Darwin

Well - Darwin is a lovely little city. Not that I have done very much here except chill out in the pool at the lovely hostel (Elkes Backpackers) and take a tour on the 'Tour Tub'.

Part of the reason is that it's the tail end of the wet season here. Not much rain during the day (though it is rumbling with thunder outside just now) but it was quite hot for the first two days here. Life is very laid back as a result - no one rushes because it's too hot. And, because it's still 'the wet' two of the things I really wanted to do in Darwin aren't open at the moment - the deckchair cinema and the night markets, which are renowned for their fantastic food stalls. Still, I am going to have to come back to Oz at some point to see the west coast so I will just have to come back to Darwin then.

But the other reason is that I am now laden with the cold. Really bad timing since the big trip I have really been looking forward to for ages starts at 6.30am tomorrow. But I have been trying to take it easy today and have plenty of cold and flu tablets to dose myself up on, so hopefully everything will go fine.

I have learnt a bit about Darwin in the few days I have been here though. Darwin was quite heavily bombed by the Japanese in WWII, but it took the Australian government years to reveal the full extent of what happened up here. At the time they didn't want to panic the rest of the country. So after the first attacks, during which more bombs were dropped on Darwin in one day than were dropped during the Pearl Harbour attack and hundreds of people were left dead or injured, Australian newspapers ran headlines along the lines of '14 hurt in Darwin raid'. To this day, apparently, many Australians don't realise the full impact that the Japanese raids, more than 60 in the space of two years, had on Darwin.

And, if that wasn't enough for one city to cope with, Darwin also had Mother Nature to contend with. On Christmas eve 1974 a massive cyclone ripped through the city and destroyed 60% of the buildings. The museum here has a big exhibition showing the devastation the cyclone reeked across the city with audio recordings of the cyclone itself and footage of the immediate aftermath.

But it's not all devastation here. I did spend an hour this morning feeding fish at the beach. Hundreds of wild fish which come in every morning and take bread right out of the hands of people on the beach. You can wade in and have fish swimming all around you - tickling you feet. Some of them are pretty big fish and it was a pretty cool sight.

But, as I say, the rest of Darwin will have to wait until next time to be explored. Because tomorrow is the start of the epic 18-day trip form Darwin to Melbourne. Here's hoping I will be well enough to enjoy it!