As good as a holiday

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin

A change is as good as a holiday - Proverb

So I forgot to blog last week as I was in Darwin for my client's annual conference. The week before the conference was a bit ad hoc: had an interesting writers group meeting nutting out a few lumps in my draft, saw 'Panic' at the Opera House (very strange play, a meta-narrative about the Greek god Pan), caught up with Ness at brunch on the Friday and then did a survey and earnt $150 for my trouble.

On the Saturday I was supposed to go on a bushwalk led by Boff but pulled out because I had too much to do before going to Darwin. He had to pull out any way because he fell ill.

Sunday: Flew to Darwin, attended a workshop and then attended the welcome drinks. Was supposed to visit Mindil Beach Markets, which are THE markets to visit in Darwin (Sundays and Thursdays from May to October), but was just about to extract myself from drinking buddies and the sky opened. I'm talking torrents. Literal sheets of rain. What a storm.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all long days. During business hours I attended the conference then after hours there were the official functions: Monday was sponsors night, Tuesday was the awards night, and Wednesday was the closing out drinks, followed by me tagging along to dinner with some of the Queensland crew. Had awesome coconut barramundi at Dragon Court (Chinese restaurant at SkyCity casino), though baulked at the bill, which worked out to be $50/head for entree, three dishes, rice and a bottle of midprice wine.

Fortunately my flight wasn't until Thursday afternoon so unlike other conference trips I managed to see something of the city, including Crocosaurus Cove, which is a small crocodile park behind my hotel (image is me holding hands with a baby croc).

The wet season has just begun in Darwin so it was very steamy and stormy. I'd prepared for Malaysian weather, the only difference being that because it was for work I couldn't walk around in a tshirt and shorts (although some delegates did!). Next time will remember to carry around a purse-sized bottle of deodorant and powder. It would be nice to see Kakadu and other bushland some day too.

Not much else on. Went to Assie's 30th on Saturday night and caught up with some friends I haven't seen for a while (including one I haven't told about Boff yet). Mum and dad came back from Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia yesterday so we went out for dinner. Apparently we may be going to the Gold Coast instead of Tasmania for Christmas because my bro wants to go there. Boo! I didn't want to stay so caught a train back so I could get some work done on my niece's picture book (let's just say it uses lots of photos I've taken from zoos around the world).

Today I went into work after lunch although it's my day off. Gillian is in Adelaide attending her best friend's funeral so I had come in on Friday to sort things out and do some of my own work, but didn't get any of my own work done, hence the revisit.

Tomorrow I'm going to run tons of errands around the city and hope I can get my camera fixed. The estimate was $150-$200, which is cheaper than buying a $700 camera but still pretty steep considering my current financial position. And Christmas is coming too...