Adventure 1.0: Part I
Mid-2014 I began toying with the idea of travel. I thought it would be a great way to extend and challenge myself, while enjoying the journey along the way. I didn't need to contemplate my travel options for very long. A lot people my age would travel the world and see Asia or Europe or America but, for me, I didn't see the value in exploring the world before I had truly experienced my own backyard - the country that I love, Australia! At the time I had been riding my small 250 cc motorbike for around six months and set myself the (retrospectively perilous) challenge of travel around this great continent on a 650 cc Suzuki V-Strom (Suzie). I worked two jobs (and a few unofficial jobs) to save the money I needed and six months later on the 5th of November, 2014, I found myself packed and ready to follow my dreams.
Along the way I wrote a small blog for friends and family to keep up. I have dug it from the archives for your reading pleasure (or perhaps not) and stuck it below!
(Click the bikes to jump to a specific blog)
Day 0
Day 2
Day 5
Day 9
Day 12
Day 17
The past few days have been up and down. Some great experiences and some less great experiences.
My days in Karratha really brought back heaps of old (and oddly specific) memories of my childhood. However, I spent my last day in Karratha barely in Karratha at all. I rode down to Dampier explored the town. Red dog, sweet rocky beaches and fish n' chips come to mind.
Burrup Peninsula was another walk down memory lane particularly down at Hearson's Cove where my grandad, dad and I caught a 1kg mud crab when I was younger.
But really, the major highlight of the last few days was down at 80 Mile Beach, some number of kilometres East-ish of Karratha (losing track and too tired too think). This was a really incredible beach stretching further than the eye could see to the East and West and sporting a beautiful sunset over the beah itself. But it was after the sunset that the real magix came out. Hundreds of massive turtles would make their way out of the water and up to the dunes to lay their eggs. It was incredible to watch and during the digging and laying process I was literally a under a metre from a huge turtle depositing its 50 billiard ball sized eggs into the dune sand. It was awesome to witness but all of my pics/vids came out black... flash photography may disturb the turtles.
Now for the not so great... I stayed at 80 Mile for a couple of days and left this morning towards Broome! I left early to arrive by midday. I hit up Sandfire (40km into the day) to refuel for the remainder of the trip and as I pulled into the servo my gears stopped working. I jumped off to find the drive chain had come off the rear cog. I managed to get the chain back on easily enough but with my limited mechanical knowledge (and that is being very generous!) I struggled to increase the chain tension to stop future problems. With the friendly phone guidance of a friend of a family friend, I was able to tension the chain back to its proper taughtness. Unfortunately, during the process the bike was dropped on its side, doing damage to the handlebars. After fixing the chain, I fixed the handlebars and I was ready to go!!
Finally, I got to Broome... later than midday, only to find my bike was clunky in its lower gears. I inspected it to find radiator fluid all over the right hand side of the bike. Fun.
A big thanks to my parents as well who felt sorry for me and put me up in nice accommodation for the next two nights! Definitely looking forward to a bed tonight! My hips are starting to bruise from the rocks digging into them all night.
So, I think I will be in Broome for a little while getting my bike fixed and checking everything out! Tomorrow I will be getting on a hovercraft apparently.
The experiences seem to be building up and I am still learning heaps from the process! Until next time!
Day 20
Day 27
Day 31
Day 42
All set to head off tomorrow morning at 6:30am!
(I will be sitting somewhere between the conglomerate of bags at the back and the tank bag at the front)
Only two days in and I have already had the chance to experience some of the diversities that WA has to offer. I left early yesterday to get out of the city before peak hour traffic and before I knew it I was on the Indian Ocean Road northbound... with no idea where I wanted to go. I found my way to the Pinnacles where I spent a couple of hours checking out this sweet spectacle. It brought back some memories of a trip up to Exmouth with some friends a few years back. The afternoon saw me coming into camp in Green Head near the fishing town of Jurien Bay after (eventually) finding the poorly marked but very pleasant campsite. I set up camp and checked out the beach and the local area.
