Mount Isa: The roadtrip seems endless



Mount Isa

 I am now @ Mount Isa. Which is the “biggest” city on the route between Katherine and Cairns, but without any mountain. Also very exactly in the middle, speaking of KM’s, between these two cities. Only 1200 km’s left to each place. However, I will finish them the next two days! The last two days I only made the most important stops, like eating, sleeping and make some pictures. Even there is absolutely NOTHING to see except desert, grass and sand, the scenery is magnificent. The roads seem so long lasting and never ending. They reach until the beginning of the horizon and as far the eye can reach.

Easiest way to drive so long was ,when I put myself in some kind of autopilot, without thinking anything and just existing in a basic shape of a human being – and the hours flew like minutes ..haha!

Just some minutes ago I stopped at a roadhouse, having a foot bath and booked the flight from Cairns to Papua New Guinea. I will depart on Monday next week. Actually, I already searched for a way to change the flight dates, cause Monday is so very soon. So I think I will contact the customer care of the airline, to see if I can change it.

Kakadu: The last day



Gunlum Lookout in Kakadu

This last day in Kakadu I got up at 5:30 and made my way to the Gunlum lookout. That was indeed the nicest place I have seen all over Kakadu. Its a 1km hiking trail up to a mountain and on the top there are several natural pools, a few footstep above the edge and the waterfall, which falls down about 100 meters! So when I was pissing into the water, it flew with the waterfall all the way down into the bottom pool!

Now im in back in Katherine. The place where the zombies are alive. Seriously, now im the second time in this place and these aboriginal people here scare me.  I dont have anything about aboriginal people and actually its very interesting to talk to them. But here in Katherine, they are different than in other places. They seem to be drunk all day long and always walk the same routes around the mall and on the streets. And they are shouting around all the time! Then they stop and talk to their zombie friends before continue their slow drunken-style walking to the next corner!

However, I will leave here tomorrow (Sunday) and put myself on the savannah way, which is probably the shortest way (in KMs) to cairns. The negative about it is, that most of it is gravel road and there aren’t many food courts or similar in that area :D! Also im not sure if there is cellphone signal….! Also im not sure how many days I will need until im in the next bigger place. Oh and its not 3000 km anymore – just about 2400 until cairns …:D!! 

Kakadu: Is it overrated?

Huuuhh! Finally I found a campground in kakadu, where im able to sleep, shower and have internet connection. But it’s a very godforsaken place here. Theres absolutely nobody else on the campground – not even something like a reception or so – nothing. Just a ranger passed some hours ago to collect the camp fee. Around me its pitch black dark and I just can see my computer monitor and from time to time, I hear in the bushes some kangaroos hopping some meters away from me.
But I think all campgrounds are basically safe. And my conclusion is, that the official campgrounds are probably more dangerous than any unofficial wildcamping spot. Cause if I would be a robber, then I would first roam around the official camp grounds to find any things to steal, before searching somewhere beside the road in a remote place…  

Kakadu… yeah, ehm, actually I expected little bit more and honestly, I am a little bit disappointed. The “jim jim falls” waterfall is nice, even there was no water falling from the waterfall..haha! Kakadu is nicer than the Nitmiluk or Litchfield NP, but … anyway.. tomorrow is another day here (the last one) and then i will again hit the road for some kilometers. Next big destination will be cairns, which is about 3000 km away..!!

I wish it would rain here little bit too. I didn’t see rain for about 1.5 months.

Have to get now in to the Pajiero. The mosquitos are getting wild all around me!

East Timor: Best BBQ ever

Im back now in Darwin and on the way already to kakadu. It’s the most famous nationalpark in Australia. This morning I had the early morning departure from timor and I felt all day long so tired and powerless! Some minutes ago I finished the bbq beside the Pajiero and feel now much better.

Its very hot here in darwin and in East Timor I bought mozzie net, which I hung around the paji, so that I can sleep with open windows. Otherwise I would die! I also bought a mosquito killer badminton racket. The rackets which are electrical loaded and when a mosquito or other insect flies into, it get killed by a lightning! :D! Im using it right now while writing and there were already a few dozen insects sent to heaven… ! Of course I was excited if it does anything to human and touched in it – I can tell now, YES, it does “something” to human…hehe

 

Back to East Timor. Some people in the campground asked me if East Timor is dangerous? East Timor WAS a very violent place. But as of now, as the soldiers said which I have talked to, it seems to be safe. Unfortunately the UN is leaving East Timor by the end of this year, and lots of locals are afraid that the Indonesian underground terrorists come back to fight again against east timor.

In East Timor i saw these houses on several villages along the road. All i knew about the little houses in the picture is, that it is for those people like a church, as they have their own religion.

 

Very nice also was the beach promenade in Dili, with all these people sitting and eating. Every evening the locals build up their BBQ grills. They sell many different grilled fishes, chicken and porks to anyone. Beside they just serve some kind of yellow rice with a special herb. Mmmhh, it tastes so awesome and I ate so much of it, that there was no millimeter more space in my stomach..:)!!

 

The diving was great! Those corals are very healthy there and untouched by mass tourists and divers. I put some pics in attachement. Just the dive guide was an idiot! He has chosen a divespot, where we divers all had to walk into the water above sharp stones and corals. As I didn’t have any neoprene (just the dive-shirt, swim shorts and was barefoot), I got probably more scratches that day than anybody else and looked like a street dog with all the scratches! And even these corals there weren’t poisoness, they left back very itchy parts and scratches on my legs and arms. Arrgh, such a stupid, uneducated and useless diveguide :D. I want go back and punch him !!!

East Timor: With motorbike on hiking trails

I came back today from the motorbike tour and it was awesome, but very exhausting! These roads are more worse than those in the Philippines :)! Lot parts are sealed, but even under that circumstance there could be every meter a huge whole in the road, which becomes visible ten meters before. I said hello to a lot of them, but thankfully I didn’t fall. And seriously, some parts of the road were literaly trekking trails where I had to wheel the motorbike beside me! Its like a wonder that the motorbike is still working.. haha!! The distances itself was just about 450 Km one way, but with these road conditions being always concentrated to the highest was the hardest part.

Baucau

The overnight-stop I made in Baucau. Its the second "largest" city after Dili and has a about 3 guesthouses in poor condition and one luxury accomodation. So infront of the hotel i parked my motorbike and one second later a group of small boys stood around me and the vehicle. They asked questions, acted very nervous with an obvious intention to grab anything that is not observed by myself. That was finally the point where my watch got robbed. Well, at least they didnt steal the motorbike...

Jaco Island - east corner in East Timor

Anyway, I spent just one day in Bacau. But somehow I had the strange feeling that white people are either very welcomed and people were very friendly to me, but on the other side there were a few groups that shouted bad tand agressive things to me while I passed them.

My main destination was in east East-Timor in the corner. The name is Tutuala and the island beside is Jaco Island. I met two guys from spain there, which were professional photographers and gave me some cool insights in their technics. Tourists are so seldom here in east-timor. I guess I saw about 5 of them, since im here! Instead there are many UN-soldiers everywhere. These guys are driving like mad ones along the streets with their 4wd’s. And on the same day I was on Jaco Island, there was this group of Portuguese UN soldiers, having their days off. Those guys behave like animals with drinking and shouting – but in a friendly way :)!


Tomorrow I’ll go diving. Im excited, cause East Timor is said to have some of the nicest and widely unexplored dive spots in the world!

East Timor: Dili

Arrived in Dili today and a taxi driver took me to the first best cheapest guesthouse. It was in the backyard of a indian "somthing-like-a" restaurant. But surprisingly the room was clean and didnt have any insects.

Dili is a ugly place and the centre is particulary one long main road which ends suddendly, cause fallen rocks covered the road and cut it in two pieces. Then there is a second road along the coast and the beach. The promenade is actually very nice to walk and has lots of small restaurants and places to get a coke.

The most civilized  place i detected in Dili was the shopping mall, which opened this year. There are not much shops yet inside, but at least a food court, 5 Telecom Shops (all from the same provider), two coffee-shops and a few supermarkets. Also there is a tourist information in the mall. I went there and worked together with the two ladies on my itinerary for my week here in East Timor. They were helpful and provided me with a bunch of phone numbers and maps etc.

I knew there are two motorbike rental stations in East Timor. But I spent most of the day searching for them. Finally I found them, but the choices of bikes they had was  marginal and my impression was like "do you maybe have another one?" :). The first rental station had one bike - full of scratches and with a missing clutch. The other one had 3 bikes - one streetbike, one 50cc and one 125cc. So i took the 125cc cause I knew from hearing saying about the road conditions in East Timor.  The streetbike is here definately in the wrong country. Tomorrow I will start my trip across East Timor.

Darwin: Fishing can be deadly!

Sitting in McDonalds where they dont have power anymore and the whole stuff is sitting full of sweat all around me and is doing nothing…haha! Actually I just wanted a coffee! 

I went fishing in the bay and there was a dam out to the sea, made with big rocks. From there it is good for fishing and so I climbed out there at about 4pm. There i suddenly noticed that the tide is coming in, but I didn’t bother and just kept on fishing. The water got higher and higher and suddenly the way back was under water too and now I got stuck out there on the rocks, while the tide was about one meter bellow me. Thankfully it didn’t come up higher, otherwise I must have swim to the shore in the water where crocs and box-jellyfish were living. I got seriously nervous, cause after the high tide (the water was 7 metres higher than normal) the water didn’t go back so fast and I knew that I will be there for looong time. So it was about 8pm and pitch black dark when the water went back little bit and at least the flooded rocks were visible on the tops. So I tried to climb back slowly meter for meter, with the fishing rod in one hand and the tackle box under the arm. But the shit rocks were so slippery and the waves were strong and I actually fall once between the rocks. Damn, thanks god I was able to grab a rock and to get up again. After this I waited for about another hour until the water went back again little bit and tried it again, cm for cm. It took me about 45 minutes until I reached the shore and I knew, when I make a little wrong step and will slip again, then.. yeah.. no idea what would have been then….

Thankfully I didn’t have my camera with me, cause otherwise it wont working anymore! Even all the fishing hooks I had with me, are now all full of stain and unusable. Also the mobile phone I had there that time, is exploded while it came in contact with the water :D

At the end i came out healthy.. many scratches and a defective mobile phone – but that’s it, thankfully.
The cool thing about this was, that I probably will be on many many pictures! Cause I sat out there fishing the on rock alone, while at about 6:30pm the huge red sun went down at the horizon behind me and lots of tourists wanted to see that from the jetty and the shore..hahaha!!

Tomorrow in early morning I will leave to East Timor.

Darwin: Im not the only beginner in fishing

Still no luck with fishing yesterday. I was at two different bays and I think that Im doing something wrong. But at least I was not the only newcomer at the bay. I met a couple which started fishing there yesterday and, holy shit, they handled the rod and everything 10 times more complicate than I did in my “early beginnings” of my fishing career..hehe!! Thankfully they didn’t catch anything neither..haha!! Otherwhise I probably should copy their tactics how to handle the fishing gear - or get rid of all my fishing gear with the conclusion, that im unable to fish :)

I read some crazy articles and review from other tourists who have been in East Timor. And it seems in particular a very very undeveloped and tourist unprepared country with lot of gang activities going on there. And my plan for today and tomorrow is to read as much as possible about the “where to go’s” and “what to see’s”.

Darwin: My daily businesses!

Sitting now in the campground and enjoy the morning sun, after having two other busy days. Yesterday I tried fishing again with the 10 days old bait, which was already smelling like hell. No wonder there didn’t bite any fish…! Then I went washing my car. Then getting a new car battery in the midday heat, after the engine didn’t start again. Then had a talk to local fishermen for about two hours. They gave me a lot of information about the secrets of fishing. One of them invited me going today to Arnhem land with his aboriginal wife, a far away aboriginal land – 2 days of driving away. But actually I had enough stress the last few days. Also I don’t think that the Paji will make it in that dirty dirt road up to Arnhem land :)

In attachement is one pic from the crocosaurus cove! The pic doesn’t show how huge the croc finally is. Anyway, I was lucky that I had the chance to make a pic right at the moment the croc was swimming so close at the glass above me.

Darwin: The famous croco-cove

Im sitting now in a beach restaurant and drinking coffee, after having some theoretical fishing lessons with some local recreational fishermen at the jetty. They gave me some great information in how, where and when to fish here in Darwin. I think I will try realize the theory tomorrow. Today I was in the crocosaurus cove. Its the cage where people can swim with the croc. There is a swimming pool with the croc inside and tourists can climb into a plexicove, which gets dropped into the swimming pool. Around it, the rangers feed the croc with delicious smelling beef steak and the tourists can swim eye to eye with the monster. I didn’t swim in there, because the row was too long and the fee to high, but I watched other people swim and made pictures. It was really awesome there and watching the huge fat crocs getting fed.

Its getting pretty hot here. I guess I was little bit too long in the sun, cause I feel some headache and dizziness. So I better move away from here, and go visiting the nightmarket here along the beach road.

Darwin: Arriving and relax a bit!

Finally managed to cut the beard little bit ..:D! I guess for the first time since im here in Australia, Im able to relax for the next few days. Yesterday by night, I arrived in Darwin and I was so done. Completely tired and dirty and powerless – at the end with the nerves. All I wanted was getting a shower and have sleep. In Darwin CBD I didn’t find any accommodation which had available space. Just some dorm beds. So I decided to find a quite place to get my shower from my campshower and sleep for another night in the paji. Both wasn’t actually that easy. Especially finding sleep in that crazy heat without any wind was pretty hard.

By now, im in a nice campground/caravanpark and some minutes ago, I built up the tent for the first time :D! Excited how sleeping is in there. Ahh and, nooo insects here. Don’t know how they achieved to get such a fly-and-mosquito-free place! But if they hunt me again, im prepared! I have upgraded my equipment with a super-duper anti mosquito spray, which makes them immediately fly away when smelling it!!

So for some days I will stay here, relax, fish, enjoy the city and plan the next days and weeks! 

Thankfully I didn’t have problems with the car in that desert or other lost places the last few days. That would be a problem .. a not so funny one! Cause out there wont work any mobile phone. Some people have satellite phones. When you have a prob you just can be lucky that someone with the sat-phone is snowing by!

Im going now watching, for the second time, if there is water in the showers. Last time they didn’t have :D! Then I will go for a walk outside the campground to find a restaurant where I can fill my empty stomach! Just had some canned pink salmon and some toast today.

Katherine: The Nitmiluk NP

Finished with Nitmiluk&Co :D! Was there this morning and most of it was just walking or better said, hiking. It has some nice billabongs where people can swim. But - i dont like the thought, swimming the same pool with the chance hitting onto a saltwater croc.

I just did about 3 kilometres of hiking in Nitmiluk, cause it was too hot.

Yesterday evening I camped somewhere beside a road beside the wilderness and meanwhile I have to smile how the procedures works after the sun goes down. As long the sun is up, the flyes are so annoying and after the sun is down, the mosquitos start their work. It like a shift change ..hehe¨! And the darker it gets it louder gets out there in the bushes! I was sitting there and listened to the sound and noises they make and the darker and later it got, the noisier it went and the more I had the feeling the animals in there come closer and closer to me – i felt as I was in a trap …:)! No idea what creatures were doing out there, but it got soo loud and I decided to move in the Pajiero. :)

After writing (here in mcdonnaldJ), I will move on to the north. To the Litchfield NP, which is close to Darwin. Probably I will spend about two days there, before heading up to Darwin. 

Today I will again grilling some meat! Beef again! But it has another shape than the other ones before, so it a little bite a change..hehe!! Hopefully I can go fishing around the Litchfield NP, so that I for the first time can eat my own catched fish…

Katherine: Finally in a "bigger" place

I already moved forward to Katherine, which is a little bit a bigger place - again 500 kilometres in the east. As there was absolutely, really absolutely nothing else between Kununurra and Katherine, I had to drive all the way today.

