Vietnam

23 Aug - 13 Sep 2005
1
Well here we are in Vietnam. Arrived on Monday and will be here for three weeks. We are basing ourselves in Hanoi and have been acclimitising ourselves - it is another world!!

Our arrival in Hanoi was not without incident. I think we made an error in the time we told the hotel (which we had booked on the internet) to pick us up so we ended up in a taxi. On arrival a fellow from the hotel poked his head in the door and told us our room was occupied by a sick person whom they had been unable to move so we would have to stay at this hotel – a related one. He kept flashing cards from our booked hotel and explaining that it had changed names! Fortunately Kate had read about this particular scam in Lonely Planet and after ten minutes of heated (on our part!) discussion we eventually insisted that the taxi driver take us to our booked hotel. Of course our hotel had our booking and was wondering where we were as their driver was at the airport! I live in wonder to this woman I am married to - I would probably have ended up in the scam hotel!

It has been an interesting cultural experience to cope with Hanoi. Stepping onto the street is frightening at first. We are based in the old quarter and stepping out of the hotel we are immediately "in it". The footpaths and narrow streets are crowded with motor bikes, mini kitchens, pedicabs, motorbikes, pedestrians, motorbikes, women carrying the traditional baskets supported by a wooden bouncy rod over the shoulder (amazing the weight they >carry), motorbikes, hawkers of all sorts, motorbikes, cyclists, motorbikes etc... A lot of the time you have to walk on the road and there is a constant stream of motorbikes, bikes and people passing or overtaking you.

I am fascinated by the traffic. On the major roads there is just a wall of motorbikes loaded with 1-4 people, baskets of food, produce of varying sorts, beds, mattresses, furniture, you name it you will see it on a motorbike. The only way to cross the road is to walk forward with confidence into the wall of bikes (and occasional cars, trucks and buses) keeping an eye on the traffic as you do so. Magically the motorbikes part to give you room, not much, but after a while you get used to it! It is extraordinary and has to be seen to be believed!! Noone gets agro, they just make space and move on. Watching it from the edge of the road is nothing short of mind boggling. In Australia, if the same thing happened as here you would be able to measure road range by the square metre!! But here they just weave around someone doing anything stupid (in my mind anyway!). There are millions and millions of motorbikes - all about 125 ccs and travelling at no more than about 40 kph, usually much less.

So we have been getting used to moving around and shopping. We have been stitched up a number of times but the people are so nice and we are so affluent by comparison that we just love it. Kate cannot resist interacting with them at every level. Consequently we have enough post cards to write to everyone we know for the next year or so - warning here - don't expect one as buying does not mean writing!!

Yesterday we took a tour of four villages which specialised in pottery, woodwork, silk weaving and noodle production. It was fascinating - they are certainly an industrious people. In the wood village we were told that a lot of the timber comes from outside Vietnam usually imported from illegal operations in neighbouring countries. Nothing goes to waste however – every bit of timber is used in some way. We saw a stack of stumps which would be burnt in Australia being used as a valuable resource for carvings of every shape and size. Mostly the markets for the produce seem to be local or Asian as the ornate style would only be found in Franco Costas furniture business in Melbourne's Brunswick otherwise!
We were able to watch the making of pottery from the ground up and both Kate and Julia (who is also with us) were unable to resist buying some examples. (Kate has had some foresight here - she purchased a Tosca case at an OP shop for $25 which expands into probably double its compacted size and will take two very strong men to lift, once she fills it - this won't take long on >present indications!!).

At the silk village we watched women using ancient (well they looked that way) wooden weaving machines (electrically powered) to make silk fabrics. The factory was noisy and dark but the amazing fabrics being produced were wondrous! Needless to say we left the village with some packages!

Julia has caught up with Leah and her son Lewis as well as Leah's parents and brother who are also here at this time. We had dinner within the Australian embassy compound where Leah lives in the lap of Australian luxury! Her cook had prepared a sumptous banquet for us so we had a great introduction to Vietnamese cooking.

Yesterday morning we decided to get up early and go for a run - we thought that at 5.30 we wouldn't find too many people about. We were half right. The streets were relatively bare of the ever present motorbikes but when we got to the lake we found a great stream of locals out for their constitutional walk, exercise class, fan dance, badminton match etc. We had to run along the road!! Needless after two laps of the lake which took about 20 minutes we had had it - the humidity is stiffling and more than we could cope with!

I am having trouble coping with the local currency. Yesterday I was a millionaire as I withdrew 1 000 000 dong from our account. 10 000 dong corresponds to $1 Australian - actually it is probably closer to 12 000 but for ease of calculation we are using 10 000. So every time you make a purchase you need to knock off four noughts to get an idea of what you are paying. The problem is that they also deal in American dollars so some prices are in dong and others in $US. So you cash some $US for dong and think you have plenty of money and next thing you are paying in the thousands of dongs for something and before you know it you have nothing left. You pay 36 000 dong for a meal and think you are paying a fortune but it is only $3.60. Confused?? Well so am I! Yesterday we went into a flash restaurant and looked at the menu. We thought it looked very reasonable in price until we realised they were in $US - tails between our legs we snuck out!! But overall it is a very cheap place to visit - the food is great no matter where you buy it.

Today it is bucketting down with rain so we are resting this morning and hoping it will ease later. Kate has had her touch of the "runs" but has not felt ill, Julia the same. I am usually the first to succumb to this affliction but so far so good!

We have booked a couple of trips out of the city but more of that later.

2
Thought I would email you sooner than this but after typing for 35 minutes at our hotel in Hanoi I lost the lot! Frustrating!! So I will try and remember what I typed and see if this computer in Sapa is any better.
Since our last email we have all had the "runs", Kate's persisting longer than Julia and me. I don't think we are completely out of the woods yet as every now and then we all get a tummy rumble which threatens to turn into something worse. Kate was quite sick and we had to curtail our activities for a couple of days.

Despite this we have been enjoying the sights and sounds of Hanoi. In addition we have had a three day trip to Halong Bay. According to Lonely Planet this bay is the number natural wonder in Vietnam and has world heritage listing. The bay is dotted with over 3000 steeply sided limestone islands some of which have caves of considerable size.

On our first day we left the traffic of Hanoi behind and travelled along a freeway - well at least that is how it would look from the air. The reality is that it is a very bumpy concrete road - don't think they used much reinforcing in it or did much of a job of compacting the area before bridges. The traffic is still fairly dense with motorbikes occupying the right hand lane (left in Australia) whilst trucks, buses and cars the left. You are in no doubt of when a following bus or truck wants to pass as there is a blast of sound from behind which rises to a continuous noise if you don't move over. Moving over is not always easy as the motorbikes are not moving as quickly so the driver has to find a hole in the traffic to move over. The public buses are the worst as they travel fast. We were told they are paid on contract and are responsible for many of the over 12000 deaths on the roads every year.

On reaching Halong Bay we were escorted to our vessel - one of 50 or so highly polished wooden vessels which owe some design characteristics to junks. They have a couple of coloured decorative sails which are raised for effect at the first stop after a sumptous lunch. This was at one of the islands which have a cave system open to the public. If you have been to Buchan or Jenolan caves you have probably seen it all. It seems to be a compulsory stop for all the tours so there were hundreds of people crowded into a fairly confined hot, humid cave system so it was a relief to get back to our boat.

I didn't mention that our multicultural party consisted of a French couple, a French Canadian woman, a Malaysian, an Australian couple from Fitzroy in Melbourne, two recently graduated law students from New York, ourselves and an English speaking Vietnamese guide. The vessel had a crew of five Vietnamese who provided us with fantastic meals and really looked after us.

After travelling for ten minutes after the caves we stopped for the night and it was over the side for a refreshing swim. The water temperature is only just refreshing however as it is very warm and easy to get in.
Next day we cruised further through a fantastic maze of islands and past the locals who lived on floating islands and fished in basket boats. These are interesting craft made from woven cane sealed with a bitumenous substance. They are powered by oars or a noisy whipper snipper-like arrangement poking out the back. An additional source of income is provided by servicing the needs of the on board tourists - a bit like having a roadside stall on the water. They are amazingly able seapersons! Their villages are like floating docks made from wood and plastic drums for buoyancy. They can be 20x20 metres or so in size.

Mid morning we arrived at "base camp" which consisted of cane huts equipped with, light, fan, mosquito net and the thinnest mattress you could imagine. After dropping our bags we were immediately into preparing for our kayaking trip. After basic instructions we were off in double sea kayaks paddling to who knows where behind our instructor. The scenery was fantastic and this is definitely the way to explore this bay - not that we saw a great deal of it as it is so huge! Unfortunately we had a windy day so some of our party struggled with the conditions. By lunchtime they had all had enough. Our lunch stop was on a boat and after a lovely swim in slightly cooler water (thank goodness) we lounged around eating a very nice Vietnamese meal.

Kate had been suffering on the boat in the morning and had had to be pursuaded to come on the kayaking trip. She used this excuse to avoid any serious work with the paddle so the captain had to descend to the engine room and provide the motive power. By lunchtime she was beginning to feel better but was cautious with the food. She seemed to feel better in the water so after lunch she and Julia decided to explore an enclosed lake which was accessed through a shallow cave. Unfortunately it was about 500 metres from the boat so I had to follow. We surprised ourselves in how we swam - didn't expect to enjoy it after being out of serious training in the pool for over 18 months. Julia managed to get there but had to sponge a lift back with the guide who followed us in one of the kayaks. She had swum well however.

Back on the boat the vote was to ride the boat back to base camp and not kayak. Shame really but everyone was buggered after the paddle against the wind before lunch. The rest of the day was whiled away talking and swimming. At dark they started the generator and we could use the light and fan in the huts. After a pleasant meal and a few beers it was off to bed early for a rather uncomfortable night.

Next day it was back onto the big boat and back to Halong Bay town after a swim. We were treated to a fantastic lunch in a flash restaurant accompanied by live Vietnamese music. We could probably do without the music but it was interesting to see the traditional instruments being played. Three and a half hours later we were back in Hanoi. An interesting sidelight - have you ever seen a fully grown pig strapped upside down across the pillion seat of a Honda stepthrough? I have the photo to prove it - don't think the RSPCA would approve!!

After a day in the frantic Hanoi we took the overnight train to north western Vietnam and a bus trip finds us here at Sapa. Will write later about this as I am worried about loosing this again!

3
We are back in Hanoi at 0600 hrs after travelling on the overnight train from Lao Cai. We had to wake the porter up at our hotel and we cannot get into our room till later this morning. Fortunately they have free internet and this morning it seems to be working well - I have got used to the page only half loading and the links having errors!

Lao Cai is only significant in that it is where you get off the train to go to Sapa, from where I wrote the last email. Obviously we had travelled to Lao Cai on the train from Hanoi a few days earlier, overnight again. We got stitched at the train station when leaving Hanoi by a bloke who immediately grabbed our bags as we got out of the taxi and proceeded to lead us through the crowds of people in the direction of the train. He took us along the platform and across the tracks to our train and got us to our cabin then extracted $4 from us which is what the taxi cost to get us from the hotel. Whilst we were angry at being "stitched" again we were grateful to get on the train as the signs are all in Vietnamese and we would have been very concerned that we would be late. We need't have worried - the train didn't leave for another 45 minutes and on time to the second.
We got a four berth cabin and paid for the extra berth to ensure our privacy, money well spent we think! It was very pleasant to get into the nice air conditioned cabin but we didn't get a very restful sleep as the tracks are very rough and so is the ride. At Lao Cai we unloaded at 0700 hrs and amongst the crowds of people we saw a welcome sign reading Kate Crowe. The hotel at Sapa were providing us with transfer from the train to Sapa so we dutifully followed our man to an ancient "people carrier" for the one hour journey to Sapa.

I should say that Sapa is in the north west of northern Vietnam and is not far from the Chinese border. In fact Lao Cai is only two kms from the border. We thought we should step over the border just to say we had been there but we neither had the time nor appropriate visa.
When we departed the station our ancient vehicle had 13 people and a fair bit of cargo aboard. We didn't think this was a great problem until we started the 35 km climb to Sapa. This would be a great road for a stage of the Tour de France. In quite a number of sections there are signs saying the road rose at 10%. Mostly it climbed steadily and unrelentingly at something less but still soul destroying for a cyclist. Our ancient vehicle apparently thought the same as it gave up the ghost after making some rather nasty noises about half way to Sapa. After several minutes of looking enquiringly under the front seats the driver unloaded the freight hoping his ancient vehicle might recognise its burden was relieved. Apparently not so as it refused to start.

With the usual casual efficiency a passing more modern vehicle was waved down and we were all loaded aboard to continue, thankfully without further incident.

The reason for going to Sapa was to visit the colourfully dressed hill tribe villages and we were not disappointed. There were many members walking on the roadside in their black tunics and leggings which are colourfully embroidered. As soon as we alighted we were besieged by women and children who tried to sell us all sorts of clothing and jewelry.
Cat Cat hotel sprawls up the side of a steep hill and we were of course on the top floor. The view was stunning but we were a bit puffed to enjoy it at first!

Once again Kate engaged with the locals as soon as we left the hotel for a walk around town and soon had five or six followers much to Julia and my disgust. They are very persistent once you have started a conversation. Two women must have followed us for a couple of kilometres in the afternoon when we decided to visit Cat Cat village. It was a 2-3 kilometre walk down to the village - it seemed a lot longer coming back in the humidity. Fortunately there was a very pleasant restaurant in the hotel with modest charges so we had a very pleasant meal there at night including a 1996 Bourdeau red for about $10. I don't think Kate could believe the price but then again we were sure it wasn't one of the best from that region! Wine is generally very expensive in Vietnam and the cellaring in this warm climate is probably questionable.

Next day (yesterday) we went on a mountain bike ride whose degree of difficulty was supposedly intermediate. The bikes were probably originally quite reasonable quality but lacked proper maintenance - the main problem was stiff brakes. Seeing we were descending for over 30 km this became quite important. The first part was down a smooth bitumen road and all went well. Then we turned onto a wet dirt track with numerous rocks to add a further challenge. We stumbled our way down hoping that when we got to the valley floor things would imporve. Alas we were disappointed!

