Author: Joel

Australia, Western Australia

Remember Skylab?

Joel

I’m spending my second night in a youth hostel in Esperance. Yesterday I was the youngest resident (with several retirees). Today I’m the oldest. Ahhh… you’re never too old to backpack.

A farmer staying here told me yesterday, that there are big bucks to make selling “Blood and Bone” fertilizer, and that’s what the kangaroo collector was probably doing with them in South Australia. He also told me how road train drivers approach livestock when they’re on the road — usually aiming to knock them on the edge and not hitting them full on (which would cause too much damage to their trucks). Ah, the joys of road kill talk…

The weather has been very stormy for most of my stay here, but it has just begun to settle down. To take refuge from the rain, I spent some time perusing the local museum. The coolest exhibit they had was what is left of Skylab, which fell here in 1979. It was really interesting to see all the bits, some of them huge, and read all the newspaper articles. I can remember everyone worrying about whether it would fall on them back in the U.S. I also remember NASA claiming that it safely landed in the Indian Ocean — just before the people of Esperance announced that actually it fell on them. There were big things in the exhibit like the freezer, hatch door, and a giant cylinder. It’s a miracle none of it landed on anyone’s head.

The weather did manage to clear up enough for me to see the outdoor sites as well. The “Big Sur” type drive is really spectacular with many an endless beach with lots of white sand and huge rocks. The local national park has pure white beaches that seemed to run for dozens of miles. There were also whales in the neighborhood, but I didn’t personally see any.

Tomorrow I will head for Walpole (in the thick of the Karri forests south of Perth) to spend the night before making that final last 5 hour leg back to Perth on Sunday.

Australia, South Australia, Western Australia

Esperance… 10,000 miles later!

Joel

After my night sleeping on the state line, I got up bright and early and soldiered back to the car for another long day of driving. One of the reasons I decided to sleep at the border village was because it was actually on the South Australian side and there was a Agricultural Inspection Station waiting for me to get into Western Australia. This was the fouth zone I’ve had to cross into where I was expected to throw away all my produce and I was getting a bit sick of it. The other zones were around Kununarra, the Northern Territory state line, and the lower parts of South Australia. I still had some oranges and apples I bought at Adelaide’s Central Market, so I had them all for breakfast before getting started on my journey.

This drive had a few more trees than the Nullarbor, but it also had the distinction of holding Australia’s longest straight stretch of road — the Ninety Mile Straight, which got a bit boring. I actually found it a bit dangerous because oncoming traffic seemed to appear out of nowhere. You would get tired of contantly looking in the same place for too long and find it hypnotizing, so you would try to keep your eyes moving around, looking from side to side, just to stay awake. And then pow, there would be a truck barrelling down on you.

I finally arrived in Norseman in Western Australia in the mid-afternoon, where the tourist center greeted me with a free hot shower and free private camping spot 22 kms south of town. It was quite nice, private, isolated, and beautiful with lots of thick bush. From there I made the final few hours of driving this morning to get to the southern coastal town of Esperance — which is actually only about 8 hours away from Perth.

Esperance is supposed to be beautiful, but it’s been pouring rain ever since I got here. I’ve checked into another single room at the YHA in anticipation of another nasty storm front passing through. I think it’s probably already here. Esperance is famous for having lots of big beautiful beaches here with pure white sand. They have a bay full of islands and a local national park with some good hikes (I’ve been told). There is also a scenic drive nearby that it supposed to be like Big Sur. I’ll let you know when the weather clears.

Australia, South Australia

The Nullarbor Run

Joel

So after a few days of freezing nights in the damp cold of Adelaide, I decided I should start to make my way back to Perth — as time was running out. I thought it would be more interesting to try and camp in as many national parks as I could on the way across the Nullarbor. One park I camped in was Mount Remarkable National Park, a little but, ummm, remarkable park just outside of Port Augusta (which I had to pass back through to get around the Spencer Gulf, anyway). Mt. Remarkable had lots of nice trails that I could hike along that ran along gorges and up to the tops of mountains. I saw an echidna there, a relative of the porcupine, doing a bit of echidna-type business along the river.

