Ingrid and Marcel World Journey

Since there is no way to tell the people in the village some tourists will come today our arrival was somewhat of a surprise. Past the first akward moment of arriving on a wedding day it became more normal to be there. The kids of corse started right away to play around us, the tiny little dogs and pigs as well. First we took off our boots and sat down on a wood bench to rest a bit.

One woman from the village prepared the dinner and we sat down to eat with this women, her husband and the village’s wise man, had some LAO LAO a riceshnaps with quite a bit of alcohol. The way they drink it is fill a glass, give it to one person, this one needs to empty the glass and give it back. then the same glass will be filled again and handed to the next person around the table. If you don’t want anymore you hand it directly to the next and everyone will laugh at you for pass it over. The wise man asked us to sing a song in our language, then sang one in laotian and was laughing more and more. After the bottle was finished he asked to join him in his tent to drink some more, but we refused and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up and had some rice for breakfast, went to the village to watch the water installation made of bamboo-pipes, the feeding of the little piggies, and could see how two women were pounding the rice with big logs of wood.

Then we started our second day through the jungle following the river for 1 or 2 hours, again with people from the village carriyng our lunch. At the point where the path ends in the front of the river was a cord from one side to the other and a bamboo-float on the other side. Our guide yelled and there was an answer from the other side. After a while someone came and crossed the river with the float to our side. Then it was our turn, we climbed aboard, but just Ingrid, me and our guide could go on it at the same time. The two from the village waved goodbye and we started to cross the river, feet in the water because of the overweight 🙂 The crossing was wicked but cool. On the other end we hopped on the slippery rocks where I tried to help the guide to come up and slipped the down the rock in the river… Yeah cool, wet feet for the rest of the day. The walk now was a lot of up and down, some short rests and a lot of water drinking. We made again a 1 hour lunch break and were really happy to arrive in the evening, again in front of a river seeing the road and a village on the other side. Two little boys where already waiting with a pirogue (Einbaum) to cross the river and earn some money. Our driver was also waiting on the other side and we drove one hour back to the trekking office.

We went to look for a room to sleep, a little dinner and slept quick, deep and well.

Well the next morning when I took the cereal bag out of the cupboard, the cereal was not edible. Why? For the second time on this trip, a mouse had found ist way (probably through the battery cable from the engine) into the van and in the dishes cupboard. What happens when the mouse gets in there? We need to get everything out and scrub and soap every plate, mug, cup and plastic container. The thing is, we store the mueesli in the same cupboard, it fits nicely on the side of the cups and plates. Last time we had only dishes in there but our little visitor was so hungry she had munched away at the plastic (bite marks to prove it!), this time she was more lucky, we had a big bag or mueesli in there, she only needed to bite through the plastic bag and help herself to nice and crunchy cereal. She has taste too, found the one whole almond in the bag and took it out for herself.

So we cleaned everything up and thought our problem was solved like it was last time, a one-time visit thing. Well that was disregarding the colony of cute little field mice trooping around the campground at night, who made it in the van again the following evening, found the bread underneath the seat and had a nice midnight snack. And this time there was not only one or two droppings in the now empty cupboard….there was 10-15…..so it was not only one visitor, she had called all her friends and organised a clandestine party in our van!

Again a clean up….and we drove off to the mountains where we camped at a semi-wild place (had dingos yowling and walking 5 meters away from us, cool). Since we had no electricity there we had no fan, which means we could hear all the nightly noises….especially the mice trying to make it to the bread hidden in another cupboard we thought was mouse-proof. Fun fun fun! Laying in bed hearing them run around and not able to do anything about it. Needless to say, the cupboard was not mouse-proof, these beasts are so small they can squeeze themselves into 5mm slits!

By then we figured they were not only night visitors but had actually taken up residence in our van. Probably getting cosy in our clothes or in the folds of the towels…. So back in Alice Springs we called Alice Pest Control and got some baits: you set them up, wait for the mice to eat some and 4 or 5 days later they die. Just wonderful: how exactly are you supposed to know if and when they die and find the corpses?? It’s been 3 days and we still have to do today’s bait check to see if they have taken bites out of them, but we’re secretely hoping they left the car already.

Now we left Alice Springs to go north direction Darwin and stopped inTennant Creek for the night. Popped the roof up, plugged the power in, and went for a much needed swim. Came back to the car….and noticed some ants crawling on the power cable….looked closer….and saw it was actually mass immigration! Hundreds of ants were coming on to the van, walking from the ground on the cable and up on the roof, around the hatch to the other side, to the front of the car and on the windshield rubber. Noooooooooooo! I turned into a mass murderer. At first with kleenex or baby fresh, but then cold bloodedly squishing them with my bare fingers one after the other. Of course we moved the cable so it didn’t touch the ground anymore and they stopped coming, but the harm was already done. We cleaned as best we could and crossed our fingers they’d stay outside of the van. Ha. Ha. Ha. Yeah right. The next morning they had made it into the one mouse-proof cupboard we have and started to invade various cracks and ledges. They are so small they make it anywhere. We bought bug spray at the camping to try and limit the damage and as soon as we got to Katherine stopped to buy new ant traps (Marcel got rid of the old ones the morning before!). And now we’re trying to control they path while waiting for them to eat the poison and bring it back to wherever they chose to build their house. The idiots started to eat the mouse poison too. Double dosis, there you go.

