Travel

10 December 2017 My previous impressions of Los Angeles, from a visit almost 25 years ago, weren’t great. This trip to LA hasn’t changed my perceptions. In my last post I mentioned that San Diego was the first larger USA city that I have been to that I could consider living in. I would place LA at the other end of that spectrum. Busy, crowded and lots and lots and lots of concrete.

5 May 2024 Nomad: a member of a people who have no fixed residence but move from place to place usually seasonally and within a well-defined territory. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Just over a month into our trip, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the nomadic existence we’re living. When I lived in Hong Kong in 1994/95, I went through stages of awareness of how I was living. The first stage, “This is a holiday”, lasted around 3 months. Stage 1 was a lot of fun without really comprehending what I was in for.

10 December 2017 We’ve been in the USA for over two weeks now and yet I’m still coming to grips with the fairly extreme (and not always consistent) level of automation in public toilets — also referred to as ‘bathrooms’ by the locals. I know that in Australia we have automated taps in most such places, however here it extends to the soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers as well most of the time. So if you would like a bit more soap or three sheets of paper towel to make sure your hands are clean and dry, that requires holding your hand in exactly the right place, on multiple occasions. Even most of the urinals and toilets flush automatically. Maybe they are actually not automated and I have just been heightening the powers I have in using The Force! Who can really tell.

9 May 2024 Nicole and I arrived at Cooinda Lodge Caravan Park on 6 May and chose our site. We were charged nearly $80 per night for the site, which is by far the most we’ve ever paid. They certainly know how to take your money in the NT! On 7 May we boarded our sunset tour of Yellow Water Billabong. We had heard it would be a highlight, however that didn’t prepare is for what a stunningly beautiful place this is. Absolutely amazing and something everyone should see. And it (mostly) explains the cost to stay here.

12 December 2017 Just in case we weren’t already aware that it was going to be cold in Minneapolis, as the plane came into land at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport we saw everything covered in snow. It was beautiful to look at. Nicole’s High School friend, Sharon Mitchell, had kindly offered to collect us from the airport, which she did. Our first steps outside into -10 degrees Celsius temperatures were a little breathtaking, but not as bad as we had imagined it might be. Sharon had very kindly brought along extra warm apparel for us, and for Katelyn in particular.

9 May 2024 We were fortunate to be in such a beautiful place for Nicole; a beautiful person. After the sunset tour of Yellow Water Billabong on her Birthday Eve, Nicole chose a Barramundi fishing tour on the billabong for the morning of her birthday. With a 6:30am start there were to be no sleep-ins. We were on the water pretty quickly with only two others on the boat plus Gecko (Greg) our captain and guide, and Koda his deck hand. It is strictly catch and release in the National Park, and no live bait allowed, so we were using lures only.

13 December 2017 On Monday afternoon we landed at Washington Dulles International Airport. After leaving the aircraft, we had to catch a shuttle bus from our terminal to the main terminal area. That’s when Katelyn realised she had left her backpack on the shuttle bus — a complete accident and something any of us could easily do. Now, if there is anywhere you DON’T want to leave an unaccompanied bag, Washington Dulles International Airport would be very high on the list.

16 May 2024 Visiting the Bowali Visitor Centre the day before, we were reminded that the Nawurlandja Lookout, with views over Nourlangie Rock, are a definite Kakadu must. This would mean back tracking around 35km to where we had been earlier that day, which isn’t much, so we decided to do it. I carefully researched driving time and sunrise times (with no ChatGPT involvement) to arrive at a departure time from Jabiru of around 5:40am to get there and be ready for the sun rising over Nourlangie Rock. While sunset is the more popular option, we had decided to watch the sunset at Ubirr Lookout instead.

16 December 2017 Apologies for the delay in blogging. Having just spent five and a half days in New York, I only have time to breathe and write this as I sit on Lufthansa flight 401 from New York to Frankfurt. There is just so much to do in New York, I didn’t want to waste a minute. We did quite a bit, so I’m going to do this in two parts — a diptych of sorts.

