Day 52 - Into the Wild

            Day 52

            The first rains of the winter dry season fell here about two days ago. The first rains in over a month. It only lasted about 20 minutes, and was soaked up in a flash. It’s been damp and consistently cool the last three days though.

            As the first stages of the cattle muster have come to a finish, tomorrow I plan to head out to put all I have learned about this area to the test. We won’t begin any more work for several days, allowing me plenty of time to wander and explore different survival techniques for the region and feast on whatever the land is willing to offer after the light rains. It is surprising how much life can spring from such little rain. 

            There are many resources around the area, lots of potential food – if you can find it and have time to properly prepare it. Like in many other areas of Australia, much of the potential food requires extensive preparation before it is safe to eat. Many plants and fruits harbour toxins which must be leeched out prior to consumption. As well, many plant species have close relatives which often occupy the same areas, or similar ones. You can never look too closely. The last thing I need is to be the inspiration of Into The Wild Part II, with a similar ending...

            I’ll take a few basic supplies with me; my survival kit (containing a first aid kit, compass, JetScream whistle, Strike Force Flint; thermal blanket and signal mirror) and Remington Excursion knife, given to me by Ranger Tactical; snare wire; water bottle; and of course camera.

            I have been experimenting here and there with alternative solutions to creating cordage to use in the field. Because it is so dry most materials are very brittle, making most dense grasses useless when put under any stress. With the Warrago River near by though, there is an abundance of reeds in areas, which have proven to hold up much better than any of the grasses or vines found in the open fields.

            Being able to produce some sort of cordage in the field from raw materials is a huge asset. It can mean the difference between having your shelter remain standing in a wind storm and... well, not. As well it can come in handy for many other things. In the rainforest areas you can easily find different varieties of vines which will act as great cordage, some even capable of supporting heavy loads. As I mentioned before, many of the materials I have discovered here so far will NOT support much of a load at all. But let’s see what the fresh rains will have produced.

            A few things I’ll have to keep in mind when I set out (so should anyone considering the same). Even though it is winter, and most reptiles in this area are hibernating, it is still very possible to come across snakes in this area – the King Brown and death Adder being two of the most common, and two of the most deadly in Australia. 

The easiest way to avoid an encounter with a snake... Stay home. But since that’s not going to happen, be wary of walking in tall grass, especially around logs and fallen brush. Always keep your eyes sharp and be scanning the area in front of you and around. While most snakes will usually retreat when they feel vibrations of your approaching footsteps, not all will. The death adder for instance has been known to lie in the middle of bush tracks partially buried in the sand or leaves and will normally only strike when stepped on or grabbed. It is possible to stand right beside it and never know, as their behaviour is sluggish and quiet.

On that note, it’s time to hit the bush and see what else is out there and if I have learned enough about the environment here to survive it or not!

Day 45

Day 45

It’s hard to believe it’s been 45 days already. I’m slipping into week seven. It’s even harder to believe it’s already been 12 days since I have left Brisbane.

I’m in the middle of the Queensland outback, this is the Australia I came looking for. Kangaroos are everywhere – the largest group I have seen being about 20 roos. We see them every day. They race the bikes from a distance, and watch carefully at your every move. I have also seen emus, wild pigs, camels, plain turkeys (which stand almost the size of an emu), blue-tonged lizard and many different birds

.  

At the moment I am stationed about 800Km west of Brisbane, just north of Augathella, Qld, long the Warrago River. I am on Lochinvar Cattle station trying my hand the cattle life. It’s been quite an experience thus far. We began mustering cattle on motorbikes and 4-wheelers last week (most people don’t use horses for this anymore like we see in the movies, such as Australia, though the concept is the same). That’s right, become a bit of a modern cowboy I have for the moment! 

            Mornings come earlier than I thought ever possible, but 4am and I have began to get along.       I’ve been placed riding tail while we push and muster – I am the last rider in the group of six that hold the ‘mob’ together on the way to the stock yards. It’s my job to keep the cattle moving at a steady pace.

            After the muster the cattle are ‘drafted’ in the yards and separated into different herds based on age, type and ownership. This is done, here, in a somewhat still old-fashioned manner, by pushing the cattle one at a time into a small circular cage with many gates leading into different pens. Someone stands inside the cage as the cattle come through and guides them through the correct gate. I have also been given the job in the cage. It certainly keeps one on one’s toes! Some of these cattle are less than thrilled to be in the cage with you -as was the case with one particularly moody bull. 

            When this bull started getting too rowdy for comfort I made an attempt to jump up the gate and get out of the cage. Well, this bull decided he would help. Long story short; his head plus my leg, plus an eight foot steel fence equals... “Ouch!” But luckily I walked away with only a few bruises, scrapes and a bit of a sprained ankle, but the show must go on!

