Racing into the Outback
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
Yes, the blurring was deliberate!
Monday, June 19, 2006
A pyton and I
A pyton and I
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
My new best friend (just as long as I can give him back!)
Desert Venturer day one - to Croydon
On Saturday the 20th (of May), I had another 5.30am start to join a Desert Venturer four day bus tour from Cairns to Darwin. It was part of my Oz Experience pass that would take me all the way around Australia in a big loop and this section is run by Desert Venturer.
A bus met us at our respective hostels and took everyone to the bus that we'd be travelling on in the next four days. The first thing that struck me was the size and quality of the vehicle. Instead of the normal coaches or extended minibuses, the coach we would be in was similar to a standard lorry, but with 4-wheel-drive and only 25 seats. There was a huge amount of legroom, a plasma TV, a decent sound system and plenty of space to store your luggage. It was like having a first class seat for the price of an economy ticket.
We set off westwards, first passing through the cyclone damaged Atherton Tablelands and then stopping for a brief walk down to Millstream Falls. Soon after, the rainforest disappeared and the Outback beckoned. The change was gradual, but definitely noticeable. The lack of traffic, buildings and infrastructure gives you an ever increasing sense that you're venturing into the middle of nowhere.
We got to Mount Surprise at midday and stopped at the town there for lunch. Of course, the word 'town' is a bit misleading because Australians only use 'town' then 'city', whereas in Britain you have 'hamlet', 'village', 'town' and 'city'. So an Aussie town might have about five people living there, whereas a UK town would have at least 10,000.
After lunch we were introduced to a local who would give us a snake demonstration. This guy, whose name I forget (probably Bruce), had just about every native Australian snake in his barn. We got to handle a few of them, mainly pythons and see feeding time, where he put a live mouse into a cage with a snake and well, 'let them get on with it'. It was a pretty interesting stop though and a useful insight into how snakes work, even if it was a bit gruesome at times! Australia contains the vast majority of the world's most deadly snakes, not least the Black Headed Taipan, whose bite can kill 200 grown men. That's something you don't want to step on!
We drove on, passing into what increasingly looked like savannah. The rest of the day was spent driving and after a brief trip to Lake Belmore for sunset, we arrived in Croydon (no, not the one in London) at about 6pm. To give you an idea of what it was like, we stayed in the only two-storey building in town!
A bus met us at our respective hostels and took everyone to the bus that we'd be travelling on in the next four days. The first thing that struck me was the size and quality of the vehicle. Instead of the normal coaches or extended minibuses, the coach we would be in was similar to a standard lorry, but with 4-wheel-drive and only 25 seats. There was a huge amount of legroom, a plasma TV, a decent sound system and plenty of space to store your luggage. It was like having a first class seat for the price of an economy ticket.
We set off westwards, first passing through the cyclone damaged Atherton Tablelands and then stopping for a brief walk down to Millstream Falls. Soon after, the rainforest disappeared and the Outback beckoned. The change was gradual, but definitely noticeable. The lack of traffic, buildings and infrastructure gives you an ever increasing sense that you're venturing into the middle of nowhere.
We got to Mount Surprise at midday and stopped at the town there for lunch. Of course, the word 'town' is a bit misleading because Australians only use 'town' then 'city', whereas in Britain you have 'hamlet', 'village', 'town' and 'city'. So an Aussie town might have about five people living there, whereas a UK town would have at least 10,000.
After lunch we were introduced to a local who would give us a snake demonstration. This guy, whose name I forget (probably Bruce), had just about every native Australian snake in his barn. We got to handle a few of them, mainly pythons and see feeding time, where he put a live mouse into a cage with a snake and well, 'let them get on with it'. It was a pretty interesting stop though and a useful insight into how snakes work, even if it was a bit gruesome at times! Australia contains the vast majority of the world's most deadly snakes, not least the Black Headed Taipan, whose bite can kill 200 grown men. That's something you don't want to step on!
