Home Sweet Home

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Well folks after 83 days travelling to Honkers, around Europe and Oz because I can, I am done albeit I still feel the travel juices flowing inside me and Im not sure if I’m ready to face the rate race in 15 days time. Hate to see what my carbon footprint is, but rest assured it’s a shocker.

Well I finally got my luggage delivered a couple hours before leaving London.... whew.... and headed home on VS200. No plastic wrapped pies this time but we did have foil wrapped bacon and egg roles for brekkie! Oh well priority was to get home, not my stomach I think! I finished my novel about playing NFL in Italy it was a good way of weaning myself off whilst reflecting upon my adventures in Europe!

Once arrived packed a fresh bag of clothes and set off again this time on my Oz travels. I decided to visit my best man BB in Alice Springs, (is he now referred to as my former best man....meeeeoooowww), you remember BB the author of Icebreaker, not before organising a cheap $46.00 flight to Adelaide with Tiger Air and driving north all the way up the middle of Oz (3000km) to Darwin stopping of at Coober Pedy, Alice, going through Tennant Creek and Katherine and off course Humpty Doo!!! before flying to Cairns for some extreme activities.

Well Adelaide hasn’t changed much still stuck in the 70’s so we will give that stopover a miss apart from saying thank god car hire firms don’t breathalyse customers it was Australia Day the day before you know. Why do schooners look so much smaller upon my return?

Took up the collision waiver from Hertz (good call) and hit the A1 and headed for the Greek haven and Opal capital, Coober Pedy. I’ve always wanted to see for myself how people live underground and how hot it actually is out there. Wasn’t disappointed what an amazing style of living. This is about the time I got reintroduced to the local indigenous population straggling around intoxicated and wondering around without any purpose...really sad but another world us white folk can’t really understand and can’t fix. Oh and btw most towns are now dry so how is this perpetuated.

Anyway had an overdose of frulines from Germany, northern of part of Bavaria to be exact. So between Adelaide, Coober and Alice I reckon the Oz economy is being propped up by Bavarian beauties and Euros!

Coober is a place to visit how everyone lives underground is amazing. I reckon its not the heat but those bloody FLIES, zeroing on any ounce of body sweat you have that makes everyone want to live underground. Note to self for next time...hat with face netting. Anyway loved the 6.5mtr underground dorms and all the chimneys popping out of the ground and hills, and the real Star Wars space ship obviously too big to pack away after shooting the movie so its just dumped there in a hotel car park. Anyway couldn’t wait to get to the bar until I paid $7.50 for a cool Bow, wtf I get them for $4.50 at DYRSL.

Oh well tourists rates out in the middle of the desert, you gotta expect that.

Anyway early start to Alice (not too early don’t want to fall into any mine shafts or hit any Roos, birds (failed on that one), Emus, Cows, little bunnies or any other feral species. Whilst Im on animals a whole week in the NT and not one croc sighting! Its amazing how once you cross the NT border the landscape changes to a bright red colour. Did you know a lot of our desert is actually very green......Hot, dry but green that’s because of the artisan water underground. OK that’s your science lesson for the day.

I’ve always loved the weather in Alice Springs mega hot but once your body acclimatises wear a hat and sunnies bobs your uncle....its too hot to sweat and everything is aircon’d which brings me to Mr Rudd’s Climate Change legislation is he going to tell Central and Northern Australians about his universal grand plan for lowering carbon emissions. Hmmmm....... The climate change conference chick from Canada I met in Berlin would be pissed!

Anyway made it to the Alice did the touristy thing of the McDonnell Ranges and anything else as long as it had A/C. I posted some photos on FB....really nice landscape. Didn’t do the rock as I’ve been there done that 20 years ago ....there was conflicting info re walking through the Olgas and/or up the Rock, so whatever is going to happen in the future I suggest if you want to climb or not or whatever you prefer better go soon before the Govt legislates against it!

So I left BB and his misses after knocking down some Barra, Roo, Emu and Croc...oops sorry I lied I did see a croc on my plate! OK polished off the visit with a last swim with my new Management Engineering graduate fruline mate from Bavaria. Its too late and I couldn’t be bothered but one day I’ll tell you about the Italian chick that juggles balls and ten pins every night....yer wtf!

