Sunday, March 27, 2005

Marang, Malaysia (Day 41, 4837 km)

Although it's an unusual way to travel, I think I decided fairly early on to just aim for the goal and see what I ended up doing along the way – so I have very seldom turned far off the road to see something, or made a large detour to make sure I catch it all – while many have told me this is a “once-in-a-lifetime" I hope that I will be back to see more of some of these countries later on. If I tried to see everything in any one country, I think that in the end I'd have to aim towards New Zealand again if I was to meet up with Wendy!

So instead I've aimed more for a cross-section of life in the countries I've visited – the real locals don't all live in the touristy or “nice" areas, and some of the best experiences I've had and friendliest people I've met have just been in day-to-day activities. I trust that God will continue to allow me to “chance" upon just as many interesting people and places as I have thus far.

The Singaporean mechanic, for example – letting me sit outside his shop and put the bike together myself over the course of 3-4 days (even using some of his tools) – that would never happen in NZ, and neither would the Kiwi mechanic give me free drinks out of his fridge when I looked thirsty! Ditto for the shipping company people before that in Singapore, who gave me a free drink when we'd tired ourselves out trying to start the bike...

While I was waiting for the spares in Singapore, I went to a local engineering shop to get them to make new brackets for my toolbox mounts (the old ones, being only thin aluminium, had sheared off after 6000km). He told me they could do it, but that it would be expensive, and started asking me for precise measurements – after a while I told him that I am an engineer too, and I understand that his metalwork is usually to within thousandths of an inch, but that as long as the hole spacing was within a millimeter or so, then the rest of the bracket could just be done by eye! “Well, if you are an engineer too, then you are welcome to take these two pieces of stainless steel and make them in my shop!" Ah, it was wonderful – two of his employees waiting on me hand and foot (although they didn't have much English between them) – getting me drill bits and files and safety glasses, and within 30 minutes, I had two nice new brackets, better than the originals! Payment? He wouldn't even take a 6-pack of stubbies... His only wish was that I send him an email with a photo of Wendy and me when we finally meet up (so I hope you don't mind, Wendy? It's all in aid of getting me there...)... In NZ I wouldn't have been allowed into the workshop!

That day I also got some stickers (85UFW) cut out for a front number-plate – seems to be the law in this part of the world, and, while I'm unlikely to get stopped, obeying the law will probably not hinder my progress...

After getting the bike finished, and stumbling around Singapore for ages trying to find my backpackers (even with the GPS), I made a dash for the border (although it is always open, I wanted to get somewhere decent before dark) – that queue was the largest number of motorcycles I have ever seen in my life – easily 5000 in the queue at any one time, 4-6 abreast, but moving quickly – apparently when it's a holiday, many people in Singapore head for Malaysia and Thailand, so that might have had something to do with it, as well as it being 5pm...

And so on to Malaysia... On the road? A dead boar... also some smaller roadkill and a few cows and goats (and a tortoise crossing the road) to avoid, but none of these were the slightest bit interested in meeting up with my bike, unlike those in Australia – I guess here they're used to actual traffic! Despite the dire warnings I've heard, the traffic has been very well-behaved – with the sole exception of some really suspect overtaking maneuvers, I've been more than comfortable with the way that the road suggestions are adhered to. Use of the horn was occasional in Bali, but practically non-existent here – everybody politely lets everybody else in, and ducks on round the side, or where ever there is room, but it all happens in a very orderly and non-threatening way. (I admit I haven't been all over Malaysia, but this is from my experience) The roads are great too – haven't had any potholes or dirt roads, just a few with uneven surface, but often they're 4-lane and brand new.

The people are great too. The first night, after crossing the border, just rejoicing to be free, I rode in a generally northwards direction, to see where I'd end up. When I stopped for dinner, I found very quickly that English was going to be a bit more of a barrier here... until two people at the restaurant adpoted me, helped me order a meal, plied me with lots of beer, and at the end, insisted on paying for it, because it's not every day they meet a foreigner here! They had been in more countries than I have, and one of them could speak at least six different languages, including Indonesian, Malaysian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, English and possibly one or two others. In fact they were quite Westernised and worldly, and it was rather amusing hearing them swear away like anything. They also suggested I forget about my girlfriend until after Bangkok and Shanghai, advice I do not intend on following!

They said I should head back onto the new highway, and find a rest area, which I did – nobody seemed to object to me setting up my tent on the grass next to the children's play area, and I passed a comfortable, but noisy (due to passing trucks and idling car engines) night – there were even shower facilities, so I was very well catered for.

The next day I rode up towards the east coast. Wherever I go now, people are interested – where am I from? Where am I going? How long has it taken? How old am I? More and more these times involve a delegation with a translating spokesperson, so after every answer there is a delay followed by sudden group jubilation and amusement, smiling and nodding, and sometimes bemused shaking of heads...

Everything here has suddenly gotten cheap again, although well-known (i.e. imported) brands are still a bit more. Petrol is cheap too, but possibly because of the huge refinery I passed. The second night I decided to stop at a small fishing village and stay in a guesthouse – RM20, which must be about NZ$7? (breakfast not included, unlike Indonesia, but for RM3, or NZ$1, I'm not complaining!) The food is usually pretty yummy, too, although room standards are becoming “less westernised", though – I'm thinking of you, Mr Hallett... ;-) Hot showers seem to be a think of the past, at least within the budget I'm staying at – however it's all you really need in this climate.

Not that I'm finding the climate at all bad – whether Darwin was worse, or whether I've just acclimatised, even working on the bike in Sinapore, although I'd end up pouring with sweat, just seems part of life now. Wearing the leather suit through Malaysia has not been that uncomfortable at all – maybe the humidity allows for some windchill factor? Also in both Bali and Malaysia, I've found a ceiling fan quite adequate for sleeping comfortably at night.

Ah Malaysia, land of mosques in every village (complete with megaphones on the towers, of course), crescent-and-star flags off every lamp-post, but still beer and pork for those who want it. Also the land where every second car is either a Proton Saga (just like your one, SarahT) or a Proton Wira – I'd only ever seen a couple of Protons before!

Another thing more common around here is cats – cute little kittens that remind me of Andrew Bryan. I'm not sure how many of them are strays – some don't have tails, which makes me think that they're pets... Some of them are collared too.

Anyway, I'm behind schedule, so I decide to press on towards Thailand – this is not “I'm behind schedule so I'm going to miss out on seeing anything", but “My priority is to cover a bit more ground right now, and I don't feel I'm missing out on interesting experiences at all" – I think personally I prefer this “passing through" - I think it's a lot closer to living life than being a sight-seeing tourist, and I think I'd be inclined to overload and get sick of it all rather quickly.

The border I chose involves signing out at Malaysia and waiting half an hour or so for a ferry to come and take you to the other side of the river into Thailand – an interesting border crossing, and at RM1.50 for both me and the bike, I think Interislander could learn a lesson or two from these people...

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Singapore (Day 40, 4232 km)

Love it or hate it (I'm as yet undecided, although I don't think I'd want to live here) I don't think one can fail to be impressed by Singapore, la. Clean, efficient, mostly excellent customer service beyond the call of duty and with a smile, a cheap train system that runs every 6-8 minutes, far cheaper taxis than the west – there are a lot of things in this city that most western cities only dream of achieving, la. Actually, one gets the distinct impression that Singapore was designed by engineers... Yet there still manages to be room for an oriental flavour – Chinatown, Little India, food markets and the like all add their spice. Even late at night, things are bustling and alive, la. Singapore people seem to say things how they are – a much more direct sense of humour, which I found a nice change.

But of course, la, everyone is also aware that Singapore is a “fine” city – no eating, drinking, smoking, spitting – of course, but also some other interesting ones. There are parks, but very few places to actually sit and read a book... (not sure if one is allowed on the grass?) There are advertisements everywhere for the army, navy and airforce, and together with the rapidly emerging cashless facilities (smartcards on trains, buses, taxis, vending machines, parking garages, radio toll roads, and much, much more) keeps me wondering if perhaps they filmed Starship Troopers here...

I arrived late on Sunday afternoon, and was bowled over by the respectful, friendly, unbiased and extremely helpful information I received on where to find a backpackers, how to get there by train, where I'd be able to find the shipping company tomorrow, all as shown on my free map – wonderful! Although I had to change trains twice, there was always plenty of information and signposting, and it was a piece of cake – yes, things are different here from Indonesia, la!

(The other thing different from the rest of Asia that I've been in is that OSH is alive and well - everything has good safety designs, emergency stops, etc, as well as the usual fines ($5000) for misusing them. The train has continual public service announcements about standing behind the yellow line, not leaving bags unattended, reporting unattended bags, cautioning the young and elderly to use the lift rather than the escalator, etc. Nice, maybe, but it must get repetitive for those who hear it every day!

A lot of the train system is underground, which can sometimes make the stations hard to find. In fact, I've found whole shopping malls under there, in areas which didn't seem to have anything except high-rises!

(A small thing which I enjoyed – the trains here don't have doors at the end of the carriages, so it's like you're in a hollow tube, and you can see from one end to the other – this means that you can see every bend, rise and dip, as it happens, from the inside – like the “wormhole” screensaver...)

I checked in at the Inn Crowd, a dorm-style backpackers which was highly recommended by the tourist information lady (and also by Lonely Planet). They seem to make a serious effort to be helpful and friendly and get things done, and as a result they seem to be continually full, and extremely busy as a result. They are in the heart of Little India, which is as the name implies, including shop mannequins with red dots on their foreheads and altar shops. I had a huge curry and rice meal presented on a big leaf for $5 – I got away with only moderate discomfort the following day. Also just down the road is Sim Lim Square, the place to buy a bargain digital camera (or any other electronic goods) if only I could afford it, and I wasn't intimidated at bargaining such a serious amount of money.

The next morning I went off to find my bike – first to the shipping company and the expected charges. Compulsory 3rd party insurance here, minimum 1 week, so off to the AA to get that, and some other permit (an ICP). Then I find out that there is also a $4/day charge to have my foreign bike on Singapore roads at all, so I make a mental note to leave asap, before heading down to the Land Transport Authority to get my Autocard smartcard to organise these charges. Here I find out that in addition there are a ring of gantries through the CBD and in other congested areas, where if one wants to ride one must have a transponder fitted to one's vehicle, with another smartcard attached and topped up – otherwise a $70 fine per offence. This could prove tricky, as of course there doesn't seem to be a way around these gantries, and I'd prefer not to hire a transponder for a day... aha! They turn them off at night time, so I will have to wait until 7.30pm to make a dash for the border! I start wondering whether the $70 option of getting the bike towed to the border would have been easier!

