Weeks 6-13 of Sircling Australia
I did finish the trip but not the blog posts which was very irresponsible of me and I plan to write this wrong in the very near future!
Sydney - Take 2
After circumnavigating Oz I returned to Sydney where I somehow ended up managing a backpacker hostel in Woolloomooloo. A short story summing up the trials, tribulations and downright hilarious moments from my two month stint as a hostel worker is on its way over the coming weeks.
Kiwi Krusades
After I had used up every last bit of my working visa and had to leave the wonderful world of Oz I hit the travelling trail again aboard the Magic Bus in New Zealand, tales of my 3 week whistle-stop tour of NZ coming soon.
American Invasion
After a brief return to Oz for Christmas I began the journey home but if for one second you think I just hopped on a plane to the UK you are sorely mistaken and have obviously not been reading this blog for long, I hit LA, Vega, San Fran, Seattle, Bermuda (not technically in the US but go with it this time ok?) and finally NYC. The story of the final leg of what turned out to be an 18 month adventure will be coming to a computer screen near you this summer.
And that as they say is that, not to spoil the ending for anyone but I am now back in the UK, back at my old job in PR with the agency I was with before I left and getting use to life in one place...
...of course this in no ways means my travels are over, I still have a lot of Europe to visit and now it is close enough to visit got a long weekend so watch this space and who know what you will see!
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Sircling Stralia = Week 5
States Visited – 3
Kilometres Travelled – 3,237 (plus 120km without the car – all will be explained below!)
As you can already see from the amount of km travelled this was a heavy driving week but it was also the week where if it could go wrong it did!
It did not start off that way though, we began by driving over 1,000km from Mt Isa to Daly Waters, an obscure Northern Territory town that is basically just a pub, but a great one! We had been here before when we came though the centre of Oz on the OzBus so were keen to come back for the Beef and Barra on the BBQ and relive the memories of the last visit, after this we headed on to our next stop which was to be Timber Creek. This had been mentioned in one of our guide books and we decided it would be a good place to stay the night. When we got there we decided this was not the case, it was another middle of nowhere place and we decided to keep going.
About 60km up the road from here, essentially in the middle of nowhere the car decides it has had enough of this and stops, dead, the whole instrument panel shuts down and just as we pull off the road to see what is going on the engine cuts our to. The sun is beginning to set and the the very kind people who stopped to check we were ok as soon as we stopped were told we would be fine, “I have a jump starter, I am sure I can get it going” I had foolishly said! After another half an hour we manage to hitch a ride with some fellow backpackers in a VW Combi and make it the 60km back to the Turkey Creek Roadhouse. Being in the middle of nowhere also means your mobile does not work but using the roadhouses payphone I called up 24/7 Roadservices to come to my rescue! I pay my membership fees so they should come to my assistance right, the name 24/7 certainly implies this and the fact they are “Australia Wide” means I will be fine…ha ha ha ha!
I was told I was too far from anywhere for them to do anything tonight and that as I was 60km away from the nearest civilisation that the tow back would cost me an arm and a leg and several other body parts! Left with no assistance we had to stay the night at the fully booked out roadhouse in a staff cabin (charged at full rates of course!) and then see the mechanic in the morning when he opened up shop.
To say the mechanic in Timber Creek is not the life and soul of the party is an understatement in the extreme, after explaining what had happened and saying that I thought the battery might be buggered (bearing in mind I have the mechanical knowledge of a gerbil on vallium) he simply sells me a battery for an exorbitant fee and sets me on my way! Another 60km hitchhike with a very nice family who were the only ones out of about 8 cars to stop got us and our new battery back to the car.
With the new battery in we were back in business and made it to the Kunurra, a further couple of hundred kilometres along the road. We got here with no problems, checked in to the YHA, which was lovely and breathed a huge sigh of relief, we were out of the woods…can you say famous last words?
