I can't believe that only a week has passed since I got back from Darwin, it seems like a distant memory now. Some things I'll never forget - the colours of the place, for starters. Red soil that varied through burnt orange to pinkish hues, all of which contrasted starkly with the green of the vegetation and the bright blue sky. A sea that was turquoise, rather than the rolling deep blue-grey seas I'm used to. The sun setting over the water instead of rising there. Wandering around the car park for half an hour after the V8s had ended, trying to find our silver 4WD in a sea of *silver 4WDs. Trying croc, and discovering that it really does taste like chicken! And what will most stick in my mind is the friendliness of the locals; people passing you on the footpath say hello. I haven't experienced that since I lived out in western NSW. It's a place where I think I could happily live, if it wasn't so damn far from anyone.

*not sure if it's a local phenomenon, but the most popular car colours here are black, silver (including shades of grey) and white. Out of any dozen cars to pass you on the road, there'll be three each of those shades, and the remaining three cars will be red, green and blue (sometimes with a purple, gold or orange thrown in for good measure).