A land down under
Trip Start
Dec 08, 1999
1
3
7
Trip End
Feb 27, 2000
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Saturday, February 5, 2000
New Year's Eve I started drinking with Mark, Bonnie and others about 2:30pm on the roof of the hostel. The early fireworks were at 9pm and we watched those from the roof. I was worried people were going to just hang out there all night, but we moved out last minute through The Domain to Mrs Macquerie's Point
(01) Sydney Harbour
. There were tons of people, but we managed to squeeze through and get an alright view. The fireworks were awesome. Very cool to be there for the millenium and see the fireworks over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.Flew to Melbourne and checked into hostel. It was quite a ways out of town but on the tram line. I soon discovered you really don't need to validate your ticket on the tram as no one checks, so I'd just have a ticket handy in case I needed to validate. I checked out the city, Botanical Gardens and St Kilda area. Several days just kind of wandering and checking out the city.
Did a day tour of the Great Ocean Road. Stopped at a few places along the way, one where we saw wild koalas. The main stop is the Twelve Apostles viewpoint where there are the cool rock formations. It was a loooong day but did see some cool stuff.
Had some time in Melbourne before my flight so checked out the market and had lunch at the good pizza place, La Porchetta. Fly to Adelaide. Melanie was a bit late picking me up. She still had to work so we went back there 'til she finished up. Back to her place and had taco dinner with her boyfriend.
(02) Opera House
We were slow getting ourselves ready and out the door for a day at the beach. By the time we got there, it was 3pm. We were pummeled by the waves at Boomer Beach. They just beat you back with such force that you can't get out. On to Goolwa Beach where the waves were smaller. On the way home, we went through a drive-thru bottle shop and got some beer for me and Mark on the ride home while Mel drove (seems so crazy to be able to do that coming from the U.S.).Mel took me on a wine tour of the Barossa Valley one of the days. I needed to have better taste in wine to know if what I was having was any good. We went to a conservation area to look for kangaroos, but didn't see any.
Now it's definately summer weather - like 105 degrees out! I walked into town 'cuz I wasn't sure which bus to catch (probably about a 2 mile walk). Checked out the town then back to Mel's. I cooked dinner for Mel and Mark that evening. They both thought I was crazy to walk into town in the hot weather.
Mel had a pamphlet showing a pretty waterfall at a park so I took the bus out there. It was really hot out. My bottle of water was hot within an hour. The trails in the park were poorly marked but I eventually found the "falls". . .only they were all dried up. D'oh! There was just a trickle of water coming down. By the bus stop I found a mini-mart so got a cold Coke and an ice cream bar
(03) Sydney skyline
. Had to wait 45 min for a *$#! bus. Went out with Mel, Mark and some of their friends to a bar that evening. Played some pool and had drinks.Did a two day tour of Kangaroo Island. The first day was spent getting to Kangaroo Island then we saw Brown's Beach, Mt Thisby, a eucalyptus oil factory and Pennington Bay. Went on a penguin tour in the evening and saw the penguins coming back from feeding. Day 2 we went to Seal Bay (sea lions), Little Sahara Sand Dunes, Vivonne Bay, Kelly Hill Caves, Remarkable Rocks, Admiral Arch and a good place for viewing koala. Returned back to Adelaide.
Mel drove us to her hometown of Murrayville where her parents live (about 3 hours away). We were up early the next day for a trip to Mildura and a ride on the paddle steamer boat. Mel's dad, George, took me out early in the morning for 4wd'ing too look for wild kangaroo. We saw a few and some wild emu as well.
Fly to Alice Springs and from there to Ayers Rock. Checked into hostel and looked around their little resort area. I went swimming since it was hot out. I rented a car and drove out to Uluru for sunset. Felt good to be behind the wheel again...I kept having to tell myself to drive on the left. There was a gathering each night at the hostel with beer, food and a singer
(04) view from Taronga Zoo
. I went up on a hill that evening to watch a cool lightning storm.Up dang early to drive to Uluru for sunrise pictures. Drove to the Olgas and hiked around the Valley of Winds. Also did the Olga Gorge Walk. Back to Uluru for sunset. Hung out again in bar area that evening.
Did a tour to Kings Canyon. Had to be up really early again for the bus ride there. We hiked around a lot and down into the Garden of Eden. There was a pond to swim in there...kind of creepy 'cuz the water is so dark you can't see through it. It was refreshing though. It was really hot out but none of the hiking was too strenuous.
