Meet The Wobblies of Never Never Land

Friday Sept 27

Mataranka, NT - a tiny, mostly aboriginal town. Most inhabitants seem to spend the day at the local watering hole, a.k.a. the pub and beer garden. The nearby Mataranka Springs is apparently very popular and very busy. But we heard a rumor of a nicer spring nearby which is much quieter. We followed our instinct and the dusty red road out of town and found a little paradise.  An amazing underground spring that fills a fast flowing river, crystal clear water of a constant 34º. The spring is in a pocket of palm rainforest. Amazing bird life, flying foxes and... wallabees. Or wobblies, as Kees calls them. At first we got excited when we spotted one in the woods. Took lots of fuzzy photos. Then I realized we were surrounded. Wallabees everywhere. They came closer and closer until I was afraid they’d eat our dinner. I like them. They look cute and are nice looking. But the cutest thing was to spot one wallabee with a joey in her pouch! It peeked out, retreated back inside, then picked seeds of the ground as its mama bend over.  Cockatoos, pea cocks, budgies, lorrekeets - especially at dusk they all come screeching and chattering to roost in the trees above our heads. And then, as the sun goes down, bats glide on silent wings to catch mosquitoes and other insects.

This vast valley of the northern Outback is called Never Never land. Apparently due to a quote from one of the first white settlers who said “Once you’ve been here, you’ll never never want to leave.” I’m not quite sure I agree. In fact, after 5,000 KM of Outback I’d say it was all very interested but I’d never never come back.... The long, straight roads through flat country of all the same, sparse vegetation are getting quite monotonous by now. What WAS really interesting was to watch the movie, We Of The Never Never. It’s based on a book about the first white settlers on a homestead around 1902. It’s the author’s autobiography of the harsh life on a cattle station and how she tried to befriend the local aboriginals. If you have a chance to watch it, I recommend it.
 

Clueless and Timeless

Thurs Sept 2

Tropic of Capricorn

We had to meet someone, last night, at 6:30 PM. We were there in plenty of time and waited... and waited... and waited. Finally we commented to someone that we had expected to meet someone at 6:30. He said “But it’s only 6 PM!” First we thought our watch had died, or the battery slowed down. Then we realized we had crossed a time zone and the time was 30 minutes earlier than we thought. We passed that timezone four days earlier and we had not noticed! Ha. But then we slowly recalled all the times this week that our timing had been off. “Remember that roast dinner where we were way too early?” “Oh, remember that the sunrise was so much later than they had told us!” The worst one: “Remember we left because the Aboriginal dances were not on at 4 PM as they had told us...” I guess it’s easy to lose half an hour when you’re on the road. When I asked why there were no signs along the highway or timezones on the map, they exclaimed "Oh! That would be a good idea!" :-) 

Desert wildflowers

Today we drove 650 KM from Alice Springs to Renner Springs. And that was after we did all the groceries for the next few days. Imagine driving that distance in Europe (Amsterdam to Orleans) or in North America (Vancouver to Portland, Oregon) with only a handful of tiny towns in between. Many towns are called a ‘station’ and are simply a gas station with a store and pub, serving drinks and food, a toilet and a phone and that’s it. Some of the towns have come up with innovative ways to try and make a tourist stay longer (and spend money). Alleron (population: 10) has erected a 12’ statue of a man. Apparently a naked man. I’m sure you can buy caps and mugs and t-shirts with the figure on it. It’s even on the map. 
Wycliffe Well has pronounced itself the world’s UFO capitol and advertises sightings of aliens. The pub is painted in spaceships. I’m sure you will see them if you stay long enough.
Perhaps the prize goes to Banka Banka which promotes a visit because they have a rock that looks exactly like the profile of Winston Churchill. We miss that sight because it was off the highway...
We have been in awe of an absolute endless view of desert. Nothing. No town in the distance, no chimney anywhere. Just 360º of emptiness. We haven’t seen natural water since leaving the east coast, 5,000 KM ago.
We are now camped next to the Desert Hotel.

