Of The Last of Australia - Ayers Rock and Sydney

Aw man, I can't believe I'm still writing this. I've moved countries twice since I went on this trip and I'm still not finished! I'm gonna zoom through the last week of my travels even though it was probably the best and most interesting part. Then I can move on and explain the name change of my Blog.

Okay, so we could sort of see Ayers Rock when we arrived, and my Dad got all emotional about it, but first we had to move into our accommodation. Now, hotels in Uluru are expensive. The cheapest place was the one we got, seeing as I was on a budget, and even then it was the same price as the pricier hotels we'd been staying in. I suppose they figure you either pay the money and sleep there or you try and sleep in the National Park and get arrested. The cheaper place, The Outback Pioneer Lodge, is actually the most fun, and for a travelling group of 4 it's excellent and the rooms hold 4 people. It's basically a hostel, which confused my Dad when we arrived:

"How do you change with strangers in the room? Where's the bathroom? You're taking the top bunk."

The hotel/hostel has small rooms with 2 bunk beds, and a separate shower/toilet building on the complex. Not a problem during the hotter months, very much a problem in July when it's absolutely freezing in the mornings and evenings and you're trying to whip in and out of your clothing in your shower cubicle. We had the room to ourselves the first night which was great, and the second night the two Canadians who joined us went to sleep before we'd even come back from dinner. Unfortunately the guy snored. I wish doctors would cure that.

So, we arrived and moved in and after a quick lunch, we had our first tour to watch the sunset. Whatever tour you book, a coach comes round all the hotels to collect everyone whose booked it and then drives off for the tour. Our tour bus took us to the designated Sunset watching area. It may be worth considering the time of year you go to Ayers Rock, because for us in July the position of the sun meant that the sunsets were the most spectacular. At the opposite time of year, the sunrises are better.

Our tour put out some snacks and drinks and gave us camping seats, and we joined the other tours to watch the sunset. It really was amazing, the red was so vibrant and if you take a photo every 5 minutes the Rock is a slightly different colour. Definitely a good idea to bring your tripod. Dad was having fun practising with all the buttons on his camera to find the best settings and positioned the moon in different places on the shot. I don't know, I don't have the camera or the knowledge so I can't explain. But at least he was amused. One thing I will say is that for the sunset tour, unless you're doing the dinner after, you might as well skip doing it as a tour and just drive there on your own. There's no need to pay $50 each, unless you haven't got a car, because there's no commentary or anything different. I'll explain later.

At its brightest

When the sun was below the horizon

When we got back to our hotel, we queued up for the BBQ. If you stay at a different hotel, you can still come to the Outback for the BBQ, and I really suggest that you do. You queue up to purchase your meat, and you can choose from beef, buffalo, crocodile, chicken, emu, iguana. Maybe not iguana. But all kinds of different meat, as burgers or sausages or steaks. Then once you've paid you bring it over to a range of BBQ grills and cook it yourself. To one side is a heated case with vegetables, potatoes, salad and dessert. It was really great.

The next morning we got up super early to go on our sunrise tour. Now, at this point I shall recommend doing the Sunrise Highlights tour. There are many tour options available, and it will depend on how far you want to walk as well. We didn't want to do a whole lot of walking, some tours offer a base walk which is quite a big thing. Our tour was small, only a minibus full of people, and it was great. Pip, our guide, picked us up and took us past the sunrise viewing area to a layby a little further in. It meant we were on our own without all the tour groups standing around us, and he provided tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and breakfast cereals. It was damn cold. I mean it, all of me was cold but my feet were agonisingly freezing. They alternated between being painful and numb. That was my only issue with the trip. During the day it wasn't boiling, and was actually rather pleasant, but in July the nights and mornings are very cold.

Anyway, we watched the sunrise, and then we packed up and drove to the Rock itself. The great thing was that because we weren't at the viewing area with the other tours and were further along, we reached the Rock before any of the other tours and were able to look at it and have our talk from Pip without anyone else around, and get in some good pictures. Pip was fantastic, and told us really interested Aboriginal stories. He showed us Aboriginal art on the walls, and explained what a few of the symbols meant, but said that the history was very sacred and Aboriginals won't tell them everything. He also pointed out where there used to be art, but previous generations of tour guides had thrown water on the paintings to make the colours more vibrant for older cameras, and had washed most of it away.

He explained some of the stories they knew from the Aboriginals that explained what particular cracks in the Rock meant. He showed us the watering hole, where, despite the Rock being in the middle of the desert, the water has never run dry. When he brought us back to the bus and we drove around the base, he told us more stories of other Rock formations we could see, and told us where there was a sacred place for Aboriginals, which we're not allowed to take photos of (he had to tell on man off who was glued to his camera).

