Dunes, Dingos and a Shipwreck

After the long bus ride I finally made it to Hervey Bay. This was the base for my three day camping trip to Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island. I got in to a four-wheel drive vehicle with four other Americans and a German who would be my mates for the next few days. We followed a group of three of vehicles led by a onto a ferry headed for Fraser. After arriving on the island it was miles and miles of driving on the rough sand roads, beaches where dodging incoming waves were a necessity, and rocks on the shoreline that I didn’t think our vehicle was even capable of driving over. Seatbelts were a must as we were jolted back and forth while traveling the extreme terrain. In between was some great stops at some beautiful lakes, sand dunes and rainforests. One of the other unique features of the island is the wild dingos. They look almost like a domestic dog. We were warned to be careful of the canines and not leave any food out in the open. We saw a few walk right up to us in our picnic area looking for something to eat. Two of the other highlights of the island is the shipwreck right on the beach and a natural lazy river that we happily took some time to swim in and relax. The most amazing sight however was seeing the moon rise over the horizon on the second night. The incredible full moon shot a ray of light that cascaded across the incoming waves like a lighthouses shining the way for a ship as the silhouette of a dingo could be seen waltzing across the beach. Moments like these can never captured by a picture. The only negative of the trip was each and every day it rained, which was been the story for me in Australia. Luckily, the rain was off and on and allowed us time to enjoy the island.

Roadside attraction I saw on the long bus ride
 

Camp on the beach
 

One of the huge sand dunes on the island
 

Lazy river
 

Shipwreck of the Maheno. Has been beached since the 1930s
 

Ruby in the Rain Rules

It was supposed to rain today, but it looked like it might hold off. I hopped back down to Bondi Beach. I grabbed a very delicious fish and chips for lunch and had a nice stroll around the beach before the sky darkened. My trip to the beach was cut short again. At night I got tickets for the Rubgy League (not to be confused with Rubgy Union) match between the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Brisbane Broncos at ANZ Stadium. My friend from the UK recommened this game for me and said that Ben Barba of Cantabury has been compared to Devin Hester so I was excited. So I was off to experience some Friday Night Footy. I have spoken to numerous Aussie Rules fans and they describe Rugby League as pure rubbish. Likewise the rubgy league fans I have spoken to say the same about Aussie Rules; its pure rubbish. I have quite enjoyed both, so I guess I could not be confused as an Australian. I bought the ticket online for row 16, which I expected was row 16 in the upper section. However, it was the actual row 16 right off the field right near the center. It was a great view. The crowd was very light and not nearly the atmosphere of the Aussie Rules game I had attended, but it could have very well been because of the rain forecast. Rugby is a game much closer to gridiron except play is continuous. Once feature I also liked was when the one team has to punt the ball away the punter generally gets absolutely demolished. Much better than the pansey roughing the kicker rules in the NFL. Halfway through the game Ben Barba almost made a spectacular play as he ran half down the field before he was finally getting taken down. Soon thereafter the rain started pouring down making for some exciting rubgy action. Luckily I had brought my poncho. It wasn’t the greatest game as Canterbury won easily, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.
The next day I made a day trip to the Blue Mountains. I made a few hikes through the beautiful scenery including how steep trail down to the bottom of a waterfall. To get back you can either walk up the brutual incline or take the world’s steepest railway. I opted for the train. No blog post tomorrow. I am doing one of my favorite activities. 22 hour bus to Hervey Bay.

Going for a try
 

The rain started pouring down
 

Three Sisters
 

At a 52 degree incline steep is an understatement

Sydney Descending Into Darkness

So much for the beach. The story in Australia for me has been a rain that has followed me all the way from South Australia all the way up to Sydney. Starting in the morning a heavy began and continued into the afternoon. For lunch I ate at the Sydney Fish Market, which had a good selection of seafood. They seemed to be fond of BBQ seafood there, so I tried some BBQ octopus. It was definetley a good and unique tasting dish. As I was biting into chewy tentacles I heard some loud cheers from across the room. I looked up to see Lebron James putting in the winning basket in overtime on a giant screen. I didn’t realize Australians like basketball ball so much. Well they don’t, it was actually just three girls from Florida that made all the comotion. Later the rain continued so I got tickets to see Star Trek: Into Darkness in 3D on the Imax. It happens to be the world’s largest Imax screen. The guy working the concession stand immediatley picked up on my strong American accent and asked me “where in the States are you from?” He happened to be from Florida as well. I am finally starting to run into some Americans. It was a pretty good flick and was great on the enormous screen. I anxiously await the new J.J. Abrams Star Wars. Later that night I hung with my buddies from the hostel, again trying to make the best of the miserable weather.

