The Last One

Australians have many weird traditions and one of the weirder ones is called Christmas in July. It was the pubs that started this tradition to earn extra money in the quiet period (the Australian winter which runs from May to August) and now every 24th and 25th of July you can go to any pub or restaurant to eat Christmas dinner, drink Christmas drinks and get into the spirit with Christmas decorations. We decided that there was no reason to miss out on a nice Christmas dinner, so on the 25th we headed to an Irish pub called Scruffy Murphy's and had dinner there. We got served ham and chicken slices with mashed potato, a true Irish feast.

I always try and buy cheap clothes while I am traveling and in Sydney they have an outlet mall called the DFO (Direct Factory Outlet), so one of the last days in Sydney I took Annina with me and went shopping. We both ended up buying loads of stuff and I hope I can fit everything in my backpack. Sydney also has a famous market called "Paddy's Market" and for some reason I never went there during my time living in Sydney. But now I had no excuse anymore so we went there to hunt for presents and souvenirs. Paddy's Market was crowded and filled with booths selling everything you can imagine.

During my six week stay in Harbour City Backpackers before I moved to the apartment I went out partying a lot. Especially Thursdays were a good night because the hostel has a pub crawl for only 10 dollars. Now that we were back in Harbour City it was a great chance to once more go on the pub crawl and have a great night out. For those 10 dollars you get as much beer as you can drink during two hours at the first pub, then a free drink at both of the next venues. Basically it's a night out that only costs 10 bucks. A few of the many people that I met during my first time in Harbour City were still there and it was nice to catch up with them. Both me and Annina had a great evening and I will miss the pub crawl and Harbour City Backpackers when I am back home.

There is a spot not far from Harbour City where the best pictures of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge can be taken together. If you see both icons together on a postcard or similar it is from this spot that the picture originated. We both agreed that we couldn't leave Australia without visiting this place and take our own photos. So one afternoon we decided to go for a walk and do it. I think going in the morning would have given us better photos because in the afternoon the sun was right in our faces. We made the best we could out of it before continuing our walk around the Botanical Gardens and coast.

I am writing the end of this blog post while sitting at McDonald's. We have already checked out of our hostel and are just passing time before we take the shuttle bus to the airport. Like I already mentioned in my previous post my flight departs from Sydney at 16:40PM and I arrive in Gardermoen on the 5th of August, 11:00PM. I fly back the same way I came, through Bangkok and London. With this post I will end my Australian Adventure. I am proud of myself for actually keeping my promise and keeping this blog alive through all of my travels. I didn't think that would happen. I thank everyone that has been reading and commenting, you are the reason I could do it. I have added a few pages with information that are accessible from the menu right under the headline of the blog. Feel free to comment there as well. Below this post are the last few photo albums that I have not yet posted, so enjoy those while I am flying home. See you all at home, Audun out!

East Coast: 29. June 2010 - 20. July 2010

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Sydney 4: 21. July 2010 - 04. August 2010

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The Whitsundays

Our first small stop on the way to the Whitsundays was Townsville. We went to the man made beach they have and the esplanade next to it. Townsville is a pretty ugly town and there is not anything special to see there. The only cool thing worth mentioning is the hill in the middle of the city called Castle Hill. It sticks up high over the houses and has a good lookout over the coast and city. Townsville is also the gateway to Magnetic Island, a nice island just off the coast. All the backpackers go to Magnetic Island but we decided to skip it and continue south. We stopped one day each in Ayr and Bowen, two towns on the way between Townsville and Airlie Beach. Here we watched the World Cup quarterfinals, used the free WIFI at McDonald's and slept.

There is not much to write about Ayr, but Bowen is more interesting. It was in Bowen that Baz Luhrmann filmed the Darwin scenes in the movie Australia and there was still remnants of the set that we looked at. Bowen also has many good beaches especially Horseshoe Bay. Apparently there is a reef that you can see if you snorkel just off the beach. We didn't check as the weather was cold and so was the water, but next to Horseshoe bay is Horseshoe Bay lookout with a nice view of the bay and surrounding beaches. We climbed up there instead and took some nice photos of the landscape. Just south of Bowen is the big Mango which we of course stopped at and took some photos.

