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8,683 kilometers around Australia

We have covered some ground and I can’t believe we woke up on an island off of the east coast just two weeks ago. As we left Katherine to head further east we drove into a part of the country called the Kimberly. The terrain of red cliffs and rivers was much different and a nice change to the vast flat outback. It was still just as hot. We managed to drive through a full on downpour as well as a bush fire and every night we watch the sun turn into a glowing red ball and the clouds produce an incredible sunset.

When we reached Broome it was as if someone had hit the humidity switch. We were sticky all over and later heard a report that Broome was at 80% humidity. We also heard that this wasn’t even close to how hot or humid it becomes during the “wet.” We spent two nights in Broome, just a short walk from Cable Bay, where at low tide you can see dinosaur prints from roughly 120 million years ago.

The nights are cool again now that we are back on the west coast and we took advantage by going out to outdoor dinner and an outdoor movie. At dinner we sat at a picnic style table with two other couples who were actually surprised to hear that we were from the U.S. They actually thought we were Australians on holiday. We must really be doing a good job of fitting in. One of the couples was already planning on going to the cinema and it wasn’t hard to convince the third couple to join. So we spent the evening on a triple date with a group of Ausies we had only just met. I love Australians.

The “picture garden” is actually the oldest outdoor cinema in the world and it was awesome. It was partially covered but all open air. There were rows and rows of lawn chairs as well as a grassy area up front. The best part is that it is located right next door to the local airport and in the middle of the film we watched a noisy plane fly way to close for comfort over our heads. It drowned out the movie for a few minutes but it was more like a bonus feature. To top it all off we watched the moon set behind the cinema screen.

Before leaving town yesterday morning we hopped on our bikes for a ride out to the lighthouse at Gantheaume Point and back along the firm sand on the beach. The water was a beautiful sea green and was particularly stunning set against the bright red dirt and rock around Broome. We quickly showered, jumped in the car and drove straight to Port Headland, where the only mean Australian in the country checked us in to a campsite for the night. We drove through the rest of our weekend and now find ourselves in the small town of Exmouth, near the famous Ningaloo Reef. We have about four days in the area and we are excited to get exploring. We were already greeted by a giant emu who seemed to be holding our campsite for us. He/she was not afraid of us one bit but I can’t say the same the other way around.

5,721 kilometers around Australia.

Once we reached the Stuart Highway just north of Tenant Creek, we turned 90 degrees to the right and started driving straight north towards Darwin. We spent one night in back of a Shell gas station in Camooweal (don’t worry mom, it was an official campground) and another night at the Dunmarra Roadhouse, where two beers that we purchased at the bar cost the same price as our night of camping – $11. We pushed right on through to Katherine the following day, knowing that we would be returning to this deserted land with BJ’s mom in about a month. As we drove north, about 1,000 km above the Tropic of Capricorn, the landscape instantly changed from wide open brush where you could see on for miles to dense but short trees. The air also seemed to thicken. I suppose all along we were expecting the outback to be barren, desolate, and in no way survivable. Perhaps desolate, with only the occasional town of population 20, but it sustained much more life than I was expecting. We especially loved coming upon intersections with dirt roads where about ten different signs would name a town and its distance. We couldn’t in fact see anything off in the distance but it was pretty cool to think about the people living just that much further out in this arid part of the country.

Is it a bad sign when you seek out a hot spring because it is actually cooler than the air temperature? My entire body seemed to swell up as we entered Katherine. The heat hit me like a wall and it was all of a sudden hard to think straight. Everyone who knows me well knows that I am not the most cheerful person in the heat and having anticipated the heat for a while, I am doing my best to not move any more than is necessary. We have also found that hot springs and swimming pools are our new best friends. We took a delightful dip in Mataranka, about an hour south of Katherine. The thermal pool was crystal clear, the perfect cool temperature and surrounded by thousands of noisy flying foxes dangling from their feet in the trees overhead. It was completely free and well worth the detour. We stayed in the Katherine Gorge National Park campground last night which also happened to have a pool (slightly murky but refreshing) and a poolside bar and grille where a T-bone steak by the pool after our sunset stroll was definitely in order. Tonight we are camping closer to town, but within walking distance to the local hot springs a.k.a. cold springs. This is another series of free pools of crystal clear water that flows through a narrow gorge with a rocky bottom. The temperature is just about perfect and we will definitely be returning to these healing waters again in the morning.

4,341 kilometers around Australia

We had a few unexpected wildlife encounters today that are worth sharing.