Hangin’ in the Harbor

On Tuesday I made my way towards the Darling Harbor. Annoyingly I somehow deleted most of my pictures from this day. It was a beautiful day in Sydney and it is quite a bit warmer than in Melbourne. On the way over I went through a couple of the shopping centers in downtown Syndney before walking down to Darling. Once at the harbor looked a nice Chinese garden before looking at some of the nice ships in the harbor. I lost the pictures from the garden. Whatever, it was nice but nothing compared to the zen garden’s in Japan. There are some awesome ships in the harbor including a submarine and a cool replica of Captain Cook’s Endeavour. Last I decided to go to the Sydney Aquarium. The had some great animals including some penguins, but alas these pictures are gone. I just can’t get a picture of a penguin no matter what I do.
On Wednesday I made my way back towards Paddy’s Market near the harbor. I wanted to do some shopping in there the previous day but it was closed. This worked out well as I also retook a couple photos of I mistakenly erased. After I wanted to go to Bondi Beach, but the sky darkened. I rolled the dice and took the short bus ride over anyway. As soon as I arrived the rain started coming down. I quickly left and just took it easy for the rest of the day. I did however meet a Korean who has picked up a strong Aussie accent, yet another German, and a fellow yankee from of all places Kentucky. I haven’t met too many folks from the US in Australia and I have been told multiple times I am one of the few Americans they have met in Oz. We made the best of the bad weather and strolled around the cold, dark streets. When I got back to my hostel I realized the Japanese fellow I met on Phillip Island was staying in my room. Like I said Australia is a small country. So I guess I should have done Wednesday’s activities of Tuesday and vice-versa. Hopefully if the weather cooperates I might be able to hop down to Bondi Beach another day.

Queen Victoria Building
 

Inside the Queen Victoria Building
 

Endeavour
 

Sydney Eye
 

The rain didn’t stop the surfers

The Sights of Sydney

It was my first day in Sydney after the long bus ride the day before. It really nice ride especially in comparison to some of the buses I have rode in the past. First thing I noticed is the area I am staying in is noticably cheaper than anywhere else I have been in Australia. It’s not cheap, but it basically like normal big city prices as opposed to paying as if you are perpetually trapped in a major league baseball stadium. I later realized it’s only the area I am staying in as the rest of Sydney is expensive. I covered a lot of ground walking from Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House with a bunch of spots in between. I stopped off at the Australian Museum, which was pretty a good way to spend an hour. I especially like life-size replicas of extinct Australian animals. For lunch I went to a Hungry Jack’s and tried “the big cheese”, which they claim is made with 100% Australian flamed-grilled beef. I buy the claim because it was pretty good. At night I walked over to the nearby Sydney Observatory. It was cool to see some of the constellations like the Southern Cross, which can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere. I also got a very clear look at the planet Saturn.

Australian Museum
 

Replica of the now extinct Diprotodon. Looks like a giant wombat, but related to the koala.
 

St. Mary’s Cathedral
 

Looks like a burger king. Tastes like a burger king.
 

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Aussie Rules

Australia rules. Football rules. At least American football does (or gridiron as the Australians call it). So by extension you would think Aussie Rules Football would rule. And it does. I got tickets for the night match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Geelong Cats at the famed Batmania Cricket Grounds. Before the day I walked over to the area of town called Fitroy which is littered with street art. There is great works on many of the buildings and in dozens of side streets. I got lost as I would continually stroll down a back alley with the intention of returning to the main street, only to see more incredible art down yet another alley. At night it was time to watch some footy. The best way to describe Aussie Rules Football is to say it is a hybrid of soccer, gridiron and rugby. You advance the ball by a combination of passing and kicking and score by drop-kicking the ball through the goal. One point for the outer goal and six points for the inner goal. Amazingly they can kick it in from 5o meters plus. The atmosphere was great as the crowd was cheering and screaming at every bone-crushing hit. Collingwood took an early 26 point lead. The fans definetly quieted down a bit as it look destined to be a blowout. However, Geelong valiantly fought back scoring 6 points and then another 6 points. The Geelong fans perked up. The chants of “Gee-long! … Gee-long!” grew louder and more frequent. Before I knew it the Cats scored 39 unanswered points to take a 13 point lead! But Collingwood would not go down without a fight. They clawed their way back. The score was now knotted at 95 a piece. Time was running out in the final quarter before Collinwood kicked in a crucial goal to secure the lead. The score in the waning moments was 102-96 with Collinwood in front by just 6. Geelong frantically scrambled to try to tie the game, but they ran out of time. The Collingwood fans went into a frenzy and started singing their fight song. Great first experience at the footy. I think I am hooked. No blog post tomorrow. I can already tell you what I am doing. 14 hour bus ride to Sydney.

