Australia - Expectations are high....

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After the luxury of Singapore Airport, we arrived bleary eyed in the far smaller, less attractive Darwin Airport. We then had to endure the rigorous security checks, which at 4am and with no sleep was rather aggravating. Eventually, we collected our bags and escaped customs with relatively few problems. We entered the main part of the airport and headed straight for the information desk where we were met with a moody Austalian woman weighing around 250lbs. Needless to say she was very unhelpful and told us that Darwin was likely to be busy and we would have trouble finding accomodation. However, she was nice enough to inform us that we should stay in the airport for a few hours since nothing in Darwin would be open yet!

We waited around for a copuple of hours and then jumped in a taxi and headed for Darwin City centre. The driver was far nicer than the information beast and he helpfully dropped us off outside the main cluster of hostels in the area. Our view of Australia was already tainted and after finding out a bed in a hostel dorm was going to cost us $30 a night, we were highly aggitated. As we were so tired we had to take the hit and pay the extortionate price, however we were met with another problem: no check in before midday! Disheartened we left our bags behind and headed to McDonalds for some breakfast as everywhere else was so expensive. We then wandered around investigating prices for campervan hire and returned to the hostel just after midday. We were then met with another problem to worsen our moods. Apparently by leaving our bags behind and saying we will return at midday does not constitute a booking and the receptionist was only just able to squeeze us in but in different rooms. Our first impression of Australia was not getting any better.

After a little discussion we decided that a campervan would be the most viable option and we booked one for the following day, had a big fat kebab for lunch and then went to bed. After sleeping for a while, we were in slightly better moods and went out for a couple of beers in the evening.

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Photos

Welcome to Darwin
How excited are they!