Road Adventures of Malaysia

I have been trying to mostly travel overland, since I have the time, and the only exception I have made since leaving Australia has been to get to and from Borneo.  I think I have after three weeks in Malaysia taken nearly every form of road transit the country has on offer, except trishaw which they only have here in Penang, but I think I will remedy that tomorrow.

The first adventure was after completing my hike at Mt Kinubalu.  I opted to travel onwards from the park gates rather than return to KK and do a couple hours backtracking each way.  I had been told by numerous people, my guide included that I could stand at this particular spot and the bus would stop for me and I could get to the next town for 5 Ringgit.  What I didn't pick up on was how to tell what bus to get.  I was under the naive impression that they would just stop.  In reality if they have space, they honk at you to ask you if you want a ride, in response you need to flag them down.  Simple, right?  Well I managed not to understand why all these vehicles would honk as they went by but nobody was stopping.  Fortunately a taxi driver decided to take pity on me after I turned him down for a lift into Ranau at 50 ringgit, and flagged a minibus down for me.

The minibus drivers are extremely economical, if they happen to need to do an errand along the route they are driving it doesn't matter if their van is chock'a'block (that is to say full) they will stop for it.  This took me aback slightly when my driver stopped for fuel and then made another stop to attempt to get oil - made me hope the van didn't break down.  Leaving the Kinabatangan with two Swedish guys they were outright shocked when the driver stopped to buy groceries, and maybe even more stunned when several passengers did the same (well snacks at least).  These minibuses are cut from the same cloth as my Wicked Camper was only the drivers don't seem to mind the bumps and I don't think I've seen a working speedometer in anything but a taxi here (teksi in the local spelling).  We spent about 5 hrs total in one of two mini buses with nearly no breaks, getting stuck behind a garbage truck was the worst part - we joined all the locals in funny faces and nose hiding and gagging.  The worst part was that due to the mini bus stopped to let people on and off our driver had to get around this thing more than once!

The Ekspres Bas (Express Bus) is a bit more conventional, in Sabah it was a straight forward point to point with a single stop at a roadside restaurant and random shops.  On the way back to Kota Kinubalu from Semporna (all day bus) there was a German couple who didn't eat the whole day, when I told them I haven't known how to figure out what I'm eating they replied "You ate at the bus stop, didn't you?"  Turns out they were impressed I managed to order food there, and had the guts to eat it.  The taxi we shared from the bus station to the hostel they wanted didn't speak any English, at all - a rarity in my experience of Malaysia.  He also didn't seem to know the name of the place we wanted to go and I ended up having to give him directions from the couple's travel guide book. lucky I know how to read a map.

On the Mainland the Ekspres Bas was a bit more exciting.  Not only was the original bus terminal under construction or rather recently moved, so I hopped on what seemed to be a shuttle bus and hoped it would take me to where the long distance buses were (success), but instead of the conventional 4across seating they had these massive seats like lounge chairs.  They were only 3 across, and you had a fold out leg rest, no joke.  We also had a roof problem, so the bus stopped under a random bridge for an interval, I don't think they fixed the problem they just didn't want to drive in the heaviest rain.  After that we stopped at a truck stop type area and I grabbed some food, I thought we would be getting underway again when the driver shouted something - a place name - and the gentleman next to me jumped up said goodbye and got on a different bus.  Apparently not everyone who got on the bus was headed to the same destination of Penang.  I chatted a bit with the older gentleman the next seat over, who was also going to Penang, so when the next place name came he told me it was the one we wanted and I had to hurriedly stuff my belongings into my bag as I was not expecting to vacate the bus until my destination.

Upon arrival at the Penang bus station there was a man who offered me 15RM as a fare to the town proper.  He was a private taxi, it was a good rate I knew by the distance he told me it was to ride.  The whole time I kept thinking okay what is his angle?  He actually gave me a lot of good information about Penang, took me to the street where the cheap hostels are and made a little detour to show me where to catch a bus to go to the good places on the island. I still had my guard up and opted not to share my e-mail address with him. At the moment Penang has my back up a bit, though when I go inside a restaurant here it does a lot to soothe my nerves about the town.


From guiding a teksi, to eating malay truckstop food, to learning the proper way to hail a ride, to jumping rides when a stranger tell you to jump and paying for a ride with a stranger with no proper credentials.  I think I've done enough to worry my mother about my travel habits for one day!

Mabul Village Escapade!

Beach at the resort

The first night I was on Pulau Mabul I ended up having a few drinks with a group that included a couple of guys who were working on the island as divemasters.  They were mixing their own drinks after purchasing the vitals from the bar.  Tanduay rum, ice and coke.  They said you can buy the bottle from the bar, once the bartender gets to know you, or from a guy in the village you just have to ask around.  The next day after my three dives around Mabul armed with a bit of curiosity and a small sense of adventure I go for a wander around the village with the vague hope of finding the man who sells a bottle of rum for the same price as I could buy beer for.  Doubtful that I would find my target I was inspecting all the fruit and coconut trees and trying to determine if they were cultivated and the fruit sold or if they just happened to be there.  Upon passing a house the owner asked me if I would like to have a young coconut, and his daughter said "special price 5 ringgit for you".  I think to myself, okay 5RM not much compared to what I'm spending here anyway, why not?  So I agree and the man sends his son up the tree to retrieve a coconut.  Despite the tree being notched in a couple spots the climb still looked difficult and was impressive, just the show was worth 5 ringgit I thought.  While I was drinking this juice, 3 or 4 cupfuls I of course made conversation.  His name was Dennis, he was born in 1951, his daughter said she likes my tall nose and thinks I'm very handsome, he is a carpenter, his son is also 24 and an electrician.  They asked about my home, I told them how cold it can be and how far from the ocean I live, these are two facts that I find amaze people the most, because they truly are the most striking differences between Canada and a tiny tropical island.  Even though nobody I had asked so far knew what I was talking about to help find the Tanduay Rum I thought it couldn't hurt to ask once more.  Not only did he know where I should go, right next door, but he also wouldn't accept any money for the coconut milk. 

Resort's Jetty one of my best dives was off the end of it

I bid Dennis and his family farewell and tentatively approached the next house.  I was shown in and asked about the Tanduay, the man of the house sent a girl to get a bottle, opened one that had been sitting on the table, poured a measure into a glass and gestured for me to sit.  This was all done on less than a dozen words between us.  After I tested a bit of the rum straight a bottle of water was produced to mix with the rum, my question of how much I should put in was met with silence.  I nearly filled the rest of the glass and this produced a chuckle, apparently more water than I should have used.  I struggled to make conversation, and was met mostly with minimal answers and no questions in return although their english seemed quite good.  After asking at what age people usually start to drink or be allowed to drink, it occurred to me to tell a story, even though I was unsure of how much they understood of my english so far.  The story that occurred to me is how grandpa taught us to drink, or more accurately appreciate, Scotch Whiskey. It went something like this.

"When I was very young, only 12 or 13, my grandpa taught us to drink Scotch, Whiskey, you know?" (nods)  "One bottle, very old, very nice, one bottle regular, my grandpa drink all the time like this. (gesture to rum) - First he gives old, nice one.  Small sip. YUCK! bleh and a funny face.  Next he gives regular, Yeck, bleh, wooooooooblooohooohoohoo ten times worse faces than before.  Then old, good one again, hmmm okay not bad."

This is Sea Ventures ex-oil rig turned dive resort

Since the story is essentially Good whiskey, regular whiskey, good whiskey and lots of funny faces I fancy it was a bit of a hit.  After this they asked me more questions and also said more about themselves too.  Sarim was the one who was selling me the rum, the other two men I have forgotten their names.  One told me that he comes to drink at Sarim's every day after work until he sleeps, he told me he was an engineer with one of the resorts - he tells people how to build things so they don't fall down, he told me his sister thinks I'm handsome - I thought I should get out of the village before my ego got too big.  The other was a carpenter who works with Dennis, and Sarim works on a seaweed farm - aquaculture.  He told me these farms are usually near mangroves where the waters are usually calm and less than 10m deep.  He also told me that he sometimes plays his guitar on the beach in front of the Scuba Junkie resort.  When I told him I am learning the harmonica he got very excited.  Since I am in the habit of carrying one everywhere I happened to have it with me and since we were already on the third round of generous measures I was just drunk enough to be coaxed into a small performance.  I performed my entire repertoire of "Lavender's Blue" (from my learn to play book), Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and my adaptation of Great Big Sea's "Boston and St. John's" for an extremely appreciative audience - the biggest I've allowed to date.  Sarim tried to get me to stay for dinner, insisted I sample some of the soup, which seemed to be either lamb or pork seasoned beautifully with ginger, lemongrass and garlic.  He also tried to purchase my harmonica from me as they are hard to come by on Mabul and even in Semporna, I told him I had two at the moment, one being the one I played the most the other having sentimental value due to being a gift from a friend.  I couldn't make up my mind at the moment so I told him I would have to come back.  I finally managed to take my leave shortly after seven o'clock as dinner would have already been served at the resort.  Slightly stumbling through the dark on uneven paths I managed to find the main bulk of the village and from there the beach in front of the resort.  I was amazed by my fortune at having met these people and received their hospitality.  I later found it very odd how when I told this story to other travellers at the resort they found it to sound very adventurous.  I just went for a walk, looked around and then was friendly when someone started talking to me.

The day before I left the island I managed to find my way back to Sarim's place, unfortunately he wasn't home, but I hope he was excited when he returned to find he had a new instrument to learn.  It was easy as I thought it would be to replace the device when I was in Kota Kinabalu as I found a music shop by accident while I was walking around.

Sunset - the west side of the island was chock-a-block with village and resort huts

I was a bit surprised by the fact that most of the other tourists at the resort didn't go out and explore the village.  I suppose I only did because I didn't have anyone to hang out with in the time between the last dives and dinner (4-7pm) for the first few days.  My single venture turned into a great story!

