August 2004

Week 71: Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th August

We awoke early and left Carnavon behind on our way south towards Perth. Our target today was to reach Monkey Mia, but we had a few interesting sites to see first. Our first port of call was Hamelin Pool, a marine reserve containing the world’s best known colony of stromolites. These fascinating microbes are descendents of organisms that existed 1900 million years ago and established the building block for more complex life. They were amazing to see, hexagonal columns rising from the shallow waters. We then drove five minutes down the road to shell beach, a 110km-long beach that is up to 10 meters deep in solid shells. In places the shells are so tightly packed that they used to be quarried and used as building blocks. The last stop of the morning was Eagle Bluff, with amazing cliff top views over the sea, on a good day you can see large fish swimming in the shallow waters, but in true four on tour style we obviously hadn’t come on a good day as we didn’t spot any marine life. Time for lunch and a quick look around Denham, with some good examples of buildings made from shell blocks. We then set off for Monkey Mia and our final destination for the day. We managed to get ourselves a nice little hut with all the amenities we would need for the evening, apart from enough beds! There was a bunk bed with a double bed on the bottom, so enough for three of us. We decided to play a game of cards to see who got what bed. Phil won so got to sleep on his own, Matt and Rich came 2nd and 3rd respectively so they had to share and poor old Liam had the comfort of the floor. Liam had other plans though, we shared a bathroom with the adjoining hut and since there was nobody in that hut Liam decided to jimmy the lock and have a room all to himself for the night. We had a wonder down to the pub in the evening but it was very quiet so we decided to have an early night.

Monkey Mia is famous for its dolphins. Twice a day a crowd of people stand on the shore line as the rangers feed the dolphins. The dolphins have become used to the crowds of onlookers and will come right up to the crowd as they wait for the fish to be handed out. It’s a great opportunity to get some great photos of the dolphins. The rangers only feed them a few fish each and do not feed the calves as they don’t want them to become dependent. We spent an hour looking around the marine information centre, which is well worth a visit, before packing Felix and heading south to Geraldton. We arrived in Geraldton, the mid-west’s largest town with a population of 23,504, late afternoon and moved into the Foreshore hostel for a night. The Foreshore is a one of those old buildings with really high ceilings, the whole décor of the place made you think old, but very cosy. We spent the evening with a few travelling teachers playing pool, a couple of nice girls and a strange older bloke.

Before we left Geraldton we had to sort out a new tyre as we had had another blow out on poor old Felix. We then had a quick drive around the town and looked at the HMAS Sydney monument before making our way to Cervantes. The small sea port with a population of 480 would not be a stop for any traveller if it wasn’t for the bizarre and daunting Pinnacles dessert. The flat sandy dessert is punctured with peculiar limestone pillars ranging between a few centimetres high to a staggering five meters. We arrived in Cervantes and checked into the only hostel in the area, luckily it was very nice. We went to the Pinnacles just before sunset and for some reason, maybe because it was out of season, we didn’t have to pay the $9 to get in. There’s a dirt road that cuts through the stone pillars which saved us from having to walk which was nice. We did end up having a little stroll thru the pillars to a wooden platform, which is where we watched the sunset. It began to drizzle while we were there which created some good photos with the setting sun. That evening we set out in search of food but there was nothing open so we were forced to go to the pub for crisps, chocolate and the odd beer. While playing pool we got chatting to a couple of the locals, we ended up going back to Gingers house for a few after hours drinks and a bit of a smoke. Needless to say we had a very hazy night before miraculously finding our way back to the hostel.

We awoke a little groggy from the night before and walked back to the pub to pick up Felix who had had an all nighter. We got our selves some breakfast and headed off towards Perth. On the way we stopped of to see some more Stromolites but these weren’t as impressive as the ones we had already seen a few days ago. We finally made it to Perth and checked into the Underground hostel which was a large vibrant hostel with great facilities including a mini cinema in the basement. We met up with Fran and had a relaxing evening. We had made it half way around this massive country, more import6antly, Felix had made it!

We spent the Friday having a look around Perth and doing a bit of window shopping. We were going to stay in Perth for a couple of weeks, this would give us time to earn a little money and also give poor old Felix a well deserved rest. In Sydney Richard and Liam had worked for a company called Synergy doing telesales, Synergy had a branch in Perth so we went and found the office and asked if they needed any experienced telephone operators. We told them that we would be in Perth for a few months, a little white lie, and were told there was work and we could come back for an induction next Monday. Pleased with the result on the job front we treated ourselves to a few frames of snooker before heading off to Mustangs, one of the local pubs. We then went to the pub Fran was working at to meet her after work. She was wasted as she was allowed to drink while she was behind the bar. That evening Rich spent a bit of quality time with Fran, Liam had a quiet one while Phil and Matt decided to try out Bog, one of the local night spots.

Saturday got off to a slow start. We finally got out of the underground hostel around mid-day and spent the afternoon in the snooker hall. For the evening we had organised a big one at a club called The Deen for Fran’s birthday. We paid $15 for the ticket and this gave us free alcohol for most of the night. We had a few in Mustangs before we headed off to The Deen. It ended up being a typically drunken night with none of leaving the club with to much memory of what had actually happened while we had been in there, good night.

After another understandably late start to the day we dragged ourselves out of the hostel and made our way to Fremantle for the afternoon. Freo as the locals like to refer to it is a nice laid back town on the outskirts of Perth with plenty of history and lots to see and do. We had a wander around for a while, got something to eat and then went to the Maritime museum. The museum has a large display on W.A’s maritime history. It’s definitely worth a visit and has quite a few hands on exhibits that kept us entertained. Freo also has a very good pub culture, we went to a really nice chilled out bar that was just right for a few quite drinks in the afternoon. In the evening we went out to Mustangs by the hostel to watch the community shield and celebrate the start of another year of premiership football.

Week 72: Monday 9th to Sunday 15th August

Monday was our first day at work at Synergy, and we were met at the office at 1 pm by Frank Rogers (no relation to Chris) for our induction. Frank is in his 60’s and you get the feeling he has worked in Sales for a seriously long time. At first he seemed quite severe but it soon became clear that this was just an exterior and is in fact a rather gentle man with a dry sense of humour. He showed us the ropes and took us through a few role play tasks (I’m an awkward customer, how do you react blah blah blah), trying to catch us out, not having much luck doing so and appearing quite impressed by our obvious natural sales ability. The campaign we were to be working on was Special Olympics, raising money for intellectually disabled athletes. The job is basically the same as the one Rich and Liam did in Sydney, you have to ring individuals and businesses and ask them to by some raffle entries to support the charity and give themselves a million to 1 chance of winning a shopping spree at Retravision (electronics) or a holiday. We tried to keep the questions rolling as long as possible really just to delay the inevitable but after running out of idiotic things to ask we finally had to start the job itself. All of us did relatively well, as long as you can speak English and sound sincere there’s really no excuse for not getting at least a handful of sales, and the rest of the day quickly passed by. After work we unwound with a couple of frames of snooker at happy hour prices and then spent the evening relaxing back at the hostel.

Back to work on Tuesday. We all agree that the Special Olympics charity is a worthy cause. The problem is with the method charities such as this go about raising money. By allowing another company to run a raffle they undoubtedly raise a good deal of money for the cause, probably more than they would by using many other methods of raining donations. The problem is that the company that runs the raffle such as Synergy also make a lot of money and the average person who makes a donation has no idea just how many cents of there dollar is actually going to the charity. Nobody seems to want to or be able to answer this question so you can’t help but suspect that Synergy ends up taking a sizeable slice. After work we had good pint of beer in Brass Monkey and another relaxing evening.

More of the same, we worked, ate, then came home and watched Goldmember in Underground’s basement cinema. A few words on Underground Hostel; it’s large, fully equipped including a home entertainment room in the basement and a small but decent bar. The kitchen is large and well organized. It also has a swimming pool, although it was a bit cold to use while we were there. The only complaint would be that they advertise lots of promotions such as free Sunday dinner, free pizza and video night, happy hour drinks prices etc, not of which materialized during our stay, apparently because ‘it’s not busy enough’. Why advertise them then?

