My Australian Adventure - 56k beware 400+ pictures

[Kurgon]

On another forum that I frequent we often post picture stories of events or weekend activities. This is the picture story that I wrote for that forum so if some of the emoticons don't work it is because I just copied and pasted. Please don't post until I am finished posting the picture story.

First of all I just wanted to thank dazed1 for hosting my pictures. It would not have happened without his help. Thanks.

Okay. After a lot of procrastination here is my Australia picture story.

Tuesday March 8th:

The day starts off with me waking up, turning on ESPN, making my bed, and laying out my clothes.

After my shower and getting dressed I started to do some of the packing you can’t do until last minute, i.e. toothpaste, deodorant, ect. I then get the great idea of bringing some “light” reading with me to pass the time at airports and for general downtime.

I make some breakfast and head to the living room to eat. I see my roommates dog in his usual spot relaxing.

And I continue watching ESPN in the livingroom.

After I finished up my oatmeal and eggwhites, I head to the kitchen to rinse everything off. I start thinking about small little random things I might need while gone. Then it hit me. I need batteries for my cd player. Off to WalGreens!

So I wait at my apartment for my mom to pick me up. ( I didn’t want to park my car in front of her house for three weeks.) She picks me up and after picking up my sister we’re off for the airport. Boy the weather is nice. It’s just above freezing with rain and snow. I can’t wait for Australia.

Ding we’re in Atlanta! (2hour flight)

Hmmm I’m in LA but I didn’t take any pictures. (Atlanta to LA ~4 hours) After a lengthy layover we are off to Sydney! (About 13 hours later and after viewing Closer, After the Sunset, some other movies I can’t recall, and reading some Gunslinger goodness)

Somewhere in here we lost March 9th and it is now March 10th, 8 am, in Sydney and I am tired but I make myself stay awake until ~10pm so I can adjust to the time change. The weather is nice. The whole time there it was upper 80’s to lower 90’s, with moderate humidity, and a nice ocean breeze. :fawk:

We arrive at out hotel, Saville at 2 Bond St., and the view isn’t too bad:

Once we are settled in we take off to see what is close to where we are. We were able to eat an early lunch and then soon after my niece was too tired to do anything else so we headed back to the hotel to let her nap. Along the way we found this:

My mom decided she needed to nap as well so my sister and I went to a grocery store and bought enough food to last us our four days in Sydney. (We didn’t eat out much this whole trip almost everywhere we stayed had a kitchen) Once we returned my sister decided that she needed to sleep as well so I was now left by myself for a couple hours. So I explore a little and pick up our day passes so that we can take unlimited ferries, bus rides, and trains to all the locations in Sydney.

When I returned to the hotel they were still knocked the fook out and our day was pretty much done after eating some dinner, reading a little, and watching some American TV. I was really surprised how much American TV dominated the airwaves.

 

[Kurgon]

Friday March 11th

Woke up and the sky was cloudy but no rain. On today’s agenda is the touring of the opera house and the Taronga Zoo. Unfortunately the tour guide in the opera house wouldn’t allow pictures to be taken of most of the interior. They said that there was fear of terrorism.

These next three are from inside of the opera house looking out.

This is an Aboriginal painting that resides within the opera house.

This wall is made of Australian sheep wool and has been dyed to make the “wall painting” within the opera house.

We now head back for the hotel to make lunch and let my niece and mom get in their naps.

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 167.mpg


After everyone is rested up, we catch a ferry and head to Taronga Zoo.

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 168.mpg

 

[Kurgon]

Saturday March 12th

Today we were headed to The Sydney Aquarium. Unfortunately I forgot to recharge my camera so I only got a few pictures before my battery died.

