Saturday, 28 March 2009
New Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/philippagraceroberts/AustraliaPart2?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-3vtixzJ_kmAE# Part 2 of the Aussie photos :)
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
End of Blue Mountains - to the Hunter valley
I left the Blue Mountains Wednesday morning (5am !) with Karen a girl who had been staying in the hostel. The last couple of days in the Blue mountains were really good. the last night in the Blue mountains the owner of the farm threw a leaving BBQ for me and another WWOOFer as well as offering me a permanent position (not sure giving up England for the life of a cow girl is really too sensible - but strangely tempting!)
The train down from teh Blue Mountains was really pretty, we had a fantastic view of the sun rising over the mountains and then saw some of the Sydney sky line bathed in a glorious orange. Unfortunately the early hour of my waking meant that the coach journey up the the Hunter was lost to sleep... Upon arriving at the hostel we had just enough time to drop off our bags and get a cup of tea before setting out for a tour of the local wineries. We started at the Draytons family winery which is the oldest the the Hunter Valley (and used to fill the whole valley before it was split up amongst various family members). The Cellar door is quite famous due to an explosion in 2008 which killed 2 people and blew the whole front of hte property off when someone welding one of the fermentation vats didn't account for an excess of gas given off during the process. the property has now been repaired but it still had that new paint smell... The Hunter Valley is mainly famous for the its semmilon grapes as well as some chardonnays (red wines do grow here but apparently not as well), so we tasted lots of lovely white wines and a couple of really nice sparkling ones. Next stop was the Lindemans/Rosemount winery (one of the big Australian exporters to the UK) - I wasn't expecting much as these brands in the UK are not always that great - however the none-export stuff was actually quite nice! We visited a further 2 wineries and then a cheese factory (bought some lovely soft blue cheese : ) before heading back to the hostel.
The original plan was to stay the night and then go back to Sydney Thursday morning - however I am still here! Wednesday night we met a lot of glider pilots who had come up to fly in the Hunter valley at Cessnock airfield. One of the boys was flying P2 on Thursday and after a quick look at my log book he offered me his glider to fly a lead and follow. So yesterday I had a beautiful flight over the hunter valley and soaring the edge of the western mountains before landing out about 20km from home (220km flown) in a rain storm! I was however able to land in a vineyard which is an experience to remember... The retrieve took quite awhile as everyone except the 2 seater had landed out. All in all it was quite a good flight and some lovely views.
Today I will catch the coach back to Sydney, but will probably hire a bike in the morning as the views are lovely and the coach doesn't leave until 4:45.
The train down from teh Blue Mountains was really pretty, we had a fantastic view of the sun rising over the mountains and then saw some of the Sydney sky line bathed in a glorious orange. Unfortunately the early hour of my waking meant that the coach journey up the the Hunter was lost to sleep... Upon arriving at the hostel we had just enough time to drop off our bags and get a cup of tea before setting out for a tour of the local wineries. We started at the Draytons family winery which is the oldest the the Hunter Valley (and used to fill the whole valley before it was split up amongst various family members). The Cellar door is quite famous due to an explosion in 2008 which killed 2 people and blew the whole front of hte property off when someone welding one of the fermentation vats didn't account for an excess of gas given off during the process. the property has now been repaired but it still had that new paint smell... The Hunter Valley is mainly famous for the its semmilon grapes as well as some chardonnays (red wines do grow here but apparently not as well), so we tasted lots of lovely white wines and a couple of really nice sparkling ones. Next stop was the Lindemans/Rosemount winery (one of the big Australian exporters to the UK) - I wasn't expecting much as these brands in the UK are not always that great - however the none-export stuff was actually quite nice! We visited a further 2 wineries and then a cheese factory (bought some lovely soft blue cheese : ) before heading back to the hostel.
The original plan was to stay the night and then go back to Sydney Thursday morning - however I am still here! Wednesday night we met a lot of glider pilots who had come up to fly in the Hunter valley at Cessnock airfield. One of the boys was flying P2 on Thursday and after a quick look at my log book he offered me his glider to fly a lead and follow. So yesterday I had a beautiful flight over the hunter valley and soaring the edge of the western mountains before landing out about 20km from home (220km flown) in a rain storm! I was however able to land in a vineyard which is an experience to remember... The retrieve took quite awhile as everyone except the 2 seater had landed out. All in all it was quite a good flight and some lovely views.
