A day in the park

In the park near the uni

A great day xD

Alice to Adelaide Day 6, Port Augusta and Adelaide

30/08/2009 10:30:11 - 50 mm - 1/320 - f/8 - ISO 200 - The longest wooden jetty in Oz!

- Drove towards Adelaide and had a stop at the longest wooden jetty in Oz.
- everyone met up for dinner for the last time. Lots of hugs and goodbyes.

Alice to Adelaide Day 5, Coober Pedy

29/08/2009 21:31:55 - 50 mm - 1/50 - f/3.2 - ISO 1600 - Having fun with cards and drinks

- Did a Opal mine tour in the morning
- drove towards our last campsite and had a great last evening together.

Alice to Adelaide Day 4, Uluru and Coober Pedy

29/08/2009 10:20:06 - 62 mm - 1/160 - f/9 - ISO 400 - Coober Pedy

- seeing Ayers Rock close by at sunset and had a walk around it.
- riding towards Coober Pedy
- sleeping in a bunk bed underground!

Coober Pedy is a wierdish town where houses are build under the ground. Coober Pedy is al about Opals and the area around it is dig up in the search of those colorfull sparkling gems.

Alice to Adelaide Day 3, Uluru and The Olgas

27/08/2009 08:16:10 - 75 mm - 1/160 - f/9 - ISO 500 - Me with Uluru in the background.

- getting up early like most days (5ish 6ish)
- seeing Ayers Rock at sunrise
- visited The Olgas

Alice to Adelaide Day 2, Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock

26/08/2009 18:47:04 - 38 mm - 1/100 - f/6.3 - ISO 200 - Uluru at sunset.

I have to type up for a whole week so I'll keep it short.

- Kings Canyon in the morning, great scenery!
- Uluru in the evening, great sunset.
- camp nearby, fun evening, got to meet new people.
- feeling a bit more sick by the day :/

Alice to Adelaide Day 1, Circular Breathing

25/08/2009 14:28:47 - 32 mm - 1/80 - f/4.2 - ISO 200 - Niki avoiding my camera.

Today's the day I commence my trip towards Adelaide. The tour bus is going to pick us, the lot from the previous tour, up at about 12 so this leaves me some time to do some shopping in the centre.

After checkout I walked up Gap Road towards the Todd Mall. I bought some fruits, carrots and my favourite Woolworth Home brand Choc Chips Cookies. For about 2 dollar you'll get 500gr of chocolate sweetness, jummy.

I headed my way towards the Todd Mall again wanting to give the free didgeridoo lessons from the local Starlight Theatre a try. Lots of people where already exhaling, giggling and spitting into to the wooden musical tubes. I gave it a try while the man of the store guides us all the way up, step by step, to make didgeridoo like sounds. There is really lots of ways to vary the sound. You can use your tong, lips, jaws, chest and voice to create cool Aboriginal sounds. The last part of the lesson involved circular breathing. It's a technique that allows you to exhale without stopping. When you inhale trough your nose you push out the remaining air in your mouth. It's hard and feels very unnatural at first. But after a while I felt I was going to get it sooner or later. I managed to make a few breaths without loosing the sound. But it's hard and requires a lot more practice.

Beep Beep Beep, Good thing I set my watch at about 11.30 cause I have to catch my bus at the hostel. Really wondering who will be on the trip. We are going to be with about 18 persons. By the time I got to the hostel it was 5 minutes before departing time. I got my bags, joined the others on the curb and hopped on the bus a few minutes later.

Trevor, or Trev, or Trouble, was our tourguide. He picked everyone up from their hostel and commenced the long drive towards our first camp site. No sights to see for today :/

Jumping encounter

24/08/2009 16:32:06 - 200 mm - 1/1000 - f/5.6 - ISO 200

Things I did today:

- Goat hill
- Telegraph station
- Bushwalk (encountered wild Kangaroos)
- Town troll informed about didgeridoo lessons
- sunset on Anzac hill
- evening with the tour group, pubs and pool

Tomorrow I will be leaving Alice Springs again to visit Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon etc... making the way down to Adelaide. It will take a small week. I had a convo yesterday with a friend that's down there and he told me it's cold and rainy. Belgian weather here I come!

Alice Springs

23/08/2009 11:23:12 - 135 mm - 1/800 - f/7.1 - ISO 200

At around 1pm we arrived in Alice Springs. Tom dropped everyone of and we where going to meet up again at 7pm to have dinner together. Chris and me went to give the town a look. All seems kind of dead on a Sunday afternoon. It looks a bit like Darwin, just a tad smaller and less expensive. Their seems to be as much art and didgeridoo shops. The weather feel less hot because we crossed the Tropic Of Capricorn a few hours ago. We gave Anzac hill a try which gave us a nice view all over Alice Springs.

In the evening everyone met up again at the bar next to our hostel. We had a good dinner and enjoyed great live music. After dinner a bus took us uptown and dropped us of at Bojangles, a local pub. To bad I don't have any Belgium numbers stored in my phone because you could ask people to visit their website, watch the video feed and buy you a drink. (omg so web2.0!)