Off to the port to get a temporary port access card (complete with photograph) and try to find my bike. Nobody quite knew where my wharf was, except that it was a long way away (Singapore has one of the biggest ports around) and I should take a bus – the bus driver was one of the few unhelpful (or at least unknowledgeable) people I've met – he didn't know and he really didn't seem to care. But eventually, after being dropped off in the wrong place, powerwalking everywhere, and asking a few surlyish but helpful gate guards, I came to the right place – unfortunately it was now after the 5pm deadline I'd been given, so I wasn't hopeful. But this seemed to matter not at all... There were people in the office, and they dropped everything to help me on my way...

Unfortunately, the bike wouldn't start – odd – it worked in Darwin. They tried pushing me (at their suggestion!)... Maybe the fuel was too low (one needs to drain most of it for the voyage). So one of the guys obligingly took my fuel container and drove off to buy me some fuel! Still nothing... sparkplug ok, fuel ok... hmm. Some signs were there that told me it was going to be a bit more serious, so I wheeled it the 3-400m to customs, and got that part of things sorted out – I am sure that by now it was well after the shipping guy's hometime, but that didn't seem to be a problem for him at all – he showed me where there was a petrol station that might allow me to look at it under some light, and told me where there was a motorcycle mechanic.

Anyway, it turns out that some odd noises I heard on the last day's ride in Australia were bad – a slipped timing chain due to a disintegrated guide (oddly enough, not the custom piece I made, but the original piece) had caused two bent valves. Serious though that is, it doesn't seem to have caused any other damage, so I find to my surprise that motorcycle mechanics in Singapore are open until 9pm! (Shops don't seem to open very early, though – my sort of place!) He agrees to order the new parts for me, grind the new valves, and let me use his torque wrench. The process has taken a long time to get the right parts, etc... especially with public holidays...

It seems like a long time since I was making my own path, but finally I am again on my way, treating the bike gently. After paying my extra $8 for the extra 2 days, excluding weekends and public holidays...

I hope everyone is well. God bless!

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Bali, Indonesia (Day 33, 4211 km)

I'm glad I got to Bali – and find it a pity that I only had 4 days there – it was a very interesting time. The traffic was heavy, but reasonably ordered, and overall I found it fairly clean, at least compared to China. The Bali people are... enterprising... especially in Kuta, one of the main tourist areas. I was repeatedly offered everything from “transport”, accommodation, “Oakley” sunglasses, Quiksilver, Nike, Rolex, caps, T-shirts, shoes, etc through to facials, foot massages, full body massages, manicures, pedicures, haircuts, women (more quietly) and (whispered) marijauna. I'm not sure they did their market research on all of those, but logic didn't seem to matter in a lot of these cases.

“Hello my friend, hello boss!” (I would like to do you the kindness of helping to lighten your excessive monetary load which all foreigners suffer from)

First will come the quick sell attempt - “T-shirt?” Then the slight encouragement “Morning/afternoon price, for good luck!” If that is brushed off then the conversation will run something like this:

“Where are you from?/What is your name?/My name is Jackson” (You can trust that my motives are entirely friendship and interest in your continued holiday enjoyment and well-being.)

“How long you been in Bali?/First time Bali?” (It would do me a great service if you could please tell me how much I am likely to get away with in your case?)

Usually they will agree to you “just looking” but it is an empty promise, as once you are in the shop you are ready for round 2... If you don't want to go in, occasionally they will try to pull you in gently...

“You buy T-shirt/sunglasses/etc?”

“Thank you, but I am travelling on a motorcycle and I have no room – I have enough T-shirts/I already have sunglasses – look!”

“Ah, but it's very cheap!”
(I don't care if you throw it away, just buy it from me, ok?”)
“Yes, but I really don't need them, thank you.”

“Ah but what about your girlfriend/mother/father/sister/brother/friend?” (I don't think you are hearing me here)

“No thank you” (I don't think you are hearing me here)

“Please, you help me/my family...?” (What if I make you feel some justifiable guilt as to the injustice of life that you should be a loaded Westerner and I should have to scrape by to support my family?)

or

“Would you like a hotel?”

“Thank you, but I already have a hotel, and I am leaving this town today”

“Ah, but it's very cheap/nice...”

Later on, I noticed that there were both “morning price for good luck” and “afternoon price for good luck”, so I asked which was cheaper... well, when I asked in the morning they said the morning price, and in the afternoon... you know the rest.

But the bonus is that within the realms of life here everything is possible, for a price. You can get somebody to drop everything to do something for you, or take you somewhere or network with someone... it works well, because worthwhile for them is usually still economical once you've bargained it.

I heard rumours that depending on your skill of bargaining, they will give you a different colour shopping bag so that the stallholders down the road will know how soft a target you are – so red or white are usually for the Japanese, who just accept the first asking price, green for the people who try a little bit, and black for the hard bargainers.

Yet, despite all that, the feeling around all the places I went was one of peace and safety – everybody, especially in the tourist areas, is out to relieve you of your cash, but mostly voluntarily. I have heard of pickpocketing, although didn't see any problems, except for the dodgy moneychangers (I never changed more than US$20 at a time, so, although the rate wasn't as good, it was a lot easier to keep track of the notes). However, I really don't think violent crime is a big problem here.

The best story I have from Bali is one that I'll probably never have all the answers to – was it a super-elaborate multi-stage con, or just a family of friendly people trying to make a bit of cash on the side? You decide – I don't want to misanalysed their motives.

