Australia Revisited

A girl at work is wanting to travel to Australia in August, and so she's asked me what places I would recommend. I've already sent her the link to this old post, but then I started thinking; I think I wrote that one on my last day in Australia, as I was sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, what about now, almost a year after I got back, which places would I then recommend?

As my laptop hasn't got any Scandinavian letters since I bought it in Australia, it's such a hassle writing anything in Norwegian, so I figured I might as well write in English and at the same time make a post of it, this way I can also share my thoughts with more than just one person.

Feel free to share your own thoughts and favourite places in the comment section!

Things to DO while you're in Australia:
Hold a koala (only allowed in Queensland)
Pet a kangaroo
Try surfing

Places to see:

Yulara. 
Go to Yulara and see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. I'm always surprised when people doesn't know what Uluru/Ayers Rock is, it's one of the most famous places in Australia besides the Reef! It's expensive to get there and stay there but it's absolutely worth it! I'm saying go to Yulara instead of Alice Springs because that way you can actually see both Uluru and Kata Tjuta from where you're staying, and you don't have to travel for hours to get to either of them.

Posts from when I was in Yulara:
Yulara 1
Yulara 2
Yulara 3

Great Barrier Reef
You can travel to so many places along the north of Queensland and see the Reef, I went to Cairns, and although the city was nice enough I wouldn't say it was so special that anyone HAS TO see it. But the Reef, oh the Reef! So beautiful. I could stay there forever just look at the beautiful fish and the reef itself, I kind of wish I had gone on a trip that lasted two or three days so that I could have gone to the outer Reef as I've heard the colours are stronger there, but I was happy with just the one day as well. One of my friends, EG that I met in Yulara, recently went to the Reef and the Green Island, he only went for a day as well and was happy with that.

 Great Barrier Reef

***Not necessarily a must see, depends what you like, but if you do go to the Daintree Rainfores/Cape Tribulation you HAVE to stop at the Daintree Ice Cream Company!! You'll never have that ice cream again!
Daintree and Cape Trib is good just to get to see the Australian Rainforest. You'll see plants and trees you'll not see anywhere else in the world.

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road
My favourite city along with Hobart! I can't really explain it, it's just so nice and laid back, it was just the feel of it that made it my favourite. The top things to see in Melbourne: Just hop on and off the free tram or shuttle, you'll see loads. Queen Victoria Market, Luna Park in St Kilda, go at night so you see it all lit up and that way you can also see the penguins at St Kilda Pier. Just walk around the city centre and see the street art, it's amazing how beautiful it can be when people are actually allowed to spray paint the walls.
The Great Ocean Road is Amazing as well, and seeing as the Twelve Apostles are eroding it's a good idea to go see them now while there are actually some left!

Posts from Melbourne:
Melbourne 1
Melbourne 2
Melbourne 3 (Great Ocean Road)
Melbourne 4

Port Macquarie
It's a small place, you don't need more than a day there, just make it a stop if you're taking the Greyhound. To me, it's worth the stop just to go to the Koala Sanctuary and see the painted rocks along the esplanade.

Port Macquarie

Hobart
Not many people bother going down to Tasmania and Hobart, but I loved it there! I liked it just as much as Melbourne. Tasmania is the only place you can see the Tasmanian Devil, and I think Hobart is worth the visit just to go to MONA, the most amazing museum and art gallery I've even been to! I also wish I had gone inside Port Arthur while I was there. Hobart also has some of Australia's oldest buildings if you're interested in that. And then of course there is Salamanca market with all it's yummy food and beautiful items.

Hobart 1
Hobart 2
Hobart 3
Hobart 4
Hobart 5

Sydney
Of course you can't give Sydney a miss if you go to Australia! A lot of people go to Bondi Beach just because it's a beach they've actually heard of, but I would suggest doing the beach walk from Cogee to Bondi just to see some of the other beaches there as well. Manly is a nice place to visit, I might have an immature sense of humour and laugh at everything that said Manly, but it's a beautiful place, and very good for surfing. You also have to see the Opera House (I can't imagine anyone going to Sydney and not seeing it), Sydney Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour. There is fireworks on at Darling Harbour quite often and you should make sure you go at least once, the one on Australia Day (January 26th) was absolutely amazing!
The Blue Mountains outside Sydney is nice, it depends if you like hiking though. The day I went the weather was terrible so the mountains were grey instead of blue and loads of people on the tour was complaining, but I quite liked it, just to get out and do some hiking again, do some exercise and see a place I'll probably never see again.

