Every since I knew about this rock, years ago, I have been fascinated about it. Everyone who I knew always told me, “ Nara it’s just a rock!” and I use to say “ya, but it’s a red rock.” I now laugh, but really I still want to explore this rock! Many backpackers who I knew visited this wonder of the world and told me, Nara you are right!! Amazing site to see!!!

So if you have no idea what I am talking about it, check it out. This rock has much history behind it, but within the last few years many people want to keep that history restored.

The Ayers Rock, which is also known as the Uluru, by it’s Aboriginal name, is now begin considered to be closed to all climbers. As it said in the national geographic in late October this year, “ Giant Rock to be closed for Religious Reason?” Now, if you are an obsessive backpacker like me, who wants to visit all the wonders of the world, well I say better hurry to see this one!!! So why I am eager to see this ROCK, well depending on the time of day and the weather, this rock changes colour!!!!! Oh yes, it turns colour from a bright red to violet and to even blue! This rock has a vast amount of culture, which is very significant to the locals. Plus this landmark represents dreams, traditions, existences, stories, and defines daily life to Australians, which makes it even more intriguing in why to visit this wonder of the world.

For backpackers, it can be quite difficult to get to this site, since it is located in the middle of Australia. The most common way to reach this site is by car. There are many versatile ways in getting around the Uluru roads that lead to the rock. However, since it is in the outback and road conditions can be a little awful at times and a tour guide or going with a bunch of other backpackers maybe the best option to take. But the closest city near Ayers Rock, to stay a night or two is Alice Springs. It’s a very small place, but if you want to see the sunrise and sunset on the rock, I say catch a sleep or two in this village. Plus meeting locals and hearing the history and traditions about this rock is so worth the trip! So can you see now, why I really want to explore this wonder of the world!?

The travelling show now consists of Bennie (her real name is Bennah) and Dr. Wattles (not Waddles, he is quick to point out) and yours truly. Bennie and I were headed to Alice Springs in the camper van and saw a lone hitchhiker, dressed in a long Jesus-style robe walking along Stuart Highway. She shamed me into going back to pick him up.

Dr. Wattles travels light. He’s carries a small purse/pack and one of those comma-shaped, leather water pouches. He’s on his way to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock). We were both (Bennie and I) shocked that he’d try to walk the several hundred kilometers to Uluru with no provisions. But the Doc said he ‘knew’ he would meet someone on the way. I guess the someone is us.

From Wiki

Dr. Wattles used to be a pediatrician. Then, he either got God or got something even further ‘out there’. He’s as new age as they come — a quartz crystal on a horse hair necklace and the robe (with walking stick). Naturally, Bennie and the Doc hit it off right away, and most of the drive was full of very strange philosophy talk.

We dropped Bennie off in Alice Springs (where she paid for a fill-up, true to her word) and I was left taking a huge side trip to Uluru with the Doc. He’s on a quest to visit all the really powerful ’spiritually charged’ sites in the world. He wants to do it before 2012, which is a date of great significance to him. So far, the Doc has been to Stone Henge and the pyramids in Egypt (and other places I’ve never heard of). He’s originally from Baltimore, so we were able to chat a bit about what’s happening in the States. He’s quite upset about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and distrusts American politicians. This isn’t an unusual thing for Americans.

I told him about my journey so far and he thinks that I too, am on a spiritual walk of my own. And here I thought I was just taking advantage of an income that doesn’t depend on being in any particular location. He’s convinced me to spend the night at Uluru to see the rock in the morning. I don’t know yet if he intends to go with me back to Sydney. I did make it clear that I’d like some gas money if he does.

****************** next day ***************

Dr. W got up during the night sometime and wandered away to ‘commune with the rock’. This morning, he still wasn’t back and I asked a guide about him – no help. I waited in the camper van for a couple of hours and, as I was ready to leave, I saw him coming across the hard pan.

Apparently, he’d spent half the night up on the rock in a cleft to avoid the wind (it gets really windy and cold up on Uluru). He was up to watch the sunrise from his perch and was just making his way back. His little jaunt was completely out of bounds here, they restrict who can go where and don’t allow climbing unless it’s approved (there’s a chain and a trail of sorts to go up). I don’t know why he wasn’t arrested or at least ticketed. But he’s back and willing to pay for fuel, so we are off to Sydney again.

The expression ‘Dreamtime’ in Australian Aboriginal mythology is commonly used to refer to the ‘time before time’, or ‘the time of the creation of all things’ in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation. Altjeringa is the aboriginal word for “The Dreaming”

My wife and I had the opportunity to Drive from Melbourne to Darwin, Australia. A journey from the bottom of the continent with unpredictable “Hey it’s a beautiful sunny day” just wait an hour and a cold snap will arrive followed by rain and wait for it, hail…… to tropical sweat dripping, it’s so hot and humid all the time that the locals have an expression for when you actually do go insane, “Gone Troppo” and the occasional Cyclone knocking at your front door.

Follow this link for a map of Australia. http://www.whereis.com/?id=252B33822652EB.

So I don’t bore you with our personal details, here are some photos of our journey with a brief explanation.

Uluru at midday with hundreds of annoying flies to contend with. A meditation guru would find great difficulty battling the flies at this time of year, December and extreme heat conditions. 41 degrees celcius in the shade.

We went again for sunset, no…. there was still a welcoming party of flies waiting to greet us. Spectacular colour changes involving a combination of clouds and the horizon. As my wife likes to describe it, truly breath taking.

Behold, the climb of climbs. At the half way mark of the steep slope is where you will find some railings to hold onto. It’s quite daunting to observe in the flesh, it’s almost a 90 degree pitch. Climbing however is not encouraged by the local Aboriginals. It is a sacred site afterall and more than 30 people have died during this arduous climb as a result of heat exhaustion, even falling to their deaths.

