Darwin

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We arrived in Darwin after three days and two nights on the Ghan.   We packed and around 5:30 were in Darwin heading for our hotel and my first shower in days.  No hair dryers on the train and I couldn't bring myself to step on the bathroom floor in bare feet, so I had a good loooong shower at the hotel before we headed to the restaurant for dinner.  We had had some pretty heavy meals on the train, so a Caesar salad sounded good.  It was, but nothing I would have called by that name.  Not much lettuce, plenty of chicken, bacon, croutons, topped with a poached egg and something called a Parmesan crisp, that was far from crisp and so tough you could hardly eat it.  Despite my best efforts, it turned out to be another heavy meal.  We had a great night's sleep in the nicest hotel we've seen so far.  

This is the pool at our hotel.  We didn't use it, but it was definitely inviting.

Darwin is a small tropical city, very warm and humid.  Up until now, we didn't notice heat much in Australia because it was so dry.  It is much more like summer in Florida here than in the dry center!  We spent one day in Darwin.  In the morning, we took a bus tour around the area and then walked around downtown to the waterfront before stumbling into an Internet hotspot.  Nice to be able to check my email.  It's surprising how little free Internet is available in Australia.  At home, most hotels, motels, airports, Starbucks, many grocery stores, and lots of other places offer it.  Here you pay.  It turned out even the free spot I found in Darwin was limited to only one hour, so I didn't quite finish my emails.  I could have another hour if I had waited for six hours, but we'll be in the air by then.  We had a very nice lunch at a busy bistro on the plaza with free Internet.

Darwin is a nice town, however.  We just missed the rainy season when it can rain all day for weeks or be more typically tropical with a mixture of sun and rain.  Lightning capital of the world, they say.  Almost no rain from May to November.

This is a frangipani tree.  We have those in Florida, too, but here they are HUGE.

This is downtown Darwin from across a bay or harbor on our bus ride.

Surprise!  We saw a wallaby from the bus!

This is what the little shopping area we went to looks like.  Very nice and small town feeling, with some nice shops and restaurants.  Around the corner from this spot I found a store selling Australian fabric in aboriginal designs.  My only souvenir shopping!

We walked down to the harbor, which features hotels, apartments, and condos, as well as a nice park and a wave pool.

On the way back, we passed this building with its very nice landscaping.  We have many of these plants in Florida, although they may have different names here.  I recognized what we call sago palms, Mexican heather, and bromeliads.

Darwin's history includes the first overland telegraph line connecting Australia to the rest of the world.

This is the old town hall.  It was hit by a two monsoons and not rebuilt after the last one.  It stands as an unusual ruin and monument to the past.  Darwin was also nearly destroyed by Japanese bombs during World War II, and even today is an important military site with both Australian and US military personnel in the area.

This is another typical building in the area.  We were told that many of these very well built structures were originally built by Chinese laborers, who later asked to stay on in Australia.

Getting out of Darwin turned out to be harder than expected.  The only flight to Singapore each day was on JetStar airlines.  When you mention to Aussies that you are flying JetStar some place, they tend to roll their eyes and sigh in sympathy for you.  Alas, we found out why.  Our flight was two hours late leaving Darwin after a long delay with no useful communication.  Turns out they were adding another entire plane load of passengers to our flight.  That one had turned back because of a mechanical problem.  I'm not at all clear on the story here, but what we were told is that there is only one flight a day, so perhaps these people had been waiting since the night before.  The airline slowly issued new boarding passes for many people--we think the ones from the other flight.  We were all confused as to whether they were bumping us, going to give us new boarding passes as well, or would let us board.  Then they started letting the people with new passes board, so the rest of us got in line to see what would happen.  Amazingly, we were also boarded and there were seats for everyone.  Just why this took two hours is still a mystery.  Just why they never made a general boarding announcement is a mystery.  And just why they couldn't have made a meaningful announcement explaining the entire situation is also a mystery.  Oh well, another entry in the book of reasons I don't like to travel.

Come back tomorrow to join us on our adventures in Singapore.