I've decided in April to go for a one month journey to the land of friendly people and worldly cities, full of natural beauty – Australia, alone. The continent on the southern hemisphere with tropical beaches and mountain ski resorts is a country of picturesque contrasts. The first thing that pops to mind, when thinking of Australia is the Sydney opera, or maybe the Aborigines, who are the blackest race on the planet. But the country is a lot more. From the twelve disciples to Ayer's Rock the country is full of beauty.
The land down under
It’s the sixth largest country in the world with 7.682.400 square kilometres. The interesting thing is also, it’s not only the smallest continent in the world, but also the largest island in the world. Despite its size it only has 20,6 million of inhabitants and is the least inhabited continent. The largest part of Australia is desert and most people live on the south-eastern coast. Since it’s one of the developed countries it is surprising it has a rather low population growth, which is the consequence of the large number of immigrants. It’s still a country where people can get a job and where people want to move to. Generally there are no ethnical problems, except for some aboriginal groups who often feel underprivileged. They represent only 1,5% of the entire population. Still the land down under became a synonym for adventure.
Australia – haven for Slovenian
Arriving to the red continent, as Australia is also called, I started making my travel plan. Before going I used the network of friends and acquaintances to link me with Slovenian in Australia and so our people hosted me in Sydney and Melbourne. Due to homesickness they were extra nice to me and also took me to the Slovenian service in church in Sydney. It was so full I had to stand. I still didn’t have a feeling I’m on the other side of the planet, for I was surrounded with my countrymen and the service was in my language.
With Slovenians in Australia I also saw the twelve disciples and the famous ocean drive-way. Also we saw the largest aquarium in the world and the historical town of Sovereign Hill, where we travelled back to time of gold prospectors. I also climbed the tallest overview skyscraper felt the might of the city of Melbourne. When invited for dinner I ate kangaroo prepared in three different ways. It’s got to be the tastiest meat I’ve ever tried. Despite the hospitality I wanted to travel most of Australia and plan my own way, so soon I left them and headed towards my own adventures.
Natives
The natives, known as the Aborigines came to Australia some 40.000 years ago. The theory says they came in canoes from Asia bringing wild dogs with them – which developed into dingoes. The Aborigines or at the time the Stone Age hunters and gatherers did not use arrows or spears for hunting, but boomerangs and woomeros. In 1788 first Europeans came to Australia and decided to form a penal colony there. There were around 300.000 Aborigines on the continent at that time, who spoke up to 500 different dialects. They lived in harmony with nature and animals believing nobody can own land. Nature which gave them water and food, they believed, was the heritage we all received from our ancestors, so it belonged to all of us.
They lived in small tribes that nomadically moved from one area with food to the other. When a patch of land was not inhabitable any more they burned it down, believing this will make the land grow food again. They ate kangaroos, emus, opossums… but all these animals were sacred to them, so they could only use them for food.
The newcomers didn’t understand such an attitude towards the land. They took the nature and pastures, so the fighting has begun. The natives could not match strength, so their numbers fell in the past 150 years from 300.000 down to only 40.000.
Today the number of natives is growing again and they’ve got some of the land back where most of them live in the old, traditional way. The country gave them Uluru or Ayers Rock, which still remains a tourist attraction.
Unbearable heat
Australia has tropical weather up north and moderate climate to the south, with many extremes in between. The north is always really hot. The hottest place is Marble Bar on the west coast and has temperatures of even incredible 50°C. And along with the heat, also the flies really get to bother you as they want to enter all the holes in your face.
Towards west it keeps getting warmer and drier. In rare cases you get a shower and the nature turns pink. Even the salt lakes fill up at that point, even though they are usually dry. The inland rivers also dry out through the year, so they become tourist attractions for people to get a picture in the river bed, of an otherwise huge river.
Big distances
After giving it some thought, I’ve decided to take a round trip. I managed the long distances by train, bus, and plane and even by hitchhiking. The travel from Adelaide to the heart of Australia in Alice Springs alone took me 24 hours. It took me so long to get to the north and the tropical climate as well. Managing the distances I also changed climates from hot and dry parts with temperatures over 45, to tropical colder but wetter weather, since I arrived there in local winter. I never gave it a thought about the dangers of such a journey, despite being far away from large towns and many times without a cell phone signal. There were also very few possibility of public transport, so I hitchhiked. Both times I was picked up by natives. They are considered dangerous, but I had good experience with them and thought the encounter was extremely interesting. Many of them usually enjoy alcohol, stay in the shade and try to do nothing.
