{"id":108,"date":"2010-08-06T19:54:47","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T11:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/?page_id=108"},"modified":"2017-08-16T01:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T17:24:51","slug":"darwin-pg-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=108","title":{"rendered":"Darwin Pg 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 13th<\/sup>\u00a0 The alarm went off at 5:30 and we had showers and the last of the bread with some butter, and packed up.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad time; packing up to go.\u00a0 We dressed comfortably, and did the double-check of cupboards etc to make sure that we had everything.\u00a0 Then down to reception to check out.\u00a0 We then walked with our cases – mine on wheels – to the Greyhound office, which was only a few hundred metres away.\u00a0 We got there in heaps of time because we wanted to get the very back seat after seeing how much room there was on the tour coaches.\u00a0 We got our seat allocations and then went for a coffee at a little caf\u00e9 across the footpath.\u00a0 We rang home, even though it was a bit early, Perth time, because we would be out of mobile range for most of the day and wanted to check that there were no problems before we \u2018disappeared\u2019.\u00a0 All was well.\u00a0 Eventually, the coach pulled up and they loaded our cases on, then us, and we were off.\u00a0 Bye bye Darwin.\u00a0 So sad to be leaving!<\/p>\n

The Greyhound journey, to sort of lump it all together rather than chronologically, was an eye opener in many ways.\u00a0 Not least of all because you couldn\u2019t get comfortable enough to shut your eyes and fall asleep.\u00a0 We did not have the very back seat after all – after booking in an hour early to make sure that we did.\u00a0 The booking clerk had not been sure how many seats there were in our coach, so had given us 10 A and B.\u00a0 The coach had a seat 11.\u00a0 Either way, the coach was made by a different company and there wasn\u2019t the extra room for the back seat anyway, so it wasn\u2019t an issue.\u00a0 The scenery was lovely, although there were hundreds of kilometres of the same stuff in places.\u00a0 There were some spectacular red cliffs rising up from the plains for a while, and there were a few tiny towns.\u00a0 What does anyone find to do in these places?\u00a0 For work, rest or play.\u00a0 [Once you\u2019ve eaten the Mars bar, I mean.]<\/p>\n

We’d decided to make this trip by bus just to see what we thought of this kind of travel.\u00a0 I can tell you now, and could have told you within 3 hours of the start of the trip, this will be our last long bus ride!!!<\/p>\n

One thrill was the \u2018fruit quarantine line\u2019 [wrong name, but it\u2019ll do].\u00a0 We had to stop – miles from nowhere – and hand over any fruit, peel, cores etc. or honey that we might have.\u00a0 One inspector looked at the luggage in the holds, and another came on to the coach with a plastic shopping bag which people ended up putting rubbish in as well as fruit remains!\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s all right!\u201d\u00a0 he said, \u201cI\u2019m the desert garbage collector!\u201d and we all had a laugh.<\/p>\n

Some of the places we stopped at, we were allowed to get out and some we weren\u2019t.\u00a0 The driver had asked us only to use the coach toilet for emergencies, but when you\u2019ve been driving for 3 hours and haven\u2019t been told how long to the next stop, emergencies happen!\u00a0 We had a timetable showing what time we would reach each town, but had no idea if we would be allowed off or not because sometimes we’d stopped and had to stay on the bus.\u00a0 The drivers were not tour operators, but bus drivers, so they mostly just drove without giving any info.\u00a0 I guess many of the people who use the bus do it regularly and knew the drill.<\/p>\n

We got a meal break of 40 mins at Kununurra for our dinner, which we had in the bakery, as recommended by the driver.\u00a0 I am the world\u2019s expert on bacon and egg rolls and this one was a gold medal winner.\u00a0 The girl who made it had a broad London accent!\u00a0 I sort of expected to have only Aussie accents in the Outback, but she was back-packing through and liked it so much that she was staying for a while.<\/p>\n

Before we set off once more, we rang the boys.\u00a0 It was about 6:30 pm and peak call rate still, but we\u2019d be out of range again by 7.\u00a0 They\u2019d had a fight and I was hearing all about it at mobile rates, at my expense!\u00a0 I asked them to try to sort it out if they could and if not, forget the subject until we got home.\u00a0 It was all about Dan making a mess of the kitchen and Nat wanting to cook a meal the next day, and then rude notes being exchanged.\u00a0 The pressures of running a household!<\/p>\n

Other messages we had received from them over our time in Darwin had been 1) There\u2019s going to be a terrible storm with strong winds and we\u2019ve been told to tie everything down, and\u00a0 2) There are thousands of window faced envelopes waiting for you.\u00a0 Moral of the story?\u00a0 Don\u2019t ring home.\u00a0 Or better still, put the kids into a Doggie Resort with the dog.<\/p>\n

And so we were off again and night fell.\u00a0 We had been asked not to turn off our air vents as it would freeze the condenser.\u00a0 Instead of that, we froze.\u00a0 It was really incredibly cold with the icy air con blowing on us.\u00a0 We had 3 towels between us.\u00a0 One each were used as pillows, and the other in an attempt to keep over me for warmth, but when you\u2019re sitting, it keeps falling off.\u00a0 David went and half-sat\/half-laid on the seat in front and did seem to get a little sleep.\u00a0 I was terrified of getting a stiff neck.\u00a0 I am renowned for what a good job I do of these, and am totally crippled for about 3 days with them usually.\u00a0 Wherever I rested my head, I could feel the muscles objecting, so was too scared to settle down enough to sleep.\u00a0 Also, every time I nearly dropped off, I heard one of those little snores that appear from nowhere – it wasn\u2019t me!\u00a0 So I was a bit wary of that too.\u00a0 Worrying about who was playing this cruel trick, waiting for me to settle and then making noises\u00a0– convincing tale?<\/p>\n

We would never do a 26 hour coach journey again, but are glad that we did it once!\u00a0 I say that now it’s over!!!\u00a0 At unearthly hours of the morning, we were stopping in little towns to find groups of people waiting to put someone on the coach.\u00a0 The driver would open up the luggage hold and sit there, taking bankcard payments for the fare, and then loading them on.\u00a0 We presume that they just turn up hoping that there will be a seat, as they could have paid over the phone if they\u2019d called to book.<\/p>\n

We had been dropping off and picking up mail at intervals along the way too; some of it being even large items such as car parts.\u00a0 At 2:30 in the morning, we stopped by the side of the road and the driver handed a bag of mail to a man who was standing there waiting for it.\u00a0 We were running about \u00bd hour behind time, so the chap must have been standing there all that time.\u00a0 There is a daily coach, so it must be a daily routine!\u00a0 Yuk!<\/p>\n

It was pitch black out there.\u00a0 No towns with lights and no cars coming the other way.\u00a0 It\u2019s too dangerous for cars to travel at night in case they hit a kangaroo.\u00a0 We were warned by the driver that we might hit one in the coach, or it may need to swerve to miss one.\u00a0 A couple of road trains passed us and that was it for the whole of the night.\u00a0 [Road trains are semi-trailers with 3 trailers.]\u00a0 There was a huge noise and a strange feeling at one point and I thought we\u2019d hit a roo.\u00a0 About an hour later, it happened again.\u00a0 I was feeling really sad for the poor things.\u00a0 Then I was looking out of the window.\u00a0 The stars were certainly bright and I could see what little the headlights showed up on the sides of the road.\u00a0 Then there was a road-sign that said GRID, and the noise\/feeling happened again.\u00a0 Thank goodness for that – the roos were safe.\u00a0 We’d only been crossing grids, not hitting ‘roos.<\/p>\n

We crossed hundreds of small bridges during the journey, but there was no water under most, and very little under the rest.\u00a0 We started to see more and more boab trees as the dawn began, and we continued to drive until we got to Broome at<\/p>\n

\"Boab

Boab trees in Broome<\/p><\/div>\n

around 8am.\u00a0 The tourist bureau didn\u2019t open until 9 on a Saturday, so we had a look at a huge bill-board style map to get our bearings, and see where to find our hotel.<\/p>\n

It was a very strange thing while we were away, but David lost his sense of direction entirely!\u00a0 He\u2019s normally brilliant, but we had to rely on me more than once to find our way, and he admitted that I seemed more oriented than he was.<\/p>\n

The wind was blowing strongly, and continued to do so the whole time we were in Broome, but the sun was warm.\u00a0 We decided that David would look at the beginning of the journey and remember it, and I would look at the streets closer to the hotel,\u00a0 so that neither of us had to remember the whole lot.\u00a0 (We didn\u2019t have a pen.)\u00a0 David chose which way we started to walk, silly of me, after what I\u2019ve just told you above.\u00a0 Eventually we got to a street whose name I recognised and we headed off down there.\u00a0 We found the landmark I was looking for, the hospital, but it was on the wrong side of the road.\u00a0 Oh oh!\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a map.\u00a0 Only what we could remember from the bill-board.<\/p>\n

The cases were heavy, the ground was often too rough to wheel mine as there wasn\u2019t much in the line of footpaths, the sun was now hot and we were tired after 26 hours without sleep and sweaty from the walking and lack of a shower.\u00a0 I kept saying that we should stay along the street we were on until the 2nd roundabout and David kept saying that we should be heading more for the beach.\u00a0 We sort of followed his hunch the first time and mine the second, and so on, and somehow or another between the 2 of us, we managed to find the Palms Resort at last and went to book in.<\/p>\n

We were told that we couldn\u2019t have our room until 1pm.\u00a0 We did know that, but had hoped it might have been ready sooner.\u00a0 At least we could leave our cases at reception.\u00a0 Groan!\u00a0 I want a shower!\u00a0 Now what are we going to do?\u00a0 She gave us a map of the town and a \u2018Town Bus\u2019 time-table, so at least we could have a look around without walking any more.\u00a0 It was a while until the bus was due, so we did walk up to the beach to have a look, but then time had passed faster than we\u2019d expected and we had to hurry to catch the bus.\u00a0 I just want to lay down!\u00a0 We bought a day ticket each and hopped on and off the bus as suited us.\u00a0 It ran clockwise; or anti-clockwise; and we asked the driver how many drivers there were in the fleet.\u00a0 \u201cFive\u201d he said, proudly! \u201cTwo of them part-time\u201d.\u00a0 We won\u2019t move to Broome expecting David to get work!!!\u00a0 The timetable was set so that the bus always got to each stop at the same number of minutes past the hour.\u00a0 Very badly explained – let me try some more.\u00a0 If you were catching the clockwise bus outside the Palms Resort, get there at 23 minutes past any hour and it will come.\u00a0 And so on.\u00a0 That I really liked – how sensible!\u00a0 But the system closed up shop around 6:30 pm, so wouldn\u2019t take you to a restaurant etc.<\/p>\n

So we saw China Town which is the touristy shopping precinct where all the jewellery shops are selling Broome Pearls, as expected.\u00a0 And we had a snack style breakfast and a coffee in a little back-street caf\u00e9.\u00a0 A beautiful, peaceful location but hmmm, it was pretty pricey.<\/p>\n

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Friday 13th\u00a0 The alarm went off at 5:30 and we had showers and the last of the bread with some butter, and packed up.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad time; packing up to go.\u00a0 We dressed comfortably, and did the double-check of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":33,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-108","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3802,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions\/3802"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}