Broome Time People

Since arriving in the dark and the center of a storm Broome has grown on us over he last two months, well not Broome more so it’s weather. Most days since that night we set up in the rain and wind have been near perfection, no cloud, no wind and over 30c.

The people that we had ran into all the time as we moved north have kept moving and after old mate Gordon left Broome we haven’t seen any of the many people we had got to know south of Broome. The Roebuck Bay Caravan Park is on the shores of Roebuck Bay and our penthouse is situated only a left foot kick from the water, well for me anyway for most of the people I played footy with its two kicks away.

The park is split into three parts due to its beach location, we are in the old but better split by a cliff and the newer part who reside a few meters above a rocky beach, the backpackers getting a rough deal who live in the MCG, the mango camp ground out the back under the harsh sun and a couple of mango trees.

When we arrived not even a third of the 200 or so sites were taken now it’s a full house most nights with the sign out the front going up most days prior to lunch. Ninty percent of our fellow residents are gray nomads who make the 2000-kilometer trip from southern WA each year. One group in front of us have been coming for 15 years and all gather at 4:30 each afternoon for a drink and chat until 6:00pm when they all disappear until 5:00am the next morning when most appear with a little conveyance of some type that the contents would be best dumped on a lemon tree.

Ian and Mrs. Ian in there 80’s were the first of the veterans to arrive around a week after us and we found it funny that Ian mowed the site prior to setting up and once set up started watering the grass each morning. From Mandurah south of Perth Ian (and Mrs. Ian) are a nice couple and love footy, it’s a dam shame they follow the Dockers and then Eagles if the Dockers are not playing, a rare thing in the west the norm is you love one and hate the other.

Over the next few weeks one by one the group arrived and now they are up to 20 strong on some nights as they sit around talking Eagles and Dockers until the clock strikes 6pm when they all turn into pumpkins… some nights they have a feast not unlike what we see at Christmas with a long table and each stands to give a talk about something. We have been brave on a couple of occasions and entered the nomad space to see what the fuss is about but been warned off (with a smile) “you just aren’t old enough” something to look forward to… or not?

We have Bob and Linda from Numurkha in Victoria behind us, Bob’s an ex copper with some stories from underbelly, he’s the same Bob who put a hook through his finger in the fishing with Bob video we posted way back.

The West’s from Wonthaggie arrived on a Saturday morning to stay for a night before heading to Cape Leveque but stayed for a week when the road north was closed after rain. Bevan, Jo, Fraser and Harry were half way into a three month trip up around the country, you can see the Wests in the fishing with Bob video Bevan is the guy who pulling the hook out of Bobs hand. Bevan came along to footy training with me one night and after chatting to one guy for some time realised they knew each other from Victoria, the local had played cricket with Bevan’s father for years. They even knew a guy I went to school with having worked with him on the Wonthaggie decal plant. The West’s were Carlton supporters and named the boys after Carlton players, not sure they admitted to this but it seemed obvious to me.

Eddy and Leah in there 20’s pulled up a day or so after us and became our neighbor’s for 7 weeks, being Queenslanders like us we had much in common, every night we would have a beer when Ed and Leah had some fruit or pasta, in the morning (around 5:00am) when Ed and Leah were over in the park working out we were living it up in the penthouse snoring.

Ed found work as an auto electrician and Leah as a teacher but we became good friends spending plenty of time having a chat or feed together and on a special occasion we even had a beer together.

We see many people arrive on motorbikes loaded up with tents and supplies not unlike Mike on his bike just out here traveling the roads of Australia some cover the distance in a few weeks, some a few years…

Vinnie a Kiwi guy was doing the trip with his father Murray on bikes, I spent the night chatting to them over a few beers and admired the bond and fun they were having as they rode a few hundred kilometers a day with a swag and not much else to keep them going. Murray lives in Esperance shared stories of his early life in NZ and his time now in southern WA, he’s even played a few games of aussie rules a game in his words “gee its tough”.

Another guy out here on his bike is a fellow Bomber and shares a name with his father and journalist Tom Prior, most of you Bombers will recall Tom senior as the chief footy writer with the Sun and the man who wrote Kevin Sheedy’s first book Pockets of Greatness. The Priors hale from Geraldton in the west, the same town as Paddy Rider and a heap of boat people. Tom junior is a cook in the town beach café where Shell is a Chef and I dishpig on occasions.