Today I choose not to travel too far on the bike as I pulled in to Dongara. It seems like a cool little town and I checked myself into the backpackers here. The accommodation is apparently an early 1900s train cabin which is pretty cool. After checking in I went down to the jetty to do some fishing (please find attached). I didn't catch anything which I blame on the choppy water and not my lack of experience as a fisherman.
The enormity of this undertaking has certainly dawned on me and I think it will be as challenging as it will be exciting!
P.S. If anyone has recommendations for were to go over the next few days let me know!
The last few days have been quite interesting! On Day 3 I woke up to find someone worse with directions than me (although I am getting better)! An elderly lady who had driven from Glenwood, in Perth, to her daughter's house, also in Perth but had taken a wrong turn or two to end up in Dongara. The guys from the backpackers there took a couple of pics of me and my bike before I left for their Facebook page - Dongara Breeze Inn, but I am yet to find them.
From Dongara to Kalbarri where I stayed in another Backpackers! Livin' large. Here I checked out a few of the trails in the National Park, had some fish and chips anf attempted to ride down some the rocky trails for a few hundred metres before realising my riding skills were inadequate and turning back. It is a cool little fishing town and some awesome views.
Day 4 I woke up and head back onto the mainroad to find a little campsite in Nerren Nerren that looked pretty sweet. Nerren Nerren came and went with no sign of the campsite...
In the end I decided to pull over into the scrub and hide myself, my tent and my bike from the views of rangers and/or police to set up camp.
It was a sweet little place out in the middle of nowhere with noone around for miles. I had a great time playing music, chilling out and doing anything I felt like doing. And then the heat started getting to me. It was about 6.5 hours til sunset, it was too hot to enter my tent and I was rapidly drinking through my back up water supplies. I tried staying the shade as much as possible and applied sunscreen regularly (which ironically burnt my skin to apply) but I came out with a good sunburn on my back where I had clearly not been able to reach properly. I was pretty dehydrated but was still able to get through the night. The pic is from before the heat started getting to me too much.
Today I came out to Monkey Mia. Missed the dolphins today but will check them out tomorrow before heading off once again.
Until next time!
- The second pic is from Shell Beach. Had to avoid the naked Indian man in my shot.
Since my last message I have left Monkey Mia and travelled to Exmouth and now over to Tom Price. I will break it down a little bit...
On Day 6 I drove up to Coral Bay. The wind started picking up and was beating me up on the road, pushing me side to side. I also discovered that overtaking a road train when the wind is hammering you is pretty scary. By the time I arrived at Coral Bay it was already late afternoon so I grabbed my snorkeling gear and rushed down to the beach, keen to checkout the sea life. The visibility was terrible (I am sure the wind and time of day didn't help), everything was overpriced and, from my experience there this time around, overrated. Although I will grant that it did provide a nice sunset.
The next day I was moving on again. I had no intentions of staying in Coral Bay longer than I needed to so I left early to hit up Exmouth. So excited to get there I must have missed a petrol stop somewhere and ran out of fuel 3km before the Exmouth station. Fortunately, I had come prepared for my unpreparedness and had 10L in a jerry can.
I made it through to Turquoise Bay (which is much further from Exmouth than I remember it being) by around 11:30. Although the snorkeling wasn't as nice as it was a few years ago (again, relying in memory) it was by far superior to what I had experienced at Coral Bay. Turqoise Bay > Coral Bay. Proven by the sunburn I experienced whilst in the water. QED.
Day 8 saw another full on day of driving. After a windy and restless night I left at 8am and pushed out some major kms to get just past Paraburdoo by around 5:30pm. The wind made the morning the hardest riding I had done and had physically drained me. I also found out that Karijini was ablaze after a fire broke out that morning and half the park was closed...
