Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 9

I slept Ok and there were no storms during the night. I am getting quicker at breaking camp and today I'm off walking at 7:30am. The initial 2km are slightly uphill but on a good track. From there it is a short ascent up to The Nobs which is probably my first real viewpoint of the hike. The track down to the High Cone campsite and saddle is quite steep in places but I reach there at 10am and stop for a rest. I also go looking for the nearby water source but as I expected there is evidence of moisture but no actual water that I can find. The next section of the track is hard work as it is very overgrown with numerous trees down across it as result of bushfires. Though it is ... read more

I am not indigenous by blood, yet I am Aussie through and through. How is it that indigenous art from a culture that has inhabited our sunburnt country for 40,000 to 60,000 years fascinates and grabs my soul so profoundly? I look into the Shailyn Peris Bungle Bungles "Purnululu" hanging above my screen monitor and drift into its allure...into ancient country that I have trekked in the physical and the spirits of the Dreamtime inhabit. But as a white man I am not supposed to have any place in the Dreamtime. Yet I enter that spiritual realm and am welcomed to take my place around the campfires where we become one. Where art overcomes prejudice and indigenous culture becomes the baton that may not be passed to me by right...but I take hold of nevertheless...and embrace. ... read more

I have not done much long-distance, multi-day hiking, apart from a couple in the Himalayas and some in South America when I was travelling. Now that they have the time, a few of my recently retired friends have been quicker on the uptake than me and have been doing some great long treks. So just after Christmas, after I walked a section of the 13-day Grampians Peak Trail, I thought I ought to stop thinking about treks, get my act together and actually try to do one. The next question was which one. The only long treks in Australia I knew of were the Overland Trail in Tasmania and the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) from Victoria to the ACT. As I live in Melbourne, I thought the AAWT might be the most convenient and after ... read more

Tour Days 94-95 – First, I knew Australia was big just by looking at a map; however, I didn’t realize just how big. When compared to the contiguous 48 states (the lower 48), the United States is 3.2 million square miles (8.1 million km 2) while Australia is about the same – 3 million square miles (7.8 million km 2). Initially, I was planning to rent a car and drive around Australia; however, I discovered a web site, campermanaustralia.com, which has several road trip variations for discovering Australia. The web site prefaces the trips on digesting Australia and not just sniffing this diverse country. The straight-forward trip, the “Circumnavigation Around Australia,” is 17,100 km (10,625 mi.) takes 244 hours of driving time and requires 3 months or more. Of course, just following the coast omits the ... read more

Opportunities like this only come around every so often and this opportunity is a special one. The train pictured service the Perth to Bunbury route for 37 years and retired only recently in anticipation of a new rail car. This train is currently in a siding in Pinjarra where there are already quite a few heritage railway items. This train will be going to a museum in Boyanup but will stay here for now as it needs to be transferred by road due to the fact that the state government no longer owns the railways. The infrastructure is there but the permissions need to be obtained. I used to go and see this train at the Perth train station in the morning because I just say happened to be near the station when it was due ... read more