Just thought I would post on my last day in Darwin, being as I have had an eventful couple of weeks since I last posted.
I finally managed to get work - all 5 days of it - in the month I have spent here. In typical Sod's Law style, I wasn't given any employment until I had given up on ever managing to get a job here and booked a flight to Brisbane, which obviously made me instantly employable.
So, I have spent one day unloading Arnott's biscuits from a lorry into a warehouse (got free biscuits at the end of that one!), one day cleaning about 12 toilets/showers in my hostel, and 3 days cleaning various parts of the local Army Barracks, which wasn't a bad job, as I got to look at hot men in army gear a fair bit. Although, unfortunately, there is about an 80% ratio of fat middle aged army men to the few young ones.
My streak of bad luck continued to worsen in the past few weeks, as I had to make a trip to A&E thanks to a blister on my foot getting infected and turning black. I initially dragged my plague infested foot gimp-style to a pharmacist, thinking he could fix it. Unfortunately he took one look at my foot, mentioned something about "losing a toe if the infection got into a bone", and made me hot-foot (pardon the pun) my gangrenous self to Casualty. Which meant I lost several days to feeling feverishly sick, guzzling antibiotics and sitting around with a black foot.
But on a lighter note, a friend of ours at the hostel had free tickets to the Darwin Cup, which is a bit like Ascot, but where the women dress up and the men wander round in shorts drinking beer. I made a couple of bets on horses (after asking locals how you bet) , although I was a pauper, so I only bet a grand total of $3, which is just over a pound. I also got to bet $5 of some drunk guys money on a horse, although annoyingly I didn't win there either.
All in all that was one of the best days I've had in Darwin, I've never seen races before and I've never gambled, so it was a good experience, plus our friends won some money so we got free food and drink all day :)
Now I have checked out my hostel and am waiting for a flight to Brisbane, which leaves at the lovely time of 1.10 in the morning. Ness is flying in a couple of days after me, as I couldn't hold on anymore, I have to leave Darwin now before I turn into a mentalist.
Speaking of which, I am hoping the locals in Brisbane might be a bit more normal than the yokels here. They are mainly men who seem to have not bothered learning manners, or a sense of personal boundaries. I am getting sick of lewd comments such as "Nice tits, love!" and getting checked out whilst walking down the street. One guy they other day actually took off his sunnies and stared down my top whilst walking along with his wife.
It will be nice to get to Brisbane, and back to the normality of the Western world. Fingers crossed I get a job there!
I finally managed to get work - all 5 days of it - in the month I have spent here. In typical Sod's Law style, I wasn't given any employment until I had given up on ever managing to get a job here and booked a flight to Brisbane, which obviously made me instantly employable.
So, I have spent one day unloading Arnott's biscuits from a lorry into a warehouse (got free biscuits at the end of that one!), one day cleaning about 12 toilets/showers in my hostel, and 3 days cleaning various parts of the local Army Barracks, which wasn't a bad job, as I got to look at hot men in army gear a fair bit. Although, unfortunately, there is about an 80% ratio of fat middle aged army men to the few young ones.
My streak of bad luck continued to worsen in the past few weeks, as I had to make a trip to A&E thanks to a blister on my foot getting infected and turning black. I initially dragged my plague infested foot gimp-style to a pharmacist, thinking he could fix it. Unfortunately he took one look at my foot, mentioned something about "losing a toe if the infection got into a bone", and made me hot-foot (pardon the pun) my gangrenous self to Casualty. Which meant I lost several days to feeling feverishly sick, guzzling antibiotics and sitting around with a black foot.
But on a lighter note, a friend of ours at the hostel had free tickets to the Darwin Cup, which is a bit like Ascot, but where the women dress up and the men wander round in shorts drinking beer. I made a couple of bets on horses (after asking locals how you bet) , although I was a pauper, so I only bet a grand total of $3, which is just over a pound. I also got to bet $5 of some drunk guys money on a horse, although annoyingly I didn't win there either.
All in all that was one of the best days I've had in Darwin, I've never seen races before and I've never gambled, so it was a good experience, plus our friends won some money so we got free food and drink all day :)
Now I have checked out my hostel and am waiting for a flight to Brisbane, which leaves at the lovely time of 1.10 in the morning. Ness is flying in a couple of days after me, as I couldn't hold on anymore, I have to leave Darwin now before I turn into a mentalist.
Speaking of which, I am hoping the locals in Brisbane might be a bit more normal than the yokels here. They are mainly men who seem to have not bothered learning manners, or a sense of personal boundaries. I am getting sick of lewd comments such as "Nice tits, love!" and getting checked out whilst walking down the street. One guy they other day actually took off his sunnies and stared down my top whilst walking along with his wife.
It will be nice to get to Brisbane, and back to the normality of the Western world. Fingers crossed I get a job there!
posted by Sarah at
2:51 am
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