Darwin = Turkeys+Explosions+Beautiful People - Crocodiles

Yep Darwin. Its a pretty cool place all in all. I do think i wouldn't mind living here if i lived in Australia. Although i don't know how many places i could find good art jobs. Nevertheless i have had a very relaxing week of opening bank accounts and walking around and mailing stuff across the planet and walking around and other normal things. Its like i'm a part of society again! And about the video yes meri keeps chickens in the backyard of his not so suburban house. Free range baby! Of course his roommates ravenous dog kept eating all of the english muffin i was trying to feed to the chickens.

OH AND THE BUSH TURKIES.

Behold. The face of my NEMISIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vG7O3iHqg

This is the most annoying bird on the face of the planet. Known as the Orange Footed Scrub Fowl, or more commonly the bush turkey, i guarantee it is most foul indeed. Not only does it set up a GIANT pile of dirt in your back yard as its PERMANENT nest, but it is nocturnal. Imagine hearing that noise they make in the video twenty times louder and for half an hour intervals at 2AM. Not only that but if you listen they aren't just making that noise for their own amusement. Some other bush turkey far off in someone else's backyard calls back with the same noise. OVER AND OVER AND OVER. I have a small pile of rocks which i keep next to my tent so i can scare them away in the middle of the night. They always come back. Meri dug a big hole out of the side of their nest and used it as fertilizer for his garden so they spend all day scratching away trying to fill it back up. So if they spend all day scratching and all night squawking, when do they sleep?

Also in addition to bird calls all night long fireworks are very popular in Darwin. I mean really popular. People all over seem to set them off any time of day without occasion. I am not complaining i think that's totally awesome, but it can be a little unnerving to hear what sounds like gun shots all night long coming from not to far off in the neighborhood.

Other than the ongoing fight against the bush turkey scourge, life is pretty laid back in Darwin. We have gone to some barbecues and parties, gone fishing in a beach tributary and in the pool of an abandoned house (apparently there is a baby barramundi in there) and just generally hung out. Oh and i got to play banjo with a band in front of a whole party of people, that was cool. The banjo was missing a string but it was still awesome to get up there and do it.

Also all this craziness about crocodiles in Darwin is a bunch of crock. Much like the bats in Austin i think they are just a hoax put out there by the corporate tourism machine. . . . . maybe not, but I have been to the beach every day, gone swimming, and have seen no crocodiles. I don't think crocodiles even prefer to hunt on beaches. they are more of the wait-in-still-murky-swamps-or-rivers type. Ocean beaches are a bit too exposed for crocs i think. Apparently you can't swim here in the wet season because there are thousands of extremely deadly box jellyfish in the water but i am not too worried about being eaten by a 5 meter crocodile. maybe in kakadu or fishing in the mangroves but not at the beach like everyone keeps telling me.

OH and AMERICA, I have discovered my purpose in life. Like Marco Polo before me i am returning to my homeland to revolutionize the food world; throw your maple syrup away because in Australia they eat their pancakes with lime juice and brown sugar. i thought it sounded weird at first but i will never eat my pancakes with syrup again. apparently lemon is also acceptable. If all goes according to plan in three years time everyone in Europe will be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and i will be able to order my pancakes at ihop with lime juice and brown sugar. Muahhahahaha.

As nice as my stay in Darwin has been i am off tomorrow for Cairns. I will be leaving in a relocation van with a british musician from Liverpool ( . . . . Paul Mccartney?) an irish guy and a retired farmer from Tasmania. I haven't met the other two but the farmer is quite a nice guy and has some very interesting life tales to tell. Unfortunately i did not get to make it to Kakadu on this trip. I was trying to find a ride but i had too much business with the bank account to set up and other stuff so i ran out of time. i only have a few more weeks here in australia and i need to get over to the east coast ASAP. So i think i will be seeing the Daintree rainforest instead. The worlds oldest tropical rainforest bordered by a pristine white sand beach. yep it exists.

http://www.tropicwings.com.au/images/gallery/Cape%20Tribulation.jpg

So if all goes according to plan i should be spending my birthday with a stiff drink on the beach in Port Douglas or Cairns then head up and see cool trees and stuff in the rainforest. Preceded by four days of driving across thousands of kilometers of boring tablelands.

Ah but it's spaghetti time and i'm starving!