Kimberley Adventure Tours (KAT)

The alarm went off at 5am to begin my trip to the Kimberley and across the western part of Australia.  Simon, driver/guide, from Kimberley Adventure Tours promptly picked me up at 6am, where I first met Silvan from Switzerland, and then proceeded to pick up other travelers - Abbi (England), Natalie (Belgium), and Pipo (Italy).  Maybe because we’re all “westerners”, we quickly bonded and became friends.  Off we go!

We traveled south down the Stuart Highway to visit Edith Falls for a late morning swim.  Edith Falls was the perfect spot to start our adventure, with amazing series of waterfalls and a picturesque pool at the base of the falls.

Edith Falls

Pristine gorge @ Edith Falls

Then onto Katherine to pick up supplies (aka, booze) before traveling west towards The Kimberley and Western Australia to set up our first bush camp along the Victoria River.

First Sunset along the Victoria River

The Kimberley region is located on the northern-most part of Western Australia and covering some 421,451 square kilometres (approximately 261,000 miles), an area three times the size of England and three fifths the size of Texas, the Kimberley is home to only 40,000 people meaning that there are fewer people per kilometre than almost any other place on the planet.

Tonight is the first night where I get to sleep in a “swag” - essentially it’s a heavy canvas bedroll.  They were originally carried by “swagmen”, who were migrant farm works or sheep shearers, that walked from job to job in Australia’s outback during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.  So in keeping with the authentic outback experience, we all get to sleep under the stars in swags.  This is possibly best way to see millions (or billions?) of stars on a crystal clear night, especially when I get to sleep by a campfire.  Let's hope the alligators stay on their side of the river!

First campfire in The Kimberley

Thankfully we didn't see of these critters during the night!

Time Warp to 1955 in Darwin

Traveling from Borneo to Darwin consisted of 3 flight changes on AirAsia (Sepilok (Borneo) - Kuala Lumpur - Bali -  Darwin) for 20+ hours, including four hours in Bali's airport where I had to pay for a Visa to 'enter' the country and then pay a departure fee 30 minutes later when I walked over to an outbound terminal.   Finally in Darwin, I have 24-hours to enjoy the city (and Holiday Inn's comfortable bed) before embarking on a 10-day tour throughout Australia's outback.

Darwin is the capital of Northern Territory, on the top end of Australia.  Although Darwin is considered a 'city', it has more of a small beach town feel...and time stopped in 1955.  Overall, it's a very laid-back city and perfect starting point to the wild Kimberley journey.

To celebrate my solo travel for 3 months, I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner at Hanuman Restaurant - a wonderful combination of Thai, Indian and Nonya cooking.  As much as I wanted to check out all the bars along Mitchell street, I needed to get some sleep since I didn’t get much sleep the night before and I have to be up early tomorrow morning.

Walking Around the Jungle...at Night?

My original plan of the Australian outback got pushed up by a day since it's the end of the dry season and I didn't have many options in terms of signing up for a tour.  I also had to reverse my route from Broome to Darwin, thus missing out on Kakadu National Park.  It also means my visit to the Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sepilok need to be canceled.  Unfortunately I had already paid for my flight and hotel in Sepilok, so it'll be a quick trip to the Borneo jungle.  Essentially I had few hours in Sepilok and my options were limited...a night jungle walk around the Sepilok Jungle Resort or nothing.  I really wanted to see the Orang Utans but a jungle walk at night with snakes, bats, birds and leeches should provide plenty of excitement.

I'm told it's a viper snake...I was more worried about the leeches on my feet

Tomorrow, I'll be flying for 20+ hours on three AirAsia flights - Borneo to Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur to Bali, Bali to Darwin - of course, since AirAsia is a point-to-point airline, I'll need to drop-off/pick-up my bags three times during the course of the my journey.  Ugh...I'm too old (and spoiled) to be flying discount airlines!  What was I thinking?

Next stop...Western Australia.