Monday Sept 23
Another 500 KM of dry shrub land and we actually made it to the heart of the continent: Uluru. The campground is part of a low village of hotels, store, restaurants and visitors centre that, more or less, blends into the surroundings. At least it is nowhere very obtrusive. At sunset we drove 25 KM into the park to a viewing spot where we parked, along with many others and had a perfect, unobstructed view of the big rock as it changed colors in the setting sun.
Was it worth driving thousands of miles for?
It certainly stirred my heart, both as the icon it is and for its stark, natural beauty. Tomorrow... we rise well before the sun to be there as it comes over the horizon.

Tuesday Sept 24
The people right next to us watching the sun set on Uluru, turned out to be a wonderful couple (a teacher!) from Perth, on a year long trek around Australia. When we got back to the campground it turned out they were our neighbors there too. Destiny. We so enjoyed visiting with them and picking their brain both for spots to see on our trip and for information on Perth.
At 6 AM we drove to Uluru only to discover that we didn’t have enough gas in our tank to drive all the way to the sun rise viewpoint. So we didn’t join those crowds but got an early start on our hike around the base. A 10 KM loop that skirts the big orange mountain. It was still nice and cool but we did have to cover our heads with fly nets. Kees looked like a walking raisin bread with all the flies who hitched a ride on his head and shoulders. They didn’t seem to like me as much. Fine.
Our hike was great and interesting. In my head I could hear the didgeridoos of native people.... I think we did hear dingos singing in the distance.
A visit to the aboriginal culture center taught us more about a very recent way of life. People not much older than us, who remember seeing the fist white person. So much has changed in their life time. And not all for the better. Imagine living a peaceful life, living off the land, learning from your elders. And then having that entire rug pulled out from underneath you. They could not practise their way of living, eating, dancing, celebrating, even speaking. It’s hard to understand that fair skinned children were taken from their families to  be raised by white families. Not ‘just’ put in boarding schools but stolen from their families. People our age remember their mothers hiding them when government officials came to their village. What possessed white people to act that way? Slavery, prohibiting other cultures from speaking their own language, taking everything.... The mind boggles at how some people acted. Hopefully in the past tense. There’s a movement on now called “Bring Them Home” trying to locate those ‘children’ to put them back in touch with their families.
Australia’s aboriginal people have beautiful faces, as if carved from mahogany. Broad noses, very curly hair. Women were painting their famous dot stories outside the visitors centre. Inside was information on how the National Park is jointly run by locals and white people. If an elder has passed away, their photo is covered up and their name cannot be mentioned anymore. We were struck by how many similarities there are to Canada’s Inuit people: the sounds of drumming and chanting, the way the words look.
Everywhere signs ask you not to climb Uluru because it is a sacred site and the aboriginal people don’t want you to climb it. Yet we saw a long line of people clambering up... Why?! I asked a ranger why they don’t simply prohibit it. The reply was that government is afraid that less people will come (and leave their money). If you plan to visit Uluru, please don’t climb! It’s kind of like a horde of jolly people entering the Anglican church to have a picnic on the alter.

The rest of the day, we swam in the pool, had showers, took a nap, did laundry and cooked a nice grilled chicken dinner.

Wed Sept 25
Up again at 5:45 AM to quickly drive to the Kata Tjuta range to see the sun rise. These mountains are 50 KM from Uluru, of the same stone but more broken into individual shapes. Nice too. But I was disappointed by how many people are here. Whole bus loads show up and crowd onto the viewing platforms. We couldn’t even get close enough to see Uluru in the distance.  The other disappointment is that you are not allowed to take photos anywhere: around the mountains, in and near the visitor centre, etc. etc.
We started on the hike around Kata Tjuta but it was a clamber over boulders, and too many people. So, after a final farewell to the big rock, we headed back to Alice Springs. The park gave us a fond farewell by having a herd of feral camels roam in plain view!
37ø C in Alice Springs.

