Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Photos : Australie : East Coast
Click on the image below to see some pictures of the second part of our Australian trip :
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| Australia - East Coast |
Going through the Australian est coast
Whereas I generally associate Australia with a dry and mainly desert land, the climate in Cairns, where we flew from Melbourne, is tropical. Neither the oppressive humid heat nor the surprise showers do miss. As neither do mosquitoes. While preparing the trip, we got used to the idea of getting bitten by the little things in Asia and South America, but so far it is in Australia we have been attacked and defeated by a full army of them.
We stayed in Cairns a few days, during which we stuffed ourselves with tropical fruits, for once really cheap, and we went scuba diving into the Great Barrier Reef. We were lucky because although it rained cats and dogs half of the time we were there, the day we went out diving the sun shined. Thus, we could enjoy the reef colours in all their beauty.
It was a delight and we were not expecting to have a better diving experience in Oz-land but, a bit further south, we dove on the Yongala wreck and we still can not believe it. I have always associated the word 'wreck' with a bunch of rusted metal. But in this particular case, over the hundred years that the ship has been sitting under the sea, it has been covered with corals and has become the home of what looks to be a million fish. It was a blast to float in a cloud of multicoloured tiny fishes and, at the same time, to watch as many huge fishes as in my thirty previous dives put together : sea snakes, turtles, tunas, barracudas, rays and even an old sea bass the size of a VW Beattle. The sobering part came when, during the safety stop, one of the instructors got stunk by a urukandji jelly fish, one of the most dangerous and painful, and had to be flown to the hospital.
Back on board of a campervan, we kept heading south following the coastal highways, driving through forests, sugar cane, mango and banana plantations. We made a few detours in order to see platypuses, sleep, picnic or swim in a natural creek (icing on the cake, where there was no risk of ending up being a crocodile's diner) in National Parks. And we went on a boat day trip to the Whitsundays and Fraser Island, to have a look and try to understand why all the fuss about them.
Eventually, we got to Brisbane, Queensland capital. A city with a lively downtown area where, as in the rest of Australian big cities we have visited, old buildings are interspersed with modern skyscrapers. We enjoyed visiting it on foot and from the ferries that goes along the river. We added a stop at a zoo to see a living Tasmanian devil (the main reason why Tasmania did make part of our initial travel plan, I can die in peace now).
Already over 2000 kilometres away from Cairns and with still 1000 kilometres ahead to get to Sydney, we realised that we had been too optimistic with our appraisal of distances in this country, as well as with the time required to cover them. With only 6 days left to return our van, we decided to rule off the north of New South Wales and get asap to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, where we spent a couple of days visiting and hiking.
And here we are, ready to depart for the Philippines tomorrow, after a little week in this charming place that is Sydney. We are really happy to have left this city for the end of our visit to Australia, since we think the other big towns would have looked somehow faded compared with their glamorous cousin. It has felt great to get a week of rest, specially after so many days at the wheel, and to have the time to visit the city at a leisure pace, a different part each day.
Bea.
We stayed in Cairns a few days, during which we stuffed ourselves with tropical fruits, for once really cheap, and we went scuba diving into the Great Barrier Reef. We were lucky because although it rained cats and dogs half of the time we were there, the day we went out diving the sun shined. Thus, we could enjoy the reef colours in all their beauty.
It was a delight and we were not expecting to have a better diving experience in Oz-land but, a bit further south, we dove on the Yongala wreck and we still can not believe it. I have always associated the word 'wreck' with a bunch of rusted metal. But in this particular case, over the hundred years that the ship has been sitting under the sea, it has been covered with corals and has become the home of what looks to be a million fish. It was a blast to float in a cloud of multicoloured tiny fishes and, at the same time, to watch as many huge fishes as in my thirty previous dives put together : sea snakes, turtles, tunas, barracudas, rays and even an old sea bass the size of a VW Beattle. The sobering part came when, during the safety stop, one of the instructors got stunk by a urukandji jelly fish, one of the most dangerous and painful, and had to be flown to the hospital.
Back on board of a campervan, we kept heading south following the coastal highways, driving through forests, sugar cane, mango and banana plantations. We made a few detours in order to see platypuses, sleep, picnic or swim in a natural creek (icing on the cake, where there was no risk of ending up being a crocodile's diner) in National Parks. And we went on a boat day trip to the Whitsundays and Fraser Island, to have a look and try to understand why all the fuss about them.
Eventually, we got to Brisbane, Queensland capital. A city with a lively downtown area where, as in the rest of Australian big cities we have visited, old buildings are interspersed with modern skyscrapers. We enjoyed visiting it on foot and from the ferries that goes along the river. We added a stop at a zoo to see a living Tasmanian devil (the main reason why Tasmania did make part of our initial travel plan, I can die in peace now).
Already over 2000 kilometres away from Cairns and with still 1000 kilometres ahead to get to Sydney, we realised that we had been too optimistic with our appraisal of distances in this country, as well as with the time required to cover them. With only 6 days left to return our van, we decided to rule off the north of New South Wales and get asap to the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, where we spent a couple of days visiting and hiking.
And here we are, ready to depart for the Philippines tomorrow, after a little week in this charming place that is Sydney. We are really happy to have left this city for the end of our visit to Australia, since we think the other big towns would have looked somehow faded compared with their glamorous cousin. It has felt great to get a week of rest, specially after so many days at the wheel, and to have the time to visit the city at a leisure pace, a different part each day.
Bea.
Photos : Australia : Victoria
Click on the image below to see some pictures of the first part of our Australian trip :
 |
| Australia - Victoria |
Around Victoria in a campervan
While coming out from Melbourne airport, a suffocating heat wave invaded our lungs. It made us almost miss the chilli Kiwi weather. But we were happy and very curious to discover this continent-sized country.
