Closing the circle

And well, everything comes to an end eventually and unfortunately our trip is no exception to that – 22nd October we bordered the Spirit of Tasmania and so began the last leg of the journey. At home we got a warm welcome in form of broken toilet, dead rat in the kitchen and one happy terrier.

To wrap it up:

166 days and 24,494 kilometres – we drove, walked, kayaked, snorkelled, cycled, waded in water, scrambled over rocks and rode on a camel and quite frankly had a blast.

And for those of you who were ever wondering what 166 days without shaving or cutting you hair can do, here is the answer:

Australia is huge country where you can have it all – beaches, rainforest, deserts, mountains, you name it. We should not take it for granted though – this home to an amazing population of plants and animals is fragile and slowly loosing it’s battle and if we don’t look after it, some places will live only in photos and memories as soon as in 20 years. And as I just went there and saw it I can honestly tell you it would be a great shame.

Thank you all who read our blog and followed our journey and special thanks to Becky for posting comments and so making us feel like someone does read it.

And of course the biggest thanks goes to our beloved Betty, who took us anywhere we wanted to go

Despite any obstacles

 

And was not just our car, but our home

 

Kruh se uzavira

No a vsechno jednou konci a bohuzel ani nase cestovani neni vyjimkou a tak 22. rijna jsme se nalodili na trajekt, ktery nas vzal zpatky na Tasmanii, cimz jsme uspesne uzavreli pomyslny kruh po Asutralii. Doma nas cekalo prijemne privitani v podobe rozbiteho zachodu, mrtve krysy v kuchyni a jednoho velmi statsneho teriera.

Takze male shrnuti:

166 dni a 24,494 kilometru – jeli jsme autem, chodili pesky, jeli na kajaku a na kolech, brodili se vodu a skrabali se pres sutry, svezli se na velbloudu, snorchlovali a zkratka si desne uzivali.

Pokud jste nekdy premysleli o tom, co s chlapem udela 166 dni bez holeni a strihani vlasu, zde je odpoved:

Australie je obrovska zeme, kde maji vsechno – plaze, destne pralesy, pouste, hory, cokoliv. Nicmene bysme si toho meli zacit vazit – tento domov tisicum rostlin a zvirat pomalu prohrava svou bitvu a nektera mista budou behem dvaceti let jen na fotkach a ve vzpominkach stastlivcu, kteri tam stihli zavitat. A jako jedna z nich vam muzu rict, ze to by byla skoda.

Dekujeme vsem ctenarum, kteri cetli nas blog a tim s nami sdileli nase cesty. Obzvlast dekujeme Becky, ktera svedomite nechavala kometare a tim nam davala pocit, ze to nekdo cte.

A samozrejme nase nejvetsi diky patri nasi milovane Betty, ktera nas vzala kamkoliv jsme si usmysleli,

pres jakekoliv prekazky,

 

a byla nam nejen autem, ale i domovem.

 

Wilsons Promontory

The last couple of days we spent camping in Wilsons Promontory National Park. Even though you can still see the result of last years bushfires, the area is recovering at amazing rate. At the time of our visit lots of wild flowers were in the bloom so some slopes were full of colour and just beautiful. There are number of great bushwalking tracks and absolutely stunning scenery which made it a wonderful last stop of the trip. We got a bit of a scare one night though – we were falling asleep when the van started rocking and we heard a weird sound. I poked my head out to see what’s going on and there was the answer – a wombat was scratching his back on our car.

Poslednich par dni jsme stravili v narodnim parku Wilsons Promontory. Loni byla tato oblast postizena pozary, ktere znicily znacnou cast Viktorie. Skoda je zde sice stale patrna, nicmene jsme byli celkem paf z toho, jak se priroda dokaze regenerovat. Mista, kde byl loni jen popel, se nyni zelenaji. V parku je mnozstvi turistickych tras, takze jsme se tam nenudili. Jednu noc jsme se ale trochu podesili – akorat jsme usinali, kdyz se nase auto zacalo houpat a zvenku se ozyvaly podivne zvuky. Vystrcila jsem hlavu ze dveri a hele – vombat si o nase auto skrabal zada.

Canberra

Canberra welcomed us with another downpour so we spent the day inside the War Memorial and the Film Archives and caught up with Brent for lunch. As the forecast for the next couple of weeks was rather pessimistic and as it turned out the Alpine National Park was still snowed in and inaccessible we moved the day of departure a week forward to the 22nd and will spend the rest on the Victorian coast. Poor Betty showed no remorse on leaving the hilly inland country and swapping it for a lot flatter coast.

V Canberre pro zmenu lilo jak z konve, tak jsme den stravili v Muzeu a pamatniku valecnych konfliktu a ve Filmovem archivu. Predpoved neslibuje zadne zlepseni a jak se ukazalo, nase dalsi planovana destinace, nebo-li Alpsky narodni park, je stale pod snehem s velmi nevlidnym pocasim. Rozhodli jsme se proto zmenit plan, zamluvili lod domu na dalsi tyden a zamirili zpatky k pobrezi. Betty se nezda vubec litovat, ze jsme opustili hornate vnitrozemi a jsme zpatky na plochem pobrezi.

War Memorial and Museum / Valecny pamatnik a muzeum

Priscilla! / Kostymy z popularniho australskeho muzikalu “Priscilla, kralovna pouste”

    

Giant sheep / Obrovska ovce

Very detailed even from behind / Velmi detailni i zezadu

Blue Mountains

…are awesome. They really are. Beautiful, peaceful a huge. One day in Katoomba and then couple of stops on the way out towards Jenolan Caves and we were both in love with this place. It is so massive! We did the walk in Katoomba that includes the Giant Stairwell and wow – they are giant. Towards the end I was more or less on my all four and at the top people kept pointing at my red face and wheezing breathing and whisper to each other.

Blue Mountains jsou prekrasne hory kousek od Sydney. Je to obrovsky narodni park s krasnymi vyhledy na vsechny strany. Stravili jsme den v Katoombe, kde jsme sli stezku spojujici hlavni atrakce, mimo i jine i “Obri schodiste”. To dela cest svemu jmenu, ke konci jsme byla vicemene na vsech ctyrech a na vrcholu si turisti ukazovali na muj rudy ksicht.

Stairs / Schody

And more stairs / A zase schody

 

And even more stairs / A zase schody

 

And finally on top / A konecne na vrcholu

 

Sydney

Sydney was only a short stop as originally we were not going to venture in with our ancient van, completely unsuitable for city driving. But our video camera is broken and apparently the only place it can be fixed is in Sydney. So after a couple of hours circling around North Ryde alternating between staring into the map, checking the GPS and yelling at each other we finally found a campsite. The camera wasn’t much success though. As it is nothing serious we thought we will drop it off and pick it up the next day but apparently it takes about 2-3 weeks for someone to look at it. If anyone owns a Canon camera, do pray that it won’t break as their repair service was dismal at best. In the end the guy suggested to just sticky tape it for the time being and fix it later. Well seeing that just few minutes he mentioned that even a microscopic bit of dirt can dismiss your warranty claims I am not sure how they would look at sticky tape around the lens. In the evening we caught up with our dear Rohan and made him listen to our stories for the whole evening. The next morning we were off to Blue Mountains.

Sydney byla jen kratka zastavka. Puvodne jsme ji planovali vynechat, nebot nase staricke auticko neni idealne na jizdu po meste, nicmene se nam porouchala videokamera a udajne jediny misto, kde ji muzou spravit, je Sydney. Tudiz po nekolika hodinach krouzeni po okrajovych ctvrtich, lustenim map, ziranim na GPSku a hlasite vymene nazoru jsme konecne dorazili do kempu. Bohuzel v opravne jsme moc nepochodili. Vzhledem k tomu, ze to neni vazna zavada, jsme predpokladali, ze si kameru vyzvednem nejpozdeji dalsi den. Udajne to trva 2-3 tydny nez se k tomu nekdo dostane. Chlapik u prepazky nam nakonec poradil, ze to muzem prelepit izolepou a spravit pozdeji. Coz nam navrhl par minut pote, co nas varoval, ze i mikroskopicke zrnicko pisku nam muze zrusit zaruku. Nevim, jak by vzali cocku polepenou izolepou. Vecer jsme stravili s kamaradem a dalsi den vyrazili smerem Blue Mountains.

New England

Unfortunately the persistent rain followed us around. We tried to escape it by going inland and succeeded for a day but then it found us again. So after about 10 days of more or less constant rain we rented a cabin. For the first time in 5 months we gave in to other accommodation than our van or friends’ houses. Inside we cranked up  the heater and spread our stuff all over the cabin to dry. The positive side of all this rain we discovered the next day. We were on a tourist drive called “The Waterfall Way” and after the rain it was really impressive. The waterfalls were huge roaring cascades of water, really stunning. However after one nice day the rain was back so we went straight to Sydney as the forecast didn’t promise any improvements.

