Following on that typical Aussie attitude, we wildlife folks had a nice potluck cookout last night around the pool.  After that, I went out with some folks (~10 PM) to the Pig and Whistle, a nice little pub... it was pretty quiet, but I managed to get some funny pictures of the folks who were wasted BEFORE we left... some of them ended up pretty blind by the end of the night.  After the pub, we went to a place called Nirvana which was basically a few rooms and a stage where anyone could get up and play. We went there cause the guys from Demmob were there.  Demmob is the tour group of guides that took us through Kakadu, and they're all awesome guys. (sidenote: Aussies sometimes say "you mob" like "you all, you lot" so Demmob is a version of that used as a name).  So we hung out with the guides, then a few of us went down to the beach to see some stars before going home and collapsing around 2 AM.

Today, we had our first elective class. I'm taking Aussie Environmental History, and it started off pretty interesting.  We talked a bit, got lectured, then watched an X-rated movie (lots of kangaroo and platypus sex). It was nothing you wouldn't see on Discovery, but it was funny to see the people from the business program going "eeew, that's nasty" at the part where the kangaroo gave birth... All the wildlife folks were like "eh, so what?" though we all thought it was pretty cool too.

After the elective lecture, we headed to the Northern Territory Museum again, this time focusing on the Cyclone Tracy exhibit. Cyclone Tracy LEVELED Darwin in 1974, Xmas Day to be exact... the city, through an airlift and ground movement, lost 36 thousand people of it's population of 48k or so, who evacuated and didn't want to come back. It was a miracle that only 60 or so died, but the place was totally flattened (it was mostly cheap mass-produced housing stuck up after WW II rebuilding from the Japanese bombings). The exhibit was pretty interesting, and I took lots of notes since I need to write a paper on how it changed Darwinians view of their environment.

After the museum, we went back to the hotel and sat around a bit.  Around 5, we started up the second barbie in two days, but this one was even better than the first:  The Duke group hadn't gotten to eat the kangaroo and croc in the park cause of a supply problem, so the Demmob guys came to the hotel to cook and party with us.  I helped slicing up the kangaroo and croc, and they grilled it all up with some buffalo burgers on the spot.. It was a great time for everyone. 

At 6:45, some of us who were required for our elective class left to go to the Deckchair Cinema.  Basically, it's an outdoor movie theatre with rows and rows of deckchairs... The movie was called Yolngu Boy, and it was an Aboriginal coming of age type story.  Pretty well done, and nicely culturally insightful (especially as it has to do with interactions with environment, which was why my elective required it).  Walking back from that, I stopped to update for y'all and then I'll probably go back and crash...

Tomorrow is our last full day in Darwin.  I plan to hit the local Aquarium after class, and then the Mindil Beach Markets at night.  I've only been to the Sunday Markets so far, and Thursdays are supposed to be twice as big. Plus, tomorrow is some random contrived local holiday (Territory Day or some such) so there's going to be a fireworks display too, so that should be fun.  Friday around 2 PM we fly out to Alice Springs, where we'll spend a day before going out to Ayer's Rock for 3, then on to Sydney.