Went back home at about midnight realising that my throat hurts. The aircon of the last few days gave me a cold. Darn it. Tomorrow a trip to Woolworth buying fruit and veggies!

Ghost Town

22/08/2009 10:44:47 - 22 mm - 1/125 - f/13 - ISO 200

Got up at 6am, had breakfast and soon everyone was back in the bus riding down The Track (Stuart Highway). Today would involve again a lot of driving. On the way to our next camping spot we got to see Daly Waters, roadkill, and Devil Marbles. Devil Marbles was a really nice sight. It's just as the name describes. Huge round stones are stacked and spread out over the field. By the time we got there the sun was already dropping which made some good pictures.

We halted our travelling and unpacked our swags in the backyard of a pub. We had a great evening involving more games, laughter and drinks. We didn't even light the wood we had collected for the campfire. We all crawled into our swags after midnight and could sleep in just a bit longer, till 7!

To Alice Springs!

21/08/2009 12:58:32 - 70 mm - 1/200 - f/16 - ISO 400

Got up early, asked the reception to get my backpack from the common storage room and started to pack all my laundry. I enjoyed a fast cereal breakfast and had a weird checkout without giving a key or bed sheets in return. I said goodbye to the few people that where up and went on towards the street waiting for my pickup.

The bus arrived a bit late, got up, welcomed everyone and off we went. For the next 2 and a half days we will be riding from Darwin to Alice Springs and getting to Alice Springs involves a lot of driving. We had a few stops on the way, having lunch or see a few sights but most of the time your just sitting looking at the vast landscape that seems to stretch into infinity. Boredom strikes while rolling over the Stuart Highway at about 110km/h. Tom, our driver, hands out a none-permanent-marker to counter that. Me and the other 8 passengers speed up time by using the windows as a playground for word games. The windshield is dived into sections and the names are placed inside of it. The section who catches the most flying critters at the end of the trip wins.

During our first day we had a swim in Edith Falls, a look at the Cutta Cutta Caves and ended up camping in Mataranka. We made taco's for dinner and crawled in our swags under the still so amazing night sky.

Hitchhike

20/08/2009 19:08:45 - 200 mm - 1/1250 - f/5.6 - ISO 200

I didn't bought the didgeridoo I was planning to buy. There are just to many digeridoos in each shop and none of them really spoke to me. There are many chances left do buy one, maybe I'll get one once I'm in Alice Springs.

Today I got to meet one of the few backpackers out there that still hitchhike. He took about 11 months to go from Adelaide to Darwin via the east coast, very interesting guy. He never experienced any real problems and found it a great way travel. He wouldn't suggest hitching through the Northern Territory, but the other states seem to be just fine. So he gave me reason again to try it. Cause that's what its all about, experiencing things yourself and see if it works out for you.

In the evening we went down to Mindil Beach to see the Sunset Market. I went along with Alex the hitchhiker and Juliet, a happy happy German girl. We sat down like many others on the beach and witnessed the sun plunging into the sea. It was a very nice sight and made some great pictures. Once the sun disappeared behind the sea we gave the market a try. It's a must see if you are in Darwin. There are many food stalls offering food from all over the world, musicians playing their tunes on the dige. I bought 2 cd's of this one guy that was really awesome. He played all by himself managing different instruments at the same time. Now just find a way to get the cd's in mp3 format.

At about 11pm the 3 of us got back to the hostel and I realised I forgot to check in again. Typical. Everything is shut and nobody from the hostel seems to be there. Guess it just slipped my mind, I had a busy day chatting, doing laundry, etc... Oh well can't be bothered, I'll do some extensive door knocking later on. The 3 of us feasted upon a huge amount of ice cream. Some guys where kicked out of the hostel leave this precious creamy white behind. After the late night sweetness I had another dive at the pool, gathered my clothes near the laundry and found a free bed in room 5.

Tomorrow I have to get up at 6ish. The pickup to Alice Springs is at 7:15.

My last night in Darwin.

Change of plans

04/08/2009 10:52:22 - 38 mm - 1/2500 - f/5 - ISO 640 - view location

Got up at around 8:30, packed my stuff, had breakfast and checked out. Today was the day Brad was going to call me and pick me up. I spend the whole morning near the hostels pool chatting with 2 interesting people. The social contact here is great. It's nice to talk with other backpackers, sharing travel stories, visions and plans for the future.

By noon I headed out doing more didgeridoo shops, asking for more details about the creators, the sound and the shipping. I might buy one tomorrow and ship it home right away. It's the safest thing to do, cause I might end up losing it again anyway.

So just by 4pm I still haven't got news from Brad. So I just dropped it. Even though he seemed a nice guy on the phone, I couldn't be bothered calling him again. So I decided to make other plans. I talked to many backpackers the last days and decided to book a tour from Darwin to Adelaide. It's a just a little more expensive then taking the Greyhound but you see stuff, get lots of info, have a good time and you get lots of barbies. I leave friday at around 7am, they'll pick me up in front of my hostel.

Didn't do much in the evening, had a refreshing swim, got free food at the Vics with the Irish guy and ended up chatting with one of my roomies back at the hostel.

