From Bald Rock to the ‘Bungles and Beyond!

We last left you in Byron Bay.  From there, we headed a few hours west to camp at Bald Rock National Park.  It is here we saw our first kangaroos up close, as a few lived near our campsite.  We also had several kookaburras (who really do laugh) lingering about, hoping we’d leave food unattended.  And, we saw our first Crimson Rosella Parrot.  crimson rosella parrot images  (Australia has an unbelievable number of colorful bird species!)

It is also here we met some lovely “gray nomads”, including Fran and Greg.  Gray Nomads is what Aussies call the many retired people who travel around the country in campers.  Fran and Greg are seasoned world travelers and were keen on hearing about our adventures, as well as sharing some very helpful tips on places to go.  They even invited us to visit their home in Linden (which we later did).

After a couple of lovely days in Bald Rock we started our 5 hour journey to our next wilderness destination, which we did not make.  Several hours into our drive we stopped for petrol, where Doug acted on muscle memory and put unleaded fuel in our diesel engine (something we’ve learned happens with amazing regularity).  Oops.  15K down the road there was no fuel injection.  So, we got to test our new road service for a tow, and stayed at The Rex Tamworth, a blend of old inn/hostel/college dorm that until a couple of years ago was a halfway house for ex-prisoners, and originally a flop house.  In other words, it had character.  It also had foster kittens–a highlight for Ella and Helen.  It was Thanksgiving Day, so we had Thai takeout (of course).  The next day we were doing a happy dance as we paid a mere $300 mechanic bill (the cost of draining the fuel tank and replacing the filter–a far sight better than the cost of replacing an engine).

We had arranged a couple of weeks earlier to return to Narrabeen and share a real  Thanksgiving dinner with our Aussie Norris cousins.  There’s not much traditional about roasting a turkey and baking pies when it’s 90 degrees out, but it worked.  We had 8 of us around our makeshift Thanksgiving table, with all the traditional foods as well as some delicious vegan dishes (Ella and Helen have been vegan for 8 months now).  Ariel’s friend Alex joined us again–a very fun addition to the clan!

We bid a heartfelt, sad goodbye to the Norrises.  Ariel and the girls have formed an especially sweet family bond.

While back in Narrabeen, we went to the beautiful Baha’i Temple, a church whose philosophy we appreciate.

After leaving our Norris cousins for the second time we headed to Oakville 1.5 hours west of Sydney to visit Julie and Graem Gale, friends of our Maine friends Judy and Ken Segal.  Graem, Julie and her mother Jean welcomed us like old friends, setting us up with a lovely room and cooking a delicious meal, complete with Graem’s home-brewed beer and cider (worthy of pubs, for sure!).  We knew we’d see this sweet couple again, as they often visit their daughter in Yarmouth, Maine.  Little did all of us realize just how soon we’d see them, until they invited us to housesit two weeks later!

After leaving the lovely Gales we spent two nights camping at Dunphy’s Camp in the Blue Mountain National Park.  The mountains really do have a blue haze to them, caused by the eucalypt trees.  We shared our campsite with some 20 or more kangaroos, and many cockatoos.  Here we got to use our new solar panel Doug purchased to keep our batteries strong, which worked like a charm.  

 

While at the Blue Mountains our gray nomad friends Fran and Greg Hausfeld called to invite us to their home, which we happily accepted.  We wanted to get to know these nice  people more!  On the way there we hiked the Grand Canyon–much smaller than our Arizona Grand Canyon but absolutely gorgeous.  We also stopped to see the famous “Three Sisters” rock formation.  

 

 

 

 

We spent three nights with Fran and Greg, enjoying many long chats over coffee and dinner, and a hike at the nearby section of the Blue Mt Park.  Their neighbor showed us an intriguing bower bird’s creation.  The male bower bird has one role in life–impress female bower birds by building a showy sculpture of sticks and blue plastic.  Yes, blue plastic, with an occasional purple or green-blue piece thrown in.  The female looks on and decides, “Eh”, or “Woo-Hoo!”  If it’s a “woo-hoo” the two bower birds hop into the bower and do their very quick bird-and-the-bees-thing, and that’s the end of their relationship.  The bower sculpture you see below was assembled in just a few hours’ time, and has been moved by the male bower bird twice.  He continues to add to the bower with stolen blue plastic clothes hanger clips and blue milk jug rings to really impress the ladies.

