Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/29

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Re: Trip to Australia
From: chucko@siteconnect.com (Chuck Albertson)
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 17:43:34 -0700

Wolfgang,

Going up the Track, eh? Great stuff. Keep in mind that they had a ton of
rain in the Top End the past wet season, so roads and some towns will be
washed out or under repair in a lot of places. It's also unleashed the
proverbial plague of locusts in the southern part of Australia, right across
to WA. In the north, there's also been an increase in mosquito-borne
diseases, including a local strain of encephalitis that is still rare, but
nasty. Be picky about where you sleep if you go camping in the bush, use
mosquito netting, and use plenty of mozzy rep.

It's a bit early in the season, but a side trip to the Katherine Gorge is
worth it. Lichfield National Park (a few hours south of Darwin) is
overlooked in favor of Kakadu National Park by a lot of people, but has a
lot to see and isn't as crowded. If you do any camping in the bush, be sure
to ask around about crocodiles. With all the flooding, the big salties have
migrated to some unexpected places, but the locals usually can tell you
where they're hanging out.

Take some high-speed black-and-white to photograph some of the happenings
around the roadhouses on the Track, as you'll likely spend some time around
them. During the dry season, Darwin has a night market every Thursday night
out at Mindel Beach, near the casino. Go out there before the sun goes down,
catch the sunset at the beach, then wander around the market for a few
hours. Darwin is a multi-cultural city, closer to Jakarta than to Sydney,
and this really comes out at the market. Accommodation there has been scarce
there lately, as Darwin is the staging area for a lot of the relief work
going to East Timor, so be sure to check ahead of time. Have a great
trip--the light out in the bush is unreal!

Chuck Albertson
Seattle, Wash.

>
> Hi Folks,
>
> will leave in two weeks times for a 4 weeks trip to Australia with all my
> Leica-stuff (R7,M4P,M2)
> The route will be from Adelaide to Darwin. Anything special to look for,
> besides what ist already in the books?
>
> Regards
> Wolfgang
> Germany
>
> .
>