16 May 2024 Cahill’s Crossing, the key crossing point into East Arnhem land, is famous for multiple crocodiles lounging around catching barramundi as the famous local fish spill over the road in the current. We chose to visit just before high tide as had been recommended, even though this would mean trying to fill in three hours or so before heading to Ubirr for sunset. So, how many crocodiles did we see across two hours and three separate visits? Zero.

20 December 2017 Big. Small. Crowded. Noisy. Cold. Car horns. Sirens. Shopping. Vibrant. Complex. These are just some of the words that come to mind thinking about New York. It’s like no other place I’ve been to and has so much to offer. At one point I thought that one way to describe it could be like Las Vegas, but with soul and character. Brooklyn Bridge & DUMBO On Sunday Nicole and Katelyn felt like a long sleep in and rest, but I didn’t, so I headed off to explore. A key thing on my list was photographing the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side. For me, the only way to experience New York is to walk, as it rewards you with all sorts of surprises along the way. I chatted to some nice people from Chicago over breakfast, came across some more dog parks, and discovered an ice skating rink and a few Christmas markets.

17 May 2024 Since leaving Toowoomba at the end of the Easter Long Weekend, we’ve been through a few large towns and many quite small ones. And, as has been mentioned in various posts (e.g. regarding shopping non-times in Windorah), you are quite limited as to what you can buy and when you can buy it. So, there were some mixed feelings driving into Darwin. There was a sense of confusion and weirdness about driving in traffic again, with multi-laned intersections etc.

22 December 2017 My German update will be coming very soon, however in the meantime I wanted to share with you an odd thing for those visiting Germany. On our car drive from Frankfurt to Rothenburg (via Heidelberg) we stopped at a roadside services thing off the highway, primarily to allow me the opportunity to relieve myself. So I stepped into the toiletten and was greeted by a late middle-aged, balding man, wearing a white lab coat, and sitting on a stool in front of a small table. Most importantly, he was positioned strategically between the entrance to the herren (male) and damen (female) toilets, focussing a great deal on a small white saucer which had a one Euro coin sitting in the middle of it. He smiled broadly at me and said “Hallo”. So, I reached into my pocket where I thankfully found a Euro coin and placed it on the dish. Big smile. Danke schön.

17 May 2024 I’ve received some feedback (and agree) that it would be better if the Photos section of the blog was sorted from newest photo to oldest, to make it easier to see new photos (i.e. without scrolling to the end of a lengthening list). So, this is now done. Can you also please let me know if you are still having issues with seeing photos in blog posts. However, please remember that you will not be able to see photos in the email notifications you receive for new posts. You will need to click on the Read on blog button at the top of the email to view the blog post via your browser.

23 December 2017 For our flight from New York to Frankfurt, we had the very pleasant surprise of being upgraded to Premium Economy. Thank you Lufthansa — very nice! That made everything much more comfortable and allowed me to at least get a few hours sleep. Unfortunately Nicole and Katelyn weren’t able to sleep though. We arrived at our hotel at around 7:00am, but amazingly were able to check in to our room at that time. Thank you Citadines Frankfurt! We decided to sleep until around 11:00 before setting off to explore.

26 May 2024 Nicole and I thought long and hard about this adventure option, and decided to lock it in. We got the idea from a couple we met in Winton (and then again in Mary Kathleen) whose son flies for them. They had said their son would be able to get us a discount however, unfortunately, that didn’t eventuate. Oh well, we tried. Essentially, it’s a half day fishing charter — substituting a helicopter for the boat. Very cool and lots of fun!

1 January 2018 On 23 December we flew into London Heathrow Airport. Customs took a while. In Germany we were able to use an automated gate if we had a new Australian passport, however when we got to London this wasn’t an option. Perhaps it is time for Australia to become a Republic, as I wasn’t exactly feeling the British love. For our rental car they gave us a Mitsubishi Triton dual cab ute with a lockable canopy. While it had PLENTY of room for our luggage, it soon became apparent that it would be very impractical. First, it was too long and too wide to fit into the typical UK micro car parking spot. Second, it was harder to get down narrow lanes and roads with cars parked either side. Third, you couldn’t see a thing out of the back. We felt like Gulliver driving his car around at the local Lilliputian village.

26 May 2024 Very early in the morning after Heli Fish (around 1:00am!), our daughter Katelyn arrived to spend a week with us. We had been so looking forward to seeing her, and so it was great to finally have her here in Darwin with us. In the caravan park we’re staying at, we were able to get a studio cabin and adjoining powered site so that we were literally back-to-back. This made it very easy to stay in touch during the week, while still giving Katelyn some space.

4 January 2018 London. What a place. It’s hard to describe London, as it is so energetic, historic, complex and, in many ways, endless. So I delved into Google and found the following quotes which align with my thinking. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. — Samuel Johnson London has the trick of making its past, its long indelible past, always a part of its present. And for that reason it will always have meaning for the future, because of all it can teach about disaster, survival, and redemption. It is all there in the streets. It is all there in the books. — Anna Quindlen

27 May 2024 It’s been a long time between sausage rolls. Too long. With strong support and encouragement from Nicole, I got back on the sausage roll horse in Darwin. Nicole did some proactive research for me (while she might be trying to hinder me in the Friday Weigh Ins, I think her intentions are altruistic) and found that the Outback Bakery in Fannie Bay was noted for their sausage rolls. So, off we went.

3 June 2024 We decided to fit in a trip to visit the “jumping crocodiles” between leaving Darwin and heading back into Litchfield National Park. We had heard a lot of people say how good it was, so why not. We weren’t able to book on to the right time for the original jumping crocodile tour, so we booked instead on the Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise — operating only about 800m further up the Adelaide River. One operator operates downstream, and one upstream (I think).

3 June 2024 Doesn’t life throw up interesting surprises. After experiencing somewhat of a sausage roll drought, over the last week it’s been a “sausage roll tsunami” (some nice alliteration there). Three sausage rolls in a week! Humpty Doo First, there was Humpty Doo. We had stopped initially for a coffee, but then Nicole’s eagle-eyes spotted sausage rolls in the cabinet. “Could I have a sausage roll as well please?”, Nicole asked. “Sorry love, they’ll be at least another fifteen minutes away” came the reply. We needed to press on, so we went with Option B — an Italian herb and [something] sausage roll.

8 June 2024 The El Questro Wilderness Park is around a one-hour drive from Kununurra. According to their website … Located in the East Kimberley, El Questro is 700,000 acres of vast and stunningly beautiful terrain. This diverse landscape extends 80 kilometres north to south and 60 kilometres east to west and is mostly unexplored. Having been there now, I certainly agree. The drive in takes you along the base of a section of the Cockburn Range, which is absolutely magical to see in the early morning sun.

11 June 2024 Having spoken to the Kununurra Information Centre, discussing with multiple fellow travellers, and much online research, Nicole and I decided that driving into the Bungle Bungles (also known as Purnululu National Park) was a bit out of our comfort zone. All reports were that it was a very rough drive in, and not for the feint hearted. A shame, but there you go. So, we decided to book a flight over it — and so glad we did. We were treated to a magic day weather-wise, with zero clouds and lovely crisp weather. We also had an early take off of around 6:15am (getting picked up at 5:15am!), meaning we would have lovely light for the flight. Unfortunately, as we were taxiing to take off, I received a tap on the shoulder from behind (I was in the row right behind the pilot).

12 June 2024 After a short stay in Derby, Nicole and I packed up for our drive to Cape Leveque. This included Steve first watching a replay of the Canadian F1 GP and us cooking our ‘go to’ breakfast — bacon, fried egg and spinach on a wrap. Breakfast of nomads! So, we were fed. And then, we remembered Rusty’s Bakery that had been shut all weekend but was now open. I’m pretty sure you know where this is heading (if the title somehow didn’t already give it away).

