Most tourists take jeeps that are for hire at the entrance to the park. The jeeps take them to the top of Lang, over 1,900 meters high. Today I was going to the top of Biang which is 2,160 meters and a trail hike. My guide knew of a connecting trail I could take so I would not have to walk on the road for 2 k and he showed me on a large map approximately where it was. He wa staying behind since he is a touris guide and not a climbing guide. So off I went. After about 20 minutes walking up the road I saw a small trail to my right that made its way down on a slight descent to cross a meadow area. Then it was into a steady climb with some switchbacks and sometimed petered out which left me scoutin and guessing at the route, but I had a compass and knew the direction to go. I actually started hearing birdsong here for the first time in the country and it was very green, but hot and muggy. Clouds and the shade on the trail helped and after an hour I came to the road again and beside it was a kiosk and another trail which was the true trailhead on the climb.
The young man at the trailhead was tribal Han and he said the mountains were his peoples and they were conserving them and the entrance fees went to that purpose. Very cool! I paid and thanked him and started off- wide trail with some very slippery clay which caused me to slip on my ass once. The trail soon changed to a much narrower and wetter area and started descending. I hate losing elevation on a climb! After 1/2 hour it began to climb again. Much of my hiking was in pine forest- did not know that would be the case. All of the needles on the ground and the smells reminded me of home; but when the trail got wetter the pines disappeared and jungle plants and vines and some kind of hardwoods prevailed. After an hour of climbing with some views to my right I hit a signpost that said the summit was 650 meters ahead and the trail changed to a very steep embanked staircase.
The heat and elevation were taking a toll on me by this time so it was slow going up the stairs with rests and drinks frequent! Finally I made it to the open summit after 3 hours total from the bottom. It was beautiful with views all around and blue skies. Butterflies of several types were cavorting all over the summit- Amazing! Took a long sit and several drinks and pictures and time to head down!

After I reconnected with my guide, Mr. Chen, he took me to lunch where I was hoping to get some good veggies, but no such luck- not easy to find such a thing here for some reason. I settled for tuna and rice which included three very thin slices of tomato and three equally slim slices of cucumber buried under the rice as the "veggies". For some reason the restaurant made me sit in an upstairs area away from the main downstairs dining room and I could definitely feel the stares as I went up the stairs! Sometimes you feel like a cat at a dog convention here!!!! But it was a meal.

After lunch, Mr. Chen took me on a sightseeing tour I had not really asked for, but what the hey...First stop wa The Crazy House which is kind of the Vietnamese answer to The Winchester House in the US (Google it!). The house is, indeed, very unusual in that there are no straight lines and it looks more like sculpture than a living space. Winding staircases indoors and out take you to towers and lookouts and the w all around the house is topped with jagged glass. I guess it is a functioning hotel, but I never saw the guestroom area. After photos it was time to move on. Next stop- Buddhist medatation center!
The Meditation Center had beautifully manicured grounds (which is the norm around Da Lat) and flowers and bonsai. Also a temple with a nice Buddha inside and another smaller temple with a wild looking green Buddha in it. Many people were dressed up and on bus tours with the family so I felt pretty underdressed in my grubby, dirty and sweaty cl imbing clothes so I really wanted to skip the next stop on the tour. which was a waterfall. Mr Chen assured me we would "drive right up to it", so I thought, "O.K., that will be easy and quick, so why pass on a waterfall?". Off we go into a modrate- light rain/drizzle...this was only a harbinger of the storm to come!
When we arrived at the waterfall area it was like an amusement park- pay your admission and go through the gate, only when I got through- no waterfall! There was, however, the strangest amusement ride I have ever seen! It was a rollercoaster that consisted of small, two person cars that had individual brake for the riders to stop and slow it. Mr Chen said that was the way to get to the waterfall, so another 45,000 VND ticket and into the line. Being huge compared to most of the Vietnamese I received my own car and I was behind two high school age girls. The cars are on very sturdy and very well kept rails and there is really no way anything could go wong, but the girls ahead would scream and jam on their brakes everytime the thing really got going so I had to jam on my brakes as well to keep from plowing into them- like being on the motorbike all over again! At bottom there is no graceful way to exit the little cars so I kind of rolled and stumbled out. The waterfall was not very high but it as roaring and 15-20 meters across. Now it was starting to really rain though and I was beat and just wanted to go home. Looking around I saw another set of rollercars that were being towed up a cable to bring you back to the start. I smiled as I handed the attendent my ticket at the head of the line, but he expressed a view that I needed to purchase another ticket to get out. Now I am sure there is a way to walk out of there for no charge, but I had done enough climbing for one day, so I bought the ticket and got into my little car just when the skies completely opened and let a deluge, gulley washer, flash flood of a storm loose. So I sat in the open car being pulled straight into the teeth of it. By the time I got back to the top I had no dry spot left on my body and my socks and hiking boots were soaked through. I stood under a table umbrella and knew there was no sense in going on th bike no- we would drown!
The storm went on for about 45 minutes and then showed signs of let up. I found Mr Chen had kept dry in a restaurant nearby the bike's parking spot and off we went to my hotel. End of long and tiring day (and this long blog post!

