Monday, February 25, 2008

And this is how the south does it

You'd think I'd have had enough waterfalls to keep me happy for a few years but the weekend was too perfectly beautiful to ignore. Maybe it was the contrast from the wet tropics, maybe it was my hastily assembled SES outfit for a Friday night 'emergency services' themed party, but I had an itching to go bush, just for a short while at least. I pointed my car south and then a bit east and reached Wadbilliga National Park and a beautiful late afternoon fly free walk to Tuross Falls and Cascades. Here are some of the pics.







Wednesday, February 20, 2008

T' North

Just about most of the last week I have been temporarily transported from the cosy Canberra summer to a far off place where the steam rises from the ground and falls back down in streaming torrents, various creatures are ready to assault all around you, and the smell of backpackers is never far away. This far off place is Darwin (some 3000kms far away) in the Northern Territory. Like a true Englishman I’ll go on about the weather but Darwin has two seasons – the Dry and the Wet. Basically it’s either dry and hot or wet and hot. My trip was timed right in the middle of the Wet, when a monsoonal trough continually brings its downpours, transforming the burnt out land into a green oasis. My abiding memories of Darwin will probably all be water related – the sheer humidity making it near impossible to stay dry and dry out from getting soaked, the pounding waterfalls and flooded river plains, the crocodiles lurking therein and the delicious Barramundi trawling the waters of Darwin harbour. So let’s begin on our watery odyssey through the Top End…

The first day
Conditions: wet, hot


To get around I had decided to mix it with the backpackers and went on a three day tour in a little 4WD bus. The usual mix of English, Irish and Germans were there, all scarily young and knowledgeable about everything of course, quick to moan and be unimpressed. Apart from that, they were a decent bunch and Adam, the tour leader, was enthusiastic and gave some interesting snippets about the area and the wildlife. The first destination was Litchfield National Park, which was soaking up a morning downpour and channelling all this water through Florence Falls. Usually, people come here to have a little swim but the sheer volume of water churning up the pools was immense.

The path looping round back up to the car park was turning into a rushing river and a small brook had swollen over several of the bridges on the trail meaning some adventurous river crossings were the order of the day. It was pretty fun stuff, all the time thinking in the back of the head, what about the snakes and the leeches and the spiders?!

Back on the bus and not really drying out very quickly we then went a few miles back down the road to see some termite mounds. Pretty unexciting you might think, but these are pretty ginourmous things produced all by a creature little bigger than a speck of dust (anyone?). They are also expertly designed for climate control, with areas of shade and sun at alternate times of day. There were two types of mound in evidence, the cathedral mounds where I am posing like some ballet dancer for some reason, and the magnetic termite mounds, which point north-south due to their construction which takes advantage of the rising and setting sun on the surface area.



All this before lunch, which consisted of loads of hotdogs, the wieners no doubt pleasing for the Germans on board.

In the afternoon we passed through Humpty Doo as you do and stopped at a place called Fogg Dam, which was teeming with all sorts of wildlife, including this Jabiru and I think a frog in its mouth.

But who comes to the Top End to watch birds really? Clearly everyone comes to see the crocs right? Older than dinosaurs, a perfect predator which hasn’t had to adapt over thousands of years because it is pretty much perfect. I’ll grant you, not the prettiest or cuddliest of Aussie creatures but then does a croc care what it looks like? I mean, old croccy is probably like, you know, “yeah, so I’m ugly, but I can do what I like because I can eat you in seconds… yeah, even you Mick Dundee”. They piss on those limp-wristed American Alligators for sure! As some strange man once sung, crocodiles rock.

We went on a little boat trip along the Alligator River (yeah, some dopey person who didn’t know better thought they were big alligators), where a slightly weird man and his helper coaxed the crocodiles towards our pretty small tin boat, like a tin of sardines to a gang of vicious moggies. Crunch.



Despite the best efforts of the guide to poop our pants, we survived and made it through another downpour to a soggy wilderness campsite. Despite the rain, we had a good aussie feed on a sheltered BBQ, along with a few beers and tried to get some sleep in our little wooden tents as the rain tumbled down and the wildlife sqwawked and crackled and rustled away outside.

