Blogs from Oceania - page 7875

I spent one day on another of those mini-bus based back-packer tours, this time round one of South Australia's wine growing regions, the Barossa Valley. This region was originally settled by Germans and the German influences are still very strong (the buses run on time, everyone is well organised and efficient etc. etc.). As well as seeing the area, visiting vine yards, seeing how wine is made etc., there was also the chance for some wine tasting. Oh, and some brandy tasting, and some port tasting, and some sherry tasting, and some champagne tasting. The Australians obviously didn't care that the Spanish and French tend to get a bit stroppy about those names being used elsewhere. Afterwards we also visited a Whispering Wall (although I assume that it's not the one in the bible) which will ... read more

Also before I left Melbourne, I had to check out the street where Neighbours is filmed. It would almost be criminal to leave Melbourne not having seen it. Unlike Eastenders, Neighbours is filmed in a real street where real people live. This street's identity is supposed to be a closely guarded secret as the people who lived there were starting to get fed up with coach loads of people turning up to gorp at their houses. It’s called "Pin Oak Court" by the way. The problem is that it's the most widely known secret in Melbourne and we were even able to get printed directions at the hostel. Pin Oak Court, or Ramsey Street as it is otherwise known, is located in a suburb called Nunawadding on the eastern edge of Melbourne. We needed to catch ... read more

This was actually our second attempt at catching the Buffing Billy, a steam-train that runs from an outer suburb of Melbourne called Belgrave. On the first occasion, Sunday 24 September, we travelled all the way out and missed it by three minutes. It just goes to show that it pays to do a little bit of research before setting off. We went for a 'Devonshire Tea' in a sophisticated local restaurant instead - although it can't have been that sophisticated as they let us in! For our second attempt, we left nothing to chance and after checking out the time-table, we allowed ourselves plenty of time to get there. The scenery between Belgrave and wherever it was that the Puffing Billy went made the journey worthwhile, that is until the weather took a turn for the ... read more

I remember arriving in Melbourne well. The highway from Adelaide crosses over the Westgate Bridge, which gives an excellent view over the city. Melbourne has a very spectacular skyline, which makes London look very flat, but on this particular morning it was a very grey and drab skyline which made us wonder whether we had made a serious mistake leaving the tropics. We all got off the bus extremely depressed and ran for cover from the ice-cold rain. We met someone at the bus terminal who was looking for people to stay at his backpackers' hostel. Obviously getting a roof over our heads was the top priority, especially in this weather, so a load of us jumped into his mini-bus. The next priority was to start to look for a job so I got the tram ... read more

After two days on buses with only a quick shower at the transit centre to freshen me up, it was nice to have a shave and a decent length shower. Refreshed and ready to go, I set off for the telegraph station, which was a short walk out of the town, but was the reason that the town was founded. It is built beside a water hole in the bed of the dry River Todd - Charles Todd being the name of a telegraph big-wig and, in case you were wondering, Alice was his wife (I'm just full of useful facts today). I loved Alice Springs. It has a special charm that I never came across anywhere else I visited due, I think, to the fact that it is not too big and busy or too ... read more