AusTour 15: Adelaide an Arriving and Intro

Barry had left to return to Melbourne as his classes were starting up again, as Uni Melbourne didn’t start up for another week I had some more time to hit some more places. I chose to explore Adelaide for those days. I arrived into Adelaide later that night after leaving Sydney, slightly confused when the captain announced the time adding ‘if you want to change your watches.’ Id talked to a lady who had just come in international so I thought nothing of it, until I realized my phone clock and every other clock in the airport differed by 30 min’s (not a full hour, surprising). I’d done I little bit of research into how exactly to get from Adelaide airport to my accommodation—My Place Backpackers. I had to take a bus, I didn’t know which one nor when exactly I had to get off. So once again I was learning a transportation system as it was being imposed upon me. Needless to say I almost missed my stop and would have if I hadn’t asked the driver. I stepped out onto the street for the first time entirely in Adelaide (And south Australia for that matter)…and it looked nothing like I thought it would. It didn’t look bad, just different then what I had imagined. I partially blame Bill Bryson for this one I think. He chucked Adelaide and Canberra (Australia’s Capital) to close together in his book ‘In a Sunburned Country.’ I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, something like green lawns and white stone buildings both of which didn’t exist where I was standing and especially in the middle of the night.

Before diving head first into the warm waters of the next days schedule Ill finish this post by describing what Adelaide was, if it wasn’t what I thought it was. If at any point the previous paragraph came off as me depredating Adelaide it was because that was my initial impression as a fell asleep and it wasn’t until the next day (and daylight) that I found it a much nicer place. Adelaide has a pretty bizarre set up. The CBD runs along Torrens River, with North Adelaide sitting on the other side. King William Street runs vertically from north Adelaide through the CBD. Now here something peculiar happens. Road going horizontally across King William Street change names on the other side (Hindley becomes Rundle, Currie becomes Grenfell, Waymouth becomes Pirie, Franklin becomes Flinders etc). Adelaide began as a planned city, planned by Colonel William Light (Lights vision) to whom there is a statue on a hill on the north side of the Torrens. So while the previous illogicality seems to make no sense, there is a sense of direction to the city and it’s fairly easy to navigate. One of the other advantages is the ring (moat) of gardens or parklands that surrounds the inner city. As the inner city ends there is a block of Greenland before the suburbs begin, creating a buffer between the city and the suburbs. So in conclusion Adelaide proceeded to dispel any misconceptions I might have had about it the night before…which was good because I was there for two days.

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AusTour 14: Sydney: the Complete Review

(Sydney gets its own review post)

I did like Sydney. Like I mentioned in my first post on Sydney I was excited when I got there and this excitement carried through for the most part. I do, however, feel like I missed a lot of Sydney somehow. What we got in this trip to Sydney was the tourist experience. And we did it up proper. the see Sydney cards were really a blessing and a curse—get in easily, but have so much to do you don’t know what to do with yourself. In all it went too fast really, I would really have loved some more time to slow things down and take things at a slower pace rather than cram everything in. It will be something I will have to return to do at some point later as I feel like there was a lot of culture and life to Sydney that we missed. Also shoving it on the end of such a long trip down the east coast did it no justice either, by that point I was pretty exhausted…and it only continued on into Adelaide.

AusTour 13: Sydney Day Four

Day four dawned, and with it our last day in Sydney. After checking out and leaving our luggage with the hostel (what we had been doing the entire trip on the days we left when our departure was later in the day). We made our way down to darling harbour again where we had booked a ride on Sydney Jet. Sydney Jet was like the harbour cruise two days before. except that is was in a high speed jet boat, fish tailing and spinning etc. after donning fairly large ponchos we realized we might actually get wet on this ride. That was kind of an understatement; the guy who sat behind us might have been swimming at one point. Oh, and STOLEN PICTURE. Reasonably wet, we found some well prices fish and chips and dried off in the intermittent sun (typical as it was beautiful the day before). Following that we went to the National Maritime Museum which was on the opposite side of the harbour. We got entrance to the two ships they have with our See Sydney Cards—a submarine and a destroyer-type ship. The submarine was pretty fascinating, and I managed to do a classic door-swing through one of the portholes. The war ship was good, but I was extremely confused when the lights went off and it began simulating an attack sequence. The actual museum had some pretty cool stuff in it, included a temporary exhibit about toy boats to which there was a curious short film in French with toy-ship characters playing. Bizarre. With time running short we headed back to the hostel to retrieve our bags and through the end of rush hour headed to the airport. The trip there was hindered by one stick—that although the airport is in the transport system it requires a separate ticket to exit/enter the airport. After failing to find the source of a meat pie topped with mash potatoes in the airport and settling on Hungry Jacks for dinner again, Barry departed for Melbourne and I to Adelaide for more adventures around Australia.

