Pictures from Taranaki and from our visit to Ebenezer Farm:
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
The geothermal heart - Rotorua and Taupo
Rotorua - Welcome to the city of rotten eggs!
Sometimes, good things start on the wrong foot. In our case, it was Oren's foot. It has been a while since the last time he twisted an ankle, so he decided to do it on the way to the bus to Rotorua. This made Lilya the only one responsible for our time in Rotorua and indeed she was quick to find us a great hostel, with a twist: the main common area has a large window over a big climbing wall. We didn't do much on the first day but on the second day Lilya got up early and went to do a white water rafting in the Kaituna river. It was quite fun, especially the part when you pass through a 7 meter high waterfall. No serious injuries were recorded, and all was documented on a DVD. Lilya also used the time that Oren wasn't able to walk to climb with Aviv, an Israeli guy we met in the hostel. We also met quite a lot of other nice people in this hostel, from all over the world.Monday, 20 December 2010
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Auckland
Later, when we left Auckland and travelled all across New Zealand, people have always told us that Auckland is not part of New Zealand. "They are not Kiwis, I don't know what they are", said one. But when we got to Auckland we felt that we switched a country. Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Oz any more.
Auckland is a big city. However, the center is so sterile that it gives a feeling it is a decoration rather than a real city. "Be a tidy Kiwi" says the sticker, and the Aucklanders take this motto seriously. Auckland is not a boring city, though. There are few streets with pubs right in the center, and in NZ, like in NZ, you can also choose to jump from the Sky Tower, tied to nothing but a rope around your waist. In a country mostly inhabited by people that haven't ever visited a third floor, Auckland can even be considered as refreshing.
For us, however, coming from Melbourne and Sydney, it wasn't that appealing, not to mention the fact that we were sick. We spent the better part of our first 3 days in New Zealand around the hostel and the streets close by, and especially in one internet cafe we found. We stayed at the overly noisy Nomads hostel, and spent some time trying to plan ahead.
One funny anecdote introduced us to spirit of the kiwis (the name the Zealanders call themselves), and their lack of willingness to quarrel with anyone outside of the Rugby court. When we went to change money, we found a place where the rate seemed OK and the sign said "no commission" and changed our last Australian dollars. Only when we left we understood that we got much less than what we expected. We looked in the receipt and discovered that they took a huge 9% commission. We came back to the place, angry and ready to fight as if we were in Bolivia, and even got more furious when the clerk told us she cannot cancel the deal. "But I can give you the difference", she said. It was quite funny, as if what they actually told us was "If you don't want to pay the commission, no worries. We will just give it back to you".
We walked back and forth through the main streets of Auckland, but mostly spent our time in an internet café, writing post for our dedicated readers. We also met Asaf and Bareket, the Israeli couple we met in Melbourne, and had the honor to eat a hamburger with them. A hamburger? One might not look at a hamburger as such an important matter, but you should know that the White Lady hamburger bar, which is located in an old bus, is, at least according to the web page printout that they hang on the side of the bus, one of Auckland 187 best things to do. What are the other 186 items on the list? Well, we can think of 5 or 6 other stuff… The bus, by the way, can actually move – you won't find it parking in the same place in the morning, if hamburger is your favorite breakfast.
While wandering around the park, we heard loud music. When we got closer we found out that it came from the Auckland University. It was a student's day celebrating the end of the semester. We considered entering the show but the price was really too high for a completely unknown band. It is possible, that we've missed the next U2 just before they get world famous, though.
When we felt better we decided to do what we do best: go and see some nature. An hour and a half sail from Auckland there is a small island, Tiritiri Matangi, which is an open sanctuary - the introduced predators that were brought by the European settlers were kicked out (a clean phrase for "hunted to extinction") from the island, and the introduced grass was replaced with natural forest. After 20 years of re-vegetation, native and endangered birds were released to the island, which is now also open to the public.
We did a 3 hours hike, walking around the island and getting up close and personal with the different birds. We saw heaps of Tuis sticking their long beak into the flowers and singing with their exceptional musical voice. We also saw some of the more rare birds of New Zealand that have found a refuge in the island.
We got at the end to inevitable lighthouse with the inevitable gift shop and bought ourselves a new member to our small family – a kiwi doll who got the name Yechidna.
On the next day we left Auckland in the morning, and started our journey through the real New Zealand.
Tip 1: Find the Pink Lady, and eat some hamburger for dinner. It is money well spent.
Tip 2: Tiritiri Matangi is a heaven for bird lovers, but if you don't care about birds, unless they are served as dinner, you can skip the visit.
Auckland is a big city. However, the center is so sterile that it gives a feeling it is a decoration rather than a real city. "Be a tidy Kiwi" says the sticker, and the Aucklanders take this motto seriously. Auckland is not a boring city, though. There are few streets with pubs right in the center, and in NZ, like in NZ, you can also choose to jump from the Sky Tower, tied to nothing but a rope around your waist. In a country mostly inhabited by people that haven't ever visited a third floor, Auckland can even be considered as refreshing.
For us, however, coming from Melbourne and Sydney, it wasn't that appealing, not to mention the fact that we were sick. We spent the better part of our first 3 days in New Zealand around the hostel and the streets close by, and especially in one internet cafe we found. We stayed at the overly noisy Nomads hostel, and spent some time trying to plan ahead.
One funny anecdote introduced us to spirit of the kiwis (the name the Zealanders call themselves), and their lack of willingness to quarrel with anyone outside of the Rugby court. When we went to change money, we found a place where the rate seemed OK and the sign said "no commission" and changed our last Australian dollars. Only when we left we understood that we got much less than what we expected. We looked in the receipt and discovered that they took a huge 9% commission. We came back to the place, angry and ready to fight as if we were in Bolivia, and even got more furious when the clerk told us she cannot cancel the deal. "But I can give you the difference", she said. It was quite funny, as if what they actually told us was "If you don't want to pay the commission, no worries. We will just give it back to you".
We walked back and forth through the main streets of Auckland, but mostly spent our time in an internet café, writing post for our dedicated readers. We also met Asaf and Bareket, the Israeli couple we met in Melbourne, and had the honor to eat a hamburger with them. A hamburger? One might not look at a hamburger as such an important matter, but you should know that the White Lady hamburger bar, which is located in an old bus, is, at least according to the web page printout that they hang on the side of the bus, one of Auckland 187 best things to do. What are the other 186 items on the list? Well, we can think of 5 or 6 other stuff… The bus, by the way, can actually move – you won't find it parking in the same place in the morning, if hamburger is your favorite breakfast.
While wandering around the park, we heard loud music. When we got closer we found out that it came from the Auckland University. It was a student's day celebrating the end of the semester. We considered entering the show but the price was really too high for a completely unknown band. It is possible, that we've missed the next U2 just before they get world famous, though.
When we felt better we decided to do what we do best: go and see some nature. An hour and a half sail from Auckland there is a small island, Tiritiri Matangi, which is an open sanctuary - the introduced predators that were brought by the European settlers were kicked out (a clean phrase for "hunted to extinction") from the island, and the introduced grass was replaced with natural forest. After 20 years of re-vegetation, native and endangered birds were released to the island, which is now also open to the public.
We did a 3 hours hike, walking around the island and getting up close and personal with the different birds. We saw heaps of Tuis sticking their long beak into the flowers and singing with their exceptional musical voice. We also saw some of the more rare birds of New Zealand that have found a refuge in the island.
We got at the end to inevitable lighthouse with the inevitable gift shop and bought ourselves a new member to our small family – a kiwi doll who got the name Yechidna.
On the next day we left Auckland in the morning, and started our journey through the real New Zealand.
Tip 1: Find the Pink Lady, and eat some hamburger for dinner. It is money well spent.
Tip 2: Tiritiri Matangi is a heaven for bird lovers, but if you don't care about birds, unless they are served as dinner, you can skip the visit.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Melbourne and Sydney
"So which city did you like more, Sydney or Melbourne?" Like in many other countries, Australia has two large cities with two completely different characters. Everyone has a very solid opinion regarding this question. Oren kept his opinion from his previous visit in Australia. He prefers Sydney. I, on the other hand, prefer Melbourne. Sydney was a bit too shiny and tidy for me, which is understandable when taking into account where I am coming from. As soon as the working hours are over, the center is abandoned and all the life moves to other neighborhoods. Melbourne, with its dark, full of graffiti alleys and small coffee shops, gives a more real feeling. The gray weather fits its gloomy atmosphere. Something between London and New York.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
The Great Ocean Road and Wilson's Promontary
We got to a small rural area close to the beginning of the Great Ocean Road and stayed in an empty campsite in one of the towns. It wasn't totally empty, though. Other than us there were a couple from Belgium, Natasha and Fredrick, who were travelling around Australia with their van. We didn't mention it before but Itay was a bit of an order freak. We had 3 large plastic boxes to keep the back of the car organized and few smaller ones. Now that we had to say goodbye to the car in few days, we wanted to give all our fortune to other travelers who could find use to it. Natasha and Fredrick fit that description. In return to all the gifts from our side (Natasha called it Christmas) Lilya got a very nice head band made by Natasha.
On the next day we had the most English day we had in Australia. Like any proper English day it started with gray skies.
On the next day we had the most English day we had in Australia. Like any proper English day it started with gray skies.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Just passing through - South Australia and the Grampians NP
After more than two weeks and more than 12,000 km our time started to run out. Stressed by the upcoming flight to New Zealand on one hand and the heaps of things we still had to see, on the other hand, it was the time to make a tough decision. So we decided to leave South Australia for the next trip and drive it straight through.