Our tour guide, Pip, who was awesome

We stood near the base where other tour groups were walking up the Rock to the top, and told us how Aboriginals hated that tourists would walkupon their sacred Rock, which we were not going to be doing. He told us other stories, about how a group of 4 or 5 tourists in one family climbed the Rock without a guide, in the blistering heat of summer, when the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius and the Rock was 50 degrees (it's apparently 10 degrees different on the Rock than off), in Crocs of all things, and that the Crocs had melted on the Rock and they'd all received third degree burns to their feet, and were stuck up there. It is thousands of dollars per person to get someone down off the Rock, and so that family alone spent about AUD$35,000 to get rescued.

Me, not climbing Ayers Rock

Another tourist had outlined his travels around Australia for his parents, and when he didn't check in with his parents at a designated time, they called Ayers Rock police to say he was missing. He'd climbed up Ayers Rock on his own, and had fallen off the top to a point halfway down and completely hidden, and unfortunately died. The heat at the time meant that he was practically mummified by the time they found him and brought him down.

Also, a new tour company who wanted to establish themselves at Ayers Rock stencilled their website address on top of the Rock to get aerial shots from a helicopter for brochures. Well, drawing on the Rock is completely illegal, for obvious reasons, and they went to court. If a small company, they would have to pay a fine that could completely bankrupt them, and if they were a big company, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, let all those stories be a warning to you.

While the sunset tour was not really necessary to purchase, I really felt that the Sunrise Highlights tour was worth every penny. It was so interesting, and Pip was so knowledgeable. It is a completely different experience to go to Ayers Rock and really find out about it's history and the myths and legends that surround it, rather than just staring at it through a camera lens.

When we got back to the hotel again, Dad left for the airport to collect a hire car, and then we made our own way to Kata Tjuta. A guided tour of that would also have been really interesting, I'm sure, but I had still been mindful of my budget, and so decided not to book one. We parked right up near it and walked as far as the Valley of the Winds, although they have much longer walks available for free too. Kata Tjuta is also pretty spectacular as a natural structure. These two rocks, Kata Tjuta and Ayers Rock, just appear on the horizon of otherwise completely flat land. It's so strange.

 When we drove back, it was getting close to sunset, so we decided to go again and watch the sunset on Ayers Rock ourselves. This is why I feel like booking a tour is not necessary if you have or hire a car. It's easy to do yourself, you go to a different area for independent people wanting to watch the sunset, and it's just as spectacular. Actually it was even more spectacular for us. I'm not sure if it was the location or that particular day but the colour of the Rock was just unbelievable, which I hope you can see in the photo.

That night we had another BBQ, because it was just so much, fun, and then went to bed. The next day we were going to get a plane back to Sydney, but first we went to the Ayers Rock Resort village to look around the shops, and watch the free boomerang throwing tutorials. They also have Aboriginal dancing a lunchtimes, although we missed it both days.

As Dad said, Ayers Rock was really a tick in the box, and I'm so glad I did it. Dad said it was on his bucket list, so he was thrilled to have seen it. It was quite the contrast, leaving Ayers Rock and the desert and arriving again in a bustling city which was so familiar to me, yet which felt different because I was no longer living there with my friends and I was showing Dad all the things he remembered from visiting years earlier and some new things.

Sydney is really special to me. It did take a while to grow on me, which I wasn't expecting as I thought I'd just love it straight away, but it was a different place than I thought it would be from programmes and pictures I'd seen. In a way I found my own Sydney, and I loved that. I met up with Jee Eun, Saki, and Olina again and I'd missed them loads. We went out to Max Brenner which would be my last time *sob* and I gave them little trinkets I'd bought on my travels. I went again to see Mrs Macqaurie's chair and the Opera House, and Westfields and Darling Harbour, and Paddy's Market and China Town. I showed my Dad where I lived before with the girls and we took my route to work so that he could also see where I'd worked at the University of Sydney. I took him inside and introduced him to my ex-colleagues who had received my postcard. I took him to my favourite spot to look at the city, which is behind the swimming pool on the campus if you are there or ever go there and want to take a look.