“Hello, where you from?” This guy was just on the street, no shop, nothing to sell. From New Zealand? Ah, but that is wonderful! It turns out that his sister has just finished studying to be a nurse and she is going to go and work in Auckland soon – could I tell him where she should go/cost of living/etc? Well after a few minutes of very cordial (and disarming?) conversation, his nephew and other sister arrived to pick him up – Was I busy? Would I like to come back with them to meet his sister and give her some advice?

Sure, no problem. So off we went to their home, about a 10 minute drive away. Everybody in the car was very friendly, asking many questions about my life (occupation, parents jobs, siblings) – not unusual in this part of the world. Upon reaching their home their uncle told us that his sister and their mother had gone to the doctor, but they would hopefully return soon. Would I have a drink and some lunch while we were waiting?

Well that sounds mighty fine, so I got talking to the uncle about the usual stuff, and eventually asked him what his occupation is. Turns out that he has been at the local casino for the past 17 years. He deals the cards, and oversees the games – unlike casinos I know, it seems like two customers will play each other – in blackjack for example, a rich customer will be the “bank”, and another will be the “player”. At the end, whoever has made a profit needs to pay 10% of their winnings as commission to the casino. This is easily enforced, as of course everybody must cash in their chips after playing. So the casino makes a profit, no matter who wins, and thus doesn't need to have 100 million cameras everywhere, but just relies on people like this guy to maintain order and fairness in the games.

Lunch was ready very promptly, and conversation continued – hopefully the sister and mother would be back from hospital soon. Hospital? Yes, she has heart problems and they are quite worried – in Indonesia there is no way of having health insurance, as people are too poor – so if one needs medical care, one must pay cash up front. Where will they get all this money?

Well, thankfully, many of the foreigners, especially, Chinese, who come to his casino (Indonesians are not permitted to gamble, at least not at casinos) want to play Mahjongg. So he quietly directs them around to his home during the day, and they sit and play Mahjongg, and also dominoes, because Mahjongg takes a couple of hours to play... Then he takes a cut on the winner's winnings. Well, right now his heart is sore, because at the last meeting he arranged with everybody to be paid 2% of their winnings (because they are playing at his house, etc) and one guy, a Mr Li, won US$40000, and he was excited, because he was expecting US$800, which would help pay for their mother's medicine, but he only got a $20 tip. He doesn't like Mr Li, but he cannot say anything, or Mr Li will tell the casino about his activities, and he will lose his job. But at least the $20 went straight to their mother.

Well, mother still wasn't back, so I asked if he could show me how to play Mahjongg, as I've only ever seen it in passing. He didn't have a set on him, but took me to his little back room, and showed me dominoes, and afterwards started showing me the tricks of blackjack – when to bid high, when to bluff and when to fold. He told me that once or twice a year, he meets up with a foreigner and arranges a secret code with them before he plays at his casino, so they always know what card he is going to deal next. He taught me his hand-signals, and we played a few hands with his chips, and I'm starting to rake them in, of course, because I know all the cards.

Ok, Anton – starting to get a little wary now – I've heard about people who are altogether too friendly, and who teach you card games you can't help but win, and then you lose all your money – I'm not taking anything out of my wallet!

He tells me if I want to come to his casino one night, then I should let him know, but I should only stay at his table for 10-15 minutes maximum, otherwise people will get suspicious. If I don't want to use my own money, it's ok – I can get an advance from the casino, but then they will take 5% of my earnings. They wouldn't normally give me an advance, but he will tell the manager we are “partners” and he will be happy to take 1/3rd of my winnings, because the manager knows his little scheme too... !

Lovely. I tell him that I will not be doing this – thank you for explaining the rules to me; I have found the conversation very interesting... He says it is not dishonest, because he will only do it to rich people who are not nice, like Mr Li – if they are good people, he will never do it. But he also says he has to be careful picking a “partner” because of course he cannot get the cash on the spot, so must meet them the next morning – the last time that happened, the guy flew away without paying him – now that was dishonest! Please could I help – it will be to help my family, and especially my sick mother!

Actually he was meant to be having another gambling meeting around now – Mr Li should be here any moment – but the other guy called this morning and said he could not come, so Mr Li will have nobody to play dominoes against – he should have called Mr Li, but he wants to waste his time, because he doesn't like him...

Actually, since I will not help his mother, maybe he has got an idea to get some money for medicine – he has got US$200 in his pocket, which we can say belongs to me – we can tell Mr Li that I have been playing him this morning, and have had very bad luck, and see if Mr Li will play me at blackjack – then with the signals, we can make lots of money! Um, no thank you – I will not be involved. ok – my nephew can play for you but we must still tell Mr Li that he is playing with your money, because he will never believe that my nephew has US$200.

A knock on the door – a visitor is waiting outside. I say no – I will not sit here. They plead with me to help their mother. I say if he has a guest now, then thank you very much for the lunch, but I should leave. Please can I stay another 20 minutes in case his sister turns up? No, I really would like to go now.

Ok, no problem – they will take you back to where we picked you up (the uncle stayed behind to talk to his visitor). On the way back all was very friendly and nice – talking about this and that. Maybe you can meet my sister tonight at 7pm at McDonalds? I say I don't think so... Do I have any Kiwi coins to show them? no, but I have a 50c and 10c Australian that I hand over – ah, very nice – can I keep it? Ok, if you can give me some Indonesian coins (not used by me until this point, as they are pretty worthless, at least for tourists).