We drove on, passing into what increasingly looked like savannah. The rest of the day was spent driving and after a brief trip to Lake Belmore for sunset, we arrived in Croydon (no, not the one in London) at about 6pm. To give you an idea of what it was like, we stayed in the only two-storey building in town!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Cairns Dive Centre trip day three
It was another early start on the 19th with our first dive of the day at 06:30. Frank and I went down to 18m at a bommie (that's a collection of coral) at the rear of the boat, but light and visibility wasn't ideal so I couldn't take many photos. After breakfast, we did a combined boat and fish identification speciality dive, whereby we were dropped off by a small boat to a bommie, rolling backwards into the water off the side of the hull.
I got a fair number of decent photos this time around, catching all sorts of fish. Photography is completely different underwater and it's like learning it from scratch. There are so many new issues with light, colour and being quick enough that it makes getting a good photo very tricky.
My final dive of the trip was at 11am that day and I chose to have it guided to make the most of it. Benny showed us plenty of wildlife, from giant clams and sea stars to pufferfish and angelfish. It was a great end to an excellent trip.
After lunch we moved back to the East Timor site and a number of us left the Kangaroo Explorer for Cairns. We got the Sunlover cruise back and arrived in town at about 6pm. By sheer chance, I met up with two people who I already knew at the hostel I was staying in, so we went to the Woolshed (a bar), where I also met at least five other people who I also had been travelling with on Oz Experience. It's always nice to bump into people like that and catch up on journeys past.
I got a fair number of decent photos this time around, catching all sorts of fish. Photography is completely different underwater and it's like learning it from scratch. There are so many new issues with light, colour and being quick enough that it makes getting a good photo very tricky.
My final dive of the trip was at 11am that day and I chose to have it guided to make the most of it. Benny showed us plenty of wildlife, from giant clams and sea stars to pufferfish and angelfish. It was a great end to an excellent trip.
After lunch we moved back to the East Timor site and a number of us left the Kangaroo Explorer for Cairns. We got the Sunlover cruise back and arrived in town at about 6pm. By sheer chance, I met up with two people who I already knew at the hostel I was staying in, so we went to the Woolshed (a bar), where I also met at least five other people who I also had been travelling with on Oz Experience. It's always nice to bump into people like that and catch up on journeys past.
A green turtle surfacing
A green turtle surfacing
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
A green turtle coming up for a breath in the rain
Carins Dive Centre trip day two
On the 18th (of May), we got up early at 5.30am and went for our first dive at 6, just as the sun was rising. Jillian, Gary and I went with Annika - a German instructor - do do our speciality deep dive. As a general rule, you always do your deepest dive of the day first, then do progressively shallower ones. If you have what's called a 'reverse profile' where you do a deeper dive than the last, then they can suspend you from your next dive to allow excess nitrogren to filter out of your body.
Ideally, you should descend to just above 30m because nitrogen narcosis - the same effect as being drunk but induced naturally by pressurised nitrogen in your body - starts to kick in there, but we could only find 22m. Annika did a few demonstrations like releasing an egg yolk into the water - where the pressure suspends it in a ball - before we ascended again. Her compass reading was altered by accident during our dive, so we came up to surface about 100m away from the ship and had to get towed back by the motor dingy, which was a bit of added excitement.
After breakfast, we went down again at 10:30 to do our navigation speciality dive. It wasn't particularly difficult - just using a compass to do circuits - but it gave me an idea of how to find my was around underwater. Usually you don't need a compass when diving, but should I need to I now know how. I said goodbye to Jillian and Gary after that dive as they were only doing a one night stay, then went for another dive at 4 with my new French buddy, Frank. We went down to about 12m as I did my photography speciality dive, which didn't need to be guided. In fact, it was my first dive where I was the most experienced diver, so I got to lead it in the sense of making sure we weren't lost and knew where the boat was. It's no formality, but usually the more experienced diver keeps an eye on the state of the dive as you're going along.
I had my second night dive that evening and chose to go guided just so that I'd see more. We only went down to 10 metres, but Benny - our Dutch guide - found us all sorts of wildlife, including a pufferfish, an amusing creature which looks like an overinflated balloon with fins.
