Australia

Hello all again,

This is the last of our updates from our trip, and it covers the month we spent in Australia.

Thank you - you’ve been a wonderful audience,
Adrian and Carrie

AUSTRALIA (by Adrian) 15 June to 13 July

This was our final country, the most westernised and therefore least foreign. We were keen to explore how the indigenous peoples have coped with being colonized, as we have done in many of the other places we’ve seen, as well as to have a look at the mountains (such as they are), but for the most part we expected Australia to be less of a challenge than other places we went to. This was true, but our month was only enough to see a tiny part of the country the size of Europe.


Listening to music for the first time in a long while


Brisbane (15 June to 25 June)

We were able to stay with my friends Rhys and Nerida in Brisbane who provided a great base for a week. Brisbane is the major city of Queensland and we liked it for its open spaces and river frontage. Though we were there in midwinter the weather was mild and pleasant.

Interesting fact about Australia 1: In 1967 Australians voted to give aboriginals the status of citizens.

Our first day was spent walking around the city and the next was at a wildlife park where we stood a reasonable chance of seeing some of the wildlife of the country. Australia has a large number of exotic-looking cockatoos, ibis (very ugly) and many types of brightly coloured parrots that fly about in the cities and countryside alike. Australia also has many marsupials and the very weird platypus. We saw most of these creatures in the wildlife park and grew quite attached to the kangaroos and wallabies that bounced about and ate food from our hands in a friendly manner.


Kanagroo feeding at a zoo near Brisbane


Parrot feeding a street near the zoo in Brisbane


Cairns (25 June to 2 July)

Our main reason for visiting this town was the Great Barrier Reef, which is close to the mainland at this point. Being midwinter the sea was not especially warm, but we braved it to view the underwater collection of coral and brightly coloured fishes of the reef. For this we had to travel some distance out to sea, as the reef is still 30 miles or so out. This voyage proved too much for the stomachs of many people who traveled with us and nearly us also, but it was worth it. The sheer quantity of coral and the clarity of the water meant that you did not have to look very far too see something of interest. Others were scuba diving, but it really wasn’t necessary to do so to be overwhelmed by the mass of life that the reef supports; we spent time snorkeling and had quite an eyeful. Also in Cairns we took a ride in a ski-lift style gondola over a portion of un-logged rain forest with my uncle and aunt who came to visit us! This gave an unusual perspective on the forest; from the canopy downwards, and also of the many parrots and diverse plants that live in the trees at this height. I was very impressed.


Walking on a coral beach in Queensland


In the cable car over the rain forest near Cairns


Snorkelling over the Great Barrier Reef. The water was quite chilly at this tiem of year


A glass bottomed boat moving over the Great Barrier Reef


Interesting fact about Australia 2: Kangaroos (and all marsupials) give birth to pea-sized babies who crawl into the pouch and continue developing there.

Uluru (Ayers Rock) (2 July to 4 July)

Our Round The World ticket enabled us to go to this location but many people drive here – it’s 4 hours from Alice Springs, the nearest city, and many days from Cairns, so the flight was very useful. (For those who don’t know, Uluru is a very large piece of red rock in the middle of a very flat and big desert, and was called Ayers Rock by the British, but is now known by its Aboriginal name.) A “resort” has been established near the rock and it has a monopoly on all lodging, restaurants and transportation, so as a result things are very expensive and they don’t seem to be in any rush to provide you with any services either. Predictably, we stayed at the campsite. We went out to the Rock on the first day in the “budget” shuttle bus, and after looking around the cultural center walked around the base of the rock. This takes several hours and was hot, but was also stunningly beautiful. Indeed, the rock was one of the highlights of the whole trip we thought.



Uncle Nev and Auntie Amanda at Uluru


Uluru and the sky


Our chosen method of transportation at Uluru


A spider and the Rock


Uluru


Guess what?

The rock is a rich red, the sky a very clear blue and the foliage was a vivid green as it had just rained so the clarity and colour were breathtaking. The rock also has a texture that looks like velvet from a distance, which is due to flaking from its surface (the inside of it is gray and the red colour is rust forming on the surface only). I could not take my eyes off it! The area is now owned by the original Aboriginal tribes that lived there, the Anangu, and some of the areas around the rock were fenced off, and entry or photography was forbidden for various religious reasons. These restrictions appeared to be respected. However, it is possible to climb up to the top of the rock, an act that the Anangu “request” that you don’t do. Always wishing not to start international incidents we did some research into this matter, but could not come to any definite conclusion of right or wrong. Australians regard climbing it like the Japanese do Mount Fuji: it’s something you do once in your life if you can, but I was not even aware that it was possible to climb it, so it wasn’t such a bit deal. In the end we had to leave before we got a chance to climb up it anyway, but I am still not sure what to think. Carrie had a more certain point of view on this issue. [I would be interested to continue this debate with any readers].

Interesting fact about Australia 3: The platypus has a “spur” by its rear legs that can inflict a painful sting.

Sydney (4 July to 14 July)

This city was the last place we visited and it was good to end at such a wonderful place. We liked Sydney for its international makeup and its lively seafront and streets. We were put in a good mood on arrival by talking with the shuttle driver from the airport who, it turned out, was from Iraq, and he told us a couple of opinions of the war as well as some things we didn’t know about Iraq (and Australia). We decided to visit the Blue Mountains, the closest mountainous region to Sydney, and miraculously it is possible to travel to this area by train, which we did. The mountains are not high (1000m) but at this time of year were a bit chilly higher up, and so few people were visiting them. We hiked a little around an impressive gorge then did the Six Foot Track and 3 day hike to some caves about 46km away. We were a little underwhelmed with this as it was hiking on 4X4 roads and in forest for the most part, but did get to see a number of kangaroos and wallabies.


The cold in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales


Back in town we examined the museums for signs of Aboriginal history but could find little. The status of the Aboriginal contrasts starkly with the Maori in New Zealand who are doing very well in comparison. However, we got quite attached to their paintings, which though a recent invention, are based on very old designs and we even picked up a few of them as we could carry them home at this stage of the trip.

And then with some sadness, we flew the long flight over the date line back to California where we’d started 54 weeks previously.

Interesting fact about Australia 4: Voting is compulsory in Australia.


All of our stuff. We took most of this everywhere on our trip


All of our stuff packed for transportation