Marion Coast Park Walk

Having acclimatised in Australia has the side effect of thinking more about our upcoming project of walking through Southeast Asia. I catch myself feeling guilty about using a lift or taking the tram, fearing that the missed training might come back to haunt me. I stop at any outdoor shop and ponder what gear we’re still missing, how we could save weight and what the most appropriate equipment could be to tackle the vast number of different climates. Last but not least a 1:250’000 map set of the whole area is ready to be studied extensively.

So, not surprisingly, we chose hiking as our Sunday activity and the Marion Coast Park Walk seemed perfect. The trail is described as "hard", spans 7.2 km from Hallet Cove Headland to Marino Esplanade and leads through two conservation parks. Hikers often walk on boardwalks, which tackle the sometimes rather precarious coastal topography. Impressive stairs provide access to the sea at selected points. The cliffs are close the beach – therefore it is mostly covered by rocks. Since they seldom dig themselves up from the ground but rather tend to fall from above I decided to not try climbing at this location…

Impressions from the trail

 

Nevertheless it has a lot of other attractions. Since Switzerland is a landlocked country being close to the sea is one in itself. Then there are geological features like large, polished slabs of stone telling stories that date back 280 million years – when glaciers covered Australia and polished the bedrock. Continental drift had yet to separate Pangaea and shape the world as we know it today...

Original location of Australia and subsequent continental drift (Image from USGS)

Then there is the flora and fauna which is still very unfamiliar to me – but I am working on it. Finally the two parks have the important function of reining back the approaching settlements, which threaten to topple the equilibrium of these ever so sensitive coastal ecosystems. 

Lovely devotement and getting jumpy at Hallet Cove Beach

 

Now you may ask: A 7.2 km coastal walk on a plank is described as “hard”? Well, we had the same thought. And to be honest: it turned out to be a stroll in the park – but a lovely one. We came up with an explanation of our own: in Australia one has to factor in venomous animals.  Throw in a few Eastern Browns and the trail is potentially deadly – which makes “hard” a gross understatement…:)

Five years

Five years ago Fox news reported "Hillary Clinton leaps ahead in latest democratic polls". Five years ago Airbus delivered the first A380 to Singapore airlines - generating immense media attention and huge expectations. Five years ago the space shuttle "Discovery" took off from Kennedy Space Center. You might ask yourself why I am telling you those random facts. 

Well, five years ago I got to know my lovely fiancé Elvira. As we all know: Hillary Clinton did not win the presidential race, the engineers have experienced all sorts of trouble with the A380 and the Space Shuttle programme is discontinued. A lot of things can change in five years. Thank god our relationship is not one of them. We still are a very happy couple and definitely had far less problems than Airbus' Suberjumbo...:)

Anyhow we decided that this anniversary should be celebrated. As an English proverb says: you must make the hay when the sun shines. Since we are not yet blessed with Internet at our flat (I might tell you about that story some other time...) we could not look up departure times for trains and buses. So we decided to walk to the train station and let the time table decide for us. The verdict was Port Adelaide. 

Location of Port Adelaide - picture adapted from Google map

Port Adelaide is (nowadays) a small town located around 14 kilometres northwest of Adelaide's CBD. It is directly connected to the sea by the Port River. In 1836 Colonel William Light deemed it a suitable harbour to supply the colony of South Australia with everything they needed (including new colonists). Its population fluctuated with the trade - grew very quickly (second largest city of the state in 1911) and declined again. Today roughly 1100 people live there.

We first visited the Fishermen's Wharf Market. It is basically a large hall, two stories filled with stalls that sell pretty much anything. From bicycles to pizza wheels, oversized lollipops to oriental spices and "Made in China" plush toys to postcards from Adelboden, Switzerland (dated 1908). If you love flea markets you will love this. Some of the shops are so stuffed with objects that the danger of being buried would be rated "very high" by the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. 

 'Deadly' market stall and Port Adelaides' waterfront

After 1.5 hours my stomach was rumbling and my optical nerve suffered from severe input overload. A big portion of small donuts and a boat cruise promised to cure this unfavourable condition - the latter with a pleasant side effect. A permanent population of roughly 30 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins live in the Port River. An estimated 300 more come to visit occasionally. So we got on the boat and Elvira could not hide her anticipation since she had never seen dolphins before - unfortunately that turned into slight disappointment 90 minutes later. No sight of them.

