Did I mention the flies?

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

Because if I have not mentioned the incredibly annoying flies, I would be remiss in my duties.
The flies here are the most annoying flies ever experienced. And they are really dumb. Really really dumb. I open the window of the van, so that they can buzz off. Do they? No. They'd rather hitch a ride with us and buzz in my face for hours. Arrrrrgh.

Lunch anyone?

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

The Eyre Peninsular is known for it's seafood. Fresh delicious and straight off the boat seafood.
We have eaten Coffin Bay Oysters, Streaky Bay Oysters, Smokey Bay Oysters and some other kind of oyster whose name I don't remember.
We've been buying them closed, and Michael has become a master shucker (that's shucker with an s)....

After coming through the hot dry middle we're now on the other side of the continent.
We drove through Port August and Port Lincoln to the Coffin Bay National Park, where there is real wildlife, not in cages, hopping and slithering and running in front of me.
Last night, when we pulled into the park it was dark, so I jumped out of the van with a mag light to search for a good level spot to park up for the night. I rounded a bush and came face to face with a MASSIVE kangaroo. I'm telling you I don't know who was more shocked, me or it. It was less than 5 feet away from me (that's human feet not kangaroo feet) eating supper. Now, I wanted to eat my supper too, but not so badly as to interrupt a kangaroo. So, I made my apologies and hopped back to the van, suggesting that we find another spot. Pronto.

Don't step back...

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

We're in Cober Pedy - the Opal mining capital of the world. It's a trip here - 80% of the population live underground in dug out homes. Some of them are old mines, and some of them have just been dug out for the fun of it.
The above ground landscape is almost like a moonscape. Not that I've ever been to the moon, but it's what I imagine the moon could look like if people had been digging for opals all over it's surface.
Not being that interested in gemstones myself I avoided all the millions of opal stores in town and headed for the underground bookstore and underground church.
I also took a tour of a mine and tried my hand at divining. What can I say. I'm a natural.

Hop hop hop

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

I've been having hours of fun perfecting my wallaby impression.

We're in South Australia now, having driven 3400 kilometres through the Northern Territory, to Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Next up the coast for some surf and then onto the Clare Valley and Barossa Valley for wine wine and more wine.

Persistent would be an understatement

Hedda gettin back at the flies....
Uploaded by m_hagen.

It all started in Kakadu National Park - up in the 'top end'. We were camping at the Merle campground and as the sun set the mosquitoes started to emerge. Holy shit, I have never in my entire mosquito fearing life been surrounded by such an ungodly number of buzzing mosquitoes.
I retreated to the van, put on my longest trousers, and despite the fact that the temperature was in the 30s pulled on a long sleeved sweater. I then covered my ears nose and hands with 30% deet. All this did was make me hot and angry. And the mosquitoes were still there, buzzing in my ear, taunting me. The van has mosquito netting on the windows, and even though I had killed every living insect in the van with a massive dose of bug spray, all I could hear was the constant whine of the damn bugs outside the van, buzzing at the windows, trying to get in and bite me.
As we've moved further south, the number of mosquitoes has decreased and the number of flies increased. And Australian flies are the most numerous, annoying, persistent of all the flies in the world. And, when we were eating a lunch at Uluru, I finally lost it and pulled on the fly hat. They may look ridiculous, but hell, they're effective. It's just hard to eat a sandwich when you're wearing one.

Dining in style

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

We got up early for sunrise at Uluru, and had ourselves a breakfast of beans on toast with coffee.

As soon as the sun has risen, the coaches of tourists leave and we had the place to ourselves.

We followed our breakfast with a brisk 10km walk around the rock. Beautiful!

A walk around the canyon rim

Kings Canyon
Uploaded by ladyhedda.

We spent a night at Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park). It's a 300km ish detour off the road to Uluru (Ayers Rock) - but well worth the extra hours on the road.
We got up early to avoid the worst of the heat, and headed out for the canyon rim walk. The first part of the walk is the toughest, with a 500 step climb. Once you reach the summit there are breathtaking views of the canyon, which has amazing dome shaped rock formations and sheer walls. The walk itself is only 6km, and we took it slowly - taking photos and trying hard not to get blown over the edge.

Woo hoo

Uploaded by ladyhedda.

I got some photos uploaded..... Click here for the Australia photos so far....

Photos to come....

I'm having a horrible time trying to upload photos, can't figure out why...... So, you'll all just have to wait until I get to Adelaide, or some other such civilized place.

Banka Banka

Banka Banka is a working cattle station, right here in the 'red center' of Australia. We learned about jackaroos and jillaroos and all you could possibly want to know about cattle farming in the outback.
Maybe a little too much information... After they castrate the bulls, they stick the 'Prairie Oysters' on the grill. Apparently they're delicious.

Kakadu is absolutely beautiful...

Right now I'm simply amazed by the scenery here in the Northern Territory. We drove to the Kakadu National Park and spent two nights there.
The first night we camped at the Merl campground - where we were attacked by droves and droves of mosquitoes. I was covered in DEET repellent and the bastards were still landing on my nose. I really hate the mosquitoes here. With a passion. They are worse than any other mosquitoes that I have EVER met.
The next day we were up with the sun, preparing coffee in our little van, then off to the Ubirr rock art site. We were fortunate enough to make it to a couple of ranger talks at the different sites, so we learned about the aboriginal kinship systems and the paintings and some of their meanings.
In the afternoon we headed to see more rock art at Nourlangie. Again, we listened to the rangers talks - which were really great, and the best way of appreciating what you are looking at! We also took a walk around the Anbangbang Billabong. We saw so many birds - really beautiful birds - (photos to follow)......
This morning we got up early (6am - that's very early for me) and took a boat ride down the South Alligator River. First thing in the morning is the best time to see the wildlife. We saw CROCODILES. I was so excited. Real crocodiles, in the wild. Yikes! (more photos to follow)
We also saw a couple of live wallabies hopping around the park, and plenty of dead wallabies by the side of the road. The roadkill here is big and there's plenty of it!

On the road

Today we hit the road. We've been to the grocery store and stocked up on the essentials Yes, we bought wine, wine in a box, which is the only kind of wine to buy when you're camping.
We're driving to Kakadu National Park for a couple of nights, and then South to Katherine Gorge. After that we'll be on the way to Alice Springs, then Kings Canyon and Uluru....
Hopefully we'll find some internet access along the way, then I'll upload photos of our cute lil van....

A movie under the stars...

Last night we went to the Deckchair Cinema in Darwin. It's in a beautiful setting outside under the stars surrounded by trees. We packed a picnic and watched As it is in Heaven, my favorite movie in a long time.
We were also able to see the full eclipse of the moon....

Déjà vu

We're shopping for a van. Again....
We saw one today, and are planning on seeing a couple more tomorrow. For the time being we're tent camping - and it's really hot in the tent.

Things I've noticed in Australia

1. The signs are all in English here.
2. When I turn on the hot tap water comes out, and it's hot.
3. I don't need to use a scoop and a bucket to flush the toilet.
4. It's full of Australians.

Favorite Asia moments (in no particular order)

1. Trekking to see Everest in Nepal. The most amazing experience. I want to go back. I will go back. Wanna join us?

2. Phongsali and the northern loop in Laos. Traveling by boat, truck, sawngthaew and rickety old buses with Toby. If you visit Laos, do not miss the rivers. Amazing. I loved the Sam Nuea market.

3. Shopping for our lucky cherry blossom for Vietnamese New Year in Hanoi. What a party!

4. The temples at Siem Reap in Cambodia. We stayed at the Golden Banana, it was our splurge treat. I loved it!

5. Hanging out at the beach with friends, and a healthy supply of Anker Beer.

6. Sumba in Indonesia. The most beautiful beach (so far), fascinating culture, and NO other tourists.7. Climbing Rinjani on Lombok. I hated it at the time..... Too much fucking volcanic gravel, and I am just not good at 3am, no matter what the reason for being up so early. The view is spectacular.

8. Taking my PADI diving course in Malaysia with Christine.

9. Joining a local festival in Flores.

10. Traveling with surfboards can be challenging at best. We've had some moments, including a couple of dings when the locals thought that standing on the boards, on the roof of a bus, was a good idea....

On being back in Asia

My last four weekends in Europe and the US were really special for me, it couldn't have happened better if I had planned it all. First I got to spend time with Della and Carolyn in Los Angeles, the next weekend I was in England with Vicki, the weekend after that it was wine in Barcelona with Christine, and the weekend after that I was drunk in Maidstone with Claire. Four weekends, five amazing girlfriends.
I admit it. I was sad to be leaving Europe in such a hurry, there were so many plans I had made, so many things that I was looking forward to. The birth of my niece... Visiting the Netherlands, Belgium and France... Spending time with my family... Hanging out with friends....
But the feeling that I had on returning to Indonesia was exhilarating. It was easy to slip back into the swing of things. I landed in Medan early in the morning and after finding my way through immigration and passport control, I collected my luggage and set out to find my way around town. For me there is nothing like the excitement of that first day in a new place. Finding somewhere to stay, figuring out the local food and making your way in a new environment.
My priority was 1st to find the hospital, then to find myself a place to sleep. It all happened so easily, my Indonesian language skills did me proud - I was amazed at how much came out of my mouth in that first taxi ride to the hospital. I think the driver was surprised too. I couldn't stop talking. He seemed to understand what I was saying, either that, or he was too polite to tell me to shut the hell up.
Now, we're coming to the end of our time in Indonesia, and the end of our time in Asia. I'm sad. Sad to be leaving. We've had so many amazing experiences here and met so many fantastic people. But.... The adventure continues and as we make plans for the next leg of the journey I am looking forward to Australia. Looking forward to New Zealand. And, looking forward to South America (whenever we get there!).

He's eating brownies and ice cream in Bali

Michael has been writing about his Dengue experience here, here and here.

No more cold food

Uploaded by m_hagen.

After 12 days in hospital, 11 days on a drip Michael has finally been discharged. He's a little wobbly on his feet, he's been in bed for two weeks but other than that he's feeling much better.
We've managed to get tickets to Bali tomorrow, now I have to find somewhere to stay. Close to the beach methinks!