Work & Devils Marbles

As I wasn't getting any work done I was becoming increasingly bored in Alice Springs. After days of wandering around aimlessly in the heat, I got word of a guy looking for workers somewhere north of Alice Springs. Ringing him up I found out that he was still looking for someone to do a fencing job with. Due to me having a bit of experience in fencing from King Island and Reds I had no problem with it. When he revealed the location I was a bit baffled. For anyone from Germany it would be if you are living in Munich and you go to work in Flensburg. Anybody else, I had to drive 850km to get there. After mulling over it in my head a bit, the distance didn't seem that far. I have lived in Australia for ten months now and done a fair bit of driving. 850km seem to be the neighbourhood now as you only pass through about three towns in that distance out here (and all towns have under 500 inhabitants).

Set off as soon as I could and approx. 30km out of town I realised I had forgotten a few things at the hostel, typical. Turned round near the Tropic of Capricorn and drove back to retrieve my belongings before being back at the same place one hour later. Driving along in Australia gets relaxing/tiring fast. As you round a corner after driving straight for 20km the next stretch of straight thirty kilometre road awaits.

Shortly before reaching Tennant Creek the Devils Marbles are located. A tourist attracting national park were round bolder of rock stand stacked on one another. Climbing around I meet three girls on a bus from Alice Springs to Darwin. One from England, the other from Wales and guess where the third was from*. Had a chat and found out they had an entire tour bus for themselves as no one else was driving to Darwin currently. After some pictures we went separate ways again, but met shortly after at the fuel station in Tennant Creek again.

A short stretch (short in Australian terms) I turned of right to the road that leads to Cairns and got hit by a few lightning storms. I am getting closer to the tropics up here now and the wet season is just starting up. That’s the reason a lot of people are avoiding Darwin at the moment. After a few hundred kilometres I turned back north at the Berkley homestead, a sign warning that there is no fuel for 325km.

Up until that point I had evaded stock on the road, but out on the Tablelands they where clogging up the road here and there. I met very few people, a Ute here or there and that was it. Driving along the scenery is the flattest I have ever seen. Even the Outback around Lake Eyer had rivets here and there, but the tablelands are just flat plains filled with grass and animals. In the distance a thunderstorm was ragging, which made for some dramatic scenery whilst I was trying my best not to kill any wildlife, cattle or my car. 

Arriving at Brunette Downs Station I was greeted by Station Hands that where left over from the slowly expiring mustering season. Frosty (my boss) was just a way behind with his caravan, his co worker Darel and another backpacker from the UK called Tom. Had a few beers with them watching above mentioned storm pulling over and got to know each other. Frosty and Darel are both from Queensland about an hour drive from Cairns and come out here to do work like this regular. They employ backpackers nearly all time around and they had gotten Tom and me there for two others that had just left. Tom himself was from Norwich and working up a bit of money to go back home and join the Navy. His girlfriend was working somewhere along the east coast, but the promise of quick money made him come all the way here.

Pitched my tent after a while and slept in it for a few days before we got an air conditioned room. The room was lovely after spending a few night out in the heat, waking up in the morning covered in sticky sweat. The work was, as mentioned, primarily fencing. Ten kilometres of fencing. Basically you stand in the middle, look left until to the horizon and right until to the horizon and all you can see is the fence line. Due to the rain surprising us a few times we had to catch up over a few days and worked over 12 hours a day in 35 degrees (dam English keyboard doesn't have the degree sign). When we had only about two hours work left on the fence it absolutely pored down so we couldn't get out. Frosty was, understandably, very happy. It ended up raining so much the helicopter couldn't fly out to retrieve some belongings, so we left later that day. Frosty and Darel back to Queensland, Tom to his girlfriend and me to Alice Springs. The next feasible time we can carry on is probably after New Year. Getting of the station was just barely possible. Had I not got a Subaru with AWD, I wouldn't have got of the station. As it was I sometimes was sliding along at 45 Degrees to the desired route. Dropped Tom of at the Berkley Homstead for him to catch a bus back to Cairns and headed of back to Alice to watch the new Star Wars film and wait for a phone call for the work to be started again.

*Oh, and the third girl was from Scotland.  

