...so here we are, post OzBUS, fending for ourselves with nobody to tell us where to be, when to be there and what we're doing everyday. Eeeek!! Scary times...or rather, exciting times!
The Lemmie and Loonie adventure continues...
We're currently in Sydney, wandering about trying to see as much as the city can show us in the week we've got here. So far she's been exposing herself quite a bit and we're loving it! We fly out of here on August 30th (*sob*) and head for Broome with Qantas (we've a stopover for a while in Melbourne and then an 8ish hour flight...crazy distances!!).
We'll get 4 nights to explore the area around Broome where I hope to soak up some sun again (Sydney is pretty darn cold...I've purchased jeans to replace the ones I sent home from Turkey!). On September 3rd we start a 10 day Adventure Tours trip from there to Perth (stops are mapped out on our map if you're interested) which looks like it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun. I'm hoping for a guide like the guy who dropped me to the helicopter pad in Katherine..he was bloody mental! Here's hoping for Pictionary on the windows of the bus :)
We've got a single night in Perth where we're hoping to meet up with Richard from the bus before we board the Indian Pacific train. After 2.5 days aboard that we'll pull into Adelaide for another visit to the Morgans. We'll pick up out rental van there (hoping for a cool spaceship name) and take about 4 days to drive the Great Ocean Road all the way to Melbourne.
All going to plan we'll meet up with the Galway Girls there and crash on their floor for the night before Loonie and I part ways *sniff*. That's gonna be a weird one..we'll have been in each others pockets for 4 months at that stage...crazy times!
So, throughout our remaining adventure we'll (read I'll) continue to post up our tales here. When the Lemmie & Loonie adventure is over, maybe I'll start a new blog..it's become part of my routine now ;)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Top 5's (Emma)
A quick off the top of my head top 5 from my OzBUS experience...if I had my journal it'd be a bit more scientific!
Top 5 Countries
================
1. Australia
2. Thailand
3. Nepal
4. Pakistan
5. Belgium
Top 5 Stops
============
1. Ko Samui
2. Bali
3. Chitwan
4. Bangkok
5. Bruges
Top 5 Places I've Slept
=======================
1. Jayakarta (Bali) * not an OzBUS location, we treated ourselves when we flew down early
2. Swag at Uluru (Yulara)
3. Hotel I can't remember the name of (Tehran)
4. Meninger Hostel (Vienna)
5. Home Bay Resort (Ko Samui)
Top 5 Activities **
====================
1. Canyon Swing @ Last Resort, Nepal
2. White Water Rafting @ Pokhara, Nepal
3. Everest Flight @ Kathmandu, Nepal
4. Hot-Air Ballooning @ Goreme, Turkey
5. Elephant Washing/Safari @ Chitwan, Nepal
** the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb would be #1 had I done it during the OzBUS window
Top 5 Things I Miss From Home
=============================
1. Conor
2. The rest of my family and friends
3. My bed
4. Cooking my own dinner
5. Having clean clothes all the time
Despite not ending as I had imagined I've had the time of my life. The journey was immense, the company was fantastic and the craic was mighty. Would I do it all again given a do over?
Hell yea!
Top 5 Countries
================
1. Australia
2. Thailand
3. Nepal
4. Pakistan
5. Belgium
Top 5 Stops
============
1. Ko Samui
2. Bali
3. Chitwan
4. Bangkok
5. Bruges
Top 5 Places I've Slept
=======================
1. Jayakarta (Bali) * not an OzBUS location, we treated ourselves when we flew down early
2. Swag at Uluru (Yulara)
3. Hotel I can't remember the name of (Tehran)
4. Meninger Hostel (Vienna)
5. Home Bay Resort (Ko Samui)
Top 5 Activities **
====================
1. Canyon Swing @ Last Resort, Nepal
2. White Water Rafting @ Pokhara, Nepal
3. Everest Flight @ Kathmandu, Nepal
4. Hot-Air Ballooning @ Goreme, Turkey
5. Elephant Washing/Safari @ Chitwan, Nepal
** the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb would be #1 had I done it during the OzBUS window
Top 5 Things I Miss From Home
=============================
1. Conor
2. The rest of my family and friends
3. My bed
4. Cooking my own dinner
5. Having clean clothes all the time
Despite not ending as I had imagined I've had the time of my life. The journey was immense, the company was fantastic and the craic was mighty. Would I do it all again given a do over?
Hell yea!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
OzBUS Over And Out!
We made it to Sydney...the missing blog entries will be added at some stage this week to make the journey jigsaw complete. For now, all's you gotta know is that we arrived...everyone in one piece (except for Alex who's missing a fingernail). The drive was a few hours longer than expected and so it was getting pretty dark. Our driver appeared to get lost as we didn't make it to the Opera House for the final group picture...a shame...but who's going to complain and demand we drive on when there's a bus of people who have been desperate for the loo for hours and there's no time to stop. I'll get my own photo tomorrow...it'll be a day late getting to the Opera House but I can't count the trip as fully over and say I'm in Sydney proper without a picture there...guess it's the same smelly clothes for me tomorrow ;)
Day 91 (Sydney)
Up before the crack of dawn again this morning, but for the FINAL time! We awoke from slumber in our cabins in Narrandera with mixed emotions about the day ahead. For me, I was excited to get to Sydney and reach the end of the OzBUS portion of my journey - I was looking forward to the sense of achievement of having stuck with it when the going got tough for me (which is did a bit from time to time). But on the other hand I was sad about what the end of the trip would mean for the friendships that had been forged along the way. Some of the crew have become like my right arm so the thought of leaving them was quite upsetting.
Our only scheduled stop along the way was for a brief spell in Canberra. We pulled in there for an hour or so, grabbed a bite to eat, used the toilet facilities and were on the way again with an additional passenger aboard. Wombat's girlfriend's father..very random! He gave us an impromptu description of the sights as Wombat drove around (with what may have been the first genuine smile I saw on his face). It was nice to have things pointed out, though it reduces what I've got to see in Canberra considerably!
After that stop we were back on the road...limited toilet stops as we needed to push on to make it to Sydney while it was still bright enough to get a decent photo at the Opera House. We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove...we got to Sydney and it was bright, we got lost in Sydney and it got dark. We managed to end up quite lost and with Wombat tired as hell from the mammoth drive the Opera House photo was abandoned :(
I was gutted. That photo, though it may seem insignificant to some people was what acted as a proper close to the trip for me. To never get it, it sucks and at long last I could see where Todo was coming from with his "I'll be deflated if I don't see Everest" comment! But while clouds blocking a mountain will stop you seeing it, a dark sky with a glowing Opera House is better than no sky and no Opera House.
I suppose I could have said something, but realistically I wasn't going to kick off about because at that point we'd been on the road for hours and everyone was dying for the toilet (who supplies a bus for 12 hour drive days without a working toilet when there are little or no places to stop for a toilet?). So rather than finish things properly we were bussed to the hostel and turfed out there. A bitter disappointment for me. I'd filled out my comment card already so couldn't voice my disgust at how the trip ended, not cool guys, not cool at all!
As it was Richard's birthday I turned my frown upside down and went to join everyone at the Gaff for some celebratory drinks and foods. It turned out to be a great night, and the upset about the photo faded somewhat. I can do a funny photoshop of the Opera House over the picture we got in Canberra..not the same but at least it's something I guess?
Our only scheduled stop along the way was for a brief spell in Canberra. We pulled in there for an hour or so, grabbed a bite to eat, used the toilet facilities and were on the way again with an additional passenger aboard. Wombat's girlfriend's father..very random! He gave us an impromptu description of the sights as Wombat drove around (with what may have been the first genuine smile I saw on his face). It was nice to have things pointed out, though it reduces what I've got to see in Canberra considerably!
After that stop we were back on the road...limited toilet stops as we needed to push on to make it to Sydney while it was still bright enough to get a decent photo at the Opera House. We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove...we got to Sydney and it was bright, we got lost in Sydney and it got dark. We managed to end up quite lost and with Wombat tired as hell from the mammoth drive the Opera House photo was abandoned :(
I was gutted. That photo, though it may seem insignificant to some people was what acted as a proper close to the trip for me. To never get it, it sucks and at long last I could see where Todo was coming from with his "I'll be deflated if I don't see Everest" comment! But while clouds blocking a mountain will stop you seeing it, a dark sky with a glowing Opera House is better than no sky and no Opera House.
I suppose I could have said something, but realistically I wasn't going to kick off about because at that point we'd been on the road for hours and everyone was dying for the toilet (who supplies a bus for 12 hour drive days without a working toilet when there are little or no places to stop for a toilet?). So rather than finish things properly we were bussed to the hostel and turfed out there. A bitter disappointment for me. I'd filled out my comment card already so couldn't voice my disgust at how the trip ended, not cool guys, not cool at all!
As it was Richard's birthday I turned my frown upside down and went to join everyone at the Gaff for some celebratory drinks and foods. It turned out to be a great night, and the upset about the photo faded somewhat. I can do a funny photoshop of the Opera House over the picture we got in Canberra..not the same but at least it's something I guess?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Day 90 (Narrandera)
En route from Adelaide to Narrandera we had a brief stop at the Seven Hills winery for a tasting session run by Jesuit Monks. I tried as many as I could but found none that I liked enough to actually make a purchase.
The evening in Narrandera was spent in the ex-serviceman's club having some food and then while some of the others headed off to a bar to watch the rugby I headed back to the cabins with Mel to watch the Notebook. Of course I managed to fall asleep before the end so missed all the sobbing and crying that would have come my way.
Hard to believe that we'll be in Sydney tomorrow!!
The evening in Narrandera was spent in the ex-serviceman's club having some food and then while some of the others headed off to a bar to watch the rugby I headed back to the cabins with Mel to watch the Notebook. Of course I managed to fall asleep before the end so missed all the sobbing and crying that would have come my way.
Hard to believe that we'll be in Sydney tomorrow!!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Day 89 (Adelaide)
I didn't get to explore Adelaide on arrival today because I was collected from the hostel pretty much as soon as we arrived by the lovely Ann. She swept me off to her place to catch up with herself and Cerri and meet the adorable baby Aisling. A home cooked dinner and a proper bed for the night...BLISS!
We'll be back in Adelaide in mid-September when we catch the Indian Pacific train from Perth so I'll get some time to explore then.
For now, thanks for the hospitality guys! See you in a few weeks ;)
We'll be back in Adelaide in mid-September when we catch the Indian Pacific train from Perth so I'll get some time to explore then.
For now, thanks for the hospitality guys! See you in a few weeks ;)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Day 87 & 88 (Yulara)
Why even begin with 'we had an early start' – it's standard by now ;)
Today's schedule began with a 6km sunrise hike through Kings Canyon which I thought was going to kill me at first, but turned out to be a really excellent experience. The initial 15 minutes or so of the hike was up an almost vertical climb along really steep steps up the side of a hill. The view from the top made the pounding heart and gasping for air all worth it. I contemplated turning back once I'd got my photo taken but since it was still pretty cool out and the sun hadn't yet heated up to scorcio temperatures I pressed on. I was glad I did because the place was vast with more gaps and holes than I knew to expect. Wombat gave up regular talks on what we were seeing and kept us moving to make sure we were back to the bus before it got way too cold.
When we got back to the carpark we picked up two new passengers – a couple, on honeymoon, who had been screwed over by their travel agent/tour operator. The bus they'd been put on was heading in the wrong direction, but luckily we could take them to where they needed to go so all was well with the world. They slung their bags into the luggage hold and hopped onboard – nice to be doing a good thing for people, good karma :)
Our lunch stop was at Kings Creek Station where they had activities like helicopter or camel rides, quad bikes and rodeo type show stuff. I had planned on going quad biking but given how tired I was from the 5am wake up call and all the climbing and clambering over the rocks at the canyon I passed – turned out the rest of them did too. After we'd had a bite to eat and some of the crew had done a camel ride we were on the road again - destination Uluru Cultural Centre to allow us time to see what the local Aboriginals had to say about Uluru and it's meaning to them. It was good to get this in before our visit to the rock the next day as it gave people a chance to get the guardians point of view on whether to climb or not rather than doing it and then regretting it later because you didn't understand why they don't want people climbing on it. I never had the intention – some people did, but happily after looking in the centre nobody wanted to anymore. Each to their own and if someone had decided to do it, fair enough that's their call and off with them, but I was proud of our crew for respecting the beliefs and wishes of the Aborigines. I think something that may have swayed some of them was the Sorry Book. I'd read about Uluru in my guide book and found out that they get on average between 2 and 4 letters a week from people who want to return pieces of the rock that they've taken as a souvenir. They've found that since they took it they've had misfortune and want to apologise for it and seek forgiveness. I leafed through one of the sorry books and some of the letters I found were quite scary to read. One guy in particular had developed cancer, kidney failure, several strokes, his marriage failed, his kids were taken away and his life was in tatters – coincidence maybe, but still enough to give anyone considering climbing the rock and disrespecting their beliefs something to think about.
I was on cook duty the first night at Yulara with Michelle and Alet. We were serving up kangaroo steaks, beef burgers and bangers with a green salad and homemade coleslaw. I got stuck in on the coleslaw straight away because I figured shredding enough cabbage and carrot for 22 people might take some time. I'm pleased that every single last scrap of coleslaw was devoured...nice :) Alet sorted out the salad and Michelle was left at the hotplate trying to BBQ for 22 having never done it before – talk about deep end! But she performed gallantly assisted by the lovely James and they served up a mountain of meat that people took 2nd and 3rd helpings of – so, so, so, so good...Mmmmm!
We were back to basic-ish camping facilities tonight so it was a choice between swags or tents..13 of us went with swags. At first they were spread all over but after some talk of spiders, snakes and insects that caused some alarm (particularly when there was a joke about ants in one of the swags) we reshuffled and placed them in a circular formation with all the heads at the centre (minus one swag that was off at the far end leaving Richard alone – sorry dude!). So we all slept there head by head for the night. I was sharing my mozzie net with Abby who managed to tie herself up in it so bad that I woke up to find my head completely uncovered and some kind of giant cockroach type insecty thing sharing my pillow. I would have freaked out more had I been a) more awake and b) able to get myself out of the liner/sleeping bag/swag parcel I was so tightly encased in. Instead I hoped it wasn't poisonous and blew it off onto the ground and grabbed some more mozzie net for myself.
Again we were up at 5am, but this time to get us to the sunrise view point for Uluru and boy was it worth it – magic! From there we drove to one of the entrances to the base walk where we started off and did loop that was just shy of 10kms. We were careful to take pictures only in the areas that it was allowed and stuck to the path the whole way around. I know it's a giant red rock in the middle of nowhere – but it's a damn impressive giant red rock. Every angle of it was different, it was awe inspiring. When we finished up the base walk we met up with Wombat who took us on the Marla Walk and provided the interpretation of the rock for that portion. It was nice to have someone point stuff out to us for a while rather than just walking around wondering if there was any significance to the portion of the rock we were looking at.
Lunch was at Yulara shopping area where I did a spot of retail therapy. I got me a new shirt, flip-flops and a didgeridoo. Been looking for one that's got the traditional colours and isn't too big or heavy for getting home – got the perfect one, now all's I've got to do is figure out whether I'll try to learn to play it (I bought the instructional CD) or use it for decorative purposes.
After lunch we went to see the Olgas and a good number of the crew went walk about for a few hours there. I stayed behind at the bus because I'd managed to twist my knee in my sleep during the bug incident and having done the base walk on it earlier in the day it was quite sore at that stage. Rested up and it feels much better now :)
When everybody got back we moved on to the sunset viewing point for Uluru which was magical. We had champagne and nibbles (didn't really needed food afterwards). It was a pretty special time...kinda wished I was there in different circumstances. Love this group like family, but miss my family if ya get my meaning.
Back at camp the chef team cooked up a delicious chicken stir fry that we struggled to eat. I spent most of the evening sorting out blog entries and photos so by the time I was ready to sit by the campfire almost everyone was already tucked up in their swags. I managed to recruit Libby to come with me to the lookout a short walk from the camp to see if the stars were more visible than the previous night. We were pleasantly surprised. The sky was lit up with stars and the Milky Way was awesome. We got to see some shooting stars which was pretty class. When we got back to the camp I bunked down in my swag with a really clear view of the stars. Now here we are, 3 nights left on the trip – Coober Pedy, Adelaide and Narrandera. Then we pull into Sydney and after a blowout to celebrate Richard's birthday and us making it to Sydney we go our separate ways. It's weird..and as much as it surprises me...I'm not sure I'm happy about it!
Today's schedule began with a 6km sunrise hike through Kings Canyon which I thought was going to kill me at first, but turned out to be a really excellent experience. The initial 15 minutes or so of the hike was up an almost vertical climb along really steep steps up the side of a hill. The view from the top made the pounding heart and gasping for air all worth it. I contemplated turning back once I'd got my photo taken but since it was still pretty cool out and the sun hadn't yet heated up to scorcio temperatures I pressed on. I was glad I did because the place was vast with more gaps and holes than I knew to expect. Wombat gave up regular talks on what we were seeing and kept us moving to make sure we were back to the bus before it got way too cold.
When we got back to the carpark we picked up two new passengers – a couple, on honeymoon, who had been screwed over by their travel agent/tour operator. The bus they'd been put on was heading in the wrong direction, but luckily we could take them to where they needed to go so all was well with the world. They slung their bags into the luggage hold and hopped onboard – nice to be doing a good thing for people, good karma :)
Our lunch stop was at Kings Creek Station where they had activities like helicopter or camel rides, quad bikes and rodeo type show stuff. I had planned on going quad biking but given how tired I was from the 5am wake up call and all the climbing and clambering over the rocks at the canyon I passed – turned out the rest of them did too. After we'd had a bite to eat and some of the crew had done a camel ride we were on the road again - destination Uluru Cultural Centre to allow us time to see what the local Aboriginals had to say about Uluru and it's meaning to them. It was good to get this in before our visit to the rock the next day as it gave people a chance to get the guardians point of view on whether to climb or not rather than doing it and then regretting it later because you didn't understand why they don't want people climbing on it. I never had the intention – some people did, but happily after looking in the centre nobody wanted to anymore. Each to their own and if someone had decided to do it, fair enough that's their call and off with them, but I was proud of our crew for respecting the beliefs and wishes of the Aborigines. I think something that may have swayed some of them was the Sorry Book. I'd read about Uluru in my guide book and found out that they get on average between 2 and 4 letters a week from people who want to return pieces of the rock that they've taken as a souvenir. They've found that since they took it they've had misfortune and want to apologise for it and seek forgiveness. I leafed through one of the sorry books and some of the letters I found were quite scary to read. One guy in particular had developed cancer, kidney failure, several strokes, his marriage failed, his kids were taken away and his life was in tatters – coincidence maybe, but still enough to give anyone considering climbing the rock and disrespecting their beliefs something to think about.
I was on cook duty the first night at Yulara with Michelle and Alet. We were serving up kangaroo steaks, beef burgers and bangers with a green salad and homemade coleslaw. I got stuck in on the coleslaw straight away because I figured shredding enough cabbage and carrot for 22 people might take some time. I'm pleased that every single last scrap of coleslaw was devoured...nice :) Alet sorted out the salad and Michelle was left at the hotplate trying to BBQ for 22 having never done it before – talk about deep end! But she performed gallantly assisted by the lovely James and they served up a mountain of meat that people took 2nd and 3rd helpings of – so, so, so, so good...Mmmmm!
We were back to basic-ish camping facilities tonight so it was a choice between swags or tents..13 of us went with swags. At first they were spread all over but after some talk of spiders, snakes and insects that caused some alarm (particularly when there was a joke about ants in one of the swags) we reshuffled and placed them in a circular formation with all the heads at the centre (minus one swag that was off at the far end leaving Richard alone – sorry dude!). So we all slept there head by head for the night. I was sharing my mozzie net with Abby who managed to tie herself up in it so bad that I woke up to find my head completely uncovered and some kind of giant cockroach type insecty thing sharing my pillow. I would have freaked out more had I been a) more awake and b) able to get myself out of the liner/sleeping bag/swag parcel I was so tightly encased in. Instead I hoped it wasn't poisonous and blew it off onto the ground and grabbed some more mozzie net for myself.
