Back to life in Humpty Doo - with Crabs and The Rolling Stones

We arrived back in Humpty Doo from Bali and the first job, at least for Sandra, was a messy, smelly one – preparing crabs. Lawrie had taken Johann and Stretch out in his boat on a fishing expedition and, whilst the fish were being a bit reticent, there was no such reluctance from the crabs which were queuing up to get into the crab pots – and they were big ones. With Johann and Sandra wielding hammers the meat was separated from the inedible parts whilst various crab based recipes were discussed – the smell hung around for days!

Hammering Crabs

Sandra and I took a day trip to the relatively close Litchfield National Park and found it to be heaving with tourists, particularly the campsites. It is a well known Australian phenomenon that during the colder months (a relative term for those of us hailing from Scotland) there is a mass migration from southern parts to the more tropical north. A look at the registration plates of cars in carparks and campsites revealed that 90% of visitors were from outwith the area. We avoided the more popular sites – usually those at the swimming holes – refusing to queue for parking and not particularly wanting to cavort with busloads of old age pensioners on coach trips. We were able to visit some of the slightly more remote sites including a very interesting tin mine which closed down over half a century ago leaving the slowly rusting machinery in place. We also came across some weird looking plants called Cycads – plants which “outlived the dinosaurs” - which probably wouldn't have been very difficult as apparently no dinosaur remains have been found in this part of Australia!

One of the Litchfield National Park Waterfalls

Sandra trekking in Litchfield National Park

The weird Cycad - which "outlived the dinosaurs"

Remains of the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine in Litchfield NP

Although we didn't swim on our trip to Litchfield we have been able to cool down on several visits to the idyllic Berry Springs. When all the crocs have been cleared out after the wet season it is a very popular place for family outings and not too far from Gill's house – highly recommended at certain times of the year, best avoided at others.

Berry Springs where we swam - "What crocs?"

One of the highlights of last week was the outing to the Rolling Stones Tribute Band at the Humpty Doo Pub. As we were getting to the end of our stay Sandra, myself, Johann and Stretch went out with Gill and Lawrie for a meal at Humpty Doo Golf Club. It was going like a fair with probably well over a hundred diners and is obviously the place to go for a meal out in this area – my local golf club back home could only dream of the turnover. And apparently it's like that every night of the week. Then on to the Rolling Stones.

A dodgy lot watching the "Rolling Stones"

"Keef"

Johann putting it about to "Let's Spend the Night Together"

Gill and Lawrie

"The Girls" - Johann, Gill and Sandra

Another highlight was Territory Day on the 1^st July. In Australia you cannot normally buy fireworks for domestic use – except in Northern Territory, and then only on 1^st July between 9am and 9pm and they are supposed to be used by midnight on that same day. Consequently the local population go mad – queuing up to buy armloads of pyrotechnics with an emphasis on as much “BOOM” for ones buck as possible. As Gill said “In a few hours this place will be like Beirut on a bad night” - and it was! Not wanting to be out done, we had a whip round and headed off to the local Didgeridoo shop which once a year does a roaring side line in fireworks, and spent $60 on two fireworks – but they were BIG ones – and contributed to the local mayhem. The midnight deadline was severely breached and in fact we were woken up at 6am by a number of explosions which I took to be fireworks although, this being Northern Territory, they might have been anything.

Our contribution of Armageddon Humpty Doo style

The final highlight of this posting was a trip out to the annual madness of the 40^th Beer Can Regatta and Thong Throwing Competition at Mindil Beach on Sunday. Over 15,000 people turned out to watch the regatta where boats, made out of beer cans, race each other. With some of the boats being made up of over 1000 beer cans sourcing the raw materials must have been a tortuous but pleasurable task for the crews. Lawrie, in keeping with the spirit of the event, wore his Captain Morgan pirate hat much to the disgust of the rest of his family – although as he was still celebrating his birthday, he was given a certain amount of latitude.

The Beer Can Regatta - some boats were impressive ......

...... others less so!

Finally, after hearing animal-like noises outside our tent at night and suspecting possums, a trap was set. The following morning we found that we had captured one of Australia's most fearsome marsupials – a Bandicoot – a particularly vicious specimen as can be seen from the photograph.

The "vicious" Bandicoot

Bali - A land of contrasts

Bali was as I have always found it – a land of contrasts.

Hot, dry, sunny days and blue skies at the coast – cool and misty in the mountains.

Eye-wateringly expensive accommodation in the up-market resorts – cheap as chips in the not so up-market ones.