Then the other sister sitting next to me at the back started working on me – please can you help me, my mother and my family – please can you give me some money for my mother's medicine – it is very expensive. I tell her no – I say I am now feeling uncomfortable, and I don't know what to do, so I will not be giving any money. Eventually she gives up, and we are nearly at our destination – is it possible I might be able to give them some money to help with the petrol?

Well, I have had an (mostly) entertaining couple of hours, and a good feed, and I am not ungrateful, so I give them Rp50000 (about NZ$8) and they send me on my way.

So was it partly true, all true, or all con? Was it worth it for 4-5 people to spend 2 hours to get Rp50000? Did I get out just in time? Who knows? But in case I give a false impression, I really did meet 2 or 3 people who were just happy to talk with me, find out about me, have a photo taken with me, even give me a ride back to my bungalow, and not ask for anything.

Wandering around is great with a GPS - all I need to do is store the location of my hostel, then turn it off and wander around for hours - if I should happen to get disoriented, all I need to do is turn it on, and I straight away know which direction to head. Anybody heading for a country with crazy, narrow, windy streets, let me know, and I'll hook you up when I get back!

After a couple of nights in Kuta (room simple, but nice and clean), I went with my friends Rick and Janet (met in Darwin) to Ubud (room half the price but just as good) - also touristy, but in a much less intrusive way, and thus far more enjoyable. Inland, so no beach, and a lot smaller, but still picturesque – especially the Monkey Forest (where many of the pictures in this edition were taken), where there is of course a temple and shrines and the works, but I mainly was after seeing the scenery, and the very bold monkeys.

My last full day I went to Bedugul, which is in the centre of the island, up on the inside rim of an extinct volcano, where there is a crater lake, and of course more temples, etc. Unfortunately, despite the location, the accommodation options were not nearly as competitive, picturesque or tidy (read 15W light bulb, dented walls with peeling paint, instead of really artistic gardens and walkways) – but for one night, I weathered it and had a great time.

For dinner I went to the local KFC (no, it's King Fried Chicken – why just have a colonel?) where you can get all the usual Indonesian food, including a few oddball ones, like “Fungy Chicken” and “Tuna God Blesh”... The really nice thing is that although I was low on Indonesian Rupiah, and the local money changer was closed, after chatting to the proprietor for a while, he let me eat for free, and told me to come back and pay in the morning. Which I did, about $3 including my curry and rice, a freshly pureed strawberry juice, and a pancake dessert – a fairly typical price around there. Another sign of the “enterprisingness” of the locals was the art and crafts, all for sale, decorating his shop – most were being sold on behalf, although I'm sure he makes a cut – the most out-of-place were some fairly well-made castings of the Last Supper, which he, a Muslim, was selling on behalf of the local church.

Well, I could talk about my Bali experience at far more length, but ultimately, with over 26000 islands in Indonesia, I have a bit more exploring to do. And there's still a few more countries to go on this particular trip. I caught a bus back to the airport, was happy to find that Garuda Indonesia really does have planes, and flew safely and comfortably to Singapore. Nonetheless, I shall attempt never to fly with them ever again!

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Darwin, NT, Australia (Day 29, 4211 km)

Darwin. A city devoted to the memory of Cyclone Tracy and the Japanese bombings (including some underground oil tunnels they built after the Japanese bombed the snot out of the hilltop oil containers they used to have) Apart from that not an awful lot to see or do, but it was a nice opportunity to change oil, oil filter and sparkplug (I hope the campsite didn't notice the oilpatch in the grass – I caught most of it...) and chill out. After a few nights in the campsite, I met up with Wendy's Aunty Helen for dinner, and she very kindly allowed me to stay for 3 nights until my plane was scheduled to arrive.

The day before I was scheduled to depart, I went on a tour of nearby Lichfield National Park – I avoided doing this on the bike in the interest of shipping it as soon as possible. First we went on a river cruise (near Humpty Doo) to see the jumping crocodiles (also the diving birds of prey and the pythons...). Then we spent the afternoon seeing some waterfalls and swimming under them. A reasonably good day, but I never feel too much at home in a group tour context, and overall I think it was a little overpriced. But I got to see things I wouldn't have, too. Wierdly enough some kind person managed to “mistakenly” take my shirt while I was swimming (leaving my shoes and camera) – I never did recover this, and had to go home topless...

Ah yes... a schedule... a wondrous thing most of the time. Darwin had been on high alert due to Cyclone Ingrid trucking in from the east – all sorts of alarm – “It's bigger than Tracy!”, “heading right for us~”, “maybe, maybe not...!?” Well, on Sunday morning, it was still well over 12 hours away, and the weather seemed ok, so off I went to the airport. In fact the shuttle bus forgot to pick me up, so they sent me a free taxi. Bonus! (I didn't have any Aussie dollars left so I was going to have to change some...)

However... the flight hadn't left Indonesia yet, supposedly due to the cyclone, but I was skeptical, as the rescheduling seemed to coincide with the cyclone hitting (if it hit at all...). Well, nothing worth going back to Darwin for (Aunty Helen was away and I'd dropped the key in her locked mailbox) so I bought a novel, rolled out my sleeping bag and started reading... 40 hours later, after about 3 reschedulings, and the cyclone missing Darwin completely (nothing more than a stiff breeze and some rain – most other flights continued all night) they finally decided to put me up in a hotel, although they stressed that weather-related delays were not really their responsibility. I and a fellow inconvenienced pilot were still skeptical, but at least now we got a decent bed, but no meals. And then they agreed to pay for meals too, and I and my new-found friends Janet and Rick from Canada, and J-P from Townsville, began to live it up large. The only downside was the rather undiplomatic Garuda Indonesia Airlines representative (who just before I departed told me “I've had enough of you!” She'd had a tough few days too, but really!) On Wednesday at 11pm, we were finally placed on a Qantas flight to Bali (I had earlier been given the option of a direct Qantas flight to Singapore, but couldn't see any point in missing out on Bali, when I had paid for the visa and would just be sitting around in Singapore, the same as in Darwin). Somehow in the mixup with taxis and hotels I managed to misplace my mobile phone, which has still not turned up... grr! My second loss!

