Well, didn't see that one coming...

Some people impulse buy clothes. Some randomly choose to buy a large electronics item. More still make a spontaneous decision to buy one of those desk birds that bob into the cup of water.

Me. I just bought a roundtrip ticket to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and thanks to Trip Advisor I've got myself a sweet little hotel to stay in for $30 a night.

For those who know how I travel, you will know that I plan the shit out of wherever I'm going. I know exactly where I'm going, what I'm going to do and which day I want to see which article of which item of which museum.

Which is why this decision makes no sense. I had actually been considering heading to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia because I'd heard that it was usually cheap from Darwin and catered to tourists. A safe taste of SE Asia if you will. I'm sure HCMC will be relatively harmless but I know nothing about it and have no idea how to speak the language. Hell, I thought it was still called Saigon! One of the most peculiar parts of the flight choice is that I don't even like asian food that much. Seriously, I don't go out of my way to have it.... ever.

When I head there I will try to track down the odd internet cafe so I can check in from time to time. I'll only be there for 4 days so there can't be too much that goes wrong in that amount of time. I think.

I've already accepted that I'll be swindled. I'll be treated like a foolish tourist (because I will be). Some kid will probably even try to pick my pocket. I'm still looking forward to the experience and I guarantee I'll try to get as many sweet pics and video clips as I can while I'm there.

I fly out on Canada Day and get back to Darwin on July 5th. I'm pretty sure I'll never spend that long weekend the same way again.

What a day....

The angry plant post will have to wait. This was my yesterday:

I had to put this one out there because I just had one hell of a day full of ups and downs, mostly downs. The events themselves aren't really worth talking about but their summation creates a veritable tapestry.

The day started off like any other. Get up at an ungodly 5:45am, walk to bathroom, do business, brain begins to understand that it needs to be used, neurons begin to fire.

I decided to spend the day in the hangar office to get some things done. I had noticed some things that were bothering me so I sent out some e-mails to the people I'd been working with. No sooner had the last one gone out when stuff that rhymes with hit, kit and pit smashed its proverbial self against a jet turbine. I had unintentionally started a shitstorm. And two more would follow. I hate conflict. I did not enjoy the process.

So after stirring the wasp nest in the morning I was asked to take some equipment out to Cahill's Crossing to meet someone from one of the other camps.

Along the way the ute felt like it was stuttering and surging its way down the road unless I was at highway speed (100km+). It was odd and I figured I should have a look when I got to Cahill's. As I waited for the other vehicle to arrive I went down to the river for a peak. I didn't see any crocs but I did see some aboriginal kids fishing. They don't use rods though. What they do is spin the hook in the air kind of what you see with special ops troops and grappling hooks. They were able to throw the hook a good 20-30ft out before they grabbed the line and started pulling it in.

"Aboriginal kids fishing while the tide is low at Cahill's Crossing. That ute has been there since I first showed up. It must be stuck in there pretty good because when the tide is up it's completely submerged."

When I returned to the ute the other gents weren't far behind. It had been an hour of waiting but the time to pass on the equipment had finally come. But as I turned the key over so I could leave, the ute stuttered and failed. It was toast. Why? How did this happen?

Earlier in the day I filled up the ute as it was just below a quarter tank. Better to do it early so I can go straight to the hotel after work. Good thinking. Too bad I didn't pay attention enough to realize that it needed diesel instead of petrol (gas). That's right, I had filled the tank with gas and it had carried me over 50 km even though it was a diesel engine. To say I felt like a complete idiot would be like saying Larry Bird felt like the whitest player in the NBA of his time, it's obvious.

After working out what to do with said toasted ute, a ride back was worked out. Before I left the crossing, my ride asked to take a picture of me. Apparently I look exactly like a young Robert Downey Jr., whom his daughter has a huge crush on. This noticeably brightened my day even though I had no clue what he was talking about.

I caught a ride back to the hotel with the chopper, not the worst way to travel.

While I waited for the drillers in the bar some younger gents were playing pool beside me. I was fixated on the TV even though all it was showing was an Indian cooking show. Out of nowhere I heard a loud "pop" and then all of a sudden, "ting!". The cue ball had bounced off the racked balls and cracked against the edge of my stool only an inch away from my kibble and bits. I couldn't help but laugh. My day had officially taken a turn toward good.

Moral of the story is, even though you might make an epically stupid mistake, you can still come out on top if you look like Robert Downey Jr. and have testicles that are protected by the hand of God..... I hope God is a woman.

Kakadu National Park and Aurora Resort

I’ll start off with the cool stuff I’ve seen during chopper rides. I’ve been able to fly almost daily on a Bell 206 Long Ranger. The hangar that we use as an office and fly out of could use a good cleaning... or a fumigation.... ok so maybe it should be bulldozed and rebuilt. It is located right beside Ranger Mine which happens to be a huge uranium mine. If you look at the outline for Kakadu National Park you’ll see part of it cut out within its borders, that’s the mine lease. Kind of an odd situation, but the mine was here first. Anywho, when we fly out to the rig or our sampling locations we leave the park and head into Arnhem Land. To be honest with you, Arnhem Land looks nicer. The pilots have been awesome about showing me some of the more interesting spots on the way out and back. They pointed out a few locations where Crocodile Dundee was shot, an arch made of rock and a lowish pass of the East Alligator River valley.

"The view on the way out to the drill every day. Beats the roads we drive on in Northern Sask. Beats em like Alec Baldwin's red-headed stepchild.... if he had said red-headed stepchild."

"The arch is on the left. I've got great footage of this on the camcorder. Still have to get a better photo though."

"This billabong was used for Crocodile Dundee. It's within the outer boundaries of Kakadu."

"The East Alligator River cuts between the sandstone cliffs."

When we flew over the river I saw my first crocodile. We were a couple hundred feet up and it still looked big. It dove under water after awhile and it was crazy how fast it could disappear. There’s a 4-5 m one that has been seen on a regular bank many times but I haven’t seen it yet. It was cool just to see one in the wild instead of a zoo (even though I plan on seeing at least one closer up in a zoo). Salties scare me more than wolves or bears. I’m a legitimate food source for them and they’re in all the water sources. Wolves will avoid you altogether (unless it’s a mangy lone wolf) and you can stand your ground against a black bear. A saltwater crocodile is invisible in any murky water and they’re so big they can take down anything that lives on land in Australia. They’ve even been seen to take down a water buffalo and they’re huge. I also find that locals have way more fear and respect for crocodiles than Canadians have for wolves, bears, cougars (the one with claws…ok maybe that doesn’t separate the definition enough….the ones that stalk you….nope that doesn’t get it done either….the ones that live in the wild…yeah that one might work) or gophers. The Northern Territory always sees at least a couple people get picked off by them every year. Pets get picked off way more often. They are the apex predator for the continent: Crocodiles 1, Dingoes 0.

The fieldie here at Beatrice is a unique one. He looks like Mr. Bean, except with a mullet. He even mumbles when he talks with a deep voice…. it’s uncanny.

I just watched a commercial for a new reality TV show called RBT. You know what that stands for? Could it be Robot Battle Trainers? Nope. Rollerderby Babes of Tasmania? Wrong again. It actually stands for Random Breath Testing. That’s right, they have an entire show dedicated to police pulling people over for a breathalyzer test. Once again, Australia has amazed me.

The town that’s nearby is called Jabiru. It’s a mining town that supplies basic services for everyone working at Ranger as well as the tourists that need somewhere to stay. The most famous place to stay is a Holiday Inn that looks like a crocodile form the air.

"Not nearly as impressive at ground level."

We’re not staying at that hotel. Ours looks like a bunch of Chinese-style farmer hats set in a circle.

"Aurora Resort. A hotel frozen in time, but they chose the wrong decade."

From the outside, the place looks like its got itself together. But once you step inside those doors, you soon realize that this place was built in the early 80s and hasn’t seen an update since. Almost no water comes out of the shower head (note: after 4 days this was fixed, woot!), several people have gotten bed bug bites because the sheets aren’t cleaned even after being in the room for weeks, the TV uses rabbit ears for reception and there’s no internet. It does, however, have air-conditioning (or air con), sweet sweet air-conditioning.



June 23rd

I had an awesome day today. Work was ok. Did quite a bit of hiking through the bush and managed to see some cool stuff.

I thought our day would take us longer so I told the chopper pilot to pick us up around 4pm. We ended up getting done closer to 2:30 and had to kill some time. I went on a small walkabout and stayed close to the LZ (landing zone, love using that terminology, just once I’d like to radio the pilot to tell him he’s got a ‘hot LZ’) that we cleared.

We ran out of water so the walkabout was also meant to try for a creek that might have been nearby. I found some stagnant water left over in a dried up creek. Stayed away from that stuff. I stood out in the dried up creek bed and listened to the various sounds around me. The flies were buzzing enough to drown out most noises at first but when they calmed down I started to hear the birds, frogs and hopping insects around me. It was serene and a pure moment of peace….then I heard a new noise. I turned around to see a snake no more than a few feet away and it was slithering toward me. I took a step back and as soon as I moved it darted in the opposite direction and did a half coil. We'd obviously surprised each other. I think it was waiting for me to go all Steve Irwin on it and try to grab its tail. Instead I took a couple more steps back and it quickly disappeared beneath the bent over grass.

"I managed to get a quick pick as it darted off."

Given the new wildlife sighting I looked up what snake it was as soon as I got back to the office. It’s one of two things. Brown Snake or Taipan. I looked at a lot of photos of Australian snakes and I still came to those two. Both make the top 10 deadliest snakes in the world. The brown sits around the bottom of the top 10 while the Taipan is always numero uno. So it was either a mildy life threatening encounter…. or a death defying moment of common sense. As in, “Hey, there’s a snake. Wait a second, aren’t all the snakes in Australia dangerous? No, they’re not all dangerous, idiot. Pfft…. but that one might be. Probably best to play it cool and slowly back away, yeah that seems like the right thing to do.” Whether it could have killed me or killed me 10 times over with one bite, either way, it was cool to see something like that and manage to keep it safe.

Oh yeah, when we were picked up by the chopper we noticed a creek that was a few hundred metres away. There was a big croc sunning himself on a bank. Kind of glad I didn't go looking for water in that direction.

 
Preview of next post.... "All the plants that hate you when you're walking in the outback."

Quick Update

I'm using dial-up at the camp I'm in now so this post is just an announcement.

There will be no new posts until I leave here. I just don't want to put anything up without adding photos because the sights I'm seeing here are breathtaking. You won't see anything from me for at least 10 more days. I'll make the post worth it. As a small teaser, I've seen my first croc (from the chopper), I've seen a few locations where they shot Crocodile Dundee and the 'resort' I'm staying at is brutal.

Take care back there. I'll catch you all on the flipside.

State of Origin

Try to imagine the Superbowl in the US. Now try to imagine the Superbowl played 3 times in 9 weeks. That is what State of Origin is for the Aussies. The game is played between the Queensland 'Maroons' and New South Wales 'Blues' (both on the east coast) to establish who reigns supreme in the rugby world. Serious bragging rights are on the line and the entire country rallies behind one side or the other. Even AFL fans get right into these games. The commercials are more about buying well bred bulls instead of movie trailer debuts or stock trading websites (not even kidding, there were two separate commercials showing where to buy the best bulls). One commercial actually took a side! If Queensland wins you get 20% off everything in the store. If New South Wales wins you only get 10% off.

The camp projector is set up in our main tent with a set of computer speakers. Cheering has gotten pretty heated in tempo with the emotions on display in the game. You can tell that these games mean a lot to not only the fans, but the players. Sometimes you can watch a championship game and after awhile the losing team will also lose its fire. Not so in these games. If anything it's the opposite. The losing team just gets dirtier, more violent and more desperate.

I think the game might seem more intense because they don't have any pads or helmets on. You see all the grimaces, all the cheap forearms thrown, all the neck snapping hits and all the trash talk. And there is a lot of jibber jabber out there.

To go along with the rugby, there's been a new wildlife spotting. It seems like I see something cool all the time. A couple of wallabies hang around our camp. Lately when I go to use our little makeshift gym they watch me from the bush for a bit before they hop off. Cockatoos and kookaburras are the birds that wake you up in the morning, not crows or pigeons. I mean, they don't wake me up, but they do wake most of the rest of the crew. I sleep like a rock in a soundproof basement though.... so I might not be the best example. Where was I again? Oh yeah, a new wildlife sighting. One of the fieldies found a legless lizard last night and brought it over for me.

"He was just a little guy. Since it was technically a lizard it didn't have much for teeth to worry about."

He barely moved in my hand. I wish I would have used my camera to take the closeup because it did have the tiny flaps where its legs should be."

 We're currently in the 65th minute and the score is 34-0 for Queensland and the announcer just said, "There are thousands of New South Wales fans sitting on their couch right now saying, 'I could do better out there'". The funny thing about this best of 3 series is even though Queensland will now be up 2 games to none there will still be a 3rd game played. The series itself is definitely about pride.

I have to ship out to Jabiru on Friday. It's on the eastern side of Kakadu National Park. I'll be there for almost two weeks and then it's a week out of the bush.

Until the next time.....

TimTams

Australia has given the world many things. Kangaroos, koala bears, Carlton Mid, Yvonne Strzechowski...... but none can compare to what I have just witnessed. A refrigerated Tim Tam. I'm quite sure that it's actually chocolate crack in cookie form. I'm not sure how the country stays supplied really. I've also recently learned of the Tim Tam slam. As told by Wikipedia:

"Opposite corners of the Tim Tam are bitten off, one end is submerged in the drink, and the drink sucked through the biscuit. The crisp inside biscuit is softened and the outer chocolate coating begins to melt.
Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse but the outside should remain intact long enough for the liquid to reach the mouth. Refrigerating them helps to preserve the outside coating while allowing the inside of the biscuit to melt. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to prevent a premature collapse. The caramel centre of the Chewy Caramel variety helps to hold the biscuit together for a slightly longer time."

Clearly there's a lot of science behind the procedure. Perhaps one of the veterans in camp can show me someday how to achieve this feat.

In other news, Australians have no tolerance for mosquitoes (or mossies as they are referred to here). Our main after-work gathering area has no less than 4 mossie coils burning at any time after 5pm. When they're not burning everyone sprays themselves down with Bugsmack or something with 20% DEET. For those not in the know about DEET, it's still up in the air as to whether or not it causes cancer. Back in the day when they first started spraying fields with it children would play in the DEET mist as it poured out of the hoses. That same DEET killed many small mammals, birds as well as a shitload of insects. It also melts plastic. Repeat, melts plastic. I'm ashamed to say that I'm guilty of spraying strong repellant on back in Saskie, especially in the north. But we have a ton of bugs over there. Millions of them just waiting to suck out every last drop of blood so that they can go home, have more blood-sucking babies, die, then let their blood-sucking babies suck our blood again. Whereas here I can count the number of mossies I see on one hand at any one time. Seriously I think I've been bitten twice since I came out here and our camp is basically beside a large bog that provides perfect standing water conditions for mosquitoes.

***Note to self: while Australia has a ridiculous amount of insects in a ridiculous amount of varieties, some of which can kill you.... almost none of them are out for your blood. I'm cool with that.

Bonus pic of the day, a Skink. These guys are everywhere with good reason. There's an endless supply of insects to be eaten. They're fast, harmless and best of all, they eat all the little creepy crawly things. I'm pretty sure I've seen spiders large enough to take these little lizards down...... that could be a deathmatch in the making for the future.... but I digress. Keep in mind that from nose to tail this little guy is only about 3" long.

This just in, Australia is hot.

It's been a busy couple of days here lately. Thus the lack of posts after the rapid fire ones fed to you previously. I've seen some pretty cool stuff in the last couple days. A few things that made me shake my head and say, "really?" and a few things that made me say, "wow".

I'll maybe lead off with the oddities. The lights in our wash car (showers and toilets) naturally attract a lot of flying insects. Something else came to play tonight though, a praying mantis. He just flitted around up there and nabbed the smaller flyers, pretty cool to watch. I always thought mantis' were bigger but this one was only about 2.5" long. I lifted the seat of one of the toilets and saw the biggest grasshopper I've ever seen. With it's legs out it easily measured 3" long and the body itself was a good 2"..... I used a different stall. Oh and I just about touched a tree frog that was sitting right by the handle to the wash car. I don't know if he was poisonous or not. I didn't lick him to make sure.

One of the cooler things I've seen lately were the wild horses (or brumbies in local speak). I haven't been able to catch them on camera yet but I vow to by the end of my time here. You wouldn't think that seeing horses in the wild would be cool, but it is. You'll have to check out this link for now. It's amazing how fit and healthy they are up (can't believe I just used up, I already consider Sydney and Melbourne down) here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brumby

Something that isn't getting old for me is the landscape. We've been mapping outcrops in hilly areas that overlook vast valleys with sharp cliff walls formed by sandstone escarpments. While not the easiest going it certainly provides some candy for the eyes while you're out there.

"That was a ridiculously steep hill. And about 200+ m high. At least we had a good view."

"Myself and Misty (she went to UofR a few years after me) posing by one of the outcrops that we mapped. The sandstone escarpment is in the background.

Oh right, the big title of the post was about the heat. It's safe to say that I won't be totally acclimatized to this heat by the time I leave. I think it'll get easier, but it will never be easy. I sweat a lot usually from exercise....here I sweat a lot from standing. Muggy air and +30C days just draw out all the moisture you thought you had and leave you feeling like a wet sponge. But, you may say, what about at night? Doesn't it cool off at night? Well sure little fella, it sure does cool off at night.... to +20C. Seriously, it doesn't get any colder than that over night now. I'm using a shitty Walmart sleeping bag (that was a throw in with a tent) that wouldn't work in Sask on a night after our hottest day, but I barely need it here. Something I've found during our little excursions into the bush is that the bush here is very different from home. It's sparse so it's easy to walk through, but there's no shade because even though you may have some trees around you the sun is so damn high (only 11 degrees latitude from the equator I think, Bengough is just above 49) that you have to be right under the tree to get any shade. Top that off with almost no wind and it makes for a difficult trek. So far I have only found 2 things that suck about the bush in Northern Territory: needle grass and green tree ants. The needle grass comes to such a fine point that it pokes through your pant leg and the tip snaps off just under your skin making it itchy and annoying. I've talked about the green tree ants a little bit before but basically they're the most aggressive ant down here and they're all over the place. But I digress.

So if anyone was wondering if they wanted to try out the Northern Territory during the dry season, know this, I've been sweating like a manatee in heat. If you're ok with that kind of sweat, you might be ok. Then again, you probably won't be hiking up huge hills in the middle of Arnhem Land. You'd probably hit up Crocodylus Park in Darwin and stay in an air conditioned hotel room. Basically because when it comes right down to it, you all have more sense than I do.

Tomorrow's forecast is super hot with a mix of hot. However, it's back to camp work so no worries about facing the heat on a big hike.

And if it seems like I'm bitching about the heat, it's only because it's the only thing I have to complain about here. I f@#$ing love Australia. And mark my words, this will not be the last time I come here.

***Bonus pic of the post. I set up my camera to long shutter speed that drew in a ton of light (for those in the know I had it set to 15sec). I wanted to get a view of the stars over my tent for you. The stars here are super bright (as they usually are in an isolated setting). I wish I could sleep with a mesh roof because the view would be spectacular. Sidenote to Tyler, loving the G11.***

"

"The trees really lit up too from because of the lights nearby in camp, but they definitely didn't look this bright to the naked eye."