It was with buckles swashed and timbers completely shivered I raced through Treasure Island (a children's book, after all) and started on John LeCarre's The Looking Glass War. His spy books are quite realistic, in that, unlike in James Bond stories, the spies are human and make mistakes. They're empire-building, petty, and care more about whether they can claim for their lunch on expenses than whether telling their wife about their job will hinder their efforts. Very refreshing. Now I've started on John Gribbin's Almost Everyone's Guide To Science - a good guide to EVERYTHING in science, much of which I learnt years and years ago and so have forgotten. Nicew to find some good books in that market in Geralton as I was getting sick of having the time to read books but few books I wanted to read.
As for movies, we watched Doctor Doolittle 2 on the coach. Yikes! I hoped to never see that. It was rubbish. One star. I suppose kids will like it. On the same journey we watched Behind Enemy Lines, with a strangely cast Owen Wilson. Quite entertaining - two and a half stars.
At the hostel in Geraldton we watched Lake Placid on video. Very amiable, with plenty of laughs. I knew Rose from the Golden Girls was going to be trouble from the moment she turned up. Four stars.
At the flicks last night we watch Charlies Angel's: Full Throttle. We were torn between that and the new Terminator film, neither of wich we really wanted to see. We didn't like the first film (we saw it when we were last in Australia!) This one we enjoyed more, perhaps because we knew what to expect. Some of the jokes were quite funny - I laughed out loud once or twice. Lots of the Angels dancing around wearing not much in a post-modern "ironic" way, which at the end of the day still has much the same effect as when "exploited" women do it. Me? I liked the colours. Three stars.
The story:
Stephen and Anne, both in their late twenties, quit their jobs and left London. They took a year off. They first travelled to Australia, with a week in Tokyo on the way. After living and working in Sydney for three months they toured Australia for five months. They then spent two months exploring New Zealand using rental cars. They ended the year with two weeks of sun in Fiji, and a short jaunt in LA and San Fran. They then returned home, to a new life!
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Bookish boy
I've recently finished reading an imaginatively titled history book: Europe Since 1870, by James Jolls. It was pretty good, especially at explaining the causes of WWI. It was published in the early 1970s, so was rather weaker on the end of the Cold War, etc. Following that I read the first part of Spike Milligan's war memoirs, Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall. Pretty funny, and interesting. I'm now reading Treasure Island, which I picked up for a dollar!
Whilst reading these I came across a Watch Tower book (Jehovah's Witnesses) called something like Evolution Or Creation. It was funny, offensive, and misleading, often using the natural (and correct) willingness of scientists to question everything to "disprove" the theory of evolution. Anne got annoyed with me reading the funniest bits out. One bit said something like "The theory of evolution means a constant struggle to survive, involving hatred, wars and murder". Ahem.
Whilst reading these I came across a Watch Tower book (Jehovah's Witnesses) called something like Evolution Or Creation. It was funny, offensive, and misleading, often using the natural (and correct) willingness of scientists to question everything to "disprove" the theory of evolution. Anne got annoyed with me reading the funniest bits out. One bit said something like "The theory of evolution means a constant struggle to survive, involving hatred, wars and murder". Ahem.
Cold winter morning
Having moaned in my last posting that we were too hot and looking forward to the colder weather, we got off the bus in Carnarvon at 4am on Monday morning (after a 12 hour journey) and it was really cold! Brrr! I don't think we've been cold since Tokyo, back in February!
We were booked into a caravan park on Monday night, as the local hostel had no double rooms (shared dorms be damned!) and the lovely people at the caravan park had said that if our caravan was empty on the Sunday night they'd leave the key out for us so we could get into it when we arrived.
We trapsed to the caravan park, laden with big rucksacks, and joy upon joys, the key was waiting for us! We got in and slept (in our clothes) for a few hours. We were up early - no rest for us - to see if we could get a tour at the local School Of The Air, but were told to come back on Tuesday. Since we were up we went to Woolies and got eggs, bacon, juice and muffins and then went back to the caravan for a cooked breakfast - not too shabby!