Rich and Phil didn’t go to work, the former not well and the latter just couldn’t be bothered, after all three days of working four hour shifts really starts to wear you down! In the evening Matt and Phil went to Mustangs, a lively pub with live music and a table-tennis competition on a Thursday. After Mustangs it was off to the notorious ‘bog’, one of these ‘Irish’ pubs with no obvious signs of ‘Irishness’ other than a shamrock for a logo and people getting very drunk. We did get to met an Irish group of travelers, Roisin, Steve, Big Steve and Kate to name but a few who we were to become good friends with. Whilst in Bali Steve had jumped barefooted off a stage and landed on half a pint glass – ow. Needless to say it was quite a nasty accident and he had been on crutches for the past month or so. Phil and Matt returned to the hostel at around 6 am.

Rich was still ill and stayed at Fran’s gaff. Matt went out with Roisin for lunch. Liam and Phil went to Swan Bells, an interesting and prominent monument glass and copper structure that showcases the bells of St Martin-in-the Field, and was a gift to the people of Perth from the British to commemorate the Australian Bicentennial in 1988. They then went to Kings Park, a beautiful spot that looks out over the city and harbour and has some lovely walks through the botanical gardens and along aerial walkways. In the evening we went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow and English pub which serves a decent pint of Old Speckled Hen and had a few bevies with the Irish bunch.

Saturday was most notable for us watching copious amounts of football as indeed we seemed to have done whenever we could on Saturday’s (and Sunday and sometimes Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and even Thursday). No-one can remember what games we watched or even where we watched them but needless to say, some of us were happy and some not so happy and we shouted and screamed a lot.

Time to get off our backsides and do something, so we took a very pleasant ferry journey to the historic port of Fremantle which is about 20 km’s from Perth. The journey takes you past some very exclusive neighborhoods boasting property’s that most of us could only ever dream of. Once in ‘Freo’ we took a look around the Maritime Museum, the walked around the famous markets before ending up at the Sail & Anchor pub which brews a number of excellent beers and is the perfect place to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. We watched the footy then got taxi (because the busses seemed to have disappeared) back to Perth.

Week 73: Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd August

Perhaps because it was Monday or perhaps because we needed some money, we suddenly remembered that we had jobs and all went back to work.

Liam was the only one to brave it in to work for a second day running. Matt and Phil Spent a few hours catching up with the email at the internet café and Rich and Fran did their own thing.

Liam was going for the world record and made it into work for a third day on the trot. Phil started to dream of his South American adventure and went round the various travel agencies to discuss flight packages. In the evening we all went to Black Betty’s with VIP passes that enable you to drink for free for two hours. When people give four on tour the challenge of ‘drink all you like for free’ it can get messy, and it did.

In the morning we all did our own things, but in the afternoon the four of us plus Fran, Roisin, Steve and Kirsten (a lovely London lass who was also staying at Underground Hostel) went to see Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 at a cinema in a the pleasant suburb of Leedervale. Afterwards we visited a pub that was holding a Salsa dancing class but none of us were really in the Latino mood.

Phil and Kirsten went to the picturesque Rottnest Island and cycled round. The island was discovered by the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in 1696 and named it ‘Rats’ Nest’ because, erm, there were lots of rats there. Only, they weren’t actually rats they were Quokkas a small Wallaby which is still has a large population on the island. In the evening we went to the Deen, a huge pub and club with many different rooms and we had a great evening, saying goodbye to Roisin and Steve who were leaving the next day.

We were all late up on Saturday. Rich and Fran did there own thing, Matt went to the airport to see off Roisin and Steve and then went for a walk round Kings Park. Liam, Phil and Kirsten went shopping, and then went to get a much needed tyre for Felix. In the afternoon we went to Cottlesloe about 10 km down the coast from Perth and had fish and chips by the beach. In the evening we parked and watched some footy.

