Advertisement
Published: October 21st 2006
On arriving back from Kakadu everyone berated me for getting into the trouble with the car that we had done. Luckily Mikey had drawn a line under the events with Sian and was getting on with it. Room 8 ended up being our home for a good month or so. When I arrived we were there with an Australian bloke called Ritchie who I came to know and work with. That night the final England group game was in involving England v Trinidad and Tobago. I must admit I enjoyed my shower after the time spent in Kakadu. Our room went to the bar to get something to eat and have a few beers. The old Kiwi bloke talked the talk when it came to playing pool so i jumped at the chance to play him when I was offered. I ended up beating him with relative ease in both games in which he didn't seem overly happy about! The atmosphere in Globies steadily increased and even Dutchy was out to watch the game. To my surprise i even saw Dutchy get a jug of beer in - his girlfriend wouldn't have been to pleased i'm sure about that! The game
itself was another shocker for England in that they could barely get a half-decent chance - it was miserable although I still ended up having a good night.
Shortly after I arrived back it was time to get a job. Darwin is full of work because unlike Melbourne, backpackers dont tend to stay here for very long. The local paper had lots of them in but one caught the eye and that was for Casino staff at upcoming events (e.g. V8 Supercars). Myself, Ritchie, Mikey and Michael all went down to get jobs. We were given a basic introduction and then asked to choose which jobs we would like. The choice was set up staff, bar staff, waiters and a couple of other lame jobs. Michael and I put down set-up staff down on our forms and went up for a joint interview and she said "you'll both be doing bar work, do you have any experience in that?" Michael said that he had and I said I had absolutely none. She responded by shrugging her shoulders and saying "you wont need experience its only opening cans of beer". When it comes to work Mikey had become a bit
of a Kop out since the beggining of Melbourne. He went along and looked at the forms and then walked out to go and have a look around the casino - I wish I had his money to take or leave employment! We all went away quite happy that it looked like we would have a source of income. The following day Ritchie and Michael got a phone call asking them to come in and I got nothing. It was shortly after this snubbing I decided to look for something else. Peter and Catherine were working down at a place called Cullen Bay. Cullen Bay is a boating playground for people who have lots of money. Its a gorgeous little spot and the size of some of the properties and boats there indicate that its not a place for your average backpacker. Pete and Catherine were working on one of the recently renovated apartment blocks. There job involved cleaning rooms, installing furniture and general work on the apartments. Michael had been down with Pete to get a job there before I went down but he failed to show up when he was offered one. On speaking to Pete he suggested
I go down and ask at the site. So the following day myself and Ritchie strolled on down there and met the jovial foreman Huey. He said that there might be some work coming up and said he would get back to us. Within an hour i got a phone call and it was Huey saying could i start tommorow at 7am? Getting up at the crack of dawn when your supposed to be on holiday isn't the easiest thing and with the World Cup being on it was a slight inconvenience but an essential one. I was surprised when Huey told us we would be working cleaning and sweeping up the dust after the builders instead of preparing the rooms like the other backpackers. This didn't bother me I was just pleased that I had some work. Our work at Cullen Bay consisted of cleaning, moving equipment/tiles/materials etc etc and other duties. It wasn't bad work and I soon became acclimatised to the 30 degree plus temperatures everyday. Its probably one of the best jobs iv'e had - we had a gorgeous view out over the bay and the expensive Marina, the job wasn't to strenuos and the people
there were nice as well. Myself and Ritchie were worked much harder than the other backpackers though when we were handed over to be managed by the Project Manager - Jason. Jason was a reasonable boss but one who used to demand you do something and then have this patronising smile on his face - it used to really pi$$ me off. He had us both working from the first moment in the morning (we were usually earlier than anyone else) to the last a night - sometimes not finishing until 7pm. I didn't mind because I was desperate for money and the more hours the merrier. The early start and late finishes didn't seem to dent my social life though. Burning the candle at both ends took a whole new meaning in Darwin and I would not be wrong in saying that I was out on the majority of nights a week if not all. The World Cup had alot to do with it and I did enjoy relaxing with a beer and watching the coverage with the usual crowd even if this meant watching games that started at 11pm or 2am and then going to work the next
Flying Fox
Hanging in the trees in Darwinday. You might think that the chronic lack of sleep made me Zombified during the day but my body clock adapted and accepted only having 4hrs sleep at most a night (I only got Sundays off as well)!