 

 

We hugged our wonderful new friends good-bye and headed to the Warrumbungle National Park, or “The Bungles” as it’s referred to.  After a couple hours of driving, happily chowing on fresh cherries (it’s the season here!), our car started to rev high and lose power.  We had been told previously that our clutch would need replacing soon, but should last awhile longer.  Could this be it?  We hobbled our car into the nearest town of Dunedoo.  It was 5pm with no open garages in this very rural area.  We were here for the night.  We checked out the nearest inn, an old crusty place with a friendly bar maid who gave us room keys to explore our options, which included ancient, dingy lime green bedrooms with windows that hadn’t been washed in 20 years, and walls that could tell many stories.  We probably could have gotten a deal to pay by the night instead of the hour, but we opted for the simple Black Swan Motel nearby.  The next morning Doug hobbled the truck up to a mechanic, who said, “Your clutch is gone, and I’m busy until Christmas” (it was only December 4).  After googling many garages in the bigger town of Dubbo 40 miles away, the 5th one said they could fix our clutch in a few days’ time.  

He said it wouldn’t hurt the clutch further to try and drive our car the 40 miles, so we gave it a whirl.  After 12K the car went from a crawl to a stall.  We walked to a nearby farmhouse to use their phone, as we had no cell phone reception.  No one home, so we tried to figure out our CB radio that came with the car.  It was a really hot day so we ran the car for a few minutes for the AC, until it started spewing smelly smoke.  A ute (Kiwi and Aussie word for pickup truck) pulled in ahead of us and a woman jumped out yelling, “Your car’s on fire!!”  The girls jumped out and sought safety near the woman while Doug and I frantically started throwing items out of the car, partly to save things but mostly to find the fire extinguisher, which was of course stored in the back, in a box, under some dish towels.  (We never thought we’d actually have to use the darn thing!!)  It is now directly under the driver’s seat…  

Doug gave up on finding our extinguisher and was using one of our 22 liter water canisters to douse the fire directly under the middle of the truck when another truck pulled up and the driver jumped out with a fire extinguisher.  The good Samaritan fell over Doug before spraying the fire out instantly, then jumping back into his truck and driving off.  It was like Batman had showed up, only weighing 115 kilos, wearing work jeans and a tee shirt, and driving an old flatbed semi.  We were left in fumes with our original helpers who had just answered “Maybe” to Helen’s question, “Could our truck blow up?”  

In search of cell phone reception to call our faithful road service, I got into the cab of the small ute with Linda and Dave.  Turns out Dave is a professional jockey (which wasn’t surprising with his petite stature and high pitched voice, yet rugged sensibility).  10K down the road we finally got phone service and ordered a tow truck.  Dave and Linda returned me to Doug and the girls, who’d just finished picking up our belongings we’d littered on the side of the road.  The only casualties were a pair of sunglasses, 3 plastic plates, and Ella stepping on a prickly plant, landing 8 spines in her foot she didn’t notice until later.  All in all, we were feeling pretty lucky.

It was hot, so we took a few camping chairs from the roof and chased the shade in the nearby driveway while swatting away flies.  Two hours later our calm and stalwart tow truck driver Alan pulled up.  The road service had said we could all ride in the tow truck,  which was technically correct but legally not-so-much.  Legal schmeegel; we all squeezed in until the next shire of Elong Elong (emphasis on LONG) where Helen and I were deposited.  Doug and Ella drove to Dubbo in the tow truck while Helen and I spent the next three hours near Elong Elong’s only shop, the agricultural store/petrol stop.  This shire was not at all like the shire where lovely hobbits happily drink beer, sing, and dance.  It’s basically a place where some people decided to live near one another, perhaps because they too broke down but didn’t have a tow truck to save them?  At one point I took a walk around said shire, where I heard slight sounds of life from only two of the 20 small homes.

Three hours later Doug and Ella beeped, waved, and arrived with ceremony in a cobalt blue Mitsubishi, tunes cranked and smiles on their faces.  Helen and I jumped in and we all happily drove to Dubbo, where we spent three seemingly luxurious nights in one room at The Australian Heritage Hotel.  It was near some good restaurants and our fabulous mechanic, so we were happy non-campers.  

