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June 2003
We spent a quiet month mostly just going to the beach every day and enjoying
the domestic apartment life. They took the Stinger Net down June 12 and now
we can swim anywhere along the beach. Most of the Stingers “should be gone
now”. Comforting. The paper indicated that there might be dead box jelly
fish washed up on shore and we were hoping to see one, but we saw none.
If we venture further, we go to the Smithfield Library or shopping at
Smithfield Center. Nice bike paths the whole route. We went to a wine
tasting event at Smithfield Center one evening and took the bus. $8AU to try
over 50 Australian wines from 9 vendors. A nice event. One day we bussed
into Cairns to see about extending our VISA. The nice lady said that it
starts over when it is renewed … so we will not get the 3 or 6 month
extension we want from the end of our first 3 months .. but from the day it
is renewed. So we’ll wait til closer to August 13 when our first 3 months is
up.
And one day we booked a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The really nice
settled weather was gone just after the Queen’s Birthday weekend in early
June, so we had to take our chances. We got a somewhat calm day that was
mostly cloudy. We chose the cheapest boat and went out with only about 15
other tourists for $50AU each. Nice and friendly. It took 3 hours to get to
our first stop at Michaelmas Cay, a bird nesting sanctuary. I took an
Introductory SCUBA dive and Larry snorkeled. Just 2 of us did the dive and
it was great. It looks just like an aquarium and we got to touch some coral
and clams. Then we reboarded the boat and had a smorgasboard lunch while we
headed for Hastings Reef and more sealife. Larry took the Glass Bottom Boat
and saw lots of great fish and coral and such. The lady and I started our
second dive, but she had mask problems and I was on hold underwater. By the
time she got settled I was having panic attacks and went to the top. We
wound up both chickening out and just doing some snorkeling. That was toooo
bad, because this site has such beautiful creatures. The trip back was very
choppy and a few people lost their lunch. The rest were all crowded onto a
few benches under a shelter. Larry and I sat out in the seats and let the
wind and sea spray us. It was great. A German lady congratulated us in
German for being so brave. They were all freezing. Then we enjoyed a Chinese
buffet dinner at the Night Markets in Cairns and bussed home and slept like
babies. It rained for the next 2 days while we recuperated.
Another day we bussed to Cairns again to catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway.
In June a new Tilt Train began running between Cairns and Brisbane 3 times a
week. It replaces the previous train and cuts 7 hours off the travel time.
The Tilt Train was just loading, so we got to take a look. Then over to the
Kuranda track and aboard some 80 year old train cars for the 1 hour 45 min
ride to Kuranda. The railway is another of those engineering feats where
fortitude and dynamite and manual labor created 15 tunnels and 93 curves and
dozens of bridges and removed 2.3 million meters of earth through dense
jungle and cliffs with sheer drops up to 327 meters. It is a pretty route
through some of the oldest rainforest in the world to Kuranda, which is full
of shops. Larry enjoyed Devonshire tea at the Rail Station … fresh scones
with cream and jam with tea, while I roamed the shops. Then we had a great
German Wurst and headed for the Skyrail which took us back. It is the
world’s longest gondola cableway and takes you above the rainforest, almost
5 miles long. The ride stopped about midway due to a power outage, but we
got going again in about 10 minutes. That was exciting. That’s how we spent
Larry’s birthday.
One day we biked to a fish shop and got fresh green prawns. We peeled and
cleaned them .. yuck .. and marinated them with in and garlic and later
sautéed them a few minutes. We never had such wonderful sweet tender shrimp.
But we didn’t think we’d do it again because they were tooooo icky to clean.
Then I checked the fish display at Woolworths where we get groceries and
they have the raw prawns all nice and cleaned, so we got them twice and they
are just as wonderful. I paid $21AU for the prawns we had to clean and only
about $10AU for a half kilo of the cleaned ones. A bargain both ways.
So passed the month. We’re starting to look into Campervans to rent when we
leave here July 19 … our 34th wedding anniversary day. We’ll head north to
Port Douglas and Daintree and Cape Tribulation and west to Kuranda and the
Atherton Tablelands and Mareeba and back to Cairns to try to extend our VISA
in early August. Heidi sent us Jaime pics now that we have a real address
for awhile. And I lost my new bifocal sunglasses that I just got in
Christchurch for only $10NZ … knocked off my head by a big wave … so I
ordered a pair from California and got them in a week. The Internet and the
Post are wonderful.
The news of the month covered a divisive vote in the Labor Party and the US
ships docking for R&R in Sydney and Cairns and what kind of shenanigans they
would get into. A Uni student from Illinois drowned in the Mossman Gorge
north of here swimming after much rain and her foot got stuck between rocks
and her friends couldn’t free her and watched her die. Toooo sad. Should
they privatize Telstra, the major phone company? It is sugar cane harvesting
time and lots of warnings to watch for the narrow rail cane trains. Already
a big smash up between a truck and one of the trains. It seems they burn the
fields before harvesting so there will be much smoke. We haven’t seen that
yet.
July 2003
We decided on a Backpacker Campervan rental. It turns out to be a 1999
Toyota Britz Campervan with lots of kms on it. We rented it for 18 days, but
hope to keep it if our visas are renewed. Rental is about $58AU/day, where a
newer Britz might be about $80. There is a $2500 excess/deductible which we
choose not to lessen by paying more per day. They charge the $2500 when we
rent it. Unusual we think. Refunded when we return it undamaged.
So we continued to bask in the sun and enjoy our little home in Trinity
Beach. It was cloudy and windy much of the month. Unusual, say our landlords
Dot and Lawrie.
Our main outing for the month was to WildWorld in Palm Cove, a 5+ mile
bikeride. It is a zoo with all the wild animals of Australia. We saw koalas,
kangaroos, snakes, crocodiles, dingos, wombats and cassowaries. They had a
feeding or demonstration going on every half hour and the time flew. There
was a cane toad race and they wanted an international participation. So I
volunteered as an American, since there were no US children to play.
Cassowaries are an engendered bird, big like an emu but not as tall. They
have beautiful black feathers on its large body, a blue head, red wattle and
a bony looking crown on its head and a sharp knifelike claw on each foot. We
saw one in the wild later at Cape Tribulation and today spent the day at
Mission Beach looking for more. There are many many signs here warning to
watch for Cassowaries, but we haven’t seen any here so far. There are even
signs in the campground warning that a family of Cassowaries visits and
warns not to feed them. That’s why we’re here at this campground. But no
sightings yet.
We also went to the Cairns Show, a 3-day county fair-like event. We saw the
sights and enjoyed entertainment by Celtic and Scottish dancers, the Italian
Club, Rock & Roll Dancers and the Edelweiss Dancers. We saw sheep shearing,
horse jumping, chainsaw sculpture, a dog show and an interesting produce
judging.
We picked up our campervan on July 19, bought a 14” b&w TV that can be AC or
12-volt and loaded up on groceries. We’re hooked on TV. Who’d have thunk???
We spent our last night in our little apartment, cleaned it up and said
good-byes to Dot and Lawrie. We headed for Port Douglas on Sunday, not
realizing we should have booked a spot at a campground. Port Douglas is very
touristy. Bill Clinton and Tipper and Al Gore vacation there. We toured the
town and got in the last half hour of a Sunday Market. Then we had to
retrace our steps and hope the Big4 campground outside of town would have
room for us .. and it did. We had planned to spend a couple of nights at
Port Douglas and bike around … but instead we continued on. We visited
Daintree and took the ferry over to Cape Tribulation. Rainforest walks and
seeing the Cassowary were the highlights. It turned cool and we had to dig
out jackets for the first time since we left New Zealand. We didn’t get much
TV reception in some spots, but we were able to hook our MP3 player to the
TV and listen to Bill Bryson read In a Sunburned Country to us. It is very
cool to listen to Bill’s Australian experiences and follow where he’s been.
Then we spent a week in the Tablelands. This is a high area inland from
Cairns that is great farmland, growing sugar cane, maize, tea, coffee,
fruits, etc. Some of it could have been Wisconsin, if you ignored the
mountains in the background. We hiked Granite Gorge and saw rock wallabys,
saw banana trees, lots of waterfalls, lots of Plumed and Wandering Whistling
Ducks at a new 2-story blind near Atherton, camped at Lake Tinneroo and had
Devonshire teas at Lake Barrine and near Millaa Millaa Falls. We do have
fun. We saw lots of sugar cane harvesting activity and loaded train cars
around Mossman north of Port Douglas and saw a steam train loading for a
Sunday afternoon tourist run at Ravenshoe. We spent a night at Innot Hot
Springs and enjoyed for free a series of 7 pools where water heated by a hot
spring was diverted. We enjoyed Take-away fish and chips for $8 for 2,
delivered to our campervan at 6pm. Later 3 young boys ages 6, 9, 10
entertained us campers with songs and instruments including a digerdoo,
saxophone and tin whistles. The next morning I got a $10 haircut outside the
hairdresser lady’s camper. She really clipped me. At a lookout near Lake
Tinneroo we met Joan and Norman who have us lots of advice about what to see
all over Australia and some just picked avocados. We saw Joan again the next
day at the Yungaburra Saturday market. It was fun to know someone there.
Luckily she recognized and stopped me. She is going to email us the site of
a couple from Perth who are biking around the country. Maybe we can visit
them in Perth. And we might be able to visit Joan at her farm in Victoria in
summer. Another lady invited us to visit if we get north of Sydney.
The road south from Innot Hot Springs was a hoot. We had been told that the
road towards Alice Springs is one lane. Larry and I discuss if that means
just 1 lane, or 1 lane each way. Well … the road south was most of the time
just 1 lane .. for everybody … with nice red packed soil berms. We had to
hit the ditch everytime we met a car and reallllly get off and stop when we
met a roadtrain. We saw 30+ roadkill kangaroos, 5 live roos, a roadkill
feral pig and many many Brahma cattle, some in an unfenced field and free to
cross the road in front of us .. and they did. A dot on the map was a sheep
station, just a sign. Fuel was at a roadhouse miles from nowhere. Later we
learned that the road towards Alice Springs isn’t this bad .. just a short
distance with only 1 lane. I haven’t driven yet. It’s tooo scary.
Then we got back to the coast and stayed at some lovely campgrounds on the
ocean. We saw pineapple fields and enjoyed fresh pineapples and avocadoes
and passion fruit and citrus. We again had Devonshire Tea in this little
mountain town and 4-5 varieties of birds tried to share it with us. It was a
hoot. Very tame cheeky little feathered friends.
Next we return to Cairns to try to renew our visas. If we get the 6 month
extension we want, we’ll renew the campervan, drive to Alice Springs and
Uluru, Darwin and Perth. Then on to Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania and
Sydney, maybe Canberra via train or maybe the campervan. If not, we’ll make
up some other adventure.
Happy 1st birthday to our darling little granddaughter Jaime, Happy Birthday
to Ken and Sooz Boldt, Lorie Gedye, Judy Casler. Hope all of our readers in
Wisconsin get to Irish Fest mid-August in Milwaukee. Thanks to pharmacist
friend Jane Greischer and her co-workers for rushing out an order of my meds
to our Trinity Beach address.