The trip was to take us through three different tribes areas and villages. The first was the poorest and was a bit depressing. They mainly depend on growing rice, corn and increasingly, the tourist trade. Apart from this they live a traditional life and have as yet spurned modern medicine and schooling. Despite this some of the children were able to speak excellent English apparently by interacting with tourists. The second village was one where the women wore elaborate, colourful headresses. They placed emphasis on education and the benefits were obvious as the standard of living was much higher.

We next had to climb out of the valley floor back to the main road and this is where we had to work! Julia has benefited greatly from her riding to work as she challenged Kate for the King of the Mountain title at the top!! Unfortunately for her a cunning sprint from her mother relegated her to second place, not by much though! After lunch we again descended into a much deeper valley - I think it took us nearly 40 minutes to get down. The track was wet and rough in places and the recent rains had caused major landslides across the track. At the bottom the village inhabitants were of Thai origin and the housing was of a yet higher standard. We were to swim in a nearby lake but after seeing how the river was used upstream we declined the offer.

To get out, our bikes were strapped to the back of motorbikes and taken to the top. We followed on the back of motor bikes to a spot where an old Landcruiser awaited us. The driver had managed to get over the massive landslide which surprised us. There was no way we were going to go over it so we got out at the appropriate time and watched him manoeuvre the vehicle over. After a couple of attempts he made it but we were glad we were not aboard!!

The rest of the trip was reasonably uneventful and as we descended down the road to Lao Cai in the gathering dusk we marvelled at the amazing terracing of the hills which enabled rice growing in metre-wide strips down fairly steep slopes. Erosion from landslides is obviously a major problem and restoration of trees planted appropriately may help prevent some of this. To me it looks unsustainable in the long term.
So it is a day in Hanoi then off again - more next time.

4
Today we leave for home after nearly three weeks. Over the past week we have been mostly at Hoi An which is near Dar Nang, about an hour's flight south of here (Hanoi). The reason for going there was that it is on the seaside and, more importantly, the home of the Vietnamese tailor (at least that is how it seems to me!).

Kate and Julia have been having a ball buying clothes, actually having them tailor-made. Julia has had two very smart suits made and other pants and tops. Kate has been hard at it as well and I have lost count of how many items she has had made - I need to say they were not all for herself!! So we have been backwards and forwards to the tailors measuring, getting fitted and finally purchasing. They have both been having a ball!

My dream of having a dozen cycling shirts made for about $10 each has been dashed unfortunately. Whilst they are more than happy to tailor them the material appears to be unavailable in either Hoi An or in Hanoi. I guess material that hugs you is hardly appropriate in this climate!

We did take a trip to some old Cham ruins near Hoi An called My Son. This is the site of a very old civilisation and although not as well preserved or restored as many other similar historical sites it does show great cultural depth in the Cham society which still exists today. Unfortunately it was suspected of being a Viet Cong stronghold in the Vietnamese war and was bombed by the US - the craters are still visible near a number of the remaining buildings. Apparently prior to the bombing there were many more buildings in good condition.

We also journeyed to the beach by bicycle but were disappointed. The ocean was heavily polluted and, whilst we could have put up with that, it was very warm. So warm that it was hardly refreshing at all. The water in the hotel pool was also tepid and barely refreshing - we did lash out a bit here with a four star hotel including breakfast!!

We said goodbye to Julia on Sunday and she should be in London by now, hopefully catching up with Ben in the next day or so. It was very sad to see her leave as she is a great companion on holidays and we won't see her for four months as she has work in London. Kate in particular has lost a great shopping partner, a role I am afraid I fall well short of!!

In general everything is very cheap here depending on where you go. It is possible to spend a huge amount on accommodation if you wish to stay in the lavish hotels found in every capital city in the world - $200-300 a night. But if you are prepared to drop the standard and stay in cheaper accommodation, as we have, then you can get clean, air conditioned rooms for about $20 a night. Food is also very cheap with a good meal obtainable for both of us for less than $20, often $15. But despite this I still can't get used to forking out 200 000 dong (about $16) for anything - I just seems like a lot of money!!

We will be glad to leave Hanoi despite enjoying it immensely. It is very close living and it is very hard to find a peaceful spot - hence the need to return to our air conditioned room. Possibly we have come at the wrong time of the year as we have found the combination of heat and humidity quite trying. Despite all these woes we have loved the people. You can always get a smile and they are invariably good humoured and extremely tolerant of others. I still can't believe the way the traffic works here! No sign of aggression and amazing forebearance of, what seems to me, others stupidity. Australian drivers could learn a lot!

So it is off to the airport at 3 pm laden with bags. Fortunately we have found our baggage limit is 32 kg so we should be okay!! See you all on our return.

To the West, Bali and the Ningaloo Reef

15 Aug – 29 Sep 02

15 Aug Thursday
Set off at about 1 pm – six weeks off, fantastic. Arrived in Hay after dark at 7pm. Chicken curry cooked the night before for tea and the sounds of Adelaide – Sydney trucks negotiating the nearby roundabout all night. Nice van park with no permanent residents.

16 Aug Friday
Uneventful trip to Adelaide arriving by 4pm in beautiful weather. Geraldine (my sister) and Dick’s house very impressive with a wonderful private courtyard and sunny backyard complete with pool. Very handy to find at the bottom of the Adelaide Hills coming in from Murray Bridge. Lovely meal of chicken, apricots and almonds from the Middle Eastern Cookbook – well done Dick!

17 Aug Saturday
Kate awoke with a sore throat which was to continue for a few days. It didn’t stop the exercise and we went for a light run on Saturday morning through the nearby arboretum at Waite Institute – idillic surroundings! Cumpulsory cappucinos were followed, in the afternoon, by a wander around Glenelg the highlights of which were a large dolphin swimming under us at the marina and a yacht going through the nearby lock. It doesn’t take much to amuse us! Lamb shanks for tea that night – we were being spoilt with the standard of food! Prior to the meal we went to a nearby lovely old pub where Geraldine proceeded to clean out the poker machines and was smart enough to pocket a fair bit of the winnings. Kate made her usual donation.

18 Aug Sunday
Ran to the old quarry with interesting views of Adelaide (50 minutes). On the way back looked over the manor house at Urbreae. We had a pleasant lunch at a pub in the hills which had great food followed by a visit to a bookshop and gallery – the last two by Geraldine and Kate. Dick and I discussed ‘men’s things’! That evening Dick and Geraldine hosted drinks for their friends which was fun. It was a great weekend and nice to catch up with Geraldine, Dick and Andrew. Kate tried valiantly to get Andrew to catch up with Ben in Sydney.

19 Aug Monday
After an early start and one wrong turn we made our way out of Adelaide and headed north to Port Augusta to buy some supplies for the Nullabor. We had lunch further up the road and really felt we were on our way as we passed the scrubby country west of Port Augusta and saw our first emus adjacent to the road. We made Ceduna that night and checked into the caravan park. We had a pleasant walk on the pier where we got into conversation with a retired chap who it turns out has a caravan in the Twofold Bay Caravan Park where we have spent many a Christmas holiday. He told us the park had changed ownership. Marks on the pier proved there were plenty of squid for the catching. The camping ground was like a concentration camp with high fences and digital locks on the gates!

20 Aug Tuesday
A big day of driving all the way to Norseman, about 1200 km. One of the highlights was Kate overtaking a road train – I think we only passed about three on the whole trip. One of the caravan tyres began loosing pressure – we pumped it up once but it continued to deflate till we eventually decided to replace it with the spare. The last hour or so into Norseman was a little anxious as the kangaroos decided to give us a guard of honour. Fortunately the excellent driving lights came into their own as we were at least able to see them and slow down in time. The Norseman caravan park was quite full with lots of retirees heading back to Melbourne on the last lap of their trip around Australia.

21 Aug Wednesday
Kate’s birthday and another day of driving. The road into Perth is not as pleasant as the rest of the trip. After the long straights of the Nullabor it seemed we were driving around corners all the time. Eventually we hit the outskirts of Perth and we turned right to Gingin. The traffic was relatively heavy but once out of the suburbs we had a clear run. Rachel was having a riding lesson on the vast lawn area in front of their house on a beautiful evening when we arrived. Peter (my brother) and Leanne looked well and we had an enjoyable night with Stewart (our nephew who has been working on the farm on his way around Australia) as well.

22 Aug Thursday
It was an eye-opener to see the changes on the property since last we were there. The new vineyard is enormous and the work to establish it impressive. Final planting was underway with a gang of a dozen people productively employed. As well as Stewart, Peter had other casual workers working for him and we met Stumpy and Ben Treasure (a member of the family who own the farm). Did a bit of moving sheep and cattle as well as a bit of tractor work spraying weeds in the vineyard.

23 Aug Friday
More farmwork. Chasing sheep and cattle. Chinese with Geoff and Francis Overheu in Peter and Leane’s kitchen – great night, very noisy, great fun.

24 Aug Saturday
Stewart gave us a lift to Perth airport for the trip to Bali. The flight was very pleasant and I think it only took 3.5 hours. Picked up by the tour company and we were given the hard sell about possible tours before we even cleared the airport carpark. The humidity was a bit overpowering at first. Our hotel was down a back alley and looked quite pleasant once we were inside the walled garden. Nice pool. The room however was a little disappointing – the shower flooded the bathroom as the drain was blocked up. Airconditioning was pretty ordinary as well. Had tea in a pleasant nearby Mexican restaurant – Café Loco - recommended by the Lonely Planet book

25 Aug Sunday
Went for a run on the beach early in the morning – lots of people walking and enjoying the cool of the morning before the heat of the sun. Changed rooms – the shower didn’t flood but the airconditioning wasn’t any better – basically didn’t work. Pool was very pleasant however. Walked down to Kuta. Lunch in local Balinese restaurant and we had our usual Nasi Goreng. Evening meal at another restaurant out of the Lonely Planet – great food and cheap.

26 Aug Monday
Lazy day, shopping, lazing around the pool and eating. I couldn’t stray too far from the toilet as the Bali belly had struck.

27 Aug Tuesday
Went for a run to Kuta and back. We didn’t get up early enough so the sun was pretty fierce on the way back and the humidity didn’t help. Took a taxi to Dempasar to a department store on Leeann’s recommendation – bliss, we didn’t have to bargain. Shopping, shopping, shopping….!

28 Aug Wednesday
Drove to Ubud. Although we were getting used to the traffic it payed to look out the windows to the side and not in front if you wanted to enjoy the trip. Tahaman Rahasia (the Secret Garden) was a little hard to find. We were to find out that noone else knew where it was as every tour pick-up was preceded by a phone call for directions. Tahman Rahasia was something else. We were greeted by Beth, an expat American, were given a smoothie and met all the friendly young staff. Seemed to be lots of staff and we were the only guests. Walked into town through the padi. Saw the women’s workforce – carrying sand to less accessible places in baskets on their heads. Very heavy work. Beautiful dinner at Taman Rahasia.

29 Aug Thursday
Mountain biking. A bit of a joke really. We were picked up from the hotel after the compulsory phone call to find out where Taman Rahasia was. Through beautiful padi and villages up one of the main roads to the company’s assembly point for the mountain bikes and white water canoeing. Met up with some Kiwis who were going to the elephant park after the ride. Another half hour’s drive and we were at the start of the ride. The six of us had three guides – one at the front, one in the middle and another as tail end Charlie. The bikes were good but you could nearly have done it without a chain as we were mostly going downhill. The guides were very good pointing out features of the local agricultural enterprises which were mostly rice based. We were fortunate to be delayed by a cremation procession – not fortunate for the dead person however. The procession consisted of a five metre square platform made of bamboo poles on which was a Brahman bull complete with penis and testicles! The platform was carried by about 30 young men who proceeded to spin it around and dip and sway with it – all part of the ritual. We were told they had been partaking of the local beer on their arduous trip up the hill from their home village. All the women in the village where we stopped were dressed in black for the occasion. After the bull passed the body was carried by on an altar on a similar platform carried by about 20 men. It is not kosher to watch the burning of the body so we continued our trip, eventually arriving back at the company’s assembly point. The Kiwis departed and we had lunch chatting to the Australian operations manager of the company. He has over 500 local staff running white water rafting, mountain biking, elephant park, bird park tours and whatever else. Kate managed to get free trips out of him on the following days, to the elephant and bird parks, before we finished lunch.

30 Aug Friday
White water rafting. Picked up in a mini bus and transported, along with another Aussie through the rice fields to the assembly point. Down hundreds of steps to the river and into a raft. The trip was probably fairly gentle by white water rafting standards but the scenery was great (Stewart had recommended it). Beautiful lunch afterwards at the company’s restaurant. We were then transported in a mini bus for 40 minutes through various villages which specialised in various crafts e.g. one was full of turned wood artifacts, to the elephant park. It seemed very well done with the elephants taking people around the park and through the nearby village. We didn’t ride them but were given a tour culminating in Kate sitting on the elephant for a photo. Interesting day!

31 Aug Saturday
Hired bikes and rode in the traffic which was a little daunting at first. Fortunately, although chaotic and close to you, we rarely felt threatened. There is very little aggression on the roads which is a refreshing change from Canberra. We rode to visit a site where ancient carvings had been made on a rock face. We were conned by a very persistent guide who wanted to show us the world. Eventually we got back to the bikes and unfortunately I had lost my key to the lock. Much searching followed and finally the guide found the key on the pathway to the carvings. We wondered whether we had been pick pocketed but we gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him a $2 Australian coin which he was going to melt down for a ring (after telling us he was a poor student who was having trouble surviving).

1 Sep Sunday
Trip to the Bird park for zippo. Interesting but it was a bit sad to see such small cages. The driver took us to a silver workshop on the way home – different standard of living there. Unfortunately no bargains but we did manage to pick up two sets of earrings.

2 Sep Monday
Picked up early to catch the ferry to Lembogin Island. We were booked into the Hai Tide Huts. We snorkelled, then booked in and later did a bike ride around part of the island. We saw seaweed harvesting, bought gifts and watched a huge kite being launched. A characteristic of Bali is the number of kites which are flown particularly in the late afternoon when the consistent wind comes in. jTea on the beach – fantastic setting.

