HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Reunited with my Greek Posse
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Realizing I may not be returning to Darwin for a long time
WORD OF THE DAY: I Love a Sunburnt Country
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 3752km
I leave Darwin today for Melbourne, from one family to another. My Greek Posse. When I did my Contiki tours last year there were 5 gals that were on my Contiki Spanish Spree that were also doing Contiki Greek Islands. So after 2.5 weeks together we were going to be spending another 2 weeks together and we were so lucky that we all got along well and welcomed the extra time that we would have together on the trip. There are just some people on tours that you connect with and Lisa, Bree, Dee, Jess and Kaitlin were lucky enough to have clicked. Greece for all of us was a massive DRINKFEST. I don’t think I have drunk so much alcohol in a 2 week period ever. Seriously, the alcohol was cheap, we had great company and the days rolled into nights that rolled into mornings and the drinking just really never stopped. We also picked up 2 new people to our family with Danni and Kasey and we were now complete with 8 of us. There were nights we all looked after each other and the best day (I can remember) was an impromptu pool party we had in Santorini. It was a great trip and at the end of it, we all promised once I got home that we would have a Greek Posse Reunion and this is how I came about my trip to Melbourne.
I thought I was on an international flight this morning from Darwin. Jetstar have their Singapore, Bali, Bangkok and Vietnam flights all pass through Darwin before heading into domestic ports. So it didn’t sound unusual for me to think that I was. So I was up at 4.15am, dropped the car back to the airport depot and walked the keys to the desk at 5.15am to find that there was no-one there to speak to. This usually isn’t a problem as they have a key box drop, so I did this with no concern and a pat on the back of another successful car rental. I had filled the car up last night and Brisbane people should not complain about the cost of fuel when it was 1.53 a liter in Darwin!!! I headed to the Jetstar self-check-in machines, but they were all closed so I checked in with a check-in chick and asked about the flight and would you believe that it was actually a domestic flight!!!! So I was at the airport 1.5 hours early!! Oh well it is always better to be early than late, but I could have used an extra hour in bed…… My suitcase weighed 4kg heavier than when I left Brisbane at 22.8kg and that doesn’t take into account the 2kg of salty plums I had in my carry -on bag. It was nice to be travelling with a suitcase though and to have plenty of room to pack things. I way too much clothes by in my defence I needed summer gear for Darwin and winter gear for Melbourne and because I could-so I did.
I was surprised just how busy the airport was, there were people everywhere at 5.30am. I headed through the security screening and I was pulled up again for my Ethiopian bangles and had to get a personal body search. I was told to put my Croc’s through the scanner when I told her they are 100% plastic, she replied back, how are we supposed to know that (nicely) and I guess she had a point. After the frisk I was then asked to do the explosive swab test. I was fine with this as I have had several of them done and just takes a minute to complete. Well you can imagine my HORROR when the swap came back POSITIVE!!! I can’t even tell you what ran through my head those first few seconds of a positive explosive test. Where did I get it from? The car? The hotel room? The procedure then is for the tester swabs himself and then they re-test you. I was so RELIVED when my second test came up negative and I was free to head to the departure gate. I was heaving a sign of relief from that scare as I tried to find a seat to kill some time. It was weird to see Red Rooster open so early and they had the full menu open but I am happy to report I was able to resist the urge to get a classic quarter and chips at 6am!!! I managed to find a seat and set up with my computer and get some of the blogs that I had written the last few days loaded. The one good thing to help kill my time was the free Wi-Fi that Darwin Airport offers. As I haven’t had proper computer access since leaving home it was great to boot up and I was lucky enough to find Zeme online at the same time so we had a chat before he had to go to bed as they are 7 hours behind us. There is only so much a handheld device can do, I love my Blackberry, but you just can’t beat a proper computer. I could see now why it was so busy, looking at the departure TV’s there were 7 flights leaving before mine and my departure was at 7.15am.
We were on a A321-231 aircraft with a 3x3 seating configuration. I had my window seat and the plane was full for the 3 hour and 50 minute flight travelling from the top of Australia to the bottom. It made me think if I have ever flown this route before after living in the Territory for 15 years, and I think I actually did once to play in the Australian Junior Championships in 1990. As we started down the runway I had a few tears in my eyes as I realized that I don’t know when I will be back to Darwin again. I do enjoy my trips ‘home’ and they never seem long enough as I still know a lot of people here. I should make a bigger effort to spend a week or 2 here and see as many friends as I can, next time. I spent 15 years here and even though Brisbane is ‘home’ now, Darwin always holds a place in my heart and in my memory. I can see now how ‘home’ was Newcastle for mum, but she always lived in the Territory for nearly 30 years.
