I Wanna Be a Travel Writer - March 1, Survivor II: The Australian Campout

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I Wanna Be a Travel Writer

March 1 - Survivor II: The Australian Campout

Whether you hated Jerri, drooled over Colby, or fell in love with Elisabeth - there's no denying that the Ogakor and Kucha tribes were camped out in a pretty sweet spot to lose weight, win a car, and strategize their way to getting the million dollar prize.

"Might as well have called it Survivor: the Australian Coast," said Kym at the Innisfail Tourist Center as she pulled out a map of the Atherton Tablelands and tried to show me where she thought they went. Survivor II: The Australian Outback, wasn't quite as remote as one would think you'd have to be in order to be considered Outback.

When the location of the filming site was still secretive, I'd found a map on a Survivor fan website that said they shot the series on a private cattle ranch near the Upper Herbert River. It showed the closest towns to be Mt. Garnet and Ravenshoe. With only that knowledge, and a few road maps that covered the Atherton tableland area, I left Barry's Drive-Thru pie shop in Innisfail at 10:00am and headed west on the Palmerston Highway towards Ravenshoe.

Admittedly, I had been gripped by Survivor mania since I applied to be on the first show in Borneo, and was excited to see how close I could get to where they filmed second series. Before I left, a girl I'd just met said she had a friend who's parents were good friends with the people who owned the farmland where they filmed. What a connection! Some calls were made on my behalf, but the land owners didn't want me anywhere near their property. I was disappointed, but if the small towns closest to the film site were such a treasure that everyone was protecting them, I figured there'd be a story in that as well.

Nearly an hour and 71km later, I reached the township of Millaa Millaa. The name is Aboriginal for "water water", and staying true to it's definition, the gray clouds that had been both before, and behind me, turned to drizzle. Millaa Millaa is home to the most popular lookout on the tablelands. Located on McHugh Road between Millaa Millaa and the Kennedy Highway, it has 180 degree views that reach as far as Atherton and the coast near Innisfail. Had the weather been better, I would have taken the time to explore the waterfall circuit. Following signs "Tourist Drive 9" and "Theresa Creek Road," there is a popular scenic drive that goes through dairy country and passes through a stretch of dirt road between Ellinjaa Falls and Zillie Falls.

Gum trees

Instead I took the 27km scenic route along The Old Palmerston Highway between Millaa Millaa and Ravenshoe. It was a winding single lane bitumen road that meandered through what felt like a natural tunnel because of the green walls of tropical foliage that seemed to arch over from either side. As I emerged from the rainforest and drove into some farmland, I couldn't help but laugh at the yellow children's bus stop signs that I was seeing. I knew I was within a few hours of the Survivor site, and it certainly didn't feel like I was anywhere near what I had read and heard about the Australian Outback.

I arrived in Ravenshoe at 11:30. The town had more of a presence than I expected for just a small dot on the map. Ravenshoe, most noted as the highest town in Queensland at 920m, was founded as a timber town in 1910. Today with a population of 900, it's on top of the Great Dividing Range and is the gateway between both the Atherton Tableland and the Gulf Savannah.

Elly at the visitor's information stand welcomed me like a friend of her daughter's who'd just come home for a high school reunion. While she didn't know anything about the CBS crew that came through, she was quick to jump on the phone and start calling friends to see if they knew of anyone who did. I asked her if the locals were apprehensive of tourists coming through because of the show, and she just shook her head and suggested that they could use publicity.

Elly's calls put me in touch with a Queensland Park Ranger, and I spent a good hour with him going over maps with more specific details of where they filmed. According to him, after numerous attempts, the plane was finally able to land and drop the Survivors off at Princess Hills near the edge of Lumholtz National Park. From there they hiked in the five miles to their prospective camps. They also did a lot of the filming at Blencoe Falls, where I can only assume is where they held tribal council.

When I asked the ranger if I could drive there, he asked what kind of a car I had and then laughed at my silver rental sedan. Four-wheel drives were the only vehicles to get down those roads, and not even at this time of the year in February. He must have seen the alternate possibilities forming in my head because he added that Cashmere Creek is all flooded out and there was nothing getting through this time of the year.