We were very saddened by an email from Candy Green that husband Tom … daddy
to Shoshanna Hill who Larry worked with in Madison … did not make it through
a surgery to mend a hole in his heart. We spent a wonderful afternoon with
Tom and Candy in Christchurch and Easter church service with them and
daughter Hadassah. Our hearts go out to Candy and her family. They
celebrated the birth of their first grandchild a few weeks before Tom died.
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..…
August 2003
It’s been a busy month. We got our visas renewed for 6 more months .. no
worries .. just show proof of lots of $$$ and pay $190AU each … then got the
campervan until November 5 for drop off in Perth. We asked for a quote 6
months drop off in Sydney and the 3 month Perth option. The young woman
looked at us like we had 3 heads. She couldn’t handle 2 things. So we went
for the 3 months, thinking we might be sick of driving by the time we get to
Perth. We stocked up on supplies, got a big old frying pan and electric
kettle and audio tapes at an op shop, and sent little Jaime her birthday
present.
We set off and retraced the route to Townsville and Charters Towers and
continued west. Our first stop was at Pentland. An older woman traveling
alone in her 4W drive gave us advice on traveling in the Outback. The next
day we stopped at a lookout and a woman said we must go to Winton and
Longreach, well out of our way towards Alice Springs, but well worth it she
said. There was a rodeo going on at Mount Isa that we wanted to avoid, so we
headed to Winton. A bush poet performed at the Caravan Park and the Waltzing
Matilda Museum was great fun. Longreach had a woman and her guitar
entertaining us 2 nights and a couple with blue heeler dogs herding ducks,
to show us how they are trained. We attended a “smoko” at Banjos Outback
Shearing Shed on Sunday morning. A smoko, we found out, is morning tea. So
we enjoyed tea and bikkies following a fun entertainment and sheep shearing
and wool pressing. The Cattleman’s Museum is new and lovely with lots to
keep us learning for hours. We also enjoyed a visit to the Longreach School
of the Air. Each state has several such schools that teach the children in
remote sheep or cattle stations. It has long been handled by mail packets
and two-way radio lessons. These continue, but computer lessons and teaching
sessions are now in place in all areas that have dependable power sources.
We got to see a teacher working with a group of 5 year olds. It was great.
And Longreach is the home of Qantas airlines. We made lots of friends in
Longreach and exchanged names with a couple from Melbourne that we’ll visit.
We had 2 routes we could take to get to Mount Isa. One was longer, maybe
prettier, and went through Boulia, where people have witnessed alien type
lights late in the night. We chose the shorter route that took us to Kynuna.
Here Richard Magoffin runs a Waltzing Matilda Expo where you can camp for
free if you attend his $12 evening entertainment. The place is pretty worn
but is a bush experience. You can eat his bush tucker for $10. We didn’t
plan to, but started drinking with Mark and Maria Kamper from Sydney, our
camping neighbors, and soon it seemed the friendly thing to do. So we dined
on Diamantina duck, corned beef pancake type tucker, and other bush
delicacies. Then we adjourned to Richard’s theater and he told us the “real”
story of the Waltzing Matilda song. The Winton place presents it as a love
story Banjo Patterson wrote for Christina MacPherson. Richard has spent his
life proving that it is a political song about the sheep shearer’s uprising
of 1890. The shearers had just burned a shed full of lambs and a bloke got
killed and wound up in a billabong. Richard has the original 1895 manuscript
of the song that Christina wrote for Banjo. We got a glimpse of it the next
morning after we enjoyed Richard’s bush breakfast. Then we paid to tour the
museum and bought postcards. Larry noted that it’s amazing how much a free
campsite can cost. Another couple at the evening show is retired and travel
to rodeos and shows and such and run a snow cone/popcorn/lolly booth. They
drive an old ambulance and pull a caravan. They have a 100 liter chest
freezer in the ambulance for the snowcone ice and the stretcher has been
rebuilt to serve as the table for their stand. They’re having a ball.
On to Mount Isa where we didn’t do the tourist mine tour thing. We biked to
the Irish Club for a Guiness and shopped a little. Kampers were our
neighbors there too and we all had a nice night time wine session with Piet
and Marian from Holland. Mount Isa is pretty deserty .. dry. But it rained
all day Friday and we enjoyed a rest day. On the next day to the Barkley
Road House. Petrol went from $.749 at Mt. Isa (with a $30 purchase at
Woolworths) to $1.259 per liter. Everything there runs on diesel, thus high
prices. A brochure said no fruit and veggies could be brought from
Queensland into the Northern Territory. So we ate everything and peeled
remaining onions and garlic, as that might not be confiscated if peeled. But
we didn’t get stopped and our fridge smelled mighty powerful for many days.
And there’s no place to buy more fresh stuff until Alice Springs .. unless
you’re brave enough to shop at Tennant Creek. Stops at Tennant Creek and
Devil’s Marbles. Devil’s Marbles has a nice campground we’ll try on the way
back up towards Darwin. No power. It’ll be fun to see the Marbles at sunset.
Overnight at Barrow Creek .. a really bush pub and basic camping. It cost us
$9 that night. And we made more friends .. from Melbourne. We thought the
drive from Charters Towers to Alice might be boring .. just some class of
desert. But it is grand. It changes every few kms and is just gorgeous ..
especially thru our orange tinted sunglasses. The greens are so bright and
the red sand soooo red. Same for the trip to Ayers Rock/Uluru. The Red
Center is aptly named. The Ghan train goes from Adelaide to Alice Springs
twice a week. They are extending it to Darwin and we saw the part that is
complete and saw them working on the last few kms to Alice … fancy
equipment. It will be ready for passenger service from early February.
Got to Alice Springs the next day and parked the camper and left it there
for almost a week. We were putting around $40-100 worth of petrol in the
tank some of the long travel days. Ouch .. but were happy to have it to
purchase. We saw a road train put in $700 worth of petrol one day. So we
were happy to park it and bicycle around the Alice. We visited the Alice
Springs School of the Air, the Alice Springs Desert Park, the original Alice
Springs Telegraph Station, watched the Ghan train arrive and biked to
Simpson Gap. And we enjoyed a sumptuous date-shire tea at a date farm near
the campground. The campground offers entertainment most nights. We attended
a star watching talk, a didgeridoo performance and an Aussie musician
performance. And .. the Kampers were there too and we shared lots of beers.
Campers in all of the campgrounds are most outgoing, especially the retired
Aussies, and we make great friends in them all. We had 2 couples near us who
are staying at the campground for several months. They checked on us morning
and night and wanted to know how we spent the day and what we were doing
next. Too fun.
More supplies and the yummy free Sunday morning pancake breakfast at the
campground and off the 400+ km to Yulara campground and Uluru/Ayer’s Rock. A
3-day pass to the Kata Tjuta National Park costs $16.25 per person. Day 1 we
biked the flat 20km to Uluru. We spent some time in the Cultural Center, but
as we always get a late start, we saved most of it until Day 3. We thought
we might bike around the Rock, but wanted to do the path closer to the Rock
and didn’t know if the bike would be a bother to others. So we walked the
9.4km. We could have biked. Mark Kamper and little Charlie and Robbie were
at the campground playground and on their way to visit us when we got back
to the campground. They parked their big new Winnebago in Alice Springs and
rented a 4W drive for the Uluru/Olgas/Kings Canyon experience. After a few
beers we cleaned up and joined them for a wonderful buffet at their resort
complex and sampled our first barramundi, crocodile, kangaroo and emu. It
was sumptuous. Later we went out to the open air pub area and listened to an
Aussie singer. Little Robbie is blond curly haired and attracted a young
woman whose biological clock was humming and he got lots of attention and
lots of dancing. The blokes wanted to dance with Charlie too, but she was
toooo bashful .. like her Mum. We met a young man from County Meath west of
Dublin, Ireland. The next day we met 3 more. You could just see that they
are Irish. The 3 said they don’t say “top o’ the morning to ye” in Ireland.
They might say “how’s it going?” Who knew????????????? Mark and another
family we talked with at the buffet all climbed the Rock that day. The
family included a 5 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. Should we try to
climb it??????? It’s a pretty incredible climb.
Day 2 we drove the campervan to the Olgas/Kata Tjuta, 36 domes made up of
“glued together” rocks. The circuit was 7.4km and we weren’t up for it. We
decided to go just to the second Lookout, and return. It was such a climb
that we didn’t want to return that way .. and continued on to do the
circuit. Phewww … we are working wayyyyyyyyyy too hard. We returned and
stopped at the Sunset Viewing area for Uluru. Immediately a couple from
Adelaide started chatting and once again we could have made friends for
life. These people are soooooooooooooooo friendly. It’s great fun. Back to
the campground in the dark, but no kangaroos spotted. Darn.
Day 3 we returned to the Cultural Center. It is a cold windy day and the
rock is closed to climbing. Oh .. darnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. They have these nice
t-shirts that say “I didn’t climb Ayer’s Rock, but my Grandma/Grandpa did”.
Jaime would look soooooo cute in one of those. Then we drove 300km to King’s
Canyon to get ready for another hike the next day. We did the 6km hike up
the canyon and around the rim and back down. It was pretty wonderful. Our
friends .. who we now know as John and Freda Kidman from Adelaide ..
Nicole’s parents?? … from the Uluru Sunset viewing were just arriving and we
caught up on the previous days happenings. Fun.
We’ve seen a few camels in the wild, some at a camel farm, and one fenced in
with cattle. Mark Kamper says that the camel has an enzyme in their stomach
that allows them to digest harsh desert plants, like spinifex. Ranchers
might put a camel in with the stock. Then when the camel drinks from the
water supply, some of the saliva with the enzyme goes into the water and is
drunk in turn by the cattle, who can then more easily digest the desert
plants. Magic!! We haven’t seen wild emus or dingos yet but we saw some at
parks and such. And no roos yet … live ones … but lottts of roadkill roos.
We listen often to our copy of Bill Bryson reading “In a Sunburned
Country/Down Under” which tells of his travels in Australia. He is a hoooot.
Larry relates often to Bill’s reverie of selling it all and hanging around
Uluru for 20 years telling visitors “it’s different every day. Yes ..
reallllly.” We also love his friend Allen’s query .. “You mean they built a
desert museum? In the desert? And people pay money to see it?” Right. We
also often use his “It’s not what we expected” line from his book “A Walk in
the Woods” about his hike along the Appalachian Trail.
News of the days includes the release of the new Aussie Bible .. written in
Aussie vernacular. The Annunciation goes like the Angel Gabriel saying this:
“Hey Mary. You’re a pretty special Sheila. God’s got His eye on you.”
Happy September Birthday to nephew Mark Graczykowski and Gerry Meicher.
Back to Alice Springs for a few days and then on towards Darwin for
September. We may go to Gemstone and check into fossicking/gem hunting. A
night at Devil’s Marbles, Daly Waters. On to Katherine Gorge, Kakadu,
Darwin, Lichfield National Park, Matarenka Hot Springs. Can’t wait. We heard
about more “must do” boat trips peeeple did, that we’ll be broke if we do
even a couple. But we’ll have to see the saltwater crocodiles jump for a
chicken in the wild. We’ve seen it at Wild World. We hear there are mozzies/mosquitoes
at Kadadu. Noooooooooooooooo We have averaged $2250US for the 8 months to
August, but we kind of went over our fixed income for August .. mostly on
petrol. Guess September and October will be the same. Sorry kids. We’re
spending a little of the inheritance.