Impossibly beautiful landscapes and architecture - yet streets lined with all manner of litter and other unspeakable rubbish.

Excruciatingly expensive (and tasting) wine – but cheap beer.

The one constant however are the people – forever smiling, friendly and helpful, even when their cousin runs the local bar, hotel, massage parlour, motorbike hire etc and they can get you a good deal!

We started off as usual with the first few nights booked into a good hotel and airport pickups arranged in advance – thereafter we would take things as they came and wander at will.

First port of call was Candidasa, a small town on the east coast. The town itself was a disappointment as the beach was non-existent. Decades of over development and raiding the coastline for building materials had destroyed what in the 1970's had apparently been a perfect sandy beach. Remedial works are starting to make some amends but it will be a long time before the beach returns. The narrow main – and just about only – street is very busy with traffic, including countless ubiquitous scooters, which is nose to tail practically all day making road crossing a hazard.

Another hazard for pedestrians was the pavements, or to be more precise, the lack of pavements. The drains in Balinese towns are large channels under the pavement, however many sections of the pavement are broken and unwary pedestrians risk falling several feet into the open drain. In the days before our arrival four people had been hurt in such accidents. To be fair when we were there the pavements were being replaced and, when finished, will no doubt be a big improvement.

However all was not doom and gloom – our hotel was fabulous. Whilst not looking much from the road, The Water Garden provided a hidden oasis right in the centre of town and just yards from the constant traffic noise. After a few steps the noise, bustle and mess of the road disappeared and we were transported into a magical world surrounded by lush greenery, water and fish – literally hundreds of fish. Our bungalow was almost surrounded by water and we sat on the verandah drinking cold beer and feeding the koi carp with food provided by the hotel.

Our Verandah - all greenery and hungry fishes

 

There were about a dozen such bungalows but only a few were occupied therefore, when we got fed up of watching fish swimming, we went swimming ourselves and found that for most of the time we were sole users of the rather nice swimming pool. After four very pleasant days at The Water Garden we moved on further up the coast to Amed.

Sandra in our "private" swimming pool

If we thought The Water Garden was pretty flash, Blue Moon Villa in Amed was quite spectacular - perched on a headland with panoramic sea views this was definitely a bit “up market” - and with an emphasis on beds! In the bedroom the master bed was 6'6” wide and this was complemented by a smaller day bed where you could receive your daily massage. If your preference was a massage on the verandah there was a conveniently placed 6'6” day bed and, as a last resort, ones masseuse would do the necessary on one of the sunbeds set round the private infinity pool.

Rice terraces on the way to Amed

One of our many beds at Blue Moon Villa

A short walk down a steep path took us to a black sandy beach where dozens of colourful out-rigger fishing boats were beached after the night's fishing. Here we went snorkelling and found the coral and fish to be better than at Jemeluk beach where we had gone on our ill-fated motorbike trip (see previous posting for gory details) Probably highlight of this part of the trip was doing nothing – just luxuriating in the sun with the odd beer and watching the fishing fleet, and the occasional tanker or two, sailing past as we dipped in and out of the pool.

Sandra contemplating the ocean from our private infinity pool

But after five days enough was enough and we decided on a complete change of scenery – and temperature – and we headed up into the mountains to the small town of Bedugul and the aptly named Strawberry Hill Hotel. The trip by taxi took several hours as we wended our way round the coastline until we arrived at the north of Bali then cut inland and headed south into the mountains. The trip was tortuous – constantly up hill and full of hairpin bends with nose to tail traffic the whole way with the only relief being a couple of stops to admire the view and to visit a temple.

Carving on Hindu temple - yes it's a bicycle

The Hindu Temple

The temple visit was particularly interesting. Sandra and I were wrapped in sarongs to be declared culturally decent, then given a guided tour by young girls who recited parrot fashion the stories of the carved, decorative panels which festooned the temple. Two were of particular interest – the story of how a Hindu temple came to have a carving of a man riding a bicycle (something to do with the Dutch) and a panel depicting a scene from the Kama Sutra which I think the girls were too young to fully understand or appreciate!

Our temple guides

Bedugul was growing country and one of the main crops was strawberries with countless street vendors proffering packets of the fruit at every opportunity. With only one full day in the area we decided to spend most of it at the world famous Botanic Gardens. These provided a few welcome hours of peace and quiet in extensive, well manicured grounds with fabulous views over both lake and mountains.