That evening we went on a sunset BBQ cruise on the river, saw the impressive local dam, met some very interesting people and had a great evening, The next morning we packed up and headed out to begin our run to Broome, a leisurely two day drive with a few stop offs here and there, at least that was the plan! This time we were only 6km out of town by the time the car gave up and 24/7 Roadservices came through, the tow truck got to us within the hour and we were soon back in Kunurra which thankfully has much more competent mechanics. Turns out the alternator was shot and it would take a couple of days to fly one in so we were not going anywhere just yet!
We had to move to another backpackers for one night as ours was full but it was a little run down so we moved back for our third night and met up with a Canadian girl who needed a ride to Broome so we obliged, for a share of petrol of course!
By the time we left this little town we were ready to reach Broome as quickly as possible and once again covered the 1000+km in a day to pull in to Broome on the last day of week 5, we dropped out hitchhiker at a hostel in town and headed for Cable Beach Caravan Park. The highly eventful week ended with a mini reunion as one of our fellow OzBuser’s is working in Broome at the moment so we passed away the evening with cocktails, tapas and pleasant conversation…
Kilometres Travelled – 3,237 (plus 120km without the car – all will be explained below!)
As you can already see from the amount of km travelled this was a heavy driving week but it was also the week where if it could go wrong it did!
It did not start off that way though, we began by driving over 1,000km from Mt Isa to Daly Waters, an obscure Northern Territory town that is basically just a pub, but a great one! We had been here before when we came though the centre of Oz on the OzBus so were keen to come back for the Beef and Barra on the BBQ and relive the memories of the last visit, after this we headed on to our next stop which was to be Timber Creek. This had been mentioned in one of our guide books and we decided it would be a good place to stay the night. When we got there we decided this was not the case, it was another middle of nowhere place and we decided to keep going.
About 60km up the road from here, essentially in the middle of nowhere the car decides it has had enough of this and stops, dead, the whole instrument panel shuts down and just as we pull off the road to see what is going on the engine cuts our to. The sun is beginning to set and the the very kind people who stopped to check we were ok as soon as we stopped were told we would be fine, “I have a jump starter, I am sure I can get it going” I had foolishly said! After another half an hour we manage to hitch a ride with some fellow backpackers in a VW Combi and make it the 60km back to the Turkey Creek Roadhouse. Being in the middle of nowhere also means your mobile does not work but using the roadhouses payphone I called up 24/7 Roadservices to come to my rescue! I pay my membership fees so they should come to my assistance right, the name 24/7 certainly implies this and the fact they are “Australia Wide” means I will be fine…ha ha ha ha!
I was told I was too far from anywhere for them to do anything tonight and that as I was 60km away from the nearest civilisation that the tow back would cost me an arm and a leg and several other body parts! Left with no assistance we had to stay the night at the fully booked out roadhouse in a staff cabin (charged at full rates of course!) and then see the mechanic in the morning when he opened up shop.
To say the mechanic in Timber Creek is not the life and soul of the party is an understatement in the extreme, after explaining what had happened and saying that I thought the battery might be buggered (bearing in mind I have the mechanical knowledge of a gerbil on vallium) he simply sells me a battery for an exorbitant fee and sets me on my way! Another 60km hitchhike with a very nice family who were the only ones out of about 8 cars to stop got us and our new battery back to the car.
With the new battery in we were back in business and made it to the Kunurra, a further couple of hundred kilometres along the road. We got here with no problems, checked in to the YHA, which was lovely and breathed a huge sigh of relief, we were out of the woods…can you say famous last words?
That evening we went on a sunset BBQ cruise on the river, saw the impressive local dam, met some very interesting people and had a great evening, The next morning we packed up and headed out to begin our run to Broome, a leisurely two day drive with a few stop offs here and there, at least that was the plan! This time we were only 6km out of town by the time the car gave up and 24/7 Roadservices came through, the tow truck got to us within the hour and we were soon back in Kunurra which thankfully has much more competent mechanics. Turns out the alternator was shot and it would take a couple of days to fly one in so we were not going anywhere just yet!
We had to move to another backpackers for one night as ours was full but it was a little run down so we moved back for our third night and met up with a Canadian girl who needed a ride to Broome so we obliged, for a share of petrol of course!
By the time we left this little town we were ready to reach Broome as quickly as possible and once again covered the 1000+km in a day to pull in to Broome on the last day of week 5, we dropped out hitchhiker at a hostel in town and headed for Cable Beach Caravan Park. The highly eventful week ended with a mini reunion as one of our fellow OzBuser’s is working in Broome at the moment so we passed away the evening with cocktails, tapas and pleasant conversation…
Sircling Stralia - Week 4
Kilometres travelled – 1702
States visited – 1
Week 4 begins with out return from the SV Whitehaven to solid ground and after pulling our bags out of storage is it was time to hit the road again and head North once more. After discussing it with several people we had decided to give Townsville a miss and head straight to Magnetic Island, a lovely little spot just off the coast. We booked into a hostel called Bungalow Bay and left the car on the mainland.
When we got to the hostel it was a lovely little place, the owners have combined a wildlife sanctuary with a hostel and done it very well. From the wallabies that run around outside the cabins, the possums who come to the bar in the hope of scrounging food to the wildlife park with Koalas, crocs and parrots it was great. We even got a photo with a Koala. The picture I had done showed a very alert slightly shocked looking Koala in my arms. Turns out he was looking shocked as he had just pissed himself on my shirt but hey sometimes you have to go to extremes to get a good photo! Also turns out the Koala was called Dexter and is on Facebook, he is now one of my friends, no really, look up Dexter Koala and you will find him.
Baby Echidnas, snakes, parrots eating seeds out of your mouth, bush walks and gorgeous weather finished off our time on the island and we headed back to the mainland in high spirits and headed towards Cairns, our last stop on the East coast.
Cairns was more of a practical stop than holiday stop for us, there is heaps to do here but we needed to repack the car, get it cleaned, serviced etc. get all our washing done, etc, etc so we spent a couple of days doing this, hitting the shops and so on and prepared for the long hard drive inland to get to Mt Isa in time for the annual rodeo, in its 50th year in 2008 it is in the biggest rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere.
The trip began well, we found a rout from Cairns that by using a 300km long dirt road we could get there without doubling back on ourselves. So we headed off with the plan being to stop at the top of this track for the night and then drive it the next day, sometimes it is a good idea to stick to the plan!
We took one look at the roadhouse/caravan park we had planned to stay in and figured we were better to keep going, this would mean driving about 200km in the dark but we decided to give it a go! Turns out the dark was not the problem, it was around sunset that tragedy would strike! We saw the first four and dodged them easily but the fifth kangaroo to jump out on us was not so lucky and despite my claims that he might be ok, honest, I think he is hopping in a better place now. After this we checked the car over and figured our roo bar had done its job and that we were good to carry on. We made it to the end of the dirt road without any more animals meeting there end despite a few close calls and pulled in to a little town called Hughenden. Here we found a motel for the night and discovered how lucky we had been. The dirt road was pretty much straight the whole way but turns out our roo bar was bent in to the point where left and right turns were not really and option! If there had been a couple more bends our tyre would undoubtedly blown out in the middle of nowhere. A couple of chains and a tree later we had pulled the roo bar out and were back on route!
We pulled in to Isa and were instantly relieved that we had planned ahead and booked our campsite 6 weeks in advance, the whole town was full! We kicked off with a tour of the local lead mine, had a mooch round the shops then went to the opening parade of the rodeo. It was great, local tractors and trucks done up to make the floats and a really great atmosphere, reminded me a lot of a local St Patrick’s Day parade I saw on a quick trip to Ireland earlier this year and I loved it. The rodeo was great, bare back horse riding, bull riding, wild horse races, barrel racing, beer, fast food and heaps of cowboys and we have a great few days here to finish off week 4.
States visited – 1
Week 4 begins with out return from the SV Whitehaven to solid ground and after pulling our bags out of storage is it was time to hit the road again and head North once more. After discussing it with several people we had decided to give Townsville a miss and head straight to Magnetic Island, a lovely little spot just off the coast. We booked into a hostel called Bungalow Bay and left the car on the mainland.
When we got to the hostel it was a lovely little place, the owners have combined a wildlife sanctuary with a hostel and done it very well. From the wallabies that run around outside the cabins, the possums who come to the bar in the hope of scrounging food to the wildlife park with Koalas, crocs and parrots it was great. We even got a photo with a Koala. The picture I had done showed a very alert slightly shocked looking Koala in my arms. Turns out he was looking shocked as he had just pissed himself on my shirt but hey sometimes you have to go to extremes to get a good photo! Also turns out the Koala was called Dexter and is on Facebook, he is now one of my friends, no really, look up Dexter Koala and you will find him.
Baby Echidnas, snakes, parrots eating seeds out of your mouth, bush walks and gorgeous weather finished off our time on the island and we headed back to the mainland in high spirits and headed towards Cairns, our last stop on the East coast.
Cairns was more of a practical stop than holiday stop for us, there is heaps to do here but we needed to repack the car, get it cleaned, serviced etc. get all our washing done, etc, etc so we spent a couple of days doing this, hitting the shops and so on and prepared for the long hard drive inland to get to Mt Isa in time for the annual rodeo, in its 50th year in 2008 it is in the biggest rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere.
The trip began well, we found a rout from Cairns that by using a 300km long dirt road we could get there without doubling back on ourselves. So we headed off with the plan being to stop at the top of this track for the night and then drive it the next day, sometimes it is a good idea to stick to the plan!
We took one look at the roadhouse/caravan park we had planned to stay in and figured we were better to keep going, this would mean driving about 200km in the dark but we decided to give it a go! Turns out the dark was not the problem, it was around sunset that tragedy would strike! We saw the first four and dodged them easily but the fifth kangaroo to jump out on us was not so lucky and despite my claims that he might be ok, honest, I think he is hopping in a better place now. After this we checked the car over and figured our roo bar had done its job and that we were good to carry on. We made it to the end of the dirt road without any more animals meeting there end despite a few close calls and pulled in to a little town called Hughenden. Here we found a motel for the night and discovered how lucky we had been. The dirt road was pretty much straight the whole way but turns out our roo bar was bent in to the point where left and right turns were not really and option! If there had been a couple more bends our tyre would undoubtedly blown out in the middle of nowhere. A couple of chains and a tree later we had pulled the roo bar out and were back on route!
We pulled in to Isa and were instantly relieved that we had planned ahead and booked our campsite 6 weeks in advance, the whole town was full! We kicked off with a tour of the local lead mine, had a mooch round the shops then went to the opening parade of the rodeo. It was great, local tractors and trucks done up to make the floats and a really great atmosphere, reminded me a lot of a local St Patrick’s Day parade I saw on a quick trip to Ireland earlier this year and I loved it. The rodeo was great, bare back horse riding, bull riding, wild horse races, barrel racing, beer, fast food and heaps of cowboys and we have a great few days here to finish off week 4.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Sircling Stralia - Week 3
Kilometres Travelled - 939
States Visited – 1
Week 3 began on the beach; quite literally, we woke up to the sounds of the ocean on the other side of the dunes we were camped behind on Fraser Island. We packed up our gear and fired up the 4x4, we were off to see the island!
We cruised along the beach, saw the Mohino Wreck rusting on the shore line, visited Indian Head, one of the three volcanic cores that are responsible for catching the sand that forms the island, saw wild dingoes and had a couple of hairy moments when we thought the car was stuck or broken but we made it through the day. We visited the stunning Lake McKenzie, reminiscent of the lake from The Beach but with much more tourists! It was a lovely sight but was slightly ruined by all the groups of people sat around getting stinking drunk and playing Frisbee and for once this group had nothing to do with me!
We camped on the beach again, about 1km from one of the resorts on the island and headed to the bar for a few beers, this was all well and good till we realised that walking back to the van in the pitch black with the threat of wild dingoes jumping us forefront in our minds was not as much fun as you would think! We made it back without incident and after one more night under the stars headed to the ferry back to the mainland and we were soon on our way to Rockhampton, the cattle capital of Australia.
