Where Are We?

Hi all,

In a few hours we will board the plane to LAX, effectively ending our journey abroad. We have mixed emotions about this; feeling very excited to see our friends and families and very sad to be leaving our awesome permanent weekend behind and re-joining the real world. But it was a great experience that we will always remember and from which we have learned so much. We hope this isn’t the last epic journey we will make, although the rest will probably have to be shorter. We didn’t kill each other, so the wedding’s still on! LOL.

But its not completely over yet. We’ll be spending a week in San Francisco to decompress and make an easy transition back to life in the good ol’ USA.

Since I’m still (forever) behind, I’ll be catching up the blog to our last few weeks in Australia (I’ll be back-dating them so you’ll have to scroll down or sign up for the RSS) so keep checking back. Plus I’ll do a quickie about SF when that’s over. Stay tuned!!

Becca

We finished diving the Great Barrier Reef and are back in Sydney. Stay tuned for more soon!

Jacob

DAY 1:
We didn’t head out of Sydney until after three, and rush hour traffic was getting bad already, so we weren’t able to make it very far on our first day. We stayed at the closest campground we could find when the sun started going down, which was the Freeman’s Camp site in Munmorah State Park about 140 km north of the city. There was a free gas stove for us to use (which would become common) and we were the only ones there for a while. Plus, since we arrived after the ranger’s station was closed and left before it opened, it was free!!!



DAY 2:
Our first stop was Newcastle, where we had a coffee at the beach, but it was so cold and windy we didn’t stay long. It was a cute city but probably better in summer. Next we headed to the Hunter Valley Visitors Center for a map and some brochures so we could try to sort through the many wineries of the region. We had planned on visiting just a few and moving on before the night, but we had so much fun we slept in the Hunter Valley. We visited Kevin Sobels, where we got a great Verdelho and some olive spread, Pepper Tree, which was good but too pricey for us, Brokenwood, our favorite, where a hilarious guy named Ron help us pick delicious Semillion (Hunter Valley specialty) and explained how we can order more since they export (free shipping!), Tyrrell Wines, where I bought a small sparkling Rosé, and Cockfighter’s Ghost, which we chose because of the name but ended up getting a bottle of Shiraz (another HV specialty). It was a great day. Wine tasting tours are so much fun.



DAY 3:
After a late rise and a few missed turnoffs, we headed north into a region where the hills are near the beach and lots of lakes and lagoons make for long strips of land with water on both sides. It was a beautiful drive. The secluded Bluey’s Beach, where we made a quick stop, was magnificent for its huge rocky cliffs with giant crashing waves. Next to it, Boomerang Beach was a bit more popular with the locals, but still a wonderful sight. That night we stayed at “The Ruins” Campground in Booti Booti National Park, which is on one of those long strips of land between a lake and the ocean. A group of about 10 backpackers was playing bocci ball in the dark with light-up balls, which was a laugh.



DAY 4:
Very near our campsite was a place called the Green Cathedral, so we went there as soon as the sun came up. It is a consecrated church in a forest of palm trees whose pulpit sits 4 meters from the shore of Lake Wallis. It was beautiful but freezing. Next we went for a hike up to Cape Hawke Lookout which gave us some amazing 360° views of Lake Wallis, the Pacific Ocean, and the town of Forster. I kept thinking I could definitely live in little places like these (and I would keep thinking that the whole way up the coast). We then visited the “largest motorcycle collection in the Southern Hemisphere” which was very large. They had some very old, some very cool, and some very ugly motorcycles there. It was interesting. After a quick stop at a roadside fruit stand where some very friendly ladies gave us some travel tips, we stopped at Scott’s Head for more incredible views. We watched some youngsters surfing some almost-perfect waves and even caught a glimpse of some dolphins feeding! This area of Australia is really magnificent. That night we stayed in a larger town called Coff’s Harbor at a caravan park with free internet (haven’t heard that in a while)!



DAY 5:
Fishing licenses are required in New South Wales, and we were in the mood to cast a line, so we got our licenses at Kmart and headed to Boambee Creek Reserve. We didn’t catch a thing, despite encouraging predictions from the bait guy. It was entertaining though, and we had a great lunch by the mouth of the river. Heading north again, we made a quick detour to a Scottish town called Maclean, where some knowledgeable person has painted and labeled all the telephone poles with patterns of Scottish tartans. I found several MacPhersons, none of which were the tartan I thought was correct, but I took the photos anyway. We attempted to stay the night at Woody Head in Bundjalung National Park, but it would have cost $35!! (The woman was like, “it’s a national park so it’s going be expensive” which doesn’t make sense to me. Caravan parks have more amenities and are cheaper than that!) Instead we stayed in the nearby town on a powered site for $23. In your face, NSW parks people!