The Old Telegraph Staion Trail

Murray has abandoned me to a life in Alice Springs for the moment. He and the other two have left on a two week job out north-west of Alice and as four blokes was to many last time I have had a long, boring holiday. My cars registration fee was coming up, so that was a big mayor money spending event. Cars just eat money. Counting down the things, I had to register the car again (600$), a new set of tires are needed soon (ca. 400$) and a service check is a couple of hundred kilometres overdo.

Alice isn't the best place for activities once you have done the mayor tourist things, but what I had heard was that there is an assortment of mountain bike trails in the area. Later I found out that the total amount of mountain bike tracks is somewhere along 450km, so rather a lot. A few weeks back two other backpackers and me went to the YHA to ask for some mountain bikes, but the only ones they had present where city bikes. Bikes with one gear, no suspension and block brakes. So a no go and we went for a walk instead. This time I did some research on the internet before deciding what and where to do. Outside Alice is an old telegraph station that has been turned in to a tourist attraction now and they hire out “proper” mountain bikes (nothing like a Frenchie thought). Hiring one there the age old problem of mine came along, my tall status. I got their tallest bike and it is still to small. Tried around a few different ones and settled on one before taking off. Before leaving one of the workers Lihi said he was going out for the evening and if I wanted to join him. Local tour guide, for free, so of course that was a yes. Wanting to test the bike I took off towards somewhere and had to get off as I had no clickis. Really miss them when I don't have them on my foot. But missed not biking at all more. Getting a bit out I started worrying about things like accidents and co. so I turned round after a short stretch. Big fear in Australia is that you get knocked off your bike and lye unconscious on the road getting fried until the next person finds a barbecued human on the track. Not my way to end, wouldn't look good on the gravestone. Turning round I passed the telegraph station again and went back to the hostel to get a time lapse video edited that I had taken the night before from Anzac Hill.

In the evening I then set of to meet Lihi and upon reaching the hire shop had a fun talk with him and Andrew. As I wasn't that happy with a fully they gave me the chance to test a hardtail I had seen before, but thought it was Andrews, so didn't even touch it. Felt better, not much bouncing, but still not as homey as my own bike. Left along a track that Lihi normally takes better riders on and in the end it amounted up to 20km and a lot of ups and down. The general layout of the immediate country isn't one long climb but riddled with lots of ups and downs. Lihi was in front all the way as he knew what areas he wanted to check and were to go. Plus he was relaxing a bit with me behind him (I wager). The last time I was in the saddle of a bike was last Christmas biking up the Alpspitze with dad, so nearly a complete year ago. Stamina takes a steep drop in that time. We passed some kangaroos and probably a bunch of other crawling stuff on our way. No snakes fortunately and Lihi told me of how he nearly got bit a couple of weeks ago. So snakes aren't littered across the tacks as feared, rocks are thought. Twice I came to an abrupt stop but nothing bad resulted, just wounded pride. Lihi took me the more fun way around and not the scenic route, but we did stop a few times for some pictures. Otherwise it was bouncing around from rock to sand dips and tracks. Sand dips proofed interesting. If you hit them to slow you get bogged and you cant get fast with the terrain set up before it. Similar to snow, just not as slippery.

We completed the track and both carried on back to Alice. Said goodbye to Lihi and peddled back to the hostel for some rice and vegetables. Lost my rice so it was only vegetables, but Maryse (Canadian girl) offered to cook some tacos tomorrow. Looking forward to getting on the bike again tomorrow. Have to make the best out of the few days I have it rented.

Tracks at GPSies (TrackOne and Track Two) and pictures at Picasa.  

Water Drilling

The first working experience in Alice Springs has been getting under way for a bit. I got started up with drilling for water bores out in the Outback/desert. My boss Murray gave me a call about a week ago that we were going to do a bore really close to Alice Springs, about 30 km away which is nothing here.

