LindyBear

….as we are set to leave Darwin. We arrived here on the 9th August prepared to work our asses off and that we have. It’s been tough on very little sleep and treats but we knew we’d have to put our heads down for this time. It’ll be worth it too because we shouldn’t have to work for the remainder of the journey so it’s six months straight backpacking from here on out. I know it’s going to go all too quickly. This month I left home six months ago, so I’m almost half way through and there has been a few reminders of how fast the time is going. For instance it kinda surprised us when we heard the Bank Holiday Jazz weekend in Cork was happening and the clocks going back was a bit of a milestone. I know that when the clocks go forward again at home that my time will nearly be out. I think Christmas will be another big occasion where we’ll be thinking of home but I’m also pretty excited about spending a Christmas on the beach!! 

We finished work last wednesday and basically we’ve been partying ever since!!! Finally we’re social beings again!!!!! Had some really fun nights out.

Including the most fantastic dinner in Lewinskys (where Kate worked) Myself, Kate and Janz (our chef in the hotel) were treated to tasting plates so we basically got to try the whole menu!!!

So we’re now leaving Darwin after it being home for four months. I don’t think I ever really considered it home though to be honest. In fact one day when Kate was leaving work and said “see you at home” I was kinda thinking “home? huh? I really don’t consider this home” Darwin is nice and small but is really a jumping off spot for National Parks like Kakadu and Litchfield. It’s served it’s purpose for us as there isn’t a whole lot to do so we didn’t really feel like we were missing out while working all the time, which is a good thing. So will I miss Darwin? Well someone told me it would surprise me and I’ll end up missing it and now the night before I leave, there are things and particularly people that I will miss, of course there are. We spent so much time here.

Things I won’t miss though are getting up at 4.30am and meeting people going home after a night out at 5am when I’m on the way to work!! Goodbye and good riddance to greasy hair and skin which had to be scrubbed within an inch of it’s life everyday. No more deep fryer, grill, steam or oil burns. (Presumably the hair on my arms will grow back in time). No more swollen legs and aching knees and generally feeling about 80 years old!!!!

No more bacon, eggs, sausages, omelettes, beans, mushrooms, scones, pies, sausage rolls, soup, scones, fruit platters (awwww) or Janz shafting me by getting me to do the vegetarian option 🙂 No more retarded mop buckets that take two feet to squeeze out the mop. No more washing and wearing uniforms and horrible men’s chef pants that are waaay to short (permanent list pet hate!!!) Back to wearing flip flops again, incidentally these are our work shoes, like us, they barely made it!!  

We’ve almost forgotten what’s it’s like to wear our own clothes besides pj’s. And finally NO MORE 70 HOUR WEEKS. We’re through, done, finished and in a couple of days we’ll be back on the road. Woooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooo. Can’t wait!!!!!!

What I will miss though is the fun Janz, Kate and I had in the kitchen, messing about the savages we have to feed. Me putting him on a butter ration (it’s still a bit of a novelty for him as the quality of butter is really poor in the Phillipinnes) of 20 kilos or so a week!! Also trying to stop him eating pork belly to reduce his risk of heart attack. Me slapping his hand like a little kid, when he tries to steal something I’ve just made and trying in vain to get him to make a healthy option.

I will also miss having a washing machine and clothes line (it’s the little things people), a power shower (useful for scrubbing off bacon fat – mmmmmmm) and I’m sure in another couple of months I will be getting tired of not being able to unpack and carrying all my wordly possessions in a 16 kilo backpack (hmmmmm it’s more like 20 kilos these days so I’ll have to streamline when we get to sydney)

I will also miss the craic I had with the customers in the Italian restaurant. I basically played a cross between a demented leprechaun and Mrs. Doyle from Father Ted, really just for my own amusement to get me through the hours but they lapped it up I can tell you!! When I collect people’s dishes I say things like “ah you didn’t finish your dinner, what’s wrong with ya?” You can get away with murder when you’ve an Irish accent. (although it’s also got me into trouble, particularly one night when a very elderly enebriated gentleman took a shine to me – much to the amusement of my boss and the rest of the staff). I will also miss getting to try the chef, Frankie’s, new specials – yum!!

