Australia with My Uncle Nando

1997 Australia with my uncle Nando

After a lifetime of continuous work in agriculture and his first cruise trip to the Caribbean with me two years earlier, the dream of seeing the land of the kangaroos comes true for my uncle Nando of Cappella di Casalmaggiore. Along with us also a work colleague of his from Rivarolo Mantovano, Emilio. We flew with Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 from Rome via Munich to Malaysia, with a stop at Kuala Lumpur and on to Brisbane. The Gold Coast was the first stop, with a visit to old friends of mine from previous trips. The Best Western hotel hosted us for 3 nights, and the visits to the Gold Coast included Sea World, the Lamington National Park, with a walk in the rainforest, complete with leeches paying us a visit, the Tropical Fruit World at Avocado Land, Currumbin zoo and beaches galore.

Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost island of Queensland with the coral reef, so, off the programme, we decide to go there for 2 days and one night: by car as far as Bundaberg and then by plane with a beat-up old twin-turbine propeller Twin Otter, enough to make us double over laughing for 50 minutes. Laughing because uncle Nando was near the exit door that leaked air and was full of gaps through which you could see outside, so he held on tight to avoid an eventual sudden exit without a parachute. The island is so small that the runway cuts it in two. It's the nesting season for sea swallows and gulls of every kind; the place is very beautiful and walking all the way around the island takes an hour on the beach on foot. Low tide reveals the corals and Emilio catches a ray with his hands, which even stings him. Thank goodness he didn't die; their venom isn't among the most pleasant.

We sleep in a bungalow and enjoy the unspoilt nature; we're already sorry to leave. The next day with the first flight we return to the mainland and set off to make up for lost time with our rental car. Late in the evening, after about 700 km, we arrive at the hotel booked at Kempsey, a small place in New South Wales, halfway between Brisbane and Sydney.

In Sydney the next day we visit the Opera House and the bay, with a boat trip under the Harbour Bridge thrown in. Both Emilio and Nando were very enthusiastic. In the afternoon we go to the Blue Mountains, with breathtaking scenery, waterfalls in the jungle and the magnificent view of the Three Sisters.

In the evening we sleep the second night at the Formula 1 hotel.

We arrive at the capital Canberra, a modern and very well-made city.

When we get to Melbourne we visit my friend Giuseppe, who invites us to his home where we spend a lovely evening. A visit to the city that I know very well, having spent six months there in the past. We return our rental car and fly to Launceston with Ansett Airlines, in Tasmania, my first time on the Australian island.

In 3 days of visiting with another car, we realise that it too is stunning, very green, full of forests and rivers, very similar to New Zealand.

Here in a pub we taste kangaroo meat for the first time, in the form of a hamburger. A strange taste.

A boat trip on a river to visit old prisons used by the first pioneers who arrived here, in the middle of the forest, from which escaping meant becoming like Tarzan or dying.

Tasmania is little visited by tourists but really deserves it.

Back in Launceston, we take the flight to Melbourne and then the connection with the big bird that goes to Europe.