Tête en bas

Coober Pedy, in Central Australia, is known to be the World Capital for Opal. People come here to visit the dugouts and stay in the underground facilities. While everybody was walking under the ground, I discovered a photographer paradise above it. Dust, rust, scrap just make me feel happy. I spend two weeks, discovering this place. And being amazed by what I find.

Coober Pedy, in Central Australia, is known to be the World Capital for Opal. People come here to visit the dugouts and stay in the underground facilities. While everybody was walking under the ground, I discovered a photographer paradise above it. Dust, rust, scrap just make me feel happy. I spend two weeks, discovering this place. And being amazed by what I find.

“Sitting on the bucket of an excavator, in the middle of the desert, I smoke a cigaret while watching the stars”.

I can’t explain why I like this image so much… but I’ll have to use it one day. And I think I’ve find how. My loneliness time is coming to an end. I’m back as a social creature.

When I give a hand to Terry to feed the roos, he always introduce me saying that I’m from France. Or from Canada. We don’t really know. He then adds that I’m here to help for a little while. Quite often, people come to me after the feeding, and ask me a few questions. Asking me if I like my experience, how I end up working in a kangaroos orphanage, or if I like leaving with roos. Mots of the time (would say 9 out of 10), people who comes to me are from France. I usually complete the information, as Terry usually speaks quite fast, and might be sometime hard to understand. In a place like Coober Pedy, there’s not so much opportunities to meet people. Which is just perfect, as it is what I was looking for. But at the same time… well, talking with new people, from time to time, is nice too! Usually, we have a 5 minutes chat, and it’s enough.

I didn’t have a beer for quite a while. I mean a beer in a bar. Going to a bar when you’re alone is always strange… but today, I had quite a nice chat with Anna and Florian, and I decide to offer them to discover “Coober Pedy ‘ Night Life”. When I ask Terry if he can suggest us a bar, the question seems to surprise him. As he told us, on a sunday evening, we might find only one or two place open. Until 9PM. We decided to go to the Opal Inn, where we celebrate until it closed. At 10PM! Long time since I closed a bar!

Anna is in Australia on a Working Holiday Visa. Here for a few months already. Florian, his brother, is visiting her for a few weeks. They have a van, and they are on a rod trip to Darwin. After sharing or schedule, we discovered that we might bump into each other later in Alice Springs. Or somewhere else… it was a quite evening, with a few interesting chat. Including the “aboriginal subject”. I still want to take my time about that. After living in Quebec for 10 years, I heard hips of thing about the “amerindian subject”. In a lot of different way. It didn’t take me a long time before I understand that it was a very sensitive subject, as people usually have quite extreme opinion on the question. It didn’t take me much more time to understand that it was exactly the same here, in Australia. Same interactions, same tensions… Here too, opinions are often quite extreme, on a subject that it’s wiser to avoid. Anna and Florian, just like me, seem to be really interest by the culture and the tradition…

Just before leaving the bar, Robert came to talk with us. In an approximate english, with an approximate pronunciation. We tried to exchange with him, as much as possible, without really understanding each other. Then Kinki join. Kinki is her aboriginal name. I tried to explain her that I really like the way it sounds, but she didn’t understand.

When we leave the bar, we ended up talking with a group of aboriginal. It was quite hard but, like in Alice Springs with Gabrielle, behind the unsure word, I was seeing amazing smiles. I still ended up feeling a little bit not really comfy. In a middle of 10 people, all quite drunk; even if they were all really friendly, I never like being with to much drunk people. We never know how they could react… any way, it confirmed me that I’m really interested to learn more, to understand more. If amerindian used to leave me coldly indifferent, I’m discovering that aboriginal intrigues me. In a way I don’t really fully understand. There’s a few aboriginal community and cultural center on Helpx. I think it could be a nice opportunity. We’ll see!

I share a few more words with Anna et Florian, and contact details to. Just in case!

I asked Cassie to drop me at Erldunda, as it saved me 200km. My plan was to hitch hike to Coober Pedy. “Only” 500km to do. It was an easy ride. I though… I staid at the gaz station for four hours. Talking to everyone. Seems that everybody was going north, or west. None was going south. Well… a few were going south, but had no room. Except this guy who “doesn’t pick up hitch hiker, for safety reason”. Yes, I looked pretty scary with my flippers in my back pack… The sunset. There were less and less car… I was thinking to build my tent, somewhere in the wilderness. But there is a campground at Erldunda. And they only charge $11. Cheap enough for me to pay. It took me an other 3 hours the next morning. I was starting to loose faith. Thinking that there might be place, in Oz, where hitch hiking was to complicate. But I was finally saved by two italian girls. They asked me for $20 for the gaz, that I was more than happy to pay. And I finally arrive at Josephine and Terry orphanage, in Coober Pedy.

It was six days ago. Already! Enough time to get my little habits. Life is not really hard here. I wake up between 9 and 10 AM, and take my time to check the last news on internet. Also trying to find what my next step will be… after that, it’s time to clean the roo yard. Just on time for the first public feed at 12. If there’s a group, or a lot of people, all the five older kangaroos have there milk bottle. If there’s not enough people, they just get some little snack.

The afternoon is about getting an area of the house ready to become an other kangaroos yard, so they can have more room. So it’s about putting up some fence and digging a few holes. When Terry or Jo need an extra hand, I often help feeding the younger one, who are on a four hours feeding schedule. Yes, day and night. Terry does the day shift, Jo the night one.

Evening is usually quite. Chat, cuddling with the young joeys, watching tv. I usually find some time to play flute or didgeridoo. And to do some more computer too. And it’s finally time for me to go back to my room. Yes, I’m sleeping in a caravan, in a backyard, in the middle of the desert. Yes, it’s cold during the night. But I love my caravan! Looks amazing!

And sometime, there is those special days. Where a South Korean TV crew come to film the orphanage. I ended up being interviewed, and I’m now wondering if I’ll be famous in South Korean in the next few weeks… and that’s also during this interview that my phone rang. Next week, I’ll have a job interview. On Skype. For a job I applied in Melbourne, a few weeks ago. Why not!

And there’s also this phone call, at the end of the afternoon, that sounds like an alert. Yes, a rescue team is needed. A few miner find a young joey, still alive. A new family member is coming. I jump in the car with Terry. He’s driving fast. Not because it’s a real emergency, I think, but because he use to be a Rally Car driver. We pick up the young lady. Her name is Prue. She’s only 3 months and a half, and she’ll be coming with us. What a strange feeling to hold her, as close to me as I can to keep her warmth. To feel her breath under the towel. To know that she had a mother, 8 hours ago, and she’s entering a complete and totally different world by now…

I leave you alone and with no comment, to discover Kings Canyon, with its landscape coming straight from outer space… just enjoy!

Kata Tjuta and the valley of the wind

The valley of the wind… I’m a little bit ashamed that I didn’t realize earlier. I just though “hey, sounds nice, I like the name”. It took Cassie asking “have you seen the movie Nausicaa of the valley of the wind? Myiasaki find some of its inspiration here”. And then, I realize. Uluru’s shape, from a certain angle, remind me the Omu (the giant insect). Even the name, Omu, sounds like Emu in english… the shape of the mountain, a landscape that looks really organic… yes, Nausicaa is everywhere around us.

The day started with a sunrise. Who says sunrise says wake up early. Much to early. For a second day in a row. As for the sunset yesterday, sunrise is the reason for a big gathering of more that 50 people (yes, it’s harder to come for a sunrise than a sunset). But I have a place that I like, where I can enjoy the landscape. When the sun is a little bit upper in the sky, and breakfast is eaten, we can take the road to Kata Tjuta.

It’s quite hard to find the good word to describe Kata Tjuta. After Uluru yesterday, I didn’t know what to expect. I discovered something completely different. More sacred than Uluru, definitely not as known. Only two areas are open to the public. That’s more than enough!

After Kata Tjuta, Cassie drive us back to Uluru, for a quick visit of the cultural center (photo forbidden) before giving us a short guided walk. A few geological explanation about the rock, but mainly cultural/historical explanation from an aboriginal point of view. We discover an other side of the rock, that I like even more. Once again, I can feel it. Deep inside me. Like a deep slow vibration.

