Last night will definitely go down in the 'Dan & Jen World Trip Annals' as 'another great party night out...' After meeting up with everyone from the trip bar the Aussie couple (who incidentally told some of us they'd left town but told others they weren't leaving for a few more days) at Shennanigans - an 'Irish Bar' - we decided to do their quiz. On round 1 we scored 10 out of 10, but after only getting 5 in the next round decided to move on sharpish to Hanuman's - a Thai/Indian restaurant that has won loads of awards for it's food and ambience, although, not as it would turn out, it's customer service.

We arrived at 9.05pm only to be told our table, booked for 9, had been given to another group. Whilst we were a little annoyed we weren't that bothered and went across the road to another Irish bar for a beer. They had my mobile number and duly rund at 9.39 to let us know our table was ready. Drinks were downed and we made our way to the restaurant within a couple of minutes only to be told to order quickly as they'll be closing the kitchen soon. Within a couple more minutes we had ordered wine and various meals only then to be told (after tucking into the wine) that 'chef has shut down the tandoori over for the evening', meaning most of us would be left with dishes we didn't want. Not impressed! (Dirtygirl) Zoe complained and for old times sake I joined in but in what I thought was a fair and constructive way - hey I didn't even raise my voice. The unanimous decision was made (after quaffing more of the wine obviously) to leave the restaurant (without paying for anything), and the girls (Ben was on the internet so just the 6 of us by now) were up and gone pretty sharpish leaving me to chat with the Assistant Manager, Dino. He explained how sorry he was and I said how disappointed we were and how we have eaten in some really good restaurants all around the world and in the UK. I then mentioned I ran a website and that I'd have to mention it in there (in a disappointed about your place kinda way not a bitchy one) and it was then he really (for some reason) started begging us to stay. Indeed his exacts words were:

'What would it take for you to stay?' reply - 'nothing, we've made our decision', then he said (and this has NEVER happened to me before) 'I'll take it' (take what????) 'I'll take it, I'll pay for your food'. Meaning we could have all had a free meal in one of the best restaurants in Northern Australia for nothing - just paying for the wine. By the time this ludicrously generous offer had been made the girls had scarpered though and by the time I had explained to them what had happened we were all agreed (honest!!) that we had made a decision to leave and it was now a matter of principle. Fair dos. So (with it now past 10pm) we trudged up and down Mitchell Street looking for a place to eat. The Hog's Breath Cafe had stopped serving food and so had everywhere else (including the numerous fast food places - arghhhhhhhh) but eventually Rog and Zoe used their charms to persuade the chefs at Cafe 69 to stay on for another half an hour and cook us all a meal. And what a meal it was. Massive steaks, lamb shanks to die for and, according to Jen, some of the best ribs she'd ever had. The message is clear - if you ever go to Darwin go to this place - the staff were friendly and the food was just exceptional. A bonus was that the bill came to under a tenner a head... TREMENDOUS! Now touching midnight we wandered back to where it all began this time with Ben in tow. Incidentally, he was sporting the best t-shirt I've seen so far...Plain black with the words 'Qui est ton Papa?' on it (he is French after all...). Superb. Another couple of pints and a bizarre conversation, using props, about emus legs were had before we bade farewell to our new found buddies. Katherine had left for her flight back to Sydney a little earlier and we were tired...we finally made it back around 2 o'clock. Stupidly enough, with a 6am flight tomorrow we've all arranged to meet up again tonight...should be fun again...