Exploring the East

We have been having way too much fun to be writing lately, but as this part of our journey comes to an end, this moment provides the perfect opportunity to communicate our highlights of the past 6 weeks.

So, after we escaped the soaring heat in The Northern Territory we scooted to the Barossa Valley wine region in South Australia. Contrasting the extreme heat we were now applying multiple layers to keep warm at 0 degrees Celsius! I take back my comment from What Not To Do On The Road, as I was very thankful I did pack my down jacket.

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We All Need A Hand Sometimes

Matt & Kanthan

On our travels we have met some truly inspirational people. One of those special friends we made is Kanthan from Sri Lanka.

So, what makes Kanthan so inspirational?

He grew up and survived in a war.

He is a Tamil and it was this ethnic group being wiped out. We clearly remember a story he told us when he was a young kid. He was out one evening, a very unique experience as you couldn’t even go to the outside toilet alone at night, or if you did it had to be with an adult. So, on this particular night he was out with his dad & uncle and the terrorists attempted to kidnap him. Luckily he slipped away and ran like a lightning bolt to safety.

Dash Through The Territory

We enter the Northern Territory with an unfamiliar feeling. A desire to push on through this alluring patch of our country, stopping only at the attractions fringing the most direct route south to cooler pastures. Although this is an unfamiliar feeling on our Australian expedition, we realise we experienced the same inner drive just over a year ago when travelling in sweltering pre-monsoonal India and we made a dash for the wave lapping shores of Eastern Sri Lanka.

That being said, we maintain our focus on the present and enjoy the journey, remembering to keep the desire for our destination in the background. Our first night provides stunning ridges 360 degrees around us with a beautiful morning hike along a ridge rich in Aboriginal history.

What Not To Do On The Road

We have packed too much stuff

Dad, you were right. We did pack too much. We didn’t use our down jackets, tennis rackets, or painting box. I am now even carrying around bags of shells and rocks. The thought that there may be shops in other parts of Australia did not completely sink in. We now know to only carry enough food for a week, instead of carrying around risotto, lasagne sheets, or Vietnamese rice paper rolls that have not even been opened in 6 months despite ‘wanting’ to make them or thinking it would be cheaper to buy in Perth.

The Best of the West

We are a few days short of 6 months of travelling Western Australia. But today, we finally made it out of our home state!

Here is a post summarising our favourite highlights, sights and sleeping spots from this part of our Australian Odyssey…

Sights

• Coastline from Kalbarri to Exmouth

This stretch of coast boasts pristine beaches, blue to turquoise waters, red cliff back drops with stunning sunsets. For the beaches I have seen in the world so far, this coastline is my favourite. It is unpolluted with people, making it very special. With a 4WD you can have your own beach with not a

East Kimberly

The raw beauty of The Kimberley region in the north west of Australia continues to stupefy us. Rolling into the Purnululu National Park the Bungle Bungles grow in front of us.

This 360 million year old range is made up of a bunch of river stones cemented together with sediment and is a delight to stroll through it’s cracks and crevices with walls towering hundreds of metres above. It seems strange in this landscape to look up and see a canopy of Palms perched on tall skinny trunks, but we are in the tropics after all.

Home On The Gibb

Leaving our trusty portable home behind in the Derby caravan park we hit the Gibb River Road with our ultra portable home, AKA the tent.First stop the prison boab tree where police used to keep their prisoners in overnight when marching them from the bush to the Derby lockup.Next stop Tunnel Creek. A cool underground tunnel cave carved out by millions of years of wet season waters flowing through. We navigate our way through the pitch black arguing over who gets the good head torch and who gets the dodgy one.

The cave makes the perfect home for a few hundred bats.