Last night BJ came back from the bathroom and reported having seen a poem posted to the wall about a frog named Graham that lives year-round in the bathroom. Sure enough, on his way out he almost stepped on him. This morning, I was eager to investigate and found that the same frog apparently lived in the ladies bathroom as well. It sounds like people have tried to remove him and his family from these bathrooms numerous times, but they just keep coming back. And guess where their favorite spot to “chill” is – the toilet bowl. I lifted the seat in the very first stall and, although somewhat expecting to see a frog, I jumped as this little green creature about the size of my palm stared up at me. I left him in peace and used the next stall down.

Tonight we are camped in the town of Mount Isa, pronounced “eye” “za.” Smack dab in the middle of town is a huge copper ore plant which looks like it could just swallow up the rest of the town. BJ read that the mine has 1,000 kilometers of underground roads. 1,000 kilometers! We haven’t even driven 1,000 kilometers since we left the coast and that was three days ago. We set up camp on a slightly shaded field on the outskirts of town, with a view of our trusty internet tower. It is still getting chilly at night which immediately makes up for the sweaty days. Tonight, just as the cool air settled in, we noticed a swarm of birds flying overhead. At closer look they were hundreds and hundreds of bats. They barely make a sound when they fly and they just kept coming; we must have watched them for at least five minutes.

We are looking forward to much anticipated evening of watching Crocodile Dundee. We purchased this two disc set (the original and the sequel) about a week ago and we were sure that we would get lots of laughs. But the guy behind the counter simply nodded his head and said “What a classic. Great Choice.”

4,203 kilometers around Australia
Tonight’s Home – Gilbert Park Tourist Village

Just before entering the town of Cloncurry at the end of a scorching day in the van, the monotonous landscape of flat golden grasslands with the occasional cow or dry creek bed suddenly transformed into small rolling hills with shrubs and trees and the air was immediately cool. It was hard to believe the sign we saw as we drove into town claiming the national record for a high of 127 °F (53.1 °C) in 1889. Quoting Wikipedia: “Recent investigations have revealed that this temperature was measured in an improvised screen made from a beer crate and that it equated to 47–49 °C under standard conditions.” We hopefully won’t be here to break another record as the cool desert night is already settling in.

A complimentary lesson on outback social skills for your enjoyment:

Have you ever noticed the low subtle wave that two motorcyclists exchange as they pass each other on the open road? Well prepare yourself to learn about the Outback White Van Wave. I probably shouldn’t even be sharing this so if anyone asks, you didn’t learn this from me. Keep in mind that you also have to be driving a white van for this to work properly. Here it goes.  If you see another white van approaching you along an Australian outback road, remain still until you are just about to pass. At that moment, jump as far forward in your seat as you can and thrust your hand forward with fingers spread so that it almost touches the windscreen. Shake if vigorously, which is the wave portion of the Outback White Van Wave, and smile. There you have it. Now if you pass any other car, rig, or road train, keep your hand on the steering wheel and acknowledge the passing driver by lifting your index finger.

3,802 kilometers around Australia

A quick visit to the local mechanic and we were ready to get back on the road again with a working radiator fan – whew, that was an easy one. As we left Charter’s Towers we managed a quick drive through town to see if there was anything exciting that we had missed during our less than 24 hour stay. But after a few photos of some old buildings and an iced coffee, which is basically a coffee and ice cream shake, we decided we were ready to move on down the road towards the west coast.

We officially crossed the invisible line into the Outback today. Although the red dirt along the road and the thin but shady eucalyptus forest didn’t seem to change at this border, it was a moment of high excitement. Imagine driving at about 55 mph through the hot desert, passing an occasional roadhouse advertising “hot food, cold beer” and sometimes gas, taking pictures over and over again of the straight road stretching out front because you think it captures the scenery just a little bit better than the last photo, being passed constantly by road trains (what they call semi’s that have 3 trailers), enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping your hair if every direction and singing along to the sweet sounds of Michael Franti. I suppose we are still outback virgins and the thrill of this vast and empty land may not last forever. But for the time being, we are pretty excited to be right where we are.

If you look at a larger map of Australia it seems like we haven’t even made a dent on our trek inland, but it feels like we are a world away from the coast. We are staying on a brown patch of grass under a big shady tree in the town of Hughenden, home to roughly 1,000 residents. As we drove into town we had to capture the skyline . . . flat and dusty with a few scattered trees, houses and a huge communications tower. The tower is our internet connection and its existence is the only reason we are able to make camp for the night. We’ll spend tomorrow morning working in camp and then head to the tiny local library so we can poach their air conditioning while we wrap up the rest of our work day before moving on down the road again.

Life is pretty easy to enjoy when you are stranded on a deserted island for three days in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. As we were dropped off at Crayfish beach with a sit-on-top kayak, snorkeling gear, stinger suits (more on that later) and a cooler full of food, our boat captain yelled to us “pick you up on Tuesday morning at 8am.” Okay, so we weren’t exactly stranded. And we were camping with a few other folk so it wasn’t exactly deserted. But it sure did feel that way.

Crayfish Beach is on the east side of Hook Island, one of the many Whitsunday Islands which are some of the closest land masses to the Great Barrier Reef. Surrounded by a ton of coral and similar marine life that is found out in the reef, Crayfish Beach is quiet and is known for having some of the best snorkeling in the chain of islands. Unfortunately we don’t have photographic proof of just how amazing the snorkeling and kayaking were, so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you about what we saw.

First a note on stinger suits. We have been warned over and over again that late October is the time when box jellyfish, the deadliest creature on earth, come into the shallow waters off the coast of Australia. If you don’t believe me about the deadliest creature in the world mumbo jumbo just read the little description here. While many beaches post “no swimming” signs, it is accepted to swim safely with a “stinger suit.” I was picturing some hideous form of full body pantyhose but the suits are like a very thin wetsuit. Even though it is still early October, we didn’t want to take our chances. What if the young jellyfish don’t know how to read a calendar and arrive early? We thankfully never saw a box jellyfish but we did, however, spot a Portuguese Man o’ War floating on the surface of the sea while kayaking back into camp. It’s not deadly but can give you a good sting and we were glad to float by it in our big plastic boat.

At low tide on Crayfish Beach, you can literally put your snorkel gear on and waddle down the beach and start snorkeling immediately from the shore. It was really shallow in the immediate bay and although you could skillfully swim over the coral without touching it, BJ and I preferred taking the kayak out to the reef’s edge and snorkeling right from the boat. The coral was brilliant and came in all sorts of colors and shapes like giant lime green flowers, spiky coral that looked like tons of deer antlers stacked together, huge brain coral taller than me, and a large type that we decided looked like a very large donut. There were tons of fish as well but the coral was definitely the underwater highlight. From the seat of the kayak we loved exploring the edge of the reef before it dropped off into a much darker and deeper shade of blue. It was an area where we were almost guaranteed to see sea turtles. They would keep their distance but seemed curious, always giving us a few glances before diving down into the depths.

We spent most of our last day on the kayak and explored the handful of mini bays that made up the larger bay in front of Crayfish Beach. The tide was all the way out but we were able to float above all of the coral and sea life, kayaking into areas that we wouldn’t have been able to swim in because they were so shallow. At one point we reached a deeper area surrounded on all sides by a shallow coral reef. As the tide was out, there were a handful of huge fish that were trapped within this lagoon until the tide came back in and BJ even spotted a reef shark surfing in on a small wave. Another favorite moment, probably more entertaining for BJ, was when I was snorkeling in a shallow bay and he was near me in the kayak. All of a sudden a huge cloud of sand billowed up and a giant stingray shot out from the sea floor. It was so close it made me jump and I immediately stood up on the sandy sea floor to get BJ’s attention. He was of course laughing and I was now standing knee deep in the middle of a bay trying to decide if I should keep swimming.

Our camp was quiet and basic with a smelly pit toilet. We actually picked up and moved our tent to a different location the second night because we were in its direct line of smell. We made friends with two of the other campers, a father and his daughter who were at the beach for an entire week. The daughter, 14 and away from all her friends on her spring break, was really homesick and dad actually asked us to talk to her and try to cheer her up. I thought it was kind of a funny request to a complete stranger but she was cool and easy to talk to. We all ended up snorkeling one afternoon together which I think gave us all a sense of security to venture a little further out into the reef. Dad was fishing for their dinner each night and one evening he actually somehow caught a reef shark! His line was much too weak to try to pull it in or fight it but as BJ was watching, he saw the thing leap and squirm out of the water as if trying to fight the bait. No harm done and little shark was able to easily escape, but it made for quite the evening entertainment.

After waking up on the beach yesterday morning, we cleaned ourselves and our gear, reloaded the van and began our drive west to Broome. The next couple weeks are going to consist of a LOT of driving as we are trying to get to the west coast before BJ’s mom flies in for a trip to Darwin and the red center with us. We are basically driving the equivalent of New York City to Seattle in two weeks, while working full time as we go. We are prepared for heat, humidity, lots of flies, and hopefully not too many glitches with the van. We did just discover, as we pulled into camp in a small town of Charters Towers, that Slim’s fan doesn’t seem to be spinning. Hmmm, not such a good thing to go out before we cross a 2000 mile long desert. Looks like we will forego today’s drive for a visit to the shop. Could be worse and we are still glowing in relaxation from our three days in the Whitsundays.

After weighing the cons of cost and environmental impact with the pros of great recommendations, camping along the beach, and simply the act of driving along the largest sand island in the world, it was hard to say no to a three day weekend on Fraser Island. Fraser is on every traveler’s must-see list but it is also really popular among local fishermen. Although busy, at times we felt like we had the entire island to ourselves.

The entire island is made of sand, including the roads, and the only way to access the island is with a 4WD vehicle, requiring us to rent one for the weekend. We had in mind a jeep or SUV, but instead got a Suzuki Jimny. BJ actually asked the rental company, “are you serious?” But sure enough, the Jimny rocked. Where larger vehicles and trucks got stuck, we cruised on through the deepest sand you can imagine.  The beach, which you could only drive on in low tide, was actually the smoothest “road” on the island. It was in fact patrolled by rangers and police as it’s considered a national highway. BJ and I both took our turns behind the wheel and definitely enjoyed cruising at about 10-15km/hour along the inland roads the best, which were enclosed by rainforest. It is hard to imagine how huge trees, and in fact an entire rainforest, can grow in such soft sand.

There was a ton to see and do on the island and our car rental company, Aussie Trax, actually gave us a proposed itinerary for our trip length and tide schedules. We didn’t think much of it until we were on the island. It was so great to have the trip pretty much planned out for us. Some of the most popular sites include the many perched fresh water lakes, especially Lake McKenzie which we made a point of getting to in the early morning of our last day. They were beautiful, bright blue, and had white sand beaches just like the ocean. The Australians particularly got a kick out of swimming in the fresh water and we heard one boy ask his dad “will I sink” and “can I drink it.” Aussies spend so much time at the beach that swimming in fresh water is probably a very rare occurrence.

Another popular sight is the Maheno Shipwreck, originally a high class cruise ship that made trips between Auckland, Sydney and Vancouver. After 30 years of service, it was sold as scrap metal to a Japanese company who, while towing it back to Japan, lost it in a huge cyclone. It was beached along Fraser’s east coast in 1935 and has sat to rust ever since. Shortly after it wrecked, a government official actually held his wedding in the main salon.

We drove inland to check out a few different sand dunes, which sat like large barren hills among the thick surrounding rainforest. We had way too much fun making ski turns down one dune in particular.

Another highlight was overlooking the ocean life at Indian Head. We hiked up to an overlook and spotted huge sting rays, dolphins surfing the waves, and whales in about every direction. There were tons of fishermen at the water’s edge and the water was so crystal clear that we could see the fish that were escaping their lures.

We spent two nights on the island, camping along the beach during both nights. We fell asleep to crashing waves and a full moon and woke in the morning to singing birds and howling dingos.

2,010 kilometers around Australia

We read a review of the Australia Zoo in Lonely Planet, claiming that it was one of the top ten sites to see in the WORLD. Well I don’t know if I would go that far but it was pretty cool. Unlike your typical city zoo, these animals actually have a ton of space in front of crowds and behind the scenes. Almost all of them, and the crocodiles in particular, ended up in the zoo because they were injured or about to be killed because they were “problem crocs,” or in other words they probably ate someone. We only had the afternoon to explore the zoo, which ended up being plenty of time to see it all. We immediately headed to the crocodile show where Steve Irwin used to put on quite the performance. We watched a replacement crocodile-tamer, or whatever he would call himself, feed and taunt the starring crocodile named “Murry.” BJ and I both agreed that he was very nervous and at one point he said “I think Murry is playing a little game with me” followed by a very nervous laugh. Well you wouldn’t see me out there dangling sausages in front of Murray, but this crocodile-tamer was no crocodile hunter.

We followed up our crocodile amazement with a visit to the free roaming kangaroos, a stroll below the trees of sleepy koalas, a look at a very chubby wombat, a glad-they-were-behind-glass glance at the venomous snakes, and a quick hello to a very shy cassowary, which is a large flightless bird who can kill you by either cracking your skull with a large horn or slicing your throat with a razor like talon. In the end, we enjoyed the visit but we couldn’t help feeling bad about the critters behind bars, no matter how much the zoo claimed to be pro-conservation.

After the zoo, we hopped back in Slim and drove a short distance north to the fabled Sunshine Coast, another series of golden fine sand beaches. But this time we were in for a very nice surprise. We actually went out for a swim today and let me tell ya, I can’t believe what we have been missing all along. It was instant relaxation. Just being on the beach on our Thai mat and under the warm sun seemed to flip my attitude from go-go-go to stress-free laziness. The water was chilly but easy to get used to and the waves were so much fun. BJ instantly mastered body surfing and I totally forgot about sharks until we got out of the water. We are planning to stay in the area for the remainder of the week and can’t wait to get in the water again.

1,896 kilometers around Australia

We spent the weekend exploring Lamington National Park, a couple hours drive inland from the Gold Coast. It was a sort of dry rainforest, if that makes sense, with tree ferns and lush foliage but a very dry ground cover. There are two main roads into the park; both follow a different ridge line to the summit of a plateau where there is a campground, lodge, and trailhead for numerous hikes. We spent a night at each campground, Binna Burra and Green Mountains.

From Binna Burra, a number of hikes lead out into the park. We opted for a half day hike, which was a nice change to not doing much physically other than a few bike rides and walks around towns. Our hike was quite a wildlife adventure. Our tally of snakes has now reached 8, four of which were spotted on this hike. We learned, after opening a children’s book about snakes in the gift shop, that one of the snakes that we carefully skirted around was a black red-bellied snake . . . only the 17th most venomous snake in the world. We also learned that Australia is home to the 16 of the top 20 venomous snakes in the world, 7 of which are the most poisonous. But no worries mate . . .  they are more scared of you than you should be of them. That makes me feel so much better.

Once we arrived to our second camp at Green Mountains, we immediately took off for the area’s famous tree walk, a series of wooden planked swing bridges and ladders, which reaches to a top height of 30 meters. It was a pretty cool structure and not surprising that it was very busy. I woke up extra early this morning to take another stroll along it without the crowds and only the sounds of birds and trees swaying in the wind.

After blowing through Brisbane this afternoon we made camp in a mozzie (mosquito) filled state park just a short drive from the Australian Zoo, Steve Irwin’s zoo to be exact. I’ve never been a huge fan of zoos but we have been told over and over that this is a must-do. Tomorrow afternoon we will enter the attraction and will surely have many photos to share shortly thereafter.

1,497 kilometers around Australia

The dust storm quickly passed and we made it to Byron Bay, the promise land for surfing, partying, burning nag champa, and chillaxing (as my little sis would probably say) along the east coast of Australia. We spent two nights in this hip little town and the surfing fanatics out there will be disappointed that we only ended up wading into the water. After much debate, we decided that we a) didn’t have enough time to really learn how to surf, and b) were secretly terrified of losing a leg or an arm to a hungry shark. The water, however, was beautiful and although slightly chilly, the hoards of surfers in the waves looked to be having a blast. We explored a coastal trail along Byron Bay point and up to a lighthouse, the eastern most tip of Australia, and strolled the amazing sandy beaches a handful of times. You will not believe how soft the sand is. It’s a beautiful golden color and so fine that it feels like you are walking along a smooth satin blanket. This is the type of sand that beaches are supposed to be made of. We weren’t on the beach for more than five minutes during our first visit when BJ pointed out to sea and said “look, a whale!” We spotted about half a dozen out there and it must be a common sight because no one else was nearly as excited as we were.

While we are trying to cook a majority of our meals, we are allowing ourselves one dinner out a week. This week we took advantage of the wide variety of restaurants in Byron Bay and made a night of it at a place called the Orient Express Eatery. I know what you’re thinking . . . “you got Chinese takeout?” The name was very deceiving and the restaurant offered an “inspired” mix of all Asian cuisine including Thai, Chinese, Malay, and Japanese. It even had a special menu for $50 teas . . . Fifty dollars . . . for tea! We skipped the tea and bought $8 beers instead. They even sent us away with a fancy little tea holder from Taiwan . . . a free gift because we found and extra batter chunk in our fried banana dessert. But the food was delicious and we left satisfied and satiated.

Today we are back on the road, driving a little further north to Lamington National Park, just southwest of Brisbane, where we will spend the next couple of days. I’d like to end with a comment from my mother, who yesterday told me that if she had her own blog she would share her latest adventure of learning how to snot-rocket while hiking. It’s taken her years of training and I am so proud mom!