Go with the flow

Good day everyone. It's gonna be a massive update, cause since I left Beverley i've done a lot of stuff. So I'll tell you a little bit about my last days in Beverley and then my trip start again. Here it goes....

13-09-2012
My day started as every other day. Some cleaning in the morning and then the whole day working in the pub, cause on thursdays Jock and Mary always went some where in the afternoon. When they got back at 16.00 I quickly made my lunch and start working again at 16.30. I opened the door from the pub and out of surprise Stuart was standing there. He made his promise come true. I met Stuart in Alice Springs and he promised me that he would visit me, cause he travelled on a motorbike so it was easier for him to go somewhere. After 3 months in Beverley I still hadn't seen him, and then this day he just showed up out of nowhere. Straight away I gave him a hug, cause I was so glad to see a friend coming by. The next two days we hang out in the afternoons. Immediately rumours were going on in town. No wonder right? Any way, they had something to talk about.

Now something else:
A few man at the pub, had a deal how long I would last in the pub. They didn't had high expectations of me, cause I would last maximum a month. Well after almost 14 weeks I broke the Dutch record, since Mary and Jock had the pub. The other Dutchies didn't lasted more than 2 weeks.

One week before I would leave Beverley my pushbike died. Nature destroyed it. Despite my both flat tires, Graham bought it for half the price i paid for it. Very nice of him. Thanks Santa Clause ;-)

The first of October I left Beverley and went to Perth to stay at Grand Central Backpackers. I shared the room with 4 young girls my ages and 1 older lady who stayed there already for a year. She was high religion and had problems. On thursday the 4th Pia, Toni and I had a huge discussion with her. It was about lesbian and gay people, about marriage, having children and God. After 2 hours it finally was quiet. I was so glad that Pia and Toni agreed with me, cause our voices were loud and we were annoyed with her church, father and God.

I left Perth the 8th of Oct. From there my 10 day tour up to Broome began.

At 06.45 I arrived at the pick up pint for the tour. I was just on time. The night before Pia and I had a couple of drinks at an Irish Pub. We were drinking very nasty cider. The Irish cider Magners. I hadn't eaten before, so I was drunk. When we got back at 24.00 I ran to the toilet and I didn't stopped throwing up till 06.00 the next morning. It was horrible!!! What was I thinking the night before the tour! :-(
The first few hours I ate and said nothing, after that I acted normal again. Even the girl next to me, noticed my different behaviour. But she didn't cared. Claire and I sat from the start till the end of the trip next to each other. We weren't sticky and micky, but did shared a lot together. She has such a great personality!

The first day we went to the Pinnacle deserts and Sandy Cape. The Pinnacle deserts were interesting and pretty. Sandy Cape was even more beautiful. The water was so clear and blue, it was amazing. At Sandy Cape we went sandboarding. I was the first one who slide from the hill. I crashted right in the middle. The second try was with Shery together on one board. Also this time we crashted in the middle. Shery landed with her whole face in the sand, it was so funny. Even though we didn't used any sunscreen, the sand was sticking everywhere. We had good fun. We stayed the night at an B&B in Horrocks, right in front of the beach.

The second day we went watching the Natural bridge and the Z bend at the Murchison river. We did some shopping in Kalbarri town and had a small hike at Kalbarri National Park (NP). We took some photo's at Nature's window and had a fly lunch. It was terrible! At some point I was just about eating them with my sandwich. The afternoon we drove to Sharkbay and stayed at the YHA in Denham.

The third day we drove to Monkey Mia and waited 1,5 hour to see 1 pregnant dolphin. We had a stop at Eagle Bluff were we could see sharks in the water from a distance. At shell beach we had a quick stop and at Carnarvon we had a fuel stop. We went to see the Stromalites, they were interesting and at night we arrived at Coral bay and stayed there for the night.

The fourth day Shery, Marcus and I booked a kayak/snorkel tour. The beginning was very scary and it took me a few minutes to have my breathe rhythm under control. After I figured it all out, I enjoyed the colourful fishes, turtles and beautiful coral. In the afternoon Shery and I went paddle boarding. It was so easy and fun.
Late in the afternoon we drove to Exmouth, on the way we saw a lot of termites nests.

