Part 1: Ok so I get to the airport on Saturday to check in for my flight and find out Qantus never actully booked my ticket. So after about 45 minutes on the phone they finally booked my ticket, called it an oversite. But anyway got on the plane to LA at 6:00 PM. Had a nice flight over to LA, sat next to the nicest little old lady who was on her way back to LA from St. Croix. The flight to Sydney from LA was delayed departing by a half hour due to "security reasons". I will say I'm glad I paid extra for premium economy because that was nice, i could actully curl up in the seat. Let me tell you the mammoths make for excelent pillows. The food on the flight wasn't that great, dinner was this chicken thing that was mostly dark meat with a lot of fat. Then breakfast, while the hot egg fritter with ham and potatos was good the stewed tomatos and black mushrooms as a side not that appitizing. I didn't sleep very well on that 15 hour long journey, just couldn't get further then a very light dooze for a few minutes at a time. Since the plane left late it got in late which ment there was no possible way I could clear customs and immigration and make my connection to Cairns. Thankfully the airline already knew this and booked me on a later flight. You this is the first time I ever went through customs and had to declare my granola bars. Really I know why it is done but granola bars just seems a little extreem. By the way wan't really impressed with the flight into Sydney because all I could see out my window if I looked down or out really was airplane wing. I have also determined the Sydney airport is lacking. Well anyway after clearing customs walking what seemed like all they way around the terminal to recheck my bags for the connecting flight I tranfered to the local departures terminal. Waited about an hour or so, then borded my flight to Cairns, another 2.5 hours in the air. At least they had a movie and had a good lunch which included ice cream popsicals for deseart. Made it to Cairns, got my bags and borded the little bus that took me to the hotel. Checked in talked with my vacation advisor. Then I finally got to take the shower I have been wanting since landing in Austrilia. Let me tell you being up since 7:30 AM on Saturday, getting little sleep and and being on a plane for 24 hours really makes one want a long hot shower. Tuesday starts the sight seeing, picture takeing and quest to see a real live platypus and by a stuffed one.
Part 2: This morning I woke up at 6:00 AM even though I hardly got any sleep on the flight over. Oh well, once a morning person always a morning person. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was pretty good, you can tell a lot of Asian people visit, due to the fact they had rice and miso soup out for breakfast. There is also a out doors race in town that combines, running, cycling, kyaking and I think swiming. So lots of athleats are wandering around the hotel.
I went out to Green Island today. It was nice but I think I had my expectations a little to high. You get out to the island by high speed catamarand. The ride was a little bumpy due to a choppy ocean. The island is tiny and I could basically walk all the paths in about an hour. The island is a national park and has a small hotel resort on it. Guest to the island can use the hotel facilities. While on the island I walked the nature path and read the signs, kept seeing this bird that looked like an american road runner. I also did some swimming and some snorkeling. I wasn't nessarly impressed with the snorkeling, but apperently I didn't go out far enough. I didn't see a single fish, but lots of sea greass. I'm thinking I should of opted for the glass bottom boat tour. I believe tomarrows snorkeling adventure will be better since I'm going out to the outer reef. Other from that it was a nice simple day out, and I didn't get sunburned.
Part 3: Ok my morning didn't start out that great due to the Asian man who had to continually slurp his soup. I realize that is acceptable in other countries, but it is uttlery annoying.
Now to the fun part the trip to the Great Barrier Reef, which I will now just refer to as the reef. First off when you check into the boat that takes you out to the special reef pontoon they place a name tag on you. Which you have to wear for the deration of the trip. I was identified as American right away, and they thought my voice had a souther twang, yes I might live in Virginia now but I don't think I have a souther accent. Also I relized most Aussies can't pronounce my name correctly, they either put a souft a "d" sound in for the th or a "ar" sound in insted of "er" sound in at the end. The crew was very friendly. The trip out to the pontoon was very bumpy about 3 people ended up with sea sickness. Once we got out there i collected my snorkel gear and wet suit. The water was warm and I didn't really need a wet suit but it helped when I was out of the water because the wind was horribly cold. Always remember to zip the wet suit up all the way. I snorkeled some in the roped off area and also went on a guided snorkel tour that was more out in the open away from the pontoon in deep water.
I tried to suba dive. However that did not work out. I think I could do it but since I have horrible sinus problems I could not get my ears to equalize as we went down. Also it felt very difficult to breath, I just didn't feel like I was getting enough air. So it was a good exprince but I think I'm stuck to snorkeling due to my sinuses.
The guided tour out on the reef was great. I saw a ton of different fish. It was one of the coolest experiences I had. It was easy to float and we went with the current, to the only thing that was hard was trying to stay in one spot to see a particular thing. I saw a reef shark which was swimming below us. It was a small one. Lots of parrrot, angel and clown fish. Yey nemo. The guide also was very knowlagble and pointed alot of different things out. It is definatly something I would do again.
I'm glad the little protective pouch I bought for my little point and shoot worked perfectly. It was a little difficult to shoot underwater, it is just differnt and it was hard to see the screen through the pouch. But I think I got some ok shots, but there is a lot of photo and video editing again. I was glad they had a professional that took pictures of people while snorkeling. She also provided some of her other shots as well if you bought a package, which she put on a tumb drive.
The ride back to the peir was smoother and went pretty quick. Overall I say it was a great experience. I would definatly do it again.
Also some of the early unedited shots at the reef are posted, and some that the pro took
Part 4: Today was a light day of activities. I got up around 6:00 again, had breakfast and walked the Esplanade which really isn't that long. It is annoying nothing opens till 10:00 am and when I had to be back at the hotel by 11:30 to change and be ready for pick up to the horseback riding place. Well at least I got a nice walk in, bought some post cards and a piece of pottery.
The horseback riding was good. It was up in the mountains and rainforst. It was a nice ride a lot of hills, went through some mud, and walked through a deep stream. I was the only one signed up for the ride so we were able to do some trotting and cantering. Which is a lot better then just walking along. The horse I had was a white with brown speckles and named Magnum. A little bit of a stubborn horse, who also liked to try for snacks on the trail. But overall it was a very good ride. I enjoyed it.
I wish I had another day here in Cairns, beacuse there are a few other things I would like to do. Oh well just means I'll have to come back at some point.
Well now it is off to Melbourne
Part 5: Ok I was slightly upset with the tour company for booking me on a late flight out of Cairns. Which put me in Melbourne around 5:30. The flight was at an annoying time where you couldn't do anything else in Cairns and couldn't end up doing anything in Melbourne that day. Utterly fustrating. The flight was good though, I'm still not used to getting served food for lunch, that I don't have to pay for, on only a 3 hour flight, and I get a movie. Though the movie was a lousy one.
I got into Melbourne at 5:30 PM. The traffic was horrible. The shuttle bus driver noted the traffice was so bad in the city that day because of the very big Austrilian Rules Football (ARF) game. It apperently was between the top 2 teams. Lucky for me, (not the sarcasam) my hotel is right near the stadium on Spring St. That is apperantly one of the main ways to the statdium. I can see it from my hotel window, it looks nice all lit up. So on the very slow ride to the hotel the shuttle bus drive explained ARF to me. I got to the hotel around 7:30 PM, when it is only supposed to take no more then 45 minutes. I was tired so I unpacked and went to bed, since Saturday was going to be a long day.
Part 6: Today was a long day. It started out with breakfast, I think the other hotels breakfast buffet was better. But anyway.
First I found out the tour company miss booked the city tour, for tuesday instead of saturday. Tuesday doesn't help since I'll be in Sydney by then. They straightened it out and I walked over to Federation Square to pick up the bus. The city tour was nice, it gave a very good overview of the city. I think only one stopping point would of been good instead of two. The second stopping point was at the Shrine of Rememberance. It is a nice monument dedicated to those that fought in WWI and WWII. It was also across from the park, which I wish I had more time to explore. We only got about 45 minutes at that stop. I also think we could of done without the ride through the expensive subburbs. On the way back I saw the plant that makes Vegimite, still think the stuff is gross. That tour ended and gave me some time to run back to the hotel switch out bags and get my hoodie for the second tour.
The second tour took me out of Melbourne, out to Phillips Island to see the Penguin Parade. (I could not take pictures, it hurts the penguins eyes.) I think this tour would of been nicer if it left at least an hour earlier and gave you more time at the two stops before the parade. I also had to deal with a very obnoxious family, but I digress. The first stop was at Churchhill farm. It is a quaint little farm, that has hairy cows, and wallabies. So I got to get up close, or as close as the wallabie let me to them. That was nice. I wish we had a little bit more time there to explore a little more. the second stop was at the koala sanctuary, which I was told I would be able to hold a koala. No such luck. I'm actully kind of disapointed about that. I also wish we had more then 40 minutes there, becuase one of the trails takes 20 minutes to walk, and if you want to walk the koala path you won't be able to do it too. I was actully disapointed in the koalas, I thought I would see more. I only saw 4, but one was moving instead of sleeping so that is a plus. I honestly don't find them that cute. Then it was on to see the Penguin Parade.
