BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Australia I miss Australia

Yes i DO need to come back and visit (and very soon or I may go crazy!!)

I have actually been to the bush...My last trip of my travels was from Darwin to Alice Springs and then the surrounding tourist attractions of Uluru, Kings Canyon and The Olgas.

So amazingly beatiful - funny you should mention the night sky from the outback because I was just telling someone about it a few days ago - how you have never experienced stars until you are, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. When I was traveling, I had trouble telling people where my favorite travels took me...But the Outback experience (sleeping in swags under the stars for 10 days) was among the neatest experiences of my lifetime...

I've just got back home to Melbourne from a wonderful holiday travelling around the south-eastern corner of Australia - and look at how many Aussies and Aussie-lovers have arrived on the forum! This is wonderful, Megan, Stella, and I were getting lonely here!

Stella, I'm so delighted you're finally over here and doing well. All the best.

Wonderwoman, we had beautiful wild, but friendly, kangaroos at two of the campsites we stayed at - one set we could actually touch the female and her almost grown joeys. We were more careful with the male. It was magic - they are such beautiful animals. My hubby managed to get a wild kookaburra perched on his hand! He has such a way with animals. We also got to touch a wild female brushtail possum with her (almost teenage, I would say) baby on her back. I know I keep saying these are wild animals, we couldn't believe it - it's just that they get so used to people (and unfortunately food, which is not always good for them) at the campsites.

We celebrated my birthday in Sydney in style - my hubby took me out to a great restaurant (called Doyles - highly recommended if you're ever in Sydney) on Circular Quay overlooking both Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I spent most of the night moving my eyes back and forth between the two views and it was so spectacular. The food was divine too - Tasmanian Salmon, mmm.

And we travelled home inland via the mountains - first the Blue Mountains and then the Snowy Mountains (where there are several ski resorts, but we went in early autumn, so no snow, and far cheaper!) We also went to the Jenolan stalagtite caves, also amazing.

I am so jealous to hear about all of your wonderful travels. I have a friend going to work in Perth for a couple of weeks, and he's making some stops on the east coast before heading back here to the states. I'm so anxious to go back, but unfortunately have no idea when I'll make it...I'll settle for listening to everyone's wonderful experiences to hold me over for a while...

Then, of course, there is the woeful lack of proper sustenance for Aussies overseas.

How on earth are Aussies expected to cope without their correct and regular doses of Vegemite and Tim Tams?

I have a good friend living in Toronto, who has found a tiny shop that occasionally has a packet of Tim Tams (she doesn't ask where they get them from. but just blesses whoever it is provides them). My brother and his partner are going to Canada for christmas this year (his partner is Canadian) and they're visiting Toronto on the way to Montreal. Guess what they're taking for my Aussie mate!

Mmmmmmm, Tim Tams.... *drool*

I miss Australia and I haven't even been there!

LOL.

I'll tempt you across with a Tim Tam.

(Bite opposite corners off, dunk in coffee, and suck the coffee up through the Tim Tam...)

And you're still thinking, what the hell's a Tim Tam?

I took American Airlines to Los Angeles and flew Qantas down to Sydney, Australia. We crossed the equator and international date line at about the same place. I got a motel and took a train to Sydney Harbor. I saw the Opera House, Harbor Bridge and The Rocks (Old Town).

My purpose in going to Australia was to see the southern stars and constellations. Monte Wilson of the Astronomical Society of New South Wales picked me up at the motel. We drove through the Blue Mountains to Wiruna, their Dark Sky Site about 3 hours northwest of Sydney, for the South Pacific Star Party (SPSP).

I was lucky. The weather was great all 3 nights. I got to stay in the house, referred to as the "White House" because they let Americans stay there. There was a couple named Tom and Lucy from Texas who proved invaluable. Lucy actually grew up in Louisville around the Bardstown Road area.

I saw the southern stars. I saw the Southern Cross and the Coalsack next to it. I saw the Magellanic Clouds. They were fainter than I thought. I saw the bright stars Canopus, Alpha Centauri and Achernar.

Tom kept finding galaxies and nebulae in Tony Buckley's 20 inch. We looked at Jupiter and Saturn. Orion was upside down. Scorpius got straight up in the sky. The hub of the Milky Way in Sagittarius was high and prominent. I looked into our galaxy's thickest part, something I only saw along the horizon in the early 1960s.

The constellations were abstract. To trace out even Argo and Centaurus would have taken more time. Seeing Scorpius overhead is what stayed with me, that and seeing Scorpius and Orion in the sky at the same time.

It turned out that the southern sky is more glorious than the northern because you also get the bright winter stars you see here.

I was impressed at how close Canopus is to Sirius and how the Southern Cross is not all that far below Scorpius.

Treasurer Max Gardner drove me back to Sydney. He took me to his fabulous home and showed me some of the city. Sydney is beautiful. They drive on the left side. We crossed The Harbor Bridge.

Max explained that Australia is part of the British Commonwealth, that the Queen is the head of state. Australia is a constitutional monarchy.

I noticed a book about Alaska in Max's bookcase and wondered if that would be my next venture.

Crossing the Pacific again, I noticed how close we came to Hawaii.

I arrived back in Nashville. One week. Sydney is halfway between the equator and the south pole.

zzzzzzzzzzz

Has he gone yet?

We drive on the left in Melbourne too <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm glad you liked our stars Jim. The only thing not as spectacular down under is the Aurora Australis compared to the Aurora Borealis. Not that I've seen either.

FC be nice! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />