Mixture/ Mezcla

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We are in Australia now, yes I know, it has been a while since my last blog entry but here is the latest one!!! We arrived in Australia around 10 days ago. I have to say that Ozzies are quite paranoid, that was my first impression in customs, the asked me to have a look at my boots, which were buried deep down in my rucksack and to see the little shells that I have got from India. When you are filling the forms they ask if you have got any wood objects and of course you think, not really I haven't bought any mask or weird things around. Well HELLO!!! Isn't this bracelet a wooden bracelet, oh yes it is!! and you have NOT DECLARED IT!!! that is the situation that Ade had to face while I waited patiently for an hour while they looked at his dirty underwear.
After all this we went to a backpackers Hostel and It's horrible to be in a dorm again paying 16 pounds for to beds in a 12 people dorm instead or 4 pound in a luxury en suite room beside the sea in the Gili Islands.
We are very shocked our money is dissapearing before our eyes at an unknown rate.
We looked for options to see a bit of the country and later get to Brisbane where we catch our flight to Wellington and we realised that everything costs a fortune!! So we decided to hire a campervan for a fortnight and go from Darwin to Brisbane via Kakadu, Katherine, Devil's Marbles, etc. Expensive? Yes, but at the end of the day the only way to see Australia in a cheap way, tours are extremely expensive and I don't want to share anymore.

One of the things that shocked me the most at my arrival into Darwin is how big people are. I really should write: how BIG PEOPLE are!!After so many months in Asia and having lost so many kilos, after seeing how little asians are, I am shocked at the size of the Australians. Man they are masive, so many overweight people and so many obese, it is actually difficult to see thin people here is the outback. I am not surprised though, if you saw the portions of food that they get at restaurants and pubs, one dinner for them could keep me going for 1 whole day or more. Too much.

Another thing that has impacted me is the situation with the aboriginals. the only ones that I saw in Darwin were completely drunk on the street and begging for money. In the rest of the places that we have been they were in massive groups sitting on the grass and that is it. It seems that they mainly do nothing and live on benefits. it seems also that there are different rules for them and that the law is applied to them in a different way when it shouldn't. All this I get from the news on the Radio, of course. Although is very puzzlig for me to see this weird situation, it seem that they are there habging, that the Government does not have a clue of what to do and that with giving them benefits they are just really buying time instead of sitting down with the aboriginals and talk.

Enough of politics, Kakadu is Great!! I have seen wallabies fighting, possums, flying foxes, Crocs (salt water),many, many parrots, some kind of miner birds (very cheeky), tree frogs and of course the Cane Toad (which is a plague, for those who don't know it). We have seen very interesting aboriginal art in Nourlangie Rock (I think you spell it like his) and wildlife in the Yellow waters.
I loved the Devil's Marbles, they are just so weird and is very interesting to see how time is modelling the landscape and how in our lifetime probably the won't change a bit. Our lifes are so short.

Australia, aqui estamos. Que gordo que esta todo el mundo, no me lo puedo creer. Despues de estar en Asia tantos meses y ver lo delgados que estan, llegar aqui ha sido un shock, las porciones de comida son completamente extravagantes y un plato cubre mis necesidades diarias de comida. A la llegada Los trabajadores de la Aduana pararon a Ade y le registraron toda la mochila, le dijeron que habian encontrado una sustancia que es utilizada para la fabricacion de Extasis en nuestros antibioticos (para la malaria) y que nuestro paracetamol contenia una sustancia utilizada en Anfetaminas. Ade simplemente les dijo que tenian que revisar su instrumental, porque era obvio que no funcionaba bien. Al final, despues de una hora mirando la ropa interior sucia, le dejaron salir del aeropuerto, con el paracetamol y los antibioticos. Pais grande con mentalidad pueblerina, asi es como se puede describir Australia y no, no he estado en las grandes ciudades, pero si, estoy viajando por el interior y esto tambien es Australia, en el pueblo en el que estamos ahora hat una senyal que pide a los camiones que paren antes de llegar al pueblo para desprenderse del polvo de la carretera!!! Como leches se hace eso? Saca la escoba y dale una pasadita a los laterales del camion, que por cierto mide 53.3 metros? Los camiones aqui son brutales, se les lamman trenes de carretera.
Se acaba el tiempo, intentare escribir mas otro dia.

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Comments

[mel]

fat Australians
Our family has a share of obesity. We are missing you both !! mam xxxx

[Gus the puss]

Skid marks
I hope Ade had no skiddies. It may reflect badly on his family!

[marcelou2]

Excelente..
Hola María, estuve leyendo tus blogs y quería felicitarte por el trabajo expuesto, tal vez, a mi gusto faltaría agregar mas fotos, pero me sumergí en tus relatos y me hicieron soñar y imaginarme los lugares de una forma maravillosa, y aparte te tomas el trabajo de transcribir todo en inglés, felicitaciones otra vez, que Dios te bendiga y me gustaría puedas un día visitar Argentina que también hay lugares bellos para disfrutar, un gran abrazo...