The Red Centre

Finally my big tour with Adventure Tours started to see the probaby most iconic symbol of Australia- Uluru or as the white people called it Ayers Rock. We had another early start with Evil our tour guide (we could not guess why she was named like this by her colleagues and also don't know her real name, but this time nomen non et omen.). The fist stop was a Camel farm where I rode for the first time on one of those amazing creatures. It was very bumpy wiggling from one side to the other especially after it was forced into a slow trot. Now I fully understand why they are called ships of the desert, must get seasick on them all the same. Just imagine that the first explorers rode months on them, makes me shiver and my bumb hurt. The Camels arrived in Australia in order to be able to cross the desert of the centre that was impossible to do on horses or other transport means by then. Later one, when motorization started the Camel owner where supposed to kill their animals but instead they released them in the outback. The Camels adapted quite well and became wild. It is estimated that there are over 2 millions of them. In the afternoon we arrived in Kata Tjuta in the Pitjantjajara language this means means 'many heads'), the whites also call it "the Olgas". It is an impressive rock formation of different smoothed red rocks. The red colour is actually oxidation, that has formed over millions of year by the exposure to water and heat. We hiked through this amazing scenery and it got quite understandable for me why this is a sacred place for the Aboriginal people. Only the Trail of Winds that we took is open to the public, the rest of this mountain ranges is closed and can only be entered by the traditional owners of the land.

After this afternoon hike that left us all quite exhausted because of the dry heat, we took the bus to see the sunset over Uluru. I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed when we arrived at the sunset viewing point, not because of the rock which really is as spectacular as you could imagine it, but because I somehow thought (or better said, wished) that it was only us being able to enjoy this natural spectacle, but of course there were a lot of tour buses and other tourists wanting to see the same as us. Anyhow we found a spot a bit further up where not too many people gathered and enjoyed the changing colours of Uluru. It started out light red and got darker when the sun slowly went down and drew scar like shadows on the smooth rock. When the sun was about to vanish it grew paler until nearly all the colour seemed to be drained from it. Pretty awesome or beauuuutiful as the Australians would say. Unfortunately my pictures never capture completely the real beauty of the places, but to give you an idea I post it anyway.

After seing the sunset over the Rock we went to the campside. We could choose between sleeping in a set tent or in a Swag (kind of Australian sleeping bag) outside. I chose the latter option as the night was so clear and the stars twinkled in the sky. I have to say it was really an amazing experience sleeping with the stars above you out in the open, listening to the sounds of nature and watching the sky. Here far away from civilization and cities, the stars seem to shine much brighter and also much closer. I really slept well, although around the early morning ours it got quite fresh, nevermind, as we had to get up at 4.15 anyway to go and see the sunrise over Uluru.

That was also a pretty spectacular show, although I found that the Rock wasn't as pretty from this side as from the distance and the spot we've seen the sunset from. After the sun was all up we started with the 8km base walk around Uluru. Fortunately the climb was closed due to wind so even those tempted to climb up couldn't do it. I find it quite sad that the walk is still open, altough the rock is a holy place to the Aboriginals, and there are signs everywhere asking the tourists not to climb, but I have been told that once the walk was closed a big decrease in tourist numbers into the Park was noticed and therefore less money was made, so it got reopened. Already 35 people have died, falling off, having hear attacks and so on, as the rock is really steep and there are still those who think that they can climb it in flip flops. Anyway, we just walked around it and there are also several spots where taking pictures is forbidden as it is a sacred spot. There are different stories about the creation of Uluru, but it would take to long to write them down here, I will tell them personally to you when I come back if I remember them all. There are different levels of stories for the Aboriginal people that are about creation, their laws, lessons to the younger and so on. Most of the stories are to holy to be told to white people, so the stories we are able to read or hear are those that are told to the children.

In the afternoon we drove to the Camp side at Kings Canyon where we made a fire out of our collected firewood and cooked over it. After dinner we played cards and talked. Our group is really nice and heterogenous with different ages from 20 to over 60 (Canadien couple) and different nationalities. Once again I slept under the stars.

The next morning we started early to hike through Kings Canyon to make use of the freshness of the early morning hours, the heat will be hitting us soon. Kings Canyon (part of the Watarrka National park) is very impressive Gorge with walls that are over 300 meters high. We climbed up to the first lookout and then followed the trail through the different rock formations until we reached the "Garden of Eden". This is a very ancient garden with tropical plants that must come as close as possible to the biblical garden of eden taking into consideration that all this beauty grows within the shelter of rocks in the middle of a desert. Quite impressive.

We finished around 11 with our hike, just in time as the sun already hit very hard, and drove back to Alice Springs.

Adelaide to Alice Springs

I'm back from the Outback. Sorry it took so long, but there was no Internet around and I really was too busy to write anyway.

I am now in Darwin, relaxing at the pool, doing my laundry which is really necessary. I nearly ran out of clothes and they are all slightly reddish-brown.

