How Ya Goin'?

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Australia is extremely strict when it comes to Customs. We were pulled aside because we checked yes on our arrival cards for carrying medications. We had a ziploc bag with the usual traveller's meds such as Pepto-Bismol and Sudafed that they went through with a fine tooth comb. CM had purchased some cold medicine over the counter in Singapore, including some Contac NT recommended by the pharmacist there. As it contained pseudophedrine, it was promptly confiscated by the Australian authorities. They claimed at the dose of 90 mg per tablet, the packet was worth $600 Australian on the black market. We didn't realize it even had pseudophedrine in it, and were surprised that a substance so heavily controlled in Australia (and the US) was readily available in such a strict country as Singapore!

We arrived in Darwin at 4AM so we checked into the Melaleuca Hostel and went straight to sleep for a few hours. When we awakened around 10, we decided to head out to explore the town on foot. Darwin is located on the northern coast of Australia where it is quite tropical, very hot, and super sunny. By far this is the hottest place we've been on our entire trip. It is actually the rainy season, but we didn't encounter so much as a dark cloud while we were there. Apparently, the town was bombed repeatedly during World War II and along the waterfront you will find several memorials to the Australian military veterans. We wandered into an outdoor mall area for some cool drinks after our exhausting, not-too-bright-an-idea-in-hindsight walk in the midday heat.

Arriving in Australia after spending the last 5 weeks in Asia was a strange kind of culture shock for us. Suddenly all of the signs and menus were in English, but the lingo and accent weren't as easy to decipher as you would think for native (American) English speakers. The standard greeting here is not "G'day, mate!" as we learned from Crocodile Dundee, but instead "How ya goin'?" which doesn't make any grammatical sense to us! Spaghetti on toast is a common breakfast (brekkie) dish, and biscuits (bikkies) are actually cookies. Twenty cent pieces are absolutely huge, as are fifty cent pieces, with one and two dollar coins being much smaller. There are no one or two cent coins anymore, and the smallest bill is a $5. At any rate, it's fun to learn the "Australianisms", and will try to include some more in later posts.

This was our first experience staying in a true hostel and it was just fine for the one night. We "splurged" on an ensuite room with no more adornment than a bunkbed, AC, fan, and large cabinet for storing your suitcase. The hostel staff were very friendly and helpful in providing maps, dinner suggestions, etc. There is a small pool, large sundeck, and best of all for us, laundry facilities! Our only pet peeves were 1) you had to buy a lock for the lockers in the room (rather than borrow/rent one) and 2) we couldn't hook up our laptop to their internet connection, they had about 10 computer terminals you could use for a fee but no wifi either. Overall we decided that we were a little too old (or maybe too mature) to stay in a hostel, and it was more suited to people used to recent dorm living.

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Photos

For Young and Old Alike!
This isn't the backpackers we stayed at, but we liked the sign!

Pretty Bird
Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

Hammock on the Sundeck
It was soooo hot out there!

Comments

[Pamela]

Long lost brother
Hey, that outback dog looks like Riley's long lost brother..... really they could be twins.... HA