My apologies!
Okay, granted I'm on another continent, but I am still on the planet! I know it's a travel blog and I guess the operative word is 'travel'1! I apologize for the temporary disappearance. I hit the whitsunday Islands for Chrissy, as they say here, and when I returned everything has been closed down!! The highlight of the Whitsunday cruise was getting a boat full of dutch, Aussie, German, and Canadians to play charades on Christmas eve!! Much fun! the snorkeling was superb and scenery gorgeous! Have been making tracks! Am currently in Alice Springs( only 450 kms from Uluru/ayres Rock- Happy N-uluru Year!!-heh) Have made my way here via Mission Beach where I was Cassowary hunting- no luck-then Undara Lava tubes, and Karumba point for some of the best Barramundi( fish)/food, period, since I landed on Oz! great birding there, too-and passed thru Mt. Isa the home of golf great Greg Norman-wahoo! when I hit Karumba, the wallabies were the only ones on the golf course!! Still plenty warm here and -Al Hemdullah- the Aussie Pulse( my pulsar) is humming along like a trooper! I'm off to Uluru tomorrow, and then plan on hitting Coober Peedy en route to Adelaide, and unfortunately and unbelievably the last three weeks already of my trip! Good New Year to All!
Camping, Thrifting, and Sitting in the Sun
Yes, it was unavoidable and, now, it has happened, I discovered Australian Thrift stores!! Even worse, I've got a car now to haul stuff around! The car is going great I've been camping loads- the campgrounds tend to be really nice,but the rain started yesterday and I had to console myself with a beachfront hotel room in Hervey Bay!! A Lovely little town. Hopping from here to Frasier Island and then on further north. Off to the Beach!! Cheers!!
I hate computers!
Okay, I'm in the Armidale Library. I just spent the last 45minutes writing this fabulous blog entry, which in one push of the button the computer decided to trash- everybody's a critic! So, the not so funny and clever version of what's happened in the last four days is...I bought a car, hung out with some bikers when I couldn't find camping in the Wollemi National Park, went wine tasting in the Hunter Valley Wine Region, camped in a rainforest at the base of the Barrington Tops and chased Australian Brush Turkeys, hit a garage sale for some serious camping equipment upgrades, and am currently camping in a sweet site on the lip of Apsley Gorge. More details to come, but basically having the car is a delight and camping sites here are pretty deluxe. Hope all are warm and comfy! Cheers!!
Sydney and Beyond...
Headed in for my second day of slogging through the travellers car market, hoping to just heave in my stuff and finally escape the grasp of the city. Sydney is lovely, but I want to roam the countryside. The Traveller's carmarket is a trip, a total salad of nationalities-Scots, Israeli, Belgian, Finnish, etc. travellers, who spend the last leg of their exciting adventures buried under a parking garage trying to ditch their home(cars and vans in a variety of conditions-most looking pretty thrashed and with about 400,000 kms) of the last 4months or so, before springing off to New Zealand or Thailand or home. I like the idea of having everything in the car, and being able to camp at any of the many national parks along the way. From talking to the other travellers- I don't think there are any bad places in Australia to visit- everything seems to have something to offer from the heat of the Nullaboor Plain to the lush beauty of the Northeast.
Sydney is a very comfortable city- easy public transport, very clean, lots of green spaces, great places to visit, eat, shop. drink, etc.- including the Taronga Zoo, great beaches( of course, Australia is mostly just one big beach), Royal Botancial Gardens, dining on rock oysters on the harbor. Oh, but you'll pay handsomely for most of these treats. In general, Sydney's a better version of most big US cities and pricey. Took the train to the Blue Mountains on Thursday and got to see kangaroos from the train, and cockatoos floating through the air in their natural home. Lots of cliffs, rainforest with giant tree ferns-felt very prehistoric, and waterfalls; it was all beautiful. Well, I'm off to the car market to find a ride-hope I get a goodie! Cheers!
Gaugin, Black Pearls, and Nasty Customs Agents!!
G'day all! Have landed in Sydney after a very long flight, or so it seemed-only eight hours but for some reason it departed at 2:30am, to insure no escape from jet lag- from Papeete. Tahiti was truly lovely , the snorkeling divine, surfing even better- I didn't take part in that, however, but did use the pension kayak for an sunset lagoon paddle, which was dreamy. One minor set back-everything's ridiculously expensive. Think I dropped nearly US$500 in a 3 day stay and pretty much slummed it- walked places, cooked in the pension kitchen, and did what I could on the cheap. Checked out of the pension early(check out 'round here seems to be set at 9am) after an AM snorkel, spotting a trumpet fish, Parrot fish, Grouper, Tangs, Angelfish, loads of brightly colored schools of bitty fish, and even think one of the little guys was following me. Then went into town to see the marche-had to buy a few of the obligatories-pearl on a string, monoi-sweet smelling rub down stuff for your hair and skin, verify-yet again, that the local Hinano brew really wasn't that bad, and overindulge on tropical fruit. During siesta I happened onto a nest of French Ex-pats, who all wanted to buy me bieres and tell me how terrible America is- I quite disappointed them by going along with all of it in French!! Of course, always the friend to overimbibing, missed the last truck to the airport, and on the walk over stumbled on to this Tahitian Christmas Pageant, emceed by a Tahitian Don Ho sort. A very dear couple outside gave me an extra ticket and ended up saving me arse, and running me to the airport after. Nearly came to fistacuffs with the customs/TSA guy who refused to look through all 50 of my cannisters of film, and eventually made it on to the plane-adieu mon isle trops cher!
Am currently staying in a hostel of sorts where the combined ages of all others residing here might add up to mine! The weather's wonderful and I hope to see everything from the beaches, cultural sites, and zoo, to the more eclectic, ethnic, random, and cool spots. For now, a nap sounds good!
Strange to see Sydney all sunny and trimmed for Christmas, and eager to report more. Have access with the junior hostel club membership; so, can post a bit more reliably. Now I'm off to see about nature field guides and how one might procure a car! Hope all are well who are reading this! Cheers!