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Upside Down World
Australia was much more similar to the US than Iran. It had all the stores, products, language that I am familiar with. Yes, there are lots of differences, but I didn't stick out like I did in Tehran. That made the trip a bit less exotic.
Now that the jet lag has passed, I can put together some thoughts about my trip down under.
Welcome to AustraliaI had my first experience with Australia at the customs inspection area. I declared that I had some food (some pistachios from Iran that I was bringing for my friend Mike) so they sent me to the red lane. No problems with the food, but apparently there was an issue with my shoes. One of the agents asked me if my shoes were clean. I thought this a joke, so I glanced down and said, "No."
She said very seriously, "Where have you been? Hiking somewhere?"
Realize that at this point I haven't slept for about 30 hours, so the thought of being detained at customs for a moment longer was not very appealing.
I told her that I thought she was joking and that my shoes were quite clean. She said, "We don't joke about anything here," and waved me on my way.
I quickly walked out. Her partner called out, "Seriously, she was joking sir." I didn't turn back to find out.
Of course, after bringing rare snows to Iran while I was there, it was pouring rain in Sydney. My friend Mike informed me it was the most rain he'd seen since he'd been there, later the cab driver confirmed this. Later, in the trip I brought my rainmaking skills to drought-ridden Canberra for our only day at the capital.
A train malfunction kept us waiting for 15 minutes, so we decided to brave the elements and catch a taxi. I had forgotten that Australians drive on the opposite side of the road and was wondering why the taxi driver was getting in on the passengers side.
Mike had got an air mattress for me to sleep on while I was there. The air mattress didn't self-inflate and I was light headed from no sleep, so after about 15 minutes of inhaling vinyl fumes blowing the thing up, I felt like I'd been huffing gasoline all day. Once I got to the point where I didn't hit the floor while laying on it, I stopped. It could be finished the next day and I certainly wouldn't have any trouble sleeping.
I awoke to a very nice view out the 19th floor window.
My Kind of TownThankfully, the NBA Finals were on that day so I had an excuse not to venture out into the unknown while I was jetlagging like a mofo. I also caught some Australian Rules Football, which I always thought was rugby, but it definitely isn't. They call all their football games "footy" which is about as unmanly as you can get for a very macho game.
I finally did venture outside on the first day. I could tell I was in a place that didn't get very cold when I went walking around in a t-shirt when people were wearing coats and hats. My first observation was that Sydney is much like Chicago. Mike also had the same thoughts. I like Chicago, so that was a good thing.
One little known fact about Australia is that not only do the cars have the steering wheel on the opposite side as North America, but so do the bikes. That was strange to see.
Out of TownIf you remember, I had death defying experiences with the insane driving in Iran, I can assure you that Australia is quite the opposite. Even driving on the left, couldn't make Australian driving exciting. The maximum speed on the highways is 110 km/h. In a large, sparsely populated country, you think they could do better. Not only that, but there are signs every 100 meters telling you not to speed, not to "drink drive", and not to sleep while your driving, and since it was the Queen's birthday weekend, there were signs telling us that we would get "double demerits" for driving too fast.
A few other people also thought it was a good idea to head out to the Blue Mountains. There we visited the Three Sisters and went on the world's steepest railroad at Scenic World. It had this sign:
Probably not the best ride for someone with my dangerous skills to go on. Thankfully, I survived the ride with all my limbs.
On the way back from the blue mountains we stopped for some snacks and I just had to try some Burger Rings. Let's just say that we probably won't be seeing any burger flavored Doritos any time soon.
The next day we heading out to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting. On our way there we saw a strange road sign. I made Mike stop to take a picture.
A little later on we saw one of the creatures, which we later found out was a wombat. When I hoped out to take the picture, I heard some dogs barking in the distance. They sounded like they were getting closer so I didn't dawdle.
Here I am toasting one of my first samples of wine. Luckily, Mike volunteered to drive so he was spitting and I got to swallow.
Back to SydneySydney has a very nice aquarium. Here's a nice sign we saw there.
If you can't make it out it says if the fall won't kill you the croc will. How pleasant.
Here I am with the opera house and harbour bridge (which I later climb) in the background. I would've gotten a better shop but a busload of Japanese tourist (of which there are many in Sydney) arrived crowding out the really good angles.
I took a ferry over to Manly Beach, so called because you need to be very manly to eat your lunch without being eaten yourself by the killer seagulls.
RecklessThat night we drank a bit too much at a pub. When I say to much, I mean that I actually started to think that this cover band that we watched was actually good. I even mentioned that I wanted a drumset like the guy was playing. The bands name was Reckless and they had it imprinted over a hot wheel's logo.
Thursday night we went to the Sydney Opera House for dinner and for the Lord of the Rings Symphony. It was nice to see the inside of the place after seeing it from the outside from every angle.
The symphony was incredible. They showed sketches by Alan Lee and John Howe on a large screen over the performers. Especially for a huge LotR fan like me.
Deep Space CapitalPlane tickets to better parts of the country were a bit too expensive, so we rented a car and headed to Canberra. Did I mention that I brought the rain to Canberra too?
In our hotel in Canberra there was a nice note in the bathroom about taking shorter showers to conserve water, as well as the standard flush/half flush toilet. It's a bit strange to turn on the shower and get more water pressure than I've ever seen in my life. There must've been 10 gallons/second coming out of the shower head. No wonder they have a water problem.
The best site in Canberra was the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex. In addition to the nice space museum (in which we geeked out watching a presentation on the Cassini-Huygens Saturn probe).
The dishes were impressive.
On the way back from Canberra, we pulled off to the side of the roard to see the southern sky. It was incredible. There were at least 100 times more stars visible than I have ever seen in the northern hemisphere.
On our last day we geared up to climb the Harbour Bridge. We timed it perfectly and we were at the summit during sunset. I have never seen a 360 degree sunset before and it was pretty incredible. The item on my head is a lamp which was required to be worn throughout the entire climb and descent.
The trip back was uneventful save for a mad dash through LAX.
Anybody who has made it this far and wants to see more photos can check out the Gallery.
Anybody heading to Australia should read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. A very humorous and informative travel book. Filed under Musings by Brian - Mon Jun 28, 2004 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss) |
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