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Australia March - June '05 |
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One also gets to eat the strange critters that live Down Under. The picture below shows our first encounter with a cooked tenderloin of roo, we are working our buds up for Joe Camel. Emu awaits us as well. |
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Maria the Swedorean-
We became a trio in Adelaide when Sam met Maria on the side of the road. She is Swedish by adoption, culture and language and, Korean by birth. She pronounces 'joke' as 'yoke' just like a bona fide Swede! She is a wonderful travelling companion and we are all enjoying the enlarged tribal unit. |
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Flinders Ranges-
This area is north of Adelaide and at the edge of the Outback proper. Sam & Maria hiked to the top and took these pix. While there, a northernly blew in bringing the hot winds and red dirt of the southern hemisphere. Blessedly, it was a harbinger of a southerly a couple of days later that cooled the hot edge off the Outback proper where we were headed. |
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Coober Pedy -
The town where it is so Outback hot, the folks burrowed down underground to live and worship. The above ground landscape looks like the detritus of a huge ant colony. We stayed in the world's only underground campground.
Along with many pubs, there were 3 underground churches. This one is Serbian Orthodox. The mining of opals here (85% of the world's opals) brought the world's hungry and eager. One (below) never found the opal seam he sought but the town paid for him to be buried as he requested - with the keg for the last party. |
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Uluru - (a rock formerly known as Ayers)
The soul of this great continent and sacred site for the Aborigines, the place where the ancients came from and began the Dreaming that created earth. It is the largest rock on the planet. We came to think of it as the bellybutton of Australia and obviously - an outy.
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Kata Tjuta - (the Olgas)
Another large rock within visual distance of Uluru, more weathered and for us, more interesting. All of this country belongs to the Empire of the Flys and Sam was the lord of his, hence the nets hanging from our hats.
There are some that say these rocks are what was left after a 240 km wide meteor hit millions of years ago. All unknown for sure. |
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King's Canyon-
Where one of the Queens from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert went to be with her King. We did not try the hike in high heels, good thing because the 100 meter staircase was hard enough in chacos. |
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And so we say gidday to the desert sun of the Outback and head east towards the edge of the continent where there is water and rainforest. Soon we will be in scuba gear and being one with the largest living thing on the planet, the Great Barrier Reef. More in April & May . . . . |
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Our dreams for water and wetness were realized all too soon when we booked a 4-day sailing trip to the Whitsunday Islands and out to the Great Barrier Reef. The Captain said it was the most rain he had seen in months. So here we are, enjoying the cruise with our rain slickers on - no worries about southern hemisphere sunburns.
Australian ocean swimming is always a bit dicey. Either there are crocs or sharks to keep you out of the water or the threat of a close encounter with a box jelly fish, the most venomous critter on the planet. One strategically placed sting (near a vein) can result in death within an hour. So one gets to wear a not so stylish nylon stinger suit whenever swimming in ocean waters. Actually, I rather liked the attire - young and mature older were equally ugly. |
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Sam and I parted company near Brisbane - he went to the Gold Coast to hang with Collin (mate from the Lake Travis days who lives to surf ) and to try surfing and I headed to Byron Bay to hang at Camp Strebl, the 200-acre self-sustaining farm owned by a friend I met in Hawaii. It felt so good to take off my traveling shoes and lay my toothbrush in the same place for more than 2 days that I ended up staying for almost 2 months. The beach was 40 minutes away and the gardens were full of food - avocadoes, papayas, yakons, chayotes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, lemons, limes, lemonades (a real fruit, not a drink), tamarillos, and on and on and on. 4 years ago the property was an empty cow pasture but now a true testimony to the power of good dirt (volcanic), sun and rain (sub-tropical rain forest) and the masterful hand of a permaculture princess (Tania). In just 4 years, the land produces enough food for the family of 5 and the constant stream of guests. In the same 4 years, the Strebls (Tania, Wolfgang, Dario, Robby, Bianca) also constructed all the living structures at Camp Strebl. Lots of skills, commitment and energy among this group of Aussie/Germans! |
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My caravan/casita home . . . |
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My toilet and below the view from my toilet . . . |
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After 4 months in Australia, I was beginning to feel 'Aussiefied' and could say 'goodonya' and 'no worries mate' like a native.. The Aussie temperament/psyche is not that different than the Texan temperament . Perhaps related to our common heritage of wide open spaces, beer drinking and outlaw settlers. I never got to see any of Western Australia so I hope to return . . . .
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