Back to the bus for a couple of hours driving. Going to Kings Canyon, on tomorrows planning. This time, we’re alone at the campground. No other group. Quiet evening with an other campfire. And as I do have my fire staff and some kerosene left over…

Guided tour… those words kind of frighten me. I see a giant bus, dropping hundreds of old people, in view point and touristic shop. I see the complete impossibility to take picture with no one, people always complaining and never happy. A slow moving group with an unbearable inertia. But at the same time, Cassie told me that it worst it, and that it was great. And I totally trust Cassie. When I saw the old bus coming, when I heard the engine, sounding like it could die anytime, I start thinking a different way. I start thinking that I was right to trust Cassie.

Alice Springs to Uluru. Around 400k. Bus often stop. Pee pause. Emu pause. Pee and gaze pause. Photo pause. But the dynamic is still interesting. Life in the bus is nice. It’s my turn to be the copilot. I’m not use to that! I do my best to help Cassie. As it was in the van, life in the front and life in the back are completely different. In other circumstances, I would probably have try to spend more time in the back, learning to know my fellow travelers. But being quiet with Cassie is ok for me.

There’s a lot of different tour company in Alice Springs. The Rock Tour seems to be the cheapest one. Because of that, people are younger. The bus is full. It means only 22 persons. Still a bearable size group.

I’m fouled by the first rock I see far away. Thought it was Uluru for a little while, before Cassie told us that it’s not. Well, that’s true… Uluru is way more organic than that!

But we finally arrive. This time, I recognize the shape with no hesitation. Of course this is it. I love traveling. It remind me, each time, how amazing the world we’re living in is. I’m happy to be here, in Uluru. It seems unexpected to me. As it was to arrive at the top of the Empire States Building, to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge, to see Sydney’s opera, to discover Death Valley, or to dive on a wreck in Bali… my life is full of surprises. And I love that !

My first reaction is balanced. From far, it’s a nice impressive rock. But nothing exceptional. Uluru starts to be awesome when you get close to it. “I saw it hundreds of time, I still love it. It’s always different”. I quickly understand what Cassie means. Every two minutes, Uluru is different. It changes. Constantly. We could almost feel him alive as those change are quick. She drops us at the foot of the rock, with the mission to walk around it. She warns us. There’s sacred place, where it’s forbidden to take picture. I always have trouble when I can’t take picture. But quite often, I keep the camera off. There’s amazing part of the rock that you won’t see. Not on this blog at least. He’s waiting for you anyway. Just come, and you’ll see.

Long story short: like everywhere in the world, white men steal the land from the people who were living there when he arrived. Ayers Rock and the area became property of the crown. Lots of aboriginal people where strongly suggest to move away. Once again, I want to wait a little bit more longer before talking about aboriginals. But I will. I promise. Collecting information is still going on… anyway… in aboriginal tradition, the land you’re living on is one of the most important thing. In such a hard place to survive, knowing everything about your place is a matter of life. Aboriginal wanted to come back. It took time. Lot of time. But at the end of the 80s, australian government finally give back Ayers Rock to the tribes who were living there. Those four tribe merge to become only one. In exchange, aboriginal agreed to rent the area to the government for 99 years. Since that day, the site is managed by a council formed by 6 aboriginal and 4 australian.

Little precision: making a difference between “aboriginal” and “australian” is definitely a mistake. If, until the 70s, aboriginal were not seen as human (they were protected by the ministry for fauna and the flora), they are now seen are australian citizen. Maybe I should say “6 aboriginal and 4 white men”. But once again, it won’t be exactly true.

Uluru is in the middle of Australia. Straight in the middle. Uluru is red. Uluru is often seen as australian spiritual heart. I easily understand why. There’s something you can feel around the rock. Something spiritual. Of course, you’ll feel it only if you want to feel it. It’s totally possible to work around the rock, and just see a giant red thing, quite impressive, with hips of strange shape. I wanted to see more. I wanted to see more than just a rock. I closed my eyes. I touched it. I felled it. There’s something more, and it’s really easy to feel it. My flute, of course, was really happy to share sometime with the rock.

