Australia 2007-2008

Australia: Among the Vegemite Eaters

2007-2008

We eased into Australia as our support team picked us up at the airport and later briefed us on the current banana situation. Although it had only been 6 months, going through our gear in storage was a bit like a fling through a time capsule. Dusty, the ute, had been pampered in its suburban surroundings, so we drove her hard on an inland route to Northern Queensland, Within a week, we had driven over 2,000 km, we were well into the tropics, we had come close to hitting a wallaby, swerved to avoid an emu, passed a road train and made plenty of new mates. It was terrific to be back in Oz.

Our primary goal had been to follow the twists and turns of the banana index, but at our first supermarket, the price of nanas was $1.49 a kilo, and figured there was no story in that. We passed through the hamlet of Banana and found two "servos" (service stations) but not a banana for sale. We altered our objectives and headed straight to the coast.

Before setting out to the Whitsunday Islands, we talked to the park rangers about current conditions. There is no fresh water available on the islands, the box jellyfish had arrived, a couple of salties (salt water crocs) were stubbornly drifting in and out to the prime diving area and tropical cyclone Guba to the the north was kicking up plenty of wind along the coast. These sounded like challenging kayaking conditions and we caught a boat across the excited waters to the "sheltered" leeward side of Whitsunday Island and spent a few days at "Joe's Beach". We figured that Joe must have been the goanna that regularily patrolled the beach. We paddled amongst the turtles in the mangroves and after 13 consecutive days of +25knot winds, the wind dropped so we made a dash over to Hook Island and almost melted in the heat. The full moon low tide brought rewards in the all-you-can-eat oysters pulled off the rocks.

The reader may recall that Queensland is the "smart" state and has not introduced daylight savings, to save their curtains from too much sun. We can report that their curtains look good, but we didn't have any curtains of our own and rather that watching the sun set at 6:00pm (and miss the sun rise between 4 and 5:00 am), we decided to move our own watches forward by 2 hours. That created all kinds of confusions when consulting tide tables and talking to people out on the water, just proving that no man is an island, even if he is on an island. We turned our watches back to Queensland time.

As the winds had eased, we back-tracked to Ayr and went for a dive to see the SS Yongala (100 year old wreck) which is an exquisite dive site with its coral gardens and tens of thousands of fish. Winds were moderate at 20 knots. Sheila gobbled a few seasickness tablets, but Glenn suffered in the chop. He made barely made it to the second dive, but after the final dive, he fed the fish. The crew gave him the day awards for both quantity and sound volume. Glenn was glad to get both feet back on terra firma.

Our next major destination was Lady Musgrave Island, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef; we had booked our site seven months earlier. Other campers on the island swore us to secrecy but we will let you know what the day visitors see of the island. It is Galapagos-like, in that is is infested with birds and guano. By day it feels like the set of Hitchcock's "The Birds" and by night it feels like "The Blair Witch Project" (sheerwater birds howl in the darkness). Day visitors also see the tracks left by turtles that nest, sometimes in the camping area. However, we can't tell you about the magical underwater world. We cannot tell you about the dozens of turtles in the water we saw each day, the coral, the fish, the massive moray eels, the sharks, nor about our amazing expereince with three manta rays. We cannot tell you about the bull shark tha passed within a couple of metres of us, nor about the cheeky white tip reef sharks that sent Sheila scrambling back into her sea kayak. We only wish we had booked for more than a week on the island.

The Gold Coast provided plenty of contrast from our previous experience. It is sort of an Australian version of Miami Beach or Waikiki USA, complete with theme parks and plenty of beach and surf (47 lifeguard towers!!). Some call it superficial, but it is far more than just the beach; there are inland waterways, bars, restaurants and plenty of huge shopping malls. And if you think that people just walk around in Billabong brand surf wear, think again. There is also Quicksilver and Ripcurl. Some may pooh pooh the Gold Coast, but not if you have lived the dream. And if you get the right wave, you will understand why it is called Surfers Paradise.