Mango Ice cream and Pythons

Sat Sept 21

Lonely.
Alone.
Isolated.
Desolate.
You know you are way out there when your GPS says “turn left in 539 KM.” You know it is a lonely road when you look forward to the next traffic sign so you have something to read.  We saw nothing but brush, some dry trees, red earth, a few emus- all day.  We are now camped in Tennant Creek, a small oasis town with trees and even a pool at the campground.  One day north of Alice Springs. Still no internet.
Today we left Queensland and entered the Northern Territories. The outside temperature hoovered between 37 and 38.5.  What a great thing airco in the cab is !!!! This morning we fueled up in Mtn Isa and it was $1.64 a liter, by the time we got to the border it had gone up to $2.00 and now here in Tennant Creek it is $2.20 a liter. I wonder if it is going to cost us our first born by the time we get to Uluru the day after tomorrow.

Sun Sept 22
Left the dusty little town at 8 AM after filling up with diesel. We had over 600 KM to drive today. But our first stop was shortly after town to see Karlu Karlu, or ‘the devil’s marbles’. The aboriginal people say that these huge round boulders, precariously balancing, are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent. Geologists say they are hard layers of granite that have been eroded and left behind when softer layers washed away. Whatever they are, they are beautiful and impressive. But the heat and the flies were increasing so we continued on our way south along the lonely Stuart Highway. We stopped again at a rare mango orchard where we had delicious mango ice cream and splurged on a bottle of mango wine.  One minute I was savouring the ice cream, the next moment the car started shaking and swirling. Kees managed to pull over to discover a blown tire! The smoking shreds still clung to the rim and we wobbled to safer, flat ground away from the road. This meant into the red dust. Hordes of flies had lain in wait for us and descended in jubilant droves. We had planned on buying fly nets to wear over our heads in Alice Springs...
Breathing flies, I tried to recite the manual while Kees fiddled with the spare wheel, removed it from under the van (by lying down in the bright red sand of course), manoevered the hydraulic pump in place and expertly changed the wheel. I tried to swap flies away from his head with the manual and encouraged him best as I could. Meanwhile, at least six cars, including a police car, zoomed by us without bothering to ask if we needed help. This was hundreds of kilometers away from anywhere. I was surprised that no one stopped to help. Kees in the ditch, and me waving a book must have look confident enough not to offer help. The termite hills looked on as we wobbled away on the spare wheel.
We did make it into Alice Springs where the very first building happened to be the Britz dealer. Not only did they change the wheel and install a new spare, they put on new tires in the rear, made us coffee, and offered all sorts of help. We are much impressed with the company.
After showers at the campground, we went for a nice Aussie roast beef dinner with all the fixings, complete with a country singer and a reptile show. Met a phython up close and personal. 

Of Birds & Bush Poets

Thurs Sept 19

The number and variety of birds in Australia is mind blowing. Living in the country, we are quite used to having lots of birds around. But multiply and amplify that many times to get what we hear here. None are the same as the European or North American birds with which we are familiar. We see white parakeets with yellow combs, lots of black and white “magpies” types, some black “crow” like birds. Vultures. A cross of dove and pigeon.
Their songs, at the break of dawn around 5 AM, are hilarious. One is exactly like a whistling man who forget the tune, hesitates and tries again.
Another bird sounds exactly like he’s snoring: a loud rattle followed by a whistle.
There are flocks of very excited birds. At the first ray of light they all chant “HERE-we-go! HERE-we-go!”
There are alarm-clock-birds, a Volkswagen-bird (sounds like he can’t get started), a telephone-bird, and of course the kookaburra who laughs at them all.