Again we were up at 5am, but this time to get us to the sunrise view point for Uluru and boy was it worth it – magic! From there we drove to one of the entrances to the base walk where we started off and did loop that was just shy of 10kms. We were careful to take pictures only in the areas that it was allowed and stuck to the path the whole way around. I know it's a giant red rock in the middle of nowhere – but it's a damn impressive giant red rock. Every angle of it was different, it was awe inspiring. When we finished up the base walk we met up with Wombat who took us on the Marla Walk and provided the interpretation of the rock for that portion. It was nice to have someone point stuff out to us for a while rather than just walking around wondering if there was any significance to the portion of the rock we were looking at.
Lunch was at Yulara shopping area where I did a spot of retail therapy. I got me a new shirt, flip-flops and a didgeridoo. Been looking for one that's got the traditional colours and isn't too big or heavy for getting home – got the perfect one, now all's I've got to do is figure out whether I'll try to learn to play it (I bought the instructional CD) or use it for decorative purposes.
After lunch we went to see the Olgas and a good number of the crew went walk about for a few hours there. I stayed behind at the bus because I'd managed to twist my knee in my sleep during the bug incident and having done the base walk on it earlier in the day it was quite sore at that stage. Rested up and it feels much better now :)
When everybody got back we moved on to the sunset viewing point for Uluru which was magical. We had champagne and nibbles (didn't really needed food afterwards). It was a pretty special time...kinda wished I was there in different circumstances. Love this group like family, but miss my family if ya get my meaning.
Back at camp the chef team cooked up a delicious chicken stir fry that we struggled to eat. I spent most of the evening sorting out blog entries and photos so by the time I was ready to sit by the campfire almost everyone was already tucked up in their swags. I managed to recruit Libby to come with me to the lookout a short walk from the camp to see if the stars were more visible than the previous night. We were pleasantly surprised. The sky was lit up with stars and the Milky Way was awesome. We got to see some shooting stars which was pretty class. When we got back to the camp I bunked down in my swag with a really clear view of the stars. Now here we are, 3 nights left on the trip – Coober Pedy, Adelaide and Narrandera. Then we pull into Sydney and after a blowout to celebrate Richard's birthday and us making it to Sydney we go our separate ways. It's weird..and as much as it surprises me...I'm not sure I'm happy about it!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Day 86 (Kings Canyon)
Kings Canyon Resort takes the piss out of camping...or at least removes the ability to call it camping when you're travelling with Adventure Tours – it's called Safari in Style Dahhhling ;)
I'm not complaining, I have to admit I loved my pre-erected tent complete with bed dressed with not one but two duvets and a towel!! Crazy!! I have however carried my roll mat all the way from Dublin to have used it only 2 times – once in Brugge on the first night when the bunk beds were so lopsided I couldn't risk climbing up in case I flatten Una and then once again somewhere in Turkey, again in a hostel not a campsite. Why am I still carrying it, well cos I paid for it and it's now a nice padded home for my boomerang ;)
We didn't get up to much after the free morning in Alice Springs..we spent the rest of the day driving with a stop or two at roadhouses on the route. One of those was at Mt Ebenezer where we checked out the gallery and had a quick snack. What was surprising about the day was that around 3pm something unusual happened – it started raining! We've not seen rain in quite a while (Ko Samui is the last I remember off the top of my head). We got off the bus at the roadhouse and everyone made a dash for the door to avoid getting too wet..all of us running around in our skimpy t's and shorts complete with flip-flops....what a sight!
I spent most of the evening sorting out photo backups (for me and a few others on the bus – we use electricity when we can!) and drinking stubbies. We're getting into the Australian spirit good and proper :)
I'm not complaining, I have to admit I loved my pre-erected tent complete with bed dressed with not one but two duvets and a towel!! Crazy!! I have however carried my roll mat all the way from Dublin to have used it only 2 times – once in Brugge on the first night when the bunk beds were so lopsided I couldn't risk climbing up in case I flatten Una and then once again somewhere in Turkey, again in a hostel not a campsite. Why am I still carrying it, well cos I paid for it and it's now a nice padded home for my boomerang ;)
We didn't get up to much after the free morning in Alice Springs..we spent the rest of the day driving with a stop or two at roadhouses on the route. One of those was at Mt Ebenezer where we checked out the gallery and had a quick snack. What was surprising about the day was that around 3pm something unusual happened – it started raining! We've not seen rain in quite a while (Ko Samui is the last I remember off the top of my head). We got off the bus at the roadhouse and everyone made a dash for the door to avoid getting too wet..all of us running around in our skimpy t's and shorts complete with flip-flops....what a sight!
I spent most of the evening sorting out photo backups (for me and a few others on the bus – we use electricity when we can!) and drinking stubbies. We're getting into the Australian spirit good and proper :)
Day 85 & 86 (Alice Springs)
Alice, alice...who the f#*k is Alice?!?
After a long, long, long 12 hours on the road we pulled up to Haven Backpacker Resort in Alice Springs. We'd had stops along the way for a photo opportunity at the Devil's Marbles, at Wycliffe Wells which is possibly one of the weirdest places I've ever been (it's known as a centre for UFO's and has a really high report rate for extraterrestrial activity), Barrow Creek (where there's a famous Telegraph Station where the workers were killed by Aboriginal men a long time back) and Ti-Tree to see a mango farm – or rather taste their ice-cream. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and I got some pretty good sunset shots, one of which I'm considering for a canvas print when I get home.
For our evening in Alice we headed out to Bojangles where I had my first full kangaroo steak..Mmmmm so tasty! Not sure it'd surpass beef steak in my hierarchy of deliciousness – but it was damn nice. The Galway Girls were shouted to a round of drinks from one of their mates at home who logged onto the Bojangles website to see the live stream.
The next day we were leaving for Kings Canyon but first we had a free morning to explore all that Alice had to offer – the Flying Doctors, School in the Air, Reptile Centre and the Desert Park. Unfortunately Una and I managed only a single one of those (though I'd like to think the best). We hired bikes from the hostel and cycled off into the desert in search of the Desert Park. Yes, I realise it's a bit weird to go to the desert to see the desert...that's exactly what Bill Bryson's mate thought in Down Under (I finished it a few days ago). But...it makes perfect sense! They've created three ecosystems in the Alice Springs Desert Park – Riverbed, Sand and Woodland, each being completely different. The cycle out was refreshing..so nice to be off the bus and surprisingly I managed to do the whole thing without having to get off and walk or getting red in the face – miraculous! Una wasn't as happy saying that had it been a walk or a swim to get there she'd be happy out but biking just ain't her thing. By the time we got there we had about an hour to spend wandering the place before we needed to get on our bikes and get back to the hostel for the drive to Kings Canyon – not the best when they suggest a minimum of 3 hours to see the place in its entirety. Thankfully the guides onsite were really good and were able to tell us the must see sections and what would be advisable to skip to be able to get the most for our $20. It was amazing to walk just a couple of paces and see the landscape change so dramatically between the three areas. We got to walk around live kangaroos that were bouncing around the place and saw a wealth of plants and birds too. Well worth the energy it took to cycle out and the cycle back in while battling the wind and creating a jet-stream to make the ride a little bit easier for Una.
Verdict on Alice Springs, a nice place to stop and I'd definitely consider going back to see the attractions that I missed out on. It seems like a small enough place but I didn't really see enough of it.
After a long, long, long 12 hours on the road we pulled up to Haven Backpacker Resort in Alice Springs. We'd had stops along the way for a photo opportunity at the Devil's Marbles, at Wycliffe Wells which is possibly one of the weirdest places I've ever been (it's known as a centre for UFO's and has a really high report rate for extraterrestrial activity), Barrow Creek (where there's a famous Telegraph Station where the workers were killed by Aboriginal men a long time back) and Ti-Tree to see a mango farm – or rather taste their ice-cream. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and I got some pretty good sunset shots, one of which I'm considering for a canvas print when I get home.
For our evening in Alice we headed out to Bojangles where I had my first full kangaroo steak..Mmmmm so tasty! Not sure it'd surpass beef steak in my hierarchy of deliciousness – but it was damn nice. The Galway Girls were shouted to a round of drinks from one of their mates at home who logged onto the Bojangles website to see the live stream.
The next day we were leaving for Kings Canyon but first we had a free morning to explore all that Alice had to offer – the Flying Doctors, School in the Air, Reptile Centre and the Desert Park. Unfortunately Una and I managed only a single one of those (though I'd like to think the best). We hired bikes from the hostel and cycled off into the desert in search of the Desert Park. Yes, I realise it's a bit weird to go to the desert to see the desert...that's exactly what Bill Bryson's mate thought in Down Under (I finished it a few days ago). But...it makes perfect sense! They've created three ecosystems in the Alice Springs Desert Park – Riverbed, Sand and Woodland, each being completely different. The cycle out was refreshing..so nice to be off the bus and surprisingly I managed to do the whole thing without having to get off and walk or getting red in the face – miraculous! Una wasn't as happy saying that had it been a walk or a swim to get there she'd be happy out but biking just ain't her thing. By the time we got there we had about an hour to spend wandering the place before we needed to get on our bikes and get back to the hostel for the drive to Kings Canyon – not the best when they suggest a minimum of 3 hours to see the place in its entirety. Thankfully the guides onsite were really good and were able to tell us the must see sections and what would be advisable to skip to be able to get the most for our $20. It was amazing to walk just a couple of paces and see the landscape change so dramatically between the three areas. We got to walk around live kangaroos that were bouncing around the place and saw a wealth of plants and birds too. Well worth the energy it took to cycle out and the cycle back in while battling the wind and creating a jet-stream to make the ride a little bit easier for Una.
