Visiting Alice

Very quickly, it seems, we are reaching the end of our stay in Australia. For the past week we have been spending time with Centralians in and around Alice Springs, a 'bonza town', as described by Neville Shute. We picked up another campervan for this leg of our tour and headed south into the desert. It was so hot on that first day that when we stopped to look at Mt Conner and some salt flats, my feet burnt in the sand we walked across. We were heading for Uluru, the spiritual home for many Aboriginal people of this country. It did not disappoint. The rock rises massively out of the landscape and as we first saw it at sunset it was the most beautiful magenta colour. The next morning, we woke early and entered the park at 5 o'clock to watch the sun rise and again enjoy the changing colours of the rock. We then walked the 10 km around it's base. The literature given to you by the National Park in English asks you to refrain from climbing the rock as it is a sacred place for Aboriginal people and indeed only some of them have the right to climb. It seems a reasonable request, however it was ignored by many and from first light a line of ant-like figures started for the top. When we returned from our base walk at about 9 a.m., access to the climb had already been shut because it was over 36 degrees centigrade (or more) and those that had started up so sprightly were returning with much less spring in their step. Another good reason, possibly, not to climb the rock.

Sembla que el final de la nostra estada a Australia s'acosta molt depressa. La darrera setmana l'hem passat amb els Centralians als voltants d'Alice Springs, un "bonza town" (lloc extraordinari) segons Neville Shute.
Vam llogar una altra caravana i varem anar cap al sud pel desert. El primer dia feia tanta calor que quan varem parar per admirar el mont Conner i un desert de salt, els meus peus cremaven nomes de caminar sobre la sorra. Anavem cap a Uluru, el centre espiritual per molts Aborigenes del pais. No ens va decepcionar. La roca s'aixeca majestuosament sobre el paissatge i la primera vegada que la varem veure va ser amb la posta de sol i era d'un bonic color magenta. Pel mati varem entrar al parc a les 5 en punt per poder disfrutar de la sortida del sol i veure els colors cambiants d'Uluru. Despres varem caminar els 10 quilometres al voltant de la roca.
La informacio que et donen al Parc Nacional en angles et demana que t'abstinguis de pujar sobre la roca ja que es un lloc sagrat pels Aborigenes i de fet nomes alguns d'ells tenen "dret" a pujar-hi. Sembla una demanda prou raonable, encara que molts turistes la ignoren i aixi que va sortir el sol, una fila de gent com si fos de formigues iniciava l'ascencio. Quan varem acabar la nostra caminada, a les 9 del mati, l'acces a la pujada era tancat ja que feia mes de 36 graus i aquells que abans havien inicat la pujada ara tornaven molt cansats i molt mes a poc a poc. Una altra bona rao per no pujar a la roca.

d'America a Australia / From America to Australia

Despres de passar els darrers dies d'octubre a la illa de Pascua disfrutant de vistes extraordinaries sobre el pacific, moais i meravelloses postes de sol, varem tornar a Santiago a passar-hi el darrer dia de les "Ameriques", el mateix dia que la Sego Royal passejava per alla, encara que no ens varem trobar... Tal i com estava previst varem embarcar el dimecres 30 d'octubre al vespre per anar cap a Sydney via Auckland. Despres de 12 0 13 hores de vol, aterravem a Nova Zelanda a les 4 del mati del divendres 2 de Novembre hora local (les 2 a Australia) i despres d'un parell d'hores sortiem cap a Sydney, on varem arribar vora quarts de 8 del mati. Com estava previst, haviem aconseguit evitar el dia de tots sants! Potser per castigar la nostra gosadia el cel descarregava litres i mes litres d'aigua, despres de la sequera mes llarga patida a la regio en els darrers 100 anys!

Arribar a un pais del 1er mon, on parlen angles i condueixen per l'esquerra va ser un xoc cultural, a mida que veiem mes coses mes estrany s'ens feia, semblava una europa a l'antiga amb edificis del futur... tot tan net i endrecat, tothom respectant els semafors i les limitacions de velocitat... un canvi radical respecte a les darreres 10 setmanes!
Avui hem volat a Tasmania, on comencem uns dies de "tour" en autocaravana, una novetat per a nosaltres que esperem disfrutar... esperem sobreviure en el petit espai en que viurem els propers dies, dormint en una "habitacio" encara mes petita que les que hem compartit fins ara.
De moment, aquesta tarda feia molt de sol, un canvi que ens ve molt de gust ja que a Syney, en 11 dies nomes 3 no ha diluviat.


After spending the last days of October in Easter Island enjoying its great views over the Pacific, moais and sunsets, we returned to Santiago the same day Segolene Royal was visiting the city. As planned we departed on Wednesday Oct 30th for Sydney, with a technical stop in Auckland. After landing there at 2 in the morning local time (4am in Sydney) on Nov 2nd we continued to our final destination where we wrrived around 7:30AM. As we hoped, we missed Nov 1st -All Saints Day- and maybe our penance was the rain that poured for the next few days... after the longest Australian drought of the last 100 years.

Landing in a 1st world country, where they speak English and drive on the left was a cultural shock. As we saw a little more of the land it seemed we were in Europe 30 years ago with futuristic architecture... all neat and tidy, following all the traffic rules and stopping at red lights, what a change after the last 10 weeks!

Today we have flown to Tasmania, where we are starting a tour of the island in a motorhome, a novelty we hope to enjoy... and hope to survive sharing such a small space, sleeping altogether in an even smaller room than until now. This afternoon was sunny, a change from the last days in Sydney, where only 3 out of 11 days where nice and dry.

Picture to follo due to internet limitations at the hostel / Falta la foto pero la internet de l'hostal no ho permet...