From Darwin to Rat-alaide

Darwin


So it was time to leave Darwin, i was beginning to think if that time would ever come? I spent the last 2 nights with the amazing couch surfer Sylvia, my pure Chinese friend, her housemate and pool, nothing fazes her, even a visit from me.

Sylvia and myself

Hold up, hold up, did you say 'pool'? Yes i did and i entered VIA back flipping, the only decent way to enter a swimming pool, did you know that?

So the last night ended in me losing my phone after drinking a little too much Jim Beam, i dont think Jim would have been too cool with that, or maybe he would, who knows?

The next day, i got some guy to call the number and some sergeant answered it at the cop shop.
So, off i went to get it, then Sylvia called me to tell me she was home from work, she didn't have work, but she went and found out she didn't have work, i once went to school when there was no school, is this history repeating?

So after a quick 'Hello', 'Goodbye', no dice, no pay she was back.

So, it was turning out to be another fortunate day in the life of Kieran O'Callaghan, yet again and with that i decided the best thing to do would be to go to the casino and use some of that luck.

Some asian guy next to me at the casino must of gambled 60k in less than an hour, he was gambling 2k on every spin of Roulette, i lost $90, then won $130, i got out of the game.

I had to feel sorry for the guy bitting huge, he was making impossible bets, he wasn't going to win what he was betting, i only it was his money that he lost and he wasn't working in a bank on his lunch break, ouch, it would be enough to make any bank manager choke on his ham sandwich, maybe too even a lesbian working in a sperm bank? Who knows?

All that, at lunch time, in Darwin, Charles Darwin, what would he say about the evolution of the species that frequent Casinos?

Confused? You might not be the only one looking confused!

So i left a bit early, i left about 5.5 hours too early, i was glad to go to the place where planes go up in the air, and take the air road over the Stewart highway, the highway where many back packers went missing.

Rat-alaide here i come, to hang out in bogan central, the home of Holden Commodore, rev heads, bad drivers, cold weather and willy warmers.

Something to keep your brains warm

My couch surfer friend Paula picked me up from the airport and brought me to Casa Fisher, she took the day off, so, hanging tired, off we went to the city for Sushi train and it was epic!!

The next night we went to hear a band called 'Fallen Sunrise' practice, had some beers, had a smoke, fell asleep, laughing at the kids luminous stickers of stars and moons on the celling, the stickers were probably made for kids, but in my state it was hilarious!!

It's the funniest way i can think of to go to sleep!!

The planning is everything and the plan is nothing

Autumn with a bang ( i did have a nice picture with an Autumn feeling, but this was wrong, it wasn't mine, and someone probably sweated blood sweat and tears for it and i used it)

So i found another photo for all the people, it's not Autumn, but that's life i guess?

You'l be pleased to know, Kieran has turned a new leaf and i like leaves, Maple ones, especially in the Autumn. I know this as i once ventured up state New York, my New York state of mind demanded it, they cal it the fall and it was one of the most amazing sights to behold.

I saw pictures of my friend Janet kicking leaves in Korea, but they weren't Maple's, but Janet had the experience and we both know the feeling!

But enough of leaves in my continuing quest to be normal, i've decided to pay closer attention to:

1, Pacing people

2, Reading situations

Not that i don't already, these are NLP techniques i learnt, so why dont i practice them?

Right so, sez the brain we'll try those and see how we go.

Also, i will be committing to history, binge drinking and drinking by myself, only responsible drinking from here on in, from responsible Kieran.

Good plan

Sounds like a plan and a plan i intend to keep!!


Bad plan

And i have to throw this one in, since i mentioned leaves

Autumn Leaves

Darwin has a park and stuff, so we went there

Day trip to the park


So, a lot has happened since i was tanning myself in Darwin and looking at birds, probably the coolest birds in the world, probably?

So, i went to Darwin and took in the sights, sights being reading while it was raining (is that a sign of multi tasking?)

So the agenda in Darwin included hanging out with Couch surfer Kim, going to Woolworths every day to get discounted salad and bread, after 5pm bread gets discounted, which might not mean much to much folks, but if your Kim, thats a bargain to be had and we did it.

Kim leads a very secretive life, so this is the best i can do

Kim would wander in with no shoes or shirt and people would try not to stare, Kim didn't care as long as the salad was discounted and he would eat it like a bag of chips, i'm glad to say i've taken his salad eating habit up and if the salad is discounted, sweet!!

One time, i was in the bottle shop, they have a strict policy of not selling to people that dont wear shoes, The sign said

'Alcohol will not be sold if you are not wearing shoes'

Kim wanders in to talk to me, a girl stocking shelves tells him he has to leave as he's not waring shoes, Kim points out, he's not there to buy alcohol, he doesn't drink, she tells him get out anyway, it was pretty funny as the sign should of said 'No entry permitted to persons not wearing footwear or the like?