Airlie Beach was just an hour drive south of Bowen. We got there around midday and after checking into our Whitsunday cruise we decided to look around. Airlie Beach has a nice lagoon just next to the beach with several pools in different sizes and depths. There are also several beaches the most famous being Airlie Beach! But we were in Airlie Beach to sail the Whitsundays and that's what we did the very next day.

The Whitsundays

The Whitsunday Islands are one of the most known spots along the east coast. 74 in total all located in tropical waters next to the Great Barrier Reef. The climate and location makes it ideal as a holiday getaway amongst palms and white sandy beaches. Although most of the islands looked nothing like the palm fringed tropical flat islands I had imagined they were still really nice to sail around. There are resorts on most of the bigger islands ranging from high class hotels to more affordable hostels, however the cruise we "choose" was a 2 day 2 night sailing cruise were we slept on the boat.

The boat that we "choose" was called Tongarra and was a "sailing" catamaran. I write "sailing" because for most of the trip the boat was running on propellers and "choose" because the boat was part of the bigger package that we bought. We were 21 people plus a crew of three on a boat not very big. I had expected a way bigger boat and was a bit shocked when I first saw her. It was also a party boat and everyone had brought a lot of alcohol except us. The first evening we just sailed out to Nara inlet and anchored and the party began. Luckily most of the people were really nice. There were only 8 beds for 21 people, but the crew put a big tent on deck so people could sleep there. We got lucky and found a bed inside and it was nice to fall asleep to the movement of the waves.

We got up really early the next morning and sailed towards Whitsunday Island (the biggest island in the Whitsundays) and Whitehaven beach. (The most famous beach in the Whitsundays and among the top tree most beautiful beaches in Australia). First be walked up to Hill inlet lookout where you could see out over the Hill inlet and Whitehaven beach. The view was amazing with the turquoise ocean, the white beach and the green forest. We then walked down to Whitehaven beach and relaxed. When we first arrived the weather was gray and overcast, but suddenly the clouds were away and the sun was shining. Just next to the beach was a tiny sand island and next to that again we saw stingrays swimming around. At lunch time Tongarra picked us up from the beach and we headed north towards our first snorkeling spot, Mantaray Bay!

On the way to Mantaray Bay we saw a whale swimming past the boat and the crew feed eagles that caught the food in the air as we through it to them. A seagull was flying next to the boat and it came closer and closer when we held food out for it. In the end we were feeding it in the air as it flew next to the boat at the same speed as we were sailing. It seemed to never get full and always came back for another snack when someone else wanted to feed it.

The snorkeling spot was amazing. Just next to Hook Island in the bay that we had sailed to was tons of corals and fish just under the surface. We put on our stinger suits (to protect against dangerous jellyfish and keep you warm and afloat) and our snorkeling equipment and jumped into the water. The reef here was in my opinion even better than the reefs up by Cairns and I was really sad that I didn't have an underwater camera. I saw tons of fish in all different colors and a Napoleonfish which looks like the fish in the picture. They are really big! We went to two different snorkeling spots that afternoon before anchoring. My only complaint was all the jellyfish in the water. Even with a suit they stung me on my hands, feet and in the face. That night we saw the most amazing sunset and just to make the picture perfect a sailboat crossed the horizon as the sun sank in the ocean.

By the last morning we had made new friends and emptied a four liter casket of goon. We started the day with a quick snorkel at a third spot called Caves Cove also referred to as "the third snorkel spot" by the skipper. We then headed back towards Airlie Beach. The weather was fantastic that whole day and it was nice to just relax on deck and enjoy. That evening the crew went out with us to the pub and everyone got drunk, especially the skipper. We had booked a hostel for the night because Germany was playing their World Cup semifinal and the game was 04:00 in the morning. They lost :( The next morning we left beautiful Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays and headed south yet again, this time towards Fraser Island!

The Whitsundays: 05. July 2010 - 07. July 2010

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Top End Pt. 2 (22521km)

Darwin is only a few hours drive from Kakadu and along the way the road runs through the Adelaide river floodplains. We camped at a rest stop in the middle of the wetlands because we wanted to visit an information centre called Window on the Wetlands. The camping spot we chose was possibly the worst choice we ever made. There was literally millions of mosquitoes. We had to burn one of those insect killing sticks inside the car to get rid of them and when we woke up the next morning there was hundreds of dead mosquitoes in the car. On top of the mosquitoes the weather was extremely humid. It was a horrible night. The next morning the information centre turned out to be a positive surprise. It was nice to get our thoughts away from the nightmare that had been.

