Wildlife
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| the famous tasmanian devil |
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| a baby wombat - how adorable! |
Of course, when you think of Australia, certain animals
come to mind. I saw a few animals in the wild, especially when I was hiking –
such as lizards, birds, and echidnas. But to really see the famous ones, I had
to visit a wildlife sanctuary in Tasmania. Here, I saw Tasmanian devils,
touched a koala, and fed the kangaroos (apparently, feeding kangaroos is not
particularly special for aussies, but it was my first time to try it, and it
was awesome!). I also saw some koalas while on a tour on the great ocean road
near Melbourne, and a couple of cockroaches in my various hostels (yikes!).
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| i actually got to touch this koala! |
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| feeding a kangaroo |
Although Australia is known for its deadly animals, I
didn’t run across any on this trip (no sharks, jellyfish, snakes, etc.) However,
I was surprised by the number of flies I saw on this trip. Especially near
Melbourne, there were flies everywhere – very annoying!
Nature
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| view from the top of Mt. Wellington |
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| view from Mt. Wellington |
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| "tall trees" hike |
I made it a priority to do as much bushwalking (aka
hiking) as I could during my trip through Australia. From hiking in the Blue
Mountains near Sydney, to climbing Mt. Wellington in Tasmania, to walking the
trails at the Dandenong Mountains near Melbourne, I tried my test to cram 5
months worth of hiking into two and a half weeks. While the Blue Mountains were
my favorite, all the hikes offered stunning views, and beautiful plants. With
its giant and ancient trees, ferns, and great weather, Australia is just
breathtaking!
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| beautiful waterfall |
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| Australian countryside |
Other than bushwalking (aka hiking), I also visited a lot
of gardens and rainforests. Just about every city in Australia seemed to have
its own botanical garden, so I visited the botanical gardens in Sydney, Hobart,
and Melbourne, and the national rhododendron garden near Melbourne. Even the
cities were full of parks, rivers, and trees, so there was always somewhere
green everywhere you went. Lovely!
Beaches
Of course, Australia is also known for beautiful beaches.
I visited the most famous beaches in Sydney – Bondi and Manly, as well as St.
Kilda beach in Melbourne and beaches on a tour of the great ocean road. In
Sydney, there were tons of beaches, so you could do coastal walks, going from
beach to beach and taking in the stunning coastal views. As you went along the
coastal walks, you could see that there was a beach for everyone – some were
good for surfing, some were more isolated and secluded, and some were great for
just hanging out and socializing!
Although the
beaches were nice, I was surprised by how cold the water was, even in summer!
So, I didn’t do much swimming there (also, I wasn’t supposed to get my head
injury wet . . .) But the sand was nice, and I think I’m returning to Vietnam
with at least a little bit of a tan.
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| Melbourne |
Cities
Of course, I saw some big cities during my trip – Sydney,
Melbourne, and Hobart. Apparently, Sydney and Melbourne have a bit of a rivalry
– it’s so bad that when they couldn’t decide who should host the government,
they had to make Canberra, a location in between the two cities, the capital of
Australia. Australians always argue about which city is better, but I liked
both of them. Sydney is a huge, commercial city, complete with a beautiful
harbor and tons of lovely beaches. Melbourne seems more “hipster”-ish, with
lots of street art, cafes, and museums.
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| Melbourne street art |
All the cities offer lots of things to do – they have
tons of shopping, plenty of restaurants, bars, museums, parks, and plenty of
different activities, like riding boats, surfing, and so on. The two cities
could get pretty crowded, but they’re fairly safe and clean. In fact, Melbourne
was named the world’s most “livable” city, whatever that means!
Special Events
First of all, I was in Australia during Australia Day,
which is similar to our independence day. Families get together, have some
barbeque, and wear red, white, and blue, the colors of the Australian, flag.
