“A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon, and then like a spot on the sand it was gone. The sky was fading into darkness, all about was shadowy and that wonderful moment when the darkened world seemed infinitely greater is a moment where anything can happen, anything can be believed in.”

The world awakens to the sound of the alarm and I thought we were on holidays! Oh dear, no we are actually working!!! Well Marc is anyway! So the shrill unwanted sound of the alarm went off at 6am to rouse us from our sleep …..Marc went off to the first session at 6.30am which was actually a wakeup session for the body! I did my own personal wakeup session and stayed luxuriating in the divine bed and waited for my coffee to return! And do you know- surprisingly it did…! The coffee walked all the way from the coffee shop with its aromatic flavour up the stairs to my hotel room! Well the husband complete with two coffees in hand returned after his 1^st session with the sun! Yogurt , muesli and coffee is today my type of wakeup session…much more preferable while I am away and I do not have to shower, apply makeup, dress smartly to  get ready for work, and then walk to open up the surgery at 7.30am!  No….this is my type of morning call for today!

Last night we walked  the five to six kilometres to Mindie beach and watched the most remarkable sunset in the western sky at this beach! Many people have said that was something that we had to do and we did. It was so worth it. Armed with Sushi, fried rice and skewered prawns from the markets, we sat down with the many others on the sand dunes overlooking this beach, observing the sun in the sky vacating the sky slowly. Living where we do this should not create such a reaction but the redness had seeped from the day and was now re-arranging herself, cooling the world down, staining and dying the evening purple and bluey black .The merging of colours, the ablaze of brilliance as the veil of light diminished in stages to one red ball, to one pink pinprick and floated away to reveal the stars…was nothing short of amazing! Such a romantic place! Oh yes, something to be said about tropical sunsets and this was no exception.

But the sun had risen again in the bright clear sky of another day and  shines to beckon me out of bed….( probably because Marc pulled back the block out drapes to remind me that yes the sun was shining and I really should get up ) and so the morning begins. After a walk together into downtown Darwin to purchase some sandals for Marc, Marc then returns to the convention centre to attend the morning sessions he is interested in and I make my way back to the shops to peruse a little further. Interestingly, meandering down each side of the mall and into the other street where the rest of the shops awaited me, there is very little in the CBD of Darwin and basically the main Smith Street Mall holds very few shops. Many gift and souvenirs places  are quite obvious and definitely more for the conventional tourist and the cruise ships disembarking passengers for their ‘Day in Darwin”  I would imagine, but for the run-of-the-mill person, the day to day shopping apart from ‘just jeans’ and ‘cotton on’, there were very little other franchise stores to be seen. Coles and Woolworths dominated the grocery session in two completely different parts of the main town and that is about it. I can only assume the ‘better’ shops or more franchise ones like Kmart and Big W and other specialities must be out in suburbia or further out in Darwin. However, I really did not mind as I did not intend buying anything.… (although I have to admit I bought some gel pads for my shoes and my feet are killing me and I have calluses and blisters already underfoot from yesterday…) but it was more for curiosity to see what was there and to kill a little bit of time while Marc was away for the morning. It was quite amazing the very little variety.

However, one thing that did stand out was the colourful array of clothing hanging outside the shops. I now understand this as Darwin has a busy indigenous community and the clothing of the indigenous that I have seen in my limited time so far is bright and colourful, and this is also represented in the white community attire at times too. Fashions…well not much there in comparison to Melbourne or Sydney or even Robina but the attire of everyone looks comfortable and footwear is generally thongs or leather sandals for all! This is definitely a contrast to the attendees at the conference where the ladies I have seen walking to the convention centre with their Name Lanyard swinging in front of them are smartly dressed. You can see who the visitors are- a much more relaxed environment is obvious! (What am I wearing…absolutely nothing on my feet!)

Marc joined me for a short swim in the early afternoon before he headed back to the seminars. Another interesting fact is, in contrast to where we live, nobody here wears swimming rashies! Even the young children are out in the sun basically uncovered while in the water. I think apart from one other person with a short sleeve one on beside Marc and I, we were definitely classed as the odd ones out. This is highly unseen in our local area of the world- not having a rashi on or a t-shirt is the oddity and greatly frowned upon and generally highly disapproved! Here is it the opposite. I am very surprised by that! Various shapes and sizes are also spread out around the lagoon lying unashamedly in the vast natural space given to us. Various moulds and designs of both woman and men and from an unassuming woman’s perspective, most of the woman shape is definitely leaning towards the larger side…even the young girls in their bikinis are generally ‘larger” than what I see elsewhere. I guess, they do not mind that their bodies do not represent the magazine style shape as rolls of excess weight are easily seen and displayed! Perhaps the relaxed feeling /environment is part of this that they do not have to be competing as the thin young executive so obvious in other capital cities, or to be trendy to be that thin person…they can be who they are with the weight and style they want to be. I so admire that! Now at my stage in life, oh yes, I would fit in quite well with my belly rolls overlapping my stomach and thighs….!!!

Mid-afternoon and this party of one is sitting here once more at the lagoon- side….now dressed in my swimmers, computer on my lap and watching the world go by! But I have to sit in the shade though, because even though the locals say that today is much cooler…and the clouds are coming in, it is still hot for me! I guess tonight I will have to do some work and check in with home…..but until then I shall have to try very hard not to enjoy sitting here under the shadow of the beautiful swaying palm tree and watch the world go by just for a few hours more…..perhaps I can do that without too much complaining.

What do you think?  …..Care to join me??