Broome to Fortescue - Feb 4

Summary: Broomer Bowl, No room at the Inn, Fortescue River to the Rescue, Roadhouses and Road Trains, do you want to move here?,

Things in Broome finished quite well. We had a very good dinner at a local brewpub down the street – really good beer there (the name was something like “Matsu”). Alex and I then caught some live music in the hotel lounge – it was a cool, laid back scene. Alex was dancing and bopping around to the music, so we may need to find some more like that. We were at a nice resort as the photos may indicate. Broome is a big tourist destination when it is not the heat of the summer – kind of like South Beach Miami or New Orleans. I did not mention it in my blog posting, but it was 90-some degrees at night, humid as can be… and the AC did not work. Alex slept fine – he gets annoyed with the fan. Reception was closed so I called the front desk when they opened in the morning. Frankly, I was in fear that I had simply not noticed some giant “on” button or something obvious, but I was relieved to find that it was in fact broken. The Mangrove Hotel staff, which was professional all along, was immensely apologetic about that and the fact that to use the internet I had had to sit outside, so they refunded the internet fees and lowered my room rate. If I am back in Broome (and I would like to be), I would call them first. We watched the kickoff of the Super Bowl, but I quickly realized that a) I was at a resort in Australia so I had other things to do and nobody to enjoy the game or the commercials with, and b) a team I did not particularly like was playing a team that I particularly did not like. Fact is, tea and vegemite just don’t go with “American” Football. So after the first drive, we went to the pool, came back in around the end of the half, and left the hotel before the halftime was over. Australia’s FoxTel played the US commentary then had their guys do commentary during injury timeouts. They also showed some of the US commercials (or at least said they were going to – I was in the pool within a couple minutes). Note: sounds like it was a heck of a game and I am glad the Giants won.

The drive south was flat and rather dull, to be blunt. However, by the time we got to Port Hedland (500km or so), we were clearly out of jungle and into the desert. Our goal was to make it to make it to Karratha and we did with an hour and a half of sunlight to spare. Karratha looked like a nice town and we were going to do some grocery shopping once we got a room… but there were no rooms. Like many of these remote towns, Karratha has a booming economy. Unfortunately, even with two Best Westerns, they do not have enough hotels yet. Some people who have moved there for work stay in hotels long term. Whatever the reason, the woman at the Karratha International was extremely helpful to a person who could not be a customer, called around, and discovered that there were no hotels rooms in Karratha or nearby towns like Dampier. The closest she could find was some roadhouse 110 km down the road. Daylight was going away soon, so we got on our way and made it to the Fortescue River Roadhouse before sunset.

I must admit, I was a little nervous driving until nearly dusk to a roadhouse set in a place that looked like the location of the next Mad Max film. This is the only dot on the map for 250km or so. Turns out, it was one of the best nights of the trip. The room was fairly Spartan, but it was available (big deal at this point), it was clean, the AC worked (!), and there were no stray insect noises. So far so good. Quick aside: most people’s experience with the word Roadhouse involves a song by the Doors or a movie with Patrick Swayze. A roadhouse is a gas station, mini-mart, pub, motel, and camper (“caravan”) site – typically located a long way (100 km+) from a town (“town” defined as 50 people and sometimes even more). We had a good meal although the kitchen was about to close and a fantastic conversation with Barry (who owns the Fortescue Roadhouse and ambulance service) and Peter (a frequent patron). Great guys, salt of the earth, and well informed on world events, we had the kind of long, wide-ranging discussion you would hope to have on a trip like this. Peter had been in this part of the country for a long time, and Barry started this business back in 1976. There were a couple other younger patrons who joined us at times – looked like they were doing work nearby, but very friendly and good-natured. I learned several things, like a “blue” is a fight (making “Roadhouse Blues” have a different meaning). We exchanged beer coolers (a.k.a. “stubby holders” a.k.a. “coozies”), so you can find a couple University of South Carolina coozies if you happen upon this pub. As we chatted away and sampled the Western Australian Emu beer, Alex ran around like a mad man, spending the energy he had not already used in the Broome pool, 10 hours earlier. Net net, it was a very memorable night and guys like Peter and Barry are the reason that everyone loves Australians: bright, informed, engaging. Good times.

