Katherine

Having slept for close to ten hours to deal with the previous day's hangover I woke up feeling like a new woman, sadly one wasn't available so I had breakfast instead. I jumped in the car after the delightful Aline had served me my meal and started my trip to Katherine, a mere 247 kilometres away. I mean you can do that in about an hour here. Suffice it to say I was doing a little over the speed limit (130 kph) and as I slowed to enter Katherine I was greeted by the Northern Territory Police. They wear khaki uniforms here which are somewhat reminiscent of the army and the four officers that searched my car had two shotguns and two assault rifles at the ready. It seemed a little over the top for a traffic infringement. It was a little surreal seeing a quasi military force patrolling in Australia. I mean its not like the Chaser boys were here trying to get in to APEC.

Kakadu

My faith in humanity has been restored, despite some more annoying setbacks and some plain dumb people the charm of this place is really starting to get me in. Let me deal with the negatives first. I called in at one of the visitor info centres here for some day trip advice. Much of what they told me was good except they sent me to two places that were actually closed. Not closed for the day or a few hours but had permanent signs up saying this part of the park is closed. When you drive to these places, which are often not just round the corner only to have to turn around and backtrack, it is more than a bit annoying and quite unprofessional. The second setback is my reading glasses that were sent to me in Tasmania  I think are now at the bottom of the Yellow River. Oh well I know I have my snorkel and flippers with me but unless I go and get them with a tungsten reinforced crocodile cage they can stay where they are. 

Heading to Kakadu

I was really looking forward to this part of the trip, stunning country, remote Australian locations, lots of crocodiles. Having got here I am a bit more ambivalent. I woke up this morning with the start of a head cold courtesy of the dodgy air conditioning at the Darwin Medina. It was really trying hard but the attention to detail was severely lacking. I dined in the restaurant the first night I was there, I ordered a coffee at 7.45pm but they had cleaned the machine. I was awoken at 7.00am this morning by the housekeeping staff enquiring as to when I would be checking out. When I checked the bill they had ripped me off $ 17.00 for parking. I liked Darwin but the care factor is "here's two dollars, when a phone call costs that much give me call".

Darwin

There is a lot to like about Darwin, it has a great vibe. Having said that I don't think I would live here by choice. It's young, brash and outwardly self confident but underneath it all it checks itself in the mirror before it goes out and wants to know if it's bum looks big in this. It's the kind of town (not city) that someone young could feel at home in. It would be a nice place to grow up with and I have no doubt that in twenty years time it will be like Perth. Where I'm staying is a case in point, the waterfront redevelopment looks great but it hasn't found it feet yet. There are vacant premises, building works still underway, but nowhere near enough people to support all the restaurants and other businesses already here. 

Kununurra to Darwin

I arrived in Darwin at about 5.00pm (can you believe it I am in a part of the world where I can legally go really fast and I kept getting stuck behind caravaners, road trains and worst of all I had a cop sit on my back side for about 50 k's). Entering the Northern Territory was pretty uneventful. WA has a quarantine station coming the other way however NT just has a sign (or a series of signs really). The first one welcomes you, the second one tells you that maximum speed in the state is 110kph (unless otherwise signposted), then 50 metres up the road is a signpost saying that the speed in 130kph. I set the cruise control to the aforementioned number and watched the world fly by. I had been in the territory for less than a minute and I was already liking it.

Lake Argyle and The Ord River

I had a very minor mechanical mishap that needed my somewhat immediate attention, so that was how I started my last day in Kununurra. I had a slow leak in  the front passenger side tyre. I had checked all the guff you should do regularly to your car in Broome. Oil and water were good but one recalcitrant tyre needed more air than was acceptable. I thought maybe I had been lazy and not checked it properly before so I re inflated it and headed off to Kununurra. I mean what could go wrong over those 1044 kilometres? It looked fine when I arrived so I thought I would check it again the next day. Well I kind of forgot. I drove to Wyndham and back, just another 200 kilometres, and noticed that it was quite flat when I got back so I topped it up again. It was too late to do anything about it Friday night so I thought I would fix it on Saturday morning (yeah right). 

Kununurra

I am still very much in the "zone" from my time in Broome and it's hard not compare. Gorgeous coastal wonderland versus inland mining town, I'm sorry but the coast wins hands down. They just have it together whereas here in Kununurra they are still trying. Don't get me wrong this place is not without it's charms. It's just the bench mark has been set so extraordinarily high that there is nowhere that I know of that comes close except for maybe the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland.

Leaving Broome

It was with some sadness that I leave Broome. There were still things left that I wanted to see and do and the weather and the ambience are just to die for. I can see why people go here on holidays and never come home. The staff at the Mercure in Broome have been excellent and the General Manager Jeff was the ultimate in hands on. He was doing laundry when I met him and it was not until the next night that I found out he was the boss. I splashed about in their pool every night, it was a great way to freshen yourself up for the evening. I totally forgot to get a pic of it but I will be sad to leave that behind as well. I mean who wants to swim in croc infested waters. One wrong move could really spoil your afternoon. 

