Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Outback SERIOUSLY ROCKS!! Part 3

Once in Alice Springs (a major stopping point for all travelers coming through the center, we stopped in for a few days to relax. One of the nights, we went to the Alice Springs Casino where we both feasted like royalty!!! I had my first bite of emu, kangaroo, camel and CROCODILE!!! It was one of the tastiest meals, I’ve had since being in OZ!!! My favorite was: Croc!! (the aboriginals tend to stay away from eating croc as they say it makes you more violent and temperamental ^_^ I need some of that—don’t you think???). That night, Laurie won 225% of his bets at the roulette-table (on the 7-red!)—and from hereon, I told him he could justify all his expenses as: the table is paying for it, so no worries!

Alice Springs Casino:



From Alice Springs we finally departed for Yulara—500+km south-west to see the infamous ROCK (ULURU)!!! I was incredibly psyched!! Laurie had mentioned several times to me already that this ULURU-KATA TJUTA areas as being very focal spiritual sites for the aboriginals. And it was with “great” anticipation that we approached this region…
We stayed in the only resort park in the area (Ayers Rock Resort) which included 3 hotels and a camping-site and serious red, red, red, red grounds!!

Our first morning, we woke up before the crack of dawn to witness the sun-rise against the ULURU (an event attended by the thousands every single day!!!


ULURU—at dawn:




ULURU glowing:



Laurie and I, inspired by the beauty (of course, I’m just hungry cuz we haven’t had any breakfast):


Here are all different sides of this magnificent ROCK:


Her front-side:


Her west-side:


Her east-side:



And of course, there are always kangaroo signs everywhere you go around here:



And here is ULURU at the end of my ride around her 3 hours later that morning (10am). I ended up riding around her 3 times…the 1st being a photo shoot as I took about 100+pictures of her, the 2nd time was just a ride…and then I had to return a 3rd time because I had lost my bike odometer somewhere along the way. Well, turns out that each lap was 10km…so by the time I was done riding around her completely mesmerized by her strength, her energy and her presence…I still had another 18Km back to the camp-site against really, really strong head-winds.
Needless-to-say, I was a wreck by the time I made it back to the van. I had just biked 50km without even knowing it!! Mid-way on my ride back to the resort, I had started talking to my legs to encourage their stamina as I hadn’t eaten nearly enough food to be doing such a distance that morning!! Luckily though, the day was overcast and I was only battling the winds (got major wind-burn on my eyeballs that day and couldn’t see for the rest of the days!! What a mess, I was!), and quite honestly, I had just been incredibly inspired by a tremendous sight!!! I WAS MADLY IN LOVE WITH ULURU!!!!

On my ride back, I did get a little preview for the following day’s hiking
Trip (one of Laurie’s favorites):


Kata Tjuta


If there is one thing I’d like to share about this area, is the tremendous spiritual value that it has brought to me over the course of 3 days. The aboriginals truly have an incredibly inspiring way of respecting the earth; they believe themselves to be the “caretakers” and with incredible insights and connections to the Oneness, they live their lives in the purest and most honorable ways. They ask that you do not climb ULURU as it is a sacred site for them, but as all things go, the majority of the tourists and the organized-tours disgracefully and disrespectfully disregard the BOLD WORDS that are CLEARLY PRINTED on the 2nd page of the park pamphlet: PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB ULURU. I was fuming about the situation for hours, maybe even days…but what can I do??? Teach people to read, perhaps???


Monday, September 26, 2005

The Outback ROCKS! Part 2

Similar to the mid-west landscape of America, there are humongous stretches of deserted and unchanging scenery as you speed across the vast, vast expanses of uninhabited lands:



The OUTBACK:


The Highway:


Leaving Queensland to the Northern Territories (1/2 hour time change “back”…1/2 hour—who’s ever heard of such a thing???):


Welcome to the Northern Territories:



No speed limits in the Northern Territories:



Termite mounds out-cropping everywhere along the road:




Road-kill (poor wondering cattle in the desert):




So from Tenant Creek headed southbound towards Alice Springs, I took off on my bike, 2 hours ahead of Laurie as we made our way to Alice. Waving at aboriginal folk, stopping for pictures here and there, this was my very first OUTBACK ride…and FANTASTIC it was!! 30 km down the flattest and straightest road on the Stuart Highway, I was thrilled to finally get my “bite” into this part of the world!!
I really connected with the landscape as the desert really is my most favorite scenery…so incredibly unforgiving and yet beautiful in the most amazing ways:


My bike:



Here’s an often seen Bush-poet in Winton:




And finally, here’s Laurie and I sharing a meal in Tennant Creek:
(I made pumpkin/leek/bacon soup that night—Yummy!!)


