Monday.
The birds woke us at sunrise with their strange twitterings; they are quite large birds, like starling, but they make sounds like I imagine budgies would make. By the time we were up and dressed and had started to pack away our tents Jason announced that breakfast was ready, and then, by the time we had eaten, he had finished pulling down our tents! It was all very efficient. Celso and Tris went for another short walk and took some fantastic pictures of a Hornbill that was warming up in the morning sun and some other small birds.
We got under way again to head West for a couple of hours to the coastal town of Swakopmund. This is one of the main summer time retreats for Namibians because it stays fairly cool in their summer. There is a cold current in the sea that brings cold water up from the south pole; this causes a nearly constant sea fog to hang over the coastal region and keep the temperatures right down. In the summer it is a pleasant mid 20's sort of temperature. However the fog is salty and so doesn't help to water the vegetation. In fact the whole coastal region here is desert with less than 5cm of rain per year and the salty fog reduces the variety of plants that can survive too. On the way into town we were lucky enough to pass 3 large male ostriches on the edge of the road; they are really funny birds, they look like ungainly ballet dancers in oversized tutus. They fled as we approached and got too close to each other so that one plumped up his feathers and got quite angry with the other. Strange, strange creatures.
Although we are staying in Swakopmund for the night, we drove another 30km south to Walvis Bay where there is a lagoon full of Greater Flamingos, grey juveniles and slightly pinkish adults. They were all doing some very serious dancing, stirring up the mud to release the crustaceans. It was very funny to watch - see the video! There was also some serious fights going on between various adults - I assume it was over the females but we don't know how to spot the difference between male and female. It was all very ungainly.
Back in Swakopmund, we booked into our hotel and then went out to get some lunch and then go down to the craft market. It is never a peaceful affair at the market here, the vendors are constantly on your back, offering you goods, showing you things, telling you prices and then asking you to bargain..... it is all very exhausting. Since we were about the only buyers in the area we were very popular and caused several arguments to start between the various stall holders where a vendor started to talk to us when we were not at their stall but at anothers. Anyway... we bought some great stuff and spent several hours trying to find out if we could get the most amazing Rhino home. He was 25kg, that was the problem, the post office would only send up to 20kg and we know that our airline only takes bags up to 20kg too - something to do with the Union rules about baggage handlers and the maximum weights they will handle in one package. So we couldn't even get it home paying excess baggage. A most incredible carving but sadly not to be. However we do have the most gorgeous giraffe, a pair of fantastic masks, a small elephant and a stone Hornbill.
Laundry and showers done, we went out for supper and ate Ostrich Stroganoff (the meat seems to have a taste sort of in between pork and beef), it was yummy.
Tuesday 8th June
Another 7am start so that we were ready to go by 8am. We headed into the desert in a 4x4 truck. Once in amongst the dunes we stopped to deflate the tyres to only 0.8bar so that the car would get more grip and then we were told a bit about the desert here. The Namib desert is one of the oldest deserts on earth and stretches all the way up the coast of Namibia from South Africa in the South to Angola in the North. (I don't know how you tell it's age, maybe from dating the first solid layers underneath the sand layers?). They are finding new things everyday, like a mushroom that grows on the dune or new species of geckos.
The part of the desert we were in is one of the driest places on earth and is now being protected because diamonds have been found.... where they found diamonds in the south Namib desert is started a frenzy of people driving through the desert and damaging the ecosystem, they don't want that happening here so access is all under lock and key.
We drove a short way with our newly deflated tyres when Francois, our portly, chain smoking, very Africans guide leapt from the van and threw his hat into some low succulent plants on the side of a dune, then down on hands and knees he started to sift the sand through his fingers, and after a few seconds returned with a small Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard, you could definitely see his shovelnose and also his long digging toes. When released he ran sooooo fast, it was incredible; apparently they have been clocked at 45kph; and then he disappeared into the sand in one smooth dive. We then continued our drive going really fast up the side of a dune and stopping right on the brink, we all gave a sigh of release we thought he was going to plunge us over the other side.... but after a short stop and a wander that is exactly what we did, down the other side so that all you could see out of the windscreen was the ground below and we were all slipping forward of our seats, it was terrifying and exhilerating, we did a few more of these later but more in the style of a rollercoaster with just a brief halt at the top so that we could contemplate our doom and then losing our stomachs as we descended down the other side. Our other encounters were with a legless skink that had a sort of white plate over its nose to help it force its way through the sand; another, larger, Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard that was very angry and bit onto the first thing it could grab including Francois' finger and he then passed it on to another of our fellow passenger's ears; a tiny, burrowing gecko that is practically see through and could not be taken out in the sun, 2 male chameleons sitting in dollar bushes and very glad to be fed a few meal worms and beetles, (there must have been a female around somewhere but we couldn't find her), when one chameleon was moved from his bush out onto the sand he turned from green to a pale yellow in a matter of seconds, incredible creatures; several black and a couple of white beetles with extremely long legs that could run really fast; a little bird, a Chat, that followed us for about 10 mins and then took meal worms from the hand; and finally a sidewinder adder that having been extracted from the sand then buried himself again in a matter of seconds until only his head was sticking out... you could so easily tread on one without seeing him.
We were back at our hotel before 1:30pm; Delphin had told us that we needed to get going so that we would make it to our next campsite before dark in the Naukluft National park; but then they, Delphin and Jason, farted around for over an hour and a half doing shopping, getting petrol and other stuff before we actually got going. So of course we ended up driving over an hour in the pitch dark at the end of the journey and putting up the tents in the dark too. But the journey was interesting, we had about 50km of paved road and then after that it was gravel, quite a good road but with a few hairy dips and bumps. As we headed back inland from the coast the sandy desert slowly gained more and more vegetation, scrubby bushes and tufts of dry grasses, we saw loads of Bustards but failed to get any photos, Oryx, Eagles, large black and white crows (that I thought were vultures at first they are so large!), bat eared foxes, jackals, another type of fox, Springboks and several ostriches.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Into Africa
The flight from Singapore was long (10 hours) and uncomfortable. We started at 2am and arrived in Johannesburg at around 6:45am after a 5 hour time change; then, after flying on to Namibia, we find that we are now on the same time as London! In Johannesburg we had to go out and collect our bags as they had not been checked through to our next flight. That was all a bit long and tedious but at least it meant that we got a South African stamp in our passports. Out through passport control; collect bags; on through customs; then check bags back in; back through passport control and security. The airport is in full hype for the world cup and there were loads of TV and other media guys arriving from all sorts of places, and fans arriving in their various team colours and some in full voice. We had several hours to wait until our next flight to Windhoek in Namibia but we were kept very busy with the huge number of shops in the airport selling all sorts of fantastic goodies from carvings to paintings.
The flight to Windhoek was only two hours and we were met and whisked the 60 km to the capital by taxi; the airport is that far away because it is the closest piece of flat land! The road seemed to be in very good nick and we saw no sign of poverty, perhaps this is not a third world country(?) Our hotel seems pretty posh, it comes as part of the package with our safari, we have a large room with 4 beds and a sofa in front of the TV. We were pretty exhausted after our journey but we decided to go into town to get some cash and try to find some food. There was a shuttle service from the hotel so it was all very easy, but we didn't find anywhere to eat but found a fantastic little market and loads of great shops, but they were all just closing at a round 5pm. We returned to the hotel and went to the restaurant to eat (a fantastic buffet for about £12 for an adult and half for a child). Needless to say we were in bed by 8pm after a long shower and we slept very soundly.
On Saturday we had a great breakfast in the hotel before we set off back into town to visit the market at a bit more of a leisurely pace. We ended up buying a very large and rather fat hippo! We lazed around for most of the rest of the day (still a bit shell shocked after the journey) until 6pm when we met up with our guide, Delphin. It turns out that we shall have another private tour as we are the only people booked on this trip. Delphin reckons that it is because of the world cup. He had 31 in his group 2 weeks ago and has large bookings for July too - how lucky are we!
Sunday.
Up at 7am, breakfasted and packed by 8am. Delphin and Jason (the cook) collected us at 8.30am in a rather large lorry, they sit in the cab and we sit behind up high with windows looking out over the cab in the front. It gives us a great height to look out at the world from. We set off out of Windhoek, westwards, towards the coast. Only about a half hour into our journey and there, sitting in the road, was a troop of baboons; a great big male; several mums with babies and some juveniles. They didn't worry about the passing cars at all, but as soon as we slowed down they were very nervous and took off into the bushes. A great start to our trip. On the rest of the journey it was very difficult to stop due to the narrowness of the road and the endless roadworks that seemed to be going on on the Trans-Kalahari Highway ( the Kalahari being out of Windhoek in the other direction, Eastwards, we will be going there later). However we did spot loads of creatures, Hornbills, Secretary birds (a pair), a Bustard, a small deer and a large deer, several Harriers, Bee Eaters and Roller Birds. The landscape is dry and very flat but with great lines of hills in the distance. Delphin managed to explain a few things to us at some of the stops we made.
Namibia was a German colony until after the first world war when it was transferred to South African control.
They were under the Apartheid regime until 1990 when they became independent.
There are only 2.1 million inhabitants, 1/8th of whom live in the capital Windhoek.
The average population is under 2 people per square km.
18% of the country is classified as desert and another 55% as semi-desert.
The country seems really quite organised, not like the South American super bureaucracy. It is clean and neat and in the towns, at least, the people look well nourished and contented, really rather affluent I would say. We did pass a couple of shanty towns, some houses made out of old bits of corrugated iron and one made out of old aluminium cans, but I haven't seen people in rags or people begging. There have been people waiting on the edges of the roads but mostly they have a pile of goods and seem just to be waiting for some sort of transport rather than being homeless or destitute.