In Rockhampton we went out for a day with Capricorn Dave, I can highly recommend the Beef and Reef Tour he does to anyone heading this way. As it was quiet season it turned out that me and my girlfriend were the only people on the tour so we got a personalised day out! We toured round in Capricorn Dave’s van, saw wild snakes, echidnas (which apparently is very rare), heaps of wild roos, had a huntsman spider put on our faces for photos, played with scorpions and much more! This also included doing the Ant Dance, which was featured on Jackass. You have to stand on an ant’s nest and see how long you can takes the ants’ biting your bare feet then dance around like a loony to get rid of them! Steve’o lasted 7 seconds, I lasted at least 13 but ony because my girlfriend took so long to take a picture! We finished off the day with dinner at the Ascot Stone Grill where your raw steak is served on hot stone and you cook it yourself as you go.
After Rockhampton it was time for a quick inland detour. We headed through winding hilly roads to Eungella National Park where friends had told us we were pretty much guaranteed to see the Duckbilled Platypus in the wild and we were not disappointed! We got there just before dusk and headed down to the river where we saw several of this undeniable odd egg laying mammal swimming around before bed time. We stayed at a caravan park with an amazing view of the park and left here very pleased that we had gone the extra distance.
The final stop of the week was Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, a gorgeous place but, as we were about to find out a frustrating one as well! As it was not high tourist season we had planned to show up and grab a last minute deal to sail the Whitsundays for a couple of days on one of the many boat trips. We got in to town, found a hostel and headed to the travel desk. The very nice man behind the counter told us about the various boats and one took our fancy. We booked on and headed off to run some errands and then have a few beers and hit the hay before our planned departure the next morning.
After we had run our errands we returned to the room to drop some stuff off before hitting the bar and then the trouble began! There was a note asking us to come to reception about our trip. This lead to us finding out the boat we had booked on was cancelled and we would have to wait in Airlie Beach a few days or pick another one. We eventually after much debate chose one that was not quite as suited to what we wanted as the first but still looked good. Plus it was quite a bit cheaper. At this point we were still happy enough so we went ahead and were told that the tour desk could not refund us but that the Oz Adventure Sailing, 5 mins walk down the road would give us back the difference when we checked in.
We headed down there and when we went to confirm they offered us the refund, but it did not quite add up, somehow the price had gone up by $40. Normally we might have let this go but these guys had already got our hackles up so after 4 trips back and forth between tour desk and sailing company, several phone calls and about 3 hours we got our $40 back and were booked on the trip leaving the next day. If you are heading to the Whitsundays I recommend booking your boat in advance and if possible not using Oz Adventure Sailing!
The dramas of the day before aside we boarded the boat and had a great two nights on board the SV Whitehaven. The people were fun, the weather was gorgeous, the snorkelling was amazing! We saw a whale just after she had given birth nudging her newborn to make him breath. Turtles, Reef Sharks, Rays and tropical fish filled out vision as we snorkelled and Whitehaven Beach was a rare treat with its white sand and clear waters. The sand is so fine you can even use it clean your gold and silver by rubbing it on your jewellery.
As week three came to a close we went to sleep on the SV Whitehaven with the sky so clear you could see the Milky Way and shooting stars streaked the sky! With the gentle rocking of the boat easing us off to the land of dreams we fell asleep with a slight feeling of sadness as tomorrow it would be back to solid ground and time to get behind the steering wheel again. The Whitsundays had been amazing and is definitely somewhere I will be visiting again someday…
States Visited – 1
Week 3 began on the beach; quite literally, we woke up to the sounds of the ocean on the other side of the dunes we were camped behind on Fraser Island. We packed up our gear and fired up the 4x4, we were off to see the island!
We cruised along the beach, saw the Mohino Wreck rusting on the shore line, visited Indian Head, one of the three volcanic cores that are responsible for catching the sand that forms the island, saw wild dingoes and had a couple of hairy moments when we thought the car was stuck or broken but we made it through the day. We visited the stunning Lake McKenzie, reminiscent of the lake from The Beach but with much more tourists! It was a lovely sight but was slightly ruined by all the groups of people sat around getting stinking drunk and playing Frisbee and for once this group had nothing to do with me!
