Talking About Leaving.......Again

I have officially left Australia, and I can't lie.....it was a whole lot harder to leave than I thought it would be. I guess after spending a year (minus 7 days) in one place, it should be expected. Of course there will be adventures ahead but it's hard not to look back on my time in Australia and reflect on it......just a little bit.

So looking back,what did I like about Australia:? Well, there really were a lot of things. I liked the animals (the cute fluffy ones anyway), and the weather (looking back, The Wet Season was not that bad....although I did spend a lot of time with my air conditioning), and The People (well some a lot more than others). And I liked Tim Tams, and cheap mangoes (part of the year anyway) and always knowing what the weather was going to be like (as long as I was in Darwin), and parties on the rooftop and being able to go grocery shopping in my bare feet and never having to leave a tip and not having to show ID to buy alcohol (well that changed July 1st but whatever) and paying the advertised price because they include the tax and never having to see a penny... I just loathe pennies (Please Canada, get rid of pennies). And I liked Rugby (and rugby players) and Aussie Rules Football (and Aussie rules football players) and lawn bowling. And I really enjoyed being able to spend the year with Debi and Scott.

What didn't I like about Australia? You have to know there are a few things. The animals (well the slithery and scaly ones at least), the totally lack of a service industry (seriously, tipping culture makes all the difference), Darwin public transit, the lack of central heating (well not in Darwin but certainly in Tasmania and Western Australia), super weak clothes dryers (they just assume you can hang everything up outside), stores closing at 1730 (5:30pm....seriously when do you shop?), and the fact that there is no safe place for pedestrians (even on the sidewalks, people on bicycles tried to run me over). And Vegemite.....I really, REALLY disliked Vegemite. I don't know who thought eating yeast extract was a good idea but I assure you......it's gross.

What will I miss about Australia? Honestly I haven't been out of the country long enough to have much on my list but you have to know it does not include Vegemite. There certainly are a lot of people I will miss.....and not just Debi and Scott. It seems more than a few Australians rubbed off on me and I like to think in a positive way. Hopefully we will meet again.....sometime soon.

And while I saw a whole lot of the country, I guess there area few things I did miss. I never saw a platypus (a wild on anyway) and I never saw a crocodile (well not in the Northern Territory where there are soooo many of them). I also never made it Kakadu National Park which is so famous but I did make it to Litchfield and I'm told it's a pretty good trade off. Looking back overall I think I did pretty good. Pretty sure I can say I've seen more of Australia than a whole lot of the Australians I met along the way and I'll take great pride in that. Of course any Australian who reads this may have a few things to add and I say add away. If you want me to come back......I need things to see.

Could I have used more time in Australia? Of course I could have. There are so many other places I could have visited and there are certainly some possibilities that will get filed under "well I guess we'll never know". But the future looks bright and I have some great and exciting plans ahead......the very first being New Zealand. I'll tell you about the rest another day.

Julie

And it All Ends at the Bottom of A Bottle of Bubbles and a Horse Race

Darwin, NT, Australia
Monday, August 1st, 2011

Well that day finally arrived. My final day in Australia. Seems like it came out of no where although I have been preparing for it for weeks. It just came upon us far too quickly. But now that it was here it seemed totally appropriate that I would be spending my final hours here drinking......and starting relatively early.

Today was Darwin Cup which, like Adelaide River Cup (and Melbourne Cup and every other Cup you celebrate in Australia) is a giant booze fest disguised as a horse race. Ok, that's a little unfair.......no one tries to disguise the booze feast, it's just people are more likely to get dressed up if there is a horse race. Most people have to go to work the day after the Cup which probably keeps things kind of tame. Can't imagine what the day would be like if it was held on a Saturday.

Anyway, it was a really fun day and a great way to say goodbye to Darwin. Here are a few pictures from the festivities.

Scott, Paul and Tadg waiting for their cab. Not easy to find one this morning but eventually we all got there. The cooler, not full of booze but food. You can take whatever type of food you want into the grounds with you but no booze. As you can imagine though, people are very creative with the ways they get stuff in. I was pretty impressed.

