Australia: The Dream Comes True!

01.06.13 Long live the newlyweds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

02-03.06.13 Here we are, finally, leaving for THE trip... Check-in desk at the Verona airport...they give us all the boarding passes, on the third one it says SYDNEY..."love, who's going to believe this????!!!” 1st flight: Verona – Frankfurt, 1.5 hours, still in ecstasy over the unforgettable day of our wedding... 2nd flight: Frankfurt – Hong Kong, about 11 hours... slept nothing, Chinese food...help! But Australia is getting closer... 3rd flight: Hong Kong – Sydney, about 10 hours... we arrive in the evening, we see the lights of the city... glimpsed the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the window...landed. WE'RE IN AUSTRALIAAAAAA!!!! Decidedly tired we take the little train toward the center, City Hotel, in the heart of Sydney, strategic location. We collapse into bed.

Discovering Sydney!!

First thing we rushed to see the Opera House, not so much for the theater itself, but because it is absolutely the symbol of the city...beautiful, on the tip of the bay, a day with incredible sun, the kind of "Welcome to Australia!" The ritual photos in front and behind and from the side, we decide to join the guided visit, very interesting, we also peek at the rehearsals of a concert... I get the guy at the information desk to give me some posters...and what was on the program (alas, a month ago) at the Sydney Opera House??? "The man who planted trees", incredible but true. Given the super day we head to the Royal Botanic Gardens where we have lunch lying on the grass with a view of the bay and skyscrapers.

In this park we were the only ones walking...everyone else was running! They arrived in droves, all on their lunch break, running! Too funny, they're obsessed with fitness and then they eat loads of junk...:-) In the afternoon we take the bus and go to Bondi Beach, even though it's winter there are the die-hard surfers challenging waves and sharks... We do a stretch of the walk along the coast and already take a million photos. In the evening we return to the city, these days we caught a phenomenal festival "Vivid Sydney" that is, at the strategic points of the city there were shows of lights, music and water games. We admired the Opera House in a thousand colors and went to dinner at Darling Harbour, a super area with a thousand venues and lots of people.

Second day in Sydney.

We head out first thing in the morning to the port where we take the first ferry to Manly, the goal was to see Sydney from the sea...an immense bay, kissed by the sun again today, with the skyline of skyscrapers, the beautiful bridge, the opera house dominating the thousand inlets. Truly beautiful. Once in Manly, a small seaside town, very cute, also full of surfers challenging the ocean. We return to the center and stroll through The Rocks, where a parrot of a thousand colors keeps us company for lunch in a little bar. We decide to go up on the Harbour Bridge, there are madmen who climb all the way to the top, we settle for walking on the sidewalk and also here take a thousand photos...

We choose to return to Darling Harbour to see it in the daytime, with the whole park area just behind, we reach the gate of Chinatown, unavoidable photo, and we take the monorail for a little ride among the skyscrapers. Sunset was approaching and so we go up the Sydney Tower to admire the breathtaking panorama...another million photos. We didn't want to miss the fountain show at Darling Harbour, a bit like in Las Vegas but much longer and very colorful, with truly incredible water games...we have dinner and then collapse to sleep. Truly beautiful Sydney.

Transfer to Fraser Island.

Woken up well before dawn because of the Chinese woman at the reception of our hotel who booked us the shuttle bus to the airport ten hours ahead of the flight...and thank goodness it was a Domestic Flight otherwise who knows...so we find ourselves at the airport having breakfast at Pie Face, a really cute little place with all little pastries with faces on them. First flight with Qantas! Great food, breakfast with real cornflakes. Flight to Brisbane a spectacle, only the bay was missing from seeing it from the plane...incredibly beautiful, the sun graced us again today. We arrive in Brisbane, we glimpse the skyscrapers from the window but we don't have time to see the city, we take the first of a series of minibuses for about 500 km that takes us to Hervey Bay, north of Brisbane. The driver tells me off because I dared to bite into a sandwich while I was on the bus...imagine that...

He drops us off at Hervey Bay, a fishing village where the only attraction seems to be whale watching... but it's still too early to see them, they'll arrive in July, so after a few photos at sunset we wait for the ferry that takes us to Fraser Island. Crossing in the dark, we arrive at our Resort, the Kingfisher Bay Resort, beautiful, all wood, immersed in nature...in the lobby birds were flying...outside it's pitch black, we go to our beautiful room and go to sleep.

Tour Fraser!

Up early, today we have the island tour booked through the resort. We show up at the meeting point at the agreed time and wait...and nobody comes...huh...strange, so far the Australians have turned out to be decidedly punctual. After a bit a guy shows up, says he's a guide and tells us to wait...we couldn't quite understand everything, if Americans swallow their words, Australians straight up don't have some consonants, plus they make up tons of words, but who cares, they're an entire continent... by the way, along comes Mr. Peter Meyer, our guide, we'll find out later who he is...

a skinny guy with a friendly face, he asks if we're alone...yep! Basically, a tour that was originally supposed to be by coach and therefore with lots of other people, in reality it was just the two of us! So we took the jeep, not the coach, and the adventure began! We discover that this Peter Meyer has lived on the island for 20 years and is a photographer... he tells us a ton of things, about the plants, the flowers, the animals, how the island was formed...beautiful. The roads don't exist, they're sand tracks, with incredible bumps, sometimes you go at a snail's pace because otherwise the 4x4 jeep tips over. We pass through the rainforest, dense, dense, we see our first eucalyptus trees (but no koalas), until the first stop: dunes of super fine sand, a slice of desert opening up in the forest. We see dingo and wallaby tracks...

then after another stretch of road that feels like being on a roller coaster we arrive at the beach. Not just any beach, 75 miles beach...an enormous beach, 75 miles long exactly, about 110 km, straight, completely untouched, wide, with the ocean waves crashing...sand as far as the eye can see...incredible scenery. Sun. Off we go in the jeep at full speed, there are speed limit signs on the beach!!! Max 80 km\h... awesome. We meet other jeeps but the feeling is that we're practically the only ones enjoying that spectacle. We arrive at a place where a freshwater river flows all the way to the beach and loses itself in the sea, we take a swim...decidedly refreshing (not that it was all that hot anyway...).

