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Back on the radar!
The sheer size of Australia makes it quite unique indeed. The variety of environments, people, wildlife, and urban landscapes over this vast island (or collection of islands!) makes for a very different experience of travel. A place where the sun is hot buy the winds are refreshing; the sand is red or white, fine or rocky, but the sea is always blue and welcoming and refreshing; the people are (lets face it) the descendants of our very own underclass, yet proud of their ancestory and laugh in the face of thge stuffy English establishment for allowing them to populate this glorious country even giving them free passage! The oldest buildings may be no more than 150 years old, the culture may be little more than coffey shops, surfing and sport, and the majority of the country may be the most tedious flat land of anywhere on earth, but there is much to discover here, and it is fun every step of the way.
Flying from Perth to Alice Springs gives the author a clear sense of distance and insignificance. Just as one may look to the clear night sky to view the far-off burning pools of gas and wonder if we truly are alone, the same can be said looking down over the thousands of miles of yellow and red sand, contemplating what, and how, may survive in such an unforgiving place. But this is misleading, for in the Red Centre lies the biggest fresh water resource of the entire country; the water table bubbles and churns below the surface, and the greenery all along the roadsides is testiment to this. Alice Springs, the most central of all populus within Australia is one of the only communities that does not experience a water shortage. If you want a good shower, thats the place to do it.
Of course, there are other attractions. Finally, some rocky outcrops. You could almost call them hills! For the Land Downunder, they are virtually mountains. As the sun sets behind them, and the red glow sparks up, anyone could be forgiven with falling in love with this harsh environment. So many fear this place for the crime, some say there is a bad vibe here, and others just find it to be too small. But the sense of freedom is second to one - a two day drive in any directrion (minimum!) to the coast, and yet the closest place to every beach in Oz.
Oh, and there is, of course, Uluru. Mistakenly considered the largest rock in the world, it is at least the second. But the tourist touts don't want you to know that, so shhhhh.
More impressive than the damp squib of a sunset, surrounded by thousands of other misguided outsiders and their monster air-conned coaches and picnic chairs (huh, tourists!) is the force of nature all around when the storms set in. Fork lightening illuminates the sky, the rock, the faces of delighted open-air campers in their swags, too in ore of this unprecidented sight to consider their short height in this low-lying land could ever make them the victims of a strike. If thats how you're due to go, then you do so with a smile and expression of wonder on your face.
And so, south. Passing through (and if you're passing by, keep on passing) Coober Pedy - famed for... Mad Max III, living underground, and one would guess inbreeding - and on to Adelaide. A small, European styled city with a surprising amount of charm. Everything the European missing the homeland could wish for in the New World. Rivers, trees, old-style architecture, Irish pubs, the mentally instable, Starbucks and a Country and Western style pub. Not a theme pub, just PUB! Yes, this is what people over here (or some of them) call fun. You've not know awkward wall-flowering until you've done it to songs of this genre. But if you like you ten-to-twos slightly porky, in checkered shirts and slightly sqew-eyed, then thats the place for you!
Anyone who has been to Australia will be able to tell you of the remarkable stretch between Adelaide and Melbourne. The Great Ocean Road. Remarkably disappointing. Seen one rock, you've seen them all, right? Not so... consider that the Twelve Apostles have been reduced to seven and a pile of rubble (the tourist board call this the eight!).. Maybe this is too harsh. So is the changable Victorian weather. So, consider yourself lucky if you manage to see any remaining, as the mist may just obscure your vision. Or is that the tears in your eyes as you realise you've paid 'HOW MUCH???' to see this.
Melbourne is art, fashion, party. The look of the place, the architecture, the culture. The uniform fluro tees and 1980s style retro dresses. Individuality, people, let it flow. And those vowels - how long can they really be? A. It is just A. Not Aaaaaaaa. I awake in a cold sweat - can I really be in Suffolk again? Nay. But one would be forgiven for thinking it when touring around Tasmania; Woodbridge, Orford, Ipswich. Okay, I made the last one up.
But Melbourne. Ah, Melbourne. A city of sights and sounds, free museums, galleries, exhibitions. The great pull, a magnet from the vast surrounds. It matters not to where one journeys, all return here. And is it any wonder why. No. Original Picassos, Constables, Warhols. Ned Kelly's bullet-ridden armour and of course Neighbours (autographs will not be posted back to Blighty!). The world's (former) biggest casino and fire along the southbank (Australians surprisingly don't look at it in wonder - starved as they are of the Great Flame due to severe drought and fire restrictions). It would be a challange for anyone to not spend their days here full and fulfulled, regardless of the days, weeks, or months in the city. Glorious, fun, bright, clean, reliable and safe. Oh, and the beach is pretty close, too. Something for everyone, you'll stay longer than you bargained for. Like a Royston Vasey with charm. Come to think of it, that sausage roll did taste a little funny...
Yet, there is a bitter side to each happy tale, for without the comparison how would we know up isn't down and day isn't night? For with every new found friend comes another pproaching goodbye. Fairwell, at least. maybe there is some truth; life is a never-ending succession of saying goodbye. The sadness, one supposes, that follows must be what allows us to remember we are human. If, indeed, we want to remember.
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