Matt Down Under

New photo album: Ha Long Bay

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:27:12 +0930

New photo album: Ha Long Bay:

My last days in Viet Nam, before flying to Germany.

New photo album: Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:23:16 +0930

New photo album: Pu Luong Nature Reserve:

Photos from my 6-day hiking trip in Pu Luong Nature Reserve in North Vietnam.

New photo album: Hoi An

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:17:29 +0930

New photo album: Hoi An:

Yesterday I arrived in Hanoi, after a fantastic week in Hoi An where I met some great local people who made my stay very enjoyable. You may have seen in the news that Viet Nam experienced similar floods than Bangkok over the last days, and many people have died. I was in Hoi An when the old town got flooded after the water in the river rose 3m in just one day. My hotel was flooded too but I got away very lucky. It really amazed me how relaxed the locals dealt with the situation, organising boat tours around the flooded town, some even telling me I would be very lucky to witness the flood, it happens ‘only’ 2-3 times per year apparently.

New photo album: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:46:23 +0930

New photo album: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon):

I’ve added the first of probably a handful of photo albums about my trip to Viet Nam. This one is about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), including a small tour to the Cu Chi Viet Cong tunnels and another trip on the Saigon river to the Mekong delta and My Tho.

Xin chào from Viet Nam

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 01:43:56 +0930

(Xin chào means hello). On Thursday I left Darwin, after several months, and flew to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Viet Nam where I’m going to spend four weeks traveling from South to North before heading to Germany over Christmas and New Year.

Since I have returned from Numbulwar a few months ago, I tried to make plans for further travels around Australia, but I just didn’t know what I wanted — going East, or West, or why should I travel at all? I couldn’t see a reason why I should leave Darwin and travel back South where it’s cold. The hot climate in Darwin is all I ever wanted, all I ever dreamed of while I stayed in Tasmania. Of course there’s heaps in Australia I would still like to see, but somehow I also felt increasingly tired of moving around.

So I stayed in Darwin and simply waited for something to happen, after all I didn’t have pressure or schedules to meet. In the meantime I did some work on projects here and there. A few weeks ago I noticed that flights to Asia are quite cheap from Darwin and then I just decided to spend a few weeks in Asia (vacation from the vacation) and afterwards taking the chance to spend a few weeks or months in Germany. While I’m not in employment there’s no better opportunity for it, I can leave my return flight open.

I spent the last four weeks learning about Viet Nam and organising a basic itinerary. I will spend a week here in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and probably do some day tours over the next days, on the Saigon river tomorrow and possibly to the Mekong Delta or even further, maybe some cooking courses and lots of sightseeing. Then I’ll fly into Central Viet Nam and spend another week in the area of Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. The last two weeks will be in Hanoi, where I’ll go on a one-week hiking tour with a private guide around the Northern mountains. Hiking across rice paddies, visiting remote hill tribes and staying with locals — sounds like a great adventure. I will finish my trip with a three-day cruise across Ha Long Bay, famous scenery from ‘James Bond - The man with the golden gun’.

So, why Viet Nam? Whenever I travel between Europe and Australia I try to stay in Asia for at least a few days. Flying from Australia to Singapore (the usual route to Europe) and then with only a few hours stop-over flying on to Europe for another 14h or so, it’s horrible. You really feel like shit after around 30h in air planes and airports, and about 10h difference in time zone. It’s much more relaxing to fly to Asia, enjoy a couple of days there, then fly on to Europe.

I’ve already visited Singapore and Thailand and while Singapore was interesting, it was the beautiful culture and tradition in Thailand that fascinated me the most. Viet Nam in the same corner has always been a country that I wanted to visit. A country ravaged by war like few others — they fought off the Chinese, the French and then the Americans. The US military invasion was based on lies from the beginning (just like in Iraq) and without a doubt, what the Americans did in Viet Nam, like the spraying of Agent Orange, and the My Lai massacre, are among the most despicable and inhuman war crimes ever committed in history. In the end it was all worthless, but the damage was gigantic and it has an impact on the Vietnamese even today.

With that in mind I find it immensely interesting to get to see with my own eyes how this proud nation has recovered from its turbulent history and how the different cultures in South and North Viet Nam get along.

I have been here for only two days now and every day so far has been full of impressions. From the daily struggle not to fall for scams on the street or buy heaps of stuff I don’t need, to the noodles (pho) and rice (com) that are served for breakfast in my guesthouse, it’s pretty cool so far.

13 things I will miss when I leave Darwin

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:24:00 +0930

Just so I don’t appear too negative (or too German?) after my last post about the 3 things in Darwin I won’t miss, here is a list of 13 things I will absolutely miss once I leave Darwin on Thursday.

Never having to worry about what to wear — shorts and t-shirt will do every day
Watching the sunset at Mindil Beach, ideally on a Thursday or Sunday when there is a big market with lots of good food (I think only during the dry season though)
Sitting on a park bench and watching ibises, Red-collared Lorikeets and, if you look close, all kinds of fairly large lizards around
Going fishing without having to get a license first (like you have to in other states)
Drying my clothes on a clothes line and an hour later it’s all dry
Hiring a scooter on a hot day, driving along the coast to East Point Reserve in shorts and t-shirt, walking the mangrove walk and sitting on the viewing platform to watch birds, fish and mud crabs
Checking into any place and being sure there will be a swimming pool
Palm trees, coconuts and mango trees in the city
Geckos climbing the kitchen walls while I’m cooking
Frangipani trees that are so common around Darwin. In my hostel there is a particularly large one, it looks gorgeous when the sun shines through the leaves, and it attracts an abundance of birds all day long.
Fairly high density of women in bikini compared to other cities in Australia
Public transport for just $2 per 3h ticket
Going for a stroll around the waterfront, from the cruise ship terminal to Stokes Hill Wharf, and watching the fish in the water on a sunny day. Sometimes huge barramundi can be seen in the basin near the Wave Lagoon.

