"Should I lie like a lounge room lizard, or sing like a bird released" - Neil Finn
Thursday 30th October - Monday 9th November
This week off incorporated a large amount of drinking and catching up with old mates, as well as watching three rugby world cup games, two racing days and one Gallic football/Aussie rules game.
Thusday night I jumped in the car from where I was dossing in Maroubra, and drove to Melbourne stopping on the way for a few hours of sleep on the way. It was a reasonable drive and I pulled into Joffa and Perc's place at about 1 or 2 on Friday afternoon. On the way my car (the grey ghost) developed a little bumping noise which became quite pronnouned toward the end of the trip, but no damage seemed to be done and I arrived pretty happy about the journey, compared to the Sydney-Brisbane route which is significantly tougher to drive.
That night Heidi, Daz, his parents Joffa and I went off to see Ireland v Australia in the compromised galic football/AFL game at the partially renovated MCG. It had been very cold during the day and sure enough started to rain as I was queuing up for the tickets. There was no hope of us getting a beer so we watched the game in sobriety and scurried off to a pub afterwards to imbibe some alcohol and watch a band as well as catch up on the last couple of years with Joffa.
The next day was Derby Day at Flemington, so we headed out to the races with Adam and proceeded to bet and drink ourselves into oblivion on a very patchy day weather wise. I had to get to the Telstra Dome for the night's Ireland v Australia world cup game, so departed reasonably early for town and missed most of the torrential rain that occurred that night. The game was a close one and Ireland were only just denied a massive victory over the Aussies by a few feet of a drop-goal attempt 5 minutes from time. The singing and drinking carried on well into the night, which didnt help me as I got horribly lost on the way home in the rain and stumbled in to the flat far later than I would have liked.
The next day we went for a wander around the area surrounding the boys flat, through South Melbourne, Albert Park and down to the beach. We got some food from the markets and took it down to the free BBQ at the local park where we had a barbie and a few beers for dinner after kicking the footy around for a while. That night was spent relaxing over a few beers and the exciting Wales v NZ rugby game on tv.
The next day was a working day, and I had the problems with my car to attend to, so after discoving that it needed a pair of new shoes, I took it in and after a couple of hours with the new tyres fitted went off the pub to catch up with Tim, an old mate of mine who had taken a sick day off work and was spending it at the pub. Suffice to say that I dont remember when I got home, but it wasnt early.
The next day was cup day, so we got the glad rags on and headed out to Flemington again for the races. My inital optomism at winning the 2nd race of the day was shot to pieces over the coming hours as I could not back a winner for the rest of the afternoon and the 122,750 record crowd for the day only meant that I couldnt get to the bar or the bookies as fast as I wanted. It also meant that there was a lot more time spent during the day looking for people. Despite all this it was still very late when I finally made it to my spot on the couch for the evening.
Wednesday I headed up to Ballarat an hour and a bit out of Melbourne to see my old travelling buddy Rich who is building a house on the lake front there. I got in early and wandered around a little vaguely recalling some of the places that Id been two or three years previously, but ended up meeting him as the 1 tonne concrete fireplace for his house was being dropped in the window by crane.
After watching all this hard work (its thirsty stuff dont you know!) Rich, his partner Faith and myself went for a beer down the local pub and were joined by my old flatmate from London days, Hayesy taking a break from his studies for an exam in a few days time. Lots of catching up and stories from the few years since we'd all seen each other. A most enjoyable occasion.
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| Lake Wendouree in Ballarat |
I stayed another night in Ballarat, spending the next day planning my trip through Australia and visiting the gold mining 'living museum' of Soverign Hill. Soverign Hill is the second most visited tourist attraction in Victoria (next to the Penguins on Philip Island) but the one thing that struck me - about the historical nature of the place, all perfectly created mind you and very well worth a visit, was the lack of Aboriginal history that was evident. For a place will local names such as Bunniyong, Wendouree and Ballarat(!) there was virtually no mention of the local inhabitants before the gold fever arrived. Still, I was assured that there would be pleanty more Aboriginal culture further along my travels up the red centre.
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| Soverign Hill, Ballarat |
That night Rich and I went out for some quiet drinks, and meandered in the door at a very respectable 1:00am-ish. Good thing too, as the next day I had to get myself back down to Melbourne and prepare for another massive weekend!!
