Australia, what an incredible place: immense spaces, the kindest people and strange animals.
We set off with Emirates, the legs are Rome-Dubai, Dubai-Singapore, Singapore-Melbourne for a total of 25 hours of flight (!!!). The Emirates plane is beautiful, very comfortable, the food is excellent (for the first time I had to refuse food on board!!!) and between a film and a video game the time flies by.
We arrive in Melbourne exhausted at 0:20, after collecting our luggage we have to have it "sniffed" by a very friendly anti-foreign-food dog (how do they train them???), obviously it's strictly forbidden to import vegetables, meat, etc. into Australia, on pain of a hefty fine. Of course it's the middle of the night and the only available means is a taxi, we reach our lovely hotel, the Mercure, at 1:10.....off to bed.
After sleeping only six hours we wake up and head to the city centre, full of wide streets and shopping centres; I must say Melbourne is a very nice city. Towards evening we head to Stalactite, a Greek take-away where we get two delicious souvlakis.
After a good breakfast we head to the coach terminal where the SkyBus will take us in just 20 min (13 AUD) to the Virgin Blue terminal ( ) a great and efficient low-cost airline, we bought a ticket to Adelaide online for only 50 euros. We arrive at our destination after a 1-hour flight, the weather is terrible, we take the Skyline which from the airport takes us to the city centre where there's a huge square (Victoria Square) with the Aboriginal flag (the red and black one with a yellow circle in the middle) flapping wildly. Just a moment of disorientation and we manage to find the T225 bus that takes us close to our next hotel, the Princes Lodge motel. Given the time, we look for food and come across another Greek restaurant, where we eat the usual calamari, chips, souvlaki and Coke, 40 AUD....tomorrow wake-up at 6:00 AM, off to Kangaroo Island.
We have an appointment with Sealink (I recommend it, it's a truly well-organized company and you can book everything online) at 6:05 outside the Prince lodge, but no one shows up outside; only after a few minutes do we realize that it's because of the very strange time difference between Melbourne and Adelaide (only 30 min) we woke up at 5:00 instead of 5:30....oh well. The coach picks us up "on time" and after a quick check in we set off for Cape Jervis, a trip that lasts 1h and 45 min. Around 9:00 we set sail for Kangaroo Island, where we will land 50 min later.
Arriving at Kangaroo Island, a bus awaits us that will take us around the small island; after admiring some breathtaking views we go to the Parndana Conservation Park where for the first time in our lives we can admire the magnificent animals of this island: the kangaroo, the wallaby, the soft and adorable koalas, the fascinating echidna, wombat, possum and even an albino kangaroo!!!!!. After this exciting visit we head to Seal Bay, where a colony of sea lions awaits us, basking in the timid Australian sun. The last stop of the day is a small local company that produces honey (too bad you can't buy it because of customs issues), and we stay at the Ozone in a splendid position facing the sea.
After a good breakfast we get on the sealink bus that takes us to visit a eucalyptus distillery, where we learn the rudiments of preparing the oil from this plant. Another stop is the kelly hill caves, the caves are quite nice but nothing special (after having seen the Cango caves in South Africa), after the caves a little something to savor the classic Australian BBQ, not bad (especially the kangaroo meat, worth trying). We head to Flinders Chase National Park, where a breathtaking panorama awaits us, an asphalt road that cuts in two a pristine forest that opens onto the sea and from afar you admire the Remarkable Rocks, rock formations covered with an orange lichen. From there we head to Cape du Couedic where New Zealand fur seals await us, lazily sunbathing under the Admiral Arch (an arch-shaped rock formation).
Beautiful, very beautiful, to finish off on the way back an echidna crosses the road in front of us, in every part of this splendid island you are immersed in nature. We return to Adelaide to our Princes lodge around 11 at night.
Again up early today, the taxi for 20 AUD takes us to the Virgin Blue terminal, we have breakfast at the airport and we set off for Alice Spring with a stopover in Sydney (unfortunately in April 2004 you have to do it this way, I saw the new site a few days ago...they've even added routes to the Pacific islands). The airport is very small and it's quite hot, on arrival there's the usual anti-food check (even between region and region), we take a bus that drops us directly at our hotel the Desert Palm resort (not exactly in the center, but really very nice).