13 June 2024 After briefly visiting the Ardyaloon Indigenous Community and Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm at the tip of Cape Leveque, we drove one third of the way back down the Cape to our resting point for the next two nights — Banana Well Getaway. It was pitched as a very serene, peaceful place to stay, relax, and be close to nature. On arrival, while talking to one of the managers, we were confronted by a stinking cloud of smoke engulfing everything and everyone. When we asked what this was all about, we were told, “Oh that’s our mosquito control measures. It’s our own special mix of diesel and citronella.”

14 June 2024 On Wednesday, 12 June, Nicole and I reached the Indian Ocean at Broome. This is somewhat of a milestone, as well as a chance to reflect (and rest). Our first glimpse of the Indian Ocean at Cable Beach. Some trip statistics so far: 76 — days on the road since leaving home 9,394 — kilometres driven 123.6 — average km driven per day 66 — nights powered site camping (too high) 84 — dollars per night as most expensive place to stay (Yellow Water Campground) 9 — nights in Darwin as longest single stay 2.60 — highest price ($/litre) paid for diesel (Barkly Homestead) 23 — number of times emptying toilet cassette (approximate) 0 — number of tyre punctures (touch wood) 4 — bird strikes in the motorhome [too many to count] — number of road trains we’ve seen coming the other way. On arriving at Banana Well Getaway (Cape Leveque) we had driven 1,728 km in 4 days, so needed a break. We’ll now be staying in Broome for 12 nights to recuperate, recharge and relax; a “holiday from our holiday” so to speak.

18 June 2024 While in Broome, Nicole and I booked on to an offshore fishing charter. While Nicole was very keen to catch another Barramundi, we agreed to change things up a bit and get offshore. We booked with Absolute Ocean Charters and weren’t disappointed. We heard from a fellow waiting outside to be picked up that he had done one of their charters a few years back, and that it was the best he’d ever been on.

25 June 2024 One of the very relaxing 13 afternoons we spent in Broome, Nicole and I walked down to Cable Beach to check out the famous camel rides. Neither of us were that interested in having a ride and, even if we were, they were booked out for weeks and weeks (apparently). Arriving at the beach half an hour before sunset we found a literal “Cable Beach Car Park”, with 4WDs lined up on the beach as far as we could see — ready for the show.

25 June 2024 Nicole and I had booked ourselves on a fly, boat and drive tour of the Horizontal Falls and Dampier Peninsula. All these tours are super popular, this being the main reason we stayed so long in Broome i.e. to mark time until the first tour we could get ourselves on to (22 June). The tour started with being picked up at the caravan park at 5:15am (yawn!) and getting dropped back at 5:45pm — a very long day.

25 June 2024 While in Broome, Nicole and I walked the 1.5km to the General Store. We’d been there the previous week to buy a lemon (to have with the fish we caught on our fishing charter) and noticed they had homemade sausage rolls. Mental note made. I had thought we were walking just to the cafe at the caravan park we were staying at that also had homemade sausage rolls, and so stayed in thongs with no hat and no sunnies. I thought it was strange Nicole was taking both, then realised too late.

4 July 2024 We set off from Port Headland very early, aided each by a Sausage and Egg McMuffin Meal with a Large Cappuccino from McDonalds for breakfast — a ‘go to’ option when we want a hassle free (read lazy) departure. It was raining lightly as we were leaving, and only got heavier on our drive to Tom Price along the Great Northern Highway. This is the main road transport route into some of the biggest iron ore mines in the Pilbara.

10 July 2024 While the blog posts may have slowed up a bit of late (busy sightseeing, driving and relaxing), the sausage roll consumption certainly hasn’t. While there was a food poisoning scare with the last sausage roll sampling as you may remember, I can assure you I’ve been back on the horse since — especially with Nicole’s continued enthusiastic support. And no, I haven’t gone above my trip starting weight (yet).

19 July 2024 Nicole and I had been looking forward to Exmouth, home of the Whale Shark, Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range National Park. Our first impression upon arrival? This place is BUSY! It was the second week of the WA School Holidays, with the town teeming with families with schoolkids, backpackers, grey nomads, and not-so-grey nomads (like us). I think I counted 0.36 gazillion 4WDs. The caravan park we stayed at (Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort) was nice enough and quite central, if not a bit crowded.

