Day 54—Sunday, July 20, 2008 Day 11 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Full day in Broome, nice resort, short tours of the town. Not much else to say. We mostly enjoyed the resort—including en suite washers and dryers. When you camp a lot, that becomes the most important amenity!
The restaurant isn’t the best and the acoustics are terrible! There is nothing soft in the dining room so everything echoes. Maybe that’s deliberate so we won’t spend too much time in there and they can turn the tables more often. They ran out of cups and then the coffee maker broke. It’s no wonder, there is only one coffee maker, it makes coffee one cup at a time, and everyone gets their own coffee. Needless to say the line can be interminable!
But we’re storing up all this luxury in preparation for three days in a row of camping, including “primitive” (no showers, no toilets) camping in the Bungle Bungles.
S 17° 55.696 E 122° 12.984
Day 55—Monday, July 21, 2008 Day 12 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
After two days of relaxing in a great resort hotel, back to travelling a lot and three nights (THREE!) in a row of camping. But this camping will be in Purnululu NP, home of the Bungle Bungles. And no, I don’t know why they are named that.
The bus has a DVD and big screen TV that we normally just have on the camera mounted on the dash and we watch the upcoming road. Pretty boring, actually, but at least everyone can see straight ahead if they want to.
Today was the first day we got to see entertainment. If you can call it that. We watched two episodes of “Bush Tucker Man,” which I would have thought would be a cooking show as “tucker” is food. But, no, it’s stories about escapes in Australian history. One was about a man who escaped from a serious prison and ended up eating all his companions who escaped with him. Yuck. I’d rather watch the road ahead.
We rotate seat location every day and our seat today was possibly the second worst on the bus, seat #2. The seat pairs are not in order, which is a good thing; we move randomly around the bus, alternating sides each day. Richard put stickers on the windows so we know what number our seat is. Seat 2 is the front passenger (left) side and has no foot room. Our sleeping bags are now overhead and we stuff our daily packs under our seats. The two back seat pairs are probably the worst if we are travelling on dirt roads because they are the bumpiest; they’re not too bad on bitumen (paved) roads.
We’re back in termite country and the termite mounds are everywhere but these termites seem, from the appearance of their mounds, to be seriously disorganized. Most termite mounds (that we’ve seen) are fairly smooth and even streamlined. The magnetic termites even align all their mounds in the same direction so they look like knife blades sticking up from the ground. (Maybe that’s where Jason and the Argonauts legend came from? Probably not.) These termites make mounds that look like ice cream sundaes gone wrong. Imagine six or eight scoops of ice cream all plopped on top of one another every which way and then partially melted. That’s what these termites build, only four feet high. And light brown.
Richard told us that the mass of all termites in Australia is more than the mass of all other living things in Australia. Hmm.
The world up here revolves around The Wet. The amounts of water are absolutely staggering. Our tent site, for instance, which is on fairly flat ground, will be under four meters of water in The Wet. We have crossed the Fitzroy River at—drum roll, please—Fitzroy Crossing and the river can be 25 kilometers wide in The Wet; right now it is about 25 meters wide at its widest.
Our campground is the Fitzroy River Lodge and the lodge itself has a happy hour every night. Exactly 13 of our 26 went up for happy hour. The rest drank their own liquor at the campsite.
I’m sort of enjoying the camping although it’s better if we stay for two nights. It gets pretty old having to break camp after only one night. It only takes us two hours to break everything down—tents, stretchers (Aussie for “cot”), air mattresses, sleeping bags, and pack the luggage—have breakfast and completely load the bus and trailer with tables, luggage for 26 people, chairs for 26 people, and wash (if one can call what we do “washing”) all the dishes. Hotels are better.
And Cherry has yet to repeat a meal! Plus, I just learned, she cooks a separate meal for two vegetarians on the trip.
S 18° 12.454 E 125° 35.011
Day 56—Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Day 13 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Today is the first of our two nights camping in the Bungle Bungles.
The drive in is rough and they don’t allow 2WD vehicles, nor caravans, only 4WD vehicles and trailers. There is a difference, I learned, between caravans and trailers: trailers carry things, caravans carry people who can live in them. The park (the Bungle Bungles are actually Purnululu NP) does allow “off-road trailers” but not caravans so if you camp, you do it in a tent.
The road is so rough that the sleeping bags were raining down on people from the overhead bins. We’ve switched from sleeping bags under the seats and day packs overhead to the other way around. And I’d much rather have a sleeping bag fall on my head than some of the packs these people carry!
We started at 5:30 in the morning for several hours’ drive from Fitzroy Crossing through Halls Creek (we’ll be back in two days to stay in a hotel here) and then an hour and a half north on paved road to the entrance to Purnululu NP and then 2 hours to go 53 kilometers on that very rough road. We didn’t really need the 4WD but Richard believes in using all the equipment he has so he did put it in 4WD. He doesn’t want to get stuck because he didn’t use his capabilities.
We are back in not only termite country but spinifex country. Spinifex is a kind of grass-looking plant that is diabolical. It looks very innocuous, all grassy looking and tufty. It grows in almost perfectly round tufts about 1-2 feet across and 10-12 inches tall. They grow so close together that the tufts almost touch one another. But they are sharp and have lots of silica in them and will slice your legs if you walk among them and your legs aren’t covered. It’s a really nasty plant with a soft, sibilant name: spinifex. There is soft spinifex and hard spinifex. If you walk bare-legged through hard spinifex your legs will be cut and bloody; if you walk bare-legged through soft spinifex, your legs will be cut a bloody. At least we name some of our nasty plants with nasty names: Shin Dagger comes to mind.
The Aussies do name some of their venomous snakes with venomous-sounding names: Death Adder for one. Lest you think you’ll know which are dangerous, think again; the Brown Snake is one of, if not THE most venomous snakes in the world. Australia, by the way, has I believe, either nine or ten of the top ten most venomous snakes in the world. Not to mention the spiders and venomous fish!
This park supplies firewood! We tried to introduce the Aussies on the tour (everybody but us is an Aussie) to S’mores but they don’t have Graham Crackers! We substituted some other biscuits (cookies and crackers) and they tasted pretty good. The S’mores seemed to be a big hit with everyone. But then who can turn down marshmallows and chocolate?
Tonight and tomorrow night will probably be the only fires we will have. Bummer.
Tomorrow will be the day we have really gone on this trip for: a helicopter flight over the Bungle Bungles.
S 17° 22.972 E 128° 20.025
Day 57—Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Day 14 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Where did the Bungle Bungles (actually, it is the Bungle Bungle Range) get its name? Nobody really knows but some of the theories are:
· It is derived from the name of a common Kimberly grass: bundle bundle grass
· It is a linguistic corruption of the Aboriginal name Purnululu which when spoken sounds like burnululu
· Or, Sam Muggleton was mining salt at a place called Date Palm and he bungled the operation so the area became known as the “bungle bungle”
None of those sound reasonable to me but I love the name anyway!
Purnululu NP and the Bungle Bungles are an area of eroded sandstone and conglomerate from 360 million years ago. It has been uplifted and eroded over time so that now there are the classic “beehives” and rib-like structures that tower over the surrounding land. Some of the domes are over 250 meters high. Many of the eroded structures have dark grey bands interspersed with the red or orange bands. The dark grey indicate the presence of cyanobacteria that grows on sandstone layers with higher clay levels and an ability to hold moisture, conditions that are conducive to the growth of the bacteria. The sandstone bands without the bacteria oxidize to form a rusty orange colored band.
Fancy ways to say they are spectacular and beautiful.
The best way to see them is by helicopter so that is what we did. Actually only 21 of the 26 of us did helicopter flights. Eighteen minutes of a flight of two helicopters soaring over the Bungles at an altitude of 1800 feet; the terrain is about 800 to 900 feet—and yes, they do use feet for elevation rather than meters. Our pilot was Cristian, had an accent I thought I recognized, thanks to my daughter-in-law, and I was right; he spent 40 years in Amsterdam (although he is Romanian by birth). We got a wonderful narrated tour by Cristian of a small part of the Bungles. There are also up to 48 minutes helicopter tours but we certainly got the flavor of the Bungles with our 18 minute flight.
The Bungles were a cattle station until about 1985 when a documentary was done on the area. Within just a few years there was so much interest that a national park was created, Purnululu NP.
We also hiked into Cathedral Gorge and the Domes, about a 4 kilometer return walk/hike and into Echidna Chasm, about 2 kilometers return into a gorge/canyon/chasm that is so narrow in places that you have to turn sideways to get through. Pretty awesome.
After all the hiking we came back to watch from our campground while the sun set on the Bungles. Quite a sight.
Then Richard gave us the good news/bad news. The good? Champagne and cheese and crackers. The bad? The air conditioner on the bus has broken. Again. So we have to get up really early to get to Halls Creek early where the same mechanic who fixed it last time will attempt to fix it again.
Richard is now using shorthand to tell us what time to get up, what time brekkies will be, and what time we will leave. He used to tell us exactly: Get up at 5, breakfast at 6, and we’ll leave at 7. Now he just says, “5, 6, 7.”
S 17° 22.972 E 128° 20.025 (same)
Day 58—Thursday, July 24, 2008 Day 15 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Up and out at 5, 6, 7. Actually left at 6:48, arrived in Halls Creek with the bus smelling like a gymnasium (no A/C) at about 10:30, hotel (such as it is) after lunch at 1. Between 10:30 and 1 we had a shopping opportunity, then ate lunch at the hotel (our normal sandwiches) and lolled around on the grass until our rooms were ready.
Pretty boring day, as will I suspect the next two and a half days be as we drive 900 kilometers to Alice for our last night of the tour.
S 18° 13.732 E 127° 40.150
Day 59—Friday, July 25, 2008 Day 16 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Long day driving across the Tanami Track, punctuated by a visit to the Wolfe Creek meteor crater, the second largest in the world. I don’t know what is first but I am assuming it is our Meteor Crater because it is so much bigger than Wolfe Creek.
I stumbled and fell, scraping my knees, on the climb to the rim of the crater. I think that is six down and 20 to go on accidental falls! Nobody, including me, has been even close to being seriously hurt.
After that interval we resumed our 1040 kilometer trek from Halls Creek to Alice Springs. The Tanami Track is dirt all the way from Halls Creek to Alice and it is occasionally quite rough.
As we travel across the endless (well, to us it seems endless!) Tanami Desert I am definitely reminded of our Arizona desert. Australia doesn’t have cactus—except as an unintended consequence of introducing an invasive species, namely, prickly pear cactus— but they do have lots of legumes. And the expanse of Tanami Desert has the same gray-green color that the Sonoran Desert has and it has the similar small, small-leafed shrubs that we have. I feel as if I am home.
We drive for hours and hours and I stare across a seemingly limitless expanse of foot-high termite mounds stretching to the horizon with only an occasional scrawny tree to break the straight line of that horizon.
As we drove, we saw not just the limitless termite mounds but also the occasional animal. One poor young camel, his hump sashaying back and forth, ran down the road in front of us. Richard slowed down and tried not to stress the animal but the young camel persisted in running in the middle of the road. Eventually we stopped for lunch and presumably the young camel disappeared into the wildness next to us.
Our usual lunch—mystery meat, bread, tomatoes, beet root, and lettuce—was had by the shores (?) of Sturt Creek. Sturt Creek is, of course, absolutely dry. And Mr. Sturt never set foot anywhere near where we had lunch. This was definitely local knowledge: Richard stopped here for lunch because it was the last large tree for 400 kilometers.
At about 4:30 Richard pulled off the road. Just that, no parking area just a short road disappearing into the distance. This was home for the night. Our next to last camp. No water. No toilet. No electricity. Richard has brought out the shovels.
For the non-campers reading this, shovels are used when there will be solid waste generated. You must dig a hole six inches deep for your waste and cover it over when you are done. Please note that there is not a person under the age of 60 (well, Lurleen is under 60 but I don’t think anybody else is) and most are over 65 in this group. and I think that Doug and Jan may be over 75! And they have to use a shovel to dig a pit! What a great group! There has been some minor grumbling about the “primitive” camping but by and large everybody recognizes that we can’t travel the “most remote track in the world” (Tanami Track) without a few privations.
Randy and I slept out. “Slept out” means that we set up our tent but set up our stretchers outside the tent with the air mattress (one does need the creature comforts when one gets to be a senior citizen) and the sleeping bags and just lay out there looking at the milky way. It was so stunningly beautiful!
There is not an artificial light for 80 kilometers, says Richard. That doesn’t sound like a lot to me. I’ve been to Death Valley and surely there isn’t an artificial light for 80 kilometers (50 miles) there. I don’t believe Richard. I believe there isn’t a light for at least several hundred kilometers. Regardless, the sky was dark, the stars were brilliant, the milky way was, well, milky!
There are only two “towns,” Biluna and Yuendumu (both have populations of about 100-200) and two “roadhouses” from Halls Creek to Alice.
There have been just a few things/activities we wanted to do, lying out under a sky that had no artificial lights was high on the list.
Check that off the list!
S 19° 53.271 E 129° 17.151, el 383 meters
Day 60—Saturday, July 26, 2008 Day 17 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Long day driving across the Tanami Track.
We stopped at Rabbit Flat, the most remote road house in Australia. I, of course, bought a t-shirt to celebrate. We (the whole group) also celebrated by using the toilets.
Not much to say about this day except that we have the perfect road for Randy: no traffic! In the past two days we have passed more “dead” cars than “living” cars. We can go an hour without seeing another vehicle—other than cars that have been abandoned alongside the road.
The high point had to be that we had a campground that had: water, electricity, toilets. All the accoutrements of civilization! Tilmouth Wells is our campground.
Our last night/day of camping! Dinner was rissoles. Australian rissoles are American hamburger meat with lots of spices. Delicious! Often the butcher will make his own recipe of exactly what spices are put in the rissoles. Tonight’s rissole is not the same as the rissole we had on the second night of our trip. But it is equally good.
This is our last camp. I am dirty, tired, and flies seem to love me. We had a celebratory martini after we set up camp for the last time.
None of us has been able to match the purported weight limits but several days ago Richard made our life hell: he said we were his heroes for our baggage. We have two carry-on bags, it seems everyone else has HUGE bags. We don’t make the 16 kilo weight limit, but neither do others. I don’t know why he singled us out.
S 22° 48.507 E 132° 35.914 el 570 meters
Day 61—Sunday, July 27, 2008 Day 18 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
The drive from Tilmouth Wells was on sealed road so the bounces weren’t too bad. Interesting road: about 10 feet wide, so it’s just a one lane road with lots of dirt shoulder. The rules of the road are that smaller gives way to larger. Assuming you know the rules of the road, that is. I don’t remember seeing even one car in two hours so it didn’t matter for us.
We passed within 10 kilometers of the “point of inaccessibility,” the point that is equidistant from any ocean or sea. And we passed close to Fink which is the center of Australia: if you could balance the continent on a point, it would be there. Don’t you wonder how someone can figure that out? Do rocky mountains weigh more that mostly dirt hills? Do cities weigh more that countryside? How much more? Do they count each skyscraper? ‘Tis a puzzlement.
Anyway, we arrived in Alice Springs in mid-morning, as advertised.
Today, Sunday, was Market Day so Richard gave us a “shopping opportunity.” Now that we are released from our weight restrictions, and, to some extent, the space restrictions, I feel freer to buy stuff.
Then we drove way out of town to Simpson’s Gap, one of several spots on the McDonald Ranges to hike, to have lunch. After that, to the hotel where Randy and I will stay for two days (we’ve rented a car), the Voyages Alice Springs Resort.
Dinner tonight is our last, and breakfast tomorrow is our last as a group and for breakfast, at least, some of the group will already be gone
S 23° 42.163 E 133° 53.117, el 581 meters
Day 62—Monday, July 28, 2008 Day 19 and end of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Dinner last night was quite nice. Instead of two long tables, we had two large square tables and that made it a bit easier to talk to everybody. Joe gave the obligatory speech and several of us also spoke, thanking Richard and Cherry. All in all a nice night to end it all.
I was SO ready to be done with the tour! I had an absolutely fabulous time, but 19 days was just too much. Although I haven’t found a cruise that is too long, I have definitely found a tour that was too long! That was probably true for several if not lots of the group as well. Putting up the tents, taking down the tents, and all the rest of the mandatory rigmarole was getting tiresome. Randy and I had it down to a pretty good pack up time in the mornings, about 40 minutes and everything was done. The group had the pack-up-completely,-eat-breakfast,-and-be-on-the-bus time to less than two hours. Pretty good, especially considering that several of the group had never camped before. And probably will never camp again!
Our last breakfast with any of the group, we ate with Lurleen, Gerald, Helen, and Joyce. We and Lurleen and Gerald went to the Desert Park and then on to Standley Chasm for a short hike and an alfresco lunch that we had bought at the Park.
The Desert Park is the Alice counterpart to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and in fact they did a staff exchange last year. Jody from the Park spent a month at the Museum and Brenda King from the Museum spent a month at the Park. The guy who did the Park’s raptor show also spent a week at the Museum.
Their raptor show is quite different than the one at the Museum but equally informative and fun. First, the spectators get to sit! And there is a covering so they don’t have to be in the sun—although today it was nice to be in the sun as the temperature at 10am was probably only about 10°C (50°F).
The narrator is also the person handling the birds but “handling” is not exactly true and he never touched the birds except to give the Galahs (ga-LAHZ) some food. We got to see black kites and another species of kite feeding in the air and actually eating in the air. They are able to grab food out of the air and bring their talons to their beak to eat without having to land, thus saving the energy necessary to get airborne again. Quite interesting.
There were a couple (breeding pair) of wild wedgies (wedge tailed eagles) in the area and they added to the show. A fascinating 25 minutes.
Day 63—Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Slept late, didn’t do much. It’s hard to get involved in anything—for me anyway—when I have a deadline and we did: 12:35 departure to Adelaide. So we pretty much didn’t do anything other than go downtown and do some gift shopping. Carlos, if you are reading this, we are bringing you a present. Ditto for Kathy & Yolanda.
Adelaide airport was a breeze except that Randy got “randomly” selected for additional screening. He got so involved in chit chat with the screener that he completely forgot that I was standing there twiddling my thumbs for 10 or so minutes. He was telling her all about out adventures. We also got to talking with an Australian who struck up a conversation with Randy, saying he thought he recognized a Tucson accent! I think he just heard us say we were from Tucson to one of the Qantas people.
After four-plus weeks without a cloud in the sky, we have arrived in Adelaide to intermittent showers and temperatures in the low teens (below 50°F). I really don’t want to complain since we have had such great weather for so long and also because all of the southern part of Australia (and other parts as well) is in a multi-year drought. The drought is so serious, several of our fellow travelers on the 4WD tour told us, that they use bottled water for drinking and cooking because there is so much salinity in the water. It goes without saying that there is NO watering of plants or lawns unless you use gray water. I would guess that, much like in California in the 70s, if you have a green lawn or beautiful flowers your neighbors will be turning you into the water conservation board!
The first panic when we arrived in Adelaide—well, it was really the only panic—was that I had left my wallet on the airplane! It’s a little thing that I carry around my neck and it was in the way so I put it on the seat next to me. Bad decision! I of course forgot to pick it up since it was the exact same color as the seats. Good news is that it really wasn’t a problem to get it; just going back through security and finding that they had already turned it in to the lost baggage people.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Perth to Broome via 4WD Tour
Day 42—Tuesday, July 8, 2008
This is the day we have to turn in the campervan. In a way I’ll miss it, but in lots of ways I won’t! It’s a cheap, mass-produced, and poorly designed vehicle. But it got us where we wanted to go when WE wanted to go and not when someone else wanted to go, so that’s a great thing.
Apparently we cleaned the campervan well enough for Apollo ‘cause they didn’t say anything and we didn’t get charged a cleaning fee. I would have screamed if they did because Randy even WASHED the damn thing.
We walked to our hotel (4 kilometers) and then walked to a restaurant close by for dinner, not memorable but good Moreton Bay Bugs! Haven’t had those since the last time we came to Darwin about 11 years ago. Like little miniature lobsters but sweeter; fabulous!
All in all a boring day getting ready to shift gears and travel to Darwin tomorrow to start the next phase of our adventure.
Day 43—Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What a difference travelling by air in Australia vs the US! The hotel staff looked at us very strangely when we said we wanted to leave the hotel at 6:30am for an 8:20am departure (the airport is about 15 minutes away). They said didn’t we want to wait until 7 or 7:15?
We had a bit of a snafu with no wake up call and no taxi ordered but we were on our way to the airport by 6:45.
When we got to the airport we knew why the hotel staff wanted us to go at 7 or even later. There was almost no hassle at the airport, Qantas staff got us our boarding pass and we queued up to give them our bags to be checked, walked through security wearing our hiking boots (!) with NO waiting, and we were at the gate at before 7:15!
Uneventful flight, delivery to our hotel by airport bus ($11—easily the best bargain in Australia, considering that hamburgers routinely cost $15!
The Holiday Inn Esplanade is quite nice, directly across from the Esplanade (duh!), we have a room sort of overlooking the ocean and the park (Esplanade), and the hotel had a free bottle of wine waiting for us in our room.
We walked around Darwin including the Esplanade and the Cenotaph and the USS Peary memorial. That is the memorial we remember from our last visit that said, among other things, that the ship went down “with guns still blazing” even though it was completely on fire. Very touching.
Dinner was at Crustaceans on a wharf and was quite good and quite expensive, but what else is new in Australia.
Day 44—Thursday, July 10, 2008 Day 1 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
We met at lunch with the group and I am pleased that we are all in approximately the same age group. I was afraid there would be a lot of sweet young things chomping at the bit to climb mountains when all I wanted was a stroll through the bush.
Our transportation for the next almost-3-weeks is quite a machine. The main part of the bus will hold the 26 of us plus Richard (the bus driver/boss/tour guide) and Cherry (his wife and assistant) and we will tow a trailer for some of the luggage. The trailer is also part kitchen. The bus itself is articulated so the cab moves separately from the main part of the bus and the hitch is the strongest contraption of its kind I’ve seen—but it has to be, we will be doing a fair bit of 4WD driving.
We took a bit of a tour of Darwin, including the Aviation Museum which holds the only flyable B52 outside the US. It is a bit daunting to see an airplane that big completely INSIDE a building.
Also, we went to the Darwin Museum and again saw the exhibition of the Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974 that almost completely destroyed the city of Darwin. It include a sound recording (in complete darkness of course because it hit in the middle of the night!) made by one of the survivors of what the storm sounded like. Until I saw the pictures and heard the sound and fury of the storm I had no comprehension of what it was like. Words and pictures alone cannot do justice to the experience.
Dinner was interesting because one of our group took exception with Richard about the (stringent) luggage allowances. We are supposed to have 2 bags no more than 16 kilos each and a carryon each of no more than 3 kilos each. My computer weighs 3 kilos alone, not to mention all the gear that goes with it (hard drive, power supply, etc) and I have a camera and Randy has a camera with battery charger. AND we didn’t know until we got to the hotel that we had a baggage allowance of 16 kilos each (we think our bags are about 20 kilos each). Tomorrow morning will be interesting with all of our luggage. One of the other women said, and I agree with her, that she (who is tiny) gets angry when she is charged excess baggage and another person, who easily outweighs her by 25 or 30 kilos, has no excess baggage charge.
Richard is not the most diplomatic guide I have ever met. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Day 45—Friday, July 11, 2008 Day 2 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Our first full day on the road, we are heading to Kakadu NP by way of Litchfield NP.
The bus is pretty comfortable and very new. It is a Mercedes Benz (add mucho $) 4WD truck that seats 28 (driver, assistant, and 26 passengers) and pretty luxurious. That, of course, doesn’t mean that I don’t have suggestions as to how they could have improved it if they asked me.
The weight limits (16 kilos for each suitcase and 3 kilos for each cabin bag) were completely ignored by almost everyone including Richard. Still, there isn’t much room in the cabin. Under our seats are our sleeping bags. That means that my foot room is taken up by the sleeping bag of the person in front of me—just like it was originally on the airlines.
There is an overhead shelf but 4 seats have part of the air conditioner over their heads and so no room on that shelf. We are in the second row on the driver’s side and there are random numbers on the windows—next to us is a 5, the next pair of seats behind us is numbered 13, across the aisle the numbers are, in order from the front: 2, 12, 8, 4, 2, 6. Richard told us that that is the numbering system for changing seats each day. Quite good system, I think. Actually it is an outstanding system. Whatever pair of seats you have today, tomorrow you will move to the next higher numbered pair of seats. So tomorrow we’ll go to seats 6 in the back of the bus, and the following day we will be on the opposite side of the bus in the front. And 13 days from today we will be back in these seats.
Randy went swimming in Litchfield NP in Wangi Falls Pool in spite of the crocodile warnings. We were told that there were no crocs there. And we believed them. Crocs can be in a pool one year and not there the next year and vice versa because of the wet which can flood them in and out of pools. Your only real recourse is to pay attention to the locals because they do survey the pools each year. Don’t you wonder how exactly they do a survey like that? Send someone in and see if they come out?
We also stopped to look at some aboriginal art. The artists (I think) were there, three aboriginal women. One of the couples was chuckling that here we are in the outback and they have an EFTPOS machine (the Aussie equivalent of our credit card machines except this can do much more). We laughed and agreed about the incongruity. I guess the aboriginal women disagreed, because one of them said to me in a belligerent tone, “What are you laughing at?” We answered something about the incongruity of it, and she got more belligerent. We tried to defuse the situation but finally had to just leave she was so upset at what she perceived we were doing. One never knows what one person thinks is an innocuous comment can be perceived as a very negative one by others.
Then we drove and drove and drove, with one break, to Kakadu NP where we set up camp. What a hoot watching Richard demonstrate how to set up the tent and then all of us setting up the tents. They are old canvas tents; the good part is that you can stand up in them. The bad part is—well, it’s all bad.
There is a pole in the middle of the tent, which is about 6 feet square, so we can’t have our sleeping bags together. We have cots which also means we can’t have our sleeping bags together. It is quite hot which also means we can’t have our sleeping bags together. Other than that it’s fine. I can hardly wait until we have to put them away! Richard demonstrated and it will be a really interesting procedure!
They gave us brand new sleeping bags but they told us we needed sleeping bag sheets so we assumed the bags would be used and spent about $60 for sleeping sheets. I think we will pony up the money to send them home and use them in our new cabin.
S 12° 12.27666’, E 130° 50.158’
Day 46—Saturday, July 12, 2008 Day 3 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Our first full day.
We went on a hike to Ubirr, the site of a lot of aboriginal rock paintings. And we went to the Gagadju Cultural Center in Kakadu NP.
Kakadu is a misspelling of the aboriginal word for the area, Gagadju. The Englishman who discovered the area for the whites recorded the aboriginal sounds but still it was transliterated as Kakadu rather than the more correct (apparently) Gagadju.
The Alligator rivers (East, West, and South) were also misnamed by an American who thought the crocs were alligators (they’re not) and the names stuck.
We also saw the longest continuously inhabited site in the world, Jabiluka. Probably that is not transliterated either, but unfortunately the aboriginals don’t create the maps nor name their own sites for the tourists.
I am extremely worried about food poisoning. The hygiene of the plates and utensils and pots and pans in abysmal, but nobody else seems to be worried. I’ve told Randy to wash his hands often and then wash them again. The plates that we use are to be washed in a basin of soapy water. Period. There is a rinse basin but no Clorox or any other disinfectant. And the soapy water becomes rapidly contaminated with food particles. I try to change the water often. But 28 people washing their plates and utensils in only a couple of changes of water is a recipe for disaster. But I don’t know what else to do. There is no Clorox nor any other disinfectant. We don’t keep our own plates, either, they all go back into the common stack.
Richard is the chief clean-up person for the cooking pots. He uses one pot of soapy water and then dries the pots with the towels that have been used for days. There does not appear to be any washing of towels.
Wish us luck to not get sick!
S 12° 39.713’, E 132° 50.099’
Day 47—Sunday, July 13, 2008 Day 4 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Today was get up at 5:30, pack up, stuff the sleeping bags, close up the cots, pack the sheets and the pillow (yes, singular—Randy is using his clothes stuffed in a t-shirt) and the air mattress. I know, I know, if you’re camping you shouldn’t need an AIR MATTRESS, but face it we’re old. We DO need an air mattress. Anyway, I couldn’t believe that the whole camp, 13 tents (some who had NEVER camped before) was packed up by 6:30. Of course Richard wouldn’t let us have brekkies (breakfast) until we were. And we were on the road by 7:30, as advertised.
