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Published: January 9th 2011
Hello, all, long time no writing... No, I haven't disappeared just yet, I think I told you last time, it was hard to find the time to write my next entry as I have been both working and travelling which are the most interesting parts of my empty life. But hey, I'm here again, inching toward keeping my promise of keeping you updated, and now here's a brand new one: Let me give you some background first...
For some time, I had been too burdened with a rush of guilt running through me since I had left China, you see, do you remember I mentioned somewhere in one of my entries how tardy I was in doing some specific travel? well, I decided then not to have any regrets about putting off the visit to one of the most amazing places in the world: The green Australia, located down under the Equator. That's right, once I was back in Colombia, I continued contemplating the possibility and soon my prior wish to travel around South America was changed by the prospect of admiring the lovely kangaroos and koalas and their interesting dens. Therefore, I was obviously
very intent on accomplishing my goal.
Kangaroos... By the way, I want to start this entry by commenting on a tale told by a wonderful Australian tourist guide, which made us all laugh: that refers to the origin of the word Kangaroo. Apparently, when Thomas Cook saw these exotic animals for the first time, he asked an aborigine what their name was. The latter, without understanding, replied in his own language that he didn't understand. The sound uttered was something like "kan-ga-roo", which Cook took for the name of the large animal; a new word was being coined that very day. As I just learned, the Free Online Dictionary does not agree with this version of the story though... but you're welcome to do some research if you want, and then tell me. As for me, however anecdotal it sounds, I have my doubts... too funny to be true, n'est ce pas? unless somebody tells me that on that same day, Cook had coined half of the Australian English dictionary, or else, how did they communicate then? That's part of my cheap inductive reasoning, impressed? 😊.
My long trip was quite
The Emu
The female is the lazy one, as it is the male who has to incubate the birds. I don't know you, but I was ignorant of their existence. I thought their way of walking is very elegant.worth it as I quickly learned I had been missing on something spectacular, which fascinated me; in this entry, you will learn about my introduction to those hopping creatures, my scary driving on the left-hand side of the road and my newborn love for Mc Donalds. I think these topics could be enough to outdo Mrs Rowling, but I do not feel ready yet to start writing seriously; so, as I know you are all longing for some gossip of my travel, here I go, enjoy and tell me what you think...
The trip from Los Angeles lasted for 13 hours, and no, I didn't get bored this time; for your information, the time was wisely spent finishing one of the books I took with me, which dealt with more sadness from Cambodia, sorry... and I even had some spare time to watch some films. Yeah, here it was the chance to catch up with the "Septieme Art" by watching so many films I hadn't seen from last year; I'm not usually the one to have no clue about who the current Oscar's nominees are, except this year... I have to confess it happened; it was so
shameful for this greatest Colombian film freak that I instantly thought... this time I would watch lots. I'd just tell you that the best one I watched was 'The Reader', I thought Kate Winslet was superb, in fact, she should've won another Oscar... and hey, if you watched it, remember the part where she was struggling to learn how to read? that part...really broke my heart. It was so full of determination and hard work that I somehow saw myself there struggling to learn Chinese. Ok, I know what you're thinking: He's digressing....again!!! compris, so, let's not talk about films now.
Anyway, the flight was quite smooth and I quite enjoyed it. But then, I was eager to make it to a country that seems sometimes a bit forgotten, it is as if we know it is somewhere in an atlas but we don't take much notice. Never before I was interested in visiting such a huge area, this time, I guess it was the fact that I had been so near that it seemed like a waste not going there. Furthermore, there were some facts I was not comfortable with:
For once, I
was always confused and thought that its capital was Sydney; secondly, I had hardly heard of famous Australian people, except for Kate Blanchet and Nicole Kidman, who else? well, the Olympic swimmer, Thorpe and no more. As far as films is concerned, I don't think many films are made there, tv series? I just knew a soap opera which w as very famous in England, was it Neighbours?
You can tell me off for being so ignorant about this part of the world and I know I should get more interested from now on, after all, are they not supposed to be the sixth largest country in the world, or the smallest continent? That, I learned revising for my State highschool exams, so? Well, at this point, not even the fact that I was losing one day during the flight prevented me from enjoying the long trip.
