Darwin-Cairns-Darwin-Cairns

Crisscrossing the top end-

See if you can keep up ;)

Darwin:

Remember that amazing last shot of the beach-weeeeell as it turns out if you dare to swim in the ocean in Darwin you must have a death wish. The water is full of deadly things, such as "stingers" or jellyfish and crocs not to mention the mozzies that will keep you away from the beach in general. Seeing as I couldn't go in the water because of the crocs I decided to get my revenge-by going to an autopsy of one! My roomie in Darwin works at the Charles Darwin University and invited me along to check it out. I loved it but barf bags were available for those with a weaker stomach.

My main reason for going to Darwin was to work (amazing how quickly the money goes huh?). I was lucky enough to find a job on my 2nd day in the city while having a drink at a major restaurant/bar on the foreshores-The Beachfront Hotel. 

                       
  

And this was my life for nearly 3 months-bartending and playing dress-up. Not my most intellectual or demanding of jobs (except during both the AFL and Rugby Grand Finals which were back-to-back in one weekend. I saw not a second of either game as I was pouring beers for about 5 hours straight each day.) but it was fun to be working while having a view of the (deadly but) beautiful beach. The first picture was for International Pirates Day, the 2nd for Halloween (theme: Good vs. Evil-who do you think I was?) and the 3rd was for the Melbourne Cup-the largest horse racing and betting day for all of Australia. Most people take a looooooong lunch that day. 


                        

However I am proud to say that I also helped my bar and especially the lovely lady (in the pirate costume and on the far right just above) become the U.G.L.Y. bartender of Australia!!!! While not my favorite acronym ever, U.G.L.Y. stands for Understanding Generous Likable You. It is an organization that raises money for leukemia patients and their families to assist with their housing while they are receiving treatment. Bars choose one bartender to be the U.G.L.Y. representative and that person organizes the fundraising events. We did sausages sizzles (supposedly a typical weekend event for an Aussie family is to go to Bunnings (like Home Depot) and have a sausage on the way out), bike rides, car washes, Josie dyed her hair, got people to duct tape her to the wall and another girl cut off her dreads. All of this contributed to Josie raising over $35,000 in just a few months-the most in the whole country!

                                                                                                                                                                     

I did get out of the city (and let's be honest-it's not a city in the true sense of the word, just a large town) a bit. My roommate, her boyfriend and I went to Litchfield National Park for a few days. It's known for their various waterfalls/pools and the magnetic termite mounds! How cool are these guys?! They look like worn down gravestones although they stand about 3 meters/9 feet tall. They are always built aligned to the Earth's magnetic field, thereby pointing due north and south. This ensures that one side of the mound is always shaded and keeps the termites cool. 

                             

Then we stopped to see a real Aussie show-Jumping Crocs! I guess we came at the beginning of the fly season so the crocs take cover from the blood thirsty creatures and don't come out as much so this is all we saw, but they can get there whole bodies out of the water when they want to. The boat captain has also trained this whistling kite to catch raw chucks of meat out of the air. A nice added bonus. 

                       

A few other things that occupied my time while I was working at the bar: indoor beach volleyball (beach sand pits surrounded by nets in which anything is fair game) with my roommate, her sister, brother-in-law and a friend. Bronte also introduce me to some of the international students she works with at the uni and one night we had an impromptu Nepalese dumpling cooking class. When men are faced with dire circumstances (being out of their country) they can step up to the plate (no pun intended) and cook!  

Even if it isn't suitable for swimming the beach did offer some amazing sunsets and provided most of my running paths for my time there.

Cairns

While working at the bar I had gotten invited along for on a sailing adventure! The captain need another hand on deck which I guess really meant he wanted a cook and seemed to think backpackers were good cooks-hahahaha, joke was on him. Either way, I jumped at the chance to get to sail from Cairns to Darwin, a distance of 1387nautical miles/1596miles/2568km. We set sail from Cairns in the Kimberly Cool, an 11 meter long catamaran (named such because the Kimberelys are a mountain range in northern Australia where the captain hopes to spend much time in the future and because the term "Kimberely Cool" refers to a beer that is not quite cold since refrigeration is hard to come by in some parts up there and that's how the captain likes to drink his beers and how most of our beers were on board, NOT how I like them.)





