No time to blog now, I have them all, but I leave for the airport in a couple hours, so let me just say I do have them and I will get them up when I got home....but maybe not right away. My apologies to my most avid reader Mike, but I have been busy. Will talk to everyone when I get back, and sorry for the lack of updating.
Adam
Leaving for airport in exactly 7 hours.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Vegitarian Phycologist
April 1
Well it is now officially April, and 27 days remain between me and my arrival on Canadian soil. Actually now that I think about it, I actually have 28 days left, one extra day on the plane, oh I am so not looking forward to the 15.5 hour flight. Anyway I will deal with that in 27 days. Well we dropped Mark off in Alice Springs and headed North with our intrepid French friend Niko. We headed North back to Tennent Creek (where we first deviated from journey to go to Uluru) and saw only 1 really interesting thing on the way back. At this little place of about 4 houses called Aileron. At this place in the middle of the desert are these 2 bigger than life sculptures of an aboriginal man and woman with a child, along with a big sign saying "AILERON".
I found this really kind of cool, in the middle of the desert these huge statues of the original aboriginals who roamed this land long before we showed up with our car. I looked at them for quite some time before moving on,
I thought that they fit perfectly, you could almost imagine the aboriginals walking along the desert walking with the staffs and children roaming as they had done thousands of years before. Probably the coolist thing I have seen since I left Tennent Creek 3 days earlier. About 200km up the road we hit the Devils Marbles, which also turned out to be a huge dissapointment as we saw about 30 of these types of rock formations between Exmouth and Karajini.We continued on our journey and hit Tennent the next day, where I had to get 4 new bolts for the skid plate because I noticed when I changed the oil last time that they were stripped from overtightening (not by me I might add). Well we turned our car onto a new road and pointed our car East into the Rising sun and headed towards Cairns. We camped in a roadside turnout and headed out early this morning and we crossed into Queensland for the first time. 
It was a strange feeling that I can't really describe, maybe it was the thought that Easter Friday is in 2 days and I will be spending Easter on the road this year, on the flat plains of Queensland. This place reminds me a lot of Southern Alberta, making me a bit home sick. It also signals the last leg of the journey, as this is our last state we have to go through before we head back into New South Wales, something I both want to end and at the same time continue on. I said it was a hard feeling to express, so if you are confused now, you might be getting about 10% of what is going through my head. It is getting kind of funny though, my dad calls me regularly (which isn't the funny part), but he calls just when I hit cell reception. I will drive three days with nothing, and just as I hit a town (usually I am filling the car with gas at the time) and my phone will ring and there will be dad with his weekly news report from home, which I do love to hear. Of course it is kind of funny that my thoughts have been wandering as of late to what my future direction in life would be. I have been giving serious thought as of late if as to if I really want to go back into land surveying. This thought was building years ago as I sat in my office twiddling my thumbs on my own, alone. One profession that did tweek my intrest was Pycyatry, but since I wasn't even close to be smart enough to become a doctor I threw it out, but it still lingured on. Now thanks to Lena I discovered that Pycology is almost exactly the same with the exception that Phycologists aren't doctors, and you don't need to be a doctor. Suddenly a new road looks open, but before I jump to any conclusions, and before my parents pick up the phone cursing to themselves that they never should have let me go to Australia as they now have a vegitarian Phycologist that might not be home for anouther 4 years, I am just thinking about it right now, don't get your fingers in a knot as you punch in my long phone number. This trip was supposed to be a mould breaking exercise for me. Expecing your next phone call.
Adam
Well it is now officially April, and 27 days remain between me and my arrival on Canadian soil. Actually now that I think about it, I actually have 28 days left, one extra day on the plane, oh I am so not looking forward to the 15.5 hour flight. Anyway I will deal with that in 27 days. Well we dropped Mark off in Alice Springs and headed North with our intrepid French friend Niko. We headed North back to Tennent Creek (where we first deviated from journey to go to Uluru) and saw only 1 really interesting thing on the way back. At this little place of about 4 houses called Aileron. At this place in the middle of the desert are these 2 bigger than life sculptures of an aboriginal man and woman with a child, along with a big sign saying "AILERON".
I found this really kind of cool, in the middle of the desert these huge statues of the original aboriginals who roamed this land long before we showed up with our car. I looked at them for quite some time before moving on, I thought that they fit perfectly, you could almost imagine the aboriginals walking along the desert walking with the staffs and children roaming as they had done thousands of years before. Probably the coolist thing I have seen since I left Tennent Creek 3 days earlier. About 200km up the road we hit the Devils Marbles, which also turned out to be a huge dissapointment as we saw about 30 of these types of rock formations between Exmouth and Karajini.We continued on our journey and hit Tennent the next day, where I had to get 4 new bolts for the skid plate because I noticed when I changed the oil last time that they were stripped from overtightening (not by me I might add). Well we turned our car onto a new road and pointed our car East into the Rising sun and headed towards Cairns. We camped in a roadside turnout and headed out early this morning and we crossed into Queensland for the first time. It was a strange feeling that I can't really describe, maybe it was the thought that Easter Friday is in 2 days and I will be spending Easter on the road this year, on the flat plains of Queensland. This place reminds me a lot of Southern Alberta, making me a bit home sick. It also signals the last leg of the journey, as this is our last state we have to go through before we head back into New South Wales, something I both want to end and at the same time continue on. I said it was a hard feeling to express, so if you are confused now, you might be getting about 10% of what is going through my head. It is getting kind of funny though, my dad calls me regularly (which isn't the funny part), but he calls just when I hit cell reception. I will drive three days with nothing, and just as I hit a town (usually I am filling the car with gas at the time) and my phone will ring and there will be dad with his weekly news report from home, which I do love to hear. Of course it is kind of funny that my thoughts have been wandering as of late to what my future direction in life would be. I have been giving serious thought as of late if as to if I really want to go back into land surveying. This thought was building years ago as I sat in my office twiddling my thumbs on my own, alone. One profession that did tweek my intrest was Pycyatry, but since I wasn't even close to be smart enough to become a doctor I threw it out, but it still lingured on. Now thanks to Lena I discovered that Pycology is almost exactly the same with the exception that Phycologists aren't doctors, and you don't need to be a doctor. Suddenly a new road looks open, but before I jump to any conclusions, and before my parents pick up the phone cursing to themselves that they never should have let me go to Australia as they now have a vegitarian Phycologist that might not be home for anouther 4 years, I am just thinking about it right now, don't get your fingers in a knot as you punch in my long phone number. This trip was supposed to be a mould breaking exercise for me. Expecing your next phone call.Adam
The Center
March 30
The Center
So we have spent the last couple of days in what everyone calles the "Center" of Australia. We drove down from Kathrine all the way to Alice springs (taking 1.5 days), then drove anouther several hours West of Alice Springs where Chris wanted to take the back road to Kings Canyon. I said "Whatever" as I am just along for this part of the drive, as I refused to drive until we return to Tennant Creek (as part of his argument he made against flying down here was that he wanted to "Drive the area around Uluru"), so instead of driving across huge empty spans of nothing I get to take this oportunity to read, write, and watch all the wonderfull movies that have been given to me by the people along the way.
Anyway I made a comment that this gravel road was probably going to be nothing but solid washboard and rougher than hell. Chris said it wouldn't and that I was being cynical (which I was as I was thinking I would be having a lot more fun on the east coast), however I turned out to be right as we hit this gravel road at 80k an hour and he turned to look at me to say "See it is smooth as silk" which was stupid as it was starting to get dark, and if he had kept his eyes on the road he would have noticed that there were huge ruts, pot holes, and washboard. 1 minute later Chris was down to 40 and I was looking for my missing teeth that had been shaken out of my lower jar. In the end that section of road took us around 3.5 hours to drive, in the dark. As you can imagine I was less than pleased, however I wasn't driving so it was easier to handle. I just stuck my head out the window and felt the wind on my face. We camped at Kings Canyon and the next morning we went to look at it. They claim it has the best views in Australia, and I will gladley admit whoever wrote that must not have traveled around Australia a whole lot as it was completely underwelming. The canyon at Exmouth was more awe inspiring than Kings Canyon, and it isn't even on the tourist map. We then drove to Uluru (Areys Rock), where I discovered that whey wanted 25 bucks a head to enter the park. I was less than impressed by the price tag, but I bought a ticket anyway. Once I bought the ticket I had a read, in which they request that you respect the aboriginal request not to climb the rock.
So in the end I paid 25 bucks to walk around the base of Uluru, something that impressed me about as much as an empty beer can in the ditch. Chris took about 100 pictures, I took 1. It was a lot like Wave rock in WA, but with less personality, and 25 bucks more expensive. Uluru just didn't have a story, or if it did I couldn't find it, and in the end we respected the aboriginal request and didn't climb it. Once again I was right before I came down here, Uluru was just boring and overblown. We saw the sun set on Uluru, which was also really dissapointing, as when I looked at the clouds they looked more impressive on the sunset than the rock. 
That night we camped at the Caravan park and the next day went and saw Kata-Tjuta, a mountain similair to Uluru about 25km away from The Rock. Here is the first time I rose from my auto pilot and my eyes found something that actually had character. It was a bunch of little mountains with these green vallleys. 
This was way cooler than Uluru and Kings combined. Was it worth the 2200km trip out of the way to go and see, well no, really the center was disapointing. The funnest time I had was when me, Niko, and Mark made a congo line them playing bad music on the guitars and me practicing the Digeredoo. In reality, if we didn't have these 2 guys with us giving life back to the car, I think I would have left Chris at his rock and made a bee-line to Cairns where I hope to have a better time. I really wish I had these days on the East coast.
