Adventure 1.0: Part II
Hopefully you have already read Part I and please enjoy Part II of my Around Australia journey.
(Click a bike to jump to a specific blog)
Day 49
Day 54
Day 66
As aforementioned in the previous post, Suzie has been in the shop getting a service and a brand spanking fuel pump. I will be picking her up this afternoon but I have had to make do the last eight days with no means of transport. Without any transport I decided to sit inside my backpackers accommodation and twiddle my thumbs for just over a week. Well, not quite...
Instead, I jumped on a bus up to Cairns and its been a pretty full on week. My thumbs remain completely untwiddled.
I took the week off travelling and exchanged it for a week of tourist-ing. It was a massive change of pace but still very interesting! As always, I don't have time to go through everything but I will have a crack at covering the highlights.
The Premier bus service was kind enough to transport me from Townsville to Cairns where I checked in to Calypso backpackers, a friendly and social little hostel that I would be using as my base camp for the week.
Each day I would leave Calypso early on a new adventure and arrive home late in the evening. I checked out Green Island, a tiny little island that took less than 10 minutes to walk from one side to the other but seemed to be extremely popular and highly overpopulated for aa tourist venue. I still managed to find some hideaways, off the beaten track where the tourists wouldn't swim for risk of stingers. This was also my first experience of properly seeing the biodiverse Great Barrier Reef from glass bottom boat.
Cape Tribulation (Ct) was definitely the biggest highlight for the week though. Named when Captain Cook was feeling sorry for himself after discovering boats don't travel through reefs. CT gave me another 682 new facts and about the native fauna and flora to add to my collection.
The Daintree is the oldest continually growing rainforest in the world (pretty much think Jurassic Park although technically it is older than that!) and CT is the only place in the world where two world heritage listed sites border each other. You could literally straddle the border and be the Daintree and the Great Barrier Reef.
To try and describe the beauty of the area wouldn't do it justice but when the filmakers involved with the production of Avatar explored Cape Tribulation and the Daintree for inspiration for scenery, it doesn't need much of an explanation anyway.
The rest of the week was pretty boring and I spent most of the time squandering my time seeing incredible waterfalls, natural volcano pools, meeting new people, seeing a wild platypus, zip lining, seeing wild a wild cassowary and other equally monotonous things not worth mentioning.
I even capped the week off with some Cold Rock icecream with some fellow "travellers" from England.
I am writing this from the Greyhound bus where I will be sitting for another five and a half hours on my way back to Townsville and Suzie!
All the best!
Day 70
So apparently Queensland likes drivers to be safe. Some of the strategies I have seen employed so far include: friendly warnings such as "Rest or R.I.P" and "Tired Drivers Die", actual car and motorbike wreckages in cages on the side of the road saying "Crash Zone Next 'x'kms" and trivia signs to keep drivers alert.
Anyway, the last few days has held a few battles for me. I managed to 'lose' some rather expensive items including keys, GoPro and earphones just before leaving Townsville. I also found sound damage to my top box (I think it was dropped whilst at the mechanics) and my cheap point and shoot camera had now carked it. I was also extremely tired from sleepless nights and travelling so I took some time to chill out a little bit and then drink some concrete.
The next morning I drove down to Airlie Beach cheering myself up with the beautiful scenery of the drive and the Whitsundays (and maybe a few drinks with some newfound mates at Airlie). Walter White (a.k.a Derek), the locksmith version, replaced my keys so I could access all of my bike's features and I discovered my camera could still take pictures although the screen was broken so things were looking up.
A tour through the Whitsundays and including some snorkeling through the Great Barrier Reef held some of the most awesome sights of my whole journey.
The next morning I was off. I had planned out my next 5 days. I was travelling inland to Longreach and checking out a few smaller towns along the way. That is, until I spoke to some random guy for 5 seconds who suggested that coastal is probably better. I changed my plans based and head down the coast, southbound.
I have now found my way through Rockhampton. This morning I stumbled across the Capricorn Caves. I got particularly lucky, accidentally finding myself there at the perfect time of year and the perfect time of day so I could experience the solstice light. I light that shined down through a whole in the roof of the cave creating a spectacular beam of light within the impressive caves.
No real plans for the next few days but I am always open to suggestions!
Until next time!
Day 78
Rockhamptom to Sydney flew by as a blur of towns. Bundaberg, Town of 1770 and Angnes Water, Hervey (pronounced Harvey somehow...) Bay, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca Heads, Port Macquarie... you get the picture...
Bundaberg - home of Bundy and where I sampled some very expesnive liqueurs and top shelf liquors. Only 1.7 standard drinks worth so don't fret over my driving!
The Australia Zoo (north of Brissy) - this was actually really cool. Upon my arrival I made my way to the Crocoseum where I was able to watch Big Al, the croc, tear a pig limb from limb with its violent head shakes, scattering the innards into the crowd, commentated live and in person by the Irwin family (vid attached).
Byron Bay - possibly the most chilled out environment in Australia... during the day, and also the most eastern point in this fine country.
Mt Tamborine Glow Worm Caves - where I discovered that common sense isn't so common as proven by the middle aged South African couple on the short tour. The came up with some very insightful questions for the guide after his detailed explanation of glow worms and a 5 minute documentary. My personal favourite was from the husband, "So why do you put these little green lights everywhere in the cave? Is that so we can see the glow worms?"
The glow worms were pretty cool as well but unfortunately no pictures from inside the cave!
The National Motorbike Museum - where I found the bio fuel engine used my Paul Carter in his travels around Aus detailed by the book, "Is That Thing Diesel?"
I was pretty knackered upon my arrival into Sydney (the last few items only show a taste of my experiences from the week) and it was good to catch up with all of the family! My base camp was at Aunty Jenny's house where I did a couple of day trips out including the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains (has the ateepest railway in the road), the Olympic Park and the mighty city itself.
Side note: I actually stumbled across someone I had met in South Korea three months ago who I had no idea worked in The Rocks, in Sydney.
Undoubtedly though, the absolute highlight for the entire week, which all the other experiences combined couldn't even hold a candle to, was on the way to the Katoomba, Blue Mountains - unleaded fuel being sold for 99.9c/L!!
I know I skimmed over a lot in this update but you get the gist...
Day 83
Sydney to Melbourne in five days since my last update. Unfortunately, uni is looming around the corner and I am having to push through quickly. Nevertheless I managed to see a bunch of cool things along the way.
First day out of Sydney I travelled some of the nicest routes of the whole journey. Royal National Park had some awesome twisties up and down through the hills followee by the Sea Cliffe Bridge (the car ad one). I caught up with family friends in Nowra where I was taught a number of things about motorbikes... and Scrabble.
With my bike ready and rearing the mountainous winding roads continued (for the next few days really) as I found my way through Kangaroo Valley to the ACT. As a sidenote, I would also like to point out that I had now been to every (proper) state and territory in Australia at some point in my life.
I think Canberra gets a pretty poor rap from a tourism perspective, generally being associated with parliment and politics, but there were actually other things in Canberra as well! I managed to explore a few of these including the Aboretum, the National Bonsai Collection (sooo much cooler than it sounds, the AIS, the National War Memorial, which was pretty interesting, and the National Museum, which wasn't.
Fast forward through more cool scenery to Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains. I woke up bright and early and decided to take on Kosciusko, Australia's tallest mountain (2228m above sea level). I decided to walk on the way from the backpackers and get the ski lift down (because ski lifts are for wusses going up but coming dowb they are ok...)
I walked pretty fast to make it back in time for my check out. The first section of the walk took me just over an hour of steep climbing, narrow pathways and unsure footing, thanks to the previous night's storms. After that section you come to a less steep section of 6.5km - the home stretch. After just over an hour I had reached the top of the tallest point (and unconfirmed as the windiest point?) in Australia where I breathed in the ambience and took the obligatory selfie.