The Red Center of Australia. We will not forget. Got some mouse in Alice Springs and ants in Tennant Creek. Lovely.

We are out of the cyclone hitting point by about 900 km west in the outback. Especially for mom/Francoise we are fine…

We expect a bit of wind at max.

Some specimen were then conserved in spirits and sent back to the old world, where in 1799 the English scientist George Shaw gave it the name platypus anatinus (platypus being derived from Greek and meaning flat foot, anatinus meaning duck-like) . It was then discovered that the word platypus already belonged to a type of beetle and could not be used. Independently the animal had been described as an ornithorhyncus (Greek for bird-snout) paradoxus in 1800 by Johann Blumenbach. In order to respect the rules of priority the animal was recognised as an ornithorhyncus anatinus.

Why am I telling you all this? Because after weeks of hoping, after being unable to observe them in the Eungella National Park at Christmas (the access road was flooded) and hours of patient searching: yesterday I saw a platypus. He dove up about 3 meters in front of us and showed us his cute face with ist incredible bill and his twin looking tail and slowly swam away.

Ornithorhyncus paradoxus. Isn’t it the best animal name you’ve ever heard?

We come to Australia once in our lives, and what happens?? They get flooded!

However we do live a good life: we escaped the closed roads and flooded cities by a week. It’s funny to watch the news and see the town we were in just a short while back completely swimmimg in water…. thinking that the campsite we stayed at was directly by the river, picture our super campervan floating around with us in it…. Lucky we are.

Actually we haven’t had this much sunshine since we arrived in Australia. The first month and a half we had cold and rain, with a peak at Christmas (we basically spent the time under a tarp in front of our van) when it rained non-stop for 3 days, but since then the days are hot and sunny, with the odd refreshing shower in the night. And this is the tropics, we’re supposed to be in the rain season!

The only effect of the floodings we can feel is the lack of fresh items at the grocery store: no more vegetables except the old potato, just old cuts of meat, half empty shelves everywhere. It’s OK, noodles are also good 🙂

My friend Valerie wrote me in an e-mail she thought for sure we were having a different Christmas. We definitely are! It’s summer here: no snow or cold, only green and warmth, so despite the decorations, the Christmas carols playing in the supermarket and people running around the shops, I can’t say we really are in the Christmas spirit.

We are currently in a national park on the east coast somewhere between Brisbane and Cairns, and it’s been raining on and off since about 3 weeks. Actually the Australians haven’t seen this much rain since about 20 years. In the last 2 days it was pouring enough to drench the hinterland, causing rivers and creeks to overflow and roads to be blocked over kilometers. And we thought we were coming to Australia for an extended summer treat…. Well summer it is, but slowly we are getting sticky and stinky. Our van is pretty much rain proof (except for one spot in the back but no problem it’s on  Marcel’s side of the bed), but nothing ever really dries. I washed one of my t-shirts 4 days ago and it’s still humid. Remember I have only 2 t-shirts and one shirt, so I’m sort of short on fresh clothes. Then again, our standards have lowered since we’re on the road, the great advantage being that we don’t wonder what to wear today, we just grab yesterday’s clothes and put them back on. Oh yes, it’s so wet that we are having ants inside our campervan, the poor things (!) having flooded nests outside. We still haven’t figured out how they made it there, but still had to install some traps. Good thing it’s only the small black ants, not the red ones with a green bum (I can’t say if they’re biting or anything, they just give me the creeps because of their colour) (I never thought I could be accused of racism, but I must admit, I am bug racist).

So back to Christmas…. We arrived here on the 24th and got into our bathing suits to install our awning under the pouring rain. Afterwards we went down to the beach and met a nice couple who invited us for Christmas lunch with their family the next day. Luckily we each had a clean shirt left so after a shower and a shave for Marcel we looked presentable enough to go introduce ourselves to the whole family (12 of them). We had a really good time, they were all very nice and welcoming, and even organised extra presents so we could participate in their gift exchange. We went back home with a stomach full of ham, potato salad, trifle and Christmas pudding and some scented candles and chocolates. Marcel made a Christmas tree for our camper with tropical plants branches in a PET bottle, which I decorated with candy wrappers, and we opened a bottle of sparkling wine before dinner. Later on we set out to watch a movie (an old John Wayne found for 2$ at the store) on our new laptop. We sat outside with our earphones on and turned off the light to avoid having bugs flying around and better see the screen. After about an hour of watching we hear a noise around the camper, something like a “thump” somewhere. We take off the earphones and listen, nothing, so we go on with the movie. Ten minutes later again a “bang” noise. We turn on the light….to find a possum munching away inside the van!! The little bugger climbed in and found the bowl with apricots on the counter and dropped it on the floor when he grabbed them (the “thump” noise….). Now how do we get him out of there?? Clapping hands? No effect. Marcel going in and wooshing him away? No effect. The poor guy looks really cute and actually quite
lost in there…. Marcel finally got him out by climbing into the front of the car and showing him the way out from there leaning over the seats. Too bad I didn’t have the camera in my pocket. So yes, we did have a different Christmas 🙂

VIDEO  (click here)