|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| 02/05
/2001 |
|
| Alice
Springs - Australia |
|
| S 23°42 E 133°52 |
|
| +
56 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Imagine
yourself in an unknown place, without knowing
where to go or what to do, but knowing that an
article about you was published in one of the
biggest newspapers in the country, and that
today more people will be able to see you
through the Web. That's pretty much our
situation !
From
9.00 am, we're in a fever of excitement in
front of the Pc's screen, looking for our
site's homepage. When we click 'Results', we stop
breathing and moving. Your virtual choices
don't only condition our daily life, but also
our psychic balance !
Then
the page appears: 'Go South, towards the red
and sacred heart of Australia, to Alice
Springs' and then ' In the spirit of the movie
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. Today, the
global village wrote another page of the
Car@van's history. The boys have hardly the
time to complain about their future drag-queen
role: it's already time to leave. We have to
cover nearly 1200 km on the burning Australian
asphalt, before arriving in Alice Springs.
A
day 'on the road'...Today, we migrate !
The
4x4's stereo plays either Chemical Brothers,
Kodō, Nitin Sawhney and Australian country
music in the radio. After a violent storm, we
get out of the cars and begin to dance. It's
in the middle of nowhere that we really feel
at home.
We
stop several times to fill up in Roadhouses.
These are really places where different worlds
meet and chat. People coming out of cartoons,
situations from westerns or adventure films,
we are like in a road movie.
It's
pitch dark when the Car@van arrives at last.
We are in Alice Springs, the heart, the soul
of Australia !
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In
addition to the standard
highway code, here are some
indications to drive on the big
Australian roads:
-
When you get out of a city, you go
from 60 to 80 km/h, then 100,
110... and a round road sign with
a stripe shows there is no more
speed limit.
-
Be careful with 'Road Trains'.
Huge trucks, they can be 50 meters
long, and carry 4 or 5 trailers.
Road trains replace rail
transports. To undertake
them, it's advised to see one
kilometer in front. They take
hitch-hikers, but you will catch
them easier in roadhouses.
|
|
|
-
Be very careful... What would you
do when your car broke down 150 km
from any house, and that heat is
over 45°C ?
-
One of the major causes of
accidents are animals. Along the
road, we saw many carcasses of
different species : eagles,
reptiles, cows and kangaroos.
And in only two days, we hit 4
poor birds.
|
|
|
Getting
out of a bar where we had lunch,
Aleko says:
"I've
learned that when you have the
choice of eating at a table or at
the counter in a coffee shop,
choose the counter. The service
will be faster, the food hotter,
and the conversation livelier".
Travel
'in the spirit of Chatwin' was a
choice not voted so much. But
we'd like to pay a tribute to the
great writer, by quoting one of
his phrases:
'The
more I read books, the more I am
convinced that Nomads were the motor of
History'. Bruce Chatwin
|
|
|
|
|
We're
always traveling, ready to leave,
to mix and blend in with other
populations, disappear and reappear somewhere in the
World.
We
feel sometimes like mutants,
without a permanent home, but with a satellite
phone and a Web site that carries
us in the center of the World. We
travel knowing that wherever we
are, the modem and the computer
will allow us to be linked to You
and to the global village.
We
chose the change of scenery as a
primary condition for a new
creativity.
We
mix hyper technology with nature,
believing that anyone has in his
hands a part of responsibility in
relation to the Planet.
|
|
|
First
thing to do: rent the movie
'Priscilla' and watch it in DVD on
our laptop. We have to refresh our
memory and cast the actors.
You
can now vote, the new voting form
has arrived !
|
|
|
|
|
Guide our next steps,insert contacts & info on
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
