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Published: December 11th 2006
Darwin; Dodge City
My first daylight view of Darwin City Centre. All that was missing was the tumbleweeds.Friday 8th December - Sunday 10th December
The four and a half hour half past ten flight was, as flying goes, a good 'un. I'd got to the airport so early as to ensure no more mishaps occured that day that I was actually second in line to check in so extra leg room adjacent the emergency exit it was. Whilst buying a bite to eat, my first since the fillet o' fish, a blind man approached the girl at the counter. He'd asked an airport official for guidance to the john but they hadn't yet returned and the poor guy was busting at the seams so I asked him if he wanted me to show him. Of course he did. He took my arm and we headed off, good deed of the day accomplished. He'd travelled that day from Southampton and I told him how brave he was. If any of us think we've achieved something think of him travelling half way around the world alone with no sight. His guide dog had been taken ill and been refused travel as it was on medication and he told me he was on the way to Adelaide to SEE his
Darwin; Dodge City
The Aboriginal Connie and her pal Mimi whose Xmas Party I unintentionally gatecrashed. pal which I found sadly ironic.
I put my first foot on Australian soil at 4.30am local time (7pm GMT) Friday morning and straight away sensed this was going to be interesting. Obviously keen to resist intrusion from anyone or anything that slightly resembled normality I had had my landing card checked no less than five times between the aircraft and the baggage scan by over zealous officials and my hand bag checked by a tiny spaniel sniffing for, of all things fruit, for quarantine purposes. Then the card was checked again and, obviously believing that my ticking every question on the landing card in the negative was suspicious and too coincidental, the woman, who resembled one of the Cell Block H most fearsome guards, asked me if I had any soil on my shoes ! What ? I lifted my flip flop and showed her the sole and before my foot was back on the ground she'd snapped "so they're your only shoes are they"? I thought you don't mess with this one son and quickly explained that I had some trainers in my sack but that I didn't think they were contaminated.
As my rucksack came
Darwin; Dodge City
More tunnels. This time for storing oil to evade Jap bombing during WWII where I visted on my second day. through the x ray I prepared to swing it onto my back for hopefully the last time that evening when the guy sitting behind the x ray screen, with two huge curtain hoops through his left ear, called in a voice loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the room "You got any pills in their mate"? Even the woman with the spaniel that she would probably soon be tucked up in bed with looked round as though her pride and joy had missed out on it's one chance of a collar that evening.
"Er, yes" I replied a little nervously
"What you got"
I felt like a narcotic smuggler whose number had just come up and relayed the contents of my medical bag. Glucosamine (knee), sleeping pills (flying), cod liver oil tablets (knee) and malaria tablets (obvious). Thankfully, he let me through.
It got better. Having bought a ticket for the airport shuttle for which I was told I was second in line for dropping off I went outside to the waiting vehicle. A middle aged Eastern European man was actually stooped in the luggage hold at the rear of the bus re-arranging
Darwin; Dodge City
The original Town Hall in downtown Darwin. bags to make more space for further luggage and I was waiting for him to finish when out of the morning darkness came a horrified, high pitched twang. "Excuse me, you can't go in there". Too late I thought, he IS in there. I turned and I swear, though lack of sleep could have had something to do with it, that I was confronted by the ghost of Mr Croc himself Steve Irwin, right down to the hiking boots, beige shorts and thick socks. He obviously wasn't too chuffed that his luggage compartment had been infiltrated by the KGB when he'd turned his back and I half expected the chap, who was now looking paralysed with fear, to be dragged from the bus and beaten to a pulp in front of me and his helpless wife. Fortunately for all of us he wasn't.
When we left the airport it was ten minutes before I saw another vehicle and as we got closer to town, dropping off at various motel's and hostel's en route, the tension grew. Eventually there was just me, Mr Irwin and an Italian guy just in from Bali and as the bus came to a stop
Darwin; Dodge City
And the new Government House on the oposite side of the road. for the penultimate time I realised it was just going to be me and Steve. Realising my best chance of survival was to try and befriend him I gingerly moved to the front of the bus and, thank God, he was receptive to my aural hand of peace. He told me that straight after dropping me off he was picking up 30 illegal immigrant Phillipino fisherman from the detention centre to take them for deportation. Nice.