We drove quite a lot on a single day through the wilderness of the northern part of South Australia. We passed through the famous and the infamous miners' town Coober Pedi but didn't stop there for more than a picture. The most needed shower, after 3 days, came later when we just stopped in a caravan park for that.
We drove quite a lot on a single day through the wilderness of the northern part of South Australia. We passed through the famous and the infamous miners' town Coober Pedi but didn't stop there for more than a picture. The most needed shower, after 3 days, came later when we just stopped in a caravan park for that.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Uluru and Kata Tjuta
Close your eyes and think about Australia. If the first thing that comes to your mind is a huge red rock in the middle of the desert, it is Uluru, the famous Australian symbol.
Uluru and its impressive and less known sisters - the Kata-Tjuta (or The Olgas, in their European name) are remote. More than 2000 km in every direction from any major city, except one: Alice Springs. You probably wouldn't call a city with about 25,000 people major, but Alice has become quite famous due to the fact it is located near (only 500km) a rather large rock.
Uluru and its impressive and less known sisters - the Kata-Tjuta (or The Olgas, in their European name) are remote. More than 2000 km in every direction from any major city, except one: Alice Springs. You probably wouldn't call a city with about 25,000 people major, but Alice has become quite famous due to the fact it is located near (only 500km) a rather large rock.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Darwin and the Stuart Highway
The nice thing about staying in isolated places in Australia, is that you are never alone, even if there is no other person around you. You share the toilets and the showers with light green frogs (not poisonous), and on the way there you try not to step on toads that are spread on the grass. While eating dinner a strange noise usually comes from the refrigerator, those are the geckos. And we can write a book about the different sounds that woke us up at 5am every morning. The bird variety is truly amazing. There is the Laser bird, the Reverse driving bird, the disappointed bird, the bird from the video games from the 80's, and many many others. Too bad it was too early for us to think to record all those fabulous sounds.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks
Kakadu is a huge national park in the far north of Australia. It is about the size of Israel, but since it has only two main roads passing through, it is mostly inaccessible to the visitors, which gives a real feeling of wilderness.
We picked up Aviv in Katherine and drove north to Kakadu. We drove into the park through the southern road on our way to Ubirr.
There are three rivers that cross the park: The West Alligator, South Alligator and East Alligator rivers. However, if you want to see an alligator, go to Bolivia. In Kakadu National Park you can only find salt and fresh water crocodiles. The salt ones are dangerous and large and they can be sometimes seen in the rivers as well. On our way we stopped few times and did few short hikes such as the one in Yellow Water, that goes near the South Alligator river, and on a platform from which you might see crocs, but we saw only their noses sticking out of the water from a distance.
We picked up Aviv in Katherine and drove north to Kakadu. We drove into the park through the southern road on our way to Ubirr.
There are three rivers that cross the park: The West Alligator, South Alligator and East Alligator rivers. However, if you want to see an alligator, go to Bolivia. In Kakadu National Park you can only find salt and fresh water crocodiles. The salt ones are dangerous and large and they can be sometimes seen in the rivers as well. On our way we stopped few times and did few short hikes such as the one in Yellow Water, that goes near the South Alligator river, and on a platform from which you might see crocs, but we saw only their noses sticking out of the water from a distance.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Kathrine Gorge
It was really refreshing to see some civilization (Kathrine) after 3.5 days of wilderness. After an expansive hour (8 dollars) on the Internet, a short and a very useful visit in the information center and the obligatory visit in the Woolworth (the local supermarket network), we were ready to explore the Northland. We started with Edith falls, about 15 km north to Kathrine. We wished to do the longer trail that goes to the upper pools as well. When we got to the campsite near the falls, we saw a family wearing an insect nets on their heads. We thought it was funny. Ten minutes after the beginning of the walk that wasn't funny at all.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Outback
Look at the skies. We mean it. Go outside or at least to your windows and look at the skies. We'll be waiting...
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How much skies did you see? In most cities, you are lucky to see half of the sky's dome. Out in the nature you'll probably see more. But try to remember when did you the full dome of the skies stretching from one horizon to the other?
Australia is actually made of two parts. There is the coastal part which consists of people, cities, tourist attractions, forests, waterways and animals, and there is the outback which is a big empty nothing. Nothing but skies, that is. If you head to the outback, make sure you love the skies, because that's all you are going to see for some days.
Going to the outback from the east coast is a sharp transition. We left Cairns on the afternoon, after we said goodbye to Itay that started his journey back to Israel, and slept in Milla Milla, high in the Atherton tableland.
This was a very wet night and the mist was so thick that we couldn't see anything, not to mention the tree-kangaroos that should have been there, at least according to road signs.
On mid day of the following day, once we passed the "Great Dividing Range", we were already in the middle of nothing. The air became dry, the rainforest had changed into open Eucalyptus forest and the distances between towns grew from 20km to 200km and on the next day to 500km.
We drove through the northern outback road, which is longer but passes through the gulf savanna. It is truly a beautiful road that stretches through the light forest covered planes of the Gulf of Carpenteria, and passes through tiny towns that pop right out of the 19th century. In between it's the land of the cows, kangaroos and the road trains - massive trucks carrying 3 and even 4 trailers behind. The unfortunate encounters between the kangaroos and the road trains leave a trail of road kills that become the meeting place for craws, falcons and eagles.
We drove more than 10,000km in the 20 days between Cairns and Port Augusta, in South Australia, doing more than 900km per day in some days. We switched every 200km or 2 hours of driving so it wasn't really hard.
On the first night we slept in Kurumba, right on the coast of the gulf. We were hoping to see a beautiful meteorological phenomenon called "Morning Glory" that happens every year few weeks before the beginning of the wet season. Although we didn't see it, we did see a lot of animals in the small caravan park we stayed in. We saw a blue thong lizard, and an owl. We also had a closer look on the wallabies that were eating the grass in front of our tent and on the green frogs that shared with us the kitchen where we made our dinner. We also met interesting group of men that left their wives and kids for a "boys only" fishing trip. They were all equipped and ready for the great Barramundi fishing out in the gulf. They came from Brisbane and had more than a 1000km more to go through unsealed roads until they'll reach the place where they planed on casting their nets. This yearly fishing trip provides them with frozen fish for the whole year. A modern hunters society indeed.
The only major city on the way is Mt. Isa, which we got to at the end of the second day of driving. A big sign welcomes you to the city: "You are not a real Ausie until you have visited Mt. Isa". If that's true, we are probably more Ausies than most of the Australians.
We planned on sleeping for free that night so we took a free and cold shower in the visitor center. But that wasn't too bad since the temperature outside was probably 35 degrees. It was also useless because we slept in a caravan park eventually.
The third day of driving was the longest. We drove about 920km. As soon as we crossed to the Northern Territory, the road kills disappeared and we were left with the skies alone to accompany us.
There are two fun elements in driving in the Northern Territory. The speed limit is 130km/h which is actually achievable with the empty and straight roads, and there is a free coffee for the drivers in every gas station. Not too many of those, though, since they can be as far as 300km one from another. The fuel price is defiantly the downside of driving there, reaching almost twice the price at the large cities.
We stopped at Larrimah, about 200km south to Katherine. Larrimah is a rather large town with a population of 13 (people, not thousands) and 2 dogs. We actually saw all of them in the "world famous" Pink Panther pub which was next to the camping ground. The biggest attraction (except for the people themselves) is the free zoo. The pub owner had a nice collection of native animals, including one salt water crocodile, few lizards, parrots and cockatoos and three absolutely stupid emus. There was also a wallaby that was curious about Lilya's pants so he tried to eat them. These pants are probably appealing to wildlife because these were the same pants that the toucan in Brazil tried to eat.
We arrived in Katherine on the next day and drove to the world famous (this time for real) Katherine Gorge. We were quite happy to complete this part of the road, which we planned for 5 days in only 3 and a bit.
Tip 1: There are rest areas in the Northern Territory that can be used for free overnight camping. Try to get a good road map of the area that includes them. You can get the Northern Territory map produced by the Queensland auto club (RACQ) in Cairns. If you are from the type that needs shower, you can take one in caravan parks. They usually offer only showers for 3-4 dollars per person.
Tip 2: There are good free thermals in Mataranka just south of Katherine. We didn't mention them in the post because we stopped there only on the way south.
Tip 3: The fuel on the way between Mt. Isa and Katherine is very expansive. The far that you are from these towns the more you'll pay. Try to plan your drive so you will not have to fill to much on the way.
Tip 4: The small pubs in these outback towns are an important part of the experience. You haven't really seen the outback until you sat in an outback pub.
Tip 5: There are 50 million kangaroos in Australia and you really don't want to meet one while driving 120km/h. The kangaroos get out at dusk and might be on the road at night. Try not to drive when its dark.
Tip 6: Part of the Gulf Savanna road is one lane for the two direction and there are road trains on these roads. If you see a road train from a distance, coming in front of you, it is best to get off the road and let it pass. You don't want to force these monsters off the road.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree National Park
The Great Barrier Reef is the world larges't reef system and it is one of the 7 wonders of the natural world. If you are a certified diver and you are in Australia, diving in the GBR is a MUST. Even if you are not certified, you can at least snorkel. Since all the three of us carried such a license we went looking for a cruise that will include as much dives as possible. Eventually, we found a special deal that included 6 dives in less than 36 hours. We even got a good price for that.
This time the boat was much smaller and the atmosphere wasn't as fun as on Wings2 and the food wasn't as good, but the thing we came for, the diving, was magnificent.
Once again most of the people on the boat did only snorkeling, and in most of the dives there were only the three of us and a guide.