"People are going to have to put a big effort in to get there," he said as we talked about the possibility of tourists coming through to visit the area when the weather was better.

I asked him about the crew coming through, and if any of the locals had hung out with them. A bit agitated, he said that they had seen the big white trucks passing through, but there was little interaction with any of them.

"To me it was a really big disappointment that there were very few local people to come see how the logistics of how they operated the whole thing," he said. Mark Burnett kept the location of the show very secret and apparently even the local townspeople weren't allowed to be involved too much. The ranger said that whatever manpower and supplies the crew did need, they got from Cairns.

---

I sat in the car 4km outside of Mt. Garnet with the car pointed down the road that led 84km to Blencoe Falls. It was 3:30pm. I thought about the road ahead of me and just didn't want to turn back. All but one local from Ravenshoe and Mt. Garnet told me not to take this road with my front-wheeled drive rental car. It was a fiery haired woman at the Mt Garnet Café that said I could do it. If she knew that I was capable of eating a burger piled high with a fried egg, beets, bacon, carrots, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pineapple, cheese and barbeque sauce, I guess she saw it in me to handle a little red dirt. I stepped on the gas and didn't look back.

The road turns red

The first bit of road was paved, with on and off spots of dirt road. I imagined that the locals might have had it all wrong, and that the Survivor crew might have paved this road so that their supply trucks could get to them more easily. However, it didn't take long for the gravel to disappear into a deep and dark red earth.

The ranger had been right about the road. There was no way a proper car wash was going to clean away the evidence of me taking the rental on unsecured roads. At the same time, it wasn't rough enough to need four-wheel drive so I trudged on. After driving about half an hour into the road and only seeing a few cars pass in a swirl of dust, I wondered what I'd do if I got a flat. There wasn't much sun left in the day and I was hours worth of walking time back to the main road or to the cattle stations further on. Naturally, I didn't have a mobile with me either.

I drove and drove with the excitement that it was possible to get so close to the location that had been protected with such seriousness during the filming. The gum trees and wayward cows were somehow welcoming me with a casual indifference. The clouds quickly moving through the blue sky above were enticing and hypnotic.

The road became bumpier than I could handle at 70km/h and I slowed to about 50km/h and less. I hoped the tires would hold up. Then, after a bit of rockiness I realized that I had to go to the bathroom. Not a car to be seen, I got out and went behind the car, still attempting to hide myself from the nothingness that was out there. What did the Survivors do for this? They never told on the Borneo show. Did they build a communal bathroom? Or were they digging their six inches every time. I laughed as I imagined a series of overturned earth piles out there marking where each person had been. This squatting stuff would get old. The girls must've built themselves some kind of stool.

As I drove on, it started to rain.

I passed an outpost named Gunawarra and kept going. Dusk was upon me and I kept wondering if I should turn back. I'd still be on the road after dark and I wasn't sure how smart that was. But I didn't want to stop. Every so often I'd pass a sign by the side of the road that indicated that the road was a flood zone. I held onto hope that Cashmere Creek would be dry as well.

Suddenly, I saw a kangaroo hop across the road. My first kangaroo! Then another, and another. They were so small. Maybe three feet tall. I had always thought that they were as tall as people. They just stood there on the side of the road, staring at me. Frozen. As if I couldn't see them. It was both thrilling, and also frustrating that I'd have to slow down each time till they unglued themselves and hopped off into the bush. I got to 49 kangaroos before I stopped counting.

Glen Eagle Station

Finally I reached Glen Eagle station. I couldn't believe that I had made it to the edge of the ranch! Even if the owners hadn't wanted me to come, I still proved that it was possible. Maybe the ranger had been wrong, maybe I could still make it to Blencoe Falls. I turned down the road that led to their property.

