July 2004

Week 66: Thursday 1st July to Sunday 4th July

After packing up we prepared ourselves for a little exercise. Katherine Gorge is a long and spectacular series of steep sided gorges with numerous trails from half hour easy routes to four or five day treks. We went for an easy-ish one that took in a few vantage points and places to cool down. We spent four hours walking through the dry crumbly terrain, and stopped at the river for a dip, where we again bumped into the Norwegians who were kayaking up the river. Our exercise over, we hit the road once more. This time stopping in the small Pine Creek, where we got a spot in a tiny van park for the night. The 1st of July is the day when the Northern territories celebrate the anniversary of self governance. So, almost every town, big and small, has a celebration. Pine creek was no different. At 8.30 we heard the bangs and crackles of fireworks coming from the nearby oval, so we rushed over to watch, for such a small place the display was surprisingly impressive. Once they had died down we returned to the tent to get some sleep.

Friday was the day we arrived in the capital of the Northern territory. Matt and Phil had been before when they sailed in from Indonesia, so they were fairly familiar with the small tidy city. We quickly found a hostel to stay in , Chilli’s, a cool relaxed place even if a tad expensive. After a quick internet sesh, we walked about a little before eating and preparing for a big night out at the Vic. Matt and Phil remember the Vic being a bit cheesy and nothing special, but good for a laugh. The place hadn’t changed , the music was still awful, but that didn’t stop us dancing like fools until 3am.

After a late start, we headed for the resort where residents can use the pool to relax for a while. In the afternoon Liam and Rich went for a stroll around the nice bicentennial park at the waters edge while Matt and Phil went in search of Queeyai. They hoped to see the yacht that had safely transported them from west Timor to the Northern Territories half a year earlier. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the vessel or the skipper, Warren. After dinner, Matt and Rich decided to see if the Vic had improved from the night before. They were disappointed to find it was just as bad, but they did see a few of the Australian test cricket team, unwinding after a match against Sri Lanka.

Even though we were going to stay in Darwin until Monday morning to watch the Euro 2004 Championship final we checked out to Chilli’s to save on a nights accommodation. Again we made use of the pool at the resort before we a marathon session on the website, bringing it almost up to date. We walked to Bingil beach where the local night market is held. In true Four on fashion we managed to miss all the best of this but still had a mooch around. We now had about 6 hours to kill before Greece lined up against host Portugal in the final. We got out seats in the only bar showing it, and played cards while having a few beers. Eventually the game got underway, and we were struggling to keep our eyes open at 4am. The noise from the substantial Greek contingent helped to liven up the bar, and it was quite a celebration when the Greeks finally defeated the Portuguese, much to the surprise of most there. The sun was just rising by now, and the Greeks were going crazy. They got in their cars and drove around with flags flying and horns honking. They even had a shed load of fireworks and were setting those off. The police tried to maintain some order but soon gave up and left them to revel in the glory.

Week 67: Monday 5th July to Sunday 11th July

We headed out of Darwin following the Greek procession for a couple of kilometres before loosing them and and heading off for Kakadu. We arrived in Kakadu a couple of hours later, set up the tent and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. We dragged our selves up in time to get to the visitors centre before it closed. This was very interesting and gave a good indication of things to see and do in the national park. We left the visitors centre before we had time to finish looking around as we wanted to get to Ubirr in time for sunset. We managed to get there in time to see the spectacular rock art before sitting down on the top of the rocks and watching the sun go down. Whilst watching the sunset we met up with Susanne, Jana and Sigmund, the Norwegians we had met previously in Katherine. We went back to the camp site and cooked some food before heading off to bed.