Verdict on Alice Springs, a nice place to stop and I'd definitely consider going back to see the attractions that I missed out on. It seems like a small enough place but I didn't really see enough of it.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Day 84 (Daly Waters)
There was another group staying at the same camp area as us in Katherine and one of the passengers needed one of us to sign up for a helicopter ride over the Katherine Gorge in order for her to be able to fly. It was $75 AUS for 10 minutes which would allow you to see 3 of the gorges. I was booked onto the two gorge cruise but thought this might be a nice way to see the place too so signed up along with Annie, Todd and Kim. The 4 of us headed off to the launchpad at 6.45am and met the pilot who had been dubbed Hottie McHot by the girls who wanted lots of pictures of him to drool over when I got back to the bus. The helicopter was teeny tiny, a four seater meaning there would be two trips to get us all up there. I'd forgotten about the standing on the scales part of helicoptering but was pleasantly surprised that though I thought I'd put all my parasite weight loss back on, I'm still hanging in there at my slightly lighter weight. Annie went up first with Patti the Canadian from the other group, leaving Kim, Todd and I for the 2nd flight. True to his word he had them back in 10 minutes and then took us up – I got the front seat which was pretty cool because of the way the glass curves into the floor so looking down it looked like my seat was floating on air. It was pretty cool to see the gorge that way but I'm not convinced it was worth the money, still it gives me another mode of transport to add to my list for the trip :)
After we'd finished there we headed to the Katherine Gorge information centre to meet up with the rest of the gang in time for the cruise. A big contingent of the passengers had hired out two person canoes to paddle their way up the first gorge. As cool as the cruise was (two boats with a bit of a walk in between to move between gorges) I instantly regretted not taking a canoe out when I saw how cool it looked and how still the water was. I expected something like the white water rapids river (naïve) so thought I'd struggle with it having no real canoe experience, but I would definitely have been able for it. You live, you learn!
When everyone was back from the boat or canoe we took to the road to go for an art lesson with an Aboriginal artist who's work was on display at a local gallery. We sat with him as he explained how he had learned to paint in the traditional way and how he loved the skills that he had learned and enjoyed it as his profession and his hobby. He was darn impressive on the didgeridoo too! When he'd finished giving us a talk about painting he encouraged us to paint our own little masterpieces. Mine didn't turn out the best, but it's not too shabby either. When we'd finished our painting we headed toward the bus where Wombat had BBQ'd a feast for us – so incredibly tasty!!
Within a minute or two of leaving the gallery we pulled over to see some camels at the roadside that Wombat called Cam and Mel..I'm not too sure if that was his sense of humour or the actual names of the camels – either way they were a nice distraction. I fed them some bread and had my photo taken with them narrowly avoiding having my hair eaten when I was found to have run out of bread. They looked a whole lot happier and healthier than the ones we'd seen in Pakistan which was a good thing.
The next stop was Mataranka Thermal Pool where pretty much everyone went for a dip. The water was incredibly clear and a wonderfully warm temperature. Again the camera came out for some water shots (I've since found out that the camera shouldn't be used in natural springs...all seems to be functioning ok but it's a big oops on my part!)
When we finally reached our destination for the night we saw just how empty the outback communities are. We were staying in Daly Waters that had a pub as it's centrepiece and not a whole lot more to be honest. The pub had a whole lot of character which totally made up for the lack of other facilities. They had underwear strewn from the rafters, graffiti'd money from all over the world, id's from workplaces/colleges/schools etc all stapled to the walls, a collection of Irish GAA jerseys (none from Wexford [I reckon that needs to be remedied when I get back]), shirts, flipflops and pretty much everything else you would imagine!! The flipflops had their own section called the Thong Tree, I've never seen such a weird area in a pub (and I've been in some pretty weird pubs). I had their Beef & Barra dinner, the house speciality and the finest meal I've had in a while and washed it down with a few mugs of local brew. I added some Indonesian Rupiah's with our blog address posted to the pillar at the end of the bar and signed my name to the bottom of the Irish flag. Since we were missing a yella belly jersey I went with my backup county and signed the Dublin jersey...roots are still yella but after 10 years in Dublin, I've got a blue tinge ;)
Todd produced a brand-spanking new, whiter than white t-shirt that he's been carrying from Ireland for the group to sign and hang. April as the artiste responsible for our official OzBUS 9 t-shirts direct from Kathmandu (Una's seam ripped the first time she wore it, my arm stitching has a whole since my first time) was recruited to recreate the design on plain white for everyone else to then sign. My inscription reads 'Living the Dream. Loving Life.' Una's reads 'Hey Dudes! Oz Rocks! Thank you. Go raibh mile maith agat o Eire :)'. If you make it to Daly Waters have a look for it..pride of place when you walk into the bar from the outside seating area beside the BBQ.
After a few too many beers my accommodation for the night was an oversized sleeping bag called a swag. I chose this over a tent or paying for an upgrade to get me a room in the pub for the night. Una, Jacinta, Emily & Ana also elected to sleep under the stars. After the initial panic of 'oh my god what about the poisonous snakes/spiders/god knows what else!' we relaxed into it and enjoyed the view for the night, waking up the next morning to a kick from Wombat telling us it was crazy o'clock and time to get up to make a move and wiping the dew off our faces.
Daly Waters verdict, nice to have seen, but I wouldn't be tempted by the bar jobs they had on offer..it's way too Bally-Go-Backward for me!!
After we'd finished there we headed to the Katherine Gorge information centre to meet up with the rest of the gang in time for the cruise. A big contingent of the passengers had hired out two person canoes to paddle their way up the first gorge. As cool as the cruise was (two boats with a bit of a walk in between to move between gorges) I instantly regretted not taking a canoe out when I saw how cool it looked and how still the water was. I expected something like the white water rapids river (naïve) so thought I'd struggle with it having no real canoe experience, but I would definitely have been able for it. You live, you learn!
When everyone was back from the boat or canoe we took to the road to go for an art lesson with an Aboriginal artist who's work was on display at a local gallery. We sat with him as he explained how he had learned to paint in the traditional way and how he loved the skills that he had learned and enjoyed it as his profession and his hobby. He was darn impressive on the didgeridoo too! When he'd finished giving us a talk about painting he encouraged us to paint our own little masterpieces. Mine didn't turn out the best, but it's not too shabby either. When we'd finished our painting we headed toward the bus where Wombat had BBQ'd a feast for us – so incredibly tasty!!
Within a minute or two of leaving the gallery we pulled over to see some camels at the roadside that Wombat called Cam and Mel..I'm not too sure if that was his sense of humour or the actual names of the camels – either way they were a nice distraction. I fed them some bread and had my photo taken with them narrowly avoiding having my hair eaten when I was found to have run out of bread. They looked a whole lot happier and healthier than the ones we'd seen in Pakistan which was a good thing.
The next stop was Mataranka Thermal Pool where pretty much everyone went for a dip. The water was incredibly clear and a wonderfully warm temperature. Again the camera came out for some water shots (I've since found out that the camera shouldn't be used in natural springs...all seems to be functioning ok but it's a big oops on my part!)
When we finally reached our destination for the night we saw just how empty the outback communities are. We were staying in Daly Waters that had a pub as it's centrepiece and not a whole lot more to be honest. The pub had a whole lot of character which totally made up for the lack of other facilities. They had underwear strewn from the rafters, graffiti'd money from all over the world, id's from workplaces/colleges/schools etc all stapled to the walls, a collection of Irish GAA jerseys (none from Wexford [I reckon that needs to be remedied when I get back]), shirts, flipflops and pretty much everything else you would imagine!! The flipflops had their own section called the Thong Tree, I've never seen such a weird area in a pub (and I've been in some pretty weird pubs). I had their Beef & Barra dinner, the house speciality and the finest meal I've had in a while and washed it down with a few mugs of local brew. I added some Indonesian Rupiah's with our blog address posted to the pillar at the end of the bar and signed my name to the bottom of the Irish flag. Since we were missing a yella belly jersey I went with my backup county and signed the Dublin jersey...roots are still yella but after 10 years in Dublin, I've got a blue tinge ;)
Todd produced a brand-spanking new, whiter than white t-shirt that he's been carrying from Ireland for the group to sign and hang. April as the artiste responsible for our official OzBUS 9 t-shirts direct from Kathmandu (Una's seam ripped the first time she wore it, my arm stitching has a whole since my first time) was recruited to recreate the design on plain white for everyone else to then sign. My inscription reads 'Living the Dream. Loving Life.' Una's reads 'Hey Dudes! Oz Rocks! Thank you. Go raibh mile maith agat o Eire :)'. If you make it to Daly Waters have a look for it..pride of place when you walk into the bar from the outside seating area beside the BBQ.
After a few too many beers my accommodation for the night was an oversized sleeping bag called a swag. I chose this over a tent or paying for an upgrade to get me a room in the pub for the night. Una, Jacinta, Emily & Ana also elected to sleep under the stars. After the initial panic of 'oh my god what about the poisonous snakes/spiders/god knows what else!' we relaxed into it and enjoyed the view for the night, waking up the next morning to a kick from Wombat telling us it was crazy o'clock and time to get up to make a move and wiping the dew off our faces.
Daly Waters verdict, nice to have seen, but I wouldn't be tempted by the bar jobs they had on offer..it's way too Bally-Go-Backward for me!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Day 83 (Katherine)
On the road again today to make our way from Kakadu to Katherine for overnight camping in another pre-erected campsite on a Cattle Station, how very Australian! Today Mel left us to head back to Darwin to wait for a few days to get a road train down from the Top End, through the Red Centre where she'll catch up with us in Coober Pedy. Half thought about going with her, but as I've not seen any of the sites and it seems like we're going to see a LOT I thought better of it and stuck with the bus.
We got up early to go for a walk around Mamukala Wetlands to see some landscape and wildlife. The place had lots of birds to be seen and we spotted a few wild wallabies too. It was pretty hot on the walk and I've never been quite so swarmed by flies in my life..they were crawling all over me even with my bug spray on (note I think Aussie flies might not respond to European spray so I need to invest in some new stuff).
From the wetlands we headed to Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre where we had a half hour or so to explore the exhibitions and learn a bit more history and culture. I managed to get through the whole centre by speed reading most of the signs, but a few of the others didn't manage to get everything read before we were ushered out again. It's a case a lot of the time, tight schedules and short stops all the way to make sure we're maximising distance travelled each day during daylight hours.
