At 9:30 A Twin Otter of Air North flew me towards Darwin. At 11:30, it landed on the Darwin airport. The immigration security was really tight and the checking took quite long. The medicines and the sacred soil from Lumbini that I carried with myself caused a lot of doubts. A Nepali interpreter was brought and to make sure, the trained dogs sniffed all around me. I had to argue persistenly to be allowed to take my khukuri with me. At last, after 2 and half-hours I was free, minus the soil from Lumbini.

From immigration I headed straight to inquire about flight to Sydney. The last flight was already boarded and I had to wait for the next flight tomorrow. I called Jaya Koirala, and after much trouble for 2 hours reached their residence. His wife Mariya was at the door with a welcoming smile. A successful Nepali engineer and a Swedish lady living their married life happily as Australian citizens!

October 26
I called up the Nepali consulate Cristine Gee in the morning. She flatly told me that she couldn't help me. She was even reluctant to meet me, that surprised me. Probably the Nepalis who are present for the Sydney Olympics have bothered her in some way. However, after much persuasion, she agreed to meet me on Tuesday.

October 27
The rainy season has started and Australia is still pleasant. It's almost chilly when there is a cool breeze. Nabin and I had a meal and went for a tour. First the famous Harbour bridge, of course. From here, one can see the Opera House at one side and the Darling Harbour on the other. Somehow the place managed to look peaceful, in spite of a large crowd of tourists. There was an IMAX Cinema hall, standing on the bank. Then we went around China town, Victoria building and finally to the Opera House - the real tourist attraction of Sydney.

October 28
I wanted to celebrate Tihar playing deusi with fellow Nepalis here in Sydney. However this wasn't possible, the people I met had no plans of playing deusi. Today is Gobhardan puja. I went to Willington with Indira didi, Lila didi and Jwala, where the Newars were celebrating an elaborate 'mha' puja. It was organized by a guthi of the Newar community here, attended mostly by Newar families. The feast consisted of various Newari delicacies - choela, kachila, aalu tama, chiura. One item to remind you even more of home was the 'tin pate' raksi. The young spoke English while the elders spoke Nepali with a heavy Newari accent. Even in Sydney, I felt as if I was in a 'mha puja' in Bhaktapur.

October 29
In Australia the prisons are called 'correctional centers'. I went to Parklea Correctional Center where many Nepalis are serving sentence for some offense or the other. We went to meet some Nepali prisoners there. Today, being a Sunday, a visiting day, there was a long queue of mostly foreign visitors. We had to wait for about half an hour to meet Rabin and Anil (not their real names). The cell was big and there were compartments for different nature of criminals. The visiting room was large and one could buy coke, chips and chocolates inside. Once Rabin and Anil came, we began eating and chatting. Rabin was behind bars for a sex crime; he engaged in intercourse without his girlfriend's consent. He was sentenced for 7 years. Anil was involved in a fight where one person was killed and he was sentenced for 12 years. One Nepali entered the country a false identity, under a certain Dr. Ram Saran Mahat's red passport, and was caught exporting illicit drugs into the country. There are many Nepalis and other nationalities too. I do not feel very sympathetic towards them. One should be responsible for one's action and it's certainly bad the way people sometimes act without control. But they don't appear to be having such a bad time. They have the luxury of watching TV with a refrigerator and AC in their cells. And the rule is that they are allowed to work 6 hours per day. Australia is also very much conscious about animal rights and many people in the correctional center are serving for cruelty to animals, from chickens to goats. I liked that, after all animals do possess a life. The visiting hour is over at 3 p.m., we were informed by a huge Punjabi policeman. The prisoners slowly moved in as we moved out.

October 30
Waited for phone calls from journalists, media persons and the Sydney City Council and, in the meantime I also tried calling many places for jobs: I spent the whole day on the phone. I have to work for a month or so here to save some money to continue my journey. I was informed about a job in a pub in the morning. I went with Ashik to check out the job, which was basically cleaning up the pub from 10 to 5. I was willing to accept the job. But in the evening I received a call informing me that I won't be required until further notice. That was a terrible blow, indeed.

October 31
Today I went to meet Cristine. She had just left a note saying she won't be able to keep the appointment. I was truly disappointed. How could she act so irresponsibly, especially when I had fixed an appointment four days ago? Then I went to Paramatta and met Kabindra Shrestha in Amp Insurance. He introduced me to Peter Williams who had photographs of various places of Nepal in his office. He had a lot of questions about Nepal and my journey.

November 1
The skin of my hand, badly sunburnt in East Timor, is coming out in layers, like the scabs of a wound. The memory of East Timor is a wound in a way, a war inflicted wound. The Sydney Morning Herald was not interested in my news while The Telegraph asked me to write the news myself and fax it. I didn't feel like doing that. Seeing the poor condition of my old pair of shoes, Taranji bought me a new pair. This is now the most expensive pair of shoes I've owned on my journey so far! I put them on and went to meet Jwala at 7. After waiting for an hour, we went to Rockdell and had a nice time.

November 20
I went to extend my visa at the immigration office. I got a multiple visa for 2 more months. Visa fee of $150 is too expensive for me, but there was no alternative. When I returned to the room, Nabin and Aashik were ready to go to Olympic Park. I joined them. We went, by bus, to Townhall from Nev Tralbay. Then we went to Lidcome by train and again took another train to Olympic Park. The stadium looked empty as the Olympic Games were over. We walked around and took photographs. There was nothing to eat around and all of us were hungry.

