New Zealand
The last two days were spent at Tongariro National Park which is a few hours south of Auckland. We took a scenic train ride her and will be returning by bus. While in the park we hiked the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing which was a whopping 20 kilometeres, and over 2000ft elevation change. It is also the mountain used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings series, although in stead of CGI lava there was snow atop it, it has the classic volcano shape. After the very long and hard hike, which was also gorgeous, we hitch-hiked back to Wakapappa Village (which is hilariously pronounced (Fuck-a-puppa). We spent last night in the tent in a grassy area behind some bushes, and were joined by 6 guys who also set up tents, they were from Germany, the UK, Israel, and Main. Well rested but still sore from the long hike, can't wait to go to Sydney by plane tommorrow!
NSW Australia
Rode the train free (by skipping fares) from Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains down to Depto, then hitch hiked south to the beach. Got rides easy with very nice people.
Last night we camped out on 7 mile beach, which is a National Park about 200 Kilometers south of Sydney. We spent the night camped out with two other couples and we made friends and got a bit drunk. But the best part was the Kookaburras that were landing everywhere! One of them took a piece of cheese we dropped, picked it up, and flew away, then shared it with its partner.
Occasionally on the road things can
happen that you don't expect. In this case we were hitching in the rain,
in the late afternoon and no one would pick us up. We walked about ten
Kilometers without a ride and were exhausted and ready to set up the
tent in a field.
We came across a
small town and went into the pub for a beer before giving up for the
night. It was then that a man walked into the bar and asked us if we
were the hitchhikers he had seen on the road. He said that he had
traveled all over the world and had once passed by a hitcher in the
rain, and had felt the need for years to make up for it. He invited us
to spend the night at his farm. We accepted and 30 minutes later were on
a lake shore drinking wine and waiting for steak. We were blown away
with the beautiful country property and the generosity of our host. We
ended up staying three days and helped a bit at the garden. Chaz also
learned to operate a dairy and milked cows. We also were allowed to use a
car to explore the area. It was a wonderful time and we left full of
excitement for the coming adventure.
WA Australia
Haven’t posted in a while, have traveled far.
Before
departing from Adelaide, we spent several nights with a nice older lady
who invited us to sleep on the sofa. We spent the afternoons
sightseeing; since she was retired she enjoyed showing us her s.lovely
town, Goolwa. We also drank
many liters of cask wine, too much. I learned the distinctly Australian
phrase, “The tide is out on the wine” or what is to say fill that glass up some more!
After
a few days we got in touch with a website called standbyrelocations.com
which allows you to rent a caravan or car at reduced rates if you are
returning it to a specific destination where there is higher demand. We
managed to get a deal where we payed $1 a day to rent a campervan, to go
2000k across the Nullarbor into West Australia. They also gave us a
$100n fuel allowance, and although fuel cost about $500 in the end, we still saved money because plane tickets for the two of us would have cost at least $600.
The
van rocked! It had a propane stove, a water tank with 100L (very
important in the outback) a fridge and a bed among other things. And was
a welcome reprieve from sleeping in a tent on the roadside.
Off we went, to cross the Nullarbor, which on Latin, null arbor
means no trees. And such it was! Much of the ride was bush but at least
200k of it was arid scrub land with cliffs down to the sea on the south
and miles of nothing on the north.
It took us three days to cross over to Perth and the west coast, but we had the van for six days so apon arriving in Perth we checked into a caravan park for the remainder.
Perth Central
Caravan Park cost us about $30 a night with power. It had a swimming
pool, interesting residents, and good clean showers. The strange thing
about Western Australia in the summer is that it gets dark at about 7:30
at night, but then the sun comes up at 4 in the morning. It’s like
their time zone is off or something? We quickly found a bottle shop, and
bought a case of beer and drank all afternoon, asleep by 9pm, awake at 6
in the morning! We did cross a few time zones was my excuse, although
the macaws that start an angry chorus as soon as there’s light on the
horizon does help you wake up early.
So
the first night at the caravan park we met a couple of overgrown frat
boys (although I called them that jokingly and they took a measure of
offense) who were strangely enough Americans! After tanning by the pool
the subject came around to beer, and we quickly adjoined to the pavilion
to shot gun a few. Next they brought out a beer bong and we had a few
more (to the disapproving looks of the parks senior residents). By
nightfall Chaz and I were soundly asleep.