The weather has been grand. It gets nice and warm/hot in the day, is cool in
the shade, and downright cool at night. Every campground has a gorgeous pool
area, but the water is too dam#ed cold to go in. We are using our own
sleeping bags now with the campervan sheets and pillows and it’s good and
cozy. The ones they gave us are a little small and a little light. It was
windier than all get out 2 days in Alice. Flattened lots of houses in New
South Wales and Canberra. We heard of a flight from Sydney to Uluru in the
wind. They circled the airport a few times and the windows got covered with
red dust. They landed at Alice Springs instead and bussed to Yulara late
that night, but were happy to just be safely landed.
September 2003
We had another busy touristy month. Before we left the Alice again we
visited the bimonthly Todd Mall Market. Lots of fun things for sale, but we
just had a brat and some Asian food. And more supplies to see us to
Katherine. And of course the $60 in petrol. We got to Gem Tree mid afternoon
and signed up for fossicking the next morning. We could look for garnets or
zircons. We care about neither, so chose garnets, as the zircon route had
10km unsealed road and we had to drive the campervan to the site. There were
5 cars of fossickers and a lead ute. Each party had a jug of water, 2 big
pails, 4 sieves, a pick and a shovel. We spent the day loading a pail with
dirt the lead guy loosened, poured it into 2 dry sieves, sieved out the big
junk, picked out the useless rocks, poured the remainder into a wet sieve,
washed it in a pail of water, then tried to pick out what looked like garnet
and put them in a tin can. We left at 9 and had to return by 3:30. Then we
turned in our equipment in and took our little can of goodies inside and a
gem guy sorted the wheat from the chaff. He put our gem quality stones into
little baggies by size and we wound up with several baggies ranging from 4
to 7. Some of the folks did the zircon trip the previous day, so they can
design lovely jewelry with both. We had a few beers and nibblies and took a
nap before dinner. Then we got up and just went to bed. That was hard work!!
We wouldn’t have wanted to do it for 2 days running. One of the families
fossicking was a US Air Force family from Virginia who are stationed in
Alice Springs for a few years. The tour guide early on noted that we didn’t
sound Ozzie and we were talking about the US and our trip and such. A couple
next to us were taking in the conversation. The lady asked if we were always
speaking English to each other. She couldn’t quite pick up on what we were
speaking. I really chuckled. She thinks WE speak funny. After I found out
about the Air Force family, I was sort of wishing I hadn’t said so loud that
George Bush is an idiot. Not good for the young kids to hear maybe. Gem Tree
turned the generator off at 10pm and the stars were fantastic.
Off the next day and didn’t stay at Devils Marbles because people on the gem
trip said the loos were very smelly. Later the Kampers said they did stay
there and it was great. Oh well. The next morning we met a couple from
Darwin .. the first we’d met so far. They were headed to Cairns for their
oldest granddaughters wedding. Their name was Frame and she said she thought
she was Framed when she got married to Ken. He worked with computers and
people sometimes called him Main Frame. Ken told Larry that Rose is an ABC
.. Australian Born Chinese. Sounded naughty to us, but Ken didn’t act like
it was politically incorrect to say that. They recommended Lee Point as a
good campground area in Darwin.
We stopped at Daly Waters to see the much famed pub and see where Bill
Bryson and Allen had such a darned good time on their way to Alice. We
probably should have spent the night .. but I just couldn’t feature the bad
hangover I knew we’d have if we did. It is a pretty neat place. Underwear
hanging along the bar, mementos from folks everywhere .. and more tourists
and traffic than we’d seen on the road outside a town. Kampers camped there
also and had quite a night of it. Later we stopped at Fran’s in Larrimah for
Devonshire tea. That was quite another place. She talked our arm off and we
bought Barramundi wings and some little fruit pies. And got the card from
her hairdresser in Katherine. Instead of Daly Waters, we wanted to get to
Mataranka and soak in the hot springs. Behold .. Kampers were there and our
site was just near theirs. Good to see little Charli and Robbie again. There
were lots of wallabies and about 7 peacocks that visited the campers each
evening looking for handouts. There were also thousands of fruit bats/flying
foxes hanging in the trees near the springs all day and they all took off en
masse at sunset. Funny musty smell, otherwise just interesting. We had a
nice soak in the springs .. a constant 34° which sounded warmer than it was,
but nice. Then we cleaned up and went over to the bistro for some barramundi
and chips and joined Kampers to listen to a nice country western couple
croon.
We stayed another day and took a tour of the place the next day given by the
male part of the country western duo. Then we watched a showing of a film
“We of the Never Never” from a book of that title written by a woman who
came as a bride from Melbourne to the station that is now the campground and
National Park and where the film was made. It was a good story of a woman in
the outback in those days and the role of the Aboriginals on the station. We
had drinks that night with a couple from the Sunshine Coast who had just
visited their daughter and son-in-law who are traveling about, currently
working for 3 months on a cattle station west of Kununurra. Interesting
stories.
On to Katherine and hair cuts and some hot restful days .. again camped by
the Kampers .. for the last time as it turns out. A beautiful pool that is
just a bit chilly. More fruit bats in the area .. lots of birds. We caught
up on shopping and email, finally bought new camp chairs .. and decided what
to do about Katherine Gorge. Finally decided just to skip it .. too darned
hot .. and headed north to Kakadu and more heat. We checked into the Cooinda
campground for 2 nights because 2 were a bargain. We left in a few hours on
a Yellow Waters sunset boat cruise and saw lots of salty crocs and lots of
birds: darters, white bellied sea eagles, purple swamp hens, forest
kingfishers. The Aboriginal guide said that the darter dives in and spears a
fish, then comes up and tosses it in the air and catches it head first in
its mouth so the scales don’t hurt its mouth. And we saw that scenario
later. Cool stuff. And a most spectacular sunset. And beautiful water lilys
with big bowl size leaves and gorgeous pink flowers. Lots of info on
Aboriginal bush tucker and how they use the vegetation for food. The next
day we just did laundry and swam and lazed by the pool. It was
soooooooooooooooo hot. On the next day and wandered where we could in the
heat … Jabiru, a great Info center and some big rocks with Aboriginal
paintings. The next day we wound around inland to Bird Billabong, which
sounded great, but was 1.5 hour hike to it .. return or not? didn’t say ..
but too darned hot to manage it. A stop at a nice Winds on the Wetlands
center where we could see and learn in air conditioning. And lots of termite
mounds to admire.
On to Darwin and located Lee Point. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm .. the campground’s not on
the water .. but is close and the closest of any of the many available. So
we check in and set up and later take a path to the beach for sunset pics.
We took another path back and wound up not knowing where we were and
eventually found our way back to the road near the campground .. only to
discover we were inside the fence with multiple BIG signs saying it was
Commonwealth property and No Trespassing and such. Whoops. Hopped over the
barbed wire fence and safe once again. Phewwwwww …. Hope the security dogs
didn’t sense us. This place had 2 beautiful pools as warm as the hot
springs. Lots of dips there. Darwin has the Mindl Beach Sunset Markets on
Thur and Sun nights. We heard that people go down early, set up their chairs
on the beach, drink wine and eat delicious Asian food from the market
stalls. So we got right in step and set up early and polished off 2 bottles
of wine and took turns perusing the market for goodies. An excellent sunset,
great food, great music .. so we went both nights. The Sunday market was
much smaller than Thursday … both number of booths and the crowd. We were
surprised. We stayed a few days in Darwin and toured the Esplanade area, the
Museum where Bill Bryson saw the Cyclone Tracy exhibits from the major
cyclone that destroyed the area on Christmas 1974, had beers at Kitty
O’Sheas and biked to the Cassauaria Shopping Mall .. the largest in
Australia someone told us. And made frequent use of the pool. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
… nice.
Off to Litchfield National Park for the day. It has Magnetic termite mounds.
Something about other places the termites can burrow into the ground to stay
warm when it gets colder but they can’t at Litchfield so they build the
mounds due North South so they can make best use of the sun .. or some such
thing. And it’s not always due North South but can vary based on what else
is around .. and all of this is genetically engineered into the little
termite to know how to build it. Amazing. There are just all kinds of
different sizes and shapes and even colors of termite mounds all over
Australia. The termites grind up plant material and excrete and saliva the
mounds. A great add in a tourist magazine says “Even a big pile of crap is
exciting on tour”. But Litchfield mostly has several waterfalls and some
have plunge pools at the base of the falls you can swim in. It is very dry,
so not much water for the falls just now .. but some .. and the pools were
very nice indeed. We might have just continued on after our swim day, but
our new Kidman friends from the Uluru sunset experience highly recommended
the boat trip from the campground, so we spent the night and took the
Reynolds River cruise the next morning and it was great. It was lead by
David, who escaped with his family from Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s death squad 2
years ago after his brother-in-law and his brother were murdered. He had a
safari guide company there and got out with only 5% of his assets. An
American bloke recently bought a big cattle station near the campground and
offered David the chance to guide boat cruises on the river. So he picked us
up in a bus and took us through part of the station .. stopping to open and
close gates so no cattle escape .. and to the Reynolds River .. where his is
the only boat operating. It was very hot, so we didn’t see lots of crocs on
shore .. but did spot quite a few in the water .. both salties and freshies.
And more of the same birds we saw at Yellow Waters, plus Jabiro (black
storks), lots of goannas/monitors, feral pigs, wallabies and lots of Brahma
cattle the owner raises. And there were only 9 of us on the tour. Very good.
We headed back to Katherine and stayed at the Springvale Homestead
campground this time. The pool wasn’t as nice, but lots of wallabies came
out from sunset to sunrise .. all around our campervan .. and Larry spotted
a kookaburra in the tree above us the next morning. We’d seen a stuffed one
in the museum in Darwin and knew what to look for. The kookaburra is a
kingfisher. We tried to book a cruise of the Katherine Gorge for the next
morning, but couldn’t. The next day was a lazy one, so we decided to just go
out to the Gorge and try for the 3pm cruise, realizing that they may not
have all the listed cruises as the crowds are thinning. And sure enough ..
the last cruise was at 2:30 and was fully booked. So we just took a look
around and convinced ourselves that it is just like Wisconsin Dells anyway.
Off the next morning early and lots of driving west to Kununurra. On the way
we crossed the border into Western Australia and were stopped to make sure
we weren’t bringing any fruits, veggies or honey products over the border.
Nope .. we were clean. We buzzed the gut in Kununurra and picked out the Big
4 caravan park to stay in .. then followed a sign to the Melon Farm to stock
up on Western Australia produce. We got a big rockmelon./cantaloupe, small
honeydew, a piece of watermelon, some tomatoes and onions all for $7 and
asked the lady what else we shouldn’t miss in Kununurra. She said the Zebra
Rock place .. which we did give a miss .. and the Hoochery .. a rum
distillery. That sounded like our speed so we set out to follow her
directions. We missed the last tour but got samples in a quaint old barroom
setting and bought a bottle of Cane Royale .. a unique blend of Kimberly
Cane Spirits with chocolate and coffee. We always have beer, Southern
Comfort with Vanilla Diet Coke and a cask of merlot on hand .. but Larry had
just been thinking we might need an after dinner liqueur .. so this fit the
bill nicely. Then we went back to the campground, checked in and had a nice
swim. A lady took us around the campground on a golf cart and let us pick
out the site we wanted. That was a first. Classy place. I heard a bloke in
the pool and told him he didn’t sound like an Aussie. Turns out he came from
Dublin many years ago and married an Aussie woman .. so we had a nice visit
with them and got tips for traveling Europe. When they left an Aussie woman
took over and gave us some tips on traveling the west coast. She and her
husband sold all last year and have traveled the year .. soon to return to
Perth and decide what to do next. We meet so many Aussies who travel around
all the time .. or half the time .. or who have made a “lifestyle change”
and are moving on to the next adventure .. as soon as they figure out what
that is. This country seems not to have the “golden handcuffs” concept we
have in the states that keeps us shackled to our jobs all our lives. This
couple stayed 2+ weeks in a campground in Cape Range National Park where
they could catch red snapper from shore.