During the England and Australia games during the World Cup I spent a fair bit of my time chatting to Liam, Luke and his mate who I cant remember for the life of me. Anyway this mate was quite strange in the fact that he had an obsession with black childrens TV presenters. In particular Dave Benson Phillips from Get Your Own back and Chris Akabusi from Record Breakers. He was quite amusing and everyone he met thought he was barmy especially as he had the pictures of these 2 men in his wallet! Everygame he would get them out and I would crack up - i introduced him to a few of my friends who all thought he was a nut! Australia were very good during the World Cup and it was good to be in the country with all the hype of the World Cup even if the media coverage centred solely on Australia. There was always a big
crowd in for the Australia games and it attracted many Australians who had never really been interested in football before. i found myself having a conversation with a few Aussies and explaining the game to them or talking to a few who thought they knew about the game but quite clearly didn't - its a referee and not an umpire!! It wasn't until the tournament was in full flow that I started warming to the Australian team and I was very dissapointed when they were knocked out of the tournament by Italy in the last minute of the game. Mikey was incensed and punched one of the doors before John the bouncer came over and told him to cool it! I have to admit my temper flaired a few times when it came to England but they were so frustrating that my anger builtup. During the Equador game (we eventually won 1-0) I was apparently quite vocal to say the least. And the next day when I walked into the bar John laughed and said "we dont want anymore tro uble out of you tonight". A few other had commented throughout the course of the day and that evening i
could have done with muting the volume a bit. A few days earlier Mikey had met his second fancy in the space of a week or so. While I went to bed early because I had work the next day he got chatting to an Irish women called Barbara. She was 35yrs old and was definetly quite motherly. I made a concious effort not to befriend her as I had done with Sian instead opting to be polite so that if there was another debacle like the Sian one I would not be caught in the centre. Mikey and Babs quickly hit it off and it was only a matter of a day or so before he was back in the Holiday Inn! Fortunately for me I wasn't put in the position to talk to Babs much as I didn't see much of Mikey. But one night in which they both came to the bar happened to be the England game against Equador. It began well with myself, Liam, Luke, Dave Benson Phillips bloke and a couple of other England fans donning face masks which Liam had got off the internet and were of England players. I was Gerrard (looked
nothing like him), Luke was Rooney, Liam was Beckham - it was all good fun and alot of people found it amusing. At half-time i was not a happy chap though and had my head in my hands. I briefly looked up and saw that Barbara had her camera pointing in my face. I can look back on it now and say it was just a bit of fun but at the time i told her where to go and promptly looked away. From that moment on I never said another word to her and she did not say a word to me - which was fine by me! Luke cheered me up briefly when I slammed the Gerrard mask down and he swapped Rooney. Luckily England won the game and a Conga line formed shortly after the final whistle - I was grabbed into the line near the front as we all paraded around the bar and outside. Our celebrations were all short lived as England ended up going out to Portugal on penalties. That night I was a bag of nerves and my usual explosive self and as that little prick Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning penalty i
Crowd @ Fox 'n' Fiddle
Katherine, Gary, Peter, Mike, Aileen left the bar as quickly as possible and went straight to bed. The next day Ritchie (Aussie) was absolutely laying into me and commenting on how I get so uptight and should just chill out more. In truth i wanted to kill him or hit him just to shut him up but he was giving me a lift to work so I decided to play the silent card which proved effective even if he did continue on for a few days - I soon learnt that Ritchie had a habit of commenting when it wasn't needed or necessary! For me that result drew a line under the World Cup and I had no interest other than Australia doing well. I went and saw the German games as they were always good for atmosphere - absolutely packed and the Germans singing with some very dubious songs - one of them sounded like "House of Fanny" repeated over and over again which us English speakers found hilarious. I don't think the Germans appreciated myself and Mikey cheering on whoever the Germans were playing - although there were a good few Swedes during the match against the two teams. One regular in the
Globies football crowd was a girl i named 'Squawker'. She would shout and scream and annoy everyone around her with all her football rantings. I liked her as a person as she was harmless and very cheerful but she would be awful when the football was on. She also had a tendency to think she knew about football and other sports where quite clearly she was clueless. This was summed up before the England penalty shootout when we discussed who would take the penalties - she said "Beckham will definetly take one" I responded "no he won't as he was substituted earlier" she then replied "well he will still come back on and take the penalty" - I couldn't quite contain myself and Gary was shaking his head in absolute disgust! After a few football and rugby matches watched with Squawker, Gary and Mikey could hold off no longer and launched a verbal attack against her. I felt quite sorry for her even though i agreed with them.
Early on in my stay in Darwin we were joined in our room by another Scotsman, Gary. He was immediately likeable and full of jokes so we got on really well
from the outset. Unfortunately he was another Gooner so we had a few issues with each other there. Gary with Mikey and I were the core of Room 8 and we soon treated the place like ours even though other visitors were always coming and going. Unfortunately for those visitors sleeping on the top bunk of Gary and my bunk beds they had to put up with limited space. Gary's bed was across the way from mine and we both had a habit of leaving our clothes lying about on the floor - these piles were absolutely mountainous and actually joined they were so bi. It got so bad that the cleaner refused to clean our room until the mess was cleaned up - we did sort it out eventually but this would last a day before it was back to normal.
