Saturday May 24, 2014

A day where we don’t have to get up before dawn.  We had a nice lie-in and then chatted to Joyce about her life, job, living arrangements and her parents expectations of her.  It was really interesting and she was shocked to hear that we had a house of 1,300 square feet for the two of us.  She shared a flat with her mom and dad and recently her brother the flat was 450 square feet.  Her brother recently got married so they had more room.

We said our goodbyes to Vince, Charlene and friends who were leaving early today.

We went to the YHA to rent some bikes, unfortunately they had all been rented, but the woman told us we could walk to most of the places that we wanted to see.

I wanted to go to the Royal Flying Doctors Service Museum, which we did.  It was really interesting to see how they got started and some of the things that they do now, including primary medical care and nurse practitioners.

We climbed Billy Goat Hill for a good view of the town site during the day and then Anzac Hill for a sunset view.

After we watched the sunset, we popped in for a pint and watched some more Aussie Rules football.  One of the strangest things is that when we ask the supporters of this game, how many people were on a side, most of them couldn’t tell us.  About 16 to 18!  We eventually got a definitive answer, there are 18 people on a team on the pitch at any one time.

We had dinner and then spoke to a Scott who was on his own and about to do one of the tours.  Ralf had a good chat with Paul (the Scot), while I spoke to another Goh, from Malaysia.  He was a Phd student studying in London, England, but doing some research at Melbourne University for 3 months.  A really nice guy and told me about places to visit in Malaysia.  I really enjoy staying in hostels and camp sites, you meet really interesting people.

Tomorrow there is a market in the downtown area and then we get picked up by the airport shuttle and fly back to Brisbane at 1:00 pm arriving at 4.00 pm.

Friday May 23, 2014

Another early morning  (5:00 am) After breakfast we packed our gear and swag and headed out to Kings Canyon. This morning the group was fairly quiet, the ones that had slept outside had a very late night.  They had seen several shooting stars and stayed awake well past 2:00 a.m. Five o\’clock came early for them !

James told us about our route and that we had to stick together and stay away from the cliff edges.  If we didn’t listen to him, he would turn the group around and take us back to the bus.  He was very serious about the safety aspect of this walk and also the amount of water we all should take with us.  We were going to walk 6 kms.  The first kilometer was up a steep hill, nicknamed heart attack hill.

It was a good walk, primarily with steps created from rocks so not too difficult.  The young Asians struggled.  The second kilometer was over and around the rim of the canyon.  It was incredibly beautiful.

As we progressed towards the “Garden of Eden” we had to cross a wooden tressel bridge, down some stairs and over the gorge on a wooden bridge and then back up the other side, again on wooden stairs.

There was one young girl who was absolutely petrified.  She was shaking and sweating profusely.  I spoke to the and persuaded her to take my hand and we negotiated the stairs and bridge together.  We waited until the bridge was clear of people and then quickly crossed it.  I told her my sister was scared of bridges too.

James at this point has lost interest in the group, he had stopped giving any commentary about the flora and fauna or route.  After we had crossed the bridges he told us to carry on towards the “Garden of Eden”, but didn’t follow us.  The group stopped short of going down another flight of wooden stairs to the waterhole, waiting for James.

Joyce one of the women from Hong Kong told me that the water hole was in a film that all the Asians knew and that is why they loved this area.

I went back to find him but he wasn’t at the point we last saw him and the second group from the other Emu bus was catching up with us.  I told the group to carry on.  I was really annoyed with James that he hadn’t followed us or gave us any information about the water hole or the flora and fauna or history or stories associated with the area.  When he eventually rejoined the group with some cookies and crackers, I told him that it was his responsibility to keep the group together and moving not mine.

Ralf had joined the other group for a short time so that he could go to another lookout.

After we left the waterhole, James stopped us a couple of times to show us a fossil and tell us about the large palms tht were growing there – a remnant of the rainforest due to the high water table.

After that it was a route march to the bus, we were so stretched out it was ridiculous.  Although we did manage to get together for a group photo.

Although James was not a good guide on this particular walk, it was an amazing walk – the canyon was awesome.

Ralf and I would watch the group pose for their photos.  They are so funny.

