A Week in Darwin

Sangeetha Arrives!

So today marks my 1st week in Darwin. A full 7 days away from the familiarity that is Singapore. I have to say, Sangeetha and I have settled in pretty well. Since she arrived on Wednesday, we have started to focus on the finer details of the apartment. Things like laundry baskets, dish washing racks, shoe rack etc have made their way into our apartment. So let me get all of you updated on the happenings since my last post.

So after an emotional send-off for Manoaj, Sangeetha and I made our way back to our apartment and slumped our lazy arses on the inflatable mattress that Manoaj had left behind. Oh by the way, this mattress is really funky stuff. It cost about $50 (4 years ago) and inflates to a Queen size. Apart from loud rubber noises when we toss and turn in bed, the mattress serves its purpose in terms of allowing us to sleep. So if you are in need of a mattress for a seldom-

used guest room or intend to bring a mattress for travel, be sure to look for inflatable mattresses. So back to our Wednesday evening... About 10 mins after, I walked to the balcony and looked out. Lo and behold! There were dudes kicking a ball around in the park. FOOOOOTBAAALLLLL!! "Think - dog staring at a sausage with tongue dangling''. I quickly got down and approached two guys seated at the back of their van trying to get their cleats on.

On hindsight, I should have approached them with more conviction. But I had started my approach rather slowly and as I walked towards them, they stared at me probably wondering what I was up to. Anyways, I went to one of them and asked them if they were having a friendly kickabout or they were into some sort of formal training. We are 'Shamrock Rovers' was the reply. They told me that they trained twice a week (Mon & Wed) and asked me to pop my boots on and join them. Unfortunately, I had another plan that evening and told them that I would join them the following week.

So what was this other interesting thing that I had planned that evening? Well, I was going to attend a meeting with the Darwin Camera Club (DCC). Sangeetha and I had a pact. I would attend the meeting and enjoy the night, while she stayed home and tidied up the apartment. Wait, did someone say unfair?

The light at the end of the tunnel... is barely sufficient

So, there I was seated in the midst of 25 other Darwinians (not sure if that's what they call themselves). It was an interesting session and since it was the first meeting for 2016, there were a couple of new members as well (me included). I learnt that they had organised a trip to Singapore (I know right?) in March, so I offered my help. The club treasurer was extremely pleased to hear that I was from Singapore and requested for me to go through the itinerary with her once she had drafted it. Eventually, the meeting ended (after 2 hours) and I stepped out only to see nothing. I mean NOTHING. It was pitch black. Having been accustomed to light polluted Singapore, I got freaked out. I couldn't see where my car was! Thank God for creating people who were smart enough to include flashlights into smartphones. Well, I got home safe and to a clean apartment. Dinner was a drab affair that night with half a bottle of instant pasta sauce dumped into a pan of boiled fettuccine. 

Green stuff are growing!

Thursday flew by rather quickly. We spend the morning in the apartment. I realised that my plants were growing! At noon we headed down to Casuarina Square to sort out Sangeetha's phone. She was having trouble connecting to mobile data. Anyway, that was settled in a flash and we proceeded to meet Christine. She was the owner of the house we had stayed at when we visited Darwin in December. Did that make sense? Let me try again. We stayed in an AirBnb in December during our recce trip. The house belonged to Christine but she wasn't there the entire time. So we decided to visit her when we eventually moved to Darwin. It was a joyful session and she was quick to point us toward the direction of possible job openings. She also served as a fantastic fruit smoothie.

Lovely red tomatoes

We then headed to Coles for more groceries and then ended up in a store called Officeworks. This was like the Mustafa of office stuff. Anything office related could be found here. We got ourselves a study table and two stools for our kitchen counter top. Once home, we started preparing dinner and assembling the table. As we had some leftover of the drab pasta from the night before, we improvised on it; threw in some chicken and mushrooms and walah! We then got to assembling the table which honestly took a total of 10 min (including the unpacking). That was a wrap for Thursday.

Frances Bay

We started today early and were out of our apartment by 9.15am. The first thing on the list (check out the app Wunderlist), was to open a joint bank account. I had thought we could add Sangeetha's name into the account that I had already opened. That wasn't the case and we ended opening a new account. We then headed to Jape Homemaker Village where we bought more home items. Once home, I spent some time washing the car while Sangeetha sent out job applications. We then headed our for a walk around the neighbourhood. We spend more than an hour walking in a drizzle and clocked 7.5km. Not bad for an evening stroll. Back home, we got to whipping up a quick meal which marked the end of today.

Tomorrow we are hoping to head down (or up) to Howard Springs. We had wanted to visit the jumping crocodiles of Humpty Doo but the weather has caused most boating trips to be on hold at the moment. Let's see what happens at Howard Springs. Till the next update, have a good one mates!