Alice Springs: 7-12 de Julio de 2008

Estamos en pleno centro de Australia. A parte de esta ciudad, no hay nada mas que desierto a casi 500km a la ronda. Hace bastante menso calor de lo que habiamos pensado aunque el cielo es azul clarito sin una sola nube. Por las calles se pueden ver casi tantos blancos como aborigenes. Claramente se aprecia la fractura social que hay entre las dos razas. Es una situacion complicada y es dificil saber realmente que es lo que pasa. La mayoria de los Australianos con los que hemos hablado del tema tienen un punto de vista claramente racista. Y el contacto con los aborigenes ha sido simplemente inexistente. No nos miran a los ojos y cuando les saludamos por la calle, apenas contestan. Sabemos que reciben pensiones por parte del gobierno y de echo hemos podido ver que en los supermercados pagan con tarjetas de prepago que se les dan. No les dan dinero directamente porque sino se lo gastan todo en alcool a principios de mes. Aparentemente, como han sido expuestos al alcool solo desde que los europeos conquistaron Australia a finales de siglo XIX, su cuerpo no tolera nada bien el alcool y les sale una vena muy violenta cuando beben. Supongo que es el mismo problema que con los indios de America. Aqui nadie habla de la “Stolen generation”, cuando el gobierno intento cristianizar a los niños aborigenes, quitandoles a sus madres y poñiendoles en missiones. Al final las cosas salieron bastante mal y solo con el presidente actual, se les ha pedido disculpas. Obviamente, resumo años de problemas en dos lineas y con una vision de turista. A la mañana de nuestra llegada, decidimos ir a visitar Desert Parc. Se trata de un parque situado a unos 6km del centro de la ciudad, en el que uno se puede hacer una buena idea de como se formo el desierto que cubre mas del 60% de Australia, la fauna y flora que se puede encontrar en estas tierras aridas. Altamente recomendable ir. Y si uno va andando hasta ahi, vera que cada km o asi hay un cartel que indica “Safe House”. Como no sabiamos lo que era preguntamos y nos contaron que es para que los niños, si se siente amenazados cuando andan por la calle, puedan ir a refugiarse en una casa donde hay alguien para darles apoyo....Huhhh, para niños aborigenes que temen ser mal tratados por otros aborigenes? Yes sir.

Alice Springs: 7-12 July 2008
Arriving in Alice Springs was like changing country, it was so different from the other parts of Australia that we had seen. First of all there was no sea (or even puddle for that matter) for miles and miles, second of all the sun was a burning desert sun and thirdly there were almost more aboriginal people than white people. It is more or less the centre of Australia and you really do feel it was you know you are surrounded by nothing expect hundreds and hundreds of km of desert on all sides. During our time in Alice Springs we enjoyed some good walks in the nearby red sand desert, visiting the original telegraph station which used to be the only thing there. It is amazing to walk in countryside so different to anything you have ever seen, the ground is a burnt orange and is decorated with only some small scrubs here and there. We also get to spot wild kangaroos running around in the desert so that tells us that we aren’t exactly at home! Visiting Alice Springs also gave us more of an insight into the aboriginal culture. Unfortunately there is still a huge divide between the aboriginal and white culture, it is very hard to have any contact with aboriginal people, they will not even make eye contact with you when you meet them in the street. It seems that they do not have to work as they receive pensions from the government and they also get part of their pensions in the form of supermarket vouchers, this is to avoid giving them money to buy food as some of them would just spend it on alcohol. The aboriginal people had no access to alcohol until it was introduced to Australia from Europe, as a consequence of this their bodies can not tolerate it and they get drunk easily, and often violent when intoxicated. There are apparently a lot of cases of violence and rape within aboriginal communities and it is mostly related to alcohol consumption. This problem is very evident in Alice Springs as there are signs up everywhere prohibiting alcohol consumption in public areas and if you want to buy alcohol you have to hand over your ID to be scanned by a special scanner. The situation with the aboriginal people is very sad as they also have a shorter life expectancy than white people. Although the Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) promised to change this, so far it hasn’t been the case. It seems the problem is due to a lack of education and health standards in the aboriginal communities. There is a lack of labour force in Alice Springs and yet there are hundreds of Aboriginal people unemployed living off the state, one paper said that the reason behind this is that the aboriginal people can not be brought in to the labour force due to low health and education standard among them. No one ever talks about the “Stolen Generation”, which was when the Church took aboriginal children away from their families to try to bring them up as “white” people. Although apparently the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, spoke about it publicly and by doing so was the first Prime Minister to acknowledge that it even happened.  All in all a very sad situation, once again, like in America, the indigenous people are without a doubt the worst off. Im going to leave my aboriginal debate there as I really don’t know anything about it other than those few facts of information which we picked up along the way. The only thing that can be said even as a tourist, is that it is a very sad situation with no easy solution. When in Alice Springs we also visited Desert Park which taught us a bit more about the Australian outback, its flora and fauna. The weather is roasting here during the day but boy does it get nippy at night when the sun goes down.