Horizontal Falls

Huge day today in sunny Western Australia. I leapt (well more correctly lurched) out of bed at the unchristian hour of 5.00am to prepare myself for a 5.40am pickup from the hotel. I am so in the zone at the moment that I broke one of my cardinal rules today and got on a single engine plane not once, but twice. I didn't need a scotch nor did my heart race even increase slightly. For those of you who know my love of flying, in particular small planes, you will no doubt be somewhat bemused that I ventured forth in such a craft.

Broome Time

Well I lobbed in to Broome about 11.15am yesterday. I was faced with a number of quite pleasant problems. Where to have lunch, where can I buy some sunscreen, should I get a broad rimmed hat? I am staying at the Mecure which is short walk from Chinatown, the tourist hub of Broome. It has a pool and a pub attached and it looks out over Roebuck Bay, all very diverting. The weather forecast for the 4 days I will be here are exactly the same. Top of 32 degrees, overnight low of 11 degrees with full sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Broome time is a reference to the town's ambience. It is pretty chilled, relaxed, laid back (I think you get the picture). If you just let everything wash over you its a nice space to be in. I found that zone in Exmouth and I'm doing my level best to stay there......  yeah it's Broome time.

Going Native

I have finally succumbed, I'm going native. I've bought myself a pair of thongs. I haven't owned thongs since 1985. These aren't even good thongs. It's not like they'll be my "going out thongs" or anything like that. I haven't shaved for three days and not only that but I picked up a hitch hiker today (we both survived the ordeal). Pretty soon I will be wearing a blue shearers singlet and think that ugg boots can be worn in public. My standards are dropping and I just don't give s rats. 

Exmouth

After the rush of the whole whale whark thing it is going to be hard to top that as an experience. Having said that the magic thing about this place (and if I win Oz Lotto this week I will move here) is the range to the reef. You literally can see the Cape Range and the Ningaloo Reef from much of the coastline and it is truly stunning scenery. 

Ningaloo Reef

I went for a bit of a boat trip today, 5 kilometres off shore past Ningaloo Reef. I got to see some migrating whales (both humpback and southern right), I got to see a dugong up close which was pretty special (I'd only managed to see one from a distance in Monkey Mia). There were heaps of turtles although they dived the moment they saw us plus several flying fish and a sea snake. The most impressive thing however is I saw 4 whale sharks and then I went swimming with them.

Exmouth

This is just a quick update as there is little to report. I headed out of Shark Bay today for the 685km trip up north to Exmouth. There were a couple of interesting things along the way, if you like termite's that is. 

Termite Nest

The landscape from about 130km's out of Exmouth then almost all the way in to the town is littered with these termite nests. They stand taller than I do and look like the hillside has a bad case of teenage acne. Really weird.

Before I got to Exmouth I came in through Carnarvon, a town that played a big part in relaying communications for the Apollo space program (including the moon landing). The town was sadly one big council road works project and most unappealing. I filled up with fuel at the local Caltex who were putting down a new concrete driveway. There were no signs to that affect but you had to either reverse out or do a U turn and drive out. That was all fine if no one came in to fill up behind you (which they did en masse) mainly with boats and caravans in tow. It took about 30 minutes just to leave the service station. That's without mentioning the eftpos not working. Suffice it to say there not a lot to say that's nice about the place.

The only other thing of note to happen is an interesting number appeared on the odometer today. You really take whatever amusement you can get on those long drives. Take a look at the pic below and you will see what I mean. I have put some serious k's on the old car, I may have to wait until they bring out the new models as an Opel later this year. Despite what Jeremy Clarkson thinks of them this one has been pretty damn good. 

Sunny and 25 degrees in Exmouth tomorrow, should be a nice day for a swim.

Monkey Mia

In my last post I spoke about the shell quarry. Last night I ate in a restaurant built from the shell bricks taken from the same quarry. The food may as well have come from there as well, it was pretty ordinary.

Another Country

Having recently dried myself and my clothes after yesterdays deluge the freshly laundered Sirwhisky set out to see if he could get his title ratified. Sadly, as predicted, the Kalbarri National Park was shut. I have no problem with how the national parks are managed, the people in charge take their position very seriously but I have to laugh at how the locals react. 

Kalbarri via The Pinnacles

The weather front (that would be a great name for a band) chased me up the coast today. I managed to stay ahead of it until Cervantes then it absolutely walloped me in Gerladton and again just out of Kalbarri. Despite all that I am sitting in an ocean side restaurant called The Grass Tree sipping red wine in a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. What's the weather like with you right now?