written by  Mike_Veine on June 11, 2013 from Da Lat, Vietnam
from the travel blog: Top Gear Adventure 2- Vietnam Boogaloo!
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Well, the adventure has truly begun as I pulled out of Ho Chi Minh City at 9 AM yesterday. My Guesthouse hostess 'Bic' gave me big hug goodbye and her mother helped me tighten the load down with my new bungies. Bic tod me to call her if I had any trouble and little did I know how soon that would be! I am heading to the town of Da Lat situated about 350 kilometers North and a little East from HCMC. This will be a two day trip to the destination.

Traffic was moderate on the streets around the Backpacker area so it was easy going. My habit is to find someone who is driving well and follow what they do- which has been working very well so far. Onto the highway and th divided motorbike are and out into a much more industrial area on the other side of the river. After an hour on the I hit an area where the car and truck traffic was completely stalled across all the lanes and motor bikes were forced into a construction area where we slowly made our way towards a narrow break in a chain link fence with only enough room for 1 1/2 bikes so naturally they were trying to cram two in! When my turn came I had to downshift all the way into 1st gear to negotiate the tight and rough terrain. As soon as I exited I upshifted and the bike went into neutral. Keep in mind that I had been trying to find Neutral unsuccessfully for and then it found me!

Back down to 1st and try to go up to 2nd and still in neutral. I rode over to an onramp area where there was some space kept trying, but no go. The bike hd broken in ONE HOUR! I looked around for a mechanic and as luck would have it there was a HONDA sign beside a stall across the onramp from me. I rode the bike in 1st gear over through traffic and honking horns (did I say they like their horns?) to the shop and hit the language barrier. I quickly got my problem across, but had trouble with some of the things he was telling me so phone call to Bic to the rescue! Bic talked to him and then he handed th phone to me. Bic told me that it would take one whole day and cost 1,200,000 VND, about $56 US. She offered to bring me back to the guesthoue, but I did not want to put her out and told her I would find something nearby. I ended up just hanging out at the shop in some chairs for customers and decided to get an ice tea from the tea stand beside me. I asked th mechanic if he wanted one (did I mention it is very hot here?) and he nodded 'yes'. I gave it to him and settled down to study the traffic for anything that could help keep me alive and after about fifteen minutes the mechanic came over and told me the bike would be ready in two hours! I like to think my small gesture of kindness was reiprocated and indeed, by noon the bike was ready to go!

Back on it- I find it is hard to ride for much over an hour and a half at a time because of the hard seat, the vibration on most of the rough roads and the simple stress of the constant focus you need to watch for all the traffic variables. At any one time you're tracking known threats (Buses and Trucks and cars, bad road surface), possible threats (other bikes, pedestrians and tractors, construction equipment and workers) and stuff that comes from nowhere (like water buffalos and small dogs). Also it is dusty so it is great to take a 20 minute break or so with a cool drink. You get your road focus back and you can check the map and GPS to be sure you're headed the right way.

