CAIRNS - BRISBANE

So here it is, My final road trip in Australia.



The rest of my time in australia (3 months) will be spent working hard to earn money for my next adventure. But that does not mean the videos will stop. Sorry for the lack of blog updates, but don't forget to follow my twitter by going to the link above, Or if your lucky enough to be one of my Facebook friends then you can just follow my twitter on my facebook status instead.

Our trip to Cooktown via Daintree and Cape Trib.

Don't just think about it, do it!!!

After a couple of nights in Cairns it was time to head north to cooktown with Jeremy (Canadian), Stefan (German) and Jo (English). Once again we had a great trip. Although Kate felt the pinch as her front brakes got damaged costing me $1000 to fix.

LIFE SUCKS

They said it would be a good cure for a hangover!!!



HAHAHAHA

Darwin - Cairns Vid

Always smile!!!

Just some of the things we got upto between Darwin and Cairns.

It took us 14 days via Kakadu and the Savannah way. The roof rack fell off and crushed the roof, one flat tyre and a 2km walk to the petrol station for more fuel. But we made it to the tropical north east.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS

Happy 25th



This is a birthday message to my sister Zoe.
Taken in the Queensland Outback and posted with unexplained phone signal
Sung in both english and german

Jeremy, Corine, Stefan, Kate
ME

Teaser

If my life would end now, I would end my life a very happy chap.
But I would be happier to continue these great times.

Here's a video I quickly put together of some highlights since leaving perth.

Enjoy!

A plan is to take the tarmac road. I prefer the dirt and it unpredictable path.

A plan is to take the tarmac road. I prefer the dirt and it unpredictable path.

The plan was to get to Darwin with the three girls I had picked up in Perth. Sina and Silvia from Germany and Charlotte who is from France. I picked them up on Saturday 30th May and we set of on our voyage via the supermarket and petrol station. The idea of a ride share is that the fuel and food are shared evenly between all. We drove north and set up camp in one of the many free camping spots that are found around Australia. The following morning we set of to the pinnacles. We got a bit lost on the way but we finally made it around lunch time. It was like most top Australian attractions, Overcrowded and overrated. I believe the guide books about Australia take all to the same disappointing places so the magic places stay free of mass tourism. Armed with our 4week national park pass we drove an hour north to some tunnels that were only accessible by 4x4. They were an unexpected surprise as the landscape above was very flat and dull. But this dried out river bed had carved out an impressive bit of landscape. The drive onwards was slightly tough on Kate (the car). The corrugations on the road had broken the roof rack and snapped one of my spotlights off. So we tied them down and continued.
As I have been so bad at updating this blog, the exact dates and order of events are a bit confused, but the general route was through Geraldton and into Northampton for a very quick photo under the signpost. It was a quick one as for 10mins it decided to rain (1 out of the 5 times I have seen rain in Australia) Then we travelled west via the pink lake (it really is pink). In Gregory the girls had to push the car so I could jumpstart kate as I had stupidly over filled her with oil. I empted the excess oil while camping near Kalbarri before we headed off to Kalbarri national park and the amazing Natures Window.
The next major stop was Monkey Mia. Another of Australia overrated tourist attractions. But I was able to get close to the ‘wild’ Dolphins that are regularly fed by the park rangers for ‘research purposes’. Denham was a nice town and we were able to spend a couple of hours there before continuing to Coral Bay. We stopped briefly in Carnavon on the way so I could get a new roof rack and battery. We also walked part of the one mile jetty that was closed half way along as it had recently been on fire. So we reached Coral bay over a week after leaving Perth. I believe it was here that many of the plans started to change. All will be made clear in the next update that I will be posting over the next week. I have decided to leave this farm sooner than expected as I’m missing the road much more than I expected. And I’m not enjoying the commercial size of it here either. But the water melons do taste great even if they have been grown with the aid of many chemicals.

beauty and freedom

The beauty and freedom are too good to miss. I don’t plan on returning for a while.

On May 30th I departed from viewpoint farm with Just over $2000 in the bank. One and a half months have passed and just over $2000 have been removed from my bank. I now find myself at Red Dirt farm. 300hecters of land for the soul purpose of melons. I rolled into Katherine with only $50 left in the bank that I had recently earned after picking Pumpkins and papayas in Kununurra.
I was forced to find some work before departing WA (western Australia) to fund the final part of my epic journey, as my fellow travellers had departed on the bus to reach Darwin in time to get their flight. I replied to an add looking for a couple of workers in one of Kununurras few backpackers hostel. Success!! They had room for one more. I started on the morning of July 1st with the task of cutting pumpkins from the vines. The following day was spent picking the pumpkins and throwing them into a crate. On the final day we picked papaya’s, washed and packaged them. As it was a small farm they had only two backpackers helping them pick. The other backpacker was also called Simon but originates from Germany. After working on the farm, Simon joined me on the final part of the journey to Red Dirt farm and the place I will be writing up about my adventures that have brought me here.
I plan to remain on this farm for 2-3months, or untill i have saved about $8000. This should be reasonably easy as the hours are plenty. In my first six days I have already made $800.

Broome

So i'm now in broome. I'm really looking forward to posting the full blog when i arrive in Darwin. Photo's, video's and everything else. Having an absolutly amazing time. I have met so many amazing people on the way, We have had our fair share of problems but have had fun solving them. The car is running better than ever and we are now down to just two of us in the car as the german girls departed us in Port Hedland. We have been traveling in convoy with a couple who drive another Landcruiser. We have now met with 2 other 4x4's in broome to get ready for a 1000Km (2week) exploration of the kimberlys.

Perth to kalbarri

Sorry for the lack of updates since i have finished work on the farm. I have little time to update this but i will try my best to add some photos very soon. I'm in Kalbarri at the moment with a very full car as I am traveling with two germans girls (sina and silvia) and a french girl (charlotte). We are having a great time and I'm still safe mum!! I will post photos and information very soon, I promise)

BUSH FIRE

So this is what a bush fire looks like.

Actually, I wasn't able to take any pictures of the event. I hope I don't have to explane why.

We were busy finishing off a new fence when gary recived a call from his wife saying she could see smoke from the house. We dropped our tools and went to check it out.

One of the piles we had started the day before had sparked away and set alight some dry grass close by. The wind then pushed the fire down the fence line to some trees. Thats where the real damage began as it started to burn all the dead leaves and timber amongst the bush. Luckely the flames didn't get as high as the tree tops.

We ran into the smoke armed with tree branches to stamp out as much as possible and put in fire brakers to stop it spreading to the road. Then Gary rushed to the fire engine. His father followed with the tractor to rake out a better fire brake. Luckely we were able to stop it spreading.

Here are some pictures I took from the following morning (this morning) when it was safer.

Simon Attenborough becomes pyromaniac

This week has been all about birth, life and destruction. So we will start this blog from the beginning…

BIRTH

Calving has gone very well this year with 100% success so far. But yesterday almost saw the first casualty as a cow named “green 5” was found to be having problems. So after much fun separating her from the herd, she was walked back to the sheds for Gary and Noel to assist. So enjoy this video of “green 5” giving birth to “TBA”.

Lambing is having a few casualties for many reasons. So the ewes that struggle are taken back to the sheds to have their lambs. Some of the ewes have been having twins and therefore have been rejecting one of their lambs. Here’s Gary taking one of the twins back to its mother.

LIFE

I have been busy taking pictures of some of the wildlife that is seen most days in south western Australia.

This is a Huntsman spider. He’s a goody. Absolutely harmless. But huge for a spider.

This is a ???, I’m not sure what they are called but they are huge ants. And I’ve been told that if they bite, you would know about it. And I’m not surprised looking at it.

Parrots are plentiful here. Every morning I see them outside my window sitting on a fence.


Kangaroos are also all over the place. But they are always bouncing away, so getting photos are very difficult. Especially as they always sit in the shade and blend in.

(click on the photo to enlarge)

DESTRUCTION

This mouse had somehow found itself in my bath. I have no idea how It could of climbed in. I couldn't bring myself to squash it, so I put him in an ice-cream container with some lettuce over night. Sadly he didn’t make it into the morning. Obviously mice don’t like lettuce. RIP Bath mouse!

Remember a few Blogs back I was pushing logs and sticks into a piles? Well now the fire ban has been lifted, it’s time to destroy them.

And then its Fireman Gary’s job to stop them spreading.

Just Me

I forgot to add this picture of me (as requested by my mother) to my last blog

This is a picture of me defencing.

Don't forget to read yesterdays post.

How to construct a fence.

During the past week I have been doing a lot of fencing (not the kind that involves swords). So in the usual fashion, this is how it’s done.

Two post holes are dug either end of the stretch of fence.

A strainer post is then placed in the holes. The posts are found from the many fallen trees found on the farm

A strut is then added to the post to reinforce it. That will be in a later photo.

Every 6-10 meters a metal post is hammered into the ground after being sighted up.
They are hammered in using the hand tool shown in the photo or an air compressor for the long stretches.

Then the netting is rolled out and strained up tight using the Ute. (Note the strut that is attached to the post)

Then after the netting has been attached to each of the posts, you end up with a fence like so.

And now its animal time again.

These are just a couple of the many eagles that fly around in the sky looking for food.

And this is Charles, one of the many sun lizards that I find on my living room floor. He / she has now been released from the ice cream container and is now back in the wild. (he's/she's about 3-4inches long)

It has now been over one month that I have been without a cigarette and 3 months without a TV or regular internet. So I have had to find a new hobby, other than my new guitar that arrived early this week.

That new hobby is this...

During my time on the farm I have been doing many things to improve her and get her ready for my first long trek up to Darwin.

I have been getting in touch with my feminine side by sewing some new curtains.

I fixed them up by bending some old tin to hold up some wooden dowel rails. I also replaced the carpet in the boot as the old one was torn and oil stained.

With the help of Gary I restored an old roof rack that was on the farms scrap metal pile and painting her black to match the car. I then added four 20ltr containers with hose pipe to provide me with 80ltrs of water during my trip.

I also wired up the three spot lights on the bull bar with a relay, fuse and switch to give me extra light on my journey.

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High Five

I've been doing many jobs this week.
And in this weekly roundup I will be showing you two of them

Firstly is putting hay bales in the paddocks for the sheep, cattle and Roo to feed from.

They are loaded onto the tractor using the rear forks like so.

Then they are dropped into the paddocks as shown.

Another job shows that farm work is not all tractor driving.

In fact some jobs are what’s piled up in the next picture

This pile of s&*t was dug out from under the sheering sheds shown behind.

It’s not only sheep that get sheered in the shed as this video shows.

If you didn't guess, it's and Alpaca

Recently I have also been testing my cooking skills by cooking on a budget.
As eggs and lamb are plentiful I have been having many roast dinners like the one in the photo.

I have been perfecting my home made Yorkshire skills and believe I have cracked it.

I am also a pancake and scrambled egg eggspert now.

And just to finish things off for this week I would like to show you what I have taught this dog to do.

Sorry for missing the photo of me mum. It will be added within the week (don’t hold me to that).

Just a couple of notes about the blog. To enlarge the pictures, simply click on them.
Also please rate my entrys bellow each one. It is anonymous and it helps me to improve my content, and know how many people are reading.

Fox hunt

So this is an Australian style fox hunt.

No hounds here. A fox hunt happens at night when the foxes are out hunting. The farmer will usually drive as they know the layout. Then someone holds the spotlight and another shoots. The extras (me) open gates and collect the foxes.

Everyone drives around on the back of the Ute using the spotlight to search for the foxes. The spotlight pics up the whites of the foxes eyes (The video doesn't show this well). When a fox is found we would play the sound of a parrot squawking to keep the foxes attention while the gun man aims and fires. Then we drive over and pic the fox up. Most of the time the shot kills the fox instantly, On the occasions that it doesn't, everything is done to shorted the foxes suffering.

The video is not very clear as it is night time, but I hope it gives you an idea of how it is done.

Please note before watching the video that an animal was harmed in the making but many sheep, parrot, kangaroo and other creatures lives have been saved. No blood can be seen in the video but don't show it to the young ones before checking it yourself.

Odd Jobs

This is a rushed one as I'm just about to leave for a fox hunt.

I am currently cooking the liver and kidney of a lamb that only yesterday was roaming around the farm. My freezer is now full of Shaun.

This morning we went to make sure all the cows were okay and look for any new arrivals. Only one more today.Then we serviced the old yellow tractor before taking here to the other bloc to live for the purpose of carting hay.After dinner we had to bring some machinery back from the bloc to the main farm. this involved me becoming an escort warning drivers of a wide load. I couldn't take pictures for an obvious reason but this was taken before leaving the bloc.

So I'm off to hunt some fox, guess what the next post is about.

Feeding sheep

Due to the lack of grass in the paddocks we have to feed the sheep every couple of days.
The sheep are fed with barley and lupin from last year’s crop.

It is loaded into the feeder from the silos using an orga as shown below.

Then we drive of to the paddocks to feed the Shaun’s. John (my neighbor) helps by opening the gates and pointing directions to me.

Once we have located the sheep and tooted the horn, the mob come running towards the Ute (they know its dinner time).

Then the feeder is opened and the sheep get given their feed.

Once the feeder is closed the sheep all end up in a long line while they eat their feed.

The farm has about 20-25 mobs. This takes about a day to do

The next photo shows an alpaca amongst one mob of sheep (to the right). These are here to protect the sheep from the foxes. The idea is that they stamp on the ground near the foxes to scare them away. But it doesn't always work. It is not uncommon to see a couple of dead shauns who have been killed by the foxes while out feeding the sheep. And this is despite a couple of fox hunts each month.

I have also just witnest my food beeing slaughtered. Four sheep have are currently hanging in the shed ready to be butchered in the morning. One of the sheep will be my food during my stay here. So if your ever wondering what i'm eating in the evenings, the chances are its lamb chops or roast lamb.

While your here don't forget to have a look at my posts from the past couple of days.