But if your still keen on the climb then make sure you slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat for starters. Strong shoes, carry and drink lots of water. Get there early in the morning being the cooler part of the day. Strong winds all year round and rising temperatures closer to 11:00 a.m in the summer are the factors to to be aware of and they will close the climb for the day.

The walks are a great alternative to the climb and offer spectacular views and photo opportunities. Safety should be your priority. Look for the shade, stay on the path and don’t cross over the fenced areas to pick up any rocks to take as a memento..it’s not the Berlin Wall, remember it is a sacred site. We did the Mala walk. It’s about over an hour walk return which was long enough for us in 41 degree celcius heat in the shade.

The walk on from the Mala car park takes you to the watering hole. I recommend the guided tour for a in-depth orientation of Uluru and it’s sacred sites. Guided tours are free.

I couldn’t stop myself visualizing free falling nearly 400m. Scary to say the least.

We are already married, but I had so many ideas on how to propose and this was just one of them. I was born in the Northern Territory and have always regarded Uluru as the heart of Australia and it was only appropriate to give my heart away at Uluru.

]]> http://davidjw.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/sydney-1-0/ Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:33:54 +0000 Fellow http://davidjw.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/sydney-1-0/ http://beeryeti.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/australia-faces-werewolf-pandemic/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:03:54 +0000 beeryeti http://beeryeti.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/australia-faces-werewolf-pandemic/

Artist’s rendering of the Australian National Werewolf Defense Fort at Ayers Rock

Mad Max may exert an undo influence over our general perception of Australia, but recent scientific findings have confirmed that something about that place just isn’t right.

An adjunct, auxiliary, hourly-wage, part-time Beer Yeti apprentice just passed along a report that has most of our staff reevaluating Sydney as the right location for The Beer Yeti’s 2027 Staff Retreat.

A study published in the Australia Medical Journal announced that some people tend to exhibit “werewolf” like behaviors during the full moon.

According to the study, 91 patients in Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital’s emergency room displayed “violent and acute behavioral disturbance.”  This included biting, scratching and spitting at staff members. Nearly 23% of these incidents occurred during the full moon.

One staff member reported that 66% of these subjects were under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The following is taken from her statement-

“It has been reported that the practice of rubbing magic ointment on the skin or inhaling vapor from a magic potion by an alleged werewolf induces metamorphosis.  Not surprisingly, the main ingredients of these ointments and potions were belladonna and nightshade, both of which can produce delirium, hallucinations and delusion of bodily metamorphosis.”

We want to get this right. It took advanced medical education, peer-reviewed medical journals, and large amounts of government funding to determine that some toxicology patients display violent behaviors during the full moon?

We asked our own Native American traditional healer for a statement on the situation, and she said, “Violent drug addicts attack hospital staff in the toxicology department, and they are trying to blame this on lunar cycles? This is completely coincidental, and a waste of the medical community’s time to speculate about.”

So exactly as we guessed right off, Australia is under sever threat of a werewolf pandemic.

All that training and money, and the Australian medical field is still struggling to understand what any cryptozoologist – or even alchemist – could have pointed out.

You know who displays “werewolf-like” behaviors during the full moon. Werewolves do.

If this hospital alone dealt with 91 cases of werewolves, we can only imagine that the worst is yet to come. It is time to declare national emergency, and deal with the werewolf onslaught before things get totally out of control.

In times like this, we generally have two “go to” strategies.

The first is always “What would Buffy Summers do?” and the second is “If Buffy did bite the dust by going with the first plan, how would Bruce Willis save our bacon?”

These protocols generally do not mesh well with fire drills.

The one clear solution is for Australia to fall back on the Swiss strategy of the “National Redoubt“, or in layman’s terms, “a big fort.” If anyone had to pick the perfect place to fend off a werewolf assault, it is unthinkable that they would choose any place but Uluru (Ayers Rock).

This massive rock formation in the middle of nowhere is just begging for a little tunneling and fortification.

The Aboriginal peoples might have some qualms about using the sacred rock as a werewolf fort, but that is only because they have never seen a werewolf pandemic. Government negotiators will have to hammer out the details, but eventually the question will have to be answered, “What sounds worse, breaking Dreamtime taboos, or getting eaten by a werewolf from Perth?”

Our very concise opinion would be that the Australian government begin immediate fortification of, and withdrawal to, Uluru in order to survive the coming werewolf war. Most likely the entire economy needs to be focused exclusively on preparation for this necessity. Our suggestion would be to put Steven Seagal and Dolph Lundgren in joint control of a more immediate “Werewolf Suppression Task Force.”

Of course the Australian government can also choose to mock us, and ignore our recommendations.

It’s no skin off The Beer Yeti’s back. We already have a werewolf fort.

Hey hey hey–

Since I last checked in, I’ve driven about 2000 kilometers, and I’m now crashing at the Ayers Rock resort, tourist trap extraordinaire. They’ve got backpacker accommodations (what the rest of the world would refer to as a hostel) for about 30 bucks a night, which really isn’t so bad, and is certainly the cheapest thing I’ll find outside of sleeping in my car.

So, right. Since I checked in last I’ve stayed firm in my decision to crash in hostels rather than my car. It’s become much less about not wanting to get murdered, and much more about the fact that my car is basically unsleepable. Forget the fact that it’s small, although that’s certainly a problem. The big issue here is that it’s hot. Hot like I’ve never dealt with in my life. The sun is insanely powerful. Sitting in the car with the A/C blasting–my natural state out here– is perfectly comfortable, but if your skin is under direct sunlight, you know it. Walking around outside is a joke, after a minute you can feel your skin enter its death throes. I’m not a big sunscreen guy (sorry moms) and I’m fairly sure I’ll be returning to the US a genuine redneck.

So given the fact that sun rises well before I’m capable of functioning, sleeping in the car has proven to be more annoyance than it’s worth. Hostels are generally cheap enough, and getting a good nights sleep, a shower (although I must admit I’ve been drying myself with old shirts, they never provide towels), and usually something for breakfast is worth the 25 bucks it typically costs.

After Adelaide I crashed in Port Augusta. The last water access as you move north, it’s not desert yet. The town, to be honest here, has more or less nothing going for it. It’s the biggest thing between Adelaide and Alice Springs (a bustling 19,000), but you’d never guess. God knows what the primary industry here is, I saw almost zero locals outside of the high school dance I accidentally crashed looking for a bar, and unlike nearby Port Pirie, there was no enormous, mysterious plant looming over the downtown. I watched the sun go down over some scrubby mountains and crashed early.

The next day took me into the beginnings of the Outback, and to the most bizarre place I’ve come across in my travels here, Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy (pop. 4000) is the opal capital of the world, responsible for nearly 80% of the world’s opal supply. In an attempt to escape the oppressive heat, and taking advantage of the preponderance of explosives and empty mine-shafts, most locals live underground. I actually stayed in an underground hostel, which was pretty awesome. No need for A/C, it stays a temperate 23 degrees centigrade regardless of what madness is going on topside. It’s also by far the most popular stopping place between Adelaide and Alice Springs, bringing through dozens of tourists like myself each day in the off season, and hundreds a week in the peak of the year (may-sept.). I arrived in town in the late afternoon, and quickly signed on to stay two nights. I decided I needed a full day to even begin to figure this place out.

I would be lying if I said I had a handle on the way the place works, but I left Coober Pedy with at least a marginal understanding of the town. And to tell the truth, it’s a pretty sad place. 80% of the worlds opals doesn’t come without some significant landscape altering, and the area around town is surrounded for miles with enormous piles of dirt. It takes a particular kind of person to decide they’re going to pull up stakes and gamble their whole lives on mining for opal: ballsy and desperate are two words that come to mind. As far as I can tell, most people fail; a quick walk around town revealed dozens of abandoned shops and boarded up houses. All the miners I met were holding down day jobs in the various tourist traps, running mine tours or selling pretty awful jewelry and opal-encrusted boomerangs (for real). Having said all that, I ended my second day sitting on the porch with the owner of the hostel, watching the sun set over the desert and we agreed that, mining aside, it wasn’t a bad place to sit and drink beer in the evenings.

This morning I blew out of town around 10, and made the trek up to Yulara. A pretty sizable drive, I pulled into town around 6, a few hours after crossing the border into the Northern Territory. Ayer’s Rock is in a national park, and just outside is the town of Yulara, which exists exclusively to give people looking at the rock a place to stay. It’s insanely overpriced, but that’s what you get for putting this enormous rock way in the middle of the goddamn desert. Oh right. The border between South Australia and the Northern Territory is marked by a change in geography from what you thought was desert to okay, holy shit, this is actually just sand and tumbleweeds, this is the desert.

I’m gonna be here for a few days, so I’ll update again once I have a better feel for this whole rock thing. Be well, y’all.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pix. The internet that I can manage to scrounge is far too slow (and costly) to upload. I’ll do a huge photo post when I’m back in the land of real internet.

We must be more than half way around the world by now on the public domain photos from the CIA World Factbook tour; at least we can check off another continent tonight, as we stop by Australia and New Zealand.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

Opera House, Circular Quay, and Central Business District in Sydney, Australia

Australia’s capital city of Canberra on Lake Burley Griffin

William Creek, somewhere in the Outback, Australia

Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand

Mount Cook (Aoraki), Mount Cook National Park, South Island, New Zealand

Hall Arm of Doubtful Sound, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

]]> http://text100sydney.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/work-hard-play-hard/ Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:09:14 +0000 clairevm http://text100sydney.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/work-hard-play-hard/

Work hard, play hard seems to be the Text 100 motto and after a very busy year in the Sydney office we’ve reward ourselves and visited some very cool locations. Long walks through the Australian desert, skiing the slopes of New Zealand and sipping sake in Japan, this is a team that knows how to unwind. Over the next two weeks the Sydney Text 100 team will share their holiday tips from 2009.

My big holiday for the year was an eleven day trip to the Northern Territory. We started at Ayers Rock where we spent two days walking around the rock and checking out the other local attraction, The Olgas, also known as KataTjuta. The scenery and weather here were amazing, It would get to around 30 degrees C during the day but at night the temperature would drop to about 6 degrees C.  We then drove about four hours through the very flat and dry Australian desert to Kings Canyon where we went bushwalking and completed a four and a half hour walk around the rim of the canyon which was just spectacular.

There are opportunities to do little offshoots of the walk to head up to lookouts and little oasis’ such ‘the Garden of Eden’. one minute you can be in a tropical rainforest and the next your walking along a cliff with the sun beating down and plants struggle to grow through the cracks in the rock. One of the highlights of Kings Canyon was an amazing five course meal under the stars called Sounds of Firelight. The meals included many native herbs and spices, kangaroo filled pancake with wattle seed aioli and bush tomato consommé with lobster wonton. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

From Kings Canyon we drove four hours up to Alice Springs  where I met some of the locals and then took the train to Katherine for the day where we went canoeing. I was told not to worry about the big saltwater crocodiles, “just keep an eye out for the little freshwater ones” needless to say I nearly panicked when we nearly capsized the canoe.

