Travel report #22
Australia - Nothern Territory and Queensland
Thursday June 7, 2001
For some strange reason, QANTAS have a flight leaving Bali at 2am, arriving in Darwin only about 2 hours later at 6am!!
They stole a night from us ;-)
Our first day in Darwin we were very tired. Walked around the city; small, quiet, very tidy place.
Reminds us about the US with the wide streets, plenty of room on the pavements, huge, white government buildings, and green,
tidy lawns everywhere.
Learned a bit about Darwin; how the evelutionist that were here, but never set foot here, got it named after him...
And how it was smashed by the Japaneese during WWII and later by the nature, the cyclon Tracy.
Also met some aboriginal people,
we knew so little about them. They are actually black as African black. Cathy Freeman is only part aboriginal...
Got to learn a lot more about this old and facinating people and culture!
Walked up to the city beach to see the sunset and the
Thursday market held there. Spectacular sunset, thousands of people, lots of stuff on sale and really good food from tens of
different food stalls with food from all corners of the world.
Darwin is as warm and humid as Bali, no winter here...
Friday June 8, 2001
We signed on to a 4 day tour package, 1 day Litchfield National Park and 3 days Kakadu National Park. We started before the sun rose and headed for the park in a full 20 seat bus. We had a nice guide/driver called Brian. Very Australian with shorts and leg socks :-)
Got to see fantastic termite mounds and learned also alot about them. They look like stones spread out in the flat forest. Weird. Later we saw several waterfalls, some really nice, and we also had a swim in two of them. Cold water, but really nice and refreshing, and no salt!
A nice day, but we are still very tired...
Saturday June 9, 2001
Another early start, we are getting used to see the sun rise now :-)
This time on a Kakadu tour, in a 4WD bus with 16 people and a guide/driver called Dan! Dan turned out to be a very nice and good guide. He knew everything about every animal we could see!! And all the plants also...
We started with a visit at the wetlands, a dam they built in an attempt to grow rice. Saw many birds and a bit of how it looks like in the rainy season. We are now in the begining of the dry season. Birds and animals have mostly very descriptive names, e.g. the Jesus bird is a bird that walks on water :-)
In the afternoon we met an aboriginal guy called "Ricky". He took us on a "bush walk" and showed us a lot about how his ancestors lived in and with the nature. Very interesting. We saw plenty of small kenguroos, wallabies, and also trace of a King Brown snake! Before we finished, Ricky learned us how they throw the javelin!
Then it was time for a boat cruise! Saw several crocks, freshies and salties. They were all very shy, lay on the riverside, but swam away as soon as we got too close. A lovely sunset before we returned to the camp.
After dinner, Ricky held a spectacular aboriginal show! He painted himself, white handprints on his black body. Then he played his didgeridoo (a huge tube instrument), sang and danced. At the end he wanted all the men up, stripped us and painted us with white! We danced along, great fun! After that the girls (no stripping this time...) had to dance for the boys!
Sunday June 10, 2001
Another sunrise before we started on a long drive. After about two hours we came to the end of the road, and continued. We finally got use of the 4WD! Fun!
After about 1 hour going up and down and around in the mud, water and sand, we arrived, not too far away from Jim Jim falls. After about 10 minutes walking we saw a really spectacular waterfall! 215 meters high!! To get up close to the falls, we had to swim. We changed into swimming gear at a perfect sand beach (!) and swam and walked on stones. Inger-Ann made it all the way up, under the waterfall. Amazing how strong wind and much water it is in the air close under a waterfall!
After lunch and a short 4WD drive, we came to the Twin Falls stop. This time, we could not see the falls without going for a long swim. We swam about 1000 meters before we arrived at the spectacular Twin falls! As from the name, it was two falls next to each other. We could swim, almost walk under neath them. Perfect sand to walk on! Our guide brought our cameras for us, it was possible to get there by foot, but not without climbing...
On our way back to the camp, Dan found a small Pyton snake. He got bitten, but did not give up, and got it and brought it into the bus so we could touch it!!
Monday June 11, 2001
Last day of the tour, less nature, more culture! Saw many aboriginal art sites. Learned alot about what these were used for. Many really nice walks and a lot of learning!
On the way back to Darwin we stopped to see turtles and huge fish in a dam...
One of the best things about the tour was the social part. We got many new friends! If you ever go to Darwin, do a Kakadu 4WD tour, make sure Jim Jim and Twin falls are included. And use Nothern Territory Adventure Tours!!
(A lot of tired people on the way home:-)
(A controlled bush fire, Aboriginals have been doing this for thousands of years)
Tuesday June 12, 2001
Up even earlier, wakeup at 3.35am! Early flight from Darwin to Cairns!
Cairns a bit bigger than Darwin, at least it seemed so, but still a rather small city. Not our favorite though...
Went to the cinema and saw an Australian film about three aboriginal boys. Very good movie, specially for us that had just been to places were the film were shot! They visited the Twin Falls as we did!! The film is called "Yolngu Boy".
Wednesday June 13, 2001
Needed a day to relax. Did some laundry and arranged our last flights. We now know that we land in Oslo July 26h!!
Walked around the city and watched Australia. Different, but still very similar to Europe, or maybe more similar to the US. Sad fact that most of the aboriginal people we see, are the drunks that hang around in the city center... Fun to listen to the locals, with their broad Australia english, g'day mate, howdyou doing, not too bad, and yourself, going walkabout to the billabong...
Thursday June 14, 2001
Hired a car for a day. Had to get out of Cairns to see if there was anything to see around here. Unfortunately we had bad weather, actually only bad weather in Cairns and around if you ask us... We drove to Port Douglas, very nice beach there, but not this day. Continued, crossed a cable ferry and walked in the rainforest at Cape Tribulation. Learned quite abit about rain forests. Fantastic and spectacular nature. But, not the best day...
Would be nice to return here with plenty of money and with nice weather!! :-)
Friday June 15, 2001
A walking day. Walked on several boardwalks in the city and a long path through the forest above the airport.
Saturday June 16, 2001
Hired bikes. Australia have the most funny law, we had to wear helmets!! We looked funny, but set off on a long bike ride. Got some nice views of Cairns, but again, the rain made us quit early...
Sunday June 17, 2001
Flew on to Brisbane. This time a big city, Australias third biggest actually. Stayed at a lousy, but cheap hostel in West End. Spent the afternoon at the South Bank, a very nice park area were they have an artificial beach!!
Monday June 18, 2001
Walking tour of Brisbane. Nice City hall with its clock tower. Not too much more...
Tuesday June 19, 2001
Took a bus to Mt Coot-Tha and got a spectacular view of the city. A lot better weather here in Brisbane compared to Cairns... :-)
In the afternoon we took the CityCat from end to end, a catamaran boat going up and down the river. Spectacular views of the city, both in dayligh and at night. We jumped off at the University and memorized our time at the Uni :-) Bjarte's cousin Cecilie studied here last semester!?! She left only a short time before we made it here unfortunately...
Wednesday June 20, 2001
Relaxed at the South Bank park before we visited the Queensland Museum. Good museum with lots of interesting exhibits, even one on whales (something for us Norwegians...).
Brisbane is a very nice, tidy city. In a way it reminds about Hong Kong. Almost a bit sterile, but I guess if we had stayed longer we would have found a bit of atmosphere somewhere...