Relaxing in a Rainforest Villa (9 - 10 April 2009)

After my three long but very enjoyable days touring the Northern Territory, I finally arrive at my retreat in Darwin for the next few days. Luckily, I have no bites from a croc as a souvenir but to make up for it some other little creatures took a liking to me at some point on the trip. Despite industrial quantities of Deet over the three days, I am now covered in bites. Whatever they were even managed to bite through my clothes. No way would I make a Jillaroo in the outback. I am hopeful that my Ayurvedic Balm from Sri Lanka will stop me being taken to the local insane asylum as they are driving me mad with the itching. But talking of croc bites, the paper today is filled with stories of a 20 year old guy who was taken by a four metre crocodile yesterday. This follows an 11 year old girl who was taken by one in March, so perhaps I got off lightly….
But my surroundings should at least be balm to my soul if not to my body. I am staying at the Moonshadow Villas, a self catering establishment but more flash than back pack. The welcome pack included a bottle of good champagne as well as two lobster looking things and a selection of posh cheese. It’s a small development of five villas with jungly rainforest stuff to one side. The villas are modern Australian design with a Balinese influence, including spirit houses at the front and lots of Buddhas around the garden. There is also a lovely mini pool complex in the middle, again with Balinese design. I have a two storey detached job with all mod cons including a rainwater shower – and by that I mean the water is rainwater not just the big showerhead. My skin and hair will be so soft…..! The only downside as I sit out here on the deck in the evening heat is the jungly bit to one side – there are lots of odd noises going on so as you can imagine, I am constantly on the lookout for snakes, possums and other tropical creatures. And then there was the true story about a ten foot python that emerged from the loo on the tenth floor of a local swish apartment block here in Darwin recently, so even going to the loo now involves checks of military proportions. But hopefully, no crocs…..

Loads of crocs but no crocs (9 April 2009)

Day three of my trip sees me now travel south on the Stuart Highway to Katherine and the Katherine Gorge. This is further away from the coast so the crocs that inhabit this region are generally freshwater, rather than saltwater crocs. This is good. Freshwater crocs are much less aggressive, but can still take a nasty bite out of you if you’re not careful. However, getting into a steel boat to go along yet another river, when the guide said “these boats are unsinkable” I did feel like asking “isn’t that what they said about the Titanic….” And when he announced that we were actually going to enter a tidal part of the river where Salties and sharks have been spotted, I hoped he was right! I was on the lookout for crocs, but sadly the only ones I saw that day were on other tourists’ feet….
We also stop at Edith Falls where there was the opportunity of a swim. As waterfalls go, it was a bit of a disappointment - only about four metres apparently. But I think you need to spend a couple of days here and walk up to the other falls to really appreciate it. The lake that is underneath the waterfalls becomes landlocked at this time of year as the waters recede and create a pool isolated from the rest of the river system. The Park rangers check that no crocs are present and then open it for swimming until the wet arrives again and connects it back to the river system. Today was the first day of the season it was open for swimming. But it’s quite a big lake and am not sure how a Park Ranger can be sure it’s empty of nasty things, so surprise, surprise don’t take a dip! But quite a few others were in there and also lots of nervous mothers hovering at the bank making sure their kids didn’t come back with bits missing.
Then on to the town of Katherine – small and so isolated, not a place I would want to live.
There was a disastrous cyclone and floods here in 1998 when the river rose to over twenty metres. Not sure the stories about Salties swimming up the High Street and being found in the meat department of Coles were anything more than apocryphal, but it’s a good story nonetheless. And then on another river trip, this time along the Katherine Gorge, pretty spectacular stuff with limestone cliffs rising above the narrow channel. Still a bit early to be clear of crocs, but Ant and Kev took a dip here when they visited…. and as you would expect, I didn’t!
We make a stop on the long journey home for “barra and chips” at a roadhouse. In the bar is a fully grown stuffed buffalo – well I guess this is Australia…….

