Blogs from Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 651

Touch down in Perth, WA, chuffed when the locals said G'day, they started off on their Ozzy dream, by sharing a dorm with a guy called Raquim, late night drug deals & cheesy feet, when he stole their bread, they had nothing to eat, undeterred they loved the place, met cool people like Christian & Jace. Heaps of things to see, they found, the Pinnicles protruding from the ground, In Freo, a late night prison tour, a sweat broke out from every pore. Then off to Rotto to ride a bike, met the resident Quokkas who were rodent-like. Wanting to see what the west had in store, they hired a car so that they could explore. They walked though caves & amongst tree-tops, visited a cove with elephant shaped rocks. The bar in Albany was kind ... read more

The far north of Australia is one of the most remote places on Earth, and every day in the top end features stunning scenery and a sense of wonder at the vast distances travelled. There are three major towns stretching from the East Coast to the West Coast, and a whole lot of nothing in between. But this is the real Australia, where you can ride on the bus for an entire day and be lucky to pass a single car travelling in the opposite direction. I had a five week opportunity to explore the Far North, and a bargain three flight package from Qantas helped make some my destinations achievable given the short time frame. My top end adventure commenced, dear reader, with a flight to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. I took a few ... read more

A blog entry with Bon Scott and Mick Dundee This, the second blog from my trip in Australia in 1995, pretty much covers the second month I spent there. Adelaide I clearly remember that I wasn't very fond of Adelaide. I stayed only a very short time there and I saw very little. The only thing I saw in Adelaide that I'll mention here is South Australian Museum. There were two really cool exhibits there: one was the leg of a dinosaur and the other a really large meteorite. I think it might be the largest meteorite ever found in Australia. Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island is an island just off the coast to the south of Adelaide. I decided to take a tour there and that was a good decision since a tour is a good ... read more

Beccles, Suffolk, is not blog-inspiring; but as Ali earns us a crust, prior to our return to America (where it'll be my turn), I've been scanning some old photos into the computer. So doing, with previous travel diaries (and a beer) to hand, was just asking for trouble... Please forgive the photo quality: scanned from the efforts of a 1970s child's Kodak. "Wittenoom: asbestos was once mined in the area, and some of the town’s streets were even surfaced with it. The dust from the crushed ore caused widespread lung cancer and, eventually, resulted in government compensation for workers and residents. It is claimed that a small health risk still exists, and to hasten its demise the embarrassment of a town is censored, its existence officially denied". Thursday 9th August 1990. “Miracle mile” day. ... read more

Before we left home, my Grade 5 teacher back in Melbourne had given my parents a large pile of textbooks and several reams of school work exercises for me to complete, and I was supposed to spend a couple of hours every day while we were on the ship ploughing through all of this. I have absolutely no recollections whatsoever of doing any study at all. I'm sure my very diligent parents wouldn't have let me off the hook, so I suspect I've just wiped this unpleasant memory from my mind. I do however remember thinking as we got closer to home that this idyllic five month trip was nearly over, and that I would very soon have to return to the discipline and drudgery of school. I was looking forward to seeing my friends again ... read more