Enroute to the Australian Outback!

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Back to Cairns

Jan 30th - Wow! Cairns is hot! Stepping off the plane was a bit of a shock to the system, going from a cool and windy Wellington morning, to an extremely hot and humid Cairns! This was going to take some getting used to. We had called the mechanic from the airport as he had agreed to pick us up in Betsy - so we could get on our way straight away. On our way back to the garage, Daryl broke it too us that Betsy was having a bit of a surging problem still, and that he hadn’t been able to figure out why. Oh-oh! Not what we had been hoping for as it didn’t mesh with our vision of sailing into the outback, free from any mechanical problems for the rest of our trip! We spent the day at the garage as Daryl and I tried to find the problem - checking the entire fuel delivery system - didn’t discover the problem. We stayed at the Cairns Holiday Park - the park we had been staying at before leaving Cairns. It was a little depressing to be sitting here in the park again, with Betsy still giving us some grief.

Jan 31st - We saw a sign in the park looking for people to help lay turf. We decided that we needed some money pronto - and that maybe a bit of a drive would help Betsy out. We gave the number a call, and learned that they actually needed Mango pickers - Mangoes eh? Sure, we can do that! So we set off for Mareeba, about 1hr south west of Cairns, for a 3 day stint. We chugged a bit on the way out, but we did manage to make it there and met the farmers we would be working for - Jan and Eve Arena. We camped out in the harvest shed they had in the back for free, and it was quite comfortable with shower and a place to plug the van in.

Working on a Mango Farm!

Feb 1st - We picked mangoes for 9 hrs - it actually isn’t too bad. The mango trees were quite short - I could reach most of the highest branches, while Carolyn sometimes required the assistance of my reach. We pushed a little wheelbarrow type frame that held three baskets, filled them, then put in three more empty baskets. We found that you have to be really careful with the fruit - as the stem breaks off really easily. There is a strong sap that oozes out and it damages the fruit if it gets on it.

Feb 2-3rd - We packed mangoes these two days. There were about 10 of us working with the packing machines, and we met two Finns who had also read the turf sign, and got signed up! They broke off the mango stems and placed them on a bunch of rollers that washed them and the juices off as they rolled over. The mangoes then went into a hot soapy bath, and then through a dryer. The final step was a sorting machine - and it was very cool! Depending on the weight of the mango - the little tray it was riding on would fall down, allowing the mango to fall out into the proper bin size. There were six sizes all together and a person would box them from these bins. Carolyn was a packer for the two days, as girls are usually seen as better at this sort of job. Eva put on stickers and then I put lids on the boxes, marked the number of mangoes in each box, and then stacked them on pallets. We finished about 1500 boxes a day - so we were all a little tuckered at the end of the day. The best part is that we had all the mangoes we could eat - mmmm, yummy mangoes!

Lake Eachum and Crater

Feb 4th - We set off South, to check out Lake Eachum, a lake we were told that we couldn’t miss. It is an old crater lake, and is about 600ft deep in the middle! It clouded over and started to rain on us a bit, but that didn’t dampen my desire to go swimming in the Lake, and I even coaxed Carolyn in! It was a beautiful green - very clear and great for swimming! There are not very many nice lakes in this part of Australia, so it was a real treat! We then went to check out a large crater that is not too far from Lake Eachum - called ‘The Crater’. On the hike in (500m) we saw a large cassowary right on the side of the path! These are endangered land birds, that look a lot like ostriches - and they are said to be occasionally dangerous if cornered! Carolyn was a little nervous, but we did get a great picture! The Crater was a large sink hole that was full of water at the bottom - about 50m from the top to the water, and another 80m under the water level! It was still raining on us, and started to rain quite heavily as we descended to check out Diner Falls. The waterfall was unique in that it had about three or four falls, each only about 50m from the other. As we hiked along the trail, we would round a corner and be surprised by another set of falls! Very cool. We camped in a war memorial park which had a dollar donation fee and a crazy ranger.