After a couple more hours I made a turn off of Highway 1 onto a two lane rod and finally broke into the countryside- it is very green with hills, neatly cultivted fields, and trees planted in long rows (possibly rubber trees, don't know yet). It was so great to be out of the city!!!! And the traffic was lighter for a while and I got to enjoy the fun of riding for the first time. You get the smells and sights like I did on the bicycle ride in Australia even if you miss some of the sounds because of the engine noise. Fun, fun...then through another area with market stalls, people, buses and cars and back comes the stress.

I hadn't eaten since a light breakfast and it as 4pm, so I stopped at a Pho sho and had the delicious Vietnamese soup! It has a beef or chicken base and tofu and a meat and very good rice noodles. With the soup you also get assorted greens like basil, or leafs of cabbage along with hot peppers you can add to the soup. There is also sweet sauce and plum sauce (I think). You eat it with chopsticks and a spoon. Very refreshing and tasty, especially the fresh greens.

After dinner I deicided I wanted to end the day soon- I have a rule that I will not drive after dark so I started looking for a guesthouse. I asked the woman wh made the soup and she just pointed down the road and so down he road I went. After a bit I saw a sign with the english word 'HOTEL' and pulled in to find two very aggresive and yappy little dogs- the burgler alarms, no doubt, and the owner, a middle aged woman. I smiled and asked for a room and she seemed confused so I got my language book out and we figured it out. I paid her and started to unload the bike. The room had no A/C and very little in the way of running water and it was not very clean. I wouldn't use the sheets or pillows that night! Sleep came hard even though I went to bed early, but finally out. I had been heading to Da Lat in the mountains 350 kilometers from HCMC and I had made it a little less thn 1/2 way...Day 2 I will make it.

written by  Mike_Veine on June 9, 2013 from Da Lat, Vietnam
from the travel blog: Top Gear Adventure 2- Vietnam Boogaloo!
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The little bike stated right up and I got the headlight on with no hassles- great when things work! No time like the present so off on the road again...
The naigation today would be much easier because most of the trip was on one road- Hwy 20. Hwy 20 passes through a couple of medium size and one large town before reaching Da Lat and I had 190 Kilometers of it to cover.

I continued my practice of following sane drivers when I could and I felt much more comfortable and even more vigilant than yesterday. Experience is the best teacher and I expect to improve each day. After riding for about 45 minutes I decided to stop for coffee and gas at a very neat and tidy gas station/restaurant with several grinning kids playing with a couple of dogs. Somehow I ended up ordering coffee and a pot of tea, which was fine- you just can't get enough fluids here! A full tank of gas cost me 130,000 VND which may be a little steep, but it was a nice station with good gas and locals were using it. Back to the road! Construction is going on constantly all around but at a low level- 3 guys working on a house or one backhoe on a road project. No mass, 100 man project like you see in the States and Austrlia. Almost looks improvised although I am sure there is patronage and central control in the mix. I haven't seen many military or police around so the impact of the government is hidden from me in that sense.

Now the terrain was changing and I made my way up a steeper winding road with some great views that I had to mostly ignore while I watched the buses and cars come at me on my side of the road when they passed slower vehicles. But it was pretty and cooler and the rain had stopped.

There are old red and white painted stone signs with the distance to the next major town and I finally saw Da Lat 88 K on one. There in a couple of hours and after a lunch of more Pho I passed through another large town, Di Linh, where I saw the first obvious backpackers on motorbikes. They had big packs with raincovers on the back and were riding Minsks, a Russian two-stroke bike that Richard Hammond rode in Top Gear's VN Adventure.They were riding a little more aggressively through town then I was comfortable with so I never caught up to see where they were from, but they are the first I've encountered.

Mostly, the motorbike traffic is slow and local and they keep to the right. The speed limit in town is 40 k and outside 60 or whatever. I ride in 3rd gear in town and outside of town if the traffic is heavy. The engine brakes the bike pretty quickly to help in tricky situations. Outside of town in the open areas I can get a little Top Gear action in 4th and let the bike unwind. I keep to between 50-60 when everything is PERFECT only or I ride at a lttle over 40 so 200 kilometers takes awhile. And I am climbing to 5,000 feet which makes me shift to 3rd so the little bike can carry me and the gear up the steep sections.