We reached our destination of Spitzkoppie at lunchtime and set up tents before sitting down to salad and sandwiches. Spitzkoppie is a small, pointed, granite mountain that sticks up out of the flat landscape with a few other bulging mountains alongside. Celso, Tris and I went for a small exploration of the area; it was very, very hot so we didn't go far; but we saw loads of lizards, rock Hyraxes and loads of birds just in a small 15 minute walk. Flies followed us everywhere as soon as we were in sunlight but they left you alone if you were in the shade; apparently they follow the body heat to find their next victim! There was also a small pool of water in the shade of one rock where an enormous number of strange insect larvae were swimming (they looked a bit like very large sea-monkeys) along with one huge tadpole / froglet; body 1 inch long, tail another inch; back legs nearly fully formed; large bulging eyes and a huge mouth; in fact it looked a bit like a whale shark in miniature!
At 3:30pm we went for a walk as the sun started to sink behind the mountains and a beautifully cool wind started to blow. We went to see some 2000 to 4000 year old bushman rock art, pictures in red and white ochre, of lions, rhino, people hunting and dancing and pictures of the ancestors (witch doctor visions). On our walk we found a dead sandwinder snake, a hare, a small Steenbok deer, loads more Rock Hyrax, a fishing eagle, several mice and loads of extraordinary plants. As the sun went down behind the mountains they glowed red... it was fantastic.
When we returned from our walk, Jason had set up a campfire, a lamp and started to cook a BBQ supper, pork chops, beef sausages, maize polenta and sweet potatoes. The darkness set in really quickly and it turned really quite cold. I had to write this before I forgot all the goings on. I'm sure Tris will remind me of some more before long though!
The flight to Windhoek was only two hours and we were met and whisked the 60 km to the capital by taxi; the airport is that far away because it is the closest piece of flat land! The road seemed to be in very good nick and we saw no sign of poverty, perhaps this is not a third world country(?) Our hotel seems pretty posh, it comes as part of the package with our safari, we have a large room with 4 beds and a sofa in front of the TV. We were pretty exhausted after our journey but we decided to go into town to get some cash and try to find some food. There was a shuttle service from the hotel so it was all very easy, but we didn't find anywhere to eat but found a fantastic little market and loads of great shops, but they were all just closing at a round 5pm. We returned to the hotel and went to the restaurant to eat (a fantastic buffet for about £12 for an adult and half for a child). Needless to say we were in bed by 8pm after a long shower and we slept very soundly.
On Saturday we had a great breakfast in the hotel before we set off back into town to visit the market at a bit more of a leisurely pace. We ended up buying a very large and rather fat hippo! We lazed around for most of the rest of the day (still a bit shell shocked after the journey) until 6pm when we met up with our guide, Delphin. It turns out that we shall have another private tour as we are the only people booked on this trip. Delphin reckons that it is because of the world cup. He had 31 in his group 2 weeks ago and has large bookings for July too - how lucky are we!
Sunday.
Up at 7am, breakfasted and packed by 8am. Delphin and Jason (the cook) collected us at 8.30am in a rather large lorry, they sit in the cab and we sit behind up high with windows looking out over the cab in the front. It gives us a great height to look out at the world from. We set off out of Windhoek, westwards, towards the coast. Only about a half hour into our journey and there, sitting in the road, was a troop of baboons; a great big male; several mums with babies and some juveniles. They didn't worry about the passing cars at all, but as soon as we slowed down they were very nervous and took off into the bushes. A great start to our trip. On the rest of the journey it was very difficult to stop due to the narrowness of the road and the endless roadworks that seemed to be going on on the Trans-Kalahari Highway ( the Kalahari being out of Windhoek in the other direction, Eastwards, we will be going there later). However we did spot loads of creatures, Hornbills, Secretary birds (a pair), a Bustard, a small deer and a large deer, several Harriers, Bee Eaters and Roller Birds. The landscape is dry and very flat but with great lines of hills in the distance. Delphin managed to explain a few things to us at some of the stops we made.
Namibia was a German colony until after the first world war when it was transferred to South African control.
They were under the Apartheid regime until 1990 when they became independent.
There are only 2.1 million inhabitants, 1/8th of whom live in the capital Windhoek.
The average population is under 2 people per square km.
18% of the country is classified as desert and another 55% as semi-desert.
The country seems really quite organised, not like the South American super bureaucracy. It is clean and neat and in the towns, at least, the people look well nourished and contented, really rather affluent I would say. We did pass a couple of shanty towns, some houses made out of old bits of corrugated iron and one made out of old aluminium cans, but I haven't seen people in rags or people begging. There have been people waiting on the edges of the roads but mostly they have a pile of goods and seem just to be waiting for some sort of transport rather than being homeless or destitute.
We reached our destination of Spitzkoppie at lunchtime and set up tents before sitting down to salad and sandwiches. Spitzkoppie is a small, pointed, granite mountain that sticks up out of the flat landscape with a few other bulging mountains alongside. Celso, Tris and I went for a small exploration of the area; it was very, very hot so we didn't go far; but we saw loads of lizards, rock Hyraxes and loads of birds just in a small 15 minute walk. Flies followed us everywhere as soon as we were in sunlight but they left you alone if you were in the shade; apparently they follow the body heat to find their next victim! There was also a small pool of water in the shade of one rock where an enormous number of strange insect larvae were swimming (they looked a bit like very large sea-monkeys) along with one huge tadpole / froglet; body 1 inch long, tail another inch; back legs nearly fully formed; large bulging eyes and a huge mouth; in fact it looked a bit like a whale shark in miniature!
At 3:30pm we went for a walk as the sun started to sink behind the mountains and a beautifully cool wind started to blow. We went to see some 2000 to 4000 year old bushman rock art, pictures in red and white ochre, of lions, rhino, people hunting and dancing and pictures of the ancestors (witch doctor visions). On our walk we found a dead sandwinder snake, a hare, a small Steenbok deer, loads more Rock Hyrax, a fishing eagle, several mice and loads of extraordinary plants. As the sun went down behind the mountains they glowed red... it was fantastic.
When we returned from our walk, Jason had set up a campfire, a lamp and started to cook a BBQ supper, pork chops, beef sausages, maize polenta and sweet potatoes. The darkness set in really quickly and it turned really quite cold. I had to write this before I forgot all the goings on. I'm sure Tris will remind me of some more before long though!
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Singapore and Indonesia
Got a bit confused with my days in the last week.
We flew out of Australia at 1am on the 31st and arrived in Singapore 5 and a half hours later (in the same time zone) having had very little sleep.
So it was 1/4 to 7 when we arrived and just getting light outside but it was already 26 degrees and it was very humid. The airport was all very efficient and we took a taxi to our hotel, chosen because it would allow us to have our room from 8am without paying for the previous night, most hotels make you wait to check in until after midday. We went to sleep for a few hours and then went out to have a bit of an explore.
It was sooooo hot, above 30 and really high humidity. The streets were really busy, very clean and the people all very purposeful, no teenagers just lounging/hanging around.
We found our way to the train station and onto the beautifully air conditioned trains. The tickets were like plastic credit cards that you paid $1 for on top of your fare, and then when you returned the ticket at the end you were refunded your $1, so there is no littering of tickets and wasting of paper - Clever!
We got off the train in Chinatown and wandered through the streets, loads of little shops selling everything from miniature plastic flipflops to Bhuddist monks! No, not really, but if you look at the photos you'll see what I'm talking about; but there were an amazing variety of shops from antiques to modern electrical goods. At the end of Pagoda Street is the Sri Mariamman Temple - an amazingly gaudy affair with incredible paintings and statues everywhere. The bare chested priests wander around administering to the statues which sometimes involved pouring coconut milk over the top of them (the statues). There were several worshippers who sat cross legged and watched all this whilst rocking back and forth to the sounds of two musicians - a drummer and a man playing some type of oboe like instrument.
We left Chinatown and wandered through some of the modern part of central Singapore with huge high rises towering above us... but we were now hot and tired again, so after some food we returned to the hotel to have another snooze! On the way we visited a fruit and veg market we had seen on our way to the station and bought a huge bag of fruit - mangostenes, guavas and lichees for a pitance. As we returned to the hotel the heavens opened and the rain poured down for the rest of the afternoon. So we ended up not seeing as much of the city as we could have / should have and instead sat in the hotel and gorged ourselves on fresh fruit!
The next day we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and took the one hour ferry (sleek, modern, comfy catamaran style) to Bintan Island which is in Indonesia, we were met there by a representative from the hotel that I had booked on the internet and taken 45 min along tiny roads at hair raising speed and with life threatening overtaking manouevers on corners. However it was interesting to see the country, so very much like Ecuador, lots of very similar plants and the houses in the same sort of style too. One big difference though was that here there are endless numbers of mopeds being driven at snails pace with huge numbers of passengers or enormous side baskets laden with goods - unfortunately at the break neck speed we were travelling I did not manage to get any photos of these.
Our room at the hotel was roomy and cool. We ate at a restaurant set out on the end of a long peir where Celso was allowed to select his own fish from the nets at the back. We took a walk along the beach and explored all that was to offer before settling in for the night.
The next day I went for a pampering massage whilst Celso went to explore a bit more and take photos (his new passion), we all went for a long swim in the hotel pool and spent a large amount of time trying to get a picture of us jumping in - I don't know why we just decided that that was the thing to do!! It was a very relaxing day.
Our last day was Thursday the 3rd of June, we packed up and left our bags at the reception to go on a 3 hour Mangrove tour in a small motor boat with a driver who knew very little English and none of the names of the animals except for 'Monkey', 'Snake' or 'Bird'. However it was a great trip, first passing through a small village with all the houses on stilts, loads of boats and lots of net mending going on, then into the river. We saw a few 'black with yellow spots' snakes, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers (some white with rainbow colours and some blue), bright red or shiny black dragonflies and a 2 foot monitor lizard lazing out in the sun as well as several other small birds, some big birds (!) and of course all the weird and wonderful plants. It was a great few hours.
At the end we were met by a minivan that had our bags in and we were taken to the airport, a much calmer and more leisurely journey this time. However the ferry was anything but modern, sleek and comfy. The conditions were cramped and we were in an area with 60 seats with only one way (single file) in and out up a staircase and then one ladder up through a porthole at the back. If there had been an emergency I doubt that everyone would escape very easily. Anyway there wasn't (an emergency) and we arrived in Singapore on time well shaken and quite deafened from the noise of the engines and the vibrations that shook throughout the boat.
We took a taxi to the airport and are now awaiting our flight to Southern Africa, another one of those early in the morning flights. We arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning and then take a connecting flight to Windhoek Namibia around lunchtime for the start of the last leg of our journey - the African safari.
We flew out of Australia at 1am on the 31st and arrived in Singapore 5 and a half hours later (in the same time zone) having had very little sleep.
So it was 1/4 to 7 when we arrived and just getting light outside but it was already 26 degrees and it was very humid. The airport was all very efficient and we took a taxi to our hotel, chosen because it would allow us to have our room from 8am without paying for the previous night, most hotels make you wait to check in until after midday. We went to sleep for a few hours and then went out to have a bit of an explore.
It was sooooo hot, above 30 and really high humidity. The streets were really busy, very clean and the people all very purposeful, no teenagers just lounging/hanging around.
We found our way to the train station and onto the beautifully air conditioned trains. The tickets were like plastic credit cards that you paid $1 for on top of your fare, and then when you returned the ticket at the end you were refunded your $1, so there is no littering of tickets and wasting of paper - Clever!
We got off the train in Chinatown and wandered through the streets, loads of little shops selling everything from miniature plastic flipflops to Bhuddist monks! No, not really, but if you look at the photos you'll see what I'm talking about; but there were an amazing variety of shops from antiques to modern electrical goods. At the end of Pagoda Street is the Sri Mariamman Temple - an amazingly gaudy affair with incredible paintings and statues everywhere. The bare chested priests wander around administering to the statues which sometimes involved pouring coconut milk over the top of them (the statues). There were several worshippers who sat cross legged and watched all this whilst rocking back and forth to the sounds of two musicians - a drummer and a man playing some type of oboe like instrument.
We left Chinatown and wandered through some of the modern part of central Singapore with huge high rises towering above us... but we were now hot and tired again, so after some food we returned to the hotel to have another snooze! On the way we visited a fruit and veg market we had seen on our way to the station and bought a huge bag of fruit - mangostenes, guavas and lichees for a pitance. As we returned to the hotel the heavens opened and the rain poured down for the rest of the afternoon. So we ended up not seeing as much of the city as we could have / should have and instead sat in the hotel and gorged ourselves on fresh fruit!
The next day we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and took the one hour ferry (sleek, modern, comfy catamaran style) to Bintan Island which is in Indonesia, we were met there by a representative from the hotel that I had booked on the internet and taken 45 min along tiny roads at hair raising speed and with life threatening overtaking manouevers on corners. However it was interesting to see the country, so very much like Ecuador, lots of very similar plants and the houses in the same sort of style too. One big difference though was that here there are endless numbers of mopeds being driven at snails pace with huge numbers of passengers or enormous side baskets laden with goods - unfortunately at the break neck speed we were travelling I did not manage to get any photos of these.
Our room at the hotel was roomy and cool. We ate at a restaurant set out on the end of a long peir where Celso was allowed to select his own fish from the nets at the back. We took a walk along the beach and explored all that was to offer before settling in for the night.
The next day I went for a pampering massage whilst Celso went to explore a bit more and take photos (his new passion), we all went for a long swim in the hotel pool and spent a large amount of time trying to get a picture of us jumping in - I don't know why we just decided that that was the thing to do!! It was a very relaxing day.
Our last day was Thursday the 3rd of June, we packed up and left our bags at the reception to go on a 3 hour Mangrove tour in a small motor boat with a driver who knew very little English and none of the names of the animals except for 'Monkey', 'Snake' or 'Bird'. However it was a great trip, first passing through a small village with all the houses on stilts, loads of boats and lots of net mending going on, then into the river. We saw a few 'black with yellow spots' snakes, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers (some white with rainbow colours and some blue), bright red or shiny black dragonflies and a 2 foot monitor lizard lazing out in the sun as well as several other small birds, some big birds (!) and of course all the weird and wonderful plants. It was a great few hours.
At the end we were met by a minivan that had our bags in and we were taken to the airport, a much calmer and more leisurely journey this time. However the ferry was anything but modern, sleek and comfy. The conditions were cramped and we were in an area with 60 seats with only one way (single file) in and out up a staircase and then one ladder up through a porthole at the back. If there had been an emergency I doubt that everyone would escape very easily. Anyway there wasn't (an emergency) and we arrived in Singapore on time well shaken and quite deafened from the noise of the engines and the vibrations that shook throughout the boat.
We took a taxi to the airport and are now awaiting our flight to Southern Africa, another one of those early in the morning flights. We arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning and then take a connecting flight to Windhoek Namibia around lunchtime for the start of the last leg of our journey - the African safari.
Monday, 31 May 2010
South to Perth again
Thurs 27th
We awoke to light rains but strong winds... how lucky had we been, the whale shark trip today had been cancelled and we had seen one of the largest whale sharks ever seen in the area, and the first for a few days. Feeling rather pleased with our escapade we set off to go back south again. Plan today to cover at least 500km, and we did that and more, probably about 650km as well as stopping to take lots of photos of termite mounds, the Tropic of Capricorn sign and loads of birds and flowers that we spotted by the road. We pulled off the road into some bush at around 5pm as it was starting to get dark. The place was deserted but had had visitors in the past, mainly dumping old rolls of carpet it seems - very odd as we are miles and miles from anywhere. Celso found some geckos rolled up in the carpet and some spiders in a tree so he was happy.
Friday 28th - Sunday 30th
Celso spent 3 hours in the morning on Friday creeping around the bush following birds and trying to get the perfect shot, and in fact this is pretty much how we spent the next three days, we drove a bit then parked up and went for walks in the bush to see what we could see. We free camped for 2 nights, just driving off the road and into the bush at around 5pm as the light started to fade and finding a flat area. We found loads of plants and critters. Celso was thrilled to find a Shingleback (a large type of skink with a blue tongue), he was sunbathing just before sunset and gave us a good agressive show as he defended himself. We left him for about 5 mins and when we returned he had vanished. Another critter that Celso was pleased to see was a Praying Mantis, apparently there are loads in Australi but we hadn't seen one before now.
On Saturday night we stopped in a campsite in Toodayay (or something like that) to allow us to have showers, do the laundry and pack up our bags. We drove back into Perth around 5pm on Sunday. We stopped on the way in some nature reserves, one was next to the Avon River where we saw the strange looking duck with the big throat and the amazingly beautiful blue bird - the Superb Wren. After washing the van with a power washer (they are all very concious here about conserving water), we dropped it off (just a key drop as the office was closed). Our flight wasn't until 1am in the morning so we waited around in the airport trying to catch up on the blog.
All photos now loaded.
We awoke to light rains but strong winds... how lucky had we been, the whale shark trip today had been cancelled and we had seen one of the largest whale sharks ever seen in the area, and the first for a few days. Feeling rather pleased with our escapade we set off to go back south again. Plan today to cover at least 500km, and we did that and more, probably about 650km as well as stopping to take lots of photos of termite mounds, the Tropic of Capricorn sign and loads of birds and flowers that we spotted by the road. We pulled off the road into some bush at around 5pm as it was starting to get dark. The place was deserted but had had visitors in the past, mainly dumping old rolls of carpet it seems - very odd as we are miles and miles from anywhere. Celso found some geckos rolled up in the carpet and some spiders in a tree so he was happy.
Friday 28th - Sunday 30th
Celso spent 3 hours in the morning on Friday creeping around the bush following birds and trying to get the perfect shot, and in fact this is pretty much how we spent the next three days, we drove a bit then parked up and went for walks in the bush to see what we could see. We free camped for 2 nights, just driving off the road and into the bush at around 5pm as the light started to fade and finding a flat area. We found loads of plants and critters. Celso was thrilled to find a Shingleback (a large type of skink with a blue tongue), he was sunbathing just before sunset and gave us a good agressive show as he defended himself. We left him for about 5 mins and when we returned he had vanished. Another critter that Celso was pleased to see was a Praying Mantis, apparently there are loads in Australi but we hadn't seen one before now.
On Saturday night we stopped in a campsite in Toodayay (or something like that) to allow us to have showers, do the laundry and pack up our bags. We drove back into Perth around 5pm on Sunday. We stopped on the way in some nature reserves, one was next to the Avon River where we saw the strange looking duck with the big throat and the amazingly beautiful blue bird - the Superb Wren. After washing the van with a power washer (they are all very concious here about conserving water), we dropped it off (just a key drop as the office was closed). Our flight wasn't until 1am in the morning so we waited around in the airport trying to catch up on the blog.
All photos now loaded.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
North up the West Coast from Perth
Friday 21st
We managed to be in our new little van by 11am and on the road north out of Perth. We stopped to fill up the fridge and then drove about 3 hours to Cervantes and parked up in it's one and only campsite. It is right next to the sea which seems to be dead calm; lucky as there is nothing to stop it flowing right up and into the camp which only appears to be about 1m higher than the beach. We walked out of town, disturbing a few kangaroos as we went, to Lake Thetis which is much more saline that the ocean and home to Stromatolites (ancient cyanobacteria that form huge lumps). There were loads of unusual plants that I have never seen the likes of before and all the time the sulphurous smell of the sea - it seems to be extra potent around here. Lake Thetis seems to be having a dryish period and there were several dead fish around the edge along with thousands of tiny spiral, pointy cone shaped snails. We wandered around the lake as the sun dropped and then walked back to the camp in the semi dark to eat home made nachos with avocado, cheese, tomatoes and refried beans. Our little van is not on the scale of our previous luxurious abodes, we have to move the table to sleep and it will take us some time to get ready for bed. It is now 9.15pm and I'm quite ready for it!
Sat 22nd
We awoke in the night with pouring rain, in fact we found that we hadn't closed one of the doors well and the rain was dripping in, no harm done though. In the morning there was more of the same all day, on and off heavy showers and at one point hail! We had to slow right down on the road because we could hardly see a thing and we thought that a window might break since the hail stones were quite big, like peas.
