Monday, October 02, 2006
See You N.T.
Today we say goodbye to the Northern Territory having rounded off our stay in the Top End. It was certainly an interesting trip and a good time was had by all. I really feel like we saw quite a bit and took advantage of every turn. Frank and Chana are keeping the party rolling by parlaying on to Cairns and snorkelling on the great barrier reef, whilst Peggy and I are flying back to Sydney this arvo.
Last night we took a sunset cruise on an old 1920's Pearl boat called the Pearl Lugger (re-nicknamed the Pug Lugger by yours truly). We berthed from the privately owned city section of Darwin harbour was controlled by a lock (or is it loch?), which was an interesting gateway out to sea. The main harbour of Darwin itself reminded me a bit of Alameda, not in the most complimentary of terms. Large US and Aussie warships and frigates were docked along side piers, sometimes adorned with waterfront dining. A bit of a contrast between romantic and machoistic environments. Afterwards, we returned to the night market where Frank then notched crepes numbers three and four, setting the Northen Territory record for Most Crepes Consumed By an Individual Possessing a Full Set of Teeth.
We've just finished the grand final weekend here in Australia, bringing to a close of both the aussie rules and rugby league seasons. One grand final was on Saturday and the other Sunday. Why two leagues would schedule a climax on consecutive days like that, I'm not sure. Seems as if there is only so much drinking one can do over the course of a weekend, but then again, this is Australia. Drink driving (drunk driving) arrests skyrocketed over the weekend, as did emergency room visits. Thankfully, the words 'grand final' will now subside for a few months.
We never really got the hang of the whole time zone thing. Western Australia and N.T. are and hour and a half apart, which is much harder to comprhend than just adding and subtracting whole numbers from a given time. Why would a time zone need to be a half hour increment? Was there a breakdown in the time zone negotiation process and this was the compromise? It doesn't take much to fluster me when I am on holiday.
posted by ncawthon at 12:18 PM
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