The First Big Leap

This is the first of a eight parts series. Check out the others Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8. 

It has finally happened!!!
I've grown up enough to venture into another continent beside my birth one.
All you globe trotters out there, I can see you smirking but hey, a girl who has longed to travel but somehow never went beyond India's borders can be excused for blowing her trumpets far and wide just because she visited another continent, albeit just for a week.

After becoming a Mrs. my travel dreams were starting to fulfill, one by one. I took baby steps to countries nearby - starting with Maldives for a honeymoon trip, then on to Singapore for establishing a family, the net slowly widened to include Hong Kong and Malaysia. Then one fine day, the baby steps turned to a leap and landed I did Down Under!

One of the reasons which make me look fondly at my fellow singaporeans is that they celebrate the chinese new year for 2 days - which, translated, means we get more holidays! Though we had known about the holidays beforehand, a lull in office work spurred us to take consecutive days off and book passage to Australia. (I know I should say 'flight to Australia' - but 'Passage' is much better sounding and Old Worldy!!)

A drizzly night found us landing at the Darwin airport located on the northern tip of the Oz land.We rented a car from AVIS and drove to our hotel - where an almost-rude desk clerk said we can check in not one minute before 12 noon. So bundling our bags, we scoured the Darwin streets in search of a place to rest our tired, sleep ridden selves (I LOVE how much of a traveller I sound!!!). Save a few aborigines on the streets, most of Darwin was sleeping. Finally, we chanced upon a friendly cafe owner who was just opening his shop who pointed out Maleluca on Mitchell to us - a backpacker's accomodation. (If you're a newbie, see Note to know what a Backpacker's accomodation is)

After much needed sleep and bath, it was on to Italian Brunch at Chianti's. After Singapore, we felt like we were paying exorbitant amounts for food. We had paid less for petrol! If we had come straight from India, we would've gone without food!
By this time it was afternoon and we could check in at the Darwin Central Hotel - and were very impressed when we did so. The room was spacious, comfy and cozy. And the bed was very welcoming compared to the warm Darwin sun pouring thru the window.
Resisting the impulse to sleep yet more, we set out to explore the city - and found it almost as sleepy as it was in the early morning.

This state capital can be compared to one of our large developing villages - a few main streets filled with shops, hotels and bars, one mall and people going about their business slowly and you're sure they all have time to 'stop and smell the roses'.

A sign over a little eatery begged us to enter - "Little India" it proclaimed with audacity, whilst serving malaysian dishes that we were all too used to at S'pore! After a hasty microwaved roti, we drove around the city, taking in its few tourist attractions. Soon it was time for Aquascene, where we get to feed fish that come up with the tide and swim quite tamely between our feet.

If the fish could've spoken, they would've given a new meaning to our local phrase ' as loud as a fishmarket'. The fight for the pieces of bread we were throwing them was raging in that fish kingdom and they were quite unashamedly swimming over, under and beside each other to grab a bite. Dignity was a word they had never heard of!!

After this entertaining spectacle of watching fishes making fools of themselves, we went to a Sailing club nearby from where we caught a glorius sunset. We also included the Mindel Beach, Cullen Bay, Dudley Point and East Point in our circuit. It makes no sense for me to explain each - travel brochures already do that. And a dinner at Garam Masala (yes!) wound up Day 1 in Australia for M&M. (See Note)

Since this post is long enough already, I'll close it here and start Day 2 in another one. (Grrrrr... Do I hear relieved sighs?)




Note 1.Backpacker's Accommodation
In two words..Cheap accommodation. Rooms with only bare necessities.

Note 2. M&M
Not the candy brand. This is us - I and my Hubs.