Steffanie, Regis and Anais have been amazing, generous hosts for myself, Ollie and Nic while we have been in Darwin. We found them through the fabulous www.couchsurfing.com website.
I arrive late on the 22nd, with the intention of scoping out, on ground, the possibilities of a boat from Darwin to Singapore, which we had been trying to do remotely for months. However, despite our best efforts (See Ollie’s next Blog post) a boat was totally impossible, and we were forced to book flights for the 1st of November. Happily, though, this meant that I had a full week to discover the glory of Australia’s most northern city, which I’ve now decided is also one of Australia’s most fun.
Thursdays during dry season is Mindil beach night markets – with the food, tropical weather, a beautiful sunset over water, beach arts and crafts, and amazing musicians, it certainly feels much more like we are in South-East Asia already than in Australia. I had the pleasure of attending Mindil beach twice, and the second time being the last markets for the year, it was complete with fireworks.
After 5 days in Darwin, Ollie arrived, and we had a glorious day at Litchfield National Park, of pure R&R – cooling off from the 38 degree heat in waterholes, swimming under waterfalls, and so on. The “beware of crocs” signs kept us on guard, with a healthy level of paranoia.
More markets, the amazing, fun backpacker culture, and the flatness of the city (making it very easy to get around on our bikes, kindly loaned from our hosts Stef and Regis), all play a role in giving Darwin the perfectly relaxed lifestyle.
However, my favourite part about Darwin was undoubtedly the students that I had the pleasure of working with at Darwin High, all migrant students in the SEIU (Senior English Intensive Unit). With 3 different classes, we conducted workshops on climate change issues and introduced our overland trip project, created a handprint banner, and even had the opportunity to practice some of my non-climate-related skills by teaching an acrobatics class. The teamwork, cooperation, focus and support required for acrobatics was demonstrated beautifully by the students, who created class pyramids for their finale’. It was loads of fun and I hope to go back soon.
The letters of thanks and good wishes recieved for our onward journey were much appreciated.
After 7 days in Darwin, Nic arrived by Greyhound bus, and on the 1st of November, myself, Ollie and Nic jumped on our only flight in this journey, to Singapore.
