Darwin bound

Put myself to bed at a reasonable hour last night after finishing packing for the Darwin trip. It was hard to convince myself to pack light summery clothes while I was rugged up like Eskimo Nell in the freezing blustery Adelaide climate. All was going well until I awoke with a start to hear my tv on in the lounge room and the front porch light on. I saw that my digital clock was blinking at me and realized there had been a power failure but having no idea of what the time was I've crashed out of bed into the end of the bed leg, barrelled down the hall into the kitchen to check the wall clock only to see that it was 1.20 am. I was panicked that I had slept past my 5 am alarm time so was pleased that this  wasn't the case, but that ended all useful sleep for the rest of the night.
As the porch light is a sensor light , it wouldn't turn off so after about half an hour of tossing and turning I eventually got up again and went outside with my trusty torch and flipped the house lights power switch which thankfully turned the porch light off. Just after 3 am same thing, power outage and alarm clock blinking at me but by now I've also set the alarm on the mobile phone! I must have dozed at some stage because at 5 am with alarms ringing I am up and out of bed and out the door by 5.45. Have no idea if the house alarm will work in my absence or whether the tv will be on the whole time I'm away as Adelaide's weather forecast is a shocker of predictions of storms, hail and even snow.... But enough of that, as I am bound for Darwin and 32 degrees.... I get to my dear mate Mike's place early after dodging trees and branches down across the roads and he kindly deposits me at the airport where I am able to book myself onto the flight and deposit my suitcase before any of my kittens arrive. As usual they are Ne arly all early so by 7.30 which was when I told them to meet me, we are all already booked in and through the screening gates ready for our 8.30 departure which is delayed leaving 45 minutes. I think every plane was late by the sounds of it. A reasonably smooth in most places flight of 4 hours sees us arrive 50 minutes later than our scheduled time and it also means we have arrived at the same time as flights from Sydney and Perth with only one baggage carousel operating and insufficient baggage handlers to deal with the rush. However we all eventually get our cases and are taken to our hotel right in central Darwin. Unbelievably as we leave the airport to get into our coach a very light rain starts to fall! The locals are all scratching their heads saying 'but it never rains in The Dry' and we are all fearful we've brought the bloody rain with us!!! However no more than a few drops and we hope we've seen the last of rain for at least a week. Apparently the temperature only got to 29 too and this is a record as it supposedly never gets below 30 in July in Darwin. Oh well, we can't really be blamed for climate control, can we? Our hotel is quite old and dated, but the rooms are a good size and the air conditioners work. As long as the linen is clean and the bed comfortable, I'm okay with it. Feeling very tired I have the afternoon to have a cuppa, contemplate the fluff in my navel, have a shower and then head downstairs into foyer to meet my kitten herd for our coach to the Wharf where we are then cruising Darwin harbour and having a buffet dinner onboard the Charles Darwin' catamaran. One of my kittens is missing so I go in search of Little M (you may remember her from previous travels as the little roly poly lady who walks very slowly with the aid of a walking stick, and can't walk and talk at the same time). Banging on her room door, Little M answers it, surprised to see me and wondering why I may be coming to visit her. When I ask if she is intending on coming on the dinner cruise, she has no idea what I'm talking about as she thought we had a free afternoon and evening. Not sure what she thought the itinerary meant when it showed 'dinner cruise' and I especially told them all what time we were to meet in the foyer for the cruise.... Anyhow I hurry her up as best one can hurry up someone who won't be hurried and get her on the coach. Nice drive to the wharf, a short wait to get on our boat and away we go. Magnificent sunset over the water! Dinner was really nice and lots of food choices. Back on dry land at 8.30 and back to our hotel by 9. Little M has been given a piece of paper by one of the kittens with what time we are to meet tomorrow and the kittens in the room next to her are going to knock on her door 15 minutes before that to remind her as well. Clearly they don't want to be kept waiting again tomorrow so I won't have to say anything to her about punctuality at this rate! We get to sleep in in the morning and then have an afternoon of sight seeing in and around Darwin. I will need to check out some possibilities for evening meal dining locales in the morning and try to get my bearings. The bit of Darwin I've seen so far bears no resemblance to my one and only previous trip to Darwin about a year after Cyclone Tracey went through.

I am beyond tired now though so time for some much needed shut eye. Looking forward to the week ahead.