We had another stop before we got to the campsite and that was at Edith Falls. This place was beautiful, we strolled from the bus to the lakeside and took in the scenery while pondering if we were willing to risk swimming given the 'swim at your own risk, there may be crocodiles in there' warning signs around the place. The signs did say that it was freshwater so the crocodiles to be expected in there would be the ones that we didn't need to be too scared of, but they couldn't guarantee there were no salties in there...so....we went swimming of course :) I got to test out my new camera's underwater shoot mode and ability to withstand being submersed in water (not up to 10metres..I didn't go that deep into the water). A good number of the gang swam over to the waterfall and frolicked about there, of course mermaid Una was one of the first to start the swim over, water baby if ever I've seen one! I wanted to but am not that strong a swimmer and having almost drowned myself twice already on the trip (White Water Rafting in Nepal and swimming in the Green Canyon in Indonesia) I wasn't brave enough to try it. The waterfall was a good distance away with nothing to cling to if I got into trouble so I mucked about in the shallower water. Everyone survived the swim with a 0% crocodile incident rate to be reported :)
We got to the cattle station and Wombat and James got a bonfire started (first one of the trip) and the cooks for the night got started on our bolagnese. After dinner the campfire became the place to be with quality tuneage on the speakers and beers in hand while admiring the night sky. Wombat pointed out the Southern Cross and the Emu that was perched on it meaning it's time to eat Emu. My super cool laser purchased in Bangkok came in useful to point out the stars to people who were having trouble seeing them. I had my first glance at the Milky Way..and it was magic. Looking forward to having a constellation tutorial from Conor when he gets here...hurry up!!
There was a casualty from the day..Alex lost his little fingernail on his left hand after a log from the fireside fell on/crushed it..not a pretty sight at all. He was really calm about the whole thing, as I said, if it had been me thread have been a call to the Flying Doctors ;) It was the first time that I've heard a swearword from him on the whole trip...and that was because I provoked him by filming as Libby was patching him up. No amputation required, but he does deserve an 'I've been brave at the campfire' badge or something!
We got up early to go for a walk around Mamukala Wetlands to see some landscape and wildlife. The place had lots of birds to be seen and we spotted a few wild wallabies too. It was pretty hot on the walk and I've never been quite so swarmed by flies in my life..they were crawling all over me even with my bug spray on (note I think Aussie flies might not respond to European spray so I need to invest in some new stuff).
From the wetlands we headed to Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre where we had a half hour or so to explore the exhibitions and learn a bit more history and culture. I managed to get through the whole centre by speed reading most of the signs, but a few of the others didn't manage to get everything read before we were ushered out again. It's a case a lot of the time, tight schedules and short stops all the way to make sure we're maximising distance travelled each day during daylight hours.
We had another stop before we got to the campsite and that was at Edith Falls. This place was beautiful, we strolled from the bus to the lakeside and took in the scenery while pondering if we were willing to risk swimming given the 'swim at your own risk, there may be crocodiles in there' warning signs around the place. The signs did say that it was freshwater so the crocodiles to be expected in there would be the ones that we didn't need to be too scared of, but they couldn't guarantee there were no salties in there...so....we went swimming of course :) I got to test out my new camera's underwater shoot mode and ability to withstand being submersed in water (not up to 10metres..I didn't go that deep into the water). A good number of the gang swam over to the waterfall and frolicked about there, of course mermaid Una was one of the first to start the swim over, water baby if ever I've seen one! I wanted to but am not that strong a swimmer and having almost drowned myself twice already on the trip (White Water Rafting in Nepal and swimming in the Green Canyon in Indonesia) I wasn't brave enough to try it. The waterfall was a good distance away with nothing to cling to if I got into trouble so I mucked about in the shallower water. Everyone survived the swim with a 0% crocodile incident rate to be reported :)
We got to the cattle station and Wombat and James got a bonfire started (first one of the trip) and the cooks for the night got started on our bolagnese. After dinner the campfire became the place to be with quality tuneage on the speakers and beers in hand while admiring the night sky. Wombat pointed out the Southern Cross and the Emu that was perched on it meaning it's time to eat Emu. My super cool laser purchased in Bangkok came in useful to point out the stars to people who were having trouble seeing them. I had my first glance at the Milky Way..and it was magic. Looking forward to having a constellation tutorial from Conor when he gets here...hurry up!!
There was a casualty from the day..Alex lost his little fingernail on his left hand after a log from the fireside fell on/crushed it..not a pretty sight at all. He was really calm about the whole thing, as I said, if it had been me thread have been a call to the Flying Doctors ;) It was the first time that I've heard a swearword from him on the whole trip...and that was because I provoked him by filming as Libby was patching him up. No amputation required, but he does deserve an 'I've been brave at the campfire' badge or something!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Day 82 (Kakadu)
Let the Oz Adventure begin in earnest now...we're back on the bus (another different one, supplied by Adventure Tours) and starting our route down from the Top End through the Red Centre and then across to Sydney. In eleven days time we'll be pulling up at the Opera House..which is really hard to believe.
We met our driver and guide for our Oz travel – a guy called Wombat, a Tazzie native who's on his 6th year of touring with Adventure Tours. Una struggled to figure out who he reminded her of, but it came to me almost as soon as I met him...he's like a younger version of my dad. Resembles him a lot in appearance and manner which is freaky! He's got a jam packed schedule for us which means we'll get to see a whole lot of Oz before we even make it to Sydney. That's ace and will help me in my aim to cover as much ground as possible in my time in Australia. It's great to see how packed an itinerary Adventure Tours have for us especially since Una and I have booked another one of their routes from Broome – Perth (10 day road trip in a 24 seater bus) starting a week after we finish up with OzBUS....Nice ;)
We bade farewell to our hostel wondering what the campsite was going to be like that night in Kakadu. I had visions of a mouldy old tent that you'd see in the movies when scouts go camping...how wrong I was! We were staying at the Kakadu Lodge in pre-erected tents with roll-mats already provided (why am I still carrying mine..I've used it a grand total of twice now!). There was a big mess hall for cooking and eating and an excellent shower and toilet block...not exactly camping...more like luxury camping but I'm not complaining ;)
Before we got to the campsite we had a few stops on the drive. First port of call was to see the Jumping Crocodiles which I had seen advertised as a tour from Darwin in the hostel and thought it looked quite interesting. When we got to the site, Wombat went into the info centre and returned with a snake that we were allowed to hold – I wanted to, but couldn't bring myself to do it..I did touch it and rub it's skin but it felt too weird and having seen it wrap itself quite tightly around Mel's neck I was having none of it.
I did sign up for the crocodile cruise where they took us out on the river on a pretty sizeable boat for an hour or so and found some saltwater crocodiles to feed. We pulled up along side the crocs and then Sissy the feeding lady plopped a big chunk of meat into the water and splashed it about a bit to attract the croc to it. Then when the croc had it in sight and came over to snap at it, the chunk of meat was pulled back up from the water at speed and the croc launched itself out of the water to try get it. She got them to jump once or twice before letting them take the chunk of meat. Pretty awesome sight..especially when two crocs tried to go for the same bit of meat and started fighting right in front of me..I of course was in too much shock to get a picture of it, but it was awesome! On the ride back to the port, they fed some of the birds that were flying around us. She then threw a chunk of meat the same size as they'd used for the crocs into the air and the biggest bird I've ever seen swooped from nowhere and grabbed it from mid-air..whooshhh! She they tossed out small cubes of meat that smaller birds flew in to grab – every piece of meat ended up with a bird, not one of them fell through to the water.
After the fun and games with the crocs we moved on to meet some local Aboriginals - Graham and his mob. They performed the 'Welcome to Country' ceremony for us which involved one of the men from the mob (Stephen) getting water from the billabong, sucking it into his mouth from a piece of wood and then spitting it out onto each of our foreheads. It was a bit weird to have someone spit on my while I stood there willing to take it, but it was pretty cool to take part in the ceremony and a nice way to start off our journey. After the ceremony he took us on a bush walk showing us the plants that they use for tools and handicrafts. He also showed us a bush cooker before introducing us to some of his family who gave us an impromptu didgeridoo show. They explained how in order to find the right piece of wood for the instrument they go walkabout and bang random trees that look like they'd make a good one to check how hollow it has been made by the termites in the area. They also explained how they go about finishing it off and the significance of the colours and decorations used to dress it up. We got to have a go...I was actually reasonably ok. I'd need to work on my rhythmic breathing if I wanted to make a career of it though. Got the sound right but couldn't get it to continue on like they do, there's a definite trick to it :) From there we moved on to trying our hand a spear throwing, again something I did quite well and it was the general consensus in the splinter group that should we need to get some bushtucker I'd be the spear thrower..not sure that'd be a great idea as I had no aim whatsoever, all's I could do was launch it nicely and get it to travel quite far (much like my arm in softball ;P get that in there before any of you guys comment!). Next up we tried our hand at making rope for the weaving projects that Graham's daughters and other female family members are working on. It was tough to try get the fibre from the plant..in the end I had to take some from the girls because I couldn't manage it. My rope did turn out pretty good though and wasn't far off the quality of the one the girls gave me as a souvenir :)
Our first exposure to Aboriginal culture was a great one, I really enjoyed the time we spent talking to them and hearing what they had to say. The next step was Ubirr to see some rock art and watch the sunset over the floodplains. This was the perfect end to a wonderful day. The rockart at Ubirr was really cool, clambering over big rock formations to climb up to the viewing point for sunset was ace. When we were up there looking out over the land Wombat told us a bit more about Bill Neijdie an aboriginal leader who along with his kin have leased Kakadu to the Australian Government for all to share. The words he paraphrased from Bill were quite touching and made me feel a really strong connection to the place...
“Earth... Like your father or brother of mother, because you born from earth, you got to come back to Earth. When you dead... That's your bone, your blood. It's in this Earth.”
This highlights the Aboriginal belief that people belong to their land. The soul or a person is born from the land and returns to it after death. Bill made the sacrifice to break from tradition and allow his name and image be used after his death. In his culture his name and image shouldn't be used for a few years after his death as in doing so he will be distracted from his path back to his birthplace, but people say he's such a strong character and great guy that he'll make it back regardless :)
So far Australia is surpassing my expectations so I can't wait to see what else there is to come!!
