Australia
February 24 through March 8, 1997
When we planned the trip, Australia was more of a stopover between New Zealand and Thailand than a destination. People had told us that it was a lot like California, and we had lived there once, and wanted to go to places that were more different. It turned out that it wasn't that much like California - it was a lot better-and by the time we left, we wished we had stayed longer.
Sydney
When we first got to Sydney, we played tourist - we walked around seeing the sights: the Aquarium since we weren't going to get to the Great Barrier Reef, the zoo to see Kangaroos and other Australian wildlife, climbed to the top of one of the pillars of the Harbour bridge and rode the ferries. Tuesday night, we met up with Paul Chapman, who Lauren used to work with, and went out for a kangaroo dinner (hopping good--tastes like lean beef).
Of course, we also saw the Opera House. There are some sights that are familiar to everyone, whether they've been there or not. Sydney's Opera House, usually with the Harbour Bridge behind it is one of those images and in many respects is a symbol of Australia. Whenever I've seen a picture of the Opera House, I've always thought that I wanted to go there and see it. Finally, here we were.
Classic view of Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge
In person, it’s better than in the pictures. Too often, pictures portray only a small part of something bigger that is not nearly as good but here the opposite is true. Sydney has such a spectacular setting that it's impossible to capture it all in one picture. The Opera House juts out into the harbor, and wherever you are, it's always there. And the whole time we were there it remained as striking as in the pictures.
Besides the Opera House, Sydney is a city in a headlong rush toward the year 2000, when it will host the summer Olympics. The slogan "Sydney 2000" is everywhere, the license plates say "Toward 2000," and the whole city is under construction. The city sees the Olympics as a coming out party to be recognized by the rest of the planet as one of the world's great cities. From what we saw, it is, and we spent a lot more time here than we thought we would. It's very modern, and in many respects very American (although I'm sure Aussies wouldn't like that comparison) has one of the most spectacular settings of any city in the world – some say second only to Rio. Better than any American city, it makes its waterfront part of the city. Almost all of it is parkland or some other type of public facility, such as the Opera House and a very busy ferry terminal. The result is that wherever you are, you're either on or near the water, the Opera House is before you, the Harbour Bridge stretches across the water, and ferries, ships, and boats are criss-crossing the water.
View of The Rocks from Harbor Bridge tower
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is Sydney's huge gay and lesbian parade/party/civil rights demonstration/celebration. We stayed with Paul and Nik, both of who Lauren used to work with, along with their roommate Neil. Paul is gay, so Mardi Gras is especially big for him, and he and his friends had other friends in from Britain. Between Mardi Gras and all of the people in town, it was a wild weekend in Sydney.
The Mardi Gras parade was huge--so huge we missed most of it. Altogether, there were 500,000 to 700,000 people there, most of whom started lining up about 6:00 pm for an 8:00 to 8:30 start. We went out to eat first and because of problems getting through the crowd [and because we were with Nik :-)], got there late and didn't finish until about 8:30. By then, the crowds were so thick along the parade route that we couldn't find anywhere where we could see. We spent the next hour or so wandering around back alleys and side streets (along with thousands of others), hoping by some miracle that we could find a place to see. We didn't--we could hear the pounding music (mostly disco, mixed with Abba), hear the cheers, and see the tops of some floats, but that was about it. After a while, we gave up and decided to go into a pub to drink. Amazingly enough, its windows were above the crowd, and even though the crowds at the windows of the pub were about five deep, we could see. The only catch was that the pub was blasting its own disco music which drowned out the parade music. But still, after giving up completely, not bad.
After living in San Francisco, the parade was pretty much what we had expected, but on a much bigger scale. The parade was as much as a huge street party as it was a parade. There was lots of alcohol but not many visible drugs, and the expected amount of flesh, flash, and gay pride, but huge numbers of straight people too. The parade was also huge, over two hours long and over 100 floats. The weirdest thing was the Abba (yea--that Abba) music and the Abba float. Following the release of an Australian move called Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert about a bunch of drag queens traveling across Australia and set to Abba music, Abba music has undergone a resurgence here. I could understand everything else at the parade, but not that.
After the parade, we went to the appropriately named Kinks Cafe, where Paul knew most of the people. We headed back to Paul, Nik, and Neil's place around 1:30 am among the debris of the parade, streetcleaners trying to clean it up, and thousands of drunk and happy people, us included.
