My Trips in Australia: Sydney



Travel Memories of Sydney and its beautiful surrounds
Sydney is a truly fascinating city and is also my favorite city in Australia. Before leaving back to Europe I also had the opportunity to spend some more time there. I really enjoyed Sydney’s distinctive flair, what I like of Sydney is its gorgeous natural setting, the great walks, its beaches and its surrounds.
I remember arriving over a weekend, jetlagged, wandering off the beautiful parks and The Rocks Markets, filling my lungs with fresh air,  trying to adjust quickly to the southern hemisphere and bring my system into shape after a heavy long flight journey….this is part 4 of travel memories from my trips in Australia.
What can you do and see in Sydney?
There are a lot of things to do in Sydney, really to suit all tastes and interests!  Sydney is a place you can enjoy all year round, in each season and with any weather conditions. On my second trip in 2008 I had booked 10 days but  the weather was not on my side, it rained for most of the time, nonetheless it was not so bad at all, I had the chance to discover great places in the city and had much fun.
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Australian Outback 3 ghost gum tree


Yes the true blue of the sky is real !!  Stunning isn’t it ? The tree branches you see in the pic are of a “ghost gum tree“! What’s a
ghost gum tree ? It’s a gum tree whit a white trunk, the bark naturally peels off to make the trunk stands out in the blue sky as a real ghost!
 If you can travel to Uluru off season, and avoid public holidays, then you will be rewarded with some fo the most thrilling experience ever. The Best Time to visit Uluru is March-April or Sept-October.
April is in my opinion definitely the best month to to to the Red Center. You need 2 days for Uluru-Kata Tjuta, 2 days for Alice Springs and a couple of days to visit Kings Canyon and the West or East Mc Donnel Ranges. One week is just the ideal time to visit the stunning australian outback landscape.
If you are interested in reading more about the Australian Outback you may want to read my The Red Centre Guide
Happy travels in Australia!
Michela
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Australian Outback 2 Kings Canyon

Eventually on my second trip to the Australian Red Centre I spent some more time in Alice Springs and the Western Mc Donnel Ranges. Kings Canyon and some more parts are still missing, but are very high on my list Here you can view some pictures of these beautiful natural spectacular.
This outback area shows a stunning beauty and there is indeed so much to see and do, from a variety of outdoor activities like hiking, bushwalking, camping, swimming to cultural and aboriginal guided tours to self guided tours. You need at least 5-6 days to fully enjoy the red centre and savour the beauty and peacefulness of the australian outback.
What you need is time, good weather and tranquility. These places cannot be visited among loud crowds of people getting off and on the huge buses, trying to make here and there a pic and so on. I personally would never go to the Red Centre in July-August, these two months are simply crazy, packed with thousands of people.
Michele
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Travel memories of my trips in the Australian Outback

What most attracts me of  the Australian Outback is
- its bright colours, its strong light, its thin and pure air, its rough contour, its empty space  its spirit, its seclusion. 
- its contrasts, the bright red soil and the deep blue of the sky, the endless horizont, the long walks over sandy and rocky dunes, the immense and the greatness of solitude. 
- its Australian culture and its people. Being a multicultural person, I love Australia for its cultural background, the colourful mixed origin of its population, its aboriginal culture and its profound freedom values.
During my first solo trip around Australia in 2004 I had planned a week in the Red Centre of Australia.
 But as huge as this area is, I had to make a choice. Since I was travelling by bus I decided to make a stop at Cober Pedy, and from there I headed north to Alice Springs, to then turn south east to reach the Yulara Resort and visit Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
Michele
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Australia 2 Kangaroo Island

If you have time and want to reach Adelaide you can drive for approx further 600 km. On the way to Adelaide you can make a stop for a visit to the Coorong National Park, a beautiful marine and coastal national park. Beware of insects and flies! Bring with you a strong insect repellent spray, I did not have any with me on that trip and the day after I woke up and thought I had chicken pox
If you love animals and birds, then South Australia and especially the Kangaroo Island will spoil you with its awesome native australian wildlife. On the island you will spot lots of koalas on trees, sea lions at Seal Bay. Koalas and otther species have been introduced to the Kangaroo Island to ensure the survival of these species.
More animals to be found around this real “treasury island” are: echidnas, tamar wallabies, goannas, possums, platypuses. Birdlife lovers can enjoy the little penguins at the island marine centre in Kingscote, or in Penneshaw, see pelicans at the Pelican Lagoon at American River and spot black cockatoos, black swans, emus, galahs and many more birds.
Michele 
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Australia: Great Ocean Road Trip

