Tag: Australia

South Australia – Barossa Valley and Hahndorf

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Mum and I spent three days in South Australia, and as always we managed to pack a lot into the long weekend at our disposal. Though I still didn’t get a proper look at Adelaide, I at least managed to see more of the city than the time I flew in for a U2 concert years ago, when I pretty much only saw the airport, the stadium, and the interior of the all-night internet cafe. I wouldn’t mind coming back for a third time and exploring it better.

After a brief stop at the Glenelg Beach, we spent time driving around Barossa Valley, stopping at a couple of wineries.

A mural in Glenelg
One of the many Lutheran churches in Barossa Valley

Then we drove to Hahndorf, an obscenely picturesque and quaint small town originally founded by German Lutheran settlers in 1839. It was packed with tourists, but as the day was drawing to a close the streets got a bit more nice and quiet. The main tree-lined street, with old sandstone architecture and flowers everywhere, is very pretty. Of course we just had to have German sausages and sauerkraut for dinner, topped with non-alcoholic beer.

Sydney – Vivid Festival

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Sydney is always great to visit, and this time I got to attend the annual Vivid Festival, when Sydney is illuminated by some amazing light shows. We were also lucky to catch the Archibald Prize portrait exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, spend some time at the Manly Beach, and enjoy some great food. I tried non-alcoholic beer for the first time, which was surprisingly nice (real beer still gets a no from me though).

Sydney Opera House is of course the most spectacular light show on offer
Light installations in the park
Light installations in the park
Light installations in the park
Manly Beach
Archibald Packing Room Prize winner, the portrait of Jimmy Barnes

Canberra

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I don’t think I’d want to live in Canberra but visiting for a few days was nice. It’s a very sedate place which, depending on a point of view, could either mean quiet and relaxing or dull and empty. On a plus side, the food was uniformly fantastic and the city is very green, with many European trees which must look stunning in autumn. The road system however is a visitor’s nightmare; evidently someone decided that parallel streets are way too boring and that the traffic must run in circles and loops instead.

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Tasmania Day 3

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MONA and Mt Field National Park

The first time I went to MONA (that’s Museum of Old and New Art), it blew my mind – it’s simply one of the best and most unique museums I’ve been to. I had no idea a place so amazing was just an hour’s flight from Melbourne. Even taking away the art itself, the underground spaces with their somewhat ominous atmosphere and bare rock walls are worth seeing. It was a pleasure to visit it again and see the changes since the last time.

This installation is programmed so that the drops of water briefly form random headline-type words before they hit the grill below
Me taking a photograph of the mirrored ceiling from below. Kinda like a mash-up of The Matrix and The Ring
A room full of shelves full of books full of blank pages
This room was heaps of fun, with the people on the screens singing their way through Madonna’s 80s hits. It’s a strangely addictive spectacle.

After MONA we decided to drive to Mt Field National Park and see the Russell Falls again. The last time we were there in a different time of year, it was more like a Russell Trickle, so it was nice to see it roar with a bit more energy. It’s a beautiful walk through the rainforest, as well, which made us burn off at least some of the food we shamelessly stuffed ourselves with during our break.

And that was it for our trip to Tasmania, except for a short stop in Richmond on our way back to Hobart, where Mum bought a couple of cheese knives, which she then forgot to take out of the handbag. That didn’t impress the guys at the screening point at the airport, luckily our bag was still available at the check-in so she could put them inside. I then also did a no-no by walking through the screening gate with my hands inside the jacket pockets, which I was told to never ever do again. The funny thing was that, at the beginning of the trip, Mum had to part with a pair of small scissors left in her handbag by accident when we were screened at the Melbourne airport, so this trip was obviously under a curse of small metal objects.

Tasmania Day 2

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Freycinet and Bicheno

On the second day, we headed out to the Freycinet National Park. Our first stop was at the Friendly Beaches, which I haven’t checked out before. It’s a gorgeous spot, with white sandy beach and those awesome red lichen-covered rocks typical for the coastline on this side of Tasmania.

Then we went on to Coles Bay, which turned out to have its own micro-climate; it was hot enough to swim and made me wish I had packed my bikini or at least a pair of light pants instead of jeans. Sunbathing ruled out, I did a walk along the beach, enjoying the view of the Hazards and stopping to take a photo every 30 seconds or so, because seriously how can you not?

We had lunch at a local cafe which I would not come back to – we got served a lumpy seafood chowder, tiniest pieces of white bread, and a Greek salad which was predominantly spinach with a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar. Food everywhere else was great, but this cafe obviously survives only because of the high tourist turnover.

