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Published: September 17th 2011
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Australia, a dream land for many people, I will check it out this time, and also to visit my great friend Fred there, he is Brazilian working in Perth as English teacher.
So the first city I arrived in Australia is Perth, the biggest city from West of Australia, Fred was planning to take off some days to travel around with, but before it happens, I just walked around to visit some places near to Perth, the most interesting one is Fremantle, a little city with Dutch style, because Netherlands had colonized the city time ago, there was a main port from west side. There also have a very nice Marine Museum to visit.
Back to Perth, now we are ready to go, our route was to Albany, Denmark, Margaret River and then back to Perth, by trailer, or a little van, enough for two people, and I realized that is very common in Australia, people come, rent a van, use that as transportation and accommodation, very nice option. Our main goal of trip was surfing, Fred is in love with surf, and that was my first time of surfing, and fortunately in Australia. My first surf was in Denmark, no
strong wave, a big surf board, I could stand up on the board, and caught some wave, that was really, now I know why so many people love that sport.
There are no such cars on the road at night, because the Kangaroos start to jump around and crossing the roads, that is why there are so many dead Kangaroos. We stopped about 4 places to surf, surfing is not so easy, that need a lot of force from the arms, gosh! I was exhausting but also exciting, we had almost everyday the same routine, driving, surfing, eating and sleeping as a stone... arriving in Margaret River, the surfing paradise, I had no force to surf anymore, I need a rest, and the waves there were so big for a beginner like me, so I just stayed near to van, watching the scene and make some photos.
After almost a week traveling with Fred, he is going back to work, and I am heading to east side of Australia, to Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Whitsunday. My intention was to take the land transportation, bus and train, but there is a low fare air company, Tiger Airways, the prices are
very cheap, it really worth.
Hobart, capital of Tasmania, a port city, so many yachts, boats and fishing there, there is a annual yacht race from Sydney to Hobart. Besides sea side, Hobart also has ways for trekking, for example the Mount Wellington, the life there is quiet, I met a British on the trekking path of Mount Wellington, he decided to live in Hobart because he want a calm place to live, he choose Australia because he is working with environment management, and Australia indeed is very focus on environment, walking around there, you can realize easily how they protect the nature, the Australian government really care about that.
Leaving Hobart, heading to Sydney, there were some friends of Fred, they supported a lot there, and gave me some relevant information about how to stay in Australia, for example I wasn't planning to rent a car to travel around because I didn't have a international drive license, but they said I can use the Brazilian drive license as well, and it really works, I rented a car to use in Queensland later. Back to Sydney, the biggest city of Australia, financial and business center, even that Sydney has a
wonderful beach, I never saw a big city like Sydney had a beautiful nature also, that was amazing! One more time I saw how the Australian government care about the environment.
Canberra, the capital of Australia, some people just think Sydney as Australian capital. Canberra, the political center, basically nothing else out of that, and a interesting I found there is the Aboriginal Embassy, that was a tents on the ground, I couldn't find any aborigine to ask why, but probably they prefer that way, maybe it represents more freedom for them.
Queensland, famous by the Great Barrier Reef, I arrived in Rockhampton, and I rented a car there to go to Whitsunday. I stayed just one night in Rockhampton, and there was having a parade for Christmas, maybe just a trial, because it wasn't December yet. From Rockhampton to Whitsunday I spent 2 days stopping wherever I want it, I slept only in the car for a week, that was only me, so it is easy to fit in. I realized some interesting things on the road, there are always colorful bird surrounding you when you are eating, nobody in the water because that was season of jellyfish on
east coast of Australia, don't sleep on or near to beach because there could have some crocodiles, and on. The Great Barrier Reef is one of natural wonder of the world, really great and beautiful, but the weather didn't help when we were going to ocean, the most of time there was cloudy, but the reefs were beautiful anyway, I just thought that could be more wonderful if there was a sunny day. There has a very interesting creature in the open water, Napoleon Maori Wrasse, also known as Wally, that is a big fish, but very friendly, normally they are very curious and come to play with humans.
Melbourne, the second biggest city in Australia, there are free urban trains to visit the city, and the traffic there is unusual but interesting, car, bus, bike, motorcycle, horse and walker are crossing the same street all the time. The little streets in Melbourne are full of drawing, street's arts. Victoria's market is the main market to buy the stuffs from Australia. The movies museum, a great interactive museum of cinema's story and techniques, free entrance fee. The parliament of Victoria worth also to visit, a tour with the employee there
explaining the political history of Australia.
Back to Perth, to say goodbye to my friend, and we had a Brazilian BBQ there, the Brazilian community there is huge, the most of Brazilian there are working as waiter, the common way to gain the money in Australia, the manpower there is very expensive, because the population there are small for that size of country, also because the Australian social benefit is so good, if you have the residence visa or Australian citizen, you can get money from government when you don't have any jobs, the money is enough for the daily needs, and that is why there are missing qualified people to work, why do you need to study? Only if you really want it. Being in Australia is very nice, no matter infrastructure or nature, the people also is very kind, the only problem is be legal there, the Australian government is tough with documentation, and so many people there are trying to have the residence at least, including my best friend Fred, normally they have student visa. If I have the chance, probably I will try to stay in Australia for a couple years, even I love Brazil.
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