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Published: June 11th 2006
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The wildlife can be cute & cuddly...
Here is one of the koalas that we met...this one was in a wildlife sanctuary at Barown Heads, Melbourne - but we also met one in the wild on the Great Ocean Road... After Canberra, we headed south to Melbourne, where, amongst other things.............
- we drove down the Great Ocean Road as far as the Twelve Apostles. THe road name is a bit of a scam though, as only the first section to Apollo BAy involves an "ocean-side" drive - the rest is inland! But we stayed 2 nights with Anita (who we met on our Central America #2 trip) either side of the drive - sharing photos and stories by her nice log fire!! And along the way, we met a cute, wild koala, who saw fit to sit in the middle of the road & halt the traffic!
- we spent 4 nights staying in ST Kilda from where we got the tram into town each day. We visited some museums, shops and went on a guided tour around the MCG stadium.
- we attended our first Aussie Rules (sorry, AFL!) football game. We watched St Kilda v. Geelong (which Geelong won fairly easily in the end), and sat alongside the 48,311 other people who were also there at the Telstra Dome on that Friday evening. The atmosphere was more like rugby back home - ie, the fans were integrated
- and we thoroughly enjoyed the game and atmosphere.
- we visited Chris's family in Melbourne (Auntie Monica, Barry and Jenny and Lisa) for a home cooked meal and an evening of catching up!
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We next enjoyed a 4-day self-drive tour of the Red Centre...
- after our flight to Alice Springs, we had a bit of a race to get to Uluru (Ayers Rock) before sunset, after Qantas helpfully cancelled our flight. (This was after they had already amended their schedule and cancelled our direct Melbourne-Ayers Rock flight!) We managed to change our car hire though, and hence avoided catching the courtesy coach laid on - as courtesy coach was not going to arrive until after sunset (which was the whole point in being there!!!)
- we saw sunrise and sunset over Uluru (Ayers Rock), and did the 10km walk around the base.
- we watched sunset over Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), and went on the Valley of the Winds walk through the middle of them. This walk was probably the best hike we went on to date, and The Olgas were beautiful. They are under-rated in our opinion. They are, after all, a collection of Uluru-like
Be careful of the Kakudu wildlife though!!!
You must be careful where you go swimming in Kakudu...!!! Here is one of the crocs that we met on a river cruise - and yes, he was only 2 foot away when I took the photo!! rocks clumped together - so you get many for the price of one!
- we stayed in King‘s Canyon for one night, and did the main valley-rim walk there too.
- we finally spent a night back in Alice Springs, and paid a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor station before heading to the airport for our flight to Darwin. Handy hint though: fill up the hire car with petrol in Alice Springs town, as there are no fuel stops between there and the airport - and so to leave the fuel tank full involves a further 20km round trip back into town from the airport (just after you arrive!)
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The final section of our trip around Oz was based in the Darwin area...
- in Darwin itself, we attended a showing of "Grease" at the open-air deckchair cinema, and spent time milling around the Thursday night "Mindl Beach" markets with thousands of other Darwin-ites.
- we went on a one day excursion to Bathurst, part of the Tiwi Islands. Here we were given a tour of the island's aboriginal community, and seeing the benefits of the non-integration of the community into the main population (and avoidance of the resulting
Edith Falls (near Katherine)
In the heat it was great to be able to swim & relax in the pools at the top of the main waterfall...especially when we were the only ones there! This was only the baby waterfall, where we swam above the main drop! alcohol and other social issues which seem to be apparent on the mainland).
- but the main part of our Darwin time was our 5-day (4-night) Top End (camping) safari around the national parks of Kakudu, Litchfield & Katherine. We had some hikes, saw some beautiful waterfalls (which had plenty of water as wet season had finished late this year), went on a 15-minute helicopter flight (without any doors on the helicopter) down the Katherine Gorge, and we were generally VERY lucky with our timing...as many of the features that we saw had only become accessible in the previous 10 days - in fact, Edith Falls only became open to swimming (in the pools at the top of the Falls) on the day that we visited!! HOWEVER, we were careful to avoid the Kakudu wildlife, except on the "Jumping Crocs" cruise that we went on (see the photo to see what I mean!)
Then it was time to leave Australia, and we had mad 3 hours in Cairns (doing lots of admin-type stuff) between our early morning Qantas flight out of Darwin and our lunchtime flight on to Tokyo...
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PS: please excuse the changing font in the above article -
Dinner with Auntie Monica...
with Barry, Jenny & Lisa proving more camera-shy!!! however, am currently on a Japanese keyboard that has lots of automated functions (instructions in Japanese!),and a will of its own. Am struggling enough to stop it wanting to write in Japanese alphabet!!!
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Tim
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Sunset on Mindl beech
Hello there - i just had to say how fantastic the photo of the sunset at Mindl beech is. That image would enhance any picture frame in the world. You should enter it into a photo competition as you have a winner there. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Tim, England