Darwin

Day 91 – Darwin, Australia

Australia, at least, Darwin, where I landed, has an (un)convenient time difference of an hour and a half with Bali, which itself was 6 hours before France, I’m starting to lose the count of what time is where. Added that my flight was in the worse hours of the night, and well, I’m a bit confused.

I’m lucky that nowadays my phone and my e-reader adapt by themselves. My watch, I adjust manually, and my computer stay stubbornly on the French time.As long as I don’t forget to give internet access to the right gadgets, I can get by.

As always, I got to fill an immigration card in the plane, this time asking me, in addition of the classic “am I importing raw foodstuff, weapons, drugs, etc”, if I was carrying wooden objects (I’m so happy not to have bought those fertility bottle openers I was talking about a few days ago) or muddy shoes. It is nicely formulated, but the gist of the question is, am I bringing foreign soil with me. So since I hadn’t washed my shoes since… walking in a Malaysian tea plantation?, and of course there is always a bit of soil sticking in the threads, I checked “yes” and got to have my shoes brushed and washed at immigration. Great service.

I caught the Airport Shuttle just as it was leaving. It is a bit expensive, but it dropped me off at my hostel, and was way, way faster than public transportation would have been.

That’s how I arrived at 7AM at my hostel. There is outdoor seating, so I waited a bit, then was lucky to catch the owner and to get a bed to sleep the morning away.

So it was in the noon heat that I thought it would be a great idea to walk downtown (15-20 minutes away), do a bit of grocery shopping, walk in a park or two. Intelligent people do that earlier or later, but I don’t seem to be clever that way!

The space is back. Individual houses separated by gardens, huge sidewalks with a strip of grass, few highrises, very little traffic, sprawling streets… it is night and day compared to the urban jungle of urban Asia, where streets are narrow, buildings touch each others, and driving is an exercise in patience.

I found a supermarket, both familiar after the mini-marts of Asia and new in its range of products. It is nice to find familiar fruits at a decent price -the pears were on sales! It is easier to eat pears than mangos or watermelons on the go.

I also found some new tea, as I have finished the one I bought in Malaysia and it is far too expensive in Asia (unless I want the loose leaf kind, not practical on the go, or the basic kind, which I don’t like). I found a tea that can also be infused in cold water, and that is something that I enjoy.

After my shopping, I went to pic-nic in the Bicentennial park, the park hugging the seafront. That’s how I got to a see a few ibis (see picture on top) walking around the grass. I thought they were Egyptian birds, but it seems there is an Australian species.

Bicentennial Park

I dropped my groceries at the hostel before going back out, this time to another beach, reputed for its view over the sunset. There is also a night market, which is around three quarters tourist food (gator/buffalo burgers…) and one quarter tourist shops (crocodile leather items, stockwhips, jewellery…).

Sunset over Mindil Beach

So I watched the sunset, browsed quickly the market, and went back to the hostel for a good shower and a spot of blog writing.