Life and culture

Not much is going on at present.

I sleep on a mattress below the vintage stained glass window in the livingroom of the house, and Winnie (Michael's cat) sits decoratively at the window. (Yes, I know, it needs cleaning. Please ignore that for the moment and appreciate the art-nouveau composition of this tryptich.)

My van is parked in the street outside "the castle". My housemates are mostly away for work during the day, so I'm on my own for most of the time, but often have company in the evenings. Sometimes one will cook and invite a party of 4 to 8 friends to come over for dinner.

The other day I went to the City (in by ferry, back by bus) and visited the Museum of Contemporary Art at "the Rocks" and the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.

The part of town called "the Rocks" is touristy but still nice because it has preserved some older buildings from the early days when Sydney was founded. In the photo you can see the contrast between the old brick houses and the modern glass-and-concrete skyscrapers in the background.

A similar contrast lies at anchor outside the Maritime Museum.

Back in Sydney

I have safely arrived back in Sydney. And the dust storm was already gone when I arrived. See photo for proof! :)

It is now end of September and I plan to spend most of my remaining 7 weeks here. That gives me some time to explore possibilities to come back in January 2010 on a working visa. And it also gives me time to sell my campervan without hurry.

I have accommodation at a friend's place, Michael's, which is just next door from where I had rented a room before.

Mathias (from Schonegg) used the graphics tablet he got for his birthday to make this cartoon of me! Yay! Many thanks! Mathias is a computer nerd like me (which means he's a lot online so I often chat with him through Skype) and he has also started to write his own blog, Schonegg Stories (featuring my own Schonegg story).


And here is another example of Mathias's creativity: a fully recyclable laptop computer that he made for me!

Bad weather

My good luck regarding the weather has left me. Just after Yamba, which was two days ago, it started to rain, and that has continued for nearly 48 hours. Not much rain, but the sky was overcast and temperatures dropped noticeably.

There was nothing really to do and so I killed time by driving, although I don't really look too much forward to going back to Sydney, into that rat race of traffic and noise and toll roads. How much nicer it is on a quiet camp spot such as this in the forest.

Today, Wednesday, I am experiencing a very special weather phenomenon, a dust storm. Apparently it is not just local but really big, it must be all over the NSW coast. The sky is dark and yellow-orange. Driving is difficult because of the high gusty winds, and the visibility has dropped to 500 metres.

The radio says that Sydney is affected by that dust storm too. The sky is red-orange there. The airports report delayed flights, some have closed and do not allow any incoming or exiting airplanes at the moment. Here is some news coverage from Sydney. It's the worst dust storm they had in 70 years. But there is no danger, it's just a bit of a nuisance and people might need to wash their cars.

Yamba

On the way south the road crosses a lot of wide rivers. One of the biggest is Clarence River.

This area is rather pretty, with marshlands, islands and such a wide river delta that it looks almost like a Mecklenburger Seenplatte, or like somewhere in Finland. But although it is a river and looks like a lake, this is saltwater.

At the mouth of Clarence River are two towns, Yamba on the south side and Iluka on the north side. There is a ferry operating between the two and it takes 30 minutes to go over. The whole area is very popular for fishing and boating.

The cliffs you see in this picture are at the headland at the mouth of the river.

These interesting looking "cones" are from a tree called Banksia which is common in Australia. I thought I'd share a picture because you people overseas may not know that plant. They are rather pretty, the yellow-white-orange flowers look like bottle brushes. The genus Banksia was named after the English botanist Joseph Banks, who collected the first Banksia specimens in 1770, during James Cook's first expedition.

Here is a view into a banksia tree.

'Cross the border

I have crossed the border from Queensland back into New South Wales. From the country of the "banana benders" to the country of the "cockroaches", as the locals say jokingly. Or as Werner from Cairns likes to call them, the "Mexicans". Why? South of the border.

Werner, by the way, has really discovered the joy of blogging and is so enthusiastic about this new form of sharing messages with the world that someone even drew a cartoon of him. (Who makes a cartoon of me?)

Today, while driving, I pulled over just at the right time to shoot this picture of my odometer: 444444 km. But the engine, as you know, is new and has now done just over 12000 km.

I saw the beach at Kingscliff (nice beach, but too high surf for me), passed Byron Bay (the easternmost point of Australia), Lennox Head (nice beach too), and Ballina where I visited the Thursday Plantation; you may know their brand of tea tree oil products. The tea tree, Melaleuca, is native to Australia and grows best in this region of northern NSW. The Thursday Plantation has a shop with information and product testers, and an interesting sculpture garden. I liked the "sculpture" that consisted of a white door in a door frame. No wall around it. It was placed just across the path in the forest, so that the walker had to open it and go through. Somehow very surreal. Magritte would have liked it.

The weather is sunny and hot. It should be spring here now but it feels like summer. And I was a bit surprised to see that this part of NSW grows the same crops as mid and northern Queensland: sugar cane, bananas, and so on.

BTW, anyone who wants to skype with me, tonight is a good time because I have a strong internet signal at this caravan park here.

Is she real?

While in Brisbane, I also caught up with Garth and Florane and picked up my things that I had put in storage under their house. I owe them great thanks for helping me travel lighter.

Today I made a 'culture day', visiting the Brisbane Museum, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art. What you see in the photo is a larger-than-life sculpture by the hyperrealist artist Ron Mueck, titled "In bed" (2005). And the schoolchildren kept asking "Is she real? Is she real?"

She really looked so real.

Brisbane

I'm back in Brisbane again. For one night I visited Len and Renee (and Stella and Mike and Betty) at their vegetable farm. It was great to see how they are now harvesting, and selling, their first crops -- beautiful, healthy, organic vegies. And no more mud! ;)

They also prepared and planted additional fields and so their business is visibly growing and prospering. Less visible but equally important, Len is also making progress on a second endeavour: to organize tours of students (such as international hospitality students) to visit their farm for educational day trips. A second pillar (Standbein) for their permaculture habitat.

And now I'm staying at the house of Bob and Sonja, Renee's parents, who live 30 km south of Brisbane. Sonja is the daughter of Werner from Yorkeys Knob/Cairns. She has a big cause: to fight against the flouridation of water. (For background: Australia, like the USA and a handful of other countries, put flouride in the public water which is believed to be good for the teeth. But there are also many health related arguments against flouridation, so the practice is disputed. If anyone wants to learn more about the dangers of flouridation, they can ask Sonja or visit the Flouride Action Network.)

The boy in the picture is Sonja's grandson Ben (the child of Renee's sister Megan). And there's a wallaby somewhere in the back of the photo.

Making beer and butter

Melanie and Ruby had gone away for two days and while Geraldo and I were looking after Eban, I helped him make beer and butter in his kitchen. As you may know, alcohol is a bit dear (teuer) in Australia. So by home-brewing you can save money. And no license is required as long as you don't sell it. Geraldo uses the home-brewing kits that you can buy; a kit costs $10 and yields about 22 litres. One barrel was ready for bottling, and then we started up the next one. The kit consists of syrupy malt molasse and a packet of brewing yeast (Bierhefe). Cleanliness is important; everything must be washed with boiling hot water. You heat up the malt, combine it with 1 kg of sugar, add warm water and finally the yeast. That goes into the black plastic fermentation barrel and all is kept at room temperature. When it bubbles you know that the fermentation is working right. After a certain number of days the beer can be bottled, a teaspoon of sugar is added to each bottle to continue the fermentation (so that it is not stale), and the beer is best after a couple of months maturing. They sell the kit in different types of beer: Lager, Draught, Ale, etc. I was surprised how relatively easy it is to brew your own beer. And the result really tasted good.

The butter making was fun too. We had a bucket of cream (which came from Glenn and Therese's dairy farm) and stirred it with an electric stirrer for a few minutes until the fat separated from the water (the buttermilk). Then the buttermilk had to be washed out with cold water and finally we kneaded, pressed and slapped the butter with our hands to get as much as possible of the water out. A plastic container is used as a mould (Giessform) and cling film to wrap the butter in. Then into the fridge - done!

Geraldo's place

I'm back to the coast. On my way here I visited Boat Mountain Conservation Park (a mountain shaped like an upturned boat, with a nice view and a walk through a 'vine forest') near Murgon, and Brooyar State Forest near Gympie. This forest has vertical rock cliffs where people can do rock climbing and abseiling (another nice germanism).

I didn't have any climbing equipment, so I just watched and took some photos.

Now I am at the place of a friend of mine, Geraldo, visiting him for 5 days and wwoofing a little. I met Geraldo two months ago while I was wwoofing at the dairy farm of Glen and Therese. He is originally from Austria and has migrated to Australia 15 years ago. He liked me and I liked him, so he invited me to come.

Geraldo and his partner Melanie (an Australian) have bought a 60-acre property between Gympie and Kin Kin, a beautiful land that I can only describe as a 'magic forest'. They plan to turn this land into a kind of commune, provided that they find the right people. They have two children aged 6 (Ruby) and 1 (Eban), a big vegetable garden, chooks, and live in self-built houses -- Geraldo is a carpenter -- almost completely self-sustainable with solar power, dam water and rain water.

These two photos show you the beauty of their land at sunrise. There were kangaroos too -- three big ones even came close to my van! One of their dams is suitable to swim in, there are two sand-pits for the children, a see-saw (Wippe) and a trampoline. And there is a real rainforest area with a little gully running through. It is a fantastic place for an 'Aussteiger' (if that is the right word?) to live in. I think I could live here, provided that I'll get a visa that would allow me to stay, and somehow work for my living.

Miles from nowhere

After Carnavon Gorge came Injune (not Inseptember -- sorry, I couldn't resist the bad pun!), and then Roma. I just made it with my petrol. In the outback you must make sure to fill up your tank whenever you have a chance -- the next one can be further away than you think. Roma has a lot of bottle trees (boab). These trees have trunks that look as if someone has blown them up like a rubber balloon. I couldn't help noticing that some of the local population has a certain resemblance.

Arrivederci Roma. The town that gave me a turn. After going south for 600 km, I am now going east for another 400 km, on Warrego Highway. I made a map for you to show you the route of my "winter tour" from Sydney into Queensland and now half-way back.

I spent the night in the back yard of Dulacca Hotel (Dulacca: population 88). They offer free camping, with a hot shower and even with power. Very nice of them. Now I'm typing this from Miles -- "miles from nowhere". I helped the lady at the visitor centre to fix a small computer problem, and she kindly allowed me to sit here, use the power outlet for my notebook to go on the Internet, and she even brought me a huge cup of coffee and bisquits!

I have developed a theory about friendliness that I will share later with you here on this blog.

And I was just reminded by that lady that today is the 09.09.09. Cheers!

The great outdoors

I got what I wanted: a taste of the Australian outback. Civilization in Australia, as you may know, concentrates largely at the coast. On the 'outside' of the continent, at or near to the sea. Behind that coast comes the 'hinterland' (a nice example of a germanism in the English language -- we have so many anglicisms in the German language that it is good to see an example of the vice versa phenomenon), and behind the hinterland comes the 'outback'. There is no exact definition as to how many kilometres away from the coast or major cities you must be. But when you're driving on a road that has no human settlement for 300 km, it's a good sign that you have reached the outback.

Another sign is that the drivers passing you raise their hand from the steering wheel to greet you friendly. A third sign is that there are so-called 'road trains' on the roads (big trucks that pull one, two or three trailers (Anhaenger)). The road train driver will not greet you. And you'd better not greet them either because you need a firm grip on your steering wheel when they pass so the side wind will not blow you off the road. And the fourth sign is that the kangaroo roadkill density increases to about two per kilometre on average. In 600 km of outback roads I must have passed more than a thousand dead kangaroos. In all sizes and all stages of decay.

The etappe from Townsville to Emerald was dreary: hot and dry and flat. Not barren like a desert. There are trees and there is yellow grass. But the trees don't cast a shadow and the sun is relentless. Emerald has the world's biggest sunflower painting (a Van Gogh copy) mounted on an easel (Staffelei), 25 m high. And they have a 'botanical garden' which is too dry in my opinion. I love botanical gardens, but I think you shouldn't build one in this climate zone if you can't irrigate (bewaessern) it.

On the route between Emerald and Roma the landscape becomes a bit more interesting. There are more trees and a few hills and mountain ranges in the distance. And there are two national parks which I spontaneously took the chance to visit while I was here.

The first is Minerva Hills National Park. It was a challence to drive into: 10 km of steep unsealed gravel road, just to get to a nice lookout. The photo at the very top of this posting, with my van, was taken there. The photo with the cows resting in the shade under the tree was taken on the way to the other national park.

This is Carnarvon Gorge. I spent two days there. In this region, nature, with the help of a mountain creek, has carved a giant gorge (eine Schlucht, mit senkrecht hoch aufragenden Waenden) into the sandstone. The main gorge has several picturesque side-gorges to the left and the right. On the first day I did a short but very pretty walk into 'Mickeys Gorge'. As you walk in, the valley continually narrows in, from a wide U shape to a steep V shape, somehow feminine, like a birth canal. At the end -- or at the beginning, depending on how you look at it -- you can touch both vertical rock walls with your outstretched hands. A place with a very spiritual, sacred, feeling.

I stayed the night at a caravan park and on the second day I undertook the 'big' walk: 10 km into the main gorge and back. Including the side tracks a total of 22 to 24 km. It was absolutely beautiful, peaceful and majestic. Carnarvon Gorge is an oasis in the surrounding plain bushland.