I chickened out of doing a hike up to the Wineglass Bay lookout, so instead we drove to Bicheno, a coastal town further up north. The sea was much rougher there compared to the sedate Coles Bay and the wind way nastier, but that didn’t stop us from hopping all over the rocks.

Tasmania Day 1

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Salamanca Market and Mount Wellington

Sometimes in a rush for more exotic destinations we ignore the wonderful places right under our nose, and we pretty much ignored Tasmania for the first 11 years after we’d moved to Melbourne. Once we finally visited though, we never stopped coming back, as this small island is blessed with natural beauty and packed with things to see and do. And delicious food, too.

This time around we haven’t ventured too far from Hobart, which was our base for two nights, but we still managed to pack in quite a bit. The only real annoyance on the first day was waiting for almost an hour for our checked-in bag to show up. Note to self, best not to travel to places with tiny airports so close to a public holiday, because chaos may ensue. Because of this delay, we haven’t spent as much time at the Salamanca Market as we would have liked, but oh well. It’s a great place to hang around, with the beautiful sandstone buildings as the backdrop and plenty of interesting and tasty wares on display.

Afterwards, we went for a drive to the top of Mount Wellington, which looms over the city. It was freezing cold with a killer wind, however the views were spectacular. The terrain on the very top is quite rugged and harsh, but it has its own desolate beauty to it that always appeals to me.

Melbourne

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This December will be 20 years since we moved to Melbourne, and I think it’s a fine place to live in, despite the random weather, railway crossings, high cost of living, Punt Road and way too much black in fashions.

Beach cabins at the Middle Brighton Beach
St Kilda; the first Melbourne suburb we lived in when we arrived in Australia. By a weird coincidence, I also got my first ever job as a housekeeper in the same serviced apartments we had first stayed in.
Flinders Street Station, one of my favourite buildings in the city.
Melbourne Moomba Festival, on a rare occasion when I actually attended it. I get less fond of crowds with age, but in a right mood it can be quite invigorating.
Queen Victoria Gardens; we didn’t have TV or computer for some weeks after we moved, so I remember my family hanging around there a lot… getting fresh air and exercise before I could play Civilization for the thousandth time again.
Crown Casino
This statue is actually called Angel, but I always thought of it as the pushmi-pullyu beast from a children’s book. When we first came to Melbourne it used to stand by the National Gallery, but now it’s near Yarra River.
Hosier Lane; it only took me 17 years to discover this place!

Phillip Island

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Had a nice getaway at Phillip Island. Yesterday, it rained the entire two hours it took me to get there (managing to drown out Guns N’ Roses at one point), so I didn’t rate my chances for nice walks the next day, and consoled myself with the thought that at least I upgraded to a suite with an enormous spa bath (it was awesome). But miraculously, Melbourne weather for once didn’t behave like a bitch! Still cold and windy, but plenty of sunshine.

The Nobbies is one of my favourite walkways in Victoria. The coast in this area is ragged and dramatic and covered with weird succulent-type vegetation which creates an interesting texture of greens and reds.

I’ve never seen them on the island before, but it must be the time of year for geese. My Mum has horror stories about being terrorised by the village geese as a child, so they make me nervous too despite being like 1/10 my size
So much foam it looks like white paint spillage…

Smith Beach looks nothing like it does in the summer, except for a couple of crazy surfers who’d probably go for a swim at the North Pole too. The nice thing about visiting it in winter is that, when you’re not distracted by the beachy things, you can actually look around the place and notice things you don’t when you’re busy getting a tan.

I like to call the big red rock a Hippo Head
Not to sound pretentious or anything, but I really think that rocks are nature’s abstract art
This was a totally random surprise – I was driving back to Melbourne and made an impulsive turn for something else and found this cute little dock instead

Favourite Rocks

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I’ve been lucky enough to see some amazing rock formations on my trips in Australia and overseas:

Delicate Arch in the Arches National Park, Utah, USA
Goosenecks State Park, Utah, USA
Monument Valley, Utah-Arizona border, USA
Wave Rock, Western Australia. Totally worth the 8-hour return trip from Perth.
Cappadocia, Turkey
If you do one hot air balloon ride in your life, this is the place to do it. It just looks like it’s been sculpted by Gaudi.
Purnululu National Park, Kimberley, Western Australia
Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand
Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA
I can’t believe this place wasn’t even on our official tour itinerary! It turned out to be one of the highlights.
Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA
Or possibly an alien planet.
Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Twelve Apostles, Victoria, Australia
Well technically not twelve anymore…
The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of those perfect moments when you arrive at the famous lookout and it looks 100% like it should.
Raft Point, Kimberley, Western Australia