Mt Kinubalu

The Mountain from across the valley

 Mt Kinubalu stands as a lonely spire on the island of Borneo, no other mountain comes close to it's 4095.2m peak until you reach the Himalayas.  No, it is not a volcano, nor has it ever been it was formed through geological uplift and is believed to be growing approximately 5cm per year.  In order to climb it you are required to have a guide and special climbing permit and jump through a bunch of hoops.  Rather than try to do this myself and mess it up I opted to do the easy thing and pay extra for somebody else to straighten it out.  Even more than that I decided that the Mountain Torq via Ferratta sounded like the cool thing to do.  A Via Ferratta is when iron holds are cemented into the rock in order to make a route possible or easier to climb.  In this case it turned a steep slab into a virtual walkway.  Anyways that comes later.  The company picked me up from my accomodation in the morning and drove me, not only to the entrance of the park, but right to the official start of the trail after picking up my guide and sorting out all my papers.  The trailhead started at 1866m and our destination for the day was Laban Rata, a collection of huts and a restaurant at the 6km and 3200m mark.  My guide's name was Stephen, he lives in the village just outside the park entrance, he isn't married yet but I think he has a woman in mind and they will marry within one year.  He told me that he usually takes people up the mountain two times in a week and the rest of the time he grows his own vegetables for food, though not to sell.  He is the youngest in his family and has 8 older brothers and one sister, a very large family.  While conversation was difficult for him, and sometimes we didn't understand each other's questions at first it was nice at least to have somebody to hike with, and he knew all the names of the plants in his native Dusun and the Latin although not always the English names.  More often I found conversation difficult due to the steepness of the climb, steeper than the path up to Rawson Lake, and even longer to boot.  The weather was mostly cooperative for me.  I got a nice picture of the mountain from across the valley while driving up, when I passed the same place two weeks later there was nothing but clouds everywhere.

The stream, err path during rain

Most of my first day's climb was clear, but rain started when I was about 1.5km from the top.  Since I just had an overnight bag my pack cover that is designed for my big bag didn't exactly fit the best.  When the rain really got going the trail up started to look more like a riverbed than a hiking trail.  I also found a giant worm on the trail and had to make sure I could show the scale, it was half a meter long!  We reached Laban Rata around 3pm and Stephen dropped me at the Mountain Torq hut and we parted ways untill 3am the next morning to catch the sunrise from the peak.  There were 6 other people doing the same route as me the next day, a Dutch couple, an American couple and an Australian couple.  We had a safety briefing on how the safety equipment works.  We were roped together, and we had what they called a scorpion.  The scorpion was a double carrabiner with locking backs, the rope was threaded through "pig-tails" an open looped anchors that were every 2-5m and the scorpion was clipped to the steel cable that ran the length of the route.  Satisfied we knew how to work the safety system we were sent down to the main hut for dinner at the restaurant there.  I forgot my meal ticket so I thought I would quickly run back up to our hut.  It was not much more than a flight of stairs but I was winded before I got halfway up, reminding me first hand why high altitude starts at 3000m in physiology.  While we were getting our safety briefing the weather had started to clear so by the end of dinner a beautiful sunset was shaping up.

View of the sunset, all the pics were out this window

Legendary

It is possible that this was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in in my life.  The setting was dramatic the colours explosive and the result legen - wait for it - dary.

Tired at the top

 

The hike up to the top wasn't too difficult, despite leaving 30mins behind the majority of people and feeling like I really took my time I was up at the peak for 5am, and before the bulk of people, just before the sun started to peek up from behind the ocean then the clouds and then finally the peaks.  After a short descent we met up with our Via Ferrata trainers and said so long to our guides.  

I defied mother nature to make this sunrise better than the sunset.

About to start the Via Ferratta with Joep and Marjan

Being the Dutch magnet that I am I was paired up with the couple from the Netherlands, Joep and Marjan.  It was a beautiful scene, to me very easy climbing, and I think the pictures can speak for themselves.  

When we got back to Laban Rata it was 11am, we had all been hiking for over eight hours on a breakfast of toast and snacks of chocolate.  I love how hiking makes it so I don't feel guilty about eating loads of chocolate, the original energy bar.  We had a second breakfast and then headed down the mountain.  It took only a bit over two hours to go down when it had taken six to come up, this was still taking time and making sure I didn't slip and kill myself since my legs were numb before I even left Laban Rata.

My guide Stephen presenting me with my completion certificates.

Chris, Kirra and Moose

Last time I stayed with Chris and Kirra they had just adopted a puppy and named him moose.  Although he is only around 8 months old he is still just a puppy despite being massive.  He is also the most spoiled dog in all of history.  He goes everywhere with them and has a bed that takes up the entire back of the range rover and still insists on sitting on your lap, not the most comfortable situation for any significant length of time.  As you should be able to see in the  picture we settled on a compromise after much bargaining.  For Halloween we decorated their house better than any other Halloween decorations I have been involved in and we made them all ourselves, under Kirra's supervision of course.  I also spent a couple of days helping Kirra fix up her mom's garden.  It was amazing how much progress we made in just a couple days and I look forward to seeing pictures of the finished product (and maybe one day in person).

Moose meets the Pacific Ocean.   Not sure what to do with them waves

Moose's Pillow on car trips.

New style of clothes dryer. Think it'll catch on?

Out of time and out of place

Hello there all my faithful readers.  This entry is out of order in my timeline and I have since left Western Australia very far behind me.  I struggled writing this in how to capture the vast amount of fun I had just driving around with Cat and I also enjoy telling some of these stories personally rather than in writing so I have opted to censor out the most exciting event.

Cat and I decided to rent a camper to tour the South West region of WA together.  A Company called "Wicked Campers" rents them fairly cheap and they have crazy paint jobs, ours was the Harry Potter van, with his name blazoned across one side and the boy sorcerer casting a spell on the other.  On our first day we wanted to drive from the city to the Stirling Range national park camp sites.  Unfortunately our van wasn't able to go much over 80km/h so we managed to be late, driving at dusk, in a national park.  Since it was dark and we were hoping to rely on signage we also were unable to find the campsite within the national park so we ended up driving for 2 more hours after the sun went down through a national park in pitch darkness.  We found our way back to the main highway and pulled off in the first picnic area we found, cooked some dinner by flashlight and then I discovered that we had forgotten to buy me a sleeping bag in our rush to get out of the city.  Even though we had stopped at an op shop to pick up some cheap extra blankets because we knew it would be really cold I managed to forget the sleeping bag.  It was a cold night.

