.: Cath’s Blog:.

I said yesterday that everyone here in Australia says Mate…well, not as much as they say “No Worries”. Every time someone says it I think of my old Bosses in the Miami Office having a heart attack, since they were the ones who made us roll out “There is a problem with no problem” dealing with eliminating the use of the phrase “No Problem” on the ship. The looks I used to get from the English speaking Crewmembers during this training used to say “Are you fucking kidding me!”. I will never forget the girl I was working with refused at first to do it…she went totally ape shit when she saw the video. I actually don’t think the phrase is a bad phrase (after hearing it a million times at least over here), it may not be the most professional phrase to use, but it seems it is used everywhere. I love that the Australians are all so chilled out…nothing seems to get them angry…well, except the Aboriginal couple who were having a domestic on the street all evening…it was fun entertainment for the backpackers to listen to though!

Here is an updated picture of the damage to my car…

PS – There is a woman in our dorm who snores REALLY loud!

I wolk up extremely rested and ready for another 300km drive…not too far to Kununurra. We, we got a brew, got packed up again and I went to reception to check out. We ended up setting off at about 9:30am. We decided to drop by the Visitor’s Center, since the lady on the reception desk had been so enthusiastic while describing it last night. When we got there we found a small place with internet (yes I was happy) and a small coffee shop…it was nothing special at all…obviously small things make people in this town excited! We asked the lady behind the reception desk about access to the Bungle Bungle’s and was informed that it could only be access by a 4WD (damn those 4WD’s). The woman continued to rant on and on about tours we could buy which left sometime in the next few days…I finally walked away from her mid sentence and went over to the internet desk.

Since the computer had jump drive access I thought it would be clever to update my blog now, just incase there were only ancient Win 98’ computers in Kununurra. I put in the jump drive…it looked like everything was working, opened the page I wanted to open and then found that only one page could be opened at once! I asked the lady if I could open more than one page and was not surprised in the slightest when she told me she had no clue about the internet…it belonged to BLAH BLAH down the road etc. The computer also would not allow me to open attachments…$4 wasted! Grrrrr!

We jumped in the car, got more petrol and headed on the Great Northern HWY again. This next stretch of the road (through the Kimberley’s) was really beautiful. I told Hannah I was going to torture her by making her listen to Kylie (she likes hard rock music) and then we sat laughing our heads off listening to Peter Kay on top of the Blackpool Tower. I loved the part where he was talking about when his Father goes on holiday he says “Son, I’m always thinking ahead” and prepares things like small bags of washing powder, t-bags, coffee and coffee mate…then when going through customs he is stopped with all these bags of white powder and his dad says…”It’s Coffee…mate” and the Spanish Customs Officer says…”I’m not your Fuckin Mate”…You have to hear it…but it was very funny…especially since everyone here says MATE all the time. Now every time someone says it I will be saying in my head “It’s Coffee Mate”. We stopped at the entrance to the Bungle Bungles, got more petrol, got back on the road and got to Kununurra at about 3pm.

When we got to Kununurra I said to Hannah we should go immediately to the Labor place. We went inside with our paperwork which I was told that they would need to see and I spoke to the lady I had spoken to the previous day on the phone. She was an Irish girl and told me that she had placed all the open jobs and it might take a few days. I was a little irritated by this, but was ok about waiting for an available job to come along. Hannah I know was extremely irritated (and quite rightly so, I had promised her there was loads of work…I should not have done this). We registered our details and I told the lady to call if anything became available.

We got to the Kimberly Kroc YHA and was met at the entrance by the owners (who were really friendly) and I have to say I had a really positive first impression of the place. When I called last night I had spoken to Phil, and he had said they were full but had a private room with two single beds for $56…I had said we would take the room (but I knew that this was a little expensive for Hannah). Phil told me he had moved some people around and that we were now in a 4 bed dorm…there was a nice Irish girl who was also in the room…great news for us!

Phil took us on a tour…the backpackers had fast internet, a nice pool, tv area, universal bathroom (which was clean), nice kitchen and covered eating area. The dorm was small, with two bunk beds (I got the lower…thank god) and was very clean…I hope they can do some moving around so I can stay here.

Me and Hannah went for a walk into town and found there was everything I need…my local bank, post office, 24 hour supermarkets, a Target etc.

I went back to the backpackers and just spent the evening relaxing etc…and found out that the Irish girl from the Labor place was also our room mate…hopefully it won’t take us long to get jobs.

