Koala bear

I could write about our 400-kilometer journey (from Mildura to Maclaren Vale), bore you with some more desriptions about the changing landscape (vineyards, bush, golden fields) but why would I do this if I can write about something crucial? We finally managed to find a koala bear! Having perceived a road sign warning about the danger of a suicidal koala appearing suddenly on the road, we decided to take a walk in the bush. We were walking there for almost an hour but our patience got rewarded and we finally saw the animal we had been most waiting to see. The koala was deeply asleep and it could not even be bothered to move when it saw us. But finally it yawned and climbed downwards (Raph might have helped it gain more energy to move by shaking the tree a little bit). Koalas are rare- there are only 100 thousands, as compared to 50 million kangaroos, so, as you can imagine, we are really happy we got a chance to observe it in its natural habitat, in the wild bush.

Moglabym dzisiaj zanudzac Was opisami pieknych krajobrazow, ktore mijalismy po drodze do Maclaren Vale z Mildury ( a mialabym o czym pisac- wspanialy busz, zlote pola, szmaragdowe winnice) jednak czemuz bym to robila, jesli moge napisac o czyms znacznie bardziej interesujactm? Udalo nam sie znalezc misia koale! Gdy bylismy w drodze do Adelaide, ujrzelismy znak ostrzegajacy o mozliwosci wtargniecia samobojczych koali na jezdnie, wiec zdecydowalismy sie na spacer po buszu. Nasza cierpliwosc zostala wynagrodzona i po godzinie ujrzelismy koale. Mis byl tak zaspany, ze nawet na nas nie zwrocil uwagi. Pozniej ziewnal i zszedl troche nizej ( na ten nagly przyplyw energii zyciowej zdecydowanie mial wplyw Rafcio, ktory zaczal trzasc drzewem). Koale sa rzadkim zjawiskiem- jest ich tu tylko 100 tysiecy ( w porownaniu do 50 milionow kangurow), mozecie zatem sobie wyobrazic, jak bardzo jestesmy zadowoleni, ze mielismy okazje obserwowac jedna w swoim naturalnym srodowisku w dzikim buszu

Hattah- Kulkyne

Two days ago, when we arrived in Mildura, we did all we could to cancel the reservation of our motel for the third day, as we wanted to go further north to see Broken Hill (Some say that from there the 'real' outback begins). Nonetheless, once again life showed us that the best things you can encounter cannot be planned. Today, not knowing what to do, we decided to keep driving ahead until we stumbled upon a small road leading to Hattah- Kulkyne( what a name! How could we have not turned there?) National Park. The park turned out to be a hidden gem with no one except for us for the whole day. Well the latter is not entirely true- we did encounter a friendly family of kangaroos (although the mother seemed a little bit anxious and overprotective of her tiny kangaroo baby), many rainbow-coloured parrots (we still cannot decide whether the emerald ones are prettier or perhaps the title of the most gorgeous parrot should go to the crimson ones) and even a majestatic eagle who was too busy building up (or perhaps it was merely a spring renovation?) his nest to pay any attention to us. And at the end of the day, to make this picture even more perfect, we found a lookout point from which one could see hundreds of kilometeres of bush stretching beneath us.

Dwa dni temu, gdy dotarlismy do Mildury, chcielismy skrocic nasz pobyt do dwoch dni (zamiast zaplanowanych trzech), aby pojechac do polozonego dalej na polnoc Broken Hill, ktore niektorzy okreslaja jako 'poczatek prawdziwego australijskiego outbacku'. Jednak zycie po raz kolejny pokazalo nam, ze najpiekniejszych rzeczy nie da sie zaplanowac. Nie wiedzac co ze soba poczac postanowilismy po prostu jechac przed siebie i gdy ujrzelismy droge do Hattah- Kulkyne National Park, nie moglismy jej nie wybrac( kto by sie oparl takiej nazwie?). Park okazal sie byc ukrytym klejnotem. Bylismy zupelnie sami nie liczac przyjaznej rodzinki kangurow (aczkolwiek kangurza mama wydawala sie byc troche niespokojna- pewnie obawiala sie o swoje kangurzatko), papugi w kolorach teczy (nie mozemy dojsc do porozumienia, czy tytul mistera papug powinna otrzymac papuga o szmaragdowym zabarwieniu czy o karminowym) oraz majestatycznego orla, ktory byl zbyt zajety budowaniem gniazda ( a moze tylko wiosennym remontem), zeby zwrocic na nas uwage. A zakonczenie dnia bylo przyslowiowa wisienka na torcie: znalezlismy punkt widowiskowy, z ktorego moglismy podziwiac busz rozciagajacy sie na kilkaset kilometrow.

Australian Outback

Yesterday we crossed the state of Victoria(550 kilometers) to get to, what we previously thought would be 'the middle of nowhere' i.e. Mildura. The city, however, surprised us, it was nothing like the small villages we passed on our way there (which seemed to be completely deserted, as if life forgot all about them). Mildura turned out to be a big city that could be easily mistaken to be an American one ( huge streets, big supermarkets, even many obese peoplen not wanting to be mean, obviously). 'Why Mildura'? -you might wonder. Well, I have never been to the Australian outback before (unlike Raph, who visited Australia in 2004) and when I  saw a national park called Mungo on the map(110 kilometers from Mildura), I thought that could be a nice place to go to get a glimpse of the 'real outback'. So we drove off to Mildura and on our way there we saw giant lizards (Raph took a nice picture of it, sunbathing on a brick coloured road), kangaroos(which have reddish fur in this region and are generally smaller than the ones we saw around Melbourne), fast, funny emus and emerald parrots. Mungo National Park, which used to be a lake, surprised us by its Walls of China- otherwordly dunes stretching across 30 kilometers. On our way back, listening to 'Beds are Burning' and watching the sunset, we couldn't help but be enchanted by the Australian outback.

Wczoraj przecielismy stan Victoria (550 km), zeby dotrzec do czegos, co z gory okreslilismy jako 'miejsce gdzie diabel mowi dobranoc', czyli do Mildury. Samo miasto jednak okazalo sie zupelnie inne niz mijane przez nas wioski, ktore sprawialy wrazenie, jakby czas sie w nich zatrzymal. Mildura ze swoimi szerokimi ulicami i ogromnymi supermarketami( o otylych ludziach niewspominajac, nikt nie chce byc niemily) przypomina typowe amerykanskie miasteczko. 'Czemu Mildura'?- ktos moglby zapytac. Ja, w przeciwienstwie do Rafcia( ktory juz w 2004 roku  odwiedzil Australie), nigdy nie widzialam prawdziwego 'outback-u' i gdy ujrzalam na mapie nazwe Mungo National Park( 110 km od MIldury)stwierdzilam, ze mogloby to byc mile miejsce (z uwagi na to, ze nic dookola tego parku nie ma oprocz wlasnie wspomnianego outbacku). Po drodze do Mildury widzielismy ogromne jaszczury (Rafcio zrobil ladne zdjecie jednemu giganowi, ogrzewajacemu sie na ceglastej drodze), kangury ( w tym regionie sa mniejsze i maja czerwonawe futro), szybkie, zabawne emu i szmaragdowe papugi. Sam park Mungo, ktory byl kiedys jeziorem, zaskoczyl nas Chinskim Murem- pieknymi wydmami rozciagajacymi sie na 30 km. W powrotnej drodze, sluchajac 'Beds are Buring' i ogladajac zachod slonca nie moglismy nie dac sie oczarowac australijskiemu outbackowi.

Picnic at Hanging Rock and the Kangaroos

Majority of you would have seen the movie 'Picnic at The Hanging Rock' or would have read the book. For the minority, let me explain: it's a horror/ mystery story set on Valentine's Day in 1900. A group of schoolgirls from a high- profile boarding school have a picnic at Hanging Rock and few of them go missing whilst exploring the surroundings of the Rock. Although the story is fictional, we could not resist the temptation of exploring the Rock ourselves. I must have been carried away by my imagination, however as we went deeper into the forest and higher up the summit and as the wind howling grew stronger and the sun hid behind the clouds, I felt a thrill of mystery. This was further enhanced by the fact that we were virtually alone. Having reached the summit of the Rock, I understood why the author of the novel was inspired to write a mystery/ horror story.
On our way back I spotted a family of kangaroos and we finally managed to get some pictures of them. We approached them( having jumped over a fence- glad we are not in the United States!) and could observe them from a closer distance, although after a minute of intense staring into each other's eyes, they must have decided we weren't trustworthy and/ or interesting enough for them to hang around and gracefully hopped away.Although there were many road signs warning of koalas crossing the road (taunting me!), we did not see any of them.I have a strong suspicion that those signs may only be serving a purpose of entertaining drivers, bored by the monotonous highway...

Wiekszosc z Was zapewne zna film 'Piknik pod Wiszaca Skala' badz czytala powiesc. Akcja dzieje sie w roku 1900, w dzien Sw. Walentego. Grupka dziewczat z pensji wyrusza na piknik pod Wiszaca Skala i kilka z nich ginie w tajemniczych okolicznosciach. Nic dziwnego, ze bedac tutaj postanowilismy przekonac sie, czy skala ta bedzie faktycznie tak niezwykla. (chociaz, oczywiscie, historia jest w calosci zmyslona). Byc moze dalam sie poniesc wyobrazni ale w miare jak zaglebialismy sie coraz bardziej w las i wspinalismy sie coraz wyzej, atmosfera stawala sie coraz bardziej tajemnicza. Potegowalo to wycie wiatru oraz fakt, ze bylismy  tam praktycznie sami. Gdy dotarlismy na szczyt zrozumialam dlaczego autorka powiesci byla zainspirowana do jej napisania.
Wracajac, ujrzelismy rodzine kangurow i po pokonaniu plotu( dobrze, ze nie jestesmy w Stanach Zjednoczonych!) moglismy sie im przyjrzec z bliska. Kangury jednak musialy dojsc do wniosku, ze albo nie jestesmy godni zaufania albo nie jestesmy wystarczajaco interesujacy i po minutowym wpatrywaniu sie w nasze oczy, z gracja odskoczyly w busz. Pomimo wielu znakow drogowych ostrzegajacych przed koala, ktory moze wtargnac na droge, nie udalo nam sie zadnego zauwazyc. Zaczynam podejrzewac, ze znaki te sluza tylko uprzyjemnieniu kierowcom monotonnej drogi!

Great Ocean Road

We rented out a car today, which was immediately baptised. From now on it will be referred to as 'Bob' owing to its spectacular posture and strength. The three of us (Bob included) drove down the Great Ocean Road (see the pictures attached) and I couldn't be happier, because at one point I managed to spot two kangaroos.
The drive itself deserves a little bit of description- it was amazing, as the landscape kept changing constantly- we went through fields that resembled ones we saw in Cape Town only to suddenly find ourselves immersed in the exotic rainforest. (We even took a walk in it and it was a bewitching experience). The road itself, winding along the coast resembled the one in California.
The highlights of the drive (apart from the aforemntioned rainforest) were Twelve Apostles- limestone rocks scattered in the ocean and a quaint town called Apollo Bay with grass that was even greener than the English one, which is meticulously cared after by the gardeners.
Our trip lasted longer than we thought it would, because one had to be constantly aware of the fact that a kangaroo might appear on the road and due to  the state of the roads (most of them are aptly described by road signs as 'rough').
Our hunt for Koala bears still continues...

Wypozyczylismy samochod, ktory zostal od razu ochrzczony i odtad bedzie nazywany 'Bob' ze wzgledu na pokazne rozmiary i sile. W trojke (wlaczajac oczywiscie Boba) wybralismy sie na Great Ocean Road (w zalaczeniu zdjecia). Droga byla tak interesujaca, ze zasluguje na krotki opis. Najciekawsze byly ciagle zmiany krajobrazu- zielone pola z winnicami, przypominajace te kapsztadzkie nagle zmienialy sie w egzotyczny las tropikalny ( w kotrym zreszta udalismy sie na spacer). Sama droga natomiast bardzo przypomina ta kalifornijska, wijaca sie urokliwie nad wybrzezem. Oprocz dwoch kangurow, ktore wypatrzylam i ktore sprawily mi niesamowita przyjemnosc, najbardziej podobali nam sie Apostolowie -'12 Apostles', czyli skaly rozrzucone w oceanie oraz urokliwe miasteczko Apollo Bay, w ktorym zielen trawy byla bardziej gleboka niz przyslowiowego trawnika angielskiego. Podroz zajela nam znacznie dluzej niz sadzilismy ze wzgledu na to, ze Rafcio caly czas musial uwazac na mogace niespodziewanie wtargnac na droge kangury oraz na stan drog.
Wciaz polujemy na misia koale, ktory na razie sie przed nami sprytnie ukrywa.