The world upside down

The first day of our trip is the JOURNEY itself which, on a Cathay Pacific plane, will last about 23 hours with a stopover in Hong Kong. The airport is huge and maybe it's also the tiredness, but seeing the boards with Chinese characters moved us greatly and made us understand that we are about to embark on an extraordinary journey.

We land in Sydney after a truly endless flight. The checks for passing through customs are truly inflexible; after the many messages and signs that constantly warn you to hand over anything that might interfere with this isolated planet, in front of the local authorities, you almost feel like confessing something you haven't done... they are very strict, but the protection of its habitat is what makes Australia unique, and if the results are those we later saw, this meticulousness is very welcome. After the checks, we go out to meet our "driver" who will take us into the city to the City Bay View, and a cool wind reminds us that spring is about to begin here and that they drive on the opposite side from us.

Luckily we have a guide because adapting in such a short time to completely different driving, and in the psycho-physical conditions one can have after a day of flying, would not have been easy at all. Something we later discovered to be very positive was having arrived in the evening, so as to absorb the jet lag better. We allow ourselves a very quick walk, without knowing it through the red-light district, and go to bed looking out the window at the opera house and the harbour bridge. It seems like a dream to find ourselves on the opposite side of the globe with this wonderful panorama, and from the dream we pass to sleep because the journey has been truly demanding, but we already have the feeling that it is truly worth it.

The jet lag came to visit us in the middle of the night, so we are ready in the hotel lobby at 7.00 to start the tour with an Italian-speaking guide. First stop Manly Beach and the Northern Beaches, where we begin to get used to the fact that in Australia you can even forget your wallet on the bar table: no one will take it! We watch in disbelief as the guide confirms this by finding her wallet where she had left it. The town of Manly is very bay watch style and is a continuous succession of surfers crossing the street with their board under their arm, heedless of the cold and the signs STRONG CURRENTS. We return to Sydney where by boat we tour the city's bay and see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from a spectacular perspective.

We continue wandering around the Opera House and it is incredible how here a house from 1814 where a former convict pardoned by the English government lived can be catalogued as a historic building... but after all, that is what the history of this young country, born as England's penal colony, is based on.

Today free Sydney. In complete autonomy, we begin visiting the city starting from the Royal Botanic Gardens. A sign sums up this country: please walk on the grass... the exact opposite of what you might read in an Italian park; mothers jogging while pushing their children's strollers... there is a sense of tranquillity and civility that is astounding. After passing a promontory, the view of the bay opens up before us. We pass into The Rocks neighbourhood and, wandering, enter the legendary pub Hero of Waterloo where it is said that an underground tunnel connected directly to the port: customers were made to drink excessively and found themselves the following day boarded on ships bound all over the world, full of debts. We decide to have lunch at the Sydney fish market where every kind of fish is cooked very fresh.. a real king's lunch.

Next stop the Sydney aquarium where we see thousands of fish, and with the tunnel that passes over the bottom of the tank it feels like being in contact with the sharks. From every corner of Sydney, the AMP Tower dominates the horizon: we decide to go up, and the special feature is that the bar on the second-to-last floor rotates, giving you the chance to sip a beer while looking at the 360° panorama of the city. Today we have covered a lot of ground but we allow ourselves a quick dash to the shopping centres Queen Victoria Building and The Strand (much more distinctive).

We have dinner in a pub below the hotel where a Trivial contest is taking place, where we hear two questions about our country: 1) the name of the prime minister (Berlusconi) 2) the equivalent of the Chinese underworld (Mafia) With a bit of bitterness we go to bed: it is sad to know what we are known for outside our country. But the question of why Berlusconi will be asked to us many times during our trip.

We wake up under a wonderful sun and so we opt to take an open-top bus that will take us to Bondi Beach. A wonderful holiday-town atmosphere, where we have our encounter with the Indian Ocean and the legendary Australian lifeguards. In fact we witness the rescue of a person at the mercy of the waves, which here are imposing and the sea seems almost to roar. On the way back we enjoy the profile of Sydney with wonderful panoramas and head to the Chinese quarter, where we wander without much interest because once you've seen one China Town, they are all the same. Unfortunately we find the Chinese Garden closed and continue wandering around Circular Quay until we reach the Opera House, where we go in with the help of a guide.