Cooking dinner our first night, at a rest stop on the side of the highway in very cold weather

The next day I got up at dawn because I was so cold, and started driving, we opted to give the Stirling national park a miss because we didn't want to backtrack and went hiking in another national park, after having some breakfast, instead.  Even though we did the longest hiking loop the park had to offer we were back to the van for lunch.  That afternoon we made it to Albany where I promptly bought a sleeping bag.  Cat had been stressing all day, about what she was going to do next so she spent some time figuring on that, and using the internet while I had a coffee.  This went on for most of the rest of the trip and she kept apologizing.  I mostly laughed about it and tried to help her because I went through the same process a dozen times and I’m sure I’ll go through it a few dozen more before I make it home.  We opted to stay at a Caravan park rather than freecamp somewhere.  The major benefits that swayed us were the hot showers and woodstove for less than a hostel between us.  The warmth of the fire was a blessing after the chilly night previous.

What I did the second I got the new sleeping bag...

The next morning we rented a canoe from the camp and paddled up the river that ran down behind it.  It was a very peaceful and relaxing, especially all the breaks I took while Cat continued to paddle.  We stopped in a town called Denmark to sample some of their award winning pies.  Apparently the bakery from this little town often wins the top honours at the Perth Royal Show (not unlike the Stampede).  There was a man playing a recorder, or similar instrument and had two little dogs running around, one that seemed very old and the other just a puppy.  Upon hearing my accent he struck into “Stars and Stripes Forever” to rankle me.  After he came over to let me know he was teasing me and he also told us that he had previously performed with his old dog in one of the Cirque du Soleil shows.  I forget which one he said because I was distracted by his pirouette.  Apparently he plans to train the pup to appear in a future show with Cirque du Soleil.  I’m doubtful, but we’ll see.  We proceeded to the treetop walk in ???.  It was rather unspectacular despite being an impressive design, definitely more of a tourist trap than anything.  The trees that were hollowed out by fire were much cooler, I think we spent more time on the grounded portion of the walk than the tree top even though it was shorter.

Mandatory picture with the van

The next day we went to check out the Millenium Tree.  No it is not 1000 years old.  In fact I forget why it is named as such.  The reason we went there is because they used to use it as a fire watch tower.  Originally this meant someone would climb up a very tall tree that would reach above the canopy to check for fire.  To make this easier, steel rods, 4cm thick, were drilled into the trunk in a spiral that is climbed like a ladder.  The last 15 meters up there is a series of platforms and ladders.  There was no safety gear, no cost, nothing but you, the tree and the steel.  This was my favorite activity of the trip, and best value for money to boot! 

Climbing down the Millennium Tree

Unsure what to do with the rest of our day we plotted a course to the coast.  Upon arriving we headed straight to the beach, unfortunately we were a bit out of season and it was still unpleasantly cold and windy for bumming around on the beach.  I was so dejected I even started complaining about the trip.  Lucky for me Cat is awesome and recognized I was just sick of the rainy and cold weather.  She managed to cheer me up and immortalize our friendship (whether she likes it or not) with the classic line
“Well there’s nothing for it, we’ll just have to get drunk then!”

We found a caravan park on the map that was located conveniently close to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory.  While it couldn’t hold a candle to Willy Wonka’s they did have free chocolate to sample and we even bought some truffles (also Royal show award winners) to savour.

A lunch stop we made - Maiden Bush

That night we had a ball just sitting about chatting and somehow finishing off the booze we had brought on the trip. 

After a good night’s rest we arrived back to Perth, dropped off our van and then Dazz and Sharon the one legged wonder came, to meet us for a joyful reunion at the casino (it was right next to the Wicked office, I haven't developed a gambling habit just yet).


Endnote – Even though I had a solid selection of CDs to rotate through we mostly listened to the Jimmy Eat World album “Bleed American” since we both loved it and could sing along to virtually the whole album.  This led to the trip slogan being decided as “Every good roadtrip needs a little JEW”.

Making it to Woodford

Shortly after Parklife I put in with Dexter and another Dan to rent a car to drive down the great ocean road on the southern coast of Victoria.  There are a couple portions of the road where you are on the side of a sea cliff similar to the way the Trans Canada highway used to be coming into Golden.  Only instead of a mountain valley you would plummet straight into the southern sea.  We also managed to find some koala's, a few cool birds that landed on our car and the other Dan's first Kangaroo/wallaby ever!  I had fun on the roadtrip, good company goes a long way on the road, even though the weather was cold, windy and rainy.  The major highlight of the road is the 12 Apostles, there never really were 12 but somebody just figured it would be a good name.  The pictures we took were definitely no match for the brochures as we didn't have the helicopter angle they much all use.  The view point is actually in the middle of them, so you can't get them all in one picture.