Although the cleanliness in the room wasn't as the hostel would have liked there wasn't much of a chance of being kicked out because of this. This is because I was very pally with the reception staff and spent alot of my time talking to them. I got to know Shane very well as he stayed in our
room for a bit. I got on well with him even though Mikey was adamant that he was gay or there was something "not quite right about him". He did have a girlfriend but he would complain about her all the time! before she even arrived he was saying that he wasn't particulary looking forward to her arrival and when she finally did arrive all he did was complain about her and how she was being so annoying. A Ukranian women was another regular receptionist. Alot of people found her a bit jobsworthy but I always got on well with her and she used to laugh at my jokes which is always slightly ego boosting (doesn't happen alot btw!). The other ones i cant remember their names but there was the blonde receptionist who helped me out big time. We had been staying there about a month when we got notes on our door saying could Gary and Paul please report to reception. We both went down there and were told that we would have to move out as a big tour group was coming in. Fortunately I got on well with the blonde behind the desk and was able
to talk my way into finding me space and shifting the incoming guests into other rooms. This happened a few times but luckily each time i had my contacts to sort out the situations. Kyle was the night receptionist from Adelaide and he was a really decent bloke. I cant remember how I met him but we got on really well and were soon watching the Aussie rules together in Globies. He organised a fishing trip which I was a bit dissapointed to miss as i was working and also sorted us out accomodation if we were ever in Adelaide (kind offer but I had already been and wouldn't be going back). As it happens I was eventually forced out of the hostel as my main core of friends were all booted out and I was forced to move rooms!
Darwin City is fairly short of touristy things to do other than the museum, croc park, fishing and... thats about it. The biggest attraction is the Mindil Beach markets and everyone who visits Darwin is supposed to go here and explore the markets and then watch the sun go down over the Timor Sea/Indian Ocean. It was a few
England World Cup Night
Liam, Me, Luke & Ritchie at front weeks before I actually embarked on the 45 minute trek to the markets. Myself, Gary, Peter, Katherine and a french bloke called Alex headed on down there to check it out. It has whip crackers, bands playing, artists, other side shows, stalls selling all kinds of things and lots and lots of food stalls. In the food section there is god knows how many different varieties of food place although mostly Asian food. Like most things that are cooked in a van and served up in a plastic container it wasn't the most memorable of meals but it was a good atmosphere. The place was absolutely heaving and was quite obviously a place for locals as well as tourists to goto. The best stall we found was one in which you had to unravel puzzles and brain games. We stayed here for a while being tricked by the objects we were using, like get the ring off the metal puzzle. I did get quite bored of the markets in the end and we went and saw the sunset over the sea. To be fair the sunset is quite special and with paragliding going on as well there was some good
photo oppotunities...except for me. Every time i went i was always rushed out and forgot my camera! sunset finish! Afterwards we walked down some dark paths to catchup with a couple of blokes from work at the 'Ski Club' which everyone had raved on about. It was nice to sit outside and have a few beers next to the sea but the clientelle were not exactly our type of people. We got back quite late as we had to walk for 45mins to get back!
The Vic is one of the main backpacker drinking dens in Darwin. It is an absolute dive but offers cheap drinks and special offers. One reason why it is popular with backpackers is the $1 meals. For a dollar you can indulge yourself with the finest cuisine that the dingiest pub in town has to offer (usually manky Lasagne with chips). Gary, Mikey, myself, Ritchie and Gary's mate Paul headed down there for one of these nights. The meal was its usual poor quality (get what you pay for) but the drinks were flowing nicely. There were competitions all night and the first one we entered was the paper aeroplane throwing comp. The prize
More Globies Action
Pete, Paul, Gary & Mikey was drinks for the whole table. We all set about making our aeroplanes and I was even asked to make them for the table of girls next to us (I made sure the quality was pretty bad so they didn't have a chance of winning, lol). My plane looked fairly good in testing beforehand, but the others looked as aerodynamically sound as a Lada Riva. Paul asked me if i could make him one which i obliged and the it was to the comp itself. We were last so saw a few poor efforts and a couple of potential winners. One of the ones which would have won was stopped by someone i got to know (not out of choice) as she ambled into its flight path - unfortunately this would be the only thing she did to help me out! Paul was first to step up with the plane i built and it flew straight to the other side and hit the bar at the end - as there was only me, Ritchie and one other lady behind i knew we had won it. I stepped up and my plane flew well until it clipped one of the posts
Gary & Me
Arse & Spurs on the way but still finished in a respectable position. Ritchie's effort (he is a pilot) was dismal and i think the final girl effort actually went backwards. So we acquired free drinks for our table with that win and the night got going. The Vic played host to another competition later on in which ladies from around the world had their breasts painted with the national flag and then judged (touch of class) - the Swedish girl won by the way! Later on Gary and I were the only ones left but had a great night anyway.
