MelbourneI started my Australian adventure in Melbourne. I stayed in the beachy neighborhood of St Kilda, which all the guide books and websites dubbed “shabby chic.” Coming from Dhaka, I couldn’t see the shabbiness…no rubble, no trash being burned next to the roads, no beggars, no livestock roaming the streets. I guess everything is relative. The weather was chilly, which made it quite pleasant to walk the fair distance to the art museums and other sights. I absolutely loved the museums. There was some amazing contemporary and aboriginal art on display. I also got to catch up with Jelena, who I met last year in Vietnam. We went out for Italian food and then to a bustling bakery with millions of yummy treats to choose from.
The Outback
Next I flew off to Adelaide to meet up with an outback tour to Alice Springs. It was a pretty mixed group of people…a Brit touring Australia and New Zealand for 6+ months, a French gal living in Perth, an Indian guy living in Papua New Guinea, a trio of Swiss folks, a German girl (there was a love connection between the German and one of the Swiss), an older Czech lady who has lived in Melbourne for many years, a young Czech couple, and an Aussie man traveling with his current Korean wife and daughter as well as his Korean ex-wife and their son, our crazy guide (more about Steve later), and me. It was a hoot conversing with our various accents and levels of English.
The first two nights of camping in the desert were amazing. It was warm and clear so I didn't even set up a tent, I just slept in my swag (a waterproof bedroll that a held little foam mattress
and my sleeping bag). Since we were far from cities, or even houses, you could see the Milky Way against the inky black night. The 3rd night was less pleasant…there were still loads of twinkly stars, but there were also loads of mosquitoes buzzing around. By the fourth day there were so many mosquitoes and flies bonking against your face and flying up your nose that sleeping without a tent was impossible. In fact when you weren’t in a tent you had to wear a fly net over your head so that the pesky flies didn’t drive you absolutely mad. This made eating a bit tricky in addition to making us all look like beekeepers in mourning.Most of the campsites were pretty rustic (meaning, we just stopped in the middle of the desert). Many days we’d stop somewhere for lunch where there was a spigot of some sort so we could fill up our water containers for the night. Washing hands and dishes was a bit grubby…it
was definitely better to be at the beginning of the hand washing line because by the end the water in the plastic tub was more or less dirt brown colored. About every 3rd day we stayed at a campsite where there were actual showers and maybe even an electrical outlet to recharge batteries. This seemed the grandest of all luxuries…again, everything is relative.We did a fair bit of hiking in grand locales. The landscape reminded me so much of the southwestern US: red sands, scrubby brush, canyons and rocky outcroppings. This is my favorite kind of landscape. I think it’s the contrast of the red, brown, jaggedy-strong rocks and the rare bits of green and animal-life.
In recent weeks it had rained quite a bit in northern Australia,
which meant that as water traveled south things became a bit greener than normal. So, plants looked only mostly dead rather than all the way dead. We were also treated to rare plants like the Stuart Desert Pea which only grow when rainwater filters oh so slightly into the desert (about once every 9 or so years). The rains also meant that we were treated to more swimming holes than normal. This was a mixed blessing. I do love my swimming holes, but Steve, the insane guide, was obsessed with swimming. So what started as a lovely treat on our first hot day felt a bit like a crazed compulsion by the end of the trip.Most Aussies I met seemed to like telling people about how something or other wherever you were could kill you in 20 min or less. Steve seemed to take particular glee in this. He also had some kind of critter fetish. We’d be driving along and suddenly make a u-turn to chase after
some lizard or snake he had spotted by the side of the road. Then he’d leap out of the van and start poking the grass with a shovel. He’d tell us to stay in the bus with the windows closed…I guess so that these poisonous creatures couldn’t spring into the bus. Deadly, jumping critters were not the only threat. My fave Steve quote is “It’s very windy today. If the wind takes your hat, don’t chase it. If you chase your hat today you will die.” Crikey! The thought of chasing a hat one minute and being swept off your feet by a gust of wind and plummeting to the depths of the canyon naturally made me giggle a bit. To Steve’s credit, he did take us to see Dinky the singing dingo. I have always been a fan of absurd tourist attractions. So I fell in love with the dingo that stomps on a piano and howls. I believe I would have named him Jerry Lee rather than Dinky.I spent Christmas in the bush. I was put on cow-dung detail once we set up camp. Steve insisted that according to Aboriginal wisdom, burning cow dung drives away mosquitoes. I can honestly say, I never expected to be collecting cow dung on Christmas Eve. I found it interesting that after that night we used mosquito coils rather than cow dung. I suspect it was Steve’s evil Christmas present to convince the tourists to collect dung.
