Hot hot hot

03/08/2009 15:50:37 - 36 mm - 1/4000 - f/5 - ISO 640 - view location

I arrived in Darwin at around 3am. As soon as I walked out of the little plane I felt the damp warmth. It wasn't that hot but you could feel the humid air even at this early time. After the shuttle dropped me of I walked towards my first YHA hostel of this trip. The night-guy was waiting for me. He let me in, gave me a quick tour and showed me my bed. It's a small room which houses 6 people. I made my bed and went to sleep cause I was death tired.

In the morning I was still tired but went out anyway. So as a well prepared traveller as I am I did some Slip Slap Slopping first. (Slip into a shirt, slap on a hat , and slop on some sun screener) It is the most bearable season but it's still damn hot. It's about 30-34 degrees. I just went out to bicentennial park and kinda stayed there for the rest of the day. Just like many other people I layed around doing nothing except some reading, planning and dreaming. It was just to warm to do anything anyway. The sun toasts the grass and many parks need sprinkles to avoid it to be turned into a desert. I drank a lot of water and tried to stay hydrated. I think I'll manage the heat after a few days.

Anyway today kinda sucked, maybe it was the heat and me being tired, or maybe just that the first aboriginal I encounter shouts my ears off. "What the fuck are you looking at!!" Ok.... I turned slightly away trying to avoid a closer encounter and started walking just a little faster. I had my shades on and wasn't even looking at the guy, I was just looking in his direction. But that seems to be good enough to let the drunk man go berserk on me. Rod warned me about the Aboriginals and told me to avoid them. Now I see why. The park is full of them and for what I have seen they just linger around in bushes, hassling tourists for money or just drinking and laying down. The other traveller I met was being hassled, they claimed money and food. He gave them an apple and some money, I refused.

It's a sad story actually. I'm not going in on all the details because it would take to long. The fact is that the Aboriginals having a hard time fitting into the new and unasked for society. They have a different culture and they are being exposed to the modern way of living which was not present for such a long time. It's sort of forced upon them and the government did some bad things to them in the past. Most Australians I spoke to have this kinda sad-story-guilt-feeling about the whole Aboriginal history.