Sign of life

Just a short post from a public library in an outpost of civilisation in the Southern Australian bush. We spent two days in Melbourne (boring), picked up the camper van (pics will follow), did the Great Ocean Road (woaw!), saw the Grampians National Park (burnt down completely in a big bushfire a few months ago...), and now we are on our way to Kangaroo Island.

I hope I will be able to upload a few pictures in Adelaide in a few days time.

"Nie meeeehr zweite Liga, nie meeeeehr, nie meeeehr...!"
___

Tassie

Whereas all the other places I have been to in Australia were crowded with young backpackers from all over the world, Tasmania (or Tassie how the locals call it) is very popular with Australian pensioners, who flee the hot summer on the mainland. And in fact, the first two days here were quite chilly: around 15 degrees and drizzle.

On the first day, we strolled through Hobart, had fish and chips at the docks, and toured an old prison. Tasmania shamelessly cannibalises its convict past (Tasmania was the place where they sent all convicts, who had reoffended in other parts of the Australian colony, hence the really bad guys), and brochures try to lure tourists to the "cruelest" and most "degrading" gaols. So, next day, after having toured the Cascade brewery (one of the best Australian beers), we went to Port Arthur, which used to be the largest prison on Tasmania during colonial times.


We spent days three and four driving around the island. The landscape is quite amazing. One minute you feel like you are driving through the dry plains of Spain, then you drive over a mountain and it looks like Worcestershire. As to wildlife, we saw wombats (believe it or not, they are quick, hence no pictures), the typical stuff (kangaroos and co.), and a (dead) Tasmanian devil (poor thing) sticking to the road.

___

The big loop

On Saturday I will leave for the last adventure before returning to Birmingham. Me and Elodie will do a three week trip that will take us to Tasmania and Melbourne, before renting a camper-van and driving all the way up to Ayers Rock and Alice Springs. We hope to get the one with the Scooby Doo paint job.


Well, next post from Tasmania then. Cheerio!
___

There is sand in/on/up my [..............] !!!

Last weekend we went to Fraser Island, which is considered to be the largest sand island in the world, and to have more sand than the Sahara desert. Controversial. But there is undoubtedly a lot of sand. And no roads. So, we hired a 4WD, and ferried across on a barge that could as well have landed tanks and troops on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

Driving on the beach was easy, as the sand was quite solid. The inland tracks were annoyingly bumpy though, causing some bitching and moaning in the back of the car. However, swimming in the fantastic lakes made everyone happy again (no swimming in the sea, as the waters around Fraser Island are infested with sharks).

We spent the night on the beach, sitting around an illegal campfire (no singing!), having a classic camping dinner (pasta and stuff from tins), and watching out for dingos (in fact, a sign advised not to go "bush toileting" alone because of those baby-eating monsters).

___

Pray...

...for the Messiah to come and take the club into the Champions League.


Sorry. Nothing to do with Australia. Read all about it here.
___

Australian cuisine

Time to talk about the food. Let's start with the meat!

Kangaroo. It's by far the cheapest meat in the supermarket, which probably says a lot about how popular it is. Or they just have very efficient processing structures. Anyway, it looks like beef, and tastes very much like venison. Not my taste really.



Crocodile. I haven't seen it anywhere down here in southern Queensland. But I had it in Cairns. It looks like chicken, and it tastes like chicken. Nice! Four forks out of five.








Vegemite. Australians' favourite. It's made from yeast extract - a by-product of beer manufacture - and young and old love it on their sandwich. It looks like crude oil and tastes like a rotten bouillon cube. I cannot recommend this one.



Beetroot. Yes, beetroot. Australians cannot get enough of it. I would have expected North Korea to be the only country in the world with a turnip as its national dish, but Australia proved me wrong. They love it! Especially on their burgers (even at McDonald's). And at the supermarket you get 5 litres tins of this delicious vegetable, which tastes like an old, dump sock if you ask me.

Finding Nemo

It's exam period at Griffith Uni and everybody is busy. Except me. So, I embarked on a lonely adventure to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland's tropical North. I went to Cairns, a city full of Japanese/Korean/Chinese tourists who spend their holiday hunting for the tackiest souvenir and looking at colourfish without getting too wet (usually, either wearing a seawalker helmet or sitting in a glass bottom boat). Moreover, the streets are filled with hammered aborigenes, who drink the days away on their generous social welfare payments.

Meanwhile, I took a catamaran out to the reef to snorkel. And yes, I spotted Nemo! Among thousands of other fish. It was absolutely amazing! Oh, by the way, this is what Japanese tourists had in mind when looking down from the glass bottom boat.

And I saw a SHARK too. I was already out of the water when I noticed this 1.50 metres beast circling the boat. Pheeew...!


Next day I hired a rusty, dodgy jeep, picked up the two German girls from my room in the hostel, and drove into the rainforest. There are some amazing waterfalls out there, and we took a swim underneath one. Ridiculously fantastic shit!!!!
___