After a night in Mount Remarkable, I headed through Port Augusta and down to the southern end of the Eyre Peninsula to camp at Lincoln National Park (next to Port Lincoln, and not named after Abe). The Eyre Peninsula was quite nice with a lush green interior and nice quiet little coastal towns that are probably a bigger attraction during the summer months. It was cold (again), but i was able to get my own camp ground and private beach there. I could tell a storm was a brewing in the distance, but I didn’t know what was in store for me until the next day. Fortunately I was able to find the perfect sheltered spot for my tent so I didn’t suffer.

My original plan was to break the run across the Nullarbor Plain up into about 500-600 kilometer sections. Unfortunately, a huge nasty storm front moved through with driving rain and gale force winds that didn’t make the idea of stopping to camp anywhere along the way a desirable one. Instead, I just headed as far west as i could, hoping to get through to the other side of the storm (which was coming from the west)

The storm made what would otherwise have been a notoriously boring drive (“Nullarbor” means “no trees” in latin) into a beautiful drive with huge dark cloud formations, distant storms, and lots of full rainbows. The drive across the bottom of Australia runs very close to the edge of the continent, and there are a numerous places you can pull off the road to watch the southern ocean crashing into sheer cliffs. There were also a couple of passes up onto and off of plateaus that were really spectacular to look down from.

I made it to the Western Australian / South Australian border and found a cheap cabin in the tiny “border village” for the night so I didn’t have to worry about camping in the elements. $25. Not a bad deal. It even came with a tea kettle so I can boil water and make dinner in my room. The first night I’ve slept indoors in about 5 weeks!

Australia, South Australia

Adelaide, South Australia

Joel

After another long boring drive through the desert, I decided to make a pit stop in Adelaide — even though it is actually about 600 kilometers out of my way. The desert I had to drive through in northern South Australia (if that makes any sense) was largely in a government protected military area titled “Woomera” and famous locally for housing boat people in camps (indefinitely).

The South Australian desert has two distinctive characteristics in Australia. They seem to have a lot more flies than anywhere else I’ve been. Flies in Australia are not like the flies they have in the U.S. They seem preoccupied with trying to fly into every orifice on your body. Your nose, your ears, your mouth. Whatever they can find open. It’s very annoying. In the U.S. they just seem interested in your food. In Australia they seem to love the heat. In the U.S. they seem to like hanging out in cool places like your garage.

The other distinctive characteristic of the South Australian desert is the amount of road kill. When I pulled back on to the Stuart Highway from Uluru and started heading south, I was taken by the number of dead kangaroos lying by the side of the road that looked like they had only been hit in the past day or two. I even saw one with blood draining out of it into the middle of the road, but that may have had more to do with the vulture picking at its flesh than having just been hit. The odd thing was that I couldn’t seem to find any dead kangaroos that looked like they had been lying there for more than just a day or two. It was like some mass slaughter had just taken place.

Then after hundreds of kilometers of driving, I saw a truck pull over ahead of me and turn on some flashing orange lights. A man jumped out from his cab with a huge meat hook and swiped in down towards one of the fresh dead kangaroos. I just managed to pass him before the impact, but I did notice some sort of odd grinder on a trailor attached to the back of his truck. Ugh! Their kangaroo problem, I figured, must be so bad that they have to send this guy out to collect them every day. That’s why there wasn’t any older skeleton road meat like you find on most Australian highways.

Southern South Australia turned out to be completely different. Except for the flies. The boring desert turned into rolling green and yellow flowering hills and distant mountain ranges. It became absolutely beautiful as I headed into Port Augusta. I was a bit stunned when I arrived in Port Augusta, because I pulled over to take a break at a park and found the sea lapping up at my feet. It suddenly dawned on me that I had just driven entirely across a continent from sea to sea (Timor Sea to the Spencer Gulf).

I continued driving south to Adelaide, Australia’s next largest city after Perth, through beautiful countryside for another three hours. I managed to find a camping spot in a caravan park right next to the beach. Only problem was that it wasn’t warm like it was up north. It was that freezing damp cold I knew too well from living in Melbourne for six months back in 1992. I ended up spending a few nights and a full day in Adelaide before starting my trek back west to Perth.