AusTour 12: Sydney Day Three

Over exhausted and possibly with a mild case of heat exhaustion the next day dawned. The good news was it was going to be a nice day again—in fact it was going to hit 30 degrees centigrade. Our first stop was 2 hours on bicycles around Manly. Manly is a short ferry ride (one of Sydney’s 11 ferries named after the 11 ships in the first fleet to come to Australia in 1787—thanks Rocks tour!). In fact most of the locations outside Sydney are accessible by ferry either run by Sydney Ferries or the faster HabourCat’s. Manly is decidedly a beach culture; a thin strip is bordered on both sides by beaches and is a popular destination for Sydney day trippers. I should mention that it took us a good amount of time, a tour of Manly’s Ocean World (mucho insignificant compared to the Sydney aquarium we had seen the night before), a conversation with an old lady and a trip to the visitor centre before we actually found the bike place. There was no hassle to rent the bikes though and we made our way out along a suggested route by the bike shop man (a web designer/marketing student in uni…sounds vaguely familiar…). This route though was uphill most of the way, and by the time we got the top of the hill it was about time to go back down hill. After some creative directions by myself we got a quick tour of most of the city streets in Manly and visit to the beaches on both sides. After the ferry ride back from manly we made some impromptu decisions after missing the next schedule attractions (Barry’s fault for getting the location wrong) and got on the ferry to Darling Harbour. Essentially there are two sides to Sydney, the main harbour or circular quay where the Rocks, Opera House and Bridge are, and the secondary harbour (darling harbour) home of star city, plenty of clubs and restaurants, the aquarium, the national maritime museum and our next attraction Wildlife World.

Wildlife World is essentially the home of all critters Australian in Sydney (possibly apart from Tonga Zoo). Kangaroos, wallabies, spiders, snakes, koala’s, birds, and nocturnal’s (fact: there are more animals active at night in Australia than at day) etc. following Wildlife World we had some down time (thank god) before a night-time observatory tour at 830. The one hindrance to this was we needed to eat, and no where was open/ or even existed. It was absurd how we could be walking for 45 mins straight without passing a single restaurant open on a Sunday night. We would eventually settle for hungry jacks—fast food yum!

The observatory started with a free walk through the museum part of the observatory with some of the old telescopes and time keepers. There were some really fascinating objects in its collection but before we had time to see it all we were rounded up for a look at the stars. The observatory has two telescopes. The first was an old-fashioned one, hand adjusted through which we looked at Jupiter rising into the sky. The second was a more high-tech computer adjusted telescope which allowed us to see the double star that’s part of the Southern Cross. It was in this dome enclosure we found that the acoustics were just right now hear the person directly across from (even if they were whispering) you as if they were standing just behind you. It was bizarre and Barry and I had some fun with it before I said something too loud next to tour leader where he explained it and everyone caught on. The final part was a 3D star experience which proceeded to show just how small you were in comparison with the rest of the universe. I think I fell asleep near the end.

I eagerly embraced the bed when we returned that night before getting up for our fourth and last day in Sydney.

AusTour 11: Sydney Day Two

Our first full day in Sydney we were out and ready to go by 9. As someone had said on the phone the day before when we were booking attractions, ‘if you’ve got see Sydney cards, you’ve probably got places to be.’ This was true, at 9am that morning we were heading to a 2 hour walking tour of Sydney that didn’t exist. The phone went to some security service, and we never actually found the booth. Regardless of that setback we went towards the Opera House looking for a tour. We successfully acquired a tour, led by a very amicable Sue around, in and outside the Opera House. Because we missed the 10am Sydney tour we luckily got into the opera part of the opera house (surprisingly the smaller side) before a 12pm performance. In all we got to see 3 of the theatres including the biggest two. Both of the big theatres were amazing, size-wise, technology-wise, whatever-wise. We weren’t aloud to take pictures though so you’ll have to see it for yourself. Following the tour there was some time for picture taking around the Opera House. On the tour Sue had explained all about the history of the Opera House and its design (which I couldn’t possible recount here)—the whole structure really is amazing. During some more down time we went into the Botanical Gardens for a quick look (there were bats roosting in the trees) before heading to the Rocks for a Rocks walking tour. It was a walking tour but it was also the most action packed history lesson anyone could have ever conceived. The history of the rocks was pretty much like the smelliest, dirties, hardest fought story ever told. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but the area of the Rocks has evolved a lot in history…from a bunch of rocks over a harbor, to a town where the shit flows down the rocks from your upstairs neighbors through your house, to a historical site known and preserved as the Rocks. Oh and I can now tell you whose on the A$20 bill now too. Following that, and with knowledge falling out of our ears, we practically ran to the scenic cruise of the harbor (with complimentary free drink). The cruise was good because we quietly sailed by the front of the opera house for a view from the harbor, and under the bridge and out to islands and other lands whose descriptions couldn’t possibly have fit in my head (There was something about a ship wreck, a fort, and the prime ministers house). The sun was setting as we glided past the opera house for the second time, giving it a slightly red glow.

As the sun was going down we raced to the sky tower practically in the middle of Sydney to get a look at Sydney before, during and after sunset. The sky tower is the tallest free standing structure in the southern hemisphere, rising 328 meters with observation deck up top (as well as restaurants) and Oztrek down bottom. The views up top were pretty awesome; both out to the mountain ranges where the sun was setting out to the harbour and out towards the sea. Oztrek downstairs was both mildly amusing and dreadfully tacky (that’s all I’m going to say about that).

With the sun now completely set we headed to our final destination for the night, the Aquarium. It was deserted pretty much, which was cool because there was no one there. Unfortunately the seals were asleep, but everything else was awake and swimming around. Of particular awesomeness was the oceanarium (the tubes where the fish swim around you). There were some huge fish, sharks and turtles floating around in there and again the best part was there was practically anyone there.

Following that we returned to the hotel and crashed. Like BSOD bad.

AusTour 10: See Sydney Cards

Just as an aside. We managed to get these See Sydney Cards which you essentially pay one price for and you get entrance to attractions all over Sydney. It eliminated the hassle of carrying cash around and came with transportation tickets too. Barry found the cards online and he makes it sound like he discovered the Holy Grail. I haven’t mentioned that it’s in the 3rd page of Sydney in the Lonely Planet. Anyway they were extremely useful in both getting around and getting into attractions. That is, except for the questions they all asked: “where are you from?” which of course could be for us, where did you just come from, where are you living, where are you a resident or even where are you a citizen?

AusTour 9: Sydney Day One

So, fittingly as today is the 35th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Opera House, we arrived into Sydney (thanks Google). As we drove in from Newcastle we came in over the Sydney harbor bridge with the Opera House rising beneath us. It was definitely the way to arrive into Sydney, and the view of the Opera House really is stunning. I guess for me it was something I never really thought I would see, so seeing it for the first time was pretty awesome. Our bus dumped us outside Sydney’s Central Station and once again we had to rapidly learn the Sydney transport system. We were heading to Kings Cross, out to one side of the city (I couldn’t tell you what side because Sydney’s orientation confuses me), to stay at the Pink House—yea, it was in fact pink. After checking in we went for a walk, heading towards the botanical gardens, but this became problematical with the sheer number of dead ends we encountered. We made it about half way to the botanical gardens, down an inordinate number of uneven steps before heading back to Kings Cross and the Hostel. On the way back we passed the largest billboard in the southern hemisphere, owned and utilized by Coca-Cola. Lonely planet described Kings Cross as “a densely populated dichotomy of good and evil. Strip joints, tacky tourist shops and backpackers hostels bang heads with classy restaurants, funky bars and gorgeous guesthouses. The cross retains a sleazy, cannibalistic aura, but the vague sense of menace is more imaginary than real.” This is the most aptly worded and accurate statement I’ve read in the lonely planet. We spend the night doing laundry and planning how exactly we were going to conquer Sydney in three days.

