts. Can you guess what happened next? Henry stopped visiting us, prompting Hillary to wonder what she had done to scare him off. I suggested it was the constant picture taking, but that’s just speculation. Lol

Kevin

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Photos

Our home
This is the house we decided to live in while staying in Darwin.

Inside
When it comes to furniture, the place is a little sparse. Hillary was extremely happy that a tv was bought soon after we moved in.

Our room
What else can you expect from people who've been living out of a backpack for the past 3 months?

Our room - 2
Some of the first things we bought were an air mattress and a garbage can. lol

Neighbourhood
A typical street shot in Karama. The majority of houses have fences surrounding the entire property.

Henry
One of our housemates. Haha When Hillary first saw this little guy, she was quick to try and figure out a good name for him. Eventually she decided on Henry.

Henry - 2
Not totally sure if it's even the same frog, but if it was, Henry was a frequent visitor to the washroom. Of you'd find him on the wall, and he'd give you a good scare with the THUD from him jumping down into an empty bathtub.