We got back to the cattle station for lunch of burgers  and salad then it was the long drive back to Alice Springs.  However Ralf had spotted a Golden Orb spider.  He was taking some photos of it and showing the group the colours of the web.  I, of course, being absolutely petrified of spiders stayed well away from it.  The spider is poisonous but not deadly.  It will make you feel quite sick for a few days.  I would not normally put a spider photo on this blog, but Ralf has asked me to do it.

WARNING PICTURE OF SPIDER TO FOLLOW !!!

As we were driving back we had a couple of stops.  A lookout at Mount Connor, which looks remarkably like Uluru.

We also stopped on the Stewart Highway and viewed Lake Amadeus, climbing over these sand dunes.

The Stewart Highway runs from Adelaide to Darwin and is incredibly straight.  May be we will come back and cycle it.

When we arrived at the hostel we discovered we were sharing a room with another person.  He was a nice young fella from England who had just got a job in Alice.  Ralf and I went for a pizza, and got back to the hostel early, as we have had too many early mornings.

When we got back to the hostel, Vince was waiting for us to tell about other places to visit in China.  We had a really interesting chat with him about Hong Kong citizens and China citizens and farmer citizens (Chinese class system).  Too many women are going to Hong Kong to have their babies and the babies become Hong Kong citizens.  The mothers are often returned to China and the babies have to be looked after by the Hong Kong government as they are de facto Hong Kong citizens.  Vince explained that Hong Kong citizens have a better lifestyle than many people in China.

Thursday May 22, 2014

We had breakfast, packed our swags and gear away and headed out to watch the sunrise over Uluru.  It was a little overcast but there was some nice cloud movement over Uluru.

Because the forecast was for possible showers, James decided on two shorter walk rather than one longer walk of 7.5 kms.  It was also a lot easier on the group, as they are not used to long walks and if it rained.  The two walks were in the Kata Tjuta, a very beautiful area and easy walking.

James gave us information on how Uluru and Kata Tjuta were formed – geology lessons as well on this trip. I really enjoyed this area, each day is better than the previous day.

As we walked back to the bus, I chatted to the group from Hong Kong.  Vince was telling me about places to visit when we are in China.

We went back to the campsite for lunch of Tortillas, where Vince was able to google the places he had told me about. The Stone Forest in Kumming, Yunnan Province and Jiuzhagou in Szechaun. The Stone Forest looks stunning, we have added this as a place to visit while we are in China. The food in Szechuan is very spicy, there is a pepper called fatou (sp?) which sends your lips and tongue numb. Vince said I should try it.  I don\’t eat really spicy food, but we will have to see when we get there.

On the way to our camp site  James, Ralf and a couple of the guys from Taiwan gathered firewood for the fire tonight.

Kings Creek cattle station where we are staying tonight is small by Australian standards 813,000 acres with about 2,000 head of cattle.  It also has camp sites and caters to tourism.  We are sleeping in our swags again tonight but inside canvas tents.  This is quite a large 3 person tent, very comfortable for 3 people and their gear.  Not like ours which although it is supposed to be a 3 man tent, is really good for 2 people with gear. We are not sharing tonight, just the two of us in our body bags (swags).

Ralf went up to the lookout to take photos of the sunset.

On Ralf\’s return from the lookout he spotted paw prints and confirmed with James that they were actually Dingo prints.  He hadn\’t noticed them on the way out.

After a nice hot shower I asked James if he needed help preparing dinner.   Some of the girls had already helped James cut up the potatoes and onions.  The potatoes were cooked in the fire along with the damper bread which I made.  Damper is similar to bannock, flour and water and baked in the fire, except we added garlic and cheese, everyone really liked it.  The BBQ consisted of snags (sausages), chicken kebabs and roo steak, potatoes and damper.  Damper was the traditional drovers bread.

We sat around the bonfire for quite a while looking at the sky and chatting.  One of the guys from Taiwan gave Ralf and I some sparklers.  I really loved sparklers when I was younger.

The night sky was awesome.  Theresa from Austria was able to identify the southern cross for us.  We were also able to identify Mars from the “Night Sky” ap.

The Asians in our group were amazed by the night sky, as Ralf and I have been throughout our trip in the southern hemisphere.  They said that in Hong Kong and in Taiwan, they are lucky if they can see more than 3 stars in the sky because of the light pollution.