Now that I have defined a Roadhouse, let me get to Road trains. Road Trains are tractor-trailers in the American sense, except that they are tractor-trailer-trailer-trailers. They are the same trucks we see at home, but look really scary with those roo-bars in front (not trying to overdo the Mad Max references, but that is what they remind me of). Second, they are 50 meters. Thinking of the Super Bowl, the back of the truck could be at midfield and the front bumper is in the middle of the endzone. Simply, you don’t pass a Road Train without good visibility ahead (and there is lots of visibility most of the time). There are also a lot of oversized loads carrying homes.

Cool thing about these roads – even though there are not a lot of actual stops with gasoline or coca cola, there are tons of parking areas and rest areas for off-loading your trash and picnicking.

Yet another aside: Australia’s economy is booming. They just can’t get enough people. Peter and Barry were saying that companies in Karratha were paying $100,000 plus helping to pay your mortgage for manual labor. Steve (the Gippslander) at the Roadhouse in Pine Creek said the same thing (ok, $90,000+ housing) for above ground manual labor in Mt Isa (above-ground because much of the Isa’s business is mining, which pays more underground). Anyone who has seen my Do-It-Yourself skill knows I am not qualified, but it is amazing how much of a premium these guys are getting. When I got a radio signal, I listened to a program on ABC News Radio (Aussie ABC, in case anyone is confused at how far the signal carried) with the South Australia Minister of Education and Development (which apparently includes Immigration). They have an ad campaign in Britain that sounds like it is hilarious. People sitting in traffic, staring through the grey drizzle at images of sunny Australia with messages like “Manchester is no fun - maybe you would like to earn a lot more and live where the sun shines”. She was saying that 200,000 people emigrate from the UK every year (oh, and she was born in the UK). They have a goal to get 5,000 Brits a year. The whole country wants people (and I think there is room for them). I’m sold.

Next: getting to Monkey Mia

The Kimberly and Broome - Feb 3

Summary: long drive – hit Indian Ocean, Super Bowl Monday!

The jungle tour is officially over. We have raced across the wet top of Australia in 6 days (counting a lazy day in Darwin) and outrun most of the rain that could delay our trip. We’re in Western Australia. It is still sultry, steamy hot, but we are on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Morning came at about 6:10 as the birds went nuts and this got light quite quickly. After a quick call with Aneta, we were on our way. Every Australian we met (plus a New Yorker serving us dinner) was delightful, friendly, engaging and outgoing. Our drive was through more of the same canyons and so forth. We can within 30 km of the Bungle Bungle Range, but did not catch sight of them. It did not rain until late afternoon (like most days), but we still had to pass a couple creeks that flowed onto the road. Most are engineered that way (as Floodways), the odd part is that we would pass dry creek after dry creek, followed by one putting 4 inches (10cm) on the road, then yet more dry ones. None were treacherous, just noteworthy. This is an absolutely beautiful drive from the Victoria River through the Kimberly, yet almost nobody lives here. Kununurra was the one town we went through that deserves the title “town” (population maybe 2,000?). Fitzgerald Crossing looked quite nice. The thing is, none of them have any people. I don’t get it, maybe the other seasons are different, but they have scenery, mining, water, and the closest location to Australia’s export market… and the entire population between Timber Creek and Broome could fit in a college basketball arena. The Victoria River certainly could entertain as many tourists as Katherine and Kakadu do. Odd.

Anyhow, most who know me know that I can spot a Starbucks in a town that I’ve never been to, just on vibe. Well, since we won’t see one until Adelaide, I’ve turned that off, but I can normally figure out the Town Center. Well, I must have ambled around Broome for half an hour until I found an open BP station (Sunday PM) which directed me to a sweet hotel. We have a great view, we’re next to the pool. Life is good.

Enjoy the photos, especially the “fist” cloud formation (lower cloud formation, not all of the clouds...it looked like a cross between a fist and a bomb cloud, indicating my imminent arrival in Broome). Odd part – it rained from so high that when I got out of the cloud shadow, it stared raining in the sunlight for about 5-7 minutes. Odd.

Well, few things say Super Bowl like a Monday morning eating vegemite on toast as the sun rises on the Indian Ocean, but that is my scene for the Super Bowl. Aussie radio has given decent coverage, but I am glad I’ve missed the 2 weeks of “is this the best team ever? Would this be the largest upset ever? Is Tom Brady the greatest QB ever to breathe air?” I will miss the commercials, because these guys don't charge $2.5 mil per 30 seconds, so we'll probably get local Ford dealer ads.

