16th October: Litchfield National Park - Kites, Crocks and Termites

I was up very early for the trip to Litchfield. I was waiting at the pickup up, along with three Japanese tourists (who I got to know later) and a hodge-podge of others, at 6.30am(ish). We were met by the driver, Louise, and given our itinerary. The three Japanese people and I became friends: Naoya was the chattiest and his English was the best. He kept asking me to teach him new words and to improve his pronunciation. He is the first Japanese person I have met who does not muddle up his Ls and Rs. Naomi was much quieter, but as much fun as Naoya. Finally, little Takk- a cool guy with a huge hat who barely said anything. He was travelling around Australia at the age of 21 with no command of English at all! He was cool. We drove up the Stuart highway, bush on both sides of us. This was the first time I had seen the bush in seven years and that made the day really special, leaving aside the snakes, the crocks and so on. The bus was driven by Louise – a Darwinite with a zoology degree and an interest in the local people. She was very interesting and seemed to know a lot about the local area. She told us a story later on about some one she knew who ‘went troppo’ during the build up – a funny and scary story in equal parts!

So we bumped along, in the bus, which even with the air-con on, started to warm up as the day progressed. The build up had not started yet (it still hasn’t) by this point so the heat with still quite dry, but getting out of the bus to see things became harder and harder as the day wore on, simply because it was so hot!
Our first stop was the Litchfield jumping crocks. To get us used to reptiles, Louise bought out some snakes for us to play with and with many ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ we wrapped ourselves in them. Louise described them as “affectionate” but have a snake wrapped round you that is as thick as your arm is not uber-pleasurable! After that we all hopped on the crock-watching boat and watched crocks, kites and drank tea. The crocks were impressive jumpers, managing to get themselves almost completely out of the water…after that little event, none of our party would have gone near open water in the Top End if you had paid them!

Once the crock tour was completed we were off driving again, through the town of Batchelor and on to the termite mounds. We saw three kinds: magnetic mounds (which look like huge grave stones) cathedral mounds and then my favourite – the termites that hollow out didjeridus. We stood around having our photos taken, like you would at Madam Tussauds and after a while we were all hot and sweaty so Louise took us to a couple of billabongs for a swim. Wangi falls is the closest place to Paradise I have been to so far in Australia – the water was warm and clear and lunch was waiting for us when we got out. In the course of that day we saw three billabongs, lots of the bush and walked through oven-like heat. It was a great day.

Naomi and Naoya taught me some Japanese in the evening. They laughed and laughed at my mangled Japanese.

How about that lake for pure Heaven, eh? The water was so warm, the whole place was quiet except for the usual cliches. It was ber-illiant.

15th October (Midway): Six months ahead, Six months behind

I have been in the Lucky Country for six months. Six months ago today, I walked to the tube station and got on the tube to Heathrow! Each day that passes will be a day closer to leaving to go back to the UK… Chilli’s hostel is completely different to Billabong gardens. For one thing I am not part of a furniture having only been here a little while, it is built differently too. In Sydney buildings have to be good in the cold and the heat, where as Chilli’s is built like a troppo-house! It is as open as it can be to the breeze, fans buzz all the time and we all sleep under sheets instead of duvets. The hostel is much bigger than Billabong, although the kitchen is not as extensive. There is no oven for example. It is very odd being here. I miss Sydney, the people and what I did down there, but that is okay. I am getting over that slowly but surely. Funny to be homesick for a hostel, but the Billabong became home – the kitchen felt like mine, and I used to get cross when new people invaded my room! For all my moaning and complaining, I did get out of the hostel on this particular day – I went to Mindil Beach Market with Dubi Shapiro, the Israeli who I shared a room with. Dubi moved into the room the day after I arrived and we got talking pretty soon after he arrived. He will travel round Australia bird (the feathered variety) watching. He hired himself a van for the job and we drove to the market in it. Mindil Market is on Mindil beach, a beach about 15 minutes drive out of Darwin’s CBD, going due north. The market is not very big, but it is great for food, hippy clothes, fortune tellers (I was told to focus on what I wanted to do and not worry too much about things beyond my control), didjeridu players (modern didge, sadly, not traditional), and the sunset which was beautiful. The air round Darwin is pretty clean and when I got by the sea again it was almost, but not quite, being back in Brighton. Sun set was very pretty: Mindil looks directly west so all of us had a ringside seat. We ate curried fish and rice and watched a few indigenous dancers, playing for the tourists.

