• Helene Rimberg
Current
  • Helene Rimberg

The Grand Adventure

A bike trip with no end Read more
  • Ubud rice paddys and crowds

    June 2 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Get an early start to try and avoid the crowds. Check out the palace, a local coffee shop and the market. On the way to our walk, don appropriate cloths and walk around temple. Walk up along the ridge and into rice paddys. Back into the crowds. Retreat to our room before going out for another good dinner.Read more

  • Ubud

    June 1 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Pack up, leaving quite a bit of our gear behind. Feeling much lighter, we venture out into the somewhat quieter streets. Find that the motorbikes are actually quite accommodating. Find ourselves on small paths and in rice fields. Short ride to Ubud. Check into our $18 room and venture out. Head to Monkey Sanctuary. Enjoy 100s of monkeys and temples. Amazingly we are there for a weekly dance. Back to the room for shower #2 and then out for another great dinner.Read more

  • Exploring the chaos

    May 31 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Early morning rain brings a lovely rainbow. Venture out for coffee and wind up eating breakfast. Finish bike assembly and head towards the beach, walking along very busy streets with skinny sidewalks. Temples abound making for a nice contrast to the screaming motorbikes. Arrive at the beach; walk, swim, and watch some type of ceremony. Return to our ‘home’ and back out for a great dinner with Rob and Ayu.Read more

  • Bali

    May 30 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Easy van ride to airport and once again we are crazy overweight. TBF, the limit was lower than we have had before. Rearranged like mad and paid a crazy amount, but so be it. Short flight over the sea to Bali. Clear customs pretty easily and navigated the ride ( 2 large cars) to our Warmshowers hosts, Rob and Ayu. Do some unpacking, settle in to our wonderful accommodations and go to a nearby Warung (restaurant) for dinner.Read more

  • Packing Day and Mindil Market

    May 29 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Take my newly serviced bike out for a spin to get to the pool. Lovely, outdoor 50 meter pool that was mostly empty. Spend the afternoon packing. Walk to Mindil Beach for the evening market and sunset. Return to our favorite gelato place - only one we went to actually.Read more

  • Botanic Gardens and swim lagoon

    May 28 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Wake up to pouring rain. Brunch of bagels and lox by the sea. Not spectacular bagels but overall pretty good. Walk to Botanic gardens. Meander back along the Esplanade, learning about Darwin bombing during WW II. Who knew? Go to wharf district where there is a “safe” lagoon. Though they can’t guarantee no stingers. Water is a bit warm and murky.Read more

  • Bike ride and beach walk

    May 27 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Set off on a bike ride back along the coast. Walk through mangroves and along the beach. Tide is way out. Beach is covered with little sand balls produced by sand bubbler crabs who deposit them as they forage for food. Do a bit of shopping and then out for pizza. And more gelato.Read more

  • Darwin

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Complete a few errands on the way into the city. Return to north east coast for a walk and swim in a safe lake. Check into hotel and enjoy the a/c. Walk to dinner, passing a snake along the way. Fish n’ chips at Frying Nemo. Stop for some delicious gelato.Read more

  • Darwin … almost

    May 25 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Very short distance to cover to get to Darwin. Set up camp right outside of the city. Do some cleaning of the car and organizing. Though very hot, go off on a bike ride. Ride along beautiful ocean though croc and box jellyfish signs abound. Survive the heat. Last night to cook at a campground and sleep in a tent. Very hot night.Read more

  • A day for falls

    May 24 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Decide to head out of the park a day early. Short walk to see Tolmer falls with alot obscured by smoke. Florence falls and Buley Rockhole are next. Very hot (95) and the water is lovely. Check out térmite mounds before leaving park and camping in the caravan park.Read more

  • A bike ride and falls

    May 23 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Go for a bike ride in the park. Good to get those cycling legs going in the heat. Take a dip in Walker Creek. Quite smoky out. Doug almost gets run over by water buffalo; i only see them from a distance. Finally see a Joey in a pouch but mamma hope off before we can catch a picture. Walk to Cascade falls and have a nice, low risk plunge.Read more

  • Litchifield NP

    May 22 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Drive through wetlands área of Kakadu - stopping for a little walk. Doug spots a croc but i don’t see it. Stop at the town of
    Humpty Doo (love the name) for food and drive to Litchfield NP. Camp by Wangi falls but can’t swim because of crocs. Walk the loop but views are a bit smoky.Read more

  • Kakadu - Burrungkuy

    May 21 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Head out, stopping first at different visitor center. Nice displays about the park. Hike up a short way to Nawurlandja overlook. Great views. Back down to main tourist area - Burrungkuy. Many displays of rock art. Love the creation stories. Do another short walk to see a bit more art and then drive back. Hang by pool for a bit. Enjoy a slide show about the park in the evening.Read more

