Up at 8, in time for free pancakes. Changed to another hostel, MyPlace, bit cramped, and have to get used again to new people and find a new group/set of friends. Met up with the tour-group though, and walked along the river, through the botanical gardens, the main shopping area (including Mall's Balls) and watched the rugby 3rd place game, put the French (from the tour) on the bus to Melbourne, and said my farewells to the rest of the group.
Spent the next day in the museum and the art gallery - more specifically in the Aboriginal section of the museum and then a little time in a Saatchi gallery. Met Matthias, a nice german guy, who shared his sandwiches dinner with me (shops were closed when I got there - good shopping on weekends) and then learned two new card games with a bunch of the people from the hostel, English, Belgians, Israelians and the German guy. nice relaxing evening, and a good night's sleep (compared to yesterday - you'll have to ask for details)
Headed out to the Solar Challenge - racing on solarpower - saw the NUON and Universiteit Twente cars :P together with Koen and Thomas (the belgians) and Matthias, and then on to the Oval, cricket match was a bit expensive though, so walked around a bit longer instead of watching the game. Went to the Sportsbar round dinnertime to watch the Rugby World Cup finals - go All Blacks!! and then another 3 hours of playing cards...how else do you spend your evenings?
Next day was time for free dinner - yup - free dinner. Play a tune for a pizza at the Dukes' :) so I played a song and got a pizza, talked to Tiffany, the barmaid and her gayfriend Brad :P hung out with them until the bar closed at 11...it's a monday today :) Got a lot of free beer as well...that's gonna be wonderful tomorrow-morning...
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Alice to Adelaide Adventure Tours part III - 19/20 Oct
Can't believe how fast a week can go!
Headed out to a local reserve to spot yellow-footed rock wallabies. Awesome, they're just sunbathing on the rock. Then hiked around Wilpena Pound in the afternoon, and then on to Quorn, where we were staying the night. Nice pictures of old trainwrecks and the station, which I'll post later.
Next day was an ode to...me! nah, not really, but we're climbing the Dutchman Stern :) forgot to take a picture of the iron sign saying "Dutchman" so I'll have to go back there some day. On the peak we took our last 'group picture' and after that were in for a long drive to Adelaide. Couldn't miss that though, increasing amount of traffic lights, and traffic jams...crazy. Put me back in the outback. Had dinner with the group at the Cumby and then went out to the Duke of York, where live music and a DJ were playing, nice goodbye-party. First night being up that late in a while though...2.30AM and up the next day because I wanted to go and explore Adelaide!
Headed out to a local reserve to spot yellow-footed rock wallabies. Awesome, they're just sunbathing on the rock. Then hiked around Wilpena Pound in the afternoon, and then on to Quorn, where we were staying the night. Nice pictures of old trainwrecks and the station, which I'll post later.
Next day was an ode to...me! nah, not really, but we're climbing the Dutchman Stern :) forgot to take a picture of the iron sign saying "Dutchman" so I'll have to go back there some day. On the peak we took our last 'group picture' and after that were in for a long drive to Adelaide. Couldn't miss that though, increasing amount of traffic lights, and traffic jams...crazy. Put me back in the outback. Had dinner with the group at the Cumby and then went out to the Duke of York, where live music and a DJ were playing, nice goodbye-party. First night being up that late in a while though...2.30AM and up the next day because I wanted to go and explore Adelaide!
Alice to Adelaide Adventure Tours part II - 17/18 Oct
For starters; this is an awesome group I'm travelling with. Everyone gets along, has fun, and it's a bunch of completely random people. Really cool that it just works that way :)
Back to the tour - we were staying in Marla, drove down to Coober Pedy, famous in Australia for its Opal mining. Got to see the national symbol of South Australia; the south australian pea, and trust me, it looks nothing like a dutch pea. Another awesome part of Coober Pedy is that because it might freeze in winternights, and gets up to 50C in the summer all the houses are built below the ground. From cavelike bunks from the old days to huge luxurious villas - they've got them all!
We did a tour through the Opal Mines, and after that got to 'noodle' around for some opals ourselves - harder then I thought it would be. Searching through huge loads of rockdust for a little glimmer. After that went in to see a "kangaroo-daycare-centre" with cute little joeys and big kangaroos licking your arm (cuz you're salty, not because they like you). Then on to the local pub - play foosball and airhockey, and planned that we'd have a reunion someday, somewhere - Amsterdam perhaps? :P
Spent most of the next day driving down to Flinders Range. Around noon past a huge salt lake, where there have been rocket tests as well, but now it was mainly just sightseeing. Took some fun perspective-distorted pictures, and were just in awe of how big and empty this was - and snuck out some red sand to take back home as well...sorry, couldn't resist. Spent the evening doing "truth or dare" and getting a few good laughs at that.
Back to the tour - we were staying in Marla, drove down to Coober Pedy, famous in Australia for its Opal mining. Got to see the national symbol of South Australia; the south australian pea, and trust me, it looks nothing like a dutch pea. Another awesome part of Coober Pedy is that because it might freeze in winternights, and gets up to 50C in the summer all the houses are built below the ground. From cavelike bunks from the old days to huge luxurious villas - they've got them all!
We did a tour through the Opal Mines, and after that got to 'noodle' around for some opals ourselves - harder then I thought it would be. Searching through huge loads of rockdust for a little glimmer. After that went in to see a "kangaroo-daycare-centre" with cute little joeys and big kangaroos licking your arm (cuz you're salty, not because they like you). Then on to the local pub - play foosball and airhockey, and planned that we'd have a reunion someday, somewhere - Amsterdam perhaps? :P
Spent most of the next day driving down to Flinders Range. Around noon past a huge salt lake, where there have been rocket tests as well, but now it was mainly just sightseeing. Took some fun perspective-distorted pictures, and were just in awe of how big and empty this was - and snuck out some red sand to take back home as well...sorry, couldn't resist. Spent the evening doing "truth or dare" and getting a few good laughs at that.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Alice to Adelaide Adventure Tours part I - 14/16 Oct
6:15 Start of the tour! Drove out to Kata Tjuta - the Olga's as they were known by the Europeans, walked around there, pretty impressing - it's about the same height as Uluru (Ayer's Rock) but way bigger, but less well known I guess. Beautiful place to be though! After that drove out to see the sunset at Uluru, which was pretty neat as well, guess everyone has about 300 similar pictures of the Rock now though.
So the next morning we wake up at 4:15, to get everyone ready to be at sunrise in time. Man, incredible how bloody busy it was. Reckon if you're small you would've missed the huge rock because of all the people standing in front of you looking at it! After sunrise did the 'base-walk' which gives you a lot of different views of Uluru besides from the 'regular' postcard look. Had an aboriginal guided tour as well, interesting explanation about special cultural events taking place at Uluru, giving more understanding as to why it's special to them.
On to Kings Canyon! Raced Sam (yet another crazy frenchman) up "heart attack hill" - the first 50 steps at least...then we were both done for :P another good walk, with beautiful views out into the valley, and with remnants of the old inland sea visible in the rock (you could see the waves, seriously) and visited the Garden of Eden...doesn't look anything like I'd expected it to. ;) After that a long drive to Marla, allowing us to play a nice little game of "Guess the Movie Soundtrack" - got in third...I hate losing, still...
Had an awesome couple of nights in swags (rainproof-australian-sleeping bags) sleeping under the stars, waking up by an annoying light sometimes (yes, it was the moon). One of the tourguides (when staying with other group in the same place) brought a guitar, so I got to play a moonlight serenade, with a huge group of listeners whose faces I never saw. Pretty fun. Met some of them the next day; "See that guy - he was the one playing the guitar". Lol
So the next morning we wake up at 4:15, to get everyone ready to be at sunrise in time. Man, incredible how bloody busy it was. Reckon if you're small you would've missed the huge rock because of all the people standing in front of you looking at it! After sunrise did the 'base-walk' which gives you a lot of different views of Uluru besides from the 'regular' postcard look. Had an aboriginal guided tour as well, interesting explanation about special cultural events taking place at Uluru, giving more understanding as to why it's special to them.
On to Kings Canyon! Raced Sam (yet another crazy frenchman) up "heart attack hill" - the first 50 steps at least...then we were both done for :P another good walk, with beautiful views out into the valley, and with remnants of the old inland sea visible in the rock (you could see the waves, seriously) and visited the Garden of Eden...doesn't look anything like I'd expected it to. ;) After that a long drive to Marla, allowing us to play a nice little game of "Guess the Movie Soundtrack" - got in third...I hate losing, still...
Had an awesome couple of nights in swags (rainproof-australian-sleeping bags) sleeping under the stars, waking up by an annoying light sometimes (yes, it was the moon). One of the tourguides (when staying with other group in the same place) brought a guitar, so I got to play a moonlight serenade, with a huge group of listeners whose faces I never saw. Pretty fun. Met some of them the next day; "See that guy - he was the one playing the guitar". Lol
Bloody desert, bloody 39C - 12/13 October
So I flew out to Alice Springs after staying with Max and Dorrit for another few nights in Perth.
Walking to the original Alice Spring in the 39 degrees heat, along dry riverbeds, drinking about 3 litres of water on a return trip of 8kms, and then back along ANZAC hill - comemorating the Aussies and NZers that fought in the world wars. So a nice little lizard, a dry spring, some historical sites, and after dinner had a nice stroll through the centre where a little market was taking place. Tomorrow up early for the trip down to Adelaide with Adventure Tours...sounds promising!
Walking to the original Alice Spring in the 39 degrees heat, along dry riverbeds, drinking about 3 litres of water on a return trip of 8kms, and then back along ANZAC hill - comemorating the Aussies and NZers that fought in the world wars. So a nice little lizard, a dry spring, some historical sites, and after dinner had a nice stroll through the centre where a little market was taking place. Tomorrow up early for the trip down to Adelaide with Adventure Tours...sounds promising!
the southwest part III; Manjimup - 4/9 oct
So back up to Manjimup, one night in the hostel and then on to Fonty's Pool for a week of WWOOFing.
Got picked up by Kelly, and together with her husband, Jeremy, she runs the caravan park. They were fixing up 'The Lodge'. Spent the first day raking the driveway - they don't come that big back home - trust me, the driveway was huge. 8 Ute-loads of leaflitter later it was starting to look clean....
Found a guitar in the corner of the room, so I got to play some songs - completely out of tune of course, but hey, I'm not complaining, it's a guitar!! Spent two days doing odd jobs, which was perfectly fine, and then some woodchopping - get a nice workout. Playing monopoly (card game version) a few nights in a row, pretty cool game! Stephan and Carlie taught me how to play a bit of football as well, nice local culture experience :P
This was followed by one day of "I can't do anything right" - try to cut metal, you burn your pants. Mess around with asbestos, get covered in rat-shit, and some more...
Next day Jeremy gave me the car and a surfboard and send me out to Salmon Beach, to see if there was any surf. Had a beautiful drive through forests, and a lot of rain on the road, so no surfing, but a really nice trip and viewpoints out into the rain.
Got to play Lego with Travis (Kelly & Jeremy's 5y-old) - under the guise of 'babysitting'. In the evening watched a movie called Madmen about the Kimberly and people living there - local movie, Sundance Festival winner, pretty interesting. Next morning Kelly and Stephan ran for the local cancer-fund-raiser. I'm working on the roof of the lodge today, getting out the rivets so Jeremy and Stephan can get that off to replace the chimney later in the week. Midday break watching the Wallabies beat the Springboks (Rugby) and watched the Bucket List in the evening.
Next day Kelly dropped me off in Manjimup, got a goodbye hug from Travis, after he did some surfing on my backpack (it was on the ground, don't worry, he was safe). Bus trip back up to Perth for the rest of the day.
Got picked up by Kelly, and together with her husband, Jeremy, she runs the caravan park. They were fixing up 'The Lodge'. Spent the first day raking the driveway - they don't come that big back home - trust me, the driveway was huge. 8 Ute-loads of leaflitter later it was starting to look clean....
Found a guitar in the corner of the room, so I got to play some songs - completely out of tune of course, but hey, I'm not complaining, it's a guitar!! Spent two days doing odd jobs, which was perfectly fine, and then some woodchopping - get a nice workout. Playing monopoly (card game version) a few nights in a row, pretty cool game! Stephan and Carlie taught me how to play a bit of football as well, nice local culture experience :P
This was followed by one day of "I can't do anything right" - try to cut metal, you burn your pants. Mess around with asbestos, get covered in rat-shit, and some more...
Next day Jeremy gave me the car and a surfboard and send me out to Salmon Beach, to see if there was any surf. Had a beautiful drive through forests, and a lot of rain on the road, so no surfing, but a really nice trip and viewpoints out into the rain.
Got to play Lego with Travis (Kelly & Jeremy's 5y-old) - under the guise of 'babysitting'. In the evening watched a movie called Madmen about the Kimberly and people living there - local movie, Sundance Festival winner, pretty interesting. Next morning Kelly and Stephan ran for the local cancer-fund-raiser. I'm working on the roof of the lodge today, getting out the rivets so Jeremy and Stephan can get that off to replace the chimney later in the week. Midday break watching the Wallabies beat the Springboks (Rugby) and watched the Bucket List in the evening.
Next day Kelly dropped me off in Manjimup, got a goodbye hug from Travis, after he did some surfing on my backpack (it was on the ground, don't worry, he was safe). Bus trip back up to Perth for the rest of the day.
Monday, October 24, 2011
the Southwest part II; Pemberton - 30 sept/2 oct
On to Pemberton! YHA fully booked, so I'm really happy I got to take Max & Dorrit's tent. Got a beautiful spot next to the creek in the Caravan Park so can't complain. Went out to make the most of my day, and climed the Gloucester Tree; 56m high, steel pikes out of the side, and go. Down is no problem, and the view was stunning, just getting up there though...
Hoped to walk to the Bicentennial Tree the next day, but that turned out to be a bit too far though. So instead walked up to the Cascades - walk was long enough. Past enormous flowering yellow bushes which were swarming with bees - almost like standing next to a wall of sound. That's another 22k's to add to the walking count today. Realised today I've been travelling for a month as well. Celebrating that on my own in the pub :)
Next leg; RAIN! BLOODY RAIN! and a lot at that. Turned out the seams of the tent weren't all that strong anymore, so some stuff was wet. Rain all day, put a plastic bag in there hoping that would stop the most rain. Met two cyclists, Dutch, of course, and when I went for a walk later on ran in to a lady with a weird accent (for the people that know her - she sounded like Mevr. Vissers) turned out this lady was from somewhere in Brabant. Switched to 'dutch' and when I left her she said "HOUDOE HE!!" - she had been in Australia for over 22 years. Guess 'houdoe' does stick...
Hoped to walk to the Bicentennial Tree the next day, but that turned out to be a bit too far though. So instead walked up to the Cascades - walk was long enough. Past enormous flowering yellow bushes which were swarming with bees - almost like standing next to a wall of sound. That's another 22k's to add to the walking count today. Realised today I've been travelling for a month as well. Celebrating that on my own in the pub :)
Next leg; RAIN! BLOODY RAIN! and a lot at that. Turned out the seams of the tent weren't all that strong anymore, so some stuff was wet. Rain all day, put a plastic bag in there hoping that would stop the most rain. Met two cyclists, Dutch, of course, and when I went for a walk later on ran in to a lady with a weird accent (for the people that know her - she sounded like Mevr. Vissers) turned out this lady was from somewhere in Brabant. Switched to 'dutch' and when I left her she said "HOUDOE HE!!" - she had been in Australia for over 22 years. Guess 'houdoe' does stick...
the Southwest part I; Walpole - 26/29 sept
Took the bus down the Southwest, arrived late in the afternoon in Walpole. I wasn't sure I was actually there, because it looked like a reaaaally small town - turns out it was; somewhere along 500 people...
Compared to Perth a total change of weather and surroundings as well, rain, colder, and trees everywhere, drove through some amazing scenery coming down here! Next day went for a nice walk - 18+ km. First time I explored the Bibbelmun track, which leads from Perth to Albany, with stops every day for people to camp - I'm just doing pieces, but it's a beautiful track to walk along (which I found out soon after I started) went down to 'Sandy Beach' (need I say more) and then to 'Rest Point Jetty' watch some pelicans and the view of Walpole across the inlet. Then back up, through town along two other jettys and then back along the heritage trail into town.
Met up with a lovely 'old' Canadian couple, who were planning to head to the Valley of the Giants the following day - lucky me, I get to go along - next time I'm definitily getting a car when I'm going there, because there is so much to explore here, but just impossible to get to some parts if you dont have a (4x4) car. Saw the Valley of the Giants and the Giant Tingle Tree, pretty impressive! Turned out I was the only one in the hostel that night though, so it seemed kind of lonely, but the 'lord & lady' supplied me with 'whiskey & internet' that makes for an alright evening, right!?
Next walk was even longer, harder - and more fun. 23 km. Walked to Mt. Clare and had no view from there. Nice sitting out on a rock-outcrop though, and enjoying the sun for a bit though. Saw some nice birds, and the Nornal (black snake) from which the neighbouring town's name is derived; Nornalup (place of the Black Snake). Sunset at the jetty was awesome, definitely happy I didn't miss that. (Wait for the pictures before you disagree)
Compared to Perth a total change of weather and surroundings as well, rain, colder, and trees everywhere, drove through some amazing scenery coming down here! Next day went for a nice walk - 18+ km. First time I explored the Bibbelmun track, which leads from Perth to Albany, with stops every day for people to camp - I'm just doing pieces, but it's a beautiful track to walk along (which I found out soon after I started) went down to 'Sandy Beach' (need I say more) and then to 'Rest Point Jetty' watch some pelicans and the view of Walpole across the inlet. Then back up, through town along two other jettys and then back along the heritage trail into town.
Met up with a lovely 'old' Canadian couple, who were planning to head to the Valley of the Giants the following day - lucky me, I get to go along - next time I'm definitily getting a car when I'm going there, because there is so much to explore here, but just impossible to get to some parts if you dont have a (4x4) car. Saw the Valley of the Giants and the Giant Tingle Tree, pretty impressive! Turned out I was the only one in the hostel that night though, so it seemed kind of lonely, but the 'lord & lady' supplied me with 'whiskey & internet' that makes for an alright evening, right!?
Next walk was even longer, harder - and more fun. 23 km. Walked to Mt. Clare and had no view from there. Nice sitting out on a rock-outcrop though, and enjoying the sun for a bit though. Saw some nice birds, and the Nornal (black snake) from which the neighbouring town's name is derived; Nornalup (place of the Black Snake). Sunset at the jetty was awesome, definitely happy I didn't miss that. (Wait for the pictures before you disagree)
Pinnacles - 24th September
Max & Dorrit took me on another trip up to the Pinnacles Desert. Limestone pinnacles that are left in a desert area after all the other soil and sand has been blown away. Just a little bit inland, you can see the sea while you're there, and huge white sanddunes as well. The pinnacles desert is yellow though, pretty amazing to see all that contrast. Saw my first emus on this trip as well, spotted beside the road. Also visited a self-proclaimed settlement living completely isolated, surviving on rainwater, have their own little community, crazy stuff. And of course, when you're that close to the beach, you might as well drive your car over it, right? Right! A sunset dinner at Lancelin beach to conclude the wonderful one day trip.
Right...
Ok, I'm sorry...
it's been waaaaay to long since I've put anything on the blog. This is due to me travelling and doing something everyday and that way not having a lot of time to put stuff online, and all the computers I find aren't what I call 'high-tech'. So adding those two together it ends up at this sucks. :D
I'm gonna try and start to update a.s.a.p., probably just text first, but that'll give you a good idea of what I've been up to, and then I'll try and put the pictures on there...that might be the start of November, but that's already pretty close...cool? cool!
it's been waaaaay to long since I've put anything on the blog. This is due to me travelling and doing something everyday and that way not having a lot of time to put stuff online, and all the computers I find aren't what I call 'high-tech'. So adding those two together it ends up at this sucks. :D
I'm gonna try and start to update a.s.a.p., probably just text first, but that'll give you a good idea of what I've been up to, and then I'll try and put the pictures on there...that might be the start of November, but that's already pretty close...cool? cool!
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