Destination Unknown

I'm now in Darwin having left Cairns after a 6 night stay. Unfortunately I didn't manage to go walking in Cairns- my knee took longer to get better than I initially thought it would. I probably would have been fine but didn't want to risk it. So I spent a couple of days resting then went on a cruise/snorkel/swim on the great barrier reef, and it is indeed pretty damn great. In fact I would probably have called it the Awesome barrier reef, but hey, it wasn't up to me. As soon as you get in the water there are approximately a bazillion fish around you as well as a few small sharks and sea snakes and loads of other colourful stuff. Was a really good day, I could have done a free 5 minute scuba dive but it took about 45 minutes of faffing around just to do it so i just carried on swimming around. Then I had a couple more days of relaxing in Cairns to allow my knee to get back to 100% before going to Darwin.

Darwin hasn't started too promisingly. On arrival at the airport I was told that the cheapest accomodation available was $140!. So I slept last night on a bench at the bus station. Now I need to figure out what to do, whether I go to Kakadu or I kakadon't. I've got 4 nights left after tonight and tomorrow night is the Mindil beach night market. Now I wouldn't usually care for a market but i've been told by several people that it is worth a look. Plus quite a few people I have spoken to have said that Kakadu is over-rated, but also some local guys said that Litchfield national park was really nice. So i'm not rightly sure what to do.

So in the end I decided that there was enough to do in Darwin for a few days. However, I walked around yesterday and saw most of the things I wanted to including a phenominal sunset which filled the whole sky. I took some photos but thet really don't do it justice. So anyway I decided that infact there wasn't enough to keep me busy for 4 days. So I decided (this is a lot of deciding, maybe i need to look up 'decided' on thesaurus.com) to take a gamble hitch this morning- as in I hitch with no particular destination in mind. For the first 3 and a half hours in which i'd made it a measly 30km it was looking like a worse decision than the war on Iraq. But then eventually a guy called Grant gave me a lift not just to Litchfield national park, but also around it a fair amount as well. So I'm now camped at Wangi falls camping ground after a couple of hours swimming/climbing waterfalls/jumping off of rocks at wangi falls.

Litchfield- Day 2
Wow, that was probably the hardest walk of my life. I left the Wangi falls camping ground and thought i'd do the short walk around the top of the waterfalls. At the top I found that there was infact a path that went to Florence Falls and it was only 20km whereas by road it's more like 40km. Although the sign said that the path was closed due to 'flood damage' I decided to go for it anyway. Silly silly Matt. Stupid infact. The 'Path' in the places where there was no flood damage was damn hard to follow. Due to the low useage of the track there is no clear path to follow. The only guidance you have (well of coarse you should have a map, but since I didn't even know the track existed I didn't have one) are marker polls, placed sporadicly, which point you vaguely in the right direction, but sometimes nowhere near it. This means at some points you have to search around, retrace your steps and generally get very annoyed. The flood damage part was even more fun, with bridges washed away and marker polls lying on the ground. It took me an hour and forty minutes towalk what can only have been 1.5km at the most. On top of the non-existant path it was 30 degrees and blazing sunshine all day. I've had 6.5 litres of water today and I still don't need a pee. Along the path there are no markers to tell you distances travelled/remaining so as time went by i was getting more and more worried. It took me 9 hours to walk 20 km and it was such hard work that when I saw the sign for the turnoff to florence falls I actually cried with relief. All that said it was a very beautiful walk but definately not one to be done on your own. Thinking about it and writing this now you can scrap the probably at the beginning- that was definately the single hardest walk I have ever done. I've already planned tomorrow- I'm doing nothing! for once i'm not going to let my adventurous side win, I'll just walk up to the waterfall and swim/relax all day.