Dad's favourite cup of coffee

Where I worked while At Sydney University

I was genuinely sad to leave, as I always am when I've gone somewhere exciting. I'm never really sad to leave England, maybe because I keep coming back to it. But who knows when I will visit Australia again. We managed to get me on the same flight as my Dad (we were supposed to leave on different days), and we didn't tell my Mum that I was coming home early (although we had to tell me sister so that she could make sure Mum came to pick us up). The flight was very long. On the way to Australia I'd broken it up with a week in Hong Kong, but this time we just got our connecting flight and moved on. I watched lots of movies as I always do, asked for all the extra snacks we were allowed because I love aeroplane food, and then when we landed I had horrifically swollen ankles which completely freaked me out, having never had that particular problem before. I temporarily forgot about my ankles when I snuck up behind my Mum and said hello for this first time in over 5 months. She was shaking so hard (not from fright, I didn't shout boo) that my Dad had to drive us home. And then after I'd dished out all my presents (turns out I bought a lot for my sister. As in a lot. I'm going to need to pay attention next time as she didn't even by me a birthday present) and had a good chat about everything, I fell asleep on the couch. I vaguely remember when my Mum woke me up that I tried to get to my bedroom through the garden patio doors, and then didn't know what do when she put pyjamas in my hands, but finally I was in bed, in England, asleep.

I just want to thank Australia in general. And all the people that I met within it, who talked to me on planes when I was on my own, who took me places I wouldn't have been able to go by myself, who chatted with me as if no time had past even though we'd been apart for almost 20 years, who took me to the beach at night which I'd never have done myself, who made me laugh so hard about boys like I was 13 again. And to thank my Dad, for joining me on the other side of the world when I was really starting to find that travelling alone was very difficult and lonely, and encouraged me to spend a little bit more than my spendthrift ways wanted me to in order to have the best 5 months ever (although the money would definitely be useful now I'm trying to buy a car....).

And also to you, whether you're a friend of mine reading this or you were just interested in a pommie's adventures. It was nice to have people interested in what I was doing. I hope you continue to read on, now that I am continuing this blog as a Pommie now living in America. I rejected the idea of renaming this The Limey Diaries, because I don't think it's quite as catchy, or the term quite as well known.

Anyway, welcome to my new series:

The Pommie Diaries: Abroad

 TTFN!

Of Didgeridoos, Flying Doctors, and Dingoes

Alice Springs is a very strange place. I couldn't imagine living there. It's so far from everything; a plane or train ride is not cheap, and a car journey would take ages. It was definitely warmer there, and Dad took advantage of being in the desert so that he could where his special hat. He fit right in! The town of Alice Springs has a 'Mall' mostly made up of souvenir shops and restaurants with the odd pharmacy as well. We rode in on our hotel's shuttle (seeing as the Heavitree Gap is not actually in the town itself it provides a free one) and had coffee with an older Australian couple who were also on the bus. Older Australian couples are very friendly, I had some of my nicest conversations with them. Perhaps it was because I was a single traveller, or perhaps it was because I didn't try hard enough, or maybe it wasn't even me but them, but I found it incredibly hard to make any conversation with anyone my age on the trip.

Anyway, despite Dad suffering from food poisoning (crazy, he never gets ill) we managed to have a really good day. We climbed up Anzac Hill (I almost had to carry Dad up there) so that we could look at the view over Alice Springs (see picture above) and catch a bit of a breeze because it really was rather warm. We also had a good walk through the 'Mall' so that I could find some souvenirs (I got some really good ones) and have a look inside the Didgeridoo Outback shop where you could buy a didgeridoo and also have a free lesson! It was really interesting and the teacher was really good. in the evening they also had a didgeridoo show which we didn't attend seeing as we only had one day in Alice Springs. To be honest, unless you were into hiking and trailing (which we're not) a day is all you need in Alice Springs to see and do everything. A really interesting must-do is the Royal Flying Doctor Service where you can watch a short movie and look around the museum. We were unfortunately too late to see the movie but because of that they let us look around the museum for free. The RFDS is vital to a place like Alice Springs, and you really get a sense of that from being there, because the town itself is small, and the ranches spread out over vast planes of land which can take a long time to get to.

For dinner we went to The Rock Bar Shop of Todd Street, which I totally recommend. I especially recommend the lasagna. I thought I had the best lasagna at Circular Quay is Sydney, but I was very wrong. This place does the best lasagna ever. It even beats my Mum's (don't tell my Mum.... or if you're reading this Mum, I swear you still do the best spaghetti bolognaise!). Bojangles, which is a restaurant right next door, is also somewhere that a lot of people recommend and it definitely looks like an interesting place. Especially as it appears to be themed as a saloon.

So after dinner we went back to the hotel for a good night's rest as we had to be up and ready to go for 7am the next day when the shuttle came to pick us up to take us to Ayers Rock. It's a long way, and we made 3 stops so the trip took us approximately 5 hours. Here is the link to the shuttle:

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/2178/tours/Alice-Springs/Alice-Springs-to-Uluru-Ayers-Rock-One-Way-Shuttle/d358-2230A21

The reason I am providing the link is because it was a fantastic shuttle (although expensive, but all of them are, trust me. If you haven't got your own car, this is the way to go). 