We left Cairns early in the morning and had 4 dives on the first day, including a night dive. The diving schedule was so intense that all we did the whole time was diving and eating. And what amazing dives they were! Most of the time the water was perfectly clear allowing the sun to color all the beautiful coral reef and the various fish in it. It all looked like a giant bouquet set with dozens of colorful fish.
After seeing Leo's beautiful underwater pictures on the Whitsundays, both Oren and Itay were ready to buy all the possible underwater equipment for their cameras. But before buying it we rented a small camera with an underwater case. It wasn't too long until they found out that underwater photography is not as simple as they thought. You can judge by the outcome... On their behalf one can say, that the camera was much less professional than what they are used to work with.
Even though we had amazing dives we weren't very lucky. It was said that seeing sharks and sea turtles is almost guaranteed in those places, unfortunately, we didn't meet any of them. Something bad happened to our luck there... But the more we dove the better we felt in the water. Even the night dive was fun. Diving is an incredible experience! We enjoyed the reef so much that we went snorkeling even after our 6th dive.
We returned to Cairns in the afternoon, but all the water we've been in wasn't enough, so we dipped in the huge, free, public pool next to the pier.
Cairns, the largest city in the area of the GBR, doesn't give you a feeling of a city, more like a vacation town. The main touristic area is full with restaurants, pubs, tourist agencies and Aboriginal people wondering the streets.
This was our first real encounter with Aboriginals. Even after leaving Australia, lots of questions remained unanswered about those people. It seems that they are having a very hard time to fit in the modern Australian society. Most of the Aboriginal we saw are just wondering in the streets. It is very uncommon to find an indigenous person with a job.Someone told us that they don't know how to deal with money or property. Maybe they are the real socialists. Anyway, it looks like they are facing some real problems because of their failure to fit in. Other than that, Cairns center is very touristic, which means that you can find bars open till late and even serve real Irish Guinness. We spent a night in one of those pubs, not before they checked we fit their dress code.
Itay had to leave us in few days, but before doing that we went on our last drive together. we wanted to go north to Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation which is supposed to be a very beautiful tropical area.
Port Douglas is a very nice tropical town which is famous for being a resort for the rich and the famous of the world. We wondered around the main street but neither Bruce Willis nor Bill Clinton could be seen anywhere.
After we left the town gray clouds started to cover the skies, ruining all the nice pictures we wanted to take from the viewpoints on our way.
We continued on the only road there is going north, crossing the Daintree river on a ferry/raft, but the clouds wouldn't disappear. We did a short hike not far from the Daintree NP visitor center, hoping to see a cassowary.
But no luck there... maybe they were hiding together with Bruce and Bill. we stopped in one of the only camping grounds in the area, next to the only gas station and the only convenient store on the road. While sitting i the car (it was rainy) with the air conditioner on (it was hot), charging Itay's computer, the car battery went flat, for some reason. Luckily for us the Australians are very nice (did you know that?), so it wasn't a problem to find a guy that let us use his battery charger and to make a new friend.This was our first real encounter with Aboriginals. Even after leaving Australia, lots of questions remained unanswered about those people. It seems that they are having a very hard time to fit in the modern Australian society. Most of the Aboriginal we saw are just wondering in the streets. It is very uncommon to find an indigenous person with a job.Someone told us that they don't know how to deal with money or property. Maybe they are the real socialists. Anyway, it looks like they are facing some real problems because of their failure to fit in. Other than that, Cairns center is very touristic, which means that you can find bars open till late and even serve real Irish Guinness. We spent a night in one of those pubs, not before they checked we fit their dress code.
Itay had to leave us in few days, but before doing that we went on our last drive together. we wanted to go north to Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation which is supposed to be a very beautiful tropical area.
After we left the town gray clouds started to cover the skies, ruining all the nice pictures we wanted to take from the viewpoints on our way.
We continued on the only road there is going north, crossing the Daintree river on a ferry/raft, but the clouds wouldn't disappear. We did a short hike not far from the Daintree NP visitor center, hoping to see a cassowary.
Later that evening, we made friends with a super-nice french couple (Celine and Thibaut), who just like us took a year off, but decided to spend it traveling around Australia. Since they were at the end of their journey, they had lots of very useful tips for us.
Next morning we made two times more pancakes and shared with our three new friends. We wanted to sail on the Daintree river and to see its famous crocodiles but the weather was so rainy that even the most adventurous crocs stayed home. Instead we visited one of the local ice cream "factories" and tasted few strange flavors, like Guinness. "It's a beer, you know.." said the lady behind the counter, as if it was our idea to make an ice cream from Guinness...
We thought to go to an insect museum, but paying 10 dollars each for something you meet right next to your tent or on yourself was a bit too much.
During the whole trip with us, Itay had to adopt the backpackers way of living, and especially the low budget, which means no restaurants. On the last night together Itay had enough of it and he invited us to a fancy dinner in a seafood restaurant (Thanks Itay!). We, on our hand, invited him for an ice cream afterwords...
On the next day, we were left alone (in the dark) after Itay traded our backpacker's lifestyle for the comfort of a big city, Melbourne.
Tip 1: Even though it's Australia, and it is a part of the modern world, you still can bargain! It can save you some money. We did it with no intention. We just said to an agent that another agent promised us a better price, and that we don't know what it will be. She immediately
dropped the price by 20%. Too easy...
Tip 2: You don't have to wait to Australia. The diving spots in Eilat and Sinay are also amazing.Tip 3: If you are in the area, there are few nice homemade ice creams in the Daintree area.
Tip 4: Celine and Thibaut have also a blog. It is in French, but the pictures are universally amazing: http://celtibenaustralie.over-blog.com/
Monday, 1 November 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Magnetic Island and the Waterfall Circuit
There is an old physicists joke, that goes like this:
Q: How many numbers does a physicist knows?
A: 3 numbers: 1,2 and infinity.
This is quite the same for a koala seeker.
Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville, is a place to see LOTS of koalas. How much is lots? Well, when we speak about flies then a hundred can be quite a lot (although some would rightly argue that even one is too much). When we talk about kilometers, than 2000 can seem quite a lot when driving a car, but not when flying. If we speak about koalas, then lots means, like in the joke, more than 2.
Maggie, as it is called, is a small tropical island, and it takes no more than 30 minutes to get there by a ferry from Townsville. There are shuttle buses that connect all the important points on the island, at least twice every hour. But the most popular vehicle there is a mock - a funny jeep-like vehicle the size of a carting car.
We slept at a rather noisy backpackers hostel in Arcadia beach. We didn't waste our time and went for a walk called "The Forts". In World War II, Australia was attacked by Japan and Townsville was at the front line. Magnetic Island was fortified and prepared for war, and some of the remains of the forts that were built still exist. This walk climbs to the tallest fort, with great views on the bays at the north and east. This, however, was not the highlight of the walk. During the two hours walk we were lucky enough to see two koalas on the trees. One of them was so close that we could almost touch it and cuddle it (which is basically the only thing that you want to do when you see a koala).
These games are known for the brutal and wild violence that you can inflict upon your opponent, which is followed by a handshake and a friendly tap on the back. Just think how will Christiano Ronaldo would have reacted if tackled that way.
Whatever game it was, it was rather a dramatic one. One of the teams, who was far behind most of the game, managed to tie the score at the last minute and win in overtime. Whatever the sport is, that's how we like it!
Lilya didn't feel well on the next day so Oren went to hike alone on the trail leading from Arcadia to Nelly bay. This wasn't such a lucky day, so all Oren saw was one koala sitting on a tree close by and another female koala. How did he know it was a female koala? He knew that because it had a baby koala grabbing its fur and cuddling in her lap. This was such an amazing sight! The mother was holding the cub and both of them looked like a two face fur ball. Oren didn't need anything more that day.
Oliver was in 90 different countries around the world and he has a notebook to prove it. In his notebook he recorded all the cities and countries he visited with the dates when he did it. This list includes places like Afghanistan, before the soviet invasion, and 15 seconds in Lebanon in 1978, when it was still possible to jump over "the good fence" from Israel and return quickly.
We sat with Oliver for hours hearing his stories about the places, the travels, and especially about the ladied. Like a sailor, for every place there is a girl and for every girl there is a story. Oliver actually came to Maggie to write his book about his travels, but after he found out that the house he wanted to use (another fine story about a girl) was already in use, he stayed at this backpackers hostel. He also made friends, and introduced us to his room mates - a loud bunch of overly drunk Ozie boys that had also some funny stories to tell. Eventually, the owner of the pub had to kick us out, since we stayed very late (which in Australian standards is 10:30pm).
One the next day we returned to Townsville, took our car and drove to Wallaman falls, at the Wooroonooran national park. On the way we threw away 40$ when we decided to enter to the Mamu Mamu treetop walk. This is a highly accessible trail that has some nice balconies at the height of the treetops and a tower above the forest. However, we thought that the price was really exaggerated compared to what we saw there, and that the free walk in Lamington national park was as good.
We arrived on the afternoon to Wallaman falls, the highest falls in Australia. You don't usually think of Australia as a land of waterfalls, but these are really impressive, with a drop of about 340 meters. We went down to the base and up again. This is a very recommended place if your there.
Tip 1: Go to Magnetic and take the time to take a walk there. You'll have a good chance to see a koala or 2.
Tip 2: The Mamu Mamu is much too expansive for what it gives, in our opinion. However, it is very accessible for disabled people.
Tip 3: Allow enough time in Wallaman falls, the trip down to the base is a must (and then you have to go back...).
