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.”