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Published: February 2nd 2008
It's my second day in Darwin and I'm hiding inside to get away from the amazing heat and stickyness of the weather. After my post yesterday I went into town and found that the city centre isn't very pretty. There are three main streets and a few air conditioned shopping malls (bliss!) but not much to see unless you head right out to the harbour. Darwin was an important location for the fighting during World War II and there are lots of memorials to this and military museums around the city, but they're all nearer to the sea than I managed to venture yesterday. Despite my good intentions to have a proper look around, it's so immensely humid that it's just not possible to stay outside and walk around for very long!
The people here are very friendly, and the supermarket checkout ladies wish you a nice day in the same manner as I imagine Americans do. There's also amazing wildlife around the place - a large blue hen-sized bird appeared in front of me on a path yesterday, and there are small yellow lizards in the communal area and bathroom in the hostel. They stay on the walls and ceilings so I don't mind them, but they do move very fast and I have visions of one of them running across my foot one day as I sit at the computer.
This morning I was determined to see more of the plants and wildlife of this area, which are the aspects of the city that I've been most impressed by since I arrived. I therefore set out at 8.30 to walk to the Botanic Gardens, which took me about 25 minutes. At that time in the morning the temperature's only in the high twenties(!) and there was a very slight breeze so it was a manageable walk. The gardens are absolutely beautiful, with hundreds of different types of trees and plants, birds chirping everywhere and big butterflies flying about. I saw more of the strange hen-like things, as well as some big black and white storks and some brighly coloured parrots that flew high overhead. I walked round the rainforest loop which was sticky and dark, and ambled through the brighter grassy areas too. It was definitely worth a visit and I'm glad I went, but after a couple of hours when I set off for home it was very hot and I was absolutely drenched in sweat - I'm sure you all needed to know that!
Struggling home, I knew that I wouldn't want to go out again today for food so I made a detour via Woolworths which here is a supermarket. After picking up lunch, fruit and dinner for two days, I bought a mango smoothie from the cafe in the mall and sat in air conditioned bliss for ten minutes, sucking down the icy fruity concoction with vigour. I then lugged my shopping home and jumped into the shower, realising only after I'd cooled down in the lovely cold water that I'd left my towels in the bedroom! One comedy scuttle down the corridor dripping wet in a skirt and vest top later, and I was feeling human again. I'm going to find the hostel launderette this afternoon and will be washing everything I was wearing this morning, which as I shoved it into the laundry basket felt so damp that you'd think it had already been washed! Yuk.
I'm now feeling very refreshed after a salad, cherry tomatoes and nectarine, and have even dried my hair properly to stop it hanging wetly round my face. The three fans in here may only be pushing the warm air around but it's perfectly comfortable, and makes me feel a bit like I'm outside without the need to actually go out and get sticky! It's only 33 degrees but it's quite unlike any 33 I've ever experienced in England.
Tomorrow I may venture out to the harbour if I can face it. Just a quick note about my photos - while I brought the connector lead for the camera I didn't pack the software (d'oh) and although I've tried downloading it (thanks to Simon for finding me the link!) this computer doesn't want to open the file. It's a very bizarre operating system which is similar but different to Windows, and it's all a bit too complicated for me to figure out. I have the link saved though so I'll try it on another computer when I've moved to a different place, and hopefully at some point soon my sunny pics will all be here to make you jealous!
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Raquel
non-member comment
Sarah - it might be easiest to find an internet cafe that will put all your photos onto a CD and upload them from this rather than try and download them straight onto a computer - lots of communal computeres wont let you download software onto them. They can normally take them straight off your memory card and it only usually costs a pound or two. And it is great as well because then you have a back up incase anything ever happens to your camera!