The Penguin Parade happens nightly when the penguins come up on shore from spending all day at see. The Penguins are no more then a foot tall and rather skittish. So what happens is everyone files down to the beach and sits in these bleachers and waits for sunset and the first penguin to show up on shore. Apperently the penguins nominate a brave one to go first and look for dangerous things and make sure the coast is clear and its safe to come ashore. Once that penguin determins it is safe, and makes a sound resembling a duck quack the rest come a shore. They just pop out of the waves. They then waddle up the beach to their little nest in the ground for the night. They tend to waddle in groups and appear kind of skittish. I'm not exactly sure what I was expected, but at least I wasn't disappointed. There were a lot of penguins. I'm just sad I couldn't take pictures. Silly people in the past with flashes ruined it for everyone.
Afterwords everyone piled back onto the tour bus to head back to the city. I got back around 9:00 PM.
And I really want to know if it is nessary to have some type of football game everyday of this weekend. Federation square was croweded due to a beer festival and a giant walk to the stadium, then it is going to be crowded again sunday for another game. I guess I'll live, it not like it really upsets my plans but that just seems like an a lot of sporting events.
Sunday I believe it is off to the zoo, aquarium and a little shopping.
Part 7: Today I spent the day walking around Melbourne, which included the zoo, aquarium and art museum.
I took the train out to the zoo. It wasn't that hard really, and the train stations remind me of the tube stations in London. Got to the zoo just when it opened. It is actully a kind of small zoo compared to some of the others I have been too. The only real highlight for me was I got to see a duckbilled platypus. It was actully moving and swimming around, however I could really couldn't get a good picture because the light was too low, even if I used ISO 1600 and a wide open apature. I also tried to see the baby elephant but that was almost next to impossible and I didn't see the new tiger cub either. Oh well. I'm thinking the Sydney zoo will be much better. I came back on the train which was easy, and it dropped me off at the flinder street station. From there it was an easy walk to the aquarium.
The aquarium is the only one in Australia that has artic penguins. The aquarium is nice. The best thing about it is the giant tank with some rather big manta rays. Those I was able to get a good picture of. However I did find the aquarium a bit hard to navigate. After the aquarium I went and got something to eat, since it was already quarter after 12.
From there I walked down the river bank towards the art museum. It was surprizing they had a sunday art/craft market going on. The vendors had some interesting items, like koala hats. The art museum was free and had a nice collection. For once I didn't see a crucifiction painting, though I didn't look at all the 17th centurly maters. I did like the asian art and the clothing exhibit. I was also surprized they let you take pictures in the museum which is a bit odd for an art museum. Overall i would say it is was a nice. From there I wandered the city.
I made it up to the national opal collection to look at and learn somemore about them. I learned that they are not bad luck if you own them if they are not your birthstone. Aperently that rumor started due to a 19th centruy book, and Debiers (the dimond people) also took up the rumor to promote dimond sales. Queen Victoria thought they were good luck and provided them to all members of her family. I got a nice little opal.
I did a ton of walking. It still is hard for me to understand why food costs so much, even after I take the exchange rate into account.
Well tomarrow I'm off to Sydney.
Part 8: I left Melbourne this moring early and arrived in Sydney around noon. When you drive into the city from the airport, it is not overly impressive. The city is definatley built up and doesn't have the more orginized feel of Melbourne.
I walked down to the harbor where the opera house is, which is only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. This city is definately hilly. I walked down by the opera house, and I was under-welmbed by it. I guess I was expecting something more amazing based on all the pictures of it. It kinda of was like when I saw the Mona Lisa and relized it wasn't really that big. The walk around the opera house is nice then I walked in the gardens.
I also went on a dinner harbor cruise. It was overall ok, not spectacular. There stake remined me more of a piece of beef roast then stake. The wine was good. The view of the harboer was nice but the opera house wasn't lit up, which was kind of dissapointing. However I think I got some decent night pictures of the city even though I was an a movie boat. It is hard to tell on 3 inch screen.
Tomarrow I'm off to the blue mountains, and hopefully will finally have a chance to cuddle a koala.
