Unfortunately, my whirl-wind tour of the Northern Territory did not allow time for me to explore Darwin. From my very brief experience there it seems like a pretty cool town. It really does feel like a big country town - you can even park in the main street! However, given the clientele I encountered on my Bali-Darwin flight, I suspect the people of Darwin, as a whole, might not be quite as nice as the town itself. Maybe I'm being harsh again.
I just had the one evening in Darwin before swapping my hire-car for a seat on The Ghan - the train to Alice Springs & Adelaide. It was very comfortable and I was extremely impressed that the "cafe" on-board charged normal prices for food and beverage! Normally in such a monopolistic situation they charge ludicrous prices but this was very reasonable. Respect to The Ghan. On the first afternoon we arrived in Katherine where everybody was "encouraged" to choose a tour from the many on offer through the railways. I did a boat cruise through Katherine Gorge and it was very pleasant, though the Gorge itself was nowhere near as spectacular as I had imagined. Regardless, it was nice to get off the train briefly. That evening I enjoyed a couple of reasonably priced glasses of wine and then slept very nicely given I was in a train-seat. The train arrived in Alice Springs the next morning where I was warmly greeted by my mate Frogger Pete.
Aside: Believe it or not, Frogger Pete was not actually christened as such, his name is actually Peter. He used to live across the street from me when I lived on Seaview Road at Henley Beach South. It was quite a busy road. My house hosted many an afternoon/evening party on the front terrace, and Peter would often wander over from his side of the street, usually after having had several warm-up beverages. Watching from the elevated terrace as he attempted to zig-zag through the traffic he reminded us all of the wonderful old computer game "Frogger", and so he was (re-)christened.
Frogger works as a tour guide/bus driver in Alice, but luckily he had a couple of days off when I arrived. We ate parmigianas, drank beer, watched cricket, chased women, played golf and drank more beer. Good times catching up with a great mate.
When Frogger went back to work I met up with another mate from years gone by - Buzza.
Aside: Buzza (he prefers Bussa as it is more strictly correct but it doesn't sound anywhere near as good), like me, used to slave away in a Chartered Accounting firm. Buzza (whose name is actually David but he has a surname starting with Bus), like me, had it suggested to him by the management that he might want to pursue his career elsewhere. He did. Buzza moved to Alice Springs to work for an Aboriginal health organisation, where he has now been doing accounting and IT work for 12 (?) years or so, and is about to become the head honcho. The move certainly did him good. I love Buzza but I think he is nuts (he wouldn't argue) because he runs marathons. Plenty of space to run in in Alice, but it does get pretty warm.
Buzza took me out in his 4WD for the day exploring the West MacDonnell Ranges outside of Alice Springs. We did quite a bit of walking and we swam in water-holes. It was an excellent day out and it was good to clear the alcohol from the preceding days out of my system. That evening I went to the casino! Alice Springs has a casino, which is quite the fancy place to hang out in town. Buzza and his girlfriend Maria took me there for dinner, but no gambling. The dinner was a buffet including seafood and the works. Very nice indeed but I was disappointed with my consumption. I only got through about 3 plates of food and couldn't even fit in a 2nd serving of apple crumble. Next time! Then it was back to the hostel for a good sleep before an early start the next day.
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