L and I are standing at our departure gate in Singapore;s Changi airport, with no sign of the royal Brunei plane outside (it takes off in 30 minutes!).
As with pretty much all international airports, there is free wifi and Internet terminals. Except in Australia, where there wasn't a sniff of Internet for five days.
We took a late night flight out of Bali's main airport, Denpasar, landing in Darwin at 0300. Our last day or so in Ubud was quiet enough, with no further monkeys or Dali-alikes. We mainly walked around paddy fields and saw the sights.
Darwin turned out to be an airfield surrounded by a town - we soon found out that it is THE frontier town in Australia, having been bombed by the Japanese in the Second World War (and possibly invaded, depending on what history book you read).
The main effort in Darwin was Nell and Greg's wedding, where Laura was one of two bridesmaids - so the first thing we did on arrival was head out into the Ulu in a Chinese (Great Wall?! Probably manufactured using Rover's old equipment - it certainly had the build quality ;)) and Japanese 4 wheel drives. We moved across country and through rivers to Litchfield National Park. One night in the outback, seeing the famous "tombstone" termite mound areas and swimming in the rock pools. It was pretty awesome. I also found out I was the only person in the group with formal training in off road driving - something the second party, arriving later in the evening, could have done with (having got bogged in and soaked for fifteen minutes, in the pitch black, in a croc-infested creek).
The second morning we went to see the saltwater crocs in the main river, which performed acrobatics for buffalo steak (or possible the intern, depending on who you listened to). There's a particularly big brute there called Brutus who is sans-right leg from a fight with a shark - you can look him up elsewhere on the web!
*/*/*it's just been announced that we are on a thirty minute delay - no plane unfortunately!*/*/*
I managed a trip to the local reservist recce unit, where i met the adjutant and achieved my aim of an open invite for the HAC to train with them. They mainly recruit aboriginal men, who would (of course, knowing no better) delight in a reciprocal arrangement to train in Sennybridge. Poor fools.
The third day in Darwin was the wedding day - I spent a morning driving around running errands, with Laura "busy" having her nails filed, hair done and makeup applied. I did sneak a visit to Darwin's new military museum which is built on the site of a post war coastal battery (another amazingly short-sighted piece of Australian defence policy, it was obsolete about a year after it was constructed).
On arriving, I got my ticket and entered the first gallery, where I was met by a volunteer guide. "You aren't from Australia" says I!. "No", says he, "I'm from Hull". He emigrated in 1982 having worked on the trawlers, but the accent has never been fully erased.
The museum is all Darwin bombing and evacuation - interesting enough for a couple of hours.
The wedding itself passed without hitch. Laura looked beautiful, as always; on this occasion she was wearing blue. Oddest moment of the evening: the ice cream van arriving at 2215!
Next morning we left the rented house reasonably early and got up to the surf club to take down the wedding paraphenalia. Then on to Nell and Greg's new place to sit with feet in the pool and read my Kindle. I've now read two Flashmans, two Pratchetts, two Iain M Banks, and a copy of the Economist.
Last night we arrived in Singapore and checked into a city centre hotel, had dinner then went to bed. I ate all I could eat from the breakfast buffet, then we headed back to Changi by MRT. And here we are.
Picked up the good news in the airport - Blackpool have started the Championship season with a 2-0 away victory at Millwall. And Matty Philips is refusing to play because the club wont sell him to Southampton for 5 million.
Next post will be from Brunei!
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