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!