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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #587295 is a reply to message #587290] |
Fri, 14 June 2013 00:24 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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We're taking 22 days for the trip. It's about 4000km
I did the same road trip as far as Alice Springs 20 years ago. I climbed Uluru then, but won't do it this time.
Climbing Uluru is now considered culturally insensitive. It is considered a sacred act by the local Aboriginal tribe. Tourists climbing the rock is kind of like drinking in a cathedral or yomping through a Buddhist temple in your boots - although they're not great analogies.
Ownership of the national park area was handed back to indigenous tribes by the Australian government in 1985 but they attached a condition: that the rock remain open to climbing. The owners would dearly love to ban it but they can't. Australians generally understand the sensitivities, although it doesn't stop very many from climbing. International tourists generally have no idea because it is in the best interests of tourist operators to keep it a secret.
I'll count the signals in Alice, but I don't expect much change. I had a friend at Uni who came from Alice; he used to claim that he could give directions to his house: "Turn right on Stuart Highway in Port Augusta, right again at the next traffic light, and we're 3rd on the left". The joke works better if you know where Port Augusta is: 2 days drive from Alice.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #587299 is a reply to message #587289] |
Fri, 14 June 2013 01:06 |
John Watson
Messages: 8935 Registered: January 2010 Location: Global Village
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The total of my knowledge of Australia comes from reading Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice, and one week in Sydney (on contract to Oracle). That was enough, though: I wanted to live there. I was actually offered a job (by Oracle) with relocation, but when we looked into into it I found that I could import the wife, cats, and dogs, but not the parrots: no way were they getting past the quarantine rules. Infuriating. People move country with babies all the time - pets are a different matter. I can't understand it. Babies can carry terrible diseases.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #587470 is a reply to message #587299] |
Sat, 15 June 2013 07:43 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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I picked up a Shute ombibus (3 books) a couple of years ago at the local school fair. For a Pom he really nailed Queenslanders' language and manner with Joe Harmon - he's obviously got a good ear for language. I never saw the feature movie but Australian TV made a mini-series in 1981. It used the book for a screenplay virtually unchanged, so there was none of that disappointment you get when they mangle the book. Only problem was they got city boy Bryan Brown (remember Tom Cruise's Aussie mate in Cocktail?) to play Joe and he made a complete hash of the dialogue by talking too fast. Mini-series would have gone another episode if he spoke like a real Queenslander.
On the Beach and No Highway were the other books in the volume. Not as good as Alice but still worth a read. On The Beach is very black and surreal.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #588211 is a reply to message #588210] |
Sun, 23 June 2013 14:53 |
John Watson
Messages: 8935 Registered: January 2010 Location: Global Village
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"Venice, Italy" makes you sound like an American! Why do they so often say things like "London, England" and "Paris, France". Surely we can assume that Venice is Italy, unless otherwise stated?
I love Venice. Both times I've been there I spent two days wandering around enjoying the absence of cars.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #588219 is a reply to message #588211] |
Sun, 23 June 2013 23:05 |
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Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9097 Registered: November 2002 Location: California, USA
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John Watson wrote on Sun, 23 June 2013 12:53"Venice, Italy" makes you sound like an American! Why do they so often say things like "London, England" and "Paris, France". Surely we can assume that Venice is Italy, unless otherwise stated?
I attended Venice High School in Venice, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. The area was originally intended to mimic the canals of Venice, Italy, but it has changed a lot since then. The area is more famous for its ocean front walk and the variety of people that congregate there. Around here, if you say Venice, I think most people generally assume you mean the one in California, not Italy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice,_Los_Angeles
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #588399 is a reply to message #588337] |
Tue, 25 June 2013 10:04 |
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Littlefoot
Messages: 21811 Registered: June 2005 Location: Croatia, Europe
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I'm back*! I've already been there so nothing much changed. However, this time I visited some places I missed last time (Torcello, Burano and Murano islands, for example).
What amazed me the most were people, coming from all parts of the world. I've just been sitting on piazza San Marco, watching united nations walking in front of me, sitting besides me, listening to their voices (understanding hardly anything), trying to guess where might they be coming from.
Furthermore, it was the absence of the green color - no parks, no lawns, no trees - I've seen only two of them and have had too expensive cappuccino in their shade on a small square slightly north from the Rialto bridge, at the beginning of Strada Nouva.
Finally, I memorized a beautiful musical intermezzo played by two middle-aged gentlemen on string instruments in a passage that leads from Santa Maria della Salute towards Peggy Guggenheim Museum.
__________________
* I agree with John. When talking to people here, where I live, there's no doubt which "Venice" I'm talking about - there's only one we know and care about (because large part of Croatian coast was - long time ago - ruled by Venice). We never specify country. Everybody knows that Venice is in Italy, Wien in Austria or Cairo in Egypt. However, it appears that I was right (at least, a little bit) because people who live in Florida have Venice right there and "Venice" (just "Venice") for them means Venice, FL. Or, as Barbara said, people in LA see their own Venice, LA, CA. Therefore, I thought that "Venice, Italy" cleared all possible doubts.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #588940 is a reply to message #588399] |
Sun, 30 June 2013 05:29 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Anyway, back to Australia. We're in Alice Springs tonight - close to the geographical centre of Australia. We've been to Uluru (Ayers Rock) already. It seems they've got a new approach to controlling climbing - close the climb due to "strong winds on the summit". To be fair, it is quite dangerous - one false move and you drop down 300+ metres of near vertical rock - but I also think they're happy to close it if there is a hint of a breeze. Dozens of people have died on the climb over the years and our attitudes towards "liability" today are very different to yesteryear. No problem for us - we weren't planning to climb anyway.
