Darwin

Leave a comment

June 16, 2013 by moloneycian

Upon leaving Indonesia, the airport experience in Kuta can only be described as abysmal. I was happy enough at first, having $10 left to me, I treated myself to a Burger King and Starbucks. Upon heading into the airport I’m confronted with a service fee of $15 which requires an ATM trip. When I’m in duty free I begin to cheer up again when I pick up 2ltr of cheap gin, only to be told that I’m allowed a max of 100ml. FUCK THIS AIRPORT!

Anyway, DARWIN!!

Knitted turtles at Darwin lagoon.

I arrive into my initial home, the Banyan View Lodge. This place gets a lousy 1/5. It’s $33 a night, but they weren’t even aware of my arrival. There is no wifi and the keys only half work. If atmosphere was a temperature, it would be -100 degrees. I moved to Dingo Moon Lodge as soon as I could. This place has the same price, and wifi costs money (this is standard in Australia), but does have free washing and breakfast. The big bad thing here is to do with the owner, who supposedly has had 4 rape charges dropped out of court, because he just pays off his victims. I’ve heard that girls who’ve asked for work here have been told “hop in the shower with me for a couple of minutes and you can start today!”. 2.5/5. They also don’t like long guests (they don’t buy tours) and after a week I had to move across the street to the YHA Hostel; $38 per night and average in all other aspects. 3/5!

Darwin is a pretty small place, having three main streets and the feel of a quiet American town. You’ll see elderly folk ambling down the street with knee-high socks. You’ll also see a LOT of people working in construction (i.e. wearing hi-vis jackets) and a lot of drunk Aboriginals. This was my first encounter with the natives and it wasn’t a very positive one unfortunately. There are a handful of bars around the place, and all of them get pretty busy with backpackers every night. There are a good few hostels, and they were all pretty much booked out all of the time. I guess that the promise of sun during the winter was enough to get enough backpackers to make the trip.

Sunset in Darwin.

My priorities are to get my essentials set up; a phone, a bank account, a tax number, and a job. After a few days, most of these boxes are checked, although the bank card took a week and a half to arrive. I got a job as a door to door salesman for a charity, and I lasted two days before giving up. While it was for a good cause, I couldn’t get over the character I was set to play; the man with the big smile and clipboard, whose goal it is to guilt you with terrible facts and then abstract your key bank information from you. And you have to do it, because if you don’t make sales, then you don’t make a living. After seeing a few angry, naked, and weird characters, I decided it was time to give it up!

My stay in Darwin didn’t feel like I was backpacking. Most of the day was spent looking for work, and the evenings were spent drinking. Despite making some wonderful friends, I didn’t actually really do anything, been petrified of the prices! One thing I did see was a cultural festival which included song and dance and random shite from a bunch of different countries (including Irish dancing!).

Mind your step!

Unfortunately this also means that I don’t really have any pictures. I’ll get on it in the next few cities. I do have a couple of Darwin and Cairns here together!

Next up, I’m catching a plane to Cairns where I meet up with an old travel buddy Sam!