This is my deviation from simplicity. you will find my opinions, writings, quotes, reviews, bulletins and stories all for your delectation posted at random herewithin
Yet again I have let months pass without writing an update for this blog,
It’s partially due to a lack of reliable internet access, and also life has a different pace to it in NQ, but now that I am back in Adelaide I want to catalogue the adventure of living and working in North Queensland.
I arrived in Cairns on the 14th of November and after one night there I travelled to Ingham by bus. There I met Ellie Bowden who owns the property with her husband Shane and two kids Michael and Phoebe. I was instantly made welcome and started to meet the various neighbours in the area. Sam Torissi who lives next door, Kathy and Pete up the hill, Box the local madman and others from Mt Gardnier Road.
I started to work on the two properties Ellie has and I quickly learned how tough it can be to do anything in tropical heat with 35*C temperatures paired with 80%+ humidity. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times with the midday spent in air conditioning or swimming in the creek.
The Donga where I Lived for the duration of my stay
The view from the road looking down to where the donga is
The trusty Ute i used most of the time,
One of the many fires burning all the timber i cut out of the creek
The first snake i met, by accidentally running over it with the ute
The Creek about 15 metres from the Donga, perfect for a morning swim
Most of the work I did in the early days was Cutting and burning wood from a large creek/gully on the property, hours each day cutting with machete and chainsaw, this became much more interesting when I started to move down the creek to steep slopes and soft soil. It's hard to describe the climate to someone who hasn't experienced it but basically the heat and humidity make you feel like you are working in a sauna only its full of flies and you cannot get away from it. After some time I became somewhat accustomed to it but it is still hard to work when you are sweating faster than you can drink fluids!
Along with the ongoing project of clearing out the creek there were other jobs such as brushcutting, lawnmowing, maintaining vehicles, and any other miscellanious jobs that arose.
I must say Ellie was a fantastic boss from the very start, each afternoon we would catch up for a beer and a chat whilst arranging some jobs for the following days. She always kept me supplied with anything required such as Vehicles/tools/supplies/food/smokes/drinks and she also introduced me to all the neighbors on the road who welcomed me graciously and invited me to barbecues, parties and so on throughout my time there.
Ellie and her crew out on the property
Calum and some of the local kids at Moodys swimming hole
Ellie shaving Box's head one evening while I burned some scrub
Part of the rock wall surrounding the creek
Ellie Brittany and Shelley on Australia day
Sam Torissi who lived next door was a great help, always willing to give a hand to fix the chainsaw or borrow some tools and as time went on we would usually have a chat and a smoke most afternoons as he worked on his various panelbeating and restoration projects in his workshop. Sam also used to take me along to bait and check crab pots along the river nearby. Several times we came back with a decent haul of Mudcrabs which are vicious but delicious crabs. Soon I was collecting them myself and cooking them up regularly.
The first big haul of crabs
The river which is frequented by several crocs, who sometimes destroyed the crab pots
Sam breaking out the whiskey on new years eve
Just past Ellies property live Pete and Kathy, as good friends of Ellie and her family and Sam and his family I would quite often meet them in the afternoons along with their daughter hannah. Just like everyone else on the road Pete and Kathy showed me great hospitality. We would quite often spend evenings up at their place having a chat and a drink with the various other neighbours who might call up. As avid skydivers they both had a taste for adrennaline sports and great stories of their past exploits! I always felt welcome at their place and like others on the road they were always accomodating when I needed a hand with anything
Pete and Hannah
Pete on Australia day
Ellie and Kathy at my going away party
At the top of mt Gardnier road live Steve and Sue a wonderful couple who showed me great hospitality, inviting us up for meals of delicious Japanese cuisine and specially for my going away they cooked a meal of Irish cuisine with beef stew, mash, corned brisket, and even a glass of guiness to accompany it! I spent several evenings sitting on their patio talking about life in the area and the diverse wildlife such as the stick insect walking about on the table or the majestic Ulysses butterflys, Rocket the wallaby and more. A visit to their place was always a pleasure due to the good company and unparalelled food!!
The stick insect climbing my beer
Steve and Sue with Sam at my going away do
In my first week I met the anomaly that is Box, only going by that moniker he lived about halfway down the road on a property on the lower steps of the mountain range, His place was an experience in itself, perched on the slope by a fresh rainwater creek, little more than a rain-tarp and some furniture surrounded on all sides by forest. I spent many an afternoon and evening there swimming in the creek, playing some music and having a royal old time as the rain poured and the creek roared past us, Box was a great friend and showed me how Queenslanders really live, cooking full pigs on the spit, driving down the swamp at night to spot crocs and generally living on the edge most of the time. He is also quite well renowned for organising a mean party and I experienced firsthand how much fun a party of people can have in the middle of nowhere with a small generator, sound system and a wood fired stove to cook on. laser lights and plastic skeletons adorning the creek along with great people and the queensland weather keeping us going into the small hours!
Box is also great at giving the weirdest presents! as a welcoming gift he gave me a spider in a jar, which after inspection most people agreed was probably a bird eating spider. so I put it into a glass case and fed it various frogs. However after I accidentally fed it a poisonous frog it died. So I put it on the table and referred to google to identify it correctly, as it turns out it was not a bird eating spider, but a fully mature female FUNNELWEB!! Lethal doesnt begin to describe that species. one bite and you will survive 5 - 20 minutes depending on your health. Needless to say I was glad it died! In his defence Box had no idea it was a funnelweb, considering he picked it up bare handed to put it into the jar in the first place!!
Another novel gift of his was the amazing stubby cooler (a cooling sleeve for beer bottles)
Outside of tropical climates they are not common at all but in extreme heat they keep your beer cold.
However this was a much more advanced model, made by hand from spare foam, it contained a hole for the beer, lighter, torch, bottle opener, pen, and more space for modifications! genius at work folks!
Spidey, who turned out to be a Funnelweb
Box cooking up a storm in Halifax
Having a go on the swing in Box creek
Rained in for the day in box's place
Box Creek in full roar during the first big rain
Other neighbors in the area were also very friendly and I made numerous
appearances at barbecues and evening drinks getting to know the people
and the area. All the while I was working at various projects such as
clearing the creek, building a rock wall, etc and I gained a whole new
respect for working in those conditions. Ellie was very accomodating and
gave me the use of the vehicles when I needed them, be it driving
around the properties on the 450 Quad, pulling timber from the creek
with the Ute, or going to town in the Land Cruiser, Twice even she gave
me days off to drive to cairns and stay in the hostel there. My
favourite vehicle by far was the Quad which I took everywhere due to its
ability to climb even the most extreme rock paths, after some time I
even started customising it to add storage crates and some attachments.
Secondly there was the Ute which is an extremely well worn Land Cruiser
pickup. If you were to imagine the stereotypical outback beat up
cruiser, this was it!!
The Ute which is the only name Aussies use for a pickup
Out in the cane paddocks setting Crab pots
Quad plus trailer, the perfect combo for offroad carriage
Loaded up to do some cutting in the gulley
The Crusier on my way to Townsville
As I became accustomed to the life and routine in the area I started seeing more and more wildlife, and the north Queensland wildlife is both diverse and intimidating. On my first night I could not believe the caucophony of crickets frogs and cicadias emenating from the forest surrounding me. Cane toads litter the ground at night, not to mention the bandicoots and wallabies bounding around in the darkness!!
On one of the first days Ellie took me along to spend a day with her Greencorps crew who are local youngsters who work on a government sponsored work programme. While they did their work in the morning I wandered TYTO wildlife park in Ingham getting amazing photographs of the local birdlife and various reptiles! Back at the Donga I discovered geckos, skinks, green frogs, giant bugs, even bigger spiders, and some insects I still cannot identify! It took a few weeks before I found the opportunity to photograph wallabies, who collect in one of the neighbors garden to feast on bread and scraps.
One of the most breathtaking encounters was one morning while sitting outside having a cigarette and coffee I looked up and was stunned to see a fully grown male cassowary walking towards me,
He walked around and picked at the ground around the fireplace for a good ten minutes before casually walking away and crossing the field beside me,
I took multiple photographs and also managed to capture a few minutes of video before it was gone
I will always remember that encounter due to the intimidating size of the bird which are renowned for their ability to kill prey with their claws, and also I was amazed at the stealth and grace of such a big beast!!
The Cassowary watching me as I photographed him
Cane Toad
A hawk I think, that circled me as I walked through the wildlife reserve. wingspan about 1.5m
Cicada the loudest bug in the forest
A Huntsman spider that frequented the trailer outside my door
Gordon the gecko that lived inside the donga for the 3 months I was there
A green frog just hanging out on the trailer, watching the spiders
Shay, Ellies dog, a great little charachter
Michael, Ellies son holding the turtle he found in the creek
Along with the diverse wildlife the environment itself was completely alien to what I was used to in Ireland.
Plant life in the tropics is quite strange and all around the properties were palms, coconut, banana, mango and leiche trees. The weather was also an experience with scorching heat followed by tropical monsoon rains, sometimes flooding the rivers and roads in a matter of hours. Returning to Adelaide was strange in that respect because although it is summer, 20 degrees feels cold compared to 38 degrees and high humidity.
Torrential rain at box creex, but it doesnt dampen our spirits!!
Water lily in TYTO park
Sunset at lucinda
Now that I am back and settled into Adelaide I do miss Queensland, and I will certainly go back someday. However for now I am going to focus on getting back to work here and gearing up for the Adelaide Fringe festival, I have been contracted for work in La Boheme by the festival for what I am told will be at least 60 shows if not more!! So onwards and upwards, hopefully my next update will be soon enough and I will have lots of photo and video to show of Adelaide life, part 2!
Until then, I will leave you, as usual with a random selection of pictures from the past 3 months and I look forward to hearing from all you folks soon!!
So in a surprisingly fast period my time in asia is coming to an end. i have had a fantastic time and met some wonderful people. i am writing this update from Suzies hostel in chinatown Kuala Lumpur. metres across the road from my first hostel where this whole journey began, its nice to be moving onto the next leg of my journey from a familiar place. almost like i have come full circle in my asian journey My last week was spent in Krabi town on the west coast of thailand, I arrived here just after i left Saumi island and luck was on my side, As our ferry left the island the torrential rains began, and two days later the population of samui had to be evacuated by the Thai Navy!! I have never seen rain so heavy last for so long, flash flooding and rivers bursting their banks all over thailand, 38 emergency zones were declared and we felt extremely lucky in krabi being based on a hilltop!! During my time in krabi i stayed in the Pak-up hostel, certainly one of the nicest places i have stayed in thailand, I got on very well with james the manager and all of the staff there. I rented a bike the next day and drove around krabi and the surrounding area, one of the nicest places i saw was Tiger Cave Temple, it is a massive buddist temple with some very nice scenery and a jungle trek to see some of the caves. However the greatest part of the temple is a 1237 step climb to the top of the mountain where there is a statue of budda and a 360 degree view from 600 metres above sea level!
Krabi town itself is a very nice quiet place with a friendly local population. I stayed here for 6 days as we were basically trapped by the torrential rains, Busses and trains were cancelled in places and leaving the hostel was the same as taking a shower. thankfully the hostel had great facilities ranging from tv, internet, restaraunt, and a great common area at the back.
In the town there was a great food market with a wide variety of thai treats,
After my week in Krabi i got a bus ticket to kuala lumpur, Now upon booking this ticket i assumed i would be taking a direct bus journey from krabi to malaysia. However in thailand nothing works like that, so after 3 pointless stops, and then 5 hours in a cramped minibus with an entertainingly irate driver we were dumped in Hat yai city, I wandered around for a while with Phil and Dom two diving instructors on their way to KL, we were all reasonably sick of travelling this way with cramped bumpy vans and cranky drivers, but all of our complaints were quelled when we saw the "fancy" bus we were going to spend 7 hours on. it was luxury compared to anything we had seen in thailand so far. So equipped with charged mp3 players, junk food, and three reclining seats on the top deck in the very front we cruised to our destination, the only delay being the border checks at the malaysian border, which although boring and time consuming went off without event.
So now i am just relaxing in my hostel writing emails and drinking coffee, taking it easy before my flight at 9am, arrive at the airport at 6am, Until then i will sign off and hopefully i will update again in the next week once i have found my feet in the land of oz.
And i leave you once again with another random selection of photographs
