At the Top End

Made it to Darwin.  It's beautiful; tropical, lush,very warm.  I was warned not to wear a suit, as everything is extremely casual here.  Wore what they call a "tropical rig," shirt, no tie  (pants, too).  Spoke to a high school in town, where  we had an informal discussion about politics.  The school is right on the water.

It is much like Hawaii in that regard; laid back and beautiful.

Except Hawaii doesn't have huge saltwater crocs.  There is a sign in the Melbourne airport showing the largest croc every found; the thing was bigger than a car, about 23 feet long.  They say that the local newspaper, the Northern Territory News, always has a croc picture on the front page.

Tonight I'll go to an outdoor market, where they sell all kinds of things.  And all kinds of food: crocodile, snake, opossum.

Blogging will be light for the next few days, as there is no internet access in the hotel room.