We started our day by driving to The Pinnacles, a national park in the desert just south of Cervantes, where large limestone pillars stick up out of the sand and have been weathered into all sorts of shapes. There are a couple of theories as to how they formed; they may be casts of ancient trees that were buried in the sand dunes, then they drew in water leaving crystalised salts around them; they have proof that this happened around ancient plant roots as they have found tiny pinnacles with the cast of the ancient root system inside, however they can't be certain that the inside of these large ones were trees - yet. The second theory is similar but does not involve tree roots but compression of sand and then some acids leaching in and forming limestone. Either way, or another, they were a strange sight in the middle of the desert. We drove amongst them as it was still raining and then left to head north. We drove up the coast through miles and miles of burnt bushland, there was a constant wind off the sea and the trees were all completely bent to the ground as evidence that the wind was not just a thing of today. We stopped in Geraldton and visited a large pet shop in the hope of buying a blacklight (UV light) to go hunting for scorpions - but no luck; and then continued on North to Gregory by the very salty Hutt Lagoon where miniature trees were growing in the salty pink waters, like bushland in Bonzai! It continued to rain on and off into the evening and night. The wind was blowing a gale, as sun set their were enormous numbers of swifts or swallows swooping around and then they all came to roost in an isolated little tree in the middle of our campsite. The tree made high pitched chirping sounds for about half an hour before they had all sorted out who's perch was whos; we could see them clinging to the branches as they thrashed about in the wind; I wonder why they didn't go into the great big barn just next door that had warm and cosy rafters to roost in?
Sun 23rd
More showers in the morning slowly faded out to leave a beautiful day. We drove up to Kalbarri, first stopping because there was a very stunned mouse in the road which Celso removed to the edge, then stopping to take pictures of the Bonzais in the Hutt Lagoon, and we also stopped because a poor stunned sheep that we assume had been hit/glanced by a car was blocking our side of the road; again Celso moved her to the edge and on we went. Our main morning stop was at Rainbow Valley, a private parrot collection. They had a fantastic aviary where we spent about an hour amongst the flying birds. Then we drove along into town and took a walk along the mouth of the Murchison River where there were gulls plummeting into the water to catch fish, cormorants diving and several pelicans lazing on the sandbanks. The wind was blowing off the sea again and there were more fine bent trees on the rocky bank of the river. We then drove out into the Kalbarri national park and stopped to photograph some amazing plants along the road. We visited a couple of lookouts over the gorge of the Murchison River further inland. Due to the rain of yesterday we were lucky enough to see the river quite full, yet still, it has been higher in the recent past as we can clearly see a high water mark in the vegetation. On our way out we stopped to watch an Echidna who again dug himself into the ground, we waited for about 15 minutes but he wouldn't come out so Celso pushed him out with a stick and he just sat in a tight little ball. Another 15 minutes passed and he had only slightly opened up so that we could see his front claws and his long nose but it was getting on in the afternoon and we had to go. You can't drive safely here between about 4:30pm and sunset because that is the time that kangaroos jump across the road and they really have not an inkling of the green cross code; we still had about 80km to go before we would reach a camping spot outside the National Park. However, we were lucky enough to also spot loads of birds, a kangaroo and some emus. We are now camped next to the Murchison river outside the National Park. It is a free camping spot with a couple of composting loos and a few rubbish bins and nothing else; no water or elec. The Murchison here is practically dry apart from a few pools here and there in the dry river bed, but there are some heron, egret and even a black swan making good use of the water.
Mon 24th
Leaving Tris to sleep (as usual - teenagers, who'd have them!) Celso and I went out for a wander up the river bed shortly after sunrise; we saw a flock of Corellas flying overhead, lots of footprint evidence of Emu and Kangaroo, some wading birds (probably sandpipers) in the occassional pools and large numbers of Procession Caterpillar Nests, they seem to love the Eucalypt trees. We drove north and then west out onto a peninsula to Denham (to do a little shopping) and then on just under 30km to Monkey Mia where bottlenose dolphins have been visiting the beach since the 60's. The water in the cove was dead calm, I didn't know the sea could be that calm; the temperature was in the mid 20's, the sand was pure white and it was nearly perfect...... but the water was freezing! We took a walk along the beach past a very patient pelican and found lots of tiny hermit crabs in the shallows. Then we returned to sit outside our van in the sun, drink tea and write a few postcards with emus wandering past and nosily poking their beaks into the van. A lazy afternoon was followed by early evening on the beach watching the sun go down over the water. As we watched a few dolphins made a brief appearance at the beach and a turtle floated lazily past - amazing.
Tues 25th.
Down at the beach by 7:15am, the dolphins appeared at around 7:30am; we all paddled into the water and they came in only about a foot away from us as we talked, clicked and whistled to them and they clicked in return. (Strictly no touching as they have discovered that dolphins are susceptable to human viruses such as the common cold.) It was a breathtaking experience to be so close to the adults and the little baby dolphins (are they called pups, calves?) splashed about with each other just a few metres further out. We then drove back to Denham to have a fry up breakfast at a little cafe and then we were on the road again, even further north to Coral Bay at the southern end of the Ningaloo Coral Reef. We were lucky enough to get a very close encounter with a huge wedge tailed eagle that was sitting in the low scrub at the edge of the road and posed for a few photos before soaring off into the sky.
We have driven over 1600km in the last 5 days! We spotted a few more of the magnificent wedge-tailed eagles, either sitting on trees or feasting on roadkill. There is an incredibly large number of dead kangaroos by the edge of the road, we think that maybe some are shot rather than them all being roadkill because some are far off the road, but who knows. Anyway the crows and the eagles (and I assume the dingos at quieter times) seem to be benefitting from the horror of it all. We also saw feral goats everywhere and then there are sheep and cattle sprinkled amongst the incredibly dry and sparsely vegetated (with really unappetising dry and spikey shrubs) landscape. We crossed some enormous and completely dry river beds and also areas of the road where there are signs warning of flood and waterlevel markers up to 2m.... I can't believe it could ever get that wet around here, and, as it is so flat you would have thought that the water would spread out really easily and therefore be very shallow. We stopped of at Carnarvon on route to take a break, it is so far from anywhere else but a thriving little community supporting 2 supermarkets and lots of tourist activities on the water. When we got to Coral Bay we went immediately to the dive shop to get kitted out for our trip tomorrow... but more of that tomorrow!
Wed 26th
We were at the dive shop at 8:15 and all on the boat and raring to go at 9:15. There were 19 passengers and 5 crew, 3 female swimmers / spotters and 2 guys who stayed on board, navigated and spotted from up top. Coral bay is on the southern end of the Ningaloo reef which stretches right up to Exmouth about 200km to the north. It is one of the few reefs where you can actually swim out to it from the beach but we zipped out in the boat and soon got our first wildlife sighting - a Dugong (a bit like the Manatees in the US), he/she was cruising along the bottom chewing on the sea grass; but it is a mammal and so it was just a matter of waiting before he/she came up to the surface for a breath - awesome. Then we spotted an eagle ray and a turtle before we finally anchored up on a part of the outer reef and kitted ourselves out to snorkel. Tris and I went out in tandem and were immediately pointing and talking (if you can call it that with a snorkel in your mouth) to try to get the other to see everything that we had. We saw amazingly coloured purple, green and black parrotfish, or yellow and green parrotfish, black and grey stripey pipefish with enourmously long snouts, huge giant clams, brain coral, huge mushroom like coral and green spikey coral. Loads of little fishies were flitting in and out of the corals, a white fluffy looking (Tristan insits that it was slimy) eel with glazed over eyes wriggled along the bottom; starfish and spikey urchins sat and munched (I assume) and some really large fish with fat lips were on patrol. We had swum from the boat against the current from the waves that crashed onto the outer part of the reef so when we were tired we mostly floated back to the boat. It was cold when we got out of the water, it was much warmer here than in New Zealand when we snorkeled off the North Island.
A shout went up from the captain, the final snorklers were signalled to return to the boat and then we up anchored to head northwards to where our spotter plane had made contact with our main quarry. On the 40min trip at top speed we were lucky enough to have several dolphins swim with us under the bow wave. They can go so fast, but one by one they dropped away until just one remained moving from side to side under the bow. After that we spotted a blue flying fish flying just a few cm above the water surface for about 30m, incredible.
We were divided into two groups for the 'main event', Tris, Celso and I were in the second group and watched as the first group were dropped into the water and then there was a very confusing thrashing of flippers and the spotters hand pointing this way and that. Then we were in the water and Tris and I tried to follow where the spotter pointed but we just got a face full of flippers from other swimmers and saw absolutely nothing. In fact about half our group saw nothing whilst three had been able to swim and enjoy the view for a full minute or so. Never mind, we were told that we would get another chance so we hauled ourselves out onto the boat and since everyone in group one had spotted the beast then our group was to go again first. The boat drove infront of the quarry, as directed by the spotter plane.... but then it dived out of sight.
We dawdled about for over an hour, went to take a look at a reef that stuck out of the water and lunch was put out... we thought our chance had gone and were going to console ourselves with food when the shout came out again, the food was taken in and we were off again. Into the water we went, Tris on my arm and we swam like hell in the direction our spotter pointed. Tris was getting water in his mask but I wasn't going to stop I just dragged him along beside me and then there it was... an 8m long whale shark, spotty, magnificent, incredible... we were a bit awestruck, and with the water in his mask Tristan was unable to keep up with him / her (probably a her because of the large size) as she was one of the fastest and largest whale sharks they had ever encountered. Normally they are about 6m and swim much slower. We returned to the boat and had just enough time to catch our breath before we were back in the water again. Jump in, masks into the water, watch the spotter's arm under the water... point, point, point she went and there out of the gloom came the whale shark straight towards us, mouth gaping, little fish fleeing before it. It doesn't matter that it is not a meat eater, it was pretty scarey and Tris and I scrambled to get out of its way, but the more left we swam the more left it turned. Celso was behind us and he also had to scramble to get out of its way. It went past us just over a metre away - just fantastic - it had a sucker fish (some kind of cleaner fish I think) stuck on his lateral fin, and others stuck under its belly. The tail was so powerful that we were swept away as it passed and again we were unable to follow. Back on the boat we exchanged our views exitedly and before we had even caught our breath it was time to go back in again. Tris opted out of this one, he was too pooped along with four others in our group, so it was just 5 of us and the spotter this time. More amazing views and Celso swimming far to fast and too close to the tail got himself completely exhausted and had to have a hand from the spotter. I managed to follow for about 30sec at full pelt until I caught up with someone else and got a face full of flipper that made me pull up sharpish. What an adrenaline rush, just fantastic. Of course you won't get to see any of the photos because we were given them on a disk from the other diver who was taking loads of underwater shots.. you just have to believe me how amazing it was. We will publish these and other shots we have on disk from quadbiking and Celso's superman flight over the Murchison river at a later date.