And we’ve made some friends here, we will miss them too. Hopefully we’ll meet up with some of them in Sydney for Christmas. I’ll also miss our house mates, especially Shane when he’s making his two minute noodles!!! 🙂

And now as the weather builds up and the rains are about to begin, we’re leaving Darwin and not a moment too soon, remember people this is a year of summer – no rain allowed!!!!

On that note, we’re outta here………

P.S. I know it sounds crazy but I’m also a little scared to stop work because over the last few years I’ve no attention span and need to be occupied constantly. I can’t even concentrate on a half hour tv show. So a 65/70 hour week did distract me enough, although I used to be climbing the walls on my time off. Anyway now I have to learn how to relax I think, wish me luck……..

Language has always interested me and so this blog is kinda devoted to aussie words and sayings. First off is No Worries, EVERYBODY says no worries when you say thank you to them and often it is no worries, mate – very australian don’t you think? The funny thing is I think I’ve started to say it too. Well not the “mate part but certainly no worries!! It’s really weird to hear women calling you mate – will never get used to that. Hmmmm myself and Kate have also started saying bucks instead of dollars, it’s weird now I say things like we can get this for 50 bucks, it still feels a little strange after I’ve said it.

The very first classic aussie saying I heard was in the airport and someone actually said “Flaming Galah” I honestly though only people in Home and Away or shows like that said these things!!! You have all the obvious sayings like G’day, mate, bloke, barbie (BBQ), cossie/bathers, crikey, do you reckon? or I reckon (which I also say but I think I might have said that at home too, hmmmm I’m not sure now) etc, etc.

Another really common expression is “too easy”. Like if they are paying for something and have the correct change it’s “too easy”. People also say “oh that’s heaps/I’ve had heaps” when you’ve poured them enough drink or they’ve eaten enough. Instead of saying he arrived or he didn’t get here until 6, they say “he didn’t rock up til 6” I kinda like that one I must say. There are also expressions like ferrell – which means disgusting and so many more that won’t come to me now but I guess these are the main ones that entertain me the most 🙂

Moving away from language for a minute, did you know that Burger King is called Hungry Jacks over here? Weird huh? Tastes the same though. They also call (bell) peppers capsicums over here, myself and Kate are having none of that though and still call them peppers 🙂

Anyway I digress (who me??? Never!!!) The saying that intrigues me the most though, is Fair Dinkum. Now I always thought that is was derived from “Fair Income” meaning ah fair dues or fair enough, which to my pedantic mind makes perfect sense. Actually though, Fair Dinkum means, or rather Dinkum means honest or genuine. So I still think my sense of it isn’t completely out, as “to be fair now/in fairness/fair enough. To me it’s kinda the same but I’m told that I’ve got it all wrong. So I’m not sure whether the aussies or me are being the pedantic ones……

In other news this week (just because I’m not doing a separate blog), we have just less than a week of work to go!!!!!! Set to finish on the 19th and it can’t end quick enough now. We’ll have a few days recovery and then fly to Cairns on the 25th. I’ve allowed myself to get excited too soon so now the days are crawling. We are dying to get to the end of it and have few celebratory nights out. Still heading out once a week at the moment but you can see how tired we look in this photo,

we’re just shattered, but it’s just around the corner now 🙂 and soon, hopefully we’ll look like our eyes are open and be healthy bunnies before too long.

More pics (well not too many actually) on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157608619184953/

Okay, alright I haven’t blogged in a while but honestly it feels like groundhog day around here. I don’t really have much interesting news but I’ll do my best…….. Still totally on the work buzz and swinging between really hating it and laughing through it. Still though it isn’t for that much longer and then we’re back on the road, thank god because doing nothing is an absolute killer for me. I’ve been climbing the walls this week. I think I probably have Kate driven demented! So apologies to Kate and thanks missus for putting up with me 🙂 We’re leaving Darwin towards the end of November and flying to Cairns where our road trip all the way to Sydney begins. We’re renting a car and will drive about 2800 kilometres(!) in just under a month. We’re planning to roll into Sydney just before Christmas.

In the meantime, we try to come up with things to break up the weeks and the first was Kate’s 30th birthday.

We had good fun that night and followed it up on her actual birthday with a lovely dinner in a funky jazz club restaurant called Nirvana where I got to eat noodly, peanuty Pad Thai again – yum!! It had been in Thailand the last time I had it. We’re usually off on a sunday so we head out after work on saturday night and we’ve have some good nights, including one with Kate’s work crew.