AusTour 8: Newcastle

We arrived at 3:30am in Newcastle. I knew exactly where this YHA was, and without much energy exhausted we got in and passed out. I should mention this is one of the most ‘hostel’ hostels I’ve ever stayed at. It used to be an Old Gentleman’s Club, the ceilings were high, it was spacious and the floors, banisters, windows, furniture were quaint-ornate. Overall the hostel had a very homey feel to it which was very agreeable. The next morning we slept in and practically missed breakfast. After eating we made our way down to the beeches, past the bathes and out to Nobbys’s head. One thing that made me extremely jealous was seeing a Newcastle Uni student reading his reader on the beech—something I haven’t and won’t be able to do in Melbourne. After reaching the farthest point on Nobbys’s head (used to be an island with a light house until it was joined with the mainland) we returned up the beech to the hostel to grab some body boards. The sun had rejoined us after yesterday’s debacle, and the beach was sunny and the waves clear. They were also high and strong. Simply getting out to a point where you could catch a wave was the hardest part, but the ride in was utterly rewarding—ridiculously fast and wild. The water was cold but withstandable, and the body soon got used to it. With that out of my system we headed back to the hostel for showers and a free barbeque and trivia night. I should add that during the time between body boarding and bbqing I headed up to the highest point in Newcastle to catch some pictures as the sun set. Following trivia night and getting ‘best name’ for “Thank God we Left Port Macquarie” we stayed to watch some of the bands in the local battle of the bands. One band was seriously good, but not everyone’s cup of tea, Memorial Drive. The next day we had just enough time to grab breakfast and a short walk through town and up the Queen’s Warf Tower for a look out on the port of Newcastle (‘the giant penis’) before meeting the bus at 11 to Sydney (oh and while waiting we saw Newcastle’s elusive, yet most famous, tram).
Newcastle: the Complete Review
This was a nice town, the atmosphere was relaxed and it was fairly clean. We discovered on the drive out on the bus that there was a whole end to Newcastle we never got to. We’d scheduled extra time in Newcastle for a bit of rest before Sydney, but could have easily eaten another day doing more of the things Newcastle had to offer. It might be worth noting that Newcastle Uni was one of the original placed I looked at attending—from the town, it wouldn’t have been a bad choice.

AusTour 7: Port Macquarie

After leaving Byron Bay at 6:40pm we arrived into Port Macquarie 11:30pm. It was raining when we got there, and we had little idea where the YHA we were staying at was exactly. After some directions from a couple of policemen as they drove by we arrived at the visitor centre. The problem was the hostel was in completely the opposite direction. Back through the night and rain we eventually found the hostel and passed out in what lonely plant describes as a hostel “homier than nanna’s spare room.” It wasn’t. The next morning we got some directions from the hostel staff (LP managed to get that part right—“the owners are charming”) and headed out on a grand loop. Our first ‘stop’ was at the maritime museum, but for a building the size of a caravan and an admission of $7 it was really a stop and turn around. We first made our way to the koala hospital where koalas are nursed back to health after run-ins with cars and wild fires. Following that we walked up hill street (aptly named I might add) to the coast and coastal walk. Up along the coast we snaked along a short section of winding trails before busting out at the two beaches of Port Macquarie. It was still cloudy today, the rain had passed but the sun hadn’t reappeared. With that in mind, and the challenge of an unperturbed strip of sand on the beach I set about drawing this:After amusing our little minds, we followed the beech down to the flagstaff for a look out at the miserable ceiling of clouds and back on the small town. Further along the second beech we found the town’s most famous attractions—the break wall. Essential it’s a regular break wall, but all the rocks that are easily accessible are painted. The rocks include pictures, families, lovers, messages and poems. Following the break wall we made our way to a sunset cruise. Though with the cloud cover still resisting removal, it would probably not be anything special. I was wrong. About 10 mins out of the harbor and up the river we came upon about 5 or 6 bottlenose dolphins. They circled the boat, at some points catching a ride between the catamaran hulls. We followed them for the best part of 20 mins before catching a glimpse of the sunset and returning to port. We left port at 11:30 that night, following a particularly hard trivia night.
Port Macquarie: the Complete Review
Not the most exciting town ever, and for the majority of our stay one disappointment after another. The dolphins though we definitively the best part of the trip and almost made the town worth it. I was glad to be back on the road after this short stop and on to Australia’s 5th largest city, Newcastle.
Also how can you arrive at and leave a city without knowing exactly how to pronounce its name?