Those misconceptions? I soon realised that what they say about the Aussies loving Cricket and Rugby was not a lie at all, to be honest, I think they are really mad about it. On one of the first nights I got into Melbourne, which
by the way, had me slow down due to my heavy suitcases, a hullabaloo was heard at the station, just imagine lots of young Australian supporters wearing their favourite team t-shirts and screaming in unison to cheer on their teams, that was really something, a bit too loud. On the other hand, it was nice to see some of their everyday customs, which makes me think about what happened in these past days to a guy from Bogota. For wearing a tshirt from a Colombian football team, he was attacked by a group of youngsters and now, he's in intensive care. I didn't know wearing a tshirt was such a sin, but here you go, we definitely had hooliganism there, not as Australians say: it is only the pommies, how sad!!!
The Aborigines Although a subject of controversy sometimes, they have shaped the history of the island as they inhabited it for over 40,000 years, not bad, uh? It was not until the XVIII century that it was claimed by the British who established their penal colony there.
But the aborigines are not only the world's oldest surviving culture. They also
differ from the other cultures in the sense that they did not experience the same historic evolution other cultures have, the stone age was for them the only existing period up to 1960 and according to what I read, even now. The latter must be due to the fact that the European invasion did not reach the whole island and there were some areas left intact. Coming from Africa, they made it into Asia, and geographical and weather accidents would have them populate other countries like China, Indonesia and other countries.
Lucky us that thanks to their lovely pictures, scientists have learned about the great deal of extinct animals that existed thousands of years ago. Aborigine paintings also depict images of people doing their laborious work as well as performing their ceremonies. I have to say that I loved the paintings and I did not hesitate to buy friends and family some T-shirts depicting some of their most colourful paintings, and they are now my favourite shirts whenever I want to show off.
Their cultural evolution makes you wonder how much they could teach us so that we -more civilised people- learn to live
The Pukumani Ceremony
These poles were found on burial sites. in harmony and once and for all, respect the laws of nature. How different life would be, but it seems that we never learn; on the contrary, it seems that our daily lives are based on destroying the beautiful world we live in, and worst of all, we call ourselves, civilised!!!
Through lots of paintings and precious objects in the museum, I was able to imagine the pain and suffering experienced by the aborigines who were displaced from their lands, taught the "only" religion they could have and what's worse, massacred. Needless to say that their women were raped, families separated and new diseases brought to the island. Once more, the usual history of colonisation is present there, my attention was caught by some of the paintings, depicting their dreams of freedom and wellfare, pictures of natives committing suicide to flee from the conquerors
However, what we can see nowadays is that, regardless of the normal changes as a result of the European conquest, there are some tribes who are still loyal to their ritual and ceremonies; second of all, although they might have adopted many European customs, when it comes to spirituality or
Lovely designs
On the face of it, these paintings were done 7,000 years ago, can you believe it? WOW beliefs, there are facts that need to be respected and we have to learn to live with them as it is a part of the richness of our natural world.
MELBOURNE Given the ominpresent advertising of Greyhound coaches, it was easy for me to settle the way of travelling. We left Sydney Central Station at 9:10 am and we got to Melbourne at 10:00 p.m. The total fare was AUD120.00 and I read and slept most of the time.
Being the capital of Australia from 1901 to 1927, the second most populous city is today the capital of Victoria. Thanks to its gold production, the city was quickly transformed into a metropolis. And to tell you the truth, if I had the chance to choose one city to stay in Australia, I wouldn't hesitate to choose Melbourne. Its shopping malls, hotels, cultural and night life, as well as its friendly people are very appealing. Added to this, its architecture brings past and present, although like in Sydney, most of its Victorian buildings were destroyed, you can still feel surrounded by its past thanks to the reshaping work of William Pitt. Regarding
Jandamarra
Aborigines are proud of some of their leaders who fought the white men. Although they were not successful, their tales of courage keep them going the weather, I must say that I stayed there during the winter, so I guess, living there during the summer might be magical.
