Thought I’d change things up a bit with today’s reflections for a couple of reasons. First, today marked four weeks since I arrived in the Land Down Under, which is hard to believe. It has gone both delightfully slowly and really fast at the same time, depending on the time of day or night and the location I happen to be in when I reflect on things.

Second, I’ve seen a lot of blacktop the past two days, traveling from Darwin, up on the edge of the Northern Territory, to Barcaldine in Queensland, en route to Sydney – 1,463 miles so far on this leg, to be precise, according to Googlemaps, where I’m staying tonight before mushing on to the coast. As a result of my own personal Race Across Australia (only a part of it, to be sure) the past several days, I haven’t taken many photos of the outback. Rest assured that it’s really big and really vast, and this winter – the dry season in Australia – is very special because a lot of rain fell in the fall and the outback is a thousand beautiful shades of green. This is almost never seen here – kind of like the desert flower blooms in Death Valley. Reminds me of Marin in April after the winter rains.

As a result, I’m gonna look back a bit with some photos of the trip so far.

This trip has astounded me every day in countless ways, and I’m so thrilled that I decided to do it. As I mentioned in my first post, Australia has been high up on my “places to go” list forever, but I wanted to wait until I had enough time to do it justice. Although five weeks is a fairly good stretch of time, I could easily stay for another three to six months. Hell, I could easily live here. It’s that good. The landscape, the scenery and the people have blown me away. All have wildly exceeded my pretty high expectations. I’m so grateful for  that.

A couple of observations on my visit so far – I’ve seen almost no police, in the cities or out in the country. I haven’t seen one hunter or gun, which has really surprised me because in the States, once you get out west (and in hunting season pretty much everywhere), rifles in gun racks are de rigueur in virtually every pickup truck you see. By the way, crimes rates and those involving firearms are a tiny fraction here of what they are in the States. Food for thought…

Aussies are such happy and mellow people. They love to chat and hang out and love to tell you fantastic places to visit. I’ve also talked politics, as I’ve been here during the election for prime minister (which Malcolm Turnbull , the incumbent, won in a real squeaker), and have found no polemics or vitriol at all in my conversations, which is so rampant these days in the States. I’ve always believed that you can disagree without being disagreeable, and the folks here are totally that way.

I also had an interesting introduction to Australian criminal law at 9 am the other day en route from Uluru to Darwin. I was flagged down and stopped while driving slowly through Larimmah, a tiny place in the Northern Territory, by an indigenous police officer. When I came to a stop and rolled down my window to greet him (he looked very serious), he stuck a breathalyzer in my face without saying a word. Taken aback, I asked what was going on. He told me (and I don’t think race had anything to do with him stopping me) that I had no choice but to take the test. When I laughed and asked if he wouldn’t do better business at night, he said “Oh no, mate – there are roadhouses north and south of here, and folks drink all night then get in their cars and drive all day,” I got it. I didn’t put up any resistance, and was quickly on my way. That just wouldn’t happen in the States without the police officer interviewing you first and having a legitimate suspicion that you’d been drinking. Vive La difference.

Here are some shots from the past two days, when I didn’t have the pedal to the metal.

Litchfield National Park. This Cathedral Termite mound was over fifteen feet tall. Crazy. Imagine being tied down by the natives and eaten by these beasts. Oh, never mind….

The natives dress up Cathedral Termite mounds, which I couldn’t figure out at first, as folk art. It’s very cool to see all of the different ways they humanize mounds of earth.

Cooling off at Buley Rockhole in Litchfield NP.

Bush fires in Litchfield NP. Unlike in the States, fire is a natural part of the forest here. Fires are set in controlled ways by natives for many reasons, including hunting and agriculture, and natural fires are not suppressed. As a result, forests here are very healthy and bush fires are typically small and don’t burn out of control.

Dusk in Kakadu National Park.

My casa in Kakadu NP. They’re built off the ground (as many houses are) to protect you from all the Cathedral and Magnetic Termites (Magnetic Termites, which are blind, build their paper thin but tall nests aligned precisely with magnetic north, which minimizes the amount of sunlight that strikes them, keeping the mounds and creatures inside cool and comfortable).

Yes, it’s true – the legend of Crocodile Dundee is alive and well in the Outback.

On to the retrospective:

Trinity Beach on the north coast. Felt like Kauai. Truly sublime.

Sydney architecture.

Hill Inlet, Whitsunday Island. If Eden exists, this is it.

Town of 1770’s five mile beach (one of countless that long in Queensland and New South Wales).

The wreck of the SS Maheno on Fraser Island.

Evening in Noosa Heads.

Coffs Cove.

Matt in Lamington NP.

Waterfall on our Lamington hike.

Guess where.

Byron Bay – eastern most point of the continent and a great town.

‘Roos and Matt in Mallacoota.

Koala on Raymond Island.

Sorrento beach early morning.

Surfers’ dream.

Great Ocean Road.

Adelaide veterans’ protest.

Uluru basking in sunset with full moon rise. It confirmed my belief in a higher power.

Kevin, a/k/a Chevy, the proprietor of the Pink Panther Pub and Roadhouse in Larrimah.

Darwin’s Harbor.

Hope that was fun. I’m heading to the Blue Mountains in Wollemi National Park, a couple of hours inland from Sydney, tomorrow (thanks to Matt’s suggestion). After that, I’m off to Tasmania, which I’m really excited about. After Tasmania, Perth and Fremantle beckon. After that, reality and the States beckon….