Mit den Olgas im Zeitloch

After yesterday's amazing sunset atmosphere at Ayers Rock, I wanted to witness the sunrise there as well. The plane to Cairns was not until 2:20 PM, so I had plenty of time.

First, I quickly checked when the sunrise actually is. 6:21 AM. Okay then. It's just past midnight, so I set my alarm for 4:00 AM, so I can leave at 5:00 AM. My phone tells me that it will wake me up in three hours... Huh? I delete the alarm and set it up again. My phone still wakes me up in three hours. Since I had already disregarded it and set my clocks back half an hour since Sydney, I didn't really care anymore. The alarm goes off and it's actually only 3:00 AM... Not just on my watches, but also on the bedside table clock in my room. I'm slightly annoyed, but oh well, I stay in bed a little longer, get ready, and go to the car at around 5:00 AM. I get in, start the car, and the radio shows 6:00 AM... in 21 minutes the sunrise will happen and I still have at least another half an hour to drive to the sunrise parking lot... I'm even more annoyed... The only thing that surprises me is that it's still pitch dark... By now, I think I'm stuck in a time warp... All three watches show different times. As "proof", a photo of all my times, taken later in the evening.

A Frenchman who stood with me at the check-in counter later said that something is wrong with the time. According to him, the time on his watch automatically moved forward by one hour and then moved back again by one hour... Then we both put on our tin foil hats and waited for the end of the world... When I read all of this, I can hardly believe it myself. But apart from the tin foil hats, all of this actually happened...

At the entrance of the national park, the cars were backed up at the ticket check. Once again, I wondered why everyone wasn't already on the parking lot. And it still didn't get brighter... On the contrary, I stood there for almost another hour at "cold" 18°Celsius until the sun finally rose.

Unfortunately, I can't even "logically" resolve the story. Someone like me who can barely remember whether the clocks are set forward or backward for daylight saving time probably can't explain this mystery either. The only fact is: coincidentally, the time in Sydney was switched to daylight saving time that night, and apparently only in Sydney (and this time zone). So now it wasn't a half-hour difference to Alice Springs anymore, but suddenly one and a half hours. And Brisbane and the East Coast now have a one-hour difference to Sydney as well, because the clocks are not switched in Brisbane. And now I'm starting to get a headache from thinking about it...

And after all the excitement, I didn't even find the sunrise as spectacular as the sunset the evening before.

I haven't written anything about it yet, but it's already partially unpleasant. Some people put fly nets on their hats to protect their heads from the annoying insects. I didn't find it so bad, but especially when you have been hiking in 40°Celsius, sweating, and feeling like there are 50 flies buzzing around you, it becomes annoying after a while. And some of them even try to crawl into your ears or nose. Or in front of the camera.

And finally, a phenomenon that not even the internet could reveal to me. For some reason, drivers greet each other in the Outback. At first, I thought there was something wrong with my car and everyone coming towards me wanted to show me something, but no, they're just greeting friendly. You don't encounter that many cars in the Outback, but I still haven't figured out the whole thing. However, why motorcyclists do it in Germany is also unknown to me...

Then it was afternoon and I took the plane from Ayers Rock Airport to Cairns. As soon as I arrived outside, humid and warm air hit me. This area is also called the tropical north.

At the car rental counter, there was an "upgrade" from a sedan to an SUV. In Australia, you still don't get ostracized for that... And what a surprise, I'm driving a Mitsubishi "Something" again, but this time in innocent white. The steering wheel isn't straight when driving straight, but there's always something...

Why I stood in front of a locked door in the hotel..., I'll tell you about that next time...