March 4, 2004
I felt them crawling on my arms and legs. When I opened my
eyes I saw them. Ants. I brushed them off and got out of bed. I spoke to the
lodging manager. He said that during the monsoon season the heavy rains often
push ants into houses. Welcome to The Outback I thought to myself as I sat in my
spartan room. I supposed that getting used to
the ants would be the first adjustment I would be making during my stay here.
Darwin is in the “Top End” of Australia and is the
capital of the Northern Territory. It is known for its isolation and indeed all
the car tags have “N.T. Outback Australia” printed on them. It is so
isolated that a rail line connecting it to the rest of the continent had opened
just a few weeks ago, at the beginning of February. As I write this, Darwin is
cut-off from the rest of the continent, except by air, since Cyclone Evan had
come in from the Gulf of Carpenteria to the east and flooded out a good part of
the region. The only road connecting Darwin to the rest of the continent, The
Stuart Highway, is impassable south of the town of Katherine. This seems fitting
for a region of Australia that recently voted to reject a call for application
for statehood. Many “Territorians” are proud of their image as rugged
individuals who regularly deal with the wrath and fury of nature.
Since the time that I arrived here, it has not rained every day, but deluges are very common. The monsoon season is locally known as “The Wet” and it certainly earns the name.