Monthly Archives: September 2015

Day 47 – Dingoes ate my baby

Last night was a bit later than usual. First, because my kangaroo skewers took forever to get served, but more importantly because we had a beer and travel talk with Thomas from Berlin. He is the first motorcycle traveller that we met since starting this trip, at least for a longer chat.

Human added for scale (top of the ridge)

Human added for scale (top of the ridge)

That, plus a couple of urgent emails requiring my attention in the morning meant that our plans for the day started with a delay right out of the gate. Not that one item makes for a very long list, but we also wanted to get some good distance in afterwards back to the Stuart Highway and north if possible.

That one item? The King’s Canyon rim walk, a 6 km walk (plus some detours along the way) was marked with a whopping 3.5 hrs. We got there around 10 with the bike fully loaded. That always makes for a bit of an awkward change from biking to hiking mode, but nowhere nearly as hard or annoying as in our early travel days.

Nina was ok with most of the walk, only my brief explorations of the edge off the 50m sheer cliffs was met with little enthusiasm.

This is called Garden of Eden

This is called Garden of Eden

Although we took every detour, had lunch at the Garden of Eden and took way too many photos, we were back at quarter past one. Are we actually getting fitter? Either way, we were changed and back on the road by 2 pm.

I was keen on some bush camping, but from 4 pm onwards, the roadside was all fences, or desert plain without a single tree. So we pushed on a bit longer, on to the Stuart Highway and made camp at the Desert Oak rest area (Overnight camping is allowed here). I even found some good fire wood nearby. Thus, the day ended with a cup of tea next to a campfire on red sand.

Not too bad for a day to end.

Day 46 – Mala Walk

We decided that even though we packed up at the Ayers Rock Campground, we would still go on the free ranger guided Mala tour today. This tour starts at 10am every day and is obviously quite popular.

Good sport, funny

Good sport, funny

We got there with the necessary 15 min head start to change out of our gear and into our hiking clothes.

The track leads along the base of Uluru and there are many stops at caves so that the ranger can tell the story of this particular place (as far as it is okay to share). Clinton told us about the Mala people who used to live around the rock. We even got to see rock paintings of a school equivalent.

Flo and I were really glad that we decided to ride into the park again (for the third time now) as this gave us another perspective on things. Right at the end of the tour Clinton spoke about the climb up the rock and how the indigenous people work towards having it permanently closed. The local people call the climb “the scar” and if you look at it, you see why. At the moment 32% of tourists climb up but there is hope that the track might be closed in 2020. These free Mala walks are one mean to educate the public and give the indigenous perspective into consideration.

Shade and a chance of food, here I come!

Shade and a chance of food, here I come!

At noon the tour finished, and we started our way towards the next attraction in the area: King’s Canyon. On the map, it’s just go straight and then take a left turn but in reality, it was a 350km ride today. So we took another break at one of the rest areas and were surprised by people taking pictures of a dingo that was lying on the table in the lunch area. It then nearly gave me a heart attack as it started straight towards us, probably smelling the food.

We hung around to get some good shots (it was the first dingo we saw) and then headed off again in direction of King’s Canyon.

Arriving at the campground, I then realized that dingos roam here quite freely. Let’s see how this works out tonight…

The bar here had a live musician tonight, so Flo had a beer and kangaroo skewers from the BBQ.

Day 45 – Valley of the Winds

The alarm clock went off at 5 am, supported by weird mobile-phone-like birdsong. We packed all necessary components for our breakfast, including cooker and water for tea / coffee and arrived at the viewing area parking space in good time for the 6:48 am sunrise. But alas, it did not end up being at all like what we were expecting from the sunset area.

Too many ...

Too many …

A lot of desert oaks around left a raised viewing platform as the only obvious spot, but it was already well full and only got more crowded as busloads of day-trippers with doggy bags arrived. All thought of a cozy sunrise breakfast were abandoned at this point – one of the slogans of the resort here is “experience the silence” – yeah, right!

But then, the first light had hit Uluru maybe 10 minutes ago, as if on a gong the show seemed to be over and everyone rushed back to their cans. We liberated a nice bench and table and even got a milk pack off one of the doggy-bag-carriers, with a bit of jealousy in his eyes seeing our apparent lack of any haste. So, 7:00 am, in the silence promised and with the morning light’s shadows creeping over the rock, we had our imagined breakfast.

from a viewing platform on a sand dune

from a viewing platform on a sand dune

Once we were full and happy again, we made our way out Kata Tjuta, another beautiful rock formation 50 km out from Uluru. After a photo stop on the way, we were ready to tackle the 7.4km Valley of the Winds walk. It was the perfect morning for it: Sunny, with an occasional cloud lending shade and not too warm. This track is closed when the temperature exceeds 36°C, or about 11am in summer.

We finished pretty much on the spot at 12 noon and headed back for a light lunch and to make the best of our $38 accommodation: Sleep in the shade, hop in the pool and have a nice barbie to round the day off.

Day 44 – Uluṟu

Rest was needed

Rest was needed

The 508km from yesterday took a toll on us and we decided to sleep in and take our time in the morning. We shortly considered to have a rest day in Curtin Springs but it was only 86km more to get to the Ayers Rock Campground which we classified as a short “hop” and did around lunch time.

We both dreaded the campground a bit, given how indigenous people are treated in Australia and the fact that the local Aboriginal tribe asks tourist to honour the sacredness of Uluru and not climb it while the government does not want to close off the track because it fears a decline in tourism. Talk about being disenfranchised.

Red indeed ...

Red indeed …

The earth turned even redder on our short ride and then Uluru was visible on the horizon. It is quite the sight even from far away. Getting to the campground which is on the expensive side with $40 a night, we were prepared for the worst…and were positively surprised.

The resort is made for different kinds of tourists: The ones with money go into the hotel rooms with Uluṟu view, the others have a choice of the Pioneer Hotel and the campground. The campground is definitely made for A LOT of tourists but it still has a nice character to it. Checking in, Flo got a whole handful of information sheets including a booklet of the resort and its history. (Knowing Flo, you will realize that he read the entire thing). The land was given back to the Aboriginal people and is leased to the government for 99 years. Slowly but surely, the local tribe also got involved in running the Ayers Rock Resort. You can feel it in the respect that is shown towards the Aboriginal customs and stories. Started in 2013, there is also an effort made to have indigenous staff and a trainings program for indigenous people. The campground offers free classes in things like “throwing a boomerang” or “playing a digeridoo”. There is also a free guided tour around Uluṟu . I would think that this is the reason why the campground is rather pricey.

We decided to keep taking it slow. Heading into the resort’s shop, we bought more fresh fruit and vegetables. This is when we realized that we had skipped lunch…and had coffee instead. Well, Flo had coffee and I had an iced chocolate. It was the best thing ever. 🙂

Decorative clouds

Decorative clouds

 

Around 4.30pm, we headed out to the viewing area to see Uluru in the light of the setting sun. From this area, you look onto the mountain rather than into the sunset so you can see the colours change.

The sun set at 6.39pm. We filled the time between taking photos with talking to the people around us which was lovely.

Many, many pictures later it was 7.15pm and we decided to head back to the campground instead of hanging around until the stars come out. The moon was spectacular tonight tough.

Day 43 – highway life

Road is in top condition, we can concentrate on our books ;)

Road is in top condition, we can concentrate on our books 😉

508 km … *phew* – I have heard so many riding tales of bikers having had a +1000km days. I will make a call now and say: never! I have done it in a car for sure, but 2 up, on our bike, +10 hours in the saddle … just no. Plus, alth

ough the days are getting rapidly longer now (spring coming and moving towards the equator) but daylight is still a limiting factor for us. So far we were successful in avoiding Australia’s most deadly animal, the Kangaroo, and I’d like to keep it that way.

So what happened today? Not much, really. First and foremost, we have learned that the reboot of the Perry Rhodan series, called Perry Rhodan Neo, has a much darker tone than the original series at that point.

Another border, last one in Australia

Another border, last one in Australia

… oh, you want to read about the country? We passed into the Northern Territory, the last Australian state on our route. This enormous piece of land is only home to between 180k and 250k (varying sources, no internet to check).

The landscape has changed after Coober Pedy, for the arid desert type to a more typical outback setting. Red sand, green shrubs and bushland left and right of the road. A lot more hills, mesa and cliffs than I would have expected.

The most important change in wildlife for us is seeing these enormous eagles for the first time. Sitting on roadkill till the last second, they reach to about my hip sitting on the bike, so up to 1m tall. Beautiful birds. In other news, flies are still annoying. No one tells you about them before going into the outback (at least not us), but they are everywhere. At least we found out today that they don’t like fire. As soon as we put water on the stove, they left us in peace. A little bit of Shellite is a small price to pay for not being pestered …

A mesa is a flat top mountain ... I have read ...

A mesa is a flat top mountain … I have read …

With a last push, we arrived at Curtin Springs. It is free camping within 100km of the rock, so we did not look twice. It has a nice view of Mt. Conner, a mesa often mistaken for Uluru. We both like it in its own right.