Darwin
The last few weeks I and especially Annina have been missing a real bed so we decided to sleep in a hostel in Darwin for two nights. We got a nice double room with a awesome bed and a fridge and it felt like a hotel in comparison to the car. We could also buy food that needs a fridge again like cold milk, cheese and butter. Hot showers as often as you want is also a great thing! I really liked the hostel. It had a lot of trees and plants that made it feel like an oasis in the middle of the city.

Apart from relaxing and enjoying our new comforts in the hostel we also went out and explored Darwin. The city is named after the famous Charles Darwin by a friend that wanted to show him respect. The city is quite big for being so far away from everywhere else, around 100.000 people live in the area. One of the attractions we visited was a Taoist/Buddhist temple. There is a lot of Asian people in Darwin (especially Chinese) and they built the original temple in 1887. In 1974 cyclone Tracy destroyed the temple and the building you can see today is a rebuilt version. During WW2 Darwin was bombed by the Japanese and their oil reserves destroyed. The city decided to build underground storage tunnels to protect the oil from the air raids. But by the time the tunnels were completed the war was over. 50 years later the city opened the unused tunnels to the public and they are now the second most visited attraction in Darwin. Since I find stuff like that interesting I visited them as well. It was quite interesting to walk through these massive underground tunnels and to look at photos from WW2 that were on display on the walls.

Because Darwin is so far north the waters are almost always filled with box jellyfish which makes it extremely dangerous to go swimming in the ocean. On top of that there is always a crocodile threat in Northern Territory anywhere where there is water. To make people happy the city has created a project called the waterfront precinct where there is a beach with nets out in the water to stop the jellyfish and a wave lagoon next to it. The wave lagoon was a fun place to relax. Every half hour they make waves for the people to enjoy. You can either just swim around and have fun or grab one of the free bodyboards and go play. When you are bored of the water you can lie down on a beach chair and enjoy the sun. From the waterfront precinct we walked along the coast back to the hostel. The path took us through the Bicentennial park, a long park with lookouts, benches and plagues. My first impression of Darwin were not that great, but it changed as I explored the city.

That evening we went out partying. First we went to a bar where they showed Australia vs. Denmark, a friendship soccer match before the world cup. Australia won. Then we went to three different clubs. The two first were really backpacker places and the last one was more of a mix. We both had a great night and I was pretty drunk in the end :P I can remember eating a monster hamburger on the way back to the hostel and thinking it was the best burger I ever ate :) It was nice to do something different than just sleeping as soon as it gets dark. (There is not much else to do when you are camping at a rest stop along the highway).

We went to the Northern Territory museum and art gallery on our last day in Darwin. Originally we planned to be there for about an hour, but it turned out to be much more interesting than I first thought. It was a nice blend of art galleries and museum exhibitions. Among the highlights was a gallery of indigenous art, a natural history of Northern Territory exhibition, an exhibition about cyclone Tracy and a crocodile exhibition. I think we spent over three hours looking at everything and we still had to hurry through the last few things. I found the natural history section especially good. I took a lot of photos to try and show some of the things that I liked. Here is the album I made from our visit:

Museum and Art Gallery of the NT: 02. June 2010

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Litchfield National Park

We finally had to leave the NT museum and art gallery before it became to late to drive to Litchfield national park. Litchfield is located just south of Darwin and is a popular getaway for locals and tourists alike. There are many waterfalls and plunge pools to swim in and the area is rich in natural beauty. We arrived at a place called Florence falls that afternoon and went for a quick swim in the pool below. You could swim right through one of the two waterfall to a small hollow behind it. Big rocks were visible just under the surface in the middle of the pool and you could sit on them and relax. A few kilometers upstream is a place called Buley rockholes. Here a series of small waterfalls form several rockholes that are ideal for swimming in as well. It was getting to dark to go swimming, but we came back the next day. That night we camped at a campsite next to the rockholes.