3 Sep Tuesday
Lazed around most of the morning after a breakfast of banana pancakes. Caught the ferry back and encountered huge seas. A barge was being towed through them and seemed to be in trouble but we got by it even if one wave caught us on the port beam and wallowed the boat in a very uncomfortable way. Off the ferry and to the airport, dropped bags then in to Kuta for a meal before returning to the airport to wait for the plane which departed at 2 am. Pretty uncomfortable at the airport waiting but Kate managed to find a few more bargains to get rid of the "loose change" – about $10. Lovely airport staff refused Aussie money and gave Kate her rattan tissue box.

4 Sep Wednesday
Into Perth airport at 6 am after a total of about 2 hours broken sleep. Peter picked us up and back to the farm where Kate disappeared into the caravan for a kip. I went out to work on the farm and quite enjoyed the day fixing the pivot irrigator. Also repaired the roof of the caravan as it had leaked whilst we were away. A bit more sealant did the trick. By 8 pm that night I was falling asleep at the table in the kitchen.

5 Sep Thursday
More farmwork – sheep and cattle – relieved on the tractor spraying in the vineyard over lunch. Kate went for a run (10km).

6 Sep Friday
Perth/Freemantle. We set off for Perth for the day visiting the Ellross caravan factory. Spent a couple of hours at the factory speaking to the owner about off road caravans and inspecting several vans owned by Dutch people. We also saw his large goose neck caravan – very impressive. On Friday night we met up with Geoff and Francis Overheu at their flat in North Perth and had tea with them in a seafood restaurant at Northbridge. Then drove back to Gingin – grateful for the good driving lights.

7 Sep Saturday
Horse of the year contest for Rachel in Perth. Lots of expensive horses, horse floats and cars. Became instant experts on judging horses. We could tell which horses had make-up (all of them) and which had false tails (most of them). I made the comment to Rachel that it was nice to be around quiet horses compared to the race horses that frequented the streets around Mentone when I was growing up. Those race horses were all extremely skittish. Rachel’s comment was "not quiet just drugged to the eyeballs"! Rachel looked like a real horsewoman – which of course she is!

8 Sep Sunday
Drove to Wongan Hills for the grand final of the Aussie Rules that Stewart was playing in. Certainly very impressive facilities for a country town – the football oval’s turf would have done credit to the MCG. Shows that at times wheat belt towns in good areas have had some rich ratepayers or benefactors. Gingin won the reserves in which Stewart was playing and subsequently the firsts. Celebrations would continue in Gingin for a week! We decided to take a look around town whilst the firsts were playing. We toured the local museum which was very interesting. We could see from photos how the local lake had deteriorated. In the industrial area we counted 12 brand new monster headers for wheat harvesting – must have been worth hundreds of thousands each.
9 Sep MondayAfter Peter put a tube in our deflating tyre we set off northwards up the Brand highway. Geraldton was the first town – seemed a long way from anywhere but a thriving feeling. Bought a rod and reel at Cash Converters. Decided, after we had gone past the first turnoff, that we would go to Kalbarri. On the road in we blew a caravan tyre and completely destroyed it. Fortunately we found a tyre place open and were able to buy a new one. I guess after blowing two tyres on the caravan I now know the importance of correct inflation. I started at 35psi when we first got the van, increased to 40psi after blowing the first tyre last year and am now running them at 45psi. I guess it is a lot of weight on two tyres – makes me enthusiastic to get tandem wheels on the next van. We watched the sun go down from Red Bluff – first time this trip over the Indian Ocean. Rissotto for tea.

10 Sep Tuesday
We went for a run first up and found another caravan park looking straight out at the estuary. Later we rode south along the bike path – lots of lizards sunning themselves. Found another pleasant caravan park and had coffee there. We didn’t go to the wildflower centre (this is for Kate’s benefit!). We did however go snorkelling and saw some very large taylor. On the way back we checked out the sports store and bought some fishing gear and a new mask for Kate. Later we managed to lose what we had bought in trying to catch the aforementioned taylor. Needless to say we caught no fish. We got talking to English neighbours in the caravan park who had an 18 foot Bushtracker (Michael and Elizabeth). We got a guided tour and were very impressed. They had everything – the Rolls Royce job. They had travelled across the top and done the Gibb River Road. The inside (and outside) showed no sign of the tough roads it had travelled on. Very impressive and beautiful inside). Kalbarri is a beautiful place and we could easily have spent a week there.

11 Sep Wednesday
Next morning we continued north and although low on petrol I assumed we would find a fuel station shortly after we got back on the highway. By the time we got back on the highway the low fuel light was on and I discovered we had about 120 km to the next roadhouse. Sadly 50 km short of the Billabong Roadhouse we ran out of fuel. I hitched a ride to Billabong with some Perth people headed for Exmouth. Kate made preparations in case the outback murderer stopped. I hitched a ride back with some retired people heading back to Perth. The round trip took 1.5 hours. We were worried about how to get the motor going again but Kate had read the detailed procedures in the manual and within a couple of minutes we were on our way. After a good day’s drive we decided to stop at a rest area along with three other caravans. Later a couple of other vans joined us. The sunset was great – we saw about 15 brolgas heading up the nearby creek. In the morning we saw the same birds returning and landing across the other side of the creek. The sunset was great and the sunrise even better and the camp had cost nothing.

12 Sep Thursday
Drove the final 80 km into Coral Bay (Ningaloo Reef) and managed to get a prime spot in the caravan park. Beautiful spot and it wasn’t long before we were in snorkelling over the coral about 30 metres out from the shore. Arranged a snorkelling trip for the next day. Rode the bikes around the town which didn’t take long and later managed to bog the Landrover in soft sand. Let the tyres down and got going again easily. Great to be able to pump up the tyres with our new ARB pump.

13 Sep Friday
Unfortunately the captain of the boat was crook so we eventually went out on another boat to snorkel on the outer reef. The weather had been blowing a gale and it wasn’t all that pleasant however the fish were great and we even managed to swim with a turtle. The second stop wasn’t quite as good and the wind was very strong. But it was a very enjoyable trip and well worth the money.

14 Sep Saturday
Left Coral Bay early heading south and the weather was deteriorating rapidly. We eventually were driving through heavy rain. Kate was determined to use a free roadside camping area. We looked at one but it was a little exposed and continued on. Following directions from the free camping book which Kate had bought in Gingin we found a very quiet beachside location – noone else was camping as the weather was appalling (location – a bit south of Dongara). We were very cosy in our van and slept very well.

15 Sep Sunday
Travelled along the coastal route stopping at Cervantes. Made it back to Peter and Leane’s in the afternoon to find the previous day’s storms had caused many blackouts in Perth and that the power was still off at Gingin. Seeing the farm was highly dependent on power it wasn’t very pleasant. Water pressure is provided by electric pumps – toilets, washing etc. We used woks over gas burners to cook on the veranda.

16 Sep Monday
Moved to Geoff and Francis’ place in the afternoon after moving sheep in the morning. Their house is like one out of House and Garden with sweeping views across bushland with no sign of human existence.

17 Sep Tuesday
Ran down to the farm (10 km) – fencing with Stewart. Later Peter gave us the full farm tour whilst determing whether it was time to water the vines. Dinner at Geoff and Francis’s place – Kate cooked fish salad and sticky date pudding! Open fire – great night!

18 Sep Wednesday
Rode down to the farm while Kate ran down later – after driving to the front gate to avoid the five horses which tended to race towards humans expecting carrots. We rode back to the farm on the motorbike later which was fun. Drove down to the coast block Peter leases from the Shire and repaired the fence to prevent the cattle crossing the river – great fun!

19 Sep Thursday
The first day of shearing had begun and we had a bit of time to watch the action before leaving. Two shearers were going to do 400-500 odd sheep in two days. One shearer had a kelpie cross that could practically talk when it came to sheep. Boy a good dog can save a lot of hard work when it comes to moving sheep! Finally set off at about 1100 hrs across country to Bindoon through wheat belt country and onwards to hit the highway at Merredin. It is impressive how much tree planting is going on in some parts but depressing to see how much salination is occuring. We then travelled on to Southern Cross for a night in a campground – friendly folk at the campground even had a camp fire for the grey nomads to have a chat around. We forwent the pleasure. We were at the back of the campground but could still hear the trucks passing all night.

20 Sep Friday
Left early and visited Kalgoorlie - it would be good to spend a little more time there. We went to the mining museum but didn’t have time to do the tour. Travelled on and stopped for lunch at Norseman. After lunch continued on and eventually stopped at a roadside resting place about 100 km along the 145 km stretch of dead straight road. There were two other vehicles camped there when we arrived and about five by nightfall. Collected firewood and found an old well – must have been some sort of habitation there in the old days. After tea sat by the fire – very pleasant.

21 Sep Saturday
Next morning a look around with the binoculars showed why there was so many roadkill kangaroos – there were a number of large mobs around. We left early and continued along the road listening to talking books. The highlight of the day was stopping at the head of the bight at the Aboriginal park. We were able to see six whales from the platforms erected on the cliffs. One mother and calf were swimming slowly just below the cliffs. It was a little harder to find other travellers stopped for the night beside the road as the traffic had thinned and we were now in the wheatbelt. Eventually we found a roadside stop near Bookabie where two other caravans had set up. We joined them and set up the obligatory fire.

22 Sep Sunday
We travelled to Streaky Bay next morning, set up camp then headed south to Point Labet about 50 km south of the town. On a platform from the cliff we were able to look down on a colony of sea lions – the only mainland colony. We thought it was like a wildlife documentary and watched them for an hour or so. Gradually made our way back to camp looking at all the bays and inlets on the way. Tea in the pub.

23 Sep Monday
Next day Streaky Bay to Murray Bridge – busy through Adelaide. We camped next to the Murray River and inspected all the house boats in the Marina.

24 Sep Tuesday
Travelled on to Bordertown (birthplace of Bob Hawke) for morning tea. Saw white kangaroos in an enclosure adjoining the show grounds on the side of the highway. Interesting place. Further on at Horsham we had a late lunch and decided to continue to the Melbourne instead of a day in the Grampians. Dropped in on Molly at Ballarat and spent a couple of hours with her. Finally arriving in Melbourne at about 8.30 pm.

25 Sep Wednesday
Car washing, inspection of Tricia’s house. Kate shopping with Margaret and Trish.

26 Sep Thursday
Checked the Landrover in for a service at Port Melbourne (2000 km overdue). I rode back along the Yarra to North Balwyn before returning to pick it up at lunchtime. If you plan your route you can get around on low trafficked routes and on some of the main roads in cycle lanes.

27 Sep Friday
Checked out Trakmaster caravans at Bayswater. Impressive set up and very helpful people. We spent about an hour talking to them and they gave us a video to take home. On to Mum’s place and checked out her new Honda. After lunch with Leonie and Anne we had a look at some caravans near Seaford followed by a visit to East Malvern to inspect Anne’s new house. She has some work ahead of her when she moves in October! We hope to help over Christmas and subsequently when we have our freedom! We had an evening meal at Doyle’s overlooking Mordialloc Creek catching up with Steve, Daniel (back from two years in London), Leonie and Anne. Justin also dropped by to see us.

28 Sep Saturday
Grand final of the AFL. Ran early then shopping. Miserable day – watched the Grand Final. Noodles for tea at Trish’s.

29 Sep Sunday
Easy run back to Canberra. Left with a full tank and the low fuel light came on just before Yass. Arrived home at 3 pm and work tomorrow – only 19 work weeks to go!

Vehicle statistics
Total fuel 1781 litresDistance 12 628 kmEconomy 14.1 litres/100kmTotal cost of fuel $1762

On the Road Again - Trip to Centre

26 Apr - 24 Jun 2005

1.

We are back on the road again and will send the odd email but not as regularly as last time. This trip is to the centre and we are currently in Alice Springs.

We left after the Anzac weekend in April after a lovely weekend with Ben and Jenny, and Julia. Ben and Jenny left yesterday to fly to the UK so that Jenny could do her Masters in literature at Glascow University. Lovely weekend but very sad!

We hightailed it up the coast stopping a couple of days at Tuncurry then at Iluca before arriving at Therese's place on the Gold Coast. We spent the next few days helping Therese with a few home improvements. Then it was on to Nambour to get our TV fixed and a few days at Tewantin. We caught up with work colleagues Rob and Pamela Lockwood and heard all the gossip from my work. One thing to say - I am very glad I left when I did as things have gone from bad to worse!!

Then on to Gympie for a delightful couple of days with Paul, Liz and Conor Ryan. We watched Conor star as the goal keeper in his football (soccer) team on Saturday morning before heading for Toowoomba to meet Fred and Heather Allsop for the start of the Allsop Central Australian Tour!!

We then began our run into new territory for us - central and western Queensland on Sunday 8 May travelling to Augathala. The busy east coast was gradually left behind although the amount of traffic on the road surprised us. After about 600 km we were glad to set up camp on the only bit of green grass for the past 300 km. Meeting us there were Jim and Gail Cruden who had sprinted up the middle to join us. Jim had recently had surgery and had not expected to recover so quickly so it was a surprise to have them join us.

Next day we left a little earlier than the others as we were towing so could not travel as fast. We met at lunchtime at Longreach and spent the afternoon looking over the Stockmans' Hall of Fame. I guess we are a little spoilt in Canberra as we felt that a bit of the impact of this worthy museum's thunder has been stolen by the National Museum in Canberra. It is still a great place to visit particularly if you have an interest in the famous names in both exploration and agriculture.

After overnighting just outside Longreach at a roadside camp we headed on to Boulia. We were now travelling in more remote country and were treated to a magnificent desert storm. The skies at times were black with heavy cloud and we eventually were driving through very heavy rain. The creeks and dry river beds gradually filled up and we had to drive through water on a number of causeways. Visibility was less than 50 metres at times. Eventually we came out the other side and the only problem then was to pass other vehicles as dropping a wheel off the one-lane bitumen strip meant sinking into a muddy verge. Further on it hadn't rained and we had a dry night beside the road near the end of the bitumen on the road to the NT border.

