http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Australia en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:51:48 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:51:48 BST Our second week in Sydney saw the arrival of the Pope and 200000 catholic youths We are clearly in good companyWe spent the weekend taking long strolls with the 2 dogs and exploring more of the local neighbourhood. The weather has been glorious for midwinter and we have taken advantage of the late afternoon sunshine to relax in the local Lindt Chocolate Cafe enjoying one often two deli http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Darling-Harbour/blog-303889.html I just had some free time and I realized that I forgot to account for a pretty significant event Two Wednesdays ago on the 8th of July there was an explosion at the labs I was working at my desk upstairs when it happened. It was a really loud boom that actually shook the upper level. First everyone up here just froze and looked around then about 20 seconds later the evacuation alarm went of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Torquay/blog-303888.html Wow...World Youth Day is over and there's so much to tell I know there's lots of time between entries but I actually like not being so attached to the computer I'll try to capture a few of the more interesting moments for you all...July 2021 was the WYD pilgrimage vigil and final Mass with the Pope. We started our pilgrimage in North Sydney and walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-303825.html I ended up completely bypassing Surfers Paradise. It looked horrible. Fill of high risers macdonalds and dingy bars. Not what I imagined at all so kept on the coach and headed for Brisbane.I met an Irish girl from my room and then headed to see Natasja who I met in Auckland. We jumped onto the City Cat ferry and took a tour of the river around Brisbane and checked out several places. Brisb http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/Central-Business-District/blog-303819.html After Oz waved me off at 7 in the morning in Queenstown I hopped onto a coach heading for Christchurch which would take me to the airport and into Australia. The coach took about 11 hours and kept stopping constantly. By the time I got to my dorm in Christchurch I couldnrsquot sleep and ended up staying up all night to catch my flight. Luckily for me I was entertained as an ageing rock st http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-303773.html There was a blinding white light. Laura readjusted her sunglasses and pushed them higher up on her face. It was not a welcomed sight nor was it a lethal image but it was painful raw and innocent. Like a child fresh from the womb the light emanated and seemed to freeze everyone near. Time stopped while people stood in their tracks. They were locked in their gaze. Their mouths hung open. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa-Heads/blog-303758.html There are no cyberstores in the middle of the Australlian desert. No time to blog in the big cities because it's all on the south side of slow. So just a quick note to say the center of this country is amazing. Rented a 4 wheel drive and camped through the MacDonalds Olgas and Uluru for 11 days. Leaving today for 6 days in the aboriginal lands of the north. And then it's all over http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-303736.html My intercontinental journey is now more than halfway complete yes I am also surprised I have lasted this long and to celebrate this I have recently been lsquoon the roadrsquo once again. But first since it has been the longest break between updates lets have a browse over my actions the past couple of monthshellip I have been staying in a room known only as the lsquodungeonrsquo wh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Central-Coast/blog-303575.html Fin de semaine du 1920 juillet Visite de Hobart avec mon housemate Craig. On part de Launceston vers 8h00 pour profiter de la journee parce que descendre jusqursquoa Hobart prend quand meme un bon 2h15. La Tasmanie ca lrsquoa lrsquoair petit mais quand meme....crsquoest pas si petit que ca. On arrive a Hobart aux alentours de 10h45 et on se rend directement au Salamanca Market. Crsqu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-303574.html Mondaywe finally got on the road for edith falls at 330pm after peter broke the window locksvery unusual show of impatience by him. we got in to edith falls to be told our wheel on the caravan was squeeking but this was due to peter changing the ball bearings he had also forgotten to put up the waste water hose so it was an inch shorter amazing how one week can get you out of practice in pac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Kakadu-National-Park/Cooinda/blog-303553.html There cannot be many moments in a personrsquos life when you can say you have had a perfectly wonderful time and that everything about it could not have been better well I had one of those moments this weekendhellip..Unbe known to me plans had been afoot for weeks to celebrate my 50th birthday in style well Kevin and the boys certainly made sure of that.The celebrations started the Saturday http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-303547.html july 16 nursing my wounds. no spruiking. no news.july 17 rain stopped. day of routine. swim and spa.july 18 barby at yc 5. motored on catamaran along river at night.july 19 footy cats thrash dogs in second half.july 20 with twitchers to lake eachem in tablelands. golden whistler fantail scrub wren tree creeper lewin honeyeater little shrike thrush pale yellow robin riflebird wampoo p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-303539.html We zijn vandaag vroeg opgestaan voor de wandeling door Carnarvon Gorge. Ruim 14 kilometer wandeltocht hadden we voor de boeg met hier en daar wat klimwerk. Nou hadden wij de Giant Stairway bij de Blue Mountains al overleefd dus ons maakte je niet echt bang meer.Linda onze gids wist