Creature from the Deep

Well, not very deep, actually! This is me togged up ready to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Yes, I've reached the Eastern coast of Australia; I'm in Cairns. This is tourist city - reminiscent of Queenstown in New Zealand, in that every other shop is an activity centre, exhorting you to go on this trip or that... I've spent three days on organised tours - the first being in three parts: a 7km cable-car ride skimming tropical rainforest to a village nestling in the trees, with a VERY tempting zoo (2nd pic) which I managed to resist(!); a visit to an aboriginal cultural park - both interesting and fun, I now know about their 'Dreamtime' stories, how to make naturally toxic fruit edible (don't try this at home), how to make and play a didgeridoo, and, despite detailed instructions, am rubbish at throwing a boomerang - it nosedives into the ground every time; and back on a scenic train ride. The next day I set sail on a catamaran with 84 others, comprising mainly blonde skinny twenty-year-olds (hate 'em!). The experience of snorkeling on the Reef was quite amazing as you might imagine - the colours of the coral and the close proximity of the fish were out of this world. I loved the sights, but not the snorkel - not my 'thing', I'm afraid. So I've ticked that off my list, and don't need to do it again! After a day 'off', mooching around Cairns, I embarked on a 4WD trip north to Cape Tribulation. This included another boat cruise looking for crocodiles. Our guide on this occasion kindly manoeuvred the boat close to the bank to point out a 'lovely, big' tree snake. He told us that he would bring it aboard so that we could all drape it around ourselves. I was preparing to abandon ship in favour of swimming with the crocs when he laughed at his little joke. What a wheeze, I was very amused...
Today I've taken a bus trip a few kms north of Cairns to a beach resort called Trinity Beach (pictured). This is a bit upmarket, so I met some people my age for a change, and enjoyed some lovely chats. There is no swimming in the sea at the moment, because of the 'stingers' - jellyfish who can inflict such damage that you are either in agony for 12 days, or you die, apparently. There are containers of vinegar on the beaches as a first aid measure, although the recommended first treatment is to get a friend to pee on you. Guess I'm in trouble there! So they have an area in the sea enclosed by nets, within which you can safely bathe. It was a lovely hot day, so I strolled on the sand, out of reach of poisonous tentacles, sunbathed a bit and swam. It felt like I was on holiday!! It seems strange that people can only swim in the sea in winter here. Summer = bad (too hot and humid, too many crocs and stingers); winter = good. Very odd.
I'm meeting more Aussies here - people come up from Sydney and Melbourne to get away from the cold weather. Their speech reminds me curiously of the Guernsey lingo - they end every sentence with 'eh' for emphasis. Also a bit like the Irish 'so you will' or 'so it is' e.g. "you'll need a ticket, eh (so you will)" or "it's a lovely day, eh". Please excuse my muddled uses of ' and " - my brain's taking a break...
So I've enjoyed Cairns, but it's time to move on. I'm hoping it will stay warm for my next few days, but as I head towards Sydney the thermometer will drop. But looking on the bright side, this will make my departure from Oz less sad as I head for the sunny skies of the USA in June... Cheers for now!