DAY 6:
Again we attempted fishing with no real luck. This time we were at Clarence Head waaaaaaay out on a rock jetty. We caught a few small ones but nothing keepable. Some of the old men out there said “we don’t understand why the fish aren’t biting today” but we did. It was because WE were there. So we headed north toward Byron Bay, stopping in an adorable town called Lennox Beach (another place I could definitely live) to eat lunch. We made it to Byron Bay fairly early, so we had time to walk around town before the sun went down. We traded some books at a book shop, make another stop at Wicked Weasel, and stroll the main beach. That night we went out for a delicious seafood and wine dinner at a restaurant called Whynot?. Afterwards we went to the Balcony for more wine, which led the way for beers at several other bars, one of which was a skanky place called Cheeky Monkeys where everyone danced on tables. Not really our scene, but we had to check it out after hearing its repuatation. We stumbled back to the van at around 1am.



DAY 7:
This day was pretty much a waste. We laid in the van with the door open until after noon and when we finally got up we did nothing but laze around the beach and eat fish and chips. It was still too chilly to go sunning, but we sat there zombified in sweaters until the sun went down. Curse you, Wine!!!





NEXT:
Gold Coast, Australia Zoo, Noosa, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, and more!

Click HERE for More Photos!!!

Becca

My flight from Perth landed almost 12 hours after Jacob’s, but he was there waiting for me when I walked off the plane. It was great to see him again. Two weeks felt more like 2 months. The weather in Sydney appeared to be chilly but clear, which was good. We took the (double-decker!) subway into the city and to our hostel in King’s Cross. Arriving at night, our first glimpses of the neighborhood were of the seedier side, but King’s Cross has a fun vibe to it as well. Prostitutes and strip clubs were scattered amongst cafés, restaurants, pubs, and party-goers. For the most part we stayed there because D-Lux Hostel was the cheapest one we could find in a central location. The place was pretty old, with an elevator that only went to the floors it wanted to, despite what buttons you pushed. We checked into our private double room, which turned out to have 3 extra beds and a view of the Opera House if I craned my neck out the window, and spent the rest of the night catching up. Jacob went to sleep around 7pm!

The next day it was overcast, cold, and drizzly on-and-off, which was becoming typical of my luck. We went out anyway and hoped the clouds would break. We bought a week-long subway/bus/ferry pass and headed to Circular Quay to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We were rewarded with a scattered few minutes of sunshine and the views were spectacular. I had seen the Sydney Opera House in photos a million times, but it really is most impressive in person. The same goes for the Harbour Bridge. I was giddy for a while. Unfortunately, the rain came back so we sat at a coffee shop to decide what to do.

Since our passes included the ferry to Manly and we were already at the ferry terminal, we decided to go there. We paused on the esplanade to watch some Aboriginal buskers play their didgeridoos and make fun of things, which was hilarious. The ferry ride to Manly was a great way to see Sydney Harbour and many of the waterside suburbs. Again, the sunshine was spotty and it was too cold to sit outside, but the views were great and I got some good shots of the Opera House with the bridge in the background.



Manly is a cute little town with a pedestrian main street that leads straight to the water. We had a beer and a snack at the Four Pines Brewery and strolled to the beach, but it was too cold to do anything except take a few photos. There were a few masochists surfing, however. There was also a photo shoot happening in the square whose subject was local surf shop owners and a VW bus, which was cool.

The next day the weather was much better. Mike, Kim’s boyfriend, a friend, and Sydney local, picked us up and showed us around. First we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens for a stroll and some more good views of the Opera House. We saw the famous fruit bats and the Prime Minister’s house and got rained on for a few minutes. Next Mike took us to several places that our transport passes wouldn’t. Bondi Beach, where we had lunch, Coogee Beach, which is where “all the Americans live”, and Maroubra, which I wanted to see because of the movie The Bra Boys but it was nothing like it. Unfortunately, most of the fun stuff to do in Sydney is better during warmer months, so we mostly just took photos and watched crazy people surf. Since the sun went down before six we headed back to King’s Cross for dinner and beers. Mike was a great tour guide and it was a fun day.

The rest of our time in Sydney was spent wandering around the streets seeing the city. We made a much-anticipated (by Jacob) stop at Wicked Weasel, strolled through Hyde Park, went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, visited a Hunter Valley street expo and sampled some wine and cheese, and saw a movie at Bondi Junction (The Hangover is hilarious!). Sydney is a beautiful city that we will save time to see again on our way out of the country.

When we finally laid our next plans, we went with “Jucy Campavans” this time instead of Wicked. It was only slightly more expensive and the vans seemed to be a much higher quality. We picked up the van on a Saturday and it is great: new, big, and automatic. It has 2 sunroofs, a real refrigerator, and a DVD player in the back. From that point we had 23 days to drive the 2400 kilometers to Cairns, so we pulled out of Sydney heading north that afternoon.



Click HERE for More Photos of Sydney

Becca

Jacob left Perth on a cold and rainy night, which would be a sign of things to come for me. Supposedly Perth had been in a 3 year drought before I got there, but that all changed because it rained EVERY day that Jacob was gone. I tried to be positive and applied for 12 jobs the day after he left. Day after day, however, I got zero calls. Being so far from the CBD, I didn’t get to go many places because I would have had to walk to the train station in the cold rain. Chris, the owner of the house I was in, was very cool and drove me to the store or to places I just had to get to, but not wanted to mooch, I stayed home a LOT.