I
could really get used to caravan park life, it’s sort of like ‘Stuck in
Margaretville.’ Or something, there’s retired people living there, some
on long term holiday, some middle aged folks who have jobs in town and
make good money but live in a $45 tent with their car and their laptop
and enjoy the company and the pool and tanning. And the exceptionally
good weather in Perth. There are also young people, backpackers, people traveling with friends, from Germany, from Taiwan, from America,
travelling in caravans with empty coke bottles full of water. Staying a
day or a week. The best part is that everyone talks to each other and
hangs out and shares a beer and make plans to do things together. Go
golfing, go surfing, and go get some fish and chips.Go fix the car.
Helps each other out. When the two American’s left they gave us all the
things they no longer needed since they were getting on a plane, a bag
of food and spices, jam, tapatio sauce, instant coffee, ramen, a camp
cot, a canister of propane. Some Germans give us a boogie board and
three sets of snorkels and flippers.
The
next day we had made plans with a fellow to take a trip up the coast to
a small town called Lancet to go surfing. So at 7am we packed up our
bags, returned the caravan, and headed off in the ute (How Aussies say
Utility vehicle). We had originally though our host was just a retired
bloke on holiday, being that he was in his mid sixties, but it turned
out he was working full time as an airline pilot for half of the year,
served in Australia’s army reserve the other half, and had incidentally just taken up surfing.
Let
me just preface this by saying that I am obsessed with surfing,
consumed with it. All I have ever wanted to do was be a surf bum. To the
point that I tried my luck last year (mostly unsuccessfully) surfing on
Lake Superior. So I was pretty excited to go out on some waves with an
actual surfboard, and a guy willing to show us how to do it. On
top of my excitement I was also nervous about sharks, and jellyfish,
and rip-tides. So when we arrived at the beach I was relieved to see
that the waves were of a medium size. Not gigantic like I was afraid of.
We watched our host surf first, then I gave it a try.
The first few waves
passed under smoothly as I sat prone on the board and got used to the
feel of the waves. Then a larger set came in and as I paddled hard to
try to catch one, I let the nose dive to low and FLIP! I got dumped into
the wave, tossed around, and came up 10 meters down the beach coughing
and sputtering. After a few more incidents like that I was able to catch
a few and ride them prone or even was able to get up onto one knee
before losing my balance or the wave loosing it’s push. Finally I tried a
few waves that had already broke, and was able to stand up and ride a
few in! MAN was it fun. I was giddy. Then Chaz took a turn and was able
to stand up, on about the second try. In fact he seemed to be quite good
at it, had some natural talent, which was ironic since I had been
bugging him to go surfing for days.
I took another try and then as I passed the board on, Chaz pointed seaward and shouted, “What is that…
is that a…?” I looked up and saw that fearful outline of a grey fin
piercing the surface about 10 meters away from us, just over the next
wave. Adrenaline. I weighed my options in a split second, the shore was
more than 40 meters away, too far, we’d never make it. Then our friend
said, “Oh yes dolphins! A pod of them frequently come up to the beach
here.” Fear evaporated into joy, dolphins! There were dolphins swimming
with us, just a stone’s throw away! They were surfing too, darting in
and out of the waves, having fun! It was a wonderful experience.
Back at the caravan
park we started to formulate plans. A Swiss guy named Rudi invited us to
ride with him up the coast to Broome. It was a long way away from our
outgoing plane tickets in Perth in two weeks, but we were able to tack
on the other plane tickets for a reasonable price and so eagerly
departed to the hot humid north, the tropics.
Let
me tell you that throughout this trip the most amazing thing has been
our good luck, but it isn’t really luck at all, its human kindness and
camaraderie. Everywhere we go, we arrive and have no plans, and hardly
any money to take traditional forms of transportation or traditional
accommodation, and yet, within hours, some stranger strikes up a
conversation, and invites us to go on adventure with them, or to stay at
their house, or at least shares a beer with us. It’s honestly amazing,
and it’s exiting and empowering to know that people still lookout for
one another and share and commune with each other.
We
take off north, the drive is long and there’s no AC, the windows are
down and there’s a hot wind in my face, I got a wet towel hanging in the
window to keep the sun off me and act as an AC. Were 80k from the next
roadhouse, and 250k from the last town when the car over heats. We can
hear the oil boiling under the hood. We pull over, the coolants all
gone, we haven’t any spare. Shit man. I got a bit nervous about
marauding aborigines. But soon realize no one’s out an about but
travelers on the highway, none the less I put the paring knife in my
pocket.
