And here we go again, picking up where we left off in Karratha...from there I went up to Dampier for two nights. My favorite place up here was Hearson's Cove, recommended by a Kulin friend and they were spot on for my taste. On a calm day it is a beautiful little spot to hang out and go for a dip. This was the first time I was setting up the awning by myself and boy is that a bit tricky unless you have a humongous wingspan. This area is also known for Red Dog, a kelpie who's original owner passed away and later spent its time catching rides all over the northwest region. He was called Red Dog because riding on the back of utes and such he would get covered by the famous red dirt of the north. My campsite neighbor and I walked to see the statue and evidently it is tradition to take a picture sitting on the statue. We politely declined and opted for a regular pose.
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| Hearson's Cove |
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From Dampier I drove straight to Broome where I spent the next few weeks hanging out, watching sunsets, and looking for work to finish my regional days. Overall I didn't love Broome and sort of wished I had moved on sooner, but there are still some good things about it. It is well known for Cable Beach where they do daily sunset camel rides. It is massive and while everyone tells you not to swim in the wild once you start getting this far north because of crocodiles, everyone also seems to ignore this at Cable Beach. I happily plunged into the cool water for a refreshing swim. One day I tried a different section of the beach and accidentally stumbled upon the nude beach section. At high tide the area reserved for vehicles can't be driven to which I thought seemed like an excellent place to lounge without being disturbed. Half an hour later several older couples had appeared to tan their hides au naturale. It was certainly a surprise! I also spent a few afternoons fishing at the port jetty with some new friends who were travelling together and happened to both be named Francois. I failed to get past the 'fish eats worm and escapes' stage of catching fish but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The last highlight was spending an afternoon at the Broome Cup horse races.
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| the many cloudless, sunny days make for consistently excellent sunsets |
Eventually I had had enough of civilization again and headed up the Dampier Peninsula for a few days to get away. One highlight of the excursion and reason for going in the first place was visiting the Beagle Bay Aboriginal community and the 'Mother of Pearl' church there. The church was built by the local people and catholic monks present and while the exterior is also noteworthy the altar is the most stunning aspect, made out of countless mother of pearl, cowrie, and other shells. Beagle Bay is one of three Aboriginal communities on the peninsula. The others are Djarindjin and Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) which I also visited and enjoyed their coastline.
From Broome I made a quick trip over to Darwin, which I loved. My time in Darwin largely consisted of trying delicious foods at the evening markets and watching sunsets at the beach, but the highlight would definitely be participating in the annual beer can regatta hosted by the Darwin Lions Club. There are a number of events across the day but the main event is the boat races, but the boats are constructed (to varying degrees) of beer cans and other beverage containers. I found it through a Facebook post of some guy looking for people to row on his boat and it turned out to be a fantastic day. Our boat was definitely a contender for being the worst one there and was pretty well in shambles by the end. Our best race finish was 5th out of 8 so not too bad. The best part however is the final race, called the Battle of Mindil (the regatta is held at Mindil Beach). There's some sort of flag tied at the bottom of one of the buoys floating about and the first team to find it and get it to the designated location on shore is the winner. There are no rules in this battle and the disruption and destruction of other boats is highly encouraged. Water balloons, crashes, splashing of water with paddles, and flour bombs are all fair play. Flour bombs are just paper bags full of baking flour and makes an absolute mess once you're hit and it gets wet. You will also notice again how many people are in the water and entirely unbothered by the possibility of lurking crocs.
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| Our mighty vessel in peak condition |
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| Our slightly less mighty vessel in rather poor condition |
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| One of the other much more impressive boats of the day |
The trip to Darwin was rather brief because I had taken another job to finish off my regional work days for my second year so before long I was on the road again heading straight down the center. On the way I stopped off in the West MacDonnell Ranges for a day of hiking. I took on Mount Sonder, the tallest peak in the range. It was about 16km and the temps this day were unusually warm so once I made it back 4 hours later I was feeling a bit whooped. I had also run out of water on the way down so I spent the rest of the day rehydrating and swimming in Ellery Creek Big Hole, which was frigid but refreshing.