We also headed to Katherine Gorge last week and it was just lovely. We went on a 2 hour cruise and got a swim in too which was great.

 Some of the scenery is just out of this world. Here’s something you don’t get to see every day….

Other than that there isn’t a whole lot else to report. I’m still working in the hotel restaurant cooking. I’m working with an executive chef from the Phillipines who is a great laugh and we have a lot of fun working together. The restaurant does “$5 dollar Friday” which means you can load up your plate all for the bargain price of $5. I tried to warn Janz that the “savages” (oh and they are believe me!!) come in their droves on a friday and basically decimate the place. I don’t think he took me seriously the first week but the second week he said “okay NOW I’m ready for the savages!!!” Honestly these people are lunatics. We serve buffet and have 8 options at any one time and they can clear it in ten minutes!!! We usually serve 28 trays of food or the equivalent of 400 normal sized dinners (to roughly 250 people!) on a friday!!!! Some people (and it’s the same culprits every week) try to come back for seconds even though you are meant to pay per plate. They also get pretty picky and say things like “and where’s the fish?” or “I’m going to get my money’s worth here” OF COURSE YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOUR MONEY’S WORTH – IT’S $5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In general though, I can’t get over how much they eat, we get people who eat a full hot breakfast, yogurt & fruit, pastries and then cereal and toast. Now I have a hefty appetite but dear god I could never eat all of that in one go!!! WHERE DO THEY PUT IT????? Probably in their pockets or something 🙂

So for the last few days we have this one particular woman in for lunch and I’ve NEVER seen so much food being consumed by one person in one sitting. Her plate was stacked really tall and then she puts napkins on her tray for her salad because it won’t fit on the plate. Honestly we’ve all been mesmerised by her. By the end of it she’s sweating and wiping her forehead. The first day Janz had a “tree” made out of a celery stick – as a garnish on the tray of food – and yes you guessed it, she ate it!!!! I took a picture of her plate today but she arrived late and must of been off form because this is only about two thirds of her usual portion. No kidding!!!

The plate is usually waaaay more stacked, it literally takes her ten minutes to load up! It’s been a very busy week with the “savages”, particularly for breakfast. On a separate note, we had Mark Cagney from TV3’s Ireland AM this week for breakfast, they must be filming a piece on the Northern Territory we reckon.

It’s fun cooking though for the most part, my latest obsession is the breakfast fruit platter, so if you ever wish to make a fruit turtle, this is how you do it. First get a watermelon or a turtle 🙂 , take off his skin and give him legs and a tail…..

Then put his head on and make him pretty….

Okay maybe he’s not massively turtle-like but use your imagination!!!!!!

Anyway I promised myself I wouldn’t write about work but there you go. I guess it’s pretty much all we do. The blogs will hopefully get somewhat more interesting when we get on the move again.

More photos as usual on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157607874219426/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157608501167406/

P.S. I know I wrote way too much again, need to get back on the wagon 🙂

Well the day finally dawned, and by that day I mean Sunday the 21st September – the very last and final day of my twenties. Doesn’t time just fly by waaaay too quickly? As many of you know I had this trip planned for a long while and always maintained that I wouldn’t mind turning thirty because I’d be away backpacking and living the life of a 20 year old. I was wrong. Dear god, I don’t think I could have taken it any worse!! All was going to plan until the first day of September and from then on every time I saw, wrote or heard the date, mild to moderate panic set in, temporarily but steadily getting worse every day. Am I being overly dramatic? Of course I am 🙂

September 22nd at 09.15, if I remember what my mammy said correctly, was when I was born. This year it fell on a monday but due to working on the tuesday we decided to head out on Sunday night, which for me was quite appropriate because I was commiserating the end of my twenties while the people around me were celebrating the beginning of my thirties 🙂 Had a great night. Kate went to great lengths throwing a pre-pub party in our apartment and it was just lovely so many, many thanks to her. Steve was over for a week also and it was really nice to have someone from home around for my big (dreaded) day. I also received some lovely cards, texts and pressies from home so many thanks to those folks also.

