Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 26

We begin. Although it feels like the planning and preparation (in order to prevent PPP - cleaned up in some deference to my new and emerging audience, although truth be known they are already more corrupt than my small but loyal followers) has been going on for ages the necessary process through airport check in, emigration services and the almost obligatory 2 hours wait in the airport lounge has began. I’m always constantly amazed at just how many people are flying. The airport was a hive of activity and really abuzz with people, passengers and personnel. Obviously Tullamarine is not the only airport (otherwise we’d have nowhere to land!) and relatively simple maths (well at least no decimals!) would reveal just how many flights and flyers are out there. Our Emirates flight has connections all over ... read more

We didn’t quite know what to expect of Darwin, with again, a lot of unfavourable press coverage clouding our vision. We were pleasantly surprised at what a colourful, multicultural city Darwin is today. Darwin's proximity to South East Asia makes it a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, firstly following devastation caused by a cyclone in 1897, another cyclone in 1937, Japanese Air Raids in 1942, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Darwin endured over sixty air raids during WWII. We set out to explore the Darwin CBD, and met up with our 2022 traveller friends Mandy and Glenn from Lakes Entrance for lunch overlooking the harbour. After farewelling our friends later that afternoon, we enjoyed a swim in Darwin Harbour lagoon. ... read more

Day 3 Out of “The Grand” we crossed the road for an outdoor breakfast in a foggy 3 degrees. Leaving Halls Gap our route took us, within a couple of kms, onto a back country road. This area was teeming with Kangaroos so carefully negotiating the route in the heavy fog was in order. To add some further spice, at one point 2 massive emus crossed the road in front of us. After 38kms of fog & gravel we were out onto a sealed road still in 3 or 4 degrees temperature & heavy fog. Riding into the small town of Horsham we stopped at a motorcycle shop where I bought an extra pair of glove liners! Leaving Horsham on sealed “mainish” roads we travelled in gradually improving conditions before stopping at a roadhouse for coffee ... read more

Our group this time is minus Ian but plus David, so Keith, Bryan, David and myself. Day 1. Not the smoothest of days for some of us. I arrived in Melbourne to find that Air New Zealand or probably Melbourne airport baggage handlers had misplaced a load of boxes off our flight. Along with a few other passengers I had to wait over 2 hours while they searched for all the fragile boxed luggage. I had some important bike bits in my box so fortunate that they eventually turned up, albeit 2 hours late. The plan was to prepare my bike at the storage workshop & meet the others at the hotel in Laverton, mid afternoon, where we had stayed twice before. As it transpired because of the delays I didn't finish fitting new handlebars & ... read more

We wanted to explore Litchfield National Park, and Rum Jungle was the closest location with a good caravan park to base ourselves in. The name Rum Jungle is derived from an accident that occurred in 1871. A bullock-wagon load of rum, destined for the construction gangs, was said to have been bogged near a patch of jungle on the crocodile-inhabited East Finniss River. The bullockies untethered the oxen and set about drinking the rum, having one of history's most glorious binges. I knew of Rum Jungle from my High School studies as the location of one of the world’s largest uranium mines. Rum Jungle produced uranium from 1954 to 1971, roughly one-third of which was exported for nuclear weapons. The rest was stockpiled, and then eventually sold in 1994 to the US. By the time the ... read more