I'm in a party van, headed southwest, on yet another tour. This one is 5 days, from Perth to Esperance and back. I hear Esperance beaches are paradisical, so maybe that will make the social discomfort well worth it. Having so quickly shucked off the last group in Perth, I am now rather missing them. Alex, our tour leader, had been very professional and confidence inspiring; the travelers, headed up by Annemarie, were more than friendly. My current tour has 2 training tour leaders along with the main tour leader, and they are all young and partyish. "Like, the trees are old and stuff. So... cool." The people in the group have been harder to chat with. I'm trying not to be prejudiced against any of them though.

We saw the most impressive cliffsides today: a rocky gap in the ocean cliff where the waves angrily bash into each other. Since the tour began, we have also visited a winery, a dolphin discovery center, a chocolate factory, a lighthouse at the meeting of the South and Indian Oceans, walked through a cave, strolled along several nice beaches, and seen a lot of big trees, and stuff. So... cool.

Labels: esperance, people, south, tours, westernaustralia

Perth impresses so far. Perhaps because the backpacker culture merely observes rather than dominates the local culture. It also helps that Cairns and Darwin set my expectations for Australian cities fairly low. Perth is the largest city in Australia I've been to, and I am basking in the highly diverse population. Asians, southeast Asians, tall willowy Africans, and a whole slew of folks I couldn't even begin to guess the heritage of - in all different styles and modes. They swarm over a city that is modern and clean.

So the 21 day Western Exposure Tour is over, and I have to say I was a bit ready for the end of this one. After snorkeling Ningaloo Reef and chasing manta rays, the days stretched into long drive days, racing towards Perth. The social interaction in the group antipacted the ending, and I was rather quite ready for some alone time.

After Coral Bay, we went to Monkey Mia to watch the dolphins swim in the shallows, where they have been interacting with humans for the last 30 years. In the super-saline waters in this area, more sea grass can grow, and sharks, manatees, dolphins, and rays all are in abundance, as well as cockle shells which form dunes on the beaches. Also stromalatites are present here - a spongy limestone structure that grows in the low tidal areas. They are developed from cyanobacterias and look like black rocky toadstools.

The following day, we visited mustard-colored soily Kalbarri National Park (and gorge!). I am amply able to limp down the easier trails now, and this has afforded me a bit of luxury to stop and look at flowers, rather race to the end the trail with the others.

Last we visited the Pinnacles north of Perth today. But my mind was so set on Perth, so the Pinnacles failed to fully impress.

I get a couple days of rest before I head off on a short excursion through the Southwest.

Labels: australia, dolphins, kalbarri, monkeymia, perth, westernaustralia, westernexposure

Suddenly, the peaceful manta ray, who had been enjoying a pleasant cruise through Coral Bay in search of his favorite plankton sensed that something might be following it. What could it be? Nevertheless, it sailed through the murky blue, with this irking suspicion. Indeed, 12 snorkelers were on his tail, huffing and puffing along to keep up with it, while trying to move as smoothly as possible. No need to alert the manta ray of their presence! The ray ghosted along through the deeper blue, with its escort fish barely visible on its underside.

The second ray looked like a flying tablecloth, according to Andrea in a group, and I quite concur. The 3 meter mammal floated easily, it's wings flapping like a bird's. It gave its stalkers a bit of a break in following it too.

Pictures up in a few days!

Labels: australia, coralbay, snorkeling, westernaustralia, wildlife

More gorges! In Karajini National Park, there are scrubby old mountains, whose multi-colored striations slant downwards, and whose eroded gorges show a lovely cross-section of silica, iron, and other such novelties. Again, at ground level, you only see the yellow savanahs and eucalypts, but a steep descent into the gorge reveals these rocky delights. The gorges in Karajini were narrower, more difficult to traverse, and more harmful. Yes, dear reader, in a moment of bravery and courage, I challenged one of the gorge's great rocks to a duel, and lost when I gave it a sound kick in the gut. It was unphased; my big toe suffered magnificently. Limp, limp, goes the Robin.

We spent 3 nights and 2 days in the park which is about 350 miles from the coast. We camped in permanent tents and slept again in swags. (But I had thought no more swag-gage! Hrmph!)

When we finally headed back to shore, I had another moment of grandeur, when I mistook a swinging step out of the bus for solid footing, and found myself tumbling the couple feet down to the ground and landing on the side of my ankle. I let out a belligerent holler to the surprise of all the others still in the bus. Alex, the tour leader, quickly escorted me to go sit in the shade, and let the pain reside. My ankle swelled to the size of an egg, to my delight (for it is pleasing for something to look as awful as it feels). Hobble, hobble, goes the Robin. (I must thank my Dutch friend Annemarie who has helped me considerably since my mishap.)