Ayers Rock , The Olgas & Kings Canyon: 9 y 10 de Julio de 2008
A las 8h de la mañana pasamos a recoger el coche de alquiler y salimos camino a estos tres parques nacionales cuyos nombres en realidad son Uluru – Kata Tjuta para lo que comunmente llamamos Ayers Rock & The Olgas y Watarrka para Kings Canyon. Recoremos los 450km hasta The Olgas sin ningun problema. Basicamente la carretera se compone de rectas con alguna que otra bifurcacion. Kanguros, vacas y algun que otro camello muerto en los lados de la carretera y una estacion de servicio cada 150km...Damos una vuelta andando de una horita por una garganta formada en The Olgas. Los paisajes son muy diferentes a todo lo que hayamos podido ver antes. Como sera Ayers Rock? Hemos podido verla desde lejos al llegar en coche, pero seguro que una vez plantados delante debe de ser todavia mas sorprendente. Por cierto,  para aquellos que no esteis familiarizados con esta roca, os cuento un poco de que va el tema... Ayers Rock es una roquita de 3,6km de largo y 348m de altitud sobre el nivel de la arena ( y eso que 2/3 estan debajo de la arena...). Por aqui dicen que es el monolito mas grande del mundo pero en realidad el primer puesto le corresponde a Mt Augustus en WA, que es 2 veces y medio mas grande. Enfin, cuando llegamos a pie de la roca, efectivamente, nos dimos cuenta que es bien gordita. Como Ayers Rock es un objeto sagrado para los aborigenes, piden a los turistas que no saquen fotos y sobre todo que no suban encima.  La polemica esta en el echo de que no te lo prohiben y de echo hay infraestructuras para ayudar a subir y bajar. El gobierno pide respeto a las tradiciones pero ellos mismos no tienen el respeto suficinte para prohibir la subida. De echo, arriba del todo (si, nosotros subimos) hay un monumento que indica los diferentes puntos de interes con las distancias a cada uno de ellos... Debo decir que la vuelta que nos dimos (unas dos horas ida y vuelta) fue una de las cosas que preferimos de la zona. No solo el echo de que sea una pequeña aventurilla ya que el camino esta super empinado, sino tambien la sensacion de andar sobre una roza mazisa de estas dimensiones. Parece que estas andando sobre un planeta diferente. Nos dio tiempo suficiente para bajar rapidito e ir a posicionarnos estrategicamente para ver la puesta de sol sobre la roca, que hace cambiar las tonalidades de marron-amarillo. Una vez al hostal, decidimos cenar una Ausie Barbie, que se componia de una brocheta de cocodrilo, dos de kanguro y unas salsichas de emu (como una pequeña avestruz). Todo sabrosisimo! Por primera vez en mas de 9 meses, tenemos que dormir separados ya que los dorms no son mixtos...Fueron por pocas horas de todas formas ya que nos levantamos a las 6h para ver el amanecer sobre Ayers Rock... Despues de eso conducimos unas 4 horas para ir a Kings Canyon, vestigio de los paisajes de esta zona millones de años atras. Una vez que se retiro el mar que llegaba hasta el centro de Australia, aparecio jungla tropical, con cascadas impresionantes. La arena del desierto que se ve proviene de la erosion de las rocas de la zona. Kings Canyon esta formado por montañas que fueron erosionadas por el paso del agua hasta formar esta garganta. Paredes verticales a ambos lados, impresionante. En el interior de la garganta se aprecia la vegetacion tropical y zonas de agua. Nos dimos un buen rulo al rededor de la garganta. De vuelta al coche sobre las 3 de la tarde, emprendimos el camino de vuelta. Como por la noche el riesgo de impacto con kanguros es muy elevado, nuestro seguro de coche no nos cubria por lo que queriamos volver a Alice Springs lo antes posible. Aun asi nos toco conducir de noche, a 80km/h con las largas y observando a ambos lados de la carretera a ver si se nos cruzaba un marsupial. Tuvimos suerte y llegamos sanos y salvos. 1600km en dos dias, nos metimos prontito en la cama, cansados pero encantados de nuestro road tryp.   