23 July 2024 From our cozy site — with ocean glimpses (see image below) — in Denham, we set out quite early one morning to go to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. We got there for sunrise, which was definitely worth getting up early in the cold for, as you can see. With sunrise at Monkey Mia “ticked”, we went to the relatively posh Monkey Mia Resort for breakfast. Breakfast started at 7:00am, which gave us time to eat and get ourselves in position for the first dolphin “experience” at 7:45am. If only they gave out a free coffee voucher for every time the rangers said the word “experience” during their talk to the crowd, I wouldn’t have had to buy another one until we got to Perth. See, you don’t just watch the dolphins getting fed (nobody from the public gets to feed them anymore), you get to experience them. And, the big rectangular area between the rope and the water that we had to stay behind until the dolphins arrived, is known as the DEA — no, not the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Dolphin Experience Area.

23 July 2024 As Nicole and I headed south from Denham towards Kalbarri, we could feel that we were starting to re-enter civilisation once again. We’ve spent a long time in fairly remote areas where it’s been around a 3-4 hour drive between stops, with very little in between except magnificent landscapes, rest stops and, often but not always, a Roadhouse. So, as we neared Kalbarri and saw some paddocks with actual grass, we realised we were moving from the remote to the rural.

24 July 2024 Outside of our Kalbarri Mega Sightseeing Day we really did take it easy. This consisted of some nice walks to the two local bakeries (sausage roll scores to come), and a hot chips lunch at the Tavern. I got to watch an extremely close and exciting match between the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans, and the Lions won!! This is too close. The Lions win!!

26 July 2024 The Pilbara covers 507,896 square kilometres, running north from the Tropic of Capricorn to Port Headland, and west all the way to the NT border. We spent around 12 days in the Pilbara, which has left a quite deep impression on me. It is certainly big, with a lot of distance between things — and pretty crap coffee — but it is truly beautiful. We watched the movie Red Dog just before arriving in Karratha, as well as listening to the ABC Conversations podcast My father, Karratha, and me (definitely worth a listen). Both stories unveil the Pilbara as a place people escape to, for whatever reason, then fall in love with it. While I definitely don’t want to live in the Pilbara, I am sad to see that it and its beautiful landscapes have disappeared from our rear vision mirror.

27 July 2024 We have three new entries in SRS today; two from Kalbarri (we exhausted all options to be thorough) and one from Dongara / Port Denison. We also have a new look Scorecard, to make things a bit easier to read and maintain, plus noting the bakery — in case any of you want to try them out in the future. Kalbarri As you’ve read in previous posts, we had a very nice six-day stay in Kalbarri. During this stay we tried out the two bakeries to assess their respective sausage roll games. Fortuitously, they were both within easy walking distance of the Kalbarri Tudor Holiday Village where we were staying.

31 July 2024 We departed our site in Kalbarri very early, to visit Jakes Point to collect shells (Nicole) and take photos (Steve). It was worth it on both accounts, with Nicole being particularly relieved that shell collecting was indeed allowed on that beach. ‘Allowed‘ you might ask? Well, here in WA, they have fairly strict controls on collecting shells on many beaches, meaning Nicole has had to remain on top of these controls. And, as you can see below, Nicole took full advantage.

1 August 2024 We had originally planned to head west towards Mount Magnet to do a loop around some of the Murchison region covering WA’s mid-west. However, after spending so long in the remote areas of WA we decided to stick a little closer to the coast and instead drive part of the Wildflower Way. Unfortunately, we were about a month too early for the wildflower season proper, however we did get to see some nice wildflowers along the way.

2 August 2024 After our pleasant stay in Perenjori, we awoke to a foggy morning. Seeing as we hadn’t had great success wildflower hunting the day before, and that the weather wasn’t looking that promising, we decided to curtail our Wildflower Way journey to head back to the coast. This more direct route to the coast took us through: Three Springs — Not much to see here apart from a grain silo and some street art, plus we received the warning from a local about soft ground (as mentioned in the previous ‘STUCK’ post). Carnamah — Once again, not much to see except for an old homestead just outside town. Eneabba — Even less to see, but sausage rolls were being served at the Roadhouse (see below).

