One family. One month. One country.
August 2011. My family and I travelled Australia.
This is a log of where we went & what we saw.
Happy Australia Day!
Thankyou to everyone in Australia who made us so welcome and who made our trip so special! X
These were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials.
Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? ( UK ). A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die. Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? ( USA ) A:Depends how much you’ve been drinking. Q:I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? ( Sweden) A: Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water. Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay ? ( UK ) A: What did your last slave die of? Q:Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia ? ( USA ) A: A-Fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not … Oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked. Q:Which direction is North in Australia ? (USA ) A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions. Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia ? ( UK ) A:Why? Just use your fingers like we do… Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia ? ( UK ) A: You are a British politician, right? Q:Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? ( Germany ) A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal. Q:I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It’s a kind of bear and lives in trees. ( USA ) A: It’s called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking. Q:Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia ? ( France ) A: Only at Christmas.
Also, I was wondering,
did any of you who are following this blog come across it because of the notes we left in books? I had a page full of them, and I hid them in books in Gatwick airportand the train stations. Most of them were in copies of Caitlin Moran’s How To Be A Woman - top of all the bestseller lists on the day we left, and one of the most brilliant books I’ve ever read - as well as a Terry Pratchett, a Neil Gaiman, and Bossypants by Tina Fey.
So yes. Are any of you here because of that? I’d be sad if not a single person had taken the slightest bit of notice of my notes…
And the rest of you, those who don’t know us personally - how did you come across us?
It’s lovely to have you here.
Getting lost & staying under a motorway.
(Sorry it’s been forever since I updated this properly - I never did fill you in on the rest!)
We had a leisurely drive towards Port Macquarie, and tried to find a campsite just north of it, which was in the book. We… um… had trouble. We drove in a big circle and got rescued by someone who led us back to the highway. LOVELY Australians, they saved us so many times…
We eventually found the place we were looking for, but just before it, we saw a campervan in a carpark. Having decided that we might just as well stay there as at the campsite so we did. We asked the people in the other van if they were planning on staying the night, because we couldn’t see any signs to tell us if we could stay there or not. They said they were, so we settled in. It was probably the strangest place we stayed - the carpark was right by the highway, almost under the flyover. But it wasn’t as noisy as you’d expect - the sound kind of went over us.
The other side of the flyover, we had noticed some kangaroos, too, so we went back to have a closer look. It was incredible. They were so close, looking at us, watching us… one of them had a joey, which was magical to see - I never thought I would see that, even in a zoo, so to see it in the wild was very special for me.
(You can’t see the joey there, though).
Weird roadkill.
In Britain, a badger is unusual roadkill. When we saw a sheep in Scotland, we were downright intrigued. It became a landmark. So the roadkill we saw in Australia is definitely worthy of a blog post*.
- camels
- kangaroos
- emus
- lizards
- snakes
- possums
- bandicoots
- cows
- horses
- wild pigs
- dingoes
I think there may have been others, but those are the ones that I can remember.
*remember, I never promised this blog would be quality.
Anonymous asked: Hi Guys. Great site. My wife and I just got back from Australia. We had a great time. Nice pictures esp the words Australia written at night. We are creating a photo book and would love to use that picture as our cover. I was wondering if we could have a hires version of it. Thanks.
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it too. Whereabouts did you go?
That photo is actually one I found online, just to use as my header. This is the source for it.
AUSSIE FOODS THAT NON AUSSIES HAVE TO TRY BEFORE THEY DIE;
- Vegemite
- Tim-Tams
- Lamingtons
- Shapes
- Fairy Bread
- Cottee’s cordial.
- Anzac biscuit
- Milo
- Allens Jaffas
We didn’t try them all, but we tried some. I’d already tried Vegemite (I lived with an Australian for a while), and concluded that it is the worst. Sorry, but it is. Eww.
Lamingtons, on the other hand, are the BEST.
TimTams are also pretty awesome. My suitcase was not big enough to bring them all back, sadly.
We had Cottee’s Cordial - Pine Lime flavour. It looks like toilet cleaner or something, but tastes pretty good.
And Anzac biscuits are so delicious. My friend’s Nana makes the most wonderful Anzac biscuits. Yumyum.
Five out of nine isn’t bad…
(Source: cruciothelights, via cruciothelights)
![thedailywhat:
Exing Out Discrimination of the Day: Australia has taken an important step toward transgender equality by adding a third gender option to national passports.
The new gender category — designated with an “X” — will be available to all Australians with a doctor’s statement supporting their choice.
“X’ is really quite important because there are people who are indeed genetically ambiguous and were probably arbitrarily assigned as one sex or the other at birth,” said Senator Louise Pratt, whose partner, Aram Hosie, is a transman.
“It’s a really important recognition of people’s human rights that if they choose to have their sex as ‘indeterminate,’ that they can.”
[ap via wapo.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrklbqe6Sn1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg)
Exing Out Discrimination of the Day: Australia has taken an important step toward transgender equality by adding a third gender option to national passports.
The new gender category — designated with an “X” — will be available to all Australians with a doctor’s statement supporting their choice.
“X’ is really quite important because there are people who are indeed genetically ambiguous and were probably arbitrarily assigned as one sex or the other at birth,” said Senator Louise Pratt, whose partner, Aram Hosie, is a transman.
“It’s a really important recognition of people’s human rights that if they choose to have their sex as ‘indeterminate,’ that they can.”
[ap via wapo.]
(Source: thedailywhat, via spiderfrost)
Female residents are complaining about being stalked by an obviously aroused male kangaroo hanging around a walking track at the Honeymoon Ranges of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Northern Territory News reported one female resident was walking along the bike path when she was followed by the well-endowed, amorous kangaroo.
She said: “I turned around and saw this big kangaroo behind me, so I hastened my steps. It seemed a bit odd, but I continued walking and didn’t think much about it. Then on the return walk he was there waiting for me. With his male pride on full alert, he started circling me. There was no doubt about what he wanted, the randy old thing.”It was a huge kangaroo and quite intimidating. I yelled at him to go away, waved my hands about and let him know I wasn’t interested, but he was persistent - I’ll give him that.”