Four of us showed up to that contract, which is a bit to many for a bore actually. The ideal number is three, as you have the leading operator (Murray), an assistant for him that helps him with the actual drilling job (Timy) and another guy running around getting trenches for the water dug, preparing things and cleaning stuff up (Brody & me). The first day close to Alice was a sort of test run, not a deep bore, nothing to complicated (or so we thought) and close to Alice in case of a problem. The morning of the first day was spent with getting all the gear to the are we needed it. Two trucks, one with the rig on the back and another with all the casing used to secure a bore once it is deep enough and all the other extras like welding tools, cutting tools and the likes. Once we got there we had to wait a bit for the horses to get sorted out, due to us drilling the bore on a horse farm and them not liking the noise. After that all set up for the bore drilling, which is done at a fast rate. Put the rig up in under a minute and get all the machinery up and running and away you drill. The day was spent with a few of the above mentioned jobs and a few runs back to the yards to get some stuff we needed. By the end of the day we hadn't quite finished, so we went back and returned the next day to finish the job. After that all pack up to the yards and prepare for the next couple of days which would be spent out bush, away from pretty much anything.

In the morning of the next day we did a few final preparations and then set of about 200 km away in to the Outback with three trucks and a Ute. The tucks where the rig, the other mentioned one with all the gear as before (just a bit more), another trailer with a fully functioning container with kitchen, shower, etc. in it and a truck with sandbags and extra stuff on. Due to Brody and me not having a truck licence we had to borrow someone from the yards which I took back after getting to the target location. Once I had returned from taking him back the rig was already set up and the trucks all parked in their right places. The evening was spent eating some cooked dinner made by Timy and then sleep in the swags for an early start the next day.

Waking up we started up at six o'clock in the morning (after finding some snake tracks around the swags, but nothing of the animal) and got started just as the sun came up. The initial big hole for the casing near the top had already been done in my absence yesterday, so the drill was lowered done through that and started the deep drilling process. Quite a bit of water and foam is pumped down to the tip of the drill to cool the tip of while it is drilling. Tube after tube of steel is lowered in to place (each being six metres long) and used to press the drill down. All the while water is being blasted out of the side with gravel and dirt from the ground bellow. Samples have to be taken every while and stored away to be sent to the government late on for ground surveillance. The blasting water out of the side actually dug a really deep hole in to the road we had directed the water to run down. After hitting the depth needed that Murray estimated would deliver the most amount of water the drilling tubes and the drill were all lifted up and stored back in to place. Six on the rig for fast reloading, similar to a revolver in the old west and the rest were lowered down on to the closely parked truck. After that the casings (eight inch wide black steel tubes, which do not get hot in 40 Degrees at all, no) get lowered in and dropped down to the bottom slowly, each one being welded on to the one underneath it. Near to the bottom there are two sieve like tubes to let all the water in that can then be pumped to the top. After lowering in all the tubes we needed the top was cut to length and the space between the wall (12 inches) and the casing (8 inches) was filled up with gravel to secure the whole thing. After that it was six in the evening and we decided to finish of the next day.

Timy cooked again in the evening and we enjoyed a fairly good meal out from the big city.

The next day we spent doing a measurement on how much water could come out of the bore, concreted up the entire thing, painted it white, put up a sign with the information on it next ot the bore and packed up to leave. After hooking everything up back to the yards (which took two and a half hours) and then pack up all the next casing and extra for the next job.  

McDonnell Ranges Gorges

Woke up earlier than usual, as seems to be normal in the tent. Some of the others had already left. Got up and packed up the tent before having some of the rice and baked beans left over from yesterday whilst mum had some cereals. After that playing tetris with the boxes of the car again. Everything was stored as planned and we set of back towards Alice Springs with all the time in the world to explore the gorges riddling the side of the McDonnell Ranges. The first one we came to wasn't that far from the road and we went and had a look at the Ochre Pits. The Aboriginals used to use it as a medium to trade and paint themselves so if you remove any of it you can pay a fine of up to 5000$. Being the tourist we are we took a few pictures and then left the place just as a small bus pulled in. Seems like the tourist time has started.

Carried on along the road to a place called Ellery Creek. I had heard from the Dutch guy I had met in Coober and then in Alice again that you can go swimming there so we went to the Creek/Gorge with swimming stuff packed. And good that we did. Of the whole tour that would have most likely been the best thing to visit. The water was fresh but you got used to it after a while. Really nice for me to swim in something akin to a lake after over a year of not doing so. We met a couple with their baby there too, who were both enjoying the time before all the tourists come by later. Both of them commented on there being no shortage of jobs in Alice after hearing I would be working there (maybe). Both had moved there as you earn much more than in any coastal town, but you have to get used to the heat. After swimming to the other end of the gorge and getting some really nice pictures we carried on towards Alice. 

