The Top End

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If you're going to catch the Ghan and stop off at Alice, be sure to chuck in a day of rest after your whirlwind tour of the red centre. I got back to Alice from the tour at 5pm and had to catch the train at 6. Not much room for a breakdown there. I spent most of the second leg of the train trip asleep. Woke up just before Katherine to find a completely different landscape, lush and green. Stepped off for a few hours to do a walk at the Gorge, get a taste of the humidity in the north and some decent lunch in town. While the train's a pretty sweet ride, the food really isn't that great. I could have sworn I had powdered eggs for breakfast. I say, stick with the hotdog!
Introductory tour of Darwin: Parap Markets, East Point Reserve, Botanic Gardens, Stokes Hill Wharf. At the Wharf I discover why people carry their own stubby coolers with them. In this humidity, you've got about 10 minutes to drink your beer before it's lukewarm. After my first beer I buy myself an 80-cents cooler (worth every cent), but for the rest of my time in the Top End I still end up drinking lukewarm beers, because I keep forgetting to take my cooler to the pub. Unfortunately the cooler didn't survive the trip to Thailand, so I guess I'll just have to learn to drink my beers quicker.

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Photos

town of katherine
I finally get to pick up a day old newspaper (one of the benefits of living up here) to read all about Sorry Day, which I spent at Kata Tjuta and Uluru, surrounded by tourists, most of whom were oblivious to the significance of that day. I eagerly devour the paper (and my lunch) back on the train with a lump in my throat.

east point reserve, darwin
threw that one in for you steve

stokes hill wharf
my favourite spot in darwin. people fishing, nice view over the ocean, food court and cheap bar. what more could you ask for?

Comments

[Fabian]

Side Note
An interesting side note. Katherine is where I taught myself to swim. Darwin is terrible place for the young. Mud-skippers flood the streets and steal children for Santa Claus. He dresses them like elves and makes them work in his factories.