Today I will catch the coach back to Sydney, but will probably hire a bike in the morning as the views are lovely and the coach doesn't leave until 4:45.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Blue Mountain Fun
I caught the train up to the Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on Monday morning (after a stop to find an opticians to mend my glasses). The train journey is a very leisurely 2 hours (the bus only takes 40mins!), but it is nice to watch the changing scenery from inner city Sydney to typical Australian suburbia and then out into the national park and some fabulous views. Even through the suburbia the views were surprisingly pretty, it was only as I neared Katoomba that I realised that everything is green! I've not seen proper green since leaving the UK, nothing quite compares to the sight of vegetation that is watered by rain and not a sprinkler system. It instantly lifted my spirits and actually made me laugh out loud (the couple of opposite me held on tightly to their bags at this point...)
I was met at the train station by my WWOOF-ing host who explained that I was required to work for 3.5 hours either starting at 7:30am, 9am or 6pm, there are 2 other WWOOFers here and we swop the shifts between us. The work is mainly cleaning in the attached guest house or mucking out the horses and very easy!
The best part of my stay here is the amazing bush walks and horse treks I've been on. The area is heavily forested with temperate rain forest. The forest is so thick in places that humans have never walked into some gorges. As you can imagine this means there is some really interesting wildlife - including my favourite the black cockatoo and the lyre bird (which drags its tail around the forest making you think that someone is following you - not so much fun until you realise what it is!). I've spent each day doing 3-4 hour bush hiking or horse treks (some of the land is too steep for horses so we left them and proceeded on foot).
My favourite place so far has been the trip down to Wentworth falls, the path starts on a lovely level board walk along the small cascades (where all teh Japanese tourists and the tour groups stop for photos and picnic breaks. If you carry on past these the path gets gradually steeper until you reach a drop of 600m with stone steps cut into the cliff, at the bottom of these is an amazing view up the falls. Carrying on further along a path cut in the tree you reach a small metal 'rope' type ladder - it took a lot of persuading but eventually I plucked up the courage to climb down this for a further 300m. The view at the bottom was amazing. We ( a fellow WWOOFer and me) were met by a glorious rock pool surrounded by rainforest vegetation and birds - with 300m of water fall cascading into the pool (think ''herbal essence'' advert but better. After stripping off for a swim we followed a rather difficult path along the bottom of the cliff to climb up a waterfall with natural steps at the other side.
On another day we pony treked along a pass that was origionally built to ferry coal from the mine up the mountain. teh path wove around the base of the cliff going past many waterfalls and small water holes as well as past the eneterance ot long abandoned coal mines. After 2 hours of riding we reached the bottom of hte ruined castle hill and left the horses by a watering hole. It then took 1 hour to scramble up the rock face of the hill to the top of the hill to be rewarede with the most amazing views. The views however were spoilt by a huge bushfire headin in our direction. The wind was not very strong and the temperatures were quite cool so we weren't really worried but I rang hte mountain hut for advice as to which way the fire was travelling and whether we needed to get off the mountain asap! Apparently the fire was coming right for us but was under control and not travelling very fast - however we were advised to leave the bush and head back for town. What followed was a very nervewracking bottom slide down the rock face and a quick trot along the track back to town. The fires reached were we were this morning 3 days after we left in such a hurry!! (The fires were part of a national park back burnign sceme to keep the amount of fuel down by intentionally lighting fires on low risk days to stop a large fire coming through on a hig risk day). Still this provided a little more excitement tha I would normally like!
Other paths have been equally spectacular (and adventurous).
The town of Katoomba itself is a rather cute 1920's town with a rather hippy Bohemian feel to it. Possibly one of my favourite places in Australia that I've visited so far. As for the place I'm staying, the attached guest house is really nice and friendly and I've spent the evenings sat outside around the fire toasting dough ball (a recipe given to me by a fellow traveller) and drinking mulled wine... :) I will stay here until next Wednesday when I will maybe go to the Hunter Valley for two nights before going back to Sydney.
