Driving in Darwin

I am renting a car here in Darwin. Yep, yet again… I need to take the adventure of driving with the steering wheel on the right side, while staying on the left. THINK LEFT I have to tell myself over and over. Tomorrow I will have to do quite a bit of driving and I am nervous! Oh and of course, it went absolutely fine. I actually really enjoyed it and wanted to keep it up, but it was late and I was tired. I really did get into the hang of it though, the more I drove the more confidence I got. I still couldn’t get out of the habit of looking right when I should have been looking left, and vice versa though.

On the first day I arrived in Darwin, I was honestly pretty tired and cranky. So I sat at my computer and wasted some time, talked to some friends, and then did some internet work. I noticed outside that it was getting very dark, but it wasn’t time for the sun to be going down. Then the thunder started, and the rain started, and then it got worse. It was hailing, the lighting was hitting right in front of the hotel, and the wind was blowing so hard that I could see five feet out of the window. It was like a hurricane, I hadn’t seen a storm like that in quite a while. What a sight to see!

I was told by some people in the past couple cities that Darwin was “interesting” and that it was very multicultural. I had no idea what that meant. Now I do. There are some very dark people hanging around the city, they have tattered clothing and many go barefoot, but they do not beg. I tried to think up where they could be from, but nothing about them looked familiar to me. Their skin almost has a purplish color to it, and they have unfamiliar bone structure. Then it hit me. These were Aboriginal people. REAL Aboriginies! Like the ones we watched in the video in Anthropology! They look more indigenous than even the deep, dark African people. Their bone structure even seems to resemble that of apes a little bit. It is a strange sight. What are these people doing here amongst the settled people, while they are poor and tattered living in the modern world I wondered? Why don’t they go back to where they are more comfortable and have an easier way of living. Unless, maybe Darwin was their home. Hmmm…

My lower back has been killing me. Like it’s telling me, Lauren…. You’ve had enough. No wonder so many surveyors have needed surgery on their backs… we walk around all day long carrying things. I think my bag does happen to be a whole lot heavier than most though, oops! I’ve been making more of an effort lately to reduce the items I carry around.

PERTH

I took a trip to Fremantle and Cottesloe beach. I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be actually, but I was really very tired. I walked around Fremantle and it reminded me a bit of Portsmouth. An old port city with a lot of history. I had a delicious fish n’ chips down by the waterfront and then I pretty much just crashed after that. I had a rejuvenating juice concoction instead of a coffee, but maybe it was coffee that I really needed. I took the train back into the city and stopped at Cottesloe beach along the way. Turned out I had to walk about a half mile to the beach (amongst some pretty amazing houses/mansions that lined the beach). It was a nice walk, but the flies, the flies are absurd here. Totally ridiculous. These flies, they don’t bite, thank goodness. But, they do fly in your ears, your eyes, your mouth, your nose – and there have to be about 10 surrounding you at one time. I couldn’t stand anywhere for too long for this reason. They just wouldn’t leave me alone! I looked around to see how the locals were dealing with them, and they were doing the same as me, the swooshing away which only lasted a couple seconds, so instead I got into full arm-circle mode. Yeah it was annoying, and probably more of a workout than I bargained for that afternoon.

Sat across the row (thank goodness I wasn’t next to) to a bunch of hooligans on the airplane to Darwin. One guy was so hung over he had his head practically under the seat for the whole ride. All 3 of them were grown men that must have been in their 40’s or 50’s but they had clearly partied the night before like it was 1999. I heard the flight attendant tell them that they really didn’t have much sympathy for them since we are all adults here and should act like them, haha. Frankly, I’m shocked that a)they didn’t kick the sick guy out when they realized in the first place how sick he was and b) that they were so nice to him throughout the flight. They gave him pillows, blankets, all the paper bags he wanted for when he was going to puke…. Luckily, I really don’t think that he did, or else it didn’t look or smell like he did. I think I would have been sick and pretty pissed off if that had happened. The plane was a bit wobbly. We landed right before the heavens started absolutely pouring down on us and on our descent we dropped a couple times quite significantly which caused me to let out a bit of a yelp. Yep I said it, I yelped… enough to make the guy next to me laugh. It was a bit scary man!

They DO say mate here, quite a bit. They actually say g’day mate a lot here in Australia. Also, instead of “you’re welcome” they say “no worries”. And, they say “what are you after?” Instead of what would you like? LOVE!! Just so different.

Free public transport and no tipping!

Perth is not as cool as Brisbane, that’s my opinion. Brisbane has much better food, haha…. Maybe that’s why I’m thinking that! I thought Brisbane was a little more “grand”. Everything was done bigger. The water taxis, the beautiful views. Though I took a lovely walk through the botanical gardens tonight which provided some really nice views of the city, once I was able to find them. I walked for an hour before I finally found signs for the botanical gardens.

Security is beefed up around here like crazy for the CHOGM, cops in regular and in plainclothes all over the place. Sniffer dogs, they are even closing the city down next Friday; no one can enter or leave the city. (Well, that’s what some taxi drivers told me today, but I think they were exaggerating a little….) The queen is arriving the day after I leave, of course. I suppose, it wouldn’t really make sense for me to be here when all that is going down anyways…. But the city is having a BBQ on Thursday night and the whole city is invited to come and meet the Queen. How cool is that? I would have loved to have an opportunity to meet her!

Can you imagine a city having FREE public transport? Ya I couldn’t either. But Perth does! I was amazed. It centers all around the downtown area (called the CBD in all of the Australian cities – “Central Business District”). I used it quite a few times, it was very handy getting around. Aside from walking (miles and miles and miles… ) I took taxis all over. It seemed common here to sit in the front with the driver, so that’s exactly what I did, once I remembered that as a passenger I sit on the LEFT. The drivers were all very friendly, I had great conversations with all of them. Many of them Indian, there was a Sri Lankan, a Somali guy, a Bulgarian guy… maybe even more multi-cultural than our Haitian Boston cab drivers.

You know what’s great about Australia? You’re NOT expected to tip! Not even like Europe, where you round up. No, here…. You don’t even need to tip anyone. Not waiters, not cab drivers, no one. Just pay what you owe and go on your merry way. This is good and bad, I suppose. The level of service is not as good, mostly when speaking about waiters/waitresses. Rarely is it actually a problem though. And instead of thank you’s? There are “Cheers!!” How positive.

School starts in February?

I think I should start wearing more fancy clothes for my realtor meetings. Or rather, I guess I would if I actually had them. For as “laid-back” that Australia is, I’m surprised that all the realtors I’ve met with have all been dressed up.

I’m amazed at how perfect Australia is, almost to a flaw. Everything is new, updated – and just works. Their public transit. Their rent-a-bike system. The way people don’t cross the streets unless they have a green crosswalk sign. Buses are electricity powered and everyone eats organic food. You can’t even take leftovers home from a restaurant because they are worried about the potential of food contamination, or something wacky like that. That just doesn’t sit well with me! I wanted to take my delicious pumpkin with mint and feta side home with me, but I wasn’t allowed to. So I ate as much as I could, but unfortunately I was already quite full.

Speaking of that pumpkin with feta, I ate at the L’Espalier of Brisbane last night. I’m calling it my birthday dinner ;). It was good, L’Espalier good, and I wanted to take a pic of the way they perfectly laid out all the ingredients artistically, but it just definitely would not have been appropriate here – but for some reason I wasn’t as hungry as I should have been. I had eaten a bag of chips about 2 hours prior that totally burnt the top of my mouth, and now it was bothering me to eat my dinner. I was disappointed. And THEN I couldn’t take my pumpkin home, which I had barely even touched. Also, this place I suppose was a bit classier than I expected, I felt a little awkward being alone. Oh well, I’m not complaining!

I need to get accustomed to walking on the LEFT. It’s not just driving they do on the left here – no… (though I’ll have to do that in a couple weeks too) – but everyone walks on the left. I have caught myself walking into the paths of oncoming pedestrian traffic because I’m not following “the rules”. I’ll be here for a few weeks… I suppose I ought to get with it!

School year starts in February! I never actually thought that they would have backwards school systems too. I guess that it makes sense, but how funny is that! Totally backwards, but I guess Australia just is. On my way to the airport, a taxi driver asked to switch a US dollar with me for an Australian dollar so he could keep as a collector’s item or something of the sort, which I gladly obliged. I thought it was a quirky little request.

Kangaroos, koalas and cavities, oh my!

Today, on my birthday, I realized that this dull, aching pain in my mouth is a cavity. My first REAL cavity – yep it’s painful and there’s a large grayish area in the back of my back molar. Sneaky little bastard. Didn’t feel it until the flight over, go figure. Nowwww what? Well, I’ll find out in the morning when I call and ask about it. So, I worried about, well - not too much. I ended up getting an emergency dental treatment. I walked in and was greeted with kindness. Australians really know how to work their kindness factor, almost to a point that I feel, well just awkward. I don’t really know how to explain it. I think I try to be that nice back and I just don’t know how to do it, haha. So anyways, I fill out some paperwork and they take me back right away. I get shown around the office; where the bathroom is, the prep lab and how clean it is, and here is the dental office. They get right to work, I have 3 people working and helping out with me all at once. They explain what they are doing step by step (with a lot of cheery voices and smiles along the way). All the equipment is new and modern stuff I have never experienced before. My dentist must be pretty old-school in comparison. I winced a little and then my lip started shaking when I could feel the novocaine going in, not much I could do about the lip-shaking. But after that, I knew that there would be no more pain. And there wasn’t, just the pressure. They worked fast, and I mean FAST. I was in and out of that room in 20 minutes and I was in a total daze – shocked that it was over already. It was so anticlimactic that I was almost disappointed, haha! But tonight, I will sleep easy.

I’m still waking up at 6 am, but it’s really not so bad. It’s nice to feel like I’m getting the whole day in. Today I saw koalas and pet and fed kangaroos. Amazing! Koalas make this really loud grunting/snorting sound to attract mates. I have to say, it’s really not too attractive. But damnnnn are those little guys cute! Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to holding one. The kangaroos are so cool. It was so nice being able to be in the fenced in area with them, and to be able to feed and pet them all you want. The little baby in the front sack is adorable. Kangaroos lay down like dogs and they scratch themselves with their two front arms and they have the strangest scrotums I’ve ever seen. Sometimes they hang down low and sometimes they’re close to their body. The Tasmanian devil was very cool, they “scream” at each other when food is coming their way and they have to fight over it.

When I got on the bus to go back, the bus driver asked me if I snuggled a koala. I hadn’t :( It cost something ridiculous like $20 to get a picture with it anyways. By the time I got on the bus, I felt so sick. My head was pounding ridiculously (must have been the worst headache I’ve ever had) and my stomach nauseas when I got on the bus, which only felt a lot worse with each twist and turn the bus made. I really considered getting off the bus a few times in fear of being real sick. I did end up making it all the way back home and then just crashed for a couple hours with advil until I wasn’t nauseas anymore. It was a bit bizarre.

Before the zoo, I still had time for a walk through the botanical gardens and lunch on the pier. For dinner, I ate again at the hotel restaurant – Sea Salt. I had Atlantic salmon that was just superb, it was sushi grade and delicious! All the accompaniments were fresh and local, well they tasted fresh and local anyways!

Loving Brisbane, Australia

Hotels here are super expensive. I’m staying at a Quality Inn, though it’s not as bad as I expected. Even better, there is a cute little restaurant on the first floor called “Sea Salt” which is listed as the 63rd best restaurant in the city out of a whole slew of them. I had a delicious, nice and savory duck meal last night! The rooms are all called something different and there is a book describing the history, of the name associated with the room I’m assuming. It’s nice and spacious and has everything you would need from a hotel, besides a bellboy to help carry up my ridiculously heavy bags (how can I never get away from that??).

The girl at the front desk has never seen snow. Wow, I kinda wish I’ve never seen snow. She asked me where I was from and what it’s like there. I said Boston (I have no idea if she knows Boston) and I said it’s kinda like here. But then, I took it back. Because for someone who has never traveled, she would see a world of a difference between Brisbane and Boston.

Loving Australia, ok, well more specifically Brisbane. It’s fairly small, but the good food and drink are plentiful. The people are nice. I hardly had to speak with anyone today, but one girl at the cinema stood out. She was multitasking, cashing out people buying food and selling tickets. I asked her for the price of tickets and she starting listing them all out in detail, despite the long line building behind me. I felt bad I was holding everyone up, and I tried to “get away” without her having to go into more details that I didn’t need, but she kept going and going. Oh well! Australians must have patience. Brisbane is modern and clean, with all the western conveniences you could want (even Starbucks and Borders).

The city is built with a winding river in the middle, and this river is serviced by water taxis all day. I have yet to take one, but I sure will! The promenade is a beautiful place for a morning stroll. This jetlag thing is really helping out with that (falling asleep at 10pm and getting up at 6….)

English, Glorious english!

And so it starts again. I leave from my nana’s after dropping my car off, and after trying to call Boston cab to no avail., nana comes to the rescue with a cab company. They pick up right away and send one along in 10 minutes. I hear the beep from the awaiting cab and say my goodbyes to my cutsie nana and she tells taxi may he better take care of me, and that I’ll be away for a while. “Yes of course, then when she comes back she’s going to make me dinner.” Out of left field. Right brother, first… where did that come from and second, just, what? So, the whole ride to the airport I have to listen to Romeo tell me that I need a man. Despite his “oh I’m not trying to hit on you or anything” remarks , I’m pretty sure that he blatantly was. And of course, I was given his number when he dropped me off. You know, just in case I needed a ride home from the airport November 23rd.

The flight from Boston to LAX was pretty miserable. I reluctantly gave up my aisle seat to someone’s friend who was a “nervous” flyer, and who also had a middle seat. I watched “Secretariate” which was actually pretty good, and tried to sleep, but I kept feeling like I ended up with my head nearly on the shoulder of the guy next to me. We had a stewardess that had a classic everything-bad-about-a-Boston-accent. “OH MY GAWWWWWWWWWWD” in a very harsh, loud, smoker’s voice. That was fun.

Oh, LAX. I ate a big, hearty meal at Chili’s since that was all that was available in the terminal, which didn’t fare so well when I got back on the plane : / I’ll spare those details. I only had a couple hours of layover, which was just enough time to stuff my face since American Airlines doesn’t even throw a cookie at us anymore for domestic flights. The Qantas plane was one of those huge, but not super modern planes. Heck, at least we had lots of in flight entertainment though! Not only that, but we also had a customer service attendant on the plane which was meant to primarily deal with, guess! Making the passengers happy and making sure everything went smoothly. I had never seen that before. I luckily was able to sleep for about 10 of the 16 hours we were on the plane. Watched Bridesmaids, The Hangover 2 (keeping with the theme) and some Modern Family. We had to make a detour to Noumea due to storms over the “Gold Coast” especially because the plane needed to refuel. By this point, I didn’t mind. I was so lazy and prone to falling asleep that I didn’t mind that I couldn’t move for an extra 2.5 hours. The view when the plane was taking off, over the ocean where I think a reef was, was just breathtaking. The water was a rainbow of colors, almost as though there had been an oil spill, haha. I couldn’t get a picture because my batteries were dead unfortunately.

On arrival in Brisbane (finally!) I had heard that Australians were quite tough with their rules about bringing things in, even down to dirt on the bottom of shoes. If you have it, it must be quarantined. We were greeted by a lovely G’day! Sign and a number of “g’day mates” walking through the terminal. It was nice! Already had a very friendly and unique atmosphere. And most importantly, ENGLISH!!! I didn’t declare anything, and although the search dog did sit at my bag (my first thought was hmmm… I really don’t think I have drugs in here!) I was then asked if I had had food in there now, or in the past few days, which I replied no, with a look of fear I’m pretty sure…. so the officer said ok, you’re fine. And out I went!