Making a Mountain Out of a Termite HIll

Last week it was back to Katherine once again, this time via Sydney, Darwin, and the 3-hour drive to Katherine.  After returning through Adelaide I realized something funny - in the span of three days I had traveled through half of Australia's "big" cities.  It still amazes me that in a country the size of the continental US you can count the number of cities here using your fingers.

It was around 6 degrees when I left Melbourne that morning, and each leg of my journey found me wearing fewer layers.  Landing in Sydney, off came my winter coat.  It was a beautiful morning in Sydney and I had a chance to see some nice views from the plane, first of the harbour with the bride and opera house on display, and then of the Olympic Village.

Landing in Darwin, there went my sweater.  It was really strange wearing a tank top with a winter coat draped over my arm.  Then it was in the car for the trip to Katherine.  The trip was uneventful, and we met some customers for dinner at the local hotel for a bbq buffet.  School holidays are this week, so Katherine was packed with families on holiday and I'm fairly certain we got the last available rooms at the motel. 

Thursday it was time to go to site for the main event - a show-and-tell of the relocation project I've been working on for the past year with my managing director and the customer's general manager.  It was an interesting experience watching them haggle over scope, invoicing, and other such fun.  Now there are just a few small loose ends to tie up and then I think this project will finally be done.  It was a great learning experience for me, but I'm sure ready to get on with my life.  I'm not a huge fan of customer phone calls at 6:30 on a Friday night.

Then it was time to head back to Darwin.  We had to make a stop along the way though so I could take a picture of some of the termite mounds that stretch along this road.  They are truly amazing - some twelve inches tall, some twelve feet tall.  They look like one big giant mound of dirt until you get closer and see that the hills are full of little holes for the termites to go in and out.

Back to Darwin and time for dinner.  The concierge suggested a Thai place that had good sangria, belly dancing, and a live band.  O, and he told my coworker he looked like Justin Timberlake.  Priceless!  Then more customer meetings Friday morning, a flight to Adelaide, and a short flight home to Melbourne.  Where it was 1 degree, and the city was covered in frost.  The warm Darwin weather was nice while it lasted.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baw Baw Blog

Image
A couple weeks ago Phil set out to climb Mt Baw Baw again with a couple like-minded (read: crazy) bike friends.  We drove out with Les and met John and Glenda at the primary school in Drouin to start the ride.   The crazies started on their ride while John and I headed off to explore the area by car. Phil, Glenda, and Les at the start About 10km in to the ride, as they passed the Drouin West primary school, Phil realised that that was the place he meant to start, and now an already painful 80km ride had become 90km. John and I stopped at the Noojee Trestle Bridge and took a leisurely walk across.  Then we headed on to the "town" of Noojee and saw the sights - the water wheel that no one knows the origin of.  Then we enjoyed some lamingtons while we waited for the tiers to catch up.  They arrived and took a few minutes' break, then set out again on their adventure. Noojee Trestle Bridge Noojee Water Wheel John and I then drove to Tooronga Falls an...
Read more

Tanna, Vanuatu Part 2

Image
There was a wonderful snorkelling spot called the Blue Hole a short walk from the resort so we went there a couple times and frolicked with the fishies.  The weather was perfect and the water was warm so it was a very relaxing few days. The Blue Hole Fish in the Blue Hole More fish in the Blue Hole Blue starfish we found in the rocks Pretty sunset at the Blue Hole We also took a small boat up the coast to a place called the Blue Cave.  The boat trip in itself was worth the journey as it took us along unspoiled coastline for some amazing views. The coastline from the boat near the Blue Cave We got to the Blue Cave at low tide which made the opening just big enough to snorkel through.  Inside the cave was huge and the bottom was covered in clean white sand so it made the blue water of the cave spectacular.  A small hole at the top of the cave let a shaft of light through.  It was quite a spectacular place t...
Read more

An Aussie Birthday Party

Image
My parents arrived at the beginning of April and we took the opportunity to have an Aussie Birthday Party for my mom.  We invited her Aussie friends over for dinner and they enjoyed the chance to catch up.  My mom met these friends through a painting convention they teach classes at in Vegas.  Year after year she kept taking their classes and they became great friends.  The convention is now a yearly tradition for them, and they fit in plenty of fun before and after.  They had just been over for a visit in March, so it was nice for them to get together and laugh about their trip without all the distractions.  I made an echidna cake for dessert that went down a hit, even with the very American peanut butter filling.  After the party they spent a few days with Janice and Ted and then had a visit with Karen and family before heading to Kangaroo Island with us.  All in all it was a great way to begin their visit over here.  Gail, my dad, and...
Read more