The next 2 days we drove and drove .. through the Kimberleys and saw
beautiful hills and lots of boab / bottle trees, each with its distinct
bottle or vase shape. We gave a miss to many gorges and to the Bungle
Bungles … rounded rock towers striped like tigers in alternate bands of
orange (silica) and black (lichen) .. as it required 4W drive or a
helicopter to see them. Fixed income and all … John Patterson from Adelaide,
who found our web site and invited us to visit, highly recommended a stop in
Derby and a meal at the Wharf Restaurant. So .. though it was a bit out of
the way .. we took John’s advice and found our way there for lunch. The
Wharf was waaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out on the wharf .. no signs or anything ..
and a great little outdoor seafood restaurant. We enjoyed the day’s special
.. King Prawns for $10. We each got a dozen boiled big prawns with shells
and heads and all. An order of chips, house Aioli sauce and some bottled
water and we had a great messy hands-on lunch for ourselves. I told the
hostess how a new friend from Adelaide told us about the place, and how they
drove the 200+km in hot dusty weather from Broome to enjoy the restaurant.
She told us that there is now just such a Wharf Restaurant in Broome ..
about 2 years new. Great news, eh John? We visited the Prison Boab Tree
where prisoners were locked up en route to Derby .. 14m in girth and over
1000 years old.
Onward and to Broome. Ruth and Sid Chapman from Melbourne, our first friends
just off the boat in Picton, South Island New Zealand last December, were on
holiday in Broome for a few days, with Ruth’s sister Gwyneth. As we were
close to the campground we had chosen, I saw that the resort they were
staying at was right there too. So we stopped in at reception and the woman
gave them a call. They were in!! So we swung around and had a joyous little
reunion with a couple we met 9 months ago for 10 minutes. Like I say ..
Aussies are VERY friendly. We agreed to go to dinner at the Broome Wharf
Restaurant the next evening. Larry and I scoped it out the next morning by
bike and found that it too is at the very end of nothing, way out at the
Port Authority building .. no signage and we wouldn’t have discovered it at
all if not for John. We saw that the Sun Pictures open-air cinema had a free
showing of old clips at 3pm so we let Sid and Ruth in on the free event.
They hiked on down and way after 3pm we decided it was a no-show, so we all
went to the pub for a few pitchers of beer and good craic. They answered
lots of Aussie questions we had and we some of theirs. Later we took a taxi
to the Wharf and enjoyed oysters and Barramundi and chips and lobster and
wine and garlic bread. We thought we might catch the 8:15 cinema, but that
didn’t work out. The next evening they had us over at their little apartment
for dinner and we brought lots of cheeses, crackers, bread, fruit, olives,
wine and they served a luscious chicken roast dinner with all the veggie
trimmings .. broccoli, peas, sweet potato, potatoes and such. They left the
next day to drive towards Perth. The neighborhood was lonely without them.
The campground closest to town is right on the ocean. We had a great view of
a beautiful turquoise bay .. so we stayed 5 nights and took plenty of swims.
Then we moved over to a fancy campground closer to Cable Beach, not on the
beach but close enough and with a great pool. Cable Beach is the prettier
beach in Broome, 21km of beautiful sand and sea. At sunset 3 companies offer
camel rides along the beach. We didn’t do the ride, enjoying instead
watching the camel parades and taking pics. Lots of people in 4W drives
descend on the beach for sunset. We biked to Gantheaume Point to see
beautiful rock cliffs and dinosaur tracks .. and a rock pool called
Anastsia’s Pool built by the lighthouse keeper for his arthritic wife to
soak in. Broome is big for pearling, but we didn’t do the tour. Ruth and Sid
and Gwyneth enjoyed it. Our last stop in Broome was at the Saturday morning
market at the Courthouse, which was fun. A great band that looked like it
came from the Ozarks. We just bought some food again and some produce. We
keep hoping some nice people will make some baked goods for such a market,
but noooooooooooooo … just Asian, brats and fruity shakes and such.
A long drive to Port Hedland and an OK campground on the sea .. nice pool
and a rest. And on to Onslow, then Exmouth and Lighthouse Caravan Park and
all sorts of fun things that will wait til next month. A fun scary siting
was 2 Wide Load vehicles that took up the entire road and carried a giant
Tonka truck type tractor with 12’ diameter wheels and a big scoop .. for
mining we presume. We drove 6200kms in September and bought $1003AU in
petrol.
Next month: emus, kangaroos, snorkeling from the beach, swimming with
dolphins, heaps of wild flowers .. and wine tasting in the Margaret River
area with a stop in Denmark. I spent my early years in Denmark, WI with
mother Margaret .. so we’re taking her memory along on a nostalgia trip. We
return the Britz campervan in Perth Nov. 5 and will be back to bikes and
trains.
Happy October birthdays to sister Lois and husband Dennis, nieces and nephew
Jody Van Deurzen and Tom and Meg Schiesl.
News of the month: President Bush is visiting here in October. We heard it
twice .. once in a letter to an editor wondering what Big Bush will ask of
Little Bush this time .. and a funny satirical CNNNN program that says W is
stopping off for 24 hours .. to sleep. Is this for real? They’re planning to
use Simon Crean .. head of the Opposition Labor party .. to act as an
anti-insomnia treatment if needed.
Check your local PBS type channel and see if there’s an Aussie program “Kath
and Kim”. It’s a hoot. Sad to hear that Johnnie Cash died .. and John
Ritter. Slim Dusty died here … a great balladeer and Aussie legend whose
hits include “A Pub With No Beer”.
October 2003
We covered the entire coast of Western Australia this month and it was
great. There are just so many great things to see and do. On the way to
Exmouth we started to see emus in the fields and lizards crossing the road.
Always something to be ready to brake for. The Lighthouse Caravan Park near
Exmouth had a daddy emu with 2 chicks wandering around most of the day
looking for attention and perhaps a handout. Mom emu lays the eggs and daddy
hatches them and takes care of the chicks until they are on their own. The
ocean and a snorkeling reef was just across the road. Turtles lay eggs in
the sand for the babes to hatch and move out into the ocean to begin life.
But not in October. Darn. Just down the road 17km was Ningaloo Marine Park
with great snorkeling beaches. We spent a day at Turquoise Bay where you
could just walk out into the water and drift toward a far shore and snorkel.
Beautiful water great coral and fish. I bought a mask and snorkel .. as
we’ll be finding snorkeling in lots of countries, n’est-ce pas? A couple we
met in Kununurra camped in the park for 2 weeks last fall and loved it. They
said you could catch all the snapper you could eat, right from shore. So we
checked out the Pilgrimara campground and it was beautiful. But it was
tooooo windy to stay and the sites were all taken. Schools were out for a 2
week spring break and some areas were very busy. On the way back to the
campground we saw many kangaroos hopping about, getting ready for a big feed
for the night.
On to Coral Bay just down the road and more snorkeling. Very windy. You
could again just walk to the south, walk out into the water a few hundred
meters and snorkel to the opposite shore. It was scarier here because you
shared the water with tour and fishing boats. The coral near the shore was
dead as there have been low water levels and it had no oxygen to keep alive,
but there were still good fish. We took a glass bottom boat trip to view the
coral and learned that there are 3 types of coral reefs: barrier where the
reef is offshore a ways, fringe where the coral is near the shore and key
atoll, formed by lava. This year we visited the Great Barrier Reef, this
fringe reef at Coral and Turquoise Bays and will be seeing volcanic reef off
the Big Island of Hawaii in February. Traveling is soooo educational.
We turned off for a sign for Blow Holes on the way to Carnarvon. They were
spectacular better than we saw at the pancake rocks at Punakaki in New
Zealand. Later we saw a video at the Tourist Bureau of a shark and whale
feeding frenzy that went on for over a month in 1991 just up the road from
the Blow Holes. There were thousands of sharks and a few giant whales all
feeding on fish they forced in from the ocean. Carnarvon is an agricultural
center and there were wonderful fields and fields of banana and citrus trees
and beautiful flowers and veges. Lots of signs of places selling fruits and
veges. We got some lovely tomatoes and capsicum/peppers at an honesty stand.
Lonely Planet told us there would be Devonshire tea at a banana plantation.
We found it and it was closed. Darn!! But luckily there was another and we
had tea with lovely scones with bananas and cream. We also got some yummy
Mango Port wine.
We couldn’t book into Monkey Mia until the school holidays were nearly over,
so we drove the endless kilometers and stayed the night at Hamelin Pools,
which is one of 3 places in the world where stromatolites .. living fossils,
the first organisms that provided oxygen for the atmosphere and allowed life
to survive still exist. We hoped to see kangaroos, as we were out in the
bush, but saw none. But we did see way too many flies and highways of ants
on a crazy mission. Big moths came around late in the evening and loved the
Rum Hooch we got in Kununurra. The next night we had a wonderful campsite on
the beach in Denham. On the way we stopped at Seashell Beach where the beach
is all tiny seashells up to 10 meters deep. They cut blocks of them and use
them for buildings. The ablution block at Hamelin Pools was made of such
blocks. There were also heaps of flies at the Beach and we were afraid that
they’d keep following us, but we were OK. Eagles Bluff had grand views of
the ocean and we saw a shark. There were dugongs out there somewhere in the
Indian Ocean. They sound much like manatees, so we gave a miss to trying to
see them as we’ve seen manatees in Florida a few times.
Off to Monkey Mia for 2 nights. Female dolphins come in for a fish feed up
to 3 times each day between 8am and 1pm. We saw them come in 3 times and it
was great. Lots of people lined up each time to see the dolphins. The ranger
had to use military tactics to keep the tourists in line and backed away
from the dolphins. They keep edging forward and curving the line to take
great pics. There are rules: the dolphins have their own area where you
can’t swim, no touching the dolphins, no feeding them on your own. There is
a swimming area for people and if the dolphins come and cavort with you, it
is OK to swim with them but no touching. There are heaps of pelicans around
all the time and we got great pics of them too. We invited our camper
neighbors over for a drink and
nibblies. Turned out they are from Tasmania, have been partners 28 years and
when driving across the Nullabor, he proposed to her, she said yes and they
managed to organize all the paperwork they needed to get married in Tom
Price, at Barbara’s daughter’s home. We will visit them in January when we
get to Tasmania.
Kalbarri was our next stop. When we left Monkey Mia it was almost too hot
and too perfect. At Kalbarri it was rainy and windy and cold.