After this trip I got my first taste of full on couch surfing, though since I didn't have any plans left for Melbourne I ended up bumming around their place for the most part, lucky for me they were really laid back and happy to let me help with errands and a bit of light gardening.  I took off for Sydney after a few days and then discovered that I didn't really have any plans for Sydney either so I ended up only staying a week.  The highlight of Sydney for me was getting to meet up again with other people I had met on my travels.  I met up with Arjen and Ankie who lived with Sharon and I in Karratha for two months for a drink the first day I got there.  This one drink turned into three or four and then dinner and a few more.  I decided that day you can determine how much you like people by how many rounds you end up having when you just meet up for a drink.  I also would have been really bored most the week were it not for another reunion with Cat who was looking for work in Sydney at the time and plans to stay there a while.  We went on a "free" walking tour of Sydney (not the whole city obviously just the center, the whole limits you would be hard pressed to walk in a week I think).  The tour was given by a University of Sydney Architecture student, reminds me of a Victoria tour guide I know, who founded the company with her boyfriend on the basis that people pay what they think the tour was worth at the end (kind of like a tip I suppose).  I felt like a super nerd when she showed us one of the sites where they filmed "The Matrix" and I was able to come up with the scene, almost immediately.  Hey, it's a good movie ok?  I also caught up with my friend Lewis who I met and worked with in Mooloolaba.  On Sunday we were hanging out at his place in Manly, and four sulphur crested cockatoos rocked up onto the balcony, while his roommate was sitting out there!  Turns out that they feed them, sunflower seeds, and the occasional treat of almonds.  Since they don't have any predators, and prefer not to hop down to the ground, they would rather eat right out of your hand, even if this means climbing onto your arm or up your shoulder.  I was pretty excited and impressed with all this, and amazed with how gently they would grasp your arm.  I had bare sleeves and didn't get a single scratch. 

The next day I took care of a lot of organizing and hopped an overnight bus up to Brisbane, apparently we had some mechanical troubles en route and almost got T-boned by a roadtrain when the bus stalled at an intersection.  I was of course sleeping soundly through all this and was blissfully ignorant of my possibly impending doom.  I also had a large layover so I didn't have to worry about the fact we were really late, it was just less time for me to kill when I did get to the destination.  From Brisbane I took a train out to one of the suburbs to meet up with my friend Chris again, I began and finished my time in Australia staying with him and have never had better hospitality.  I can only hope I get the chance to provide the same.

Parklife

Decided to just up and post this entry even though it messes up the order.

Oh What a day.  My companions for the day were Emily and Dexter.  Emily I had met at a hostel months and months back, while Dexter I had contacted online through the couchsurfing website and we met for the first time that day because it hadn't worked out at other times.  Emily was over around 11 and we promptly started priming, and getting me ready by cutting my hair into a beaver-tail, which is a bit of a take on a mohawk.  I ended up changing into shorts and leaving my jumper behind which I was glad of since it was so hot during the day and later when I was in the middle of the crowds.  I also prepare a bunch of food to take with us. 4 sandwiches, and a bunch of celery and carrot sticks, mmm healthy sustenance.  We headed down to the festival at about 1 and caught the performance by Washington, I really hope she makes it out of Australia, her music is awesome.  After that we were a bit lost for a while I think I busted out the sandwiches and all so that I didn't suddenly become super drunk or pass-out or anything like that.  The next hour or two is a bit fuzzy because we wandered all over the place and weren't watching anyone in particular.  I think that was when I first met some of Dexter's other friends.  The next band we watched are called the Wombats, they were really popular the crowd was packed in pretty tight and the hill overlooking the stage was full of people.  I even got to fulfill the festival cliche of lifting a girl onto my shoulders for a song, she couldn't see, I thought it was fun, win/win.  After the Wombats, Kele, the former lead singer from Bloc Party played a set.  I thought he was amazing to watch.  The amount of energy and emotion that he put into his singing was inspiring.  I definitely think that if you are going to sing, even if it's in the car or along to music you should always go for it and give it your all since this is what the best performers do anyways.  Seeing his performance made me feel as thought the $150 price tag for the event was worth every penny.  After him we went to the main stage to wait for Missy Elliot to start.  There were all these boxes on the stage that spelled out "MISSY" and to start the show a troop of dancers came out and started stacking them up to spell out her name.  At this point I turned to the person next to me and said "It would be the best thing ever if she comes out of the boxes now".  The last box was put into place, the fronts of the boxes all opened up to reveal none other than Missy Elliot herself.  I went nuts.  The best part about the performance was all the dancers she had brought along there was cool choreography, and some amazing break dancing as well.  One guy spun on his head for what seemed like a minute, it was sweet.  I missed the last bit of her performance because I had to run to the toilet again, I think I must have caught tiny bladder syndrome from Cat (or I was just paranoid about hydration).  I was lucky though because I was back in line to the main stage just as everyone who was there to watch Missy was leaving and the next two acts were good enough to watch.  2manydjs and Groove Armada.  Dexter and I somehow ended up right at the front, reunited with his friends again, we still had no idea where Emily was.  I mostly just remember yelling a lot, jumping a lot and getting a very nice compliment on having cool eyes.  Oh and wearing my sunglasses at night, because so many people were.  The stage lights are still really bright even with sunnies on.  The Groove Armada performance was a highlight as well.  The lead chick had this zany jumpsuit on and some kind of jacket that she made look like feathers or wings, she also busted out the biggest retinue of 80s dance moves I have seen since Flashdance, epic.  After they ended I stayed up front and screamed for an encore, although some people left right away.  Silly folks, the last act always gives an encore!  They came back to play their biggest hit Superstylin'.  If you don't know it, look it up, and Paper Romance, which they open with and most anything else you can get your hands on really!