Luckily, Keera came to my rescue. A friend from home, Keera is Australian and after graduation from LSU, got a job in Perth. On her first few days in the city she stayed with a friend who had a car, so she came to pick me up and we looked at flats for her and saw some sights in Perth.

Our first excursion was to Fremantle, an adorable port city just south of Perth. It was raining, of course, so we didn’t get to walk around the city, which is the best way to see it. We did, however, go to Little Creatures Brewery. Little Creatures beer is delicious beer and their brewery is very cool. The building itself looks like an old wharf warehouse, with a very tall ceiling and huge windows on both ends. You can see it on their website. We sampled all of their brews (both of our favorites was the Rogers), had a snack in the restaurant, and wished we could stay all night.




Another day we drove to Swan Valley for some wine tasting. I learned so much about wine doing this and it was great, I must learn more. We also stopped at a chocolate factory and 2 breweries. Naturally, it rained off and on all day, but we still had a blast.



One evening, when Chris was heading to a footy game and let us borrow his car, we explored some touristy stuff around the CBD. The “Wheel of Excellence”, a big Ferris wheel right on the water was neat but a bit scary because of the wind. It was right next to the Swan Bells, a strange sculpted tower building that was a gift to Perth from the City of London. That night, while having drinks at a Belgian beer pub called the Trappist, I met the bartender, Anna, who is from Baltimore and was in Perth working after having finished several months traveling Southeast Asia. Neato!

So by this point I’ve been in Perth for a week and a half and still haven’t heard from any of the 17 total jobs I’ve applied for (it was explained to me that shortly before I arrived a few of the mines closed, which put a lot of Aussies out of work, which made less work for travelers). I was starting to think that this wasn’t such a good idea. Keera started work the next week so I didn’t have her to hang out with on weekdays. One of my flatmates, Jeremy, had a BBQ at the house every Monday for his workmates, which was a good distraction, but on a few days I never left the house. It rained almost constantly and was very windy. Later that week, after several more days of no work-related calls, I decided to leave. The earliest flight I could get was the next Monday, the same day Jacob would be arriving back in Sydney, so I bought the ticket. A couple of hours later, I got a phone call from an employer wanting me to come in for an interview, but it was too late. Murphy’s Law, eh?

I had one weekend left in Perth so I made it a good one. Keera found an apartment practically IN the CBD which she had to herself so I moved into the spare room for the remainder of my time there. It was great because I could walk or take a free bus to anywhere I needed to go. In a great/terrible twist and another example of Murphy’s Law, the weekend weather was amazingly clear and crisp. The USS George Washington was docked in Fremantle and the city was overrun with American sailors (in their uniforms the first day), which I got a great kick out of. The boys (and girls) are friendly and well-mannered and most Perth residents (especially the women) were happy they were there. I spent most of Thursday night eavesdropping on Aussie conversations about them and asking every one of them where they were from. No Louisiana boys, but lots of Texans, and one definitely knew his Cajun food. We talked about eating for like two hours.

Keera has Fridays off so we rented a car with Werner, another friend of hers from LSU who was visiting, and we drove to Wave Rock, which was about 4 hours away, and some other sights. The rock itself was beautiful but the weather cold and a lot of the countryside we drove through was old news to me but new stuff to Keera and Werner. Since Saturday was the Fourth of July, we made it a one-night trip so Keera and I could go to a party in town.

The Fourth was a blast and we were surrounded by Americans thanks to the Navy. It was a late night, in which I chatted with a couple of Aussie-Texan girls, met up with Anna the bartender again, and laughed with sailors and pilots until the wee hours. The Fifth of July was not so much fun! We did manage to make it out of the apartment for a few hours to walk around King’s Park, but we were like zombies.



Monday finally came and I boarded the plane excited to see Jacob again. Chris drove me to the airport because he is the nicest landlord ever. Perth is a beautiful city when the weather is nice and I can definitely see how it would kick ass in summer. I never got to see any of the beaches, which are some of the main attractions. I have bad luck with weather, or else I would have loved Perth. I am thankful for the fun friends I made there instead.



Click HERE for More Photos of Perth

Becca

So after we left the Pilbara (yes, it was a long time ago), we headed into the Coral Coast, the first stop in which was Exmouth. In the interest of time I’m going to try a different format and list our stops with brief explanations…

Fishing at Mesa Point in Cape Range
1. Exmouth: This touristy town is the base for Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Reef Marine Park. Not much here except that the caravan park across from the Visitor’s Center wouldn’t let us stay solely because we were in a Wicked Van, the jerks. We also discovered that there was no way we could afford to swim with whale sharks no matter how much we had been looking forward to it. Diving the reef was $200 with no whale sharks and snorkeling with them was $380 per person!!!!!!!!
2. Cape Range National Park/Ningaloo Reef Marine Park: This place was beautiful and we stayed for two nights in a place called Ned’s Camp.  The campsite hosts, Norm and his wife, were in their seventies but could not have been cooler. They brewed their own beer, delighted in their “bullshit button”, and had a fake $100 note partially sticking out from under a rug just to see who would bend over to pick it up (I fell for it, but I wanted them to know they dropped some money!). They also invited us to the nightly sunset
   

   Where are we?
   happy hour, where we were the youngest, but still met the friendliest grey nomads yet. Other things we did in the park were fish unsuccessfully (except for some throw-backs Jacob caught, including a trigger fish!), walk around the beach, and hike to Yardie Creek Canyon. We never snorkeled because it was just too cold, but the park was beautiful and highly recommended.
3. Tropic of Capricorn: We’re finally out of the tropics!
4. Carnarvon: Not much here either except for the historic One Mile Jetty, which was closed due to fire, and lots of fresh produce. Yum!