We said our goodbyes to Fran and left Perth and drove all day, we finally arrived in Kalgoorlie and checked into a hostel which was quite clearly a place that caters for those working in the nearby gold mines. We went out into town and had a meal and Red Rooster a popular WA fast food joint that does a pretty good roast chicken, mash and peas. We watched Villa v Chelsea at a ‘skimpy’ bar called The Exchange. Skimpy bars are an institution in the WA, particularly in the south and are named so because the barmaids tend to be very skimpily dressed.

Week 74: Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th August

Before we left Kalgoorlie - Boulder and its lovely 'skimpies' we decided to visit the Super Pit. As pits go this is pretty super, all in all it’s the largest pit in Australia stretching for kilometres all round and growing all the time. The huge trucks which are used in the excavation of the one dwarf minibuses and vans and are in turn made to look tiny by the sheer side of the generations. The earthly riches which they seek are in the form of gold. Over the years prospectors have come and started their own mining but more recently, over the last 30 years, a period of consolidation has enabled one corporation to take over and make the super pit viable. The history which is connected to the mining is often amusing, if at times a little predictable. Stories frequently involve a chirpy Irish chappie with a name like Paddy O'Toole or Tommy O'Shea stumbling across fields of gold as they camped out under a tree. Not forgetting of course the faithful animal which accompanies them and usually plays an important role such as kicking over a stone to find the previous metal lurking below (usually a dog or horse). All of which creates a very romantic image of these early pioneering days - it almost makes you want to grab a hat, a shovel and a hairy mongrel and have a go yourself. A couple of hours later we were heading off along the Nullabor Plain which is bad Latin for "No trees". It is a place of incredible sparseness and boredom, yet it does allow you to grasp the vastness of the country. Along the road the Nullabor contains the longest stretch of dead straight road in Australia, the 90 mile stretch. There’s not much you can say about a very long road although 5km before the end we did manage to crash into a kangaroo. The collision smashed Felix's right front light and made a small dent in the bonnet, we got away lightly - there was little damage. On the other hand Skippy’s brains were splattered all over the hard shoulder with his body still twitching due to the three metre high summersault he did through the air, before falling to the left rear of the car, giving a dozing Matthew a bit of a rude awakening. That evening we camped at a roadhouse hoping Skippy’s family weren’t out for revenge.

The next day we sat in the car for about 10 hours. We crossed the border into SA, not before ourselves on oranges that needed to be eaten before the quarantine station on the state line. We arrived in ate at a road house and watched Olympic Handball on the TV in our cabin.

Slept in slightly, we blamed it on the change in time zones, refueled and headed off to Coober Pedy. Another boring day in the car made better by the fact that we were driving a large section of road as an unsealed trade through the middle of nowhere where gave its glimpses of interesting wildlife and scenery. We also found ourselves racing alongside the Ghan, the train which runs from Adelaide to Darwin, enviously looking at its carriages wishing we were on board. Coober Pedy is a strange place. Set in the middle of the desert, temperatures during the day reach 45 degrees +. Because of these many homes and businesses have the majority of their premises underground, etched out of caves and old mining tunnels. Opals seem to be the sole reason for the existence of the town, and everybody there is involved in the industry in some way or another. The landscape around the town has provided the backdrop to many movies including Mad Max II. We stayed in an underground hostel below the surface. After checking in we went to the local (The "Opal" Inn) played darts and drank Cooper’s beer - the local brew of SA. Coober Pedy is a mix of various nationalities and for dinner we visited a Greek Tavern which had some rather odd ideas regarding customer service and thought nothing about while pigs through the dining room on their way to the kitchen. Fully fed after a meal of porterhouse steaks and chicken we headed towards our

We spent the next day seeing the sites of Coober Pedy with Claire and Michelle a couple of girls from . As they had a car the size of a bus we were chauffeured around by them in air-conditioned comfort which made a nice change. First stop was Crocodile Harry this is the chance to have a look around an underground house which is bored out of the earth. Harry himself is 76 but his age has nothing to dampen his love of women and pictures of him with topless girls and various pieces of underwear adorn the walls. He is a Latvian Baron who came home to hunt crocodiles which he seemed to do quite successfully if the pictures around his home are anything to go by. Other highlights included the Big Witch lookout which allows you to see just what a chaotic mess Coober Pedy is and the mining museum. The underground church next to our hostel was interesting, and for sunset we drove to the Breakaways, a series of rocky hills just out of town. On our way to the breakaways we passed a fence, but not just any old fence - this was the famous Australian Day fence. It’s very long - in fact at double the length of the great wall of China and 5000km. As the longest fence in the world, up close it’s strikingly similar to any other fence and Claire and Michelle were suitably impressed. That evening we went out for a few drinks at the local Italian club where Michelle to humiliate everybody on the pool table.