Headed on my 1500km day trip to Darwin not before going through Wycliffe Hills, Australia’s UFO Capital...and I can confirm there were plenty of low flying objects around which most I think flew into my windscreen!...Couldn’t wait for the 400% humidity rains to come and wash the red dust and gunk of the windscreen. Also popped in to see the Devils Marbles, real cool how those rocks just don’t roll away I’m bewielded!

God did I cop a load of humidity when I got out of the car at Katherine.....perhaps all the greenery around driving north should of awoken my senses, nevertheless headed straight for the Air Con and more acclimatising. Wanted to get to Darwin asap thank god for cruise control, 140km speed limits I mean 130km (only on overtaking those 53.5 mtr Road Trains you understand) and before I get the tail end of Cyclone Olga who was causing havoc whilst I was in Alice Springs.

Never been to Darwin before so another history lesson. WOW, I was toooooo young to appreciate the damage Cyclone Tracey (1974) did to Darwin but lets keep it simple Tracey basically wiped out the whole city. So now buildings are made to Cat 5 Cyclone proof and because of the amount of rain (Dam always 100% full) houses don’t have any gutters which means ultra mega humidity (Cant wait to experience SE Asia ...not) Checked out the stuff on the Bombing of Darwin. Shit the Japs got close! They reined more bombs on Darwin than fell on Pearl Harbour by the same Jap Naval fleet no less. So groupies, hasn’t Darwin had their fair share of natural and man-made destruction.

As you would of read on FB, I visited the world heritage listed Kakadu NP, lovely place with all its cultural and ‘prehistoric’ religious history and apart from Uluru this is one of a few things we should promote as our nations true heritage as when you compare us to European history we pale into insignificance......I think we can do more there. The rock paintings at Nourlangie and the low lying crocodile infested wetlands were really cool. My travels tell me the Greeks, Romans Egyptians believe in Mythology and their gods well we believe in the dream time and story telling...... very similar actually!

Back to reduction of Carbon Emissions. Whilst at Kakadu we went past the massive Ranger Uranium mine.....now there’s a thought!

So there you have it ....but lastly party time in Cairns....another ‘iconic’ place I’ve always wanted to visit. Well I went white water rafting on the Tully River (the only place to go) and Scuba Diving in the GBR. The best experience I don’t know what will top it apart from skydiving and that will be on the next trip. Swimming amongst the marine life in their habitat was mind blowing. Nevertheless I will definitely go all the way with Scuba when I get home and get my certification, so baby Em, look out your window for my little flag bopping on the water at Clovelly. LOL

Carbon emissions still being pumped out big time here in Cairns as my issues with the 400% humidity was really starting to piss me off! Anyway one lasting thought I went into a pub for dinner as you do and saw on the menu Spaghetti and Croc, right underneath Spag Bol..wtf isn’t anything sacred what would Italians think! Being a Spag connessoiur you understand, I was intrigued so I had to ask is it done in a red or white sauce, actually in a cream the answer came back from the ‘chef’......Oh well one of those thanks I said, nothing a green Bow couldn’t wash the taste away, only in Oz folks!

Off home after 83 days on the road and some of the best experiences of my life spending time with the kids, seeing iconic sites around the planet, meeting heaps of travellers and sharing stories and hopefully with more to come, before they take me to the asylum, and its been really cool reading about everyone else’s travels (keep safe Rob where ever you end up)... my, how the world has shrunk. So of home for some R&R till I join the rat race in March better tell Kingy that...First things first, touch base with the spacecadets, shit it’s been a long time thank god for FB to keep me up to date! see princess start Uni, a little matter of a unit in Athens, a, skimmed credit card, editing 5000+ photos, I shit you not, a new car and then the rest of the mundane things that comes with life....a lotta of catching up folks. Im now packing up my little 10in Laptop which has never left my side these last 3 months and enjoy the beaches and the best city in the world, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

C u all soon!
Spyros
Washed out tourists

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