Wilson's Promontory (the Prom)

Before Tassie, and even before exams started Barry another friend Meiko and I went to do Wilsons Prom in a weekend. We probably couldn’t have picked a better weekend as the weather was clear yet not too warm. This is surprising because this whole trip (car, capsite, tent and food) was planned in just under three days. Like the last two trips this one is in bullets:

DAY ONE:
• 2 hours drive from Melbourne east to Wilson prom, the most southerly tip of the Australian continent (excluding Tasmania).
• Wilsons prom is a huge national park, with an entrance at one end, a winding road down the middle to Tidal River, a fairly large camp site, at the other end.
• The prom is the largest coastal national park in Victoria, combining natural wildlife and a mix of sclerophyll and cool temperate rain forrest.
• In 2005, a portion of it (mostly along the east side of mount Oberon) was burnt by a wild fire and the traces of it still exist today, though the green has grown back.
• At the campsite it took a good 45 minutes to set up this new tent Barry had bought from Big W (basically wal*mart).
• After those shenanigans we took a walk up mount Oberon to the lookout point for some awesome views down on Tidal River, and further down to the south where the light house marks the tip.
• The idea was after that to take the walk west of Tidal River to see the sun set along Squeak Beach (that squeaky sand again). We got part way and saw a wild kangaroo and wombat on the way.
• That night we make shifted a barbeque dinner and played some card games into the night.
• Around 11 we took a walk down the beach to try and see some stars (I still haven’t beaten Phillip Island…but I didn’t go to the outback). We ran into about 3 wombats on the way, bringing that nights total up to about 6.
• There was a really awesome warm wind coming off the sea while we sat outside, but later at night that wind turned pretty strong and the tent (which probably wasn’t built right) took a battering
• We got up about three times to readjust tent pegs, the tent at some points was flat on us from the wind.DAY TWO:
• The night before while eating dinner we had talked to a guy and he had suggested we take the trail down to Sealer Cove. The trail goes from about the centre of the Prom, out to the east coast.
• Its also 10 km.
• One way.
• Despite its length, which really wasn’t that bad looking back, the walk was actually really nice beginning in the scorched rock and trees below Mt Oberon down into sclerophyll forest and further down into cool temperate rainforest and alternating between the two after that (shades of Victoria, Australia).
• We saw two wallabies, but that was it despite numerous occasions of rustling in the woods around us.
• There was a cool stream about halfway down (or up depending on which way you see it), which had really clean and cold water which was just one of the spots we stopped for a rest.
• After just shy of 20 km of walking in a day, we fell into the car and collapsed.
• We then had a good hearty meal of Maccas on the way back (I think we earned it).

Tassie: 'Welcome to Another Beautiful Day in Paradise'

Just got back from another quick trip (8 days), during the exam period. With so much time between exams—2 weeks between the last and the next—it was easy to schedule something in between, and something I had wanted to do since starting planning trips was Tasmania. A state of Australia (one of eight), but an island unto itself separated from the mainland country-continent, to its self. Like the great ocean road, ill do all of Tassie in bullet form.

Day One:
• I left from Melbourne around midday
• The flight was unbelievably short, from Melbourne to near the southern tip of Tasmania, Hobart. Just 5 songs on my iPod. And some amazing sights of Melbourne as it was a fairly clear day.
• Hobart wasn’t as clear, with colder temperatures (it was 30 the day before in Melbourne, then around 15 in Hobart) and rain threatening.
• I stayed in Montgomery’s YHA (monty’s) that night, which is a really nice establishment apart from being on the third floor.

Day Two:
• 6.35 pickup and the beginning of the first half of the trip, up the west coast.
• I went with Adventure Tours Australia, which offers a 6 day trip consisting of two 3 day parts (which can be taken singularly).
• The tour guide for the entirety of the trip was Khani, a friendly and energetic guy with stories galore and knowledge to boot.
• First stop was Mt field national park, where we walked through the tour trees and visited horseshoe and Russell falls.
• After a quick lunch, we stopped at Lake St Clair, the deepest lake in Australia.
• Continuing up the west coast we stopped at the second purest water source in the world, the Franklin River.
• Later that afternoon we pushed over the top of the mountain ranges, and down into the mining communities of the west coast.
• We ended the day in the town of Strahan (pronounced ‘strawn’), on the edge of the Macquarie Harbour (larger than the Sydney harbor and home of Sarah Island, a former convict station referred to as hell on earth)
• That night’s accommodation, and the next 4 nights (save one), was ATA owned—this just happened to be the newest and best.
• Khani is also an accomplished didgeridoo player