A pirate's life for us....most of the time was spent doing just this-avoiding the sun since the sails didn't offer much shade most of the day. It must have been my watch since the other two crew (the captain at right and the first mate at left) were inside resting. During the day it was pretty hot and boring, but at night it was so cooling and relaxing-having nothing around you for hundreds of miles. The night skies were some of the best I've ever seen. 




  

Of course the sunrises and sunsets were spectacular and I could make you more jealous but I only chose two to show off.






One day while smack dab in the middle of the Gulf of Carpentaria, while doing our daily oil check I decided that I needed to cool off. I had about 150 miles on any side of me to the closest bit of land. I half wanted some huge animal to come swimming by, but only if it wouldn't eat me.
I did see lots of animals along the way. Mostly turtles, dolphins, some large manta rays, a few lemon sharks and lots of fish and birds. And we did hook and then lost a large marlin one day and caught and ate a tuna a few days later.
 A few other times when we were closer to shore and I'd jump in I was told to do it quickly and then get out! Crocs might leave you alone the first time you get in, but after that you're fair game.




We did go ashore a few times over the 2.5 weeks of sailing-to refuel, fill up on water or other provisions and once just to say hi to a friend of the captain's who lives in paradise (well it's called Bremer Island, but I called it paradise). He and his wife own an eco-lodge which is just a fancy way of saying tents that are slightly better than camping but because it's such a nice place they can charge a considerable bit more. I enjoyed resting my sea legs for a day, especially because we'd just had a few days of pretty rocky water which was not comfortable at all. I'm proud to say I never got sick on the trip, but there were some times I was close.

Darwin to Cairns

So after landing back in Darwin I packed up and set off with two new friends and drove across the outback again. This time it took 5 days (although we didn't rush it) for the 3000km/1800mile trip. It was more red earth, straight roads without speed limits and lots and lots of roos and wallabies (one of which decided it was done with life and chose my car as the means to an end. I was very sad, but to tell the truth, I saw more roadkill than cars in these 5 days. It happens, sorry)

We went off the main road and stopped in a few older towns that were once part of the gold rush that Australia experienced in the late 1890's to early 1900's. If you were just passing through there wouldn't seem like much of a reason to stop but being a bit of a nerd I insisted on stopping at the Croydon Information Office and were sent on a tour around town in which we got to stop by the old courthouse and listen to a reenactment of a case from 100 years ago. It was pretty entertaining.

I don't know if you can read this sign but it says, "All we want for Christmas is rain" I couldn't have asked for a more serendipitous moment. I guess it had been a very dry year (although I feel like I hear that everywhere) and lots of times that we were going to go see a waterfall, we would be informed that there was little chance of there being any water at that moment. 

Thanks so my little sister Molly I knew to keep my eyes out for some platypus and when one information office mentioned it in passing I nearly jumped on the poor old woman and demanded to know where, when, how I could see it! We were lucky enough to spot one that afternoon (platypus are very shy and can only be found at certain times of day). I was surprised to see that this full-grown adult is only about .3meters/less than a foot long. I'd always pictured them bigger. But he/she was cute! It's very good at the tuck and dive technique.  

One the last night before arriving in Cairns (again for me) we came upon these hot springs. This is the river in which the water nearly boils out at 80C/176F and is then sent though some pipes and used in a more exclusive, private set of pools inside a mini resort. We did stay at this resort, but camping, as you see below, but I preferred the river section.

Two of the three tents were my home for most of my time on the road, as well as my car when I was too lazy to pitch the tent. I absolutely loved camping. It really made me want to do some more road trips in other parts of the world (first and foremost-the USA-anyone game?)

Back in Cairns, nearly a month after setting sail from its port. When we crossed the Atherton Tablelands to arrive on the coast I was so relieve to see green again after so much brown and red. And it was exciting to know that I would soon be able to swim at the beaches, not yet, but soon ;)