This made my 61st flight in 16 months and it was a beautiful view from my window today. We travelled over the heart of the Northern Territory with is beautiful red colored dirt making me think of lines from a poem by Dorothea MacKellar “I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains”. We then travelled over amazing salt pans in the middle of nowhere and then into a brown colored land that snaked with a dark blue river for kilometers with not a cloud in the sky. I sometimes want to tap people who sit in window seats to take a look out the window, there are amazing views that you would just never get anywhere else in the world. I guess I am being a little sentimental at the moment as I leave my homeland, my country to live somewhere else and make it my new home. This is only expected and I know for a fact just how good we have it here in Australia.
As we came closer to Melbourne the Captain made an announcement that Tullarmarine had one runway closed and he had to hold in 2 holding patterns over 25 minutes till we were given the all clear to land. We then had to wait another 15 minutes for an aerobridge to become available before we were then able to deplane. Talk about a rig-marole. I text Danielle and Bree, Bree had arrived 30 minute prior to me, so the airport pickup worked out well for Danielle who had taken the rest of the week off work to spend with us for us to meet at baggage claim. Lisa and Deanne are from Melbourne and Kaitlin, Kasey and Jessica were unable to join us for the 3 nights so we had half of the Greek Posse reunited. It was great to see the girls and they looked so different, in a beautiful way, out of their backpacking travelling clothes!!! With a few hugs and a few OMG we can’t believe it we headed back to Danni’s place for her to get her gear. We also stopped at a supermarket to stock up on some munchies and buy dinner for tonight. We spent 150 bucks on snack food with the exception of some mince, spaghetti sauce and garlic bread, 150 bucks on chips, dips, cheese, soft drink and biscuits. Oh breakfast was also included in that of bacon, eggs, muffins and bread. I wonder if we will consume all of that over the next 4 days!? No meal was complete without alcohol and the girls purchased 4 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of vodka to get us started for 100 bucks. Ahhhh now this really is a Contiki Reunion!!!
It was now after 3pm and our apartment was ready for check-in. We were staying at Melbourne Docklands and where reception was, our apartment was in a different building. So once we checked in we had a security swipe to get us into the building 2 down and then the reception guy met us in the car park, to walk a flight of stairs to get to the lift to get to the apartment. It was a little work, as we had our bags, plus the shopping but between the 3 of us we did it all in 2 trips and the views that we had were certainly worth the work. We had a 3 bedroom apartment that over looked the marina, Etihad Stadium and part of the city. It really was a beautiful outlook.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with a wine glass in the hand and just catching up with Danni and Bree and then Lisa and Dee arrived at 6pm having had to have worked today-suckers!!! Then dinner was cooked by Danielle and we just sat around the table till 11pm just catching up, laughing and drinking 3 bottles later. There were a lot of questions for me, which is natural, as it is pretty unusual and different what I am about to embark on. I am getting used to all the questions now but I am hope that when I tell people behind my motives (besides Zeme) I hope that I am not making people feel bad about their way of life here in Australia. Not every country has all the opportunities that we are given here in Australia; we really are a lucky country. But I am not so focused anymore on the ‘western’ culture as I am now in trying to help people that are not as fortunate as us. My whole mind set has changed and when we spend 100AUD on grog I think now that a well-paid Ethiopian gets paid that for a month’s worth of work. This is purely my perception and I couldn’t give a hoot if some-one spends 100 bucks on shoes, but my mind is ticking on what could be done with that money in Africa. I am on an email list for a volunteer company called Global Volunteer Network and in their latest newsletter you can donate 44AUD and this gives a child in Africa a hot meal for lunch for 12 months. I spend more than that on a night out. It is all just a perspective and I don’t intentionally want to make people feel bad.
Dee had to work in the morning so she and Lisa said their goodbyes and we would be seeing them both again tomorrow. What a day-a long day, but I am happy I took the time to come and see the girls on my trip home. We have a great group and a lot of people always talk about catching up again after tours and it never happens, for whatever reason, but I was always confident that it would, once I make a commitment to people, 99% of the time I stick to it. This has worked in my favor most of my trip but has also been my downfall as I probably would have made my return to Africa a little earlier if this wasn’t the case. All good things come to those who wait.
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