Sydney 1
Sydney 2
Sydney 3
Sydney 4
Sydney 5 (Blue Mountains)

Did I miss anything important? Please let me know in the comments.

One of my "goals" while I was in Australia was to see every state capital, and I did, I have not written about them all here but if you go to this old post you can find some more info about them and at the bottom of that post there are labels that will take to to all posts about those places.

My friend isn't too bothered about Western Australia, but there is something there I wish I had known about while I was in Australia, I would definitely have gone! Lake Hillier a lake in the south of WA, and it's PINK!! I think I have to go  back! Not something I would have wanted to miss had I known about it! I wonder if they are going to film the last Hunger Games movie there?

(source)

What makes me smile:

A message from a friend. 
- Be it letter, a post on Facebook, an e-mail or sms. A cheerful message from a friend will always make me smile.

The few songs I have on my phone.
- I don't have much music on my phone, and it hasn't been changed in ages, but most of the music there makes me smile. Everyone else think my taste in music is weird, but they usually smile, dance and sing along to the music. It's what I like to call good mood music.
- I hate the question: what bands are you into? Or: what kind of music do you like? I like anything that puts a smile on my face. It might change from time to time, but as long as it makes me smile I like it.

A picture. 
- It can be a picture of anything almost. A picture of a friend will make me think of happy memories or just how much I like my friend. Funny pictures might make me laugh. Pretty pictures make me smile.

Funny quotes.
- The first time I read the following quote was before work one day and it cheered me up for the whole day:

Laughing babies.
- It's one of the best sounds in the world, how can anyone not smile at that. And their smiles as well of course.

Seeing a friend.
- They are friends for a reason...

Seeing a good-looking person.
- Don't necessarily mean a man that I fancy, but anyone that looks good. It can of course be a man that I fancy, or just a man that I think looks good. Or it can be a woman that looks good and I'm just happy for them because they've obviously found some clothes that enhances their beauty.

The sound of the wind through the trees.
 - I just love sitting inside when it's really windy outside and I can hear the wind through the threes and around the corner of the house. It's one of the things I miss now that I live in Oslo; people here hardly know what wind is.

A pretty sunset or sunrise.
- I just love the beautiful colours. My favourite sunrise so far was at Yulara, looking over at Uluru on ANZAC day. (here)

The kindness of strangers.
- Just a smile from one, or a compliment. Seeing someone help someone thy don't know. Seeing someone pick up something someone's lost and give it back...

The seasons.
- The colours at autumn.
- Thick white snow at winter. The thicker the blanket the better.
- The new leaves and flowers in spring.
- The flowers and sunshine in the summer.
- Really heavy rain.

Someone giving me a compliment when I have a bad day.

A good film, or even the laughable rubbishness of a bad one.

Seeing a friend or family member happy.

A good book.

Nice decorations.

The kindness of friends and family.

A nice blog post.

The smell of clean clothes that's hung outside to dry on a warm summer day.

Seeing wild animals in the wild.

Going somewhere new, meeting new people and learning about other cultures.

The English language.

Old buildings and ruins
- York! And most other places in England
- Rome!

Thinking about and seeing the reaction of a friend when I hope I've found a suitable gift for them.

Tasty food.

A kind and good-looking man.

Cats.

A man in uniform or suit.

There are many more things that makes me smile, and sometimes new things can be added every day which makes the list endless!

What are some of the things that make you smile? Leave a comment or make your own post and leave a link below.

Share the happiness!

Dublin 29.10.12

I had just started going for a walk around Dublin today when suddenly I noticed a BIG group of people running through the streets, apparently the marathon was on. Some people were dressed up and everything, it was fun to watch. The marathon did make it difficult to cross the street sometimes though.

