Maybe in Oz

I took yet another trip to the Northern Territory last week, and the weather reminded me a lot of San Diego.  The Northern Territory has two seasons, wet season (November-March) and dry season (April-October).  The change from the dry season to the wet season is called the Buildup.  The temperatures and humidity both start rising until the thunder, lightening, and cyclones arrive.  Last week Darwin was 33 C during the days and in the low 20s at night.  It was so pleasant eating dinner outside on the bay with just a tank top (singlette), shorts, and flip flops (thongs) on. What I learned on this trip though wasn't about weather patterns (or the art of negotiating with difficult customers), but crocodile management.  When the wet season arrives, so does the croc food and therefore the crocs.  There are several national parks with tempting swimming holes around Darwin and we were told that it was ok to swim in them.  Yeah right, I've seen the s...

Last week some friends/coworkers from San Diego (though currently living in Perth) were in town for a few days.  Having heard people rave about the Mexican food at a place called Mamasitas, we decided to take them there and try it out.  What better way to experience good Mexican food than with fellow San Diegans who would appreciate it (and are probably having similar withdrawals). When Phil first stood in line at 5:45 he was told an hour.  No big deal, after all the great reviews we'd heard we could wait an hour for a decent meal.  We were content with grabbing drinks down the street and waiting for the call.  Soon an hour became 90 minutes, and we went back to check.  "We were just about to call you, it will be twenty more minutes."  Ok, we've waited this long, it seems silly to give up now.  So we wait outside and watch more people jump in line. Finally two hours later we are seated at bar seats in this little tiny room.  The bar menu ...