Litchfield- Day 3
OK, so i'm not very good at doing nothing. I got up this morning and walked the short walk to the waterfall. I sucessfully did not much for a couple of hours- just a bit of a swim and climbing rocks to jump from. Just as I was getting bored of that some local guys turned up who knew exactly where to climb/jump from, and they seriously upped the ante by climbing to the top of the highest waterfall and jumping in. I decided to go for it myself but when I reached the top I was slightly regretting it. However, when you climb up a waterfall and have people at the bottom getting cameras out to take photos of you jumping you can't just climb back down. I slightly missed the correct landing spot but have only got a cut toe for my troubles. So around midday I decided to try to hitch back to Darwin so that i've got time tomorrow to upload photos and type this up. I've just got back after a seamless 3 car hitch with no more that a 10 minute wait between each lift- thats what hitching is all about.

And that brings me to now, in the internet cafe. The photos are being rather slow but there will at least be some more online. Tomorrow I fly to Bali so it's goodbye to Australia (sob), I'll be sorry to go and will be back again at some point in my life. And at the same time as not wanting to leave I am also looking forward to travelling in a different country. So it's goodbye from me and it's goodbye to Australia. Loads of love to everyone.
xx Matt xx

The best steaks in life are free!

Hey, hey, hey; hey, hey, hey; Ah, ha, ha, hey, yeah!
What a gret birthday. I'm camping in Hervey bay for Aus$5 a night which can't be bad. Its really quiet here but i met a German couple when i arrived from Noosa and they have been great. When we arrived at the hostel/campsite they asked me if i wanted to join them for dinner. Having planned to have beef flavoured noodles i was only too glad to accept. We had a good meal and they sang happy birthday to me at midnight. Today ((the 12th) my birthday) I planned my trip to Fraser island and explored Hervey bay. I was just thinking what a nice day it had been and was about to cook my self the afforementioned beef noodles when Tilo and Tina (the afforementioned German couple) showed me an advert for a pub offering free meals on your birthday, so i had a big fat steak with chips salad and mushroom sauce for free!! which sadly meant the noodles were put on hold again- shame!. Time for bed now- off to Fraser island tomorrow.

Fraser Island
Day 1- Best laid plans...
OK so I didn't really plan this all that well. I got a ferry at 4 O'clock and so by the time i started walking on Fraser island it was nearly dark. I was headed for the nearest campground and the sign said it was a 4 hour walk-Doh! So i got a march on as quick as i could bearing in mind they say not to walk at night- or on your own- it seems Fraser island's Dingoes (a type of wild dog) can be quite ferrocious. Anyway i marched as quick as i could and made it to the campsite in an hour and 25 mins. At said campsite the sign said it was 14.1km from where i had come from- thats some damn quick marching! Time to sleep now- big walk tomorrow.

Day 2- Big walk indeed!
I've walked 32km today which when you consider that i'm carrying all my camping gear, 5 days worth of food and 6 litres of water whilst walking on an island made of sand is a bloody long way. Its well wort the blisters though- Fraser is such an amazing island. I'm no poet so I'm not even going to try and describe it- suffice to say its bloody lovely. Pretty weird as well- one minute you can be walking through rainforest and the next your on a great big sandy beach by the ocean. Fraser Fact- it is the only place in the world where rainforest grows on sand. As well as it being spigging awesome, there are far fewer people than i was expecting. Most people do 4x4 trips so the walking tracks were pretty much just for me! Right, time to plan tomorrows adventure- I'm thinking slightly less walking.
oh. p.s. i had noodles for dinner.

Day 3- Haha, less walking...
Me and my feet are not the best of friends right now. I decided in order to see more i needed to travel light. So i packed up and walked 6km to a camping zone on the Eastern beach, set my tent up again and left my things there (except a bottle of water). This my feet were happy about. However, after that i walked/jogged/ran about 23km up the beach (and obviously back again) so i have done around 52km today!! 52km=unhappy feet. There is a lot to see out here tho- i could do with 10 days not 5 but time prsses on so my feet will just have to put up with it. Fraser Fact - It is the largest sand island in the world. Now for some more beef noodles and definately less walking tomorrow!