Adelaide to Alice Springs

My first tour started early in the morning at 6.30 and I better got used to it as this or even earlier was the normal starting time. Thist first part of the trip to the Red centre was basically a bus drive to get from one place to the other with some stops on the way. The bus was quite ok and our tour guide a real blast. A typical Aussie guy that was really passionate about the outback and passed his enthusiasm to us. It was really amazing to see the changes of the scenery, where on the way less and less vegetation could be seen and the trees and grass gave way bit by bit to the characteristic red sand. One of our first stops was at the shore of a dried out salt lake that have been created when the ocean still reached way land inward. It was amazing to see the contrast of colours of the white of the dried out lake that streched out as fas as the blue horizon and was surrounded by red sand with view green spots of tough plants that resit the hard living conditions of the semi desert.

We spend the night in Coober Pedy, the Opal Capital of the World. After having visited the Opal mine, we passed the night in an underground hostal that was digged into the mountain. Most of the housing is done this way in this mining city as it provides natural shade during the heat of the day and warmth at night. Apart from his mining history and the strange accumulation of nationalities (47 different onces) and adventurers that bought 50 sqm land to dig for Opals there was not much to see.

The next morning we started again early and hit the road, another 800 km to do. Our route drove us by the longest man made structure which sound quite amazing, but is in fact only a Dingo fence, very long though but not as impressive as for example the Great Wall of China (sorry Aussies). We passed by interesting rock formation as for example one that is called the "two dingos" and really looks a bit like two dogs sitting cl0se together. And then there was of course the red sand, and more rocks and more sand wherever you looked. The street that we followed was so straight that it seemed endless and fused with the desert beside it. The cars we crosse could be counted in 1 hand and each of them was greated by our guide as a friend. By the way this seems to be the normal thing to do here in Australia to wave to every car you cross. I won't be trying this in Madrid or I will have a sore hand after less then 5 minutes.

We arrived in Alice Springs after having done 1580km in 2 days and only reached the middle of this enormous country.

There is not much to tell about Alice Springs. It is a city in the middle of nowhere with aprox. 20.000 inhabitants and with an Aboriginal population of 60%. It has a mall, some bars and caffees and is home to the "Royal Flying Doctors". All in all, I rather found it a bit depressing, must have been the heat that I have longed for so long and now came as wave over me. I will need some time to adapt.

Adelaide

Finally I am able to put on shorts, I have been freezing for long enough. I am now over 1500 km away from Adelaide in the red center in the Northern Territory city Alice Springs. But I am going to quickly, I will start first with my getting drunk on good wine experience.

The Barossa Valley:

As Australia is an important wine producing country I had to see of course the wineyards of those nice wines that we drink. So I joined a wine tasting tour to the Barossa Valley, close to Adelaide to get a close look, and also try a little tiny bit of wine. (Ok I admit, I mainly went for the wine tasting, and not so much for the scenery). It was a really nice trip and the group was good fun. Before we had our first sip of wine, we stopped for breakfast and getting some base at the world largest rocking horse. It seems that the Australian like big things, even in the absurdest form. It's a big country.

Our first wine tasting stop was at Jakob's Creek winery. As expected, the founder was German and taught the "English" how to produce wine. We got a brief overview over the history, a look around the visitor's center, completely build to blend in with the environment and out of recycled materials. The the anticipated part started. We tried different wines, starting with white ones, over rose and then the red ones getting explained how to smell and really tast wine to discover the different aromas.

In the next winery it was more about getting drunk, but of course with style. Here are some pictures of my wintasting adventure.

The group was really great and we had a lot of fun. Although it looks as if I was already a bit tipsy on the picture, it is NOT the case, that was only my third glass.

Great Ocean Road

G'day again. I am really sorry for the time span within my entries but it is not that easy to keep up an activity such as writing when you are sooo relaxed.

I am currently in Adelaide but how I got here and my adventures on the way you will find hereunder:

Short stay in Melbourne:

Arriving from Hobart, I went directly to the hostal booked for the next 2 nights. I realized very quickly that due to the high volume of noise coming from the bar there would't be much sleep for the next nights. Unfortunately that was the case, as the windows here are not very well isolated and the people drinking in the bar and the inner court did not really try to keep the volume down. Thats life at a backpackers.

The next morning I did some shopping at the Victoria market and then had the best breakfast ever in Carlton park: Sitting on the grass, watching the clouds pass by and eating fresh walnut bread and Tasmanian Brie with a georgious Cafe latte. What is there more to life than this. After this delightful breakfast, the clouds got thicker that is why I decided to make it a museums day. I entered the Melbourne museum at around 11:20 and did not leave until after 4.30. It is a really amazing place with so much to see and experience. The best was to start with a guided tour with volunteer tourguide Harry (about 80 years old but still does bush walking, they are quite tough over here). I learned a lot about the state of Victoria during this tour, and was also in the company of a nice local family. The Melbourne museum is a kind of interactive, modern museum, with different sections such as animals (local animals, bugs, marine life), body and soul (explaining for example how dreams work), Aboriginal life (art and culture) etc.