The structure, marvellous already from the outside, is equally so inside; certainly one of the symbols of Australia we will bring back will be this wonderful Opera that stretches towards the Australian sky and lights up with the reflections of its segments. Fabulous.

We leave Sydney very reluctantly and go to the airport to land, after a flight of only an hour, in Melbourne, the second city of Australia. We immediately understand that here the climate is much more capricious and we have our close encounter with Australian driving: a real trauma. The tension is incredible, but patiently we manage to reach our hotel unharmed and very happy to be able to leave the car and begin touring the city, which is in a frenzy for the Australian football final that is taking place. It is very strange to see people going wildly crazy for a sport we didn't even know existed, but although it is a very tough and physical sport, there is a lot of tranquillity among the fans who watch the match together on a big screen in Federation Square. The weather changes are so sudden that we find ourselves in a frightening downpour that gives us no escape.

For food Melbourne beats Sydney, especially for the widespread presence of Italian-style restaurants.

Wake up, as usual, very early because we don't want to waste time sleeping....so we head straight to the Queen Victoria Market where a riot of colours and smells captivates us. We do our shopping and head to Alexandra Park for a delicious picnic. Australians love living outdoors and never miss an opportunity to meet at the free barbecues scattered in the parks that everyone can use. Something unthinkable in Italy, where such a thing would be ruined by people's bad manners... Melbourne is a city full of wonderful parks, well kept and very well cared for, like the Royal Botanic Gardens where we even allow ourselves an Easter Monday-style nap on the grass: the atmosphere is very relaxed, and on this aspect I think we have a lot to learn from Australians.

Satisfied by the nap, we decide to go up the Eureka Tower from where you enjoy a beautiful view of the city, the station and the sports facilities where the Australian Open tennis tournament is held every year. For dinner we ask in English for a table for two and are answered in Roman dialect to choose whichever we like best, and we spend a splendid evening with some Italian guys who had the courage (or who had no better choice) to leave everything and be the emigrants of the new century. Unfortunately they will not be the only ones we meet......

Direction Great Ocean Road.....with a stopover in Ballarat. A truly lovely place where they have preserved a village famous in the days of the gold rush as it was in the early twentieth century. I get used to Australian driving, racking up mile after mile until we reach Apollo Bay. The Great Ocean Road is rightly described as one of the most suggestive and scenic roads in the world: every inlet is good for taking wonderful photos with the waves crashing on the coasts and the wind howling over the lighthouses that watch over the sea on the horizon....the Great Ocean Road enters your heart in a clear and overwhelming way; it is nature showing itself in its most impetuous and majestic aspect.

In the morning, departure heading to Conoowarra with an interlude planned at the 12 Apostles, one of the symbols of Australian trips. At Cape Otway we visit a lighthouse where the wind is unbearable and blows you away...we get a vague idea of what it meant to live in these conditions practically isolated from everything. On the way we arrive at the 12 Apostles, and it is something incredible, useless to add comments or observations, even with the weather not in perfect conditions. On the way we meet many koalas and it is a strange sensation to see these affectionate animals so closely and in the wild, also symbols of Australia. We then learn that their state of torpor is due to the fact that they feed on eucalyptus which has narcotic properties.

We arrive in the Conoowarra region and delight ourselves with excellent food (we taste kangaroo for the first time) but above all excellent wine. In fact the region is famous for the production of excellent quality wine, and having tested it, I can only confirm, nothing to envy to ours.

We proceed at a great pace with our approach to Kangaroo Island, stopping at Victor Harbour with a fun crossing of a river by means of a Mississippi-style paddle boat. The cold and the wind that blows reminds us that here we are at the beginning of spring. Victor Harbour doesn't leave us particular memories except for Granite Island, a small island that can be reached on foot or on a cart pulled by a horse. The fauna is wonderful and the views marvelous. For dinner, fish & chips is becoming a constant

Cape Jervis= boarding for Kangaroo Island. We arrive at our hotel facing the sea and witness a show where they feed some pelicans. Australia is giving us the chance to see wildlife that exists only here and it's incredible, we feel like children at the circus watching something exotic and astounding. In the evening we venture out, immersed in a freezing cold, on a guided walk, for a close encounter with some penguins....very moving!

We wake up to a beautiful sun that creates a thousand sparkles on the sea in front of our window. We venture into Flinders Chase National Park enclosed in "most lush" vegetation and then head to koala road, a road with eucalyptus trees (paid entry) whose branches are hugged by many koalas and the welcome is given by a cheerful family of kangaroos. Next stop at Cape Coud and Admiral Arc where a beautiful sea provides the backdrop to some seals blissfully sunbathing lying on the rocks and on the way back to the car, lo and behold, from the sea we see fins emerging and they are whales passing through this stretch of coast at this time of year: it was an incredible emotion and hard to forget.

In the afternoon we head to Sela Bay where with a guide we access a stretch of beach where a colony of sea lions blissfully rests and we can approach them with due caution and then to Little Sahara located in the centre of the island where some kids practise sand surfing on dunes of the whitest and most blinding sand. Kangaroo Island is truly incredible, it has left us with so many images that will remain indelible in our minds.

We continue our exploration of the island at Emu Bay, a beautiful beach slapped by the incessant waves of the ocean. The next step was to visit the Parndarna "farm", a place where animals are enclosed and easy to approach. Intrigued by the remarkable publicity present in every part of the island we decide to look for the Maron Café for lunch and after a not exactly easy road we arrive at this typical Australian house in the bush and have lunch with lobster and a superb wine. Thus we conclude our stay, in divine fashion, because at 17.30 we take the ferry that will take us back to the mainland (which is after all always an island). We arrive at Cape Jervis in the dark and driving to Adelaide wasn't relaxing, especially without a sat nav. But we are travellers and we can't be disheartened even though we thank heaven the moment we turn off the car in the car park of our hotel in Adelaide.

What seemed like a bad relationship in the making turns out to be an excellent surprise. In the morning with daylight (and above all on foot) we discover the city that in our opinion comes closest to the European type. Adelaide is a city on a human scale with lots of greenery and shops that close very early to allow people to enjoy life in the countless parks in the city. In a café we meet some Italian kids who have moved to Australia and have a pleasant chat that leaves us thinking a lot about the courage of packing up and going where there might be a better hope of life with more dignity (history repeats itself). On their advice in the afternoon we go to Glenelg, Adelaide's beach, a centre on the sea that you reach by tram! A beautiful place where we spend some lovely carefree hours.

Back in the city and a quick visit to the botanical garden and then we decide to have dinner in a restaurant that seems quite crowded (and therefore where one should eat well) and we taste the typical Australian grill with kangaroo, shark and crocodile that definitely leaves us satisfied

Up at dawn! A plane awaits us to leave at 08.40 bound for Darwin. As soon as we get off the plane we realise that humidity will mark these days we have carved out for the visit to Kakadu National Park and surroundings. Again due to the lack of a sat nav we have trouble steering ourselves onto the right path but we find a local gentleman who kindly practically accompanies us all the way to the entrance of the park and we find our hotel which consists of bungalows immersed in the forest and we immediately understand that we will have to socialise with strange animals and insects that might even knock on our door. Recovered from the suffocating heat that gives no respite we head towards Ubirr where we admire Aboriginal rock art.

We are left speechless thinking that even in the mists of time men had the need to pass on and tell stories to their fellow men and how they managed to do this even in such a remote place of whose existence no one knew until the 1800s. We struggle up a cliff from which one enjoys the view over a wonderful expanse and even though we risked it due to the effort it was truly worth it.

We wake up in the morning, after having slept with the air conditioning on with our thermometer reading 28°. The Darwin area is famous for very important Aboriginal rock art and therefore we visit Nourlange and afterwards we book an excursion for Yellow Water: here on boats they take us to a lagoon where we can see crocodiles crossing the river's course in front of our vessel and the guide urges us not to lean anything over the edge of the boat because the animals, curious about the glint of a camera, a bracelet...could jump up to see what it is. Only by actually seeing them did we realise the dangerousness of this animal, so lethal. We take refuge from the heat in our hotel and take a little dip in the pool and quietly, lo and behold, a kangaroo pops up and quite naturally approaches the poolside to the disbelief of the bathers.

Perhaps years from now, thinking back on Australia, I will surely think back on this scene. Among other things, for every evening we stayed in this hotel, we would find a frog standing guard over our room. One realises that those who live in Australia must necessarily be used to living with the nature that surrounds them and that would like to reclaim the land it has ceded....but only on loan.

We wake up and head in the direction of Katherine where the somatic features that prevail in the streets are those of the Aboriginal people. After a quick tour of the city we realise that there isn't much to see and therefore in the afternoon we book an excursion on the Katherine Gorge between red canyons and beaches inhabited by crocodiles. It was worth it, it was very relaxing, after so many kilometres driven, to be transported in complete tranquillity.