Having had a relaxing cruise was a consolation nevertheless and so we strolled to the bow to enjoy the last 15 minutes of the trip. And suddenly there were dolphins. First one, then two and then three. The captains announcement "Dolphins bow riding to the left of the ship" was like a spark in a gun powder factory. All passengers ran towards the front of the ship as if they had to catch the last life boat leaving the Titanic. Within split seconds no one but the lucky few in the first row could catch a glimpse of the spectacle displayed in the water. The unlucky majority tugged, pushed and shoved for the second best places. Elvira giggled like a small child and exclaimed "Ooohs" and "Aaahs" whenever a dolphin jumped out of the water - completely in her own world and unaware of the turmoil behind her.

Dolphin bow riding and us two on the ship

 

On the train ride home she still chuckled to herself every now and then. A dinner at Mee Su (great restaurant, a must try if you're in town!) rounded off our day perfectly. May we still celebrate anniversaries when the A380 is on scrapyards around the world - as a reminder of the primitive technology in the early 2000s...

Pictures (except for the map) by P. Wettstein 

Australian law

At the end of a lovely trip with a rental car I switched on the wipers (instead of the indicators - I'll never get my head around it) and pulled over into a parking spot right in front of our door. In order to avoid a fine (they're ridiculously high in Australia) I rechecked the parking sign and it said unlimited parking on Sundays.

It was quite an unpleasant surprise when I returned to the car and saw a white, narrow note fluttering on the windscreen. Did I misread the sign? A double check confirmed that this wasn't the case. Took a loot at the note and to my astonishment I read the following:
Offence: FAIL TO PARK FACING DIRECTION OF TRAVEL - Fail to park vehicle facing in direction of travel (two way) - Australian road Rule 208(2)(a). 

Penalty: $ 58

WHAT? You must be joking! What is the danger of parking "not facing the direction of travel" on a quiet street? Having me drive on the left side of the road was a thousandfold more dangerous! I have yet to find a satisfactory explanation... But in Australia there is no mercy for criminals like me who dare spurn their orderly parking habits. So all I could do was pay the fine - not without a good deal of muttering though.

This incident sparked my interest in Australian laws, especially the silly ones. If you google silly laws + Australia a lot pops up - usually not stating in what act they are to be found. I am always careful with those kind of sources but most rumors were circulating around Queensland and Victoria. So I decided to concentrate on those two to see what I could find in the actual acts. Here is an excerpt:

Trading with pirates (Victoria)
These days pirates are a common occurence in Australia - easily recognized by the eye patch and peg leg. So it is very useful to have such a law. 
Just to be on safe side - I wouldn't recommend even giving them a chewing gum (pirates crave that). You might end up in prison for 10 years... 

Harnessing goats and slaughtering beasts (Victoria)
Whoever does the following commits and offence:

What most tourists don't know (and what is never written in any guide): Aussies love to drive their dogs and goats harnessed through a public place and subsequently slaughter the "beasts" on the spot to have a nice barbie (barbecue for the non Aussie speaking). Hence paragraph (c) is supplemented by (g). 
Nowadays the smart Victorians just harness kangaroos and sheep instead to avoid the law. They cannot kill them on the street however (unless they knock them over by a car)...

Smacking passengers (Criminal Code, Queensland)
Watch out if you're sitting next to a Queenslander in a car - if you don't put on your seatbelt or muck about he might lawfully slap, choke or kick you or use any other "reasonable force" to keep "good order" in the vehicle... Btw: fleeing to the back seat doesn't help - he is allowed to delegate the mistreatment.

Setting mantraps in Queensland (Criminal code) In Queensland it is officially allowed to set "spring guns, mantraps, or engines at night" to protect a dwelling house. As a husband in Queensland I'd always tell my wife when I'm coming home - being shot by a spring gun / "mantrapped" at 5 am would put a rather brisk end to an unanounced long night out.

Sweeping in Brisbane (Brisbane City Coucil - Streets, Bridges, Culverts etc.)
Footpaths in front of houses are to be swept daily before 8:30 am. Failing to do so could cost you up to $ 5000 and up to $ 500 for "each and every day during which the offence continues" - I am sure everybody in Brisbane dutifully contributes to clean streets before 8:30 am...

Since spit complicates sweeping considerably they have also issued the following law (with the same penalty as above!) ;)

No spitting in Brisbane

  

Whenever QLD is short on money I have the remedy: The police could patrol the Brisbane running festival and issue fines to all runners who blemish the streets with "nasal discharge" or by expecorating.

That is it for my crash course in Australian law. As you can see it has a firm grip on any situation in life! I hope you enjoyed it and remember: offences are very costly in Australia. Thus I will always face the direction of travel when parking, not trade with pirates and never drive a harnessed goat through Queensland (althogh it was my firm intent do do so of course)...

Two websites facilitated the search substantially:

news.com.au

melbourneaustralia.com.au 

Paragraphs are excerpts from the original acts which can be found on the respective state websites