Ideally, you should descend to just above 30m because nitrogen narcosis - the same effect as being drunk but induced naturally by pressurised nitrogen in your body - starts to kick in there, but we could only find 22m. Annika did a few demonstrations like releasing an egg yolk into the water - where the pressure suspends it in a ball - before we ascended again. Her compass reading was altered by accident during our dive, so we came up to surface about 100m away from the ship and had to get towed back by the motor dingy, which was a bit of added excitement.
After breakfast, we went down again at 10:30 to do our navigation speciality dive. It wasn't particularly difficult - just using a compass to do circuits - but it gave me an idea of how to find my was around underwater. Usually you don't need a compass when diving, but should I need to I now know how. I said goodbye to Jillian and Gary after that dive as they were only doing a one night stay, then went for another dive at 4 with my new French buddy, Frank. We went down to about 12m as I did my photography speciality dive, which didn't need to be guided. In fact, it was my first dive where I was the most experienced diver, so I got to lead it in the sense of making sure we weren't lost and knew where the boat was. It's no formality, but usually the more experienced diver keeps an eye on the state of the dive as you're going along.
I had my second night dive that evening and chose to go guided just so that I'd see more. We only went down to 10 metres, but Benny - our Dutch guide - found us all sorts of wildlife, including a pufferfish, an amusing creature which looks like an overinflated balloon with fins.
Cairns Dive Centre trip day one
So, on the 17th of May (yes, I'm a bit behind with writing this up!), I got up early to meet the shuttle bus for Cairns Dive Centre. I had booked a liveaboard dive trip which would take me out on the Reef for ten dives over three days. Now that I had my dive certification which I earned on Magnetic Island, I could go diving without an instructor and put my skills and knowledge to the test.
After a brief at the Carins Dive Centre office, we were driven down to the marina and boarded the Sunlover cruise to Moore Reef. Normally CDC have their own boat which takes you out to their liveaboard boat, but it was being serviced so we got a more comfortable ride on this other operator's ship. It was packed with tourists who didn't exactly look prepared for the rough ride to the Reef, but it got us there without any of us throwing up. From the Sunlover pontoon, we had a short ride over to the Kangaroo Explorer, our home for the next three days.
After a safety and site briefing, we got straight down to business and went for our first dive of the day. Since I had done my dive course only a matter of days previously, it was all very farmiliar to me and I had no problems getting into it all. Your first dive had to be a guided one and so my buddies Jillian and Gary set off with one of the instructors - Benny - at a dive site called East Timor. Whilst the visibility wasn't as good as it was on Heron Island, it sure was a lot better than Magnetic Island!
With our first dive done, we had a buffet lunch in the canteen onboard. The food was actually pretty good, probably better than I had expected given the price of the trip ($450 for ten dives all inclusive). After lunch we had a short break before going for our second dive at 4pm. Jillian (a Sydney-based solicitor), Gary (an Irish computer programmer) and I went on our own this time, heading down to 12m. As well as seeing numerous fish and coral, we found a series of caves in the coral which we could swim through, something that would prove to be the highlight of the trip.
Orignally, I had intended just to do ten recreational dives, but I learnt that for $60 more, I could gain my Advanced Speciality certification onboard by doing a few guided dives that focused on certain specialities of diving. It made a lot of sense to go and do this because you got guided dives on the cheap and the tasks you had to do were pretty simple.
Our night dive that evening became my first speciality dive and I went guided, as I would have had to anyway because it's my first night dive. Diving is slightly different at night because you have to learn a few new procedures to account for the changing conditions. As well as carrying torches, there are different signals which are used at night to communicate between your buddies, yourself and the boat. We didn't see a great deal of exciting wildlife on that first night dive, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
After a brief at the Carins Dive Centre office, we were driven down to the marina and boarded the Sunlover cruise to Moore Reef. Normally CDC have their own boat which takes you out to their liveaboard boat, but it was being serviced so we got a more comfortable ride on this other operator's ship. It was packed with tourists who didn't exactly look prepared for the rough ride to the Reef, but it got us there without any of us throwing up. From the Sunlover pontoon, we had a short ride over to the Kangaroo Explorer, our home for the next three days.
