A Railway Not Taken

Day 34 continued.

We arrived within minutes of our scheduled time, full from a lovely brunch on the Ghan as we passed the last few kilometres into Adelaide. Well fed, we made our way into downtown Adelaide to pick up our rental car. 

Once again we resurrected our mantra for left turns, “inside, inside, inside” and right turns, “outside, outside, outside” as those silly Australians also drive on the wrong side of the road.

We have an 80 kilometre ride to the small town of Victor Harbour where another train awaited our arrival. The drive would also take us through the self proclaimed, world renowned wine region of the Fleurieu Peninsula known for its Shiraz and Cab Sauvignon.  We stopped into Mt. Jagged Wines to check out those claims and found a $20 AUS bottle of Shiraz that was pretty tasty.

Victor Harbour is a pretty little town with lots of opportunities for things to do. My “must do” was a ride on the Cockle Steam Rail line from Victor Harbour to Goolwa and Port Elliot. Sadly we had arrived in a down period and the train was not running. Damn, missed the small print.

Photo- steamrangerrailway.com

Day 35 and there was still an option to scratch my rail itch, another rail line was available and running. An historic horse-drawn tram that once transported goods but now hauls tourists across a causeway to Granite Island that sits just off shore from Victor Harbour. Six Clydesdale take turns pulling the tram along a steel rail line across the causeway to the island. The line has been in operation since 1894.

We opted for the ride out and save money by walking back, racing the tram on our walk back. We would have won too but we stopped to catch a picture as the tram passed by.  

Since we could not take the train to Goolwa and Port Elliot, we decided to check them out before we made our way to Cape Jervis and our late afternoon ferry to Kangaroo Island.

Goolwa Beach is the main attraction for the little town. After reading the sign, I am not sure what the attraction was all about. 

Once on the beach, the reasoning became a bit more apparent although Nonie was on high snake alert. The temperatures were down in the low 20’s with a nasty wind chill and the surfers were all tucked away in their swanky beach clubhouse. Sipping hot toddies, I’m sure.  

Port Elliot is a cute little town, with many original buildings but once again the beach is its major attraction. At its inception, the hope was the town would become a major ocean port but Victor Harbour proved to be a better location.

Tomorrow we will wake up on Kangaroo Island with our main goal, to see some kangaroos in their natural environment. None so far. 

Gone, Gone, Ghan

If you have not guessed by now but I am a big fan of trains and if I can replace a plane ride with a train ride, then count me. So when I was researching our travels to Australia, I came across the Ghan. (Pronounced “gone”) 

Photo: junkee.com

One of the world’s greatest rail journeys, The Ghan, (named after the Afghan cameleers who, from the 1860s to the early 20th century, helped explore and build infrastructure in the outback) traverses Australia's wide open spaces. It goes from the pastoral hues of the South Australian hills and plains to the rusty Red Centre and the tropical greens of the Top End. On the way, you can explore the famous outback towns of Alice Springs and Katherine on whistle-stop tours. (Australia.com)

Once I read the hype, I was hooked, that is till I saw the price. Quickly calculating in my head, this 3 day train ride would work out to approximately $1.35 Aus per minute. On top of that would be the cost to fly to Darwin.  I quickly gave up idea but as time went on, I kept returning and returning and returning. At this point, I must apologize to the kids as their inheritances took a substantial hit on this trip.

Day 32

From Darwin, take in the remarkable Top End views before stopping in Katherine for an afternoon of unique touring. Prepare to experience one of the region’s most impressive natural wonders near Katherine. The stunning Nitmiluk Gorge lies within the massive 292,000 hectares of the Nitmiluk National Park, and you’ll have the chance to explore it from the water with guided cruise options – an experience you’ll never forget. (journeybeyondrail.com)

Thank goodness the bus was air-conditioned because Nitmiluk Gorge was not.

Day 33

Next stop is Alice Springs, where more Off Train Excursions await. Explore Simpson’s Gap, tour the town attractions, or get up close to some of the Red Centre’s native wildlife. Dinner on the train is followed by an extraordinary evening experience in the outback where you will see the Milky Way like you have never seen it before. Simply breathtaking. (journeybeyondrail.com)

The kangaroo steak was particularly tasty. Though the crocodile sausage was a close second. 

Nonie’s favourite stop was a visit to the Alice Springs School of the Air. The centre of Australia is a remote place. Families are spread out over 1000’s of square miles. The children are linked together through computer for classes and can interact with other students and with a teacher based in the School. 

Mine was a visit to the original site of Alice Springs.  It was the site of a telegraph station that serviced the area and was named Alice after the boss’s wife who never came near the place. Alice Springs is also not a spring but just a depression in the ground that would fill with water after heavy rains and was mistakenly thought to be a spring. 

All the original buildings are intact and are operated as a museum for Alice Springs 

 Day 34

From your cabin window this morning you’ll see a dramatic change in landscape, as the rich ochre tones of the outback make way for the green fields of South Australia. Enjoy a leisurely brunch as you pass through the majestic Flinders Ranges and prepare for your mid-morning arrival into Adelaide, completing one of the world’s great travel experiences.(journeybeyondrail.com)

We arrived in Adelaide right on time. 

