First 3 Weeks of Australia

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So, here we are - made it to Australia. Arrived in Melbourne city and it was already dark, so got a tram (the city is full of trams going everywhere you can imagine, and they all have right of way and the longest you wait for one is about 10 minutes and a weekly travel card cost about 10 quid - bit cheaper than back in London now-er-days). As it was late (and quite cold in the evenings) just headed for some food then back to the hostel. Next day worked out how we were going to get about Australia and decided to buy an Aussie Pass on the Greyhound buses, which pretty much go everywhere and all the way up the east coast cost a little over 150 quid - not bad as that will take us pretty much over 2000 miles. Then headed up the tallest building in Melbourne for a birds-eye view of the city that has about 3.5 million people. Then went to the Old Melbourne City Gaol, where Ned Kelly spent his last days (and was eventually hanged). Good impression of Melbourne as it is clean, nicely laid out and full of stuff going on.

Next day spent exploring the city further, including the Botanic gardens and also the Hall of Rememberance that has a stone plate on the floor in the centre of the hall that, only at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, has sunlight pass across the word 'love' that is enscribed on the stone - some amazing engineering to get that. Then headed to the really trendy and cool beach-side suburb of St Kilda for a strole along the beach and a coffee. That evening, went to Lygon Street that has about 30 or more Italian restaurants to pick from, eventually settling on one. Next day went to the huge Queen Victoria Market, which sells fruit&veg and other markety stuff in a giant area in the middle of the city. Then caught the tram to Melbourne Zoo and spent the day wandering around seeing the huge selection of animals they have available - the elephants swimming in their swimming pool was a highlight. They were pushing each other under and using their trunks as snorkels! Wierd seeing the giraffe and zebra in a zoo rather then roaming the Kenyan landscape though.

Next day was a great day out (despite the rainy weather) as I went to the practice session of the first practice session of the 2007 F1 season. While I went to see these amazingly loud cars race round the track, Andrew went to visit Ramsay Street (home of Neighbours) and even met a famous character. Anyway, had earplugs in and the F1 cars were still pretty loud and the slightly damp track made some the the turns pretty hairy for some of the drivers. Lewis Hamilton - who happens to be a day older than me (not the slightest bit jealous, honest) - raced round the 3 hours of practice session to gain 3rd position which he eventually turned into a 3rd place on race day - amazing for his debut race! Great day out and huge shame to miss the race as there was no accomodation in town due to the F1 and the beginning of the FINA World Swimming Championships the same weekend.

Next day caught the early coach to the capital of Australia - Canberra. Passed very few towns on the massive journey that took over 8 hours (despite it looking really close on a map). Shows just how massive Australia is. The scenery on the way was certainly not as spectacular as that in New Zealand, with really dry brown grass reflecting the drought throughout the whole of Australia at the minute. Canberra's location was picked by the Government and built from scratch around Lake Burley Griffin using 'Garden City' techniques such as long, wide streets and important building at the end of them. Really modern feeling and all really organised, but they seemed to forget to put pavements everywhere while designing the city. Oh, this day happened to be St Patricks Day and we were staying in a hostel above an Irish bar (woohoo), so much Guiness was had.

Went to the National Museum of Australia which was this crazy building with a really cool gardens in the middle reflecting the shape and landscapes of Australia (so confusing that there were people there to explain all the different things to you and what they represented). "Canberra" means meeting place in an Aboriginal language, which I thought was a nice idea - the government took a ballot on what to call the new capital city too. Then went to Capital Hill and Parliament House for a tour around the House of Representatives and the Senate - one room green and one red (they even passed a law to make the emergency exit signs red instead of the normal green). The Building has a huge flagpole on top of it that can be seen for miles around and the view of the city was quite good from up there. Managed to catch Hot Fuzz in the cinema - was an awesome film and quite funny laughing (as the some of the few Brits in the audience) when we found something funny because of the British humour in it. The next day was Canberra Day - a public holiday, so we never got to see the real place in action, but we went to the Australian War Memorial and got an amazing tour from a volunteer who told us some of the stories of the 1000s of soldiers names listed on the walls of the Memorial (the youngest soldier to serve in WW1 was 13 years old!). The magnificent Hall of Remembrance houses the remains of an unknown soldier, representing all those lost. Then headed to the National Capital exhibition showing the history and future plans for the city, which will develop the city more closely to the original Burley-Griffin plan. And that was the end of our short time in Canberra - people say its a boring place full of civil servants, which is pretty true, but thought we should visit the capital city of the place as we were passing through it.