After a safety and site briefing, we got straight down to business and went for our first dive of the day. Since I had done my dive course only a matter of days previously, it was all very farmiliar to me and I had no problems getting into it all. Your first dive had to be a guided one and so my buddies Jillian and Gary set off with one of the instructors - Benny - at a dive site called East Timor. Whilst the visibility wasn't as good as it was on Heron Island, it sure was a lot better than Magnetic Island!
With our first dive done, we had a buffet lunch in the canteen onboard. The food was actually pretty good, probably better than I had expected given the price of the trip ($450 for ten dives all inclusive). After lunch we had a short break before going for our second dive at 4pm. Jillian (a Sydney-based solicitor), Gary (an Irish computer programmer) and I went on our own this time, heading down to 12m. As well as seeing numerous fish and coral, we found a series of caves in the coral which we could swim through, something that would prove to be the highlight of the trip.
Orignally, I had intended just to do ten recreational dives, but I learnt that for $60 more, I could gain my Advanced Speciality certification onboard by doing a few guided dives that focused on certain specialities of diving. It made a lot of sense to go and do this because you got guided dives on the cheap and the tasks you had to do were pretty simple.
Our night dive that evening became my first speciality dive and I went guided, as I would have had to anyway because it's my first night dive. Diving is slightly different at night because you have to learn a few new procedures to account for the changing conditions. As well as carrying torches, there are different signals which are used at night to communicate between your buddies, yourself and the boat. We didn't see a great deal of exciting wildlife on that first night dive, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
A saltwater crocodile
A saltwater crocodile
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
Something you don't want to find in your swimming pool...
Oz Experience day ten - on to Cairns
The next day, we set off on the final day of the Oz Experience part of my trip towards Cairns. One of our first stops was in Innisfail, where the centre of Cyclone Larry had hit the mainland. Apart from the obvious damage to the rainforest and crops, there were still plenty of roofs with tarpaulins on them to keep the rain out and a number of buildings that had evidently been abandoned because they were so badly damaged.
We weren't able to go to one of the walks in the Atherton Tablelands because it was still closed, so we went instead to the crocodile farm in Innisfail. We had a guided tour around the working farm at feeding time, getting a good look at both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. The freshwater ones can grow up to about 3 or 4 metres and attack people unless you provoke them, but the saltwater crocodiles are the ones to watch out for; they grow up to 7m long, weigh up to 1000kg and see you as just another source of food.
Crocodiles are the longest surviving relatives of the dinosaurs and look the part to match. As the world's largest reptiles, they hunt using stealth but not so frequently as they can survive months without food. Left alone in the wild, crocodiles can easily live up to 100 years old.
After the tour, we had the chance to handle a snake, a baby crocodile and a blue-tongued lizard, which I had a go at. Snakes aren't as slimy as you might think and feel like one giant leather muscle, which I guess they are in a sense. The baby crocodile had its mouth taped shut, but even though it was small you wouldn't want to get in its way!
We drove to a lake for lunch and had a look around before driving further north towards Cairns. On the way, we stopped briefly at a waterfall in the Atherton Tablelands and the Curtain Fig Tree, a huge and unique plant formed from the freak collision of two fig trees. Our penultimate stop of the day was at the A.J. Hackett bungy jump site, the only one in Australia. I didn't opt to do a bungy because I think it's overpriced and not as good as the ones in New Zealand, but several of the group did and seemed to enjoy the thrill a great deal. We finished the day by driving into Cairns and then went out that evening for our farewell dinner at The Woolshed.
