13th February 1992 Day 208

The Diary
A day of sorting things out. My cheque which was arriving by express post wouldn't be there until the afternoon. I picked up my new glasses and then we all went to the bank to close our accounts and get travellers cheques. Easier said than done. 1.5 hours later I had some travellers cheques but my account was still open and I had to bring in the cheque so they could clear it and then send it to a bank in Singapore and close my account. I had to write out a letter to authorise this and the girl helping didn't have a clue what I should write. "What shall I write?" I asked. "Write what you want to do" she said. "Which is....?" I asked. Blank look. So I made something up.

I received a valentine's card from Christy and a long letter from Rob Hay, bought a mozzie net, flip-flops and numerous other small items. I picked up the cheque at 4pm and dashed to the bank as they said they closed at 4:30pm. No they didn't, they shut at 4pm. What a bank.


I had my haircut for a bargain $7 but it still wasn't as short as I wanted it. We had a Chinese in the evening and the waitress spilled a glass of water over me. Went for our last VBs and bumped into the two Irish girls we'd shared with in Katherine. Left after the first set of a blues band with an image problem. AC/DC's new drummer, Alex Lifeson circa '73, Ken from Magnetic Island on bass and a housewife on vocals and bad dancing.


2012
Rob Hay - ex PW mate who now lives in Noo York. May see him at the end of this week, funnily enough.

12th February 1992 Day 207

The Diary
"Yo, Corey man", 
"Yeah man, what's up?",
"I saw Elvis the other day",
"Get outta here man"

Unfortunately it was true. He was on our bus to Kakadu. Fat and from Leeds, Brylcreem, big mouth, smll brain, dumb wife. I preferred him in his Vegas days. I also chose this day to wear a shirt with Middlesbrough FC on it. He noticed it and tried to make a joke about it or talk about it every few minutes or so while I generally ignored him.

I upset him by putting him right about the state of play in the Rumbelows League Cup and he looked as if he was about to cry. I also said that I was quite pleased that Oldham had beaten Leeds which he took offence to. When I bought a newspaper he insisted on searching through it for football scores even though I'd told him there wouldn't be any. He revealed how bad his reading was and then informed me, pointing to a small article, that Wakefield was near Leeds. Well I never. What was he doing in Kakadu, he should have been in Blackpool.

The day started off badly. We awoke at 6am, it was pitch black and pouring with rain outside. we checked in, nobody noticed that I'd only paid $27 instead of $57. Inadvertently got away with that one. The rain gradually subsided during the day but the sun never made an appearance. Our bus driver was quite knowledgable about the area and he told us many interesting stories about aboriginals, crocodiles and his pet dog. His standard of jokes was the usual Greyhound bus driver standard though. We saw the best aboriginal rock art yet and Beth ate some ants. We then fought off hordes of marauding flies while trying to eat dinner.

Soon, it was off on our boat trip. Elvis wasn't going but Rod Stewart was. He didn't bring Rachel Hunter with him. She must be waiting at the airport. The water had risen so much that the road was underwater and we had to get to the jetty by 4WD. The trip was quite interesting and we saw a crocodile - this time quite a big one. Everyone dashed to the side of the boat to get a picture. Our guide was quite worried as the boat listed steeply. The journey back was quite uneventful as was the evening meal at Uncle Kens.

2012
Leeds, Leeds, Leeds - Oz was/is a Leeds Fan, I spend 3 years working for PW Leeds and I first saw Living Colour (Elvis is Dead) at Leeds University Refectory. 


Blackpool - Vegas of the north and the team followed by Howie and George.


Uncle Kens - KFC


Oldham must have beaten Leeds in the league as they didn't beat them in the League Cup that year.

Darwin to Kakadu round trip - 420km

Total distance since Sydney - 8,289km

11th February 1992 Day 206

The Diary
Another letter at poste restante - this time from Dileep. He's transferred to Newcastle, Steve's not seeing Cathy, Rich Goddard and Isobel were made redundant. Heavens to Betsy.


All my documents were present and correct at STA. I ordered some new frames for my lenses, looked at mozzie nets and coils, marvelled at the ineptitude of the Commonwealth Bank and sent Christy the crappest Valentine's card I could find. Also had some more injections including one in the bum. Ouch.

We all went to see JFK at the pictures, a marvellously complicated film that leaves you with a headache from the loud file score and from concentrating too hard. I think Donald Sutherland did it, so that he could marry Marilyn Monroe (who was already dead) and defect to the USSR to end the Cold War and beat Gorbachev to dismantling communism. Or it could have been......

Went for something to eat in town but it was shut. And it was raining. Phoned Christy, reverse charges and discovered my refund had turned up. Yee hah.


2012
Dileep - erstwhile flatmate from my time in Leeds with PW. He now lives in Melbourne and hasn't changed a bit. Steve (Allen) - our other flatmate - probably hasn't changed a bit. Other than he now seems to support Arsenal when he was always a Crystal Palace fan to my recollection. I remember watching the Man Utd v Crystal Palace FA Cup final at his parent's house. I think he down about 20 cans of Guinness during the game. 
Rich and Isobel - other friends from PW days. I think Rich lives in the USA and Isobel lives in Rome.


Mozzie nets, injections etc. - we were getting ready for our imminent departure to Asia.


Refund - I assume my tax refund.

10th February 1992 Day 205

The Diary
The shortest bus journey for quite some time - a mere 4 hours. We'd reached Darwin. I dashed to poste restante to pick up my mail after the 3 of us booked into the Darwin Transit Centre. 3 letters from Christy and 1 from dad. Shame I'd heard all the contents on the telephone.

Filled up at a pancake place and watched the English soccer as per usual. I even managed to phone home and catch someone in. Dad officially retires in April but finishes mid-March because of his holidays. He'll be a man of leisure like me!


2012

Katherine to Darwin - 317km

Total distance since Sydney - 7,869km

9th February 1992 Day 204

The Diary
Yet again, another early start. This time for a canoe trip to Katherine Gorge. Due to the rising waters we were restricted to canoeing along just the one gorge. We played in a waterfall, looked at yet more Aboriginal graffiti and splashed each other. And then splashed each other. And then we splashed each other and I capsized the canoe. It's a good job we're not scared of crocodiles. 


Fortunately our cameras etc. were in a sealed container but our small rucksacks went swimming and the clothes we were wearing , including shoes and hat, got a bit wet. Still, we weren't eaten and I did manage to sink one of the other canoes. 


Next, we fought our way against a current, up a creek. More capsizings occurred and a croc was spotted. A small one. Once at the end we got out of the canoes and sat there. And sat there. And got bored. Eventually we hopped back in and paddled back. An eventful day that could have been better organised.


Back at the hostel we had a bbq and then retreated back to the room before the rains came. Beth got very mad with an upper class Englishman who held differing views about aborigines and spoke with a plummy accent. At least he been to Middlesbrough.


2012

A freshie

8th February 1992 Day 203

The Diary
Katherine was very hot and sticky but at least we had an air-conditioned room at the Kookaburra Lodge. Unfortunately we could only switch it on between 6pm and 10am. Still, it was something to look forward to. This being a Saturday the town was shut, although I did manage to find somewhere to get some photos developed. We found a pizza place that was open and rather than buy any garlic bread we, or should I say, Beth, picked it up from another table where some had been left. Cheapskate Backpackers!

In the evening Beth cooked a chilli after having a mare with the mince. She left it in the shop. We had our first experience of the wet season, which was rather unfortunate as we'd just hung out our washing to dry.


2012
Was the Kookaburra Lodge good or bad ? Don't recall - see here and decide for yourself.

7th February 1992 Day 202

The Diary

Up early for the umpteenth time and straight on to the coach for the early morning Rock climb. 

The Rock is 348m high but it seems a lot higher when you have to climb it. It was almost as steep as the road at the back of Stokes Street in Lane Cove that I climbed on the way to work every morning. Well, it was slightly steeper but the journey to work every day was good training.

I reached the top in 30-35 minutes passing lots of Japanese tourists that were dressed as if they were climbing Everest. Were the white gloves to keep their hands clean? I signed the book at the cairn at the summit with the - as usual - inappropriate comment. "Rock Lobster".

When Oz and Beth arrived a few minutes later we posed for photos just to prove we made it. One of the girls from our bus then burst into "whhoooowhhhooo-yeah yea-----h" and people all over the Rock responded with "you know you make me want to shout, woooh". She was such a good singer that we got her to do it again and we all had a good groove at the top. Crazy chick, man. 

On the way down we observed the life-cycle of the world-famous Uluru shrimp (well, Beth had heard of it) i.e. born, eat, shag, die. Oz and I pretended to rap jump down the ridges before I yomped to the bottom trying not to use the chain. Pumped up quads or what? Back at the bottom I read the plaques dedicated to 5 of the 25 people that had died climbing the Rock. And then there was Lindy Chamberlain's baby.....

After everyone was down we were taken on a base tour around the Rock to look at the Aboriginal Rock Art, (looked like graffitti), and strange rock formations (the big smile, whale head, dolphin, greyhound bus rock etc.) and rock pools. By this time Karen had attached herself to a group of Swedes, much to my relief.