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Darwin, NT, Australia (Day 23, 4211 km)

Well, the warmup round is complete. And thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and emails. God has kept me safe, and my motorcycle reliable. There were a couple of days of less interesting "endurance" riding, but even that was part of the feeling of achievment.

Warning - long log follows - go make yourself a cup of coffee...

I arrived in Darwin two days ago, on Monday, and yesterday afternoon dropped off my bike to the shipping company, got it signed off by customs, and expect to see it in Singapore in a couple of weeks. Strangely, my shipping costs for this leg look like being less than to Brisbane, partly because the man with a tape measure very generously "didn't see" large parts of the bike that I could see (but I didn't care to enlighten him) (the bike ended up being less than 1m^3 for this shipping, whereas for the last one, when the front wheel was off and the bike was packed down all compactly in a crate, the volume was 1.65m^3!), and partly because it seems that Singapore will be far cheaper and more efficient than Brisbane - at least here's hoping! For Auckland->Brisbane, I paid $289 for the shipping (volume dependent), but about AU$300 (pretty much volume-independent) for clearing it on this side! For this leg so far I have paid a very reasonable AU$185 (the distance is similar) and have been told the charges are much less in Singapore. We shall see.

Anyway, for now I am bikeless, and spending a bit of time in Darwin. However, although the bike shipping is cheaper, the Anton shipping seems to be far less reasonable - one-way is (like it always was in the past) almost as much (or sometimes more) than return here, unlike FreedomAir, etc. Anyway, it seems that it will cost me the same to go to Bali and Java for a week, so I may do that instead of waiting around and flying direct to Singapore. The other alternative is Brunei for the same cost.

As to the trip here from Airlie Beach...

After a lovely day snorkelling, etc, I returned home to find everything rather sodden, as I hadn't expected rain, so I hadn't bothered putting the fly on the tent. But that was not long to dry, and the next morning I packed up and headed towards Townsville. All along the Bruce Highway the road quality has been as good as one could expect, with every minor bump or ridge well signposted - a luxury I won't be able to rely on for the second leg! I decided to bypass Townsville, having heard that it's pretty much just a regional sugar-cane centre, and having done all I intended to on the reef for this trip. The short-cut to cut out Townsville was of far inferior road quality, but they were working on that - it was here that I encountered my first bit of wide dirt road with a strip of tar seal down the middle.

Once back on the main highway (reasonable quality all the way, although not as good as up the coast), I rode for another 2.5 days (stopping at rest areas (every 50-75km) - tiring riding!), through Charters Towers, Hughenden, Julia Creek, Cloncurry and the rest, through Mount Isa, where they have one of the biggest copper, silver and lead mines in the world, and eventually into the Northern Territory, across the 450km stretch of nothing (except the Barkley Homestead roadhouse after 264km) to Three Ways and down to Tennant Creek for a day off.

I can imagine David Attenborough's voice on the documentary... "... to Australia, the red continent, one of the harshest, hottest, dryest, most inhospitable wastelands on earth..." His voice fades out, leaving only the persistent sound of the didgeridoo as the camera pans across a Mars-like surface, with the sun beating down causing the heatwaves to shimmer above the kangaroo skeleton. Well, no! Certainly not where I was, anyway! There was never a time where the grass didn't more or less cover the plain, and it was very seldom when there weren't hundreds of scrub trees as far as the eye could see.

The ground certainly is red, but in between the vegetation - I looked on my map again, and it seems this entirre area is classified as "semi-arid", so I'm sure the stereotype still applies south of Alice - I was just a little disappointed (although relieved too, I suppose) not to see the Australian Outback that I had always imagined. There were many kangaroo carcasses, but all of them roadkill. But even this was different from expected - until going to the national park a few days ago I'd only seen 2 live roos in the wild in over 3000km of riding! I had been warned so much about riding into them, but I actually had far more trouble with the stupid cows in the unfenced areas - a couple of times they decided that crossing directly in front of me was just what they wanted to do. (There were a few bloated bovine carcasses too - no photos of those, please!) Oddly enough, some of the cattle "grids" were painted onto the road - I assume this means that the cattle see the stripes and don't attempt to cross?

Other wildlife? Lots of interesting birds, some like cranes, other light-grey ones seemingly plain, but then a flash of pinkish red as they flew away. Only one live snake in the wild, just at the side of the road - a good size, but it darted off into the grass. One smallish goanna, many lizards of varying sizes, grasshoppers in some regions, and of course multitudes of termite mounds through the entire outback. These provided an interesting sideshow, as the range increased in size from less than a foot high to 10-12 foot high in places. Some places have hundreds of little ones, giving the impression of a cemetry, whereas others are just dotted here and there. The colours varied from light greyish brown all the way through olive and red to dark brown, depending on the soil of the region. And the shapes were interesting too - some pillars, some with all sorts of buttresses and castellations - even with the termites, I wonder how the little critters can figure out making a complex structure so much bigger than themselves - with the polyps on the coral reef I am amazed.