Before boarding a plane bound for Alice Springs we stop for a few hours, just enough time to have lunch in Darwin. The hitch, which up to here with a lot of luck had not shown up, knocks on the door of our trip: after various flight postponements with about a three-hour delay we leave bound for the red heart of Australia at one of the symbolic places of this continent. Unfortunately though it's night and so to admire the red landscape around us we have to wait for the morning and meanwhile we settle into our hotel right in the centre.

in the morning equipped with an off-road vehicle that suits these "asphalts" well we set off to reach King's Canyon. Our crossing was supposed to feature a good stretch of dirt road to be driven in such a way as to shorten but above all liven up the journey. Arriving at the access of the road a sign indicates that the road is closed due to the heavy rains of the previous days that have in fact flooded the road. So we are forced to make a small detour of over 200 km to arrive at our destination, after all in Australia distances are relative: one closed road is enough to force you to take the only alternative with an extra 200 km! We arrive at a spectacular hotel very close to King's Canyon and here rocks of an enveloping red surround us incessantly. We climb to the top of the canyon and I feel like a Marlboro man complete with the typical Australian cowboy hat.

Simply wonderful is the view of this expanse of red rocks beneath and around us.

The view from our bungalow holds us back for a few more minutes after which we set off in the direction of Uluru. As we get closer we see the outline of the rock sacred to the Aboriginal people standing out between the blue sky and the red earth: it seems a wonderful mirage, it seems that in this immense flat expanse someone has thrown it there to make the landscape less monotonous. Once beneath it we decide to walk the entire perimeter of Ayer's Rock in almost three hours because at every corner we snap away with photos and we find ourselves in agreement with the ban on letting tourists climb the mountain: when one is a tourist one is first of all a guest and in someone else's home one must be respectful of the people and their way of living. For the evening we have a real gem: Sounds of Silence, a dinner in the desert at the foot of Uluru. Simply incredible! There are no words.

A wonderful experience to attend the spectacle of the sunset over the desert and the night of the Australian sky that overwhelms you with its beauty. Absolutely worth trying, an experience that gives you goosebumps.

Still dazed from the lovely evening, we can't manage to get up to see the sunrise over Uluru (and perhaps it will remain our biggest regret) and we head to the Olgas, another particular rock formation of the Red Centre. One can take a walk among the gorges of these mountains and it practically feels like having landed on Mars: red, red and more red all around. It's time to leave the Red Centre reluctantly and take the plane to Cairns where we arrive welcomed by a tropical climate. Our hotel is a bit out of the way but we have a wonderful beach in front of our balcony with a sign urging us to be careful in the sea of jellyfish and crocodiles!!!!

In the morning a guided trip awaits us in a minivan like a jeep that will take us all the way to Cape Tribulation. The first stop includes a boat trip on a river where we again see crocodiles "crossing" in front of us or lying blissfully on tree trunks. We are then taken to a viewpoint overlooking the immense tropical forest so dense and lush that presents itself before us. Then on to a sort of shelter for kangaroos in the forest where we have a divine lunch of meat and freshly picked tropical fruit. A swim in the forest but only after two hours have passed. A tremendous downpour hits us as we descend onto the beach of Cape Tribulation, a strip of sand that emerges from the green in an unexpected way. After a stop at a farm to get a delicious ice cream, we end our intense day in contact with another habitat of the Australian land among forests, crocodiles and exotic fruit.

Green Island and the coral reef. We spend the whole day swimming and strolling on the very white beach from which we spot turtles peeking out on the water's surface and tropical fish of an embarrassingly beautiful array of colours. A pleasant day; the close encounter with the coral reef was thrilling, the kind of thing that, if seen sitting comfortably on a sofa, makes you think it would be nice... and indeed it was wonderful.

A day devoted to shopping in the centre of Cairns. The city is definitely pleasant and quiet, and since we're nearing the end of our TRIP, we stock up on souvenirs to bring home to friends and relatives.

The result of the previous day's shopping is that we have to buy a new piece of luggage. While wandering around the city, we have a delicious muffin for breakfast, and encouraged by the public pool open on the Cairns waterfront, we go back to the hotel and take another swim overlooking the sea. This will be our last memory of Australia! Not bad at all.....