The caravan's nice and would sleep up to six people, at a squeeze. Better than anything Tom and Pippa Fletcher ever had, I think. Best of all we have kitchen facilities inside, and so have been cooking and eating well in our time here! So nice not to have to share facilities with young "travellers" who seem intent on never washing up and leaving wet tea-towels lying in heaps so they'll never dry. (Now I think of it, that must mean that someone is at least drying up, but anyway.)
We spent Monday morning orienting ourselves in Carnarvon. It's a nice little town and there seemed to be enough here to entertain us for three days. My sister lived here for a couple of months while working on (I think) a banana plantation, I now find. In the afternoon we did a heritage trail walk around the town. The "exhibits" had mostly been destroyed years ago, but at least they made the effort.
That night I'm ashamed to say we watched the final of Big Brother. Reggie won, as expected. She's a simple girl from Tassie, and is the only Aussie I've heard say "Fair Dinkum" since we've been here.
Back To Skool
And so Tuesday morning we went to the School Of The Air (SOTA). We'd read about these, and there are five of them in Western Australia. SOTA are correspondance schools, which include an element of teaching over radio. The kids sit in their homes in the middle of nowhere (in just their pants, apparently, as it's usually so hot!) talking to the teacher ("Yes Miss, Over"). The Carnarvon SOTA has sixty pupils, spread over a vast distance.
We watched a video on the school, and then sat in on a class. The teacher was in radio contact with two 12 year olds and was going through some worksheets on gold prospecting in Western Australia. It was interesting to see (and hear) as the kids were really attentive. The sound quality was poor, and they're looking to upgrade to a fancy sattelite system.
That afternoon we went on a huge long trek ("Come on Candice-Marie!") to Babbage Island and out to One Mile Jetty. We saw old trains being displayed there, and a ring of odd, furry caterpillars. We were shattered when we got home. We had sausages, potatoes and vegetables for our tea.
Yes, we've seen some bananas
This morning (Wednesday) we were up with the larks again to go to a banana and mango plantation. It was a good 5k walk there, then we were early so walked a further 1k and back to a big satellite dish which our literature said helped to "intercept" Halley's Comet. When we got back to the plantation we went on an informative tour and saw the bananas growing (as you'd hope you would at a banana plantation). We then had a chocolate coated frozen banana each. Yum! We were shattered when we got home and fell asleep after lunch.
We were booked into a caravan park on Monday night, as the local hostel had no double rooms (shared dorms be damned!) and the lovely people at the caravan park had said that if our caravan was empty on the Sunday night they'd leave the key out for us so we could get into it when we arrived.
We trapsed to the caravan park, laden with big rucksacks, and joy upon joys, the key was waiting for us! We got in and slept (in our clothes) for a few hours. We were up early - no rest for us - to see if we could get a tour at the local School Of The Air, but were told to come back on Tuesday. Since we were up we went to Woolies and got eggs, bacon, juice and muffins and then went back to the caravan for a cooked breakfast - not too shabby!
The caravan's nice and would sleep up to six people, at a squeeze. Better than anything Tom and Pippa Fletcher ever had, I think. Best of all we have kitchen facilities inside, and so have been cooking and eating well in our time here! So nice not to have to share facilities with young "travellers" who seem intent on never washing up and leaving wet tea-towels lying in heaps so they'll never dry. (Now I think of it, that must mean that someone is at least drying up, but anyway.)
We spent Monday morning orienting ourselves in Carnarvon. It's a nice little town and there seemed to be enough here to entertain us for three days. My sister lived here for a couple of months while working on (I think) a banana plantation, I now find. In the afternoon we did a heritage trail walk around the town. The "exhibits" had mostly been destroyed years ago, but at least they made the effort.
That night I'm ashamed to say we watched the final of Big Brother. Reggie won, as expected. She's a simple girl from Tassie, and is the only Aussie I've heard say "Fair Dinkum" since we've been here.