We rose early and headed back to the visitors centre to see what we had missed the previous day. Once finished there we headed of to Nourlangie, a sandstone bulk on he edge of Arnhem Land. This place has some of Kakadu's best known collection of rock art. We spent a while admiring the striped sandstone and art before heading off to a nearby billabong for a spot of lunch.after lunch we went up to one of the many lookouts to get a good look at the park from up high, then headed of in Felix to another part of the park, Cooinda, and setting up camp there. As nice as Kakadu was, we were having problems seeing to much as it was all up dirt roads that you needed four wheel drive for. Felix as reliable as he is, is definitely not 4WD! We decided the best thing we could do was get out the trusty credit cards and book ourselves onto a cruise around one of the many water holes. We booked a trip on Yellow waters for the next day and got an early night so we would be wide awake for the early start we had to make the next day.

Got up early, sorted ourselves out and arrived at the meeting point in time to catch the minibus to yellow waters and or two hour cruise. This ended up being the bets thing we had done in the national park since we had a chance to see all the wild life including the impressive, if decidedly scary salt water crocodiles that laid motionless on the banks, ready to spin into action any time a tourist came to close and rip there body apart. There was also an amazing array of bird life on the banks and in the shallow waters, including Herons, Ibis, Egrets and even White Bellied Sea Eagles. Once back at the camp site we packed up and headed down to Katherine, stopping off at one last lookout and then Pine creek on the way. We checked into Coco's Backpackers which is a very strange place with people practicing on their newly acquired Didge's for hours on end. We sorted out some food and then settled down in front of the T.V. to watch the State Of Origin Rugby League match, which ended NSW 38, Q'Land 14. once that was finished we headed to bed, we hadn't yet been asked to pay, but we would remind them in the morning, maybe.

We got up, packed up and left Coco's early so we could manage the long trip to Kununurra the same day. We had never been asked to pay for the night we spent at Coco's, but as we are all gentlemen in Four On Tour we reminded Coco and payed him for the night, including a generous tip (and if you believe that, you will believe anything). Felix needed a bit of attention before leaving Katherine, not least a burst water hose. This took longer as we thought as when Liam was removing the old hose the bit of metal it was attached to fell off in his hands, we don't really know what 'the bit of metal was', but it cost us a lot to replace it. We finally left for Kununurra ad some much needed work on the farms. We stopped off on the way at Timber Creek for some food and met up with camp Trevor. Trevor was a very friendly Aboriginal who came over to chat as we were eating lunch. it took us a while to realise weather this big, butch, feminine sounding and looking person was a lass or a fella. He turned out to be very nice, if a little strange. Once in Kununurra we hunted for a campground and found Kimberleyland Caravan Park. This seemed more than adequate, so we pitched the tent, ate, played cards and went to sleep.

We woke at a reasonable hour on Friday determined and desperate to find work. On the way to Grunt Labour, the job agency, we passed the RTA (road traffic association) and decided we should attempt to register Felix in our names It had been a few months since we had bought him after all. We quickly changed our minds when we realised Felix would have to pass a medical and we would have to fork out a few hundred dollars! We hastily left and continued our search fr work. We had better luck here, Grunt told us that there was work for three of us starting on Sunday. Phil was the gentleman and allowed the other three to have the jobs. We were told that we would be corn detassling, whatever that was? We were assured that we were lucky and it was an easy job, great! We left Grunt, got some food from Coles and headed back to the campsite. In the daylight we realised that this campsite was one of the best we had stayed in, with a great pool/BBQ area. We spent the rest of the daylight hours eating and swimming. Towards the evening we got the drinking started. It started to get silly when we played 'Ride The Bus', which is a drinking game that Phil learnt in Samoa. Once happily Inebriated we headed to the liveliest place in town, the Kununurra Hotel This was a decidedly hazy experience which we can't remember to much about. We left the hotel at kick out time and got chatting to Fiona and Natalie, who just happened to be camping next to us. We walked back to the campsite with them and stayed up chatting outside the tent. There was load music in the distance so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be an outdoor 18th birthday party. we didn't stay to long as it was very clear we were not welcome there. So we went back and sat outside the tent. After a while the guy opposite came out and asked politely if we would mind being a bit quieter as it was 2am, we agreed and apologised. A minute later a grumpy old woman came out of a tent behind us and and told us off for being so loud, we were not so polite with her but decided it was time for bed.

