Friday 10 August 2007

Offline for a couple of days again

We will probably have no internet for a couple of days again from tomorrow. Will update when we get connected again.

Devils Marbles - spectacular!

Today we decided to book our accommodation for Darwin since we just found out that there is a rodeo there on the weekend we are there too. What’s going on here? Fin rang a heap of places starting with the one we had expected to go to of course and found that they are booked up for at least two of the three nights we wanted so we have rejigged our schedule a bit to allow for this and now we are going to Bachelor first then Darwin which seemed to make more places available, in fact we got the first one on our list. So we will be in Bachelor on Thursday and Friday and then Darwin on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. After lots of phone calls we were finally ready to go out and look at the sights around Tennant Creek.
We headed straight to the Devils Marbles or Karlu Karlu, which is the traditional name for the reserve. It is located just over 100 km south of Tennant Creek. We were not prepared for the magnitude of these rocks – not only are many of them huge and amazingly round, sitting against or balanced precariously on other rocks but there are so many of them spread over a wide area. And they look so beautiful with the green bushes, straw-coloured dry grasses, and red sandy earth all against a glorious azure sky! There are three main groups of them that you can wander around and take photos of with the 2nd one having an information shelter and sign-posted self-guided walk and loos. We stopped there and had lunch which we brought with us and then did the walk and took more photos. You could spend ages there just marvelling at these incredible natural sculptures that were created simply by the rain wearing down the granite over many, many years. Considering that they were discovered and named in the late 1800s so who knows when they became the way they are. The aboriginal people have stories about them of course and the area is still considered a sacred site. While we were at the information area having lunch a bus load of people arrived, piled out of the bus and set up their tables for lunch. By the time we had finished the walk around, another bus had arrived. We went back to the 1st group of rocks only to find another busload had arrived there and this wasn’t counting all the individual visitors like ourselves, mostly in 4WDs as it happens. We had taken a lot of photos already and decided not to try to get more with all the people around now so headed back to the other side of town to see some other sights.
We went first to the Bill Allen Lookout which is 2km past the Battery Hill Mining Centre on Peko Road. There were great views almost 360 degrees around but unfortunately there is a whopping big water pressure tank up there that obscures the view to one side. There were still magnificent views up there and they have plaques which around in each direction pointing out places of interest. Following this we went to Battery Hill Mining Centre but they were not running any tours at the moment due to renovations so we moved on to the Overland Telegraph Repeater Station which was a vital link for Australia with the rest of the world. They had a copy of a newspaper article from The Age in 1872 stating that: “We are now actually in possession of news from London up to the day before yesterday” which was due to the number of repeater stations that dotted the country. And here you are reading what we did today straight after it happened or talking to your friends in another country in real time via phone or internet. It puts it all in perspective when you see what the early settlers had to deal with doesn’t it?
Our last stop on the way back was to Lake Mary Ann which is just 7 km out of town and provides a lush green oasis in this desert city. There are big, shady trees, green lawn, and the lake that you can swim in, walk around or simply just sit near and relax. We met a group of young aboriginal boys there who were happy to have a chat and tell us what they are doing. They had a football (real one, not one of those rugby things!) and so Fin asked if they were going to have a footy game. They said they were and Fin commented on the witches hats they had to represent the goals then one boy told us he plays real footy and his team beat High School team. He was very proud about that and said that High School was unbeaten but “we beat that mob”, getting his mate who also plays to confirm the story. They asked, “Where you fellas from?” and when we said Melbourne were very interested because the MCG is there, isn’t it? The chatty one showed us his Brisbane Lions top under his other top and his mate said he barracked for Melbourne. Soon an older young man came to organize the game with them and they said goodbye and we left too. It was great to chat to some of the local kids like that.

