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Published: July 19th 2010
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"Hey mate!!" with the slangiest and harshest Australian accent. This is what a small and tiny 80 years old granny answered me when I politely wished her good morning. It would have fitted perfectly if she had spitted a big chunk of tobacco right after she said that. Only then that I realised that I was far into the Australian Outback. Outside the 3 or 4 big cities in Australia, all the towns look the same. They all seem to have been created during the Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century. Architecture didn't change in some of these towns while in most of them, it is the mentality that didn't change. In a small dusty town called Charters Towers, we went to have a few beers at the local pub. There were only me, my friend and three other guys who tried to pick a fight with me. After carefully avoiding them, they ended up fighting each other, breaking each other's noses and spilling blood all over the pub. These towns and people reminded me of the old western movies that I have watched.
And then everything was new to me : landscapes, climates, fauna and flora. Ayers Rock...
...in the region called Red Center, nowhere in the middle of Australia. For the first time in my life it was winter during summer. I really felt like I was at the other end of the world, if not on another planet. During the roadtrip, everything changed so quickly, from arid desert to rainforest to beaches! Then I could not wait to see a kangaroo but it didn't take long. The roads were like a zoo of roadkills : kangaroos, dingos, eagles, falcons, camels, horses, cows, foxes and many others that I could not remember the names. Heureusement, j'ai pu eviter toutes ces bestioles en manoeuvrant Fatima (notre van) le mieux possible. C'etait pas evident! Chez nous il y a les cerfs qu'on peut apercevoir plusieurs metres avant l'eventuel impact mais ici, les kangaroos sortent des buissons pour traverser l'autoroute en 1 ou 2 bonds. Et ils sont pas mal plus gros que je pensais! Par contre, je ne crois pas que ce soit l'animal le plus intelligent parce que lorsque tu les evites, ils se mettent a sauter un peu partout en suivant la van ou en se remettant devant. J'ai happer plusieurs oiseaux par contre! Mais le pire c'etait de traverser les immenses nuages de sauterelles volantes. Elles sont grosses
et juteuses! Je ne pensais pas que le pare-brise alllait resister. Apres plus de 9000 km a travers ce pays, Fatima n'avait plus ses allures du debut : Des corps d'oiseaux etaient coinces un peu partout sous le moteur, le radiateur etait rempli de sauterelles et les routes de bouette ont fait en sorte qu'elle ressemblait a une poubelle. Vous pouvez etre certain que j'en etais fier!!!
Let's go back quickly to the beginning of my journey in Australia. I landed in Melbourne on a Sunday morning and superstar Gifton was there to receive me. He is a guy from New Brunswick, that I met in Napoli in 2006 and who now lives in Melbourne. He took me around for 3 days and made me love this city! It made itself a place in my top big cities that I would live in. I owe you mate! Then after three days of visiting and partying, I walked through Sydney during a whole day. Great city as well. In Sydney I talked a whole hour with a 70 years old murderer who just served 30 years in jail. I meet all sort of people in this trip : from capucin monk in Salzburg to newly freed murderer in Sydney. Then Kassie met me at the bus station in Brisbane and we went to pick up Fatima (our van). Kassie (only a friend!) is a girl I met in Egypt a few months ago and we planned this trip while we were there. It was quite an experience to do this roadtrip with her. Usually I do these roadtrips with a bunch of guys. She doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't eat bad food and is somewhat of a feminist. So it was way different but still awesome in the same time! It was interesting to do this trip with someone from the place who could teach me about Australia and translate for me when I could not understand what these yellow country teeth fellows were talking about...
Brievement pour ne pas martyriser le recit, nous sommes partis de Brisbane avec une grosse Fatima toute propre et nous nous sommes dirige vers l'Ouest pour atteindre Uluru et Ayers Rock (le plus gros monolithe au monde! Oui oui!!). Nous avons traverse des regions arides pleins de kangaroos et d'abobinables petites creatures que je surnommait les Oompa Loompa's (les Aborigenes!!). Apres plus d'une
semaine nous etions de retour sur la cote Est pour visiter un peu de tout : plages, forets tropicales, marais, montagnes, villages, etc. Malheureusement je n'ai pas pu plonger le long de la Grande Barriere de Coraille du au mauvais temps et surtout du au fait que ca commence a me couter cher tout ca!! Et je n'avais pas prevu que cette salope de Fatima allait boire comme s'il n'y avait pas de lendemain!!
A part ca, je me suis rarement senti aussi vagabond et malpropre et je commence a avoir hate d'etre chez nous dans mes affaires, avec des vetements propres et pas de trous, un bon lit douillet, douches chaudes, bonne bouffe et arreter de toucher des choses que je ne connais pas pour ensuite me mettre les mains dans face...
Also, my plans changed. I was supposed to go to South America after Indonesia but the tickets are way too expensive (no less than $2800) and it doesn't make any sense to pay such a price to stay there only 4 weeks. So I want to replace this last month by other destinations and I was thinking about 1 week in Hawaii and the remaining in Alaska. It would make me save between $1500 and $2000. What do you guys think? Any other suggestions? Has anybody here been to Alaska?
Finally a huge thanks to the Kroenert Family for everything they've done for me, especially Kassie. Even if I had to learn the 10 commandments by heart and in order from Kassie's father, I could not be more grateful. Also a big cheer to Scott and Joyce for their warm welcome in Brisbane and for letting me use their appartment as if it was mine while they were working. And also an honorable mention to Sean for rescuing us from sleeping in a parking lot in Charters Towers.
Next, Indonesia...
Love
Nik
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alessandra
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Ce fût un plaisir de te lire Nikolas et pour ne pas avoir des remords de l'avoir oublié je te souhaite, un tout p'tit peu en avance , un très joyeux et mémorable anniversaire de naissance. Bonne fête de la part de toute ta famille et portes toi bien ! à bientôt x