We have about 13 days to figure out how to get up early and pack up the tent and the accoutrements that go along with a tent and still stay clean. We got up, packed everything up, and THEN realized we had packed our soap, shaving stuff, deodorant, etc, and all that and the suitcases they were packed in had been jigsawed into the trailer along with the other 24 suitcases . And we couldn’t exactly ask Richard, at 6:45am, to find our two suitcases among the other 24 that he had just stuffed into the trailer and dig it out so Randy could shave.
So dirty us went off to the Yellow Water Cruise on the Alligator River for 2 hours. What a great tour! The guide knew every bird, every mammal—well, the only mammals we saw were brumbies or wild horses, and every reptile. Of course the only reptiles were the salties, the salt water crocodiles. We saw LOTS of them. They were lying around everywhere! We didn’t see the largest of the salties (which can grow to 6-8 meters) but we saw some that were 4-5 meters. You do NOT want to swim in these waters. And yet people do. And they clean fish while standing up to their knees in the water. And they let their children hang over the front of the boat and drag their hands in the water. What are they thinking? A full grown male saltie can and does, take down and eat a horse. One carried around in its mouth a full grown pig for three days.
We learned how to get male crocs (which are highly prized in croc farms because they have more skin/hide): incubate the eggs at 32° to 33°. At 31° you will get a mix of males and females and at 30° you will get mostly females.
But we saw lot so other animals, mostly birds: rufous night heron, whistling ducks, whistling kites, darters (also know as snake birds), great and small herons, magpie geese (also known as $1000 ducks because that is the fine for having one. And yes, they are ducks.), royal spoonbills, jabirus, azure kingfishers, restless flycatchers, green pygmy geese, crested jacanas, and sea eagles. To name a few that we saw.
But mostly we saw crocs, salties. The rangers do a census every year by going out at night with floodlights; right now they estimate there are 250 salties in 250 square kilometers. That’s a LOT of crocodiles! And people still swim here. They tag salties that are causing problems: going after boats, generally making a nuisance of themselves.
Salties have two rows of osteoderms (bony scales) on their back gradually becoming one row of fins (for lack of a better word) that have no bones in them. The rangers cut off the ones without bones and they recognize them by the pattern of cut-off fins.
Our guide said that the rangers maintain that never—NEVER—have they had to manage again any saltie they have tagged. They can’t explain that, but still it’s pretty persuasive that merely tagging the animal means it won’t cause trouble again. My question is, however, is it so stressful to tag them that they die? Probably not because we saw several that have been tagged. But it certainly cries out to be studied!
Finally arrived in Katherine at about 5pm. It was not a great afternoon. Richard is not the greatest communicator and we never knew how long we would be driving and when we would eat lunch and would we have a “cuppa” (tea, coffee, and cookies that we have had every day). But we’re here and we’re in a hotel with our own shower and we’ll eat dinner in a restaurant and sleep in a queen sized bed rather than two cots! Life is good.
S 14°28.261’ E 132°17.388’
Day 48—Monday, July 14, 2008 Day 5 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
This will be the first of the two camping days. We are going on the rhythm of two camping days and one hotel day. So far it has been two camping days in the same camp, but that will change and we will pull up stakes each of the two camping days.
I look forward to the next hotel day, not because I dislike the camping, I don’t, but because it is in one of the most highly rated resorts in Australia, El Questro. We will be in an “upscale tented cabin.” It will have a lot to live up to after what we had in Africa.
Our tour today was in the morning with an aboriginal guide. We were on two boats, a male guide on one and a female guide on the other.
We saw lots of crocs and birds and great scenery, but the best part was the two guides talking demonstrating aboriginal stuff. And because men can’t know what women know they had to talk to us separately. She told us about digging sticks and carry bags and he told us about digging sticks and didgeridoos (multiple spellings of that word!) and woomera (same as an atlatl—Google it!) plus he demonstrated tossing a spear using a woomera.
I know intellectually about woomera and atlatls but I have never seen one demonstrated before and it is awesome how far the spear will fly!
He also showed us some pretty gruesome weapons (the “punishment boomerang”) and talked about how they discipline their children, also pretty gruesome. I realize it is their culture, but putting biting insects on your child’s lip so that it swells to the size of a grapefruit and is excruciatingly painful is not MY idea of a good way to discipline children.
S 15° 47.165’ E 128° 44.202
Day 49—Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Day 6 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Fairly leisurely morning, we only had to get up at 5:15. We are camped so close to Lake Kununurra that we could walk to the tour boat. Our tour guide is Michelle and she turns out, yet again, to be the best yet. She was entertaining, knowledgeable, and knows how to run the boat. We have the tour boat to ourselves, which is always better than sharing. 26 people who know each other sort of overwhelm anybody else who is there.
Our tour is of Lake Kununura to the Ord River to the dam for Argyle Lake. Both lakes are artificial and Argyle is huge, the volume greater than 54 Sydney Harbors and Kununura has enough water for five years even if it doesn’t rain and that is highly unlikely here in the land of The Wet. Our tour yesterday showed us how much water is in the northern part of Australia in The Wet.
It was a beautiful three-hour tour and Michelle knew every single animal, bird or reptile, that showed its face to us. The two lakes are formed by a diversion dam (1963) on the Ord River that forms Lake Kununurra and another enormous wall (1972) on the Ord that forms Lake Argyle. The diversion dam enables Kununurra to have a great agricultural business. Or so they are trying. They can’t seem to decide what crop works for them. They tried rice and the birds decimated the crop; they tried cotton and didn’t have enough water; now they are trying Indian Sandalwood but it takes ten years for the first crop and that won’t be until 2011. They also have mangoes and sorghum and melons and a few others I can’t remember, but there are problems with those as well. Oh, well, it’s only been 30 or 40 years; you can’t expect overnight success!
We did however see lots of freshies (fresh water crocs). We were told that freshies are not very likely to bite you (yeah, right) without a lot of provocation. Like hitting them with a stick. Am I going in the water that has an animal that has not evolved in several million (million!) years because it is so supremely well adapted to being a killing machine? Not on your tintype, I’m not. They may not BE as fearsome as the salties, but I for one an NOT going in water that has even a hint of any crocodiles, freshie OR saltie.
Lots of raptors, lots of freshies, lots of parrots, lots of water birds, and one Merten’s water monitor lizard that didn’t get too upset at my taking his (her?) picture up close and personal although I could tell he was getting ready to bolt. We saw a lot of darters, also know as snake birds because their necks are so long and thin that in the water they look like snakes. We even saw some nests with little ones in there pestering mom or dad (dad is a very good parent, taking as much care of the babies as mom does, even sitting on the eggs) for food.
At the beginning of the trip we were in calm Lake Kununurra but by the time we got to the dam, the Ord River was rising rapidly and there was quite a current. No white water, but too much current for the two houseboats that ply the lake to come very far up the river.
The land is stunningly beautiful. High above the river are escarpments and a very deserty area with sparse vegetation and lots of rocks and cliffs but close to the river it is lush and green with lots of nesting birds and lots of hunting eagles, kites, and hawks. One eagle looks much like our American eagle with a white head and dark body and about the same size.
After our usual lunch (bread and butter, some kind of meat and cheese, and beets—yes, sliced beets are a favorite on sandwiches as are sliced pineapple—fruit, tomatoes, and lettuce we went back to Kununurra for a tour of the area. Whoopee. And a “shopping opportunity” at the local Woolies. Woolies is Woolworths, which, along with Coles, pretty much corners the grocery market. According to Richard, Woolies and Coles have 85% of the retail market in Australia. I don’t actually believe that, but they probable have more of the market than Wal-Mart does in the US since they both also have liquor stores and fuel stations.
Speaking of fuel stations, there are so many gas-powered (propane, not gasoline) cars and trucks in Australia that almost every fuel station has a pump for propane. Looks just like a gasoline or diesel pump, just the nozzle is different for the connection to a car.
When Randy and I started the tour we bought some beer to have along the way. We were the only ones and we thought all the Aussies must be teetotalers. Wrong! It was almost as if we broke the ice by bringing beer. Now when we go to a town about three quarters of the groups troops off to the liquor store for beer, wine, or hard liquor.
In the NT (Northern Territory), if you buy liquor they have to scan your license so you are in the system and if you try to buy more liquor at another store you won’t be able to. I don’t know what the limit is, but it apparently isn’t very much. It is primarily aimed at the aboriginal population who seem to spend what money they have on liquor. Or so we are told. They (the government) can’t discriminate and just limit the aboriginal liquor consumption, so they “card” everyone. I asked what you could do if you were having a party and wanted to buy several cases of wine or beer. Nobody we asked could tell us if there was some exception or if you had to start stocking up months in advance!
The rest of our day was at the camp gossiping about Richard and making disparaging remarks about the “backpacker” group that moved in next to us. Most of us are very happy with Outback Spirit but some feel ripped off to some extent. More on that later.
The backpackers sleep in “swags” (heavy canvas sleeping bags) out under the stars while we sleep in tents and have nice new “modern” sleeping bags, cots, and air mattresses. We have chairs and tables, they have canvas stools and no tables. We have an amazing kitchen and they have the supplied BBQ. We have a brand new Mercedes 4WD bus/truck; they have an old Japanese 4WD bus/truck. We paid a lot of money; they didn’t.
Who’s better off? I don’t know.
