Northern Territory

This is our Northern Territory:

It’s a part of Australia that can be overlooked by visitors and natives alike.  It lacks the tourist appeal of Sydney, the cosmopolitan glamour (!) of Melbourne, the vineyards and history of our south, the wild reaches and massive land frontage of our west.  It’s not Tassie, the amazing natural and historical island that is our smallest state.

It’s a territory.  It’s closer to Asia than it is to Victoria.  It shares a climate more commonly experienced in Singapore than in Sydney and it’s believe idigenous Australians inhabited this land more than 40, 000 years ago.  It’s capital, Darwin, was named after the scientist and captain of evolution Charles, and was partially destroyed during Cyclone Tracy (Christmas Eve 1974).

When my parents were children and WW2 was in progress, the citizens of our nation were informed that Darwin was bombed once by the Japanese.  It was, in fact, bombed more than 200 times.

This is our Northern Territory:

One thing that many Australians might say over the course of their lifetime is that they’ve travelled to cities afar.  Rome, Paris, Hong Kong, London.  New York, Hanoi, Lisboa, Bali *g*.  Because our country is so vast — like the United States and Canada — we sometimes overlook the beauty and history of our home turf, preferring to put stamps on our passports rather than visiting the extremes of our own borders.  One reason is due to the price of domestic air travel and accommodation compared to an overseas jaunt, but this post is not about the practicalities.

It’s about the romance of travel, the journey into the Never Never, the oddness of adventure without paying mind to the coin it involves (well, we do, but that would spoil the tone of this entry).

Some friends and family of Fangirl Sings the Blues are about to fly northward to the sun of this great land.  It’s exciting (for the reason that trips are always thrilling) because the Top End is about desolation.  It’s about mysticism and history and being at the ends of the earth where civilization can’t cope with the outback dryness, the heat of ‘nowhere’.  It’s about nature overcoming man.  It’s about the edge of urbanization and the fact that some of our planet isn’t deemed ‘that livable’.

This is our Northern Territory:

It’s about embracing nature.  (Apparently) it’s about the Golden Orb (Bird Eating) spider, the green python and crocodiles that drag a bastard off their tinny and drown them before dinner.  That’s okay, though, because we are ALL about the nature in the natural environs!

Oh, and it’s about bats.  Last time I was surrounded by bats with my sister Gayle (in the Singapore night zoo) I made her go into the bat enclosure, said I would look after her, but then when a bat swoooooped her and brushed against her cheek, I ran (arms flailing) as fast as I could, leaving her behind.  She’s older.  Slower.  When there is a creature around, it’s my way or the freaking highway, baby.

I look forward to sharing some sights and sounds of the NT with visitors to FStB.  It’s all about the Top End, and who doesn’t like to get a feel of the Top End whenever there’s a chance?   Till then, I raise you a spider and offer you a crocodile steak.