Mike and Joy Top End Safari

The drive across the Savannah way from Queensland was long and arduous, but it got us out of Queensland finally after three months. Plus, this is where we first met our doppelgangers, A couple from South Australia about the same age as us, travelling the same route, who started about the same time, travelling in an identical converted Mitsubishi Delica. This had the effect to mess with a lot of locals and other traveller’s heads as they kept thinking they were seeing the same car pass through days after it had left.

So we now had one month left to go and do the Northern Territory then through South Australia back to Sydney, so it was all systems go and we now needed to be more efficient in our travel plans and much more frugal with our dwindling budget, so we embraced our internal Hippie traveler and set forth on the next phase of our journey free camping and travelling on the cheap.

Our first destination was Kakadu. We had been warned by many on the way that it is overrated and the going joke on the grey nomads grapevine is "It’s not Kakadu it's Kaka-don't" but we didn't travel all this way to miss it, so we Kaka-did !

Oh my god, with the stinking hot nights and mosquito plagues of biblical proportions, we started believing the rumours, but on the positive side there were some awesome places to experience. The area around Ubir has to be a standout and Cahill's Crossing - where you can watch four plus metre wild salt water Croc's catching fish swimming upstream at most high tides.

We then spent a few days in Darwin checking out the City then headed down through Lychfield National Park. Lychfield is spectacular, each Waterfall and swimming hole seems to be better than the next with the last place we camped at Surprise Creek being the standout.

Then we headed South towards Alice Springs.

On the way we stopped at Mataranka Hot springs for the night.
I've heard stories of wild herds of water buffalo roaming the top end and wild camels in plague proportions throughout the dry interior and even the tales of wild brumbies in the poetry of Banjo Paterson didn’t prepare us for being kept awake and harassed all night by packs of wild donkeys, eeeee aaaawww.... welcome to the Northern Territory.

After a sleepless night in Mataranka, we went through Alice Springs and on to the West McDonnell Ranges and through to Kings Canyon, the Olgas and Uluru.
This whole area was fantastic and we could have spent weeks there alone. but as we were on a timeframe we saw all the usual suspects and moved on.

Our route back to Sydney took us through South Australia and we decided to take one last detour through the Oodnadatta track to see Lake Eyre while it is still full. Tried walking down to the water but gave up when we sunk knee deep into the mud. (see photo)

From there we headed through the flinders Ranges and across the border and back to Sydney.

Other things i need to mention.
The crazy ankle biting Llama who had me bailed up in a tree in Beltana Station.
Free camping - we finally got it and spent hardly anything the whole last month.
Found Opals while noodling at Cooper Pedy.
Be careful where you leave your thongs, i had one stolen by a giant rat.

Anyway, back in Sydney now and busy planning the next trip

P:S Here's the final tally:
17,500 Kilometres
Four States
Twenty Plus River Crossings
One Cylinder Head and Gasket
One Alternator
One replacement pushbike
Six pairs of Sunglasses
Three Pairs of Thongs

I am writing a fast update as we have no power and have been free camping for the last week.

after leaving Mossman we headed to cairns for the night then it was off to Darwin.
3 weeks later we where still in cairns..! blown head gasket and cylinder head!
so after visiting every mechanic in cairns we finally found one who could start work on it in a week. (the earliest we could find anywhere.) and we hastily started looking for cheap accomodation in cairns.

With the budget completely blown by now we luckily found a room in Nomads backpacker resort for 50/night.
actually not a bad place - resort pool/bar and volley ball court. so we spent 3 weeks trying to get some sleep in between days nursing hangovers after going with the "if you can't beat them join them" line of thinking...

As we only had our pushbikes so did a lot of sight seeing around cairns by cycle, luckily cairns has cycleways everywhere so it wasnt so bad.
we must have had a lot of tme on our hands because we also got engaged during that time ...

finally left cairns about a week ago, got to Karumba and noticed the alternator wasnt working so spent 5 days and more $$ in karumba waiting to get it replaced. on the positive side caught fish and huge mud crabs of the shore, met some awesome people and got to see more sunsets..

Anyway, have to mention the outstanding places we have camped the last few days.
norman river creek - good fishing heaps of mozzies
leichart river falls - interesting natural water falls
lawn hill gorge - unbelievable canoeing up the river through the Gorge with freshwater crocodiles basking on the banks
gregory downs - fantastic free camp - crystal clear water, with natural rapids ride that you can jump in and ride down river for over a hundred metres

we are now at hell's gate. after here we cross the border into NT (finally) on route to boroloola then onto Kakadu and Darwin.

While on our way up to Cairns/Port Douglas I got talking to a random at a swimming hole outside Cardwell and he mentioned he was on his way to an Aboriginal dance festival held in Laura every two years, that was on the coming weekend.
So our plans changed and we headed straight to Laura at the start of Cape York.

On the way up there we spent a night at Paronella Park, which is an area near a natural waterfall that was turned into a spanish gardens complete with a castle, picnic area by the falls, tennis courts, bridges, a tunnel, it was created by José Paronella back in the 1930's.

So a few days later we were at the Dance Festival which is held in the bush about 5km out of town and you camp anywhere you can find a spot, theres an arena set up where all the traditional dancing takes place.
Dance groups from different regions around australia travel here to show off their style. They even have a dance off between all the different tribes, the winner getting a shield and bragging rights for the next 2 years..
The dancing was great and it was an awesome experience to see it so close up, hopefully they keep it up so we dont lose this traditional artform.

After the festival finished we decided to do the Cape then head back to Port Douglas on the way back down.
The Cape is a lot easier to get to than it was a few years ago. but its still days of driving on some pretty treacherous dirt roads, at first we where taking it pretty easy as the roads are really chopped up in parts and especially on the main road up there (the development road)you will get semi's passing you at 110km/hour on single lane dirt tracks leaving you engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Once we became more confident, we found it was better to take some of the less used more challenging roads. We came back through lakelands national Park and took Battlecamp Road back to Cooktown and the Bloomfield track back through to Cape Tribulation.

There are some awesome places in the Cape, Fruit bat falls, Chili beach and Punsand Bay to name a few. and we made it to the tip where there is a signpost on the northernmost point on the australian mainland (see photo)

When we hit the Bloomfield Crossing at Wujal Wujal, the crossing was closed due to heavy rains in the mountains and the river was running furiously, so we where advised by a couple of local cops not to try crossing but to go have a look at the waterfall which was just down the road, after returning from the waterfall we could see a car sitting in the river full of water after an unsuccesful attempt to cross from the other side.
When we got closer we where surprised to find the rescue was in full swing so we left the car and walked to the rivers edge where a few people had gathered, as we approached we could see the same cops from earlier in the river rescuing the ladies that where in the car. then suddenly it all went awry and the rope they where using slipped off the lady and her and the cop started getting dragged down the river, we all ran to help and had to drag them both out and up the river bank. pretty scary!
Here is a link to the article. Bloomfield River Rescue

Anyway we finally crossed the next day and got to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree.
We are currently in Mossman just north of Port Douglas and are staying here for a week as it is about the half way mark and we need to recuperate from the cape trip and get the car serviced and repaired before heading across to Darwin.

oh yeah and we finally saw a Croc in the wild, didnt see one all the way through the Cape, but got a tip of a local and got a picture of a local male who lives near the bridge over the Mowbray River near Mossman.

Who says you cant get Sunsets in the east coast. i think we have seen more suns than a tatooine native.

We watched the first State of Origin game in the Agnes Waters Tavern near 1770 and it lived up to all expectations. (Scary) they love their Maroons!!
After leaving 1770 we ambled our way up the coast staying at Bucascia, Yepoon, Mackay, Blacks Beach.

I think we have finally found Paradise and its known as Cape Gloucester Eco Resort, sunsets and sunrises over the same bay, spent a few amazing days there in a cabin for our first campervan break. was good to sleep in a real bed and ensuite and feel civilised again.
We where two of only six people staying there so we had the place to ourselves and spent nights drinking and talking with the staff.

Then we moved on to Bowen, I loved it there, Joy wasnt as convinced, very sleepy relaxed town, where the Barier Reef meets the shore, you can literally swim 100 metres off the shore and be snorkelling the reef.
While there I bet Joy she couldnt open a coconut using only what was available around us. (we where in the middle of nowhere. hehe) needless to say i am now one hundred dollars poorer. (see Photo)

After driving one of our longest stretches (6 hrs) someone put a shopping centre in front of me and i ran into it destroying my $50 bike i bought in Brisbane (see Photo) so i had to buy another one from BigW and we where on or way again.

We really like Townsville, stayed in Rowes Bay and spent a few days relaxing at the free rockpool area with bbq's swimming pool, fishing wharf on the strand all free and well maitained, not something you would find easily in Sydney, definitely a place to stay if your up this way.

For the last week we have re-embraced free camping, (we got scared off after our warning in Ballina) and there are a series of council provided free camps on the beaches all the way up the coast from Townsville to Cairns. and we are being schooled in the tricks and tips by other travellers here. I am writing this from an active power outlet i found on a council power box, gotta love free.

Anyway, off to Ingham tomorrow, - we have decided we arent going to worry too much about how far we actually get along the proposed trip route and just stay wherever we want for as long as we are enjoying it.

See Ya
Mike and Joy

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We have spent the last couple of weeks on the Sunshine Coast, (definitely more than we originally planned) for various reasons. mainly because it is more spectacular than we had expected, spent the early part in Caloundra then on to Noosa for three days. I had always expected Noosa was a smaller version of the Gold Coast, but we found it is nothing like it, although touristy it is a great place with Good fishing and Surfing. (see action photos.)
Joy caught a huge flathead off the point at Noosa Woods and we didnt take a photo of it... i swear.

Have spent the last few days on Rainbow beach about two hours north of Noosa and are now in Tin Can Bay waiting for a new car alarm to be posted to Gympie becuase someone lost the car keys in the Ocean, I wont mention any names.
Although, cant really complain as there are worse places to be stuck in, at 7:30 every morning the local dolphins come up and can be hand fed from the shore near the Marina, definitely worth a visit if you are up this way.

One thing we have discovered so far is the locals have been more friendly and inviting than other travellers. had a great time last weekend watching the Souths game at a local in Trewantin with two local die hard Rabbitohs fans. Go the bunnies!
and we have spent the last couple of nights having happy hour beers with locals who live in the caravan Park.

The weather came good and lived up to its name once we got to the sunshine coast , although the last couple of days have been rainy and overcast, all in all it has been good.

Anyway, going to head further north on monday when the parts arrive. towards Harvey Bay and 1770 where i will try and get in one more surfing lesson before we hit the reef and then we will have swap the board for a snorkel and fins as there is no more surf beaches from there on.