Back To Skool
And so Tuesday morning we went to the School Of The Air (SOTA). We'd read about these, and there are five of them in Western Australia. SOTA are correspondance schools, which include an element of teaching over radio. The kids sit in their homes in the middle of nowhere (in just their pants, apparently, as it's usually so hot!) talking to the teacher ("Yes Miss, Over"). The Carnarvon SOTA has sixty pupils, spread over a vast distance.
We watched a video on the school, and then sat in on a class. The teacher was in radio contact with two 12 year olds and was going through some worksheets on gold prospecting in Western Australia. It was interesting to see (and hear) as the kids were really attentive. The sound quality was poor, and they're looking to upgrade to a fancy sattelite system.
That afternoon we went on a huge long trek ("Come on Candice-Marie!") to Babbage Island and out to One Mile Jetty. We saw old trains being displayed there, and a ring of odd, furry caterpillars. We were shattered when we got home. We had sausages, potatoes and vegetables for our tea.
Yes, we've seen some bananas
This morning (Wednesday) we were up with the larks again to go to a banana and mango plantation. It was a good 5k walk there, then we were early so walked a further 1k and back to a big satellite dish which our literature said helped to "intercept" Halley's Comet. When we got back to the plantation we went on an informative tour and saw the bananas growing (as you'd hope you would at a banana plantation). We then had a chocolate coated frozen banana each. Yum! We were shattered when we got home and fell asleep after lunch.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Back-end of nowhere
We thought Broome was going to be a fair size town, but in fact it was v. small. (It did have a car rental place caleed Broome Broome, so that at least kept me amused for ten minutes.)
The journey out of Broome was another long coach journey, but a daytime one this time. Whilst Anne was surprisingly good on the night journey, I was able to pass the time by listening to comedy shows on my MP3 CD player. Some kind soul (I met on the interweb) was kind enough to send me three CDs with 25 years' worth of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, so I giggled to myslef for most of the journey. I rarely sleep on journays, but I think I managed a few hours. On the latest coach journey I ignored the film Serendipity but watched Four Weddings And A Funeral. I'm sure everyone's seen this - it's a very funny crowd pleaser. It gets four of my stars, losing one for having Andie McDowall in it. (Somehow, Groundhog Day survives having this annoying actress in it, but this film suffers a little: "Is it raining? I hadn't noticed.". Yuck.)
After the long long coach journey from there, we arrived in Port Headland (and had a quick row, to celebrate the end of another tiring journey). This is an even smaller place which is a mining community (I so look forward to a city!) They also "make" lots of salt here by flooding and area with sea water, letting it evaporate, and then collecting the salt. It's odd to see huge mountains of salt around the town. Huge long trains take the salt and iron ore form the town, and huge ships come in to transport more. Big vehicles for such a tiny town. We did a self-guided heritage walk on Saturday morning. It was good, though some of the sites weren't that interesting. It's a shame the UK don't have these in little villages (like Welwyn, where I grew up) as we have a lot more (known) history than Aussie towns and these walks are a good way to spend a morning and help you get your bearings. We then tried to go to the local historical society museum, but that is run by volunteers at the weekends and was closed. Lazy b*ggers.
It's so very hot, all the time. I didn't think I'd ever think this but I'm looking forward to the colder weather as we travel south. People keep telling us it's very cold in Perth, but I don't know if that's cold-for-Aussies or actually really cold. We'll have to see. We don't have many warm clothes, so if it's really cold we'll be wearing the same jumpers for the rest of our time in Oz.
Another (longer) overnight journey tonight. Yikes.
The journey out of Broome was another long coach journey, but a daytime one this time. Whilst Anne was surprisingly good on the night journey, I was able to pass the time by listening to comedy shows on my MP3 CD player. Some kind soul (I met on the interweb) was kind enough to send me three CDs with 25 years' worth of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, so I giggled to myslef for most of the journey. I rarely sleep on journays, but I think I managed a few hours. On the latest coach journey I ignored the film Serendipity but watched Four Weddings And A Funeral. I'm sure everyone's seen this - it's a very funny crowd pleaser. It gets four of my stars, losing one for having Andie McDowall in it. (Somehow, Groundhog Day survives having this annoying actress in it, but this film suffers a little: "Is it raining? I hadn't noticed.". Yuck.)
