10 Days in Western Australia

After 5 months, 6 countries, 25 flights, and over 40 hotel rooms I have said goodbye to Southeast Asia.  I was sad to leave but very excited for the adventures that await me in the South Pacific.  Since the sailboat will be leaving from Cairns, Australia I decided my next stop would be Perth, Australia on the west coast primarily because I was able to find an $60 flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   As a budget traveler, Australia would never have been on my itinerary since it's quite expensive but I figured that I could survive 10 days there.

Adjusting to life here in Australia has been much harder than I thought it would be.  When I arrived to the airport in Perth and stepped outside it was in the low 40's and after being in 80 and 90 degree weather for 5 months it was a definite shock to my system.  I had forgotten what cold was like and now remember why I avoided it.  But I do have to say that the people of Western Australia are some of the friendliest and they will absolutely despise you if you have anything good to say about the people from Eastern Australia.  

Looking back I realize now that I was actually REALLY spoiled while traveling throughout Southeast Asia.  At almost every hotel/hostel I stayed at and in many of the cafes/ restaurants there was always FREE wireless internet.  I could at sleep in a decent bed for $5 a night and eat a filling meal for $2. 

In Australia there is no such thing as "free" wireless internet and they charge $5 an hour to use the internet at the hostels.  Besides that I'm paying $30 for a dorm room and $15 for breakfast! 

For 2 nights I stayed in Fremantle which is very close to the "big city" of Perth.  The hostels here are not at all like the hostels in Southeast Asia.  The one I stayed in Fremantle had over 100 people and the majority of them had been living there for months, working in Australia, with the occasional traveler (aka me) passing through.  So the vibe was totally different and was a party scene every night! 

Two nights of that and I had enough.  I rented a car because taking public transportation would have been a headache and in the end would have cost me just as much as renting a car.   It took a few minutes for me to adjust to driving again since it had been 5 months since I drove a car and in Australia they drive on the opposite side on the car and the opposite side of the road.  Luckily driving here is nothing like driving in LA. 

My first stop was Margaret River which was about 4 hours south of Perth.  I ended up staying at this great hostel close to the beach in Prevelly Park and since it was low season I had the 4-bed dorm room all to myself!  Margaret River is known for their world class wineries and also their world class surfing - although just a few weeks ago there was a fatal shark attack on a surfer!  I stayed 2 nights here since it was such a relaxing atmosphere. 

After Margaret River I drove 7 hours to the town of Albany in the south of Western Australia.  Whaling was a major source of income and employment for Albany but the main whaling station stopped operating in the 1970's and has now been turned into a museum.  From town if you look out into the Southern Ocean you can see lots of whales spouting.

The Gap at Albany

My goal was to get up to Kalbarri in the central coastal part of Western Australia so I decided to stay the night at the seaside town of Cervantes which was a 7 hour drive northwest from Albany - a good stopping point.  The roads here are not at all like the freeways we know.  Unless you are in a major city like Perth the main road are only 2 lanes with an occasional passing lane.  You see dead kangaroos everywhere since they come out at night and don't understand the danger of cars.  I even saw a huge emu almost get hit by a big truck but luckily he escaped in time. 

The Pinnacles near Cervantes

In the morning I continued my drive north and finally reached Kalbarri after 5 hours of driving.  Kalbarri was spectacular!  The scenery was absolutely stunning, red rocks, white beaches, and blue ocean.  And because it's desert, the weather was warm and dry.  I stayed 2 nights and could have easily stayed longer if I had the time.

Kalbarri coastline

Western Australia was amazing and I wish I had more time to explore further north.  There is so much to see and do here.  In the 10 days that I was here I probably drove well over 1,500 miles.  But Western Australia is so big and so vast that in order to see this part of the country you have to drive.  They say that Western Australia is as big as Texas times 4 just to give you an idea of the size.


To see all the pictures click here:  Western Australia

Life of the Penan in Borneo

My days were filled with walks through the rainforest, exploring impressive caves, and watching billions of bats fly out at night at Mulu National Park in Borneo, Malaysia.

One of the many caves in Mulu National Park

Over 3 billion bats fly out of the cave at night

While there I also had the opportunity to visit a Penan village along the river.

