Zen Rider
Toby B Joined: December 30th 2005
Logged in: October 23rd 2006
Logged in: October 23rd 2006
A journey off the beaten track. A rambleing shambleing and meandering visit to the lonley deserts and windy beaches of Australia.
It will involve some long and lonely highways, late and ludicrous nights, and a truck full of very big kites.
Start the engine, press play on the iPod, grab the shades and cowboy hat, lets roll.
Travel Blog Posts
So its good bye from me...
Grim Reality. That’s exactly what a grey and hectic Heathrow is like at 6am after a 24hr flight. Peace N Love to all. The End. ... read more
Surfers Paradise....
The Bling Coast & Skyscraper Paradise, Byron In The Rain, WARNING!, The Last Sessions, The Great Lakes, Tidying Up Loose Ends, Last Supper. From Brisbane Betty takes us once more south along the Pacific Highway, and into the high rise concrete jungle of the Gold Coast. I can’t believe my first sight of this 150k stretch of beautiful beach on which a veracious infection of tower blocks has taken root. The development here is in Plague proportions, there are more concrete and glass towers than in Brisbane, maybe even Sydney, and there right on the beach. In my opinion the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise is one of Australia and QLD’s biggest blunders (along with letting the UK test nukes in the desert when the prevailing winds blow towards a major population centre). Originally a massive ... read more
With the dissapointment of no cameras inside the rum factory...
Yum, Yum Bundy Rum! Sandy Island, Great Lakes, Da-Dum, Posh Surf Resorts, BrisO. Well as you can imagine it was a early start to get into the Rum factory before the locals got stuck in, there’s nay a Queenslander alive can resist a free rum tasting! Much to my disappointment, and im sure yours, I found that the factory was a camera free zone. I also had to surrender my wallet, phone, lose change, and the empty 30 gallon drum I had with me. As they brew some of the Rum to over 80% proof there is so much of the beloved C2H5OH in the air that any spark (say from someone rubbing two coins together, or siphoning of one of their vats into a huge barrel), would cause a large Woumph, and a world shortage ... read more
May 29th 2006
Where did the wind go!
The calm after the storm, East Coast Dreamin, Every Man Is an Island, Bundy and Beyond! After such a treat of wind at Alva beach an inevitable calm has settled over the east coast, the water is like glass everywhere we go, our wind meter twists lazily at 2 knots, our kites remain deflated and my dreams of the perfect double back roll remain unrealized. Despite this our spirits remain high, as this is a gorgeous part of the country to be lazy in, the beaches sport yellow to white soft sand, the water although a little cool as winter moves in, is clear and deep blue as are the skies. It seems the perfect time for us to go island hopping! After a long drive through a sea of Cain plantations and a night at ... read more
May 22nd 2006
Cool Pools to swim in....
The highlight of our stay in the top end is Kakadu national park, a area the size of whales encoumpasing Aligator creek and its catchment basen all the way to the sea. The park is one of the most diverse national parks in the world and therefore gets the increasingly common title of 'World Heratige area'. through the middle of the park a great wall and platau streaches for thousands of Kilometers, atop this platau is the aborigonal Arnhem lands, but beaneath lies Kakadu (with the exception of a few Uranium mines!). Numerous spectacular waterfalls run from atop the paltu down the sheer rock, into cool pools and Monsoon forest, while there are also huge Wetland areas, grassy plains, scrub bush, Euclypt forest, dry forest, and patches of rain forest. All with their associated wildlife, and ... read more
Cable Beach....
Deadly Waters, One Up For The Pommies! ‘4WD only’ Pah Nuts to that were English don’t you know, !Mordor!, Triple Bungle, Top End, The Famous Botanist. Howdy, Last we saw the intrepid Duo it was in the tropical holiday resort of Broome, loving wet T-Shirts, baring the heat, hopeing to Kite and thinking about fish. Our plan was to Kite the famous Cable Beach, but as we all know the weather has a habit of disrupting plans, with Soueasters being the Go we make do with a trip to Town Beach on the other side of the Broome peninsula (you cant kite an offshore wind unless you have a death wish or passport, some dollars and desire to kite to India.). Upon arriving at the beach we see a large and deeply terrifying sign, we both ... read more
In Cape Range NP
Point Of No Return, Sharp Bay, Gorgeous Geology, Oresome, Big Beach, Broom Broom… (Disclamer: Written on two different PC,s one with and one without spell check, guess which bit on which!) Well we managed the decision after a long map and LP study, were so far how could we not do the full circle, it would be a sin, plus I would not want to disappoint my lovely readers! So we left the intrepid Duo in Exmouth having survived swimming with an 8 meter shark. We leave our paradise and our dreams with heavy hearts, but as the wind leaves us we have a lot of driving to do and sooooo much to see. Our stop after the Cape Range National Park is a little costal resort 300k’s south of Exmouth called Coral Bay, were here ... read more
Stromatolites....
Stromatolites, Celebration, Living The Dream, Face The Fear, Big Fish, , Decisions. Leaving Shark bay we make a short stop at another world famous scientific attraction, the oldest living organisms on the plannet, they live for 4000 years, they grow a millimetre a year, they are the Stromatolites! Hoorah. Well really they are a bacteria / amoeba that creates calcite ‘bommies’ in shallow saline water, check the picture of these strange things , not a great kite surfing spot! From Sharky we head north for a big 600ks to be in a good place for me to celebrate my 25th anniversary of life! Exmouth is the destination, set on a peninsula of national park and ringed by the Ningaloo reef it is a huge tourist destination. On the day in question I celebrate by spending a ... read more
April 19th 2006
Our Spot At Nanga!
Jaws Of Paradise, Ink and Insult, The Dwindling Party, Happy Easter, Darth Lives, And On... (First appologies, this crap PC does not have USB so i cant upload any pics (will try to another time), It also lacks word or any other typing program to manage my spelling. Think Phonetics, i doo.) Desperatly Itching our leggs (and jimmy his ass), we take turns to sit infront of Yellow Mellows AC as we drive on. Our next stop is the dissconsertingly named beach parradise, Shark Bay. Shark Bay is a huge area with two archepellegos 300 or so k's long about 20ks from the main land, an area known as a 'World Heratige Site' since it has a hugely diverse marine ecosystem. The shallower areas of Shark Bay have little tidal flow and a huge evaporation rate ... read more
April 13th 2006
Fishermen At Horrocks
On The Road Again, Reef Break, Princess Shirly, Muddy River & Johnnie Jump, Top Of The Genocide List, Moon Window. (First appologies, this crap PC does not have USB so i cant upload any pics (will try to another time), It also lacks word or any other typing program to manage my spelling. Think Phonetics, i doo.) Well having Betty back on the Bitumin was a real releif but it took a lot longer than it should, i think Shane rather fancied the old girl and kept her in over a weekend for a little auto action. With our cabin feaver reaching its zenith we decide to take Bruces bright yellow Hyundi Getz hire car (from now on called Mellow Yellow) up the coast a hundred and a bit k's. Packed with kite, camp and beach ... read more