We lost (gained?) and hour and a half—why an hour and a half difference NT to WA rather than one or two hours, I have no idea—anyway it is an hour and a half earlier here than NT. As a result we are all tired at about 7:30pm. Our camp was deserted by 8pm; everyone (including us) was in bed!
S 15° 47.165’ E 128° 44.202
Day 50—Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Day 7 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
We got up as usual at 5am, packed up everything—tents, sleeping bags, cots, air mattresses, tables, chairs, kitchen stuff, washing up stuff and off we went to Five Rivers Overlook. We are really getting to be expert at folding up the tents and they aren’t easy! It involves poles and quarter turns and flipping and folding and stuffing into a big FLAT bag. But even Jan and Doug can sort of do it now and Jan & Doug are probably the least experienced at camping and they are quite old. I don’t know exactly how old they are, but they appear to be close to 75 or 80 but they are great sports and take part in everything.
Five Rivers Overlook looks over the Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack, and Forrest Rivers. The Ord is the one we cruised on for 3 hours yesterday. The others are, well, I don’t know exactly, but they are rivers of the northern part of Australia. It was quite impressive
Zebedee Falls was our next destination and we arrived at 11am. The time is important only because there is a sign that says everyone must vacate the area by noon. Why, I asked Richard, knowing full well why. The Voyages El Questro Resort ($1800 per PERSON per night) gets private access to Zebedee, a hot springs in the El Questro Wilderness Park. I don’t have internet access so I cannot look up and find out if it is a public park or a private park but apparently the EQR has private access to a lot of places, some that nobody else is allowed into at all.
Anyway, Randy went in to the pool, a hot spring. Well, a tepid to warm spring/pool. I didn’t want to sit all day in a wet bathing suit getting the bus seats wet. Didn’t matter, Richard told us this morning in the bus when our suitcases were all packed and we couldn’t change our minds. This is part of the problem I alluded to earlier about Richard and the lack of satisfaction on the part of some of the “guests.” I have to agree in my worse moments, but at the better times I think it’s fine.
Lunch was at a small river and we got to watch several cars fording the crossing. Tucson has the stupid motorist law but that definitely would not work here in Australia. We don’t have a snorkel on the bus but most of the 4WD cars and trucks here do, and I guess they can and do cross very deep waters. We’re getting pretty far into The Dry, so there aren’t too many deep fords left. Too bad, because I would love to see just how deep a snorkeled car can drive!
Tonight is at Emma Gorge, an “upscale tented cabin” in the El Questro Wilderness that is associated with the EQR in some way that I don’t understand.
Having been to Africa and their “upscale tented cabins” I am disappointed in these. They look sort of nice from the outside, set well apart and the back deck faces wilderness. BUT, our cabin’s door faces west and was quite warm (no A/C, only a fan), no bedside lighting, no place to sit except on the deck or on a bed, no table of any kind, and the shower door doesn’t close completely.
Maybe dinner will change my mind.
S 15° 54.323’ E 128° 67.625’
Day 51—Thursday, July 17, 2008 Day 8 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Dinner didn’t change my mind or Randy’s Emma Gorge Resort. The critique we (well, Randy) filled out was smoldering a bit on the edges. For example, there were three beds in the room (sleeping 4) but only three chairs; there was only one hand towel, two bath towels, however; no electric tea kettle—I’ve been in an Australian hotel nor even heard of one that didn’t have a tea kettle. The list went on but it’s not worth repeating. We will stay in a Voyages hotel in Broome for two nights and in Alice for two nights. Voyages is one of the best in Australia and I don’t understand why Emma Gorge is so bad.
Dinner was worse; they ran out of food!
Manning Gorge was our overnight, this time for the first time we only spend one night and then break camp. I think that will be the pattern for our camping nights from now on: just one night in each campground. The camping is getting more primitive and will get even more primitive yet, according to Richard.
Today was pretty much just driving on a supposedly 4WD dirt road. I’m glad we hired Outback Spirit even though the road isn’t really a 4WD because we had no idea what the road would be like and it is a very long dirt road. The Tanami (TAN-ah-my) Road is also very long and very dirt; it’s over a thousand kilometers.
All the streams and rivers we have crossed so far have been quite small so the 4WD isn’t necessary. If we were to come back here in the Dry (the only time to rent a 4WD) I would rent a 4WD and camp along these roads. We learned in the campervan that we don’t really need a toilet OR a shower. The campgrounds are so great and clean and fully equipped that we never felt the need to have our own shower.
Dinner was simple but great (chicken tonight) and after we had a bonfire in the fireplace. I had asked Richard if we were going to have a fire and he said we didn’t have any firewood. Not three minutes later, a truck drove up with the back full of firewood and Richard bought it! So after dinner we sat around a fire and several people recited some poetry (much better than it sounds!) and told ribald jokes and sang some Australian folk songs. It was a really great evening sitting around the fire, listening to stories, drinking wine, talking, just generally having a brilliant time.
“Brilliant” is an Aussie word that they use a lot to mean “the best ever.” We are learning the ‘Strine language. Phrases such as “fair dinkum” which I though was an adjective meaning “pretty good” but in fact it means “really, truly.” If I want to say, for example, that something I’ve just said is really, truly true, I will say, for example, “The canyon was beautiful, fair dinkum!” At least I think that’s what it means! We mostly speak the language that the Aussies speak, but not quite. I still don’t know what a “rock melon” is (found out later: a cantaloupe. They call them cantaloupes in Melbourne and rock melons in other places).
Since we had such a great time sitting around the fire I asked Richard if we would do it again. Yes, and Randy & I will try to find the makings for S’mores. None of the Aussies have ever heard of S’mores or even graham crackers. We apparently will have no problem getting chocolate and marshmallows, but we’ll have to improvise on the graham crackers.
I spent some time talking to Richard about his first aid kit. Since I teach a Wilderness First Aid class (thanks, Pam Phillips!), I was very interested in what they carry. I didn’t get a good answer, not because he didn’t want to tell me, but because our conversation ranged over several topics.
S16° 39.458 E125° 55.627
Day 52—Friday, July 18, 2008 Day 9 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Today started early. What else is new? We think we’ve died and gone to heaven if we get to sleep in until 5:30!
Up at 5, breakfast at 6, and leave at 7. Two hours is exactly what it takes to completely break camp. Pretty amazing considering how many of us have never camped or camped very little.
Lots of photo stops as the scenery is quite spectacular. We crossed the Leopold Range and did a short hike in Galkan’s Gorge, another pretty little canyon.
The destination for tonight is Winjana (WIN-jin-ah) Gorge for camping and a hike at Tunnel Creek National Park.
Tunnel Creek NP was awesome! Australia is so different in its attitude to tourists and tourism, compared to the US. Tunnel Creek is an underground river that flows for about ½ a kilometer in a tunnel and partway through the tunnel has collapsed leaving lots of big boulders strewn around. In the US there would be warning signs and fences to keep you out of most of it because it is so dangerous.
To get in you have to scramble/climb down some large boulders into knee-deep water and then wade the rest of the way, more or less. You do walk on some sandy parts but largely you have to be up to your knees in cold river water stumbling over submerged rocks. It is all worth it at the end where it opens up to a spectacular little gorge with lots of trees and plants growing over the rocks.
I can’t imagine being allowed to do that in the US.
Unfortunately when we came back we were so hot and tired that we decided not to hike to Winjana Gorge. The ones who did told us about the beautiful scenery and the basking freshies all over the banks of the river. Oh, well, I did have a nice (cold) shower. I asked a woman coming out of the shower what it was like and she said, “refreshing.” I asked if that was Australian for “cold” and she allowed that was fair dinkum.
S 17° 24.781 E 124° 56.472
Day 53—Saturday, July 19, 2008 Day 10 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Hump Day!
Off to Broome for two nights in what we are told is a really nice resort. Apartments with their own washers and dryers. Here that is described as “en suite,” meaning the washer and dryer are in the apartment, not down the hall. They say the same thing about toilets and showers. We can even have a campground powered site “en suite,” meaning there is a little building right next to your campsite that has a sink, toilet, and shower that is just yours, not shared. That’s about as close to camping heaven as one can get!
Our drive to Broome via Derby was 389 kilometers of about half and half dirt road. I think that would be an easy day when we get to the Tanami Desert, over 1000 kilometers of dirt road from Halls Creek to Alice Springs. We all think Richard and Cherry are softening us up with the resort in Broome.
In Derby we saw the Prison Tree, a mostly hollow boab large enough to hold prisoners overnight before transporting them to a proper jail. Mostly that would have been aborigines, not whitefellas.
Whitefella and blackfella MAY be OK words to describe the Caucasian population and the aboriginal population. I don’t have anyone I trust to ask that of but at least one guide has said neither is a derogatory term. I’ll withhold judgment on that.
Boabs are weird trees that also grow in Africa where they are known as baobabs. The thinking is that the Aussie’s penchant for shortening words made the tree the boab in Australia.
Also in Derby we watched several men “fishing” under the jetty for mullet (a bait fish) by walking out in the tidal flats when the tide was way out and about to turn and throwing a large net over what water there was (the tide in Derby is the second largest in the world, second to the Bay of Fundy) before the 11 meter tide turns and comes in. They put on rubber boots or go barefoot, carry the net and a pail, and hope to net enough mullet to enable them to fish the next day. None were having much luck that we could see. But it is an interesting way to fish!
Long drive to Broome from Derby but well worth it when we saw our accommodations! We each have a full one-bedroom apartment—not that we need to cook for ourselves—with a deck or balcony. In our case there is a pool right in front of us.
I even have internet access, although I have to sit on the bed and unplug the lamp in order to use the internet! But it’s the first connection I’ve had since we left Darwin ten days ago.