We knew we were checking out of the YHA this morning as there was no rooms available for the next few nights. I was quite happy about this, as the Backpackers was so noisy and I couldn’t be doing with listening to the crazy noise for another night.

My alarm went off at about 7am and I got up, got dressed and went to the post office to see if my parcel was waiting for me at the post office…I was told I had to go inside the Post Office to collect it at 9am. I went into the Police Station and reported my accident yesterday…the Police Officer was really nice and has really helped me out. She told me if ultimately I wanted to claim anything from the insurance a Police report would be needed, so I was glad that I dropped by and asked their advice.

On the way back to the Backpackers I dropped by Grunt to see if there were any jobs in the local area…the man told me there was nothing in the Broome area and let me call the Kununurra office to set something up. I hopefully can get some work as soon as I get to Kununnura.

By the time I got back to the Backpackers, Hannah was out of the room. We packed up the car and got on the road again. I took a short detour and to my horror saw an old man being run over!! I was on the other side of the road driving down the road and heard a soft bang, like someone had driven into a Wheelie Bin…Well, the driver of this 4WD (another bloody driver of a 4WD) looked like he was driving out of his private drive and a man must have been wheeling his bin and basically all I saw was the old man lying on the ground and the driver jumping out of this car to help the man. I saw another person pull up to help who obviously saw the accident too, so I didn’t stop…there was nothing I could have done to help. It was a shame to see this though!

We got back onto the Great Northern HWY to head to a place called Derby. Derby is a pretty dreary place and the only thing there of any interest is something called the Boab Prison Tree. With a girth of 14m and a hollow trunk it’s said to be over 1000 years old. Aboriginal prisoners were locked here en route to the Old Derby Gaol. I loved that at the bottom of the “SITE OF SIGNIFICANCE” sign, which says “Note also that snakes are known to inhabit the tree”…they should have just said “Snakes are in this tree, so we don’t suggest you go inside!”…It should also say CRIKEY somewhere on the sign I think.

After Derby we got back on the Great Northern HWY and headed to Fitzroy Crossing and then on to Halls Creek. When we got to Halls Creek we had a variety of choices of Accomodation…basically we could stay in a room the size of a broom cupboard (another prefab) with a bathroom about a minute walk away. Hmmm…just the though of walking in the dark to go to the loo with the most dangerous spiders and snakes in the world only meters away gave me the SHITS!

Our other choice was to stay in a hotel (which cost more but it was less likely that I would be found dead in the morning) which we decided would be a better decision. We were thrilled to find that there was a TV inside…a treat, since I have not seen any in the last week.

New Recommendations…

New TV show I love – Last Man Standing
New Music I Love – Missy Higgins – The Sound of White

I wolk up at about 4am to hear a guy snoring so loud the room was vibrating…God knows how my Mother puts up with my Father’s snoring…I would be divorced in a month for sure…I have no patience at all! I tried coughing (loudly), which quieted him down for 10 seconds or so, moving around (bouncing, in fact) on my very uncomfortable mattress so it squeaked very loud and then I decided that it might be an idea to sleep somewhere else. You know, for $20 I cannot really complain…it’s only about 8 pounds, but still it was very frustrating. I went out to the car, picked up my blanket and went to the back of the garden to the beer garden and found a nice Hammock to sleep in.

There was a slight chill, but overall it was quite a pleasant night to sleep outside. People started to get up early and were kind of staring at me, who made me very paranoid, so I got up, showered, had my free breakfast and then I went for a little drive. The downtown area in Broome was very sweet…it had a nice quaint shopping area, only a few streets with surf shops, café’s and general stores.

I headed on back to the Last Resort to get Hannah and spent a few minutes on the web looking at the pictures of the celebrities at Glastonbury and the floods in the fields…I head the Coldplay sang Can’t Get You Out Of My Head…I would love to have heard that.

The weather turned a little chilly, so Hannah and I decided that we might head to Derby. I pulled up into the Shell Petrol Station behind a (4WD) Nissan Pathfinder and waited for my turn to get petrol. Before I could do anything I saw the 4WD put it’s reverse lights on and saw the driver glance out of the side mirror to see what was behind him (looking up instead of down at my wee car) and reversed into me. I didn’t even have time to take the handbrake off and reverse. I was shouting out the car (obscenities…and for him to stop) and he drove foreword and got out the car. I got out the car and looked at the front of the car…there was a semi circle cut into my bumper from his exhaust and scratches on the bumper from him driving his beastly machine onto mine. He apologized and then questioned that he did the damage!! I showed him what happened and then he suggested since he was from NSW he could just give me $100 for the repairs. I politely (nearly telling him to go fuck off) told him I would call the RAC to find out what I needed to do, since I had never been in this situation before). I called the RAC and they told me what information I needed to get from him.

