Broome...Broome

At least that’s the sound the Van should be making as we turn right at a light inside the town of Broome.  Instead it is expressing its disgust with the work given to it in past few weeks as a high pitched squawk.  Upon a quick assessment Nick determined that the new timing belt put on in Cairns was quickly being burned off by a now stationary pulley.   This happened Friday night.  With few other options and limited timong belt left to get us around we plopped ourselves in the parking lot down at Cable beach.  From here we could walk to the auto parts shops as well as make our way to temporary accommodation.  Of all the places to break down there are far worse choices Sully (the van) could have made.  It was just our luck we would HAVE TO spend a few days lazing around the beach and waiting for new parts.  We would also HAVE TO take in the magnificent sunsets that this very beach was know for.

We arranged for the new parts and took up lodging in a local Hostel.  This particular hostel was also the hub for renting scooters.  We haven’t told Sully, but to explore the local sights we hired a 50cc and spent the day scooting about the old China Town, old ship wrecks, and the pearler’s museum.  The hot showers and (U.S./Canadian) room mates travel stories were a treat as well.  Scooters were not the only way about town.  Twice daily camels with tourist riders would catch our attention as they would saunter by and make their way down to the beach.

Nick grabbed the parts and installed them in the parking lot.  Chalk up another three parts for Sully’s “New” list.  Pretty soon WE will be the oldest part traveling around on his four wheels.  With all the Broome To Do’s checked off, and Sully in a better mood, we head out of town and make our way south to Karijini Nation Park.  This was a stunning part of the country and played host to Australia’s version on the Grand Canyon.  We spent the better part of three days here hiking through gorges, taking dips in waterfall fed pools, and swatting flies.  One of our most challenging hikes took us to the top of Western Australia’s highest peak.  Mt. Bruce.  The challenge was not only the length of the hike but the terrain you must pass to get to the top.  There were a couple “don’t look down” moments to say the least.  At the top you were rewarded with a panoramic view that exceeds explanation and a high altitude look of the local Iron mine and world record breaking trains that frequent the rails to and from the site.  Just as challenging was the hike down.  We both left with a feeling of accomplishment  and big grins on our faces.

From there we meandered SW to the tourist town of Exmouth.  We couldn’t have planned it but it just so happens that we had the same idea for the next few as every other WA family within 2 days driving distance.  It was school holidays and everyone in Australia’s largest province was out on the road trying to make the most of it.  Sully rolled into town just as a borderline cyclone hit the cape.  We bunkered down in one of two camping spots left in all the caravan parks.  We were rocked/sang  to sleep by 60-70 knot winds and rain.  In the morning the garbage bins could be seen crammed full of broken tent and awning poles.  Lucky for us we opted out of that option on our van model.  The next day Amanda competed for washing machines at the local laundry mat while Nick haggled over adventure tour prices.  We got in for the following day and came out with a fresh batch of clothes.  To kill the day we took in the coast and local lighthouse.  Nick joined the locals for a surf.  He was not the only tourist there, as a pod of dolphins decided to play along and share a few waves as well.  We were lucky enough to get into the National park for a discount campsite, but happened to be in the right place at the right time (tends to be a habit of ours) as someone had decided to leave mid morning.  The park was a great place to snorkel and we christened the snorkel sets “segway” Ray had given us back on the sunshine coast.  The water was crisp but the sun was hot so we made many short trips round the reef.  We made it back to our site just in time for “Happy Hour”.  We took part in an evening tradition where everyone at the grounds (18 or so lots) would make a circle in the middle and bring a beverage or two and chat about anything and everything.  It just so happened we shared the site with a helicopter mechanic and a old Alaskan float plane pilot/mechanic.  Needless to say there were was not enough time to get to chat with everyone.  The following day we got up before the birds and hightailed it into to town to catch our ride to an awaiting boat.  From there we boarded a dingy and made our way to the larger boat.  We settled in with hot drinks and bickies (cookies).  The name of the game today was to locate and swim with the worlds largest fish (the whaleshark).  Joining our skippers team were three spotter aircraft circling the area.  If they sighted anything they would radio to us the coordinates and the game would be on.  In the mean time we were briefed on procedures and snorkelled on some stunning reefs along the way.  While cruising along, from the boat we were able to spot sea snakes and turtles going about their business.  It wasn’t long before we got the call.  Decked out and ready we all waited for  the sign to jump off the rear of the boat and follow on of two guides to the spotted giants.  We made the plunge and followed our leader out into the open water.  It was only seconds before a (seemingly) smiling face of a 7-8 meter (small by standard) rose up out of the blue.  We didn’t have to kick very hard at all to keep up with this graceful creature as it skimmed the surface eating its lunch of plankton and krill.  Pilot fish hitch hiked along its belly and light played with the color of its spots.   It sounds cliché but it was a truly magical experience.  As an unplanned bonus for the day we were joined on our way back to the mourning by a crew of half a dozen adolescent male humpies, who in the spirit of day put on a show for us.  Sometimes only 20-30 metres off our stern they showed off for most of our trip in, slapping their fins and leaping out of the water and splashing onto their backs.  Another example of timing as we were told that even the skipper has never seen a show quite like it.  Our adventure with the crew was over for the day but we met them again the following day to check out the local navy pier.  It was built solely to dock U.S. boats carrying large parts for a sub communication station they had constructed back in the 70’s.  Now it was mainly used to take Canadian tourists on underwater adventures.  We tagged along with a group of 8 weaving through pylons and dodging old debris.  The conditions had us fighting the current which made for lousy visibility.  Despite all the obstacles we managed to sneak up on a few large “potato” cod, some flute mouths and a grey nurse shark.  It was a great experience and made it in our record books as dive #10.

