All posts by Jon

Handel Holiday (part 2 of ?)

Travel

Sara and I love to leave you wanting more, so here you go, part 2 of …

After a smooth ID-less flight, we arrived in Darwin.  Since they limit your carry on bag weight to 7kg (15lbs) we both had to check bags.  The bags were quick to get to the carousel, and Avis gave us the keys to our car and we were on our way.

The next few towns we were going to didn’t have much in the way of services, so on the way out of town we stopped at a grocery store to get supplies for a few days.  We got lunch at Subway and Sara was shocked they didn’t have vinegar as a topping.  I was sad there was no yellow mustard.

Our destination was Batchelor, NT – only about 100km away.  We were quickly out of Darwin and in a rural area.  Then we began to see the “Road Trains” on the 2 lane highway. These are as terrifying in person as they would seem to be.  Just a normal 18 wheeler with up to 3 EXTRA trailers.   Additionally, the speed limit once we got out of town was 130KPH (80.78 mph!).

We checked into the Rum Jungle Bungalows and got some advice from the owner regarding what our plan should be for the afternoon.  She suggested checking out the magnetic termite mounds and Florence Falls.  So off we went.

First stop, magnetic termite mounds.  These are very interesting because the termites align them with the magnetic field in order to minimize the amount of sun it receives every day.  Some mean scientists once altered the magnetic field around one and the termites duly built their mound in the “wrong” direction.  Jerks.

Magnetic termite mount
Magnetic termite mound

The other type of termite mound is made by the cathedral termite.  These mounds are all over the Northern Territories and come in all sorts of sizes.

Jon for scale
Jon for scale
Sara size mound
Sara size mound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After investigating the mounds, we headed towards the Florence falls, with the promise of a refreshing croc-free dip. It did not disappoint, the hardest part was figuring out how to get in a rock pool without concussing ourselves.

No Crocs!
No Crocs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed back to the bungalow.  We had a few drinks and then headed out for the short walk to the local tavern.  We were told to bring a torch (flashlight) because cane toads and snakes are nocturnal.  Luckily we saw neither.  We did stop a bit to look up at the absurd number of stars we could see.  Amazing.  We could even see that “star dust” you only normally see in long exposure photos.

We woke up early (Happy Anniversary!) the next morning to beat the Darwin day-tripping “crowds” to some of the Litchfield attractions.  First, we went to Walker Creek, which is a creek with a series of 7 pools.

Our Pool
Our Pool
Another pool
Another pool
Trail
Trail
Don't mess with him and he won't mess with you.
Don’t mess with him and he won’t mess with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw <10 people on this hike.  3 were leaving their campground and 4 were still at their campground.   Sara was pretty excited that I only rolled my ankle 3 times and never bad enough to need to be carried.

Next we headed to Wangi falls, did a quick loop hike and took a dip in the croc-free* (*may include freshwater crocs) pool.  We had some burgers at the cafe there and headed off to the Tabletop Swamp.  It was swamp like.

It was nearing 2pm, which was our get out of town time.  In the outback, car insurance doesn’t cover single vehicle accidents at night, because that is when the ‘roos come out and jump into your car.  We had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, so we had to get a move on.  Luckily we had brought my iPod to musically entertain us (I have 7 Bon Jovi albums!).  Unfortunately, for some reason, the car stereo would only play albums in alphabetical order, which is shockingly maddening.

We arrived in Cooinda and had a few beers by the pool.  Then we sampled the local cuisine for dinner – me: Kangaroo, Sara: Barramundi.

We then retired to our room for the night.  How many lucky ladies get to sleep in a partitioned shipping container the night of their 12th anniversary?

Luxury
Luxury

That’s it for me, you’ve all been great, I’m outta here.

I’ll be stuffed – here’s what Oz is doing right

Random Musings

I’m now approaching 5 months here down under, so I’ve started to notice some things where I prefer the Aussie implementation. Here they are!

Credit Cards: No signatures needed here.  It is all chip and pin. Additionally, they have paywave – which means for transactions under $100, you just have to tap your card on the reader.  I much prefer this to signing, though for some reason my 3 cards have different PINs and that can prove challenging at times.

Money: There are no pennies here.  That is wonderful.  Each bill is a different size and color, making it very easy to determine which bill is which.   The lowest bill is a $5, and there are coins for $1 and $2.

Public Transit: This may be more “Melbourne” specific than Australia specific, but the public transit here is quite robust. Even on nights and weekends, the train/tram/bus frequency is still good enough that I haven’t used a cab or Uber since I’ve been here.  Another *huge* bonus is there is a price cap (basically two rides) for the day.  So, the most I can spend for the day is $7.52 ($6 on weekends and holidays).

Bars / Pubs: There is a much larger prevalence of small local bars / pubs here than in DC.  Sara and I keep discovering little bars here and there, and they are never too crowded. We have no idea how they stay in business, but we are so happy they are plentiful and uncrowded.

New slang: I’m loving learning new slang that is different from what I know.  A basketball teammate told me someone else had “cracked the shits” and I had no idea what that meant.  The news tells us to “rug up” when it is cold.  Each week I tend to learn some new phrase to chuckle at.

Customer Service: Most of the customer service interactions I’ve had here have been quick and positive.  Short hold times and friendly folks have greeted me across many different industries when I’ve had to call about something.

MSAC: The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center is where I play basketball twice a week.  I am just quite happy this place exists and has 10 full size basketball courts that are easy on my old man legs.

Car rentals: We’ve rented cars here for a few weekend trips / errands, and I’m enjoying certain aspects of the process.  All rentals include some insurance – a loss damage waiver – that limits your liability to about $3000.  Also, they have a detailed description of what constitutes “damage” – so there is no question of what you need to report beforehand.

Parcel Lockers: Now, this is something that Amazon has partially implemented, but here the Australian Post Office is doing it.  You can sign up for a free locker in as many locations as you want, and you are provided a shipping address for that locker.  If you have something shipped to it – they’ll deliver it to the locker and send you a text message that it is there.  It works quite well for things you need to sign for.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot they are doing wrong here, but that’s for another post!