Actually, Australia and me have some history in common. It started in 2000 when I was planning to go there for the summer holidays. As I did not have the French citizenship back then, I had to apply for a visa at the Australian embassy. The result of the silly process was negative - my intentions were not genuine - they said. With a passport with the right color this time, we cleared the migration control easily.
Our goal was to concentrate on 3 highlights of the Victoria state : Melbourne, the capital, the Grampians national park and the “Great Ocean Road” which runs along the coast west of Melbourne. A 1300 km trip that we did like snails, trailing our house behind us. Even if our camper-van had only the basic comforts, it gave us a much needed flexibility.
So we stopped first at the Grampians, where on the 25th of December we were waken up by the noise made by cockatoos and parrots. When we opened the door of the camper-van, we faced a group of kangaroos. Wildlife is everywhere in this country. Later on the coast, when snorkeling from the beach, we saw a huge stinger ray of at least 2 meter wide span.
The park is well-known for the reddish rock formations carved by the wind. We hiked through canyons and the bush to reach pinnacles with breath taking scenery. But the area is also home of Brambuk Cultural Center where you can learn about the sad history of Aboriginal people, for whom discrimination and forced assimilation took the lion's share. They have been been living in Australia for more than 40 000 years but gained access to the Australian citizenship only in the 1970s.
We headed then to Port Fairy to start our road trip on the «Great Ocean Road». In this part of the world summer holidays take place in December and January. We had the feeling that the whole country has gathered on this stretch of foreshore where the people spend their holiday time surfing, fishing, playing cricket on the beach and eating 'alfresco' around the free public barbecues.
The coast on this side of Australia has been carved by the waves that transformed the limestone cliffs to many amazing shapes nick-named “London Bidge” or the “12 Apostoles”. The landscape is even more impressive if you wait until the sunset and can resist the fierce flies that try to get into your nose.
On the 150th day of this round-the-world trip, which happened to be the 31/12/09, we wanted to see some fireworks (I know, we have been spoiled by Mr Delanoé). The place to be was Cobden, a small village, famous for its miniature train and its new year's eve celebration. Over here, the fireworks started at 22:00 and the atmosphere was so relaxed that the count down to the 2010 started 5 minutes late as no senior official was found to do it on time. But I would like reassure our Spanish friends and family : Bea made sure that the 12 grapes where eaten at midnight.
Melboune was our terminus. We returned our camper-van, enjoyed this nice city and had another great couch-surfing experience. I am still amazed by the warm welcome and the great hosting that we received from a perfect stranger.
Sorry about the length of this post but we have so many things to tell whereas the clock is ticking and internet connections are so expensive here (up to 6€ for 30 minutes).
Anyway, talk to you next time from the Est Coast that we will be cruising with yet another campervan from Cairns to Sydney.
Karim
Actually, Australia and me have some history in common. It started in 2000 when I was planning to go there for the summer holidays. As I did not have the French citizenship back then, I had to apply for a visa at the Australian embassy. The result of the silly process was negative - my intentions were not genuine - they said. With a passport with the right color this time, we cleared the migration control easily.
Our goal was to concentrate on 3 highlights of the Victoria state : Melbourne, the capital, the Grampians national park and the “Great Ocean Road” which runs along the coast west of Melbourne. A 1300 km trip that we did like snails, trailing our house behind us. Even if our camper-van had only the basic comforts, it gave us a much needed flexibility.
So we stopped first at the Grampians, where on the 25th of December we were waken up by the noise made by cockatoos and parrots. When we opened the door of the camper-van, we faced a group of kangaroos. Wildlife is everywhere in this country. Later on the coast, when snorkeling from the beach, we saw a huge stinger ray of at least 2 meter wide span.
The park is well-known for the reddish rock formations carved by the wind. We hiked through canyons and the bush to reach pinnacles with breath taking scenery. But the area is also home of Brambuk Cultural Center where you can learn about the sad history of Aboriginal people, for whom discrimination and forced assimilation took the lion's share. They have been been living in Australia for more than 40 000 years but gained access to the Australian citizenship only in the 1970s.
We headed then to Port Fairy to start our road trip on the «Great Ocean Road». In this part of the world summer holidays take place in December and January. We had the feeling that the whole country has gathered on this stretch of foreshore where the people spend their holiday time surfing, fishing, playing cricket on the beach and eating 'alfresco' around the free public barbecues.
The coast on this side of Australia has been carved by the waves that transformed the limestone cliffs to many amazing shapes nick-named “London Bidge” or the “12 Apostoles”. The landscape is even more impressive if you wait until the sunset and can resist the fierce flies that try to get into your nose.
On the 150th day of this round-the-world trip, which happened to be the 31/12/09, we wanted to see some fireworks (I know, we have been spoiled by Mr Delanoé). The place to be was Cobden, a small village, famous for its miniature train and its new year's eve celebration. Over here, the fireworks started at 22:00 and the atmosphere was so relaxed that the count down to the 2010 started 5 minutes late as no senior official was found to do it on time. But I would like reassure our Spanish friends and family : Bea made sure that the 12 grapes where eaten at midnight.
Melboune was our terminus. We returned our camper-van, enjoyed this nice city and had another great couch-surfing experience. I am still amazed by the warm welcome and the great hosting that we received from a perfect stranger.
Sorry about the length of this post but we have so many things to tell whereas the clock is ticking and internet connections are so expensive here (up to 6€ for 30 minutes).
Anyway, talk to you next time from the Est Coast that we will be cruising with yet another campervan from Cairns to Sydney.
Karim