Caught the coach to Sydney the next day, leaving slightly rainy Canberra and arriving 3 hours later to the humidity of the biggest city in Australia. Arrived in the morning, so we were able to explore our local area and found our way to Mrs Macquaries chair for an amazing view of the harbour. Really hits you that you are in Australia once you see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge just like you have seen them in so many photos and movies. After that walked to the Opera House and found out that the tickets to go see something in there were half price for under 27s, so we got 2 tickets for a showing of Macbeth that evening. After a quick dinner, headed back to the Opera House and watched a modernish adaptation of the Macbeth story in the Sydney Opera House. Was pretty cool to go in there and experience the real thing other than just standing outside for a photo. Next day headed to the Museum of Sydney that had a massive exhibition on the Sydney Harbour Bridge that celebrated its 75th birthday a few days before. So then we walked over the Coat Hanger (as it is known) and then along the North shore suburb of Kirribilli. The Bridge really was so massive and overpowering to the harbour, can't imagine the place without it.

Next day we got picked up for a day tour to the Blue Mountains by a Brian Blessed look-a-like. Took around 2 hours to reach the Blue Mountains, stopping to watch a mob of wild kangeroos doing their thing in the National Park (mostly just laying about munching on grass). Then headed for a walk around the Blue Mountains, named such because of the blue mist that lingers above the trees. It is blue because of all the oils that the eucalyptus trees excrete, creating an amazing blue tinge to the air just above the treetops and a great smell while wandering around. On the way back, stopped off at the 2000 Olympic Games site, some way out of town, which appears to be deserted and not used too much, hope the London site doesnt end up like that.

The next day I decided I wanted to climb the Bridge, so got to mission control, put on a jumpsuit, comms pack and attached everything to the suit (including glasses) and then climbed up between lanes 7&8 of Australia's busiest stretch of highway. About 1 1/2 hours later, reached the highest point on the Bridge - some 134m above the water level (coincidentally the same height of my bungy!). The view from the top was absolutely amazing, with views over 50km, and luckily I had a clear sunny day. The Bridge was built to last 50 years, but was built so well it will last at least another 150 (most of it is made from British steel) and the parts holding it up can take the weight of at least one other bridge on top of the one that is already there - pretty well put together. So glad I did it and was so much fun climbing through all the steel and up the stairways to the top. Next day was spent on Bondi beach - fairly cool sandy beach not that far from the city, but full of backpackers - hardly heard any Australian accents, which was odd. Managed to meet up with my great Aunt and Uncle who live in a suburb west of Sydney at their house for a decent cup of tea and some lunch and chatted about their lives since moving to Australia 30+ years ago and my travels.

Next day, after taking another view from the stone pylons either side of the Bridge, we caught the ferry to Manly beach where we sat and had fish'n'chips on the beach (where an evil seagull swooped down and stole the largest chip I have ever seen out of my hand as I was showing it off to Andrew!!). Did a bit of sunbathing, but that was ended by the sudden downpour of rain, meaning also that the ferry ride back really was not smooth at all! That evening went and sat outside the Sydney Opera House overlooking the harbour and the Bridge, watching the world go by.

Next location was Port Macquarie, about 7 hours north of Sydney, and located on the coast, with some fantastic beaches and a Koala Hospital that helps road-injured and diseased koalas get better. They are sooo cute looking and cuddly and very sleepy, living only on eucalyptus. After attempting to walk down the coastline to the famous lighthouse, we got distracted by the beaches, and there we stayed for the next few days, soaking up the rays and going interesting shades of lobster (tip: don't sunburn your eyelids it rather hurts). Sea there was amazingly rough, with huge waves and lots of surfers about the place and even had dolphins just hanging around in the small harbour there, was quite cool.

