CU in the NT (Northern Territory)

Bitter Springs was amazing!

Honey Eater. 

Curious birds and very colorful.

We shared morning coffee together.

Very pretty green and blue colors. 

Wish I had known Katherine was such a rough town....

at night it felt like a hoard of wild animals were running around outside, howling and wailing.

Turns out it was the drunk guy in the room next to mine with a 'wife' that looked young enough to be his daughter and 3 young kids in the room and Nancy the housekeeper said she found an empty case of beer in the room and it was trashed. 

Stayed here two nights, two nights too many but I did get to see a side of Australia most tourists won't and the boat tour through Katherine Gorge was amazing.

Freshies.

Salties.

Freshies are fresh water crocodiles. They are small and don't eat people.

Salties. They are big and eat people. 

Don't swim in the water. 

Crocodile safety signs everywhere. 

This bird was drying its wings. 

See how much the trees are leaning?

That is how hard the water flows through during wet season.

I was warned (not about Katherine) to be in the North during dry season. 

The guide talked about the wet season water flow and level. 

Next town, Pine Creek.

This is a 300 person town.

Was a gold rush town. 

Had a huge Chinese population until WWII when many towns in the north died out due to the bombing. It was a welcome sight with good food and cold AC. 

I had planned to ride a few hours out to another National Park. 

Then I learned they were doing controlled burns on each side of the road. 

Many small critters dead from trying to get away from the fires. 

I suddenly felt exhausted and the room was so quiet and comfortable. 

I napped. 

Kakadu National Park next where I met Russ and Steve. 

They rode unsealed gravel roads north from Sydney.

How hard are these roads?

Well one bike lost the license plate. 

Went to the local public pool where the lady attendant told me her curlew story.

A couple years back a pair nested and produced eggs.

The local kids stole the eggs.

Last year, the pair came back and nested and this time she protected the eggs from the kids and they both hatched but there was a heavy monsoon that ripped through and washed the babies away and she said the birds made hair raising sounds, even more nightmarish than their usual sounds as they searched for the little ones. They did eventually find the chicks and they lived happily ever after.  

We enjoyed dinner together, exchanging stories. 

These campground restaurants are all the same.

The menu is always the same.

 

Scotch Fillet. (usually pan fried, yuck) 

Schnitzel. (smothered in a heavy brown sauce whether you want it or not)

Chicken parm. (how hard is it to screw this up?)

Burger. (gross)

Pizza. (I'm a picky pizza eater) 

Some places have a local fish, barramundi. 

I ordered that and the piece was too small so had a second plate. 

It is very warm now. 

The lowest temp was 28 F when I started in Victoria and the highest 98 F here in the NT.

I heard and saw 2 blue winged kookaburras. 

Their sound is very different than the South Australia ones.

I also finally heard curlews!

Wandered around in the pitch of night towards their haunting lament. 

The last day involved some cave art. 

It also required me to walk. In the heat. 

Glad I did it.

Last stop. Darwin.

Tune up for Snowy. 

Pedi, mani and other girlie things for me too.

My original booking was cancelled at the last minute...turned out to be a good thing. 

The place had an ocean view and was ice cold. 

I also bought a 6 kilo bag of ice for a much deserved G&T. 

Look at those ridiculous little ice nuggets. Geeze.

That little jar travelled 6200 kms in the top box on the bike.

And Hokey Pokey ice cream!

I was told by some people at Kings Canyon about the Mindle Beach night market. 

I read about this spiral potato thingy. It was yummy!

As sunset neared, everyone headed to the beach en mass. 

It was gorgeous. 

Love these fun birds. 

Darwin has a month long festival going on. 

I saw a show each night I was there. 

This show was incredible. 

How the birds got their colors. 

The next day I picked up the bike and took it to the storage facility. 

That's Chris bike, the kiwi I met in Uluru. 

Last night in Darwin.

Gin distillery where I met Rebecca, the distiller. 

She told  me about the gins she makes and the shitbox rally. 

Only in Australia!

Gin flight. 

I learned about 'finger limes' and had the best gimlet ever!

Farewell Australia.

Goodbye to the mustache, mullet men.

The road trains. 

The animals that keep the ride interesting.

The people who are friendly. 

That was the total ride. 

The straight line in the north end was a 800 km day. 

 

See you next year. 

Darwin to Perth.

 

Uluru....but to some folks Ayers Rock

 

The highlight of the ride. 

The center of Australia. 

Uluru....nope, that's not it, yet.

Who took the photo? 

A kiwi who lives in Brisbane riding solo to Darwin like me, only with less time.

We met at the turnoff gas station and shared the ride for the rest of the day.

That's Uluru. 

Chris took this photo. 

It was nice having someone to ride with, it's weird without King Bob but meeting other riders, locals and travelers in general is fun. 

These rock formations are actually older than Uluru.

Back at my hostel, there was this guy playing the Digeridoo and explaining everything that goes into doing it correctly. 

My hostel bunk was comfortable, cheap and available. 

It is high tourist season (winter) so it was actually all I could find.

Thought you would get a kick out of this sign I wrote.

Seriously....they stole my cream!

Any my plastic egg carrier that is only really good at making omelets. 

I still smile in my helmet thinking of the idiot that is using that now, to make their own omelets.

Turns out that I timed my arrival just after a very rare occurrence of rain and this pool was full. 

It is where animals would come for water, and the indigenous would hunt them. 

The dead trees are haunting. 

This place spoke to me emotionally and it is where I decided to bury the pin from the kookaburra spell candle I bought last year in Melbourne. We have been saying the spell many times over the past year and it felt right to bring a conclusion to it here. 

The indigenous have 160 creation stories.

The park only knows 3. 

One is of this snake in the side of Uluru. 

See it?

I spent 3 days here. On my middle day, I didn't have much planned and my fatigue and over exertion caught up with me. I woke exhausted and shivering so I stayed in bed all morning.

These aren't vacations. These are adventures. 

I usually need a week to recover once I go home. 

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Next stop. Kings Canyon.  

BUT....not before a little drama. 

The ram mount that I used to attach the Michelin Man broke en route...I had to turn around and find him. Luckily he's bright orange. I didn't have to go back more than a few miles. 

When I arrived, the sky was heavy with clouds and the staff encouraged me to take the helicopter flight. After trying to check into another crappy, expensive room where the door was falling off the hinge, I said why not. 

I certainly wasn't going to walk this. 

I had a little time before the end of the day so I headed back out of town to do a short walk in Kings Canyon. It was beautiful and peaceful with an easy marked trail.

That went through the riverbed. 

The end of the canyon had a few benches. 

I learned about these 'ghost' gum trees.

See the black, dead branches?

That is the tree's ability to let a limb die when water is not available to preserve the rest of the tree. 

A reminder how hot and harsh the outback is during the summer. 

Later that night as I settled into my shitty, expensive room, I saw many people headed out to a deck up on the hill. I wandered over. 

As I waited for it to get dark to enjoy the light installation, it was sprinkling so I took shelter under the bar awning and a group of people joined me. We had a nice chat and I learned that the road I'd planned to take, and the one Google wanted me to take, was 4WD. 

Back the way I came. 

So now the big debate...a natural wonder Standley Chasm

Or swim at Alice Springs pool? 

Yep. You guessed it. The pool. 

I've learned in Australia, in respect for the indigenous you cannot take photos of sacred sites.

Not allowed to take photos inside the pool facilities either...the changing room I understand but this rule applies to the entire pool area....well, it's sacred to me so....click.

Next Roadhouse. 

Aileron. 

My room. 

Seriously....WTF. 

I went back (which has now happened at 5 different places now when faced with some ridiculous crap like this) to say WTF and get another room. Each time, requiring me to back up a big heavy motorcycle, oh in loose gravel, sand, rocks, whatever. 

Sheesh.

No Wifi. No Cell service. 

Pretty good food though and a jukebox that drowned out the news blaring on the TV. 

Best $10 I have spent so far.

Needed fuel.

3 of the 4 fuel pumps not working. 

Reminded me of Argentina. 

 

The one pump that is working is duct taped together. 

Wandered the grounds and came upon peacocks. 

Nearly every toilet I've used has one of these. 

While chatting with Olivia the next morning (this day is a 800 km day), her favorite one-legged crow came to say hello. She said he comes to the exact spot every morning, just like this. 

I then told her about my eagle experience. 

I'll wait to write about it later with a photo. 

Devils Marbles is the only 'thing' to see today and given my day will be 9 hours of riding, 

that fit the bill as it was a short 5 mins detour from the main road.

Then it was  hours and hours of a whole lot of nothing.

I had to keep alert though, remember wildlife. 

Ginger the roo on my handlebars is my ward against an kangaroo jumping out in front of me. 

Arrived about 4:30 in Daly Waters.

Parked and saw this sign....oh boy.

Not the heavy vehicles, although I do need to photograph a road train, no the other sign in yellow.

It was a madhouse.

Wandering animals.

Wandering people, most drunk.

My room was ice cold. 

Comfortable and worth what I paid.

 

I ordered wings and lamb. 

When the girl arrived with both plates, she looked at me and asked which plate was mine, 

I said both.

Car boxed me in nicely so I decided to sleep in and leave late.

There is a 'museum' of odd collected junk across the street. 

So here is my eagle story.

Wedge Tailed Eagle. 

Here is a stuffed one to give you a sense of the size. 

This one however was about 2/3 the size of the one I came up on.

When I see a carcass on the side of the road I slow down because I know something is feeding on it.

As I approached a rather large kangaroo 'napping' on the side of the road, I noticed something on top of it, quite large...thinking perhaps it was a roo.

Nope.

It was a huge wedge tailed eagle, feasting.

Beak to Tail was at least 4 feet long.

As I neared at a safe speed, it stretched out its wings, while looking at me with one eye and slowly took flight veering slightly away from the road in perfect timing of my traveling next to it. 

It was quite the experience, I still feel my heart clench remembering how special that moment felt. 

That was the highlight of the ride, not Uluru.

Vintage barbed wire. 

Like I said, assorted junk including a bike Steve McQueen rode.

Last year when in Queensland, there were giant termite mounds.

I never stopped for a photo....but finally got one at Bitter Springs.

There is what we call a lazy river here. 

You hop in at one end and it snakes around to a set of stairs where you climb out and go back and do it again. It was hella fun!

Got a cute cottage with covered parking for Snowy.

Very comfortable and facing a wildlife area that had many birds.

Next stop Kakadu National Park.