What a Dive!

We spent a wonderful, lazy week chillaxing with Ken and Lil on their beautiful Moonbeam enjoying wonderful dinners, homemade cookies, a movie or two, and a few good laughs.  As much as we were enjoying our time together it was time for Jens and me to leave for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) on a dive expedition.

We boarded our new live aboard, Taka, around 4PM and met 28 new dive friends, or should I say dive fiends.  Over the course of the next three days we would be doing 15 dives while looking for Dwarf Minky Whales.  

The Minky whales are in this region for a couple of months having swum up from the Antarctic.  The researchers know very little about these little whales and aren't sure why they are here.  They do know that they are as curious about humans as dolphins are and when they spot a dive boat, they always come round to check us out.  That's when the crew string out a couple of lines from the boat as we don our masks, snorkels and fins and jump in for a chance to get up close and personal with these giant dwarfs.

Hanging on a line to say 'heellllloooo' to a whale.

'Spud' the potato cod.  If you think he's big, you should see his mother. 

It was all great fun with lots of good food and snacks between the diving.  Feeling completely waterlogged after some superb diving and whale spotting, we're back to Moonbeam for a couple of days before we continue our journey south.  

In the meantime, KiaRoo has had an easy life hanging in the parking lot and getting a little TLC from the Captain.  

Moonbeam at Sea

The sky was clear and the winds were favorable.   It would have been criminal to keep a yacht like Moonbeam tethered to the dock on a day like this.  We headed off for a sail to Fitzroy Island.  It isn't far to Fitzroy; just long enough to get the sails up and to feel the fresh sea wind on your face.  For all the times I have been a guest on SY Moonbeam, this is the first time sailing on her.  She is a lovely boat but I am a little partial because she is also an Island Packet.  

We arrived to Fitzroy, had lunch, did a little snorkeling and watched a beautiful sunset over the mainland.  Not so bad.

Hanging on a Moonbeam

....It's been a while since our last blog ...we made it to the East coast visiting Cooktown and Cape Tribulation along the way to Cairns.  Both these towns are famous thanks to the illustrious Captain Cook who has left his imprint in many places in the Southern Hemisphere.

Once again we took the road less traveled and I was thankful we had a 4wd and a good driver behind the wheel.  But we did get stuck on a muddy hill and I was ready to walk the rest of the way if needed when along came our rescuers.  They took the time to unhitch their trailer and hitch up KiaRoo pulling us all the way up the hill to solid road.  A huge thank you to the kindness of Mark and Robyn in their Toyota Land Cruiser.  

The coast is lovely here, but the signs warning of crocodiles kind of put you off going in for a swim. The weather had been rather poor this past week; cool, very windy and raining, so we were happy to meet up with Ken and Lil in Cairns and take a break from our traveling.  We'll spend the next week hanging out on Moonbeam at the Yorkey's Knob Marina.

The weather is clearing up nicely (now that Denise and Betty have left) so it's time to provision and get out of port for a couple of days.  

Ancient and Modern Seas

The geography of Australia is as old as time itself.  We discovered the ancient inland seabed and it's fascinating fossils in a small town called Richmond on our way to the coast.

Richmond has an incredible little museum full of fossils found in the area.  We were camping next to a Canadian couple who have volunteered at the museum and on digs in the area for months at a time over the past few years.  Barb and Gary, both retired school teachers, are exploring a passion of theirs here in the outback, living in a humble tent and spending their days hunched over their latest find, slowly peeling back the years of sediment to uncover the mysteries of the marine life in prehistoric times.  Having already discovered several new species dating back more than 100 million years, they believe there is still a lot to be discovered.

Gary, hard at work on their latest project. 

Barb, in front of a display of one of their many finds.

Fossilised marine creatures are being found in almost fully intact conditions. 

And now we are back on the coast, to a town called Townsville.  We spent the day out in the water diving the wreck Yongala and looking at the incredible modern day sea life.  The SS Yongala sunk in 1911 with 121 passengers on board.  They never knew where it sank and it wasnt until 1943 when a Navy minesweeper identified an object which was later investigated and identified as a fair size steamship lying in its side in about 24 meters of water.  It lay there untouched until 1958 when the first divers went down and identified it as the Yongala.  

