Melbourne

Posted on June 16, 2012 by skisoo

Melbourne was the last destination of nearly a month traveling in Australia and the only major city of my journey (I did not go to Sydney). The contrast between the Outback and the Great Ocean Road rather quiet and the modern and dynamic city is striking. I did not stay long enough to capture all the facets of this city but I got a glimpse of its rich culture and vitality. I spent two days wandering around the city aimlessly if not to explore as much as possible, I saw most of the downtown area, the Fitzroy gardens, the huge botanical gardens, the Shrine of Remembrance, Federation Square…

On the third day, I went to Phillip Island, an island in the Bay of Melbourne which has the particularity of hosting a Koalas reserve and a colony of little penguins (as tall as four apples). Unfortunately I was unable to take a picture because the Penguins are returning at night and photos with flash are prohibited.

During these few days in Melbourne, I’ve stayed at Nomads all Nations, the oldest and busiest backpacker of my journey. The place has a certain charm (and a squeaky floor).

Street art

Miniature village in Fitzroy Gardens

Sculpture on the banks of Yarra River

Wind Sculpture

Melbourne

Great Ocean Road – Day 3, Otway Fly and beaches

Posted on May 31, 2012 by skisoo

The day began with a stroll through the trees to the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk. The path begins at ground level and continued to the canopy of the rainforest and climbs up to 47 meters above the ground. The view was slightly misty at the beginning but was clear at the end.

Forest not far from the Great Ocean Road

View from the tree top walk

After the walk in the woods, we went back on the Great Ocean Road, on the part closest to Melbourne where the cliffs are replaced by beaches. This part of the road is famous for surfing and the birthplace of Quicksilver and Ripcurl at Torquay (The prices are not cheaper in this city). The vegetation there really reminded me of Britain, except that it’s sunnier and warmer in Australia. It was a huge change from the desert near Alice Springs.

Australian version of Britain

Along the road we stopped at a campground where many Koalas live in freedom, dazed on trees. We have seen in a dozen, mostly sleeping. The other particular element of this site is that it has and lorikeets and parakeets to pecking food in your the hands en masse. I got up to 4 birds at the same time on my hand.

"Wild" Koala

Colourful birds

The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road entrance

Great Ocean Road – Day 2, the twelves Apostles

Posted on May 29, 2012 by skisoo

Second day in the Grampians, we went to the top of the mountain for a breathtaking view of the scenery around. No luck, the summit was also completely fogged.

Foggy path in the Grampians

Lookout in the Grampians

We then took the road leaving the Grampians in the late afternoon and tackled the Great Ocean Road, the legendary road along the seaside in the state of Victoria. The road goes along some magnificent landscape including the famous Twelve Apostles, 8 pillars of limestone in the sea.

One of the Apostles

London Bridge

Loch Ard Gorge

The Twelve Apostles

Great Ocean Road – Day 1, The Grampians

Posted on May 27, 2012 by skisoo

After my adventures in the Australian outback, I flew from Alice Springs to Adelaide. I didn’t really have time to explore Adelaide. For I stayed there one late afternoon and a night at the Shakespeare Backpacker before leaving for a three days tour that took me to the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road.

As usual in this huge country, we had a lot of road trips on the first day. On the way we spotted some albino kangaroos, an echidna, which was burying itself when it heard us and my first of the many famous Australian road signs after 6 months in the country.

albino kangaroo

Echidna

Australian roadsign

We reached the Grampians in the early afternoon. The Grampians are big mountain ranges in the state of Victoria. We started our visit to those mountains by the McKenzie waterfall, one of the few waterfalls that flows all the year round. We then continued on to what was supposedly to be a magnificent view over the valley but unfortunately it was totally covered by the fog.

The Grampians

View from the Grampians

McKenzie waterfalls

foggy promontory

Cloud 9 – Day 9, Kings Canyon

Posted on May 25, 2012 by skisoo

Uluru, while impressive, does not fill three days of tour. So for preventing us from being bored, most agencies offer visits to Kings Cayon, a canyon as interesting (if not more) than Uluru.
As the camp where we spent the night was next to Kings Canyon, the bus journey would be short. We arrived few minutes later at the bottom of the canyon. From there, the guide offered us two paths – one short 2 km along the river bed at the foot of the cliffs and a path of 6 km at the top of the cliffs with a violent rise (about 500 steps). I chose the second option like most members of the group.

Inside of the Canyon

The path started with the only difficulty at the beginning which was the climb to get to the top of the canyon. After this tiring climbing, the rest of the path was relatively flat.

Trail at the top of the Canyon

The sight of the gorge and the surrounding landscapes was impressive. Halfway through, when we crossed the river to pass on the other side of the canyon, we could go into the “Garden of Eden”, a water hole surrounded by lush vegetation. The second half of the trail crossed some singular sandstone domes.

Garden of Eden

Water hole in the middle of the Canyon

Sandstone dome

After this walk around the canyon, we hit the road again to return to Alice Springs. Along the road, we spotted some ephemeral works of art created by tourists.

Ephemeral work of art

Cloud 9 – Day 8, Uluru

Posted on May 23, 2012 by skisoo

We got up early (no choice when sleeping under the stars) in order to see the sunrise at the foot of Uluru. After breakfast ala zombie mode, we went Uluru. The idea was to go around Uluru at the time of sunrise. All motivated, we started to do the trail. 9.4 km distance with a freezing wind (and a thin sweater for me), it’s not a a piece of cake but it was worth it and landscape was amazing.

Near Uluru (South East side)

One of the summits of Uluru

Near Uluru (Northwest side)

After 2 hours of walking, we finally arrived at our starting point and in front of us was the path to go on top. Uluru is a sacred monument for the Aborigines and they asked people not to climb on it. The choice remained open and the path is accessible. Our guide told us that he never climbed and he did not know if he would. For me the choice was simple – the road was closed that day due to strong wind.

Way to the top

Local pigeon

The wave

After the walk around Uluru, we bid our goodbyes and we went back to camp for lunch. The afternoon was only bus ride to join the next camp near Kings Canyon.

Kings Canyon camp