3 things I won't miss when I leave Darwin

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:50:00 +0930

In two weeks I will leave Darwin to travel Vietnam for a month before flying from Hanoi to Germany, where I want to stay over Christmas and New Year, until I get bored or until I feel cold and miss Australia — whichever comes first.

As much as I love the Northern Territory and Darwin, there are a couple of things I won’t miss for a second:

Flies, flies, flies. They are everywhere. It’s not just out in the bush, and it’s also not just mosquitoes. Plain simple flies, as soon as you sit down outside, they will come. They will sit on you, sit on your food, on your drink, in your face. You can shoo them away a hundred times they will just turn around and sit on your food again. Yesterday I had to pour away my cup of tea before I was even able to take a first sip — two flies beat me to it and decided to take a bath. Now this is probably something I could live with should I ever decide to move to the Northern Territory permanently, it’s part of the country here. However right now I really wouldn’t miss it.
Lack of non-smoker protection. In every single Australian state I traveled before the Northern Territory, every single hostel had a dedicated smoker area where people were allowed to smoke. Anywhere else, smoking was prohibited — which is a good thing. As a non-smoker there are few things I hate more than having to breath other people’s smoke, and everyone knows well that smokers are usually not among the most considerate people on this planet (but I’m glad to know a few exceptions). They just can’t imagine that other people may not want to ruin their health and breath disgusting fumes for no rational reason. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in the Northern Territory a few months back and noticed that it is absolutely uncommon to have dedicated smoker areas in backpacker hostels and other places. By now I have stayed in more than half a dozen of hostels in Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin and in every single one, people were allowed to smoke wherever they wanted: at the pool, on floors, in communal areas, in the open kitchen etc. When I see smokers on one table I always sit down somewhere else to eat, but usually it only takes minutes until someone grabs a chair nearby and lights up a cigarette. I’m sick of it. What I don’t get is why it always requires laws to get people to act — in this case, hostels. Why can’t they just voluntarily set up smoker zones? They probably don’t think it’s necessary, and that’s really not a great impression of the Northern Territory. I’ve spoken to many other visitors who felt the same.
Telstra’s incompetence. Every single day from around lunch time, download speeds on Telstra’s mobile broadband in Darwin CBD gradually slow down until it reaches a level that I haven’t experienced in two decades. At the time of writing my connection crawls along at pathetic 2-3 KB/s and it can take two minutes or more only to load the ABC News website. It gets better when people go home from work around 5pm, but later in the evening it gets the worst. Restarting Mac, iPhone etc. doesn’t have any effect. This is what Telstra calls 3G, or even NextG. If that is 3G then my modem in 1992 had 3G speed and I wasn’t aware of it. Now one would guess that big providers monitor their network performance and if congestion happens, additional resources are allocated to compensate. Not so with Telstra, one of the most incompetent companies in Australia I ever dealt with. The only thing that works for them, is to complain. Sending one complaint after another, and hopefully one day they will get it. At the moment I’m thinking of moving to Melbourne when I return to Australia early next year, and I’m sure one of the first things I’ll do then is switch back to Virgin Mobile, just to get rid of Telstra, whatever it costs. I still favour excellent service and crystal-clear pricing over network coverage.

Jatbula Trail — Day 5

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:58:05 +0930

Route: Sandy Camp Pool — Leliyn (Edith Falls)

Before I left the campsite in the morning I finally got the chance to take some good photos of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that were sitting and clowning in a tree right next to the campsite. As common as they may be in Australia, I never managed to take a really good photo until then. What’s really fascinating — and most people probably don’t recognise it — is, that just like many other birds in Australia they look slightly different in the North compared to the South.

The trail followed the river closely but was easy to walk. Many birds can be seen in the trees along the river. I also noticed more traces of buffaloes and always kept an eye on my surroundings, but again I didn’t encounter any.

Halfway between Sandy Camp and Sweetwater Pool there was another checkpoint with an emergency phone. As always I left an entry in the log book, just in case.

Shortly after I walked through an area where large flocks of 50 or more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos were sitting in the trees, it was fantastic. The sounds they made became louder and more frequent the closer I came, clearly they were aware of me, but I never managed to get really close, they are very shy birds. But I got to watch one cracking and eating some tree nut, pretty fascinating how they stand on one foot and holding the nut with the other.

On part of the trail there was fairly dense vegetation again, but what really surprised me were the muddy sections close to Sweetwater Pool. Mud is really not what I expected in the Northern Territory at the end of the dry season.

Sweetwater Pool was an incredibly beautiful place again, probably the best campsite on the trail from a swimming point of view. Unfortunately I met two day walkers there, and suddenly the wilderness experience was over for me, after almost 60km without meeting any other person I was back in reality.

It was only 4km away from the car park at Leliyn (Edith Falls), and the thought of a cold can of coke only an hour away made me walk on and skip the last campsite. But not until a short break to soak up the beautiful scenery one last time.

Shortly after the official end of the trail, a few hundred metres before the car park, I sat down on a bench for a last break. Some day walkers passed me and couldn’t believe I just walked 60km across the park in this relentless heat. This quick moment of appreciation and admiration made it all worthwhile for me.