Thursday 9 August 2007

Speedy trip to the Golden Centre

We left Mt Isa early this morning and headed along the Barkly Highway toward Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. We drove past the MIM, Mount Isa Mines, buildings that we had seen in the distance; it seems really strange to have a big ugly mine/smelter right on the edge of the city like that. No wonder they dress it up with pretty lights at night; it makes it seem like something attractive. The road was fairly good at first but we had read that the Barkly was in poor condition though slowly being repaired and we did come to the rougher section once we got into the Northern Territory which is not very far after you leave Camooweel which is a satellite suburb of Mount Isa some 180km west of the city. We stopped there to get petrol and were amused at the sign on the wall facing the other way saying, “Welcome to Queensland. Adjust watches ahead by five years and 30 minutes.” We knew there is a half hour time difference and I guess NT is considered a bit behind the other states judging by this sign.

The views from the road once we got into NT became quite different; the earth was very red, the dry grass very pale and the trees once they did appear mostly a greyish green. It was a very pretty sight but I was driving and Fin was asleep at this stage so I did not get any photos. I think they call the Barkly the “Overland Way” once you get into the territory.
A funny thing happened once we were in the territory - there was that a sign saying, “110km/h ends in 1km” so I started to slow down only to discover that the speed limit had changed to 130km per hour! It made our trip a bit quicker than we expected being able to hike along at that rate; actually I stayed a bit under because as I said the road was rough, with pot holes in some sections, and there were warning signs about cross-winds showing pictures of caravans swerving out of control. We could see the long grass and bushes leaning over in the wind also. In other words, you can imagine that we were driving across very flat open plains. We also noticed that there was very little road kill on this road until we were closer to Tennant Creek though I did see a magnificent Wedge Tailed Eagle fly off from feeding on something on the road. We filled up with petrol at the roadhouse along the way and we paid $1.73 per litre for Premium Unleaded! Dearest we have had to pay yet.

We had to change rooms when we found that the room we were in had a very poor signal from the (paid) wireless internet available and couldn't connect so they asked if we would like to move but it is an upstairs room so most people decline but we packed all our gear up and trudged up the stairs with it to our new room where we have a much better signal. See what we do to provide all our fans with more photos to look at? Jokes aside, that is why I wanted the wireless, apart from there being no vodafone here anyway, so I can upload more pics to Webshots which I am currently doing. You will finally get to see some more of the places we spoke of in our previous posts. Enjoy!
So........ we have arrived at the Golden Centre of the Outback – Tennant Creek.

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Isa Rodeo - Yee - haa!

Wow! Our first rodeo – what an experience! It was actually very entertaining, not to mention great for some interesting photography. I took 144 photos but as you can imagine because the subject is moving all the time, you just have to keep clicking away to get that one fantastic shot. I think I got quite a few good ones but I had to use a high ISO in order to have the light and shutter speed I needed. I did some on 1600 and some on 3200 so they are a bit grainy and using my big zoom meant that there is a little camera shake occasionally but hey, it’s my first rodeo. Likely to be my last but you never know! It was fun to see what the big event in Isa is all about and that was just the preliminary event advertised as a family night; “Man against beast!” Saw a few more cowboy hats than we’re used to in Melbourne.
They had cowboys riding bulls, damn big scary looking beasts too, and also riding horses bareback, bareback bronc riding, and holding on with one hand as they do. The rodeo clowns earned both our respect with their antics and way of distracting the animal while the dumped rider found his way to safety or encouraged it to head towards the gate out of the arena. One actually got stomped on which made him to drop to the ground in pain for a while but he got up and carried on like the troopers those guys are. I can’t imagine what the pain of a huge, heavy bull landing on you would feel like, but I’m guessing it was excruciating! The crowd didn’t applaud and cheer as much as I would have thought they would but then some people were definitely there to socialize more than to watch the action in the arena. Outside there was a whole amusement area with rides, dodgems, games where you hit, catch or knock down something and you win a revoltingly coloured stuffed toy – as if we haven’t got enough luggage in our car as it is.
So, it’s a big event here in Mount Isa and we have only seen the mere beginnings of it. We did hear on ABC radio on our way to Isa yesterday that they are taking measures to curb troublesome behaviour such as fighting by serving mid-strength rum after 11pm at rodeo venues; Bundaberg rum being the drink of choice among Queensland cowboys. It will be interesting to hear if it was effective or not.
Well, off to Tennant Creek tomorrow.

Photos are of one of the rodeo competitors in action, the Buchanan Park where the rodeo was held, and Mount Isa city from the lookout. (See the 3 tall towers of the smelters?)

The early bird catches the worm (or gets the tour)

Today we had a slow start, thinking we would mosey on up to the Outback at Isa Information centre and book a couple of mine tours; one underground and one above. However, when we got there we found out the last tour for above ground mine for the day went at 11am which was 10 minutes earlier and the young lady who helped us didn’t really explain about the underground tour so we were a bit confused and got tickets for the displays in the centre itself which involved the Riversleigh Fossil Centre and the Isa Experience Gallery but then we ran into some guys in miners gear who we asked about the underground tour and they said one had just gone and another was going at 12pm so see if we can get tickets but when we went back to the desk, they told us it was booked out! How annoying. I just looked on their website wondering whether I should have checked there last night and avoided the disappointment but found that there were no times there either. Fin and I took a walk up to the centre the previous night to see if there was any information stuck up outside somewhere but nothing. So the moral to this story is to check the times if none are listed and not assume they will have the tours all day long or at least until the early afternoon!
We had a look around what the centre had to offer and the information and diorama displays regarding fossils were very interesting. They found fossils nearby in the Riversleigh area that have shown the development of early mammal megafauna over the past 30 million years. There are rich deposits of all kinds of fossils at varying levels showing giant meat eating kangaroos, thylacines (Tasmanian tigers), and Thingodonta – how’s that for a name? It was a fossil with strange teeth so they called it Thingodonta. How the palaeontologists work out what each fossil is and where it fits with others they find is beyond me - I thought we had some hard puzzles at kindergarten! Actually, I think I find the area of fossil discovery more interesting than mines anyway but I know Fin would have liked to see into the mines. The other section was about the mine and how Mt Isa was settled as well as there being an aboriginal art display to look at and some incredibly creative ‘creatures’ made out of all kinds of parts of machines, tools etc welded together made by a local guy who won’t sell them and just does them because he likes to and doesn’t think they would sell. I think they’re great!
The next disappointment was realizing after we had lunch and did some shopping that the underground hospital Fin wanted to see closed at 2pm! What is it with the tourism here? Everything closes early!
We went to an Aboriginal Women’s Project called Arilla Paper where they make papers out of grasses and leaves and Hazel took us through the workshop and explained how they treat the grasses to make into paper fibre. She was in the process of soaking some Spinifex grass to soften it before it is cooked tomorrow morning for about 4 hours then mulched up to make into paper fibre. Unfortunately, the workers only come in for 4 hours in the morning – again with the morning! You just can’t have a sleep in Mount Isa!

Tuesday 7 August 2007

Goodbye kites, hello mines

Today we left the town of kites and headed for Mount Isa about 500km away. The road was surprisingly good with much of it being dual lane bitumen except there was quite a lot of roadwork going on which slowed us down to some degree but we still had a reasonable run and arrived in Mt Isa by about 3.15pm. The road became more undulating as we got closer to Cloncurry and even more so toward Isa. Once we were close enough we could see the mine’s tall chimneys smoking in the distance. Mount Isa is one of the largest cities in the world with the mines being its life-blood. It covers an area the size of Switzerland and has famous names such as Patrick Rafter, Greg Norman and Deb Mailman who were all born here. The annual rodeo is this coming weekend and we will be gone by then but the couple staying in the cabin next door to us in Normanton couldn’t get any accommodation for Wednesday and Thursday night due to so many people coming into town for the rodeo. It’s the biggest in Australia and one of the biggest in the world.
We were glad to be back into reception area for mobile phones again so we could book accommodation more easily and call home to see how everyone is as well as having Vodafone 2G to update the BLOG and receive emails. It was perfect timing to allow me to call mum in hospital since she had a shoulder reconstruction this morning. It all went well according to the staff but was sleeping each time I called so will ring tomorrow when she is not so groggy. What a relief that is over!
Tomorrow we will take a look around the city; see the mines and tourist stuff to find out more about this place.