I gotta feeling

18/08/2009 18:46:52 - 46 mm - 1/2000 - f/11 - ISO 500 - view location

Today I went to check in into another hostel, it's just across the street. It's a bit more expensive but you get free breakfast, Yeay! So I went for another walk into the city, hopping into different digeridoo shops. I finally manage to make a descent sound out of a didgeridoo but I still need lots of practise.

During the day I had again lots of calls towards the lift offering guy. But it feels like it ain't going to happen. I feel like Brad seems not to be able to make up his mind. Anyway, I'll just see what tomorrow brings. It's not like I'm in a hurry.

Went to Cullen Bay near the evening, watching the sun set and having a long chat with one of the locals. A guy that mustards cattle way out in the bush. He had this nice dog with him, a young female 'blue heeler' or something. It's an Australian cattle dog, specialised in grouping and leading cattle. They bite the heals of the cattle to redirect them or to speed them up. She was a nice and young dog, my arms where nearly bleeding because of the many playful bites she gave me. The same way Fay likes to do it.

Later that night I went to eat in the Vic together with this Irish guy I met in the hostel. It's fun to hear them speak English. We ended up in the Discovery, it attracts lots of people, especially when its TOT, or rather Tits On Tuesday. Apparently there is lots of drunken girls willing to take on the water for some extra cash. It was a good evening with nice music and lots of people from the previous hostel that I already knew.

It's been already about 3 years I'm free of any epileptic attacks, which is great. I thought the hot weather would play a triggering roll but I seem to be doing just fine. I paid attention to me food, water, sleep and exercise for a long time now. So tonight was the night I stopped living by a rule I lived by for so many years. Not because of the social pressure, I kinda passed that already, but just because I felt it was time. So I had my first beers, seriously. I'll add right away that I wasn't drunk at all and nobody had to drag me back to my hostel. I never took any alcohol because it could function as a trigger. But I had enough sleep, the club was not that warm, so I thought a couple of Coronas seemed nice. And they where.

I gotta feeling

Hooray for crazy German girl

04/08/2009 17:52:53 - 36 mm - 1/640 - f/4.2 - ISO 200 - view location

I hardly remember what I did today that's how boring it was. I got up and checked out again. I think by now I have seen all the rooms of the lower floor. Sigh... There are really loads of backpackers in Darwin. So many that the YHA is fully booked tomorrow. So I'll have to find a new place to stay, but that's for tomorrow, can't be bothered with that now. No worries!

I went on a morning stroll watching the postboards in the hostels. I really need a ride towards the centre or even further. So I called and called trying to get a lift with someone. But they where already full or they didn't pick up the phone. Sigh... It feels like there is 1 lift offer for 1000 backpackers so you really have to be fast and lucky. The good thing is if I ever would buy a car I would easily fill it up with other accompanying travellers. So feeling all demotivated I went to the library trying out the 1b/sec free wireless searching for sites that might help me with my little quest. No luck with that so I went down the city centre getting info on the Ghan and the Greyhound. It's easy to travel with the Greyhound but it's not that thrilling as riding a car down The Track with 2 other backpackers.

So back at the hostel I had dinner and a chat with some friends. One of them is trying to cycle a loop towards Kakadu and back. Think it's great and I really wanted to join him cause it's going to be a nice experience. But I rather go further down and see new things, I have seen the Kakadu region already. If he would cycle towards Adelaide I happily joined him with no doubt. But I really don't want to cycle alone. He shouldn't either...

In a mode stubbornness and denial but full of positive hope I picked up my phone again and called Brad, a guy that offered a lift but was full. He told that he just met the first passenger, a German chick which was just a tad to crazy for his taste. So he kinda halfway offered me a seat in his station wagon! It's no sure thing yet, we will meet probably tomorrow and see how it goes from there on. The plan is to leave early in the morning on Wednesday.

Later that evening I met up with new roomies had a little chat and went to bed at midnight.

Relaxed and burned

16/08/2009 17:42:26 - 18 mm - 1/60 - f/22 - ISO 800 - view location (gps unit broke :/)

Today I didn't do much. I got up at 8am I had to check out to check back in later today. (don't ask) I am still waiting for a response on a lift proposal. There are people posting messages on the hostels wall informing other travellers with their travel plans. They like to take other people with them in return for sharing fuel, food and other expenses.

In the morning I found my way towards the TV room. I started to write the blog posts for the last few days while Michael Jackson was singing his songs on some kind of music channel. At lunch time Jana (the German girl I met on the tour yesterday) send me a text message asking to grab lunch and spend the afternoon together. So I stopped writing, had lunch at McDonalds and walked down to the beach. We spend our time at the beach by talking, reading and writing. I also tested my camera because it dropped out of my bag when jumped out of the truck yesterday. The camera slammed from about 1 meter onto the ground... It has got a mark near the border of my lens but apart from that the camera seems to be working fine. BUT... the gps unit seems to fail. The LED light doesn't seem to work and I can't read GPS coordinates from the device... Feel kinda sad the thing is broken.