I had a great walk through the city. I saw the GPO, the Dublin needle, which didn't really show up very well on the picture because of the overcast sky, the garden of Remembrance and the Ha'penny bridge (so called because you had to pay half a penny to cross back in the day). I also saw the Tart with the cart, also known as Molly Malone, something that resulted in me having the song in my head for the next 3 days!

Does anybody know why those padlocks are there? Seems like it's kind of like carving your names into a tree...

After I had been to Merrion Square park and seen the statue of Oscar Wilde I caught the end of the marathon, or rather the beginning of the end, the first few people were crossing the finish line. I wasn't really paying attention until I noticed a guy in a wheelchair. Apparently the disabled people get to start a bit earlier than the rest but I still think it was really impressive that he was amongst the top 20, I think he was amongst the top 20 anyway, like I said I wasn't really paying attention, but I hadn't seen that many people get in  before him.

Trinity College has some of the most beautiful old buildings in Dublin, I got a tour by a guy studying history who knew a lot, we were only taken around a small part of the campus but I learnt a lot and the guide was really knowledgeable, it was almost so I didn't want the tour to end because it was all so interesting, it almost seemed like the guide didn't quite want it to end either, he seemed like there was much more he wanted to tell us. I also bought a ticket for the Book of Kells, but I had to run and meet my friend so I saved the ticket for tomorrow.

When I was in Yulara I met an Irish Girl who I met up with again today. It was really nice to see her again, I hope that since we both live in Europe we can meet up every now and again. IG and I went to the Old Jameson Distillery. I've never been a big fan of whiskey, but I tried it with Ginger Ale, Sprite and Cranberry Juice (not all at the same time of course) and with the first two it was actually quite nice. At Jameson they only did guided tours, it was cool to learn about their history, although they showed a ridiculous movie at the start of the tour, it was funny just because of how bad it was.

After Jameson IG and I went to Temple Bar to a traditional Irish pub where they were playing live traditional Irish music. It was the best ambiance I've ever had in a pub, it was really crowded but not claustrophobic, everybody was just chilling and having a good time.

I've booked a holiday!!

I was just going to take one week off, but one week turned into two as there is so much I want to do! My holiday isn't until the end of next month, but with all the hours I worked last week I should have plenty of spending money!

My holiday starts in Dublin, I've never been before and I want to meet up with a girl I met at Uluru. The things on my list of things I would like to see while I'm in Dublin so far includes the Guinness Store House (I don't like Guinnes but it's Dublin!), Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol and possibly Trinity College. Anyone got any other suggestions? I would love to see more of Ireland as well but hopefully I'll get a chance to do that another time.

After a few days in Dublin I'm taking the ferry to Holyhead and staying there for one night. I was going to jump straight on a coach or train to Chesterfield but since I've never been to Holyhead or any other part of Wales before I decided I wanted to at least have one day there so I could see at least a small part of it. I was tempted to get a coach tour or something to see more of Wales but I decided I wanted to have a bit more time than just one or two days if I was going to do that, hopefully another time. I am looking forward to the one night in Holyhead though, almost as much as Dublin, just because it's somewhere I've never been before.

After one night in Holyhead I'm getting the train to Chesterfield and staying there for a few days, I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends there again, I've not seen any of them for ages! Hopefully I'll be moving back to the UK sometime next year, then I will be able to see them more often.

The last few days of my holiday isn't planned yet. I was going to see a friend in Lutterworth (that I met in Brisbane), but she might be working and I don't want her to feel like she has to spend time with me in the evenings and then be too tired for work in the mornings, but she's on holiday at the moment so I'll see what she says when she gets back. If I don't go to Lutterworth I could of course stay a bit longer in Chesterfield, but I am tempted to go to some random place that I haven't been before just to see somewhere new, as long as I get to Gatwick in time for my flight home it's fine. I was thinking about going south so that I'm actually travelling towards Gatwick.

Looking at the map and trying to decide where I want to go I almost wish I had booked a ticket home from Edinburgh or Glasgow so that I could have travelled north instead of south, there are so many places I'd like to see in northern England and Scotland! This whole looking at maps to find out where I want to go is just not good, I want to go everywhere!!

Since Ireland and the UK is in general cheaper than Norway I was also thinking about finishing my Christmas shopping while on my holiday.