One of the few days I actually cooked my own dinner I was joined in the Kitchen by the women who had accidentally stopped that blokes paper aeroplane at the Vic from winning. This was fairly early on in my stay in Darwin and before that night at the Vic so I didn't know her. I was happily cooking my pasta dish in the kitchen and noticed somebody staring at me out of the corner of my eyes. I looked around and acknowledged her before a full blown conversation begun. I don't mind a chat with people I don't know but
this was more than just a polite conversation. She was chatting to me and flirting with me like she had known me for years and introduced herself as 'Connie'. And it was with great relief that Alex (friend from work) arrived and sat down for a chat while I ate my dinner with the strange German women. She asked me what I was doing that evening *alarm bells*, i told her that i was going to Mindil Beach with a few of MY friends. Immediately she said "I will come along with you" and immediately i uttered a few obsenities under my breath. As my meal wore on i decided to ignore her and just speak to Alex to see if she would go away (its sounds harsh but she was freaking me out). Eventually i told her i was going back to my room and then we would head to Mindil Beach. Luckily we all made our exit without seeing her and had a good night at the markets (see above). The next day we decided to stay in and play a few hands of cards on the benches outside. I was sat there happily looking at my cards
and was suddenly prodded in the side - it was her!! She asked to join in and we let her even though she didn't know how to play or took any interest in playing. She spent all her time poking me and trying to grab my cards - it wasn't a competetive game but I was getting angry that everyone knew what my hand was because of her idiocy. In the end we all just ignored her and I may have told her where to go and she just slunk off somewhere - Mikey said "I think your in there mate" and Ritchie asked me what her name was - he was onto something.
The next day I was playing pool in the bar and cueing for a shot when i was jolted and nearly fouled as someone charged into me from the side. It was her again! This time in no uncertain terms i told her to **** off. That night Ritchie said he thought he knew who she was - not Connie but her real name Cornelia Rau. He said that she was in the news a year or so ago for a big court case. She was
Mike & Me
Scotland & England found wandering around the streets of Brisbane naked and babbling on incoherently. The Police took her in and thought she was an illegal immigrant so imprisoned her. It turned out she was an AustroGerman and she had been imprisoned wrongfully. She took the authorities to court and won - about $2m. Ritchie said she also had mental health issues. This made me even more freaked out than I already was but also curious as to whether this hunch of Ritchie's was true and what had actually happened. The next day I went to the Internet Cafe and googled her name. Immediately lots of articles came up and i pressed on Google Images and low and behold, it was her! I read and printed off a few articles detailing her story. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and spent a fair bit of her time in Adelaide being cared for. I felt sorry for her because it appears she had a child and had not had an easy time of it. Unfortunately it didn't make my life any easier - it just got worse - how would i deal with an obsessive Schizophrenic?! The answer to this became evident the following day
when she sat down with us all while we were eating in the bar. Ritchie started asking her some pointed questions as to her past and I started asking her questions - it seemed like she didn't want people asking questions about her life (obviously) and so she left us alone a 'bit' more. She did continue to pester me whenever I was alone though and it got to the point that I had to quickly leave whenever I saw her - she was actually having a negative effect on my activities. In the end I asked my friends on reception if she could be told there was no room at the hostel. They did this and things were fine for about a week before she was allowed back in. She did spend less time harassing me as my ignorance grew but she was latching onto blokes in the bar every single night. She would wander upto the blokes (had to be on there own or just a couple of blokes together) and generate conversation - within minutes she was playing tonsil tennis with them and the rest is history. For a 40yr old she isn't ugly but someone most
young men wouldn't go near. Her % pickup was astounding but also quite worrying - Ritchie was going to go and tell some of the blokes who she actually was! The night we saw her at the Vic when she unknowingly helped us win the paper aeroplane comp - i saw her and my heart sank - but i decided to stay there and if she approached me i was going to tell her to stay away in no uncertain terms! As it happened she only spoke to me once and that was a Hi. This was because she was otherwise occupied. In that night alone she snogged in excess of 4 blokes and at the end of the night was pretty much close to having full blown sex on the dancefloor - it was disgusting!
