I Heart Australia

I'm long overdue for an update. Shortly after leaving Japan I ran out of gas. Might have been the overnight flight. Maybe the two days at sea followed by an 11 hour road trip into the rainforest. Or maybe it's the disorienting feeling of standing upside down all the time. For whatever reason I've shifted gears from my usual wide-eyed, do-everything-and-then-some, energizer-bunny traveling mode to a laid-back, I'm-on-vacation, leisure mode. The result has been a bit of a work-to-rule slow down, including blog updates.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm still enjoying myself immensely, and if anything, I'll come back to work better rested for it (that sound you just heard was my boss cheering). Plus Australia is a great place to slow down. There's less urgency to "see everything" like in Europe, and the climate and culture is similar enough to feel right at home.

Well, almost. It really is somewhat disorienting when you first get here. Coming from Japan, you feel like you are in a foreign culture so you shouldn't be able to speak to the locals. Then you realize they are speaking English and you should be able to speak to them. Then you realize you can't because you miss every third word with that bloody accent! :) Everything is the same except slightly different in subtle ways that you can't quite put a finger on, which is a real head trip compared to Japan or even Europe, where everything is different and you know it. At least for me anyway.

Anywho, time to get on with the update, rapid fire style...


DAINTREE RAINFOREST

- this was a day trip from Cairns, starting at 7AM and not finishing until after 6PM, most of that time spent driving... Ugh
- I had no idea that Australia was so tropical. I had always pictured it as a small fertile strip sandwiched between the Ocean and a vast barren Outback, but the Top End could rival Hawaii. It looks to be even closer to Papa New Guineau than Florida is to Cuba
- highlights for me were the beautiful Mossman Gorge (worth a google image search!), seeing an 8-foot croc feeding in the wild, and a brief stop at a rainforest habitat where I saw a cassowary (also worth a google search), petted big red kangaroos even tamer than the Nara deer, and got dive bombed by some of the wild birds :). The guide was also very informative, pointing out flora and fauna in the rainforest I never would have seen otherwise, and I now know more about the sugarcane industry than I'll ever need to know. An interesting tidbit he shared: apparently the shrimpers all the way over here are benefitting from the BP fiasco in the Gulf.


SYDNEY

- met up with the Jones', which was the whole excuse for this trip, and enjoyed their company and hospitality for several days in Sydney. Whether it's been Lisa feeding me, or Kori cramming for two weeks so he would have a couple days free to visit, or just generally showing me around and putting up with my laundry hanging all over their apartment, they have been great hosts. It's been great to spend time with them again, and hard to believe they left Calgary almost 3 years ago. (For those who don't know them, the Jones are friends of mine from Calgary. Kori is here doing a Renewable Energy Engineering Degree at UNSW, the first program of it's kind in the world, while Lisa is learning the ins-and-outs of immigration laws by actually trying to eke out a living as an immigrant and avoid getting kicked out!)
- they live a 10 minute walk from the beach so after picking me up from the airport, Kori and I headed out to make the best of one of the few rain-free days Sydney has had lately (although I heard Calgary was getting snow still!). We did the fantastic 15Km Coastal Walk from their place near Maroubra, starting on rocky shores with crashing waves, before ending in a, uh, romantic moonlight beach stroll at Bondi beach where we met Lisa for dinner.
- Saturday we braved the rain (still feels warm to me!) and went down to The Rocks, strolled around the Harbour, and caught a free ferry to Cockatoo Island where I saw the strangest "art" exhibits I've ever seen. As an example. We watched one film where 5 female dwarfs are tending their overgrown vegetable garden, that naturally produces a tuxedo wearing opera singer, an old woman wrapped in skin-tight white cloth, and of course a transvestite, whom they start to care for before deciding to off Mr. Opera. I'm sure you can guess how the story goes from there. Self explanatory really. Ha! And that was one of the displays that made sense! Sorta.
- we also strolled around the iconic Opera House, which was lit up with ever changing images and lights as part of a 2 month Vivid Sydney fair going on here.


WALLONGONG

- On Sunday we decided to head for a day trip to explore the coast and wine region south of Sydney. When we stopped at a visitor information center a couple hours later, I was treated to a stunning view of Wallangong, the next major city south of Sydney, situated right on the coast and overlooked by high green cliffs. It was at that moment when I first stopped thinking this country is a little strange and realized how beautiful it is and that I could totally see myself moving here. Afterall, any place with an abundance of t-shirts that say "I Heart the Gong" has to be cool.
- after a wild goose chase trying to find a poorly marked lookout point, we stopped for lunch at the ocean and watched the waves come crashing in. I forgot how amazing the ocean is, and I could have stood there all day, but we needed to head towards Shoalhaven before the wineries closed. That area was just as beautiful, and the free wine and liquer (mmmm... Macadamian liquer) were wonderful, if perhaps a little too free-flowing :)


POOR STORY

- the Joneses had to return to reality on Monday, so I slept in, did some laundry, walked to the beach, got blown back to the house by the wind, and raided Kori's excellent stash of books.
- In one day I blazed through a book and a half, including "Poor Story", an enlightening read on Africa and why the International Aid movement has failed to pull that continent out of poverty. It changed the way I will donate, and also altered my perspective on global "free" trade agreements. As a teaser, we may have abolished slavery, but we still find a lot of creative and "legal" ways for people with money to take advantage of those who don't. We, as in the "West", have a long way to go still. For anyone with an interest in social justice issues, it's a must read.
- the other one I'm still working through is "China Inc" which takes a look at the economic growth of that giant country and how it affects the rest of the world. The numbers are mind boggling.


THE OUTBACK

- Tuesday I caught a plane to Yulara for a 3 day trip through the Outback's most famous sights, Uluru, Olgas, and Kings Canyon. Lots of time on the bus, but this was the Australia I had always imagined. Semi-arid, vast spaces, and remote, sparse civilization, it's been an absolute visual treat. Apparently, I caught it at it's most "lush". They've had 400mm of rain already this year, compared to 161mm all of last year. One guide told me that if I'd been here in December, there would 50% less leaves on the trees and 70% more grass, with a red-haze in the air from all the dust. Totally normal though, the dry-wet cycles here aren't measure in seasons but years, and sections of the Outback can go almost a decade with very little rain before one wet month brings the whole desert back to life, germinating seeds that have lain dormant in the red dirt since the last good rain. All kinds of plant and animal life that looks very foreign to me thrives out here in such a harsh climate.
- even in winter here, the sun is very hot. Supposedly it's only 20 degrees in the day, but that must be an average of shade and sun temperatures, because it has to be a 10 degree difference. It's an art to find a spot with the right mix of sun and shade hitting your body to stay warm, cool, and unburnt. The temperature plumets as soon as the sun sets, going from near 20 to near freezing in less than an hour. One night it was cool enough that I started to shiver, so I quickly ran to the nearest building and smashed the window to get inside and stay warm. Just Kidding! Or am I?
- Uluru surprised me. I thought it would just be a big rock in the middle of nowhere, but mountain is a more appropriate term. It has a lot more geographical features than the postcard pictures let on, and it was surreal to walk up to it (no I did not climb!) and feel like you were deep in a mountain range, only to turn around and see that you were actually on a flat plain. One image that will forever remain in my mind is the black silhouhettes of Uluru and strange, sparse-leafed desert trees against a rainbow coloured sky as we drove towards it for a sunrise viewing. I've never seen anything like that. B. E. A. Utiful.
- The Olgas and Kings Canyon were equally scenic but this is getting long enough and I've got a plane to catch so I'll save that for when I'm able to get more pictures up. Incidentally, I had a mis-hap with my phone in the rainforest that resulted in losing all my videos :( Chanting crowds in Asakusa, hugging deer in Miyajima, Karoeke in Hiroshima, Dr. Fish in Osaka, incredibly loud birds in Cairns... Ne'er shall any such things now see the light of YouTube. Still have all my pictures at least.


BACK TO SYDNEY

- I'm in Alice Springs at the moment, enjoying my first real hotel room in days after "roughing it" in cynder-block prison cells, I mean, hotel rooms with outdoor toilets and showers in the outback. I fly back to Sydney for another day and 2 nights keeping up with the Joneses before flying on to Auckland Sunday.
- Hard to believe I've been gone over 3 weeks already, or that I'll be back home again a week from tommorrow. Hopefully this cold I've woken up with this morning goes by just as quickly so I can enjoy New Zealand before then.

And now, you are up to date.
Greg

Posted from my crapPhone.