Once we were done with the aquarium we ate lunch at a place called Blackbird and then headed back to the hotel for the daily naps. We agreed to meet back together at 6pm because we were going to do a fancy restaurant dinner. My sister wanted to climb the bridge (the actual support structure not the road) and I wanted to go to the Olympic Park. I left for the park and long story short it was a waste of time. I had to wait ~45 minutes for the ferry to arrive, then the ferry took 1 hour getting there, followed by a 30 minute bus ride to the park. All in all that left me with just the right amount of time to get back by 6pm for dinner. So I basically went all the way out there just to turn around and head back. As for climbing the bridge support structure I guess that costs ~$250 and takes about three hours to complete so my sister didn’t do it. We ended up eating at this restaurant called Nick’s Seafood. Good place, I highly recommend it.

 

[Kurgon]

Sunday March 13th
The day starts out with us grabbing a taxi to the airport only to find out that we aren’t scheduled to fly out of Sydney until Monday. So we call up our travel agency to see what was going on since the itinerary was wrong and they were closed on the weekend. We call the hotel we were staying at to see if they could accommodate us for one more night and they said that we were already paid for through Monday. I wish they would have said something as we were checking out. It might have saved us $70 in taxi fares. So we head back to the hotel and have absolutely nothing planned for Sunday. So we go to the Nature Park (not the real name of the place but I can’t recall it right now) and wander around.

We had the pleasure of going there while some migrating Flying Foxes were roosting in the trees.

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 169.mpg

In the distance you can see the Governors castle. They don’t allow pictures to be taken inside so I had to take this from afar. We toured the castle and learned some of the history of New South Wales government.

The rest of the day we just hung at the pool and relaxed.

 

[Kurgon]

Monday March 14th

We headed to the airport again. The travel agency basically told us that our itinerary didn’t always reflect the fact that we had crossed the International Date Line and that is where the problem occurred. So they went over the dates with us and we corrected all instances of errors. Now we were off to Alice Springs in the desert, in the Outback. *bum, bum, bum)

When I stepped off the plane the difference in the weather was immediate. Hardly a cloud in the sky and it was in the low 100’s but the humidity was very very low. So I was happy. I don’t mind heat I just hate humidity. These hotels didn’t have kitchens in them so we had to eat out a lot here but I was only for two days so it was no biggie. Plus we had two rooms and a total of 4 beds so I was able to get one room to myself and I wasn’t stuck sleeping in the same bed with my mom. This also marked our first occasion of having to drive. It wasn’t too bad but I think that had a lot to do with all the cars being right hand drive instead of our typical left hand drive cars here in the States. It just served as a constant reminder that things were different and that was all I needed to assure I stayed on the correct side of the road. I didn’t drive a lot though because I am the only one in my family that can read a map so I was delegated Navigator the majority of the time.

Since a lot of our day was wasted in traveling we didn’t have a ton of time to left in today. We realized that we were only going to be here for 2 days though so we squeezed something we wanted to do in. Camel rides!!! We were picked up at the hotel by the camel ride provider and he drove us out to his property. My mom wasn’t too interested in doing it and was willing to wait with our niece if the camels scared her. Unfortunate for my mom was that my niece loved the camels.

This is my camel BJ.

When we got back to the hotel and we were all trying to go to sleep I discovered an awesome Japanese movie on TV called Zatoichi: Blind Swordsman. Since I’ve been back I was excited to find a copy at Blockbusters. Highly recommended.

 

[Kurgon]

Tuesday March 15th

Today we were going to go to Alice Springs Desert Park. It was only about 110 degrees.

After hiking through the park in those high temperatures we were all pretty drained so we lounged around the pool and looked at souvenir shops. My sister also checked online and found out she passed her Physical Therapy board examinations and was now a liscensed PT. Hoorah!

 

[Kurgon]

Wednesday March 16th

Today we drove down to Uluru/Ayers Rock area. It took about 4.5 hours to get there from Alice Springs. We stopped a couple times to get some beverages and to look at souvenirs. Strangely enough the kangaroo there are worse than deer are here in the states. It’s so bad that the insurance from the rental company said that if we drive after 6:30pm and before 7am the next morning the insurance was null and void. While driving down to Uluru it wasn’t uncommon to see 5-7 dead kangaroo on the side of the road, ever mile or so. Once we arrived in Uluru and checked into our hotel we just had enough time to settle in, get some groceries, walk through an onsite museum, and eat the day was pretty much done.

