Saturday 21 November. Cape Trib and the Daintree

Not being able to swim in the ocean, Sue is keen to try a swimming hole in the small river a few kilometres away. We walk along the beach and have to shelter for a while because it starts to rain, and it really does rain with a vengeance.

When it stops we cross the headland, Cape Tribulation, named because it is here that Captain Cook’s vessel ran aground in 1770. A little further south we must wade across a shallow creek that crosses the sand. This is slightly worrying given the prominent warnings seen previously, but we brave it. Eventually there is a path through the mangroves to the road and Mason’s store, behind which is the swimming hole.

Some local teenagers are swinging on ropes and diving into the pool and Sue gets her swim. On the way back we follow the road and get caught in another downpour, and in the night it rains heavily again. It is the start of the wet season and by the end of December it can rain like this for days at a time.

Friday 20 November. To Cape Tribulation

We pick up a hire car at 10am and after a brief foray at Rusty’s for Sue to buy fruit, we set off north from Cairns.

It takes a few hours scenic drive along a sweeping coast road before we arrive at the Daintree River ferry. On the far side is Daintree National Park. Now we are into Tropical Rainforest and it becomes hotter and more humid as the road winds through the hills.

Signs warn “Beware of Cassowaries”. We reach the end of metalled road and carry on for a short distance to arrive at Cape Tribulation Beach House where we will stay. Our room is in one of many cabins set in the forest. There are two other rooms in the cabin and we share the kitchen and bathroom.

It is a short stroll to the idyllic looking beach, but once again it would be foolish to do much more than stick a toe in the water. Signs warn of stingers (box jellyfish) and crocodiles.

We eat at the restaurant and I eat kangaroo – again – but this is the best yet. Two weeks in Australia now and we still haven’t actually seen a live kangaroo - though I must have eaten most of one.

Back at the cabin Sue breaks out the dessert, black sapote or chocolate pudding fruit which we bought at Rusty’s earlier. About the size and shape of a cooking apple, it is very soft and when opened contains black flesh the colour and texture of chocolate mousse. It tastes like a very mild version of chocolate mousse, one where someone has been a bit mean with the cocoa powder.

We sleep (fitfully, it is so hot and humid) with the strange sounds of the rainforest all around us. Dawn breaks with a cacophony of screeches, squawks and screams. Unknown creatures rustle the undergrowth outside our window.

Thursday 19 November. Op Shops

We decide to hire a car so organise one for four days from tomorrow. In the meantime Sue wants to have a look at the markets. We find Rusty’s, which is a big fruit and vegetable market – that isn’t open today. We do discover OP (charity) Shops though, much to Sue’s delight though there is not much of interest in them, mostly second-hand clothes and Manchester! “Manchester?” we ask. “What’s Manchester?” Apparently this is linen and household fabrics, presumably because a century or so back most of these articles would have been made there.

In the evening we eat in the garden at the hostel. I cook steak on the BBQ, then sit competing for bandwidth on the WiFi with all the other Netbook users.

Wednesday 18 November. The Great Barrier Reef

The hostel mini-bus delivers us to the Marina at 7.30 where we join a couple of dozen others on board Ocean Free, a two-masted sailing boat heading out to Green Island. This is about the closest point of access to the reef from Cairns, which is just as well as charming as it is, Ocean Free is probably the slowest vessel making the trip. As we leave the harbour, high speed catamarans and launches power past us heading to the outer reef. For those in a real hurry there are helicopters and seaplanes passing overhead. We motor serenely out towards Green Island, are given tea and muffins and sit happily watching the world pass by for a couple of hours.

We moor at a buoy a few hundred metres from the island over an outcrop of coral. A few people are diving but the rest of us take snorkels and set out from steps at the side of the boat. I’m not much of a swimmer and haven’t really snorkelled before, so I feel slightly nervous. The minimum depth is around 3 metres and over the edge of the reef I can’t see the bottom, but it is such a colourful new world down there that I soon forget to worry. That’s when I stick my head too far under and take a mouthful of water down the snorkel tube – even so after a bit of spluttering I carry on.

(Sue). I was particularly pleased to spot a fair sized ray, which I thought was very exciting, and as instructed in the Reef Teach talk, I knew to give it a wide berth.

Eventually we are called back to the boat for a lunch of cold meats and salads, and afterwards watch as some large fish and a couple of reef sharks are fed from the boat.

We are ferried to the island. Sue and I do a circuit of the beach which takes no more than twenty minutes. It’s a very small island, but beautiful. We see turtles swimming just off the shore, and from the jetty watch 2 metre (harmless) reef sharks swimming below – and the reaction of a couple snorkelling when they come across them (panic).

After a quick swim from the beach we are taken back to the boat and have time for another go at snorkelling before heading back to Cairns.

(Sue) The colours were absolutely fabulous. White sand beaches, crystal clear waters in varying shades of turquoise. We both agreed that it was reminiscent of the Scilly Isles.

Tuesday 17 November

We have a fairly relaxed day today. We go for a wander through town and Sue shows me where she went yesterday. We decide on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for tomorrow and book it.

We spend some more time in the garden at the hostel posting to the blog and Sue has a swim in the pool. In the evening we visit ‘Reef Teach’ for a two hour talk on the marine life, coral, history, dangers and delights of the reef. If we’re going to be swimming around out there tomorrow I’d like to have some idea of what we are looking at – especially if there's a chance it could kill me.

Afterwards we have pizza at a restaurant on the esplanade and head back ready for an early start in the morning.

Monday 16 November. A dead horse

Finally having some WiFi connection for a reasonable price and nothing particularly pressing to do for the day, I decide to have a go at setting up a blog. Sue is complaining that it would be much easier to have an online diary than having to send individual emails to everyone. OK, OK, I’m on to it.

I sit in the garden at Traveller’s Oasis and join Blogger - easy. I start uploading photos and add text - easy. I post the results – disaster. Words and pictures are all over the place, everything out of order. Sue brings breakfast, tea, coffee, lunch. She gets bored and goes off into town on her own. I sit in paradise tearing my hair out and grinding my teeth - blogging a dead horse. Eventually I find a format that seems to work. It doesn’t work as I would like it – everything is in reverse order for starters – but I think we are stuck with it. It takes most of the day to post the first three days of the trip, but at least I know how it works now.

(Sue) I wandered off up through the main drag where we had walked the previous evening. When I got to The Esplanade, I realised that what we had assumed to be an architectural water feature /cityscape, was actually a swimming lagoon. It was absolutely heaving, there being droves of people swimming, paddling, lounging and making use of the numerous public BBQs. I thought that I had better take a few photos so Phil would be able to see what he had missed when I returned.

I strolled towards the marina area, along the boardwalk, and hoped to find some pelicans.

Marina Flotsam

I found half a dozen or more individuals and groups of people fishing with lines on reels rather than with rods. The Aborigines seemed to favour raw prawn as bait, for grouper I think they said. I told them I was looking for pelicans, and they laughed, because I had come to the wrong side of the bay, and pointed to something on the other side that I couldn’t see.

About 10 mins later I found my first pelican, and marvelled at how big they are. I have only seen pelicans in the wild once before, in Mexico, years ago, and did not remember them being as big as these Australian birds. There were scores of birds feeding on the mud flats at low tide.

I got back to the hostel around 5.30, bearing in mind that we were going out for a BBQ at 6.30, and took Phil a present of cold beer. He was still fiddling with the net book.

We were ferried in a minibus to the sister hostel where the owner was cooking food for everyone on the barbie in the tropical palm fringed garden. It is apparently a regular event on a Monday. ‘OMG’, I thought – more crocodile, and kangaroo, and emu as well this time, served with a good range of salads. I successfully gave Phil my croc and kangaroo, and an american woman was the eager and willing recipient of my emu, which having failed to yield to my knife on second and third attempt, no longer held any interest for me.

It was great fun, enjoyed by lots of different nationalities, and included a didgeridoo playing / blowing contest, with a prize of an activity trip. If that were not enough, we had tokens for a free drink at a nightclub afterwards. Those needing to be up early for planned trips were ferried home and the rest of us were shuttled to the club for the promised drink.