Mel was all dressed up (and looking very nice), but not very thrilled to be on her way to the Cup. Not sure how we even talked her into it but she came for a little while.

Hanging out with Scott, Paul and Tadg. The boys clean up well.

Lots of kisses going around on this day.

A rare moment when we both put down our champagne glasses.

Not everyone went formal on this day and if you weren't careful.....you'd get smurfed. Getting smurfed with me is Melissa. We met earlier. Turns out she's a nursing student so we had a good conversation about the suckiness of health care in Darwin. Lucky for me I'm leaving. Hopefully for her, her Grad year will be somewhere else.

This is Adrian (he introduced me to Melissa earlier because they're siblings). Have to give him props on the lavender dress shirt.

Here's Sam (remember from my rooftop party) looking quite dapper in the tie and vest. And I think we all loved the new haircut.

Not many more moments like this left....but there were a few today.



Yes, this is dressing up for some people. I'm sure a lot of people took his picture though so he probably accomplished what he wanted to do.

There was lots of head gear as well. Some of it was pretty nice, like this one. Some were not so nice.

Part of the tent area where people were hanging out. There were seriously a lot of people and I assure you a very, very small percentage of them were actually watching horse races. We have Adrian and Sam and few more of the boys to thank for our great table. They showed up nice and early to stake it out for the group.



This is a pretty good indication of how the day went.

See, there was some horse racing going on. I think the only race I watched was the last one, The Darwin Cup. Good race for me to watch because I won money.

Still looking good after a drink or two.

And so are we. I'm super proud of myself for still being in my 4 inch heels at this point. They did last most of the day, but I did carry a pair of flip-flops in my purse for later.

Ahhhh Adrian. Now I have to thank Adrian because his actual knowledge of horse racing, lead to me winning money. Yes, even after my total loss at Adelaide River I was convinced (by Adrian I might add) to place a bet on the big race of the day and he gave me (what he thought) was a mediocre tip on who to bet on ($5 either way on Blackbriar) . Turns out my horse came in third so I won $23. Who did Adrian bet on? Not Blackbriar so he won no money. Next year, I'm thinking he will be keep those tips to himself but on this day I was very, very happy he chose to share them with me.

Hanging out with Sam and Adrian. I'm gonna miss them.

A few of us still hanging out. There was always time for a few more drinks and some snacks (Debi and Scott packed so much food and by the end of the day it was very much appreciated).

Eventually we all made our way away from the racetrack to various locations throughout Darwin. I did have a plane to catch but lucky for me flights from Darwin leave at extremely unreasonable times (in this case 0140). Of course I left the arriving at the airport to the very last minute and was momentarily worried I wasn't making my flight. Lucky for me I wasn't the only one (some girls actually showed up to the airport still in their Darwin Cup outfits. I at least went home to shower). I still allowed myself enough time to say some very long and very difficult goodbyes before packing my bag and heading off.

And with that my year (minus 7 days) in Australia came to an end. Just like that.......it was over.

Julie

No, It Doesn't Seem Strange that My Last Weeks in Darwin Included a Viking Funeral

Darwin, NT, Australia
Saturday July 16th to , 2011 to Sunday July 31st, 2011

Well my time in Darwin came to an end very, very quickly but not before a few more NT experiences. It seemed like after a year, Debi and I had a whole lot of things to fit into the last few weeks. I think we did pretty good.

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

Saturday Debi and I went out with our friend Mandy and met up with a few of her friends. Mandy is getting married in August so it was time for a Stagette Party or as they call them here in Australia....a Hens Night. Mandy didn't want anything "traditional" and I think her friends managed to do just that. I had no idea what was happening and was basically just along for ride but it was a lot of fun. Of course not knowing what was going on I didn't bring a camera but I managed to get a couple poor quality photos on my phone.

Our night started with a picnic out here. A beautiful spot to have some drinks, and some snacks and share some stories. We also got henna tattoos. I can tell you without hesitation, not sure I'll ever go anywhere else in the world that has such amazing sunsets night after night after night.

A look at my Henna tattoo. I really liked it and now that I've had a test run with it, I'm thinking about getting a real one. It won't look like this but in this location.

Mandy in her cute little bride hat playing with a friend's dog. I think she got off pretty easy with just a hat and a boa.