            Being out on the station puts me right in the middle of what is classed as “Downs Country”. Arid grasslands fill miles of rolling hills with small scatterings of trees here and there. This is a great location for studying the terrain and gaining heaps of info and insight on the land and bush survival.

            The station ringer, Davie, whom I work with most days, is your original outback bush man. He knows every inch of land here; what animals to find where, edible and nutritious plants, water sources, and how to use the land not only to survive, but to live. I’d say all-round, a good guy to have as a boss out here. 

            On a rather exciting and tasty note, I have been feeding very happily off fresh, wild kangaroo meet which I did in fact harvest (legally might I add) a few days ago. I am not sure what to compare it too, but they sure do have a lot of meat on them!

            My gear has been getting a good work here. My Mountain Hardware Fluid 26 pack has been a huge help on the long days out in the fields far from camp. It holds all the gear I need for the full days out and about, and packs in tight thanks to the side and front compression straps for light short hauls. This leaves me with a streamline, versatile pack with no worries of load shifting while racing herds of running cattle on the bikes. This can be quite an issue with some packs with the use of a camelback water bladder. But this pack is definitely pulling its weight for me here. 

            I have definitely strayed slightly from my original itinerary, but I am enjoying the spontaneity and adventure that has come about so far. I am trying to not plan to far ahead for the time being. I have covered a lot of ground so far, but have a lot to go. 

            On a final note, it has been very VERY cold here. Many people are claiming it to be one of the coldest winters on record. We even had ice forming this morning on water pails. Even inland where the winter nights are known to be quite cool it has been unusually cold, as low as about -5 here some mornings. Thanks Matt and Dana for the heads up!

            Happy Birthday Sarah!

Day 32 - A few photo's from my trek up the coast.

 

Dinning on local cuisine. Wild New Zealand spinach I found along the shoreline north of Byron Bay. Yummy!

 

Camp. Tucked away offshore in the trees.

 

Me by the fire. Camped out on the beach near Pottsville, NSW. It was a very cold night.

 Found this little critter scurrying up a bank of rocks along the Brisbane River. I believe this to be a species of Australian Eastern Water Dragon. Could make for a nice light lunch!

Day 30 - Brisbane

            Day 30
 

            It was long haul from Byron Bay to Brisbane. Over the course of about five days I traveled approximately 165Km. Four out of five nights spent camped out along the beach. 

            I left Byron mid afternoon on the first day, making my way north along the beach – Destination Tweed Heads. The first day I took my time, making it just south of Brunswick Heads where I stopped, sure that I could find a spot to make my camp for the night. It’s a good thing I did too!

            That night I feasted on a gourmet of boiled New Zealand Spinach I had picked earlier that day. It was, to my surprise, much better tasting than I had expected! 

            I had waited till almost dark to set up camp and till well after to get my fire lit so I wouldn’t attract too much attention. About 20’ in the bush off the beach I found a small clearing under some low growing trees and set up there. Using the last remaining light I pitched my tent in record time! I then scurried about to finish collecting enough firewood for the evening. I only needed enough to boil a small pot of water to cook the spinach. 

            Being winter, dark comes early. June 21 being the shortest day of the year was almost here, and it showed, 6:00PM and it was dark!

            Turns out I had collected just enough wood for to finish cooking the spinach after building a decent bed of coals. Then it was off to bed.

            The next day I awoke early and was quick to tear down and get on the move again. It was  good two hours in the sun heading up the beach to Brunswick Heads, the soft sand not letting me move quite as quick as I had hoped. But never-the-less I made it into and past town and found my way back to the shoreline by noon. Once again it was off along the coast, an endless expanse of ocean to my right, temperate rainforests to my left - my own little sub-tropical paradise. 

            I was several more days heading up the coast, feeding on mainly Pigface, Spinach and on about day three, to my delight I stumbled upon a Mandarin Orange tree. Heaven! 

            The roughly 65Km route I had planned was definitely a great test of both myself and my pack. But before I could make it into Tweed Heads I had to detour back onto the road side for a while, and was almost instantly offered a ride north. Since I had no real itinerary I accepted the ride and found myself being dropped off just south of Miami, near Burleigh Heads. Reassuring me there were many, many backpacker hostels all around, I was left to wander town. I found out very quickly there were, in fact, NO such things within 15-20Km. SO I walked to the north end of Miami and bunked in a the first and cheapest little motel I could.

            I found myself in a similar situation that I would have had I tried to walk out of Sydney. One town becomes the next. No chance of pitching a tent and no chance of hitch-hiking. So after a hot shower and a chance to rest my body I set out first thing the net morning for Brisbane. I walked for eight hours, trudging from Miami almost right to Pimpama, 40Kms. Finally I was offered a ride right into Brisbane where I am now.

