We're in the Top End!

I'm back!

This time I am writing to you from the very tip of Australia. In fact, this part of Australia is closer to Asia than to the southern part of Australia where I started out. It is part of a different state called the Northern Territory, which is a huge area. The certain part of the Northern Territory we are in is called the Top End, because you can't go any further north here and still be in Australia. There is a remote part of Queensland that goes a bit further north, and there are the Torres Strait islands that are part of Australia that are further north by a bit, too, but in this part of Australia, the next thing is the ocean, and after that, Asia. We arrived in Darwin Friday night, and the weather is even warmer than in Queensland, so it was good that we had air conditioning. We spent most of Saturday doing laundry. Usually when you go on a trip, you take enough stuff so that you don't have to do laundry until you get home. But when you are gone as long as I am, well, you are going to have to do laundry! Still, we were able to get in a couple of fun things. We first walked around the city a a little, looking for a place to have lunch. Darwin is a pretty small place, but still the largest city in this whole area. Outside of Darwin and its suburbs, there aren't any other cities, or really even TOWNS, for miles and miles; sometimes hundreds of miles. So, it's kind of remote, but it has all the things you would find in a small city, and people who live out in the even more remote areas, called the Bush, come in here to get supplies. People also come here to have vacation when it is cold down south. Remember, it is winter here, so people from southern Australia have really cold weather, and in some places, even snow, so they come up here in the tropical area to get warm and be outside. It's kind of like when people from Indiana go to Florida in winter. Anyway, we found a really nice little cafe that served Moorish food. Moorish food is a combination of Spanish and North African foods, like the restaurant we went to in Manly, near Sydney. Sasha and I shared dishes so we could try different things, and we tasted chorizo (spanish sausage), North African ham croquettes (kind of like meat, potato and cheese balls), grilled pita, and a grilled Moorish chicken dish. It was delicious, and it was fun to try some more ethnic foods, which you know I love to do.

That evening, we also had the chance to do something really unusual. We went to the Deckchair Cinema. A cinema is a place where you watch movies, except this one was outside, and we sat in rows of beach deckchairs. It was so much fun laying back on the deckchairs, eating potato chips and icecream,  watching a movie! It was a comedy, so we laughed and laughed. What a great way to end the day!

The next day I picked up a rental car. Remember, here they drive on the left side of the road, so I had to remember all that, plus, I got a manual transmission car, which means that I have to shift the gears myself. Instead of it being on the right hand side of you, it's on the left hand side of you, since your steering wheel is on the opposite side of where it is in the United States! Lots to remember, isn't it? Fortunately, I remembered how to drive this way because I did it twice in Ireland, so after a little while, I was all used to it again.

Sasha and I were headed to Kakadu this day, a National Park 2 1/2-3 hours out in the bush, with few villages or towns anywhere around. Before we went, we were able to spend several hours with an Australian family I had contacted before I left the United States. We met them and went to church with them, then had lunch. They shared with us all about their lives in Darwin, and about Australian life in general, and we learned some really interesting things about the culture and geography of Australia! One thing I did was take pictures of their house to show you because they build them in a special way based on the weather and climate of Darwin. I will tell you more about them (their names are the Watsons) when I get home. Maybe some of you would even like to write to Becky, their oldest daughter, because she is just about the same age as you are.

Then we headed out here, to Kakadu, where we are now. The next post I will tell you more about here. It's an amazing place, and I have appreciated it more every day I have been here. Until then, cheers!