I can deffinitely recommend to get the music of Washington, The Wombats, Kele, Groove Armada
I wish I could have also watched Uffie, New Young Pony Club, Bag Raiders, The Glitch Mob, Cut Copy and The Dandy Warhols.  Unfortunately you can't do everything and I was glad of the picks I made! 

A dirty bed, a Birthday and an Island

I got to Perth and managed to catch up with Nicole and Cat for a drink on friday night.  I discovered that they won't serve you a Whiskey neat in your average Australian bar.  After all the driving I had done, the traffic stress and the cold I was extremely dissappointed.  I returned the camper the next day, after getting slightly lost again.  This time before meeting up with the girls I was on a mission to have a shower, ditch my stuff, and change clothes.  I ended up checking in to the first hostel I saw downtown, Grand Central Backpackers.  I threw my bag into the room and went to the first shower and it wasn't until I turned around to start the water that I realized there was no head on the shower, just a pipe coming out of the wall.  Since I already had all my clothes off and organized so they wouldn't get sprayed I just used it the best I could, not something I would have expected in Australia.  I had been "upgraded" for free to one of the 4 bedroom dorms.  There was enough floor space in it to open the door, and that was about it.  The bathroom across the hall had a shower in it that leaked under the door onto the hallway carpet so the scent that lingered was, unique.
We had a rather late lunch, wandered around the city a bit, and then had some drinks at a pub.  This was where Cat busted out the balloons she had bought to celebrate Nicole's birthday with.  We had a bit of fun with these, nearly an entire evening worth of entertainment.  By the time we got hungry it was difficult to find a place to get food the girls could eat from, they're not kidding when they say that Perth shuts down early.  We ended up re-enacting the broometime crew's last night together and got pizza and sat on the sidewalk again, I deffinitely felt more out of place doing so in a city than in a little town like Broome.  Odd as it seems even though we didn't do anything too interesting, this was one of the most fun days I've had in Australia.  I guess it's amazing what a difference the right company can make.

Notice the tiny little Quokka by the tree they were everywhere

Nicole flew back to Sydney on a late flight Saturday night.  Sunday was a quiet day, but Cat arranged for the two of us to go to Rottnest island on Monday, as it was going to be the only nice day for a little while.  I got up at about 5:30 so that I could catch the train down to Fremantle and we could catch the first ferry to the island and get a full day there.  There are no cars allowed on Rottnest island and it is too big to walk around it, so the transportation options are either to ride the bus, or hire a bicycle.  Better yet, if you have a friend, there is the option to hire a TANDEM bicycle!  This is exactly what we did, and though Cat wanted to be the driver the front seat was too high for her.  Our tandem earned the name Bouncy (which is somehow a reference to Beyonce Knowles), because compared to the regular bikes I've ridden in the past, she had a fat ass.

Cat posing with Bouncy

There was an absurd amount of laughing for no reason, mostly becaues Bouncy was just so amusing.  We were an awesome team, there were a couple of girls who also had a tandem that we passed at least twice while they were walking their bike up a hill.  They were taking the direct route while we stopped and saw everything on the way and still made it to the far end of the island first.  There was a gentleman from Perth with his wife who told us about a sea lion colony down a particular track.  We followed his direction and walked our bike down the 4x4 track.  The sea lions were just chilling out in the water, all grouped together in one particular spot.  Cat and I decided that this would be a good place to have our lunch and climbed down for a closer look.  Don't worry mom, safety was my first consideration so I kept my helmet on until we were safely lunching.  After lunch we stopped at the first toilets we saw, since Catherine has to use them more than a pregnant woman.  I dropped her off, and then went to park the bike since we had missed the pullout and Bouncy doesn't swing around too easily, low and behold the bus happens to drive by once Cat was safely in the toilets and I'm there riding a tandem bicycle all by myself.  I wonder what those passengers thought of it.

Me by the sea lion colony

We decided to go for a little dip in the ocean since it had gotten quite warm.  The water was nice and cold, it made me think of how Grandma Milne used to walk around in the lake with her pants rolled up early on a summer morning when the water was chilly.  At the end of the day we caught the ferry back to Fremantle, I decided to check in to Cat's hostel, the Old Fire Station, definitely a cool place, decently clean and solid facilities.  From there we plotted our escape to the South West and I also managed to arrange a coffee date with Julia.  It was so nice to hear a Canadian accent again, we sound awesome!

Across the street from where Julia and I had coffee

Team Chubb and Chauncey

This is a bit behind the times now but enjoy anyhow!


I managed to find a standby campervan relocation from Broome to Perth going on pretty much the exact days that I wanted to go so that I would have enough time in Broome, and enough time in Perth to see everybody and do the things I wanted to.  All the information I had on it was a pickup time and place, and I knew that it was a 2 berth hi-top camper.  When I picked it up I found out that it was pretty much the biggest camper 2 people could get, you could stand up and walk around in it, and was equipped with a shower and toilet, along with everything else you could possibly want in your home.  Since it was so massiveI decided that it would be okay to take Louise with Sharon and I because even though it wasn't strictly in compliance with the rules it wasn't going to hurt anyone and would even benefit the three of us.  We managed to get out of town around 11am and it was a balmy 28 degrees.  I drove about 800kms that day and we parked at some random rest stop.  I was obviously a bit tired and glad that the girls were there to take care of dinner for me, nice and easy tomato, cream corn and tuna on bread - no toaster :(