After a moment to take in the experience I had become quite cold (should have worn my winter singlet) and I was running a bit late for check out of the backpackers so I ran down most of the 6.5km, passing a bunch of cheaters who came up on he ski lift, to where I would eventually take the ski lift down from.
Fast forward again through vicious storms to Beechworth, home of Ned Kelly. The only town in the world to have been successfully time warped from the mid 19th century to the modern day. This old fangled historical town hosted museums, old building and infrastructure and was interesting to wander.
Finally, the stretch to Melbourne. Pretty uneventful, freezing cold riding for a few hours. The only notable point for the whole evening was a very clever little bee managing to land on me whilst riding and find one of the very few patches of skin available on a motorbiker, my Achilles' Wrist...
Happy Straya Day guys! Make sure you spare a minute to think about what the day means amongst all your celebrations!
Day 89
After almost three months of my incredible journey my time is coming to a close. In a few days time I will be jumping on a train from Adelaide and coasting on through to Perth. With Suzie following closely behind me, of course!
I had planned to travel the whole distance on the bike but my plans have changed on the way around and with a big year of uni looming around the corner I had to make the tough decision to get back to Perth in preparation. I have learned a number of things on my trip thus far and one of these lessons is; the journey is far more important than the destination. So, instead of feeling like I have failed in my initial goal of completing the big lap I feel as though I have succeeded in pushing my own boundaries and taking my time in my adventure. Plus, there is always next time to check out all the things I will miss!
I have been living in Melbourne the past week, where there is always something happening! From parades for Australia Day and Chinese New Year to the high calibre of street performers the streets offer to rooftop bars and the Australian Open amd everything in between.
I am not usually one for the city lifestyle but I can definitely see the appeal in the Melbourne city life! I have met some incredible people from some interesting countries. I have met the founder of 'Humans in Melbourne' and 'Humans Who Travel'. I have stayed with old friends and new friends and family friends and I have loved the diversity in this past week of travelling.
I checked out Geelong where I experienced some more awesome coastal riding around the penisula all the way down to the start of the Great Ocean Road which I am excited to say I will be riding in a few days.
I plan to make the most of what time I have left and milk every last bit out of this experience I am fortunate enough to be undertaking!
I better head off now though as the Djokovic/Murray final is starting to heat up and I think I will head down to Federation Square to watch the rest of the match!
Until next time...
Day 94
Home sweet home.
After 3 months, over 15 600 km by bike, 5000 km by bus and 2600 km by train I have finally come to the conclusion of my saga. I capped my journey off with a train ride on the Indian Pacific from Adelaide to Perth - A fitting ride that demonstrates the sheer vastness and isolation of the Australian Outback.
I am immensely thankful for the whole experience and I learned more than I possibly could have hoped! I have learned self determination, perseverance and self reliance but it would be foolish to say that I have learned it by myself.
Thank you to all of the people who I have met along the way (both reading this and not)! These people, along with the places and experience, made the journey what it was.
Thank you to all of my family and friends who have supported me along the way, emotional and sometimes even financially! Even by reading these updates and appearing interested it has been an awesome interaction that has helped me realise just how lucky I have been.
I will never forget the things I have learned along the way! I don't know when my next journey like this will be, or if there will be another. But for now, my challenge and focus is my Honours year whilst trying to keep my extra curriculas under wraps.
Thank you everybody for all your support!
Until next time...
It has been a full on past few days and I am not expecting it to ease up any time soon! Rotto to Perth, Perth to Alice Springs and Alice Springs to Darwin.
Alice Springs is a tiny outback town in central Australia (literally within 200km of it!). The distances between sights are vast and, with my motorbike still in Darwin, I had to use an alternative transport method. I have spent the past 5 days travelling over 3000km by tour bus, averaging around 4 hours sleep per night, exploring the central outback of Australia. If you can't imaging what that looks like, just think of the colour red and that gives you a pretty good summation.
