Australia - The Land Down Under - Spring Break 2009
March 22 & 23 -
After almost 11 hours on an US Air Force C-17 cargo plane, we arrived at Richmond Royal Air Base, Down Under on March 23. Australia is only three hours behind us in time, but a whole day ahead as we passed the International Dateline. We took a Taxi to the Rail Station, and our very friendly Taxi driver, who by the way drove in the passenger seat, explained all there is to know about Australia. There was only one small problem – he spoke in a very wide Out Back accent and was very difficult to understand, but this we found out – there are a lot of things to see and do down here. The Rail Way took us to Central, almost directly at Aarons Hotel Sydney, which seemed to be in the middle of ChinaTown. Very nice hotel room, with two levels and a bunk bed for the kids. |
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In the tropical garden we saw bats flying, hanging and grooming themselves. At the end of the garden was the ocean, and around the corner we found ourselves at the Opera House, where we had a glass of wine and the Opera Sampler plate, while enjoying the view of the bridge. A Taxi ride back to the hotel finished our long, but ohhh so great first day Down Under.
March 24
We decided to take a little sightseeing tour around town on a double-decker, topless bus. Sydney’s architecture is pretty amazing, with a mixture of old and new, big and small. There are lots of beautiful catholic churches everywhere and parks where people sunbathe, men in suits having lunch break, and teens playing Cricket. Even though the city is full of hustle and bustle, it seems like a pretty laid back and safe place to live.
After a small lunch at BK, which here is called Hungry Jacks, we headed underground into one of their “shopping centres”. They naturally use the British spelling over here, and it’s so much fun to remember how I learned this language at school.
The bus also took us out to Bondi Beach, where the Hawaiian Duke Kahanumoku introduced surfing to the Australians back in the 1950’s. The first person he taught how to surf was a girl, so therefore the first Australian to surf was a “Sheila”.
For dinner we decided to see the city from above and took the “lift” way up to the Sydney Tower for a buffet consisting of some seafood, meats and, I kid you not, kangaroo tail. How does kangaroo taste? The “flavour” is a little wild and the texture a little rough. Not an exact favorite in my opinion, but not bad either.
March 25
Today we went to the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Park, where we got to pet koalas and feed kangaroos. The word kangaroo, according to the story, means “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand”. The story is that some tourist had asked an Aborigine what the name of the animal that stood up on his hind legs was, and the Aborigine had answered, kangaroo, meaning I don’t know! The word koala means “no water”.
For lunch we had crocodile and kangaroo stew.
After lunch we headed to The Blue Mountains where we saw “Three sisters”. Legend has it that there were three beautiful young women who had fallen in love with a man from an Aboriginal tribe from the foothills. Tribal lore prohibited the union, and a battle ensued. A witchdoctor turned the women to stone so they wouldn’t be harmed, but he was killed and no one could undo the spell.
We also admired a beautiful canyon which unfortunately was smoke filled due to a brush fire.
On the way back we passed by the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Stadium.
March 26
Moving on from Sydney’s big city business life, to a more laid back vacation town, Brisbane [Brisbin], we hopped on Quantas Airline for a 1½ hour trip up north right between the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. Here we’re straying at a backpacker’s hostel together with teens from all over the world.
We unpacked real fast and took the complimentary shuttle down town to Queen Street, where we had dinner, shopped and people watched. We were amazed by the strict looking uniforms the high school students were wearing. They leisurely strolled through town on their way home from school. Some uniforms were very nice looking, some gray and boring and some extremely colorful. But they all were clear cut uniforms with a shirt, shorts and tie for the boys and skirt or dress for the girls. Some uniforms even included hats.
In the evening the kids did their own thing and we had a Carlton Drought Cold in the outside bar overlooking the pool and tennis court. Funny thing – they don’t have Foster’s down here!
March 27
Tomorrow we’re heading further north to the Great Barrier Reef, where we will spend one whole day snorkeling and diving out on the reef and one in the Australian rain forest and some croc infested waters.
March 28
March 29
The Great Barrier Reef, one of UNESCO World Heritage Centers! It’s also known as the world’s largest reef systems with about 3000 reefs and 900 islands, approximately 2000 km in length out to the Continental Shelf. This is where Crock Hunter Steve Irwin (Australia Zoo) so unfortunately was killed by a sting ray in 2006. The boat took us out to the reef where we snorkeled and Dan dove (of course). We saw lots of species of fish big and small, corals hard and soft, giant wrasse, sting ray, reef shark and Nemo (Clown Fish).
March 30
On this, our last day before returning to Sydney and Richmond Royal Air Base we went to see another one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centers, the Daintree Rain Forest, where the “rainforest meets the reef”. We saw some pretty amazing trees, flowers and birds. A little cruise on the Daintree River revealed some snakes and a croc or two. One of the crocs name is Scarface. He is close to 5 meters long and 75 years old and has no teeth.
Over here in Queensland, Australia we found a peak and a beach named after us; Thornton’s Peak & Thornton’s Beach.
March 31
Photographer: Chris Thornton
April Fool's Day
The vacation is coming to an end. We hopped on the train back to Richmond, the town of the first European settlers. Parrots gathering like pidgeons. After a walk to the park and on to the shopping centre, we packed up our belongings and all agreed –
This truly has been the trip of a lifetime!