Pretty Standard

6pm Wednesday April 20th. Sitting in kitchen patio area at my hostel in Darwin called Chillis. It's right downtown, but that's not saying much as downtown Darwin is quite small. Great nightlife though! Gone out and met a bunch of people last few nights, but going to take it easy now for the next few days. It's Easter weekend so there should be lots of people out and about! (said in an over exaggerated Canadian accent and people love it, eh? It's actually great - people ask where I'm from, I say Canada and mostly everyone is genuinely happy to hear it! "Oh Canada, cool! *big grin*") Another beauty day here today - it's the start of the dry season so the humidity is gone and it's not too hot - just perfect! Today I have done not much of anything, and tomorrow will probably be much the same. And the day after, and the day after that. Yesterday was a busy(ish) day - I got a fair amount accomplished. I sent out some mail and postcards - this required ge...

And, thanks for the chili pepper. On the bright side of that pretty awful experience, at least now I know I'm not dreaming, and this place is real. The story goes like this: Currently 7am April 15th sitting in "The Porch Cafe" in Sanur, Bali, watching all the scooters go by. It's my Dad's birthday today - Happy Birthday Dad! We arrived in Bali from Timika yesterday afternoon about 4:30pm, popped next door to the airport and had a Bintang beer (or two). We then headed back to where Gordon had us booked in at a little place called Flashbacks behind a cafe called The Porch in Sanur. Kuta is the main party town in Bali where all the backpackers and tourists go, but Sanur is more quiet and less hustle and bustle. The rooms are rustic little cabins/huts surrounded by lush greenery. I love it here. I digress... After changing into my black dress we head to a nearby bar by the beach for a mojito and some dinner. I love the Balinese artwork here - so my style! We're ch...

Arrived in Tembagapura in the Papua province of Indonesia on Tuesday; it's now Friday April 8th. Just had a hike up from the main town area to Hidden Valley - an suburb-like area where the families live that have come here for work. It's about a 2km hike up 1000ft - hard work WOW! Looks like I just beat the rain - you're guaranteed rain here everyday anytime after 11am going on indefinately. The hike is up a rocky dirt gravel road and is very steep at times. I got up about half way and could start seeing my breath. Not from the cold, but because I was then in the clouds. It's warm here, probably no colder than 20 degrees but the humidity is almost nil. Quite a change from Cairns where it's all hot and humid everyday! I imagine Darwin will be much the same so I'll have to re-climatize. Gordon has been working the last few days so I've been amusing myself which fortunately I'm really good at. My days look something like this: wake up about 10am,...

April 4th, 2:30pm. On a jet plane headed to Indonesia. Gordon is meeting me in Timika where we’ll stay the night, then in the morning we catch the helicopter to Tembagapura where he lives and works. I’ll be there a week or so then off to Bali for a few days. I hope to do some diving there, and some shopping. Yippee! My ears are popping differently than normal since my scuba diving – it must have loosened up my ear drums considerably! Just had a killer last weekend in Cairns with Lisa and our friend Karl. We lived large and stayed at the Novotel which was totally awesome compared to the 8 bed dorms I’ve been frequenting. We caught some live music Saturday night, then headed to a bar called Paddywacks where I sang a couple karaoke songs and did some dancing. Sunday was great – enjoyed the lavish buffet breakfast at the hotel, went into town and Lisa got a bar pierced through her ear – looks great!! Then we popped into a pub for a “Sunday Session” to share a jug (pitcher) of be...