The fifth day we went the whole day to Turquoise bay. Again I snorkeld, it got easier and easier. I even was chasing the fishes. I had a good time under water.

The sixth day we drove all the way from Exmouth to Karijini. We had a stop at Paraburdoo and Tom Price. 10 hours later we arrived in Karijini.

The seventh day we had a relaxed morning, we were definitely not in a hurry. That day we went to Dales Gorge to see three waterfalls. Circular Pool where a few of us jumped from the waterfall, including me. It was so high! The next waterfall was Fortesque fall. It was a nice waterfall and nice area, but the water was nog clear at all. Fern Pool was the last one. It was so quiet up there. Lovely!. The only one making noises were the birds.

Day eight, Shery, Claire, Tenil and I were going on an active adventure tour in Karijini. A Dutch guy and an Australian couple joined us. So at 07.30 in the morning our trip began. First we got all our equiptment: Bottom and top wetsuit, wetsuit socks, climbing/water shoes, a helmet, a harnas with all our gear for abseiling and paddling and a tube.

The first part of the tour was very steep and warm. We had to walk with our tube over the shoulder down to the gorge. We did hiking, abseiling, paddling, swimming, free climbing, treverse, sliding and falling. We went through Knox gorge, Red gorge, Hancock gorge, Junction pool, Kermit pool, Spiderwalk, Amphitheathre. Our tourguide Pete was lovely. The nature was beautiful and the tour was awesome!
The next day I was so sore and i had a lot of souvenirs from falling on/off the rocks. So getting up took me ages and when I finally got out of my sleeping bag and swag I fell over a tent. My lucky day started ;-).

At day nine our tourbus broke down, so we slept another night under the stars in our swags. During the day we went to Joffre falls, that was just half hour walk from our camp.

At day ten we drove in the afternoon to Pardoo station farm were we spent the night.

At day eleven we drove from Pardoo station all the way to Broome. We had a quick stop at 80 mile beach. It was so beautiful up there. I could stay there the whole day. So many different shells. Better then shell beach. At 14.00 we arrived in Broome. The hostel were I stayed in: Beaches of Broome, was a Paradise. In Broome Shery and I have been bike riding to Gantheaume point, where the rocks were amazing red. The dinosaurs footprints were hard to find, so eventually we gave up searching for them. We cycled to the port and the Japanese cemetary. After 5 hours cycling in 35 to 40 degrees we were done for the day. In the evening we went to the open air cinema to see the movie Sapphires. The movie wasn't that good at all, but the scenery was perfect. Bats flying around, hammock chairs to sit in. Eating popcorn and ice cream. Birds whistling. Lovely that it was!!!
I had a few relaxing days till i decided to leave Broome for Kununurra.

23-10-2012
After I spend 14 hours in the bus I arrived at 08.30 AM in Kununurra. Straight away I acted like a tourist. The 3 attractions for tourist were done in one day. I walked to the Lily Creek Lagoon and Bird tree Park. It was such a lovely place. All kinds of birds and small reptiles in a small park. After that I went to Mirima NP to do the Hidden Valley Walk. It was so bloody hot, I had not enough water an I only told the I visitor lady that I wanted to go here. Of course I was half way, so I kept on going. The mini bungle bungles as they also are called were pretty. The view from the top was beautiful, but I was almost dying so I hurried my way back down to the shade. When I finally had dragged myself back to the hostel I plumped myself in a chair near the swimmingpool. I sat there the rest of the afternoon till the owner of the Kimberley's Croc backpackers my a ride gave tot the top of Kelly Knob to see the sunset. A massive cloud disturbed the view. Terrible sunset!

The next day I did nothing I can remember. Was just waiting for a phone call to go on a tour, but nobody rang me.