We’ll move to the Ayers Rock Resort ($36 for an unpowered campsite) either tomorrow or the day after to do the sunrise / sunset thing for Uluru and go hiking around Kata Tjuta.

Day 42 – Gravel and tarmac

It was the first really warm night we had. Too warm for a sleeping bag in fact. Getting up, however, we noticed that it is significantly cooler than yesterday. A southerly brought colder air and made the whole affair much more bearable.

Rocinante seen through a burnt out truck at the road side

Rocinante seen through a burnt out truck at the road side

We continued on the Oodnadetta track for another 6km before taking a turn onto the gravel road to Coober Pedy. With the wind being fresh and cool and not a blow dryer to the face, I enjoyed the 166km much more than yesterday.

Also, for quite a while, we followed the bed of a creek which meant trees and much more vegetation than yesterday. Flo even mentioned that he’s a bit disappointed with how green the desert is.

Part of the scenery was covered in stones. It’s a weird event that happened just naturally: Soil kept flying away until a layer of stones emerged which now stops any further erosion.

Huge fields of these red rocks cover sections of the desert

Huge fields of these red rocks cover sections of the desert

We still had a couple of fun stops at the road side to rehydrate and take pictures of burnt out trucks.

Around lunch time we arrive at tarmac. Flo felt the need to kiss the first strip of proper road after 450km of gravel. Coober Pedy is a real town but completely depended on opal mining. Coming into the town we took the obligatory “Cooper Pedy” picture. We also got the information that it was only 22 degrees in Coober Pedy which is really not hot.

Since it felt as if we had been out of civilization for a while, it was pizza for lunch. Flo, again, didn’t feel too happy to be in a town and around tourists again. We checked out a church which has been hewn into the earth which was quite cool. After that we pressed on.

Clearing from the opal mines

Clearing from the opal mines

Coming into or leaving Coober Pedy shows you the mining aspect of the city. There are dig sites everywhere. It looks like big mole hills; one right next to the other. The picture doesn’t show it too well, unfortunately.

About 25km north of Coober Pedy is a lookout over a very cool valley. Breakways is a valley that has a lot of meaning to the local tribe. It has many different colours which makes it significant in the dreaming but European came in and named the place ‘salt and pepper’ because it looked most like spices to them. If you are a fan of Mad Max III or Pricilla Queen of the Desert, you might recognize the place.

Stuart Highway was a nice change of pace for the first while. Cruising along at 110kmh is different to the bumpy ride over corrugation we had for much of the day. But then, it is still about 2000km up to Darwin so I might get sick of it again. 😛

We had one more pause along the way before calling it a day at Cadney Homestead. Off to new adventures tomorrow.

Day 41 – Corrugation

I-i-i-i-iii ha-a-a-a-a-te co-o-o-or-r-r-r-r-ugati … oaaah, sand!

Look at those craters! Corrugation, about ankle-deep. Nina for scale is missing. :)

Look at those craters! Corrugation, about ankle-deep. Nina for scale is missing. 🙂

We did about 280km today, from Lyndhurst to Williams Creek. That leaves only ca. 170 km of gravel, minor excursions not included, of course. The road was tough to do on a motorcycle. About 30-40 km were either deep gravel, deep corrugation or nasty boulders half buried. The absolute priority for me was to get through undamaged. There were still one or two situations that got the adrenalin rushing.

There were stretches of hard packed soil were we could comfortably travel at 80km/h and within 15 m it would turn into something that would make walking speed an issue. At least with our bike. A dirt bike with a day pack and knobblies would probably fly right over. Twice it was touch and go. When we hit loose gravel and the bike just stated rolling out of control. I caught it both times. Riding with that level of concentration for hours is exhausting, though.

The one cloud of the day

The one cloud of the day

And then there were the 1000s of hard hits and constant vibration. The check up in Darwin needs to be thorough, and I will do a minor check in Coober Pedy. For once, I admit that traveling in a tin would have its advantage. All the other tourists waddled out of their AC’ed Utes in jandals and shorts and did not seem to mind the road at all …

 

Nina’s comment: Today, I struggled. I struggled with the gravel which made for a more than bumpy ride. I struggled with the heat and the utter lack of shadow. I also struggled with my mood and Flo’s mood. 280km seem too long now. It is called a desert for a reason. This place is very inhospitable with the sun scorching down at 33 degrees in winter. I don’t think human beings are meant to be here.

Now it was not all pain and suffering. There were some cool things to see along the road and having made it so far is a bragable offence in its own right.

A locomotive of the old Gunn Line in Marree

A locomotive of the old Gunn Line in Marree

First stop was Marree, an old cattle and railroad town. We met a bunch of other bikers who have done our route in reverse on GSs, and their tales about the road were encouraging. The local shop was particularly well stocked as well, so we sailed past the warning sign for the Oodnadatta track well prepared.

Along the way we stopped at “plane henge”, a peculiar sculpture park whose main attraction is a pair of planes bolted upright into the soil. The landscape kept changing constantly but subtly. Stony desert, plant cover, sand dunes and then soon enough the salt plane of dry southern Lake Eyre. White as far as the eye can see.

Lunch at the Oasis in Coward Spring

Lunch at the Oasis in Coward Spring

Probably the nicest stop along the way was Coward Springs, a campground at the heart of a wetland created by a leaking borehole. It had shade, lovely little campsites and a “spa”, filled with the water from said borehole. We were tempted to stay, but it was too early to call it a day and we kept it to a lunch break.

After probably the worst bit of road during the day, we made camp in Williams Creek. It has it all, quirky bar in the hotel, with travel memorabilia from all over the world. We had a Callipo Ice there and reminisced about our childhoods. We also met the first bunch of “serious” travellers like us. A German couple on a tandem push bike and swapped some route planning anecdotes.

Oh, one last thing … a small mishap … I’ll leave it to the photo to tell the story.

Day 40 – into the red

Graaaveeeelll!

Graaaveeeelll!

Today marks the first day of the most adventurous part of our Australia section of the route. We left Wilpena heading north to go via Blinman, Marree, Wilams Creek to Coober Pedy to meet the Stuart Highway. This means we will do a good section of the Oodnadatta track, which is hundereds of kilometers of gravel through the outback.

We got the first taste of gravel on one of the beautiful tracks in the Flinders Range national park. We turned off the black top road towards Blinman to take some pictures at the Bunyeroo valley lookout. We could have gone further through the valley, but I wanted to tag some more lookouts on the Blinman road (and there would be plenty of gravel soon enough), so we turned around.

Another lookout

Another lookout

Stokes Hill lookout gave a nice wide panorama of Ikara from the east. After that, it was another brief push for a good long lunch at Blinman Cafe. The temperatures, around 29°C, called for drastic measures: Ice cream for dessert 🙂 We got some queer look when asked where we were heading and we pointed north. The tarmac ends at Blinman, and most people turn around here.

We took the gravel road east through the Glass Gorge and Parachilna Gorge to meet the the Hawker Leigh Creek road. The gravel was mostly OK, a bit bumpy in the probably 50 stream crossings (all dry but one). Nina still got shaken around a fair bit.

Into the dead flat red nothing ...

Into the dead flat red nothing …

As we came out of the hills the land switched to dead flat. We cruised out the rest of the tarmac on our way north for a camp at Lyndhurst Hotel. Truckies, beer cans and flat nothing. Small downer: A road train with an entire cow herd pulled up just after 6 – thanks for the smell, mate!

All of tomorrow will be gravel – shake it baby!

 

Note: Don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for the next two to three days, as internet and cell phone reception is a bit of a thing of chance.

 

Day 39 – Birthday safari

The one good thing about early morning bird hunting

The one good thing about early morning bird hunting

It’s my birthday! And as always, my only plan was “to be away”. So poor Flo had to come up with a plan.

A very loud bird woke us at dawn but we decided to go back to sleep and then slept in a bit. Flo insists that I tell the whole story: He got up, climbed on the stone table and shook the tree to get rid of the damn bird.

Again, there was no cloud to be seen in the sky. Flo managed to get a nice picture of a lizard sunbathing. So we packed our things and drove on only a couple of kilometres to Arkaroo Rock where a nice walk through shrubs and red sand led us to rock paintings by the local tribe. During the hike we found an almost unreal looking little place with a tiny waterfall. So cute!

The significance of the place made sense

The significance of the place made sense

The paintings themselves had to be secured behind bars because obviously people are d****. There was one rock a bit closer to the track where e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. had left their “I was here” mark.

The view on the Flinders Range during most of the hike was gorgeous and we took way too many photos. We even saw a whole flock of emus at the roadside.

