Yes, this was worth a blog entry

http://www.xkcd.com/

The Myth of Walkabout

As I now have a new blog devoted to my more academic opinionating (hey, English is an evolving language; if I say it's a word, it's a word and I'm hardly going to use the more accurate 'pontificating', am I?) the Myth of Walkabout has now been moved to a more appropriate location at http://www.galtha.blogspot.com.

Has the LHC reactor destroyed the world?

Has the Large Hadron Collidor destroyed the world yet? What do you think? Let me know.

LRD thinks the world is a figment of his imagination, which is why he gets all the food and drink he wants and I carry him everywhere. Yes, in Little Red Dave's world, he is God.

This Balanda had a great night

The tourists have left, the streets are emptier and the Danish cyclists are no longer taking their lives into their hands on the roads. Yes, the Dry is almost over and as the humidity starts to slowly build up, Darwin is saying goodbye to the cool weather with the Darwin Festival: 14 days of music, theatre, art and food in the Botanic Gardens.

Last night was the NT Indigenous Music Awards at the amphitheatre. After a day spent recovering from the extraordinary amount of alcohol I consumed the night before (I drank 4 beers and 1½ bottles of wine, talk about a walking advertisement for the dangers of binge drinking), I was just well enough to make myself down to the Gardens (photos below).

The Awards were a load of fun, although not particularly well organised (my favourite moment was when they asked one of the bands to come back on stage and found they’d already left). The highlight of the evening was the Chooky Dancers, sporting a bit more co-ordination than in the past. If you haven’t seen their YouTube vid yet, check it out. These guys are talented and irrepressible. They naturally performed Zorba the Greek and it was just as entertaining as expected.

The hero of the evening was without doubt Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu from North-east Arnhem Land who won four major awards, including act of the year and album of the year. In case you've never head of him, Gurrumul sings in Yolgnu and has been blind from birth. I own his solo album and it is beautiful.

The band B2M from the Tiwi Islands was named the emerging act of the year and are probably hoping that Boys2Men never hear about them.

Overall, a great night.

Life is like a gift they say, wrapped up for you everyday

Yes, it has been a month of somewhat ordinary miracles as the reality of my hectic schedule for the next 6 months starts to really sink in. Uni has started back again and I have to do a remarkably boring managerial course for work, although this has meant three trips to Brisbane in the next few months. Yay for work-related travel.

I have, however, managed a few touristy things: a few trips to Mindel, dinner at Pee Wee's (by far the best restaurant in Darwin and something you have to book about a month in advance this time of year) and a day trip to Mandorah.

Mandorah is a small community just across the Harbour from Darwin City and, according to my guide book, is a good place to go for lunch by the sea. It wasn't the most exciting outing but the boat ride was nice, even if I still couldn't find the promised fairy.

I fear my blogging will be somewhat sporadic over the next few months as I once again knuckle down to three subjects. Please read through the arhive and feel free to comment.

99 red balloons

If there's one thing Territorians know how to do, it is party. And that's party with a capital F for firecracker. It's firecracker night in Darwin, otherwise known as Territory Day, and even now the dogs of war are being released over my head.

The view from my balcony down over the bay is pretty good at any time, but spectacular with hundreds of fireworks being released all over the city.

Earlier, I went down to Fanny Bay to join the multitudes in setting off fireworks on the beach with some friends. We had a prime position near Mindel and the Casino and the view was amazing.

I had been finding it difficult to motivate myself to join in (drunken Territorians trying to blow off bits of themselves didn't seem like a good time, at least in theory) but changed my mind at sunset when my neighbourhood simply went off. No time to be at home.

Now the city is covered by a thick pall of smoke, fire engines are racing everywhere, there are distant sounds of people cheering and...I think...yes, one of my neighbours has possibly just set fire to that tree. Time to hose the balcony down.

Darwinians certainly don't do anything by halves.

I'll take 31 degrees over 13 anyday

As they say, "time flies when you're...unbelievably busy". It's nearly July and with July comes my new job; or rather an old job, as I go back to my substantive position in Canberra. I will be working remotely, which means I had to visit Central Office last week to re-connect with my team and be briefed on my new project.

I actually had a great time visiting Canberra; in many ways everything is so unchanged that I feel as though I never left. I was reminded of the stark winter beauty of frozen deciduous trees; ate, drank and made merry with old friends; and generally froze my arse off dear Lord was it COLD.

I swear I'm about 5 kilos heavier and no longer possess a functioning liver. Yeah, I guess then it was a fantastic trip.

Pizza: It's a Thing

In my family, as in most, we have institutions.

Not many people's institutions are pizza, science fiction and red wine (I don't mention Bundy rum 'cause, as unAustralian as it makes me, I just could never like it) but institutions are always individual ((or maybe independently communal (communally independent?).)

Despite the fact my family are far away, tonight I made myself pizza (gluten-free dough, gluten-free salami, no yeast, little cheese - is that still pizza?) and thought of home. Now I just have to pour myself a glass of red wine and find an episode of Star Trek...miss you everyone. Hope you had a good long weekend.

What's in the grass?

The Dry is here.

The dragonflies are gone, the mornings are cold (19 degrees this morning) and the humidity is gone. The annual burnoff has started. The faint smell of smoke is almost permanently in the air and a miasmic haze blurs the horizon.

With the Dry comes Mindel Markets, sunsets, tourists in vans heading south and a raft of outdoor activities. The Deckchair Cinema is once again operating and, last weekend, the Bass in the Grass music festival attracted 3/4 of Darwin.

After a beautiful lunch at my mate Deb's place at Cullen Bay, we walked over to the festival with our daggy hats and drank, sang, danced and generally felt...really really bloody old.

The Audreys were great in the afternoon, Gyroscope was quite forgettable, the Hilltop Hoods went off and, despite my dislike of hip hop, I am now a fan (go figure). Wolfmother were bleeding awful and Powderfinger still remains my favourite band in the whole world. They're like an old friend you haven't seen in years but you can still sit down and talk to for hours.

The turnout shows just how much Darwin is crying out for quality entertainment. Anyway, had a great time, even if I did have to be at Uni at 10am the next day. Oh, the pain!

Le Chalet Bear

To celebrate Little Red Dave's brand new home at LittleRedDave.blogspot.com, here's another piccie from the Dave files. This was taken at the end of 2000 in France on a fantastic skiing trip to Val'disere (hopefully someone will correct my spelling soon).

Dave was mostly a Chalet bear on this trip. While I hit the slopes, he stayed inside and drank lots of hot chocolate.

For me, this trip is most memorable for my brutal ski instructor who, despite being totally terrifying, taught me how to parallel ski in only one week.