I was met at the train station by my WWOOF-ing host who explained that I was required to work for 3.5 hours either starting at 7:30am, 9am or 6pm, there are 2 other WWOOFers here and we swop the shifts between us. The work is mainly cleaning in the attached guest house or mucking out the horses and very easy!
The best part of my stay here is the amazing bush walks and horse treks I've been on. The area is heavily forested with temperate rain forest. The forest is so thick in places that humans have never walked into some gorges. As you can imagine this means there is some really interesting wildlife - including my favourite the black cockatoo and the lyre bird (which drags its tail around the forest making you think that someone is following you - not so much fun until you realise what it is!). I've spent each day doing 3-4 hour bush hiking or horse treks (some of the land is too steep for horses so we left them and proceeded on foot).
My favourite place so far has been the trip down to Wentworth falls, the path starts on a lovely level board walk along the small cascades (where all teh Japanese tourists and the tour groups stop for photos and picnic breaks. If you carry on past these the path gets gradually steeper until you reach a drop of 600m with stone steps cut into the cliff, at the bottom of these is an amazing view up the falls. Carrying on further along a path cut in the tree you reach a small metal 'rope' type ladder - it took a lot of persuading but eventually I plucked up the courage to climb down this for a further 300m. The view at the bottom was amazing. We ( a fellow WWOOFer and me) were met by a glorious rock pool surrounded by rainforest vegetation and birds - with 300m of water fall cascading into the pool (think ''herbal essence'' advert but better. After stripping off for a swim we followed a rather difficult path along the bottom of the cliff to climb up a waterfall with natural steps at the other side.
On another day we pony treked along a pass that was origionally built to ferry coal from the mine up the mountain. teh path wove around the base of the cliff going past many waterfalls and small water holes as well as past the eneterance ot long abandoned coal mines. After 2 hours of riding we reached the bottom of hte ruined castle hill and left the horses by a watering hole. It then took 1 hour to scramble up the rock face of the hill to the top of the hill to be rewarede with the most amazing views. The views however were spoilt by a huge bushfire headin in our direction. The wind was not very strong and the temperatures were quite cool so we weren't really worried but I rang hte mountain hut for advice as to which way the fire was travelling and whether we needed to get off the mountain asap! Apparently the fire was coming right for us but was under control and not travelling very fast - however we were advised to leave the bush and head back for town. What followed was a very nervewracking bottom slide down the rock face and a quick trot along the track back to town. The fires reached were we were this morning 3 days after we left in such a hurry!! (The fires were part of a national park back burnign sceme to keep the amount of fuel down by intentionally lighting fires on low risk days to stop a large fire coming through on a hig risk day). Still this provided a little more excitement tha I would normally like!
Other paths have been equally spectacular (and adventurous).
The town of Katoomba itself is a rather cute 1920's town with a rather hippy Bohemian feel to it. Possibly one of my favourite places in Australia that I've visited so far. As for the place I'm staying, the attached guest house is really nice and friendly and I've spent the evenings sat outside around the fire toasting dough ball (a recipe given to me by a fellow traveller) and drinking mulled wine... :) I will stay here until next Wednesday when I will maybe go to the Hunter Valley for two nights before going back to Sydney.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Tonight I will be your glamorous assistant :)
I made it to Sydney this morning and am writing this while sheltering from some pretty impressive thunder storms! I have one night in Sydney and then catch the train up to Katoomba tomorrow morning where I will be met by my WWOOF-ing host. I'm using the time to do some paperwork :( and start planning for the next stage of my trip.
My last day in Adelaide was great fun, I met up with a comedian, a hurdy gurdy player and a magician in the hostel who were performing at the fringe. The magician recognised me as my mums daughter! He used to be based in Lancashire and performed at the great Lancashire show with mum about 10 years ago (small world huh?) Anyway I spent the afternoon and the evening in the Garden of unearthly desires which is one of the venues for the fringe, soaking up the free street shows and sneaking backstage at some of the musical events. the day was made even better byt he free food and drink circulating to keep everyone entertained (I've now fully completed the transition to backpacker as free things make my day - especially free food!) I even had a try at performing myself as my magician friends audience helper (nothing too exciting I helped fasten the padlock for his Houdini-esk escape act and helped with some card tricks.
Oh well the rain is now stopping so I shall make my way back from the harbour and to the center of town. More from the Blue Mountains...
p.s. my Aussie accent must be getting better - someone accused me of being from Sydney on the plane this morning.
My last day in Adelaide was great fun, I met up with a comedian, a hurdy gurdy player and a magician in the hostel who were performing at the fringe. The magician recognised me as my mums daughter! He used to be based in Lancashire and performed at the great Lancashire show with mum about 10 years ago (small world huh?) Anyway I spent the afternoon and the evening in the Garden of unearthly desires which is one of the venues for the fringe, soaking up the free street shows and sneaking backstage at some of the musical events. the day was made even better byt he free food and drink circulating to keep everyone entertained (I've now fully completed the transition to backpacker as free things make my day - especially free food!) I even had a try at performing myself as my magician friends audience helper (nothing too exciting I helped fasten the padlock for his Houdini-esk escape act and helped with some card tricks.
Oh well the rain is now stopping so I shall make my way back from the harbour and to the center of town. More from the Blue Mountains...
p.s. my Aussie accent must be getting better - someone accused me of being from Sydney on the plane this morning.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Firework farewell and onwards to Adelaide
I spent the last day in Melbourne enjoying the the Moomba festival - I may have mentioned that thw festival had everything from waterskiing events to new Australian music and a firework display each evening. The fireworks were fantastic, they were let off on barges along the river bank, so they were shown against the Melbourne sky-line. Each rocket and fountain was timed perfectly to a version of Beethovans Moonlight sonata (cheesy but still one of my favourites) played on flamenco guitar with a didgeridoo accompaniment (surprisingly worked very well). Definately a highlight to leave Melbourne with!
The next day we left for the Great Ocean Road, the road was built to improve tourism access to the coastline and was planned before the first world war. The construction was put off until after the war primerily to provide jobs for soldiers returning from the battlefields. The road travels through some amazing scenery on the surfers coastline and then through to the shipwreck coastline, winding up over hills and along the beach. There were lots of motorcyclists and bicycles which looked like an amazing way to do the route. We spent the first day visitng beaches along teh surfers coast and the second day along teh shipwreck coast taking in famous sights such as the 12 apostles, loch ard gorge and a great blast from the past the light house from the childrens TV series "round the twist"!
Aside from the fantastic scenery we also saw loads of wildlife. Including lots of Koala bears, kangaroos and a fur seal.
I also heard and saw the Koala bears mating - which is possibly the most disturbing thing I have witnessed for a long time.
It starts with the males letting out a growl which sounds cross between a donkey braying and what I imagine a grizzly sounds like (surprisingly loud and scary sounding for such a small fluffy creature!) The females then reply with what sounds like a babies cry (the sort that makes everyone in the room cringe and shiver with worry). The male koala then walks along and climbs the females tree each of them calling out all the time (Koalas are not fast movers so this can take some time - and the one I was watching fell asleep in the middle...) Upon reaching teh female the male bear starts scratching biting and pulling the female from the tree (her screeming all the way down - according to the ranger this is a sign of pleasure but it sounded and looked much more menaching!) Once on the ground the couple I was watching then fell asleep for 30 mins before starting up again - All this while I was trying to sleep (the dangers of camping in the woods i presume)
I the evening we also took a walk round the temperate rainforest north of Apollo bay, including seeing teh glow in the dark fungus and glow worms - really quite cool (the photo of them is not so exciting though, it looks like i've just drawn a green line on a black piece of paper).
I arrived in Adelaide this morning at 6:30am SA time and did my washing while waiting for sunrise to explore the city. Its the Adelaide fringe festival at the mo, so there were lodas of buskers on the streets and tonight i'm going to see the didgeridoo man perform at the pub opposite the hostel (Oxford people will recognise this guy as the man who busks on Cornmarket street every summer with the didge and the tambula). Adelaids streets are strangely pretty as one of the few cities in Australia where the founders built in stone rather than wood - everything has a colonial feel.
i have one more day in Adelaide then off to the Blue Mountains for my WWOOFing post. I'll probably stay there for a week before heading back into Sydney for my last week in Australia.
