Getting social at sunset

Sunset from Darwin Ski Club

Darwin. What an odd little place. So much to like: 33 degrees everyday, 95% per cent humidity. Palm trees, spectacular sunsets, and a host of social activities devised to get maximum value out of those sunsets. 

 

SJ enjoying the sunset and a beer at Darwin Ski Club

Darwin (water) Ski Club is one of the best although it's little more than a tin-shed bar and a bunch of plastic garden chairs with a spectacular vista through palm trees. It starts slow on a Saturday afternoon, with a few people scattered across the lawn. Gradually the tables fill and the sun slides towards the horizon, lingers a little, then dips into the sea turning the sky a mesmerising shade of pink.

Bre gets into the sunset at Mindle Beach

Thursday and Sunday evenings sees the social scene shift a little closer to town to Mindle Beach markets, with juice stalls, philipino and chinese food and a chilled out vibe. Pack an esky and some wine if you can because when the market crowd moves to the beach you're going to want a cold glass of sauvignon blanc with your sunset.

Mindle Beach

But there's also a lot not to like about Darwin - bad service, bad food, and tacky tourist sights like crocosaurus cove with its lame cage of death and pools filled with bored and lethargic monster crocs. On Saturday nights, it's carnage on Mitchell Street - made even more horrendous this weekend by the influx of army dudes from Timor and the hordes of girls looking for their ticket outta town.

Bre clowning around at Crocosaurus Cove

Lucky for us, we don't have to score an army dude to get out of dodge. We have our car, our tent, some supplies and our driving music, and tomorrow Breanna, SJ and I head to Kakadu.

SJs trying to be brave about the bugs, the crocs, the snakes and the other animals she's convinced are after her English blood. The fact that she's agreed to camp shows she's got gumption. The fact that she's agreed to sleep on the ground, instead of splurging on a camp bed or mattress, suggests she's going slightly mad in her old age. If Carl was here, he'd definitely put a stop to my crazy ideas. But he's not, so it's game on. Bring it.

A really bored crocodile at Crocosaurus Cove. Skip this place - there are plenty of opportunities to see crocs in the wild!

Left field in the top end: Darwin gets random

Hands down, the best things about travelling are always the most random. Usually it's random encounters with crazy people - and there are a lot of them out there - but really it could be anything that comes from a little left field.

Like chatting for a couple of hours over a glass of chardy with the lady next to you on the plane - a real Kath and Kim character whose travel credentials put me to shame. She makes a point of trying to connect with the local people on every trip, even in a small way. She's got a keen eye for cultural differences, picking up on a recent trip to Myanmar how farmers work together in the fields and lamenting the loss of community in Australia where people work alone in the fields driven by money. Someone who seems genuinely happy to have her eyes opened to the injustices suffered by the people of Myanmar and keeps learning more about the country long after she returns home to Sydney.

Like the lady at the shuttle bus counter at Darwin Airport with her big curly grey hair, who calls me 'pet' in a disconcertingly manly Aussie bogan accent.

Like the shuttle bus driver who, at 1am, didn't think it important to acknowledge our existence but to whom we felt compelled to thank profusely in a desperate bid to elicit a response.

Like arriving at your hotel at 2am to find that your room has been given to someone else because of a burst water main so the manager has arranged for you to spend the night at a more expensive resort. Then, as he drives you there, points out the most salubrious watering holes in the top end, and a couple of strip joints, leaving you wondering what message you're sending to the locals: is it your melbourne clothes? The glasses? Do they think we need to loosen up?

Like being asked if it's your first time in Australia, after you've handed over an aussie drivers licence at the hotel reception.

Like giving bed-making lessons to the porter who made up the pull out bed with no sheet or pillowcases, and who couldn't tell the difference between a doona and a sheet because his mum makes his bed for him.

But best of all, it's waking up in a new city, sitting on your balcony with the sun shining, looking at the aqua water stretching for miles in every direction and wondering what you should do first today: swim or breakfast, breakfast or swim?

Yep, I agree. A swim, then breakfast. Time to get Sarah-Jane out of bed. Time to check out the top end.

"I knew you wouldn't miss the fifty year storm, Bodhi"

"Look at it! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, man! Let me go out there and let me get one wave, just one wave before you take me in. I mean, come on man, where I am I gonna go? Cliffs on both sides! I'm not gonna paddle my way to New Zealand! Come on, compadre. Come on!"

Let's just say, lucky Bodhi didn't try to paddle to NZ from Bells Beach. It would've taken him a bloody long time.

