WORD OF THE DAY: Is this really home anymore?
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 2,850km
This trip to Darwin is long overdue.
My mum and I moved to Darwin over 32 years ago. I lived in Darwin till I was 20 and then made a move to Brisbane and have never moved back. Mum stayed in Darwin, and even though she would call Newcastle home, Darwin was always her home and this is where she died in late 2008. After coming back for the funeral, I haven’t been back since and I wanted to make a visit to mums gravesite before I headed back to Africa. I did try and come up in March last year before my World Odyssey, but Cyclone Carlos cancelled my trip and I just ran out of days before I left to be able to make the pilgrimage.
This trip to Darwin is long overdue.
Today also happens to be my mum’s birthday. She would have been 58 today and it seems quite ironic that I am coming to see her on her birthday. My flight doesn’t get in till after 4pm, so I won’t get out to the cemetery till tomorrow morning, but it seems quite fitting that I am here over her birthday. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her and the opportunities she has given me even though she is no longer here. I was going through some jewelry this morning and I found a silver ‘MUM’ pendant that I had engraved ‘spending time with Jesus 2008’ which was the title of the poem that was read at her funeral. Once again another fitting element to my Darwin weekend and I put it on a necklace as a constant reminder that life is precious and to always tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.
First thing this morning I had to pack my bag. I am normally a night packer, but after a few sherberts (alcoholic beverages) at home with the Elks and a 1am bed, I set my alarm for 7am for the luxury pack. Not a backpack, but a good old fashioned suitcase. This was going to be a luxury for me and as I was only going for 6 nights I was able to take what I want, as much as I want and not have to worry about space issued and weight. Well hopefully not weight. I was in pure heaven and I even threw in some extra shirts and an extra jacket just for the hell of it and because I could, because I could. It was very exhilarating which is quite sad, but breaking a 15 month habit and worry of packing a backpack for airline travel, this was a BIG deal. It’s the small things……….
Saying goodbye to Zoe wasn’t too bad this morning as she was in a hurry to get to ice-skating with Shane. Tessie was a little more relaxed and had time for a big cuddle and a hug from Shelly before they left for dancing. I had a tear in my eye as they pulled out of the driveway. Gee if this is how I feel for 6 nights away how the hell am I going to handle a 3 month separation? Well the upside is it isn’t forever or even 15 months this round and the way that time has been passing me by, I will be back before you know it.
I had to drop off the car this morning and the good thing about using an airport location, once I had dropped the vehicle off, they were going to run me to the terminal as their depot is around a 10 minute drive from the actual airport. I didn’t even do a walk around the car to check for any damage once I arrived as I hadn’t done anything funky to the car that I had for 12 days. You can imagine my shock when the rental chick came back after checking the car, spoke to the manager, who then introduced herself to me and said there seems to be some damage to the car that wasn’t marked on the original sheet. Oh Crap. Something must have happened when I was in a car park somewhere as I didn’t have any bingles while I was driving. Crap, crap, crap. So I walked out to the car with the manage and we found a spot on the front bumper, I could see it clear as day, but when we got closer and I ran my finger over it was either a superficial rub or just mud from all the rain we had all week, as I was able to rub it all back and there was no mark. THANK GOODNESS. We checked the rest of the car and I got the thumbs up that all was in order. I did get the spiel about how I should take out their excess reduction and when I told her I had taken out domestic travel insurance as it was cheaper, the only thing she had to say was did I have the funds to cover the 4000AUD while the claim was processed. I could do it and to save 1221AUD which is what the EXTRA cost would have been had I taken out their insurance for the 33 days of car rental when the actual 33 day rental of the ACTUAL car was only 957AUD and the domestic travel insurance policy was 99AUD it was a no brainer.
There was just me for the transfer to the terminal in the 18 seater van. Brisbane Domestic terminal has changed so much since I last flew through here and I can’t even remember the last time that was. Oh yeah it was last March when Lawsy, Shelly, Melissa and I did our booze cruise, but in the last 16 months they have done some pretty vast improvements to the terminal that are still a works in progress. The Jetstar check-in is located between the Qantas and Virgin counters. I self-checked in at the machine and then stood in the bag drop line that only had 10 people in it, where the check-in line had over 50 people in it. What are those people doing in that line? Why didn’t they self-check-in? Needless to say I was in and out in 10 minutes and through security in a further 10 minutes and it was so nice to have 1 handbag and one backpack and not a rolly bag and a Frank Lloyd Wright picture to cart around. I felt a little nude without all the baggage, literally, not carrying so much baggage. My ‘suitcase’ only weighted 18.1kg, I had a window seat and I was 1.5 hours early for a domestic flight. I guess some habits die hard. I am always willing to be early and with Jetstar only having one flight a day I wasn’t going to risk missing this puppy. The upside was that Brisbane Domestic Airport has free Wi-Fi so I was able to wile away the time on the internet.
