Australia 2017

As promised, I am posting about my trip to Australia this past spring break.  I have successfully been able to finish uploading some of the photos I’ve taken along my trip.  This week, the first week back from break was really hard…we were thrown at new work, already a test, and new major projects, in addition to getting back our grades.  We are restarting school again and hitting the track hard.  

We left for Australia the day break started, Saturday.  I don’t believe I’ve ever taken a longer plane flight.  The total flying time to Australia was over 20 hours, and this didn’t include the flight transfer time at a west coast airport.  We arrived in Melbourne, Australia on Monday morning.  

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MELBOURNE

My aunt and her family live in Melbourne with my grandparents.  This past summer, she visited Boston.  Now, we’re visiting the city she lives in.  We stayed at with my family in

 Melbourne for four days.  My highlight in Melbourne was probably going to see the 12

12 Apostles

Apostles the second day of our visit.  The drive from Melbourne to the 12 Apostles is legitimately 4-5 hours each way.  Thus, that particular day, my uncle, who drove us around the various lookouts at the national park, and my family drove for 10 hours! That really just reinforced the idea of how vast the country is.   The 12 stones that protruded high into the waters and the way the sun was sitting cast a shadow across the stones.  In sunlight, they appeared an orangy yellowish and reddish stone color, reminding me of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  As I captured photos from different angles, I heard the perpetual crash of waves against the rocks.  I have a notion that once, the 12 Apostles were linked to the land behind them, except over time, that chunk of land eroded, and now, 12 stones stand in the middle of the blue ocean.  The water was a greeny-blue hue, not quite as turquoise as the caribbean islands, but bluer than the oceans in Florida.  

Other lookouts which are part of 12 Apostles National Park

PORT DOUGLAS

Our next stop in our vacation was to Port Douglas.  Essentially, from Melbourne, we flew to Cairns, drove an hour, and arrived in Port Douglas.  The activity that most attracted my family to Port Douglas was snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reefs.  We arrived in Port Douglas on Friday, and on Sunday, we booked a trip abroad Quicksilver, to view the Great Barrier Reefs.  These two weeks in Australia had been consistently rainy, and may family was worried as we headed out into the ocean.  The rain somewhat yielded, so we hopped into the ocean with snorkeling gear on.  I believe my first reaction when I slipped into the water was

either,  the water is as warm as my shower temp, or, there are so many giant red fish here! I believe the giant red fish I saw swimming around the Quicksilver dock were red snapper and the guides on the dock confirmed that the giant blackish ones were tuna.  Snorkeling for about 1.5 hours, I was able to see so much coral!  I rented an underwater camera to pictures with.  This place reminded me of my snorkeling experience in St. John’s, one of the US Virgin Islands.  However, I think the major difference I noticed between these two places I snorkeled was that the Great Barrier Reefs had soft coral [anemone] and more colorful coral while St. John’s had more fish swimming about.  A beautiful sight seeing all the coral!

In Port Douglas, there was also a large national park, called the Daintree Rainforest National Park.  This rainforest is recorded to be the oldest rainforest in the world…older than the Amazon.  On various days during our stay in Port Douglas, we visited different parts of the rainforest.

SYDNEY

I am fortunate enough to live in the suburbs close to a nice city, Boston.  I’ve also visited many cities around the US and a few in other countries.  I’ve told myself that I want to live in a city when I grow up and for some time, I remember bugging my parents about buying a house in the city.  There are three cities I said I was interested in living in when I grew up: Boston, New York City and San Francisco.  I had never been to Sydney prior to this spring break and now, it’s made the list of cities I’m interested in living in.

I would argue that the two most famous places to visit in Sydney are the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and the Blue Mountains.  Having stayed for another four days in Sydney, my family was able to visit all these attractions.  We took a tour of the

Sydney Opera House on our first day in Sydney.  If I remember nothing else,  I will remember the unique, one of a kind architecture of the building.  The exterior is quite well known, resembling layered white sails sitting in the middle of the harbour.  Meanwhile, the inside of the building that was equally stunning.  There was a lot of modern detail and as our tour guide mentioned, the style of the interior was inspired by both modern design, ancient design and contemporary design.  I loved the wooden beams on the ceilings and wall in

particular and the sunlight that flooded through the ample glass windows.  The Sydney Harbour Bridge lies right across the river from the Opera House so we were able to view it simultaneously as we explored the Opera House.  

The Blue Mountains is a whole other story.  The main attraction of the tour we took was Jamison Valley, which houses the 3 Sisters, which are 3 stones that sit next to each other at approximately equal heights above the valley.  We did some hiking in the rainforest in Jamison Valley, while our tour guide told us of the legend surrounding the 3 Sisters.  Apparently, there was a chief with three beautiful daughters.   However this Chief was very greedy and desperately wanted his daughters to stay with him in his village when he grew old.  In another village, there were three warriors who wanted to marry the chiefs 3 daughters.  But the chief couldn’t let that happen, so he took his three daughters into the forest and hid them behind a shrub while he awaited the warriors who were coming to rescue his daughters.  As expected, the warriors arrived.  Feeling threatened, the chief took his magical bone wand

3 sisters in center left

and turned his three daughters into stones so that the warriors could not take them away.  Then he turned himself into a lyre bird and flew away, tossing the magical bone into the forest.  The bone was never to be seen again and this is why every time you see a lyre bird, it is very likely digging around in the soil, looking for the lost magical bone to turn its 3 daughters back into humans.  I found that legend to be very intriguing, yet unfortunately,  I did not happen to see a lyre bird in my hike in the rainforest.  

I love the vibe of Sydney, which is why is draws me to the city.  The mild and temperate climate of the city allows people to come together outdoors.  This is what’s so beautiful about the city.  I saw lots of businessmen and women walking to and from work everyday and in the

evenings, and there were consistently people relaxing, dating, dining and partying at and near the Harbour.  In reality, I think I saw more people by the harbour in one night, walking, talking, exercising and partying than I’d see walking down the most popular street in Boston for the whole day.  There was also a sense of relaxation in Sydney, people are not as reserved at people in Boston.  I felt there was always some hype in the air.

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So that concludes the highlights of my Spring Break 2017.  What a wonderful way to spend it.