Monday 28 March 2016

Day 101: Hobart

Tuesday 15th March

Accidentally deleted this
Mount Wellington
Salamanca
Bridge
Botanic Gardens
Harbour- fishing boats and jam factory
Cascade Brewery

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I accidentally deleted this whilst tired and trying to upload over 2 weeks of posts.
What I deleted was the best blog article you could ever have read. These is a poor attempt at reproducing such work. Also I'm in New Mexico now so I'll probably just hammer through and get it done. Sorry Hobart.

The morning came with the rude awakening when someone had stollen both my breakfast and my leftovers from dinner. I've never knowingly had anything stollen at a hostel before or since. This was a shock to me. As did the middle aged man getting beers out of the fridge. I have to say this hostel was picked for me by the tour company I was with- the cheapest in Hobart. Tassie Backpackers. It was odd and awful. 
So breakfast was toast and vegemite, which isn't too bad a start at least.

Our tour was a selection of day trippers, people who had just finished the five day tour I was about to do around e rest of the island, and two of us just starting out. Our tour guide for the day looked like a thinner, younger, Peter Jackson.

The weather was coming in quickly that morning. We had been scheduled to go up to Mount Wellington later in the day but we wouldn't see anything with the clouds descending on the summit. So up there early for a cold walk around and stare down at Hobart.
It's Scotland! Or maybe the Yorkshire Dales! The summit was cold, windy, and wet, but I've dealt with that a million times. I went and explored the rocky summit and stared out at the moor land that stretches out to further mountains and hills. Back on the Hobart there's a glass building to protect tourists from nature as one looks down onto the city. I got some better views and pictures at the lower lookouts below the glass house. We could see out and down to the estuary and river that the city-port is built around. 

We went down to Salamanca to pick up lunch. The plan was to buy something to later eat in the Botanical Gardens so I went in search of the recommended bakery. Salamanca is now an upmarket selection of shops and restaurants. It was once the warehouses that serviced the port. They became derelict but were refurbished and are now the centre of late night eating for tourists and locals alike.

Before the gardens we made a quick stop on the other side of the estuary. From here we could see the main bridge that services Hobart. Many people live on the far side and work in the city. The airport is on this time too. 
It's not easy for captains of commercial shipping vessels to get between the columns supporting the bridge though. There was one major crash that occurred in the middle of the night. It was decided that the captain hadn't been going fast enough to work against the current and get past the bridge. He took out three columns before falling to the bottom, where the ship still lays. A gap opened on the bridge and, being dark, many people lost their lives driving into it in the first few minutes of the disaster. This gap wasn't closed for a long time. The work done on the bridge extended many commuters' travel time by hours going up river to the other bridge. 
Now a system is in place that the bridge is closed whenever ships are going beneath e bridge. This is great for stopping accidents of the same scale but can add a surprise 20 minutes to the transit time to and from the airport. You have been warned!

At the gardens I started on the large bags of very cheap tomato and onion rolls I'd bought at the bakery. I wouldn't eat them all, which meant that they could later replace my lost left overs and breakfast.

The Royal Botanic Garden of Hobart is small but lovely. They have a new Japanese garden which feels like a 1/4 scale picturesque, perfect, valley, complete with scale water mill.
A red brick wall dividends the garden and provides shelter from the troublesome Tasmanian climate. Hidden by it is the mixed temperate border featuring flowering plants from across the world as well as the rose beds.
Further over is the Victorian glasshouse. Unlike most though only the roof is glass. The walls are made of thick, insulating, sandstone. Inside the place is glamorous and sculpted with a central fountain and hangin baskets all around. It looks like a Graeco-Roman shrine!

Down at the harbour we were shown the variety of fishing boats used here commercially. Most go out at night or early morning so a good number were moored. 
There was one that goes after a Japanese delicacy- a shellfish people must dive to pull up. A special license is needed to do this dangerous job and there's only 1 running out of Hobart. The shellfish are worth huge amounts of money though, so it's a great business if you've got the million or so needed to start up.
A few were the usual fish or pots boats. Another that caught my eye though was the one with black painted throughout its deck. This is a squid catching boat. It goes out at night, puts lights over the edge, and squid swarm to the light. These can then be caught with a hook and brought on board. However, firstly they produce their ink, so the black deck doesn't get noticeably stained by the black ink. Secondly the black doesn't reflect the lights, so any squid on the deck doing try to scuttle off towards the lights.
Alongside this harbour are more old warehouses plus a jam factory. These have all been renovated after decades of squatters. There was a problem with the jam factory though, which is now an upmarket hotel and art gallery.
The jam factory was active in the Victorian period and into the last century. Seems they weren't very good at getting the jam into the jars though. When the newly installed heating was turned on in the hotel guest began to report sticky carpets and walls. They eventually had to close down for a time. The stone walls were saturated with jam! The heating was left on until all of the jam seeped out of the building.
You could say it was jam packed!

Last tour visit of the day was to the Cascade Brewery. Not so keen on Cascade beers- they feel "manufactured"- not made with the artisan love of other old breweries. This feeling was born out by the tour of their factory. Couldn't complain quite so much though when several in the tour group gave me one or two of the "free beer" tokens though. Lots of free beer for me :)


That evening I had a quick, quiet walk around Hobart. Being Tuesday the cinema was half price! So after dinner and a shower I was the ONLY person watching the 10pm showing of Deadpool!

Day 107: Hobart

Monday 21st March

Relaxing on Hobart's day off

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Turns out Hobart closes on a Monday. I got lots of reading done, a little writing, and not much else. It was a chance to take 5 before the chaos starts again!

Day 106: Port Arthur prison to Hobart

Saturday 20th March

Port Arthur prison
Richmond the historic farm town

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Having spent the night in what was an excessive house for four people, next to a field of wallabies and a cemetery, we went to go pick up the others. 
With them on board all seven of us handed off for a couple of local seaside look outs. 
At the coast we visited Remarkable Cave. To get to the look out platform for this one we had to climb down several flights of stairs to get level with the cave. In reality it's more of an extended arch- we stood above the sand and looked out onto the sea beyond. One of the remarkable things about the cave is that when you look through it the space through it looks like the out line of Tasmania!
There were also a collection of bones on a boulder behind us. My professional opinion is that these were Wombat bones. Probably an animal that had fallen through the foliage and down the cliff. Wonder who put them up on the boulder though, so that the wombat stared at every passing visitor?
Next to this was also stopped at Maingon Lookout- more beautiful cliffs, more clean sea water.

The big event of the day was Port Arthur- "Australia's Best Known Penal Colony". And there was me thinking it was Sydney.
In the early 1800's we were filling Australia with people who stole bread to feed their families or £1 handkerchiefs from men worth thousands. Some of these made it to Hobart, but so had many civilised people. With the growing number of prisoners there were complaints from the free people. Thus Port Arthur was built. The peninsula is nearly an island, with an isthmus of only a few hundred metres across separating it from the main island. This made it an excellent prison- this little piece of land could be guarded by a small number of troops. Eventually the would get some "wild" dogs too, chained at regular intervals including on rafts on the water, to help the work too. The dogs were introduced after one convict tried to escape dressed in a kangaroo skin. He didn't realise that the guards were as near starvation as the prisoners though. Kangaroo's good, tasty meat- he nearly got a musket ball through his head until he surrendered. Now there's a memorial set up to the dogs here. The guards don't get one though.

We visited the main site and were given a short introductory tour. There's a large collection of buildings, many still in fairly good condition after the many years of visitor in the 20th century being encouraged to take home souvenirs from the buildings. The main prisons still stand, including the psychology destroying silent prison- in which prisoners could never interact with anyone for years at a time. This was a new idea that had come across from Europe which sounds like it caused more problems in the long term than it solved. 
There are also a couple of churches. One is the old, simple, wooden church. The other is a huge church that could hold nearly every inhabitant of the colony, prisoners, staff, and wives included. Most of the stone was, surprisingly, quarried by young boys.
Not long after the prison was opened it was noticed that young children were staying with the men. Boys as young as 9 could be sent to the colony. They were learning bad traits from the men as well as taking abuse in there. There was an island out in the harbour so this was opened as the world's first ever children's prison- the idea soon spreading to Britain. However, boys will be boys- the first shipment made up purely of boys sent to Port Arthur had been too clever. They'd worked out that their position in the ship was next to where the crew kept their supplies of alcohol. The boys cut their way through the wooden wall, arriving at the prison hammered. As punishment they were forced to stand outside, under the sun, for two days!
There was also a boat trip out around the harbour. They showed us some of the areas the prisoners had worked- such as forestry, timber, quarrying, and boat building (which they were apparently very good at). 
We also saw the boys island and the Isle of the Dead. This was the cemetery for the port, where even staff and free people could be buried- although most of the prisoners went without any form of headstone, not even a wooden cross.
On our way back we were informed of the other major escape attempt that was managed. The governor would take his boat out every day to inspect the harbour and the boys. This boat was rowed by a gang of trusted prisoners. These men would go down to the boat shed each morning, get the boat, row to the governors personal pier, and pick him up. One day they just missed the last bit, and carried on out of the port. So began many months of them in a whale boat rowing around Tasmania. At first they'd steal supplies from small settlements, but once parties had been sent out for them they'd even pretend to be a search party and ask for supplies to help them in their search! Eventually they were caught and returned, never to be given such freedom ever again. What's more the governor was personally charged £10 for the safe return of his favourite boat by a transport company!