Next day we travelled to Tobamorey Station along typical beef roads with lots of corrugations and red dust. The road wasn't too bad but it was nice to pull into the camping area at the cattle station and set up on some green grass. By a happy coincidence they were doing their annual muster and at dusk the mustering helicopter swept low over the trees and landed right next to the camping area.

Next morning we watched cattle being drafted and loaded onto three trailer roadtrains. This is all done from one loading point with the top deck loaded via an internal lowered deck on the first trailer. Cattle are then driven the length of the three trailers via joining ramps between the three trailers. When the top is loaded the front half of the first trailer is raised and cattle are loaded onto the lower deck. It wasn't long before the three roadtrains were loaded and 450-500 cattle were on the road to the station's feedlot somewhere in Queensland. One of the neighbour's cattle which was not loaded on the trucks was a huge bull which stood head and shoulders over the rest of the cattle - it must have been over 1.8 m at the shoulder. We couldn't believe the size of it!

The road deteriorated after the cattle station and we were at times down to 30 kph driving through deep patches of bulldust. I think we travelled about 250 km before camping at a fantastic area off the road. Fred and Heather found it by following a track off the road running into a family group of aborigines who were roasting two kangaroos over a fire. They saw no problem in us camping nearby and we set up about a kilometre off the road with a backdrop of spectacular hills of broken rocks. After the previous night when the station generator disturbed all of our sleep the contrast was amazing. Not a light to be seen or a sound to be heard other than the wind all night! We had a lovely meal using the open fire to cook over with the camp ovens - in our case fish and roasted vegetables!

As we breakfasted next morning we were treated to a couple of large wedge tailed eagles landing on the rocks above us and some kangaroos/wallabies grazing there as well. But the highlight was a large dingo which was chasing a kangaroo over the rocks until he spied us. He then spent the next hour watching us from his rocky perch before eventually tiring and disappearing over the the hill. A fantastic spot!

After some more rough road we eventually met the graders who were working on the road. And bliss after the smooth graded road we found the bitumen and 150 km later Alice Springs. After washing, resupplying and recovering yesterday we went to the Desert Park today. This is a fantastic place for anyone interested in the deserts and particularly to bird watchers. They have a number of avairies which blend into the background bush and allow you to see close up birds that are difficult to get close to in the bush. In addition they have a large nocturnal house in which are many animals which are not generally seen by the public. Many are endangered due to predation by cats and competition from rabbits.

Well that is it so far. Tomorrow we head up the Tanami Track for a couple of hundred kilometres to the bird sanctuary at Newhaven then back to the West Macdonnell Ranges before returning to Alice. More then!

2.
Last time I think we were about to leave Alice Springs and now we are back and about to leave for Hermannsberg, Palm Valley, Finke Gorge, Uluru and the Olgas.

After Alice last time we headed North West on the Tannami Track and just beyond the end of the bitumen overnighted at Tilmouth Well. This was the last bit of grass our campers were going to see for a while. Fortunately the ever present sound of the generator so common in the outback was a fairly distant humm. So the evening around the campfire was very pleasant with a glorious star filled night sky above.

Next day we turned west 20 odd km from Tilmouth onto a lesser used road which, after about 150 km brought us to Newhaven. The road was rough and sandy in parts and the highlight was the close sighing of three large camels. They were used to cars as they waited as each car stopped took the obligatory photo and moved on.

Newhaven is owned by Birds Australia and was bought with public subscriptions and help from the Natural Heritage Trust. It measures 80 by 20 km and was relatively undergrazed because of the underdevepopment of bores for watering cattle. We were told cattle will only move 5-8 km if not in good condition so this dictates how close the bores must be. The property has been destocked of cattle but still carries a large population of camels.

So after being welcomed by the voluntary rangers we set up our dusty camp and settled in. The bird life we observed over the next couple of days was interesting but not as prolific as one would expect on such a reserve. This was probably due to the low rainfall over the past six months.

We followed a number of the suggested routes over the tracks on the property and on the first day climbed to the top of a classic mesa. We found our way up there by climbing up a 15 metre gully in what was otherwise a continuous cliff. When we got to the top we both felt a little uneasy as the rocks at the edge looked rather precarious - the view however was fantastic. Some of the area we passed through on this day was recently burnt in a very hot fire (lightning strikes are not uncommon) and reminded us of the aftermath of the Canberra fires.

Having passed through hundreds of kilometres of grazed desert or dry savannah it was interesting to see how such country looked without cattle. The vegetation seemed far more diverse and healthy despite the low rainfall. In a lot of areas, particularly around the bores, cattle graze everything other than spinifex to the ground. Some places have much higher stocking rates than others.

Next day we came upon a herd? of 13 camels who quietly observed us until approached closer than their area of comfort. They then began to walk off and as we drove closer broke into a gallop. They are an amazing sight and seem to fit into the desert - the truth is they are a curse and are increasing at more than 10% per year. The camels we saw looked in excellent condition and seemed massive in size - much larger than the ones we have previously seen in captivity. Perhaps this was an illusion but they look magnificent in the wild.

Another interesting feature of camels that you are dying to know about is their dung! I know you can't wait to find out!! We first came across it at Tilmouth Well and it looks like slightly oversized kangaroo droppings - we had no idea what it was then despite me being the proud owner of "Scats and Tracks", a book I got for my birthday. Obviously camels are great at conserving water and this minute droppings (compared to the size of the animal) are quite dry. They seem to be able to extract every drop of water out of them.

Next day after listening to howling dingos in the early morning we headed back to Tilmouth Well, overnighting there then heading for the west Macdonnell Ranges next morning. The road was fairly horrendous. Most of the local aborigines travel this country this area in two wheel drive cars and when they break down are left at the roadside, usually turned upside down like dead insects. We counted about fifteen during this day. The highlight of the day was passing by Haasts Bluff which rises out of the flat country spectacularly. It is on Aboriginal land so we were unable to do any walks near it but it is part of what was becoming very interesting landscape.

We drove further along to see more hills and mountains which looked familiar to us - most Australians who have seen Namajira paintings would probably feel likewise as this was his land. His paintings have definitely not overdramatised the landscape - it is stunning!!

We stopped for lunch at Tylers Pass which overlooks Goose Bluff. This is a large rocky outcrop sticking up from the nearby plain like Ayers Rock and is part of a disturbance caused by an ancient meteorite. Truly spectacular!

We spent the next two nights at Ormiston Gorge. We managed to do the Pound Walk which took about three hours and spent the later hour of the day watching the small rock wallabies coming down to the rock pools for water. Magnificent!

Next day we continued to Alice Springs through the fantastic Macdonnells visiting the ancient Ochre Pit used by generations of Aborigines, Serpenting Gorge and Standley Chasm. It has never occurred to me that these mountains can hold their own with the Great Dividing Range in terms of height with the largest over 5000 feet.

Back in Alice we have been resupplying in readiness for 7-8 days in the bush and not having to use the facilities at Uluru which are expected to be very expensive. We have managed to do the Desert Park just outside the town and a few of the sights in the town. Even managed to go out to an Italian restaurant last night - very civilised! Back on the road tomorrow.

3.
Not much time to type emails out in the outback and this might be a quick one! We are at the Pink Roadhouse at Oonadatta and the others are having a shower after several days on the road.

Last time I wrote we were in Alice from whence we travelled to Palm Valley. We weren't sure whether we could get the van in to the camping ground but it turned out to be a breeze. We first stopped at Hermansberg and did a tour around the historic mission station. Kate had to have some apple strudle after reading Lonely Planet and it was very pleasant!

After setting up camp we travelled the last 4 km into the valley. This turned out to be low gear 4wd work barely creeping over rocky creekbeds. Fred walked back and wasn't far behind us! The valley itself is very beautiful with a species of palm dominating the vegetation. They have only survived in this desert environment because of the geology as water seeps from the rocks here providing year around water.

Next day it was off on the Merenie Loop where we were treated to some of the worst roads we had experienced to date. Fortunately we survived and pulled into Kings Canyon late in the day. Next morning we did the loop walk around the canyon which was spectacular. We looked across at one stage from the northern side and could see people near the edge of a sheer cliff. We thought they were not aware of how they were on top of an overhang. A bit later at the same spot we realised we had been in the same situation on the northern side. Spectacular gorge and well worth the travel (it is quite isolated and there is not much else to see nearby).

Unfortunately on the way back to camp from the gorge I detected a major oil leak under the car. Some bad words were said and I did not want to think what Kate was thinking! We discussed new cars! We found out how the NRMA might help us - $920 for a tow to Ayers Rock. We found a mechanic at the resort who thought it might be okay but wasn't exactly sure! Great help!

The background was that I had detected a small leak in the transfer case in Alice and had replaced the oil which had leaked out. Eventually Fred and I worked out that the oil was leaking from a breather in the transfer case, a further step was we found a second filler plug for the transfer case. Lo and behold I had overfilled the transfer case by using the wrong plug! Should have realised at the time as it took nearly the stated capacity of the case to fill it - as small but vital bit of information which didn't register at the time! Ah my reputation as a mechanic is at an all time low but I don't care - we were both just hugely relieved. (Many apologies made to our faithful Landrover!)

After three days at Kings Canyon over this drama we followed the blacktop to Uluru. We met up with Kate's brother Michael, his wife Sam and children Jack and Ruby, who had flown to Alice from Melbourne for a few days. We had a great couple of days walking around the rock and other walks at Kata Juta (the Olgas). It is not hard to see why the area attracts so many tourists! Michael, Sam and Kate went on a 'Sounds of Silence' dinner under the stars which they all loved! Watching sunset on the Rock with champagne, followed by sumptous dinner and talk by an astronomer! Meanwhile I was being tested for baby sitting duties by very smart six and three year olds - I failed! They ran rings around me!

A highlight of our walk at Kata Juta with the Carrolls was watching a falcon whilst we were having morning tea. We saw the falcon make a couple of swoops before diving vertically from a couple of hundred feet up and hitting a honeyeater or miner ten feet above the ground. Unfortunately for the falcon it did not make a clean hit and whilst knocking the bird out of the sky was unable to grab it before it hit the ground. Immediately a butcherbird dived on it and after some time trying unsuccessfully to finish it off, managed to fly off with it.

So back on the road we headed back to the Stuart Highway turning south to Kuldara. After a pleasant camp in a creek bed about 20 km out of town we revised plans as the track into Finke was unsuitable for us (too sandy for the caravan). So it was south and onto the Oonnadatta Track. Last night we camped about 100km short of Oonadatta beside a dry creek.

That is it so far - not sure of our exact route from here but will let you know in the next email.

4
I think I last wrote at Oonadatta and that was some time ago - at least quite a long distance has been travelled since then! We continued down the Oonadatta track and stayed at Coward Springs for the night and did some bird watching in the afternoon. Coward Springs was memorable for two things - the huge flock of correllas which were roosting nearby and the most boring run - Kate and I ran along the Oonadatta track for about four kilometres - out in a dead straight, flat line and back!!

Coward Springs is part of Anna Station which is part of the Kidman empire and is memorable because it is one of the largest cattle stations in the world being half the size of Victoria.

We continued on next day to Marree. Marree is at the bottom of the Birdsville track and we found out that the Great Australian Cattle Drive was about to finish there on the following Friday. So next day we drove up the Birdsville for about 40 km till we came to a turnoff to the participants camp.

In order to participate in the cattle drive you have to hand over about 2500 of the readies for four or five days in the saddle. As you would imagine for that price you don't sleep in a swag!! We followed a track into the camp and what a camp it was - no hardship here!! I think there were 36 flash looking tents equipped with stretchers and dooners. There were two or three semitrailers with toilet and shower blocks, numerous staff tents and a whole infrastructure for delivering water and disposing of waste. Looked pretty swish to me! I think the participants get driven out each morning to the cattle and driven back at night. Apparently the camp was moved each week.

After a bit of nosing around we found Jody Kruse (granddaughter of the famous Birdsville Track mailman Tom Kruse) who was coordinating the drive. She filled us in on all the details and told us where the cattle and followers were. A few kilometres up the track we found the cattle drive at a halt for lunch. We didn't go too close but suffice to say the tent and surrounding tables gave us the idea that the paying customers were not feasting on cheese sandwiches!

The 400 cattle were neatly arranged in a nice square arrangement mostly taking a rest sitting on the ground. They looked so tame that I think you could have droved them on foot. We waited for half an hour or so but it looked like a long lunch so we moved on. I don't think the paying customers did too much droving as there were plenty of paid staff in attendance.

Next day it was down to Lyndhurst and onto the bitumen to Leigh Creek for reprovisioning! A real supermarket!! The weather was cold and there was a bit of rain about so Jim and Gail decided to call it a day and head for home. The rest of us, Fred, Heather, Kate and me headed back to Lyndhurst and turned right onto the Strezlecki Track heading for Innaminka. We camped that night on the banks of the Frome River - a cold night around the campfire! The highlight was the huge moths (6-8 cm long) which were attracted to the light. Practically had to make a landing strip for them! Some committed suicide into the stir fry I was making in a wok over the fire - fortunately I managed to fish them out. We did wonder how they would taste but noone was game!!

The next night we stayed at Monte Collina bore where there was some good birdlife and continued on passing through cattle country and progressively into dryer areas and the Moomba gas and oil fields. Santos could do a bit on its PR because, apart from one sign overlooking the gas plant there was very little information available. We did find out that there are gas pipelines to Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra, an oil and ethalene (I think!) pipeline to Port Augusta.

Onwards to Innaminka with the weather giving a foretaste of what was to come with strong winds hitting us head on. After inspecting the camps in town we decided to stay a little out of town along the Cooper Creek at Callyamuwa Waterhole which is permanent water. A beautiful spot which was topped off by 15 horses trotting past our camp and going down to the river to drink and graze. We werent's sure whether they were brumbies as they were fine looking horses - suspect they were station horses let loose to graze. Just on dusk a couple of brolgas alighted on the opposite bank to drink - magnificent birds.

