sallysetsforth

Hello, did you miss me? ;)

I've been in Darwin for 7 weeks now, but the time has absolutely flown! I'll try to make this a quick catch-up, with more blog posts to come ...

We lived out of hotel rooms for the first 3 weeks, before finding and moving into a house here in Darwin. By Darwin standards, we were lucky to find a place so quickly! Of course, we're paying through the nose, but that's a given here. The house is close-ish to my work, it's got air-conditioning in every room, a plunge pool and a lovely garden. We're still unpacking, but getting there (just need a bit more furniture to unpack stuff into - it's probably no surprise that we've run out of bookshelf space already!). Our cat, Roxy, is settling in surprisingly well (we're keeping her indoors here).

I'm really enjoying my job, although it's been a steeper learning curve than I expected. I'm slowly getting my head around the many different aspects of my job: the library; its resources and workflows; my colleagues; the university environment; my clients (both faculty and students); the subject areas I'm responsible for; etc. I've also really enjoyed the opportunity to meet library folk from other sectors through the active ALIA Top End / ALIA NT groups.

And then there's the climate. Gorgeous weather for my first month or so, but the humidity is starting to kick in now. We've even had a bit of rain (plus thunder and lightning), which is unusual for this time of year. We're trying not to fall back on the air-conditioning too much, but it's nice to be able to escape from the heat on occasion. And ceiling fans are one of the world's greatest inventions, I think!

Tim and I have been out-and-about a bit, visiting several of the local markets, scenic spots and eateries around town. With the dry season well and truly on the way out, we must make sure to fit in some more sightseeing while we're able. Tim already has a croc story by the way, having received a nasty nip from while volunteering for a day at Crocodylus Park! He's fine now - no lasting damage :)

Although the blog's been quiet lately, I've been fairly busy in some other online spaces. I've been tweeting (of course!), and posting photos and videos. Most notably, I posted a photo on Flickr for each day in August for the #1pic1thoughtinAug challenge. Click on the photo below to check out some of the places I visited and things I saw during my first month in Darwin :)