Then I tried to avoid another sleepless night through drinking some beer, but I reckon it wasn't enough.

The Great Ocean Road:

Early the next morning, I started my trip with Wildlife tours along the Great Ocean road that streches for 350 km from Geelong towards Adelaide. We were 11 on board including Kurt the tour guide. The trip was really amazing, starting with the astonishing coastline scenery and finishing with all the nice people in the group. Our first stop was the Bells Beach (where Patrick Swazy committed suicide in the surfer movie Point Break). A lot of surf competitions are celebrated there, when we arrived there was also something going on.

And then I finally saw my first wildlife Koala. First we spottet some high up in the tree and of course I made a lot of pictures seing in them only a dark dot in the distance, but then we were lucky and one of the Koalas was sitting on a really low branch. Only after being poked to much by some spectators he got fed up and moved up. Here is the picture of the cute, but very lazy animal.

In the afternoon we finally arrived to see the 12 Apostles, stone formation in the sea. Although the name is very poetic, there never really were 12 rocks but only 10 and of those 3 have already collabsed into the sea. Anyhow, still very amazing, especially from the sky out of the window of a helicopter. Yes, I had my first ever heliflight and it was fantastic.

Next we went to see the London Bridge, were one of the arks collabsed in 1990 while a couple was on the bridge, rumours say they were having an affair and due to this incident got caught in flagranti, but it is not confirmed.

Our last sight seeing stop was only some km away from the bridge and the 12 apostles but with less known because the tour buses normally don't stop there. It is a nice beach with rocks similar to the 12 apostles in the sea. Unfortunately I forgot the name.

For dinner we had kanguru and we also spotted them around the hostal in Halls Gap, Grampions national park. The same happened again, made a lot of pictures of Kangurus in the dark, but the next day I could see them at daylight and up close. They are not the cleverest of animals as they don't really run away, but let you get very close.

Grampions:

The next morning we drove up to the Grampions to get the beautiful view over the mountains and the park including the "jaws of death" . Some even climed up, but I would never do this :-)

We finally woke up when putting our feet into the ice cold water at the McKenzie falls. Fortunately it was still to cold to go swimming, if not, probably Kurt would have proposed to do so to get the real wildlife experience. After Lunch I had to leave the group as I went on to Adelaide and they returned to Melbourne.

Tasmania part II

Strahan:

After the excitement of my outdoor experience I took the bus to Strahan, a nice little town at the western coast of Tasmania. Fortunately the bus driver took me up to the hostal, where I had to ring out the park keeper to get me a room. By the way, all of the busdrivers I had were very nice people bringing you up to the door if you wish to, the Madrid bus driver should learn from them, they even close the door in front of your nose if you arrive a bit late. Strahan is right at the edge of the rainforest, that is why it rains about 300 of the 365 days a year. Good that I am already used to getting wet. The first day I spend with washing my stinky disgusting shoes, trousers and so on. The next day I went on a river cruise along the Gordon river, which is also part of a protected area. We landed at Sarah island, which was the first of the prisoner's settlements. Only view of the buildings were still recognizable but thanks to the detailed descriptions of our nice (just for girls: very yummy ranger guide) I could quite imagine how life was for those poor Victorian devils that were shipped for steeling some bread to Australia. On board I met a very nice family from Adelaide who invited me for dinner the same night. I really had a wonderful evening, getting more information about where to go nex, reading bed time stories to 3 year old Sarah, and especially eating a nice lamb burger. The next morning, while the weather was still nice, I went for a walk around the harbour. In the evening it was time to enjoy some culture, the play "the ship that never was" told the story about the prisoners who stole a ship in order to escape. They made it up to Chile but unfortunately later on 4 of the ten were again captured. The great thing about the play was, that although it was only starred by 2 actors (one was the nice tour guide) they included the audience. Even I had a part, I played the Scottish shipbuilder Mr. Hoyt who surrendered when the ship was taken by the prisoners.

Port Arthur:

The next day was travelling day, heading back to Hobart. Having already seen the first prisoner's settlement in Australia, I had to see of course as well the next and most important one, Tasmanias number 1 tourism site Port Arthur. I went on a day trip with a bus and mostly elderly people, well I am older now as well, so I really can't say anyting. The penitentiary site of Port Arthur is romantically set on a peninsula and has a nice natural, and as I've been told, one of the deepest, natural harbours. Now it has easy access roads but in 1833 the only way to get there was by boat. Although the tale of Port Arthur is sad and full of torture and misery nowadays it looks a bit like being in the English country side. I will not bore you with details about it, just as much as the model for Port Arthur was discipline and punishment, religous and moral instruction, classification and separation, training and education. By 1840 over 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff, lived at the site producing ships, furniture, clothing and so on. It closed down as a prison in 1877 as the last convict shipment arrived in 1853.

Hobart:

This evening I will be flying back to Melbourne. This morning I walked to the "Royal Botanical Garden" had a nice fish and chips lunch and will now pack up and leave. More to come soon.