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … We haven’t been on the beach since and our tans are
fading. We visited the Wildflower Center and Rainbow Jungle, the Australian
Parrot Breeding Center with most in cages with breeding boxes but many in a
free flight aviary and buzzing at our heads. Our camping neighbors Don and
Cindy from Bunbury said we must have dinner at Findlay’s Fresh Fish BBQ,
which is an outdoor venue in an old fish factory. They offer their guests no
service, no table cloths, no corkage charge, no glasses, and a roll of
toilet paper for napkins. But they have great food, bonfires, picnic tables
and you just get to talking to your neighbors. We met a nice couple from
Perth who immigrated from England when their kids moved here. Our only
regret is that it is a BYO place and we didn’t know. We had no wine, no
beer, no spirits of any kind. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh …
We traveled towards Geraldton stopping at Lake Gregory, Horrocks and
Northampton. As we approached Lake Gregory we saw this really pink lake near
the coast. What is that??? The sign told us that the color is from a
bacteria that is trapped in the salt granules. It is a rich source of Beta
Carotene that is harvested from the pond. We had Devonshire tea at the
Oakabella Homestead and Tearooms outside Geraldton. There is a beautiful new
hilltop memorial in Geraldton for the HMAS Sydney which was destroyed by a
German ship in 1941. We’re in wine country again and must visit a few
wineries, as we missed all the New Zealand wineries. We visited Chapman
Valley thinking we’d visit a few … but you can really only do justice to one
a day. The first one we came upon was the Chapman Valley Winery. We sampled
a few reds, bought a merlot and a shiraz and opened one to have with a
lovely cheese and cracker plate. The setting was wonderful, great flowers.
The vintner had just won prizes on the shiraz and he goes to the EAA in
Oshkosh.
Farther south near Cervantes we visited the Pinnacles Desert Park where
there are thousands of limestone pinnacles up to 5 meters tall and up to 2
meters thick at the base .. all standing around in a sand desert, thousands
of years old. And it was just our sort of tour .. a scenic drive through and
pics right from the campervan. Out of the park and heading east, there is a
big change and it is green and pastoral and lots of cattle and fields of
wheat and grains and such. It is no longer the outback. We are headed for
wildflower country.
Western Australia has wonderful wildflowers in winter and spring. We’ve been
hearing that for months. And it’s true though we are just a bit too late to
see fields of yellow and white everlastings. We have seen some, and a field
of beautiful red somethings, but not like the videos we’ve seen at two
Wildflower Centers. One of the centers dries the flowers and ships them to
Seattle and San Francisco. But there are many flowers all colors along the
roadside and beach walks and the woods. We have pics of so many different
kinds and colors. Our favorite is the green and red kangaroo paw and smaller
orange cats paw. And fields and fields of lavender. We’ve been at 2 lavender
farms for Devonshire tea with rosemary scones and lovely jam and cream and
lavender tea. Yummmm …
The southern coast area has tingle, karri, marri and jarrah eucalypt trees
that grow only here. Karri trees grow 50 meters tall and big around. Red
tingle trees have shallow roots and can be burned out and hollowed out by
insects, so they grow big butts at the base for support. The roots can be
damaged by people walking around them, so in Walpole at the Valley of the
Giants they’ve built a wonderful Tree Top Walk where you walk up an incline
up to 40 meters up and walk among the tingle and karri treetops. We
especially liked the Karri Oak(ie). Tee hee. There is also a bottom
boardwalk among some of the older tingles. Elsewhere is the largest tingle
tree where you used to be able to drive your car into it for photo ops. And
Thurlbey Herb Farm was a fantastic stop. Beautiful grounds, wonderful shop
and rosemary scones with marmalade and cream. Our trip to Denmark was short
as it was rainy and cold. We did walk around the shops and enjoyed the
Toffee Shop, 2 bakeries and the many outdoor fruit and vege stands. We again
looked for a winery to visit and saw a whole mob of kangaroos. Matilda
Estate was our wine of choice that day.
Northcliffe and Windy Point at Cape D’Entrecasteaux offered fantastic walks
along rugged coastline with more wildflowers, a kangaroo, a snake and white
tailed black cockatoos. Pemberton has a whole tour route to visit the
eucalypt forests and wineries. In 3 places there are fire lookout trees you
can climb. Rungs spiral up the tree to a viewing platform, 60 meters up on
one and 68 meters on another. Pretty amazing. You’d never find this in the
states no payment, no lines, no liability forms. Large green parrots called
28s and smaller rosella parakeets flock around the caravan park and one of
the climbing trees looking for handouts. Rory had several St. Francis
moments. They just land on your head, your hands, arms, shoulder, especially
if you’re holding a bit of bird seed or Weetbix. We had tea again at the
Lavender Berry Farm and there were heaps of 28s at the feeder and little
gold eyes and blue wrens having a peck at our scones. They were very gentle
and skittish, not cheeky like some we dined with in Queensland. More
beautiful yards, miniature horses, alpacas, swarms of bees. We also enjoyed
honey and lavender ice cream. Pemberton also has tram and steam train rides,
lots of wineries, lots of cows and sheep and green green farms. I climbed
half of the Bicentenial tree 65 meters tall and returned the next morning
and climbed to the top of the Gloucester Tree at 60 meters. Then we went
back to the Lavender and Berry Farm and enjoyed a pancake with hot berry
syrup and ice cream. More pretty bird visitors. Also a family from San Diego
traveling for 6 months with 3 young daughters. Himself was carrying Bill
Bryson’s “Down Under”, as “In a Sunburned Country” is marketed here in the
Southern Hemisphere so that was a good way to start a conversation with
them. They asked where we were from, then told us that people from Wisconsin
don’t travel, do they? We had to chuckle and mostly agree. The parents were
very inspired with our story and they were very jealous. We assured them
that there is life after children.
On to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. It
is very rugged and beautiful but windy and rainy. It reminds us some of New
Foundland, which we figure is the antipodean point to this beautiful spot.
Bill Bryson uses that wonderful word several times and we see it in the
paper frequently. We had to look up the meaning. We found a nice caravan
park in Augusta right on the water where the ocean meets the river. We were
trying to figure which power point was ours when a nice English bloke came
out of the adjacent Maui and soon offered us a very traditional drink, a
lovely gin and tonic. Mike seemed about our age and his 20 something son Dan
joined him for the week. Mike is on a 6 month tour that began with his
biking across the US following the original ’76 Bike Centennial / Adventure
Cycling route. He loved it. Then he toured in New Zealand and froze and saw
lots of snow. We sat huddled in the wind swapping travel stories. He didn’t
think he could do what we’re doing thinks he needs that home base we hear
about so often. We booked in for 2 days hoping to bike around Augusta, but
as is getting to be a bad habit, we picked another cold rainy windy day, so
just hung out and later biked to an Internet place and killed a few hours.
I checked at the Tourist Information on which cave to see in the Margaret
River area and was recommended Mammoth Cave. So we headed there and took the
tour. There are over 200 caves in the area, about 12 you can go into and
about 6 are tourist attractions. They vary from tour led, CD tour, self-tour
with torch and headlamp and adventure tours on your own. Mammoth had the CD
tour so you could travel at your own pace. Now we’ve done Cave of the Mounds
in Wisconsin and caves in Ireland and the Czech Republic, so our inclination
was to give this a miss. But the brochures hype them so much, you’re sure
you’ll miss something. This one was nice. Big, high, not the maze type or
long strung out type we’ve seen. Conservatively lit, nice boardwalks and you
could reach out and touch many of the decorations though you are constantly
advised not to. Just less commercial than we’ve seen before and nice. You
could do a 700 meter bush walk on the way out and we saw lots of fun stuff,
including a swarm of bees on the cave wall.
Off to do a few wineries. We went first to Redgate which was written as the
oldest in the area. Nice simple tasting, bought a wonderful Shiraz or
something. We were looking for lunch at a winery, so nearby was Yolanda
Estate and we went in but the place scared us it was so massive and fancy
and charged for tasting and had gardeners all over the place. So next door
to the Leeuwin Winery and sampled a few lovely reds and bought a Sibling
Shiraz. As is customary, we missed their lunch times but could order some
cheese. They have 4 cheeses offered on the menu with descriptions as long as
your arm and come from Tasmania, Britain, and France. 60g was $12 which
could be 2 kinds. Fancy dancy. But it was all a lovely little snack when the
tiny portions of cheese came with toast points and rice crackers and a few
figs. We buzzed thru Margaret River but it looked like Fish Creek times 3 so
we just headed to the ocean and checked out about 6 caravan parks along the
coast hoping for a nice ocean site, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The coast is
magnificent and has the best surfing in the world, according to the
brochures.
We stayed in Dunsborough. The next morning we drove out to Cape Naturaliste.
It was a beautiful rugged walk to get to the shore and there is a whale
watching station. We could see a whale watch tour boat way out and whales
spouting nearby, but it was pretty much fantasy through binoculars. To the
Wicked Brewery closed Tuesdays. The Bootleg Brewery down the road was open
and heaps of people. A nice lunch of bean and chorizo soup with good bread
and Turkish flat bread with hummus and potato/garlic/oil dips and a nice
pilsner. It was finally sunny and almost warm as we sat outside on a
hillside overlooking a pond, cattle and grapevines. A quick stop at the
Margaret River Chocolate Factory, the Margaret River Cheese Factory, and the
closed on Tuesdays Olive Farm. Two nights in Busselton and some biking. It
was cold and windy and gray again and we were getting grumpy. The temps in
Perth sounded much better than we were having, so we just pushed on and
booked in at a Fremantle Caravan Park not with ocean views, but it’s right
there just a few cabins and a sand dune over.
We will hang out until we return the campervan November 5. We’ve purchased
our Great Southern Rail Pass so will be on bicycle, tent and train for the
next months. We booked the train for Adelaide November 12. We will tour the
area, take a quick train trip to Alice Springs and back, then head towards
Melbourne at the end of the month … maybe by train, maybe by car or
campervan. We hate to miss Kangaroo Island and the Great Ocean Road.
News of the month included visits by President Bush and the Chinese leader
and the 50,000 sheep wandering around the mid-East on the Como Express ship
after Saudia Arabia rejected them. There were big fears that they’d be
returned .. and no one wanted them in their back yard. Is it ironic that
Eritrea took them with $1million AU, heaps of feed .. and may well sell some
to Saudia Arabia? It’s all a bit of a cock-up, really. There is much
consternation about live animal sales to other countries, especially when
they may not be killed humanely. We hear about the California fires and we
made California burgers when Arnie got elected.
Happy November birthdays to son-in-law Brian Mohs, brother Pat Scanlan,
nephews Craig Scanlan and Todd Graczykowski, friends Betty Schleifer, Mary
Ellen Spoerke, Chuck. I think I had a bigger list, but can’t think of more
just now. Sorry if I missed you.
November 2003
After we cleaned up and returned the Britz, we spent a few days enjoying the
free buses and trains of Perth and Fremantle and the Fremantle markets. We
camped near the beach in both cities and enjoyed biking along some of the
finest surfing beaches in the world. We enjoyed fish and chips and wine at
Cicerello’s on the wharf in Fremantle, as recommended by the couple we dined
with in Kalbarri. Beers at the Old Swan Brewery along the river in Perth
after walking Kings Park and the Little Creatures Brewpub on the wharf in
Fremantle and a tour of the Perth Mint. We talked to a woman from Arizona
who has a company that makes products from Prickly Pear. She says she has
helped the American Indians with diabetes problems and was asked by the
Aboriginals in Alice Springs to visit them to talk to them about it too. She
gave me a brochure and it says it lowers LDL, lowers insulin requirements,
helps fibromyalgia, bladder, prostate, arthritis, acidosis, spider veins,
etc. We’re going to give it a go.