Bohuzel neustaly dest nas pronasledoval kam jsme se hnuli. Pokusili jsme se tomu uniknout a zamirili do vnitrozemi, ale naslo nas to i tam. Takze po 5ti mesicich, kdy jsme bydleli pouze v auticku a po gaucich znamych a pribuznych, jsme si na noc zaplatili chatu. Okamzite jsme se zabydleli – topeni jsme nastartovali naplno a po cele chate rozprostreli nase morkry veci. Nicmene toto obdobi nonstop monzumu melo i sve vyhody. Pres oblast New England vede takzvana “Cesta pres vodopady” a po techto destich to stalo za to. Bohuzel po jednom slunecnem dni se opet zatahlo a deste zacaly nanovo,. Vzhledem k tomu, ze predpoved neslibovala zadne zlepseni, zamirili jsme do Sydney.

Byron Bay

The rain paused for a brief moment so we can take a walk around Byron Bay, After that we took the pilgrimage to Nimbin. And yes, it’s hippie, full of colour and you can buy weed on every corner.

Dest se na chvili pozastavil, takze jsme meli sanci se projit po Byron Bay. Byron Bay je plazove mestecko, zname jako zastavka pro surfare a mlade cestovatele. Je to velice pohodova osada se spoustou hudby a malych obchudku. Odtamtud jsme se vypravili ne pout do Nimbin, co je hippiesacka osada znama po cele Australii. Zde stale prevlada nalada 60. let, vsude spousta barev a travu lze koupit na kazdem rohu.

Gold Coast

..and it’s amusement parks. Because that’s what we came for. Unfortunately the rain is still with us. Even though we still had good time. We got an unlimited entry pass for Wet’n’Wild, Movie World and Sea World. All three are pretty awesome. In Wet’n’Wild we discovered that slides have come a long way since our childhood and quite few of them had us screaming. Except for one. they have this one called the Loop and that one left us just shaken and terrified. They lock you inside a tube a and after a 10 meters of free fall you slide into a loop where you actually go upside down. On a slide. Upside down. Yeah, that was past funny.

Movie World is good fun too, we got the photo with Batman, I scared myself to death on the Lethal Weapon Ride and we screamed our lungs on a Scooby-Doo ride.

While we were in Sea World it was pouring rain, absolutely bucketing down, but all the shows were still on and we loved them all. I added rays on the list of animals I have fed and we did more screaming on the Sea Viper Ride. So all in all despite the crappy weather we had great time.

Gold Coast je slavne pro sve zabavni parky. My jsme navstivili tri: Wet’n’Wild (vodni park se spoustou skluzavek), Movie World ( inspirovan filmovymi trhaky od Warner Brothers) a Sea World (o vsem co zije ve slane vode). Pocasi

Musim uznat, ze skluzavky nejsou co pamatuju. Na vetsine jsme rvali desem a z jedne jsme vylezli zcela traumatizovani. Jmenovala se Loop (Kolo) a jsou to ctyri trubky. Do kazde zavrou jednoho nestastlivce. Pod nim se otevre pokolop a pak leti asi 10 metru vicemene volnym padem. Tim nabere rychlost dostatecnou na zatacku, ktera je zvednuta, tudiz ony nestastnik jede chvili vzhuru nohama. na skluzavce vzhuru nohama. A ta rychlost je fakt silena. Znova uz jsme nesli.

V Movie Worldu jsem se sama vypravila na lethal Weaponn. Gordie si netroufnul, ale ja delala machra. Je to horska draha a celkem maso. Kdyz to konecne zastavilo, nesel mi odepnout bezpesnoti pas. Zacla jsem dost panikarit, nebot jsem se desila, ze se z toho vcas nedostanu a budu muset jet znova. A to uz bych asi psychicky neunesla.

V Sea Worldu nam sice pekne lilo, ale vsechna predstaveni se i tak konala. Nakrmila jsem nekolik ryb a vyrvali jsme si plice na dalsi horske draze. Takze ackoliv pocasi teda nic moc, hezky jsme si uzili.

 

The scary loop / Ta desiva skluzka

Predstaveni, ve kterem mimo jine hraji tuleni / Show with sea lions as one of the main stars

And the amazing dolphin show / A zcela uzasna show s delfiny