And now it’s done. I’m 30. Boo to it. No going back. I don’t feel 30 but I definitely look it with all these hours I’m working. I must be old though because a couple of the younger girls at work, who’ve been there for months, ask me what they should be doing!!! At my night job in the Italian restaurant, I asked my boss should I ask a couple of girls for identification as they were ordering wine and he said “come on Linda, they’re fine” Hmmmmm I still maintain they looked about 15!

So, as I said, Steve was around for the week and I took some time off work. We headed to Crocosaurus which is right in the middle of Darwin’s Central Business District. It has loads of geckos, snakes, long neck turtles and all kinds of crocs to look at.

Unfortuntately my camera died so I didn’t get any pics of crocs. Will have to make a return journey but it was a pretty cool place. We also went to see some jumping crocs. It was pretty much the same as when myself and Kate saw them as part of our Kakadu trip. This time though at the very end of the cruise two crocs got out of the water and on to the bank of the river and it was pretty cool to see them out of the water sizing each other up!!

Scary, eh?

Myself, Steve, Kate, Alex and Shane also rented a car and headed off to Litchfield National Park for the day. Our first stop was to see the magnetic termite mounds which are really amazing….

….we saw a few of these on our way to Kakadu previously. The amazing thing is the termites build these to align perfectly north to south to help them cope with the extreme weather conditions. It looks like a graveyard, huh?

We cooled off with a swim at Buley Rockhole afterwards. It was pretty busy there, lots of tourists at the weekend I guess but still lovely and refreshing being in the water.

We also went to see Tolmer Falls where you can’t swim so it’s such a tease to look at the really inviting water. These falls are almost drying up as we are coming to the very end of the dry season in the Northern Territory. It’s hard to imagine what they might be like by the end of the wet season but apparently it’s impressive and really loud!!!

We got a lot of swimming in that day though at Florence Falls and Wangi Falls…..

…..it’s a real treat to be in the water as you pretty much can’t swim in the Northern Territory due to either crocs or killer box jellyfish!!!

Anyhoo that’s the scoop for now.

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157607597677682/  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157607661338444/and http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157607874171226/

My Giant Man Hands are scarred for life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay maybe not for life but just for now. This cooking business takes it’s toll on them. Sliced my thumb goodo and then burnt it along with all my fingers on a tray that someone said was cold (can’t trust anyone can you??) Also got some really horribly disgusting burns from the deep fat fryer – always hated those bloody things!! I think my hands will never be the same again after this cooking lark!!

Anyway I am now relieved of full time cooking obligations as the promised chef has finally arrived, which means I now get to do cleaner work at the front of the restaurant. Not really sure which is better really, I do love the buzz of cooking and the time flies by – probably because I’m enjoying it I guess. I won’t miss the coating of grease I have to scrub off myself every day after doing the fry-up in the mornings. Gross……… Still though I’ll get to cook a few days a week with the new chef from the Philippines and he seems nice and chillaxed. Last week, we also said farewell to our restaurant manager, Heath, who was good fun and dramatic and he joined us on a couple of nights out which will be remembered for a while.

All is going well really, just about coping with getting up at 4.30 in the morning – it’s a bit depressing though because there are still people going home from clubs at that stage. Not getting a whole lot of sleep as I just can’t bring myself to go to bed at 9 or 10 in the evening. The first week I averaged about 3 hours sleep a night but I’m getting more used to it now and I’m really determined to get more sleep now.

Myself and Kate also both have night jobs and we rarely get an evening off together so when we get our chance, we usually head out with Alex and Shane from our apartment…..

…………and boy, on this night, were we rotten!! I picked this photo because we look the least tired and soberish(!) in it

We had a great night though, myself and Kate were hyper and full of energy which was amazing after all the hours we’ve been doing. Anyhoo all was good but there was a load of water on the floor so it was really slidey (difficult when there is water on the floor and in your flip flops) and I turned around mid-boogie and Kate had slipped, hit her ribs on a counter and then hit the floor ending up completely winded. I was dreading that she had broken a couple but it transpired that they were badly bruised. It’s taken a bit out of her though but she’s on the mend and despite my protests went back to work the following week. Still though she was climbing the walls staying at home so maybe her mental health needs to take priority 🙂

