Bo-bo, Darwin

It's been six months. It's been so much fun, Darwin. And now it's time to go home.

I learned yesterday at a colleague's retirement party (online!) that bo-bo means 'seeya later' in one of the Aboriginal languages. So I'm saying bo-bo, not bye-bye.

As it happens, Darwin went into lockdown on Sunday. A FIFO miner caught COVID in Queensland, became infectious while on a mine in Alice Springs, came north to Darwin and ... kaboom! The city shut down. (His main exposure site in Darwin was the Buff Club, a local, um, men's club. I know for sure I wasn't at that venue on Friday night.) The Territory has very vulnerable remote communities, so the lockdown is completely understandable.

Darwin is packed with tourists, so the timing of this lockdown is sad for them. For me, well, my work contract ends today so it's c'est la vie. Ironically, I am going back into COVID-free Victoria; I will have to quarantine at home for 14 days, and be tested twice. While I'm sad we won't be seeing our Melbourne friends and family for a while, I am perfectly sanguine about this requirement as the house will need a lot of dusting after standing empty for 6 months, plus the garden is a jungle.

Ken is driving home. By sheer luck, he left Darwin a few days before the lockdown. He has travelled for six days through the NT outback, then the Queensland outback, and is now in regional NSW. But even though he has escaped the red zones, of course he will have to quarantine with me.

One of the abiding memories that we will have from our time in Darwin is our weekly, weekend cycle along the coastline, from the city to East Point and back. Here are a few videos that Ken took last week. Darwin in the Dry!

As the sun goes down on my last day in Darwin (for now), thank you for sharing this working holiday with us. Bo-bo!