OUTBACK ROCKS!!! Part 1

Since leaving Rocky almost three-weeks ago, we have covered over 5000km through Queensland (QLD) into the veritable “bushlands” of Western Queensland and then into the Northern Territories (NT). A time-zone difference of 30 minutes occurred as we crossed into NT and lo and behold my whole (albeit very tenuous) notion of a global time-difference from OZ to the US became clearly obsolete. I now call when I think it’s convenient for me (between the hours of 12-14 my time, my day, my space—happens also to be our “usual” lunch-breaks during out day-time drives.

We have driven through so many areas and seen so many different things, I’ve not even known how to begin putting together a comprehensive blog that may capture the highlights without leaving out some of the best stories and the funniest laughs Laurie and I have shared as we trek through OZ.

From Rocky, we headed to Carnavron National Park where we overnight hiked and were witness to some beautiful aboriginal art (art gallery), fabulous vegetation, wild-life and a night at a most wonderful spiritual site: Big Bend.

Art Gallery:






The gorge:



Super-tall trees



Tropical Vegetation





Famous gum-trees:





Me hugging a tree!!!…(awww…)


Joeys hanging outta Mama-roos:
Upclose


In the wild!!!



A rare sighting of a blue-winged Kookaburra (Kingfisher)



Big Bend: where we got soaked in some afternoon showers but managed nonetheless to camp and not catch pneumonia.




From Carnavron, we headed to Emerald (you guessed it! They harvest emeralds, and zircon, sapphires, rubys around these parts) where we visited a sapphire mine (and I bought some)!!! Then, I had the great idea of taking a 300Km Northern detour to see some dinausaur finds and some really, really cool and well preserved marine reptile and dinausaur fossils. These creatures lived over 50-100 million years ago!! Can you even wrap your mind around that kinda time-frame??? How many zeros is that???

Sunset over lake Maraboon (Emerald)



Richmond—home of the largest intact marine-reptile fossil: Minmin




Muttaburrasaurus: over 100 million years old


Kronosaurus (alive 114-98 million years ago):


Minmin (paravertebra):



Even though our Eastern Queensland trip involved a whole lot of long drives through long, long stretches of desert highways, Laurie and I were thrilled that we were able to see such a constant changing landscapes as I tried to relate the passing-scenery with areas that I was familiar with in America (long, long drives through the mid-west—not too terribly exciting but still something to be experienced. From Emerald on, Laurie let me start helping with the “drive” on the “left”!!!)…dragging him to hole-in-the-wall towns across the lands with archeological museums; he claims to have enjoyed all of it—he swears. So, I just believe him and hope that I am able to contribute a little to the exploration and discovery of these parts of Queensland.

We gotta keep on truckin’!!! Still 6 weeks to go!!




Monday, September 19, 2005

OUTBACK--here I come!!!

From Rockhampton to Carnavron Gorge

Friday September 9th, 2005 was our official departure date…and as all things should go with my planning and my ability to meet deadlines so far in Australia (1 or 2 days later than planned), I arrived at 4am from Mission Beach after a 16 hour bus-ride to Rockhampton (Rocky) where I caught a bus into Yeppoon, arriving at 6am on 9/9/05.

I had just finished my East-coast tour!

Laurie picked me up and took me back to his friends Ray&Mag’s place where I had left most of my belongings in anticipation of the last section of my trip being only one-week long in the tropics (ie: I could leave a lot of clothing behind and lighten my 40lb pack-load—my poor, poor back!!!).

I spent the entire morning in a complete daze as a massive cold had grabbed hold of me as I bid my farewells to Northern Queensland. The illness really kicked my whole body into a lethargic and unpleasant state (from which I am still trying to recover today). And, in all honesty, I spent 14 hours of the 16 hour bus-ride back south to Rocky in a coma—coughing and trying to spread my germs around the McCafferty/Greyhound bus to all the other passengers while pretending to heal my body in time for the next part of my OZ-trip (starting in a mere half-day’s time); Laurie was going to be done with his “teaching” at 1:30pm and was ready to take off soon thereafter.

We managed to get all packed up and ready to go around 2:45pm on Friday afternoon. We had a few stops to make in Rocky (ie: bike shop, camping shop, grocery store and bottle shop) and then as a comical ending to our “first” day on the road, we stayed in a caravan park right in Rocky. Today’s road-trip consisted of 38km!
It was a great idea though to have our first run-through near civilization, as we came up with a list of things we needed to purchase the next morning before we “officially” departed. So for all people who are going on a 8+week long caravan trip, my word of advice is: have a test-run to check out the caravan details, the camping details, the tent details and any other details cuz we were sure glad in the end that we had the chance!! (God forbid if Laurie ended up somewhere without enough red-wine, and me without my astounding amounts of food!!!)




So Sat (9/10/05), after a morning of last minute details, we left Rocky in the most humorous fashion: driving around a roundabout that had a sign on one side saying Welcome to Rocky while the other side said Farewell and being that we were having a very hard time getting away from Rocky, we drove around the roundabout just a few times while I cackled in the passenger seat reading off the “welcome” and “farewell” sign every time we passed the double-sided sign. I suggested perhaps we should just stay on the roundabout for a few more rounds because in all honesty, on our first attempt to “leave”, we actually drove down the wrong highway and had to come back to the roundabout to find the right road!! So as we passed the welcome/farewell sign again, I just thought to myself: this is incredibly hilarious and was presenting itself to set the “tone” of our entire trip!! Are we coming or going? Do we know or do we care? Where are we? And where are we going exactly? Don’t know? Oh well…let’s just see what happens when we get there, no?




On the road: Day 1

Carnavron Gorge was our first destination and a place that Laurie was quite excited to check out for the first time. We drove a good 4-5 hours through my first time off the coast line of Australia…and with good conversation and a definite sense that we were really now “officially” on the road!!!

Queensland Highway construction:




Landscape from the van (on our way to Carnavron Gorge):




Please take noe of this fabulous picture!! It’s a boab tree…a strangely proportioned tree that speckles the landscape—surrounded here by the abundant cattle:



On the first night at the campervan site, I was privy to my first up and close encounter with the roo:



This is Laurie with the roo—very annoyed that we won’t stop snapping photos in the middle of his evening meal:



We decided even before arriving that we were going to camp the first night at an on-site park, and that we would hike into the gorge and do an overnight hike the next day at Big Bend.

We were both a bit nervous and excited at the same time as neither of us had ever been on an overnight camping trip…and as all things go, we had no idea how to really prepare for such an adventure.


Great Barrier Reef

I am a bit sad to say that I have not prepared a blog for this entry. I was incredibly exhausted by the end of this trip, getting mighty sick right as I disembarked from the boat...so photos were pretty spottily taken...and my mind was simply awash.

I did have an incredible day out on the reef and i took a handful of pictures...

I snorkeled and free-dove around the reef (saw all kindsa amazing fishies, coral, turtles, mantarays and delightful/colorful/beautiful sea-sights), including a mile long open-water swim to an sand-bar island (Yappolo Island) off the Passions of Paradise boat where we anchored for a few hours...

But my plan at this point is to get "certified" so that I can do some diving and come back for a week, so that I can be appreciative of the beautfy (literally down-under).


Our way out to the reef:




Our boat:



Out on the reef:


On our way back to Cairns:




A beautiful day was enjoyed by all--plenty of sun, sea, snorkeling (diving as well) and food!!! A fabulous day with land-sickness for hours afterwards to remind me of where I had just come from (for literally days!!!). With all my gear aboard the boat, I treked my poor ailing body to the bus station where I was to catch a bus. I was leaving Cairns and headed back south towards Rockhampton with a quick overnight stop in Mission Beach to see Sofie one last time before we both began trips in completely different directions.