I was planning to hitch a ride to Katherine or Darwin with some day tourists, but then the kiosk owners organised a bus pickup for me that only cost me $30 to Katherine and saved me from sitting in the heat and waiting for a lift. That way I was able to enjoy a meal, cold drinks and a shower with the last coins I had in my wallet (they still don’t have EFTPOS at the Edith Falls campsite, very annoying) before the bus arrived.

That evening I was back in Katherine, stayed at a (rather horrible) hostel and the following day I took the Greyhound Bus back to Darwin, ending another great hiking experience.

Jatbula Trail — Day 4

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:50:06 +0930

Route: 17 Mile Falls — Sandy Camp Pool

I really managed to leave earlier than 8am — at 7.30am, amazing improvement. Before I left I soaked my towel in the water and put in under my wide hat, covering head, neck and shoulders. It really makes a big difference and keeps your head cool. It also helped against flies.

Walking was really beautiful that morning, because the trail went in Western direction, so the sun was behind me and all the dry bushland appeared in golden morning sunshine. The track was also very easy and flat, so I could cross a long distance in short time.

The dominant sight in the landscape were termite hills, sometimes it really seemed like thousands of them around me. The last few kilometres until Edith River Crossing however the vegetation turned into rather dense bushland, almost like in the jungle, and the heat increased quite significantly since there was no wind at all.

At some point I arrived at some kind of creek. There wasn’t much water left and what was left was just standing water, not much flow. I had a feeling it was Edith River, but secretly I was hoping it wouldn’t be. After the 17 Mile campsite with not the best water quality I had hoped things would change for the better at Edith River.

A few metres downstream there was a river crossing and the Edith River Crossing checkpoint with a log book and an emergency phone. On my map this was marked as a campsite, but not only was there no toilet, but with only few water left and not much space for setting up a tent, it didn’t look very appealing and I didn’t feel too bad for skipping this campsite and marching on to Sandy Camp. Based on comments in the log book, walking on to Sandy Camp seemed to be the most common route anyway.

I sat down for a while to eat some snacks before walking on. Between Edith River Crossing and Sandy Camp, the terrain was a mix of dry rocky areas, dense bushland and swampy flood plains. In the swampy areas I could sometimes see buffalo tracks in the mud, but didn’t actually see any buffaloes. Sometimes the track split up into several tracks and later joined again. Sometimes it was also hard to see the next track marker and I had to guess or look around a bit, but nothing to worry about.

Sandy Camp turned out to be an amazing place. Suddenly I arrived at this large freshwater pool surrounded by beautiful vegetation of pandanis and eucaclyptus. It was just an incredibly beautiful place and well worth the extra kilometres. Camping was right next to the water in a sandy area between the trees, water quality was great and contrary to what was marked on my map, even a toilet building had been built there. A lot of birds can be watched around the pool, like Darters and other fish-eating birds.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing in or near the water. I also made an unpleasant experience with a pair of ravens or currawongs. I noticed them watching me when I arrived at the campsite and dropped my pack. I didn’t immediately set up my tent but went to the water instead, only 30m away. When I came back 15 minutes later I found the upper compartment of my backpack open and the contents scattered on the ground. I knew it was the birds, a few years ago I saw currawongs raiding other people’s backpacks on the Overland Track, they are quite clever and know how to open zips. Fortunately everything was still there.

Jatbula Trail — Day 3

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:27:05 +0930

Route: Crystal Falls — 17 Mile Falls

It took me some time to find a safe way across the river. It was almost possible to jump from one rock to the next, but for the last part I didn’t get around wading through the water, so at least I wanted a place where it wasn’t too deep or the current too strong.

After I had crossed the river it was only a short walk to the Crystal Falls lookout and checkpoint with log book. Beautiful view that is worth a short break.

It was still early in the morning but there was absolutely no wind in the area so I was sweating like a pig. The trail crossed some rocky country and a few times I came across places that looked like people had definitely been there a long time ago. Stone plateaus that looked like ancient fireplaces for example.

At some point I reached the edge of the escarpment and the views were quite nice. The country slowly changed and I was walking across areas that had been ravaged by bush fire not long ago. But like it is with bush fires, only the grass disappears, the trees live on.

That day I particularly noticed how quickly the surroundings sometimes changed. The one moment you’re crossing dry bush fire areas, the next moment you descend onto flood plains with green grass in the middle of dry forest. During the wet these areas are most likely flooded, during the dry the water disappears, but leaves enough for the green grass to stay, surrounded by forest and dry grass. It’s a fascinating view to see how green the Northern Territory can be.

After two thirds of the distance I arrived at the Amphitheatre, a small canyon with rainforest and some Aboriginal rock paintings that are well marked and described on signs. I saw cockatoos of all colours when I descended on the short side track. And there were hundreds of butterflies.

It was a beautiful place, peaceful, quiet and cool. It was so sheltered from the weather that some of the rock paintings looked like they had been painted only recently.

From the Amphitheatre it was only another hour until I reached the edge of the plateau again, from where I had spectacular views down to 17 Mile Falls. The photos don’t do it justice — standing up there and not only watching the waterfalls, but also how the river divided the dry country like a green snake was amazing.

The campsite was pretty much right on top of the waterfall. When I got there it was so hot that I really wasn’t able to move around much for the rest of the day. Unfortunately the rocks in the water were full of leeches again, so I tried to avoid swimming, which didn’t make the heat any easier. I spent most of the day sitting with my feet in the water and a wet towel over my head, trying to drink as much as possible.