Our first destination the next morning was a place called The Lost City. From the main road we had to drive a 4x4 track 10km into the woods. At the end of this road is the "Lost City". The place looks like ruins from a lost civilization. However it is just stone pillars and walls remaining from what was once a permanent layer of rock many many years ago. The place is still very impressive. We walked along the short track between the stone formations and it really did feel like it could have been an ancient civilization living there thousands of years ago.

Our next stop was the Tolmer falls lookout. The falls are not accessible to the public, but there is a walkway to a lookout with great views of them and the surrounding landscape. We then drove to Wangi falls. It is usually a great place to swim, but it was now closed due to increased crocodile risk. The Wangi falls are two waterfalls next to each other both plunging into the same pool below. Since we couldn't go swimming we walked the walking track around the falls instead. It went through moonsoon rainforest at the bottom before climbing up the cliff to the top of the falls. Here we had  a great view of the forest below. It was after the Wangi falls walk that we drove back to the Buley rockholes to swim.

The last thing we did in Litchfield national park was looking at the Magnetic termite mounds. These gigantic termite mounds can get over 2 meters high and are found where there is a clearing in the woods. There are no mammals in Australia that keep the grass growth down like in other parts of the world. Instead millions and millions of termites harvest and eat the grass keeping the natural circle complete. We saw these termite mounds the first time just south of Coral Bay on the west coast and could not understand what they were. From there they are seen everywhere along the whole north part of Australia. The Magnetic termite mounds of Litchfield were the biggest ones we have seen.

On the way back to Darwin we took a small detour so that I could go on a cruise on the Adelaide river. The cruise is famous for showing jumping wild crocodiles. As soon as we entered the boat we saw the first crocodiles swimming in the river. As we slowly cruised upstream the captain talked about the crocodiles living there. The ones that we saw were all saltwater crocodiles which are the biggest of the two species of crocodiles in Australia. They are also the most dangerous and can easily kill a human if they want to. They can get more than 6m long. From the second level of the boat a crew member was dangling pork chops down over the water and crocodiles were jumping into the air to get them. These crocodiles were 100% wild and apparently all crocodilian reptiles have the ability to jump. It was an amazing way to see wild crocodiles close up and to learn more about them. The biggest one I saw was about 4.5m. On the way back down the river at the end of the cruise one of the crew also fed a group of predator birds. She through the food into the air and the birds caught it midair. All in all the jumping crocodile cruise was well worth the money. I left with awesome memories and great pictures.

To save some money on fuel we decided to offer up our two back seats to fellow backpackers that needed a lift to Alice Springs. We posted an add on a website called Gumtree before Darwin and during our stay we decided on two people we wanted to travel with. This was the reason why we had to go back to Darwin after Litchfield national park. Back in Darwin we picked up the first passenger, a German girl called Nicole, and started the long drive south to Alice Springs. The next morning we stopped in Katherine again to pick up our second passenger, a French girl called Florence. It was nice to have some new company especially when you are driving the whole day. It's about 1500km to Alice Springs from Darwin and there is almost nothing to see on the way. As we drove south we also left the Top End and that means the end of this blog post. My next update will be all about the red centre and our journey through it.

Big Update!

Finally I have time to update my blog again. I know I said I would do it like a week ago, but time flies past to fast and I have had so much to do. Anyways, here is some news about me from Australia.

Its now a while ago, but I didn't find time to write about it before now. As the school summer vacation came to an end so did my time at Luna Park. Luna Park was a great place to work thanks to all the wonderful people working there. What I really liked was the combination of locals and backpackers, student and travelers. I got to know so many people from different cultures and countries. As a thank you for our help in the school holidays, the management put on a barbecue/party for all the employees. There was free food and drinks and the best party game ever! They had a big water tank filled with ice water, above the tank was a seat and next to it was a aiming board. If you hit the middle of the board, the seat was released and the person sitting there fell into the icy water. The best thing about this was that all our bosses were the people that had to sit on the seat, and all us normal employees could try and hit the board so they fell into the water. It has been a long while since I had that much fun! After the barbecue we went to a nightclub called Star Bar. I had a great night, but ended up a bit to drunk, as this picture shows :P (under the stairs at McDonalds + Tired)