2 Things, Possibly 3

Just wanted to 1) say I’m back from another trip. This one I didn’t actually advertise I was going on but it was up the Great Ocean Road which is west of Melbourne. I went with the Melbourne Uni Outdoors trip, and it was really great. Really nice weather, awesome people and lots of spectacular sights. 3) I’ll blog about it after I’ve finished with Aus Tour which I’m about 5 days into—the next one is Port Macquarie.
Finally 2) this is the first night in Melbourne where I’ve actually been able to keep my door to the balcony open. It’s incredibly nice out still with temperatures still hovering in around 23 degrees (73). There’s a light breeze but most importantly it’s a warm breeze. It was super ‘fine’ today (probably one of the nicest Melb days I’ve had here) and I could definitely get used to this warm evenings thing I’ve been missing for the past few months.
Im going to close it now and go to bed though because I’m so tired from this weekend.

AusTour 6: Byron Bay

This place was gorgeous and a great refresher after a city atmosphere like Brisbane. We arrived into the small beach community at 630ish after leaving Brisbane at 3. After arriving we made our way to the Byron Bay YHA (our first YHA experience). The feel of this hostel was good, and matched the beach town environment. The only way to describe it would be like inside-out camping, a horseshoe of room surround shady-palm courtyards, decks and pool. Really relaxed and laid back. After a quick dinner of fish and chips (we were by the sea after all) we went to the railway friendly bar (‘the rails’) where we were serenaded by a western Australia artist, Freya Hanly (I urge you to check her out, she was really good). Later that night we made our way to the beach to try and see some stars as the night was really clear. The next day we rented (free) bikes from the hostel and made our way out to the beach and the Cape Byron walking trail. The sun was warm in a cloud free sky and the beech was white sand greeting crystal clear water. Lazily we made our way up the walking trail (past the most enormously huge lizard I have EVER seen) towards the lighthouse. As we ascended, we passed the most easterly point on the Australian continent (marked conveniently). After too many steps to count we would reach the lighthouse at the top for a look out at the wide ocean and back upon the mountain ranges including (the Captain Cook named) Mt. Warning. We (as in i) decided to continue along the trail which included, can you guess…more steps (up and down, even though we were going down). At one point we left a message of sticks on the path for any other weary traveler on the steps to nowhere ‘Boo more steps.’ The last part of the trail brought us through the Cape Byron Headland Reserve before dumping us pretty much where we had started. We went back onto the sandy beech (which squeaked curiously like tennis shoes) where Barry braved the waters. Finally we went to the surfer’s beach on the other side of Cape Byron where we watched the surfers for a good while before returning the bikes and meeting the bus for our next destination Port Macquarie.Byron Bay: the Complete Review
Beautiful and relaxed place. Definitely want to go back. There’s no annoying transit system, no noise pollution (no light pollution) and I wouldn’t be surprised if the sun shone everyday there. The beaches were large and clean and the water was even better. Nature abounds here from giant lizards to some sort of mutant turkey. Singularly the best stop on the trip.

AusTour 5: the Bus

In planning the trip we had looked at numerous was of getting from Brisbane to Sydney while stopping at some of the key places in between. We had decided to take a hop on hop off bus down the coast and found a company that would let us do it. For just $115 we were able to go from Brisbane to Sydney while stopping at Byron Bay, Port Macquarie and Newcastle. The bus had more stops (all the reasonably be towns down the coast) but those are the ones we had decided on. The bus would take us down the pacific highway for the most part. Busses departed daily with one bus departing Brisbane at 1pm and another at 3pm. There was also a third bus starting about halfway down the pacific highway starting at around 6am—we took this for the final trip into Sydney. Overall it was great value for money, and didn’t take up the day (travelling mostly during the night) so we could use the daylight to explore and holiday.

Daylight Savings

So this past Sunday Australia entered daylight savings and this caused some strife. The first part of it was: which way do the clocks actually go? In America I’d always gone by

Spring forward
Fall back

The question was did this system still work in the upside down world. Sure we were still going into summer, but if the seasons are backwards possibly daylight savings would go backwards too. It was a question that puzzled both my roommate and I, but come Sunday morning the clock on my computer had answered for me (it was the same).
The second part, and one that I didn’t realize for a good 24 hours, was that just because Australia had moved its time, America hadn’t. It 4 o’clock in the afternoon and yet I was still talking to people in America (given they were all uni students so it might not be that bizarre). I was then confused on exactly how far behind American now was, or how far ahead I was. Turns out its 15 hours now.
Now the last part of this, only just realized now is that when American clocks go off daylight savings the time difference will change again. This will make a 16 hour difference! How can two countries be 14 hours apart for half a year and 16 hours for the rest?!?