Katie, Emma, and Emily (met Katie in Sydney, Emma in Alice and hadn't met Emily) were the nurses at Alice Springs general and Mikey and I had met up with Katie and Emma while we had been there. The three girls arrived a few weeks into my stay in Darwin and it was good to see them. I was sat by the pool
talking to Pete when they arrived and that night we headed out to celebrate. We arrived at one of the outside bars on Mitchell Street and I was immediately greeted with that frightening poke in the side. It was her - I told her that I was here celebrating with MY friends and had to go and again she insisted on coming with me. I tried to ignore her and then she started chatting to the girls. Ritchie grabbed hold of me and we went and hid around the corner while discussing what to do. After about 5mins or so Pete came around the corner and informed us that she had gone so we went back and i had to explain to the others about my strange behaviour on arrival (it sounds childish but she really did freak me out). On telling the story to the girls it looked like they were a bit sceptical until i showed them the clippings I had taken off the net. Luckily the rest of the night went off without a hitch even though I spent most of my time talking to colleagues from work and drinking down the Coopers Pale Ale with Pete.
As already noted and quite clearly drinking is a big part of the scene in Darwin. In the time spent there I think we went to every bar on the infamous Mitchell Street and i went to a few more out of the way ones. Sunday had to be the biggest drinking night of the week because it was Kitty O'Sheas night. As the name suggests it is an Irish bar and a fairly typical one at that. The draw card comes from the fact that it does Roast dinners (beef usually) and a 2 for 1 offer between 5 and 9pm. From the first Sunday we were there (courtesy of advice given by Pete and Katherine) til the last Sunday - I cant actually remember missing one Kitty's night in the whole time I was there! 2 for 1 is a deal that cannot simply be avoided, we were coming back afterwards all slightly merry. Sometimes we would leave and then goto Rorkes Drift for the live music and then onto somewhere else. Only trouble with the 'Sunday special' is that Monday is the following day - most Monday mornings at work I was a right old mess but luckily my colleagues were fairly laid back about it. Kitty's nights were always a bit hazy, but the first after the arrival of the girls was good. We went next door to the nightclub bar, Roxy's after Kitty's had thrown us out. I immediately got collared by a drunk Aussie who recognised me as being English. Straight away we were involved in a sporting debate which actually got quite heated from what I can remember. I do remember him telling me he was some sports correspondent and he would be covering the Ashes - but I couldn't really careless. As the convo had gone on for a fair while and was quite clearly going nowhere, Emily came and rescued me. Soon the crowd that evening whittled itself down - Pete fell asleep on the Sofas and Mikey escorted him home. Gary, myself, Emily and Emma remained drinking into the night - out of jugs at one point. We headed down Mitchell to a couple more bars before getting back into Globies for the World Cup Final. Out of all the games i saw during the World Cup, the World Cup Final wasn't one of them. Instead we sat chatting until 5:30am before i decided that I had to be up in an hour. That day at work was the worst I have had to experience in my entire life - the only reason I went in was because I was drunk. I got back from work and just passed out on my bed. Some good did come from loitering around at Kitty's every Sunday. I was standing at the bar when i noticed a card in which you had to buy 10 drinks and then get a free t-shirt - the card was filled in so i picked it up and then exchanged it for a Kitty's t-shirt which i have proudly in my backpack today - the others are all jealous, but you have to be here to understand!
Whenever Ritchie was around there was always some big debate and he seemed to have an opinion on absolutely everyone. At first I and everyone else liked Ritchie but as time went by our friendship deteriorated. He used to constantly go on about how Aileen is to good for Michael, and just abuse directed towards Michael everyday - it did get boring. Then he continued on about how Pete should eat vegetables (Pete asks that no salad is put on any of his meals). There were a few other issues he constantly raised - with me it was pool. He used to comment on how overly competetive I was - only reason he used to bitch about that is because I beat him at pool everytime we played and he couldn't handle it. In one instance I was on the verge of beating him again when he inexplicably picked up one of the balls and dropped it down the pocket - i took this as him conceding (I had the black right over the pocket) and sat down. He asked me why I had sat down and i responded that he was a bad sportsman and I would never play him at pool again because of his attitude. He didn't take kindly to this and it all came to a head at one alcohol induced night down at Kitty's. Again he commented on Peter not eating greens and I could no longer hold my tongue. I said to him why he is so worried about what Peter is eating and said it was annoying and he should basically shut up. Peter then chipped in with his thoughts before I went full frontal and said that he was all mouth before the pool game from the other night was brought up - again it got quite heated and i don't think he appreciated that people were rightfully taking my stance on the issue even if they didn't go as far as saying he was a bad sportsman. Bart tried to calm the issue but it had gone to far - i kept my head and Ritchie didn't. He boiled over and went to grab my neck - i said to him quite calmly "if your hands get any close to me i'm going to lay you out", he seemed to heed the warning and backed off. At the end of the night everyone was back all pally again but the bitterness remained with him and the events of the night i could not shrug off. This event took place as our time in Darwin was drawing to a close so I didn't have to put up with anymore arguments with him.
