As we mentioned before the fate decided to connect us with a Polish family team travelling around the world. It turned out that both our teams are planning to climb Mt Kosciuszko, the heighest Australian mountain. Lead by a rule that ‘more Poles = more fun’ we decided to trek to the top of Australia together. The first, official, briefing meeting took place in Geehi, in Flat Plains Valley – a kingdom of kangaroos and wild Brumby horses. That evening we confirmed our plan, planned the way to the top and drank Lambrusco which was treated as an integration tool.

In the morning we reached the start of our 23 km trek – a small meadow near Dead Horse Gap (1570 m above sea level). We looked around in search of dead horses and after a minute we started our way up to Mt Kosciuszko (2228 m above sea level). First 2 hours we spent walking in a magical forest of small, white eucalyptus with lush greenery and alpine flowers.

In 2003 Kosciuszko National Park experienced huge fires that destroyed major part of its forests. These white, dead trees were burnt in these fires and create a specific, sad atmosphere in the park. After 2 hours of trekking we reached the high parts of the mountains where we had a magnificent views on the Dividing Range mountains. After 4.5 hours we reached the top of Australia – Mt Kosciuszko!

We have to mention that Paul Edmund Strzelecki – Polish explorer and geologist – was born in Poznan and was first European to climb the heighest mountain of Australia. Apart from that Strzelecki travelled around unknown at that time (XIX century) Australia and produced many scientific documents describing the nature, geology and wildlife of Australia’s landscapes. Today many of creeks, roads, treks, lakes and mountains bear his name. Strzelecki named the heighest point of Australia after a famous Polish freedom fighter – Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

After revive- survive session at the top we started the descent. Witka chose the company of younger participants talking about books, movies and trained dogs while Risky was discussing latest technology gadgets with the adults. Kids enjoyed the walk very much and didn’t even seem tired. After 3 hours we reached our starting point.

We were very lucky with the weather. Kosciuszko turned out to be a decent bloke and secured us sun on the way and 360 views from the top.

Now we are preparing for tragic change in our surroundings – some 40 Celsius down and deep snow… That’s what is awaiting us in Poland…

BLUE MOUNTAINS

After a week spent in Sydney we venture into Australia’s mountains. Exactly into Blue Mountains. Why Blue? They have been called Blue due to the blue haze that hovers above the mountains produced by the oil from the plentiful Eucalyptus trees. Why Mountains? We are not sure about this one because Blue Mountains is in fact a series of valleys that you peep into or walk down from high level. We need to mention that in Sydney we had met a Polish family, who travels around the world. This friendship turned out to be very important as faith decided to cross our paths couple of times. On the second night in Blue Mountains we met them, totally unexpected, on a camp ground, 8 km from a nearest village and an asphalt road. What an encounter! We think Polish people like the same paths…

In Blue Mountains we walked quite a bit… We walked down the shortest, steepest and quite difficult way to the Blue Gum Forest (2 km trek covering level change of 320m). Blue Gum Forest is a Eucaliptus forest in Grose Valley. This magic forest of huge eucaliptus trees is one of the biggest attractions of the national park. It is, however, quite difficult to reach. Hence there were no people around when we were there.

We also did some trek along the Six Foot Track – the most popular and the longest trek in Blue Mountains. The incredible Bowtells Swing Bridge can be reached after 3 hour trek down the Megalong Valley. It is well worth the walk and apart from swaying on the bridge we enjoyed a bath in the river and then we sunbaked ourselves on the rocks, like real lizards.

KOSCIUSZKO NATIONAL PARK

From Blue Mountains we went straight towards… mountains. To Kosciuszko National Park, known also as the Snowy Mountains. We have to mention that Kosciuszko was a famous Polish freedom fighter and noone in Australia can pronounce his name right. To add to the spelling horror Australians have with Polish surnames – the guy who explored Australian continent (also a Polish guy) and introduced the name ‘Kosciuszko’ was called Strzelecki. Yes, we do not blame the poor Australians for pronouncing it wrong.

