By Erik Skye

November 21, 2010:

I did a solo two week trip to Australia in November of 2009 (followed by a solo two week trip to New Zealand). I was so impressed with Australia that I’ve decided to go back – this time for five weeks (11 Dec 2010 – 17 Jan 2011). I fell in love with the Australian people (whom I found to be open, curious, soft-spoken, and easy-going) and the Australian landscape and animals (that are in many ways unique from anything I've ever known). I’ve named my second trip (also solo) “Return to Oz”, and I offer you my observations. This is the first in a series of articles, which after this point I intend to write and post while “on the road”.

Australia’s a big place. It’s physically about the size of the Lower-48 United States. However, it’s home to a population only 1/12^th that of America. It’s a combination of urban and rural, tropical rain forest and desert, cuddly creatures and those that will kill you, old English/Irish lines and new migrants from all over the world, sophistication and simplicity, progressive and dogmatic thinking, etc… So, when I’m asked ‘what’s Australia like’, maybe you’ll understand I find it a complex question to answer. It’s a question I’m trying to answer for myself. And I think it’s a question with many answers.

You arrive in Sydney 2 days after you leave Los Angeles on account of crossing the International Date Line in combination with the 16-hour flight. Don’t worry about losing this day, for you’ll get it back. On the return flight, you actually arrive before you’ve departed (a charming thought). I flew on a new Airbus A380 (a wide-bodied double-decker) operated by Qantas, and I absolutely loved it. The flight crew members were cheery Aussies (which gives you a nice preview of what you’re in for), and they pamper you the whole way. Other than that, getting to and from Australia is just a lot of travelling.

Basically, my first trip to Oz (after I got there) was a very long road trip covering the southeast corner (and by far the most populous part) of the country. The route consisted of these cities and towns and in this order: Sydney (at 4.5 million, the largest and debatably most beautiful city in Australia – world class), Wollongong (an industrialized sprawl which bleeds into southern Sydney, yet also having a pleasant coastal feel), Nowra (a charming sea-side town), Queanbeyan, Canberra (the Australian capital; pronounced ‘Canbra’), Cooma (a seasonal base for skiers and near the Snowy Mountain ski resorts), Bega, Tathra (a very small sea-side town where I saw a sting ray from a pier and a beautiful flock of pink parrots along the beach), Eden (a sea-side town on a hill where I mailed a batch of post cards and noticed cruise ships at anchor), Orbost, Lakes Entrance (great place for an ice cream cone and a stroll on the beach), Brainsdale, Sale, Yarrum, Wonthaggi, Melbourne (at 4 million, Australia’s second most populous; it's incredibly-beautiful city center was a working combination of glass sky scrappers and 1800's British architecture - also a world class city; pronounced 'Melbin'), - I’ll pause here for refreshments…

Continued: Geelong (nice place on the ocean, though I didn’t quite ‘get it’; it had sort of a large bedroom community and industrialized feel), Torquay (start – or finish – of The Great Ocean Road; near surfing world’s famous Bells Beach), Apollo Bay (a small, touristy, sea-side town), Warrnambool (finish – or start – of The Great Ocean Road and where I visited with fellow American and former Valdezian Tiwana Merritt), Port Fairy, Portland, Mt Gambier, Beachport (a small, charming sea-side town), Robe (similar to Beachport), Kingston SE, Adelaide and the rolling farmlands of the Fleurieu Peninsula, Burra (site of incredible copper deposits tucked away in the Merino wool capital of the world – yet the town is extremely tiny today), Terowie (basically a ghost town famous as the location where two railroads of different gages met (requiring massive unloading and re-loading effort), site where WWII American General Douglas MacArthur gave a famous speech (famous to Terowieans) in which he exclaimed he would return (but never did), and a piece of well-preserved 1950’s Americana), Broken Hill (a true taste of the outback, site of the world’s richest known reserves of silver, lead, & zinc, and location where many films have been shot (such as Mad Max)), and… another break for refreshments…

Continued: Wilcannia (a bit of a ghost town along the Darling River where I noticed shy aborigines), Cobar (delightful bush town with active gold mines), Bourke (seemed like a rough place and dying due to a lack of economy), Brewarrina, Walgett (met an irate gas station owner who complained of national policies and crime; also seemed to be a dying town), Moree, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Brisbane (my favorite! – sultry, easy-going, young & vibrant, beautiful city center), Surfers Paradise (i.e. Las Vegas on the beach), Coolangatta, Byron Bay, Ballina, Grafton, Coffs Harbour (home of “The Big Banana”), Kempsey, Port Macquarie (home of the Koala Hospital and perhaps your only real chance of seeing those little buggers), Taree, Newcastle (large but charming sea-side city), and back to Sydney. Whoo! Breathe…

Here’re some basics: When you order a coffee, you don’t say ‘I’ll have an Americano’ (they wouldn’t know what you mean). You say, ‘G’day mate - I’d like a long black’. “Mate” is gender neutral, and “mateship” is a strong theme on account of the extremely harsh conditions of initial settlement (similar to our pilgrims). In America, we put more emphasis on the individual today (perhaps this is a byproduct of ‘how the American wild west was won’). Say 'good on ya!' for good job and ‘ta’ for goodbye. Drive on the left side of the road in the right side of the car. There’s a 20 hour time difference between Sydney and Alaska, and (when converting to Sydney time) I find it easier to simply add one day and then subtract 4 hours.

Alright, let's go have another look. First stop is Sydney and a visit with my new French friend Ceren. Check back soon for the next installment of “Return to Oz”…