After putting down our things we decide to take a nice tour of the center, unfortunately the first thing you see in ASP are the aborigines with a bottle in hand; as well illustrated by the various tourist guides these people come from the communities on the outskirts of ASP and come here only to buy alcohol since for them it's practically impossible...obviously, even though it's very easy since they are the first locals you meet, one must not stereotype the aborigine, the majority are people who work hard and have little to do with alcohol....(anyway I'm used to it, see the classic Naples = Mafia). Wandering around the city we enter the classic tourist shops, where very nice things are sold at prohibitive prices, the most beautiful things are the didgeridoos and the paintings.
For the didgeridoos the lonely planet guide has a beautiful description on how to recognize and where to buy an original didgeridoo, so find one (you'll see millions of them), buy it and...ship it!!!!, obviously, how do you think you're going to carry around this thing that's a meter and a half and very heavy, the only solution is to ship it. The shops (suggested by Lonely and not) will offer it to you, I trusted them, I shipped two together with a boomerang, they even arrived before us (about 15-20 days even though the shopkeeper will tell you 30 days, leave a phone contact of someone in Italy, because when the package arrives the customs people will call you to know what it is and to make you pay the taxes).
Don't buy the paintings in the shops, in the evening wandering around ASP you'll easily meet women who will sell you fabulous paintings at prices 100 times lower, on the back they report the meaning, the aboriginal woman will even ask you for a pen to sign her masterpiece, mine signed herself Peggy.
Enough of getting up early, but what kind of honeymoon is this???, this morning at 5:30 we booked our trip with the rustic but efficient emurun ( They pick us up at the Desert Palm and off we go into the total desert, immediately we realize that the early rise was a stroke of luck, the dawn in the Australian desert is something unforgettable, we even manage to see a bush kangaroo (very different from those of kangaroo is.) that crosses the road in front of us. The hours pass and the desert speeds by quickly, the predominant color is red with some bushes timidly emerging. First stop at a desolate tavern where we eat a spring roll and the famous meat pie which together with vegemite are the disgusting...national dishes.
The meat pie is a sort of savory pie with "something" inside that recalls meat (in mine there are also mushrooms, at least I think), vegemite is a yeast extract with a black color that Australians love to spread on bread (apparently the daily intake of this food drastically reduces mosquito bites, since yeast is very rich in B vitamins........I think it's not a commonplace because several guides see lonely and rough report this thing...!!!). After six hours of travel from ASP we arrive at king Canyon, here the guide immediately warns us because we haven't brought much water.....remember 1 liter of water per person, you risk big....obviously in the most remote desert you won't find a drinks kiosk, but Australians are organized as we know and therefore there is a drinking water fountain available (come on at least bring your bottles).
We set off for our 6 km of trail with a temperature of 25°C and full of flies that stick everywhere, in summer it must be a tragedy. The walk is a bit difficult but offers fantastic views. After the visit we return to the inn/motel (very rustic) lost in the desert..........ahh relaxing.
This morning we head to the "monument" symbol of this nation, namely Ayers Rock or Uluru as it is called by the aborigines. The road is very long and we decide to sleep a little, at a certain point we see from afar this red hill....it's a real emotion, once we arrive at the reserve that hosts Uluru we make a quick stop at the aboriginal cultural center and off we go to the foot of the mountain, obviously the guide asks if anyone intends to climb it....honestly, considering that this is a sacred place it seems almost like committing a sacrilege, I see that the vast majority of tourists think like us. On the other hand a nice walk around the mountain awaits us.
It's really hot, going around we can see small caves with fascinating rock paintings, there are also caves with particular shapes, among all the one of the bell seems to me the most "spot-on", the surface of the hill is perfectly smooth and an intense red color. Next stop a short distance from Uluru are the Olgas, a series of 36 gullies of various sizes perfectly smoothed, two of which truly enormous form a narrow gorge where it's possible to walk easily. At a certain point we get back on the bus and head to a parking area where you get a fascinating view of Ayers Rock and where you can admire the phenomenon of the color change.