Carl rocks Bells Beach ADT-style

Bells beach is a compulsory stop along the Great Ocean Road, but it wasn't on the Point Break itinerary. Not really. We checked the movie and our Bells Beach looks nothing like their Bells Beach. SJ feels robbed ... until we deliver her a bunch of cuddly koalas in the wild, including this one with a monster koala booger. Awwwww.

How much can a koala bear?

This one's for my mum

I don't think the residents of Doo-Town are particularly creative, but you've gotta give them credit for their commitment to their little town. Somewhere between Hobart and Port Arthur, Doo-Town is only a couple of streets of small houses but each one is specially named doo-style. It's cute ... but only my mum will truly appreciate this Doo-Town homage.

An arctic blast: Hobart and around

The old Jam Factory at the waterfront

Triple Js Hottest 100 of All Time. 

At times it is the perfect soundtrack. At other times, not so much. But when you're exploring the rugged Tasmanian countryside, a little musical variety is crucial. Add a little bit of nostalgia and some cringe-worthy strolls down memory lane, and you've got a good mix of up and down to take you, well, up and down - from Hobart through Doo Town to Port Arthur, up Mount Wellington for our first taste of snow, along the coast and back to a cosy bar for some warmth and a lot of scrummy seafood.

This is our first foray this far south. Never before have we ventured to the apple isles, and some would argue that we are mad to head to Hobart in the middle of winter. I mean the only place colder than Victoria right now is Tasmania. But Carl had to go for work and everyone knows that I hate to be left out of any travel plans particularly when I haven't had a holiday in a while. A long while. Weather never stops me, even cold weather and everyone also knows how I feel about the cold.

Even the art rugs up against the cold

To survive, we're employing a few important coping strategies, most of them consumable - food, wine, coffee - in substantial quantities. Lucky for us, Hobart gets it. It gets that you need sustenance to keep you buoyant in bad weather and this little town is a tidy package of buzzing cafes, bars and restaurants, from the wine at Salamanca to the fresh seafood at the harbour, and right down to the cutest little bakery among the sandstone cottages at Battery Point. Like Scandinavians, Tasmanians aren't afraid of the cold: just rug up and get out there.

Salamanca from the harbour

It's a tough call, but the cold shouldn't stop you from getting out of the city

Fast forward a year

Luna Park, St Kilda, Victoria

We find ourselves in Melbourne. Here's the abridged version of how we got here:

Arrive home to Australia.
Emma ponders navel at Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
Carl sent to work.
Emma ponders navel over coffee and lunch with friends.
Carl sent to work.
Melbourne? Sydney? Melbourne? Sydney? Melbourne? Sydney?
Okay. Melbourne.
Emma goes to interviews. Emma turns down jobs.
Carl gets new career with free car. YAYYY!
Carl says Emma must choose a job.
Emma fights but loses battle to become perpetual navel-gazer.
Takes crap job.
Look for house with backyard. Can't find one.
Get apartment without backyard.
Move in and unpack backpacks, slowly.
Slowly admit we need things. Like furniture. Like cutlery. Like a TV.
Fill house with stuff that can't fit in a backpack. Emma looks uncomfortable. Melbourne Cup.
Two weeks of summer.
Family onslaught for festive season.
New Year camping in sub-zero temps on Great Ocean Road.
Inherit two dogs. Small white fluffy things that need a home after Emma's family abruptly leave town - is their departure linked to our return? Don't dwell on it.
Maybe we should buy a house? Look at houses.
Camping in Grampians. Ignore weather warnings. Drink wine instead.
Emma turns 30 and flips out.
Camping at 90-mile beach inspires big decisions: no more houses, no more big commitments. Emma breathes a sigh of relief.
Kingscliff for birthday weekend. So this is where summer went.
Carl turns 30 and gets drunk.
Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Emma gets new job, books a holiday and finally stop whinging.
Melbourne Grand Prix.
Work. Play. Drink coffee. Work. Play. Drink coffee.
Winter.
No heating.
Work. Play. Drink coffee. Work. Play. Drink coffee.
Still winter.

Sunset at 90-Mile Beach in Gippsland, Victoria

So when you get down to it, not much has really changed since our London days. In fact, these days we call Melbourne our mini Stinktown. The weather is still crap. We still drink too much. And our skin is still a pastey sickly shade of white.

We've not lost our lust for travel but we've taken to coffee and brunch like native melbournians, probably more so, and Emma has certainly found her shopping mojo after so long subsisting on a stingy travellers budget. And we're not in a share house, which after four years of bathroom schedules is liberating.