The expectations did not dissapoint! Friday day I got out and about and did a few of the touristy things in central Melbourne (like the fantastic Federation Square that wasnt there last time I visited) and Friday night I went out with Joffa to the Limerick Arms (for those who are interested, this pub was the first place that Tooheys New was brewed!!) and then to another few pubs before staggering home quite late once again.
Saturday was a great day so we got up and out and went to the markets and kicked the footy around for a bit during the day, but I had the more pressing engagement of the Quarter Final between NZ and South Africa to attend, so after consuming enough beer to take the edge off large crowds and my own nervousness, I set out for the Telstra Dome by myself to check it out. The game itsself was a bit of a walkover to the mighty (on the night) ABs and I headed off to the pub to meet Faye, a mate from Sydney Id met earlier in the year - but the excessive consumtion of alcohol meant that I found myself lost once again later that evening and getting a cab back to the saftey of Joff and Perc's couch.
Sunday, and the last day of the first part of my trip and I started a little late with a woozy head, but managed to meet Daz and Nick in town for a few beers, fish and chips and then we snuck out to Brunswick where we had a few more beers and then Daz and I found our way back into town for the Ireland v France quarter final and settled into our seats for the big game over a few beers. France ended up thrashing Ireland, so the mood was a little sombre as we left, but luckily we found a great big warehouse nearby which had heaps of up-for-it punters, loud music and big screens where we watched a spirited Wales almost knock over England.
The night ended at around 12:30 and I had to get up at 3:45, to get my 5:00 bus to the airport so I could be at my desk by 8:30 that moring. Amazingly, I made it... and even lasted the day - possibly not working to my potential, but what the hey...
The following week of work in Sydney passed relatively uneventfully, other than the usual departure in a mist of alcohol in various bars around Sydney. I also got called back to play one last game for the Trammers and saw the nightmare that was the All Blacks losing to Australia in the RWC semi-final.. bleh!
Friday 21 November
Im now in the Clare valley, in the middle of South Australia and having survived the many obstacles that Barossa valley presents. On Monday I got down to Melbourne and caught up with Joffa for lunch and then managed to track down Hayesy who having found a new flat to live in was awaiting the arrival of some furniture. When it arrived, we assembled it and wandered down to a couple of the locals for the odd pot or two. My office worker hands have only just recovered from the injury caused by a pesky screwdriver! After this we returned to the flat for Hayesy and Sundeep's first dinner party at the new place(admittly not much of a party, seeing as I was the only guest - but it was good none the less).
After Melbourne, I departed for Adeliade, the city of churches - arriving on a very warm day a little tired and jaded but still with enough energy to get out a bit and have a look around. I was pretty impressed with the town, it reminded me somewhat of Christchurch in New Zealand and I wasnt surprised when an entirely unreliable source at the hostel told me that one was based on the same basic design as the other.
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| The tram stop at Glenelg in Adeliade's West |
Another interesting point that I wasnt aware of, is that South Australia is 30 minutes behind Victoria and New South Wales. This explains why I was 30 minutes early for the first couple of days after I arrived here!
After the drive from Adeliade, I arrived in the middle town of the Barossa valley, Tanunda which has a distinct German flavour, but the camping ground I stayed at was a good place to get organised and I booked in for a tour of some of the vinyards the next day and caught up on most of the sleep that Id missed out on over the previous nights. The wine tour the next day was good fun, we saw a good range of different vineyards and learnt a little about the area. I retired to my bed in the early afternoon, but still made it up to watch the All Blacks demolish France to claim 3rd in the RWC.
Today, Im back on the road north and Im aiming for a camp ground at Spear Creek, just south of Port Augusta where the 'real' outback begins.
Saturday 22nd November
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| Some opal mines beside the road |
Ive decided to take a break from the tent (not surprisingly looking at this desolate place) and booked into a backpackers. This place is 6m underground and surprisingly comfy and cool. Also in contrast to the cost of petrol ($1.10 per litre, as opposed to the .88c I paid this morning!!) the rates are the same as any other backpackers.
Ive got a massive drive tomorrow to Ulyru so am looking forward to a couple of beers tonight and an early night after the world cup final. C'mon England! HA!
