Prospective camel buyers & sleeping into the new year

Day: 229 Stage three / total expedition days 620

Sunrise:
05:26

Sunset:
18:57

As the crow flies:
20,6

Daily kilometers:
32

Total kilometers:
6434 km

Temperature - Day (maximum):
36° degrees, sun approx. 56°

Temperature - Night:
22° degrees

Latitude:
22°51'33.9"

Longitude:
147°50'43.0"

New Year’s Eve Camp – 31.12.2002

Thanks to good preparation, we manage to set off on time despite our stay of several days. Denise and Zoe showed us a way around the small town of Clermont yesterday. It doesn’t take long before the sweeping branches of a eucalyptus forest stretch out over our heads. We leave the asphalt strip and follow a winding dirt road. Two cars overtake us. “Hello, hello!” a voice calls out and the occupants wave to us with a laugh. Once again we are welcomed by our lovely hosts. Denise shoots a few photos for the region’s daily newspaper. The others also take photos of the loaded camel train while Zoe hands us some fresh bread rolls. Suddenly Peter’s cell phone rings. “It’s for you Denis,” he says and hands me the little thing. “Ah, hello Denis. It’s John. Paul contacted us a few minutes ago. He said he’ll be coming to see you in a few days to look at the camels. He seems to want to buy them.” “That’s really good news,” I say happily, exchange a few words with John, thank him again for his hospitality and hand the phone back to Peter.

Just a few days ago we received a call from Margaret and Greg. The couple read about us in one of the newspaper articles and found out about the camel sale. They are very interested in our equipment. Greg politely asked if he could accompany our expedition for a day or two. However, without wanting to be rude, we declined. In our experience, every visit costs a lot of energy. Long conversations, explanations, having to adapt to other people, lack of experience, insufficient equipment of the companions and much more throws our schedule completely out of kilter. As a result, for example, we go to bed later, lose sleep or fail to achieve our daily goal. These and countless other motives are reasons why we cannot tolerate overnight visitors on the expedition. Many people have wanted to accompany us, whether by camel, horse, on foot or by car. Most of the time we had to cancel to protect our project. Even my parents, friends and acquaintances, who would have come all the way from Germany to join us for a few days at the end of the expedition, were unable to make any promises. It simply puts us under time stress and Australia has taught us that we never know what will happen tomorrow. A thunderstorm, a sprained human or camel foot, a sandstorm or a bush fire can easily cancel any appointments or put us under pressure to reach an agreed meeting point on time. Such pressure is too much on top of the daily stresses. I explained all these reasons to Greg. “No problem Denis. We know what an expedition means. If you don’t mind, we’d like to walk with you for just an hour. Then we can see how the saddles and equipment work,’ he says. “Where are you from?” I wanted to know. “Mount Isar,” I heard. “That must be more than 1000 kilometers away from us, right?” “Yes. I think we need two days to get to you. According to our plans, we’d be there on the second of January.” “Stunned that someone would take on a car journey of over 2000 kilometers just to walk with us for an hour, I said: “We look forward to your visit and wish you a safe journey. A day after Greg called, he got back to us to confirm his arrival. In the meantime, Tanja and I had come to the conclusion that we couldn’t let someone who was traveling that far run with us for just a few hours. “Of course you can spend a night with us at the camp if you want,” I offered. “Oh, thank you very much. We’ll gladly accept the offer,” Greg replied.

Thanks to the phone call we just made, we now know that Margret and Greg will be bringing Paul with them. Apparently he is a friend of both of them, because they come in the same car. He has been in contact with us for weeks and it looks like he is really interested in buying our animals.

We say goodbye to our hosts for the last time and continue our caravan towards the Pacific Ocean. “How will the people interested in camels find us?” Tanja asks as we walk through the eucalyptus forest. “I explained the exact route to Greg and also told him that he can only meet us on the track until 12:00 noon. He knows that we’ll most likely be sitting in a camp somewhere from then on.” “Hm, I’m really curious to see if they’re nice people.” “Me too,” I reply, hoping to find good owners for our camels soon.

We now follow a small path. To the left and right of it are eternal fields that have been lying fallow for almost two years due to the drought. All the trees and shrubs that once existed here have been felled. There is hardly any shade for us and not much for our boys to eat. We have to walk for a long time today until, after 32 kilometers, we finally discover a slight depression in which a few trees grow. “Can we just go in there?” I ask myself aloud. Because the farms are now relatively small, it has become impossible for us to inform every landowner of our arrival. We discovered that there are hundreds of stations from Clermont to Rockhampton. Finding out the phone numbers alone would be a huge job. Of course, it is proper to let the owner of the land know who is camping on it, but in this case we are forced to count on the hospitality of the Australians and set up camp without being asked.

With an uneasy feeling, I open the fence gate and lead our camels into the fence. Tired and exhausted, we unload the boys. Then I hang our tarpaulin in the trees and write down our experiences of the day.

At 19:00 we are lying on our camp beds. The last flies buzz around our heads and prevent us from falling asleep. In five hours we will sleep into the year 2003. Rarely in our lives have we spent this festive night asleep. Years ago, we were on a bus from China to Tibet and were smuggled under the cloaks of some monks into the country, which is sealed off from the outside world. Because of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet was closed by the Chinese at the time. We will never forget the fear we had when Chinese policemen searched the bus for illegal passengers. Thank God they didn’t discover us. It was a terrible transition into a new year and in comparison, this new year is a real pleasure.

I wake up shortly before midnight. “Tanja…? Are you asleep?” I whisper. A quiet murmur tells me that she is indeed in the land of dreams. I carefully lean over to her and give her a kiss on the forehead. “I wish you a happy and healthy new year. I wish you the harmony in your heart that always makes you happy and as many beautiful moments as there are stars in the sky,” I whisper. Then I lie down on my bed again and gaze into the eternity of the endless sea of stars. I think of the many people in the cities who are now laughing, toasting with their champagne glasses and dancing into 2003. But I also think of the many poor people for whom the turn of the year is nothing more than another evening in a hard life. Another day when you might be happy to have got hold of a few grains of rice to give your emaciated body just enough energy to keep it from dying. My thoughts revolve around our planet for a long time until I fall asleep again…