One night, in a campground, we attended a bush poet evening. I loved it. Two women performed a cross between stand-up comedy and poetry. Bush cowboys are well known for their long entertaining ballads, which relate all aspects of live, funny incidents and everything else.These two performed their own works, poems about grandmothers, about teenage sons, about being a chook farmer (chook = chicken), and more. If you want to hear some, go to:

We stayed 2 nights in Mt Isa at a quiet caravan park with a nice pool. Slept in, had tea in bed, did all our laundry, even mopped the floor of our camper. We visited a small aboriginal center where we chatted with a lovely lady. She told us that aboriginal people have only been recognized in Australia’s Constitution as of THIS MONTH. Unbelievable.
One of the most enjoyable visits was to the School of the Air. In several cities, this special school for Outback children has learning centers where you can get a tour. Many of the students live eight hours of more from the nearest town. Teachers talk with them each day, at a set time, over the phone. The ranches are often so remote that they don’t even have internet access.  The kids don’t see their teacher, just talk with them about their lessons. They even learn music, like playing the violin, via the telephone! The ‘school’ was full of art on the walls and large projects that students had mailed in. Children are schooled during elementary and middle school and sometimes also into highschool but many highschool students go to boarding schools in Queensland. Some boys return to work on the (company or family) ranges. When I asked about further education, I was given an example of a girl from a family of 7 children, who is now doing her PhD in math at Cambridge.

From Barky to Mt. Isa

Wednesday Sept 18
It’s interesting how quickly we get into a daily routine. We are in a “on the road” routine right now. Waking up at 7 AM when the campground comes to life. We wash and dress in the toilet/shower building, make breakfast of granola, milk and yogurt - or sometimes eggs and toast - with a cup of tea. By 8:30 we are on the road.
Drove about 500 KM each of the last few days. From Emerald to Barcaldine (“Barky”) to Winton (“Witton”) to Mt Isa (“the Isa”).
Each town is an isolated dusty place with wide streets, a few pubs, a school and a handful of other buildings. Many have a pub or hotel in a colonial style with a wide veranda with lacey white trim. We buy groceries here, a bottle of wine there. Today we got diesel (“petrol”) in a one house town. And two coffees to go.
The speed limit is mostly 110 KM. We share the road with other caravans but also with the famed (or infamous...) outback road trains. These trucks pull up to 4 enormous trailers of freight and can be as long as 55 meters! They hog their lane and you better watch out when passing them. Once we had to overtake one and it takes a lot of time to get by one. 
We’ve finally seen our first wild kangaroos now, small groups in the shade of a tree. But we also see literally hundreds of dead kangaroos and wallabees along the road.  At times it looks like a slaughter house of road kills. I assume the animals come to the warm asphalt when at night the temperatures drop sharply and then get hit by passing vehicles.

By 10:30ish we both want coffee and either pull into a rest area to make our own, or buy a “tall black” in town.
Around noon we try to find a tall tree in any town that will give us some shade. Not much chance of a shade tree once you’re out of town. So we park in front of a post office or school and make our own sandwiches.
By 3 PM we arrive in the town where we will spend the night and find a campground, again with shade being the main attraction. A pool is next. Since buying a SIM card in our iPad, wireless internet is less urgent and it’s hard to find anyway. And never free. 
Our camper is a large van  with a raised roof. It has two good seats up front. The sliding door opens on the left side. There’s a tiny bathroom with a hand held shower, which we haven’t used yet but is good to have - just in case. Then there’s a counter block with 2 cupboards with pots and pans, a toaster, a kettle etc. and a small fridge on the left side. On the right is the counter with a 3 burner stove top, microwave and a small sink. They both close with a nice glass lid. There are food cupboards and quite a bit of storage throughout.  There’s also a TV and air conditioning. The back of the camper is a horseshoe shaped dinette set, with a bookshelf (!) and more storage both along the walls and under the seats. This folds into a KINGSIZE bed at night. We rented an extra package which gives us 2 plates, 2 cups, 2 glasses, 2 bowls, cutlery, mixing bowls, large utensils, as well as 2 towels, 2 pillows, sheets and a nice kingsize duvet. All this was either brandnew or spotlessly cleaned when we received it. There’s also 2 lawn chairs and an outside table. The camper has a pull out stove outside on which we can even grill steaks. We rented this camper from Britz (http://www.britz.com.au/) and, so far, we are very happy with it. It drives well and is comfortable.

Each campground (here called a caravan park) has pull through stalls and, hopefully some eucalyptus trees for shade. I can’t believe how quiet each one is. Not a sound at night even if it’s full. Most have very clean toilets and sh0wers. And all have a special camp kitchen: a large shelter with counters and a sink for dishes, a cookstove, an electric kettle, often a toaster. And almost always a bbq for grilling outback steaks!
By 9 PM we’ve had our evening coffee and read books for a while, then we undertake the giant task of making the bed, before falling into it and sleeping like a log.
Under the full moon (right now) and the southern cross, the temperatures plummet rapidly.

What I Learned Today: that emus live in the wild in Queensland. I had no idea there would be so many here. We spot them along the road, roaming the sunbaked land. 

From Great Barrier Reef to Outback!

Fri/Sat Sept 13/14: Surfers Paradise, NSW to Hervey Bay, Qld.

Hervey Bay was wonderful. A smaller town, right on the beach. It seemed like city council here had the foresight to preserve the entire water front as park and green space. A long walk/bike trail led from one end of town to the other, stringing together parks, playgrounds, even a free water park. The three campgrounds, right on the water, were council parks. We had a spot on the beach but it WAS windy! Beautiful warm swimming along with the pelicans. Spent 2 nights here.

Sunday/Monday Sept 15/16
243 years ago. At this very spot. A large sail ship approached the north east coast of Australia. Captain James Cook and his botanist, Mr. Banks, came ashore here as the very first Europeans.
No GPS. No mobile phone. There’s still no internet so that part still feels primitive. But otherwise Cook would probably not recognize this very spot, the Town of 1770. We arrived here by road, not ocean. We navigated north along smaller backroads from Hervey Bay. We were surprised how quickly green and relatively populated areas made way for dry and isolated range land. Sometimes it felt like ‘outback’ already. Town of 1770 has not much besides a crowded campground at the end of the road. Good thing we phoned ahead and booked a site for 2 nights. As soon as we stepped out of the car, a lady said “Hello again! We met at the Horseshoe Bay ferry on our way to Bowen Island!” We racked our brains... until we discovered that she mistook us for other Canadians and that she meant HERE, not in BC! Amazing.  

This is just looking down from the boat!

The campground is fairly run down and feels more like a parking lot. Our neighbors are less than 2 mtr away. But we spent all day Monday away on the Great Barrier Reef! Since we came all this way we decided to follow our heart and see for ourselves what we were taught about even in grade school in Holland. The catamaran took us out into the open ocean for over an hour before we spotted what looked like sandbars. But they were corral reefs, exposed at low tide. The high ocean waves came to an abrupt end into a shallow, peaceful and turquoise lagoon. We navigated through a channel into the lagoon, spotting mating turtles and an amazing aray of fish. The boat moored at a floating dock and we were taken, in small groups, onto Lady Musgrave Island, the most southern of the Great Barrier Reef islands.
Wading thr0ugh the water, we reached a bleached corral beach where two huge loggerhead turtles had stranded themselves on too hot a day. The guide was worried about them dying and so Kees, along with six other strong guys found themselves a loggerhead turtle rescue squad.

It took 7 men to lift the turtle back to water.

Me snorkeling!

They hoisted the 300 some pound turtle toward the cool water. Until she frantically flapped her flippers. But, in the end, they both made it back into the water. Likely after having deposited their eggs on the island, which will hatch in just eight weeks.  The rest of the island was bird paradise. Black Noddy Terns make their nests among the tangle of tropical trees. Their nests are all over and their guana covers everything. The birds themselves are so at ease in this paradise that you can practically pet them. You can be within a foot of them and they still don’t fly away.  I snorkeled in the blue waters, seeing hundreds of different colored tropical fish, ranging from bright blue, to yellow striped to skinny barracuda’s. We also took trips in a glass bottom boat and in a boat with a deep underwater keel and glass windows. We had tea and a lovely luncheon on the boat. All together well worth the cost. It made for one of those fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime days!

Tuesday Sept 17
Drove 500 km from 1770 to Emerald, Queensland. Landscape changed from lush green to dry green. Cacti along the roads. Towns further apart and temps higher. Nice green corner of a campground though. And from now on.. 500 km per day will get us to Uluru!