While in Dubbo we went to the botanical garden, which turns out was under reconstruction.  We thought we might still be able to get a peak inside so walked closer and were enjoying the pretty Japanese structures when we were “greeted” by a large, ferocious german shepherd lunging at us behind the entrance gate.  Who knew Botanical Gardens needed such high security??  “No dramas”, as many Aussies say.  We’ll just go to the observatory tonight.

Funny, but the observatory looked awfully dark, even for an observatory.  Turns out reservations weren’t recommended but were essential, and no one else apparently wanted to observe that night so we were out of luck.  That’s okay, tomorrow we’ll visit the old jail.  Joke’s on you, American tourists!  “Old jail closed on December 6 for blah, blah, blah….”. 

Doug did get in two rounds of disc golf while in Dubbo (and even set the course record!), and we were all happy when our car was fixed on day 3, costing only $1,500 AUDs (about 1,250 USDs).  The very nice mechanic we used, Pat Crowley, showed us the fly wheel when we picked up our car.  It looked like a metal plate and was the talk of the shop, having even drawn in mechanics from nearby garages.  What impressed them was the complete lack of its usual protective coating, a rugged material (typically about 4mm thick) that covers both sides but had been worn away.  In his 40 years repairing cars Pat had never seen a flywheel so completely destroyed.  The garage was planning to keep it with the intention of turning it into a wall clock so mechanics could continue to marvel at its utter destruction.

The car was as good as new, so off we went to Warrumbungle National Park.  I haven’t mentioned yet that Ella is a fabulous DJ, and chooses music suitable to the mood of whatever drive we’re taking.  We’ve also been listening to the novel Cloud Street by Tim Winton, a great read (excellent on audio) we all highly recommend.

The “Bungles” is a gorgeous area, with oodles of kangaroos in the campsites, beautiful canyon views, and amazing open skies for stargazing.  We spent 3 nights at Blackman 2 campsite, which had free hot showers and drinking water–woo-hoo!  While there we enjoyed two great hikes–the Grand Tops and Split Rock trails.  The Grand Tops is listed on Australia’s top 10 hikes, quite understandably.  

Helen was not up for our first long hike in the heat, so she took the opportunity to have alone time back at the campsite.  While she was doing some videotaping, a joey (young kangaroo) came right up to her.  We’d heard from a ranger there was one about who was likely raised by humans during its earliest age, and therefore was quite tame and friendly.  Helen spent a good 20 minutes with it, feeding it rice crackers it actually shared from her mouth.  What an experience!!  

And in case you’re wondering, “Do kangaroos actually box?” here’s a video I took one morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfKPdH9ZvbU&feature=youtu.be

Kangaroos otherwise have ignored us or hopped away if we’ve gotten too close.  Helen was photographing one who gave her a warning grunt when she got to within 3 meters of it.  They are capable of standing up for themselves with a swipe, or their dangerous hind legs kicking.  The other risk with kangaroos is their jumping in front of cars, which happens frequently at dusk and night.  We avoid driving in the dark, though one night (successfully) visited a planetarium and while we were driving killed a young kangaroo that jumped in front of our truck.  The whole event lasted a split second.  There is no way to avoid them; one just has to protect the car by not driving at night if possible, and having a bull bar on the front grill.

On a happier note, the planetarium was fascinating.  I’ve never studied much astronomy, though find it absolutely mind blowing.  While our instructor pointed out galaxies, planets and stars on the 5 telescopes we were using, there were other telescopes in several dome buildings that would from time to time rotate a bit, controlled remotely by astronomers who were accessing them for research from all over the world.  Of course what we could see was quite different than our usual stargazing, partly due to the amazing equipment, but largely due to being in the southern hemisphere.  The whole experience was exciting and wondrous, and reminded me of how unfathomably huge the world is and how thankfully insignificant I am!  I am quickly forgetting many of the constellations, nebulas and even the two galaxies we saw, but Ella’s keen eye and memory are helping us out when stargazing.  

