OT: Darwin – Australian Northern Territory March 5, 2008
Posted by Richard Foote in Travel.trackback
Just returned last night from a brief work related visit to the city of Darwin, Capital of the Australian Northern Territory.
For those of you that don’t know Australia very well, Darwin is located in the middle of the very top end of Australia. It basically has two types of weather, hot and wet or hot and dry. Sometimes it might be hot and a little overcast and sometimes it’s hot and slightly windy. But always hot.
In fact a big news item while I was up there was someone had built a chimney on their house. Now this may not sound particularly news worthy but it’s actually believed to be the only house in Darwin with a chimney !! Another major story was a somewhat famous woman who had previously survived a rather vicious Crocodile attack a few years ago had just been killed by a poisonous snake. Yes, the local wildlife can be a bit of an issue up there in Darwin …
I actually really like the place. It’s nice and relaxed and people generally have a very easy and friendly attitude. But the heat man. I went for an hour run one evening and I would have lost about 5kgs in sweat, easy. No wonder Darwin is regarded as the beer drinking capital of the world, with an average beer consumption of some 230 litres per person. Another reason I like the place 😉
I managed to grab a free hour to feed the fish at Doctor’s Gully. Basically all these wild fish turn up at high tide and get a free hand feed. Milkfish, Mullet, Bream, Catfish, Cod, Mangrove Jack, Rays, you name it, all turn up in massive numbers and just eat out of your hand. No, you’re not allow to catch them !!
I had dinner at the Char Restaurant on my last night there, where I basically had the nicest, most perfect steak, ever. I would visit Darwin just to eat there again. Highly recommended.
If any Oracle DBA out there is looking for a change of scenery, I was told that Darwin is really short of quality Oracle DBAs at the moment. I believe the pay may not be the best but the fishing is great !! If anyone is interested (must be an Aussie I’m afraid), drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with someone.
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>> I actually really like the place. It’s nice and relaxed and people generally have a very easy and friendly attitude.
It looks breathtaking, I wish I could handle the 14 hour plane ride to see it myself.
Do they still have those super-poisionous jellyfish there?
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There’s a story I read (I think in one of Bill Bryson’s books) about the box jellyfish in Australia.
A bunch of people were up in Queensland by a bay, there was a sign there saying not to go swimming as jellyfish were often there. One of the guys still goes in though, starts splashing around and ribbing all the others for paying too much attention to the sign. Then, he screams out, starts thrashing around, he’s obviously been stung.
His mates pull him out, call the air ambulance, who eventually sedate him and put him under as the pain is so bad. The thing is though, even though he’s unconscious … he’s still screaming.
Shudder..
cheers, Mark
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Hi Don
It really is a unique part of the world. Darwin is also close to some of Australian’s most spectacular national parks such as Kakadu and Litchfield.
And yes, we still have the good old Australian Box Jellyfish.
As Mark says, if it doesn’t kill you, which it often does, you wish that it did. You simply can’t swim during the summer months up in the north and you would be a little mad to swim in the other months (unless the beach is netted off) as there are recorded stings all year round. Then again, if the stingers don’t get you, the Saltwater Crocodiles might 🙂
Hi Mark, ouch indeed. I’ve been stung a number of times by the humble little Bluebottle Jellyfish and that was bad enough, but a Box Jellyfish is another thing entirely.
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Ah, my old home town.
The artillery piece in your photo reminds me of a yarn about the box jelly fish. The story goes that during WWII the Darwin locals had to change the name of the sea wasp to box jelly fish, because the Yanks passing through ignored the posted warning signs thinking “what’s a wasp really going to do to me in the water?”
CM.
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