Aussie Road Trip
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Darwin
I didn’t want to stay there. It was in the middle of nowhere, our site was awkward and far away from the toilets, and for two dollars more we could have real toilets instead of portaloos and a shower with a door vs a semi-transparent net. We weren’t even sure it was the right place and the whole thing felt wrong. Without bothering to find the owner, we drove back through the winding dirt roads to a caravan park twenty minutes up the highway. Cool showers were a relief after morning hikes and the long, stuffy drive from Kakadu. Looci and I took our time to get a little spruced…
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Kakadu
Water buffalo…did those even exist in Australia? Apparently they did because there was an entire family running across the road in front of us. Of all the things I had expected to see in Kakadu, water buffalo wasn’t one of them. Moisture made itself known in the leaves’ vibrancy and the large emerald clumps dispersed among the tall-weedy grasses. Clouds flitted across the sun, covering the land in cool shadows. After a morning at the Gunlom infinity pool the only plan for the day was driving. There weren’t many free camp options in Kakadu, so we ended up paying fifteen dollars. The flushable toilets, sinks, and showers were a welcome…
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Unsealed Roads
2WD accessible, unsealed road, that’s what the map said. It had neglected to mention, bumpiest ride of your life, will destroy bookshelf and rip down most of your ceiling. Kakadu had been one of the top spots on my places to visit. Per person it was forty dollars for a seven-day park pass or forty dollars for a fourteen-day pass (not a typo), and in the dry season most of the sites were accessible by van…in theory. We had spent the previous night at Nitmiluk, a neighboring National Park, in a place called Leliyn (Edith Falls). Leliyn was one of the last havens to swim safely, as most of the…
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The Red Center
The time for goodbyes had arrived: Canadian Sarah stayed in Townsville to continue her journey along the east coast and American Sarah decided to end her trip in Cloncurry, the quaint Outback town she had called home before joining us. The sugarcane fields and banana plantations gave way to scraggly trees and dry glasses. It wasn’t entirely what I had expected; then again, we were only in the outskirts of the Outback. We stopped for food or petrol, and a herd of cattle crossing the highway, egged on by three cowboys on horseback. Otherwise we drove on an endless highway that melted away in a mirage to merge with the…
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Van Life on the Daily
After over twenty kilometers of hiking, I didn’t give a rat’s ass what we did the next day. I was just along for the ride. Rain kept us from doing everything as planned, though we still got a taste of the Tablelands. Quite literally in fact, as we stopped at a cheese farm for some mocha cheesecake and scones with fresh cream. You’ll just have to believe me when I say it was delicious and I wished there had been more scones. Side note: I’ve been quite remiss in describing what it’s like to live in Hagrid, our van, on the daily. We started our day depending on the drive.…
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Solo Hikes in the Jungle
If a cassowary attacked, I would be ready! At least that’s what I kept telling myself as I walked through the Wooroonooran rainforest. The Goldsborough trail was 19 kilometers and wove its way between two mountains, all the way from Babinda Boulders to Goldsborough Valley. Solo hiking is something I don’t think twice about back home. I mean there are mountain lions, bears, snakes, and potentially crazy mountain people, but other than that it’s perfect safe. But in Australia they have snakes, crocodiles, cassowaries, snakes, spiders, paralysis ticks, and snakes. Funnily enough most of my Aussie friends have said they would take the risks of Australia any day over bears…
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Daintree
Serendipity reunited us with Canadian Sarah and after some unexpected plan changes, we invited her to tag along as we traveled north of Cairns. Van life with two was comfortable, with three it was a bit of a squeeze, and it still baffles me that we accomplished it with four. To be honest, there may have been a bit of monkey business…like hiding one person in the back of Hagrid while we drove. The road from Cairns to Port Douglass was said to be one of the most dangerous in Australia. This was due purely to the fact that people can be shit drivers. The way was curvy, hugging the…
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The Great Barrier Reef
Diving just wasn’t in the books for me. Initially, I had considered doing my PADI certification in AUS, but what if I spent all that money and couldn’t go through with it? The truth was, I still had anxiety from my dive in Colombia at El Oceanario. So, I would settle for snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. From what I had been told, the experiences were quite similar; some people claimed there was more to see while snorkeling anyways. Sarah had recommended the Coral Sea Dreaming; as she had done the same tour a few months earlier and had a wonderful experience. Neither her nor Looci intended to accompany me…
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Beaches, Bathing, and Baby Koalas
After clambering over rocks and wading through waves we had finally come to the Bowen nudist beach, and it was shit. Where there should have been fluffy sand there were corals and broken shells. The slopping shore was a jumble of boulders and driftwood. Let’s be honest, there was no way I was laying naked on any surface in that area. So, did we go back the way we had come? Of course not! We went into the hill and up the boulders. At first it wasn’t terribly difficult, though my yoga mat was a bit cumbersome. Then we came to a wall of stone, Looci removed her flip flops…
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The Whitsundays
I’ve been to countless beautiful places; aside from Patagonia, this one is right up there as one of the most beautiful. The color was pure, crystal turquoise, that make your eyes thirst for one more look. Each day the tides would rise and play with the white sands, swirling them into unique patterns. Then they would depart, leaving behind a masterpiece of color. Whitehaven beach was rated the second most beautiful in the world, and despite the multitude of tour groups and helicopters overhead, it managed to retain an aura of untouched purity. The sand itself was possibly the most expensive in the world; the US having paid billions of…