We got up late on Saturday and while we were getting ourselves sorted the manager drove up in his van and enquired whether we would be staying for another night. We said yes, then he went into a rant about whether he should allow us too. He ad had more than one complaint about our behaviour last night. We groveled a little and he relented but threatened to throw us out of the campsite if it happened again! We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and sorting ourselves out for work the next day.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am and hastily prepared for work. We were due to be picked up at the post office, which was a 25 minute walk away, at 6:20. We got onto the minibus which was full of travellers and headed out of town towards the corn fields and a long hard day of work. Corn detassling, if you weren't aware , is pulling the long silky strands out of the top of the corn plants, this part is actually the male sex organ! It sounds painful but we were assured that the plants could not feel a thing? This process stopped cross-pollination so that the superior hybrid seed that was being developed would remain pure. We were all allocated a row of plants and had to walk up and down the 750 meter length of each row, pulling out any tassel that the corn detassler (big plucking machine) had missed. It took 3 hours to shuffle down and back up each row and there was no drink break until the row you were on was finished. There seemed to be an infinite amount of rows and by the end of the day we had finished about a 6th of the first paddock. The job was easy but mind numbingly boring and it was very very hot under the sun all day. While Matt, Liam and Rich worked in the field Phil was in charge of moving from our campsite and heading to the Big4 campsite which was a bit nicer, a bit nearer town and a bit more expensive. However we were on our final warning at at the other campsite so we thought it best we got a new start somewhere else. As luck would have it Roger, the supervisor, who Drove the minibus stayed at the same campsite as Phil had just moved us to. This meant a door to door service for us which was good as we were shattered. The evening was spent relaxing and playing cards before an early night in preparation for our second day of work.

Week 68: Monday 12th July to Sunday 18th July

It was back to work bright and early on Monday morning. We drove out to the same huge field to carry on from where we had left off the day before. Roger was his usual self, keeping us on our toes by creeping up behind us with his hands full off missed tassles. Meanwhile, Phil visited the Zebra Rock Museum and relaxed at the campsite. We all ate pizza that evening a chatted to a few couples that were very interested in hearing about our travels. One couple, despite being middle-aged and on holiday had for some inexplicable reason decided to try their hands at farm-work and had in fact worked with us on our first day. Not unreasonably the wife had persuaded her husband that corn de-tassling was not her idea of a relaxing getaway and they mutually agreed that one day was more than enough!

While Phil was browsing the (somewhat limited) shops of Kununurra, the other three were back on the farm and starting to get to know a few of the fellow de-tasslers. Adz from Hastings, Jody from Canada and Matt from Scotland had met up in Perth and travelled up the West Coast together. Matt¡¯s girlfriend, Nik was working at the local drinking hole, the Kununurra Hotel while the others paid some cash by working on the farm. They were a good bunch and we spent many an hour walking up and down the paddock talking about nothing in particular to pass the time. Uri, an eccentric, well travelled, facially-haired Italian has a fantastic sense of humour, particularly when it came to winding Roger up. He also has a penchant for singing New York, New York at the top of his voice for days on end. Northern Joe, from sunny Middlesborough is a sound bloke, even if he does support the Villa rejects. There was also Mel (German) and Adam (Canadian), the former being bubbly and friendly, the latter taking the job a bit too seriously a times, confirmed when he started lecturing Richard about the root-systems of corn rogue male plants. Whether or not Mel and Adam were a couple was a hot topic of debate. Last but not least was Sarah, a down- to-earth lass who, perhaps uniquely, is a female Man Utd fan who actually comes from Manchester and knows all there is to know about the club. On many occasions, sitting in the mini-bus eating our sandwiches, we would discuss the relative merits (or lack of them) of Birmingham and Manchester. Not only would she not accept that Birmingham is the second city she was little impressed to be informed that on average a train arrives or leaves Birmingham New Street every 59 seconds. That evening, we treated ourselves to chicken caeser wraps and a games of cards.

