#2009.11.16（一）
早上搭公車再轉Train，都在1 zone內，所以只付一次錢。
等Greyhound，看到一對日本couple，男生背著吉他，女生沒有要搭。
Greyhound搭好久，休息站買了AUD 4.4的Mocha Chill（600ml）來喝。
六點多的休息站則是Chicken Salad Sandwich（AUD 6.5），之後有中國大嬸來聊天，說她已經去了一百多個國家。走到車旁邊，發現Dennis、Penny，和宇欣已經在和日本人聊天，原來他才19歲，而且剛剛那只是朋友，真的女朋友在日本；打算住Backpackers。

發現把Kensington的電腦鎖忘了在share house。

坐了十三個鐘頭多的車，到Port Hotel已經晚上十點多，開門的是個好人奶奶，人很nice。最後我住了一間double room，室友是個有點胖胖的德國人。房間很小。

Port Hotel大概有三十間房。兩個地方有廁所；廚房有八個爐子，但是是四個四個併在一起。交誼廳就是餐桌，電視前面有沙發區。

#2009.11.17（二）
到ANZ開account，逛target、red dot，到海灘走一走，還有到woolworths，買了一些東西。

回來一點多，煮了Mi goreng來吃。
發現滿多人都在等工作，工作也不是那麼好找。
稍晚去採買食材，Dennis遇到一簽的朋友，也請他們介紹工作，還向他們借車，打算讓我們去找工作。（Dennis人真的不錯）
晚上cook time，韓國人人很nice，送番茄給大家，Rudy還請我們吃西瓜。有個日本女孩吃東西很講究，還配了一杯白酒。
這裡日本人最多，再來是台灣人、韓國人。

猜拳輸了我洗碗。

#2009.11.18（三）
吃完花生醬吐司，走到crab factory，老闆叫我們或許兩個星期後再來。
接著去woolworths採買晚餐和明天lunch。
下午Gavin先帶我們到day care centre找nana，給她兩顆西瓜。
在托兒所前面經過一群阿寶（aboriginal）小孩，喊著”Go! Yellow men”
澳洲對黃種人比想像中的排斥，阿寶找到可以宣洩的出口大概就是黃種人了吧？！
接著開到農場開始找工作。
不太順利，很多農場都是空無一人，只有狗。
有個草莓園的主人還很機，”You didn’t see the NO JOBS sign? There is no jobs unless you’re good looking.”

晚上我做了牛絞肉丸子，哇哈。

接著我去Dexter、Patricia的桌子聊天，Patricia長得很像在法學院看過的某個女生（很老套）。Patricia先到紐西蘭當了一年背包客（WH），在澳洲也是新人；家住宜蘭。Patricia說Thomas會衝浪，汽車上有板（後來證實是誤會一場，衝浪板只是買二手車時就一直在車上）。
猜拳又輸又洗碗。

接著Dexter要到backpackers’ night找Gyro，拿東西給他。我就跟著去了。那家店叫做”Thirsty Camel”，店不大，大概五十多坪。裡面有白人、阿寶、日本人，還有台灣人。
靠近台灣人那桌（除了Gyro外都是女生，共八人），目光一掃，看到一個很甜的女生臉紅了。
坐下來看到啤酒，眼睛就亮了。我們點的是EXTRA DRY，非常甜！！！好讚喔！！！
到了Free BBQ時間，大部分的客人都排隊去拿免費食物，內容大概是吐司、蔬菜、奶油、一塊牛肉、兩條香腸。他們說今天人沒有很多。
在排隊的時候，遇到Greyhound的日本人（Jim?）。
聊到我的室友Thomas，在光頭的時候，曾經被鳥啄了一下（笑）。我說他會記帳，她們提起他是會計師。還有Thomas曾經在Port的烤麵包機旁邊用Laptop上網。
Gavin來了不久後，我們就散會，那群女生大部分是星期六就走了。

#2009.11.19（四）

早上洗澡時，發現Bikini T恤忘了在share house。
接近中午，Penny來說Gill（Tony的媽，是個很nice的grandma）提供我們三個人工作了，是西瓜。

晚餐後，猜拳終於沒輸。
晚上Gyro和Gavin搬了一箱COLD啤酒來，坐在balcony喝酒聊天。幫日本女生tomoko（男朋友是韓國人，兩人都是二簽）弄了KMPlayer。

#2009.11.20（五）
五點多起來洗澡，早餐吃得匆忙。忘了塗防曬就出門，在等shuttle bus的地方（Reception）跟Patricia借了來抹。
和我們一同工作的是德國人Sabastian，這也是他第一份工作，來了三個星期左右。
工作就是做八角形的紙箱盒子（底部是用木板，用鎚子敲釘子是一門藝術）、採西瓜，還有搬西瓜。十一點左右休息吃飯。Robbie有養狗叫做Max，臉上有很可愛的斑，還會追上來也跟去西瓜田，然後都很聰明會找陰涼處。
薪水是AUD 100/天，No tax，算下來大約時薪AUD 13，不是很好，但目前也只能做。結束後還請我們喝COLD和可樂，人還不錯，就是錢少了點。

Kara凌晨要離開，所以給她寫了留言本；拿出相機在飯廳亂照。
打給Kevin，結果還是沒有我的電腦鎖和T恤的消息；他和Jeff明天就上來Port Hotel。
晚上WIN台在播Love Actually，和室友Thomas有討論一下，他說他很愛這部。
十一點多在睡覺，接到Kevin電話，說東西有找到。YES!!!

#2009.11.21（六）
work, work, and work.
想說學一下Patricia，在農場邊做邊想事情，不料居然被Robbie嫌動作太慢。
昨晚算了一下如果工作三十天，扣掉Port Hotel的住宿費，大概可以存AUD 2000。
好累好累，突然很想把這工作做一個月後，玩一玩就回家了。
前幾天好像了解了背包客大概的形象，就是當妳安安份份的在台北工作，假日的時候參加飯局或小小出遊；背包客卻是在陌生的國度遊歷，用不是自己的母語和其他人溝通，把行李打開，然後又收起來，工作，旅遊。背包客的生活好不適合我。

晚上施振嘉打來，終於聯絡到他了。聊了一些wwoof的事。初步的想法是賺了AUD 2000左右，回Perth，飛Alice Springs，看Uluru；之後做幾次交換食宿，到東澳，或許找媽媽的朋友家看可不可以住。

Port Hotel的Tony回來了，聽其他台灣人說那夫婦叫做「沒良心的」，接駁車不等人，offer工作還有種族歧視，等等。

Here is a recent shot from a morning hike up 963 stairs and assorted ladders to get to this spot before dawn. Out of the shots I took I think I actually like this one of the nice yellow toned light coming across the scene more than the pre-dawn images. I also shot a vertical around this time from this spot that I also quite like.

‘ Boolimba bluff  –  Qld central highlands ’

Just ate an absolutely divine custard apple, sitting at the table reading bits of the Sun Herald. Scooped all the skin and seeds into our little bench-top compost bin, noticing how large and satisfyingly glossy the seeds were. Now, what did those seeds remind me of? Oh yes, loquat seeds. I remember, as a child, sitting up in a loquat tree eating the loquats. I remember loquats being around. They must be a bit of a Mediterranean-climate, Western Australian thing. They were at a neighbouring farm when we lived at Gin Dong near Bussleton. Was there a loquat tree in the back yard at 10 Hill Street, Carnarvon? I can imagine one into that scene, near the never-used aviary behind the laundry. But it might be imaginary. I’m remembering the taste. I’d like to find one and eat one. I’m sure they’re in the “exotics” section of the supermarket, where bits of food have come to us from the far ends of the globe, emitting carbon all the while.

Day one of our trip was the drive from Geraldton to Cue.  We made a few brief stops on the way, including Pindar to find out that the wreath flowers were in peak bloom and then Mt. Magnet.  Although rain was intermittent through the day, everywhere we decided to stop and walk around, the weather held.  Mt. Magnet is essentially a large mining town with a tourist driving loop which leads you to big holes in the ground.  [Later in the trip, we saw a truly giant hole, so more on that when we get to it.]  One of the more interesting stops there was at the hill in the photo above.  The geology of the area led to some really strange rock shapes.  We stopped to explore these for awhile.  Then we drove to Cue for the only hotel stay of our trip.

Cue is a moderately old historic town.  The photo above shows about a quarter of main street.  The “hotel” stay was actually at the tavern in town.  In these towns, the local pub/restaurant/hotel/campground/whatever else you need along those lines, are the main form of lodging and food.  This one was entertaining.  For some reason, (which we still don’t know) it was a full house, so the pub decided to put on a buffet instead of the standard a la carte.  It was actually quite good, and we chatted with an interesting character for a long time.

Day two was the drive to Newman.  We stopped off at Millie Soak, a historic watering hole for Cue back in the day.  Today, it’s a dry hole in the ground with an interpretive sign giving a history of the importance of this watering hole.  A few hundred feet past the hole are a few old graves from an emergency hospital which was established here.  As we continued driving, Em saw the sponge bob creation below.  We just had to go back and get a picture of it.

In addition to the manmade strangeness, we did see examples of natural beauty.  I think the white trunks of the gum trees with the red dirt and blue sky is rather striking.

The bush below appealed to me as well.  Interesting colors and form.  That is one thing that isn’t lacking out here.

Day three was driving from Newman to Karijini National Park.  Newman exists because of the BHP Billiton mine at Mt. Whaleback.  It’s the largest single pit open cut ore mine in the world.  Naturally, we had to take the tour.  How often do you get a chance to check out something like that?  Each ledge you see in the photo below is 45 feet high.  This mine is massive.  More details on it are at: http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/ourBusinesses/ironOre/bhpBillitonIronOre.jsp

On the way to Karijini, we noticed the Governor.

We camped in the park for 2 nights.  This was quite an experience.  First, camping in Australia is different than the camping we’ve done in the states.  The park provides a gas BBQ and stove in a central location for each campsite group.  This cuts down on people doing stupid things which lead to wildfires.  It was really convenient.  Other differences were the lack of ranger led interpretive events like the national parks have in the states, and not providing a picnic table or a place to sit within your campsite.  [Later on this trip, we also find that buying portable picnic tables are popular here.]

The best part about camping here was hearing the campground surrounded by a pack of dingos at about 1 am.  That’s an experience you can’t get just anywhere.  An added advantage of camping in the middle of nowhere is the complete lack of light pollution.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars.  The Milky Way was a glowing river of light in the sky.  This is a far cry from the night sky back home where you can only see the brightest of stars.  Em and I enjoyed 2 star-gazing night walks while we stayed there.

After a long day, we were able to refresh ourselves with a swim in this pool below.  The hike down to “Fern Pool” begins as a 2400 foot steep rock descent, followed by a 900 ft rainforest-like walk to find this secluded and absolutely breathtaking pool. There were lots of bats hanging upside down through the mini-rainforest area to the pool, which were awesome to see and wow, are they noisy!  Size is deceptive, but that waterfall is about 8-10 feet high.  The water was very cold, but you adapt quickly.  It was worth swimming over to the waterfall, since the water pouring over it was quite a bit warmer than the rest of the pool.  This was, undoubtedly, Em’s favorite part of the trip, so we swam there twice!