That night it bucketted down and it was a fairly soggy camp next morning (22 mm of rain fell). We decided to stay put and go for a walk when an elderly couple towing an off-road caravan came past and asked about the track out. We couldn't help them so they continued on. An hour later the woman came for our help as they were bogged. After a bit of crawling in the mud we managed to drag them out with Fred's trusty Landcruiser. We think they were a bit shaken by the event and they subsequently stayed on and followed us out. They were extremely grateful giving us a prawn trap for catching bait - this of course set off Kate's compulsive fishing behaviour. She ended up catching two fish (I have to put this in!) and Fred and I got none!

A day later we decided to brave the road as more rain was forecast and managed the track out despite some boggy patches (the old couple followed us - the wouldn't have had a chance on the day they started). It quickly became apparent how fast the dirt roads become impassable with any rain - there are few culverts here and all the creeks and drainage lines flow across the roads creating little or in some cases large mini gullys.

Unfortunately we were not able to find out too much about our proposed route to Tibooburra as it was the Monday public holiday and everyone connected with the roads was on holidays. So we decided to head out - we reasoned that we needed to get to the bitumen as soon as possible otherwise we could be trapped for some time. For the first 70-80 km we were fine as the roads were all weather gravel roads built to service the Moomba gas fields. Then we turned onto the dirt/sandy roads and the fun began. To cut a long story short we found ourselves getting further and further onto wet and slippery roads but there was no turning back as the weather looked worse where we had come from. We did diversions, straddled water and climbed along the edges of the road. We finally met someone who was coming through from the other direction who indicated that we could get through as long as we followed their path (which wasn't hard to do).

We decided to take a short cut on one occasion (a bit overconfident it turns out) and Fred went ahead and got through. We charged in but the mud was about 20 cm deep and eventually we ground to a halt. One of the disadvantages of towing a three tonne caravan is that it is wider than the car and we were pushing two lots of wheel tracks through. Out came the tow rope and the statch strap and in a short time we were on the way again with Fred's help.

Later we passed two road trains, each with three trailers stuck in the middle of the road. We wondered about the hundreds of sheep on board but found out later that they were able to get going again and passed through Tibooburra that night. It was a long day!

Next day we were stuck in Tibooburra until 1.30 pm when they opened the road south to Broken Hill. Once again the road was slippery but we were now veterans and there was no further drama.

So the rain has put a stop to our outback travels - all the dirt roads were closed so visiting National Parks was impossible. After a couple of days looking around Broken Hill and subsequently Mildura we headed for Melbourne and Fred and Heather home to Canberra.

This means we will have to go back to try and visit the places we missed - hopefully we will do this before the next drought as we don't want to be drought breakers again. We are intending to stay in Melbourne for a week or so before returning home.

On the Road - North

3 May - 12 Jul 2006

1.
For those of you who don't know we are on the road north to escape the Canberra winter till mid July. We haven't had many opportunities to write emails so here we go.

The trip so far has been blessed with lovely weather. We drove straight through to Forster on the first day - much easier than previously with a new tollway out the back of Liverpool. We only had about 7 km of surburban driving and the rest is now freeway! Stayed in Forster for four days and had the boat in the water for two of them. Unfortunately lots of little fish but nothing that we could keep. Saw lots of dolphins and ate fish and chips for tea. Beautiful!

Then it was on to South West Rocks for a couple of days. Once again lovely warm weather so we did some bike riding, on one occasion up to the lighthouse which is truly spectacular. We stayed in a lovely protected National Park camp ground. During our stay we got talking to local fisherpersons who were waiting for the mullet runs - more of that later.
Our next stop was Iluka at the mouth of the Clarence River. Once again we stayed in a National Parks camp with lovely views out to the bays to the north. We fished and got a couple of small ones but nothing to keep. The mullet were running here and we purchased some from the fisherman who was unloading them at the local fishing cooperative - shovelling them out of the back of a ute!. A bloke in front of us filled an esky but we only had a plastic bag and were on our bikes at the time. We didn't know how much to offer so Kate gave him $10 and he wanted to give us more than we could handle. Turns out the bloke with the esky only paid $10 as well! Unfortunately I had to clean the fish which is never fun but I am getting better at it. Now got 3-4 meals in the freezer!

The mullet apparently come out of the rivers at this time of year and congregate in large schools making their ways along the beaches to spawn (I think). The fishermen wait on the beaches for the schools which can be distinguished by bubbling on the surface and the odd fish leaping out of the water. They are very difficult to catch with line as they are absorbed with reproducing and not hungry. The fishermen take small boats out through the surf dragging nets and encircle the school and pull it to the beach. The fish are skittish so mostly they use row boats in order to avoid frightening the fish with a motor. Unfortunately we didn't manage to see the boats in action which was a shame.

We did a ride along the beach at Iluka going for 10 km before turning back ( a great ride but about the only one available apart from the main road out to the highway). We could have gone as far again as there didn't seem to be an end to the beach. Saw more dolphins.

Next we drove on to the Gold Coast to catch up with my sister Therese. Did some work on Therese's backyard constructing a retaining wall - I am getting plenty of practice after Barb's place! Looked good and she was delighted. Caught up with her sons and their partners and children. The kids are gorgeous and this time opened up to us. We had a lovely time.
After leaving Therese's we stopped at Bushtrackers on the Friday for some repairs. Had to purchase new batteries as one had collapsed. We had a water leak repaired and the CD player as well. James Blunt is now echoing through the neighbourhood! Thank you Julia!! Very satisfying to have the job done by professionals!!

On to Gympie to catch up with the Ryan/Lewis household - very pleasant weekend including a trip to Eumundi markets for Kate and a trip to Bundaberg for me to watch Conor play a practice match for the area soccer rep team. Conor is the goalie and acquitted himself admirably against an older team. Also caught up with an ANU colleague who lives nearby in what he calls a rustic setting. He lives at the top of a valley and has planted his 120 acre farm to trees. I think he knows everyone of them by name. He lives a reclusive life emerging to do the occasional teaching job and to get supplies. We did a walk around his farm which now carries about 6 cows and hundreds of trees including some excellent red cedars.
We are now in Bundaberg, actually on the coast about 15 km out of town at Mon Repos, a turtle sanctuary. No turtles now - wrong time of year- but we have been catching some fish off the beach. A fellow caravaner gave us the tip to catching whiting off the beach and we have had a meal of small fish with some more caught this morning.

Had a cold morning today with the temperature dropping to 7 degrees overnight - might have to move further north. Toured the Ginger Beer factory this morning - we thought we were going on the Bundy Rum tour!! Spent half an hour talking to the local women guides and having a lovely time drinking about 8 varieties of ginger beer and other soft drinks. Don't think we will worry about the Rum tour now.

2.
We have made it to Port Douglas! Caught up with our nephew Stewart Sowden last night. He is enjoying living here and his work on a new six star resort. We had a quick look last night and it was awesome! The pool is probably 100 metres long in a L shape with lots of apartments opening directly onto it. Prices were pretty health too - over $250 per night!
After leaving Bundaberg (after doing a tour of the distillery which was very interesting!) we headed north to the town of 1770. This is just north of Agnes Waters which we were told will be the next major development similar to the Gold Coast or the Sunshine Coast. It certainly has all the natural beauty at the moment - hopefully this will not change as much of the coastline has been preserved as National Park. We camped on the inlet in a delightful park and enjoyed sunsets over distant mountains. We were told about an inlet further along in Eumbula National Park where we could launch the boat for some estuary fishing. Fortunately or unfortunately we had to negotiate a rough track of about 15 km to get there and for much of the time we were the only people there.

Decided to fish off the bank of the outlet and we had some reasonable success catching quite a few smaller fish. The inlet was alive with activity with lots of bait fish being chased by small barracuda, one of which we managed to catch.

The peace and quiet was broken mid morning by the sound of a big diesel motor coming along the beach. Around the corner came one of those ex army amphibian vehicles. We used to call them Army Ducks but they have some other name now. They are a tourist attraction here and you can pay for an all-day tour along the beaches and across the estuaries. Needless to say we must have been the attraction as they watched us fishing for a while before moving off across the estuary, negotiating the water with ease. They must have permission to drive along the beach because noone else is allowed to in this National Park.

The fishing was so much fun we decided to go back the next day for more. Unfortunately we didn't have as much luck but it was most enjoyable.
Our next stop was Yeppon which is on the coast east of Rockhampton. Like many of the Nth Qld beaches there are big tides and very wide sand flats at low tide. One of the reasons for stopping here was to visit the wetlands north of the Japanese Resort just north of the town. It used to have a Japanese name but has now been taken over by the more familiar names to us - I think it is now Rydges. So at low tide next day we rode northwards for 16 km on the beach being passed by cars of fishermen or surfers. It was a very pleasant ride with the south easterly trade winds behind us. We came back on the road through part of the wetlands unfortunately not seeing many birds.

By this time it was past morning tea time and the resort was drawing us in (or one member of the party was winging about coffee and I don't drink it - I don't think I need to be more specific!). After a slight altercation induced by low blood sugar of the author our bikes were duly locked up and we proceeded to have coffee on the terrace looking out over the beautiful gardens. Unfortunately the locker of the bikes forgot to check whether he had the appropriate key for the lock and upon completion of coffee break discovered said key was back in the caravan.
After much self flagulation and attempts to shift blame to the female member of the party plans were formulated to 1. hitch hike back to the caravan park, 2. pay for the bus trip back, 3. run back along the beach etc.

The adventurous member of the party discovered that the bikes were only locked together and not to an immovable object and that the lock might have sufficient length to ride both bikes back side by side. Second member was adamant that she was not falling off and that it couldn't be done. After further discussion the party moved to the beach to negotiate further, after all it was only 8 km along the beach to the campsite. After still further discussion and a couple of false starts it was proved that it is possible to ride two bikes locked together with a cable lock for 8 km without falling off providing the party worked as a smooth team. Unfortunately we couldn't take a photo to prove it but it can be done!

That afternoon we drove back in the car to find the wetlands missed in the aborted morning bicycle trip. We failed. Too many tracks, no maps and approaching darkness means we decided to beat a retreat before getting lost - as we did last time we were here! Later we were told that the wetlands had reduced considerably as the golf courses were using much of the water for irrigation. Next time we will take a tour!! Or get a map!

Onwards to Mackay, actually a bit further on to Seaforth, which is near Cape Hillsborough. We stayed at another lovely council caravan park on the water, this one without any power. We picked the brains of the local proprietor of the fishing/tackle shop and next day launched our boat in the nearby estuary. There followed a very enjoyable afternoon of fishing the highlight of which was a large flathead about 45 cm long. We also caught sole (flounder in the south), small bream and on the top-of-the-tide grunter. Next day we tried again but were not so successful. We were finally put off by a local fisherman who mentioned we shouldn't be sitting on the side of our boat. Upon asking why we were told there where a few swimming logs just upstream. Funny how the local fishing shop didn't mention them. We took a spin upstream at speed but didn't see any and were not sure whether the local bloke just didn't want us catching his fish or whether there were really big crocs around. Needless to say it put us off the fishing and the boat hasn't been back in the water since!

Next stop was Townsville where Kate's mother has joined us for a week or so. Up until Townsville the weather has been warm and sunny but now we struck warm and overcast and we have not seen much of the sun since. After doing the sights of Townsville including the amazing museum we moved northwards to just north of Mission Beach.

This area was recently devastated by a huge cyclone and the effects are immediately apparent. Although it happened over two months ago there are many houses still with tarpaulins drapped over the roof and many business have closed. The council caravan park was washed away in part and the most of the trees have been stripped of leaves. Most are reshooting but there is not much over 6 metres in height! One coconut tree was bent over so that the trunk looked like a quarter circle!

The plan is now to spend the weekend at Port Douglas (we couldn't miss the Sunday markets could we!) then head for Cooktown via the inland route. We have never been there and we have heard that there is now a bitumen road for the complete journey. Of course the dirt wouldn't have worried us but, with the new road, it won't be long before every man and his dog is there! See it before it is overcommercialised I say!

3.
Sunday morning in beautiful Lucinda which is on the mainland just south of Hinchinbrook Island. Weather reasonable - 23 degrees and overcast. I guess we cannot complain as it is still warm however we haven't had a realy sunny day since leaving Townsville.

The trip to Cooktown was a snack - the new bitumen road makes it a breeze and we were surprised at the amount of traffic on the road. Turns out it was the Monday of the long weekend and the last day of a festival at Cooktown. When we got there the place and people looked like they were having a recovery day after a big night!

Cooktown wasn't what I expected at all. I think I had visions of coconut palm lined beaches looking out towards the Barrier Reef. Instead the township is built on an estuary and looks to the west. The seaward side can only be seen on one relatively small beach. Nevertheless it is a beautiful spot and reminiscent of the feeling of Cairns about 20 years ago when the airport terminal was a tin shed. The early signs are there however with property values rising.

Our stay and activities were limited by the gale force winds which prevailed for the three days we stopped there. We are now experts on Cook's time there after visiting the museum which is in an old convent. The display is excellent and I never thought that reading Cook's and Bank's diaries could be so interesting. I guess being there and seeing the sights brought it alive.

The weather meant we couldn't go out in the boat or in any other boat for a trip and at night the wind howled! One night the awning came down - I am not sure how as it was still intact with the support poles somehow turned through 90 degrees and running horizontally. I still can't figure out how it could get in that position. We were woken by a particularly vicious wind gust and felt the awning going down. Needless to say there were many others outside fixing tent poles and awnings on caravans and camping trailers.

We did a few trips to headlands and on one occasion to a lighthouse accessed by a 4WD track. The wind was so strong we weren't game to let Margaret (Kate's Mum) out of the car as I am sure she would have been blown off the hill. On Grassy Hill above the town we had a similar experience and have the photos to prove it - fortunately she was able to hang onto a convenient railing.