Fremantle

I headed out to Fremantle today despite the impending weather front. The forecast was not promising and quite frankly the forecast turned out to be much better than the reality. Mother nature got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, plus she'd run out of coffee and had some late developing PMT. She dealt with it quite well all things considered and is feeling much better now thank you very much. She took it all out on Fremantle.

Perth

I hit Perth last night. What can I say but it hit me back. After checking in to my accommodation and doing a quick walk around the city to reacquaint myself with it's charms I went to the bar. It was all a bit of blur from there. I met up with Josh, a Boeing engineer, who is out here with the US Navy to help with their submarine tracking aircraft (I know who cares right?). He then introduced me to representatives of the US Navy and what can I say? Their ships may be bigger than ours but that doesn't mean they can handle our schooners. In summing up the US Navy had a great time and Australia can hold its head up proud (even if I no longer can). After staggering out of some nightclub in Northbridge at about 5.00am and having savoured the delights of a number of Perth's new small bars it was time for me to rest my weary head. 

Margaret River

I so looked forward to going back to the Margaret River, sadly the most generous thing I could say about it now is that it's unremarkable. 20 years ago it was a few overpriced wineries with a sleepy main street featuring a gorgeous old pub and maybe a dozen shops. Now, the pub is still there, almost smothered by a sea of shops. I almost walked past it. however it no longer dominates the main drag. It is just another retail storefront who along with all the other businesses is fighting for your attention. The town had a real sense of urgency to it, and not in a good way. People's traffic manners were awful and it felt like the tourists were almost resented by those locals not involved in the industry. I got the impression it was full of tree changers who weren't happy with the choice they've made. One local renamed the town Manic Creek and that just about hits the nail on the head.

Walking With Ancient Giants

It was pouring rain when I left Albany and it hardly let up all day. My original plan had been to take a slow trip up the coast to the Margaret River, checking out the sensational scenery along the way. I really only had one must do activity planned at that was the "Tree Top Walk" that is installed in the Tingle Forest just south of Walpole. It's a short stroll of just 600 metres along a suspended walkway 40 metres above the forest floor - spectacular. It was so good I did it twice. Sadly while I followed the coast most of the way the weather ruined any chance of me catching the breathtaking coastal views I remember from my last visit.

Albany WA

Headed out from Esperance to Albany, a short 5 hour drive. Sadly there is not a lot to see on the trip so I basically did it one hit with a very brief stop for refreshments. Albany is the oldest settled town on Western Australia, even two years older than Perth. Also it is about as far as you can get away from Muswellbrook without leaving the country. I'll leave you all to ponder that. I was last here in 1992 and thought it was fabulous. Its called the rainbow coast because it gets so much rain and wherever you turn it is awash with rainbows in the mist. It certainly has grown however, with grain silos ruining the vista of the waterfront and the main street at least doubling in length. It took me a while to get my bearings. There is however one significant landmark and once I had found it everything fell into place.

Esperance

Esperance has many of the same qualities of Port Lincoln, in fact you could describe it as Pot Lincoln Lite. I can see that not many of you have read the second entry of my Port Lincoln blog so I will tell you what you've missed (no not really I can't be bothered). Suffice it to say that Esperance is a really nice town. It's the Queen's birthday weekend and most of the town is shut which is a shame. It does however abound in natural beauty and you can't shut that. It has no building taller than 3 stories, the natives are friendly and has had excellent weather so far. Well worth the visit.

Across The Nullarbor

What can I tell you about the Nullarbor? It's a long way across. 479 kilometres yesterday and 924 kilometres today, a full 9 hours 45 minutes in the car and that was just today's effort. The last 203 clicks weren't technically the Nullarbor but the town at the Western Australian end, Norseman, didn't have a lot to commend it. Nullarbor came about from joining two Latin words, "null" as in zero and "arbor" as you would use for arborist or tree surgeon. In other words it means no trees. Well there are plenty of trees on the Nullarbor, just not when you need one to take a leak behind.

Lost In Time

I awoke early in Ceduna courtesy of the trucks trundling past my door. No breakfast was available where I stayed but there was an excellent truck stop nearby that put on a massive breakfast for $17.50. I however had other ideas. The Ceduna Hotel had signs up saying they did breakfast from 7.00am - 11.00am on Saturdays for $17.90 (all you could eat - hot and cold buffet) plus they had the added benefit of a much nicer view. It turned out breakfast could have been free (I couldn't find anyone to pay, I am too honest - they only charged me $10.50 anyway) and the view was great. It put in a much better mood for the drive ahead. 

Port Lincoln to Ceduna

I bounded out of bed at 7.00am (I had no choice the workers in the next room were making a hell of a racket) and was on the road by 8.30am. The plan today was to get to Ceduna which is essentially the starting point for the run across the Nullarbor. I achieved my aim and saw a bunch of interesting things along the way. Not sure that Ceduna is a place of great merit, then again I only have myself to blame for its choice. Let me explain.