If you are firmly convinced that you speak English well before arriving in Australia, forget about it! In this “English-speaking” country, you will constantly be haunted by the same thought: “Well, I didn’t understand what they just told me.” Therefore, I continually looked with a questioning glance at my husband, who spoke fluent English, but in response, I heard the exact phrase I had written above. Those. Theoretically, it is English, but the accent or some Australian dialect makes it completely “Martian”.
Welcome to the Land Down Under Culture Shock
Also, in this country, get ready to carry your suitcases because even in the best five-star hotels, no one will rush to your car to take them out. Even taxi drivers will sit rooted to the spot behind the wheel, at best pressing the trunk release button. Full democracy under the slogan “Are your hands and feet in place? So you can handle it!”
Contrasting Experiences: Japan vs. Australia
In this regard, I am always constantly thinking of the picture I saw in Tokyo at the entrance to the luxurious hotel “The Peninsula Tokyo”, when an expensive car drove up to the entrance, from which a man stepped out from the cover of Forbes magazine, loudly slammed the car door and headed straight to the hotel rooms. Doors. He didn’t care, but the suitcases were in the trunk; he feared someone would take them out and magically put them up in his room. And you won’t believe it. Someone immediately ran to the car, took out everything in the last bag and rushed all these clothes to the reception to find out which room to deliver them. The man didn’t even turn his head towards the car or the hotel employee running out, being told that this was not his “royal” business… How I love Japan for all of THIS! EHJ
Journey from Cairns to Darwin: Unexpected Realizations
Well, wee on and fly from Cairns to Darwin, to places of terrible heat and lack of civilization. Those who wait years for a residence permit in Australia are sometimes offered to receive it almost immediately, with one “little condition”—they must live in Darwin for at least ten years! The conclusions suggest that J.
Travel Woes: Ticket Troubles and Tea on Jetstar
We were more than one person away from their Sunday rest, but what could we do? I wanted to get on the plane. Our schedule included 11 flights, and the failure of at least one of them—well, except for the last one—meant problems—BIG PROBLEMS!
It turned out that the tickets were issued on the wrong forms, so something went wrong, although the reservation system “saw” us. I hope that she (the reservation system, God bless her) will continue to see us, J.
At Cairns airport, upon departure, I carefully studied a beautifully illustrated book about what we did NOT see on the Great Barrier Reef. The fish were colourful and beautiful; the corals were stunning. I asked my husband if you could buy a book. My husband looked at me meaningfully, from which I immediately realized, “We won’t buy it.”
When we flew with JetStJetstarre, they poured boiling water into a paper cup and gave us a bag of tea for only four bucks! But if you have a lot of Australian change in your pocket, you can safely drink it for tea on the plane, although you don’t need to look the flight attendant in the face when paying for this tea.
Darwin: History and Realization
Darwin! What a cool name for the city and something so monumental. This was the only city in the country that was bombed during the Second World War, and then it was almost completed, all because the Australians were somehow sure that Japanese aircraft were not able to fly to their territories. Alas!
The Search for Kakadu: A Desert Journey
When I was drawing up the program for our trip, I made a note to myself – to visit the Kakadu National Park, but after unloading from the plane into incredible heat and heat and driving for a couple of hours through an almost lifeless desert with an ambient temperature of under 40, the thought crept into my head – maybe Perhaps I looked something wrong on the Internet because there was no smell of parks here. Only huge termite mounds were on the sides of the roads, and along the streets, only road trains were rushing at high speed.
Australian Marvels: Termite Mounds
Australia is sometimes called the land of road trains, and they were a spectacle on the roads in the north of the country. Sometimes, entire trains consisting of a tractor and two or three trailers—the usual length of such a train—reached fifty meters. There are also road trains with seven trailers capable of transporting up to 190 tons of cargo. It was in Australia that the world’s longest road train with 45 trailers and 100 wheels was registered.
Driving along the same road with them is not the most pleasant experience; firstly, they rush at great speed and practically do not slow down, and secondly, they raise a massive cloud of dust and sand around them. So we tried to stay away from them (just in case).
The Mysteries of Termites and Their Mounds
Road, heat, termite mounds, and nothing around. Well, okay, termite mounds are fantastic, too, I thought to myself. However, looking at them for three days is too much. When does this Kakadu Park start? Well, for now, there are only termite mounds. Termite mounds and burnt trees stand for many kilometres along the roads.
Termites living in Australia are record holders in construction: their termite mounds, up to 8 meters high, are the tallest among objects built by animals. This was surprising because termites build the planet’s most significant structures- considering their body size (3 mm). If they increase to human proportions, then such a building will reach a height of several kilometres. A termite mound is not only a tall structure on the earth’s surface; any floors go underground, and corridors extend far across the surrounding area.
It is surprising that in the northern part of Australia, these termite mound towers are oriented strictly from north to south. This may be done so it is not hot inside the termite’s home. But what is surprising is how termites know where north and south are and why their homes do not deviate even a centimetre from the imaginary line between these parts of the world.
At first glance, termites resemble ants. These creatures are not even their relatives. In each termite “state,” there is, first of all, a female queen. The female queen lives separately, wholly isolated from the world; understandably, living together with her servants is not a royal thing. Its only task is to lay eggs, and it does this regularly: every 2-3 seconds – one egg, a day – 30-35 thousand, a year – 12 million, and so on for several decades.
A residential termite mound is ideal, with a complex ventilation system and numerous tunnels and corridors. Without thermostats or special air conditioners, it always maintains a constant, optimal temperature, regardless of the time of year or day. All this allows you to grow entire gardens of mushrooms inside the termite mound, which are food for the larvae. By the way, the fungus that termites produce does not grow anywhere else in nature. Their colonies are a world in which collective existence far exceeds the individual capabilities of each termite individually.
By the way, termite mounds in Australia are cone-shaped and unique—magnetic—and can only be seen in Litchfield National Park. This is a protected species of termite mounds, to which it is strictly forbidden to come close, and the entire territory is fenced.
Some of them rise three meters above the ground. Moreover, they are all relatively flat, and their sharp corners point strictly north and south, like a compass needle. Scientists have yet to solve this mystery!