Even it is a bigger city than Kununurra, it has very similar marginal tourist infrastructure compared to kununurra! But at least here they have a mcdonalds!.:) Tomorrow Ill go to the Nitmiluk National Park, which is the most famous place around here. Hopefully ill see some crocs.

I gotta have to obtain now some maps and information from the nitmiluk, so that I wont get lost there tomorrow..:)

Gibb River Road: Fishing between Saltwater Crocodiles

Yeah i finished the Gibb River Road today. It was pretty tough (for me and the Pajiero) and honestly, I didn’t believe that the paji will make it all the way long that well. But he did :D ! Im now in Kununurra and have to give the paji a little service with oil change. Hopefully that’s all he need. 

Now im sitting in a coffeeshop and just sipped on my caffee late. Beside there is a little piece of chocolate and I munched it immediately. It tastes soo good – I didn’t have chocolate for about one week :D!

Yesterday I stayed at a campground beside the Gibb River Road, and they had a huge area which included a remote area, right to a saltwater river. And it had crocos in there – saltwater crocos :)! The funny thing is, they actually let you camp right beside that river :D! I arrived yesterday there and several times I heard some loud splashes from the river and when I went watching, once I saw a croc hunting a bird! This morning I went fishing at that river. I stood up at 5:30am, so that nobody was awake and could see me fishing, as I knew how newbie like I would handle the rod… haha! Unfortunately, after 2 minutes there was a fish on the hook. I was shocked little bit, cause honestly, I hoped that there wont bite any. I was shocked cause I didn’t know what to do now!!! Last year I was fishing several times in holiday – but just from a boat, and with other people who know what to do. Sooooo there was this fish on the hook today. Whats next ?:)! Of course, kill it! This part I also did while fishing before, but the next parts were absolutely “what the hell now?”! All I could figure out was, that it was a catfish! So I washed it and my next intention was to disembowel it. Then put it on ice and eat it for dinner! Sounds easy :D! Actually, I had to give up at the part “disembowel” it. I did not know how to disembowel a catfish, nor which part of it I can eat. Nor wasn’t I prepared well, as I didn’t have ice anymore in the icebox! The poor end was, that I dumped the dead fish back to the croco-river. That’s a sad story – I know. But now I know that I have to learn much more about fishing than I thought….!
 

Fishing in a Saltwater Crocodile River

Derby: The poor little Owl

Yesterday evening, it was just about 8pm, when I drove back to broome, I knew that I hit an owl with my car on the way. I hoped that it was dead because I hit her really bad. And a injured owl is like a dead owl in the wilderness. Well she was dead! When I got up this morning and cleaned my teeth, I walked around my car and in the front between the bullbar there was hanging this poor little owl.. haha! But it was not that funny to get the owl out from there! Also when I woke up this morning I was little bit shocked when I looked out of my window. There were some horses walking around the car – just about 10 metres away..:)!

My plan for the next few days is getting from here (Derby) to Kununurra, which is a distance of 700km on the famous Gibb River Road and just recomended for 4wd, cause there are river crossings and soft sand roads with rocks and mudd. My biggest hope is that the car will do it and that the fuel, thath i have with me, is enough. Also I have absolutely no idea how many days it will take to get there. I know that there is no wifi nor mobile access. I hope to be at the end of the road in 3-4 days!

Cape Leveque: A very nice cape



Cape Leveque

Im in Cape Leveque and its somewhere at the coast north of Broome. I will get up early tomorrow morning and drive back to Broome, to get the highway to Derby – the next bigger city. Up here it is so aweseome and especially the white sandy beach is incredible to drive along! The cliffs along the cape are deep red and look like as it is tinted red manually by the aboriginals. Also the 150 km drive up here was special. It was just sand road and doable with a 4wd. So it was good practise to experiment with the different gears functions and the tyre pressures. So the paji did a good jop until yet :D