The Attwoods in Adelaide wrote of a train derailment and we found that the
train from Perth to Adelaide on Sunday was turned back due to a freight
train derailment. So we were nervous, but they got everything fixed in time
for us to travel the next Wednesday. They took our trailer and bag as
luggage and accepted the full panniers on the bike as part of the bike
charge. With a sigh of relief we climbed onboard to discover that we had
aisle seats across from each other. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm … So we couldn’t lean on
each other to sleep nor share the MP3 player nor discuss map ideas. We were
on the train almost 2 days and 2700 km and it was pretty awful. The seats
were uncomfortable and the aisle very small so people .. especially smokers
as the smoking car was just behind us and the diner and lounge the cars
ahead .. were always knocking against us. We stopped at Kalgoorlie from 10
pm til 1:30am so some could take a tour of the goldmines. We went into town
and had a beer. We crossed the Nullarbor, no trees, the longest straight
track in the world, or some such. For 6+ hours there were no trees. Also a
20 minute stop in Cooktown where it was 42°C. We were pretty excited about
our train pass that lets us ride the IP, Overland and Ghan unlimited times
for 6 months. We thought we’d ride up to Alice Springs and right back on the
Ghan, but soon gave that idea up. We will ride the Overland to Melbourne,
but will take a ferry from Tasmania right to Sydney instead of returning to
Melbourne and train to Adelaide and Sydney. We prefer Amtrack.
We settled into a caravan park with a kookaburra calling and parrots darting
about and went to discover Adelaide. Beautiful old stone buildings,
beautiful parks and a linear park with bike path 40km along the Torrens
River from the coast to the Hills. Pam and John Attwood found our website a
year ago .. before we even left .. as they thought about getting the domain
name. We’ve been writing all year so when we got to Adelaide they set up
Sunday to pick us up and show us their town. As we waited for them, a young
woman asked if she hadn’t met us in Toodyay. She said “TooJay” and we didn’t
know where that is. She says that’s how you say Toodyay. Who knew? So it
turns out to be Janice and Pierre from White Horse in the Yukon. We were
camped next to a couple from north of Toronto, so we introduced them and
went with Attwoods. They took us driving all over the Adelaide Hills .. lots
of pastoral area with wineries and sheep and cows and wild flowers. Someone
.. Patterson I guess ... introduced a purple heath flower from England
perhaps and it makes fields of purple that is called Patterson’s Curse in
the wet and Jane’s Salvation when it’s dry, as it gives the livestock
something to eat but can make horses ill over the years. Sure looks pretty.
We had coffee in Stirling at an Organic Market and it felt like a little
California café. Great market where Pam added to her already scrumptious
lunch for us. I found interesting that a table held big pails of olives in
brine, open for customers to scoop some out to buy. Hmmmm …. We drove to a
lovely picnic area, but it had turned cold and windy after great heat the
previous day. The area was shady so we drove more to a sunny spot and spread
a blanket and had the most beautiful platter of veggies and olives and onion
tarts and veggie tarts and cheeses and baguettes with champagne in glass
glasses. It was marvelous.
Later we visited with Attwoods friends Mary and John Scales who live on a
big block of land overlooking the Adelaide Plains, the city to the coast.
They have giant flower gardens and are marvelous funny fun people. We
enjoyed Pam’s sponge cake roll with tea and coffee on the verandah and it
was lovely. Mary says a male koala sometimes visits their gum trees …
braying like a donkey lets her know there’s a koala about. Great fun.
Then we wound our way back to Adelaide passing thru little German Hahndorf
that looks lovely and we’ll have to get to. Their son Andrew and son Ben and
wife Sara and their dogs were waiting. We had just a marvelous, fun, gourmet
evening with them and Johns friend John .. great craic, great BBQ with
trimmings, finished much later with a lovely strawberry covered custard tart
with grape syrup. They have a beautiful new brick home built 7 years ago on
the Adelaide block that was Pam’s family home. Sara is a garden designer and
has recommended wonderful plants that make full use of their compact yard.
They have lemon, plum, cherry trees, veggies, shrubs and lots of privacy. We
had to watch an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy from the US that
they think is a hoot. DD says it’s on in Seattle about a month, same as
here. Too funny.
The next day we booked a car for Kangaroo Island, the train to Melbourne and
ferries to/from Tasmania. Lots of decisions. Then we took a bike ride and
planned to go to Town Center for the evening .. but instead asked Janice and
Pierre to join us at the Hackney Hotel near the caravan park where we
enjoyed wonderful Parmies (Chicken Schnitzel Parmesan) the first night. We
had a great night discussing biking, Canada, Alaska, US, life with them. We
may see them in Tasmania in December. They rented a Britz campervan to drive
from Perth to Adelaide, on our recommendation in Toodyay, and are now biking
on their recumbants to Melbourne and on to Tasmania. We found out from them
that they had to fill out a 48 page form to get an Australia visa, have
physicals with an approved doctor, have proofs of $$$, letters from
employees that they will have a job when they return, all sorts of stuff
that we didn’t have to do. We just filled an online application for an evisa
and had to put some $$$ stuff and passport #s and such. Interesting that
another commonwealth country has to go through such hoops for a 3 month
visit.
Off the next morning in the rental car with lots of stuff but bikes and
trailers stored at the caravan park. Pam asked Larry if he missed anything
from “home”. He says custard filled Bismarcks, especially those from Scott’s
Pastry in Middleton. They wracked their brains and recommended the St. Peter
Bakery nearby where all the waitstaff are beautiful people. Andrew
especially likes to go there. So Larry had a cream Berliner and thought it
pretty good. A wurst at Yankalilla, another Berliner and a winery at
Normanton and ferry to Kangaroo Island at 6pm. We set up the tent and went
across the street for an evening Fairy Penguin tour. We’d seen them in
Oamaru in NZ but only saw 8 in March. This time we saw heaps. As it got dark
2 chicks came out of each of the little burrows waiting for the ‘rents to
come home and feed them. They whined and brayed and made all kinds of
noises. Soon some of the parents pop out of the water and waddle toward the
chicks, stopping frequently to preen and dry out. They assemble offshore and
come in in small groups. The ranger used a red torch to show us the
penguins.
The next day we went to Flinders Chase National Park and found 3 koalas high
in the tall gums and furry kangaroos looking for handouts and Cape Barron
geese. We decided to camp there and go out on a night visit to the Platypus
Waterholes walk, but didn’t see any. We visited the Remarkable Rocks ..
similar composition to Uluru … and Admirals Arch that has a beautiful stone
arch over the water with heaps of seals and a wonderful lighthouse above.
The next day we stopped at Hanson Bay Sanctuary where for $2 in an honesty
box you wander about and we saw 14 koalas and an echidna. We were very
happy. Stops at a Sheep Cheese Factory, a Eucalyptus distillery, a winery
and great beaches. At one of the beaches a woman from Italy found a dried
leafy sea dragon, a beautiful species of sea horse found by divers there.
We planned to stay at Victor Harbor after the ferry back, but “schoolies”
have taken over the town and there are some drinking and police problems.
Schoolies are year 12 graduates age 17 or so and each state seems to have a
place where they congregate to celebrate their freedom. Schools don’t end
for the year until closer to Christmas, but year 12 must end earlier. It
sounds like spring break in Florida or Mexico. It turned cold and we both
got colds, so we toured the Barossa Valley and enjoyed the beautiful farms
and vineyards and a lavender festival without too much tasting. We like to
buy a bottle when we taste and just can’t keep up.
When we got back to Adelaide and returned the hire car, we bought all day
rail passes and rode most of the 4 main arteries. Lunch at one end, beers at
the other. John Attwood took us back to the Barossa and we tasted at 5-6
wineries and had a lovely lunch in a cute little village park on lovely pies
Pam made for us at o’dark:00 the night before. She made a great crust,
layered sautéed leeks, simmered chicken pieces, topped with creamy whipped
potatoes. They were so flavorful and wonderful. Pam is a Domestic Godess. We
made plans to go to lunch with John and Freda Kidman who we met at Uluru,
but instead they took us to their lovely home in the foothills for lunch and
later we went up to a cute hotel in the hills overlooking the Adelaide
Plains for beers. We had a grand time with them and it was great John came
from London at age 5 and Freda from Scotland at age 16. So we got their
appreciation for both Australia and their homelands and history. We ended
the week with dinner in Hahndorf with John and Pam as a thank you for their
kindness to us. We got back to the St. Peter’s Bakehouse several more times,
especially after we tasted their pizza slices. Yummmmm….
We’re off to Melbourne on the Overland train .. 11 hours only. Ruth and Sid
Chapman who we met in Picton in New Zealand almost a year ago insist we stay
the whole time with them .. so we’ll be with them about 10 days and
celebrate an early Christmas before we ferry to Tasmania for a 6 week ride.
It seems important to get to Hobart for Boxing Day and New Years as there
are parties and markets and food tastings for the Sydney to Hobart yacht
race. So we’ll have some fast peddling to do.
Well .. we’ve been on the road for a year already and it still just feels
like a great long holiday. We’re made for this life. We’ve been eating lots
of bread and cheeses and wines, getting ready for Europe next fall. Can’t
wait.
News for the month includes the war and terrorists, cricket, rugby. We’ll
light a light for Michael Jackson .. then blow it right out. Happy December
birthdays to Mom Rusch, Carol Hagerbaumer and niece Jill. Happy Turkey Day
and Happy Christmas and New Years and all holidays to y’all.
December, 2003
Can you believe the year is over???? We can’t. Hope you had good holidays
and rest and are now enjoying the cold and snow … or the warmth of summer,
as we are.
We had a grand time in Melbourne. The Overland was a bit more comfortable
than the Indian Pacific, but we only had to ride it for 10 hours or so. We
spent the first night at the Friendly Backpacker, who let us leave our
trailers and bags in their baggage room when we went out to Croydon to stay
with Ruth and Sid. We got a train out there the next afternoon, with our
bikes and panniers, and Sid met us at the station and led us to our next
home. They have a lovely brick home on a quiet street with tons of trees and
flowers. Ruth could just go outside and bring in beautiful bouquets of roses
and holly. She was at a conference in New South Wales until late Wednesday,
so Sid took grand care of us. We had a lovely big guestroom at the back of
the house … very private. Sid gets up early and walks an hour each morning
.. and we’d roll out of bed long after he was back and had his porridge and
had the clothes on the line. He did all of our laundry and even ironed for
us!!! Thanks Sid .. you are wonderful!!!
