22-May through 26-May: Darwin to Alice Springs

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Set off early on Friday morning for a three day drive along the Stuart Highway to get to Alice Springs in the middle of the desert. The drive goes along some of the most isolated, desolate road in Australia. First day we went to Katherine and went to Nitmiluk National Park in the afternoon. Took a boat across a croc infested river and then had a great hike into a falls and swimming hole. Even though it was like the kajillionth time I've done that in the last month, it doesn't get old! The water was frigid which felt great. Back at camp we were able to have a campfire and unlike at Kakadu it got nice and cold so I had a good night's sleep.



The next day started with a trip into a beautiful hot springs near Mataranka. The setting was spectacular and we had a really nice swim. It was very chilly out still early in the morning so the hot water was perfect. After the springs we had a long day of driving through not a lot. We stopped at a few roadhouses including a stop at Daly Waters which has a great little pub that claims it is Australia's most remote pub. Back into a swag sleeping under the starts at night which was great.


The next day was another long one of driving to get to Alice Springs. We had a stop at a place called the Devil's Marbles which is a huge area of spherical rocks that are perched atop one another in weird ways thanks to millions of year of erosion of the ground around them. We crossed the unofficial line that divides to the north the area that has wet and dry seasons and to the south is desert...and then a bit later we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn which is the official divider of the tropics and the semi-arid desert. Finally got into Alice in the evening and enjoyed a bit of the desert nightlife.



Two days "off" in Alice were relaxing and relatively uneventful. One highlight was I rented a bike and road around town a bit. Went to the "School of the Air" which is where "school" for hundreds of Aussies living in the most remote parts of the country happens. Its basically a TV studio and using webcams the teacher has class with his/her students who are scattered about. Pretty cool.

19-May through 21-May: Kakadu National Park

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Early start to head out of Darwin for a three day trip focused on Kakadu National Park. The first day we spent in the other parks in the area: Litchfield and Mary River. First stop in Litchfield National Park was Florence Falls where we had a nice swim. From there we went on to Buley Rock Holes which is basically a cascade of swimming holes. Another refreshing swim (we've left the hot/dry area for the hot/humid area so nice cold water to swim in is greatly appreciated). For the afternoon we drove to Mary River National Park where we took a boat trip on the Mary River. The trip was awesome...we saw a bunch of salties and freshies (crocs)...some really big ones too a 12 foot saltie! There was also abundant exotic birdlife and the river was quite swampy which when put all together kind of made me feel like I was taking a boat cruise through Jurassic Park. In the evening the dark gray clouds and humidity won out and it poured down rain.



The next morning we headed into Kakadu park where we did a hike up a rock hill that led to 360 degree views of the Kakadu flood plains which were pretty cool. Its the beginning of dry season (despite the previous night's rain) now so there was some water out there, but drying quickly. The main draw of the hike was the aboriginal rock art all over the place, some of which was thousands of years old! In the afternoon we went to Jim Jim Falls. Getting there involves driving down a narrow, rutted sand/dirt track that is semi-flooded out. It was quite a ride. Then a 1km scramble over some huge boulders to the beach where you swim through some rocks to get to the plunge pool. The water was freezing...we swam right under the falls which was coming down from 200 meters above. It was pretty cool!



The following morning we went to Gunlom falls which was a steep hike up to the top where there were swimming holes with amazing views out to the falls and the valley beyond. We swam in each of the pools which eventually led to a little waterfall up above. The next stop was a secluded little pool and falls which I don't think has a name. The water was again freezing which was again extremely refreshing. Then a long drive back into Darwin and a few beers to say goodbye to some new friends who were all parting ways.