Right now I am trying to get my images uploaded before my card runs out. I am sitting outside being mauled by crickets (Crikey!)

Lastly, thanks to my wife, we can show one video from the Devils marbles: http://www.youtube.com/v/XqH_-clxYY4


Preview, enjoy the beach and Super Bowl, drive down a little in the afternoon.

Kakadu - Feb 2

Darwin was pretty cool, but it was time to get rolling into the deepest Outback we’ll see. Sadly Humpty Doo did not greet us with any good slogans like “Whooptee do! You’re in Humpty Doo”, but immediately after entering Kakadu National Park, we were greeted us with this sign – I just cannot imagine any American government agency creating a sign this simple and clear.


Much of Kakadu is impassable in the wet season (as the two JimJim Creek photos may imply), but our visit got interesting at the Visitor Center in Jabiru. First, we were assaulted by the heat and insects you might imagine from a tropical nature park in the summer during the wet season. Then there was an introductory exhibition area with all the interesting plants and animals to look for – this was meant to encourage bushwalking. Instead of putting some items at eye level, they are built into the floor (with glass covers – flush with the floor). One in particular showed the Northern Death Adder (snake) in its natural environment, concealed in the leaves. Let me repeat that this exhibit and center are meant to encourage bushwalking. Perhaps a surfer’s center could have Jaws playing on a continuous loop in Conference Room B. Now, I already knew these snakes were in Kakadu, but seeing that display sealed the deal. I’m kidding – there was already nothing tempting about carrying a toddler (he was tired) in sticky hot weather (call it 95 degrees with easily 80% humidity) while being made a meal of by an infinite number of insects that a keg of deet could not deter. No thanks. Take a look at that woodsy photo – would you want to chase a toddler in that knowing what kinds of critters are there? The park has lots of cool things to do, like river cruises, but having just done one at Daintree, I did not want to do that. (Can you say “city person”?) Given my name, I wanted to visit something with the name JimJim. We could not get to JimJim Falls or JimJim Billabong without a 4 wheel drive or some sort of amphibious landing craft, but I did get to JimJim Creek, which is (ahem) slightly overflowed as the two water photos show. The sign next to one gives further warning about crocs. Getting back to the Visitor Center, they have answers to commonly asked questions on the board. The interesting part was that the same places that are best for “viewing crocodiles” are the best for fishing. Would you want to be on a little fishing boat when a 15 foot croc shows up? Then they list the places that are OK for swimming. Sorry, there are too many stories of crocodiles moving from one hole to another, especially when things are flooded. I just don’t trust the crocs to remember which billabongs to stay in, and Kakadu makes no promises for the same reason. The weather, the toddler, and my own aversion to being eaten kept us from being geared up to “dive in” here

Now that I’ve given you the “When Nature Attacks” Kakadu version, I’ve gotta say it was beautiful and would have been more beautiful had I stayed, explored, etc. It is also easier to visit in the dry season. The thing is the area I drove through West of Katherine – the Gregory National Park – was more beautiful from the road. My photos were no good because of the rain, but I’ll take some in the AM. In the absence of pictures, let me set the scene: a large, muddy river flows through a valley with dramatic red cliffs. Everything else is covered with trees. I had sweeping views across these valleys as the thunderheads approached, shooting lightning bolts into the canyons below. This is quite “big sky” country, so one gets to watch all this unfold ahead before driving through. The rain came and went, but it was a very nice drive through canyons along the Victoria River. Still the rain had that tropical downpour thing a few times, so we called it quits a little early at Timber Creek. We are staying at an old motor lodge that is half charming, half run down. There was a frog in the toilet (in case the photo below is hazy), but there are several campers and nice folks. One of the guys here is from our recurring theme of Gippsland. There is one of those Boab trees (very fat trunk with lots of water), a landing to get into the creek, and still more croc warning signs.

We’ll leave relatively early, get into Western Australia early, and make a good run across the Kimberly to get to Broome weather permitting.

Relaxing in Darwin - Feb 1

Summary: Legit Vacation Day

Every day has been jam packed with an itinerary of one sort or another and I like the place we're staying (Holiday Inn Esplanade), so I figured a day off might be a good idea. Alex and I have gone swimming, played in the playground in the park, listened to some of his nursery rhymes in Bulgarian, laundry - nothing exceptional here so far.