We had now gone over 2 hours away from Coral bay and had to start the journey back. I think everyone was too pooped to have done another swim anyway. We were all very satisfied with a great day, and so lucky as this was the first sighting since last Saturday. We all ate our lunches pretty much in silence mulling over what we had seen - what a privelege. As we neared Coral Bay we had more fantastic views of the reef and some fish as the tide was now out and the coral was so near to the surface, a fab ending to a fabulous day. Next showers, a dinner up at the hotel and bed to sleep and dream of big, gaping mouthed fish.
We managed to be in our new little van by 11am and on the road north out of Perth. We stopped to fill up the fridge and then drove about 3 hours to Cervantes and parked up in it's one and only campsite. It is right next to the sea which seems to be dead calm; lucky as there is nothing to stop it flowing right up and into the camp which only appears to be about 1m higher than the beach. We walked out of town, disturbing a few kangaroos as we went, to Lake Thetis which is much more saline that the ocean and home to Stromatolites (ancient cyanobacteria that form huge lumps). There were loads of unusual plants that I have never seen the likes of before and all the time the sulphurous smell of the sea - it seems to be extra potent around here. Lake Thetis seems to be having a dryish period and there were several dead fish around the edge along with thousands of tiny spiral, pointy cone shaped snails. We wandered around the lake as the sun dropped and then walked back to the camp in the semi dark to eat home made nachos with avocado, cheese, tomatoes and refried beans. Our little van is not on the scale of our previous luxurious abodes, we have to move the table to sleep and it will take us some time to get ready for bed. It is now 9.15pm and I'm quite ready for it!
Sat 22nd
We awoke in the night with pouring rain, in fact we found that we hadn't closed one of the doors well and the rain was dripping in, no harm done though. In the morning there was more of the same all day, on and off heavy showers and at one point hail! We had to slow right down on the road because we could hardly see a thing and we thought that a window might break since the hail stones were quite big, like peas.
We started our day by driving to The Pinnacles, a national park in the desert just south of Cervantes, where large limestone pillars stick up out of the sand and have been weathered into all sorts of shapes. There are a couple of theories as to how they formed; they may be casts of ancient trees that were buried in the sand dunes, then they drew in water leaving crystalised salts around them; they have proof that this happened around ancient plant roots as they have found tiny pinnacles with the cast of the ancient root system inside, however they can't be certain that the inside of these large ones were trees - yet. The second theory is similar but does not involve tree roots but compression of sand and then some acids leaching in and forming limestone. Either way, or another, they were a strange sight in the middle of the desert. We drove amongst them as it was still raining and then left to head north. We drove up the coast through miles and miles of burnt bushland, there was a constant wind off the sea and the trees were all completely bent to the ground as evidence that the wind was not just a thing of today. We stopped in Geraldton and visited a large pet shop in the hope of buying a blacklight (UV light) to go hunting for scorpions - but no luck; and then continued on North to Gregory by the very salty Hutt Lagoon where miniature trees were growing in the salty pink waters, like bushland in Bonzai! It continued to rain on and off into the evening and night. The wind was blowing a gale, as sun set their were enormous numbers of swifts or swallows swooping around and then they all came to roost in an isolated little tree in the middle of our campsite. The tree made high pitched chirping sounds for about half an hour before they had all sorted out who's perch was whos; we could see them clinging to the branches as they thrashed about in the wind; I wonder why they didn't go into the great big barn just next door that had warm and cosy rafters to roost in?
Sun 23rd
More showers in the morning slowly faded out to leave a beautiful day. We drove up to Kalbarri, first stopping because there was a very stunned mouse in the road which Celso removed to the edge, then stopping to take pictures of the Bonzais in the Hutt Lagoon, and we also stopped because a poor stunned sheep that we assume had been hit/glanced by a car was blocking our side of the road; again Celso moved her to the edge and on we went. Our main morning stop was at Rainbow Valley, a private parrot collection. They had a fantastic aviary where we spent about an hour amongst the flying birds. Then we drove along into town and took a walk along the mouth of the Murchison River where there were gulls plummeting into the water to catch fish, cormorants diving and several pelicans lazing on the sandbanks. The wind was blowing off the sea again and there were more fine bent trees on the rocky bank of the river. We then drove out into the Kalbarri national park and stopped to photograph some amazing plants along the road. We visited a couple of lookouts over the gorge of the Murchison River further inland. Due to the rain of yesterday we were lucky enough to see the river quite full, yet still, it has been higher in the recent past as we can clearly see a high water mark in the vegetation. On our way out we stopped to watch an Echidna who again dug himself into the ground, we waited for about 15 minutes but he wouldn't come out so Celso pushed him out with a stick and he just sat in a tight little ball. Another 15 minutes passed and he had only slightly opened up so that we could see his front claws and his long nose but it was getting on in the afternoon and we had to go. You can't drive safely here between about 4:30pm and sunset because that is the time that kangaroos jump across the road and they really have not an inkling of the green cross code; we still had about 80km to go before we would reach a camping spot outside the National Park. However, we were lucky enough to also spot loads of birds, a kangaroo and some emus. We are now camped next to the Murchison river outside the National Park. It is a free camping spot with a couple of composting loos and a few rubbish bins and nothing else; no water or elec. The Murchison here is practically dry apart from a few pools here and there in the dry river bed, but there are some heron, egret and even a black swan making good use of the water.
Mon 24th
Leaving Tris to sleep (as usual - teenagers, who'd have them!) Celso and I went out for a wander up the river bed shortly after sunrise; we saw a flock of Corellas flying overhead, lots of footprint evidence of Emu and Kangaroo, some wading birds (probably sandpipers) in the occassional pools and large numbers of Procession Caterpillar Nests, they seem to love the Eucalypt trees. We drove north and then west out onto a peninsula to Denham (to do a little shopping) and then on just under 30km to Monkey Mia where bottlenose dolphins have been visiting the beach since the 60's. The water in the cove was dead calm, I didn't know the sea could be that calm; the temperature was in the mid 20's, the sand was pure white and it was nearly perfect...... but the water was freezing! We took a walk along the beach past a very patient pelican and found lots of tiny hermit crabs in the shallows. Then we returned to sit outside our van in the sun, drink tea and write a few postcards with emus wandering past and nosily poking their beaks into the van. A lazy afternoon was followed by early evening on the beach watching the sun go down over the water. As we watched a few dolphins made a brief appearance at the beach and a turtle floated lazily past - amazing.
Tues 25th.
Down at the beach by 7:15am, the dolphins appeared at around 7:30am; we all paddled into the water and they came in only about a foot away from us as we talked, clicked and whistled to them and they clicked in return. (Strictly no touching as they have discovered that dolphins are susceptable to human viruses such as the common cold.) It was a breathtaking experience to be so close to the adults and the little baby dolphins (are they called pups, calves?) splashed about with each other just a few metres further out. We then drove back to Denham to have a fry up breakfast at a little cafe and then we were on the road again, even further north to Coral Bay at the southern end of the Ningaloo Coral Reef. We were lucky enough to get a very close encounter with a huge wedge tailed eagle that was sitting in the low scrub at the edge of the road and posed for a few photos before soaring off into the sky.
We have driven over 1600km in the last 5 days! We spotted a few more of the magnificent wedge-tailed eagles, either sitting on trees or feasting on roadkill. There is an incredibly large number of dead kangaroos by the edge of the road, we think that maybe some are shot rather than them all being roadkill because some are far off the road, but who knows. Anyway the crows and the eagles (and I assume the dingos at quieter times) seem to be benefitting from the horror of it all. We also saw feral goats everywhere and then there are sheep and cattle sprinkled amongst the incredibly dry and sparsely vegetated (with really unappetising dry and spikey shrubs) landscape. We crossed some enormous and completely dry river beds and also areas of the road where there are signs warning of flood and waterlevel markers up to 2m.... I can't believe it could ever get that wet around here, and, as it is so flat you would have thought that the water would spread out really easily and therefore be very shallow. We stopped of at Carnarvon on route to take a break, it is so far from anywhere else but a thriving little community supporting 2 supermarkets and lots of tourist activities on the water. When we got to Coral Bay we went immediately to the dive shop to get kitted out for our trip tomorrow... but more of that tomorrow!
Wed 26th
We were at the dive shop at 8:15 and all on the boat and raring to go at 9:15. There were 19 passengers and 5 crew, 3 female swimmers / spotters and 2 guys who stayed on board, navigated and spotted from up top. Coral bay is on the southern end of the Ningaloo reef which stretches right up to Exmouth about 200km to the north. It is one of the few reefs where you can actually swim out to it from the beach but we zipped out in the boat and soon got our first wildlife sighting - a Dugong (a bit like the Manatees in the US), he/she was cruising along the bottom chewing on the sea grass; but it is a mammal and so it was just a matter of waiting before he/she came up to the surface for a breath - awesome. Then we spotted an eagle ray and a turtle before we finally anchored up on a part of the outer reef and kitted ourselves out to snorkel. Tris and I went out in tandem and were immediately pointing and talking (if you can call it that with a snorkel in your mouth) to try to get the other to see everything that we had. We saw amazingly coloured purple, green and black parrotfish, or yellow and green parrotfish, black and grey stripey pipefish with enourmously long snouts, huge giant clams, brain coral, huge mushroom like coral and green spikey coral. Loads of little fishies were flitting in and out of the corals, a white fluffy looking (Tristan insits that it was slimy) eel with glazed over eyes wriggled along the bottom; starfish and spikey urchins sat and munched (I assume) and some really large fish with fat lips were on patrol. We had swum from the boat against the current from the waves that crashed onto the outer part of the reef so when we were tired we mostly floated back to the boat. It was cold when we got out of the water, it was much warmer here than in New Zealand when we snorkeled off the North Island.
