We started our journey in February 2001 in Melbourne. The truck arrived in one piece. Undamaged. Since we packed it into the container ourself without experiences in containerpacking what so ever, I had been paranoid all the time. Because of the union, which is as old as Melbourne, we were not allowed to unpack it ourselves and had to pay 900 australian Dollars for seven guys standing around and watching us work. Because of quarantine we had to empty the truck and the first things to come out was Tokyos red plasticcar, a wooden toytruck and the red toytractor. Tokyo was happy and rumbled on the car through the warehouse and eventually the guys from the warehouse warmed up. After three days and a steamclean we got our truck.

On the way to Adelaide we took the Great Ocean Road and visited the Grampians. First time australian ocean, the first cockatoos, the first surfers. We were trying to buy a cheap board and were asking the surfers if they want to flade a cheap board.Eventually we found one who was willing to let one of his 20 boards go. By then we were so far up the coast that two days later we waved goodbye to the waves and headed inland.

First day inland: moni:" where are all the kangaroos? They should be jumping around everywhere?" We then thought it`s like in our country to spot a deer. Very seldom. In late dusk we pull up on a bit of grass. Kangaroos everywhere. Heaps of them, jumping around on the run from our headlights. Throughout the Flinders Ranges (Photo OZ 1: Flinders Ranges) we drove the Odnadatta Track in the desert. After the last little tree disappeared out of sight we were a bit breathless too. 360' horizon, stones and little bushes, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, sometimes none of them. We had problems dealing where to park for the night. Like a dog who doesn`t find a tree. We counted to ten and drove off the bumby track and positioned ourselves direction sunset. The sky turns pink with the colors of the rainbow around it. Then it turns dark and there is no light around.

Our first long stop was in Alberrie Creek, where Robin organised the Earthdream 2001. A little bit of party, nice sculptures and Hippies even so we decided to travel on our own. Lake Eyre the biggest desertsaltlake, mainly dry, was amazing with ist amorphic endless-salt-landscape and Moon Plain (Photo OZ 2: Moon Plain) with it`s big open space. With the first raindrops happily we arrived in Coober Pedy. There we get to know Jeremy, who invited us to stay at Crocodile Harrys place. Here they made the Mad Max 3 movie and several others too, the dugout a kind of a thrashie-art-museum with crazy Harry. We could have stayed longer, but there were more things to look at, so we went on the Stuart Highway to Uluru (Photo OZ 3: Jabbawouk infront of Uluru) and Kata Tjutas, along Kings Canyon and the Mereenie Loop Road to Hermannsburg, where we lost our exhaust after that much gravelroad. The western- and a little bit the eastern MacDonnell Ranges showed us the variety of landscapes around Alice Springs (Photo OZ 4: Jabbawouks back ). We stopped in July 2001 our travels for a working-„holiday" in Germany with a stopover in Bangkok while Jabbawouk moved in the museum.