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The final 2 weeks of December 1996 and first week of January 1997 found my wife Denise & me in southest Australia. This continent of a country is so vast that we concentrated on only the 3 states, 1 territory and 4 capital cities of southeast Australia: Sydney, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Melbourne, Victoria; and Hobart, Tasmania. Friendly people, vibrant cities, and exotic scenery and wildlife made it a fabulous holiday. Bon voyage, mate!
All photos by David Stybr. Maps from the Australian Tourist Commission.
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Prologue.
Preparation.
Practical considerations.
Preliminary Research.
Sources of information.
Geography.
History.
Foods.
Roads.
Culture and Language.
Music.
Observations by Charles Darwin and Mark Twain.
New South Wales: 6 days, 20 - 25 December 1996.
General information.
Arrival: Chicago / Los Angeles / Sydney.
Sydney.
Arrival.
Potts Point.
City Explorer Bus tour.
The Rocks.
Manly.
Sydney Ferry harbour cruise.
Oceanworld.
The Corso.
Manly Beach.
Western Suburbs.
West Pennant Hills: Koala Park Sanctuary.
Parramatta: Parramatta River.
Hume Highway, Federal Highway: Sydney to Canberra.
Southern Highlands: Mittagong, Bowral, Berrima.
Goulburn: Big Merino Tourist Complex.
Lake George.
Australian Capital Territory: 4 days, 25 - 28 December 1996.
General information.
Canberra.
Parliament House.
Australian War Memorial.
Lake Burley Griffin.
Red Hill Lookout.
Mount Ainslie.
Black Mountain: Telstra Tower Restaurant.
Tidbinbilla etc.
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.
Cuppacumbalong Craft Centre.
Lanyon Historic Homestead.
Hume Highway: Canberra to New South Wales border.
Gundagai: The Dog on the Tuckerbox.
Albury: Ettamogah Pub, Memorial Hill, Murray River.
Victoria: 5 days, 28 December 1996 - 1 January 1997.
General information.
Hume Highway: Victoria border to Melbourne.
Wodonga.
Beechworth.
Williamstown.
Nelson Place.
Williamstown Beach.
Port Phillip Bay.
Melbourne.
Yarra River.
Southgate Complex.
City Circle Tram tour.
Healesville Animal Sanctuary.
Ballarat: Sovereign Hill.
Colonial Tramcar Restaurant.
Tasmania: 4 days, 1 - 4 January 1997.
General information.
Launceston.
Tamar River.
Cataract Gorge.
Penny Royal World.
Midlands, Ross: historic buildings and bridge.
Hobart.
Derwent River.
Waterfront: harbour, docks etc.
Salamanca Place.
Battery Point.
Mount Nelson.
Wrest Point Casino.
Mount Wellington.
Port Arthur.
Port Arthur Historic Site.
Tasmanian Devil Park.
Richmond: historic buildings and bridge.
Departure: Hobart / Sydney / San Francisco / Chicago.
Epilogue.
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Reminiscences of Australia: I. Prologue
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In 1986 my wife Denise & I first planned to visit Australia, so I studied a metric tonne of books, maps etc. However our plans came to naught as I began a series of engineering projects in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom etc. My many long stays in Europe gave me enough intercontinental travel, and prompted me to study their histories, cultures and languages. Few tourists might thoroughly immerse themselves like this, but these countries became wonderful places to work, explore and enjoy. My biggest surprise is that now I can speak French and German, and even British, ha ha. In July 1994 after one of my business trips Denise flew to meet me in France, and we enjoyed a 2-week holiday in Paris, Normandie and the Loire Valley.
1995 kept me in North America for a change but with several visits north of the border to Canada. My French worked well in France, so we used it again on a holiday in Québec in July. It's fun to aggravate people in their own language, ha ha. In 1996 my business travels lightened still further, so after a decade of postponement we finally revived our plans to visit Australia.
The final 2 weeks of December 1996 and first week of January 1997 found Denise and me on our holiday in Australia. It is so vast that we concentrated on only the 3 states, 1 territory and 4 capital cities of southeast Australia: Sydney, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Melbourne, Victoria; and Hobart, Tasmania. 3/4 of all Australians live in this fertile southeast corner, so distances are not nearly as great as in the vast desert interior or the tropical north of Australia. Each state, territory and city has its own character, with plenty of urban and rural delights. Many people envision Australia as one beach after another, but we preferred its cultural and historic attractions.
