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Ok - a more informative update.
Posted Apr 22, 2000
Shortly after arriving in Perth we set off on a 4 day safari type thing - camping under the stars, washing in rivers and generally getting very smelly very quickly. We spent the days travelling around to various sights to the south-west of Perth such as the Gloucester tree, which is a 80m high fire look-out tree that you climb up and down using 9inch metal spikes that have been driven into the bark in a spiral arrangement. The view from the top was stunning, even if it did sway with every gust of wind. We also went on the tree-top walk nearby in the tingle-tree forests- these trees (the gloucester tree is one of them) grow to 60m high ,and 7m wide at the base. The walkway is at about 40m at its highest, and if you tread left-right-left in unison you can set up a oscillation that has the wary screaming in abject terror as the metal groans beneath their feet (great times!) From there we climbed Bluff knoll - a 2 hour climb up a huge granite mountain, similar in many ways to climbing in the cairngorms. The view from the top can be up to 100km on a clear day, and you can lay on a outcrop and look straight down to the carpark almost 800m below! Other highlights of the trip included visits to a winery (not a vinyard, this is Aus), brewery, icecreamery, many beaches - including one where we got to swim with sting-rays almost 2m across! The last morning we went on a "Bushtucker" tour - canoeing up the river through flooded forests, past huge floodplains, and getting to eat various aborigine foods - suprisingly good! - despite all the stereotypes, they mainly eat nuts and plants...although we did get to try blood-worms - a bit like squishy bland flour-water paste with a hint of flavour. We also got into the caves near there, used 100 years ago as cold-storage for the dairy goods produced nearby. It was all capped off by a canoe race back with a bottle of margaret river wine as the prize, which Jamie and I won! The beach there was also great - huge waves and a tide that conspired to hurl you 20m up the beach and then suck you straight back out before throwing you back in again in a ball of flailing limbs.
From there we went over to Rottnest Island just off Perth's Coast. There we stayed a few days in the old army barracks they converted into a hostel. There are no cars allowed on "Rotto" so we hired bikes and spent the 2 days biking round the small islands, swimming off the white-sand beaches, and getting burn't until we resembled the famous lobsters
Then it was back to Perth where we flew to Alice about 2 weeks ago, in a little Bae149 - basically a bathtub with wings, but I got into the cockpit for most of the trip, so it wasn't as bad as all that (the RAF thing keeps the pilots interested, as you can almost talk intelligently about things!). As soon as you get off in Alice the heat hits you -it was about 39C but you soon acclimatise, and actually it gets quite comfortable as it is dry heat with no humidity. Alice was really nice - a real outback town, although suprisingly green with it due to the amount of rain they've had this year. We got on a tour to Uluru the Olga's and Kings Canyon. Uluru is impressive, but not a jaw-dropping sight - you've already seen most of it by the time you get there due to the huge publicity it gets. In the end I did climb it (fantastic views and a challenge) but It would have been more interesting to go on a base walk really - you'd see a lot more of the rock, and a lot more of the interesting sights. The olga's were amazing - huge sheer cliffs 500ft high, lush green oasis' in the bottom of the canyons - really peacful. But Kings Canyon stole the show, we got up at 5am and trekked up to the "Beehives" (which are sandstone knolls eroded into beehive shapes) to see the sunrise, which was by far the most impressive sight i have seen yet. We then went on a 6k hike round the rim of the canyon and down to the pool at the bottom - luke warm and crystal clear - an amazing swimming pool!
Then it was back to Alice for a few days, where I learn't to play the didge, saw the queen on her visit and did a few sightseeing things around town. Then it was a nightmare bus journey up north to Tennant Creek - a one horse town, where the horse has one leg, only worth stopping in to see the Devils Marbles which are about 100k to the south-east. They were quite impressive - huge rounded sandstone balls up to 15ft high scattered all over the plain.
Katherine was our next stop, after another nightmare bus journey (9 hours from 11pm to 8am), and we spent a couple of days up in the Katherine Gorge - canoeing up the river, swimming in waterfalls, and getting burn't (again). Then we got on our last leg of the bus journey north, to Darwin. (this time a nice journey). Darwin is great, about 35C with 95-100% humidity, so your permanently soaked, either from sweat or from the rain. We spent the first morning in the harbour, where you can hand-feed the fish which have been conditioned over the years to come in on the high tide and get bread thrown to them. It was great to have 90lb Milkfish fighting for the honour to snatch a tiny piece of bread from your hand. Also we had a look at the WW2 oil storage tunnels that they bored into the hill side - 1km long and 90ft underground to avoid bomb damage.