Adelaide was nice, but the longer I spent there, the more it just seemed like just another big city with the same shops and attractions as any other big Australian city. The one thing Adelaide had that Perth doesn’t (besides being very green and shady and wet) was their Central Market. I started my day there and it was really great. Very much like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. Just about the same size, too. And very well supported by the locals. Lots of fresh produce, fresh meats, fabulous looking deserts and other gourmet foods, surrounded my nice cafes.

After a few days of freezing nights in damp cold, I decided I should start to make my way back to Perth in time to catch my flight to New Zealand.

Australia, South Australia

I slept in a mine shaft…

Joel

I’ve now reached the point where I really have to start making some progress in getting back to Perth. One interesting thing about visiting Uluru and The Olga’s was a little short cut from there to Perth. It’s known as “The Gun Barrel Highway”. The problem with it is that it’s all dirt. Not only does it require a 4 wheel drive, it also requires that you have a special permit to use it. And on some stretches of the road I’ve been told that you are not allowed to travel along it unless you are part of a 4 wheel drive convoy. Hmmm…. sounds exciting!

So instead, I’ve found myself having to travel hundreds (if not thousands) of kilometers out of the way to make it back to Perth on sealed (paved) roads in my little two-wheel drive car. This paved route takes me down to Adelaide first (to the south east) and then back west across the Nullabor Plain to Perth.

I’ve already had to backtrack 100’s of kilometers to get out to the main “Stuart Highway” from Uluru and Kings Canyon today. I’m hoping to make it to Adelaide for a few days of battery recharging by tomorrow, but I’ve had to make an evening stop in Coober Pedy for the night.

Coober Pedy turned out to be really cool. It is famous for opal mining and has a lot of dwellings in former mines to give locals refuge from the summer heat and cold winter nights. Even the churches, shops, hotels, and hostels (where I’m typing this entry) have made use of the leftover mine shafts. I was even able to find an underground camp site, so I pitched my tent in a mine shaft for the evening. The camp site included a free tour of a former mine.

The tour was conducted by an eccentric mine owner. Eccentricity seems to be standard in these family tour operations I come across. I guess that’s part of what you’re paying for. It was mostly interesting information about how they go about finding where the opals are and what procedure they use to get to them (part voodoo).

A movie titled Pobby and Dingan was due to begin filming in the same deserted mine the week after I was there. It won’t be the first. The town was littered with artifacts from other famous movies that were filmed in the area, including Mad Max.

The best part about sleeping underground was that I didn’t have to worry about insects or the cold night because the temperature underground always stays the same. The worst part about it was a family of four who set up next to me and snored all night. Oh well. They were very nice, actually. Did the tour with me.

The stars in Coober Pedy were probably the best I’ve seen around Australia, probably due to its very dry desert environment. The Milky Way has been a regular feature in the skies for me over the past three weeks.

Australia, Northern Territory

Earth’s Other Moon

Joel

So yes, I’ve now made the pilgrimage to Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock) and I can tell you that it is absolutely amazing. I wasn’t really expecting it to be, of course. You tend to develop a bit of cynicism about these tourist attractions after driving hundreds of kilometers. But Uluru has certainly been worth the trip. Just think of a rock almost the height of the old World Trade Center towers encompassing an area around the size of lower Manhattan. I’m pretty sure, anyway. It’s a six mile / 10 kilometer hike around the thing. It dwarfs everything around it and you can’t see the top of it from the hiking trail.

There are black stains running off it where rivers of water flow when it rains (since rocks can’t absorb water). It actually struck me of being like the moon, because you can’t get away from it. It is so big, iconic, and prominent that it seems to follow you wherever you go — just like a really large full moon skirting along the horizon as you’re driving down the highway, keeping its same position as everything else scoots by you: No matter how fast you go or how many trees or buildings you pass, it’s always in the same position just looking back at you.

