Saturday, 8 December 2012
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
25/11/12
I got up early today and hit the road for the long drive.
On the way out of Adelaide I noticed some road kill and upon closer inspection it was a koala which was pretty sad.
Kangaroos are a dime a dozen but it was my first sight of a dead koala which wasn't cool...
Well the drive was pretty long and boring but Freda was again up to the challenge and we did it easily.
Mind you, by mid-afternoon, with the van heating up, the cricket droning in the background and being 700kms into a 900km trip on one of the flattest and most boring stretches of road, ever, I had to put on some heavy metal and crank the iPod to keep the concentration levels up.
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| zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
Even though the drive was long and boring, it gave me a lot of time to reflect on this year, the highs, the lows, the people I've met and the things I've done.
I arrived in Wagga at about 6.30pm and gave Freda a little kiss of thanks for seeing me right around Australia with no problems whatsoever.
A look at the odometer and it revealed that I had clocked up just over 28,000 kms since leaving Wagga in January this year - not a bad effort!
So, for the time being, I guess this is the end of my travel blog.
Thanks so much for taking an interest in my travels, and my life, and I hope you have found it a bit interesting.
I may update the blog sporadically with random reflections on my trip or other such stuff, so come back occasionally if you like and there may be updates.
My immediate plans are to record a new cd so that's gonna take up a lot of my time from now until the first few months of the new year. I've written a song called "Livin' the Dream" which I'm a little excited about and will probably be the first track on the disc.
Speaking of music, if you want to keep updated with the progress of the new CD, please get in touch and I can add you to my music mailing list.
Otherwise, keep an eye on my music Facebook page which I will endeavour to keep up to date.
Thanks to everyone who I met this year for your generosity and friendship - it was a wonderful experience and one I will not easily forget.
Hugs and Kisses,
Steve
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| Thanks Australia! You've been great! Good night! |
20/11/12/ - 24/11/12
The next day I was pretty pleased to be leaving Ceduna.
I thought I may have heard from Laura but she must have decided to spend a bit of time at Cactus Beach.
With fires raging near Port Lincoln and the tourist bureau advising there wasn't much to see south on the Peninsula unless you have a 4WD, I decided to cut straight across towards Port Augusta.
The most interesting part of the drive was seeing a big galah:
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| Big. Galah. Ailsa. |
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| My shadow (bottom right) |
The next day I managed to spend bumming about in Port Augusta where I ran into one of the nerdy guys who I roomed with at the Adelaide YHA in the middle of the year - another situation to file away under "It's a small world after all".
I also spotted one of the most bogan/Aussie vehicles so far on my trip.
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| DILLIGAF - Do I Look Like I Give A F%ck |
I camped about 30kms south of Port Augusta that night.
The next day I continued the drive south towards Adelaide and stopped in at the Mount Remarkable National Park.
I decided to do the 18km hidden gorge walk which I had all to myself and took about 5 hours (including a minor detour as I accidently strayed from the path on the way back - woops!).
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| How's the serenity? |
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| I named this bloke "Old Timey" |
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| Acting tough in a national park - what are YOU lookin' at? |
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| Seriously, I need to go to photo posing classes...what the hell is going on here?!?!? |
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| Lizard in a tree |
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| Flock (?) of emus |
Spent the night at a free camp site at Parham - not bad.
The next day I drove about 50kms to Adelaide where I had a gig the next day.
The blokes I was rooming with were nice enough and I just spent the day and night chilling in the city.
The gig at Bliss Organic Cafe was a bit of a fizzer, crowd-wise, but I got paid and a free vegan feed so all is good.
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| Gig venue...Freda to the right |
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| ..and the crowd goes wi....nope, the crowd just goes... |
19/11/12
Today I travelled into Ceduna.
It was a freaking hot day so I gladly spent a bit of time getting some much needed laundry done.
It wasn't until talking to Laura a week later that I remembered we were advised to steer clear of the town as it has a reputation for putting the "D" in dodgy.
So it was with this temporary amnesia that I, for some reason, decided to spend the night in the dodgiest van park in one of the dodgiest towns east of the Nullabor.