The day ended with what seems to be a must do. Sunset on Uluru. Cassie warned us. Other tours, who are way more expensive, give a glass of wine to there traveler. So she invited us to by her own bottle to celebrate the sunset. Celebrate, really? With a little bit more than 10 cars gathered, almost 500 tourists on a parking… with table, everywhere. And tourists, drinking sparkling wine in fancy glasses… I tried to do a time lapse, with some difficulty. The result is not that good. If the rock changes color, it’s not as impressive as I though.

I remember… a few days ago. Almost the same number of people, climbing a hill, for an other sunset. Being happy, and screaming when the sun finally disappear. Here, people seems to try to be as stupid as they can while taking picture. They don’t mind about the sunset. They just want to have a photo for there Facebook page. I find it very sad. But can’t change anything about it…

Sun away, diner eaten, we go bak to the campground for the night. There’s a big bonfire waiting for us. I take my flute and my didge. Play the first. Play the second. And went away from the light, taking a few picts of the stars. The rock, of course, is there…

I needed to take a break. Rachel, Cassie and the other are amazing. But I met to many people on the last weeks. To many amazing meetings, just before leaving Melbourne. To many amazing meeting during the trip to the festival. To many amazing meeting during the festival. So yes… I needed a break. Sometime, just for me, when I would stop being social. My body confirmed that I need a break, as I start monday morning with a cold, and a brain who was unable to work for a whole day.

I left the festival, quickly as a thief, on monday morning. I was planing to take my time, relax, and probably help to clean the site. I changed my mind. I needed to go. To be alone. I apology to everyone. Say goodbye to anyone. Take my two backpacks, and leave. Thumbs up.

I arrived in Alice Springs little bit later. There’s nothing like an hostel when you want to be anonymous and alone. I took my computer, with nothing else in mind than taking it easy, trying to find an internet connexion to update my blog.

I like Alice Springs. A lot. I found there what I liked in Bali. What is, I think, common to every city where the weather is always nice. People living outside, in a very open city. Really green too. I was feeling well. It was a nice place to rest.

Jacques helped me to do some fencing before the festival. He’s french, and seems to be traveling in Australia on a motorbike. I didn’t ask him more detail. I met him again at the hostel. We had a short chat. Not so much. A little bit later, he came back with a friend. She told me “allo”.

One word was enough. No need to recognize the accent. No need to ask any question. I know only one country where people say “allo”. Her name is Gabrielle, and she’s from Montreal south shore. She’s been a little been surprised when I “laugh” at her because she was a 450. But she understand quickly. Yes, I’m what I pretend to be. A montrealer, with a different accent.

We met again the next day. Well, it’s pretty easy to bump into people you know in Alice Springs. We took sometime to talk. And… well, Gabrielle is traveling with a violin. I like people who travels with musical instrument. It allows a lot of unexpected mix. During the Wide Open Space, we manage to have a didgeridoo, a japanese, flute, an indian flute and an accordion playing together. Four musicians playing instruments from four different continents. As usual, I like that…

We sat down in the Todd River (dry) bed, sharing chat and musical improvisation, in a really simple and amazing time. With short break to talk with aboriginal people coming by. I know, I haven’t say anything about aboriginal people yet. It’s coming. Soon.

Gabrielle reacted when I told her that I was hitch hiking south, before coming back to Alice Springs and hitch hiking north. She’s looking for a travel mate, to hitch hike too. She’s thinking to leave Alice in two or three weeks. The timing might be good for her. We might have fun together, so… why not. Maybe… Well… Rachel was also looking for a travel mate. For a little bit later, after working a little bit in Alice. Should to the same thing, at sometime… and I just get news from Hripsine. She’s planing to leave Melbourne early June, for an Adelaide – Alice Springs – Darwin – Broom – Perth road trip. As she knows that I have the same project, she’s offering me to go with her.

All that remind me that I was looking for a break… that for the last three weeks, I was saying that I wanted to be alone, in the middle of the desert. I’m saying that I need to relax. To stop meeting people. To be alone. I take my decision. Tomorrow, I’ll leave Alice Springs. Going south, to Coober Pedy, slowly. Alone, finally.

