Darwin

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I can sum up Darwin in two words....Hot and humid! in the mornings at 6am the temp hovers around 25 and is accompanied by an 80-90% humidex, so it's more like 30 or so (after running in that running in the desert is going to be easy). Everytime you step out of your nice Air conditioned room you immediately begin to sweat. But once you get used to fact that you'll always be damp in Darwin it's not a bad place at all.

Darwin is a quaint little city (actually the Capital of the NT) in Australia's Northern Territory. Darwin shows off some nice architecture to go with their rich history. In WW2 the Japs bombed Darwin until it was unrecognizeable as a city and before WW2 a cyclone came through and wiped Darwin off the map so here's to hoping that the 3rd time is a charm for Darwin.

Darwin is a nice place to take a walk around the Espalande and take in the scenery and history. Or if you head about 15k outside the CBD you'll run into Darwin National Park. Either way Darwin is nice place to visit and take a stroll. I'm just bummed that we left before the rainy season started I've heard that they get some spectacular storms there in late Nov and December.

Oh yeah One other thing that Darwin and the surrounding area is famous for is saltwater crocs. Apparently if you're out in the wilderness you're not supposed to go to the same spot at a watering hole twice and whenever you're around water you're always supposed to keep a bit of an eye out. A few months ago a big saltwater croc wandered into the main outdoor swimming pool in Darwin, or so I'm told.

Katherine/Katherine Gorge
I didn't spend much time in Katherine, it was just a 4 hour stop on my train ride to Alice. But Katherine seems like a sleepy lil town not unlike one you'd find in Rural Saskatchewan. But the Highlight of Katherine is the Gorge (about 20-30 k outside of town). From high atop the gorge you can see contrasting red rock cliffs and green forests for miles.

Now off to ALice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock)

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