The next day we left for the Great Ocean Road, the road was built to improve tourism access to the coastline and was planned before the first world war. The construction was put off until after the war primerily to provide jobs for soldiers returning from the battlefields. The road travels through some amazing scenery on the surfers coastline and then through to the shipwreck coastline, winding up over hills and along the beach. There were lots of motorcyclists and bicycles which looked like an amazing way to do the route. We spent the first day visitng beaches along teh surfers coast and the second day along teh shipwreck coast taking in famous sights such as the 12 apostles, loch ard gorge and a great blast from the past the light house from the childrens TV series "round the twist"!
Aside from the fantastic scenery we also saw loads of wildlife. Including lots of Koala bears, kangaroos and a fur seal.
I also heard and saw the Koala bears mating - which is possibly the most disturbing thing I have witnessed for a long time.
It starts with the males letting out a growl which sounds cross between a donkey braying and what I imagine a grizzly sounds like (surprisingly loud and scary sounding for such a small fluffy creature!) The females then reply with what sounds like a babies cry (the sort that makes everyone in the room cringe and shiver with worry). The male koala then walks along and climbs the females tree each of them calling out all the time (Koalas are not fast movers so this can take some time - and the one I was watching fell asleep in the middle...) Upon reaching teh female the male bear starts scratching biting and pulling the female from the tree (her screeming all the way down - according to the ranger this is a sign of pleasure but it sounded and looked much more menaching!) Once on the ground the couple I was watching then fell asleep for 30 mins before starting up again - All this while I was trying to sleep (the dangers of camping in the woods i presume)
I the evening we also took a walk round the temperate rainforest north of Apollo bay, including seeing teh glow in the dark fungus and glow worms - really quite cool (the photo of them is not so exciting though, it looks like i've just drawn a green line on a black piece of paper).
I arrived in Adelaide this morning at 6:30am SA time and did my washing while waiting for sunrise to explore the city. Its the Adelaide fringe festival at the mo, so there were lodas of buskers on the streets and tonight i'm going to see the didgeridoo man perform at the pub opposite the hostel (Oxford people will recognise this guy as the man who busks on Cornmarket street every summer with the didge and the tambula). Adelaids streets are strangely pretty as one of the few cities in Australia where the founders built in stone rather than wood - everything has a colonial feel.
i have one more day in Adelaide then off to the Blue Mountains for my WWOOFing post. I'll probably stay there for a week before heading back into Sydney for my last week in Australia.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Keep left to turn right!
I have just spent the day cycling round a city with possibly the most confusing traffic laws in the entire western world! At one point I was so confused by where I was meant to be that i cycled round the block 3 times - with the people in the cafe watching with increasing amusement. The source of my confusement is Melbournes famous right hook turn. Drivers wishing to turn right at certain junctions (not all - that would be too easy) move into the left lane and then wait in the middle of the junction until all other traffic has gone through before crossing the middle of the junction to turn right. to make maters more confusing cyclists are expected to follow suit at some junctions and are expected to utilise the pedestrian/cyclist crossing at other junctions (no warning as to which is which until you reach the traffic lights). Apparently the reasoning behind such madness is actually quite sound - Melbourne has quite a comprehensive system of trams (riding trams and buying tram tickets is also unnecessarily confusing), cars waiting on the left leave room for the trams to go through... needless to say this meant that as well as looking out for cars attacking me from the right to turn left I had to look to the left for cars going right!
Once I'd figured out how to turn right (I decided the safest option was to always get off and push!) i had quite a pleasant cycle ride down the river and then along the coast to St. Kilder. St. Kilder is a beach type resort suburb on the south of Melbourne. There is a beautiful Victorian pier with a kiosk (good for hot chocolate and shelter from the cold wind) and an old fashioned Blackpool like rollarcoaster! I found a gloriously foodie cafe on the Esplanade and settled down to a fish breakfast (highly unhealthy but really yummy). There is also an art and craft market there every Sunday which is why I set off to the beach with an overcast sky. I nearly purchased a fantastic painting of the Melbourne sky line and a really pretty didgeridoo, however sense kicked in as I mentally calculated the cost and hassle of shipping a 6ftx3ft canvas and a 3.5ft 'didge' home to England...