Back to Yulara we went, picked up our gear, had lunch and waited for the bus. The bus dithered so much that we only had 5 minutes at Alice before jumping on the overnight bus to Katherine. The bus was so full it was a single seat all the way, the road-houses seemed to have run out of food and I couldn't see without my glasses. Great night.


2012

Yulara to Katherine via Alice Springs to Yulara - 1,627km

Total distance since Sydney - 7,552km

I think Karen just talked a lot hence my relief when she bent someone else's ear for a while. I could be wrong though - don't really recall why I was relieved.

6th February 1992 Day 201

The Diary

Up early for the 468km journey to Yulara. About the same as Billingham to London. The coach did it at a very leisurely pace stopping at just about every road house on the way including Virginia Camel Farm.

Mt Ebenezer was even smaller and less impressive than Thompson, Utah and Beth was warned not to take any photos as it was aboriginal owned. We finally arrived at Yulara and Beth and Karen dashed to the front of the queue to check us in while Oz and I rescued the bags. A good idea if ever there was one.

We had a couple of hours before catching the coach to The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) which was just as well since the girl at the food kiosk was on her first day. I dashed to get a newspaper for the journey and was delighted to discover we'd knocked Sheff Wed out of the FA Cup. How about winning away from home in the league lads?

Off to The Olgas we went and our coach driver Lloyd filled us in with all manner of snippets of information. He stopped for various photo opportunities and then we did a walk into Olga Gorge. Big.

Back towards Uluru, we stopped to look at a thorny lizard discovered by Frank the Pioneer driver. Then we all saw a rainbow over the Rock. Wow.

Lloyd took us to the base of the Rock to show us what we had to climb up. Cracking jokes all the time. Then we got ready for the sunset. It didn't quite work at the allotted time due to the clouds but it was pretty good just 10 minutes earlier.

Back at the hostel I went for an early night to rest my poor aching back and discovered my broken glasses.

2012

Alice Springs to Yulara - 468km

Yulara to Kata Tjuta to Uluru to Yulara round trip - 123km
Total distance since Sydney - 5,925km

Google maps reckons Billingham to London is 408km.


Having broken glasses and a pair of hard contact lenses only was going to be a bit of a problem. I couldn't wear the lenses all day and couldn't sleep in them so evenings and bus trips would be a problem until I could get a new pair of glasses. I wasn't counting on too many opticians in the outback.

5th February 1992 Day 200

The Diary
We checked into the Melanka Lodge which was more like a motel than a backpackers'. I ended up sharing with Karen, a South Effrican that Beth had met on Fraser Island.  Not feeling too well I went for a walk into town in search of food totally forgetting that I was supposed to call on Oz and Beth. By the time I got back, still under the weather, they'd gone out. So I went to the pool and chatted to Karen for a while. I quickly decided that lying in the heat was not what I wanted to do so I packed the swimming kit and headed to the local municipal pool. Even in Alice Springs they've got an Olympic sized pool. I did my slow motion impersonation of Glen Houseman/Keiran Perkins and proved that the previous days front crawl mile was no fluke.

Feeling much better by this time I packed my camera and headed off to do the sights - the signpost and the Anzac Hill lookout and the dried up Todd River. I bumped into the two young lovers and arranged to meet them back at the hostel. I had a quick beer with Karen at the hostel bar and met a mad German who didn't climb "the rock" on principle and also a Dawn French look-alike who kept saying "I know".


Karen went to bed early in order to make an early start and Oz, Beth and I went to the Old Alice Inn for our tea. The Inn was possibly the most luxurious pub I've been in in Australia and the food was pretty good. Got back to discover that some bastard had nicked my Boro towel from the washing line. If I catch them they'll be sorry. There can't be too many Boro towels in the outback. I was so mad I didn't care about Karen's snoring.

2012
Years later Oz and Beth somehow got Karen to do a good luck message for my wedding. They also borrowed a Boro towel and presented it to me at the wedding to replace the one that was stolen in Alice Springs. 


I recall that Karen was getting up early to do a balloon trip.

4th February 1992 Day 199

The Diary
A look at the School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (also known as the life and times of Rev Flynn). Bought some bargain batteries and a bonza mini tripod after smashing one in the shop. Off to the swimming pool and another 32x50m. All front crawl. I've done it. Shame it took me about 50mins. Wasted a lot of time before catching the overnight bus to Alice Springs. 


The first 200km was on a single track, pot-holed, roller-coaster of a road but once into the NT the road improved. The coach seemed to stop everywhere, clocks went back 90mins and we changed buses at 2:30am at Three Ways. We rolled into Alice Springs about 9:15am and I felt awful.

