The Dave Files: Part Something or Other

Apparently there's a rumour that this blog was supposed to be about this "bear" called "Little Red Dave", affectionately known as LRD or even just "Dave". In honour of this, a photo from the Dave Files just to remind us all why we're here.

This photo was taken in the beautifully-restored city of Dubrovnik in 2001, probably about May. After trekking up through Northern Greece, through Macedonia and Kosovo and then moving down through the glorious Montenegro I arrived, broke, in Croatia. Restaurants, ATMS, other tourists, local men looking down on me because I was a poor backpacker and wasn't dressed well enough: all the trappings of modern civilisation again! As I took a taxi from the border through the mountains, the cab driver stopped to give me a wonderful view of the city. I'll also attach this photo, although it doesn't do the view justice. It was taken on an old film camera and then scanned and has lost a lot of resolution in the process.

I absolutely loved Croatia and didn't stay there long enough. Firstly because I had had to leave Montenegro because I ran out of money (yes, I actually went to Dubrovnik just to use the ATM!) and went back there as soon as I'd cashed up, and secondly because I was racing to get to Italy before the peak tourist season. If I'd known that it's always peak tourist season in Italy, I wouldn't have taken the freezing ferry from Split and would have made my way to Zagreb instead. Still, beautiful country. Would love to go back.

My inspiration for post titles is gone

The Wet is here! What happened to the build-up? It just never really happened. I'm disappointed actually. There's nothing better than a steaming day with the pressure building minute by minute until it finally breaks in a spectacular electrical storm. It seems to have gone from the Dry straight to raining. I find it not a little ironic that while Darwin is experiencing so little storm activity, Brisbane is being wiped off the map with its worst storms in like 30 years.

Haven't been moving around too much lately, mostly due to work and Uni. I have finally finished the great all-consuming research project, the popularised version of which is in a post below. I also spent the last two weeks in Nhulunbuy (Gove Pensinsula, north-east Arnhem Land) doing some work at the indigenous community of Yirrikala. It was not the most successful trip but it was great to see a part of the country I would probably not see otherwise. Here's a photo of Nhulunbuy from the lookout, which is on a Yolgnu sacred site nearby.

I also managed a short trip to Galiwinku, an indigenous community on Elcho Island and the home of Gurrumul Yunipingu. They've recently had a festival there complete with the Chooky Dancers, Saltwater Band and Gurrumul. Wish I'd been there to see that.

Wisdom teeth: is there a better argument against intelligent design?

My teeth hurt. I mean, my teeth really hurt. Not only do I have two wisdom teeth floating in my sinus cavity pressing against bundles of nerves, but one is currently engaged in an attempt to move all my other teeth slightly to the right to give itself room. The pain is constant, the pain is grinding and, while the pain is not overly bad at times, its persistance is enough to drive me into a slow insanity.

And as I sit here, doped up on painkillers that seem for some reason not to be working and contemplating all those aspects of our physiology that are now redundant due to the great force that is evolution, I ponder how anyone could believe in creationism or intelligent design. I mean, seriously, God thought, "I know, four useless teeth" or, "how about an appendix?" Useless, painful and possibly deadly. Yeah!

Just a thought.

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.