We are here at the full moon (well, everyone says it’s the full moon but Randy thinks the full moon was last night; it’s full enough) and when the full
S 17° 55.696 E 122° 12.984
This is the day we have to turn in the campervan. In a way I’ll miss it, but in lots of ways I won’t! It’s a cheap, mass-produced, and poorly designed vehicle. But it got us where we wanted to go when WE wanted to go and not when someone else wanted to go, so that’s a great thing.
Apparently we cleaned the campervan well enough for Apollo ‘cause they didn’t say anything and we didn’t get charged a cleaning fee. I would have screamed if they did because Randy even WASHED the damn thing.
We walked to our hotel (4 kilometers) and then walked to a restaurant close by for dinner, not memorable but good Moreton Bay Bugs! Haven’t had those since the last time we came to Darwin about 11 years ago. Like little miniature lobsters but sweeter; fabulous!
All in all a boring day getting ready to shift gears and travel to Darwin tomorrow to start the next phase of our adventure.
Day 43—Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What a difference travelling by air in Australia vs the US! The hotel staff looked at us very strangely when we said we wanted to leave the hotel at 6:30am for an 8:20am departure (the airport is about 15 minutes away). They said didn’t we want to wait until 7 or 7:15?
We had a bit of a snafu with no wake up call and no taxi ordered but we were on our way to the airport by 6:45.
When we got to the airport we knew why the hotel staff wanted us to go at 7 or even later. There was almost no hassle at the airport, Qantas staff got us our boarding pass and we queued up to give them our bags to be checked, walked through security wearing our hiking boots (!) with NO waiting, and we were at the gate at before 7:15!
Uneventful flight, delivery to our hotel by airport bus ($11—easily the best bargain in Australia, considering that hamburgers routinely cost $15!
The Holiday Inn Esplanade is quite nice, directly across from the Esplanade (duh!), we have a room sort of overlooking the ocean and the park (Esplanade), and the hotel had a free bottle of wine waiting for us in our room.
We walked around Darwin including the Esplanade and the Cenotaph and the USS Peary memorial. That is the memorial we remember from our last visit that said, among other things, that the ship went down “with guns still blazing” even though it was completely on fire. Very touching.
Dinner was at Crustaceans on a wharf and was quite good and quite expensive, but what else is new in Australia.
Day 44—Thursday, July 10, 2008 Day 1 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
We met at lunch with the group and I am pleased that we are all in approximately the same age group. I was afraid there would be a lot of sweet young things chomping at the bit to climb mountains when all I wanted was a stroll through the bush.
Our transportation for the next almost-3-weeks is quite a machine. The main part of the bus will hold the 26 of us plus Richard (the bus driver/boss/tour guide) and Cherry (his wife and assistant) and we will tow a trailer for some of the luggage. The trailer is also part kitchen. The bus itself is articulated so the cab moves separately from the main part of the bus and the hitch is the strongest contraption of its kind I’ve seen—but it has to be, we will be doing a fair bit of 4WD driving.
We took a bit of a tour of Darwin, including the Aviation Museum which holds the only flyable B52 outside the US. It is a bit daunting to see an airplane that big completely INSIDE a building.
Also, we went to the Darwin Museum and again saw the exhibition of the Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve of 1974 that almost completely destroyed the city of Darwin. It include a sound recording (in complete darkness of course because it hit in the middle of the night!) made by one of the survivors of what the storm sounded like. Until I saw the pictures and heard the sound and fury of the storm I had no comprehension of what it was like. Words and pictures alone cannot do justice to the experience.
Dinner was interesting because one of our group took exception with Richard about the (stringent) luggage allowances. We are supposed to have 2 bags no more than 16 kilos each and a carryon each of no more than 3 kilos each. My computer weighs 3 kilos alone, not to mention all the gear that goes with it (hard drive, power supply, etc) and I have a camera and Randy has a camera with battery charger. AND we didn’t know until we got to the hotel that we had a baggage allowance of 16 kilos each (we think our bags are about 20 kilos each). Tomorrow morning will be interesting with all of our luggage. One of the other women said, and I agree with her, that she (who is tiny) gets angry when she is charged excess baggage and another person, who easily outweighs her by 25 or 30 kilos, has no excess baggage charge.
Richard is not the most diplomatic guide I have ever met. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Day 45—Friday, July 11, 2008 Day 2 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Our first full day on the road, we are heading to Kakadu NP by way of Litchfield NP.
The bus is pretty comfortable and very new. It is a Mercedes Benz (add mucho $) 4WD truck that seats 28 (driver, assistant, and 26 passengers) and pretty luxurious. That, of course, doesn’t mean that I don’t have suggestions as to how they could have improved it if they asked me.
The weight limits (16 kilos for each suitcase and 3 kilos for each cabin bag) were completely ignored by almost everyone including Richard. Still, there isn’t much room in the cabin. Under our seats are our sleeping bags. That means that my foot room is taken up by the sleeping bag of the person in front of me—just like it was originally on the airlines.
There is an overhead shelf but 4 seats have part of the air conditioner over their heads and so no room on that shelf. We are in the second row on the driver’s side and there are random numbers on the windows—next to us is a 5, the next pair of seats behind us is numbered 13, across the aisle the numbers are, in order from the front: 2, 12, 8, 4, 2, 6. Richard told us that that is the numbering system for changing seats each day. Quite good system, I think. Actually it is an outstanding system. Whatever pair of seats you have today, tomorrow you will move to the next higher numbered pair of seats. So tomorrow we’ll go to seats 6 in the back of the bus, and the following day we will be on the opposite side of the bus in the front. And 13 days from today we will be back in these seats.
Randy went swimming in Litchfield NP in Wangi Falls Pool in spite of the crocodile warnings. We were told that there were no crocs there. And we believed them. Crocs can be in a pool one year and not there the next year and vice versa because of the wet which can flood them in and out of pools. Your only real recourse is to pay attention to the locals because they do survey the pools each year. Don’t you wonder how exactly they do a survey like that? Send someone in and see if they come out?
We also stopped to look at some aboriginal art. The artists (I think) were there, three aboriginal women. One of the couples was chuckling that here we are in the outback and they have an EFTPOS machine (the Aussie equivalent of our credit card machines except this can do much more). We laughed and agreed about the incongruity. I guess the aboriginal women disagreed, because one of them said to me in a belligerent tone, “What are you laughing at?” We answered something about the incongruity of it, and she got more belligerent. We tried to defuse the situation but finally had to just leave she was so upset at what she perceived we were doing. One never knows what one person thinks is an innocuous comment can be perceived as a very negative one by others.
Then we drove and drove and drove, with one break, to Kakadu NP where we set up camp. What a hoot watching Richard demonstrate how to set up the tent and then all of us setting up the tents. They are old canvas tents; the good part is that you can stand up in them. The bad part is—well, it’s all bad.
There is a pole in the middle of the tent, which is about 6 feet square, so we can’t have our sleeping bags together. We have cots which also means we can’t have our sleeping bags together. It is quite hot which also means we can’t have our sleeping bags together. Other than that it’s fine. I can hardly wait until we have to put them away! Richard demonstrated and it will be a really interesting procedure!
They gave us brand new sleeping bags but they told us we needed sleeping bag sheets so we assumed the bags would be used and spent about $60 for sleeping sheets. I think we will pony up the money to send them home and use them in our new cabin.
S 12° 12.27666’, E 130° 50.158’
Day 46—Saturday, July 12, 2008 Day 3 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Our first full day.
We went on a hike to Ubirr, the site of a lot of aboriginal rock paintings. And we went to the Gagadju Cultural Center in Kakadu NP.
Kakadu is a misspelling of the aboriginal word for the area, Gagadju. The Englishman who discovered the area for the whites recorded the aboriginal sounds but still it was transliterated as Kakadu rather than the more correct (apparently) Gagadju.
The Alligator rivers (East, West, and South) were also misnamed by an American who thought the crocs were alligators (they’re not) and the names stuck.
We also saw the longest continuously inhabited site in the world, Jabiluka. Probably that is not transliterated either, but unfortunately the aboriginals don’t create the maps nor name their own sites for the tourists.
I am extremely worried about food poisoning. The hygiene of the plates and utensils and pots and pans in abysmal, but nobody else seems to be worried. I’ve told Randy to wash his hands often and then wash them again. The plates that we use are to be washed in a basin of soapy water. Period. There is a rinse basin but no Clorox or any other disinfectant. And the soapy water becomes rapidly contaminated with food particles. I try to change the water often. But 28 people washing their plates and utensils in only a couple of changes of water is a recipe for disaster. But I don’t know what else to do. There is no Clorox nor any other disinfectant. We don’t keep our own plates, either, they all go back into the common stack.
Richard is the chief clean-up person for the cooking pots. He uses one pot of soapy water and then dries the pots with the towels that have been used for days. There does not appear to be any washing of towels.
Wish us luck to not get sick!
S 12° 39.713’, E 132° 50.099’
Day 47—Sunday, July 13, 2008 Day 4 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Today was get up at 5:30, pack up, stuff the sleeping bags, close up the cots, pack the sheets and the pillow (yes, singular—Randy is using his clothes stuffed in a t-shirt) and the air mattress. I know, I know, if you’re camping you shouldn’t need an AIR MATTRESS, but face it we’re old. We DO need an air mattress. Anyway, I couldn’t believe that the whole camp, 13 tents (some who had NEVER camped before) was packed up by 6:30. Of course Richard wouldn’t let us have brekkies (breakfast) until we were. And we were on the road by 7:30, as advertised.