Tip 4: There are a lot of organized trips from Cairns to the waterfall circuit but they cost to much. You can rent a car with a friend and do it in half a day for less than half of the price.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Guest Pictures
See Itay's perspective on Whale watching, Fraser Island and Eungella:
And another album from the sail in the Whitsundays:
And another album from the sail in the Whitsundays:
Monday, 25 October 2010
Back to the tropics - Eungella and Airlie Beach
On the day we left Hervey Bay we did two important things: we drove 700 km north to Mackay, and took out our shorts from the bags. Yes, we were back in the tropics, and no one was more happier than Lilya, who could finally defrost her bones.
Mackay itself is not an interesting town at all, but we did have to spend half a day there for arrangements. We slept in a caravan park which looked very cheep which indeed it was, or at least we thought so. We arrived late, so we called them and got a price for 3 people. In the morning we discovered that this price is only for one tent and they charged us double for having two small tents. At least we got to meat a Kiwi (New Zealander) that works in the mines near Mackay, and didn't stop complaining about this "damn owl" that disturbed his sleep. We never saw an owl until then so it was a good chance to see one. We did empathized with the Kiwi guy, since the owl was quite annoying, making loud noises all night long.
We didn't arrive to Mackay to see owls, though. We wanted to visit the Eungella national park in the mountains near the city. Again, like in Lamington, we drove on a winding road climbing up into the rainforest, but this time we were on a mission. Our mission was to track down and photograph a platypus - one of the strangest creatures among the already strange bunch of animals that gathered in Australia. The platypus is an egg laying mammal. It looks like a small beaver, with a strange mouth that looks like a duck's beak. Unfortunately, its strange appearance made it to be the the rejected kid in the animals school (animal kids can be soooooo cruel sometimes...), so the platypus became very shy. It can mostly be seen just after sunset or before sunrise, and only by the luckiest of people. Since we were very lucky until now, we became arrogant, sure that we are about to see at least two mating platypuses, a mother and a cab and at least three males fighting. Instead, when we came before sunset, we saw, well, nothing. One splash of water, far up the stream was claimed to be a diving platypus but we can't be sure.
We went to sleep in the most amazing campsite we've been in yet, on the edge of the mountains above Pioneer Valley, which is, as Lilya defined it, the most perfect valley. We woke up an hour before sunrise to go ambush the platypus again. This time we were much more patient and more humble, and we were rewarded with a glimpse on a small platypus not too far away.
We came back to eat breakfast ("Brekky" as the Ozies call it) which took us much longer than we planned, because, as happens many times during the trip, we met an Australian guy which was very happy to share his life story with us. We talked about anything from weather to sugar cane economy. We had little time so we did only a short (but incredibly beautiful) hike trough the rainforest, before getting back to the coast and driving to Airlie Beach.
Airlie Beach is one happy little town, which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Although it is not large, it has a really crowded main street full of tour agencies, backpackers hostels and pubs.
Whitsundays are a collection of small, beautiful islands not far from the coast of Hervey Bay. There are many cruises that go there, you just need to pick the right one for you. Since we were less interested in drinking and vomiting on the deck, and more interested in diving, we picked a company that offers just that. A 2 days and 2 nights cruise on a new catamaran with 25 other tourists. During those 2 days the vessel stops in 4 different reefs and you can either dive or snorkel there.
The crew of Wings2 were a treat by themselves. There were 3 lovely girls, two were Dive Masters and one hostess who prepared all our food and took care of other logistics, and one skipper. All of them were young and very fun.
All the other passengers were tourists from different parts of Europe, all in their late twenties/early thirties. We were considered to be very exotic, and were called "Team Israel". We didn't have the chance to get to know all of them, but the ones we did get to know were really nice. We even made friends with a group of Austrian scientists who came to Australia for a conference. So we had a small science club there.
The accommodation was somewhat claustrophobic (what can you expect from a boat). We slept on a triangular bed that was placed inside one of the two hulls of the catamaran. Right above us was Itay's bed. Besides us there were beds for 5 other people in the same tiny room.
The journey started with a long but humorous briefing by the crew members. One of the important rules on the boat is to sign some paper every time you come back to the boat (after diving and such). If you don't sign on time you will be forced to eat a full spoon of Vegemite. Vegemite is a dark brown paste made from yeast. Australians love it, but all the rest of the world doesn't, so that was a quite efficient threat.
During our 48 hours on the boat we had 4 dives in 4 different sites. Surprisingly enough most of the others didn't have a diving license, they only came to snorkel.
Few days before the cruise Avi and Liron (Lilya's friends) got married, so we wanted to take a special picture of a greeting for them. Before going on board we prepared a waterproof greeting and took it with us on the first dive.
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The dives themselves were a bit disappointing. In this area the currents can be quite strong, which makes you struggle all through the dive, and even worse than that, it makes a very poor visibility. We did, however, see two really big cod fish and a ray. But the time we spent on board was so compensating that we didn't mind. The food was good and very diverse. The guys around us were really great too and we couldn't imagine that lying on the deck doing nothing while the sun is gently roasting you can be so pleasant. "This is how life should be..." we said to ourselves, and ourselves agreed.
The evening of the first day was also the evening of Rosh haShana (the Jewish New Year). Even though we were on a lovely cruise we didn't forget that. We brought with us some honey and few apples and after dinner shared them with all the rest. That was really exotic for them!
On our second day we visited the famous Whitehaven Beach. On the way there we tried to sunbath on the deck while nasty clouds kept interrupting us. At some point it even started drizzling. But at the second we got to the beach the sun went out again, enabling us to take lots of classical pictures from the amazingly white sand with the perfect clear turquoise water. We spent there about an hour, and when it was time to leave the skies became dark gray and it started raining, pretty heavily. How many times have you stood in a pouring rain while you are wearing nothing but your bathing suit?
On our last day we were in the water at 7:30am, even before breakfast. That wasn't easy at all especially for people like us who like to take it slow in the mornings. In the afternoon we were back in Hervey Bay, tanned and happy.
Tip 1: Oddly enough, in Australia the prices at the tourist agencies are much cheaper than the ones you will get from the tour operator itself. So it is batter to look for a good agent.
Tip 2: If you are looking for a cruise with a great atmosphere, try Wings2 or Wings3. Even if you don't dive, you'll have a wonderful time there.
Tip 3: If you are going to visit Whitehaven Beach take a very good care of your camera, or even consider not taking it with you. The sand particles are so small that they can enter the camera and destroy it.
Mackay itself is not an interesting town at all, but we did have to spend half a day there for arrangements. We slept in a caravan park which looked very cheep which indeed it was, or at least we thought so. We arrived late, so we called them and got a price for 3 people. In the morning we discovered that this price is only for one tent and they charged us double for having two small tents. At least we got to meat a Kiwi (New Zealander) that works in the mines near Mackay, and didn't stop complaining about this "damn owl" that disturbed his sleep. We never saw an owl until then so it was a good chance to see one. We did empathized with the Kiwi guy, since the owl was quite annoying, making loud noises all night long.
We didn't arrive to Mackay to see owls, though. We wanted to visit the Eungella national park in the mountains near the city. Again, like in Lamington, we drove on a winding road climbing up into the rainforest, but this time we were on a mission. Our mission was to track down and photograph a platypus - one of the strangest creatures among the already strange bunch of animals that gathered in Australia. The platypus is an egg laying mammal. It looks like a small beaver, with a strange mouth that looks like a duck's beak. Unfortunately, its strange appearance made it to be the the rejected kid in the animals school (animal kids can be soooooo cruel sometimes...), so the platypus became very shy. It can mostly be seen just after sunset or before sunrise, and only by the luckiest of people. Since we were very lucky until now, we became arrogant, sure that we are about to see at least two mating platypuses, a mother and a cab and at least three males fighting. Instead, when we came before sunset, we saw, well, nothing. One splash of water, far up the stream was claimed to be a diving platypus but we can't be sure.
We went to sleep in the most amazing campsite we've been in yet, on the edge of the mountains above Pioneer Valley, which is, as Lilya defined it, the most perfect valley. We woke up an hour before sunrise to go ambush the platypus again. This time we were much more patient and more humble, and we were rewarded with a glimpse on a small platypus not too far away.
We came back to eat breakfast ("Brekky" as the Ozies call it) which took us much longer than we planned, because, as happens many times during the trip, we met an Australian guy which was very happy to share his life story with us. We talked about anything from weather to sugar cane economy. We had little time so we did only a short (but incredibly beautiful) hike trough the rainforest, before getting back to the coast and driving to Airlie Beach.
Airlie Beach is one happy little town, which is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Although it is not large, it has a really crowded main street full of tour agencies, backpackers hostels and pubs.
Whitsundays are a collection of small, beautiful islands not far from the coast of Hervey Bay. There are many cruises that go there, you just need to pick the right one for you. Since we were less interested in drinking and vomiting on the deck, and more interested in diving, we picked a company that offers just that. A 2 days and 2 nights cruise on a new catamaran with 25 other tourists. During those 2 days the vessel stops in 4 different reefs and you can either dive or snorkel there.
The crew of Wings2 were a treat by themselves. There were 3 lovely girls, two were Dive Masters and one hostess who prepared all our food and took care of other logistics, and one skipper. All of them were young and very fun.
All the other passengers were tourists from different parts of Europe, all in their late twenties/early thirties. We were considered to be very exotic, and were called "Team Israel". We didn't have the chance to get to know all of them, but the ones we did get to know were really nice. We even made friends with a group of Austrian scientists who came to Australia for a conference. So we had a small science club there.
The accommodation was somewhat claustrophobic (what can you expect from a boat). We slept on a triangular bed that was placed inside one of the two hulls of the catamaran. Right above us was Itay's bed. Besides us there were beds for 5 other people in the same tiny room.
