Section 2: Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Melbourne Airport is a bustling hive of activity. People and planes coming and going at all hours of the day and night, numerous shops and eateries and 56 gates from which to arrive or depart. So you can imagine how different it was landing in Darwin International airport which has 5 a few people, a shop and two eateries from which the travellers can chose from before departing from one of the 5 gates. Darwin airport sits on the RAAF Base and as such can only be used for commercial flights at certain times. Luckily for me, I managed to get a flight that landed at a reasonable time, unluckily for me my plane was 30-45 minutes late landing causing me to miss meeting the real estate agent and not getting the keys to our new place.
Walking through the terminal you are greeted by a big sign that says 'Welcome to Larrakia Country'. The Larrakia (Saltwater) people were the indigenous people who lived in the area that would become Darwin. Estimates say Aboriginal people had been in the top end for over 40,000 years, which probably explains how on my first few days I saw some of the local aboriginal people wearing jumpers jeans and beanies on 35 degree days where the humidity was hovering around the 100% mark. I of course am not from a Larrakia background and walking out of the air-conditioned comfort was like walking into a wall of heat. Once the automatic doors opened and I stepped outside, the sweat started and didn't stop for almost the entire time I was there.
So I had arrived in Darwin. The only question was, where was I going to stay? I had missed the Real Estate agents thanks to Jetstars delayed flight, so going into our rental property was out of the question. Only one way to solve the problem. Call Bec and see what hotel rooms were available in the city that night. One search of wotif.com and a a small dent in the credit card later, Bec informed me that she had booked me a room at a place called the 'Asti' for the evening. The Asti sounded to me like one of those old style hotels from the 1920's that you see on movies set in that period.. Boy was I wrong.
Instead of a classic style 1920's hotel, I was confronted by an aqua monstrosity that was set very close (diagonally across from actually) to the park that the Brenden Abbott aka the Postcard Bandit was captured (If you haven't heard of him, this should tell you more). One of the later functions of the Asti was to function as accommodation for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. But all I wanted was air-conditioning and even that wasn't working properly.
To put it bluntly, my first few hours in Darwin had been miserable. I had our modem and my little netbook computer with me and went straight to the airline websites. I was getting out of this place come hell or high water (both of which it would seem I would experience within the next 12 months), hang the cost! I was racked with regret and self doubt, why, I asked myself repeatedly, had I chosen to do this? I was going to ring Somerville the next day from Victoria and tell them sorry, I couldn't do it. I was 4,000 kms from home and I just wanted to leave.
I rang Bec and told her that I was coming home as soon as possible, that it was stupid to come here, that I must have been out of my mind when I applied for this job. Bec showed a much cooler head than I and managed to calm me down enough that I agreed to give it a month. Also, thank god for facebook chat and thanks to those people who I was chatting to that night, who listened to my emotional rants and helped me feel a little better. I finally drifted off to sleep around 11, exhausted, emotional and unsure about what I was going to do next.



Title Song- Leaving On A Jet Plane by Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, from the album  Have A Ball! (Plus Bowling Tips From The Gutter Punks)