We have about 13 days to figure out how to get up early and pack up the tent and the accoutrements that go along with a tent and still stay clean. We got up, packed everything up, and THEN realized we had packed our soap, shaving stuff, deodorant, etc, and all that and the suitcases they were packed in had been jigsawed into the trailer along with the other 24 suitcases . And we couldn’t exactly ask Richard, at 6:45am, to find our two suitcases among the other 24 that he had just stuffed into the trailer and dig it out so Randy could shave.
So dirty us went off to the Yellow Water Cruise on the Alligator River for 2 hours. What a great tour! The guide knew every bird, every mammal—well, the only mammals we saw were brumbies or wild horses, and every reptile. Of course the only reptiles were the salties, the salt water crocodiles. We saw LOTS of them. They were lying around everywhere! We didn’t see the largest of the salties (which can grow to 6-8 meters) but we saw some that were 4-5 meters. You do NOT want to swim in these waters. And yet people do. And they clean fish while standing up to their knees in the water. And they let their children hang over the front of the boat and drag their hands in the water. What are they thinking? A full grown male saltie can and does, take down and eat a horse. One carried around in its mouth a full grown pig for three days.
We learned how to get male crocs (which are highly prized in croc farms because they have more skin/hide): incubate the eggs at 32° to 33°. At 31° you will get a mix of males and females and at 30° you will get mostly females.
But we saw lot so other animals, mostly birds: rufous night heron, whistling ducks, whistling kites, darters (also know as snake birds), great and small herons, magpie geese (also known as $1000 ducks because that is the fine for having one. And yes, they are ducks.), royal spoonbills, jabirus, azure kingfishers, restless flycatchers, green pygmy geese, crested jacanas, and sea eagles. To name a few that we saw.
But mostly we saw crocs, salties. The rangers do a census every year by going out at night with floodlights; right now they estimate there are 250 salties in 250 square kilometers. That’s a LOT of crocodiles! And people still swim here. They tag salties that are causing problems: going after boats, generally making a nuisance of themselves.
Salties have two rows of osteoderms (bony scales) on their back gradually becoming one row of fins (for lack of a better word) that have no bones in them. The rangers cut off the ones without bones and they recognize them by the pattern of cut-off fins.
Our guide said that the rangers maintain that never—NEVER—have they had to manage again any saltie they have tagged. They can’t explain that, but still it’s pretty persuasive that merely tagging the animal means it won’t cause trouble again. My question is, however, is it so stressful to tag them that they die? Probably not because we saw several that have been tagged. But it certainly cries out to be studied!
Finally arrived in Katherine at about 5pm. It was not a great afternoon. Richard is not the greatest communicator and we never knew how long we would be driving and when we would eat lunch and would we have a “cuppa” (tea, coffee, and cookies that we have had every day). But we’re here and we’re in a hotel with our own shower and we’ll eat dinner in a restaurant and sleep in a queen sized bed rather than two cots! Life is good.
S 14°28.261’ E 132°17.388’
Day 48—Monday, July 14, 2008 Day 5 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
This will be the first of the two camping days. We are going on the rhythm of two camping days and one hotel day. So far it has been two camping days in the same camp, but that will change and we will pull up stakes each of the two camping days.
I look forward to the next hotel day, not because I dislike the camping, I don’t, but because it is in one of the most highly rated resorts in Australia, El Questro. We will be in an “upscale tented cabin.” It will have a lot to live up to after what we had in Africa.
Our tour today was in the morning with an aboriginal guide. We were on two boats, a male guide on one and a female guide on the other.
We saw lots of crocs and birds and great scenery, but the best part was the two guides talking demonstrating aboriginal stuff. And because men can’t know what women know they had to talk to us separately. She told us about digging sticks and carry bags and he told us about digging sticks and didgeridoos (multiple spellings of that word!) and woomera (same as an atlatl—Google it!) plus he demonstrated tossing a spear using a woomera.
I know intellectually about woomera and atlatls but I have never seen one demonstrated before and it is awesome how far the spear will fly!
He also showed us some pretty gruesome weapons (the “punishment boomerang”) and talked about how they discipline their children, also pretty gruesome. I realize it is their culture, but putting biting insects on your child’s lip so that it swells to the size of a grapefruit and is excruciatingly painful is not MY idea of a good way to discipline children.
S 15° 47.165’ E 128° 44.202
Day 49—Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Day 6 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Fairly leisurely morning, we only had to get up at 5:15. We are camped so close to Lake Kununurra that we could walk to the tour boat. Our tour guide is Michelle and she turns out, yet again, to be the best yet. She was entertaining, knowledgeable, and knows how to run the boat. We have the tour boat to ourselves, which is always better than sharing. 26 people who know each other sort of overwhelm anybody else who is there.
Our tour is of Lake Kununura to the Ord River to the dam for Argyle Lake. Both lakes are artificial and Argyle is huge, the volume greater than 54 Sydney Harbors and Kununura has enough water for five years even if it doesn’t rain and that is highly unlikely here in the land of The Wet. Our tour yesterday showed us how much water is in the northern part of Australia in The Wet.
It was a beautiful three-hour tour and Michelle knew every single animal, bird or reptile, that showed its face to us. The two lakes are formed by a diversion dam (1963) on the Ord River that forms Lake Kununurra and another enormous wall (1972) on the Ord that forms Lake Argyle. The diversion dam enables Kununurra to have a great agricultural business. Or so they are trying. They can’t seem to decide what crop works for them. They tried rice and the birds decimated the crop; they tried cotton and didn’t have enough water; now they are trying Indian Sandalwood but it takes ten years for the first crop and that won’t be until 2011. They also have mangoes and sorghum and melons and a few others I can’t remember, but there are problems with those as well. Oh, well, it’s only been 30 or 40 years; you can’t expect overnight success!
We did however see lots of freshies (fresh water crocs). We were told that freshies are not very likely to bite you (yeah, right) without a lot of provocation. Like hitting them with a stick. Am I going in the water that has an animal that has not evolved in several million (million!) years because it is so supremely well adapted to being a killing machine? Not on your tintype, I’m not. They may not BE as fearsome as the salties, but I for one an NOT going in water that has even a hint of any crocodiles, freshie OR saltie.
Lots of raptors, lots of freshies, lots of parrots, lots of water birds, and one Merten’s water monitor lizard that didn’t get too upset at my taking his (her?) picture up close and personal although I could tell he was getting ready to bolt. We saw a lot of darters, also know as snake birds because their necks are so long and thin that in the water they look like snakes. We even saw some nests with little ones in there pestering mom or dad (dad is a very good parent, taking as much care of the babies as mom does, even sitting on the eggs) for food.
At the beginning of the trip we were in calm Lake Kununurra but by the time we got to the dam, the Ord River was rising rapidly and there was quite a current. No white water, but too much current for the two houseboats that ply the lake to come very far up the river.
The land is stunningly beautiful. High above the river are escarpments and a very deserty area with sparse vegetation and lots of rocks and cliffs but close to the river it is lush and green with lots of nesting birds and lots of hunting eagles, kites, and hawks. One eagle looks much like our American eagle with a white head and dark body and about the same size.
After our usual lunch (bread and butter, some kind of meat and cheese, and beets—yes, sliced beets are a favorite on sandwiches as are sliced pineapple—fruit, tomatoes, and lettuce we went back to Kununurra for a tour of the area. Whoopee. And a “shopping opportunity” at the local Woolies. Woolies is Woolworths, which, along with Coles, pretty much corners the grocery market. According to Richard, Woolies and Coles have 85% of the retail market in Australia. I don’t actually believe that, but they probable have more of the market than Wal-Mart does in the US since they both also have liquor stores and fuel stations.
Speaking of fuel stations, there are so many gas-powered (propane, not gasoline) cars and trucks in Australia that almost every fuel station has a pump for propane. Looks just like a gasoline or diesel pump, just the nozzle is different for the connection to a car.
When Randy and I started the tour we bought some beer to have along the way. We were the only ones and we thought all the Aussies must be teetotalers. Wrong! It was almost as if we broke the ice by bringing beer. Now when we go to a town about three quarters of the groups troops off to the liquor store for beer, wine, or hard liquor.
In the NT (Northern Territory), if you buy liquor they have to scan your license so you are in the system and if you try to buy more liquor at another store you won’t be able to. I don’t know what the limit is, but it apparently isn’t very much. It is primarily aimed at the aboriginal population who seem to spend what money they have on liquor. Or so we are told. They (the government) can’t discriminate and just limit the aboriginal liquor consumption, so they “card” everyone. I asked what you could do if you were having a party and wanted to buy several cases of wine or beer. Nobody we asked could tell us if there was some exception or if you had to start stocking up months in advance!
The rest of our day was at the camp gossiping about Richard and making disparaging remarks about the “backpacker” group that moved in next to us. Most of us are very happy with Outback Spirit but some feel ripped off to some extent. More on that later.
The backpackers sleep in “swags” (heavy canvas sleeping bags) out under the stars while we sleep in tents and have nice new “modern” sleeping bags, cots, and air mattresses. We have chairs and tables, they have canvas stools and no tables. We have an amazing kitchen and they have the supplied BBQ. We have a brand new Mercedes 4WD bus/truck; they have an old Japanese 4WD bus/truck. We paid a lot of money; they didn’t.
Who’s better off? I don’t know.
We lost (gained?) and hour and a half—why an hour and a half difference NT to WA rather than one or two hours, I have no idea—anyway it is an hour and a half earlier here than NT. As a result we are all tired at about 7:30pm. Our camp was deserted by 8pm; everyone (including us) was in bed!
