Experiencing the Wet - Night 138

Again the wet maintained its classic rhythm of brief, violent showers interspersed with periods of relative calm. It was during one of these respites that I managed to sneak away from the hostel and take a stroll along the water. Advertised as a beautiful harbor walk, the area and the trail is tragically underdeveloped and lacks anything at all to suggest that it should be a tourist destination. In all fairness to the City of Darwin, I shouldn’t be so tough on it as I doubt any other city in the western world has had as difficult of a last 60-some years than Darwin. The city was merciless bombed and destroyed by the Japanese during WWII and heroically rebuilt itself afterwards only to be leveled again by the Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Thus, for the most part, the oldest building, tree, etc in town is just over thirty years of age. This youthfulness, I think, is what gives Darwin the feel of a Mexican or Mediterranean beach resort town complete with stumbling drunk, sunburned tourists, of which there is no shortage in town.

Disappointed from my walking tour, I wandered into the Parliament and State Library building, mostly out of desire for some air-conditioning. Having no interest, nor probably not the clearance to saunter into a session of the Northern Territory parliament, I headed for the library. Of minimalist, spacious design, the library was primarily being used by backpackers for its free internet. I offered no exception to the trend. Few and far between are the times one finds free and fast internet in this part of the world, so you best take advantage.

My airport shuttle bus was due to arrive until 10:10pm, so in order to kill some time I stopped at the cinema to catch a movie. I had missed No Country for Old Men, so I settled for Jumper. I would have been more entertained had I given my $14 to a bum and watched him get drunk. It was likely the worst movie I have ever actually paid to see in a theatre. Seriously, it was that bad. How can any director or studio representative watch this at the end and think, “This is a good movie”? All the airport activities went as planned and I boarded my cheap, but less than direct flight (I fly through Melbourne to get to Perth – not exactly a straight line) just before midnight.

Note: I gave my camera a rest these past two days and took exactly no pictures. Not that Darwin is all that photogenic in the first place.

What I Learned Today: The hidden benefit of red-eye flights when backpacking is that it saves you the cost of a night of accommodation. On the flip side, you often don’t sleep very well on the plane and end up wasting the next day trying to find a decent place to take a nap.

written by

exumenius on February 25, 2008 from Darwin, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

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