Pics of Australia

Welcome to this photo section! All these photographs of Australia were taken by my girlfriend Anka and me in Sep. and Oct. 2010. We crossed the country by train from North to South and then back from South to North.

Above: Sunset at Darwin. Below: Katherine Gorge. Both are in the Northern Territory.

Kata Tjuta, the “Olgas”, quite next to the famous Uluru/Ayers Rock:

Sea lions on the beach of Kangaroo Island, near Adelaide:

The gigantic “Remarkable Rocks”, higher than the highest single family house, Kangaroo Island:

One of many koalas at Cape Otway, Great Ocean Road, near Melbourne:

The “Twelve Apostles”, Great Ocean Road:

Flush + wash ! Wash your hands and flush the toilet in one step!

P.s.: Very useful in Australia with its vast water problems. In Germany, I regard saving energy and hot water more important than saving cold toilet water. Below: the endless views of the Grampians.

… and one of the many cockatoos in the Gramps:

That’s our cool and ecologically aware camp ground in a national park in Sydney:

Here, the likewise endless views of the Blue Mountains, near Sydney:

… which are full of waterfalls and so called “hanging swamps” on and above cliffs:

Back on the cool camp ground, we invited some guests (“Honeyeaters”) into our tent:

Here in Brisbane, we watched parrots making love:

… and made friends with a tame kangaroo:

Anka cuddling a koala :

That’s Kuranda train station near Cairns in the tropical rainforest, arguably the loveliest station we have ever seen:

In Kuranda, we encountered the neverending cheekiness of parrots large and small (they tried to destroy every part of our clothes and backpacks but it was worth the fun ):

Our last highlight in Australia was a snorkel tour to the Great Barrier Reef – absolutely amazing, millions of fish, corals and impressions: 

I hope you have enjoyed the photos!

Yours Matthias

P.s.: It is, of course, a good and necessary question whether an ecologically aware person should travel to Australia, emitting probably ten tons of carbon dioxide. I do not proclaim to provide an universally applicable answer; however, I argue that one must learn about the world one wants to save – and we got a lot of general insights on our trip (into the impact of climate change [desertification, forest fire, water shortage...], into how we exploit our basis of life but also how we can go alternative ways [think of the futuristic toilet ]). One of the long lasting fruits of our journey (and of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book “Eating Animals”) is our decision to eat a vegetarian diet in and after Australia. Avoiding meat might sound strange in a country which celebrates its daily barbecue; but we managed it quiet well and happily continue it back home; knowing, that it is probably one of the best things one can do for climate and environment.