Экспедиция 2015: Калифорния + Юг Тихого Океана + Австралия

JBL Expedition 2015: California, South Seas & Australia

From Desert to Desert It is only 12,000 km

The JBL Expedition 2015 actually ended in Darwin. The return flight went to Frankfurt via Sydney and Dubai. But when you’re in Dubai anyway, if would be silly not to have a look at its gigantic sand desert and its impressive aquarium with a length of over 50 m. After a short 14.5 hour flight we arrived with a one-hour delay (electronic problems with the A380) at 7:00 p.m. in Dubai. Fortunately the computer of the Airbus was re-booted on the ground and not during the flight!

Nearly half an hour later we had left Dubai City and reached an unending vastness of sand dunes and sparse undergrowth. The air pressure of the car tyres was reduced so that we could still get a grip in the deep sand and then we left towards the dunes. The more we moved away from the road the more impressive was the landscape. During one stop we unpacked our measuring instruments and measured lux, UV and temperature. Unfortunately we couldn’t measure the humidity because the case with the device wasn’t available. The measured values showed that they were far below the values of Australia’s outback. This surely was also because of the time of year because on the northern hemisphere we approached the winter, whereas in Australia the summer had just begun. In Dubai the summer temperatures rise to over 50 °C! Finally we visited the sea water aquarium in the Dubai Mall, which is one of the largest in the world, with a length of 51 m and a height of 11 m, and well worth seeing. Although the corals were not real, the fish stock was fantastic. From the sand tiger shark, to rays and schools of mackerels – all the impressive big ones were there. Only the whale sharks and mantas were missing – but these were on show in another aquarium in Dubai. But unfortunately we couldn’t get to that because we had to return to Frankfurt for noon. After 11 flights and over 40,000 air kilometres, 2,500 km in the off-road vehicle and 500 km in boats we all arrived healthy and without any injuries worth noting in Frankfurt. Now it’s time for the follow-up, the sorting of photos and films and all the many measured values we noted. We’re all set for more excitement!