Ayers Rock , The Olgas & Kings Canyon: 9 & 10 July 2008
Well apart from visiting Alice Springs and its close surroundings, we also rented a car and did a two day road trip to see Ayers Rock, The Olgas and The Kings Canyon. Although Im sure you have only ever heard of the first one, the second two are also really impressive. It was a lot of driving in two days (1000 miles to be exact!!) but it was without a doubt worth it. We got to see lots of the Australian desert outback and climb one of the country´s most famous tourist attractions. The road through the desert is pretty much straight the whole way and apart from miles and miles of flat outback the only thing you pass are numerous dead animals which have been run over on the side of the road. Mostly you see large red kangaroos and cattle, but apparently there are wild horses and camel out there also. Oh and you also pass a service station every 150km or so!!! After driving 450km that first morning we arrived at The Olgas, situated in the same park as the famous Ayers Rock, they are huge rock formations. Since we were well impressed with The Olgas which no one has ever heard about we were very excited to see Ayers rock which was the star of the show. Once we got close we could see what all the fuss was about, Ayers Rock is much more than just a big rock, it is amazing and absolutely huge! It is 3,6km long and 348m high, this added to the fact that it is surrounded by nothing but flat land, and is a burnt orange colour against a bright blue sky, makes it quite a picture. Although there is some discussions about whether you should climb it or not due to it being sacred to the aboriginal people, on arriving there and seeing hundreds of people climbing it, we decided to as well. Im glad we did as it was incredible, such views and actually a tough hike to the top of it! We then made it down again in time to see the sunset over the rock and enjoy the change of colours. With all that climbing and driving we worked up quite an appetite which we filled with a big bbq that night. This wasn’t any type of bbq, here we tasted kangaroo, emu and crocodile! The second day of our road trip started early when we got up to see the sunrise over Ayers Rock, then we left that area and drove three hours to Kings Canyon. We got our legs well stretched here as we walked around the canyon for three hours, it was something you would expect to see in a western with Clint Eastwood! Thankfully we got our legs well stretched as once we were back in the car we had a five hour drive back to Alice Springs. Since there are so many wild animals (kangaroos, emus, cattle and camels) that wander the desert at night you are actually not insured to drive after dark here. However we took the risk and drove two hours (slowly) in the dark to get back to the city. Thankfully we got back without hitting anything although we say loads dead along the side of the road. Just as well too as we were only in a small Yaris and I wouldn’t have fancied our chances against a big kangaroo or a camel!

Darwin: 12 al 18 de Julio de 2008
Cuando uno pasea por las calles de Darwin, se da cuenta que es una ciudad super turistica. Para empezar nos costo bastante encontrar un hostel para poder albergarnos. Ninguno tenia habitaciones para varias noches seguidas. Tuvimos que ir a un primer sitio y cambiar al dia siguiente. Luego se complicaba la cosa asi que decidimos alquilar un camper para las 4 siguientes noches que ibamos a pasar ahi, y aprovechar para poder escapar hacia los parques nacionales de la zona. Como comentaba sobre el turismo, creo que en Darwin hay mas Franceses y Alemanes que Australiamos...Nos pasamos los dos dias ahi hablando en Frances.Annemarie ya es completamente fluida charlando y estoy muy orgulloso de ella. Ha hecho un gran esfuerzo desde que hemos empezado el viaje y se nota. Casi esta hecho una “gabachina” jeje...

Darwin: 12 - 18 July 2008
Once we arrived into Darwin, after flying for 90 minutes over the desert, we soon realised that the north of Australia is even warmer than the centre. The countryside had changed completely though as Darwin is tropical, so yes we swapped the desert for green leafy palm trees. Darwin has over 70,000 inhabitants but the centre is actually quite small, so after a day walking around seeing the city there isn’t much else to do. It is really touristy and seeing as it was peak season when we were there we almost didn’t get a hostel. In the end we got a room for the first night in Geekos but had to move the second night to another place called Elche. Although the craic was good in Darwin because we met lots of people in the hostels, there wasn’t much to do apart from laze by the pool. It turned out that the two main sights were two national parks and you needed to either rent a car to go there or pay over 400 dollars for a tour. So yes you guessed it, we rented a camper and set off into the outback once again. It was Antoine´s idea to look into renting a Wicked camper and it worked out great for us, it was as cheap as staying in hostels in the city and gave us the freedom to go wherever we wanted.

Paques Nacionales de Katadu y Litchfield: 15 al 18 de Julio de 2008
La ultima  vez que andabamos en una camper van era en Nueva Zelanda y nos pensaba que ibamos a repetir la experiencia tan pronto. Pero tambien es verdad que a los dos nos encanto esta manera de viajar asi que tampoco es sorprendente que repitieramos. El camper en el que vamos es mucho mas simple que el de NZ pero como el clima aqui es mucho mas caluroso, no importa. En realidad tenemos una furgo en la que en la parte trasera han puesto unas maderas para hacer una cama y una mesita con fregadero. No hay electricidad pero no importa, hemos comprado velas y no tenemos comida que necesite refrigeracion. Pasamos los tres primero dias en Kakadu, cruzando el parque de Norte a Sur. El primer dia fue sobre todo el viaje desde Darwin hasta el parque. Al llegar al camping gratuito para pasar la noche, solo habia otro camper cuando llegamos y cuales eran las probabilidades de que fuera alguien que conociamos? Una entre varios millones? Pues si amigos, era una pareja que habiamos conocido en Alice Springs. Asi que cenamos juntos esa noche. Todo genial salvo la cantidad de mosquitos que nos atacaban. Creo que nos fuimos a la cama relativamente pronto solo para poder escapar al ataque. Salvo que en el camper hacia un calor terrible y que los mosquitos se colaban por no se donde. Nos dormimos muy bien y al despertar, la pobre Annemarie se dio cuenta que tenia mas de 100 picaduras. Yo? Ninguna, jaja… Ya os dije que a los Australianos no les gusta los Franceses. De echo, a quien les caemos bien?!... Liz y Dan, la pareja de Ingleses, tambien han tenido picaduras pero no tan mal como Annemarie...Nos dimos un paseo por el Bush antes de despedirnosde nuestros compis. Seguimos nuestra ruta hacia el Sur. En los dos dias siguientes en el parque, nos paramos en puntos de agua con cascadas para refrescarnos. Particularmente increible The Gulom Falls, en la que despues de 20 minutos de subida se llega a unas piscinas naturales de agua fresca. Nos pasamos una tarde entera ahi, bañandonos, leyendo y jugando a las cartas, con vistas al Bush Australiano. Esto si que es una buena manera de despedirse de Australia. Las dos noches las pasamos en el mismo sitio donde se respiraba una brisa refrescante y sobre todo, sin mosquitos! La segunda noche nos encontramos con una pareje de Salvadoreños que habiamos conocido en Darwin asi que estuvimos charlando escuchando regueton, como en los viejo tiempos.Litchfield es parecido a Kakadu pero quizas menos salvaje. El parque es mas pequeño y nos basto de un dia para atravesarlo, parandonos en The Florence Falls para una baño. Pasamos la noche justo antes de salir del parque. No habia nadie y pudimos aprovechar de nuestra ultima noche en el Outback Australiano. Cenar con la luz de la Luna, en medio de la nada, con el ruido de los grillos. Cuesta creer que mañana a esta hora estaremos en otro continente, estaremos en Indonesia! Otros 2 meses y medio de viaje han pasado, como es posible? Dentro de poco llevaremos 10 meses fuera de casa...

Katadu and Litchfield National Parks: 15 - 18 July 2008
What better way to bring our two and a half month stay in Australia to an end than spending a few days exploring and sleeping in the middle of nowhere in the outback? In total we drove 1000km and once again got a good idea of what the Aussie outback is like. The first few days we spent in Katadu national park and our last day we spent in Lictchfield. Both parks are very wild, full of animals and birds, and far away from anything really. Thankfully though they have lots of waterfalls and plunge pools so we spent our time going from one to another, stopping for much needed swims to cool us down. On our second day there we climbed to the beautiful Gunlom falls, which are cool water pools and waterfalls up high overlooking the bush. We spent the day there swimming in the pools, relaxing, picnicking and playing cards. Heaven! However I did get a bit too relaxed at one point and I slipped on the wet rocks, giving myself a bit of a shock, a cut arm and a sprained wrist! At night we parked in the free campsites and had dinner by candle light. Eventhough we were in the middle of the outback we weren’t alone for too long as on our first night there we pulled into the campsite and without knowing it parked right beside an English couple who were in the same hostel as us in Alice Springs. It was a nice surprise and we all had dinner together around the camp fire. Unfortunately there were tons of mosquitoes around on the first night and both Dan (the English guy) and myself got eaten alive. Liz his girlfriend had a few bites but Antoine got away without any?! They obviously didn’t like the French blood, they loved the Irish though as I got over 100 bites!!!!!!!!!!! My legs looked like poka dots and were VERY itchy!!! We spent some time with Dan and Liz the following day too before saying goodbye as they were heading north and we were going south. However a night later we were chatting around the campfire with some friends once again as we randomly met another couple who we got friendly with in Darwin. This time thankfully there were no mosquitoes! It was actually funny as in 10 months of travelling I had never been sick or injured once and here in the north of Australia I was dosed with the cold, sprained my wrist and had 100 bites!!! All or nothing with me! Anyway to bring this to an end all I want to say is that we had an amazing four days, it was the perfect end to our Aussie experience. Driving back into Darwin to give back the camper and head to the airport for our flight to Bali, we couldn’t believe that 2 and a half months had gone so quickly, actually we couldn’t believe that 10 months had gone so quickly!!!!!!