On one stop I had a very pleasant visit with a family while I drank a coke. Grandad and two grandaughters wanted to chat and play respectively. Grandad took my language book and we used it to practice his English and my Vietnamese- a fair trade. One of the GD's was only three and cute as could be and she sa next to me and poked me every once in awhile and I would poke at her back and we would laugh and laugh. I gave her a guitar pic and the whole family ha fun pretending we were Rock Stars! A bellyfull of laughs from that one!!! You make a small investment of yourself and you get a huge return of joy and connection- awesome.

I was well and truly in the mountains now and the sun came out revealing the green all around me. Even though the trees are different it reminds me of home and Melbourne with the green hills. Beautiful.

I finally came to the main road into Da Lat- only about 25 k to go. The road divided into a Tollway for cars only and a narrow, old road for motorbikes and anyone too cheap to pay the toll (which is ALL the buses, taxis and some cars!). But the big vehicle are on their best behavior for once and drive sanely. I guess they figure the hassle of an accident here would delay them more than sharing the road!

Coming into Da Lat there are very stately old archetecture hotels with pefect lls and gates and all about are manicured lawns and flowers. Flags are clean and everything looks very tidy. I hit a traffic circle and randomly picked "Left" and slowly picked my way down the street looking for the lower rent district. I saw a sign pointing down a much smaller street and turned in to find a brand new hotel called the 'Hotel Kim'. The owner, named 'Mai' was very proud to show me around the rooms and made sure I had good wifi access (so I can report to you all) and the room was clean with A/C, HOTWATER and a western style toliet WITH toilet paper! JACKPOT!!!!We negoiated a price and helped me arrange a Guide to take me to a mountain to climb tomorrow. The Guide, Mr. Chen, says it is a 3 hour trip up and back a well defined trail so I will get a Vietnamese summit in! More Motorbike adventures in 3 days when I head for Nha Trang on the coast- about 130 K. Til then, My friends and family!

written by  Mike_Veine on June 9, 2013 from Da Lat, Vietnam
from the travel blog: Top Gear Adventure 2- Vietnam Boogaloo!
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I am on Day 4 of my visit in Ho Chi Minh City and I have had a wonderful
time here so far. I like my little guesthouse where I have a huge double room for about $17 a night (expensive here) and the people who run it and their relatives have been very helpful.

The first couple of days I walked all over District 1 where I'm staying. It is like a big downtown area and the backpacker hotels are all pretty much near me with the skyscrapers about 2 kilometers away and all of the fancy hotels there. I visited a Palace and several museums including the War Rememberance Museum which was very affecting. I also went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum where they were preparing for a special anniversary on June 6th and I was interviewed by Viet Nam State Television. I never saw it on TV so not sure how that came out....

Day three I test rode motorbikes owned by backpackers who rode them from Hanoi. I tested a Suzuki GN125 and a Chinese Honda copy called the Win which comes in a 100cc or 110 cc flavor. The Suzuki is a bigger bike and good for someone my size. It also has more power and pickup for passing and hauling. The downside of this one was that it was beat. Turn lights broken and not working, electric start not working, speedometer not working and would not go into neutral! Plus it just looked bad and poorly maintained. The owner was a nice enough Aussie bloke, but he did nothing to improve the bike. Just rode the hell out of it! The answer when you point out problems like this is either- no one uses that, or, there all broken over here (speedometers), or, they can fix that cheap! (if that's the case,why didn't you fix it?). I liked the size of the bike and the seating, but that was it and the guy wanted $450 for it although I could have bought it for 400 or maybe even 350.

I thanked the Aussie and passed on the bike and waited for my next bike to turn up, the Win.

The Win over here is easily the most common motorcycle of the clutch/non scooter variety. To be noticed on one of these it would have to be on fire at a gas station! So perfect for basic transportation with a broad support network of parts and mechanics. Suzuki would probably be much harder to get parts for even if it was a much better engine than the Chinese Honda copy.