I got a job at night in an Italian restaurant called Chiantis, it’s all good. Tends to be very quiet or really busy. The owner is a guy called Tony (naturally even though he is Portuguese) and we get on pretty well. I probably don’t go in there with boundless energy after working 8 hours in the morning but he seems to be happy with me so we’ll see how it goes. He’s also keen for me to cook so that could be good too. The staff are quite fiery there though and have this kinda complicated shorthand system for ordering which my brain just won’t take in. Haven’t made mistakes yet but I’ve been told there’ll be hell to pay when it happens…… They are also pretty fussy about coffee as a lot of people tend to go there for coffee and cake. Boy if you don’t brew that espresso properly, it’s like you’ve murdered a family member 🙂

Anyway that’s basically the scoop. Working a lot of hours, aiming for 60 a week and the legs and feet really feel it. It will all be worth it when we pack our bags in November and head on the trail again. I promise there will be a more interesting blog next week.

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157607054232357/

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Have you noticed I’ve shortened my blogs??? Ya Donal reckoned I should and he’s so, so right, I can blabber on forever and it all pours out pretty quickly. Had a look at a blog I had ready to publish and it was 1600+ words – I remember myself and Maeve in college struggling to write 1500 word essays on matters much more interesting!!!!!! Anyway I’m splitting them up now because I definitely wouldn’t have the attention span to read it so I could I expect anyone else to?? By the way this is my diary for the year too so that’s why I’ve loadsa detail. (God Linda just shut up and get on with it…………………)

We’ve been working a lot, and when we haven’t been working, we’ve been working on getting work 🙂 The Darwin Festival is on at the moment so we did head to see an Aboriginal Dance Show. There was two groups and the one of the groups had pulled out so their replacements were really funny. I swear it was like they had been pulled in off the street ten minutes before. The second group were more like the real deal, painted up and the dancing was really good. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed take photographs so we were gutted about that. The events are held in various locations around Darwin and this was in the Botanical Gardens which was just lovely.

There’s a few more events we want to hit at the festival so I’ll be blogging on those in weeks to come.

Other than that it’s been all good, it’s a little weird being able to unpack and having a real washing machine 🙂 It’s a real luxury. I think I definitely could have done another few months living out of the bag but it’s nice to be able to relax somewhere too. I do, however, have this feeling of uneasiness or that’s something missing. I really like Darwin but I just don’t feel settled yet or maybe too settled like with work visas and bank accounts – almost feel like an adult again 🙂 Maybe it’s just my inability to concentrate on anything for more that five seconds (yep my alleged attention deficit disorder is most definitely back)

It’s funny too because the last three months have been all about meeting new people and saying lots of goodbyes (boo) but now we’ll probably have more of a real life here. Also a little disappointed that we didn’t go to Broome but hopefully we’ll get to see it if we go on a tour of the Kimberly (which I’m soooooo excited about)

Darwin also reminds me of home a little, it’s a small city and then there are large suburbs around it. Home away from home, eh? Although the weather is a whole lot better. Thirty degrees and sunny every day and you know what it’s still a novelty to wake up to that 🙂

Have to mention the fruit and veg here…. it’s sooooo  feckin’ tasty and goooooooooooodddd which is great for a addict like me 🙂  Always get my five a day if not 7 or 8!!! Myself and Kate are loving the bananas and tomatoes big time – they actually taste!! (okay I need to sign off because the random tangents and ADD are running away with themselves)

Anyway we’re off on a camping trip Kakadu National Park to hold some crocs & snakes, play didgeridoos & hopefully sing a few songs around the campfire……..

More photos as always on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606801548216/

P.S. I got a day time job about 30 metres from our apartment!!!! Sweeeeeeeetttt. It’s in a hotel restaurant which opens for breakfast at 6am!! The Manager said he’ll let me cook for a month while they are getting a replacement chef – very excited about that!! The 5am starts are not so appealing though…… Oh dear 🙁

Okay so it wasn’t that short but I’m working on it, I really am……….

So we’ve been working a few days here and there, mostly hospitality work and we’ve been given some nice looking uniforms along the way. A very flattering lime green shirt for working in the convention centre but our favourite so far was this white shirt……

….very smart and professional!!!! Work has also taken it’s toll on our feet, well especially Kate who’s spent the last couple of weeks looking something like this….