The holes in the dirt road were pretty large and I knew that this would be the worst place to get stuck. Especially after they had said they didn't want me anywhere near their property. But I worked my way around the bumps and edged on. All I could see were gum trees. Kangaroos watched me from both sides of the road as if they were the enforcers of the "No Trespassing" sign in front of me. I wanted to go on and see what was in there. But I didn't want to run into owners.

Reluctantly I turned around and went back to the dirt road that kept going towards the falls. To my disappointment, I was at Cashmere Creek within a few minutes. And yes, it was flooded. I had driven 77km down this road and I was only minutes from the falls. I looked up and down the creek to see if there were dry spots where I could drive around, but it was all wet. A sign in the middle of the flooded creek said that the water was 2m deep. I had to laugh. This is practically where they filmed the show and there was a bus stop no more than an hour and half away from here. Sure, they had to fend for themselves in harsh conditions, but if there weren't camera crews watching their every move, they could have spent all day walking back to Mt. Garnet for a great big burger. After all, they were in a National Park!

I got back in the car and looked at the clock. It was 5:20pm. Hopefully I'd make it off the road with no major problems. Wanting to get back, I tried to drive a little faster, took the bumps a little harder, and smiled at knowing I was in Australia. I was driving in a car in Australia minutes away from where they filmed Survivor. This was crazy. I had talked about wanting to be here for many months and now I was, doing exactly what I had wanted to do - exactly what I said I would do. It was a little weird to sit with that moment and feel my adventure that had just been a notion months before, actualize itself.

When I got back to Mt. Garnet, I drove past the pub and knew that I wasn't quite done yet. I turned around and parked the car up the street. I didn't feel like talking to anyone. I had to though. Bill from Mt. Garnet BP gas station had said that there was an Aboriginal guy who had worked with the film crew and that he usually was around the pub.

I walked past a wild bunch who had their eyes glued to the keno machines. To the left was another bar and I walked in and pulled up a stool. I ordered a pot and wondered what I'd say and who I'd start talking to first. But in a town with a population barely over 400, the regulars know who's new in town. Besides, what kind of young woman just walks into a small town bar after dark?

Brandy and the Catman

A scraggly man named Brandy with a toothless smile and a harmless friendliness wasn't long in asking me who I was and where I was from. As soon as he found out I was in town hunting down the ghosts of the Survivor set, he called over to the Catman.

Alexander Hooligan, a.k.a the Catman, was one of two locals hired to hunt down the bush tucker for one of the episodes on the show. As soon as he found out I was a "journo", he lit up to talk about the show and the other journos that had both come through town and called in for quotes.

I asked him if there were any crocodiles near the campgrounds and he said, "No, there were crocs at the bottom of the gorge, but the people were at the top." I could barely understand him. He had a low voice, thick accent, and boy was he the king of mumblers. I felt stupid asking him to repeat himself over and over, but I really wanted to know what he was saying. He said it was a regular party down there and that at the crew site they had built their own pub. The Catman took his time looking for the bush tucker, bragged about setting his own schedule, and smiled remembering all the free beer at the makeshift pub.

Excited to tell someone new about it, Brandy and the Catman quickly pulled over Mick, the owner of the pub. Mick's enthusiasm towards Mt. Garnet's Survivor experience, was considerably less enthusiastic.

Brandy, Jen and the Catman

We're the closest township to the site and they didn't give us anything," Mick said with clear disdain.

"How could they come through and not even stop for a beer or some food?" I asked.

"Maybe one of the drivers might've, but they didn't eat it here. Go to the post office and ask them, they didn't even buy a stamp," said Mick.

I went back to talking to Brandy and the Catman. They made all sorts of promises to take me out bush when the weather cleared, and I happily shouted another round of piss knowing that I wouldn't be back again.

---

Though the visitor's centers I went to didn't know about The Adventure Company at the time I was exploring the area, I was thrilled to later discover that an "Official Survivor Tour" existed.

From May till the end of November, eight day trips will be taken from Cairns to Goshen Station where Survivor II: The Australian Outback was filmed. Small groups with a minimum of four and a maximum of 16 persons will be led on an adventure that includes hiking, mountain biking, three days of canoeing and visiting both the Ogakor and Kucha camps. They will simulate some of the reward and immunity challenges in the exact locations they were shot, participate in a mock tribal council and even vote someone off the tour. Actually, since they'll be paying for the tour, no one will get kicked off and one participant will get voted most likely Survivor.