Today, I drove the last 60km or so through to Tom Price which is a cool little purpose built mining town halfway between Paraburdoo and Whoop Whoop. I went on a small tour through the Rio Tinto mine site which revealed some staggering numbers about the sheer scale of the operations here. It was actually really interesting! This arvo i walked up Mt Nameless which is over 1000m above sea level (according to the tour guide). The sign told me to prepare myself for a 4 hour round trip up the mountain. It seemed like quite the challenge! 64 minutes later I found myself next to the same sign... a conqueror. But seriously, the views were amazing. Tomorrow I will be checking out the small section of Karijini NP that is still open and then I will be going somewhere else!!
Hear iz sum piks.
I will breeze over the fact that I checked out the incredible sights of what was still open in Karijini National Park to explain my day yesterday, which was the most difficult day, physically, mentally and emotionally that I have experienced in a long time and definitely so far on this trip. Just so you guys don't get the false impression that it is all smooth sailing all the time!
I was in Tom Price, with the goal of riding to Karatha. Everyone I spoke to said it would be 4 hours with the railway permit road or 7 hours with the public road. It was a free permit so it seemed pretty clear cut which option I should take. After obtaining my permit, I was underway heading North once again.
I reached the permit road where I was met by a worried miner. He warned me about how rough the roads ahead were and informed me I might struggle with my bike. Nobody else had mentioned anything up until this point so I figured he was exaggerating. He said the road starts off pretty "good" but gets dramatically worse after the turn off back to the public road. I decided to give it a crack anyway. I struggled. I was constantly nervous of slipping after hitting the sands on the sides of the grooves on this heavily corrugated road. I battled the road for what seemed like hours but it seemed to be getting the better of me. I was tackling it at about 50-60km/hr (speed limit 80km/hr) and it was rattling screws loose on my bike and everything. Eventually, after what seemed like forever I got to the end of the "good' section. I took the turn off...
Unfortunately, the public road seemed no better in many parts! And much worse in others! I was being beaten and demoralised by a road and after hours of driving, sometimes as slowly as 20km/hr for extended periods, I realised I was taking the wrong route. I could have turned back but I new this way would still get me where I wanted to go so I kept battling. I saw a sign: I could keep going East for 80km to a sealed road that would take me to Port Hedland (261km on sealed road) or I could stick to the Karatha track, 297km. I chose Karatha. This is where it got really bad. The roads became worse, with large rocks and sand patches that had me fishtailing more than Nemo. Some of these fishtails brought my knees dangerously close to the ground but somehow I managed to remain upright. And then came the cattle, bulls that would stare me down and threaten to charge. I couldn't accelerate or decelerate past them, too afraid of coming off the bike. I drove for hours, averaging around 30-40km/hr.
Then the storm hit. It was North, the direction I was travelling. I could see lightning ahead and it started raining. I was keeping myself focused by talking to myself out loud. I wasn't sure what was going to happen first... was I going to crash, getting attacked by bulls, struck by lightning, flooded in or bogged in a water patch or caught by a fire that I may or may not have seen (I was becoming a little delirious I think). I kept on going, slowly.
It was 5:30pm (was expecting to have been in Karratha hours ago) and I was getting ready to set up camp in the aftermath of the thunderstorm when I saw what seemed like a sealed road. I didn't let myself get too excited though. As I approached, I saw a sign, "Karratha 100km" and a sealed road with a speed limit of 110km/hr. I was very relieved.
The rest of the night was quite eventful but this post is already way too long so I will leave it there. If you have read until this point, congratulations and if you have skimmed down to this paragraph hopefully the post length is a testament to the struggles of the day itself.
So, what can I take from this day? I gained heaps of experience on the bike and a lesson or two in life about hard work and persistence. I also know now, that I should avoid unsealed roads when riding. I guess it was a productive day after all! :)
P.S.
Sorry for how long this was.
P.P.S.
Fun Fact: Did you know Chris Jackson actually lived in Karratha for one year when he was younger?
- New chain and sprockets... $390
- New radiator... $740
- Labour... $(somearbitraryamount)
- Ten day in Broome when you had planned to spend three or four... Priceless!
