Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 4524

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Blue Mountains March 19th 2006

Hi All, Time for the next installment! It's been a little while coming because we have been back in Sydney for a while so the pace of our adventure has slowed down. The high point has definitely been a trip to the Blue Mountains (just west of Sydney). They are spectacular - massive steep mountains and waterfalls shrouded in rainforest and mist (it's blue as it rises from the Eucalyptus trees which is where they get their name). We climbed down a steep forest path near the Three Sisters (a rock formation for those of you who haven't been) then walked along the rainforest base before getting the steepest train in the world back up the cliff face - incredible views! We also went to the Jenolan Caves and had our own private tour (it is ... read more

rantailua

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Manly March 19th 2006

rinsessa

aamupähkäilyjen jälkeen tultiin siihen tulokseen, että ei se taidakaan sataa vaikka säätiedotus niin lupas.. Aurinko nimittäin paisto kirkkaalta taivaalta ja lämmintä riitti. Ei siinä sit auttanu ku laittaa bikinit päälle ja suunnistaa Manlyn lautalle. Noh ei meistä tuu mitään auringonpalvojia. se on ihan selvä! puolen tunnin jälkeen alettiin oleen, et vois lähtee kotiin, mutta kyllähän me tunti siellä jaksettiin maata.. Sit piti käydä katteleen Manlyn kauppoja. Piti nimittäin saada flipflop kengät ja kyllähän me sellaset löydettiinki! :) ja sit lisää tuliaisia. Kohta onkin kaikki ostettu! :D hyvä me! noh rahatki on sit sitä myöten kulunu, että eipä sitä enää toukokuussa taida edes olla rahaa ostella.. Kotona tehtiin kalaa ja hymynaamoja. ei jaksanu muutakaan. ja joutu meneen kylmään suihkuun, jotta sai hiekat pois. se hiekka on niin ärsyttävää,kun se takertuu joka paikkaan! argh!!! :( ... read more

Heysen trail - Yulti Conservation Park

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Myponga March 19th 2006

Heysen trail through Yulti

SA hiker

Introduction Today's walk was a stunning one and a memorable one - the Yulti Conservation Park. This walk was chosen by Peter and was planned to be three and half an hour walk along the Heysen Trail near Myponga (found in George Driscoll’s book). The Heysen trail itself is beautiful and I would recommend people visit this park if they are in the area allowing about two hours to traverse the park and return. The views are spectacular: to the west you will see the Myponga reservoir and the ocean, and on a clear day, Kangaroo Island. You will need proper walking shoes as the slopes are steep and slippery in parts. I would say children would need to be reasonably fit - about eight to ten years old would be okay. To get there - ... read more

Getting Ready to Head Off

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney March 19th 2006

Avalon Beach

emitch

Hi Everyone, I'm getting ready to head off to London with Beata tomorrow and so I'm in that frantic trying to organise everything stage. Other than trying to kick myself into gear, this last weekend has been really fun. My sister and her fiancé (Kate & John) brought forward the date of their engagement party so I could be here for it. It was great to have everyone in one place to be able to say my good byes. My aunt, uncle and cousin flew from Hawaii to Australia for the party so I’m very grateful to be able to spend a couple of days with them before leaving for the UK. The engagement party was simply beautiful; I don’t think they could have chosen a better location than the surf club at Avalon! The parties ... read more

Cyclone Larry

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cairns March 19th 2006

Disco and Rat

Days 126 & 127 Happy Birthday Auntie Yvie!! We checked out to hear that Cairns, our next destination, was about to be hit by a grade 5 (the worst you can get) cyclone. Oh dear! We jumped back on the ferry anyway and caught our bus. Some of the towns on the way up were being evacuated due to the looming cyclone Larry. We arrived in Cairns safe and sound and checked into our hostel. Got chatting to our room mates and prepared to be stuck in the room for days. Happy Birthday EGG!! The next morning we awoke to battering winds and rain but luckily it calmed down and we were able to go outside in our hunt for some food. The core of the cyclone struck 100 km south and caused devastation to a ... read more

A try is successful, but what is a keirin?

