dah-win

Since Darwin ranks up there with Barstow for entertainment, I had nothing left to do on this fine Friday morning except pack up my stuff, do some internet, stock up on bus food, buy a new book, and enjoy my eighth McDonalds soft serve of the week.

The bus to Alice Springs will take 20 hours.

Two notable things:

1. We hit a kangaroo while driving in the dark. Several times, I believe. The fellow next to me tells me that if you want to drive in the outback at night, you need to have a bullbar on your front fender, else when you hit a roo – it's not a matter of if but when – it won't destroy your car.
2. There are alcoholic and drug addicted Aboriginal groups living along the Stuart highway. They congregate at gas stations and bus stops. They yell and cuss and run around barefoot and dirty, generally acting like animals. This problem is state-wide and is a result of white man taking their land and leaving them homeless, unemployed, and with little connection to their former community and way of life. (I am happy to say that there are many Aboriginal communities still intact and still living off the land in the Torres Strait area and in the outback of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
   

On the bus, they play the movie Australia, which stars Nicole Kidman, so I win one point against Naomi. Yes, I am still keeping score.

Australian thing of the day: Tropical fruit lassee at the Roma Bar, which promised free internet but had RUN OUT OF SERVICE the previous day. The lassee tasted less delicious after I discovered that.