Driving right up to Uluru it is one of the most awe-inspiring experiences. Of course, the big show comes when the sun goes down and it lights up bright orange. That’s when everybody whips out their cameras. As tacky as this might sound, it’s lots of fun to hang around in the designated positions waiting for the right moment. It seems everyone there has a story to tell about how they got there. Being in the middle of Australia in the middle of nowhere, it’s a big trip for everyone. There is a real pilgrimage feel to the experience. Many are people who’ve spent their entire lives in Australia and were just making their first visit.

To be honest, there is another rock formation in the same national park that it even more impressive: The Olgas. The Olgas may not be as iconic or symmetrical as Uluru, but they are actually much larger and more interesting to wander around. There is a nice 3-4 hour hike around them that is really beautiful with the red sand and wildflowers in bloom at the moment.

In addition to these attractions, there is also a beautiful range of mountains running east and west of Alice Springs (a bit of a drive to the north) called the MacDonnell Ranges that are full of gorges and canyons. I spent one night camping at a beautiful gorge in the West MacDonnells before going to Uluru for a few nights, and another night camping at King’s Canyon (which I believe is Australia’s biggest canyon) afterwards.

The entire area has been freezing for camping, but I’ve been surviving just fine. I know the temperature dropping to at least 0 Celsius (32F) the first night I camped at Uluru, but it is an area that is known to drop down to -5C in winter. It’s funny because I had one last balmy night camping at Wycliffe Wells, and then the next night I was freezing in the MacDonnell Ranges.

Kings Canyon was quite spectacular, but no Grand Canyon (of course). There was a 3-4 hour rim hike that was quite interesting and grueling. Unlike the Grand Canyon, where you hike down in to it and then back out, the King’s Canyon had to be climbed first and then climbed down. I think the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ended up there, but I’m not absolutely sure.

The coolest part of King’s Canyon were the little oases caught in some of the crevices of the rocks. They said there were plants there that had used to grow more widely in the area 100s of millions of years ago when the climate was vastly different in the region — but those plants have managed to survive in these pockets of water the canyon catches.

Australia, Northern Territory

Out of the Tropics again…

Joel

Greetings from the center of Australia: Alice Springs (aka “The Alice”). I’m having to deal with rain for the first time in 3 weeks. A bit of a shock, but kind of nice. I’m just not looking forward to camping in it.

I’ve been doing mostly driving since I last wrote, but I have had some fun along the way. Many sections of the drive were quite beautiful with bright red soil and wildflowers.

Darwin turned out to be a pretty nice place to hang out in afterall. It has a very modern and cosmopolitan feel to it with plenty of nice restaurants and beautiful tropical gardens overlooking the bay. On Sunday and Thursday nights they have a big international food festival on the beach which includes lots of fabulous eats from around the world. It seems to be the place everyone decends to for a nice dinner while they watch the sun set over the Timor Sea.

The thing I disliked most about Darwin was the camping. Like most of the tropics, it’s always very hot and very humid. You lie in your tent sweating into your pillow in the evening waiting for the temperature to cool. And then in the morning you wake up cool, but drenched from the heavy tropical dew.

From Darwin I cruised down to Elsey National Park, a nice little spot with hot springs and plenty of places to swim with freshies. I camped there for the night before heading down to “Devil’s Marbles,” an unusual formation of giant marble-like red rocks. While visiting the area, I camped in nearby Wycliffe Well — a spot that claims to be the UFO reporting capital of Australia.

The owner of the caravan park there was quite eccentric with lots of half completed projects he was hoping would attract hoards of people to his middle-of-nowhere — including a lake (still being filled), a zoo of animals (including kangaroos, emus, camels, rabbits, birds, etc), and a 300 seat dinner theater (which looked vacant on a Saturday night). The one little project that seems to have garnered him attention was all the UFO murals and figurines around the place. Otherwise it was a pretty nice place. The only problem with sleeping behind roadhouses is having to deal with the noise of 54 meter (4 trailer) long road trains racing by in the middle of the night. They sound like airplanes trying to land on your tent.

I am now going to head west into the Western MacDonnell Ranges for a few nights of camping before heading south to Uluru.

Australia

Answers to your Frequently Asked Questions…

Joel

I’m chillin’ out in hot sweaty Darwin for the rest of the day, so I thought I would take some time to answer those questions that have been piling up.:

Dana asked: “So what exactly is a tent slum?”