Another early start tomorrow to walk Kings Canyon.

Wednesday May 21, 2014

Another early start, even earlier than expected as I had forgotten to change the time on my alarm clock – oops.

First problem, we couldn’t get out of the hostel gate.  It is locked at night and we needed a code to get in and out.  The code was on the key fob, which we had already handed in at reception.  Fortunately one of the young Asians remembered his number and used that to let us out. Pick up was on time.  We are on a 21 passenger bus with 17 young Asian people and one girl from Austria.

The sun rose behind us at 6:45 a.m.  I mention this because we have a view of the sun-rising over Uluru tomorrow morning.

First stop on the trip was at a camel farm and station.  We, of course, took the $7.00 each camel ride.

Ralf got friendly with the emu.  The emu wasn\’t so keen on me, he kept walking away from me.

There were also some kangaroos.  The difference between northern roos and southern roos is primarily the colour and the texture of the fur.  Northern roos are red.

James is our driver and very friendly.  He has decided I am to be the trip mother – ha ha if he only knew.  Over the next three days we will be walking 21 kms, and driving 1,600 kms.

Our next break was at the Mount Ebenezer Road House and Cattle Station.  The cattle station across the road was for sale – asking price $4,000,000 Australian dollars for 863,000 acres of land and 3,000 head of cattle.

After lunch we went to the Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park.  We first were told about Uluru (Ayers Rock) and that it is a sacred site for the aboriginal and were requested not to climb Uluru.  We then went into the Cultural Centre where again we were requested not to climb Uluru.  After we spent about half an hour in the Cultural Centre we were taken on a guided walk by James our tour guide.

All tour guides have to be accredited by the University to be allowed to lead groups in the National park.  James told us two stories told by the aboriginal elders to their children and then left us to walk half way around the base of Uluru.  Ralf really wanted to climb Uluru, he was still undecided whether to or not.  However, it became a non-issue as the climb was closed due to the weather forecast – expecting rain.

There are also certain areas along the base of Uluru that they request you not to photograph, again due to religious significance.  These areas were either significant to the men or the women.  Men were not allowed to see the women’s areas and vice versa.

It started to rain just as we were finishing our first walk.  James picked us up in the bus and drove us to the water hole, commenting along the way that is very rare to see Uluru wet.

Fortunately the rain stopped long enough for us to walk to the water hole and hear the story of the 2 snakes and see some cave drawings.

We then drove the viewing area to see the sun set.  It was still very cloudy and didn’t look as if we would get to see Uluru change colour.

Usually at the sun set area the tour is provided with champagne (sparkling wine) and snacks.  James had asked if we wanted to forgo the snacks and champagne and head back to the camp site so that we could commandeer the laundry room.  The forecast for tonight was for heavy rain and thunder storms, if we were first back to the camp site we could put the swags indoors and not get wet.  Otherwise we would be able to put them under the kitchen area but the swags are not waterproof and the kitchen area would only provide limited protection from the rain.  We decided on having the ‘champagne’ at dinner.

We left the viewing area about five minutes before the sun had completely set.  Of course, as we were driving down the road the sun came from behind the cloud and lit up Uluru.  James quickly found a safe place to pull over and we got some great shots of the Big Red Rock.

We headed back to the campsite with a very happy bus.  We also were first into the laundry room where we set up our swags.  A swag is a glorified body bag!  It has a water-proof rubberized bottom, a mattress and a canvas top that zips all around and then a cover that covers your face – body bag.

About a dozen of us rolled out our swags and were warm and dry all night.  The others decided to roll their swags underneath the kitchen shelter and half of them got wet when the storms rolled through during the night.

After dinner of chicken stir fry we chatted with the group while James went to fuel the vehicle ready for the next day. Ralf and I were trying to guess the ages of the group, there was one young woman who looked about 16 but she was actually the oldest in the group at 30!  We were all having a good laugh at how bad our guesses were.  Even funnier was when we asked them to guess our ages.  They thought Ralf was 60ish and I was younger.  We told them our ages and had a good laugh.

After James came back we chatted with him by the fire and were in bed by 10ish.  Another long day and another early start planned for tomorrow.