But what I definitely loved most about Melbourne was its libraries, oh yeah, althought I didn't actually grasp a book there, I was able to use internet for free. However, it was nice to be in such an imposing building located near Melbourne University, where I saw lots of Asian students, a shame I couldn't get hold of any of my previous Chinese students, I miss them lots.
I stayed for one night at Sophia Hotel located on King Street. I was glad to be there for I was so tired of walking that day, and everything was so closeby.
Melbourne Museum The first thing that caught my attention was the Australian Coat of Arms being displayed at Melbourne Museum, which I thought it is the best I have ever seen. My first impression when I saw the two animals chosen -the kangaroo and the Emu- was, wow, two exotic animals, a jumping animal and a flightless bird, what a brilliant idea and then I
learned that they chose the kangaroo and the emur for they are the only animals who can not physically move backwards. That's awesome, and then it was easy to put 2 and 2 together as they don't want their people to go backwards only forward. Isn't that smart? Bravo, I felt a bit ashamed thinking of our own emblem which portrays signs that do not exist anymore and nobody has taken the ime to change it. so, Australia 1, Colombia 0 😊
Crazy for you I don't know if it was the English speaking setting or the fact that there's so much of England in Australia but somehow I felt the need to go to the theatre, lots of options to choose from as there's so much going on in Melbourne; I finally opted for a musical, yeah, that was not difficult to guess, and I was quite glad as the play I saw turned out to be quite interesting, funny and it made me feel very melancholic for my... should I say it? ok... my, my lost youth... In addition, it was so exciting to know that the musical had been premiered in
Australian Coat of Arms
Very positive indeed, the kangaroo and the Emu Broadway in 1962.
So, off I went to the Arts Centre to buy the ticket, I love all the things connected to the theatre plays, like the fuss concert-goers make so that they are not late, their elegance, the way they greet you, I swear, in one of my past lives, I must have been one of the old espectators of Shakespeare's plays; sorry, I woke up the dreamer in me or maybe I was just swept along by their lovely costumes...anyway, the artists had lovely voices, I really enjoyed the dancing and the story, although it kept the usual predictable musicals plot, it was interesting enough for you to keep your attention: given my budget, I didn't have a very good seat but then I was able to move after the interval, a very nice guy let me swap as there weren't enough seats occupied in a lower section of the theatre, and I'm not shy for that 😊.
Dali While on the road, I was quite glad to spot a huge poster they'd put up on one of the walls of an inmense museum. Soon was I to discover
Crazy For You
An unforgettable musical that they were showing a Dali exhibition, or as they put it, a comprehensive retrospective of his work. Some images came to my mind as I knew one or two of his paintings but nothing else. A long time ago, I was so proud of myself that I passed an afternoon asking my parents what they could see on one Dali's painting on a postcard I had bought in France, you might know it, an optical illusion, a couple of people sitting on a beach and a face of a woman was hidden. I think this excitement lasted for a day as nobody could see it, but apart from that, I didn't know anything of his paintings.
So you can imagine my excitement when I knew I was soon to be surrounded by his work, etchings, sculpture and paintings, wow. But before I continue, let me just give you a quick review of his life, which I learned from different sources:
Salvador Domenec Felip Jacint Dalí Domenech was born in 1904 in the Spanish town of Figueres, Catalonia. It was at 14 when he discovered his gift (in my case, it was earlier 😊
and at 16, the dead of his mother would change a lot of things in his life. Two years later, he enrolled Madrid's Academy of Arts where he stood out as an eccentric and so proud that he decided to quit before ending his career as he didn't think highly of his teachers. However, his introduction to Cubism and Dadaism had already occurred.
Surrealism came later in Paris, where he met Picasso and Andre Breton. The latter would then nickname him "Avida Dollar" and due to politics disagreements and his behaviour, soon he was expelled from the Surrealism movement. I guess they ignored he would be considered the greatest Surrealist painter of all times.
It wasn't then until he decided to move to the USA where his success arrived as his eccentric behaviour finally paid off. Acting a bit like Madonna and Evita as far as marketing was concerned, he then got the attention he was looking for. I hope you don't cut me off for making this comparison, but looking into their lives, I gather attention was their secret to celebrity, he, for once, used narcisism to attract fame.
