At about three o’clock this morning, I woke to the sounds of thunder, rain and croaking frogs.
Though I’d only been in Darwin for just over 12 hours, it was a welcome relief from the heat and the humidity.
“Look after yourself. It’s only a 90 minute time zone difference. But the heat and the humidity can shake you around”, a colleague warned me.
Though I could probably do the sums, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve visited Darwin. Most recently I was here in August. On only two occasions have I been here when it wasn’t in the midst of the dry season. On both occasions – April and December – it was extremely warm and humid. And it was again when I arrived around lunchtime yesterday.
The 90 minute time zone difference caught up with me early last night when I retired for, what I thought, would be a brief nap. When I woke up, the Evening Show on ABC Darwin was still on the air, though initially I had no idea if it was 7pm or 10pm. It was only 8pm, and so I headed in to town to grab some dinner and go to the supermarket.
The confluence of a few things at work has brought me to Darwin for a week. The work ahead of me will keep me busy, and so I’m not sure there’ll be much time for after-hours activity.
“There’s no Arts Awards or Baker Boy playing at this time of the year”, my colleague joked. Though looking online reveals Neil Murray is playing a gig on Saturday night, and it looks like there’s an interesting light installation along The Esplanade which I’d like to check out.