I thought about walking to the bottom of the falls, but in that heat I couldn’t get myself to change to my hiking shoes again and it seemed too far and risky to walk it in flip-flops (and just my underpants on). There were a couple of snake warnings in the log book, but surprisingly I didn’t see any on the whole trail. But I’m not complaining, there are some pretty poisonous snakes in the Northern Territory, I wouldn’t want to step on one wearing just flip-flops.

I decided to try and leave before my usual 8am the following morning. I was going to have a slightly longer day and walk to Sandy Camp Pool, skipping the Edith River Crossing campsite, which seemed like a good idea judging from my map.

Jatbula Trail — Day 2

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:27:06 +0930

Route: Biddlecombe Cascades — Crystal Falls

It was so hot in the morning already that after breakfast I went for a swim before packing up and leaving.

Two minutes after I left the campsite I needed to stop again. The river had to be crossed and I didn’t get around wading through the water, so I changed from hiking shoes to flip-flops again.

The first part of the trail featured very green vegetation near the river. It was easy walking since it was early in the morning and the sun was still low on the horizon, but it quickly got hotter.

Throughout the day I saw a lot of termite hills. Sometimes you see a few large ones of 2-3m, sometimes you can see hundreds or thousands of smaller ones on a very small area, it looks like spikes coming from the ground.

The terrain became rockier and the track included climbing around rocks and crossing dry river beds. Still fascinating how green the trees and grass can be in a place like this.

At some point, almost halfway done for the day, I arrived at a prominent rock that was higher than everything else. Clearly people had been there, most likely to rest, as there was a lot of shadow and flattened grass. I had a feeling there could be some rock art, so I dropped my pack and walked around the area to take a closer look. Indeed, there were several rock paintings only a few metres from the trail. Hard to tell how old they were, but the thought alone, that they could be thousands of years old, was fascinating.

A while later I came across a sign that indicated half the distance was still left to go — I had been hoping to be closer to the next campsite already. At least the trail was very easy to walk now, across light bushland, some looked like they had suffered bushfires only recently.

When I spotted a toilet building in the distance, I knew I was finally there. The Crystal Falls campsite was right next to a wide river, a magnificent location again.

The following day I found out the actual Crystal Falls were a few metres downstream from the campsite, after crossing the river it is only a short walk uphill to a lookout with a checkpoint log book and great views over the falls. But I only found out the following day.

I dropped all my stuff and went swimming to cool down. Afterwards I set up camp and then spent pretty much the whole rest of the day just swashing in the water. Some unfortunate encounters with leeches aside, it was simply fantastic. The campsite area is next to some light rapids with many small pools where you can sit in the water and feel the current flow around you. Very relaxing to the whole body after a tiring day.

Jatbula Trail — Day 1

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:56:26 +0930

Route: Nitmiluk Visitor Centre — Biddlecombe Cascades

I arrived in Katherine one day before my departure on the Jatbula Trail, I wanted to camp at Katherine Gorge for one night just to get acclimatised to camping and outdoors again before starting the hike. Besides, the campground is a wonderful location with lots of wildlife, great facilities and many opportunities for short walks.

The following day I got up early in order to catch the first ferry across Katherine River at 9am. The start of the track is on the other side of the river and you need to book one of the sightseeing ferries to take you across. I didn’t need to book ahead — around 8am I simply walked to the visitor centre, collected my walk permit from the ranger, paid the campsite fees (~$15 altogether) and booked the ferry (~$7).

The ranger had already been expecting me. Turns out I was the only person to start the walk on that day. I was excited but also a bit concerned — I knew it would be tough out there in the heat, and being on your own of course the risk increases.

At the ferry departure point nearby, plenty of people were already waiting for their scenic cruise. For me it was a short cruise, as the boat simply turned around, went over to the other side across the river, I jumped out and then the boat left. I liked how surprised most people looked, they probably were not aware of the Jatbula Trail.

It was shortly after 9am and I was already sweating like a pig. I carried more than 3l of water and I tried to stop every 15 minutes or so to drink some. I quickly noticed you should really drink as much as possible to compensate for the sweating.

The first part of the trail was across very dry and open country, lots of dry grass everywhere. Most of the trail follows the edge of a plateau, so it was not surprising to see the trail slowly climb up on the first kilometres.

In this dry environment it was surprising to see the waterfall still running, when I arrived at the Northern Rockhole after 4km. A beautiful and quiet place with a very high waterfall. Great place for a quick break, or even a swim, the water provided welcome refreshment.

When I moved on, the track continued to ascend and then entered more dense bushland, where the heat clearly got more intense. Termite hills and lots of flies were present.

After 8km the first day was already over and I much appreciated a short day. Biddlecombe Cascades was a beautiful spot located next to a permanent creek with a big waterfall and several great swimming holes. I quickly set up camp and then spent most of the remaining day in the water. It’s unbelievable how refreshing it can be to go swimming on such a hot day. The water was quite warm, but still cooler than the heat around.

Another great thing about the water is that you can wash your sweaty clothes every day, in the sun they will dry within half an hour.

The final highlight of the day were a couple of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos that were hanging around in the trees at the campsite. Beautiful birds to watch.

New photo album: Jatbula Trail

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:23:13 +0930

New photo album: Jatbula Trail

The sign in the photo marked the end of the Jatbula Trail, a few...