He pulled his 4WD over to the side of the Petrol station, I did the same, got my details and went over to speak to him. He said that it was his fault BLAH BLAH BLAH and seemed ok…until…I asked him for his drivers license. He told me he would not give me his details without me giving him mine. I gave him mine and wrote all his details down.

I wasn’t upset, but I was really pissed off that my car had been damaged. I try and look after my things and things like this really make me angry. I wasn’t in the best of moods, so we decided to give Derby a miss until tomorrow and we headed down to Cable Beach. The beach was pretty, we watched the surfers for a little while and then went downtown to do a little shopping.

We went back to the Last Resort and I sat and relaxed with my book (laughing at Bill Bryson describing the British convicts being transported to Australia. Apparently by the late eighteenth century Britain’s statute books were weighty with capital offences; you could be hanged for any of two hundred acts, including, notably, “impersonating an Egyptian.” These Egyptian impersonators found the transportation a merciful alternative. I then read that these clever buggers sold newly arrived convicts maps showing them how to walk to China. Up to sixty at a time fled their captivity in the belief that that magically accommodating land lay just the other side of a vaguely distant river…too funny!

What a drama…I knew that today things would kick off with Patrick…and they did!

We had told Patrick last night that we all needed to get up early this morning, but when the alarm clock went off at 7am he decided to leave his lazy ass in bed.

I didn’t want to nag him like a mother, so when he got up I told him that we were wanting to leave as soon as possible. He took his sweet old time and me and Hannah got our gear together and loaded up the car.

Patrick finally got into the car around 8:20am and we went to the Petrol Station. I filled the car and when I got back in I said to both him and Hannah how much they owed me for petrol, shopping and the room I paid for the previous day. Hannah, as usual gave me the money immediately, Patrick however just sat there and I said to him “Can I have it now please Patrick!”.

He gave me the money but he looked pissed off while doing so and also didn’t have enough. I told him that I was really embarrased begging him for the money every time and didn’t want to nag him about it again. He said that maybe we should go our own way from here…THANK GOD! I know me and Hannah had spoken about this previously and were both quite happy about him going. I feel bad about it in a way but in a way I don’t as I shouldn’t have to beg him for money that he owes me.

We dropped him back at the backpackers and headed out on the open road. We had planned to try and make it to Port Headland or Karattha, but we were making really good time, so we decided to go straight to Broome. It was a long long long drive (over 12 hours) and by the time we got to Broome we were both exhausted and happy to find the Last Resort Backpackers could accomodate us for the next few night.

Hopefully my package will be waiting for me at the Post Office on Monday morning and we can head throught the Kimberleys to Kunnanura.

Hannah and Patrick were up early again to get their things together for their tour. They had their tour cancelled yesterday and again this morning it was very windy, so I was convinced that their tour again would not go ahead…I was wrong.

They didn’t come back by 10am, so I went to reception to pay for the rooms for another night and decided to just sit outside and soak up some sun.

I did a little shopping downtown and then came back to the room to relax. I had a lazy dad and didn’t do all that much.

Patrick again was being strange…It is starting to really piss me off.

I made dinner for us all and after Ollie came round later in the evening and we had a game of Monoply…I won…YAY!

Today my Dad is 61 …. EEEK!

Happy Birthday Dad…I hope you have lots of fun.

Patrick and Hannah had booked a glass bottom boat and snorkeling tour for this morning in Coral Bay. I had done umpteen glass bottom boats in the past with Carnival and couldn’t be bothered doing another one. I was going to go to the internet café and update my blog (I have not been able to get a half decent computer, sorry for the delay in the updates).

They both got up early and got their gear together. They checked that their tour was still on (it was) and we all sat and had sandwiches and tea. I dropped them down to Coral Bay Adventures and I went off to the Internet Café. The first one I went to was in a Café with 2 old old PC’s which were dial up’s and couldn’t even get a connection. The girl recommended another internet café and I found there computers were much newer and faster (finally I could use my Jump drive).

