Travelreport 41

Brisbane (Australia, 03-05-2003) till Camooweal (Australia, 28-06-2003)

Australia is for many people a dream and for others a curse. It's a land with a rich history and also with a lot of sadness and loneliness. It's the land of the Aboriginal, Skippy and the Didgeridoo. In Europe you find nice crocodile handbags in the store but here it’s a different story. This will complete my nightmare for there are so many of them. Also the snakes are an inhabitant of this land. I do like them in the zoo but this have to be my cup of tea while we are here. Live and let live!

Route through Queensland; 03-05-2003 / 28-06-2003

We arrived at Brisbane airport on the 3rd of May. We did not know what to expect. It was a Saturday and we stayed in the house of friends, Wayne and Kerry. They were on a trip in Europe but his parents were willing to have us around. Wayne told his parents not to worry. Wayne his words were: “Once I told them you were just like me they were even more nervous!” His parents were lovely for us and we could stay as long as we pleased. The next day it was Sunday and the following day it was Labor Day, so another holiday and we did not want too pay an extra price to get our bikes back. It was on Tuesday the 6th of May that we went early to the airport. It was strange for it was Martin his birthday and his presents were in the bag and that one was on the bike. We took a cab down to the airport and we arrived early. It was not a big hassle to get our bikes. We only had to pay………. The first thing that we noticed was that everything goes by the book and by the rules. We were not allowed to get to our bikes in the depot. No, they drove the bikes outside and Martin could start with assembling the bikes, starting with connecting the batteries. But finallly we were happy to be on the road again and the first thing what we did was finding a petrol station and heading 'home'. It was celebration time for Martin could open his presents now. We went after that into town and also the council had a nice present for Martin. When we went to the RACQ for information a hard working policeofficer put a parking ticket on his bike and he had to pay $50 on our first trip on the motorbike in Australia! Happy Birthday!

Your best friend

Problem was that this officer couldn't figure out in which state the bike was registred so this ticket is never payed. We went home to arrange a insurance for the bike and that was not as easy as we thought: Or we had to have an Aussi driving license or we had to have a home address. We had none of them so Martin kept on phoning. After at least 12 calls there was a company who wanted to insure us. Because we wanted to leave we could go the next day to their Head Office to pick the papers up. After that we went to a shop and buy a birthday Cake. It was impossible to find one but Joe, an Italian baker, was willing to make us one but he could only deliver it after 7 PM. No Worries, so that night we had a real party and Charlie and Marjorie went to bed like rolling stones and Martin was happy because the cake was swimming into the liquor. The next morning we left early to town and when we came at the insurance office they were not so willing to help. The woman we spoke to was ready for lunch so she gave us the phone and we could handle it ourselves. She left it was 11:30. It makes me so angry and I saw another woman and I asked her if she PLEASE could help us. We explained that every one was sending us to someone else. When she found out that we were from Holland she changed as both her parents were Dutch. Officially she was not allowed to do this for us but Angela Goosens helped us and gave us the insurance. We could kiss her and we were very grateful to her. The next day we said goodbye to Wayne his parents and we drove in the direction of the Glass House Mountains where we had an appointment with a friend of ours. Mark is a Kiwi and he wanted to come with us to Cape York. We went together to the Australian Zoo and had some lessons about snakes and crocodiles and I can assure you that I learned a lot there! There was a huge crocodile of nearly 400 kg and his name is Graham. They caught him near a boat ramp in Townsville. At first they were wanted to kill him as he was used to people but he ended up in the zoo. It was amazing how he could jump out of the water! We were also able to touch a Koala and they were so lovely and even Martin his heart was melting when he saw these creatures. The Kangaroo’s were soft and adorable and it felt lovely to touch it. When I was a kid we had the program Skippy on Dutch TV so it brought back good memories. We went to the snake and crocodile show. It was good that they gave some information and especially for us it was interesting. The crocodile show was the feeding of those animals. It is a scary animal and different than a handbag in the window of a shop. For us 'No Swimming' when we were not sure if there are any crocodiles. They feel the vibration of the ground or water which they come after. You are a real nice bite for them that I can assure you. In this zoo you learned to respect nature and if you do not so, you probably will not have the chance to tell it to your children.

Updated: 05 May 2003
We finally arrived in Brisbane to start the Australian leg of our trip. The bikes were thoroughly cleaned and then Martins bike didn't run anymore. Martin spent a day cleaning every connector from water but to no avail! Finally the BMW-dealer picked up the bike and after another long search they found the cause in a defective sensor (Hall-sensors). Shipping the bikes was easy as we could roll them on a pallet.
In Brisbane we learned upon arrival that this Monday was a public holiday so we have to pick up the bikes tomorrow from the airport. In the meantime we are doing some sightseeing in downtown Brisbane and enjoy the hospitality of Wayne & Kerry’s place although they are in Europe now but we will drop by again when they are back home.

Mister Mark himself

The view over the Glass House Mountains

My name is Graham and I love a tourist for desert

So much in common with Bill Bryson

Martin his big surprise

The Imperial Hotel at Ravenswood

In the middle of nowhere

If you don’t know where you are going, you always get there

The result of fighting with a bee

Updated: 22 May 2003
After arriving in the Tableland Mountains just outside Cairns we take a brake for a couple of days. The area here is so different compared to the rest of Australia. It's very green and there are even small lakes where you can swim without having to worry about attacking crocodiles. Australia is so completely different to New Zealand that we only now slowly starts to get used to it. The distances are huge (it takes us an hour to cover 1 cm. on our map) and the sceneries are not changing that much. But on the other hand did we see already quite a bit of the Ozzie wildlife. Martin had already his first accident when he hit a bee which made his left eye almost disappear and it looks really ugly, however Jeannette still claims she loves him. She also faced the consequences of corrugated gravel roads when her bike suddenly completely died because the battery got disconnected. Needles to say we have a ball of a time here.

Jeannette at the Elinjaa Falls

My first river crossing

Who will decide what is right or wrong

Did someone mention the word CROCODILE?"

Back to the Stone age in the year 2003

All alone in the big world

The Smelter at Chilligoe

Glad to be back on asphalt

Looking at the bright side of the road

The Australian Road train

A Black Phyton is warming up

Willie was showing Martin the beautiful moon

The residents of The Gregory Riverbed

Mastering at Gregory down’s camp draft

Updated: 24 June 2003
We tried to conquer Cape York but we failed as there was too much soft sand. No fun, especially when you have to drive down the same road! Instead we headed west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. We like this area very much and don't mind a couple of gravel roads; you have to as most roads are gravel roads. We loved the remoteness of Gregory Downs where we stayed almost for 2 weeks in a riverbed. Lawn Hill NP was beautiful with it's gorges where we canoed through. In Gregory Downs they had their annual campdraft which was nice to see. We had an marvelous time but we're glad to be back in Cloncurry. Although a tiny village it is civilization to us and the opportunity to have a nice hot shower again and get ourselves and the bikes prepared for the next leg through Australia.

This is the view while we did some rough camping