Monday 24th November
Well am now in Alice Springs. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes, Im about to have some celebratory drinks but thought Id compile an update on the last couple of busy days before all the necessary brain cells are erased. Also my support was obviously felt in Sydney - apologies to all the Aussies, but as a neutral I had to pick someone... nuff said.
The Ulyru-Kata Tjuta national park is pretty amazing. Yesterday I did the 7.5 hour drive to Yularra where I got a camp site at the Ayres Rock Resort there. After a quick dip in the pool I trundled out to the big hunk of stone and walked through the cultural centre of the local Aboriginal tribe then went for a wander around 10km track that runs around the bottom, finishing in time to watch the sun set over it. I didnt do the climb up, because a) the aboriginals dont want people to b) it damages the rock and c) it would be a tad hypocritical for someone who pours scorn on those who walk around Muslim countries with shorts on etc etc. (yes I know the first reason is reason enough, and Im not trying to justify anything or be self righteous.. but there you are.) I got lots of (hopefully great) photos of the non-sacred bits, and those should be appearing here sometime soon.
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| Well everyone's gotta have one of these in the photo album, dont they? |
250kms and a half hour sleep later, I arrived at the Kings Canyon and went out for a walk around two of the hikes there. A very nice place and probably worth more time than I gave it. Time however was not on my side and in 35degC heat I only partially did the larger of the two walks before quitting to continue my drive towards Alice Springs. I decided to take the long route, avoiding some unsealed road, but adding another hour or so to the trip as the last thing I need at this stage is the Ghost packing up because of a hole caused by a stray stone (for all you who have asked, she is running very well by the way). It was lucky I did this, for the family whose car had run out of gas about 5km from the nearest roadhouse and whom I was able to provide necessary fuel to continue their journey. Speaking of fuel, I got a record cost of petrol today, $1.27.9 for a litre of unleaded at Kings Creek Station. Damn that hurts!! I got into Alice at around 7:30 and checked into a hostel - an indulgance, but it is my birthday after all!!
Just a quick note to the federal government of Australia. Well done on the roads in NT. Nice work. Better than bloody NSW. Like the no speed limit thing also. (For those who arent aware, NT is not a state and is governed by the federal government. Seems they can get some things right after all)
Thursday 27th November
After driving around 1625km (more than the length of New Zealand) in the two days after I was in Alice, I got into Darwin yesterday, found a hostel and did some admin tasks which included booking some trips to the Litchfield and Kakadu national parks. It is the first week of the 'wet' up here and this means that all the usual tours that are available are now cancelled as they expect a great big storm to come along very soon and wash out all the 4WD tracks. There are still quite a few options available and I managed to get sorted out for sightseeing for the next few days. I decided to go on organised tours out of Darwin rather than just rocking up and doing it by myself.
Today I went out on a daytrip into the Litchfield National Park and saw some really cool wildlife up close like goannas, lizards, massive 5m high termite mounds and various birds. We also got a chance to go for a few hikes and swim in some secluded swimming holes that provided some relief from the temperatures outside that were slowing us all down in between swims. It didnt stop me copping a far amount of sun action during the day, and as I type this I have a nice glow going on..
Last night I won a dinner at the pub for the best rendition of a national anthem (Japan got second) so I am about to get out and use that before resting my tired and jaded body at the pub. Im off into Kakadu tomorrow for a three day camping trip, so will keep the updates coming after that.
I thought Id add an interesting anicdote from my one night in Coober Pedy that I neglected to mention on my original update, and that is that during the night a couple of German lads I was sharing a dorm with that had been out on the razz, came back and woke up half of the hostel with shouting and carrying on before they crashed out. The interesting bit is that during the night one of the pair, who was probably a little more drunk than his mate got down off the top bunk, and went off to the toilet where he proceeded to do his business... in his head, that is except the last bit. Suffice to say that his buddy down below had to rapidly towel himself down and change beds during the night. Justice done? I think so!