My motorbike is in the shop and awaiting parts from Melbourne. ETA: approximately one week. And I actually have a flight out of Darwin in two weeks! (I will explain this in a later update so stay tuned!).
So I am settling in to the Broome lifestyle at the Kimberly Klub backpackers which I highly recommend to anyone heading up this way. I figured it is going to be an expensive week with my bike repairs so I may as well completely blow my budget and go on a few tours. My first was the sunset hovercraft tour given to me as an early birthday present by my sister. It is the only commercially operated hovercraft in the southern hemisphere. It was very cool but they wouldn't run over me in it, unfortunately. During this tour we checked out dinosaur footprints from a brachiosaurus (120 million years old) that stretched for 80 km and some a raptor. It turns out that Broome has more dinosaur footprints than anywhere else in the world! We cruised around a bit longer in the hovercraft until we pulled up for some champagne and nibblies at sunset. It was very romantic. We pulled up in the middle of the flats and it was incredible to realise that only hours earlier we would have been 10.4 m (Broome also has some of the largest tides in the world) under water. Even as we stood there the tide began encircling us and creeping towards us.
The highlight for the following day was the astronomy tour. Greg from Astro Tours is a somewhat self taught astronomy who provided an interesting spin on astronomy, teaching it in a fun and intuitive way. It was very interesting to hear him speak. It was almost more philosophical than astronomical. We spent the night watching and learning about the stars as the earth rotated our perspective.
In my spare time I have walked around Broome, checking out Chinatown, the steel built buildings and some other P.O.I's as well as catching up on some food shopping and all that fun stuff. The main event today hasn't actually happened yet but I intend to hit up the Sun Cinemas which is the oldest cinemas in the Southern Hemisphere (90 years or so) to watch the new Hunger Games movie. Gotta love Tight Ass Tuesdays.
Pretty sure I have covered most things for the time being so I will leave it there for now. See you soon!!
Finally! After one and a half weeks and $1682 I have Suzie back (Suzie Suzuki). All clean and fixed up she is ready to hit the roads again tomorrow for a whole new set of experiences!
The past week has been a lot different to the previous couple. Without a form of transport I have had to explore Broome and what it has to offer through other means - bus, coach, taxi, scooter, walking, stumbling, car and even mail run!
Earlier this week I jumped in the posties 4WD van (standard postman vehicle) to check out Cape Leveque. We delivered mail to all the Aboriginal communities scattered up the road along the way - Beagle Bay, One Arm Point, Lombadina, Kooljaman etc. It was interesting to check these places out after hearing so much about them and also to compare them to Mowanjum, a small community outside of Derby, that I have been to a couple of times. And as enticing as the water looked for swimming at One Arm Point in the picture, it was ill advised unless you have a particular affinity for salties...
I also checked out a pearling tour which seemed appropriate in Broome. It was very interesting to check out the history and the processes that go into producing these shiny little balls. Cheers tour guide Megan (didn't let me tag)! And before you ask, I didn't get you any pearls Mum...
To save time I will will fast forward until the end of the week, summarising with a few key words along the way... Thursdays at the Roey, old friends, new friends, Chinatown (or more appropriately, Jap town, bird park, mango festival, markets, camels, Japanese cemetery, 'the backpacker experience', Cable Beach... which brings me to the croc park. This place is cool. They had about 70 salties plus some freshies and America Alligators as well as some other animals but no one really cares about them. We had the chance to watch these powerful and aggressive creatures chomp down on some food and learn a little bit about them and also hold some little baby ones. I will have to upload photos from here later on though unfortunately but they will explain more than I can say!
To finish my time off here in Broome I hired a scooter (a significant downgrade from my bike) and went up to Gantheum Point for the sunset. It was truly incredible to climb the rocks to the edgy of the cliff and breathe in the salty sea spray as the powerful waves crashed against the rocky cliff face. The clouds and sunset complimented each other beautifully and I couldn't help but sit in awe at the spectacle that nature was providing.