After the long long coach journey from there, we arrived in Port Headland (and had a quick row, to celebrate the end of another tiring journey). This is an even smaller place which is a mining community (I so look forward to a city!) They also "make" lots of salt here by flooding and area with sea water, letting it evaporate, and then collecting the salt. It's odd to see huge mountains of salt around the town. Huge long trains take the salt and iron ore form the town, and huge ships come in to transport more. Big vehicles for such a tiny town. We did a self-guided heritage walk on Saturday morning. It was good, though some of the sites weren't that interesting. It's a shame the UK don't have these in little villages (like Welwyn, where I grew up) as we have a lot more (known) history than Aussie towns and these walks are a good way to spend a morning and help you get your bearings. We then tried to go to the local historical society museum, but that is run by volunteers at the weekends and was closed. Lazy b*ggers.
It's so very hot, all the time. I didn't think I'd ever think this but I'm looking forward to the colder weather as we travel south. People keep telling us it's very cold in Perth, but I don't know if that's cold-for-Aussies or actually really cold. We'll have to see. We don't have many warm clothes, so if it's really cold we'll be wearing the same jumpers for the rest of our time in Oz.
Another (longer) overnight journey tonight. Yikes.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Blog of life
A friend, Simon, has said (using our comments facility!) that, whilst another report of world-travelling he's following could be compared to a James Cameron film: all glam and exciting, ours could be compared to a Ken Loach film: all gritty and down to earth. I was quite pleased with this analogy. We're doing this blog in part to keep in touch with people at home but also as a record of our travels for our own benefit, and I thing a "real" diary will be good to look back on.
Travelling for such a long period of time means we're living our life at the same time as seeing the world, rather than getting away from everything and living in a "time-out" situation. Travelling can be pretty tiring, and we've had to make sure we do normal things and don't get sick to death of "another beautiful national park". We've made our own little routines and, being a creature of habit and slightly obsessive-compulsive, I've found ways to bring home away with me. I take the opportunity when I can of watching movies - one of my great loves - and this leads to some days when I watch three films (all good, none amazing). Yesterday was one of those days.
First we watched Swimming Upstream, an Aussie film which came out at the cinema when we were in Sydney. It's about a boy, growing up in Brisbane in the 50s and 60s trying to win the approval and love of his unpleasant, damaged father (Geoffrey Rush). I enjoyed it - three stars.
Then it was to the outdoor, deckchair cinema to see Whale Rider, a New Zealand film about Maoris. We'd read a lot about this film and were reasonably pleased with it. The little girl in the lead was impressive. Three stars. The outdoor cinema was fun!
Also three stars for the late night film we watched on SBS, Harry, He's Here To Help. This is a French film we'd wanted to see for a while. Whilst we enjoyed it, it wasn't a good as we'd heard and I get the feeling it got more praise than it deserved as it is French. Still a solid, entertaining effort though.
Travelling for such a long period of time means we're living our life at the same time as seeing the world, rather than getting away from everything and living in a "time-out" situation. Travelling can be pretty tiring, and we've had to make sure we do normal things and don't get sick to death of "another beautiful national park". We've made our own little routines and, being a creature of habit and slightly obsessive-compulsive, I've found ways to bring home away with me. I take the opportunity when I can of watching movies - one of my great loves - and this leads to some days when I watch three films (all good, none amazing). Yesterday was one of those days.
First we watched Swimming Upstream, an Aussie film which came out at the cinema when we were in Sydney. It's about a boy, growing up in Brisbane in the 50s and 60s trying to win the approval and love of his unpleasant, damaged father (Geoffrey Rush). I enjoyed it - three stars.
Then it was to the outdoor, deckchair cinema to see Whale Rider, a New Zealand film about Maoris. We'd read a lot about this film and were reasonably pleased with it. The little girl in the lead was impressive. Three stars. The outdoor cinema was fun!
