G'Day
Mate
from
Down Under in Australia
G'Day
Mate
|
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Imagine a land where the ocean water is always warm, the uncrowded beaches are pristine and the people look you in the eye and greet even perfect strangers from their soul with a hearty "G'Day Mate". A land where poverty is virtually non-existent, where a strong democratic middle class thrives and a place where cities are clean, organized and safe. Yes folks, that's Australia.
Originally founded as an English penal colony for convicts, Australia has grown into being a fabulous country with all the modern conveniences and technologies of every other western nation with a special emphasis on public facilities. Now, a British Commonwealth Nation, it is going to celebrate its 100 year anniversary of independence in 2001. It's largest city, Sydney is proud to be the host of this year's summer Olympic Games and has built a fantastic facility to hold the event.
Other than Canada, Australia is probably the closest country in the world in its resemblance to the good ol' US of A. The main difference is the shear number of people. Australia has a population of about 18 million. The United States has about 250 million people covering about the same amount of land. Thus, there is not nearly the pressure on the natural resources as in the States. Beaches and oceans are clean and protected, their mountain villages are sparsely populated, their rainforests are now thriving and their people are all incredibly friendly and very hospitable.
The Vahalla's, now in their 7th month of an 8 month trip, spent a total of 32 days in Australia splitting the time into 16 days on the west coast and 16 days on the east coast. Our travel dreams were once again fulfilled and exceeded. The west coast visit was spent mostly in the relaxation mode spending the holidays on the beach south of Perth in the small town of Busselton (which is in the gorgeous Margaret River area). The east coast portion was spent in a motorhome beach bopping from Sydney to Brisbane and then coming back on the inland route through rural Australia. Moving just about everyday, we saw a lot of different towns, beaches, mountains, forests and met quite a few really nice Australians.
The animal life in Australia is very interesting and unique. In our travels we saw kangaroo's, koala's and emu's in the wild and we saw dingo's, wombats, platypus and crocodiles in animal reserves. Beautiful birds such as cockateil, cockatoo, lorikeet and parrots met us just about every day. Listening to a kookaburra laughing in an old gum tree is really special and is a common occurrence.
It's sea life is just as interesting and Australia has the largest marine reserve in the world, the Great Barrier Reef which is the home to more than 3,000 different species of animals and plants. Although we didn't get a chance to see the Reef, we visited, what has to the be, the best aquarium in world in Sydney. The aquarium has "walk through" fish tanks where the fish and sharks literally swim all around you.
Getting to Perth started off as a bit of a challenge when our trip from Bangkok was enhanced when the captain of the plane came down with food poisoning in Singapore and was unable to fly the plane. Quantas Airlines could not find a substitute pilot at 10:00 PM so the entire compliment of passengers from a full 747 (close to 500 people in all) cleared customs and were bused to downtown Singapore for the evening. We checked into an hotel about 1:00 AM only to have a wake up call at 5:30 AM in order to get back to the airport for a 7:00 AM flight. Although it added a bit of fatigue to the trip, it was a good chance to see an amazingly clean and organized city / country of Singapore (albeit only overnight) and it was great to meet a slew of international folks who were as punch drunk as we were. It proves the old adage that misery does love company!
In 1987, Dan and Mary spent 2 weeks in Australia on their honeymoon. This was our first time back and we really enjoyed the visit. Australia is very affordable. Gas, food and accommodations are much cheaper than Europe. The Mac Meter came in at $4.95 AD which equates to $3.22 US (which is cheaper than the US).
Australia is an incredibly sports oriented country. For a country with only 18 million people, last year it won the Rugby World Cup, the Davis Cup in Tennis, the Men's and Women's World Cricket Championships and is expected to be very strong in the water sports in the upcoming Olympics.
With a strong public works system in place, Australia is a hard to beat vacation spot, especially for beach lovers.
Now for our month:
West Coast
Perth
Perth is located on the Indian Ocean in the Southwest corner of Australia.
Situated on a Bay with hills and parks overlooking the city, it really reminded us
of San Diego. It's a clean modern city of about 1 million people with beautiful
parks, harbors and beaches. We spent a quick 2 days in Perth at the outstanding
Airport B&B and we visited the downtown area, toured a mint where we watched gold
Olympic coins being made, walked along the beautiful Swan River and played in a local
public swimming pool. Visiting Perth in the middle of the summer was a bit hot with
the temperature going over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We'd like to go back sometime in
their spring or fall when its not as hot.
Perth City Views from King's Park
Perth Mint
Busselton / Margaret River
We spent 2 weeks right on the beach in a Holiday Park in Busselton. Busselton is a
little city of 20,000 people. Small enough to be quaint but large enough to have
shops and stores for some last minute Christmas shopping. We swam and fished in the
ocean just about everyday and the weather was hot and dry. We took day trips to the
surrounding beaches and just hung out a lot around the Bar-B-Q (which is a great place to
meet Aussies). Santa Claus visited us in Australia and the kids were all amazed that
he actually found us.
Around the Bar-B, we met the wonderful family of Graham and Cassy Coates who had two children, Kristopher and Jessica that our kids played with. They graciously took us tubin' in their boat and even hunted us down a few days later in our a local Perth swimming pool to give our kids souvenir koala bears to take home. Thank you Graham and Cassy.