Tuesday May 20, 2014

A really early start this morning.   We set the alarm for 3:00 a.m. for the taxi pick-up at 4:15 a.m. The flights leave from Brisbane at 6:00 a.m. to Sydney and then a connecting flight to Alice Springs arriving in Alice at 12:30 p.m.  The taxi driver arrived early, the flight from Brisbane to Sydney was good, we saw the Harbour Bridge and the opera house from the air.  The landing was a bit bumpy in Sydney and not too bad in Alice Springs.  We took the free shuttle from the airport to the Backpackers lodge.

As part of our 3 day 2 night trip to Uluru we received one free night at the Alice Lodge and 2 nights at a discounted price.  The Backpackers is not ever so clean, but we always wash the plates and cutlery before we use them anyway, so we won’t die.  We went for a walk into the Town centre which is only 5-10 minutes walk away.

We popped into the Information Centre to check on any bike hire places and cycle route.  There are a couple of places where we can rent bikes, which we will do on Saturday.  We are both missing being on our bikes.

Alice Town site has about 3 malls.  It gets very hot here in the summer, it is warm today about 27 degrees.  The main shopping area is pedestrianized.  We found a great outdoor store which reminded me of Sojourn our favourite outdoor store in Barrie.  Same name brands that we know and love.  Surprisingly the prices were good.  Ralf bought a hat, it will be good for him for the trip to Uluru and for the summer in Europe.

We have seen more aboriginals in Alice today than we have seen in the rest of the time we have been cycling through Australia.

As we wandered around, Ralf noticed a very strong police presence.  Primarily outside of the liquor stores.  After we came out of the grocery store, Ralf spoke to the policeman that was standing outside the BWS (beer, wine, spirits).

R:         I have noticed a large police and security presence here in Alice, specifically around the liquor stores.

Policeman:       Does that make you feel safe?

R:         No, it tells me there is a problem.

The policeman went on to explain about the liquor laws in the Northern Territory and specifically Alice.  In Alice there is no drinking outdoors at all and no drunkenness.  It is strictly controlled hence the police presence.

We went back to the backpackers, ate our dinner and were in bed for 8:30 pm, under our mosquito net.  There seems to be an abundance of sand flies and no-see-ums, we used the net just as a precaution.

Another early start tomorrow – pick-up is at 6:00 a.m.

Monday May 19, 2014

Ralf and Mat picked up our bikes from the bike shop, we had them packed by the bike shop, instead of messing about packing them ourselves.

Today we went up to the Coot-tha Lookout and walked up to the J.C. Slaughter Fall.

We followed the Aboriginal Art Trail to the Falls, but discovered there were no actual falls as it is the dry season.

No disrespect meant to Aboriginal Art, but sometimes it looks like finger painting.

It was a nice walk.  One of the things we like about Australia is that in most of the parks they provide BBQs in the picnic areas.  If the BBQ is not gas they also provide the wood for the BBQ.

After the walk we drove back into the City for lunch and visited the Botanical Gardens.

Mat had been to the Botanical Gardens before with his parents and had a guided tour with a botanist.  He became our expert-in-residence for the gardens and pointing out various plants and also spotted two curlews.  In the middle of the City two curlews, lovely.  Most people were walking by them and didn’t even notice them, which isn\’t surprising as they are very well camouflaged.

After the botanical gardens we played on the swings.  The playground area was designed to be completely accessible.  Mat was pushing me really high!

Brisbane is another City in Australia that have bikes to hire.  The bikes are designed for short trips around the City.  You register to get a card and then the first half hour is free, then it becomes progressively more expensive.  If you took one for a day, it would be cheaper to buy a second hand bike.

We had a lovely dinner and then packed for our trip to Alice Springs.  It is supposed to get quite chilly at night, we are taking some warmer clothes and jackets.   We have a very early flight tomorrow morning – 6:00 a.m.

Sunday May 18, 2014

Ralf woke up with a migraine today.  It isn’t very often that Ralf gets a migraine.  I decided to stay at home with him while Mat went to help his mates get the boat ready for its maiden voyage.

Ralf felt better by around noon time.  I updated the blog and Ralf worked on his photos. He has to clear some of his camera, so that he can get the photos of Uluru on his camera.  He is keeping separate memory cards for each country we are visiting.