It was a full flight as the aircraft was continuing on from Darwin to some exotic overseas destination of Bali, Vietnam or Singapore. I felt a little jealous that people were going on a fabulous holiday and then had to take a step back and realize I have been doing that for the last 16 months. I think I have had my time, but it is just me now, travelling-it’s in my blood and I know that once I get to Africa that will not be the end of it. I may just travel locally on my new continent, but I will never stop travelling and it will be nice to have someone to share that with again. We were on a A320 aircraft with a 3x3 configuration. It was a 4 hour and 5 minute flight, one of the longest domestic flights you will get bar Brisbane to Perth which is over 5 hours. As we were sitting there waiting to taxi you could hear a dog barking from the hold of the aircraft. Poor thing, he is probably scared witless down there. It was a beautiful day for flying and we got some great views as we circled after takeoff to get on our course. With a few wide sweeps we were in blue skies and fluffy clouds. I can’t remember when I have even done a daylight flight to Darwin. They have always been night flights as they have always been the cheapest so it made a nice change to see our wonderful country pass us by on such a clear day. It was just beautiful. You could rent IPad’s with movies preloaded on them for 15AUD which I didn’t think was a bad price for a 4 hour flight. I have my IPod and my book to keep me busy and with a few cat naps and some note taking for my blog the 4 hours seemed to go quite fast. I have been a little slack in my blogging, but I am now on the home straight of organizing and prepping so I think there will be more consistent blogging to come back.
Visiting Darwin this weekend probably wasn’t the best planned. I had booked these flights based on Zeme arriving next week (which is not happening) and originally I was only home for 4 weeks and not the 7 weeks I now had. It is the Beer Can Regatta on Sunday and the Darwin Cup is on Monday. Two big events on the Darwin calendar and I decide to come this weekend. The accommodation was a little more and after we arrived into Darwin there were people everywhere and I learned that a Brisbane bound Qantas flight had been cancelled and was not leaving today at all. They were getting people put up into hotels as the ‘Jetstar’s’ collected our bags. It then hit me that I would have buckley’s of getting my room upgrade ‘subject to availability’ with an extra 200 people in town on the busiest weekend of the year. I had booked into the airport hotel, which sounds a little daggy, but the location of the hotel is pretty good and more central for me and what I will be doing here. Rydges have 2 airport properties, The Inn and the Resort. I had booked into the resort as it looked nicer and was a little cheaper. The hotel offers a free shuttle to and from the airport to their 2 properties. So I used the courtesy phone to let them know I was here and they said there was a shuttle on the way. So when I walked out there was a van sitting there already, but it was full. The driver said that we could wait for the next van or we could walk as it was only 400m across the park. Pffffff 400m even I could that in 30C humidity. The path was well signed and there were around 10 of us who decided to walk. So we got to the first building and I went to check in to find out that was The Inn, but the Resort was just across the road and a further 3 minute walk. Needless to say once I got there it was busy with the re-accommodated Qantas passengers, new check-in’s and others waiting for their ride to the airport. The resort looks massive, a beautiful looking pool area, a nice restaurant and then the rooms and bungalows spread over the grounds. I had booked a bungalow and after wandering around a little lost with the map I was given at reception, I found my bungalow and entered into a beautiful air-conditioned lounge. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I don’t know how mum and I survived without air-conditioning when I was living here, that humidity really is a killer. Maybe I have just gone ‘Brisbane’ soft after not being here for so long?
What was remaining of the afternoon I spent contacting people for lunch and dinner dates for the 2 days I am here. I have a lunch date with Jo and Lisa, 2 school friends, dinner with my Dad and stepmother who arrive from Townsville tomorrow with my half-brother, his wife and my new nephew and then Monday is with my other half brother and his girlfriend. I will also get to the cemetery on Monday morning which really was the whole purpose of my trip here. There are so many more people I could catch up with, but once again I am on time constraints and I can only do what I can.
So I find myself back ‘home’. Where is that for me? It was always here while mum was alive, but now that she isn’t here, it has lost that title I think now. Is Brisbane home? Well it was till I sold my house, quit my job and sold the car. Is it Addis Ababa? Well not yet as I am still to get there and to find somewhere to live…. It is a little sad to think I don’t have a true home, but the upside is that I have an exciting challenge ahead of me and I would rather be where I am at now than trying to find a boring 9-5 job and settling back into a life that I feel I no longer think I belong and I mean that in a nice and good way. I have changed, my values have changed and I have different priorities in life that I just wouldn’t be able to here in Australia.
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