We took the train back to Melbourne several days and enjoyed the wonderful
Melbourne Markets, a tour of the Victoria Parliament, the Botanic Gardens
where lots of school groups were enjoying end of the year outings, dinner in
Chinatown and visits to some of the burbs on the water. When Ruth came home
we had a 4 day weekend and they drove us to Portsea on the Mornington
Peninsula (where Prime Minister Harold Holt went missing in 1967), the Great
Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles rock formations and some wineries in the
foothills of Mt. Dandenong. We had a grand early Christmas party at Ruth’s
sister Gwenyth’s house, as we met her with them in Broome in September. She
got out all the decorations and set a very festive table complete with
“crackers” … a decorative wrapping that you pull apart and get a paper hat,
a small prize and a joke. We learned later that maybe you’re supposed to
have 2 people pull and try to win the prize. Thank you Gwenyth. We also met
friends John and Nora Martin in Cobden. John is active in a manly setup of
miniature trains and tracks and station and all. He took us over and we got
a ride. Most of the engines are steam engines, but more often they use
easier to get started small petrol engines. He says 12 years ago the area
was a swamp and now it’s all tracks and tunnels and bridges and flowers and
picnic areas. They have 2 lovely brick buildings, one for toilets and a room
for the “engineers”, and another for snacks to purchase. All a volunteer
labor of love and very flash. There was a small party booked when we were
there and Father Christmas came in by train. High excitement!! We also had
tea with friends Meta and Janet and Janet’s Mom and had another enjoyable
evening. They are very involved in a Welsh choir and are making plans to
tour Wales next year. We got to meet 4 of 5 grandchildren and one son and
daughter-in-law. Great fun at the Chapmans. Thanks sooooo much Sid and Ruth.
You made our Melbourne visit so special.
All too soon we packed up again, trained back to the Friendly Backpacker,
reclaimed our gear and got it all back in place and made our way to the
ferry terminal to catch the Spirit of Tasmania II. We had time for a lovely
ride along the harbor to St. Kilda … and a beer. The ferry set out at 9pm
and we once again chose the cheap seats … so had an airplane type seat to
spend the night in. We put it off as long as possible, but had to give in
about 11pm and made it through the night. It was pretty uncomfortable and
cramped, but we did get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs. The ferry lands in
Devonport. To park and retrieve our bikes and trailers, we had to crawl
under big truck trailers. Too strange. Larry got a fair bit of grease on his
back in the crawl. There were several other bikers, including brothers from
Holland and a Mom, Dad and 14 year old girl from Canada who had a month
holiday. Dad and daughter rode a tandem and Mom on her own bike.
After a breakfast stop we headed to a caravan park to recuperate. A shower
felt good and we spent some time in the town later, getting fuel for the
stove and such. A small ferry took you back and forth over the Mersey River,
bikes and all. So Ferry .. Cross the Mersey …. could be a song in there ..
On the return trip the guy charged us $4 instead of the $5 the other driver
took on the way over. I looked questioningly and he explained … $1.50 for
pensioner rates and $.50 for the bike. “He think we’re pensioners” I
whispered to Larry. “You maybe” he replied .. “but not me”. We were
surprised to learn from Sid and Ruth that Australians do not automatically
get a pension check when they turn 65 .. as we in America could get our
Social Security check. The pension check is “means tested” and if you were a
good saver and have enough money, the government doesn’t return anything to
you. You don’t even get a pensioner card then to be eligible for all kinds
of discounted admission prices and such.
We decided to bike toward Cradle Mountain before schools let out since we
had enough time to get to Hobart for the races. We learned it was about
100km, so we thought maybe 2 days. After the first day of climbing our way
to Sheffield, town of murals, we upgraded the estimate to 3 days. Day 2
found us climbing some again but mostly just a lovely ride toward Gowrie
Park. Near our destination, a lady came out to the road from a park building
and invited us to a BBQ, as they had “over-catered”. We were surprised to
find ourselves loading our plates with salads and sausages and steak
sandwiches and joining the Kentish Council Holiday party. We were very
welcomed. We look pretty pathetic trudging along with our many many kilos of
gear. They told us we’d have a long downhill to a dam, then a long steep 30%
grade uphill. We spoke of the Cradle Mountain Lodge feeding critters at
night and that we hoped to see Tasmanian Devils at the feeding. They were
all pretty sure that just wallabies and possums come to the feeding.
Hmmmmmmmm … So we rested up at Gowrie Park 2 nights in a $10 per person
backpackers where we had the only double room, then headed back and climbed
our way toward Mole Creek, who advertise Tasmania’s #1 wildlife park .. with
Tasmanian Devils.
We climbed and we climbed. A guy in a Ute offered us a ride and 2 other
people stopped to see if they could help us. No thanks … we’re fine. After a
nasty scary long descent, we were getting close to our destination. I had a
blowout that needed a new tire and tube. A few kms from the caravan park,
Larry’s trailer axel broke. We limped into the park and the nice caretaker
man was kind enough to sell me a few beers to make it through the night. We
hadn’t the energy to make it the 3kms to the pub and we hadn’t a beer for 3
days. We gave great wonder to what to do about the trailer … order new parts
from Eugene Oregon .. ship them where .. how long would it take .. how much
would it cost? Larry thought that maybe someone would have a pipe to slip
over the broken parts and drill the holes and it would work. Where? In Mole
Creek? Or would we need to bus to Deloraine? Or Launceston? As Larry’s luck
would have it, a guy at the town service station put together just what he
wanted in a half hour, made him one for the other side, and charged him $18.
Later he made some for my trailer for $10. We have the sturdiest Bike Friday
trailers anywhere now … 3 custom fixes. But we can’t tell Bike Friday
because we’re not supposed to be carrying so much gear. We’re way over the
trailer limit.
A rain day, then the trip to Trowunna Wildlife Park where we saw Tasmanian
Devils, Koalas, Wombats and lots of other native animals. We could pat the
koala and devil and cuddle the wombat. The devils look like a cross between
a small bear cub and a stocky puppy .. with a vicious mouth. Most have white
stripes across the rump and along each front leg. That surprised us, as the
souvenir devils never have that. We got a great tour from the ranger and
learned about their reproductive parts and pouches and all. He tossed in a
part of a roadkill wallaby and they played tug of war with it, tearing it to
bits and crunching bone and all. They leave no remains, eating bone, skin,
flesh, blood and all. Later one ran around with the wallaby tail in its
mouth. The others chased for awhile, then washed themselves in their drink
bowls to rid themselves of blood and remains, as the ranger says they do in
the wild. Many wild Devils have a tumor growth on their cheeks and malformed
mouths that will prevent them from eating as they should. They are breeding
as many as possible in captivity so they do not become extinct, as the
Tasmanian Tiger has.
On to Deloraine … a beautiful easy ride. There Larry found a relief map of
Tasmania in the British pub and had to bring me in to see. Mountains and
hills everywhere and we’d only covered such a small bit in 10 days or so. We
realized that if we were to see anything of this great island, we’d need a
vehicle. So a few phone calls and we were able to find a big old 1986 bright
yellow Ford Fairlane stationwagon ghetto cruiser. We took the bus to
Launceston to pick it up before Christmas Eve. We toured both sides of the
Tamar River and a few wineries before returning to our last night in
Deloraine and our stuff. Packed it all in the next morning, got some
groceries to last over Christmas and headed for the East coast. We were
thinking maybe Tomahawk, but the lady at a cherry farm thought it would be
too windy there. So we chose St. Helens. These places all sound soooo
wonderful in the brochures and we imagine a grand campsite overlooking the
water, but noooooooooooo. All too often they’re some fenced in area with no
views, as was everything in St. Helens. The terrain between Launceston and
St. Helens was just incredible. Hills and hills and more hills. We had no
regrets about not biking. The day before, we saw the Canadian family
cruising down a great hill, with lots of uphills ahead of them before they’d
spot a campground. We have great respect for their abilities …. and we keep
wondering how they get that daughter to ride with them?
So we had a quiet Christmas at St. Helens. We spent some hours on a small
beach but the wind howled and it was chilly. Christmas dinner was
beef/garlic/pea pods/onions with plum sauce on the BBQ and a lovely bottle
of Tamar Ridge Pinot Noir we bought the day before when we visited the
winery. Hmmmmmmmmmm .. life is good. On to Frecinet National Park and 2
nights … with a climb to the Wineglass Cove lookout and more cold windy time
on the beach at Friendly Beach. When the sun is out it is great, but when it
is clouded over it is pretty chilly. But it is warmer than last year in New
Zealand most of the time. And the water is such a beautiful turquoise where
it is shallow and a deep deep blue out deeper. And of course hills
everywhere you look. We learned back in Cairns that gum/eucalypt trees are
called “widow makers” as they frequently drop their limbs and kill the
blokes below. When we rented the car in Adelaide they guy recommended that
we not park under a gum tree, as “they can decide to drop their limbs at any
time”. So we were a little concerned when our whole campsite was shaded by
gum trees and the wind was high at times. But happy to say we made it out
intact. None of the campsites were on the water, but just a few trees
separated us from the beach and the surf roared all night. It was wonderful
sleeping.
We thought we’d hang out a few more days before heading to the Hobart scene,
but we didn’t like the caravan parks on the way, so headed to Berriedale and
a park recommended by a neighbor camper at St. Helens. We set up on a
hilltop site overlooking the Derwent River and set in for a weeks stay.
Happy that a bus stops just at the corner to take us into Hobart for the
Summer Festival and the Taste of Tasmania. The caravan owners are packing
people in everywhere and making most of the busy season.
We bussed to the wharf one day and saw the yachts that had come in, sampled
a brat platter and beers at the Taste and just walked and walked. This day
was hot .. 30°C/86°F.
We went back for fireworks on New Years Eve and that was glorious. We
brought along our camp chairs and found a great spot right at the edge of
the wharf. The fireworks were RIGHT THEREEEE. Another day we drove up to Mt.
Wellington and to the Botanic Gardens. The day was windy and wreaked havoc
on the tents at the caravan park. Ours survived intact, but a neighboring
one was ripped up pretty badly. We didn’t take time to tour the whole
garden, but made sure to visit the Japanese Garden for Fred Thinnes, a
Compuware work buddy. He and Susan have an interest in gardens and he’s
found us all the Japanese gardens in Australia. There was a good one in
Melbourne too, but it was in the Zoo and we were too skint to pay the $17
admission fee. We used to go to Irish Rovers concerts with Fred and Susan
and Fred sent an itinerary of the Rovers tour in New Zealand. Unfortunately
we had left by then, but I sent it on to all of our NZ buddies and
recommended they give it a go.
We like Tasmania. It is beautiful and no insects are annoying us. No sand
flies, few mosquitoes, and none of the annoying tenacious Aussie flies since
Devonport. No need for my fly swat. We’ve seen about 6 echidnas already
toddling across the road. And people again are so friendly. Just carry a map
and they’re asking if you need help and are you on holidays? How do you like
Tasmania? The weather is ever changing, but perhaps it will settle in
January. It shouldn’t be so windy this time of year, they say.
We’ll be touring Tasmania for all of January, heading to Sydney on the brand
new Spirit of Tasmania III ferry February 2.
January 2004
New Years Day was rainy and cloudy and cold, so we drove north to see what
kind of road we might have biked to Hobart on. Hilly and winding .. that’s
what we found out. We visited Ross and a few other convict towns that have
wonderful old stone buildings and bridges and churches built by convict
labor. Ross also has the remains of the Female Factory where female convicts
were housed. It wasn’t a pretty scene. We drove to the Great Lake, another
possible bike route and were still really happy to be in a car.
We visited the Taste once more and walked around Battery Point and Arthur
Circus and admired the grand old Georgian homes and the earliest cottages.
More wine, more beer, oysters and more brats at the Taste and more buskers
and wharf watching. Saturday was the outdoor Salamanca Market which has all
sorts of wonderful goodies for sale and all sorts of interesting attendees.
