Tag Archives: car

Gunta writes:
It’s Lāčplēsis day today. We get up at 5:30 and leave at 7:30. The Sun rises after 5:30. The place where we camped was good. When we arrived last night, there was a warning that there might be crocodiles, but it’s not like that as we are high above river banks. There are 2 big bridges over the river – one railway and the other – auto. There are many vehicles and trailers in the campsite. We meet a man from Switzerland who has been traveling for a long time – since 2007. He says he has caught lots of fish. Ilgonis wants a fish, but there’s nothing to give in return.

We are going to Cairns, beautiful hilly road, cattle is grazing on road sides – cows, calves, horses. It has been burning again on roadsides. We conclude that everything burns down, but the termites survive. The surroundings are changing. The road becomes lonelier, many warnings about road flooding. Sometimes there are empty cars left on roadsides. We are wondering whether those are the ones broken down in flood or left after crashes as a warning for people to not go so fast.

Near Townsville oleanders, rhododendrons and African tulip trees are blooming. We want to get to the sea and are heading towards Toomulla beach [Agnese’s comment – because that’s the closest to the highway]. We park almost on the shore. Short walks. The Saltwater Creek is flowing into the ocean here, it should be fine to go into the water of the creek. It is not fine to go into the ocean water as if the water is calm, there might be the small box jellyfish here, which are deadly. We can see beautiful shells that have been washed out of the sea and broken corals.

There are nice, green fields. We have several ideas, but Anders says – sugar canes. On one side of the road – hills, on the other – beautiful ranch houses with palms.

A stop and a walk at Tyto Wetlands park. The ground is cracked. Emīls realizes that there’s almost no shadow. On palm trunks there are ferns growing, there are tropical plants all around. Trees with interesting fruits, similar to rambutans from Indonesia. We are listening to bird songs. It’s hot, sweating, temperature surely around 35 degrees. In the lake there are ducks swimming and some white waterbirds. Anders and Rūdolfs are seriously observing everything. There are ants nests among bush branches and canes. Then something is rustling in the grass. We are sending Rūdolfs ahead. It seems that someone flees. On our way back – photo with a small wallaby who is fearfully hiding under bushes. Then he gathers courage and makes a mighty jump over the road.

We are going further. The surroundings have changed – rain forests, cultivated fields, plantations with bananas. Local vegetables and fruits are being sold. We buy 2 watermelons – and eat one at once. Very tasty, sweet. Then comes Cairns – green, blooming. We find Andrejs’ house and park in the yard. There are diverse plants here – a cocos palm with coconuts, pineapples, pomelo, flowers, blooming bushes. There are poisonous toads living in the garden.

Then dinner with seafood, rice and wine. Conversations going on, we are checking Andrejs’ photo albums, listening about local birds, plants. Drinking tea with eucalyptus leaves which have been gathered in Zita’s care in the garden. Late we are going to sleep.

Anders writes:
The roadtrip started! A few hours later than expected, mostly because the process of collecting the cars was very slow. If we had not already visited the city office the day before we would probably have been there the whole day. Anders, Agnese and Evija collected the Cars: “Optimus Prime” for the women and “Hawk” for the men. At the Latvian house the others were waiting with all the groceries.

Next we headed for the blue mountains. The blue colour is believed to come from particles emitted by the many eucalyptus trees. The bedrock consists mostly of orange/yellow sandstone however. In Katoomba we had some very nice views of these mountains. We also counted dead kangaroos by the roadside, final count was 13, none of those killed by Optimus Prime or Hawk.

We found a gorgeous free campsite for the night and feasted on sausages with gravy, potatoes and salad. Those who stayed up late were treated to a fantastic red Moon rising fast on the clear night sky, over the nearby lake.

Emīls writes [Agnese comments]:
We have planned to go to the rental office today to get all the paperwork done. We should meet at 9:20am. I arrange with Agnese to arrive at 9:30 as then I can buy the cheaper off-peak ticket. As the ride takes around 30mins, I came to my stop shortly after 9. The trains usually go every 5 or 6 minutes, but this time I had to wait for almost 15. Of course, as a result I expected to be late and arrive at 9:45. At some stop the train decided to wait for another 7 minutes and in the end, one stop before my destination it stopped and didn’t move any further. I waited for some 10 minutes till I understood that I might wait for the whole day. Some tourists were onboard and they were talking loudly, so I couldn’t hear anything that was said over loudspeaker. I asked one Australian person what has happened. He said he doesn’t understand anything as well. If he, being an Australian cannot understand, how can I do it being a tourist? In the end it turned out that he’s going to the same stop as me. So I managed to get to the destination together with the Australian in a taxi with almost an hour delay.

Once the paperwork was done, we went up in the Sydney’s tall TV tower. A wonderful view over the city. However I didn’t feel anything extraordinary – maybe I have flown and seen cities from above enough. After that 3 people from out group, me including, visited the aquarium. There were uncountable fish and other water creatures’ species. But I was the most surprised by the many sharks which were both small and very big in size. I saw them alive for the first time in my life from distance of just about 1m. [The others visited Powerhouse museum or Australian museum meanwhile and were very happy with their choice but a bit short of time to see everything properly].

Later we took a ferry ride [to Manly beach]. Once in the destination whole passenger crowd left the ferry through one exit, but we [were guided to other exit as we were blocking the path while waiting for the others of our group]. I had quickly gone through the normal exit, but my fellow travelers were hesitating somewhere. After some waiting I decided to take a look, where is everyone. Of course, there was something for free again – this time it’s complimentary coffee. I went back via the exit, but a station officer called me back and said that it’s not allowed to go there. I replied that I’m looking for my travel mates. I went a bit further and saw – everyone is making coffee – they had put the powder and sugar in cups, just about to pour the water on it. And then the doors of the station officer box opened and she saw the complimentary coffee being used, which was not intended for the passengers of this ferry. As a result Emīls had spoiled the coffee opportunity for his mates, and compensated them later with a bar of chocolate. Anyway, who is drinking coffee in the middle of the day when there’s ocean with waves waiting in a few hundred meters? .
A great swim in the ocean, sunset on a beach, a ride back to Sydney centre with a ferry and a view to the city in the night – fantastic!