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| Nothing quite like the smell of wafting garbage to help you get to sleep at night |
After a year of travel, seeing all sorts of different sites and meeting all different types of people, nothing much seems to phase me, and despite the less than perfect circumstances I was greeted with when I got to the van park, I was able to laugh at the situation and sleep easily.
For the record, I jotted in my diary a few of my experiences as follows:
* The guy at reception, eloquently using the "f" word at least three times per sentence, took great delight in lecturing me that Wagga is the most backward place in the country, full of old "C"s who control all the money and if they had any sense they would get the Army to take a couple of weeks to build a canal system so the city doesn't flood. Interesting.
* When I parked the van I met the caretaker who was a nice enough bloke but spookily looked like Mealoaf in his beast form in the "I would do anything for love (but I won't do that)" film clip.
* He then advised me that if I was after any drugs, the local drug dealers are down the back but to get on to them tonight if I wanted anything because they're being evicted tomorrow. Good to know.
* He then told me about how he's had to bust a few heads of people who had been playing up but the last couple of weeks had been fairly quiet, apart from when a bloke was murdered down the road last week. Eeek.
* As he was telling me this, his two little dogs were getting a bit amorous near my feet and he kindly informed me "I keep telling him she's his sister but it doesn't stop him from trying to f*ck her...they're too young to mate anyway so it's ok for now..." Cool.
* He then tried to upgrade me to a caravan for an extra $7 and the luxury of a Tv and air conditioning. I reluctantly agreed as it was rather hot and some air con would have been nice. When I opened up the van though I was greeted with a delightful new aroma with each step. Step. Cigarette smoke. Step. Stale beer. Step. Urine. Step.Vomit. Step. Wet dog. Step. Mould. Etc etc. Needless to say, the van was filthy and I was definitely sleeping in Freda.
* And upon further inspection, it was revealed that there was no air con and that the tv had been stolen by the previous tenants. Surprise, surprise.
There was probably some other BS that went down but that was all I wrote in my diary and my memory of the place is thankfully quite sketchy now.
It's funny, you read Stephen King novels with what you think are exaggerated characterisations of people down on their luck and living a pretty rough life in trailer parks but these people are real and these situations do exist.
Anyway, I survived Ceduna but I won't be back any time soon. You can bet on that.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
17/11/12 - 18/11/12
Well the next two days involved me being quite ill with some sort of weird fever as well as a whole lotta driving as I tackled the Nullabor on my way to South Australia.
I was feeling quite ill the night before I left but thought if I'm sick and taking it easy I may as well be sitting in my car getting closer to my destination (that's how I justified it in my fevered mind anyway).
So I left Esperance and headed south and 4 hours later made it to Norseman.
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| Norseman |
The plan was to meet Laura and John at Balledonia and if they got there first they were to leave a note to let me know where they're gonna camp for the night.
After having some lunch in Norseman I stopped to get fuel and check the tyres.
I obviously wasn't thinking straight when I thought "Oh! If i'm checking the tyres I may as well check the radiator fluid too".
So, with the engine off but quite warm after the morning's drive, I stupidly opened the radiator cap and had hot fluid blast all over me and the engine, including the leisure battery. To top things off, I also dropped the cap in the engine as I reeled back, which took me a good 20 minutes to find and retrieve.
So after feeling a little edgy about tackling one of the most remote roads in the country with a reliable Freda I was now less than confident given this self-inflicted hiccup.
But with my fever getting worse due to the hot weather and hot radiator fluid I got in the car and drove.
I made it to Balledonia and got a message from Laura and John saying they were camping the night at a spot 250kms away! Fark!
The way I was feeling, I was hoping they had only gone another 50kms or so down the road, so I just figured I'll keep driving and if I make it to them by nightfall well and good but if not then I'll just camp where I can.
So feeling quite ill I hit the road and was firstly confronted by the longest (and most boring) straight stretch of road..not cool when your attention is wavering anyway...and then on dusk an abundance of wildlife...
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| I'm looking a little buff and tanned here...maybe those daily yoga lessons are paying off? |
But as you're reading this, you'll know that I obviously made it in one piece.
Laura checked my temperature when I revealed I felt quite ill and sure enough it was quite high so she gave me some panadol and told me to go straight to bed - what a champion! I knew it would be handy travelling with a nurse! haha
Anyway, the panadol had an immediate effect and I had a very restful sleep and was feeling 1000% better the next day.
I met Laura at Eucla where I got some fuel and then continued the drive.
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| Eucla sign (sorry I don't have my caption mojo today) |
Laura then left notes at some place starting with "N" (sorry I can't be bothered looking it up) and a place starting with "P" saying she was camping at Cactus Beach.
I decided not to tackle the 20km dirt road to get there and instead camped a few kms out of Ceduna.
It was only at night that I realised I had driven from Esperance across the Nullabor Plain to Ceduna in under two days and I had successfully negotiated the Nullabor.
In hindsight I need not have worried too much. The fuel stops are regular, the road is excellent and the weather was warm but not excessively so.
Many thanks to Freda for getting me across safe and sound - you da best.
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| Hello again SA |
15/11/12 - 16/11/12
Today started with another excellent yoga class. Actually, we've fallen into a bit of a routine of yoga in the morning, some sort of activity in the day, playing some tunes before or after dinner then watching an episode of Mad Men to close out the day - not a bad lifestyle, huh?
After yoga we went for a walk to Frenchman's Peak which we were told was quite challenging but it wasn't all that difficult.
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| Mountain Man |
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| This beach was magnificent...photo doesn't do it justice |
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| Giving you some idea of the water colour |
That night we met a guy called John who is also on his way East.
The next day Laura and I went on another walk to Rossiter Bay then in the afternoon she hung out at the beach while I chilled out in John's hammock.
Oh! A little drama from our time here included helping out a family from Kalgoorlie. The Dad had lost his car key in the ocean when he chased his young son into the water so the family was stranded here until the father could get a lift into Esperance, hire a car to get back to Kalgoorlie to get the spare key and make it back to their car. Laura was great, offering her dooner to them overnight and supporting the Mum (who doesn't speak English) when she was getting anxious.
We were all very relieved to see the Dad turn up late in the evening and he thanked us all for our help and insisted on us dropping by if ever we're in Kalgoorlie.
12/11/12 - 14/11/12
Today we hit the road again on our way to Esperance.
We made it as far as a camp spot at Quaggi Beach about an hour or so west of Esperance.
It was a pretty cool spot and so close to the beach.
We spent two nights here with the last night, after a day party of vodka & tonic and cheezels, culminating in an impromptu (and completely awesome - to our ears) harmonica jam.
The next day we drove into Esperance where I did some blogging then we had some fish and chips.
It was during our feed that Laura came up with a game of "Feed and take a photo of the airborne seagull" which kept us amused for an amount of time that could be considered unreasonable from two "mature" adults.
Laura got some great action shots on her phone...this was the best I could do using her technique...
We then drove to Cape Le Grande National Park to see whether all the fuss about Esperance beaches is warranted or not.
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| Laura in her car "Joey" |
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| Quaggi Beach camp spot |
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| Quaggi Beach |
We spent two nights here with the last night, after a day party of vodka & tonic and cheezels, culminating in an impromptu (and completely awesome - to our ears) harmonica jam.
The next day we drove into Esperance where I did some blogging then we had some fish and chips.
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| Fish N Chips at Esperance...mments before a seagull pissed in my ear |
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| Laura got a really good action shot of a seagull with this method |
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| This was old "Footy" |
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| Joey and Freda at Cape Le Grande |
9/11/12 - 11/11/12
Bridgetown Blues Festival weekend.
In the morning I made my way to the Showgrounds which was less than 1km from the festival site.
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| One of the first ones there |
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| Later that day...Tent City! |
I had a lovely hot shower then strolled into town for a bit of a look around.
Bridgetown seems like a nice enough little place.
Our volunteer shift began at 5pm and we were responsible for putting the wristbands on people who had bought their weekend tickets.
It was actually quite a fun job and a great way to meet the punters - a lot of whom were real characters and had us laughing the whole night.
I was teamed up with Chris who would scan the tickets and then tell the punters to go over to Steve for their wristband.
As a result, a vast majority of the people attending the Festival now knew my name and were saying "G'day Steve" all weekend - how funny!
Saturday it was my birthday day......the big 3-2.
It was great to get a few phone calls and texts from family and friends throughout the day.
The best present of all was when Amanda told me that Neil Young is touring early next year - woohoo!!!
I started my volunteer shift at 9.30am with my official title being "Production Assistant" or something...what it translated to was me being responsible for setting up the artist cd signing area and making sure the bands completed certain forms after their set...in between I just basically had to watch all the bands perform..tough work, huh?
At lunch time I met up with Laura and we had a Birthday lunch where I opened a special Birthday package that Mum had sent over and which contained life's essentials such as cheezels, thongs and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Laura gave me some home made vouchers including ones entitling me to free yoga lessons for however long we travel together and a dinner of boiled eggs next time we camp.
That night we checked out the bands which was cool although I felt a little ill (mental note: Coco Pops and cider don't mix).
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| Mia Dyson...and her weird forehead mic |
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| Deb "Spoons" Perry |
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
6/11/12 - 8/11/12
With the weather still not playing ball, we decided to move on.
Before leaving Albany we went for a quick drive to check out the Gap and the Natural Bridge.
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| The Gap |
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| Views were pretty special |
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| Half way to the top |
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| Camp spot |
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| Bluff Knoll |
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| View from the top |
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| Laura doing an impression of what it was like when her tent was up |
3/11/12 - 5/11/12
I caught up with Laura again this morning and somehow it was decided that we will do a little bit of travelling together as I intend on being in Bridgetown next weekend for the Blues Festival and she wants to catch up with a friend there too.
I have a gig at the Albany Hotel on Sunday so we headed into Albany with the weather being less than perfect and getting worse over the next few days.
We had dinner at the Albany Hotel on Saturday and I played there on the Sunday evening.
There was literally no one there in the front bar where I was playing for the first two hours so I just used it as an opportunity to try out some new songs and the acoustics of the room were really good on the vocals so I had a nice little time.
Things perked up a bit in the last hour or so when a bunch of carnies rolled into the pub - including Chad Morgan's son, Chad Jnr.
I ended up having a beer with him and he's a really good bloke.
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| Steve and Chad Morgan Jnr at Albany Hotel |
That night the weather continued to be shitty and I'm afraid my opinion of Albany is going to suffer as a result.
The weather did hold off long enough to get a pic of Laura in her tent which is pretty funny.
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| Laura hamming it up |
29/10/12 - 2/11/12
Now I need to level with you, dear reader, I'm starting to lose my blog writing mojo.
So I think from here on in there will be less words and more pics but I will endeavour to see this blog thing through until the end though it is becoming more and more of an effort to do so - poor me huh? First World problems indeed.
I set off from Manjimup and the weather got progressively worse as I passed through Pemberton and Northcliff.
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| Gloucester Tree |
My mood wasn't helped when I discovered the camp spot I intended to stay at was all grown over - hmmmpf.
I eventually found a spot to camp and with no one else around it was time to settle in for a creepy night in the forrest alone.
The weather over the next few days was still pretty crappy so I just slowly made my way further south, wrote a new song called "Lullabye" and did a rough recording of it in the back of Freda.
The next day I was off to Walpole and the treetop walk.
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| I'm on the road again... |
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| Tree top walk |
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| 40 metres...whoah |
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| Tree Top Squat |
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| Tit...heh heh heh |
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| Red Tingle Tree |
After discovering yet another Camps 6 camp to no longer be a camp spot, I edged closer to Denmark and Albany.
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| Elephant Rocks (Denmark) |
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| Cosy Corner Beach |
That afternoon, a girl named Laura turned up and then disappeared but then we crossed paths again on the way to the loo in the middle of the night.
We ended up chatting for a couple of hours, turns out she is on a bit of a road trip herself with the plan to be in Sydney by Xmas.
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