New Year’s Eve we rolled into Alice Springs, a small outback town that only seems to exist as a starting point for treks to Uluru, Kata Tjuja, Kings Canyon, and the MacDonald ranges. Most of
us tried the “roo (kangaroo) steak” for dinner. It was quite yummy…a very lean but tender steak. There was a band playing which included a digeridoo player. I have never cared for the sound of didgeridoo, but I have to admit that I loved the way the funky beats sounded with this crazy instrument. Later there was a didgeridoo competition. My group included the best (Caroline) and worst (me). Caroline won one of the band’s CDs. I won a jug of beer. They say that whatever you are doing on New Year’s Eve indicates what will happen in the next year. I’m thinking that the didgeridoo competition indicates that I should aim low in 2009…it’ll bring me glory, most likely in the form of beer. ☺Cairns/ Great Barrier Reef
After the outback, I flew to the beach. It was nice being back in a town. I ate well and drank well. The beaches were pretty, but the highlight was my trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Until going there I hadn’t realized the expanse of the reef. It’s miles wide and a few thousand miles long. I took a daytrip which stopped at 2 spots. One was an island made of sand from ground coral, the other was a place on the outer reef which is typically deeper and has a wider variety of sea life.
I tried an introductory dive. They are only 30 min long and a dive master basically holds your hand throughout. I was apprehensive about this, but figured the place to try scuba would be the Great Barrier Reef. Before you get to dive, the dive master gives you a 20 min talk about safety and basic skills. Once you get to the dive site, you have to go through a series of basic skills tests, or as I think of them “freak out tests.” I almost didn’t pass the first test, which really wasn’t a test…it only involved jumping into the water. The crew strapped all the gear onto me then helped me stand up and told me to jump. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the prospect of jumping in the water with gear that I couldn’t even stand up in solo was a bit daunting. I had to ask, “You want me to jump…in the ocean…now…from the boat…really?” I was happily surprised when the floaty vest actually did keep me and a 10 ton oxygen tank afloat. I felt good. I felt like I could do it. Then Taka, the dive master, had me go below the surface of the water. I was surprised that I almost immediately needed to clear my ears…I reckon breathing compressed oxygen had something to do with that. I was able to clear my mask just fine. Then Taka made me clear water from the respirator. Three times in a row I freaked out and had to surface to clear it rather than pressing on the thing I was supposed to press on. Each time I surfaced I thought about what Taka had said in the safety talk about how holding your breath will make your lungs explode. He was very patient. After 3 tries, all the good feelings had left me. I simply stated “I don’t think I like this. I think I need to stop.” Taka seemed very surprised. I have to admit, Taka’s lack of English had something to do with it. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he knew what he was doing. I just never thought I understood what he was saying well enough. And by that point, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy anything, I’d just think about exploding lungs.
So I got back on the boat, took off the scuba gear, and went snorkeling. The snorkeling was fabulous! The coral was gorgeous. I saw giant clams, tons of fish, a few rays. It was so much fun. The only bad thing was the jellyfish. I had a stinger suit on, yet I would see jellies out of the corner of my eye and freak out. This was mostly because the crew had told us about these invisible jellies that cause cardiac arrest in 19 min or less. So I’d see a jelly, freak out, then swim directly into it with my forehead or upper lip (the only 2 spots on my body that weren’t covered by the stinger suit). It hurt, rather than merely itched as the crew said it would. That would convince me that I was going to die in 19 min or less. Then I’d see some other cool fish and start taking pictures and forget that I was going to die. Being ADD can be a good thing. I had the best time!Sydney
The last stop on my holiday trip was Sydney. I stayed in the King’s Cross neighborhood, which happens to be the red light district. Sydney’s red light district bore no resemblance to the dangerous and dilapidated one where I lived in DC. There were upscale shops, restaurants, and hotels sprinkled in with the “gentlemen’s clubs,” adult bookstores, and hostels. I liked the quirky mix of classy seediness.
The opera house was gorgeous. I took the requisite tour, enjoyed lunch along the harbor, and
had the great luck to see Madame Butterfly, my second favorite opera (My favorite is La Boheme, also by Puccini). I had some fun conversations on the balcony before the opera and during intermission. One woman was so tickled to be there that she laughed graciously after I threw about half of the contents of my wine glass onto her leg. I was trying to take a picture of myself. The camera, wine, and my sweater were just a bit too much to manage. I continued to fumble around after the woman moved away. The couple that was standing next to me offered to take my picture. I think they realized that they would be the next to be doused with wine in my attempt to photograph myself.I do love the opera. The sets were deceptively simple, yet rice paper screens and backdrops with thousands of brightly lit stars swished on an off the stage magically. At one point, cherry blossoms fluttered down from the rafters. The performance itself was marvelous. Of course I cried at the end; nearly everyone in the audience was sniffling. However I lost a contact lens as a result. It’s always a bit embarrassing when the house lights come up and you have clearly been weeping. It’s appalling when you realize that you are also blind in one eye. So I did the only thing I could do…I stopped at a harbor-side café for oysters and champagne.
I spent the rest of my time walking around the city, visiting museums, and eating, eating, eating. I just love roaming around places with outdoor cafés. You walk awhile; you people watch and eat awhile. It was fun walking across the Harbor Bridge. I had a nice conversation with an older couple from Ireland. We were all just ambling along and kept bumping into each other as we took pictures, moseyed, then stopped again to admire another view.
And now I’m back in Dhaka. Perhaps I’ll get around to unpacking this weekend…later this weekend!
1 comment:
WOW! Great update!!!! I also checked out all your photos. I miss travelling with you.
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