Darwin - Orientation week
Orientation Week – Darwin
At the
beginning of each new school year here in the NT, the Catholic diocese of
Darwin invite all new teachers to their NT schools to a week-long
orientation/professional development.
Troy
(another Taylor boy) and I jumped on a plane and flew into Darwin on the 23rd
of January and were swiftly taken to the Vibe hotel located in a swankier part
of Darwin’s waterfront district. I was allocated a room and got myself unpacked
in an efficient manner and back down and heading to Casuarina shopping center
which is one of the largest shopping outlets in Darwin. A quick sample of the
local Chinese food and a can coke. The coke was sickly sweet. After not
drinking it for a week I quickly realised my body was slowly adjusting to
minimal sugar intake that had been my previous week on the island. So since
that Monday I have not had another can of the drink……one vice down….many more
to go!
A quick
round of shopping saw us back to the waterfront and getting ready for our first
get together as a bunch of “newbies” at a place called Wharf One. Whilst ever
restaurant in Darwin it seems is air conditioned they all most likely have an
outdoor area for eating and wharf one was no different. The temperature was
hovering around the 33* mark with 85% humidity and was pretty sticky at best.
Instantly groups became evident as schools and Principal’s found each of their
newbie teachers and started to introduce one another.
Free beer
made introductions a little easier as the enormity of how many people actually
were new in a sense of the word to teaching in the remote parts of NT became
evident. It is here that I met one of my soon to be two new housemates Josh.
Josh is an easy bloke to get along with and we share many things in common
which made that initial phase much easier to navigate. Sarah my other
housemate, didn’t arrive to Darwin until later in the week on Wednesday as she
had only received the job a week before. Chatting at dinner on Friday night it
was declared that Sarah would be living with us as we had a spare room in
Coconut Grove. I think from the minimal time talking to her that Sarah will fit
in with the boy’s house easily.
The first
two days of orientation were spent getting acquainted with each other as well
as the intricacies of teaching in remote communities with different issues as
well as learning more about the people we will be working with and students we
will be teaching. We started Tuesday morning off by attending the Darwin Star
of the Sea Cathedral for welcome Mass and Smoking ceremony lead by the Tiwi
people in the group. The smoking ceremony was used to welcome us and to cleanse
our spirits. This was done while the Tiwi people sang welcoming song in their
native Tiwi language.
One major
perk of being in Darwin for orientation was not only free accommodation and
flights, but also a meal allowance for each day. This was put to good use as
the waterfront district had a range of hotels from a place called the Fiddlers
Green (typical Irish deal) to Hot Tamale` a Mexican restaurant. During the week
we tried Italian, Mexican, Greek, Irish and some other tried the Oyster Bar
which was also very popular. The name kind of put me off going there. However,
the food I did eat was all top notch and as my Instagram peeps would know I
liked sharing the meals with them. See photos below.
As most
visitors to Darwin would already know, Mitchell Street is like any other town
that has a “street” where people go to drink, be merry and drunk and loud. The
only difference I can note it the bloody temperature and humidity follow you.
All venues we attended this evening were air conditioned, however, the throngs
of people in them on a Wednesday night was mind boggling. First stop was
Shenanigans. This was actually my favorite spot for the night, A 3 piece band
played some great Aussie tunes which everyone could sing along to and be merry.
It seems I may have made a bit of a lasting impression on my fellow teachers
after walking into the crowded dance floor area receiving a hearty reception
for holding a Jug of beer and only one glass for myself. We bought in the 26th
January here with a song and a countdown. We moved to an underground club which
wasn’t long for my liking so a few of us decided to go back to a more
traditional pub and finished the drinking and good times around 2:30am.
Thankfully the walk back to the hotel was not very far. Some sleep and early
breakfast did nothing to quell the hangover that assaulted me the entire length
of Australia Day. Only venturing out for small amounts of time because the heat
and humidity were far worse in my condition.
Friday came
and with some more PD being done on a new learning management platform called
“FROG” done, we all were a little fizzled and enjoyed our last meal together as
a large group at a place called Il Lido. Here I sampled their best table water
as dehydration was still a very real issue and a Beef and blue cheese
hamburger. Very tasty and filling. Afterwards I headed to a place called
Trampoline, which is a little ice cream place that was a bit of a mystery to us
as every time we went to go their they would be just closing their doors, but
not this night, a midi cup of mint choc chip and Passion fruit with Yogurt Ice
cream was a delicious way to end my culinary experience of Darwin’s waterfront
district.
 |
| My Room |
 |
| Sunset over water front distri |
The next
morning we all checked out at the same time, however our flights were staggered
as there were quite a few of us heading back to the Island. Travelling with one
suitcase and a back pack, I was surprised to see so many others with multiple
bags. One traveler had easily 4 bags plus many shopping cooler bags stuffed
with food. As a result my luggage was put onto another plane by itself with
most of the other stuff as weight was well and truly over. The flight itself
was hot and stuffy as the plane hailed from a time when smoking in a plane was
still OK as evident by the ashtrays in backs of seat head rests. Landed safely
and headed back to the house to get a bit of cleaning done and washing clothes
from the week.
A week well
spent meeting a lot of different new teachers to a variety of remote schools
and making some friends along the way.
A week of PD and planning before students start back on the 6th of Feb. Wish me luck people!
You can never plan the future by the past - Edmund Burke
BT
Comments
Post a Comment