The Win I tested was a 100 cc variety and the seat was coming off on one side! Typically the speedo was busted (no on uses it!) and lights were broken and the engine did not seem really as strong as it should be even at a lower horsepower rating. It was really filthy too.

I am test riding on the road I will take out of town so I can familiarize myself with the area and so I can run each bike at highway speed and check the performance. I let the owner drive me out a bit and then switch off and drive myself back into town. It's fun mixing with the traffic, but you have to always stay alert. They have set aside a seperated area on the right side for motorbikes to keep them from mixing with cars close to the city on the major highways, but outside of town you need to be ready to yield to cars and buses. Not too much different from the road train situation on the Cairns to Darwin Bike ride. They honk (alot) to let you know! That is another important part on the bike- the horn!

The Win I tested was in such bad shape that I had the guy drop me off down the street from my guesthouse and walked, but it was good experience for me for checking out the bike I had my eye on- A very clean Win 100 for sale by the guesthouse across the streets owners. My guesthouse owner, a girl named 'Bic', told them I was looking for a bike and they showed it to me, but it was getting late in the day and rush hour traffic was starting which I wanted to avoid and i was raining so I asked if I could test it first thing the next day. "No problem " was the response so as soon as I was done with breakfast I walked over and got th keys and a borrowed helmet and off I went. What do you know? The speedometer worked! and so did the lights. and turn signals (though the left rear needs some duct tape lol). The engine seemed strong as well- good sound and pickup. These bikes are pretty light so unfortunately you have to deal with a lot of vibration, but this bike smoothed out a bit on the open road. I drove it around 15 minutes in town and out on the highway for 20 minutes and I was sold.

I bought it for 6,090,000 Dong which is about $290. The owner had a nice helmet for me with a clear face shield that fit like a glove for only 70,000 D ( about $6) and she had me follow her 4 blocks to a man that put a larger luggage rack for my big duffle bag for $5. Back at the guest house they arranged tie down straps and got me gas all for under 100,000 D. Later the woman brought me back 20,000 D because her husband told her she had charged me too much for the petrol! I loved that!!

After cooling off I walked to an area that had book shops and bought a nicely bound road atlas very much like the one my buddy Carl uses in Australia with cross referenced map locations on each page and extremely detailed road info. Of course, it is in a foriegn language, but that should spur me to learn a little more and will help when I question locals.

Tonight is devoted to packing and studying the maps for an early departure tomorrow! Wish me luck, Gear Heads! Some pics will be posted for your pleasure soon! Cheers!!!!

written by  Mike_Veine on June 7, 2013 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
from the travel blog: Top Gear Adventure 2- Vietnam Boogaloo!
tagged TopGear2, HoChiMihnCity and WinMotorbike
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It was running very rough all the way back on the freeway and I felt lucky to get home; when I went out in the morning to start it the car cranked over a couple of times and then was dead.

I believe the starter finally failed, but the repair book says that the symptoms of the failure indicated a seized engine- RIP. 1996-2012.

Rather than calling a Mobile mechanic and throwing money at the car (which had a known crack in the head gasket) I decided to call around and let a wrecker pay me for it as scrap. I wished for a better end for the Blue ?, but that is the way it went down.
I received $150 for the car and she was hauled away (pics on this site).

A noble car gets you HOME before it dies and my car did. Thank you Blue ?, you were part of my adventure of a lifetime and I will always think fondly of you!

The End of the $900 Car- Hook Up

The End of the $900 Car- RIP

The car had run really badly coming into Adelaide the night before so I was praying that it would hold together to get me home.

I checked the fluids first and added power steering fluid, oil and ATF today first thing. The ATF is the hardest to know how much, but I did not have much left in the container Pete had given me so I just put it all in.

Off we go....full tank of gas and iced coffee ready to drink and hit the road.

I used my iphone gps to find my way around Adelaide so I could avoid the CBD by going East then South to the highway that runs straight to Melbourne. This worked really well and gave me confidence that I could do the same thing to find the house in Bayswater when I got to Melbourne.

The country outside of Adelaide is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen anywhere. Rolling green hills covered with fields of two different green grasses and seperated by fields of brillant yellow flowers dominated the scenery with unsusual multibranched trees that are hard to describe, but quite symetrical and beautiful and green.

Mixed in for good measure were pastures with huge herds of grazing sheep and little lambs all shorn of their curly fur...close cropped haircuts were the style.

It was so picturesque and bucolic, like an advert for the most pastoral setting ever.

Even though this is a main highway with a 110 k speed limit it is, like most highways on this continent apparently, only two lanes. And it runs through many small towns where you have to decelerate to 80- then 60- and then 40 kph sometimes for school zones.

So... not a high speed run home.

Close to the big cities the road is a divided highway with two lanes heading each direction, but that is the exception.

The car was running fine by the gauges- temp well within tolerance, but it still shook and struggled with the climbing loads and the tach setting from 2,000 to 2,500. I found that I could coast below 2,000 and then accelerate to a speed and hold it by backing way off the throttle and avoid the shaking sometimes, but that took a lot of concentration and effort. Pain in the Butt.

I only hoped we would make it home and gradually the kilometers diminished, At 1:30 PM I was only 328 k away and I stopped for lunch in a cute little town that started with a 'K'- I think it was called Kaloona or something like that. After gassing up the road took me through the center of town and near a park. I stopped and went to a little diner I saw and ordered nachos for lunch of all things off of their "Lighter fare" menu. It was a small bowl with cheese, chips, sour cream and guacamole with red enchilada sauce (I think). No meat, beans, onion or anything else so I guess that was what made it "Lighter fare".

After lunch it was back to abusing the poor Magna for another 300 k til we were at the outskirts of Melbourne with the sun going down and rush hour still in effect.

The Iphone gps had given me a course to run and I tried to memorize it because I never knew when I might hit a wrong button and wipe it out (this had happened several times before...) and because my battery was getting low... I never bought a cigarette lighter charger- in fact I still don't know if the cigarette lighter even works, I forget it everytime I think about checking it next time I get in the car!

All of a sudden I was diving into a tunnel with five or six lanes of traffic around me. I knew I was on the right road and the signs named suburbs I knew, but I had no idea I'd be underground- of course the Iphone wouldn't update underground either.

After what seemed a long time I emerged and could get a postion. I was coming near to the street I wanted to get off on that would take me East towards my suburb. There was still a huge line of cars from the tail end of rush hour (it was 6:30 pm) backed up at the stoplight for my left turn and the car had been running really, really rough the last 20 k or so. I put it in Neutral to idle and then I would forget that and try to drive off when I could go- stupid, but I am really tired by now too.

This street had an 80 kph speed limit and I made good time. I put the address of the house in the search of the gps and also hit the directions button and the good old Iphone gave a six page list of directions. I scanned through pages 1- 4 quickly in case the battery died as it was giving a 'low battery' warning. I memorized all the moves up to the last two leading to my street thinking, "when I get close I will recognize landmarks!".

Sure enough, with about 3 k to go before my first major turn I hit something on the phone and lost my directions! Sh*t!

I followed what I had memorized and everything was going great- then I found myself on a dark road which I thought I recognized but could not be sure. After going a couple of Kilometers I lost my confidence and pulled into a residential area to try and reboot the gps. But the battery was kaput. In desperation and exhaustion I called Carl hoping he could locate me on a street directory he has and come and lead me home. I was exhausted beyond belief and needed a friend's help to make it home.

He was home and got the guide and said, "Wow, you are really close- I'll be there in a couple of minutes!".

About 5 minutes later Carl pulled up and I gave him a big hug and thanks for coming to save me. The Magna Exec Wagon started again (thank God) and I followed Carl for about four blocks and then I recognized our IGA and realized I was only about 2.5 K's from home when I had stopped.

Carl let me have the driveway to park in and I stumbled out of the car shellshocked with relief- the Journey was over and I had won the Top Gear Challenge...

I pulled a few things from the car and collapsed in a chair in MY living room and Carl shoved a beer in my hand and heated up some Bachelor's Nightmare goulash for me.

Tonight I would sleep in my own bed and for the first time in almost two months I would be still the next day.

