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Location Date New South Wales 1350860400 Queensland 1350687600 South Australia 1348354800 Northern Territory 1346626800 Victoria Western Australia 
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Location Date Perth Airport
Perth Rottnest Island Busselton Albany
Day 10 - King's Canyon to Alice Springs
Today was our last day in the Northern Territory. We spent it on packing our stuff and then driving to Alice Springs (4,5h drive) with a lunch stop in Erldunda where Hanne discovered that these trucker-road-restaurants-in-the-middle-of-nowhere dont necessarily have good salads. Who would've thought?! My fish burger with chips was quite decent, for a trucker-road-restaurant.
In the late afternoon, we did a short walk through the "town" to discover what we had already anticipated: nothing to see in Alice Springs. It is basically a road-stop village that grew a bit bigger thanks to tourism (and apparently aboriginal art although we did not go to see any). As a result, the town "dies" down each summer (Jan/Feb period) when temperatures rise to +40 degrees, scaring the tourists away.
So, we simply had a glass of (New Zealand) wine on a terrace in the evening sun right next to a bus stop. The reason I mention the bus stop is that it allowed us to see a bit of "local folklore" that further formed our opinion about Alice. At the bus stop, there were quite a few aborigines hanging out. They were dressed in old clothes, yelling at each other and getting the security guy (who was permanently walking around the bus stop) to intervene when needed. As our taxi driver later explained, a lot of the aborigines that you see wandering the streets in Alice are actually rejects from their own communities and as a result they arent part of any community anymore and spend their lives on the streets of Alice. I think there is a parallel with the total Aborigine community though. Even the ones that are "happily" living in their own communities are stuck in the middle. They are not integrated in "white people" life and at the same time they can no longer live their own "ancient" way of life because (i) they have access to way better accomodation/easier food now and (ii) all the "good" places to live have been taken by the white people. Interesting fact on the easier food: a lot of Aborigines died from diabetes once they started eating Western food.
Then again, the road to integration has only just begun. I quote the taxi driver: The last 2 Aborigines in the wild were "discovered" only in the 1970s so it is all still very recent. On top, the Aborigines did get back quite a lot of their land, such as all the natural parks which they then lease back to the government (like Kakadu) or co-manage with majority votes for Aborigine (like Uluru-Kata Tjuta). It will be a long road but at least they have started it.
And so we say bye bye to the huge Northern Territory which is (I estimate) about 1,600km north-south and about 700km west-east. We have seen the larger part of it's interesting areas and for that we have travelled 3,409km by motorhome at about 100km/h on average so 34 hours of driving in 9 days. As we say bye bye to one huge state, we say hello to the next: Western Australia.
As the name kind of gives away already, Western Australia covers the West of Australia (quite creative, those early Australians :-)). If you think the Northern Territory is huge, then wait till you see this one: it is easily more than double the size. In fact, if WA would have been a country, it would have been the 10th largest country in the world! And we have exactly 6,5 days to see it. But more on that tomorrow.
Ciao mates!
- comments
Caro Schatjes, we volgen nog :-) Kan het zijn dat jullie vermoeider zijn dan ooit of lees ik dat fout? By the way: zien we Olivia spelen met Hannes pil daar?! Dikke zoenen, Geniet er nog van, Caro en Cie PS: evi en jos huis gekocht in londerzeel. Komen hier straks verslag doen.
Lutgarde Ik ben heel blij jullie heelhuids te hebben gezien daarstraks. Hou het toch op veiliger hè! Dus Hanne, hou Kim regelmatig tegen als hij erover gaat. Of moet ik dit ook aan Kim zeggen? Alhoewel ik denk dat Hanne er uit zichzelf niet 'overgaat'? Ons Olijfje zal al enorm door mekaar geschud zijn! Als ons Stefke dit leest....Wees voorzichtig voor alledrie hè! Dikke zoen x en geniet zonder te veel uitputtingsslagen! Het blijft vakantie voor jullie tot eind november en voor Hanne tot ...ik hoor het wel. Ik gun jullie nog veel prachtige dingen en super dagen!
belgica2004 Komt in orde! Gisteren rustig gedaan :-)
Ronald The title of this album seems pretty obiouvs: a collection of Kenny Chesney's greatest hits. Interestingly, most of hisbiggest hits came after this album. So what gives? Well, Chesney was a fixture in the country world for the better part of the 90s, an artist who made a presence at radio but not so much outside of that world. That's not to say this albumdoesn't represent great work, because it does: even before Kenny began his ascent, he still picked good material. Thisdisc contains seventeen songs, a few more than the standard hits package in country. And like most modern hits collections, it contains new material, here in the form of four songs which are all pretty darn good. The first two new songs, I Lost It and Don't Happen Twice , open the album. They were also the album's big hits, with the latter hitting #1. Both songs exemplify Chesney's style of telling stories in song, whether about love-against-the-odds or young love (a common theme of his). This is followed by The Tin Man , which is actually a re-recording of a song Chesney recorded on his first (and second) album. There's an underated quality about this song, which is essential Kenny. It alludes to The Wizard of Oz , and how Chesney wishes he were the Tin Man, since I wouldn't have a heart, and I wouldn't miss you . Great stuff. The older songs occur after this in mostly-chronological order. Fall in Love (a remix?), and All I Need to Know , are memorable hits from his first BNA album All I Need to Know . They are followed by For the First Time , another new track that remembers young love. Next up is Me and You , a sweet song that was Kenny's first #1. A surprise pops up amongst all of these tracks: a live verson of Back Where I Come From , which wasn't a single but pays tribute to Kenny's roots. It's fun to hear the crowd scream, and the quality of the recording is great (at the beginning of the song he says Okay Dallas , but the album says it says recorded in Tennessee; maybe it's some bizarre hybrid). The next few songs continued his run of hits: When I Close My Eyes and She's Got It All helped Kenny hone hiscraft, while That's Why I'm Here , a song about alcoholsim, is probably the heaviest song Kenny has released as a single. Kenny's 1999 release, Everywhere We Go , saw his career kick into high gear; subsequently, it is represented here with no less than 5 tracks. The first single, How Forever Feels , became Kenny's biggest hit upon it release, and is a radio staple today. The next single, You Had Me From Hello , is a beautiful love song that become another #1 for Chesney. The song also took on unintentional hilarity when its inspiration briefly became his wife. She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy is a fun, sexy novelty that quickly became a fan favorite. The last two selections are pretty amazing in their own right. Whar I Need To Do is a classic song of lost love and inaction, and Baptism (a duet with the great Randy Travis) adds some religious flavor to Kenny's catalog. The album closes with the last new track Because of Your Love , which is pretty great too-shame it wasn't a single.So there you have it: a seventeen-song guide to Kenny before he was one of the most bankable concert draws around. Of course, his career REALLY hit the stratosphere his with first album after this one, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems . But that's a story for another day. Looking at the back cover of this album, we see Kenny on the beach, looking out to the future; these photos have become an album staple, and with the success of this album, it's easy to see why. The future looks bright for Kenny; can Greatest Hits, Volume 2 be far behind?