The next day we made it to Karijini National Park, despite a bit of traffic on the roads.  This was pretty funny to see when you hadn't seen this many vehicles in one spot after 1000kms of driving.  The park was absolutely beautiful.  The most amazing part of the gorges was that you could be less that 100m away from the gorge and unless you knew it was there you could walk right past.  All you can see is the rugged landscape of the Pilbara region stretching off around you and you follow the track that is there, expecting a bit of a walk at time and all of the sudden you make a sharp turn to start descending into the gorges.  Each of them is a hidden oasis of water, plants, birds and animals.  The pictures just cannot capture the majesty, especially with the little camera I had at my disposal.  We stayed in the park that night and woke up to a temperature around 12 degrees, the coldest I had seen, perhaps since I came to Australia.

intersection of 5 gorges

  Once we got out of the park I decided that I ought to take a break from driving since I wouldn't have a choice from that afternoon onwards.  Even though she did a good job of it, I was probably more stressed about having somebody else drive, especially since it was my money on the bond and name on the line.  When she eventually got too tired to drive she pulled over, it just so happened that we were only a couple kilometers down the road from Wyloo Station, one of the places owned by the same people I had worked for before going to Karratha!  When I left the station I never would have thought I would be back so close to it.  Even more peculiar was that the girls were going to go WWOOFing on Lyndon station, the neighbour to Maroonah, I had even met the guy who came and picked them up.  Despite the massive distances and space in the Pilbara region it sure is a small world. 

I was on my own, and my calculations were telling me that I wouldn't have many spare kilometers within the allowance I had been given.  The sights remaining on the coast were Monkey Mia, 300kms of driving round trip, Kalbarri an extra hundred or two, and the Pinnacles desert which I wasn't sure where it was and I didn't check the map I bought closely enough before the transaction, because it had no information on it!  I quickly decided that I would much rather get to Perth quickly and catch up with Nicole and Cat again, rather than go off on my own to do things for the sake of doing them.  I drove until about 10pm and luckily didn't see any kangaroos on the road as you will later learn are nothing like seeing deer on the highway.  The next morning I woke up at dawn and it was 4 degrees!  The blanket I had really wasn't cutting it anymore I luckily had tea and porridge for breakfast so I got something hot in my belly and let the sun into the camper then got on the road with the heater turned up to full.  I had a moment's doubt about making it back home to catch a bit of winter, but then I realized I was still wearing shorts and jandles rather than proper clothes and shoes.

I was a bit dissappointed when I drove past the turn to Kalbarri thinking that the pinnacles were surely somewhere in that national park.  I consoled myself by taking a random tourist drive and stopping for lunch in a quaint little village and having my lunch by the little jetty full of sea gulls.  These were proper gulls as they didn't have any interest in people food and didn't harrass me like my lunch breaks in Karratha.  I took the time to get my feet wet and the water was the perfect temperature for soaking my feet that were stiff from driving without cruise control.  I continued down the scenic route and low and behold I was on the route to the pinnacles!  It must have been my Jedi senses guiding me when I impulsively took that turn off, this is another reason why I go along with them.  I probably could have spent a long day investigating these mysterious rock formations, but I was quite sick of driving around on my own and satisfied myself by reading up on how they think the pinnacles formed and taking pictures.  I made the mistake of going on the drive around, because the lady at the entrance told me that "It's just under the length restriction, so you'll just have to go slow at a few spots".  I thought I would see more and it would be quicker than the walking track.  I deffinitely should have walked around because I was so stressed about damaging the van in the tight spots that I just wanted to get out of there.  I hardly took the chance to look around and enjoy it at all!

Chauncey at the Pinnacles

Despite a major delays due to a fatality accident on the freeway, getting lost everywhere I went once I hit the city and leaving the van so quickly I was still wearing my jandles, which are a no-no in city bars after 7pm.  I managed to catch up with Nicole and Cat and sneak into a pub for a couple of drinks with them.  The long journey south was over.  I travelled 2900km in four days, woke up to weather that was 10 degrees colder each day and wouldn't change a thing about the trip.


Chauncey was so massive that he beeped when I backed him up.

Broome Time

Lets see if I can get much of this straight my picutres have been a help in sorting out the order.  The first night we arrived in Broome Sharon and I were both exhausted so it was early to bed.  The next day we were keen to go exploring and just wandered around for a bit.  We were magically drawn to the ocean since it is awesome and ended up at the town beach.  We chilled for a bit and then since it was so hot we decided to run through the kiddy sprinkler area.  There were a couple of stationary water guns that I had a mini water fight with some kids at.  The two guns couldn't really reach each other, but I accidentally wandered in between them while they were both being manned by a couple of kids.  Urged on by both Sharon and their Dad they managed to soak my through and through.  I got my revenge on Sharon by holding her under a tippy bucket when it dropped its water.  After that we were actually quite comfortable for a quite a while, but unfortunately got lost trying to find our way back to the hostel and Sharon ended up with big bruises, or red marks from her wet shorts.  I got the last laugh that time.

An interesting situation we observed on our walk was these two cars.  The one further in had no apparent exit without moving the car behind it.

That night we went down to the beach again to observe the Staircase to the Moon Phenomenon.  While it was not the most exciting scene, it was rather unique, and much like watching a sunrise or sunset, cool just not exciting.  Many people we had met at the hostel seemed to find the event underwhelming, as though they were expecting something more spectacular.