We were up early the next day for the drive to Uluru and the NT. Our aim was to arrive in time for sunset and this we did with about an hour to spare. The first thing that strikes you about Uluru is the sheer size of it. Uluru is a monolith which means that it is simply a big piece of rock and it reaches an altititude of 348m whilst being 3.6km long. The rock itself is covered in Iron Oxide, rust, and it’s this that gives Uluru its famous red glow. Watching the changes of colour as the sun goes down the rock gives off a whole range of reds and browns and there can be some interesting effects by clouds and sunlight. The car park is full of visitors of course and resembles a Toyota car show room with all the shiny 4x4's around. We darted off in our battered and bruised Felix to the campsite, looking forward to fine memorable sites the next day.

We watched sunrise at Kata Tjuta before taking the valley of the winds walk. KT is a collection of about 16 smaller rocks similar to Uluru which are dissected by interesting valleys and dips. On the walk you get very close to the rock surface and can really appreciate the scale of them. Weaving your way through you find yourself inside some impressive yet windy valleys - not surprising given the name of the walk - before coming to an impressive lookout. We went back to the campsite grabbed some breakfast and headed back to Uluru, where we began the walk around the base. The walk is 10km long and takes about 3 hours. Along the walk you pass rock art, strange formations, water holes and many sacred sites, not to mention about a hundred thousand flies trying to land in your ears and up your nose, but even this irritation cant come close to spoiling the atmosphere and wonder of the place. We headed off towards Kings Canyon and stayed at a campsite not far called Kings Creek. It was very expensive for the night, we had to pitch the tent on the soil and it absolutely belted it down all night. By now we were all quite content to never go in a tent again in our lives.

In the morning we had bacon and egg sandwiches in the roadhouse and felt sorry for the poor backpackers working behind the counter who seemed to have the boss from hell. We headed off to Kings Canyon and walked the 6km around the rim trying not to fall off. Kings Canyon is a very interesting place. Lots of great views and sheer drops to the rocks below. Sandy coloured rocks which were sand dunes millions of years ago, and ripples on rocks providing evidence that the whole area was once covered in . It’s very easy to read all the information boards and get completely overloaded by theories of erosion, rock formations etc etc (it’s basically down to wind and rain) but we found it more fun balancing on the edge of ledges taking silly pictures. Fortunately we all survived and got safely back to Felix. When we went to fill up we met Mario a big German trying to get a lift to Alice as his car had broken down and had a big piece of metal resembling a part for a car with him. We agreed to take him but first we needed to decide on our route. The Ernest Giles road is a 100km unsealed gravel road which joins the Stuart Highway a couple of 100kms south of Alice. It should trim a few hours of your journey time but due to the bad weather we were unsure whether to chance it. The woman at the petrol station said 'no chance' but when a guy who'd just come the other way said it was ok we took the plunge. The track was very badly corrugated and littered with parts from other vehicles, wheels, tyres bumpers you name it. Driving at a 45degree angle up against the banks helped but for the first 25km Felix was traveling along at 30kph, Hours later we reached the highway a little shook up. We’d probably used the same amount of petrol, and saved about 5 minutes. We got to Alice dropped off Mario and checked into Toddys. Toddys was a very reasonable place and for $17 each we got a bed in a 4 bed room with TV and ensuite not bad at all. Beer was just $3 a bottle and there was a great roast for $7.50 which was all you can eat. We had a few beers in the room and watched the end of the Olympics before getting into bed being very grateful we weren’t in the bloody tent!


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