Days left in Australia 27
The Center
So we have spent the last couple of days in what everyone calles the "Center" of Australia. We drove down from Kathrine all the way to Alice springs (taking 1.5 days), then drove anouther several hours West of Alice Springs where Chris wanted to take the back road to Kings Canyon. I said "Whatever" as I am just along for this part of the drive, as I refused to drive until we return to Tennant Creek (as part of his argument he made against flying down here was that he wanted to "Drive the area around Uluru"), so instead of driving across huge empty spans of nothing I get to take this oportunity to read, write, and watch all the wonderfull movies that have been given to me by the people along the way.
Anyway I made a comment that this gravel road was probably going to be nothing but solid washboard and rougher than hell. Chris said it wouldn't and that I was being cynical (which I was as I was thinking I would be having a lot more fun on the east coast), however I turned out to be right as we hit this gravel road at 80k an hour and he turned to look at me to say "See it is smooth as silk" which was stupid as it was starting to get dark, and if he had kept his eyes on the road he would have noticed that there were huge ruts, pot holes, and washboard. 1 minute later Chris was down to 40 and I was looking for my missing teeth that had been shaken out of my lower jar. In the end that section of road took us around 3.5 hours to drive, in the dark. As you can imagine I was less than pleased, however I wasn't driving so it was easier to handle. I just stuck my head out the window and felt the wind on my face. We camped at Kings Canyon and the next morning we went to look at it. They claim it has the best views in Australia, and I will gladley admit whoever wrote that must not have traveled around Australia a whole lot as it was completely underwelming. The canyon at Exmouth was more awe inspiring than Kings Canyon, and it isn't even on the tourist map. We then drove to Uluru (Areys Rock), where I discovered that whey wanted 25 bucks a head to enter the park. I was less than impressed by the price tag, but I bought a ticket anyway. Once I bought the ticket I had a read, in which they request that you respect the aboriginal request not to climb the rock. So in the end I paid 25 bucks to walk around the base of Uluru, something that impressed me about as much as an empty beer can in the ditch. Chris took about 100 pictures, I took 1. It was a lot like Wave rock in WA, but with less personality, and 25 bucks more expensive. Uluru just didn't have a story, or if it did I couldn't find it, and in the end we respected the aboriginal request and didn't climb it. Once again I was right before I came down here, Uluru was just boring and overblown. We saw the sun set on Uluru, which was also really dissapointing, as when I looked at the clouds they looked more impressive on the sunset than the rock. That night we camped at the Caravan park and the next day went and saw Kata-Tjuta, a mountain similair to Uluru about 25km away from The Rock. Here is the first time I rose from my auto pilot and my eyes found something that actually had character. It was a bunch of little mountains with these green vallleys. This was way cooler than Uluru and Kings combined. Was it worth the 2200km trip out of the way to go and see, well no, really the center was disapointing. The funnest time I had was when me, Niko, and Mark made a congo line them playing bad music on the guitars and me practicing the Digeredoo. In reality, if we didn't have these 2 guys with us giving life back to the car, I think I would have left Chris at his rock and made a bee-line to Cairns where I hope to have a better time. I really wish I had these days on the East coast.Days left in Australia 27
Kakadoo and lost in Kathrine Gorge
March 27
Well for the last 2 days we spent mostly in Kakadoo National Park in the Northern Territory. This is supposed to be thee best park in the Northern Territory, but unfortunately it was not as impressive as they say, at least not for me. This could be for several reasons, but one of them may be that due to the fact that it is still the wet season, most of the park is still closed. I think it would be much more impressive if I could have seen more of it. The aboriginal rock art was very cool to see, but the swimming holes were the same as Litchfield, and thus cannot be seen as special.
Kakadoo became know worldwide because of the aboriginal rock art there, but more recently as being the place where crocodile Dundee was filmed. I spent a while looking at the aboriginal rock art when a tour group came up and the guid told the story the art told, then he told me that this art is over 1000 years old. I snorted a bit as one of the ladies said "The paint looks incredibly good for 1000 years old" The guide replied "Doesn't it though, it has survived the exposure to the elements." That is when I started to laugh and had to walk away for a few minutes. I later ran into that lady and she asked my why I was laughing at that. I told her to read the sign on the path on the way back. That is when you will find out the the paintings date back to around a thousand years ago, but this one in particular was re-painted in 1964 by one of the aboriginals. It is actually a common practice for them, they re-paint the fading colours to help preserve their history, but I couldn't stop myself laughing at the guide, who I wonder if he read the sign or just refused to tell everyone the whole truth. I went back to the painting as Chris, Niko, and Mark went to got see a look out. I starred at one of the paintings a while remembering the story the guide told me and wondered how acurate it was. 
Story's get distorted over time, some get lost and others spring up to replace it, but mostly each person who tells it adds or takes away from the original. If you weren't there the day the painting was first put on the wall, you don't know what it actually means. I think back to other older writings, and how they are finding different meanings and different interpretations to those same stories, Troy, the bible, even Dracula and Frankenstien. The meaning has changed over time so I looked at the painting and wondered at what story I would make for this painting if I were someone who just stumbled accross it. I am still working on the story, and I might get it up shrotly if I can get it down. Will get back to everyone later about that. So we spent the first night in Kakadoo, and then went swimming in of the park's water holes the next morning. It wasn't spectacular by any means, Litchfield was simmilair, and I love Karinjini way better, just for the cool walkes to get down into the pools. We drove down to Katherine and then on special request out to Kathrine Gorge where we walked an hour out to one of the coolest pools I have yet to swim in, or more importantly dive in. I finally found my cliff dive. It was only about 5 meters high, but it was so fun, especially with the water fall in the background. 
I climbed up the rock face, and threw myself off almost instantly diving into the water, and god did that feel good. The air rushing past your ears as you speed towards the water, and the calm just before the impact. We took lots of pictures, incuding this one by me in the water. 
Best shot of the day by far. Anyway we swam for a while before packing up for the walk back to the car. Chris, and his new Henchman Niko decided they wanted to take the shortcut. It was already 6:00, and I was looking at what they were calling a short cut. I looked at Chris and gave him a look of "I don't like this idea." and voiced my disaproval starting with the fact that:
A. It was late in the evening and the sun sets early here
B. The path is an easy walk and if it get's dark, we can still follow it back to the car.
C. There is a water tank on the path that we can re-fill our water, as I was starting to run low
D. The short cut they want to take was going to be cross country several killometers over heavily rocked terrain with some rather deadly snakes, and our footware is tenis shoes
E. Knowone knows we are out here
F. It is 37 degrees out here, and the rocks will be radiating the heat like a hot BBQ
G. This sounds like a really stupid idea
20 minutes later I was contemplating how much fun it would be to beat the crap out of Chris when I get over these stupid boulders. Of course I was right on all fronts, the rocks were hot, the grass was sharp and slowly filleting my calves every time I had to walk though it. The terrain was rocks, boulders and sharp ledges, I was able to avoid the snakes, barely, I twisted my ankle 3 times, I ran out of water, and the mythical path was knoware in sight. 1 hour later I was getting concerned, we still hadn't found the path, I stopped sweating 20 minutes ago and my mouth was dry (early sign of dyhydration), concentrating where to put my feet was becomeing a challenge, and the sun was very low on the horizon. I told Chris he had 10 minutes to find the path as we have only 15 minutes of sunlight left. Chris said Naw, we got about an hour. I was right again, as 15 minutes later it was dark, and I was making a running inventory of whbat I had for survival gear. This was limmited to, a towel, shorts, shirt, 2 digital cameras, an empty water bottle, a set of rather useless car keys, and 2 very soon to be dead idiots leading the way. This is when we finaly found the path and our brainless leaders of Chris and Niko sumbled onto the path as me and Mark brought up the fumming rear. We then had to finish the last half hour walk back to the car using the path. Total time for return walk with "Chris's Shrotcut" 2 hours. Time to walk that same distance using path 1 hour. Adam Not Happy. I drank about 3 liters of water in the next hour. It was 8:00 and we still hadn't had supper yet and Chris pulled anouther great idea out of his ass. Well let's have some sandwiches then we can drive for anouther 2 hours to this free turn out 160km away. I resisted the urge to roundhouse Chris and used my veto power. "We are staying here tonight." I said pointing to the campground. "I am good for anouther 2 hours of driving" he said. I, now ignoring everything Chris says, re-verberated my earlier decision to stay here the night and that if he wanted to get to that pullout he could start walking, because me and my car were stopping for the night. So we checked in and paid for camping, something Chris wasn't happy about and started making supper, which was very greasy sausages and hambergers. I ate them, and then felt ill, I can't eat this kind of crap anymore, I don't care if it is cheap, it isn't really worth saving 2 bucks if I gain a shit load of weight from eating it. Chris said said that I had to be respeactful of everyone elses buget, I replied that if anyone didn't like my budget for healthier food that they (including himself), can get out of MY car and find a ride with a fat trucker. I think I will make couscouse tommorow. I came to a realization today, I have definately gained weight since I came over here, and it is definately becasue of the very shitty cheap food that we have been eating in order to save money. Time to change that, with a little help from Lena and Ella's cooking clases I attended for a short time. Let's see how well I learned. Anyway 15 minutes after sitting down for supper Chris was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, once again Adam was right, 2 hours my ass.