14 August 2024 While in Kalbarri I made contact with Blue Tongue Photography Tours regarding a photo tour in Kalbarri. While that didn’t work out (they were in a remote location at the time and didn’t reply to my email until too late), I was able to arrange to join them on a star photography + sunrise photography session at the Pinnacles Desert — part of Nambung National Park and just outside Cervantes (around 2 hours drive north of Perth).

14 August 2024 Nicole and I have been in Perth for getting close to two weeks now. I know, that’s a big shock to you all, but we’ve been reasonably busy, and lazy on my part. We arrived at the Karrinyup Waters Resort (caravan park) early afternoon to check in for our 7 night booking. The staff were very nice, however we got a puzzled look after a bit; not a good sign. The lady checking us in then said, “Were you meant to be checking in tomorrow?”

20 August 2024 I’m trying to catch up on my blog posts, and am very conscious that Sausage Roll Scorecard hasn’t been updated for a while. That’s not to say I haven’t been smashing them — there’s five to get through here, taking us from north of Perth into Perth itself. Silver Coast Bakery (Lancelin) After visiting the Lancelin Sand Dunes, we were heading straight into Perth. To sustain ourselves for the journey, we visited one of the two bakeries in Lancelin — the Silver Coast Bakery. Nicole was urging me to sample both bakery’s sausage rolls in a back-to-back Lancelin shootout, but I just couldn’t do it. Besides, as you’ll see below, the first one was so good I didn’t want to risk messing it up with a second (potentially) bad one.

21 August 2024 Everyone you talk to in Perth says you must go to Rottnest Island. When Katelyn visits us in a month’s time, she will have seen it with her friend, so Nicole and I set off to do it on our own. We booked a package with transport to and from the island with Rottnest Fast Ferries, with an add-on 4 hour guided tour of the island. We had the option to catch the 7:30am ferry, or the 10:00am ferry, both of which would get us there in time for our 11:30am tour.

24 August 2024 We spent two weeks in total in Perth and thoroughly enjoyed our time. We’ll also be back from 17-22 September when Katelyn visits us there. Here are some random and somewhat disjointed additional updates and insights. Cold and wet Apart from the day we went to see a game at Optus Stadium, the Perth weather was pretty bad. Always cold, usually windy, and almost always raining or about to rain. We gave up trying to use the weather app on our phones to find out when it would be raining, as it was pretty unreliable.

25 August 2024 Nicole and I have now started exploring the Southwest of WA, south of Perth. We’ve heard extremely good things about the region and are very much looking forward to seeing it. And, if the first week or so is anything to go by, the region has definitely brought its A-game for sausage rolls! Seagulls Bakery (Rockingham) On a day trip south of Mandurah, we visited Seagulls Bakery in Rockingham. Nicole had undertaken some excellent research and plugged the address into Apple Maps. Nicole’s research was well rewarded with an excellent sausage roll offering!

31 August 2024 Nicole and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary on 23 August. We’d planned to spend it in the lovely town of Margaret River, in a nice place we’d booked to have a break from the motorhome. We’d also booked a winery / brewery / distillery / chocolate shop tour of the Margaret River for 24 August. It was a great plan. Unfortunately, Nicole had started feeling sick in Perth, then worse in Mandurah, and then still not recovering by Margaret River. Then, I started feeling really crappy the day before we arrived in Margaret River, and it only got worse from there. My cold/flu was bad enough that we had to postpone the winery etc tour until 26 August, meaning we had to extend our stay in the nice accommodation in Margaret River by a day to cover that.

10 September 2024 After a nice stay in Denmark (apart from me still being crook, plus the cold, windy, rainy weather) we backtracked a little to do the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk + Ancient Empire Walk. While I’d done treetop walks before, this one was extremely well done — and very high. Nicole at first wasn’t going to do it (due to her fear of heights), but after being kindly allowed a brief “preview” by the ticket seller before deciding, Nicole decided to do it! Afterwards we both agreed it was well worth the drive and cost of admission.