After it got dark we headed to a place called Dinah Beach, a little beach type bar where the festivities would continue. I was told there was going to be a Viking Funeral taking place. I had no idea what that meant but on arrival it became obvious that this was in fact a viking funeral. People were in costumes and role playing and everybody was having a great time.

Not sure what a viking funeral in 2011 looks like......here's the video I made. Not the best quality but I think you get the point.

The boat burned for quite some time and made a great backdrop for a fun night that of course involved some Hen night games, a few bottles of bubbles and some amazing conversations with friends that continued well into the night. Just how one of my last Saturday nights in Darwin should be.

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

I think I have mentioned before that Scott and I (and occasionally Debi) took up lawn bowling while in Darwin. Wednesday night was my bowling night so this Wednesday marked the end of my illustrious bowling career. Now I have to say, it was a short career but it was a pretty good one, and we have a freezer full of frozen chickens to prove it (the winning team each week wins frozen chickens and Scott and I went on quite a run).

On this my final day of bowling, Debi decided to join Scott and I....not to bowl but to take pictures so we could prove to you all that I wasn't kidding.

This was the picture that Debi wanted so I smiled for her.

Now this is some expert bowling form. I have gotten many comments about my smooth and relaxed bowling action. Tends to be quite accurate as well.

Scott always looks far too serious. It's lawn bowls......it's suppose to be fun.

We got to enjoy many a beautiful sunset from the bowls club. Tonight was no different.

This is Leigh and Geoff.....the skips of my game (well Leigh is my skip). Pretty sure a couple of the bowls closest to the Jack.......are mine.

Oh and look at that.....we win again. Georgette was the other member on our team.

Perfect way to end my by lawn bowling career.......on a high note. And this chicken will be a parting gift for Debi and Scott.

Thursday, July 21st 2011

Only Thursday and my week of fun is not even close to being over. Thursday night Debi and Scott took me out for dinner.....at a surprise location. I basically was allowed to get in the car and was once again just along for the ride.

The view from our table.

Turns out it was finally our chance to sample the all you can eat seafood buffet. As you can imagine Scott was super excited about the all you can eat seafood. Debi was super excited (as was I when I found out about it) about the all you can eat chocolate fondue fountain.

Of course this was a Darwin dining experience so it wasn't without a little bit of drama and some seriously questionable customer service. It's a good thing Debi has worked in the service industry because she deals with poor wait staff very well. Turns out the guy was totally wrong and figured it out eventually and apologized with free drinks.

But forgetting the rude people, the food was great and not sure I ate again until dinner Friday night.

Never get tired of the sunsets.

Friday July 22nd, 2011

Of course dinner Friday night was also an event. Not only was it close to the time when I would be living Australia, but Scott was also getting ready to change jobs so his boss (Brian) took us out for dinner and drinks and generally a good time. We went to a place called Bogart's, where we had been many times before but never early enough to have dinner.

Scott and Brian looking "dignified" with some after dinner drinks. Dinner by the way was very good. I really hate to see what the bill looked like. Good thing Brian was paying.

Watching some of the live entertainment.

Not sure who this bike belonged to but it made a comfortable seat while we were waiting for a cab. I can honestly tell you that I have no idea what Brian was saying to me.

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Saturday rolled around and it turned out to be a very busy Saturday. Debi and Scott had a surprise for me today. I was just told how to dress and that I needed to be ready to go by a certain time. I think I had it figured out about 2 days earlier but wasn't really sure what we were doing until we were walking there.

Today we were taking a Ride on the Croc (not on a croc but on The Croc). You know.....it's one of those amphibious vehicles that drives around town and then takes you in the water and shows you the local sites and tells you a bit about the town.

This is as close as I'm getting to a real croc. Although we did have small hopes that we would see one swimming around the harbour.

We found some primo seats near the back and got ready to check out the sites. Yes, we had seen Darwin many times before....but never like this.

We're heading that way. The first part of the tour took us down Mitchell Street so we got to take a look at most of the night spots in town.