Sunday Meme

Another meme from Sunday Stealing.

1. You have been awarded the time off from work and an all-expense paid week anywhere in the United States. The catch is that it must be somewhere you have not been before. Where do you choose to visit? Since I've not been anywhere in the States yet it's kind of hard to choose, but since I'm doing the East Coast next year and I would love to see California as well, I guess I would go to California, and go to one of Ellen's shows while I was there.
2. What do you value most in other people? Honesty, manners and hard work (when they're co-workers)
3. Be honest. Do you sneak some raw cookie dough when you're baking cookies? Who doesn't?
4. What is the most beautiful place you've ever visited? Possibly Uluru, it was by far the most beautiful sunrise I've seen. I think it might be a shared first place between Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.
5. Are you more of a thinker or a feeler? A thinker
6. Have you ever participated in a three-legged race? Yes, at school
7. When you are at an event playing the National Anthem, do you place your hand over your heart? Other than the National Day they don't really play the National Anthem very often in Norway, but I don't normally put my hand on my heart unless everybody around me is.
8. What kind of work do you do? I work in a store putting out merchandise in the mornings before opening, and back in the storage tidying, handling deliveries etc.
9. During the course of your lifetime, which job or career has been your favourite or most fulfilling? I am quite enjoying my current job, especially the office part of it.
10. Do you think it's necessary in your life to have a day-to-day "career" that is meaningful and service-oriented or do you function better in "just a job" with a steady paycheck? I don't necessarily want something service-oriented, but I think it would be fun to have a proper "career", but at the same time it would be easier in a way to have "just a job", that way I don't have to think too much about the future etc.
11. Was there ever a time in your life when you wanted to stay home with your children instead of working, eve if it meant less money in the household? I don't have any kids, but I think that if I chose to have any in the future, then I would like to stay at home with them at least until they start school.
12. Have you ever been the boss? Not really, but I've had managerial shifts in jobs, part of me likes it, but at the same time I'm worried about being too "bossy", although I do try to just act the same no matter what position I've got in a job.
13. What is your dream occupation? I'm not entirely sure, but maybe something office-based since I'm enjoying that in my current job.

Kuala Lumpur - Part 1

Written on: 06.05.12

I got to Kuala Lumpur around 11am this morning after travelling since 12pm yesterday from Darwin. It took about an hour to get into the city with the taxi. The taxi driver was very nice and warned me about which taxis I shouldn’t take in the city and told me about some places to see.

I treated myself to a single room in a hotel in KL, although I’m not sure I can say I treated myself when it cost around the same as a hostel dorm in Australia. I will write more about the hotel in a post of its own.

After I had taken a quick shower and changed my clothes to “wash the journey off” I walked to the Pavilion shopping centre.

 The reason I thought of going to KL at all was because of this blog by Su. The main Delectable shop is in Mid Valley City in KL, but since it’s my first day I decided to just go to the small shop inside the Pavilion… Mmmmm… So many yummy treats!! I wanted to buy all of them! I decided on one of the giant macaroons, it was really yummy! I’ll probably buy some more treats when I go to the big shop in Mid Valley.

 As I had forgotten to ask for a map at the hotel I just walked around in the Pavilion and the shops on the street between it and the hostel, since I’m here for almost a week I’ve got plenty of time to explore the rest on other days.

I also bought an adapter as I was walking around the city. I haven’t got a working phone until I’m back in Norway, but I’ve got free Wi-Fi at the hotel, but that doesn’t really mean much if I can’t charge my laptop…

I had a quick look around in the souvenir shops when I was walking around the city, just checking the prices of postcards and looking for stickers for my suitcase. I want a Kuala Lumpur sticker, and also a Malaysian flag sticker, but I couldn’t find any stickers! I hope I find some when I have more of a look around the city in the next few days.

Top places in Australia

Everybody has different places they like in a country, different things they want to see and do and that they want other people to see and do too. Here is the list of what I liked in Australia, which I think other people should see and do too.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think. What are your favourite places in Australia?

Adelaide

• Central Market (cheap food)
• Old Adelaide Gaol
• Blackeby’s Old Sweet Shop
• Migration Museum

Airlie Beach

• Whitsunday Islands, but go for longer than just one day.

Brisbane

• Mt. Coot-tha lookout and botanical gardens
• South Bank
• GOMA
• Australia Zoo

Byron Bay

• The lighthouse

Cairns                                                                        

• Great Barrier Reef, snorkelling is good, but if you can you should go diving and for more than just one day.
• Kuranda Scenic Railway
• Tjapukai Cultural Park
• Daintree Rainforest, get some ice cream from the Daintree Ice Cream Company!

Canberra

• Lovely city just to walk around in and see all the statues and monuments
• Mt. Ainslie, it’s pretty cool how you can see how the city is laid out from up there.

Darwin

• Chinese Temple
• The termite mounds, just the size of them is really impressive!
• Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, they are on a Thursday and Sunday night during the dry season.

Fraser Island

• Lake McKenzie
• The pinnacles
• It’s a personal choice, depending on what you want to see, if you want to go just for a day, which is what I did and thought was enough, or more.

Hobart

• MONA
• Mt. Wellington
• Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, or somewhere else where  you can see the Tasmanian devil
• Port Arthur (I didn’t get to go inside, but I wish I had)
• Salamanca Market

Melbourne

• St. Kilda, for Luna park and the penguins in the evening
• Great Ocean Road
• Just take a walk around the city and look at the street art

Perth

• Clock tower, don’t  necessarily go in, just see it
• King’s gardens
• Freemantle Prison

Port Macquarie

• Koala Sanctuary
• The painted rocks along the esplanade

Sydney

• The Opera House
• Fireworks at Darling Harbour at least once (Awesome on Australia Day)
• Bondi Beach , if you go during winter it’s not too busy
• Harbour Bridge
• Go to Manly and laugh yourself silly because of how they use the name

Yulara

• Uluru
• Kata Tjuta, everybody seems to focus on Uluru, but the Kata Tjutas are definitely worth a visit as well!

Darwin - Part 3

Written on: 03.05.12

I have been starting to get things ready before I leave Australia on Saturday today. I got some gifts for people, they’re souvenirs, but they’re “proper” ones, so I won’t be giving them away until birthdays and Christmas.

Since it’s Thursday the Mindil Beach Sunset market is on, they are only on Thursdays and Sundays during the dry season, so they actually only started back up again last week. I went there with a Scottish Girl in my dorm.

A few minutes after we got there it started raining heavily; luckily it only lasted for about 15 minutes. 

It was mostly food stalls at the market. The guide yesterday said it was about two thirds food, and it was probably true, maybe half instead of 2/3. The other stalls were okay, loads of jewellery and other typical market stuff; it was all really expensive though. They probably put the prices up because it’s such a popular market so they know they’ll sell some things anyway. I only got some food though. I got a vegetable spring roll, and then a nutella crepe for dessert. The crepe was nice, but very sickly.

We also watched the sunset at Mindil Beach. It was beautiful! There were so many people on the beach. I don’t know how many people there is on Mindil Beach during the day, but it almost looked like it was a typical Australian beach during the day with the amount of people that was there watching the sunset. And the atmosphere was just great. People had brought chairs with them and were sitting on the beach and the grass and just having a good time. 

The market just got busier and busier the later it got, so I’m glad we came early so that we could have a look around the stalls before it got too busy and then just chill out on the other side of the stalls, out of everyone’s way.

Tomorrow’s an exciting day… Laundry day!! Hopefully last load until I get back to Norway. It’s amazing how exciting laundry day is now that I’m travelling. I’m far too happy about clean clothes.

Written on: 04.05.12

So I did some laundry today. I wasn’t allowed to use the machine until 2pm, and there are only 2 machines. I got there a couple of minutes after 2 and another girl was doing some laundry as well. The machine that was left didn’t have any hot water… I know you can wash clothes in cold water, but I never feel like it gets clean in cold water. But because I didn’t want to risk losing the machine to somebody else and not get to do my laundry today I put it in the “cold” machine.

