canberra with the family hana worked for:
- amazing war memorial...we could've spent the entire day there...there is a LOT of information, and it's presented well...wars that i don't know anything about because the US wasn't involved in them, and the US rarely acknowledges wars in which it wasn't involved
- great national museum...again we didn't have nearly enough time...good displays on a number of different topics...i most enjoyed the aussie invented stuff...
- super cute...sometimes really hard to see...they dont move much, so you have to spot them properly...you can stare at them for ages though, they don't get scared and run off...we spent a lot of time walking around staring upward hoping for a koala
- they're tiny...only a foot tall
- they come out of the water just after dusk, when it's safest
- there are stands built along the shore, so people pay and sit and watch them come out
- it's quite a drama to watch them all come out...if they get scared, they go running back into the water
- photography isn't allowed, and you're repeatedly told to sit down and be quiet
- after they come out, you can walk along the boardwalk and see them try to find their burrows...
- not much to actually see
- lots of shopping to be done
- koko black...YUMMY CAFE
- it's a social city, not one with a lot of sights...we wanted to see the old gaol, but they don't have an option of just walking through it...you have to purchase a ticket that involves being "locked up" and since we had no desire to do that, we ended up walking away...disappointing...why don't they have a basic ticket like that? it's expensive enough as is!!
- hired a car to drive to uluru...around 450km each way...through the desert...red desert with some brush...like nothing i've ever seen...
- maybe the biggest city in the outback? mostly populated with aboriginals, it's a very poor city...flat as all get out, except for one hill
- and on that hill is a lions club monument to something or other...
- other people in the hostel loud and obnoxious till all hours
- there is a nice "dry" garden on the edge of town...i enjoyed seeing the kangaroos before they hopped away:)
- big rocks in the ground...HUGE rocks in the ground...they change colour with the change of the sun angle
- met jenn, another american, on leave from her posting in bahrain
- took breakfast tour around uluru, learning some of the ancient stories and myths
- the climb is closed after a certain hour if its too hot...which is most every day from spring all the way through fall...
- locals ask that you don't climb it anymore, out of respect for what it is to them
- walked around kata tjuta on our own...worst flies EVER...i felt like i did nothing but shoo them away for 7km!!
- smelly hostel b/c of humidity...nothing dried properly
- arranged boat out to great barrier reef....hana very sick on the way out...hana did intro scuba dive, and got stung by fire coral...b/c of my asthma, i could only snorkel...best snorkeling i've ever done...sunburnt by the end of the day...
- cairns was at the end of a super rainy season...lots of areas were flooded along the road, and the water was quite rough from all the rain...
- walked through the canopied boardwalk...learned a lot about animals/birds/trees in the forest
- stayed under cover one entire day because of pouring rain
- school group from canada also there...spoiled kids!!
- feet blistered because the straps on my chacos never dried...
- stayed at a hostel named after me:)
- loved walking around...lots to see and do...
- celebrated hana's birthday by going to an opera in the famous opera house
- we took the manly ferry to manly and walked along the beach...
- fantastic chocolate mousse...and liquid chocolate in which to dip strawberries...it's a good thing we shared, because it was super rich
- didn't climb the harbour bridge, because it costs a fortune!!!!!!!!!!