Postcard from Down Under

I sent this out to some people, and was particularly proud of my design on the Australia Logo/Mark so I thought I'd post it.


Check out the Koala in the back, and Click to enlarge.

AusTour 4: Brisbane the III

So we didn’t exactly have three days in Brisbane, the first night was only a half night and this was only a half day, but I thought id use this post to describe the last day and some general tie-ups.

That morning we went out in search of breakfast again, Barry’s friends had left that morning at some inane hour for Surfer’s Paradise (yup that’s the name of the town*) so it wasn’t as crowded this morning. We had planned to tour a famous brewery that day, but for two reasons the first was 1) the line was shut down that day and 2) the tour was sold out. We had to leave Brizzie at 3 that day so we had a limited time we could actually do anything. We decided to take a ferry tour down the Brisbane River to conclude our Brisbane trip. After battling the trains once again (a recurring theme for Brisbane) we made out way to south bank and got on the boat. For what it was worth the ride was enjoyable and pretty informative. My only wish is that the annoying automated voice on the first half of the trip could have been replaced by the actual live guy who did the second half. I probably learned a lot about Brisbane that day, but promptly forgot a lot of it. The tour took us past many historical sites along the river including the immigration building, the old wool factory, the Story Bridge** and the (apparently infamous) breakfast creek.
After the boat tour we raced back to Bunk to retrieve our bags before racing back to Roma Street Station for our 3 o’clock bus—I say race but it was really a slow crawl due, once again, the Brisbane train network.
Brisbane: the complete review
We managed to do a lot in the two-ish days we had. I would hazard to say though that we probably could have done a third, but after that would have serious run out of things to do. It’s a big city sure, but it lacks in the whole interesting activities department (and the transport for that matter). Overall the city lacks the feeling of a city like Melbourne, there was just something wrong in the air so to speak, and it’s a city I won’t make any special efforts to see again.
*Australia has some seriously weird town/city names. Some might reference to the aboriginal names like Wollongong, Wagga Wagga or the only place I know that has 8 ‘O’s in its name, Woolloomooloo. Others are blatantly simple like that of Surfers Paradise, or perhaps the Town of 1770. Or you can bet everything you own that the names that you see everywhere in Australia will be the name of a town somewhere. Names like Macquarie, Flinders or Monash.
**there are some other famous bridges in Brisbane, including the Victoria Bridge now in its fourth generation. The first bridge in that place was made of wood and was eaten by marine wood worm. The second made of iron was washed away in the flood of 1893. The third was only temporary and the fourth is what still stands today.

Updates to Overseas Site

After struggling to code a JavaScript xml/rss/atom feed reader by myself for an auto updating front page I’ve fell back upon someone else’s. So now on the front page you should see a constantly updates list of posts without me having to do anything (save writing the posts).
I’ve also updated the gallery for both Phillip Island and CVA (conservation volunteers Australia) whose posts and descriptions can be found in this blog.

AusTour 3: Brisbane Day Dos

After setting out for breakfast with a small group, we soon made up 18 and pulled about 6 tables together to fit everyone. After breakfast we broke up, Barry and I had decided to do the walking tour from the Lonely Planet—a 5 to 6 km walk that takes anything from a couple of hours to a whole day. It took a whole day. Back to Roma Street Station (where we were last night), this time with only certain trains actually stopping at the station (great!). After being persuaded by Barry that I had the map (and my orientation) upside down we set off in the wrong direction. It was a circular tour so it didn’t matter much, but I just want to point that out because I’m sure he’ll blame me for some easily understandable misdirection in Sydney in his blog. As we set off (and as we sat at breakfast) we learned we weren’t the only people walking the city today. In fact it was the Brisbane Romp, so we were joined by a myriad of costumed teams, families and coworkers. Our first stop was Town Hall, including a stop at the misinformation desk (thanks to the Romp), a walk around the great hall in the centre with a MASSIVE organ and up the top of the clock tower for some views of Brisbane. Next we headed across the Victoria Bridge to the museum district. On the way we discovered that it was unbearably hot compared to Melbourne and happily took shelter in the GoMA (gallery of modern art). Here we saw some aboriginal art (coincidentally, a paper I should be writing instead of this blog), a giant doughnut, a seal and a piano, an arch of boxes and 16 audio video synched spectrum of people singing Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. After leaving the GoMA we continued the walk down South Bank through massive arches of pink flowers, past a giant Ferris wheel, a Nepalese Pagoda, Brisbane’s man made beech and the Maritime Museum. Extending the walk slightly to cross the goodwill bridge and cut through the botanical gardens (not as impressive as Melbourne’s) we made our way up to the Queen Street Mall. At this point we were pretty much dead as we finally snakes our way around to St Stephens Cathedral, post office square and the shine of remembrance. We’d probably doubled the walks length in the end. That night we hit up Brisbane’s most famous cocktail bar. It was interesting to say the least, but again made ever more interesting by the friends of Barry. I also saw a couple of friends who I knew from uni melb/rmit village who just happened to be staying at Bunk too.