We then continued on the train to Darwin where we spent several days. We checking out Litchfield National Park and although we went swimming in the water holes, I must admit to not feeling entirely relaxed while in the water.  The local markets were great with lots of local produce and art, we also checked out some amazing sunsets and the jumping crocodiles on the Adelaide river. You can see all the photos from my trip on Flickr.

Tommaso Pirfo

Ci sono esperienze che possono essere solo raccontate, una foto o mille parole scritte su di esse non potranno mai renderne la reale bellezza e unicità. Sembra un delitto persino rubare anche solo un istante fissando l’alba, il tramonto o qualsiasi altro evento sulla pellicola di una macchina fotografica. Parlo di qualcosa che può essere vissuto a pieno solo coi proprio occhi, altro modo non c’è.
Il deserto australiano è stata una delle esperienze più belle della mia vita: mi sono mancati tutti i generi di conforto come l’acqua potabile, una doccia e un letto, ma ho riscoperto quanto sia importante condividere ciò che si ha con gli altri, quanto sia bello soprattutto rendersi conto che c’è un mondo da ascoltare e vivere lontano dalle grandi città e dalla frenesia che le tormenta. Mentre sono disteso in questo sacco a pelo impolverato guardo il cielo pieno di stelle, se ne vedo una cadente non posso far altro che esprimere un desiderio: accanto a me ho i miei compagni di viaggio che osservano anche loro estasiati. Nessun rumore, nessuna preoccupazione, soltanto il cielo e noi, lo guardiamo tanto a lungo che ogni cosa sembra capovolgersi e quel tappeto di stelle diventa realmente un pavimento su cui camminare. Svegliarsi ogni mattina alle cinque per vedere l’alba sorgere da un punto indefinito all’orizzonte, aspettare il tramonto che colora di arancione l’Ayers Rock, parlare la sera davanti al fuoco che riscalda e mette tutti di buon umore..questo è stato il nostro Outback. Abbiamo vissuto al passo con la natura: dormendo all’aria aperta e senza alcun riparo, costretti ad alzarci non appena i raggi del sole cadevano sui nostri volti, riaddormentandoci la sera sfiniti dopo aver bevuto circa quattro litri d’acqua durante la giornata e aver guidato un Quad nelle desolate lande del deserto. Vedere i canguri saltellare qua e la è stato poi il realizzarsi del sogno “Australia”: sono sicuro che chiunque pensando a questa terra immagina le mamme di questi buffi animali mentre portano il loro cucciolo nel marsupio, o i tanti koala aggrappati agli alberi intenti a mangiucchiare foglie di eucalipto.
Ciò che soprattutto mi stupisce è quanto mi sia trovato bene  e a mio agio in un gruppo di tredici tedeschi, in cui io ero il solo italiano; non hanno quasi mai parlato inglese eppure ogni pezzo sembrava al suo posto e mi sentivo nel luogo giusto al momento giusto. È stato come perdersi in un’altra terra, un posto lontano dal mondo che ognuno è libero di godere a modo suo: anche isolarsi e sdraiarsi sul terreno sabbioso per osservare le stelle dà un senso di libertà quasi ineguagliabile.. Regna la pace nelle terre degli aborigeni, dove solo gli ululati dei Dingo squarciano il silenzio della notte ed è la natura a comandare.
Potremmo chiamarla un’altra Australia, ma come ci si rende conto dopo è soltanto una delle mille terre che bisognerebbe vedere almeno una volta nella vita. Probabilmente molti non verranno mai a vedere questi posti e potranno soltanto guardarli in una delle mille foto sulle riviste naturali: foto che ritraggono ciò che chi le ha scattate ha voluto catturare del momento. Il colore arancione del “grande panettone australiano” all’alba e il cielo color porpora al tramonto è qualcosa che persino l’occhio fatica a osservare talmente è bello e surreale. Non vi consiglio di andarci in viaggio di nozze perché la mancanza di un letto e una doccia potrebbe risultare stressante, però se avete intenzione di fare un viaggio che cambierà le vostre idee di vita un salto qui non sarebbe una cattiva idea. In fondo perdersi è il miglior modo per godersi la vera realtà di un posto.. e nel deserto  ciò accade sempre: appena l’aereo decollato da Sydney si poserà sulla pista sporca e sabbiosa di Alice Springs vi sentirete già disorientati.

So, a few moments ago I was trolling through the internet looking to see if I could see any info about my sister’s friend who was just the other day one of the luckiest people on the planet – she was an Olympic torch bearer in our home province of New Brunswick. I didn’t find anything (yet) about Christine, but I did find something that made me proud & at the same time very angry (on 2 fronts)

I found this article written by what in my estimation is some pompous jerk from Toronto, where he refered to New Brunswick as a “Have Not” province. I take real offence to that, Mr. Roy McGregor of the Globe & Mail - I bet you have never been to New Brunswick. While its residents may not be as rich as those from Toronto, have you ever given thought to why that part of the country is poorer? Historically, Upper Canada raped Atlantic Canada of its wealth to take care of itself & Atlantic Canada has paid the price ever since.

Ok, so that was part of what made me angry – the other part is that they would even think about harnessing the tides in Fundy. As the article points out, the area is incredibly diverse in marine life & anything that would upset that balance can, in my eyes at least, be seen only as a catastrophe. LEAVE FUNDY ALONE!!!

Now, what made me proud? This: “…….That reality could even get stickier if some of the people gathered here this day – Rick Flanagan included – are able to get their beloved Bay of Fundy named one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

“New7Wonders of Nature” is an international website campaign that began in 2007 and has whittled down 440 nominations to a list of 28, with final voting and decision due in 2011. (Canadians can vote by going to www.votemyfundy.com.)

