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Published: March 19th 2007
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After 7 weeks in Asia we boarded our flight from Singapore. We were feeling sad to be leaving Asia, which we loved, but we were also excited to be heading for Australia, somewhere we have always wanted to visit. Our flight from Singapore was delayed slightly to wait for passengers connecting from a London flight, and looking at the state of most of them when they boarded made us glad we weren't doing the whole journey from England to Australia in one go. A 7 week stopover in Asia is definitely the way to go!
Five hours later we were in Perth. And as we soon realised, so were several thousand England cricket fans, with the third Ashes test starting in the city later that week. On leaving Asia we were struggling to get our heads round how familiar everything was, which was compounded by the added weirdness of having several thousand people from home there as well...
We thought by this stage of the trip we would welcome a break from hotels, so we booked an apartment in Fremantle, a lovely small town just outside of Perth, by the sea and with a villagey feel. On arrival we
went straight out for a walk by the sea and sampled our first Aussie food - fish and chips! Our first potatoes in 7 weeks! After seeing the first of several amazing west coast sunsets, we walked home and got ready for bed. We entered the bedroom and there on the floor was a small scorpion. Then a spider ran across the room. Then Joanna freaked! It took a lot of persuading to stop her from running out of the apartment there and then. Fortunately we stayed, removed the offending insects and things improved from then on.
We settled into things in Australia pretty quickly. Australia had been something of a promised land while we were in Asia; whenever there was anything we were missing, invariably something food-related, the conversation would then turn to "Well, when we're in Australia we'll be able to..." It was great to have familiar food and drink again and we predictably over-indulged to begin with.
We enjoyed a relaxed few days in 'Freo' then flew to Adelaide, where we had a lovely afternoon enjoying the small, quaint city centre, with its red-brick architecture, botanical gardens and laid-back, old-fashioned feel. A weekend of over-indulgence
London Bridge
On the Great Ocean Road in the vineyards of the Barossa Valley followed, then we were off to explore the Great Ocean Road. Conceived in the early 20th century as a rival to the USA's Highway 1, it's a 260km road that takes in some amazing geological features and some of the most stunning views you could wish to see.
We soon learned that Australia is a land of real contrasts, with a harsh environment (the sun is SO strong), especially in the interior of the country, but with some wonderful scenery, an amazingly varied landscape and an eclectic cultural mix. The Great Ocean Road finishes just south of Melbourne, which was our next destination. It's known as the most European of Aussie cities and it's easy to see why, with its impressive architecture, ordered layout, prominent trams and array of appealing bars and restaurants. We met up with Jo Long, a work colleague of Joanna's who is on secondment in Melbourne, and spent a very pleasant evening with her drinking Belgian beer in a huge beer garden on the city's outskirts, which no doubt added to the European impression.
Our only gripe with Melbourne, as it was with most places we stayed,
was that we didn't have long enough there to see all we wanted (though Stephen did somehow manage to squeeze in a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground!). From Melbourne we flew to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and two days later on to Cairns, to spend Christmas in Port Douglas, Queensland. On the flight from Uluru to Cairns we calculated that we were on our way to sleep in our 28th different bed in just 60 days!
Uluru was beautiful. On our first night we were at the Rock for sunset and it was amazing to watch the effect of the light and shadow on the Rock, with its changing colours and contours. That night we went to the Uluru observatory for the most stunning exploration of the night sky. It was fantastic to see so many stars, constellations and even other galaxies(!), accompanied by a knowledgable astronomer who wielded his light pen with real enthusiasm!
Our second day at Uluru started early. Very early. A 4.30am start for our sunrise tour of the Rock. Once we'd got used to the shock of being up at that time, we realised it's a great time to be there - seeing
sunrise there was really special. And we also got to walk around the Rock's 12km circumference before the heat of the day (and the flies) became too much.
Later on we went out to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), the other stunning natural rock formation in the area, where we had a walk round, a glass of champagne as the sun went down and a stroke of real luck. We got talking to an English couple, Roger and Rachel, who had also been on our morning tour of Uluru. We discovered that they were going to the last two Ashes tests, in Melbourne and Sydney, and that they had spare tickets for the third day of the Sydney test, which they said we could have! We had to contend with the small matter of changing our itinerary to get to Sydney in time, but surely travelling is all about being flexible...
Uluru is really worth visiting. It's a bit over-hyped and the accommodation prices are extortionate, but it's so worth it for a couple of nights. It's one of the most incredible things to see up close.
From Uluru we went on to Port Douglas, on the tropical
Barossa Valley
It was a very good year... Queensland coast in the north-east corner of the country. By this stage it was Christmas Eve, though it didn't feel like it to us as we were hit by a rush of hot, humid air on arriving at Cairns airport. A hot and happy Christmas awaited - as long as we could find somewhere to eat on Christmas Day...
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