  With southern momentum we make our way down and out to a little nook called Monkey Mia.  People flock here to trail walk, bird watch and almost always see the resident dolphins.  There are a family of them that have visited the nearby resort every day for over 30 years.  You can almost set your watch by their visit every morning for their breakfast.  Back in their hay day every visitor would get the opportunity to feed at least one dolphin.  That meant on the popular school holiday mornings there could be upwards of 150 free fish up for grabs.  With this influx of fish some dolphins saw little reason to continue hunting on their own.  Researchers found that some had even lost the ability all together and soon were weaned onto a leaner diet.  Now only a select few get the opportunity to feed them first hand, but all still get to watch this amazing event.

Logging more KM we press south towards the WA capitol of Perth.  Somewhere along this stretch Nick has decided that he will start growing his “backpacker beard”, so be sure to long on for beard status updates.  As we cross the 29 * parallel the scenery quickly begins to morph.  The trees become taller, with full canopies and the fields turn take on a  rich green hue.  Vast spaces closed into comfortable rolling hills that remind us of pictures we’ve seen of Ireland.  We are officially out of the outback in our minds.

Perth carries about its business with a different vibe than other Aussie cities.  European influence is all too obvious but anyone with a passion for food and fashion would make themselves right at home.  We would both be lying if we told you felt welcome here.  After our long stint traveling through Rural Australia we found ourselves in a state of culture shock like never before.  Perth being the last major city visit until our planned NZ trip we decided it was about time to lock in our tickets over there.  We checked into a hostel near down town and went about taking care of our flight plans, vehicle transfer papers, and even our taxes for the year.  We felt quite productive and rewarded ourselves with a night on the town.  As coincidence would have it our former Cairns room mate, Fred, the Brazilian, had only transferred schools two days ago and was now living only blocks from where we were staying.  He took us out to a 4 room club.  Each room played a different style of music and served varying drinks, with varying prices.  We started the night with premixed bottles of Canadian Club and ginger.  We cheersed Fred into the “club”.  Fred insisted  samba was the best way to put a smile on.  He was not mistaken.  The live band played Brazilian music and top 40 hits to the beat of samba all night.  We closed the place down and topped the evening off with a kebab.

Still restless to make our flights and continue our journey we said our good bys to Both Fred and the city of Perth.  Fred mentioned a visit to Melbourne before his trip home.  Something tells me we will see this fun loving fella again.                            

West Bound and Down

... loaded up and truckin’.  Equipped with extra fuel, oil, food and lots of water we set out on a 4726km journey through a generous portion of Australia’s official “Outback”.  This leg of the journey would be 500km more than the entire trip from Calgary, AB to Woodstock, NB we made prior to our trip.

Right away we knew we part of an elite club of Aussie travelers.  The club is widely described as the “Grey Nomads”.  Though its not a rule, the majority of members are retired and as some put it: “spending their children’s inheritance” .  As you advance in ranks your equipment becomes more spacious and luxurious.  The rolling town homes the senior members of the club use make tour busses look like little red wagons.  They welcomed our humble Sully (van) as if they’d been expecting us.  The drive was speckled with rest stops every 100-200km.  They varied in size and amenities, and the popular ones filled early in the day.  Taking a warning from all the dead roos we passed we avoided driving at night at all costs.  When the sun was shining there were few obstacles on this straight barren track we rolled along.  Much like owning a VW, or a Harley, everyone waves in the outback.  Heck, you might as well, with the traffic being the only other company along the way, coming along every 30min or so.

