So I arrived at Brisbane airport three hours before my flight was due to leave.<\/p>\n
I read my book for a while (Matthew Flinders Cat \u2013 Bryce Courtney, which I\u2019d grabbed on the way out the door), before conceding to have a beer.<\/p>\n
I ordered a Crownie from the very limited beer list, in a caf\u00e9 on the ground floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll be $11.50 for a Crownie thanks\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that\u2019s good value, I thought \u2013 I might just buy a carton of it – for $276!<\/p>\n
So I necked that beer while reading more of my book \u2013 which had started to get interesting by now.<\/p>\n
I decided I should try another, so I approached the same counter and said:<\/p>\n
\u2018Another Crownie please\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll be nine-dollars thanks\u201d<\/p>\n
I look confused \u2013 the last one cost me eleven fifty.<\/p>\n
She gets a plate out and says \u201cThe chocolate one?\u201d<\/p>\n
I glare at her – WTF you talking \u2018bout?
\n\u2018A Crownie\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh – I\u2019m sorry – I thought you wanted a Brownie!\u201d<\/p>\n
The lady embarrassingly put away her plate and moist chocolate offering, and handed me another Crown Lager.<\/p>\n
I resumed my seat at a tiny little table \u2013 still waiting for the Tiger Airlines check-in to open.<\/p>\n
I was looking around the airport at the passing parade, as one does \u2013 and wondering about the stories that saw people arrive here at this point.<\/p>\n
There was a smoking-hot young chickie who walked past in tight jeans, reading her I-phone and dragging a bag behind her like a Shih Tzu on a leash.<\/p>\n
Then there was a big solid looking bloke, about thirty years old, six foot-three – with tatts all over, including his thick bull-neck and rugged head. A smaller, mostly clean-skinned bloke of similar age met up with him and they decided to sit at the table adjacent to me. The big bloke bought two beers.<\/p>\n
We were sitting pretty close and the little fella asks me about my book:<\/p>\n
\u2018Good book is it mate?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah mate \u2013 not too bad. It\u2019s Bryce Courtney \u2013 he\u2019s an Aussie dude\u201d<\/p>\n
(He didn\u2019t immediately strike me as the bookworm type).<\/p>\n
\u2018Oh really? You ever read any of that other bloke? His Aussie too. He\u2019s funny as fuck!\u2019<\/p>\n
(The way he described it, I figured he was alluding to Robert G Barrett and his character Les Norton).<\/p>\n
I said \u2013 yeah, I know the bloke \u2013 he\u2019s pretty good.<\/p>\n
And the big bloke says \u2013 \u2018Watto can\u2019t read\u2019.<\/p>\n
I assumed he was taking the piss \u2013 but \u2018Watto\u2019 says \u2013 \u2018Yeah, I can\u2019t read. But a mate used to read them out to me \u2013 I love those books!\u2019<\/p>\n
I felt a bit sorry for the bloke at this point \u2013 it must be a real struggle in this day and age if you can\u2019t read.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t show it \u2013 I\u2019m sure he would have been offended if I had \u2013 and in my mind, there wouldn\u2019t be too many occasions where you\u2019re sitting round together with a mate, long enough for him to read a book to you.<\/p>\n
There is only one situation that comes to mind where that might occur \u2013 and it\u2019s a place I don\u2019t want to go, but wasn\u2019t surprised he\u2019d spent some time there.<\/p>\n
They were talking about blowing this place and going to a pub \u2013 so I said my goodbyes and went to check in. They seemed nice enough fellas \u2013 but had already been banned from a few venues on the Gold Coast for rowdy behaviour. That\u2019s not really my scene \u2013 though I\u2019d rather have these two on my side than agin me, should a stink erupt!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The flight to Darwin was unremarkable \u2013 Tiger Airlines were fine, nice staff and friendly hostesses.<\/p>\n
I had two of those little bourbon bottles with coke, throughout the four hour and twenty-minute flight. You see, heading in that direction, you face a roaring headwind up in the Jetstream (coming home was three hours ten-minutes or so \u2013 ripping along with the tailwind).<\/p>\n
I was very curious when I finally got out at Darwin \u2013 had anything changed? Had everything changed?<\/p>\n
I was considering catching an Uber (which I\u2019ve never done before). People keep telling me it\u2019s much cheaper than a taxi. However \u2013 there were three flights who all landed together, at about 12:50am, and everyone was hoping their bag would be next on the conveyer belt \u2013 facilitating a hasty exit.<\/p>\n
But it was my bulky, black & red portmanteau who next burst through the plastic curtains, like a middle-aged actress running late for an encore!<\/p>\n
It was among the first, so I grabbed my bag and headed for the doors \u2013 there were only about ten people in the cab line, and some fifteen cabs lined up.<\/p>\n
Now was not the time to be messing round with my new Uber-Ap!<\/p>\n
(It turns out that Darwin does not have Ubers anyway \u2013 they have a thing called \u2018Thanks Oscar\u2019 or some such title. Similar thing to Uber \u2013 but my Ap would have had me waiting forever till one arrived for my convenience that night).<\/p>\n
So I stood in line and waited for my cab to approach.<\/p>\n
I hopped into the cab at around 1am.