Cairns--Cape Tribulation, Daintree Nat'l Park

From Airlie Beach, I arrived to Cairns after a 12 hour overnight bus- ride on Sunday (Sept 3, 2005).

Once in Cairns I found myself completely exhausted and beyond lethargy. My near perpetual travels, tours, sleepless evenings (playing and socializing everywhere along the coast) with long nights on buses for the last three weeks were really starting to catch up on my body and mind!!
Instead of enthusiastically taking on this new and final destination on my East Coast tour, I just wanted to vege for the rest of my stay—in particular the very evening of my arrival, but I was to meet up with Sofie as she was leaving the next day on her own voyage down the coast.
With hindsight, I can pinpoint the root to my greatest state of distress: my jellyfish sting was driving me up the wall and nearly out of my skin!! But all in all, my evening with Sofie was as delightful as ever; we cooked at my hostel and chatted the night away about every and all things since we had parted in Melbourne three-weeks prior (so many stories!!!).
I told her that night that I wasn’t even sure if I was going to the Great Barrier Reef while in Cairns, and she totally talked me out of it (as she had spent that very day at the Reef, throwing up all the way there and back—but “worth it!!!” she said…so I conceded)!! I had plans to see Daintree Rainforest and perhaps even go so far as Cape Tribulation, but in my blown-out histaminergic state with the jellyfish sting, compounded with anti-histamine creams and pills…I just wasn’t in the mood to do anything anymore.

I was tired and cranky!!! Oh, poor-me…(really??!!? How pitiful!!! Here I am in OZ traveling for 2+months and I’ve got something to whine about?!?! Yes, I know!!! I know!!! “Stop your WINGING!!!” said the English sailorman…)

Somehow though, the next day, I found a little motivation to chase down a 50-meter pool where I was able to work-out a bit of my lethargic state…added to the discovery of a fabulous fish market where I bought some Terakihi (New Zealand) and got very excited about my evening meal:







So eventually, I found myself in a huge queue in the middle of the city, waiting at a travel agency to book two more tours—and the LAST ones at that!!! PPPUUUULLLLLEEEZE! NO MORE!! “I don’t wanna see anything anymore!!!”…(whine, whine, whine…bitch, bitch, bitch!!!)

On Tuesday, I was to go to Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation, Mosman Gorge on a day-tour, and then Wednesday, I was to finish off my stay in Cairns with a tour of the Great Barrier Reef with snorkeling/diving—and then hop on an evening bus to rejoin Sofie again in Mission Beach before we parted ways for the last time.

My day to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation were filled with amazing natural and wild-ilfe sightings (and fresh-picked bananas) and I must say that I would have sincerely regretted making it this far north and missing out on these places!!!

-Mt Alexandra (one of the highest peaks in North Queensland—standing at 483m) on our way up to the Daintree National Park:



-Crazy weaving vine-trees around a now-obsolete tree in the Daintree Rainforests:





-Beautiful circular palm trees only found in this region:



And of course—a trip through OZ wouldn’t be complete without the CROC!!!:




And, here I am posing on the Daintree River (a wonderful place to see snakes, crocs, fish, birds, turtles!!):




Our Northbound adventures ended with Cape Tribulation—for many Australians, this is the “end” of their treks thru Northern Queensland:



Another stunning southern view of the area from a Daintree National Park lookout point (the mouth of the Daintree river):




On the beautiful coastal road on our way back to Cairns, we were privy to another gorgeous southern view of Yorkeys Knob (around the next cape lies the city of Cairns):




And finally a few photos of Cairns (a mega-tourist destination—japanese EVERYWHERE!!!):

The famous lagoon at sunset:





Moonrising over the city:



And I can’t forget this HILARIOUS van at the Mosman Gorge!!! SouthPark is without a doubt alive on the other side of the world!! Imagine driving around in this one!?!?!!!



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