Germans love bananas

Hi friends and family (not usually mutually exclusive), Jenni here. Or as they would say in Australia, "Howdy ya'll."

Just writing to share pictures and a few commentaries from a few weekends ago. While David was lamenting, "Why'd it have to be boats?," our friend Martin and I went canoeing up Katherine Gorge for 4 days, 3 nights. Martin is David's boss now and he's the guy who ate his shoe on the backpack trip. Yeah, Martin's a legend, one of those people who gets inordinately hyper from drinking too many (diet) cokes and always has something positive to say about... everything. Despite these obvious personality flaws we had a really good time.

Nietzsche came along too.

The funny thing about being invited to go "canoeing" was that I thought we'd spend the majority of time in the water, paddling the canoe upstream. Silly me. Apparently going canoeing means carrying the canoe across shallow sections of the river, trying to stand up on slippery rocks and not overturn the canoe with all our gear (Thanks, Mom for your sage advice on this one.). I soon gave up and let Martin do the pulling and pushing. Sometimes I helped by pointing out the way he should have gone.

The first day we canoed up to the 6th gorge and camped -- across the river was a croc sunning her-/him-/itself. It was a fresh water croc so no fear of it sneaking up to our site and eating Martin while he slept. The second day we canoed up to the 9th gorge where a massive pile of rocks blocked us from hauling the canoe any further. Undeterred, we moored or anchored our craft (whatever it is you do with a canoe) and climbed into the little explored 10th gorge. This gave us huge bragging rights with other hikers and canoers encountered on the way back.

"How far did you go," they'd ask.

"Oh," (dramatic pause) "to the 10th gorge," we'd respond.

"Ooooh, ahhh....,"




The final night we canoed back and camped at the 5th gorge. Up to this point we'd had the sites to ourselves, but the fifth was quite crowded. The final day we made it back to the start, stopping along the way to photograph Germans eating bananas.

On the way back Martin decided his shirt was sexist and it needed to be burned (see what spending the weekend with me can do to people?). We stopped at the closest bush fire and watched the shirt quickly go up in flames.

All in all it was great fun and I had heaps of bruises and scratches to prove I'd done something adventurous over the weekend. Wish David could have come along. He would have loved the 10th gorge (you know, very few people actually get to the 10th gorge).


Photos ensue...



"This guy's kind of nuts. Maybe I'm glad I'm not going."

"So, you have to be able to lift the canoe this high..."

He really should have gone the other way...

One of the containers we had to keep all our stuff in.

The view of the 9th gorge... From the 10th gorge.

Pictures of my best side...

Germans in their native habitat...

Shirt bad, fire good.

Weird Creepy Australian Crabs

Before your mind wanders about the many potential meanings with the title, I'll say that this refers to some tiny crabs I saw on the beach at Lee Point.

This little guy ran away from me and buried himself in the sand. Took about 2 seconds to cover himself up.











You can see what I mean by creepy since they look like little black widow spiders.



They push the sand around to make little holes and the beach was covered with these perfect little spheres.

Why'd It Have to be Boats?

Jenni is away and I've been left to my own devices this Darwin Cup weekend. Yep, we get a day off for the major yearly horse race. Pretty much every major city in Australia gets the day off for that city's major horse race. I think the Melbourne Cup is the biggest and probably a national holiday...

Since, I've exhausted most of my ideas (sitting around and doing nothing) I've decided to do a blog entry. We were invited to go on a canoe trip up the Katherine Gorge; which sounds like a beautiful trip. Unfortunately, I don't do so well on boats of any size. I got sea sick while learning to kayak in a swimming pool...it was a big pool. I do say that with a twinge of pride though. Anyway, smart woman that Jenni is, she went without me. I did go for the first night (Thursday 31-7-08) and camp at the base camp. There were lots of wallabies around. While driving to the campground, I actually hit one and most likely killed it. I tried to move out of the way but I just wasn't quick enough. Left me feeling pretty blue as they are such neat creatures, but I'm still not as bad as this guy.

The most exciting day was yesterday (3-8-08) when I got to be the 12th man for the Uni cricket club. The so called 12th man, 12th because there are only 11 players, was also known as the whipping boy, and consisted mostly on running and getting cartons of beers. I think Cricket (at least at this level) is the only sport where you actually consume more calories than you burn. Actually, I got to spend quite a bit of time on the field so that the bowlers could have a rest when their turn was done. Stopped a few, missed a few, but definitely improved since the last time I was on the field. There might still be a chance to turn pro...Unfortunately, after a good round of batting by the Uni team, the other team turned it around and won the game.

Last weekend (27,28-07-08) was another busy one. We went with a small group of people on a two-day bike ride from Darwin to Mandorah, 130km total. Any ride like that is of course difficult on some level (mostly at the level of your bum), but it was a lot of fun. We even had a support vehicle bring camping equipment to the campground for the end of the first day, so we didn't have to carry it.

We left at 6am on Sat morning. The hardest part of the first day was riding along the Stuart Highway, but it was early enough that traffic was pretty light. We stopped at some of the service stations where people were able to refeul on Coke and cheese sausages. Our first "real" stop was at Berry Springs where some people went swimming in the natural pools. The water was pretty warm, although it was disturbed by some of the local wildlife and their eskie (cooler) full of beer. This was about 10am, and they had turned up drunk, so either they were out all night or started about the same time we did. The trick to avoiding these types of people is to find a spot that is a mile or so up the trail, because they don't want to carry their beer that far...

We camped at a place called Tumbling Waters, and is a nice little campsite complete with an outdoor movie theatre and a crocodile pool. They were supposed to have a BBQ that night, but the cooks unexpectedly and inexplicably left, so we decided to head over to the Litchfield Pub. On the outside the Litchfield Pub looks like a mix of Tourist Bar and Local Bar, and for the most part that is what it is. Surprisingly the food they served was something more than pub food, and verged on gourmet. How many times have you encountered melted feta on toasted pita bread with fresh vegetables in a Pub?

The next day was a little harder for me, having already ridden ~60km the first day (I'm using kilometers to make it sound more impressive and longer). But we made it to Mandorah and had a celebratory bag of crisps at the Mandorah Beach Hotel, and caught the ferry back across to Darwin. Yep another boat...Who would of thought there would be so many boats near the ocean? Anyhoo, it was a rather nice feeling when you rode down a hill that you knew you didn't need to ride back up it on the return ride. So catching the ferry back was worth it.

Berry Springs


Tumbling Waters' Crocodile

Night Herron


Darwin from Mandorah Beach


Mandorah Beach Hotel


This is where the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal Kids would go for their reeducation not that long ago.


Crossing the Finish Line






View Larger Map

Will The Real Crocodile Dundee Please Stand Up

Possibly the first thing that an American thinks of when they think of Australia is Crocodile Dundee, with a tall lanky figure that wrestles crocodiles in good fun "mate." Perhaps, when the rest of Australia thinks of the Northern Territory, the same image comes to mind. After all the true life character that Crocodile Dundee was based on was from the Northern Territory (Katherine?). Rodney Ansell was his name. While out fishing on the Victoria River, his boat capsized, and he ended up living and wandering around the wild for two months before being found by a cattle drive. We were told (this isn't in the wikipedia article) that he eventually got mixed up with drugs which eventually caused his demise...

Day at the Races

Tony: Hey, boss! C'mere! Sun-Up is the worst horse on the track!
Dr. Hackenbush: I notice he wins all the time.
Tony: Aw, just because he comes in first.
Dr. Hackenbush: Well, I don't want 'em any better than first.



Yep, on Saturday (19-7-08) we got our Marx Brothers on and went the Darwin Race course in Fannie Bay with Chris, Fiona, and Clare. It was amazing how similar it was to scenes of horse race tracks in some of those British movies. Women wore their frocks and hats.



Men dressed up too, but then again, it's still Darwin.



We ended up betting (punting) on 4 races, where each person picked their horse and we bet the pool on that one. David's initial strategy was to point at the racing form and see if Clare approved or disapproved, but she would simply respond by saying "Anana?" So this didn't work, as there was no horses by the name of Banana. Instead, Jenni and David adopted the strategy of betting on the favorites to win...and low and behold they one. So if you exclude the entrance fee, and drinks, we came out on top! Not bad.










[examining Stuffy with an auriscope]
Dr. Hackenbush: I haven't seen anything like this in years. The last time I saw a head like that was in a bottle of formaldehyde.
Tony: Told you he was sick.
Dr. Hackenbush: [pointing to Stuffy's neck] That's all pure desecration along there. He's got about a 15% metabolism, with an overactive thyroid and a glandular affectation of about 3%.
Tony: That's bad.
Dr. Hackenbush: With a 1% mentality.
Dr. Hackenbush: He's what we designate as the crummy moronic type. All in all, this is the most gruesome looking piece of blubber I've ever peered at.
Tony: Hey doc. Hey doc!
Dr. Hackenbush: Huh?
Tony: You gotta the looking glass turned around, you're looking at yourself.

Mostly we just went so that we could put Marx Bros quotes on our blog.

Jatbula Trail

We spent the week of July 10th to the 14th just East of Katherine on the Jatbula trail that runs from the Katherine Gorge to Edith Falls. This perhaps will be noted as the turning point in our time down here. It was really good for us to get out and see the country. It was also a good couple strengthening exercise, and reminded us how well we work as a team.

We were joined on the trip by a colleague, Martin, and two friends of his Gary and Robin. Unfortunately, one person wasn't able to make it, so we ended up being just 5 people. The walk is about 60km total (depending on which map you read), and we pretty much just settled into a rutine of getting up and hiking to that day's campsite and resting the rest of the afternoon. They only allow 10 people a day on the trail, so reservations had to be made about a month or so in advance. This will probably get even more difficult as the trail has been shown in Australian Geographic, and is highly recommended by everyone we've talked to. Hopefully they don't change how many people are allowed on the trail, because it definitely helps to keep the campsites in good condition. They've done a fantastic job marking the trail, and several of the campsites had composting toilets. Quite the luxury (in the least you didn't need to carry out your TP)! David remarked to Jenni, "I'll go backpacing on any trail that has a toilet." He might have been a bit too enthusiastic, after all humans have been doing like bears (and popes) for thousands of years.

Day 1 Nitmiluk Centre to Northern Rockhole to Biddlecombe Cascades

Northern Rockhole was the first stop. Some of our party dove in for a mid-afternoon swim

This was about 100 meters away from the campsite. What will come as a shock to you Coloradoans (and those in the US) is you can drink this water. Tastes great too! Less Filling! No worries about water-born illnesses. So that meant we didn't have to carry anymore water than what we needed for that day, because each campsite had either a river or waterhole of some kind. (Photographers Note: The image below was created using a technique called HDR. It allows you to combine multiple exposures of the same photo and create some interesting effects.)

Red-tailed cockatoos above the campground.

Day 2 Biddlecombe Cascades to Crystal Falls

Setting out on day two.

There was some Aboriginal rock art along the way.

Face in a knotted old tree.

Well-marked trail. It wasn't usually necessary to have so many markers, because the trail has become well-worn, but a few years ago before it became popular, they were necessary.

Martin's Shoes deserve special attention. He purchased these shoes in 2000 and they were second-hand at the time. Unfortunately they were not the best shoes to have on this hike. They started to bug him on the second day, in particular rubbing and blisters around his ankle. Martin's solution was to revolution shoe design and create specially modified hiking boots by cutting off the offending pieces. On day two he removed the ankle support using a rather dull Swiss Army knife.

Always conscientious, Martin takes "Leave No Trace" to a new extreme.

Cascade Falls campground. David didn't get a snapshot of the actual cascade falls.

Kingfisher at the campground.

Day 3 Crystal Falls to the Amphitheater to 17 Mile Falls

Mist on the river at Crystal Falls campground.

The Amphitheater was a slight detour from the main trail, but had some amazing Aboriginal Rock Art. Unfortunately Jenni and David missed some of the bigger galleries, because the trail appeared to end.

Jenni in front of 17 Miles Falls

Rock resembling David.

Third Campground

We divided the dinner duties amongst the original 6 people, so Martin got stuck carrying the food and cooking for us by himself. Jenni and David had the first night, but brought WAY too much pasta and ended up carrying that for almost the whole trip. Pasta is surprisingly heavy. Martin the second night, and Gary and Robin the third night. The last night we threw all we had left together and created a buffet style feast. On the outside of Gary and Robin's dinner looked like complete and utter chaos. Sometimes it even like they were working against each other. But this was just on the outside, because their system worked, and they produced another fantastic meal. We definitely ate well on the trip.

Martin's Shoe part two. Ankles were feeling in top shape by the second day, but blisters on his toes were causing problems. His shoes were too tight in the front, causing pressure on his front toes. This was also helped by the fact that the sole was beginning to detach itself from the shoe, so it was necessary to tape the shoe together but the tape added more pressure to the toes. Solution 2: cut out some space for the toes (while the shoe was off mind you). Martin has copyrighted this design, so no stealing his intellectual property.

Day 4 17 Mile Falls to Sandy Camp Pool

This spot quickly became everyone's favorite spot to camp at. The tents could be placed on the sand, and it would be like camping on the beach. Like camping on the beach, sand got everywhere, but that was ok too. We never found the composting toilet for this one, but there were really no places to build one.

There were actually freshies in this pool (freshwater crocs). We could see their eyes at night. Probably small ones, and they didn't bug us and we didn't bother them.







On Day five we hiked out to Edith falls and headed home.