Australia 2019 – Day 16 – Aimlessly wandering through the country

Last night, around 8 pm, I was peacefully reading in the kitchen of the campground, considering going to bed, when this young woman barges in, with a slightly panicky look in her eyes. She froze when she looked at me, and then she blurted some incomprehensible stream in Aussie, which on repetition turned out to be “I have to look at the football game!”. Yes, there was a TV in the room, and yes, by all means I invited her to turn it on. “It is a very important game tonight, between the Geelong Cats and the Adelaide Crows.” From her urgency I assumed that this was the final game of the season.

It was not. She just happened to be from Geelong, so this was her home team. So I sat down to enjoy a football game, without knowing that I was going to get a crash course on AFL games (Australian Football League). This version of football is as far from American football or Mexican soccer, as cricket is from baseball. First of all it is played in an oval field, with 18 players to a team. The objective is to kick the ball between two posts (6 points), but if you hit the post you only get 1 point. You can also get a point if you pass the ball out of the goal posts, but within one of two small posts to the sides. I thought it was a bit like rugby, but my new friend scoffed at such a poor comparison. It is played with an oblong ball, which you can “shoot” forward or backward by hitting it with your fist to your buddy, or you can run the ball (but have to bounce it off the floor every 10 yards). They play four quarters of 20 minutes each, and there is very little dead time.

We stayed up until 10 pm, cheering for Geelong, which eventually won by a score of 78 to 65, or something like that. It was fun, and I am sure DJ could easily become a fan, but I think this will be the last time I stay up for such a game.

The morning was beautiful, and I got a little walk around the shores of the Noosa River/estuary. Then I studied the map and decided that my next destination will be Fraser Island. At 150 km long Aussies call it the largest sand island in the world, although the poor things have clearly never seen a map of Padre Island, or all the other barrier islands in the Gulf or Atlantic coasts. But I am glad to go see another unusual coastal anomaly such as a 150 km sand bank, so using my brand-new burner phone I set an excursion there for tomorrow. My only task now is to get to Hervey Bay sometime today. It is probably a distance of 150 km, although I am pretty sure I ran at least 300 km taking all sorts of detours to see the pretty countryside. I believe I have come as close as I am going to get to the outback, not in terms of aridity but in terms of seeing cattle and sheep stations. A “station” is Aussie for ranch, but with the special distinction that stations cover 50, 100, or 500 km², so the management of such a large area becomes quite a challenge for a small crew.

I arrived at Hervey Bay around 4 pm, and wandering in I saw a sign to Ingenia Holidays, the same place I had stayed at in the Wine Country. I rarely endorse an outfit in this blog, but I will make an exception to say that they are a very good place if you plan to vacation in Australia. They have both cottages, cabins, and camping facilities, and they are reasonably priced. Check them out if you come down this way.