The falls below are at the bottom of the descent, before the rest of the hike to Fern Pool.  They were quite spectacular in their own way.

This part of Australia has lots of the termite mounds as seen below.  Average height of the mounds around the park are about 5 feet.  They are about as hard as concrete.  The “grass” mounds in the foreground are actually a species of spinifex.  It’s not soft like grass we normally think of and can inflict quite a bit of pain if you aren’t paying attention to where you are walking.  Think of it like walking through yucca plants.  You could probably use each “blade” like a needle for sewing if you were hard pressed.  It’s all over the place in the outback and is very important to the local ecology.  More on it here: http://www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/kids/nature/plants/spinifex.shtml

After a few other gorge overlooks throughout the park, we checked out of the campground to begin the drive to Karratha through Millstream-Chichester.  Our route took us through a part of Karijini we hadn’t yet seen.  The countryside was quite striking, and we were fortunate to have some cool clouds in the sky, a rarity here.

After 2 hours of driving, the route brought us back into the western side of Karijini, leading us now into Hamersley gorge.  This is one more example of the beautiful features in the landscape.  With a bit of creative bouldering, I was able to work my way upstream to get the following shots.  This area is prone to flash floods.  Fortunately, it wasn’t the right season for heavy rain, so we were safe.  In another month or 2, I wouldn’t have attempted this, as there was no way to get to higher ground quickly enough if we heard a flood coming.  If you’ve ever lived in flash flood country, you know they are no joke.  The curls and twists in the eroded rock speak to the power they have.

Continuing onward, we started driving on the crazy road to Millstream-Chichester.  Why was it crazy?  Well, we were in our low clearance 2 wheel drive Mazda going on a rough one way road blasted through a rocky hill.  It must be said that this road is rather far out and rarely travelled.   We assumed the risk of running into something else would be low; however, the concern was what to did if we actually did.  This is a route created for road trains but was too convoluted for them to go through as a whole.  There were staging areas on both sides so they could deconstruct/construct the road train and continue on their way.  There were a few dicey moments, but we managed to make it through ok.  That white knuckle drive was totally worth it when we started seeing the views below.  The swim at Python Pool was also very nice.

Millstream-Chichester receives virtually no publicity on the Australian national park website, to the point of not even having pictures, so we had no idea what to expect.  As it turns out, portions of the park are absolutely stunning.  It was late afternoon when we arrived to this part of the park, so lighting was getting better for photos.  Pure luck, but happy it turned out that way.  Out here they call this breakaway country for obvious reasons.  It really reminds me of parts of northern New Mexico and was my favorite drive for the whole trip.

The photo below is of  ”The Pyramid”.  The road map we have actually has the names of most large geographic features.  It’s helpful when you are trying to figure out “why aren’t we there yet?” and also for titling your photos.  The sun was dropping quickly at this point, but the color shift of the light really worked well with the spinifex.  After grabbing a few shots, we hustled back into the car to get to the campground for check-in before they closed at 7pm.  This spot was a bit over an hour away.  We made it in 30 minutes to spare fortunately.  And the best part of this stage of the trip?  After 3 days on dirt roads of varying quality, we were finally back on bitumen!  It was now quiet enough to put our music back on.

We stayed in Karratha for a couple of nights so we could explore the area.  The visitor center suggested observing ancient aboriginal rock art just outside of town which we decided to find.  An example is shown below.  You can see literally thousands of carvings on the mounds of rocks; however, their visibility is dependant upon the direction light hits the surface.  This shot captures the surrounding area as well as the art.  The piles of rock look like remnants of mining but are a naturally occuring formation which is prevalent throughout that part of WA.  It’s a type of granite estimated to be one of the oldest types of rock on the planet.  It weathers to that red look but freshly broken pieces are greenish.  When it is exposed to water for long periods of time, it becomes black.

Driving down a dirt road, parking, then walking up a seasonal creek bed gains access to this canyon.  After only a short hike inside, you reach the trees in the photo below which are actually at the intersection of 4 canyons.  It was an interesting experience and easy to see how it could be considered a spiritual place.  Apparently, this site was reserved for initiation rituals for the men in the tribe.  The rock art played a role in those ceremonies, which is why there are so many.  One interesting thing to note about the art was its implementation.  Unlike most of the aboriginal art in Australia formed by painting, this art was done in the same manner as pictographs in the American southwest.  Stone was drilled/chipped away to expose the different color underneath the outer oxidation layer of the stone.

The rocks both in the foreground and background are actually the same material in the shot below.  This was at Hearson’s cove in Dampier.  This beach is composed primarily of small shells with a few granite pebbles thrown in for diversity.  Em hung out in her camp chair with her feet in the water while I went exploring.  The tide was coming in quickly and caused one of my sandals, which I inadvertently left on the beach, to begin floating away.  I had to hustle and managed to rescue it.  Em was highly entertained and offered no assistance.

Another sight we enjoyed is the abandoned town, Cossack, just north of Roebourne.  The history of this town is interesting with a few of the buildings restored and a museum holding various relics from the inhabitants.  It rose to prominance during the early pearling history of the region, but its port fell into disuse when the newer larger vessels couldn’t pull in.  A new port was opened further up the peninsula at Port Samson, which effectively ended the town’s industry.  Nearing the same time, a major hurricane eliminated virtually every structure and finished off this town.  There is an overlook of Settler’s beach and the original waterway which was interesting.

Back at the campground, we met a gold prospector known as “Wombat”.  He had the look.  Rail thin with a great big bushy beard.  Wombat just returned from a 3 months expedition out in the bush looking for gold and actually found some.  He showed us his prize example about 110 grams, a bit bigger than a golf ball with quartz nodules buried in it. Quite a find which he estimated to be worth between $7000-$8000AUD to a collector.  As it turns out, collectors will pay more than the gold is worth to find a natural specimen for their mineral collections.  It was very interesting talking to him.  There was quite a bit of laughter, some of which had that slight edge of crazy, but we had a good time.  It’s a tempting thought to head out there and give it a go.  Em’s against it, unless I promise not to return until I’ve found something real big.

After Karratha, we drove to Exmouth.  Our original plan was to spend 3 nights here swimming and snorkeling at Ningaloo Reef.  Our first night was mostly uneventful, other than Em seeing a huntsman spider, big enough to carry small children off.  Just a few hours before that, we were at the lighthouse shown below to watch this gorgeous sunset.  While the sun was doing its thing, we spotted a group of whales frolicking offshore.  This provided quite a bit of entertainment.  The rest of our time was cut short due to 4 meter seas.  It’s hard to swim/snorkel in that, plus the added danger of very strong rip currents dragging you out to sea.  We decided to not chance it and instead headed home early.

Two and a half hours south of Exmouth, we luckily did get to snorkel in Coral Bay since the weather here was more accommodating.  This is the first time I’d snorkeled above a reef.  It was pretty cool.  We saw all kinds of strange fish, a couple of rays and various types of coral and sponges.  Can’t wait to do that again.  Since this took a bit of time, we stopped for the night in Carnarvon.  Just north (~80Km) of Carnarvon, there are a few blowholes at the edge of the ocean.  The sea here is truly intimidating.  The waves crashing against the rock threw spray 40 feet in the air at times, just from direct impact, not to mention the spray coming from the blowhole.

Here is a short video I took with the D90.  Not bad.  I killed the sound since it was just wind noise.  I waited for a relatively calm period so you can see the blowhole itself.  Most of the time, the waves were throwing up so much spray it was hard to make out the actual blowhole.

There was also a jetty in Carnarvon, which we were able to walk halfway out on.  It was originally a mile in length, but due to fire damage, the later portion is currently being restored and off limits.  A nice walk over the ocean nonetheless.  Now,  it was time to turn the car towards home.  Not much exciting until Em spotted this emu in the distance.  We saw lots of wildlife throughout the driving portion of this trip, but invariably by the time the car stopped and cameras were in hand, the animals decided they didn’t want to stick around.  We saw hawks, goats, emu’s, big (3 foot) lizards, bats, dingos, etc.,  but no photos until this one.

“Your gasket’s blown mate, this would cost about $3000 to fix,” the mechanic told me after I had just paid an expensive bill to have the car towed 200km to him in the hope he could repair it. I didn’t want to hear that, I wanted good news, something like: “I can fix it, easy”.

The car, a nice Land Rover Discovery, had stuffed itself on a leg of a journey I was doing through Australia. I was in the Gascoyne, a huge area of dry, baron country about 900km north of Perth, the most isolated city in the world.

It was early evening; the sun was going down, when the land rover rolled along the road after eight hours of driving, slowing and coming to a stop. The engine had blown, it was a mess – steam was churning out of the bonnet. I was stuck in the Gascoyne, 200km from any mechanic and my car was buggered. If I was any wiser at the time I would have had a satellite phone with me, one that could be used in the bush, the make-a-call-wherever-you-are type of phone. But no, I didn’t have one of those, so instead I shouted out profanities at the car in the hope that someone would hear me and feel sorry for me. The cause was a blown head gasket – something that is common with the land rover series.

A blown head gasket is a build-up of pressure in the car’s engine, usually caused by a shortage of water or oil. Later I had learnt the water tank that led to the engine was empty from a leak in a water hose. That hose would have cost $20 to repair if it had have been seen earlier.

I was quite pissed off at the prospect of being stuck, in a very empty country, without a car. In any normal situation a person would get a few bags from their car and begin walking to the nearest service station. Despite the fact that it would be a 200km walk to the nearest one I couldn’t leave car for fear it would be torn apart and broken into by lesser-minded individuals. So I waited, and waited.

The last rays of the sun had left, it was dark and silent. This part of the country glows red and gold during the day, but when there’s no electricity in the horizon it can get awfully dark, more so when it’s a small-moon night. To be even more unlucky my car died on a night when there was nothing but a sliver of moon to give me light. I was blind and without anything except for a tiny flashlight in my fishing tackle box.

While sitting on the side of the road I counted four huge semi-trailer trucks pass without stopping. I suppose their loads would be more important than picking up some hitchhiker. A silver government-issue Prado was the only normal vehicle on the road that night. It was travelling from Perth with a family and had taken the inland route that I had broken down on. It was about 11.15pm when I saw the Prado’s headlights on the road. I motioned with my thumb for a lift and it stopped. A middle-aged man hopped out of the car, he had just come back from a mine-site and was headed home to Carnarvon. He was pleasant, but quiet and reserved. He told me to grab all of my stuff from the car. He didn’t say very much except for his name and a warning: “You better say goodbye to the rover before we head off, she won’t be here after a week in this place,” he said. At the time I couldn’t show any sentiment to the car after it had broken down on me. But now (a few years later) I have come to hold fond memories of the land rover.