Our campsite is the highest of many levels as it rises from the beach, next to us on the left we had three 4×4’s pull up and set up 5 swags (on legs) and camped out in the open air, they had driven up the Tanami track to Broome from Shepparton (County Bovalino) in Victoria. We ran into these guys at the Satay Hut (a bar only 60 meters from our park) whilst watching the Bombers Suns game, Gus Underwood a bloke in his 60s or 70’s sat down next us and introduced himself and the treasurer (Mrs. Underwood).

Gus is the local sports writer around Shepp and knows Bova and many of other names we know who hail from the area.  We had a few beers with Gus and the Treasurer who were great friendly country people who would have talked all night.

We have had many tents and small camper vans pull in to the site below ours and a few weeks back we had Max proudly ease the Blue Heeler in pointing to the sign on the front of his mid eighties Toyota van with his head out the window saying “do ya like me blue heeler”. Max pulled up grabbed a seat out of the van and jumped up on our site to sit in the shade and read his paper. The 85 year old told us he was an ex farmer from Wangaratta in Victoria and has been traveling the country for years “I stayed here 5 years ago you know”. We were heading into town and Max asked us to grab him todays paper “my paper is yesterdays” he told us.

We returned an hour or so later to find Max’s head still firmly planted in yesterday’s paper. He continued to chat away before we told where we are from, “do you know Reece Plumbing” Max asked “my grandson works at Reece Plumbing in Noosa” I said, I know your grandson and I dropped in to see him at Port Hedland because he left Noosa last year. Max’s face light up when he realised I knew his Grandson “you know Jezza” I sure do mate “wow you know Jezza A” It made his day to hear my stories of his grandson’s time in Noosa.

Max stayed for around nine days and each of them he was waiting for me to come down from the penthouse in the morning for a chat about his travels or the Sydney Swans before being ready for another quick chat prior to retiring for each afternoon. One thing Max talked about with passion with his favorite sandwich, bacon, egg, onion and cheese with BBQ sauce toasted sandwich so one morning I set him up on a table by the water at the Town Beach Café and served up his favorite sandwich with a cup of tea, he was one happy 85 year old.

I ran into nine guys from Melbourne ranging in age from late 20’s to mid 50’s they were packing up after camping over near the café about to set off on another long day in the saddle, these boys left Melbourne two weeks ago and will be home in two weeks after they spend some time in Perth and ride the Nullabour east to Victoria. They are traveling with a set up a little more elaborate than most out here, the convoy consists of eight motorbikes a van and large trailer with a cage on the back with tents, chairs and few eskys to keep the lads refreshed in the evening.

Whilst eight of the boys are riding with the wind in the hair at a time one of them is bringing up the rear in the van towing the luxury items. The two weeks so far have taken them west to Adelaide where they turned right to ride the Sturt highway north through Alice to Darwin before heading south west to Broome where we had a chat this morning.

Right now the Victorians are arriving and our current neighbors are from, Leongatha, Berwick and Nicholson and in two days our friends are arriving from Darwin driving hire vans back to Perth.

Decked out in a Hendrix t-shirt carrying cheap a $20 CD player from Target has just sat next to me on the beach as the tide recedes half a kilometer with his VB stubby and ACDC bursting the cheap speakers, this nutter is rocking hard to Bon and Angus singing Kicked in the Teeth, his head is rocking that hard whilst playing his air-guitar that I wont be surprised if it falls off soon.

Yep, you meet many types, most great some just plain mad…

Ranger Dan

During our trips into remote locations and National Parks we have come across many Camp Host’s, a camp host is always a couple who keep an eye on the place and collect the $7 a night from the campers as they arrive. Bob at Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth was a ripper, he and his were not about when we arrived and when he returned we were out on the beach fishing. Bob came stomping up the beach looking like Jane Saville with a beard in a race.

This turned out to be an excuse to come and check out the new people, Bob stopped to part with his knowledge on everything from the Boston bomb to the bait we used and they way I lay my fishing rod down in the sand. Bob and his wife would be the camp host for the month of April before moving on another National Park to host again.