We get a bloke to
stop and he gives Rudi a ride up to the Road house to get more oil and
coolant, and more jack and coke, he’s booze cruising and just ran out.
I’m glad we got 20L of water in the back, a cooler full of beer, and 40L
of petrol. Too bad no coolant or oil. Chaz and I wait in the shade with
IPA’s. It’s 42 degrees Celsius out here, about 100F, not sure. More
cold beer. It’s safe out here though, every half hour or so a car passes
that stops to make sure were okay, got enough water, got help on the
way. After about 3 hours we get the car fixed up enough to drive to the
next town, but we can’t shut it off, the batteries shot. Figure that one
out later. As we turn into the last 20k till town, Rudi says,
“actually, we could probably have a beer now,” and so we crack a few
open and toast to success and failure. A really good day actually, I
think, and slept really well.
It’s
hot, really fucking hot, the parrots perch on the water spigots and
drink from them. The car overheated again yesterday, thankfully we had
made it to town, were putting $60 of coolant in it a day, we could rent a
car for $20, but what can you do eh? She’ll be right mate! Rudi’s
phone/GPS stopped working from the heat; we rubbed ice cubes on our
temples to avoid heat stroke. My hair dries in 10 minutes in the sun.
God. It was 45 today, supposed to get up to 52 tomorrow, hottest place
in the Southern Hemisphere. Death Valley is the hottest in the North. We
wake up at 4 am to drive before the sun rises.
Yesterday
we crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and then went swimming at Coral
Bay. Stingrays and fish approached us. I was nervous. It was exiting.
That evening we went for a drive once the sun was setting, there were
hundreds of roos crossing the road, and loping around in the twilight
haze. And emus headed home. It was a truly beautiful sunset. The
southern constellations were upside-down above me, with Orion standing
on his head and Taurus’ horns pointed down. We
approached a beach where there was a pavilion with information about
sea turtles. On the beach was a group of people, standing quietly with
cameras, or sitting in the cooler sea air. We approached and saw that
they were looking at a mother sea turtle digging her nest. It was a dark
night and she had pulled herself up on the beach and started digging a
nest to lay her eggs. There were hundreds of these nests on the beach,
large divots about a meter across. We watched as she finished digging
and turned around to lay her eggs. The eastern star rose. It was
something very special to witness. As we left many other turtles were
hauling themselves up on shore, or had started digging nests. I slept
good that night, in my underwear with no blankets, it was warm all
night, even when the wind blew.
Hitched to Broome
for Christmas. Got one through ride form a Scott who took us all the way
across the 600k from Port Hedland to Broome. We stayed at a caravan
park Christmas eve but god was it hot. In the middle of the night I woke
up with blood pounding in my ears, I took a shower and ended up
sleeping on my pad outside of the tent on the cement patio. Once I was
out under the stars I felt immensely better with the slight sea breeze.
Must have been about 80 degrees and humid. There were fruit bats and
cicadas flying around. The bats were enormous, with a wingspan of more
than a foot. They were swooping around the yellow streetlights catching
flies. I awoke at about 4 am when the sun came up and watched the sun
rise over the harbor on Christmas morning. The sun immediately brought
out the flies and their constant tickling made sleep impossible.
On
Christmas day we decided that the caravan park was too hot and checked
into the local hostel instead. Where they have ac but it costs $1 for 3
hours. (sheesh). The hostels a pretty rad place though, Its got a pool
and a bar and lots of 20 and 30 somethings hanging out.
The
day today was spent at Cable Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches
in the world I hear, It was very nice but the constant fear of
crocodiles and jellys kept me on edge. If there’s a croc sighting or
high jelly activity they’ll close the beach, so it’s safe right? The
locals were swimming anyway. Got tossed around by some waves for a bit,
and although we out on lots of sunscreen it mustn’t have been waterproof
because we both got burned a bit. After boxing day when the stores
re-open I think our first stop will be to get sunscreen and toothpaste,
and ramen of course. We had barbeque at the hostel for xmas, but haven’t
eaten since.
The
other odd thing that happened on Christmas day, just as we were queuing
up for the Barbie, was that a couple of detectives showed up and wanted
to interview everyone at the Hostel. Apparently on xmas eve someone was
stabbed to death at a bar in town. Broome’s a small town and so
something like this doesn’t happen every day. It was sort of crazy to
talk to the detectives and give your alibi. I’m so glad we didn’t go out
that night though, because we would have probably been at that very
bar.
