Rosi & Jen's 11 Thousand Beach Odyssey

Photos: Cape Leveque and The Dampier Peninsular

rosibud — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 09:13:00 GMT

Cape Leveque and the Dampier Peninsular

rosibud — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 08:28:00 GMT

I'm sitting here on the deck of my safari tent watching a vermillion sun rise over the eastern beach of Cape Leveque. In the distance I can see whales breaching far out to sea and countless species of birds are singing in the dawn.

This truly is one of the most spectacular bits of coastline in Australia if not the world. Yesterday we watched the sun make the red pindan cliffs glow a bright red as it set over the Indian Ocean.

This is one of those places writers come for inspiration. It's one of those places that people don't think exist anymore; unspoilt and wild; quiet and reflective; ancient and culturally significant. It ticks all the boxes.

Since moving to Broome, the Dampier Peninsular has captured our imagination and we spend quite a bit of time exploring up here. Driving north from Broome on the 2nd worst road in Australia you come across a series of small indigenous communities and coastal outcrops that exist in their own little pocket of paradise.

Places like Beagle Bay with it's quaint little church and alter made of pearl shell and Middle Lagoon with one of the most stunning little bays I have ever seen. Further up there is Lomabdina an indigenous community that is so perfect it looks like it was purpose built for a movie set. And down near Broome James Price Point the currently fought over piece of coastline where the WA government wants to build a gas hub. The Premier called it an "unremarkable piece of coastline". When I first saw it my jaw dropped at it's unusual beauty and dramatic Pindan cliffs.

I don't feel like I've really touched the Kimberley yet. There is just so much diversity here and so much pristine wilderness. Every shot I take on my camera seems like a post card and it really is hard to take a bad photo in such a beautiful setting.

All I can say is if you have ever thought about coming over here just do it.

Go West! Broome Broome Broome!!!

rosibud — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:42:00 GMT

We left Townsville on a sunny day in mid April. We were so excited to finally be on our way to a brand new destination. We'd been talking about Broome for so long it seemed like it was never going to happen. In the last few weeks we had major car issues, and delay after delay dampened our spirits, so when we finally headed out of Townsville towing our Nova Caravan, leaving the east coast behind us, it was a wonderful feeling. Townsville had been a great experience but after a year, we were definitely ready to move on. We spent the first night free camping just outside Hughenden and as we sat outside the van surrounded by forest we finally felt free. It's hard to explain but if you have ever traveled for an extended time then stopped then started again you will know what I mean. Our second night was spent free camping just outside Mt Isa. The scenery was stunning and it still astounds me how diverse our landscape is in this country and how rapidly it can change.

As we crossed the Barclay we encountered fire on both sides of the road and it got a little scary as we drove through flames licking at the van. Luckily we made it through unscathed. We decided to stop at one of our favourite pubs for the night Daley Waters Outback Pub and had a great time soaking up the atmosphere. Soon after we turned left at Katherine we really started to feel like we were on our way as the scenery started to change dramatically. We spent the night in a forest of boab trees in Gregory National Park (spectacular) before crossing the border in Western Australia. It was the first time either of us had been in W.A and as we entered the Kimberley and stopped for the night at the stunning Mary Pool we realised we were in for some special scenery in the west.

After 6 and half days we arrived in Broome. We checked in to Cable Beach Caravan Park and after quickly setting up our caravan site we raced down to Cable Beach eager to see what all the fuss was about. OMG. It was beyond stunning!! One of the most spectacular pieces of coast line I have ever seen. We watched our first sunset over Cable Beach. The ocean here is the most beautiful pale turquoise colour. It's like being in Tahiti. It's like someone has painted the sea because you can't possibly believe that it can really be that colour. You MUST come here before you die. YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST!!!!

Later that first night we went to see the stairway to the moon. This natural phenomenon is caused by a full moon reflecting off the exposed mudflats at Roebuck Bay at extremely low tides, to create a beautiful optical illusion of a staircase reaching to the moon. It occurs April through to October. We went to the Mangrove Resort and watched the moon rise to the sounds of a didgeridoo player. I’d never seen anything like this. As we watched the horizon we saw a distant light and then the tip of the moon started to rise. As it became larger the glow started to reflect on the mud flats and it really did look like a stairway.