Aye Karumba!

Today we took our time getting up, got another load of washing done and on the line then headed off to Karumba Point to see where the Normanton River flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along the way, in fact just out of town Fin pulled over because he had seen some Brolgas. I took some photos and, in fact got some great photos of them flying away when I was just about to get back into the car, then looked up my Field Guide only to find that this particular bird is not a Brolga per se but another crane species that is very similar called a Sarus Crane. It has more red on its head, covering the eye and going down to the top of its neck. We saw many more of these types of birds along the way to Karumba and found that there were both the Brolga and the Sarus Crane in this area. The Sarus is only meant to be in a very restricted area in the north of Australia but we have both here. So I have lots of photos of each! We also saw a White-breasted Sea Eagle just taking off from the road in front of our car but I was unable to get a photo. It was a huge, beautiful white bird and although I didn’t get a photo I felt privileged to have seen it so close. We saw some other waterbirds too; with the Normanton River and other pockets of swamp and dams etc around the area, these kinds of birds have the perfect environment.
We went into Karumba itself but it is not a tourist town and in fact it has the emptiest bakery I have ever seen! We walked in to see row after row of empty shelves and about half a dozen pies in the warmer so we decided to go further down to the cafe where we were able to get a sandwich and juice. We decided this wasn’t the tourist spot so went to Karumba Point which certainly is – it has two caravan parks, a boat ramp, hotel-motels and cabins also! We took a little walk down to the edge of the river where some people were fishing, took a few photos and then wandered back to our car to make the trip back to Normanton. It is a pretty area and I believe the fishing is fantastic around here so I guess that is what attracts all those people to such a distant destination.
We went to the Purple Pub for dinner and were amused to see a skink lizard wandering along the counter where you order your meal which was outside under a veranda. It was obviously after the insects that were attracted to the lights from within. It just epitomizes our trip so far with wildlife being a very big part of everything we do but often trying to join in at meal times!

The Birds

Today we left Georgetown just after nine and headed along the Savannah Way to Normanton. The road was not quite as bad as yesterday with many more wide bits and actually some really good bits between Croydon and our destination. Croydon was a nice neat little town; with interesting lamp posts, forged at the Stuart and McKenzie Foundry and previously run on kerosene, in the main street and a lovely little park which is a birder’s delight. There were trees around the edge and so many different species of birds flitting around, calling, and chasing each other. I was rapt and immediately got the camera out of the car to try to get some photos since we were not on a tight schedule today and it was a pleasant place for a break. I photographed a black-faced Woodswallow, a yellow honey eater and another black and white bird that I have not identified because I didn’t get a great shot.
The trip was uneventful except for noticing lots of Black Kites flying near the road side which we tried to stop and photograph a couple of times but they flew away. When we drove into Normanton a couple of things stood out as unusual; one was the two horses grazing on the grass untethered on the median strip and the other was the number of Kites hovering over the town itself. There is also a huge crocodile (not real of course!) in the main street that is a replica of one caught in the area a long time ago. We got to Normanton Caravan Park about twenty minutes earlier than the usual check-in time of 2pm but that was OK by them and we were shown our cabin and other amenities. They have a two year old wire-haired Jack Russell terrier named Jessie here that trots around with the owner when she is doing things around the park. She is a typical Jack Russell, when she hears her mistress call her; Jessie looks up and checks where she is then continues about her own business. Sounds like someone we have at home! The park was amazingly busy when we got here yesterday and kept filling up all afternoon with both caravans and campers and people like us staying in cabins.
The Black Kites seem to be part of the norm here. At first we thought it was the high winds that were happening on the day we arrived which may have made it easy to hover and soar above the town but it appears that they just hang around all the time since Black Kites tend to live off carrion and scraps rather than hunting for their selves. So, I guess they are this town’s seagulls, apostle birds or ibis! Even so they are an amazing site and as you can imagine I was in seventh heaven trying to get photos of them on the wing. I did manage to get some reasonable shots and got better at it with practice which I got quite a lot of! I think there were a few young birds too since some have the lighter colouring and fluffy head so I guess they would enjoy practicing their flying skills on the strong winds. As well as the kites I saw and took a photo of a Channel-billed cuckoo and a Blue-faced honeyeater; both birds that I have never seen before and quite interesting to look at.
As well as having time to photograph birds, we had time to do some washing which tends to be necessary every now and then. You don’t realize how much you take simple things such as a large wardrobe to choose from and a laundry available whenever you need it for granted. Not to mention mobile phone and internet access! Apparently the CDMA network is available here but what city dweller is going to have one of those still in operation! We seem to be incommunicado quite often lately and it is a very frustrating feeling. I know Tristan is horrified by the idea! Never mind, there is always the phone box which I did avail myself of tonight to call home and speak to Tris, Jen and Mum feeding in the gold coins as I went. Brought back memories of the old days in Merimbula when we were kids; you know before mobile phones were invented. Yes, I am that old!

Cold tablelands & BIG road trains


Today we got up after a very cold night which was a surprise to us both since we are in Queensland. (Beautiful one day, perfect the next?) In fact the tablelands can be quite a lot cooler than other parts of Queensland. The blankets were the very thin, cotton kind and we didn’t think we’d need any extra, however I had the door open till late the night before since the wireless broadband seemed to need it open to stay connected however, we did not realise that the kitchen window was open all night! No wonder I was freezing all night and had to wear my tracksuit pants to bed. Never mind, at least I got the BLOG up to date and some photos uploaded.
We went first to the Nerada tea plantation since we have been drinking their tea for years we thought it would be interesting to see where it is grown and how it is processed. However, they weren’t doing tours of the processing plant because there had been frosts and the top leaves had to be harvested and discarded so they hadn’t been doing any harvesting until the plants recovered. We did learn that Australian tea growing is very successful since there are not pests so pesticide is not necessary and machines have been developed to make harvesting and processing more efficient and that their first plantation was planted in 1985. However, they didn’t even have a video to show us what usually happens like at the coffee plantation. We had a look at all the information they had about the company and its sister company, BOH in Malaysia then had a cuppa and scone and went on our way. Bit disappointing really!
Our next destination was to Georgetown along the Savannah Way. At first it was beautiful lush and green tablelands country side but slowly it became more dry and scrubby and the roads became narrower, single lane bitumen with some huge road trains coming the other way that you have to move over onto the gravel to let pass. They make it clear on the signs that the road trains have right of way and you are expected to move to the left. I would hate to be driving with a caravan on the back on that road but we saw some going the other way. We got to the motel and it was reasonably busy and in fact expecting a busload at 6.30pm. We were in a unit around the back of the motel which looks like it is still being completed landscaping-wise and there was a little lake we could see from just outside our room with some ducks on it. I went down there once we were unpacked and they seemed to expect to be fed so I got a couple of slices of bread and took it down to feed them. Following this I did some work on photos to prepare them for uploading to Webshots while Fin sat outside and talked to a couple of fire fighters and a wife of one of them until it was time for dinner. They had been in the area teaching kids about fire safety and had a little fire engine on the back of their trailer. It was very cute. (No photo-sorry)
It was quite a warm night in contrast to Atherton and we had to put the air conditioner on to cool down the room and only slept with a sheet to cover us. Good sleep!