The first stop was at a camel farm, believe it or not, where you can ride a camel for an extra cost (I'm not certain whether they 'farm' them, so to speak, I didn't ask), look at the animals penned outside which is free, or go inside to have a coffee or hot chocolate and plant yourself beside the indoor fire, which is what most of us did because in July the mornings are bloody cold! We stopped again further along at a service station for the loo and something to eat. It was where I found this beauty, which I now wish I'd bought -->



Along the way the driver provided some commentary about the landscape, the history, the animals and more. It was a really good talk, really interesting, and at one point he even showed us a documentary on the TV screens about an explorer who was searching for gold in the area. The driver would also point out anything interesting he would see, and what really made this couch trip better than the rest, is that he slowed down when there was anything interesting so that we could have a proper look, and even take a picture, which is how I got my picture of a wild dingo which I'm super proud of. The dingo had been eating a dead kangaroo at the side of the road. Funny thing to be proud of, but I am. The driver also slowed down so that we could see wild camels and eagles. He told us how the area had seen more rainfall lately than they'd seen in a long time which meant that instead of being bone dry and sandy red, the area was incredibly green (as you can see in the photo).

On the hunt

Our last stops before we reached our destination was to view Mount Connor, which believe it or not actually belongs to a rancher because it's on his land. A lot of people thought it was Ayers Rock at first. It was almost as spectacular though, really impressive. One of the viewing spots had a hill which everyone climbed on top of. To one side was Mount Connor, and to the other was a dry salt lake. Personally, all the green shrubbery around us meant that whenever there was a patch of red sand, it made the sand even more impressive, it was so vibrantly red in contrast. The sand also got absolutely everywhere. I was wearing my lovely new black, blue and white Vans trainers and the white went very very red. So maybe that should be a warning to you. Don't wear white.

Climbing up the hill to the viewing point for Mount Connor

Dad and the salt lake

Mount Connor in the distance

When we jumped back on the coach, we were finally on our last leg of the journey and it wasn't long before we could see the fantastic rock that we came to see in the distance. I'm pretty sure Dad had tears in his eyes. I was more concerned with my shoes.

Next time: Ayres Rock

TTFN!

Of Trains, Transvestites, and Too Cute To Believe!

Remember I said that I had a bit of a Sheldon (Big Bang Theory reference) moment and booked The Overland for a 10 hour train ride? Yeah, well, that wasn't the half of it.

My real Sheldon moment came when I booked The Ghan, a very famous train in Australia that runs from Adelaide through Alice Springs and on to Darwin. We would be getting off at Alice Springs, about half way, but even then the train journey was 25 and a half hours. I know, I'm crazy. But even crazier people were actually travelling all the way to Darwin! Not sure I could do that. But I was really excited to see some real Australian outback and hoping to spot some wildlife on the way. The train was exactly the same as The Overland, with great big seats and lots of leg room, but the seat reclined way way down to an almost horizontal level so that it became a bed on the overnight trip. There were private cabins available where the seats became proper beds and second beds were strapped to the walls during the day to provide space and let down at night, but they were very very expensive and my trip was already costing me a bucket. A bucket of cash, that is. Just a seat on the train to Alice Springs cost almost AUD$200.

What do you get for this money? Well, your seat of course. The spacious loo at the end of the carriage also doubled as a shower should you require it (surely you can go without a shower for one night people?), and by that I don't mean you shower in the loo, there was a shower head on the wall and a shower curtain so that the water didn't go everywhere... well it still did from what I could gather, but not a huge problem. There were towels provided by the train people as well. The next carriage over to ours was the dining car where you could order meals and snacks at very good prices (I was expecting it to be extortionate seeing as they have you trapped on a moving vehicle, but this wasn't the case) and table seating so you don't have to balance your food on your lap. very civilised!

The lounge car

Dad and all his technology. He was very excited.

Before the train left the station, we were offered a place in the lounge car, one over from the dining car, for an extra $10 each. Dad and I umm'd and aww'd over it seeing as it was just another seat somewhere else on the train, but he decided to treat us and go for it. They then give you a wristband to show you are allowed to be in the carriage. The lady had told everyone that seats were limited so to ask as soon as possible if we wanted one. Turns out hardly anyone took them up on their offer, but they honestly should have.
 Like I mentioned, for the AUD$10 all you physically get for it is another seat somewhere else on the train, but it made a huge difference. For a start it is much prettier than the carriage you are assigned a seat in. The chairs are different and there are sofas, they have little tables, and the views out the window were fantastic because you could see right down the end of the carriage, which you couldn't when in your original seat. It meant we could see so much more, and had a different impression of just how vast the Aussie outback really is. And because not many people had spent the extra $10, there were only ever at most 4 other small groups or single people in there and it was quieter when the one rambunctious toddler wasn't around or was behaving instead of climbing over all the seats trying to, I don't know, escape maybe? We spent all of our time in the lounge except for when we were having dinner or sleeping. So if you go on The Ghan, pay for the lounge car. Seriously. Do it.

