Ever been to Australia (or live there) ?

[steve2470]

I have, in 1995. I was there for a week. I saw Sydney, Bondi Beach, Hunter Valley and Canberra. The people were great and generally warm. I never saw a kangaroo, which I am told is typical unless you go to the Outback (much further inland). I saw one Aborigine (I think that's the correct term) playing his digeridoo at the Sydney Harbor Quay (I think that was the place). In Canberra, it was interesting seeing the Australian Parliament and all the embassy buildings. Bondi Beach is very much like our beaches in Florida. Sydney was fun, very cosmopolitan.

How about yourself ?

*hopes people enjoy these quasi-travelogue threads*

[whistler162]

1. my brother, while in the Navy, was

stationed in Alice Springs for 3 years or so. He enjoyed it.

[HeiressofBickworth]

2. I lived there for a year 1975-1976

I've written about it here on DU before. One thing I will mention is Canberra, the country's capital. I found it delightful that the embassies of the different countries were build in the traditional style of their nation. For example, Japan's embassy was in the style of a traditional pagoda. The Thai embassy was in the style of a very ornate temple. The US embassy was in the style of a brick colonial -- think Williamsburg. It amused me that the Israeli embassy was next door to the German embassy. I also found it interesting that of all the embassies, the Israeli one was the only embassy to have high solid wall surrounding the building with stations and armed guards. In 1975, this seemed odd and maybe a little paranoid.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. All the embassies have high walls now

We had some car trouble a few weeks back on the way to work and pulled over in yarralumla. I warned my daughter to be careful not to stop in front of the US or other controversial embassies so being politically ignorant she stopped in front of the Israeli embassy. It took all of a few seconds for. Security guys to appear out of nowhere

[HeiressofBickworth]

9. Fear has really taken over, hasn't it?

Too bad about the high walls -- must be harder to see the uniqueness of the embassies. I lived in the tiny town of Berrima, on the Hume Highway (which, I understand, has now been bypassed by a freeway). My mother owned a motel and restaurant and I worked for her for a year. I really enjoyed my time there and would love to go back. I've been able to find our place on the internet which is so weird. It's been closed for quite a while and has been up for auction a couple of times. Wonder what is going to happen to the old place.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. Berrima's a beautiful town...

It was just a flash on the way to Sydney when the Hume Highway went through it, but I've gone there a few times since and wandered around the antique shops and cafes, and it's so peaceful and interesting without the highway traffic. Which motel was it? I thought at first it was the White Horse Inn, but last time I was there it was open...

[HeiressofBickworth]

16. Yes, it was the White Horse Inn

My family owned it from 1968 to sometime around 1986 (don't remember exactly). When my mother bought it, it was run down and had layers of lino over beautiful wood floors. All of the interior wood trim was painted with many layers. She stripped and refinished all of the wood in the place and restored the beautiful wood floors. She then set out to furnish the whole place with lovely antique furniture. There were four motel units in the back which were clean but unremarkable in decor. The kitchen for the restaurant was a real challenge. There was a wood stove that heated the only hot water supply in the place. There were a couple of electric flat-tops and an electric stove with oven. We had a refrigerator and a freezer. Some time before she sold it, there was an electrical fire in the kitchen which necessitated total replacement of fixtures. There were three 1,000 gallon water tanks outside that collected rain water which was used in the kitchen and bathrooms. The rain water was better than the Berrima city water supply which had "wogs and beasties" in it. There was, of course, no central heating but every room had a working fireplace. When I lived there, I took the ute to the local lumber mill and got scraps for the wood stove and the fireplaces. I was taught to NEVER reach into the woodpile, but to use a rake to pull off a piece before picking it up -- snakes, of course. We had a number of kerosene heaters -- a couple for the dining rooms and one each for our bedrooms. If you look at a picture of the White Horse Inn, my bedroom was on the 2nd floor, the window on the right; my sitting room was behind it. My sister's room was a double room and had the two windows on the left. My daughter's room was behind my sister's room. My brother's room was the "penthouse", the two attic rooms. Mother's bedroom and sitting room were on the first floor, to the left of the front door. Oh, and the story about a ghost isn't exactly as it has been told. The ghost wasn't a convict who died when it was built. Jim, the ghost, was the husband of the woman my mother bought the place from; he had committed suicide in the dining room. It probably makes a more interesting story if they say it was a convict.

Oops, sorry, this is too much info -- don't want to bore you with details. But, I wanted to convey that I loved that old house and the town was very quaint. I'm in fact glad to see that the highway bypassed it -- less traffic and less noise. I very much enjoyed my time in Oz and would go back there to live, if I had the chance. My sister and brother still live in Oz.

[Violet_Crumble]

23. Don't be sorry. It's great to hear about places I've seen in RL...

That doesn't happen much at DU seeing as how I've never been to the US, so I loved hearing about when you lived in Berrima

I love those old buildings and I'm so jealous of you for having been able to live in that one. If you ever end up back in this part of the world and end up in Canberra at some point, I'm going to shout you lunch coz I enjoyed yr post so much...

btw, I think after what does look like a series of changing of ownership, it's open for business again (at least it was late last year/early this year). Here's a pic I found of it...

[HeiressofBickworth]

25. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU

I love the picture!!! The white building to the side was the restaurant. They took down the fancy ironwork we put up along the top edge of the balcony. They took out the flower gardens in the front. Hated weeding those flowers - I was always afraid of funnel webs!! It also looks like they built another building to the left. Wonder what they did with the small carriage house which would have been in back of that building. Are the motel units still there? We only served breakfast to the motel units; we were open for lunch and dinner, but not afternoon tea. I remember cooking turkeys in the wood-burning stove for Christmas dinners for the restaurant. It was terribly hot and we had the fire going for hot water and the oven. We stood out on the front porch singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and laughing like hell.

I spent a perfectly lovely day in Canberra; it was spring -- took the train. I had a friend who lived in Flynn -- we exchanged Christmas cards for many years but I've lost contact with her now.

I had a ute and drove all around buying old things from peoples' sheds. I had an antique shop in Mittagong. One of my favorite memories was when a friend of mine from the US came to visit and we spent the night in the pub in Young with the entire rugby union team. Just them and the two of us. They didn't toss us out at closing time. That was back in the day when the pubs were segregated - men in one room and women in another. We always went into the men's side and just as the bartender was going to toss us out, he heard our American accents and said, "bloody yanks don't know better" and let us stay. We went to a Bachelor's and Spinster's Ball in Condobolin (I think). It was held in a huge tent on a pig farm. Men in tuxedos, women in fine clothes. Men climbing the tent poles after a few beers.

Yes, I have wonderful memories of Oz!! Thanks for letting me share them with you.

[warrprayer]

28. Very cool post!

thanks for sharing! Gives a real feel for the place.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. In 1972, several Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics,

so maybe having armed guards at the Israeli embassy in 1975 wasn't being paranoid...

[XRubicon]

3. Perth in 1985 for one week

Western Australia.

Very friendly people.

[kentauros]

4. I was there for three hours,

on my way to New Zealand. (Missed all of my direct and connecting flights out of Houston due to massive thunderstorms here.) They have a nice international airport

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Lived here all my life

I was born in Sydney but moved to Canberra when I was a kid. I think I like it here though I'd prefer to live in new zealand

[kentauros]

7. You might want to consider moving to NZ.

I've read that they're having a problem with people moving to Australia, and their population is shrinking. I know one of their immigration choices was if you had fifteen million NZD to invest over four years, you could immigrate without any other hassles. Otherwise, you go through the same process as everyone else. Although I think Australian nationals can immigrate easier than the rest of us.

[Violet_Crumble]

13. Family keep me here, but if our RW govt keeps on going, I might move anyway...

Yeah, we can just up and move to NZ without having to apply for residency or anything. That's why there's so many Kiwis over here, coz it's reciprocal. I'm a public servant, but to work for the NZ govt, I'd need to get citizenship, so that's a downside...

[kentauros]

19. Well, at least it's a short flight over (about 3 hours) if you ever want to visit.

Unlike the all-day flying it takes for me. And the next time I visit, I'm shipping my clothes ahead of me!

Maybe you can retire there

[pink-o]

10. Sydney and Melbourne were a sweet surprise to me!

I stopped in Australia after visiting my friend in Auckland--just cuz I felt I shouldn't fly back to Cali w/o seeing it. So it was kinda obligatory--until I started exploring. Perfect weather, fabulous wine and cuisine, friendly people and sophisticated atmosphere. I spent 5 years in London, and Sydney was like a version without the endless rain or the folks who thought the sun never set on their empire. Great pub culture too.

I loved all the exotic birds and wildlife. Even though I know there are creepy crawlies that'll kill you in 30 minutes, it doesn't deter from Aussie awesomeness. Too bad it's so far away, tho!

[uriel1972]

11. Don't worry if our current PM has his way...

Australia will be indistinguishable from USA socially and the environment will be strip-mined and polluted to all heck.

Your current USA with Kangaroos. Just as The USA is recognising the destructive nature of its policies we're heading into full on Reaganism. /sigh.

That said it still is a lovely country in many ways and you're less likely to encounter sudden warfare than in say Egypt, Thailand, etc.

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. 1 Aldridge St., Alice Springs, NT 1972 - 74

http://goo.gl/maps/RVNdJ

My dad was assigned to Pine Gap

Went to 9th and part of 10th grade at Alice Springs HS. Had the fortune of looking after and riding daily a 16 hand gelding thoroughbred named Robber Boy;


(That's not me up)

Dad bought a Land rover like this one;


Visited and climbed Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Olgas, traveled in that Rover quite a bit in the outback near Alice. Had the good fortune of staying on a station during Xmas, 1973. Jinka Station was on the Plenty Highway, about 4 or 5 hours north east of The Alice.

Never got much further north than about 100 miles or so, so we never even got to Tennant Creek, the next major town north on the road to Darwin. The rail line carries on all the way north, but when we were there, it ended in Alice Springs. "The Ghan" was a regular thing. When the rains were heavy the rail line was cut because it was laid directly on the riverbeds in many places. The town went for a period of about a month one time without a train. EVERYTHING came by the train, except meat and some locally grown produce.

I worked in the town Abbatoir at 15 years old.

In the 1990's I visited Surfers Paradise 4 times attending the Indy Car race there. Last time I was down under was 1995.

Oh yeah....I was a participant in the "Henley on Todd" Regatta!

http://www.henleyontodd.com.au/

[BarbaRosa]

15. I lived in the Sydney area, 1969-'71

I loved it!

[sakabatou]

17. Nope

But one of my favorite people from Youtube does: Omahdon

[riderinthestorm]

18. Bondi Beach for two years with a Qantas pilot just after I graduated university

What an excellent adventure. Learned to ride there and how to surf.

I think the entire Japanese population has pictures of my topless self sunbathing on the beach



(anyone familiar with Sydney understands)

[steve2470]

22. Sydney has a pretty large Asian population

Our cab driver, a lifelong Aussie, said (paraphrasing) " There's hardly any Aussies left in Australia ! ". HIS words, not mine. I'm guessing he wasn't real happy with the influx.

[Violet_Crumble]

24. You've got to take what Sydney cabbies say with a grain of salt...

Sydney's pretty multiculturally diverse, and many of those from the 'influxes' are just as Australian as that cabbie is. I'd bet you anything he's a fan of Allan Jones. My fave Sydney taxi experience was the big, scary looking Arab guy who saw I'd been reading Noam Chomsky on the plane, told me he loved Chomsky, and embarked on a really interesting discussion of international relations. I think he may have been a rarity...

[steve2470]

29. who is Allan Jones ?

Is he a right wing Aussie pundit ? I looked briefly on Google.

[riderinthestorm]

27. My experience was with a busload of Japanese tourists who would debark, take pictures

From the parking lot, never venturing beyond onto the sand, then load back up after 10 minutes.

You could just imagine them ticking off the checklist. ..

"Bondi Beach. Photos of surfers and topless women. Done!

[pinboy3niner]

20. I was supposed to go to Sydney on R&R from Vietnam in February 1970

But I gave my slot to one of the men in the platoon who'd missed his R&R slot when he was in the hospital. No sweat, I figured. I'd just go later. But I got hit the next morning and never got an R&R.

Maybe one of these days I'll finally do a trip to have my R&R in Australia.

[A HERETIC I AM]

21. Go.

You must go.

Just go, driver. Do it. Soon.

[shenmue]

26. I'd like to go someday