We didn’t enter the competition to win a $100 bar tab. Entrants were partnered with complete strangers and had to simulate as many sexual positions as possible in 60 seconds. We made our excuses and left. (Sue)

Sunday 15 November. To Cairns

We have until 10 to check out so we pack up and leave the room on the dot. There are a few hours until the bus takes us to the airport so we get breakfast and wait around writing postcards. Our flight to Cairns gets in after 6pm. There is another half hour adjustment so we are now 10 hours ahead of the UK, which should be our last time change for a couple of months.
We get a taxi to the Travellers Oasis, another hostel with a bit of a hippy vibe to it. It’s a pleasant place made up of three houses set round a pool, with palm trees and shaded areas to sit under. Although most of the clientele are in their twenties there are a few our age or older. Everyone is very friendly and we swap travellers tales and get tips on what to see in Cairns.
We take a walk through town to the Esplanade, stopping for beers on the way back then find a bottle shop and get wine. Back at the room we buy WiFi connection until the morning and catch up on emails. Sue can even listen to the Archers. Fantastic! (Sue)

Saturday 14 November. Sunrise over Uluru

The alarm is set for 4am as we have to get up to see it all over again in reverse. The coach picks us up at 4.55 and takes us to a different viewing area from the night before so the sun rises behind us. Supplied with tea and biscuits we head out to various viewpoints. It is hard to find a view that is not obscured by a tree or bush, or someone else with a camera and a big hat. Everyone takes loads of photos, most of which will look identical. Uluru changes from brown to red. We all head back to our coaches.

Excuse me while I remove my cynical head. Uluru really is magnificent, a huge monolithic rock standing out in a vast plain. The land around is semi-arid desert but surprisingly green. We didn’t see the supposed changing colours much in evidence, but I guess that depends on atmospheric conditions and dust refracting the sunlight from the horizon. The more dramatic the sunrise or sunset, the better will be the colours of Uluru.

Next on the itinerary is a cultural walk around part of the base of the rock. Our guide Rebecca shows us how features in the rock were interpreted to show fables and moral tales rather as stained glass windows in English churches portrayed parables. For the aborigines the whole landscape must have been like a picture book. We see some aboriginal ‘art’ in caves which were probably just marks on the wall to teach boys about hunting – like scrawl on a blackboard in a schoolroom.

We bus round to the climb point where you can ascend to the top of the rock. The local indigenous people ask visitors not to climb the rock, and we don’t get the chance anyway. Because of the heat, the climb is closed when we get there. People who set out earlier are now descending and some are obviously finding it difficult. It is extremely steep and some are sliding down on their backsides. I was a bit sorry in a way that I had come all this way and not had the opportunity to climb the rock. It was extremely hot, and when I saw how very steep it was I felt a bit queasy at the thought , not so much of going up, but I think that I would have been one of those tourists who would have needed to be rescued on their way down. It appeared to be precipitous. (Sue)

We get more tea and cake then set off for another walk on this side of Uluru. There are a number of caves used for various purposes, and sacred sites which we are not allowed to photograph – nor even to know their true significance.

Back at our room around midday we make up for lost sleep before the evening’s ‘Sound of Silence’ meal. As ever, a coach picks us up and heads out of the resort. This time though we rumble down a dirt road for a few kilometres until we halt by a small hill. We are situated somewhere between Uluru and Kata Tjuta on opposite horizons. The sun is setting almost behind Kata Tjuta. We ascend a sandy path to a paved area where we are given a glass of sparkling wine and canapés – kangaroo and crocodile canapés in fact, amongst others.

We meet some people who were on the tour this morning. More glasses of wine are drunk.

We make up a table of eight and descend the other side of the hill to an area of red sand with tables set out. We help ourselves at the buffet to more crocodile (tastes like chicken), kangaroo, lamb etc. and various side dishes, but with the tables lit only by small lamps it is very difficult to make out what one is eating. By this stage I had decided that I did not like crocodile, and was reasonably convinced that kangaroo would not become a favourite in the foreseeable future.(Sue)

A didgeridoo plays for a while and then we are told a bit about the instrument. We get a talk on the southern skies. Unfortunately it is a little cloudy so we don’t have the full stargazing experience. Wine continues to be poured. Dessert is served, and coffee and port, and we all have a good time. All too soon it is time to go back. Thank goodness we don’t have to get up at 4 in the morning tomorrow.

Friday 13 November. Off to Uluru

Never mind the date. We are up early again to take our coach at 7.05. We pass through the Heavitree Gap in the MacDonnell range of mountains. The driver says it is 465 kilometres to Ayers Rock resort and we are just about to take the first of two turnings on the route. He is quite excited.

We stop for breakfast at a camel farm and Sue elects to take a ride on Maisie the dromedary.

We stop for a photo shot of Mount Conner then on to Ayers Rock Resort.

After arriving at Ayers Rock resort and checking in, our first trip takes us to Kata Tjuta (formerly known as The Olgas). In some ways these domes are even more impressive than Uluru.

We take a walk into Walpa gorge which has a trickle of water from a spring and is surprisingly green in places. There are tadpoles in some of the pools.

Next stop sunset at Uluru. The whole exercise runs like a well oiled machine. We arrive and take our place with hundreds of others, which makes us realise how commercialised this place is. With our camp stool and complimentary glass of wine we watch as the sun sets. Uluru changes from red to brown. Wow. We pack up and go back to the resort.

Thursday 12 November. Alice Springs

We arrive at 9.30 in the morning. Outside it is 40C but a lot more comfortable than Darwin being so dry. We drag our bags across town, over the bridge crossing the bone dry Todd River to our hostel where we are offered a choice of accommodation – an old bus or a shed. Both were actually nicely furnished, quite comfortable with a/c and a fridge in the bus. Sue chooses the shed which she prefers to call the ‘Wendy House’, because it has a veranda.

After settling in we walk back to explore the town. This is the second largest town in NT and is probably the size of Chippenham or Stroud. We have lunch in a café then look at the old hospital, the oldest building in Alice dating to 1926. It was set up by John Flynn who travelled the area as a camel-riding padre and was involved with the early Flying Doctor service, pedal driven radios and other innovations. Quite a remarkable character.

Back at the hostel we are able to access WiFi and Sue skypes Alex before he goes to work.

Wednesday 11th November. The Ghan

My first impressions (Sue) of the splendid looking silvered train, with 23 carriages, once we had got on were that it was slightly smelly in a damp mouldering kind of way. We cheapskates had elected to bypass the bed option and purchased the sit up all night seats in the Red zone. These seats were not uncomfortable, and there was plenty of leg room, which was just as well since we would be in them for the next 21 hours.

We got going at 10 am, clocking up kilometre after kilometre of the rather boring to look at semi arid landscape, with regular patches of burned scrub.

In the afternoon at 14.10 we were obliged to get off the train for the enforced stop in the town of Katherine for the next four hours. We had already been warned that there was little to do in this town, and had been advised to go on a trip to ease the monotony.

We hired a double canoe for a couple of hours from Sunnyvale Homestead. This attractive building is apparently the oldest in the Northern Territory, having been built in 1879.

Our concerns about saltwater crocodiles weren’t entirely answered by the woman hiring the canoes. She said they had a trap out and hadn’t caught any so there probably were none around – but she couldn’t guarantee it!(Phil)

The boats were stable, and fairly easy to paddle, though from the state of me, you might not get that impression! The river was reasonably lazy, no white water, which made for a leisurely trip upstream and a slow drift back.

The last time we did anything like this was with Phil and Angie on the river Wye near Hay a few years ago. The wildlife was a little different then.(Phil)

It was a lot cooler on the water. Lovely flocks of cockatoos screeched as we passed. I thought that we had disturbed them, but they are I think generally raucous. There were lots of birds.

Back on the train it soon got dark and even the unchanging view of scrub disappeared from view. We settled down for the duration and despite the outside temp being above 30C, the a/c was so efficient that a good 50% of the passengers were cold during the night.