We head back inland, immersed again in the forest, we take a beautiful walk, we see enormous trees, not like sequoias, but we take the same photos again!:-) a little stream of crystal-clear water flowed among the trees, completely transparent water on a bed of sand, No rock or soil exists, everything grows on sand, incredible. Magic! Peter then takes us to a fantastic place, nobody around, another beach with strange things on the surface...hundreds and hundreds of tiny crabs...blue! Really blue! They all moved together, they were beautiful. He put one in my hand with some sand and it dug itself a little home and within 5 seconds it was gone, it thought it was hidden...too funny. Perfect light for fantastic photos. Back near the resort to watch the sunset over the bay, near the pier...where the dolphins popped up!! Beautiful.

We go back to the hotel to buy some postcards...and we discover that every single postcard for sale, but really every one, is signed by none other than... Peter Meyer. Basically, we spent the whole day with the island's official photographer, a fantastic guide and...just us. Insane stroke of luck. We eat at the resort bar and crash again tonight. Our only full day on the island unfortunately, time is a tyrant, it deserved at least 2 days...but it was truly incredible.

Transfer to Cairns

Early morning ferry to get back to the mainland, transfer to the airport this time at Hervey Bay to return to Brisbane (an airport where 3 people worked and did everything, super organized these Australians), a tiny propeller plane compared to the others...arrived in Brisbane, another look at the skyscrapers from the window and second flight of the day heading north to Cairns. Arrived in the afternoon and settled into the hotel where they very kindly leave a bottle of sparkling wine in our room...we're honeymooners, let's not forget:-) A little stroll around town for dinner. Yes, because we learned early on that in Australia people eat even before the chickens, who by comparison are night owls...at 6 you have dinner, at 7 everything's closed.

A bit like in England...in many ways they're English: the food, the tea, driving on the left, can you believe they celebrate the Queen's birthday as their national holiday...Elizabeth yes, her exactly! And then they're just plain wonky, they have the taps inverted, the locks open the opposite way, the Land Down Under...and our upside-down journey continues! As I was saying, we arrive in town, we didn't like it much, I mean it felt a bit fake, loads of bars, hotels and that's it, oh well no worries. We have dinner and bed.

Great Barrier Reef!

Today the trip to the Great Barrier Reef awaits us!!!!! More precisely to a small island called Michaelmans Cay. They come to pick us up and take us to the boat, an enormous catamaran...I was expecting a little boat...this time we were definitely not alone, since it was indeed the Queen's birthday, all the Australian school groups had very thoughtfully decided to do the same trip as us...

so we find ourselves surrounded by screaming teenagers...who had nicely settled themselves on the deck, which was nothing but a grate with the ocean underneath, and with the first wave they all got soaked! So funny! Good thing the boat wasn't a little boat because the waves made themselves felt, I thought the Coral Sea was a stretch of flat, crystal-clear water, instead it was a real ocean, a deep blue, with some nice big waves...we left Cairns and after 2 hours we spotted the little island...a real atoll in the middle of the sea. We discover that this little island is a nature reserve where 3 species of birds breed...there were indeed birds everywhere, white and black, thousands of them. Beautiful. They made an insane racket, but they were beautiful.

It was time to dive in...not that it was really hot, let's say lukewarm...they kindly equipped me with a sort of full wetsuit, I looked like an all-black mouse...fins, mask and off we go! And there a new world opened up.

Never seen the coral reef before...an endless series of corals of every color and shape...and fish, big and small, alone or in schools, shells...giant shells! Like the ones from The Little Mermaid, beautiful, and they moved! One closed up and made all these bubbles! And then...not even 2 minutes after we were in the water, we see a shark! A real shark!!!!! It must have been a meter and a half maybe, as soon as it saw us it ran away...thank goodness...reef sharks aren't dangerous, but let's just say that after that I swam on the other side:-) After the first beautiful underwater journey we settled on the beach, theoretically to dry off...within 1 minute the sky clouded over, and down came so much water...we got drenched, barely saving the camera. After the downpour the sun and the warmth came back, we did another round in the water, we wanted to see those wonders again...

We were the last to leave the little island, waving goodbye to the birds. We returned to Cairns, fish dinner and bed.

Green Island

Early morning wake-up (as usual by now) and we went to the port where after checking in we boarded...Yes, because you check in even to go on a boat:-) This time the destination was Green Island...an island similar to Paradise I believe. They stuck the blue sticker of Green Island Resort on our shirts...well yes, everyone was doing the day trip since the island is about 20 km from the coast and then went back in the afternoon...we indulged in this super luxury of sleeping on the island...never made a better choice...well, a bit of honey in this moon:-) We arrived on the island, surrounded by a beautiful beach, with a very very green heart of forest inside. The resort's little man came to accompany us, he looked like Frankenstein, tall with a square head...extremely kind, he practically served and doted on us all day.