After a few days mooching about Darwin it was then onto another 4WD vehicle (toyota Landcruiser - they all seem to use them out here) for a 4 day trip round Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is about the size of switzerland and covers a whole river system from source to estuary. The whole park is covered with either savanna grasslands or tropical rainforest, and we spent most of our days trekking through the forest, swimming rivers and clambering over rocks to get to various waterfalls, in which it was only right and proper to cool off for a few hours! There were some magical places we saw - one waterfall was only accessible by swimming a river, then walking for about 10mins up a hugely steep gully. Then as you rounded the final corner the gully opened up into a little sunlit area with a series of pools all shaded by trees. Crystal waters with sunlight lancing through, exotic fish, and unbelievable silence. The waterfall system went back through another few gullies, so we spent a couple of hours climbing up the river, exploring all the falls.
But the 3rd day was the best by far, when we climbed Nourlangie Rock (Burrangy) in the south-east of the park. There are various walks around the base, but no-one seems to actually climb the rock, unless your guide happened to be one of 3 people who knew te way up. Or this paticular way, perhaps I should say. So we spent the whole morning scrambling up scree-slopes, walking through forests and beating our way across little shelves in the side of Nourlangie that had some really exotic plants growing there. There were several rock climbs too, the longest was only about 20ft up quite an easy face, but it still wasn't exactly what we were expecting. Eventually, having come through a few caves, and having climbed up a huge rockfall in a 5ft wide, 200ft deep gorge that had water cascading down the sides in a fine mist, we broke out onto the highest point of the rock. The views were stunning - you could see all around for 100's of km. To the east was the arhem land platuea - 300ft high sandstone cliffs beyond which is aboriginal land you need a permit to enter. Nourlangie is a old outcrop of these cliffs, left behind while they eroded away from it in the ice ages. We had lunch on the top of the rock, watching the clouds build, then just as we finished it started raining mosooon-style. So we walked down back in the warm rain in swimming trunks, getting saturated. We came down through the forests and back through various narrow gorges that were by now knee deep in water. We got back to the Landcruiser after dark, absolutley drenched, but having had a great time.
The rest of our time in Kakadu was spent doing a few more water-fall walks, and for the final day, boating up the Mary River looking for crocs. We were in little aluminium boats with 3 to a boat (I was driving one) gently cruising up the river. As it got to dusk then the crocs came out and you could see their eyes reflecting the lights, and see them on the banks. We spent a couple of hours watching them, and taking numerous photos then we had to leave before it got too dark, and the crocs got too adventurous.
From there, it was back to Darwin!
We spent a few more days in the city, then flew out at 3am for Cairns, having spent the night at the almost deserted airport playing football in the terminal against 2 norwegian guys and baggage-trolley racing around the check-in lanes. (several carpet burns due to bad crashes) Security didn't seem to be awake, or maybe they were taking bets or something.
So here i am in Cairns! I've booked myself on a 5-day diving course on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef, so will be diving amongst the fish and coral this weekend!
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Latest reply: Apr 22, 2000
The saga continues
Posted Apr 18, 2000
Well, just arrived in Cairns - spent the night in Darwin Airport playin football against 2 norwegian guys - it was as dead as could be and security seemed like they couldn't be bothered.
Prior to Cairns the list of towns goes something like this:
Perth
Alice (saw Uluru the olga's and kings canyon)
Tennant Creek
Katherine
Darwin (went to Kakadu National Park)
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Apr 18, 2000
I'm in Aus!
Posted Mar 17, 2000
well - spent the last 2 weeks in Bali, and 3 days ago flew into Perth on the west coast of Aus.
Bali was great - the exchange rate is so good - you can sleep in a hotel for 5GBP and eat out for 2! (no pound sign on this keyboard) We spent the first few days in Kuta where we met up with 2 balinese who acted as our guides for the rest of our time there - great times. We spent hours on the beach, snorkelling etc, and also went inland to see the volcano's and the temples.
Perth is good too - so clean, and so much for free - free busses, trains, museums, BBQ's etc etc.
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Latest reply: Mar 17, 2000
Dance! Dance!
Posted Feb 13, 2000
Woo woo! *bass vibrates floor* *heaving mass of people jumping to the sound of Jungle Brothers*
sigh - i need to go clubbing somewhere decent again 
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Feb 13, 2000
Six Packs
Posted Feb 13, 2000
Why is it that in America that if you don't have one you are officially fat? Are they that shallow - I was talking to this guy over ICQ and he was really upset that he didn't have one, all i could tell him was to sit there and so some sit-ups each night.
But what a stupid.....THING
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Feb 13, 2000
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Tokaido
Researcher U110787
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