We weren't able to go to one of the walks in the Atherton Tablelands because it was still closed, so we went instead to the crocodile farm in Innisfail. We had a guided tour around the working farm at feeding time, getting a good look at both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. The freshwater ones can grow up to about 3 or 4 metres and attack people unless you provoke them, but the saltwater crocodiles are the ones to watch out for; they grow up to 7m long, weigh up to 1000kg and see you as just another source of food.
Crocodiles are the longest surviving relatives of the dinosaurs and look the part to match. As the world's largest reptiles, they hunt using stealth but not so frequently as they can survive months without food. Left alone in the wild, crocodiles can easily live up to 100 years old.
After the tour, we had the chance to handle a snake, a baby crocodile and a blue-tongued lizard, which I had a go at. Snakes aren't as slimy as you might think and feel like one giant leather muscle, which I guess they are in a sense. The baby crocodile had its mouth taped shut, but even though it was small you wouldn't want to get in its way!
We drove to a lake for lunch and had a look around before driving further north towards Cairns. On the way, we stopped briefly at a waterfall in the Atherton Tablelands and the Curtain Fig Tree, a huge and unique plant formed from the freak collision of two fig trees. Our penultimate stop of the day was at the A.J. Hackett bungy jump site, the only one in Australia. I didn't opt to do a bungy because I think it's overpriced and not as good as the ones in New Zealand, but several of the group did and seemed to enjoy the thrill a great deal. We finished the day by driving into Cairns and then went out that evening for our farewell dinner at The Woolshed.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Rainforest devestation
Rainforest devestation
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
The rainforest near Mission Beach after Cyclone Larry
Oz Experience day nine - Mission Beach
On Monday (the 15th) I got back on the Oz Experience bus and left Magnetic Island at midday after a relaxed morning as we headed north out of Townsville. Our new driver Tanya would take us to Mission Beach as we entered land affected by the recent hurricane.
Cyclone Larry hit the Queensland coast on March 20th at a rating of catagory five, the highest possible. No-one was killed, but it caused a lot of structural damage and destroyed much of the agricultural and native vegetation in the area.
Even though it was nearly two months after the cyclone hit, as we drove north it was obvious that it had been through. We didn't see the worst of it as we only got to Mission Beach that day, but it was certainly evident everywhere you looked.
We went on a walk through the rainforest which had just been re-opened that day and the damage to the vegetation there was somewhat shocking. Before the cyclone, 90% of the forest floor was in shadow, but now it was more like 10%. The rainforest has been completely gutted, with trees lying all over the place and foliage ripped down from the canopy, leaving it open to the sky above. It's certainly a sad sight and it'll take 50 years until the forest recovers.
We got into Mission Beach late that afternoon and stayed at Scotty's Backpackers, which must have been one of the best hostels that I've stayed in. After months of travelling, you can spot the good ones from that bad in an instant and this one was right at the top of the pile, so to speak. We even got a free fire show thrown in, a spectacular display before our final Oz Experience trip the next day.
Cyclone Larry hit the Queensland coast on March 20th at a rating of catagory five, the highest possible. No-one was killed, but it caused a lot of structural damage and destroyed much of the agricultural and native vegetation in the area.
Even though it was nearly two months after the cyclone hit, as we drove north it was obvious that it had been through. We didn't see the worst of it as we only got to Mission Beach that day, but it was certainly evident everywhere you looked.
We went on a walk through the rainforest which had just been re-opened that day and the damage to the vegetation there was somewhat shocking. Before the cyclone, 90% of the forest floor was in shadow, but now it was more like 10%. The rainforest has been completely gutted, with trees lying all over the place and foliage ripped down from the canopy, leaving it open to the sky above. It's certainly a sad sight and it'll take 50 years until the forest recovers.
We got into Mission Beach late that afternoon and stayed at Scotty's Backpackers, which must have been one of the best hostels that I've stayed in. After months of travelling, you can spot the good ones from that bad in an instant and this one was right at the top of the pile, so to speak. We even got a free fire show thrown in, a spectacular display before our final Oz Experience trip the next day.
Underwater pool theory
Underwater pool theory
Originally uploaded by Toytown Mafia.
Taking off and putting my equipment back on
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