http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rachel-of-Oz/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rachel of Oz en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:07:47 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:07:47 +0000 After Coober Pedy it was a lot more of nothing to see until the Flinders Ranges. We drove a couple hundred km into the Ranges and spent 45 minutes hiking to a great lookout point only for it to start raining buckets just as we got up there... so in the end we didn't see much unfortunately. It was a nice drive at any rate. To redeem the day we drove to Alligator Gorge in Mount Remarkable Nationa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/blog-1781.html A short 4 day stop on the way to New Zealand. Myke travelled all the way to LA to do the All Tomorrow's Parties festival with me in Long BeachBest festival ever Lots of really great bands were there like Modest Mouse Built to Spill Danielson Famile a christian band Sonic Youth and Iggy Pop The festival is still in its growing stages so there weren't millions of people there and you c http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-1527.html I stayed in Auckland for three days which is too long really bc it's not that special it's kinda like North American cities but with some mild differences. I met some really nice people there Mike and Adrienne from Wyoming Jenny from Montana and Veronica from Munich Germany. The five of us hit it off so well and we were all tired of Auckland pretty fast so we decided to head North toge http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-1535.html Alvei is a 40m long ship built in 1920s originally as a fishing boat and the captain rebuilt it into a sailing ship in the 80s adding three masts the main being 30m tall. There are currently 12 crew members room for 18 and our duties include steering lookout sail handling anchor watch when weare in harbour cooking cleaning and maintenance like painting tarring. It's a bit like a commune http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-1536.html Such a beautiful place I'm starting to entertain thoughts of moving to New Zealand permanently We arrived here on the 23rd and I had to stay on the boat the first day for anchor watch. The second day a bunch of us went ashore and hitched a ride into town from someone maybe he was a postman. He was a crazy driver though All the roads here wind around the mountains they don't have guar http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-1561.html FLIES FLIES FLIES FLIESI've discovered the real reason that nobody really lives in the outback. Forget about the lack of water and the extreme heat the flies are enough to drive anyone completely insaneAt least I have luggage. Jesse doesn't. Virgin Blue left his in Sydney. They didn't accidentally put it on the wrong place which I could understand as mistakes happen they didn't http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-1562.html This was a birthday unlike any otherGot up at 530am for our life changing experience in central australia. Things were looking good literally when we met our cute tour guide Anthony who happened to have good taste in road trip music and had a Crocodile Hunteresque way of randomly screeching the van to a halt and running into the wilderness whenever he spotted a lizard. A camel ride early i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/blog-1563.html I considered today to be my real birthday since it's the 25th at home. We were up at 430am in order to watch the sun rise behind Uluru Ayers Rock. It was stunningAfter that we did a long hike around Kata Tjuta the Olgas which was much easier than the King's Canyon walk but equally impressive.We also drove around Uluru and looked at some Aboriginal rock paintings and heard some Aboriginal http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Uluru/blog-1564.html Today we had the option of climbing Uluru or walking around it. There are signs everywhere strenuously requesting that you don't climb the rock it's a bit offensive to stomp all over what the aboriginals consider a sacred object and yet a steady stream of tourists can be seen moving up and down. It's actually quite a dangerous climb a woman died yesterday and they landed a helicopter on the r http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Uluru/blog-1565.html In Echuca Vic. Spent something like 10 hours on the bus getting to Melbourne and then had all day in the city to wait for my bus to Echuca. First impressions of Melbourne FANTASTIC So much going on There's the fringe festival an arts festival something like 5 sports stadiums and an outdoor music venue near the botanic gardens. Another place I wish I had more time to check out... I've http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/blog-1678.html I think the kangaroo might just be an elaborate hoax dreamed up to attract tourists to Australia. Or an urban myth. Indeed when the first settlers wrote to home to England describing these creatures everyone thought it was a joke and I'm inclined to feel the same way. These so called kangaroos are supposedly a pest there are so many of them. Don't drive through the outback at night th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Outback/blog-1679.html The past three weeks of sailing were incredible Veronica and I left the Alvei today and watching it sail off without us was like watching our house and family drift away. But the money has run out and it's time to work.I'll miss everything about sailing including getting up at 400am for watch eating Fritjof's kerosene pie this was a veggie pie gone very wrong the dolphins that swim alon http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/East-Coast/Napier/blog-1756.html Bill Bryson says in Down Under that the great virtue about driving through emptiness is that when you come to anything anything at all that might be called a diversion you get disproportionately excited. In my opinion truer words have never been written.Jesse and I and our new English friend Paul our third English friend named Paul actually embarked on a four day drive through the Outback http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Outback/Coober-Pedy/blog-1768.html After a week in Sydney of desperately searching for work ANY WORK I was offered a free ride to Canberra and decided to accept.Canberra gets a lot of bad reviews from backpackers mostly because of its lack of nightlife but that's not why I'm here so I figured I'd give it a chance. It's the nation's capital for heaven's sake Gotta see it.On paper Canberra looks very straightforward convenient http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Australian-Capital-Territory/Canberra/blog-1786.html I can't help posting a few more pics. This is the crew and their tattoos http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/East-Coast/Napier/blog-1870.html After leaving the boat in Napier I worked on an apple orchard crappy Then a road trip with friends from Toronto to see lots of cool Lord of the Rings related stuff including the third movie at the Embassy theatre in Wellington where the premiere wasThen back on the boat for a lovely Christmas with the Alvei crew. Then another roadtrip this time with Dirk Fritjof and Jennie. We hiked thro http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-1871.html My first month in Sydney I hated it Mainly I was just frustrated that I couldnrsquot find a job. Then I realized thatrsquos just the way life is in a big city and once I found my niche I began to LOVE it I started attending St. Paulrsquos a Lutheran church in the city and met heaps of people my age who were fun and helpful I ended up living with many of them for short periods of time http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-4047.html