Also three stars for the late night film we watched on SBS, Harry, He's Here To Help. This is a French film we'd wanted to see for a while. Whilst we enjoyed it, it wasn't a good as we'd heard and I get the feeling it got more praise than it deserved as it is French. Still a solid, entertaining effort though.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Helen Daniels's painting retreat
After the long long journey, we arrived in Kununurra and checked in at a nice hostel we'd booked. Kununurra is a few hundred kms from The Bungle Bungles - huge weird rock formations. We wanted to see them, but the ground-based trips took two or three days - we didn't have that long. So it was we splashed out for a flight over them in a tiny (six-man) plane. I've never been in such a small plane, and the Bungle Bungles were really something special so I'm glad we did it. Typically for this vast country these rock formations were only really made known to the Aussies in the 1980s. Amazing that such things can exist unnoticed for so long.
When I flew to the Grand Canyon in a little plane in 1995 my mum and sister were both ill due to the turbulence. Anne and I took travel sickness tablets to try to ward off this, and thankfully we weren't ill.
In the afternoon we both fell asleep (thanks, I suspect, to the travel sickness tablets) and later went to watch the sunset at Kelly's Knob look out. Kununurra is a small town, built to service a nearby dam when it was built in the sixties. There's not a lot else to do here!
Saturday we relaxed in the very very hot sun, by the pool. What a nice way to spend the morning. It was too hot by midday, so we retreated to the room, then went to a nearby national park to look at some more rock formations.
Today, Sunday, we are hanging about waiting to get the bus to Broome, on the west coast. We're not looking forward to this journey - our first over night bus journey. We leave here near 5pm and don't arrive in Broome until 8am on Monday morning - yikes. I'll have to put up with fidget-bum Anne that whole time!
When I flew to the Grand Canyon in a little plane in 1995 my mum and sister were both ill due to the turbulence. Anne and I took travel sickness tablets to try to ward off this, and thankfully we weren't ill.
In the afternoon we both fell asleep (thanks, I suspect, to the travel sickness tablets) and later went to watch the sunset at Kelly's Knob look out. Kununurra is a small town, built to service a nearby dam when it was built in the sixties. There's not a lot else to do here!
Saturday we relaxed in the very very hot sun, by the pool. What a nice way to spend the morning. It was too hot by midday, so we retreated to the room, then went to a nearby national park to look at some more rock formations.
Today, Sunday, we are hanging about waiting to get the bus to Broome, on the west coast. We're not looking forward to this journey - our first over night bus journey. We leave here near 5pm and don't arrive in Broome until 8am on Monday morning - yikes. I'll have to put up with fidget-bum Anne that whole time!
Movie overload
On our last night in Darwin we watched the v. good comedy Office Space on the wazzark lantern. We'd seen it before. It's a very funny movie - recommended - four stars.
On our 11 (11!) hour bus journey from Darwin to Kununurra we were treated to three (three!) films, which made the time pass more quickly. Two of them we'd seen before, but it didn't matter as they were both five star films - Monsters Inc. and Ocean's 11 (remake). Nice!
The other one was Hearts Of Atlantis starring Anthony Hopkins. It was OK - two and a half stars.
On our 11 (11!) hour bus journey from Darwin to Kununurra we were treated to three (three!) films, which made the time pass more quickly. Two of them we'd seen before, but it didn't matter as they were both five star films - Monsters Inc. and Ocean's 11 (remake). Nice!
The other one was Hearts Of Atlantis starring Anthony Hopkins. It was OK - two and a half stars.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Bruce all righty then?
Anne's comments on the movie Bruce Almighty about sum it up. Poor. It's a shame - annoying as Jim Carrey can be, he can often do OTT comedy well, and the concept for this film offered a good opportunity, especially coming from the director of the decent Liar Liar. The main character, who is given God's powers, is a horrible one with whom no-one can sympathise. He should have been smited at the start rather than been taught a lesson. The film attempts to teach a lesson, and fails due to the smug Carrey failing at the heartfelt stuff. Jennifer Aniston does nothing and Morgan Freeman fails to impress. We should have seen Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle instead, and that's saying something! Two stars.
Read a book instead
I'm currently reading a great book called The Surgeon Of Crowthorne, by Simon Winchester. It's about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and specifically about an insane veteran of the American Civil War who was one of its major contributors. Recommended for those who like anecdotal history, words and dictionaries.
Darwin devastated by SKT's birth
Darwin is notable as a city partly for what is missing. Cyclone Tracey destroyed much of the city on Christmas Eve 1974, about the time my mum was returning home having given birth to me. Such was the destruction, that it was debated whether to rebuild the city. And to think, all this when I was only just starting to bring joy on the other side of the world.
Nude Photo Shock!
I've added a second photo album to my Yahoo photos, to cut down on load time. I've also added a few photos, including ones of spiders from our night-time rainforest trek and, you lucky people, one of our skinny dipping adventure. Censored, natch.
Read a book instead
I'm currently reading a great book called The Surgeon Of Crowthorne, by Simon Winchester. It's about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and specifically about an insane veteran of the American Civil War who was one of its major contributors. Recommended for those who like anecdotal history, words and dictionaries.
Darwin devastated by SKT's birth
Darwin is notable as a city partly for what is missing. Cyclone Tracey destroyed much of the city on Christmas Eve 1974, about the time my mum was returning home having given birth to me. Such was the destruction, that it was debated whether to rebuild the city. And to think, all this when I was only just starting to bring joy on the other side of the world.
Nude Photo Shock!
I've added a second photo album to my Yahoo photos, to cut down on load time. I've also added a few photos, including ones of spiders from our night-time rainforest trek and, you lucky people, one of our skinny dipping adventure. Censored, natch.
Monday, July 07, 2003
Welcome to Darwin
After a short (2.5 hour) flight on Sunday evening, we arrived in Darwin and checked in a lovely 4 star hotel. We're bored of hostels and so decided to blow the budget on a nice, sizable room with good facilities.
Oh, would that it were...
In fact we'd pre-booked a room in the Melaleuca Lodge hostel. The Lonely Planet said it was a good hostel (and the YHA my sister recommended was fully booked). However, it's being bulldozed to make room for a better hostel in the future, and the new management are content to run it into the ground. The facilities are dreadful, and what's worse is that management don't give a hoot about complaints. They have no interest in improving the place (or even in keeping it functional) and we are in no bargaining position having pre-paid, and with all the other hostels having no double rooms. Grah! Sometimes I hate travelling.
This experience is a shame, as Darwin is a nice city. Hot though (over 30 degrees, and this is the middle of winter!) Today, after I'd stopped seething with anger about the hostel (and the chance of me turning big and green had subsided) we went for a walk around. We explored the really nice parliament building, went to a good pre-loved bookshop, and later went on a historical walking tour. We're shattered now, and have been seeking out air conditioning all day.
I don't want to go back to that horrible hostel. : (
Oh, would that it were...
In fact we'd pre-booked a room in the Melaleuca Lodge hostel. The Lonely Planet said it was a good hostel (and the YHA my sister recommended was fully booked). However, it's being bulldozed to make room for a better hostel in the future, and the new management are content to run it into the ground. The facilities are dreadful, and what's worse is that management don't give a hoot about complaints. They have no interest in improving the place (or even in keeping it functional) and we are in no bargaining position having pre-paid, and with all the other hostels having no double rooms. Grah! Sometimes I hate travelling.
This experience is a shame, as Darwin is a nice city. Hot though (over 30 degrees, and this is the middle of winter!) Today, after I'd stopped seething with anger about the hostel (and the chance of me turning big and green had subsided) we went for a walk around. We explored the really nice parliament building, went to a good pre-loved bookshop, and later went on a historical walking tour. We're shattered now, and have been seeking out air conditioning all day.
I don't want to go back to that horrible hostel. : (
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Movies, book and TV
On the way to Cairns from Townsville last week, the coach driver put Chocolat on the video (French for chocolate, probably). It was certainly watchable, though a bit of a wet fairy tale. It made me hungry though. Three stars.
Today we're in Cairns, waiting to go to the airport to get a flight to Darwin. It's dreary and raining, so to pass the time we went to the flicks to watch The Hulk. Directed by Ang Lee (the most versatile director ever, surely!) it stars Aussie Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, who gets angry and turns green. It's quite long and slow, and I doubt the kids in the audience enjoyed it that much. However, it's entertaining and a very good comic book adaptation. There's a great battle between the Hulk and the military in the middle, but the last battle is a bit of a mess. Nick Nolte overacts well as a mad scientist. Good stuff - three and a half stars.
Having finished the new, over-long, Harry Potter book, I've now started on Robert Harris's Fatherland. Am enjoying having time to get through a decent number of books.
Since we had a TV in Port Douglas we spent Tuesday night glued to it, watching The Simpsons, Neighbours, Big Brother, Becker, Everybody Loves Raymond (v. good) and the overrated CSI. I think we overdid it. The next night we did the tourist thing, left the TV behind and went to watch Cane Toad Racing in a pub. It's questionable which night was more intellectually stimulating.
I've heard that a bomb scare in teh UK led to the Big Brother house being evacuated. Since most of the even slightly controversial people are now out of the Aussie house it's duller than ever. One girl, Reggie, is a cert to win. To liven things up they've introduced a bra-less flirt from the UK house now. Clutching at straws I say.
Today we're in Cairns, waiting to go to the airport to get a flight to Darwin. It's dreary and raining, so to pass the time we went to the flicks to watch The Hulk. Directed by Ang Lee (the most versatile director ever, surely!) it stars Aussie Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, who gets angry and turns green. It's quite long and slow, and I doubt the kids in the audience enjoyed it that much. However, it's entertaining and a very good comic book adaptation. There's a great battle between the Hulk and the military in the middle, but the last battle is a bit of a mess. Nick Nolte overacts well as a mad scientist. Good stuff - three and a half stars.
Having finished the new, over-long, Harry Potter book, I've now started on Robert Harris's Fatherland. Am enjoying having time to get through a decent number of books.
Since we had a TV in Port Douglas we spent Tuesday night glued to it, watching The Simpsons, Neighbours, Big Brother, Becker, Everybody Loves Raymond (v. good) and the overrated CSI. I think we overdid it. The next night we did the tourist thing, left the TV behind and went to watch Cane Toad Racing in a pub. It's questionable which night was more intellectually stimulating.
I've heard that a bomb scare in teh UK led to the Big Brother house being evacuated. Since most of the even slightly controversial people are now out of the Aussie house it's duller than ever. One girl, Reggie, is a cert to win. To liven things up they've introduced a bra-less flirt from the UK house now. Clutching at straws I say.
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Tropical Rainforest joy
From Magnetic Island, we returned to Townsville to get the bus to Cairns. Not much to Cairns, from what I saw last time (other than trips to do) but we weren't there long enough to confirm that impression or otherwise. Early on Sunday morning we got a bus up to Cow Bay, just south of Cape Tribulation, where we were staying in a rainforest retreat called Crocodylus. We stayed in a tent/cabin IN the rainforest. It was grand. I think it's been Anne's favourite place so far (not least because it had a great, cheap restaurant!)
We spent Sunday afternoon wandering up the long, largely deserted beach (on the way there we spied a cassowary and a snake!) We've had glorious weather for days now, and the nice thing is it's not half as humid as it was when we were up this way in December 2000 (Aussie summer). On Monday morning we were dropped off at a creek. We paddled up the creek to a waterhole where it was safe to swim (i.e. no croc or stingers). Again on the beach in Cow Bay we came across nudie bathers (though saw nothing to match the man on Magnetic Island strolling on the beach in just his hat), and since Anne and I now found ourselves alone amid a dense rainforest we decided to throw caution to the wind and go skinny-dipping! We felt very daring and it was fun, especially in the hot sun. We had to be careful not to burn our bits. Photos to follow. (Reckon.) Stop picturing us naked!