Since my videos apparently do not work, I was able to find one that accurately depicts Darwin's climate (although I am not sure how many 80's models we have running around here). http://youtube.com/watch?v=KAaF33O80sM - Note: the link doesn't work anymore, but it was the Firm's "Satisfaction Guaranteed", set in a sweltering hot bar in the tropics.  Actually, on second thought, this video is pretty accurate (right down to the thunderstorm and rain), as we are right off Mitchell Street, which is the live music epicenter for the Top End.

Speaking of Epicenter, Darwin felt five earthquakes yesterday. Seriously-five. According the the Northern Territory News, there were five including one as high as 6.2 (in the sea between here and Indonesia) that were felt here.

Getting back to Mitchell Street, I had said earlier that I was looking to give out stickers and whatnot from my alma maters in pubs that want such things and I finally found a place to do it. Last night on the way back from dinner, I noticed this BBQ/Cajun bar & restaurant with a good bit of memorabilia and thought it might be a worthwhile target. Today for lunch we swung by (Note: food and service were good) and brought up the topic. They were delighted to get a few South Carolina stickers and "Stubby Holders" (beer coozies) which they will both display and give away. I've got more of both and plenty of open road between here and Cairns, so I will keep you updated on that.

Right across the street next to the playground, there is a memorial to the USS Peary, a destroyer sunk in Darwin harbor defending Darwin during WWII. Because Northern Australia was a major staging area in World War II, there are lots of memorials to that effect (American and Australian) around here. Note: while I have not seen memorials to those from New Zealand, Britain, or Canada, I expect that they are also around here. Darwin itself has a tough history, having been leveled in WWII and again by a Typhoon in the 70's. That (and maybe those earthquakes) is why there is not much in the way of breathtaking architecture here. Still, I like the vibe in this little corner of the Northern Territory. The entire NT has 200,000 people and has twice the landmass of California or Japan.

Tomorrow, we are off to Kakadu National Park, one of the truly great wildlife parks in the world. I promise to try to resist the urge to swim in Jim Jim Billabong (real name) or the South Alligator River. En route we'll drive past Humpty Doo and I just can't wait to see their town slogan. Depending on how long we linger, which may well depend on the rain, we'll end up in Pine Creek, Katherine, or somewhere down the Victoria Way heading towards Western Australia. There is not another city until Perth (see map, above), so it may be a while before I get to post again.

Tennant Creek to Darwin

It's February on the Timor Sea, what's not to like?

Summary: (Attempted) Video dump, Whinemaker notes, nice marbles, fast track, Never Never has a Capital, we've arrived in Darwin

NOTE: I am going to publish this post, then keep editing it to add videos. Come back for more videos, if you like. After trying all night to upload one video, this may just not work... we'll see. Update: I have been trying for hours to load a 2 second video. It was 80% loaded in fifteen minutes, then got stuck. It is safe to say I do not expect any videos on this blog. Sorry. my videos of the Devils Marbles were better than those two pictures, but now I know.

Our day started with a bit of a hiccup. When I checked in last night, I asked if they had internet and if I could receive a call in my room at 6am. The answers I received on both were “yes” and the correct answers on both counts were in fact “no”. I’ll spare you the details because this sort of thing makes for boring reading. In short, by all accounts this Bluestone Lodge is supposed to be the best motel in Tennant Creek. From what I saw of Tennant Creek that may well be the case, but unless things go terribly wrong I won’t be checking out the competition any time soon. Finally, I have proof that Australians are not genetically engineered to be cheerful, helpful, and competent in all things.

Alex and I started our northward trek today by going 100km south (then returning right back up the same road). Tennant Creek is near ("near" in the Australian sense) a very unusual rock formation called the Devils Marbles. These are large boulders that almost look like they were delicately placed on little rocks in precarious positions. They make for good photos when one person can pose for photos and one can shoot the photos. Alex can do many things, but hold a pose or operate a camera in a way that others would want to see is not among those skills yet. I let the pictures do the talking and since I am the cameraman, let me just say that the pictures don’t tell the story very well. There are literally over a thousands boulders, many arranged in impossible positions. Way cool, worth the visit, but as you can see from Alex on one of the videos(edit: if you could see the video...), the Australian National Bird (the Fly) was out in full force and we were the only people to annoy.

