Back from Australia New Zealand...comments + what I would do if I could do it again..

Dogphish

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Jul 18, 2004
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Sydney Beaches...Manly

Sydney Beaches...Manly

On good advise we went to Manly Beach, easily available by ferry. Manly is a resort area that looks like it has been frozen in time circa 1950's...beautiful beach, good seafood, great people, lots of shady areas. Lots of babes on the beach, many looked like office worker types on lunch hour (many get an hour and a half) working on tans. Very little topless...however to the right a short walk half mile is a secluded cove....Shelley Beach.....jackpot...saw many many topless...pear shaped, pendulous, whoppers, sunny side up eggs, small nipples, silver dollar size nipples name it, it is here and proudly on display. We planted our towels off to the side and drooled...next to us was a baby doll blond asleep in Marilyn Monroes calender position with 36-c equipment and a tiny bikini riding up into her crack....this was heaven on earth, boys.We did 3 days at Shelly beach, to escape the Sydney heat, as it was 100-110. In the shade at beach with breeze felt like 70's. This is also a great scuba area...diver told us about harmless nurse sharks and wobegongs as well as grouper and octopus lots of snorkel activity also. The water temp was 18 degress c about 64 degrees fahrenheit, they are in late spring.. I spent 30 minutes in water and resumed my "White Pointer" watch. Walking back to the ferry we noticed hoards of children in red sunshirts aged 5-10 learning swimming techniques..Fully 80% of the population of Australia lives along coast. Swimming is taught to school children....makes sense.
 

Dogphish

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Sydney sites continued....museums, casino etc

Sydney sites continued....museums, casino etc

Beantown...still here ??....

lots of museums to choose from....art, maritime, natural history, aquarium, powerhouse, taronga zoo, name your passion....all very easy to get to. In darling harbor area is the Star Casino....the only game in town. Waste of time to me...about the size of a good K.C. casino...locals lined up at ATM machines waiting to give it away. I walked in and immediately was asked to remove my ballcap and check it...well, ok...got inside and saw multi-decked blackjack, roulette, etc, tons of one armed bandits, no craps. Decided to play a little, and figured I should get rated for room or meals. Had to get a "Star Card" from casino...stood in line to be informed I had to show Passport and two forms of credit cards...I did not have passport with me...she would not issue card...blew off casino, too much BS More later....
 

Dogphish

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More things to do...shopping, eating,blue mountains

More things to do...shopping, eating,blue mountains

Best shopping for momentos is in Chinatown area..place called Paddy's market...cheap t-shirts, hats, etc..only open Fri-Sunday hundreds of vendors. While in area visit Golden Century restaurant fabulous seafood fresh out of the tank..kind of point at fish, lobster, abalone and they will cook it anyway you want it.

We wanted to see aussie wildlife kangaroos and the like. The zoo, we did not go to as you see one elephant you have seen them all. It was suggested we go to Featherdale Wildlife park, strictly aussie wildlife. We coupled that with a Blue Mountain tour and took a day trip tour for $80.00 ($60. u.s)...nice air conditioned bus ride. Featherdale park is about an hour and a half from town and has everything from Wombats to Nile crocs and the most venemous snake in the world, the Taipan. The Blue mountains is one of many valleys that proceed the mountain range (actually a 3000 foot plateau) that begins the outback.Named blue mountains because of vast amounts of eucalyptus in area. This area is gorgeous and a welcome break from city.Lots of wild cockatoos, waterfalls and serenity.
 

Dogphish

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A short history of australia...thank you USA

A short history of australia...thank you USA

Took a walking tour in rocks area and the guide gave us history lesson and the like. I believe this to be factual. Australia owes its existance to the USA. After the american revolution England sent it's prisoners to Australia. The name Australia comes from "Australias".... centuries ago it was believed that there had to be a large balancing land mass somewhere in the area.
Eons ago the whole area was connected, New zealand, antarctica, phillipines, indonesia. Along came continental drift and it is still ongoing. The Dutch in the 1600's sighted area, England Capt. Cook gets credit for find. The French were right behind, but due to Napoleonic wars, did not establish colony.
Botany Bay established for prisoners and the rest is history...you could be sent from England for petty theft.
 

Dogphish

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Cars, gas, and the like..

Cars, gas, and the like..

Being kind of a car nut, it was nice to see the Ford Falcon and Fairlane name plates...it looks like the U.S car manufacturers Ford and Chrysler (Holden in aussieland (called OZ by locals) sell the same cars with slightly different sheet metal. The Ford mustang appears to be an XR8. Ford makes a Ranchero like vehicle called Falcon XR..kinda wish they would bring it back here. Gas was about $5.00 a gallon, it was very rare to see a guzzling SUV...lots of Subaru WRX, race car of choice??

Driving notes....we did not attempt in Australia..wrong side of road, right hand steering wheel was recipe for disaster in city of 4+ million. With city transportation I would not suggest. As a matter of fact,the downtown area intersections have stenciled " Look right " on the sidewalks for tourists before crossing.
 

Dogphish

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Summation of Australia portion of trip...

Summation of Australia portion of trip...

If I could do it again, probably will not, as my wife was gracious to let me go, knowing that it was trip of a lifetime....I would spend 4 days in sydney and 8 in New Zealand...if you have seen one big city, you have seen them all...Lodging, I would find a suburban hotel with needed ammenities (air, refrigerator etc) The people genuinely like the USA and it's people. They have great empathy for 9-11 and our plight. If I had overs, I would pick a different time of year...OZ (australia) has a serious late spring and summer fly problem..these flies are half the size of a house fly and are everywhere in tremendous quantities. You can not walk down the street without being constantly bothered, everyone is constantly brushing them out of their face...the locals call this action " the national salute"
It was amazing to me historically to see how our countries are linked to english roots..
.One added note...ran into an American who migrated here, now driving a tour bus...the state of Southern Australia ( Oz has six states) allows three marijuana plants for personal use...
 
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Dogphish

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Jul 18, 2004
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Apologizes to all...

Apologizes to all...

I am sorry if this was too long. I hope the information helps someone ; it was a trip of a liftime and I would heartily recommend it to all. I am going to do New Zealand in a seperate thread...Beantown , I hope you did not rip out all your hair :rolleyes:
 
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