\nSome young Indian dude with a knot in his hair.<\/p>\n
I say \u2018G\u2019day mate – the Palms City Motel\u2019<\/p>\n
He stuffs around a bit and says \u2018Ess Planet?\u2019<\/p>\n
I say \u2018What?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cEss Planet?\u201d<\/p>\n
I look at him \u2018Eh?\u2019<\/p>\n
He\u2019s pointing at the cash meter and says once again \u201cEss Planet?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m about to put my specs on to see what he\u2019s pointing out – then it dawns on me.<\/p>\n
\u2018Esplanade! Yes mate – it\u2019s on the Esplanade\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018So – you been driving cabs long?<\/p>\n
\u201cCabs? Yes\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Really – how long?<\/p>\n
\u201cMe? No, only new – maybe two months. But I get you to your destination\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Good mate – that\u2019s all I care about\u2019.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t talk much after that.<\/p>\n
We took the sneaky federal backroad out of the airport \u2013 which I\u2019d forgotten about.<\/p>\n
But passed a couple of massive new constructions \u2013 like a flash new bowling alley and it\u2019s twin, neon-signed establishment, which I didn\u2019t recognise.<\/p>\n
After exiting onto Bagot road, near Bunnings I was in familiar territory \u2013 though there seemed to be a few new Quick Mart service stations around the place. I was surprised when we approached the overpass to the city \u2013 where I used to do a quick little U-ey and sneakily cut through the BP garage to head to my house. The British Petroleum service station is now some type of jungle cat. A Cougar, or Jaguar or Puma. A slick new moniker for a fuel dispensing beast likely to skin you alive – which is rather apt given the price of petrol in the Top End!<\/p>\n
Further on to the city and I noticed The Top End Hotel and Lizards bar had been all but demolished and replaced by a shiny new multi-story monstrosity that I didn\u2019t much care for. I am a traditionalist at heart and appreciate the history of older towns and their landmarks.<\/p>\n
Then it was south, along the Esplanade to my hotel.<\/p>\n
I realised early that this was not the type of motel where you hop in an elevator, turn right and enter you room. The Counter-Chick started drawing a map with a highlighter pen \u2013 \u2018Okay, you are here at reception. Head through those doors, turn left \u2013 go straight for thirty metres then turn right. Twenty metres further on you can climb the stairs to the second floor, then follow the balcony, turn right again until you reach room 265.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, I made my way directly to my room.<\/p>\n
There were three blokes sitting on the balcony of the neighbouring room \u2013 discussing micrometre adjustments, stud patterns and Johnson Rods \u2013 obviously up for the V8 Supercars who were racing at Hidden Valley that weekend.<\/p>\n
I gave them a wave, was disappointed by the non-existence of a mini-bar in my room, sat out the front for ten minutes, then headed in to crash at about 2am.<\/p>\n
The hard part was over.<\/p>\n
I was back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I arrived at Brisbane airport three hours before my flight was due to leave. I read my book for a while (Matthew Flinders Cat \u2013 Bryce Courtney, which I\u2019d grabbed on the way out the door), before conceding to have a beer. I ordered a Crownie from the very limited beer list, in a … Continue reading DARWIN 2018 – Getting There<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5K3B8-7t","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}