2012
Mt Isa to Alice Springs - 1,169km
Total distance since Sydney - 5,334km 

3rd February 1992 Day 198

The Diary
Mt. Isa, the world's biggest city (40,000km2 - as listed in the Guinness Book of Records) was not exactly bustling with life. We declined the 7:30am underground mine tour and headed to the hostel. It reminded me of a hospital. Oz and Beth crashed out and I explored the town - which didn't take long at all. The town has a distinct Billingham feel about it, with it's chimneys on the horizon, though Mt Isa is a lot further from the nearest town.


I decided to make use of the swimming pool in the shadow of the mine - 32x50m lengths - 18 front crawl, a new record. Then I went along to the gym and did a light work out before wandering over to the bus depot. The nutter was waiting for the bus. Yes please, referee, he's not on our bus. Oz and Beth arrived, shortly followed by Hels and Kate. Off we went to Boyd's hotel for food. Kate had a 'mare ordering a burger but soon it was time for them to leave again. Off to Darwin - with the nutter !!

Mt Isa or Billingham?

Mt Isa or Billingham?

We returned to the hostel via the city lookout with its signposts to various spots around the world. How could London be 700km further than Edinburgh? Surely Rio de Janiero is closer than New York City? And what is a Great Circle anyway? (I think you'll find it's the shortest route between 2 points on the globe - informed Ed). 

Back at the hostel we watched the soccer and chatted to my room-mate Sean an ex-British Aerospace employee and Spurs supporter who was doing our trip in reverse.


2012
Haven't been back to Mt Isa since.

2nd February 1992 Day 197

The Diary
Went to the Townsville Natural History Museum and paid $2.50 for the most disappointing museum ever. About the size of Brunner School gym, most of the exhibits were models or fakes and hardly any of the themes survived  more than one or two display cases. Oz and Beth went off to the aquarium after that but I decided to save my money and watch France beat Wales. This, they duly did but only 12-9. They must both be quaking in their boots after watching England. Famous last words??

Townsville

Checking in for the overnight bus to Mt Isa, a voice cried out something about a "daft hat". It was Hels and Kate just getting off the bus we were due to get on. We had a quick hour in the transit centre cafe, swapped a few tales and arranged to meet them in Mt Isa the following day.


The bus journey was memorable for the nutter who couldn't remember which seat he'd been sat in and accused everyone of pinching his inflatable travel pillow. As is usual with nutters he made horrible snorting noises in his sleep.


2012
I don't really remember the museum - which may prove my diary entry - but the current museum looks a bit better than my description.


If the reverse is true (nutter = snorer, snorer = nutter) then I must be a bit of a nutter according to Christy.


Oz spent most of the year complaining about my snoring but I'm sure it was a myth - he never proved anything.


Daft hat - the aussie bush hat I bought in a market in Cairns. It stayed on my head most of the next 6 months.


Townsville to Mt Isa - 904km
Total distance since Sydney - 4,165km 

31st January 1992 Day 195

The Diary
My bum was aching like mad after the previous days walking and my back was not great either. Decided to have a quiet day. Beth and Oz went for a walk to the forts and I went to the local pool. Floated around for a while and then went back to the hostel. Grabbed a few magazines, laid on the floor and hardly moved until it was time to sleep. What a day. Phew!

2012
A pretty dull day but I'm sure the following had more exciting days as they all celebrated birthdays on 31st Jan 1992.


Johnny Rotten (36)
Lloyd Cole (31)
Phil Manzanera (41)

And on electric transparent violin is another Billingham boy - Eddie Jobson

29th January 1992 Day 193

The Diary
We all got copies of Beth's underwater pictures which were good as long as there were supposed to be no people in the shot. The shots of a headless Oz will probably be missing from my albums when I get back to the UK.

In the afternoon we caught a bus to Townsville with another driver you couldn't get off his microphone. Watched most of Dances with Wolves which was still going when we reached Townsville (as everyone but the bus driver realised would happen). After not being amused by the Backpacker's at the Transit Centre we went to the Adventurers' for a very hot and sticky night.


I started feeling depressed today, I think, for several reasons. Talking to Christy on the phone made me wish I was back in Sydney and travelling with a couple certainly doesn't help. Three's a crowd and I'm feeling pretty lonely. I wish I'd stayed in Sydney and travelled back on my own. I think the lack of exercise and sport affects me - and I've just had a year of bugger all after my back operation and this is prolonging the situation. Finally, the relative values Oz and I place on money are causing me to find Oz's pettiness with money very annoying. I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager. He'd alienate me as a customer for a start.