Nevertheless, I am confident that whatever injuries should be forgotten within a few weeks. And I am still able to snorkel with no hindrance. We visited the Ningaloo Reef today, the western fringing reef right off the coast. It was quite enjoyable to float on the water's surface and watch the coral spawning and the parrotfish hiding.

Tomorrow: a tour de force of Ningaloo from Coral Bay. Manta ray viewing - this is one of 2 places in the world with a permanent manta ray population (the other place is California). We're also supposed to visit a shark cleaning station. The tour ends within 5 days in Perth.

Another side mishap: The 1GB SD card I was using has become unreadable, and I've lost a series of camel photos that I took on a beach camel ride in Broome, as well as some good campfire shots. I'm hanging on to the card in case a specialist might be able to talk sense into the SD card.

Labels: australia, gorges, hiking, injury, karajini, ningaloo, snorkeling

I should have realized that driving through Western Australia was quite similar to driving through the great nothing in West Texas, but with even more nothing. Great expanses of scrub land stretch forever. Driving along the unpaved Gibb River Road, one would never suspect the spectacular gorges hidden in the scrub. Scrub, in this case, consisted of taciturn eucalypts, spinifex - that prickly desert grass that stopped the early exploration of the Outback in the 1800's, red dirt termite mounds, that sometimes look like sculptures of a pile of sheep, sometimes the characters in the nativity scene; and the occasional boab tree. This latter, is a tubby trunked tree, much appearing as a giant potato, with branches sticking out, looking very much like a potato's roots. The boab is also found in South Africa.

So the miles stretched out along Gibb River Road, and we camped in the area for three nights. Previously we had spent two nights at Bungle Bungles, the most ridiculous bungle of hills. The colorful red and black banded prison stripes bespeak of conspiracy amongst the giant hills, who must have been discussing something cheaky before being petrified into their current state. Hidden behind the hills' guard was a shadowed pool in a natural ampitheater - a great rocky overhang, with a sandy beach at the pool's murky edge.

Thus the trip continued: Hike, swim, hike. It's hot out! At lunch we watched the thermometer climb to 41 Celsius as we fixed tired cold cut sandwiches with beet root and shredded cheese. The bumpy roads led us to creek bottoms, whose precarious rocky trails led to dark watered pools with waterfalls. We saw so many of these that I quite have gotten them confused. But in this they were uniform: surrounded by rocky red or black cliffs. The water, cool and refreshing. A swim to the trickle of a waterfall, and then back to land to heat up in the sun again. For 9 days, we were an army of hike, swim, hike.

The culture in the area consisted of the very rare Road House or gas station, which often included a camp ground or aboriginal station (with Aborigines!). These stops were real treats - some cold drink relief, and a glimpse at life in the outback.

At night we took turns fixing supper over a gas stove. I generally was fast out to sleep in my swag afterwards, hoping for a cool breeze. I covered my face in the canvas to protect against mosquitoes, but a couple mornings I had a red bumpy swelling from some bites. Dawn came by 5am, and the cockatoos and crows would begin their sqwaking contests. Next, the flies awoke and bzzed you into waking up. For breakfast, corn flakes, oat flakes or muesli with canned fruit and boxed milk.

My favorite site that we visited was Windjana Gorge. Ominous black limestone towers jut up from the flat scrub land - the remains of an ancient barrier reef. When I learned of it's previous aquatic purpose, I could immediately relate this rocky structure to the reefs I saw in the Great Barrier. There were the cubby hole hideouts of the parrotfish, moray eels and soft corals. Also, visible were fossils of crustaceans in the rock. A sandy-beached creek populated by freshwater crocodiles wound through the blacks cliff walls. In the trees a gaggle of cockatoos were settling for the evening, again sqwaking ceremoniously.

Yesterday we arrived in Broome on the West Coast. A kite festival on the spacious, gradual sandy beach. Turquoise water and orange sunset. Golden bodies in the fading light. My first view of the Indian Ocean.