7-May through 18-May: Broome to Darwin

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The remaining time in Broome was great...had a few good meals at restaurants, spent some time at Cable Beach including a glorious sunset and went through a few museums dealing with Broome's pearling past. On Saturday morning we were up early to start the next leg of our tour to Darwin. This leg consisted of 8 nights of camping along an extremely isolated rugged dirt road: the Gibb River Road. We drove a few hours the first day to get out of the metropolis of Broome and made our first stop at Tunnel Creek National Park where we hiked through and along a creek that runs about a kilometer through a cave. The cave was used back in the day by an aboriginal outlaw to elude police for years (until his own gang eventually turned him in). Then on to Windjana Gorge for our first night's camp. We took a dusk/sunset hike into the gorge and saw a bunch of freshwater crocs and once it got dark you could shine your light over the river and see a bunch of glowing red croc eyes staring back at you. The gorge was a nice spot with huge rock walls towering into the sky on either side...pretty cool.



Up with the sun the next morning to continue along the Gibb River road. We had quite a number of river crossings today although none more than about two or so feet in depth. The major stop was to Bell's Gorge where we took a little hike to a waterfall with a swimming hole below. Had a nice refreshing swim (it was very hot out but the water was very "fresh" as they say). On for the night to Manning Gorge where we camped next to a huge Boab tree (an awesome type of tree found primarily in Madagascar as well as this part of Oz and a few other parts of Africa). I'll mention that camp life on this trip was awesome...delicious food and we were able to have campfires. Everyone sleeps in swags under the stars which is fantastic...I'm going to look into buying my own swag to take back to the US.



Up a bit before the sun today to get an early start on our hike through the Manning Gorge to Manning Falls. It starts with swimming across the Manning River to get to the trail...they had styrofoam boxes you could put your pack in to push across and keep dry (I left my big camera behind...didn't want to risk it!) Manning Falls was lovely, had a great swim and then warmed back up in the sun before hiking back out to the campground. Back on the road continuing east (I use the term road somewhat loosely. Its mostly red dirt, sometimes mixed with sand, there are constant stream/river crossings and there are basically no services...we've passed two very lonely roadhouses in about 500km and have passed maybe 7 or 8 cars per day on average). Quick stop at Galvan's Gorge for another swim under a waterfall...quite picturesque! Then found a nice spot to bush camp off the road near a creek. Had a great fire and some good food as always!



Tuesday was our last big driving day on the Gibb River Road. We drove through beautiful country where a large part of the movie "Australia" was filmed and had our biggest river crossing...the Pentecost River was probably 300 or 400 meters across. Our major stop for the day was Emma Gorge which was a smallish hike into a gorge with a beautiful waterfall and pool to swim in. (swimming beneath beautiful waterfalls doesn't get tiring!) The water was freezing which was pretty nice on a hot day. Afterwards we went to our stop for the night which was on a huge million acre cattle station. We had a makeshift baseball game in our campsite with a tennis ball, a shovel as the bat and chairs as bases. As the only American I tried to teach everyone the rules which went okay but we ignored some of the more "complex" ones (tagging up on a fly ball was wayyy too complicated so we ignored that one). The campground on the station had a bar which had a band playing that night so after dinner we spent the evening having some beers and dancing to some great Aussie bush music under the stars. It was a pretty great scene!


The next morning we started off by going to the Zebedee Hot Springs in the morning which was gorgeous. The day ended up being one of mechanical issues...we had to make a small detour into town to get a flat tire fixed and then we drove on to Purnululu National Park which is more commonly known as the Bungle Bungles. The road in is quite rough, the 50kms takes 3 hours on average. About halfway through the clutch on our truck gave out. So we camped off the road in what was really a gorgeous spot.

We woke up to a great sunrise and unfortunately the clutch didn't fix itself overnight but Luke, our awesome guide, somehow figured out how to shift without it, basically just muscling it into gear. First stop was to two little hikes: Piccaninny Gorge and Cathedral Gorge. The main feature is the huge "beehive" dome rock formations...these are sandstone that have been carved by wind and water over the years. Before lunch I did a helicopter flight over the Bungles which was awesome...really cool to get an aerial perspective on the park. In the afternoon we did another hike into Echidna Chasm which was incredible! It was this really narrow gorge cut through the rock...my photos don't do it justice unfortunately. Back to camp for dinner but not fire unfortunately because of a fire ban in the park. Big fan of the Bungle Bungles!



The following day was a long day of driving back up to Kununurra. A few of us had a nice run around the Lily Creek Lagoon at sunset...really pretty colors! The next morning we went to Lake Argyle which is the largest man made lake in Australia and had a boat ride around. We saw crocs (there are evidently 25,000 in the lake! yikes!), rock wallabies, lots of huge fish and some birds. In the afternoon we crossed over from Western Australia into the Northern Territory...the NT only instituted speed limits like 3 years ago and they're way higher than anywhere else in Australia. I also unfortunately found out that its the only place in Australia where you can still smoke in bars...gross. Had a nice sunset hike in Gregory National Park and then on to camp along the Victoria River for the night.



Our last day of the trip we woke up well before the sun which was painful. We stopped in Katharine National Park at Edith Falls for the usual: hike in to a waterfall with a swimming hole below. As the drive continued north to Darwin you could notice the increased humidity. In Darwin we all met up at the Mindel markets which they have twice per week along the beach with all sorts of food, art, music and fireworks. Then we went out to celebrate our last night and the end of the trip!

A link to a few more photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqmhkbd.1z0vj761&x=0&y=-9f3dyg&localeid=en_US

27-Apr through 6-May: Perth to Broome

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We were up early to start our trip up north to Broome. We met our guide and the others in our group. It was a lot of driving the first day to get out of the Perth area and into the bush. We stopped at Nambung National Park to see the pinnacle formations and continued the drive up along the coast. I managed to badly jam my finger playing footy at lunch which became a gruesome purple/black color. We stayed the night at a little place on the beach in the tiny town of Horrocks.

Next morning we were up and out before the sunrise...the sunrise over the desert was gorgeous. We headed to Kalbarri National Park where we did two smallish hikes: Z-Bend Gorge and Nature's Window. The gorge there was great and the color contrast between the red rock and blue sky was awesome. After lunch we were back on the road passing through some pretty empty space on the way to the Shark Bay area. First stop was Hamelin Pool which contains one of the very few, and the only visible, colonies of stromatolites in the world. Stromatolites were the first living thing on the earth to use photosynthesis. Starting 3.5 billion years ago and lasting about 2 billion years, stromatolites breathed oxygen into the atmosphere changing it from no oxygen to ~20% and making it possible for humans to eventually come along. Pretty important little guys! A gorgeous sunset over the ocean (so good to be on a west coast!) and then a BBQ at our stop for the night in Denham in the "Shark Bay" area.

We woke up early the next morning (a theme for the trip) to drive to Monkey Mia in Shark Bay where every morning, a group of up to twelve wild dolphins swim up to shore and are fed (I was initially concerned about this because it doesn't sound very environmentally responsible, but on further research they actually do a great job. For example, they only feed the dolphins about 10% of their daily food need so the dolphins still fish and teach their young to fish like normal). Had some great views of the dolphins close up, it was really cool. Afterwards went out for a quick kayak in the water before we drove on, making a stop at Shell Beach, which, as the name implies, is a beach of only small shells, no sand. After this we hit the road for a looong drive through the middle of nowhere up to Coral Bay. We managed to keep ourselves entertained pretty well on the bus and spent a small bit of time down on the beach at night before calling it a day.

The next day we spent almost the whole day at Coral Bay. Coral Bay has spectacular turquoise water and i went for a very long walk along the beach and up into the sand dunes for views of the bay. After hanging out on the beach a bit, we then made the short drive up north to Exmouth, at the northern tip of the Ningaloo Marine Park. Exmouth was originally built by the U.S. military as a communications center in the 60s I believe to monitor movements out in the ocean. The Aussie military now has a base their but its become mainly a tourist town.



Next morning up early to take a boat out on the reef. After a snorkel we went past the breakers to snorkel with whale sharks, the purpose of the trip. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea...they can get up to 18 meters (~60 feet). Every year they swim through the Ningaloo reef to feed on algae so they run these trips using a spotter plane in the air to find and locate them. We snorkeled with a ~8 meter (a little under 30 feet) whale shark for a few hours. Even through this was a "small" whale shark, it was huge and impressive! Really amazing to be in the water with something so gigantic (and thankfully completely indifferent to snorkelers!)

Up early the next morning for the long drive inland to Karijini National Park. It was 8 hours of drive time through almost completely empty land. At the end of the drive we climbed into the Hamersley mountains ranges and into the park. We camped and about half of us slept outside in swags under the stars. It was awesome! The stars were unreal.

The next morning we set out to explore some of Karijini and went to Dales Gorge. We descended into the gorge and walked the length of it. The views were spectacular and we went to three different pools for swims during the hike. First to Circular Pool, then to Fortescue Falls and then to Fern Pool, which is the most sacred aboriginal site in the area. All three spots were gorgeous, it was really an unreal hike and I had numerous "Australia" moments throughout the day where the surrounds were just so uniquely Australian. When we got back to camp a few of us went for another short sunset hike into Joffres Gorge, near our camp. Another lovely spot...then BBQ for dinner to end a fantastic day and another night out under the stars.

The next day was another full one of hiking through Karijini's gorges. First through Weano Gorge which led to a small abseil down a rock face to get to Handrail Pool. We took a swim through the pool to the narrow gorge that continued on to the other side which led to a ~40 foot waterfall into a pool below. You could keep going at that point only if you were fully equipped to abseil down/climb up tall rock faces which we weren't unfortunately. After lunch we went across to Hancock Gorge where we hiked along rock ledges and through pools. As the hike continued the gorge got narrower and narrower until we got to the portion named the "Spider-Walk" because its so narrow you can press your hands and feet against each wall of the gorge and hold yourself up off the ground. It was awesome...very reminiscent of the Virgin River hike in Zion Park in Utah. The Spider-Walk opened into a small area called Kermit's Pool. Not many swimmers there because the water was frigid and it was getting late in the day. We climbed back out and up from the gorge back to camp. A great camping dinner from the BBQ and a great sleep under the stars (another really cold night...very happy to have my super warm sleeping bag!)

The next day we drove away from Karijini back to the coast and through Port Headland to a huge cattle station where we slept for the night. The following day was the final push to Broome...we stopped at 80 mile beach which is the longest beach in Australia (its actually about 90 miles long). We finally got to Broome in the afternoon and it seems to be a lovely little town. Really cute streets with shops and pubs and restaurants and we're staying right near the beach which is fantastic. The beach is named Cable Beach because its where the telegraph line connecting Australia with Asia (at the end of the 19th century) came ashore.


A link to a few more photos for Perth to Broome:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqmhkbd.aduyczpl&x=0&y=-tnn53x&localeid=en_US

24-Apr through 26-Apr: South of Perth

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Michelle and I flew early in the morning to Perth, on the west coast. We rented a car and drove south along the coast passing through a number of beach towns on our way towards the Margaret River wine area. We wine tasted at a few vineyards...it was a very laid back wine scene which I liked. We stayed the night in Margaret River (the town). The special thing about the Margaret River wine region is besides making great wines, its right on the coast so people can surf and wine taste the same day - a perfect combination for Aussies!

The next day we continued down the coast to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse which is the point where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. The area also has an abundance of amazing caves with huge stalactites and stalagmites. We did a walk through the largest one-Jewel Cave. I expected it to be a bit hokey but it was actually a really cool spot. Afterwards we continued south into the "tall trees" of the south coast-huge forests of gum trees. A couple of the huge trees in the area you can climb and we went up a 75 meter tree. Spikes stick out from the tree and you just climb from rung to rung 250 feet into the air. No harness-if you slip you pretty much die, it was really scary. Its the kind of thing that would never exist in the US for liability reasons! A few more scenic drives in the forests and out to the coast and then to Walpole for the night.



The next day we went in the morning to the "Tall Trees Walk" which is a platform elevated 40 meters in the air through the canopy of some of these huge gum trees. It was a really interesting perspective to get on a forest! From there we started the long drive back to Perth with a few stops on the way. That night in Perth we met up with Molsen, a friend from college. After dinner Michelle had to leave for the airport to go back to Sydney and Molsen and I got ready for the next part of the adventure...