Back to Australia

No, sadly not literally, just taking up the story of our trip again. I'd just about finished our week in Sydney and next up was Darwin.

I retain no memory of the flight from Sydney to Darwin, except for the lady who sat on the far side of the OH and refused all the flight refreshments bar the ice cream Bounty Bars: she managed six of those. Don't know how she did it myself.

 

Darwin was hot and humid. Consequently we saw very little of it, although I did manage one very non specific photo of a street corner

 

 

and a sunset

 

The sunsets were beautiful in Darwin and not just because once the sun had gone down it got cooler. We did very little in Darwin as it was just too hot and humid. We did stagger along a street in search of very high factor sun lotion and I saw something I had never seen before and frankly hope never to see again. Sweat was running down my hair and falling off the end like rain. Yeuch!

 

My friend in NSW has a daughter who lives in Darwin so the day after we arrived we went out with her and her husband for a very  nice lunch. The OH had barramundi which I did try, as I was determined to give stuff a go, but although it didn't taste horrible it had a very strange soapy texture and I couldn't have eaten a whole plate of it. Still I tried. After lunch we went back to see their new house and have a cup of tea. Houses are horribly horribly expensive in Darwin because they all have to be tornado proof which adds lots and lots to the building cost. We didn't quite jump in their pool but it was tempting. I do admire the two of them; Darwin doesn't have a climate either of them was brought up in and the heat and humidity are very draining. If you weren't born to them how  anyone can actually work in those conditions is beyond me, but they both do. To add insult to injury the sea and beaches are beautiful but you can't venture in because of the ubiquitous salt water crocodile, which is very ugly and very dangerous. Our time in the NT was full of warnings about not going too close to any body of water lest one leap out and drag us away.

 

Next up, a two day trip to Kakadu National Park.