The ants haven't been a problem, although they are huge, and occasionally do bite. In fact I've been very impressed with their efficiency - within 10 minutes of parking up my bike and putting my helmet on the ground they will be hard at work, taking away all the shattered insect remains from my wheels and helmet, and after an hour or so, will depart from whence they came, their garbage cleaning complete.

The flies, however, have not been fun at all - at most of the rest-stops and some of the towns (to a lesser extent), they would be landing all over my ears, eyes, mouth and nose, which made me resort to the "Bride of the Flies" approach shown! A pity, because when lying down at the rest-stops, apart from the flies and the occassional cicada, there was very little noise - hardly any breeze, and of course very little traffic. This led to the illusion of time almost stopping.

The traffic, too, was different from expected - I had been warned about nobody coming past for days or weeks - this may be true up the York Peninsula, but on the main highway, there were never fewer than 5-10 cars an hour. Some of these were the road trains, up to 3 or 4 trailers long - big, but I had no problem with their windblasts - I just kept well over to the side, and was affected only about as much as a big truck at home on the far narrower highways (and much less than the wind I encountered on the Harbour Bridge!). All but a few of the road trains I saw were going the other way, so I didn't have to worry about overtaking or being overtaken too much.

One thing about Australia (as I can share from my vast and extensive experience :-) ) is it is FLAT! A lot of the time I would be riding and would be unable to see any real contour in any direction - just grass and trees as far as the eye can see. I found this quite unusual, as nowhere in NZ (or SA as far as I can remember) is there a place where you can't see a mountain range, a hill, or at least a kopje (Afrikaans for a mesa or butte, usually a flat-topped hill). The highest place I went over was 550m, and they call this the "Great Dividing Range" - a mere bump in the road - no mountain pass or anything.

Ok, I hope all this doesn't sound too scathing thus far - my comments aren't intended to express disappointment - I just had a different mental picture of the ardour of the Australian Outback from what I actually encountered. One day I will go through the middle and across some more barren areas, and I am sure I will stand corrected then. Regardless, I have had a wonderful trip thus far, and it certainly has been interesting seeing the different lifestyles of people across the regions.

Just before Tennant Creek, I searched for a "secret" waterhole that a traveller on the East Coast had told me about - I was happy to actually find it, but unfortunately it was dry, or I would've definitely spent the night out in the wild - Yes, I have spent almost every night at campsites, the only reason being that they almost all have pools, and after a long day in a riding suit, I find a swim a very desireable thing.

I took a day off in Tennant Creek, and had an enjoyable time, partly because of the people I met, in this case a lone traveller from Melbourne, on his way back from Darwin, and a couple of Dutch guys travelling in a van. All through the trip so far I have met interesting people, from the young English couple touring around Australia for a year in a van, trying to stick to a budget of $50 per day for the pair of them, to the guys from Manchester, the Royal Flying Doctor relief nurse, who has done the Postie Bike Run (an organised bike ride from Brisbane to Darwin by hundreds of people on tiny "postie" bikes) and is also into his US conspiracies, the concrete layer who is much richer after divorcing his wife, and many more. All across the outback there is a definite "small-town" community feel, and you greet everybody on the street, and wave to people you pass on the road. Where this breaks down is when passing Aboriginals, who culturally avoid eye contact and seem to "ignore" you until they know you better - it's rude to look at you - I found this hard, because I felt like I was ignoring them too.

In Tennant Creek, almost everybody on the street was Aboriginal, and again, unfortunately there were a number of inebriated ones - one of them came past when I was talking to Wendy in the mid-morning, asked for the phone, and talked to her for a bit. Unfortunately there is also a bit of begging going on in Darwin too. Apparently there was a hiccup with the government "pension" not coming through the day before I arrived in Tennant Creek, so there were some smashed ATM's that night, and then a lot of drunken fighting the night after when the money did come through.

In Tenant Creek I also used my tent fly for the first time and we had a really refreshing tropical downpour. Since then, after heading north again up the main highway, most nights have had extensive distant lightning activity, and there have been one or two good showers and a good thunderstorm too - I am now in the "wet" region, and of course it is a lot more humid to match. I don't think it is quite as warm, though, although it only reached mid-30's in the shade in the outback when I was there. Last night was actually not too bad at all.

Things are cheaper in Darwin than through the sticks, but still a bit more expensive than up the coast - over there I was paying 49c for a pineapple, less than $1/kilo for watermelon sometimes, and there were huge mangoes on sale for less than a dollar sometimes. Petrol ranged from 89c I think in Brisbane, up to around $1.36 at Barkley Homestead and other isolated areas, and back to just under a dollar here, I think (but I have no further need for petrol here). I never had any trouble with petrol availability across the outback, except occasionally when I assumed from the map that something was actually there when they had a place name! Up the east coast, there had been a place where I arrived with no fuel, and found that they hadn't had any for weeks - they advised me to go and see Steve round in the house at the back, and he sold me some to get to the next place. I am slowly learning to fill up, even if I still have half a tank, and to buy the oil I will be needing later, because not all the roadhouses have the oil I need.

Having been used to the concept of Australia and NZ being "down under" and far away from the rest of the world in terms of military importance, it's been a bit unexpected coming up towards Darwin, and realising that I am actually now quite close to the rest of the world. Darwin was actually bombed by the Japanese in the war, and all the way up the highway (which was actually built because of the need to shift supplies around during the war) there are numerous "attractions" like abandoned airstrips, army camping places, and even a "victualling station".