Sinking Slow, Floating Fast...in Kapalai

Wow, I can't believe I'm going from top of Borneo to the bottom of Borneo in just 24 hours!  For the next four days, I'll be spending time underwater to get certified for open water dives at the Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort in Pulau Kapalai.  After all these years of saying I want to get certified for diving, I'm finally doing it, but I'll have to pass the swimming and floating tests before I can became a certified diver...ugh!

"Breathe slow...no slower, slower".  "Try to stay buoyant, don't use the BCD to control your buoyancy, use your breathing to control your buoyancy".  Thank goodness Linda (my dive master/instructor) was patient enough to teach me how to breathe slowly and control my buoyancy (it still needs work).  I thought I was going to ace the diving course but harsh reality sank in - I suck.  Sorry everyone, I don't have any photos of me sucking...but just picture an Asian pot-belly pig, in a wetsuit, trying to swim, dive, and float.

After four days of learning how to dive, I just need to pass the 200 meter swim and 10 minutes of floating to become a certified diver.  First attempt to swim 200 meters was a complete disaster, after 100 meters of splashing water and then sinking like a rock.  Yup, I got thrown the doughnut and had to swim back with it...how embarrassing!  Linda couldn't stop laughing as she watched me 'swim'...then she suggested I could swim 300 meters with a mask, snorkel and fins.  Now that I can do...I think.  Back in the water (just need to relax) and swim 300 meters (frack!).  Linda sends a support kayak to assist me if I start to panic...but I'm happy to report no doughnut was needed this time (ok, I barely made it back but I passed the swim test).  Next up, 10 minutes of floating...I know I could do one minute, maybe two, but 10 minutes?  Tick-tock, tick-tock...just relax, tilt my head back and breathe for 10 minutes...

As of September 6, 2011, I'm now a PADI-certified open water diver.  Maybe I'll go diving in Australia!

Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort...my bungalow is the 8th one from left

View from my private balcony...I was greeted by sea turtles in the morning and evening

From my balcony...Sunset - Day 1

Sunset - Day 2

Sunset - Day 3

Sunset - Day 4 (I'm still wowed!)

Mt. Kinabalu

What was I thinking...I must have been drunk when I booked this trip!  I'm going to hike and summit a 4,000+ meter mountain?  What happened to relaxing by the beach idea?  Well I've already paid for the trip so I guess I'm going to summit Malaysia's highest mountain (and third highest in SE Asia).

I joined up with 6 other fellow travelers (Ben from England, Evy and Tom from Belgium, Niels and Karin from Holland, and João from Portugal) to hike up to Mt. Kinabalu.  It's a two-day trip - 3,000 meters the first day, overnight at the 'half-way' station and leave early next morning (2am!) to see the sunrise.  The day started out cloudy and warm, and as soon as we started our hike, it started to rain...right, it's rainy season in the topics!  By the time we got to the half-way station, the temperature had dropped and we were now wet and cold.  Oh, we just learned there's no heat or hot water at the station...yeah!

Dinner at 5pm and sleep for few hours, so we could be off by 2am for the final 1,000 meter climb to the peak.  We went to bed when it was raining, so our hike could be canceled (ugh!).  By the time we got up the rain had stopped...crap.  Off to the top!

By 7am, everyone made it to the peak for the sunrise - not much of a sunrise since it was mostly cloudy but still felt I was on the top of the world (ok Borneo).  For me, the best part of going up is going down.  Yes, I'm one of those crazy ones who prefers running down the mountain, and my favorite sections of the climb were the guide rope portions where I just ran down as if I was abseiling...now that was fun!

Trail leading up the mountain...yes, it's a jungle

Clear view of the island (before the rain)

Top half of the mountain covered in fog

"The Lodge" at the half-way point

Kinabalu Peak @ 4095 meters...and of course, it's raining

Kinabalu Peak...thank goodness for the guide ropes!

4008 meter marker at the bottom of the peak