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Gone troppo in the Top End

Wow! Thanks guys for all your texts, facebook messages and ecards for my birthday - I'm quite overwhelmed... I feel as if I've been at a party with you all! I will get around to thanking y'all, but it may take a few days! I had wondered how it would be, so far away from home; as anyone who knows me will testify, I'm a kid where birthdays are concerned, they are SO EXCITING! So after having great chats with first my father and then (number one son) Alex I treated myself to an American-style breakfast of pancakes with bacon, berries, cream and maple syrup. Yum! Then after reading some of your messages I had a very steamy walk to Darwin museum. It was hot and humid and I ran out of water halfway - not good; but eventually I found a 'Ski Club' by the beach??? I guess water-skiing - and was allowed in as a visitor. As a private club, the drinks were cheap, hoorah! The museum was QI - quite interesting; lots of info on cyclone Tracy which destroyed Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 - I don't remember that? Was it too far away to be considered newsworthy, or was I too busy having a good time to watch the news? Also stuff about the city's bombing by the Japanese in WW2. I didn't know about that either. I felt humbled by my ignorance... But hey, not going to beat myself up about it - I hopped on a bus with a cheery driver and made my way to the nearest Baskin Robbins for an ice cream sundae. I cunningly 'let slip' that it was my birthday and the very friendly assistant piled extra ice cream (3 scoops - cookies n cream, hokey pokey and 'passion' - berries and white chocolate) on my bananas, under a mound of cream and chocolate sauce. First picture is of me halfway through it!! I rounded off my day by chatting with (number one daughter) Katye, then meeting up with some of the gang from my outback tours, and going to the 'deckchair cinema' with them. This was a unique experience - rows of deckchairs attached in rows before a huge screen in the open air. We sat in the front row with a stretch of grass between us and the screen. Halfway through the film we saw a creature running across in front of us - a possum or maybe a desert rat - we weren't sure. He came back a couple of times, and once I felt something brush over my feet... after this my attention was divided between George Clooney on the screen, and the ground in front of me - those slithery things were on my mind yet again. So a great day.
But when I last 'blogged' I was in Alice Springs, and I've had some great adventures since then. I rejoined my 14-day tour, with some of the same people and some new ones, and we progressed North to Darwin (the Top End), taking three days. This tour was mainly transit - we covered 1500kms in three days, stopping off in a few spots for sightseeing, stretching of legs and swimming. We crossed into the Tropic of Capricorn with great ceremony - there's a line drawn across the road that everyone had to photograph. We stopped one day at a lovely reservoir where some people swam, but I got chatting to some aboriginal 'Warramundi' ladies who told me they were on a "girls' day out". I was very pleased to have a conversation with them, as I must admit I'd felt a bit wary of approaching them in Alice, as they tended to group together, and I wasn't sure how welcoming they would be to tourists. We had a laugh together about them leaving their husbands in town working for the day while they had a fun-filled picnic. The last place before Darwin was Katherine Gorge, known in Aboriginal as Nitmiluk. Occurs to me that if we were in Oz we'd have to call Katye 'Nit' for short. Hmmmm.
After an overnight stop in Darwin (less than 12 hours there) we set off for the last 3 days of the tour. This took us to Litchfield National Park, where we went on a cruise to see the 'jumping crocodiles' - picture 2. I wasn't sure about this - it was great to see the crocs - they are salt-water ones, big and dangerous normally, but these ones appeared sleepy and over-fed - it seemed as though the crew were teasing them, as they didn't always let them have the meat, making them jump several times then withdrawing the meat. In the wet season which has just ended, the crocs get into all the waterholes, so it isn't safe to swim. Once the water subsides, rangers check the pools for safety. Fresh water crocs are ok, though - they don't attack humans, apparently. Not sure I want to meet one while bathing, though. As you can see, I got my bikini wet a couple of times - we went on to Kakadu (du du) National Park, which is vast - twice the size of the Netherlands. Here we saw examples of aboriginal rock art from different eras up to fairly recent times; scrambled up steep rocky cliffs to watch a magnificent sunset; bathed in pools between a series of waterfalls, ending in a sheer drop. It was a wonderful experience, so beautiful. Some of the wimpy youngsters thought the water was cold - they haven't swum off Herm in the Channel Islands!!
I'm very glad I did the tours - we saw places you certainly wouldn't get to on an expensive coach trip. But I'm also quite happy to be back in hostels. The trips were fun, but we did rough it a little - the camping was surprisingly chilly at times; the food was tasty, (we all helped prepare it, I've picked up some tips on mass-catering!), but it was advisable not to look too closely at the washing-up for 20+ people in one bowl of cold dirty greasy water and drying up with wet dirty cloths! Also most of the time (apart from the last day, thanks to our great driver/tour leader Kate) when on the bus our ears were assaulted by VERY loud music blasting over the sound system. I like loud music; I go to pubs expressly to listen to it at home - but this was excessive. No chance of hearing your own ipod. The amazing thing is that the people for whom it was played usually managed to sleep through it all! But that's a small gripe, and I met some lovely people and saw some wonderful sights.
This morning my alarm went off at 2am and I jumped on the airport shuttle for my flight to Cairns. When I got here - shock, horror, it's raining and only 26 degrees.. I want to go back to Darwin!! The forecast improves on Sunday, so I guess I'll stick around a bit, spend the next couple of days relaxing and catching up with emails, and maybe go snorkeling on Sunday. Or on a train to the rainforest. Ah, decisions! It's a tough life.
G'bye f'now!

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Feral Tucker in the Outback

G'day mates! Here I am in Alice Springs, in the Red Centre of Australia, in the middle of a BIG ADVENTURE! I had become a bit lazy, going from city to city, walking in botanical gardens, sitting in town squares, so it was time to shake myself up a bit, so I booked a 14-day 'adventure tour' from Adelaide (more or less in the middle of the south coast) up the centre to Darwin (more or less in the middle of the north coast). I have done the first six days, and they have been wonderful. I was pretty scared at first, bearing in mind my already much documented phobia about snakes, but I 'felt the fear and did it anyway'! I was in a group of 20 travellers, mostly very young, with an excellent driver/guide. I rode 'shotgun' with him a couple of times and he told me of his upbringing in the outback and as a jackaroo - really interesting to meet the 'real thing'. The group was very lively and engaging - I felt a real buzz being with them, apart from one morning at about 2am when I'd rather have slept than listened to them a-whoopin' and a-hollerin'!! We've driven about 3000 kms to include various places off the beaten track, getting up before dawn most mornings, maybe watching the sun come up somewhere, driving, walking, cooking over roadside BBQs. You don't have to be too finicky on these trips - washing up in filthy, cold water; drying the dishes on wet, filthy towels. Amazingly, we all resisted the bugs. Maybe we worry too much about cleanliness in everyday life? We stayed in a couple of hostels, one in a town with population 6; one underground in an opal mine, and camped out a couple of times. Most people slept in 'swags' - canvas bags containing a mattress and sleeping bag, out on the ground, looking up at the stars. I'm sorry to say I chickened out, not wanting to lie awake waiting for a slithery sound..., so I opted for a basic tent instead. So far, so good; 6 days down, no snakes yet... (no big spiders, either, in case you're wondering).
The highlights of the trip have been Uluru (Ayers Rock) at sunset and sunrise, of course; and Kings Canyon (second picture). The latter was even better than Uluru, I thought - the canyon is surrounded by a vast area of rocks shaped like igloos; there are (small) waterholes in the centre, and lush vegetation (the 'garden of Eden'). We did a 3+ hour walk over rocky terrain - not too difficult, but enough to stretch the legs a bit. We walked in the Olgas, which from a distance look like Homer Simpson lying down (really!).
We've seen a fair bit of wildlife - the kangaroos were actually eating out of our hands. There are also smaller 'roos called euros, and lots of emus. We've heard dingoes (wild dogs), howling at night and early morning, some quite close to the campsite, but haven't seen any yet in the wild. We've eaten Kangaroo steak (tastes a bit like liver); emu burgers and camel sausages. All very tasty.
Our driver had ways of keeping us amused on the long journeys of several hours at a time. We were given felt-tip pens to draw on the windows (brilliant, why didn't I think of that when the children were young?), so there were games of noughts and crosses, hangman, boxes, going on plus some maps of people's home countries and great artwork; we did quizzes, we passed cheesy rings up and down the bus using straws but no hands, Loads of fun. We waved at the 'grey nomads' - retired people who buy a campervan and travel - I know some at home?! We listened to 3 versions of 'Waltzing Matilda', and sang a jolly ditty entitled "G'day g'day" at ;least once a day. Loadsa fun.
We arrived in Alice last night - tired and very grubby. Everything is covered in red dust - the backpack is full of it, so washing clothes hasn't totally solved the problem. My convertible pants still have red stains after a run through the washer - a souvenir, I guess; proves I was there.
I have today and tomorrow here to sort my gear, relax a bit and contact y'all - thanks for all your messages once again, I love to hear what you're up to. Hope you all had a good Bank Holiday weekend, wherever you were. I told my new friends about Haddenham and Rochester morris weekends. They were pretty bemused, I think. I drew a picture of a morris dancer on the window of the bus, but they weren't impressed!!
So, I go on this Thursday to Darwin. More camping and cooking and exploring. I'm getting good at stamping my feet and singing loudly while walking through the bush. "they are more afraid of you..." I don't think so!!
Cheers, mates!

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