Ooop North

  Darwin, Australia
Sunday, April 22, 2007

Hi, all

Since my last entry, have done a serious amount of travelling, jounied about 5,000kms  taking a generally northward direction going from about 33 to 13 degrees south of the equator to Darwin, which is well within the tropics. Going north has similar connotations to going south in the UK in that generally the climate gets hotter and the seasons less pronounced. 

A few insights into those travels:

Perth and indeed most of West Australia is boomtown,...... The West Australian, which is the local paper is seriously thick  and carries  more job adverts than any I have seen before. Most of these are in mining, gold, uranium, copper etc which is booming as a result of demand from the Chinese. 

Despite this or perhaps because of this, Perth is not that interesting, a day or two sufficed stopping there. During my time there went to an aussie rules game at Subiaco stadium between Freemantle Dockers and Port Adelaide. Aussie rules is Australia's most watched sport and I have to admit I found it really exciting certainly more so than a typical AFC Wimbledon match, ....sorry Josh....I guess its because there are very few stoppages, a lot of contact and its very fast. Rules are quite complex, I wont try and explain them, it says little about them on the official website which is attached. I guess its most like rugby although more league than union which it is said to originate from. Top Team at the moment is West Coast, also based in Perth and one of their top players is Daniel Kerr whose handling and tackling should make him a shoo in for a Wales shirt should he ever be persuaded to swop codes/game. 

Incidentally, West Australians remind me of Northerners in that they wouldn't live anywhere else, strongly argue that everything you needed is here and also that people weren't as friendly in the rest of Australia.......

Spent a relaxing & healthy week on an organic farm just south of Perth. Started early, before eight...and spent the mornings either digging a very deep hole, painting things and helping with the slaughter of a sheep and some chickens. Temperature during the hole digging episode was mostly over 40C and the signs of dehydration afterwards most obviously showed itself by the colour emitted which was off the chart. (Only those visiting L&Q's Osborn House toilets where these charts and accompanying advice on the importance of drinking plenty of fluids are displayed are expected to be familiar with what this means...).

The chooks formed a layer in the aforementioned hole, apparently they make very good fertiliser for the lemon tree which was then planted there. Afternoons were my own and these were often spent walking in the surrounding woods, sometimes with the farm dog, sometimes not. Whilst walking I took some photos of some western grey kangaroos which are common in the area. 

Kangaroo

My bedroom there was a revamped train goods van; there was one other volunteer, Hiro, who is Japanese. Had meals with him, and the owners Pat & Bob who are very nice. Photo below shows the aforementioned together with the dog:

Pat, Bob, Hiro & Dog

    
Spent a couple of days in Rottnest Island which was Ok. Went there from Freemantle which really is interesting and not to be missed. Similar to Saint Kilda near Melboune and nearer to home, Hastings it has a seedy edge to it and a lot of old buildings. Stayed at the Cheviot Marina which was both being seedy and old and as a consequence very cheap, which is good.

From Perth,  went by train back to Adelaide which is undoubtedly the nicest city, I've been to so far. Link attached has a few details of what the city offers.

After a couple of relaxing days there caught the Ghan north to Alice Springs. Took a crammed two day tour to the outback including Kings Canyon and Uluru, previously known as Ayers Rock. It was a good tour group with an excellent tour leader, Trav who drove us over 1500 km. Highlights included sleeping out under the stars and seeing the sunrise over the rock which is much bigger and much redder than I previously imagined.

Here are some photos of that tour:

At Kata Tjutu, (aka the Olgas)

Group photo

Our Guide

Tourist pose

Last anecdote before I finish. Whilst Alice Springs is an ok sort of place during the day, its seriously dodgy at night....and both the Guidebook and our tour guide advised us not to walk alone in the town after dark. Coming home late from the party which was held at the end of the tour, I saw one of our group ahead approached by a guy who was holding a long object furtively behind his back. Drawing close, he brought the object around and then much to my relief put it to his mouth and played it.....it was a digeridoo.