Creation story
There once was a creature named Todd, he walked the Earth with his lover creation. It was full of all things, stars, moon, sun, mountains, oceans, lands, rivers and all things that inhabited them. All things were in balance but one day a child came from the love between Creation and Todd, and her name was Junis. Junis grew slow from a child, but she grew none the less, learning everything her father taught her, for Todd was knowledge. When she came to the age of 8 she wandered to the edge of the ocean and met the first fish. Fish were one of the first things creation built, and she gave them to much power, for they were an important link in the food chains of many things, especially when the earth was completely covered in water before creation made land. When fish realized this they started using this power and became guardinans of water, and in so doing, the guardians of the underworld. Creation tried to slow their power and created land many years before, somewhere fish could not go. But Junis learned to dance with the fish, and the fish loved her for it. Junis danced, painted, swam and played with the fish for many years, until her 15th birthday. While she walked atop the mountain alone she became lonely and wished for friends. She called to her mother asking for friends, but her mother was afraid to create anouther creature as powerful fish, so she refused. Todd understood his daughter and knew that she was young and would try to do so on her own. He arrived to late though to stop her, and arrived as his daughter created the first humans, but they were mindless husks and could not think, or move, or do anything. They just stood, staring. Junis was young and could not understand what went wrong, she tried impulsivly to make them talk, so that they could be friends, but she could not make them talk. She gave them ears to hear her, mouths to talk with, but still they would not move or talk. Todd grabbed his daughters hand and she begged him to fix them, Todd could sence a change with his daughter and gave her creations knowledge. Todd could feel his daughters life force change. She had given her creation to much of her own life force, and now she was slowly dying, it would not be soon, but she would die. Her mothe,r furious at what her daughter had done, and that she had modeled he creations on her own image forced her daughter inland to live with her people. She did not know that her daughter was dying. 80 years later Todd came to his lover and told her that her daughter was dying. Creation returned to earth and saw how her daughters people lived, they could not create like her, but they could alter things using Todd's knowledge. Creation still could not meet her daughter directly, so she only looked on as she wandered out of her hut old, grey, and withered. Not knowing what to do Creation wandered to the ocean where she met the first fish. She asked the fish if they would take care of her daughter, as she still loved her. The fish said that because land was not their domain they could not. So when her daughter stood moments from death Creation looked on with grief and fear. Todd came and told her to make it rain, cover the land with water so that the fish could come and take their daughter to the land beyond, or else she will just fade away into eternity. So creation created clouds and made it rain, it rained, and rained, and it rained. Soon water covered the land in long ribbons that curved from the highest mountain through the plains and out into the ocean. All manner of sea life came into these rivers, crocodiles, shrimp, and fish. The first fish himself swam up the rivers to the village to collect his old friend Junis. Junis waded into the water, as all her friends, and their children watched the first fish carry her away to the ocean. Creation reached out wishing to hold her daughter again, but Todd held her back. Creation reached out a second time, but Todd held her back again, for she has gone beyond creations reach. Creation wept at the loss of her daughter, and her tears burned Todd for emotion and knowledge are opposites, and then they rained down on the friends of Junis, and that is how creation gave humans emotion. To this day in the mountains above the ocean in the Kakadoo range the land will flood and the fish will come to take all the souls that died in the last year to the ocean where they enter the underworld, and am greated by Junis, their creator, their friend.
Well for the last 2 days we spent mostly in Kakadoo National Park in the Northern Territory. This is supposed to be thee best park in the Northern Territory, but unfortunately it was not as impressive as they say, at least not for me. This could be for several reasons, but one of them may be that due to the fact that it is still the wet season, most of the park is still closed. I think it would be much more impressive if I could have seen more of it. The aboriginal rock art was very cool to see, but the swimming holes were the same as Litchfield, and thus cannot be seen as special.
Kakadoo became know worldwide because of the aboriginal rock art there, but more recently as being the place where crocodile Dundee was filmed. I spent a while looking at the aboriginal rock art when a tour group came up and the guid told the story the art told, then he told me that this art is over 1000 years old. I snorted a bit as one of the ladies said "The paint looks incredibly good for 1000 years old" The guide replied "Doesn't it though, it has survived the exposure to the elements." That is when I started to laugh and had to walk away for a few minutes. I later ran into that lady and she asked my why I was laughing at that. I told her to read the sign on the path on the way back. That is when you will find out the the paintings date back to around a thousand years ago, but this one in particular was re-painted in 1964 by one of the aboriginals. It is actually a common practice for them, they re-paint the fading colours to help preserve their history, but I couldn't stop myself laughing at the guide, who I wonder if he read the sign or just refused to tell everyone the whole truth. I went back to the painting as Chris, Niko, and Mark went to got see a look out. I starred at one of the paintings a while remembering the story the guide told me and wondered how acurate it was. Story's get distorted over time, some get lost and others spring up to replace it, but mostly each person who tells it adds or takes away from the original. If you weren't there the day the painting was first put on the wall, you don't know what it actually means. I think back to other older writings, and how they are finding different meanings and different interpretations to those same stories, Troy, the bible, even Dracula and Frankenstien. The meaning has changed over time so I looked at the painting and wondered at what story I would make for this painting if I were someone who just stumbled accross it. I am still working on the story, and I might get it up shrotly if I can get it down. Will get back to everyone later about that. So we spent the first night in Kakadoo, and then went swimming in of the park's water holes the next morning. It wasn't spectacular by any means, Litchfield was simmilair, and I love Karinjini way better, just for the cool walkes to get down into the pools. We drove down to Katherine and then on special request out to Kathrine Gorge where we walked an hour out to one of the coolest pools I have yet to swim in, or more importantly dive in. I finally found my cliff dive. It was only about 5 meters high, but it was so fun, especially with the water fall in the background. I climbed up the rock face, and threw myself off almost instantly diving into the water, and god did that feel good. The air rushing past your ears as you speed towards the water, and the calm just before the impact. We took lots of pictures, incuding this one by me in the water. Best shot of the day by far. Anyway we swam for a while before packing up for the walk back to the car. Chris, and his new Henchman Niko decided they wanted to take the shortcut. It was already 6:00, and I was looking at what they were calling a short cut. I looked at Chris and gave him a look of "I don't like this idea." and voiced my disaproval starting with the fact that:A. It was late in the evening and the sun sets early here
B. The path is an easy walk and if it get's dark, we can still follow it back to the car.
C. There is a water tank on the path that we can re-fill our water, as I was starting to run low
D. The short cut they want to take was going to be cross country several killometers over heavily rocked terrain with some rather deadly snakes, and our footware is tenis shoes
E. Knowone knows we are out here
F. It is 37 degrees out here, and the rocks will be radiating the heat like a hot BBQ
G. This sounds like a really stupid idea
20 minutes later I was contemplating how much fun it would be to beat the crap out of Chris when I get over these stupid boulders. Of course I was right on all fronts, the rocks were hot, the grass was sharp and slowly filleting my calves every time I had to walk though it. The terrain was rocks, boulders and sharp ledges, I was able to avoid the snakes, barely, I twisted my ankle 3 times, I ran out of water, and the mythical path was knoware in sight. 1 hour later I was getting concerned, we still hadn't found the path, I stopped sweating 20 minutes ago and my mouth was dry (early sign of dyhydration), concentrating where to put my feet was becomeing a challenge, and the sun was very low on the horizon. I told Chris he had 10 minutes to find the path as we have only 15 minutes of sunlight left. Chris said Naw, we got about an hour. I was right again, as 15 minutes later it was dark, and I was making a running inventory of whbat I had for survival gear. This was limmited to, a towel, shorts, shirt, 2 digital cameras, an empty water bottle, a set of rather useless car keys, and 2 very soon to be dead idiots leading the way. This is when we finaly found the path and our brainless leaders of Chris and Niko sumbled onto the path as me and Mark brought up the fumming rear. We then had to finish the last half hour walk back to the car using the path. Total time for return walk with "Chris's Shrotcut" 2 hours. Time to walk that same distance using path 1 hour. Adam Not Happy. I drank about 3 liters of water in the next hour. It was 8:00 and we still hadn't had supper yet and Chris pulled anouther great idea out of his ass. Well let's have some sandwiches then we can drive for anouther 2 hours to this free turn out 160km away. I resisted the urge to roundhouse Chris and used my veto power. "We are staying here tonight." I said pointing to the campground. "I am good for anouther 2 hours of driving" he said. I, now ignoring everything Chris says, re-verberated my earlier decision to stay here the night and that if he wanted to get to that pullout he could start walking, because me and my car were stopping for the night. So we checked in and paid for camping, something Chris wasn't happy about and started making supper, which was very greasy sausages and hambergers. I ate them, and then felt ill, I can't eat this kind of crap anymore, I don't care if it is cheap, it isn't really worth saving 2 bucks if I gain a shit load of weight from eating it. Chris said said that I had to be respeactful of everyone elses buget, I replied that if anyone didn't like my budget for healthier food that they (including himself), can get out of MY car and find a ride with a fat trucker. I think I will make couscouse tommorow. I came to a realization today, I have definately gained weight since I came over here, and it is definately becasue of the very shitty cheap food that we have been eating in order to save money. Time to change that, with a little help from Lena and Ella's cooking clases I attended for a short time. Let's see how well I learned. Anyway 15 minutes after sitting down for supper Chris was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, once again Adam was right, 2 hours my ass.