If
you, like me, had been in Melbourne roughly at the same time, you wouldn't have missed Dali's exhibition, which was just superb. The queue was long but quite worth it. I spent some time trying to make out some of his paintings and it is always fascinating the way how you see a painting and how the interpretation is affected by the mood you are in. This might sound crazy to you, but I had seen one of his paintings a long time ago and I remember my exact impressions which were in the background while I was examining that same picture again. Does it make sense? I almost went to the extreme...
My fear of driving on the left hand side... Looking into different possibilities to go back to Sydney, I considered renting a car but something in me, made me very apprehensive. The fact that they do not drive on the same side as us didn't add to my confidence. I remember asking at some car rentals but always doubting on my skills. After considering different prices, I decided that Herts would have the best deal. It was a bit funny when
they were presenting the vehicle to me as they were describing parts I didn't even have a clue, but I got that the condition of the vehicle was great and that's what I needed to know.
Lucky me that drivers in Australia do not tend to tailgate and I have to say, they are extremely polite. Get this: when I was on my way back to return the car, I forgot about the fact that I had to drive on the other side of the road, so when I turned, I had many cars in front of me. Wow, nobody honked, on the contrary, they actually laughed and with body language, they made me realise I had done sth bad. I was so surprised at their soft reaction that I even laughed, to tell you the true, I couldn't help imagining the outcome if the same thing had happened in my country, just imagine the scenario, drivers honking, calling me names and me trembling trying to go back to the other side.
How come I read Food Nation and I still got to love McDonalds there?
My friends can be surprised
That's right, from Sydney to Canberra, guess who drove all the way
Looking back I can't believe I had the courage to drive on the left hand side of the road, thanks Australia for teaching me but wait, it was not that I have finally got round to eating lots of fatty products, no, it is just that thanks to their munificence, I got to use internet for free in Australia, well, not free, as I enjoyed their lovely coffee, which I have to admit, is delicious.
CANBERRA The customary 7 hours from Melbourne were reduced to 6 something due to my driving speed, yeah, I know I shouldn't have but hey, these quiet Australian roads are a treat to driving, specially once I got used to driving on the left-hand side. However, I have to confess that due to a fear of having been framed as I saw lots of cameras on the road, I couldn't help feeling a bit guilty and then I asked some people at McDonalds about the likelyhood of being fined. Thanks God, nothing happened..
A very green city in the south east is the capital of Australia, which I learned not a long time ago, to be honest. My first impression of the city when I entered the tourist office was that of being in the setting of the Danish film
Dogville starring the very Australian Nicole Kidman. The map of the city shows a very well organised distribution of houses and buildings, not many skyscrapers, I thought. And then, I found out I was sort of right, the prosperous city has been named the Australian tree city.
I was totally impressed by the large array of exhibitions you can visit for free, in fact, Canberra is well-served by its name which means "encounter" as it seems to be the place for the encounter of many tourists, and why not, even though it doesn't have as many cafes as Melbourne, the city has its own charm. As I had to spend the night there, I found a cheap hotel called Victor Lodgte on 29 Dawes street in Kingston and it was $36.
Australian War Memorial
The right place to reflect on the suffering provoked by war; through a great deal of documents and photographs, the museum pays tribute to around 100,000 Australian soldiers who volunteered to go to war. Indeed, I was glad to learn about the courage of Australians who were the only nationality -according to the tour guide- who were
not obliged to enlist for the war. Lots of volunteers to defend the colours of England lined up to fight.
The visit was full of engaging stories well told by the tour guide. The names of the soldiers are engraved and beautifully adorned with poppies that add to the grandeur of the solemn place. To refresh your memory, these red poppies were the first to spring up in the battlefields after the massacres in the war in France; hence, they were chosen as a symbol to remember the sacrifice of soldiers.
The most striking moment was when the lady showed us sets of names coming from the same family and then I couldn't help feeling sorry for those parents losing 3 or 4 sons in war, that was most touching.
The Great Ocean Road, Victoria According to one of the signs we found on the road, the Great Ocean Road was built by 3,000 Australian returned soldiers and sailors who survived the First World War. When they returned to the country, some of them kept their previous jobs and others were employed with good salary and working conditions. A memorial was also built
to conmemorate the building of the road as well as the courage of those soldiers who volunteered to fight in the war. At the memorial, a sign reads: "Their like we shall never see again".
