יום שלישי, 19 במאי 2009

Life in a campervan isn't as easy as you think, and also life in the desert

hi everybody!
people say that life is all about ups and downs. well, our last days here defiantly had some very big ups which fallowed by very big downs! and by that we don't mean just the regular "down under" which we got very used to.
it all started when we left Adelaide with a 6 people campervan (it means that 6 people can live happily inside it, and we, as we hope you all remember, are only two). inside it we had a kitchen (better than we saw in some of the backpackers we've been to), 3 double beds (we tried only two of them), a shower (hot water and everything) and of course - DVD and PS2, because how can you spend the time in this dessert with out it? that was the 'up' part.. (see ,relocation deal*)
for three days we drove through nothing (really - nothing!). the only reason we couldn't see the end of it is only because the curve of the earth, or the ability of the human eye... any way -
we even didn't have radio and our mp3 died in NZ, so you can imagine the fun... after 48 hours you stop to "enjoy the silence" and start believe that the sound of "ein klita" is a great music. that was the start of the downs, so we thought, only because we didn't know what's waiting for us...
somewhere between "nothing with trees" to "nothing with some bush", we saw that we have a flat tire, or to be more precised - a totally ruined tire that there is no chance we did it to it!!! after waisting almost 3 hours in a place that in the map looks like little town but in reality is just a gas station, we replaced it (actually the replacing thing we did on the road, like in the movies, in the middle of the desert) and even got the money back from the company (200$ doesn't walk on foot, you know) after talking with almost everyone in that company. apparently, when it comes to insurance it's the same all over the world and they would always find the way to make you pay for the damage.
so, you can imagine the down it was...
the day after, we walk up very early ( or very late at night, depends who you ask...) and went to see the sunrise on the Uluru, or Ayrs rock (again - depends... ). which is a huge red rock in the middle of oz, looks and feels like you stand right in the hart of this land. it is a very sacred place for the aboriginal and they even ask you not to climb on it, but then - they built the way up and they take allot of money to see it so we thought - everybody do it anyway and it is a great climb and the money probably goes to the drunk aboriginal in Alice spring so - we walked up and it was great! after it we did a little walk in the "olgas" (or Kata jota..) - another big-red-amazing-rocks-in -the -middle of -the -desert -that -important -to -the -aboriginal, and saw the sunset on them. the thing with the sunset and sunrise is that the rocks get a very special colors in those hours. it is really beautiful. and also - everybody do it so you just can't not do something that all the other tourist do!!!!
next day we went to Kings canyon, a nice short walk in a red canyon. the first place we saw here and wasn't very excited about... it was beautiful but not amazing as everyone say.
now - you need to understand that all of those places are at least an hour drive from each other - it looks close on the map, but we (shachaf..) drove the distance of Israel almost 4 times those days (2400 km!). and we still haven't decide if that was an "up" or"down".
at the end we got to Alice springs. the 'big' city in the middle of the desert. the biggest attraction in it, except the fact that she contains people and not just gas station and a kiosk, is the number of aboriginal there (or the way the locals here call them - the black fellows, very politically correct). we stayed there one night in a house full with french guys and snakes... (we can explain but it's late and it's also much more fun to let you imagine that and brake your head about it).
after a really good experience with the wwoofing* we did, we went to a farm near Alice spring (300 k"m... near. oh - and just 80 k"m off-road into the desert from the main road). now, if until that point we thought that drunk people in the street, flat tire, snakes near the dinner table and a broken mp3 are things to complain about, it's only because we still didn't see that farm. for 4 days we were alone with a weird family, which pretty much treated us as slaves or just as bad workers and didn't really speak with us. the only point of light there was a stuff worker, a nice Cristian boy, that we could actually talk with. but also his relationship with them was... weird.
the woofing is all about both sides give what they can - we work for free, they give accommodation and food. but somehow they didn't see it that way and it took us 24 hours to understand that we must get out of there, or they'll give us to the dingos. we booked a flight to Sydney and asked them to take us to the main road (not a simple task at all! ) and only when we got again to the "french guys and snakes" house, we knew we saved!
now - the french guys house (it's already morning so we have time to explain)is actually a house belongs to john - a really nice and welcoming man we found through the "couch surfing"*. apparently the guy hosts lots of people in his home, when we were there we met Germans, Belgiums, french, Sweden and snakes... a little tip for you - when you're traveling, try to meet people from France and ask them if they can cook dinner, you won't regret!!!!

and now - much earlier then we planed, we are back home in Sydney, at the goldshmidts mark and margo. hoping to find a farm around the city, to finish with good memories from the wwoofing*.
if you don't believe us, or just wanna see it:

hag shavu'ot same'ach!!!

eat some milkey for us too.

see you soon,
really soon!

shachaf and ofer and Billy-Joe (the camper van...)










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