TravelStream™ news feed for member heatheravan on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/heatheravan en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:57:49 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1227548640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1227548640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1227548640/tpod.html Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:57:49 -0500 Just home from the Mythical Middle East, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, UAE and more. Over 50 countries down and counting.

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Khasab, Musandam Peninsula, Oman

6.00am saw us standing on the corner outside our apartment building waiting for our booked day tour to the Musandam Peninsula in the country of Oman. Another country, another stamp in the passport..... easily done from Dubai as distances are not great and cars travel at amazing speeds down sleek highways. Our driver's name was......yes, you guessed it, Mohammed! We've lost count this trip of how many Mohammed's we've met. Already in the 4 wheel drive vehicle were 2 other travellers doing the tour, a Scottish girl working in the English embassy in Dubai and a French man of Algerian birth. We enjoyed conversation of travels and time flew as we sped North towards the Oman border at a casually average speed of 160kms per hour.After about an hour and half we stopped at a seaside resort and picked up another couple. With already 5 of us in the car this was looking a bit tricky. They were a German couple, he of rather large proportions, and both of them puffed furiously on cigarettes to get a lasting hit of nicotine as the driver did the paperwork. The Scotch & French travellers hopped in what our kids used to call the "back back", the cargo area of the 4 wheel drive with extra seats, the German lady came in the back with us, and by necessity of his size, the German man sat in the front with the driver.  Immediately the doors shut we were overwhelmed by the odour of stale tobacco breath and our happy chatter of before slowed down as the German man in the front seat filled the airspace with lots of questions and conversation with the driver, in his loud halting English.  Luckily we reached the border soon, and escaped the car for the rather unwieldy double exit and entry procedures of leaving UAE and entering Oman. The Germans desperately grabbed their next nicotine hit before it was back into the car to enjoy some dramatic scenery as we travelled mountain hugging roads, with sheer drops to the ocean below, on our way to Khasab the capital of the province. The Musandam Peninsula, situated on the tip of Arabia, and quite close to Iran, is a land of beautiful fjords or khors as they are known in Oman. It is so close to Iran that Khasab port is used to smuggle US cigarettes into Iran in return for goats via small speed boats. We saw some of these boats racing off at full throttle out to the open sea.Our driver dropped us of at the wharf and showed us to our colourful Arabian dhow which was to be our tour boat for a full day cruise around the khors. There were about 16 on board from different countries and our lovely hostess Tuala who was fluent in both German and English gave us a wonderful commentary and with the help of two crew, an exceptional hot lunch of delicious Arabian food. The boat was similar to our Felucca in Egypt where we sat or lay on a padded flat base with loads of cushions for comfort. The trip included 2 snorkel spots but the water was not very clear on the day we went, but we still enjoyed it and had lots of dolphins surrounding our boat at times as we travelled through the khors. We saw fishing villages along the way hugging the shore with high mountains behind, whose only access is by boat for all their needs including drinking water.The cruise came to an end at sunset and Mohammed picked us up to retraced our journey back, with border formalities all over again then thankfully it was goodbye to the chain smoking Germans! It had been a great day of travel and another country ticked off. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077859560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077859560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077859560/tpod.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:28:47 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Cocklebiddy, Australia

Cocklebiddy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1230111540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1230111540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1230111540/tpod.html Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:19:18 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Pemberton, Australia

We then headed back to Manjimup and Jan-Marie accompanied us down to Pemberton. Pemberton is famous for its forestry lookout trees, with the creme de creme being the Gloucester Tree. The Gloucester Tree is a 60 meter high giant Karri tree and is one of 8 with a fire lookout built in its lofty crown. For those who the term fire lookout is a mystery, it simply means someone located in the lookout maintained a vigilance to ensure any outbreaks of fire were reported and acted on early to prevent major disasters. By co-ordinating the readings from the 3 nearest trees it was possible to fairly accurately pin point the location of the outbreak. The Gloucester Trees lookout was built in 1947, and the floor of the lookout is 58 meters from the base of the tree. Access to the top is via spikes driven into the tree in a spiral staircase pattern, the gaps between them a quite large and makes for a challenging climb, especially for the short people. We climbed to over half way and took the pic looking back down, but Jan - Marie was determined to make it to the top, and did.Other than the Gloucester tree, the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree and the Diamond Tree are also open to be climbed by the public.The region also has a popular site called the cascades and the very popular Bibbulmum track passes through the area. The Bibbulmum track stretches from Kalamunda above Perth to the very south at Albany a distance of 963 Km.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1073727300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1073727300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1073727300/tpod.html Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:49:34 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Manjimup, Western Australia, Australia

