|
| Sydney, New South Wales |
We started, where most do, in Sydney. It is a city among cities. It's
busy harbor, striking Opera House and multicultural flare were all there for the exploring ... but we had travel plans to
deal with, so the sight-seeing was put on hold. While we waited for our Chinese visas to be processed we travelled six hours
north to the town of Kempsey and were introduced to real country (or "bush") living by John and Myree Cruickshanks.
BOILING THE BILLY
|
| Port Macquarie, New South Wales |
We knew we were in for a real Aussie treat the first time Myree pulled out
the homemade ANZAC biscuits and John prepared to boil the billy for coffee (for explanation see: "Waltzing Mathilda")
On our visit, we saw our first kangaroos, learned about at least a dozen
types of birds you won't see anywhere else in the world, saw koalas at a rehabilitation hospital and admired beautiful beach
after beautiful beach.
THE SURFING SALESMAN
|
| Manly Beach, New South Wales |
Two things you learn quickly about Australians is that they love the
outdoors and they love their sports. There is no better personification of these traits than our host upon our return to Sydney,
Paul Shipley. Not only does Paul live in the surf mecca of Manly Beach, he rises early every day (sometimes before the
sun) to go surfing AND he delivers weekly surf reports as "Shippers, The Surfing Salesman" for the radio station where he
works
|
| Sydney, New South Wales |
Shippers and his girlfriend, Jenn, continuted our Oz education:
Garvin learning about cricket, Karen learning about Australian wines, and both completing their education on animals Down
Under with a trip to the Sydney Zoo (that's an echidna on the right, by the way).
|
| Sydney, New South Wales |
While in Sydney we also kept up a tradition of ours: running across famous
bridges. So add to our growing list (Golden Gate, Brooklyn) the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Just so happens on that day it poured
rain. We can't complain, though, seeing as Australia has been suffering through it's worst drought in a century, and everybody
in the city was thrilled to get their first significant rain in months.
NULLARBOR. IT MEANS "NO TREES"
|
| Adelaide, South Australia |
Getting across the bridge was easy, though, compared to our next task: getting
across the country from Sydney to Perth (about as far as New York to LA). We talked about flying, ride-sharing, even hitch-hiking,
but eventually decided to board the Indian Pacific. The IP is the second longest railway in the world and travels straight
through the Outback.
The three-day journey took us through miles and miles of, well, nothing.
It took an entire day just to cross the Nullarbor Plain (on the world's longest stretch of straight railroad - nearly
300 miles). Nullarbor, by the way, means "no trees" in Latin. As you can see the name fits.
|
| Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia |
The train did stop once in the Nullarbor, at the former railroad, almost
ghost town of Cook. The present population is just four ... and with good reason.
|
| Cook, South Australia |
When you are staring at a whole lot of nothing for that long, you can imagine
what a thrill it is to see a change, any change, in scenery. Thus, we were very excited to spot big red kangaroos, emus (an
ostrich-like bird), and a herd of wild camels.
|
| Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia |
Asked if we would do the trip again, the answer would be "yes," but next
time in a sleeper car. Three days sleeping upright takes a toll on your back. Even so, it was good training for the Trans-Mongolian,
now just a couple of months away.
CLEANING (up after) MISS DAISY
Now, we may have left our "real" jobs behind, but that doesn't mean we are
opposed to doing some work on the road. So, for a week in Western Australia we toiled, sweated, ate and slept on a farm. Through
the organization WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) we found ourselves at Bossy Boots Organic Farm in Balingup, about
four hours south of Perth.
|
| Balingup, Western Australia |
The Benson/Creagh family welcomed us with open arms and put us to work right
away. We picked tomatoes, eggplant, pears, and figs; we planted broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage; and we cut tomatoes ...
a lot of tomatoes for sun-drying (we even built the tables on which to dry them).
|
| Balingup, Western Australia |
|
| Balingup, Western Australia |
The crowning achievement, though, of our work efforts had to be cleaning
Daisy's home. Daisy, of course, being the farm's pig. (feel free to insert joke here about that job being not too different
than the one's we had).
|
| Balingup, Western Australia |
|
| Balingup, Western Australia |
Our work was rewarded with great hospitality from the Bossy Boots clan (Roz,
Tom, Leonie, 3 year old Jack, and 11 month old Harry) including some great meals. We were given our first taste not only of
kangaroo meat, but also some tasty emu pie ("first you see 'em, then you eat 'em" we say). We left the farm with a much greater
appreciation of just how much work goes into growing the food we eat.
|
| Nambung National Park, Western Australia |
Finally, with only a few days left in our Australian adventure we rented
a car and headed north from Perth to do some sightseeing. We arrived at Nambung National Park just before sunset. We
had come to see the Pinnacles: a sea of cone-shaped limestone formations created by thousands of years of erosion (all the
other, softer rock and earth around them eroded away, leaving just the Pinnacles). Were it not for the busloads of other tourists
nearby, you could easily imagine this is what Mars might look like.
|
| Yanchep, Western Australia |
As we then headed back south, the temperature in Western Australia
started heading north. It eventually topped out in Perth at 108 degrees (the same day in Boston, we understand, it was just
8 degrees). We sought relief with our first ever swim in the Indian Ocean.
As we expected our time in Australia came and went too quickly but we were
left with a warm (actually, hot) feeling and a wish to one day return and see all that tourist stuff we missed the first time
through.
By now you know, there are always more pictures to see. (Funny, the pretty
ones never have us in them)
Australia Pretty Pictures
|
| Kingoonya, South Australia |
All photographs Copyright Garvin and Karen Snell 2004
|
