Australia
June 2003 - April 2004
Australia, land of wide open spaces. And here we are! What an amazing place. We love it. Our first time in Australia and we plan to tour form Melbourne, to Adelaide, up the red center to Darwin, to Cairns and down the East Coast to Sydney - 3 months of blissful sightseeing!
Groovy Grape Tour
After leaving Melbourne, we booked on a bakcpacker tour with Groovy Grape Tours, which would take us from Adelaide to Alice Springs taking 7 days, driving and sleeping in swags at night. A swag is an Austrlain slleping bag with a waxy outer lining that covers your head to keep the elements (or animals) off.
We quickly realised that Australia is vast. Driving in the van for most of the day, it was a relief when we got to our next point of interest and were able to stretch our legs. We visited the world's largest cattle station (Anna Creek), that is geographically larger than some countries, and took a flight over to really understand the magnitude.
Flying over cattle station
Our guide taught us about the history of Australia, both geographical and anthropological, and we even learnt how to mix ocre to use as traditional Aborginial face paints!
From there we headed to Coober Pedy, one of the hottest towns in the world, where temperatures reach over 50C in the summer and the locals live underground to escape the heat. We took an underground tour to learn about the history of Coober Pedy and its opal mining.
Mines!
Dog Fence
This is Ants holding the moon!
Ayres Rock
Called Ayers Rock by settlers, the ownership of the rock was relatively recently transferred to the Aboriginals of the area and it regained its Aboriginal name of Uluru, which means Great Pebble. It is now a sacred sight.
At Ayres Rock
The Olgas
Kings Canyon
CLimbing
Sheer cliff
Darwin
Darwin Sunset
With the girls in Darwin
Barrier Reef
Barrier Reef
Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays
In the jacuzzi
Whitsundays
Sailing on the anaconda
Boat Crew
Whitsundays
Frazer Island
Fraser Coast
Frazer Island
At our camp
Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo
Australia Zoo
Harriet the Galapagos Turtle
With Steve Irwin!
Brisbane and the Goldie!
View over Brisbane with Owen
Goldie
Parakeet
Parakeets, Lots of them!
Climbing the tree
Fishing in the rain with Beanie
Surfers
Out with Aussie Chris
He's a nutter
Aussie Chris in Byron
In Exmouth, WA
Just one of the fantastic sunsets in WA
Major landmark in WA
With a real Wombat!
Karijini Nat. Park, WA, at the bottom of the Z Bend
At the Pinnacles, WA
Hello quokka!
Australia, land of wide open spaces. And here we are! What an amazing place. We love it. Our first time in Australia and we plan to tour form Melbourne, to Adelaide, up the red center to Darwin, to Cairns and down the East Coast to Sydney - 3 months of blissful sightseeing!
Groovy Grape Tour
After leaving Melbourne, we booked on a bakcpacker tour with Groovy Grape Tours, which would take us from Adelaide to Alice Springs taking 7 days, driving and sleeping in swags at night. A swag is an Austrlain slleping bag with a waxy outer lining that covers your head to keep the elements (or animals) off.
We quickly realised that Australia is vast. Driving in the van for most of the day, it was a relief when we got to our next point of interest and were able to stretch our legs. We visited the world's largest cattle station (Anna Creek), that is geographically larger than some countries, and took a flight over to really understand the magnitude.
Flying over cattle station
Our guide taught us about the history of Australia, both geographical and anthropological, and we even learnt how to mix ocre to use as traditional Aborginial face paints!
From there we headed to Coober Pedy, one of the hottest towns in the world, where temperatures reach over 50C in the summer and the locals live underground to escape the heat. We took an underground tour to learn about the history of Coober Pedy and its opal mining.
Mines!
Dog Fence
This is Ants holding the moon!
Ayres Rock
Called Ayers Rock by settlers, the ownership of the rock was relatively recently transferred to the Aboriginals of the area and it regained its Aboriginal name of Uluru, which means Great Pebble. It is now a sacred sight.
At Ayres Rock
The Olgas
Kings Canyon
CLimbing
Sheer cliff
Darwin
Darwin Sunset
With the girls in Darwin
Barrier Reef
Barrier Reef
Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays
In the jacuzzi
Whitsundays
Sailing on the anaconda
Boat Crew
Whitsundays
Frazer Island
Fraser Coast
Frazer Island
At our camp
Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo
Australia Zoo
Harriet the Galapagos Turtle
With Steve Irwin!
Brisbane and the Goldie!
View over Brisbane with Owen
Goldie
Parakeet
Parakeets, Lots of them!
Climbing the tree
Fishing in the rain with Beanie
Surfers
Out with Aussie Chris
He's a nutter
Aussie Chris in Byron
In Exmouth, WA
Just one of the fantastic sunsets in WA
Major landmark in WA
With a real Wombat!
Karijini Nat. Park, WA, at the bottom of the Z Bend
At the Pinnacles, WA
Hello quokka!
posted by Kathryn & Ants at 4:04 pm
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