Darwin Australia

Day 11

Arriving at 5AM isn't exactly the best time to hit a city, regardless of where in the world you are. With laundry top on the priority list i headed straight for the hotel. Not knowing what to expect, and knowing full on they wouldn't have a room for me ready yet (of course there was that ice cube chance in hell, but i wasn't counting on it). I inquired about laundry services and bag storage first off. Bag storage, wasn't an issue, but the laundry service was. I was told that the Novatel next door had laundry service, self operated coin laundry type machines. At four dollars a pop for a wash and a dry, but alas, i stunk, and didn't have a clean pair of drawers.

After finishing laundry i decided to take a walk around the park that was on the Esplande, a very nice park with many war memorials. I was suprised to see a large number of transients in the park, although, now that i think about, as you begin to move into any civilized country, their is bound to be blight and homless. I was taken aback though, as i walked through the park and came to a bluff overlooking the ocean, there was a stone wall barricde, with a bit of a landing, to my suprise, there was a backpacker sleeping on the other side of the wall, all i could think was lucky dog, if you weren't there, i would be...sleeping the cool morning away.

after a brisk walk through the park, i got to thinking it would be nice if Catherine was with me, she would like walking here! Knowing that I had a lot of time to kill, i decided to make a few phone calls, calling Jack first, it took a couple times for him to answer, apparently he has Mother syndrome, not wanting to talk to the potential bill collectors on the other line... of course i let him know that the call was a test of the "Emergency Philip system, and that this is only a test, had this been a real emergency, i would be screaming bloody murder"

after the phone calls, i walked up the main street, killing 4 hours was easier than i thought, now it was time for breakfast. I found a little corner cafe called Sallitories on Mitchell street. Had a very tasty white coffee (not the same as Vietnam), which was just an expresso with white foam, and an apple tart, as it turned out, i wasn't as hungry as I thought. After walking around for another hour after breakfast, i decided to head back to the hotel to see if there was a room available, to no avail...in fact they blew me off when i asked, so i asked about internet, only to find that for 24 hours of internet would cost me 27.50 billed to my room...seriously? 30 dollars for internet, damn thats steep, i'll leech off a wifi, or find an internet cafe. after blowing me off about a room being available, the front desk wanted to know if i wanted to get a jump start on my paperwork for check in (which would occur in another 3 hours)...screw it, filled out the paperwork, dropped my clean laundry into my bag and decided to walk around a bit more, at least until i could get into my room at 2.

heading down the main blvd, i grabbed my list of places i wanted to see, identifying that i could see most of them on foot, i headed in the direction of Mindi Beach. following the Esplande park to the end, i came to the main drag, and headed, North (i believe). I got to Mindi beach and to my suprise, there was no one there, its over 100F on a saturday and no one is at the beach, i couldn't believe it, of course, the tide was out, and that could be what was contributing to the lack of attendence. Walking further past the beach, i came across a nature trail, deciding to follow it cause the signs said that it went up past the High School, and towards the aboriginal museum, heading up to gaol bay/harbor (not sure which) where the bombings occurred by the same fleet that hit pearl harbor.

I'm good at picking times to walk...today its 100+ degrees and i'm on a walkabout around Darwin, the path led past the High school, wow, what a view, overlooking the bay, thats the way i would have liked to spend my high school days, a breeze coming over the cliffs, and gorgeous days with the sun shining everyday.

The aboriginal museum was nice, it was a mixed museum, with a natural history side, exploring the history of the animals found in Oz and some current natural habitats.

After the museum, i decided to do something different, that morning in the coffee shot i was reading the newspaper and came across an advertisment for Jello Wrestling, with it being such a hot day i decided, what the hell, i could use a cold beer and live entertainment. So to get there proved troublesome, i would need to find a taxi, and, the area the museum was in was not exactly a haven for them. I began to walk the main road, hoping to see one as i was going. As i walked i passed by a Cricket Pitch i had passed on my way to the museum, now there was a game going on, of course i don't know much about cricket, so as to what i was actually watching escapes me. Finally after another 10 minutes of walking, a taxi passed by and i was able to flag it down. Told the driver to head over to winnellie hotel for the entertainmaint, and he was all for it, in fact he seemed a bit disappointed he didn't know it was going on, that it would be the kind of thing he would want to go see on a saturday afternoon.

It wasn't all it was cracked up to be, sure the girls ripped each other tops off, but it was a bit lame and the matches ended quick. the positive side, the time had passed by pretty quick, it was now passed 2 and i could head back to the hotel and check in and get a nap, that, honestly, was sounding better and better by the minute.

With a quick walk to the main road i was able to flag down a taxi and back to the hotel i went. Check in was smooth and painless, then again why wouldn't it be, i had already filled out all the necessary paperwork, and the room was paid for off of hotels.com. up to the room i went for a much needed shower, having been up since 6 the previous morning (don't ask, even i don'w know why i was up that early), and lets not forget a clean change of clothes. after getting cleaned up, i layed down for a quick nap.

Refreshed from my nap i decided to go out and see the town at night. of course, i was also hungry, so going out was a necessity, and after my discouraging feelings festering towards the hotel, i decided that paying the room tariff was good enough, no more money there way unless it was absolutely necessary.

I ended up walking around for about an hour before settling on a Yiro stand to have dinner, it was quite tasty, fresh onions, lettuce and garlic cream sauce....quite tasty.

Once dinner was concluded, it was back to the hotel for bed.