It was about 1.30am when we arrived into Carnarvon. A small fishing/agriculture-based seaside town. There’s nothing much to the place at night except for a well-lit-up Chicken Treat and a two waterside pubs. At first it wasn’t my intention to stay for long, but I had fallen into a great love for the place and spent a quick year there.

During my stay, I met a policeman, S, who had been as fond as I had of the land rover make. After having being quoted $3000 for the car’s repair I had left it in the backyard of an apartment I was renting at the time. He paid $600 for it.

S was always keen on fixing the car but had never been able to get around to it. S has since the left the area but rumor has it the car was taken back down to Perth and adopted by a land rover wizard who is alleged to have fully repaired and back on the road

How much do we remember about that day when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon….not a lot …some maybe more than others. I remember it well.. I took a picture of the landing module take-off  from the moon…using an old camera and an even older little tele…we were at Park Beach..oh how time flies.

Now we are in Carnarvon and how many of us know what an important part Oz and Carnarvon played in the whole moon landing sequence of events. Guess you’d better ‘google it’ I’m getting into strife for going on a bit…

no it’s not a mushroom..it’s a dish

It was all about communications…and it still is.

We can talk to you most of the time..we can share our holiday with you as if you are right here with us through our blog and the pics we put on it. So many pics…it’s hard to know when to stop…sometimes it takes a while getting them loaded…but we like to share with you our journey..share this beautiful country we live in and show you as many of the special places we discover as we go.

It’s great to hear from you all …we know our mail sometimes takes week or more to get home so this electronic format helps us communicate so much more effectively. No wonder the dish at Carnarvon was so important to Neil Armstrong and his fellow travellers…it’s so nice to know we can chat every now and then.

Well tomorrow another day to explore Carnarvon, this area boasts 176 plantations…all sorts of foodie goodies for us to sample.  Already had the frozen strawberry dipped in a thin layer of dark chocolate…yummo even Margaret could have one. maybe tomorrow we’ll try black sapote, or custard apple, or mango…what the heck maybe we’ll try them all. .

Take care of each other…chat soon love to you all.

                                                                                 

The Exhibition Factory helps Highclere Castle pay tribute to the achievements of Lord Carnarvon & Howard Carter with a stunning new exhibition opening for the Summer Season 2009. 

 Wonderful Things’ Exhibition At Highclere Castle

 This incredible new exhibition, deep in the cellars gives visitors a tantalizing view of what confronted the 5thEarl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter on November 1922. History was made with the first and only discovery of an intact tomb of a Pharaoh. The Exhibition pays tribute to the work and achievements of Lord Carnarvon, offering a glimpse into his life, the trials and tribulations of working in the Egyptian desert and his frustrations at finding little before that fateful day. Sadly the 5th Earl died shortly after the discovery. His death is often attributed to the Curse of the Pharaohs. In the exhibition visitors can see his original medicine chest, and the cut throat razor with which he cut a mosquito bite on his face and introduced infection, the real cause of his death.

The Exhibition Factory worked closely together with Lord & Lady Carnarvon to develop the exhibition. In addition to the fit out, sourcing models and props, The Exhibition Factory designed and manufactured bespoke showcases for the display. We developed a dramatic lighting scheme, as well as design and produce the interactives and the audio visual display.

To find out more visit www.highclerecastle.co.uk

To learn more about The Exhibition Factory visit www.theexhibitionfactory.co.uk

News items on this Exhibition

http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/4332498.Tale_of_Tutankhamun_treasures_recreated/

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=9845

It was all so exciting, the long and much discussed trip was about to start. We headed out of the Bandana gateway and made it all the way to Stewie and Sheree’s, a whole 15k, this was going to take a long time. It hardly seemed worth putting up the camper, so after some rum, actually much rum, we returned to Bandana to start anew the next day.

Thankyou Simon for lifting us into the newest of technological times and setting us up with our own personal BLOG. The next step is for me to learn how to upload onto the damn thing. After meandering through the middle of NSW via Hebel, Coonamble and Gulargambone (which incidentally has the friendliest little caravan park) onto Cowra, Young and Tumut, over the North Western section of the Snowy Mountains down through Corryong to cross the Murray and down the Hume we arrived just north of Melbourne at the home of Alex and Julie Sutherland.

Alex and Julie are co-ordinators for the VFF bush fire victims volunteer fencing teams in the Whittlesea and Mernda shires. They missed the firestorm by a mere few kilometres on their own farm, but still like much of South Eastern Australia are in the grips of an incredibly harsh drought. Their area takes in the disaster zones such as King Lake, Strathewan and St Andrews, all areas we had never heard of before the horrific events of Black Saturday, but will now forever remained scorched in our memories and Australian history. They are a wonderful couple and reminded us so much of an older version of Brett and Alison, right down to the feeding of calves, milking cows, making their own butter for crying out loud and knowing everything and everyone in the district.

The job they have is immense; the agenda is to put the boundary fencing back into place first, there is an estimated 8,000 kilometres destroyed, this all has to be rolled up and redone. The farms are small with many falling into the lifestyle category, but that is not to demean the necessity for this work. The area of Strathewan which is at the foothills to where the Great Dividing Range makes its first assault as an unbroken chain to thousands of kilometres to the North. The first drive through what only ten weeks before had been a paradise of forested mountain spurs and winding creeks full of ferns and towering white Manor Gums, interspersed by the cleared hillsides and orchids, was now left as a holocaust site with the charred trunks relaying just how incredibly searing this place must have been.