A shout went up from the captain, the final snorklers were signalled to return to the boat and then we up anchored to head northwards to where our spotter plane had made contact with our main quarry. On the 40min trip at top speed we were lucky enough to have several dolphins swim with us under the bow wave. They can go so fast, but one by one they dropped away until just one remained moving from side to side under the bow. After that we spotted a blue flying fish flying just a few cm above the water surface for about 30m, incredible.
We were divided into two groups for the 'main event', Tris, Celso and I were in the second group and watched as the first group were dropped into the water and then there was a very confusing thrashing of flippers and the spotters hand pointing this way and that. Then we were in the water and Tris and I tried to follow where the spotter pointed but we just got a face full of flippers from other swimmers and saw absolutely nothing. In fact about half our group saw nothing whilst three had been able to swim and enjoy the view for a full minute or so. Never mind, we were told that we would get another chance so we hauled ourselves out onto the boat and since everyone in group one had spotted the beast then our group was to go again first. The boat drove infront of the quarry, as directed by the spotter plane.... but then it dived out of sight.
We dawdled about for over an hour, went to take a look at a reef that stuck out of the water and lunch was put out... we thought our chance had gone and were going to console ourselves with food when the shout came out again, the food was taken in and we were off again. Into the water we went, Tris on my arm and we swam like hell in the direction our spotter pointed. Tris was getting water in his mask but I wasn't going to stop I just dragged him along beside me and then there it was... an 8m long whale shark, spotty, magnificent, incredible... we were a bit awestruck, and with the water in his mask Tristan was unable to keep up with him / her (probably a her because of the large size) as she was one of the fastest and largest whale sharks they had ever encountered. Normally they are about 6m and swim much slower. We returned to the boat and had just enough time to catch our breath before we were back in the water again. Jump in, masks into the water, watch the spotter's arm under the water... point, point, point she went and there out of the gloom came the whale shark straight towards us, mouth gaping, little fish fleeing before it. It doesn't matter that it is not a meat eater, it was pretty scarey and Tris and I scrambled to get out of its way, but the more left we swam the more left it turned. Celso was behind us and he also had to scramble to get out of its way. It went past us just over a metre away - just fantastic - it had a sucker fish (some kind of cleaner fish I think) stuck on his lateral fin, and others stuck under its belly. The tail was so powerful that we were swept away as it passed and again we were unable to follow. Back on the boat we exchanged our views exitedly and before we had even caught our breath it was time to go back in again. Tris opted out of this one, he was too pooped along with four others in our group, so it was just 5 of us and the spotter this time. More amazing views and Celso swimming far to fast and too close to the tail got himself completely exhausted and had to have a hand from the spotter. I managed to follow for about 30sec at full pelt until I caught up with someone else and got a face full of flipper that made me pull up sharpish. What an adrenaline rush, just fantastic. Of course you won't get to see any of the photos because we were given them on a disk from the other diver who was taking loads of underwater shots.. you just have to believe me how amazing it was. We will publish these and other shots we have on disk from quadbiking and Celso's superman flight over the Murchison river at a later date.
We had now gone over 2 hours away from Coral bay and had to start the journey back. I think everyone was too pooped to have done another swim anyway. We were all very satisfied with a great day, and so lucky as this was the first sighting since last Saturday. We all ate our lunches pretty much in silence mulling over what we had seen - what a privelege. As we neared Coral Bay we had more fantastic views of the reef and some fish as the tide was now out and the coral was so near to the surface, a fab ending to a fabulous day. Next showers, a dinner up at the hotel and bed to sleep and dream of big, gaping mouthed fish.
Uluru and Kata Tjuta
More of Wed
We arrived at Uluru at around lunchtime. We had passed another big red rock on the way called Atilla. In fact there are three sets of rocks all in an East - West line across the desert (the third being The Olgas or Kata Tjuta) caused by a corregating effect caused by the pushing of the continent from the north and south (whilst Australia was still connected to Antarctica). Uluru actually got tipped up on its end (practically, its sedimentary layers are nearly 90 degrees to the horizontal). According to the Dreamtime stories Atilla was formed when a giant ancestor sat down and squashed a rock flat. Uluru was formed by two ancestor children building sandcastles as they waited for their mother who was do a woman's ceremony. They got stuck on the top of their sandcastle and had to slide down the edges and have left their finger marks on the sides as they slid. You can clearly see these marks and now the water flows down these grooves.
Rain, Uluru story - tribe at site for male initiation ceremony, children and their mothers' cave, men's cave, women's cave, elders' cave, stick on top of Uluru. Other tribe invites them to their ceremony but they can't break their ceremony so have to decline, other tribe offended and send a very powerful being to take revenge disguised as a dingo. He waits to attack but the Kingfisher sees him and calls out a warning, the women with the children start running and run straight into the male ceremonial area, they start running but the dingo manages to get to a couple of them. In the end the people are all running around the base of Uluru and then off to the south to try to escape the dingo. He is held up by a brave warrior but the warrior is eventually defeated and the dingo tracks can be seen around the base of Uluru where he starts the chase again..... if we want to know what happens next we have to go to the south to the tribes down there who will be guardians of the story that takes place in their lands (very frustrating).
We walk around the base in the spitting rain past the caves and rock art sites. There are many sites that are sacred to the aboriginals of the area and so they request that no photos are taken. Because of the rain the colour of Uluru was a dark purplish instead of red in rain and there were some small waterfalls running down the finger gouges of the ancestors.
Other parts of Uluru have a creation story of the snake who returns here with her eggs (apparently there is a python round here that can carry her eggs, she rolls in them and they stick around her neck), she arrives and leaves her eggs and then hears that her nephew the brown snake has been attacked and wounded by some other snakes on the other side of Uluru, she rushes round the base of the rock leaving marks in the rock as she goes (deep grooves and overhangs in the rock), she arrives at the waterhole and finds that her nephew was wounded and then left to die. According to aboriginal law if you wound someone (even if it is legitimate punishment, e.g. spearing someone in the leg for adultery) then the attacker must nurse the 'victim' back to health (this then stops tit for tat revenge attacks), so the snake was very angry that her nephew had not been looked after. She turned into a woman with a snake spirit and sat on the rock trying to calm herself. One of the snakes that attacked her nephew was sitting on the other side of the water hole and she asked him why he hadn't helped her nephew and the snake replied that he didn't know. She smacked him over the head with her digging stick leaving a big mark in the rock. She tried to calm herself and threw some dirt behind her in a symbolic gesture of trying to put her troubles behind her leaving a dark patch on the rocks. She asked again and received a laugh in return so she whacked him again and broke off his nose. You can still see the snake on the rock and then the place where she turned into the woman - she left marks where she knelt, a hole where her digging stick had been stuck into the ground and an impression of her pichi (carrying basket).
In the evening we ate Kangaroo mince spaghetti bolgnaise (tasty!) and then set up our swags under a shelter to avoid the rain.
Thurs
Up in the dark, we drove to Kata TJuta (The Olgas) for sunrise, it was still raining on and off, too much cloud around for spectacular sunrise colours but clouds were dramatic and impressive billowing above the majestic domes of the red rocks. We took a walk between some of the domes through spectacular scenery in the Valley of the Winds. The rock structure is very different to Uluru which has smoothish small grained sandstone. Here there is large rocked conglomerate, but still the same reddish colour. There were loads of birds including a very busy Bower bird who was flitting about and calling out trying to impress a female. We spotted a Euro, a smallish kangaroo / wallaby that lives in these rocky areas and has a face that looks very Koalaish. At one place in the centre there was an abundance of greenery including a carnivourous plant with sticky long thin leaves and an abundance of dead butterflies and flies that had become entangled in its sticky trap. There were also loads of plants that we haven't seen before, small orchid like flowers and trees with berries.
We returned to take a final drive around Uluru and then to the airport to catch our 1.15pm flight to Perth.
At the airport we said our farewells to Steve and then managed to get on the internet for the first time in days to find that the campervan we had booked was not going to be available until Friday rather than today. The email had been sent 4 days previous and said something along the lines of, 'please confirm that this will be ok or if you no longer wish to have the campervan at all then that is fine'. Of course, we had not replied and by the time I managed to get in touch with them even the one day late van had gone so we arrived in Perth with nothing booked and nowhere to go. We ended up in a hotel in the middle of town and have found a place that will be able to give us a van tomorrow. We managed to do all the washing that has been building up with red dust all over it - evidence of our trip to the 'Red Centre' is now all but gone.
We arrived at Uluru at around lunchtime. We had passed another big red rock on the way called Atilla. In fact there are three sets of rocks all in an East - West line across the desert (the third being The Olgas or Kata Tjuta) caused by a corregating effect caused by the pushing of the continent from the north and south (whilst Australia was still connected to Antarctica). Uluru actually got tipped up on its end (practically, its sedimentary layers are nearly 90 degrees to the horizontal). According to the Dreamtime stories Atilla was formed when a giant ancestor sat down and squashed a rock flat. Uluru was formed by two ancestor children building sandcastles as they waited for their mother who was do a woman's ceremony. They got stuck on the top of their sandcastle and had to slide down the edges and have left their finger marks on the sides as they slid. You can clearly see these marks and now the water flows down these grooves.
Rain, Uluru story - tribe at site for male initiation ceremony, children and their mothers' cave, men's cave, women's cave, elders' cave, stick on top of Uluru. Other tribe invites them to their ceremony but they can't break their ceremony so have to decline, other tribe offended and send a very powerful being to take revenge disguised as a dingo. He waits to attack but the Kingfisher sees him and calls out a warning, the women with the children start running and run straight into the male ceremonial area, they start running but the dingo manages to get to a couple of them. In the end the people are all running around the base of Uluru and then off to the south to try to escape the dingo. He is held up by a brave warrior but the warrior is eventually defeated and the dingo tracks can be seen around the base of Uluru where he starts the chase again..... if we want to know what happens next we have to go to the south to the tribes down there who will be guardians of the story that takes place in their lands (very frustrating).
We walk around the base in the spitting rain past the caves and rock art sites. There are many sites that are sacred to the aboriginals of the area and so they request that no photos are taken. Because of the rain the colour of Uluru was a dark purplish instead of red in rain and there were some small waterfalls running down the finger gouges of the ancestors.
Other parts of Uluru have a creation story of the snake who returns here with her eggs (apparently there is a python round here that can carry her eggs, she rolls in them and they stick around her neck), she arrives and leaves her eggs and then hears that her nephew the brown snake has been attacked and wounded by some other snakes on the other side of Uluru, she rushes round the base of the rock leaving marks in the rock as she goes (deep grooves and overhangs in the rock), she arrives at the waterhole and finds that her nephew was wounded and then left to die. According to aboriginal law if you wound someone (even if it is legitimate punishment, e.g. spearing someone in the leg for adultery) then the attacker must nurse the 'victim' back to health (this then stops tit for tat revenge attacks), so the snake was very angry that her nephew had not been looked after. She turned into a woman with a snake spirit and sat on the rock trying to calm herself. One of the snakes that attacked her nephew was sitting on the other side of the water hole and she asked him why he hadn't helped her nephew and the snake replied that he didn't know. She smacked him over the head with her digging stick leaving a big mark in the rock. She tried to calm herself and threw some dirt behind her in a symbolic gesture of trying to put her troubles behind her leaving a dark patch on the rocks. She asked again and received a laugh in return so she whacked him again and broke off his nose. You can still see the snake on the rock and then the place where she turned into the woman - she left marks where she knelt, a hole where her digging stick had been stuck into the ground and an impression of her pichi (carrying basket).
In the evening we ate Kangaroo mince spaghetti bolgnaise (tasty!) and then set up our swags under a shelter to avoid the rain.
Thurs
Up in the dark, we drove to Kata TJuta (The Olgas) for sunrise, it was still raining on and off, too much cloud around for spectacular sunrise colours but clouds were dramatic and impressive billowing above the majestic domes of the red rocks. We took a walk between some of the domes through spectacular scenery in the Valley of the Winds. The rock structure is very different to Uluru which has smoothish small grained sandstone. Here there is large rocked conglomerate, but still the same reddish colour. There were loads of birds including a very busy Bower bird who was flitting about and calling out trying to impress a female. We spotted a Euro, a smallish kangaroo / wallaby that lives in these rocky areas and has a face that looks very Koalaish. At one place in the centre there was an abundance of greenery including a carnivourous plant with sticky long thin leaves and an abundance of dead butterflies and flies that had become entangled in its sticky trap. There were also loads of plants that we haven't seen before, small orchid like flowers and trees with berries.
We returned to take a final drive around Uluru and then to the airport to catch our 1.15pm flight to Perth.
At the airport we said our farewells to Steve and then managed to get on the internet for the first time in days to find that the campervan we had booked was not going to be available until Friday rather than today. The email had been sent 4 days previous and said something along the lines of, 'please confirm that this will be ok or if you no longer wish to have the campervan at all then that is fine'. Of course, we had not replied and by the time I managed to get in touch with them even the one day late van had gone so we arrived in Perth with nothing booked and nowhere to go. We ended up in a hotel in the middle of town and have found a place that will be able to give us a van tomorrow. We managed to do all the washing that has been building up with red dust all over it - evidence of our trip to the 'Red Centre' is now all but gone.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Bushwacking toward Uluru
Mon 17th
Another early start, up at 6am, we were met by our bush guide - Steve at 7am and loaded into his 4WD with trailer to head out into the bush. First stop about an hour out of Alice, all but 10 mins on sand roads with locusts jumping at us from all directions, was at Craig's place. Craig has managed (after an 8 year fight during the 80's) to get the title to the aboriginal lands of his forefathers. You can imagine the hoops he had to jump through to establish some sort of ownership to the land after years of being forced to live elsewhere in a township. However, he took us up into the hills and sat us down under a tree and told us the creation story using drawings in the sand - just like he has done in the past to his own children and grandchildren (however their versions are more detailed).
We learnt about the snake like creatures (but they have skin, hair, fur and scales and feathers) that wandered the universe until they found the waters of earth to live in and go to sleep. Then mother sun (I can't remember their name for it but the sun is definately female and things to do with light pertain to the woman, e.g. lighting the fire is the privalege of the oldest woman in the family and daytime is woman time; whereas night, and the moon, is the domain of the men).
When the sun shone down this awoke the snake creatures who crashed down to the bottom of the water and stirred up the earth at the bottom which rose up to become the land; and then these snakes crawled across the land forming mountains and gulleys; in the land forming the underground aquafers and where they entered or left they formed water holes. One of the creatures was so full of water that after his hard work he stopped and huffed into the air with his watery breath forming the clouds that then floated along the ridge of the mountains running east west and caused first thunder, then hail storms and rain. Another snake rose in the south and wiggled its way north until it hit the mountains where it dived down into the earth (forming another water hole) and emerged on the other side where the water that emerged formed a rainbow. After them the animals moved in, the emu, the bat and the kangaroo.
The people that first came to this area arrived at the first water hole dumb, when the first man drank he started to speak and as each man in turn took more water they all began to speak but each in a slightly different dialect. The eight of them split and moved to the different areas of the land and started the families there. Craig's family are the rainbow people, during ceremonies they paint their bodies with rainbows and tell that part of the story, then there are the thunder people (with bolt of lighting body paint), hail stone people (with blobs of paint), snake people (with wiggle paint - obviously), then emu (3 toed emu footprint), kangaroo (Kangaroo L shaped footprint) and bat (wings open). Craig is now custodian of the land for the rainbow people.
It was all quite confusing when he was telling us some parts because he would talk about his grandparents or his brothers or his cousins; there seemed to be hundreds of them; but these are just words to describe other memebers of his tribe, the elders, the people in his own clan (rainbow) and those in the other clans. Once I had got that sorted it all seemed to make more sense.
He also explained how we and they view the world in completely different ways, we see the land and say how great the colours or the shapes are, but they see the history (the story as they say) and feel the connection to the land and the signs of what is happening; or that is what I think he meant anyway.
He showed us some medicinal plants, a place where paintings have been made on the rocks, hand prints and symbols of food collection and the passing of the snake creatures. Finally as we walked back to the vehicle he showed us some places where the snake creatures had emerged from the ground and scraped against the rocks leaving the marking of their skin on the rocks, and the marks are quite extraordinary and, as yet, unexplained by science!
When we returned to the homestead Steve had rustled up a potato hot pot with hot damper cooked on the open fire and we sat around chatting about the differences and similarities between different cultures. Craig is quite a fair skinned aboriginal, he is descended from a white who didn't stick around. It was very hard for the women who gave birth to white babies as first they had to explain to their own family and then they had to hide the children when the welfare people came round as it was the policy (in the 60's and 70's) to remove half caste children and place them with white families regardless of the wishes, stability or health and wellbeing of the child in its own family. In the same day Craig has had confrontations with a white fella (as they call them here) calling him black, and a black fella calling him white!
By around 2pm we were on the road again for about a 200km drive to King's creek. This again was along mainly dirt tracks with a few hairy bits where it was very sandy and the car slid and wriggled, then there were sudden dips in the road where the recent rains had cut through. We had a puncture and we all pitched in to get the tyre changed, we stopped to collect fire wood and Steve got hit in the eye by a twangy branch (all on his own, none of us inflicted it upon him!) and we stopped several times to take photos of the amazing scenery and the birds we saw along the road.
We arrived at our campsite as the sun went down, the clouds went bright red and we were treated to spectacular views. A barbecue supper by the camp fire was wolfed down by all and then a hot shower (wood burning heated water). The toilet is an open door affair so that you can sit and contemplate the night sky which is so amazingly clear without the pollution of light from nearby towns. The temperature has really dropped and Tris, Celso and Steve have hit the Swags (true Aussie bed rolls as in 'Once a jolly Swagman camped by a Billabong') whilst I sit here and type by firelight before I forget even more of the day's events than I have already.
Tues
Our first night in the swags was great, I was roastie toastie with my Thomas the Tank Engine Pillow and Bob the builder duvet. Tris had clouds and daisies as his theme and Celso was spiderman! I had woken several times in the night and watched the milky way slowly revolve. The southern cross marks the part of the milky way which has a dark patch in it, (we had already heard how the Inca used to look at the dark patches rather than the patterns made by the stars), here the dark patch shows an emu - it's uncanny!
Steve had cooked a fry-up on the fire before we had fully emerged from our swags. The billy was boiling and it was all very civilized! We packed up and started the drive towards King's Canyon about half an hour away. The trailer on the back was acting funny - it was a posh kind with its own breaking system and this had somehow got locked on; so, after a short while when we stopped, we could hear the wheels clicking and squeeling; the bearings were not happy. This meant that Steve couldn't come on the walk with us around King's Canyon rim. We left the trailer on the edge of the road (dirt track) and Steve dropped us off, explained what not to miss on the walk and then he returned to sort out the trailer.
The walk was 6km of just amazing scenery. Red sandstone mountains just jut out of the desert and have been weathered into the most amazing domes and steps and a canyon with sheer cliffs. The colours were fabulous, the track wound its way through the formations with sudden appearances of greenery and an occassional pool of water left over from the rains last week. The Garden of Eden is in a particularly shaded spot where all the rain that falls on the rocks collects; it has abundant plant, tree and bird life, including a fern like plant, the west Macdonnell Cycad, that has no living relative within 800km in any direction. We saw skinks (smooth lizards) and a funny little spikey lizard (that we can't find in the Australian reptile book that Celso carries religiously around) that was so well camouflaged (speckled red) that I didn't see him until I had almost trodden on him. Take a look at the photos.