The second day
Conditions: hot then wet


The next morning was beautiful, waking before sunrise and actually seeing the sun appear, producing incredibly vivid reflections in all the pools of water lining the roads. It wasn’t long before we entered Kakadu National Park, a huge expanse of considerable diversity which is another Australian World Heritage Area. Not just in terms of the landscape but the cultural significance as an area of considerable value to Aboriginal Australians. We were off to see some of the rock art, but the first rock we were going to see was inaccessible due to the road flooding almost to two metres. Instead, we headed to the more easily reached area called Nourlangie, or more correctly in the local dialect, Anbangbang.

There was rock art all around, some recent, some dating back thousands of years and others impossible to date. I think the locals were on to something though, as the drawings were all situated in lovely cool spots out of the hot sun for western tourists to comfortably appreciate some 2000 years later.



Nearby were further rocky outcrops, collectively called Nawurlandja, which provided a short but challenging scramble for all encompassing views of the park. Apart from the odd road, little is changed from thousands of years ago, a timeless landscape stretching on beyond the horizon in every direction.





The rest of the day was spent eating sandwiches and wandering around the cultural centre. One more walk followed in the afternoon, when half way up to another lookout the heavens opened and the view from the top was severely limited! The evening camp was a little less rustic than previously and a long day, more food and a beer led to a sound night of sleep, tonight accompanied by a frog chorus and the pitter-patter-bang-splat of rainfall.

The third day
Conditions: wet then hot then wet and hot

The last day of the trip took us to the southern area of Kakadu and an excellent walk through the typical landscape of Savanna Woodland threading its way alongside the sandstone escarpment to Motor Car Falls, where, of course, crocodiles may or may not be lingering.

The walk was beautiful, a nice length and pretty flat, taking in the long green grass interspersed with rocky outcrops and gum trees – in my mind what parts of Africa might look like after rains and, again, pretty much as it was long before Europeans set foot on Terra Australis.

After about an hour, Motor Car Falls appeared in a narrow cut in the escarpment, motoring away from the overnight rainfall, crashing into the billabong below and spraying refreshing coolness over the entire area.



This was pretty much the last major highlight of the tour, a fine way to end it indeed. We left Kakadu and stopped at a few dead end places on the long road back to Darwin, the rain intermittently crashing down, the wipers thrashing about on their highest setting, battling against those old monsoonal squalls. There I go again, on about the weather, but I think here it is such a shaping force on the landscape and the life and culture which surrounds it. Things would look totally different in the Dry, the smoke billowing up from the yellow grasslands, parched waterholes, trickles of water dripping down from the rockfaces and thousands upon thousands more tourists. Let it rain!

The rest of my time oop North
Conditions: Even wetter, hot


The next few days were spent in Darwin, for the most part working, which was how I came to be here in the first place. I did have some time on Sunday where I explored the very limited sights of Darwin, a place of only 100,000 people – even smaller than Canberra! Darwin is pretty modern, mainly as a result of Cyclone Tracy which flattened the place back in the 1970s. Who’d thought someone called Tracy could cause so much damage?

Apparently Mindil Beach is a huge attraction… in the Dry that is, when markets take place beside the shore and a festival atmosphere greets every sunset. They probably also go swimming though this time of year it was out of the question due to more poisonous whatsits everywhere.

Just seeing the sun would be nice, let alone a sunset! It was dry when I ventured into the Botanic Gardens, which did contain some crazy looking plants, however it was impossible to take photos as my camera lens would steam up in a matter of microseconds as soon as it was exposed to the atmosphere! Then, back down beside the beach another storm rolled in and I hung around a toilet block for half an hour sheltering from the rain. It did clear and just for a moment a few glints of light poked through the grey expanse out to sea and the daylight faded with a hint of colour about it.


I haven’t mentioned the Barramundi yet have I? These are huge fish and many people come to Darwin especially to go on tours to catch the buggers. I’m glad they do, because they taste absolutely delicious, just simply battered like good old fish and chips. Yum yum yum. So good, I had it twice!

