Arrival and stay for the next month in Broome

On Wednesday around midday we arrived in Broome. We had made around 2.100 kms in seven days of driving. Broome is a really nice town, it's much nicer and even more relaxed than Darwin. Since we are there we visited some lonely beaches, went fishing, saw the staircase to the moon and the markets, took part in a concert of the Shinju Matsuri festival (= the festival of the pearl). I am working as a kitchenhand again but it is only few hours this week. Hopefully they have some more work next week or I have to find another job. The sunrises and sunsets in Broome are amazing. The sky is unbe-lievable red... We watched "Ten Canoes" (an Aboriginal movie) at the Sunset cinema which is the oldest running outdoor cinema in the world. Because the airport is so close to town the airplanes fly really low. It was such a fun when an airplane flew very close to the movie screen. We started laughing really loud and everybody was staring at us. On October 2nd Tine will be arriving in Broome and because the airport is so close I think I will pick her up by walking to the airport, just to be able to say that we could walk from the airport ;-)! Then we will be travelling the next three weeks to Perth, hopefully find some nice spots and drink some beers together.

Boat cruise in the Geiki Gorge National Park

The only other thing we visited on the way to Broome was the Geiki Gorge NP. There were heaps of horse flies which annoyed us very much. I got bitten around 20 times, very itchy :-(! We went on a boat cruise because this should be the only and nicest way to explore the surrounding landscape. Except of us there were only people over 60 years old on the boat. We saw some crocs, birds and nice limestone rocks.

The huge Lake Argyle near the Northern Territory and Western Australia border

We drove back towards the boarder to visit the huge Lake Argyle. On the way there were huge bushfires. We had a picnic at the top of the hill with a great view. I took Hazel Quince for a nice drive over the dam wall as you can see on the photo.

Racehorse camp of the Halters in Kununarra, Western Australia

Our first stop in Western Australia was Kununarra. We arrived there Wednesday night and were searching for the camp at nighttime. Finally and with the help of a kind farmer we found the camp and surprised the people there. They were really exhausted because they had been fighting huge bushfires the whole night before. In the camp there were our Howard Spring farmers Margaret and Bevan with family and friends in their racehorses camp. The camp was directly at the racecourse, in the background there were some mountains which looked beautiful. During the day we did some excursions with David and Warrick: a dam and Valentine Springs (a swimming hole). We also cared for the racehorses, played cards, cooked, talked, went fishing on the river with Bevan etc. On Sunday around midday we left Kununarra to drive to Lake Argyle.

Our visit of the beautiful Litchfield National Park

Sonja and me started travelling from Darwin on August 27th. Our first stop was Litchfield NP which all locals prefer to Kakadu NP. We visited the Wangi Falls, Florence Falls, Buley Rockholes and the magnetic termite mounds. We could go for many swims and some short hikes. At the Buley Rockholes there was a large goanna coming out of the water and sunbathing on a rock. On the way to Kununarra we reached 68.500 kms that means 10.000 kms since the start in Sydney.

Kakadu National Park Tour with Adventure Tours

For visiting the Kakadu NP I booked a guided tour because the famous waterfalls could only be visited with a 4WD vehicle. We were a group of nine backpackers from many different nationalities and Brian - the guide. First we did a rivercruise on the Mary River where we saw about 40 crocodiles. We also visited an Aboriginal art site where Brian explained us a lot about the different decades and meanings of the Aboriginal paintings. We were sleeping in swags which is like a small moskito net one person tent that you only have to fix to something like you can see on the photo. It was really nice to sleep in there because of the "air-condition" and the star sky. On our way back to Darwin Brian explained us the giant termite mounds. He told us about the termite queen who can get over 80 years old. She has heaps of workers, soldiers and alates in her mound. The workers go on building all the time, so that the mound grows about 1 metre per year. The soldiers take care of the mound if there are enemies. If ants come and try to get into the termite mound they go and spit a termite smell on them so that the other ants fight against their own fellows. The termites laugh out loud and take the mickey that the ants are that stupid. The alates are there to offer the queen sexual service and help to let the termite community grow. If a termite queen dies all the workers, soldiers and alates pack their suitcases and move out of the mound ;-).

Wwoofing on Bevan's and Margaret's farm in Howard Springs

We started working and living on Margaret's and Bevan's farm on August 1st and stayed there until August 25th. We had to cut, wash, sort, count and bring the flower to town where they got sold. Besides we had to clean the house, hose the terrace, feed and care for the horses, dog, birds and chucks. One day we had to wash Margaret's car and afterwards our bully got a good wash and cleaning. We had fun playing with the water in the garden in our bikinis ;-)! As Bevan and Margaret are owning, breeding and training racehorses they took us to the big Darwin. We placed some bets and enjoyed our time at the racecourse. Besides working around 4-5 hours a day on the farm I had a kitchen-hand job at a restaurant in Cullen Bay, Darwin. I worked there for four weekends: washing the dishes, preparing food like cutting vegeta-bles, breadcrumbing meat or baking Australian pies. The most "interesting" experience was to prepare sheep brain. I had to divide the left from the right hemisphere, throw the middle part away and then breadcrumb all the pieces. The chef asked me if I am a vegetar-ian and I answered yes. Then he doesn't want me to do it anymore but I insisted to do it anyway ;-)! The following weekends that I was working there I always joked about it by asking if I can do it again. My team there was really nice, I always got free food and drinks and after finishing work the team was sitting together in the bar and having two free afterwork drinks. It was also great to earn some extra money for going travelling again. I would have liked to take the job and my colleagues travelling with me ;-)!

Sonja - my new travel mate from Darwin

On August 2nd 2006 Dirk flew back to Sydney. I had to find a new travel mate for the rest of my trip around Australia. I fixed some ads in several hostels in Darwin and then there was a German girl, Sonja, who started talking to me in the Gecko Lodge where we stayed in the carpark. She asked me why I wasn't going to the East coast because she had planned to go there. I told her that I have already visited the East coast twice. We chatted for a while and were feeling quite comfortable with each other. Around two hours later she decided to travel with me to Western Australia. She payed Dirk some money and now owns a seventh part of Hazel Quince. As I was going to do some wwoofing (= willing work on organic farms) work on a flower farm in Howard Springs (35 kms out of Darwin) Sonja called the farmers and asked if she could work, too. They said yes and the next day we dropped Dirk off in town, said goodbye to him and drove to the farm together. On the photo you can see how we decorated our kombi with the sorted out flowers from the farm.