Was the trip worth the expense. The jury is still out on that. But seeing the inside of Australia from the ground was definitely memorable and very sweaty.  

Cranky Crocs, Waterfalls, Fish Nips and New Friends

Day 28 dawned hot and humid with a plan to get some laundry done for our onward journey to Darwin tomorrow. Some time was spent downtown for one last look at Noosa Heads and some souvenir shopping. Christmas spirit was in the air but it seemed very weird at 35 C.

Day 29 had us catching a bus to Brisbane Airport and a late afternoon flight to Darwin. It was out of the frying pan and into the fire only with higher humidity. Arriving around midnight into Darwin, the temperatures were still in the high 30’s and forecast to hit 40 tomorrow.  

As forecast, Day 30 was a scorcher. We spent the morning exploring Darwin, moving from shady spot to shady spot while sweating buckets. During our exploration, we came across this sparkling wave pool. 

With the afternoon temperature hitting 41 C, the pool’s attraction was too much to resist.

Day 31 and we were off on a 12 hour guided tour of Litchfield National Park with Wallaroo Tours. We were a little early for tourist season so finding an operating tour was not easy. We lucked out when we walked in to Wallaroo tours to find a young family of six trying to book a tour. Not sounding  good, till we indicated we wanted the same tour. Eight being enough to confirm the tour.  

Let your worries fade away as you soak under a refreshing waterfall in the stunning Litchfield National Park. The plethora of thundering falls and cool plunge pools will entice to stay awhile and breathe in the serenity of the surrounding monsoon forest. When it’s time to wander, follow the waterfall walkways, visit historic ruins from pioneering day and stare in amazement at gigantic termite mounds that dot the landscape. (Australia.com)

We chose this tour as it was on my bucket list to gambol under a showering waterfall in some far away exotic place. Sounds great but didn’t quite work out the way I had imagined. Swimming into the falls is difficult as the current constantly tries to push you away.  When you do manage to fight your way under the falls, the force of the falling water pushes you down and the current sweeps you back and spits you out. Thus was the reality of gamboling under Wangi Falls. Oh, and uninhabited it was not. 

As we drove into the park, as advertised, termite mounds were everywhere.  

Termites do not live in these mounds but in the ground beneath them. The mounds have numerous tunnels and ducts that serve as a ventilation system for their nests. The larger (older) the nest the bigger the mound.

Gamboling at Florence Falls was not much better but we at least found it less inhabited thanks in part to the kilometre hike and numerous stairs that you needed to traverse to reach the pool. 

However we did find the pool inhabited by some lively fish, the colour of coal. Cute, that is till they started nipping at your legs if you quit moving, leaving little fish teeth marks on our  skin. The reality of gamboling under waterfalls just got darker.

From Florence Falls we took a short hike through the monsoon forest. Along the way Nonie made a new friend. The youngest son of the family of six had decided that he had had enough of his family and adopted Nonie for the rest of the trip. 

The temperatures had now climbed above 40 C with humidity off the chart. Did I mention this was a monsoon forest. Thankfully one last dip was waiting for us at the end.

I also made some friends but not of the cute children kind, more slithery. I was okay with this, till I asked the guy what kind of snake this was and he said "I am not sure, my son found it this morning. If he hasn't bit you now he probably won't."

The tour also advertised that a "Jumping Crocodile Adventure" was included with our exploration of Litchfield. Just the name made us a bit skeptical. This was reinforced upon meeting our Crocodile Dundee. He seemed  just a little too stereotypical an image of a crocodile guy.

Boy, were we wrong. The man delivered crocodiles beyond our expectations. His secrets, were chicken carcasses and doing the tour for over 25 years on this stretch of the river.

As we slowly traveled along the river, the crocodiles would recognize the sound of his motor, and glide out to greet him knowing a snack was on its way.

The jaws of a crocodile can slam shut with a force of 16,460 newtons or  37,000 pounds per square inch (psi) for you Americans. The most jaw pressure of any other animal. The noise he made when his jaws slam shut over the carcass was deafening.

At one of his stops, two very old, very big crocodiles arrived. One completely blind and the other just mean. There was a tussle, much hissing and a lot of snapping with the blind one dining on a chicken carcass.

With the sun setting we headed back to Darwin to watch the sunset and feast on huge, freshly caught prawns washed down with cold glasses of champagne.

It was also time for Nonie to say goodbye to her new friend and return him to his family. He did not go willingly. I can understand completely.

Let Sleeping Dingoes Lie (or is it Lay)

Day 27 and it was up for an early 6:00 am departure to Rainbow Beach to catch a ferry to Fraser Island. We were picked up by a unique large four wheel drive bus. We would come to understand the need for this mode of transportation over the next 9 hours.

Fraser Island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world and is a declared world heritage site.

About 700 million years ago Antarctica had mountain ranges that rival the modern-day Himalayas. These mountain ranges were eroded with the resulting sands being accumulated on the continental shelf where Fraser Island now lies.

Periodic changes in the earth's temperature have created changes in sea levels which have helped to form the island. During these periods dune building was at its most prolific with sand sweeping across the island faster than plants could stabilize it. This loose, bare sand formed U or V-shaped parabolic dunes which then stabilized over time. This dynamic landscape has formed a series of overlapping sand dune systems dating back at least 700 000 years. The shifting sands of Fraser Island, and those of nearby Cooloola, have continually concealed and revealed a unique geological history.

(fraserisland.net)

The island has rain forests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, wallum and peat swamps, sand dunes and coastal heaths. It is made up of sand that has been accumulating for approximately 750,000 years on volcanic bedrock that provides a natural catchments for the sediment which is carried on strong offshore current northwards along the coast. Unlike on many sand dunes, plant life is abundant due to the naturally occurring mycorrhizal fungi present in the sand, which release nutrients in a form that can be absorbed by the plants.  Fraser Island is home to a small number of mammal species as well as a diverse range of birds, reptiles and amphibians, including the occasional saltwater crocodile. (wikipedia)

A bouncy 90 minute ride brought us to Rainbow Beach and the ferry that would take us to Fraser Island. There is no real landing so the ferry just lines up on a clear patch of beach and drops his ramp.

The crossing takes about 30 minutes with the landing process duplicated on the other side on to the aptly named 75 Mile Beach.   

There are no paved roads on Fraser Island so 75 Mile Beach serves as the main road around the island.  The beach is a listed and gazetted highway with speed limits, no parking zones and 

landing strips. There is a highway patrol who can be found setting up speed traps along the beach. The beach tends to disappear around high tide so sandy single one-way tracks are used to get around the island as well as into the interior areas of the island. 

With over 380,000 visits annually, mostly during the holiday periods, the beach can get pretty congested. With the Christmas holidays fast approaching, it its expected that over 35,000 people will visit and camp along 75 Mile Beach.

Our first stop of the day was for a walk in Eli Creek. The water is so clear that when you are looking at the creek from a distance, the water disappears from view and you only see the bottom of the creek. As rain falls, it is filtered by the sand and sediments that cover the island producing water clean enough to drink straight from the creek.That is if you can get over the thousands of people who use it as a hiking path. 

While water is safe, the beach has been  tough on ships traversing the Coral Sea. The Maheno can be found rusting away on the beach. Built in 1904, caught in a cyclone in 1936, it was washed up onto the beach. They attempted to re-float the ship but after many unsuccessful tries, it was abandoned. Legends say the wreck became sacred to the aboriginals who would gather to play the didgeridoo and women who would come to the site to give berth. The above above should be taken with a grain of salt. The ship did have an eerie vibe about it.

Next stop was the Pinnacles. Here erosion  gave us a peek into the make-up of the island. Showing us the layers that 750,000 years of sand and sediment has come to cover the island. 

With the temperatures moving into the high 30's, it was on to the single tracks and into the interior of the island for a cooling swim in Lake McKenzie. Like the creek, the waters here are filtered by the island and are as pristine as any I have ever seen.

The road in was a bumpy, rut filled thrill ride. 

Heading home, we checked off the last of the must see items of a visit to Fraser Island. 

Dingoes baby!

The dingoes of Fraser Island are said to be some of the purest of the breed. It is estimated that there are up to 25 packs of dingoes living on the island. A pack has around 3 to 12 dingoes. Dingoes for the most part avoid human contact, but on the island they have become habituated and it is not uncommon to find them near human settlements. These dingoes showed no fear of our vehicle as we encountered them on the beach.  

Petting was not encouraged by our guide. 

In April 2019, a small child was dragged from his bed and carried away while camping on Fraser Island. Thankfully, his father was able to fend off the dingoes and rescue his child. 

Let Sleeping Koalas Lie (or is it Lay)

Day 26 and we were off to catch a bus to Australia’s Zoo located in Beerwah about a two hour drive from Noosa Heads.  This 1000 acre zoo, containing most of the indigenous fauna of Australia is famous for its Crocoseum. The Crocoseum seats 5,000 and was the home of Steve Irwin, Australia’s real Crocodile Dundee. 

He was famously known for hand feeding and wrestling crocodiles for Crocoseum shows and TV. Sadly he was killed by the sting of a jelly fish.  His wife and children continue to operate the zoo. 

It was going into the low 30’s today so the crocs were going be fearsome

and the kangaroos dopey. 

While we are not big fans of zoos, the Irwin’s have done a bang up job providing reasonably sized  habitats that replicate the ecosystems of the animals that inhabit them.

Still, it would be much better seeing them in there natural habitat. 

Besides the crocs, the stars of the zoo are the kute, kuddly koalas. Today's heat had them catching a few zzzs. Even asleep, they are still so darn kuuuuute.