Day Three:
• It had been cloudy the day before, and we awoke to rain filled skies. Not surprising as the west coast of Tassie get about 300 days of rain a year.
• We took a walk to another waterfall that morning, Hogarth falls; 20 mins inland through cool temperate rain forest.
• After that a quick walk around Strahan, especially the wood centre (Sarah island convicts initially harvested the prized and old Huon pine)
• The Macquarie harbor’s entrance is narrow and shallow, and referred to hells gates. We went there next for a walk along the sand to the channel and look out to the southern ocean.
• A quick lunch in Zeehan then further up towards Cradle Mountain.
• By then the clouds were clearing and the clouds were lifting. With the west coasts reputation of 1 out of 7 nice days, we took the opportunity to get a good photo of Cradle Mountain across dove lake—Tassie’s most iconic land feature.
• We stopped at Waldheim, Gustav Weindorfer’s cottage. From there and on the way out of the park we saw 15 wombats, which is a record.
• Accommodation that night was in cabins inside the cradle mountain park.

Day Four:
• The weather held (in fact it was better) and in the morning we were able to take the more adventurous walk up to Marion’s Lookout from Dove Lake for an unobstructed view of Cradle Mountain.
• It had snowed (yea, in Australia) a couple of days before and there was still snow on the ground at Marions Lookout and up to the summit of Cradle Mountain.
• After lunch in Cradle Mountain we headed further north through the town of murals, Sheffield.
• The next town over was the town of topiary, Railton.
• The penultimate stop of the day was at Anver’s house of chocolate in Latrobe.
• Finally in Davenport we went to the coast to look out over the bass straight, staying in ATA accommodation to end the first half of the tour.
• As the sun set, the Spirit of Tasmania I, pulled away from dock for its trip to Melbourne.

I See Trees of Green...

...red roses tooI see em bloom...for me and for youAnd I think to myself...what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue...clouds of whiteBright blessed days...dark sacred nightsAnd I think to myself...what a wonderful world.

(Spring: given that you experience every season on any given day in Melbourne)

Daylight Savings

So this past Sunday Australia entered daylight savings and this caused some strife. The first part of it was: which way do the clocks actually go? In America I’d always gone by

Spring forward
Fall back

The question was did this system still work in the upside down world. Sure we were still going into summer, but if the seasons are backwards possibly daylight savings would go backwards too. It was a question that puzzled both my roommate and I, but come Sunday morning the clock on my computer had answered for me (it was the same).
The second part, and one that I didn’t realize for a good 24 hours, was that just because Australia had moved its time, America hadn’t. It 4 o’clock in the afternoon and yet I was still talking to people in America (given they were all uni students so it might not be that bizarre). I was then confused on exactly how far behind American now was, or how far ahead I was. Turns out its 15 hours now.
Now the last part of this, only just realized now is that when American clocks go off daylight savings the time difference will change again. This will make a 16 hour difference! How can two countries be 14 hours apart for half a year and 16 hours for the rest?!?

Postcard from Down Under

I sent this out to some people, and was particularly proud of my design on the Australia Logo/Mark so I thought I'd post it.


Check out the Koala in the back, and Click to enlarge.

AusTour 4: Brisbane the III

So we didn’t exactly have three days in Brisbane, the first night was only a half night and this was only a half day, but I thought id use this post to describe the last day and some general tie-ups.

That morning we went out in search of breakfast again, Barry’s friends had left that morning at some inane hour for Surfer’s Paradise (yup that’s the name of the town*) so it wasn’t as crowded this morning. We had planned to tour a famous brewery that day, but for two reasons the first was 1) the line was shut down that day and 2) the tour was sold out. We had to leave Brizzie at 3 that day so we had a limited time we could actually do anything. We decided to take a ferry tour down the Brisbane River to conclude our Brisbane trip. After battling the trains once again (a recurring theme for Brisbane) we made out way to south bank and got on the boat. For what it was worth the ride was enjoyable and pretty informative. My only wish is that the annoying automated voice on the first half of the trip could have been replaced by the actual live guy who did the second half. I probably learned a lot about Brisbane that day, but promptly forgot a lot of it. The tour took us past many historical sites along the river including the immigration building, the old wool factory, the Story Bridge** and the (apparently infamous) breakfast creek.
After the boat tour we raced back to Bunk to retrieve our bags before racing back to Roma Street Station for our 3 o’clock bus—I say race but it was really a slow crawl due, once again, the Brisbane train network.
Brisbane: the complete review
We managed to do a lot in the two-ish days we had. I would hazard to say though that we probably could have done a third, but after that would have serious run out of things to do. It’s a big city sure, but it lacks in the whole interesting activities department (and the transport for that matter). Overall the city lacks the feeling of a city like Melbourne, there was just something wrong in the air so to speak, and it’s a city I won’t make any special efforts to see again.
*Australia has some seriously weird town/city names. Some might reference to the aboriginal names like Wollongong, Wagga Wagga or the only place I know that has 8 ‘O’s in its name, Woolloomooloo. Others are blatantly simple like that of Surfers Paradise, or perhaps the Town of 1770. Or you can bet everything you own that the names that you see everywhere in Australia will be the name of a town somewhere. Names like Macquarie, Flinders or Monash.
**there are some other famous bridges in Brisbane, including the Victoria Bridge now in its fourth generation. The first bridge in that place was made of wood and was eaten by marine wood worm. The second made of iron was washed away in the flood of 1893. The third was only temporary and the fourth is what still stands today.

AusTour 2: Brizzie Day 1

In the Australians ever present penchant for shortening names, they have affectionately renamed Brisbane to Brizzie. It was the first stop on our Aus Tour 08, as I’ve decided to call it, and we flew in Saturday night 2 weeks ago now. A quick note on leaving (and one Barry was considerably distressed about) was that the airport we left from (Avalon) didn’t require a single bit of ID to retrieve a ticket, check baggage, go through security or even board the plane. The plane itself from an airbus a320, which I think is the first time I’ve been on an airbus and distressed me because I was in seat 15D (15 and D is the 4 letter in the alphabet…Lost anyone?...Sawyers seat). Anyway, when we got into BNE I was past the seat I had spent about 4 hours in the last time I was in Brisbane, I was glad I wasn’t staying this long this time. In fact we were out of the plane and out of the airport in 20 minutes on a bus on route to a destination I didn’t exactly know where was. So it was partly my fault that we ended up at Roma street station, a 40 minute walk to our hostel (Google maps said it was closer), but it wasn’t my fault the next bit went wrong. We decided to take a train to Brunswick station, after figuring out a transit system neither of us had seen or taken before we found a train going the right way leaving in four minutes. We were on the platform for at least 30 minutes. 4 trains should have come and gone in that time…great first impression Brisbane! Needless to say we made it eventually to Bunk Backpackers Brisbane (a hostel in the same vein as Gilligans, large 8 person rooms with ensuite bathrooms and showers). One thing that was particularly disturbing (or artistic genius) was the bizarre decoration around the lobby including chandeliers made up of headless Barbies, a giant coastal map complete with decorations and out in the bar bird cages with Barbies inside. Bizarre. Due to the incredible delays by Brisbane city transport, it wasn’t long before some of Barry’s friends from Swinburne showed up on the later flight (16 of them in total). We had planned to meet them in Brisbane, and they definitively made Brisbane a 10 times more exciting city.

AusTour 1: Lonely Planet

This bible of all things travel helped us plan this trip, from advice on attractions to recommendations on hostels. I can’t help but notice its incredible resemblance to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from Douglas Adams’ novel of the same name. Replace ‘hitchhikers’ with ‘backpacker’s and ‘galaxy’ with ‘world’ and keep all the bits about towels and stuff and you’ve got exact replicas. The sometimes sarcastic and humorous descriptions hidden inside the countless pages of LP mirror some of the comedy that comes from the electronic system that is The Guide. Take this one for example from Sydney’s Pink House Backpackers (where we actually stayed): “Yep it’s a pink house. The relentless colour attack continues inside though spritely communal areas and across creaky floorboards.” It might be that you don’t see the humor in this until you actually see the pink house, but everything described there is 100% true. They don’t hold anything back either, from Newcastle: “your first stop should be the Queens Wharf Tower…it is 40.3m high, has 180 steps and is otherwise referred to by the locals as the ‘Giant Penis.’”
As the backpacker’s number one resource (at least to us it was), I’m surprised at this point that, like The Guide, it doesn’t boast the bright lettering of ‘Don’t Panic’ on the front.

