|
G'day Paul,
Enjoying reading about your travels and adventures mate. Your photo's are wetting my appetite to travel the top end. Safe travels and keep the updates coming! :thumbup1: Cheers Barry |
Thanks for your comments Barry and welcome to HU!
|
Darwin to Cairns
9 Attachment(s)
I stayed for two nights at Mataranka to rest up and experience some wildlife
Attachment 11410 Attachment 11411 Attachment 11416 then packed up camp and decided to spend the day at Bitter Springs, another spring within the same river system and same National Park, but a little further north of Mataranka. Attachment 11412 Attachment 11418 After some relaxing meditation and chillout time in the water, I walked back to the bike and cooked up some pasta for lunch. Attachment 11413 It is the wet season but the sky looked like this. Attachment 11414 This is where I met Steve and Jo, and their six kids. The youngest was adopted from the Philippines. They had been travelling around Australia from Tasmania since August, in much the same manner I was. Find a place, stay, do the activities then move to another place. They home-schooled the kids and I don’t think I have met a family that is so close. They would all stand around to tell a story of a place they had been on the trip, and five of them would fill in bits of the story as they went. It was like how twins finish each others’ sentences, but this was the whole family doing it. Attachment 11415 We hung out for a while, Steve was a really interesting guy who built strawbale houses and a range of other things. At the end of the day I said my farewells and headed down to the camping area in the National Park and told them that I had found the Mataranka Homestead a bit expensive for a patch of mud and no power. No sooner had I set up the tent and in came the van, making us the only campers in what ended up being a very large and extensive camping area. Attachment 11417 We ate together and chatted about travel and bikes and travel again. The sleeping setup in the van was amazing with kids sharing single bunks and beds placed in the tightest of places. But these kids, ranging from 15 to 2yrs, were all happy and helpful to each other. Their behavior and maturity really impressed me. |
Running a bit behind!!
Hi faithful readers. Just to let you know that this trip has now finished and I am in Brisbane, but I'm working at posting the whole story as I can get Internet access.
Please bear with me! PN |
Darwin to Cairns
4 Attachment(s)
Over Breakfast, Steve and Jo said they were going to visit the waterfall, a four kilometre bushwalk. Without hesitation all the kids donned their hiking shoes, water packs and off we went. It was really hot again, approaching 40C, and these kids just went along without complaint, the older ones waiting for and helping the younger ones.
Attachment 11479 Attachment 11480 Not exactly the biggest falls on the planet! Attachment 11481 Attachment 11482 Steve told me about the things he had done with his kids such as white water rafting, canoeing, hiking into the mountains in Tasmania, camping in the snow, various swimming holes. It seems that there was nothing he wouldn’t take the kids to do, if he could do it, he’d take the six kids and they would all help each other get there. It was a different type of parenting that I wasn’t accustomed to but couldn’t help be impressed by. Their cohesiveness as a family was rock solid. After a photo shoot around Ziggy, we said our farewells and as I headed south, they headed north. Farewell lovely people. Travel safe. It was hot. After the walk I didn’t leave until nearly 1pm, so I stopped back at Mataranka for a cold drink and a fruit salad to fuel me up a bit. The temperature gauge hit 43.5C at one point and hovered between 41 and 43. Seriously hot riding and I felt quite tired today. I arrived at the town of Daly River and pulled into the caravan park near where I planned to turn off the main highway for a while. I walked into the cool office/bar/restaurant and asked for their prices. Basic room – $110 Cabin - $120 Deluxe Cabin - $130 Do you have camping? Yes. Powered site $25 Do you have unpowered sites? Really? Yes. $7. Does that include the pool? Of course. I’ll take it! |
Daly River to Cape Crawford
10 Attachment(s)
BIG day in the saddle. At just before 7am I took the road to Borooloola but was undecided as to whether I would go all the way and head up to the coast and camp or turn right at Cape Crawford towards Barkly Homestead.
The road looked like this Attachment 11483 I stopped at a rest area and practiced a Tiffany type self with my camera on the helmet on the ground Attachment 11485 Via Borooloola would cut of over 500kms, but a combination of 250kms of dirt, numerous river crossings, back still giving me pain, overloaded and recent rains, all contributed to my decision, that I made eating lunch at the Heartbreak. I opted to go straight to Barkly Homestead and do some long miles. Attachment 11486 I set off at 1pm, fuelled up body and bike – at a price - Attachment 11487 to take on the thin red line on my map. Not much choice paying those prices Attachment 11488 The road looked like this. Attachment 11490 Some hundred or so kilometres into it, I had a rest…I wasn’t the first! Attachment 11495 Attachment 11491 Not everyone makes it. Attachment 11493 Thanks for the warning, I think it’s wandering stock! Attachment 11492 |
Cape Crawford to Barkly Homestead
9 Attachment(s)
To break up the monotony there are some turnoffs,
Attachment 11496 Attachment 11497 a few locals, Attachment 11505 a river that actually had some water in it Attachment 11498 and after a while the road looked like this. Attachment 11503 Attachment 11504 It wasn’t getting any cooler. Attachment 11501 Note to self. It appears that if a Hema map indicates that there is nothing there, there is nothing there. Attachment 11499 Did I mention the number of times I stopped for crossing cattle, for trucks coming the other way, and that the road had a patchwork surface that was often raised in the middle where the trucks had sunk it on either side of centre. Did I mention the trucks? At the Barkly Homestead I was too tired to take a photo after 650kms…until I saw this on the wall in the bar! Attachment 11502 |
Still trying to figure out YouTube! will sort soon!!
|
Quote:
|
Thanks Scootergal - that was a tough road on a 1200! A postie...well he must be patient!
|
Quote:
A Postie just requires an attitude similar to a bicyclist... slow and steady does it. |
Quote:
|
Glad you made it back to Brisbane safely. Enjoyed reading of your adventures and of course the great photo's. When's the next one begin ? :)
|
I'd love to know where to get a little winch like that, even given its shortcomings. I cannot lift my bike either, due to "great age and decrepitude" and the results of trying to fly an aeroplane through a tree years ago. (Hint: don't try this at home..)
Dave Barr, the epic legless RTW biker, used an electric winch mounted on his crash bars to complete his "Southern Cross Tour", a few years ago, but I'd rather not have the weight or expense. Rob |
Quote:
Just putting the final planning touches on round the world starting Feb. 2014. Thanks for the comments and appreciation!! Regards, PN |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 18:49. |