Category Archives: Hiking

Day 48 – East MacDonnell Ranges

Obligatory tigerpose at Alice Springs

Obligatory tigerpose at Alice Springs

From our roadside camp in Desert Oaks, we continued further up towards Alice Springs. Distance-wise, we had to cover another 200km to reach Alice Springs.

At a gas station, we had a chance meeting with two other travellers: Georg (worldbiker.info) and Jazek. Georg, at least, has started this part of his journey in Switzerland and, after Australia, there is only New Zealand left to explore. We exchanged blog address and wished each other safe travels as you do. 🙂

We arrived in Alice Springs around lunch time. I was getting warm on the bike (29 degrees) and started disliking cities again because you have to go so slow, when we managed to sit down in the Page 27 Cafe for a lovely lunch and a large chocolate brownie as dessert.

Alice Springs is surely a city that you can explore for a day but we decided to head out again into the East MacDonnell Ranges.

Emily Gap in the East MacDonnell Ranges

Emily Gap in the East MacDonnell Ranges

The MacDonnell Ranges are divided into West and East by Alice Springs itself which lies in a gap of the ranges. The East is the less popular side for daytrips but I had read about Trephina Gorge and wanted to camp there.

Heading east, we first came to Emily Gap which is a natural gap in the region. The local people believe that a giant caterpillar has formed this gap. We skipped Jessie Gap as we thought it would be quite similar and instead stopped at Corroboree Rock. As a formation, it is quite peculiar. Just a freestanding rock with much meaning to the indigenous people. Here, for the first time, the info sign asked tourist to treat the place as they would treat a church.

The last stop was Trephina Gorge itself where we set up camp in the Bluff Campground and so far, we are the only ones here. But there are two more campgrounds in close proximity with people on it.

As the end to the day, we went on a 2km loop walk through the gorge and up on the rim which was amazing. The gorge itself was already in shadow but the higher walls of rock were glowing in the red evening light.

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 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 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 …

Day 20 – Waiheke

Sunday started as Saturday had been promised to be: Very sunny. Thus, if we wanted to go and see Waiheke, this was our chance.

The view back to Auckland's main ferry terminal

The view back to Auckland’s main ferry terminal

Nick drove us to the ferry terminal so we could catch the 11am ferry and off we went. The ferry ride in sunshine was supposedly quite nice…the rolling of the ferry made me tired, however, and I closed my eyes for a bit…and suddenly, we were on Waiheke.

Took the bus into town and walked along the beach and across rocks until we hit Little Oneroa Bay, where we had lunch. This is also the narrowest part of the island so we crossed over to the other side and then walked part of the walking track Te Ara Hura which leads around the island.

The whole track is not doable in a day so we walked from Blackpool to Te Wharau Bay, took the shortcut over the hill to Cable Bay and then continued along the west coast until we were back at the ferry terminal.

The look back over Oneroa (the town)

The look back over Oneroa (the town)

It was a great day for walking with all the sunshine and we saw many birds, a couple of horses, including a pony that really wanted to get rid of its saddle and even an ent. The ent was trying to run from the ocean but was ultimately defeated.

The west coast has some spectacular views onto the skyline of Auckland which is probably why there are estates and mansion with helicopter landing sites dotting along the coast.

Close to the ferry terminal, the sun started to set so, again, we got some beautiful sunset shots. After those, I hurried towards the terminal as I didn’t want to miss the 6pm ferry.

The ferry ride back gave us a view onto Auckland, first in fading sunlight and then in the dark with all the city lights greeting us. I think, it was the best time to come back. 🙂

Day 3 – The two sides of Aotearoa

Rain – lots of it. Last night on the ride here, all night and all morning. Plus grey skies and 300m visibility. We would not get our gear packed up remotely dry. The ride was also dodgy, the silt on the gravel roads becomes slick as soap.

Rocinante and our tent

Rocinante and our tent

So, a decision was made. Stick it out for one day, or at least until a pause in the rain gives us a chance to pack. And then, all went out again, when the DOC warden took pity on us and offered us a hut for a great price (budget is an issue for us now, especially in the “western world”). The hut was amazing! Warm, dry and enough space to spread our gear out to dry.

Te whenua also took pity and shooed the clouds away around 11am. It is hard to overstate what a difference the weather makes when one is so exposed to it all day. What set out to be a dreary and cold stake out between wet tent and cold public kitchen turned into a warm, sun-drenched dream.

The weather turned out to be so good in fact that we took off for 3 hours hiking the tracks around Waikaremoana Holiday Park. We explored some of the coolest waterfalls and had great vistas of the lake and surrounding mountainside.

Rainy Christmas

First of all, merry Christmas to all of you. 🙂 Hopefully, you had a lovely celebration and happy days. The internet connection here isn’t great but at least each of us could call family briefly and wish them merry Christmas.

We’re in Hahei at the moment. Hahei is on the Coromandel peninsula and a sunshine capital. Usually. Right now, it is raining as it was for the last two days. Continue reading →

Sparcles in the night

This is only going to be a very short update, but tonight was such an amazing experience, that I wanted to write some lines about it (and use the chance while having a propper internet connection).

We are in Waitomo Caves now, evading the rain in a cosy little cabin in the Top 10 Holiday Park. We arrived dripping wet, but the evening turned out beautifully, with evening sun and a warm breeze.

The receptionist recommended to go on a little hike and see the glow worms after dusk. The hike was one of the best experiences of my life. We arrived with some light left, and the walk through the bush and the beautiful Karst formations was stunning. In one of the caverns, we caught a glimpse of what was to come. Then, after dark, it just was magical. The bush was flooded to every corner with tiny sparcles, hundreds of them!

Just beautiful …

Pain Day

After a couple of rather crap days, I decided I needed some success. The success ended up to be a 19 km hike to the tops of some western hills. Yay me! Afterwards our friend Tina took us on a trip around Miramar. Just without shoes … too much pain!

Download file: fdbv3qyj3_Pain-Day.gpx