When I got the washing out I saw that I was right not to trust the cold wash. The clothes that had stains on them still had stains on them. But what can I do? I don’t want to pay to wash them again. I just hope that at least the sweat and stuff has been washed out of them so that I won’t stink. I HATE it when I can’t wash my clothes properly though! HATE IT! Maybe I’ll find some cheap clothes in Malaysia…

Darwin - Part 2, Litchfield National Park

02.05.12 – Litchfield National Park

Today I went on my tour to Litchfield National Park with APT. The guide was a very nice and smiley, and also very knowledgeable. She said that she only does the Litchfield tour and so that’s why she knows so much about that area. There were only 7 of us on the tour, which was nice as it gave us an opportunity to get to know each other. One girl was around the same age as me, and then there were two couples in their 50’s or 60’s and one lady in her 50’s or 60’s, it was a nice little group and we all got along.

Our first stop was in Batchelor, where a Polish gardener had built a castle.

 We then stopped at a café outside Batchelor to pick up our lunch; we had to pay for it ourselves, and we would be eating it later on the tour. Some people also got a drink at the café, which we also had to pay for ourselves. After we picked our food up we went to see the termite mounds. There are two kinds: Magnetic termite mounds and Cathedral ones. It was really amazing to see both kinds, but especially the cathedral ones, which was over 5meters tall!

Magnetic termite mounds

Cathedral termite mounds

 After the termite mounds we went to Tolmer Falls. Because of a rare bat that lives in a cave at the bottom of the falls you’re not allowed to go down or swim there, which is just as well, since it would take you a dangerous 2 hours to get down. It was beautiful just to see from the lookout, but I have to admit the water at the bottom looked quite tempting because it was so clear.

Tolmer Falls

 After Tolmer Falls we went to another waterfall where we couldn’t swim, Wangi Falls. You can normally swim in Wangi, but there was still too much water, and a risk of saltwater crocodiles, to swim there yet.

Wangi Falls

 We had a few choices of what we wanted to do at Wangi. We could stay at the base of the waterfall and just chill out there, or we could walk up to the top and around it. The guide, myself and two other ladies (all the lone travellers) chose to go around. When we had just gotten started there was a giant spider just above the boardwalk! I think it was a golden orb spider. I’m not good with spiders… I was tempted to turn around and walk back and wait at the base with the others. I probably spent a whole minute debating with myself whether or not I should keep going, the other 3 were talking about the spider and taking pictures in the meantime. In the end I decided to keep going. I out my head down, walked as far away from the spider as I could, mumbling to myself “it’s not there, it’s not there, it’s not there…”. I clutched my water bottle close to me like a security blanket, nervously glancing from side to side, until we got to the top. Luckily I didn’t see anymore. I was thinking that if I did I would go back, but then I realized I would still have to get past the first one, so I’m very glad I didn’t see anymore.

Top of Wangi Falls

 I think the walk around the waterfall took us about 40 minutes. It is quite steep and we all got sweaty and out of breath, it would have been nice if the waterfall was open so that we could have jumped straight in when we got back down. It was a nice walk, but I didn’t think it was super impressive, keep in mind that I might not have enjoyed it so much because of the spiders.

When the group met up again after our walk we got our sandwiches from the café and sat down for lunch. I had a cheese and salad sandwich and it was absolutely gorgeous! I wanted another one as soon as I finished it!

After lunch we headed to Florence Falls, where we could swim. There was an option again about what we wanted to do. The guide and the couples went to the creek at the top of the waterfall while the 3 single ladies, myself included, went down the steps to the bottom. It was an absolutely beautiful waterfall, but it was so busy that I didn’t feel like swimming. Some people made their way up a cliff and dived in, I was really nervous watching them as I could see that it was deep where they dived, but right next to it there were some rocks under water… Just a little bit wrong and… Luckily nobody got hurt while I was there though. I don’t know what I would have done if they were, I had no signal on my phone and I doubt anybody else did except for the guides with their satellite phones.

Florence Falls

 The last stop was Buley Rockhole. It’s actually not just one Rockhole, but 7. It was quite cool, it was like loads of little pools. Us 3 single ladies went down to the bottom one; there was nobody else there when we got there. The water was slightly cold to get into, but really nice and refreshing after a few seconds. Unfortunately, after we’d been in the water for about 5 minutes a group of about 20 kids came along and were jumping off a rock so water was splashing everywhere. Apparently there is a camp nearby where they were staying. Of course I don’t mind kids swimming and stuff, but I didn’t like that water was splashing everywhere, and I got out of the water soon after they got in.