Creation story
There once was a creature named Todd, he walked the Earth with his lover creation. It was full of all things, stars, moon, sun, mountains, oceans, lands, rivers and all things that inhabited them. All things were in balance but one day a child came from the love between Creation and Todd, and her name was Junis. Junis grew slow from a child, but she grew none the less, learning everything her father taught her, for Todd was knowledge. When she came to the age of 8 she wandered to the edge of the ocean and met the first fish. Fish were one of the first things creation built, and she gave them to much power, for they were an important link in the food chains of many things, especially when the earth was completely covered in water before creation made land. When fish realized this they started using this power and became guardinans of water, and in so doing, the guardians of the underworld. Creation tried to slow their power and created land many years before, somewhere fish could not go. But Junis learned to dance with the fish, and the fish loved her for it. Junis danced, painted, swam and played with the fish for many years, until her 15th birthday. While she walked atop the mountain alone she became lonely and wished for friends. She called to her mother asking for friends, but her mother was afraid to create anouther creature as powerful fish, so she refused. Todd understood his daughter and knew that she was young and would try to do so on her own. He arrived to late though to stop her, and arrived as his daughter created the first humans, but they were mindless husks and could not think, or move, or do anything. They just stood, staring. Junis was young and could not understand what went wrong, she tried impulsivly to make them talk, so that they could be friends, but she could not make them talk. She gave them ears to hear her, mouths to talk with, but still they would not move or talk. Todd grabbed his daughters hand and she begged him to fix them, Todd could sence a change with his daughter and gave her creations knowledge. Todd could feel his daughters life force change. She had given her creation to much of her own life force, and now she was slowly dying, it would not be soon, but she would die. Her mothe,r furious at what her daughter had done, and that she had modeled he creations on her own image forced her daughter inland to live with her people. She did not know that her daughter was dying. 80 years later Todd came to his lover and told her that her daughter was dying. Creation returned to earth and saw how her daughters people lived, they could not create like her, but they could alter things using Todd's knowledge. Creation still could not meet her daughter directly, so she only looked on as she wandered out of her hut old, grey, and withered. Not knowing what to do Creation wandered to the ocean where she met the first fish. She asked the fish if they would take care of her daughter, as she still loved her. The fish said that because land was not their domain they could not. So when her daughter stood moments from death Creation looked on with grief and fear. Todd came and told her to make it rain, cover the land with water so that the fish could come and take their daughter to the land beyond, or else she will just fade away into eternity. So creation created clouds and made it rain, it rained, and rained, and it rained. Soon water covered the land in long ribbons that curved from the highest mountain through the plains and out into the ocean. All manner of sea life came into these rivers, crocodiles, shrimp, and fish. The first fish himself swam up the rivers to the village to collect his old friend Junis. Junis waded into the water, as all her friends, and their children watched the first fish carry her away to the ocean. Creation reached out wishing to hold her daughter again, but Todd held her back. Creation reached out a second time, but Todd held her back again, for she has gone beyond creations reach. Creation wept at the loss of her daughter, and her tears burned Todd for emotion and knowledge are opposites, and then they rained down on the friends of Junis, and that is how creation gave humans emotion. To this day in the mountains above the ocean in the Kakadoo range the land will flood and the fish will come to take all the souls that died in the last year to the ocean where they enter the underworld, and am greated by Junis, their creator, their friend.
DigereeDood in Darwin
March 25
Darwin
Today we leave Darwin heading into the center of knoware to see a big rock. Days left in Australia 33. Well we picked up 2 guys named Niko (from France) and Mark (from Indoven in Holland). More about them later. Anyway I really like Darwin, it was a nice repreave from Broome. It wasn't as hot, and I liked the pople a lot more. I spent most of yesterday talking to this guy. What happened was I was looking for a more authentic boomerange than the ones you find in the tourist shop and we walked by the Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery where they have all of these digereedoos, boomerangs, and other fine aboriginal art. So we walked in and met Walter and before I could get to the boomerange section he asked "Have you ever played a digereedoo before?" I said no, and he grabbed one and said "well you're about to learn." he then spent the next hour and a half teaching us how to play. He told us how to pick a digeree doo and how we could tell if it was the right size for us. He told us that there were 60 digereedoos in the shop, and maybe three of them would fit me. "The Digereedoo picks the person" he said.
He also said that a true digereedoo is actually hollowed out by termites, which I didn't know. We talked for a while and then went looking for a cool smoothie (as recomended by Walter) before meeting up with Niko for the first time. We met Niko and Chris and him went off together to chat, I decided that I wanted an afternoon to myself and went looking for a nice place to relax. So I ended up walking by the Digeredoo store again when I ran into Walter on his smoke break. We got chatting and I discovered he was a rock hound (rock collector) he then told me where all of the good places to go looking for different types of rocks, including opals, jems, and even some dimonds. It was a fun talk, in which I have circled on my map all the places he mentioned. Well we just kept talking and that is when I learned more in that one hour than in 15 of the museums. Here are some of the stuff he talked about.
Bush honey, you can often find there in trees or in termite mounds. Look for a little straw sticking out of a tree, and lots of little bees going in and out of it. You can bust open that branch and it will have a hollow in it and it will be full of honey, best part, the bees don't have stingers up here. They will quite often build their nests in termite mounds as well.
An australian bush BBQ is made by building a fire, letting it burn down to coals, then busting up a small termite mound and laying the peices of mound on the coals. You then lay your meet on the peices of mound. Whay is so special about this is that in the termites saliva binds the dirt together to make the mound, and it is heat resisitant, so you can lay your meet on it and the dirt won't get on your meat, and it cooks great.
If you have to, for some inexplicable reason, enter a water hole that most likely has a crocodile in it, bring a stick and hold it vertical in front of you and walk forward and you should feel it with the stick. once you find it you should be able to figure out which part of the croc you are dealing with, and well I'm not sure what you are supposed to do after that, he never actually said what I should do after that, but he did make a comment that the stick would still be standing vertical in the water, and I would probably be still running. The interesting thing is that the aboriginal hunters used to use this meathod to hunt crocodiles. They would slowly wade into the billabong, feeling with the stick, and when they found the snout they would stand, with the stick held in one hand and a bomerange or a rock in the other. And when the Crock came to the surface to have a good look they would come down on it's head with the before mentioned rock/bomerang. They would then toss a rope on it, haul it out, make sure it is dead, and then cook it. I don't know about you, but I think I would be pissing myself if I came face to face with a croc in the water, even if I had a rock.
Muds holes were not originally measured in meters, or feet, but rather in bottles of rum, if you got your cart/car stuck in one of them, you would start drinking and stop when it dries out, and thus the number of empty bottles is the size of the mud hole.1 bottle was considered a small bog, 12 was considered a lake. Of course the same thing applies for driving distances, it isn't 200km, rather 18 cans of beer.
He also told me a whole buch of other stories, but if you guys want those you will have to wait until I get home, because I am so going to have to tell them in person, because they are way to funny. If you want to read a funny comic, look up Joffel online. It is about a cartoonist who lived with the aboriginals for a while, and some of the incredibly funny stuff he witnessed. The aboriginals used to tell their children all the stupid stuff that they did when they were kids, not only because they were funny, but because that way the kids would know better and not do that kind of stupid things.
Not wanting this amazing source of information to go to waste I asked him how the boomerangs worked. He brought me to the display and told me they were returning bomerangs, he then demonstrated how to properly throw it (without actually throwing it as it would have made a wreck of the store) and told me the principal in which it worked. He drew what the different tribes in the different parts of Australia and how the bomerangs varied from each tribe. He told me also the different types of bomerangs, like the hunting kind, the fighting kind, and the musical kind. Yes, some tribes in Australia never used digeree doos, but used bomerangs to make music, and trust me when they used these, knowbody laughs, as you might find out whay they were used in fighting. He also said that when you thow this thing remember if you suddenly decide you don't want to catch this thing, step to the left or right, don't run away from it, as it will follow that line. He said he has seen so many people turn and run the exact same direction at which it is going. He said it is absolutely hilarius, but don't do it. Just after I bought one, the this guy came in with a digereedoo for sale. He went upstairs to the owner of the store to see if he was wanting to buy it. When he was upstairs Walter looks at me and says "That is a good digereedoo". Well the guy came back downstairs with it, because it is the wet season, and there isn't really a big market for them right now, but Walter calls him over and tries it. It is a good digereedoo, and I give it a go, but I have a hard time with it. But Walter grabs this bees wax and makes a better end to blow on, and then I give it a go, and it make a really good sound. Walter says if you want to buy that from him you have to do it outside as you cannot do a private sale in a comercial store. So I stepped outside and bought this off of him for 80 bucks. Walter was outside smoking a cigaret and he told me after I bought it that if that was in the store I would be paying around 300 for it, so I got a good deal for 80 bucks. I shook his hand and said thanks for all the stories and information, as I have been looking for the history behind these things and the boomerang ever since I saw them in Victoria market in Melbourne. One last fun fact about Darwin, was bombed by Japanese during the second world war and had more bombs dropped on it than in Pearl Harbor. Oh that and on high tide you have to be aware that crocs will walk up onto the beach from the ocean, there are also sharks, and jelly fish. They don't swim in the bay, they actually built a wave pool near the bay, so that they don't have to swim in the ocean.
We said goodbye to Clair and Simon when we left Darwin (we met them originaly in Broome) and am heading down to Kakadu for the night, will get back to everyone shortly. Be home in 33 days.
Darwin
Today we leave Darwin heading into the center of knoware to see a big rock. Days left in Australia 33. Well we picked up 2 guys named Niko (from France) and Mark (from Indoven in Holland). More about them later. Anyway I really like Darwin, it was a nice repreave from Broome. It wasn't as hot, and I liked the pople a lot more. I spent most of yesterday talking to this guy. What happened was I was looking for a more authentic boomerange than the ones you find in the tourist shop and we walked by the Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery where they have all of these digereedoos, boomerangs, and other fine aboriginal art. So we walked in and met Walter and before I could get to the boomerange section he asked "Have you ever played a digereedoo before?" I said no, and he grabbed one and said "well you're about to learn." he then spent the next hour and a half teaching us how to play. He told us how to pick a digeree doo and how we could tell if it was the right size for us. He told us that there were 60 digereedoos in the shop, and maybe three of them would fit me. "The Digereedoo picks the person" he said.