Penan village along the Mulu River

The Penan are some of the last nomadic hunter-gatherers living in the world. Today they are about 10,000 Penan in Borneo but less than 300 Penan still lead a completely nomadic life in the forest. Those that still live this lifestyle survive by hunting and gathering. They don’t practice agriculture or raise animals for food and have no permanent settlements. They forage for rattan, medicinal plants, fruits, and sago palm - a starchy staple. Wild game is hunted with blowpipes and poison darts. And they believe in never taking more than necessary.

Local Penan woman with traditional "stretched" earlobes

About a week earlier on my trek in Bario we came across several abandoned Penan settlements, basically shelters made of bamboo and palm fronds. Every month or so when the Penan exhaust all the wild game, jungle plants and fruits they move to a new location in the forest and build new shelters. The old settlements are left to return to the jungle. With very few possessions, they are able to carry everything in simple “backpacks” made from rattan from palm leaves.

The forest is essential to the Penan, providing them with everything they need to survive. Sadly with all the logging operations encroaching on their land, there is less food for them and many Penan have had to give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle into government provided housing in order to survive.

To see all the pictures click here:  Mulu National Park

On the Headhunter’s Trail in Borneo

Borneo is an island in Southeast Asia shared by Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Even though Indonesia occupies about 2/3 of the island much of the Indonesian side is still quite remote with very few tourists. The Malaysian side of Borneo offers many more attractions and the majority of the visitors to Borneo go there. I traveled to Borneo, Malaysia a few years ago for a scuba diving adventure and had wanted to venture into the rainforest so that is what I decided to do this time around.

Map of Borneo

I flew to Bario, a small village near the Malaysian / Indonesian border. At the airport there was a separate check-in line for those flying to “rural” villages. Here I was weighed with all of my belongings and then allowed to board a tiny 20-seater plane that had cardboard “fans” in the seat pockets since there was no air circulation and believe me, it was HOT on the plane.

20-seater plane I flew into the jungle

My original plan was to try and do a 4 day/3 night trek into the jungle with a guide. Once I was in Bario I found that it was not as easy as I had anticipated to arrange such a trek and in the end had to settle for a 2 day/1 night trek with a French couple and a guide.

To get to our starting point we drove on a very muddy and steep road, the truck sliding sideways most of the time. After driving for 2 hours we finally arrived to the village of Pa’ Dalih where we stayed for 1 night before beginning our trek. We stayed in a traditional longhouse shared by 6 families. A longhouse is a communal house built on stilts with one long roof and separate rooms for each family. Dinner was tiny fish from the rice paddies, sautéed local ferns, hearts of palm, and of course rice.

Inside the longhouse at Pa' Dalih

In the morning we began our trek on the Headhunter’s Trail. This trail was used by the local villagers to trek into Indonesia where they would attack their enemies and bring back their heads. The practice of headhunting ended around the time of WWII but then again resurfaced for a period of time in the late 1990’s. Even though the villagers no longer display the heads like they use to I was told that if you ask they will show you the heads.

After a few hours of trekking we came to a small house in the middle of nowhere. Inside was a small fire pit and on a metal rack on top of the fire pit was some kind of smoked meat. It turned out to be local “barking deer” and for lunch our guide heated up some of this meat and we ate it along with the rice wrapped in a banana leaf our host had given us before we left the longhouse in the morning. At first it was hard to eat the deer since the head and feet were nearby but once I got over that it was actually quite tasty.

Lunch:  barking deer meat

During our trek I was surprised and very happy to see that there were hardly any mosquitoes but in their place there were plenty of leeches. I had been warned about the leeches and was told to wear long socks pulled over long pants and to tuck my shirt into my pants to make it hard for leeches to find skin to bite. As soon as we stepped into the rainforest the leeches were all over our shoes, climbing up our legs, trying to find a piece of skin they could feed from. When leeches bite you it’s not so easy to get them off. It takes quite a bit of effort to pull them off once they have sunk their teeth into you, and if you do pull them off you will probably end up with their teeth still stuck in your skin. The best way to get them off is with salt or matches or you can just wait for them to get their fill of your blood and fall off. Once they do let go, you bleed quite a bit for several hours afterwards. Yuck!

To see all the pictures click here:  Borneo Trek