On Good Friday we drove up to Derby to go on a flight over Horizontal Falls. The Horizontal Falls in the north-west of Western Australia has been described by David Attenborough as "one of the greatest natural wonders of the world". It is created by the enormous variation in tides - which are as much as 10 metres. The water level rising, or falling, in Talbot Bay (due to the tide) causes a major height difference with the water level in the inlet on the other side of the Falls. We flew to Talbot Bay over some spectacular Kimberley scenery, including the Buccaneer Archipelago, a beautiful area consisting of some 800 to 1,000 rocky islands with small embayments and secluded white sandy beaches.

The rest of our first week was spent traveling around the coastline of the Kimberley and hanging our in Broome. We went to Sun Pictures, The World's Oldest Picture Garden. Est 1916. http://www.broomemovies.com.au/index.html and Matso Brewery http://www.matsos.com.au/ which started life as the Union Bank of Australia Ltd and was built in 1910. It stood in Sheba Lane, which ran down the edge of Kennedys Hill. The Union Bank was the first bank in Broome and was to be a vital part of the financial life of the town for over 40 years. Sheba Lane was notorious as the Red Light district of Chinatown and was the centre of the Japanese community in Broome. Among the buildings there were opium dens, brothels and mah-jong palaces. Broome was a very open town, catering for the varied needs of hardworking divers throughout the region.

Life in Broome is wonderful. The opportunity for work here is enormous, however the lure of the ocean is great and if I could find a way to never work again I would. I think I have found my nirvana.

Photos: Broome

rosibud — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:42:00 GMT

Photos: 80 Mile Beach

rosibud — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:42:00 GMT

Photos: Horizontal Falls, Western Australia

rosibud — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:42:00 GMT

Townsville & North Queensland

rosibud — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:44:00 GMT

Well I know I have been very slack of late, not updating this journal. I guess when you are living and working somewhere you fall into a rhythm that makes you feel more like a resident than a traveler.

Living and working in Townsville has been a fantastic experience. I remember coming here about 20 years ago and thinking what a backwater it was. I couldn't wait to leave. But the experience we have had over the past year (god has it been that long?) has been amazing. Despite the cyclones, floods and gigantic mosquitoes we've definitely fallen in love with North Queensland. Since we have been here I have been working for corrective services. It's been an eye opener of a job that's given me the opportunity to work on Palm Island and in Townsville and has exposed me to an enormous diversity of people and situations. I have loved every minute of it.

We've also seen some great stuff since we've been here. Airlie Beach, Mission Beach, Magnetic Island, Palm Cove, Cairns, The Misty Mountains, Atherton Tablelands and Paronella Park. Gob smacking scenery that has been at time unbelievable.

But it's time to move on.

We're off across the continent in early April heading for Broome where we hope to live and work for at least a year.

As I've said before anyone thinking of heading off on a lifestyle change like ours - JUST DO IT! It's the best thing I have ever done and I have never regretted it for a second.

Photos: Paronella Park

rosibud — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:11:00 GMT

Photos: Palm Island

rosibud — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:46:00 GMT

Photos: Undara Lava Tubes

rosibud — Mon, 3 May 2010 13:39:00 GMT

Undara Lava Tubes

rosibud — Mon, 3 May 2010 13:24:00 GMT

Jen and I are now living and working in Townsville. We both scored great jobs so we should be able to save a heap of money and get a few camping and car upgrades before we tackle Cape York with our friends a bit later on. We should be here 6-8 months and plan to use Townsville as our base. There is so much to see and explore in North Queensland so we better not waste any time. We just spent the weekend at the amazing Undara Lava Tubes, a place formed 195000 years ago by hundreds of volcanic eruptions. The tubes are spectacular. You can only see the tubes via tour, but I think it was totally worth the money. Our guide Paul, who took us on a whole day tour, where we climbed to the top of Kalkani crater and also walked through all 6 open lava tubes, was a zooligist and marine biologist and was entertaining and educational. We stayed in converted 100 year old railways carriages surrounded by wildlife and bushland. This is one of the top 100 things you must see in Australia before you die. It's well worth the trip. One more crossed off my bucket list now. I love my life!