Sometimes I feel so fed up with dragging the heavy camera around. I'm really thinking about sending it back home. Especially now that I have dropped it and now that my GPS tracker is dead. It would make my life easier not to carry that thing around with me all the time. It's also something you can't leave behind on your hostel bed. I have a good bag that doesn't mirror the contents, but still. If I leave it on my bed I will have sooner or later a very bad day realising my camera has been stolen. The pictures are nice but it can be a pain in the ass when staying in lockerless hostels.

So once I got back in the hostel I checked in, took a shower and witnessed my red back. I sat the whole damn day in the shade and my back and shoulders are burned :/

Anyway, I'm going to bed soon cause I'm dead tired again. I think it has something to do with the sun exposure overload and the heat.

Day 3, more Kakadu

15/08/2009 09:45:25 - 48 mm - 1/500 - f/8 - ISO 400 - view location

So, again, we woke up at 6am and started the truck's engine at 7. We drove on more dustier and rockier roads then before. The truck shook and bumped me almost out of the front seat while we drove into gaps and little waterways. We first went to see Twin Falls. They still flow, even though it's so hot and everything seems to be turned to a crisp. The reason for that is that through out the park there is a big sandstone plateau which absorbs the water during the wet season. Now, during the dry, it slowly lets out all the water it soaked up. The next stop is Jim Jim Falls which was the only waterfall that was dried out. After another swim in the cold cold water we headed back towards Darwin, it made a 4 hour drive. It's like driving from my home (Aalst) to the Ardennes and back. The park feels really 'nearby' Darwin if you look on the map, but still it's a very long drive to get there. The park itself is the size of the Netherlands and is listed as world heritage.

So once we got back in Darwin we got dropped of at our hostels, took a shower and most of the group met up again at 8pm in the Vic. A popular place where lots of youngsters and backpackers find food, drinks and fun. Leila from England (she reminds me of Phoebe of Friends, really xD ), Debby from England/Spain, Jana from Germany, and Chris our guide from Australia. We had a nice evening but everyone was tired after the 3 day tour. So it was all goodbyes and hugs at around 11am. We all headed our way to our comfy bed.

Day 2, Kakadu

14/08/2009 08:37:22 - 200 mm - 1/250 - f/25 - ISO 200 - view location

Rise and shine everybody. Chris and his head mounted flash light woke everybody up at 6 sharp. Not everyone had a good sleep but I luckily did ;) Everyone washed up and got breakfast. As soon everything was back in the truck it was 7am. Perfect timing. We headed towards the Corroboree Billabong, a part of the Mary River system. Once arrived we got on a little boat cruise, watching the wild life near the water. Lots of beautiful birds, crocodiles, eagles etc... After the water fun we drove towards the Bowali Visitor Center for a quick stop and headed our way further down the park towards a rock painting site. Chris talked about the aboriginal paintings and the stories that are attached to them. After that we went to see Barramundi Gorge and had another cooling swim.

We drove towards the new campsite, did the same routine as last night and ended up with a tasty rice n chicken dish. Had a filling dinner, a nice evening around the campfire and slept again under the shiny bright stars. I didn't sleep that good this time because it was way to hot. I think my sleeping bag is crap to. It doesn't air at all, it's like a big plastic bag, making me sweaty all over.

Litchfield, first day !

13/08/2009 11:51:57 - 18 mm - 1/80 - f/9 - ISO 200 - view location

At 6am my phone got noisy. I got up, washed up, checked out and met my tour guide waiting for me at the counter. For the upcoming 3 days I would see the Lichfield and Kakadu national park. The 4wd bus was waiting under the streetlight. I walked over there, wished a good morning to the other 9 passengers and off we went. First stop, Litchfield National Park.

During the day we got a good impression of the park. We stopped at various pools to go for a swim. It was nice to cool down in the water because it was really hot. So hot I couldn't be bothered taking any descend pictures, sorry about that :/ The places where really nice, lots of scenery made out of waterfalls, rocks, and lots of green. For lunch we had some hotdogs wich we made on one of those public BBQ's you can find all over the parks in Australia. Most of them are electric and are easy to use. Just push the button and the thing starts to heat for a while. So as a backpacker you have a big chance making a hot dinner for free if your near a park.

All the swimming places in Litchfield are being patrolled. There are lots of crocs around and of course they don't want tourists to get eaten. So when you walk towards the pools you can see a few croc traps along the way. It's a long big metal cage with a nice chunk of meat near the end. Crocodiles that are caught often find a new home in a crocodile farm, or they just get relocated. The traps are just a extra safety. Most crocs get caught at night. They patrol the pools with a boat. The boat is equipped with a very strong light which makes the crocodile's eyes glow bright red. So it's easier to spot crocs at night then during the day. During the tour we visited one of the many termite mounds. It's impressive how such little bugs can make such high, hard, fire and water proof structures. There are several different termites which build the mounds in there own way.