We met our driver and guide for our Oz travel – a guy called Wombat, a Tazzie native who's on his 6th year of touring with Adventure Tours. Una struggled to figure out who he reminded her of, but it came to me almost as soon as I met him...he's like a younger version of my dad. Resembles him a lot in appearance and manner which is freaky! He's got a jam packed schedule for us which means we'll get to see a whole lot of Oz before we even make it to Sydney. That's ace and will help me in my aim to cover as much ground as possible in my time in Australia. It's great to see how packed an itinerary Adventure Tours have for us especially since Una and I have booked another one of their routes from Broome – Perth (10 day road trip in a 24 seater bus) starting a week after we finish up with OzBUS....Nice ;)
We bade farewell to our hostel wondering what the campsite was going to be like that night in Kakadu. I had visions of a mouldy old tent that you'd see in the movies when scouts go camping...how wrong I was! We were staying at the Kakadu Lodge in pre-erected tents with roll-mats already provided (why am I still carrying mine..I've used it a grand total of twice now!). There was a big mess hall for cooking and eating and an excellent shower and toilet block...not exactly camping...more like luxury camping but I'm not complaining ;)
Before we got to the campsite we had a few stops on the drive. First port of call was to see the Jumping Crocodiles which I had seen advertised as a tour from Darwin in the hostel and thought it looked quite interesting. When we got to the site, Wombat went into the info centre and returned with a snake that we were allowed to hold – I wanted to, but couldn't bring myself to do it..I did touch it and rub it's skin but it felt too weird and having seen it wrap itself quite tightly around Mel's neck I was having none of it.
I did sign up for the crocodile cruise where they took us out on the river on a pretty sizeable boat for an hour or so and found some saltwater crocodiles to feed. We pulled up along side the crocs and then Sissy the feeding lady plopped a big chunk of meat into the water and splashed it about a bit to attract the croc to it. Then when the croc had it in sight and came over to snap at it, the chunk of meat was pulled back up from the water at speed and the croc launched itself out of the water to try get it. She got them to jump once or twice before letting them take the chunk of meat. Pretty awesome sight..especially when two crocs tried to go for the same bit of meat and started fighting right in front of me..I of course was in too much shock to get a picture of it, but it was awesome! On the ride back to the port, they fed some of the birds that were flying around us. She then threw a chunk of meat the same size as they'd used for the crocs into the air and the biggest bird I've ever seen swooped from nowhere and grabbed it from mid-air..whooshhh! She they tossed out small cubes of meat that smaller birds flew in to grab – every piece of meat ended up with a bird, not one of them fell through to the water.
After the fun and games with the crocs we moved on to meet some local Aboriginals - Graham and his mob. They performed the 'Welcome to Country' ceremony for us which involved one of the men from the mob (Stephen) getting water from the billabong, sucking it into his mouth from a piece of wood and then spitting it out onto each of our foreheads. It was a bit weird to have someone spit on my while I stood there willing to take it, but it was pretty cool to take part in the ceremony and a nice way to start off our journey. After the ceremony he took us on a bush walk showing us the plants that they use for tools and handicrafts. He also showed us a bush cooker before introducing us to some of his family who gave us an impromptu didgeridoo show. They explained how in order to find the right piece of wood for the instrument they go walkabout and bang random trees that look like they'd make a good one to check how hollow it has been made by the termites in the area. They also explained how they go about finishing it off and the significance of the colours and decorations used to dress it up. We got to have a go...I was actually reasonably ok. I'd need to work on my rhythmic breathing if I wanted to make a career of it though. Got the sound right but couldn't get it to continue on like they do, there's a definite trick to it :) From there we moved on to trying our hand a spear throwing, again something I did quite well and it was the general consensus in the splinter group that should we need to get some bushtucker I'd be the spear thrower..not sure that'd be a great idea as I had no aim whatsoever, all's I could do was launch it nicely and get it to travel quite far (much like my arm in softball ;P get that in there before any of you guys comment!). Next up we tried our hand at making rope for the weaving projects that Graham's daughters and other female family members are working on. It was tough to try get the fibre from the plant..in the end I had to take some from the girls because I couldn't manage it. My rope did turn out pretty good though and wasn't far off the quality of the one the girls gave me as a souvenir :)
Our first exposure to Aboriginal culture was a great one, I really enjoyed the time we spent talking to them and hearing what they had to say. The next step was Ubirr to see some rock art and watch the sunset over the floodplains. This was the perfect end to a wonderful day. The rockart at Ubirr was really cool, clambering over big rock formations to climb up to the viewing point for sunset was ace. When we were up there looking out over the land Wombat told us a bit more about Bill Neijdie an aboriginal leader who along with his kin have leased Kakadu to the Australian Government for all to share. The words he paraphrased from Bill were quite touching and made me feel a really strong connection to the place...
“Earth... Like your father or brother of mother, because you born from earth, you got to come back to Earth. When you dead... That's your bone, your blood. It's in this Earth.”
This highlights the Aboriginal belief that people belong to their land. The soul or a person is born from the land and returns to it after death. Bill made the sacrifice to break from tradition and allow his name and image be used after his death. In his culture his name and image shouldn't be used for a few years after his death as in doing so he will be distracted from his path back to his birthplace, but people say he's such a strong character and great guy that he'll make it back regardless :)
So far Australia is surpassing my expectations so I can't wait to see what else there is to come!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Day 80 & 81 (Darwin)
I was so glad that Darwin airport wasn't a Ryanair stylee one (ages away from the city whose name it bore) because when we arrived and cleared immigration and customs we had a very short bus transfer to our hostel. I had expected customs to be a nightmarish ultra long process but instead I was through really quickly with the only question I was asked was about whether or not I had lollipops in my bag (I didn't). The lady didn't believe me so wanted to search my carry on bag – it turns out she saw my tripod and that's what made her think lollipop...crazy! Rather than let me pack my bag up again they started letting more people through so there was stuff all piled up on top of me..and I reckon this is maybe when things went wrong for me....
I lost my journal...I've been writing in it since I left Dublin on the 22nd of May. I've been making notes, sticking in boarding cards along with other bits and bobs, and was really happy with how it was coming together. It was to be my souvenir of the trip...I've stopped being the hoarder I normally am and have been chucking out things that I would normally keep along the way in favour of having one thing to remind me of the adventure...and now it's gone :( I tried to call the airline and airport along with the hotel in Bali to make sure I didn't accidently leave it there, but no joy with a response from anyone.... The saving grace is I have this blog, and though not an complete reflection of what I've written in the journal it's enough to spark my memories of what I did where and when. So all's not lost :)
The first stop for our first free day in Darwin was to drop my camera into a repair shop to see if it can be fixed up. The lady bumped me up the queue to get it tested overnight and I called back the next morning to check what the damage was. We went wandering around to see what there was to do in Darwin and I was surprised at how small the central area actually is. We didn't do any organised tour of the place, instead choosing to see what we could on foot – the heat was tough so we didn't go too far because of that and from being so tired from lack of sleep the night before. We checked out a camera shop to see what kind of prices and models they had on offer in case I needed a new one, and to replace Mel's one that had been stolen by some thieving gypsy in Bali. I didn't get too into looking as I was holding out hope that they'd have mine fixed by morning.
We could have cooked at the hostel but were too tired and lazy so instead went to Cafe Uno beside the hostel (Youth Shack). I had the tastiest pizza of the trip to date and Una had the most amazing gnocchi ever! It worked out pretty pricey but we're worth it ;)
The next morning I crawled out of bed to find out that the LCD on my camera is shot. Not really a surprise since there was no picture visible in shoot or review mode. Unfortunately, they couldn't repair it for me there and then - it would take up to two weeks which was useless to me since we were leaving the next morning. So again, off I went to the camera shop to see what kind of deal I could get on a new one. I struggled for hours trying to decide what to do...see everything other than the screen was functioning normally on my IXUS. The problem was that in order to change the shoot mode, turn the flash on or off or review the pictures to make sure I got what I wanted in focus I needed the screen to work. If I didn't get a new camera I was effectively going to be shooting blind ala 35mm camera, and I didn't know if I'd be happy to do this for the remainder of the trip. In the end I consulted my concience back at home to see if I would be splashing too much cash by buying something new or if I should stick with the retro 80's camera I now had. My concience replied to say to buy a camera..so off I went and got a Canon PowerShot D10...waterproof, dustproof, shockproof....NICE!
I went back to the Wharf to try out the wave pool that they have set up to allow people to swim in a simulated sea environment because it's too dangerous to use the beaches around the area. Saltwater crocodiles and Box Jellyfish are plentiful there so it's unsafe to swim. They also have a saltwater beach that they monitor for jellyfish all the time so it's a safe swimming area if the wave pool doesn't float your boat.
Later in the evening I headed to the Deckchair Cinema to see what it was all about. The movie they were showing was called 'Young At Heart' and it didn't tickle my fancy all that much so after soaking up the atmosphere for a few minutes I headed back to the hostel to get ready for our departure to Kakadu the next morning.
All in all Darwin was a nice intro to Australia, but the road ahead is what holds my attention. I didn't see the whole place, so maybe a few more days if I make it back to Oz will be in order :)
I lost my journal...I've been writing in it since I left Dublin on the 22nd of May. I've been making notes, sticking in boarding cards along with other bits and bobs, and was really happy with how it was coming together. It was to be my souvenir of the trip...I've stopped being the hoarder I normally am and have been chucking out things that I would normally keep along the way in favour of having one thing to remind me of the adventure...and now it's gone :( I tried to call the airline and airport along with the hotel in Bali to make sure I didn't accidently leave it there, but no joy with a response from anyone.... The saving grace is I have this blog, and though not an complete reflection of what I've written in the journal it's enough to spark my memories of what I did where and when. So all's not lost :)
The first stop for our first free day in Darwin was to drop my camera into a repair shop to see if it can be fixed up. The lady bumped me up the queue to get it tested overnight and I called back the next morning to check what the damage was. We went wandering around to see what there was to do in Darwin and I was surprised at how small the central area actually is. We didn't do any organised tour of the place, instead choosing to see what we could on foot – the heat was tough so we didn't go too far because of that and from being so tired from lack of sleep the night before. We checked out a camera shop to see what kind of prices and models they had on offer in case I needed a new one, and to replace Mel's one that had been stolen by some thieving gypsy in Bali. I didn't get too into looking as I was holding out hope that they'd have mine fixed by morning.