I’m Back!

13 days later, I’ve gotten back from my (nearly) see everything in Australia tour. Ok, so we didn’t see everything, but there was no way we could fit anything else into this trip. Tourism was the key element to the trip, but we managed to get some holiday time in too. Probably because of this incredible amount of tourism in a short amount of time I’m buggered.

Nevertheless we saw some great sights, went to some great places (, got a great tan) and had a great time (that’s a lot of great!). Now thinking about exactly how I’m going to document it here I think ill do a post on a place by place basis. This will mean that chronograph will go in reverse in blog history (one downfall to the blog-system), but ill try and mark them. So we start, well, at the start with Brizzie (Brisbane)…but first:

Conservation Volunteers Australia—Final Thoughts

read the first and second posts before this, the third.
Out there the weather changes so quickly and sharply that it would be easy to get stuck, and was evidenced by spectacular downpours we saw on the drive back, opposite bright blue skies. Rainbows appeared every 10 minutes on the road, as we passed through showers and storms. It actually snowed in Melbourne that weekend, something it hadn’t done in a while. While working on the site we could noticeably recognize and impending storm, the temperature dropping considerably as one of the most noticeable signs. Also It should be noted that Australia’s sky is incredibly high, which is even more present when you can see for miles under the great blue thing.
Out there we saw things that we could never have in the city. The wildlife for one, but also the dramatic landscapes that make up Australia. Out here the hills are numerous, and nature abounds. There were cows, this was truly farming country. The ground was hard, filled with rocks where it hadn’t been tilled. Though the hills were green, it was deceiving; this wasn’t grass, rather a weedy substance that meant that livestock could only be kept in small numbers.
I’ve probably made this out to sound like the most miserable place on earth, but the rain is desperately needed in this area (like the rest of Australia). Badger pointed out that for every centimeter of new plant growth was a centimeter of rainfall. The amount of rain we had had in the proceeding weeks had been bizarrely abnormal, and as a consequence there were several inches of new plant growth on the already established trees.
And finally a short note on Badger. This crazy dude has been all over the place. Fighting wildfires, playing baseball in America (he’s serious obsessed with this terrible sport), and meeting random celebrities like WWE’s Rick Flair, the Game and Batista. He was full of stories. And I mean busting at the seams. He was energetic and a generally good person to be around, truly amicable. This guy’s crazy.

A Quick Note of the Olympics

I haven’t really ever seen the Olympics in the States, which is strange considering I’ve lived there for 9 years now. I don’t remember anything about the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, the 2004 Olympics in Athens were watched mainly from England during summer holidays, and the 2008 Olympics most recently in Beijing I’ve seen completely from the Australian view. It was interesting to say the least, the Australians having a completely separate set of stars for the Olympics than the States; names like Libby Trickett and Stephanie Rice dominated the first week (of which I saw ms tricketts gold-medal swim about 5 times in one day—I can only imagine how many times Phelps was seen in the states). One thing that has been good is that a number, if not most of the sport have been live. Australia being 2 hours ahead of Beijing meant that the Olympic day started at 11am and went live pretty much till 11/12 or even 1 at night. In the first week I heard the Australian national anthem more times that I ever cared to hear it seemed like (this is after never hearing it before in my life). Then the second week began with a number of jabs at the British for overtaking them in the gold medal count (as one commentator said, mainly on their bottoms including biking, sailing and rowing). And the second week concluded with one Australian doing a funny walk for 50 km and getting praised for it, and one overhyped BMX athlete (Kamikaze) failing completely. And now, as I watch the final clip montage from the past two weeks I’m looking back on an Olympics that was covered fairly well for just two channels (on freeview)—although they did break to make sure they covered the aussy footy.
Now bring on 2012--London!