Labels: australia, gorges, hiking, kimberley, swimming, westernaustralia, westernexposure

I nearly missed the bus for the 21 day tour in Darwin. Reception alerted me to the presence of a massive truck waiting for me, and with wet hair and my bags barely packed, I made my barefooted presence known to the 11 other tourists waiting on the truck. A largely European crowd (2 Belgian, a few French, a few German - one German who swaggers and talks like an Outback cowgirl after 7 months of working on a cattle station, and a Dutch. 2 Aussies, and me). Generally, they seem like an agreeable bunch. The guide, Alex, informed of us the schedule: a hike and a swim each day. For the next 10 days - til we reach Broome - we will be sleeping in swags, under the stars, by the bugs. Campfire food every night, and much driving during the day, in Roxy, the hopped-up hauler truck/tourist van.

So far we have driven for hours at a time to get away from Darwin. This suits me just well, since I enjoy reading on the road. We've stopped at Edith Falls for a swim in a tea colored waterfall, and a hike in some torrid heat. Yesterday we entered Western Australia and visited Lake Argyle, the biggest man-made lake in Australia that is 70km long, 40 km wide, and holds a tremendous amount of under-utilized wet-season water.

Today we are headed to the Bungle Bungles, where I am opting out of the $240 30 minute helicopter flight over the park.

We have been warned of no power, no laundry facilities for next few nights. So no blog updates either.

Labels: australia, darwin, edithfalls, tourists, westernexposure

I am thoroughly croc'ed out. Two days of day tours around Darwin, and it's been a wildlife spectacular: birds, critters, and crocs, crocs, crocs; the latter issued with a dangerous warning label attached. "They're big, mean, and they can kill you! Stay away from that billabong, sister, you could become croc food!"

It seems a cruel trick that has been issued to the city of Darwin to have warmer than 90*F temps year round, high humidity, and seldom the safe swimming hole to dip a toe into. The oceans, rivers, and billabongs (ponds that are leftover from flood waters), are all croc infested.

Tourism at its max. When you fail to see the wildlife in the wild, visit the zoo! Or a wildlife preserve. This followed yesterday's wildlife excursion in Kakadu. In all, I ended up seeing just about everything. Croc-a-many, saltwater and freshwater; dingoes; wallaroo; wallaby; every bird imaginable (every!!); a bunch of reptiles; fish. And more. (Appreciate this very detailed list?)

I am starting to get tired of the overly touristy trips though. This is luxurious tourism, and I do not feel like I'm really traveling anymore.

Labels: australia, darwin, kakadu, wildlife

Strangely, Darwin and the rest of the Northern Territory's time zone is 30 minutes off from Cairns', and the rest of the world's. I had always thought that all time zone incremented in whole numberes, but a little research shows that other oddities exists. For example, UTC+4:51 was the time zone used by Bombay until 1955.

I would hope that the odd time zone might indicate an odd (and delightful!) culture in Darwin. But first glance has not promised much. My choice of bars last night offered either rugby or house music. I suppose I need to get better at people mining (like data mining, but socially).

Darwin has a warm, tropical climate that reminds me slightly of Sarasota, FL. Similar to Cairns, there is a lovely running path along the ocean, where large ibises strut around like chickens and lush climber fig trees provide shade.

Everything (tours especially) are extremely expensive here. It is the end of the dry season, so I guess there is a spike in tourism now. I would have loved to just rent a car and go on my own, but that costs about $230 for 2 days!! They really have your hands tied if you are going to see any of the attractions in the area. Fortunately, my room only costs $22/night.

Labels: australia, darwin, money, time, tourists, wildlife

It started drizzling yesterday in Cairns - a pleasant little pitter patter - and has stayed overcast and a chillier throughout today. I am rather glad I'm leaving Cairns. I don't feel I've done a very good job in finding the resources to get myself around town to the interesting sites. But it is always harder to figure out the resources of a larger cities quickly. I probably should have rented a bicycle.

I ran across a strange fellow today who was pontificating and proselytizing on his political viewpoints, apparently to no one, as I sat reading a book on the public area deck at my hostile hostel. At first, I couldn't tell that his Aussie accent was even English, so I easily tuned him out. Until a few words caught: "Heroin... Afghanistan... a lot of people using heroin.. Bush and religion. A lot of Christians die... Heroin!" I couldn't tell if he was suffering Turrets Syndrome, or thought that the group watching TV on the couches were really listening to him. Well, he might have been an interesting fellow to discuss with over coffee, but it does no good to try to "discuss" with a preacher, of sorts. So I didn't try. (Oh the excitement of these near social encounters!)

Going to Darwin today. My Western Australia tour doesn't start til the 6th, so I'lll probably make some kind of tour of Kakadu or Litchfield National Park. The adventure continues...

Labels: australia, cairns, people, rain, resources