Aussie rules the world-in my travel plans anyway!
I decided to come to Australia to escape the cold, dreary English winter, the rat race, sweaty tube, pale skin and to travel and experience life in the Southern Hemisphere to see what all the fuss is about living down-under. So many people do it these days, I’ve always wanted to go and at the ripe old age of 30 the young person?s visa time-bomb was ticking so thought it was now or never to have bonza time!
I read that there is a growing trend for lone female travellers in there 30’s and 40’s. Apparently more women then ever are taking the intrepid plunge and travelling where they want even if it means going solo. It has something to do with ‘Eat Love Pray’ syndrome. Cool I’m part of a growing trend or perhaps a walking cliché? I hope not. I will of course spice things up and endeavor to do some slightly unusual activities and trips. My first Aussie trip certainly lives up to that promise!
Total Eclipse of the Heat!
I was lucky enough to start of my antipodean adventure with one of the greatest natural phenomena’s on earth -a total solar eclipse. Not many travellers get to say that!
I was on the plane to Singapore reading the inflight magazine when an article caught my eye about a total solar eclipse that was due to take place on the 14th November in Australia. This seemed serendipitous, as I was already heading to Australia -after a pit stop in Singapore (which I will tell you about later)-and had always wanted to see an eclipse. At home they were guaranteed to be disappointing and obscured by a cluster if clouds. A sun-shaped light bulb went off in my head and I thought Eureka-I shall go to the Eclipse and have a ball! I anticipated being in company with geeks, freaks, NASA scientists, eclipse chasers and ravers! A friend put me in touch with her friend who also had the same plan. He emailed me a mysterious hand-drawn map of the Eclipse 2012 festival site and a flag. I was instructed to locate him by finding the flag. How very ‘Alex Garland’s The Beach’. It was basically in the outback, miles from civilization. I knew I had to go to this. I didn’t let the long list of potentially dangerous animals -on the festival website- completely put me off, although I must admit I gulped as I reeled off the list which included Fresh water Crocodiles-with razor sharp teeth, Feral pigs that eat anything-including humans, deadly snakes, spiders and scorpions. I can handle it though-it can’t be much worse than Camden town on a Saturday night!
An Epic Journey
Three days after landing in Sydney, I was on the first of three planes to Cairns -yes three! I got the cheapest ticket possible-alone and on my way to a weird and wonderful festival in a foreign, distant land. A highlight of the flight was flying over the azure Great Barrier Reef. After a night in a Cairns hostel -its the only way as a backpacker- I was on my way to Eclipse 2012. There was a lot of disorganization and the festival bus left three hours late. The organizers ran out of wristbands but I was reassured it would be fine for me to get access into the festival. I met lots of lovely people on the bus.
Three and a half hours and an arduous journey later we finally arrived at the festival site. It was dark, late and we all just wanted to get to our tents. The people at the entrance refused to let me in despite me showing them emails from the organisers. Of course if I were trying to steal entry I would have done it on the festival bus in the most obvious way possible! Half an hour later after much frustration, proof of emails from the organizers and a bus load of people waiting for me, the highly intelligent man on the door who was more power-trippy then hippy, decided to hand over
the wrist band on his own terms when he could have just done that in the first place-great start! Back on the bus, it was a bit of a drive through dark, rugged roads through forests. I really felt I was in the wilderness and was slightly apprehensive. This melted into delight when I saw the magical colorful village illuminated in the dark like multi-colored fire flies formulated into shapes. It looked spectacular and like no other festival I had been to. I was staying in one of the tipis in the already-set-up Red-Star village. I met my tent-mates Nikki originally from New Zealand who lived in Melbourne and Mel who lives on the Gold coast. They seemed nice. Things were looking up! We went out to get some food and ended up sat in a giant bird?s nest-as you do. Parts of the festival were still being constructed-this place had taken six months of labor to build. Someone asked me if I had been to many ‘doof’s’. ”Many what?’ I replied. Apparently these parties were called ‘doofs’ short for ?bush doofs?. How odd! So many Australians surrounded me that I found myself adopting the terminology and calling wellies ‘Gum boots” ?Goon?-wine in a bag and ?Esky? ?ice box. I draw the line at calling Ice-lolly an ‘Ice-block’ or Flip fops ‘Thongs’ though.
Roughing it
‘Eclipse 2012’ Festival. Planned over the last 5 years and internationally organized by the people behind Symbiosis (USA), Glade (UK) Rainbow Serpent (Melbourne) festivals. The festival was due to take place in one of the best spots to see a solar Eclipse at Palmer River three and a half hours north of Cairns, Queensland. The festival had main stages aptly named ‘Moon’, Sun’ ‘Earth’ ‘Sky’ and ‘Axis. Cosmic stuff.
The festive site was dry, dusty, barren and arid. They were quite tough conditions even by Aussie standards. For a slightly prim and proper Brit whose idea of roughing it is using a portaloo at Notting hill carnival, it was certainly a challenge. I got excited about the presence of showers before realizing they were freezing cold and cost $5 for five minutes. Once you pressed the button the showers would go off exactly 5 minutes later, whether you were a slow showered and still covered in suds or not! So I was basically paying for the privilege of using prison showers! There were many mornings that I would wake up covered in dirt from where I had washed at night and the dust had stuck to me creating a mucky layer. I felt more ‘Stig of the Dump’ than Stella McCartney. Perhaps feral fashion could catch on.
There was no mobile phone or internet access at the festival site, So I really felt cut off from society and civilization. This added to the appeal and made me really live in the moment. Before I got to the festival I made some new friends in Cairns as I walked to the shops to buy festival supplies. I asked a girl who was crossing the road beside me how her Poncho was working for her-as I wanted to buy one. It turned out that she was heading to the festival too in a kombi and kindly offered to
get me some alcohol -as I couldn?t carry anymore. I met her brother Ben and their friend Scotty who were a good laugh too. They had long dreads and Scotty had a massive beard and were very Aussie! I arranged to leave them a note on the rumored notice board. At the festival I checked if the board existed and sure enough there was a note from ?Poncho Anna?. Another girl had also made the same arrangement and told Anna to look out for her wearing a white feather headdress. I ended up spotting Hashka the mini native American Indian but didn?t find the others for another couple of days!
The opening ceremony was a tribute to the local indigenous tribes. They did a traditional dance that emulated animals and hunting for them and the crowds went wild. One of the tribal leaders in the area Alwyn did the opening speech. I had a good chat with him later that night and he told me about how he wanted to educate more people about indigenous cultures and improve relations whilst giving young aboriginals more opportunities and moving on from the past. One of his sons gave me a can of Bundaberg (Aussie rum) and he thanked me for coming over-winner!