We could have cooked at the hostel but were too tired and lazy so instead went to Cafe Uno beside the hostel (Youth Shack). I had the tastiest pizza of the trip to date and Una had the most amazing gnocchi ever! It worked out pretty pricey but we're worth it ;)
The next morning I crawled out of bed to find out that the LCD on my camera is shot. Not really a surprise since there was no picture visible in shoot or review mode. Unfortunately, they couldn't repair it for me there and then - it would take up to two weeks which was useless to me since we were leaving the next morning. So again, off I went to the camera shop to see what kind of deal I could get on a new one. I struggled for hours trying to decide what to do...see everything other than the screen was functioning normally on my IXUS. The problem was that in order to change the shoot mode, turn the flash on or off or review the pictures to make sure I got what I wanted in focus I needed the screen to work. If I didn't get a new camera I was effectively going to be shooting blind ala 35mm camera, and I didn't know if I'd be happy to do this for the remainder of the trip. In the end I consulted my concience back at home to see if I would be splashing too much cash by buying something new or if I should stick with the retro 80's camera I now had. My concience replied to say to buy a camera..so off I went and got a Canon PowerShot D10...waterproof, dustproof, shockproof....NICE!
I went back to the Wharf to try out the wave pool that they have set up to allow people to swim in a simulated sea environment because it's too dangerous to use the beaches around the area. Saltwater crocodiles and Box Jellyfish are plentiful there so it's unsafe to swim. They also have a saltwater beach that they monitor for jellyfish all the time so it's a safe swimming area if the wave pool doesn't float your boat.
Later in the evening I headed to the Deckchair Cinema to see what it was all about. The movie they were showing was called 'Young At Heart' and it didn't tickle my fancy all that much so after soaking up the atmosphere for a few minutes I headed back to the hostel to get ready for our departure to Kakadu the next morning.
All in all Darwin was a nice intro to Australia, but the road ahead is what holds my attention. I didn't see the whole place, so maybe a few more days if I make it back to Oz will be in order :)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Blogging Blank
I'm afraid I've lost my journal *sob* so I've no notes to use to piece together the time from July 31st to today..I'm gonna try piece it together and will post what I have when I get it worked out. In the meantime I've put some new pictures up for your viewing pleasure.
If you've found my journal and then found the blog please email me...I want it back PLEASE!
If you've found my journal and then found the blog please email me...I want it back PLEASE!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Day 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 & 79 (Bali)
Where to start with Bali..where to start?
Six of us flew down a couple of days early to get a bit of R&R in before we moved on to Australia and the final portion of our big adventure. In doing this we missed out on seeing Mt. Bromo which was a bummer for me, but something I was willing to do to get an extended period in one place (albeit in two different hotels). And of course I would miss out on the experience but not the photos as Una stuck with the group and went to Bromo so I have hers to steal. So off we went to Bali arriving late at night to find that the hotel we'd booked into had given our rooms away so we were in effect homeless for the night unless we could sort something out. Thankfully we found out about this while still at the airport so we were able to get a travel desk there to sort us out – they found us a 3 bed apartment in the Jayakarta Resort for 2 of the 3 nights that we needed a place to crash. A shortish taxi ride later we got to our resort and were very, very pleasantly surprised by the place – it was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. We pledged there and then to make it our mission to get them to let us stay for the 3rd night :) Once our rooms were sorted out we headed in search of the pool shortly before 1am for a moonlight dip..the water was still pretty warm, nice!
Our first day in Bali was busy enough with lots of sunbathing and swimming by the hotel pool. We didn't manage to get loungers but did get a nice area to lay down and dry off before heading into town in the early evening to grab a bite to eat. We found a pretty ace restaurant by the sea that was a bit outside of our budget but we decided to splash out. I had the 2nd nicest tuna steak I've ever had there along with a lovely bacardi cocktail – what a way to spend the day :) We stocked up on pot noodle from the supermarket for the next few days and headed back to the hotel where I had an early night and the party animals got ready for a mad night out (they arrived home after 5am knocking on the door having been unable to wake up the night porter and unable to locate our key themselves – I crawled out of bed semiconscious to let them in).
I had every intention of being up early doors to get down to pool side to reserve us some primo loungers but after the abrupt wake up call I'd had I wasn't able to move until it was too late and the loungers were all taken. We eventually got out of bed and rolled down to the pool where we took advantage of the happy hour 2 for 1 special on Bali Hai beer – happy hour was indeed very happy, but not an hour. The danger was there from 11am to 6pm...that's a heck of a long happy hour! We sat by the pool bar sipping our frosty beers and took a moment to toast our buddies who had been up at 4am to climb Mt. Bromo. Later that night we headed out and I got my first taste of Bali night life – I reckon it's like the Aussie equivalent of Ibiza, there were some seriously crazy people out. A guy with his face painted like the Joker from Batman and his mate with sequence stuck to his face making him look like a sparkly pirate (another night there was a guy in a full clown costume..including the funny shoes?!). More happy hours in the pubs but they were the more dangerous kind with 2 for 1 on cocktails called the Bomba. We danced the night away and crawled home around 4am before going for a late night swim.
The group were due into Bali around 6.30pm and we had to move on to meet them at the Simpang Inn leaving behind our lovely apartment. To ease the pain we stayed at the Jayakarta until the last possible minute to make the most of their pool and the uncrowded beach in front of it. It was a glorious day. When we eventually got to the Simpang Inn and got checked in we realised how spoiled we'd been for the previous 3 days. It had cost us a bit, but the hotels couldn't be compared in any way...my room in the Simpang Inn was hot and stuff with a fan that moved the hot air around and sounded like it was going to fall off the roof, the bathroom was filthy and was back to the standard wet room setup without a proper bath or shower. I wanted to go back to Jayakarta and seriously considered it, but I'd missed some of the crew and wanted to catch up with them. So...off we went out again! Another late night filled with happy hour cocktails and crazy dancing (we even met a girl from Perth who wants us to go to her 21st birthday party and is planning on arranging it for the single night that we're in Perth..how random?!).
The first full day with the whole crew in town is a blur of hangover induced sleep – most of us stayed in bed for most of the day. The next day when the hangover haze had cleared I headed back to Jayakarta with Mel & Michelle to cheekily use their pool because we missed it so much. It was bliss :)
Our final day in Bali was a rush of trying to find a camera shop to repair mine and getting some last minute shopping and sunbathing in. There was no repair shop around and the guy in the solitary camera shop I found said the only place I'd find one in Indonesia was in Jakarta! We left for the airport at 8pm that evening with an estimated time of arrival in Darwin at around 3am...man alive..soooo late!
Six of us flew down a couple of days early to get a bit of R&R in before we moved on to Australia and the final portion of our big adventure. In doing this we missed out on seeing Mt. Bromo which was a bummer for me, but something I was willing to do to get an extended period in one place (albeit in two different hotels). And of course I would miss out on the experience but not the photos as Una stuck with the group and went to Bromo so I have hers to steal. So off we went to Bali arriving late at night to find that the hotel we'd booked into had given our rooms away so we were in effect homeless for the night unless we could sort something out. Thankfully we found out about this while still at the airport so we were able to get a travel desk there to sort us out – they found us a 3 bed apartment in the Jayakarta Resort for 2 of the 3 nights that we needed a place to crash. A shortish taxi ride later we got to our resort and were very, very pleasantly surprised by the place – it was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. We pledged there and then to make it our mission to get them to let us stay for the 3rd night :) Once our rooms were sorted out we headed in search of the pool shortly before 1am for a moonlight dip..the water was still pretty warm, nice!
Our first day in Bali was busy enough with lots of sunbathing and swimming by the hotel pool. We didn't manage to get loungers but did get a nice area to lay down and dry off before heading into town in the early evening to grab a bite to eat. We found a pretty ace restaurant by the sea that was a bit outside of our budget but we decided to splash out. I had the 2nd nicest tuna steak I've ever had there along with a lovely bacardi cocktail – what a way to spend the day :) We stocked up on pot noodle from the supermarket for the next few days and headed back to the hotel where I had an early night and the party animals got ready for a mad night out (they arrived home after 5am knocking on the door having been unable to wake up the night porter and unable to locate our key themselves – I crawled out of bed semiconscious to let them in).
I had every intention of being up early doors to get down to pool side to reserve us some primo loungers but after the abrupt wake up call I'd had I wasn't able to move until it was too late and the loungers were all taken. We eventually got out of bed and rolled down to the pool where we took advantage of the happy hour 2 for 1 special on Bali Hai beer – happy hour was indeed very happy, but not an hour. The danger was there from 11am to 6pm...that's a heck of a long happy hour! We sat by the pool bar sipping our frosty beers and took a moment to toast our buddies who had been up at 4am to climb Mt. Bromo. Later that night we headed out and I got my first taste of Bali night life – I reckon it's like the Aussie equivalent of Ibiza, there were some seriously crazy people out. A guy with his face painted like the Joker from Batman and his mate with sequence stuck to his face making him look like a sparkly pirate (another night there was a guy in a full clown costume..including the funny shoes?!). More happy hours in the pubs but they were the more dangerous kind with 2 for 1 on cocktails called the Bomba. We danced the night away and crawled home around 4am before going for a late night swim.
The group were due into Bali around 6.30pm and we had to move on to meet them at the Simpang Inn leaving behind our lovely apartment. To ease the pain we stayed at the Jayakarta until the last possible minute to make the most of their pool and the uncrowded beach in front of it. It was a glorious day. When we eventually got to the Simpang Inn and got checked in we realised how spoiled we'd been for the previous 3 days. It had cost us a bit, but the hotels couldn't be compared in any way...my room in the Simpang Inn was hot and stuff with a fan that moved the hot air around and sounded like it was going to fall off the roof, the bathroom was filthy and was back to the standard wet room setup without a proper bath or shower. I wanted to go back to Jayakarta and seriously considered it, but I'd missed some of the crew and wanted to catch up with them. So...off we went out again! Another late night filled with happy hour cocktails and crazy dancing (we even met a girl from Perth who wants us to go to her 21st birthday party and is planning on arranging it for the single night that we're in Perth..how random?!).