Dozens of alleys like this in Fitzroy
 

Barber in Fitzroy. Got free drinks with my haircut. What a novel idea.
 

Batmania Cricket Grounds
 

Crazy Collinwood fans
 

Penguins in Batmania

Today I took a day trip to Phillip Island off the coast of Batmania. It was another dark and dreary day, but fortunatly it didn’t rain too much. First stop on the island was a wildlife park where you can pet and feed kangaroos, wallabies and emus among others. They also have some other animals you can get close up to, but can’t pet. No touching the Tansmanian Devils because they bite and no touching the koalas because many of them have chlamydia. I kid you not. Next was a lovely hiking trail, which had heaps of wallabies and some nice birds. Before heading to the main highlight of the island I spotted nearly a hundred wallabies along the side of the road on a stretch of a few miles, peaking their heads up from the tall grass. Last was the aforementioned highlight of the island; the penguin parade. I grabbed beachside seats (yes they have bleachers on the beach) to watch the colony of penguins that come onto the beach from the ocean daily. Hundreds of penguins swim through the ocean current in groups of about a dozen in waves like soldiers in landing craft storming the beaches of Normandy. A couple of them got taken by the current and separated from the group right in front of me, so they had to quickly waddle over to rejoin their group. They scurried up the beach and I followed the cute little birds from a boardwalk as they made their way inland. As they clumsily walked up the beach they made tons of noise; screaching and squakwking like I coudn’t believe. Sorry guys. No photos of the penguins allowed.

This one was almost as tall as me when standing up

Albino kangaroo at the park
 

Tassie Devils at the park
 

Wallaby on the trail
 

Wild Goose
 

Dark Days in Gotham City

Every day in Batmania has been dark and rainy so far. This day was no different. I took a walking tour around more back alleys with street art and hidden pubs in the drizzling rain. The citizens of Batmania love their restaurants and clubs deep into dark, winding corners and alleyways. The more secluded the more they like them. I would have never found half of them without the walking tour. The rain picked up at the end of the tour so I decided it would be a good time to look at the Batmania Museum. They had a really good exhibit of artifacts from Afgnahistan from the National Museum in Kabul of all things. The rest of the museum had some great dinosaur bones, stuffed animals and a myriad of other cool displays.

Shot Tower Museum
 

More street art
 

Hidden rock club
 

Royal Exhibition Building
 

Batmania Museum
 

Blue whale
 

Art in the Alleys

Today, I took to the streets of Batmania mostly by foot. I was joined again by French friend. We first checked out the Australian Center for the Moving Image. It was a really cool museum with all kind of movie, television and video game artifacts. I think the best part was the exhibit were you can record yourself in matrix-style bullet time. Check out the link. http://www.acmi.net.au/timeslice/Timeslice.htm?file=ts-20130515-084a1736a8c354dc5c2acea1664dab84.flv
We played around with that for far too long. There was also an art museum right next door so we checked that out as well. We ran into our Scotish and Swiss friends from the Great Ocean Road at the museum. Small country this Australia. Later, we walked down some of the back-alleys in the area, which has some incredible street art.

inside ACMI
 

Vintage star wars figures
 

Needs no explanation
 

Discovering Batmania

Today I walked around and got a feel for Melbourne. Or Melbin as the Australians say. However, I prefer the name Batmania. The city was actually briefly called Batmania so I will refer to it as such for now on. I was joined by my French friend and two Welsh friends whom I met on the Great Ocean Road. There is a free shuttle and trolley service so we used that to get around town. It was dark, rainy weather, but we still got to see some nice sights around Batmania. I also got a chance to post my paragliding pictures from Nepal so check them out.

I was told to try this place
 

Pretty good pie with steak
 

By popular request. I’m not sure the picture does it justice, but you get the idea
 

While we are on the subject. These are standard in Australia.
 

Paragliding in Nepal