I played pool most days in Darwin. Basically something to do and also because I enjoyed playing and being quite good at it. Out of everyone Peter was the one who could match me the most and we had many games where he would beat me and I would beat him. Every Wednesday and Sunday the Globies bar would have a pool competition and a few times Peter, Myself and Mikey would enter. I never got knocked out in the first round although myfirst game involved me coming back from being 7-balled and winning with a clearance - much to the bemusement of my opponent. I reached the semi-finals a couple of times and was usually underservedly beaten (in my opinion). Unfortunately I never met Pete in the pool competition although i came close a few times - one of us would usually get knocked out in the match before we were due to meet. Emma is a brilliant pool player and learnt playing at college (a bit like me). She was victorious against both Mikey and Pete when she arrived and so I would never take her lightly when we finally did play. One night at Kitty's she turned on me and said she bet she could beat me at pool. This was a challenge I couldn't turn down so I accepted. Katie even went as far as putting money on Emma beating me - it turned out to be the $5 game and it was slightly over hyped. Before the game I actually got nervous because it had been hyped so much (by myself and Emma mainly). This was reflected in our pool playing - we were atrocious and I had to come from a precarious position to get down to the black. It took me forever to get the black in (even sitters over the pocket) but luckily Emma was missing sitters as well - everyone else was looking on licking their lips at the thought of playing one of us. Eventually i potted the black and was a relieved man but hardly ecstatic as it was probably the worst game I have been involved in - I never did get the $5 btw. One of the more memorable nights at Globies involved a pool competition. Peter, Emma, Mikey and I all entered. Unfortunately Emma was drawn against Mikey in the first round so this limited our chances of getting people through to the next round and winning that bar tab. The Emma and Mikey clash was a good one and Mikey narrowly came out victorious. I eased into the second round with a win and Peter was playing sublime pool to get into the second round. Mikey's game was first and was an awful game - he and his opponent missed some absolute sitters before Mikey succumbed on the black after an eternity. It was a shame he was knocked out as I was due to play him in the next round. Peter was looking majestic around the table and he eased to victory over his opponent before I sluggishly crept over the line playing some absolute awful pool. The next round I was first up against the player who beat Mikey and started to regain some form - Pete had a few words with me telling me to enjoy the pool instead of getting frustrated with it - it worked and I won relatively easily. I would meet Pete in the Quarter finals if he could win his clash. He was superb and got down to the black in no time...and then it went horribly wrong. His opponent was good and slowly recovered. Pete must have had about 5 shots on the black before he was caught up and beaten. I was absolutely gutted for him as he had it sown up until the black. I went into the quarters against the bloke that had just beaten Pete. He was a nice bloke but another Gooner! I wasn't playing as good as I know I can play but managed to grind to a win and avenge Pete's loss to him. Before my Semi clash I had a few words with Emily which gave me a boost and Peter gave me a talking to. I approached the table with confidence and a smile on my face. I was playing brilliantly because of it and every shot I went for got sunk - I was even thinking about getting a 7-ball on my opponent. As it was i won the game with room to spare and in relatively quick time - my opponent even acknowledging the performance to his mate "he's a good player" (lucky he wasn't watching the other games). I got to the final and I was up against the big bouncer. I knew he was good because he was constantly playing on the table and I had seen him a few times. I got off to a flyer and was well ahead of him before he played a negative shot and covered one of my balls over the pocket (in Australia negative shots are against the rles of the game). Because of this the fluency of the game went and it turned into a tactical battle. As I was miles ahead of him I had to take on the covered final ball and came unstuck. He potted a few to be one behind and his final red was a complete fluke! With the black sat over the pocket his final red hit 3 cushions before slowly rolling into the middle pocket - I was gutted - I couldn't believe how lucky he had been - i was so close to winning and it was robbed from me! We shook hands and he even said "I was lucky there mate, sorry about that". I was still gutted but Pete congratulated me and gave me a boost and then we joined the others for a few. By a few the box of Goon was flowing and we all got quite drunk. Emma, Emily, Gary and I were left and sat up chatting until the early hours - we got kicked out of the kitchen benches so then sat on the volleyball court. This night will go down in infamy as the "Night of the Missing Flip-Flop" (because i staggered back to my room with one flip-flop and couldn't find the other one the next morning much to the amusement of the others).