 

[Kurgon]

Thursday March 17th

Today is our only full day in Uluru. We decided to head to the actual attraction of the area, Uluru, and see the huge rock. When we got there they had an area that you could climb all the way to the top but the Aborigines did all they could short of making it illegal to climb up Uluru. Basically it is of significant religious significance to them so we decided not to climb it. Instead my sister had the wonderful idea of walking around Uluru. It is just shy of 5 miles around. So here we are walking around the base of this huge rock and I’ll be damned but the path is almost all sand so the stroller won’t push and I get the glorious job of carrying my niece for the majority of a 5 mile walk in 110+ degree weather. FANTASTIC! I ended up drinking at least 5 liters of water on the way around. My mother and niece stop at a rest stop about 1 mile from completion and have us go ahead and get the car to pick them up but my sister left the car keys with my mom. So I ran back to my mom, grabbed the keys, and then ran back to the car. I was exhausted.

Once we were back to the hotel I actually took a nap. :lol: Later that night we participated in a dinner program called The Sounds of Silence. This program would pick up people, escort them out into the desert, to a point in which you had Uluru to the SE of you and Mt. Kujuta to the SW. It was very pretty. While waiting for the sunset they would provide you with champagne, beer, ect and play Didgeridoo music. After the sun went down we were escorted to tables in which dinner was provided and then there was a Aboriginal creation time stories session, and then a man pointed out the constellations that were only typically viewable from the southern hemisphere. It was a nice relaxing evening. I have to say though, I hate Port wine more than any other wine I’ve had before.

 

[Kurgon]

Friday March 18th

Well today we flew from Uluru to Melbourne. I have to say that at this part of the trip I am starting to get a little tired of traveling and my family is really starting to grate on my nerves a little more easily. I’m still glad to be here though I just start wishing I had a couple friends here with me so I could get some time away from family members and experience some of the nightlife. The weather in Melbourne and Cape Shank were always upper 60’s to mid 70’s. Anyways, we arrive into Melbourne, check into the hotel, and take off to the Victorian Markets (huge area of vendors that sell everything from fresh fruits/vegetables, meats, clothing, souvenirs, toiletries, coats, ect. Everything is pretty much able to be bartered on. Unfortunately we arrived there with only 10 minutes until it was closed. So we walked to a convenience store and bought some basic food. We went back to the hotel, did some laundry, cooked dinner, and watched TV. That pretty much marked the end of our day.

 

[Kurgon]

Saturday March 19th

Today we have an all day tour of the southern area below Melbourne planned. We took off at 8am and wouldn’t return until 11:30pm. Our first stop was in a mountainous forest area.

After our hike through the forest area we hopped back onto the bus and he took us to an old steam locomotive “Blaine’s a pain”. We road on this old train for ~40 minutes and then met our bus again there.

The bus then took us to this farm. On our way there we passed a place that claims to have the largest earthworms in the world. The longest one they found there was over, I want to say 5 meters long (although in could be feet) and it was probably larger but it ripped before they could get it all the way out of the ground. So anyways, we then went to this farm where we were fed lunch and then given tours/demonstrations of the different things on the farm.

First was a hay ride over to the sheep sheering area:

This picture looks a little dirty doesn’t it…

Then we headed over to the stables where some calves, lamb, a huge Angus bull, and some milk cows were kept. They allowed people to feed the calves and lambs and then we got to milk the cows. Supposedly I am a natural.

After that we were taken out to the fields to see a sheep dog work.

Then we moved onto where they had some Kangaroos, wombats, and Emu’s stored.

After that we had a little free time so I walked through their garden.

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 314.jpg (picture to big)

From there the bus took us to a Koala sanctuary but unfortunately my camera only has a 2x zoom so many of them were way too high up to get a good picture of.