In fact when the sun sets, the inclination of the sun's rays gives a different coloration that goes from fire red to purple to brown so be prepared to take a photo every 10 minutes from the guide's word go (the effect isn't very visible to the naked eye, and comes out better in photos). While we are busy taking beautiful photos, the bus guys take out a portable BBQ from the trunk and start cooking sausages and bread for a small snack....meanwhile we can observe Uluru in all its beauty sipping some sparkling wine. We head home, the journey is long we decide to sleep, at a certain point the bus makes a stop, it's the middle of the night, we get off and see this sky covered with stars, here in the Australian desert, without a light contaminating this marvel, it feels like being suffocated. for the first time I manage to see the southern cross (the alter ego of our big dipper).
The usual appointment with virgin blue that takes us to Sydney, here we stay at the Hotel Aarons, a bit small but we are in the center, unfortunately we are too tired and decide to go out only "in search of food" and then straight to bed.
Finally we wake up calmly, after a quick visit to the market city right next to our hotel we head to the Opera House which is about 2 km from our hotel, we are rewarded by the view of the Harbour bridge (also called the old coat hanger) that dominates Sydney bay, we head towards the south pylon and after 200 steps we can admire a fantastic panorama, after the ritual photos we decide to cross the bridge and go to the other shore. We rest a bit in one of the countless parks of this city, buy a sandwich and take a small ferry that brings us back again to circular quay (the pier in the center near the Opera House). From here we head to the royal botanic garden which you absolutely must see with its magnificent and mammoth trees, from the park you can have marvelous glimpses of the bay.
Next stop is the famous aquarium where we can see beautiful very colorful fish, worthy of note are two fantastic tunnels that run through these enormous tanks where you can literally "touch" these fantastic animals, it's truly a beautiful sensation "caressing" a shark. Actually we came to see a particular animal, very rare that lives exclusively on the eastern Australian coast....we're talking about the platypus which in reality makes you wait like a prima donna... but experience from South Africa teaches that when you want to see an animal you have to have patience. After a quick tour of Darling Harbour we stop to watch the sunset over the bay, the spectacle of the opera house at night all lit up is truly fantastic.
Today we fly to Queensland and more precisely to Cairns, total flight hours from Sydney 3. Here in Cairns the climate is clearly different, there's a frightening humidity and it's beastly hot. At the exit of the airport there's the usual bus that takes you to your hotel in our case the Waterfront terrace (you absolutely must go there, the quality-price ratio is excellent), our room is immense and faces directly onto the sea. Quickly we go down we have to book a trip to the reef (the coral barrier) for tomorrow, so we dash to the pier or rather the reef fleet terminal, they're almost all closed, but taking a quick look they offer the same things. Honestly I don't feel like going right on the barrier where you stay there on a raft in the middle of the sea for the whole day.... so I opt for Green Island, it seems like a good compromise to me.
Careful we have neither swimsuits nor beach towels, but here in Cairns it's not a problem there are lots of shops where you can buy these things. Once our trip is booked it's time for dinner, lonely warmly suggests Fishlip on Sheridan St. a bit hard to find but you eat divinely.
The small bus of the company organizing the trip to Green Island picks us up on time, we arrive at the reef fleet terminal and board a beautiful catamaran, the Big Cat, which takes us to the island in less than 1 hour (the sea was really rough and they were handing out bags as if they were candy). At 11 we have the trip with a small semi-submersible vessel, a kind of submarine; you go inside and there are windows on both sides where you can clearly see the bottom. The vessel departs and after a moment we can see and almost touch all the "inhabitants" of the reef; you see fish of every size and color, truly thrilling.
Not content with that, after this submarine we have an appointment with a glass-bottomed boat; although at first I'm convinced I'll be disappointed given the first experience, I immediately change my mind—from here you get a different view of the reef, and just for a change we immediately see a large (and very beautiful) sea turtle scurrying under our boat. Back on the catamaran, after a hearty meal, we treat ourselves to a pleasant walk in the rainforest (national park) of the island, a circular route lasting 30 minutes. We spend the rest of the day in the sun on the beach and then return to Cairns.
Today is the classic day dedicated exclusively to travelling; we arrive at the domestic terminal of Cairns airport paying the same price as the bus for two people, so remember to take a taxi. Today we have to go to New Zealand and we're flying again with Virgin Blue; actually, for international travel the company is FlyPacificBlue. At check-in they give us the Australian departure cards, the Brisbane train ticket to go from the domestic terminal to the international one. After the stopover in Brisbane we leave the domestic flights terminal and take the train that takes us to the international flights; here, after passing through customs checks, we board for New Zealand (...continues)
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