After Tolmer Falls, Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole we headed our way to our first camp site near the famous Kakadu National Park. We where going to spend the next days of our tour there. As soon as we arrived we unpacked the truck and started to prepare dinner. Chris, the tour guide told everyone what needed to be done. So a few people started to prepare the salads for dinner. Chris, Debby and me hopped on the truck again and went to search for wood. Getting a fire started in the Northern Territory is quite easy. Every piece of wood you find is as dry as it could ever get, some are already a bit burned. So once back in the camp we started the fire with ease and made buffalo 'snags' (sausages) and kangaroo on the barby. We got to know eachother a bit more, tried to guess the age of Chris, had lots of talks but ended up fairly early in our swags. We have another big day tomorrow and we need to get up at 6am and depart at 7. A swag is like a sturdy version of a sleeping bag. You don't need a tent, you just roll it out on the ground and put your comfy sleeping bag inside of it. It's was so nice to sleep under the stars. They where much brighter and with many more then you could ever see in Belgium.

Mindil beach

11/08/2009 13:45:59 - 200 mm - 1/13 - f/10 - ISO 400 - view location

Today Fiona dropped me of at the Darwin YHA. I thanked her again for the pleasant stay, we say goodbyes. I put my backpack in the common locker and walked towards the Museum & Art Gallery via the Botanical Gardens. It's located near Darwin High and above Mindil Beach. The museum is nice, it's free and there is lots to see. Aboriginal Art, boats, crocodile skulls, different animals,... more then enough to fill up my morning. I headed back via the coastal walk and arrived back in my hostel in the late afternoon.

I checked in and arranged a 3 day trip to Kakadu and Litchfield national park. It costs a few dollars but I think it's going to be worth it. It's hard to do the tour on your own because the parks are so damn big and I ain't got a car. Anyway I met up with my new roomies, had a shower had a few chats and went to the cinema with them. We went to see Public Enemy?. The movie was ok, not that great,maybe because it felt like a freezer inside. I was glad to be outside again so I could warm up my arms again. Next time I have to bring a sweater...

I was dead tired, I had to fight my sleep during the movie and as soon I was back on my bed I felt asleep instantly.

Bye bye Humpty Doo

10/08/2009 13:05:13 - 46 mm - 1/40 - f/13 - ISO 500 - view location

Don't feel like writing lots so here is a quicky.

I met Kev at the gate around 6.30am and we started the preparations. The concrete was going to be delivered soon. The big truck arrived and was ready to dump it's load onto the shed's sandy floor. Kev and Dennis aligned the concrete while I was supplying it to them (good exercising). Fiona, Kylie and me signed the floor as soon it was finished!

Later that day I did some laundry, clothes dry instantly here in Darwin :D. I started to pack my bags again because tonight is my last night. Tomorrow, early in the morning, Fiona will drive me back to Darwin. She has to see the dentist.

In the evening Vanessa and her kids came over the enjoy the lovely couscous chicken dinner. Tyla has the habit to hide in the big kitchen closets and scare the person who opens it. Kylie asked me to give some of that prank scaring back to her. So I hide myself in the closet waiting for Kylie to ask Tyla to get something for her. As soon Tyla opened the doors I gave her my best growling... objective succeeded.

Later that night Vanessa, Jayden and Tyla returned to their home, so it was goodbye for us. I felt sleepy myself so I didn't stayed up to late either. I still had to shower and pack some things.

So the stay runs to its end. It was a short week but it really was fun. I hope Fiona can continue making lots of nice pottery in the new termite proof shed.
So Thanks again Fiona, Kylie, Vanessa, Jayden and Tyla for the fun en pleasant week.

A great day

view location

I opened my eyes at about 9am and went for a stroll around the house saying good morning to all the dogs. Fiona was cleaning the Terriers kennel with the bubblegum flavoured cleaning product we picked up the first day I arrived here. Seriously the whole kennel smelled like bubblegum. After I had my usual breky I headed out towards the field in the back. Kylie has 2 big grazing pets who where in need of a good morning cuddling. Kylie, Jayden, Tyla and me gave the young 'brahmen cow' and the teenage buffalo some morning attention. It's really funny but it's the first time I actually see a playful cow. When I was busy fiddling around with my camera she sneeks up on me from behind and starts rubbing her head against my legs. As soon as I turn around to do some more morning greeting she kicks back and jumps around like a oversized jackrussle. That behaviour may have something to do with the fact that Kylie likes to treat her big pets with coffee and beer.

I asked Fiona for my first task of the day but I ended up doing a tour around McMinns Lagoon which is located just behind Fiona's turf. Tyla was my guide (Thx Tyla ;)), first we did some of that slip slap slop and gave the pushbikes a try. The lagoon is a great place to take pictures. There are lots of birds and insects that claimed a place on my camera's memory. Again there where plenty of green ants. They have a distinct green bottom wich appreantly you can eat, as demonstration by my guide. When we got back it was already getting really hot, I believe at around 1pm it was already 34 degrees... So we didn't do much and just had a light lunch together with the whole family.

My tasks of the day included stripping wood from the white-ant-infested-wanna-be-wwoof-trailer, doing a little trip to the dump (container park) and fixing the bumpgate at the front of the driveway. The metal wire snapped so the gate acted funny when you would hit it with the car. Of course I fixed it with ease thanks to my technical expertise... not really, Fiona and Kylie gave me a hand cause it all wasn't that obvious.

So enough work for today, I went to take a shower put on other clothes that didn't make me look like a redneck and went down the lawn to have a little nap in the hammock. Tyla put it up yesterday. I don't know the last time I had a nappy in a hammock, if I ever had one, but it felt really great. Kylie was nice, she put the sprinklers out of business and brought me a pillow so I could start my late afternoon relaxing. In the background I could hear her stereo pumping great 70's tunes while the wind was pushing my hammock gently. Ah great, just warm enough weather, a cool breeze that would give the rusty old windmill a spin. The sun was golden and the evening was coming soon. Like any other evening many birds came out and seemed to play with one another. Birds in rainbow colours fly over and settle in the tree above me. Parrots, eagles and many more are just passing by as I lay there slowly drifting away to dreamy land thinking about the great spaghetti Fiona is preparing...

Alright, dinner time! The whole lot was there to feast upon the delicious pasta, Fiona, Vanessa and Kylie, Jayden and Tyla and me. It was a great and fun evening. We had ice cream and another Tim Tam explosion xD. Even Fiona had an explosion which made some good and funny pictures. We had a go at the didgeridoo . Jayden and Kylie seem to get it but I still need some practice. Maybe tomorrow Fiona will show me where I could get one. Big chance I end up dragging a didgeridoo along with me.

Thanks for today I had a great time. It's nice to see such a great family getting along so well.

But now it's sleepy time. I need to get up at 6am because the concrete is not going to put it itself in the shed... it's going to hurt.

Having a laugh, Berry Spring

view location

I slept till about 7.30 and had a serial and toast breakfast. Fiona went towards the school fair that Kylie, her youngest daughter, helped organise. I stayed at home because Kev was going to arrive in the morning. The concrete is going to be placed on monday so today we did the last preparations. We cut and placed the plastic cover on the ground, cut the metal mesh and placed it on top of the plastic cover. It wasn't that much work, but it was noon before I knew it.

Kylie asked me to come to Berry Spring together with some friends/colleagues and Tyla, the youngest of Fiona's eldest daughter. It was about a 15minute drive from Fiona's place. Again we drove a bit on the Stuart Highway (there ain't that many other roads anyway) but didn't see any roadtrains though. Again I asked, like a stubborn little brat, to see if it was a wise plan to hitch a ride on one of them roadtrains and again the answer was a big fat noooooo. So guess I won't be doing that.... sigh. The fact is that the distances are so damn big, you could drive for many hours and the only thing you would see is bush. Many backpackers have been abused or murdered because the combination of wierdos and the road that leads to so many isolated areas. No one would hear or find you.

So once arrived at Berry Springs, I had a nice cooling swim in the crystal clear spring water. It's so good, the water has just the right temperature and the bathing area is being shaded by the tropical trees. Tyla took me near the source of the spring to get some 'painting stones'. There are clay kind of rocks laying on the riverbed which you can rub into a pulp. Face painting time! Everyone got some red white and yellow art on his face but washed it wisely off again as soon as we departed. I didn't. I got some complements on how lovely I looked... yeay. I wanted to take a picture but I left my camera at Fiona's so I had to endure the silly complements of the people we bumped into. So once back home I ended up doing a failure aboriginal dance in front of my own camera. Kylie insisted that I did it...

Later that night Fiona cooked again a lovely veggie-sweet-potato-chicken-dish. We topped that of with a Tim Tam explosion, which was really nice! I didn't knew what it was so Kylie and Tyla showed me how it's done. Tim Tam's are well known chocolate biscuits. You bite of the 2 diagonal corners of the biscuit, you dip one corner in, you suck the tea or coffee via the other corner. As soon you have some fluid in your mouth you eat the whole biscuit at once and feel how the chocolate biscuit swells and explodes. Nice!

In the evening I watched some TV together with Fiona, me sitting on the ground and Dalmatians cuddling up to me asking for hugs and lots of belly scratching. They are the first dogs I have seen laughing. It's quit awkward to see it at first because you could get to wrong impression. But as soon you see their tails wiggling you can tell they only have good intentions and are just happy to see you.

vocabulary of the day:

Mozzys or mosquitoes.
Bull bar, kangaroo bar and possum bar.
cordial or concentrated fruit juice you mix with water.

gnite.

Building the shed

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No much writing for today. Today was just another day of working on the shed. Kev and me digged out most of the dirt and tried to elevate the ground. We put steel bars around the shed to contain the concrete later on. It's kinda fun to work with a typical Australian fella like Kev. He needs to translate every 5 words because I really don't have a clue what he is talking about. I pick up a fair amount of slang which is cool.

I ate and went to bed early. (don't feel like writing much sorry)

Wwoof!

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Got up early, checked out, got a refund for next days stay and had breakfast. Fiona was going to be here soon. She arrived at about 10 in her white 4wd. I got all my things and dropped them in the large trunk. A few moments later we where outside Darwin city centre and doing some shopping. During the ride we got to know each other a bit. She has travelling in her genes and was born in India, lived in Scotland, seen many other places including Belgium, and she stranded out here near Darwin about 40 years ago (If I'm not mistaken).