When I asked operator Andrew Dineen what kind of food they would serve on the trip, he said, "They'll get rice," and then laughed with the enthusiasm that can only come from jokes that haven't been over told. "They'll be getting high quality barbequed food such as steak...as well as rice," he added.

To reserve your place on a tour, call The Adventure Company. 011+61 7 4051-4777, or check out their website. U.S. $1080 pp.

Tracking the Story 5 Things that helped me in my research 1. Talk to the locals Jeremy, my seatmate on my train ride up to Townsville gave me the great idea of interviewing a history teacher at one of the universities. He also went over my map with a pen and marked out his favorite pubs and cafes in Townsville. 2. Quotes, Quotes, Quotes You can never get enough quotes. By the end of the day I was tired and wanted to go home. However I stuck it out, hit one more stop, and ended up meeting the most interesting character on the trip. 3. Don't forget the basics When turning in a travel story to a newspaper, you're usually asked for all sorts of general info to go with it. Brochures at visitor's centers can give you all sorts of leads for your where to stay, and what to do items. I found some booklets that had a lot of info on the areas grouped together. It cost two or three bucks, but it was worth it and gave me an organized outline of tour operators and park resources to call. 4. Research Libraries are a great resource for finding information on an area that is new to you. There are usually special shelves or sections of local interest. Also, most libraries these days have free internet access that are available for reservation in half hour blocks. Sometimes they'll let you stay longer if no one is lined up behind you. 5. Keeping Notes Have a reporters notepad or a similar spiral notebook that you can take notes with, and have them in one organized spot for later when you need to turn back to them.

Getting there on your own
After I had returned from my quest, I also found that there was a much easier way to get to the Survivor site. Skipping the scenic tour of the Wet Tropics and the Atherton Tablelands, the quickest way to get to Blencoe Falls is to drive south from Cairns, or north from Townsville along the Bruce Hwy to Cardwell. This is a peaceful stretch of two lane divided road that runs along sugar cane and banana plantations. The falls are about 81 km from Cardwell along a road that is only advisable to drive on in dry weather.

Drive 10km north of Cardwell and take a left at The Kennedy store. Follow the bitumen for 7km before turning right into the partly graveled Kirrama Road. Continue traveling for 29km before turning left at the sign for the Blencoe Falls. From here you'll find several picnic spots on the 18km to Blencoe Creek. From the first picnic spot is a walking track that will take you to the top of the falls. Beyond the picnic spots, across the creek, and 1km from the bridge is a turn-off which leads for 6km to a good lookout with views across the Falls and over the Herbert River Gorge. Take note that the Kennedy store is the last stop for fuel and provisions.

To have your own camp out in the Herbert River Valley, book a tent site and get your permit at Lumholtz National Park through:

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services
Ingham District Office
Lannercost Street
PO Box 1293
Ingham, Qld 4850
(07) 4776 1700

or

Cardwell Information Center
Bruce Highway
PO Box 74
Cardwell, Qld 4816
(07) 4066 8601

To find out other camping options in Queensland from the bush to the beach, call the Environmental Protection Agency - Customer Service Centre on (07) 3227 8185, email csc@epa.qld.gov.au or visit www.env.qld.gov.au/environment/recreation

To get Queensland's Motoring Holiday Guide visit www.queensland-holidays.com.au or call 13 88 33 (when in Australia)

For road information, visit Queensland's Transport website at www.transport.qld.gov.au

For 24 hour road reports, visit www.racq.com.au or call 1 300 130 595 (inside Australia)

For more info on Survivor II: The Australian Outback, check out:

Survivor II Fansites:

• The Official CBS Survivor Site
• SurvivorFans.com
• The Unofficial Survivor II Fan Page
• Survivor Blows
• Big Fins Survivor Site
• Survivor Minute

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