Serving as an indication of the quirkiness that surrounds nearly all things in
Darwin, the local time had moved up another 30 minutes.
Darwin doesn’t sit in a full one hour time zone, it has adopted the half hour plan – a noticeable difference that sums up
Darwin’s entire personality. Think of it this way… for every question someone might ask about life in
Darwin I would probably provide the same answer each time… “it’s a little off.” The weather, the food, things to do… all a little off.
Sunset at Mindil Beach After sleeping in until 10:00 10:30, we went to brunch at non-descript diner called Café Roma. They had a single ancient bottle of Tabasco stashed away for me to use. There is no need to comment on the quality of the food – to me it was 100% hot pepper flavored. Yum.
After brunch we stepped out into the sweltering heat to hunt down a couple more items we would need before leaving on a safari the next morning. We after arriving in Darwin learned that our bags would arrive in town two days later, by which time we would be in the Outback on safari and unreachable. So we were effectively without luggage for 5 days.
I bought two more t-shirts, both of which represented Australian Rules Football teams I had never heard of. I then carried the extra stress of thinking something like this might unfold...
Random Aussie: "Hey you a Geelong Cats fan too?"
Me: "Uhh... yeah, they're the best!"
Random Aussie: "Actually mate, they are the worst team in the division"
Me: "Yeah, tough year"
Random Aussie: "You think they oughta can coach Hamilton?"
Me: "uhhh... yeah... Can Him... hey... how bout them Redsox? uhhh... I... I should go."
Random Aussie: "whatever mate. See you at the games!"
Of course no safari would be complete without a classic Aussie Outback hat. Amy opted for straw and I opted for suede. We looked quite fetching if I do say so myself. We also picked up flashlights, long pants, and sunscreen.
It’s hard to describe the density of the heat and humidity in Darwin that first day. As I have said many times under similar circumstances, I was sweating like a whore in church. We went back to the hotel to enjoy a swim and some cold beer.
Late in the afternoon we grabbed a cab and went to Darwin’s very popular Mindil Beach sunset market. This market reminded me on any old US street fair where earth-loving folks had schlepped their crafts to the beach and set up a tent.
Mindil Beach Sunset Market
There was a wide variety of food and artsy trinkets, that for some supernatural reason make you consider redecorating an entire room of your home into a Polynesian/Aboriginal theme. We kept our wits about us and decided against that.
The only real difference in this market compared to a Sixth Avenue street market on a Sunday in NYC is that this was literally the only thing going on in Darwin at the time. So you basically had two camps - the locals socializing and the tourists daring each other to eat dried emu jerky.
Although I paid $10 for a runny roti wrap, the sunset at the beach was worth every penny. We left after about an hour for the nights main event. Deckchair Cinema.
We read about Darwin’s Deckchair Cinema online before leaving the states. This little local nuance is a permanently established movie-in the-park type of thing. The seating however, was less like deckchairs, and more like 25-person hammocks supported by plumbing pipes. Fun.
Deckchair Cinema proudly presents Air Guitar Nation
The cinema is run by a local non-profit and they primarily show independent films and super played out classics. So don’t try finding Men in Black XII here on opening weekend. With that said we did pay $13 for tickets. The snack bar served beers so we grabbed two and sat down for Air Guitar Nation – just as quirky as the cinema itself. Perfect.
Sleepy time.
Building facade in Darwin
Industrial pier in Darwin
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