Travel Tales from Australia
Traveling Southeast New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania
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| This is a baby kangaroo at the Bonorong Wildlife Sancuary in Brighton, Tasmania, Australia |
Hello Friends,
The past few days have been busy continuing to get settled in our new home, learning about our neighborhood, and practicing driving the car. Mitch has gotten really good at driving, and now it is my turn to get comfortable with it before school starts in a couple weeks.
Sunday (3rd) we were invited to a lovely Sunday Luncheon at the home of Eva Nemeth and her husband Matthew Peterson. Eva is Helen Nemeth's (my exchange partner) sister. We arrived at 1:00 to beautiful appetizers and champagne on the back balcony of their home which overlooks the Lane Cove National Park. This is a national park within the north Sydney area which is on my way to school each day. Here is a photo from the road:
After appetizers we had a delicious lunch of lamb, several gorgeous salads, potatoes, and a delectable white meringue cake with frosting, chocolate sauce, and berries. We stayed talking and enjoying ourselves until past 5:00. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Monday morning we got packed and ready to go on our travels. We are taking time now to explore southeast New South Wales, Victoria, Melbourne, Tasmania, and the nation's capitol, Canberra, prior to school starting. Once school starts we will limit our travels to day trips around Sydney and perhaps a few weekend excursions until the end of Term 1 in April when our plans are to travel to New Zealand.
Here are the names of the towns that we ate a picnic lunch in each day and where stayed the night for the first three days of our trip:
Monday, January 4th
Lunch: Wollongong - At the City Beach Park
Stayed the night in a small hotel in UllaDulla
This is a famous place to get meat pies - we had a breakfast one and some really great coffee on Tuesday AM.
Tuesday, January 5th
Lunch in Eden (just for our son-in-law, Kevin who grew up in Eden, Texas)
We spent a little time in this quaint little town of Cobargo, NSW. We found a leather shop where Mitch bought a handmade belt.
Stayed the night at a "beachy" motel in Lakes Entrance, Victoria
Wednesday, January 6th
Lunch at a small park in Drouin, Victoria (this is what the land just east of Melbourne looks like - lots of pasture land).
Here is our hotel (Rendezvous) in Melbourne - it was beautiful!
Melbourne is a very beautiful city - here are a few photos of our walk on Wednesday evening:
Thursday, January 7th - Hobart, Tasmania - here we come!
Plane leaves at 2:50, so plenty of time to explore Melbourne a bit more...
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then caught the free city tram to Queen Victoria Market.
The Queen Victoria Market (also known as the Queen Vic Markets or the Queen Vic, and locally as '"Vic Market"') is a major landmark in Melbourne, Australia, and at around seven hectares (17 acres) is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The Market is significant to Melbourne's culture and heritage and has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Market is named after Queen Victoria who ruled the British Empire, from 1837 to 1901.
The Queen Victoria Market is the only surviving 19th century market in the Melbourne central business district. There were once three major markets in the Melbourne CBD, but two of them, the Eastern Market and Western Market, both opened before the Queen Victoria, closed in the 1960s.
Today, the Market is a major Melbourne tourist destination, offering a variety of fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and seafood, gourmet and delicatessen foods as well as specialty delicacies. It also has a large non-food related market, selling a diverse range of clothing, shoes, "jewellery" and handmade arts and crafts.
The market is also known for the hot doughnut van which has operated for over half a century and become part of local tradition, being known for its jam donuts.[3]
The Market is open every day of the week except Mondays and Wednesdays. On Wednesday evenings in the summer months, there is a night market which offers dining, bars, live entertainment and a variety of other stalls.
Here are few photos of the Queen Victoria Market and our time in Melbourne:
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| Many of the trees had these hand knitted blanket coverings - they were all different - I am sure made by volunteers to beautify their city. |
Upon leaving Melbourne, Mitch and I discussed the similarities and differences between Melbourne and Sydney. Even though we have only been here for a bit more than a week, we believe that we have noticed the distinct differences. We enjoyed Melbourne, but we do believe that we like Sydney better. We are eager to get home to explore more of what our "home for the year" will hold!
The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne has been around since the 1800's. Ask any Aussie and you will hear about the various reasons that one is better than the other. Here is a blog from "Crikey" tackling the issue:
Now - time to catch our plane to Hobart, Tasmania!
When we arrived at the Tullamarine Airport, the first thing we noticed was the flight status board: In looking to see what gate we would go to for Hobart, the listing said, "RELAX." "Gate not open for 51 minutes." In looking at the other flights coming up, it said the same thing except for a couple of flights that were leaving within 30 minutes. Since you don't know which gate to go to until close to departure, it keeps you in the common area with eateries and shops. It is different since in the US, we can go to our gate as early as we like. It does, however, keep the congestion of people out of the gate areas until just before departure. Anyway, we followed what the sign said, and "RELAXED" until it then told us to make our way to gate 46. When it was time to board our plane we simply walked outside toward our plane - the people in the front half of the plane entered through the traditional doorway. Those of us in the back half of the plane embarked from the back entry. Such a civilized way to board a plane!
Here is some information about the Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne from Wikipedia:
Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL, ICAO: YMML), also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city ofMelbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the Melbourne metropolitan area.
The airport is 23 km (14 mi) from the city centre. The airport has its own postcode—Melbourne Airport, Victoria (postcode 3045).[7]This is adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine.
The Melbourne–Sydney air route is the third most-traveled passenger air route in the world[8] and the third busiest in the Asia Pacific region.[9] The airport features direct flights to 33 domestic destinations of Australia in addition to destinations in the Pacific, London, Asia and North America. Melbourne Airport is the number one arrival/departure point for the airports of four of Australia's seven other capital cities.N1 Melbourne serves as a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia, while Jetstar Airways and Tiger Airways Australia utilise the airport as home base. Despite the number of passengers, staff, and visitors of such a busy airport there remains no rail link from the airport to the city centre or into the V/Line network, unlike most first world airports, the only public transport option is a regular coach service. Melbourne is the busiest airport for international export freight as of August 2011, while second busiest for import freight.[10] Domestically, Melbourne serves as headquarters for Australian air Express and Toll Priority and handles more domestic freight than any other airport in the nation.[11]
Hobart, Tasmania
I really did not know what to expect in Tasmania, but it is charmingly beautiful. It is very hilly with houses up the sides of the hills overlooking the water.
We checked into our hotel in Brighton (about 30 minutes north of town). We then headed back toward Hobart for some dinner because (apparently) there is nothing good to eat in Brighton (according to some young locals that we met). We found a very good meal at the Moonah Hotel in Moonah on the northern side of Hobart. Mitch had garlic shrimp and I had Swiss Chicken.
Here is a photo and some reviews on "Tripadvisor, Australia:"
We then drove around for a while to get an idea of the "lay of the land." Back to rest for tomorrow which holds much anticipation of learning about the flora and fauna of Tasmania!
Friday, January 8th
My goal for today is to see and photograph a Tasmanian Devil!
After "brekkie" at the Bakehouse in Brighton, Tasmania, we were on our way to Mount Field National Park - about an hour's drive from where we are staying. We drove through lovely countryside which became more hilly and more densely covered with vegetation as we approached the park. Upon arrival, we took a walk/hike to Russell Falls which was beautiful.
Here is some information about this pristine national treasure:
Mount Field National Park is a national park in Tasmania, Australia, 64 km northwest of Hobart. The landscape ranges from eucalyptus temperate rain forest to alpine moorland, rising to 1,434 metres (4,705 ft) at the summit of Mount Field West.
Mount Field National Park was founded in 1916, making it, along with Freycinet National Park, Tasmania's oldest national park. The area around Russell Falls has been protected for its natural beauty since 1885, when it was set aside as Tasmania's first nature reserve. The last known wild thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) was captured in the region in 1933. The thylacine had become extremely rare or extinct on the Australian mainland before British settlement of the continent, but it survived on the island of Tasmania along with several other endemic species, including the Tasmanian devil. Intensive hunting encouraged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat. Despite its official classification as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none has been conclusively proven.
NOTE: It was actually on the news the other night that a man had a sighting of a Tasmanian Tiger in northern Victoria - not proven, however.
We had a lovely time in the park and saw four or five wallabies - even a mother with her joey!
We saw kangaroos, koalas, wombats, two tasmanian devils, echidnas (kind of like a porcupine), lots of birds, lizards, and snakes! Here are some photos:
We had a lovely time in the park and saw four or five wallabies - even a mother with her joey!
The highlight of the day was the afternoon at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. We loved it! Here is a link to their website:
So, my goal for today was to see a Tasmanian Devil. Not only did I accomplish it, but I also got to feed kangaroos and pet a koala! Life could not be any better, and I am truly grateful!
Now - to keep you in suspense ... Next week's blog will feature a guest contributor, Mitch Hankins. He will discuss with you his views on many of things in Australia that can kill you!!! Keep posted!
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