Darwin - Detoxes and Distractions.

My Darwin experience was different to my other stays in my various other stops. Arriving smelling like the outback at 7pm in the evening to a room about the size of a camper van didn’t help I suppose. I think what made Darwin different for me was that when I arrived I already had friends – I had planned to meet all of my KAT friends that night in the Youth Shack for one last hurrah. As a result, I was in and out of my hostel within an hour of arriving. I didn’t even get the names of the two people I’d spoken to in my room (later I found out they were Liam from Co. Down and, I’m taking a guess at, Dutch Monique). In most other places I had made friends with people in my hostel or in my room on the first day, but here in Darwin it wasn’t until my fifth day that I made an effort with my hostel buddies.

On my first night, like I said, I met the KAT gang at the Youth Shack for a tearful goodbye with Kaie, the Austrians and the Swiss. Myself, Amaya, Tom and Simon stayed out for an eventful late night, and I bumped into the lovely Brendan, one of the fabulous English I met in Broome. The next day, it was as if the tour was continuing when myself, Tom and Amaya piled into the car with our guide for the night, Simon, for a trip to the Mindle Beach Market.  We went out as a group again the next night and then, minus Amaya on the Saturday, myself and Tom helped Simon clean the car and trailer after our amazing trip. We thought after eight days of rolling swags every morning that we would fly them, turns out rolling nine swags between two of us in thirty degree heat was not as easy as rolling one at 6.30am when the sun is just up. We had fun that day, and minus falling down a little waterfall at Berry Spring into some rocks and hurting my ankle and bruising my legs, it was one of my funnest days in Darwin!

When Tom, Amaya and Simon departed on Sunday, I visited Brendan in the YHA, went to the Library, hung out a bit at the Waterfront and made friends with some lovely Irish girls (and one Irish boy).

The one thing that struck me about Darwin was the Irish population – it was full of them. I think, to get a proper view of Darwin and if I really like it or not, I need to go back, in the same way I need to go back to Adelaide. Maybe I didn’t warm to Darwin because I wanted a detox, and Darwin of all places is the last place you should plan a detox. Especially as an Irish Backpacker.