Blowhole
5. Quobba Blowholes: We had to backtrack a little to get here but it was well worth it. We watched the blow holes do their thing in the rain and drove up the coast for a while. Eventually we came upon what looked like a good fishing spot. It was down on the rocks where the huge waves were crashing and if the tide had been different it probably would have been dangerous, but it was a great spot. We saw a HUGE manta ray and there were big fish everywhere, right up against the rocks. We only had one working rod, so I used the hand line. I could see the fish I wanted to catch swimming after my hook. It was like an awesome game and I snagged
   
   TWO big fish, one unidentified one that turned out to not taste so good, and a Bluebone!! Bluebones, also called Black-spotted Tuskfish, have BLUE teeth, big round heads, and delicious white meat. That fish set the bar that I have yet to reach again, but there is still time.
6. Bush Bay: A beautiful little stretch of coastline south of Carnarvon where we camped and ate a grilled Bluebone dinner.
7. Kalbarri National Park: This beautiful park is set where a big river meets the ocean at impressive cliffs, but the best hiking trails were closed due to rain. We spent a night there, saw a pelican feeding , and drove to a couple of lookouts the next day, but didn’t stay long.

Becca and Prince Leonard
8. Principality of Hutt River: Now THIS is an awesome place that you won’t find in any tourist brochures. The place itself isn’t much to look at, It’s just a farm, but it’s a big chunk of land that is independent from the country of Australia. In 1972, a farmer named Leonard seceded from Australia because he was unhappy with the export and farming tax laws. He was successful and formed the Principality of Hutt River, of which he is the prince and his wife Shirley, the princess. Prince Leonard is a kind old man with one half-open eye and still personally gives tours of the place. He has a display room full of gifts from heads of state around the world. We mailed home some postcards, got some Hutt River currency, and His Royal Highness even stamped our passports! The HRP has something like 30,000 citizens worldwide, a navy, a college, and is recognized by the UN as a sovereign state
   

   Pink Lake
   (the UN ambassador is also American), all on an 19,000 acre farm in Western Australia. It is impressive and he is justifiably proud. If any of you ever find yourselves in Western Australia, GO TO THE HUTT RIVER PRINCIPALITY. The website is HERE if you want to know more.
9. Pink Lake: Pretty much exactly like it sounds, because of some special algae.
10. Lynton Convict Ruins: Historic ruins of a convict processing area from back when Australia was colonized by criminals.
11. Geraldton: A big city with a neat designed waterfront district still under construction. We visited a memorial to the
    

    Sea Lion at Jurien Bay
    HMS Sydney II, the wharf, and mostly just drove around, but we didn’t stay long. After Geraldton, the Coral Coast becomes the Turquoise Coast, although some maps don’t make this distinction.
12. Cliff Head: Another free campsite on the ocean. It was starting to get really cold by then. Jacob cooked kangaroo steak for dinner and it was amazing.
13. Jurien Bay: A cute coastal village where we stopped for more unsuccessful fishing. The big draw here is the protected sea lion colony that lives on an island offshore, but one came right up to the pier we were fishing from and played and posed for pictures.
14. Pinnacles National Park: A very cool area filled with strange rocks
    

    Pinnacles National Park
    jutting from the sand. They were formed by erosion and stand on end. Photos are the best way to understand.
15. Moora: A small town where we only stopped because of the cheap caravan park with free laundry. In the morning a man offered us jobs doing CAD work and networking, but we had to decline because the town was crap and we had to get going.
16. New Norcia: This place was very cute. It is a very old Benedictine Monastic town with all of the old buildings belonging to the monks. We took a great tour and had lunch in the hotel. I also bought some “sweet and spicy apple chutney” made by the monks and it was unbelievably good.
17. Swan Valley: Unfortunately we only stopped here for the night
    

    Chapel at New Norcia
    and didn’t tour any of the wineries, but the landscape was gorgeous and we swore to come back since it is only about 45 minutes from Perth.
18. Perth: We finally made it! The weather was cold but sunny and Perth looked to be an awesome city. We called around to some available flats and checked them out, then crashed at a caravan park in town. The next day we decided on a “backpacker friendly” place in Connolly (bye bye Wicked Van!), despite it being very far from the city, because the owner was flexible with our departure date and we never know what we’re doing. Soon after that, Jacob got an email from a potential job in Austin and decided he needed to go to the interview. After much thought, we decided that he would go home for the interview, I would stay and try to find temporary work in Perth, and Jacob would come back for a while before we left for Sydney and beyond. It seemed like a great plan and despite the hassle of getting Jacob home and back, things were looking good. Then it started raining….

