Unexpected treasures

(Sunday 22^nd July)

Well, we did get a solid night’s sleep and it made the world of difference today. We were almost all up and about before 7.30: sunrise. So we went up to the campsite viewing point and watched the sun rise on Uluru. Beautiful. Just seeing a sun rise over the horizon is beautiful, let alone having Uluru as part of the context. In Tokyo we rarely see the horizon. Out here you can see the horizon in all directions. It is magnificent.

Not the most popular view of Kata Djuta.

We had pancakes for breakfast and then eventually ventured out to Kata Tjuta (previously known as the Olgas). It is another 45km on from Uluru, and it is pretty obvious that it isn’t the main attraction. It is more remote and less resourced. One toilet block is all there is. There are less signs, smaller car parks etc. 

But Kata Djuta itself is not “less” in any way. It is actually quite a different experience. The same orange-red rock and blue sky — but not just one big rock that you walk around, but lots of domes that invite you to explore. We found we were surprised around several corners of the walks we took, unexpected sights abounded. It wasn’t an easy walk, however, and now my knees are protesting the punishment I meted out to them.

Again, the three contrasting colours.

We didn’t quite complete all that we wanted too, partly because we lingered over lunch. The reason being is that we ended up sharing a large picnic table with two cyclists who are riding all over the place out here. I’m not sure what their final destination is, but they’d come from Mt Isa so far. What surprised me was that they weren’t young, they had grey beards, I suspect in their 60s. And they didn’t seem to be ‘mad’, they didn’t boast of their achievements (and this isn’t the first or even third outback biking journey they’ve undertaken). They just seemed to enjoy the life on the road, the freedom that being on bikes gave them, and the companionship of travellers along the road. They answered our questions and returned with questions of their own for us. One of them has lived in Japan and speaks some Japanese.

Around each corner was another stunning facet
of the rocks.

Fascinating people that you meet along the road. We’ve been in such a rush to get here, that we haven’t had time to sit and chat with people who are also on the road. Our time has been consumed with getting from here to there as well as organising the boys to get the essentials done (teeth, showers, dressed, and if we’re lucky: exercise etc.) and getting all the necessary things done ourselves (like laundry, petrol stops, and grocery shopping).

This looks a little like a lunar landscape.

But of course one the first questions people ask is, “Where are you from?” Twice today I’ve answered that, “We’re from Brisbane, but we live in Tokyo most of the time.” Which provokes interesting responses, especially if you don’t identify yourself as a missionary (which tends to produce an uncomfortable  silence).

The other reason we didn’t do as much as we’d hoped at Kata Tjuta is that we wanted to allow the boys to have a short camel ride near our campground, and that shut early. The boys were grateful for the interesting experience of riding on a camel, but in total agreement that a short ride was best, and that a longer ride might indeed induce motion sickness.

A young camel saying, "G'day".

After that we stopped at the resort/town shopping centre for just a few groceries, to avoid having to waste time in Alice Springs tomorrow as we try to get as far north as we can on the Stuart Highway.

The shopping centre was a fascinating place, mostly because it services a fairly unique community. The whole town is pretty much based on tourism and servicing the tourists. The town is hidden from view of most tourists, but there are, I’ve heard, at least 1,100 workers out here, and many of them are young.

I couldn't get enough of these beautiful
gums and the blue skies. This one was
inside the campground.

At the shopping centre I stopped to look at the Community Bulletin, which in a small town like this can give insights into the community. There was a list of regular activities, including touch footy on Monday night, non-denominational Christian meeting on Saturdays, a meeting at the library. I didn’t linger long, but noticed a list of visiting medical professionals to the medical centre, job vacancies, various rugged vehicles for sale, and further education training opportunities with Charles Darwin University, etc. It is fascinating to imagine what it would be like to live in such a specialised community so far from anywhere else (Alice Springs, the nearest big town, is over 400km away).

After we got “home” the boys dashed off to see if the giant chess board was free for use. It was busy, so they watched someone else play for a while. Later they had a go themselves and enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately they ran out of time and had to call it quits before they were done (but we did take photos of the board, so they could finish the game somewhere else on a different board). It WAS pretty cool!

These pieces came up to mid-thigh on the boys.

After dinner we went to the campground’s public campfire where there was someone singing with his guitar and free marshmallows for cooking. The boys just love fire and I had trouble getting them home, even after the fire was put out.