I have seen (possibly) the most iconic place in Australia, Uluru, and some less iconic but equally impressive places, like Kata Tjuta. These, along with King's Canyon and Devil's Marbles are a few of the awe inspiring rock formations that central has to offer.
I have seen Wycliffe - "the UFO centre of Australia"... which I just decided doesn't deserve its own paragraph but was kind of interesting.
I have seen Charlie the buffalo, 3-Ways junction, Katherine Gorge... again, the hot springs of Mataranka and about four and a half million roadhouses along the way.
And then it all came to a climax yesterday on my 23th birthday. I had no contact with the real world for a number of days so I spent it with the new friends I had made on the last section of my tour. During the day we hit up some of those places previously mentioned as well as ny personal highlight for the day and one of my highlights of the trip thus far, the upper pool of Edith Falls.
The waterfall was incredible and prooved to be quite a physical challenge to swim to or under and to climb on top of the rocks.
But if the waterfall was incredible the hidden rockpool was breathtaking. Instructed by the tour guide (probably because I was the only Aussie which apparently makes me the ideal test dunmy) I look down into the murky water of a raised rockpool a couple of metres in diameter and pin dropped into it's depths, underwater I turned around and opened my eyes in an attempt to find a rock tunnel that would lead me back to the larger body of water. I found the small tunnel and pulled myself into the submerged darkness. My heart started beating hard and the adrenaline was awesome as I kicked further through the underwater tunnel. A sense of relief came over me as I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and pushed my towards it and to the surface on the other side. It was exhilarating! So much so that I had to do it again and again, in both directions.
The night was made truly special by some of my new mates from the tour group where we had some dinner, birthday shots and drinks, played cards and danced.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this birthday a great one!
So I am currently in Darwin and in 6 days I need to be in the Magnetic Islands off the coast of Queensland so I better go and get a move on driving!
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that you don't spend it alone driving a motorbike for 10 hours!
Until next time...
I can't believe I have been travelling for almost two months now! It seems to have gone so quickly but when I look back on it I can't imagine how I have fit it all in...
Christmas day: I spent the night down in Mataranka on my way back down from Darwin. I woke up bright and early for a run down to Bitter Springs and an early morning swim in the clear, fresh water of the springs. This was definitely the highlight of the day. The morning was spent driving through the freezing cold rain, wondering which roadhouses would be open for petrol and which would not. The storms were hitting hard and I had to pull in to a number of roadhouses to thaw out. One such roadhouse was Renner Srpings where, in true Christmas sprit, I received a free Moreton Bay Bug (basically the love child of a yabby and a crayfish) which was a deliciously free Christmas lunch for me.
I eventually found my way through to a Tennant Creek campsite where I made myself a Christmas dinner feast (Australian outback style...)
So, over the past few days I have travelled almost 2700km from Darwin to Townsville (via Winton) and seen some pretty cool places.
I stumbled upon the Walkabout Creek Pub from Crocodile Dundee, in a town so small I blinked and missed half of it. I had a steak sanga in Winton, near the birthplace of Australian icon; Banjo Paterson. (Uncle John - I was going to check out Lark Quarry but it has been shut down for a few months for renovations). I have crossed the NT/QLD border. Probably some other stuff that I can't think of right now...
I have also been having some more problems with my bike but, from what I have been told, it sounds like these will be a lot cheaper to fix. Suzie will be sleeping at the mechanics for a few days whilst I head over to Magnetic Island tomorrow for the "NYE Full Moon Party" and to check out the island. I am pretty much imagining Rottnest but I honestly have no idea what to expect.
I will probably be in Queensland for about two and half weeks so please send me any recommendations!! I will be hitting up GBR and Magnetic Island, as mentioned, but don't have anything else planned.
Until next time!