Fig Tree and first Water Crossing

Feb 5th - We set off back to Cairns, again in the rain. Cyclone Nelson was coming through in a couple days and this was the rain that was preceding it. We first stopped at the Fig Curtain - one of the largest strangler figs we had ever seen! It was massive, with it's downward limbs stretching way out, making it well named! We then head off for Cairns. We were almost there, came around a corner and found the entire road to be flooded for a distance of about 200m. It was spooky, as the river was running along beside it and it looked like you were going to be driving into the river! Luckily there were a few cars ahead of us, so we just kept on trucking, right behind them. The water was perhaps 30cm at the deepest point, but was such a muddy brown that you couldn't even see the lines on the road! We got back up to Cairns and jumped on the internet for a little while. Because Betsy had been running reasonable well, we decided that we would set off, so after stopping at Mac's garage to let them know that we were going to head out, we again set off towards Mareeba, electing not to drive the flooded road incase it had risen since we had come through with all the rain we got during the day. We were about 30km's out of town, when Betsy started surging like crazy! Is this problem never going to leave us?? We turned around and head back to Cairns, preferring to stay with the same mechanic as he was familar with it already. We got back to the garage, and you could tell he was estatic to see us. We agreed to drop the van off in the morning so it would be cool, and he could then tackle the problem. Back to the Cairns Holiday Park.

Final Look at Betsy...

Feb 6th - We dropped the van off and then sat around the park, made a few phone calls home, and read. We went back at 4:00pm and picked up the van, being told that he hadn't taken the carburator apart like we had discussed, but had replaced a few other parts that he felt should fix the problem. Alright, let's put it to the test, and away we went. It seemed to drive fine, and we had no problems with Betsy for the rest of the day. We again stayed at the war memorial camping area, as it was cheap and enroute.

Cyclone Nelson - uh oh!

Feb 7th - We head west towards Georgetown - the rain was still coming down, and we were stopping in all the small towns we came to, checking the conditions on the roads ahead of us. At Georgetown we were told that the roads ahead were okay all the way to Normanton, so we set out. We were maybe 5 mins out of the town when we came to a section of road that was completely flooded by a very muddy river flowing across it - oh no! It was flowing very fast, and looked to be kind of deep in the middle - although it was hard to tell because you couldn't see the road at all! We decided to wait there for a bit to see if someone else would come so we could watch them cross it. While we waited, we kept tabs on the river to make sure that it wasn't rising further! About 15mins later, another camper came along and the guy waded across with his pants pulled up. The girl that was with him was hesitant to take their rented camper through it, but the guy seemed sure that he wanted to try it. It was about 40cm deep in the middle - so we set off. It was quite frightening, and I don't think I would risk one like that again, but we did make it! The water seemed to come right up to the bottom of the door - and looking out being in the middle of a river was a little discerning! It wasn't more that another 5kms down the road when we came to another one! When would it end?? Now it was getting a little worrisome that we would get trapped in the middle of a couple of these flooded rivers! If we came to one we couldn't cross, and then the water came up higher behind us, we could get trapped in between! We had been told that one of the rivers had stayed up for 6 weeks the year before, making it completely impassable during this time! We didn't want to get trapped here for 6 weeks so we pushed on! What a day - we ended up going through 16 water crossings - ranging in depth from 100mm-400mm. There were several that were 40cm, but none were as frightening as the first as they were more stagnant! We also saw 15 roos, 3 emus, 3 storkes, 2 large monitor lizards, and 1 dead cow! There was a lot of cattle on the road, and you would often have to slow down or veer to avoid them. It was getting dark as we pulled into Normanton, and we elected to drive about 30kms south of the town to a rest stop where we camped for the night. It was eerily quiet, and the isolation pressed itself on our minds! It was incredible - you would listen and there was no noise except for the occasional chirp from a cane toad. We made the mistake of leaving the lights on in Bestsy as we cooked and read for a bit, and thousands of sandflies made their way into the van through the mesh - they are small enough to squeeze in. It was unbearably hot trying to go to sleep - and bugs kept landing on us! I finally sprayed some bug killer and then they all started falling - so many dead flies! It was terrible. We finally got to sleep a number of hours later after the engine and van cooled off from the terrific heat of the day.

Breakdown in Outback - Stranded!

