Asia Bound
November 16, 2008 at 10:40 am | In Travel | Leave a CommentIn a couple of hours time I’ll be on a plane heading to Malaysia for Part 2 of Kony’s Wedding. They are getting married next Sunday and the Australian contingent, all five of us, are very much looking forward to it.
Attending the Wedding really gave us an excuse to do a bit more when we are over there so we are going to a number of places in Malaysia including Langkawi, Melaka and Penang for a total of 10 nights. Kony just happen to be getting married somewhere in the middle!
I then depart the group for a solo effort spending five days travelling in Cambodia. I have been keeping a list of places to visit around the world for about 10 years now. Angkor Wat, a 12th Century Khmer Temple near Siem Reap, has been at the very top of this list since I first saw it on a documentary some years ago. With Malaysia being so close to Cambodia I simply could not miss the opportunity to go there. I should also note that Darwin was never on this travel list…
No doubt my posts will be somewhat sporadic over the next 2 weeks but I will certainly update you all when I can or when I return to Darwin on December 1st.
Perfect Storm
November 13, 2008 at 1:37 pm | In Darwin | Leave a CommentThe company I am working for in Darwin has asked me to extend my contract with them. We are discussing the details but it seems I will spend part of the time in Darwin and part in Sydney. I have started making arrangements to fly back up when I return from Malaysia in two weeks time.
I was talking to the guys in Darwin to see if there were any key days I needed to be aware of. Other than the Christmas Party (which I unfortunately miss being overseas) they said to be aware of the cyclone season after an article appeared in the NT newspaper. Now, snakes and crocs are fairly easy to avoid, but there is no way of avoiding a cyclone. As we all know Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 and wiped out 80%, yes 80%, of all structures.
Since then they have implemented strict planning laws in an attempt to cyclone-proof the city. This includes no tiled roofs on houses and steel anchors retrofitted to older buildings. At this point I should remind you that I work in a portable office. Not sure if this would be the best place to be during a category five storm.
Suffice to say I now have the Darwin weather warning webpage as my home page.
Darwin in a Nutshell
November 12, 2008 at 9:28 am | In Darwin, Travel | Leave a CommentI found this great article on Darwin this morning. It concisely expresses what Darwin is all about, and flies in the face of all those people who said to me “Darwin? Why Darwin?” when I first mentioned I was going there to work.
Wedding of the Year – Part 1
November 10, 2008 at 6:28 pm | In Sydney | Leave a CommentYesterday my Fiancée and I were delighted to attend the wedding of two of our friends. In the tradition of TomKat and Brangelina they will now officially be known as Kony.
It was a tremendous day. Beautiful weather, a lovely ceremony and a sensational reception. I was a Wedding DJ for 4 years and consider myself a relative expert in these matters, having attending more than 200 weddings, and I would say it was the best food I have ever had at a Wedding.
It was great to catch up with old colleagues some of whom had travelled from all parts of Australia to attend, and some I had not seen for more than 5 years.
I have called this post ‘Part 1’ as my trip to Malaysia in the coming week will be ‘Part 2’, the second ceremony. No doubt there will be some fantastic tails from there as well.
City Life
November 8, 2008 at 4:04 pm | In Darwin Observations, Sydney Observations | Leave a CommentI am back in Sydney again after arriving last night. Remarkably the Qantas flight was on time for the first time in half-a-dozen flights. Amazing.
When I’ve been back in Sydney lately I’ve notice something, and no it isn’t just the 15 degree reduction in temperature. I’ve started to realise that I walk slower. In Darwin you have to walk slow as your shoes are generally melting to the pavement, but I think this is only part of it.
When I was on my sabbatical (read: bludging) for two months there was no need to rush anywhere. No bus to run for in the morning, no push to be first in line at Krispy Kreme to get the first batch of Glazed Devil’s Food donuts. I kind of got used to it I guess, and I am glad to say the trend has continued.
The Company of Strangers
November 6, 2008 at 10:45 am | In Darwin | Leave a CommentYesterday was my 33rd Birthday. Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes, it really made me smile. It’s a bit bizarre. I have been travelling and apart from my family and Fiancée for a good part of the past decade. But, I was still a little sad to think I would be spending my birthday away from them. On my birthday last year I was in Japan with my beloved which was the first time I had spent my birthday away from my family. What’s really funny is I am normally not that interested in my birthday, it’s really just another day in my book.
I went to dinner with 4 of my colleagues plus a woman who is a Project Manager for Mission Australia, developing jobs and career paths for our Indigenous. An inspirational woman who happens to have worked for my old company! She is on a 12 month career break to ‘sort herself out’ as she puts it.
The guys had arranged a birthday cake for me which absolutely blew me away. I have only just met these people and they are already that thoughtful. I really enjoy their company.
I am flying back to Sydney tomorrow and will be there all of next week before heading to Malaysia for my friend’s wedding. I am sure there will be more tails from there. I am very much looking forward to catching up with you all.
Tidal Variance
November 5, 2008 at 4:17 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations | Leave a CommentBeing so close to the equator means that Darwin has significant tidal variance. At certain points of the lunar and solar cycle the difference between High and Low Tide can be more than 8 metres. This presented a unique problem for one of my colleagues who was out fishing over the weekend. The gap from the ocean surface to the start of the boat ramp was 3 metres, so they had to wait 4 hours for the tide to return before they could trailer their boat out.
The developers of the recently completed quay suburb of Cullens Bay were concerned about resident’s multi-million dollar boats and tidal changes, so they built the entire area around a giant lock. It closes when the tide is going out ensuring that the water in the quay maintains the same level.
I took the two photos below of Stokes Hill Wharf, and the LPG offshore rig, on Sunday. The tidal difference was 5.9 metres. Sometimes at low tide you have to walk 50 meters at some beaches to get to the water. You can find some very cool ocean animals in the ebb and flow.
Priorities
November 3, 2008 at 11:14 pm | In Darwin, Darwin Observations | Leave a CommentThey recently renovated the Liquorland around the corner from where I am now living. I dropped in to pick up a bottle of white wine on my way home tonight. I couldn’t see any in the fridges so I asked the 14 year old sales professional (well, I am sure he was 18 but he looked young) where it was. He pointed to the corner with an inaudible grunt. I went over and saw that were only 4 bottles of white wine in the fridge. Not 4 brands, 4 bottles.
At this point I should mention that there are 12 clear door fridges in the shop, the other 11.98 of which were filled with beer. I am glad to see Territorians have their priorities right. The good news is one of the 4 bottles one was a NZ Sauvignon Blanc. 2007 was a great year.
The Lost City
November 2, 2008 at 5:05 pm | In Outside Darwin | Leave a CommentYesterday four of us from the company went for a day trip to Litchfield National Park. The park is about one and a half hours drive from Darwin and we got permission to use one of the 4WD company cars. Being able to take a ‘proper’ 4WD allowed us to gain access to some pretty spectacular places.
One such place was The Lost City which I found quite amusing given the name of my blog, Lost David. The site is a massive group of sandstone pillars and outcrops, some photos of which are below. The beauty of these sites is that normal vehicles can’t get to them due to the terrain, and this significantly reduces the number of visitors. As a result we were the only people there. Simon and Garfunkel once sang about The Sound of Silence. Now I know what they were talking about.
I am really starting to get a feel for what Australia was like 230 years ago before European Settlement (or European Invasion as some of my Indigenous colleagues call it, half-seriously). I can only imagine what it must have been like for the early explorers seeing these places for the first time. If it weren’t for the marked trail at The Lost City we could easily have thought we were the first white people to ever set foot there. A unique experience indeed.
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