Down the road we visited the "Unzoo"- named as such because it would like to not be a zoo. But if we're quite honest it presently is, if one with much larger enclosures than most.
Our stop here was quick so we spotted a few Eastern Quoll- a shrew-like cousin of the Devil- and took photos for the wallabies. Then we went to go see the Devil feeding! The Unzoo has 7 Devils captive at present and it feeds them at irregular intervals, with one feeding a day being to show tourists these mini-hyenas. Today they were feeding one of the older, less dominant old males. Mostly they live a solitary life but they will work as a team on bigger carcasses. The Unzoo keeps most in pairs in large enclosures. This male, however, was often bullied by others and so didn't get enough food. So he's happily alone, this day being fed bits of wallaby, skin, meat, and bone- all of which he crunched and swallowed.

More coastal scenery- this time Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen- two large holes in the cliff where the sea had eroded one section more than others. Around here we also passed through the town of Doo.  Nearly every house here is named with a Doo based pun. Just Doo It, Scooby Doo, Doo Me, etc.

We stopped in Richmond. This area was found early in the days of the colony and has extremely fertile, dark, soil. It was settled by a good number of well to do people who managed to borrow trusted prisoners from Port Arthur to he put build the place. Everything's made out of stone, and it has Australia's oldest still functioning bridge and Catholic Church. In the centre of the town it does feel very like an old English town, maybe even Richmond in Yorkshire.

Our final stop was at the wine and oyster shop. Two neighbouring farms joined forces after tha last massive fire that swept over this part of the island. One has a vineyard, the other farms oysters. These they sell at a small cafe on top of a hill over looking the vines and the bay of oyster lines. We tried out a few of their wines and even various oysters. 


Day 112: Regeneration

Saturday 26th March

Still knackered and grumpy
Walked the 6km into Melbourne for lunch then back
Huge dinner of nutritious pasta
Quick 4hr nap then didn't get to sleep until 2am

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I woke up grumpy and exhausted. It's been quite a busy month, all things considered. 
I have a standard plan for these days- go out for a long walk, then eat lots of healthy food.
With the trams altered it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see how far it really is from St Kilda into the city. So 6km in and out, with a trip to Bread Top, along with a few other places.
Afterwards I went to Aldi and loaded up on pasta, pesto, beans and tomatoes, making a double portion to wolf down. Then time for a nap, given that I felt like an Anaconda. After 4 hours, around midnight, I woke up, nearly well rested and feeling weird.
A little later the room became lively with people deciding if they really were going out-out, or if the few they'd had downstairs would be enough. Everyone was awake so we joked and chatted- the Dutch girl showing off that she could walk on her hands and do the splits. 

Day 111: Flying back to Melbourne

Good Friday 25th March

Flew back to Melbourne 
Easter weekend- not a good time for travelling or shopping

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Didn't have to be up until 9am!!! I checked out at 10am then went to go find the correct bus (nor much to ask normally). I didn't fly until after 1pm so I had over 2 hours of sitting around reading and writing.
Flew back next to a 50 year old lady (a modern equivalent of Mrs Bucket-the BBC comedy character) who spent the whole two hour flight filing her nails. Two hours! Geez, go buy a book.
Got back in and was totally befuddled by the changes in the trams- Easter weekend and tram works had completely changed what I'd been used to compared to last time I was here.
Checked in then spent 30 minutes trying to find a supermarket that was open- ended up having to go to the Seven-Eleven mini-mart to get something akin to dinner. 

Between all of this I got a few chats in with my new room mates. I had an especially good chat with a Canadian/Dutch girl who's off to work on a cattle station near Brisbane. She's also an accidentally published poet- but in Dutch. Her teacher had sent a collection of her poetry to a friend who managed to get it published! There's also a Scottish guy who's quite determined that he's going to stay in Australia, just needs to get a steady job and home then be here long enough for residency. Normally people think they can do this stuff on a whim but he's very determined about it. Good luck to him.

Day 110: Kangaroo Island 2

Thursday 24th March

Hanson Bay Koala Sanctuary
Remarkable Rocks 
(The one thing not named by the French)
Admiral's Arch
Hanson Bay
Clifford's Honey Farm
American River
Late ferry back
Late bus
Late to bed

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The next morning we went out to the Hanson Bay Koala Sanctuary. Here the trees are filled with koalas, as well as a few interesting birds. 
We were also informed about the island's Koalas.
Koalas are not native to the island. In fact there's a lot of animals here that have been introduced. It was used about 100 years ago as a sanctuary for all of the animals from the mainland we were steadily killing off. Some animals didn't do well, such as the Emu, all of which died. The Koalas, at first did quite well. They're very fussy about their food- they only eat certain species of eucalyptus, and even if those they need them to be growing a specific way so that they don't get killed by the toxicity of the leaves- this varies from region to region. Luckily the koalas found the right trees on the island and ate them. All of them. Suddenly there were 50,000 starving koalas on the island.
The problem was "solved" by culling them down to around 10,000. The eucalyptus regret and the koalas thrived again. This time there was another culling, but also they desexed a proportion of the population, reducing the probability of over population. This worked for some time. Then human chlamydia was introduced- the theory being similar to myxomatosis used on rabbits in the UK and Australia. However this has spread rapidly through the population, even spreading on the mainland.
They now get infected early in their life, eventually developing red eyes which become blind, leading to them starving to death at about 6 years old- far earlier than their usual life span of around 18 years. It's keeping much of the population in check, but in a cruel and debilitating way.

The island also has some problems with its native species- the kangaroo and wallaby. Combined they number around one million, having lots of food and no natural predators. Only starvation, disease, humans, and bush fires really control the populations. Bush fires sounded like a horrific incident for them. Our guide told us of one area in the west end of the island where a bush fire was chasing kangaroos towards the sea. At the cliffs the kangaroos would simply jump off and into the water. They're good swimmers, so I assume many survived. This didn't stop the local Great White Shark society turning up though. Apparently shots from helicopters had shown them lining up along the shore waiting for kangaroos to jump straight into the waiting jaws.

Incidentally, there are no Aboriginal presently native to the island. In fact, they don't talk about the place. The nation that used to live nearby on the main land has since moved into cities, leading normal western lives. Their ancestors would travel onto the island occasionally over 10,000 years ago when it was still attached to the main land. However, as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the causeway was lost. It's possible people could have remained on the island and survived- it's large enough, being the third largest island in Australia. Yet there's no evidence to suggest they did. 
Today the island is known to the Aboriginal as the Island of the Dead. It is believed that the spirits of the dead travel over the island to the far end before ascending to the heavens to become a star. Their culture doesn't speak of the dead after they've passed, though, so the island of the dead is not spoken of either. Aboriginal people will not speak of nor travel to the island- to them it effectively doesn't exist.

Next up were the Remarkable Rocks. These were created in granite during the underground metamorphosis stage, forming unusual shapes which were then forced to the surface. They are on the furthest end of the island and are the most often used site for photos advertising the island. They have weird and interesting shapes, with large spherical "bites" taken out. All sit on top of a large curved rock. Great place to clamber around with limited regard for ones own health.

The Remarkable Rocks are lucky to have their English name. Most of the island is named in French. The reason for this is that a British explorer arrived just 3 days before his French counterpart, claiming the island for the British Empire. There was some conjecture from the French, but it was decided in Europe that those three days were enough for it to be British. The French revenge, however, was that their explorer had sailed around all of the island and named nearly every feature he could see with a very French name- names that officially remained. Somehow he missed the collection of massive rocks that site on the top of the cliffs on the western end of the island though.

We stopped in at Admiral's Arch- an arch of rock that was surrounded by sealions and New Zealand seals. 
After this was Hanson's Bay- another beautiful beach, famous for being in a national park, but one in which the government allowed a small, very expensive, hotel to be built next to. There's some rumours that the government of the day was given lots of money, maybe a bribe, to give the rights to those properties. For the cost of staying $20,000 per night was mentioned. No wonder they could afford a bribe. Some people have more money than sense.

In the 1880's Honey Bees were imported from the Italian province of Linguria. These thrived into a honey industry, so we made a trip to the Clifford Honey Farm. As well as various honey to try made from a variety of native plants they had sweets, soaps, candles, and even mead and beer.

Finally we were returning, reaching American River. This isn't a river, but it's not American either. It's a long inlet filled with sea water. Over 200 years ago (1802 I seem to remember) an American came here with one ship to hunt seals for a season. So skilled was he that he filled his ship, and set about building a second to fill with more skins to take home. This ship was named the "Independence", inevitably. Being the river where the American lived the name has stuck, despite some people complaining that it has nothing to do with America- they've still got the Stars and Stripes up there though.
Anyway, it's now full of fishermen and Pelicans.

Quick stop off at Penneshaw to buy fish and chips from a man in a caravan who had a mullet. Then onto the ferry, coach into town, and into Shakespeare's hostel.

Day 109: Kangaroo Island!

Wednesday 23rd March

Early morning start to get a bus to get a ferry to get onto my tour bus
Rob's Sheep Shearing
Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery
Seal Bay
Little Sahara
Walk down to the beach with Kangaroos, Koala, Ants forever

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Another early start- 5am this time.
Cereal bars and an apple for breakfast again
I checked out at 6am, having left most of my stuff in the hostel's luggage room.
At 6:30am I was getting on a full coach, ready to get the 9am ferry. The coach driver would occasionally tell us everything we could possibly need to know about the tiny townships we passed as we went down to Cape Jervis. There were even a couple of stops to collect post for the island.
By 8:30am I as on the ferry and fast asleep.
The crossing is only 17km, across the Backstairs Passage to get to Penneshaw- pronounced "Penisshore". No one else laughed. Guess I've heard of Peniston in Yorkshire too many times. I keep some comments to my internal monologue, which might be a good thing on these little tours.

Sleep deprived and hungry our first stop was "Rob's Sheep Shearing". Rob has a few hundred Merino sheep on his family farm. These are one of the few breeds of sheep that people can still keep commercially based on their wool production. For most shepherds the profit is purely in meat- the value of wool can be so low some years that it doesn't even cover the cost of shearing. However Merino wool is so valuable, especially the good quality wool from younger animals, that they can be kept purely for that purpose. Even male lambs, normally slaughtered for meat, are kept for some time in order to get the valuable wool off them. The ewes, meanwhile, will last around 6 years before their wool is too course to be more valuable than their mutton.
Rob has three sheep dogs, all Australian Kelpies- a smaller sheep dog, nearly the height of my knees. Two are trained as paddock dogs- to go out into the pasture, bring the sheep in, then push them through the system of pens. The other is still young but has been trained as a handling dog. He would jump up onto the sheep's backs whilst they were lined up in the handling system, then run along them, resulting in them moving forward and bunching up. This means Rob could run the system with just him and the dogs, his youngest ensuring the sheep kept moving when he was medicating them in he system or shearing.
He shearing was the same as any modern sheep shearing (see YouTube). We also got some of Rob's background- a farmer's son on his father's farm, having bought up his brother's share, now with kids who should take over. He trained as a shearer at 17, never wanted to make a full career of it, but the money was good, there weren't many other jobs at the time, and there weren't many shearer so on the island. But, unlike most shearers, he's kept the work light, so still has a back that functions and doesn't have bow legs.
For increased profit the family is trained to sort its own wool. The dirty and coarse stuff is less valuable, so gets removed. Equally animals that have had a hard, stressful, time due to nutrition, weather, age, or three lambs to feed, often produce poorer quality wool. So wool is sorted and put into the appropriate box, where it will later be turned into bales.
One thing of interest to me was the proper wool table they have. The table top is a spiral of 1 inch diameter piping, maybe 5 feet across, which spins atop its tripod. Loose wool is lost through the table and the fleece is spun so the dirty wool can be picked from the edges. Makes a change from the stack of pallets and tarpaulin we use at home.

Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillary was next! Apparently Eucalyptus oil was once the island's major export. Young branches would be harvest, their leaves having the most oil. In a huge pot (approx 15 feet across) the leaves would e cooked over a timber fire until the oil was boiled out, leaving behind a blackened wad of leaves and branches.
Now 97% Eucalyptus oil is farmed and manufactured outside of Australia (who are these people?!?). Yet, with the down turn in farming over the years Emu Ridge decided to go back into the business trying to make a pure Aussie Eucalyptus oil. Once this was a success they've also moved into Emu oil and tea tree oil.
 I don't know where the Emu oil comes from. There weren't any Emus on the island until the farm imported three, two makes and a female, as mascots. Then the female attacked and killed the two males. Now she just sits in her enclosure, waiting for groups such as ours to come along, have lunch, then give here any green waste we have. Seemed quite happy to have out left over salad.
We were given a long list of the benefits of all of the oils and soaps the farm sells. The main things seemed to be that eucalyptus works well as an anticongestant and Emu oil is an anti inflammatory. But I'm sure the Internet will tell you it's good for everything.

As an aside- Eucalyptus is highly flammable, and one reason why Australia has so many bush fires. It catches fire easily and regrown quickly after being burnt. California decided to invest in eucalyptus after they had too many wild fires and their forests weren't growing back quickly enough. Now they have more fires than ever, the eucalyptus more readily starting these fires.

Lunch was early so we could get to our time slot in Seal Bay. There's a very strict set up here- it's a major breeding sight for the seals, but their numbers are still dwindling. 
Inside the information centre that acts as a gateway to the bay they have a Sealion skeleton and skins from a Sealion, Seal, and young Fur Seal. The next day we'd go to another information centre where they had skins from terrestrial animals such as kangaroo, wallaby, goanna (a monitor lizard), echidna and koala. I'm sure we would never be allowed to have such skins in the UK for people to look at and touch. Seems like a great idea though (so long as it's done properly, eg. don't go out and kill endangered animals purely for it), as it allows people to see the true size of the animals, and to feel the texture of them.

Down on the beach we were surrounded by seals, from the massive males showing off with the teenage boys down to the little pups scooting along and playing in the sand. I took more videos than photos because I just couldn't capture the activity and numbers on the beach- nor the cuteness of the pups. We kept our distance at all times- they're still dangerous wild animals- but they rarely seemed bothered about having us there. 
It wasn't as busy as the more exposed seal colonies I've seen, such as those under cliffs. There's been a struggle here for nearly 200 years. Europeans found these southern islands, found whales and seals, butchered everything they could safely capture, then profited from it all. The reason this still effects the populations today is due to the fact that, like turtles, seals go back to the same colony to breed as they were born on. So the inaccessible places which suffered from less hunting have had the numbers to rebuild. Whereas the places where one could walk to the seals and kill hundreds with ease have had a harder time rebuilding. Add in the numbers of Great White Sharks around and here the seals are struggling. This is as opposed to the island's rocky outcrops where the seals are struggling to find enough space without crushing pups-which regularly happens.
Turns out learnt about seals gets depressing pretty rapidly.

Like Tasmania Kangaroo Island has its own random giant sand dune. On Tas this was down to it being blown in from a beach. On KI we were told no one's worked out why it's there- it's 6km from the sea.
"Little Sahara" is on private land, so everyone had to sign disclaimers before we got to climb. The owners keep a kiosk near the entrance to hire out sandboards to visitors, although our tour guide brought some for us. It had rained a little, making the surface wet, and I've sandboarded before so I was more interested in exploring the place than filling my every crevice with sand. 
Out on the sands I found tracks from birds, wallabies, kangaroos and an echidna. There were a few grassy plants growing on the surface, their long thin roots holding the sands in place. It stretched out for a kilometre or so.
Returning to the group a few people had tried out the sandboards. The ones I'd tried in NZ had been repurposed bodyboards. These were proper sandboards, looking like a wooden snow sled- a long tea tray with handles on each side. On of our Canadians was also given a board like a snowboard, but with not so secure bindings. It sort of worked, but might have been better had the sand been dry.

Our accommodation was a lodge at Vivonne Bay. Here our guide ran the bar and began cooking us dinner on the barbecue. As we waited there were options to borrow the lodges kayaks for the local river or bikes to ride on the road down to the beach. These would have been nice but I got into chatting with the young Canadian couple, the Swiss girl, and our Dutch teen. We compared travel stories and plans and began to walk down to the beach. A kangaroo and joey sat out on the volley ball court quietly eating the grass. 
As we passed onto the sandy path we looked up to find a Koala sleeping in the tree. Everyone took photos until he suddenly woke up with a start, ears flying up in surprise as he grabbed onto his branch. "Wow! Where am I?! How did I get up here?!"
After a good laugh we got back on to the track. For about 300 metres the whole place was covered in ants! I was in my big walking boots, but people in saddles got very concerned about being bitten. On the way back we'd just run over the whole lot.
The beach was ok. I've been spoilt, it was lovely- nearly white fine sand, clean, quiet, blue water. By British standards it would be perfection. But I was hungry. Our tour guide turned out to be one hell of a cook- wee steaks, beef and herb sausages, chicken marinaded in something sweet, as well as various salads.



Day 108: Early flights then a day in Adelaide

Tuesday 22nd March

3:30am alarm, 4:30am shuttle bus, without food bag but with Tea
Flying Hobart to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide 
Wrong J1 bus down to the beach, morning there
Tram into town with traveling Aussies 
Hostel, wee nap
China town
Russell Mall
Botanic Garden 
University 
River
Early to bed

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What a day this was!

So, I started at 3:30am. I've learnt to wake an hour before the time I have to leave anywhere. Most people probably need half an hour max, but I need an hour. It takes me the first half to down about a litre of water and rehydrate enough to be human. This get me into the state where I can do sensible things like pack, dress, and find breakfast. I'd packed my bags enough to be able to drag them out of the room and finish up in the corridor. I can't stand people who mess around whilst others want to sleep. I'm not becoming one if I can help it!
One mistake I'd made, however, was forgetting that the kitchen is on lock down from 11pm to 6am. Not only "Boo hoo, no breakfast" but also all of my snacks, coffee, and vegemite were in there! Ah, crud. What about the Yorkshire Tea? Fear not! After the thieves of Tassie Backpackers my tea had been safely stored in my backpack. So I fished out some ratty cereal bars from my bags (always carry emergency supplies!) and had another litre of water. 
4:30am, shuttle bus
6:05am, fly to Melbourne (fell asleep for most of it but the nice man next to me saved an inflight breakfast for me)
Fly Melbourne to Adelaide- only a few minutes to change over, but my bag made it across too, and I got a 3rd breakfast on this plane.
Adelaide airport, get the J1 into the city.
"I want to get into the city. Is this the right bus?"
Airport information guy "Yes, here's a ticket, get on this bus"
"Ok, thanks"
On the bus "So you're going to the beach too"
Ah, crud.

Turns out I'd got the wrong bus and was on my way to the seaside township of Glenelg! Which was lovely, actually. The sand was white and the water clear. I'd have loved to have been able to stay there longer. Taking the opportunity I wandered up the pier where numerous people were fishing whilst a small group next to it tried to learnt to surf without any waves. The buildings are all sandy-coloured and small playgrounds, kiosks, and sculptures appear along the shore at irregular intervals. 

I made my way to the tram my bus driver had told me would take me into the city. On my way a young guy wearing a school uniform asked me if I would be prepared to take part in a survey- obviously a school project. Given that I had nothing else truly pressing I decided to go with it.
"So, erm, what brought you to Glenelg today?"
Instant regret. How do I explain that I've been up since 3:30am and got the wrong bus here, to a place where I'd actually wished I'd organised to come? I made up something, partially incoherent, said the place was really nice (not mentioning I'd been here for only 15 minutes), finished the survey, then went on to find a tram.

There was only a middle aged couple on the tram when I got there.
"Excuse me. Sorry. I've been up since about 3am. Is this the right tram to get into Adelaide?"
"There's only one tram, and yes, it takes you into the centre of Adeilaide."
"Oh, thank God"
I collapsed into a seat opposite them. We chatted our way into the city. They were Aussies on holiday, staying at Glenelg and visiting Adeilade. They'd been to Yorkshire about the same time as when I was leaving. We chatted about the Dales and the places they'd been, such as Hawes and the James Herriot Museum. They got off at the market and a stop later I disembarked to go find my hostel.

At Shakespeare's Hostel I got the run down from the very professional, knowledgable receptionist. He knew exactly what I would be doing the next day, where I needed to be and when. He gave me full list of sites and streets to see in Adeilade, and wrote it down on a free map. Sorted. Instructions. I can do that. Even on minimal sleep. Time to go see Adeilaide in half a day!

Let's start with China Town because, despite 3 breakfasts, cereal bars and banana bread just don't cut it. I found the food court, which was utter chaos! Everyone was there from white businessmen in suits, to mothers with children, to old Chinese men, and even a few school kids. The place was bustling and I could have happily eaten anything there (though there weren't any Bing stalls. Love a good Bing.) As the chaos grew, it getting into the lunch hour, I just picked something filling- a form of spiced noodles that I could pronounce just about well enough to look like a white guy who likes Thai food. I then got to feel really smug as I took up my chopsticks- only to realise it's been quite some time since I've used them, especially with slippery noodles! After a few moments I got back into it though. I like chopsticks. There a nice, challenging, change from the stab n grab that I practice with a knife and fork.
Full of food I perused the rest of the marked, finding the usual array of spices, fruit and vegetables, weird "wholesome" stuff, and the odd stall of crap.

Afterwards I walked out onto Victoria Square. The Queen still presides over the square, though here present view is one of construction work as the square is upgraded and renewed. To one side I found the ancient looking St Francis Xavier's Cathedral- it still amazes me that the churches in the Southern Hemisphere are nearly all gothic. The Catholic Church in particular has worked hard to make an architectural impact. Inside the orange sandstone gives the place an interesting, orange glow. After Palm Sunday the pillars either side of the aisle have been decorated with palm leaves and the religious statues have been covered with cloth. It somewhat reminds me of the churches of the Middle East shown in Kingdom of Heaven. 

Next up was the shopping centre of Adelaide's CBD (Central Business District, aka City Centre). In a line, West to East, run three streets. Hindley Street is where all of the night clubs, pubs, and take always are. Rundle Mall has the most shops per square metre than anywhere also in the Southern Hemisphere (probably). And finally Rundle Street- which is supposedly full of up market bars and restaurants, though the singlets I saw worn on the street say otherwise. 
Rundle Mall is the main area of interest during day light. The street is wide, having been pedestrianised. There are a number of sculptures along the street, including 4 pigs which I, stupidly, failed to take pictures of! Silly Wingham. Did get a picture of me inform of two very shiny metallic spheres balanced upon one another though. 

The CBD is lucky enough to have retained a completely enclosing wall of greenery around it. After wandering through Rundle Street I found this at Rundle Park. From here I took the two step north that put me into the Botanic Garden. Yes. Another one. Every decent city in Australia and New Zealand has one. Some have become too big to be a garden, merging into a park instead. Some are small but lovely, like St Kilda's. Adelaide is much like Christchurch, having a large garden- but seems to have managed to find the funding to make good use of the space. Each area is something different, a well used space with a variety of plant species. I found the Victorian glass house, the rose gardens, a modern wetland recently built, and the slightly older rainforest greenhouse. As well as this are the various acreages of a myriad of plants- complete with canoodling teen couple trying to hide behind a tree whom I tried to ignore as I walked past.

The modern green house was amazing. They even have a specimens of one of the world's smelliest flowers- but it only flowers once a decade, so presently it's showing off the world's largest undivided leaf. It looked like a mathematically (in terms of fractals) perfect tree, all in green, with intraconnected leaves running along each branch. Oh, and enough signs telling you not to touch it for the thing to look like Chenobyl. For once I restrained myself and left it be where it was.
The central information centre was nearly shut when I arrived. Given how I've found Asutralian museum to be so far I wasn't too bothered about learning the history of the place anyway. Many of them seem to be like British museums were 10+ years ago- full of information you could skim read without really learning anything important. The Kiwi, Moari, and Aboriginal ones have generally been better. I guess "Veni, Vedi, Vici" doesn't make for that interesting of a story when it was so quick. "That's what she..." "Shut up".
Alongside the information centre stand a cafe, a store from which they sell off spare cuttings, and a greenhouse which incorporates a huge pond. Here they house a few species of lily, including some with leaves around 2 metres across. 

Having run around most of the gardens I left via the "Friends Gate" and made my way towards the Torrens River, which broadens out by the CBD to be the Torrens Lake. On the way I found the University of Adelaide which sits on the North East corner of the CBD. I look a short walk though the grounds to get to the river. Seems like a nice place. 

I walked along the river until distracted by the Adelaide Oval and the St Peters Cathedral, both of which are north of the William Road bridge. Walking across the bridge I looked out towards the glass footbridge I would take on my return. Renovation is going on around the Festival Centre. There are modern sculptures in the park. The University rowing teams were practicing in the lake. Everything was bright, the sun shining down on green grass, polished steel, and glass. It looked like a picture of the near future- as if all of those architecturalists dreams had come true. The world is fit and healthy, weather perfect, the city beautiful and clean. Sydney feels a bit like this, at times. Melbourne too. Maybe it's the amount of space they have. Or the money. Or just to forward thinking attitude, ignoring all the NIMBYs and naysayers. Whatever, it looks cool.

Having walked around everything I could see there I realised how tired and hungry I was. I wanted to go back to China Town for dinner, but I had been awake for about 15 hours now and really wanted to just sit down somewhere. Hungry Jack's was just down Hindley Street, so I decided to give it a try.
Some of you probably know the Hungry Jacks is what Burger King is called in Australia. The reason for this is there was already a small burger place somewhere here called Burger King. BK offered the owner millions for the rights to the name. It was hailed as a great victory for the little man vs the giant corporation. BK had to become HJ. Then, years later, the guy who owned Australian Burger King went bankrupt. But, rather than the rights going to BK, McDonalds stepped in early and offered him millions for the naming rights. So now their greatest competitor owns the rights to BK's name!
I have to say, for the same price, Hungry Jacks is better than McDonalds- there's actually veg and flavour to the burgers- though it's no Thai noodles.

Day 99: Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania!

Sunday 13th March

Flew from Melbourne to Hobart 
Quick wander around

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I woke not terribly early and quietly left he hostel as everyone slept. Most had been out the night before where as I'd just been chatting away with my new slightly nuts Swedish mate over a few beers in the hostel. There were a couple of people awake enough to say good bye before I got on the transfer bus.

The flight wasn't too eventful and I soon got into Hobart and to my hostel. The Imperial hostel is spears out over the upper floors of maybe 7 various Edwardian residencies. This isn't too bad until you want to go to the toilet at the other end of the hostel during the night and find out how noisy the floor boards are.

I had a quick wander around Hobart getting my bearings. Being Sunday and getting late there wasn't much open. Plus I had an early morning the next day. So it was a quick dinner, an hour of documentaries on Ancient Egypt, Doc Martin, then bed.

Some days I don't know how to live with this level of coolness.

Friday 18 March 2016

Day 102 &103: Hobart to Strahan and walking around.

Wednesday 16th March

Strahan 
Several little walks and look outs.


Distance: 300km

Finally left Hobart, going out west to Strahan.
This day we did a lot of little walks through the island's oldest forest parks. I've previously mentioned just about everything I was told about the trees. Most of the day was driving us towards Strahan, a small fishing town. 
We passed through a number of nearly abandoned towns- places where people have been, or do, mine for various metals. There was even one town were, to fuel their furnaces, they're stripped hills of all of their timber, resulting in landslides, making the hills bare and rocky.
The next day we also did a few walks out and about. 
We got the Fatman Barge over the Pieman River. The river was named after a convict- a baker who escaped, but couldn't swim, so was caught at this river. Clever name for the barge though.
In the evening we got out the barbecue and each bought a variety of meats from the local supermarket.

These two days were nice, pretty, sociable, but not all that so note worthy.

Day 105: Launceston to Port Arthur

Saturday 19th March

Picked up new people 
Climbing up to look out point
Round to lookout of beach
Port Arthur

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We swapped out British couple for a pair of much more lively British girls- which was a great change given how quiet the bus had realistically been. 

We took another walk, this time up to a very popular look out over Wineglass Bay- voted one of the world's best beaches. It's only accessible on foot or by boat and looks stunning. However time was, as ever, limited, so after dodging Oriental tourists to get decent photos we descended.

At the bottom we found the wallabies that all of the tourists feed- not such a good idea for the wallabies, but it does make them very tame. We got a lot of shots with them as the rain started then ran back down to the bus.