After the shopping spree she drove me towards her home which is in Humpty Doo. I sh*t you not, it's really how it's called xD. She lives like many other people near the Stuart highway, it's the long 3000km road that leads all the way from Darwin to Adelaide. Fiona drove a while on that road and this gave me the chance to see my first road trains. They are really massive in size, no wonder they can't just stop for anything. I wanted to hitchhike my way towards Alice Springs in one of those but they are not allowed to do that any more, according to Fiona.

Once we drove up on her 5 acres of land and pulled up near the house I heard the dogs already barking. 12 dogs! Dalmatians and Border Terriers. She does shows with them and won already prices. My first day I got to meet Moonshine, a very sweet dalmatian, and many other dogs but I can't remember there names. Anyway Moonshine is not named after the light from the moon, but the drink ;). All Dalmatians are named after a alcohol based drinks like, Whiskey, Mojito, etc... Kinda funny.

So I got my first job after she showed me my room, the bathroom, and the rest of the house. She's into pottery and her old pottery shed was ruined by the cause of giant ass termites. So now she's building up a new shed in steel. I had to help Digger and Kev, 2 construction workers and native Australians, to rebuild to shed. They are ok fellas but kind of hard to understand at first. I picked up a bit of slang ;) The good thing was I could work in the shade, for a few hours I helped to replace the old belongings and to get rid of the tiles that where covering the sandy ground. The good thing was water was free and I could work in the shade xD. It's damn hot and I sweat out the 4liters of water I drank that afternoon. Because of this hot weather everything in the Northern Territory is dusty. If you would start a business in red dust, this is the place.

Near the evening I met Fiona's youngest daughter. She's a teacher in primary school. Later on I took a shower while Fiona made a Scottish dish. I happily digested it while the both of us where watching Detective Rex from our rocking chairs xD. It's some old German tv show about a German Sheppard police dog called 'Rex'. I love German Sheppards, I want to have one later on so the show was the right pick for me.

Enough writing for today, I'm off to bed! All alone and no snoring room mates! Arrh dreamy world here I come.

Here fishy fishy!

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Today I was on a hunt to find free internet and I ended up in the Northern Territory Library which is housing inside a Government building. The guard checked me and my belongings and it felt like I was at the airport. He took me knife and I got a badge in return. Anyway the library is bigger then Belgian standards and it has free internet if you get it to work. I tried to load the Facebook login page for about 1.5 hours and didn't succeeded while some of the other people happily surfed and streamed Youtube movies. I gave up on the wireless battle, reclaimed me knife and went back out in the hot hot sun.

I lost my hat, I didn't find it sins I arrived in Darwin so I'm really trying to avoid the sun by walking into the buildings shade. When walking back towards the hostel I passed the shopping street which was very much crowded. The rest of Darwin seems dead. It's kinda weird but sometimes Darwin feels like a ghost town.

While I was heading back towards the hostel I stopped at a inspiring Art places and I got my first digeridoo lesson at a local shop. If I'm going to buy one it should be one from the Northern Territory. It's kinda hard the first time you play a digeridoo but I think I'll get the hang out of it after a few days of practice. Because it soon was going to be lunch time I also made a small stop at Woolworths, a supermarket know around Australia. It has cheap(er) house brands which I often buy. So for my lunch I bought my first Spam. It wasn't spam-with-bacon-eggs-spam-and-sausages-spam but just fried spam on toast. I liked it, it's kinda like the Smack brand from the Netherlands.

In the afternoon I went to the Aquascene together with Eva and Bettina, 2 German girls I met at the hostel's swimming pool. It's quit amazing how many German people are travelling Oz. I think about 70percent of the people I meet are German. The Aquascene is just a small place near Bicentennial Park which provides people bread to feed the mass of fish that is swimming near the shore. The fish are used to the bread feeding and easily take food out of your hands. Big fish, little fish, huge fish, they all want a bread snack for 4 a clock.

After the Aquascene happening I tried to look for a stay within an Australian family. After 10ish calls I got a positive answer (so fast!) from a woman called Fiona. She sounded very friendly at the phone and soon she suggested she would pick me up at 10am tomorrow. Thrilled I found a place! According to the info I had she lives not to far from Darwin and near the McMinns Lagoon and she has 12 dogs! Can't go wrong with that! xD

Later on that night I went out to eat something with the people I got to know today, leaving my wonderful cooking in the hostel's fridge. We had something to eat, went to the party area, had a few drinks, met more German people and went home. I wanted to be fresh and awake when Fiona picks me up.

Church and a coconut

04/08/2009 17:46:39 - 135 mm - 1/400 - f/5.6 - ISO 400 - view location

Today I got up around 9am. I extended my stay, asked about some trip and tour info and walked towards the Botanical Garden. I stopped by a church and went inside to see how they do it over here. Nothing special, everything seems the same for as far as I can remember. After the church thing I continued my walk towards the garden. I grabbed a coconut that I found on the ground and tried to open it. It took me about half an hour but I succeeded to drink the juice and eat the flesh. Yeay! I felt a bit like a monkey, not because I was using tools to open the thing but because of the people staring at me. Anyway I stayed there for about the whole day hiding in the shade trying to avoid the burning midday sun.