The Bay of Fundy is the only Canadian entry to survive the cuts, but is up against such formidable competition as the Grand Canyon, Ayers Rock, the Amazon, the Galapagos, Mount Kilimanjaro and the Great Barrier Reef.”

How cool is that? The Bay of Fundy – the source of so many happy memories of growing up in New Brunswick, is the sole Canadian representative in the finals of the “New 7 Wonders of Nature” Sad that I sit here knowing that it probably won’t be voted one of the 7 wonders, but what an achievement to make it to the final!

So, to you my fellow Canadians, I say “GO VOTE!!” Bay of Fundy, please!

Last Friday I blogged about sunrises. So today I’m blogging about sunsets – or rather, one particular place that looks exceptionally glorious during a sunset. If you’ve already watched Rachel and Matt’s video podcast on Uluru, then you know which place I’m talking about. Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is an enormous rock formation in Australia that, as the sun goes down, turns from a rusty red color to an even more brilliant ruby red color. As Rachel puts it: It looks like a rock on fire. The rock, which is the world’s largest monolith, lies in the middle of a vast desert plain, so its color and presence is quite dramatic.

Why does the rock look so red at sunrise and sunset? According to geologists, in the middle of the day, when the sun is directly overhead, its rays don’t have to pass through as much atmosphere – ash, dust and water vapor. So the full spectrum of color makes it through the atmosphere to the rock. The rock still looks red, but it doesn’t look like it’s on fire.

At sunset and sunrise, the sun’s rays have to pass through more ash, dust and water vapor, which filter out some of the blue end of the spectrum of color. That means the light at dusk and dawn is generally redder than it is at high noon. Pair that red light with a red rock, and you’ve got a gigantic fire ruby in the middle of an arid plain. 

It sounds like a fantastic sight to me. You can watch the monolith catch flame at dusk from a camping ground or from a nearby spa and resort (with a glass of champagne in your hand).

Now it’s your turn. Tell me where you’ve seen a striking sunset. I’m making a sunset list, you know.  

For more sun…
Does smog make for beautiful sunsets?
Can the sun kill you?
Sun Pictures

[Also: Don’t forget to watch the Coolest Stuff video podcast to see pictures of Uluru at sunset! They're really cool looking.]

Le légendaire kangourou

Alors que nous avons quitté l’Australie il y a maintenant 2 semaines et rejoint Buenos Aires pour le début de notre exploration du continent sud américain, il est grand temps de vous faire partager nos impressions australiennes.

Nous allons donc ces prochains jours vous faire découvrir : Sydney et son opéra, le désert et la roche d’Uluru, Alice Springs et la triste rencontre avec les aborigènes, la côte Est avec ses îles de sable blanc et la barrière de corail.

Mais si nous nous en tenions juste à ces expériences touristiques, notre panorama de l’Australie serait bien loin d’être complet. Il y a (hélas) beaucoup plus que ces paysages paradisiaques…

Mais je ne vous en dit pas trop pour vous laisser le loisir d’en savoir davantage dans les jours à venir.

En voiture donc, pour cette chronique australienne !

PS : nous continuerons en parallèle de vous faire partager notre périple argentin en temps réel et quelques derniers souvenirs du Japon.

© Anne and David Placet and http://anneetdavid.wordpress.com, 2009. Unauthorized use and duplication of this material (texts, pictures and videos) without express and written permission from this blog’s authors is strictly prohibited.

Partie de la mythologie du continent australien, nous voilà enfin à Ayers Rock…

C’est un peu le Cervin australien comme dit Patrizia!

Après un peu plus de 3 heures de route depuis Kings Canyon, voir apparaître le rocher sacré des aborigènes est un moment particulier… Nous en apercevons la crête tout d’abord, puis il se dévoile jusqu’à la base à mesure que nous approchons. Pati, très impressionnée, remarque que cet énorme rocher se défile à notre vue: il a le don d’apparaître et de disparaître en un instant malgré les plaines qui l’entourent. Elle essaye en vain de le photographier mais celui-ci se dérobe. Il semble vivant! Ce qui frappe, c’est la taille de ce bloc de plus de 300 m de haut au milieu du désert plat à perte de vue. C’est également l’empilement vertical des couches sédimentaires qui donnent cette forme particulière et différente, par exemple du Mt. Connor, au sommet plat, que nous avons vu de loin en roulant, et plus proche des images que nous avons du Colorado.

Une fois à proximité, la magie du lieu fait son effet et nous n’avons aucune peine à comprendre l’importance que ce lieu a pour les populations aborigènes de l’outback. Nous effectuons un tour du rocher en voiture (il fait 39-40 degrés dehors…) puis nous parquons la voiture pour une petite marche jusqu’au waterhole… Un autre moment particulier, lorsque, dans l’ombre du rocher sacré, un point d’eau apparaît…

Enfin, nous nous dirigeons vers un point de vue aménagé pour observer le coucher du soleil. Nous attendons que les dernières lumières du jour caressent la roche rouge et l’apparition des étoiles dans l’énorme ouverture de ciel au-desous de nos têtes avant de rentrer à l’hôtel…

Des instants magiques qui marquent pour longtemps…

>> Uluru en images…

One year ago, I was laid off from my job.

Little did I know that my life would be changed by that one event. Looking back, it was the fear of change that frightened me most. Now, I see that it was so clearly a blessing because of the change it guaranteed.

First views of the Australian Outback

During my travels, it is my own personal inside joke (or, run of bad luck?) that I never get to see a sunrise. I have woken up at 4:00 AM on numerous occasions, only to get to a special, sunrise location (Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat, to name a few) and not be able to see the sunrise because it is raining. Seriously. Every. Single. Time.

But Australia finally delivered me my long awaited sunrise! Ironically, it was the previous night’s sunset that was rained out. But I didn’t care. I have seen plenty of sunsets in my life. It is a sunrise, a foreign sunrise namely, that I have been waiting so patiently to see.

Sunrise at Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock (Uluru) was where I got to see my sunrise. It was the day before the first anniversary of being luckily laid off. The drive was spiritual to me because of this fact. Our tour guide loved music and so he played songs that made the entire experience seem like a movie montage in the movie of my life. As the sun slowly rose, the shadows caused by the bush and trees in Australia’s famous Outback looked like a bright painting in a children’s story: simplistic, colorful and calm. It was also like an award winning photography showcase: powerful, contrasting, and seeping with beauty that impacts the soul.

Sunrise in The Outback

Even surrounded by hundreds of other tourists herded together at the Uluru sunrise site, I felt alone and, as silly as it may sound, at one with nature. (I know, you can laugh at me.)

It was magical. I am thankful and fulfilled.

Picturesque, but oh so HOT.

The outback was exactly how I pictured Australia to look. Desert, hot weather, crawling reptiles, wild animals, “brumbies” (wild horses), Aboriginal cultures, rustic landscapes, and thick, Australian accents everywhere. I really loved it.

Very rare rain showers over Ayers Rock. Changed color from rust to silver. Spectacular.

It was quite the contrast to our Melbourne visit, where we were shown around by our local friends and treated like royalty. Artsy, refined, and modern, Melbourne is a city comparable to San Francisco for size and New York for the cultured scene. We were lucky enough to be taken to the country side where we saw the peninsula, the vineyards, the lavender fields, and the farm lands of Australia’s southern coastal state. And we learned more local lingo too! Always a fun bonus.

Brunchie with our friend Jackie in Melbourne

Another thing the outback made me grateful for was my own ability to get out of my comfort zone and survive! I am not a camper. I don’t go camping and I didn’t think I ever really would. In Australia, we have been on so many camping trips I finally get what the fuss is about! I loved sleeping under the stars, hiking every day, not showering for three days, eating out of dirty dishes, using the bush as a loo, and bonding with people who smell just as bad as you. Okay, a few of those things are still not on the top of my list for things I want to do tomorrow, BUT, I survived, loved it, and will be happy to sleep under the stars again.

Midway through our 3 hour hike in Kings Canyon. Talk about a workout!

On all of our camping trips, we have been surrounded by people from every country other than our own. It has been fantastic (most of the time). It has been wonderful to meet people from all over the world. That is one of the treasures I am taking away with me from this trip. And it has definitely ignited the fire in me to learn a second language as well as my fellow foreign travelers…pronto!

Riding an Australian camel with our friend Gareth

The one and only complaint I have about Australia, and I really hope I don’t regret writing this, is the people we have encountered whom work in the tourism industry. Our theory is, because Australians don’t tip and thus, don‘t get tipped, the employees of this industry don’t have the drive or care to be courteous to their customers. In addition, because this country is overloaded with fellow backpackers, they just don‘t have the patience for another stupid question. To them, you are just another backpacker/tourist/foreigner in a long line of other backpackers/tourists/whatevers.

Our friend Tom took us down to his parent's home in Mornington Peninsula, just outside of Melbourne

The complaints I have heard about Americans are common and constant by foreigners. Frustrating, but true in some cases. The most common are: Americans don’t travel (I think that is because we don’t get enough vacation time, while other countries get five weeks or more per year!); Americans tip too much (debatable); Americans tax too much (Australia includes tax in prices – a great idea in my opinion); Americans are loud (I think others are too, we are just understood by everyone!); Americans are like the people in all the bad TV shows and movies watched overseas (They choose ridiculous stories from America to cover on the news and hire embarrassing American correspondents over here!); and well, I am sure there are many more.

I guess I am writing this as a defense, a response, and to point out that every country and culture has its pros and cons. What I really want, what I hope, is that one day, the foreign opinion of America changes for the good.

Fingers crossed.

My favorite camel, Phantom

Today we arrived in New Zealand. We start a tour in two days and are very excited to be taken care of and not have to plan where to stay every night and how to get around. We are also very excited to travel with our new future friends for more than a day or two at a time. That is a sad thing about traveling, you meet wonderful people and you have no idea when you will see them again, if ever. Hopefully you will, but you never know. At least on this tour, we will get two weeks with these future friends. And, we will have more people to add to the “who we can visit in this city” list for our future travels.

New Zealand from the plane

As my trip comes to an end, I am constantly reflecting on the past and anxiously anticipating the future. Hundreds of questions fill my mind each day as I think about how I am going to assimilate back into my life at home after a year away.

Where will I be in one month? In one year? What will I do now that I have to “start over?” Where will I live? What will I do for work? Will my life go back to “normal?” What will my new “normal” be? How will my change or will it be the same?

When I chose to leave my comfort zone and travel alone, it took a lot of strength and constant internal reminders of, “I can do this.” I hope I am able to replicate that self-encouragement and use it towards “chasing my dreams” as I return to the “rat race” of our society.

Melbourne

The question that haunts me most, over “where will I live” and “when will my career take off” is, “WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO TRAVEL AGAIN????”

My favorite view of Ayers Rock, the Gorilla

I am so afraid that once I sign on to my next full time job, I will thus be signing off to the opportunity of ever traveling like this again. The fear engulfs me. It is not that traveling for months at a time and living out of a backpack is so great. It’s not. It has it’s ups and downs, as I have expressed in previous entries.

What is so great about this “long-term travel” is the freedom it provides. The sense of limitless and privilege and liberation, constantly running throughout my body is unique and inspiring. I don’t want to lose those feelings.

Road to the Outback

As I write this blog, my heart is racing, my throat feels dry, my neck is tired. I am scared. I have a lot of work to do. My year of luck is ending. I must appreciate every minute during these next few weeks in New Zealand before they end.

A Lavender farm just outside of Melbourne

I must remember how fun it was to camp under the stars in a swag in the Australian Outback…even though there were no toilets and a dust storm sprinkled over our heads and into our eyes as we slept. I must remind myself that it is not everyday you are surrounded by people from different countries, speaking other languages, and teaching you new things. I must remember to be happy, to find happiness, even while working in a potential ‘just to pay the bills‘ job. I must remind myself that work leads to an income, which hopefully leads to more freedom and, doubly hopefully, much more travel in the years to come.

The Valley of the Winds

As my sister and I departed from Australia, from the outback we loved, the cities that excited us, the oceans so blue and colorful, and the slang that became our own, we both wondered, “when will we be back again?” That is the tragic flaw of traveling; you meet wonderful people, see wonderful places, but you never know when you can or will be back again.

I hope soon.

I hope so.

For another sunrise.

The Background: 

There was an article running in the travel section of Sydney Morning Herald’s online edition a few months ago asking whether or not tourists should climb the largest single rock in the southern hemisphere (if not the world).
The question arises because the local tribes of Aborigines revere it as a god they call Uluru. Perhaps they would rather say it is a spirit if not a god, but reverence and worship lead us to consider it the same thing in context.

The Problem:

Now, where would Judaism sit with this question? The purpose of a Jew is to guide the world to a relationship with the sole G-d/Creator through the example of our own. The oft cited imperative to be an Ohr LaGoyim – a light to G-d’s other children, the nations of the world, make this purpose clear.

Many Jews and Jewesses are ‘celibate’, in this regard, which, when out of intentional ignorance (rare – because it’s not often fully informed intentional ignorance) or due to a lack of decent Jewish education, is a tremendous shame. Besides, we don’t espouse celibacy in our physical relationships – why should we in regards to our spiritual one? Would that more Jews understood what they were meant to do instead of floating around eating kreplach and bagels (the caricatured ‘cultural Jew’), leading lives otherwise indistinguishable from those of our brother nations. Fact remains, 90% of Jewish people today (even amongst the ultra religious, if I may be so bold) pay little or no attention to our overriding responsibilities as G-d’s firstborn.

Most (especially secular) Jews never hear that wonderfully phrased statement ‘you cannot represent the Jews until you know what the Jews represent’. But this is not the topic.

The Myth and the Repugnance of “Toleration”:

What does Jewish law say about respecting other religions’ false gods and idols? Would we not promote harmony by catering to the needs of the Wicca, orthodox cannibals, and indeed any and every cult, sect or full-blown religion that pops up?

Mine is not to affirm monotheism over polytheism at any length. It is self evident that each god comes with his, her or its own code of morality, thereby offering the human a choice of moral code – whichever suits him and his lifestyle best. Absolute morality allows (in principle) for no fragmentation of morality, no dissonance and confusion.
It should be noted, however, that I am a complete novice in the religion of the Aborigines; my greatest exposure was at primary school, learning about their Dreamtime creation stories. So I am ready to be corrected on the statements I make (based on what I believe the Jewish legal code requires us to do – in which I am also a relative novice).

In fact, tolerance can be an unpalatable word, as my controversial take on the matter might be to many – including a great many Jews themselves. Tolerance has the connotation ‘your actions make me physically sick, BUT in the name of the ‘enlightened’ age I will allow you to continue as you do, and even sit next to you.’

It is tolerance that sees righteous nations seated next to violently criminal, despotic regimes at the fundamentally flawed United Nations.
Rather, let’s talk it out- your ideas versus mine, at the dining table with a nice meal in a respectful but unwaveringly truth-seeking manner. Not an easy thing by any stretch, but brotherhood is obviously superior to mere toleration.

If one is to tolerate every other concept of morality without challenge, there really is no morality, in the same way that all colours spun around on a wheel = no colour (white). Judaism cannot ultimately tolerate false spiritual paths because that is in direct conflict with one of, if not the, major objectives. To maintain the pretense is exactly that- intellectually dishonest.
And we see, that Judaism requires us to mock polytheism (NOT polytheists- that distinction is of course crucial) wherever it is found. Just as the prophets did (Elijah openly mocked the priests of Baal all afternoon, in front of the entire nation, and other prophets describe how ludicrous it is that a man chops down a tree, burns half of it into ashes to cook dinner, finishes eating, turns around and bows to the other half saying ‘you made me’).

Open-Ended:

Actually, I think I’ve provided enough data. The question is open, therefore: does Judaism oblige its adherents to march up Ayers Rock if it’s in front of us, to demonstrate that it is nothing but a rock? Or is it less confrontational?

Are we shirking our purpose if we refrain from climbing it? Are we attributing honour and reverence to it if we don’t, thus contradicting this purpose?

• West MacDonnell Ranges
  • Simpson’s gap — includes a waterhole and a few short hikes
  • Standly Chasm — (fee to hike to) A cleft a few feet wide and 200+ feet high
  • Ellery Creek Big Hole — spring-fed waterhole and hiking trails
  • Serpentine Gorge — trails to good views of the range
  • Ormiston Gorge and Pound — picnicing, a swimming hole, and a few trails.  Camping allowed here.
  • Glen Helen Gorge — Swimming and hikes
• King Canyon
  • Hike up the canyon and around the rim (3.75 mi rt)
  • Sleep at Kings Canyon Resort
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
  • Sleep at Ayers Rock Resort

den farbwechsel am uluru will ich aber trotzdem nicht vorenthalten:

und michael noch schnell das obligatorische fliegennetz gegen die biestigen black flies zeigen:

ich schwelge ja schon wieder etwas länger in australien-erinnerungen, und heute hat mich die freidenkerin noch auf die farben im australischen outback angesprochen. sie dachte eigentlich an den farbwechsel am uluru. der wirklich grandios ist. aber wenn man sich umdreht und in richtung sonnenuntergang schaut, dann bietet sich ein fast noch grandioseres schauspiel. einen solch lodernden himmel habe ich noch nirgends sonst gesehen:

Nothing new to report to here’s some eye candy instead.  It’s Ayers Rock with The Olgas in the background. Please click on it to get the larger version.