I was dropped at the Hostel at 5.30am and already there were tens of traveller's gathered in the bar area waiting to depart on trip's of various duration. Australia's vastness means that the trips to see anything out of Darwin worthwhile would entail a sleep out of at least one night and as I hadn't slept at all I half considered joining them just to get my head down.
Although I didn't have my first night's accommodation booked til that evening the girl on reception must have seen something in my baggy, blood shot eyes that said "this guy needs some sleep" and so at 7.30, when two girls had checked out, I was handed a sheet and told that I'd have
Darwin; Dodge City
I appear to be becoming obsessed with trees but yo've got to admit they are a bit different!. Note the sweat soaked T. They told me today was pleasant, God help me when it's uncomfortable. to make my own bed but that it was up there if I wanted it. There were two guys (one Irish, one Australian) snoring away in the nice air conditioned room containing two bunk beds when I got there and I quietly slid onto the mattress.
I was up two hours later to check out the neighbourhood and my initial thoughts upon arrival at the airport were confirmed. This is indeed a one horse town. The only things missing were tumbleweeds blowing down the deserted street, it reminded me very much of Dodge City. I had another sleep at lunch time then wandered down to the reception area. It was packed, not with traveller's who it seemed had already rather sensibly left for the weekend but with frighteningly loud and generally wild locals all intent on one thing. Getting slaughtered !! A fair description of a typical Darwenian would be as a hybrid mix of i) Hells Angel ii) Gypsy and iii) Lifer. If you were without a tattoo you were probably considered a bit of an outcast and that was just the women ! For the fellas if it wasn't above above the neck line you were nobody!.
Darwin; Dodge City
He calls this bench home. The beard is compulsory to get respect in Darwin. Think of the bad guys in the first 'Mad Max' movie, which coincidentally was shot in and around the town, and you'll get the picture. When I got up after my first little snooze the four guys next door, all Aussie's who were living and working in Darwin, had already started on the beer. Remember this was 9:30 on a Friday morning and they were still on it when I went to bed three days later.
Darwin is one of the most northerly points in Australia and consequently possesses a tropical climate ie hot and humid as hell. I spent the day familiarising myself with the town which, I have to say, didn't take too long and when I returned the party had subsided slightly. That evening I had a beer in The Cavenagh, the bar attached to the hostel and about 11pm a group from a local company came in for a post Xmas meal drink. I got chatting to a couple of them. Connie, a lady of Aborigine extraction who'd just arrived in Darwin from the much more civillised Adelaide a month ago and was obviously yet to be transformed into the ways of the locals (she
Darwin; One Horse Town
The Cavenagh Hostel bar area. The largest hostel pool in Darwin. was polite and well spoken) and Mimi, the young admin girl. Whilst Connie chose to educate me about the history of the Australia and in particular her forefather's and how and where they now stood in Australian society Mimi was, in between hiccups, more interested in showing me the different speed controls on the new vibrator she'd just received from her boss as a Christmas present! Connie also told me about the esplanade where I walked earlier that day. A great route for a jog she told me but don't go in the water. Just last week a man had been walking his pet spaniel (probably related to the one at the airport) on the sands and the dog had entered the shallows chasing seagulls. It was within inches of the jaws of three basking salt water crocs.
My whole intention of dropping in at Darwin had been to see a bit of the outback but the sheer vastness of the place meant that any trip out of town to see anything worthwhile entailed a one, or even two night stopover under canvass. Even then it'd only be a waterfall or two and a few termite mounds in the
Darwin; One Horse Town
With the Spitfire at the museum. I was very disappointed to find it was actually a fibre glass replica. Kakadu National Park and this, allied to the fact that it would also mean hours spent in a cramped tour bus and cost upward of 100 pounds, persuaded me to pass on the option and chill for a couple of days. At tea time on the second day I finally got my shirt off for the first time since setting out and took a few rays by the pool.
