Blogs from City of Darwin, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 11

Cette fois, c'est bien fini avec l'Oceanie...demain, nous prennons l'avion pour le Vietnam. Malheureusement, on a pas grand chose a vous raconter sur ces 11 derniers jours car nous avons ete bloque a Darwin a cause de la mousson. Nous n'avions pas vraiment prevu ce concept, mais il se fait que la saison des pluies frappe de plein fouet le nord de l'Australie et donc Darwin. Elle commence doucement en Decembre pour prendre toute son ampleur en Janvier, c'est a dire exactement la periode que nous venons de passer. il pleut du matin au soir, puis du soir au matin...les routes sont coupees, l'eau est partout, les parc sont fermes, etc...et nous on est au milieu. Pas moyen donc d'aller voir le parc de Kakadu, ni meme d'envisager camper quelque part. Bref, on a du prendre ... read more

My flight to Darwin was an unsociable over-nighter, leaving just before midnight and arriving at 3am. I was lucky enough to be the only person in my row, so I stretched out and had a little sleep. Remarkably there was no big fanfare of a welcome home to Australia - did Darwin not realize who I was? After being away from Australia for so long, and travelling such a long a circuitous route to return, I thought I could have expected at least a brass band and a speech from the mayor. The weather did not forget me, however, for there was a tremendous rain storm soon after I arrived; a huge tropical downpour that seemed to come from nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly. The heat too was impressive, as was the all-pervading, comforting smell ... read more

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 ... read more

Been on the road now 3 weeks, all is travelling well. I've had some fun, some dramas, and some laughs along the way. It's wonderful to see your own country, nothing like what I was expecting. Only had a few mishaps, one being a foot infection day 4 into my big trip. Got held up for 2 days for the swelling to go down so i could drive. It was from a mozzie bite, so now I have become the mozzie repellent queen and no mozzie would get within a 20 metre radius of my campsite! The other drama was a blown tyre in Kakadu, but I am happy to say i can successfully change a truck tyre! So I think I am doing quite well! It's funny, yes it's a big country, but it really ... read more

We left Katherine quite late in the day, mostly because the kids were having so much fun playing in the pool with the Aboriginal children who had traveled for the event at Katherine Gorge. It had been 30 years since the land was handed back to the local tribes, and the tribes people and their families were staying at the park free of charge to celebrate. The park has a rule that children are not allowed in the pool without adult supervision, so we were impressed with the kindness of the pool cleaners who sat and watched about 20 Aboriginal children who would not have been allowed in otherwise. They were there for about an hour until the lifeguards arrived (hired especially for the event). Not long after, a four wheel drive towing a trailer arrived ... read more