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:40:59 +0930

The sign in the photo marked the end of the Jatbula Trail, a few hundred metres before the Edith Falls car park. When I walked past it at 1pm last Tuesday, I had to pause for a moment, take a photo and recap the experiences of the past few days. The message on the sign is exactly what I tried to articulate in my previous blog post. It says:

“You have walked the land and now end your journey with photographs and memories of your experiences along the Jatbula Trail.”

“During the wet season Jawoyn moved around this high, broken tableland between Katherine and Leliyn (Edith Falls) that you have just walked. There was an abundance of porcupine, wallabies and other small game. As you have just seen, there was also plenty of water.”

“Jawoyn people hope you leave with a greater appreciation of country and culture.”

I did indeed. And I couldn’t have got that appreciation and those experiences from a bus on the highway or an airplane in the sky. Walking is the best way to learn to appreciate country and culture. You get to see places that others, who don’t walk, will never get to see.

Back from the Jatbula Trail

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:21:22 +0930

Last Tuesday I returned from the Jatbula Trail. It was a fantastic walk — very exhausting, very hot, but I made it and it was a great experience. I saw Aboriginal rock art that must have been hundreds if not thousands of years old, I swam in waterholes every day, I saw flocks of 50 or more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos flying past me and didn’t meet a single person between the start and finish of the trail.

In the end I cut it short by one day. The last campsite was only 4km away from the Edith Falls car park and I met some day walkers there, the first people I saw in five days. I happened to be the only person to start the trail last Friday, so until then I had every single campsite to myself — a wonderful solitary wilderness experience. When I met the people on the last campsite, somehow the dream was over and then the wish for a comfortable bed and a cold drink made me decide to skip the last site and walk out instead of staying for another night. I just felt it was enough and after five days of nothing but heat I really couldn’t camp there knowing I was only 4km away from a cold can of coke.

When I arrived at the Edith Falls kiosk, I bought some cold drinks and plenty of food. I felt dehydrated, like on most days on the trail, despite drinking lots of water. Coke from the fridge has never tasted better. For five days, it had been incredibly hard to get any kind of refreshment. With temperatures around 35°C, and hiking through dense bush land with hardly any wind, the only kind of refreshment I could get was from the few waterholes along the trail. Unfortunately the water was often so heated up from the sun, that it wasn’t very refreshing. When I filled up my bottle, it took a few minutes and the water was as warm as everything else.

The good thing however was, that the campsites were usually only 8-15km apart, so normally I arrived before midday, when the sun would be the hottest. I then spent the rest of the day in the waterhole, or just sitting in the shadow with a wet towel around my head.

As always I will post more detailed track notes soon, and a new photo album with the best of the 1100 photos I took. I had a lot of fun with a new 35mm/1.8 lens I had received only a day before I left to Katherine.

Overall I think the Jatbula Trail is a must-walk for any keen hiker in Australia. Beautiful scenery, every campsite at a swimming hole, lots of wildlife, wonderful weather and fairly easy to walk. And the trail has a maximum of 10 hikers per day.

What I loved about the Jatbula Trail

Beautiful trail through very diverse country. Sometimes rocky, sometimes dry, sometimes green as rain forest. Amazing how green the Northern Territory can be, especially towards the end of the dry season.
Great hiking trail for all those of us who don’t like the Tasmanian brass monkey weather (I found that term in a dictionary).
Well-marked trail, usually there is a marker at least every 30-50m.
Campsites in wonderful locations, always next to a waterfall or waterhole. All of them are inaccessible for crocodiles, so every afternoon you can go for a swim once you reached the campsite.
Good facilities along the trail. Most campsites have an emergency call device to contact the rangers. Most of them also have fairly new toilet buildings, although I sometimes wished there were signs on the campsites. At 17 Mile Falls I really had to search for the toilet and at Sandy Camp I was surprised to discover one behind a small hill by accident — there was none marked on my map for this campsite. Like in Tasmania it is BYO toilet paper.
Good distances of only 8-15km between campsites. Usually I started around 8am and arrived at the next one before midday. Very easy to walk too, it was never steep or particularly difficult — although there were some loose rocks and at the creek crossing at Crystal Falls it took me a while to find a safe route across without swimming. No dramas though.
The trail passes some Aboriginal rock art sites that are probably hundreds, if not thousands of years old. The whole trail follows a route traditionally walked by the Jawoyn people, the traditional owners of Nitmiluk National Park, which makes it even more fascinating to walking, knowing you’re walking in thousand year old footsteps.
Plenty of wildlife. Due to the heat it is hard to spot wallabies during the day, but I saw dozens of lorikeets and cockatoos, especially the Sulphur-crested and the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. Sometimes large flocks were sitting in trees or flying past me, beautiful to watch.
There is good transport available. A bus brought me from Katherine down to the gorge campsite, and another bus picked me up at Leliyn (Edith Falls) and brought me back to Katherine afterwards.