On the Sunday, my last day, I hired a mountain byke for ten bucks (4 quid) and headed out to explore. There is an aviation museum fifteen km out of Darwin that houses one of only two B52 Stratofortress bombers that exist outside of the United States and that was where I headed. The museum, other than the B52 which dwarfed everything else in the hangar, was a bit of a disappointment but a welcome place to get my ass out of the saddle and stretch my legs and after a much deserved rest I pushed on. I decided to take the long way back rather than re-tracing my original route and was soon on deserted highways with nothing for company other than the occasional car and an ever darkening
Darwin; One Horse Town
The wing of the B52 dwarves everything in sight. sky. When the inevitable storm did materialise, and you could literally see it coming towards you, I was close enough to civilisation to be able to nip into a local trailer park for cover and once it had passed able to press on for the final push. I was about four and a half miles from the haven of my bunk, and feeling absolutely shattered, when I entered the delightfully named suburb of Fannie Bay. I stopped at a petrol station for an ice cream and when I got back on felt immediately that something wasn't right. The rear tyre was as flat as a pancake ! I asked a chap who pulled in for fuel in a open backed pick up truck if he was heading for Darwin hoping he'd realise my plight and offer me a lift but he just answered "no" without even looking at me. Charming.
Consequently, an hour and a half later I handed my machine back at the rental place having walked with it for four and a half sodding miles. I was bushed. As it was only twenty past four I asked for a replacement although I wasn't sure at that stage
Darwin; One Horse Town
The nose of the B52 dwarves everything too. The yanks called it 'Buff', Big Ugly fat Thing but it was capable of carrying four nuclear bombs. if I'd ever get to mount it as the legs were stiffening pretty fast. The bar area at the Cav was again alive with locals on the weekly 'Sunday Sesh' with a live band playing and I swear it was the nicest pint of beer I've ever had. So nice I had to have another one ! After that I mounted up again and left the saloon feeling like High Plains Drifter. I headed to a part of town I'd yet to discover and found a world as alien to the one in which over the last two days I'd become accustomed as was physically possible. Down by the Harbour luxury houses lapped the waters with luxury motor boats moored alongside, a total contrast to the city centre and it's inhabitants.
I was definitely having an early night, I was up at 4am for my flight, so about 8.30pm went to the kitchen's to prepare some spaghetti. All hostel's have communal kitchen's and this was no different and on a trip of this length it'd be impossible to dine out every night, especially at Darwin's prices, a result of it's complete isolation. One of the guys from next door,
Darwin; One Horse Town
Stopping for a rest on a deserted highway, storm clouds gathering in the background. the elder statesman, a humorous chap and the friendliest of them all with one tooth, a bald head and a large beer belly and with whom I'd had a couple of conversation's was watching TV with his back to me, a chopping board, pan full of dry veg and can of beer in front of him. Minutes later I noticed he'd got up and moved so I went over and asked him what he was having. In the pan on top of the veg was now wedged a whole chicken steaming but looking very anaemic. I asked if he'd just got the bird out of the oven.
"Nah, the microwave" he slurred
"Is it cooked ?" I asked, unsure as to how he would know how long to cook a chicken for in a micro. I know I wouldn't.
"Dunno" he replied and tore one of the blisteringly hot legs off and bit into it. His face showed not a hint of pain as dribble's of blood from the half cooked bird trickled into his goatee. He turned to me and exclaimed "think I'll give it another ten minutes". Priceless.
I was in bed for 10pm
Darwin; One Horse Town
When the storm arrived I had to take refuge. as I'd promised myself and straight to the land of nod. When I went the guys next door were still going strong !
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Darwin
This was your best blog yet.Brilliant stuff. Minxy has told me that you MUST hook up with her in Wellington.She is going to send me her mobile number for you.When I get it etc. NOW I'm jealous.Have fun!