Click HERE for More Photos of the Coral Coast
Click HERE for More Photos of the Turquoise Coast

Becca

After we ran a few errands in Broome, we left to start our journey south. Broome is basically the last part of the Kimberley when heading west, so from here we entered the region called the Pilbara.

Late in the day we turned off the highway toward Eighty Mile Beach. It is about 10km off the main road and there are kangaroos everywhere. The caravan park on the beach was out of our price range, but we had heard there is good surf fishing on the beach so we had a look, and came pretty close to getting stuck in the sand. Unfortunately I don’t think we had the right rods for surf fishing. Everyone else seemed to have rods three times longer than ours. Needless to say we didn’t catch anything but a nice older couple nearby gave us a Threadfin salmon because they had caught too many. Yum!

Once the sun started getting too low, we departed for Cape Keraudren Nature Reserve. It was very dark by the time we got there. The ranger’s station looked empty so we drove on in and found a spot near a river (which meant I had to [unnecessarily] worry about crocs the rest of the night). Jacob cooked us a delicious fish dinner and when we were just about finished the ranger pulled up.

Ranger Lance introduced himself and started to chat and it didn’t take long for us to realize that he was a weird one. He’s been to Louisiana and learned to play the blues from the “not-so-whites” (his words) and he’s now the “best blues player in Australia”. Since the “Cajun-folk” were so good to him when he was there, he decided to return the favor and let us stay in his park for free, which we much appreciated. Then he started talking about how the land we were on is sacred aboriginal women’s land. Fine so far, but it only got weirder from there. There are three sacred sites and no men can seem to find them (except him, of course) but no woman can NOT find them (I never found them). Apparently when you’re there you can’t hide anything from your loved ones or the traditional owners, so you had might as well be honest. He even went as far as to say he could “read people really well” and that he could see that I don’t love Jacob. “You came here for a reason, maybe this is it”. No, I came here to camp and fish, but thanks. He was a really nice man, but a bit too nosy for my liking. Eventually he left, however, and we could finally get to bed.

The next day we went to explore the rest of the park, which was full of grey nomads. It is a really beautiful place; rolling dunes covered with low vegetation, no trees and bordered by a rocky shoreline with intermittent beaches. We found the northwestern end of the famous “rabbit-proof fence” and I found a spot that would be sacred to me if it were my land. Eventually we went back to our original site to try fishing off the beach. It turned out to be very, very low tide (the entire north west of Australia has a huge tidal range), which we didn’t realize until after we’d started carrying all of our stuff down there, but we went anyway. We threw the lines in a couple of times, kept getting hung on the exposed reef or rocks, and gave up. Instead we stayed out there and played in the puddles, looking at octopi change colors and watching the snails mass-migrate toward the water. Jacob also terrorized some more sea gulls, who would sit on our bait box anytime we went far enough away. Other than us, the birds, and the sea creatures, there was no one else anywhere around. It was an awesome way to waste a morning.

Later we headed to Port Headland, a fair ways away. It started getting overcast and by the time we got there it was drizzling and depressing. Port Headland wasn’t much to look at anyway. It is an industrial city whose main purpose is exportation of iron ore (we’re still in the red, red everything) to China and other international destinations by BHP. We went to the waterfront, watched a few boats, and walked around the park there, but within an hour we were leaving again. That night we stayed at a free 24-hour rest area near the Peawah River.

Our next destination was Point Samson to the south. We first stopped at the Roeburne Visitors Center, which is in what used to be the jail (they used to spell it “gaol” and still do in historic areas) for some maps and history. There were a bunch of old artifacts out back that we strolled around for a bit but mostly we just wanted the free coffee.

Next we headed to the ruins of an old town called Cossack, a few buildings of which have been restored. The town used to be a major port but fell out of favor because of silting problems. The courthouse, general store, and hotel had been rebuilt but the rest of the buildings marked on the map were piles of rubble or semi-buried foundations. There was an interesting graveyard, divided into European, Japanese, Chinese, and Malay sections.

Finally we drove out to Point Samson, a pleasant town with water on three sides. We got a spot at a caravan park right on the beach and went exploring. Once again the tide was very far out so despite carrying our rods with us, we didn’t fish. We were happy to explore the wet, flat rocks and mud the tide left behind and again found octopi, crabs, and snails and this time a couple of turtles! A little later we went back to a bridge we had crossed coming into town to try some non-surf-fishing and I caught a bream. Finally some success!

The next day we went to another beach called Honeymoon Cove but found it too rocky for fishing. We also tried our luck at the bridge again but despite numerous big bites, didn’t catch anything this time. After we ran out of bait we headed to Karratha.

Karratha is touted as a “shopping mecca” and since we don’t really have the budget for that, we didn’t stay long. We did however buy another cheap fishing rod. We then headed to Dampier, arriving in time to fish at some rocks with no luck (yes, it’s getting frustrating) and watch the sunset. We got a caravan site at a park with a view of the working jetty unloading iron ore onto boats for transport to China, but here it’s by Rio Tinto.