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Mornington Peninsula March 19th 2006

Phillip Island

Bev

18 March 2006 A try is successful, but what is a keirin? The Commonwealth Games opened here in Melbourne on Wednesday night with all the pomp and circumstance of the Olympics. According to the Commonwealth, these games are second in size to the Olympics, while to the Asians, the Asian Games rank second. Regardless, there are 71 countries participating here in Melbourne, some of which I have never heard of before- like Niui Island, a small island-country in the Pacific with a total population of just under 2000. And they have a rugby team - or maybe they are a rugby team. I have also never heard of a few of the sports - like the keirin. The keirin is a cycling sport in which the riders do laps on a track with intermittent sprints. The ... read more

Phillip Island- Little Blue Penguin viewing

Snickers

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne March 19th 2006

UncleTravellingRick

11:00am Still @ The Greenhouse, I'm all checked out but had forgotten about the rather large and disruptive marathon that's currently trapping me and thousands of other people in the city. Still, had a wander round and tried to find the Melbourne Center for Contemporary Art for the second time - unsucessfully. Coffee and a broadsheet took me upto 3, by which time the roads had cleared and I jumped (well, as much as it's possible to jump with 27kg of weight on your back), on the next tram south. I'm not sure whether I've mentioned before, but for several days I've been suffereing with the worst case of man-flu that I think I've ever had: sore throat, runny nose, headaches, swollen glands, aversion to light, etc. I think it had orriginally started off as Parrot ... read more

Fraser farewell

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Fraser Island March 19th 2006

littleramwell

Our final day on Fraser Island. Had to reach the ferry by 2.30 so remained in the southern part of the island and embarked on the Southern Lakes Scenic Drive. Lake Birrabean and Lake Boomanjin were both lovely, the first being a clean quieter version of Lake MacKenzie from day one, the second being a nice tea coloured lake :-S !! Heading Home after a long weekend was a relief, the fight for the shower once everything was checked back in at the hostel was just comical. Shane, who checked us in, had a good feeling about our group and he was right. Everything was spot on so we were free to go our seperate ways! A long weekend lead to a very long rest!... read more

Bundaberg, Mon Repos and the baby mutant turtles.

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Bundaberg March 19th 2006

Ranger sorting out the turtles

mel andy

Yesterday, (16.03.06) we didn't write as all we did was lay on the beach in Noosa and went for a brief walk around the National park. Oh but we did see another wild koala! Big guy he was. 17.03.06 This morning we caught the 9.35am bus to Bundaberg (home of Bundaberg rum). This trip was going to take us around 7 hours when it is only really a couple of hours up the road! How annoying. These are public transport buses but are full with travellers, which shows you how busy the east coast of Australia is. We arrived at our hostel at about 5pm. Now the reason we have come here is to see the turtles. As soon as we got booked into our hostel we found out about the nightly turtle viewings and got ... read more

Onto the Next Floor............!!!!!!!

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne » Brunswick March 19th 2006

Amazing! Bear you would have appreciated these- totally your colours!

Bubba Woosh Joblet Sticky Pickles Wylie

Very cultured day really off at Victoria's art gallery avec Vix and Col................................. Returned back to flat and watched WolfCreek- WHY!!!!???????!!!!!?????!!!!????? Then we moved on to Andy's house- lovely boy on Singa- Thailand flight (then briefly Koh Tao!) he picked us up in his car- great to be in a car!- and we even had our own bed!!!!! Wow- Andy had even popped towels on the end of the bed for us!!!!! Felt like we were in a hotel!!!!!! Hope everyone is well back home? Its always great to hear from you guys you know- sorry I dont get to sent personal emails back to you all............................ Martin yours crack me up everytime!!!! Think Lee is in a strop with me as not heard a word from him since he was labelled "The New Sniffer About ... read more

Guy Outside the Art Gallery Drawing- Very Impressed!

Ahhhhh Little Col in a Little Shack at the Art Gallery!

Brief history of Australia

Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name...more history

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