Author: travel_ri8ksv

I got myself an Ethernet cable from the desk here, because I don’t want to have to upload several hundred photos at once. At least I was able to put up the pictures from the tour – as always all are available from Flickr.

Had a lovely, lovely time on the tour to Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta (previously known as the Olgas) and of course Uluru. The group was a bunch of nice people and, although the nights outside were freezing, it was an awesome experience. Then I took the Ghan up the Darwin, where I’ll be until Sunday, when I’m heading down the west coast to Broome. I’m having a good time here, hanging out with girls I met on the train and yesterday on our daytrip to Litchfield National Park, where we got to swim in lovely cool waterfalls…

I wanted to share the many incredible pictures I took, but the internet is very slow today, so I think I’ll try again tomorrow. Here are two photos I managed to upload, from Kings Canyon:

The journey on the Ghan was just as I’d expected – the 25 hours passed quickly and the only not-so-great thing was that I didn’t have two seats to myself and it got quite cold at night. Trains are just so much more suited to long distance trips than buses or planes, I’m looking quite forward to the trip from Alice Springs to Darwin!

Anyway, I’m now in the red centre of Australia. The train crossed miles and miles of nothing but red sand and shrubs, and the country around Alice Springs is just how one imagines Australia to be – including kangaroos and other wildlife right at your doorstep. This I learned today when I did some nice bush walks in the area, because the tour I’d booked was full and so I’m leaving tomorrow and will get back to Alice only with enough time to grab my bags at the hostel and go to the train station instead of spending another night and most of the day here on Monday. At first I was quite annoyed, but it’s hard to be in a bad mood when the sun is shining brightly and it’s warm enough to walk around in sandals and a t-shirt (although the wind is quite cold and nights are icy).

As always, here are all photos on Flickr.

It’s not a very impressive city, not in the way that makes me take a lot of photos at least, but me and Lauren had a good time here nevertheless. Sunday night we went out to dinner with Mike and Lulu from the tour, because they both left on another tour to Alice Springs early the next morning. Monday we went to a shopping mall to buy some gloves and hats for the cold desert nights around Uluru and then checked out the pretty little seaside town of Glenelg.

I also had to organize my trip down the west coast, which proved much more difficult than expected because Greyhound runs only irregularly, much to my dismay. I’ll have to spend a couple of nights on the bus and only managed to fit in two stops (3 nights each, in Broome and Monkey Mia respectively). But at least those two stops I’m really looking forward to.

Tuesday we wanted to go to a Wildlife Park, but the weather was less than ideal, so we checked out the Central Market instead and then visited the historical Ayers Mansion, which was very interesting. In the evening we went to see the new Batman movie in the theatre – Lauren loathed it, I quite enjoyed it, and we both thought Heath Ledger was brilliant in his last role. Afterwards goodbye drinks at a pub, and early this morning Lauren left on another Oz Experience tour to Alice Springs. I’ll hopefully be meeting her and a couple of others when I’m up in Darwin.

This morning I’m packing my things for the 25 hours on the Ghan train to Alice Springs, which I’m quite looking forward to. As always, all photos can be found here on Flickr.

Arrived in Adelaide in one piece last night, after a packed 3 days with Oz Experience. It was a blast, not just because of the stunning landscapes of the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians, but also because we were an awesome group of people – 13 altogether, plus our guide Kate. We all got on like a house on fire, which made it all that much better.

But first I need to recap the last days in Melbourne: I spent some more time exploring the city, including the Botanical Gardens, the Queen Victoria Market and the Shrine of Remembrance (war memorial). I also took a tour of a lovely historical home, Como House, and looked at an impressive Art Deco exhibition at the National Museum.

Then the tour: The first day we drove along the Great Ocean Road to the famous 12 Apostles. On the way we saw wild koalas, cockatoos and parrots, took a walk among the tree tops at Otway (nothing for people with vertigo) and generally got to know each other. In the hostel in tiny little Princetown we met a tour going the other way (Adelaide – Melbourne), including a Swiss girl from the Valais (yay for Swiss German! *g*). The second day we left the coast (lots of wind and rain – and rainbows!) and drove to the Grampians, where we did a hike in the Wonderland, which was great but incredibly windy. That night we stayed at the best hostel EVER, in Halls Gap. The third day consisted of another hike (or rather, mountain climb, as we had to go on hands and knees for most of it) up Hollow Mountain and then a long drive to Adelaide, leaving Victoria behind for South Australia. We saw emus, wallabies, kangaroos (including albino ones) – and naked men… *g*

In Adelaide a bunch of us (Lauren, Layla, Mike and I) ended up at the YHA and we met up with a few others for dinner that night. Us three girls then proceeded to buy matching t-shirts to commemorate the tour and the almost-loss of four backpacks when Kate forgot to close the trailer!

Today we had to say goodbye to Layla and then Lauren and I met up with Tom, Sonja’s husband from Melbourne, in town for business, and we went to the Botanical Gardens and the South Australia Museum. We also bumped into three people from the tour – Alan & Jane from Scotland and Kim from Korea, and tonight we’ll meet up with our French girl Lucile for dinner. Altogether I’m having a simply marvelous time! Stay tuned for more exciting adventures, and in the meantime enjoy the photos on my Flickr…

I finally arrived on Saturday, after Rathy was nice enough to bring me to the airport at 4 in the morning. My friend Sonja came to pick me up, and since then I’ve been staying with her and her lovely family in a suburb of Melbourne, full with cute little Victorian worker’s cottages. Their house, for example, is only one room wide, built a little like a train. Sonja and her husband Tom both speak German, so we get to have secret conversations in front of the two boys (Sean and Yannik) a lot. *g*

I’ve also been exploring the city a bit, walking around the CBD (Central Business District), which is full of beautiful old buildings in between modern skyscrapers. There’s also trams going everywhere, so I feel right at home. 🙂 Another thing I like about Melbourne are the many, many parks – when they planned the city in the mid-1800s, they sure did a good job.

There are also some nice museums – on Sunday, when the weather was bad, we went to the Melbourne Museum, and yesterday I spent some time at the State Library, looking at a beautiful exhibition of old books. The family also took me to Williamstown on the sea, where I got a lovely look at the Melbourne skyline.

The new Flickr album can be found here. Now I have two more days here, which I intend to put to good use.