Dodging Cyclones in Darwin

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Well I made it to Darwin - finally. It was a total mission though as the weather in Australia since I last wrote has gone from bad to appalling. I managed about 45 minutes on the beach on my first day in Byron, but on the second day it literally poured down with rain all day long, and not just showers but torrential rain. My envisioned beach-bum plans of going snorkelling and horse-riding along the beach were looking in serious jeopardy. I wasn't sure what else to do, as most activities in Byron revolve around the beach and sea and then just as I was pondering what I could do instead, there was a power cut to boot.

I decided in the end that the best thing to do would be to take advantage of the fact that there are loads of spas in Byron and go for some pampering. The problem was getting to them, as it was tipping it down and all my stuff was in a locker that was electronic and I therefore couldn't open it cos of the power cut (it contained my rainmac and umbrella). There was a spa next door to the hostel, so I went over there but it was fully booked - dammit. I went back to the hostel to join the rest of my fellow backpackers who were similarly trapped there, but was lucky as half an hour later they called me to say there had been a cancellation. So I had a luxury body scrub, which was absolute bliss, followed by a sauna which helped warm me up after hours of sitting in wet clothes.

Afterwards I trudged back to the hostel and considering the circumstances did the only feasible thing I could - made my way to the nearest pub. It was absolutely packed, even though it was only early afternoon, so evidently many people had the same idea. In the end it turned out to be a good day and I sat in the pub playing cards for hours, then braved the rain to go into town for more drinks. We arrived looking like drowned rats, so much so that I wasn't sure they'd even let us in. Fortunately they did though, so the drinking continued till the early hours although I managed to resist the urge to go to resident tourist/backpackers' cattle-market, 'Cheeky Monkeys.'

The next morning I awoke with a sore head and the realisation that I had to check out of my room at 10am, still feeling knackered. I was hoping to find somewhere in the hostel to sleep, but the TV room had only small uncomfy chairs and a horror movie playing, and the other communual room was full of people reading and chatting, driven inside by the continuing crappy weather. I was starting to despair - especially when even a fry-up hadn't made me feel better - when I remembered a leaflet I'd looked at the previous day about a place where you could go to do a 'float.'

Seeing as I needed a rest it seemed like a good thing to do - after all, where better to got for a snooze than on water?!!! I wasn't too sure what to expect, but arrived to find a big tank filled with salt water. I was told to climb in and then shut myself inside, so that I'd be in complete darkness, and then to float on the water for an hour. I wasn't sure what this was supposed to achieve but the guy who ran the place advised me to 'follow my bliss.' Ah right, of course. They then played 'relaxing' music for the first half hour (starting with the soothing sounds of the didgeridoo, naturally) and then silence for the second half hour, presumbly to enable me to have time to think.

Now this might have been a good thing if I'd been in London and living my normal, more hectic lifestyle, but as I've been travelling alone for the past few weeks I've had plenty of time to think and 'enjoy' my own company and frankly I've had it up to here with me. So it wasn't long before I felt rather bored and starting counting down the minutes till I could get out.

After the float, I took a walk along the beach back to town where every time I took my rainmac off it rained and whenever I put it back on it stopped and the sun shone. By now I just about had time to do a bit of window shopping before being picked up to be taken to Brisbane airport from where I was flying to Darwin. I received a text message when on the bus from my friends in Darwin, telling me that there was a cyclone heading there and was due to hit at about the same time I was due to land. Not cheery news and at the airport I was told that the flight would go ahead but that there was a strong possibility that it might have to turn round and come back to Brisbane.

Then, just 10 mins before the flight was due to leave, we were advised that it had been cancelled and we should collect our luggage and wait downstairs for further instructions. After hanging around for over an hour we were then told to go home (oblivious to the fact that some of us didn't have a home) and call a number in the morning for further news. All the motels near the airport were full so I got a taxi to Brisbane city centre to find a hostel. However they were all full, which I discovered by walking around in an hour in the rain with all my stuff asking at each one I found. So I ended up having to fork out for a hotel, which was annoying considering it was gone 11pm by this time and I knew I'd be heading back to the airport early so wouldn't even be able to appreciate the luxury of being in a hotel instead of a dorm.

I called the airline in the morning, only to be told I should call back at midday for more news - very bloody helpful seeing as I'd heard there were limited spaces on other flights until Tuesday and I was due back Wednesday. So I bought a flight with Virgin and travelled to Darwin that morning. I'd been expecting nothing but rain in Darwin as it's the wet season and the BBC weather forecast predicted rain for the next 5 days. But the weather was relatively cool and so far it hasn't rained once. It was really humid today though - it often reaches over 90% humidity at this time of year, so walking out of the house feels like walking into a greenhouse.

The coast is actually quite pretty in Darwin although at this time you can't go in the water because of the deadly box jellyfish, which is a bit of a tease when you're so hot and bothered. But it was really nice just hanging out with my friends, eating and drinking lots, relaxing in the pool and being eternally thankful for the invention of air-conditioning.

After Darwin I headed back to Sydney where I met up with friends and had two good but drunken nights out before catching a flight to my next destination - New Zealand.

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