So the trip was pretty good. Scott particularly liked the part when we drove into the water. He was like a small child or something. The only thing I disliked about the trip......the wrong information the tour guide gave. Like seriously....what you tell people, tourists believe. You think they would attempt to be accurate. But it does kind of make me wonder what information I have received from tour guides in various cities and countries that may in fact be incorrect.

This is heading past the museum and on our way into the water.

And in the water.

Scott is on the lookout for any type of wildlife. We didn't actually see any.

Still looking for wildlife, but enjoying the sunshine.

Look out Scott!!!!! That crocodile is trying to bite your head off.

After the hour trip on the croc our Saturday was not quite finished. No, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for my going away party. Yes for one more time before I left we were going to get good use out of the rooftop patio.

A few of the many who showed up that night.

Mandy and Conner playing with the cheese fondue......which didn't turn out quite right but still tasted really good.

Look a giant and colourful high heel. How perfect. Almost strange that I was super excited to beat it with a stick because it was full of candy.

Yes the giant shoe was a pinata.

I do have the best sister ever.

This is seriously a lot harder than it looks. I blame the blind fold.......and the sparkling wine.....and the margaritas certainly didn't help. I can't lie, shortly after this I fell over but it was all in good fun.

Look at all the candy!!!!

Of course just because the pinata was no longer full of candy, doesn't mean we weren't still having fun with it.

Turns out it wasn't my size.

You know what's great. When guys you think are out camping show up at your rootop party.....and bring food. Sam's (with the knife) arrival was a very pleasant surprise. All the fish and stuff he brought with him was a total bonus.

Yes the night did deteriorate to this. But Conner looks pretty.

Skye and Clint. This was Skye's first visit to the rooftop (not sure how that happened) so she showed up with some amazing sausage rolls.

This is Rachael (one of the counsellors from work). Also her first visit to the rooftop. She picked a good night to visit.

Stef also made it. Always fun to see him.

Eventually the eating stopped and the dancing started. In my mind, that makes a perfect way to say good-bye to good friends.

Monday, July 25th, 2011

After our busy weekend, Debi and I had a slightly quieter week plan that involved movies and junk food and hanging out before heading into my final days in Darwin. Monday we finally headed to the Deckchair Cinema. Only open during the dry season (that's winter time here in Australia....summer time in Canada), Deckchair is an outdoor cinema that let's you see the movies while hanging out under the stars.

They don't show the latest hollywood blockbusters and you can't see things in 3D but it is a very enjoyable place to check out a flick.

They have very comfortable reclining chairs and as many pillows as you would like. We had lots of left over candy from Saturday night so we took some of that along too.

The movie we saw was pretty good. It was called "Get Low". I've embedded a video of the trailer so you could check it out.

It was a great way to spend the evening.

http://www.deckchaircinema.com.au/

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

So the rest of the week was filled with hanging out, and watching movies and fun (Scott had to go to Perth but Debi and I filled our evenings). I managed to get all my stuff packed and shipped a very heavy suitcase back to Canada before Friday arrived. We had a couple visitors for my final few days in Darwin as well. A couple of Debi's friends (Paul and Tadg...pronouced like "Tag".....it's irish) came into town. Debi knows them from one of her trips to Brazil. I met (kind of) Paul once in Calgary (apparently he slept on the floor in the hallway of my townhouse when I lived on the Mount Royal Campus....but I don't really think we spent much time together).

Debi warned me straight up about the craziness of these guys but I had no idea it would turn into a few crazy days before I left.

Debi and I with Paul and Tadg (sticking his tongue out). This is quite tame. I wish I had video of Tadg talking because seriously he is hiliarious.

Not many nights left for the 2 of us to hangout.

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Sunday we woke up to sun....oh wait, it's Darwin......the sun is out pretty much everyday. So we took Paul and Tadg to a few places around town.

Heading into The Ski Club. Pretty sure the boys have never met a beer they didn't like.

Can't really complain about hanging out in the sun.

Now at The Deck Bar. They were handing out glasses and leis and having a party so of course we joined in.

And with Sunday my final weekend in Darwin ended. I would soon be celebrating my final hours in the city (and country) that I have called home for the last 12 months (minus 7 days). And the send off would be in perfect Darwin style.

Julie