Robson Green Donates to the As Cheeky As You Can't gang!

We really went to work hard on the fund-raising in Darwin hitting the pubs and bars with our tins. The people of Darwin, who now knew us as 'Those naked bin bag people!' because of the front page NT News article, responded wonderfully by throwing money our way and by giving us a pat on the back. We even bumped into Robson Green, a fellow Geordie, who was filming in Darwin at the time. Phil walked up to him and brashly said "Robson Green give me some money!" To which Mr Green dug deep into his pockets and threw in a few notes in our tin after writing on the reverse of a flyer; "To Anne, Phil and Gareth, with a passion that knows no shame, Robson Green" What a canny bloke!

photo from ABC.net


A restaurant along the marina during full moon, Darwin

While talking to the people of Darwin we were told by more than one person to talk to a gentleman called Tony Milhinos, the winner of the 2005 Senior Australian of the Year award. Nervous and unsure of our being able to even get an appointment with such a revered man, we tentatively went to seek him out in the centre management office of the large shopping centre he owned. Wandering around the whole complex without finding any office of any kind, we asked the assistance of a shop keeper to point us in the right direction, at which point we were ushered to a haberdashery and told he would usually be found in there. However, he was nowhere to be seen. Walking amongst the coloured threads and cross-stitch frames, we were introduced to his daughter, who said he would most likely be out sweeping the centre and cleaning the toilets. What a guy!

Phil talks to Tony Milhinos, winner of the prestigious award senior Australian of the year

Tony, a down to earth family man, with a welcoming smile and grandchild glued to his side, greeted us with warm welcome and a wish to know more about what we were doing. It seems our way of fund raising, actively earning donations and not just asking others to do the hard work appealed to his values and he made time to speak to Phil and myself. And very modestly though he was, he agreed to answer our questions about how he became such a well know celebrity in the Northern Territory in exchange of a few stories of our cheeky adventure. Tony, he informs us, landed in Australia many years ago with only $200 in his pocket and succeeded in making his fortunes. "Australia has been very good to me, I have been very lucky and now I just want to give something back to the community that has given me so much." He is well known in Darwin as a local philanthropist, donating to many charities and good causes. But what is so wonderful about this man is that he inspires the people around him to give as generously as he does. A day that he will always be remembered for in the community is when, during the fund raising for Black Wednesday, for the victims of the bush fires of 1983 was when he donated all profits for a full day and all his staff followed suite, working all day without any wage, raising around $25,000. On hearing about what us 'Crazy Poms' are doing he donated $1,000 worth of shopping vouchers for us to raffle, gave us a shopping trolley for a supermarket sweep on three separate occasions and filled our jerry cans with fuel. While we walked around his shopping centre with him, the staff cheerfully greeted him with familiarity and genuine friendliness. He has found a great balance between running his business and his family, obviously treating his employees as extended family. We left Nightcliffe feeling that we had met someone very special, a community man, who still gets embarrassed at any attention he receives for his good deeds. Tony believes that he is looked after so well in life because of good karma and perseverance. Thank you so much Tony for showing us how you can do well in life and still keep your feet on the ground.