Photos: The town of 1770 and around

rosibud — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:33:00 GMT

Gallery: Eyre Peninsula

rosibud — Sun, 6 Sep 2009 18:49:00 GMT

Gallery: Painted Desert, Oodnadatta Track & Moon Plains

rosibud — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Painted Desert

rosibud — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 22:02:00 GMT

We've been hanging out in Coober Pedy South Australia for the past few days. It's a strange little town full of peculiar people. It's an opal mining town and everyone and everything is dusty. As you drive in all you really see are mounds of dirt. It's the weirdest thing. Most people who live here reside underground. They have underground churches , underground pubs, underground book shops, they even have an underground camping ground. It would have to be one of the most unique places in Australia. One of the locals were telling us that everyone here is very secretive. "No one has any money and no one is finding any opals" he said. "People don't like to flash around there money and they are extremely protective of there opal claim sites. If you walk on to one you could find your self shot". It's a little like what I imagine being in the middle of a gold rush town back in the 1800s would have been like.

Today we decided to get off the bitumen so we headed out along the famous Oodnadatta track in search of a place called the Painted Desert. On our way we experienced the Moon Plains which are famous for being where they shot a lot of the desolate scenes in the Mad Max movies. It's hard to imagine a place where there is an absence of anything. Where there is just flat stony land for hundreds of kms, but that is exactly what these moon plains are like.

The Painted Desert is an area of spectacular colourful hills. It's an incredible sight and would have to be one of the highlights of a trip to South Australia in my opinion - these rocky outcrops of large and small hills which really do appear like they have been painted , suddenly out of a flat, desert landscape. Apparently it was created more than 80 million years ago. I think it's made all the more extraordinary by the fact that you've just driven through 60kms of absolutley flat desolation.

We then headed into the famous outback town of Oodnadatta and had a beer at the Pink Roadhouse. The lady running it offered us both jobs, which I think would have been a great experience if we didn't have other plans. We did tell her we might come back through one day and tae her up on her offer, so you never know. I like to keep all interesting work options open!

Gallery: The Breakaways & Dingo Fence - Coober Pedy

rosibud — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:57:00 GMT

Gallery: Kings Canyon & Curtain Springs

rosibud — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Canyons & Dust

rosibud — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:14:00 GMT

I’m writing this in the middle of a dust storm. I’m sitting in the caravan, free camping at Curtain Springs,abut 85kms from Uluru, looking out at the trees and the red sandy dirt being thrown around by the huge winds. The storm followed us all the way back from Kings Canyon today. We drove 220kms out there to do a 6km hike around the top rim of the canyon. The hike was spectacular. Strenuous but incredible. It’s one of the best hikes I’ve ever done. The first 30 minutes was pretty much vertical. But when you get to the top and start walking around the rim you forget about the effort and just thank God you’re alive and able to see nature’s spectacle. I’m so glad I did it. The drive out there is pretty spectacular too. As you approach Kings Canyon the last 50kms or so you have a huge escarpment on your right hand side. It absolutely magnificent rising out of the flat desert surrounds and guiding you all the way in.

We’ve been free camping here at Curtain Springs for the last day or so. Last night we met this wonderful couple from the Dandenong Ranges called Mark and Jan. We had dinner together and shared a couple of bottles of wine and talked about life, the universe and everything in between. It was such a great night. One of the best things about being on the road is the people you meet. People you would othewise never cross paths with. You share a meal, some vino, good conversation and you find out about their story, their life path and their experiences, and it just makes your own travels all the richer. It’s what makes this life so rewarding.

We leave here tomorrow bound for Coober Pedy with a little free camping in between. I do love free camping. Stopping somewhere without the confines of a caravan park gives you a much better appreciation for this country, its wildlife and flora. And I mostly enjoy the quiet. At night there is often such an absense of noise that it seems almost like something is missing. Being from the city you grow use to the constant urban sounds. Yes I definitely like the quiet.

Gallery: Uluru

rosibud — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Gallery: Kata Tjuta

rosibud — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Journey to the centre - the red centre that is!

rosibud — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:43:00 GMT

The last 11 days have been absolutely amazing.