We went on a dawn camel safari through the desert to see the sun rising beside the rock. Our point'n'shoot camera has one of those "sweep panorama" functions where you sweep the camera through 180 degrees and it merges it all into a continuous photo. I don't know if the photos are any good but I'm having fun taking them.
The next 3 days are a long miserable run from Alice Springs to Katherine. It's 1200km of featureless desert and scrub, punctuated by the occasional roadhouse for fuel and camping. We've had enough of sleeping in a tent in 1 degree (centigrade) nights and can't wait to get to the tropics.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #589491 is a reply to message #589490] |
Sun, 07 July 2013 20:03 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Don't forget the sharks and crocs! There's more ways to die a horrible death at the hands of nature in Australia than just poisoning.
We went for a cruise in Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) a couple of days ago. Tour guide was pointing out all of the crocs as the boat passed and reassuring us that they were all "freshies", which are the harmless kind ... unless of course you act aggressively towards them, or they perceive that you are acting aggressively towards them, in which case they will cheerfully tear your leg off. The "salties" are the ones you need to look out for: highly aggressive, territorial, fearless apex predators. There are a couple of traps for them and a few red buoys (salties can't resist attacking them, so a missing/mangled buoy is a sure sign that one is around). They've seen no sign of them since the water dropped this dry-season, so they're "pretty sure" there's none about.
Our cruise included a 1 hour break in some rock-pools where we could have a swim. "Is it safe", "Yeah mate, rocks all round, water coming in over the rapids, crocs won't come here". "You coming in?", "No mate, I'll stay back here and set out the biscuits for morning tea". Hmmm.
[Updated on: Sun, 07 July 2013 20:05] Report message to a moderator
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #590151 is a reply to message #590148] |
Mon, 15 July 2013 07:15 |
gazzag
Messages: 1118 Registered: November 2010 Location: Bedwas, UK
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I lived in South Africa many years ago. A South African friend of mine took me to a rather secluded beach where we could jump into the sea from some fairly high up rocks. Just as I was about to jump I asked my friend "Are there any sharks in there?" He replied "No, mate." As I was at the point of no return beginning my jump he added "The crocodiles eat them all."
[edit: typo]
[Updated on: Mon, 15 July 2013 07:31] Report message to a moderator
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #590496 is a reply to message #590148] |
Thu, 18 July 2013 12:38 |
joy_division
Messages: 4963 Registered: February 2005 Location: East Coast USA
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rleishman wrote on Mon, 15 July 2013 08:04
Anyone interested can see the rest here
Photos remind me a little bit of Sedona, Arizona.
Sorry, I didn't see the link previously that there were more than just the embedded photo. Love 'em.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #590500 is a reply to message #590496] |
Thu, 18 July 2013 17:08 |
John Watson
Messages: 8935 Registered: January 2010 Location: Global Village
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You know, I was thinking of Sedona too. The first time I went to America, we spent three weeks in Arizona - including some time in Sedona. I thought the area had a strange kind of spooky feel to it, like Ross's pictures. The colours and contours of the rocks make you feel all kind of spiritual. A feeling that soon dissipates when you get back into town and are surrounded by shops selling dream catchers.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #590590 is a reply to message #590500] |
Fri, 19 July 2013 08:20 |
joy_division
Messages: 4963 Registered: February 2005 Location: East Coast USA
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John Watson wrote on Thu, 18 July 2013 18:08YA feeling that soon dissipates when you get back into town and are surrounded by shops selling dream catchers.
Hahaha, you nailed it!
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #609959 is a reply to message #609951] |
Fri, 14 March 2014 11:25 |
John Watson
Messages: 8935 Registered: January 2010 Location: Global Village
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A quick Google suggests that Oz has on average 1.4 fatal shark attacks per year.
One chap was eaten only a couple of weeks ago, so if the sharks read the news they
will know that they are nearly up to quota for the year already.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #610450 is a reply to message #610443] |
Thu, 20 March 2014 03:09 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Sorry about that. Scratch is used I'm horse racing, it means the horse has been withdrawn from the race. From there, scratching anything, especially something you just said, means to withdraw it or take it back. So I take back what I said about Gold Coast beaches being free of jellyfish. Clearly they are not.
Yes, this is a dead jellyfish. It is about the size of a baby's fist. I think these ones are sometimes called bluebottles.
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Re: I'm going on holidays [message #610853 is a reply to message #610542] |
Tue, 25 March 2014 03:52 |
rleishman
Messages: 3728 Registered: October 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Yeah, not much to worry about there. Tassie is a bit like Scotland for swimming. If they could send all the crocs, sharks and jellies down there then nobody would notice
Good news, the jellies at the Gold Coast were just washed south in a storm; they were all gone the next day.
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