Lake and mountain in the mist at Bedugul

Our balcony at Strawberry Hill

After the luxury of Blue Moon Villa our little cabin at Strawberry Hill was a little down market but perfectly clean and adequate and anyway we didn't need a swimming pool – it was too bloody cold! We had dressed for the tropics and Sandra had to borrow my one and only long sleeved shirt in order to keep warm. After two nights it was time to move on to our final port of call – Ubud.

Ubud – often referred to as the cultural capital of Bali – was where we based ourselves when we were in Bali four years ago and therefore we knew it quite well. As Sandra planned to do shopping we wanted somewhere easily walkable from the centre and thus we ended up at the Puri Bayu Guesthouse. This could not have been further removed from the luxury of Blue Moon – no air conditioning, no bar, no restaurant, no infinity pool etc etc. This was a deliberate move on our part to wean ourselves off the trappings of luxury and prepare ourselves for our return to life in our tent for the rest of our trip round Australia. Mind you – you pays your money – and by giving up on the infinity pool our daily rate was only 14% of what we were paying at Blue Moon.



Watching the rice paddies being prepared for planting - damn hard work

Although in the centre of Ubud the view from our balcony was over rice fields and it was fascinating to watch them being prepared for planting. When we arrived the small fields were a muddy mess filled with the stubble of the previous harvest. In the olden days i.e. when we were last in Bali, a man with an ox drawn plough would have set to ploughing. However the relentless world mechanisation of farming meant that, instead of the tried and tested oxen, the wee man set to with a petrol driven rotavator which churned up the mud then smoothed it out and, after flooding the area with water, it was ready for planting. He then moved on to the next paddy. At the end of our time in Ubud just about the whole had been ploughed – hard work and interesting to watch.

Balinese dance - colourful and totally incomprehensible

Shopping-wise the trip was apparently a great success with Sandra emptying whole market stalls in an effort to make sure her suitcase was filled to capacity with silks of the orient. Having been culturally deprived for months we decided to indulge in some cultural activities and attended an extremely colourful evening of traditional dancing. We didn't have a clue what it was all about but it was certainly colourful.

Breakfast at the Puri Bayu Guesthouse

And then it was over – off to the airport, the flight back to Darwin, met by Johann, off to Gill's house in Humpty Doo where we will be for a few days before resuming our life as Grey Nomads.

OK Renting a motorbike probably wasn't my best idea - but we are starting to recover!

One of the things I like about writing this blog is the ability to look at the statistics and see how many people are actually having a look at what I write - it is very encouraging that some people are  in fact taking the time to log on to see what Sandra and I are up to. However I am disappointed, although not in the least surprised, that readership traffic consistently varies in direct proportion to the level of crises in which we find ourselves. Postings that cover our many disasters such as Sandra re-attaching my ear; bogged down in a croc-infested swamp; marooned for over a week on a water-logged Oodnadatta track etc etc have been very "popular" i.e. the viewing stats have been high with over 500 viewings a day. However posts relating to more pleasant, enjoyable times with no obvious danger to life or limb have proved to be far less "popular".

Whilst viewing figures may have recently dropped off slightly it did not cross my mind for one instant to spice things up to increase readership by hiring a motorbike! My motor biking days are well behind me,  in fact if I am honest they weren't "days" but part of an afternoon which ended with me and a Norton Commando in a ditch. I have never ridden a motorbike since - until yesterday! I now know why motorcyclists wear leathers - it allows them to hang onto their skin when they crash. 

Part of the problem is where we are staying on the east coast of Bali.

Blue Moon Villa is quite idyllic perched on a headland with panoramic sea views, the obligatory massive bed, private gardens and private infinity pool - far beyond what a couple of pensioners should be spending their pennies on - although as Sandra says "It's only the once". Trouble is she keeps on saying it! Life here has become very relaxed lounging round the pool doing bugger all but eating, drinking and watching the local fishing fleet coming and going - so yesterday we decided to go snorkelling - it seemed sensible as we had lugged all our snorkelling gear from Scotland. Trouble was the best snorkelling beach was about 5k away, too far to walk in the sweltering heat, so we decided to rent a motorbike for a couple of days.