AusTour 2: Brizzie Day 1

In the Australians ever present penchant for shortening names, they have affectionately renamed Brisbane to Brizzie. It was the first stop on our Aus Tour 08, as I’ve decided to call it, and we flew in Saturday night 2 weeks ago now. A quick note on leaving (and one Barry was considerably distressed about) was that the airport we left from (Avalon) didn’t require a single bit of ID to retrieve a ticket, check baggage, go through security or even board the plane. The plane itself from an airbus a320, which I think is the first time I’ve been on an airbus and distressed me because I was in seat 15D (15 and D is the 4 letter in the alphabet…Lost anyone?...Sawyers seat). Anyway, when we got into BNE I was past the seat I had spent about 4 hours in the last time I was in Brisbane, I was glad I wasn’t staying this long this time. In fact we were out of the plane and out of the airport in 20 minutes on a bus on route to a destination I didn’t exactly know where was. So it was partly my fault that we ended up at Roma street station, a 40 minute walk to our hostel (Google maps said it was closer), but it wasn’t my fault the next bit went wrong. We decided to take a train to Brunswick station, after figuring out a transit system neither of us had seen or taken before we found a train going the right way leaving in four minutes. We were on the platform for at least 30 minutes. 4 trains should have come and gone in that time…great first impression Brisbane! Needless to say we made it eventually to Bunk Backpackers Brisbane (a hostel in the same vein as Gilligans, large 8 person rooms with ensuite bathrooms and showers). One thing that was particularly disturbing (or artistic genius) was the bizarre decoration around the lobby including chandeliers made up of headless Barbies, a giant coastal map complete with decorations and out in the bar bird cages with Barbies inside. Bizarre. Due to the incredible delays by Brisbane city transport, it wasn’t long before some of Barry’s friends from Swinburne showed up on the later flight (16 of them in total). We had planned to meet them in Brisbane, and they definitively made Brisbane a 10 times more exciting city.

AusTour 1: Lonely Planet

This bible of all things travel helped us plan this trip, from advice on attractions to recommendations on hostels. I can’t help but notice its incredible resemblance to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from Douglas Adams’ novel of the same name. Replace ‘hitchhikers’ with ‘backpacker’s and ‘galaxy’ with ‘world’ and keep all the bits about towels and stuff and you’ve got exact replicas. The sometimes sarcastic and humorous descriptions hidden inside the countless pages of LP mirror some of the comedy that comes from the electronic system that is The Guide. Take this one for example from Sydney’s Pink House Backpackers (where we actually stayed): “Yep it’s a pink house. The relentless colour attack continues inside though spritely communal areas and across creaky floorboards.” It might be that you don’t see the humor in this until you actually see the pink house, but everything described there is 100% true. They don’t hold anything back either, from Newcastle: “your first stop should be the Queens Wharf Tower…it is 40.3m high, has 180 steps and is otherwise referred to by the locals as the ‘Giant Penis.’”
As the backpacker’s number one resource (at least to us it was), I’m surprised at this point that, like The Guide, it doesn’t boast the bright lettering of ‘Don’t Panic’ on the front.

I’m Back!

13 days later, I’ve gotten back from my (nearly) see everything in Australia tour. Ok, so we didn’t see everything, but there was no way we could fit anything else into this trip. Tourism was the key element to the trip, but we managed to get some holiday time in too. Probably because of this incredible amount of tourism in a short amount of time I’m buggered.

Nevertheless we saw some great sights, went to some great places (, got a great tan) and had a great time (that’s a lot of great!). Now thinking about exactly how I’m going to document it here I think ill do a post on a place by place basis. This will mean that chronograph will go in reverse in blog history (one downfall to the blog-system), but ill try and mark them. So we start, well, at the start with Brizzie (Brisbane)…but first: