Australia Revisited

A girl at work is wanting to travel to Australia in August, and so she's asked me what places I would recommend. I've already sent her the link to this old post, but then I started thinking; I think I wrote that one on my last day in Australia, as I was sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, what about now, almost a year after I got back, which places would I then recommend?

As my laptop hasn't got any Scandinavian letters since I bought it in Australia, it's such a hassle writing anything in Norwegian, so I figured I might as well write in English and at the same time make a post of it, this way I can also share my thoughts with more than just one person.

Feel free to share your own thoughts and favourite places in the comment section!

Things to DO while you're in Australia:
Hold a koala (only allowed in Queensland)
Pet a kangaroo
Try surfing

Places to see:

Yulara. 
Go to Yulara and see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. I'm always surprised when people doesn't know what Uluru/Ayers Rock is, it's one of the most famous places in Australia besides the Reef! It's expensive to get there and stay there but it's absolutely worth it! I'm saying go to Yulara instead of Alice Springs because that way you can actually see both Uluru and Kata Tjuta from where you're staying, and you don't have to travel for hours to get to either of them.

Posts from when I was in Yulara:
Yulara 1
Yulara 2
Yulara 3

Great Barrier Reef
You can travel to so many places along the north of Queensland and see the Reef, I went to Cairns, and although the city was nice enough I wouldn't say it was so special that anyone HAS TO see it. But the Reef, oh the Reef! So beautiful. I could stay there forever just look at the beautiful fish and the reef itself, I kind of wish I had gone on a trip that lasted two or three days so that I could have gone to the outer Reef as I've heard the colours are stronger there, but I was happy with just the one day as well. One of my friends, EG that I met in Yulara, recently went to the Reef and the Green Island, he only went for a day as well and was happy with that.

 Great Barrier Reef

***Not necessarily a must see, depends what you like, but if you do go to the Daintree Rainfores/Cape Tribulation you HAVE to stop at the Daintree Ice Cream Company!! You'll never have that ice cream again!
Daintree and Cape Trib is good just to get to see the Australian Rainforest. You'll see plants and trees you'll not see anywhere else in the world.

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road
My favourite city along with Hobart! I can't really explain it, it's just so nice and laid back, it was just the feel of it that made it my favourite. The top things to see in Melbourne: Just hop on and off the free tram or shuttle, you'll see loads. Queen Victoria Market, Luna Park in St Kilda, go at night so you see it all lit up and that way you can also see the penguins at St Kilda Pier. Just walk around the city centre and see the street art, it's amazing how beautiful it can be when people are actually allowed to spray paint the walls.
The Great Ocean Road is Amazing as well, and seeing as the Twelve Apostles are eroding it's a good idea to go see them now while there are actually some left!

Posts from Melbourne:
Melbourne 1
Melbourne 2
Melbourne 3 (Great Ocean Road)
Melbourne 4

Port Macquarie
It's a small place, you don't need more than a day there, just make it a stop if you're taking the Greyhound. To me, it's worth the stop just to go to the Koala Sanctuary and see the painted rocks along the esplanade.

Port Macquarie

Hobart
Not many people bother going down to Tasmania and Hobart, but I loved it there! I liked it just as much as Melbourne. Tasmania is the only place you can see the Tasmanian Devil, and I think Hobart is worth the visit just to go to MONA, the most amazing museum and art gallery I've even been to! I also wish I had gone inside Port Arthur while I was there. Hobart also has some of Australia's oldest buildings if you're interested in that. And then of course there is Salamanca market with all it's yummy food and beautiful items.

Hobart 1
Hobart 2
Hobart 3
Hobart 4
Hobart 5

Sydney
Of course you can't give Sydney a miss if you go to Australia! A lot of people go to Bondi Beach just because it's a beach they've actually heard of, but I would suggest doing the beach walk from Cogee to Bondi just to see some of the other beaches there as well. Manly is a nice place to visit, I might have an immature sense of humour and laugh at everything that said Manly, but it's a beautiful place, and very good for surfing. You also have to see the Opera House (I can't imagine anyone going to Sydney and not seeing it), Sydney Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour. There is fireworks on at Darling Harbour quite often and you should make sure you go at least once, the one on Australia Day (January 26th) was absolutely amazing!
The Blue Mountains outside Sydney is nice, it depends if you like hiking though. The day I went the weather was terrible so the mountains were grey instead of blue and loads of people on the tour was complaining, but I quite liked it, just to get out and do some hiking again, do some exercise and see a place I'll probably never see again.

Sydney 1
Sydney 2
Sydney 3
Sydney 4
Sydney 5 (Blue Mountains)

Did I miss anything important? Please let me know in the comments.

One of my "goals" while I was in Australia was to see every state capital, and I did, I have not written about them all here but if you go to this old post you can find some more info about them and at the bottom of that post there are labels that will take to to all posts about those places.

My friend isn't too bothered about Western Australia, but there is something there I wish I had known about while I was in Australia, I would definitely have gone! Lake Hillier a lake in the south of WA, and it's PINK!! I think I have to go  back! Not something I would have wanted to miss had I known about it! I wonder if they are going to film the last Hunger Games movie there?

(source)

Top places in Australia

Everybody has different places they like in a country, different things they want to see and do and that they want other people to see and do too. Here is the list of what I liked in Australia, which I think other people should see and do too.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think. What are your favourite places in Australia?

Adelaide

• Central Market (cheap food)
• Old Adelaide Gaol
• Blackeby’s Old Sweet Shop
• Migration Museum

Airlie Beach

• Whitsunday Islands, but go for longer than just one day.

Brisbane

• Mt. Coot-tha lookout and botanical gardens
• South Bank
• GOMA
• Australia Zoo

Byron Bay

• The lighthouse

Cairns                                                                        

• Great Barrier Reef, snorkelling is good, but if you can you should go diving and for more than just one day.
• Kuranda Scenic Railway
• Tjapukai Cultural Park
• Daintree Rainforest, get some ice cream from the Daintree Ice Cream Company!

Canberra

• Lovely city just to walk around in and see all the statues and monuments
• Mt. Ainslie, it’s pretty cool how you can see how the city is laid out from up there.

Darwin

• Chinese Temple
• The termite mounds, just the size of them is really impressive!
• Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, they are on a Thursday and Sunday night during the dry season.

Fraser Island

• Lake McKenzie
• The pinnacles
• It’s a personal choice, depending on what you want to see, if you want to go just for a day, which is what I did and thought was enough, or more.

Hobart

• MONA
• Mt. Wellington
• Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, or somewhere else where  you can see the Tasmanian devil
• Port Arthur (I didn’t get to go inside, but I wish I had)
• Salamanca Market

Melbourne

• St. Kilda, for Luna park and the penguins in the evening
• Great Ocean Road
• Just take a walk around the city and look at the street art

Perth

• Clock tower, don’t  necessarily go in, just see it
• King’s gardens
• Freemantle Prison

Port Macquarie

• Koala Sanctuary
• The painted rocks along the esplanade

Sydney

• The Opera House
• Fireworks at Darling Harbour at least once (Awesome on Australia Day)
• Bondi Beach , if you go during winter it’s not too busy
• Harbour Bridge
• Go to Manly and laugh yourself silly because of how they use the name

Yulara

• Uluru
• Kata Tjuta, everybody seems to focus on Uluru, but the Kata Tjutas are definitely worth a visit as well!

Perth - Part 3

Written on: 28.04.12

I went to the library in Perth this morning, figuring the internet would be better than at the hostel so that I could finally post some more of my blog posts that was accumulating on my laptop. The computer area is quite big and there are loads of places to sit and plugs for your laptops. The internet time is limited to four hours. I don’t know if it’s per day or for each time you log on, but that was fine, I didn’t think it would take longer than for hours anyway. It was also a limit to 100MB downloads and 100MB uploads. I never pay attention to what I use, but hoped it would be under.

 The internet was really slow. The slowest internet I’ve encountered in a library. The internet at the hostel was actually better. I’m used to internet at libraries being quicker. But at least I got to post one more of my blog posts and the rest will just have to wait until another time I’ve got proper internet connection.

Written on: 29.04.12

Today I went on a mini road trip with the manager of the hostel. We went to Serpentine Falls and Rockingham.

There were people swimming in Serpentine Falls, I didn’t really feel like it as I’ve just recovered from a bad cold, but it was beautiful just seeing the place. There are normally kangaroos there but because it had been raining heavily this morning they were hiding.

 Rockingham was nice too. We just walked along the beach for a bit and then stopped and had some dinner before going back to the hostel as the manager had to be back there for the evening shift.

Perth seems like an okay city, I’m not really sure how I feel about it. It has more of a big city feel than the rest of the cities in Australia, but maybe that’s just because I’ve spent so much time in smaller places lately. One thing I really don’t like about it is how rubbish it is for pedestrians. Some of the crossings, where there is traffic lights, there is a button to push for pedestrians but no light for pedestrians! So I had to try and look at the lights for the cars and just run across when I thought it would be safe. At some other junctions there wasn’t a pedestrian crossing at all, almost making me wonder if pedestrians weren’t allowed on the other side of that junction.

There are some old buildings here and some new buildings, and some very “modern” new buildings. There seems to be construction work going on everywhere I look. Perth seems to have a lot of plans for the future. I think it would be interesting to go back in 5-10 years and see how much it has changed in that time.

Perth - Part 2

Written on: 27.04.12

I did the second half of the triple tour deluxe today. I got up early and took the bus in to the city from the hostel and then got the ferry from Perth to Freemantle. The ferry ride was really long! And the ferry was SO slow! I think it took about an hour and a half! The captain talked about what we saw along the river and it was quite interesting, I think I just got a bit bored because I didn’t realise it was going to take that long.

 When I got to Fremantle I took the fake tram (it’s just a bus that looks like a tram) to the prison for a guided tour. The tour was really good; the guide was funny and really knew what he was talking about. I wasn’t as affected as I was at Adelaide Gaol, probably because I was in a big group. I got the “Doing Time” tour at the prison, there are a few different tours to choose from, but that’s the one I got on my Triple tour deluxe ticket.

See the jailbirds? Haha!

 The tram picked me up as soon as the prison tour ended and took me to Cicerellos where I got my free lunch. The lunch was fish and chips, but since I don’t eat fish (I wouldn’t eat it even if I wasn’t vegetarian), I asked to just have the chips. It’s still free food. The staff at Cicerellos then actually offered me pineapple rings instead of the fish, which I gladly accepted. The portion was really big and I actually didn’t manage to finish it.

 After lunch I got picked up by the tram again, because I had finished eating early I had about 20 minutes to spare, so I wanted to check out the markets in the city. I tried to find them by going the way the tram driver pointed out but I couldn’t find them, maybe I just didn’t walk far enough. I gave up in the end and just had a look in the shops around where the tram would pick me up again.

 On the ferry on the way back to Perth I saw a few dolphins; unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures of them.

There are 3 different free busses in Perth, the city cat. They have 3 different routes, one of them stops fairly close to the hostel so when I got off the ferry I just hopped straight on that one.

Perth - Part 1

26.04.12

I went to the tourist information centre today and booked the triple tour deluxe. The triple tour deluxe includes a ticket for the double decker city sights bus which goes around Perth and Kings Park, a return scenic river cruise between Perth and Freemantle, a Freemantle tram tour, entry to Freemantle Prison and lunch at Cicerellos restaurant.

I did the Perth and Kings Park city sights bus tour today. I didn’t get off the bus at all, I was happy to just sit on it, I did think about getting off at Kings Park, but the bus did a fairly good tour of it and also it was the second to last bus of the day so I was a little bit worried about not making it back on time for the last one.

Perth seen from Kings Park

The manager of the hostel asked me if I wanted to go on a road trip on Sunday, so I might do that, would be nice to see some other part of WA as well, even if It will still be close to Perth.

Planet Inn Backpackers, Perth

I arrived in Perth around 11pm, I had called Planet Inn Backpackers in advance to ask if they had free airport transfer, which they did, but as I arrived late it might not be available. When I called again when I arrived in the airport in Perth they said that the drivers were incapable of picking me up, but if I took the shuttle, they would pay me the money back for it, which they did and that was nice of them, I didn’t expect that.

When I arrived the girl at reception didn’t really seem to know what she was doing, but I didn’t think much about that as I figured she was just tired, like me.

There was no doona cover, so I got an extra sheet to put between me and the doona, there was no pillow cases so there was another sheet on that as well. I don’t get it, it’s not like it was a surprise that I was coming I booked this hostel ages ago, AND I called them the day I was coming.

There is also no lock on the dorm door. I asked for a key once I had been shown to my dorm, figuring that the girl had forgotten about it, but then she said that the door was usually left unlocked as there were 12 people in there. I didn’t think that was a good excuse, but I thought I’d deal with it in the morning, there were lockable lockers in the room where I could put my valuables anyway. But when I got up in the morning I noticed that there weren’t locks on the door at all! In other words: it’s not POSSIBLE to lock the door!

The dorm I was in has no windows… Or, there is paint on the windows so they don’t let ANY light in! When I wake up in the morning I have no idea what time it is, if the sun is even up! It’s nice to be able to sleep since it’s dark, but I do like to have SOME natural light.

The night I arrived the smoke detector in the dorm kept beeping at regular intervals, not as in the alarm going off, just the battery being low. It was really annoying as it already takes me a while to go to sleep and with that beeping it took me even longer as it would beef and wake me up just as I was about to go to sleep. But they fixed it the next day. There is a ceiling fan in the dorm, but it’s noisy and I can see it wobble when it’s on, and it makes me worry since I’m on the top bunk. I wouldn’t want that to land on me.

One of the showers is okay as it’s in a proper stall of its own, but the two other showers is in one big stall and then just have a shower curtain in front of each shower. 1) I hate getting undressed in front of people and don’t want to have to share one big stall, when I go to gyms I usually wait until I get home with taking a shower. 2) The shower curtain goes into the shower and sticks to me, which is really annoying.  The bathrooms looks really old and horrible and I think they need to be completely re-done. At least the shower pressure is okay.

There is free Wi-Fi at the hostel, but you have to sit really close to the office and even then it’s rubbish, I was hoping to publish my Uluru posts here, but struggled as the internet was too slow to let me do anything.

The hostel is a fair way outside the city, but luckily there is a free bus to take you into the city.

There is a big bookshelf where you can swap books, and there is a big screen TV, the TV has seen better days though, everything on it is orange.

I didn’t really like this hostel, but at least it made me go out and do things every day as I didn’t want to spend more time in it than I had to. I have to admit there is a slight home-y feel to the place, because it’s quite small, but it looks so run-down I would not stay there again. Since you don’t get a key or anything all you need to do is return your bedding to check out.