That evening 4 of us were staying in a large house next to the cemetery in Port Arthur. We chatted over dinner before sitting down to Ocean's Eleven- the girls wouldn't let us tell scary stories.

Day 104: Strahan to Launceston, Cradle Mountain in the rain

Friday 18th March

Climb to Marion Lookout in the rain
Cheese Factory on a 2000 cow dairy farm, all owned by 1 family

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The main event of today was Cradle Mountain- or specifically, Marion Lookout. The mountain itself would take far longer to climb, and I would never have done it in this weather.
The drought has broken atleast for today. All night it was blowing a gale as the rain thundered down on the house. 
It more-or-less stopped for us when we got to Dove Lake. From her we were to quickly ascend to the lookout, then back down before the cloud came in. There were only 6 of us, all relatively healthy, so it didn't take long. Sadly, whilst we'd been able to see it from the lake, the mountain was completely covered in cloud by the time we got to the lookout.

On the way to Tasmania's second largest city, Launceston, we stopped for murals and some cheese. 
Sheffield is well known for its murals- it was decided by the local council as a good way to bring tourists in. They now have a mural competition every year and any wall flat wall space is painted in some way.
Then off to Tasmania's largest dairy farm. They have around 2000 dairy cows, all owned by one family. To add value they've moved into cheese making, building the Ashgrove Cheese Factory. Good cheese, even the wasabi infused cheese.

That evening I was the only one in basic tour accommodation so I got a 6 bed dorm to myself! I had a wee walk around town, chatted to a few people, then found some decent Pad Thai for dinner.

Day 94: Boomerang lessons then Trailer and error.

Tuesday 8th March

Aboriginal cultural centre 
Learning to throw a boomerang 
Trailer terror
Helpful mechanic
Hamilton botanical gardens 

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We stopped off at another cultural centre today. We stopped in one near Uluru but the aboriginal are in fact many different tribes of many different nations. They have different culturalstories and have had slightly different experiences since the coming of the Western world. We watched a couple of videos about the origins of both the world and the local lands. 

Afterwards two of us got lessons on how to throw a boomerang properly! The general stance is like throwing a spear but with the hand movement of a dart- and I've done both, which helps. Using the appropriate returni boomerang (not hunting) one turns to face the oncoming breeze. This is twelve o'clock. If right handed turn to 2, lefties turn to 10 o'clock. The boomerang is held vertically and thrown . The breeze then catches it and, due to the way a real boomerang is carved, spins it in the air, turning it back. I sort of got it, I think. Certainly better than surfing. I'll have to practice and try it again some time. Good fun. Feels like playing one-man frisbee. Which also sounds kind of sad. Maybe I should get a hunting one!

We were minding our own businesses the bus drove along. Reading. Sleeping. Our driver was steadily slowing down to take the next corner. Thank goodness he was.
BANG!
BANG!
BOOM!
The trailer bounced then flipped, skidding along the road still attached to our minibus. 
The right rear wheel of the trailer had come lose for its bearings. It had then coasted alongside us before sliding in under the trailer. Catching under the wheel it jostled it causing it to flip onto its side. 
Thankfully the guy in the ute behind us was a mechanic! He even had a mate in the next township who built and repaired trailers. After a call he announced his friend had the parts necessary. As a team we push the trailer back onto its remaining wheels and carefully followed him to his mate's workshop.
And that's how we ended up spending an hour in Hamilton, primarily at the botanic gardens. Having a quiet walk around, a chat, and a little sleep.

Monday 14 March 2016

Day 100: South of Hobart- Trees, Timber, Hot Spring, and Caves

Monday 14th March

Huon River, township, valley, forest
Skytrack amongst the trees
Tallest flowering tree in the world, Eukalyptus Red Gum
Cabbage leafed pine
Selective timber felling
Modern problems with Tasmanian timber trade
Hot springs for lunch, wee walk then swim
Hastings Caves, old Precambrian dolerite (like limestone with magnesium in it) no fossils. Shallow, 20m, under rainforest, grows and changes quickly, few floods, tiny river
100th night on the road!

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Today began with a new tour company. However, unlike my other tours we wouldn't, initially be going from one place to another. Instead my first two days will be centred around Hobart. Today we were off to the far south. Once it was all virgin forest. Much of this was cut down and replaced with orchards, making Tazmania the "Apple Island". This didn't last though with supermarkets altering the restrictions and requirements. There are still a few orchards, but also cherry tree orchards plus cattle and sheep farms.

We got to the Huon township early in the morning. This area was named after the middle name of a naval captain from Brittany, France, who landed here in the early days of western exploration. The valley, river, township, forest, and a few trees now bear his name. From the township we turned off towards his forest to go find some of his trees.

Tasmania, like much of Australia and New Zealand, has a history of timber. Initially this was selective logging, only taking the very best which had to be hauled out of the forest. This had the benefit of leaving some of the oldest, slightly rotten, trees, and the youngest which would become regrowth. 

What followed resulted in much more debate. Tasmania is one of the few places in the world to still be cutting down its native forest. They do have vast tracts of land set aside as national park, about a third of the entire island, so the ecosystem is relatively safe. Yet they still have large areas of native tree which they have been strip felling since the late 60s. In parts this has regrown quite well but there are many slow growing species struggling to return. Hence there is an ongoing debate, and occasional protest, one side wanting to protect the forest, the other side wanting to protect their jobs.

The main timber company here is owned by the state of Tasmania. Over the years they've been trying to increase the amount of tourism the forest can bring. If the business from this could compete with the timber trade whilst providing jobs it might stand a chance of changing the situation. A number of projects have been tried, but only a few have been successful. The company has shrunk though, with occasionally laying off or workers. It's not easy for Tasmania to sell its wood internationally- most of e major Western nations have banned the trade in native forested timber and timber products. The future of the business isn't looking too good. As one of the major employers on the island though it would be an economic disaster if the logging simply stopped. Personally I wonder if the state government knows this can't go on forever and is going to steadily reduced the business, hoping other work will take over, as the opportunity to trade dwindles. It would seem like a smarter move, especially given that as much as the business might be struggling the island's economy and unemployment figures are not doing well. 

On a happier note we did go to see some of the tourist attractions that are actively working.

The Skytreck is a walkway in the canopy above an area of forest running next to the Huon River. From here we learnt about trees such as the Huon pine- the local tree used for EVERYTHING it would seem, particularly the local boat builders, one of the few businesses still making wooden boats. There was also the Cabbage leaf pine, a pine that unusually has broadened its spines making them into something more like leaves. And finally we saw a few of the young Red Gum Eukalyptus. These take hundreds of years to grow and most were felled in the Victorian era. Only those that appeared too old to fell and the youngest now remain. They grow tall and straight- the tallest still alive is around 99.6m high, far taller than the tallest building on the island. We didn't have time to go find this one but we did see some at over 50m high. If we're honest though, after the first 30m it's very hard from he ground to see much further up. Once old enough they will grow above the rest of the trees in the forest. This exposes them to the harsh weather so the trees must the strong enough to resist the worst of it. Hence the strong, thick, tall trees that the first colonists loved.

For lunch we went to the Hot Springs near the Hastings caves. I quickly walked around the local track to see the springs- small and no where near as hot as in New Zealand. Afterwards I jumped in for a quick dip in the swimming pool of spring water. It's small, busy, and about 20'C. Nice, but no NZ. I'm sure it feels much better on a cold day though- we had overcast weather, but still warm.

Afterwards we were off up the road to the Hastings Caves.
 During the felling of trees in the days of the colony they found the tall, thick trees the world wanted. Rather than cutting through the wide base steps were cut in the base and four men placed ledges around the point where the trunk started to narrow, about 2-4m up. From here they'd cut away until the tree started to fall. They wouldn't be entirely too sure which way it would go, so time to jump down and run and hide. So much for health and safety.
During one such felling the men managed to find a cave to hide in. No one had noticed it before and they had to come back later with lanterns to discover that the cave ran deep and grew into a great many chambers filled with geological structures formed as water from the rainforest above flowed through the dolerite.
One small problem though. Companies were granted access to specific pieces of land where they could fell. Often these areas would border one another in places deep in the forest. Who would know if the workers occasionally stepped over a border for a particularly profitably specimen? This is what had happened on that day- the men were not supposed to be in the area where the cave was!
The cave was a local secret for years until it was eventually opened as a tourist attraction. Even then it took days of travel through the bush to get to it. It wasn't until after the Great War, with returned servicemen needing jobs, that the government funded the building of a road to the area. Stairs down into the caves were added, as were oil lamps.
During these early days people carved graffiti into the rocks and took souvenirs by snapping off rock formations. Much of this damage can still be seen today. However the roof is around 20m below the ground level- in some places less. This means that, in conjunction with the amount of rain that falls here, the formations here are some of the fastest changing in the world. Our guide very jubilantly informed us that one of the pleasures in coming in here is how often features grow and change.

The features themselves are numerous, and similar to what I've blogged previously- though these were significantly more numerous and spectacular. As well as stalactites and stalagmites, some having fused into columns, there were fantastically long "straws" of mineral, flow stone, knobbly features that looked like pipe organs and rock formed into pockets by dripping water, making slippery puddles. From time to time the cave can flood, so there are a few branches lying around and atop formations, as well as a tide mark formed by the mud which flowed through the cave. There is a very small stream in the cave where much of the dripping water descends to. This flows down from the mouth and down into the rock.

