This is Page Two of Holly and Dylan's Australian Adventure. The dates covered here are from March 2004 - June 2004.

Picture of the week

                            Katherine Gorge -Northern Territory GMT + 8½Hrs                                                                thanks to Sanda Kaufman for this photograph 

All the Pictures in blue frames are Thumbnails - Click them for a larger version
Last UPDATED - 20th June  2004 : Back to the Main page for the last 6 Months

20th June 2004 :  Dylan  telephoned this morning to wish me happy fathers day. He sounds in fine fettle and having a good time. Holly and Dyl have been working in the corn fields but they had to pack it in through sheer boredom, and the money was poor as well. The old Mazda is plodding on but Dyl says that any further than Darwin will be a bonus. They are in Katherine at the moment just south of Darwin where they are moving onto later this week. They are off to Katherine Gorge tomorrow for a sight seeing trip.
Dylan said they saw their first wild crock this week but reckons they aren't a problem, the "salties" are though, they are the sea crocks.
The Pearl fishing trip was an adventure, both had good days and bad days but Holly in particular suffered more due to working in the galley. It must be awful cooking scran when you feel sea sick. They had to return to port once due to bad weather but in all spent 8 days at sea. Dylan spent most of the time on deck scraping the shells and general dog body work but seems to have enjoyed the experience. They saw plenty of sharks and fish and would probably do it again.
When they arrive in Darwin Dylan reckons they will have to get some serious jobs to earn a few bob to finance the next stage of their journey - we wish them well.
Dylan is missing his mates and would appreciate a few emails to hear how they are all getting on at home.

May 23rd 2004 : Dylan rang again this morning. Our travellers are still in Broome which is situated on the Great Northern Highway, some 1400 miles north of Perth. This modern town is an increasingly popular tourist destination since it is ideally located as a base for exploring the Kimberley region, home of the Bungle Bungles, and close to some wonderful coastland and beaches. Many Tours operate from Broome to the Kimsberleys.
Dyl and Holly have got a new job starting tomorrow, 12 days on a Pearl fishing boat. Holly is working in the galley with another English girl and Dylan has been hired as a deck hand. I hope they are both better on boats than me, when you're bad on one there's no where to get off while you recouver.
The WebCam was a good idea, they both turned up at 9:13 GMT (Aus is 7 hours ahead of us here) and stayed in the rain for about 15 minutes. It was great to see them both looking relaxed and well.
The old bus has a few problems but their wages should cover any repairs needed for the next leg of their trip to Darwin.
Hopefully I'll have a good story or three to tell when I next update in 13 days, not quite a cruise but it's the nearest thing to one for anyone in my family to date.
The Broome Cam can be found on  http://www.broomecam.com/camera.htm

May 16th 2004 : Had a phone call from Dylan today, Holly and Dyl are both well and now staying in Broome. They have found work on a Pearl Farm for the week and hope to earn a few bob towards fuel etc. They've been on a trip out to the reef and swum above the reef sharks. Hopefully I'm going to get our travellers in front of the web cam on Cable Beach this coming Saturday at 09:30 our time (16:30 in Aus).
all being well I'll post some pics of them on Sunday.

May 9th 2004 : Email from Dylan    Just mailing to let you know that we are back on the road tomorrow heading up to Coral Bay (Pictured below left). We finished the banana job this morning we've saved a few dollars up to help us with costs, quite looking forward to moving on this place is the pits! heard loads about Coral Bay, its where the Ningaloo reef starts so snorkelling's on the agenda for a few days I reckon. We'll probably head straight up to Broome from there and suss out some more work.
Hope things are good at home and your not all working too hard. I phoned Bob up coz I heard he's tying the knot with Kate and they marry in early October! Cant believe it, but was good to hear one of the lads voices. Sent Katie a mail but no reply sent some of the lads mail too but no reply, drives me crazy some days being out of touch with everyone.
Anyway were going shopping now spending our hard earned dollars on some food supplies and essentials. The car's going for a check up later, we met a lad at work he's going to give the baby some TLC

April 26th 2004: Holly and Dylan are in Carnarvon, 550 miles North of Perth Western Australia, a nice, quite, small town with a population of 9,000. Only in Carnarvon does the Australian desert border the ocean. There are many palms and flowering bushes in and around town, as well as mango and banana plantations.  It comes as no surprise that they have taken a job on the banana plantation for the week to earn a bit of petrol money.

April 23rd 2004: Email from Dylan  G'day! thanks for the mail me and Holly are fine, in a place called Canarvon at the mo. Cant quite remember where I last mailed you both think it was around Perth.
We drove up to Lancelin for Easter weekend, it was o.k. had to backtrack because there was no through road to the highway, went to Monkey Mia which was Paradise! the bay was full of Dolphins and Tiger sharks, we went out on a boat trip hoping to see some sharks but no joy, we saw plenty of Dolphins and two Dugongs which are sea cows! They weigh around a tonne and they graze on the seaweed all day. The beaches were gorgeous, we also met a couple who we worked with in Mclaren Vale so we had a top time at Monkey.
We came to Canarven with the intension to work for a month, we got a job on the first day of arriving which was making Tomato vines! that lasted half a day he had no more work for us, on the way back to the caravan park we called in a Banana packing factory we started the following morning. What a load of crap! we both got put on the start of the lines. The Bananas come in on huge storks hung up like carcasses, they then get sprayed, chopped off and thrown into long tanks full of water and sprayers. We had the job of sorting them, never seen so many Cockroaches it was unbelievable and the Spiders too some really poisonous, saw some really big ones you should see all the crap that comes out of one from standing on it! Anyway they cant offer us full time work which isn't such a bad thing, we did two long days and got two sore backs it was definitely worse than grape picking, so we're thinking of heading off on Monday up to Coral Bay where the Ningaloo Reef s tarts.
The car is running o.k. its getting a bit tired, we got some breakdown cover at last we thought it was about time.

April 13th 2004 : Email from Dylan  In a place called Geraldton 400ks north of Perth having a bit of car trouble but nothing too serious I hope. Heading up to Shark Bay tomorrow to see a bit of sea life, went to the Pinnacles yesterday weird place, weird rock formations!
the picture on the right is the HMAS Sydney memorial site in Geraldton.

April 8th : Email from Dylan : Heading up north tomorrow we've had a few days in Perth, quite a cool laid back city everywheres really clean and the roads around the city aint too tricky! going to head up the coast towards Broome and get some work.

April 5th 2004 : Email from Dylan letting us know they are in Albany about a five hour drive South of Perth. The drive from Aldinga took 5 days of driving 8 hours a day. They crossed the Nullabor Plain which stretches along the Southern edge of Australia. The Nullarbor Plain, a perfect example of Australian outback. From the town of Norseman, Western Australia, the Eyre Highway crosses 734 miles of desolate plateau, before finally reaching Ceduna, South Australia. It encompasses Australia's longest stretch of straight road. The sign says - 146 km's (91 miles) until the next bend. Now that's what I call driving, well done Dyl and Holly. Next it's Perth and a job, lazy days are over, it's back to the slog....

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