Dampier and Karratha turned out to be a pointless detour because we didn’t do much worth making the trip off the highway. The next morning we woke up to overcast and windy skies and departed for Exmouth, thus making our exit from the Pilbara. The red, red everything is beginning to yield to white sand and scrub trees, but still makes a rocky appearance now and then. The Pilbara is small but lovely and makes a great transition between the Kimberley and the Coral Coast.

Click HERE for More Photos of the Pilbara

Becca

Becca and I arrived in Broome in the early afternoon. We had spent the previous night in a roadside rest area and the ride in was short. We stopped at the Tourist Information Center and got some info on where to stay, and then we went into town to walk around and see the area.

Central Broome, or Chinatown, is centered on a small shopping district with a pretty cool pedestrian area. Some things to see here are the memorial to Dutch civilians and international servicemen killed in a raid on Broome by the Japanese during WWII, Australia’s oldest outdoor cinema, and tons of pearl stores, since Broome is a huge pearling town. We also found an internet café, Telecentre, which we had trouble with because we downloaded a new operating system for Becca’s laptop. We found out the hard way that Australians pay for internet by the megabyte. We spent the night in a nice caravan park in a good location right on Town Beach on Roebuck Bay.

The next morning Becca and I went to see about landing some work for a few days. We decided it would help out with gas (petrol in Australia as there is LPG available everywhere) money for the rest of our trip. Becca answered an ad posted on a backpacker message board by a guy named Rob who needed an empty house cleaned so he could move in. She started immediately and I killed some time in a different internet café (we found out later that McDonald’s has free wireless!). It was fairly easy work and she got paid pretty well. Rob also ended up needing help (out of pity for me, maybe ) with his lawn maintenance business and offered me a half-day’s worth of work the next morning. For the next couple of days Rob and I worked mowing and cleaning lawns. He seemed to have some fairly rich clientele and I saw some very nice houses around Broome. We also helped Rob move his stuff from his old house to the new one. He also let us stay in his yard for free and use his garage shower, which Becca cleaned.

The first two days after work, we went fishing on the local pier, only to catch a few small fish and we threw those back. After our third day of work (a short one for Becca, a longer one for me), we to Gantheaume Point to see the lighthouse and the dinosaur footprints. Unfortunately the tide was too high to see the footprints, but we stayed for a gorgeous sunset. When we got back to Rob’s he cooked us a great barbeque dinner, the first good steak we’d had in months. We had planned to leave the next day but Rob offered to take us to the first horse races of the season, so we extended our stay in his yard.

Our first order of business for Saturday was to head to the local Wicked Camper shop and ask for some repairs. We knew, however that they would just give us a new van if they had it, and they did. We got to choose from several of the same model, but all newer than the Addam’s Family. We picked Star Skulls because of the new tires and generally-better-maintained appearance. Sorry Addam’s Family, you’ve been replaced!

The races later that day were a blast. The whole town turns out to the Broome Turf Club to watch and mingle. Rob got in on an entertainers pass (he was “modeling” for a friend’s clothing shop show between races) and he let Becca use his membership badge so we only had to pay one entry fee of $10. Later he borrowed another membership badge from a friend so we got to hang out in the VIP section with a better view of the finish line. We had no idea how to read the race bill, but we bet three dollars on the last race anyway. Our horse was winning for most of the race but couldn’t hold the speed and came in fourth place – not a very good show.

After the races finished, the rest of the night was spent watching live bands, drinking beer and champagne, and watching locals play a game called Two Up. The rules were explained to Becca by one of Rob’s friends and this is what they are: two coins are thrown in the air by whoever is controlling the game and both have to land either heads or tails together (if they land heads and tails they are tossed again and no one wins). To bet you have to find an opponent from the crowd by shouting heads or tails and the amount you want to bet. Once you find a partner, the person betting tails holds the money until the coins are thrown. If its tails he keeps it, if its heads he gives it all back. As you may have figured out there is a certain amount of honor associated with this (there are no dealers or officials regulating anything) and it sometimes backfires. We saw someone get thrown out of the club because his opponent did not hand over the winnings. Apparently the opponent refused to acknowledge that he had taken the bet and the other started a fight (rightly so) about it. Two-up is a simple but very popular game and it lasted for several hours.

After a late night we slept in a bit but went to see a few of the sights we’d missed so far. We drove to Cable Beach and walked around for a while, chasing seagulls and watching planes land. Cable Beach is supposedly one of the “best beaches in the world” but we could make a good argument against that. It was nice and all, but we’ve seen much better. We also ventured back to Chinatown for some strolling. We ducked into the Giant Tides Gallery, a photo gallery by Peter Strain of macro-photography of tiny snails that live in the mangrove trees of the huge tides of the area. They were interesting photos, but nothing I’d hang on my walls. Becca got some pointers about macro equipment too.

Later that day Rob took us and his dog Asha out in his “tinny” (aluminum boat) for some fishing. We launched right from the southern end of Cable Beach. We stayed only a short way off the shore and we caught a number of fish, although only two were keepers. I caught two Jack Trevally but threw one back because it was a little too small for our liking. We also caught a couple of small cod and a Coral Trout. It was a short but fun day on the water.

