Litchfield National Park -12th/13th Aug

After a busy week at work we manage to escape down the highway to Darwin's nearest and dearest National Park- Litchfield. This is much closer than the more famous Kakadu which comes later and mostly accessible on sealed roads without a 4WD. After driving in through Batchelor and stopping to see both the Magnetic and Cathedral termite mounds (the former all lined up to point the same way, the latter very large) we spend sunday night in a Safari camp. It's a fixed tent with beds but we do gather wood for our bbq and cook burgers under the stars. It's a jolly cold night- the first time I've been cold in a while.




Up soon after the sun and the day is warming up. Before it gets too hot, we walk to the Cascades- a series of waterfalls within a rainforest, beautiful. I swim at Wangi falls which has a great swimming hole. Also on the agenda are Florence falls-another good swim, Buley rock holes and Tolmer falls. It's a beautiful day with beautiful scenery.

Race day and beyond: 6th to 11th

Mon 6th is Darwin Cup day and a public holiday and it's off to the racetrack for us! It's my first experience of races anywhere and it's a fantastic atmosphere- everyone scrubbed up and at leisure and the thrill and power of the horses. Suz and I realise we have no idea of how the odds work in Australia and have to find someone to explain. Then we try our luck with a few small bets using different methods of selection including which jockey is the smallest and which horse is the prettiest! I lose 5 x $5 but it makes it more exciting having someone to cheer. Susie wins $170 partly by accidentally betting twice as much as intended and the champagne is on her! It's a great day out, hot, sunny, with a young and friendly crowd.

More work follows and I meet a few more representatives of Australian wildlife including the Tawny frogmouth and Possums. I treat a lot of ear infections- common in the heat and humidity- and more dogs who have fallen out of the Ute (pick up).

On the Thursday we decide to get our fortunes told at the market. Tarot cards and palms- we both sound to have long and promising futures- luckily! I'm due to dabble in politics at some point, Susie is going to write a book. More study for both of us but good health and financial security!

Darwin- (off the topic of the weather) 27th July to 4th Aug

I have a few days before work starts and after my poor efforts last time as a tourist I need to try a bit harder. So I get up on reasonable time and head to one of the suburbs for the markets on Saturday morning. Weekend morning markets and evening Sunday and Thursday markets are very much a Darwin thing and great for tasting Asian and multicultural cuisines, buying souvenirs and hearing a bit of music. (I know, it's a hard life being a tourist!) Later on that same day I visit the Botanical gardens- all very tropical but then need to make it home for a bit of patriotic Olympic ceremony watching!

Sunday 29th marks 6 months since I arrived in Australia. I spend a bit of time in the morning visiting the Parliament building- a new, fresh, arty-looking building with a lovely terrace overlooking the sea. Not a bad place to be a Politician! The Northern Territory of course isn't quite a state and is separate from the rest of Australia (though how separate I'm not entirely sure)In the evening we made it to the sunset markets at Mindyll beach, watched the sun go down choose some food and absorbed the atmosphere of people gathering, milling and eating.

Work starts then and it's hectic. It would be less hectic without having to figure out an alien computer system, learn new protocols and find everything I need- but it would still be hectic. I'm initially a little shocked by how rough around the edges some of the clients are. I'm still getting used to the idea that a lot of dogs live entirely outside and I spend the best part of a day stitching up a dog attacked by a pig and in multiple pieces almost! But I get to see a Dingo pup, try to fix a Blue-Winged Kookaburra and vaccinate Wallabies! 6 long exhausting days pass and its only the odd once I'm home in time to see the sunset at 6.30 or walk Ben, Susie's dog, newly arrived in Darwin after quarantining in Sydney.

Back to Darwin- July 26th.

Off the plane into Darwin in the middle of the night and it's balmy; unacclimatised at all it's a warm and rather restless first night listening to the gentle swishing of the palms in the breeze. August in Darwin is in the Dry season. December to May is the Wet and between the two is the build up- the prelude to the Wet when the clouds gather, the humidity becomes unbearable and people "Go Tropo" (a bit mad). It's humid enough in the dry for me and with temperatures in the shade each day of 30, hot!

It's bizzare that within one country the climate can change so dramatically. At night the temperature drops to about 17, the regional news reports the night time temperature in Alice Springs of -1, still up to a daytime of 30. But then, that's the desert!

I don't think it's an exclusively British thing to be fascinated by the weather but I'm aware when I start work here that much of my initial small talk with clients mostly refers to the weather and I have to check myself because here almost everyday is the same: perfect blue skies, hot, hot sun and a slight breeze. It would be odd to mention the weather! Later I do but only because there's a bit of a morning mist one day! As alternative small talk topics perhaps I should ask about their pig hunting and barramundi fishing (that's what you do "in The Territory" .

Still on the weather: what makes it stranger is that although I go to sleep under a thin sheet and only after dawn need to perhaps pull a blanket over me as well yet everyone is talking about "the cold weather". Because the night time temperature is 17 at lowest!! Honesty put these people in the UK and I doubt they'd survive.

The weather's not the only contrast. In Adelaide I awoke to the sound of laughing Kookaburras, here in the tropics it's drifting to sleep whilst the geckos are chirruping and awaking with the eerie cry of the Curlews. It's like another country yet it's only 3 hours from Adelaide, a bit further from Sydney. Imagine a country where if you fancy a bit of winter sun you simply hop on a plane and head North!

Every night there's a perfect sunset over the sea, the only time it's cool enough to jog or walk the dog and many locals pop along for a bit with a fold-up chair and a beer, sit beneath the palms and watch the sky change colour.