Part 9: Today was a long day. I was picked up at the hotel around 8:30 and the bus had to fight traffic to get out of the city and head up to the Blue Mountains. The first stop on the way was at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. This is a tiny little place but you really get up close to all the animals. This is where I got to pet a koala and have my picture taken with it. The park has a wide variety of birds. Plus a lot of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and wallaroos. After I pet the koala, I filled an icecream cone full of kangaroo food and went and fet the kangaroo and a an emu. The emu was interesting they peck really hard and look like they are going to attack. the kangroos and wallabies start out dantie then they just grab for the cone full of food. And if you try to hold onto it or another kangaroo comes by they knock your hands or the other roo away. Being able to get this close really allowed me to get some nice pictures I hope. It was raining and overcast so it was hard to get the right light. Also saw more little penguins as well as a wombat and a salt water crocodile. Like I said it was a nice little place.
After the wildlife park we headed up to the blue mountians for lunch. Lunch definately not anything to write about. Then we headed to atempt to see the Three Sisters (a rock formation), it was so foggy you couldn't really see anything. So we headed to Senic World (yes that really is its name). The cable cares where out because of the fog (actully low hanging cloud). So I took the inclinded railroad down to the boardwalks. The railroad is at a 50 degree incline, so it was steep it felt like you were going straight down. I did the 30 minute walk around the bordwalk. The place used to be a coal mine, so there were some very old mining equipent laying around. From there we headed to a little town for tea. I found a place that made scones in a flower pot. They were good. Then we started back to the city. We drove through the Olympic village then caught a ferrie that took the group back into the city and dropped us at circular quay.
Overall it was a good trip but very long, just sorry it was foggy and couldn't see any of the rock formations or the waterfall. Tomarrow I head to the zoo and the aquarium.
Part 10: Well my last day in Austrilia, (Thursday doesn't count because I'm on a plane) it rained a lot. It was a heavy down pour all day, which put a crimp in my plans for the day. I started the day off by heading over to the aquarium. It is a very nice aquarium, and of a reasonable size. I saw another duckbilled playtapus. I got video of him swimming around. They are odd little creature, evolution is a strange thing at times. But it is still cute, even though it is poisunous. The aquarium had a good sized salt water crocodile, would not want to run into one of those while swimming. They had a dugongs (manatees) exhibit. That was rather good, they had two swimming around in a large tank with some rays, sea turtles and other tropical fish. They also had a good shark exhbit whith a good number of sharks. Of the two aquriums I have been to in Austrialia I would have to say the Sydney one is much better then the one in Melbourne.
I didn't get a chance to head out to the zoo. The rain was just coming down hard and too much to make it enjoyable. If it was a drizzle or light rain it would have been do able but this weather just didn't lend it self to walking around a zoo. But I'm ok with that since I got to pet a koala and feed kangaroos yesterday.
I went to the Sydney museum which was tiny but interesting. It is interesting to see how the great depression in the US affected the people in Austrilia. You just don't think about that much and it is really not covered in world history classes howbig things in the US affect other parts of the world. I also visited the contemporary art museum, also tiny. (living in DC makes me think big for museums). It has some interesting displays. I liked the bonsi exhibit where they actully had the tools on the trees that they use to sculupt them. It looks like the trees are in some type of medievil tourtoure device. The other interesting once was the display of art depicting human erotic acts in cardbord. May never look at cardboard the same way again.
I finished up my day by getting some last minute soveniours, and headed back to the hotel because my cloths and bookbag were wet and I'm just tired. Now to pack everything up and hope it all fits.
So as one of my favorite songs goes "I have traveled around this world and I'm ready to go home."
Part 11: I made it home from Australia just fine. I think the flight is worse coming back to the US then leaving. Mostly because you leave Sydney at 10 AM and show up in LA at 7:00 AM the same day, plus your already up from starting at 10 AM it makes it difficult to sleep on the plane. BUt I made it home without any difficulties.
In closing I felt like Australia was a bit like a warm, sunny cheery England. I know I may be insulting the Austrilians but the country was founded by English Prison colonies. And the city layouts, some of the architecture and transit system reminds me of England's. The cities are nice, however to me do not have pull or a large sense of self as the older European cities which call to me, but then again it is a relitively young country and some of that lack of self or large history could be said about American cities.
Overall I think the charm in Australia is not the cities but its country side, bush, out back, or nature. They have beautifull parks, presitne vista and enchanting wild life (if you discount the fact most of it can kill you). The places I liked the most were out side of the big cities, I loved the reef and the rainforest, and then the blue mountains were nice.
I think I would go back, probably for a bit longer so I could get out a bit more and enjoy what the Australian country side not the cities can offer.