January 18 - 20, 2001
The journey from Sydney to Canberra wasn't worth mentioning. The first day, journeying from North Sydney to Wooloong Gong, I covered almost 65 km through the jungle. There was a separate track for bicycles, so didn't face any particular problems as such. Second day's journey covered Wooloong Gong to Goulborn. The importance of my journey seems to become less when I don't meet people on the way. I didn't really meet many people in small places. I passed through huge grazing fields - live stocks in protective bars, horses and mules in others. Inspite of the rain parts were dry. I reached Canberra on the 3rd day. Surrounded by small settlements all over, the capital city of Australia is smaller than Kathmandu. At the peak of the day, with the blaring sun, temperature soars upto 36 degrees. I called some Nepali people that Inda didi had adviced me to contact. Himalji was apparently in Canberra. I called Purnima didi, who told me that she would look for a place for me to stay. She said she couldn't offer me her place as she had visitors. Later when I called again, she gave me the contact number of a certain Dr. Panta. But Dr. Panta didn't pick up his phone. After 9 at night, I had a burger and looked for a field to set up my tent. I settled down in a small grass patch near a parking lot in the city center. There were people celebrating the weekend - filing out from restaurants. Some even approached me for an introduction. Some passed by abusing. Some tried to wake me up. At 2:15 a.m., a car pulled up and honked. It was the cops, told me that I cannot camp in the city center and that it was not safe. The restaurant goers had made a mess in front of my tent, the cops told me to clean that up too. I had to comply. Dawn would break anytime so I tried to sleep again without paying heed to the cops. But, lo, they appear again after half an hour. From inside the tent I cried out that I was packing. I got up, packed and left the place. The train of people going in and coming out of the restaurants had not stopped. I was hungry, so had some offered by them. They say you can speak English if you eat a kuirey's jutho. Well, no harm in trying to improve my English - with leftover burgers, chips and all. The same police car passed by saying "Thank you, man." In a little distance, I bent over a table and tried to sleep.

January 21
A guy named Michael, who had read about me in Nepali Times on the Internet, had told me to contact him as soon as I reached Canberra. But couldn't get in touch with him since it was the weekend. A man in a car greeted me with a 'namaste' and I assumed he was Michael. But he was not, his name was Nick and recognized our flag because he had been to Nepal many times. There's a small mountain on the South-Western part of Canberra, they call it the Black Mountain. 872 meters above the sea level, they've built the Telstra Tower on it. Looks like the Seoul Tower from afar. When I couldn't contact anyone, we set off toward the tower - munching on my burger. Around the mountain is Canberra Nature Park. I took rounds of the jungle and the tower. There were warning signs with pictures of the Kangaroo in many places but I didn't see any except for a dead one. I also lost my way, numerous times, in the middle of the jungle. You can't sit on the floor, lots of ants ready to bite you off. I had to drag my cycle for almost 3 km to reach the tower and bought an entry ticket for $3.3. Canberra is silent and beautiful from above the 195 meters tower. Bunches of small hill tops surrounding the city, come into view, with greenery, a huge lake that is decorated with several small boats. Such is the scenery that constantly attracts the tourists with their cameras, to the tower. On my way down, in 50 km speed, my tire gave out air with a big bang, which startled me for a second. I changed my tube and tire. Found black ainselu in abundance in the jungle and had a stomach-full. A man on a cycle said 'don't eat, you'll die'. When I said, "You can taste too, if you want to die," the man went away smiling. Poor guy! What would he know about natural fruits, for people like him they are grown in supermarkets. They wouldn't recognize a cow even if they have been drinking cow milk all their lives. They have to go to the zoo to see a cow. I'm quite conctent with my share of ainselu today. I must have saved at least $10. Then I found a right place to make my home, near the lake. I set up my tent under a tree. I didn't go to the city today because cops live in the city.

22 January
It rained the whole night. The ground and the tent was all wet. It was still drizzling in the morning. I contemplated for a while, debating whether I should get out of tent or not. Finally I got up and headed toward the city despite the rain because I had people to contact. I met Hamal dai, he said he would meet me in the city center at 4:30 p.m. Michael had left for Brisbane. You don't want to go anywhere in 38 degrees sun. I went to the office of the Chief Minister of Canberra. I got an appointment for 3 p.m., to meet the minister. After lunch, in a Chinese restaurant, I took shelter in Glebe park. A lot of people who recognized Nepal or who had been to Nepal came to me and asked questions. I met Chief Minister Gary Humphries at 3, I also got to meet Lions Club District Governer Ron Skeen there, who presented me his district flag. There was an interview for Prime Television, after completing that I met Hamal dai, who took me to his village, Conor. Living 25 km away from Canberra for about 10 years now, Mr. Hamal is the president of Nepal Australia friendship. There was dinner at the club from the Nepalis residing there. Hamal had apparently contacted many Nepalis living nearby. We went to Pradeep ji's house after dinner. On the way we saw what I had wanted to for a few days now - kangaroos, few babies and a mother. We tried to take pictures, but while we were getting ready they hopped off. Hamalji consoled me saying I will find them in front of the house next morning. Once I reached his house, I checked my emails, which I had not been able to do for a long time. People had come to know about me through Nepali Times and had written from countries ranging from Belgium to America. In that, 5 emails from Sanju. Oh, Sanju, don't send so many emails, I can't check them regularly. You can't complain that I don't reply.

January 24
Till some time back, they had been moving the capital city to and fro between Sydney and Melbourne. Now Canberra, which lies between the two cities has been made the capital. Canberra in the local tribal language means 'meeting place'. Australia is much bigger than Nepal in terms of area, but the population is much less.