I really liked Australia. Frankly, it would be really hard to dislike Australia. Obviously, some places were better than others, but it was a very fast 19 days. If you're wondering, I liked my four stops in the following order (favorite to least):
Melbourne > Sydney > Darwin > Alice Springs
I already talked about the things I didn't like. The food wasn't as great as I'd hoped. And the Red Center tour was pretty much a bust, although with different physical conditions and tour guide, it could have been a lot better. (So I wouldn't try to dissuade anyone else from going there.) And the scenery was beautiful, and my photos will remind me of that at least.
I did like meeting people, especially Australians but also fellow travelers. The Australians weren't as friendly as the people from Ghana (no one is lol), but they were easy to approach and liked to talk.
Melbourne and Sydney were both cool, and I could envision myself living in either one (I'd pick Melbourne; I like its Second City inferiority complex lol). I didn't get out and see as much of either city as I'd have liked. In Sydney, it was due to my enjoyment of just staying home for a while (I am a homebody at heart and hadn't realized how much I missed just sitting around for hours on end). And the damn rain. In Melbourne, I just didn't have that much time, and I wanted to take those couple tours outside of the city. I don't regret either tour, but would have liked more time in the city itself.
Even Darwin and Alice Springs were fine for a couple of days each. They were both small towns, and kind of folksy, but I like that. I especially liked The Reptile Center in Alice, and that whole day of hanging out around town with Maartje was a lot of fun.
I think I planned a pretty good itinerary in Australia, and saw several different climates. Wet and forest up north, barren and deserted in the center, beautiful coast along the southeast. This was definitely a country I could have spent more time in. If any of you are thinking of visiting, you could easily spend a whole month there. I'm also glad I booked planes between my four destinations. My travel agent suggested I could save some money by taking buses everywhere (and she was right, tours and Greyhound buses would have gotten me where I wanted to go). But the country is so big, it would have been a real drag and probably a waste of time. I can't imagine taking a 1,000 bus ride from Darwin to Alice Springs, for example.
I knew from books and school that Australia has very unusual wildlife, but I don't think I really got it until I saw it for myself. Kangaroos, wallabees, koalas, crocodiles, little penguins, emus. I didn't see the platypus, but it's there too. And the massive number of dangerous animals, like snakes. I didn't even get to see the Great Barrier Reef or other ocean life, but everyone told me it's amazing. I scoffed a little bit at Australia's quarantine procedures (and I still question whether they work) but I understand more now why Australia at least attempts to keep foreign plants and animals out.
One thing I didn't write about before but I feel like I must to make this a complete journal is the Aboriginies. I know very little about them, except I don't think they've always been treated very well by the european settlers. Oh, and I saw the wonderful movie Rabbit Proof Fence, which is partly the true story about some europeans' efforts to "assimilate" Aboriginies by making them work for white people then basically breeding them out of existence. :( I believe that nowadays, some live in the cities but many still live in traditional ways far from the cities.
I didn't meet many Aboriginies, and of those I did meet, I'm pretty sure all of them were part Aboriginal and part "Australian" (as my tour guide in Litchfield, who was half and half, called himself). Sydney and Melbourne didn't have a lot of Aboriginies at all, so most of those I saw or met were in Alice Springs or Darwin. And, I don't really like saying this, but, the non-integrated Aboriginies sort of scared me. :(
Almost all of the "pure" Aboriginies I saw were drunk, usually sitting around a park or a bus stop or the middle of the sidewalk even. I assume (hope) the kids weren't drunk, but they just sat around too, even at times when I thought they should be in school. In Darwin, my hotel was a few minutes walk outside of the city center. I could have walked on the nice paved walking trail on the west side of the street, but it took me past this Aboriginie hangout that just didn't feel comfortable, so I'd walk on the dirt trail on the east side of the street. I didn't like feeling unsafe (I kept thinking about that scene in Hairspray when Prudence Pingleton accidentally wandered into downtown Baltimore), but before I began my trip, I said I would listen to my feelings that said something was unsafe, and I would avoid it. So I didn't walkt too close to the Aboriginies, despite wondering if I really needed to be worried.
But then... On the morning my Red Center tour left Alice Springs, we were all sitting in the tour bus just outside the downtown tour office. Our guide was standing in the open door of the bus, giving us some background about the tour. Keep in mind, it was 7 am. An Aboriginie wandered up and asked if he could use the guide's cell phone because "Some guys just tried to stab me." He wasn't in a hurry or bleeding or anything; he just casually mentioned he'd almost been stabbed (a story that didn't jibe with his demeanor). So. The guide sent him on his way then closed the bus door.
About 2 minutes later, four Aboriginies came running up the sidewalk and got in a fight right outside the bus! A real fight! At 7 in the morning! Kicking, punching, etc. It looked pretty sloppy, so I don't know that anyone got hurt. And I assume they were drunk, which wouldn't have improved their aim. But who knows. In the bus, we all just sat there, staring open-mouthed. I mean, who's actually seen a fight since high school? After a couple of minutes the four men ran off. Apparently, this sort of thing is a regular occurance in Alice Springs.
So, the Aboriginies didn't change my opinion of Australia, because they were mostly on the cusp of my experiences there. I feel sorry for them collectively, because I know they weren't always treated very well. But it was hard to feel sorry for the people I saw because it just didn't feel safe being around them.
Melbourne > Sydney > Darwin > Alice Springs
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| Melbourne |
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| View from the Great Ocean Road. |
Melbourne and Sydney were both cool, and I could envision myself living in either one (I'd pick Melbourne; I like its Second City inferiority complex lol). I didn't get out and see as much of either city as I'd have liked. In Sydney, it was due to my enjoyment of just staying home for a while (I am a homebody at heart and hadn't realized how much I missed just sitting around for hours on end). And the damn rain. In Melbourne, I just didn't have that much time, and I wanted to take those couple tours outside of the city. I don't regret either tour, but would have liked more time in the city itself.
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| Sydney: A tribute to its convict heritage. |
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| Darwin |
I knew from books and school that Australia has very unusual wildlife, but I don't think I really got it until I saw it for myself. Kangaroos, wallabees, koalas, crocodiles, little penguins, emus. I didn't see the platypus, but it's there too. And the massive number of dangerous animals, like snakes. I didn't even get to see the Great Barrier Reef or other ocean life, but everyone told me it's amazing. I scoffed a little bit at Australia's quarantine procedures (and I still question whether they work) but I understand more now why Australia at least attempts to keep foreign plants and animals out.
I didn't meet many Aboriginies, and of those I did meet, I'm pretty sure all of them were part Aboriginal and part "Australian" (as my tour guide in Litchfield, who was half and half, called himself). Sydney and Melbourne didn't have a lot of Aboriginies at all, so most of those I saw or met were in Alice Springs or Darwin. And, I don't really like saying this, but, the non-integrated Aboriginies sort of scared me. :(
Almost all of the "pure" Aboriginies I saw were drunk, usually sitting around a park or a bus stop or the middle of the sidewalk even. I assume (hope) the kids weren't drunk, but they just sat around too, even at times when I thought they should be in school. In Darwin, my hotel was a few minutes walk outside of the city center. I could have walked on the nice paved walking trail on the west side of the street, but it took me past this Aboriginie hangout that just didn't feel comfortable, so I'd walk on the dirt trail on the east side of the street. I didn't like feeling unsafe (I kept thinking about that scene in Hairspray when Prudence Pingleton accidentally wandered into downtown Baltimore), but before I began my trip, I said I would listen to my feelings that said something was unsafe, and I would avoid it. So I didn't walkt too close to the Aboriginies, despite wondering if I really needed to be worried.
But then... On the morning my Red Center tour left Alice Springs, we were all sitting in the tour bus just outside the downtown tour office. Our guide was standing in the open door of the bus, giving us some background about the tour. Keep in mind, it was 7 am. An Aboriginie wandered up and asked if he could use the guide's cell phone because "Some guys just tried to stab me." He wasn't in a hurry or bleeding or anything; he just casually mentioned he'd almost been stabbed (a story that didn't jibe with his demeanor). So. The guide sent him on his way then closed the bus door.
About 2 minutes later, four Aboriginies came running up the sidewalk and got in a fight right outside the bus! A real fight! At 7 in the morning! Kicking, punching, etc. It looked pretty sloppy, so I don't know that anyone got hurt. And I assume they were drunk, which wouldn't have improved their aim. But who knows. In the bus, we all just sat there, staring open-mouthed. I mean, who's actually seen a fight since high school? After a couple of minutes the four men ran off. Apparently, this sort of thing is a regular occurance in Alice Springs.
So, the Aboriginies didn't change my opinion of Australia, because they were mostly on the cusp of my experiences there. I feel sorry for them collectively, because I know they weren't always treated very well. But it was hard to feel sorry for the people I saw because it just didn't feel safe being around them.
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