I'm still wondering what I'll do after Darwin I think I'll head straight down, slowly making my way towards the centre. But the distances are so freaking huge. You can't get anywhere unless you are willing to drive for half a day. I hope I can hitch a ride with one of the other backpackers towards Katrina or maybe I should get my own car...

I cooked my own pot again this evening, it's good because it saves a buck or 2. Darwin is more expensive then Sydney so I kinda cooked my dinner for the 2 next days.

I'll try to go to the Aquascene tomorrow (thx for the tip Rod) and do some calls hoping to get a farm stay around the Darwin Top End area.

Ok it's way to late, I should get some sleep...

Hot hot hot

03/08/2009 15:50:37 - 36 mm - 1/4000 - f/5 - ISO 640 - view location

I arrived in Darwin at around 3am. As soon as I walked out of the little plane I felt the damp warmth. It wasn't that hot but you could feel the humid air even at this early time. After the shuttle dropped me of I walked towards my first YHA hostel of this trip. The night-guy was waiting for me. He let me in, gave me a quick tour and showed me my bed. It's a small room which houses 6 people. I made my bed and went to sleep cause I was death tired.

In the morning I was still tired but went out anyway. So as a well prepared traveller as I am I did some Slip Slap Slopping first. (Slip into a shirt, slap on a hat , and slop on some sun screener) It is the most bearable season but it's still damn hot. It's about 30-34 degrees. I just went out to bicentennial park and kinda stayed there for the rest of the day. Just like many other people I layed around doing nothing except some reading, planning and dreaming. It was just to warm to do anything anyway. The sun toasts the grass and many parks need sprinkles to avoid it to be turned into a desert. I drank a lot of water and tried to stay hydrated. I think I'll manage the heat after a few days.

Anyway today kinda sucked, maybe it was the heat and me being tired, or maybe just that the first aboriginal I encounter shouts my ears off. "What the fuck are you looking at!!" Ok.... I turned slightly away trying to avoid a closer encounter and started walking just a little faster. I had my shades on and wasn't even looking at the guy, I was just looking in his direction. But that seems to be good enough to let the drunk man go berserk on me. Rod warned me about the Aboriginals and told me to avoid them. Now I see why. The park is full of them and for what I have seen they just linger around in bushes, hassling tourists for money or just drinking and laying down. The other traveller I met was being hassled, they claimed money and food. He gave them an apple and some money, I refused.

It's a sad story actually. I'm not going in on all the details because it would take to long. The fact is that the Aboriginals having a hard time fitting into the new and unasked for society. They have a different culture and they are being exposed to the modern way of living which was not present for such a long time. It's sort of forced upon them and the government did some bad things to them in the past. Most Australians I spoke to have this kinda sad-story-guilt-feeling about the whole Aboriginal history.

Palm beach

02/08/2009 15:11:24 - 200 mm - 1/640 - f/5.6 - ISO 200 - view location

Today Rod picked me up in the morning to visit some nice beaches. He got hold of Jo's car for today so it was a nice opportunity to see things outside the city centre. We drove all the way up to the northern beaches and started out with Palm Beach. In between we stopped near the Spitt Bridge and had Fish'n Chips which where quit nice. Palm beach has, as many other beaches in the area, a crescent shape, darker coloured sand and surfers everywhere. Today's weather was sunny and warm. The beaches where not that crowded but you can see they still pull people into the water, even in winter time. During the day we went to see other beaches, like the Avalon Beach.

At around 4pm we headed our way back. We stopped by Rod's friend Jo to return the car. She was working on the weekend so Rod and I where lucky to get the car. We had a drink at the HHH hotel and they dropped me of at my hostel. It was goodbyes :/ (I'm not good at goodbyes) thanked them both for the nice weekend, especially you Rod! Thx again for the nice weekend! Enjoy the cookies :p

So back in my hostel I found my backpack where I left it, goody. I made goodbyes with Eric and went on to get my shuttle bus. Offcourse it didn't showed up, or I missed it (probably the case). I got a refund on the ticket, went with all my belongings to central station and took the train to the domestic airport. So now I'm sitting at gate 56 waiting for my plane. It's going to be a late night again. I'll be arriving in Darwin at about 2am, then need to find my way towards the hostel. Sigh I'm going to be glad when I see my bed. Tomorrow will be lazy. I'll spend the first day getting used to the temperature I guess. Still a few more hours...


Happy Birthday Mum! :D

Walking near the cliffs

01/08/2009 16:24:32 - 18 mm - 1/400 - f/5 - ISO 200 - view location

Rod, the friend I met when I was in Japan, picked me up at around 1pm and we drove towards the Royal National Park. It was about a 1-2hour drive. The park is big and we hiked only a small part of it. We chose to do a hike near the cliffs. It was great, nice weather, fresh wind and nice views.

Once we got back Rod asked me to go out together with some of his friends. Erik, the German I got to know at the backpackers hostel, tagged along. We went to Oxford street which is well known by the gay community. We had a great time, even tough Erik and myself are straight (just for the record). Rod's friends are really nice people. One of his friends got the same name and same job as me! Anyway, it was a fun evening and a new experience. At about 3am I headed back towards the hostel, brushed my teeth, didn't showered because of the bathroom sex and went to bed again way to late.