He also said that a true digereedoo is actually hollowed out by termites, which I didn't know. We talked for a while and then went looking for a cool smoothie (as recomended by Walter) before meeting up with Niko for the first time. We met Niko and Chris and him went off together to chat, I decided that I wanted an afternoon to myself and went looking for a nice place to relax. So I ended up walking by the Digeredoo store again when I ran into Walter on his smoke break. We got chatting and I discovered he was a rock hound (rock collector) he then told me where all of the good places to go looking for different types of rocks, including opals, jems, and even some dimonds. It was a fun talk, in which I have circled on my map all the places he mentioned. Well we just kept talking and that is when I learned more in that one hour than in 15 of the museums. Here are some of the stuff he talked about.Bush honey, you can often find there in trees or in termite mounds. Look for a little straw sticking out of a tree, and lots of little bees going in and out of it. You can bust open that branch and it will have a hollow in it and it will be full of honey, best part, the bees don't have stingers up here. They will quite often build their nests in termite mounds as well.
An australian bush BBQ is made by building a fire, letting it burn down to coals, then busting up a small termite mound and laying the peices of mound on the coals. You then lay your meet on the peices of mound. Whay is so special about this is that in the termites saliva binds the dirt together to make the mound, and it is heat resisitant, so you can lay your meet on it and the dirt won't get on your meat, and it cooks great.
If you have to, for some inexplicable reason, enter a water hole that most likely has a crocodile in it, bring a stick and hold it vertical in front of you and walk forward and you should feel it with the stick. once you find it you should be able to figure out which part of the croc you are dealing with, and well I'm not sure what you are supposed to do after that, he never actually said what I should do after that, but he did make a comment that the stick would still be standing vertical in the water, and I would probably be still running. The interesting thing is that the aboriginal hunters used to use this meathod to hunt crocodiles. They would slowly wade into the billabong, feeling with the stick, and when they found the snout they would stand, with the stick held in one hand and a bomerange or a rock in the other. And when the Crock came to the surface to have a good look they would come down on it's head with the before mentioned rock/bomerang. They would then toss a rope on it, haul it out, make sure it is dead, and then cook it. I don't know about you, but I think I would be pissing myself if I came face to face with a croc in the water, even if I had a rock.
Muds holes were not originally measured in meters, or feet, but rather in bottles of rum, if you got your cart/car stuck in one of them, you would start drinking and stop when it dries out, and thus the number of empty bottles is the size of the mud hole.1 bottle was considered a small bog, 12 was considered a lake. Of course the same thing applies for driving distances, it isn't 200km, rather 18 cans of beer.
He also told me a whole buch of other stories, but if you guys want those you will have to wait until I get home, because I am so going to have to tell them in person, because they are way to funny. If you want to read a funny comic, look up Joffel online. It is about a cartoonist who lived with the aboriginals for a while, and some of the incredibly funny stuff he witnessed. The aboriginals used to tell their children all the stupid stuff that they did when they were kids, not only because they were funny, but because that way the kids would know better and not do that kind of stupid things.
Not wanting this amazing source of information to go to waste I asked him how the boomerangs worked. He brought me to the display and told me they were returning bomerangs, he then demonstrated how to properly throw it (without actually throwing it as it would have made a wreck of the store) and told me the principal in which it worked. He drew what the different tribes in the different parts of Australia and how the bomerangs varied from each tribe. He told me also the different types of bomerangs, like the hunting kind, the fighting kind, and the musical kind. Yes, some tribes in Australia never used digeree doos, but used bomerangs to make music, and trust me when they used these, knowbody laughs, as you might find out whay they were used in fighting. He also said that when you thow this thing remember if you suddenly decide you don't want to catch this thing, step to the left or right, don't run away from it, as it will follow that line. He said he has seen so many people turn and run the exact same direction at which it is going. He said it is absolutely hilarius, but don't do it. Just after I bought one, the this guy came in with a digereedoo for sale. He went upstairs to the owner of the store to see if he was wanting to buy it. When he was upstairs Walter looks at me and says "That is a good digereedoo". Well the guy came back downstairs with it, because it is the wet season, and there isn't really a big market for them right now, but Walter calls him over and tries it. It is a good digereedoo, and I give it a go, but I have a hard time with it. But Walter grabs this bees wax and makes a better end to blow on, and then I give it a go, and it make a really good sound. Walter says if you want to buy that from him you have to do it outside as you cannot do a private sale in a comercial store. So I stepped outside and bought this off of him for 80 bucks. Walter was outside smoking a cigaret and he told me after I bought it that if that was in the store I would be paying around 300 for it, so I got a good deal for 80 bucks. I shook his hand and said thanks for all the stories and information, as I have been looking for the history behind these things and the boomerang ever since I saw them in Victoria market in Melbourne. One last fun fact about Darwin, was bombed by Japanese during the second world war and had more bombs dropped on it than in Pearl Harbor. Oh that and on high tide you have to be aware that crocs will walk up onto the beach from the ocean, there are also sharks, and jelly fish. They don't swim in the bay, they actually built a wave pool near the bay, so that they don't have to swim in the ocean.
We said goodbye to Clair and Simon when we left Darwin (we met them originaly in Broome) and am heading down to Kakadu for the night, will get back to everyone shortly. Be home in 33 days.
Fighting in Darwin
March 23
Well this afternoon we finally arrived in Darwin, 4 days after leaving Broome. The Kimberly was all closed so there wasn't really anything to see between here and there until we got right outiside of Darwin. It was a really boring drive as it took us three days to reach the only interesting stop before Darwin. Litchfield National park is about 2 hours outside of Darwin, and the best way to descibe it was this. The park has several fresh water pools in which waterfalls cascade into or out of or through that you can swim in. These pools are actually safe to swim in, as the BIG crocs don't come into this part of the park, also they are trapped and moved from this location, so we mere humans won't become a crocodiles lunch. Just so everyone else is aware of this fact, they are called Salt Water Crocodiles, but they still mostly inhabit fresh water, it is just that they CAN also live in a saltwater enviroment. So even though you are crossing a fresh water river, doesn't mean that there won't be any salt water crocks lurking below the surface. Apparently most tourists don't understand that. Continuing on these pools are really cool and fun to swim in, one has this huge waterfall plunging into it, and fish swimming around. I can't describe it anymore as I would fail horribly, but I can tell you about the cool Lizard we ran into. Yeasterday we were hanging around in some of the pools with 3 German chicks and 1 Northern Aussie girl. I was down stream with 2 of them jumping into the deaper pools when we heard a blood curtling scream from up river. I dove into the pool, swam accross the current, climbed the rock wall, lept for a tree brach and swung onto the path running like there was a 12 foot croc inches from my ass. I arrived to find both women very calm drying their hair.
The Northern Australian pointed towards a 2 foot lizard and said "There is a water monitor over there." (A very undagerous lizard)
I was trying to link the scream and the lizard together, as he was just sitting by the waters edge looking at it flow by.I asked "Anything else?"
Northern Australian "No I just wanted to show you the lizard"
Me "Was the scream necicary?"
Northern Australian "Well no, but I find that if you scream like a Bitch everyone comes running."
I had to admit she had me there as my three other companions from the lower pool arrived. I ran into her later that night at the campgound where I found out she is actually a tour guide and pointed out to me all the diferent rocks that the aboriginals used to use for paint, without screaming this time though. Upon arrival in Darwin I got in contact with Simon and Claire who we met at the Broome hostel last week and flew over the day before we left. We met up for a few minutes before Chris and I sat down to to finish the argument that started months ago. The Rock in the middle of knoware debate. Chris wants to go see Aries Rock, I don't. So the debate had to be finished today, do we go to Cairns or to the center for a rock, 2000km out of the way, 4-5days extra out of the time scedual (which is already really tight as we have to be back in Sydney in 20 days to give me ample enough time to sell the car), cost 500 just in fuel,and this would effectivly kill any spare time we have in Brisbane and such which is where all the young people are (and thus where I really want to stop and meet them). This is also a lot harder to find anyone to give a ride to as it is a weird road to take (Darwin, Alice Springs, then Cairns) meaning that it will be just me and him for about 11 days strait, something I know I will not enjoy, we need new blood in the mix, something we sorely missed from Broome to Darwin. We spent almost 150km arguing strait one morning, that should tell you how bad it is getting.I honestly don't think it is worth the effort the long drive for a rock. In the end I decided to do it, but I don't think I made the right decision, I feel like I am being taken advantage of. I feel this way from the argument especially after Chris said this
"Comon, do it for me."
A huge amount of anger flooded through me with this remark. Do this for him, I have spent 4,000 buying the car, 450 insuring it, 150 for new breaks, 300 for new tires, 450 for new belts and a harmonic balancer, 250 for new shocks, 130 to change the transmition fluid, and anouther 100 for oil and filters (grand total 6000). Not including half the fuel and a lot of the camping gear. He uses my cell phone to get jobs, he uses my computer to back up all his pictures and music. Chris has spent only 500 so far for this kind of stuff plus half the fuel. I admit I have used his shaver a couple of times, but his argument about the I-pod being the most useful tool he brought that I use I will flatly deny as on several ocations I have been wanting to huck it out the window at high speeds as I am getting incredibly tired of his music. We went to Tasmania so he could do all these hikes (which I readily admit I hate), we worked for a month in Margret so he could afford fuel, he refused to spend 30 bucks on a hostel in Albany (still wanted to spend 500 on fuel to Uluru). I am still trying to figure out what part of this trip was mine. (Possibly Murry river, but that was on the way to Adelaide) When he said "Do this for me" I was really pissed off as without me, or my car, he wouldn't be doing any of this. I told him he should book a plane ticket to Alice Springs from Sydney during the 2 weeks we are going to be there so I can sell the car (if I don't get back early enough I risk loosing major money when I re-sell it) but he said he didn't like that idea. I told him that I have to have enough time to sell it, because if I have to take a hit on it, it is going to cost me. He asked "You are going to argue over 500 bucks?" I said yess, especially when you argued over 30 to stay at a hostel. He replied that 30 dollars a stay builds up over time, I said that 30 goes into 500 17 times, and I never asked 17 times. In the end I gave him 4 days, something I am not sure was a good idea. Chris said he would pay for the loss on the car, something I know is even worse, as there are 2 ways to destroy friendships, lend money to them or getting a loan from them, especially when they don't have the money to repay you right away.
In other news when we arrived in Darwin we turned on the news and found out that Perth got blasted by a horrible storm. In shock I called Gerard to find out what happened. Well the pool is empty of water as pipes cracked, trees are uprooted, flood damage is rampant, and that is only at his house. Gerard said that you wouldn't recognize the city anymore. People were surfing down the streets, at his work the water was up to his knees, and in the library at the university all the books on the bottom 2 shelves are under water. They figure over 150 million worth of damage was caused, and the insurance companies are kind of not answering the phones right now. Gerard said he would send me pictures soon. Personally I blame doctor death (Sarah) as she was doing some gardening for Gerard and Jane and I think she killed all the plants. So before they could wilt and thus be discovered as the "Butcher of Gardens" she made a deal with the devil to brew up one hell of a storm and destroy all the gardens so that she could hide the evidence of her horrific crime. Only a vegitarian could have that much hate towards plants. Of course the devil couldn't miss out on such a good opportunity, and made sure the storm destroyed everything good in Perth, including the wonderful pool. Speaking of storms, it has rained 3 times since I got to Darwin, 6 hours ago, well goodnight.
Editing note, put this up as I wrote it, I could have cut a lot of it out, but not all of travelling is smooth, which is why I think that I left it as it is. If I cut it out I would feel that I would be almost lying, this is part of the trip, and therefore it is part of the blog.
Well this afternoon we finally arrived in Darwin, 4 days after leaving Broome. The Kimberly was all closed so there wasn't really anything to see between here and there until we got right outiside of Darwin. It was a really boring drive as it took us three days to reach the only interesting stop before Darwin. Litchfield National park is about 2 hours outside of Darwin, and the best way to descibe it was this. The park has several fresh water pools in which waterfalls cascade into or out of or through that you can swim in. These pools are actually safe to swim in, as the BIG crocs don't come into this part of the park, also they are trapped and moved from this location, so we mere humans won't become a crocodiles lunch. Just so everyone else is aware of this fact, they are called Salt Water Crocodiles, but they still mostly inhabit fresh water, it is just that they CAN also live in a saltwater enviroment. So even though you are crossing a fresh water river, doesn't mean that there won't be any salt water crocks lurking below the surface. Apparently most tourists don't understand that. Continuing on these pools are really cool and fun to swim in, one has this huge waterfall plunging into it, and fish swimming around. I can't describe it anymore as I would fail horribly, but I can tell you about the cool Lizard we ran into. Yeasterday we were hanging around in some of the pools with 3 German chicks and 1 Northern Aussie girl. I was down stream with 2 of them jumping into the deaper pools when we heard a blood curtling scream from up river. I dove into the pool, swam accross the current, climbed the rock wall, lept for a tree brach and swung onto the path running like there was a 12 foot croc inches from my ass. I arrived to find both women very calm drying their hair.
The Northern Australian pointed towards a 2 foot lizard and said "There is a water monitor over there." (A very undagerous lizard)
I was trying to link the scream and the lizard together, as he was just sitting by the waters edge looking at it flow by.I asked "Anything else?"
Northern Australian "No I just wanted to show you the lizard"
Me "Was the scream necicary?"
Northern Australian "Well no, but I find that if you scream like a Bitch everyone comes running."
I had to admit she had me there as my three other companions from the lower pool arrived. I ran into her later that night at the campgound where I found out she is actually a tour guide and pointed out to me all the diferent rocks that the aboriginals used to use for paint, without screaming this time though. Upon arrival in Darwin I got in contact with Simon and Claire who we met at the Broome hostel last week and flew over the day before we left. We met up for a few minutes before Chris and I sat down to to finish the argument that started months ago. The Rock in the middle of knoware debate. Chris wants to go see Aries Rock, I don't. So the debate had to be finished today, do we go to Cairns or to the center for a rock, 2000km out of the way, 4-5days extra out of the time scedual (which is already really tight as we have to be back in Sydney in 20 days to give me ample enough time to sell the car), cost 500 just in fuel,and this would effectivly kill any spare time we have in Brisbane and such which is where all the young people are (and thus where I really want to stop and meet them). This is also a lot harder to find anyone to give a ride to as it is a weird road to take (Darwin, Alice Springs, then Cairns) meaning that it will be just me and him for about 11 days strait, something I know I will not enjoy, we need new blood in the mix, something we sorely missed from Broome to Darwin. We spent almost 150km arguing strait one morning, that should tell you how bad it is getting.I honestly don't think it is worth the effort the long drive for a rock. In the end I decided to do it, but I don't think I made the right decision, I feel like I am being taken advantage of. I feel this way from the argument especially after Chris said this
"Comon, do it for me."
A huge amount of anger flooded through me with this remark. Do this for him, I have spent 4,000 buying the car, 450 insuring it, 150 for new breaks, 300 for new tires, 450 for new belts and a harmonic balancer, 250 for new shocks, 130 to change the transmition fluid, and anouther 100 for oil and filters (grand total 6000). Not including half the fuel and a lot of the camping gear. He uses my cell phone to get jobs, he uses my computer to back up all his pictures and music. Chris has spent only 500 so far for this kind of stuff plus half the fuel. I admit I have used his shaver a couple of times, but his argument about the I-pod being the most useful tool he brought that I use I will flatly deny as on several ocations I have been wanting to huck it out the window at high speeds as I am getting incredibly tired of his music. We went to Tasmania so he could do all these hikes (which I readily admit I hate), we worked for a month in Margret so he could afford fuel, he refused to spend 30 bucks on a hostel in Albany (still wanted to spend 500 on fuel to Uluru). I am still trying to figure out what part of this trip was mine. (Possibly Murry river, but that was on the way to Adelaide) When he said "Do this for me" I was really pissed off as without me, or my car, he wouldn't be doing any of this. I told him he should book a plane ticket to Alice Springs from Sydney during the 2 weeks we are going to be there so I can sell the car (if I don't get back early enough I risk loosing major money when I re-sell it) but he said he didn't like that idea. I told him that I have to have enough time to sell it, because if I have to take a hit on it, it is going to cost me. He asked "You are going to argue over 500 bucks?" I said yess, especially when you argued over 30 to stay at a hostel. He replied that 30 dollars a stay builds up over time, I said that 30 goes into 500 17 times, and I never asked 17 times. In the end I gave him 4 days, something I am not sure was a good idea. Chris said he would pay for the loss on the car, something I know is even worse, as there are 2 ways to destroy friendships, lend money to them or getting a loan from them, especially when they don't have the money to repay you right away.
In other news when we arrived in Darwin we turned on the news and found out that Perth got blasted by a horrible storm. In shock I called Gerard to find out what happened. Well the pool is empty of water as pipes cracked, trees are uprooted, flood damage is rampant, and that is only at his house. Gerard said that you wouldn't recognize the city anymore. People were surfing down the streets, at his work the water was up to his knees, and in the library at the university all the books on the bottom 2 shelves are under water. They figure over 150 million worth of damage was caused, and the insurance companies are kind of not answering the phones right now. Gerard said he would send me pictures soon. Personally I blame doctor death (Sarah) as she was doing some gardening for Gerard and Jane and I think she killed all the plants. So before they could wilt and thus be discovered as the "Butcher of Gardens" she made a deal with the devil to brew up one hell of a storm and destroy all the gardens so that she could hide the evidence of her horrific crime. Only a vegitarian could have that much hate towards plants. Of course the devil couldn't miss out on such a good opportunity, and made sure the storm destroyed everything good in Perth, including the wonderful pool. Speaking of storms, it has rained 3 times since I got to Darwin, 6 hours ago, well goodnight.
Editing note, put this up as I wrote it, I could have cut a lot of it out, but not all of travelling is smooth, which is why I think that I left it as it is. If I cut it out I would feel that I would be almost lying, this is part of the trip, and therefore it is part of the blog.
Getting knocked in the head in Broome
March 20, 2010
Well today we reached Broome
and we checked into the Kimberly Klub, which is an insane hostel. The hostel has huge amounts of open air sections, pool, bar, beach vollyball courts, as well as some other amazing features like hammucks, palm trees, and 80% humidity. Our good Canadian doctor Sarah (Who we met earlier at Chateu G&J) said that walking outside in the heat and humidity was like "Opening the oven door to see if the cookies were done". I would like to completely dissagree with this saying prefering to say that walking outside in this heat and humidity is more like walking into a sauna while standing on a flaming grill, but she was close. Anyway we checked in around 4 had a shower (which was wonderful after 3 days in the hot humid weather, thank god for A/C as it dries out the air, but you should see the water coming out of the A/C unit when we stop) and then did laundry. 
Of course drying these clothes out after will be a task not even Hurcules can acomplish. Anyway, enough about the smoking hot humid weather, let me tell you about this hostel. I am paying 20 bucks a night and it has the feel of a five star resort, I hope to get some pictures up soon of this place as it is the only way to describe it. Should get more about Broome up soon, will chat later.