Another thing me and a group of other rides workers did one of the last days at Luna Park was get our faces drawn by the parks cartoonist. He was once a normal worker like us, but his drawing talent was discovered and he got the job as a cartoonist instead. He told us that in the 2 years he had worked as the cartoonist we where the first people from the rides department (100+ employees) that got their face drawn. Anyways, his pictures made us all laugh and the resemblance on the pictures were fantastic. I have included the one he made of me. Its up to you readers to decide if you see the resemblance. :)

Moving on to about a week ago. We have been slowly planning our trip around the country and to do that we need a car. So after looking at some campervans on the internet we went out to have a real look at one. It turned out to be a piece of crap, but while walking back a group of 3 girls stopped us and asked if we were looking for a car. They had a 4x4 for sale and we soon realized that it would be the perfect match for us. They were Dutch and had traveled around the country with it just like we also want to do. The same day we took it out for a test drive and decided to buy it the very next day. The car is a Holden (known as Opel in the rest of the world) Jackaroo Deluxe 4x4. Hopefully it will get us safely and without trouble around Australia.  Stay tuned for another update coming today about our first trip with the car!

After Luna Park I have had a few random jobs to keep the money supply from diminishing completely. I have waitered on the Captain Cook cruises, the biggest cruise company in Sydney that does daily lunch, dinner and sightseeing cruises of the Sydney harbour and surroundings. I have worked in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center serving drinks to 2800 dentists and I have packed TV's in plastic bags for 8 hours. There are so many ways to see Sydney and working is a great way to do so. There are also jobs I never even considered existed, like the TV packing job :P Thanks to all who read and comment on the blog! You are the reason I keep writing!

New Years Eve!

Sydney is supposed to be one of the best places to celebrate new years eve. People have told me this since the first day I landed in Australia. It was therefore an easy choice where I wanted to celebrate. However with over 1.5 million people all wanting the best spots to see the harbor bridge fireworks the question was where we should go.

The best spots had people camping out from the night before putting up tents and then sitting and waiting the whole day. Then the next best places had queues from 7-8 in the morning. We ended up going to a place called Bulls Head Reserve. It was a little bit away from the bridge, but still had a great view and a plus was that you could bring your own alcohol. We went there around 3 pm and had a picnic and drinks while waiting. There was a lot of people gathered and more where coming the whole time. It was also clear that the place we choose was the teenage party place, but that didn't bother us as they were all friendly, and we were not that much older than them.

At 9 pm was the first fireworks and everybody gathered at the viewing spots to get a good look. It was a good show, then at 12 was the "real" fireworks. It was magnificent. The fireworks lasted for 12 minutes and was synchronized to music if you had a radio turned on the right station. In addition they had all different kinds of effects on the harbor bridge, including lights and special fireworks and a big ball changing colors. It is hard to describe. I think it was the best fireworks I have seen. I was surprised that there was no countdown, but after the fireworks everyone was saying happy new year to each other.

At this point everyone was getting pretty drunk and it was a bit of a challenge to get back across the bridge to the apartment. I think the trip took about 2-2.5 hours. It felt good to get back after a long day, but it was worth every second of it! Now I can brag that I celebrated new years eve in Sydney! :P

Back in Sydney (Again)

I realize people are requesting updates from me and I am sorry I haven't written that often in my blog. I have been in Sydney the last 3 weeks, staying at the hostel I was in last time, the Harbour City Hotel.

I have been partying every other night and making tons of new friends. I also met two Norwegian girls that have been staying in Sydney for a while. I have had some great times, but I can feel that I need to slow down on the nightlife soon :P

I also have had two day jobs while in Sydney. The first was working as a bar useful under the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup is a large horse racing event in Australia where everybody dresses up in nice cloths and gets drunk while they bet on horses. My job was to keep the fridge at the bar stocked and I also was in charge of ordering new products when we where running low.

Two days ago I also had a day job. I had to unload two containers with organic food for a food company. It was a lot of heavy lifting, but it was good exercise and the people where nice.

We also celebrated Halloween and almost everybody in the Hostel were dressed up as something. Me and my friend Matthias where pirates. It was a great night out.

I will try and keep you all updated more often from now on. In 2 weeks I move into an apartment with Matthias, and on Tuesday I am going to a job interview for a "real job"!