Blogs from Oceania - page 7808

Oceania » Papua New Guinea April 7th 2004

PNG- News # 12 (April 7, 2004) Have you ever woken up in a beautiful lodge in the mountains in a foreign tropical rainforest, with large cinnamon trees and found that you were surrounded by people half your age? And you wonder to yourself, why do I feel so culturally maladjusted? That was Saturday. By dinnertime I felt myself up until I ate the turtle egg. Soft boiled the eggshell felt like a soft ping pong ball and tasted like it had dry specs of shell already formed! I do not recommend the diet here of kaukau mixed with a can of corned beef over rice with sweet potatoes. Sunday the eight of us descended this cultivated land in the middle of nowhere. The 27 kilometre road into the mountains through rivers and small passageways ... read more

Canberra 2004

Oceania » Australia » Australian Capital Territory » Canberra April 4th 2004

Bridges at Bonnie Doon

Colin

Sunday, 4 April It was a cool start to the day. I put the last of the gear into the car and followed my usual route towards the Hume Freeway via Yea. Along the way I passed through countryside still brown from the summer heat and Lake Eldon at Bonnie Doon still had no water. As I crossed the bridge I remembered in my youth spending time on a power boat under this very bridge. At Benalla you join the Hume Freeway and don't leave it until Goulbourn where the road branches south to the Barten Highway which in turn leads all the way into the nations capital city of Canberra. The weather was fine, in fact by time I arrived at the Rex Hotel I was down to my T-Shirt. At the reception they gave ... read more

Berri.

Oceania » Australia » South Australia April 1st 2004

Backpackers! What a bunch of arseholes.

Leebee

Not a destination on everybodies itinery. It was planned to be a 5 day pit stop enroute to Ayers Rock but was elongated into 2 months!!!!... All the guide books say that you should see everything in Australia before coming here as you wont want to leave, i just thought that was a devious marketing scheme aimed at squeezing more $ out of tight arse backpackers! but i was pleasently surprised to see that their write-up was spot on! This Hostel is slap-bang in the middle of nowhere, and is like an oasis!. Where every night is a saturday night. It has tree houses, hammocks a swimming pool, outdoor bbq area for the saturday night bbq's and free wine!, a gym, sauna, tennis and beach volleyball court, football pitch, Tv/Video Lounge, Games room for the alcoholics, ... read more

Dress $5 Salvation army shop. Blue Steel: Priceless.

"Great" Ocean Road

Oceania » Australia » South Australia March 28th 2004

After a couple of nights in Adelaide to recuperate, it was time to hit the road again, leaving Adelaide behind for good. We boarded the big green bus at silly o’clock in the morning and headed for Great Ocean Road. In all it took us 3 days to get to Melbourne, we went through Halls Gap, (killing a poor Wallaby that dared to run in front of the bus) the Grampians where we saw McKenzie Falls – damn steps again. I was starting to see a pattern emerging in this holiday and wasn’t too impressed. I saw my first real Australian kookaburra when we returned to the top of the steps, maybe a reward from above for persevering, who knows. We stayed in Warrnambool, visited Torquay and the famous Bells Beach. The beach is where some ... read more

Charleston Conservation park

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Adelaide » Charleston Conservation Park March 28th 2004

Charleston

SA hiker

A small park with buffalo. You basically walk in a square. Nice lot of bird life on the last stretch.... read more

Complete index of our walks/activities by location

Oceania » Australia » South Australia March 27th 2004

SA hiker

To help you find a walk to do, here is a list of all our recorded walks/activities by location, starting with Adelaide suburbs, moving to Adelaide Hills, an hour north and south, and then the further extremes of South Australia. I have backdated this entry so it will appear as the first one in our travelblog - and therefore appear on our front page http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/SA-hiker. We will update this page as we journal future walks in SA. Adelaide suburbs Port Adelaide , , Semaphore , Hallett Cove Golden Grove West Lakes Adelaide , Wetlands Glenelg Adelaide Hills - less than an hour from Adelaide ... read more

Seymour 2004

Oceania » Australia » Victoria March 21st 2004

Local Pub

Colin

Sunday, 21 March It took an hour to reach Gembrook. I parked the car outside the Puffin Billy railway station and waited for another photographer to arrive. Our assignment was to photograph the scouts being presented with awards at Gillwell Park. As usual I had arrived ages before we had arranged to meet. This gave me a chance to catch up on some sleep. We hadn't seen each other for a while and over a cup of coffee, supplied by the friendly ladies of the scout movement we took the opportunity to find out what had been happening since we last worked together. The "shoot" started around nine o'clock. For the first hour members of each troop wanted group photos so they could be forwarded to their local newspapers. When the Governor arrived, we were introduced ... read more

north island here i am!

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island March 20th 2004

mt taranaki

traveljob

New Zealand, home of the Maori and some other 4 million people. nice lakes, vulcanos, mountains, hikes or tramps as the kiwi's call them! getting around with my sister to get to know the country well! start in auckland and getting up north to bay of islands, tried to swim with dolfins, ended up with some boomnetting !?! its just such a beautifull country! we went up some vulcanic beaches to dig our own hotpool! its almost winter! Then coromandel and south to do one of the most spectacular hikes like the tongariro crossing and lake taupo, mount taranaki off course! and finally wellington! the capital! nice way to see new zealand's history at "Te papa"! nice nice nice........ read more

Outback Adventure

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Outback March 15th 2004

Well, Kangaroo Island was just a taster of what was in store over the next 9 days. We had booked a tour with Campwild Adventures from Adelaide to Alice Springs. 9 days, 3 showers – a far cry to what I’m used to at home! It turned out to be the best part of my trip. Again, sleeping in a swag, nothing to protect me from the weird and wonderful things to be found in the Australian outback. Sleeping under an outback sky is one of my favourite memories from my whole 8 months away. The stars are so bright, the sky is so black, it really was amazing. I saw the most amazing sights I’ve ever, the Flinders Ranges, Oodnadatta Track, Lake Eyre, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Watarka, and so so much more. The amount of ... read more