Australia

The road just twisted up and up. The first site was Ngamadjidj shelter.

"Ngamadjidj's animated art panel of white-painted dancing, squatting and standing figures is completely different in colour and style from most other northern Gariwerd art sites. Aboriginal people, like many Asian cultures, associate the colour white with death and the spirit world. Ngamadjidj is pronounced Nama-dij and means 'white person' in Jardwadjali.

In spring it's a short walk from the picnic ground through a blaze of wildflowers to the squat, dark sandstone outcrop sheltering the spirit dancers of Ngamadjidj."

Then we staked out our site in a sandy campground on the edge of the park and drove to the second aboriginal art site, Gulgurn Manja Shelter. There was a pleasant short hike to the site with some attractive vistas of their own. We made it there just as we were losing light.

"With over 190 motifs, consisting of emu and kangaroo tracks, hand prints and bar stokes, the Gulgurn manja shelter is the richest art site in the northern Gariwerd-Grampians ranges.

Gulgurn manja has more red ochre hand prints than any other shelter in Gariwerd. All the 26 prints are of right hands, which holds true for most hand prints found in Aboriginal shelters across southeast Australia. All the handprints are small in size, as though they were children's hands."

Then back down to the car, and off to find dinner. As we headed out, we found some fields containing wild kangaroo and emu. These are just a few photographs we could manage, but they don't really capture the herds we saw when the light was poor. We really can't express how beautiful and graceful wild kangaroo are. They graze in herds at dusk and dawn. Their temperament is very much like wild deer, and their hopping gait is all about speed. Watching a skittish kangaroo bound away, then pause to listen, is reminiscent of the graceful parts of deer and rabbits. Of course, they're about as smart as deer are, and just as easy to hit with a car at night. We had several bound in front of our car, and we passed a roadkilled kangaroo as we were heading up to the aboriginal art sites. The kangaroo crossing signs aren't kidding.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant in town that Heather was familiar with, and really enjoyed it. Then, after dark, we made it back to camp. Terran took his first hand at driving on the left side of the road, and he only tried to right turn into the wrong lane once. Back at camp, we lay out under the stars, drank wine, and pointed out constellations with Terran's super-powered green laser pointer. Sleeping again did not go well. An adjoining campsite had a huge, raucous party until around 3am. Bad camping luck.

Day 6:

We were up at dawn to get the car back to the rental place in Melbourne by 11am. We got a lot more kangaroo watching in as we crept out of the park, but no pictures really came out. There are a bunch of kangaroos in the dawn field pictures that you can't see.

Terran and Susan each took turns driving, and we're pretty confident we can jump this hurdle if we need to drive an another left-hand city. In our sleep deprived and overstimulated state, we got punch drunk making fun of the road drowsiness warnings that we passed every couple of miles for the entire three-hour trip. You'd think these poor Australians were constantly nodding off and swerving all over the road. We kept a catalogue of slogans:

- Droopy eyes? Power nap now
- Rest & stay alive
- A 15 min powernap could save your life
- Drowsy drivers die
- Droopy eyes? Fatigue kills
- Power nap now
- Power naps save lives
- Trouble concentrating? Power nap now
- Sore eyes? Power nap now
- Rest or RIP. Tired drivers die. (Outside Cairns)
- Only sleep cures fatigue
- Yawning? Take a powernap

We made it back to Melbourne in time to turn in the car. Then we relaxed and recovered in the apartment. In the evening, we headed out to dinner (Italian again..mmmm) and took the tram to the dock to meet the penguin tour we'd booked. When we got there, there was no one there. A different tour service said that they thought this group had repaired their main boat, and they were now leaving from the river. When we got there, they'd already left. We were pretty ticked off. After taking some time to settle our tempers (mostly Susan's), we walked the riverside and listened to a wonderful street musician before heading back to Lygon St for more gelato, then sleep.

Day 7:

We were up before dawn again for our three-day jaunt to Cairns. On the way to the airport, our cab was rear-ended in stopped traffic by a guy who wasn't paying attention. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard. But we exchanged contact information with the driver, just in case something unpleasant surfaced later.

Our hostel host picked us up at the airport and took us back to our room, which mercifully had a wall AC unit. Cairns is a tropical town, and it brings a new meaning to hot and humid. Our host then offered to drop us off at the local botanic gardens, since it would be a nice way to pass the afternoon. He explained to us how the bus system worked so that we could get back.

We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe in the gardens, then wandered around for a few hours. We were still struggling with fatigue from the last few days. The walk was filled with frequent, long stops to rest. After a few hours, we found the bus stop and headed back into town. We got off at a stop in the middle of town and walked along to see what we could see. A wholesale opal dealer caught our eye, and we ducked in, eventually deciding on a beautiful unadorned opal in our (limited) price range. Susan was giddy.

What you can not see well in the pictures below is a network of interlocking spiderwebs that fills a whole clearing. Guess you had to be there.


The road just twisted up and up. The first site was Ngamadjidj shelter. "Ngamadjidj's animated art panel of white-painted dancing, squatting and standing figures is completely different in colour and style from most other northern Gariwerd art sites. Aboriginal people, like many Asian cultures, associate the colour white with death and the spirit world. Ngamadjidj is pronounced Nama-dij and means 'white person' in Jardwadjali. In spring it's a short walk from the picnic ground through a blaze of wildflowers to the squat, dark sandstone outcrop sheltering the spirit dancers of Ngamadjidj."

Then we staked out our site in a sandy campground on the edge of the park and drove to the second aboriginal art site, Gulgurn Manja Shelter. There was a pleasant short hike to the site with some attractive vistas of their own. We made it there just as we were losing light.


"With over 190 motifs, consisting of emu and kangaroo tracks, hand prints and bar stokes, the Gulgurn manja shelter is the richest art site in the northern Gariwerd-Grampians ranges. Gulgurn manja has more red ochre hand prints than any other shelter in Gariwerd. All the 26 prints are of right hands, which holds true for most hand prints found in Aboriginal shelters across southeast Australia. All the handprints are small in size, as though they were children's hands."

Then back down to the car, and off to find dinner. As we headed out, we found some fields containing wild kangaroo and emu. These are just a few photographs we could manage, but they don't really capture the herds we saw when the light was poor. We really can't express how beautiful and graceful wild kangaroo are. They graze in herds at dusk and dawn. Their temperament is very much like wild deer, and their hopping gait is all about speed. Watching a skittish kangaroo bound away, then pause to listen, is reminiscent of the graceful parts of deer and rabbits. Of course, they're about as smart as deer are, and just as easy to hit with a car at night. We had several bound in front of our car, and we passed a roadkilled kangaroo as we were heading up to the aboriginal art sites. The kangaroo crossing signs aren't kidding.


We ate at a Chinese restaurant in town that Heather was familiar with, and really enjoyed it. Then, after dark, we made it back to camp. Terran took his first hand at driving on the left side of the road, and he only tried to right turn into the wrong lane once. Back at camp, we lay out under the stars, drank wine, and pointed out constellations with Terran's super-powered green laser pointer. Sleeping again did not go well. An adjoining campsite had a huge, raucous party until around 3am. Bad camping luck. Day 6: We were up at dawn to get the car back to the rental place in Melbourne by 11am. We got a lot more kangaroo watching in as we crept out of the park, but no pictures really came out. There are a bunch of kangaroos in the dawn field pictures that you can't see.

Terran and Susan each took turns driving, and we're pretty confident we can jump this hurdle if we need to drive an another left-hand city. In our sleep deprived and overstimulated state, we got punch drunk making fun of the road drowsiness warnings that we passed every couple of miles for the entire three-hour trip. You'd think these poor Australians were constantly nodding off and swerving all over the road. We kept a catalogue of slogans: - Droopy eyes? Power nap now - Rest & stay alive - A 15 min powernap could save your life - Drowsy drivers die - Droopy eyes? Fatigue kills - Power nap now - Power naps save lives - Trouble concentrating? Power nap now - Sore eyes? Power nap now - Rest or RIP. Tired drivers die. (Outside Cairns) - Only sleep cures fatigue - Yawning? Take a powernap

We made it back to Melbourne in time to turn in the car. Then we relaxed and recovered in the apartment. In the evening, we headed out to dinner (Italian again..mmmm) and took the tram to the dock to meet the penguin tour we'd booked. When we got there, there was no one there. A different tour service said that they thought this group had repaired their main boat, and they were now leaving from the river. When we got there, they'd already left. We were pretty ticked off. After taking some time to settle our tempers (mostly Susan's), we walked the riverside and listened to a wonderful street musician before heading back to Lygon St for more gelato, then sleep. Day 7: We were up before dawn again for our three-day jaunt to Cairns. On the way to the airport, our cab was rear-ended in stopped traffic by a guy who wasn't paying attention. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard. But we exchanged contact information with the driver, just in case something unpleasant surfaced later. Our hostel host picked us up at the airport and took us back to our room, which mercifully had a wall AC unit. Cairns is a tropical town, and it brings a new meaning to hot and humid. Our host then offered to drop us off at the local botanic gardens, since it would be a nice way to pass the afternoon. He explained to us how the bus system worked so that we could get back. We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe in the gardens, then wandered around for a few hours. We were still struggling with fatigue from the last few days. The walk was filled with frequent, long stops to rest. After a few hours, we found the bus stop and headed back into town. We got off at a stop in the middle of town and walked along to see what we could see. A wholesale opal dealer caught our eye, and we ducked in, eventually deciding on a beautiful unadorned opal in our (limited) price range. Susan was giddy. What you can not see well in the pictures below is a network of interlocking spiderwebs that fills a whole clearing. Guess you had to be there.