Darwin, October 10-11

 Things did not go well last night. I can't fault the resort staff; they have been exemplary.

The phone in our room was dead; they brought us a new one.

The internet in our room has been either quite strong or all but absent. Before we had asked if we might sit in the little breakfast area just off the lobby, where the internet was excellent, and that was fine with them.

Last night we decided to go there again. Paula started some laundry, and we went to the lobby, but found the breakfast area closed and locked. The gentleman at the desk let us in anyway. It was warm (not hot) in there, and after a little while it occurred to him to come in and turn on the air conditioning for us. We did some blogging and then went back to the room.

After a bit, Paula went back to the laundry room to move things from the washer into the dryer. She had to wait several minutes for someone to come and get their clothes out of the dryer, and there was no good place to put it if she took it out. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long.

When she went back later (about ten after ten), the laundry room was locked. Seems it closes at ten. But the gentleman at the desk let her in.

We did some of our packing, but then the smoke alarm started chirping, loudly, about once a minute. The gentleman at the desk came out almost immediately with a ladder, but try as he might, he couldn't get the cover off the smoke alarm. It did however, stop chirping. He said that if it started up again, they could give us a key to another room to sleep in; we wouldn't have to move our stuff.

A while later, it started chirping again. We called the front desk. The shift had changed and there was a lady at the desk this time, but he had told her what was going on, and she told me come down and get a key, which I did.

I didn't sleep well--I blame this nasty cold--so about 8:20am I called the front desk from the new room to say we were up. The lady at the desk said that maintenance would be there shortly. And indeed, about half an hour later, she called to tell me the problem had been fixed.

Like I said at the beginning, not a pleasant evening, but the resort staff simply could not have been more helpful.

Lakefront

This afternoon (October 11) we went off to find McDonalds, because we like to see what's unique about it in various countries. The menu was boringly familiar, but they had a wide range of coffee drinks. We decided to eat elsewhere.

We ended up at the Ayuriz café. Due largely to my cold, I have no appetite whatsoever, but I got some Crispy Chicken anyway. I think Paula got the Peanut Sauce Veggies.

Ayuriz Café	Menu at Ayuriz Café

Paula's lunch at Ayuriz Café	My lunch

Back to the room for some heavy-duty packing, since we have to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch the Ghan.

(Paula here).  The skies in Darwin are incredible.  Here's another:  Dave in a little courtyard at the hotel where there is good wifi,  at sunset, when it was cool enough to sit outside.