The journey started with a long but humorous briefing by the crew members. One of the important rules on the boat is to sign some paper every time you come back to the boat (after diving and such). If you don't sign on time you will be forced to eat a full spoon of Vegemite. Vegemite is a dark brown paste made from yeast. Australians love it, but all the rest of the world doesn't, so that was a quite efficient threat.
During our 48 hours on the boat we had 4 dives in 4 different sites. Surprisingly enough most of the others didn't have a diving license, they only came to snorkel.
Few days before the cruise Avi and Liron (Lilya's friends) got married, so we wanted to take a special picture of a greeting for them. Before going on board we prepared a waterproof greeting and took it with us on the first dive.
The dives themselves were a bit disappointing. In this area the currents can be quite strong, which makes you struggle all through the dive, and even worse than that, it makes a very poor visibility. We did, however, see two really big cod fish and a ray. But the time we spent on board was so compensating that we didn't mind. The food was good and very diverse. The guys around us were really great too and we couldn't imagine that lying on the deck doing nothing while the sun is gently roasting you can be so pleasant. "This is how life should be..." we said to ourselves, and ourselves agreed.
The evening of the first day was also the evening of Rosh haShana (the Jewish New Year). Even though we were on a lovely cruise we didn't forget that. We brought with us some honey and few apples and after dinner shared them with all the rest. That was really exotic for them!
On our second day we visited the famous Whitehaven Beach. On the way there we tried to sunbath on the deck while nasty clouds kept interrupting us. At some point it even started drizzling. But at the second we got to the beach the sun went out again, enabling us to take lots of classical pictures from the amazingly white sand with the perfect clear turquoise water. We spent there about an hour, and when it was time to leave the skies became dark gray and it started raining, pretty heavily. How many times have you stood in a pouring rain while you are wearing nothing but your bathing suit?
On our last day we were in the water at 7:30am, even before breakfast. That wasn't easy at all especially for people like us who like to take it slow in the mornings. In the afternoon we were back in Hervey Bay, tanned and happy.
Tip 1: Oddly enough, in Australia the prices at the tourist agencies are much cheaper than the ones you will get from the tour operator itself. So it is batter to look for a good agent.
Tip 2: If you are looking for a cruise with a great atmosphere, try Wings2 or Wings3. Even if you don't dive, you'll have a wonderful time there.
Tip 3: If you are going to visit Whitehaven Beach take a very good care of your camera, or even consider not taking it with you. The sand particles are so small that they can enter the camera and destroy it.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Friday, 22 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Fraser Island
Fraser Island is the size of "Mishor haChof" (for the non Israeli readers it's a part of Israel, come and see) and it is largest sand island in the world. Since there are no roads, only sandy trails, you can only access it by a 4WD vehicle. Most of the time the paths are so narrow that only one car can pass at a time. The drivers on the island have a special game. The first to give way to the car in front of him is the winner. So if you see a vehicle 1km away coming in your direction, you should quickly jump into the bushes or climb on a tree so the other car will pass safely (defeated, but safely). It took us some time but at the end we got pretty good at this game. The important thing we need to remember is not to bring those silly games back home to Israel. People will not understand.
A lot of the tourists take an organized tour to visit the island. Which means jumping up and down with another 20 party people inside a huge 4X4 bus. At the same price you can rent a regular 4WD and drive it yourself. That's what we did.
So we left our 1st hired car on the mainland and drove our 2nd hired car (Toyota Land Cruiser) to the ferry. After about 40 minutes we got to the island. There are two different parts of the island: the beaches and the inland. You can drive on the beaches only few hours a day during the low tide. That's why you should plan the route carefully.
We spent our first afternoon driving inland and visiting lake Wabby. At night we stayed in tents on the beach. While preparing our dinner a nice dingo came to visit. If we weren't in Australia we would've thought that that was a regular dog. There are a lot of dingoes on the island. Once they had a great relationship with the humans, who were more than happy to feed them. But then the dingo population grew extensively and eventually one dingo killed a child. Since then the dingoes are the outlaws of the island. There are scary signs with their faces on them every place you go. Another example of humans irresponsible behaviour that leads to the punishment of the animals.
On the following day we got up before sunrise and started driving north on the beach with the first light (more or less). On the way we stopped near a beatiful shipwreck and took few dozens of pictures. After about 60km we reached the northern point we could reach with our rented vehicle - Indian Head. A strange name for something in Australia. Indian Head is a hill from which you can see a great deal of the ocean. In the ocean we spotted few small sharks, few Manta-Reys and a large sea turtle. Now you can understand why swimming in the ocean is prohibited. On our way back we also saw few whales and dolphins deep in the sea.
After the tide became high again we returned to the inland and visited few more lakes. The famous Lake McKenzie was closed so we went to swim in lake Birrabeen which is supposed to be as beautiful. We spent the second night in the central camping ground surrounded by lots of goannas, just like the one we saw in Noosa, only much smaller.
Since we already visited most of the planned attractions and we still had half a day until the ferry we tried to explore the western side of the island. But sometimes there is a reason why some places are less popular than the other. We spent most of the time trying to walk on the very rocky beach. While doing that we spotted several huge colonies of tiny crabs hiding between the rocks.
Fraser Island is one of the popular tourist destinations in Australia, famous mostly for its lakes. After spending 2 days there we though that the lakes are not that impressive and that the beaches are much nicer. We also enjoyed the sometimes challenging driving. So if you don't like that part, maybe you should reconsider your visit there, or if you don't mind the jumping while someone else is driving check the organized tour option.
Tip 1: If you are into the self driving tour (sort of car rental) check the "Safari 4WD hire", 102 Boat Harbour drive, Hervey Bay. Together with the car you also get a full camping equipment.
Tip 2: Things on the island are much more expensive that what you would imagine. Buy all you need on the mainland
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Hervey Bay
As we have already mentioned once or twice, the Australians are really nice people. Sometimes they are so nice that it makes rough Israelis like ourselves a bit uncomfortable. For example, if you walk around the caravan park and you meet another person, who you never met before, it is nearly obligatory that you will stop, say hello and ask them how are they doing today. Now imagine what happens when the caravan park is full with people. Fortunately for us, we arrived in most caravan parks very late (at 7pm) after most of the campers went to sleep. From the last few lines you might think we didn't enjoy that niceness, but the opposite is the truth. We met a lot of very interesting people with very interesting life stories.
Australians also love camping, especially the seniors. In fact, it looks like every citizen, when he reaches the age of retirement gets a caravan from the government, finds himself a caravan park in a nice location and stays there for the rest of his life.
In Hervey Bay we found the caravan park with the friendliest environment. Most of our senior neighbors were so lovely that one couple almost adopted Itay as a grandson. The staff was also very pleasant and very helpful.
There are two excellent reasons to visit Hervey Bay. The most popular one is that this is the departure point to the famous Fraser Island. To the second reason most of the people are not aware. Apparently, Hervey Bay is the best spot for watching whales. Every year the Humpback whales make all the way from Antartica to the Whitsundays area in order to mate and to breed. Since they pass all the east coast on their way, many tour operators along the coast offer whale watching tours, where seeing whales are garanteed, but the greatest amounts are in Hervey Bay, which is the whales resting area.
So on our first day there we booked a whale watching tour. A small bus picked us up and took us to the harbor, there together with few dozens of other excited tourists we boarded on our catamaran. This time all the three of us (me, Oren and Itay) carried cameras
The catamaran was going very fast and surprisingly smoothly. On the way we passed few very beautiful white sanded beaches, but unfortunately the sky was partially clouded, and when the sun was hiding everything was much less impressive. After about an hour of sailing we saw our first whale. Luckily for us, most of the whales show interest in boats like ours, so the big guy came closer in order to explore us. The tourists on the boat ran from one side to the other, trying to get a better picture of the large fellow.
Most of the time all we could see is the small hump on their back and the famous splash. Once in a while we could also see their beautiful tales as well. Later on we stumbled upon few more single whales, two males fighting over something (probably football) and a mother with her small (just few tons) baby.
Most of the time all we could see is the small hump on their back and the famous splash. Once in a while we could also see their beautiful tales as well. Later on we stumbled upon few more single whales, two males fighting over something (probably football) and a mother with her small (just few tons) baby.
Some of the whales were curious so they followed us, the others didn't show special interest so we followed them. And then at some point we met a pack of dolphins, and everything got crazy. At that point all the boat was surrounded by action. There were dolphins jumping in front of the boat, few swimming right next to it an whales from both sides.
Apparently, the whales love the dolphins (who wouldn't...) and they were really effected by the dolphin's playful mood. No matter where you stood you could get a great picture of one of them, from really close, so everyone were really busy doing just that. And then all of a sudden , out of no where, one of the whales jumped high out of the water with his whole body, and on hiss way back made a huge splash. The crowd was so amazed that no one got a picture of that (not even Oren). I think that my heart stopped beating at that moment. I was too excited to speak, not talking about taking pictures. It felt like this 40 ton creature gave us the most precious gift. It was exactly a month after we saw a sloth. I wonder what will we see on the first of October.
Apparently, the whales love the dolphins (who wouldn't...) and they were really effected by the dolphin's playful mood. No matter where you stood you could get a great picture of one of them, from really close, so everyone were really busy doing just that. And then all of a sudden , out of no where, one of the whales jumped high out of the water with his whole body, and on hiss way back made a huge splash. The crowd was so amazed that no one got a picture of that (not even Oren). I think that my heart stopped beating at that moment. I was too excited to speak, not talking about taking pictures. It felt like this 40 ton creature gave us the most precious gift. It was exactly a month after we saw a sloth. I wonder what will we see on the first of October.