Oh ya, I haven't told you about the very weird thing that happened this week. Well when we were down South in Bunbury 1 hour north of Margret we picked up groceries. We were discussing what to cook this week up the west coast. Now before I get to far ahead lets reel the bus back to review the last 4 months of meals. They have consisted of, pasta, beans, pasta, ground beef, sausages, Penut butter and jelly, rice, more PB&J, sausages in beans/pasta/hotdogs. So as you can imagine when I was standing in the grocerie store debating with Ella if she should go vegitarian or not when I hear Christian say "sausages are cheap" and I suddenly had the urge to go vegitarian as well. And that is how for the last 2 weeks I have been a Vegitarian. I swear I just heard some people's heart stop back home, and a couple of jaws bounce off the earths surface. Now before start people sending me e-mails saying "WHAT?", I am not a vegitarian, yet. This so far has only been a foraging excusion into the other side of the nutrition spectrum. Now as I mentioned before I did this for 2 reasons, or didn't mention, anyway 2 resons. First was I couldn't look at either ground beef or anouther sausage for some time yet. The second reason is a bit more complicated. I seem to be finding a pattern with the women I am naturaly attracted to, they all seem to be vegitarians. This usually causes me to roll my eyes and scratch her off my possible dating list, but then something strange happened when I was in Margret River. Lena and Ella invited us to supper one night and Lena cooked up a vegitarian Cous Cous with fried egg plant and some spices. Lena can really cook, and it was one of the best meals I have had since I came to Australia, and the biggest surprise it didn't involve meat. It intruiged me, I have heard of dishes that didn't involve meat, but I never knew they could be filling, and I never imagined that they would could possibly taste good as well. My curiosity was peeked, and when we had Ella she cooked some of the recipies that Lena had shown her. I was continually amazed that vegitales can taste good as I learned more and more about vegitarian cuisine. It is hard to beleive I haven't had a real meat dish in over 2 weeks. So this is one of thoses strange series of events that lead up to this unexpected change. This event really started almost 2 months ago when Ella met Lena in a hostel in Freemantle and became fast friends. Then Lena taught Ella how to cook vegitarian, then we met Lena and Ella in Margret, then Ella taught us how to cook a vegitarian meal. It is amazing how the dommeno's fell. Anyway today we left Broome after spending 4 days there, leaving behind our good friend Ella to deal with this humid weather on her own. We just about had a traveling companion named Gil come with us, but that didn't come to fluition. Anyway just me and Chris again. On our first day out we stopped to make breakfastand I had eggs, but our bread was mouldy (bread doesn't last long in the heat up here). I made a comment that I won't be having bread with my eggs.
Chris replied "Well we have alternatives."
I was rolling through my head our list of food supplies and could not figure out what we could have with eggs. "like what?" I said
"Well we have granola bars."he says.
I suddered at the thought of eggs on granola bars and suddenly was wondering at what point in the night he had sunk to such a horrible low.
But before I get to far into everything else let's get back to the highlights of Broome. Unfortunately I can't say I really enjoyed Broome, then again I had a rough start. We arrived about three in the afternoon Broome, and Ella was immediately invited to Cable Beach for a drink by one of her old co-workers from when she worked in Broome last time she was here. (I would like to say at this time that Ella has more conections than the North American phone network) So we all go down to the beach and have a couple of drinks (I was driving so I stopped at 2), and after the sun went down we went back to this guys house. To make a long story short, when all the kiwi's went home it was just Ella, Chris me, and 3 Aussies. One of the Aussies wanted me to hit him in the head with a beer bottle which I flatly refused, and he punched me in the side of the head for it, talk about nice guys finishing last. Needless to say that kind of killed Broome for me. The sunsets were nice, the hostle was great, but that was kind of the end of it for me. I have been preaching a lot this trip about how the poeple make the place, and in Broome, that is exactly what happened, the people killed the place. I have to admit the heat was hard to, I drank 6 liters of water yeasterday and went to the bathroom once. It is about 38 degrees and 85% humidity. Let me put it this way, I sat in a chair, in the hostel, doing nothing other than drinking water, and I could feel the sweat roll dow my back, my arms, my legs, and my face. I was on a diet of water and salt just to replenish the sweat that was pouring off me. One very cool thing about Broome is the The Malcom Douglas Crocodile farm. This is the place that scared Dr. Sarah away from watering holes. I went thinking "this isn't nearly as bad as what she said they were." Well as it turns out, they are way scarier than I possibly imagined, and let me tell you why. I was standing beyond the fence looking at a pool of shallow murky water. I told the person standing beside me "this must be a small guy as you can barley see the water ripple. The tour guide then threw a hard plastic ball onto the pond and then like a creature from Dauntaes Inferno erupted a 5.6 meter saltwater crocodile
with the devil himself shining from his eyes and I found myself taking a step back. Even though I found this a completely natural reaction, I found myself standing alone, because everyone else took 2 or more steps back. The only problem was this may have been a slight mistake as everyone else has forgotten that there was anouther crocodile enclosure right behind them. 
And he didn't like having people close to his fence, which is when he exploded against the fence and sent everyone scattering. I imagine that the guide must take great enjoyment in watching this happen as he hardly skipped a beat when he explained that this was the largest croc on the farm. I have to admit this may have scared me from swiming in any dark water muddy holes for the rest of my mortal life, as if I did, it would definately end my life in this part of the world.
OK, new rules when dealing with water,
number 1: never go swimming,
Number 2: Stay at least 7 meters away from the water at all times
Number 3: Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they can't see you
Number 4:If you are caught by one of these nightmares, say goodbye, because you are sooooooo dead.
I was just absolutely stunned with the speed these guys can move at, and how they can swim from one end of the water hole to the other without even sending a ripple accross the water. You would never even know it was there, until they have you right were they want you. Anouther thing that is scarry about these guys is that their tales are just as dangerous as their heads.
They quite often use their tales to bust animals legs. These things are built tough, solid, and very scary, all 5 plus meters of them. One last scary fact, these things are faster on land than we are over the first 10 meters.
Anyway I can't say anything else right now, we are heading to Darwin.
Well today we reached Broome
and we checked into the Kimberly Klub, which is an insane hostel. The hostel has huge amounts of open air sections, pool, bar, beach vollyball courts, as well as some other amazing features like hammucks, palm trees, and 80% humidity. Our good Canadian doctor Sarah (Who we met earlier at Chateu G&J) said that walking outside in the heat and humidity was like "Opening the oven door to see if the cookies were done". I would like to completely dissagree with this saying prefering to say that walking outside in this heat and humidity is more like walking into a sauna while standing on a flaming grill, but she was close. Anyway we checked in around 4 had a shower (which was wonderful after 3 days in the hot humid weather, thank god for A/C as it dries out the air, but you should see the water coming out of the A/C unit when we stop) and then did laundry. Of course drying these clothes out after will be a task not even Hurcules can acomplish. Anyway, enough about the smoking hot humid weather, let me tell you about this hostel. I am paying 20 bucks a night and it has the feel of a five star resort, I hope to get some pictures up soon of this place as it is the only way to describe it. Should get more about Broome up soon, will chat later.Oh ya, I haven't told you about the very weird thing that happened this week. Well when we were down South in Bunbury 1 hour north of Margret we picked up groceries. We were discussing what to cook this week up the west coast. Now before I get to far ahead lets reel the bus back to review the last 4 months of meals. They have consisted of, pasta, beans, pasta, ground beef, sausages, Penut butter and jelly, rice, more PB&J, sausages in beans/pasta/hotdogs. So as you can imagine when I was standing in the grocerie store debating with Ella if she should go vegitarian or not when I hear Christian say "sausages are cheap" and I suddenly had the urge to go vegitarian as well. And that is how for the last 2 weeks I have been a Vegitarian. I swear I just heard some people's heart stop back home, and a couple of jaws bounce off the earths surface. Now before start people sending me e-mails saying "WHAT?", I am not a vegitarian, yet. This so far has only been a foraging excusion into the other side of the nutrition spectrum. Now as I mentioned before I did this for 2 reasons, or didn't mention, anyway 2 resons. First was I couldn't look at either ground beef or anouther sausage for some time yet. The second reason is a bit more complicated. I seem to be finding a pattern with the women I am naturaly attracted to, they all seem to be vegitarians. This usually causes me to roll my eyes and scratch her off my possible dating list, but then something strange happened when I was in Margret River. Lena and Ella invited us to supper one night and Lena cooked up a vegitarian Cous Cous with fried egg plant and some spices. Lena can really cook, and it was one of the best meals I have had since I came to Australia, and the biggest surprise it didn't involve meat. It intruiged me, I have heard of dishes that didn't involve meat, but I never knew they could be filling, and I never imagined that they would could possibly taste good as well. My curiosity was peeked, and when we had Ella she cooked some of the recipies that Lena had shown her. I was continually amazed that vegitales can taste good as I learned more and more about vegitarian cuisine. It is hard to beleive I haven't had a real meat dish in over 2 weeks. So this is one of thoses strange series of events that lead up to this unexpected change. This event really started almost 2 months ago when Ella met Lena in a hostel in Freemantle and became fast friends. Then Lena taught Ella how to cook vegitarian, then we met Lena and Ella in Margret, then Ella taught us how to cook a vegitarian meal. It is amazing how the dommeno's fell. Anyway today we left Broome after spending 4 days there, leaving behind our good friend Ella to deal with this humid weather on her own. We just about had a traveling companion named Gil come with us, but that didn't come to fluition. Anyway just me and Chris again. On our first day out we stopped to make breakfastand I had eggs, but our bread was mouldy (bread doesn't last long in the heat up here). I made a comment that I won't be having bread with my eggs.
Chris replied "Well we have alternatives."
