Off and Running!

 Just some shots of the hostel and the rooftop bar at 1am. (Note the croc).

The hostel by the light of day

Friday, September 9^th

I left school quickly, went home and packed and took a cab to the airport. The flight to Darwin was uneventful. I arrived at midnight and got a taxi to take me to my hostel, Malaeuca on Mitchell. The driver and I got talking about the world's refugee problems, Syria, Europe, the US, etc. He told me that he used to work for the immigration department and worked with refugees who tried to come to Australia by boat. He said they were put up in containers that were fixed up as flats with everything they needed, but they were frequently trashed by the refugees. Now the government doesn't want to house or pay for them, so they put them on an island in Papua New Guinea and keep them there for a long time as they check all their papers or, if they have chucked them in the ocean, they have to try to trace them back to their country. It's a mess!

I got to the hostel and checked in but, found that there were already three people sleeping in my room and all of their stuff was on the fourth bed - my bed. I didn't want to wake them or move their stuff so, I went back to reception and they gave me a new room I went up again and the key didn't work. Back to reception where they reprogrammed the card and security came up with me. In the room were six beds and only one young girl. She told me to turn on the light, found me a pillow and I settled in. I listened to music and fell asleep quickly. Woke up at 4 having to pee but managed to sleep again and woke up two minutes before the alarm I had set for 5:50.