But we’ve eventually all hopped into bed in preparation for three large days of driving and then two, only slightly less driving days. David has been busy calculating and recalculating distances, but in the end we’ll see how we go. Our only ‘booking’ between now and Mackay on Thursday night is at Mt Isa; we’ll be free camping in-between. The beauty of free camping is that it means you can camp when you’re done with driving for the day, rather than stick to a set schedule or get to the next town that has a caravan park or motel in it. It is also a faster set-up and pack-up as there is less to do outside the van (read no electricity to connect, or water, or grey water hose). No laundry to do either!

But for now I’m heading for the horizontal position!

A quiet, yet awe inspiring day at The Rock

(Saturday 21^st July)

Today we laid eyes on Uluru (Ayers Rock) close up. We slept in a bit and then toddled off to Uluru. It takes a little more to get going, because we have to pack up “home” totally (except a few things like our portable washing line). Unplugging the motor home, securing everything inside etc.

The Rock

When we finally drove up to the rock, it was an awesome sight. Of course we’ve seen the image of the rock many, many times. In fact we own a framed print that graces our walls when we’re in Australia. But to see it up close is amazing. It looms. The colours are more intense. You look up a couple of hundred metres to where the edge of the rock disappears from view and the intense blue of the outback sky contrasts strongly. Then there are quite a lot of spots where bigger-than-usual-in-the-desert eucalyptus trees are growing, no doubt enjoying the water that obviously flows off the rock when it rains. I say obviously because at various points around the rock there are dark vertical stains where the water flows down. So the rusty orange meets the intense blue sky and is complemented by the familiar green of the eucalyptus trees.

A place where you can see that water collects and
then flows down the side of The Rock.

We didn’t rush through, we dawdled and enjoyed wandering along the base. The boys also enjoyed it, poking about here and there. We didn’t do the 9km base walk, we figured that would be too much for at least our youngest, if not other members of the party who were tired.

And that includes David and I. Not only were we tired from our marathon of driving over the last week, but we had a very disturbed night in our motor home last night. One boy got really upset at about 11.30 about sleeping next to his brother (They’re on the double bed above the driver’s seat). He started kicking about and making the motor home roll from side to side; then moaning and kicking the walls. Needless to say we were pretty upset about this, we’d both been asleep for about an hour by this time. There is very little room to deal with something like this in a motor home, no other rooms to put him in and two other boys sleeping. We considered sending him outside but as it was getting down to zero, we thought that was a bit too cruel. I don’t know how long we spent trying to sort him out.

I gave him many opportunities to mend his ways, but he didn’t take them, so I ended up putting him on the floor of the aisle that runs from the back to the front of the van. It made it tricky to get up and go to the toilet. It was a threat that I figured he’d consider significant: “Sleeping on a cold, hard floor with only a sleeping bag,” but he didn’t see it that way and asked this morning if he could sleep there again tonight. Uh, nope. It is a very inconvenience place when they go to bed before us.

He actually continued to have problems when on the floor which makes me think that blaming his brother is only an excuse. What his real problem is, I don’t know. I thought that a day not driving in the motor home would help him, but as I type we have him outside in the cold on 10 minutes time-out. He is still resisting sleeping in his designated spot as I type.

Yes, we were there!

Sorry, I’ve raved on a bit about this. It isn’t a bright spot in our journey, actually very emotionally exhausting. David and I were talking the other day about how parenting is not controlling so much as managing. Well, managing this boy with his high levels of persistence can be very difficult and immensely draining.

Back to Uluru. After walking along the base we drove to the Cultural Centre a little bit away and found a BBQ/picnic spot amongst the Spinifex. While the adults manufactured a basic barbie the boys found some fantastic sticks and ran amongst the Spinifex until we called them. They had a much more enjoyable day than they’ve had recently.

Sunset. Only ruined by an internal thingy in our camera
that puts that annoying hook-shaped shadow on skies.

After lunch we took a look at the cultural centre. The national park is run by the local Aboriginal tribe in conjunction with the government. Therefore it is very culturally sensitive. The whole site is sacred to the local aboriginals. So there are plenty of signs telling you what you can and can’t do. Especially photography. They also prefer you not to climb the rock. We didn’t have a option because the climb was closed due to high winds. At the cultural centre we saw lots of aboriginal art and even two artists in the midst of creating their work.