AN INNER JOURNEY

If you access Google Earth you can go to 21 56′ 40″ N Latitude 105 12′ 17″ W Longitude, you may not be impressed at all, it show you a small patch of greenery made out of deciduous forest along the bed of the San Pedro river that at this point runs parallel to the Carretera Panoamericana that skirts the Hill of Coamiles which rise like a landmark, sort of like the more famous Ayers Rock in the Australian Continent, in the middle of a flat plain with an elevation about 1225 feet. At the bottom of the hill the small town of Penitas, better known between the locals as El Crucero (Crossroads) an obligated stop for truck, and car drivers where they stop for fuel, a quick but usually delicious meal, and where you shop for dry bananas, and other delicacies of the region, like coconut with it’s refreshing and cool water ideal to placate the countless of thirsty travelers in a hot day, Penitas with an average temperature of 85F, and summer temperatures that can soar to close to 100F and high humidity, you are always ready for a cold coconut!

With 50″ average annual rainfall specially in the summer season, it covers the hill and the surroundings with a display of Emerald green and the look of a sort of jungle forest, well at least during my infancy in the late fifties, and early sixties you could drive for twenty miles or more without a break in the forest, seeing a single house by the side of the road was the proverbial exemption to the rule… Today locals who have sprouted everywhere had cleared the land for small agrarian communities, and a patch of forest in the middle of cleared land for agriculture or farming it is a rarity, a thing of the past.

As a child we traveled frequently to the town of Santiago Ixcuintla my Father’s birthplace just a few more miles down the road where my Grandmother and my aunts resided for many years. The look of the hill represented several things on my mind, the near end of a tedious five hour trip, the thrill of getting a treat at Penitas, and above all to see the magical, beautiful view of a river in the middle of a jungle forest!

With the rains the river a small stream of water swelled in to the banks covering the surroundings and making the small stream in to a real river, with numerous white herons, green parrots, and all kind of exotic birds, and always the unlikely prospect of catching a sight of an alligator, during the long trip at certain time of the year you could see the forest covered with all kind of colors from the Amapa Trees, we crossed rivers, and creeks where sometimes we would stop and explore, one of my most happy memories was swimming in these rivers.

After an obligated stop at el Crucero as we drove our last miles to Santiago, and for the brief moment, in the small stretch where the road runs parallel, and about 60ft above the river before turning right, and away from the view of the river and it’s magical, natural beauty my eyes didn’t look at it, but drunk this wide river and the surrounding Tropical Paradise as far as the eye could see…

AN INNER JOURNEY

If you access Google Earth you can go to 21 56′ 40″ N Latitude 105 12′ 17″ W Longitude, you may not be impressed at all, it show you a small patch of greenery made out of deciduous forest along the bed of the San Pedro river that at this point runs parallel to the Carretera Panoamericana that skirts the Hill of Coamiles which rise like a landmark, sort of  like the more famous Ayers Rock in the Australian Continent, in the middle of a flat plain with an elevation about 1225 feet. At the bottom of the hill the small town of Penitas, better known between the locals as El Crucero (Crossroads) an obligated stop for truck, and car drivers where they stop for fuel, a quick but usually delicious meal, and where you shop for dry bananas, and other delicacies of the region, like coconut with it’s refreshing and cool water ideal to placate the countless of thirsty travelers in a hot day, Penitas with an average temperature of 85F, and summer temperatures that can soar to close to 100F and high humidity, you are always ready for a cold coconut!

 

Travelers shopping at Penitas

With 50″ average annual rainfall specially in the summer season, it covers the hill and the surroundings with a display of Emerald green and the look of a sort of jungle forest, well at least during my infancy in the late fifties, and early sixties you could drive for twenty miles or more without a break in the forest, seeing a single house by the side of the road was the proverbial exemption to the rule… Today locals who have sprouted everywhere had cleared the land for small agrarian communities, and a patch of forest in the middle of cleared land for agriculture or farming it is a rarity, a thing of the past.

As a child we traveled frequently to the town of Santiago Ixcuintla my Father’s birthplace just a few more miles down the road where my Grandmother and my aunts resided for many years. The look of the hill represented several things on my mind, the near end of a tedious five hour trip, the thrill of getting a treat at Penitas, and above all to see the magical, beautiful view of a river in the middle of a jungle forest!

 The view on top of Coamiles Hill

With the rains the river a small stream of water swelled in to the banks covering the surroundings and making the small stream in to a real river, with numerous white herons, green parrots, and all kind of exotic birds, and always the unlikely prospect of catching a sight of an alligator, during the long trip at certain time of the year you could see the forest covered with all kind of colors from the Amapa Trees, we crossed rivers, and creeks where sometimes we would stop and explore, one of my most happy memories was swimming in these rivers.

After an obligated stop at el Crucero as we drove our last miles to Santiago, and for the brief moment, in the small stretch where the road runs parallel, and about 60ft above the river before turning right, and away from the view of the river and it’s magical, natural beauty my eyes didn’t look at it, but drunk this wide river and the surrounding Tropical Paradise as far as the eye could see…