The first night in Kosciuszko National Park we spent in Yarrangobilly, a village of one building. One abandoned building. Long time ago (before the national park boundaries were set) this was a well developed, up and comming village with schools, post office, sports events and cattle farms. When the National Park was established people were banned from grazing the cattle in the hills and therefore had to leave their villages and towns. There are plenty of ghost-towns and villages around the park.

The high season here is in winter. Then the snow falls and all the ski resorts open to welcome tourists and skiiers from around the world. We are quite surprised that few people are coming here in summer as it is a spectacular place to be with the forests, wildlife, lush greenery and many attractions waiting. One of such attraction is Thermal Pool close to Yarrangobilly. This pool is build, where a natural mountain spring waters come to ground. The water is always warm (27 Celsius) and slightly mineralised. The amount of water running through the pool hits 100 000 litres per hour. The pool is set in a valley, among forest and is not easily reached. Another place we had all to ourselves.

We parked in Sydney for quite a while. We wanted to get some air and take a rest from days on the road. We parked in a national park, 8 km from the heart of the city. Our time in the city wasn’t very urban. Or mybe it is the city that is not very urban…

During this week in Sydney we have met personally more wildlife than during the whole time in Australia. These encounters include cooking with possums and eating with parrots. In Royal Botanical Gardens, in the heart of Sydney, we met hoards of bats… Well ‘bat’ is not really appropiate here, as the monster are called ‘flying foxes’. In the very same park we spotted huge and thick spiderweb between the trees. Risky said it’s a net to catch one of many joggers or bikers. A while later Witka spotted the maker of the web above her head. Three hundreth of a second later she found herself on the other side of the park.

Lane Cove National Park, where we parked, offerd us a lot of wildlife encounters as well. During a nice trek along Lane Cove River Witka met a few friendly water dragons. When she sat down one, one-meter long dragon came very close to her feet (it was about a meter away) and started starring at her. After a quarter another dragon came by to join the fun. And then another lizard came and Witka felt a little bit like a three head monster everyone wants to look at. After a while the lizards organized themselves a competition ‘Who is more brave and will come closer to the monster’. All of them tried hard to beat one another. Witka got annoyed, though and decided to leave the group after 40 minutes of the game. We will never  know what made the animals come so close. Maybe they were just simply bored.

Every evening we were visited by possums. Their favourite place was, obviously, the kitchen. We happened to cook with possum sitting on the worktop carefully watching our hands and immediately catching everything that fell out of our hand. We experienced a bit of brutallity, as well. Laughing kookaburra – the iconic Australian bird – stole cheese from Witka. There would not be anything special about that, if the cheese (3 pieces of them!) was on a sandwich and in the way to her mouth. This cheeky little bast.rd appeared from nowhere, waved its wing before Witka’s face and ran off with 3 slices of cheese in its nib!! A sandwich with 3 slices of cheese happened only once in our journey. It meant to be a treatment. Witka went furious and started running after the thief. No success. Later we found out kookaburras are stealing food from barbeques. Couple of days ago 5 kookaburras came around and stole 5 sausages from a plate a guy was carrying to a table. I am glad we don’t have them in Poland.

In addition to that encounters we went to Australian Museum, where we got to know huge spiders, ants, snakes, crocodiles and other Australian creatures. Most of them were dead, thanks god.

The sydney itself charmed us with its setting, architecture and lifestyle. We visited Sydney Opera House, where Witka found out that the roof is tiled with tones of Swedish tiles. We noticed also that Sydneysiders love sport. Huge ammount of people do jogging, swimming, surfing. No wonder with countless beautiful beaches, parks and fitness tracks along the ocean… Bondi – the most popular Sydney’s beach – is full of people. Beautiful people. We were watching them self consciously… After 10 minutes we decided we don’t really fit there and went along the Oceand towards Coogee Beach. There we confirmed our suspicion that Sydney is a paradise city. Sun, warm weather, pristine beaches, ocean, waves, parks, excellent, free barbeque stations, free fitness stations along the paths… Everyday life of an Sydneysider consists of surfing, swimming in free pools or the ocean, snorkeling, jogging or riding a bike. In addition to that a cosmopolitan atmosphere and air-conditioned trains. Sydneysiders we met can’t believe we are going to Poland, where the summer lasts 3 months and other part of the year you have to spend indoors… We don’t blame them. We just start questioning our decision…

All the best for frozen Europe!

We greeted year 2010 in Townsville – a town where outback meets tropics and the ocean. Palms, colourful parrots and cockatoos, juicy greenery and turquoise water… So different from what we used to see for the last weeks! Townsville is a perfect place to start your journey to the Great Barrier Reef. After getting to know the prices of these tours and diving we felt silent for a gday. It was way out of our budget. Instead we went to Reef HQ – a series of recreated reefs and a big aquarium. There Witka met new colours, which kind of hipnotized her. All corals and little fish seemed to compete in an everlasting competition called ‘Most Intense and Original Colour Ever’. Adding to that we met some sharks, turtles, sea snakes, stone fish and other weird creatures swimming over our heads. Great experience.

From Townsville we headed southwards, along Pacific Coast. We stopped in Bowen – a town, where “Australia” was filmed couple of years ago. Nice and stuffy little town. Marybourough stole our hearts, though. This town has amazing architecture, people that greets you on the streets and a climate a bit like from a fairytale… Maybe it’s because the author of ‘Mary Poppins’ – P.L.Travers – was born here. In Maryborough you van find one of the best examples of queenslanders – typical, timber houses built on vertical ’stumps’, with huge verandas and decorative elements.

We stopped for litterally 10 seconds in Byron Bay, where there were hords of holiday makers. We could not believe such a small town can handle so many people. The town, atmosphere and local beaches are stunning and I understand everyone in Australia wants to go there. But why everybody goes there in the same week??

Outback has its own rules. We have studied them well and have learnt couple of things we want to share with you here…

• Never say that an inch-sized ant that you spotted under your feet is the biggest one you have ever seen. You never know what’s lurking behind the next tree.
• You are annoyed when you need to overtake a slow bus? Try overtaking Australian Road Train – over 53 metre long truck that rules the outback roads. You’ll need 2.5 km of distance to overtake this monster with a speed of 100km/h
• Outback taught us how to cook without water. Here some simple recipes: ‘Boiled Pickles’ – buy a jar of pickled gherkins, put it in the trunk of your car and drive for 20 km on an outback road. Check the gerghins and drive for another 5 km, if needed. Gherkins will be boiled and hot to touch. ‘ Steamless Steamed Tomatoes’ – eco friendly and water preserving recipe. Ordinary toamtoes + 4 hours in your car’s trunk + a minimum of 100km drive on an outback road = delicscious, warm and half boiled tomatoes.
• Do you complain when you have to walk a long distance to a 24hrs local store to get a beer? Don’t complain. In all outback towns and villages alkohol can be bought ONLY between 2pm and 8pm and ONLY in special, drive-thru bottle stores. Forget about getting a beer in a supermarket or after 8pm.
• In the outback you never know for sure what time it is. Even if you have more than 2 watches. Australian states lay in different time zones and some of the regions apply sunlight saving time. And some of the regions don’t. It took us 3 days to notice that we are in different time zones and that we are an hour behind.
• The word ‘cold’ have a different meaning here.  A lady in Marla informed us that today is a cool day – only 38 Celsius

• Although you won’t meet many people in the woutback, the ones you meet will definitely be very interresting personalities. We have met – among others -  Crazy German, Hot Hot Motorcyclist and Unbeatable Jean:

We met Crazy German on one of the outback’s rest areas, in the middle of nowhere. He is a keen cyclist who cycles from Melbourne to Ayers Rock (you figure out the distance) and then from Cairns to Sydney. Crazy distances for a bike ride. He is covering 200km per day. In that heat and in that empty, scary outback.

Hot Hot Motorcyclist is an American whom Witka met by the side of a swimming pool. He is going around the world on his motorbike. He covered Europe, Asia, Japan, Taiwan and now he is riding through Australia.

Unbeatable Jean is, on the other hand, doesn’t have a bike. Neither a motorbike. He is WALKING around the world. He has spent 9 years on the road and has 2 more to go. Jean is a Canadian that left his house, wlaked through United States, Central and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and now he is walking through Australia. Jean told us taht this is the longest walk ever and he will be included in Guiness book. We met Jean by chance, when we stopped to take a rest.