Wall of 1000 Vaginas

The rest of my time in Tasmania was spent mainly in Hobart. I went to the MONA Gallery (Museum of Old and New Art). While I was excited to see this controversial gallery, I didn't think it quite lived up to the hype. There were some pieces, ideas and installations that I quite enjoyed but I found a lot of it to be quite disturbing (statues of men with their genitalia torn off, anyone?). I also got to visit the

Tasmanian Times Pt. III

View from above Wineglass Bay

After a relaxing day at the beach, we spent the night in a small town on the East coast called Bicheno, where the next morning, (our final day on the tour) I went for a walk down to the beach to witness my first blowhole which was very neat! We headed over to

Tasmanian Times Pt.II

Taking a well deserved break atop Marion's Lookout

  Day three on our Tasmania Tour consisted of a gruelling hike up Marion's Lookout to get a spectacular view of Cradle Mountain and it's surrounding valley. Cradle Valley is the start of the Overland Track, which takes around

Tasmanian times Pt. I

Montezuma

After my relatively short stay in Melbourne I hopped over the pond to Tasmania. My first week in Tassie was a frosty one, especially when one is as prepared for the cold as I was, with my one pair of pants and light sweater. Who knew you would need warm clothes in Australia??

It's pronounced Mel'bn, not Mel-born!

Ah, Melbourne! Upon landing at Tullamarine Airport, I instantly felt better here than I ever did in Sydney. I've heard people say to me that the architecture is much more interesting, but never put much thought into it until I was cruising through the city on a shuttle bus towards my new hostel. With spirals, spears, wavy things and even a building designed as an optical illusion,

Could there be love beneath these wings?

 Like a lot of things in Australia, flying domestically is a much more laid back experience. To fly domestically within the States, at least as a Canadian citizen, is quite a stressful process. I always felt like a bit of a terrorist (I swear I'm innocent!) with all the strict rules and regulations. It's a much bigger hassle and security often seems quite impatient, impersonal and grumpy. In Australia you can bring your groceries on the plane with you (a very good thing when you're backpacking) don't have to put all your liquids in baggies and you can keep your shoes on when going through the metal detector! It's also much cheaper to fly around Australia than it is in Canada, with the lowest flight from Sydney to Melbourne costing in total around $50 AUD. The draw back with these cheap flights though, is that they charge you for everything beyond the basics, such as checked luggage, in-flight bevvies and paying for it all with anything aside from a few select methods will cost you a little extra coin.






Also, a cyber high-five to anyone who can tell me what song the title of this post is from!

You can call me Crispy...

 

After I left Katoomba with just five days until my flight to Melbourne was to depart, I decided to head to a little beach town called Newcastle, about a three and a half hour train ride from Sydney. I didn't book anything in advance when I left for Newcastle, just grabbed my bags and hopped on the train.

Exploring Jenlolan

While still in the Blue Mountains, Lance and I went to the Jenolan caves, which is about a 2 hour bus ride from Katoomba. The winding road leading down into the caves is quite interesting, and I'm not just talking about the view! It hugs the mountain with the outer edge usually ending in a sheer drop down the cliff.

Let's go hiking!

This past week I have been spending my time in gorgeous Katoomba, a town in the Blue Mountains, which is about a 2 and a half hour train ride West from Sydney. The way people usually visit the Blue Mountains is by taking a day trip. While it is a quick and easy way to say "I've been there" I can't imagine spending only a few hours and being satisfied. The view is

Crossing over and my time in Sydney

As I am leaving Sydney in the morning I figured it would be a good time to update you all on what I've done and experienced so far. The flights were mediocre to bad. My flight leaving Edmonton was delayed and so when we landed in San Francisco I had a whopping