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Mardi Gras in Sydney - feeling no pain
Sailing to South Africa
The day after Mardi Gras, we got up late, but in time to go sailing on the Beneteau 285 (28 feet) we had booked the day before. When we called to reserve the boat, we were told that the BT Global Challenge boats would be leaving on the Sydney to Cape Town leg of their around-the-world race. We had first heard about this race in Wellington, NZ when we saw the boats there. It's a race of 14 identically equipped 20 meter (60 foot) boats sailing around the world in the wrong direction, which meant against the prevailing winds and billed itself as "the toughest yacht race in the world." The race is for charity. The boats had professional skippers but were crewed mostly amateurs, although they were given four months of extensive training before the start. The boats stop only once on each continent, plus New Zealand, and we had now bumped into them twice.
We headed out at 1:00 pm knowing that the race would start at 1:30, but not knowing exactly where. However, as soon as we got out of our harbor, it was obvious - we could see the distinctive sails of the Global Challenge yachts, as well as every tour boat in Sydney harbor and multitudes of private boats clustered around, and a fleet of helicopters hovering overhead. Nik has been sailing in Sydney harbor since he was eight and sailed us straight into the middle of the flotilla. With so many boats, we had to change course so many times that it seemed as if we were also jockeying for position at the start, and when the gun went off, we were in among the best position of all the spectator boats. The 14 Global Challenge boats sailed right by us--one about 30 feet away--and we turned to follow. As we did, we saw an armada of power boats all coming up on us as they followed the Global Challenge boats out of the harbor. As we were under sail and much slower than the racing boats, we were left behind, and watched in the distance as the Global Challenge boats began their 40 or so days to Africa.
Global Challenge boats in Sydney Harbor
As for our own sailing, Sydney harbor is one of the most dramatic settings we have ever sailed in. In my heart, Maine will always be best, but Sydney is amazing. Clay says that in yachting circles, Sydney and San Francisco are considered the best, with Sydney sailors saying that Sydney is best and San Francisco sailors saying that San Francisco is best. I would guess that nearly all neutral parties would choose Sydney--we've sailed both and would vote for Sydney.
Sailing in Sydney Harbor
The Not So Blue Mountains
In our New Zealand travels, everyone we met who'd been to Australia said that we had to visit the Blue Mountains. Considering we'd spent a lot of time in the Green Mountains and White Mountains, it seemed like the thing to do. The Blue Mountains aren't really mountains and they aren't really blue. Instead, the area is a high plateau with several deep canyons, like the Grand Canyon and Canyonlands National Parks in the USA but with rainforests on the valley floors and eucalyptus forest on the hillsides. The "Blue" name comes from the effect of sunlight reflecting off of evaporating eucalyptus sap, and in the sun, the area does look sort of blue.
Regardless of the name and its appropriateness, the Blue Mountains were as good as everyone had told us they were. The main attractions of the Blue Mountains are found in and around Katoomba, the largest town in the area. From Echo Point, you can view the Three Sisters, three tall spires of sandstone, or you can climb down over 800 stairs and ride back up on a scenic railway (really a very steep, 70 degree, cog railway). You can also go caving, canyoning, take abseiling lessons, and more.
The Not So Blue Mountains
In our New Zealand travels, everyone we met who'd been to Australia said that we had to visit the Blue Mountains. Considering we'd spent a lot of time in the Green Mountains and White Mountains, it seemed like the thing to do. The Blue Mountains aren't really mountains and they aren't really blue. Instead, the area is a high plateau with several deep canyons, like the Grand Canyon and Canyonlands National Parks in the USA but with rainforests on the valley floors and eucalyptus forest on the hillsides. The "Blue" name comes from the effect of sunlight reflecting off of evaporating eucalyptus sap, and in the sun, the area does look sort of blue.
Regardless of the name and its appropriateness, the Blue Mountains were as good as everyone had told us they were. The main attractions of the Blue Mountains are found in and around Katoomba, the largest town in the area. From Echo Point, you can view the Three Sisters, three tall spires of sandstone, or you can climb down over 800 stairs and ride back up on a scenic railway (really a very steep, 70 degree, cog railway). You can also go caving, canyoning, take abseiling lessons, and more.
The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains
Lauren and I did several day hikes, including one loop named the "Grand Canyon" where the trail wound through the bottom of a very deep, very narrow canyon, and then climbed about halfway up the walls where someone had somehow found a way to place a trail under overhangs and along narrow ledges. Very dramatic. At one point, we heard voices far down below -- this must have been a group "canyoning," which is a sport in which you abseil, raft, swim, and climb your way down a canyon, and a popular activity in the Blue Mountains.
