Australia Adventure Part III

 Northern Territory: Alice Springs Uluru, Yulara

After a 3-hour flight from Melbourne we arrived in the very middle of  Australia in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, unusually green after unseasonal rains. Desert, with spectacular red rocks, gorges, sunsets.

My first purchase was a black fly net after getting a fly in my eye right off the bat at the airport. Not too attractive or comfortable!

We visited Alice Springs' Telegraph Station, the first white settlement in Central Australia from 1870-1932, home to the Arrernte who had met here for 1000's of years for ceremonies. In 1870-2 a 3,000 kilometer telegraph line with 12 repeater stations was established, first between Adelaide and Darwin which was Australia's only connection to the outside world.

From 1832-1960, it was the home of the "Stolen Generation," indigenous/white (mixed race) children who were taken from their families and lived and attended school in the "Bungalow."

   I fell in love with the colorful rich Aboriginal paintings and textiles, enjoyed throwing a boomerang, and swimming in the beautiful pool at our hotel in Alice Springs, population 25,000. Here are a few pictures.

April 1, we took a walk through the stunning Simpson's Gap which pierces the West MacDonnell Mt. Range (once enormous as Antarctica and New Zealand shoved upwards but much eroded over the millennia) with Michael and our new bus driver and naturalist Jordan (from Brisbane but has lived here a long time). We walked along the rocky and rough path beside a small river which is normally dry. The Japarina range looks like a caterpillar, thus the name.

The bright green buffle grass is lush, but when it dries, there will be fire danger. Fire singes the bark of the eucalyptus in preparation for new growth.We saw 2 almost hidden wallabies. Hermann wanted to bring 2500 sheep (a two year trip) but not suitable, which saved the land for the indigenous who own it, whose culture has existed here for 58,000 years.  

We then drove a short ways to Standley Chasm, named after Ida Stanley who first taught only whites, then Aborigines, who revered her and considered it a sacred place for women. I  got so many ant bites on my feet and lower legs I could hardly sleep for a few nights.

After lunch we visited ANZAC Hill, honoring Australians who first followed Britain in her wars, then the US. Along with Australian (stars for the states: Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia) and Northern Territories flags flies the Indigenous red (land), black(people), yellow(sun) flag.

In the evening we drove through Desert oaks out to Earth Sanctuary Nature Center for a BBQ, talk, sunset, and stargazing.

In a 1977 vote for a new national anthem which became Sons of Australia, Waltzing Mathilda came in second.

The song narrates the story of a swagman (itinerant worker) boiling a billy (pot) at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (grazier), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.On the long 6 hour ride to Yulara, Michael and Jordan told history, played & explained many popular and often protest Australian songs. We saw some of the camels brought to Australia mostly by Afghans in the 1840's for inland exploration and transport, they were released in the 1930's following the rise of motor vehicles. Australia has the world's largest population of wild dromedary camels, with over 1 million roaming the outback. We saw a runway for the Flying Doctor Service, important in this isolated land.

After arrival in Yulara we headed to the famous Ayers Rock/Uluru, massive gray sandstone covered in red sand, sacred to the indigenous Anangu who believe they are direct descendants of the python, emu, a blue-tongued lizard and a poisonous snake who formed the land during the creation period. Rising more than 1,100 feet above the surrounding plain, Uluru is one of the world's largest monoliths. Because it is sacred, it is not to be climbed.

Sacred pool and water source (Kapa Mutitjulu). There is a cave for men and another for women and one for boys (5-12) where they prepare to be men. In the evening we drove out to Uluru for yummy snacks and to watch the sunset along with busloads of other tourists.

and the next morning for the sunrise and then on to another sacred,  but conglomerate rock formation called Kata Tjuta where we took another hike (Olga Gorge) over relatively smooth red rock with bridges, green grass and bushes...very pretty!

Karen took this amazing panoramic photo of Kata Tjuta (many heads).
Back at the small town Yulara hotel, I attended an aboriginal food class and a fun class to paint Australian animals. I did an echidna and koala.

We said goodbye to our new friend Jordan and left the next morning for a 2.5 hour Quantas flight to Cairns, Queensland where we would stay four nights at the Peppers Hotel at Palm Beach.