I’ve been camping for 3 weeks now, in a variety of places. The very best spots have seemed private, with the most amount of space between other campers and me. The very worst spots have had me cramped in between an endless sea of tents on an open lawn with no shade. That’s what I call a tent slum.

Nancy asked: “Where do [the campers] come from?”

Most campers I’ve met seem to come from Europe and Australia. Lots of Germans, Italians, some French, and a fair number of Canadians. I haven’t seen many Americans at all. Of course, Australians love their country, so there are plenty of them.

Nancy asked: “How do you eat between stops?”

I usually gut a live animal or fry up some road kill to meet my protein needs.

Okay, maybe not… As for food, I eat lots of instant noodles, rice, pasta, sardines, baked beans, chilli, and other creative meals that either come in a can or come in a packet that just needs water. I have a great little lightweight cooker I use. I also try to pack lots of fruit (fresh and dried) and nuts. Sometimes I buy salads if they sell them pre-made in the towns I pass through. I also have granola bars and / or museli for breakfast. UHT (Ultra High Temperature) Milk is big in Oz, and the best kind you can find comes in single serve containers. You don’t need to refridgerate it, so it’s great for tea or cereal.

Nancy asked: “Is this the main road [you are talking about] or is there [an] alternative?”

There are usually no alternatives for sealed roads around Australia. In fact, there are only two sealed (paved) roads into and out of Western Australia, which is about the size of Alaska. There is only one road at the top, and one at the bottom. On the other hand, there are plenty of dirt tracks crossing in diagonal directions, but my car wouldn’t be able to cope on them.

Andrew asked: “Is there any chance of you posting photos at some point?”

I’ve been shooting lots of pictures, but they are hard to get online while I’m on the road. I have been burning them on CDs for safekeeping and mailing them back to my P.O. Box in North Fremantle. At some point when I’m settled somewhere I will add them to this blog.

Nancy asked: “Broome sounds interesting. How large a city is it?”

Broome was probably more tourists than residents. I don’t think more than a few thousand people live there year-round. Downtown Broome consisted of a single main intersection with one block of shop in each direction. It was very small. Oddly, the airport was just a few blocks away. Planes would come sheiking in over the tiny town to land on a runway that you could literally look down on from the center intersection.

Nancy asked: “Wonder how long you’d wait for help if you had car trouble.”

Australians actually have a very good reputation for helping each other out in remote stretches. I don’t think I would have to wait too long for someone to come along and either offer assistance to go seek it down the road for me. In addition I belong to RAC (like AAA), have lots of spare fuel, lots of spare water, a tow rope, and know never to stay from my car in an emergency (which is easier to spot from a plane than I would be in a worse case scenario).

Leah commented: “I don’t think I even really realized that kangeroos ate grass…I don’t know what I thought but now they seem very deer like to me.”

Yes, kangaroos have always struck me to me the hopping equivalent to deer. The seems to have all the same behavioural patterns besides their mobility. And how they bear their joeys…

Australia, Northern Territory

Magic Kakadu

Joel

After a few days of hiking and kayaking up and down Katherine Gorge, I headed a bit north to spend a few days in Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is Shark Bay (around Denham and Monkey Mia in Western Australia) and Uluru (or Ayer’s Rock, where I will be heading next). I have to say that I was a bit cynical about the place when I first arrived, but it has turned out to be one of the coolest national parks I’ve ever been to. It is absolutely brimming with wildlife.

Visiting Kakadu was like taking a step back in time, thousands of years, long before humans infested the planet. I hesitantly did another crocodile tour through a wetlands area at a leprechaun-like ranger’s insistence at the gate. This time I did the cruise at dawn (whereas before I did it at dusk), and it was an absolutely magic experience. There were thousands of very active exotic birds singing and flying all over the place in flocks. We saw about five crocodiles lurking just below the surface of the water keeping warm in the cool morning air. There were beautiful (and harmless) snakes hanging off of trees. There were jumping fish, and wild horses (brumbies) and water buffalo in the distance, and much more. All this could be seen within meters of leaving the dock. It was especially beautiful with the thick morning fog lingering over the open water areas. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. What you saw looked like one of those natural history museum depictions showing every kind of wild animal illustrated together from a specific environment, altogether in one painting, purely for informational purposes. But this was the real thing and it was all taking place before your very eyes.