Sunday May 11, 2014

Mat took us to a local farmers market this morning.  It was at the race course and had lots of good food stalls where we had breakfast.  Mat bought some sausages for the BBQ tonight.  We also spotted this stall and wondered how we could dress Mat’s friendly possum.  I thought he would look very cute in these dungarees.

Mat then took us to the Breakfast Creek pub, an institution in Brisbane. The main bar has tiled floors and a tiled bar – almost like a public toilet in England.

It has been flooded on several occasions, the most recent in 2011.  Mat was in the pub at the time and said that in typically Aussie fashion, they announced that the river was rising, so patrons would have enough time to order a couple of more beers before they would have to evacuate the building. !

Monday May 12, 2014

Mat took us to a couple of bike shops today to see if we can get Ralf’s bike fixed.  Unfortunately, because there is not a big “touring” culture here, we couldn’t source the parts.  One store suggested that they could build new wheels for him, but my concern was that they are not familiar enough with touring bikes to ensure that the wheels will stand up to the weight that Ralf carries.  We have decided to wait until we get to the UK and then get new wheels.  The repair that was done to the wheels in Ballina is holding up well.

After the bike shops we headed into downtown Brisbane and went to the museum and a wander around the downtown. The museums are free, although when they have a special exhibition like the one on the Deep Oceans, you pay an entrance fee for the special exhibition, but not the rest of the museum.

In the museum we spotted this information, and laughed when we spotted the resemblance between George Kiprios and Mat’s Dad – Baz.  Wendy (my sister) and Baz now live in Cyprus and Baz is often mistaken for a Cypriot not a fella born and bred in Stoke on Trent.

Mat and I also decided to move some of the street art. He got one end and I got the other, I think you can see I was carrying the heavier end.

We had a very nice lunch on the river then headed home.

 Tuesday May 13, 2014

Mat had to attend some meetings today at work, so we are on our own.  We are doing household chores and I will surprise Mat by doing all his ironing for him.  Ralf is doing yard work.

I miss ironing, I wonder if I could take an iron with me on the next leg?

In Mat and Kelly\’s garden are a pair of stone curlews.  Ralf got this great photo of them, they can be difficult to spot – one is standing, the other is close to the ground. When they are scared they stand stock-still and make a strange call almost like a baby crying.  They are endangered in parts of Australia, and under-threat in other areas due to habitat loss.  My guess is that by standing stock-still instead of running or flying away might contribute to their predation.

Wednesday May 14, 2014

Mat had a great day planned for us today, but, I needed to book flights etc.  We now have our trip booked for Alice Springs and Uluru.  We leave for Alice on Tuesday May 20, 2014 and return on Sunday May 25, 2014.  We have a three day, two night tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock), we will have an extra day in Alice.  There is a 25 km cycle route into the desert we might take if we can rent some good bikes.  I also want to go to the Flying Doctor Service Museum.  We then have a couple of more days with Mat and Kelly before flying to the UK on Wednesday 28 May, 2014 and arrive in London on Thursday 29 May, 2014.

Tomorrow Mat is going to take us on a drive north of here.

Thursday May 15, 2014

We had a wonderful day today.  Mat took us to the Ettamogah pub, again this is for historic reasons not to drink at 10:30 in the morning.

The Ettamogah pub started its life in a series of cartoons drawn by Ken Maynard and published in The Australasian Post for 40 years. The Ettamogah pub was an important part of his cartoons as it epitomized life in Australia at that time.

Mat and I felt sorry for the delivery man who was hauling his delivery up these stairs, there has to be a better way.  We didn’t drink but we did have a good wander around the pub and other shops.

I asked the fella in the wood shop if the wood for a didgeridoo made a difference in the sound.  He explained that the original didgeridoos were made from a hardwood and the sound depended on the size of the hole, the size of the didgeridoo and the player.  Apparently women were not supposed to play as it either made them sterile or fertile, depending on which tribe they were with.

After the pub we went to the Giant Pineapple, unfortunately we couldn’t go inside it as there is going to be a big music event happening this week-end and they were getting prepared for it.

We had a lovely drive through the countryside north of Brisbane to a village called Montville.