 

 Overseas Adventure Travel to Australia: March 27-April 1. Part II; Victoria

After a wonderful pre-trip in Tasmania, we flew 1 hour across the Bass Strait to busy, fun Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria, where we would meet the additional 6 travelers. Melbourne, founded in 1835, city of 3.5 million, is named after the then-British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. Businessmen led by John Batman bought 600,000 acres for a few trinkets from the local aborigines. Just after Victoria separated from New South Wales (Sydney)gold was discovered in Victoria in  1851, making Melbourne the richest and fastest growing city in the British empire, and is considered the nation's arts and sports center. Cochlear implants and freezing eggs for IVF implantation were invented here. In 1901, when Australia became a Federation, Canberra became the capital, as it is half-way between Sydney and Melbourne.

   Some of us on the bridge between our hotel and the old train station. 

We attended a very informative talk/demonstration by a lovely young mixed race (European/Aboriginal) woman on indigenous people (250 in Australia) in the area. She showed us weapons, furs, tools, shields, etc., including spears, boomerangs, digeridoos. Wamanjika means 'welcome, come listen.' Pure indigenous live more in center/outback.

Kaali, to take out kangaroos, which have over-populated Australia, as the A. Tiger(extinct) and dingo (wild dog) can no longer control them.

Opossum fur with ochre drawings inside the pelt are passed on to several generations. Language was oral, still spoken. One of the very few rainy days of the trip, we walked through the murals area and then into the very elegant arcades of the gold rich 1880's, with magnificent mosaic floors.

Our leader Michael brings our attention to the suffering of many lost and abused women and the rampant racism here as elsewhere. This aboriginal mural is off to the side.

Beautifully wrapped chocolate Easter eggs are sold everywhere

Michael took 3 of us to the Marvel stadium which holds 55,000 to see an Australian Football League game (St. Kildra vs. Brisbane), which was really exciting, a unique combination of soccer, basketball and ?

Karen and I then visited the famous Victoria State Library (1853) with a beautiful dome, 1000's of old and new books and lots of history. John Batman's treaty with the Aboriginals (to steal their land) was dishonest and disrespectful and has never been honored. Land is disputed still.

     Modern Melbourne is filled with skyscrapers, trams, and culture

    McCubbins' (the Pioneer) and Barry William Hale's aboriginal        drawings and other art works are interesting.

St. Paul's 1892 Anglican Cathedral stands across from Flinders station

We all opted for the Optional all-day trip along the 150 mile Great Ocean Road, which was magnificent. It is much like the beautiful California coast highway, but built by Australian sailors and soldiers, returning from battlefields of WWI, having survived a terrible war. 330,000 Australians had volunteered, 60,000 killed,160,000 were wounded. The road building was hoped to be a mental health boost, after what was then called shell-shock and what we now call PTSD. They were given the opportunity to work for pay 5.5 days a week, sharing tents, camaraderie, and hard-work with fellow soldiers, building this road that runs south at first inland, then west along the coast. They could stay as long as they wanted. 

           We stopped to feed the alpacas at a small chocolate factory

The coast is treacherous, recording about 150 shipwrecks. One story told of Tom, a lone crew survivor, who heard the screams in this inlet, Loch Ard, of a 17 year old girl whose physician father and all the rest of the family had died in the wreck. He managed to rescue her. She eventually returned alone to Britain.

        The Twelve Apostles (only 7-8 left) was a breath-taking site

    The whole road was beautiful. We walked in a lush Maits rain forest and explored the Cape Otway Area of ancient trees,ferns and waterfalls

   At the end is a monument to these remarkable road builders who whacked their way through rain forests, swamps, and rocky shores.

We loved to see kangaroos on our way back to Melbourne or anywhere
 The following day we rode the bus to a wildlife sanctuary  on the Mornington Peninsula to see and feed kangaroos, wallabies, quokkas, lots of birds, emus, lizards, and dingos.

                                       quokka (small marsupial

                                pink cockatoo

                                           Regent parrots

We enjoyed a delicious barbecue, including kangaroo sausages, at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

After lunch we met Bob, proud owner of one of the colorful Beach Boxes (which are expensive and hard to get) at Brighton Beach, then drove through the Melbourne neighborhood where Michael grew up.

I spent an enjoyable hour at the Victoria Art Gallery, then went with the group to an especially delicious dinner at Seafood and Grill. Although Australians love their chips (fries), which really are good and always available, I loved my favorite barramundi (very plentiful white fish), boiled potatoes, broccolini and Panna Cotta with berry sauce. We met Michael's boss Jimmy who joined us.

We walked to the hotel, packed up and would set off the next morning, March 31 for the Outback, a 3-hour flight to Alice Springs in the middle of the red desert in the Northern Territory.