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Published: February 10th 2008
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G-day there,
it has been a while since I wrote something on the blog. Things are still going well here in Darwin. It has been very hot and humid these last days, but not a lot of rain though. The Wet Season looks a bit dry. I recorded a short video of a lightning strike, seen from behind the hostel. The YouTube link is:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VxDZcQfUWCE I stopped working at the hostel a few weeks ago, as it became too much for me to wake up early many mornings after finishing at Mc Donalds at 1:00 or 3:00. At Mc Donalds things are going ok, better than one week ago when I had some argues with one of the managers, because sometimes he doesn't know how to speak to people...but that's over now. I signed up with ManPower employment office instead, and I've been working quite a lot for them....only a few days during the week. I had a few days that I was feeling very bored and bad because I was sick of the "work-hostel-work-hostel days". The reason why I'm working a lot is because after Australia I want to continue travelling a few months and I'll need money
for that. Tobi tried to cheer me up a little bit, and when I started with the volleyball I felt much better as well. This week I'll play the first game, but I'll probably play only the first two games because I'm leaving Darwin soon. Tobi left already...he'll do the westcoast on his motorbike and we'll probably meet again in Adelaide in March. We were roommates for almost 7 weeks and we became good mates...I'm going to miss him around here.
Litchfield National Park I went on a tour to Litchfield National Park, which was great. I skipped Kakadu, it's better to visit it during the dry season. Litchfield is a quite big park...about the same size as Aruba. It has gorgeous waterfalls, where we were allowed to swim (no crocodiles around). The termite mounds were also quite impressive, many of them were very tall. They could be seen at many spots in the park. We went on a jumping crocodile cruise as well, on the Adelaide River. The river is full of crocodiles and one of the employees of the boat hangs a peace of meat above to water to attract crocodiles to jump and try to get
it. The crocodiles are huge and one of them slammed the boat once, scaring off some guests, lol. We visited a crocodile farm too, where I tried some crocodile meat.
On the tour I met Maria, a very nice & sweet Argentinean girl. When I told her where I'm from, she told me that she met another guy from Curaçao in Perth and this guy has been in Darwin for 4 months last year. Via a friend she got the e-mail address of this guy and I contacted him. He's still in Perth and maybe we'll meet in Melbourne in March.
January in Darwin One day I hired a helmet and went for a ride with Tobi on his bike. This guy worked very hard to buy his BMW bike last year and he'll take it back home. He wants to drive from Canada down the Central America & South America somewhere in 2010. First we drove around Darwin itself and saw some nice spots around the city, including Cullen Bay and Eastpoint, where there are many old militairy buildings used during the Second World War. After this, we drove to Mandorah which lies on the Cox Peninsula south
of Darwin. It was a 130 km ride to go there, and 130 km to come back. We got wet due to rain as well, but we were prepared for that. We stopped at the Darwin River Dam as well, an area which is supposed to be full of crocodiles. We had to watch out while in the area. From Mandorah you could see Darwin on the other side of the bay and there was a nice beach and a pier there, where the ferries to and from Darwin arrive. No swimming possible due to lots of jellyfish in the waters. It was my first time on a motorbike and it was great!
On January 26th it was Australia Day and there were many activities and parties going on the whole weekend. Many cars were driving around with Australian flags, people walking around with Australian t-shirts etc. I didn't do anything special that weekend. With Tobi and some other people from the hostel we went down to the Stokes Hill Wharf at Darwin Harbour, where we had some fish & chips (fish & fries). The wharf is a nice place to eat something and have some drinks, sit down
and enjoy the sunset. The atmosphere is great.
Here in Australia everyone is your "mate". When they greet you, they say "how are you doing mate? what's going on mate? What's happening mate"? Here at the hostel you meet so many different people, especially because I've been around for more than 2 months already....people come and go. Lot's of Dutch people these last 2 weeks around. There are also many many Australians from other parts of the country staying in Darwin. The city and the Northern Territory is booming at the moment....there is construction going on everywhere (AU$ 5 billion worth in construction, the newpaper said), which means that they need people to work. The bad thing is, that the shortage of women in Darwin becomes worse because especially males move to work in Darwin.
Further plans I'll probably leave Darwin within 2 weeks and head to the south to visit Katherine George, Alice Springs & area and Coober Pedy a.o. Then I'll arrive in Adelaide, capital of South Australia, where I'll meet with Tim. He's actually a friend of my Panamanian friend Edgardo, they met in the USA when they went there for an exchange program of
a year. Me and Tim have both heard from each other via Edgardo and we have e-mail contact. Tim is leaving to Europe soon and maybe I could stay in his room (shared accomodation) when he leaves. I'll try to find work in Adelaide just for a few weeks and visit Kangaroo Island as well. And then I'll travel via the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Take care all and have a nice day!
PS: I got some new other videos I added end of last year, check them if you'd like:
short trip to Brussels with my sister Eindhoven to Madrid & trip to Madrid, Spain Madrid to Milan & trip to northwestern Italy Bergamo to Girona & trip to northeastern Spain
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Carmen
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Fijn om je verhalen te lezen Elton! Ik ben blij om te weten dat je het goed maakt en het naar je zin hebt. Geniet er maar met volle teugen van zolang het duurt! Ps: As donderdag vlieg ik naar Curacao. Jij weg, ikke ook weg! ;) :P