It's unknown if the native people ever came here. With the changing in the rock any evidence could have been washed way. But also the cave is incredibly deep. Having passed into the mouth, through stoat iron gates, we met a steel fence. Beyond this the floor falls away. We were stood on the top a a large cliff, maybe 30ft high. Other than the modern stairs there's no obvious way down- the original European explorers climbed down with ropes. It would have been possible but both dangerous, and of relatively little value, for the Aboriginal people to have come in here.
Once onto this level we followed paths and stairs through around 5 large chambers with a different combination of features within each. These ranged from the size of a large house to a master bedroom.

That nigh was spent at the Tassie Backpackers in Hobart- possibly one of the worst hostels I've stayed in! But the beds were good, so night 100 of travelling wasn't all bad.

Friday 11 March 2016

Day 93: Grampians

Monday 7th March

Drove from Adelaide to Grampians
View over Adelaide
View spots and walks on Grampians including Pinnacles

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We got up early in order to go up to the viewpoint over Adelaide before the morning rush hour. We hadn't exactly seen a great deal of the place, but I'll be back in just over a week. Instead we saw the whole of Adelaide from the top of the mount, looking out to the sea beyond.

It was a quick stop before we were off into the Grampians. This mountains hold some of Australia's few waterfalls - there's not enough water here to compete with New Zealand. The next morning though we would go up to the Pinnacles. We would walk up onto the top of the cliffs. From here we could see the Pinnacles as well as the lake that has been built into a resevoir for he growing city.

Our guide had one surprise for us. There is a playing field not far from the hostel we stayed at. Here, each afternoon, the local kangaroos congregate to graze on the grass. They were very tame. Many of our group simply found one that would let them close, perhaps even stroke it. Others were more flighty, but we got excellent photographs of them.



Day 98: More of Melbourne

Saturday 12th March

Walking round the city
State Library
Need Kelly's armour

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I basically spent the day wandering around the city. I visited the local Games Workshop and Bread Top in the morning. I then visited the state library. This large building is centred around the large, round, reading room. Around the edge the walls rise up 6 stories, 3 of them filled with exhibits about Australia's history.

There are exhibitions about the early explorers, including many of their own books on the botanical and animal wonders they found here A few of the first colonists get a mention, as well as how the city was founded and built. Later on, on the lower levels, the more recent history of modern Melbourne is celebrated, including the eras of pulp fiction and the rights of women and LGBTs.

The most famous exhibit though should be the complete set of Ned Kelly's armour.
Ned Kelly was a famous "bush ranger"- an Australian outlaw. He lead a small gang of four and was famed for  being a Robin Hood style rogue- only stealing from the rich and helping the poor. One of his most famous example was whilst robbing a bank when he set all of e mortgage documents in the vault on fire, thus freeing the local farmers from their repayments. 
He was eventually besieged with his gang in a small house in the outback. A local blacksmith had fashioned the gang body armour and helmets from ploughs. (When asked about the effectiveness of this the local plough manufacturer said it wasn't possible to make such bullet proof armour- it would later be found that e armour was made from some of his ploughs.) During the siege the police guns couldn't penetrate the armour, preventing the worst injuries to the gang. This helped in the siege but their arms and legs were not well protected. Slowly limbs were rendered useless and arteries severed. Eventually only Ned was left, one arm hanging limp by his side and limping on a leg. Police shot him down resulting in his capture.
The judge in Melbourne (can't remember his real name right now, he's got a statue outside the library, nicknamed "the hanging judge" for hanging, basically, everyone), declared him guilty of enough charges to see him hanged. The next day he was taken out and uttered (probably) his famous last words "Such is life".

The gangs armour was taken as souvenirs by the various police present. Since then tough the pieces have been reclaimed. Apparently there's one set in the police museum, another in the justice museum, and Ned's in the library. Some tampering has occurred, bits have been lost and supposedly added, but it's mostly his armour, still with the marks from the blacksmith's hammer and where the bullets hit.

Day 97: St Kilda

Friday 11th March

Albert Park
Grand Prix track and park
Beach front and pier
St Kilda Botanic Gardens

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Staying in hostels with the 18-21 vibe and surrounded by people who are either hung over or rushing to their next trip isn't much fun, so yesterday my last job was to get down to St Kilda. A friend I met in New Zealand who now lives in the city advised Habitiat HQ as the place to go. It's $5 per night more, but comes with a free breakfast and has a friendly, homely, vibe to it. When I arrived last night there was a charity event going on. A work mate did the same thing last year in NZ. It's caller "Shave for a Cure" and involves people volunteering to have their head shaved to raise money for a leukaemia charity. Tonight one of the hostel staff was doing it- a guy with a huge afro and pirate beard. Everyone was in the main room watching, many with a cheap beer from the hostel bar, as he was shaved and the collection bucket passed round. Afterward there was a FREE barbecue dinner. Love this place- no wonder there's various awards all over the reception area!

I didn't feel like doing a great deal his day though. I decided to go have a quick walk down to Albert Park- a large park surrounding a long lake. I'd planned to walk around it whilst reading. However Melbourne was about to host the Grand Prix, and the route was around the lake. The park was still open, but so was the site of the race. Time to explore.

Walk like you know where you're going, don't look threatening, and don't stop. Those guidelines have got me through and into many places without causing (too much) fuss. I don't think though that there was anything that stopped me from being here though. So I walked some of the track and wandered through what would be the VIP area. It was still mostly under construction, but the main structures were up. I was in Tasmania for the race, thankfully. Would have been nice to go, but expensive and the hostels all put their prices up to make the most of the busy period.

Having done that I (with some difficulty) found my way out of the Grand Prix enclosure and went out to the beach. St Kilda has a long, lovely beach, including the time honoured Luna Park with its many rides and the pier. I walked along the coast, and out to the pier, where many old men sat fishing. At the end is a small kiosk- much more reasonably priced, oddly, than the one at the shore end of the pier. So I had a sit down with a $2 ice cream, a wee old school glass bottle of Coke, and read about the local wildlife. If you come here at sunset the penguins swim onto the rocks at the end of the pier and the Australian water rats can occasionally be seen.

It was beginning to get late, but I had just enough day light left to make a quick trip through the St Kilda Botanic garden. This wee garden is as well kept and as nice as all of the small botanic gardens I've seen in Austalia and New Zealand. Today there was even a wedding going on, with the guests now milling around as the bridal party had photos taken in various locations.

Afterwards I was off to Aldi. Food's quite expensive in Australia. I'd expected this in New Zealand- it's a relatively small, under populated island in the middle of the Pacific so shipping anything in is going to make it expensive. Yet here, even I. The cities, the price can be similar to New Zealand. Aldi's started to move in to challenge this. The European supermarket often charges far less than the local stores and is gradually forcing prices down. Note, I don't believe it's to the detriment to farmers- they're buying from the same market and don't have any home brands- it's mostly cheaper European stuff.

Day 96: Melbourne

Thursday 10th March

Free walking tour 
State Library
Prison and Ned Kelly
Gold miners and their rich kids
Parliament
World's oldest standing original China Town
Modern Melbourne
Tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere 

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A few of us from the tour group were spending some extra time in Melbourne. Someone had found a free walking tour. Normally these cost around $30 (£15) but one company has set up on a donation based system. Apparently they'd been excellent in Sydney (wish I'd gone on it) so we all met up at 10:30am outside the State Library to spend a morning exploring the city.

We past the old court house and the gardens which include the Victorian-era exhibition centre (one of the few Victorian buildings not pulled down in the 60s & 70s) were closed for a rose and garden competition. Inside the courtyard of the old prison our guide showed us were Ned Kelly the Bushranger (outlaw, some would say Australia's Robin Hood) was hanged. I would later go to see his armour in the library exhibit about him.

The Parliament building stands at one end of the original grid system the city is based around. The grid itself was built when Australia was still a British colony. This is the reason for the lack of public squares and parks in the city- the Empire had learned that rebellions started in squares. No square no rebellion. Easy. The state parliament building stands at the top of one of the major roads running through the grid system. It was once planned to be used as the federal parliament, back when Sydney and Melbourne were competing for the title of capital. Instead Canberra was picked as a point between the two and given its own mini-state.

Today Melbourne is no where near as big as Sydney. Yet it was once Austrilasia's largest city. This was caused by two economic boom periods. The first was when gold was found nearby causing thousands to descend on the colony (seems this happened to a number of places in the Southern Hemisphere back then) until vitually all of the gold was found. However, many of these miners were frugal, unlike their children. The second boom came a generation late when the kids took the cash and spent it all. Once all of this was gone, however, it left the city with a myriad of grand architecture and parks. A few of these protected buildings still remain, though many were destroyed for "progress". Thankfully they left behind places such as the library and the arcades- Victorian/Edwardian shopping malls, with many up market shops and cafes which have been there now for many decades.

Melbourne has, arguably, the world's oldest China Town. There's some contention with places in California, but theirs burnt down where as much of it here is still standing. We had a quick wander through before stopping for coffee and snacks.

Good, cheap, food isn't so easy to find in Australia, let alone the cities. There's no Greggs here, and Aldi's only just started to invade. But I found BreadTop! It's a really good, cheap, bakery, where everything looks fresh, the dough is light and fluffy, and there's things I could never imagine. Most of its $2.50 (£1.25) when here I'd expect to pay 50-100% more than that. I've since had sausage donuts, a tuna and egg thing, and a spiced chicken bun here, but on this day I got a naan bread covered in lightly spiced sauce and caramelised onions plus an almond and custard donut/bun/slice/thing for lunch. Love me a decent bakery. :)

We walked though some of modern Melbourne, including the new city square and down to the tallest building in the city. As we walked we pasted by Melbourne's new popular cultural past time art project. It used to be illegal to put graffiti on any building. Then people were allowed to put it on there own. Now many companies pay professionals to spray great art works onto their walls. The city now also provides spaces in small alleys for anyone to practice their skills. Thus street art has become a tourist attraction in its own right, people flocking to these alleys to see what's new. In fact there's so many people it's hard to get a decent picture of the art without people in the way!