Actually, I remember now that the only other noise in the carriage was from two passengers who'd brought their portable dvd player with them, and apparently didn't think to plug in headphones. They were quite good at turning it down when they noticed it got a bit loud, but they didn't... always... notice. It didn't spoil our journey or anything and it did provide a moment of entertainment for Dad and I when we realised they were watching a transvestite movie and descended into a fit of giggles. Very immature, sorry.

I brought the first Hunger Games book with me, so I was occupied for most of the time and the time went very fast that first day. When I wasn't reading I was playing solitaire on the tablet, chatting with Dad or the other carriage patrons, or taking pictures out the window. If something interesting appeared outside the windows, one of The Ghan's staff members came over the tanoy to tell us about it, and the train actually slowed down so we could take pictures. An example of this was when we passed the statue commemorating the 1,000,000th piece of track when the train line was being built.

The night wasn't too bad despite my difficulty sleeping on any kind of transport. I'm not very good at sleeping in a seat, even one that reclines as much as this one did, but I did get a few hours, and then I was awake to watch the spectacular sunrise the next morning. Everyone was up and taking pictures. Well, almost everyone, and those few really did miss out on something fantastic.

Breakfast was lovely, and then we were back in our lounge carriage to enjoy the last hours of our trip. We didn't see kangaroos, unfortunately, or wild horses, which other people had seen in the reviews I'd read, but I suppose that's just down to luck that the wildlife was even near the train tracks at the right time when the train shot past. We did see a lot of cattle roaming, that counts as wildlife, right? And the landscapes of the outback were wonderful, and greener than I was expecting!

We pulled into the station about lunchtime, and even that was an experience. There was nothing separating the train from the road beside it so cars drove alongside us, and we seemed to be going right through the town to reach the railway station. Getting out at the other side, it is worth it to pay about $8 each and get one of the coaches waiting outside to take you to your hotel, rather than waiting for a taxi. As Alice Springs is such a small area and pretty much everyone has their own cars, there aren't many taxis, and unbelievably (seeing as the train comes in at a scheduled time all the time) they don't come by the station unless they are called for, which can take a while.

So we took the coach to our hotel, the Heavitree Gap Outback Lodge, and got into our room which was thankfully already spewing cool air as it was rather warm outside (which in itself was very nice as Melbourne and Adelaide were so cold). We spent the rest of the day trying to wash and dry our clothes as we were getting a bit desperate for clean clothes by then, vying for space amongst a massive group of school children who decided to socialise in the laundry room and constantly tumble dried their pyjamas to warm them up when the evening got a bit cold. We ate dinner at the hotel's restaurant which, although quite basic, I found quite fun and considered it part of the outback experience, but not sure Dad felt the same (fair perhaps considering he seemed to suffer from food poisoning the next day. I was fine though) and they have an Aussie who provides the entertainment in the evenings by singing and playing guitar (he was quite funny, but people were shouting the answers to his question and jokes almost in advance of him saying them, so I think he must perform and say the same thing every night. We didn't find out ourselves as we ate in town the next day).

The wonderful thing about the Heavitree Gap which is why I think, if you're ever in Alice Springs, you should stay there, is the rock wallabies. The hotel is tucked up beside a massive rock formation, which means getting signal on your phone is a bugger in the hotel rooms and you have to go outside and away from the rocks to get it, but it also means wild rock wallabies come down from the rock every afternoon and evening and are fed food by the guests who can purchase it in the reception. They are absolutely adorable, and there are loads of them, and they even had joeys in their pouches which just made my day (do wallabies have joeys? Or is it that just kangaroos and they have another name? I could google it, but I'm not going to).

So that's my take on The Ghan. Can you believe it, a whole post about a train! But it was pretty spectacular, and if you can factor it into your travels then you really should. Every Australian I mentioned The Ghan to before the trip knew what it was and was really impressed, and either slightly or very jealous that I was going on it. It is a major part of Australian travelling, and it actually felt like a privilege to be able to go on that journey. You see incredibly beautiful landscapes, and get an impression of just how vast Australia is which you would never get if you just flew everywhere. Just wonderful.


Next time, Alice Springs and off to Ayers Rock!

TTFN!