Well we decided if we were going to travel all over Oz we had better have a practice with the camper, and what better place than the SW?, first stop Manjimup. We visited friends (Jan Marie & Glenn) who live right in town and a other friends (Morrie & Anne) on a property, both couples Avan met in Darwin / Wyndham when he first travelled around Oz.Morrie and Anne run an orchard, which also produces some pretty good wine. The view from their porch is truly as picturesque as you see anywhere. After a lovely catch up we decided it was time to test out our camping ability with the troopy, it had driven beautifully on the run down. We headed out through Nannup to a lovely old abandoned rail siding known as Mambray Pool. It is very isolated and has a dubious reputation as being the location where the love affair between the Federal Polly Jim Cairns and his secretary Junie Morosi, first came to light. The occasion was a hippie love in held at the site (in fact you can still see the mud holes near the bank) and an on the ball reporter spotted the two cavorting nude among the revellers. It is believed that it is still legal to parade naked at this spot, but given that for the two days we were there no one else arrived I guess it matters little if one does or does not.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077618480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077618480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077618480/tpod.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:30:17 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Lake Ballard, Australia

The next day we pushed further north to the vast salt lake, west of Menzies, Lake Ballard. The previous story is very strange but this one is nearly better. In 2003 the internationally known artist Antony Gormley was commissioned as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Perth Arts Festival to produce the statues, then situate them in Lake Ballard. The figures were fine as far as art goes, but the location is somewhat odd as far as attracting art lovers!!. There are 51 statues in total, placed over an area of 10 square kilometers, and produced by taking laser scans of volunteers, from the nearby (55 km away) outback town of Menzies. This is a very isolated and unforgiving location, so if visiting bring plenty of water, sun protection and allow a lot of time if you plan to visit them all. Old shoes would also be useful as the lake surface can be quite mushy.The lake also lays claim to another unusual event. When the lake fills, which has apparently only happened twice this century, shrimp appear in the water. This brings a host of migratory sea birds who nest at the lake, now here is the rub, no one has located another nesting site for these birds!!, so do they only nest every 50 years or so? Nah!!  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1074073440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1074073440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1074073440/tpod.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:46:15 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Walpole, Western Australia, Australia

We dropped Jan Marie back at Manjimup and headed further south to Walpole, home of the amazing Valley of the Giants and the Tree Top Walk. This spot was once used in a series of Adverts promoting Western Australia and featuring Elle 'The Body' MacPherson, not that she was around when we were there!!. The forest is made up principally of veteran tingle trees, up to 16 meters in circumference, which form what is known as 'the Ancient Empire'. Then high up in the tree tops is the spectacular steel truss walkway, 420 meters long, giving a wonderful insight into life up in the tree canopy. While the walkway is up to 40 meters from the forest floor and billed 'as not for the feint hearted', it is actually suitable for most age groups and even wheelchairs have navigated to 'walk'.OK, mission accomplished, we can do this travel stuff, back to Dongara via the city and lets go!!.  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077577260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077577260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1077577260/tpod.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:15:52 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Coolgardie, Western Australia, Australia

Our first stop was the ruins (only 3 chimneys remain) of the Premier Hotel in the ghost town of Kunanalling. Kunanalling had a population of 800 in 1898 and several were recruited from here for WW1. Kunanalling is located about 32 km north of the town of Coolgardie.From here it was a short drive to the resilient Ora Banda Hotel. While Ora Banda has been a virtual ghost town,  the survival of the Hotel has prevented total decline. Gold was discovered in 1893 and the hotel built in 1911 and the town also bragged having the state owned gold battery. The hotel has had a exciting history during its nearly 100 years in existence as a gold mining pub, but nothing to compare to the events of October 2000. Following a dispute in the pub a group of Gypsie Joker biker members set up camp in the bush near the pub. As the bikie gang members sat around their campfire one of them was fatally shot by a sniper. While it is believed the sniper was the Hotels publican (a former Perth detective) no one was charged. Revenge was vowed and over the next weeks the hotel and residence were bombed on several occasions, causing the publican to flee to Perth. Things quietened down until in September 2001 the publican and an acquaintance were returning from Belmont Racetrack when a bomb which had been placed under their car seat exploded killing both.The Ora Banda (Spanish for 'band of gold') Hotel, under new owners, has been fully restored following the bikie bombing and back to its hey day glory. We had a beer or two, then moved on and bush camped to the west of town at the aptly named Mt Carnage.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1226950620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1226950620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2004/1226950620/tpod.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:13:53 -0500 Avan,Heather and the Rooster spend 10 months enjoying Australia

