Darwin, NT, Australia (Day 29, 4211 km)

Darwin. A city devoted to the memory of Cyclone Tracy and the Japanese bombings (including some underground oil tunnels they built after the Japanese bombed the snot out of the hilltop oil containers they used to have) Apart from that not an awful lot to see or do, but it was a nice opportunity to change oil, oil filter and sparkplug (I hope the campsite didn't notice the oilpatch in the grass – I caught most of it...) and chill out. After a few nights in the campsite, I met up with Wendy's Aunty Helen for dinner, and she very kindly allowed me to stay for 3 nights until my plane was scheduled to arrive.

The day before I was scheduled to depart, I went on a tour of nearby Lichfield National Park – I avoided doing this on the bike in the interest of shipping it as soon as possible. First we went on a river cruise (near Humpty Doo) to see the jumping crocodiles (also the diving birds of prey and the pythons...). Then we spent the afternoon seeing some waterfalls and swimming under them. A reasonably good day, but I never feel too much at home in a group tour context, and overall I think it was a little overpriced. But I got to see things I wouldn't have, too. Wierdly enough some kind person managed to “mistakenly” take my shirt while I was swimming (leaving my shoes and camera) – I never did recover this, and had to go home topless...

Ah yes... a schedule... a wondrous thing most of the time. Darwin had been on high alert due to Cyclone Ingrid trucking in from the east – all sorts of alarm – “It's bigger than Tracy!”, “heading right for us~”, “maybe, maybe not...!?” Well, on Sunday morning, it was still well over 12 hours away, and the weather seemed ok, so off I went to the airport. In fact the shuttle bus forgot to pick me up, so they sent me a free taxi. Bonus! (I didn't have any Aussie dollars left so I was going to have to change some...)

However... the flight hadn't left Indonesia yet, supposedly due to the cyclone, but I was skeptical, as the rescheduling seemed to coincide with the cyclone hitting (if it hit at all...). Well, nothing worth going back to Darwin for (Aunty Helen was away and I'd dropped the key in her locked mailbox) so I bought a novel, rolled out my sleeping bag and started reading... 40 hours later, after about 3 reschedulings, and the cyclone missing Darwin completely (nothing more than a stiff breeze and some rain – most other flights continued all night) they finally decided to put me up in a hotel, although they stressed that weather-related delays were not really their responsibility. I and a fellow inconvenienced pilot were still skeptical, but at least now we got a decent bed, but no meals. And then they agreed to pay for meals too, and I and my new-found friends Janet and Rick from Canada, and J-P from Townsville, began to live it up large. The only downside was the rather undiplomatic Garuda Indonesia Airlines representative (who just before I departed told me “I've had enough of you!” She'd had a tough few days too, but really!) On Wednesday at 11pm, we were finally placed on a Qantas flight to Bali (I had earlier been given the option of a direct Qantas flight to Singapore, but couldn't see any point in missing out on Bali, when I had paid for the visa and would just be sitting around in Singapore, the same as in Darwin). Somehow in the mixup with taxis and hotels I managed to misplace my mobile phone, which has still not turned up... grr! My second loss!