HAYLEY SORENSEN

serve dual purposes – they can help create a sense of community at home and boost the Territory’s profile to prospective Territorians interstate and overseas.

“Survivor” seems a strange term to describe someone who chooses to live every day in one of the best places on the planet but life in the Territory – like anywhere – does come with its little frustrations and can occasionally suck.

Sometimes the supermarkets won’t stock zucchini for a month with absolutely no explanation.

You have to plan a special trip to a hotel bottleshop to buy vermouth or face living a negroni-less existence.

I can’t think of many worse ways to get plastered than necking a bottle of red vermouth, but in their infinite wisdom, our governmental overlords have decided only hotels can be trusted to sell any form of fortified wine. Then there’s the Build-Up. None of these annoyances of life exist on Instagram.

#territorylife is an endless haze of beers at the ski club, morning laksas and perfect Litchfield trips.

The unreality of Instagram is one of its biggest criticisms, but by using it to showcase how #blessed we are, we’re doing our civic duty to help boost our population.

Take a lesson from French backpacker Alexia Aubry.

“#territorylife is an endless haze of beers at the ski club, morning laksas and perfect Litchfield trips”

On holidays in Darwin with her boyfriend a week ago, Aubry posted a smiling holiday selfie with a message to have a good day, imposed over which was a graphic showing the weather was a perfect 28 degrees along with a grinning emoji.

It must’ve looked delightful to her 400 followers at home in France, shivering through the depths of a European winter.

What was less clear from the happy snap was that she was actually sitting in Darwin Local Court at the time it was taken, waiting to hear her fate on a string of credit card fraud charges. She got off with a conviction and a good behaviour bond. #blessed

HAYLEY SORENSEN IS A REGULAR COLUMNIST