The Green Island Resort is simply wonderful, our suite was three times the size of our little house. Bedroom, living room, terrace, bathroom, powder room, enormous shower, giant tub...in short, all the comforts you could wish for. All the suites were connected to each other by covered wooden walkways...we would discover later how useful that was...we also had a reserved lounge with little sofas, newspapers, tea and coffee available...overlooking the beautiful pool. But who cares about the pool, we dashed to the beach and, equipped here too with a black mouse wetsuit, fins and mask, we plunged into the blue... A marvel. A thousand fish of every color and then...a turtle!!!! It came slowly, passed near us, we followed it, it seemed to dance in the water, we swam together for a while, it let itself be followed calmly...then it went on its way. Unforgettable.

I had never seen a sea turtle...outside an aquarium I mean...because that really was an aquarium...I also saw Dory!!! Nemo was missing, darn it...I looked for him a lot but the clown fish wouldn't let himself be found...on the other hand we saw the catfish, it was funny, and then some truly ENORMOUS fish. Stunning. Besides the sea teeming with life, the island was a paradise for birds, so many and so strange, never seen before.

There was a bird that looked like a little chick, but cooler...we later discovered it was actually nicknamed "chicken"...much smarter than a chicken though, it managed to steal chips from everyone...:-) it went against the island's motto, that is "don't feed the birds", in fact it fended for itself! In the afternoon the real Paradise began, the island emptied out...not that there was a crowd (an unknown word in Australia), but still some people were there...everyone left on the ferry...bye bye...and we stayed there enjoying the show. Toward sunset we went to feed the fish...an incredible thing...from the pier one of the island guides was throwing food into the water...legions of fish we'd never seen arrived...some even came out of the water to try to snatch the food from the others. And then a little shark arrived...and the ever-present turtles, symbol of the island.

After the romantic sunset with the fish they offered us a drink at the resort bar, there were barely 20 of us on the whole island... we started chatting with a couple from Brisbane. The romantic evening continued with a fantastic fish dinner (crazy expensive but delicious) accompanied by a good Australian white wine...a wonderful evening...and then, as if we weren't tired enough, we also went on the walking night tour with the resort guide who took us around to see night birds, turtles and plants never seen before, like there was a tree with its roots outside and he said it could "walk" during the year even 3 or 4 meters, in search of the sun...awesome. Good night Green Island.

From Green Island to Darwin

Woken this time with a bit more calm, we headed to the breakfast room where we spent practically 2 hours eating everything and more...keeping at bay "sausage" a bird famous for stealing sausages from plates (there were no sausages on mine but it was greedy for anything...):-) After refueling properly we were ready for our relaxing beach day. Having put on the black mouse suit, fins and mask, we plunged in this time near the pier where they'd told us the most beautiful fish were and above all...Nemo!!! I saw him! Yay. Water not exactly warm and weather not great today but we still managed to do our nice tour in the blue painted blue...time to lie down for 3 seconds on the loungers and down came the universal deluge...it poured buckets...we got caught in not all of it but almost.

Thank goodness we had our reserved lounge with hot showers and boiling tea...:-) In the early afternoon we had booked the glass bottom boat tour...that is the boat where you see the bottom of the sea...a spectacle...super clear water we saw everything, and the turtle came to say hello. In the afternoon we sadly headed toward the ferry that would take us back to land, we said goodbye to this paradise with a bit of sadness...took the shuttle to the airport and Qantas flight direct to Darwin. We arrived at the hostel. Exactly like the Green Island suite...shower and bed.

Tour Lichtfield NP

Awake well before dawn, the legendary Wayoutback minibus picks us up for the 3-day tour of Lichtfield and Kakadu parks! Super punctual they arrive and the adventure begins. We grab the seats at the back of the minibus, already half full, we're obviously the only Italians, almost everyone is a native English speaker except a Frenchwoman, a German and us...that is there were a German, a Frenchman, an Englishman and an Italian like in the jokes...:-) Our guide, Luke (but we discover his name after 3 days...) speaks in a completely incomprehensible way. As if we spoke strict Veronese with a Chinese person. Exactly. Anyway he was likeable and very good, a jack of all trades, super punctual and super organized...but scary so! There are about 12 of us, we set off in the minibus for the first day at Lichtfield.

First stop at some very beautiful waterfalls, if they hadn't been full of mosquitoes...the only solution was to jump in the water! Outside though there were signs... "be aware of crocodiles"...huh...everyone goes swimming...Luke dives in, okay let's go too! Brief stop, if they tell you "we leave in 10 minutes" by the ninth minute everyone's already on the minibus, while we're still there drying off... Landscape with red earth and trees trees trees...the wooded savannah, beautiful. Second stop more waterfalls, this time reaching them is a bit more tiring, we go down about 300 steps...but the waterfalls are wonderful. A thousand photos. We climb back up the rock steps and...the kangaroos!!!!!!!!!! We see our first wallabies, an entire family! Beautiful. What an emotion.

In the afternoon we arrive at Mary River where somehow we understood we would take a "cruise" on the river to see the crocodiles...okay I thought, tourist stuff come on, as if we'll see them... We get on a barge, the landscape is gorgeous...almost sunset time, beautiful light, clear sky, water lilies everywhere, flat water, silence, only the sound of birds...after 1 minute, there's the first crocodile, right in front of us!!! It dives into the water... The barge captain looked just like Mr. Crocodile Dundee...complete with knife...fantastic...he spotted hidden animals everywhere, he approached slowly and explained everything...

We saw quite a few crocodiles, one with its mouth wide open, motionless on the bank, another, a 5-meter beast entering the water and then the ones swimming more or less close to us...on the riverbanks the wallabies jumped, eagles flew in the sky...only Piero Angela was missing and Quark was complete. Truly sensational. After the sunset in this spectacular place we arrive at our campsite. I was expecting something more spartan instead we have a tent all to ourselves, with camp beds inside, quite comfortable I'd say. We cook together with the others, we try to make a minimum of conversation with those who have a comprehensible pronunciation and then we follow the second guide who was with us for a beautiful night walk... this time we really saw everything.