Remains of Strathewan Hall

Mangled and twisted steel told where houses and sheds had stood, the smoke had cleared but smell of someone’s dreams hangs over every sight. Cars lay burnt, doors blasted open and trails of melted alloy engines flowed like lava streams trying to escape the intense heat, estimated in places to have reached 1500 degrees Celsius. There seemed little rationale in what was taken and what was left. A weatherboard house surrounded by trees had escaped, while on a cleared hill just 200 metres away the flames had won.

The fire had mostly won; this is a small close knit community, two hundred people lived in this area, there are now 42 less, some had excellent fire plans in place with backup, in place to escape any normal fire. But how can anyone have a plan for a day when winds screamed at them at 100 kilometres an hour, cruelled by 48 degrees and a humidity of less than ten percent? The fire leaping ahead of them 10 kilometres at a time, trees blown over the roads barring any escape, it was all so quick, so little time to decide what to do, confusion rolled down the valleys with the choking smoke. Four people made it to a cricket ground expecting to be safe as would only be fair, but their bodies were found unburnt with either radiant heat or smoke inhalation bringing them undone.

Aftermath of Black Saturday Bushfires

Not a leaf remains on a scarred mountain, the soils baked and exposed are just waiting to be washed away. This country is very steep, the ground soft, usually protected by layers of mulch, not grass. In places it seemed as if a hurricane had swept through, twisting large gums off at their base like matches and flattening whatever lay before it. The people who were there that day talk of the noise, a noise like a jet engine on full thrust outside your door. But amidst all this there is life and hope. Small shoots jut from low on the Yellow Box trunks, King ferns sprout a new beginning and wombats scratch through the vestiges and thank their borrows for saving them. The people are going about their days, starting again and trying to come to terms with the losses. Everyone has a story and they seem relieved to tell it.

Travelling around with Alex, he’s a really good listener and well respected, I got a small insight to these courageous folks. We pulled up at an orchard where a man of about 75 years was standing in the ashes of his house, alongside him was his son who’s home had stood fifty metres away, the pear orchid we had driven through was decimated, blistered farm machinery idly lazed about. The father gripped my hand in a vice like grip, the twinkling eyes defying the fact that a life’s work lay ruined in front of him.

Two of them had been had home when the front came through, they fought to save the houses until the futility and heat overtook them, they saved their lives by jumping in the pool, “bloody good thing that pool”. A yarn about the where there boundary was, a joke about the weather and we drove to the next place leaving them to the ruins. “You know they haven’t got any insurance” I was told as we drove away. How gut wrenching would that be, maybe naively thinking that they had independently faced every other object hurled their way, they would never need it. We will surely make our judgments, but that old farmer and his son, they’re not beaten, they have every right to be, but they’re not.

I have for awhile wondered about doing some volunteer work, having never really done anything for anyone else. I had visions of going to some island that had been blown to bits by a cyclone or tsunami and I used to wonder what I’d be any good at. Maybe offside for a carpenter or something, but not much use at anything else? Funnily enough this fire gave the chance to experience helping in something that I had done my apprenticeship on. I met so many wonderful people, we were all there for the same reasons, all thankful we had never had to experience what we were looking at, all amazed at how appreciative the people who had lost so much were to us for giving up just a few hours of daylight. This has been such a great experience, we have met a lot of great people, many of them farmers, others just top folks who have come from all over to help. Will be visiting some on our journey west.

Bye for now Bruce and Lucinda.