On Sunday night, we had retired to our cabin early for a romantic evening. Our antics were disturbed by a bunch of people outside, shining torches through the canvas. This was the hostel-organised Night Walk, and these people were searching for "wildlife". They wouldn't have seen much through the mossie-net anyway, but we didn't appreciate the privacy-invasion. Anyway, on Monday night, we joined the Night Walk and traipsed round the forest from 8 until midnight with a man named Possum! We had torches and saw lots of spiders, some fungi, two birds (only two!), a bandicoot, a white-tailed rat, and a black and white possum. Again, my mammal-spotting abilities came in useful. I think I may have some aboriginal tracker blood in me. My genealogy work may later reveal this for sure.
After a late night, the last thing we wanted is an early morning, so we got up at ten to six for a sea-kayaking trip! We kayaked (i.e. canoed) to an isolated beach where we had a "tropical" breakfast (it involved lots of fruits), swam and snorkelled on the reef. Yay! I wasn't very good at keeping the kayak straight, and Anne got frustrated with me. Anne wasn't very good either and I got frustrated with her. Thus we were even and neither of us has any right to go on about it. Got that Anne?
Alas, we left the rainforest hostel this morning and travelled by bus down to Port Douglas, just north of Cairns. Anne didn't want to leave. As there were no double rooms left in any Port Douglas hostels we splashed out an extra four quid a night on a motel room. We weren't chuffed with having to break the budget, but though a bit of luxury would be nice. Imagine our disgust when a sign at check in told us that this was a budget motel, and it's being pulled down at the end of the year so we shouldn't expect great things. We have a fridge in our room, and a kettle, the TV doesn't work very well and there's no laundry. Frankly, I've stayed in better hostels.
Here endeth today's blog.
We spent Sunday afternoon wandering up the long, largely deserted beach (on the way there we spied a cassowary and a snake!) We've had glorious weather for days now, and the nice thing is it's not half as humid as it was when we were up this way in December 2000 (Aussie summer). On Monday morning we were dropped off at a creek. We paddled up the creek to a waterhole where it was safe to swim (i.e. no croc or stingers). Again on the beach in Cow Bay we came across nudie bathers (though saw nothing to match the man on Magnetic Island strolling on the beach in just his hat), and since Anne and I now found ourselves alone amid a dense rainforest we decided to throw caution to the wind and go skinny-dipping! We felt very daring and it was fun, especially in the hot sun. We had to be careful not to burn our bits. Photos to follow. (Reckon.) Stop picturing us naked!
On Sunday night, we had retired to our cabin early for a romantic evening. Our antics were disturbed by a bunch of people outside, shining torches through the canvas. This was the hostel-organised Night Walk, and these people were searching for "wildlife". They wouldn't have seen much through the mossie-net anyway, but we didn't appreciate the privacy-invasion. Anyway, on Monday night, we joined the Night Walk and traipsed round the forest from 8 until midnight with a man named Possum! We had torches and saw lots of spiders, some fungi, two birds (only two!), a bandicoot, a white-tailed rat, and a black and white possum. Again, my mammal-spotting abilities came in useful. I think I may have some aboriginal tracker blood in me. My genealogy work may later reveal this for sure.
After a late night, the last thing we wanted is an early morning, so we got up at ten to six for a sea-kayaking trip! We kayaked (i.e. canoed) to an isolated beach where we had a "tropical" breakfast (it involved lots of fruits), swam and snorkelled on the reef. Yay! I wasn't very good at keeping the kayak straight, and Anne got frustrated with me. Anne wasn't very good either and I got frustrated with her. Thus we were even and neither of us has any right to go on about it. Got that Anne?
Alas, we left the rainforest hostel this morning and travelled by bus down to Port Douglas, just north of Cairns. Anne didn't want to leave. As there were no double rooms left in any Port Douglas hostels we splashed out an extra four quid a night on a motel room. We weren't chuffed with having to break the budget, but though a bit of luxury would be nice. Imagine our disgust when a sign at check in told us that this was a budget motel, and it's being pulled down at the end of the year so we shouldn't expect great things. We have a fridge in our room, and a kettle, the TV doesn't work very well and there's no laundry. Frankly, I've stayed in better hostels.
Here endeth today's blog.
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