Christmas is already here!

Its been a year since I arrived in South Australia, not sure if it is because the koalas have got the best fur and the best smile of all, except for the ever grumpy males (see on Youtube: Koala males fighting) or if it is the constant crisp eucalypt smell through hot days that kept me in this part of Australia for so long....winter was cold and cloudy, felt like it would never end...managed to go on a few bike rides on sunny days, just to get my fingers frozen .....escaped to a few places, Melbourne - much worse than Adelaide - to see Marion and Alan who had a new baby girl; Sydney to attend a film making workshop that inspired me a lot for 'Cheaky the koala' project, Cairns for a guide jobs...and of course many trips to Kangaroo Island to escort Belgium and Canadian groups to see the sea lions, tamars, black tiger snake, echidnae.... stocking up on ligurian bee honey and eucalypt oil from the distillery.
Cheaky's mum had a new baby, got lots of love and care from her, learnt how to get his own food and to be independent at a very young age; still very small, Mum kicked him out of her tree, looks like she is keeping an eye at distance....
Christmas is near, the traffic is crazy, shopping centers parkings are mad, it s hot, what a nice day to be in the library to update the blog and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016

before the festival




got no more capital letters on my keyboard as millions of tiny ants have invaded it......that is life in darwin with the dry, dry weather...ants are everywhere even in my bed....
left cairns in june, i think, with lisa a german traveller..we did a bit of sightseeing on the way, camping and entry to the normanton rodeo for only 5 dollars each,  got involved on day of raising funds for the farmers at  karumba  where we met a fisherman who gave us a pack of huge prawns.....


cowboys having fun....



the local team sponsored by a gas company


yummy..........

running with the crocs away from the cracking whips.........


we met a friendly lady drover from queensland...





camping by a billabong


explorer macdonald stuart would 

have preferred a house on wheels?


this old truck is going so fast and its so cool....

kakadu here we come.....
first we explored katherine gorge, hiking , swimming....




a vast rocky country...


we walked the 12km bark walk behind nourlangie.....spectacular and tough....



there we discovered this yelow huge bee, never seen anywhere else.....


at the end of the walk the rangers had set the fire onto the bush behind us........




happy to have an indigenous guide at ubirr




sunset at ubirr 


wetlands; birds, lotus flowers, fish, crocs.....sneaking on us...


more vultures.....


millions of mosies, even the fire could not keep them away....


one of the best festivals in Australia happens to be in darwin, 2 weeks of music, theatre,.....with the large mining and gas companies sponsoring, many concerts were free such as abba


torres straight islanders at the opening

telstra sponsored the indigenous artists award, at the museum, for the occasion we could take photographs
this is modern painting on bark


my favourite 



vietnamese puppet show at the lagoon


indonesian puppet show in the park with a monster eating children in the crowd....


the great star.....gurumul....



the festival closed with an evening of choirs from tiwi islands, the red center and soweto



I have been working for apollo campers, looking after clients, showing vehicles, running around like a chook in the yard dealing with a mountain of problems....long hours, with a maxi pay of 38hrs at 20 dollars....the staff is all backpackers, no ozzies want to work in these conditions, but that s all i found.....will be leaving soon to head towards alice springs and adelaide.........will be missing the lovely sunsets



My favourite....Gurumul!

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just a sample for you ...

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Darwin festival




soweto choir, Darwin......








Kuranda Bike Show

 
 
Back in Cairns, off  to the Kuranda Bike show, not many attended, may be the newly passed law to fight bikies and at the same time to eliminate as many  bikers as possible - a politician dream is to see no more bikes on the road - has left many bikes in their sheds. I did not attend the party afterwards as I did not want to get into any more trouble with the local cops .....
 
 From the old
 
to the arty
 



This is more like my style


 

Returning to OZ


Charle De Gaulle airport

Air France going green, paper bags are used on board to collect plastic bottles and cups
 
The best toilets in France are ....at the airport! beautiful tiles on the floor, like the ones I dream of having at home....
 
 
Comparing to this toilet in the country.....