Of course it wasn’t a cannon ball run from Cairns to Broome.  We broke up the 14 day desert bonanza with a few detours into some of the more remote points of interest. But first though we have to take you through some of the small desert towns. About 300k’s from Townsville on the east coast, heading west is the ‘town’ of Prairie, pop. 50.  Flinders highway is the start of one of the highways that goes through the outback all the way to Broome. Along this highway and the ones that connect together lies most of these small towns. Prairie has a police station, a post box, a wind mill that supplies water to the public toilet, 2 houses and the hotel/motel/caravan park and that’s pretty much it. Camping behind the motel in a fenced off pasture, the 2 of us and the cows watched the clearest night sky of endless stars. The house on the corner had a fire and we star gazed while Johnny Cash played Ring of Fire from their small house.
Driving on (2500k to Darwin-our destination) we pass Richmond/Hughenden: 100 million year old dinosaur fossil remains can be found scattered throughout the desert there. Somewhere between Cloncurry and Mt. Isa we stayed at a rest stop, there we met two fellow canucks our age from Vancouver.  We swapped many stories, excited to talk to each other as the 4 of us were the youngest ones we had seen in at least 600ks. Next day in a dusty cloud we show up in Mt. Isa, the mining (ore) town nestled in a valley surrounded by red desert hills. One of the biggest cities in the world, stretching 41,000 sq k. pop 20,000. Oasis in the Outback, they call it. At a lookout we saw the view of the city.

Ok, moving on, we have to get to Darwin here people. Fast forward 3 days, 4 desert towns, a shower, 57 Litres at $1.99, must be 200 dead kangaroos by now, one large dead snake, one massive wedge-tailed eagle, 8 Litres of oil, saw the Canadians again and its 95ks till Darwin. Ahhhhh *sigh*…but wait its croc season and we cant go swimming noooooo.

Oh well we got our swimming in with a full day of waterfalls in Litchfield National Park., 155ks south of Darwin. Lots of people refreshed with a swim in Florence Falls, a beautiful pool surrounded by monsoon forest.  It was hard to believe after all the barren waterless terrain we drove through in the heart of it all was an oasis of swimming holes, and stunning cascades.  As the day went on they became larger and more spectacular.  Its as a waterfall crawl of sorts.  In the midst of all the cool clear water ways were fields of tomb stone like termite mounds guarding this desert sanctuary.  They ranged in size from small columns to towering castles of dirt, grass and dung.

Gazing over the Timor Sea is Darwin, the frontline for the Allied action in 1942 against the Japanese in the Pacific. It was the only Australian city ever bombed. The town has many heritage sites and is said to be Australia’s “Pearl Harbour”.  The majority of rest stops on the road into town were originally airstrips, hiding kitty-hawks and mustangs in the scrub behind.  Surrounded by all this flying history no visit would be complete without checking out the Air museum.  Darwin plays host to a full size B52 bomber on loan from the states.  In the center of the hanger all other displays appear miniature, with most fitting under the wings and tail of this giant.  After taking in these metal and fabric fighting birds, we made our way over to the Barry Springs Nature Park to check out a few of the smaller gentler living birds.  There were many local critters to check out, but the most impressive were the huge aviaries.  Some were large enough to be compared to a small sports stadium.  We also ventured by the nesting pelicans just in time for their lunch.  The new parents of 5-6 tiny hatchlings proudly watched as their keepers dropped tiny fish parts into their awaiting mouths.

From here we shot off in search of the coast.  There is little to write about this journey other than it took the better part of three days.  Driving 500+ km a day the landscape slowly but surely morphed into hilled valleys and jagged cliffs.  The land began to take on a rich green hue.  This seemingly endless drive took us into the town of Broome.  As we drove into Cable Beach the ocean crept into view and we both sighed in unison.  We celebrated the completion of the coast to coast trek with an overdue dip in the ocean. The water had never felt so good.  We may take a few days here and soak up as much as we can.  We would also like to thank Sully (the van) by giving him a few days off.  He was such a workhorse and didn’t complain once.

From here we will point Sully south and meander along the coast.  Neither of us have much desire to stray far from the cool coastal breezes.

Bumper sicker of the month: “Of all the things I’ve lost, its my mind I miss the most.”