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| The Australia Show |
Here are my quick thoughts on Australia, build up with the cunning use of a list and bullets:)
Australia...
- has the most uncommon and straight-to-the-point road signs I ever saw;
- is HUGE and I mean, REALLY HUGE;
- has an immense desert in the middle with a big red rock in its center (Uluru aka Ayers Rock);
- has the cities as far apart of each other as capitals in Europe;
- 's Queensland is packed with German backpackers;
- has some decent beers, but the best one is still James Boag's from Tasmania;
- is going through an economic boom, people have money and everything's expensive;
- 's ware transport is via trucks, which makes food prices fluctuate directly with the petrol's;
- can be extremely hot;
- has fantastic sceneries;
- has the most amazing sunsets;
- has some VERY touristic spots;
- has some GREAT music going on and I would like dedicate a "The Panics" song, "Get Us Home" to australia (it's unfortunately only a short clip);
- has the best public radio service I can remember of, Triple-J;
- are easy-going, talkative, like to take a piss at themselves and have no problems expressing themselves;
- avoid the sun as if it was the devil, the skin cancer warning ads are real shockers;
- are real binge drinkers, they just don't know when to stop (just like brits);
- love to party (just like everyone else);
- have a great girl fashion item, the hot pants! Remember Kylie Minogue's "Spinning around" clip?
- have a great coffee culture, some places (like Perth) even kicked Starbucks (who likes that stuff?) out;
The city of:
- Melbourne is my favorite, alternative, cultural, flat, green, clean, the buildings look old, very classy, has a cool graffiti scene;
- Sydney is busy, large, expensive and not so alternative, lots of buildings are very modern and has a great harbor area;
- Perth has a small population and everything is so far apart, hence a desperate car need, but there are cool places and it is becoming more and more expensive;
- Brisbane has a nice Southbank, is kind of a mix between Melbourne and Sydney, tiny though;
- Cairns is totally tourist oriented, not very interesting indeed
These are my opinions based on my experience. I am sure some people would for example prefer Sydney over Melbourne. The fun factor was so influenced (totally influenced in fact) by the people I met, being it friends made in Europe (Judd, Noel or Mike), local CSers or my favorite travelmate, Heydi.
I would recommend anyone (who likes to backpack) to travel through Aus, being it alone or not, for at least 2 months. I leave a word of notice though, take some cash with you because it is NOT a cheap country, prices are very close to the european ones and there are LOTS of things to do and see. Couchsurfing is a really valuable asset to make the interaction with people living there a lot better. If someone's there to just go out, party and shag all the girl/guys he/she meets at a pub crawl, he/she is better off staying at hostels and leave CSing the f*** out of it. On the long run, the most affordable way to travel is to buy a used car, but make sure you know what you're buying:P
Getting to know the aborigines must be interesting and I shamefully admit I only read stuff, attended exhibits at the state museums and heard what people had to say about them:( There are lots of places where people can have the aboriginal (good and touristic) cultural experience, throwing the boomerang, playing a didgeridoo, painting... but then again, it's only part of their culture, the part with "Crocodile Dundee" written all over it and where no serious issues are explained. So a choice can be made, to get to know the dark side or not.
I hope to make this my last post about Aus. One month has passed since I got back to Munich and during that time, I managed to change some little but meaningful things about my CS activity and the way I see people and travels. The ideas for my next travels having been adjusted, I am decided to not travel alone anymore. In fact, more than ever, I believe that traveling with one's girl/boyfriend is a really tough test for the relationship and I sure will "use" that in the future. It's like cutting the crap and removing all the vernish by putting two people together 24/7, sharing the same space, meeting the same people all the time, experiencing each other's initiatives and influence on the decisions to make - every day, the path to take has to be chosen, everyday, at least one decision has to be made, being it simple or not. I particularly like sharing the "leadership", I could never be with someone that would always leave decision making to me or would write the whole travel plan without any room for flexibility.
Cheers to Australia and the Australians!
Aussie, aussie, aussie...
Oi, oi, oi!
Cheers guys,
n.-
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