Sure, our overseas jaunts are much MUCH less frequent, and that certainly takes some getting used to but we have been re-acquainting ourselves with this amazing country and our fantastic friends here. Believe it or not, that actually does make up for the trips to Europe and other far-away places. At least for now.

In disguise at the Melbourne Cup

The end is just the beginning, right?

Right?

We're sitting at Singapore's Changi Airport waiting to board our plane to Brisbane, but there's one big problem. For the first time in five years, we don't want to go home. We don't want our trip to end and we certainly don't want to face the harsh reality of work. Carl's trying to remain calm. I am trying not to hyperventilate. We've still got time, I tell him. We could still walk back to the airline and swap our tickets to, well, anywhere but home. Anywhere, I tell him, your choice. We eye the door out of the boarding lounge. We watch the passengers boarding the plane, happily handing over their boarding passes and heading down the gangway. We eye the door again. We hear the final boarding call. Carl stands up. He grips his boarding pass and grabs my hand tight. We march to the boarding gate.

That's it. It's all over. Finito.

Living the easy life

A temple in Little India

After so many months travelling around new places, it's nice to be somewhere familiar. We've been whiling away the days in Singapore doing exactly what we said we were going to do - actually probably less - and its just what the doctor ordered. No stress, no maps, no pressure to see the sights, no dodgy hostel beds ... (and breathe).

Just coffee at Great World City down the road, shopping along Orchard Road with its giant plazas and basement markets, monster-sized margaritas at Clarke Quay, an afternoon strolling through the bustling streets of Little India and into the chaos of the Mustafa Centre, and of course the obligatory cable car ride across the vast shipyards to Sentosa Island and the iconic Merlion.

The Satay Club - a new location but the satay stays the same

Sure things have changed, but not so much ... at least not for the average visitor. The Satay Club still delivers those little sticks of meaty goodness and you can still buy delicious roti at Newton Circus. It's just a more sanitised version than before. I mean there is even handwash in the toilets sometimes now. History buffs would be well advised to head to the National Museum of Singapore, with its new fangled exhibitions covering everything you could possibly imagine, from smell-a-vision displays on Singaporean food to harrowing stories of survival of prisoners at the brutal hands of the Japanese to the giant pink statue of David in the foyer.

There are also more European stores, like TopShop, and if you're not interested in riding the little trains at Sentosa you can kick back with a cocktail on a sunbed at Cafe Del Mar. Oh, and did I mention high tea and Singapore slings at Raffles?

Now that's what I'm talking about.

ERPs take their toll in Singapore

In the 10 years since our last visit, Singapore has embraced Electronic Road Pricing* like a long-lost chain store, with no motorway, inner-city street or hour of the day left untouched by its viciously priced tolls. At least, that's what our cab driver is telling us as we zoom into the city.

We'd brushed off the train in favour of an easy comfortable cab ride, indulging our laziness after the flight from Houston because that's what the stop in Singapore is all about: one last lazy stop to say hi to Em's parents, lay by their pool, eat our body weight in good Asian food and just chill out before we reached Australia and all the reality that comes with home. (Shudder)

But the cab driver is off on one and we can tell he is only just warming up. He wants to know if we've been to Singapore before - yes we have but a long time ago we tell him, hoping short answers will bring his rant to a premature end. Well, he tells us, things have gotten worse: the Government, the tolls, the cost ... on and on he goes.

We nod appropriately as the fare ticks over, throw in a polite comment here and there, but mostly we look out the window. Singapore has certainly bulged since our last visit. Apartment blocks now stretch all the way to the airport - actually maybe they always did and we just don't remember - and we're looking forward to seeing what else has changed.

We know that things are more expensive than they used to be - the cab driver isn't the only one making that observation. Emma's parents lived here 10 years ago in a large four-bedroom apartment. They now pay almost the same to live in a two-bedroom apartment in the same block. We know the famous Satay Club at Clark Quay has moved and Newton Circus, once a ramshackle outdoor food court with dubious hygiene standards but delicious food, has been cleaned up considerably. (Had it kept its ramshackle life and soul?)

As we near her parents apartment block, Emma also remembers the last time she arrived here. There was no welcome party. In fact, no-one answered when she rang the doorbell so she waited for an hour until a neighbour let her into the units to bang on the door to the apartment where her family lay comatose after a night of expat party fun.

From a distance, the tall pinky-coloured buildings still looked the same. We pulled into the complex, where we were waved through by the guard, drove around the small circular driveway and ... there were two familiar smiling faces standing at the kerb. So, Emma smiled, some things in Singapore had changed for the better then.

*ERPs to them, plain old tolls to us