1. This morning Kirsty Lewin and Marcus and Enya the dog and I went off on a bike ride. Kirsty and I on bikes; Marcus on the back of Kirsty’s bike in his own baby seat and Enya either running along beside us or trotting at the end of her leash which was in turn looped over Kirsty’s handlebar. I felt sorry for Bertie, who was missing out on this experience on account of being completely hopeless.
2. Lorikeets in Perth: now pest declared. Last week (or was it the week before?) I was walking up the big main driveway at Curtin University, once the WA Institute of Technology, and noticed all the lorikeets. Things felt different. There was still that distinctive pine tree smell that will always make me think of my earliest days at WAIT in 1981. WAIT was built on the site of a pine plantation in the 1960s. There are still some tall plantation-era pines but not as many, the smell not as strong. Gardens were lush, plantings mature. That’s not how it was in 1981. And there were none of these lorikeets. You expect some things to stay the same, even if buildings and cars and fashions change. You expect to come back to the same smells, the same air, the same background of bird call. That’s what it’s like around Carnarvon, up on Brown’s Range, listening to the chiming wedgebills, aka Did y Get Drunks. Superficial things change but that particular birdcall, that red dirt, those seed pods on the acacia bushes, strip away the years or make them irrelevant. But Perth seemed to have shifted in some organic, fundamental way. The lorikeets were wrong. When I got back to Bathurst, I looked up the lorikeets and yes, they are strictly native to the eastern states. They are now taking over Perth, the result of an original flock kept near the University of Western Australia. Now they’re multiplying exponentially, eating grapes out of the vineyards, and they have been declared a Pest.
3. Back here in Bathurst, I find that the Mitchell Batteries man is studying to be a nurse.
4. The Mitchell Batteries man disagreed with the academic from some American university or other, interviewed on ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint program, who said the Internet was creating the dumbest generation ever. The Mitchell Batteries man, who sold me a $115 battery for the Subaru Outback, said the Internet enabled him to work by day and study at night. He was testing the battery by playing the radio; that’s how we both came to be listening to Counterpoint. He had a yellow trolley that he sat before the bonnet of the car. This trolley brought the new battery and received the old battery.
5. Still on the Subaru Outback: After I’d replaced the battery (this was yesterday), I took it to the Aquarius car wash on Durham Street. I heard something crunch but dismissed it. I enjoyed being soaped up and rinsed off and blow dried from within the comfort of my car. I drove home, came inside the house and looked back out the window to admire the clean car. I noticed the side panel was off the car. I made a mental connection with the crunching sound. I drove back to the carwash. Another car was just going into the bay, too late for me to do anything. I stood beside the plastic window and peered in, and there was the panel lying on the ground to the left of the bay. It was covered in suds. I had to wait until the car in there had finished. An automatic car wash bay is a no-go zone for an unarmoured human. A woman was waiting to drive her car in. I was standing there in front of the bay, peering in. I realised I was behaving oddly – standing carless beside an automatic car wash bay. I told the woman who was waiting what I was doing. I had to approach her car, and as I did so, she politely wound her window down.
6. I made Steve a DSB (drawstring bag) for his Nikon camera battery but it was about two centimetres too short for the job. So now I need to go back to the drawing board. I enjoyed making the DSB from a pattern I’d found on the Internet.
7. Bruce Fell, a colleague at Charles Sturt University, expressed sentiments similar to the academic from some American university or other at a seminar the other day. I such people a careful hearing but I secretly think they’re just old people who don’t want to update. They are resentful about the train slipping away from them; they don’t want to get on the train.
8. Bruce criticises the Internet from the Left; the American academic, I presume, was criticising from the Right. Bruce said he was concerned about not just the Internet but the whole use of social media by young people. They were online or staring at screens when they needed to be out in the real world, walking upon the earth. Bruce said there was an environmental disaster looming but young people who were entranced by technology were not going to bother acting to save the planet because they’d never physically engaged with it. They weren’t noticing the seasons; they were looking at little screens. In discussion time, I defended the new technological age. I agreed that we should be out walking the earth but said I also loved Google and Street View and Lolcats and Second Life and the ability to edit video in my own room and publish it on YouTube. Bruce said, why is it so good that everyone can publish on YouTube? Look at all the rubbish on it!
9. ABC Radio National has axed the Media Report, the Religion Report, Street Stories and Radio Eye. I read somewhere that this was all about relating to a newer Internet-focused generation and that shows like the Media Report and the Religion Report appealed to the over-50s and therefore not worth supporting. It’s terrifying when you read that appeal to the over-50s is in itself enough to render a thing obsolete. I’ll be there myself in five years’ time. Bruce might argue that the axing of the Media Report and the Religion Report are motivated by the same digital media forces taking over young people’s lives.
10. Just saw Burn After Reading. I can’t rave long or hard enough. The Coen brothers are the best. I love George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and even – now – Brad Pitt.
11. It’s almost 9pm. We went to the 6.40pm screening at the Metro Cinema after scoffing a pepper steak and veges so we’d be there on time. We got there just in time for the opening credits.
12. The stock market has gone to hell in a hand basket.

13. I write this to the sound of Taro snoring on the carpet behind me. She smells of wet dog. Steve and Rosemary took Bertie, Taro and Jasper to the river for a swim while I went on gardening and starting the cooking so we’d get to the movie on time.
14. I’ve been yanking out couch grass.
15. The two vege garden beds are empty and waiting. Empty except for some valiant sage that kept on keeping on regardless of drought and frost. I dug out the beginnings of sunflower seedlings. The sunflower from two summers back had produced seeds and they’d fallen to the ground and now they were going to grow into a new sunflower crop but I dug them out because I was taking a take-no-prisoners approach (except for the sage).
16. I notice that the potted strawberries have survived absolute neglect and the tulips have struggled to put out a warped flower but the geraniums are utterly dead.
17. The succulents in the front garden are flowering in orange and purple. These pigfaces (narrow gauge) have been green and healthy for well over a year; only now are they doing the flowering thing.
18. Kirsty and I rode along the bottom of Mt Panorama, along Boundary Road, through some open land where people camp, have sex, take drugs and light fires, then through a housing commission area and back on to Browning Street. I turned left at William Street and Kirsty, Marcus and Enya turned right.
19. At Boundary Road an enormous kangaroo was standing up on its hind legs looking at us. Enya spotted and and gave chase. Kirsty screamed at Enya.
20. For my twentieth thing, I’ll give an update on the renos. Everything has ground to a halt, but the work is not finished and we have not moved in. I’m amazed that Steve is not going nuts about this the way I am. I’m completely over it. It’s been a year now, and that’s enough for me. We need to have a retaining wall built and some pavers laid. After that, we can have the floors sanded and polished (or oiled) and only then can we officially move in with the furniture and everything, and only then can I move in to my new office and start work on this room, which will become the guest bedroom. And we’re buying and installing an awning, but the awning guys are going to want a flat paved area to work on so the real snag with everything is the laying of the paving/building of retaining wall. After this, I’ll have done renovating for this lifetime. I don’t ever need to do this again.

Another windy day today, but I was planning on heading to Monkey Mia to feed some dolphins. I actually quite liked Carnarvon, a smallish town but it had a nice climate and it looked interesting for things to do. Two things against it though, the water tasted crap, not as bad as Mt.Isa but not nice and the wind was hellishly strong. The locals say the normal westerly stops in March, not good for coastal fishing! While at the campsite I had met a Ulysses couple who are still making their way home from the Townsville AGM, this is Jill and Keith riding a BMW 1200RT with full trailer. They are not planning on being home until it warms up in Sydney in December, way to go

Off I head south and as you can see I have to do a U-turn and head back north after a while, but there are things to stop and see on the way

I did not get far at all before I had to pull over and put the waterproof liner in my jacket, the wind was strong and quite cool. The first place to visit was the Hamelin Pool, this is a telegraph station on the coast and there is a bit of a museum and a different type of quarry

As you can see in the last photo, the blocks are made up from shells that have stuck together like concrete after the calcium carbonate dissolves out during rain and acts like glue. Even the wild flowers like the shells

Then it was onto the boardwalk to see these STROM atolites

They have built a boardwalk to stop the damage to them. They were rediscovered in the 60s and thought to have been extinct for millions of years. They are a bacteria type thing so they are alive and grow very slowly in the protected salty waters in different ways, they are strange.

Then off down the road a short way is another stop, this one is called shell beach, it is made up these tiny cockle shells that are constantly being washed up onto the beach. So, they mine the shells and sell them for chook grit to harden the egg shells, it is a renewable industry.

Next stop on the way was on the west side and it is called Eagle Bluff, a dirt road leads in but it is very well maintained and fast, road bikes would have no worries here

This is a sandy beach being formed. The dark water areas are full of seagrass which filter sediment and sand etc. As it does so it builds up and up until the grass is exposed and dies leaving the beach behind. The light areas near shore are very shallow waters on sand and grit.

Just off the coast is Eagle Is, which is slowly being restored after the guano miners back in the early part of last century cleared the whole Island off.

And a bit of nice coastline

I got into Monkey Mia in the middle of the afternoon and quickly set up camp and looked around. The Monkey Bar was closed due to the liquor act and the only other option was the restaurant, which was very expensive. By late afternoon and having seen a DVD of dolphins in the visitor centre I went back to my tent where I found the wind had changed around and was now coming from the east, this meant the tent was more exposed. I spotted this spider braving the wind and building a web between two trees, I wonder how long it will last?

I lazed around until it started to rain and got very cold all of a sudden, it must have been the cold desert breeze, and anyway, I holed up in the tent and read a book. I had to break out extra coverings during the night, it was cold, brrrrr!! I can’t believe just last week I could not sleep because I was sweating, go figure and the week before suffered from heat stroke, I hope frostbite is not on the cards next week!

Day – 385km
Trip – 10,536km
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An early wake up but felt OK and after reading all the info of what there is to see on the way south, I realised there was nothing there. It was all reef, diving, snorkelling, fishing activities etc but with the wind up still around the 30 knots, there seemed little point in stopping. I had thought about going up to Exmouth, but it was a naval station and some dirt tracks to camping areas. Same with Onslow and Coral Bay, all charter and reef stuff, but in this wind I did not think it was worthwhile to head off track. One of the major sight seeing things in those places are to see the largest fish in the world, the Whale Sharks, but they stopped in July, so that can be done another day as well.
Anyway, it was going to be a long day so off I went, after Lesley took my photo

The road started off hilly and windy but soon turned flat.

And the sides of the road were ablaze with Desert Peas and these other purple looking flowers, they could be weeds for all I know

Due to all the running around I did between Dampier and Karratha, I had already clocked up 100km on the fresh tank, so my first stop was Fortescue River roadhouse, only about 120km away where I had breakfast and fuelled up. Not long after that I saw this emergency airstrip for the Royal Flying Doctor Service on a straight section of road, but still in the middle of nowhere.

The flat landscape was broken up by these long sand dunes that went from horizon to horizon, the road was just cut through them, but they looked old and had not moved for a while as they were covered in vegetation.

I stopped at Nanutarra for some more fuel and a rest. The weather was turning cooler as I went south, the wind was still up, but the sun was not so hot, which was a relief. It was around this area a bit further on that I saw my first emus since Queensland, the land was covered in low scrub and saltbush mostley

Then I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again. Now, I live exactly east of here on the other side of the continent in Rockhampton, as the jet flies(crows could not go that far ), that is around 4000km away. But, I dialled in “Home” on my TomTom and the result in the shortest way is nearly 7200km, It has taken me nearly 10,000km to get to this point around the top end.

Next stop about 50km south of here is the Minilya Roadhouse where I planned on having lunch. After buying fuel I noticed this Yamaha with some massive panniers parked up. The owner was Ralph who had been travelling slowly since April and was heading south as well. He made the panniers himself. The chances are we would meet up again in Carnarvon.

Then after a break and a chat with Ralph it was off for the last leg. I wanted to go see these blowholes, but the tides were wrong, so I could do that tomorrow, it was 70km north of Carnarvon. I was nearly into Carnarvon when I saw this Blue Tongue Lizard, a big fat one slowly wandering across the road. I turned around and took some photos and tried to get him off the road before he got run over, but he did not really appreciate it and hissed at me quite aggressively:)

After visiting the information centre I picked a caravan park near to town, the Coral Coast CP and then checked out where I could watch footy tonight and tomorrow. The only place seemed to be the Carnarvon Hotel and it was a delayed telecast on Fox2 at 8.30pm. I chatted and read a book for a while, before Ralph turned up and set up camp. At this stage, around 7pm, one of the other campers got a text message and they relayed the score of Warriors 24-Roosters 8 with 10 minutes to go. That spoiled it for me, so I did not bother spending the cab fare to town and just had a few beers and a chat with Ralph until quite late.

Day – 665km
Trip – 9962km
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I thought i’d throw a few more images taken while snorkeling at Quobba Blowholes(Carnarvon) Coral bay and Exmouth Cape. All area’s found along the magnificent Ningaloo reef. Once again they’re not the most amazing shot’s, but they still give a bit of an idea on what can be found in the area.

Thanks

You can view more of my Ningaloo posts here