After a little less than a week in Sydney we headed for the hills in our newly acquired van. Katoomba is the main town of the Blue Mountains and whilst the houses sprawl out for quite a distance, the town centre consists of one street which is home to a few dozen pubs, cafés, and [...]
One thing I have quickly learnt here in Australia is not to have any expectations. If you have high hopes then they could be dashed by the smallest disappointment; and if you don’t expect anything special then there’s always room to be pleasantly surprised. Hostels are no exception to this rule, and this has already [...]
Even before I embarked on this trip, the phrase came again and again into my mind: ‘Even the best made plans of mice and men oft go awry’. I can’t remember who plagiarised who – but the phrase has been quoted, revised and quoted again many times over the last century. And as is often [...]
Today I saw my first hopping marsupial. And my second not too long after that! On the way down to the Jenolan Caves (where the most amazing calcite crystals can be seen) I saw a small, dark-furred, fluffy walabe hopping from the roadside up a little bank, before turning to stare at us as we [...]
Clarence is an aboriginal tribesman born close to the Clarence River in Northern Australia. His totum is the Salamander which means he shares the same blood as it, it is like his brother, and to allow one to come to harm would make him physically ill. He is also the head of Aboriginal Studies at [...]
I arrived in Sydney just a few minutes behind the girls. Siân and Rachel had gone the opposite way round the globe to get to Sydney, changing planes in San Francisco and Los Angeles – with no more than an hour in each airport between flights. I don’t envy them at all (but I did [...]
In order to break up a horrifically long journey to the other side of the world, I had a 12 hour stop in Hong Kong. With the build-up to Australia, my trip to HK was slightly dwarfed (what’s 12 hours when you’re planning a year-long trip?) and so I arrived without any plans at all. [...]