This morning I did a walk through a rain forest area way up north (about as far north as you can drive in Australia on paved roads). I saw hundreds more bats, or “flying foxes” as they call them here, and also plenty more exotic birds and rock wallabies. I also stopped at another wetlands area on the way out of the park this morning and I felt I could have just sat there all day watching all the activity. There were continual flocks of birds hunting and flying back and forth. It’s amazing to think that it was only the 80’s when we stopped calling them “swamps” and filling them in.

In addition to all the wildlife, the whole area is very rich in Aboriginal culture. In fact, the whole park borders an “Arnhem Land” area to its north that is off limits to non-aboriginals without special permission. There were a wide range of Aboriginal rock paintings in caves around Kakadu National Park that were believed to be thousands of years old (as some of the paintings depict long-extinct animals).

The camping was great, with really nice personalized sites and access to hot showers. It’s a bit post peak at the moment, so there was plenty of space to spread out in. The only problem with the area was the heat and bugs (flies all day, mosquitoes all night). It was very hot and dry there, but every river you came across was accompanied by large crocodile warning signs.

Overall I feel like I’ve really been rushing this trip. I can see why most people take six months to do it. I could have easily spent at least a week in Kakadu and more time in places like Kununurra and Gregory National Park.

I’ve now arrived in Darwin, which ain’t much to write home about. It’s probably the size of Allentown or Lancaster, PA. At least I was able to get myself a nice Chinese meal this evening. It is their “dry” season here at the moment, but it sure feels hot and humid to me this time of year. It monsoons up here at “The Top End” all summer long. It is a bit cooler and breezier than Kakadu National Park was, anyway. Darwin is surrounded by beautiful ocean, but I’ve been advised not to swim in it because of saltwater crocodiles and killer box-jellyfish (even though this is their off season). It’s seems crazy with the heat. People up here say “I won’t swim in it unless it smells like chlorine.” It does seem as though everyone has a pool.

Darwin was practically obliterated on a few occasions — once due to Japanese bombing in World War II, and another time due to a big nasty cyclone in the seventies. I will probably check out all that historic stuff tomorrow. I will stay here two nights before making a beeline for Uluru (about 2 or 3 days drive south of here) cause my time is running out.

Australia, Northern Territory

Kakadu & Darwin Bound…

Joel

So I’m off into the wilderness again. Kakadu National Park, anyway. For a few nights of camping. Then I will check out Darwin and have to start peddling home to Perth as fast as I can.

The Katherine Gorge was lots of fun. There were some rough hikes down steep drops into the gorge, but you always had the option of a refreshing swim when you got there. Even though there were crocs around, the National Park people said it was safe for swimming if you followed a few guidelines and stayed clear of a few areas. Freshies, you see. I spent this morning kayaking up and down the river and taking lots of swims. It’s very hot and the sky is a very deep blue (like Perth in January)

As for wildlife, the wallabies at this place were all over the place. And way too tame. There are so many wallabies here that have been fed, unfortunately, by tourists, that they actually come and harrass you at your camp site. They come right up to you and beg for food while you are eating. At least they appeared to be, but maybe that had something to do with there normal stance as wallabies. The rangers warn you not to feed them, but they can get very aggressive. I was eating a banana at one point and threw the peel on the ground with the intension of picking it up when I was finished. A few wallabies in the area started twitching their noses when they cought a wiff of the fruit, and slowly started hopping towards me. I immediately put my foot with my big hiking boot on top of the peel, but one of the wallabies grabbed at a scrap of it that I failed to cover. He started angrily pulling on it in a tug-of-war with me until I finally gave up and just let him have it. He sat there stripping off thin little slices of the peel, eating it slowly while I sat just a few feet from him.

And then last night I could have sworn I saw a bunch of bats flying around. Sure enough, this morning I found hundreds of fruit bats hanging off a big tree in our campground, making a lot of noise and grooming themselves. It was an amazing sight.