Feb 8th - We set off early in the morning, hoping to cover a number of kilometers before the heat caught up with us again. We had made it about 5 kms down the road, just gone through another water crossing, and the throttle on the van stuck wide open!! rrrrrrrrr-eeeeee!! I quickly fiddled the gas pedal, but it wasn't stuck, then turned it off straight-away! What next! I tried to start it again - but quickly turned it off as it started screaming again! I noticed on the carburator that the secondary throttle wasn't resetting, so I took a screwdriver and popped it back. As I did, I heard something fall inside - uh oh! What to do - I had to start it but when I did, we heard something fly into the engine clank, ping, bang! Again turning it off right away, I realized right away that this was really bad. Here we were sitting in the middle of nowhere - 40kms south of Normanton, and we can't start the engine for fear of destroying it! The entire time this was going on, Carolyn is getting more and more upset - one of her worst nightmares - broken down in the Outback! I was able to calm her down pretty quick though - time and money was how it broke down in my mind. We have loads of the first, not so much of the second - but that was okay because we can trade some of the first for the second! Easy enough. Luckily a road crew came along about 30mins later and towed us back to the rest stop. We then waited for a few hours until the foreman with a satelite phone was able to come along, so he could call a mechanic in Normanton. When the mechanic got there, he tentatively started the engine again, and it seemed to run fine! Whatever had gone in, seemed to have either left, or embedded itself as to no longer be a problem! We then drove back to Normanton, so that we could get the carburator rebuilt, as it seemed to be causing us some grief! We left it with the mechanic who had come out and checked into the caravan park in town. The lady at the caravan park completely flinched when we told her who was fixing the van and was like - "noooooo, he has your car?? You have got to go get it!" Apparently there were a few horror stories about this guy involving other backpackers and thousands of dollars of needless work! Not what we needed, so after finding another mechanic in town who said he would look at it, we paid the not too happy first mechanic, and got it out of there! Phew. It ended up that the mechanic didn't have the right parts, so put them on order to have them flown in - which ended up taking 4 days.

Relaxing while waiting for Parts

Feb 9th-12th - We stayed in the caravan park in an A/C cooled little cabin for $45/night. It was quite relaxing even though we were still a little concerned about Betsy, so this was never far from our mind. After looking for work around town the first day - we gave up because there was absolutely nothing there! Apparently there are 1450 people, but we only saw a fraction of this, and all the locals just sat around all day too! We grabbed some books from the library, swam in the 25m pool in the park, and stayed cool in our little room just killing time.

Heading out

Again!
Feb 13th - We biked up to the garage, and the mechanic had it all together for us already. After a quick test run, Betsy seemed to perform ok, we set off south towards concurry - about 400km south. It was a long hot day in the van, and Betsy was guzzling the fuel - about 20L/100km, twice what we usually get out of her on the highway! Something is up. By the time we got to Cloncurry, the van was starting to run rough again - is it every going to stop acting up? We parked for the night in a cheap park. I noticed one of the hoses was missing off the air pump, and by plugging it hoped that it would run a little smoother the next day.

Valentines - and Sick Betsy!

Feb 14th - Valentines day. We set off west for Mt. Isa (pop 20k), about 120km away. The van was running a little rough, but seemed to do ok on the highway, albeit still using a ton of fuel. We decided that we would drop it off at a mechanic in Mt Isa, and not leave until Betsy was 100%! (MISSING)Most of the garages in town were really busy, and the 4th finally said they could take a look. After we left them, Betsy was sounding worse then ever, with a very loud knock coming from the front of the engine, and running very poorly! Not good! We checked into a small cabin in the Argylla Caravan Park, on the East side of town, and after meeting a few of the other tennents and a few drinks, we were able to not think about Betsy, and to enjoy the rest of our Valentines day together!

Job Hunt

Feb 15th - Carolyn and I biked around town, looking for a job to make a bit of money while we wait for the van to be fixed. We went to 7 of the 9 employment agencies in town, but none had anything for the week or so duration we were looking for. We must have ridden about 50kms, back and forth across town. We decided then to try the pubs, and were told to come back the next day at the Overlander Hotel. The mechanic had Betsy apart, and we learned that our timing chain was seized and skipping on the gears. This explained alot! Well, it could have been worst - luckily our new engine seems to be okay, although pretty much completely taken apart again! The part should come in on either the 19th or 20th, so we should be good to go on the 21st! We talked about what we wanted to do from here - perhaps modifing our original plan to go to Alice, then to Darwin, and around to Perth. Perhaps instead, we'll just head south from Alice and drive south to Melbourne, where we will try to sell Betsy. It was getting pretty tough to sleep in Betsy at night because it is so hot and sticky, and Darwin is said to be the worst - so we kind of want to avoid it this time of year. Then perhaps we'd fly to Perth and get a place there for a few months and earn some money. We still need to figure this out.