Another good hike is from Govett's Leap down the cliff wall into Grose Valley. The cliff ranges from near-vertical to more than vertical, and the trail is basically a bunch of steep steps carved into crevasses of the cliff. At one point, where there was an overhang, a hole was cut in the overhang and steep steel steps descended through the hole to the ledge below. It was hard to imagine how this trail was built, and the park information said that it had been considered as impossible when proposed in 1888. The believers prevailed, however, and two men carved the trail in seven months. The physical feat of constructing this trail was astounding -- finding the route in the first place, then cutting and blasting the steps and trail out of the cliff.
Hiking in the Blue Mountains
Surf, Sand, and Psychic Massage
We arrived in Byron Bay on the northern coast of New South Wales, which is known throughout Australia as a hub of "alternative lifestyles." We didn't quite know what to expect, but mostly expected a lot of ex-hippies. As we've learned in California and Vermont, this can mean many different things. In Marin County, CA, they got rich and turned to New Age enlightenment. Further up the coast, they turned in to rednecks with long hair and are now known as "longnecks". In Vermont, they're mostly people who wanted to escape from New York, New Jersey, or Massachusetts and live somewhere better. In Byron Bay, they took the Marin approach, but to such an extreme that we don't think they had enough time to get rich though they did seem to be pretty well off.
Lauren dubbed Byron Bay "The Queenstown of the New Age Movement." In Queenstown, New Zealand, adrenaline junkies can get their fix in a million different ways; in Byron Bay, New Agers can get healed or increase their spiritual awareness in a million ways: Psychic Massage, Floatation Therapy, Past Lives Healing, Effective, Non-Aggressive Self Defense, Psychic Energy Readings, The Natural Healing System of Reiki, and more. I declined the temptation to become a "Future Warrior" and also chose not to attend the three-day workshop that declared itself "a powerful journey for men who are willing to tap into the deep wellspring of the True Power and Personal Essence that is their birthright." I’m sure that ritualistic drumming played a role in the journey.
None of the therapeutic results, however, seemed to last more than a few hours. Over coffee in the morning, the people surrounding us – spiritually evolved, vegetarian, ecologically aware, and chain-smoking - bemoaned their emotional hurts of the past evening: "I didn't feel that there was any positive energy from him when he was with me last night." The thing to do is to discuss the meaning of these feelings with your friends all morning, who, in turn, share their traumas with you. Then you make a selection from Byron Bay's huge menu of healing options, and $50 later, everything is beautiful again. This appears to be a daily cycle.
Though we were cynical about Byron Bay, this kind of culture has its advantages. Byron Bay is beautifully undeveloped. No high-rises, no timeshares, and no Club Med (recently voted down). The 30 km of uninterrupted beach is unspoiled and uncrowded and had a good number of people skipping naked down the beach. Cape Byron, just out of town, is the easternmost point in mainland Australia, with the country's strongest lighthouse. Dolphins are everywhere, probably due to all the good karma, and there's a wild goat colony on the Cape. The town is small, laid-back, and peaceful. The locals have a strong sense of community and responsibility, the coffee is very good and the surfers have a good time.
The Beach at Byron Bay
These feelings were reinforced after we left Byron Bay and headed up the coast to Brisbane. The bus ride took us through Australia's Gold Coast, which looks just like central Florida with high-rise hotels along the beach, giant theme parks, and American fast food restaurants.
Surfer Dudettes
Diane had taken a surfing lesson when she and Mary visited Coff's Harbour and had a blast – getting to the point where she could stand up long enough for photos. Byron Bay has some of the best surfing in Australia, with beaches facing in all directions, which guarantees that one of them will have good surf. She wanted to do it again and she and Lauren decided to take a lesson in Byron Bay.
Surfing lesson at Byron Bay
They started at Clarke's Beach, which has long, gentle surf that's easy for learning. They could stand hip-deep in water, with three-foot waves that would take them for a long ride. They learned to select the right wave, and when it's getting close to place the surfboard facing away from it, hop on, and paddle like crazy. Actually catching a wave and riding it in was a great sensation with water churning and rushing around as it accelerates you towards the shore. After their initial tries, they moved to Wategos Beach, where the surf was much, much bigger and rougher. This was where they were supposed to try to stand up - in tougher conditions where they would either catch the wave or get dumped. Though the surf was a little rough and neither Lauren or Diane were able to stand up for very long but they had fun. There were also dolphins swimming in the waves around them, which was very cool although they couldn't see them from the water.
Australia Map
Australia Links
For more information on traveling to New Zealand, the following are particularly good links:
Lonely Planet The best online source about Australia for general information for independent travelers.
ABC News Daily news from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.