After the first 20 days travelling completely on my own, I decided to join a small group of people on a 3 1/2 day tour from Melbourne to Adelaide along the GOR. The Great Ocean Road is estimated to be one of the most beautiful coastal drives in the world. And it honestly is amazing. Not only for the stunning views over the 7 visible apostels in the sea, the golden rock formations, the breathtaking cliffs and endless horizont, the popular surf beaches and so on. The most amazing thing is the diversity of the landscape you get to see here. There are a couple of national parks that ought to be seen, these are: the Otway National Park and the Port Campbell National Park. In the Otway National Park you can immerse yourself in a little fragment of rainforest which survived millions of years !
 I would recommend spending one night in a lovely place like Apollo Bay, or Lorne, or futher south in Port Campbell. If you are on a tight schedule and want to see the Great Ocean Road on one day, then make sure you leave early in the morning. The ride is about 300km one way.

Michele
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Filipini Kanjon

Video: Bora Bora Dance

JaninTravel: Tahiti Music

Polynesia: Moorea

Tahitian Maraes are open temples, used for sacred ceremonies. The ancient Polynesians were polytheists. They traveled to these temples to honor their gods and ask them to influence events such as the quality of their harvests or victories against enemies.

First fruits and best catch of the day were taken to the Marae as offerings for the gods.  
Before the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century, they were the center for social, political and religious activity-including human sacrifice.


During the 1994 restoration by archaeologists from the Tahiti Museum, human bones were discovered under some of the structures. They were probably the remains of sacrifices to the Polynesian god ʻOro, revered in Tahiti. 

Text & photo: Janin Klemenčič.




Uvosilimo, Papua





Wamena mountains, West Papua
photo: Janin 

Philippine mountains




Banaue, Batad 
photo: Janin Klemenčič 

Bora Bora

French Polynesia
photo: Janin Klemenčič


JaninTravel: Papua warriors fighting

Australian journal 19 Kakadu National Park

The Kakadu National Park   and   The Eastern Kimberley are not really close to each other, just about 1000km But geographically they are at the very Top End of Australia. I had planned to spend a whole month there, in the end it turned out to be a bit less than 3 weeks. To be honest you would need alone for the Kimberly a whole month. The region is as bis as Germany, so you can soon figure it out how vast this area is. However I am really pleased I managed to see the Eastern Kimberley this time and the Kakadu National Park. Much is still there to be explored on future travels. The important thing is for me is to get a feel of the place rather than cram too much into my itinerary.

 Back from Darwin to Adelaide –  again on the Ghan Train
Enjoying the outdoor Lifestyle of Darwin I really love Darwin, always, at any time of the year. I simply feel “at home” in Darwin and love spending time there. Darwin is one of those places I miss when I leave. It is a city of party, for great outdoor lifestyle, restless buzz and creativity, a place I could love to settle down for a while! I had a great time there meeting people, discovering new places and enjoy its beaches its, aweseome sunsets, its lively markets. When I left Darwin beginning of June I knew my time in Australia was coming to a close. Feeling sad for a while I knew in my deepest heart that I will coming back one day soon in the future. The return train trip to Adelaide on the Ghan was also magnificient, this time I upgraded to a Red Cabin.
Michela
 (to be continued)

Australian journal 18 Adelaide to Darwin



The third leg of my Australia Trip was focused on The Northern Territory and the Kimberley Wilderness Region. I had not been able to visit much of these areas during my previous travels because of bad weather conditions. That’s why I decided to go back during the dry season. May is definitely a good time of the year to visit the Top End of Australia and the Kimberley Region. In May the landscape still retains the beautiful colours of the lush green vegetation, gorges are still filled with water and not many people are around. The ideal setting for a visit. 

Travelling on The Ghan Train across Australia from south to north or viceversa is probably the wish of many australians and overseas travellers. For a series of reasons this time I chose to travel by train from Adelaide to Darwin. When I arrived in Australia in March I found out about the special offer Australia rail was launching on their website to all overseas travellers. Moreover I investigate a bit more and learnt about  the improvements made on the Ghan Red Service.  So I was very much looking forward to getting onboard of the Ghan again for the second time. My memories about my first train trip across the country back in 2008 were not so positive so I was eager to try it out and have another go. And I tell you I was pleasantly surprised of the huge improvements that have been made on this train.

(to be continued)

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