When we returned Steve had managed to fix the brakes and we set off back to King's Creek cattle station for a lunch of camel burgers (delicious by the way) before setting off on a track that runs for 110km down towards Uluru and only used by the farmers of the 2 adjacent cattle stations and Way Out Back Tours, so we were guaranteed not to meet anybody from the general public - and infact we didn't see anyone at all. This was real 4 wheel drive country with the track at some places completely washed out by the rains, trees fallen across the roads and an abundance of things to see.
We passed camels roaming in the bush, red kangaroos that bounded off as we approached; big red males and smaller grey females, one with a joey in her pouch. There were dingo tracks in the sand, Procession Caterpillar nests in the trees, budgies nesting in a low hole just near our chosen camping spot, pink cockatoos flying overhead and finding a place to roost not too far from the spot we chose to camp, so Celso hunted them down and shot them! (with the camera of course). The day finished with an incredible sunset, a campfire meal of steak followed by marshmallow damper mixed up and gooed by Tristan and rescued by Steve! Then we snuggled down in our swags for another roastie toastie night next to the fire, under the incredible stars and the emu in the milky way.
Wed
Incredible sunrise setting the sky pink was our wake up call. Not far into our drive further south we stopped to look at some incredible plants and also found a falcon sitting in a tree and being very cool and calm as we snuck closer and closer to take photos. At one point we left the track to chase a herd of camels. We got between a large male and his harem and he ran, flopping his lower lip and foaming as he tried to reach his ladies. As they got away from us into the trees he regurgetated his cud stomach (thing, or something like that, a big pink intestiny looking thing) - apparently this is a self defense mechanism to put off predators!
We also passed through a graveyard of camels, it must have been the site of a cull since there were so many skeletons in one place. (There are more camels in the Northern Territory than people and they have no natural predators so are turning into quite a pest as they strip all the trees.)
More of Wed in the next installment!
Another early start, up at 6am, we were met by our bush guide - Steve at 7am and loaded into his 4WD with trailer to head out into the bush. First stop about an hour out of Alice, all but 10 mins on sand roads with locusts jumping at us from all directions, was at Craig's place. Craig has managed (after an 8 year fight during the 80's) to get the title to the aboriginal lands of his forefathers. You can imagine the hoops he had to jump through to establish some sort of ownership to the land after years of being forced to live elsewhere in a township. However, he took us up into the hills and sat us down under a tree and told us the creation story using drawings in the sand - just like he has done in the past to his own children and grandchildren (however their versions are more detailed).
We learnt about the snake like creatures (but they have skin, hair, fur and scales and feathers) that wandered the universe until they found the waters of earth to live in and go to sleep. Then mother sun (I can't remember their name for it but the sun is definately female and things to do with light pertain to the woman, e.g. lighting the fire is the privalege of the oldest woman in the family and daytime is woman time; whereas night, and the moon, is the domain of the men).
When the sun shone down this awoke the snake creatures who crashed down to the bottom of the water and stirred up the earth at the bottom which rose up to become the land; and then these snakes crawled across the land forming mountains and gulleys; in the land forming the underground aquafers and where they entered or left they formed water holes. One of the creatures was so full of water that after his hard work he stopped and huffed into the air with his watery breath forming the clouds that then floated along the ridge of the mountains running east west and caused first thunder, then hail storms and rain. Another snake rose in the south and wiggled its way north until it hit the mountains where it dived down into the earth (forming another water hole) and emerged on the other side where the water that emerged formed a rainbow. After them the animals moved in, the emu, the bat and the kangaroo.
The people that first came to this area arrived at the first water hole dumb, when the first man drank he started to speak and as each man in turn took more water they all began to speak but each in a slightly different dialect. The eight of them split and moved to the different areas of the land and started the families there. Craig's family are the rainbow people, during ceremonies they paint their bodies with rainbows and tell that part of the story, then there are the thunder people (with bolt of lighting body paint), hail stone people (with blobs of paint), snake people (with wiggle paint - obviously), then emu (3 toed emu footprint), kangaroo (Kangaroo L shaped footprint) and bat (wings open). Craig is now custodian of the land for the rainbow people.
It was all quite confusing when he was telling us some parts because he would talk about his grandparents or his brothers or his cousins; there seemed to be hundreds of them; but these are just words to describe other memebers of his tribe, the elders, the people in his own clan (rainbow) and those in the other clans. Once I had got that sorted it all seemed to make more sense.
He also explained how we and they view the world in completely different ways, we see the land and say how great the colours or the shapes are, but they see the history (the story as they say) and feel the connection to the land and the signs of what is happening; or that is what I think he meant anyway.
He showed us some medicinal plants, a place where paintings have been made on the rocks, hand prints and symbols of food collection and the passing of the snake creatures. Finally as we walked back to the vehicle he showed us some places where the snake creatures had emerged from the ground and scraped against the rocks leaving the marking of their skin on the rocks, and the marks are quite extraordinary and, as yet, unexplained by science!
When we returned to the homestead Steve had rustled up a potato hot pot with hot damper cooked on the open fire and we sat around chatting about the differences and similarities between different cultures. Craig is quite a fair skinned aboriginal, he is descended from a white who didn't stick around. It was very hard for the women who gave birth to white babies as first they had to explain to their own family and then they had to hide the children when the welfare people came round as it was the policy (in the 60's and 70's) to remove half caste children and place them with white families regardless of the wishes, stability or health and wellbeing of the child in its own family. In the same day Craig has had confrontations with a white fella (as they call them here) calling him black, and a black fella calling him white!
By around 2pm we were on the road again for about a 200km drive to King's creek. This again was along mainly dirt tracks with a few hairy bits where it was very sandy and the car slid and wriggled, then there were sudden dips in the road where the recent rains had cut through. We had a puncture and we all pitched in to get the tyre changed, we stopped to collect fire wood and Steve got hit in the eye by a twangy branch (all on his own, none of us inflicted it upon him!) and we stopped several times to take photos of the amazing scenery and the birds we saw along the road.
We arrived at our campsite as the sun went down, the clouds went bright red and we were treated to spectacular views. A barbecue supper by the camp fire was wolfed down by all and then a hot shower (wood burning heated water). The toilet is an open door affair so that you can sit and contemplate the night sky which is so amazingly clear without the pollution of light from nearby towns. The temperature has really dropped and Tris, Celso and Steve have hit the Swags (true Aussie bed rolls as in 'Once a jolly Swagman camped by a Billabong') whilst I sit here and type by firelight before I forget even more of the day's events than I have already.
Tues
Our first night in the swags was great, I was roastie toastie with my Thomas the Tank Engine Pillow and Bob the builder duvet. Tris had clouds and daisies as his theme and Celso was spiderman! I had woken several times in the night and watched the milky way slowly revolve. The southern cross marks the part of the milky way which has a dark patch in it, (we had already heard how the Inca used to look at the dark patches rather than the patterns made by the stars), here the dark patch shows an emu - it's uncanny!
Steve had cooked a fry-up on the fire before we had fully emerged from our swags. The billy was boiling and it was all very civilized! We packed up and started the drive towards King's Canyon about half an hour away. The trailer on the back was acting funny - it was a posh kind with its own breaking system and this had somehow got locked on; so, after a short while when we stopped, we could hear the wheels clicking and squeeling; the bearings were not happy. This meant that Steve couldn't come on the walk with us around King's Canyon rim. We left the trailer on the edge of the road (dirt track) and Steve dropped us off, explained what not to miss on the walk and then he returned to sort out the trailer.
The walk was 6km of just amazing scenery. Red sandstone mountains just jut out of the desert and have been weathered into the most amazing domes and steps and a canyon with sheer cliffs. The colours were fabulous, the track wound its way through the formations with sudden appearances of greenery and an occassional pool of water left over from the rains last week. The Garden of Eden is in a particularly shaded spot where all the rain that falls on the rocks collects; it has abundant plant, tree and bird life, including a fern like plant, the west Macdonnell Cycad, that has no living relative within 800km in any direction. We saw skinks (smooth lizards) and a funny little spikey lizard (that we can't find in the Australian reptile book that Celso carries religiously around) that was so well camouflaged (speckled red) that I didn't see him until I had almost trodden on him. Take a look at the photos.
When we returned Steve had managed to fix the brakes and we set off back to King's Creek cattle station for a lunch of camel burgers (delicious by the way) before setting off on a track that runs for 110km down towards Uluru and only used by the farmers of the 2 adjacent cattle stations and Way Out Back Tours, so we were guaranteed not to meet anybody from the general public - and infact we didn't see anyone at all. This was real 4 wheel drive country with the track at some places completely washed out by the rains, trees fallen across the roads and an abundance of things to see.
We passed camels roaming in the bush, red kangaroos that bounded off as we approached; big red males and smaller grey females, one with a joey in her pouch. There were dingo tracks in the sand, Procession Caterpillar nests in the trees, budgies nesting in a low hole just near our chosen camping spot, pink cockatoos flying overhead and finding a place to roost not too far from the spot we chose to camp, so Celso hunted them down and shot them! (with the camera of course). The day finished with an incredible sunset, a campfire meal of steak followed by marshmallow damper mixed up and gooed by Tristan and rescued by Steve! Then we snuggled down in our swags for another roastie toastie night next to the fire, under the incredible stars and the emu in the milky way.
Wed
Incredible sunrise setting the sky pink was our wake up call. Not far into our drive further south we stopped to look at some incredible plants and also found a falcon sitting in a tree and being very cool and calm as we snuck closer and closer to take photos. At one point we left the track to chase a herd of camels. We got between a large male and his harem and he ran, flopping his lower lip and foaming as he tried to reach his ladies. As they got away from us into the trees he regurgetated his cud stomach (thing, or something like that, a big pink intestiny looking thing) - apparently this is a self defense mechanism to put off predators!
We also passed through a graveyard of camels, it must have been the site of a cull since there were so many skeletons in one place. (There are more camels in the Northern Territory than people and they have no natural predators so are turning into quite a pest as they strip all the trees.)
More of Wed in the next installment!
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