A Travel Story by Hamish Oag and Emma Myatt
Still waiting for news on the ferry...After all the months of careful preparation, we finally left our house in Melaka five minutes before the landlord was due to move back in, stuff packed everywhere, hangovers on board.
As unfortunately predicted, no ferry ran this week, therefore we're off across the border to Thailand tomorrow to renew our visas and chillout on a beach in anticipation of a ferry running next Friday (5th May). The agent informs us, as he has done on previous occassions, "100% definitely maybe", therefore there is hope!
No ferry, but found a beach!We left Malaysia on April 29th, finally tearing ourselves away from Steven's beautiful retreat. We had a really lovely time there, swimming in the waterfall, short treks through the rainforest (and the leeches were lovely too) , and a good test of all our camping equipment. We even managed a candlelit dinner in the jungle...
Our friends James and Corinne left on Saturday after some great days catching up over a few Singha beers. We had quite an energetic week; exploring a large and slimy network of caves on Ko Lanta and going on a boat trip to snorkel around some nearby islands. The trip also included a visit to the Emerald Cave - an 80m swim through pitch black tunnels trying not to lose sight of our guides torch ahead of us or bump our heads on the low cave roof.
As the satay's off the menu, we've leap frogged to the surf. I therefore sit here in Brisbane and not in Medan, updating our blog.
Ken and Carol thoroughly spoiled us with their warm hospitality, and gave us some tips on 'Packingology' in which I think they both have Phds. They had a BBQ the day before we left and invited some other overlanders; Haydn and Diane who rode from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and are next year heading to South East Asia, and Mark and Aasha who will be in South America when we are there. Ken and Carol are once more planning a trip, to South America too so we spent a great afternoon and evening swapping stories and routes.
Just as I finished writing yesterday Hame appeared with a mended bike, thanks to those lovely guys at the BM Shop. Sharon, Steve's partner, had kindly let me use an office computer to write up the blog so Hame picked me up from there and off we went for camping supplies, before heading off up into the hills.
About 5000 km and one month into Australia and we've not even left one state yet! Queensland has so much to offer; Hame and I could probably spend a year here and not explore it all.
Since I last wrote we've wound our way up from Brisbane, headed out West and then North towards Cairns. You can see the route on my incredibly hi-tech map below (compete with tippex marks where I accidentally re-drew Queensland's borders).
Its official! We made it to the Outback. Its a little vague where the Outback actually begins, so we asked the question when stopping off for fuel and a sandwich at Tillys Servo in Alpha, a small village along the Capricorn Highway; so named as it lies along the Tropic of Capricorn. According to Tilly, if youre from the city, the Outback begins when you leave the suburbs. However for those living further afield its a few more hours inland. Great stuff, but where exactly?
We were both excited to start a new 'chapter' by beginning the long journey West. A short day's ride took us to Chillagoe, site of some very cool caves
Now that we've reached Darwin (the first town with a population exceeding 3 figures we've visited for a while), it's time again to update the blog. We arrived via a series of 'alternative' routes, looking like a couple of extras from a Mad Max movie; covered from head to foot in red dust, the bike sporting a couple of dents and scrapes from various escapades along the way.
For some reason we miscalculated (read didn't calculate) the distance we had to travel and so we arrived at the fuel stop holding our breath - but it was useful to discover Bertha could do 521km on a tank and still have a couple of litres sloshing about somewhere!
From Lawn Hill the dirt roads were full of corrugations. For those of you who've not had the pleasure see the picture below:
(Written on 23/07/06)
Well, I wasn't expecting to update the blog so quickly but here we are in a town with an internet cafe so I may as well make the most of it and explain why we are in a town and not on the road...
After Emma had spotted a crack in the sub-frame, we were left with no choice but to limp back to Kununurra for steel surgery. The cracked pannier was a small matter in comparison. Upon closer inspection, the right hand lower sub-frame tube had cracked just below the footrest hanger, ala Claudio in the 'Long Way Round'. Fortunately the tube wasn't sheared completely, however it wouldn't remain that way for long if we were to continue along the Gibb River Road.Upon our return to Kununurra, we headed for the local bike shop, where we were fortunate to bump into Chris, a local fabricator.
16 000km so far!
I wish I'd visited Broome years ago, before the tourist masses descended. The tourists had taken over this sleepy seaside town, and the prices had risen accordingly. However, Cable Beach was huge and beautiful, the fish and chips were good, we were able to get all our chores done and despite being warned we'd not find a campsite with space left we found a brilliant spot - right next to the beach.
Not only did Riki and Jen welcome us into their home, but also their garage. Before leaving Malaysia I rebuilt the bike's top end as a result of stripped cylinder barrel studs, (yet another legacy of a former owner), and subsequently learnt I used gasket sealant that didn't seal. By that time we were in Australia. Originating from the base of the cylinder barrel, it was more a weep than a leak, however it was annoying and didn't appear to going away. It was time for remedial action.
Thanks to the nocturnal exploits next door at the Laverton Sports Club, we woke late and with little rest. Definitely not the plan to begin our cross-country adventure along the Great Central Road to Australia's iconic Uluru. I managed to prise Em from the tent with strong coffee and tender words, her enthusiasm waning at the thought of what lay ahead with so little sleep.
(Due to lack of inexpensive internet places along the way we've had to put the last three entries on in one go, this one should be read last)
Here we are at the end of our 25000km ride around Australia...
It has been fantastic.The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur of heaps of socialising, and increased beer, wine and food consumption (which explains why the four kilos we'd managed each to lose on our camping menus have come rudely back!) but I'll attempt to outline where we've been since I last wrote.
After an interlude to our travels, flying back to Scotland for a family wedding, we´re back on the road for part two of our adventure; South America. Having landed in Santiago, Chile and being successfully reunited with Bertha (our bike), we´re off to Argentina, hopefully in time for the HU meeting in Viedma.