,
What an inviting name for an spectacular coastline, sounding like music to my ears, I knew it was the right place to visit. I took a tour with Ride Tours, which is advertised as the right company to discover the alternative, it was a two-day tour, including food and accommodation and it cost me $165. We set off very early, a tour bus picked us up on time from our hotel and a group of 20 people, including youngsters from different nationalities, England, China, Ireland, France and obviously, Colombia. And there we were, ready to enjoy the amazing wildlife, which was for me the highlight of the trip, and then, little I knew that I was about to observe kangaroos, emurs and koalas roaming freely and feeling very careless about the tourists watching them.
The coach trip was fun, the 273km-road definitely offers the most gorgeous landscapes and stunning views of the ocean you can ever dream of. I loved
the guide, she treated us with a set of comprehensive commentaries on the Great Ocean Road as well as Australia.
Our tour consisted of different destinations, Geelong being the first of them and then Warrnambool, but on the way, we were able to admire the beauty of some beach villages while we had a snack, which added to the enjoyment of our tour. Great whale lookouts
The views along the Great Ocean Road were superb, our customary small talk was funnily interrupted by the yellow signs warning of the jumping kangaroos or koalas which we enjoyed so much. The walk on the rainforest was just lovely, we found different trails taking us to a great deal of canopies, the photos were just superb. To be honest, although it was a bit cool, I was expecting rain, but fortunately, we didn't get wet only on those beaches, but that was for fun.
We stayed in a lovely cottage, without many facilities but all we needed to have lots of fun, a big kitchen where we, as a group, cooked together.
The journeys out started, I very much enjoyed the
lovely walks through the forest full of inmense eucalypt trees where we looked for koalas and actually found some as well as some emurs and kangaroos. I was also a bit concerned about the warning signs of unstable cliffs, but those that we stepped on were very stable.
Twelve Apostles
Yeah, the countdown, 12, 11, 10, the 9th fell in 2005 and now, there are only 8 limestone stacks standing majestically as a proof of the big rock erosion that started 20 million of years ago. A very tourist-friendly spot, where you can you admire lovely viewpoints along the way and take lovely pictures for free. It is really a gift as the site changes colour depending on the day. We stayed a long hour there waiting for the penguins to come out of the water and let me tell you it was a superb treat!!
Cape Otway
Go south and you can find this amazing Cape Otway, apart from the scenery, we used it as our favourite spot for our late lunch.
Bells Beach
The guide told us it is the favourite beach for surfers, so it was a must visit
for us. The sand was sort of yellow
The Koalas Not exactly bears, as they told us, koalas are as cute as they can be, which is explained by the fact that they spend most of the day sleeping 😊, seriously, 17 out of the 24 hours of the day sleeping, even I can be cute too; the guide advised us to try to see them in the middle of the afternoon, which is the time when they go down the trees to look for the eucalypth leaves. A shame they do not eat anything else as
Thanks God that we have Australian forests for them to live in, or else, they would be already extinct. Let's hope that we, human beings, learn to cohabit with them and somehow we stop building infrastructures in those places which are vital for their survival. Only then, can we decrease their decline.
I loved the Australian humor. On a particular day, waiting for the bus, I caught sight of a sign advertising equipment rental. The sign displaying a photo of Hugh Grant after his DIVINE night, reads: "Don't get caught with
The Koala
I thought they were very lazy as they spend half of the day sleeping, and they do it to keep energy for the only food they eat -eucalypt leaves- are very low in proteins, so they are not in fact very strong, sth that makes them even stronger the wrong rental", hillarious, I thought. Well, not only Divine profited by Hugh's naughty love rush.
SYDNEY Victoria Harbour Yeah, for a long time I thought this four-million inhabitant metropolis was the capital of Australia and it was reassuring to know that I was not the only one. Once you get there, you actually learn that the city has so many icons that it well desserves to be the capital of any country. But then I learned that being the largest city in Australia, together with Melbourne they had what it takes to be a capital but as differences grew and none wanting to give up its hope, the government was forced then to look for a new centre and make it capital. That's how Melbourne became the capital of Australia, but I am still not convinced.
