Places of the Heart
The science commentator and author takes his imagination to the universe but has restricted his exploration to planet earth (so far).
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki’s most memorable travel tales
1970 | Papua New Guinea
LAE
When I was a 21-year-old physicist, I went to Lae to teach at the Institute of Higher Technical Education and do research into hair and wool. For the first time in my life, not one of my friends or my family was within several thousand kilometres.
Lae is on Papua New Guinea’s north-eastern coast. There was no road to Port Moresby, which is a few hundred kilometres away, so you had to walk the Kokoda Trail and it’s really hard.
I got to know the locals in my classes and ended up travelling with them. Once, on a trek to Mount Bangeta, I got malaria and encephalitis. Locals half my height but with twice my strength carried me down the mountain to get me on a flight out. It gave me an insight into the beauty of empathy, the power of antibiotics and the fragility of life.
Papua New Guinea had a great effect on me. I went there as a boy physicist and left 18 months later as an adult long-haired-hippie filmmaker.
Since 1989 | Australia THE OUTBACK
I’ve driven through 15 of the 17 Australian deserts. I love heading out of town on twolane blacktop, surrounded by open sky, with music blaring.
One of the most stunning experiences was the Gibson Desert after rain. The red sand scattered with silver, yellow and purple flowers blew me away. I would’ve been happy seeing the harsh beauty of the desert oaks and spinifex but the desert in bloom with colour was another ballpark.
The outback is open and beautiful. Each night, I’d lie on the ground and stare at the wide sky, watching for satellites and meteors. I’m a huge fan of the Milky Way. Turns out there’s about the same number of stars in the universe as grains of sand on earth and both are close to Avogadro’s number, which is huge – six followed by 23 zeros! The outback lets my head fill up with thoughts about weird coincidences in the universe while my heart opens up to the star-studded night sky.
2014 | United States ROUTE 66
You know that song, Route 66 (“Get your kicks...”), about the road from Chicago to Los Angeles? My wife, Mary, my daughters, Alice and Lola, and I flew to Chicago, hired a ’55 Chevrolet with a V8 engine and took off for LA. It was a beautifullooking car but a dog to drive. The brakes didn’t work, the steering was wobbly and the engine died in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had to dump the car and get another one.
My daughters got right into the ’50s theme and dressed up in circle skirts. Half the day we’d travel on the efficient but boring Interstate and the other half we’d drive along the original Route 66.
At one stage, we saw a sign that said “Texas Cowgirls for Jesus” so we pulled over. They were young girls in cowgirl outfits selling fireworks to raise money for charity. Each one was openly carrying a huge handgun in a holster. It was a little country town and every person was armed – for Jesus. It was a real insight into their gun culture.