An Australian History Lesson - Part I

Monday 6 November

You don’t really appreciate just how great it is to be able to lie in till 07.30, until you wake before the alarm goes off. We had our cases outside the door in plenty of time and a leisurely breakfast, before assembling at the coach for a 09.30 departure. We were a little late in leaving, as the number of bags and cases is now nearly seventy, and these have to be stowed in the hold of the coach fairly systematically so that they all fit in.

Today we were driving to Kings Canyon, another large rocky outcrop in the middle of the outback, which would take about 3 ½ hours to reach. Once we were settled on board, Ruben gave us Part One of a potted history of Australia.

Australia is the largest island in the world and the smallest continent, about 6.68 million sq kms. There are six states (including Tasmania), Western Australia being the largest, and two territories, Northern Territory, which we were now traveling through, and Australia Capital Territory, otherwise known as Canberra. It has a population of 21 million people, 85% of whom live round the coast of the continent of which 70% live in a belt between Brisbane and Sydney.

It has been established that about 900 million years ago, Australia wasl part the one continent of the world. About 600 million years ago a large chunk of the land broke away, including Antarctica, Australia, India and parts of South East Asia and it wasn’t until about 45 million years ago, that Australia separated and became an island in its own right. At this time much of the land was covered by tropical rain forest, and in the Daintree Rain Forest, north of Cairns, some of the oldest remains of rain forest have been found. Today 60 % of Australia is used for pasture, while 30% is desert – which means that there is an annual rainfall below 120mm. Much of the pastureland is under Perpetual Pastoral Lease, whereby tracts of land are leased for long periods, such as 99 years, and these leases can be renewed when they come to an end. But it also safeguards against the land being owned by one magnate. Many of the cattle stations cover several thousand acres, the largest of which is Anna Creek, which is the same size as Belgium. Physically the most of the continent is flat, with just a few mountain ranges, such as the McDonnell Ranges in the centre, the Flinders Range in the south and of course the Great Dividing Range running down the whole of the east coast. Mount Kosciusko is the highest point at 2,228 metres (a little over 7000 feet) in south east Victoria.

It is known that aborigines lived here as far back as 40,000 years ago and it is thought that people came from Java and China earlier than that. By the time the Europeans arrived in the 15th century there were over 398 nation groups living on this island. The Portuguese were amongst the first Europeans to arrive here, as traders looking for spices and precious metals and stones. In fact, both the Spanish and Portuguese were trying to lay claim to far flung places in the world so early in the 1500s the Pope divided the world between the two nations and, in fact, under this agreement, Australia belonged to Spain. The Dutch were also regular visitors to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the far north and the west coast (known as New Holland). It wasn’t until 1609 that the Roaring Forties were discovered, as Portuguese traders sailed straight across from the Cape of Good Hope, and found a faster route to Java. Sea captains had to guess when to turn north, and one, Dirk Hartog, overshot the turning and found Western Australia.

The English still didn’t have any bases in “Terra Australis Incognito” or Unknown Southern Land, and in trying to pre-empt the French expansion they agreed to a “scientific voyage to watch the Venus eclipse” in 1768, (this eclipse happens every eight years), and they put Lieutenant James Cook in charge of the voyage – he was the only person who could navigate, undertake the scientific observations and assess sightings for possible bases. In fact he did the scientific observations in Tahiti, before sailing on to find Botany Bay. After a short stay he headed north, mapping the coast as he went. He met the aborigines and found the Great Barrier Reef. There are 2,800 reef systems, and miraculously he did not crash his boat until just north of Cairns. He then managed to navigate into Endeavour River (he named the river after his ship) for repairs. He had an altercation with the aborigines over the capture of turtles and in a fire, many of his pigs escaped – some people blame the current pig problem on James Cook, but in all probably they had come from Asia. He continued sailing north to the Cape York peninsula, where he landed and proclaimed the East coast, now to be called New South Wales, for the Empire, before sailing back to England. He lost about 30% of his original crew to malaria whilst in Australia, and 70% of his crew by the time he reached England. Part two of the history lesson is tomorrow!

Meanwhile we were still traveling on and passing Mount Connor again, (first seen on our way to Ayers Rock) which today, with a few white streaks of clouds floating above it, looked like a toothbrush and toothpaste from a distance. We stopped for photographs, but the sand was so hot, that even those with trainers on could feel the heat through the bottom of their shoes. Mount Connor is the largest of the table-top mesas, measuring 24 kms long and 340 metres high. It looks rectangular in shape, but in fact, when you get close up, it is horseshoe shaped. It was named after Emile Connor who was a sponsor of William Goss who discovered it. It is composed of very different materials to Ayers Rock and the Olgas, and contains many minerals which flicker when the temperatures drop to -5 or -10 in winter (apparently it does get that cold here occasionally). The top section (that looks frilled from a distance) is made of harder, more resistant elements than the base, which it protects and thus it stayed in shape.