Although it was really splendid to see some imposing buildings like Sydney's Central Station, I was in seventy five minds, if I may say so, deciding where to go so that I could sort money and time well. Too many icons as I have written above, the Sydney Tower, the Darling Harbour where
many performances were going on at that time, Others, on the other hand, were taken out of the list: Justice and Police Museum. the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, the marketing for skydiving the beach was not convincing even if they offered you to train you before the jump, not for me, thanks.
In Sydney, you can find plenty of Victorian buildings, which I prefer, as well as lots of modern ones. Who would know that what was intended to be a penal colony would turn into this magnificent metropolis, which explains the lack of investment at the early stages of its foundation. Thanks God that not only convicts were about to inhabit this land but free settlers decided to stay and that's how new plans were made to build. According to Wikipedia, after the war, lots of the Victorian buildings were demolished and modern buildings were built instead.
As far as accommodation is concerned, I stayed in a hostel, which was fun as you could cook with other youngsters like me 😊 and only one hotel, DeVere Hotel located on Macleay Street.
Although I didn't go into the tower as I
thought it was a bit expensive, I was able to admire its height and imagined the wonderful views from above, but at least I visited some of its shops.
There are also many walking trails that actually offer pleasant walks
Sydney Opera House Here a confession too, I didn't go inside, damn it. Well, remember I had to be extremely careful when I budgeted my visit there, too many things to do and although you will kill me, the Opera House was not my priority. I thought the building itself is stunning and what was to be learned inside could be found somewhere, sorry. But here so that you can picture the visit, there were adverts for tours inside where you could actually sit in the orchestra pit, have delicious coffees and visit some of the stars' rooms. I also saw the prices for the performances and seriously I couldn't afford it at that moment, that's why I thought a musical in a theatre would be much cheaper and maybe more entertaining.
A meeting at the top of the arch bridge? Harbour Bridge, the largest bridge in the
world
As you can imagine, given my well-known fear of heights, I wasn't looking forward to seeing the steel arch bridge up close, no way, not even all the precautions taken for tourists' safety or the broad smile of tourists coming down of the bridge convinced me to do the 20 minute crossing so beautifully advertised. As you all know my failure of standing up to vertigo didn't start yesterday. And yet, I was brave enough to look at it from a faraway distance but not that close. I opted instead for seagull watching, which was safer and more attractive.
I did try, seriously 😊, I had picked up a leaflet somewhere advertising the climb of your life and someone even said that some people have meetings at the top of the bridge, my God, well, not for me, I had gone to the harbour only to see the Opera House.
Putting it down to altitude, I was able to enjoy the area differently. I took a cruise and the views of Sydney's main landmarks were breathtaking. I only took a one hour cruise, but there are some lasting for the
whole day, my only regret is that they do not offer coffee on the ship.
Anyway, history has it that proposals to build a bridge connecting the north and the south part of the harbour went on for many years, and it was in 1925 when the actual construction started. By looking at the bridge from my non-very-brave location, I was just imagining the lovely panoramics of the city you'd have, and even if not going up the bridge meant I wouldn't be a first hand witness to the history of the bridge, I knew I would get all of it from books. And so I learnt that the building took 7 years to be completed, amazing.
After 78 years of existence, the bridge, which is 141 metres above mean sea level, is known to be one of the most popular landmarks in Australia. But not everything was joy, reading about the history of the bridge on the web, I couldn't help feeling sympathetic for the people who were living at the time of the construction on that area, and were unfairly relocated without any compensation whatsoever.
Australian Museum On College Street, the oldest Australian museum welcomes you as it provides an adventure full of natural history and anthropology, mineralogy, zoology and even Paleontology collections displayed in such an appealing way that the six-hour visit passed too quickly.
I had heard that Australia housed the most dangerous worldwide species but once you are there, you sort of ask yourself what the hell you are doing there. Seriously, I hesitated to read some of the captions as the images of the animals looked so scarry.