            Thanks to strained tendons in my ankle I am laying low for another few days while I plan the next stage of the trek. An opportunity has risen to travel about 800Km west in a remote cattle station near Augathella, Queensland. Finally, the real outback! from there I will make the decision to either backtrack somewhat to the coast, to Fraser Island, and then continue on to Cairns, or to continue heading west to Alice Spring seeing as I will be half way there already. My timeline may shift slightly, putting me in Cairns for late August if I take that route. Though landing me in Alice almost right on schedule if I continue west.

*As many of you may have noticed and already become aware, Google Adsense is no longer operating on this site. Google decided that the amount of traffic generating from my blog was due to "Suspicious Activity", and after appealing to their board they decided to remove the program from my blog, feeling I was abusing their system. Just to clear that up with anyone who might have been wondering.

Day 20 - Arrive in Byron Bay

Day 20

 I arrived in Byron Bay tonight at about 7:30PM, marking 770Km I have traveled in the last three weeks. Hitch-hiking has been so effective I have actually had to slow down my pace a bit and spend a bit more time in town and a few days less on the road. Otherwise, I may be nearly in Cairns by now!

 Since leaving Coffs Harbour I have spent nearly a week in the Grafton area, between a few nights where I was taken in by Wayne and Jean Gadke - parents of a good friend of mine in Calgary. Thanks for that connection Matt!
 After a great couple of days there I was offered a Wwoofing position for a few more days with another connection provided to me by the Gadkes' son Matt.
    
                    - Wwoofing  is a type of work-stay employment. Where "wwoofers" are given
                      accommodations and meals in exchange for working a few hours each day. Work type and
                      length varies from farm to farm, but the premiss is always the same. Usually found on organic
                      and cattle farms, Wwoofing originated in England in 1972, and farms can now be found all
                      around the world.

 I spent several nights Wwoofing with Tim and his dog Gandhi. Even though we only had one day without torrential  rains, it was still good to get my hands dirty and lend a hand for a bit. We spent an entire day pulling and cutting wild peach plants which are apparently very toxic. They resulted in deaths of two cows after they started feeding on them early last week.

 I was also introduced to Black Beans which can be found commonly along river banks throughout the temperate rainforests around Oz. The seeds of these gigantic pods are edible, though they require about 10-14 days preparation before consumption to ensure that they are thoroughly rid of their toxins. The aboriginals used to eat these seeds after soaking them for at least 10 days (14 is recommended), then either cutting them into slices and baking them, or drying and grinding them into a flower like powder.
 Unfortunately I did not have 14 days to prepare any of the huge bundle I came across - each measuring at about 6-8" long, but will keep them in mind for future reference.

Black Bean Pod and Seeds

I was lucky to have had the opportunities I did in the Grafton area, as we have experienced nearly 2 weeks straight of harsh rain. I made my departure (or escape I suppose) from Grafton just in time. Due to the harsh rains many roads were flooded and washed out, and even several days later now I am still hearing about flooding and road closures all over the southern coast.

 Between Grafton and Byron Bay was Ballina. I caught a ride outside of Grafton with a couple and offered a place to stay for the night. This quickly turned into a great opportunity, and I was offered several nights stay with Chris and Emma and their two kids in exchange for a few days work with them.

 Which brings us to Byron Bay...

Day 11 - Coffs Harbor

Day 11

 Coffs has treated me well. I have made new friends, and saw my first wild Kangaroos!

 It has become apparent that I will be hitch-hiking much of the way up the East Coast, working my way through the national parks as much as possible, as it is much easier to find suitable area for pitching a tent rather than along the main highway.

 In 11 days I have seen large cities, small towns, open fields of cattle, subtropical rainforests and muddy mangrove swaps. I have yet to cross paths with any snakes, not that I am complaining. Though I have seen several different types of spiders and as mentioned Kangaroos.
 I find it quite funny really, in Canada we hear about kangaroos down in Oz and think of wide open ranges, and groups of kangaroos running through the wild outback. When in all reality, they are found in very populated areas. Here in Coffs Harbor for example, we spotted  well over a dozen in a small developed community on the north end of town grazing on front lawns and beside houses. Kangaroos here and to elk in Banff.
 Never-the-less it was exciting to see them. As well it is the migratory season for Humpback Whales here. I managed to spot one surface quite far off shore from Mutton bird Island the other evening. It is also a regular occurrence here to see manta rays and giant sea turtles just off shore.

 I am learning a lot about the country, and have much much more to learn still. As assumed, the East Coast leg of my journey is far more civilized then what is to come when I head West through Central Queensland. It is becoming slightly more apparent to me why so many backpackers travel Australia by renting a van, or for those sticking to the East coast, as many do, taking a bus.

 I am excited to see what awaits me. Today I leave for Grafton, only about 85Km north of my current location. From there I will head for Byron Bay - where I expect to be by Saturday.

 And the adventure continues...