Oh, and then there’s fireworks at night. Sound familiar? Australia Day took
place during the Sydney festival, and I was lucky enough to attend a free
concert in the park given by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. After five months
without any classical music, it was great to hear the symphony play in Australia,
and it was nice to see so many families out enjoying the symphony.
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| circus show in Hobart |
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| circus show in Hobart |
In Hobart, I happened to hear about a French couple who
sails the world giving circus shows from their sailboat. Cool, right? So I
attended two of their shows in Tasmania and saw them performing a variety of
acrobatic feats from their boat. Check out the pictures above!
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| posing for a photo |
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| aboriginal dancers |
Finally, in Melbourne, I was able to see some indigenous
dances as part of the indigenous arts festival and Greek dances as part of the
Lonsdale St. Night Festival (both in the same day!). The indigenous dance show
was really cool because it featured many different styles of indigenous dance
from around Australia. You could also tell that most people in the audience
knew the performers, so there was a really proud and supportive atmosphere at
the show. Even really little kids participated in the dances, which was super
cute! The Greek dancing was neat too. Although it seemed liked they only dance
in a line or in a circle, the costumes were really neat . . . I also got to see
the prime minister, Tony Abbot, who was at the opening of the Greek festival.
Apparently, he’s really unpopular (with a recent controversial shark culling
project adding to his unpopularity), but I still got to see the prime minister
of Australia. How cool is that?
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| aboriginal dancers |
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| aboriginal dancers |
Entertainment
On this trip, I wanted to take in everything I’ve been
missing while living in Vietnam. When this comes to entertainment, it means
things like watching movies in the theater, attending concerts, seeing plays,
and watching a comedy show. During my trip, I saw two movies (The Wolf of Wall
Street and 12 Years a Slave), attended one symphony concert, saw a play and a
cabaret show in Melbourne, and went to one comedy club. Something like seeing a
movie or play may seem like a simple thing, but you can’t always do it easily
when you’re living abroad. It was nice to be able to participate in all the
activities going on.
Other Impressions
First, it was really difficult to travel around Australia
without a car. Even though public transportation in the cities was good, you
often had to wait a long time for your bus or tram to arrive, and the buses
didn’t go that far outside the cities. Because of this, I decided to sign up
for two group tours, even though I generally hate group tours. I took one tour
on Tasmania to visit the wildlife sanctuary and a famous national park, and
another near Melbourne to travel on the Great Ocean Road. Still, like the US, I
think going by car would be the best way to travel around and really see all
the sights.
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| gelato made with liquid nitrogen |
Secondly, the food was really good and quite familiar.
After living in Vietnam, it was nice to be able to buy things like wheat bread,
toasted muesli, cherries, and raspberries. There were a lot of healthy choices,
but the sweets were really good too. I ate a lot of gelato during my trip, and
there were also tons of nice baked goods, like hedgehog slices (these were
kinda like a really fudgy brownie with coconut and little bits of cookie baked
in). The vegetarian section of the supermarket had everything imaginable –
veggie burgers, veggie sausages, soy yogurt, etc.
Next, staying in hostels was a little strange. Most of
the other guests in the hostels were on working holidays – it’s easy for many
Europeans to get a working holiday visa, so I met lots of French, German,
British, and so on. However, I didn’t meet a single American during my trip!
Many other people guessed I was German rather than American! Some of the other
guests in the hostels had been traveling around and staying in hostels for 6
months or more – it’s hard for me to imagine traveling for that long! While
I’ve really enjoyed my trip here, it will be nice to have my own, private room
again.
Finally, even though I was warned before going, I found
Australia was really, really expensive. Coming from Vietnam, I had serious
sticker shock! Many things cost double what they do in the U.S., and quadruple
the price in Vietnam. Still, many things were free, like visiting the botanical
gardens, going to art museums, or seeing street concerts and performances.
Overall, it was a great trip, and I was happy to get away
from work and out of Asia for a little bit. Now, it’s back to work . . .
