Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 4857

Oceania » Australia » Tasmania » Stumpy's Bay March 4th 1993

After swapping contact details with the bunch at Georgetown we set off bound for Mount William National Park, via Bridport and Gladstone. We struck road works and gravel road for 15k's coming to Gladstone. Big road going motorcycles don't love loose gravel so much so it can be interesting to feel 220kg of motorcycle, plus gear etc. sliding around underneath you as you round each corner. Comes in handy to have done some off-road bike riding when younger so that this slipping and sliding does not upset you too much. From Gladstone to our campsite at Stumpy's Bay was a dreadful road. There were big graders and earth moving equipment working on the road and it was like riding through a freshly ploughed paddock, it was about a 30km ride from Gladstone and a big challenge ... read more

Port Welshpool & the Spew Cat

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Port Welshpool March 2nd 1993

Rob with Moto Guzzi

Rob_n_Lorenza

(Photos to come) We departed Cann River after fixing a leaking oil line on the Guzzi. The wind had picked up again and promised to buffet us again all day. The countryside made for an interesting ride, open farming and grazing land, interspersed with thick forest country, then back to the farmland again, then some scrubby coastal land. 6 Tonne Tree Root We made a stop at a small town called Nowa when we saw a "wood carving display" sign. It turned out to be really interesting. The main items were polished tree roots of amazingly twisted shapes and an incredible variety of colours. It was intriguing to see how beautiful the hidden part of trees can be. All of the carvings were from trees that had died natural deaths. There were a variety of woods, ... read more

Motorcycle tour of Tasmania - off to a good start

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney February 28th 1993

Rob & "Bruce the Goose"

Rob_n_Lorenza

(Photos to come) Right now (June 2008) it is freezing cold at home and I just found my travel journal which documents Lorenza and my trip around Tasmania in 1993. Why not add it to our travelblog! We had planned our ride around Tassie, then put a deposit on the block of land which our house now sits. We were tossing up if we could still afford the Tassie motorcycle tour and luckily decided if we didn't go ahead and do it we may not get the chance for some time to come. We took the tour on board our much loved Italian motorcycles which we owned at the time - Lorenza with her Moto Morini 350 and me with the Moto Guzzi SP1000. So, now on with the tour ... Sydney to Eden, via Cooma ... read more

Jan 03, 1992

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne January 3rd 1992

andjulbed

Geo: -37.8143, 144.963... read more

Apr 01, 1991

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne April 1st 1991

andjulbed

Geo: -37.8143, 144.963... read more

The greatest excursion you'll never get to do: the gorges at Wittenoom

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Karijini National Park August 9th 1990

Knox's slide

Yeti

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

Another proud day for the Brits... not.

Oceania » Australia » Victoria July 20th 1990

Sydney opera house

Yeti

Saturday 2nd June, 1990. After three days holed out at The Rucksack Rest, the cheapest guesthouse Sydney’s Kings Cross red light district could offer us, some sightseeing, eating budget burgers (no more cholesterol please) and mulling over our transport options we finally made a decision: we’d go for the car; he has to fly on the third - tomorrow - and will be desperate. We ambled down Victoria Street that is lined with backpackers selling their vehicles: cars, wagons, camper vans and even the odd motorbike. An old VW camper would be great, but they hold their prices really well and even an ancient one is beyond us at 3000 bucks. Spotting those who are desperate to sell is easy. They’ll inevitably be pacing, eager to catch your eye and will flash you a strained smile, ... read more

A 1976 Ford Falcon panel wagon. This one bearing a go-faster stripe but no roo-bars.

On The Move Again, But a Sad Goodbye

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney January 19th 1990

Historical Ship

waterfia

I did the tourist bit for a while: the inside of the opera house, Darling Harbour and a great exhibition about the construction of the Harbour Bridge in one of the bridge towers. I then managed to track down Mike at the same hostel he had been staying at last time. Much of the old Melbourne crowd was still there, so it was down to the pub to revisit old times. Of course, now that I have met up with Mike again, Arsenal bloody FC is going to be a big part of my life for a while. There was an open air classical concert in Sydney whilst I was there and, after the Carols by Candlelight experience, I decided to check it out. Rain stopped play however, which was a considerable disappointment for several thousand ... read more

The Infamous Bus Crash Junction

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane January 16th 1990

Brisbane Waterfall

waterfia

A girl who had stayed at the hostel in Melbourne for a while had invited me back to Brisbane, so I decided to head up there as I didn't see much of it last time. I also wanted to meet up with a guy whom I had worked with in Brighton and had not been there last time I passed by. He was not there this time either, but I met up with Amanda as planned. Her place was my first experience of the city suburbs (like the one in Neighbours) where most of the Australian population lives. They are basically huge great sprawls that contain little or nothing of any interest. The British might all be living on top of each other on our tiny little island, but at least it doesn't take 40 minutes ... read more

The Penguin Parade

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Philip Island January 14th 1990

waterfia

The Penguin Parade is the biggest tourist attraction in Victoria and the third biggest in Australia. I had already established that the War Memorial in Canberra was number two, but I never officially found out which was number one. I think that the Sydney Opera House would be a good bet. The guy who did our Great Ocean Road tour also ran tours to the Penguin Parade but he was unfortunately fully booked so I had to go with the old people on a coach tour. The guide managed to make himself heard over the moaning and he gave us a tour of the city on the way there - there were in fact several tourist bits that I hadn't covered after all. We later stopped at the "big worm", a giant work museum in the ... read more

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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