Next flight was up to Darwin. It was pissing down hard that first day there. Not nice for doing much of anything. Did a day tour of Kakadu Nat'l Park in which we saw some of the scenery and did a boat ride on the alligator river. It wasn't terribly exciting. Also did a tour out to Litchfield one of the days. Went on the jumping crocodile cruise in which they dangle meat overboard to get the crocs to jump out of the water after it. We saw a few waterfalls and the giant termite mounds.
Had to be up a bit after 3am to catch shuttle for my flight to Cairns (Jan 23)
(05) Tom and koala
. I wasn't set on staying in Cairns so booked a bus ticket to Airlie Beach for 1am. I left my bag at the local YHA and signed up for skydiving. We put on our gear and got a little bit of instruction. The flight up took about 25 minutes. A couple of Japanese girls went before me at 8000 feet. I got to sit in the doorway for the climb up to 10,000 feet - that was nerveracking. The first split second out the door is terrifying but then it's like "wooooo! weeeee!" and of course I was doing my superman impersonation. Got a 30 second freefall before the parachute opened. Once opened, it took us a while to make it to the ground. It was an awesome experience. The rest of the day and night were spend wandering Cairns.The bus drive to Airlie sucked as I can never sleep on those things. Got checked into my hostel in Airlie and did some errands in town. Went for a swim at the hostel and hung out at the bar that evening.
I signed up for a 3 day tour of the Whitsunday Islands. As I approached the boat in the morning, I knew I was out of luck as it was mostly guys and no babes. There was a family from England and a couple from Holland. They weren't too fun. The first day we just went out to Whitsunday Island and hiked around the rainforest there a bit. The boat's motors woke me up early so I was on deck by 7am. We started off towards Whitehaven but the captain said it was too wavy and rough (I was enjoying it)
(06) Sydney panorama
. :( Went to Maureen's Cove for the night. Snorkeling was alright there. Up early again as we head to Manta Ray Bay. Lots of fish there - they'd swarm when food was thrown in the water. The people working on the boat would toss it around me and fish would nibble at me...felt really weird. I went on the beach and sat on some rocks. A short while later a super hottie from another boat walked out of the water...in a thong...topless. Now why couldn't I be on that boat!?! We sailed back to Airlie Beach and arrived back late afternoon.Caught an overnight bus and arrived in Hervey Bay about 6:30am. Started a tour to Fraser Island from there. We went to Pile Valley Rainforest, Wanggoolba Creek and Lake Wabby. It started pouring rain on us at Lake Wabby. Had dinner and drinks that evening with the guys I was sharing a room with. Next day went to The Cathedrals, Maheno shipwreck and Eli Creek. I changed buses so I could go back to Rainbow Beach missing out on some more stuff on Fraser Island.
In Rainbow Beach I found the hostel Jayne was staying at and met up with her there. Had dinner and hung out with her and the people from her Fraser Island tour. Shopped around town in the morning with Jayne then went to a sports bar to watch the Australian Open. Went to the beach and boogie-boarded a little. Went out drinking at a sports bar then back to the common area at the hostel
(07) Opera House
.Early bus to Gympie. Had some free time there before bus to Brisbane. In Brisbane, I got checked in at hostel and wandered town. There was a shopping center with a little fake beach setup. I thought that cheesey. The town was ok. Back at the hostel I found a freakin' HUGE spider in the bathroom. Probably about 1 foot diameter (incl. legs). Yikes!
Bus to Surfer's Paradise. Weather gray there. I went t-shirt shopping for my brother. Continued bus ride on to Byron Bay. Stayed at the YHA there.
Went sea kayaking in the morning. Got to see some dolphins though they didn't swim up real close. It was fun to surf the kayak in on the waves. Wandered Byron Bay and checked out the Cape Byron lighthouse. Was tortured by Christian singers at the bus stop while waiting for the bus to arrive.
Had the bus drop me off in Raymond Terrace as that was about as close to Newcastle as I could get. My friend, Kylie (see cross country roadtrip travelogue), picked me up and gave me a quick tour of Newcastle. Drove back to Singleton where she lives. I got to see the world's largest sundial! ooooh. Had dinner at her parent's that evening. She drove us around the area the next day and we got some lunch. Caught the train to Sydney from there.
This time in Sydney I stayed at a hostel in Glebe. Much nicer area than Kings Cross. I wandered around again and got some more sunset pics. The weather is much better this time 'round. Woke up early for sunrise pics of the Opera House. Also went out to Bondi Beach to check it out. Wandered around the city downtown area. Caught the shuttle back to the airport for my flight to Thailand.