About 2 weeks into working at Cullen bay I was moved sites onto the new development. My new task involved me unloading the containers which had arrived from Sydney full of bloody heavy equipment for the assembly of a shutter system in the building of a lift-shaft. Unloading those containers in the Darwin heat was torture and i'm sure the temperature got up in excess of 50 degrees inside them. After unloading the containers I would work in a little team assembling the shutters. The team consisted of the Carpenters Dwight and Mario and Bart who was supervising the assembly (flown in from Sydney to supervise). Dwight is one of the funniest blokes I have worked with and was quite laid back to say the least. He's a dope smoking bearded giant of a man who tries to live life to the fullest. Mario is a small Italian who would come out with some hilarious comments but also be quite useless - i found him funny. Bart was a backpacker like me who had got a job with the shutter firm in Sydney from its boss Graham. Graham didn't like me as my opinions seemed to oppose his and his arrogance seemed to be offended by a labourer disagreeing with him. Although we were outside in the heat of day and I was away from my main friends at Cullen Bay I was really enjoying it. There was no pressure on turning up slightly late or having extended lunch breaks. The foreman, Karsten was a nice chap but I had to put up with more of Jason the project manager. At the beginning of my time on the building site (Pandanas) I was generally left alone - but as he saw I was doing less and less as time went on (not out of choice) he started collaring me to do other little jobs about the place. Lunchtimes were usually quite fun at the building site - most people used to go down the pub. Friday's were especially good as Dwight used to drive down to Parap (a suburb of Darwin) to a pub who specialised in lunchtime strippers. I went 3 times and it was something quite different to what I have experienced before - the half hour lunch breaks turned into and hour and a half - at least! We would come back and be slightly bleary eyed, but go and discreetly walk in as not to be noticed. Other lunchtimes involved me going to the Cav (around the corner) with Ivan for a liquid lunch. On one friday we failed to get away with it - we were just leaving and Dwight asked Project manager Jason if he could move his car so he could get out. Jason said take his but as long as we were back in half an hour. I was surprised at Dwight - he didn't care - we were gone for an hour and a half and came back clearly under the influence. On walking through the door an hour late we were confronted by Jason who just said "I dont appreciate you coming back drunk to work, we will have words". I thought my days were numbered and I was sure to get the sack. Dwight still didn't care - he just said "i dont care what that ****** has to say" he wont get rid of me and even if he does there is plenty more work". When 4pm arrived I walked out to collect my stuff and was confronted by Jason - i thought "Oh here we go". Instead of getting the sack he asked me to work the next day - starting at 5am and finishing at 6pm. I really couldn't turn it down as I was in a bit of a corner. The follwing day I was the second person in after Jason and my job was to back the cement mixers onto the pumps. It was a nice cushty number - i chatted to the drivers and did very little. It seemed like Jason had soon forgotten about the day before and I was now in his good books.
Late in my employment I was transferred to do alot of work with Ivan. Ivan is an old fellow (55yrs) who is classified as a labourer - but he is more Jack of all trades, Master of none. I liked him straight away and the banter between us was hilarious at times. Karstens work shy son was in fits of laughter as i berated Ivan and he responded. We got on like a house on fire and we both slunk away and hid from work a fair bit of the time. My last weeks I was going down to the Cav on a regular basis with him for lunch and spending less time with my initial team. We did work well together and Jason notcied so sent us down to Cullen Bay for a day to sort out the mess that it was. Ivan offered me a room at his place for a reasonable amount (mates rates) and I would have jumped at the chance but i didn't see much point as the end of my time in Darwin was approaching.
I was eventually forced to leave the Globies YHA. Everyone else had been booted out and so i decided to go as well to the 'Youth Shack'. Although i didn't share a room with any of the others there were only 2 other in my room at any time. It was a nice hostel and very lively. The pool was full of Irish people who got drunk everyday and just ran amok around the pool. 2 of the Irish blokes who started working at Cullen Bay with Pete and Ritchie soon quit to pursue there drinking activities. it was quite amusing watching them drag random people into the pool - i stayed well clear!
Next to the hostel is a popular bar called Shenanigans. Its a good place to chill during the day and party at night - especially if you get cheap drinks by saying you work at Globies Bar down the road! One night was far from cheery though. After a hard day at work Pete was completely exhausted and had fallen asleep at the table - I had woken him up a couple of times before the bouncer noticed. I explained to him that he wouldn't fall asleep again and he was harming nobody. But he grabbed hold of him and told him to leave. I was still protesting when I was chucked out as well. The girls and a couple of others were sat outside and so we told them what had happened and then jumped the fence around the corner. As we re-entered the other end of the bar the same bouncer was there - he grabbed Pete and there was a bit of a scuffle before they both went to ground. i tried to get in there and help out but it was helpless he was literally booted out with his shirt ripped and blood coming from a cut. Katherine (his g/f) was in tears and I tried to console them the best i could. They decided to head off to bed and I went back. Emily protested with the bouncer that I should be allowed back in and miraculiously I was allowed back in but the events had ruined my evening! I was very angry and it showed - in the end i turned in because I didn't want to affect anyone else's evening. I later found out that bouncer was badly beaten in an attack and i thought "Karma"!
