Darwin

After getting back from Cairns, I was lucky enough to get 1 full day between trips to laze around. Ry and I decided to share a bag, so I had to fit roughly 10 days of clothing into half a bag! It was a feat, but I managed! On April 8th, we were headed for Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The flight to Darwin was about 4 hours. Ryan and I were the only 2 in our row, so we spread out and found some interesting positions to sleep in. It’s all good, though. We’re professionals at snoozing on eachother after CAP. Anyhow, after we landed, we exited the plane through the rear door and had to actually walk outside around the plane to get to the baggage claim. T’was kind of bizarre. It was VERY humid and I was wearing long sleeves and pants because winter was falling upon Sydney, so it was a bit chilly. Luckily, the weathermen here fail at predicting the forecast, so what was supposed to be a rain filled trip had perhaps 2-3 hours of rainfall the whole time.

The hostile I stayed at was NOMADS - The Cavanagh. I was concerned about how much the room was going to hate me, as it was approaching 2am. Luckily, they didn't mind much. The hostile was not the greatest nor the worst, but it certainly didn't fit the image of a hostile that I had in my head. Not a bad thing, though. There was air conditioning! I don’t even have air conditioning in my flat! The bathroom had a few ants, but they were only in that room. The beds were decent and very clean, and we had a TV (with more than 5 channels!) and a fridge. I slept good.

The next morning I explored Darwin. It is a quite small city, actually. There were 4 main streets, I believe. Our hostile was not too far from the main strip. We discovered a beach front harbour area. There was a little beach, a small wave pool, and a developing waterfront. The whole area seemed quite new, so there was not too much there, but it was still nice. Unfortunately, things close quite early also, so the little museums we stumbled across shut the doors by 5pm at the latest. The pathways around Darwin were rich with history from WWII when the Japanese bombed the city. Think of the movie Australia and you're right on! That night, I went to a bar called The Tap and got a couple of fishbowls. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like--a fishbowl filled with liquor. Quite a nifty drink indeed, though Ry and I learned the hard way that finishing 2 is a challenge.

The next day I got up early and did a self guided tour of one of the oil storage facilities. It was basically a giant, rusty tunnel. Some interesting facts on the walls, though. The sense of humour Australian's possess is a riot. Then it was off to Crocosaurus Cove, a reptile and crocodile house in Darwin. I walked about and checked out all of the critters and viewed the croc feeding, which was pretty awesome, then it was off to the Cage of Death to get a closer look at the crocs! The cage was a glass container which was lowered into 3 different crocodile pens. Two of the crocs just sat there, but it was still amazing to see them so close. I got to look straight into the mouth of the 3rd largest crocodile in captivity! One of the three crocodiles, Houdini, actually moved about the tank. It was pretty intense.

That night I got "Darwin's best pizza" with the hostile mates, Lawa (who ended up going on the same tour!) and Roseanne. I must say, the pizza was pretty good! Then Ry and I met up with Lauren, a friend from the parklands, and got yet another fishbowl. We called it an early night, as we had to get up before sunrise for our tour.

Oh, and for the record, I did see a Cane Toad. In fact, it was hopping across the road one evening as Ryan and I were walking somewhere (probably for food). We were cheering for it to make it across the road because it ALMOST got hit. We watched and Ry took a picture. It made it across!!! Then, a couple of hours later, as we were walking back…Ryan took another picture of Mr. Cane Toad plastered to the cement. What a world.