The museum is brilliantly organised: you have different displays of Aboriginal History, Animal Species and Outstanding Minerals. It is understandable that Aboriginal history be present everywhere in the country and the captions priovided were very insightful. Thanks to some reading, I knew a little about it, but when I was looking at the species of animals, I felt so little and ignorant that I inmediately took out Maya's journal and I started taking notes of species I didn't know existed: blue swimmer crabs, marsupial lions, Tasmanian tigers, sea dragons and some others; you can take it with a pinch of salt or take my word for it but
I learned that sharks as not as dangerous as the media claims. So, Shark 1,2, 3 and 4 was not real, damn it! 😊
National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour Although not a destination I would've chosen on a normal mood, the enigma of Darwin's motivation on his five-year voyage on the Beagle, served as an excuse to visit the museum. Yeah, as it was the commemoration of his 200th birthday, people were treated to a display of dozens of manuscripts and different specimens and fossils from his trave to support lhis theories on evolution, and some nice anecdotes.
Swimsuits... After the exhibition, there was the most contrasting display of the history of the swimsuit, a bit of a mismatching but still funny to see Borack wearing his fairly interesting swimwear.
Taronga Zoo A large array of exotic and native animals are to be found at the Taronga Zoo situated on Sydney Harbour, Kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, tigers, giraffes, elephants, pelikans, snakes, frogs, to name but a few; and what about the aquarium, sea lions and the like; I have to confess that many of
Here took place my highschool revision of Science
The man who said "Light will be thrown on the origin of man" and although contradicted by many, he threw that light indeed. the animals I saw there were unknown to me: platypus, echidnas
Easy to feel like Alice in Penguinland as you can't help but starring at those gracious penguins. To be honest, the whole outlook of the zoo makes you feel that animals are treated well, the space they have seems enough to roam about and you don't feel like they need to be free as in other zoos, here is our educational opportunity to make it up for what we didn't have at highschool.
What I loved about the zoo is that it is a project of Australian Conservation Program, please correct me if I am wrong about the name, but they rescue endangered species and are concerned with their survival, a worthy project which we need to support. All the fees go to the fund so you feel better after the entrance as you see that apart from watching species from all over the world and some that you never thought they existed, you are also contributing to the foundation.
And for those who are not interested in animals, the visit is worthy if you want to admire the beautiful view from
the harbour, it is just amazing, a must on your sightseeing tour. Open daily from 9 am to 5 pm, plenty of time for you to enjoy nature at its best.
Bondi Beach After all this encounter with nature, there was something else I had to do, and got to finally do, my beach sightseeing: Spectacular, this lovely sandy beach can provide you with the comfort you need to relax and look back on your visit. The promenade is fantastic, if you continue along the beach, you will soon be surrounded by tons of sportive youngsters, rollerskating and cycling,
Looking back... To sum up, I knew I had come to the right place given that I was looking for a fairly traveller-friendly place, in this Aussie country, wherever you go, you find tourist offices whose staff are just sweet and helpful; but hey, my tip is, if possible, better not to be short on time when travelling here as there are so many places to go and it is a shame to skip some.
I'll go even further to say that I have
come to think that Australia will be a nice place to live. For one, I believe it is very calm; I don't know if it is due to the isolation of the country, but I could sense that people treat each other quite amicably. Just as I stated above, I was very surprised at their friendly attitude when I struggled to drive on the other side of the road. The response to my mistakes was sympathy and understanding. If that had happened in my country, people would've shouted at me, calling me names and even hit me, depending on the mood of the person. Australians, on the other hand, are maybe so used to having so many foreigners that they might find our driving blunders quite funny. Correct me then if I'm wrong, but it was excellent to be "told off" with a smile on their faces. Their attitude combined with everything I described here, gets qualified for two thumbs up!!!
The flight back to Los Angeles lasted for 13 hours, I then headed to Houston and finally Bogota.
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Arley
non-member comment
Greetings
Australia looks like a nice place to visit. I wish I had the opportunity to go and enjoy that beautiful country. I really like your experience at the theatre as I am a huge fan of role plays. Perhaps one day we could go to the theatre together. P.S. I am not trying to be a wet blanket but you should buy a better camera, awesome places deserve awesome memories.