The Yongala has an amazing variety of new residents - turtles, bull rays, eagle rays, giant trevallies, barracuda, bat fish, etc.  It makes for an interesting but solemn dive knowing this is the watery grave of 121 souls.    

Updating our CV's.

You all may think we have been on one long vacation since leaving the corporate world in October of 2011.  I can tell you, that is not the case.  The work involved in this traveling around is equvalent to running a small business and to ensure a smooth and successful operation means we each have important roles to play.  Because it is only a two man operation, as you can expect, we wear more than one hat.

I won't go into details of our company and bore you with its operating plan and strategic priorities, but to give you an idea, this business is not unlike ours.

And as we are now thinking ahead to the day when we will re-enter the corporate world, we are wondering how the past years' experiences and responsibilities will fit on a CV.  

So, let's start with Jens' many roles:

1.  Captain:  the responsibilities of a Captain are quite similar to a Vice President of a company.  They both have nice titles and carry overall responsibility particularly in times of crisis, but in the day to day operations they don't have much say in what actually goes on.  One key administrative task is to maintain the Captain's Log.

2.  Chief Engineer:  Responsible for maintenance of sail boat, dinghy and now vehicle.  The Chief Engineer is responsible for energy supply, refrigeration, sanitation systems, water supply and all related equipment.  Must ensure all systems are in excellent operating condition; plan and execute regular maintenance activities and do repairs as needed.  Must have an appropriate level of spare parts on hand keeping in mind the limited storage space.  Skills required to be successful in this role are a good working knowledge of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems with the ability to troubleshoot and repair systems.  

3.  Driver:  Must be licensed to operate a 44 ft sailing yacht, a 10ft dinghy, and a 4WD motor vehicle or similar.  Taking direction from the Navigation Manager, the driver must be prepared for long journeys with stops which may be frequent and unexpected (for biological breaks, photographic opportunities, wildlife on the road, scenic views, wandering stock, fish on the hook, dolphins at play, etc) and sudden changes of plans.  A high level of stamina, flexibility and patience is required. 

4.  Head Cook and Dishwasher:  This is a new role for Jens having taken over from the First Mate when we reached land.  Must be able to produce two course meals on a two-burner hot plate with one frying pan and one pot.  As food storage is excessively limited, strategic planning is required.  Also responsible for ensuring an adequate water supply.

5.  Pack Mule (when hiking, tramping, trekking, etc.):  not much experience required here, just a keen willingness to carry the heavier load.  Physical attributes would be a strong back and legs.  

6.  Photographer's assistant:  must have the zoom lens at the ready at any given moment.  Also, must be prepared with the pocket camera to be used as and when directed by the Staff Photographer.

7.  Fisherman:  this role hasn't been required for some time, but during the first two years it was a critical role.  The fish, when caught, had to be brought on board, filleted and cooked to perfection.

Evelyn's roles are:

1.  First Mate:  first priority is to ensure the Captain has everything he needs and is adequately rested, fed and hydrated.  During long days at sea, it is necessary to replace the Captain at the helm at regular intervals.  The ability to maintain a positive outlook during endless days at sea is an asset.

2   Finance Director:  input into the budget setting process and monitoring and reportimg of expenses are the key activities.  Must also have the credit card at the ready but able to use it with discretion.  Also responsible for tracking and paying bills.  Knowledge of Excel is required but a background in Finance is not necessary.  

3.  Communications Director:  The primary responsibility is writing the blog and choosing the appropriate photos.  With more than 25,000 blog views, this is becoming an increasingly important role.  The blog is also used to document the journey so it must be complete and factual while still somewhat entertaining, keeping the varied readers in mind.  

4.  Navigations Manager and Co-driver:  Plans the route to be taken, distance covered and time required to reach each destination.  Must keep the driver informed and up to date of any changes.  If needed, will replace the driver for short periods of time.  The Navigation Manager is also responsoble to keep a record of the journey.