25-10-2012
At 07.00 in the morning someone knocked on the door. After twice knocking, the girl under my bed bunk opened the door. We looked confused to each other when we saw nobody. Suddenly someone showed his head. A man, looking like a tourguide stood in front of the room. He asked if there was a Kim staying in the room. Confused I said: Yes Kim Lai and I raised my hand. Are you coming on the tour? He asked me. I was thinking.... a tour?? Oh fuck is it saturday??? No it's thursday. He what a tour?! So you're coming, he asked me again. Yes ofcourse, I said. So what do i need to take with me I asked. He said: just a towel, badingsuit, bottle of water and hiking shoes. Ok, I said. And then he told me that I had 5 minutes. What!!!! You must know that at this point I was still in my pyjama. So I jumped out of bed, grabbed my bag and as a disorganised crazy chick I put on my bikini, grabbed some clothes, skipped the toilet and ran with my shoes in my hand to the touringcar. Bad bad first impression. I kinda dressed myself into the touringcar and listened to Lee the guide. Still I had no idea where we were going and I didn't had read anything about El Questro. After one hour drive we were at El Questro Wilderness Park. Friendly I asked Lee to go to the toilet, because I skipped that in the morning. Thank God, he gave me permission ;-) ha ha ha.
We visited Emma Gorge, it was lovely. The water was a nice cooling down. Lee told us about the eatable plants. The leaves where you can make soap from and at the same time poison a fish. He told us about the antz with their green butts, you should lick their butts or eat them. They were a refreshing. I ate one, cause it was to hard to stop him. Besides antz Lee let us eat wild figs. They were on the same tree as the antz. We saw a rock wallaby, a couple of lizards, native bees and birds.
After Emma Gorge, we had a private swim at Zebedee springs. I felt such a VIP, cause we were there only with the three of us. Lee, a German guy and I. In the afternoon we made a boatcruise on the Chamberlain Gorge. Thankfully we saw no crocoldiles. The only things we saw in the water were small turtles and rifle fishes. They got their name, cause they spit water at ya. Very funny. I had a great spontaneous day.

27-10-2012

We (Swanny and I) got picked up at 06.30 AM. We drove an hour to the beginning of the upper Ord river where our start position was. We got all our stuff and information and before 09.00 AM we were off. The 3 day self-guided canoe trip began.
The first day we would paddle 25km to our first campsite. At 16.00 we arrived at camp 1, before that we had a look at the cascades waterfall and we had a quick stop at Sandy beach. We were dehydrated and very tired. We ate pasta and were in bed at 19.30 PM. Before it got dark a huge colony of flying foxes flew over and some landed in our trees. The night was terrible. So many noises!! Frogs, lizards, flying foxes and mosquitos.
At 08.00 AM we were back in our canoe. This day we only had to paddle 13km to the second campsite. Even though it was only 13km, it was a ruff day. We both were so sore and we had the wind against us. And to find all the sightseens given us on the self-made drawing map wasn't easy to find at all. Even though we managed at had a look and swim at Herbies Hideway. Swanny jumped from the Yahoo rock and at 16.00 PM we arrived at camp 2. It was hidden behind the riverbend. Our first impression was: No way, we're going there! But high on the hill we saw the toilet, so we had to go through the high reed. Scary, I can tell you that. Camp 2 was nicer than camp 1. We walked to the top and took some great pictures. We searched for wood and Swanny made a great fire. Even though there were no flying foxes, our sleeping night was bad again. This one mosquito was annoying us, I guess it was immum for insectsprays.
The last day was 15 km back to Kununurra. We visited the Zebra Rock gallery, had a look at the rockart at sleeping buddha/elephant rock and we paddled into the Everglades. We were lazy that day. Till that point we hadn't seen any crocodiles yet, and I was terrified to see some at the Lily Creek Lagoon. The water was so clear up there. It really freaked me out. Eventually I calmed down and took some pictures too. We got back at 16.00 PM again.
After 3 days in the same clothes, with no shower and canoeing in 40 degrees we were smelly, dirty, tired and dehydrated. But above all we survived!! We did an awesome job and we can call our selfs real bushcamp ladies!!


The End (if you came to this point, well done hahahahah)

Ok people, this is all in the past, cause i'm in Darwin now. So tomorrow i'm going on a tour to Kakadu and Litchfield and then i guess no more tours for me. Otherwise I have to work again, and that's not what i want. I'm done working here.

Thank you for reading and when you have time send me a message.

See ya!