After the ‘Bungles we stopped for a night at Dunn’s Swamp Campground in Wollemi National Park.  Our highlight there was actually the cicadas, which have a major hatch every 7 years or so.  The cicadae live in their larvae forms underground for 6 to 12 years (depending on the species, of which there are 200).  We woke up to the loud, steady screech of some thousands of male cicadas (the only ones who sound).  Ella and Helen were collecting hundreds of the interesting husks left behind on trees and shrubbery when they came upon several hatchings in process.  The hatching takes about 90 minutes from beginning to end.  The visible part of the hatching begins with the back casing cracking open, the cicada head peeking out, then its body very slowly following.  Lastly its wings dry for an hour or so before it flies off.  Their life hardly seems worth it, as they mate and have a fairly short life (average of a few weeks) either dying by being swooped into a bird’s mouth, or by a parasitic fly laying eggs which then hatch and feast on the innocent cicada.  As Simon and Garfunkel sing,  “I’d rather be a sparrow than a snail (or cicada).”  

https://australianmuseum.net.au/cicadas-superfamily-cicadoidea

After a cooling dip in the lake at Dunn’s Swamp we headed back to the home of Julie and Graem Gale.  We got to enjoy another evening with them, as well as Julie’s sister and family who were delivering their two birds and one bunny for us to care for while they all went on a 4-day family cruise to Frazer Island.  Housesitting for these lovely people was a bit like staying at a resort, as the house is a large, sprawling modern place with lovely gardens, a gym, and a swimming pool.  It was extremely hot (between 90 and 108 farenheit!) for 3 of the days were were there, so the comfort of air conditioning and the pool were godsends.  When they returned happy from their trip we had lunch with them and said another goodbye to new friends, who we’ll see someday when their visiting their daughter in Maine!

Onward to Melbourne!  But first, an epic evening at an old farm Airbnb in Berremangra, where we were greeted by hundreds of galahs.  Galahs are one of the many gorgeous cockatoos in Australia, with rose colored heads and breasts.  galah images  The big sky and winds gave the threat of a rainstorm as we tromped up the craggy hill side, startling a wallaby and many sheep but taking care to not startle snakes.  There we watched a most elemental sunset complete with thunder and distant lightning.

If you’d like to read more about our travels, I’ve shared Doug’s email to his parents that gives further detail.

December 2, 2017

“Hi Mom and Dad,

Just checked and the last time I wrote was from Byron Bay back on November 19^th.  Really nice getting to chat with you all at the lake on Thanksgiving, and here’s a written account that will get you up to speed on this 2^nd day of summer here in Aus.

We had a pretty key Airbnb in Byron Bay that served as our home base for about 5 days (enjoying the comfort of beds and internet) following that fine coastal camping stretch over my birthday.  Our home was a 10 minute walk from the downtown stretch of restaurants, bars and shops, a major tourist/backpacker hub that stretched down to a popular beach and surf scene.  The lighthouse on the east side of town sits on a hill and is distinguished as being the eastern most point of Australia, first to see the sunrise, along with Mt Warning up in the Border Ranges national park, a bit inland and north of Byron Bay.  I ran up to the lighthouse once, and another time we drove up to watch a sunset, more popular I’m guessing with the young backpacker set than sunrises, which come early at about 5:45am these days.  Mt Warning, interestingly, was recommended by our hosts back in Port Macquarie as an iconic climb and we had planned on visiting the national park after Byron Bay.  We later learned that the aboriginal community is requesting that people do not climb the mountain (known to the indigenous people as Wollumbin) as it is sacred and not to be visited by the uninitiated.  This has been understandably contentious, similar with the restriction aboriginals have put in recent years against climbing Ayers Rock (Uluru).  We were pretty clear upon hearing of this that we’d respect their request, deciding instead to give the Border Ranges a complete miss and head instead further west to an area of New South Wales known as New England (high tableland country right on the border of Queensland) to camp for a couple of nights in Bald Rock national park.  Sweet little camping area, super quiet and basic, with no amenities other than toilets, fire rings and picnic tables.  There we had our first good close up encounters with camp kangaroos, eastern grey ones, in fact, along with a possum (nothing like our opossums) that licked our vegan chili plates clean one night as we sat around the campfire.  Bald rock itself was pretty special, a single giant granite rock (biggest in Australia) that looms up about 600 ft above the surrounding landscape.  We climbed it twice.  I’ll attach a photo of the 2^nd climb, when it rained, allowing for slippery conditions but some pretty cool images.