Because we are in the wet season, this desert did not look like the images I had of the red center. (Actually these pictures of the Devils Marbles do, but everything around it is green) The desert is in full bloom here in the middle of the wet season. Still, our drive north from the Devils Marbles went from sparse trees and desert scrub to more of a savannah mix to dense trees to jungle to jungle and palm trees. The deserts in Western Australia and South Australia may give us those iconic Aussie scenes. For fear of boring you with landscape shots I did not take any pictures (instead I just narrated for a paragraph), but Darwin is great and you’ll get a few photos from here.

Driving in the middle of nowhere helps me understand half of the mystique around the Road Warrior in Australia. It is impossible not to be obsessed with gasoline. My atlas actually shows where every gas station is out here. You know that if you run out of gas it could be 100 km away and 100 degrees - which tends to focus the mind. Every time I gas up I know where I expect to stop next and how far I am from the next gas station. The half of the Road Warrior that makes no sense is the aggression. The drivers out here are courteous and give way more reliably than most anywhere I've been. When you have not seen an oncoming car for an hour and then you see one, you feel obliged to wave.

On the way up, we found yet another mystifying town slogan: “Mataranka - Capital of the Never Never”. Fortunately, it was a good time to stop and get gas because…well…it just leaves so many questions out there. The guy at the gas station/ restaurant/ convenience store said it had something to do with the local Aboriginal people. The people in that region did not belong to a tribe. They were all cast off from different tribes and did not have a clear identity. Alternatively it has something to do with the Aboriginal concept of DreamTime. In short, the townsfolk are not really sure, but it has something to do with the locals who predate the British.

So we got here to Darwin and the hotel is located right on the Timor Sea (not that you should go in, but it is beautiful). I am closer to East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia and maybe Singapore than any major city in Australia, but have no plans to hop over. First impression of Darwin is great, but I am in the right part of town. Storms have been rolling through and Friday should be another hot day, but with sea breezes and maybe a lightning show.

Tomorrow: Nothing (for once), just hang out in Darwin

Normanton to Tennant Creek

Summary: From the Coast to the Warm Red Center, words like “empty” and “flat” applied at times, come Fly with me, every town needs a slogan.

Today was yet another full driving day. We went from the jungles next to the Gulf of Carpenteria to the desert near the center of the continent. Gosh Captain Outback, how did you get so far so fast? Partly, our stops were just short because of the heat and Alex slept at opportune times. Partly, going west the sun set later. Partly, I was unaware that Autobahn-like speed limits exist in the Northern Territory. Oddly, I did stay pretty close to the speed limit, so the expected reason (shameless speeding) is not the reason I made good time. Whatever the reason, my conservative estimate of staying in Mt Isa or Camooweal tonight and Tennant Creek tomorrow night was thrown out the window. We’re in Tennant Creek tonight and I am thrilled. I would be more thrilled if the wireless internet that this hotel thinks it has were to work, but you’ll just have to enjoy it all in one big chunk when (if) I do get online again.

That first stretch was quite long and empty, even for the standards of western Queensland. We drove 350km and passed (I should say “stopped at”) one gas station. The landscape gradually evolved from swamp and rather high water tables to washed-out looking creeks. Right before the end of that trek, we got a few hills. Driving west, those hills evolved into nice rolling hills & valleys reminiscent of the American Southwest. Then right as we crossed into the NT, we entered the well-named Barkly Tablelands. If ever given a choice between the Atherton Tablelands and the Barkly Tablelands, take Atherton. Barkly was a classic geometry or drafting image – (at times) a treeless plain and straight lines meeting at a vanishing point on the horizon. Like I said, on the plus side, the speed limit was 130km (over 80 mph). This allowed me to make it to Tennant Creek.

Camooweal was the real dividing line – after two legit towns and a two-horse town in the space of 300km, there was nothing but a gas station (maybe two) for 430km. Also, Camooweal is where I first found the missing Australian National Bird – the fly – it has been with us ever since. Australia has no shortage of flies, but these are not common houseflies. Most flies get the message after you wave at them once or twice. These things just keep coming at your face no matter how much you swat. After about 30 seconds, you understand how livestock covered in flies just go about the motion of swatting. They have given up because they know the flies are not leaving. I had given up until I got back in the car and had a finite space and finite number of flies. I will try not to make this a recurring theme, but if you see me with a hat with little pieces of cork dangling all the way around or with a net over my face…well, now you know.