Buley Rockhole

 The girl that was about the same age as me is from Australia. After the tour we went back to our hostels to shower and change and then we met up for dinner. I think the place we went to is called Kitty’s, the food was really nice, but the portions are so big I didn’t manage to finish my pasta, which might have something to do with the fact that I ordered garlic bread on the side as well. I didn’t manage to finish either.

When I was going back to my hostel it suddenly started raining! And I mean suddenly! It wasn’t a drizzle that gradually got heavier, but heavy rain straight away, as well as lightning! Although I love that kind of weather I ran the rest of the way back to the hostel since I didn’t feel like getting drenched, it only took me one minute to run there, and I still got drenched! Once I got inside it was really lovely though, listening to the rain and thunder while reading a book and later going to sleep, it was great.

Elkes Backpackers

In Darwin I stayed in Elkes backpackers. It consists of several unattached little buildings with dorms in them.

I stayed in a small dorm for 4 girls. There was a fridge in the dorm instead of in the kitchen, at least that way you know it’s someone in the dorm to blame if your food goes missing. The dorm was small but there was enough room for luggage. And there was a fan and air con, which was nice as Darwin is quite warm.

The Wi-Fi is $6 for 1hour! You try catching up on blogs, Facebook, e-mails and post some new blog posts in an hour!

The kitchen is really small so I can understand why they didn’t have the fridges there, it was also a little bit hard to find because it was under the stairs and there was no signs pointing to it. I also found out on one of my last days that there is a kitchen on the floor I was staying at as well, but by then I just couldn’t be bothered to try and find it.

The hostel has a small swimming pool, a common room with a TV and a small bookshelf where you can swap your books. There is no sofa in the common room; there are a few plastic chairs and a mattress on the floor.

Elkes isn’t in the middle of the city, but since Darwin is so small you only have to walk for 5-10 minutes to get into the city centre. Coles and Woolworth is also about a 5-10 minute walk away.

There is a laundry room, $4 for the washing machine $3 for the dryer, there are also clothes lines to hang your washing on, but they are not very close to the laundry room so I thought they didn’t have any at first. You can only do your laundry between 2 and 9pm, which is annoying, for me anyway as I like to get it done as quick as possible so that it has time to dry on the lines before I have to take it in again.

The showers don’t have any pegs at all inside them, which is understandable in a way because the stalls are so small that your things would get wet, but I still don’t like it. There is one peg on the outside of each shower stall, meaning you have to hang your towel over the door unless you want to step out of the shower naked. I’m glad I wasn’t staying in a mixed dorm since I had to change in the dorm.

One thing that really worries me about the place is the smoke detectors… I don’t think they’re on, since they’re open I mean… That can’t be legal!

Darwin - Part 1

Written on: 01.05.12

Today I just walked around Darwin for a bit. It’s a small city, but it does take a while to walk everywhere, or maybe it just seems that way because it’s so warm! I’m sure glad I didn’t come in the middle of summer, right now it’s just slightly warmer than what would be considered perfect. For me anyway.

 It’s nice to see so many aboriginals around, I think this is the first place, except for Cairns that I’ve seen quite a few of them around the city.

When I went for my walk I walked past an outdoor cinema. Dec chair cinema I think it was called. I bet it would be fun to watch a movie there, under the stars, with some friends or a nice guy… Where was I?

 After the outdoor cinema I got to Survivor’s Lookout. Don’t ask me why it’s called that, there were so many signs to read and I was thirsty so I didn’t have the patience to read them to find out anything. It was a nice lookout in a pretty location though.

 Since I was so thirsty I walked to the city centre to hunt down a bottle of water, I didn’t bring one with me because the only one I had was a 1.5liter one. After I got some water I went to the Tourist Information Centre to see if there are any interesting tours to do in the area. And I found one that I am doing tomorrow.

The old Town Hall ruins

 After I had booked my tour I went to the Chinese Temple. It is really beautiful. I wish there had been someone there that I could have found out more about it from, what everything symbolises etc.