Phil decided he would drive out into the Kimberly for a few days. First he went to the for a walk around the Grotto and then on to Parry's Lagoon where you can see water lilies and thousands of wetland birds. He set up camp then drove to Wyndham to see the port and the 5 rivers lookout. He finished off the day watching the sunset over Marglu Billabong, another spot that plays host to a vast array of wetland birds.

The next couple of days saw Phil relaxing in and around Wyndham, relaxing by the lagoon, reading, shopping in Wyndham, and cooking barbequing his evening meals over an open fire. The other three continued to slave away in the corn field, and although the work was getting easier as we did second and third runs, the repetitive nature of the job made it intensely boring. Phil returned to the campsite on Saturday and cleaned Felix, a task that was long overdue!

We had a half day at work on Sunday and in the knowledge that we also had the whole of Monday off, we decided it was good an opportunity as any to let out hair down after the weeks exertions. We bought a goon of wine and proceeded to play the enjoyable but lethal ¡®ride-the bus¡¯ drinking game. After a few rounds of the game we were all a little tipsy, and Liam to be completely honest was downright wasted. The plan was to walk into town to the Kununurra Hotel and meet up with some friends. On the way, Liam decided to lie under a sprinkler for a few minutes and got absolutely soaked. By the time we made it to the pub, it was just shutting. While were deciding what to do next, Liam started stumbling off in the general direction of the campsite. Rich and Phil then went off to meet our friends and at Kununurra Backpackers and Matt started making his way back to the campsite. When Matt got back to the tent he was surprised to see that Liam hadn¡¯t yet made it back and it was another half an hour until he appeared. It seemed that Liam had got a bit lost and had a interesting and long journey back, hurdling a few fences and injuring his ankle in the process.

Week 69: Monday 19th July to Sunday 25th July

Today there was no work on the farm, which was a blessing in disguise as to be fair we needed a day off, but wasn’t about to ask for one as we needed the cash and were pushed for time. As you can probably imagine, we weren’t in the mood to do to much, so we spent most of the day chilling out around the pool. The one thing we did manage to do was book a canoe trip down the Ord River for the coming Friday.

Due to his drunken injury Liam was unable to work so Phil became Liam for the day and went to work in his place. Nobody knew any different as Roger, the supervisor, was off and Binge, the stand in supervisor for the day, couldn’t give a monkey’s anyway. It was by far the easiest day at work, as Binge’s supervision amounts to him driving the bus and telling us all about his favorite past times, which were listening to punk music, shooting roo’s and growing marijuana on his dad’s farm in Southern Australia.

Wednesday was back to normal, with Roger back at the helm and Liam recovered enough to hobble up and down the rows. We had some great fish and chips (even if the portions were a little small) and basked in the knowledge that this was our penultimate day of work.

Our last day of work was slightly unusual in the sense that one of the fields had been irrigated (flooded) so we were in bear foot up to our shins in cold-gooey-mud. We also tried our hand at ‘chipping’, the process of ripping up ‘rouge’ plants with a Hoe. We stayed in the hostel that evening after saying our good-bye’s to Roger, who had been our boss for eleven days and left us with some memorable catchphrases, such as; “blind Freddie couldn’t miss it” and “it stands out like a dogs balls”. Although he did change the latter to “it stands out like a dunnie in the dessert” whenever there were ladies present.