A great way to cap off my time in a great place.
This morning I woke up bright and early at around 4:45am (which felt like 3:15am after yesterday's time change into the Northern Territory) to find a little joey at my tent door. The Katherine Gorge Campsite was filled with these little critters. I use the phrase "woke up" very loosely as I am pretty certain I never actually achieved a state of asleepness. Must have been the jet lag... or maybe the heat. I took a wander up to the top of of the gorge to watch the sun rise. The photos didn't come out very well so you will have to make do with the sunset ones from last night.
The last few days have seen me trek from Broome to Darwin. The most pleasant surprise of the past few days was definitely Kununurra. Despite my disappointment with El Questro being closed, it turned out the rest of the town was more beautiful than I was expecting from the wilderness park anyway!
My campsite backed onto the Hidden Valley National Park (Mirima National Park) which I explored for a number of hours. The rocks, spinifex and extensive views all added to a great experience. The rest of Kununurra was green and vibrant in stark contrast to the red dirt I had experienced in Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. To top it all off, the spectacular Lake Argyle featured just as I was leaving town. The enormous body of water had some rides twisting themselves between the water and sheer cliff faces.
I am definitely all national parked out for the moment but Litchfield and Kakadu are definitely on the agendar in the near future. That seems like enough for one post anyway. I am still pretty knackered from the last few days of riding/not sleeping and a wicked storm has just started outside so I have to go take my bags of my motorbike before my stuff gets too drenched... although I fear it may be too late...
...
Now for some housekeeping. In a few days time I am flying back to Perth briefly to see some family friends from Holland. We will be hitting up Rotto for a few days so, as far as I am concerned, its still part of my exploration of Australia. I will then be flying into Alice Springs to catch a bus tour back up to my bike in Darwin to continue my journey. I am just glad the logistics worked out.
Also, my beard is getting pretty annoying and I dislike it strongly. I have been growing it out of travel borne necessity. Unfortunately, I don't think he will be with us for Part II of the journey. I will probably chuck up another post before then though!
Laterz!
It has been a little while since my last update and I have done plenty in the meantime. From Katherine I hit up Darwin. It had a very chilled out disposition but not so chilled out weather. The weather was extremely temperamental during the build up of the wet season, in a state of dynamic flux between draining heat and awesome storms.
There was plenty to do in Darwin for the five or so days I was there. I spent a day down in Kakadu, the largest national park in Australia at almost 20 000 sq kms. This heritage listed land is still home to a number of Aboriginal people and shows off some of their great rock art and the rock art of their ancestors. The terrain in the park varied massively from wetlands filled with crocs and other wildlife to rocky hills and spinifex displaying the odd rock wallaby. The bird life was vast with over a third of Australia's bird species represented in this park.
Although, I think I actually preferred Litchfield National Park at approximately 1/13th of the size of Kakadu. Intelligently, I forgot my SD card but fortunately my phone takes pretty good pics. Litchfield exhibits a number of beautiful waterfalls and rockpools, many of which you can swim in. You can swim in the others as well but only if you reckon you fight off the numerous salties that reside in them. They say a picture says a thousand words so I won't say too much about Litchfield but I will attach a couple of photos to this post because they really do speak for themselves.
Other interesting places in Darwin included Croc Cove, the Aquascence fish feeding and one that wasn't for the faint hearted, Mitchell Street. Overall, a very cool place and well worth the visit!
Right now, I am back in Perth! My bike and luggage is in storage in Darwin and I flew back here to see family friends who are over from Holland. It was good to have a short relaxing break with them over in Rottnest from the hectic travelling lifestyle. We spent a few days cycling around the island, snorkeling (when I wasn't battling an ear infection), mini-golfing, fishing, beaching and pretty much just doing what you are supposed to do at Rotto.
Tomorrow, I will be flying to Alice Springs to continue the rest of my journey around Australia and jumping on a bus back up to Darwin. Stay tuned for Part II!
To be continued in Part 2.0...