It was quite busy, even in the off-season. I cannot imagine what it would be like in the height of the season.  There were some lovely little boutique shops which, if not riding a bike I could probably have bought some souvenirs. However, we did buy some fudge.  I hadn\’t realized what a chocoholic my hubby was until we started this Grand Adventure.  I think this was written for Ralf.

We had lunch in Montville and then carried on to the Glass Mountains.

We spotted camels, (for Andrew) but no Alpacas for Melinda.

The Glass Mountains are incredible.  Mat said this is how he had always imagined Australia to be, with mountains and bushland.  I had always imagined it to be more of the bush land that we have cycled through and not these types of mountains, with the exception of Uluru.

The Glass House Mountains were once lava plugs within volcanic cones.  The volcanic cones and surrounding Landsborough sandstone were eroded by wind and water over 25 million years to reveal the lava plugs which can be seen today.

Mat and I took the circular walk which was very nice.  We were looking for koalas but no, we still haven’t spotted any in the wild yet.

Friday May 18, 2014

Another lovely day with Mat.  We had brunch and then went over to his friends place where Mat’s boat is moored.  Mat has bought a small boat with two of his friends (Will and Digger) and it needs a bit of work doing to it.  Mostly cosmetic, cleaning, new cushions etc and some electrical work.  Fortunately one of the three is an electrician.  Tomorrow we have promised to help with the clean up so that we can go fishing on it on Sunday.

Discussing work to be done and naming of the boat.  Three English guys from Burton, Stoke and Bristol – any suggestions.

Saturday May 19, 2014

Boat cleaning day.  Ralf and I spent most of the morning cleaning the inside of the boat, what a brilliant job we made of it too.  Mat and Will went out to get fabric and other stuff needed to clean the boat and Digger worked on the electrics.  By the time Mat and Will got back we were almost done inside.  After a bit of lunch Mat and I covered the benches for the inside with the fabric they had bought and again we did an awesome job.  Although, I hate the fabric.  It is the kind of fabric that when you sit on it leaves a pattern so I had to keep brushing it to make sure the nap all goes in the same direction.  I could never have a sofa made of this stuff, it would drive me insane.

When we got home, Mat and I then attempted to use Kelly’s sewing machine to make the curtains.  We managed to get 3 out of 6 done.  Eventually we gave up and went to bed at well past midnight.

Saturday May 10, 2014

Mat had to work today.  Ralf and I spent the day organizing our stuff, nothing to send back to Canada, we have everything we need and nothing more.

We got all our washing done, I cleaned the bikes, Ralf cleaned the tent.

It was a good day.

Friday May 9, 2014

We had called Mat last night to let him know that we should arrive around 1:00, all being well.

Once again we attempted to follow Veloway 1.  Once again the route was really badly signposted.  After about the 4^th time we turned around trying to find the right route, I told Ralf that if we had to turn around more than 10 times I was finding the nearest train station and catching the train to Ferny Hills, it was incredibly frustrating.  Ralf checked his garmin and the map that we had, and decided to abandon trying to follow the V1 and took Highway 95 north into Brisbane, we made a couple more turnarounds but eventually we were able to find our way through Brisbane and north-west of the City to Mat and Kelly’s place.

Brisbane is trying to be bike friendly. I just don\’t think the engineers are cyclists and therefore do not know what a cyclist needs with regards to road signs.  All it would take is to put the V1 sign on the road signs along with the other directional signs.  For example, when coming towards a roundabout there is a road sign indicating which exit to take.  Add the V1 sign next to the correct exit, also when the next road sign indicates what road you are on add the V1 sign as well.

Mat and Kelly bought this house in February.  After we had commented about our warm shower’s hosts living up big hills.  This house is in the Ferny Hills area and up some big hills, yes we had to walk up a couple.  Mat was waiting for us when we arrived and was disappointed to see us not cycling up his driveway, which I even had difficulty pushing the bike up, it is so steep – 27 degree incline.

Mat took Kelly to the airport, she is away for two weeks visiting her brother in South America.  Mat has a week of vacation and he will show us the sites of Brisbane and surrounding area.

We also have a few days to organize flights to Uluru, possibly Cairns and the UK.

After dinner we sat outside and chatted for a while then the possum came to visit us and Ralf and Mat fed it bananas.

Mat had some possum repellant on the deck, it obviously does not work very well.