gedurende onze wandeling van alles te vertellen over de planten en bomen die we onderweg tegenkwamen. Veel van de p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Carnarvon-NP/blog-303532.html july 11 half moon rising in the afternon. sunny full fresh brreeze cairns esplanade. families on holidays. fantastic view the mighty estuary strewn with boats. occasional chopper jetting out. two seaplanes on moorings. red green flashing channel markers on coolish night perfect weather but. sikhs hindus malays melanesians melaeucas palms. july 12 morning walk recognising birds. peregrin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-303530.html Hallo an allezu allererst danke fuer eure nachrichten und emailsdie zeit vergeht so schnell leider sind unsere drei wunderschoenen wochen rundereise schon um. wir haben traumhaft schoene gegenden gesehen extrem nette leute kennen gelernt die aussies sind echt total freundlich und hilfsbereit leider etwas amerikanisch was den lifestyle betrifft und wirklich viel erlebt. wuerde am liebste http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-303529.html We're now at the end of our second day at Kewarra Beach Resort between Cairns and Palm Cove. We had some delays getting here as our plane from Melbourne had a technical fault and we had to wait for a replacement. However we got here only 3 hours late. Moud 75 no idea why our cabin is called a moud is set in the rainforest and near one of the rock pool swimming areas. We are surrounded by palms http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-303508.html Well it has been a while but then again there is not a lot to report...Work is interesting. I am still trying to get a hang of what my job entails. Like I said previously I am working for a company called Servier which is headquartered out of France. I am their Theraputic units coordinator in the international center for therapeutic research ICTR. Well the job title sounds fancy but ba http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/Brunswick/blog-303505.html Wednesday was a very unique day as we hopped on a bus and headed to visit the town of Nimbin. The pictures probably give a better explanation than i ever could but its basically just a hippie town where you can't walk ten metres down the street without smelling pot being offered pot being offered special cookies. Some of the signs and people for that matter provided us with much amusement http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Nimbin/blog-303502.html On Sunday after our very large meal at the hard rock cafe we weren't really feeling up to anything exciting so spent the rest of the bay wandering round town and lazing on the beach. That evening we decided to do the sensible thing and stayed in rented a film from reception and watched it in the movie bus an old schoolbus type thing parked in the middle of the hostel and tripped out with pink l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-303501.html Itrsquos been raining all day here on the ldquoSunshine Coastrdquo a good time to do some catching up. So to continue with our travels through inland NSW left Coonabarabran on June 25th and drove through pleasant countryside to Tamworth which was a bit of a surprise really. It was a much bigger place than we expected I think the population is over 50000 but it had a nice country http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/blog-303500.html I spent the first couple of days at my relitives house sleeping off the stress that was Bangkok And writing EVERYTHING down in the blog which reading back is ridiculas but i think 5 days with noone to winge to about little things meant that I took it out on the Blog. Thanks to those who stuck it out and read the Bangkok entryMelbourne in JuneJuly is freezing compared to South East Asia so a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Mornington-Peninsula/blog-303471.html this is my first trip to noosa with marlies and tangie. it was the trip where i learned i could def go to this place on my own and i did. now look where its gotten me http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-303467.html Hello allA quick update following our descent from Port Douglas lovely place back to Cairns. We mostly did so to experience the Barrier Reef and because we like the place. So we booked the trip via speed cruiser to the outer reef. Fantastic. The only thing was the weather was between 1520 knots on the way out which resulted ni lots of sick passengers including a little carter throwin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-303455.html The rest for now http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Liverpool/blog-303453.html these are actually some pretty awesome looking pics fraser island was beautiful http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-303444.html When we originally booked our trip with Trailfinders they recommended that we have a few days peace and quiet to recharge our batteries in Australia. Fortunately they could recommend somewhere funny that a place owned and managed by them doubly funny that called Bloomfield. Despite not really knowing anything about it and really just relying on a knowing look from Nick at Trailfinders http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cape-Tribulation/Great-Barrier-Reef/blog-303442.html these are some things from around BrisVegas when me and the girls were there. notice all the bridges brisbane is around the river. there is also sailing in Manly. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-303432.html we all live in a yellow submarinethis was a pretty chill hostel we stayed at for a couple weeks SO MANY Germans but they taught me how to place some pretty sick card games and say some pretty cool german phrases. all the cuss words ya know. but these pics are from a Saturday night when they always have a party with all the alcohol provided. kinda cool. this was called the Ugly Party. i ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-303412.html