Thursday, May 28, 2009

Not much about Adelaide either...

...except its beautiful early in the morning and has a novel way to avoid to swine flu!
Another similarity strikes, as the central market looks a lot like the one in LA.
Now I've covered the early May backlog, I can move on to the next trip, which will take in LAX, a quick stopover in Austin, Texas, Edinburgh, Malta and various other parts of the UK. Departing Auckland Thursday 28th May 2009 on NZ6. Watch this space!

Not much to say about Kalgoorlie

Its dark and late at night. The streets are wide and empty, as they are in so many Australian and American country towns. Kalgoorlie seems almost a contemporary and someways an equivalent of Marfa, the small town in West Texas that featured in a May / June 2008 post on this blog, (see side bar for details) as well as other, more notable channels. Marfa didn't have gold, Kalgoorlie has no major art gallery, therein lie the only obvious differences.
The only visible life forms in Kalgoorlie at 10pm on a Wednesday evening were a small kiosk selling soft drinks and toothpaste at the station and the pub. Three of those in fact, though two were seriously quiet.

Signs, statues and a museum too dark to photograph were the only other defining features.
I came away with the impression of a cold and lonely place in the winter. The thrill of gold already discovered, I wonder what is left to keep such a dry and distant place alive. The appeal escapes me.

Crossing the Nullarbor

The Indian Pacific Railway is so called because its route draws a wavy line from one ocean to the other across 4300km of southern Australia.

My starting point is East Perth station, destination Adelaide. I covered the final leg of this trip to Sydney late last year after taking the Ghan up through the red centre to Alice Springs and Darwin. My plan from Adelaide this time is to head south to Melbourne and jump a 767 back across the Tasman Sea to Auckland.

Another incredible journey takes off through spacious suburbs and gently rolling hills, vineyards, grass palms, an occasional pine and gum trees everywhere – of course.

Gum trees are amazing, and there are hundreds of different kinds. One species that stands out here is dropping a scruffy skin of gray shredded bark to reveal an exquisitely smooth, deep mahogany red coloured trunk underneath.
The landscape is all looking a little brown after a long hot summer and before the winter rains. Splashes of green and hot pink bougainvillea mark out single storey sand coloured houses. It’s impossible to describe so many shades of green and brown in the surrounding bush without actually seeing them pass in front of a watchful eye.

It’s a long way and a leisurely pace to the Pacific Ocean. One crow, six sheep and ten cows are the only living things that punctuate the first three hours of a vast and passive landscape. I clock up twenty-one hours before spotting kangaroos – could be wallabies, too far away to tell. They are pretty tall jumpers though, so probably roos.
It's quieter still towards the far edge of the wheat belt and a 5.45pm sunset at the start of the Nullarbor plains. Nothing to see until morning now, except on late night walkabout at a stop in Kalgoorlie, gold capital of the nation.
I know now what Larry McMurtry means when he talks about big skies and far distant horizons on his trips across the US in Roads.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Perth WA

Perth is, by reputation, the most remote city in the world. While it doubtless has some close competitors for that title, it is definitely in the running. It’s seven hours plus from Auckland, four from Sydney and parts of Indonesia may be closer on any fast moving jet airliner. It’s beautiful as most Australian cities, draped along the banks of a clean wide river and just a few stones throw from the ocean.
I spent one balmy summer evening at the coast watching the sun sink into the ocean with a group of Easter seaboard Australians who always see it rise but never see it sink below the watery horizon. Not something I’d thought about before! Must have been a spectacular discovery for the early Dutch explorer who is said to have 'found' it, though I suspect some Aboriginals had been around for the previous 40,000 years or so.



Early May is a comfortable time to be here. The temperature has dropped to a bearable 27C during the day. Mornings are clear and fresh. Its not dry brown dust bowl, nor is it raining every day as it will in another month or so. The riverside is a hive of activity in the early mornings, rowing teams, runners, walkers and cyclists move at their own speed and direction.

The city has grown in the past few years, and is still moving.This is true of most cities in the region including Auckland.
The colour of business seems to be black.

Where the people and the funding come from is anybody’s guess, but not mine. I just watch what happens around me, like the sun climbing over the business district to reach the river later every year as the skyline rises as if to meet it. Then decide, where better to try my luck with a bit of good Australian culture in a glass after a hard day conferencing?