We soon tired, though and came home for some down-time. Mum and Dad stayed to see the sunset at 6.15, but we were back at the campsite by 3 or so.  I had a lie down, but that was the furthest from the boys’ minds. They alternatively played with the football and created some intricate imaginary world/game called Stick Wars. At one point they decided to try swimming, but lasted only 5 minutes. The water was cold.

I guess that is one thing that might surprise people. You imagine the centre of Australia, desert, to be hot. But it probably only made it to about 16 degrees Celsius today and at the start of the day I was well layered up, it was still below 10 at 9am. The showers are good here, but the building is still very open, so I made sure I had a shower before sunset today, it helped quite a lot.

So, we bunk down for the second night in the same place, which hasn’t happened since last weekend. It’s been very nice to have a slower paced day. Now I’m hoping and praying for a solid night’s sleep!

Nikko camping adventure

Last Thursday we went camping again. This time to the north of Tokyo, up in a historically significant area.

Nikko has a number of famous shrines and temples, including the one built in memory of the powerful Shogun Ieyasu (1542-1616). His remains were interned in the Toshogu Shrine. He was the founder and first shogun (military dictator) of the Tokugawa shogunate that controlled Japan from 1600 to 1868. I think the first ruler to unite Japan. He was also anti-Christian and the persecution of Christians increased during his reign. Only a couple of decades after his death Japan was closed to all Western contact, including missionaries.

Entrance to the forecourt of  Toshogu Shrine.

Pagoda on the side of the forecourt of
the Shrine

The area contains World Heritage Site that contains a number of temples and other culturally significant buildings, some of which we saw all too briefly (the boys weren't happy). We also didn't want to spend more than a hundred dollars to enter the grounds of the most famous temple (Ieyasu's mausoleum)

I found this on a website allegedly quoting Ieyasu's wishes:

"Enshrine my dead body in Mt. Kuno (His hometown in Shizuoka prefecture) for the first year of the death. (Omission) And built a small shrine in Nikko and enshrine me as the God. I will be the guardian of Japan."

 I'm not sure why he designated Nikko, but there you go. It is now a very popular tourist destination.

We spent most of our time at a lovely camping ground. Amazing facilities, incredibly clean!

One thing we were particularly excited about was how many trees had been left around the campsites. They not only kept us cool in the summer heat, but they separated the campsites a bit and made it more spacious.

The campsite was at one end of a large park that included a ropes course and a game called Park Golf. We enjoyed both on Friday morning, but it was so hot that the adults just vegged out in the afternoon while the boys played in the small stream that ran through the campsite.

I did some of the ropes course.

We weren't so excited about the party that developed across the road. But thankfully God gave us the grace to fall asleep regardless of the drunken partying! We had wonderful sleeps. It really was an enjoyable and refreshing time.

After we checked out on Saturday morning, we spent a bit of time walking around near some of those shrines and temples, then we headed into the mountains where we found a large lake over 1,200m above sea level. We had time to take in one waterfall, grab some lunch and head home. After all the travelling we've done, the boys just wanted to go home.

The top of a "waterfall" (the boys thought it looked more
like a "steep stream"), with the lake in the distance.

I think we would have liked to see more, but really we needed to go home too. Both David and I have the lingering effects of colds we picked up in the Australian winter. David's kept both of us awake at night with his coughing! We'll definitely be going back. We've found some more campsites way up in the mountains that look fun to explore.

And now we're back in hot, humid Tokyo. It is about 32 degrees downstairs just now, and 72% humidity. I'd love a storm to clear the air! Somehow I need to clear my head and get back into editing a magazine. I've got quite a lot of articles waiting to be attended too, never mind a lot of other things that I'm sure need to be done!

The bottom of the waterfall.

Breathing space at the end of an intense summer

I need some breathing space! I just realised that that is the problem I'm struggling with just now as I read this blog post by a mum with more boys than mine.

We've had the boys on holidays now for more than nine weeks. It's always intense when they're home, but travelling with them as we've done increases that intensity. Now we also have my mother-in-law with us for 2 1/2 weeks, which ratchets up the intensity even more. I need some breathing space.

They've all just walked down to CAJ for a time and I very gladly made the excuse that I needed to get some groceries (but have sneakily stayed home for a short bit to type here before I shop).

We've had a lot of fun together. The latest being a two night camping trip to Nikko, north of Tokyo from which we returned yesterday afternoon. A post will come on that. It was gorgeous. We've discovered another wonderful and accessible area to explore in the future.

It's been a lot of fun, but intense too. I am sooooo ready for everyone to go back to school! Less than two weeks are left, can I make it?

Destination finally sighted

(Friday 20^th July)

Today we left the tiny settlement of Ti Tree* soon after sunrise. We drove for two hours to Alice Springs and were pleasantly surprised by a tidy, attractive looking town that is larger than anything we’ve seen since we drove through Mt Isa on Wednesday afternoon (It is the third largest town in the Territory and has about 27,500 people, making it quite a bit larger than Mt Isa!). We stopped for petrol and more groceries. We’re saving a lot on meals: we’ve not yet bought any take away meals!

But it wasn’t the ordinary as-brief-as-possible stop we’ve been making recently. Today we’d tee-ed up to have lunch with some people who are in our church’s denomination. I guess you could say they are friends of friends. But it was almost a disaster as in my email correspondence with them, I’d forgotten to get their address or phone number. And I haven’t had internet access since I realised this earlier in the week. Finally, using my Japanese mobile phone, we sent an email to them with our number and they called us just after we’d finished doing our errands. Then we got mixed up by their directions and ended up on the wrong side of the town.

But eventually we found them and had a very enjoyable hour or so having a barbie (BBQ) and learning about them and more particularly about the true situation in Alice Springs, especially regards Aboriginals. Phil is a Presbyterian minister and they’ve worked part-time at the church there for the last three years. Previous to that they had an itinerate ministry, reaching out to many in outback areas and living out of their own mobile home. So essentially we were/are both in cross-cultural ministry. 

We were surprised that amidst the flatness of
the Territory, there are a lot of "ranges" as well.

But I guess the most striking thing was how quickly we "gelled". It was one of those remarkable encounters where you immediately feel comfortable with the other party and, though we'd known each other for less than an hour, had a marvellous time, skipping all the usual pretences, we went deep quickly. We came away feeling very refreshed and encouraged.

The boys enjoyed being released from the motor home for a while. They mucked around in the back yard with our new friends’ dogs and had a great time. Prior to that they’d been starting to go stir crazy from being locked into seats that forced them to face each other day after day.

About midday we said our farewells and jumped back in the motor home to do the final 440km to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The countryside at last began to look more sparse and desert-like. The foliage didn’t change a lot, just got more sparse. And after we turned west of the Stuart Highway (the highway that runs from Darwin to Adelaide), we started to see red sand dunes poking out from under grass tufts. A bit like the sand hills you see behind a beach.

Another road photo!

About 30 km from the giant rock, we could see its familiar outline on the horizon. I say familiar because pretty much all Australians have grown up seeing photos of this amazing rock formation. It seemed unreal, like we were seeing a large photo or something!

At about 5.40pm we finally arrived at Yulara, the “resort” or small-town type place that is situated just outside the gate to the national park that contains Uluru and Kata Djuta (Olgas). The “resort” contains a number of hotels, caravan park, camping grounds, a petrol station, grocery store etc. It is quite an interesting little place on its own. Outside the gate the police subjected David to a random breath test. Almost the first time we’ve seen a policeman since we left built up areas last Saturday.

And finally The Rock itself.

My first emotion was relief, “We’d actually made it.” Then some serious mental fatigue, I had a lot of trouble concentrating on what to do next. Then I realised that the sun was going down about 15 minutes later and there was a viewing point for that pretty close to our site. So we gathered the troops and walked off to see that. Beautiful colours!  And it turned out that the viewing point was on top of a sand dune (there was a bridge-type path that helped us climb it).

After that short bit of exercise, it was easier to concentrate on the task at hand: making dinner. Just when we were about to sit down and eat, Mum and Dad walked down the road. Did I tell you that they flew out on Tuesday to meet us here and do some touring themselves? This evening they were up in a helicopter while the sun set. I’ll definitely have to ask Dad to show us some of his photos.

So, they sat down and ate with us outside under our awning. Even though it is a bit chilly at night, we’ve been eating outside each night because by the end of the day we’re pretty sick of being cooped up.

We shared stories and planned what we’ll do tomorrow morning. First thing on the agenda? Sleep-in!! After getting up before the sun on most days in the last week, we’re more than happy to have a slower start tomorrow.

*I’ll have to check how many live there, but I’m suspecting less than 20. Ed's note, it turns out that most of the town is off the highway and there are about 150 people in the town!

Back in Japan again

Yesterday we left our beds at 5am in Brisbane and rolled into our beds here in Tokyo at about midnight. We spent most of the day travelling at 800+km/hr 12 km above the earth. We take flying for granted, but it truly is amazing.

I didn't really enjoy the trip, though. Physically, I had a dreadful headache that just built through the morning. This was complicated by turbulence at periodic points during the journey. Not too long after lunch I came very close to looking my lunch, but thankfully the turbulence settled down and so did my headache not too long after that ("arrow" prayers answered). I also couldn't get the right temperature. My feet and ankles were cold the whole journey, and I shrugged a jacket off and on throughout the day.

I wasn't the only one feeling unwell, our eldest son threw up while we taxied to the terminal in Seoul. Probably motion sickness compounded by too much screen time! Thankfully he took it in a mature fashion (not any whinging) and felt better immediately afterwards. He was eating again very quickly and had no further problems. The chief thing he learnt? "Airsick bags hold more than you think they can!"

We did have a smooth flight with the boys. They are so much easier to manage on aeroplanes these days, especially now that most planes seem to have individual screens as a standard feature. They can manage the meals mostly on their own and toilets totally independently. That makes a big difference. They also can carry a lot more, so we took a full quota of cabin baggage for the first time ever.

Our biggest stress yesterday was a quick transfer in Seoul. We made it in time, but we wondered all day whether our luggage would too! It was a relief while waiting to disembark in Tokyo and one boy saw our luggage removed from the hull out the window! That was 9pm. Then we had to drive home. David was a champion, weaving his way across Tokyo for 2 hours on expressways. I couldn't have done it. It took a can of Coke to keep me awake at all! I rarely drink caffeinated drinks these days, and never after 3pm, but one at 9.30pm last night helped me get home, but it didn't stop me falling asleep at 12.30am!

Emotionally, I struggled to leave Australia also. I didn't expect it, but it just felt too soon to be leaving. It was, in fact, the shortest stay I've ever had in Australia. When cruising over Tokyo lights last night before landing David asked, "Are you ready to be back in Japan?" "No!" was my answer.

But now I'm back in my own house it feels better. I can do this, I've been "doing this" for years now. Australia is a very comfortable place for me, but Japan is the place where we are supposed to be right now, so that is also comfortable, but in a slightly different way.

As for now, though, I'd better get back to unpacking my house. Our house sitters left the place immaculate. It is wonderful to have such a clean house (granted we did clean it pretty thoroughly before we left).

And I also have to pack for camping. Believe it or not we're going camping tomorrow for two nights! I don't know how we'll go. Maybe we're crazy, but consider this: once school gets started there isn't much let-up for nine months. The longest holiday is over Christmas when it is too cold to camp (for us). Therefore, we figure we might as well make hay while the sun shines.

Long day of nothingness

(Thursday 19^th July)

 Today was the longest I’ve ever driving without seeing much of anything. We drove from 8am till 5.30 with only short breaks (four breaks of less than 20 minutes). During that time we saw only one town (Tennant Creek, pop. approximately 3,000) and hardly any houses or buildings of any description. It was amazing. The first little while was extremely flat and devoid of trees, then it became scrubby and remained so for the remainder of the day. Ed's note: we drove through an area called the Barkly Tableland which is the size of the U.K. or New Zealand and is home to some of the world's largest cattle properties.

I’m really tired now, but it wasn’t so much the long drive as the boys who accompanied us that have really done me in today. Yes, this is the fourth 700km+ day we’ve done since Friday, and surely that contributes to my fatigue. But we had one son “fall apart” this morning. It took a lot of work to try and sort out why he was sobbing and calm him down. When he does this to us, usually we send him to his room to calm down, but that was clearly impossible. It takes it out of me emotionally when we have such a struggle of wills. After he calmed down he was the opposite, very happy and giggly and the three of them drove us crazy, with loud hysterical laughter and various antics that continued on and off the rest of the day. Very tiring.

Then the last straw was when we pulled up at the caravan park at our destination “Ti Tree” and we found a nice site, but after unpacking chairs, BBQ, etc. realised that the site had electricity but no water. We moved it all to another one, did the same unpacking and found the electricity outlets didn’t work, so we moved to another site, that, thankfully did. But by this time it was getting close to 7pm and we were very frayed!

So now I’m not going to write anymore, just head for horizontal. Tomorrow we do the final leg to Uluru and will stop there for three nights. Ah, blessed rest.