  • Kakadu Park - Yurmikmik

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Although there seems to be many parts of the park closed (early season) decide to check it out anyway. Stop at visitors center and get good information and head off to Yurmikmik - nice hike and 2 great swimming holes. Getting quite toasty. Don’t see any crocs which I suppose is a good thing. Part of early season clean up is bush burning. Opt to not camp by a croc infested river and instead go to caravan park in Jabiru.Read more

  • Edith Falls

    May 19 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Stock up on food before leaving Katherine and drive to the north side of Nitmiluk park. Another lovely hike along the river to croc-free swimming holes (how do they promise that?). Continue north to Pine Creek and opt to stop to assess next move. Little walk to water filled gold mine.Read more

  • Katherine Gorge

    May 18 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    As we have been doing, stay in place while exploring. Today we headed out the gorge road to Nitmiluk park. We were surprised to find that a lot of the park still closed as they clean up from the Wet. Get good advice from a ranger and off we go on a hike through the gorge. Nice croc free swim in waterhole. Great views and way less flies than before. Back to camp to relax and have dinner.Read more

  • Mataranka and Katherine

    May 17 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    No morning visitors in the bathroom! Get on the road and cover the distance to Mataranka quickly. Stop at the hot springs and see our first croc signs and experience little to no flies for the first time in quite awhile. Enjoy the soak in the jungle. Continue on to Katherine. Do the regular things and then do a little bike ride around town to move the legs a bit. Check out Katherine river. Town is also a bit rough around the edges.Read more

  • NT Outback

    May 16 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Driving day. Not much to see besides termite mounds (some of which are dressed up in clothing). Break up the nothingness with a stop at Devils Marbles. Very cool rocks but swarming with flies. Manage a quick walkabout before retreating back to the car. Stop at almost nonexistent town of Elliott at the caravan park. Greeted by peacocks. Bathroom also has a surprise for me.Read more

  • Bike ride and a museum

    May 15 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Head out on bikes into the west MacDonnell Park - a range of ‘mountains’ that go east/west. Ride the Simpson cycle path through the bush to Simpson gap. Quite green and somewhat less red. Short walk into a little gorge. Return to town and check out the Royal Flying Doctor Medical museum. Very cool exhibit on the first ever medical aviation program which is still in use today. Stock up on food, do laundry and check out local brewery.Read more

  • Onto Alice Springs

    May 14 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Another early morning to catch the sunrise over Uluru. Afterwards, hike around the base. Retrace our drive back to Stuart Highway and then continue north to Alice Springs. Find a campground, set up and try to avoid flies. Have determined that flies are the worst natural annoyance that we have come upon. Escape only really happens at night. Venture into town for really good pizza. Lots of gates in this rough town.Read more

  • Kata Tjuta

    May 13 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Wake up early to catch the sunrise over Kata Tjuṯa - the other structure in the park. Amazing colors as the sun hits the red rocks. Hike the Valley of the Winds - wandering through the chasms and up and over formations. Additionally, short hike in the gorge. Explore the Cultural Centre. Great exhibits on Aboriginal culture. Avoid flies in the late afternoon (worst time) before going to watch sunset over Uluru.Read more

  • 700+ KM to Uluru (Ayers Rock)

    May 12 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Another early start. Many miles of Outback in front of us. Coming out of town pass many opal mines. See a dingo but not much wildlife - except for flies which swarmed as soon as we got out of the car (so avoided that as much as possible). Many podcasts later saw Uluru poking up. After setting up camp in the ‘resort’, go for a walkabout. Watch sunset and get a bonus full moon. Thankfully flies go away when it’s dark bRead more

  • The Breakaways

    May 11 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    With a fixed tire (2nd flat of the trip), off we went on a bike ride. Quickly established how to wear a bug hat with a helmet. Easy ride on an outback road and then turned into the red dirt. Ride along the dingo fence- 5000km long meant to keep dingos in the western side of Australia. Rode the colorful rock formations. Flies got insanely bad. Back we went, trying to pedal faster than they could keep up with. Spent the rest of the day trying to avoid the flies!Read more

  • Coober Peedy

    May 10 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Up and out early. It’s amazing how much faster you can go when don’t load up bikes. Drive for a bit, passing very large salt flats. Stop in a tiny town for gas and a break. Continue along the Stuart Highway. Continue to be glad we didn’t attempt to ride this. Set up and walk into town. Explore Opal Mines and local art. This is the opal capital of the world. Battle the flies but they do disappear as night falls.Read more

  • To the Outback

    May 9 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Another chilly morning. Head up our little hill to watch the sunrise. Pack up and head north to Blinman - lots of animals out. Turn onto gravel road and drive through Parachilna Gorge to other side of the Flinders. Opt to not go for a walk - a bit buggy. Back in car and just drive. Back through Port Augustus. Stop in roadside campground in Pimba, on the edge of nuclear test site.Read more