It was an early start again, but it’s remarkable how much easier it is to get up for a 3-day canoe trip rather than another day of detassling. We picked up some breakfast on the way to Lake Argyle, which is where our canoe adventure would begin. The guide proudly informed us that Lake Argyle is the #rd largest, man-made lake in the world. He then told us the 2nd largest is the three gorges damn in china and the largest is Lake Bykal in Siberia. We smugly informed him that we had now completed the hat trick and been to all three. In the briefing before we got going, we were told that we could see anything from 3 to 10 freshwater crocodiles, the friendly variety, and their saltwater cousins who tend to eat people. When we got going we found that the current assisted us and we were able to put our feet up and drift down the river watching birds, wildlife and great scenery go past. At around lunchtime we arrived at a sandy beach and had a bight to eat as well as a bit of a snooze with the warm breeze making the picture complete. The only others there were Nina and Henry, a German brother and sister who seemed to be enjoying the canoe trip as much as us. The second part of the day was spent floating up the Carlton Gorge waving to the occasional tour boat and drifting up the odd creek to do a bit of exploring. We finished the day at some small cascades and collected firewood for the evening. We would be sleeping under the stars this evening in our sleeping bags and Swags, these are big, warm wax coat style covers, which zip up around you and have a thin mattress inside them. That evening we cooked on the open fire and chatted to Henry and Nina. First day fresh water crocodile count – zero.

We awoke in the middle of the trees to another great sunny morning, had bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast and continued on down stream towards Herbies Hideout. Twenty minutes walk from the bank of the river; Herbies is a waterfall come plunge pool with icy cold water, great for a refreshing dip. A local lizard came out of his whole to watch us splash around, jump off rocks and fill up water bottles. After about ten minutes he looked suitably unimpressed and returned to his whole. A few more kilometers down the river is Yahoo Rock, which was the planned lunch stop for the day. The water around Yahoo Rock can be up to 28 meters deep, which means it’s a great spot for a bit of cliff jumping. The rock itself is about 10 meters high. After jumping off the rock and a bit of lunch we got into the canoes for a spot of fishing. We caught 4 catfish, but none of the Barramundi we were looking wanted dinner. That evening was another relaxing time gathered around a crackling fire chatting to Henry and Nina.

Our final day on the river started with a more energetic push downstream, as the assistance form the current had all but disappeared. We reached the everglades and did some more fishing but with no success. By lunch we had reached the Zebra Rock workshop / gallery. Zebra rock is unique to the East Kimberley’s and surprisingly is rock with a zebra pattern. The craftsmen on sight make a variety of ornaments such as wine racks and bookends. Over the water about 500 meters away is Elephant rock which is home to some good examples of Aboriginal Rock Art and hundreds of wasp nests which hang upside down like big mushrooms and have wasps larger than your average domestic dog! The last part of the journey was the 5 km’s to Lilly Creek (the sight of the caravan park we stayed in on our first night in Kunnunarra), which looks fantastic around sunset. Total freshwater crocodile count – zero! The whole three days was fantastic and we were very glad we took the time to see the pristine Ord River and the surroundings. Back at the hostel the workers had come back from another hard day on the farm. We sat around drinking with Joe and Sarah. Ire, our eccentric Italian work mate with a heart of gold provided the dinner, a great pasta dish, although he was disappointed that his shipment of fresh Parmesan hadn’t arrived from Italy. We all went to bed quite early, they had to get up for work and we had to carry on around the vast country that is Australia.

Week 70: Monday 26th July to Sunday 1st August

It was time to leave Kununurra after 2 weeks of hard work and a good laugh. We refuelled and got a few provisions before setting off to the west coast. It was back on the road and time for long, boring journeys. We drove all day with a stop at Halls Creek for food before eventually stopping at a roadside picnic area just past Fitzroy Crossing for the night. These places literally are just a carpark with a picnic bench, if you're lucky, there may be a toilet. We ate before the obligatory game of cards then sleep.

We were up bright and early on Tuesday and had breakfast at the first roadhouse. By lunch we were in Broome and it was really nice to see the magnificent turquoise water that is the Indian Ocean. After setting up camp we wondered into town to see what was about. The town is pretty small but lovely and tidy with traditional Aussie country shop fronts. Its a very relaxed place and this continues on to the superb Cable Beach where the only strenuous activity is getting up to buy a beer. Being ..km long and with fine white sand with a dune backdrop, it has to be one of the best beaches we have been to. Its so big that you can easily find a deserted spot if you so desire. That evening we went to sample the night life. The Roebuck Hotel seemed to be the place to be but we were disappointed with the atmosphere. Later on we tried one of the clubs in town, Tokyo Joes, its a small and freezing place but there was music, beer and plenty of people, so it did us. We danced until closing and managed to wangle a lift back to the campite with 4 Dutch people we met in the club. If you dont ask you dont get - we've done a lot of asking!

Predictably we were up late and had heavy heads. We came to the conclusion that a day on the beach was the best thing. So we returned to Cable Beach and slept, road, swam and cooked our own hot dogs. One of the highlights of Cable Beach is the fantastic sunsets and that evening we were treated to a pretty good display as the sun went down. That night we decided to give Roeys a second chance. It was much better, the band was good and there was plenty of people this time. We moved onto one of the other clubs later on, owned by Tokyo Joes management and had a Japanese link too. N... Inn was again small but packed and advertised a wet t-shirt competition, unfortunately they pulled that and so we had to make do with drinking and dancing. For some reason when we hit the dance floor, it cleared. All that was left was Rich, Phil and Matt plus some huge Arsenal fan. To save some embarassment we retreated to the side before leaving to walk back.

We were leaving Broome today to get further South and we drove all day along an incredibly boring road. Its bad enough driving for 7 or 8 hours a day, but when the landscape is bleak and bare, its incredibly tiring. We arrived in Port Hedland after following a roadtrain in the dark so we wouldn't hit any wandering livestock or kangaroos. Whilst filling up we met a couple who seemed to be a sandwich short of a picnic. To start with the girl came up to Rich and said "You guys are from the UK, right?", to which we replied, "Yep", "Cool, can I ask a question, is that where Britney Spears is from?" Struggling to keep a straight face, Rich replied "No, I think she is from America" That was strange enough, but when she said she had seen our website in Coral Bay and assumed we had got to Oz by bus we thought she was a loopy girl. To top it off, she then asked if we wanted to buy their caravan and once we declined this after she came back saying that her boyfriend was willing to swap it for our tent. A good deal but not worth the hassle, strange people!

Our first stop on Friday was Roebourne for a bite to eat and then it was on to Exmouth. We suffered our second blow out of the trip. Luckily it wasnt as bad this time and we managed to get back on the road in no time at all. Once in Exmouth we found somewhere to stay and then enjoyed some fish and chips before visiting the only decent place in town - Potshot. It was just about decent but we still managed to stay till closing and stumbled back to our tent.

The main attraction in Exmouth is th Cape Range Park and the Ningaloo Reef. So we made our way there to explore the peninsular and the marine life. Ningaloo Reef isnt as big as the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast but some say its much better. This is probably true to its close proximity to the coast making it easy to get to and explore with this in mind we hired snorkel gear and headed to Turquoise Bay and drifted along with the current spotting fish and admiring the different corals. We watched the sunset and the moon rise before heading to the tent to sleep.

We were up early to make the most of the park, starting with a walk along Yardie Creek. We then drove back towards Exmouth stopping off at several beaches for a spot of snorkelling. Like most places we have visited we could have spent a week exploring but time and money isnt't on our sides now so we had to continue on to the south. On our way to Carnarvan we again crossed the tropic of capricorn this time leaving the tropical zone to enter the temperate zone. At a road house we stopped at, we picked up a passenger who had been working in the restaurant but had had enough. She wanted to leave, well, was asked to leave and we were her saviours and drove here to Carnarvan. Teresa was very chatty and it was nice to have someone different in the car. Nothing to do with the fact she was female and good looking, you understand! We dropped her off at the hostel and continued onto another picnic area for free nights accommodation.

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