This guy seemed like a magician, I mean, in the pitch dark but really pitch dark he'd say "there's a frog there!" well, after 10 meters hidden on a rock there was a very strange frog...he found birds perched on branches, enormous spiders on tree trunks, a chrysalis, an owl...beautiful. Starry and super clear night, unfamiliar stars...saw the Southern Cross! No Big Dipper around here...and then the moon...tilted! Crescent moon that seemed to be smiling at us.

Kakadu!

Awake waaaay before dawn, with Luke humming outside the tents. It's still dark, we have breakfast, good, and in no time we get ready to go...nobody checks that we're all on the minibus...if you got lost for a moment they'd leave you there... (in fact I almost got left at a rest area in the middle of nowhere........). We set off, amazing landscape, wooded savannah and red dirt tracks...spotted lots of strange birds, never seen before. Luke drove like a madman, you couldn't take photos from the window because we were already 10 km ahead... Today we enter Kakadu. First stop at Ubirr where we walk along a very pleasant little path surrounded by lots of rocks with Aboriginal paintings, caves and beautiful walls. There was a painting on the tip of an unreachable rock...it was the good spirits who painted up there...

We continue the walk until we reach a plateau that is nothing short of sensational. Beautiful sun and a 360-degree view over an infinity of green. We're in the dry season, in a few months everything we were seeing turns into an immense lake. Here too a million photos... never seen such a green...green. Truly breathtaking panorama, an Aboriginal sacred site, very spiritual. We come down from this paradisiacal place and return to the minibus, lunch stop with burgers in company and then off again toward other waterfalls. A short walk to reach another spectacular place...it looked like a postcard, or rather, like when you draw as a child: intense blue sky, sun, a big waterfall with lots of water cascading down, a natural pool formed at the base with clear warm water, exceptional temperature, green trees around... we dash in for a swim.

No crocodiles thank goodness? We relax a while in this place drawn by someone for us, then all back to the campsite to prepare dinner together. We tasted kangaroo! Good I'd say, it resembles horse meat a bit in my opinion...tasty. Bed in the tent again tonight.

Kakadu and return to Darwin

Today, one year ago, we were in the middle of the sequoia park... anniversary of the marriage proposal! Today instead we're in the middle of Kakadu park, ready to go exploring. Awake waaaaay before dawn as usual (by now our body clock has adapted), all on the minibus for the day's adventure: destination Jim Jim Falls. The road to get there is nothing short of mind-blowing. The minibus is obviously suited to that road, which can't be called a road because it's simply a "trace" in the middle of the trees. Stunning. Roller coasters are nothing in comparison. Every now and then a dingo would pop out and watch us, amused... And while driving on that red, bumpy-as-hell track Luke cranked up the music and we "danced" on the minibus to typical Australian songs (the ones kids learn in preschool, if you know what I mean...) awesome!!? We drop the minibus off and set off on a short walk.

Short but tough, all among the rocks, a semi-climb, crossing little streams and discovering fairy-tale scenery step by step (doable anyway). Until we reach the Jim Jim Falls...wow... a waterfall 150 meters plunging into a lake. Deep water, intense blue, this time freezing cold. Incredible scenery. I dove in but after 10 seconds I risked frostbite... Marco instead, along with a few other daredevils, swam the 100-plus meters to the base of the waterfall...and back. I had already claimed a beautiful little sunny beachspot where I settled in to sunbathe like a lizard... It was just us, when a few people started arriving we headed back toward the minibus, Luke all happy because he'd managed to get us there before all the other groups...

After a nice lunch of wraps with a thousand veggies we sadly headed back toward Darwin where our hostel awaited us...which today looked like a five-star hotel...? We met up with the guys in the evening for dinner, some goodbyes and address exchanges (we didn't know yet that Mark, a Canadian guy, we'd meet again 2000 km later...), last photos and bed.

The Ghan!

Today's the big day...we treated ourselves to a taxi to get to the station where none other than the Ghan awaited us!! That's right, the legendary train that crosses Australia from north to south, that is from Darwin to Adelaide. One of Australia's first means of communication, a train coveted by all Australians (and by Silvia), among the 10 things they want to do at least once in their lives..."an unforgettable journey"... We check in and board the red seat carriage, that is the cheapest, with only a reclining seat...the only such carriage on the whole train because all the others were gold and platinum class... A full 24 carriages forming a very long snake, a train that runs only twice a week, single track...to cross the entire desert.

At 10 we depart! We pass near the roads traveled with the minibus at full speed (which went faster than the train) and slowly wave goodbye to the Kakadu landscapes. Stop at Kathrine to see some gorges with a river running through them. Here I don't quite know how we did it, basically we didn't understand, but we found ourselves in the middle of the group of gold and platinum passengers who had organized excursions included in the train ticket (we obviously didn't), we flat-out infiltrated and got on a coach, the only certainty was that these were Ghan passengers like us and therefore we would return to the train, but what we would do in the meantime was a mystery...after half an hour on the coach we arrive at the Kathrine Gorge, that is these gorges, and we line up with the group for a very pleasant boat trip.

Here too the goal was to see crocodiles but this time they were miniature, there was a lady who was angry because the crocodile she had seen was a good 10 cm!! So funny. A trip for the elderly basically, but we infiltrators loved it. We also wolfed down the snack with champagne and crocodile soup in a very chic bar! We later discover that this little trip cost 130 dollars per person... we did it as special guests!! After a beautiful photo hugging a baobab we returned to the train and set off again for our final destination Alice Spring. Fiery sunset and dinner in the dining carriage, seat reclined and goodnight!

Arrival in Alice Springs

We woke up to the dawn greeting us from the window, the sky in every color, the desert and the kangaroos hopping by... Breakfast in the dining carriage where our bartender friend even gave us tea because we were really good customers! We arrive in Alice Spring in the morning. At the station the first thing I see is a statue of a woman on a camel next to the Alice sign...she really looked like her, the one from the book Tracks...an obligatory photo. Besides the statue the very first thing that strikes us is...the temperature: 12 degrees, in the daytime, with sun. I start shivering just thinking about sleeping outside tomorrow night...But let's take it one step at a time. We calmly head toward the town, so described and dreamed of, this place with only nothingness within a 1500 km radius in every direction, the heart of Australia.

And it was a real little town, some mountains formed its outline, protecting it and enabling it to collect water for the town. We settle into the motel in the center, the Diplomat, very nice and convenient, and we go exploring, with a bit of calm this time because we had the whole day available. So we stocked up on Aboriginal souvenirs, visited all the local art galleries and wandered leisurely around town. We bought so many boomerangs... On the street there were lots of Aboriginal people, to tell the truth they made me a bit sad, in the towns they're marginalized, they wander around doing nothing and most of them drink... they're not troublesome, they mind their own business, but after reading a lot of super interesting things about their culture, seeing them like that has an effect, in their communities it should be very different, who knows.

Then we climbed a hill with a view of the town...what a strange thing, a town in the heart of the desert...beautiful. We felt a bit as if it were our town: we went shopping, we went to the supermarket, we found a parish and went to mass because it was Sunday proper, with a Filipino priest you couldn't understand a lick of but oh well, it was nice anyway. In church there were all kinds of people, even some Aboriginal people, they spotted us "visitors" right away. A decidedly relaxing and pleasant day, almost feeling "at home", even though on the other side of the world.

Emu Run Tour!

The inevitable before-dawn wake-up, ready for the beautiful desert tour. By now used to minibuses we wait for them to pick us up...to begin the Emu Run Tour!! Another tour another group. This time it's more varied in age, there are some couples around 50, one of them celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, some young ones like us, some very young and a lady around 70...I immediately thought that if she can make it I can too? Here too we're the only Italians and almost the only non-native English speakers. Worse off than us there are only 2 Chinese women who I'm not sure what they were doing there, the younger of the two had canvas shoes with pink hearts and pajamas...coming out of the Hilton. After doing the round of hotels to pick everyone up we set off. We leave Alice Spring still in the dark, heading for the desert.

And little by little the landscape becomes more barren, more isolated, but not dry. We discover it rained a lot in Australia too in the last month (not just in Italy...) and so the green is quite lush, it's still desert obviously, but there are areas with lots of vegetation, trees, grass, even a few flowers pop up...and then endless expanses of spinifex and red earth. Legendary. After 500 km and a few brief stops in places absolutely forgotten by everyone and everything we arrive at Ayers Rock, Uluru for the Aboriginal people, which simply means "water hole", because Aboriginal people are like that, if you ask them what's that? They answer by telling you exactly what you pointed at, not the whole thing, and that time they had pointed at a hole with water in it, on top of the sacred mountain.

The famous silhouette stands out on the horizon, we approach and first visit the Aboriginal cultural center, with all their stories, their culture and the request not to climb the mountain. Somewhere I had read that it would be like if someone came to your house and walked on your sofa with their shoes, it would annoy me a bit... Anyway, for them it's one of the most sacred places in their history, we decide not to climb Uluru (which we wouldn't have done anyway because it's really dangerous, if you slip and you're up there goodnight, there's absolutely nothing to stop you, and yet so many people go up...). We begin the walk all around the rock, we discover beautiful crevices where water flows down, sometimes with waterfalls. The rock isn't exactly red red, but because the sky is cloudy, so for us it will stay imprinted as brown...but truly beautiful.

We walk all the way around for I don't remember how many km, a really nice loop. With this monolith in the middle of nowhere. Sunset time arrives, they take us to an overcrowded spot (where we obviously run into Mark) to admire the spectacle...which unfortunately isn't the best due to the weather, increasingly cloudy. Only for a few seconds does the sky open up a little and let the sun's rays filter through. Then you can really see the rock changing color! It didn't last long but it was beautiful. Meanwhile we make a bit more friends with the people in our group, there's Gabrielle, the lady who's really cool, Australian from Melbourne. And then Colette, Scottish transplanted to New Zealand. And Ryan, our Australian guide. And Katy, who's from Honololulu!!!! I was already imagining Merlin zooming off in The Sword in the Stone? what a story.

A Japanese guy, the 2 Chinese women, the inevitable German, 2 English and us. This time we understand a lot more when everyone talks, maybe we've gotten used to it, maybe the others really did speak terribly...who knows. The temperature kept dropping and we headed to our "suite"...that is the campsite area where we lit a beautiful fire! Oh yes, because in the morning, on the road, we'd gone to gather firewood... So, after eating the inevitable chicken with some sauce it was time to sleep...in the swag! I was terrified of dying of cold. It must have been 6 degrees. And instead...legendary swag, I want one in Verona too. Basically it's a mattress covered with heavy fabric where you put the sleeping bag inside. Ryan said: the less you wear the warmer you'll be inside the swag...now, that's all well and good, but I kept my fleece on and slept like a baby. With my little hat.

Too bad about the clouds, this time no Southern Cross...but the howling dingoes yes. Goodnight under the stars...under the clouds! A special night.