Things to keep in mind

It was really very hot on the trail. You get up in the morning, you sweat. Before you even start walking, you sweat. When you go to bed, you sweat. In the tent, you sweat even more. Physically it turned out very demanding to be in constant heat with waterholes being the only relief you can get to cool down. Remember there won’t be air conditioning, there won’t be a fridge, sometimes there won’t even be wind. Just heat. All the time. I’m fairly fit and experienced but I could feel my limits. However I would love to walk the trail again anytime.
There are buffaloes in the park. Although rangers are trying to get rid of them and I didn’t actually see any, they are still there and I saw their tracks along the trail. Not really much to worry though, if you see one, just keep a safe distance, usually they run away when they see you.
The track gets closed from October until the end of the wet season. I walked it in the last possible week in September and still, there were some muddy sections along flood plains. I can imagine right after the end of the wet it could be significantly more difficult to cross the flood plains and creek crossings.
One of the biggest annoyances in the Northern Territory are flies. Usually I go Aboriginal-style and simply ignore them, but on this trail I sometimes wished I had a fly net. I always applied insect repellent, but it didn’t help much. And some of them bite, although surprisingly I didn’t see a single mosquito. I ended up going to bed even before sunset every night, just to escape the flies.
At some waterholes (like 17 Mile Falls) submerged rocks were sometimes covered in algae. Be sure not to sit on them or touch them, they can be full of leeches.

Backpacker Australia vs. Real Australia

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:54:21 +0930

The last few weeks while I stayed in a backpacker hostel I noticed how much different my views of Australia are today, compared to my views in 2008 and compared to those of other backpackers today. When I say backpacker, I mean foreign Working Holiday makers and other short-term visitors.

There are so many backpackers who only travel between the big cities, preferably by plane. When I came to Australia I was a little bit like that, I thought it would be the greatest thing to have a job in Melbourne or Sydney, or maybe Brisbane. Everything else didn’t really exist for me. But when you spend a few years here and take the time to go to places where most tourists don’t go, then you realise the real value of Australia doesn’t lie in the cities. The real value lies between the cities. Obviously when you travel by plane you miss out on that, no matter how many backpacker tours you book from the city.

From my experience the slower you move, the more you notice, appreciate and enjoy. Traveling by car or motorbike is good. Traveling by bicycle is better. Traveling by foot is best.

The fact that many Australian cities are among the top cities worldwide for ‘quality if life’ is true and well-deserved. For a city, Melbourne really is a fantastic place. For a city. Somehow my own priorities seem to shift. I love the outback, but I also love the sea and unspoilt nature. Arnhem Land has so far been the greatest place I visited in Australia and I think the Northern Territory in general would be a great place for me to live.

Wilderness, wildlife, Aboriginal heritage, stunning nature and endless opportunities for adventure and recreation from camping to boating to fishing to hiking and what else. It’s those things that mean the most to me today. That’s why it often makes me sick when I listen to conversations of other backpackers at my hostel and I hear things like “I don’t need to see Kakadu, I’ve seen enough trees.”. It makes me furious and I’m tempted to lecture people, but then what’s the point really. A few weeks or months are simply not enough to learn to appreciate what this country really has to offer. Different people, different priorities.

What simply annoys me is the picture of Australia these backpackers are transporting into the world, where parties and pictures of trained jumping crocodiles on a farm are what Australia is all about. A few days ago I could hear a German girl talking on the phone to her mum. The girl had been in Australia for only two weeks and in Darwin for only one day, but she described Aborigines to her mum as drunken bums who live on the street and leave their trash everywhere. She probably saw one or two in Darwin and immediately saw all the usual backpacker myths regarding Aborigines confirmed. It’s just sad how superficial people can be. I wish more backpackers would go off the beaten track and build their own opinions. On the other hand though, I wish they didn’t, so I don’t meet them where I go.

I’m still getting job offers for Melbourne on a regular base, but right now I can’t imagine a much better life than to have a 4WD, a fishing boat, and live in the Northern Territory. It’s an amazing lifestyle full of colours, warm weather, the simple life and what life should be all about: enjoyment and outdoors.

But I always need to remind myself that I still haven’t seen two thirds of the country… I haven’t seen Western Australia, I haven’t seen New South Wales, I haven’t seen Queensland and the ‘real’ top end with Cape York. Still a lot to see before settling down. I have a feeling I’ll be traveling for another while.

At Katherine Gorge

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:14:48 +0930

This morning I left Darwin and jumped on the early Greyhound bus to Katherine. Timing couldn’t have been better because for the first time since I returned to Darwin five weeks ago, it rained.

After a good three hours I was in Katherine. It was incredibly hot there, even at 11 in the morning. The bus stop was right across the street from the Katherine Visitors Centre, which was excellent because I wanted to go there anyway. Not only is there a shopping mall nearby where I wanted to do some last-minute shopping for hiking supplies, but I was also hoping they would have some sort of bus transfer from the city down to Katherine Gorge. It’s around 30km outside town.

Fortunately there was a bus that runs three times a day, so the very friendly lady at the Visitors Centre booked the next one for me. She also offered to book a bus that would pick me up at Edith Falls after the walk, but I’ll try to hitch a ride with other people.

It was a bit on short-notice, so the booking didn’t get through to the bus driver and nobody came to pick me up. The lady then made some phone calls and only a few minutes later, an employee from Nitmiluk National Park came to pick me up with his own car. He said he happened to be in the city anyway and was happy to help out. It was really an incredibly friendly gesture.

While we were driving down to the park he explained to me a lot how the park changes during the seasons, from floods to bush fires. There was actually a huge smoke cloud on the horizon right at that time. He drove me to the visitor centre where I bought a camping permit, then he gave me a lift to the campground and showed me some good spots for photographing birds. I was very happy.

The campground was almost empty compared to a few months ago when I stayed here during my road trip from Alice Springs to Darwin. I pitched my tent in the heat and then went on a short walk to take photos. There were so many birds and wallabies around the campsite, I think it’s one of the greatest places to camp in the Northern Territory.

I was hoping I could hire a canoe and paddle down the river, but when I got there it was only about an hour before closing time, so I missed out. Sadly. I did some canoeing when I was a kid and ever since then I was hoping to try it again.