Let's be honest, there's not all that much in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the north. So when someone says the biggest/smallest/widest/oldest/most popular "in the Southern Hemisphere" it's only mildly impressive. It does sound great the first few times, but after 5 times in a morning the awe gets lost somewhere. However, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere is still impressive. 

After the tour we went into the Eureka Tower- 297.3 metres (975 feet), 91 floors, it stands over Melbourne in blue glass, with white lines running across its surface. Kind of looks like a ruler. At the top some windows are coloured gold with a little line of red running down. The design is based around a workers strike near the site during the late years of the British Colony. The workers' flag was blue with white stripes. Some of the workers were shot, hence the red line.

It is the largest building in the Southern Hemisphere, and the world's largest residential building. At observation deck there's a little cafe, photo booth, gift shop, and Australia's highest post box (there's probably a higher one in the Andes, so no SH title there). We also chose to go into a small box they have which slides out of the side of the building, with a glass floor, so you can see all the way down to the ground!!! The floor isn't perfectly clear and the fog was rolling in at this point so the view was only mildly worrying. Great spot to see the city from though.

Day 95: Great Ocean Road, 8/12 Apostles, MELBOURNE!

Wednesday 9th March

Many sea front viewing points along the well worn limestone coast
"12" Apostles
Great Ocean Road- built by returned servicemen after the Great War
Trailer swap and me the Bird Man
Melbourne

Distance: 
Total Distance:

We quickly flitted between viewpoints this morning, getting a variety of views along the coast. The cliffs are limestone which is eroded by the sea easily. This has left many formations. One of these WAS The Bridge of London- a stretch of rock sticking out into the sea with two arches beneath. However in the early 90s the arch closest to land collapsed, leaving two tourists stranded. Only the one arch remains now.

Further along is what was initially called the Sow and Piglets- one large rock and many small. These were renamed the 12 Apostles to tempt more tourists in. The name stuck, despite the fact that there are only 8. When Europeans first arrived there were 9 of the great 50m high limestone stacks. They stand out in the sea, battered by waves, slowly eroded at the base, waiting to be toppled. 

We carried on along the Great Ocean Road. Built shortly after the Great War to connect the isolated farming and fishing townships it used the skills and abilities servicemen had learnt in digging the trenches at a time when there were limited jobs. My favourite story about its creation occurred after a shipment of beer and rum came in. The load was supposed to last them for 2 years. Instead, being good Aussies, they decided to take a 2 week vacation! They then hammered through all of the booze in short order until all of the rum was gone. Given that most of the rubble removal work, after blasting with dynamite, was done by hand they undoubtedly deserved it. Must have been one hell of a party!

After we were of the officially Great ocean road we found a small cafe to wait at. We got through over a week in the desert without any rain. It's a desert, I doubt this is special. However the group coming through after us had managed to find an enormous storm. What's more it had happened whilst they were in William Creek- the place with nothing but a pub and airfield surrounded by dirt roads. The weary was so bad that they would be stuck there for at least 2 days, the roads being impassable, and might have to be flown out. Not a bad lace to be stuck, if we're honest, so long as the beer and air-con continue to flow! Anyway, our bus having been serviced recently it was needed to go back north to help out. Thus we swapped Gilbo for Gemma.

Whilst waiting at the stop we went for a little walk. There was a park next door full of parrots. And the store sold little bags of bird seed which the parrots would happily take out of ones hand. Two Canadian girls were already there and getting quite terrified as dozens of parrots attempted to land on them , battling for seed. In swoops BirdBoy, gently picking off the most obtuse birds. They thanked me and gave me what remained of their bird feed. So I spent half an hour feeding parrots, ducks, and a few smaller birds. I'd have parrots in each hand, each shoulder, and one on my hat as I talked to other people about them and to the parrots about not being bullies to one another. There were a fair number of larger green parrots and a few smaller red parrots- still haven't bought a bird book, still don't know what they are. Happy and entertaining was enough for me. Thus people from my group have photos of me covered in parrots. No photos of my own, I was too busy being BirdBoy.

Finally we got into Melbourne. Many of us had chosen to spend one night in the Nomads hostel as that's were we were due to be dropped off. From here a few of us decided to sally forth (she's a lovely girl) into the city to find food.
Melbourne's full of restaurants, many Asian, ranging from expensive posh places to small cheap take always. We were out looking for somewhere in between. It was late, we were tired and hungry. We ended up in a Korean barbecue restaurant that turned out not to be as cheap as the adverts on the front door. Not only that but the menu was primarily raw ingredients one was given to then cook on the barbecue in the middle of the table. It's not very British to leave a restaurant once you've been sat down but no one could be bothered. Half an apology was made and we left.
There was a Nandos across the road. Neither the Gerrmans nor Canadian had been before. It's basically Portugese spicy chicken served very quickly. In the UK I've normally found it very dry and tasteless, other than the hot sauce. But it was cheap and fast. Turned out to be quite good too, compared to the UK edition. It arrived nearly the moment we'd ordered and seemed to do the trick.
We went back to the hostel and despite my best efforts to go shower I found my self waking up at 4am still dressed having accidentally lain down on the bed.

Sunday 6 March 2016

Day 92: Camel Ride

Sunday 6th March

Camel Ride!
Another day of driving
Arriving in Adelaide 

Distance: 410km
Total Distance:

Today started with me first ever camel ride! We had an option to do this at Uluru, but everyone informs us that this is just a plod around their paddock. Instead we were in for a wee trek around part of one of the world's largest cattle stations. 

Our guides have been catching, training, and riding camels for years. They have done trips just with camels but also have a wagon that the camels can pull along. They once used this for about 2 months to get from Uluru to their present location. They hope to one day do a journey encompassing all of the different deserts in Australia- there are about 7-8 though they're all connected.

Supposedly there are more camels in Australia than the Middle East. The count is always an estimate though, for 500,000 up to 2 million. Some fear their ecological impact, being able to survive better than nearly any other mammal without water and able to eat virtually any form of vegetation. This could be as big a problem, if not bigger, than the rabbits, demolishing ecosystems and thus local fauna as well as flora.

Some people have taken to capturing the wild ones. Only around 1 in 25 are fit to train for work, the rest being too wild. The rest can be shipped to the Middle East where they might be used for breeding or potentially eaten. Yep, camel meats a thing. However why use your own good camels? In some parts camels are a measure of a person's wealth- like cattle to the Zulus or house values to Westerners. Turn up in the Middle East with a few thousand Aussie camels- you're effectively a millionaire. But your camels have no pedigree and will mostly be untrainable. Hence, their uses are limited to breeding and meat.

These were the better ones though. Not perfectly trained many of them are rescues. They haven't all had great lives and some took time to train down from bad habits learnt in bad homes. They're now good enough to let novices such as part of our group on. 5 of us signed up and we gathered at 7am. The camels are tethered in a line, tails tied to noses, in a traditional manner. Our front one, mine, was lead by one guide whilst our other was at the side with advice, stories, and on hand to help.

They're big animals and smarter than horses- more on par with cattle. I guess for most people that difference is negligible (and all the horse people will argue I'm wrong), but it does make a difference. As well as learning like horses they'll also hold grudges for a long time waiting to bring about revenge when they want. They remember far better and can reason more. They're not flighty like horses- they will fight an aggressor, and think about how they want to fight.

We were led down a rough path at the back of the homestead, across a dry stream, through the sparse bush, a few more dry streams, and around the local area. The camels move each side of their body alternately, moving both front and back feet at the same time. This gives the swaying motion which helped give them the name 'ships of the desert'. Being trained as pack animals, primarily, not steeds, the control was entirely out of my hands- they just follow each other. So I just stayed up there, far higher than on a horse, and looked out on to the surrounding landscape.

After camel time it was more driving time.
I read and slept.
Eventually we got to the Adelaide! We were back in a city! More people than we'd seen in all of the last week crossed roads before us. There was this weird wet stuff coming out of the sky. And there were other vehicles!
Nothing like the desert.
We were finally out.

Day 91: Lake Eyre, Aussie Camels and an Aussie Film

Saturday 5th March

Leaving William Creek
Lake Eyre
Ghan Railway 
Scotsman Stuart
Tom Cruz & Bluebird
Beltanan Station
Petting farm and Camels
Pool, dinner, and Red Dog

Distance: 351km
Total Distance:

An optional extra for this morning was to fly over Lake Eyre. We were getting it at a much cheaper rate than the general public and so 9/12 of the group went. I didn't however as I'm a boring sod when it comes to things like that. Flying over it and seeing pictures of it are about equal to me. I'd much rather be standing on it. Even if I only see a small fraction it makes me see and feel more to have these wonders under my feet or on the same eye level as me. Hence I just saw the pictures and waited until later.

We left William Creek and followed what was once the Ghan Railway south. This railway was supposed to connect the southern coast through the desert to the north. It took them 50 years to get half way. So it didn't really work out and it wasn't until a more modern line was completed just over 10 years ago that the first trains went through Australia. Now these are nearly all tourist trains. The old, narrow, disused railway still sits in the desert, collecting dust, as a dirt roadway passed alongside it. 