We didn't do much on the last run to Alice Springs, except visit the Desert Park which is a type of zoo in Alice. Got some animals in there that don't exist in the wild anymore and the usual kangaroos, emus and snakes. Mum got to see her first emu and close ups to some kangaroos. Finished of the visit by watching a birds of prey show, similar to Banham Zoo in England.

After that back to the hostel in Alice Springs, a chat with the hostel owner Brian and an ice cream.

Track at GPSies.  

Mereenie Loop

This morning I woke up felling well rested and nearly as good as before visiting the hospital. After managing to get up we had some breakfast of porridge and banana before once again packing up all our stuff and leaving the resort. Our next stop was at the reception to get a permit for driving to Glen Hellen later that day, as we pass through aboriginal country on the way.

We drove back a bit to get to Kings Canyon itself and finally get a bit of exercise done. There were a ton of tourist there already. You can do rather a large amount of walk around and in to the canyon itself. The longest one is the Rim walk around the top of the canyon which takes up several hours. A lot of the other visitors had left early in the morning to do it, as if the temperature is just predicted or realistic above 36°C they close the walk at nine in the morning. Mum and me got there at about 10AM, so we chose a walk along the outside of the canyon before climbing to the top and looking down in to it. There were warning at the bottom saying what things to take and what to do. Walked up and started taking some pictures with some chattering Asians following along. Nearly at the top we met a few Japanese people coming the other way who did not seem equipped for the journey in any way and looked the part of being very uncomfortable in the heat. At the top we stopped for some pictures over a cliff edge in to the canyon and met a couple from Holland who I took some pictures off and vice versa. They carried on along the Rim walk even if it was officially closed (prediction had been 36°C) whilst mum and me carried on back down to the car to get moving. We planned on reaching Alice Springs that day and only had about six hours left to go. Went on to the off-road track that travels through the aboriginal country and saw dozens of wild horses. A van with some people my age passed who seemed happy to have reached the end of the gravel road near Kings Canyon. We carried on and got loads of pictures of wild horses and a few serious four wheel drives stirring up plumes of dust and sand behind them when they passed us. We were doing a good effort and trying to hamper their view with our own dust trail, but well, my tires are a bit thinner (saves me fuel on the road). We reached a crossing that turned of to Hermansberg and Glen Hellen and chose the way to Glen Hellen. We had been warned that Hermansberg was only accessible to four wheel drives with enough ground clearance. Also Glen Hellen has the road with the nicer gorges, if more tourist. Along that way mum saw her first kangaroo, a scraggly looking thing, on the side of the road. Still alive fortunately. Carried on and went to have a look at a gorge just before reaching Glen Hellen, but we would have spent another hour trying to get there so pressed on. There was a lookout looking out over the McDonnell ranges nearly next to the road so had a quick stop and mum saw her first dingo duck in to the bush. 

Carried on to Glen Hellen and put 10l of fuel in to get to Alice and bought some food for the way. It was four thirty by then and we wanted to see a few gorges so pressed on. The first gorge we came to was Ormiston Gorge and as we drove in we saw it had a camp site. Instead of being stressed out to see the rest we decided to camp here for the night and after building up the tent and having some dinner had a look at the gorge without hundred of other tourists being around. Walked back and wrote the blog before going to bed.

Track at GPSies.  

Kings Canyon

Woke up in the morning felling better after yesterdays episode, but still not in top fit condition. After finally getting up with sore muscles from the cramps from yesterday I passed on breakfast whilst mum had a few cereals. Mum got most of the stuff packed up and we left for the car and packed it up. As we had come all this way to see Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuja (The Olgas) we went to a look out that wasn't quite in the National Park, so we didn't have to pay the fee to enter. At the lookout we each got a fair amount of pictures of the two rock mountain formations before proceeding to the petrol station. We had agreed on continuing on to Kings Canyon as we didn't want to spend another night in this freakishly expensive tourist centre. The fuel costing 2,03$ per litre was the last draw. I can understand it will be more expensive than Alice Springs or similar, but not over two dollars.

So we drove on to Kings Canyon, most of the day spent with mum driving the car. We passed a patch of freshly burned ground created by a bush fire the day before when we had passed. Nearly all the way back to Mt. Ebenezer before turning North up another type of highway. After a while this one started getting a bit hillier and rockier, as we were drawing closer to the Mc. Donnell Ranges.

Warnings for camels, kangaroos and livestock started appearing but the first wild animals we saw were some wild horses. Loads of them were seen on our journey further north. We reached Kings Creek Station and had a look at fuel prices and something to cool to drink. Got a drink but passed on the fuel as it had risen to 2,30$, which up till now is the highest I have seen in Oz. We had a look at Kings Canyon, but it was getting to late to actually walk anywhere, plus I wasn't felling up to scratch yet either. So we carried on to Kings Canyon Resort where we got a bed for the night. Wanted to have a look at the sunset on the mountain range, but due to the sky being full of clouds that didn't work. There were a lot of other tourists around, but not as many as to call it “silly season”. Mum cooked up some dinner after that and we had some rice and backed beans before heading off to bed. Just after we had booked in to the room a gecko scrambled across the wall and ceiling, but they take care of the flies that get in.

Track at GPSies.  

Rip-off Rock

Got up early this morning (4.00AM) to go and have a balloon flight over the McDonnell Ranges. We got picked up at the front of our hostel, and drove to pick up some more people after which we proceeded to a field close to the airport. Our balloon hadn't been blown up yet, as the pilot and crew were not to sure about the wind. It was a bit strong so they sent up a dummy and waited for another ten minutes to see if it would die down and we could carry on as planned. As the wind didn't die down, the flight was cancelled and we found ourselves back at the hostel earlier than planned.

Mum and me then proceeded to pack up for our journey to the Uluru/Kata Tjuja National Park, filled up the car with fuel and bought a few supplies for the journey. Then we set of for the hour long drive to the National Park. In total it would be somewhere between 500 and 600km, in Australian terms a short distance. We switched drivers a few times on the way there. In Erldunda we turned of the Stuart highway to carry on towards Yulara on the Lasseter highway. At this point my stomach started felling a bit weird, but nothing remotely bad. In Mt. Ebenezer we had some lunch and picked up a French guy who needed a journey to Yulara airport. We wondered how he had ended up there and it turned out he had lived in Kulgera for the last five months working as a chef in the roadhouse. Never cooked before that, but he seemed to have gotten used to it. He was on his way towards Melbourne to drive along the Great Ocean Road and then carry on to Tasmania. He himself came from Straßburg, so not that far from Germany actually. At some point along there my stomach really started playing up. It most likely didn't like the greasy chicken and chips I had for lunch. After we dropped Max (yes, same name as me) off in centre Yulara, we carried on to the camp site and mum organised a stay for two night (72$, for two night on an un-powered camp site?!) whilst I visited the toilets.

 Went and built up the tent after that and I had to go on the toilet again. At that point I realised something was very wrong. My body started tingling from the hands and feet up (like when they fall asleep) and I just managed to get back to the car and tell mum to drive me to the medical centre (luckily she had noticed it when we were driving in) before my whole body cramped up. As it was Saturday the medical centre was closed and after ringing and discussing money business over the phone, mum finally got a nurse to come. In the meantime I had managed to drop out of the car and lie down on the floor. Muscles everywhere were cramping up even worse, couldn't move my hands anymore and to top everything off my shoulder managed to drop out as well. At that point I didn't care anymore and just started screaming out (never had that pain before). In the end the nurse came, but I was starting to feel better before then (probably due to me throwing up). It turned out I had most likely contracted some type of virus which had sucked my stomach dry, thus resulting in near worst case dehydration. The nurse did a lot of check ups, told me what was wrong and put me on a drip for about an hour. She had just been in the process of packing for a holiday and said that dehydration was something they normally encountered around here, especially during summer. Due to me having the virus she recommended having a separate room for the night in an air conditioned climate. As it was for medical reasons we got a discount, but still had to pay 205$, for one night. I just went to bed, had as much to drink as I could and tried to get to sleep.

Track of the journey at GPSies.