Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 4688

October 24th Cairns Check out time 9.30 a little early. Steve picked up car but because he was early we got an upgrade. Drove along the coast, which appears similar to Hawaii, for a few kilometres and then turned inland. The scenery really changes here. Steep roads, rampant, lush and tropical vegetation. We are now in Far North Queensland in the Wet Tropics ...rainforest. Great views of the Cairns area from the lookout points. Can see the Hawl Along waterskiers. They have a zip wire and are dragged round the lake by that instead of a boat. Arrived at Kuranda mid morning. This is the only village actually in the rainforest so the pamphlets say. It is a fair size place with a good info centre and several things to do and see. And when you've ... read more

After the exersions of Byron Bay are next stop was Brisbane - "The fastest growing Cidy in Australia, Mate". We only had one thing on our minds - Theme Parks, but we had to choose carefully. Do we opt for the roller coaster rides, the movie type one (yeh right!) or wet 'n' wild. Bearing in mind it's getting hot now we opted for Wet n Wild and fortunately for you we didn't take a camera! We spent the next day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Sara couldn't resist paying to hug a koala whilst I contented myself with hand feeding the Kangeroos and wild Lorikeets. It was great fun. ... read more

Hoi allemaal! Daar ben ik weer met mijn bezoekje aan de Grampians. Ik had beloofd om dat dinsdag pas te doen omdat ik dan vrij ben, maar vandaag kwam een collega naar me toe met de vraag of ik meewil naar de Melbourne Cup (de paardenrace dus...). Nou ja, je moet de lokale cultuur leren begrijpen, dus ik had wel zin om mee te gaan, Vandaar dat ik nu dus maar alvast mijn verhaal over de Grampians zal neerzetten, kom ik in de volgende terug op de Melbourne Cup. Goed, zaterdag had ik dus een autootje besteld om zondag te vertrekken. Ik nam me dus voor om vroeg naar bed te gaan, want de klok ging een uur vooruit, en ik moest om kwart over 7 ’s ochtends de tram hebben. Nou ja, lang leve MSN, ... read more

I have to start this entry with a little discovery I’ve made in my travels (these and prior ones) so as not to appear a wee bit jaded in my adventures and ramblings along. So here it is...cities are great. They are wonderful places to live, to work, to eat, to do business, to party, to shop, to socialize, to raise children but they are not great places to visit (or at least they aren't for me). This is by no fault of the cities themselves...they try...with their museums of the southern railroad crossing through the southern alps of New South Wales and Victoria...they do really try. But they just don't hold your interest for long...now all cities aren't this way. Take London, New York, Rome, San Francisco...these are cities with personalities and a breath and ... read more

We were lucky enough to have a few nights at Victor Harbor to catch up with friends and do 3 walks. Victor Harbor is a fabulous sea-side town about 75 minutes South of Adelaide. It is a retirement hub and every time we visit, there seems to be more and more houses springing up! It has been the site for a whaling industry - but now eco-tourism promotes whale-watching through the winter primarily of the Southern right whale. Some web sites to visit to learn more about Victor Harbor include * the Tourism centre and * the Whale Centre. We did three walks over the three days. * the almost compulsory Granite Island walk (2 hours) * the walk to the summit of the Bluff... read more