Teeny tiny Toblerone

That was dessert on the QANTAS jet taking our travel group to Darwin yesterday. I tried to photgraph it in relation to a teacup, a wine glass and a telephone but it didn't look as tiny as it was.

Should I mention the heat that hit us when we left the airport? Hard to do while avoiding cliches like blast furnace, hot oven, steam bath etc. so I won't!

Bushie (I kid you not) our ozzie bus driver explained the seasons in Darwin, all two of them, wet and dry. He explained the swift sunsets, one minute light, the next minute dark. I wonder if that affects the peronalities of the people, things are either black or white, no shades of grey.

Recovering the luggage in our room gave me my first photo opportunity. Came to unlock my suitcase, and discovered I'd left the key in Sydney. The maintenance man, a big cheerful islander guy, came to the recsue armed with enormous bolt cutters, the only ones they had. The tiny lock didn't stand a chance. Snip.We laughed.

There are 55 different nationalities in Darwin and we saw most of them at the Mindil Beach Sunset Market, mainly reflected in the cuisines on offer. We sampled prawn satays - delicious; a large fruit drink freshly made - refreshing; a not so succesful grilled fish basket becuse it was overcooked. Barramundi like leather, baby octupus rubbery. The mussels and prawns were okay, salad passable, chips regulation.

We found out the locals bring their own tables and chairs and they don't like it when you stand in front of them looking for a place to sit. The snake demonstration must have been riveting to incur that degree of rudeness. We ended up sitting on a narrow strip of concrete risking our eyes being taken out by the local kids practising their juggling and hula hooping in front of us.

Never mind. We didn't miss the spectacle of the sun turning red and seeming to drop into the ocean. The
beach was crowded with people filming as I was.

One of our party paddled in the ocean and came off the beach with black feet courtesy of the sand. This is not Vincenzia or Huskisson.

Hot, tired and almost crabby, most of us were ready for the aircon of our hotel half an hour before the deadline. But the champagne lifted us for a while before a nice cup of tea, a shower and bed.