Of Trains, Chocolate, and Knitting - Adelaide

The easiest and quickest way to get from Melbourne to Adelaide is to fly. Simple. But we didn't. When I was looking up my travel options before I left on my grand adventure, I discovered a website dedicated to the greatest trains Australia has to offer. And I had a bit of a Sheldon  moment (Big Bang Theory reference). The Overland takes 10 hours to reach Adelaide from Melbourne, with a couple stops along the way. You sit in large comfy reclining seats with quite a bit of leg room (at least compared to British trains) and completely relax. For the first 6 hours I was quite happy to just sit and look out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of kangaroos (there were none) and other wildlife (saw a couple foxes...) and chat with my Dad. The last 4 hours... well... I told my Dad he better provide some entertainment. So he handed me his new Tablet gizmo and I played Solitaire for a very long time. A very very long time. But still, it was more relaxing than driving, at least for my Dad who would have done the driving, and I wasn't quite ready to step back on a plane and prepare another unnecessary eulogy for myself. We passed towns in the middle of nowhere (in Australia they are seriously literally in the middle of nowhere), massive farming stations, and fields and fields and more fields. I hadn't seen fields for a long time to it was quite nice actually.

Once in Adelaide, our taxi driver completely freaked us out by telling us we'd picked a hotel in the most dangerous part of Adelaide where shootings and fights were not uncommon. Fabulous. Once we'd checked into our hotel, we asked the receptionist if he'd been telling the truth and she giggled nervously, then said "Erm, when you come out of the hotel, just turn right and you'll be fine.... just don't turn left. Especially at night." So I don't know what was on half our street, because we never turned left. (We stayed at the Hotel Grand Chancellor on Hindley Street, by the way. Very nice hotel, and we got a free room upgrade. There really weren't any incidents while we were there either. Adelaide is not quite a crime ridden as they made it seem... but we still didn't turn left).

That night, I was incredibly sea sick. I was very confused by this, because I hadn't been anywhere near the sea, and I never ever get sea sick - but mostly because I hadn't been near the sea. I felt the rocking sensations after the Great Barrier Reef trip but other than that I was fine pretty much. Apparently 10 hours of being on a train, which rocks more than the more modern trains in the country, gave me the same rocking sensations as my snorkeling trip except this time I felt really quite awful. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner on Rundle Street (not the most exciting street for restaurants just as a heads up), and I chose the plainest thing I could find on the menu and ate very very slowly, which is unheard of for me. On the way back to the hotel we passed through Rundle Mall, which is Adelaide's main shopping area, a bit like Westfields in Sydney in terms of it being an outdoor Mall, except it was, well, a little run down, shall we say, and nowhere near as glamorous. Dad was rather suspicious of all of it and kept looking at me like "why the hell did you choose to come here," but I was optimistic and thought perhaps it would all look better in the daylight hours.

The next morning Rundle Mall was better, but admittedly still quite the "Stevenage" of Australia, which if you've ever been Stevenage, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, well, let's just say Rundle Mall is not Sydney's Westfields, or Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall, or Brisbane's Queen Street Mall. If you haven't been to any of those, well, I can't help you. After a quick nip around the shops, which I can never resist, and Dad had to do his fatherly duty of just sitting outside and waiting for me, we got on a tram to Glenelg.

If you happen to be in Adelaide and you get the same slightly disappointed impression that we did, go to Glenelg. It is right on the coast and a really lovely area, kind of like a smaller version of Manly. It has a nice stretch of beach (although it was too cold for Dad to persuade me to go anywhere near it) and has a very nice main street and square by the beach with the usual restaurants and shops. Really cute, and worth a visit. Dad started to think that maybe Adelaide wasn't a lost cause after all, which was nice of him. Also, 'Glenelg' is a palindrome. Oh yeah, I paid attention in my English classes.

After lunch we took the tram and a bus to North Adelaide. I'd seen on the map there seemed to be a noticeable and visible separation of Adelaide into North and South (or North and Main) and I was curious to see what the smaller Northern part looked like. Turns out North Adelaide is really quite nice too. Far more residential but very relaxed and small townish even, and we had an ice cream in an absolutely beautiful cafe/restaurant called Blanc Bistro on O'Connell Street, and then a walk up and down to see what the area was like. Adelaide city, and the Northern part, are not very touristy places. They function very much as a place where you live and work. But it was nice to see what it might be like if you lived there.

The next day we started the day the best way one can, with a free tour round a chocolate factory. Haighs chocolate factory, to be exact. Haighs is a chocolate brand only sold in Australia, so if you live abroad and haven't heard of them (like me) then that's why. Haighs has a distinctive taste, as does Cadbury and Hersheys, except Cadbury is wonderful and just a step off from Milka and Galaxy, and Hersheys is just awful. Haighs is more up there with Cadbury, although I'm still partial to a Dairy Milk bar. We were told how chocolate is made, saw the factory workers in action roasting the cocoa beans and decorating the chocolates, and had tastings like the Cadbury tour in Birmingham. Anything to do with chocolate is fun for me. They give you a 10% off coupon as well! They knew how to sucker me in.

