A Tale of Two Swimmies

Sunday November 1, 2009 – Darwin, Northern Territories

A Tale of Two Swimmies

Kununurra

Maningrida

Gove

Groote

Granites

Ho Chi Minh City - ah, finally one I recognize.

The arrivals and departures board at the Darwin International Airport is fun to read (not a Grande Prairie, Fort Chipewyan or Saskatoon in sight) as we deplane here in the sweltering tropical heat (39F) and humidity (approx. 187%).

This is our trade-in for the blazing sun in the red centre. Interesting decision.

Its fun to hear virtually everyone tell us we're nuts for heading to the top end at this time of year - the humid buildup to the big wet.

First things first. Today we bid farewell to Pat & Elaine. They headed off to Sydney and tomorrow back to Edmonton. We also headed north, just not so much.

I have no one now to protect me from you know who. This is likely my last posting as tomorrow she puts her nefarious plan into action.

Debbie has offered an olive branch, mind you. If I agree to take up knitting so that she doesn’t miss Elaine so much she may let me live.

I think this is just a ploy. I saw the way she brandishes those knitting "needles" (aka "Blades of Doom") and I'm not getting anywhere near those suckers.

For me, I'm gonna miss counting the various ways that Pat bumps his head on things. On planes, trains, ferries, minivans, buses, trams, Navy boats (but curiously, not on the Navy submarine?).

They have been amazing travel companions. Always cheerful and willing to go with the flow.

While I'm certain that Debbie asked Elaine to vet her various ideas (aka "50 ways to kill your husband"), I guess they had a lot of time in the back of the minivan and I absolve Elaine of all blame.

After our good bye hugs and kisses I headed back to the pool for one last swim this morning before I melted (9am and already 43C) and soon enough we too made our way to the Ayers Rock airport for our Qantas flights to Alice Springs and then onto Darwin.

Darwin has a population of 120,000, which swells at this time of year because it's so damn humid. This is the place where the term "Gone Tropo" was coined, I think.

Darwin is a deep-water port on the Arafura Sea, which was flattened by Japanese bombs in WWII and then by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1978.

As a result, the main stops on the tourist beat are memorials of one kind or another. Very upbeat. To compensate, Darwinians drink. A lot. And pretty much all at once.

They also have a major Defense establishment here - army, navy, air force, sharks. As it was pointed out, this is where the invasion would take place.

The south is pretty much undefended as it's unlikely that Antarctica will ever go to war, though there has been some sabre rattling by a group of terrorist penguins, I understand.

We swam through the air to the Waterfront complex. It's a lovely park like setting surrounded on all 10 sides by various water things. A wave pool - concrete barriers; no sharks. A swimming lagoon- floating boom with shark nets; most likely no sharks. A fishing boat harbour and wharf - no nets; guaranteed sharks.

Naturally, Debbie steered me over for a stroll on the Stokes Hill wharf. I walked down the middle.

Turns out that the end of the wharf is chock-a-block with take away food stalls; picnic tables; and outdoor entertainment - in our case, a blues guitar player who played a great tune called "The Darwin Big Wet Blues".

The Big Wet starts any day now and lasts until the end of March. Buckets and buckets every day. Day after day after day. Again, this is where the term "Gone Tropo" was coined.

Here are some things that Darwin is closer to than Sydney:

Denpasar, Indonesia

Dili, East Timor

Port Moresby, Papua-New Guinea

Singapore, Singapore (how redundant)

Turns out that the wharf is where Darwin goes to eat dinner on Sunday night with the whole family to celebrate a fun day of swimming without being attacked by a shark.

Also, the Stokes Hill Wharf is the only place in Darwin you are allowed to consume alcohol outside. The place is packed. Even the kids have 5 bottles of beer set up in front of them.

After dinner we swam our way through the black tropical night (aka "The Dark Wet") and settled into our room at the Mantra Pandanus hotel.

I ended my day where I began, in the pool trying to beat the heat.

Nov 1, 2009

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