We had watched the locals on their motorbikes - dad driving, one youngster in front of dad, one youngster behind dad and mother bringing up the rear hanging onto the baby, a weeks shopping and a few crates of chickens - surely this must be a doddle? Personally I blame the bike for its inherent lack of stability - with my 16 stone, Sandra's not insubstantial tonnage and a backpack full of snorkels we teetered off to our fate - which hit us as I attempted a u-turn on a sandy road. At this point Sandra insists that I include that she did warn me by shouting in my ear to "Watch out for the sand". An over-enthusiastic touch on the throttle, a bit of injudicious brake work and Sandra disappeared somewhere behind me and I ended up underneath the bike - bloodied, scraped, bruised with the bike on top of me, engine running, and the ignominity off an instant crowd to the rescue. A second, and I suspect final, chapter in my motorbikng career!

All this and I'm afraid the snorkelling wasn't even all that good - pretty poor coral although not a bad turn out from the local fish.

Back to the mundane next time with holiday snaps of our tropical idyll and no dramas.

Arrival in Bali

We arrived at Darwin airport for our trip to Bali along with a squad of men uniformly dressed in black singlets, black shorts, thongs and covered in tattoos - they were going for a week end works outing to the fleshpots. One of the group stood out as he was younger than the rest, had hardly any tats and was the son of a friend of ours from Humpty Doo - this was Billy, Vicki's wee laddie. When I somewhat tongue in cheek suggested that he stayed sober one of the more severely tattooed older men said there was no chance of that and Billy would soon be downing tequilas whilst getting his tattoos extended - this was Billy's boss. Gill / Vicki you'll have to let us know how he got on.

After an uneventful flight we arrived in Denpasar which was heaving with traffic and flashing blue lights - the president if Indonesia was in town and the police were taking no chances.

The Watergarden in Candidasa is very pleasant and we are now ensconced in our water bungalow which is very private and, as the name suggests, surrounded by water and an amazing amount of tropical greenery. Needless to say Sandra has discovered the Spa and, before we have even started to explore the local area, she has disappeared for a massage leaving me to be entertained by our neighbours who live a few feet away i.e. hundreds of koi carp (I think - very big goldfish at least) mind you I can't complain too much about the massage as for about $10 (about £5.50) I am getting an hour's worth of peace and she says it will relax her.

Hoards of Mozzies, Greeks and Crocodiles

Well that's two weeks in Humpty Doo and we are starting to get itchy feet again – just as well we are off to Bali for a few weeks on Friday – as I've probably said before “It's a hard life!”

We had a trip to Howard Springs which is half way between Humpty Doo and Darwin. Originally a recreation spot for WW2 troops to swim and cool off it is now a leisure complex for Darwinians to relax and have a BBQ although the water is not safe for swimming. On both of our visits there were very few visitors and I think I know why – the place is infested by mozzies the size of crows!! We did two walks, the first to the source of the springs with water flowing up through the ground and the second, longer walk following a creek for about 1.8k. It terms of mozzie swatting it could be described as a “target rich environment” - often being able to swat 3 or 4 with a single swipe. Apart from that one drawback it was a very attractive place.

Keeping a weather eye out for mozzies at the source of the springs

The main pool at Howard Springs - but no swimming

Darwin has a very large Greek population and last weekend the Esplanade saw the celebration of all things Greek – particularly food, music and dancing then even more food. This was the famous Glenti which featured some of the largest BBQ's we had ever seen. Sandra, Johann and I spent an hour or so watching, listening and eating - with octopus featuring high on the menu.

Traditional Greek dancing at the Glenti

Talking of menus (sick link I'm afraid) the recent talk of the town in this part of the Northern Territory has been the latest croc attack. A man, his wife, son and daughter-in-law were in a boat on a billabong in Kakadu National Park when a large saltwater croc took him from the boat. The two women drove for a couple of hours over rough ground to get help (presumably leaving the son behind to keep watch) but it was too late. Armed Park Rangers eventually arrived on the scene and shot a couple of 15+ foot crocs and found some of the man's remains inside them. Crocs are a protected species and their numbers have risen from a critical 3000 some years ago to an estimated 100,000-200,000. Visitors beware – keep away from water if you want to avoid a “death roll!”

Croc attack - headlines in local paper

 

Sandra and I have been entertaining ourselves by tearing round Gill's 5 acre block on Lawrie's quad bike – all good fun.

Sandra Quadbiking

Sandra Quadbiking - me Terrified, with much justification!

Calming down in spa after quadbiking

Sandra, Stretch and Johann are taking a day trip to the Tiwi Islands tomorrow whilst I attend to getting the car to the garage for repair. The it's off to Bali for where the next blog will be posted provided I can get internet access.

