Great Southern

We have spent the last fortnight or so cruising around the Great Southern region.  This has taken us through the spectacular southern forests of giant Karri and Tingle trees, via Albany, the Stirling Ranges and Wave Rock, to Esperance where we are currently sitting out some rainy weather before embarking on the trek across the Nullarbor. 

Throughout the southern forests we managed to camp in a variety of the national parks in the area, which was a refreshing change from the caravan parks of Perth and Margaret River.  The forests themselves are quite spectacular, with really really tall trees.  I think they seemed especially tall for us, since we really hadn’t seen anything much over head height since we left the tropical savannah woodlands in the Kimberly.  The Valley of the Giants was a great way to really appreciate how tall these trees are – they have built a 600 m long boardwalk that climbs to heights of about 40 m, where you walk amongst the canopy of the trees.  I freaked out a bit the first go around, since the boardwalk is completely see-through and designed to sway in the wind (and we were there on a pretty windy day).  We also ventured into one of the windswept coastal parks in the area, but didn’t linger due to another large bushfire that was raging away.

From the forests we had a four-day stop in Albany.  We based ourselves at the local caravan park and ventured out for day trips to check out the local scenery and do some twitching.  Albany itself is quite an okay town, with a couple of good pubs and bookstores.  Troopy really didn’t want to leave and developed a radiator hose leak on the day we were due to depart!  From Albany we went to Cheynes Beach to experience some of the coastal areas.  Unfortunately, the days that we were there blew 20 knots and rained, which was not at all conducive to hunting out the three species of rare bird (nicknamed “the skulkers”) that we were hoping to see.  We managed to get the Noisy Scrub-bird (well sort of).  It’s supposedly Australia’s rarest bird and we reckon also the noisiest.  We found it as we were driving out of town with the windows up and radio on!  Despite being no more than a couple of meters from it for a good 15 minutes, we didn’t even get a glimpse of the noisy little f**cker.

From Albany we headed to Esperance with a northern detour to visit the Stirling Ranges and Wave Rock.  The Stirling Ranges were really great, although due to more rainy weather we didn’t stay there as long as we otherwise might have.  We did do the excellent walk up to Bluff Knoll (rated as one of Oz’s 25 top walks, and we would agree).  The walk is ~6 km return with an altitudinal climb of about 800 m, do it’s tough on the legs but with really beautiful bush and montane heath, you are distracted from the worst of the huffing and puffing.  Unfortunately for us, the view from the top was totally whited out by the low cloud, but being up in the mist was an experience in itself.  We went to Wave Rock via the Mallee Fowl centre in Ongerup, which gave us some really good birding karma because we then saw a Mallee Fowl sauntering across the highway the next day!  Wave Rock was just like the photos – a really big bit of granite that looks exactly like a wave that is about to break.  It’s 15 m high, which we calculated was less than half the height of the biggest wave ever surfed – check out the photo of me next to the rock to put that into some insane perspective!!

We are now in Esperance, the last town of any size before the SA.  Troopy is raring to go across the Nullarbor, but we’re going to try for a few days in the coastal national parks before hitting the highway (weather dependent).  We’re booked into the Streaky Bay caravan park for Christmas, so need to cover some kms to get there in time.  Unfortunately, we won’t have any cricket on the radio to keep us entertained, which actually might be a good thing, since Luke has completely renounced the Aussies and wants pappadums for Christmas lunch!!

 Click here for photos

Turning the corner

We have just done a big left hand turn around the south-west corner of Oz and are now feeling like we are in the homeward stretch (not that we know where home will be just yet, but we’re pretty sure it’s not in WA).  Prior to turning the corner, however, we have gotten up to all sorts of adventures.  So many little bits and pieces in fact, that to write about all of them would take pages and pages, so I am going back to my report writing days and embracing the bullet point format … The following list is what we’ve been up to since leaving Shark Bay. It’s in approximate geographic (north to south) and chronological order.

Kalbarri – explored the national park and saw Nature’s Window and lots of pretty wildflowers.  Explored windswept coastal cliffs where there is meant to be good snorkelling, but the surf was heaving so we didn’t venture out.

Point Gregory – visited the aptly named Pink Lake.  Check the photos – it’s even pinker in real life.  Colouration caused by crustaceans with high concentrations of beta carotene (they “mine” them for the vitamin industry – is there no end to the mining obsession in this state??).

Geraldton – biggest town since Darwin, so bought cheap beer and fuel (!).  Visited HMAS Sydney memorial and museum, which had excellent exhibits about the HMAS Sydney and other shipwrecks off this stretch of coast (e.g. Batavia).

Jurien Bay – celebrated my 33^rd birthday with tasty little cupcakes and fry up breakfast.

En route to Lancelin – celebrated Troopy’s 300,000 km mark (this was a somewhat reluctant celebration on Troopy’s behalf – she didn’t want to start that morning and we had to call the RAC for a jumpstart).  Walked and drove through the Pinnacle Desert.  We decided that contrary to all scientific thought that the stones rising straight up out of the sand are fossilised termite mounds, since they look exactly like the live ones we were seeing across the top end.

Lancelin – found not much but windsurfers and derelict camping grounds (we didn’t stay there but rather at a quaint little town down the coast).

Perth – we decided that we needed some time out of the Troops and so stayed in cabins in the northern beaches area and then Freemantle for two days each (funded by birthday money – thanks Mum, Dad, Mary and Pa!).   Went to the movies (Moneyball is ok, but probably best to wait for the DVD), art gallery, museum, beach and caught up with friends (ironically from Adelaide and Townsville).

Busselton – walked out to the end of the 2 km long jetty, twice actually, since we forgot to take our masks for snorkelling the first time!!  It’s the longest wooden jetty in the world, but they’ve recently renovated and it’s mostly concrete now, so not sure if they can continue to claim the longest title.  We snorkelled around the old pilons at the end, which was lot’s of fun, especially peering in the window of the “aquarium” at the very end where people had paid $30 to admire the fish (we paid $2.50 to walk/swim out).

Yallingup – made a base here for surfing and winery exploration.  We hired boards from the local surf shop, but unfortunately picked the windiest three days to have them and so just got some little beachies (which didn’t really matter because we were totally out of surfing practise).  We were only able to explore the wineries in the northern Margaret River region, due to the massive bushfire, but still made the most of that opportunity.  The top three (and ones that we purchased from) were Happs (thanks Tom and Lee for the suggestion), Juniper Crossing (across the road from better known Vasse Felix) and Howling Wolf (we stopped because we liked the name and it delivered for us – gotta love that!).  We also did some (read a lot) of tasting at a couple of breweries, chocolate and nut shops!  Let’s just say, we’re definitely heading back to Margaret River region for future holidays!!

Hamlin Bay – we had to high tail it out of the northern MR region because the place was getting inundated with schoolies arriving for their end of school partying.  Hamlin Bay is located in the coastal Cape Naturaliste NP and was a good retreat for a night.

Southern forests (western edge) – turned the corner into this region yesterday.  We stopped right on the edge to overnight at a lovely forested spot that was free of smoke from (another) bushfire.  Today the smoke had lifted and so we did some walking, birding (got a good look at some Baudin’s Cockatoos) and further gustation – The Cidery at Bridgetown (yum) and the Wine and Truffle Co at Manjimup (ok wine, yum truffle mustard).

In addition to all the above, we have also really enjoyed being in the west for listening to the cricket in South Africa – the time difference worked well – start of play around beer o’clock, lunch at our dinner time and close of play due to poor light at bedtime.  Luke has given up on the Aussies in complete despair and is now supporting NZ, which will make for an interesting time when the first test at the ‘Gabba begins.

And the best news last … we are now an uncle and aunty!  Karina (Luke’s sister) had a bouncing bay boy yesterday (25^th Nov – yep, another Nov b’day) and so we are very much looking forward to meeting Noah Lucus when we get to SA.

Click here for photos

Shark Bay

Well, for this episode of nomading, we have a guest blogger, yep you guessed it none other than Ailsie’s partner in crime/nomading…..

We left Coral Bay and headed south for Carnarvon.  It was an extremely uneventful drive, covering what seemed to be familiar ground, sand dunes and mulga trees.  It can get a little dull in the outback when there are endless stretches of the same scenery.  Just north of Carnarvon, we headed out to the blowholes looking for a camp spot somewhere along the coast.  It was blowing at about 50 knots from somewhere out in the Indian Ocean and the coast line offered very little protection, so we bailed on that part of desolate coast and headed for the deserted town of Carnarvon.  Entering Carnarvon it seemed to have the same feel of towns in the Riverland of SA, lots of red sand, no water and plenty of fruit trees.  We pulled up stumps somewhere in town and quickly decided that we would restock our supplies and get the hell out of there, before we got stuck.

About 150 clicks down the road, we headed to the west into Shark Bay, a place I had been wanting to go to for a long time for various reasons.  Our first stop was the stromatolites, which are the oldest known life forms on the planet.  They are filamentous cynobacteria which are able to survive in a hyper saline environment.  While they are relatively unspectacular to look at, it is spectacular to wonder at how this simple life form changed the planet forever when they came into existence 1.5 billion years ago.  What was interesting is that these stomatolites are ~4000 yrs old, which was a bit of a disappointment as I had assumed they were in continual existence at this site since, well almost the dawn of time.  And apparently they only grow in one other place in the world, Cuba, but my mate Ben discovered some decidedly similar filamentous algae in the South East of SA several years ago with a dirty great big geological survey scar running through them, apparently they are Thrombolites and are not nearly as impressive, but they looked the same to me.  But I digresss…

After a night at Hamlin Pools (don’t stay there, stay down the road a km or two at Hamlin Station), we went into Denham, the most westerly town in all of Oz.  On our way we stopped at Shell Beach, a beach entirely composed of mollusc shells, which are about eight metres deep.  A pretty amazing site, especially for our palaeontologist friend Matt who would probably have been able to tell us more about the site than we would really care to know.  We pulled up next to the harbour in Denham and spotted a dugong eating a tasty lunch of see grass, while we listened to the donkeys run around in Melbourne.  After some lunch, we headed out to Francois Peron Peninsula.  We had a couple of lovely nights out there camped on the beach, where we saw old man emu running about with eight chicks teaching them everything he knew.  It is a spectacular part of the coast where the red desert dunes meet the aqua sea.  We wanted to explore further but on our day of departure a storm was brewing so we decided to leave, rather than get stuck like a cork in a bottle in one of the clay pans out there.  We retreated to Monkey Mia, where we got to see several rangers and hoards of tourists harassing wild dolphins that come in daily for a feed from the rangers, which is funny because I thought you weren’t meant to feed the wildlife in national parks.  We also got to see the thick-billed grasswren in and around the car park, but I reckon most of the tourists missed this little beastie.  This is apparently one of the rarest birds in Australia, but we saw at least six different groups in the car park and the surrounding sand dune area on our morning walk.  The whole Monkey Mia experience was a little disappointing as it was purely focussed on harassing dolphins and failed to mention anything about the surrounding marine park and Project Eden, which is a large scale reintroduction program for a number of extremely threatened species of mammals which are virtually found no where else but in the offshore islands of Shark Bay.  These include the bilby, mala, western barred bandicoot, numbat, and various other species that most people have never heard of (e.g. Shark Bay mouse), but I won’t bore you with them.  After a night at Monkey Mia next to some loud obnoxious pratt who new everything about anything, we departed for Steep Point which Troopy was very excited about.

We tracked back towards the south and then turned west on Useless Loop, an exciting sounding road.  After what seemed an eternity of driving to nowhere, we hit some bad corrugations and the road deteriorated significantly.  We drove over the first dune and then into a big sand pit, along a beach and past some large fishing groups until we got to our campsite, a lovely spot in Shark Bay, overlooking Dirk Hartog Island (the first recorded landing place of Europeans in Australia in 1609).  We decided on two days here, which was a good idea, as it was a lovely spot to chill out and unwind after a bumpy trip in.  On our day there we ventured out to Steep Point, which is the most westerly point of the Australian mainland.  Troopy made it virtually all of the way as well, but fell short by bout 50-metres as the track ended prematurely for motor vehicles.  Now she has made it to the most easterly, northerly and westerly points – let’s hope we can make it to Wilson’s Prom and the southerly point over summer.  After our second night at Steep Point we ventured back to the bitumen and camped at Hamlin Station for a night (a much better camp site than at the Pools on the way in) before heading south to Kalbarri, which will be part of the exciting story of our next blog!

We must also make mention of some very important milestones which are coming up and all revolve around the number three.  Troopy gets three new tyres tomorrow, she clicks over 300,000 km very soon and Ailsa turns 33 on Monday!  Stay tuned for photos of the “3” celebrations next time…

Click here for Shark Bay photos

Broome to Ningaloo

As promised last blog post I am writing this from the shores adjacent to the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef, where we have finally slowed down to a more relaxed tourist pace.  There really isn’t very much along the 635 km from Broome to Port Headland, so after leaving Broome, we sampled the delights of the North Western Highway, stopping off for a night a the southern end of 80 mile beach.  We veered into Port Headland for some cheap fuel and to check out the enormous iron ore boats in the port – I port that I helped to build I might add … well in a very tangential way, by reviewing some of the approvals documentation BHP.  Unless you earn a squillion dollars working for a mining giant or are locked up as an asylum seeker, there isn’t much to keep you in Port Headland, so we motored south-west into Millstream Chichester National Park.

This park is less well known than its nearby cousin Karajini, but we really enjoyed our 2-night stay.  The park is well within the tropical arid zone, and so we were treated to some spectacular Spinifex dominated scenery.  We did a couple of walks, saw some good birds and camped by the Fortescue River.  DEC has recently been upgrading the park and as part of the interpretation, they have developed MCNP FM – a radio station that broadcasts information about the park – we tuned in and it was really quite interesting and well done.  From MCNP we trucked south for another 600+ km and finally hit Exmouth, the gateway to Ningaloo Reef.

We had one night in Exmouth to get organised before heading into Cape Range National Park.  I had been to this one for “work” early in 2010, and was really excited.  Basically, we spent three days snorkelling off the beach, chasing birds and chilling out in some cooler weather (finally).  The snorkelling really was great – and just so easy to flop in off the beach.  We had a bit of a science geek moment when we both saw the species that we did our honours projects on – Black-footed Rock Wallabies for Luke and Stylophora pistillata (a coral) for me.  Cape Range NP is adjacent to the northern part of Ningaloo, and since we wanted to experience as much as possible, we took the scenic 4WD track 150 km south to Coral Bay at the southern end of the reef.

Coral Bay is just a sleepy little beachside tourist town with two caravan parks and not much else.  We booked on a diving and snorkelling with manta rays tour and had an amazing day.  The first dive site was ok and we saw a handful of potato cod and a group of three large lion fish hanging around in a cave.  We had a humpback whale and her calf swimming around at the site, and Luke got a very fleeting glance of something very large and white while we were under the water!  Once back on the surface, we got a really great look at the whales who were cruising along very close.  We then went off in search of manta rays.  We found a couple that we managed to follow for a while and one was doing summersaults whilst feeding.  The others were cruising lazily, but were too fast for us mere humans on snorkel and they got away after a few minutes.  The second dive was at a great site with really high coral cover and diversity.  It was also the location of a reef shark cleaning station and at one point I counted seven of them.  We also saw dolphins, turtles, lots of fish and seabirds. 

Now we are both pooped and are off for dinner at the local seafood restaurant and then I’m sure it’ll be an early night.  Heading south from here to Shark Bay, so next blog will be from there with more tales of maritime adventures.

Click here for photos

Darwin to Broome

We’ve had a whirlwind two-week trek from Darwin across the Kimberly to Broome.  Heading out from Darwin we spent two days exploring the wonderful swimming holes throughout Litchfield National Park.  While we really enjoyed the swimming, especially given the ever-increasing temperatures, we couldn’t bring ourselves to agree with those that think Litchfield is better than Kakadu.  We then headed south to Pine Creek, a funny little ex-goldmining town, hunting Hooded Parrots (with success).  This is also where we saw our first really storm of the wet season – it really chucked it down for a couple of hours in the evening.  Luckily Troopy’s canvass is holding up well. It was then down to Katherine to restock and have one last dip in the springs before swinging west.  On the way to the WA border we stopped off for a night each in Gregory and Keep River National Parks, which both have amazing sandstone escarpments.  We would have loved to spend longer, but when it is still 32oC at 9 pm, you know that it is time to seek cooler climes!

Our crossing into WA marked entry into the final mainland state/territory of our trip and Luke’s visit to all eight (I still have Tassie to go).  We headed up to Wyndham searching for Gouldian Finches, but didn’t see any.  From there it was a long day in the car down to Purnululu National Park, home to the world heritage listed Bungle Bungle Range.  What an amazing landscape – hundred meter high red and black stripped domes – my attempt at a description wouldn’t do the site any justice but our photos should just about give you the idea.  We then trucked on – our strategy was to drive for 300-400 km per day at about 80-90 km/hour to maximise our time in the air-conditioned comfort of the Troops (thank goodness we got that fixed before leaving Sydney!!).  On the way to Broome we stopped off at Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek (natural air-conditioning in a cave where we spent 4 hours reading our books on the picnic blanket) and Derby.  In Derby we ran into a group of the oh-so-controversial asylum seekers, being held in Curtain Detention Centre.  We didn’t really chat to them due to the language barrier, but had an interesting discussion with one of their escorts about the pros and cons of the governments various migration policy (his main take on the issues was bring on the boats, because it meant more very well paid work for him!!).

We’ve spent the last 5-days in Broome and have really enjoyed it.  Firstly, it really cools down here overnight, which is just lovely.  We mooched around town for a few days and enjoyed being at the beach, having coffee and going out for dinner.  We also watched the ill-fated rugby world cup semi-final in a bar that was full of kiwis, so had to cheer for the Aussies very quietly!  We have spent the last two days out at Broome Bird Observatory mixing it up with the 20,000+ migratory shorebirds that have arrived recently from Siberia.  We’ve done some great twitching and have actually managed to id some waders, thanks to the lone of a spotting scope from the observatory.  Tomorrow we are doing some mist netting with the guys that run the place and will have a final twitch at the golf course and sewerage ponds in town before hitting the road south.  We’re planning to travel the ~1400 km south to Exmouth over the next few days, so next blog will be from the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef.