The next day was when I met my new BFF Dazz and another Aussie who is doing the big lap, Ben.  I think he and Sharon had been talking a bit already but I was cooking or about to cook some lunch and it was looking like we would have too much, again as I always seem to do, so I invited him to share the meal with us.  Turns out that he would not only play with me, games like frisbee, soccer and ping pong, but he also had a vehicle and instead of renting a scooter Sharon and I ended up getting rides from him to go to the beach.  We also played a lot of "That's what SHE said"  and laughed our asses off at jokes about men with no arms and no legs (not actual people with no arms or legs, it's mostly just a red herring).  We went and played some frisbee on the beach, which I turned out to be a lot worse at than what I remember, more wind lighter disc, that's my excuse.

Even though I felt pretty wiped when Dazz asked if I was up for going down to the beach the next day I agreed, and then a couple more girls got added to our group, Nicole from Sydney and Catherine from England.  One of them had reminded me I wanted to build a sandcastle while in Broome since the beach there is perfect for it.  We had a little picnic then got down to business, I mostly dug the lake, and made building materials readily avaiable.  It was an awesome day and an awesome sunset.

Beach team, Nicole, Sharon, Myself, Ben and Cat

 The final full day we had in Broome, Sharon and I for once did things a bit seperate.  I hit the beach with Dazz where we caught up with Nicole and Cat for a little bit, just relaxing and dipping in the ocean a bit rather than running around or undertaking major building projects.  Our group as it became, with Louise, also a pome who features more in later adventures, added in there at some point went out to the open air cinema to watch the movie 'Bran Nue Day'.  It was pretty good, and cool since there was a scene that feature the cinema that we were watching the film in.  (We watched it from the set I guess!).  We had pizza together afterwards and would have sat on the grass except it was wet, so we found out why the Aboriginals around town all hung out sitting on the pavement, dry beats soft any day.

The next day we (Sharon, Louise and I) said goodbye to this great group of friends we had made in such a short time, and Hello to Chauncy and the start of roadtrip south!  That my friends is a different story.

Until Next update!

Hitching from Karratha to Broome with Sharon

Today is Sunday September the 6th 2010.  I am staying in the Grand Central Backpackers.  It is ghetto, old school building, not converted into a hostel very well but it was convenient and my walk to the train tomorrow will be extremely brief.  Anyhow I am here to start my blog from Karratha onwards.  Karratha was going to be on the blog but it might have to just get added later since this section is much more exciting.

It was early in the morning on Thursday August 26th 2010 when Sharon and I slung our packs and set forth from the house we had been living in for the past few months.  A sad place to have called home.  We trekked towards the main highway with little hope of finding a ride out of town, with most cars passing us seeming to merely be heading for work in the LIA (Light Industrial Area).  We made it just past the LIA when a ute pulled a U-turn to pick us up.  Apparently Jake decided on a second thought to come back and pick us up so that his Karma would be good.  Even with everything in the back it was a bit crowded in the front, and the person who was sitting in the middle had to change gears.  Jake was heading to Newman to check out a second hand motorcycle since none of his were running at the moment.  When he picked us up he offered to take us to Port Headland, which was the last town before a long stretch of nothing on the way to Broome.  We didn't realize it at the time, but PH is actually 50km past the turnoff to Newman, but he seemed happy to have us along and hopefully he got the good Karmic vibe he was looking for and everything worked out for his bike.  Sharon was shocked when we stopped at a roadhouse for a stretch and Jake got himself a beer while we were there.  I had ice cream.  A few more kilometers down the road he decided to also stop and get another out of the cooler he had in the back.  When he offered each of us a beer, I figured that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em and that it would be one less beer for him to drink and drive with.  He drove us all the way up to the main truck stop in Port Headland so that we would be able to get a ride from there.

We had a little break, got some lunch from the roadhouse, and then went to go over to the highway.  Before sticking our thumbs out, we decided that it would be a good idea to ask the truckies who were pointed north if they didn't mind a couple passengers going with them.  This is when we met Martin.  He and his friend were hauling a load up to Broome.  There was a bed in the back that one of us had to sit on, but we both ended up taking advantage of this luxury and had little naps.  I suppose I slept a bit awkwardly, you can decide for yourself.

I woke up in a place called the Sandfire Roadhouse.  I was shocked to see the intense contrast of dark green plants and bright red sand, the name was quite suitable.

 I rode shot gun the rest of the way to the Roebuck Roadhouse mostly swapping stories with Martin.  He had previously run import companies in both the U.S. and Australia with his ex-wife.  He fell back to trucking for a little while since they split less than a year ago, but plans to go back to the import business once he gets things sorted.  After he dropped us off, he even asked around the roadhouse there to see if anyone would take Sharon and I into Broome.  While I waited with my thumb out, after dark, in oncoming headlights, Sharon went and asked a vehicle stopped for fuel if they were able to take us.  The couple ended up shifting around all their luggage so that they could put the back seat up and take us into town, and even dropped us directly at our hostel.  They were quite an interesting duo!  Daniella, Frog and their son Banjo.  They were originally from Victoria, but spent 9 months out of the year on a boat in the Kimberlies fishing for Barramundi.  During the wet season they would go back to Victoria for the summer there!  Now that's dedication to chasing the sunshine!

That's all for this post, but stay tuned for an update of what happened in Broome and the Ride back south with team Chubb and Chauncy!