Steve’s Travel Blog

Hello all,

Well my final journey in Australia is now complete.  When I wrote last I was in Broome and it was a nice little town.  It was pretty rainy when I was there but it made for some incredible thunder and lighting storms.  I was able to catch a ride out of Broome on Monday the 9th with 2 Aussie blokes.  I had met Jake a few days earlier at the backpackers and we were both helping each other to find a ride.  Brodie contacted Jake first and then me and we made our plans.  We got out of Broome at about 10am and started on our way.Brodie had a small van with all the camping gear we would need for the trip.  There are not a lot of stops along the road so we figured camping would be the best option.  Brodie drove for about 2 hours and then I took over for about another 2.  The van has a mind of its own and no mater how hard you push on the gas pedal it goes the speed it wants to, which is usually between 80-90.  It was kind of disappointing seeing the speed limit signs at 130 knowing that we were never getting close to that speed.  On one downhill we topped out at 112!!!  After a quick lunch Jake hopped behind the wheel and drove to Halls Creek about 3 hours away.  We stopped to pick up some supplies and then drove about 10minutes out of town and stopped at a truckers roadside turnout.  We cooked up some chops and salad for supper and sat around and bull shitted for most of the evening.  Brodie slept in the van and Jake and I slept in a tent.  We thought we had a great spot until all the trucks started pulling in and not turning off their trucks or the noise from the generators on the back of them.  It was pretty noisy which was okay and did not bother me to much but the heat in the tent was crazy.  It had been about 38 degrees during the day and did not seem to cool down a lot during the night.  After a restless sleep we were all up at about 6:30 and after some breakfast we were on the road by 7am.  Brodie ended up driving the whole day even though we had offered to take the wheel for a while.  He drove to Kununarra and stopped at the dam for a few photos along the Ord river and then again for a huge Moab tree.  Once we got into town we picked up some more supplies (ice & beer) and gas and continued on our way.  We made a detour to Lake Argyle that Jake had heard was really nice.  It was a really big lake and and it looked awesome.  Since we had gone a while without a shower, a swim was a definite must. We stopped at the little campground first to ask if it was safe to swim in and were told that if we stayed to the one area then all is good. The other parts do have Salt Water Crocs and we did not want to see them.  After a very refreshing swim we got back in the van and put on some more miles. It was not long and we left Western Australia and crossed into the Northern Territory.  We drove until dusk and pulled into a regular roadside turnout this time instead of one for the truckers.  We got set up and had a few drinks in the process.  I cooked up some steaks and veggies for supper.  After Brodies long drive he was pretty tired and went to bed early.  Jake and I pulled out my computer and watched Eddie Murphy Raw until the battery died.  It ended up been early to bed for us as well as it was only 9pm and nothing else to do.

With the early bed time we were all up by 6am and on the road by 6:30.  In the morning we drove to Katherine with a few picture stops along the way.  Once we got to Katherine I was all for getting to Darwin since I had seen all the stuff from Katherine to Darwin already.  I thought the others might want to see Katherine Gorge and a fewother sights but the past and we headed for Darwin.  We got in at around 4pm and Jake and I checked into the YHA, Brodie called his fiend and went to stay with him.  I so wanted to have a shower but that would have to wait for a bit.  When I checked in I only had enough cash for the room and  nothing left for the key deposit.  I hoped they would just let me get in the room and then go get more cash and pay them then.  That did not happen and I had to put my bags in the lockup and get cash before they gave me a room key.  I put my bags in the lockup and started walking out when the girl asked for the key to the lockup back but I said I did not have it and the room was unlocked.  She said that I took it and I had to go and find it, so I went back to the lockup to look for this key and could not find it anywhere.  I went back to her and said again that I did not use it and she said that it is a big key and hard to loose (it was attached to this big crocodile thing) and I needed to look again.  I was getting pretty irritated since I was sure that I had not used but went to look again.  After another minute of looking I could hear her yelling to me that she had found it.  It had been sitting on her side of the desk the whole time.  I left rather quickly to get some cash before i really lost it.  I got back and got my key and went and had a great cold shower.  I chilled out for most of the evening but did go for a walk and picked up a few groceries for breakfast.

The next few days were very similar.  Wake up around 8:30 and have a great fruit salad for breakfast and then wander down to the library for some free internet.  I had chats with lots of different people during the time but most of it was spent doing research on South East Asia, my next destination.

On Friday I made my decision on where to start the next part of my travels and booked a flight to Dili, East Timor.  i was also able to book a place to stay in Dili for the first few nights and so I was set.  I leave for Dili on Wednesday November 18th.  The rest of the day was spent continuing to do research and getting ready to go.  I met up with Jake later in the afternoon and a friend of his, Josh.  They are traveling together going south to Uluru and Adelaide.  They are buddies from home and had made a big bucket of punch and were on their way to getting drunk.  I had a few glasses with them but did not intend to get to drunk.  I was successful at staying relatively sober but I maybe should have got drunk.  There was a new guy in the dorm room for this night (a Canadian from Van. Island) and he had some bad dreams.  He was talking in his sleep saying “help me, please help me” 2 of us got up but he was asleep.  We did not know what to do so we left him and tried to fal asleep.  The next morning I chilled out at the hostel and got some extra sleep since not much was gotten during the night.  In the afternoon I meet up with Jake and Brodie and we went on a fishing charter.  It was the same type of charter that I went on the last time I was here but I wanted to go again.  There were a total of 11 of us on the boat and the fishing was pretty slow.  I caught 5 fish (only 2 keepers), Brodie got 6-7 (1 keeper) and Jake got 2-3 (no keepers).  It was enough to feed us for the evening but a bit disappointing since the last time I was here I got about 15 fish.  We did the fish on the BBQ and they tasted great, we also had some salad and garlic bread to go with it.  I chilled for most of the evening and found a new book to read, another Girsham novel.  THe nights have been entertaining with the sleep talker in the room.  He has now started to kick the wall and bed and last night he was spitting at the wall.  He even got up at one point and called out for Charles and then went back into bed and kicked for a while again.  We talked with him about it and he does not remember a thing.  He told us that it started a few weeks ago when he was working on a Mango farm and has not stopped.  He apologized to us and I really do feel sorry for him cause I think he is a bit embarrassed about it.

The last few days have been spent chatting with friends and family on the internet about Australia and my new adventure coming up in South East Asia.  I did another walk around Darwin to check out the sites again and just took it easy.  I have continued to do research on SEA and feel very prepared to go.  I would have to say that I am excited but also a bit nervous as well.  You all know that i do not really travel with a plan and I am continuing with that but i have figured out at least a possible route for the first bit.   I fly into Dili and will spend some time around there and talk with the hostel and tour people on what there is to see.  From there i am thinking of busing it toKupang in West Timor which is part of Indonesia.  I want to stop in Lombok, Gili Islands, Borneo, Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia before going to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.  I have no idea how long this is going to take but I would imagine 6-9 months at least.  I have talked with a few friends that might meet me along the way and that would be great and i am sure I will meet new friends as well.

After just over 7 months in Australia it feels a little strange to leave.  I know that I am ready to go but it has been such a great country with spectacular sights and so many great people.  I would like to thank all the friends that I met along the way in Oz for a fabulous time.  I traveled with so many different people in Oz and saw so many different places.  To think that I put on about 25,000 kms in the past 7 months and have been almost everywhere in Australia, some places even twice and Melbourne 3 times. It was definitely MEJ!!!!  Thanks to all!!!

Now on to my next adventure in South East Asia!!!

We will talk to you all soon,

Steve

Tags: Australia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 1:15 am and is filed under Australia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.