Our last days in Australia were spent in one of my favourite cities - Sydney, New South Wales. The weather was gorgeous. It was warm and sunny, and the sky was almost impossibly blue. We decided to begin the day by taking in a bird’s eye view of the city from Sydney Tower. Strangely, one can no longer simply purchase a ticket just to the observation deck, one must also take part in the OzTrek experience, “an amazing virtual reality ride across Australia”. The only amazing part of it was how terribly our culture was represented to foreigners. Firstly, we were seated in a rotating theatre that used holograms to bring to life four “iconic” scenes - the outback, the beach, the rain forest, and the city. Now, while I am a big fan of holograms, even that wasn’t quite enough to compensate for the superficial representation of our land. The indigenous Australians got nothing more than a passing mention.

The best was yet to come. We were herded into the next room for “the largest simulated ride in the southern hemisphere”. After we sat down on our seats, the lap bars lowered from above to lock us in. Three minutes into the show, Adrian nudged the lap bars up, activating the safety feature and the movie aborted. After ten minutes of fussing around, they began the movie again, but again three minutes in a German tourist accidentally activated the safety switch and aborted the film. While they were again resetting the system a the tourist pleaded just to be let out, and said that he really didn’t need to see the show a third time. However, his request was ignored, and for the third time we were told to “have a Captain Cook at this”. When the film neared its end, the audience cheered, though out of a sense of relief, rather than enjoyment. Finally, an hour after we entered the tower, we were able to actually go up to the viewing deck and look out upon Sydney. It was quite beautiful, and I was able to pose with the tallest working post box in the Southern Hemisphere. Everest base camp, Shanghai, and Toronto all claim to have the highest in the world - I will have to investigate this further.

In the afternoon, we caught the Manly Ferry across the spectacular harbour. The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House dazzled in the sunlight, and the water reflected the azure light of the sky. We enjoyed a coffee at Manly Beach before heading back to Circular Quay. We dined on the harbour, soaking up the final rays of the summer light. Luckily, my mother was able to join us for our last moments in Australia, before Adrian and I emigrate to Belgium. Then, it was time for us all to take our separate paths. John was able to tick off his sixth continent, and we farewelled him before he flew back to the icy winter of New York City. Then mum, in turn, waved us goodbye as we left the country of our birth to try our hand at living in Belgium, via a stop over in Dubai.

Even as I write this, I feel as if the screen is swaying in front of me. We spent three days living aboard the Reef Experience, out on the Great Berrier Reef. We did ten dives in 45 hours, spending hours submerged at least ten metres below the surface, exploring the reef. It was a phenomenal experience - like swimming in a large tropical fish tank. What a difference to the do-it-yourself dives on camping trips on the cold water of the south coast. This was luxury diving. Our BCs already assembled, all we had to do was shrug on our short wetsuits, weights and BCs, stride into the water, and we were good to go. It was the easiest diving I have ever done, and also some of the most beautiful. After 40 minutes of diving in 29 degree water, we simply dumped all our equipment on the deck, retired to the hot tub, and waited for our next meal to be served. At one stage we were even joined buy a pod of dolphins, leaping through the water as we looked down from the deck. First class service.

We swam with dozens of fish species, sea cucumbers, glowing coral, parrotfish pecking at the coral, giant clams, a feeding sea turtle, a lion fish, barracuda and black- and white-tipped reef sharks. I was cleaned by bluestreak cleaner wrasse, and when I wiggled my index finger at a curious large silver fish as we were descending, it tried to nibble it off.

We were also able to take two guided night dives. On our first we saw sleeping parrotfish, biomuminescence, and a sleeping turtle. The reef was completely different - very few small fish out, and on the second night dive, I found out why. We were jointed by a pack of giant travelli - large black fish stalking the smaller ones like a pack of wolves. They used our torches to spot their victims, and then moved in for the kill. I must have been responsible for dozens of tiny fish deaths that night. It was very sinister yet extraordinary - to be surrounded by complete blackness all but my tiny beam of light, under metres of ocean in the middle of the sea.

While in Cairns I had the opportunity to experience the Xtreme Illusions Show - Sam Powers and his assistant Holly with their classic yet spectacular illusions. Roses transforming into doves, women being sawn in half, and and men escaping from trunks. It was a great night, and the the couple were charming and entertaining. I loved it, even if both Adrian and John refused to accompany me.

Image from cairns.com.au

The next day we took a tour up into the world heritage listed Daintree rainforest and up to Cape Tribulation. Despite our clueless stoner tour guide, we saw some beautiful places. We saw a sleeping croc in the shade of the river bank, some large white-lipped tree frogs, walked through the mangroves, and along the beach where the trees meet the coral. We finished up the day with a walk above Mossman Gorge, and even saw a wild male and female cassowary, crossing the road as they walked through their rain forest.

Now I have visited every Australian capital city. We have just returned from a three day safari through Kakadu national park, starting in Darwin. I sat next to the driver, and he pointed out dozens of birds, monitors, and marsupials as we drive through the lush green land. I saw goose hawks, blue-winged kookaburras, brolgas, magpie geese, whistling kites, sulphur crested cockatoos, cattle egret, blue-faced honeyeaters and galahs.

My favourite animals were the agile wallabies that surrounded our campsite on the first night. Cute little creatures that looked at us with complete alertness, bounding off if we got too close. I even got to hold an orphaned joey who had been adopted by humans at the Didgeridoo Hut art shed. Some of the smallest creatures built the biggest nests - cathedral and magnetic termites building stark red towers over five meters tall, standing out against the bright green grass. We also saw short-eared rock wallabies, an owl, and sadly, cane toads everywhere, even throughout Kakadu.

We also got to experience the less friendly natives - crocodiles and dingos. We went on a jumping crocs cruise on the Adelaide River, where they drag huge chunks of meat through the water to encourage five-meter long crocs to jump out of the water next to our boat, and learn that tourist boats equal food. Not the smartest idea, but a terrifying and majestic sight to see a 240 million year old species lunge at prey. Like seeing a T Rex in action. Our last camp site was visited by dingoes, howling at each other throughout the night.

Our days in Kakadu were also filled with sweaty hot long bush walks through the outback, however they always ended with a delightful and refreshing swim in beneath a waterhole - a very iconic Australian experience. In one place, we were greeted with large illustrated “saltwater crocodiles swim here and will eat you” signs. Our guide insisted that it was just the government covering all bases, and the area was it was too high for the crocs. I was so over-heated that I trusted him and swam in the water, but now I can no longer mock those German tourists who get eaten in the Northern Territory after ignoring the signs.

We saw some amazing Aboriginal art sites ranging from 1 000 to 20 000 years old. Striking and beautiful symbols of the world’s longest continuous culture. Despite the government apologising for its genocide, the missionary spirit is still strong in the government’s handling of indigenous regions, as signs stating “no alcohol no pornography” were quite common throughout the region.

No alcohol, No pornography

Photo by onlineoffroadtours