The first full day with the whole crew in town is a blur of hangover induced sleep – most of us stayed in bed for most of the day. The next day when the hangover haze had cleared I headed back to Jayakarta with Mel & Michelle to cheekily use their pool because we missed it so much. It was bliss :)
Our final day in Bali was a rush of trying to find a camera shop to repair mine and getting some last minute shopping and sunbathing in. There was no repair shop around and the guy in the solitary camera shop I found said the only place I'd find one in Indonesia was in Jakarta! We left for the airport at 8pm that evening with an estimated time of arrival in Darwin at around 3am...man alive..soooo late!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Day 72 & 73 (Yogyakarta)
Happy Birthday April!
Another nice hotel for our stay in Yogyakarta complete with pool and free wifi, my kinda hotel :) As it was April's birthday on arrival we all headed out to dinner with the added bonus of it being an OzBUS sponsored one. It was at a lovely restaurant not that far from the hotel where they had a huge selection of local cuisine available buffet style so we could pick and chose as much or as little as we wanted. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the tofu dishes – after having it in Pad Thai in Bangkok too I may be a convert, it's quite tasty after all! When everyone was finished their dinner we brought out the cake, a feat of engineering expertise if I may say so myself (we'd been unable to find a nice cake in the supermarket or bakery places around the hotel so instead we got 2 dozen donuts and I constructed a structurally sound pyramid style pile complete with candles and sparklers). Delicious donuts..Mmmmm.
The next morning we had a group activity to go visit Borobodur Temple which was very impressive. Our guide for the tour was really great, lots of energy, explained stuff well and kept the pace going so we weren't standing still in the sun for too long (it's sooo hot!). We all got a chance to make a wish with the girls having to touch the feet of the Buddha and the guys getting to touch anywhere they wanted. Trying to climb up onto the side of the bell shaped structure around the Buddha and getting a hand in to touch a foot was harder than it sounds. It was like we were back in India when we entered and tried to leave the complex – street sellers everywhere, absolutely everywhere!
Later in the afternoon some of the group went to the other famous temple in the area but as I had a flight to catch to go to Bali a few days earlier I thought it unwise to head out with them. The pictures look like it was pretty cool, so would have been nice to see it.
Another nice hotel for our stay in Yogyakarta complete with pool and free wifi, my kinda hotel :) As it was April's birthday on arrival we all headed out to dinner with the added bonus of it being an OzBUS sponsored one. It was at a lovely restaurant not that far from the hotel where they had a huge selection of local cuisine available buffet style so we could pick and chose as much or as little as we wanted. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the tofu dishes – after having it in Pad Thai in Bangkok too I may be a convert, it's quite tasty after all! When everyone was finished their dinner we brought out the cake, a feat of engineering expertise if I may say so myself (we'd been unable to find a nice cake in the supermarket or bakery places around the hotel so instead we got 2 dozen donuts and I constructed a structurally sound pyramid style pile complete with candles and sparklers). Delicious donuts..Mmmmm.
The next morning we had a group activity to go visit Borobodur Temple which was very impressive. Our guide for the tour was really great, lots of energy, explained stuff well and kept the pace going so we weren't standing still in the sun for too long (it's sooo hot!). We all got a chance to make a wish with the girls having to touch the feet of the Buddha and the guys getting to touch anywhere they wanted. Trying to climb up onto the side of the bell shaped structure around the Buddha and getting a hand in to touch a foot was harder than it sounds. It was like we were back in India when we entered and tried to leave the complex – street sellers everywhere, absolutely everywhere!
Later in the afternoon some of the group went to the other famous temple in the area but as I had a flight to catch to go to Bali a few days earlier I thought it unwise to head out with them. The pictures look like it was pretty cool, so would have been nice to see it.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Day 70 & 71 (Pangandaran)
appy Birthday Barbara!!
The crew unanimously agreed to change the itinerary slightly to allow us to have two nights in Pangandaran to have extra sun-soakage time and a chance to explore the national park there. Since we weren't due in until the 2nd we had a night each at two different hotels (the second one with a pool – nice!). We all headed out to dinner to celebrate the big birthday after some warm-up drinks in the birthday girls room and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. In trying to be healthy I'd ordered chicken with spinach, or so I thought – it was actually spinach with chicken (maybe 3 tiny cubes of it) and rather than being leaves of spinach it was all the stalky bits that I'd throw out rather than cook...not the best dinner I've had, but with delicious chocolate birthday cake for dessert I wasn't going to complain.
The next day we got up and headed for a walk around the national park a couple of minutes away from the hotel. It all started out very pleasantly with us spotting deer and birds and butterflies, but then things took a bad turn...monkeys..everywhere! We kept on walking trying to complete the loop that Anto was bringing us on without any hassle, but the monkeys were having none of it and were getting cheekier and cheekier the further into the forest we got. There were a number of families sat around eating picnics that were being plundered by the beasts, they were fearless!
We managed to get away from the picnic area unscathed but a couple of minutes on we came across a section of the path that was infested with the furry fiends. There was one massive one (not as big as the creature that jumped on my in Gibraltar – but big enough to be scary) who was getting very aggressive with the rest of them that were on the path. Half the group had passed them by at a quick pace but when the rest of us attempted to pass they started hissing and spitting at each other before they started fighting – not pleasant! When we spotted a bit of a gap I did the 'walk confidently and they'll leave you alone thing' with one of the girls clinging to my arm. We had to divert around one of the lads who'd stopped in the middle of the ring of monkeys to take a picture to avoid having the big one jump at us, but we made it through. I was feeling all relieved when I heard that we actually had to pass back that way again, the walk was not in fact the loop I thought it was – doh! A couple of paces on and there was an incident whereby a monkey stole a water bottle out of the hands of one of the girls as she tried to skip past it. There was no way she was getting the bottle back, any time she tried to approach it, it started hissing at her. So spooked by the incident and unwilling to have a repeat issue she armed herself with a big stick..very funny!
When we got to the end of the walk we were on a lovely beach that had loads of boats available for hire taxi-stylee, so rather than walk back through the monkey madness we got ourselves some boats back to the beach outside our hotel. A fun afternoon at the pool followed where I willingly got involved in (and created) some pool games to pass the hours. There was a supply of inner tubes and boogie boards at the pool that we used to get jumping tricks going on. I amazingly managed to leap from the pool side, through the inner tube ring and onto the boogie board on the other side – nice!
When we got bored of the pool we headed down to the beach to watch some of our surfer dudes on the waves. It was around this time that I discovered that my camera is banjo'd :( The screen has stopped working...not a problem you'd think since I have a viewfinder on it...but...I can't change any of the settings or shoot modes. It's like I'm back in the 80s with a 35mm camera...how retro...how annoying! Here's hoping there's somewhere in Bali that can repair it for me!!
The crew unanimously agreed to change the itinerary slightly to allow us to have two nights in Pangandaran to have extra sun-soakage time and a chance to explore the national park there. Since we weren't due in until the 2nd we had a night each at two different hotels (the second one with a pool – nice!). We all headed out to dinner to celebrate the big birthday after some warm-up drinks in the birthday girls room and everyone seemed to really enjoy the food. In trying to be healthy I'd ordered chicken with spinach, or so I thought – it was actually spinach with chicken (maybe 3 tiny cubes of it) and rather than being leaves of spinach it was all the stalky bits that I'd throw out rather than cook...not the best dinner I've had, but with delicious chocolate birthday cake for dessert I wasn't going to complain.
The next day we got up and headed for a walk around the national park a couple of minutes away from the hotel. It all started out very pleasantly with us spotting deer and birds and butterflies, but then things took a bad turn...monkeys..everywhere! We kept on walking trying to complete the loop that Anto was bringing us on without any hassle, but the monkeys were having none of it and were getting cheekier and cheekier the further into the forest we got. There were a number of families sat around eating picnics that were being plundered by the beasts, they were fearless!
We managed to get away from the picnic area unscathed but a couple of minutes on we came across a section of the path that was infested with the furry fiends. There was one massive one (not as big as the creature that jumped on my in Gibraltar – but big enough to be scary) who was getting very aggressive with the rest of them that were on the path. Half the group had passed them by at a quick pace but when the rest of us attempted to pass they started hissing and spitting at each other before they started fighting – not pleasant! When we spotted a bit of a gap I did the 'walk confidently and they'll leave you alone thing' with one of the girls clinging to my arm. We had to divert around one of the lads who'd stopped in the middle of the ring of monkeys to take a picture to avoid having the big one jump at us, but we made it through. I was feeling all relieved when I heard that we actually had to pass back that way again, the walk was not in fact the loop I thought it was – doh! A couple of paces on and there was an incident whereby a monkey stole a water bottle out of the hands of one of the girls as she tried to skip past it. There was no way she was getting the bottle back, any time she tried to approach it, it started hissing at her. So spooked by the incident and unwilling to have a repeat issue she armed herself with a big stick..very funny!
When we got to the end of the walk we were on a lovely beach that had loads of boats available for hire taxi-stylee, so rather than walk back through the monkey madness we got ourselves some boats back to the beach outside our hotel. A fun afternoon at the pool followed where I willingly got involved in (and created) some pool games to pass the hours. There was a supply of inner tubes and boogie boards at the pool that we used to get jumping tricks going on. I amazingly managed to leap from the pool side, through the inner tube ring and onto the boogie board on the other side – nice!
When we got bored of the pool we headed down to the beach to watch some of our surfer dudes on the waves. It was around this time that I discovered that my camera is banjo'd :( The screen has stopped working...not a problem you'd think since I have a viewfinder on it...but...I can't change any of the settings or shoot modes. It's like I'm back in the 80s with a 35mm camera...how retro...how annoying! Here's hoping there's somewhere in Bali that can repair it for me!!
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