Finis

written by  Mike_Veine on September 11, 2012 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Mike's Top Gear Challenge
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Adventures of the $900 car.

Today I checked the fluid levels and added oil and ATF fluid. The car has been driven hard the last two days and today will be the hardest day- 8 hours of driving.

I went to an opal mine museum and looked at the machines and heard the Story of how the mines were created. Did not know about opal mines before. Opals are in veins like gold and need to be carefully chipped out when they are discovered. The mines were mostly dug by hand by individual owners and started in the early 1900's with thousands and thousands of dollars being dug out of the ground. 
I never knew there could be so many colors of opals- the most expensive are black with red colors in it. Cheapest are the whites and blues.

After the mine I gassed up and hit the road- long day of driving and not enough rest areas. When I got close to Adelaide the speed limit dropped to 90 and the car hated that. Ran so rough and backfired ....clunk clunk clunk.....I decided I had to stop for the night and booked a room in a caravan park just North of Adelaide. The car did start again when I moved it to park, but it sounds like crap. I will check it out tomorrow and hopefully make it the last 722 k to home. Wish me luck that my $900 car gets to the front door in Bayswater!

written by  Mike_Veine on September 9, 2012 from Adelaide, Australia
from the travel blog: Mike's Top Gear Challenge
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Sorry to post so late- I was tired and did not feel like typing the last two days. On day 8 I went to Uluru, The Rock, which dominates the horizon from many kilometers away.

When I got up I checked all of the fluid levels and the oil was about 1/2 way to the add line so pretty good oil burn for over 2400 kilometers. Today I will officially drive more kilometers than I rode on the bike and in only 5 days of driving.

The Rock is sacred to the local tribes of aboriginals and they do not want people climbing it because of this and the fact that the water at the base has a very low replenishment rate so any urine or other waste that comes from above goes into the water below and contaminates it. So sacred reasons and practical reasons not to climb. So I won't.

I went on a ranger guided trip they call the Mala Walk and the local man in charge of that area came as well. He spoke some English and some of a native dialect. He said he spoke 11 different dialects because many of the indigenous tribes have different dialects. He walked us to different sections of the rock and explained the significance of each to us. Some ares related to creation stories and some areas are related to child to adult rituals and teaching. Men and women have segregated areas that are taboo for the other sex to enter or even look at! It was great to get the info from him and see the passion he had for the land and the teaching.

After the walk I drove around The Rock and left for the Kings Canyon. This meant driving 200 k back  towards the Stuart Highway and then 179 k northwest to the canyon. I got in there so late I decided to set up camp and go to the canyon in the morning. There was an overlook in the camp where you could view the rockwalls of the canyon from a distance and watch the colors change as the sun went down. The lodge sent a girl down with beer and wine you could purchase so I had a glass of shiraz while I watched. After I went to the BBQ Diner and had a nice rib eye with salad. Very good.

It is getting much colder a night and I was all the way in the sleeping bag deep with the hood up as well. Up early the next day to hike!

Day 9

After breaking down camp and checking the fluids I hit the road and drove 10k to the canyon. There was a 7.5 k rim walk you could do with a steep climb at the start so I did that to burn off last night's steak. My camera's batteries were dead so I got as many pics as I could before she quit. I will post all the photos when I get home- no computer to load them on on the road unfortunately.

The walk was beautiful and it as cool, sunny and windy weaherwise. About 1/2 way through there I came to a viewpoint with breathtaking views of the surrounding area and then a gradual descent into an area they call "The Garden of Eden", where it is wet and green and there are lots of birds and frogs. I saw one of the little frogs on a tree limb- it looked just like the tree!

I walked out and left the canyon driving to the Stuart Highway again. Gas was sooooo expensive out here- I paid $2.33 a liter and $1.98 a liter twice on 3/4 fill ups- ouch!

Instead of going 200+ k out of my way to go back to Alice Springs to pick up my wheel I called the bike shop and arranged for them to mail it to me- much cheaper than the gas back and forth and my time was too valuable as well. So off South again to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy 300k away. The land is much more dry and vegetation more sparse out here- oh and I forgot to mention the wild camels! 