Oh, nearly forgot the Big Croc in Wyndham (check the big things page).  Other photos are on flikr.

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Kakadu and Nitlimuk National Parks

After our relatively fast paced trek from the east coast to central Australia, we have slowed right down to enjoy the national parks of The Top End.  Our first stop was Nitlimuk NP just outside of Katherine.  The most famous and accessible part of the park is Katherine Gorge, where we stayed for three days.  Luckily the only accommodation option at the gorge is the caravan park with a “resort-style pool”.  Normally, we would avoid such places, but given the temperatures were reaching a very hot and sticky 38-39oC, we were very pleased that we didn’t have any other options.  Despite the heat we managed to explore Katherine Gorge, both on foot and in a canoe, doing early morning bush walks on two days and then canoeing up the first three gorges (there are 13).  Our last night at the gorge was somewhat traumatic, as a group of about 200 Victorian school kids descended on the caravan park.  Troopy was quite concerned for her safety, since their tents looked suspiciously like Darleks (from Dr Who), and I had to fight my way through mascara, lip stick, hair driers and hair straightening tongs to get to a sink in the ladies.  We were pleased to move on to the lovely swimming spot at Edith Falls, which is in the northern section of Nitlimuk NP.  The scenery in both the gorge and at Edith Falls was quite spectacular – see photos on flikr. 

Next stop was the world famous Kakadu NP, where we spent five days.  We could have easily stayed longer, except that the heat was really becoming oppressive and we felt that we needed to retreat to Darwin and some air conditioning.  Each part of Kakadu was different and amazing, so I’ve detailed each spot below.  Overall, we really enjoyed Kakadu and both felt a deep appreciation and awe for the amazing natural wonders and the ongoing connection between the country and its traditional owners.

Gumlom – our first stop in Kakadu was at the base of a large waterfall with a clear plunge pool at the bottom.  We spent the first afternoon frolicking in the swimming hole and chatting to German tourists who were traumatised after the 37 km stretch of (not too bad) dirt road into the campground (while we were suitably sympathetic to their faces, we rolled our eyes behind their backs and decided the autobahns were making the Germans very soft).  First thing the next morning, we trekked up the side of the waterfall to check out the amazing view of southern Kakadu from the top. 

Yellow Water – the cruise on the wetland here had been recommended to us by several sources, and so we decided to take up the bargain offer of doing two cruises for only $20 extra.  We did both a sunset and sunrise cruise and were rewarded with amazing views out over the wetland, great birding and some up-close croc sightings.  We also went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which was simply excellent – really interesting stories and very well done interpretation.

Jim Jim Falls – Troopy was excited about some 4WD action again as we travelled down to Jim Jim Falls.  The road wasn’t actually too bad, and we decided that Luke’s old Subaru would have made it apart from one muddy spot (where Troopy nearly got stuck on the way out!!).  The falls themselves and surrounding gorge were spectacular, with a clear green plunge pool at the base of 150 m high surrounding cliffs.  The walk in was a bit of a challenge, with 500 m of scrambling over large rocks and boulders in the ~40oC heat.

Nourlangie Region – we made the mistake of having a lazy start this morning and didn’t make it to Anbangbang wetland until around 11 am.  We decided to do the 2.5 km loop walk despite the heat – big mistake!  We (more me than Luke, but I’m telling the story) got very hot and bothered and cranky.  We did see some good birds and a croc being stared down by a group of ducks.  Later in the afternoon we checked out some of the Aboriginal rock art in the region and listened to talks by one of the rangers.  It was really great to be able to see the art and to hear the associated Dreaming stories – one about Lightning Man who continues to keep an eye out from the Arnhem Land escarpment and another about forbidden love.

Ubirr – we had some more croc action at Cahill’s Crossing, which is a crossing into Arnhem Land over the East Alligator River.  This section of the river is tidal and we watched the river level at the crossing rise around 30 cm in about 45 mins and a cop car nearly get swept away trying to cross at a river height of ~0.6 m.  The crocs (some quite large) gather on the incoming tide and swim around with their mouths open with the hope of catching a barra or mullet.  The most we saw them catch were sticks, but they were menacing nevertheless.  Ubirr is just up the road from Cahill’s Crossing and is a renowned rock art site.  We had a great experience there – appreciating the art, spotting some rock wallabies, seeing a thunderstorm threaten to start the wet and hiking up to a high point and having an amazing 360 degree view over the East Alligator River floodplain and Arnhem Land escarpment (see Luke’s panorama shot on flikr).  The following morning we did two bushwalks through the stone country and monsoon forest.

We are now in Darwin, where we have treated ourselves to a hotel room for four days.  The air conditioning has been a blessing!!  We are off again tomorrow heading south to Litchfield NP and then slowly west towards WA.  Photos of the above adventures are on flikr and the one below is of the painting that we splurged on – My Country by Janet Long, one of her Water Dreaming series.

Click here for photos on flikr

Into the Never Never

We have now entered our entered the sixth state/territory of our journey and are just a couple of hundred kms off the 20,000 km mark (we are deliberately not looking at the total fuel cost to get this far).  Things started to get hot almost as soon as we crossed the NT border and we haven’t had a day less than 35oC since leaving Qld!  But before I get ahead of myself, I must write something about Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, which is currently taking out the top spot on our favourite places list. 

The park is on the Qld-NT border, about 150 km south of the Gulf.  It is described as an oasis in the surrounding Gulf country desert, and while I am usually very sceptical about such self-aggrandising claims, I really do have to agree in this instance.  The 500 km drive from Karumba to Lawn Hill travels through some very flat, very dry, very grazed and very monotonous country.  Then, all of a sudden, a large gorge appears.  Once inside the gorge the country is greener and cooler with a river running in between 30+ meter high sandstone cliffs.  We camped right next to the river at the national park campsite.  We managed to overlap by one night with our fellow 30-something nomading friends and had a great time comparing travels tales and blowing our beer rations!  We then did every bushwalk on offer, canoed up the gorge (and made friends with a freshwater croc “Fred the Freshie”) and swam and inner tubed down the river.  We also added some great new birds to the list, including the Arafura Fantail and the Purple-crowned Fairy Wren.  It truly was a delightful few days.

After leaving our oasis, we had one more night in Qld.  Troopy decided to voice her objection about leaving Qld by cracking her engine pipe (exhaust) about 150 km shy of the border.  A quick trip to the mechanic in Doomagee reassured us that we would be ok to keep going to a larger place for repairs but we might soon need ear plugs!!  With that in mind, we pushed on along the dirt for the 450 km across the Territory border into Borroloola.  By this stage, Troopy was sounding like the most fully sick, hotted up boy racer car you could ever possibly wish for.  Borroloola wasn’t really somewhere we wanted to get stuck waiting for parts and so we roared (literally) on towards Katherine – 600 km away.  Along the way we had a few great stops at a Lost City (amazing weathered sandstone formations) and the springs near Mataranka.  One spot called Bitter Springs was particularly fun.  There was a swimming trail about 200 m long where we jumped in with mask and snorkel and floated down to the exit point.  The water bubbles up through underground limestone caverns and so is crystal clear and around 30oC.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time floating around there.  We also had a quick stop at the Mataranka Homestead and spent a couple of hours whiling away the heat of the day watching “We of the Never Never” – the movie based on the Jeanie Gunn novel about life up here in the 1900s.  Ordinary movie, interesting story – we are going to try and find the book.

Now we are in Katherine and Troopy has a flash new engine pipe.  Tomorrow we head off (in stealth mode, we are now so quiet) to Katherine Gorge, where we are planning more bushwalking and canoeing.  Photos of the adventures described above are on flikr.  The photo below is of Luke acting like a Qld local – oh how the mighty can fall!!

Click here for Lawn Hill to Katherine photos

Go west!

The Atherton Tablelands were a cool and lush retreat from the dust and heat of Cape York and so we spent a couple of days relaxing there.  We did some of the many highlights including seeing the Curtain Fig and swimming at Lake Eacham.  We had some great free camp spots and at one we were under the daily flight path of thousands of Magpie Geese and Whistling Ducks, which was quite a spectacle. 

                       

From Atherton we embarked on The Savannah Way – the road which extends for about 3700 km from Cairns to Broome.  First stop was Undara Volcanic Park.  We took the poor peoples’ option and did some bush walks to see the lava tubes from the top rather than going inside (which is apparently quite cool, so we’ve put that on the list for future trips when we are more financially viable).  After that it’s the long push across Queensland to Lawn Hill National Park, which is pretty much on the Qld-NT border. 

Along the way we passed through Normanton, which is home to Krys the Savnnah Croc.  Krys is a replica of the largest recorded, 8.4 m long croc that was shot (by a Polish woman) in the 1970s and I can fit comfortably in its mouth (see photos)!!  Normanton is also the home to another Big Barra, so compare Daintree Village vs Normanton’s Barras on the big things page.  We’re currently having a 2-day pit stop in Kurumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The sunsets here are amazing (we reckon they rival Santorini), and so tonight we are off on an afternoon bird watching, sunset appreciating and prawn eating cruise (the Gulf is the heart of the Qld prawn industry and so the sunset cruise comes with the usual wine and cheese but also prawns – yum!).

Click here for photos

Cape York - the way down

The way down from the tip of Cape York was adventure filled!  We decided to travelled fairly quickly back down to civilisation, so that we can push west before the wet season.  That plan was going well on the first day and we made it from the top down to the beautiful waterfalls and creeks around the northern bypass road.  We spent the afternoon splashing around in the water and being entertained by people who got bogged taking the tricky route across the creek we were camped by. 

The next day we were feeling quite intrepid and decided to do half of the southern section of the OTL, before hitting the bypass road.  This was going really well and both Troopy and Luke were performing well in 4WD.  We decided to pop our heads into Gunshot Creek, an infamously steep creek crossing on the southern OTL that hard core 4WD’ers attempt and sensible people drive around.  We were feeling quite brave and decided that it really wasn’t that hard core at all and we would just do it rather than going back and around.  Big mistake!!  Troopy got herself stuck on the way up the far side of the creek and no matter how much we manoeuvred, she just refused to drive up the hill.  So out came the winch.  The winch performed admirably and dragged Troopy up the hill without any dramas.  Phew!  We then packed up the recovery gear and went to get on our merry way … but, we’d turned the car off, forgetting that the winch is powered by the car battery, and now had no juice to start the car again.  Stuck again!!  So we waited, and waited, and 2½ hours later some people appeared on the other side of the creek.  Luckily they were also intrepid (and had a lighter weight car than Troopy) and were willing to cross the creek to give us a jumpstart (using both their car and second battery).  So what was meant to be a half hour diversion ended up taking over 4 hours – so much for a hasty trip south!  The silver lining of the story is that as Luke and the rescue blokes were jumpstarting Troopy, I was chatting to the woman about our respective adventures.  She mentioned that Moreton Telegraph Station had some semi-resident Palm Cockatoos and immediately my ears pricked up, since Luke still hadn’t seen his favourite bird.  Luckily, Moreton was only about an hour and a half from Gunshot Creek and so at 5:30 pm we pulled in.  Finally, after two weeks on the Cape, Luke (and I) saw a Palm Cockatoo – what an impressive bird.  We decided that it was fate that got Troopy stuck (not us) and went to bed happy after an eventful day.

The rest of the trip back to civilisation was uneventful, except for getting a big chip in the windscreen.  We arrived on the Atherton Tablelands happy and a bit weary after our Cape York adventures. 

A few photos of the trip down the Cape are on flikr, including Troopy’s adventures at Gunshot Creek.  Click here for photos

Cape York - the way up

We made it to the top of Australia!  The trip from Cairns to the Tip has taken two weeks and we’ve had lots of fun adventures along the way.  I have been keeping a few notes along the way to make sure that I didn’t forget our adventures.  And so I am going to be lazy and just type up my daily recollections.  I should note that this blog is doubling as a travel diary for us, as well as interesting (I hope) reading and photo viewing for everyone else.

19^th Aug: Left Cairns today, after a false start – we left the dive booties on the washing line at the caravan park and so had to double back.  Luckily we were only 30 km out of town.  Our destination was Daintree Village with a quick stopover to hunt for Cassowaries at Mossman Gorge (no luck – only saw some droppings).  Troopy got two more big things today – the (very) big Marlin in Cairns and the (not quite so) big Barramundi in Daintree.  Check the big things page for photos.

20^th Aug: Spent the day in the Daintree rainforest, doing a few short’ish walks between Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation.  There were heaps of other tourists around – about 50-50 split between German backpackers at the northern limit of their rental campervan range and Aussies in very dirty cars returning from the Cape.  Troopy is looking forward to resembling the latter soon.

21^st Aug: The Cape adventure began for real today.  Left the bitumen and travelled the Bloomfield Track from Cape Trip to Cooktown.  No worries for Troopy, but there were some very steep parts where low range was required to control her momentum down the hills.  Saw our first crocs in the Boomfield River (from a safe distance).  We also stopped for lunch and a beer (Luke’s first XXXX) at the iconic Lion’s Den.  We’re not quite sure what all the fuss is about.  Just a nice’ish outdoor pub.

22^nd Aug: Spent last night in Cooktown at a caravan park whose caretaker told me that I only believed in climate change because I am of “that generation” (not sure which one he was referring to) and had been brainwashed.  He also thought that the World Bank could confiscate our World Heritage Sites if we defaulted on our foreign debts, so it was an interesting conversation to say the least.  Cooktown was disappointing, as it resembled a bit of a ghost town.  Clearly the extension of the bitumen to the town hasn’t resulted in the tourist boom they were hoping for.  Great coffee at the botanic gardens, though.  Arrived in Lakefield National Park at a lovely camping spot at 12 Mile Crossing – check the photos, but I’m not sure they do the site justice.

23^rd Aug: Relaxing day at camp.  Did some good bird watching.  A dead fish washed up in the river within view of the camp and a family of Whistling Kites and another of Sea Eagles have been devouring it all day.

24^th Aug: Moved on to northern Lakefield NP.  Drove through the Nifold Plain, which is a treeless, grassy plain dotted with large termite mounds.  Amazing landscape.

25^th Aug: Left Lakefield NP and drove to Coen, our first “real” town of the Cape.  I can sum it up with the following observations – people are few and petrol is getting expensive.  Camped at a lovely spot in the dry riverbed just out of town.

26^th Aug: Moved on to our next national park – Mungan Kandju.  This one is a bit more off the beaten track, with a long’ish drive in to the first campsite.  We camped at Pandanus Lagoon, a wetland with lots of birds (and mozzies).

27^th Aug: Very hot, humid and mozzie filled day.  A little bit over the Cape today, but thank goodness for the solar shower.  So far we have gotten the following radio channels: Radio PNG, Radio NZ and less frequently, Radio National (???).

28^th Aug: Our spirits have been restored today with a stop at Archer River Roadhouse.  We have just chilled out in their grassy camping area after much needed showers and two loads of washing.  Had a small world moment when our neighbours turned out to be a family, whose Dad Luke worked with years ago at SA DEH – made plans to drop in when we’re in SA.  Troopy also make friends with a cow (see photos).

29^th Aug: Headed into Iron Range NP today.  This is a really interesting part of Oz, since it’s actually more like PNG than anywhere in Australia.  Iron Range is home to a whole stack of species that occur only there and in PNG, including Luke’s and my old favourite from PNG days, the Eclectus Parrot.  We camped at Chilli Beach and both the climate (hot, humid and threatening to rain) and the sounds and smells reminded us both of the PNG islands.  We witnessed an amazing spectacle this evening.  Just on dusk, flocks of starlings started flying in to a very small island just 100 m off the beach.  They just kept on coming and joining the ever growing flock, which swept and soared about the island, just like a strangely coordinated dance.  We estimated there were over 10,000 birds when the flock was at its biggest.  Luke tried for some photos, which give the idea, but again, don’t do the spectacle justice.

30^th Aug: Did a small day trip in Iron Range NP and went into the rainforest to go birding.  Our efforts were rewarded with some excellent birds including the Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird (female), Frill-necked Monarch and our old friend the Eclectus Parrot.  All up we added 15 new species to our total bird list.  Luke is still looking for the Palm Cockatoo, though.  I should note that Chilli Beach itself was a bit gross – it smelt pretty sickly from rotting seaweed swept in off the nearby reefs and there was lots of rubbish washed up (I suspect washed in from the big floating plastic mass that circles the Pacific Ocean – check out the photos, which provide good incentive for all of us to think carefully about what we buy and how we dispose of it.  Ok, I’ll get off my high horse now J).

31^st Aug: A long day in the car today to cover some miles to get us closer to the Tip.  Left Iron Range NP and made it as far as Bramwell Junction.  This is where travellers make the choice between the hard core 4WD Old Telegraph Line or the Bypass Roads, which are less hard core, but very corrugated.  We hedged our bets and headed up the OTL to check out the first creek crossing.  We decided that it was a bit much for us and were worried that Troopy’s bull bar would bottom out on the very steep drop i.e. we chickened out.  Spent the night at the creek and will head to the Tip on the Bypass Roads tomorrow.

1^st Sept:  We reached the Top today, which coincidentally marks the anniversary of 5 months on the road.  We ended up doing a little bit of the northern section of the OTL to access Fruit Bat Falls, where we had a really, really nice swim.  To get back to the Bypass Rd we carried on along the OTL, doing 3 creek crossings that submerged Troopy up to the bull bar (which the height of my backside, for those that don’t know Troopy).  After this we headed straight for the top.  Troopy got us within 500 m and we then trudged up the spine of the very northern end of the Great Diving Range and took the obligatory photos at the Tip (see below).  Nice view over the Torres Strait from the top and we also spotted a couple of turtles in the channel.

2^nd Sept: Up until today, we have been totally without incident on our around Oz adventures.  But that all changed today when, within 10 minutes, Troopy got hit by a car and then totally bogged in sand!  We were travelling along a very soft sandy track and pulled over to let another car by.  They were gunning it through the sand, obviously trying not to get stuck, and unfortunately (for them) misjudged how fat their car was and clipped Troopy’s back bumper bar.  Luckily (for us) there was no damage to Troopy, but they got a ding in their front fender.  We carried on along the track, but had lost our momentum in pulling over and got totally stuck in the sand.  After letting the tyres down, digging the wheels out and pushing Troopy (both of us had a go, with Luke being more successful) we managed to free ourselves and escaped!  Interestingly, we were on the way to see the grave of Frank Jardine who was known by the locals as “debil, debil Jardine” because of his terrible treatment of the local Aborigines and Islanders.  Debil debil is said to haunt the area, so after the bingle and bogging we didn’t want to take any more risks and were hastily out of there without any more discussion about what a bastard Jardine sounded like!!

Tomorrow we are starting the return journey south, retracing some steps and also taking some new tracks.  We’re expecting to be in the Atherton Tablelands in about a week, so I’ll try for another update then.  In the meantime, some photos are on flikr.

Click here for photos

Great Barrier Reef

We are just back from three days out on the beautiful Great Barrier Reef.  We got a really good deal on a liveaboard boat that went from Cairns out to the outer reef, approx 70 km offshore.  All up we did nine dives over the three days at three different reefs.  Our favourite reef and the one that we did the most diving at was called Milln Reef.  The dives were generally around large bommies, which bottomed out around 25 m and then rose almost to the surface.  On many dives, the fish would congregate around the top of the bommies, which made our safety stops (3 mins at 5 m before going up) very entertaining.  We were also lucky enough to see whales from the boat. 

Trying to describe the dives and the creatures we saw would not really do the GBR justice, so I have loaded a selection of my underwater photos on to flikr.  A few quick highlights included seeing a friendly Hump-headed Maori Wrasse, a Bulbo metapon (hump headed parrot fish) and his feeding scars, a massive giant clam and some sleeping White Tip Reef Sharks. 

Tomorrow we begin our push for The Tip.  The first stop is the Daintree and then the wilds of Cape York.  Consequently, blog updates may be few and far between for the next three weeks.

Click here for GBR diving photos

Tville to Cairns

We have spent the last week migrating further north from Townsville to Cairns.  Our time in Townsville was very enjoyable, catching up with old friends and visiting some of my favourite places.  For those that have spent time in T’ville, you will be pleased to know that the JCU crowd are wonderful (as always), the beer at The Brewery is still cold and refreshing, and the coffee at Coffee Dominion is still of the best quality. 

After tearing ourselves away from social activities we headed north, stopping at Paluma, Wallaman Falls and Mission Beach on the way to Cairns.  Unfortunately, with the wet season not very far off, we had to pick the top couple of stops along the T’ville – Cairns route and have decided to come back to the others at another point in the future.  This said, we did catch up with our old family friend Steve at Mission Beach and very nearly didn’t leave this idyllic spot.

At all of the above locations, we were shocked by the damage that Cyclone Yasi has inflicted.  Many of the walking tracks in the national parks are still closed due to tree falls and landslips, and there is evidence everywhere of large trees that were blown over and hillsides that were obviously totally denuded of vegetation and that are only now starting to regain some foliage.  I tried to capture some of this in the photos (on flikr), but really, you need to see it to believe it. 

The bird list is growing at a phenomenal rate – some days up to five or six new species.  Some of the best spots of late have been Alligator Creek (south of Townsville) and the Townsville Town Common – literally hundreds of Brolgas and thousands of Magpie Geese at this wetland.  Despite the Ivy Tea Cottage closing down, we still managed to hunt down a Victoria’s Riflebird at Paluma (in the wild rather than sharing Devonshire Tea, no less).  So far, no success on the Cassowary front, but we are keeping our eyes pealed and Troopy is taking care along the roads.

We are now in Cairns and heading out on a dive boat first thing tomorrow – 10 dives on the outer reef, with the promise of 23 degree water and 20 m visibility.  Fingers crossed the reefs are in good condition and that the fishies are feeling friendly!  We’re also expecting some humpback whale spotting and Luke is hoping for sea birds. 

There are a few of photos from the last days on flikr, and I’ll post some underwater shots later in the week, when we’re back on dry land.  Also check out the big thing page for the latest – The Big Gumboot (Tully) and The Big Cassowary (Mission Beach).  The shot below is from Troopy’s sticker board – she’s been collecting stickers from big things and world heritage areas, and as you can see, she’s been getting around!!

Click here for photos on flikr

Bundy to T'ville

We have survived our travels through Qld’s Capricorn Coast and are now back in, what is for me, familiar territory.  Most of the last week has been somewhat hampered by bad flu for both of us, meaning that our adventures have been restricted to car-based activities and very short walks.

After leaving the Qld rum capital (Bundy), we headed for the Town of 1770.  We camped for two days in the nearby Eurimbula NP – a beautiful, secluded spot next to Bustard Beach.  The photo below shows you our taking in of the sunset one night – life is tough!! 

We then headed north to Qld’s beef capital, Rockhampton (and got a bad photo of the Big Bull on the way into town – see big things page).  Being in the beef capital, we felt obligated to have a steak (well I had a steak and Luke a chicken schnitzel), so spent a pleasant evening at the surprisingly atmospheric Criterion Hotel.

After Rocky, it was the long haul up the highway to Mackay (not really a capital of anywhere) and then up into the hinterland to Eungella NP.  Here we went in search of platypus and the Eungella Honeyeater.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find either, but had a couple of short walks through lovely rainforest and a fun 4WDing adventure in the adjacent state forest – see photo of Troopy’s first real creek crossing on flikr.  From Eungella, we headed to Townsville (capital of north Qld), with a night stopover in Proserpine and the obligatory photo at the Big Mango in Bowen.

We spent the first night in T’ville at good old Alligator Creek – for those that don’t know, this is the local swimming hole for Townsvillians to escape the summer heat.  It was the most peaceful and enjoyable time I have spent there – lots to be said for mid-week trips in winter!  Our night at Alligator Creek night also happened to be census night and I was worried we weren’t going to be counted (Luke was less perturbed).  But, luckily, the authorities were on to things and the ranger came around with census forms and so we, and Troopy, got counted!  Now we are off to catch up with old friends at my old local, The Brewery – good times!!

We haven’t taken that many photos (feeling too poorly really), but some ok shots are on flikr.  Click here for photos on flikr

Back on the road with Troopy - Fraser Is

We finally managed to leave Bris-vegas, leaving Mum to regain her peace and quiet.  We headed straight to Rainbow Beach, the launching pad for Fraser Island.  We went via two big things – the Big Pineapple, perhaps Qld’s most famous big thing, and the Big Matilda, the winking kangaroo from the 1982 Commonwealth Games now residing at a petrol station outside Gympie!  Much to our horror, the Big Pineapple is has closed down and is now all but a derelict shell of its once grand self!!  Photos are on the Big Thing page!!

We arrived there later in the afternoon and decided to overnight on the mainland before heading over.  We found a nearby free campground called Poverty Point.  Based on the name, we weren’t expecting much, but were delighted to find a perfectly tranquil spot nestled into a calm bay with a lovely outlook for sunset (see photos).  It was the best first night to be back in Troops!

The next day we made the crossing to Fraser Is and Troopy was excited that she was in 4WD and not to come out for another four days.  After an uneventful ferry crossing we barrelled down the beach (with all the other bogans!) and then headed inland for some exploring.  We were intending to do a scenic drive via some of the lakes, but Troops had other ideas and missed the turn off.  When we ended up on the western side of the island without seeing any lakes, it was much to our surprise!  We’d intended to venture over there at some point, so we had some lunch and a twitch and then pressed on to the campsite at Central Station.  The campground was set in amongst the old logging area and was full of really tall Tallowwoods and Kauri Pines.

The next couple of days we spent touring around, checking out the beach, lakes, Eli Creek, the Pinnacles and the Maheno Wreck (see photos).  I braved a swim in Eli Creek, which was chilly but crystal clear and really lovely.  At a couple of points I had to manoeuvre over some sandbars and got beached az!  We spent one more night at Central Station and another at Dundubara, which was set back in the dunes amongst the paperbarks.

Troopy’s 4WD’ing was excellent, apart from a slight bogging when I was trying to drive up a hill and had to pull over into the soft edge to let another car passed.  It wasn’t my finest moment, but luckily Luke came to the rescue!

Our nature watching was also really great – our bird list for the island was over 50 species, including some new ones for the master list (highlights being Red Backed Fairy Wren, Scarlet Honeyeater and an Owlet Nightjar that we flushed one morning).  We also saw some whales breaching and carrying on a few hundred metres offshore.  We had a couple of goanna experiences – one in the campground and one when Troopy nearly squished one.  We only spotted one dingo, which was wearing a radio collar.  Apparently it’s pupping season at the moment, so we suspect that the dingos were off in the bush away from pesky humans.

Overall, Fraser Is was a great start to the second major leg of our Troopy adventures.  We are currently in Bundaberg doing some jobs and drinking ginger beer (we are on alcohol detox from Europe, so that has saved us from the bundy and cokes).  Heading further into the deep north tomorrow.

Troopy on the beach at Fraser below and for more photos click here

London (Europe Trip Part 1)

The beginning of the European leg of our holiday got off to an exhausting start with a marathon three flight journey to London.  Since we arrived at 6 am, we had to fight sleep for the entire day, so that jet lag didn’t get the better of us.  The fight was greatly assisted by the fact that Jane was having a “work” from home day, so we checked into our Wimbledon B&B and went over to see her, had lunch at the pub (really yummy veggie burgers), hunted for Wombles in the Wimbledon Common (didn’t see any) and then rejoined Jane, Neil and Anne (Jane’s mum) for dinner and drinks.  We were very proud of the fact we stayed awake for the whole day, taking our awake time to 48 hours.  Needless to say, we slept like logs for the first night – take that jet lag!

The next day we decided we needed to keep active and as Jane had a secret wedding dress fitting, we took off on our own to see the Tower of London and the Natural History Museum.  We loved the Beefeater tour (recommend getting on the first one of the day) and the Crown Jewels were amazing – we did the circuit passed them numerous times, to get a really good look at the Star of Africa diamond (the largest cut diamond in the world), in particular.   We wondered whether Kate Middleton had gazed with similar awe at the jewels as a little girl and had ever imagined that she would wear them one day!!  The NHM had two major highlights – the building itself is amazing, with such intricate detail of plant and animal themes on all the columns, walls, ceiling and floors, both inside and out (see photos on flikr).  The other was the statue of Charles Darwin presiding over the great hall (and his dinosaur friend).  The exhibitions were, of course, excellent.

Day 3 in London started early, as we both woke up before 5 am ravenously hungry (jet lag rears its ugly head).  Breakfast at the B&B wasn’t until 8 o’clock, but luckily we had a chocolate fudge brownie that we had bought the day before, but not eaten.  So at 6 am we were sitting in bed, eating a brownie, drinking tea and watching the BBC – jet lag conquered!!  The day then proceeded with a London walking tour with Jane and Anne – through Camden market and around the major parks.  It was a lovely day (and hot), so an evening BBQ at Jane’s was just the perfect end to a fantastic day.  This was also when we convinced Chris (Jane’s brother) that he wasn’t feeling well enough to go to work the next day, but instead needed a medicinal trip to the tennis to see the Wimbledon round of 16 matches!!

Our trip to the tennis was a fantastic day!  It started early with at 5:30 am Chris pick up and then we joined The Queue (they really do capitalise it – see the photos for proof).  Wimbledon is one of the only major sporting events in the world where you can still get tickets on the day, but you need to be committed.  We arrived in The Queue at 5:50 am and were numbers 2627 – 2629.  Although we queued for nearly 4 hours to get in, it was a fun experience.  The tennis was great.  We saw Bernard Tomic in his successful round of 16 match (and then saw a dejected Xavier Malisse catching the Eurostar the next day), some great doubles matches and Novak Jokovich (on the big screen).  The whole experience was topped off with delicious strawberries and Pimms, which we got free from HSBC (thanks for banking with them Chris!!).

The next day we took off to France on the Eurostar – these adventures are to come in Part 2, but check out our London adventure photos on flikr.

Click here for London photos