On the way back we saw a magnificent sunset. Or maybe it wasn't that great... everything looked magnificent from that moment on.
On our next post we'll tell you all about the second reason to go to Hervey Bay, Fraser Island.
Tip 1: Our lovely caravan park is called “Australiana”. It is located on the main road crossing Hervey Bay. Among other very good facilities there is a free Wifi for few hours everyday. They can also help you book tours.
Tip 2: Go see the whales! It's money well spent.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Noosa and Rainbow Beach
The Great Sandy national park is a huge sand dunes park, that has unique vegetation and wildlife. It has three parts – the Noosa section in the south, the Cooloola section in the middle and Fraser Island in the north, and we decided to visit them all.
We slept in Noosa (the town) so we could hike in the Noosa section of the park. This part of the park has a unique combination of rainforest and open mangrove forest, that grow on a large sand dune surrounded by amazing coasts from two sides. We spent half a day walking through the park, but the real attraction was only at the end. In the main car park, up on a tree, completely ignoring everyone around it, sat a large koala.
Itay, who didn't have the chance to see the koalas in Daisy Hill, got his chance now.
We took lots of photos, sat down to eat lunch, and took lots of photos again, since the koala changed position once in an hour. We also took some nice photographs of a guana, a 1.5 meters long local Australian lizard, that caught some sun in the parking lot. Of course we saw it 10 minutes after Lilya declared that she would like to see one in the wild.
We drove from there to Boreen Point, right on the shore of lake Cootharaba, saw an amazing sunset with a rainbow over the lake and set our camp there. While cooking dinner, we saw some possums that came to see if we have any leftovers for them.
We drove to Rainbow Beach, on the northern part of Cooloola section of the park, on the following day. As the name suggests, the town Rainbow beach sits near a beautiful coast with colored sands. The most beautiful point there is Carlo Sandblow – a huge sand dune above the shore. We went through the dune and found a path trough the sandstone cliff down to the beach, or ,shell we say, the highway. There are so many 4X4 vehicles on the beach, that they had to place traffic signs like speed limits along the beach. However, the beach itself is beautiful, with the colored sand, and especially the deep black sandstones.
Our time, as always on this trip, was short, so we decided not to spend the night in the lovely town and drove all the way to Harvey Bay.
We took lots of photos, sat down to eat lunch, and took lots of photos again, since the koala changed position once in an hour. We also took some nice photographs of a guana, a 1.5 meters long local Australian lizard, that caught some sun in the parking lot. Of course we saw it 10 minutes after Lilya declared that she would like to see one in the wild.
We drove to Rainbow Beach, on the northern part of Cooloola section of the park, on the following day. As the name suggests, the town Rainbow beach sits near a beautiful coast with colored sands. The most beautiful point there is Carlo Sandblow – a huge sand dune above the shore. We went through the dune and found a path trough the sandstone cliff down to the beach, or ,shell we say, the highway. There are so many 4X4 vehicles on the beach, that they had to place traffic signs like speed limits along the beach. However, the beach itself is beautiful, with the colored sand, and especially the deep black sandstones.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Lamington to Noosa
Road trip in Australia. The best way to see what exists in between. Between the cities, between the bus stops, and between the mountains. Distances are amazingly large, and there is something to see everywhere. Going somewhere is a matter of choice. The hard part is to choose, and since we like being out in the nature we turned the car south towards Lamington national park.
Itay had to fly to Melbourne for few days so we were just the two of us. The road to Lamington is a steep and winding road and Lilya, who was driving, had at least almost two close encounters with wallabies that decided to cross the road. No wallabies were hurt, though, because practice or evolution had made them quite good in this game of road roulette with the coming cars. The final part of the road is a drive through a narrow road, sometimes only the width of a single car, that winds trough the thick rainforest, like a tunnel made of trees.
We slept there in a windswept campsite, high in the mountains. Actually, the word “high” gets a new meaning in Australia. After being in altitudes above 4000 meters in Peru, we had to rescale our definition of high. In Lamington, high means above 900 meters, but nevertheless, very windy and cold.
Though it was cold, we weren't too lazy to prepare dinner – fine steaks and rice. That's true. Steaks. Being a country with a huge population of cows and huge ranches, it is no wonder that in Australia, beef is one of the cheapest ingredients. Even the chicken costs more. That is why steaks and hamburgers are very popular dinners in our road trip.
We woke up to a beautiful morning full of wallabies. The smaller cousins of the kangaroo look like a big rat and a small rat that were glued together in the middle, and like rats, they like to search food in the campground. However, since wallabies are hundred fold cuter than rats, Oren spent the breakfast time chasing and photographing them and especially one mother with a cab in her pocket.
Apart from wallabies there were also wild turkeys that proved to be a real hassle. They tried to steal our food all the time and even succeeded, taking with them some of our bread.
We did a beautiful 17 km trail inside the rainforest. The trail starts with a tree top walk – a boardwalk hanged from the trees that took us through the canopy. It might not sound like much, but how many times have you looked on a tree from above? The canopy is one of the most important parts of the rainforest and lots of plants hang to the trees and climb up towards the sun. The birds also like the canopy and there is a chance to see some of the birds that it is always possible to hear in the forest.
The trail continued trough the thick rainforest until we reached a lookout at the far end of the McPherson range overlooking Tweed valley that serves as the border between New South Wells and Queensland. From there, the trail descended along a river, passing near 3 beautiful waterfalls, before climbing back up to the car park.
We drove to a town called Surfers Paradise, on the long shoreline south of Brisbane, known as the “Gold Coast”. Lilya, after learning to surf in Brazil (so she could do it in Australia) wanted to try to catch some waves there. We figured that a place called Surfers Paradise might be a good place for that. The town itself is as touristy as it gets. A mixture of Las Vegas and Eilat (much more Eilat than Vegas, though), and a lot of restaurants and bars centered along the main street. Definitely not the relaxed and laid back surfers village as the name suggests.
Anyway, paradise or not, the weather wasn't very good on the next day, so we gave up the surfing option. Instead, we drove to “Daisy Hill koala sanctuary”, which is about half an hour drive south of Brisbane.
There are a lot of zoo's in Australia, and too many of them have a “hands on” approach towards the animals, which means that you are welcome to cuddle, pet and feed the animals. Since we believe in the “eyes on” approach, we worked hard to find a place where no one cuddles the koalas.
In Daisy Hill there are more than 40 koalas that live on the trees in the rather large park. In the park they can be safe from the surrounding urban environment. There is, however, only a small chance of seeing them, since there is about one koala every 100,000 square meters. No cuddling either, unless you can climb a 20 meters eucalyptus tree for that.
In South America we discovered that Lilya has a certain gift. All she needs to do is to REALLY want to see an animal, and than we see it (remember the sloth?). Well, this time Lilya REALLY wanted to see a koala in the wild, so it was no wonder that after walking an hour and a half with our eyes in the tree tops, we got a pain in the neck...
We also saw a koala, eventually, and quite by accident. After wrongly identifying about a million tree termite nests as a koala, we tried to figure if another one of them is a koala or not when something else on another tree moved, and turned out to be the koala we were looking for. It does seem, however, that termite nests can be found everywhere you want to find an animal on the trees, weather a koala, a sloth or a monkey, and their sol purpose is to distract us.
The koala we saw was high on the tree, eating leafs and minding its own business. We took a lot of photographs, of course, but he didn't seemed to mind. This was actually the third koala we saw that day but the first two were in captivity in the visitor center (where they promised us that they will be released soon back to trees), so they don't count.
When Oren was in Australia, 8 years ago, he didn't see any koalas in the wild, so we felt pretty lucky. Koalas are really the cutest creatures, looking like big furry dolls. This one, with his large ears looked like Chiburashka. (here's a link for our non Russian speaking readers).
We drove north from Daisy Hill, picked up Itay from the airport and slept near the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane. We did some walks in this volcanic shaped landscape on the next day. The mountains are actually hot spots of volcanic activity that occurred 25 million years ago. The lookouts around the mountains has great views of the peaks rising from the flat land around them.
We slept near Noosa in the Sunshine coast, which is a collection of coastal towns that popped out of a lifestyle magazine. Small bays surrounded by large homes and expansive cars, with an unusual amount of fancy restaurants that serve crabs and lobsters.
Itay had to fly to Melbourne for few days so we were just the two of us. The road to Lamington is a steep and winding road and Lilya, who was driving, had at least almost two close encounters with wallabies that decided to cross the road. No wallabies were hurt, though, because practice or evolution had made them quite good in this game of road roulette with the coming cars. The final part of the road is a drive through a narrow road, sometimes only the width of a single car, that winds trough the thick rainforest, like a tunnel made of trees.
We slept there in a windswept campsite, high in the mountains. Actually, the word “high” gets a new meaning in Australia. After being in altitudes above 4000 meters in Peru, we had to rescale our definition of high. In Lamington, high means above 900 meters, but nevertheless, very windy and cold.
Though it was cold, we weren't too lazy to prepare dinner – fine steaks and rice. That's true. Steaks. Being a country with a huge population of cows and huge ranches, it is no wonder that in Australia, beef is one of the cheapest ingredients. Even the chicken costs more. That is why steaks and hamburgers are very popular dinners in our road trip.
We woke up to a beautiful morning full of wallabies. The smaller cousins of the kangaroo look like a big rat and a small rat that were glued together in the middle, and like rats, they like to search food in the campground. However, since wallabies are hundred fold cuter than rats, Oren spent the breakfast time chasing and photographing them and especially one mother with a cab in her pocket.
Apart from wallabies there were also wild turkeys that proved to be a real hassle. They tried to steal our food all the time and even succeeded, taking with them some of our bread.
We drove to a town called Surfers Paradise, on the long shoreline south of Brisbane, known as the “Gold Coast”. Lilya, after learning to surf in Brazil (so she could do it in Australia) wanted to try to catch some waves there. We figured that a place called Surfers Paradise might be a good place for that. The town itself is as touristy as it gets. A mixture of Las Vegas and Eilat (much more Eilat than Vegas, though), and a lot of restaurants and bars centered along the main street. Definitely not the relaxed and laid back surfers village as the name suggests.
Anyway, paradise or not, the weather wasn't very good on the next day, so we gave up the surfing option. Instead, we drove to “Daisy Hill koala sanctuary”, which is about half an hour drive south of Brisbane.
There are a lot of zoo's in Australia, and too many of them have a “hands on” approach towards the animals, which means that you are welcome to cuddle, pet and feed the animals. Since we believe in the “eyes on” approach, we worked hard to find a place where no one cuddles the koalas.
In Daisy Hill there are more than 40 koalas that live on the trees in the rather large park. In the park they can be safe from the surrounding urban environment. There is, however, only a small chance of seeing them, since there is about one koala every 100,000 square meters. No cuddling either, unless you can climb a 20 meters eucalyptus tree for that.
In South America we discovered that Lilya has a certain gift. All she needs to do is to REALLY want to see an animal, and than we see it (remember the sloth?). Well, this time Lilya REALLY wanted to see a koala in the wild, so it was no wonder that after walking an hour and a half with our eyes in the tree tops, we got a pain in the neck...
We also saw a koala, eventually, and quite by accident. After wrongly identifying about a million tree termite nests as a koala, we tried to figure if another one of them is a koala or not when something else on another tree moved, and turned out to be the koala we were looking for. It does seem, however, that termite nests can be found everywhere you want to find an animal on the trees, weather a koala, a sloth or a monkey, and their sol purpose is to distract us.
When Oren was in Australia, 8 years ago, he didn't see any koalas in the wild, so we felt pretty lucky. Koalas are really the cutest creatures, looking like big furry dolls. This one, with his large ears looked like Chiburashka. (here's a link for our non Russian speaking readers).
We drove north from Daisy Hill, picked up Itay from the airport and slept near the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane. We did some walks in this volcanic shaped landscape on the next day. The mountains are actually hot spots of volcanic activity that occurred 25 million years ago. The lookouts around the mountains has great views of the peaks rising from the flat land around them.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Guest Pictures
Itay has beautiful albums in his gallery, so you are welcome to visit, and see pictures from Australia from another point of view.
Sydney
Sydney - Bondi beach
Blue Mountains
Brisbane
here are the 4 first galleries, from Sydney to Brisbane:
Sydney
Sydney - Bondi beach
Blue Mountains
Brisbane
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Brisbane
The people of Brisbane are nice. They are most probably the nicest bunch of people ever gathered in a big city. We already wrote that on Sydney, but that's about the same everywhere we went. In Brisbane you feel as if one surfer told his friends: "Dudes, let's build a city and let anyone who is nice come live with us!". And indeed, a lot came. Being a city of 1.8 million people, it can't be regarded as an easy going town, but something from the famous "No worries, mate" atmosphere of a small surfer's costal town can be found in the DNA of this city.
We decided to spoil ourselves so we stayed at a backpackers hostel. It was only a short walking distance from the small but beautiful city center. We went touring the main streets and especially the Queen street mall. We found a nice place for dinner (though the food was too expansive for it's quality) and finished with a beer in a nice Irish pub.
On the next day we did the classical Brisbane tourist tour. We went through all the small squares to the river bank, passing on the way a coffee shop that offered a free coffee if you guess a coin flip. We didn't guessed correctly, so we had to pay, but the coffee was dissent enough. Later we took the city ferry to the "South Bank" the trendy promenade that is surrounded by restaurants, culture centers and museums. Being a city on a river, in a state known for its great coasts, Brisbane has built itself a small city beach in the middle of the boardwalk. It has true sea sand, water and even lifeguard tower to complete the picture. The interesting attraction of the South Bank is probably the Brisbane Eye - the great wheel that overlooks the river. However, it looked quite boring to us so we skipped it.
Later at night we took the city train to "Brisbane's party area", as it is often the name of Fortitude Valley. The "party area" turned out to be two streets with 5 pubs, non of which had a kitchen open in such late hours (9pm). Eventually, we found one that served Guinness and continued our evening there.
The third day was dedicated to final arrangements before starting the drive north.
We decided to spoil ourselves so we stayed at a backpackers hostel. It was only a short walking distance from the small but beautiful city center. We went touring the main streets and especially the Queen street mall. We found a nice place for dinner (though the food was too expansive for it's quality) and finished with a beer in a nice Irish pub.
On the next day we did the classical Brisbane tourist tour. We went through all the small squares to the river bank, passing on the way a coffee shop that offered a free coffee if you guess a coin flip. We didn't guessed correctly, so we had to pay, but the coffee was dissent enough. Later we took the city ferry to the "South Bank" the trendy promenade that is surrounded by restaurants, culture centers and museums. Being a city on a river, in a state known for its great coasts, Brisbane has built itself a small city beach in the middle of the boardwalk. It has true sea sand, water and even lifeguard tower to complete the picture. The interesting attraction of the South Bank is probably the Brisbane Eye - the great wheel that overlooks the river. However, it looked quite boring to us so we skipped it.
Later at night we took the city train to "Brisbane's party area", as it is often the name of Fortitude Valley. The "party area" turned out to be two streets with 5 pubs, non of which had a kitchen open in such late hours (9pm). Eventually, we found one that served Guinness and continued our evening there.
The third day was dedicated to final arrangements before starting the drive north.
Tip 1: Go to the Parks and wildlife service on 400 George street, if you are planning to go hiking in Queensland. They can give you lots of information and they are very helpful.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Guest Pictures
Itay has made a special gallery of the pictures he took of us, so now you will all know what we look like (as if that is interesting...)
Click on the image bellow to enter the gallery.
Click on the image bellow to enter the gallery.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
From Sydney to Brisbane
When people imagine travelling in South America, especially in Bolivia, they imagine dirty, backpackers sleeping in crappy tents, eating tasteless rice that was cooked on a small stove in a field. In Australia, on the other hand, the travelling conditions should be a luxury. As a matter of fact, the real picture can't be more different than that. Moving from the poorest country of South America to modern Australia was a real descent in our life style. In Bolivia we slept in a private room with cable TV and ensuite bathrooms, and dined in high class restaurants every night, where as in Australia we sleep in tents (in all weather conditions) cook our own meals and pay at least 4 times more than in Bolivia.
After being in 3 big cities in a row, it felt good to be out again. We drove from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, 3 hours west, and got there just in time to see the sunset over the Three Sisters. At sunset it is also very clear why did the mountains got their name. The far mountains are being colored in blue by the thick haze when the sun disappears, and the valley becomes magical. The silence sometimes disturbed by loud groups of white Kakadus flying around.
Our first night in tents wasn't a very warm welcome. We arrived late in our campsite, just after drinking a huge hot chocolate, that is probably considered illegal and corrupt in some countries. The wind was blowing so strongly that we almost couldn't build our tents. That night was also one of the coldest nights we had in Australia. For Itay who wasn't used to sleeping in tents at all, and wasn't prepared for cold weather, the experience was especially traumatic. On the next morning he described it as one of the worst nights he ever had, but that didn't stop him from driving hundreds of kilometers on that day, just like he did most of our journey together.
One of the main attractions of the Blue Mountains area are the Jenolan Caves. It is one of the most interesting cave structures in the world. There are more than 300 caves full of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites, small underground rivers and lakes. Few of the most impressive and accessible ones were open to the public (not for free, though... God forbid). We did one self-guided (with earphones) tour to the main space and one guided tour to "The Oriental Palace". From both of them we learned a lot of interesting historical and geological facts about those caves. Lately, a new, few million dollar, lighting system was installed in those caves, what made our guide especially proud. On the next day, after another "pleasant" night, we drove to the Hunter Valley. The Hunter valley is a very nice rural area and the main wine district of New South Wales (the state where Sydney is). There we visited two wineries, tasted some wine, bought some fancy cheese, visited a funeral and interrupted few kangaroos with their dinner. After all of us got sober (especially Itay) we drove to Newcastle, which is a big industrial city next to the Pacific shore.
The day after, we had a long driving day (more than 800km) at the end of which we got to Bayron Bay. On the way we stopped in Coffs Harbour. Apparently, this is Australia's biggest bananas grower. They thought that this is a reason good enough to build a banana theme park, and Itay thought that that was a reason good enough to stop there. On the way to the "Big Banana" we got lost, that was actually a good thing, because we got a very nice lookout over the Pacific ocean. The park itself wasn't worth the effort, though.
We completed our long journey in a very nice city of Byron Bay. The majority of Australians like to stay indoors (aka sleep) right after sunset, that is why it was really refreshing to find a city with restaurants and bars open after 7pm. By the time we finished dinner half of the places were already closed.
We wanted to stay in this vital town for another day, but the local Pachamama (we really need to find out how do the Aboriginals call her here) thought it's time to go. It was raining most of the morning, so we decided to continue to Brisbane.
Tip 1: The best time to see the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains is at sunset, then they are beautifully lit.
Tip 2: If you are planning to visit Jenolan caves, take into account that they have only about 3 different tours each day at set times. In order to save time make sure to check their schedule in advance.
Tip 3: If you visit Jenolan caves don't throw away the tickets. You can use it for another tour for half of price, for a whole year. You can even give it to your friends. That's what our guide told us.
Tip 4: In most wineries in Hunter Valley there are no tours and the tasting is for free. If you like what you had tasted they will be happy to sell you a bottle. Unfortunately, the ones we liked were much too expansive for us.
Tip 5: Take into account that Internet is very inaccessible all around Australia (that's why it takes us so much time to publish our posts). There are almost no Internet cafes in most of the towns and even if you have your own computer there are very few campsites that have Wifi. Eventually we had to buy a portable modem for Itay's computer from one of the local cellular companies.
After being in 3 big cities in a row, it felt good to be out again. We drove from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, 3 hours west, and got there just in time to see the sunset over the Three Sisters. At sunset it is also very clear why did the mountains got their name. The far mountains are being colored in blue by the thick haze when the sun disappears, and the valley becomes magical. The silence sometimes disturbed by loud groups of white Kakadus flying around.
Our first night in tents wasn't a very warm welcome. We arrived late in our campsite, just after drinking a huge hot chocolate, that is probably considered illegal and corrupt in some countries. The wind was blowing so strongly that we almost couldn't build our tents. That night was also one of the coldest nights we had in Australia. For Itay who wasn't used to sleeping in tents at all, and wasn't prepared for cold weather, the experience was especially traumatic. On the next morning he described it as one of the worst nights he ever had, but that didn't stop him from driving hundreds of kilometers on that day, just like he did most of our journey together.
One of the main attractions of the Blue Mountains area are the Jenolan Caves. It is one of the most interesting cave structures in the world. There are more than 300 caves full of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites, small underground rivers and lakes. Few of the most impressive and accessible ones were open to the public (not for free, though... God forbid). We did one self-guided (with earphones) tour to the main space and one guided tour to "The Oriental Palace". From both of them we learned a lot of interesting historical and geological facts about those caves. Lately, a new, few million dollar, lighting system was installed in those caves, what made our guide especially proud. On the next day, after another "pleasant" night, we drove to the Hunter Valley. The Hunter valley is a very nice rural area and the main wine district of New South Wales (the state where Sydney is). There we visited two wineries, tasted some wine, bought some fancy cheese, visited a funeral and interrupted few kangaroos with their dinner. After all of us got sober (especially Itay) we drove to Newcastle, which is a big industrial city next to the Pacific shore.
The day after, we had a long driving day (more than 800km) at the end of which we got to Bayron Bay. On the way we stopped in Coffs Harbour. Apparently, this is Australia's biggest bananas grower. They thought that this is a reason good enough to build a banana theme park, and Itay thought that that was a reason good enough to stop there. On the way to the "Big Banana" we got lost, that was actually a good thing, because we got a very nice lookout over the Pacific ocean. The park itself wasn't worth the effort, though.
We completed our long journey in a very nice city of Byron Bay. The majority of Australians like to stay indoors (aka sleep) right after sunset, that is why it was really refreshing to find a city with restaurants and bars open after 7pm. By the time we finished dinner half of the places were already closed.
We wanted to stay in this vital town for another day, but the local Pachamama (we really need to find out how do the Aboriginals call her here) thought it's time to go. It was raining most of the morning, so we decided to continue to Brisbane.
Tip 1: The best time to see the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains is at sunset, then they are beautifully lit.
Tip 2: If you are planning to visit Jenolan caves, take into account that they have only about 3 different tours each day at set times. In order to save time make sure to check their schedule in advance.
Tip 3: If you visit Jenolan caves don't throw away the tickets. You can use it for another tour for half of price, for a whole year. You can even give it to your friends. That's what our guide told us.
Tip 4: In most wineries in Hunter Valley there are no tours and the tasting is for free. If you like what you had tasted they will be happy to sell you a bottle. Unfortunately, the ones we liked were much too expansive for us.
Tip 5: Take into account that Internet is very inaccessible all around Australia (that's why it takes us so much time to publish our posts). There are almost no Internet cafes in most of the towns and even if you have your own computer there are very few campsites that have Wifi. Eventually we had to buy a portable modem for Itay's computer from one of the local cellular companies.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Sydney
8 years have passed since the first time I (Oren) was in Sydney. Since then I remembered it as one of the most beautiful cities I've been in, and now, after a week there, I'm waiting for the time I'll return for the 3rd time.
Sydney sits in a beautiful location. All the famous sightings, such as the Opera House, and the Sydney's Bridge are indeed lovely, on their own, but it is the total composition that really makes Sydney so beautiful.
We had a great place to stay there. We stayed at the beautiful renovated house of my friend Esti, her husband Brad and their cutest two year old son Mikey, that also served as the best alarm clock, waking us every morning at 6 with cute tiny calls “Mammy, Daddy, Mammy...”.
Sydney sits in a beautiful location. All the famous sightings, such as the Opera House, and the Sydney's Bridge are indeed lovely, on their own, but it is the total composition that really makes Sydney so beautiful.
We had a great place to stay there. We stayed at the beautiful renovated house of my friend Esti, her husband Brad and their cutest two year old son Mikey, that also served as the best alarm clock, waking us every morning at 6 with cute tiny calls “Mammy, Daddy, Mammy...”.
We met Itay, Lilya's friend, that joined us for the next 5 weeks, on our first morning in Sydney. We toured the botanic gardens, which are not that amazing as botanical gardens, but are a great place to see animals such as lots of giant bats, hanging like fruits from a tree, kakadus, flying frantically in a large group, and a lot of water birds. Itay has the same obsession for photography as me (and a big camera too), so we took a lot of pictures, while Lilya gathered enormous amount of patience and waited. This scenario will be quite common during our stay in Australia. We continued walking until we got to the Opera House, where the photography scenario returned.
We tested our luck and checked for performances at the Opera House. Surprisingly enough, we found cheap tickets for an acclaimed dance show for that night. We continued through Circular Quay, the main ferry port, to the central business district, where Sydney looks like a large American city. Large buildings and broad one way boulevards, but with a twist. The people on the streets are probably one of the nicest group of people ever gathered in a large modern metropolitan.
The Australians are only western on the outside. The clothes, the style, the cars and the iphones are just a disguise. On the inside they are as easy going as a Buddhist monks, and they are never too busy to be extra nice to you. They do have the (little bit annoying) habit of apologizing if you had to move a little bit due to their existence in the space near you.
We literally got lost between the large buildings, so we had to take a cab back to the Opera House. The show that we saw, “Of earth and sky” by Bangarra, was a modern dance influenced by Aboriginal traditions. We had mixed feelings about it, though. It was quite a spectacle of light and movement, but also very abstract, and not uniform in its quality: the second part was considerably better than the first.
We spent the next day in the Powerhouse Museum, which can be defined as the museum of everything. An eclectic collection of exhibitions about science, technology, design, photography, culture and music. The most remembered exhibition was an homage to the 80's. All the music, the events (anyone said Berlin wall?), the fashion, the style (or lack of it...), and even old Atari video games. It was fun, but at the same time, reminded me that this was probably the most ridicules decade in the last century. Some of the people I know were born in the 80's but other than that, completely useless...
Later that day, we took the Monorail – the touristy light rail that goes on a single rail, that is hanged above the street, to the Rocks. The Rocks is one of Sydney's oldest neighbourhoods and today is a centre of pubs and restaurants. We found (at last) a Guinness in an old Irish pub and finished the evening with a walk over the famous Sydney bridge, watching the wonderful light on the Opera House.
On the next day we took the fast elevator to the lookout at the top of Sydney Tower. We got there just in time to see the sunset, but it wasn't as good as we expected. Later that day we had a special dinner with Esti and Brad. Esti, with the help of Mikey, cooked us a great meal, while we baked Lilya's famous apple pie in return. On the next day we visited few of the bars/cafés that Newtown, the trendy neighbourhood where Esti and Brad live, had to offer. Esti and Mikey even joined us for a beer (for Esti) in one of the pubs.
The next day was a business day. We spent it looking for a car. We wanted to buy one, but got convinced by a dude named Gass (or Garry, as his parents called him) to rent a station wagon and to avoid the fuss of selling it at the end. While probably not most economic decision, having a car is probably the best way to travel around Australia. It will allow us to go off the bitten trek, park in small campsites and caravan parks, and not only in the main cities.
Oren didn't feel too good the next day, so he stayed home with Esti's computer, while Lilya and Itay went out. First they visited few travelling gear shops and mostly enjoyed the great variety. After buying all they needed, which is not a lot, they took a train and a bus to Bondi beach. A very nice and relaxed neighbourhood of Sydney. It's main attraction, as you can guess from it's name, is the beautiful beach. Even though it was the middle of winter there were plenty of surfers in wet-suits trying to catch a wave or two. Unfortunately, in this part of Australia the sun doesn't set in the ocean. They don't know what they are missing. When Lilya and Itay returned we all joined Esti and Brad in a very good Thai restaurant not far from their home.
We took the car on the next day from the rental company, said our goodbyes to Esti and to Sydney and started our great road trip across Australia.
Tip 1: There is no need for tips in Australia! At least not in restaurants. But don't worry, the prices are high enough, anyway.
Tip 2: Don't be fooled by the easygoingness of the Australians. The fines you can get for speeding, for example, can easily reach 1000$. Don't take the chances if you rent or buy a car.
Tip 3: A show in the famous Opera House of Sydney doesn't have to be extremely expansive. At the day of the show you can find very big discounts, especially for student card holders.
Tip 4: You can find few car rental/selling agencies especially for backpackers on William st. not far from the Kings Cross station.
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