The next day we did a little more work for Rob but he took us out fishing again afterward. This time went about 25K offshore but didn’t have as many bites. I managed to land a keepable trout. Becca caught a “monkey fish” which is very ugly with closely-set eyes and a huge mouth, but Rob wouldn’t let it in the boat. It was still a blast and Becca had to drive home because of the “no keepers, no beer” rule.

We left the next day after saying our goodbyes to Rob and Asha and headed south for Eighty-Mile Beach. We would be leaving the Kimberley and entering the region known as the Pilbara. We loved Broome and hated to go, especially after making a great friend like Rob. He not only employed us, but entertained us and put us up for free and we were lucky to have found him. Also, Broome is a beautiful, laid-back city with great beaches and fun things to do. We’ll go back one day.

Click HERE for more Photos of Broome

Jacob (& Becca)

In order to break up the lonnnnnng distances between stops in the Outback, the highway people have thankfully marked numerous historic sites and picnic areas. We utilized quite a few of these on our way to Kununurra from Katherine. The Durack Monument (the first cattle family of the Northwest), an escarpment lookout, Bradshaw Bridge, the Gregory Tree, Timber Creek, and something called the Beef Road Monument (the plaque was gone) were some of the short stops we made along the way. We also had to stop at the Western Australia state border for a quarantine check. Apparently they are very strict on keeping various bugs, plants, diseases and especially cane toads contained to the states in which they already exist and out of the ones they don’t. We had to turn over our garlic but fortunately we didn’t have anything else from the long list of forbidden items that includes fruit and honey.

When we arrived in Kununurra, the “Gateway to the Kimberley”, we stopped at the visitors center so I could grab a large stack of very informative brochures, and then at the grocery store for steak to cook for dinner. We checked into a powered site at Kimberleyland Caravan Park and had an early rest. I took pictures of our great view of the “Sleeping Buddha Rock” on the other side of Lake Argyle and managed to lose my polarized UV camera filter and crash my hard drive all within an hour. I freaked out for a while because every photo I’d taken on our entire seven month trip was on that drive and not all of them were backed up. Wouldn’t you cry? Jacob assured me it was recoverable eventually. Our steak dinner was still delicious.

The next day we went to an internet café in town to check our emails for the first time in a week. It turns out that even this tiny country podunk town has computer geeks and the very nice owner of the cafe insisted he could recover the info on my hard drive. We left him with the drive and our phone number but within 10 minutes he was calling saying there was nothing wrong with it. It turned out to be simply a broken case so we bought a new one from him and he didn’t charge us for the work. YAY!!

That catastrophe was averted so we headed to Mirima National Park. This place is quite a large park, but turned out to have only 3 short walking trails covering a very small fraction of the park land. We paid $9 to get in and hiked the longest trail they had. It took us to a great lookout, one side looking over the parks weird red hills and the other side with a view of the town of Kununurra. Unfortunately, it took us only an hour, so we left, deciding it was not worth the money we’d spent.

After Kununarra our goal was simply to get as far west as we could before dark. We drove through some incredible scenery, which was still mostly red. At one point we got pulled over by the police for a “random driver’s license and breathalyzer test”. Jacob passed, of course, and we learned that Australian cops are quite laid back and funny.  That night we stayed in a 24 hour rest stop off the highway for free (yay!). We discovered over beers that the Southern Cross is the most obvious cross shape in the sky and that the Big Dipper is upside down in the Southern Hemisphere. Cool, huh?

The following day we had the same goal, get as far west as possible, because there’s just not much to do and very long distances between stops. By this point we had also realized that going 80 km/h gets us the best gas mileage, so we weren’t getting anywhere very fast. We passed through Hall’s Creek, had a stop at the Wolfe Creek sign (like the movie) for some photos, and peed in the cleanest roadside toilets ever at Mary Pool. We called it quits for the day at Turunda Caravan Park in Fitzroy Crossing.

After a good sleep and laundry, we headed west again, this time with Derby in mind. We had entered the land of the Boab tree, and stopped at a huge one for lunch. It didn’t take us long to get to Derby, which is 41km off the main highway, and after a stop at the Visitors Center, it didn’t take us long to decide not to stay. There are several fun things to do in Derby, but none of them cost less than $100. We hung around long enough to buy one hand line to fish with and some bait and sit at the jetty for an hour catching nothing. There were no cheap places to stay in Derby, so we drove as far as we could and ended up staying at a roadside parking bay for the night. We’re not sure if this is legal, but nobody said anything.

The next day, after showers at a nearby roadhouse, we were finally heading toward Broome, our last stop in the Kimberley. From here on out we wouldn’t be driving for days between towns unless we had to. Plus, Broome was supposed to be a place we could stick around for a few days…

Click HERE for more Photos of the Kimberley Region

Becca

Every piece of printed matter I’ve read about driving in Australia says to not drive around dusk and after dark because of the risk of hitting kangaroos and other wildlife. This is especially difficult because the sun goes down before six pm, after less than 12 hours of being up! Well, we didn’t have much choice on our first day with the Addam’s Family because we had gotten such a late start, but luckily we didn’t hit anything. We did, however, see a bunch of kangaroos, or wallabies, or wallaroos, or whatever they are, and they were very cute and close to the road. We also discovered that absolutely everyone waves to each other on the highway.

We finally pulled into the Aurora Kakadu Resort and Campground around eight o’clock and got ourselves a non-powered site for a (more-expensive-than-expected but turns-out-to-be-cheap) $24. The guy behind the desk warned of “mozzies” (mosquitos) but we didn’t feel the full brunt of them until we got to our grassy site. Their numbers were incredible, far worse than I’ve ever felt in Louisiana, plus we only had some sweet-smelling repellant from Malaysia that did NOT work. To escape we went and had a beer at the pub but this relief was temporary. The epic battle of us vs. the mozzies lasted all night and was only aggravated by the heat, lack of wind, and the fact that the screen on the window had a huge hole in it. I began to wonder if we had made the wrong decision and if it would be this bad for the next 29 days.

After a sweaty, sleepless night we (unintentionally) got up with the sun to explore Kakadu National Park. Our first stop was the Bowali Visitors Center for some information and maps and to watch an interesting video about the Wet and Dry seasons in the Top End. The beautiful building was designed to mimic an aboriginal dwelling and blend in with the surroundings. It reminded me a bit of the LSU Hilltop Arboretum.

After a quick stop in Jabiru, the main town, for some essentials (but not bug spray because we’re cheap and stubborn), we headed to the Ubirr area to the north. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at Cahill’s Crossing and looked for crocodiles. The crossing the main road across the East Alligator River into Arnhemland, a huge chunk of aboriginal owned land to the east of Kakadu that requires a permit to enter. We then hiked a several kilometer loop around Ubirr that took us to some amazingly old rock art. Some of the sites contain paintings that are over 20,000 years old. Out of respect, each generation painted over the old paintings instead of erasing or editing them, which makes a layered mural of red, white, yellow, and orange. Very, very cool. The trail also brought us up to an escarpment lookout with a beautiful view of the north end of the park and into Arnhemland. To keep with ancient aboriginal practices and prevent huge forest fires, the rangers start controlled brush fires all around the park in the fall, and we could see spots of smoke for miles.

Next we headed back south to do a walk around Nourlangie Billabong and see the sunset from Nourlangie Lookout. Unfortunately, for reasons we don’t know, the billabong trail was closed, so we climbed Nourlangie Rock early. We didn’t see the sun set completely, but we did get to watch to escarpment to the east change colors in a magnificent way.

That night we stayed at Gungadju Resort and Campground for slightly less money, but fought us vs. the mozzies round two. Our new citronella candle only worked a little, long enough for us to make dinner and hang around the outdoor patio area near the restaurant for some computer charging. It was another miserable night.

The next day we explored Yellow Water Billabong and finally saw some crocodiles. We also saw tons of birds, several big fish, and the over-populous hippius smellicus. The billabong was beautiful and colorful and we wished we could afford one of the boat tours.

Near Yellow Water Billabong is the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Center, and this was our next stop of the day. It was filled with well-designed displays of aboriginal life, including dilly bag weaving, turtle hunting, and two interactive wheels to demonstrate their very complex marriage and naming systems.  The center was very informative and showed just how much ancient aboriginal knowledge is still used to manage the park.

Our next stop was intended to be Gunlom Falls, a gorgeous waterfall and plunge pool 35km off the paved highway, but our crappy little van was bouncing and sliding all over the dirt and gravel road, so we had to turn back. Gunlom was one of three waterfalls that we had to skip because of a lack of 4WD and money for tours.

Instead we headed out of Kakadu and southwest for Katherine. Along the way we stopped to photograph the biggest termite mounds we’ve ever seen. Check them out. Ahead of schedule, we had time to stop at the store for beer, meat, and bug spray. Outside of Kakadu, though, the temperature was significantly cooler at night and there were no mosquitoes. We had turkey tacos for dinner and splurged an extra dollar on a powered site at All Seasons Motel and Caravan Park. We met an English guy named Matt who hadn’t paid for his van’s spot and this made us wonder if we were suckers for not being more sneaky, but we decided we’d stay honest. That night we finally slept like babies in our cool, comfy, mozzie-free van bed.

The next morning we drove a short way to Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park. There we hiked a few kilometers up and along a beautiful red gorge filled with a sparkling blue lake. We couldn’t swim because of crocodiles and we couldn’t kayak because it cost too much, but we marveled at it. We also found a Bao bird’s nest on the ground where they were playing and being generally cute. A local walked by and called it a Bao bird playhouse, which is accurate. It was easy to sit and watch them for a long time.

The park was impressive but small so we headed back to the town. We decided to skip the Cutta Cutta Caves (too expensive) and head west. That night we slept at Sullivan Campground in Gregory National Park, though we didn’t explore the park itself. Not much longer and we’d be leaving the Northern Territory and entering Western Australia, but Katherine was the beginning of the red, red everything from which we still haven’t emerged, although the complementing colors are changing. It is beautiful here.

Click HERE for more Photos of the Northern Territory

Becca Read more…