Hi!
Leaving Alice Springs to Darwin, I had my last part of the trip in the famous train 'The Ghan'. I met a German from Bamberg in the train. The train stopped for about 5 hours in Catherine. A small town of 10000 inhabitants South from Darwin. The town was not so spectacular, but there is the beautiful Catherine Gorge that we visited. Then we headed on to Darwin. Darwin is just FAB! An amazing place on Earth!!! Though tired from the train, the German and me decided not to loose any moment and to go straight for some beers in Mitchel Street, the famous boulevard in Darwin with lots of pubs and restaurants.
The day afterwards I decided to make a trip on my own and discover Darwin. The German went on a 2-day tour, so I had to go out alone in the evening. I went to some dance-pub in Mitchell street. It was hilarious: 90% of the people were there in walking shoes, or 'have been wearing this shirt the whole week'... I FELT TOTALLY OVERDRESSED in my jeans and T-shirt! This is
just the capital of outback Australia!!! But it was funny, because I got into contact with some guy, Jason (in jeans and T-shirt as well) so the obvious question came up:"Do you also feel to have chosen the wrong spot to go out!".:) After chatting about an half an hour, this local decided to show me Darwin by night: we started with some cocktails on the beach and ended in a party buss that took us partying through the town! It was a great night.
The day afterwards, I went to the Mindel Beach in order to recover from my night life!:) Swimming was allowed, but at own risk: it is not the high crocodile season, so there should be no croc in the sea... But the past prooved that this was not always so reliable. Anyway, the alcoholic effect of the night before made me go into the water without fears... No worries: still have my 2 arms, 2 feet and 10 fingers!:) In the evening, Jason called me and took me to some market. An alternative market (lots of hippies) not far from Mindel Beach. Nice market!
The day afterwards I had a lazy day. It is the 'Darwin-effect': all people are so laid-back here. It is amazing. Most businesses do not start before 10am... In the evening, Jason showed me the most beautiful spot in Darwin to watch sunset. This is so good about Aussies: you can meet people so easily. Just by meeting that local, he showed me in that 1 week Darwin 'the things to see in Darwin', where I, as normal tourist, would never come!
Leaving Alice Springs to Darwin, I had my last part of the trip in the famous train 'The Ghan'. I met a German from Bamberg in the train. The train stopped for about 5 hours in Catherine. A small town of 10000 inhabitants South from Darwin. The town was not so spectacular, but there is the beautiful Catherine Gorge that we visited. Then we headed on to Darwin. Darwin is just FAB! An amazing place on Earth!!! Though tired from the train, the German and me decided not to loose any moment and to go straight for some beers in Mitchel Street, the famous boulevard in Darwin with lots of pubs and restaurants.
The day afterwards I decided to make a trip on my own and discover Darwin. The German went on a 2-day tour, so I had to go out alone in the evening. I went to some dance-pub in Mitchell street. It was hilarious: 90% of the people were there in walking shoes, or 'have been wearing this shirt the whole week'... I FELT TOTALLY OVERDRESSED in my jeans and T-shirt! This is
just the capital of outback Australia!!! But it was funny, because I got into contact with some guy, Jason (in jeans and T-shirt as well) so the obvious question came up:"Do you also feel to have chosen the wrong spot to go out!".:) After chatting about an half an hour, this local decided to show me Darwin by night: we started with some cocktails on the beach and ended in a party buss that took us partying through the town! It was a great night.
The day afterwards, I went to the Mindel Beach in order to recover from my night life!:) Swimming was allowed, but at own risk: it is not the high crocodile season, so there should be no croc in the sea... But the past prooved that this was not always so reliable. Anyway, the alcoholic effect of the night before made me go into the water without fears... No worries: still have my 2 arms, 2 feet and 10 fingers!:) In the evening, Jason called me and took me to some market. An alternative market (lots of hippies) not far from Mindel Beach. Nice market!
The day afterwards I had a lazy day. It is the 'Darwin-effect': all people are so laid-back here. It is amazing. Most businesses do not start before 10am... In the evening, Jason showed me the most beautiful spot in Darwin to watch sunset. This is so good about Aussies: you can meet people so easily. Just by meeting that local, he showed me in that 1 week Darwin 'the things to see in Darwin', where I, as normal tourist, would never come!
Tuesday, I went on a 2-day tour to Kakadu National Park. Kakadu, a nature reserve as half as big as Belgium (!) is just wonderful. We started the day with a boat trip. So many crocs in the water!!! The boat was really surrounded by crocs. Our lady capitain warned us about 10 times:"Everything that has an heartbeat is just meat for them! You are just 1 good looking breakfast for these fellows, so don't hang over the boats!'. She said it so many times, that it became obvious that the woman had trauma about her job. Fair enough: she told us a story of a few years ago. A couple with a small child and they did not pay enough attention to their child. And that child was grapped by a croc. And there is nothing that you can do. If you shoot the croc, there are another 500 to replace them...
In the evening we made a camp-fire, had dinner around the fire. It was amazing how many stars there were in the sky. Because of no pollution in that area, you can see so many stars!!! We could also see the eclipse. I did not know about that, but just on that night, there was 'something that went in front of the moon' (sorry I am not so good in Geography of the universe). We slept in tents. Had to wake up at 5 am to enjoy the other day the most!!! Pfff! I got up once at night because we could hear a dingo. I slept with an Aussie, with Maltese roots, in the tent and we were like:'Do you think that this animal is far away?'.:))))) Luckily I was so tired, so I didn't care if that animal was just 1 meter from our tent or not!!!! Again: still have my 2 feet, 2 arms and 10 fingers!!!:)) The day afterwards we made some big walks in the park and in the afternoon, we could swim in the most beautiful beach I have every seen in my life. Chances were low to have crocs in it, but again: own risk! I did swim, but made sure that I was not the only one in the water...!!!:)
Everybody in the tour had to same feeling about Darwin: WE JUST ALL WANT TO STAY HERE. I can tell you: 'people, NEVER travel to Darwin, because it is a really sad feeling to leave this place when you have to!':)))
Normally, I should have left on the Litchfield tour today, but that one is cancelled. Because it is not that far and the park not so big, most people just go there on their own. So not enough participants. Could have done the tour on Friday, but then UNFORTUNATELY I have to leave Darwin in the morning... I think I will ask Jason to go for dinner, because I need to thank him.
Take care... Really feel sad that this is the last day in Darwin...:) But ok, it is time to discover Australia's East Coast!
Ruben
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