From the beach I transferred back into the city centre for my last two days where I was working from a splendid spot eight floors up overlooking the esplanade. The days were becoming consistently wetter and it was probably the best place to be. Ducking out to get some food or check email was a constant battle to avoid drowning. I have to say I am impressed with my umbrella, which was only a cheapo number from Coles but it stood up to the task.

A little activity on the last morning pepped up the outlook from the hotel as a memorial service took place in the gardens below, commemorating 66 years to the day since Darwin was first bombed in the second world war. A number of planes, both old and brand spanking new whizzed by my balcony and flares and gunfire, air raid sirens and the like resounded from down below on what would otherwise had been a typical sleepy Darwin morning.


Reminders of the war are all around Darwin – then and today it is very much a frontier town, though given Aboriginal people have been able to survive in this land of extremes for 40,000 years puts the achievements of Darwin in some perspective. In a country in which, to me, everything seems to be in reverse to what my Northern hemisphere body and mind is used to, it is another reversing experience again. A piece of craziness in an upside down world. Rain in summer, hot all the time, killer creatures everywhere. It’s no wonder some people go troppo. I survived to tell the tale, and a fantastic one it was!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Canberra walkabouts

The last couple of weekends have found me sticking around Canberra, mixing time at home with forays into the bush, adventures in the shopping malls, daredevil cooking exploits, and a bit of high octane multi-culture. Okay, maybe a bit more sedate than all that but mostly true.

I’ve taken a few morning walks lately, in the hope that it will be cooler and those pesky flies will still be napping. It’s also a good time for all the non scary wildlife of course, as they are either getting up for the day or going to bed. Last weekend was the usual jaunt around Red Hill, catching up with the state of the long yellow grass, the local roos and the squawky creatures.


This weekend I took a nice amble along the Murrumbidgee River on the Western side of the ACT to a place called Red Rocks Gorge. These featured slightly reddish colour cliffs rather than anything quite as dramatic as the name suggests, but the walk was peaceful, cool and fly-less.





This weekend has also taken me to the Canberra Centre twice, picking up a few bits I need including stuff to take to Darwin, where I am heading this week. I actually bought some really hot thongs which are a little tight until I break them in! (NB: “thongs” are Australian for flip flops in case you have a horrendous image now embedded in your head, ha ha ha). Thankfully it wasn’t all bland shopping malls but the annual Multicultural Festival was taking place, with hundreds of food stalls with fare from all over the world, exotic dancers and the unusual sight of crowds in the centre of Canberra!




There was even a row of stalls from the European Union. Walking along took me past clog makers from Holland, German wenches serving Bratwurst with Sauerkraut, Irish dancers… all the while hoping to eventually find a tiny little piece of happiness called home. What will they have? Some Pork Pies maybe? The guys from Top Gear? No, in fact all we could muster was a lousy little paste table at the end of all the other European marquees with some brochures for Wales and that’s about it. Great, Britain.
Anyway, back to the food and given all the options it was nigh on impossible to choose something for lunch. In the end my decision was helped my logic that it was Chinese New Year and so I had some pork dumplings whilst watching some Turkish dancers before taking away some Macedonian sweet treats for later. I seem to be eating well lately, aided by the phase of cooking I am going through which has included Roast Pork, Lamb Shanks, Chicken and Chorizo Casserole, and the now legendary Chocolate Fridge Cake. I’m also really enjoying the Queensland Mangoes at the moment, and have finally mastered the art of cutting them in half you’ll be interested to hear.

Given that I am going to the Northern Territory in a few days I figured I best get some culture before it disappears completely, so headed to the National Gallery for an hour on Sunday afternoon. There was a free exhibition of Indigenous Art which was very impressive. I guess it also gives a bit of context to one of the big events happening in Canberra this week. Prime Minister Kevin is going to say sorry to the Indigenous folk for some pretty bad things old whitey has done to them in the past. It’s all going to be rather big and people are flocking to our little town for it. In fact, who would want to be anywhere else but Canberra this week? We also host an international cricket match, India v Sri Lanka, hopefully one that will be interesting and competitive given it doesn’t feature Australia, plus the Multicultural Festival continues apace. Crocs away, off to Darwin it is then!