Australia retains a charming character that small-town America has of welcoming visitors with a cute slogan about the town. I mentioned Cloncurry was the home of the highest temp ever registered in Australia back in the 1800s. Driving into Cloncurry, the sign reads “Welcome to Cloncurry, A Friendly Heat”. The record was something along the lines of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than Death Valley has seen. Making that fact into a cutesy slogan takes hard work. The people at the grocery store were friendly, but I don’t know how the heat facilitates it. Mount Isa’s sign says “Welcome to The Isa – Now you’re a real Australian”. Good stuff. Actually, if you ignore the cauldron-like heat in both of them, Mt Isa and Cloncurry were alright little towns from what I saw (better than Tennant Creek from what I’ve seen so far). If I see them, I’ll try to remember any other good signs like “Welcome to Normanton, don’t mind the water, mind the 8m crocs in the water. Cheers” or “Esperance welcomes you to the land of the one legged dingo” or “Coffs Harbour: mostly strip malls and chain stores, but with a nice beach” (these are not officially recognized slogans or even necessarily accurate, to my knowledge).

Tomorrow AM, Alex and I will drive down to the Devil’s Marbles, an odd collection of boulders that will be a fun place to walk around if for no other reason than it will not be blazing hot at 7:30am. Then we’ll turn around and drive North to Katherine. If we are really jamming, we may go all the way to Darwin, but I am not pressing it.

Cairns to Normanton

Summary: Tropical Rainstorm, The Australian Savannah, urban Dakotas, update from the wide world of animals, and 28-ft Crocodiles.

Hello from the edge of the Gulf of Carpenteria. Today we drove from Cairns to Normanton, cutting across the Cape York Peninsula. It was a good drive, marked by a certain symmetry. When the sun rose this morning, it was windy and there was an air of a looming storm. After driving through sunny and clear weather all day, we spotted a storm on the horizon and met that storm as we arrived in Normanton. We could see lightning strikes ahead, although it was still sunny where we were. It rained a little and then let loose right as we got into Normanton. Whatever your image of a tropical downpour is (mine would be those “Paradiso Lluvioso” Volkswagen ads), we got one… but I am getting ahead of myself.

Today was essentially a driving day. We drove out of Cairns right past Kuranda (by the way, I want to make it clear that did not mean to belittle the town in yesterday’s post, I only wanted to emphasize that the transport to and from Kuranda is unique and exceptional). Driving up to Kuranda it was drizzling with more storm apparently coming from offshore, but at Kuranda the rain cut off and stayed off for the next 7 hours of sunny/partly cloudy driving. The first area after Kuranda was the Atherton Tablelands – starting with a string of small towns in pristine settings. This was completely unexpected – I really thought it would be jungle comparable to Kuranda for a while, but things quickly broke up to lush green rolling hills and meadows surrounded by mountain ridges. This is very pretty countryside. Had our timing been a little later, we would have certainly visited one of the several coffee plantations. The route we are taking (at least to Normanton) is called the “Savannah Way” and what we drove through for most of the day was truly like pictures I’ve seen of Africa’s Savannah. It was mostly flat and rocky with lots of trees, but not remotely jungle or swamp (OK it was swamp those last ten miles). Earlier, we drove over tiny creeks with large trees bent over in the direction of the flow of the water, so those creeks are certainly capable of flooding. As we approached Normanton, the water was higher.

En route we stopped for lunch in Mount Surprise, which is noteworthy primarily for this sign (If you can’t read the fine print, it is “Tastes like shit… but you can live on it”- it may be a quote from Crocodile Dundee). For the record, the lunch was fine. The woman serving us was very friendly and had lots of questions about America. Regarding the population density of Australia, she said “you guys have your empty parts too, right?” “Well, yes and no, some people think states like North Dakota are pretty empty. But Fargo still has over 100,000 and Bismarck has another 50,000 or so. Same basic story in the other ‘empty’ states.” She was surprised. If I had said 15,000 lived in all of North Dakota, it would have seemed about right.

