Into the Bush

We have a long day ahead of us.    Quick breakfast, then on to Port Hedland.  Did I mention the flies?  I wasn't kidding.  That's right, breakfast with fly nets on.

Karijini, our destination, why we've driven 12 hours from Broome has no supermarket and no drinkable water.  So before our 3 nights in Karijini we need to stock up.  Before going to Karijini we did our homework.  It is the desert after all.  It's going to be hot, really hot.  Check out the averages here.  Low around 19 Celsius, Highs in the 40s.  At the supermarket we bought 80 Liters of water.  Port Hedland (look it up on the map) has a giant mine directly in the town!.  This image below is from the salt mountain that you can see from miles away.  Otherwise it is a shit-hole and should be avoided if possible.

We leave Port Hedland around 11 and should get to Karijini around 4pm.  Just enough time to set up our tents, put the lamb on the grill and enjoy a great dinner under the stars in Karijini.  On the drive to Karijini we meet the road trains.  You have to picture this.  The road is narrow.  The road has grooves where these road trains drive, so the car is jerking around on the road, there is no shoulder, you are driving on the left and your passenger thinks that you're going to drive off the road at any minute.  Then one of these, filled with gasoline comes at you at 70mph.

Road Train

Taken from Monbill's car.  Do you see us in front?

Just after this near death experience with the road train we get out of the car and stretch our legs.  It's 43C (109F).  The heat is incredible.  Feels like an oven.  You can see that the landscape has changed; greener more trees, and clouds.  Uh oh.  It doesn't rain in the desert does it?  Nah...this is going to pass.

Sign on the road.  That is a Kangaroo crossing sign.  420km is 260 miles.

We pull into Karijini right around 5 (one hour to sunset).  The campsite that we are staying at is 45K from the entrance...going 110kph we should be there in 30 minutes.  Oh, and it's pouring now.  I guess it does rain in the desert.  10 K into the park the paved road ends.  Brent acutely points out, "Well, this is going to change our time estimates."  Yeah.  About an hour and a bit later (right around sundown) we pull into the reception of the campsite.  Now there is massive lightening, wind, and rain.  At the reception I ask if it is safe to be out there.  The most unhelpful receptionist states, "Woah...I don't know...doesn't look good out there...don't know what to tell you."  Thanks!  We'll take 2 campsites.  So now it is getting dark and absolutely pouring rain.  Huge drops are falling hard.  We sit in the car (Monbill sits outside in a chair) and wait it out.  It finally subsides and we jump out and set up our tents.  Heike and I win, getting our tent set up the quickest.  Go HD.  Annette and Brent do eventually get theirs set up, but they get a little wet.  HD however could not get the stakes in the ground, so I put one 10L thing of water in it to hold it down and I start cooking with Monbill.  Now it is cold (18C , 64F).  It dropped 45F in a matter of hours.  It is raining sideways and is now officially dark.  Of course we couldn't get the BBQ hot and it took over an hour to cook the lamb steak and potatoes.

 Now the wind really picks up.  We're talking hurricane strength.  For example, I tried to pull out a piece of tin foil, and the wind caught it and I had a tin foil kite.  Shit.  You know, maybe I should go check on the tent. I get back to the tent to see the whole tent in the air being held down only by the 10L of water.   Shit.  I grab some heavy shit from the car and put it inside, I find some rocks and put them on the tent.  What are we going to do?

We do not have many happy campers.  The girls and Brent are hanging out in the car while Monbill and I complete the lamb.  Once I put some rain gear on, I feel better, but have no idea where to sleep.  The wind is still blowing everything around and the tents are absolutely whipping in the wind.

We eat in the car.  The lamb is beautiful.  Delicious.  Potatoes are great too.  Eating conditions in the car?  Suboptimal but OK.

Now where are we going to sleep?  We can't all sleep in the cars, and the wind and rain are still howling outside.  I venture into our tent.  We are not campers.  We are summer, nice weather campers and bought a cheap tent on Amazon, so I'm not expecting greatness.  The tent, however, is warm and dry, and wonderful.  The stone ground was radiating wonderful heat into the tent.  Beautiful.  Good night.  Tomorrow, maybe the storm will blow out.

Karijini eco retreat campsite, 3am

Moon over Karijini

On the road

The beauty of jet lag is that 1. It lasts for a long time (13 hour difference to Perth), 2. You wake up at 5:00 am rearing to go.  At low tide you can supposedly see dinosaur tracks in the stone at Gantheaum Point.  Low tide was set for 7:00am, so we were able to get there easily. At 7:00am it was 33 Celsius with blazing sun.  It was hot, but it was beautiful.  The red dirt, the blue ocean and the heat.  Although we wandered the grounds for 30 minutes we were unable to locate anything looking like dinosaur tracks.  Still the view was worth it.  And the feeling of getting back into the car with the AC was worth it too.  At this point, we are thinking, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" We're heading inland to Karijini and we hear that the coast is "a lot" cooler than inland.  Oh boy.

What is the first thing you want to do when you are in a beautiful spot on the Indian Ocean, miles away from civilization?  You guessed it, go to Target.  Yes, they have a Target in Broome.  We had to pick up supplies for the trip.  Bec's parents had recommended a fly net, and we found some for $2 at a cheap store next to Target.  We didn't think that we would really need this...but since they recommended it, and it was only $2 we thought we'd get them.  Otherwise, we picked up some cooking stuff, a cooler, some towels and other basic necessities that we would need on our trip.  I should mention that the cooler...obviously Broome has learned the basic concepts of supply and demand...was $65!  We also bought ice for our cooler. $7.

Now we have a 5 and a half hour drive to Pardoo ahead of us and the sun sets at 6:00pm.  We have been told by almost everyone, that we SHOULD NOT DRIVE IN THE DARK.  Skippy (a kangaroo) likes to come out when it's cooler and likes to bounce out onto the road.  Ok, let's get going.  The speed limit out there is 110kph (~70mph).  We get on the road, set the cruise and go straight.  It would be relaxing if the road weren't barely big enough to fit two cars, we weren't driving on the left, and if you didn't have to pass road trains (more on road trains in the next installment).

Rest Stop.  Seriously, see the trashcan?

Our front grill.  Seriously, where are we? Jurassic Park?

Peacock at the gas station

Monbill had gotten some good advice prior to our trip.  If there is a gas station, fill up.  Even if you are a quarter tank down, fill up.  Great Advice.

Just before the pitch black of night, we roll into Pardoo Roadhouse.  Where we get a room.  For the night.  A roadhouse is like a trailer park , on the road.  The "motel room" we slept in was a 7'x7' room, with a bed, and AC, a TV with one channel, and a fridge.  The bathroom was in a separate trailer.  Pardoo Roadhouse has a restaurant, so I had some dinner, Heike had a snack and a beer and we were off to bed.  Another long day tomorrow, Supermarket in Port Hedland and off to Karijini.

Just before going to sleep I was able to talk to they guys staying next to us in the "motel rooms."  They are all miners (Iron ore) who come from all over Australia to work for 2 weeks then get 2 weeks off.  Must be a rough life.  The next morning they left at 4:45am.

EWART - Broome

To get to Broome we had to first fly to Perth (4 hours), then fly up to Broome (3 hours).  It's a big country.  On the flight up, the plane took a sharp right turn two hours outside of Perth.  The captain later informs us that there is a large sandstorm that we are trying to avoid.  An hour of turbulence ensues.

Landing into Broome is quite a view.  You can see the Great Northern Highway, a single strip of asphalt cutting in an absolute straight line paralleling the ocean.  As far as you can see is red dirt, the one road, and the ocean.  Getting off the plane (this is one of those airports where you take the stairs down to the tarmac) you feel the full power of the outback.  It was 5pm, about 95 degrees and 80+% humidity.  Phew, let's get into the airport to get out of this heat.  The "airport" is a single room with a place to collect your bags, about 150 people, and no air conditioning.  Luckily our bags came out quickly and we were able to escape the sauna.

The car rental agency that we rented from was not allowed to pick people up in the airport for some reason, so the nice man told me to simply "Walk out of the front gate of the airport and meet him outside."  When he told me this, I was picturing Logan airport, and was wondering what the front gate would be (near the tunnel?).  "It's OK, the Broome airport is fairly small," he reassured me.  Sure enough, we were able to walk out and find the cars.  Two white, Mitsubishi Outbacks parked next to each other.  But...no keys.  No agent.  Crap.  Friends say, "Oh we should just call them."  I say, "That'd be great, but I brought no numbers/directions/anything useful with me."  Luckily they had their number at the airport and we were able to contact them.

The cars.  White cars are not the best choice for the outback...get a red car.  Monbill's car was pristine and had no scratches, but did not come with unlimited miles!  Um...you know we're driving to Perth.  My car however, had scratches on the doors, on the trunk, a small crack on the windshield, and a hole (!) on the underbody.  What are you going to say when you're out in the middle of no where, and there are probably no other SUVs in Broome anyway.  "Great! Car looks good.  I'm sure we'll drive it 3000km with no problems"

And we are off.  Monbill, living in Bermuda, has taught him to drive on the left.  Dan just tries to follow.  On the way to the Hotel I think I put my windshield wipers on 6 times.  The hotel, which was gorgeous, did not, however, have a sign.  No where on the Hotel Mercure, did it say so.  Brent happened to notice a sign for "Reception", where he cautiously walked in.

OK, car--check, place to sleep--check, Did I mention it is Thanksgiving Day?  Let's find some dinner.  Through the use of the Lonely Planet on a Kindle we found a place called Matso's (http://www.matsos.com.au/about-us) . Great place.  Make their own beer, have great food.  A real Broome dining experience.  Note : The further from civilization you are, the more expensive everything is.  Fish and Chips? A$35.

All right.  This has been a long day.  Let's get some sleep 'cause tomorrow we're driving to Pardoo.

View Larger Map

Epic Western Australia Road Trip (EWART)

After being back for about a month I have realized that there is no way that I'll be able to tell all my friends and family about all the details of our trip.  So, I'll try to write it all down as I remember it.  If you are not familiar with what we did; we drove from Broome to Perth in 14 days.  It's about 3000km and can be seen here: http://goo.gl/7JKcc .  Take a look.  Zoom in, you'll notice that there are not a whole lot of roads or cities on our journey.  We were literally off the grid.  It is a world that is hard to imagine.  Western Australia has 2.2 million people 1.9 of which live in the southwestern corner of the state.  That leaves a mere 300,000 for the rest of the state (which is about a third the size of the US).

So, Broome to Perth.  Why?  People say, "There's nothing on that side of the country."  Well that's kinda true.  And nothing is beautiful.  Really, if you live in a city, you should go out to nothingness.  It's incredible.  Kangaroos everywhere, cattle farms the size of states, 100s of miles without seeing any structures, highways the width of regular city roads, ants, 6' ant hills, flies, wild peacocks,emus and parrots at the gas station.  Just a world you cannot imagine still exists.

Do it yourself

One day I got motivated to do basic repairs myself. I remember that day well. I had just paid $22 for a terrible mechanic to put in a headlight for me. A couple days later another headlight went out. I went to Autozone that day and bought a new headlight for like $2 and installed it in like 30 minutes. Note: the first 28 minutes I was trying to replace the wrong bulb. As soon as I put it in the right hole it took like 2 minutes.

How to learn to be handy:

You tube. Seriously, type in anything into You tube and there are like 20 videos of some guy doing what you need to do.

So here is my list of things that you should not even consider paying someone to do.

Car

• Installing headlights - 2 minutes about $2 per bulb
• Break lights - a little harder, you have to get in the trunk and position yourself to be able to turn the lightbulb. Bring the bulb with you to Autozone.
• Reattaching a Rearview mirror - they sell a special glue for this. If yours ever falls off, gluing it back on takes under 5 minutes.

Home

• Light switches - I replaced all of ours with dimmers. Turn off the electricity (don't ever believe the labels on the panels). Get one of those testers at Home Depot that ensures that the power is actually off. Black=Power IN, White=Power OUT, Green=No power, ground. Note: Do this during the day so you can see what you're doing...because the power is off...
• Changing the locks - Seriously, 4 screws. You can do it. I guarantee it.
• Basic Plumbing - clogged drains etc. Gross and I'll spare you the details. Man up and just do it.
• Garbage disposal clogged? Hot water, baking soda and vinegar. Little red button under the disposal, push it to reset. When it's working, add ice cube and let them fly around in there to clean everything out. Note: any kind of skin does not belong in the disposal (avocado,potato, carrot, chicken, human).
• Dishwasher Installation - Look at a you tube video. Usually just pull the old one out, turn it on its side, disconnect it. To install, buy a Dishwasher Installation kit with flexible tubing (not copper). 2 hours, $20 for materials.
• Sanding, staining and polyurethane-ing - Sand with the grain, use glove to stain, polyurethane when it's the color you like.
• Moving - Invite 20 close friends, they'll have it done in an hour and will actually care for your stuff (depending on your friends)
• Shoveling the driveway - you choose to live in New England? Shovel your own driveway. Not like it's everyday all winter. Plus how much exercise do you actually get in the winter?
• Mow the lawn - enjoy the time outside with just you, your iPod and your lawn mower. This one is easy for me to say as my lawn is like 6'X10'.

Can you think of any others to share? A lot of this stuff might look hard at first but if you know it's easy, you might just try it!

How many ingredients?

I just started reading In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. And it got me thinking. Good food is simple. Jaques Pepin is quoted saying that his favorite dish is, "A good piece of bread with some good butter." How simple is that? Most of the dishes that I like are also very simple. Steak on the grill, Lobster, Roast Chicken. All of these have max 5 ingredients. For example, the steak would be 1. Steak, 2. Pepper, 3. Salt. Even more complex dishes like say Coq au Vin, still have about 10 ingredients.

Before I go on, I think I need to define ingredients. Strange that ingredients needs to be defined, but now that food has turned into "food science" (says Pollan) we need to make sure that when I say "butter" you don't understand "I can't believe it's not butter". The former has max two ingredients (milk, salt), while the latter has liquid soybean oil, canola,hydrogenated soybean, partially hydrogenated soybean oils, water, cream, salt, soy lecithin, vegetable mono- and diglycerides, Potassium sorbate, calcium disodium, citric acid, Natural and artificial flavors, vitamin A, Beta carotene. Let's give "I can't believe" the benefit of the doubt and say that they have a "Natural/artificial flavors" tree in their front yard. This is 16 ingredients in something that calls itself an ingredient. Obviously the former can be called an ingredient, while the other, I say, needs to be called a conglomerate ingredient (Clomgredient?). When cooking, if you want to cook healthy, choose ingredients over Clomgredients.

I think everything you consume should have fewer ingredients than a Twinkie. Let's see how many ingredients a Twinkie has. Looks like around 28. Hmmm...that's too many. Let's try something more "healthy". Ugh. Everything I look up has over twenty ingredients. Ok, let's try to put the cap at 18. I bet you could make the most complicated dishes in the world with 18 ingredients.

What do I want for dinner tonight? Hmmm...Let's say, Dry Vodka martini with olives, Cassoulet, Ile Flotante. No appetizers, I'm not that hungry.

Martini: Vodka, Olives -2 ingredients

Cassoulet : ~11 ingredients (depending on if you consider duck confit/sausage a Clomgredient or not)

Ile Flottante: ~8 ingredients

Ok, so the whole meal has 21 ingredients, 7 fewer than a Twinkie has by itself. You tell me which is health food. When you're at the supermarket, take a look at the ingredients list, and try to choose stuff with fewer ingredients. You will notice that it tastes better, and will be healthier. This is not "health food" that I'm talking about.

You want to eat chips and salsa? Tostitos for example: corn, salt oil. Salsa: Tomatoes, jalapeno, onion,salt, vineagar.

Fried Chicken? Chicken, flour, salt,pepper, oil.

Fish&Chips: Cod, flour, salt, oil, potato.

The more food you eat from ingredients and less from Clomgredients, the less you will eventually have to worry about your health.

What have you eaten

Came across this online here. Was forwarded there by another great website (if you like Vietnamese food...and who doesn't).

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects - I had grasshopper in an empanada, does that count?
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear - had this in a margarita
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini - You know I accidentally ordered a dirty Gin martini instead of a dirty Vodka martini. Vodka is the way to go...dirty.
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. - At Bocuse when I was 12
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake