What a serious slap in the face with that once tasty fish! We landed straight back down into reality and it hurt...real bad.
After arriving at 1am in the morning and searching for a place to stay, which did not take long since this is backpacker heaven apparently and the ONLY places you can stay are youth hostels, we shared the delights of bunk beds with strangers (Oh Joy!) in the Youth Shack, a name that also added to the insult. Luckily upon the rising sun, we felt somewhat accepted in this young environment. It did not take long to hear the moans and groans of the fellow travellers and locals, which is something you rarely heard from our Indonesian friends. This was a shock to all our senses after being luckily enough to travel through the beautiful and, perhaps more importantly, cheap country of Indonesia where the people genuinely welcomed you with friendly attitudes into their homes and your money went a long, long way. To land in this loud and somewhat unattractive hole was a disappointment to say the least.
Being so close to Indonesian I was hoping to locate a few of the clove ciggies I enjoyed so much, but oh no, my smoking days are over. This may not be helping my mood either, but I am beginning to recognise several names, and I find myself in Woolworth's which turns out to be an Australian supermarket (since when?) but to my delight I find Hobnobs. :-)
Life has changed, and we totally miss Indonesia and all that it has to offer from the exotic smells, the friendly people and the highly diverse landscape. It was not all that bad though as Tyler and I shared fresh oysters with chili sauce whilst sat a beach watching the sunset over the water thinking of our new friends who will have a hour or so wait till they too can eat. The locals crowd around whilst an aboriginal woman danced to a revved up dance music accompanied with the didgeridoo at the local night market.
We wanted to get out of Darwin as there was bugger all for us to do in town except drink. Not that that's bad, but definitely not healthy. For that reason, we signed up for a tour the next day and realised that we should have done this much earlier. We were let down upon finding out that Kakadu National Park, which we really wished to see, was over 200 km away. With no camping gear and not enough time or money in our budget, this was an issue, so we went to the closer Litchfield National Park which the locals apparently prefer.
On the way, we stopped at a jumping crocodile cruise where we saw the beasts in action. A thought that never left my mind whilst we swam in the waterfall pools and lagoons later in the day where they also occasionally found. We where assured that the water was to shallow for crocs this time of year and the authorities had cleared the area. It still made my heart skip until I noticed the cute little stone frogs in the rock crevasses. In total, we went to three different swimming spots and learned why they were the locals' favorite...they can bring there beer. The whole family can enjoy a dip in the running water with a cold one. Things have definitely changed.
Large grazing mammals are not typical but instead that have a very accomplished grassing eating bug about 3mm long that does a very good job, the termite. Different types for different jobs. The grass cutter, the didgeridoo creator and the directional magnetic ones all with their own special architectures designed to meet their special air conditioning needs.
So to wrap it up in a few words on Darwin...don't unless you are booking tours.
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