Nearby, but worlds apart are the national parks of Lamington and Springbrook. Their rainforest walks are amongst the best in the world. We think they are the best but we have not been to Disneyland. The forests, waterfalls and leeches are enchanted and like wandering around in a Rousseau painting. At one of the campgrounds, the brush turkeys are brazen enough to hop on the picnic tables in search of a meal. We thought they were pushing their protected status, a mere week before Christmas. We had been in the region on our previous trip, and once again a tick crawled up and dug itself in near Sheila's right eye. That was reason enough to head back to the coast.

The NSW coast is so beautiful with long sandy beaches, headlands that goes on for more than a thousand kilometres. We hunkered down at Minnie Water for Christmas and found some great beginner surf with no crowds. We were wondering if Santa was going to arrive on a surf board or a kangaroo. Instead, he delivered gifts from a fire truck with the siren blazing away. Sheila was excited about her new red boogie board that matched the colour of the truck and Santa's outfit.

We've seen bananas for as low as 89 cents a kilo, so we know that Australia had a wonderful Christmas.

FOR THE RECORD

2007 TENT NIGHTS: 171

AUSTRALIAN BANANA INDEX: 5 FOR 1 USD

Firstly, this banana missive has been delayed because our regular writer went off in support of the Screen Writers Guild. He never came back and was last seen waxing his surfboard somewhere near Byron Bay.

While all but a few Australians flocked to the beach after Christmas, we headed inland for the Great Aussie Blow Fly Experience. We mad a 75 cent investment in a green, eco-friendly fly swatter but soon realized we were seriously under equipped. At our first stop, Bungonia Gorge NSW, we had our first major mid-summer fly battle. We had to make a strategic daytime withdrawal into the tent to maintain some semblance of sanity. Flies 1, Chickens 0.

We pressed further south into Victoria encouraged by earlier reports of a fly population explosion. We left the safety of towns and our air conditioned vehicle and made a number of forays deep into the Victorian bush. At times, we had several hundred flies crawling all over each of us with several billion waiting to join in on the fun. We reached hill tops where their numbers made the East African wildebeest migration look like a side show. Flies sweep the Chickens.

We climbed many of the classic peaks of the Victorian Alps: they are on the smallish side. We have learnt to never tell an Australian that their mountains are small. They get defensive and think you are referring to their penis or boob size. The normally relaxed Ausssie quite suddenly responds like an enraged goanna. So, play it safe and describe their hills as "nice mountains, they are different".

The Victorian mountains are unique. At our Cathedral Range campsite, we had a koala, wombat and a wallaby visit us. Along the trail, we listened to a lyre bird sing its full repertoire of other bird calls (but no tractor noise imitations). However, the gang gang cockatoos are the best thing about the Victorian Alps. Each time you spot one, you get to exclaim "gang gang" without offending anyone.

We caught up with friends Peter & Margaret and Daryl & Dianne. We were absorbed by a day of tennis at the Australian Open, did a few days of doggy (Archie) sitting and played in the waves on the Victoria South Coast. If you imagine that we spent the balance of the summer enjoying the Australian beach life of surf, sand and barbeque, guess again. We went to Tasmania.

We had brilliant weather for our first week in Tasmania and we picked the eyes out of the Overland Track. We paddled the Pieman River, on the west coast. Coincidently, at the same time a Canadian solo sea kayaker fought for his life just 5km further along the coast and was plucked to safety by a fisherman. Then February rolled in and the South Tasmanian weather became overactive. It was fresh, windy, gusty and showery.

We experienced squalls and sub-zero temperatures along Lake Pedder. Our tent was flooded at Cockle Creek by a "scattered shower". Rain and cool winds chased us off the South West Track.

We hunkered down on a soggy Bruny Island. We waited 6 days at Fortescue Bay for the winds to drop below 25 knots and stayed out of trouble at Port Arthur during 30/40 knot winds. Along the normally benign East Coast, we aborted a multi-day Freycinet kayak trip to a heavy SW wind and accompanying rain.

Even so, we had plenty of moments of brilliance such as:

- several hundred dolphins passed beneath and around our kayaks at Port Arthur

- we paddled below the Cape Huay cliffs with curious seals, dolphins and penguins

- camped atop the 270 metre high chasm of Cape Pillar

- we were chased by a barking dog on a street named "Barking Dog Lane"

- we watched a squid squirt an unsuspecting fisherman full-on with ink

We welcomed a more settled March with a multi-night hiking trip into the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. The park features include exotic sounding Herod's Gate, Damascus Gate, the Wailing Wall and the Pool of Bethesda. it is an alternative destination for people who might be concerned with security issues of the Middle East. The only bombs you will have to worry about are Skippy's poo which seems to be everywhere. You could then visit the nearby Hellenic themed region including the Mountains of Jupiter, the Parthenon, the Acropolis and Lake Athena. Bring your own souvlaki.

We left Tasmania wearing polar fleece and landed back on the mainland wearing shorts and thongs. The turned up the heat for us at Wilsons Promontory with temperatures hitting 40C. There were plenty of school groups staying at the Prom. They were developing important life skills such as camping, surfing, beach volleyball and beach cricket. What a country! Sometimes, while travelling in Australia, it feels like a giant retirement village. Granted the distances are big and you require more than a golf cart to get around in, but life is easy, the weather is generally benign and a large grey haired population is visible and mobile. But when you get out into the big surf and get thrown around by a few big waves while on the board (yippee!), you realize that this is no country for old men.

From the South-East corner of the continent, we travelled north from one beach to the next in fine weather in search of surf. However, at that time, the waves were one foot or less, smaller than those at the wave pool at West Edmonton Mall. East coast Australia without surf is like Los Angeles without cars. Australia is not a particularly religious country and it lacks surf temples in which Canadian wannabee surfers could make offerings to the surf gods of Bilabong and Ripcurl. So we soldiered on…..

Back in Sydney, our friend Tony took us out on his 12 metre sailboat on race day. OK, it wasn't Tony's boat and we were merely ballast, but it was still fun sailing on one of the world's most scenic harbours. We changed horses in Sydney and sold Dusty, the ute. After years of reliable service, we consigned Dusty to a life of commuting. We rented a small car for a fortnight. Australian car rental agreements specifically prohibit driving on "unsealed surfaces". That rules out many of the interesting bits of Australia. Please don't tell the rental company that our Nissan lost some of its innocence.

We had a last kick at the interior of Australia: big rocks at Warrumbungle National Park and towering views from Mt. Kaputar. We had a last chance to visit towns we had never heard of including Coonabarabran, Narrabri (sandwiched between Wee Waa and Baan Baa) and Gunnedah. It is always a revelation to come across bustling centres in the middle of nowhere. It is almost other worldly if it were not for the familiar McDonalds. The natives are friendly and speak English.

After a year and a half and 53,000 kilometres of Australian travel, we returned to the East coast at Port Macquarie. The drought seems largely over, the rivers were full and the land is much greener than we first saw it two years ago. The banana quest reached a significant milestone, a turning point: bananas for 98 cents a kilo. For us that represented Journey's End. Well, except for a few more days of beaches and the great Australian coastline. With nippy nights and shorter autumn days, it is time to move on….to the Mediterranean.

FOR THE RECORD

2008 overnight backpacking trips: Mt Feathertop, Crosscut Saw, Overland Track, SW Coast of Tasmania, Cape Pillar, Wilson Promontory (south and north sections), Royal NP coastal walk, Warrumbungle NP.

2008 tent nights: 109

Oz II tent nights: 161

Oz II snake count: 22

Banana price range 2006-2008: AUD 1-14 per kilo