U.S.A. to Australia
I’m winging my way across the Pacific on Qantas flight #176 from LA to Brisbane. I’ve criss-crossed the USA and the Atlantic regularly over the past years, but those flights are nothing compared to this 14-hour marathon across the Pacific (that was tacked onto another 6-hour crossing from JFK to LAX). Qantas has long-distance flying system down pat. They just do it more than anyone else and better than anyone else, it seems.
Getting to Australia is a long way from anywhere. Even seasoned travelers feel that they are really “going someplace” when they head to Australia. I’ve avoided flying to Australia just for the length-of-flight reason. But this time, I have enough time allowed down under and the adventure and sense of discovery make putting the rest of my life on hold worth the time involved.
The immensity of the Pacific sinks in after eating, and then sleeping for six hours and realizing that the trip is only halfway finished. Luckily, Little Miss Sunshine (review: OK), The Departed (review: great) and Borat (review: worthless, didn’t finish the movie) were playing to pass the time. Plus, I read through half of Leviathan, a novel by an Australian author, John Birmingham, about the nitty-gritty growth of Sydney over the past 200 or so years from the landing of the convicts to the Sydney Olympics. My fears of an endless flight faded as we crossed over the twinkling city lights of Nadi, Fiji, and then Noumea, New Caledonia.
The in-flight dinner menu offered a bit of comic relief with one of the business-class entrees listed as “Prawn and Ramen Noodles.” I remember college days when Ramen Noodles were the meal of choice when we were starving. Of course the following choice of “Tarragon Chicken with glazed onions” (or something to that effect seemed much more gourmet oriented.
My trip this time will go from semi-tropical Brisbane to the wine regions of Adelaide, to the Aboriginal islands north of Darwin, to Darwin itself, to the Bullo River for luxury amidst crocodiles and finally to Sydney.
I traveled to Australia one other time, for the Sydney Olympics. I was what is called an unaccredited journalist, which means that I didn’t have credentials to see the Olympic events, however the city and region set up a media center to show off their tourism world. I had a chance to see Sydney from its Asian ethnic markets to the shoulder-to-shoulder souvenir stands, upscale shops and restaurants of The Rocks. I toured the Opera House, sailed around the harbor, walked along Manly Beach and climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Though I knew I was in Australia, I never saw a koala bear, kangaroo in the wild, an ostrich or an emu. I did eat kangaroo, ostrich and emu together with plenty of shrimp on the barbie and lots of Foster’s lager to wash it down. The world of Crocodile Dundee just isn’t to be found in Sydney. I’d bet that his movies about moving from the outback to New York City could have been done as easily about moving from the outback to Sydney. (Well, the New York-style criminals are hard to find in Sydney. His line that went something like, “That’s not a knife. This is a knife,” as he pulls out his machete wouldn’t work in Sydney as well it did in New York.)
This time, I’m looking for a different Australia. Before I return to Sydney, I want to see koala bears, kangaroos, ostriches and emus (and maybe a crocodile) in the wild. I’m not entire sure that will happen, but some of these travels are in remote areas of the country, so I have a chance.
Otherwise, I realize that I have precious little knowledge about this continent. Obviously, I realized that Australia was remote but apart from Sydney and spots within an hour-or-so drive, I really don’t know what to expect. I have read that three-quarters of the country is desert and scrub. I expect it to be dryer in the south and the west and tropical in the north. Those images of the north come from general knowledge that it gets hotter the closer one gets to the Equator. I’m assuming that North Australia is tropical and rainforest-ish and not Sahara Desert dry.
Do locals really wear those Paul Hogan bush hats? Do they carry machetes? I know they enjoy their pints of lager and ale and their wines. Bill Bryson, writing In a Sunburned Country, has made it clear that the population lives in midst of deadly nature with more creatures that can kill than anywhere else in the world. There are more poisonous snakes here than anywhere else. More stinging jellyfish. More crocodiles. A whole bay named for sharks. Dangerous spiders everywhere. Didn’t a stingray barb to the heart just kill the Crocodile Hunter? However, Australians are nonplussed and totally at ease with this. It seems to be a live and let live attitude that serves them well.
Brisbane next.
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