We left on Thursday, planning to drive south to a campsite within about 4 hours of Sydney, poised to arrive at an Airbnb near the Norris’s for a Friday night connection, then a full on Thanksgiving feed that we planned to host on Sunday.  We had made it about 4 hours south, close to our camping destination, when I had the “middle age moment” that I told you about the next day.  In my sorry defense, my whole life I’ve been filling up vehicles with unleaded and never diesel and didn’t fully appreciate how muscle memory kicks in when doing certain mundane tasks.  It wasn’t until about 15 km’s south of the fuel station that our Landcruiser began to buck and shudder.  Anna was driving and managed to pull off the road (the busy, 2 lane New England Hwy just south of Tamworth) before the car stalled.  It wasn’t til then that sickening realization began dawning on me.  I still wasn’t sure, but couldn’t remember flipping up the diesel lever I’d seen the only other 2 times I’d filled up the tank, the one that said something like “beware this is diesel and not unleaded”.  We called the number for the tow service included when purchasing car insurance, then googled likely vehicle damage resulting from running unleaded fuel through diesel engines.  That’s when I started to feel physically ill, as the message was that this mistake was the mechanical equivalent of a gunshot to the head.

Three cool things happened as a result of this breakdown, and the happy end result was no damage to our vehicle.  We drove out of town exactly 24 hours later, being charge by a local garage only for 2 hours labor (draining the 2 tanks) along with 40 liters of new diesel.  The mechanic I spoke with said he wasn’t surprised that the car suffered no harm, considering it was a Landcruiser and built to be indestructible.  The first cool thing was how the girls and Anna reacted to my boneheaded blunder.  Total support and understanding, and a conviction that this was meant to be and somehow perfect.  The second was an interesting story I heard from the tow truck driver, a quiet old local who’d never been far from Tamworth and had helped at accident scenes for 40 years.  We chatted for quite a while waiting for a taxi to show up and at one point he mentioned he wasn’t driving his own truck, which was (ironically) being worked on at the smash repair shop he worked for.  When I asked what happened to his truck he sheepishly told me it was all due to a lolly.  Apparently a fortnight earlier he’d been driving his truck when a piece of candy got lodged in his windpipe and he lost consciousness.  If he’d rolled into a field he likely would have died, but instead he knocked over a utility pole and drove into a tree, the impact causing significant damage to his tow truck but dislodging the lolly and saving his life.  He showed me phone images he’d taken upon regaining consciousness, uninjured, and seeing the electrical fire caused by downed power lines.  I’m guessing it’s not too often a car accident saves someone’s life, and I got to hear of just such an account first hand.  Pretty cool, huh?  Then the 3^rd really nice thing resulting from our breakdown was meeting the woman, Jody, who owns The Rex hotel we stayed in.  I won’t go into too much detail on this but just a great personality and story of how she’d acquired the hotel, a rambling building that had been a flop house in the 1930s, then a half-way house up to the time she’d bought it 8 years earlier.  She described the place when she bought it as pretty feral, with the owner barricaded in one corner of the building and the convicts set against any changes in management.  After emptying the building she enticed local “chippies and brickies” to live in the building, free of charge, in exchange for fixing up rooms they chose to stay in.  Similarly, early days when guests showed up she’d give them a hex key and offer to let them stay cheap if they’d unpack a box to assemble their bed for the night.  It’s still the cheapest hotel in town, a real old fashioned dormitory style affair with holes in the roof (it hardly ever rains in Tamworth) but we all loved her and her place, and the cute kittens she was fostering.  The next day check out was at 10 but we ended up staying until almost 6 when our car was finally ready.  Jody was fine with us hanging out in our 2 rooms and using her internet but we did get her to let us help with some room cleaning and maintenance, moving a few beds around in preparation for a group of Taiwanese laborers being flown in to work in the local abattoir.  Wow.  Great stuff and world schooling at its finest.

After our late exit from Tamworth we rolled back into Narrabeen, north of Sydney, about midnight on Friday.  Great spot at the end of a small street right on the edge of a long beach and estuary, but a bit cramped for hosting Thanksgiving.  The meal was pulled off, however, with great success, a true joint Norris-Strout effort and oh-so delicious, complete with 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies divided amongst the 8 of us (4 Strouts, 3 Norri and Alex, Ari’s particular friend who we’d been previously acquainted with during our first stay around Halloween and Ella’s birthday).  So fine to spend more time with our Aussie cousins and hoping to see them state-side if/when they get to the east coast (and maybe?) a lake visit in the next year or 2.

Then last Monday we headed out of Sydney once again and headed west to Oakville, near the eastern edge of the Blue mountains, where we visited with friends of friends of ours in Maine.  Julie and Graeme have 2 grown kids, one of whom married a Mainer so now they have grandkids in Yarmouth and hence the Maine connection.  We spent a lovely evening with them and her 94 year old mother in a spectacular, gated home in a rural farming community.  We spent the night in a living suite above the garage and the girls had some quality time in the pool off their veranda.  When we arrived Julie showed us the body of a red backed spider she’d killed with bug spray before we arrived, a tiny thing whose bite can cause death but mostly just an ER visit and 2 week recovery period.  Yikes.  The next afternoon we dragged ourselves away and spent 2 nights camping at Dunphy’s campground near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, a remote campsite only accessible up a long 4 wheel drive track though several closed cattle gates.  This was another primitive site with no amenities other than a toilet, but a beautiful location complete with sunshine for our new solar panels to keep our battery charged and fridge cool.  This was the site where we got so used to seeing kangaroos they were no longer commented on.  Lots of greys, all pretty unconcerned by us campers but loving the grassy camping area, especially in the early morning and late afternoons.  I also had a nice nature encounter while out on a walk with a shy echidna, looking much like a hedgehog with a long thin nose, the better to hold his long sticky tongue designed to gather insects and especially termites.  A couple of old campers (grey nomads) later told me it’s possible to pick them up and flip them on their backs, the better to admire their soft furry bellies and cutie little faces.  I’ll let you know how that works next time we find one.

Then Thursday this week we drove back out to civilization, admiring some spectacular great views right in the heart of the Blue Mountains called the Grand Canyon (where we did a 5km loop hike) and a much photographed geological formation called the Three Sisters.  We then drove a few km’s down the road to visit a couple (more grey nomads) we’d met while camping up at Bald Rock.  Fran and Greg are super nice and have a comfortable place right up in the mountains that we’ve been enjoying now for 3 nights.  Tomorrow we’ll tear ourselves away, once again, and head out for another 7 days of camping, this time in 3 different national parks, all north and west of here.  This is a change from our original travel plans.  We had planned on spending the next 10 days working our way down the coast south of Sydney and on to Melbourne, where we’d rented an Airbnb near the city for 7 days in mid-December.  However, while camping this week Anna and the couple we’d stayed with in Oakville (Julie and Graeme) were exchanging email pleasantries when Julie remarked it was a shame we couldn’t be around to house sit for them over an upcoming 5 day trip they’re taking up to Fraser Island.  The 4 of us (Strouts) hashed over the logistics, pro and con, and decided we’d all love to hunker down at their luxurious place for a few days, the better to do some writing and school work and such.  We cancelled our Melbourne Airbnb and now plan on driving there straight from Oakville, leaving on the 15^th and arriving in Melbourne on the 17^th, then on to Adelaide for Christmas.  Between now and the 10^th, when we show up for our housesitting gig we had intended to drive south a ways down the coast, beach camping then spending 3 days canoe camping on a river in the Kangaroo Valley.  Then yesterday we got a weather report that there is a major rain event heading up from Victoria which will be saturating the coast and mountain ranges for the next 4 days, not ideal beach camping conditions.  Back to the drawing board and with Fran and Greg’s input we settled on some superb camping locations (some of their favorites) about 6 hours north and west of here, and predicted by the local weather site to be sunny and lovely for the whole week to come.  So this is how we’re rolling these days, fast and loose and seeking the sun.

It’s 11pm now and the kids and Anna just went to bed.  Ella’s plan is to attend church near here tomorrow morning, then we’ll hit the road.  That reminds me, I need to tell you, another time, about a great Baha’i temple service we attended last Sunday.  Really inspiring inclusional religion and fun that they have an important educational center right in Eliot Maine, near the NH border.  Hope you all are cozy in your beds still, 8 hours ahead of us yesterday…I guess that’s Saturday morning?

Love, love from another time and place,

Doug”