It was without taking Cassie into account. She’s been working for two years in Alice as a tour guide. She loves the city, she loved her job. She’s back. In one day, she finds a new job. “I have a group, leaving tomorrow morning, for three days. Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon. I might have a seat for you. Not sure yet, I’ll only know tomorrow at 5:45 AM”. Perfect for me. All my bags will be ready tonight. I’m leaving the hostel tomorrow. To Uluru, with Cassie. Or somewhere else, with my thumb.

It’s wednesday morning. It’s 5:45 AM. My phone rings. The big red thing is waiting for me. As my first experience in a tour group!

After spending so much time with my travel companion, as friendly and amazing they can be, I was feeling that I might need to be alone for a little while. At the same time, I wanted to stay with them, and to go on my own way. I take thursday really easy, just relaxing, without taking any decision… I finally decide, late in the afternoon, to take my back back, and go. Trying to hitch hike to the festival. I was missing hitch hiking… I didn’t have much food, but I decide to trust Rachel for that. Quite an unusual thing for me! Leaving Alice hitch hiking was little bit difficult… but as soon as I was out of town, every thing was easy again, and I arrive at the Wide Open Space festival. Maybe a little bit later than expected.

It was the first time I was working as a volunteer on a festival. I had too. My bank account doesn’t really allow me those kind of spending anymore. And apart of the financial aspect, the human aspect interested me too. But not on the first evening. I was looking for loneliness. To stop and relax, just by myself. I tell who I was, build up my tent, and went to bed.

What can I say about the Wide Open Space festival… i had a lot of expectation when I went to Confest. And I came back a little bit disappointed. By people, who were not that much into meeting other, and were way to serious about what was happening, and by the event itself, who didn’t do anything to gather us all together. There was no real reason, for us, to be there.

I went to the Wide Open Space with no expectation. And I came back completely and totally amazed, by an overwhelming experience. First of all, it was not a big festival. 500 people. Maybe 600. A little site means that you don’t have to carry all kind of stuff with you always. When your camp is 2 minutes walk from the main stage, you can easily forget something. But it also mean that you also see the same people. You smile to them. You start talking with no reason. And you’re quickly a part of a big family.

No workshop where you learn how to be happy. Nop. At WOS, people knows how to be happy, without having someone telling them how. It’s a big fest, where everything seems to be about happiness.

A few art work, here and there, different clothing style… as in Comfest or Burning Man, you have to live the experience to really understand it. It’s definitely not easy to talk about the openness of people, the happiness that was radiating from them. The laughs that were everywhere…

Someone told me not to have any expectation about music. I’ve bee nicely surprised. All the bands had something to offer. And there was all different kind of music. From metal to reggae, from electro to the single singer with is guitar. Everything, for everyone. I was a little bit worried about the reggae/hip hop first night, no much quiet for me… but on saturday, the music definitely evolved to something way more dynamic. More electro, more energizing. And on sunday… well, I start dancing around 2PM because the music was so intense…

Just for the pleasure of finding a negative point, I would say that once again, didgeridoos were missing. Like in Comfest, I felt like if I was the only one… I’m looking forward an opportunity to play with a few others!

Apart from the music, the “closure” ceremony was the other gathering element. When a group of people start climbing up the small hill, on the site of the festival, to watch the sunset. There was no burning giant piece of art. That was not a problem. Everyone was gathering at the same place, for the same reason. That’s all I was missing. All I was waiting for, in order to conclude those 3 days of magical happiness. Three days of dance, music, quick meeting and smile sharing.

I was expecting to be stressed, to have to hurry up every one. But Cassie and Rachel take care of everything, and the van was quickly ready to start again. And, at some time, to be given back.

A few little break on the road, but here we are!

Yes… we survived. We are in Alice Springs. We do a quick tour of the city, in order to drop everyone stuff, and leave Ben and Josh downtown. Giving back the van take a little while, but was no problem.

We don’t have the van anymore… what’s next? I’m still waiting from news from my CSer who might host me. But I realize that I’m not that much motivated to couchsurf tonight. So is Rachel. And we finally end up in the same hostel than Indri.

We all met together a little bit later, in the evening. The 6 of us, for a last meal. What will come next? I don’t know yet. But we are 5 to go to the festival. So all that is not exactly finish yet…