So we travelled back to Port Douglas for a few days and to catch up with my Mum, Elizabeth and Matt who were staying there for a week. We all had breakfast in the rainforest or more accurately in the aviary and it was voted a great success. If you haven't been there it is a large aviary containing many of the local land and water birds. After breakfast we were able to walk through the various rainforest and water habitats and get up close to the birds which would only be seen at a distance in the wild. The highlight was a nesting pair of jabirus - we even saw the change of shift as one bird vacated the nest whilst we watched.

After the compulsory return visit to the Sunday markets at Port Dougas we travelled to Cairns in time for Margaret to catch the direct flight to Melbourne and a return to the cold. We enjoyed her company and hoped she had a good holiday.

In Cairns we found a reasonable caravan park quite close to town. The managers had a Bushtracker caravan so we had VIP treatment. After our previous visit with Ben some years ago this was quite pleasant. At that time we stayed in a "resort" caravan park which had everything we didn't need and charged accordingly. It was also a long way out of town. This time we spent a lot of our time wandering around on our bikes and enjoyed the bike-friendly roads. Perhaps the only downside was the backpackers who gathered to watch the soccer matches on a TV in the campers kitchen. It was fine for the Aussies match but we got woken up one morning by cheers as the Poms scored a goal. Judging by the cheers the Poms would have won 2-0. We realised the two goals scored by Sweden were greeted with silence!

We managed to squeeze in a day on the reef on perhaps the only (partially) sunny day in weeks. The snorkelling was reasonable but ruined a bit by the 20 knot winds which produced a vigorous chop on the surface. One older person broke her leg getting onto the glass bottomed boat and had to be flown to hospital by helicopter - so I wasn't exaggerating about the chop!

So on our journey south we have arrived here at Lucinda which has the longest pier for loading sugar on ship in the world. It is nearly 6 km long but doesn't look it - shows you how difficult it is to estimate distance over water. There is an old loading facility nearby which has been converted to a fishing platform and we have been using it unsuccessfully to date. The water is reasonably calm right on the high or low tide but in between it is a raging torrent as the water rushes between the mainland and Hitchinbrook Island to the north. I guess a lot of water has to pass through the passage to the large area behind the island each tide. It is therefore impossible to hold the bottom with bait at this time.

We went for a longer bike ride yesterday through the nearby cane fields back towards Halifax and Ingham. I am fascinated by the cane train railway system. Next to us in the campground is the huge storage facility for sugar used prior to export and from here the narrow gauge rail network stretches through the canefields to the various mills and from them out to the farms. It is extensive and I understand stretches over 40 km to the south. It is an amazing infrastructure - It would be great to make a bicycle to run on rails to explore the network if only it was allowed!

We have of course been watching the football and enjoying it immensely. I have discovered I am married to a soccer fanatic, or perhaps an Australian soccer fanatic! I fell asleep during the first game and was severely chastised for it! So we have had the alarm on and been awake at various times of the night enjoying it immensely. Parks must have adequate reception before we can stop there! So the big test on Monday night! Go the Socceroos!

4.
We are now on the Gold Coast staying with Therese again - thankfully she is not getting sick of us yet!

I think we last wrote at Lucinda. It is definitely a place we will return to. We had a lovely time there with fruitless fishing but great bike riding and a very pleasant climate.

I might have mentioned the sugar loading wharf which stretches out 5.6 km or 5.8 km from the shore. It is a remarkable structure for a number of reasons. Primarily it has to withstand cyclonic conditions and it got me thinking as we fished nearby on an old wharf. Basically the structure is an enclosed conveyor belt with a road alongside. The enclosure is all done with corrugated iron which has probably been specially treated to withstand the salt and is attached with bolts on every second corrugation. I started to think about just how many sheets of corrugated iron to cover three or four sides of a 2 metre wide enclosure going for 5.6 km, then about 50 bolts per sheet ..... the mind boggles. Wouldn't have minded having the contract for supplying that amount of steel and bolts. This of course doesn't take into account the hundreds of pylons supporting the structure nor the amount of concrete and reinforcing comprising the road. An amazing structure!

The wharf reminded me of "fieldwork" training I did during my national service days. We were told that it is very hard to estimate distance over water, the reason being there are few visual clues to go on. To look at this wharf it is difficult to believe it is so long - it looks long, maybe a kilometre or so but 5.6?? The reason it is so long is of course because the water is so shallow and at low tide we rode out along a sandbar which ran parallel to the wharf. I think we got about one kilometre out and the wharf end seemed no closer!

After leaving Lucinda we put in a hard day of travelling before stopping near Gladstone. Once again I was astonished by the size of the operations here. We only drove through but managed to glimpse the aluminium refinery, export coal facilities, power staion and on our run on the following morning the oil refinery. Couldn't stay to have a good look around so next time!

Another day of travelling and we arrived at Rainbow Beach or at least 10 km from Rainbow Beach at Inskip Point. This is a very popular spot for Queenslanders we were told - at Christmas and Easter there is a sea of blue tarpaulins stretching for 3-4 km through the sandunes along the beach on this narrow isthmus. Being school holidays there were quite a few people about - despite the fact that the only facilties available were toilet blocks. It is a very sandy area so we did a careful reconnaisance before deciding on a campsite. We ended up having a bit of trouble trying to back in so we let some air out of the tyres before coming in a different way easily. Amazing what flat tyres can do on sand.

Had a lovely time here watching the passing traffic on the beach - main thoroughfare to Fraser Island - and the ferries transporting them across the narrow sea passage to the island. We rode the beach ourselves back to Rainbow Beach for supplies. We had no luck fishing the beach but more success in the Zodiac.

We tied up to a buoy in a narrow part of the inlet behind the isthmus and had a great time as the fish were biting ferociously. We had trouble hooking them at first and spent a lot of time feeding them. Eventually we got the hand of it and landed some good fish - we think the locals call them sweep. And then the big one! Well, actually the one that got away! Not sure what it was but it managed to tow the boat around a bit and take plenty of line from my reel before snapping the line. Wish I'd seen it! So we had two days of fun and several feeds of fish!

So now a few days here and back to the cold. We have some preparations to do before heading over to the UK to see Ben, leaving at the end of the month.

Before finishing I should say we have been fascinated by a particular bird whilst travelling North Queensland. It is called a thick knee or some call them curlews. They are probably best known for the hideous screams which punctuate the nights in the north. They stand around during the day well camoflaged under low shrubbery and are not hard to find as they are happy to inhabit suburban gardens near the coast. They have huge eyes which are an obvious advantage at night time. They transform at night time from the street corner dropout to road runner. Around the campground at night time they seem to think they are invisible to us and chase insects rapidly across the ground running between the caravans and tents. We have yet to see them scream their call - maybe next time up north!

Around the World in 76 Days

29 July – 12 Oct 2006

1.
As of Saturday 29 July we are on our trip around the world sponsored by Qantas Frequent Flyer program (that is we managed to save enough points to purchase around the world tickets and planned far enough ahead to book the flights 11 months ago).

We are allowed five stops - Hawaii, San Francisco, New York, London and Bangkok - and will be away for 76 days or 11 weeks. So we will be sending the odd email to let you know of our travels and would love to hear how things are going at your end.

Our first stop was Maui in Hawaii. Kate had organized a condo on the north west side of the island. This meant a Dash 8 flight from Honolulu to a small airstrip nearby. This flight was delayed at Honolulu because we were the only English speaking passengers. The Americans require English speaking - 35 pound lifting persons to sit adjacent to the wing exits. Should there be an emergency such passengers are required to lift the exit doors inwards and obey instructions from the flight steward. All the other passengers were Japanese! Eventually a lovely Japanese - speaking Hawaiian native was found to give a safety briefing.

As we descended after an uneventful flight it started to get bumpy and it was obvious we were going to land in high winds. We skimmed in over pineapple fields and had the roughest landing on the tiny strip - the steward informed us it was one of the better ones and that normally it was a lot rougher. It made me wonder how long the plane was going to last!

Our condo was just down the hill from the airport so we toddled down towing our bags on one of the few footpaths available on the island, or so it seemed to us. We had to find a shop fairly quickly as we were getting rather hungry so we walked off down what seemed like the only other footpath on the island to the supermarket which was supposed to be only "three minutes away" - in a car we found out after a half hour walk!
Our intention was to walk, use public transport or hire bicycles. After two days we gave up and hired a car. The place is set up for cars only and despite the complaints of the locals fuel is cheap by our standards - less than $1 per litre.

Our condo opened onto the shoreline so we had lovely views towards the nearby island of Moloki and all the passing boats. We swam and snorkeled off the rocky shore and, on one occasion saw turtles. The turtles were plentiful (at least from the shoreline) but the water just off our condo was rather murky because of the persistent trade winds which came up on most days. So although they were there we couldn't see them.
Needless to say the water temperature was delightful and "no pain".
The weather on most days was in the high twenties and the humidity not too uncomfortable so it was a very pleasant change from the negative temperatures of a Canberra morning! The people are very relaxed and quite laid back - with a bit of an effort they were even able to understand our accents!

After five days we headed back to Honolulu and a connecting flight to San Francisco. This was a domestic flight with American Airlines and whilst it left at 1 pm and arrived at 8.30 pm turned out to be only a 4.5 hour flight because of the 3 hour time difference. We expected a meal on a flight of this length and were caught out badly. We purchased a sandwich to tide us over but we will know in future to find out - food is very important to us!!!

We are now at Sea Ranch which is about a three hour drive north of San Francisco on the coast. We are staying with Lisa, Jim, Ethen and Miranda in their delightful holiday house. The setting is an old ranch which was subdivided about thirty years ago with strict covenants on the siting of the houses, house cladding and garden layouts. The result is a very pleasant setting of widely spaced wooden houses which are a weathered grey colour, low shrubbery and beautiful views over the nearby cliffs to the water below from all the houses. Although their house is over thirty years old you would never know it as the design seems timeless with high cathedral ceilings with full length windows. Internal walls are of Western red cedar and roof lining is rough sawn pine. The cost of such timber use in Australia would be prohibitive but obviously they are local species here.

We have walked along the cliffs and watched the plentiful seals resting and fishing in the nearby kelp forests. Deer are also plentiful and we have seen the odd jack rabbit which I would swear were hares. So far we haven't seen any raccoons yet but Ethen promises to show us some before we leave.

Although the kids have been riding the waves and paddling the water is far too cold for us. We have paddled but my feet ache the water is so cold. It is a shame because it would be fun to swim with the seals and we understand that abalone are relatively plentiful. The water is very clear and there is obviously plentiful fish if the diving pelicans are any indication.

So it off northwards tomorrow. We plan to travel through Oregon and Washington and may even get to Canada. We have about two weeks here before meeting up with Julia in New York.

2.
After a wonderful few days with our very hospital American friends we headed north up the Pacific coast. The roads are tortuously slow with 15 mph corners and very few straights. The surface however is brilliant with beautiful hotmix surfaces the norm - fantastic bike and motor bike riding. We saw quite a number of touring cyclists but it is very challenging territory with steep hills and fairly narrow roads with little shoulders. Cars travel fairly fast so I think we would think carefully before attempting such a trip.

The weather is frequently overcast and the sea fog seems to hang out to sea (at least whilst we have been here). The result is a grey landscape into the weathered wooden houses blend beautifully.

We stopped at a couple of small towns on the coast some of which are now largely catering to tourism but others were working towns with healthy fishing and forestry industries. Not far further we came into the redwood forests - which are stunning! Stayed at Eureka overnight at a very ordinary Motel - good to start low and work up!

Next day we diverted to a forest reserve named after Lady Bird Johnston who was the incunbant in the White House when the reserve was declared. We climbed up a steep bitumen road for probably about 8 km coming into cloud. Just as we parked a large log truck passed us going down which astounded me. It was a very narrow and windy steep downhill run to the coast but they obviously take it in their stride. For those interested they use timber jinkers but unlike Australian ones they need a crane at either end to load them onto the back of the truck - a disadvantage in Australia. They do however track perfectly because of the extended hitching point - hence they can negotiate very tight corners without going all over the road.

The rest of the day was spent driving through amazing forests heading inland to join up with Interstate 5. A straight run up along this highway covered most of Oregon in one day and we arrived in Portland which is at the northern end of Oregon. We had intended to drive to Canada on this road but decided that it was just too much driving and not enough sightseeing so have changed to a more leisurely route.

Driving on the wrong side of the road is a bit nerve racking at first but we are slowly getting used to it. I did have the idea that we would get away from traffic once we got away from San Francisco but this has proved to be wrong. It might be the time of year (summer) but all the main roads are full of cars, 4WDs, log trucks and any number of RVs (motorhomes and caravans).

As most who drive here soon observe the RVs are amazing. Full bus sized, specially made they cruise along at 100 km towing a large 4WD or the equivalent, and not just on the flat. We passed one going up a fairly steep hill which was still doing about 90 kph with a large 4WD on the back. It had a small sign saying 300 brake horsepower! Most of the caravans are like semi trailers i.e. they are hitched into the back of a ute. There are more of them in Australia now but here they are the norm. Rolo will be glad to hear we have seen two Avans!

We stayed two nights in Portland and spent the day looking over the "World Forestry Centre" which I had had some dealings with in my job. Although "World" mostly means USA there was some space devoted to world forestry. It was a most interesting display - even had a simulation machine of a mechanised tree feller. The rest of the day was spent wandering around Portland, a most interesting city. Kate managed to find the Columbia store and purchase some shorts which she is most pleased with.

After leaving Portland we diverted east for a visit to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Without going into a boring background of how it was set up by the Evergreen Corporation it is sufficient to say that it is in the middle of nowhere and is a most amazing museum. Its greatest claim to fame is that it houses the Spruce Goose. Howard Hughes built this flying boat towards the end of the war mostly from wood and it is still the largest aircraft to fly. It has eight engines and is truly massive - even a jumbo jet is smaller. It only flew once and now has been lovingly restored and is the centre piece of the museum. Actually it dominates!! Lots of other planes are parked under it including the fastest ever built - the black bird stealth plane. I think Kate was a reluctant visitor but quickly became fascinated as it was so well done.

My favourite was a Mustang which was built towards the end of WW11. I grew up near Moorabinn Airport in Melbourne and there were a couple of these planes hangered there in the 1950s. They have a very distinctive sound from their massive single engine - quite unmistakeable. They could fly at over 40000 ft and for long distances - to accompany the long distance bombers flying from England to the continent during WW11.
We travelled west after this heading towards the inland north south route on the other side of the Cascades. We stopped overnight at Detroit Lake which is a picture postcard location on a lake which was in fact a dammed river used for hydro electricity. The place was crowded with campers and boaters. It didn't take long to walk over the town and the highlight was walking past the sheriff's office to see a sign saying that a cougar had been sighted in the town a few days before! I think it is the nearest we will get to one but we would have liked to have seen one (from the safety of our car of course!!).

Next day we stopped at Three Sisters and did a looped tour of the sights nearby. The town is named after the nearby three snow capped mountains (extinct volcanoes) nearby. The highlight was viewing a nearby forest fire which was burning about 6-8 km away. From our vantage point at about 5500 ft we were able to observe aerial water bombing with large tanker aircraft. I had read about it but obviously never seen it as we generally only use helicopters in Australia. It was hard to tell if they were doing any good and we didn't have the time to wait around.

In the afternoon we arrived at Bend and decided to stay for two nights. Spent a lazy day looking over the High Desert Museum - once again a very well done Museum. It was interesting to see this after visiting a similar display at Alice Springs last year. Although birds featured in a raptor display they don't seem to be so important as in Australia. Perhaps it is because of the high density of people and mammals. The emphasis in this museum was on the native indians and early explorers.
We are off south today to visit Crater Lake.

3.
We are now in Scunthorpe in North Linconshire, England staying with Jenny's parents, Dave and Jill. We flew from New York on Saturday night and spent most of Sunday waiting on platforms for connecting trains to here. Unfortunately for us, track works, a long weekend and a cancelled train due to a suicide up the line from us meant we had a long day waiting for four trains. The trans Atlantic trip has taken some adjustment too as it only takes about six hours but our watches needed to go back five hours. Consequently we were very grateful for the very warm reception and comfortable bed. It was also very pleasant to see Ben again - the whole point for the trip!!

But back a bit - I think we were in California with Lisa, Jim, Ethan and Miranda when last we wrote. We spent two nights there enjoying the Californian late summer on their beautiful property. They kindly took us to the Napa Valley where we visited two wineries. I found the vineyards fascinating. There was no evidence of mechanisation in harvesting - according to one guide the grapes were too valuable and would be damaged in the harvesting operation. Cynical me thought that they have a ready supply of cheap labour from south of the border and can do it cheaper manually! We did an interesting winery tour and tasted some foul wines (not just the ignorant writer's opinion either - noone liked them). We also tasted some fine wines at Jim and Lisa's favourite winery and now we know why. A great day, thank you Lisa and Jim.
There is a saying among caravanners and campers that Milton (my brother in law) and I have used for years - "He who has the most toys wins" - as a way of describing the best setups. Well as far as I am concerned Jim has topped us all. I just happened to notice on our second day at Citrus Heights a red convertible sports car in a side garage. On closer examination of the badgework I realised it was a Porshe Boxter! Even better Jim very generously gave me a ride in it on the next night. There is nothing quite like the sound of that flat six cylinder motor when it is given a bit of freedom to get going. Even more generously Jim gave me a drive and then both he and Lisa insisted that I take Kate for a spin - fantastic!! What a magnificent car!

Our flight to New York was uneventful if a bit long as we had to stop at Dallas Fort Wirth on the way. This is a huge airport and whilst we had 1.5 hours between flights we couldn't have walked to our terminal in adequate time it is that large and spread out. Fortunately driverless trains are used in airports now to ferry passengers between terminals, carparks, hotels and car rental sites which at first is a bit disconcerting!
At Newark airport in New Jersey we managed to find the train station and bought tickets to Penn Station on Manhatten. Unfortunately we got on the wrong train - not used to privatised train companies competing for the same destination on the same track. Fortunately the conductor took pity on us and let us stay on the train to our destination.

Whilst waiting for the train by ourselves in the waiting room we overheard a sob story from a young man who had lost his wallet at the airport. He had just come into the waiting room and was not in our view but we could hear him quite clearly. We heard him telling hospital staff other doctors would have to cover for him as he had no money to travel into the hospital. He said that he had been to the police and that his credit cards had been safely stopped. His story was so good that we were both going to go over to him and offer him some money when our train arrived and we couldn't offer. A little later it occurred to us that it was probably an elaborate hoax and that we had only been saved by the train - just a little too perfect tale or are we just getting too cynical?

Anyway we managed to find our way to the large youth hostel which Kate had booked and met up with Julia who had flown in the night before. Unfortunately they had stuffed up our booking and we were in a six-bedder with other people instead of a three bedder by ourselves. Negotiations for correction of the situation failed and after a protracted session on the internet and phone calls we took a cab to the Holiday Inn in Soho near the Chinese area in Lafayette Street.

The taxi trip was an experience in itself - essentially it is a drag race from one set of lights to the next red light intersperced with horn blowing to warn pedestrians crossing against the lights. The philosophy seems to be that the faster you go the more lights you will get through. Although the speed limit is 40kph it is not uncommon to be flying along at 80kph. Fortunately we escaped without incident and, to me, at a relatively inexpensive cost.

As an aside, noone seems to be worried about speeding in the USA. Although there are warning signs of "radar control" everyone seems to be doing at least 20 kph over the limit. Whilst driving in Oregon I was constantly being overtaken and the heavier the traffic the worse it seemed. It takes a bit of getting used to after the constant harrassment in Australia for being just a bit over the limit!!

Although the accommodation was a bit substandard after the other Holiday Inns we had been used to, we decided to stay here for our seven days despite the cost. I will remember it for a long time as the internet charges were horrendous. We had got used to free internet in other Holiday Inns but this one charged $1 for four minutes - $US15 per hour!! So that is my excuse for not writing sooner!!

New York is huge and a bit hard to come to terms with at first. Apart from my usual problem in the northern hemisphere of lacking any sense of direction - the direction of the sun is all wrong - it is very flat and distinguishing landmarks are hard to see. We lined up for the double decker bus tour which took three days to complete - a downtown tour, an uptown tour and a Brooklyn tour across the river. These tours took us to most of the main tourist attractions but there was so much detail imparted by the tour guides that it all became a bit much after a while and merged into a blur.

We managed to get tickets to a matinee performance of Mamma Mia which Kate enjoyed enormously "best live show she had ever seen", walked in Central Park, celebrated Kate's birthday with a night out at Enricos on Blekker Street, ran along the footpaths adjoining the Hudson River and walked and subwayed through most districts in the city.
After Julia left for Canada we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was mind boggling. I think you would need days to do it justice. It has an amazing collection of Egyptian art and artifacts which we were told was the second or third best in the world. The modern art section was stunning with lots of famous artists - the highlight was a wall full of Picasos. Some of the exhibits were amazing in their scale - there was a cricket oval sized gallery with an Egyptian temple and entrance way; a re-creation of a room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright which was stunning - all round windows and beautiful timber; and a two story facade of a former bank form the 1800s. We both wished we had greater stamina but our legs gave out after about five hours.

Finally we did a ferry tour of New York Harbour getting close up to the Statue of Liberty and seeing the tall buildings from a different perspective.

4.
A bit slow in getting started on this one as the French keyboards have a few letters in the wrong places. The a q w m z and full stop are all situated differently so touch typing is very difficult for this decrepit individual. Dont know how you managed to write your emails, Heather.

When I last wrote I think we were in Scunthorpe with Ben and Jennys parents, Jill and Dave. We took a trip up to Stirling in Scotland to see Jenny and to drop off some of their possesions. Although it was about six hours of motorway driving it was hard work as the roads are very busy with three lanes of constantly changing trucks, cars, motorhomes, caravans etc.

Their new flat is in a wonderful position right in the middle of town below the fort and Jenny was very well although finding the new full time teaching job challenging.

Back in Scunthorpe on the following Saturday we mounted our new touring bicycles at the crack of dawn with panniers loaded with clothes and rode them to the station to catch the train to Plymouth, about six hours trip. Travelling with bicycles on trains in the UK is challenging as Rob Caune our friend in London warned us. We had booked this trip over the internet prior to leaving Australia but were unable to book the bikes. When we got to the UK we tried to book the bicycles but found the four places available on the train were already booked. So custmer relations on Virgin Trains managed to book the bikes on an earlier train but couldnt change our tickets - another phone call! Yes we could change our tickets but instead of the advance purchase price of 44 pounds it would cost 189 pounds. No way were we going to pay that!!

So off we went on the earlier train with Kate wondering and worrying qll the way whether we were going to be thrown off the train by the conductor because our tickets were for the next train (our bikes were fine). Which is what happened to one cyclist who got on without booking when the baggage area became too crowded. Fortunately our trip was uneventful.

(Wow, I have managed to hit a combination of keys which have converted this keyboard to Querty do I can touch type again!)

Safely in Plymouth we rode to the ferry terminal to book our bikes for the trip to Roscoff in Brittany, once again we couldn't do this on the internet. Fortunately no problem, so after a pleasant night in Plymouth we caught the ferry to Roscoff next morning in the misty rain. We had hoped to enjoy the voyage across the channel but for most of the way we couldn't see more than a couple of hundred metres which wasn't much fun! Still we had a pleasant introduction to the French way of life or rather food when lunch time came around. We didn't wish to spend a lot of money so while Kate was sleeping off the travel sickness Quell she had taken when the boat got a bit of a rock up, I purchased some chips and a hot dog. Wow what the French can do to a hot dog! Apart from the nice sausage the roll was a bagette ..... amazing taste!

After arriving at Roscoff at 3 pm we planned to ride to Treflez to Jenny's Uncle and Aunty's house and spend the next two weeks using it as a base for a holiday with Ben and Jenny and Julia. We had to ride about 30 kilometres with loaded bikes which should have been no problem. Alas our intermittent running had not retained the level of fitness we had hoped for so it was a bit of a struggle! To add to our woes we had some difficulty finding the place. Without going into a long explanation we eventually found the place with the help of an old woman and some broken French. Boy were we grateful to arrive. The saga hadn't finished there however.

Next morning we had to ride to Brest airport (about 35 km unloaded this time) to pick up our leased car and meet Ben. We set off in plenty of time and even stopped for a coffee. Although the traffic was fairly heavy we were treated with great respect and thought we had arrived in cycling paradise!! Unfortunately we arrived unexpectedly at a motorway. We had been following the signs to Brest and had not been taking too much notice of the route numbers. After scratching our heads we asked a young man where we were and fortunately he had some English. We discovered we were about 15 kilometres out of our way and we only had about 45 minutes to be at our prearranged meeting for picking up the car!! We headed down onto the freeway but were waved back by a passing motorist who left us in no doubt that we were not to go down there! Cyclists are banned!

So it was a mad panic along rural lanes paralleling the freeway to reach the airport for these tired little hungry rabbits - not much open on Sunday nights for purchasing ingredients for breakfast and the bar we got coffee in had no food! Funnily enough our car man wasn't there (Ben was) so after enquiries at the car hire place he was summonsed. A bit later he arrived - he had expected us on the previous day!! Fortunately he wasn't upset and we rapidly got acquainted with our new car. I won't say which of us made the mistake of putting in the wrong date and therefore costing us a day extra charges but it wasn't the Frenchman and it wasn't the person who gets me to type these emails!

Our new Citroen C4 is a delight! It has a 1.6 litre turbo charged intercooled diesel which is amazingly powerful - feels like a V8 with the low down pull. And the economy is fantastic, with a range of over 1000 km I think we are getting close to 5 litres per 100 km travelling at freemay speed.

Julia arrived safely on the following Thursday after the airlines loosing her bag on the trip to Toronto. At last report they had located it but because her ticket was with an airline which is about to fold, and she was flying with another airline, and she had moved from Canada to the UK, and because she had flown to Brittany, and because she was returning to New York etc etc etc they have been unable to reunite Julia and her bag. She has been given some money to get by but hopes they can reunite her with her belongings.

Brittany has been very kind to us with beautiful weather, about 20-23 degrees every day with little rain. It is supposed to be cool and wet. The countryside is a patchwork of cultivated fields which go right to the roadside - fences where they exist are overgrown stone ones and any dairy cattle are contained with electric fences. The herds are quite small by Australian standards - about 40 cows at most, probably limited by the need to house them during winter. The crops are mostly vegetables - cauliflowers, cabbages, zucchinis, carrots, the famous Brittany onions and lettuces. Corn or maize is also grown extensively and harvested by a mulching machine at ground level for fodder (we think). Seems they store it as silage above ground covered by plastic and earth.

The highlight has been the food. We have been living on bagettes and frequenting the local restaurants for the farmers lunches (multiple courses and a bottle of water and light red wine) and at other times for the evening meal. We are yet to be disappointed with the food here!! In order to justify all this eating we have been running together on the nearby beaches and riding bikes to local attractions. It has been great fun having the family together on the other side of the world - just a shame Jenny couldnt make it.

Kate has been improving her French and Ben has shown a talent. Kinda been forced on him for survival as he flew to Brest on a cheap flight two days before we arrived. He was going to depend on Jenny (who is fluent) but unfortunately with her new job she was unable to join us. So he is rolling his Rs with the best of them. Julia and I have not had the opportunity for much interaction with the locals, living with those two extroverts (at least that is the excuse we are currently using!!).

Last Saturday we finished our Brittany holiday, dropped Ben and Julia at the airport and drove to Thomas home in Roen. Thomas visited Australia twice as a French exchange student staying with Julie at Warragul in Victoria. We got to know him when he visited Canberra - we took him to visit Sydney. Patrick and Cathy, Thomas parents, treated us to a six course home cooked dinner party French style - fantastic!! We have been getting on famously with our broken French and their much better English. They are great hosts!

Roen is a wonderful city and with locals telling us where to go we have been having a great time. But more next time! We have a few more days in France then back to the UK and London to visit Rob and Christy.