2012
Mitigating factors:

• taking underwater photos with a cheap disposable camera in choppy waters ain't easy
• Dances with Wolves is a long film, approx 3 hours
• Hot and sticky - it's January in Queensland, what did we think it would be like?
• Oz had earned very little money in Sydney whereas I'd earned a lot - this exacerbated the situation. His tightness was legendary at Uni. Oz was the man who had mastered the art of striding to the pub first but somehow arriving at the bar last and therefore avoided ever having to buy a round. I can get away with saying this because he's not on Facebook as he wouldn't pay the joining fee. Anyway I'm sure there are several people reading this that could give examples of his mainfishness......

"I don't think he'd make a very good branch manager." An in-joke from Uni. You wouldn't understand.


Cairns to Townsville - 348km
Total distance since Sydney - 3,261km 

28th January 1992 Day 192

The Diary
We all picked up photos from the chemist. A very exciting day as we dashed back to number and comment them. I posted a few cards and the Stone Alone book to Christy but not a lot else happened. Another $3.50 meal at Magnums and then I phoned Christy. I pissed off a lad who was waiting for the phone because I was on so long. There are no rules about how long you can use the phone. It's a good job it was a reverse charge call or I think I'd have been slitting my wrists.

2012
Back in 1992 Telstra was known as Telecom Australia and Optus was just getting off the ground.


I think I've previously mentioned the effort we had to go through with photos. Get them developed, write on the back of them so you could remember what they were, separate the negs from the prints, mail the prints to the parents in the UK, check poste restante several months later to confirm that the prints had been received and then mail the negs back. This is not to mention the several rolls of film that you had to have spare in 100, 200 and 400 ASA, the bulky camera that you had to carry around and the fact that you wouldn't shoot hundred of shots at random as every shot cost money and had to be developed. 


And lest we forget......

27th January 1992 Day 191

The Diary
The three of us walked to Barron Falls exploring the weirs and rocks along the way. Now, that's the sort of thing I'm happy doing, it's a little more energetic than lying in a prone position by the pool  and it satisfies my inquisitive  mind. Unfortunately it was an extremely hot day and we didn't take enough water with us. We also had to wait over an hour to catch the train from Barron Falls station. We then had to sit through the train commentary that we'd sat through 2 days previously. It might have been interesting but I could only hear about every other word. 

Back to Cairns where the couple Oz and I had met at Noosa Heads (from Ilkley) were still hanging around Tracks. Their wardrobe seemed to consist of a Hard Rock Cafe Sydney T-shirt each. In the evening we went for another $3.50 meal. We then went to the International Hostel and discovered a message Hels and Kate had left. They'd just spent 4 days (yes FOUR days) at Kuranda, apparently in the same hostel as us and were then off to Cape Tribulation. I somehow think we won't see them again, especially as they've got Beth's books.

2012
I was always amazed that people would hang around in boring places and crappy backpackers for day and weeks on end. We just kept moving and later got into the habit of crashing out for a few days if the travelling had been hard or tiring. We spent a few days on the beach in Phuket recuperating but I don't think we ever chilled out for more than 4 days before hitting the road again.


In the days before email and smart-phones the only way to stay in touch with other backpacking friends was to leave notes on message boards at hostels. We all used to swap books and cassette tapes as well, with no guarantee that you would get them back. An interesting thing that I remember Oz doing was ripping the pages out of the Lonely Planet after we'd been to the places on those pages. He didn't see the point of carrying un-necessary weight.

Almost every backpacker used Lonely Planet guidebooks to get around - though I think Hels and Kate used the Handbook series - and thus LP had an incredible influence on local tourism and the success or failure of many local businesses, cafes and hostels. As can be seen here, Lonely Planet's influence is still significant.

26th January 1992 Day 190

The Diary

Up early again to catch the scenic railway to Kuranda. The journey was not as scenic as it could have been since the waterfalls traversed en route were nothing more than trickles. Once at Kuranda we checked into the very tropical Mrs Miller's Backpacker's Hostel. I was in a very basic dormitory that was infested with flies and, apparently, mozzies.

 

We went to the Kuranda Markets, avoided the Japanese tourists, watched the Bungee and then wandered back.  Oz and Beth went to laze by the pool and I went for a walk past the river, along the bank and back around. Later on, I went for a run. Kuranda is pretty small, it wouldn't take long to run a lap.

I'm beginning to get bored. I'm definitely a city person. Kuranda is very beautiful and tropical but without the markets it's a boring, expensive, tourist village. I need to be doing something and I'm already over lying on beaches and beside pools.


2012
No mention in the diary that it was Australia Day. Did we know? Did we care?


There are other ways to get to Kuranda now - including the Skyrail.