Kata Tjuta

Guess what? Before-dawn wake-up! Of course you'll say, you were outdoors...actually I could have slept like a dormouse and didn't want to leave that warmth anymore... Breakfast in company, backpack and off we go! Heading for the Olgas mountains, that is Kata Tjuta ("many heads" in Aboriginal, because indeed they're round mountains like heads sticking out of the earth), to see the sunrise. Cloudy again today darn it, but the spectacle was still beautiful. We could see Uluru in the distance, but not even that far considering we were about 50 km away...the air so clear, it seemed much closer. And the sky began to color...everywhere. That's how it is in Australia, it doesn't just color on one side, it colors everywhere, and in different colors. It looks painted. Beautiful.

Today too an overcrowded spot with people like us enjoying the spectacle, but there was more silence, maybe it was sleepiness...but it was a beautiful moment. With the sun now risen we head toward the interior of the Olgas. There's an insane wind, freezing cold. We start walking, little by little the day warms up and the sun comes out. We take a beautiful walk, we climb up, among these strange rocks, they look smooth and layered, up to a sort of saddle where we have a 360-degree view over all the mountains and so much green. There's lots of water, and lots of life. Birds, plants, kangaroos! We see them hopping away, beautiful. We come back down and the landscape changes again, wider, always very very green. We return to the minibus, another road to reach another campsite, we light the fire and Ryan starts cooking the typical Australian bread and potatoes, inside the fire.

Before dinner we take a walk around the campsite because actually it's a kind of farm...with camels, yes there are indeed! And lots of them. And in their enclosure they were putting on a show! There was the smallest camel, the loser of the group, who was chased by all the others who wanted to bite him...poor thing, he looked a bit like Calimero. And then, in the same enclosure as the camels, there was a flock of gray and pink parrots that all took off together, at the exact same instant, there must have been a hundred of them, all above us to fly over to a tree... beautiful. Dinner was excellent, we chatted a bit around the fire, with the dingoes in the background...until it started to rain, yes indeed, in the desert... and so we took refuge in the tent, no swag under the stars tonight...

Kings Canyon

Wake-up call now a given, quick breakfast and transfer to Kings Canyon to start a beautiful hike today as well. Interesting landscape, we descended into the canyon and then climbed back up with ladders hanging off the side… and of course we ran into Mark who took photos of us from the other side of the precipice. The canyon was very large and deep, in short beautiful but if compared with the Grand Canyon the comparison doesn't hold up. Anyway, a very pleasant walk. Back at the minivan we headed, alas, toward Alice Spring, along the way we spotted an eagle… huge… perched on a dry branch, like in the movies, Ryan said it had a wingspan of 2 and a half meters… impressive. Shortly before arriving in town we make the last stop at a camel farm… and we went for a ride on the camels! Super fun, we even did a bit of running, what a laugh. Nice.

Once in town we settle back into our super luxurious motel and finally take a boiling hot shower… then we go out to dinner with the others at a dive near the center, a lovely evening in company. Here too we exchange addresses and say goodbye to everyone. The tour adventure is over. One week left…

Transfer to Kangaroo Island

Today a day against the clock begins. Flight from Alice Spring to Adelaide (that is, "Adl", as they say around here…). At the airport, guess who we run into? Colette, the Scotswoman, and the ever-present Mark. On the plane we see the desert from the window, an immense red expanse… wonderful. Doing the math we had about 3 hours from when we landed in Adelaide to: - Pick up the suitcases - Pick up the rental car (understand well what the insurance covered, etc…) - Figure out how to drive on the left with the steering wheel on the right - Get out of Adelaide at rush hour (because in Australia they work much less and so rush hour is around 4:30…) - Drive about 120 km - Arrive at the ferry boarding in Cape Jervis for Kangaroo Island (we had of course booked the last ferry of the day, after that there were no more…) We start with a flight delay of about half an hour.

Great… we pick up the bags and dash to Car Europe, after making sure that if a kangaroo jumped onto the car we wouldn't pay a single dollar we picked up the car. Magically the clock showed half an hour of delay… well, half an hour of time zone had popped up that I still don't understand. Even better… We leave the airport: stuck in traffic. The only road through the city, completely blocked by traffic. We'll never make it. Slowly and after a few maneuvers worthy of immediate license revocation we manage to slip through the traffic. Now, if all but I mean all the roads in Australia are straight, these blessed 120 km were one curve after another, and narrow too! Marco looked like Schumacher. I had a couple of close calls when the roadside posts seemed to be coming into the car… but driving like madmen we arrived at the ferry boarding with a good 8 minutes to spare. A miracle.

Among other things the road we traveled was nothing short of wonderful, cultivated fields, vineyards as far as the eye can see (half dried up though, it's winter!), sheep, sheep, sheep, space, space, space, green green green. Finally we relax on board, where we eat our sandwiches and watch everything outside go dark. The day wasn't over, we arrive at Kangaroo Island and our hotel was about a 2-hour drive from where we disembarked. The kangaroo danger signs were one after another, and indeed as soon as we left the town we see a lot of them, dead, in the middle of the road… and then also a lot of live and well kangaroos hopping around here and there, dazzled by the headlights. And then some kind of raccoons crossing the road, and other unidentified things… a zoo in short.

We arrive at our beautiful Flinderchase Farm, a farm, at the gates of the park of the same name, it was now 8 in the evening, an impossible hour in Australia where everything stops at 6:30 in the evening. In fact, waiting for us there wasn't a living soul, only beautiful kangaroos in the garden. And the inevitable message on the reception door: Silvia, your room is n° 7. And the keys? No need, everything was open. After all, the only ones around are the kangaroos… We enter our little room all made of wood, open the bathroom door and… we're outside, that is, the bathroom was our private one but it was practically outdoors, with huge plants sprouting in front of the toilet. Beautiful, if it weren't for the fact that it was about 8 degrees. We turn the stove on full blast and collapse into bed under 3 piping hot quilts.

