Darwin NT

G'day. Welcome to 'Stralia. I have looked up my old guide book 'How to Speak Strine' in an attempt to get along here in the northernmost part of Oz. Landed at some godawful hour and reahed hotel where receptionist told me I had arrived early (doh!) and my room would not be ready until 2pm. One strop later ( I needed to do it Dorrie) I was in a room throwing all my bags in a corner and leaping - no staggering- into bed. Six hours later emerged to mid-day temps of high 30s. ( the sort of weather to make your throat 'as dry as a dead dingo's donger' according to my guide book) showered, changed and ready for anything I set off to explore Darwin. Ten minutes later I'd done it! well not quite, but there is not a lot to see. 'Head for the Mall' another receptionist said helpfully. i envisaged the Trafford Centre but got Mansfield's Rosemary Centre - but smaller. I did however find a really good food stall where I had lunch - spinach roll with lots of add-ons. wandered down to the Esplanade after that. Beach there but looked a bit crabby. No-one on it. More of that later!

returned to hotel soon after to sort out posting photos on blog. feeling very pleased with myself so far. (ps you may have noticed the blog is a bit eecummings - i can't be bothered at the moment correcting all the punctuation). read uop on Darwin from my Lonely Planet guide. ironically it is about the size of Mansfield and is here partly because the British needed to defend Oz etc from countries further North. A bit later the cattle drovers came and gold prospectors. The Aborigines - who had been here first - were a little put out by this, but settled into a life of subservience and alcoholism pretty quickly so everyone was just fine....except the Aborigines of course! There is an Aborigine legend that says that stealing land etc wil bring bad karma or whatever the Aborigine version of that is. So no surprise then that Darwin has got a bit of a kicking over the intervening years - destroyed at least four times by cyclones ( the last in 1974 when Cyclone Tracey flattened 90% of all buildings in the city!) and once by the Japanese who bombed it to bits. Surprise then that the Aussie Government passed an act in 1976 giving huge tracts of the Northern Territory back to the Aborigines...and asking them to please have a word with the weather gods!

Population is 60,000 but swells in the holiday season. felt quiet today, but found them all this eveing when I went to the Mindel Beach Sunset Market - Darwin's best attraction. the sunset ws a bit of washout as it was cloudy - plenty more chances of them I think. The market, set right against the beach, was fabulous. Stalls galore and food stalls to die for. By accident and spotting the longest queue I found the Malay food stall. Not long after gorging on a beef thingy with lots of vegatable thingys to accompany it . Woman next to me asked me what the 'veggies' were. I said I did not know or care I was just having them anyway! And they were gorgeous. Hot, spicy, gorgeous. Went and sat on the beach to eat it. Got sand in my teeth - Mary! - but who cares. Sun had gone down. Lots of folks on the beach just eating - watching the game, having a Bud! - and I thought if I had to choose between this moment and break duty at Oxford......!!!!

the beach was full but no-one in the water! Crocodiles you think? Killer whales? Nope. But something just as deadly - box jelly fish. all the beaches have 'vinegar boxes' to spray on yourself if you get stung then an instruction to get yourself medical attention asap. Needless to say the sea is a no-no for me!

toured the market afterwards and that is when I started to notice Aborigines. I stopped to listen to a band playing didgeridoos aided by electronics - very earthy. Some Aboriginal youths were watching too. I saw more around the stalls in small groups - usually boys and girls separately. They were clearly here for the fun, but the boys groups reminded me so much of groups of youths at Goose Fair. Not quite hostile but letting their presence be felt. a little later I saw one group playing abit of 'come-catch me' with two security guards. The guards looked more bored than anything else. one group of girls was buying chips from a stall - no Malay food for them. I saw a boy in a cap carrying a coke bottle. Ordinary young people, bored, a bit in yer face, but not a real problem. i wondered what other people were thinking. I wondered too - in the awe sense - at how deeply deeply black their skin was. History has a lot ot answer for. the story of the white and black Australians is far from over. Tomorrow I go to Kakdu, real Aboriginal country.

PS I think I speak clear English but this is not always what other hear. In Singapore I though I agreed to have berries on my ice cream but ended up with a Baileys! Today I asked the bus drive for a two dolar fare and ended up paying two lots of tow dollars! Hey ho!.