Wildlife: I did not see any Kangaroos until we were almost into Normanton, as the dark skies may have reminded the roos of dusk (which is when they get active). However, we saw more than our share of cattle grazing next to the road. All of the cattle seemed to have a healthy fear of the road. OK, almost all of them. This bull was in no hurry to get off the road and enjoyed standing right in the middle. The fact that a car might come every hour or so was not going to deter him - for some reason he was focused on that termite mound 10 feet in front if him.
I have been asked if that “no travel at night” rule is really a “hard and fast” rule. Sure, it is best not to drive at night, but it is no big deal, right? Honestly, there is no way I would have any comparable “rule” regarding travel at night in the US. Most people know that Australia is well populated with Kangaroos (to the tune of 4 roos per human, from what I heard, but estimates vary). Let me illustrate this night driving rule with someone else’s story. On the way back from Kuranda, we spoke with an Englishman doing the same sort of thing we’re doing. He is taking 5 months to travel around Australia (clockwise) on a Greyhound bus (aside: he wishes he drove). He had a few stories, but this one is quite salient to the wildlife. He said the buses (and road train trucks) are the only vehicles driving at night because the drivers are up high and they have massive “roo bars” on the front of the trucks/buses to keep their front ends from being destroyed. Every night he heard “bam” several times. The buses would slow down or go around when possible, but they would not “swerve” at the risk of their passengers. He said at night they would go for hours on end and only pass one or two other buses or trucks in a 10-12 hour span. There were simply no cars out at night. I’ll follow the pack on this one.

One last bit of wildlife that I want to point out would be the insects. Given how hot and humid it is, you would think it extremely buggy. Actually it is buggy in Normanton, but it wasn’t in Cairns or at any stop along the way. Better yet, we have yet to see any mosquitoes (not that they aren’t there, but we have not seen them). I have not seen any cockroaches, which (like most people) I have a special dislike for. Amazingly, we have yet to see any flies. On previous trips to Australia, I have been amazed at how many there were. One last insect that I have not seen but whose handiwork I have seen all day is the termite. There are little termite mounds (looking like anything from posts to boulders) the whole way. They are just strange looking, all taking on the color of the soil directly beneath them for obvious reasons. We’ll pass tan sand-colored mounds and red ones. Squint at that second photo just above and you’ll see it has about 50 termite mounds in the background among the trees.

Normanton is really quite small (1500), yet it is the biggest dot near a straight line on the map from Cairns to Darwin. To stay on paved roads, I have to swing 350km south, go over to Tennant Creek, then go north to Darwin. There are non-paved roads and even they swing south. To put it mildly, as wet as I think Normanton is, the stuff between here and Darwin is simply marshland or part-time flood-land. Normanton is a sort of gateway to the Gulf of Carpenteria. There is another town, Kurumba, right on the water, but it is even smaller and the road there is indirect on a good day (70km by road, 20km straight line). Winding through potentially flooded roads through swamps during a downpour is just not appealing right now. One thing that put this town on the map is that back in the 1950’s the largest saltwater croc ever caught was captured right here on the Norman River (8.63m). According to Bruce, the tourguide on the Daintree, it is extremely rare to find a crocodile over 5m. In honor of “Krys” the croc, the good people of Normanton erected this statue. It looks so cartoonishly large it just does not seem possible that it is life size, but it really is.

We rolled into Normanton and found that most all of the accommodations were pub motels, so we are staying at just such an establishment – The Albion Hotel. Nice folks, pretty good food, a roof & walls between me and mother nature. I like the place. The pub looked like a cast of extras from the next Crocodile Dundee movie - I mean that as a compliment, but these guys were the genuine article. This Hotel/Pub was clearly the hotspot in town as seemingly one third of the population came through (between 5 & 7pm when we were there) to hang out or buy a 30 pack of XXXX Gold Beer. Every town (at least in Queensland) has at least one bar with XXXX written in garishly huge letters on the outside of the pub - sort of like how every town in Wisconsin has no less than one bar with a little Old Style sign. Another interesting note from this pub that jives with what I heard was that in the Deep North of Queensland, people talk really slow and their accents are more pronounced so it is hard to understand them. Let's just say I certainly said "beg your pardon" a bit more than usual and I suddenly had empathy for non-Southerners not understanding folks in the deep South.

This pub has a colony of cane toads living on the property and Alex loves them. Cane Toads are a pest introduced from Central America to kill another pest (it failed), but one that reproduces wildly while killing off its predators. It secretes a poison such that animals that eat it die and animals that eat its eggs die. I read an article in one of the local papers about people organizing ventures into the swamps to kill them (humanely, but how bad must anything be to make you want to venture into swamps with Taipans, Saltwater Crocodiles, etc etc etc to kill a venomous toad?). They may be terrible for the ecosystem, the environment, various crops, and more than a few crocodiles, they may be brown and ugly, but Alex loves them (at a distance). Still, I hope those trying to stop its progress succeed.

Anyhow, I am not sure when I’ll get to post, but I look forward to keeping things fresh as we roll to Camooweal.