Lost and Found

It was hard to miss all the advertising for this year’s Earth Hour which was held at 8:30pm on Saturday. Last year we had friends over at our place in Sydney and the number of people who participated was quite staggering. We are fortunate enough to have a view across Sydney Harbour and numerous houses all turned off their lights, along with Sydney icons such as The Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

I deliberately made plans to be at home here in Darwin at the same time this year in a hope it would have the same levels of participation. But, it wasn’t to be. All the hotels and banks had their neon lights blaring, and the commercial high rise below my balcony was fully lit with air conditioning running. I for one was sitting on my darkened balcony wearing my Earth Hour T-Shirt, all the money from which goes to the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

I hear that things were even better in Sydney than they were last year with more companies taking part. Let’s hope Darwin does a better job next year.

A few months back I wrote about the significant tidal variance in Darwin, which sometimes means an 8 meter difference between low and high tide. Recently I was down at Stoke’s Hill Wharf, about 10 minutes walk from the CBD, where there is a large residential development nearing completion. They have had to create a rock wall to combat this variance, ensuring the water is the same depth all the time.

The photos below show just how well this works. On the harbour side the water is at about 2 metres, but on the development side it is some 3 metres higher. As part of the development they have also built a wave pool.  I am guessing that this is due to the fact that you can’t go swimming at the beaches up here 6 months of the year due to crocs, Box Jellyfish, Irukandji and sharks. What more reason do you need? But it does remind me of Dubai. Just waiting for the Palm Islands to appear…

Last night one of the Project Managers from Sydney and I went along to Darwin RSL for our inaugural visit. I must say I was pleasantly surprised when we walked in. It is much more modern and clean than the exterior would have you believe. Everyone was relatively well dressed compared to all the other ‘Clubs’ I have been to up here.

Of course we couldn’t leave without experiencing the food as well. We both opted for Chicken Schnitzel which was a bit of a mistake. Not only had they been deep fried, but they had been deep fried in the same oil used to cook Fish. The result is probably a bit like eating Crocodile which I haven’t tried. Smells like fish, tastes like chicken. Not pleasant at all. We resorted to Doritos instead.

I was in the elevator last night coming up from the gym. A young bloke, maybe in his 20’s, hops into the lift with his Girlfriend. None of this is terribly unusual. Until I notice he has a snake wrapped around his arm.

I never thought I’d say this about a snake, but it was actually kind of cute. It was cream and light brown coloured, and the owner informed me that it was a 15 month old Diamond Python. No need to call Snakeman this time. The guy seemed to have it all under control. Even so, the two other women in the lift couldn’t have got themselves any further into the back corner of the elevator without breaking the wall down…

Not something you see everyday, certainly not in Sydney.