I just felt incredibly well today. It is so good to be out there again, sweating in the heat, having the flavour of the eucalyptus trees around me all the time, watching birds and wallabies and sleeping under the stars. I really missed camping and hiking. Tomorrow morning I need to get my permit for the Jatbula Walk and book the ferry because the walk actually starts at the other side of the river. Then five days of hiking in the heat.

Going hiking on the Jatbula Trail

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:27:00 +0930

I’m still in Darwin, working on my tan and I’m actually fairly busy with work for some exciting online projects at the moment, but I decided to take a break from the computer and go back to Katherine on Thursday, where I will walk the 58km Jatbula Trail in Nitmiluk National Park before they close it for the wet season starting October.

The Jatbula Trail is a wonderful 4-7 day trail that connects Katherine Gorge with Leliyn (Edith Falls). It features stunning terrain, fresh water pools where you can go swimming at the end of each day, fascinating Aboriginal rock art sites and temperatures that can exceed 40°C during the day. The number of walkers is restricted, only 10 are allowed each day.

There is a beautiful review of the trail on the website of the Sydney Morning Herald. And here is a link to a PDF of the official brochure including a small map.

When I went on a road trip from Alice Springs to Darwin with my friend Rachel a few months ago, we camped at Katherine Gorge and Leliyn (Edith Falls), but I didn’t actually realise that the two places were connected through a nice hiking trail, until a few days ago when a young backpacker from Austria arrived in my hostel. He had just walked the trail and told me about it. It turned out he actually also did a lot of the other walks I did over the last few years, such as the Overland Track, Maria Island and parts of the Great Ocean Walk.

It was then when I realised, I could actually go hiking. For weeks I had been looking for some direction again, trying to find out what to do next. At the moment it looks like I will head to Broome and then Perth sometime during the next weeks. I would like to have a nice trip around the Kimberley before the wet season in the top end begins. The main problem at the moment is mostly, where to get a 4WD from. Hiring? Maybe buying one? I’m looking at all options.

But now I’m going hiking first. Just one week and then I’ll be back in Darwin. I’m totally looking forward to it, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I LOVE the heat. In Darwin it’s so hot and humid even when you stand in the shade and don’t move, you’ll sweat. I love it. It forces you to drink a lot of water, and it just feels very healthy. Going hiking in the heat is even better. Just bring lots of water, some fitness and experience, and the usual safety gear like my PLB, and it’s all good.

I’m also looking forward to the trip, because I can leave a bag in my hostel, with all the stuff I won’t need on the trail. Unlike on the Great Ocean Walk, where I carried everything. It’s ok, but not most enjoyable. I simply picked up a lot of stuff over the last months, like books and fishing gear.

Actually I’m quite lucky I still get to walk the trail. It will be closed from October to April for the build-up season and then for the wet season, and the last day where they accepted bookings for was the 25th September. However it was booked out so I had to take a few days earlier.

I also ordered a new lens for my camera and really hope it will arrive in time before I leave.

HIKING!! I really missed it.

The other day I saw a flock of 30-40 Little Corellas sitting in...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:28:00 +0930

The other day I saw a flock of 30-40 Little Corellas sitting in the trees in Fanny Bay, while I walked back along the beach from East Point Reserve to the city. It was very funny to watch them clowning around, although the people in the bar next to the trees probably weren’t too happy about their deafening screeching…

Life in Numbulwar

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:07:30 +0930

When I came to Numbulwar, I was hoping to get a better understanding of Aboriginal culture and lifestyle, and of the conditions of living for Aboriginal people in remote communities in Australia. Now, two months later, I still find it difficult to come to a conclusion — there were so many impressions, and so many different aspects and opinions that I have seen and heard. No doubt that Aborigines are heavily disadvantaged in Australia, but on the other hand I found it fascinating that I never heard anybody complaining.

Here is a list of things that I found remarkable over the last two months, to give an impression on what it’s like to live in Numbulwar.

Housing

Most locals seem to live in houses that were built and provided by the government. Often very large families live together in one house. I’ve seen all kinds of different houses, old and new ones, large and small ones. I don’t know what the conditions for provision of housing are — possibly free of charge. But what I found interesting is, that almost all these houses are on ‘pre-paid power’ which means people need to buy so-called power cards that come in $10, $20 or $50. Sometimes people ran out of power when the shop was already closed and then they rocked up at my house late at night and asked if I had any.

Some families also have houses or shacks in so-called ‘outstations’, which is like a second home somewhere in the bush. Apparently the government funded these outstations until recently to re-locate people from towns back to their traditional land.

Royalties

Many families seem to have connections or land rights on nearby Groote Eylandt which features a large manganese mine. Every couple of months the mining company pays royalties to the locals, who are usually eagerly awaiting the payments. The fascinating thing that happens then is that people are going to storm the store and buy everything that is not nailed to the walls. Sometimes people seem to buy just because they can. From what I was told the concept of saving money does not exist for many Aborigines — when they have money they spend it as quickly as possible.

Empty houses

When reading the previous point, one would guess that with these buying excesses, houses must be full of furniture and household items. I was surprised when I had the chance to visit one local at home and take a look inside their house. It was empty. It looked as if the residents had just moved out and taken everything with them. Apparently that’s quite common, some don’t even have beds or mattresses — they sleep on the floor. One of our staff members in the shop has nothing but a tent set up inside his room. He sleeps in the tent. Many also have only one set of clothing.

Interesting to know is that in Aboriginal culture, possessions are almost meaningless, based on what I was told. If you own something, and a relative asks you for it, you give it to them. That’s the reason for example, why some locals came to the shop every couple of weeks to buy a new mobile phone. Because they had given theirs away.

Food

In the shop we were selling certain food that was specially designed for Aborigines, such as bread that is particularly rich in fibre and iron — something that Aborigines apparently are in greater need of than white people.

People also loved any kind of chicken products. I asked the question why we had to import 100% of our food supplies from Darwin and why nobody ever started growing food or chicken in the community itself. Apparently one of the issues is a simple lack of ambition or skills. Most of these projects would require some Western person to start it, just to get things up and running.

80% unemployment

I was told only 20% of people in Numbulwar have a job. I don’t know if that includes white people, but in a community with 700 residents and only 2 shops, plus one school, a medical centre and some council, administration and construction facilities it is no surprise really. Especially not since all these facilities seem to be led by white people and you’ll hardly find Aborigines in leading positions.

In the shop in Numbulwar, our staff sometimes showed up half an hour or even an hour late. I think this is partially due to cultural reasons, but it may also be because a job often is only a few bucks on top of the welfare payments they will get anyway, so there’s no pressure to have a job and keep it.

Education and schools

One of the reasons for unemployment also is a lack of education and qualification. Some of our staff were lacking even basic skills in literacy and numeracy. I often helped our cash register staff counting the money in their tills at the end of the day. This lack of essential education is of course a big road block on the way to getting a job, therefore I believe it is absolutely necessary to make sure that the younger generations get the education they need to have a better perspective in their life later, so that at some point in the future they don’t have to rely on welfare anymore.

Unfortunately, I heard from a few teachers in the Numbulwar school (usually Western women) that school attendance among kids is less than great. Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don’t, and there’s nothing the teachers can do.

Bore water

Water supply in Numbulwar is bore water. When I first arrived the tap water in my house sometimes was quite brown and I was recommended not to drink it. All the houses are equipped with water filters though, and after we replaced ours with a new one, it improved, but it was still not great for drinking.

Rubbish dump

Waste management in Numbulwar works like this: rubbish is driven to the rubbish dump, then you pile it up nicely where there is space. Then you set it on fire. Then you go home. Imagine the look on my face.

Rubbish everywhere

I always thought that Aborigines have a special connection to nature and its preservation. Somewhere over the course of history this must have gone lost as it is surprising how much rubbish there is on the streets of Numbulwar. Most people just drop their rubbish anywhere.

To be fair there are almost no public rubbish bins around and no recycling facilities at all, but when I see old car batteries dumped at the beach there is only one word for it: disgraceful. Improving waste management and recycling would be one of my main priorities if I would run the place.

Photographing people

Common opinion among white people is that Aborigines don’t want to be photographed. I was surprised that sometimes people even asked me to photograph them when they saw me with my camera. It is always good to ask people first if it is okay to take pictures. Often enough it is, and I was even allowed to photograph in certain private situations such as on funeral ceremonies. However I was not allowed to photograph when I was hanging out with locals prior to a funeral. Men were assembling and making music with didgeridoos and clap sticks before the ceremony started. I was allowed to watch it and they allowed me to record audio with my iPhone, but sadly no photos.

Gambling

In a town with only two stores, both of which accept EFTPOS, BasicsCard and, in case of our store, even ALPA’s food card, one must wonder why our two ATMs still often ran out of cash. Where do people spend all this cash then? The simple reason: gambling. It’s one of the biggest problems in Numbulwar apparently.

Too many dogs

There were plenty of dogs in Numbulwar, it was a real nuisance, not only because most of them were flea-infested. Some families had five or more dogs that were living with them and following them whenever they went fishing or walking to the shop. Some were quite protective and showed aggression towards any stranger.

With a car you need to drive extra carefully as many dogs often lay on the streets and don’t immediately walk away when a car arrives. The result is, that quite often dogs get hit by cars.

Sadly the locals don’t care much when there is a dog that can only walk on its front legs due to broken hip or spine from a car collision. During my time in Numbulwar it happened twice that injured dogs dragged themselves on their front legs to my house and we then had to call the police to have them taken down because no one else would. What then happens is the police guy will show up NT-style with a loaded rifle and give the dog a nice clean head shot (unless the dog runs away, then it may take a couple of shots — I watched it) before either taking the carcass with them or leaving it in the swamp.

Another annoying thing about the dogs was that they sometimes kept barking the whole night through because buffaloes often come out of the bush in the evening and wander around town in search for food. I once woke up in the morning and found a massive horned buffalo standing right in front of my house. Pretty cool stuff.

Alcohol and pornography ban

What many city-based Australians don’t know is that there is a total ban on alcohol and porn in Aboriginal areas in the Northern Territory. From what I heard this was introduced with the intervention and it is very controversial. On the one hand it is clearly racist — why should some Australians be denied the rights that others have? On the other hand however I see the reports from people who have witnessed many years in communities and who emphasise that this ban improved the health and general situation of children in a big way.

Funny side note: we didn’t publicly sell yeast in the store, as the locals tend to use it to brew grog. We were only selling it to ‘trustworthy’ people we knew.

But think about this: when someone gets drunk and behaves inappropriately in an Aboriginal community, it is called ‘breaking the law’. When someone in Darwin gets drunk and behaves inappropriately (something I saw far too often over the last days), then it’s called ‘Aussie lifestyle’. I don’t think that’s ok.