Feb 16th - We went to the Overlander the next morning, and were told that there was only one job available, and that it was for Saturday night (17th). We said we would keep looking, but would perhaps take it if we couldn't find anything else. We biked around to a few of the other pubs, and filled out a bunch of applications, but it all seemed rather for nothing, knowing we were only looking for a few days work. We decided that Carolyn would take the barstaff job at the Overlander - and went back to relax at the park again. Simon and Courtney, the two Aussies that are staying a couple doors down from us were pretty bored too, and we played cards and Yahtzee most of the evening. Great to be playing games with more than just the two of us again! Mt Isa is a mining town - copper and lead being the main two, with a little bit of gold as well. Simon is just starting a job here in the mines, and they are staying in the park for another few weeks until their new house is ready.

Carolyn the Bartender!

Feb 17th - We went job searching again for a few hours, and we made a few calls home. We were told that we might be able to get something for a few hours on Monday in a small eatery, but that was all we could line up. There doesn't seem to be too many labour/temporay positions here in Mt. Isa. Simon went out 'roo hunting with a friend. Basically they drive around all night with a big spot light shooting kangaroos and throwing them in the back of the ute (Utility vehicle). Normally they can bring in 30 or so, selling them for about $1/kg. Because of the rain they have had here recently through, the roos are able to spread out from the waterholes, making them harder to find. They only managed to get two - an unheard of poor night. Carolyn went into her shift and served for an 18th B-day party for most of the night.
Carolyn: My first real night behind the bar was pretty good. I was kind of nervous that I'd screw up large - especially because I made it seem like I had more experience behind the bar than just taking that course in the summer! The 18th (legal drinking age here) b-day was pretty tame. I spent the last hour or so serving tequilla shots and butterscotch snaps shots to drunken 18 year old boys who were trying to pick me up. The party was done around 11 and then I got moved to the public bar. A bit more fast paced out there for sure, and I had the addition of actually having to take money and give change (the 18th had been on a tab). It went okay, but I screwed up a couple drinks putting in scotch whiskey instead of rum with coke because the stupid bottles are the same shape! Oh well, what can you do but give them the proper drink for free when they come back! oops! I didn't make that mistake again! At least I could blame any troubles on things being different in Canada - ie. Skooner = Pint of beer; Pot = 1/2 pint... crazy. We cleaned up finally around 1:30 and then the girls enjoyed a "knock off drink" and I tried to avoid drunken mining boys. Since I just had my bicycle, the manager insisted I didn't bike home in the dark and arranged for one of the other bartenders to drive me back. I didn't mind at all because it was pretty dark to get to the caravan park! I was surprised to find Joe awake at 2:30 when I got back, I told him about my first night as a bartender, and went to sleep, so tired!

Lake Moondarrwa

Feb 18th - Simon and Courtney took us out to Lake Moondarrwa, about 20kms from town. It is a fair size lake, great for swimming, watersports, and fishing! There are fresh water crocodiles in the lake, but are said to be harmless. Right....! We also got to see wild peacocks and do some off roading. A couple more days in this town, and we should be on to Alice - finally!

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Photos

Cassowary
This endangered bird apparently has a temper!

Checking the depth
I was SO scared walking through here I was practically shaking! I don't want to get eaten by a croc!

Outback sunset
After a stressful rain & flood filled day, we were treated to this amazing sunset

Giant croc
The one exciting thing in Normanton...

Our tiny room in Normanton
At least it had A/C!!!

Driving in the outback
It was much flatter at some points in our drive...this was one of our first glimpses at hills!

cloud burst in Mt. Isa
It's so humid here that you'll suddenly get a 10 minute rain fall

Comments

[Corrie]

Phewf
Yikes...I cant' believe the roads you were driving through and how sick Betsy was! Hope all is going much better in the Outback! Miss you guys! Love C+M