Honda, Humpty Doo and Creedence Clearwater Revival

After Sandra's “near death” (sort of) experience on our rather warm walk at Edith Falls we debated whether to have a rest day to recuperate and get the body fluids back to normal or just to head off - we headed off. We were only a few hundred k's short of Sandra's sister Gill's place in Humpty Doo near Darwin so we hit the road early and arrived not long after lunchtime.

Gill and Lawrie live on a five acre block about 1k off the Arnhem Highway. The house and grounds tend towards the tropical exotic particularly around the house and spa which are surrounded by various types of palm tree. The weather in Humpty Doo can be summed up in one word - “hot” although that is a bit misleading as it can be “hot dry” or “hot wet”. It is currently “hot dry” which basically means sunny, cloudless days when the temperature seldom falls below 32C – thus the importance of the spa. When the heat gets too much you jump into the water to cool down then go on to ice cold beer therapy – it's the only way to survive!

Cooling off in Gill's garden

We have now been here a week and have been joined by Johann and Stretch, so now the three Thomson Girls – Johann, Sandra and Gillian – are together again for the first time in four years. I will refrain from my usual comment that their coming together reminds me of the opening scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth! Coincidentally it was Sandra's birthday so we had a combined reunion-cum-birthday party then it was out with the photo album for a reminiscence session.

The Birthday Girl with Big Sister

The Thomson Girls reviewing their past

As well as a bit of well earned R & R we are starting to prepare for the next leg of the trip. The car needed a service and I was still not happy about the suspension, so I put it into the Honda main dealer in Darwin. I was rather floored to be hit with a bill for over $1000 plus the unwelcome news that there was still over $700 worth of work which also needed to be done. I have owned quite a few cars over the years and have never had to replace a shock absorber, now in the four months we have been using the Honda, I have replaced SEVEN shock absorbers. I think dirt roads will have to be avoided in future – although, to be honest, we haven't really done any even moderately severe four wheel driving. We are now dumping much of our heavier gear and, where possible, replacing it with lighter versions in order to put less strain on the Honda.

Driving back along the Stuart Highway, having just been parted from $1000, I encountered a further car problem as I was being overtaken by a Road Train. For those who don't know, Road Trains are large trucks which tow up to four even larger trailers often running on 80 or so massive tyres – they are very common in this part of the world and you mess with them at your peril. The road was very busy as one of these monsters overtook me to my right when suddenly there appeared to be an explosion and I was showered with glass. I assume that the Road Train had kicked up a rock and it had shattered the drivers window. More by luck than skill I managed to control the car and pulled up off the edge of the highway – then it was off again to look for someone to repair the car – is this never ending? Luckily it was covered by the insurance, unluckily the up/down switch controlling the window was damaged and the windscreen place didn't have the spare part – so now, several days later, I can't use the window as I wait to hear if the part has arrived.

Talking of cars, and luckily this time not mine, yesterday I got a call from Gill's next door neighbour Carol asking if we had heard anything the night before - apparently a car had crashed into her property. Being a nosey bugger I hot-footed across the road with a camera where I met Carol sifting through a burnt out wreck and wondering how we, and particularly she, had not heard the crash nor seen the ensuing 20 foot high inferno. Still, good things can come from bad. Carol is an artist with a gallery in Darwin and, probably like all artists, is a little bit crazy and off-beat and she was collecting pieces of molten windscreen and aluminium to be incorporated in future artistic creations – I doubt if the car owner will object.

...and no-one heard the crash of saw the flames!

Carol salvaging wreckage for future art works

Last night Laurie, Stretch, Sandra and I went to the World Famous Humpty Doo Pub (Google it if you don't believe me) for a Creedence Clearwater Revival night performed by a group from Melbourne called Creedence Clearwater Recycled – I am not making this up! And, surprise! surprise! it was all good fun with a selection of CCR songs and other weel kent songs mainly from the 60's and 70's. The clientèle provided as much interest as the band with dress of the day being a combination of singlets, thongs, straggly beards and tattoos – and the men weren't much better! Stretch did comment that the crowd probably wouldn't have gone down too well in Sydney but, no problem, this was Humpty Doo.

Creedence Clearwater Recycled - old enough to be the originals - but good with it

And the band played on

Sandra and the girls in the Humpty Doo Pub

A "selfie" in the Humpty Doo Pub

The clientele of the Humpty Doo Pub

Sandra and I are planning a break from touring round Australia and on Friday 13 June are flying to Bali for a holiday. We have book flights and initially a few nights accommodation in The Watergarden Hotel which has been voted one of Asia's best hotels and one of the top ten romantic hotels in Bali – we shall see.