The last night before Darwin was a highlight, when I turned off into a national park late in the afternoon, and saw quite a few young kangaroos (I love watching them jump). I camped the night there, alongside a river - the sign said that there are freshwater crocs, which are harmless, but I didn't see any anyway - the water must've been over 30 degrees on the top layer, but it wasn't too bad below that, and the next morning after it had cooled off a bit. The stars were out in full force, and it was a good wrap-up to the Australian ride.

Now I'm in Darwin, at a motorcamp in line with the airport, so we get a lot of air traffic.

Sorry if it's been a bit of a long report - I guess that's what happens when a week's worth needs to be summarised - if you're still reading, thank you.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, QLD, Australia (Day 15, ~1450 km)

Firstly, I want to re-iterate how much valued it is that so many people are thinking of me, reading my triplogs, and most importantly, praying for me - it makes it feel far less isolated than I would otherwise feel. Plus I am sure that having an audience will make me more perseverent when cultureshock, etc hits later on!

Secondly, I have added some photos to the previous triplog - visit http://hamilton2japan.blogspot.com to view them in place.

Thirdly, some people seem to have missed that the images in my emails are clickable, if you wish to view them bigger. This will also take you to my photo album (http://anton.architype.co.nz) which has more photos not included in the trip logs. While I'm on photos - although the photo album interface should be easy for you to find your way around, it's easy to miss that each album has multiple pages (i.e. my Australia section is 3 pages now) - click on the 1, 2, 3 or rewind/fastforward icons at the top and bottom.

Anyway, Sunday was another great day - a second night at my cheapest campsite yet ($10), which, like almost all others so far, has a lovely salt-water pool. Rockhampton (they grow beef here) really wasn't a place I found that savoury - the streets were always deserted (admittedly I was there at the weekend) except for an occasional Aborigine wandering around (or in the park) yelling or singing something incomprehensible - I fear this is the infamous city substance abuse problem. Hopefully there are some areas in the Outback where I can see a more positive display of the Aboriginal culture.

Anyway, after wandering around for over an hour I managed to find an "Apostolic Church" at 10.04, which was just when they were starting. Although for many Hamiltonians this will stir up all-singing, all-dancing, stage-production service connotations, it was actually far quieter than any reformed church I've been to, partially because of the numbers (around 11) and the amateur organist, but predominantly because they are the very structured and conservative brand of Apostolic, unlike Eastside. Regardless, I found the entire service very beneficial, and enjoyed a bit of conversation with the congregation (as a whole, in a group) afterwards.

Not that I've been lacking in conversation - at the pool I met a couple who have a house rented out in the Kaimais (close to Hamilton) and also used to live in Cape Town, so we've lived in most of the same places (he was an oil-rig captain). Also yesterday I spent probably an hour and a half talking to a 70-year-old couple (they looked way younger) who have been teaching English in China a couple of times and travelled all over Asia on the proceeds - we pored over my maps for ages, then they gave me local Outback (swimming holes, safety, etc) advice (he used to manage a roadhouse at Three Ways) and finished off talking flying (he's done over 1000 hours of gliding). They're going back to China in June, but they've just sold their house and are touring around in their campervan looking for a new place to settle. So all in all, it's been quite a social trip thus far.

Sunday afternoon I also attempted wiring in the engine temperature sensor and burglar alarm that I'd made after shipping my bike and before leaving. The temp sensor works, but needs adjusting, and I still need to sort out a circuit issue with the alarm, but it was a successful day in that regard too.

Monday I was on the road by 6.20am, and, had covered over 300 km before talking to the aforementioned English teachers. A fairly uneventful day, I arrived at Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays, by 3.45pm, where there was an actual breeze - something that has seemed very lacking thus far.

Today I did one of the few blatantly expensive and touristy things planned for this trip - a snorkelling trip out to the coral reef. Fantastic! Although I didn't get right out to Great Barrier, the island snorkelling we did showed me just how amazingly varied the shapes and colours of the coral can be, as well as some of the fish life that inhabits the region. While I could complain about the cowboyish, overly familiar attitudes of the crew, overall they seemed reasonably nice when they weren't putting on a show for the tourists. All in all, well worth it; although next time I will get dropped off somewhere to stay with my tent for a day or two, and snorkel around at my leisure - there are a number of permit-required camping opportunities in the area, which is all a national park.

Of course, although it's probably always sunny here, this morning the weather packed in (picture shows what was in front of us heading towards the reef), and half of the snorkelling time it was raining - not a problem for wetness, of course (and the stinger suits keep you warm) but I think the vibrancy of the colours may have suffered somewhat. Later on, by the time we went off to spend a couple of hours at Whitehaven Beach (around the back of Whitsunday? Island) it was scorching, as normal. The Beach? ... is just a beach. I could quite happily not have paid money to go to the beach - I was after the reef, but in this I was definitely not disappointed - I spent a good hour and a half in the water snorkelling, and did a lot of actual diving below the surface for a closer look.

Anyhow, back for a much-needed shower and washing of clothes, brings me here, to the Internet cafe. Tomorrow I aim for Townsville (although I may not actually go through it, now I've seen some reef, and don't intend to spend much unnecessary money for a while) and from then on, inland - towards Mt Isa, Three Ways and Darwin (probably 2800 km away at a guess, so I'm planning to get there by the 10th, when I hear there is a boat to drive my bike onto).