Hannah and Patrick came in to say that their tour had been cancelled until 12 noon. I sat reading my book (In a sunburned country – I’m finally reading it Kath and it’s very very funny) in the sunshine and they both came back to say that the tour had completely been cancelled for the day. We got back on the road and we drove straight to Exmouth. We had a third of a tank of petrol and I honestly thought that we would have enough to get us to Exmouth…I was very wrong!! After driving for 80 km’s or so the fuel light came on and I was certain that we were going to break down…well my car (named Shell) plodded on for another 60 km’s and got us (just about) to a petrol station…I was so happy we didn’t break down…that would have been a complete nightmare!

We got to the Exmouth Cape Tourist Village and went into the reception to book in. We managed to get another 4 dorm room (well…it was more like a prefab) so we were alone. The dorm had a fridge, cooker etc…it was pretty good for the price. Hannah and Patrick went to look at tours available and I sat outside in the sun, read my book and washed the car.

I didn’t do anything exciting in the evening…I called home (which was great to her Mum & Dad’s voice) and when I came back it seemed all hell had broken loose in the dorm. Hannah was very apologetic…I didn’t quite understand what was happening at first, but apparently she had left the door of the dorm open with the light on while she was watching Little Britain on my computer and when she looked up five minutes later apparently the room was FULL of mosquitoes…EEEK! Hannah (as you would) freaked out and went to the reception for spray to fumigate the room (they also nearly killed themselves with the fumes) and left a carpet of tiny corpses on the floor. I have to admit, when I came back they had nearly cleared all the bugs up…I did find one in my dinner later on (yes, I lost my appetite quickly).

Patrick and Hannah got up early this morning to go and feed the dolphins at Monkey Mia. I was feeling really tired, so I decided to have a lie in. When they came back they said they had lots of fun and there were about 13 dolphins there ready to be fed. Hannah was picked to feed one…so she of course was thrilled!

We packed up our gear, had sandwiches and headed on the road to Coral Bay. Patrick was being really funny, as had been for the last couple of days and I was starting to get frustrated with him. As you know something that I do ALL THE TIME is ask people “Are you alright?”…but I can’t help it…I want to know everything is ok. He had hardly said a word all day and I couldn’t work out if he was pissed off, hungry, tired…or what!

He wanted to stop at some places which I honestly didn’t care much to see, but told the other two if they wanted to see the places we would stop. Well, no one could bloody decide and we stopped quickly at the OTC dish in Carnarvon (briefly took part in the space race to put a man on the moon and then was closed after tracking the path of Hayley’s comet) which was fucking boring.

Patrick continued his mood for the rest of the day which sucked, and we got to Coral Bay at about 5pm. We found the Club Ningaloo Backpackers and got a 4 bed dorm. Patrick went for a swim and we just relaxed for the evening watching Priscilla.

I wolk up at about 8am and went for a cup of tea…I thought someone had stolen out T-bags, so I drove down to the local shop to buy some more. I got all my gear together and Hannah, Patrick and I had breakfast and discussed what we were going to do for the day.

A guy from Holland who had been staying in our dorm told us about a small place called Hutt River which is Australia’s second largest country…bizarre! It was created on the 21st April 1970 by a farmer called Len Casley (see picture - left) who was apparently disgusted by the government quota on wheat production. He basically found a legal loophole (swiftly changed) which allowed him to register his land as the Hutt River Province Principality. More than 30 years later HRH Price Leonard and Princess Shirley (no, I am not joking) remain the monarchs of the only principality in the world declared without bloodshed.

We drove south of Kalbarri, along another very long sandy red road to the Hutt River Province. We drove along the drive and found that on our left was a strange sculpture of a head, a church and a government office/post office. On the right was a gift shop. We got out of the car and walked towards a strange looking old man…it was Prince Len!!! This old man took us into the gift shop and told us about the history of Hutt River…honestly I have never heard someone speak so fast…I don’t know how Patrick could understand him…I found it difficult! After the history, he tried to sell us a naff pen (we graciously declined) and headed on over to the government house where we were to have our passports stamped. They have their own currency, stamps and citizens…it is quite strange.

We got back on the open road (HWY 1) and headed north towards Monkey Mia. When we got into the Shark Bay Area we took a short detour to see the Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites. We took another detour to see the Shell Beach which was amazing. The cockleshells at Shell Beach are 10m deep in some places and in the past have been used as a building material. I could picture Ged on his Brooklyn riding over the humps on the beach. Because they are shells the sand was hard and had the terrain of a bike track.

We headed back on the road, went through Denham and drove about 26km to Monkey Mia. It is famous for it’s bottle nose Dolphins that turn up like clockwork every day. We again booked into the YHA (which was brand new and spotless), had some dinner, watch the nanny help pushover parents and ended up watching a DVD of Connie & Carla.