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Australia 2011
Day 11 - 8th August - Darwin (Part 4)
We then drove to Darwin.
On the outskirts of Darwin there was a girl of SEAsian descent at a gas station, without a local accent. I asked if she was on a working holiday, and she didn't understand me. I asked if she was from Australia and she said no. I didn't know how to ask her how she got to be there without asking if she was an illegal immigrant, so I didn't.
Having only to return the car the next morning, we drove to the East Point Reserve.
Strolling along the beach of Fannie Bay
Beach
Park by the beach
Shore
While it was warm, the air wasn't as oppressive as at East Coast Park.
Path by beach
East Point Reserve sign
Sunset Picnic
Risking an on-the-spot fine for bringing her dog in. Also, what if the dog unbalanced her on her rollerblades?
When erosion undermined a structure
Site of collapse
Sunset by the beach
Watching the sunset - with a set of earphones plugged in. That kinda defeated the point.
There was a military museum in the Reserve. It was closed but some of the stuff could be seen in the grounds.
6" gun emplacements
Darwin's Defence
Command post
Tower
Lesson learnt
Command Post
When it grew too late, we returned to the same hostel that we'd been in a few nights before.
"Don't slam the printer!" Also: "stationary" and "bus time" (bus schedules)
There was a long-term resident in our room who was working in the hostel, and his electronics setup was quite epic
Industrial-scale cooking
There was an administrative cockup by the hostel. Both nights we stayed there (before and after the Top End road trip), we got no sheets and had to ask. The first night there'd been an extra person in the room, and the receptionist had gone up with Security (a hostel with a Security Crew?!), and it turned out they gave one of them the wrong keycard (the keycard was even labelled wrongly).
"Amazing Thailand. Dine In. Takeaway. Delicious", one of the amazing number of Thai places along Mitchell Street
2/3 of their food wasn't Thai
There were some buskers along the main street of the tourist area of Darwin (Mitchell Street).
Japanese girl musician. Ahh, the hippie lifestyle!
She said this was a "space drum" from France.
Then, 2 colourful hippie long-haired guys came up (they were also from Japan). I swear one V-signed me.
Customised pro-Holland vehicle
Suspicious menu, with "chow kuay teow"
Mix 'n' match. The concept was quite interesting actually, since generic Asian food is all stir-fried, it makes preparation easy.
Xenophobic Fish and Chips: "NO IMPORTED OR FARMED FISH"
Rice Bran Oil has "the least polyunsaturated fats of any oil available in quantity" (what oil isn't available in quantity? baby oil?) Notice that it used to be another type of oil.
It'd won a lot of awards, so we tried it. Though it was supposed to close at 9pm, at 830 the doors were closed.
Barramundi
It was good. Cod is still the best for Fish and Chips but they didn't have it here. One gripe: this was the first place where the chips had to be ordered separately from the fish. Uhh.
Crocodile burger. Crocodile tastes like blander chicken.
By this time the 3 Japanese had formed a trio.
Japanese performing trio
I figured they were playing to fund their accommodation so I gave them $1 each.
Japanese buskers. They were in Month 9 of their working holiday and were staying a year. They'd come from Byron Bay in NSW before this, where all 3 of them had met.
Somehow the previous time we'd been in Darwin, it'd been way more lively. In any event that was the case in the short time I was out on the street. I did see 3 Asian girls with white men though (versus 0 the previous night).
In October in Singapore I met the girl again along Orchard Road. She said she flew to Singapore because she figured she could earn more money:
We then dropped in on a Baskin Robbins . The one I had in JB was better (fewer ice crystals). Quelle horreur. And it didn't cost A$4.80 a scoop.
This ice cream "contains milk". Really? I'd never have guessed!
I then went to the Esplanade Waterfront. 4 people passed by and one said "Darwin is fucked up". I didn't know what she meant and one pointed me to a park bench. Where a couple was getting it on: a white figure standing and thrusting in the dark into a dark-skinned, supine figure with open legs. They finished with loud grunts. When I went to look at the bench, there was no more rust. Very good.
Happenings in the dark