Showing posts with label Tours. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tours. Show all posts

Monday, May 4, 2009

Rottnest Island!

Rottnest "Rotto" Island is so awesome! It's 19km east of Fremo so instead of swimming we took the ferry there. You can bike around the whole island, It's only about 24km round trip! But we opted for the shorter trek of around 15km.

We made it to a few beaches and found some Quokka which look like a cross between a rat and a kangaroo. They are pretty cute, very soft and timid and they don't bite but all they want is your food and if you don't have any they go on to the next person or try to dig into your backpack.

After we finished biking we had some time to spend on the beach before we went back to Fremo, we found some pretty cool animals there...see below :)

Website: http://www.rottnestisland.com/
Wiki on Quokka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quokka


Perth CBD, such a great shot.

Me on the ferry.

A lighthouse in Fremo, on the way to Rotto.

A circle around the sun in the clouds! I know...it just looked cool.

Anika, Janina, Eddie and Alex jumping in the water.

Little salmon bay beach on Rotto.

Everybody biking...except me of course ;)

So beautiful!

Our own private beach..yep that's the whole thing.

Quokka!
They are only found on islands in Western Australia! Some people will tell you they are only found on Rottnest, but they lie :) We should have stuffed one in our backpack..or maybe two. Their baby's are also called Joey's.
They are almost as tall as Janina.

In the water with a stingray, obviously it didn't sting me.
We were all done biking the island and had to wait an hour for our ferry (we didn't want to be late because we almost missed it in the morning) so we found a nearby beach and also found these cool animals.

A Pelican...yep that close. He was searching for food..there was tons of little fish around.

Alex and Janina at the end of the Jetty,
you can see the Perth CBD between them if you zoom in enough.

Sunset soon..on the way back on the ferry and to
Little Creatures for the best burger I've ever had.
Slideshow of all photos...

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sydney! Blue Mountains

We went to the Blue Mountains on April 18th, it is a day trip from Sydney which started bright and early. Their was lots of hiking involved but the views were pretty awesome. Got to see some Kangaroos, eat some meat pies and see the famous Three Sisters.

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)


A kangaroo chewin' on grass...If it wasn't obvious.

Some bush and dirt.

You NEED to zoom in on this. This was a HUGE ant.

A cool flower..I thought.
The blue mountains..can you see the blue haze? It's caused by the Eucalyptus trees.

A waterfall..on our hike down in to the valley.

Aussie style lunch.. Meat Pie! It was good..didn't taste too healthy though.

More Blue Mountains!

The famous Three Sisters...

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

Funny enough, they are eroding as I write this and will eventually be gone...
Slideshow of all photos...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Melbourne! Great Ocean Road & The Twelve Apostles

This place was amazing! The drive was about 3.5 hours from Melbourne with a stop in Apollo Bay for lunch. The views along the Great Ocean Road are amazing.. so many nice beaches and cliffs to stop and take in the scenery. There are a ton of photos in the slide show, as well as some cool videos.

Website: http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Apostles_(Victoria)

How they were formed
The rock stacks are the temporary remnants of a retreating limestone coastline, under constant attack by the sea. Cliff faces are being eroded at the rate of about two centimetres each year.

1. Cliff face erosion
Wave action erodes the cliff face,
leaving harder rock as headlands.

2. Caves & arches
Waves eat away the rock at sea level, forming caves on each side of the headland. The caves eventually meet up, forming an arch.


3. Stacks formed
Over time the arch collapses into the sea, leaving a rock ‘stack’.


4. Further undercutting
Further undercutting by waves, and opening up of vertical cracks in the rock by rain and saltwater, gradually reduce the stack to a low platform or reef.
This occurred spectaculary in 2006 making world-wide news.



Photos
One stop along the way to Apollo Bay.


Read the sign..haha

Anand and Falen

What am I doing?!

I'm taking a Helicopter tour at the Twelve Apostles!
There are 3 videos in the slide show of the flight!

View from the air!!! Pictures don't do it justice. Look in the slideshow for more.

146km drive on the Princes Highway to get back
Map
Slideshow of all photos...

Melbourne!

W e arrived in Melbourne around 9:00pm on Saturday, April 11th. Falen picked us up at the airport and took us back to her place to drop our things off. Then we went out for some awesome Italian pizza and found the Starbucks!!! mmmm how I missed Starbucks!

Shot from the plane to Melbourne

My room in Melbournes at Falens place...so Victorian.

Awesome Italian Lamb Pizza


Ahhh Starbucks at last!
A cool building in the city.
Anand & Falen, We went for some real Sushi on Sunday..along with a little bit of Sake.

After this we went to the Art Gallery....I'm leaving that out for another post.

Rock! Bang!...You had to be there. In the evening we went to see the comedian Kevin Brennan since the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was on!

I'm skipping Monday..it'll get it's own post too..


A cool shot of the city and the train station, we just wandered around the city Tuesday morning before we took off to Sydney. Eureka Tower in the background...hey, why don't we go to the top of that?

Us chillin with Starbucks!

Then to the top of Eureka Tower..88 floors up!

The wonderful view.


The fake little Eiffel tower (or something..) in the front and the home of the Australian Open in the background.

A Tram and Horses..two main means of transportation in Melbs.

Anand getting searched for the Second time on the way to Sydney. Good thing he bet me a free coffee if he go searched again.
Slideshow of all photos...
Australian words for the week
Budgie Smugglers -> Speedos
Winker -> Signal light

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Fremantle Prison Torch Light Tour

Friday, March 13th 2009
The tour in nineteen photos! I'm going to do this in mostly pictures to make it easy for you since it's going to be long. It was pretty neat.

Website: http://www.fremantleprison.com.au

The entrance...
We got our tickets!

Spoooky

Anand doing the running man...or is he trying to escape already?


I was volunteered to demonstrate the search procedures..

I really needed a shower afterward...don't drop the soap!

I dare you to climb...

Looks pretty creepy!

The guard house in the dog pen, a place for all the very bad people.

Levels 2-3

Moondyne Joe's cell

Anika in her small cell..she's liking it so far.

The crazy guy in solitary confinement.

Alex getting her Cat-of Nine-tails lashing.

The hallway to the Gallows.

The Gallows

The crew at church...

The Church..

The Church windows..the only windows without bars.

Slideshow of all Photos


Australian word for the week
Torch -> Flashlight