S 15° 47.165’ E 128° 44.202
Day 50—Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Day 7 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
We got up as usual at 5am, packed up everything—tents, sleeping bags, cots, air mattresses, tables, chairs, kitchen stuff, washing up stuff and off we went to Five Rivers Overlook. We are really getting to be expert at folding up the tents and they aren’t easy! It involves poles and quarter turns and flipping and folding and stuffing into a big FLAT bag. But even Jan and Doug can sort of do it now and Jan & Doug are probably the least experienced at camping and they are quite old. I don’t know exactly how old they are, but they appear to be close to 75 or 80 but they are great sports and take part in everything.
Five Rivers Overlook looks over the Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack, and Forrest Rivers. The Ord is the one we cruised on for 3 hours yesterday. The others are, well, I don’t know exactly, but they are rivers of the northern part of Australia. It was quite impressive
Zebedee Falls was our next destination and we arrived at 11am. The time is important only because there is a sign that says everyone must vacate the area by noon. Why, I asked Richard, knowing full well why. The Voyages El Questro Resort ($1800 per PERSON per night) gets private access to Zebedee, a hot springs in the El Questro Wilderness Park. I don’t have internet access so I cannot look up and find out if it is a public park or a private park but apparently the EQR has private access to a lot of places, some that nobody else is allowed into at all.
Anyway, Randy went in to the pool, a hot spring. Well, a tepid to warm spring/pool. I didn’t want to sit all day in a wet bathing suit getting the bus seats wet. Didn’t matter, Richard told us this morning in the bus when our suitcases were all packed and we couldn’t change our minds. This is part of the problem I alluded to earlier about Richard and the lack of satisfaction on the part of some of the “guests.” I have to agree in my worse moments, but at the better times I think it’s fine.
Lunch was at a small river and we got to watch several cars fording the crossing. Tucson has the stupid motorist law but that definitely would not work here in Australia. We don’t have a snorkel on the bus but most of the 4WD cars and trucks here do, and I guess they can and do cross very deep waters. We’re getting pretty far into The Dry, so there aren’t too many deep fords left. Too bad, because I would love to see just how deep a snorkeled car can drive!
Tonight is at Emma Gorge, an “upscale tented cabin” in the El Questro Wilderness that is associated with the EQR in some way that I don’t understand.
Having been to Africa and their “upscale tented cabins” I am disappointed in these. They look sort of nice from the outside, set well apart and the back deck faces wilderness. BUT, our cabin’s door faces west and was quite warm (no A/C, only a fan), no bedside lighting, no place to sit except on the deck or on a bed, no table of any kind, and the shower door doesn’t close completely.
Maybe dinner will change my mind.
S 15° 54.323’ E 128° 67.625’
Day 51—Thursday, July 17, 2008 Day 8 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Dinner didn’t change my mind or Randy’s Emma Gorge Resort. The critique we (well, Randy) filled out was smoldering a bit on the edges. For example, there were three beds in the room (sleeping 4) but only three chairs; there was only one hand towel, two bath towels, however; no electric tea kettle—I’ve been in an Australian hotel nor even heard of one that didn’t have a tea kettle. The list went on but it’s not worth repeating. We will stay in a Voyages hotel in Broome for two nights and in Alice for two nights. Voyages is one of the best in Australia and I don’t understand why Emma Gorge is so bad.
Dinner was worse; they ran out of food!
Manning Gorge was our overnight, this time for the first time we only spend one night and then break camp. I think that will be the pattern for our camping nights from now on: just one night in each campground. The camping is getting more primitive and will get even more primitive yet, according to Richard.
Today was pretty much just driving on a supposedly 4WD dirt road. I’m glad we hired Outback Spirit even though the road isn’t really a 4WD because we had no idea what the road would be like and it is a very long dirt road. The Tanami (TAN-ah-my) Road is also very long and very dirt; it’s over a thousand kilometers.
All the streams and rivers we have crossed so far have been quite small so the 4WD isn’t necessary. If we were to come back here in the Dry (the only time to rent a 4WD) I would rent a 4WD and camp along these roads. We learned in the campervan that we don’t really need a toilet OR a shower. The campgrounds are so great and clean and fully equipped that we never felt the need to have our own shower.
Dinner was simple but great (chicken tonight) and after we had a bonfire in the fireplace. I had asked Richard if we were going to have a fire and he said we didn’t have any firewood. Not three minutes later, a truck drove up with the back full of firewood and Richard bought it! So after dinner we sat around a fire and several people recited some poetry (much better than it sounds!) and told ribald jokes and sang some Australian folk songs. It was a really great evening sitting around the fire, listening to stories, drinking wine, talking, just generally having a brilliant time.
“Brilliant” is an Aussie word that they use a lot to mean “the best ever.” We are learning the ‘Strine language. Phrases such as “fair dinkum” which I though was an adjective meaning “pretty good” but in fact it means “really, truly.” If I want to say, for example, that something I’ve just said is really, truly true, I will say, for example, “The canyon was beautiful, fair dinkum!” At least I think that’s what it means! We mostly speak the language that the Aussies speak, but not quite. I still don’t know what a “rock melon” is (found out later: a cantaloupe. They call them cantaloupes in Melbourne and rock melons in other places).
Since we had such a great time sitting around the fire I asked Richard if we would do it again. Yes, and Randy & I will try to find the makings for S’mores. None of the Aussies have ever heard of S’mores or even graham crackers. We apparently will have no problem getting chocolate and marshmallows, but we’ll have to improvise on the graham crackers.
I spent some time talking to Richard about his first aid kit. Since I teach a Wilderness First Aid class (thanks, Pam Phillips!), I was very interested in what they carry. I didn’t get a good answer, not because he didn’t want to tell me, but because our conversation ranged over several topics.
S16° 39.458 E125° 55.627
Day 52—Friday, July 18, 2008 Day 9 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Today started early. What else is new? We think we’ve died and gone to heaven if we get to sleep in until 5:30!
Up at 5, breakfast at 6, and leave at 7. Two hours is exactly what it takes to completely break camp. Pretty amazing considering how many of us have never camped or camped very little.
Lots of photo stops as the scenery is quite spectacular. We crossed the Leopold Range and did a short hike in Galkan’s Gorge, another pretty little canyon.
The destination for tonight is Winjana (WIN-jin-ah) Gorge for camping and a hike at Tunnel Creek National Park.
Tunnel Creek NP was awesome! Australia is so different in its attitude to tourists and tourism, compared to the US. Tunnel Creek is an underground river that flows for about ½ a kilometer in a tunnel and partway through the tunnel has collapsed leaving lots of big boulders strewn around. In the US there would be warning signs and fences to keep you out of most of it because it is so dangerous.
To get in you have to scramble/climb down some large boulders into knee-deep water and then wade the rest of the way, more or less. You do walk on some sandy parts but largely you have to be up to your knees in cold river water stumbling over submerged rocks. It is all worth it at the end where it opens up to a spectacular little gorge with lots of trees and plants growing over the rocks.
I can’t imagine being allowed to do that in the US.
Unfortunately when we came back we were so hot and tired that we decided not to hike to Winjana Gorge. The ones who did told us about the beautiful scenery and the basking freshies all over the banks of the river. Oh, well, I did have a nice (cold) shower. I asked a woman coming out of the shower what it was like and she said, “refreshing.” I asked if that was Australian for “cold” and she allowed that was fair dinkum.
S 17° 24.781 E 124° 56.472
Day 53—Saturday, July 19, 2008 Day 10 of Outback Spirit 4WD Tour
Hump Day!
Off to Broome for two nights in what we are told is a really nice resort. Apartments with their own washers and dryers. Here that is described as “en suite,” meaning the washer and dryer are in the apartment, not down the hall. They say the same thing about toilets and showers. We can even have a campground powered site “en suite,” meaning there is a little building right next to your campsite that has a sink, toilet, and shower that is just yours, not shared. That’s about as close to camping heaven as one can get!
Our drive to Broome via Derby was 389 kilometers of about half and half dirt road. I think that would be an easy day when we get to the Tanami Desert, over 1000 kilometers of dirt road from Halls Creek to Alice Springs. We all think Richard and Cherry are softening us up with the resort in Broome.
In Derby we saw the Prison Tree, a mostly hollow boab large enough to hold prisoners overnight before transporting them to a proper jail. Mostly that would have been aborigines, not whitefellas.
Whitefella and blackfella MAY be OK words to describe the Caucasian population and the aboriginal population. I don’t have anyone I trust to ask that of but at least one guide has said neither is a derogatory term. I’ll withhold judgment on that.
Boabs are weird trees that also grow in Africa where they are known as baobabs. The thinking is that the Aussie’s penchant for shortening words made the tree the boab in Australia.
Also in Derby we watched several men “fishing” under the jetty for mullet (a bait fish) by walking out in the tidal flats when the tide was way out and about to turn and throwing a large net over what water there was (the tide in Derby is the second largest in the world, second to the Bay of Fundy) before the 11 meter tide turns and comes in. They put on rubber boots or go barefoot, carry the net and a pail, and hope to net enough mullet to enable them to fish the next day. None were having much luck that we could see. But it is an interesting way to fish!
Long drive to Broome from Derby but well worth it when we saw our accommodations! We each have a full one-bedroom apartment—not that we need to cook for ourselves—with a deck or balcony. In our case there is a pool right in front of us.
I even have internet access, although I have to sit on the bed and unplug the lamp in order to use the internet! But it’s the first connection I’ve had since we left Darwin ten days ago.
We are here at the full moon (well, everyone says it’s the full moon but Randy thinks the full moon was last night; it’s full enough) and when the full
S 17° 55.696 E 122° 12.984
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