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Published: October 18th 2010
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The girls
Maggie and Coco.....great companions during the trip. They are very loveable and fun for walks. Travel Days 36 - 41
I just woke up in Bangkok after approximately 3 days of travel from my friend Jon's parent's place in Tura Beach (Merimbula area about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne). Jon, his wife Kung and myself arrived at Suwannaphum airport in Bangkok at around 8pm last night and I got to my friend's house near 11pm. From Tura beach Jon's parents gave us a ride to the bus station where we took a bus/train combo to Melbourne and stayed overnight there before flying out yesterday afternoon. Nine hours by bus and train and then nine hours flight time makes for a tiring journey. I now have a deluxe spot on my friend's couch at his apartment near Victory Monument (not far from the main shopping districts around Siam Paragon) until I head up to Chiang Mai in a few days. I hope it will be a little cooler there as the humidity here in Bangkok is quite something..........as usual. But all the locals have been telling me how much cooler it is now then it has been. Perhaps because the sun isn't shining it isn't quite so hot.
My last few days in Australia were
quite nice and interesting. The best part was when we traveled to an animal shelter/conservation area where kangaroos, emus, snakes, koala bears, peacocks and a number of other animals are looked after and brought closer to us. (unlike the zoo). The park really gives you a chance to get close to animals that would in the wild be much more inaccessible. For example, you can touch koalas, kangaroos, emus and ekidnas. It provides a unique opportunity to bring animals close to us that otherwise would be considered wild and untameable. It was an experience I will look to have more of in other such parks. Even snakes seem like loveable creatures. (The staff is much in the spirit of the beloved and exciteable but now departed Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin). Outside of playing darts with Jon, his dad and his wife Kung and the walks on the beach there, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The weather was a bit rainy at Tura Beach much of the time so we played a lot of indoor games such as Trivial Pursuit, Scattergories and lots of darts.
The trip from Merimbula in New South Wales (where Syndey
is) to Victoria (where Melbourne is) is much like the trip from Sydney to Merimbula and Tura Beach. There's lots of farmland with cattle and sheep with rolling hills like in the English countryside. One main difference is that the towns are a bit smaller and the terrain starts to flatten out more as you get closer to Melbourne.
The last day in Melboure was ok but the weather was quite cold and not the best for wondering around. The wind made it quite chilly for walking. Still we managed to visit a few restaurants and go to Queen Victoria's market to buy some souvenirs and other goodies. (Jon had his last chance to stock up on an Ausse favorite................meatpies and sausage rolls) We stayed in a hostel in the center city near the main train station which has buses to the airport. It was comfortable for about $30 a night but it is communal style with limited privacy. The guy beneath my bunk got hammered and snored like a singing whale while I was trying to sleep.......not to mention the party going on outside because there are about 3 pubs just out the window of the hostel. This
is all part of the travel experience that is overall quite exhilarating and self renewing.
Melbourne is a nice town with a little bit more culture than Sydney but also a bit colder. Sydney meanwhile showcases beauty with its harbor and really feels a lot more like a big city. If I had to pick one to live I think I would choose Melbourne. There is a bit more culture there (even with all the recent Asians immigrating into Sydney) and the infrastructure holds up a little better (except for the lack of a train to the airport). The worst part of Australia outside of the prices (and the current exchange rates to the dollar) is the relatively tasteless cuisine there. It is getting better and I had the good fortune of sharing some nice meals with Jon, his wife and his parents at their house, but the prices there are relatively high for quite ordinary food. The recent immigration will likely change some of these things but it will take time. Jon calls it "The Nanny State" because of all the rules and regulations here. This is another annoying but somewhat charming aspect sometimes. But all the signs
on the roads telling you how to be safe are sometimes annoying (They have somehow replaced ad billboards which they somehow resemble strongly)
That being said, I am sure if you are a "foodie" on a mission, you could probably find some quite interesting things to your liking. It just isn't easy. Next time I visit Australia I would love to visit more of its animal life and environmental wonders. The animals and geography in Australia are quite unlike anywhere on earth and it would be special to explore more of the continent someday.
The most disappointing aspect of the trip..... We missed seeing some whales from Hugh and Diana's back deck (Jon's parents) on the day we left. We had been watching for them all week to no avail but they showed up just hours after we hopped onto the bus to Melbourne. (a mother and her calf). Oh well......maybe next time
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