I was rolling through my head our list of food supplies and could not figure out what we could have with eggs. "like what?" I said
"Well we have granola bars."he says.
I suddered at the thought of eggs on granola bars and suddenly was wondering at what point in the night he had sunk to such a horrible low.
But before I get to far into everything else let's get back to the highlights of Broome. Unfortunately I can't say I really enjoyed Broome, then again I had a rough start. We arrived about three in the afternoon Broome, and Ella was immediately invited to Cable Beach for a drink by one of her old co-workers from when she worked in Broome last time she was here. (I would like to say at this time that Ella has more conections than the North American phone network) So we all go down to the beach and have a couple of drinks (I was driving so I stopped at 2), and after the sun went down we went back to this guys house. To make a long story short, when all the kiwi's went home it was just Ella, Chris me, and 3 Aussies. One of the Aussies wanted me to hit him in the head with a beer bottle which I flatly refused, and he punched me in the side of the head for it, talk about nice guys finishing last. Needless to say that kind of killed Broome for me. The sunsets were nice, the hostle was great, but that was kind of the end of it for me. I have been preaching a lot this trip about how the poeple make the place, and in Broome, that is exactly what happened, the people killed the place. I have to admit the heat was hard to, I drank 6 liters of water yeasterday and went to the bathroom once. It is about 38 degrees and 85% humidity. Let me put it this way, I sat in a chair, in the hostel, doing nothing other than drinking water, and I could feel the sweat roll dow my back, my arms, my legs, and my face. I was on a diet of water and salt just to replenish the sweat that was pouring off me. One very cool thing about Broome is the The Malcom Douglas Crocodile farm. This is the place that scared Dr. Sarah away from watering holes. I went thinking "this isn't nearly as bad as what she said they were." Well as it turns out, they are way scarier than I possibly imagined, and let me tell you why. I was standing beyond the fence looking at a pool of shallow murky water. I told the person standing beside me "this must be a small guy as you can barley see the water ripple. The tour guide then threw a hard plastic ball onto the pond and then like a creature from Dauntaes Inferno erupted a 5.6 meter saltwater crocodile
with the devil himself shining from his eyes and I found myself taking a step back. Even though I found this a completely natural reaction, I found myself standing alone, because everyone else took 2 or more steps back. The only problem was this may have been a slight mistake as everyone else has forgotten that there was anouther crocodile enclosure right behind them. And he didn't like having people close to his fence, which is when he exploded against the fence and sent everyone scattering. I imagine that the guide must take great enjoyment in watching this happen as he hardly skipped a beat when he explained that this was the largest croc on the farm. I have to admit this may have scared me from swiming in any dark water muddy holes for the rest of my mortal life, as if I did, it would definately end my life in this part of the world.OK, new rules when dealing with water,
number 1: never go swimming,
Number 2: Stay at least 7 meters away from the water at all times
Number 3: Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they can't see you
Number 4:If you are caught by one of these nightmares, say goodbye, because you are sooooooo dead.
I was just absolutely stunned with the speed these guys can move at, and how they can swim from one end of the water hole to the other without even sending a ripple accross the water. You would never even know it was there, until they have you right were they want you. Anouther thing that is scarry about these guys is that their tales are just as dangerous as their heads.
They quite often use their tales to bust animals legs. These things are built tough, solid, and very scary, all 5 plus meters of them. One last scary fact, these things are faster on land than we are over the first 10 meters.Anyway I can't say anything else right now, we are heading to Darwin.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Welcome to the local Swimming hole
March 15, 2010
Welcome to the local swimming hole
Well for the last 2 days we have been spending our days climbing and swimming in the gorges within Karijini National Park in WA, and I have to admit it is really cool, well not in a temerature sense. On our fist day we arrived, checked out the TI for the park and found a museum of the parks history. This park is actually really cool as it is managed and run comletely by the aboriginals who used to live on it for centuries before the wite man showed up.
Anyway we headed over to Hamersley Gorge and decended into it. We were walking down the gorge when we stumbled accross a little shallow pool, so we all so we stripped down to our trunks and swam it leaving all our camers back on the rocks. Well the water got to about 6 feet at one point before we hit this little tinny waterfall that you could sit under and have the water roll over
your shoulders. It was so beautiful I spun around and went for my cameras. If you have ever tried to bring to swim through the water carrying 2 cameras above your head knowing that if you drop them or slip you will be loosing 6 months of footage and 2 very nice cameras through 6 feet of water you will understande my difficult journey. If you haven't done so, let me just say it wasn't eassy and at one point I did slip and the cameras were just undr an ince above the water at one point, but when I got back I got some great pictures and it was so worth it. But the canyon wasn't done yet, after a difficult climb down the spider walk (very narrow clevice) in bare feet we struck gold and found Kermits Pool (because frogs live in cracks in the rock around this pool). This was a really cool little spot, the water was relatively deep, and you were shaded by these huge overhanging rock formations.. If you go past here you would find 2 other wonderful pools called Regans (named after a rescue worker who died saving a stranded tourist there) and Junction pool that are really easy to get in, a 6 foot jump into the pool off a waterfall, however you need either climbing gear or a jet pack to get back out of the before mentioned pools, so I didn't go for them, but I soooo wanted to. Anyway we relaxd near the pool where I took a lot of photos and vidoe, which Ella was kind enough to nearly slip and fall of tape. 
We spent about 1/2 an hour screwing around swimming and cooling off from the heat, before we returned to our gear (and I once again nearly got my cameras wet while swimming for it) and climbing out of the canyon. We decided to call it a day and set up camp near Dales Canyon for the night and then we would hit it the next day. The next morning we left camp earlier than usual, only to return to it moments later to grab my sheet which I had hung up it a tree. But we did eventually make it to the Canyon and we headed into this deep cut in the rock towards this little water hole called Fern Pool, which is a great fresh water swimming hole including a water fall, I think pictures will best describe this, as I can't relly explain it's beauty. Ella and I sat under the waterfall for a few minutes getting a free shower and massage from mother nature, which felt wonderful. We moved on to Fortescue fall which is a step water fall ending in anouther wonderful swimming hole. We then went trecking down the canyoon about an hour to Circular pool, which was the highlight of the morning. Circular pool was sourounded by theese towering red rocks, and had a very small gentle warm shower like water fall dropping into it. It was imensly relaxing, until I found out you can dive off or the lower ledge of the waterfall into the deep pool, which I did, several times. Peace, tranquility, and cannon balls, nature at it's best. I really am loving Western Australia right now, it has absolutely smashed all the other places we have been to so far. Anyway should be in Broome tommorow if all goes well, blog later.
Welcome to the local swimming hole
Well for the last 2 days we have been spending our days climbing and swimming in the gorges within Karijini National Park in WA, and I have to admit it is really cool, well not in a temerature sense. On our fist day we arrived, checked out the TI for the park and found a museum of the parks history. This park is actually really cool as it is managed and run comletely by the aboriginals who used to live on it for centuries before the wite man showed up.
Anyway we headed over to Hamersley Gorge and decended into it. We were walking down the gorge when we stumbled accross a little shallow pool, so we all so we stripped down to our trunks and swam it leaving all our camers back on the rocks. Well the water got to about 6 feet at one point before we hit this little tinny waterfall that you could sit under and have the water roll over your shoulders. It was so beautiful I spun around and went for my cameras. If you have ever tried to bring to swim through the water carrying 2 cameras above your head knowing that if you drop them or slip you will be loosing 6 months of footage and 2 very nice cameras through 6 feet of water you will understande my difficult journey. If you haven't done so, let me just say it wasn't eassy and at one point I did slip and the cameras were just undr an ince above the water at one point, but when I got back I got some great pictures and it was so worth it. But the canyon wasn't done yet, after a difficult climb down the spider walk (very narrow clevice) in bare feet we struck gold and found Kermits Pool (because frogs live in cracks in the rock around this pool). This was a really cool little spot, the water was relatively deep, and you were shaded by these huge overhanging rock formations.. If you go past here you would find 2 other wonderful pools called Regans (named after a rescue worker who died saving a stranded tourist there) and Junction pool that are really easy to get in, a 6 foot jump into the pool off a waterfall, however you need either climbing gear or a jet pack to get back out of the before mentioned pools, so I didn't go for them, but I soooo wanted to. Anyway we relaxd near the pool where I took a lot of photos and vidoe, which Ella was kind enough to nearly slip and fall of tape. We spent about 1/2 an hour screwing around swimming and cooling off from the heat, before we returned to our gear (and I once again nearly got my cameras wet while swimming for it) and climbing out of the canyon. We decided to call it a day and set up camp near Dales Canyon for the night and then we would hit it the next day. The next morning we left camp earlier than usual, only to return to it moments later to grab my sheet which I had hung up it a tree. But we did eventually make it to the Canyon and we headed into this deep cut in the rock towards this little water hole called Fern Pool, which is a great fresh water swimming hole including a water fall, I think pictures will best describe this, as I can't relly explain it's beauty. Ella and I sat under the waterfall for a few minutes getting a free shower and massage from mother nature, which felt wonderful. We moved on to Fortescue fall which is a step water fall ending in anouther wonderful swimming hole. We then went trecking down the canyoon about an hour to Circular pool, which was the highlight of the morning. Circular pool was sourounded by theese towering red rocks, and had a very small gentle warm shower like water fall dropping into it. It was imensly relaxing, until I found out you can dive off or the lower ledge of the waterfall into the deep pool, which I did, several times. Peace, tranquility, and cannon balls, nature at it's best. I really am loving Western Australia right now, it has absolutely smashed all the other places we have been to so far. Anyway should be in Broome tommorow if all goes well, blog later.
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