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Firstly I would like to apologise for last weeks rather univentive title, both Ross and Stef used 'Roadtrip' too........ Secondly, from my ever attentive, inquisitive mind (along the same lines of 'some aussie observations'), I have some queries I hope my readers can help me with. Answers on a postcard please:
1) Thongs(flip flops) and socks, together, why???
2) How come sailors uniforms are white? It looks a bit funny I reckon.
3) Who would win in a battle between a shark and a croc?
4) Why do Australians think that turning airports/buses into freezers is a good idea, after being in the heat all day? It's playing havoc with my internal thermostat.
Thats all I can think of for now, but there will be more, so for now on with the blog.
Aaaaah Darwin. Now really when you consider how far we've come and how far away from anything Darwin is, you would think Darwin would be huge, maybe even on the same scale as Brissie or Sydney, but no. The centre where we're staying is quite compact and so there are few hostels, meaning they're all rip-offs! The cost of living here is quite high. However it really
is a nice city. Right on the ocean and at this time of year, no rain at all, just glorious sunshine, all 34 degrees and 69% humidity of it! It's really clean and there are very few beasties although that's not counting the sea / rivers, they're loaded with lethal box jellyfish, crocs, sharks, oh and don't forget the water pythons.
We've been frantically job-hunting here. The idea is that there will be lots of hospitality jobs because the high tourist season is starting. I've knocked on a few doors and even managed an interview but still no word. 😞 In the meantime we've been eating noodles and doing the cheap tourist trail. The civic centre is home the Parliament House and Library, free internet woohoo and does guided tours. I did that. Was quite interesting but there were a lot of politics to understand. Architecturally I was pretty impressed though. Thursdays and Sundays are the famous Mindil Market Days, held on the beach about 20 min walk from town. The first night we arrived we headed down to sit on the beach and watch the sunset, like the majority of backpackers in the area. It's quite a sight which
you'll see from the pics. The market itself is pretty hectic and is based around the global foodstalls, to which we made a bee-line, then sat down to enjoy our feast under the stars, awwwwww. We also went back there during the week for a BBQ with Alva and Apple Betty to watch the sunset again! Also happened to meet 2 elderly couples who told us some of their travelling tales, namely that they're flying around the country at the mo in a 4 seater plane, sounds like a good life to me! The next market night we headed down, this time for Mexican food, which was awesome! I had been instructed to eat healthily due to my illness (more on that later) so Nachos sounded like a good idea. This time at the market we also saw the Roadkill food stand, 'you kill it, we cook it', yuck! and a wildlife show by a Steve Irwin wannabe. He had quite a selection of snakes, lizards and some baby crocs. The star of the show was Sylvia, a huuuuge python thing which he draped over a blindfolded woman!
Darwin harbour is a lovely up-and-coming area, not quite finished but home
to a swimming area and wave lagoon, where nutters on boogie boards try to catch the fake waves, and due to the amount of people there, was a bit like dodgems on water. Just North of the CBD is Fannie Bay, home to the Museum and an old Gaol, both free admission, which attracted me. The museum has a stuffed croc called Sweetheart who died while rangers were trying to move him to a croc farm / zoo, because he was terrorising fisherman. This croc was 4.5m long! and could fit 3 of me in it's belly alone! Very cool. We also tried to leave Ross in the jail, but no luck, he's still with us.
So after a week of sweating away and job-hunting we decided we had to get moving. Mum is over in 8 weeks (HI MUM) so we have to be back in Sydney by then. The options were to head back to the East Coast or move South, both areas are coming into their fruit-picking / vine-pruning seasons so there is a chance of some rural work. After a little bit of persuasion from myself we chose South, weighing up the not so great weather
down there against the fact it's somewhere completely new for us all. So we booked a flight, checked out of the hostel and hung around Darwin for one last day. Luckily there were some festivities on the esplanade which kept us occupied all day, a Greek Festival! It's a massive event for some reason, centered around some rather fancy dancing and a lot of kebabs.
At 10pm last night we said cheerio to the Irish ones, again and got a taxi to the airport. Unfortunately we had to collect our bags from the hostel at this time, even though our flight wasn't until 2.40am. It was a looooong night, not helped by the 30min delay. I think I managed 2 hours sleep, so I do apologise if this blog doesn't make much sense. We got a hostel pretty quick, its huge and arrived just in time for a free brekkie, good stuff. Oh, and they also do free apple pie and ice cream in the evenings, I shall report back on that.
Overnight we flew 3 hours, from the top of Oz to the bottom and it's cold down here! Like Scotland! And a bit grey. But really Adelaide seems
pretty nice, it's huge and very busy considering it's a Sunday. I went for a wee donder this avo and of course got lost, but at least Adelaide has concrete buildings and pedestrianised areas. Tomorrow is the Queens Brithday holiday over here so everything is shut. We went to Woolies to stock up of pasta for a couple of days and I promise it was like Christmas in there, everyone panicking cos the shops will be shut for a day!
We shall be in Adelaide for a week or so, then heading to a wee place called Mildura on the SA, Victoria, NSW border where there is the promise of a job for 6 weeks or so, then onwards to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. While here we shall be visiting the many markets and shops in a hunt for warm clothes! and touring the chocolate factory (free tastings!)
Oh! and before I sign off, I shall share my illness with you. On arrival in Townsville I was pure dying of a sore throat, my glands and tonsils were all swollen. So off I went to the doctor after a couple of days in pain. He gave me some anti-biotics for
a week. So I took them and gradually my throat healed. A week later however I woke up with the wierdest rash aaaaallll over. Panicking I ran off to the nearest doctor who said I must have had Glandular Fever because the rash appears when you mix G.F. with these drugs. He said I should have been given peniciiin immediately by the 1st doctor and sent me off for a blood test (I did NOT enjoy that). In the meantime I had mum and dad worrying on the phone most days, while my horrible rash took days to disappear. Anyway, results have been given and they're negative! I probably just had tonsilitis and was allergic to those anti-biotics! The reason I've explained all this is cos Mum thinks it's a good story to remember of my OZ travelling adventure and also you'll understand the strange picture of my arm.............
xxx
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chickiedod
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hello
nice to hear from you.xxx