After that Dubi felt tired so we cruised back to the hostel and wrote and wrote. I wanted to try and remember why I was in Darwin at all, which I had managed to lose site of along the way. I managed. My list grew and grew. I was pleased and relieved to remember: Djalu Gurrwiwi, Milkay Munungurr, Randin Graves, Yidaki, Gove, Yirrkala and the Yolŋu.

10th October: Noodles with Kristie & My Last Day in Sydney

Leaving Sydney to come out to Darwin was a complex affair. I was not just leaving a city and a hostel; I was leaving a circle of friends and a lot of very good memories. This place has been very good for me. I finished at Workcover just under a week before I was due to go. My colleague Stephen decided to leave at the same as me, so Con (my manager in Sydney) decided to take us out for Thai food one lunch time. The three of us sat around mulling the company over.While at Workcover I made a very good friend called Kristie, who I have decided to keep in touch with. She has what she calls ‘the traveller mentality”, which basically means she works to fund her life outside of work. She and I have sat and discussed this over several cups of tea over the course of the last few months and have both concluded that work is not the be all and end all of existence. She has advised me on lots of things, not least to go and see Perth, where she is from, when I get to WA! I am going to do that if I can.

By the end of my stint at Workcover I felt better about computing – I enjoyed supporting such a large territory, which included suburbs in Sydney, Gosford and several towns all over NSW. Tuesday 10th of October Kristie and I met for beers and dinner after she finished work. It was a really good evening, except that now she has branded me “The Cadbury Kid” (because it only takes a glass and half to get me drunk). It wasn’t my fault! She got me drinking some evil-strength ale on an empty stomach! I met her at the Workcover building and we went down to Hyde Park, where there was a little art exhibition among the trees. Hyde Park looked beautiful: the trees at the bottom of the park were filled with Chinese lanterns.

There were chairs and tables strewn about, and some beer tents. It was sun set, so of course my camera was out and in was snapping photos. Kristie and I sat and talked about things that had been happening to me over the weeks before, her life and where I should travel to among other things. By the time we finished in the pub I was drunk, and both of us were hungry so she took me off and bought me dinner in Wagamama’s (a noodle bar in the CBD) and we talked more and ate with chopsticks. She gave me a ‘goodbye’ card wishing me and a stubby holder (beer cooler, Kristie?). After dinner it was time to say cheerio and I barrelled off back to the hostel. She is top!

The next day (Wednesday) I packed my stuff, broke my case on wheels and bought a new one. It was a bit of a hectic day, which ended well with beers with friends in the hostel. There were people that I had met in my six months in Australia that I would have liked to have been there – hopefully you know who you are – but the people that were there more than made up for any absences. Finally Thursday dawned. Three friends took me for breakfast in Newtown and then, oddly it was time to go to the airport. I got that feeling in my guts that I got the day I trundled my way down to Arsenal tube-station. The feeling of ADVENTURE. The feeling that you are leaving things behind and moving forward into uncertainty. It is a magic feeling, but it is also a bit scary too. When I got out of the taxi I thought “woo hoo, I am backpacking again!” and strolled into the airport. I checked in and sat drinking coffee. I listened to Xavier Rudd who is a pretty cool multi-instrumentalist (“let me be free-ee-ee!”). Time ticked on and then it was time to get on the plane. Three hours or so later, after watching “The devil wears Prada” (Meryl Streep in her greatest flop yet – honestly it is flop-tastic!) I arrived in Darwin. It was very late at night, warm and the air was close. The book I had bought in the airport (“The Game”) had kept my attention for a short while but when I arrived at Chilli’s (my home till now), it was straight to bed. The picture above is of me and Rod just inside the Billabong