Day 4- Hot shower, Hot shower!
My route for today was dictated by my need for water. Therfore i had a fairly cruisey 20km stroll to the main campground on the island. On top of the short walk i had a nice hot shower and feel human again. Its my last day of walking tomorrow so i need to finish relatively close to the ferry. Therefore its got to be an 18km walk or a 34km walk. I vote 34, but my feet say 18. we'll see.

Day 5- Pet food pittas/These feet were made for walking...
And thats just what they'll do. So my feet never were going to win that arguement. However, i did come up with an alternative- it meant walking an extra 8km but also allowed me to to most of the walk without carrying all my stuff. So having stuck plasters all over my feet I set off nice and early in order to make it to tonights campground before dark. I'm glad i did- it was a really good walk, plus my feet held up ok. The walk took me past 6 lakes, and in my opinion the lakes are the island's biggest attraction. The only downside on the day was the food. I'm now onto some long-life pitta breads and they smell like dried pet food. Nevermind, i can have a proper meal tomorrow, as well as a hard earned beer!

Day 6- Wounded Knee
I was camping near lake McKensie last night so i got up to watch sunrise over the lake this morning. Then headed back to get the ferry across to Hervey bay. The blisters are now on the mend but my knee is knackered. I think i may have overdone the walking a bit. I'm sure it will settle down over the next couple of days. Had a nice big BBQ this evening and i'm thoroughly stuffed! But still didn't get that beer! Tomorrow I head north to Cairns (apologies to Airlie beach and the Whitsundays but somewhere had to be dropped). I'm hoping to do some walking in the Cairns highlands, but i think i'll have to play that by ear (or should i say knee). I will at least have time to put this on the web so that people other than me can read it!

And thats where i am now. Well, in cairns i mean not the highlands. My knee is getting better tho i think so i should get a chance to do some walking as long as i keep them short. Yesterday I sat on a coach so not a lot to tell you there- 22 and a half hours of reading and sleeping.
I have been trying to upload photos whilst typing this but the internet place i'm in has set a limit on file upload size so no can do i'm afraid. Fear not, I'll do them soon. Also you may be pleased to know that i will actually be in some of the photos- i looked through what was already online and realised there was a distinct lack of me. Thankyou all who e-mailed/facebooked me a happy birthday. Hope everybody is jolly.

There you go, that blogs a bit of a longer one. Perhaps not a cracker as i promised- i think there is a slight lack of jokes. so....
A drunk guy is walking down the street. He sees this nun, runs up and knocks her over. He says, "You don't feel so tough now, do you, Batman!?"
xx Matt xx

Hitch-hikers paradise!

So after finding it hard to get to Byron I found it even harder to leave. It is such a nice place, as a main stop on the East of Oz you may expect a butt load of crappy souvenir shops interspersed (spg?) with fast food chains. However, that is nowhere near the case, there were a couple of said crappy shops but not a fast food place in sight. It is a really nice town. The weather helped- normal service has resumed- wall to wall sunsine. Eventually i left, headed for surfers paradise. I hitched just a short way out towards the highway at first. Then after 6 or 7 minutes -and i shit you not- 2 cars pulled over simultaneously!!!(spg?). I couldn't believe it, but after checking which car was going the right way, i got a lift to within 5 km of surfers. I then met back up with Andre and we went camping on south stradbroke island for a few days. Sadly the surf didn't pick up much, but it was nice and chilled and we had the beach to ourselves. We then went back down the coast slightly to Mt Warning N.P. We climbed in the afternoon and then camped on the summit overnight to make the most of the sunset and rise. Was a really good night apart from the damn possum that stole my last sausage! And now here i am in Brisbane for 2 nights i think before heading up to go camping on fraser island. I seem to be getting good at writing short blogs- apologies, the next will be a cracker.
p.s more photos online today
p.p.s and even more tomorrow
xx Matt xx