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Boulia, Australia

We had heard about the hot artesian spa included in the swimming pool complex in Bedourie 166 km north of Birdsville and decided as this was on the way we would head there. We arrived about 5'sh only to discover the pool was closed, so drooped into the pub to get the opening times, to be told the pool was actually closed for renovations. Under normal circumstances the keys are available from the Diamantina Shire Council office and use of the 25m pool and 22 person spa is free. The bore feeding the spa was drilled in 1905 and is 400 metres deep.As we were in the pub we decided to have a counter meal and given the main reason for staying was not available, to cover a bit more ground.  After a pretty standard pub meal we pushed on up the track until the eyes dictated it was time to turn in, so we headed up an unused looking farm track, which wound its way around a bit until we came into a lovely grove of trees with a clearing. We hit the sack, only to wake in the morning surprised to discover we were practically back onto the road, but given we were the only traffic it mattered little. We arrived at the next stop Boulia just as the museum was opening and spent some time looking through the displays. The museum is situated in an old stone house which is heritage listed by the National Trust. We debated hanging around to nightfall so we could claim we had an encounter with a Min Min light but decided maybe we were crazy enough. No one has ever proven the existence of an actual Min Min light but like UFOs there are plenty of believers and anecdotal evidence. The first recorded event was after a stockman in 1918 was leaving Hamilton (where the Min Min Hotel had recently burned down) and heading to Boulia, when he noticed mysterious lights tracking him. Since this time there have been other sightings and accusations that the lights can cause people to disappear.  Boulias other main claims to fame are the annual camel races held on the third weekend in July and also in October 1990 a night parrot (long thought to be extinct) was spotted dead on the side of the road by a member of the Australian Museum who just happened to be passing. A true min min coincidence it would seem.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228035840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228035840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228035840/tpod.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:30:55 -0500 Just home from the Mythical Middle East, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, UAE and more. Over 50 countries down and counting.

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Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia

Where can you find a rain forest over 130 million years old that is accessible? Taman Negara in Malaysia is where, and this is to be our final very exciting part of our 2008 travels.To get there involved a journey by bus from KL then travelling in a long boat with our luggage perched precariously on the front and with dire warnings ringing in our ears of getting swamped by the afternoon monsoons. These thankfully didn't eventuate at all for our 2 day stay(even though the day before monsoon rains hit us in KL)  and our plastic emergency raincoats remained unused. Our accommodation was a lovely little wooden chalet at the only resort backing onto the jungle with wildlife able to be seen from our veranda including playful monkeys. Taman Negara is famous for its canopy walk which is  the longest in the world at 550metres and definitely not for the faint hearted as most of it is around 40 metres above the ground. Not only that, it is mostly constructed of ropes tied to trees with a narrow board to walk on and mesh sides below the metal cable you hang onto to stop you falling through. There are around 6 sections and a maximum of 4 people only on each section is allowed with each person to stay 5metres from the next. Believe me you want to stick to these rules and want everyone else to as it gets a huge sway up as you progress along it!  At one place there is a household ladder to climb to link between two sections.An interesting excursion we took was to an aboriginal camp not far away.  We went in an even smaller long boat just with our guide. Malaysian aborigines look a little like Papau New Guineans with tight curly dark hair. Quite a different look to most Malaysians. They still hunt and gather, live in bark huts and we were given a fascinating demonstration of how they make and use blow pipes for hunting prey.  We both had a go at a blowpipe and Avan got on the target with his go.We undertook both a night and day jungle walk with our own guide and found many amazing plants but not many animals were in evidence. After 2 wonderful days it was time to take the boat back, downstream this time, so a little quicker, and then the bus to take us back to KL, where we had time for a last look around in the evening at the lavishly lit up Christmas decorations that had appeared in the 2 days we were away, before heading to the airport the next morning for our flight back to Perth. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228562340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228562340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatheravan/2005/1228562340/tpod.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:29:35 -0500 Just home from the Mythical Middle East, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, UAE and more. Over 50 countries down and counting.

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Coral Bay, Western Australia, Australia

Our Middle East Adventure is over and it is back to work. We hope you have enjoyed reading of our travels!
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