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Australia (1990)

a travel blog by shoshtrvls



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Day 13

Darwin, Australia

The next day we built a road, literally. First, Ron (Bull) cooked us a wonderful breakfast of french toast, bacon and sausage. We then picked up our aboriginal guide, John, and two others, 16 year old Kerstin and 6 year old "Mr." Ed.

Our first stop was a small hill which Brad (Fletcher) attempted to locate on his grid map. (Apparently there was some dispute as to exactly which hill it was). Then it was off to "Lil" waterfall, which Brad had first found only two days earlier. I was apparently only the second white woman (along with Joyce and Angela) to see this place. (Yeah, um, right). To get there, we really did build a road, knocking down trees and moving rocks (actually, Ron, Brad & John did all that). Paul, being a road engineer, supervised.

The entire process took several hours but the destination was worth it. Our first view was from on top -- a string of several water holes. In one, we could see a crocodile swimming about. Brad then took us to see some aboriginal paintings he had discovered and we descended down to the lowest pool -- the crocodile infested on. Part of it was under an overhand which contained more paintings. We also took a short hike downstream in a failed attempt to find more paintings.

Kerstin told us that the "old woman" back in their village said her father was buried here. The aboriginals bury people by placing their bones between the rocks.

From there we went to a second swimming hole, not nearly as good as the first, before returning home (after dark) to a wonderful steak dinner.

Paul

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 14, 1990 from Darwin, Australia
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Day 14

Darwin, Australia

The next day we sought out the Katherine River. This time we had John, Kerstin, Melinda, her aunt (same age), Kevin and Ann Marie with us. We lost the road several times and it seemed as though we drove in circles for quite a bit, but we eventually found our way there -- a peaceful little river but nothing special, and quite silty to swim in.

We returned back to camp for a major stew feast attended by at least twenty-five of the local aboriginals -- kids everywhere, and seeing them get out of the truck was like a circus act. They seemed to enjoy themselves (good food is apparently hard to come by for them) but left early as we had a long day to come.

(Notes: homestead; flat tire)

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 15, 1990 from Darwin, Australia
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Day 15

Katherine, Australia

After an overnight rainstorm and an early wake-up call, we were on the road by 6:30 a.m. on our way to Katherine Gorge. All of a sudden we were confronted with tourism full force on the two hour cruise up the gorge -- pretty but no grand canyon.

Lunch in Katherine and then a long drive back to Darwin with a minor breakdown o nthe way (the truck wasn't meant to drive on sealed roads, I guess).

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 16, 1990 from Katherine, Australia
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Day 15 (Continued)

Darwin, Australia

Checked into the Atrium Hotel, a fortune but worth it as the room has a real bathtub. After using it, Paul, Angela and I had dinner at the hotel, I did my laundry and went to sleep.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 16, 1990 from Darwin, Australia
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Day 16

Darwin, Australia

For some reason, I was up literally at the crack of dawn, probably due to my previous five days of camping. Called Tom. Went to the Smith Street mall running my errands -- drop off film, going to the bank, etc. Then I went on this "Mangroves and Mudcrabs" tour, only I was the only one! Still, it was lots of fun -- the owners were really nice, and the barramundi and crabs were great.

Upon my return, I picked up my pictures, ran into Ron, made copies for Terra (??), did some window shopping. Dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant at Pratap, where the "kiwi" waiter was quite friendly.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 17, 1990 from Darwin, Australia
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Day 17

Darwin, Australia

Checked out of my wonderful, luxurious hotel after a really good night's sleep and walked down to Doctor's Gulley to watch the fish feeding, then walked back into town for several hours' window shopping. Met a really nice Australian couple with an adorable nine month old. Got back to the hotel and ran into Paul and Angela. We viewed each others' photos and exchanged addresses before heading to the airport and flying to Cairns.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 18, 1990 from Darwin, Australia
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Day 17 (Continued)

Cairns, Australia

Checked into the hostel and had dinner with a strange Swedish fellow who told me about all the girls he had been "involved with" on his travels.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 18, 1990 from Cairns, Australia
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Day 18

Cairns, Australia

Well, it's pouring rain, and I had to walk through substantial amounts of it, backpack and all, to get to the boat which will take me to a rain soaked island and the great barrier reef. Well, we shall see.

The island was rain drenched. I took a boat to Moore's Reef for some snorkeling. While the ride over was quite choppy, the skies cleared (well, the rain stopped at least) and we had several hours of trouble-free snorkeling. While the conditions were not the best (not a lot of sunlight and a cyclone had stirred up the water a few weeks earlier), the variety of fish was spectacular, all brightly colored, swimming peacefully or darting in and out of the coral.

A short glass-bottom boat trip revealed a few sharks and a variety of information.

It started to pour again just as we left the reef. The afternoon was spent hiding from the rain while dinner was a mediocre and expensive buffet.

After dinner things improved somewhat. I met a Canadian woman (Vicky) and we went, along with Edward, an American I had met earlier, to the bar and drank some beer and talked with Dave, one of the resort workers, and a very drunk couple whose honeymoon was being ruined by the rain. The resort was nice enough, small, quite a few families. After drinks it was bed.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 19, 1990 from Cairns, Australia
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Day 19

Cairns, Australia

I was up early due to the constant beeping of someone's alarm clock or watch. However, my early arrival was welcomed by a very tame kangaroo who was looking about for breakfast. He was the island mascot I later learned. Fishermen had actually found her floating in the open seas several kilometers away after a cyclone.

Vicki and I did a short but intensive hike to the lighthouse. Despite the fact that the rain had stopped, however, instead of canoing or snorkelling around the island, I relaxed in the shade, reading my book and talking to Dave.

Back in Cairns, I walked about the town a bit before going to the airport. It turned out to be quite a nice little place, and I wish that I had had more time there.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 20, 1990 from Cairns, Australia
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Day 19 (Continued)

Sydney, Australia

The plane was late and I had difficulty finding a hotel, but eventually settled in.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on April 20, 1990 from Sydney, Australia
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Welcome to my travels. On this site you'll find recent trips and some very old trips. You'll note that for some trips I wrote very detailed reports (at least in the beginning), for others, I didn't even take notes of where I was on what dates. Nevertheless, I've done my best to document, to...

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