On my swing through Western Australia, I made a stop at Purnululu National Park, home of the Bungle Bungle mountains. When I told people I was making the drive from Darwin to Perth, everyone told me I had to stop at the Bungle Bungles. I wasn’t really prepared for how remote and hard to get …
You know you want it and here it is. The New Zealand McDonald’s update. Any discussion of New Zealand McDonald’s has to start with the Kiwiburger. The slogan for the Kiwiburger is “Kiwiburger: That’s Our Tucker”. I have no clue what that means. I guess it is some sort of Kiwi slang that is supposed …
Today I went bungee jumping for the first time in my life. Jumping off a ledge might seem like a simple thing, but it isn’t. Here is how to do it if you ever feel so inclined to go bungee jumping. 1) Lie to yourself No rational person would throw themselves off a ledge, so …
Tomorrow I’m off to Milford Sound. The place which is usually rated the #1 attraction in New Zealand. I hope I get good weather. I decided to stay in Queenstown and take a tour bus to the Sound, rather than drive. Once gas and everything was factored in, I was about the same just staying …
In the United States, there are three parks which are considered to be the crown jewels in the National Parks system: Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. If you had to make a similar list for Australia, I don’t know what two of the parks would be, one one of them would have to be …
Today is ANZAC* Day in Australia, New Zealand and several countries in the Pacific (Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji I think). It is the day which Australians and Kiwis remember their war dead. In the US it would be the equivalent of Memorial Day, or Remembrance Day in the UK. ANZAC Day, from what I’ve gathered, …
So, I wake up this morning before dawn to check my email before my flight. I do what I do, grab my bags and get a cab. The cab driver doesn’t really speak English and points towards the government palace, makes a shooting action with his fingers and says “very bad, very bad”. I get …
Still no reply from the US Consulate in Melbourne after four days. The consulate is structured such that you cannot actually talk to any Americans if you go to the consulate. The lobby is a security area and they wont let you in unless you have an appointment already. The only way I can get …
After a marathon session yesterday, I got through processing all my photos. However, the Internet connection here has been down for most of two days. I get 5-10 minutes of a slow connection here and there, but that’s it. So today, I’m sitting on about 200 photos which I have to upload to Flickr. I’m …