Have to mention a job I did last weekend. Night porter at a local mid range hotel. I was kinda dreading it because I thought it would be really quiet and the time would drag. I didn’t need to worry, I’ve never worked so hard in my life!!! When I arrived I was informed that some dude had “spewed” all over the mens but that they wouldn’t ask me to deal with it on my first night!! Anyway on to my duties, had to take down the flags, do the security checks (I’m really going to be able to fend off big drunk dudes!!), hoover the entire ground floor, deliver newspapers and messages, collect the rubbish and breakfast menus, collect luggage for people checking out, cook and deliver all the room service food, update the notice board, set up trays for breakfast, set up the indoor restaurant, brew the coffee, set up the outdoor restaurant and more besides….phew!!!

The room service was kinda funny though because I had to deliver food to one room where the guest (female) had ordered a male escort. Delivered piles of food to one room and when the door opened the smell of weed was really strong. The dude asked me if I wanted to smoke pot with him and I just had to laugh. Also had several drunken propositions to which my standard response became, “we don’t provide those services at this hotel!”

The second night was less eventful but still as busy. In addition to my “regular” duties, I had to help the duty manager with balancing the books as the night receptionist had called in sick. We also had a wedding and at about 4.30am we got a complaint from an adjoining room about the noise. The duty manager went to check it out and the happy couple were having a massive fight. The groom stormed out and about half and hour later the bride stormed out too!!! Good start huh?

Taking all that into account, funny as it was, I think it’s back to the drawing board………

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606801548216/

So as I said we headed out in Bali on Thursday night and I woke up really early the following morning – typical!! My flight back to Singapore was at midnight on friday so it was going to be a long night…..

Arrived in Singapore at 3.30am (the one time you’d wish the flight would take longer!) Hung around the airport for a few hours and then got the underground in to meet Kate at the hostel. So weird and yet so familiar to see each other again and we spent the day trading stories and catching up. It’s nice when someone knows you that well, you can just sit in comfortable silence if you want to.

Okay this is my blog but Kate’s not doing one so I HAVE to mention a girl she was on tour with. This one brought a noodle (you those big long foamy yokes for swimming pools) which was fair enough because she couldn’t swim but you know sightly awkward for back packing especially since she NEVER used it. But worse than that Kate went on to tell me that she brought a body board with her and what the hell was she doing with a body board in Asia. I kinda thought, ah in fairness maybe if you’re into surfing it might be worth the hassle. Now I must have been sleep deprived because Kate corrected me and said, “no, no, not a body board, she brought a SNOW BOARD” Cue cries of Wwwwwhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt???????? Who the hell brings a snow board to Asia???? There’s no possible or good explanation (so don’t even attempt it Ricky) Still though it has provided us with much entertainment so maybe it was worth the effort of her dragging it around Asia for a month!!!

Anyhoo I digress (surprise, surprise!!), we headed to the airport to catch our flight – again would be flying through the night. We met an Australian guy in the airport who discouraged us from going to Broome, simply because if you go down the west coast it would cost a bomb to backtrack. We kinda agreed with him and he told us that if we went pearling we would live hours away from civilisation so that kinda turned us off too. So as we had nothing booked for Broome, we decided to check out Darwin for a few days.

The hostels in Darwin were busting at the seams and we had to wait and see would anyone check out. So it was 2pm by the time we got into bed for a snooze (remember I hadn’t been to bed since thursday night!!) Never slept so well.

And so we were in Darwin and the following day we got straight on the job hunt so we registered with a couple of temp agencies and said we’d stay a week and see how it went. We stayed in the hostel for a week and met some fun people, including a rowdy bunch from Dunmanway 🙂 We worked a couple of days and on our days off, we applied for jobs which is proving kinda difficult because they know you’re not hanging around forever.

Saturday morning came and we got a few drunken phone calls from home which were really funny and we also talked to the girlies as one of them got married that friday. So we decided enough was enough and headed out to see what Darwin’s nightlife had to offer. Had a great night and had a boogie.

So it got to the end of the week and already we were pretty sick of locking everything when we went out and, of course, one of our room mates (a guy from Singapore) who just laughed every time he saw us. (What the hell?) He also talked INCESSANTLY……… 

We went to view a great apartment and decided we’d take it. It’s sooo soooo nice and really central. We share with Shane (Aussie) and a couple Alex (Aussie) and his girlfriend Delphine (French). The apartment is massive and we have a huge balcony for sunbathing and taking in great sunsets. There’s also a pool and gym if we ever get the time.

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606801548216/