After I had exhausted St. Kilder (about 30 mins before the sun came out which would have made a beach day very enjoyable!) i left to cycle back to the river and to explore the Moomba water festival. this is Melbourne's largest free festival with everything from water skiing competitions (quite impressive), fun fair rides, kiosk food and the obligatory children's entertainers - (I was picked on by a man dressed in a gnome costume who made me dance to the bob the builder theme tune!) I then found the music corner and listened to quite a good swing band - I even danced without the help of the man in the gnome costume!
Yesterday was my Phillip Island trip mainly to watch the penguin parade. Every evening at sunset hundred of fairy penguins (now to be called little penguins because the gay rights activists complained to the Victorian parliament!) waddle out of the water and walk up to their nests. They are possibly the cutest penguins I've ever seen - thought admittedly my penguin knowledge is fairly limited!) Before they pluck up the courage to walk across teh beach (the most dangerous part as they are totally exposed) they get in and out of the water a couple of times. Its really quite funny to watch as they waddle out of hte water and then scurry back in only to be knocked over by a wave. Once they have plucked up the courage to wander across the beach they head up the sand dunes to their nests in the thick scrub bushes. Its amazing to think that these little birds know exactly where to go and are unperturbed by hundreds of tourists wandering amongst them and trying to take photos (photos aren't allowed as the flashes hurt the penguins eyes so I can't post pictures here :( ). The day trip also included cuddling a koala bear and trying to find wild wombats (I am a most unskilled wombat spotter!).
Oh well I have one more day in Melbourne before the great ocean road to Adelaide (via the Grampians too). I will probably not be able to update the blog on tour but I will keep notes. On another now I now have over 900 photos - I will be looking for volunteers to sit through the slide show when I get home ;)
Once I'd figured out how to turn right (I decided the safest option was to always get off and push!) i had quite a pleasant cycle ride down the river and then along the coast to St. Kilder. St. Kilder is a beach type resort suburb on the south of Melbourne. There is a beautiful Victorian pier with a kiosk (good for hot chocolate and shelter from the cold wind) and an old fashioned Blackpool like rollarcoaster! I found a gloriously foodie cafe on the Esplanade and settled down to a fish breakfast (highly unhealthy but really yummy). There is also an art and craft market there every Sunday which is why I set off to the beach with an overcast sky. I nearly purchased a fantastic painting of the Melbourne sky line and a really pretty didgeridoo, however sense kicked in as I mentally calculated the cost and hassle of shipping a 6ftx3ft canvas and a 3.5ft 'didge' home to England...
After I had exhausted St. Kilder (about 30 mins before the sun came out which would have made a beach day very enjoyable!) i left to cycle back to the river and to explore the Moomba water festival. this is Melbourne's largest free festival with everything from water skiing competitions (quite impressive), fun fair rides, kiosk food and the obligatory children's entertainers - (I was picked on by a man dressed in a gnome costume who made me dance to the bob the builder theme tune!) I then found the music corner and listened to quite a good swing band - I even danced without the help of the man in the gnome costume!
Yesterday was my Phillip Island trip mainly to watch the penguin parade. Every evening at sunset hundred of fairy penguins (now to be called little penguins because the gay rights activists complained to the Victorian parliament!) waddle out of the water and walk up to their nests. They are possibly the cutest penguins I've ever seen - thought admittedly my penguin knowledge is fairly limited!) Before they pluck up the courage to walk across teh beach (the most dangerous part as they are totally exposed) they get in and out of the water a couple of times. Its really quite funny to watch as they waddle out of hte water and then scurry back in only to be knocked over by a wave. Once they have plucked up the courage to wander across the beach they head up the sand dunes to their nests in the thick scrub bushes. Its amazing to think that these little birds know exactly where to go and are unperturbed by hundreds of tourists wandering amongst them and trying to take photos (photos aren't allowed as the flashes hurt the penguins eyes so I can't post pictures here :( ). The day trip also included cuddling a koala bear and trying to find wild wombats (I am a most unskilled wombat spotter!).
Oh well I have one more day in Melbourne before the great ocean road to Adelaide (via the Grampians too). I will probably not be able to update the blog on tour but I will keep notes. On another now I now have over 900 photos - I will be looking for volunteers to sit through the slide show when I get home ;)
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