Sunday 30th November
In summary of the following entry, the last three days have been fantastic, surperb, phenominal and any other superlative that you care to use. I was on a tour of Kakadu with a company called Kakadu Dreams and the guide, Ben took us over the three days to some of the most amazing places Ive ever been. The first day we did a couple of short hikes interspersed with grand vistas over the park and Arnham land including the bit from Crocodile Dundee where they look out over the bush where the scene 'this is never never land' was filmed. We also saw the multitude of Aboriginal rock paintings that are scattered throughout the park and learnt about the meanings and reasons for doing them. The art is actually many many layers thick and has been painted over many times as each generation interprets their world in a different way. In the morning, we had been out on a tour down the Adeliade river which is populated by hundreds of crocodiles and with a bit of encouragement (large chuncks of meat) came out for photo ops. We finished the day with a beautiful sunset scene and saw a croc chomp on a bird nearby for some ad lib entertainment while we were sitting there.
(sorry for incomplete entry but the pub got in the way.. great pub that Shenanigans .. entry continues 1/12)
The next day we got up out of our wonderful airconditioned dorms and fought the flies to a spectaclar waterfall at Gomluk. We climbed to the top and looked at more massive landscape views out over the park before cooling off in the water and exploring up the river a short distance, following a Mertons Water Monitor (lizard) who happened to be swimming that way as well. In the afternoon we walked out to another river where we did a bit of rock climbing to some pools, a few of which were separated by underwater tunnels which were great fun to swim through. We also had the opportunity to bomb off the rocks from enormous heights into the pools below (he he he!). We made our way back to camp after that to enjoy a massive meal of roo and veges before an even more massive night at the bar.
Scraping ourselves out of bed the next morning, we got up and went out for a decent 8km hike to Motorcar falls and after that, Kurrundie falls (this in place of the more well known Jim Jim falls which weren't actually falling!). The weather was getting very very hot as it does at this time of the year, known around here as 'the build up' which is the couple of weeks before 'the wet' begins. The local Aboriginals recoginse 6 separate seasons, and its not hard to see why when you look at the distinct types of weather they get here. The water in the pools at the bottom of these waterfalls was by far the coolest and most refreshing of our trip to date, and we climbed up to a very secluded pool which was a real challenge overcome for some of the members of our group. It was great to see the smiles as we left the water, of a happy bunch of campers who had pushed themselves to the limit.
The walk back provided a small drama, with one of the American women taking a wrong turn and deciding not to go back, rather to continue to the end of the path she was on. The dope. Anyway we all ran around for about an hour like headless chickens in the heat looking for her and that put a slight dampener on the day, but we made it back to the Mary River roadhouse with a little bit of time for lunch and a swim in the pool before the trip back to Darwin which was punctuated by a small swim at Berry Springs en route. A few drinks at the pub with Justin, Andrea, Catherine and Su on our return was a fitting end to a fantastic few days.
Monday 1st December
Struggled up this morning and checked in for another day, then met Andrea to drive out to the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery, which we found to have some fantastic displays of Aboriginal art, much better than the places I visited in Adelaide. The displays on Cyclone Tracy which essentially demolished Darwin on Christmas Day in the 70s were also very good.
The only remaining things to do in Darwin now, is to get the car sorted for the next leg of the journey south before I start going westward.
Thursday 4th December
Well, Im now very west! After Darwin I headed south to the Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, stopping at the Edith falls for a short hike and a swim on the way. I stayed the night in the Nitmiluk Gorge and managed to observe a very spectacular thunder and lightening show that night after dinner. I also learnt an important lesson about keeping the tent open to the world, because as I may or may not have boasted to you, I seem to be imune to mosquitos. Well it transpires that even if they are not biting you they make a hell of a racket and leaving the door open also allows ants in. A couple of hours after lights out I got up to kill every other living thing inside the tent with avengance!!! Lesson learnt.
The next day I got up and did a short hike into the gorge and then jumped in the car for the 500-odd km drive to Kunnanara in Western Australia. It is probabaly a good idea now to fill you all in on the types of things that go on during these long drives. Firstly, it gets very hot inside the car (yesterday temperature in the shade during my drive was 42deg C, this is massively amplified behind a glass windscreen. Secondly, the fuel is expensive (as Ive alluded to previously) but also available very infrequently. It is sold at places called Roadhouses which generally provide accommodation, food and groceries as well as petrol. As an example of how remote these places are, yesterday I stopped at Halls Creek, the next place to stop was Fitzroy Crossing 288kms down the road, and the roadhouse afterwards was another 253km away. You've got to buy petrol when you can! Also whilest driving you will encounter another intersting phenomenon - the road train. These are trucks pulling up to 4 trailors and can reach lengths of 54 metres! As you can imagine, passing these buggers while the last trailor is wobbling around is a little daunting.