Sydney is the largest city, Canberra (that's 'CAN-berr-a') is the national capital, Melbourne (that's 'MEL-bn') is the 2nd largest city, and Hobart is the most southerly city. We stayed at some charming bed & breakfast guesthouses near these 4 cities, and we rented a car to explore everything at our own pace. The southern summer weather in late December and early January was almost perfect; and the friendly people, vibrant cities, and exotic scenery and wildlife made it a fabulous holiday. Our time was limited, so we wanted to be in Australia when it had maximum daylight to see everything. In Victoria and Tasmania, we had beautiful southern summer evenings that were light until past 9:00 PM.
South of the Equator in Australia, the seasons are opposite of Europe and North America. For example, Tasmania is at about the same latitude in the Southern Hemisphere as Illinois is in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus Tasmania has snow in July during the southern winter, whereas January brings lovely long southern summer days. ('It's a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a summer wonderland ... in Australia.')
Then we returned to the cold harsh reality of northern winter in Illinois in January. Soon 2 snowstorms dumped 12 inches (30 centimetres) of snow on us, and temperatures plummetted to 0°F (-15°C). However we were strangely serene despite this adverse weather. After all, we had just had a few weeks of southern summer in Australia to energise us for the rest of the northern winter, which none of our neighbours could say.
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Reminiscences of Australia: II. Preparation.
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Preparation.
Practical considerations.
Preliminary Research.
Sources of information.
Geography.
History.
Foods.
Roads.
Culture and Language.
Music.
Observations by Charles Darwin and Mark Twain.
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A. Practical considerations.
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Australia is an enormous country and so distant from most other countries that some preparation is essential. It's never too early to plan ahead. We first envisioned a holiday in Australia 15 or 20 years ago, but only began to make formal plans a year in advance. One basic decision was where to go in Australia. Much as we would love to see the entire country, it's simply not practical in a few weeks. Australia is as large as Europe west of Russia, or the 48 mainland United States. A friend took a 'See All 6 States and 2 Territories in 2 Weeks on a Forced March' Tour, or more accurately 'The Greatest Airports of Australia' Tour. He loved what he saw, but 9 seconds at the Great Barrier Reef did seem a bit rushed, and the mad dash down Uluru (Ayers Rock) to catch the departing tour bus was most exhilarating. Too much, too fast.
Therefore we concentrated on only the 3 states, 1 territory and 4 capital cities of southeast Australia: Sydney, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Melbourne, Victoria; and Hobart, Tasmania. 3/4 of all Australians live in this fertile southeast corner, which has a great variety of attractions, and distances are reasonable for a holiday of only a few weeks. These states are also different enough from each other ensure a good variety of impressions. Besides, we will certainly return another year to see the rest of Australia when we can take the time to do it justice, at least a month or two. New Zealand is worth a separate trip too. Even so, in the relatively small southeast corner of Australia we still drove about 3000 kilometres (2000 miles) during our holiday. About half of this was actual distance and the rest was from the many sidetrips we made.
Australia is good to visit anytime, but in such a large country different regions are naturally better during different seasons. The tropical north is best during the dry cooler winter months of June to August, while the southern states are best during the warm summer months of December to February. Spring and autumn are good compromises. We decided to visit during the final 2 weeks of December and the first week of January in order to synchronise our vacation schedules, and to take advantage of maximum daylight during the southern summer. However, that is the busiest time of year for tourists in Australia, most of whom are the Australians themselves, so we made our reservations well in advance. We actually booked our flights and our accommodations as early as the previous February and March just to be sure.
Australia has 3 time zones. Western Australia is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. South Australia and Northern Territory are 9.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania are 10 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. From October to March, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania advance their clocks 1 hour for Daylight Saving Time in the southern summer, when much of the Northern Hemisphere observes Standard Time. This situation is reversed from April to October. Thus, for example, Melbourne is 17 hours ahead of Chicago in January but only 15 hours ahead in June. Jet lag is not quite as bad as it appears, because the body interprets a +17-hour time difference as only a -7-hour time difference (+1 day).
Australia is a remarkably healthy country when one considers how much of it is in the tropics or isolated. Medical care and sanitation are first-rate and comparable to most modern nations in Europe and North America. Travellers need not worry about diseases as in parts of Africa, Asia or South America, but of course one should take sensible precautions during any travels.
Americans who travel internationally soon notice that the United States is virtually the only country on Earth which does not use the metric system. Australia converted to the metric system decades ago, at about the same time Canada did and the United States didn't. |
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| Copyright © - "David Stybr" |
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