From there we then moved onto a small coastal town in which we had dinner. After dinner we were taken to a coast dock in which seals were known to come up to the beach at sunset. Unfortunately they had strict enforcement of no pictures. They say that they flash of cameras damages their eyes. So here is some coastline.

From there we moved onto the Penguin coast. This area is known to have a ton of small little Penguins come up at night. They force you to leave your cameras and phones on the bus. So that means no pictures.

 

[Kurgon]

Sunday March 20th

We check out of the hotel in Melbourne and pick up our rental car. We load the car up with all of our luggage and go back to Victoria Markets and look around. I ended up getting my didgeridoo here. He originally quoted me $350 and I talked him down to $250. Compared to the prices I have seen around Australia up to this point I have gotten one hell of a deal. After we wasted a good half of the day walking around the markets we drove down to Cape Shank where we would be staying two days at a historic lighthouse. Once there we settled in, went grocery shopping at the nearest town, and did some exploration at sunset.

 

[Kurgon]

Monday March 21st

Early in the morning I walked around the national park we were staying at and explored a little. My mom wanted to swim with dolphins but neither my sister, nor myself really wanted to so we drove her down to Sorrento and dropped her off. While she was gone we explored several of the costal towns to pass the time until my mom was done.

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 352.jpg *Edit picture too big.

 

[Kurgon]

Tuesday March 22nd

We wake up at 5am and drive from Cape Shank back up to Melbourne Airport to fly to Cairns for our final destination. Even though we planned to allow ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport and check in we almost missed our flight. Once we arrived into Cairns the second I stepped off the plane my clothes felt heavy and I was never dry for the next 4 days. The humidity was crazy high. The temperature was always in the high 90’s and so was the humidity. Once we checked into the hotel everyone took a nap except for me. So I wandered around to see what I could find. After I returned we went to Woolworth’s to go grocery shopping and the day was over.

 

[Kurgon]

Wednesday March 23rd

Today since we enjoyed the bus tour in Melbourne we gave the same company some business here in Cairns. This time though we took off at 8am and got back at a more convenient time of ~6pm.

Our first stop was at the Skyrail which took us into the rainforest and made three stops along the way to allow us to explore.

From the top of the Skyrail the tour bus picked us up and took us to a multi-event facility that took us through some of the Aboriginal customs and history. It also had a small animal zoo, along with an Army Duck tour (Army Duck being a land/water vehicle that would take us through the rainforest and through the rivers, ect.

If you notice you can see the legs of her joey sticking out of her pouch. It almost looks like a she is a 6 legged mutant.

Now around this part of the event we were taken to a staged area in which we were shown many different traditional dances. After the dancing was done they asked for some volunteers to come up on stage and nobody would so they started to pick people. As soon as they announced that they were going to start picking people I just knew they would call me up. Lo and behold I was the first person they called up. In all they called three people up. To begin they asked people for their names and where they were from. This little 7 year old girl said:
Girl: “My name is Emily and I am from England.”
Dancer: “Let’s hear it for Emily from England!”
*huge applause and whistling*

Me: “My name is Tim. I am from the United States.”
Dancer: “Let’s hear it for Tim from the United States!”
*chirp* *chirp* My family clapping. *chirp* *chirp*
Me: “*laughing*

Guy: “Thisismyname and I am from Germany!”
Dancer: “Let’s hear it for Thisismyname from Germany!”
*huge applause and whistling*

So anyways they run us through the dance steps and immediately they say I will be the first to go. So one of the dancers and myself run through with the music and at the end I got my applause and whistling dammit. :lol: They said if I was Aborigine that I would have a job. Anyways since I was on stage I couldn’t take any pictures…

Then we had a chance at boomerang throwing.

Then we had a spear throwing demonstration and a slight history of how Aboriginal law was enforced. Basically if someone was found to have broken a law they would be given two choices. The first choice was to be cast out from the tribe. Now this was about the same as a death sentence since the only way the tribe survived in the first place was through their combined efforts. The other option was that they would be walked out to a spot far a way from town. Once there they would tie you to a post. You would then stick your leg out, and they had a special barbed spear that would go in easy enough but wouldn’t come back out without ripping a ton of flesh out with it, and they would jab it through your inner leg, just inside of the bone. So at this point they would untie you and you would have to remove the spear. Since it was barbed you would then keep pushing it out the way it went in. Since it was a long spear it would take 2-4 pushes to get it completely out. The theory was that with each painful push it would give you something to reflect upon what you did wrong and why you should lead a lawful life. Once the spear was removed everyone left you and you had to walk back to town without assistance. If you made it back to town and survived the wound all was forgiven. If you broke the law a second time an elder would simply walk up to you and stab you through the heart, no questions asked.

The accuracy that these performers had at throwing the spear by hand and with spear throwers (basically a two foot lever that allowed them to throw them 3-4 times further) was amazing. These guys at the end of the day would go back to their modern homes and drive their cars and in no way were living the traditional lifestyle so I could only imagine how deadly the Aborigines that actually life this way 24 hours a day 7 days a week would be.

Then after that we had a Didgeridoo demonstration.

After that the tour bus picked us up and took us to another train that would take us out of the rainforest, down the mountain, and back into the city of Cairns.

 

[Kurgon]

Thursday March 24th

On this day we were taking an Osprey trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. Here I was able to snorkel, scuba dive, and even take a submersible boat through the reef so I could take some underwater shots. Now the bad thing is that the water filters out all the colors in the light except for blue and green light waves. So everything looks blue and green in the pictures. I would have needed a professional underwater camera and light source in order to take pictures like you see on discovery channel or in magazines.

Now this bad picture is of my sisters face as they explained how you need to spit in your mask and rub it around to keep your mask from fogging up. I believe this is right after he said “The greener, the cleaner.”

http://www.mayurbhatia.com/broman/Random 452.jpg *Edit: Picture too big.

 

[Kurgon]

Friday March 25th

On this day my family wanted to go to the beaches and I was done. I just wanted to hang out, get some last minute souvenirs purchased, pack for the flight back to the United States, and read my books. So that is what I did and there are no more pictures.

Saturday March 26th

We left Cairns at 4am and flew to Sydney. We caught our connecting flight from Sydney to LA, through customs, and then LA to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Indianapolis. All in all we were in the air for ~22 hours but it took 36 hours to get back to my apartment. Even though it took 36 hours to get to my apartment I can still say that I left Australia on Saturday the 26th and I still managed to get home on Saturday the 26th. Well that is my trip.

Picture story is done. I hope you enjoyed.

 

[Kurgon]

I forgot to mention that when we were snorkeling a big school/swarm of Blue Bottle Jellyfish came through the area and ~80% of the people got tore up by them. They aren't deadly but they do hurt. My sister was stung three times. I was stund 0 times. One guy got a tentacle right across his mouth that sucked. It was kind of weird though. You are out there and the boat is fairly far away and you suddenly hear a guys start screaming, "OH!!! AHHH!!! OH SHIT!" At first I am thinking he is just cramping up and ignore him. A couple seconds later I heard a woman moaning and crying out. Then it almost seemed like everyone is crying out for help.

I knew my sister was in trouble when I saw her flying towards the boat, since she can't normally swim. After getting hit by them a couple times she was swimming like a olympic champion. They must have went through 10 2 gallon bottles of ammonia treating stings.

 

[Aerandir]

Very impressive trip you guys took. I've never even been out of the states. Thanks for inviting us to share in your vacation fun.

 

[Sanoske]

Holy crap Kurgon! That's a ridiculous amount of pictures man! Looks like an amazing trip though, glad you had a good time.

My favorite picture was the one of the "Cliff Edge" sign. I have to find me one of those. :wink:

 

[Kurgon]

I've always been a fan of warning signs. Often times they are comical instead of fear insipiring. :lol: