Darwin

Having been fortunate enough to travel to some of the worlds stranger nooks, a question I get a lot is "where is the craziest place you've ever been?"

There is no question, the answer is Darwin.

Tucked off a peninsula facing the Timor Sea on the north coast of Australia, it is the sort of place Aussie's can't believe you've been too.  Hell, they struggle to figure out if they've known anyone who's been.

I'd been hopping around solo on an Australia Airlines air pass for a few weeks.  Through Sydney to the beaches of Perth, back to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, and was headed up to Kakadu National Park.  I almost didn't make it, twice.  An Italian couple I'd met on a live aboard "learn to dive" boat had nearly convinced me to go down the coast back to Sydney with them.  Then a Dane on the flight in from Cairns almost had me tagging on to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock.  But I'd done a ton of research and wanted to check try this "adventure camping" thing out, see a bit of the aboriginal lands.

We had only been on the ground for like 30 minutes when on the free minibus from the airport into town, an ancient looking aboriginal man jumps out in front of our speeding van with his hand gesturing to stop.  I have no idea how the diver stopped.  He layed on the horn and eventually the old guy realized he wasn't getting any money, we kept on into town.

It was like a million degrees and at least 90% humidity.

I took off on a run, and had to turn back.  There were attention crocodile signs on the path and I was not just scared but melting.  I was fairly new to this getting off the beaten path thing, and my comfort zone was about to get crushed.

I passed by a park over-run by what I later learned to be gas huffing aborigines on my way to a grocery store to pick up some snacks for the national park trek.  Inside a dude literally dropped next to me in the aisle and started bleeding on the floor.  The supermarket employees were responsive but didn't seem shocked, I'm sure I'm making it up but I swear I heard "cleanup in aisle 6."

Over dinner at a pub I heard the barkeep regaling the regulars of kicking out a drunk miner the other night, and "kicking his ass for good measure."  Later that night on my way home I saw this was not an isolated incident.

It's not like there was nothing else going on in these seemingly normal, functioning town.  I think that is what made it so nuts, one minute you were in a sleepy provincial town full of pink perl shops and backpackers ... and the next there was someone keeled over on the sidewalk.

Kakadu National Park was wonderful, and I am really glad I got the chance to go.  I shared a tent with a BBC sports guy, an Australia nut on like his 5th visit.  There were killer waterfalls, crocodile baiting, some crazy 4x4 rides, and some really interesting aboriginal cultural stuff (as well as plenty of nice aborigines), and tasty wallaby kebabs over the fire for dinner at night.

On the way out of town, I took my only ever airport shower before an overnight flight to Sydney.  I met a priest and some nice locals, who assured me though the problems I encountered were real, I'd had a pretty bad run of luck in what I saw.

I'll tell you this, my time in Darwin was 48 hours I don't think I'll ever forget.