We were heading first to the southern shores of Lake Eyre. At 15metres below sea level this is the last remnant of the inland sea. Much of the time it is a giant match. Of mud topped with salt. This is what we found where we parked up. I hoped out with the Germans to take a walk in the blistering heat. I've heard and read about these sorts of place many times. This lake was planned to be used by a British team trying to beat the world land speed record attempt using a car called "Bluebird". It's odd to stand on it. The salt crust stretches out beyond the horizon. Foot prints can remain for years, until there's enough rain to fill it again. So I wrote my name in it!

We passed a few more old monuments. An old station on the railway used as accommodation for those who looked after the line. A stone man for Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart, first man to make it over the Australian deserts. His exploration enabled a telegraph line to run from Adelaide to Darwin meaning messages to the UK took 12 hours instead of 3-4 months. There was an outdoor art gallery made of bits of scrap welded together. And at Maree the pub was host to the Tom Cruz museum- a man who was the local postman for the outback, keeping folks in touch even through appalling conditions. Sounds like he was one hell of a mechanic and survivor. They still have his old truck on a plinth in the town square.

Finally we made it to the Beltanan Station, another immense farm of cattle, sheep, and...Camels! There was a wee petting zoo which I left the rest to look over. I hate to be the one in a group not entirely enthused about calves and lambs. I've seen several thousand of each, at least. But I haven't seen many camels. Hence I headed straight for them. Had a good chat to the couple who look after them. Good camel chat. They're phenomenal animals in every way-husbandry, socially, anatomically, physiologically. They got big carrots as a treat, using their three lips to grasp them before chewing. 

The next morning, at sunrise, 5 of us would get to ride the camels around part of the station. They're very different to horse to ride, swaying side ways as both feet on one side at a time are moved. 

That evening we ate a mix of chicken, lamb, and goat with various salads. Afterwards we sat in the pool and watched the Australian film "Red Dog" projected against the shed wall. The film's wonderful, about a dog found in the red desert who comes to live in an isolated mining community, eventually being loved and owned by everyone. It based on a true story from the 1970s- the dog is an Australian hero of the time, keeping the miners sane and travelling far. It's worth watching, especially if you want to know about life out in these lonely places amidst the desert.

Day 90: Coober Pedy, Opal mines, William Creek

Friday 4th March

Coober Pedy- Whiteman's Burrow
Opal mining
Mad max viewpoint
Gallery and Kangaroo orphanage 
Driving to William Creek- population: 12 people and a dog. 

Distance:
Total Distance:

Coober Pedy was a close approximation for what the local nomadic Aboriginal people called the area which, around the time of the First World War, became Australia's Opal Fields. The name has been translated as Whiteman's Burrow. His was due to the way the funny foreigners were choosing to live.

Men had been exploring this area of desert for only a short time. They struggled to find anything. Much of Australia is a barren wasteland of deserts with few watering holes and minimal vegetation. In an area with no water, however, someone found Opals! Previously most of the world's opals had come from one mine in Eastern Europe. These would turn out to have far more colour than he European one's though, at fi st making them harder to sell to the world.

The opals are here due to the inland sea that once filled central and eastern Australia. Here animals and plants lived and died, leaving behind remarkable fossils. Over time the sea level fell. This drained the region. Overtime the sandy shores were still washed by rainwater though. This washed silica from the sand, which flowed down into the earth, and collected in cracks and crevices in the rocks. These would crystallise becoming opals.

Millions of years later these were found by Europeans. Being highly valued, despite the inhospitable, hot, dry, waterless conditions, men were drawn here. However, the opals are random in there formation- there is no specific strata, seam, or area. Thus people can dig for years without finding any, then hit a jackpot collection. This is given as the reason why, even today, no large mining company wants to risk its shareholders rath risking opal mining. In stream it is left to teams of individuals.

Mining started during WWI. Yet it was the returned servicemen from the trenches who made it what it is today. Having spent years digging trenches and living in comfortable, temperate, burrows underground they came to Coober Pedy. There are no trees in this region. Any for of house had to be carried in over the desert. Instead men started building their homes underground- primarily in their mines. This gave them a pleasant home, but also allowed them to watch over their mines even at night- it would have been too easy for a thief to come in and try to steal opals from an unguarded mine. Thus Coober Pedy got its name and the towns lifestyle was set- one that continues to this day.

Our own accommodation was an underground hostel next to an underground hotel. At the front was a veranda. Two doors went into the bathrooms. These were ridiculously hot, being under a steel roof. The third door though ran much further back and into the hill. At the front was the kitchen - apparently all the amenities are near the front of a house in Coober Pedy. Thus water and most electrical lines don't have to be run too far, nor are repairs too difficult. Further back was a rabbit warren of dorm rooms with 2-6 beds, all carved into the claystone rock. It was consistently 25C, blissfully cool compared to the 41C outside (though that was cool compared to the bathrooms!)

We had dinner at the local pizza restaurant then headed over to the underground bar at the hotel. The rest of the town doesn't look to be up to much. It was were the original Mad Max films were shot. There was even a vehicle that had been in the film's outside our hostel. It still maintains that 80s dystopian look and feel today. Nothing is thrown away, and no ones going to ship it out. There are ancient shells of vehicles in scrap yards, holding walls made out of of tyres, anything that can be reused has been. Yet the hotel looks like a modern take on 80s glamour. The front is huge, made out of stone. Inside the tunnels have been dug into the claystone. Edges have been left mostly rough, with corners properly squared, and doorframes fitted. Inside are jewellery and souvenir shops, a bar and a slot machine room. We spent the evening in the cool of the bar playing pool.

In the morning we took a tour of the museum next door. We were taught the history I've written above, and show around historic homes and the mine. This mine was closed some time ago. Due to the risks of cave ins to people's homes mining is no longer allowed in the town. Though this hasn't stopped the odd "renovation" when people want a new room, dig more, and maybe find a fortune.

The mining has changed over the years. At first it was all picks, shovels, and leather buckets of dirt which were winched out. People started bringing in dynamite, or made the Coober Pedy Sausage- diesel and fertiliser mixed then made into a sausage shape with fuse attached. Tunnelling machines were brought in. Small machines like a commercial Bobcat or a small tractor. Two arms at the front hold a spinning drum covered in cutting blades. These steadily cut away the rock. Lots of light is needed to watch the cut- and flash of colour could be an opal and need to be looked at carefully.

For a time all the waste was still removed by hand. Then a kiwi arrived and invented the "Blower". This is basically a giant vacuum cleaner with a hopper attached and a telescopic hose. The hose is attached to the front of the tunnelling machine, sucking up all of the waste. This goes to the hopper which fills to be tipped onto a spoil heap.

Not every opal is noticed. There can be some left in spoil heaps. So people go "Noodling"- looking through spoil heaps for cast off opals. There are even a few grading machines about to help. It looks like a cylindrical cheese grater on an odd angle. Rotating the spoil rolls down the cylinder, small enough particles passing throughthe holes. This leaves only a certain size of rock that need to be checked for opal. 

Each miner has a claim area with a permit bought from the council. They range from 50m X 50m to 200m X 100m. Old claims can be rebought by new miners who might find something the first guys didn't. Some area have nothing, some fortunes. It all luck, apparently. The permit is relatively cheap- around $250. The main costs are equipment and time. Over a quarter of a million could be sunk into a first time mine and one still might not find anything for a few years. The average age of miners is now 65. Some complain this is because young people can't deal with the hard work. I suspect the prospect of trying to find $200,000 doesn't help either. One needs a house to sell before you can attempt to die rich.

Before we left our second visit was a viewpoint. Here is Coober Pedy's first 'tree'- parts from a destroyed truck welded together. New trees have started to spring up in little gardens, but these are small and few. Dpfrom the top of the hill we could see no natural vegetation. Everything outside of the town is spoil heaps and mine remnants. In the town there are steel shacks which might be anything from a garden shed to the entrance of an underground mansion- after all, despite appearances some people have a made a vast fortune here from the dirt. 

Back in town we dropped into the art gallery. Here many forms of Aboriginal art are on display. The main reason for us going though was behind the scenes. Terry and Josephine run a wildlife orphanage. The area they take personal responsibility for, without government support, is the size of Germany. The majority of their charges are Kangaroo joeys. Mothers get run over or are hunted by traditional Aboriginal groups. Joeys found in the pouch are retrieved and find their way to the orphanage. Here they are fed a specific lactose free milk every 4 hours and helped to develop into young, hopping, Roos. Afterwards they can be sent to a local sanctuary to grow up and hopefully, be released into the wild. We fed banana chips and wasabi peas to the three pet adults they have who couldn't be released into the wild. Then Terry brought his new Joey- a tiny boy called Nigel, who lives in a synthetic "pouch" and has his regular feeds from a tiny bottle. He was gently pushed out of the pouch and onto the concrete floor. Here he stood on his toes, shook himself, rested back on top his feet (important as it shows he's legs tendons are developing properly), then began to groom himself. He was all legs and not much else, an alien rabbit.

After Coober Pedy we drove all afternoon to get to William Creek- a place with a pub and an airfield doing scenic flights over Lake Eyre. There are 4 people in the township, 1 dog, and 8 new pilots. We more than doubled the population! It is sat on the world's largest cattle station- 8 times bigger than the largest in Texas, it's the size of Belgium, and presently on the market for about $300 million. However you'll be lucky to see any cattle- there's not much to eat or drink so they're all spread out thinly. 

The pub was built in the 19th century and has various 'gifts' given by travelers, as well as notes written on the walls. We had a great night chatting away and playing more pool. Lovely people in the middle of nowhere.