My next stop was Lyndavale Station, where I spent the next seven weeks with the Stanes family and their crew. This definitely ranks up there with Marree for the most remote place I've lived along the way. The nearest grocery store was three hours north in Alice Springs and the homestead was 60km off of the main highway along a dirt access road through the neighbor's property, so we basically had a 60km driveway. I spent most of my time around the homestead feeding the animals and entertaining the children, but I did get to do a fair amount of cattle work as well which I really enjoyed. Thankfully they use low-stress handling techniques which makes it feel much more comfortable as an inexperienced cattle worker to be in the yards with the cattle. That being said, when a bull is sauntering by a few meters away it's still unsettling. They're fairly calm unless provoked by they're just so incredibly large. I was mostly helping the crew process and ear tag new weaners and draft cattle. I quite enjoy drafting because a number of the yards use a crows nest setup so I get to stand up above everything while someone's hollering up which gates to open and close. Another fun thing about cattle work is that the cows really do have different hairstyles which can be entertaining.
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| The crow's nest, I get to stand up in that little box and open the gates with long handles |
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| Our semi-beloved poddy calf Blueberry |
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| A very wet and windy day in the crow's nest |
Another highlight of my time on the station was our camel hunting expedition. I didn't do any of the actual hunting myself but I did get to help with some of the butchering. We also did quite a bit of sampling of our handiwork by the time I left. Camel is pretty delicious when done right. There's more gristle to work around but the meat itself is very similar to beef but leaner.
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| Our tasty camel specimen |
I also had the pleasure of attending the Alice Springs Rodeo, which was something new. There was bull riding, bronco riding, and the 2nd annual single ladies' muster. The first two are fairly self explanatory and between them I preferred the broncos because the riders were usually able to stay on longer. The single ladies' muster is when any number of young ladies are invited into the ring to chase/muster one of the cowboys and strip him down to his jocks. This year there were at least 15-20 gals chasing this poor guy and the whole show was over in less than 30 seconds. You get a dollar for each piece of clothing you retrieve. It's all staged of course so his clothes are taped together to make it significantly easier but it is pretty entertaining. The previous station nanny before me did it the first year when only 6 or 7 ladies were chasing so I had planned to join in this year but decided that the poor cowboy had plenty of them chasing him already.
On my final weekend on the station I ended up having Friday off so I was able to squeeze in a nice weekend of hiking. Friday I went to Kata Tjuta NP to hike through the Olgas and was able to make it back in time to see Ayer's Rock/Uluru for sunset. Saturday morning I did the base walk around Uluru. It had some nice parts but it was definitely not necessary to walk the entire 11.5km loop. It's a nice rock but still just a large rock and not that interesting to walk around. The Aboriginal culture surrounding it and some of the specific viewpoints more engaging. I'd actually say out of the three stops throughout my weekend this was my least favorite even though it's the most famous and probably most visited. It's nice to do once to say you've been there but once is probably enough for me. The third and final excursion was King's Canyon which was the highlight of the weekend. The pictures never really turn out, especially when all the red rock blends together, but it was beautiful. It starts with a steep 700m climb but after that it's a very nice walk with much cooler rocks to look at. It was very warm though so they were actually closing the trail to hikers just 10 minutes after I began and you might be able to see why in my rosy cheeks.
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| Kata Tjuta from afar |
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| Kata Tjuta a bit closer |
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Kata Tjuta medium far
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| One of many selfies with Uluru but one of the few with my eyes open |
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| Bucket hats are a lifesaver and nobody cares if you look a bit dorky. I'd highly recommend |
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The rocks around here appear so red
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| King's Canyon |
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| This was not even close to halfway but I was already drenched and red in the face |
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| An oasis in the middle of the canyon |
And that just about catches us up to where I am now. From the station I drove all the way back to Perth, with one stop in Kulin of course. I spent a few days there hanging out on the farm and only doing the parts of work that sounded fun interspersed with plenty of snack breaks (far superior to a normal work schedule). One of the backpackers from seeding, Jake, was there so we caught up as well before I headed out. Then I made it back to Perth where my remaining Kulin backpacker friends are, the famous Callum and Laura.
I have now come to the end of two full years over here and my next stop is Singapore! I've been told I've gone a bit rogue with this and I'd have to agree, but I was granted a 6-month work visa so I'm just going to go and see what happens. Winging it seems to have worked out pretty ok so far so for the time being that is the "plan". Stay tuned to see how life in the big city turns out...