5.  Laundry and Housekeeping:  not much skill required here but must be adept at operating a large variety of washing machines and good at getting the most out of a load of laundry.  Interior upkeep of the boat is the respnsibility of the Housekeeper but now having downsized to a car, housekeeping duties are minimal.

6.  Tour Director:  To be successful in this role, you must have previous travel experience.  It is necessary, however, to thoroughly research the region using a multitude of sources such as Internet, travel brochures and books, and various travel web sites such as Trip Advisor.  The Tour Director is also responsible for booking flights and making travel arrangements ensuring the lowest possible fares have been secured.  

7.  Staff Photographer:  the staff photographer is responsible for digitally recording the activities of the company at all times, regardless of lighting, subject matter and personal interest on the topic.  Photos may and are often taken from the vehicle in a drive-by situation.  Preference is given to photographs of a National Geographic quality, but substandard photos will be accepted.  Photos must be reviewed, culled, and catalogued so as to be available on a moments notice.  A slide show documenting the highlights is required for each journey. 

Well that pretty much sums it up.  And if we gauge our success on how happy we are, I would say we are both doing a damn fine job.  I sure hope we get a big bonus at the end of the year!  

Darwin and the War

Darwin, Darwin Darwin.  What to say.  Yes, they were in the war, sort of.  They were bombed 62 times by the Japanese and bravely defended their turf.  And I dare say, apart from a cyclone in 1974, nothing much has happened there.  So, we move on.

We were hoping for more interesting sites as we headed to Litchfield National Park and the Lost City with Captain Ken and his crew.  Well, that was a goose chase as the city is still lost and the waterfalls we visited were nice, but not so grand.  As the lady said at the hotel, "you've seen one waterfall, you've seen them all".  Maybe we are a wee bit jaded these days.  

But these magnetic termite mounds were rather cool.  They are always facing N/S and are thin as paper.  And that's all I'm going to say about termites.  

Another sunny day in paradise. Left to right: Denise, Lil, Ken, Jens, Betty, Evelyn.

Wangi Falls in Litchfield.  

As Ken, Lil, Denise and Betty fly off to Cairns, Jens and I are taking the long road back to Queensland.  We made a brief stop in at Katherine to see the Gorge at sunrise and then took a shortcut on a very long and very dusty dirt road.  

The gorgeous Katherine Gorge.

Now, the shortcut might be shorter in total kilometers but it was a solid 12 hours of driving in the real outback where you have to drive through creeks and watch for wandering stock (free range beef is definitely on the menu on the highway buffet).  I was never so happy to see a paved road (or bitumen as they call it here) but we still had miles to go before it became a proper highway with two lanes.  We made it over the State line just as the sun was setting on the second day of this part of the trip.  Only two more days before we hit the East coast.

Free range or wandering stock.  What could they be wandering about?  Or are they sinking?

Crossing another creek looking for crocs. 

Holy Jumpin'

Crocs that is.  Yes, we did the jumping crocodiles tour along the Adelaide River.  Very touristy and a bit cheesy but still quite entertaining.  These bad boys with the nasty grins get really big and very scary when they jump up only a foot away from you.

And the tour finished with the feeding of the Whistling Kites.

Yellow Water Sunset Tour - Kakadu

Nothing needs to be said that you can't see in these photos, except that Kakadu National Park is one of the world's most diverse regions with 280 species of birds (representing 2/3rds of Australia's bird life), 60 mammal species, 120 species of reptiles, and who knows how many insects, but certainly plenty of mosquitos.  Oh, yes, and plenty of fish for the crocs to enjoy.

Gunlom Pool - Kakadu National Park

A watering hole with a view.  This was noon on our first day in Kakadu national park.  We had a briefing about the salt water and fresh water crocodiles from Rick the Park Ranger before we decided if it was safe to swim.  Both types of crocodiles can be found in the park.  The rangers do their best to evict the salt water crocodiles from the most popular tourist spots, but they don't make any promises.  And they say the fresh water crocs aren't dangerous, are actually quite shy creatures and bite humans only when provoked.

Well, if they were here, we didn't see them and were certainly thankful they shared their watering hole with us.  We are in the "dry" (dry season) up here in the Northern Territory.  And dry it is!  There are always bush fires this time of year.  Many of them are set on purpose, doing a controlled burn.  The ground is crackling dry and dusty.  It's hard to believe this area can become completely flooded in the "wet".

So after hiking up the cliff, the water in the pool was oh so cool and refreshing.  This must have been the inspiration for the infinity pools now so popular at resorts.  The water collects in the upper pools before tumbling over the cliff and down to the larger pool below. 

The edge of the cliff.  In the wet, there is so much water coming though here that you can't swim in the upper pools.

Me and Betty enjoying a soak in the cool waters of the upper pools.

The lower pool at sunset.  This pool is where the crocs are more likely to hang out.  We did swim here as well. 

A nice lizard basking in the sun at the upper pools.

The camp ranger shared some information on the region and showed us photos of the floods during his slide show last night.  It was interesting to learn the history of the land from the time of the aborigines to the era of bison herding in the early 1900's, to the mining boom of the 1960's and up to the early 80's when status was returned to the original land owner and on his request the area was turned into a national park as it was his desire to protect the many sacred sites for all time.

There are three aborigine tribes running the council today together with government.  It is a balance of sustainable tourism and protection of the land.  They are still working to eradicate the evidence of the open uranium mining.  Curiously enough, from the beginning of time, the aborigines called that area the sick area and they were only allowed to be there for short periods, walking carefully so as not to disturb the sleeping god that had the power to destroy the world.  As we now know, uranium does indeed have the power to destroy the world.  In fact, the world's largest nugget of uranium was found here.  

Chugging Along

We are now North of the Tropic of Capricorn. There is nothing terribly significant about that other than there was a marker on the side of the road as we were traveling North of Alice Springs and so we took a picture. 

Our stop in Alice Springs was brief.  Despite being famous for its role in establishing communications via telegraph lines and the fact that it is the most inland city in Australia, it just didn't hold any appeal to us, so we stopped only long enough to top up food and fuel before moving on out, making our way North.

We stopped for a night in Aileron, home of the giant people.  Tomorrow it is going to be a long haul to our next stop with not much in between.

And I can tell you, it is a long straight highway that is taking us to Darwin.  1,900 kilometers of pavement and scrub bush on either side.  The termite mounds are quite amusing, especially those sporting t-shirts and hats.  It is incredible how many of these termite mounds we saw.  It was like an ever-ending forest.  There must be trillions of termites in this part of the country.  Makes us wonder why they checked our boat so carefully for termites when we first arrived last October.

We rolled off the highway to marvel at the Devil's Marbles and stretch our legs, and a little further on we took a shade tree at the old Telegraph Station as our lunch spot.  After driving about 900 kilometers, we called it a day at Daly Waters.

  

Daly Waters is quite a place - the pub is a popular spot to leave your business card, brassiere, hat, t-shirt, flag or whatever else you have.  They serve up an Aussie style barra and beef bbq and some Australian talent hit the stage for a good bit of music and funny stories.   

It is much warmer up this way.  No more freezing at night.  Thank goodness we are back to the tropics.  Despite the cool/cold nights we have been very lucky with the weather - sunny days and starry nights.

Today was a short 2-hour drive.  We stopped to take a dip in the thermal waters of Mataranka and generally just chill.  The thermal waters bubble up out of a spring in the ground and about 30 million liters of water flow through the dipping pool daily.  Ah, it was just the perfect temperature.  The caravan sites are much busier up this way which I guess explains the nightly entertainment we have been enjoying. We listened to a great entertainer by the name of Garry Booth with a guitar and didgeridoo playing a collection of songs as well as some of his own music.

Tomorrow we meet up with Ken and Lil of Moonbeam in a small town called Pine Creek.  It will be nice to catch up with Lil .... We haven't seen her since Fiji!