I
must admit that I did not keep my promise and did not take a picture of the
Equator (you know, the thick, red line in the water). We have crossed it
sometime at night, so it would have been a hell of apiculture anyway. Instead I
woke up hanging in my seat belt lying across three seats. Soon thereafter we
disembarked from the airplane and joined in the zoo of the Sydney international
terminal: short of Chicago, this was the most impressive mess I have seen in a
long time. Four 747s have arrived at the same time, and so we waited. The
customs officer was very eager to inspect all of my luggage up to the last
corner, more so than any Swiss inspector ever before. Minutes later I was
greeted by the young woman at the car rental booth - she could have been Andrea
from 90210, except for the language and probably the salary. The whole language
thing is truly amazing: the air crew spoke perfect Queen's English, so do the
people on the radio. Then you join the public and things change drastically. I
probably never asked that often for a repeat like today. And that after
mastering Scotland last summer, or Swiss-German for that matter.
The
car rental place held two big surprises ready for me: first, my AmEx credit card
didn't go through, so no frequent flyer mileage here. I guess I need to kick
someone's butt once I come back. The second surprise was the car itself: they
didn't have any car in the category which I reserved, nor in the next higher
one. So I got the keys to this "larger car" which supposedly holds 5
large suitcases (define large): a Ford Falcon, something without a US or
European equivalent, thank god. The really important part is the 4.0 liter
Inline-6 engine. Who shall feed this monster? Ok, 375Nm is great torque, but the
most I ever had before was 280, and that was plenty. All I could do is to set
the transmission to "economy" mode and hope my best. I would trade
half the engine for ABS and cruise control anytime.
At
7am, I headed straight west from Sydney, after buying some basic supplies like a
25 liter water tank or a plastic tarp. This way I could spend the whole day in
the Blue Mountains; it still remains a mystery why they are called blue and not
green or yellow if you desperately need a different color. Either way, I picked
some of my basic gear out of the giant backpack and went onto a major hike. Stan
is famous for always being extremely well prepared when hiking, hauling ten
times as much gear as necessary, but still forgetting something so essential
that even the most random person (hi both Rebeccas!) would not forget. This was
one of the reasons for the big photo backpack - it's all in one, you just can't
forget anything. But this time I chose to forget water. After hiking for hours
up and down (mostly up) steep slopes, you may imagine how happily I paid $2 for
a can of soda (and filled up all my water bottles).
Which
brings me back to something else: this place is freakin' expensive - at least by
US standards. You go into a supermarket and come empty-handed out again, having
paid $40. Not to mention the usual gas station fiasco. Seems that I will get my
frequent flyer mileage after all. This may be the reason why the people are so
thin here - or better, so much less overweight than in the US.
Since
the Blue Mountains were not my primary target (ok, what was?) I said goodbye in
the very late afternoon and headed even more west. The traffic signs of the day
would be the two directional arrows saying "Correctional Centre" and
"Sunny Corner", both pointing the same way. I enjoyed what probably
was the fastest if not the most impressive sunset of my life; here, the sun is
right above your head one minute, and seconds later it's beyond the horizon.
Something to get used to if you want to take pictures, as I guess that's what
happens when you are so close to the Equator... Either way, the sheep farmer on
whose farm I was parked warmly welcomed me to Australia, and so did these
bizarre birds in the trees. I don't think it's the Kookaburras, but it sure
sounded like someone laughing hysterically.