Kim has started doing city tours of Darwin, walking ones and he was kind enough to bring me on one, he covered the bombing of Darwin.

Did you know that Darwin was actually bombed 58 times and not once? No, well neither did i, but the government was terrified that people might panic if they knew how bad the attacks were, so they lied and everyone believed it and everyone lived happily ever after, well almost and cyclone Tracy came through town and tore Darwin a new arsehole, maybe it came from Japan? Not that i know, but i'm not ruling it out!!

 I saw Sweetheart, the notorious croc that they caught with a roadkill dingo, once they catch a croc in a croc trap, they can never be re released into the wild, it would appear that crocs are really smart and wont fall for the same trick twice

We met some couchsurfers at the usual Friday night hangout, the 2nd time we went it absolutly bucketed down, turns out the wet season was supposed to be over 6 weeks previous, but it wasn't, my ears got wet and when i looked up, my face got wet!! Stupid mother nature!!

I ended up at the Casino a few times, as per usual, when you start winning big, you forget the rules you want to play by and start playing by the rules the casino wants you to play by, Stupid Casino! I did have a good time

Meet the wonderful Sylvia

So, i stayed the last 2 nights in Sylvia's place, Sylvia has a pool, very nice!! And i like to practice my back flips, because when you can do them, it's no fun, no fun at all!! Sylvia's boyfriend did one the first time he tried, impressive, and then we were diving for coins, oh what fun, i'm just glad i'm old enough to appreciate it.

Crabs on the beach



P.s.
I must of listened to this A LOT, i wouldn't have it any other way, how do you want it?

Cos i like........Birds!!

Video is from Alice Springs


I saw these birds carry on around the pool, where i was staying with couch surfer David in Alice Springs and i thought to myself

'I dont want to be reincarnated as a Butterfly or a Spider monkey, i wanna be like these guys!' 

Ans truth be told, the birds did sound like monkeys  and oh the fun they were having!! I was actually jealous, it was the sunset, i was still a bit hungover and they were having a dip in their bird bath, i was after doing a few back flips in the pool, so i suppose i had my fun?

Then the parrots came in, to see what the big deal was and one of them went to the bird bath and looked in and seemed very confused, he didn't take the plunge and i was watching the whole time! I was saying 'Jump, jump, jump!', but he looked at the water and flew off, it was like he had the experience, but missed the meaning



Road trip


Source of the Katherine river

We're off to Never Never land...............

Alice Springs Telegraph station

So, myself and Rodger got dropped off at the back packers, to get a ride up to Darwin and before long we were off with the Norwegian Inglemar.

Life is the road and the road provides, we didn't have insurance, only the most very basic, any little bumps and scrapes would come out of someones pocket, that or else keep on driving or run like hell!!

The Inglemar didn't seem too disturbed, we were in his jeep and that's where this rant starts, the road, pot holes and all.

The story is about the road, the Stewart highway, a guy called Charles Todd was pretty keen on putting  a telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin, for the purposes of communicating with London, so that's why the road was built.

The Afghan cameleers helped open up the interior of the country, it's interesting Afghan/Pakistan cameleers originally supplied camels to Burke and Wills journey and they did a similar journey up thought the middle of the country.

We passed water holes on the Stuart highway on the way up, now they are historical markers to take a few snap shots, but back in the old days, they were the difference between life and death, we were riding at 130kms most of the way, with air-conditioning, so as you can imagine, things have changed a bit from them old days?

Believe this?

The first place we called to was Wycliffe the UFO capital of Australia, lost of stories of bright lights, Agent Mulder would be getting erections hearing bits of those stories

Moving along, we went up the road to catch the end of Devils Marbles sunset, which was spectacular

Devils Marbles sunset

Equally spectacular was the mosquito's, they were CRAZY plus hungry, i had to get back to the car and stay there, Rodger and Inglemar tried putting up a tent, i opened the door of the car at one point to ask them something and Inglemar starts jumping up in the air and slapping himself and he says

'Man, it's crazy!!'

I had to laugh and close the door, it probably answered a few questions for me, not that i was going to be asking any more questions, or going out in that, I've never heard mosquito's that loud before!

Eventually they put the tent in the boot and got the hell out of there, to the next town and go a hostel, the local have never seen so many insects, it would have been crazy to camp, i'd doubt Bear Grills would do it, why should we?

The next day we passed through Never Never land, they made a movie about the place and the woman's story, maybe you should check it out and get back to me with a review reader? Hmmmm?