Top End adventures (6 - 8 April 2009)

Time to start my Top End adventure, I fly on to Darwin, arriving early afternoon in the middle of a big rainstorm – oh well, it is that season between the wet and the dry so anything could happen. Arriving at the Travelodge Mirambeena, I set about packing what I need to take on the three day trip to Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. Mozzie repellent and walking shoes packed I set the alarm for the ungodly hour of 5am – early starts were to be a feature of the next three days. A long drive down the Arnhem Highway finally gets us to the entrance of the park. The roads are long and straight with very little traffic apart from the odd road train. The main highway is open now as it is the end of “The Wet”. It generally stays open during it but in wet wets, even this can close. But still at this time of year a lot of the smaller roads are closed off. The amount of water that falls here during the season completely transforms the landscape and it only slowly recedes from March onwards, leaving isolated pools called Billabongs – and I always thought that was just a trendy line of surf gear… But the tides here travel miles inland and often leave saltwater crocs lurking about not only in the river system but also in the billabongs….
We take walks around Crocodile Dundee country where a lot of the film was made and see lots of rock art – i.e. 35,000 year old paintings done by the aboriginal people and not Andy Warhol…. We then take a boat trip to croc spot and manage to see three Salties – it was at this point I wished I had not chosen an outside seat on the boat - they are rather large…. But loads of other wildlife is on display – sea eagles being “bullied” in the air by whistling kite birds just for the sheer hell of it, Jabiru (a black necked stork) and loads of others whose names escape me. There were dingoes, wallabies and woolaroos – no kangaroos as they don’t live in this part of Australia. The river bank in parts looked like it had been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. This was a result of cyclone Monica in 2006 and the devastation is still very clear.
We stop for the night at the Aurora Kakadu – a strange place in the middle of the park which appears to be made of a series of green Nissen huts spread out around a pool and a bar that looks like it should be in a movie – bright fluorescent light, a pool table and not a lot of style. A bit like Butlin's on a bad day.... The rooms were fine but there was a bit more wildlife – on the way back to my room, the ground was littered with huge, very dead frogs – lying almost comically on their backs with arms and legs akimbo. Whilst the crocs hadn’t got me, I was now convinced that there was some kind of issue with the local uranium mine and we would all be dead in our beds….. But “no worries”, I woke up hale and hearty as planned for our early start the next morning and solved the mystery. They were actually cane toads which are a real pest here in Australia and whatever poison that had been laid out for them, they had taken.

Willy willy's and warmer weather at Will's Domain (4 - 5 April 2009)

The weekend has arrived and Fiona and I settle into the serious stuff. Obviously I need to see even more of the region and investigate one of its most successful industries – wine! I have never seen so many wineries in my life. They have a great system here – you visit any winery and get a free tasting – you work your way through quite a few at each one, if you feel like buying, ok but if not that’s ok too! And with poor Fiona doing the driving, I was able to really study. I certainly concentrated hard but still not sure if I can tell my Chardonnays from my Sauvignon Blanc’s, but I sure had fun trying! We stopped at Will’s Domain, another winery, for lunch (and of course a glass of wine for me….) A lot of the wineries do really good lunch – generally modern Aussie cuisine and we were able to eat outside overlooking the vineyard in the calm sunshine – until a willy willy hit. It is the aboriginal word for spirit forms and it’s a special type of wind which occurs when wind picks up sand and leaves and spins them around like a mini tornado as it moves across the landscape. This one moved right through the al fresco restaurant flinging a few empty glasses to the ground – obviously the spirits decided the glasses needed filling so of course I obliged! One winery has the Oz equivalent of the Angel of the North – a gold female figure atop a huge pole emerging from the lake – and in true Aussie style, it’s called “the chick on a stick”! As well as visiting a few more wineries which were all really different, we shopped – even though it had warmed up considerably, I was tempted by, and gave in to buying, a pair of genuine Aussie Ugg Boots to keep me toasty at home. We also tried on a few more warming clothes (see pic) but decided it really wasn’t that cold at night….
On Sunday we do more wineries and take a look at Yallingup and Smith’s Beach – another millionaire enclave with fabulous beach houses and a huge curved bay with surfers, boarders and fishing boats. And I finally saw some kangaroo’s – as we were driving back late afternoon we passed a field full of them – feeding away on the grass and the odd one hopping around.
On Sunday we take a reluctant leave of the Beach House – reluctant as we had had such a good time and reluctant as it had really warmed up – and make our way back to Perth. I had got so used to Lily curled up on my lap as we travelled it was odd the next day on the flight to Darwin not to have her there!
So now it was time to leave the care of Fiona and Russell Travel. It’s a great company to travel with – superb accommodation in both the city and the beach, a chauffeur to drive you everywhere, all inclusive of great food and wine (even a genuine Aussie Barbie cooked up by Russ in Perth one night), a knowledgeable tour guide and the fabulous Lily to cuddle and play with. To top it all they also book your onward travel at a discount! And it’s all free – and it was really appreciated by me. I had a really good time.

Livin' the millionaire lifestyle (3 April 2009)

It’s Friday afternoon and Fiona has finished her calls for the week and she needs to nip to the neighbours to send in her emails. They live in the next beach house which is another fabulous example of contemporary Australian design, complete with full size tennis court. Again, set on the beach with a view of the Indian Ocean and the deserted beach, it won a highly esteemed architectural award when it was built in 2002. It is beautiful and has one rather interesting feature – a loo with a view! One of the loos on the front of the house is fronted by a huge one way mirror so as you sit you can take in the views of the beach and the ocean! As Fiona finished her email we sat with the neighbours on the deck and sipped their champagne (such great friendly hospitality) as the sun went down – a lifestyle I could get used to….

Ducks, dogs and dolphins (2 April 2009)

On Wednesday, we drive down south for about three hours to stay at the Beach House. On the way we stop at a famous Aussie pie shop, and I indulge in a beef and mushy pea pie (different but good….), followed by a chocolate Lamington which I love.
The Beach House is just fantastic – right on the beach at Geographe Bay which is a beautiful calm bay in the Margaret River Area. Just round each headland there are huge surf waves (in fact there is a big surf completion there this weekend) but the water here is calm, clean and turquoise. The house has recently been rebuilt and is stylish, modern, big and comfortable and set just back from, but with a view of the beach. The only downside is that the area has just moved into autumn and the clocks have just gone back, so the temperature has dropped somewhat! The days (apart from yesterday when it rained….) are warm but the mornings and evenings are freezing! It’s colder here than Perth as we are so much further south. On Wednesday evening we went for a longish beach walk at sunset with Lily – the wildlife is amazing. Whole families of ducks waddle over to the beach for an evening swim, huge stingrays wallow about in the shallows and we even had a dolphin doing acrobatics for our entertainment!
Poor Fiona has had to work some of the time so I have been with her on her calls, shopping whilst she is working. It’s worked out really well and I have been able to explore Margaret River, Bussleton, Bunbury and Dunsborough, all small interesting Australian towns packed with craft and gift shops and galleries. The drives there have been interesting, including an unplanned stop when we missed the turn to Margaret River – and came across the amazing Karri forest with tall, straight trees like something from a fairy story, and the Borranup gallery with terrible wooden figures outside which were more like a horror story – not sure they were too good an advert for their work. We had a few relaxing evenings sitting outside wrapped up in the evening chill on the deck playing with Lily and having a great catch up. But it was dark and very quiet. There wasn’t much of a moon and there is no ambient light – in bed at night it was really strange – normally there is a chink of light from somewhere, but the room was pitch dark and silent – I slept really well. There was only one time when it was a little less than quiet – yet more Australian wildlife appeared when a couple of possums appeared in the trees just by the deck. Lily was not impressed and decided to bark rather loudly. It is now apparent what “playing possum” really means. The poor creatures were terrified and just froze on the branches – as they weren’t moving, this enraged Lily even more, so they stayed even stiller. It went on for some time – another saying comes to mind – a bit of a vicious circle!

Pals in Perth (30 March - 1 April 2009)

I finally cross the equator and fly from Singapore to Perth. On the flight I saw Slumdog Millionaire which I really enjoyed. But the book, called Q & A, is slightly different and a bit more “spiritual”. It’s worth a read.
It was great to see Fiona and she met me at the airport. We were to spend a couple of days in Perth before heading south. I met Lily who is a toy poodle with Shih Tzu and she is my new best friend – I want to bring her home, in fact I think she and Dyl would make a lovely couple! Went to see Fiona and Russ’ new house that they are having built and it’s amazing. Big, airy, spacious and very modern. It’s pretty spectacular now but will be fantastic when it’s finished which should be a couple more months. I am now planning next year’s trip via Perth to see it completed and have a dip in the fab pool. Not sure they realise their mistake in showing it to me - they’ll never see the back of me!