Busselton Area Beach Shots
Kids at the Jetty
Sunset Shots
Grant Tubin'
Pemberton
About 100 km from Busselton in the middle of a National Park lies a little town
of Pemberton. It's an old lumberjacking town with a variety of different forest
activities. We visited a trout hatchery, climbed the 200 foot high Gloucester Tree,
had colorful Roselli birds eating out of our hands and we picnicked at a gorgeous mountain
lake where we swam, hiked and fished.
Roselli Birds
200'
Gloucester Tree Grant & Jessie at Treetop
East Coast
Sydney
Sydney is Australia's biggest metropolitan area with a population of 4 million and is
situated on a beautiful, clean harbor that the city wraps its arms around. The
harbor is such an integral part of the city that many scheduled ferries transport people
to its various points. Sydney is very well organized with good trains and
buses that, when coupled with the ferries, make it easy to get around.
We spent 3 days in Sydney touring its beautiful Opera House, the neighboring Botanical Gardens, the world class Sydney Aquarium, and the Olympic facility where the kids swam a lap in the Olympic pool. Dan bought an official "Wallabies Rugby Jersey" and we hung out on the beach in nearby Manly which we fell in love with.
Sydney Views from Harbor
Harbor Bridge
Kids Speaking Bass at Aquarium
Opera House
is cool Botanical Gardens Olympic
Pool Future Olympians?
Manly Beach
Salt Water Pool
Beach Bopping
Australia has miles and miles and miles of beaches. One
is as beautiful as the next. We spent one full week going from one beach to another
stopping for the night at beachside parks which typically had a Bar-B-Q and shower.
Every night we fell asleep to the rumble of the surf and every morning we arose to the
songs of the seabirds and to God's splendor of a rising sun over the ocean. Walking
on a deserted beach at sunrise brings an inner peace to one's soul that is hard to beat.
Cave Beach Mary on
the beach Pelican Convention Seal Rocks
Rainforests
We spent a day touring the Dorrigo National Forest area which has been classified as a
United Nations World Heritage Rain Forest. Having been 75% destroyed by the
logging industry in the early 1900's, Dorrigo was officially protected in 1982 by the
Australian government and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1992. We learned a
lot about rainforests, their animals and its unique makeup during our visit and we now
have a new appreciation for the plight of rainforests around the world.
History of
Jessie Hauling Gorilla in Wild ?
Turkey in Wild Two Turkeys
Banana's
a Bunch
Rainforest Hike 800 year old vines
Pretty Waterfall
Tamworth
On our way back to Sydney, we stopped for a couple of nights in the country
western music capital of Australia, Tamworth. It's a cute little inland city with a
population of about 50,000 people. During the annual country western music festival,
the city grows to about 150,000. We were one week early and didn't get a chance to
catch the festival. However, some of the musicians were arriving early and we heard
them jamming in the streets and campgrounds. We got a feeling of what the festival
is like by the anticipation of all the shop owners and were somewhat disappointed we were
doing to miss the festival itself. Maybe next time.
One of our nights in Tamworth Mary got a break from cooking and we all went out for dinner. We struck up a conversation with a lovely couple who we shared a table with. As we were about to say grace before dinner, the Thortons, stopped us and asked if they too could join us in prayer. Well, to make a long story short they graciously invited us to their home the next evening for a real Aussie Bar-B. What a feast! Thank you Dr. Richard and Judy Thorton (and sons James and Peter) for opening your beautiful hearts and home to us. We hope to return the favor someday when you visit us in the US !
Big Ax
The Thortons
Blue Mountains
About 75 km due east of Sydney are the Blue Mountains. They are comprised
of several national parks and are very rugged. The mountains go straight up from the
ground. In the early 1800's, it took Australian settlers 25 years to figure out how
to get across them to continue their western expansion. It reminded us of the Grand
Canyon in the States. Because of the incredibly rugged terrain and the relatively
low population of Australia, one can still hike into canyons that have never been seen by
a white man. Just recently, in one secluded canyon, they discovered a type of pine
tree that was thought to be extinct for 35 million years ! It was like finding a
small herd of dinosaurs still walking on the planet. The small grove of pine trees
are very protected today to a point that their location is kept secret by the forest
rangers to prevent any accidental disaster from happening. We spent 2 days in the
Blue Mountains hiking, bird watching and picture taking.
3 Sisters
Blue Mt. View
Grant "da crew"
Cockatoo's
Formation
Australia and Australians treated us very well while we were there. They have a wonderful country which is very easy to be a tourist in. We hope some of our new friends will come to the US and visit us someday. We are now in the last leg of our trip. Country number 17 is New Zealand, nature's wonderland. We are anxious to discover the wonders it unfolds for us so stay tuned for more exciting travel adventures to come.
Make sure you check out the kid's essay page. There are some great ones in there !
See you all March 1.
God Bless,
The Vahalla's
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danvahalla@yahoo.com,
mvahalla@yahoo.com, grantvahalla@yahoo.com,
sarahvahalla@yahoo.com, jessicavahalla@yahoo.com