We just bought peas and cherries and such. Cherries and raspberries are ripe
now and there are roadside stands selling them all over the south of the
island. The bing cherries are so sweet and wonderful. We paid $12/kilo
before Christmas and $5/kilo now. One place had 5 kilos for $10. Wow!! Tamar
Ridge Wines were at the Taste so we got to have a few more bottles there and
take some along. Yummy Pinot Noir. We hoped we’d run into Janice and Pierre
from the Yukon again, but we never saw them. We hope they contact us again.
We’d done Hobart .. so off towards the Tasman Peninsula. Richmond is touted
as having lots of convict buildings, so we spent a little time there. On
toward Port Arthur and a stop for some of the sites of Tasman National Park:
Tessellated Pavement and sea cave blow holes of the Devil’s Kitchen, Tasmans
Arch and Remarkable Cave. We thought we’d camp at Nubeena down the road
because it looked on the map like the caravan park might be on the beach.
Nope. So we went back and set up at the Port Arthur Caravan Park. The next 2
days we walked to historic Port Arthur and walked around the remains of a
convict colony built for repeat offenders .. convicts who committed another
crime in Australia. Entry fees included a 20 minute boat tour of the harbor
and around Dead Man’s Island, a 40 minute overview tour, 3 summer plays and
entry to a great interactive museum area. You are given a playing card that
corresponds to a convict and you follow his story through the exhibits.
Weather was beautiful and the large grounds make a very pleasant tourist
attraction despite its grim raison d’etre. I swapped some books with a
couple at Christmas and they gave me Colleen McCullough’s Morgan’s Run, a
story of one of the convicts on the first ships to set up penal colonies at
Botany Bay. It is a wonderful well-researched long book based, it seems, on
a real convict whose descendants include Helen Reddy and Colleen’s husband
Ric. It leaves an opening for a sequel. Now I want to re-read her popular
book The Thorn Birds.
We left the peninsula and spent a few hours with Barbara and Jack Brooks,
the newlywed partners of 28 years we met in Monkey Mia. They live in a
lovely brick home in Midway Point on the way to Hobart, a small area of land
surrounded by bays off the Tasman Sea. Barbara’s daughter and family now
living in Tom Price were visiting, so we just had a short visit, a salad
sandwich and cup of tea and a piece of Barbara’s birthday cake.
It had been a rainy windy day, but it really took off when we left Midway
Point and drove thru Hobart toward the Huon Peninsula. We’d read about a
sheep cheesery, found it and purchased some lovely sheep and cows milk
cheeses and a sturdy loaf of rye sourdough. We wondered, could we find a
cabin somewhere so we wouldn’t have to set up the tent in the wind and rain?
We drove thru several small villages, thru Middleton and on to Verona Sands
toward the Applejack Cottages. The sign said Vacancy so we drove in. Susie
the proprietor said she had the “Penthouse Suite” available. So we got a
full apartment with 2 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen, bath and
veranda overlooking the ocean and islands and mountains and and … for $105.
We were delighted and stayed 2 nights. Susie had a fine assortment of food
available, so we bought some chicken satays and some homemade pasta sauce to
supplement our pasta, bread and cheeses and wine. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm … All night
the wind HOWLLLED and blew and trees leaned over. We were sooo happy to be
warm and dry in our Penthouse.
We were a few kms from Cygnet where a Folk Festival was happening that
weekend. We went to the free opening session at the Commercial Pub Friday
night and loved the collection of music and musicians, so we went back for
the Celtic Session Saturday afternoon, World Music and Johnny Cash tribute
sessions Saturday night and the Slim Dusty tribute session Sunday morning.
We stayed Saturday night in the Cygnet Caravan Camp and enjoyed intimate
hootenanny sessions in the morning. Tasmania is known to have lots of modern
day hippies, and we saw lots of them here. Such a collection of costumes!!
And lots of littlie flower children.
On and 2 nights in Dover with a drive to SouthPort and Hastings Cave and
Thermal Springs, walked the new Tahune Airwalk over huge Huon Pines and Blue
Gums, had Devonshire tea at the historical Franklin Hotel, more cherries and
raspberries and back thru Hobart heading north, then west toward Queenstown.
We spent the night at Mt. Fields National Park campground and had a lovely
riverside spot near the gentle rapids that provide that wonderful gurgling
water sound all night. There was a list of Platypus sightings, some near the
rapids near our tent, and we’re sure they were out there … but it rained and
we didn’t even look much for them.
The next morning we walked to beautiful Russel Falls and Horseshoe Falls.
The rain made them even more lovely and misty. Lots of wallabies and paddy
melons, smaller faster wallabies. On past hops fields, grand old Georgian
buildings, winding over large hills and to Lake St. Claire. There is a
popular Overland Track bushwalkers trek between Lake St. Claire and Cradle
Mountain. The Information Centers had fires burning. Heavy black gloves were
on sale with the usual T-shirts and fleece jackets. It was coooold here. And
many hikers with heavy packs and lots of warm clothes. We took a few pics,
had a cappuccino and a lovely meat pie and just kept warm. Larry almost
stepped on a snake that a bloke said was the 3rd deadliest snake in
Australia. The guy said it was OK, because the anti-venom for all the deadly
snakes in Tasmania is the same. Some consolation!
On over many more winding hairpin turns .. up .. down .. around. It was
beautiful. Finally to Queenstown with its bare hills where the rainforest
was cut to feed the furnaces for the smelters for the copper mined from the
hills. Spectacular hills. On to Strahan where we were told not to miss the
Gordon River Cruise and perhaps the newly restored Abt Wilderness train ride
between Strahan and Queenstown. But the weather was again cold and windy
with rain predicted. All cabins and motels were booked, so we turned our
backs on it all and carried on to Zeehan where we just enjoyed 2 days in a
self-contained unit .. no water, no great views, just a nice small town
bypassed by most tourists. Rain, cold, wind. Right … Tasmania winds are
called the Roaring 40’s because Tasmania is along the 40th parallel and
there is no land mass between South American and Tasmania. The wind just
howls along and slams into this tiny island. “They say” the winds usually
end before Christmas, but this year has to be different. Great. We bring
rain wherever we go. But there’s so much drought all over Australia that
we’ve been good for several places.
We booked a night in a cabin near Cradle Mountain, settled in and took the
bus from the Tourist Center 7km in to walk the Dove Lake circuit with great
views of the mountain. The weather was great, finallyyyyyyyyyy. There was a
wonderful flat boardwalk walk back to the Center but it was getting late so
we waited for the return bus that should come every half hour. After over an
hour and more and more people collecting for the wait, one bus came and
promised to send more. Soon 3 more came and we all rode back. We saw our
only wombat in the wild from the bus. He was soooo cute .. dashed to hide
behind a rock, then stuck his cute little face over the rock to see if we
were gone.
Rain and cold the next morning, so we didn’t go back to do some of the other
short walks Cradle Mountain has. We bought a National Parks pass back in
December at Freycinet for $33 that lets us and our car into all the National
Parks for 2 months. We’ve made good use of it. On over more hills and windy
roads, beautiful farm country, to the north western coast. Still looking for
that perfect campsite with water views. We’d go east later, so we checked
out Boat Harbour Beach and Sisters Beach. Nope. So on to Stanley and its
renowned Nut. Rain again, so we landed a nice cabin overlooking the water.
Yes .. finally. We spent 2 nights and got some corned silverside/beef at the
little IGA store and made boiled dinner with potatoes, carrots, onions and
cabbage. Sid Chapman made it for us when we stayed with him and Ruth and it
was great. We had enough for 2 nights and enjoyed using the electric fry pan
and microwave the cabin had for us. We climbed the Nut and enjoyed the views
around Circular Head. The Nut is a 152 meter high volcanic rock formation
thought to be 12.5 million years old. A steep steep path leads to the top or
you can take a chairlift.
On the next day to Arthur River, kind of the end of the road on the west
coast. A rock-strewn road continues, but as one of the brochures says, “it’s
not for a city car”. Not much there. Beautiful beautiful coast and a river
cruise which we passed on because .. guess what … cold, wind. Back past
Stanley and to Burnie for 2 nights. Finally we saw Platypus .. in the Fern
Glen Reserve .. and more fairy penguins at their free boardwalk. The
campground was next to a sheep field .. and flies. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh … A few
purchases at Lactose cheese factory and a quick look at the Creative Paper
Mill where there are wonderful life-size paper people, but you can’t take
photos. Darn!!
OK … the perfect beachview campsite: Penguin, Taylor, Ulverstone. Nope,
though we found about 6 caravan parks, there was always a high sand dune
between the water and campground, if it was near the ocean. Devonport ..
stopped to book a cabin for our last nights in Tasmania. Port Sorrell was a
great hope. Beautiful beaches but … Nope. So back to Greens Beach north of
Launceston that we visited the day we picked up the car. We knew our
campground would have no views, but the beach is beautiful. So 2 days at the
beach and it was pretty nice. Australia Day was coming up and it was a long
holiday weekend, but we took our chances and moved on across the Tamar River
past Georgetown to Low Head. We spent 2 days there in a nice quiet spot all
to ourselves, next to a sheep field again .. so flies .. but warm and a nice
beach.
Our last hopes for that campground were Bridport and Tomahawk. Bridport had
a long strung out park with nice waterfront campsites, but they were
chockers full and crowded. Tomahawk was also crowded and with the sand dune
scenario. So we booked “The Lodge”, a tired old caravan with a super annex
with tile floor, paneled wall, a bedroom and a fenced in yard and stone
patio. Amazing that anyone would put that much money and materials next to
such a slum caravan.
The next day Bridport was not as crowded, but we had already talked
ourselves into getting back to Devonport and setting up the bikes and
getting ready to wash our sleeping bags and pack up the camping gear to send
back to Madison. We found a little cabin park and booked a nice ensuite
cabin for 4 nights. It was still early and beautiful, so we washed the
bedding. Soon the rains began and it rained and howled and power outages and
flooding and we were again sooo happy with our cabin decision, warm and cosy
under the doona. Again we bring rain to a drought area. It’s the third day
as I write this and more predicted.
Sunday we return the car to Launceston, bus back to Devonport and catch the
new Spirit of Tasmania III to Sydney on Monday. This new ferry is only weeks
old and a boon for Tasmania tourism. Protestors abseiled down the side of
the boat on the first sail into Sydney and unfurled a banner protesting all
the clearing of Tasmania trees for wood chipping. Forestry is a very
controversial issue here.
Two weeks in Sydney with trips to the Blue Mountains and Canberra, then
we’re off to the Big Island of Hawaii for 2 months. We look forward to the
warmth again. We didn’t find much in Tasmania. Sydney may be hot and humid,
so of course we’ll whinge about that too.
News includes Mary Donaldson of the Hobart area soon to become Princess
Mary, wife of Prince Frederik of Denmark. They were in Tasmania recently for
Mary’s sister’s wedding and brought a Danish film crew to take footage for a
documentary on her. They met in Sydney in 2000 during the Olympic games.
Some big American conglomerate has trademarked Ugg, a sheepskin boot the
Australians have been making since the 1800’s, and gave them all a cease and
desist order to stop using the Ugg name. David Hookes, a former big cricket
player and current coach of a Victoria team, died after a team win
celebration from injuries from a bouncer outside a St. Kilda pub in
Melbourne. And farewell to Captain Kangaroo. Wahhhhhhhhhhhh …. The American
election primaries, Iraq, live sheep exports, the educational system … |