We then took a bus to Port Adelaide (the long way round, who knew?). Shouldn't have bothered. Not really sure what it's for. Apparently there are dolphins, although, despite Dad's impressive dolphin calls, we didn't see any. And some of the town in knitted. But other than that... there's nothing there. So we had a brief look round then escaped back onto the bus.

The useful thing about Dads is that they hire cars. Which is what mine did for the next day, so we could see Adelaide a bit further afield. I'd read a few things online that said the villages in the Adelaide Hills were really quite nice, and Dad wanted to see a koala. We stopped for breakfast in Stirling which is definitely a lovely little village with quite an American feel to it. And then we went to Warrawong Sanctuary to find a koala. We didn't find one. We did make a friend in a weird little bird thing I named Alfred who walked along beside us on the path for a good 10 minutes, and I stroked a number of kangaroos and wallabies. We walked round the entire sanctuary, which is not laid out like Lone Pine or a zoo, it really is just an open space where you have to find the animals on your own. But no koalas. They have apparently developed extensive camouflage.

We then drove to Hahndorf, an incredibly German town (clue is in the name) that was quite touristy in some respects. It was a lovely town with a German restaurant where I ate German sausage and sauerkraut (got to be done, love sauerkraut) and then we went down the road for a pretzel doughnut. It was interesting to find a sweet shop that excitedly boasted "Now selling British sweets" to find all our usuals in there at high prices. I didn't realise, I could have made a fortune! When I came back to the UK our local sweet shop said "Just In: Australian sweets."

Mt. Lofty is right next to Koalaville, or Cleland Wildlife Park to use its proper name, so nipped up there to look at the view down to Adelaide. 'S'alright. If you can catch a glimpse through the trees there are some very pretty valleys. But there are a lot of trees. A lot. So we moved on to the Wildlife Park. Lone Pine is the best place by far for Koalas, but Cleland is the best place by far for bandicoots. There were millions (might be an exaggeration but it was pretty close) and I'd never seen one before. They are like cute looking rats. Yeah, that doesn't sound very cute, but they were cute. And very interested in humans, probably from a food perspective (as in we feed them, not that they nibble us).

Joy of joys, I spotted a wild koala on the way back to our hotel! So they really do exist out there, I'd been beginning to wonder if Australia had actually just always imported their animals and not told anyone. Well, I also saw a wild wallaby in Brisbane. It's good to know that not all of Australia's famous animals have had to be herded into wildlife parks and sanctuaries to keep them alive.

So my overall view of Adelaide is that it is a very strange place. Looking back at the trip I could have skipped it really, but I didn't know that at the time, and I'd probably suggest that for anyone else planning a trip, except not only did I want to see as many cities as possible, I also wanted to get The Ghan train to Alice Springs, which leaves from Adelaide. Still, I'm pleased I saw it if only so that I could rule it out as a potential place to live when I manage to emigrate.... eventually.

Of Culture, Family Outings, and All That Glitters - Melbourne

Hey there, it's been a while. How have you been?

Yeah I know, blog fail. But let me tell you, when you're travelling, internet is surprisingly hard to come by. But I'm determined to complete my travel diary. And then I can end the narration of my Aussie adventures by beginning my American adventures, which start in August! Might have to change the name of the blog though...

Some of the Great Barrier Reef from the plane window

The plane ride to Melbourne was my best yet. Not as much turbulence as the previous ones, which is a factor which, as I get older, more frequently brings on morbid thoughts of imminent death and silent run throughs of my goodbye speech. If you ever do get on a plane from Cairns travelling south, make sure you get a seat on the left side of the plane for fabulous views of the Great Barrier Reef. I had thought that the Reef was one big joined up line, but it turns out it's a series of roundish smaller reefs. Who knew? Maybe everyone.

After touch down in Melbourne it's a 10 minute bus ride into the city itself. I met an old friend at Flinders Station, and took the tram to Toorak where she lives. I love meeting up with people who actually live in these places, so that I can catch a glimpse of what it would be like to live there. My friend Danielle cycles into work, which I would not do as there are too many inclines for me, been there done that almost had a heart attack. Her apartment is great, unlike anywhere I've lived which is either a bit run down or has lots of borrowed furniture, so it always feels temporary. We went to a restaurant on the corner of Cliff Street and Chapel Street for dinner and ate our pizzas off a space invaders arcade game which doubled as a table, fantastic!