After sharing a coach with some girls we met on the Kiwi Experience bus (its a rather small world), next stop was Byron Bay. It was a lot more lively here, with a lot more backpackers and commercialised for them. Hostel even had a swimming pool and was pretty close to the beachfront. Spent a lot of time planning our next few weeks and also sunbathing. Next day I got up fairly early to do a skydive! After waiting quite a while for the clouds to clear, finally got harness on and introduced to the chain-smoking bloke who was going to be attached to back when I jumped out of the little plane at 14000 feet. After 10 seconds of training (really thats all it was) we went out to the plane, where my instructor (Joe) explained how his job was 'alright' and that he didnt really get any thrill from it any more. Oh well, bounced down the grass field that was the runway with about 15 people crammed into the tiny plane with a slidding see-through door, and after 20 minutes we reached 14000 feet (about 4km or 2.6 miles up). Here, Joe attached himself to my back and then pushed me over to the edge (I was last to jump out of the plane). Then had to hook legs under the outside of the plane, head back, hips out, 3 2 1 SKYDIVE (thats what he said). The next thing I knew I looked up, saw the plane disappearing fast, and plummited through the pretty freezing air towards the earth at a very noisy and windy 200 kph (124mph). The view was out of this world - the sea was insanely blue, the Bay was amazing from up there and you could see the curvature of the earth too. And the clouds even parted so I got a clear view for absolutely miles. Joe span us round a bit and then, after only 60 seconds freefall from 14000 to 4000 feet, he opened the parachute and nearly ripped my legs off with much pain as the harness pulled tight! Then peacefully floated back to earth, while nearly losing my breakfast (due to the massive adrenaline rush apparently 1/3 throw up!), swooping to and fro to slow down with some amazing views even from that height. Landing was really smooth too (cheers Joe). Was an out-of-this world experience that I will never forget, and such a massive rush that lasts much longer than a bungy and makes you feel like you really are flying. Next day, after that excitement, walked up to Cape Byron, the most Westerly point in Australia followed by more sunbathing.

Well, had a fairly action-packed few weeks. Sorry to be so delayed with updates as having some serious issues being able to upload photos. Slowly heading further north along the east coast and will be leaving in a little over 2 weeks for the northern hemisphere.

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Photos

View of Melbourne
The view from the 360 Observation Tower

The Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains
Can really see the where the 'Blue' comes from in this one

The Sydney Harbour Bridge
Can see where I climbed up in this one

Landing from the Skydive
What I would have looked like while landing!

Byron Bay
Now, imagine that view from 14000 feet! Was amazing

A little koala
Ahhhhhh. Do you think they will notice one in my bag?

Comments

[LittlePika]

*ignores blog n skips to piccies* KOALA!!! so so cute!!! 8D If they ask..say it's your rucksack :D

[Colin]

Paragraphs
Those 3 first paragraphs are the longest paragraphs known to man!

[Rachel]

You skipped Ramsay Street in favour of F1?! Pfft, madness! Which is only proven by your doing a skydive! Lol, I love it when you're abroad and you laugh at something that non-Brits just totally don't get. We obviously rock *nods* Man, actually going to see something at the Sydney Opera House was an awesome plan. And that Hall of Remembrance thing sounds amazing. Now I feel really lazy for spending the past few weeks lying in bed and watching TV :P CONTINUE TO HAVE INSANE AMOUNTS OF FUN!! :D (P.S. Stick a extra koala in your bag for me. And another one for Shing *huggles*)

[Tom the Pomme]

Blam
Did you know if you type "Rexxor" into google, this is the first site that comes up? Excellence. Rex I fear you do too much stuff for your brain to remember, it may explode at any point. I vote you finish off my literature review and various other pieces of work I have blatantly forgotten about..... Melbourne looks nice, what's the tall building in the photo? Also doesn't the leap year shindig etc break the hall of remembrance? And dude you're not meant to say the name of the Scottish Play!!! fool. Time for an all nighter me thinks

[Rexxor]

Reply to Tom the Pomme
You are allowed to say the name of 'that play', just not on the stage. Yeah, somehow the Rememberance thing works including all that malarchy and Daylight Saving... Melbourne I think may have been my favourite city in Australia. The tall building was... er cant remember, but it was very snazzy. Holiday looked a laugh. And wow for me being the most important Rexxor in the world.