Our next camp is only 52 km away from Hawker. Entering the Flinders Range National Park, we saw many, many more emus on the road leading to Wilpena. Wilpena is a bit of a touristy spot as it is the only “official” caravan park/campsite in the National Park. Flo couldn’t help but detest it a lot at first when we set up camp. They even have a restaurant and bar here. We got some fresh veges for a nice tomato salad for lunch and I got a birthday ice cream. 🙂

A look back down the access to Wilpena

A look back down the access to Wilpena

After lunch we set out for another hike, this time to the Wangara Lookout. The suggested time was 3 hours and you could shorten the journey with a bus ride. The first two kilometers were basically on a dirt road as the bus goes along there but it was still nice with gum trees left and right and some grassy areas in between.

After 2km, the track started to ascend slightly towards Hill Homestead after which the track became a constant climb up to the lookout along Ikara (Wilpena Pound). Up there, you have a view along the rugged hills or mountains that frame the valley. It’s beautiful up there especially if you are the only people because you didn’t take the bus and didn’t end up here with all the other tourists.  🙂

Can you spot the bright green bird?

Can you spot the bright green bird?

The sun was quite low when we headed back. Dusk is a really good time to see wildlife and truly, we saw a couple of kangaroos on our way back. One pair was seemingly avoiding us, hopping along our side for a while then suddenly turned onto the road and cross it right behind us for some greener grass on the other side.

In the evening, Flo went on to cook delicious dinner and we shared the bottle of Princess Moscato with it. I also still had some of my Haigh’s chocolates.

Day 38 – Winter you say?

The night was cool alright, maybe 8° C, but the day felt a lot like Wellington summer. With all the green that is still around, it is really hard for us to fully comprehend that this is winter. Be it as it may, we are enjoying it. A whole day of sunshine and agreeable temperatures. Maybe even a little bit too cold still for hanging around in the shade all day.

View back down, Hawker is just out of sight to the left.

View back down, Hawker is just out of sight to the left.

Right, what were we up to today? Well, for the most part, all these little things that needed doing but we did not get to on a normal travel day. A good bunch also required internet / phone connectivity, so around mid-morning we called it and decided on a rest day (i.e. staying in the Hawker camp ground).

The army surplus haversacks-made-tank-pannier we picked up in Auckland have proven themselves over the last week as excellent temporary (food) storage. Therefore, with an extra buckle and strap Nina has turned them into a permanent solution. I am very pleased with the final result, and the $35 price tag for the lot is a sweet bonus.

I have been busy with more general titbitty stuff: Load new audio books onto the Garmin; order spare parts and minor bits of kit to Darwin (including Nina’s Compañero pants); post the last blog entry; PC maintenance and a bunch of emails.

unknown berry

unknown berry

Last of all, I called my contact for shipping the bike from Darwin to Dili to get the dates and a confirmation that they are still the right place to go through (don’t laugh, it was a fun little daisy chain of “we don’t do that anymore” to get to them in the first place). The news was average: There are two sailings we could aim for – first with a cut-off of the 22nd of September, the other one on 1st of October. The first would mean a mad rush, but unfortunately the second sailing has a 9 day wait from cut-off to departure, probably another 3-4 days until we can start to free our bike in Dili.

For now, we are aiming for the 1st, knowing that these dates are famously sketchy from what we have learned from other travellers. So there might be hope.

After all was done and I went out to shop for another abysmal meal (when the petrol station is also the tourist info and the supermarket, not too much can be expected from me in terms of tastiness).

Sorry, no tele, but they were pretty cool in between the ruins.

Sorry, no tele, but they were pretty cool in between the ruins.

Around 3 pm, we finally had everything done and were ready to at least do a little bit of sight-seeing for the day. We headed south with a light bike to go on a little hike from the abandoned homestead of Kanyaka. After some minor challenges (all due to bad signposting, I swear), we found the ruins of the homestead and went on our way to visit the “death rock”, a distinct boulder marking a water hole. The bolder was used by the local Adnyamathanha people to bar their dead, hence the name. Oh, and we got our emu-spotting ticked off the list 😉

After that, we headed back to Hawker to check out another lookout signposted from town. Unfortunately, once there we found out that the actual lookout was another 20 min walk out from the car park. With the sun setting already, we took the views from the road and headed back to camp for some food and blogging.

Sunset over Hawker

Sunset over Hawker

A small side note at the end: We have been welcomed warmly if a little gruff by the majority of Australians we encounter. But within not even 10 minutes, a lot of these encounters exhibit something that John Oliver once brilliantly worded as: “Australians are comfortably racist”. The mere fact that we were the only ones to cringe when an old chap during a roadside stop peaked his crown jewel of a joke with: “and then the blackfella said” …

 

In other news: Nina is neither amused by the warmth nor by the bazingillon flies …