Gareth climbs at The Adventure Academy Rock Centre Doctor's Gully

Surprisingly, as opposed to wasting away through lack of chocolate treats and beer we are actually much less active than our pre-cheeky trip selves, due to the amount of time we spend in the van. So when we were given the opportunity to release some stress at an indoor climbing wall we jumped at the chance. We took a few hours out of our fund-raising and were given instructions to warm up by going through the children’s jungle play area before we would be let loose on the wall. Whilst I would love to say that it was fun to run around and relive those youthful play times, I found my much less agile body clumsy and awkward, oversized and the next day, very bruised. I found the bright plastic tunnels cramped and claustrophobic; I perspired through frustration at my inability to get my legs through hoops or my bum down slides. Climbing however was such a much needed stress reliever and we climbed until our forearms bulged like Popeye's, straining to reach those dizzy heights on the ever decreasingly sized climbing holds. Thank you for the exercise! In a gigantic disused fuel storage tank, this wall has something for all levels. One thing which has really been hard for me as a girl with little in the way of girlie products, few tools or cosmetics to help me look and feel better if I am feeling a little run down, or little in the way of clothing which I think suit or fit me, is that I feel a little less attractive than I feel in my clothes. And when, for example, during my pub fund-raising boys comment on how they saw me in the paper but that I could have at least done my hair, it doesn't do great things for diminishing self confidence. Palace Hair Studio on Mitchell Street took one look at me whilst I came in to pick up vouchers to raffle at a fund raiser and told me to come in for a treat of a hair cut and colour. I walked into Palace Studio with a mop top, tatty through lack of comb and severely dry through lack of conditioner, but I walked out feeling like a million dollars. Catching glimpses of myself in shop windows, I swished my head from side to side, running my fingers through my healthy looking locks. But, as Sod's law would have it, a few minutes after walking out the door the heavens opened up and drenched me, we are not talking a little shower, we are talking perpetual buckets poured over my head sticking my hair to my face and drenching my clothes to the point of embarrassing transparency. And of course, after the wetting, my hair reverted to its same old unmanageable, messy birds nest. For the few minutes that I didn't feel like a scruff I whole-heartedly thank Dee Archibald and Caitlyn McLaughlin at Palace Hair Studio, a few minutes of glamour and a few hours pampering made my week!

Dee of Palace Hair Studio revamps Anne's tatty hair after seeing her messy mop on the front page of NT news



Phil is groomed by a Sunderland girl, Ally, who immigrated to Darwin

In fact, we ended up being in Darwin so long that Phil needed to get his hair cut again, this time Jess at Innovative Hair Designs help out with a quick whiz over with the shears.



We watch Aussie guys being lifted meters into the air as they kite surf



Happy Garden Chinese Restaurant gave us free reign on their buffet banquet. Yummm... Eat all you want can be dangeous in our situation.

A fantastic spread for a buffet style, very reasonably priced meal.



Darwin offers some great spots to stroll along the coast. Fishing is Australia's most popular pastime so you will often see boastful pictures hung on pub walls or lounge tables of guys with wide grins holding onto large catches. But not everyone is after the same catch, during one of our relaxing walks along the beach front we came across a family who were dropping in hand lines for catfish. This very friendly boy offered some entertainment as he went off snapping pictures of his pacifying bottle, obviously his most prized possession, with my camera.

A very lovely and handsome family indeed. Funnily enough, we bumped into this clan again in Catherine. Small world this big place is.




A Darwin Sunset

Manoli’s a newly opened Greek restaurant in the city invited us in for the most delicious and enormous plate of spaghetti.
We never thought we would be so treated in a town, but I can honestly say that almost every business helped us out in some way or other. In fact, as you can see in the picture above, we were given so much spaghetti in one restaurant that for the first time on the trip I couldn’t lick my plate clean.

Before coming to Australia I had never heard of the Waifs. I was introduced to their live album in the cheeky van, where it became a daily food for the ears staple. A bluesy folk band, with a girl who really knows how to blast them out on her harmonica and vocals, we had pretty much learned the words to all the songs on the CD we were given, by George of the Magnetic Times, and after mailing their representative we were invited to come and watch them perform live at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

Although the band themselves played well and we were more than impressed with how good they sounded and performed live, I will never really get my still body around these sit down venues. In frustration, the few people who managed to break free of their seats to give a little still footed, stood up, bum wiggle had only a short burst of enjoyment before the crowds behind them tutted loud enough to be heard. The restrains of seating gives for an unenthusiastic crowd and it seemed that this was the only complaint of all spectators. The night was a wonderful musical break from fund-raising and we have now pretty much adopted The Waifs ‘I’m in London Still’ as a theme tune to our travels. Thanks for a great performance!