Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Finally off on the Red Earth Expedition.
Day: 01
As the crow flies:
03
Daily kilometers:
04
Wundowie – 12.05.2000
We all can’t believe it, today after one and a half years of preparation it’s finally starting. The sun is shining and the thermometer reads 24 degrees. We loaded all our equipment onto Phill’s Ute yesterday. He should then drive them to the camel enclosure so that we don’t have to carry everything individually. I’m carrying my solar paddles to the camels when a wonderful idea flashes through my mind. Why should we load the expedition equipment onto the camel backs now? We have to walk on the dangerous road right at the beginning until we turn into the historic path that will take us to Northam. Our camels are not used to walking on a busy road, especially when fully loaded. Although we have often worked with our camels in the last few weeks, we never found time to test them under real expedition conditions. The risk of leading them onto the road now is therefore enormous. They could easily be frightened by a passing truck, jump around wildly and trample the entire load under their feet. That would be the end of the beginning and, above all, the end of a lifelong dream. Tanja and I don’t have the strength to start all over again in the event of a failed departure. We also no longer have the financial means to replace or add further material. So safety comes first and, above all, we need a lot of composure and patience so as not to jeopardize this huge project at the last minute. When I suggest to Jo whether it wouldn’t make sense for Phill to bring all the equipment to our first camp so that we have a safe departure, she kisses me on the cheek with joy and immediately agrees. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I didn’t want to suggest it to you because you mentioned that your Red Earth expedition will start in Wundowie, with all the problems that the start will entail,” says Jo, laughing and visibly relieved.
Jo, Tanja and I saddle the camels and load just a small bag of food onto Sebastian. When everything is ready, our friend Phill arrives with his children Jeremy and Phillip. They bought fresh potato chips for us. Melinda, who is now eight months pregnant, her children, Phill, Tanja, Jo and I sit down on the ground in the middle of the camel enclosure and eat the delicious potato potato chips with tomato ketchup. Even though it is a very simple meal, we enjoy it. Rufus lies next to it and watches us enviously. Of course, he also gets some and then it starts. “Camels! Wake up!” I give the command and pray to God that everything goes well on the road. I lead the camels in a sweeping arc out of the farm grounds and onto the road. Phill and the whole family, including Rufus, sit in their car and block the road. The hazard warning lights are there to warn drivers, so at least we have our backs free. Tanja takes on the role of cameraman and films while Jo walks alongside me and the caravan, giving me incessant instructions on how to lead the camels. I am delighted to have her at my side, because leading a camel train is not easy and definitely needs to be learned. “Watch out, give the traffic sign a wide berth!” She warns me. I have to try to guide Sebastian around obstacles like a truck and trailer in a wide arc so that the last camel doesn’t simply crash into them with its saddle. Our animals do not yet know how far the saddles protrude from their bodies and sometimes accidentally crash into a tree at the side of the road. “Watch out, car from behind!” I hear her warning voice and I order the camels to stop with the command “Udu”. They are terribly nervous, stretch their necks and look excitedly from left to right. The slightest little thing can cause them to go through. Suddenly Istan, the last one in the caravan, runs into a tree with his overhanging packsaddle. It rattles and crashes, causing everyone else to become frightened and break through to the front in a wild flight from the noise. “Quick, run around Denis!” shouts Jo, whereupon I lead Sebastian in a tight turn to the right across the road. All other desert animals have to follow it and therefore cannot develop any speed. A brief adrenaline rush makes my heart beat faster, but the camels immediately calm down again thanks to the bow. This goes on for quite a while until we turn onto the Heritage Trail. “Phew, we’ve managed the first 500 meters,” I say, relieved and happy to leave the road behind us for now. I now happily hand over the caravan to Jo. She will lead them for a few days and Tanja and I will learn a lot from her. Although we now follow a beautiful path bordered by bushes to the left and right, our animals are still very nervous. Somehow they seem to think they are being chased by a monster and display a speed that our feet can barely keep up with.
Jo works hard to slow Sebastian down with the nose leash, Tanja meanwhile leads Rufus and I sprint in all directions to take pictures and shoot some movie clips. I estimate that we are moving forward at a speed of at least 6 kilometers per hour. As the camels have hardly had any greenery to eat in the last few months, they twist their necks like giraffes to nibble on the bushes. After a short time we are looking for a place to camp. We only set off at 1.30 p.m. and don’t want to set up camp in the dark. At around 3 p.m. I find a place to camp in a fabulously beautiful forest on the right-hand side of the path. Jo leads the caravan into the forest and we drop off Sebastian, Kadesh, Hardie, Jafar and Istan. We quickly unsaddle them and lead them into the nearby bush for a well-earned feeding session. As the Australians say, we are “happy campers” at this moment.
While I set up the tents, Jo and Tanja look after the camels. I hear Jo explain to Tanja: “They now have to eat for at least an hour every morning and evening. It’s a responsible task because the camels only have the two hours a day to eat from the bushes that are so tasty for them. Apart from that, it is not easy to keep them under control. Sometimes they run in different directions and although they are hobbled, they can cover great distances in just a few minutes. You always have to keep an eye on them, because it’s not uncommon for camels to get lost on expeditions in the great outback.” I am delighted that Jo and Tanja get on so well and, above all, that Jo is such a perfect, patient teacher. When I’ve finished with the tents, I build my first fire pit in a long time and can’t think of a better activity at the moment.
By around 6 p.m. it is already pitch black. The sky is cloudless and the stars are shining as if to congratulate us on our departure. I am so happy that words can hardly describe it. Phill comes by and we load our expedition equipment from the Ute(car with loading area).
After the camels have eaten enough of the juicy bushes, they are tied individually to a tree. Jo shows Tanja how the rope, about 7 meters long and 12 millimeters thick, which is the connecting rope from camel neck to camel neck during the day, is knotted to the hobbles and around a tree trunk. “Some camel men tie their animals overnight by the neck and not by the hobbles. However, I have seen camels strangle themselves using this method. So it is much safer to tie them to the hobbles. Although they will stumble over it a lot at first, they get used to it over time and learn to deal with it and, above all, none of them break their necks,” Jo explains kindly. A little later we have hot tea and pasta with mushroom sauce. We enjoy our first evening meal in the great outdoors and decide to take a rest day tomorrow.
“I think we all need a little break after the excitement of the last few months. The camels also need to get used to their new life and the change in diet,” says Jo, to which Tanja and I can only agree with her.
