Termite mounds and waterfalls

2008-09-20 - Saturday

Today was a driving day, broken up by a short stop to check out some monsterous termite mounds and then later a great waterfalls/pool for a refreshing afternoon dip.

Since crossing the Tropic of Capricon, we've seen a definite change in both temperature and landscape. In terms of temperature, it's been much hotter, and much more humid. In terms of landscape, the trees are different, less sparse and in general the land looks more healthier.

Healthy... but with a whole lotta termite mounds... thousands of them. Maybe there's a direct correlation between health of the land and the number of termite mounds...(I know there's a word to describe these types of "false" correlations...but I just can't recall what it is right now). In any case there is plenty of them...and they are huge. They range in height from a couple inches, to a couple of feet. Apparently we'll see even larger ones in a couple of days. The ones I'm posing beside are a good 10's of years old, some are upwards of a hundred.

Our stop for lunch included a very refreshing fresh water waterfall/pool. It was a two falls system, the first called Edith falls and the second, slightly more spectacular, called Lillian Falls. The photos for these are actually located on my underwater camera... and I can't easily transfer them to my little computer right now... However, once I do get it transferred I'll post them.

Tonight it was my turn to cook. Well, not just me, but me and one of my trek mates, Nick. We've chosen to cook up a Spaghetti and meat sauce. We started with a basic sauce, as a base, to which we added sauted green and red peppers, onions, chunked mushrooms and of course hamburger. It went over fabulously...but as it is with any camping adventure, we probably could have cooked Mac and Cheese and get the same reaction. :-)

PS. The little guy in sunglasses is Anton, He's Matt's (our tour guide) little wombat...a gift from from a previous tour. He sits on the dashboard day in and day out, normally watching the road ahead of us for kangaroos (who like to jump out in front of unsuspecting motorists). Today, he has chosen to sport Martin's hat and sunglasses whilst participating in our varied and incredibly interesting conversations (which take place between our nap marathons). Not sure who he's calling on the cell phone in this particular picture, but apparently he was the only one to get cell reception during this leg of the trip.