We made one more short stop on the way, at yet another “truckers diner”, this one having an aviary and guinea pig cages to wander around – there were lots of budgies (mainly green and yellow with blue tails) and parrots (including one cockatoo who said “hello” to everyone), but the guinea pig was nowhere to be seen, probably under cover as the temperatures were starting to soar by this time. We drove on a further two hours to the Kings Canyon Resort (we watched an Australian film about the tracking of the Apollo moon landing on the way), in time to for some people to take further helicopter rides, while the rest of us munched lunch. It was extremely hot by this time – around 48 degrees C! – and the tarmac around the Reception and Café area was melting. In the itinerary there was a choice of “treks” this afternoon, - a short one, just a couple of kilometers up the river bed of the Canyon, or a much harder “trek” of around 6 kms, where you had to climb about 400 steps, straight up the side of the Canyon at the start, and then walk around the rim. A dozen or so people opted for this longer walk, but the temperatures were still rising and it was extremely hot – and going uphill is not me - so we did the shorter walk, and were glad to get back to the air-conditioned coach after just over an hour (a temperature gauge had a reading of 50 degrees C, as we trekked past). And we consumed a couple of litres of water in the time we were out.

Kings Canyon was formed about 450 million years ago, and is composed of sandstone, with shale in between. The layering cracked both vertically and horizontally, producing an effect like “a hedgehog mango”! The biggest ‘crack’ is Kings Canyon, the lower sections of which are made of softer rock which was eroded more quickly than the upper layers by the rainwater tumbling into the canyon,. This resulted in the top section falling down, often in huge boulders weighing more than 100 tonnes. The actual “canyon” walk was very similar to yesterday’s in the Olgas, and ended in another viewing platform, where you could see the rockfall that prevented people walking any further and the surrounding rim.

There are over 600 species of plants and trees in this area, many of which survive in the “Garden of Eden” which is encountered if you take the “rim trek” – this is the largest variety of flora for an arid zone. Parts of the canyon are sacred sites, with paintings, but a special aboriginal guide has to be found to take visitors to see them.

The coach took us back to the resort, where our rooms were now ready (they have a major problem with getting staff here, so the rooms are often not cleaned until dinner time). From the outside, these look a bit like a long row of terraced garden sheds – not very inviting at all (is this going to be another Thailand lodge?). On opening the door, we found a well equipped room, with comfy bed and kitted out bathroom, television, fridge, tea and coffee making gear, and a large balcony behind the mosquito screens looking out over an area filled with small trees and shrubs.

Feeling extremely hot, the pool seemed the ideal place to cool down. It was very refreshing dipping into the chilly water, and we soon adapted and enjoyed a swim. It was then time to change and make our way to a restaurant, a little further on than the pool. We had been told to expect a buffet, but when we arrived – the food was amazing – for the desert – all the dishes were beautifully presented and looked mouth-watering. Several people started with the deserts, because they looked so good – chocolate gateau, fluffy pavlovas, carrot cake, berry cheesecake, a wide variety of fresh fruit and cheese. We started with oysters, followed by prawns and octopus before moving on to roast beef to die for (very red in the middle and crispy on the outside – perfect) There was also roast chicken, thai lamb curry, fish dishes, loads of vegetable and salad selections (the Caesar salad had anchovies, parmesan and sauce to help yourself – mmmmm!). This was an unexpected feast in the desert. We had to take a walk down past Reception to the Café and back (quite a hike), to try and walk off some of the calories. The moon, still full, was a creamy yellow ball in a midnight blue sky and tonight there were lots of stars twinkling. But I still couldn’t see which stars made up the Southern Cross.

We have another 4 ½ hour journey tomorrow to get to Alice Springs. It is very disconcerting to look at a map of Australia and realize we have been traveling eight days now, and we still haven’t reached the centre of the country. It really is so huge here.

We found out today, that another three people – Cynthia and Fergus (I think they are a couple) and Ruth (their friend?), who joined us at Ayers Rock, will also be on the tour from Cairns going south – although they leave at Hamilton Island. They are going to lend us their itinerary so at least we will have some idea of where we are going when we leave Darwin.