Australia... A Whole Other World!

Right this time I don't even know where to start, and I don't know where I'll end up with my account, and......even harder is describing what Australia left us, a place so far from us, so different, so majestic with its endless distances and unspoilt nature, so welcoming for all those immigrants who over the years have populated it, and so hostile, always with that nature that sometimes captivates you with its strong colours and other times abandons you to the aridity of the desert, the force of the sea and the advance of tropical storms; not to mention the animals.....kangaroos, koalas, wombats......how much gentleness in their gazes and movements.......and then snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish........which always remind you how much care you must take in the most different habitats.

3000 photos taken (digitally....) 3-4 hours of footage; rarely have I found myself in the position of wanting to stop every moment, remember it with a photo, take home a little piece of what I was observing. Truly, endless distances......I had the chance to use most of the local means of transport: domestic flights, campervans and rental cars, ship, train and coach.....thousands and thousands of kilometres travelled through cities, deserts, tropical forests and sandy coasts. From the sky the changes in the land were slow but inexorable....from cities and civilisation to the most arid, desolate desert; from the ground....the slow unfolding of daily life, the towns so far from one another, hours of driving without ever crossing anyone.......

Describing what I did in a month, wandering around Australia, is very difficult and would take pages and pages of writing; I will try briefly to summarise my itinerary and I hope, together with the photos I will publish, to convey an idea of how fantastic this latest adventure was for me. Having booked the intercontinental tickets in advance, and with a month available, it was necessary to plan at least part of the itinerary we wanted to tackle......a month's holiday is really a very long time for me but...for Australia it could really be far too little....maybe one should multiply this little month by three to be able to wander from north to south, from east to west....the deserts....the islands.....

well, with a month let's see what we can do!!! Let me say first that one of my greatest passions is indeed travelling but....my journey begins months and months before, reading the guides, the magazines, browsing the internet, I try in any way to shorten the time separating me from departure. And in doing so I tend to set dates, the places to visit, some transfers; Australia would allow you to do all this directly on site; the level of services is such that in every city or even the most remote spot, there is a wealth of information to organise the most classic and improbable activities. My wish was to see as much as possible in that month and for this reason I wanted to bring things forward a little by booking the domestic flights from Italy, as well as a few hostel rooms, so as not to waste time unnecessarily from leg to leg.

And here is the journey: Arrival in Sydney on 27/07/06, 3 days, in the height of the southern winter......an intense blue sky and 22/23 degrees during the day, 15 at night. Sydney......for me beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful city I have ever seen....it certainly can't offer the culture of Rome or Paris.....it can easily compete with the charm of Hong Kong but the quality of life, the organisation, the bay with the sailing boats, the beaches and the office workers on bicycles......Sydney is unique. From Sydney to the red centre; having landed at Alice Springs and taken possession of the mini campervan, we covered about 2000 km in 4 days to visit Ayers Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. Just driving in the desert, amid that red earth and in total solitude, was for me a priceless experience; and then arriving at sunset at the roadhouses to spend the night.

Whoever hasn't been to see Ayers Rock...and I met many while travelling around Australia, justifies themselves by saying that... "it's just a big rock, it's not worth it".....but come on, is it or isn't it the symbol of Australia, there must be a reason right? But do you know what it means to find it in front of you after 1000 km of road and flat desert?? But do you know that by walking around its base, 9 km of walking in about 2 hours...., you have the chance to see it in every facet, and at sunset this dull red turns into something so intense it's striking!! And then the Kata Tjuta park also includes the Olgas.....where, in the famous Valley of the Winds, I felt transported to earthly paradise....to Eden; here too 7-8 km of trails made me think more than once....."but have I ever seen a place more beautiful than this.....???"; even today I'm here thinking about it and I can't quite beli

eve I saw what I saw. Then Kings Canyon.....a good initial hike to get your breath going and to find yourself in front of this great crack in the ground.....is that all?....of course not; the trail that goes around the canyon and brings you back to the starting point lets you see how time, erosion and water have changed and shaped the rocks; underground rivers and trees growing on the stone enrich a landscape that yet again leaves you breathless. Back to Alice Springs and then off, flying to Darwin.....from here 3 days devoted to exploring Kakadu National Park; it begins with crocodile spotting in the marshes dried up by the dry season....crocodiles on the riverbanks warm themselves in the sunlight, birds of every kind fly over the surrounding plains. It was only a taste of what we would see in the days to come.

Green expanses as far as the eye can see, Aboriginal paintings in the rocks and in the caves hidden by vegetation, the waterfalls....Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls, reached only thanks to the use of a four-wheel drive and several km of walking through the forest, and the night....spent in a sleeping bag, after setting up the tent under a garden of stars and having eaten around the fire together with our adventure companions. Back in Darwin, the Quantas flight was waiting for us at 4 in the morning bound for Cairns....certainly the time wasn't the best but it would allow us the same day to board our diving cruise. 4 days and three nights to go up the Great Barrier Reef northwards towards Code Hole and then return.

It was my first cruise.....and moreover it was a diving cruise so time for relaxation wasn't part of the programme.....within the waters protected by the reef the slow progress of our ship was calm but at night.....when we moved into open sea......it was Brazilian samba and Argentine tango.....what a terrifying experience!!! Anyway, from the point of view of the dives the verdict is a bit mixed; the memory of Malaysia, of Borneo and of the island of Sipadan in particular was still too vivid in me....nothing like that; water a bit cold and, above all, the Australian habit of sending divers of any level into the sea without any instructor along; at first this could create a bit of fear but...at the end of the day, this experience left me with much more awareness and confidence in approaching this activity.

The surroundings of groupers (really many), moray eels, turtles, small reef sharks, multicoloured fish and really many beautiful corals make me give a verdict