We don’t want to set any records
Day: 14-17
Sunrise:
06:59
Sunset:
17:20
Frenches-Camp – 25.05.2000 – 28.05.2000
Due to our physical condition, we agree to stay here for a few days. Of course we could help tomorrow, but I promised myself I wouldn’t rush through Australia. Tanja and I want to enjoy this country and experience it in all its beauty and uniqueness. Our expedition should have nothing to do with time pressure and we are not in a race, despite the Olympics in Australia. As I wrote in the introduction, our aim is not to set a record, but to live our lives in the here and now. Although I always have to remind myself not to overstep the mark, I feel very comfortable with this philosophy of life.
As it is beautiful here, there is not the slightest reason to rush on and burn yourself out even more. The last one and a half years of preparation have been so hard for us that I have often asked myself why and for what we are going through such hardship. But now I know again. It is simply indescribably wonderful to be back in the bosom of Mother Nature. It’s just strange how exhausting it is on the other side to break away from our civilization.
I’m feeling fresh this morning and sprint with Rufus to the small river to find some stones for the fire pit. Our friends Claudia and Angelika will be visiting us on Saturday and I would like to present them with at least one real campfire. I think I already mentioned that for me, building a fireplace has nothing to do with work, on the contrary, I see it as a ritual that satisfies my inner self, my “I”.
Tanja and I spend three days alone in the camp, because Tom has picked up his dear Jo. She is on the road again for the expedition. She wants to shorten all the camels’ belly straps because the bush tacker (green fodder) has changed the shape of their bodies. Hay inflates their bellies and the bush tacker gives them a completely different shape. To explain it in other words; hay can be compared to white bread and bush tacker to T-bonesteaks.
WONDERFUL BUSH SHOWER
In the afternoon, I take a long-awaited shower. We have a large metal bucket which I fill with river water and place on the embers of the fire. It’s hot after a short time. Then I strip naked, grab the bucket and an Ortlieb bag with a screw cap at the bottom. Equipped with soap and head wash, I make my way to the river. Then I fill the bag with hot water and hang it on a branch. Stooping down, I stand under the shower I built myself, open the tap and pleasantly hot water pours onto my thirsty body. I quickly soap myself, not without first turning the cap off again to save the precious water, because I don’t have more than 10 liters at my disposal. It’s just enough to rinse the shampoo out of my hair and Rufus, who is sitting next to me, watches me enviously and wants to jump under my wonderful shower. “No Rufus, that’s for me. You can go in the river,’ I say, to which he looks away in a huff. Shivering from the cold, I dry myself off with my towel and return to the warming fire.
The days at Camp 6 fly by. On Friday I give interviews via satellite phone to some ABC radio stations, Radio Berlin, Radio Gong in my hometown Nuremberg and the “West Australian”. I am pleased to be able to report to the listeners on the start of the Red Earth Expedition, which has gone well so far. Temperatures drop to minus 2 degrees at night, but the days remain rainless despite some clouds gathering.
At night, I sit by the fire with Tanja and we gaze incessantly at the clear view of the stars. The Milky Way out here seems close enough to touch. Sometimes one of the freight trains comes thundering past. I call this train a “ghost” because you can hear it for minutes before it arrives. Then the headlights of the tractors cut through the night and bathe part of the clearing in a glistening, fake light, only to disappear again into nothingness a fraction of a second later. The camels become more and more accustomed to these uncanny phenomena. Only rarely do they walk nervously up and down and pull on their leg ropes. During the nights I get up from time to time to see if they are okay and not tangled up in the ropes.
Jo and Tom arrive on Sunday afternoon. Jo actually shortened all the belly straps and did a lot of other minor work. Tom brings us fresh rainwater to drink. We are in the fortunate position that he supplies us with the necessary drinking water every now and then, because here in the areas inhabited by people we do not yet want to drink water from the streams and rivers. Too many of the farmers use harsh chemicals for fertilization which are easily found in the rivers.