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| A road train near Woomera in SA |
As you drive, passing other cars going the opposite way is an exciting event and virtually everyone waves to each other - though now Im in WA it is a little bit less friendly than in the Territory. This morning another car went passed on average every 20 mins! So as you can imagine, its a very action packed 7 or 8 hours a day sweating in the car watching the savannah of the central/north Australia pass you by!
Anyway, after a night in Kunnanara and another thunder and lightening storm, I got up and headed to Wyndham where you can see the Cambridge Gulf (the sea!) and some pretty impressive views of the Kimberlys. I then went out and visited a Crocodile Farm which was quite interesting. They have up to 4000 crocs at any one time and keep some of the larger ones relocated from around the area as a display to attract punters like me. When the farm reared ones get to about 3m (3yrs old) they kill them and sell the meat and skin. In the winter they also have Kimodo dragons, but Ive missed that with it being too close to the wet.
After leaving Wyndham, I headed west again to Fitzroy Crossing where I stopped at a lodge there that has camping. I was warned at check-in that they had been having some ant problems, and I should be careful where I pitched my tent. Luckily I had spent that night in the Nitmiluk gorge then - I checked a couple of prospective sites and finally on my third attempt found an ant-free place to stop for the night.
After dinner I was a bit jaded after a long day, so jumped into bed only to be woken an hour later by the fact that there were ants all over the inside of the tent!! These ones (Singapore ants) were so small that they can fit through the teeth of the zip on the tent door! Damn it! I gave up and took refuge in the car for the night, giving the ants free reign over the tent. Unfortunately they found me there also, and despite me driving to the other end of the camp ground during the night in the hope of confusing them, I found myself sitting waiting for the petrol station to open at 6:00 in the morning slapping myself and trying to kill as many of the buggers that had invaded the car as I could.
Suffice to say that they got a pretty violent seeing to when I finally arrived in Broome this morning after 4 hours of slapping, cursing and fuming. It still remains to be seen if they are going to be inhabiting the Grey Ghost permanently - I have a bet with Mortein that they wont be.
Thursday 11th December
Welcome to Broome time. This is the writing on a sign that sits above the hostel ('The Last Resort Hostel') where I have been staying. Any place that proports to have its own time was enough to invoke a small amount of interest from myself. Broome time, is when things get done around here, and after nearly a week here its absolutly simple to figure out why they claim to have a different time system to everywhere else. I am very, very chilled out having spent the last few days enjoying the quiet season here. This involves sitting by the pool in 30 degree temperatures for a bit, going out and sitting by the beach and attempting to play the didg' that I bought near Darwin, sleeping and not a lot of anything else. Anyone interested in buying a didj should check out the website of the place that I got it http://www.didgeridoohut.com.au/
Over the past few days and nights aside from swimming and lazing around I have been to an outdoor cinema, been out into the Kimberlys along part of the famous Gibb river road to Winjina Gorge and Tunnel Creek, gone out star gazing at night in the desert and watched the incredible sunset over the Indian Ocean from Cable Beach.
The star gazing thing that I did was part of a tour (called Astro tours) and was quite cool. We saw Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn under a full moon and through the various telescopes saw amazing detail of both the moon and Saturn's rings. We also saw a nebula, and were interested to see how much the earth had moved in relation to all the stars at the end of our two hour session. The guy taking the tour was very entheusiastic and I felt we certainly got our moneys worth.
My travel partner for the next leg of my trip, Mel arrives in a couple of days so Ive had to embark on a small clean out of the ghost to fit her in. The ant problem still exists, but after a number of extermination missions is far less of a problem than it was previously. After close examination, my tent has a few new holes where the little blighters ate their way in and Ive had to get the ghost checked out- though the mechanic assured me Id get to Perth. Nice one.
Click here for the next leg of my Oz adventure, down the West Coast..
Any comments, innaccuracies or abuse, send to: ryananglem@hotmail.com