We camped on the beach again, about 1km from one of the resorts on the island and headed to the bar for a few beers, this was all well and good till we realised that walking back to the van in the pitch black with the threat of wild dingoes jumping us forefront in our minds was not as much fun as you would think! We made it back without incident and after one more night under the stars headed to the ferry back to the mainland and we were soon on our way to Rockhampton, the cattle capital of Australia.
In Rockhampton we went out for a day with Capricorn Dave, I can highly recommend the Beef and Reef Tour he does to anyone heading this way. As it was quiet season it turned out that me and my girlfriend were the only people on the tour so we got a personalised day out! We toured round in Capricorn Dave’s van, saw wild snakes, echidnas (which apparently is very rare), heaps of wild roos, had a huntsman spider put on our faces for photos, played with scorpions and much more! This also included doing the Ant Dance, which was featured on Jackass. You have to stand on an ant’s nest and see how long you can takes the ants’ biting your bare feet then dance around like a loony to get rid of them! Steve’o lasted 7 seconds, I lasted at least 13 but ony because my girlfriend took so long to take a picture! We finished off the day with dinner at the Ascot Stone Grill where your raw steak is served on hot stone and you cook it yourself as you go.
After Rockhampton it was time for a quick inland detour. We headed through winding hilly roads to Eungella National Park where friends had told us we were pretty much guaranteed to see the Duckbilled Platypus in the wild and we were not disappointed! We got there just before dusk and headed down to the river where we saw several of this undeniable odd egg laying mammal swimming around before bed time. We stayed at a caravan park with an amazing view of the park and left here very pleased that we had gone the extra distance.
The final stop of the week was Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, a gorgeous place but, as we were about to find out a frustrating one as well! As it was not high tourist season we had planned to show up and grab a last minute deal to sail the Whitsundays for a couple of days on one of the many boat trips. We got in to town, found a hostel and headed to the travel desk. The very nice man behind the counter told us about the various boats and one took our fancy. We booked on and headed off to run some errands and then have a few beers and hit the hay before our planned departure the next morning.
After we had run our errands we returned to the room to drop some stuff off before hitting the bar and then the trouble began! There was a note asking us to come to reception about our trip. This lead to us finding out the boat we had booked on was cancelled and we would have to wait in Airlie Beach a few days or pick another one. We eventually after much debate chose one that was not quite as suited to what we wanted as the first but still looked good. Plus it was quite a bit cheaper. At this point we were still happy enough so we went ahead and were told that the tour desk could not refund us but that the Oz Adventure Sailing, 5 mins walk down the road would give us back the difference when we checked in.
We headed down there and when we went to confirm they offered us the refund, but it did not quite add up, somehow the price had gone up by $40. Normally we might have let this go but these guys had already got our hackles up so after 4 trips back and forth between tour desk and sailing company, several phone calls and about 3 hours we got our $40 back and were booked on the trip leaving the next day. If you are heading to the Whitsundays I recommend booking your boat in advance and if possible not using Oz Adventure Sailing!
The dramas of the day before aside we boarded the boat and had a great two nights on board the SV Whitehaven. The people were fun, the weather was gorgeous, the snorkelling was amazing! We saw a whale just after she had given birth nudging her newborn to make him breath. Turtles, Reef Sharks, Rays and tropical fish filled out vision as we snorkelled and Whitehaven Beach was a rare treat with its white sand and clear waters. The sand is so fine you can even use it clean your gold and silver by rubbing it on your jewellery.
As week three came to a close we went to sleep on the SV Whitehaven with the sky so clear you could see the Milky Way and shooting stars streaked the sky! With the gentle rocking of the boat easing us off to the land of dreams we fell asleep with a slight feeling of sadness as tomorrow it would be back to solid ground and time to get behind the steering wheel again. The Whitsundays had been amazing and is definitely somewhere I will be visiting again someday…
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