Mikey, Emily, Emma, Katie and Rhys had their travel plans sorted. They went to buy a car to travel down the West Coast in. After seeing a few they decided on a Falcon which looked in quite good knick. As soon as they went to start her though she took some convincing and worse was still to come when registration was due. They found out it had to have a worthyness test (similar to MOT) and low and behold a list of problems was brought up. It was dual fuel before it went into the garage (gas and petrol) but the gas tanks were out of date and were taken out and a few other problems escalated the price to some ridiculous amount. Once they had all this sorted they were relieved but quite angry at the amount they had had to fork out! We had a leaving do for them - going to the pub and saying our goodbyes - i had an early night because I was working the next day and the previous night had taken it out on me.
Peter, Katherine, Gary, Ritchie and I were left. We had decided to travel down the coast together although the exact method was open to debate up until the last week. Gary had already travelled up the West Coast in his Camper Van. The other half of the van was owned by Paul who was going out to sea for 3 months. Gary text Paul asking if we could take the van down the coast and then sell it in Perth - we got no response. Eventually we saw him pull up in the car park and then we asked him. Paul was adamant the van was going nowhere unless we coughed up his share of the vehicle. We couldn't afford to so Gary argued tirelessly and progressively the argument got heated. They would have come to blows had i not calmed the issue on a couple of occasions but in the end even i left them to argue it out. It turned out we would not be going down the coast in the Camper instead Gary was given his share of the money for the vehicle and ended his friendship with Paul. I was going on Standbycars everyday to get us a deal down the coast but with no luck whatsoever. We toyed with the idea of flying down or flying to Broome and then hiring a vehicle down the coast or getting a bus - we toyed with every idea imaginable. In the end we decided we had to rely on Standbycars coming up with something - they did eventually, the day before we left!
My final day at work was the least productive day the building site has ever seen. Dwight was constantly going on at me, saying on the last day you have to bring a carton of beer to work. I kept to my word and Ivan brought in a huge esky which we filled with ice. On Smoko (breaktime) I fetched the carton of beer and walked into the building site carrying it - and first person i walked into was... Jason!! Luckily he just smiled and laughed while the rest of the building site had a chuckle. The first beers were put into the esky at 10:40am and the first beers were cracked open at 10:41. Dwight and I were drinking all day as we 'worked' - trying to do it as discreetly as we could hidden away in the corner. Lunchtime came and the drinking was far from discreet. A group of us (about 8 blokes) sat on a length of Steel drinking on the building site - even Mario had a can and he was a bit shy of the drink (he was going through a messy divorce at the time so this could have been the reason!). We were drinking for at least an hour before Jason arrived - we all got up and tried to look busy but it wasn't happening! He was aware what we were all doing but because there were so many of us he couldn't really say anything! The rest of the afternoon continued with Dwight, Ivan and I finishing off the beers. I left shaking hands with everyone (even Jason) and exchanging pleasantaries. I was already slightly drunk as I came back and Gary, Katherine and Peter were drinking at the 'Tap' (a bar where Gary worked) - I had a couple here before getting back to the hostel and passing outon the bed. I was awoken by my phone and it was Ivan saying that he would come into town for our leaving do and what time should he meet us. I thought i best get myself sorted out so I showered up and headed down to globies for the last time for dinner and a few drinks. You would have thought the amunt of money we had spent in there that they would give us free beer - but NO!! The place was dead and so after Ivan had arrived we left and went to Shenanigans and then 'The Tap'. It was a really good night and was finished in a typical fashion with Ivan and I grabbing a hotdog before he headed home. Ivan told me that is the first proper night out he has had in Darwin (he had been there 6mths) and one of his best nights out and thanked me for inviting him. That was slightly touching and I didn't know what to say - we shook hands and he departed.
We were supposed to be leaving the next day after the leaving do but this was postponed as there was nothing on Standbycars. We spent the whole day going over what we could do. In the end we had to opt for the desperate option of Standbycars Darwin to Perth in 7 days!! Ridiculous but at least we were finally leaving Darwin!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.164s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 13; qc: 66; dbt: 0.0742s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
pj1882
Paul Jones
More Photos to Come
Once i have stolen them off Emma!