5.
Back in England with a proper keyboard!! I did manage to convert the French keyboard to the standard querty one but after I logged out of Hotmail it reverted to the French layout again. I tried but could never find out how I managed to convert it in the first place - one of the mysteries of life!

We stayed in Roen for three nights with Thomas parents, Patrick and Cathy, enjoying their wonderful hospitality and the sights and sounds of the city. Although heavily bombed in WW2 much of the old town survived and it was wonderful to wander through the tiny streets with wonky buildings at all angles showing the great antiquity of the place. They live about 2 km high above the city and we walked down on our first day (Sunday) when we were lucky to see many of the major buildings open to the public. There seems to be a massive church at every corner all of which are Catholic. Seems the royalty built one to balance the indiscretions of their relationships - buying their way into heaven, or so the locals tell us! We struggled back up the hill after 4 hours of wandering.

The next day we finished the walking tour we had started on our bikes and rode up and down the river pathway. On both occasions we saw luxury barges tied up at the wharf. These apparently journey up and down the 200 km of river to Paris treating guests to magnificent views of the French countryside in 5 star luxury, or so it seemed to these envious observers. We found out how useful our very low ranged gears were on the way back as we ascended the hill home. Kate thought it was easier than walking but perhaps that was because we hadn't been on our feet for four hours!

We headed for the Normandy coast at Fecamp which looks much like the coast at Dover. Probably logical as the white rock makng up the cliffs looks identical! We wandered the town and came upon the Benedictine distillery. The building is magnificent housing a collection of ancient art work which can be viewed as part of the self guided tour of the distillery. We even sampled a Benedictine cocktail which was delightful - even got the recipe! The straight stuff is too powerful for me!

From there we wandered northwards along the coastal backroads barely making 40 kph because of their narrow, winding nature. Apparently it is a favoured haunt of cyclists if the signing is any indication. There were signs everywhere warning of cyclists' presence. Although we didn't see many we thought it would be a fantastic area to tour in. We stayed in the lovely coastal town of Dieppe that night wandering the old streets in the evening.

Just outside the town is the Green highway. This is a 40 km rail trail French style. In contrast to the efforts in Australia the old line has been converted into a cycling highway of high quality hotmix bitumen which is 3-4 metres wide - fantastic for recreational cycling. It was being used by locals as well as tourists and considering it was outside the holiday period it was surprising how many bikes we passed. We rode for 20 km inland before returning to our start point. We had hoped to have lunch at one of the villages along the way but unfortunately they were too small to support a restaurant.

We did have one problem with the bike on this trip - my chain broke or came apart. I guess it hadn't been joined properly as the rivet had worked its way out. Fortunately I had my compact tool kit (a present from friends on my 50th - very grateful to have it on this occasion - thanks guys!) which had a chain breaker so was able to fix the break rapidly.
Onwards to Calais for the night up one of the magnificent freeways at 130 kph. We found a hotel in the heart of the city and thought we would do a quick recce for the morning to make sure we had time to drop off the car and get on the ferry. About an hour later we returned to the hotel defeated. It seems a ferry went beserk some time ago and drove through the end of a wharf. This necessitated a diversion for people coming from Calais as the repair work has been held up for some time due to a difference of opinion between the insurance company and the authorities. Things are so different sometimes but so similar on others!! Turned out we had only missed one turn and had become confused because we had returned to the motorway - this was the way in!!

The ferry crossing to Dover next morning was uneventful on a lovely clear day. We could see the UK before we started and we didn't even have to pay for our bikes! The fun started when we reached London after the rail triip from Dover. We arrived at Victoria Station and had to navigate our way by bicycle to Rotherhithe where Rob and Christie live. On our previous trips here we had done our movements around the city using the "mole technique". You navigate the Underground to where you want to go, pop up, look around, pop down into the Underground again go to the next destination, pop up, look around, pop down etc. It does nothing for getting a general picture of the city and with my usual problems of being disoriented as to where north is in the northern hemisphere it took a £5 A-Z directory and 45 minutes to decide which direction to go. Kate was very patient!

Needless to say London traffic is fairly horrendous and all the more so when you don't know where you are going. The street names change frequently even on the same route so there were many stops and walks before we reached our destination. Things have improved with the traffic as there are now some bike lanes and you can use the dedicated bus lanes. Also the drivers are more tolerant of cyclists and they don't travel very fast in inner London. It was a warm afternoon and evening and we had a very refreshing ale (Kate) and cider (me) while we waited for Rob to get home.

We had a few more drinks over tea whilst catching up with Rob and Christie - very pleasant. Their apartment occupies the 5th and top floors of a tower block facing south so it gets lovely sunshine and has views of Tower Bridge, the London Eye and lots of other buildings. It is also next to one of the old wharf areas so there is a lake area separated from the Thames by a lock which is about 500 m long - used for sail boat training. Fantastic spot.

Next day we went to the Tate Gallery and looked at two floors of amazing artwork before our legs gave out. Apart from the art the visitors made an interesting spectacle - lots of school children studying and drawing the art work, presumeably as part of their art studies. On one occasion I was taken aback by five gorgeous black schoolgirls sprawling on chairs with somewhat bored looks on their faces - I wasn't sure it wasn't a work of art!! I would have loved to take a photo but wasn't game! After crossing the Millenium Bridge we had lunch and wandered the city till our legs gave out again. Back into the Underground and back to our temporary refuge.

On the weekend Rob and Christie took us down to the New Forest area where Rob was competing in a half ironman triathlon. Christie took us on a loop ride on our bikes along narrow country lanes through many small villages - it took most of the day so we didn't get to see Rob competing. Rob came 18th overall in a field of 300 and won his age group - a great effort! We really enjoyed our weekend with Rob and Christie and wished we could have stayed to sample the delights of London longer - thanks guys!

Next day we had another ride through London to Kings Cross Station fully loaded for our trip to Stirling. It was bucketting down when we left so we got fairly wet despite raincoats and mudguards. Fortunately it wasn't very cold so we suffered no ill effects. This time the traffic was lighter and because we knew where we were going and what to expect it didn't seem so bad. Almost a pleasant way of getting around! Not sure Kate would agree!

Much of these travelogues concerns the journey and not so much the destination - seems to be the theme of this holiday. The train trip to Stirling was no exception. At Edinburgh we found out that there were engineering works at Stirling so the train wasn't running. After a few anxious moments we discovered that we need to travel to a station on a nearby line and connect by bus. When we got to that station we had to get our bikes onto a double decker bus for the final leg. This proved interesting but we finally got panniers and bikes loaded. There followed the ride from hell!! I didn't appreciate how fast double decker buses could corner! Fortunately we were on the botom floor as we would have been terrified on the upper level. I had to get Kate to look across the bus as her eyes were coming out on stalks as we negotiated roundabouts. Fortunately top speed of double deckers is limited so he couldn't go too fast on the straight stretches. The funny thing was that the locals didn't bat an eye!

So we are based in Stirling for the next week or so and hopefully will do some trips away. Ben and Jenny have settled into their jobs and Ben has even managed to get some days off. Hopefully we can do some trips.

6.
I think we had just arrived in Stirling, Scotland when last I wrote. Scotland was very kind to us with the weather - although it rained regularly it didn't stop us doing anything and the temperatures were very mild.

Ben and Jenny's flat was located on the old town right in the centre of things. Unfortunately at night time on certain days of the week this made things fairly noisy. We were woken on a couple of nights by revellers making their way home from the nightspots. I think the old town provided good echos for these happy people as they kept singing and shouting - a bit like singing or whistling in the shower, or so it seemed to me. The flat faces south and has those lovely double glazed English windows which can be opened inwards at the top about 6 inches or pivotted at either side to open fully inwards. When closed they are also very soundproof. Wish I could afford to install similar window at home!
We spend the four remaining weekdays exploring the town and local countryside. We did a few runs, one in the misty morning rain which was not unpleasant although we arrived home soaked. Ben managed to get three days off so took us in his little Vauxhall diesel car (given to him by a friend on her departure from the UK) around the local area.

One of the highlights for me was a visit to the Falkirk Wheel. What is the Falkirk Wheel I hear you ask? It is a marvelous piece of engineering which has replace more than six locks on the canal which joins Edinburgh and Glasgow. The waterways department is restoring the canals in the UK faster than they were originally built due, I suppose, to demand from the public for recreational facilities. So they have been restoring this canal and replaced the multiple locks needed to get over the nearby hill with the Falkirk Wheel. This has now become a major tourist attraction.

If you can envisage sitting in a boat in the Falkirk Wheel lock you would see two giant arms attached to the lock at either end. Directly above you you would see another bit of lock attached to the other ends of the arms (effectively the arms are wheels). As the arms turn (they are pivotted in the middle) your bit of lock would gradually move sideways and upwards and the bit of lock above you would also move sideways and downwards, both bits of the lock are full of water (effectively like a big barrell turning). Cunningly the bits of lock stay horizontal - all the water remains in the lock. After the arms have rotated 180 degrees your bit of lock would be on the top and the other bit would be on the bottom. (The whole process takes a couple of minutes and once the rotation is complete the respective lock doors can be opened to the adjoining canals and the boats can continue on their way either about 50 ft higher or lower than when they arrived at the lock. One of the beauties of this system is that it takes no water to operate as the bits of lock are always filled to lock level. (With conventional locks you always loose a lock full of water downwards with each complete cycle).

Now the question which springs to mind is what happens if one lock is full of boats and the other section is empty of boats will the system become unbalanced? We were told that each part of the lock could hold about 8 narrow boats. Have a think about it! A fella called Archimedes might be able to help you. Answer at end!

Travelling by train we also spent a day in Dublin. Ben and Jenny had spent most of 2005 living there so Ben was able to escort us around the highlights and we also did the red bus tour. There are some amazing old buildings which were built when the Glasgow was the centre of tobacco trade. Once again the weather held so we could sit on the top deck of the open double decker - this time at a much more sedate pace!

On the weekend we travelled with Jenny, who had been working hard at the local high school, to the Island of Mull off the west coast of Scotland. We had a lovely time touring the island on the narrow roads (you had to back up to a passing spot if someone came the other way!) and stayed in the lovely harbour village overnight. We did some walks and even travelled on a narrow gauge railway to a nearby castle - it was supposed to be a steam train (we had seen it from the ferry on the previous day) but they had a sick staff member so they had to bring out the diesel which was not nearly so romantic! There seem to be castles and forts all over this part of Scotland which perhaps reflects that turbulent and violent history! Travelling home through the highlands on Sunday afternoon was beautiful with abundant rains overnight making the local rivers run bankers.

During the following week we travelled to Dundee where Ben works and met him for lunch. He travels by train for an hour each way and is now an expert on world affairs as he reads the excellent UK newspapers from cover to cover on the train. Being on the east coast Dundee is in a rain shadow so gets slightly less cloud and slightly more sun than other parts of Scotland. It is a delightful town on the Firth of Tay and we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering along the Firth in Ben's car before picking him up from work and joining the evening rush along the motorway back to Stirling. Some people here seem to commute long distances to work if the crowded motorways are anything to judge by.

We also put our bikes to good use wandering through the local villages and staying off the main roads. During one of our rides we picked up a National Bike Route out of Stirling. Being curious and not knowing where it went we dutifully followed the signs along a back road, a busy minor road then onto a bypassed road alongside another busy road. There was even a recently-restored ancient stone bridge which had been a key route centuries ago - all very pleasant.

We then saw a sign which we thought might bring us back to Stirling by a different route (turns out it was just the angle it was positioned at and we should have retraced our route to get back to Striling). There followed a couple of hours trying to find our way around some minor road works, following a lane to a dead end, wandering through a deserted chock farm, retracing our steps to find the missed sign, following a footpath alongside the Forth River, being caught in a thunderstorm and finally emerging into a village which originally serviced the huge storage sheds we had been passing. Turns out the sheds were bond storage facilities for oak barrels full of whisky. There were acres of them and we had no idea that there were so many oak barrels in the world let alone this small area of Scotland!! At this stage we realised the route continued on to places further along the Forth rather than Stirling so we decided to abandon the cycle route and seek another way back to Stirling. Turned out we were only a kilometre from where we had made our wrong turn so it wasn't far back - we had done a large loop!

At the end of the week we packed up our bikes into cardboard boxes obtained from the local bike shop loaded them onto Ben's car in the pouring rain (fortunately I had bought a tarpaulin for the job) and drove to Edinburgh airport and a boarded a flight to Heathrow. This got around the problem of travelling with the bikes on the Underground in London which would have been a nightmare. That night we boarded a flight to Bangkok.

As you know Thailand is now under martial law after a military coupe. We had rung Qantas and looked at the Foreign Affairs website before deciding to follow our original plans - seemed the risk was low. And this is how it turned out - if you didn't know you would never guess that the country was being run by the military. In fact I felt more threatened when we stopped for refuelling in Bangkok on a previous trip when there were soldiers brandishing sub machine guns at the airport. We did decide however not to leave Bangkok and to stay in the Shangri La hotel (Kate has very fond memories of staying in the Shangri La in Borneo a few years ago so didn't take much persuading!).

So we had a lovely four days based in a room on the sixth floor overlooking the river. We guessed the military coupe had affected tourism as the hotel was not exactly overcrowded but noone was talking about it. We had great service and the breakfasts are to die for!!
The city is very large and spread out with high rises as far as the eye can see. It still has that Asian city feel about it with the very modern next to the crowded old sections, the street vendors and the motorbikes. By contrast to Hanoi it is very clean, despite the number of people, and cars outnumber the motorbikes. The locals are very helpful and English seems to be widely understood and spoken. It was the monsoon season so there was some torrential rain at times, fortunately not stopping us doing what we planned.

So we did a few tours, a bit of shopping, watched the river traffic and generally took it easy. It was a very pleasant way to end our trip. We arrived home on Thursday and are settling back into Eagle Circuit which is very pleasant after so long away. You can't beat being at home in your own bed!!

And the answer to the Falkirk Lock question is that the system will be perfectly balanced. The reason is that the boats displace their own weight of water (Archimedes Principle) so provided the levels of water in the locks is always the same (as it is) the lock full of boats will weigh the same as the one with no boats. Cunning eh???