I was following a car with a trailer when he hit his brakes and three wild camels broke out of the bush and on to the road! They were running flat out and disappeared in seconds. Cool.

OK- got to Coober Pedy and stayed in a motel room tonight because I wanted to clean up and stay warm tonight. The car ran a bit rough at the end of a long day of driving. It has gone over 3300 k now without much of a complaint but....we shall see. 

Tomorrow I will explore CP and head to Adelaide. Maybe just two more days to go on the road.

written by  Mike_Veine on September 7, 2012 from Coober Pedy, Australia
from the travel blog: Mike's Top Gear Challenge
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Morning and another day begins on my challenge to get home in a  $900 car. So far I have covered over 1400 kilometers and made it from Darwin to Alice Springs. Today I will try for Uluru also known as Ayers Rock which is about 440 k away.

After packing up I carefully checked all the fluid levels on the car- all good. I started her up to warm up and she started on the first hit of the key. I have a starter issue where sometimes the bendix doesn't catch the first time and I need to start it a couple of times to get it to catch. Not a big deal.
As the car warmed up I put the last things away and on my walk around I noticed that the rear license plate was falling off! The metal was so worn around the rusty screws it was breaking and the left side was dangling. I loosened the screw and reset the plate, then knuckled the screw back down as tight as I could. We'll see if it holds. 

Then the car died.

It had never done this before- Pete had set the idle and the car had always run smoothly.
I restarted and she died again!
I restarted and gave her gas to keep the idle up. I was ready to go so I backed out of my space and she died again....oh no.

I started up again and revved the idle, hit into gear from neutral and slammed forward keeping the RPMs high and rolled onto the highway. And then there was no problem. I drove to the store for ice and snacks and left town heading for The Rock.

It was quiet on the highway and soon I was rolling along at 130 kph . It is cooler here the farther south you go unlike the US because I am getting closer to the South Pole! Yesterday I passed out of the Tropic of Capricorn so the temperature should start going down more and more. 

I passed two more fires on the way and I got to The Resort by the Rock about 1:30. I had a nice lunch with wine and calamari and I heard that they had Sunset Camel Rides every night. This sounded interesting as I have never been on a camel before. After lunch I booked the camel ride and got a campsite in their campground. Nice and grassy and shady. I had time for a shower and some reading before the camel tour bus would pick me up. 

The sunshine here is addictive, so warm and bright blue skies everyday! I walked over to the bus pickup and I met a family of four from Tasmania who were also on the ride. The bus arrived and our Cameleer drove us to the Camel Farm (as they call it) and we joined a group of other camel adventurers. We received safety briefings- basically don't fall off- and some instruction before boarding our beast. It was two to a camel so I was paired up with a flight attendant from Colorado who had extensive camel riding experience in Morocco and Africa. Maybe I would make it through this if I listen to her?

When you get on the camel you have to lean way back in the saddle so when he "launches" you won't be thrown off forward. It was fun watching my fellow travelers rise up on their camels. Some startled looks on faces since the camel shoots up pretty quickly! Then when we were all up we were off and walking, each camel hooked to the other by a rope and a line through their noses. 

A photographer took pictures and so did all of us. Did you know that a camel only has fat in their hump and not water? Or that a camel can drink salt water? Or that a pregnant camel can delay birth up to 17 months if drought conditions are bad? Wow! Pretty amazing animals.

The Cameleer uses voice commands in Arabic to tell the lead camel what to do. He said the camels respond well to the sounds and are as smart as an 8 year old child. Pretty cool.

We rode for over an hour and watched the sunset then headed back to the ranch for a beer and wine and snack reception. I bought a photo from the photographer as a keepsake andthen back to camp and bed.

Tomorrow I will go into the park and to the Rock for a close inspection and then I am off to an area called Kings Canyon which is supposed to be very beautiful as well as a good place to hike.

More tomorrow! Bye Gear Heads.      

written by  Mike_Veine on September 6, 2012 from Alice Springs, Australia
from the travel blog: Mike's Top Gear Challenge
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