The vegetation consists of various trees and fan palms (Faecherpalmen), which seemed somehow out of place. Maybe because I typically associate them with hotel resorts. In the cooler side gorges grow ferns and tree ferns. The walking track crosses the creek 20 times, numbered nicely from 1 to 20, and all those crossings are using step-stones. Very pretty. As to wildlife, I saw kangaroos, wallabies, all kinds of birds, a long-necked turtle (see photo), and one echidna.

As to culture -- yes! The gorge has some of that too. There are aboriginal wall paintings and relief carvings they made in the soft sandstone. The paintings are mainly handprints (made by blowing ocre pigment from the mouth onto the wall with the hand used as a stencil -- or sometimes other objects such as a boomerang), and the carvings are mainly vulvas. That's how it is. The aboriginal culture being destroyed by the European invasion, and having left no literature, we can only theorize about the meanings of these, but we soon have to admit that we know nothing.

When I finally made it back to the exit of the park, my feet informed me that I've been asking a lot of them today. Ouch with every step. I stayed a second night to give them rest before moving on. On driving out I saw the sign: "Carnarvon Gorge. Good for your soul. Bad for our feet." What a nice, and apt, way to put it! :)

Bivouac Junction

Normally I don't blog about the caravan parks I'm staying in. But this one here was so nice that I promised to write about it. The new owners are a young couple (with three small children) and they have only started here 6 weeks ago.

Bivouac Junction Caravan Park is away from the coast road, on Flinders Highway 111 km inland between Townsville and Charters Towers. I'm here because I've decided to get an "outback experience" before going back to the coast. Tomorrow I hope to reach Emerald and then Roma.

This caravan park is 3 km off the highway and can be easily missed, so they need recommendations like this one here. When you come here, the minute you drive in you feel that the owners here really care. They put their love into this place. They have a beautiful Aussie style fireplace where they cook damper and boil billy tea in the night for the guests.

Now what is damper and what is billy tea, you may ask if you haven't been to Australia? Damper is a kind of bread that you cook (which means bake) in the fireplace. There are many different recipes and ways to cook it. Here they used a so-called camp oven, which is a cast iron pot (ein gusseiserner Topf) with a special lid designed to shovel hot coals on top so that the heat comes from above and below when you put it in the fire.

And billy tea is tea that is cooked in a so-called billycan (or just billy), a pot that is traditionally made from a big tin can with a wire handle to be hung over the campfire. Tea leaves are put in the boiling water, and then the billy is taken off and swung in an overarm action round and round: this settles the tea leaves to the ground of the pot.

So anyway I wanted to recommend this nice caravan park to everybody who reads this and comes to this part of Queensland. They have powered and unpowered sites, hot showers, phone reception, a river nearby, and even a small pool. Their phone number is (07) 4787 3804.

Nudism in Australia

While I'm here in hot northern Queensland, I thought I might visit a few more nudist resorts (FKK-Campingplaetze) on my way -- there are quite a couple in this region.

Recreational nudism exists in Australia, but is less open than it is in Europe. In Australia they have so-called nudist (or naturist) resorts, but these are not usually open for everyone, and they are not listed in the same brochures as the "normal" caravan parks. Some are for club members only, others permit everyone but you must come with a partner, not alone: singles are usually not welcome. Yet others are willing to let a single in if that person has been to other resorts in Australia before. This last way is how I got admitted.

It is a sad truth that all Australian nudist resorts have a common problem: overaging. They are, effectively, mostly old peoples' clubs and fail to get enough young people in. Kein (oder viel zu wenig) Nachwuchs. I'm not sure if the young people these days are too shy to undress, or if they perhaps don't come because of that "singles unwelcome" attitude.

I was at: Valley View Nature Resort, Murrigal, and Townsville Nudist Club (TNC). All were friendly, relaxed and quiet. The last one was in the nicest nature -- by a creek with wonderful blue water to swim in. In the evening we sat around a campfire; another young man, Peter, brought his guitar and I brought mine.

That strangely shaped mountain is Castle Hill which overlooks Townsville, the biggest city of North Queensland. And if you want to see TNC's "cheeky" interpretation of how the hill might have gotten its shape, look here (adults only!).

I was just in the middle of typing this from a (normal, non-nudist) caravan park when I was suddenly surrounded by chicks -- unfortunately not pretty girls but the feathered, egg-laying type. The Aussies call them "chooks".

My dinner is managed! :)

If I were a swagman, I'd stuffed them in my tuckerbag, under the shade of a coolibah tree... (Yesterday I've finally learned that Australian national song, Waltzing Matilda!)