Kangaroo Island!

Wake up before dawn. We discover later that the half hour of time zone had gone back. Breakfast in the room with Tim Tam chocolate biscuits (fantastic biscuits made in Australia) and then off to discover Kangaroo Island. My first experience driving on the left! What a story. We start from Flinder Chase Park, the weather promised nothing good, a very strange and beautiful light, a rainbow… We arrive at the southern tip of the island where we find a beautiful colony of seals beached on rocks where the ocean waves were crashing. Just in time for a few photos because then down came so much water… we got soaked before managing to take refuge in the car and turn the heating on full blast to dry off. Second stop nearby, Remarkable Rocks, that is strange rock formations, carved by thousands of years of erosion, truly beautiful.

Needless to say there wasn't a soul for km and km… We continue on our tour, it was time to go see the koalas! There was a place, the koala walk, that is a boulevard of eucalyptus trees, full of koalas… balls of fur curled up on the most unlikely branches… sleeping. And they sleep all day! Too beautiful. In this park there were also a lot of colorful parrots and the inevitable kangaroos, we even managed to get close enough to take super photos! Never too close though otherwise they hopped away, how beautiful they are, and then they lean on their big tail to move forward when they don't feel like hopping… legends. After the koalas we went to see an area called Little Sahara. And it's exactly like that, a small desert in the middle of the green. Very tall dunes with very fine sand… truly very beautiful.

Then it was the turn of the sea lions at Seal Bay, a protected bay where you could only go with a guide, we didn't miss out on anything and joined the small group that went all the way down to the beach where there were dozens of sea lions. Males and females: the females sunbathed, the males tried to get their attention doing everything… but they kept stubbornly warming up… ahah? then there was also a cub just a few months old! Too beautiful. It was strange to be there in the middle of their habitat, totally undisturbed, observing them. In the purest nature.

From the sea lions we move on to the more common sheep! And yes indeed, the landscape of Kangaroo Island wouldn't be the same without the thousands of sheep that are everywhere… in the middle of all that green, the hills, the trees, it felt a bit like being in Ireland (including the misty rain), but then some kangaroo would hop by here and there and parrots would fly… We entered a sheep farm just in time to see the milking, we tasted truly good cheeses and yogurt. The tour continues to Kingscote where we take advantage of some living soul and a tiny town to do some shopping, then we arrive at the pier where by chance there was a guy feeding the pelicans… but so many!!!! And they almost ate him too!!!! These guys gulped down whole fish that wriggled in their throat pouch… like in Nemo? Beautiful.

The only thing missing was the penguins to see… but the weather was getting worse, down came terrifying rain and it was like 10 degrees… so we only saw the penguins on the road signs (!) and we headed back toward our farm. We cooked the chicken in the farm kitchen, outside, without a living soul, only with our kangaroo friends hopping around here and there…

On to Mount Gambier

Today we wake up and there's almost light! Yes because we wanted to see our farm for once not in the dark… and we discover that our room faces an endless meadow full of sheep… We pack our bags and get back on the road toward the ferry boarding. We arrive at the boarding and look at the ocean, it doesn't look promising… we get on board and the little man tells us it will be a "a little bit bumping" trip, that is "it'll rock a bit"… oh well, after all it's only 50 minutes. Marco enters concentration-to-not-feel-sick mode, clings to the table and stares at the horizon.

I calmly take some photos… the situation worsens, there are waves meters high, the boat (which was a huge ferry, even trucks fit on it) went everywhere except straight, we were already thinking our rental I20 had ended up in the sea… moral of the story: the 50 longest minutes in the universe and I also threw up Christmas 1995. Never happened before. Marco instead managed to hold out. Somehow we get back on dry land and manage to pull ourselves together a bit. We hit the road, direction Mount Gambier, distance to cover about 400 km. Magically after a short drive an incredible spectacle appeared: a wonderful rainbow, complete, a perfect arch, clear, with sharp colors and lit by a beautiful light. A gift. We pass through Coorong National Park, a beautiful park with lakes, meadows, sheep, birds of all kinds, space space space, …and the sunset approaching and painting the sky in every color.

Straight roads on the horizon and no one around, in practice you could easily slam on the brakes in the middle of the road and get out to capture the landscape with a few photos… We arrived in the evening at Mount Gambier (at 8, that is, veryyyy late), in fact no one was waiting for us at reception (closed) and the keys were under the mat in front of the room. No worries.

Great Ocean Road!

Today the real Great Ocean Road awaits us, destination Apollo Bay. We set off with our little car (excellent), first stop in Portland to get some info at the Visitor Centre. The girl tells us: "they spotted some whales about an hour ago near here (30 km away…)". Why not? After all, 30 km more or less at this point… who knows maybe we'll see them, maybe not… We arrive at the sighting spot, a promontory over an enormous, beautiful beach, with incredibly long waves crashing on the beach forming a light light foam that blended with the sky… and there in the middle of the ocean, right in front of us, a whale!! It was jumping out of the water!!! It was playing, doing pirouettes, spraying water… wonderful. Photo photo photo. Incredible stroke of luck, the whale was waiting for us. We got back on the road, a wonderful sun was shining.

Brief stop in Port Fairy, a very cute little town with tiny little houses and an inlet of sea forming a pretty little harbor. Slowly the look-out signs for seeing the cliffs begin to appear. The first one we came across was truly striking… it's a bit like at the Grand Canyon, when you get closer and closer but you see nothing until you're right on the edge and then a wonderful view opens up… and here the same… the sheer cliffs, jagged, with the ocean beating against them. Wow. Sandwich stop at London Bridge, a piece fell off some time ago now half remains but it's still very imposing. And below there were penguin footprints climbing up from the sea… We took short walks to reach all the available look-outs, in a place where a lot of vessels once sank (no wonder). We finally arrive at the famous 12 apostles.

First though we went down to the beach with the Gibson Steps (a guy who with a pickaxe built the steps to go down from the cliff… legendary). So we saw the landscape from below looking up, with a beautiful light. For the sunset we positioned ourselves in front of the 12 apostles, full of tourists (strange that Mark wasn't there too?), but we found our little spot among a thousand Japanese. And we enjoyed the spectacle of the sun…which today too painted everything, with these beautiful sea stacks (8 remain but it doesn't matter) resisting the force of the ocean. Beautiful. Temperature dropped dramatically without the sun but we wanted to see the penguins coming up from the sea after sunset.

So we stayed there freezing until we became the penguins ourselves…because those wretches never showed up! The footprints were there though…? Last 100 km to Apollo Bay, beautiful motel (Beachfront Motel) at a modest price, truly to be recommended (booked with Booking). And today went too, tomorrow the last day….sigh.

Arrival in Melbourne

Today we go all the way to Melbourne (that is, "Melbn" as they say here…). First stop at Kenneth River, in the Lonely Planet (which I recommend but only up to a point, only because the Routard guide of Australia doesn't exist) it said the little town was full of eucalyptus trees…and therefore of koalas. And it was exactly like that! It was early, no one in the little town (no kidding?), there were only us and the koalas, on this boulevard, a bit steep with an ocean view. And them there dozing on the branches in the sun…how beautiful. We made a video and one even woke up just for us! Bye koala!! The road continues, always beautiful, we also greet the kangaroos, masters of a nearby golf course…what a story, you play golf and they're there hopping around. These though were a bit more domesticated than the ones seen so far… but just as beautiful anyway.

Souvenir photo together? We leave the coast and head inland, toward the city. Slowly the roads widen, Melbourne appears under a gray blanket of smog and dark sky, a six-lane road, super busy. The impact was considerable, after almost 3 weeks in the middle of total nature finding yourself in a metropolis of 5 million inhabitants is quite shocking…and then it was our last stop so we were already a bit sad, with this gray even more so. Actually Melbourne is beautiful. After driving around a bit to manage to park the car we dropped our things at the hotel (right in the very center – Cause Way Inn On The Mall) and went exploring. A grid of streets packed with venues and shops, the main square very large and beautiful and then an area on the riverside, the Yarra River, with the skyline of skyscrapers and the pedestrian walkway…Beautiful.

We went up the Eureka Tower to enjoy the spectacle shortly before sunset until the sun went down and all the lights of the skyscrapers came on…beautiful. We didn't have much time to see Melbourne but this taste of it we liked. In the evening we counted the remaining cash dollars and decided to spend them on an excellent dinner in one of the little restaurants in South Bank, waited on hand and foot with a view of the skyscrapers. Excellent fish and rosé wine for me, excellent meat and craft beer for Marco. And the inevitable chocolate dessert! A romantic walk even though it was freezing cold and then bed…

Last day...

Today we leave….buuuuuaaaaaaah! sigh sob! We say goodbye to Australia. We just have time to go have breakfast at a little place near our hotel that our neighbors recommended, "Caffè e Torta", where we had a very good breakfast/lunch. In Melbourne you eat excellently (but they fleece you?). We grab our suitcases, the skybus to the airport, buy the last souvenirs and take off…bye Australiaaaaaaaa!!!!!! How sad. I had my book to finish, "Quando vedi un emu in cielo", and as luck would have it I finished it exactly when below us Australia ended…even the Aboriginal spirits greeted us… What can I say, a wonderful honeymoon…not exactly relaxing? but nothing short of stupendous and absolutely unforgettable.

PS: for the record I'll finish the trip stages. Melbourne – Hong Kong where we arrived in the evening, in the dark and the city was lit up like day, the lights rose above the clouds, beautiful… And then Hong Kong – Frankfurt, arrived more than 1 hour late, performed miracles to get through the German checks (I'll skip here the details of a photonic rage with a German who wanted to make my camera explode and risked making us miss the last plane…after we had flown 22 hours…no comment) and arrived in Verona where my suitcase appeared immediately, safe and sound, Marco's instead didn't arrive… It was trying to go back, it was full of boomerangs???

A huge thank you to: -everyone who supported us (in every sense) to make this fantastic and wonderful trip dreamed of for so long -to the people we met during our trip who made us appreciate this beautiful adventure even more -to the authors of the books that accompanied me and made me dream (even long before we left) and "re"discover the Australia so desired and imagined -to my hubby who followed me everywhere on this crazy trip!?

A few numbers: 21 actual days in Australia (excluding travel) visited 5 states out of 6 (the West was missing, damn…next round…) 11 planes in total of which 5 domestic flights 1500 km by train 11 types of boats (from the ferry, to the hydrofoil, to the barge...) 1900 km by car a mountain of km in the minivan minimum temperature: 3 °C Mount Gambier – South Australia maximum temperature: 32 °C Darwin – Northern Territory 1 small 10 kg trolley and 1 carry-on backpack of 9 kg (one each?)

Definitely recommended themed readings: "Quando vedi un Emu in cielo" – Elisabeth Fuller "Orme" – Robyn Davidson "Australian Cargo" – Alex Roggero "E venne chiamata due cuori" – Marlo Morgan