From Katherine we headed south first stop an iconic outback pub at Daly Waters. We drank beer served to us by a german backpacker, listened to the dulcit tones of the 'chook man' on the electric organ and looked up at a billion beautiful stars.

From there we spent the next night at Devil's Marbles and were absolutely gob smacked by the enigmatic beauty of the place. You drive through hundreds of kms of nothing and then all of a sudden these different sized glowing red granite boulders appear. At times they seem almost impossibly balanced. They are in my opinion as spellbinding as Uluru or Kata Tjuta. We arrived just before sunset which added to the glow and we camped for the night again looking up at a blanket of stars and wondering how we got to be so lucky as to have this life.

Two aboriginal guys who were traditional owners of the land came and told us campfire stories about the "Marbles" and what they meant to the local people. The aborginals call them Karlu Karlu. In the Aboriginal mythology the Devils Marbles are the eggs of the rainbow serpent, and many "dreamtime" stories and traditions of the Warumungu, Kaytetye and Alyawarre Aboriginal people are linked with this area. The traditional Aboriginal owners of the area regard the marbles as having extraordinary powers. Damage to them can have life threatening consequences for their custodians.

The next day we headed on to Alice Springs. It wasn't what we expected. We had been warned hat is was a scary violent place but we instantly fell in love with its artistic flavour and energy. We headed out to explore and were impressed by the wonderful Alice Springs Desert Park which was a great introduction to the plants and animals of the desert, as well as the aboriginal culture, way of life and survival techniques. I would recommend anyone heading to Central OZ to stop and spend some time at the park as it gave us another layer of understanding of the outback.

We spent a day exploring the West McDonnell Ranges and their wonderful gorges and we were also fortunate to be in town for the annual Henley on Todd dry river Regatta. This year it was all the more fun because the National Variety Bush Bash cars were in town. The put on quite a show and we had a fantastic day. By the time we left Alice we both agreed that we would love to come back and work there for a while.

And now we find ourselves at Uluru. For those of you who have never been here, nothing can really prepare you for the massive scale of this big fat red rock. It's absolutely enormous sitting in the middle of no where. Whenever it's in your view you are instantly drawn to look at it. It's endlessly fascinating and also forever changing. We walked all the way around it, it took 4 hours. Every bit of it is different from the bit before; the shape, the crevices, the flora, the colour. It truly is majestic and sublime. Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) are equally fascinating. In some ways the seem even more mysterious than the rock.

Last night we had Dinner in the Desert. As the brochure states "Your journey begins on a lone sand dune. A path takes you to an uninterrupted, three hundred and sixty degree view of this vast landscape. In front of you is the fabled Uluru; behind you are the domes of Kata Tjuta and, possibly the most spectacular sunset you have ever seen. Here you enjoy sparkling wine and a selection of delectable canapés. As the sun sets, you feast on a BBQ buffet of authentic Australian delicacies examples include barramundi, kangaroo, emu and crocodile, bush salads and classic desserts, complemented by Australian wines. Attention then turns to some of the world's best stargazing, as our startalker takes you on a tour of the spectacular southern night sky. As you wind down after dinner, you are offered a choice of tea, coffee or port. At the Sounds of Silence experience you can dine under the canopy of the desert night, while your very own storyteller shares tales as told in the stars.

Entered into the Australian Tourism Hall of Fame, Sounds of Silence offers the best of the Red Centre distilled into four magical hours. An evening of dining under the sparkling outback sky."

And just incase you're wondering it was spectacular! Tonight I simply sit here in the quiet, there is a breeze and a bit of a chill in the air. And that's enough right now. It's lovely being on the road again. I didn't realise how much I missed it. There is an excitement about not really knowing what you'll find out there the next day. It keeps you motivated and enthusiastic and hungry for more. More beauty, more open space, more history, more nature, more adventure.

Tomorrow we head to Kings Canyon...... watch this space!

Gallery: West McDonnell Ranges

rosibud — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Gallery: Henley on Todd

rosibud — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:59:00 GMT

Gallery: Alice Springs Desert Park

rosibud — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:15:00 GMT

Gallery: Devils Marbles

rosibud — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:46:00 GMT