DOWN UNDER Filip de Sagher
It’s a Topsy-Turvy World Down Under! The vast remote interior is called The Outback.
F
lying to the other side of the globe is a long affair.
You can easily watch the trilogies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit—with time to spare. And those movies are not a bad preparation either for your trip because once there, you feel as if you are in fantasyland. And not only because of the jet-lag. Upon leaving the airport with your rented car, you will probably hear wild honking. It’s just fellow drivers politely requesting you to steer on the wrong side of the road!
And for the rest of the trip, you will signal your intention to turn left or right by activating the wipers since the respective levers are switched around on the steering wheel.
And for the rest of the trip, you will signal your intention to turn left or right by activating the wipers since the respective levers are switched around on the steering wheel.
After you manage to check into your hotel, you wake up zombie-like in the land Down Under. “G’day, mate. Serve you a brekky?” As for coffee, the difference between a long black (think Americano) and a flat white (espresso with milk) is patiently explained to the extra-terrestrial. The landscape out the café window is an endless deep blue ocean covered with a white haze on the horizon and framed by a long beach. Alongside the inviting sunny sand, you see the distinctive shape of the ubiquitous Norfolk pines, Araucaria Columnaris, aka Norfolk pine or Cook pine. Captain James Cook actually used those pines to replace his worn-out
Typical road scene. South of Adelaide on our way to Mclaren Vale, a wine region
14
TABLE OF CONTENTS
This continent has fascinating flora and fauna. The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia
This is a Kookaburra or kingfisher. Its call is very distinctive, like someone laughing very hard. Volume 26 Number 2 Summer 2017