I feel like I've only just arrived, but here I am on my last night in Darwin already!
I have been so incredibly fortunate to have had this amazing year in Darwin - amongst so many things that I will remember about this place there have been some highlights.
Living in a beautiful tropical house with Johanna, Pete and Namiko - I loved this place from the first time I saw it, with its high ceilings and bright airy feel. Never mind our problems with ants, or rats (we only managed to catch two, one dead under the washing machine and the other in a trap that I named Patsy), or spiders.. we did have the occasional cane toad and some very cute green tree frogs too. Having a lovely place to call home was definitely a nice setting to my year in Darwin.
Cool people tend to be attracted to Darwin, it is a law of life that I found out pretty early on. So many doctors (and other staff of course) in the hospital have done different things with their lives - most have travelled, many have worked overseas, lots have different hobbies outside medicine.. It's made for such an interesting year of getting to know people. I was pleasantly surprised by the likemindedness of so many people - lots of hippies and free spirits, dreamers and roamers - I fit right in!
East Timor was a true highlight - Being on deserted Jaco island with the perfect shimmering turqoise water alongside a strip of fine white sand was the epitome of the dream holiday for me, but the truly special moment was when I saw coral reef and tropical fish swimming in the ocean for the very first time. It has motivated me to learn to swim - thanks to my housemate Namiko (and Chatu and Megs), I'm slowly making some progress out of the drowning stage. I never knew the ocean made little clicking sounds (it's the fish talking to each other!) and I really want to hear it again, and see those fish again. Maybe one day I'll go diving...
Mango season was insane too. I will never forget getting up on Sunday mornings (whether I had to work or not!) and going to Rapid Creek Market to buy mangos. There was one particular stall run by a Vietnamese family that I went to every week, and there was one week I bought 10kg of mangos! Eventually we chopped some up to freeze, and so long after mango season finished we were still enjoying mango smoothies.
Camping out at Edith falls, we walked up to the top pool and had the whole waterhole to ourselves. It was an amazing breakfast alongside the beautiful pool with a little waterfall at the far side. The next day we bought a giant watermelon in Katherine and camped at Katherine gorge where the sunset over the river was a deep dark orange. Kayaking in the gorge was one of the most fun things I did this year - it was so pretty that I felt like we were kayaking into a postcard. I love lots of tropical plants but the pandanus trees alongside the gorge had to be high up on the list.
Markets are part of the lifestyle here - I would go to Rapid Creek most Sundays to get fresh fruit & vegetables, and I loved the feel of being able to buy local produce that was in season, chat with the people who grew the vegetables while touching and smelling everything. Parap was often a Saturday haunt, and I'm faithful to the BBQ pork on a stick stall and the laksa lady. Ironically, Nightcliff markets which were my original motivation to move to Darwin have not featured much on the radar because I usually go home or to work after Rapid Creek. I probably went to Mindil the most because Seetha loved it there - my favourite stall was the Happy Cow vegetarian stall, which sold lots of yummies including my favourite Cowpat (spinach & cheese pattie with a gooey inner).
The Darwin festival was a pretty awesome few weeks of fun and activities. Just hanging out at festival park on the lawn with the little wooden seatbacks was great, and there was one show that I really enjoyed - Wulumanayuwi and the seven Pamanui, a Tiwi adaptation of Snow White and the seven dwarves. The other shows were more so-so, but it was such a happening time in town.
I loved Deckchair cinema, and went as often as I could. There was something so Darwinian about watching the sunset, grabbing a plate of Hanuman's curry and rice, dousing oneself in insect repellant then sitting down to a film while the fireflies flitted gracefully above. There were so many stars in the sky that sometimes I ended up watching the sky instead of the movie.
A few friends came to visit, Elaine was first in June and we headed out to Kununurra together stopping to gawk at the giant boab trees which I adored. Lydia & Elsie visited in August and we spent a long weekend in Kakadu - I loved the sunset at Ubirr. Hsiang made a cameo appearance, then in October Shelley & Thu-ha suddenly showed up and I didn't even realise they were coming!
And.. I had so many memorable dinners that I could not even write them all down if I tried. The most prominent on my mind is probably the Christmas extravaganza at our house, involving way too much food (including a rhubarb crumble from MP!), Christmas carols and people playing silly instruments such as a crocodile xylophone. In a town where eating out options are somewhat limited, I've been blessed with eating lots of excellent home cooking. I will never the freshly shucked oysters at Matt & Jerome's, they were just the best..
The dry season - is there anything better than the dry season in Darwin? Crisp blue skies, beautifully cool nights, wonderful sunsets. But even the wet season has its own appeal, with the huge thunderstorms and lightning that slices through the sky. We almost had a cyclone, but it got lost on its way to Darwin..
Last but not least, the patients and the pathology at Royal Darwin Hospital have been absolutely amazing. I have seen so many outrageous things that it almost seems normal to me now. I was lucky to have gone on outreach to Tiwi, Katherine, Gove, Groote Eylandt and Minyerri, flying around on those little planes ducking the storm clouds. On our way back from Groote, we flew over the Kakadu escarpment and saw Twin falls and Jim Jim from far up in the sky - it was awe-inspiring.
I have enjoyed Darwin so much that I feel melancholic about leaving. At the same time I know the experiences and memories will stay with me for a long time, and I'm so glad to have met a few friends here that I might keep for a while. With everything that ends comes something new, and the next chapter of my life is about to start in Sydney. So... goodbye Darwin, I hope to be back again some time!