We left Bob and Ningaloo for Karijini where we noticed a sign “Camp Hosts Wanted” I mentioned to Shell maybe we should hang around and be a camp host here. When we pulled into Dales Camp Ground next to Dales Gorge we were greeted by camp host Mike and his wife from Emerald. The sign behind Mick was the same sign we had seen at the visitors center but this one had “URGENT” written above it. I asked Mike how do we go about filling the role of camp host?

Mike explained it was 2 days on, 2 days off and we got to use the hut we now stood in whilst on duty, a hut or semi permanent tent came with a kitchen, toilet, shower and a generator for power. Mike said he would get the Ranger to drop in on us and have a chat about it.

We set up camp and had just sat down for lunch before we headed into Dales Gorge when a 4WD pulled up and a Ranger introduced himself as Ranger Dan. From under a hat like that worn by the Bush Tucker Man, Les Hiddins came a warm friendly smile. As it turns out Ranger Dan had just come out of a meeting and they had worked out they wouldn’t need any further camp hosts for now.

Shelly offered Ranger Dan lunch and cold water that he declined says he’d just had his lunch as he crouched down to get comfortable under our shade and settle in for a chat. Ranger Dan had a friendly exterior a day old growth and apart from the great hat work standard green shorts and shirt to suit the bush, a very positive person that talked with great passion.

“Thanks mate but this is not a job – it’s a lifestyle”

Dan grew up on a farm in Yarrawonga on the Murray River 270ks north of Melbourne, he looked to be around 35 years of age and had been a ranger at Karijini National Park for the past 12 months. Dans first job after the farm was as a fitter and turner before he joining the FIFO crowd to work in mining. This life didn’t suit Dan even if the money did.

FIFO Dan pulled the pin and went to uni to become Ranger Dan, he decided the money wasn’t everything and the fact that your like a sheep when your mining, fly in, get shunted around on buses to work for 12 hours before being pushed back onto a bus so you can sleep in a little hot donger to wake up and follow the others back onto that bus. Ranger Dan said the hardest part of leaving mining and going to uni was picking up a computer for the first time in his life, we didn’t use computers up on the farm he said.

Shelly and I both said WOW what a story and what a great job to which he replied, “Thanks mate but this is not a job – it’s a lifestyle”.

I told Ranger Dan the story of Shelly’s choice of work experience back in school when asked to write down 2 jobs in preference. No 1. Park Ranger, No 2. Chef, the school couldn’t find her a rangers position for the 2 weeks work experience so a chef she became and been trying to get out of since.

Ranger Dan lives in the rangers quarters in the park and has all of the things that the campers do not, hot water, power TV reception and internet but I have no doubt Dan would have no problem being Ranger Dan without all of these things. His work is maintaining the park to its clean and wild state, making sure the access to the gorges are safe and that everyone has a great venue to visit all year.

Working 3 weeks on and 1 week off gives Ranger Dan plenty of time to wander around in the wild, “I love finding remote gorges on Google Earth and hiking in for 2 days knowing I may be the only person to have seen this place in the last thousand years or more”. Ranger Dan was very appreciative of us enquiring about being camp hosts and said so 3 or 4 times during our hour chat.

Ranger Dan recently returned to Melbourne to see his Mum who had left the farm to live in the city, he told how much the place had changed in his eyes since last being there we are picturing Ranger Dan flying to Melbourne to see mum before flying back, not Ranger Dan he had never driven the Nullarbor Plain so he headed to Esperance where he picked a friends car who wanted it sent back to Melbourne not a new car either an old ute.

Over the next 3 days Ranger Dan had crossed the country doing near 5000ks in the old ute, well mostly in the ute, crossing the Nullarbor a tyre gave out so a quick change and he was on his way again before the old spare gave out leaving Ranger Dan stranded 30ks short of Ceduna at 4am. Everything I have read in the outback is, if you breakdown stay with your car until someone comes along. Not Ranger Dan, he set off on foot and walked all the way into Ceduna to get help.

I had to ask about some of the sights he must see with so many people and backpackers running around in these gorges on hot day with clear fresh water and water falls. A large grin came across Ranger Dans face, he didn’t answer immediately like normal he took a long breath his smile growing even winder “YEAH we see some sights”

Not going to detail he shared some stories of the sights at Karijini, part of his job is to walk into the gorges daily to make sure things are ok with the tracks and the visitors are behaving. The international backpackers he said they are not afraid of nudity Range Dan explained (again not detailed) of the many sights where he will drop in at Fern Pool or others and the backpacker will jump out of the water and come up to say hello or have him take a picture of them in the nude. Other times he has wandered in and a couple will be taking the opportunity of the remote location to get a little closer to each other.

Ranger Dan shared a story of a fellow male ranger who returned to the rangers station one day swearing to never go into the gorges again, the ranger had gone into do a routine check at one of the gorges to find 2 guys doing a spot of yoga in the nude, Ranger Dan said the ranger took some time to get over the sight.

Ranger Dan left us to finish our lunch of sandwiches that had by now toasted in the heat, but he left us like when we had met Mike we felt great, like we had met someone special.

Before he left we got a picture and I mentioned I would write about him on our blog, Ranger Dan told us he had just written a blog for ABC Open and they had come up and made a short video of him at work, that video is below and you can read his blog by clicking here

The Fisherman and his Gold

We were cooking a Sunday morning feast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and a real coffee thanks to the pod coffee machine donated by Ace & Anni in the BBQ area of the Karratha caravan park when Steve wandered in and started cooking his breakfast.

He was around 60 years of age with a sad look on his bald head, we got talking and it became clear he’d had more wine last night than he should have due his wife Jenny being away for a bit, Steve was feeling and looking a bit dusty.

Steve was from Southern South Australia and a fisherman who chased the sharks but tossed it in to become a gypsy as he put it, “they call us trailer trash” he added as the first sign of a smile broke on his face. He and his wife packed up and hit the road like most grey nomads before picking up work.

In Karratha after 5 months off Steve was due start work again in a couple of days locally driving a water truck to keep the red dust blowing from the road during works before he heads to Onlsow to do the same thing in a month or so. During Steve’s stay down in Onslow his wife Jenny is heading to The Daly River in NT where their friends have just started managing the local pub.

After trading a few stories on each other travels Steve talked gold, he was the owner of a fine ($6500) Minelab 5000 Gold Detector and he unlike us had found what he was looking for mixed up in all that dirt! “Jenny is into it more then me but its addictive” he said.

He had done his prospecting all over the place but had recently found 17 small pieces in Karratha in an area your car would cover but it was his wife who had found the larger nuggets. I asked him how much he had sold it for knowing what the answer would be “we haven’t sold the gold we wont sell gold” none do, well none of the people we have talked to have sold.

We parted company and were going about our business when Steve appeared out of nowhere with some treasure to feed our disappointment of not finding any gold when hunting for it back in Kalgoorlie.

The 17 small pieces were ok but 1 in particular was a small nugget and had soft but shinny edges, it had the weight of something 4 times it’s size. Then he produced a small clear container full with cotton wool but for the 2 pieces of gold 1 shaped similar to a piece of coral.

These pieces disappeared back into his pocked before Jennys gold appeared, these pieces larger and very impressive as they sparkled in the hot sun. Steve said he’d be in real trouble if Jenny knew he’d touched her gold, I guess that will only happen if she see’s this blog…

Or we tell her when we drop in at the Daly River Hotel on our way past in a few weeks.

Mike on a Bike

Something great happened out on the road yesterday. We decided that we were heading to Karijini National Park a place that everyone we had run into said “it’s a must see the most beautiful you will visit in WA maybe Australia.

Shelly is driving we are around125ks into our near 600 kilometer day that we started pretty late compared to other days, in fact we haven’t yet done this distance, it a holiday and not meant to be hard work, our plan has always been to be off the road early afternoon, anyway we come around a bend and down into one of the many flood zones this flood zone (a dip in the road or an dry river bed) was actually a dry creek bed and had a tree or two trees.

Trees are not common in WA but down in this little oasis we noticed a guy sitting down with a mountain bike between him and the road under the only shade for a long way as a car approached from the other direction and with the bike intruding into our space we slowed as the other car pulled to the side as it slowed. We continued on and I couldn’t get this out of my mind, what’s he doing out here by himself? Where has he been? Where is he headed? And the main question kept going around in my mind…

A few kilometers up the road I looked at Shell and said we have to go back “what all the way back” I said yeah I got some questions that I would love to ask him. Lucky for me my driver agreed, we turned back so I could get some answers.

We pulled in just short of the rider under his tree, Shelly stayed back and made lunch, I grabbed my phone to record the conversation and a camera to get a picture. As I approached he put his head up and gave me a smile, I said g’day as I crossed the road explaining we just passed him and had to come back for a chat.

I introduced myself and he told me his name was Mike. I had already hit the record button on my phone so I can record it and post the audio from my roadside meeting with the lone rider, I asked if he minded to which he had no problem.

Mike is from Melbourne and had rolled out of Melbourne mostly on bike tracks, then crossed the Nulabour to Norseman, down to Albany and along the Leeuwin bike track into Perth, I couldn’t help but be inspired by Mike and feel I was doing this the easy way in the comfort of our 4WD, the Rooftop Penthouse and a TV I could whip out when the Bombers are playing.

This lone rider who’s been out on the road for the past 12 months didn’t get up from his seated position with his back against the tree so I placed my phone down in front of him on the box of Vita Wheat biscuits sticking out of his bag to make sure I picked up his soft voice.

He talked about riding the track from Albany to Perth to which I shot off “you would have knocked off 150 to 200ks a day” Mike was quick to point out it’s a mountain bike track not a paved road and he did 50ks a day at best.

A story he shared about the trip from Albany to Perth was a good one, he met a Frenchman on the track, they struck up a friendship and decided to ride as one, where Mike was drinking many liters of water a day the Frenchman had a cask of red wine to sip on as they rode. Mike had a huge grin on his face telling the story, they would pull up by 2pm each day and the French would bring out bring out the wine and all the nibbles for a fine French feast each afternoon.

Before I asked the main question I had for him he told his intention was to get to Darwin before leaving our fine shores and continuing his ride all the way around the world, north of Australia up through Japan and let it lead him around, I wanted to rip my bike of the top of our car and join him, I was inspired by this tired man sitting on a rock between Exmouth and the Pilbra.

I must ask the obvious one Mike? “Oh yeah that’s easy, much of life is a waste, I worked in IT back in Melbourne for the past 30 years and it was a waste of time, so I left” “I come into towns now and notice everyone is moving so fast, talking so fast, I guess I was part of that“

Mike had just returned from Exmouth a town of 1800 people is not what you would call a fast moving town but when you ride from Melbourne to the North West at 50ks a day most things would seem fast, I couldn’t help but agree with him and admire him and his efforts even more.

We talked about the footy back in Melbourne and other things but I couldn’t help but wonder what had delivered him to this spot other than what he had told me, a marriage break down, a lost partner to that thing starting with C we all hate but touches us all in some way over the years? I didn’t ask the gentle but friendly cyclist. He did mention he had met a lady in Norseman that may change his plans, as much as he seemed keen to go back I hope he continues on for the trip of a lifetime around the world.

Mike followed me back to our car where I introduced him to Shelly and gave him a bottle of cold water from our esky, a bottle he was thankful to receive and excited to drink, he had plenty of water attached to his bike but none cold in the 40 degree heat. The bike was well decked out with a basket on the front and water bottles and water bags attached in the middle with a few packs hanging over the rear tyre holding his food, tent and sleeping gear.

After getting a picture with him we said goodbye to Mike who was also headed to Karijini National Park, (we will be long gone by the time he arrives) we headed up the road with another 400ks ahead of us.

The outback doesn’t offer much in the way of radio so we have podcasts going something I can usually listen to and follow well, today I had no hope, I couldn’t get Mike out of my mind. What a ripper, what an effort to be out here by himself with only what he can carry on his bike, I was inspired to the point I couldn’t think of much else for the rest of the day.

Around an hour after the meeting I decided to play the audio back that I had recorded, my phone had heated to the point it had shut down and had that iPhone notice with the yellow triangle about the temperature being to hot! Once it cooled I searched for the audio to realise that due to the heat it hadn’t saved my recording that was running when it shut down! I was so pissed off!

So the above was done from memory, I had hoped to bring you the recording Macca on Sunday morning style of this guy out in the wild who did treat the first part of our conversation as an interview and did all the talking to tell his story. Even though I was pissed off at missing out on the audio but I very much enjoyed talking to him and enjoyed the rest of the day thinking about his journey.