Arriving in Darwin was like landing on another planet...
Flying up here was one of the best times I've had on an airplane - Ryan and I got fairly smashed during the flight and enjoyed some beers while reading a Zoo magazine together. He happened to know two dudes from his hometown on the plane who were a couple of male strippers going to a gig. One of the boys made good friends with a stewardess and helped out on the plane collecting empties and garbage. I think I saw them sneak to the back together.... and then later she was passed out in the seat behind us snoring loudly bent over with her sleeping mask falling off her face. o.O
Flying over Australia was so beautiful, hands down the most scenic flight I've ever had. Before we knew it the 4 hour flight was over and when we touched down, it was literally like I'd landed on Mars - the earth is red, and the plane cabin was full of this David Bowie-music video-esque smokey steam. Apparently this is condensation going through the air conditioning unit and is completely normal... apparently.
Gamble was waiting for us at the airport and we painlessly picked our luggage off the conveyor belt and loaded it into the troopee, including our swags (mattresses with a little tarp over them like a tent). Had a few beers while driving around and grabbed some groceries to make spag bol (spaghetti bolognese).
We ended up getting completely smashed with Star and Fav, the owners of the house Gamble is staying at. They have twin twelve year old boys who are really into reptiles and they were more than happy to show me their pythons and blue tongue lizards. They're such amazingly well-mannered boys and Star is a total free spirit, such a sweet heart. Her and I like to swim around in the pool in the evening drinking while the boys all have their man time together wrestling like idiots. She's chatting with Ryan and I as I'm writing this and just said how last Christmas she "chucked some roo on the barbie, it was lovely."
Meanwhile the news was on the whole time and we watched cyclone Yasi hit land, category 6 cyclone, the biggest in Australian history. Yes, I've whitnessed the largest flood AND the largest cyclone during my time here.
While Cairns and Mission Beach got totally fucked over, thankfully no one was killed. It's also good news that the roads aren't too terrible so we can drive down the coast through Aerlie Beach and the Gold Coast - for a minute there we were thinking we would have to drive through the interior the whole way, aka days and days and days of red Aussie desert Mad Max style.
Yesterday we drove around Darwin, grabbed a bite to eat to nurse the hangover. Gamble later ended up puking this up at the servo (gas station) and then when we were driving out in the bush he took a terrible emergency shit. That was the first time I saw Gamble naked yesterday...
Later in the afternoon we went to the Leaping Croc park. Half pissed (yes, we got more beers again) we loaded into a boat with ten other tourists to cruise up the river. The guides tie a chunk of buffalo meat to a long string attached to a stick and dangle it over the face of the crocs who swim up to the boat. They tease them into jumping out of the water so you can take pics, then after a few jumps they feed them and you hear this epic CHOMP as the glup it down. We saw four crocs, one was just little at 2 meters and two were fucking massive males, over 4 meters. :-/
We then headed to the Humpty Doo pub for a beer... which turned into a lot of beers. Being at this pub was like being in the Crocodile Dundee movie to the extreme - Gamble and Ryan in their croc hats, shirtless and chilling out in a sweaty red-dusted pub with dozens of terrifying-looking good old Aussie boys. Me, feeling a lot like Sue trying to keep a low profile in my aviators, everyone staring at me because I`m sticking out like a sore thumb. We ended up getting totally BLIND, chilling out on the patio barefoot in a singlet (tank top) while watching the lightning and pouring rain.
Headed back to the house, I switched to water at this point as I was so messed up but the boys got into it pretty hard... Gamble and Fav naked wrestling two separate times (the 2nd and 3rd time I saw Gamble naked). Then they cracked into the home brew beer, a few days early apparently, and shit got mental. The boys went hunting around the yard and found a tree frog, which was the 3rd species of reptile encounter I`d had in 24 hours haha.
Also saw a video the boys made when they were like 20, so so funny. Ryan wakeboarding, duct taped to the floor getting tomato sauce (ketchup) poured all over his face and being taunted with a fan, talking to the cops totally hammered. Gamble catching enormous fish. Fav falling out of the tinny (aluminum boat) totally hammered, setting off fire crackers, cracking an egg on Star`s face when she`s passed out... funny shit. :-P
Today we`re going to get organized for the big road trip, gather supplies and make sure the boat and troopee is good to go. Probably going to grab a kangaroo burger in a bit...
Straight up - Darwin is the most bizarre place ever. It`s so hot here and so so humid, just moist and sweating and thirsty all the time. Like Hawaii times a million. People make fun of how Australians drink all the time but up here it`s like a necessity. And this is the wet season, I can`t imagine how batshit hot it is here during the dry.
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