Now, you're vacationing in Melbourne, where do you stay? The Travelodge on Southbank is where we stayed, and it is fantastic for accessing the city. It is directly next the the Eureka Building, the tallest building in Melbourne (great landmark for finding the place) and you have the Southgate Precinct right on your doorstep for really nice restaurants (I mean really nice, and pricey, but then they are right next to the river overlooking the city skyline. The Darling Harbour of Melbourne really). Oh yeah, I said "we" stayed there. That's because my dad flew in to join my on my Aussie adventure at this point! A lot of people have said to me "you're holidaying with your dad? I could never do that with my dad." Well, my dad is awesome, and we like the same things when it comes to holidays, and he didn't want to stay in any hostels which suited me fine since my Cairns experience so it was hotels all the way from there on (well, one exception, but we'll get to that).

On my third day and his first, we took the free circle tram to the opposite side of the city, where we decided to jump off at the Melbourne Gaol (which I always pronounce 'goal', can't help it) which is pretty interesting, seeing as we easily spent 2 hours there, reading about some of the convicts and why they'd been there, and learning about Ned Kelly who I'd heard of but knew very little about. The top 2 floors (there are 3, it's quite big! And not all of it is still standing) had some rooms dedicated to art.... which was sometimes nice, and sometimes a bit weird.


Something you might not think to do but you should is go to the Public Library and make your way up to the exhibition landings (they are landings really, not rooms). The view from there into the library itself is fantastic, very NY I think, and the exhibitions themselves were definitely interesting with some original pieces like drawings and letters and books. We then hopped onto the tram again and did an entire circle of the city. The free circle tram tells you what is interesting at each of its stops, so if you like something, you can just get off and explore. Pretty snazzy, London needs a few of them!








The next day we went on a tour of the State Parliament building. I know, suddenly my trip has gone very cultural instead of lazing by a pool and just eating all the time. The tour was really good, it occurs whenever Parliament isn't sitting so it's good to check beforehand. Parliament had been there the previous day, and so we managed to fit it into our last day. The talk was great, and our guide was very knowledgeable, answering every question we aimed at him (sounds a bit aggressive that, but we were nice, promise). It is a very grand place, although not on the scale of the Houses of Parliament in London, but maybe that's more akin to Canberra Parliament houses? Not sure as I didn't make it there. I even got to sit in the speakers chair.

Back in the city, we wandered around the streets, through the Arcade which has some fantastic cafes and restaurants, down the graffiti alley which dad actually liked after he was convinced that we weren't going to get caught up in a load of drug deals. And then we took a tram to St Kilda. If I were you, mystery vacationer stranger, I wouldn't really be bothered with St Kilda unless you wanted to go to Luna Park or desperately needed a beach. Especially in winter, it's nothing special, it was only that Dad had the opportunity of coming to work in Melbourne a few years ago and as he and mum had flown over to check it out, he was keen to show me around the suburbs they'd seen and get my approval for having turned Melbourne down. It's always hard to turn down a dream, but yes, Melbourne doesn't seem to have the suburbs of Brisbane or Sydney so in terms of where to live, I wouldn't completely rule it out, but it wouldn't convince me to come over without having another good look round first. I still remember watching the tv program Wanted Down Under and the only episode I actually saw where the entire family didn't like the place was the one where they went to Melbourne. I loved the city, because I liked cities, but I couldn't afford to live directly in it, so it loses the appeal. But St Kilda does have some lovely bakeries, and I do love my pastry, so....

I digress, after lunch in St Kilda we took a tram and a train to find the stretch of beach huts which are always on postcards. And they are quite confusing to find if you don't know where they are as there are no signs, so here's a clue. Once out of the train station, walk to the right along the coastline, and eventually you'll see them. In the distance. And then you have to get over there, which is a bit of a walk. Probably a nice walk if it was nice and sunny and warm, but Melbourne was cold and windy and rained on and off the whole time we were there so I just used the zoom of my camera to make it look like we were right beside them.

Once back in the city, we finally headed to Federation Square which I'd been aiming to do but never got round to doing. It would definitely be a place I'd like to sit around with my friends in the spring or summer, and the buildings are definitely interesting. Still, anything outside is quite difficult to truly enjoy when it's cold. I definitely travelled at the wrong time for Melbourne. That's not to say my overall impression of the place was a negative one. I definitely do like Melbourne, it has an interesting history and the cultural things are worth a visit. The coffee is fantastic, according to my dad as I don't like coffee, and the views from the Eureka Skydeck of the city were fantastic. We went at night when the whole city glittered, and it was stunning. Perhaps a city worth another visit, when it's a bit warmer.

Taken with my dad's camera, not a stock image :)

TTFN!

Next up: Adelaide