Photo gallery: Various small stuff
Various small stuff is the special gallery established in February 2006 and seems to be never ending...
U can find there many unclassified, personal or just hopefully interesting photos :)
The latest pics are always placed in the beginning of the gallery.
Photo gallery: Melbourne at night
One night in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria and Australia's second largest city.
Photo gallery: Great Ocean Road
Google Earth Position: 38°39'30.15"S 143° 5'5.84"E
The Great Ocean Road is one of world's most scenic coastline roads.
It stretches along the south-eastern coast between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool and includes the world-famous Twelve Apostles, the Otways rainforest, various beaches and lookouts, resort towns like Lorne or Apollo Bay, and the historic villages of Queenscliff, Port Campbell, Port Fairy and Portland.
Photo gallery: Hunter Valley
Google Earth Position: 32°49'58.59"S 151°21'14.37"E
There’s only one reason to come to Hunter Valley: wine!
There are about 120 wineries and cellar doors and 3500ha of vines. No other wine region in Australia comes even remotely close to this. Most of these are boutique operations, producing 500 tonnes or less.
During one day I visited several small family wineries and tasted a lot of wine , mostly Semillon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Mandala, Merlot, Verdelho, Pinot Noir , etc. Several of them were locally and/or worldwide awarded. And many of them can be bought just in Hunter Valley.
It was really terrific cellar door experience for me today. Plus I ate the biggest sandwich I’ve ever eaten :)
I must finish now; a great Semillon 2004 is waiting in the fridge...
Photo gallery: Blue Mountains
Google Earth Position: 33°49'29.70"S 150°15'10.25"E
The Blue Mountains are situated approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney and cover about 2.500 km2.
The highest point is Mt Werong (1215 m), while the lowest point is on the Nepean River (20 m). The mountains are named after the blue shade that they have in summer, as a result of oil haze from the plentiful eucalyptus trees.
Our trip involved the highlights (Three Sisters, Echo Point, ...), short walks and, first of all enjoying impressive views and spectacular nature all around us.
Photo gallery: Nelson Bay & Anna Bay
Google Earth Position: 32°46'36.91"S 152° 4'59.79"E
Beautiful weather was the forecast for that Sunday...
Therefore I and my friend hired a 4WD (Subaru Forester 2.5) early in the morning, bought a breakfast at a petrol station and drove via Pacific Highway to the north to the Port Stephens area.
Our visits of Nelson Bay and Anna Bay included magnificent lookouts, long beaches and walking trips. But in spite of that desert driving was the most exciting experience of that sunny day!
Photo gallery: Fraser Island
Google Earth Position: 25°14'50.00"S 153° 9'5.12"E
We spent three stunning days on a World Heritage’s island.
Fraser Island is stretching over 123 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and is the largest sand island in the world.
It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes. There are long uninterrupted white sandy beaches surrounded by sand cliffs, over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and many crystal-clear creeks.
We travelled with an international group of eight people from England, Switzerland, Sweden and Czech (just two of us). A 4WD car was necessary because there are no classic routes on the island. Travelling is possible through upcountry sand routes or on the long beach but just in particular time depending on the tide (according to an exact day-by-day itinerary).
The weather was excellent so we could fully taste the “pure sand flora” and magnificent lookouts. In spite of strict prohibition of swimming in the ocean we could suitably chill out in amazing lakes and fresh water creeks.
Despite of several camping resorts on the island we decided to bed down just on the beach. It was pretty challenging because there was nothing there but sand and roaming Dingoes.
Here are our several stops:
First Sunday of September – Father’s Day in Australia.
Gift-giving to fathers and tonnes of shop’s flyers.
Family-oriented activities and charity events.
Photo gallery: Royal National Park
Google Earth Position: 34° 7'53.83"S 151° 4'57.17"E
Royal National Park is the world's second oldest national park (after Yellowstone in the USA).
We enjoyed not only riding through and observing fauna and flora but also swimming in the sea, breathtaking lookouts, walking,... and picnic of course :))
Photo gallery: Great Barrier Reef - Whitsunday Islands
Google Earth Position: 20°17'35.79"S 149° 3'29.55"E
We spent 3 beautiful days and nights aboard the luxurious Alexander Stewart.
This tall ship is made from rich timber and has really a classic sailing charm. It is 21m long with 9 private double A/C cabins, inside dining room, showers etc. We appreciated the huge open deck area, just a few people aboard and fresh prepared food during the whole trip. Daily we ate from 9am to 10pm actually :).
The starting point was in the port town of Airlie Beach that we reached by airplane from Sydney and where we spent two nights. We especially enjoyed good food and midnight swimming in the local lagoon.
Our cruise led around the Whitsunday Islands that are a collective of continental islands of various sizes situated within the Great Barrier Reef including e.g. Whitehaven Beach. This 6 km long beach is recognised as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world because of brilliant silica sand that belongs to the purest in the world. Yeah, it was indeed one of climaxes of our cruise!
The sailing was divided into various activities e.g. walking through interior of islands, visiting breathtaking lookouts, swimming or just basking on white beaches.
But most of all we were impressed by snorkelling among many types of local fish. If we were fast enough we could touch several ones after all. Or when the crew threw feeds into the water just next to us we could immediately see decades of medium and hundreds of small fish all around us. Simply amazing!
The trip finished in Airlie Beach again and we felt fantastically relaxed and in a good mood from doing many other activities besides basking on the deck, eating and drinking.
Photo gallery: Jervis Bay
We spent the Christmas time in Jervis Bay that is about 200 km south from Sydney.
Jervis Bay is a serene beautiful stretch of coastline full of beaches, bushes, lakes, cliffs, forests and little villages. We have been to many of these places and met interesting animals in the nature.
We stayed a couple of nights in a camp in Booderee National Park where kangaroos, parrots, possumes and many other animals lived around us.
Among others we explored the Hyams Beach with the whitest sand in the world o), and an aboriginal village as well.
We spent the Christmas Eve on the beach next to our camp, where a group of dolphins appeared and started playing just twenty meters far from us. A simply exciting show!
So that was really unusual Christmas :).
Photo gallery: Kiama and surrounding
We spent Christmas on a trip to Jervis Bay driving through several small towns and along spectacular beaches. We also saw vast green highlands very similar to the Czech landscape. All these destinations are about 150 km south from Sydney.
Kiama is a pretty seaside town famous for its blowhole that can spout up to 60 meters high. Very impressive!
Berry is a small town with countless numbers of coffee shops. We had to stop and taste some of local goody :)
Seven Mile Beach is a beach more than 11 km long!
Unless we saw many "sitting Santa Clauses" on buildings we wouldn't know it was a Christmas time.
Photo gallery: 25. Nan Tien Temple
We visited Nan Tien Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. "Nan Tien" in Chinese means "Paradise of the South".
The temple is situated near the town Wollongong, about 80 km from Sydney, and consists of several various, very nice buildings. It was established in 90's of the last century and has adopted the Chinese palace building style. The main objective is propagation of Buddhist teachings through cultural activities. It is one of the branch temples of Fo Guang Shan, founded in 1965, which has over 200 branches worldwide.
We also enjoyed the gardens around with many small various statues :))
Fotogalerie: 23. Newcastle
Newcastle je sesty nejvetsi mesto Australie, 160 km severne od Sydney. Mj. je tu univerzita a velky pristav (jsou tu velky naleziste uhli). Asi nejzajimavejsi jsou vsak parky pri pobrezi a nekolik mestskych plazi (10 minut pesky z centra).
Voda byla prekvapive tepla, takze ve meste jsme moc nepobyli a vyrazili na plaze a vecer pak na prochazku po okoli...
Fotogalerie: 22. Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Wildlife Park je vyborny misto, kde se da pohybovat v tesny blizkosti nejcastejsich australskych zvirat: klokani, koaly, emu, dingo, wombati, Tasmansti certi, sovy, netopyri, papousci, plazi, zelvy a dalsi. V parku je mj. jedna z nejvetsich soukromych koalych kolonii v NSW a jedna z nejvetsich australskych ptacich kolonii. Behem dne jsou pravidelne programy krmeni zvirat.
Nejvetsi sranda byla, kdyz jsem jednomu papouchovi jen tak rek Ahoj a on suverenne odvetil Hello :)) Taky mne prekvapila koali neuveritelne jemna a husta srst - jen najit nespici koalu byl trochu problem :)
Fotogalerie: 01. Let do Austrálie / The Flight to Australia
Let
Odlet byl hektický a už pár dnů před odletem jsem spal jen několik málo hodin denně, věcí k zařizování bylo skutečně hodně, 20.000 km je už opravdu daleko, aby si člověk v případě potřeby odskočil do rodné vlasti.
Samotný let byl vysvobození z toho zmatku a utekl překvapivě rychle! Letěli jsme (s přítelkyní) do Sydney přes Frankfurt a Singapur. Čekání ve Frankfurtu téměř žádné nebylo a na dlouhou trasu do Asie nás přivítaly Singapore Airlines – údajně nejlepší letecká společnost. I economic class se ukázala nebývale komfortní – několika chodová večeře a snídaně, vždy ještě s výběrem hlavního jídla, džusy s kousky ovoce, výborné víno a tak vůbec výběr pití, možnost pustit si libovolný film/televizi/rádio/stav a mapu letu/study English… sólo donážka pití (a údajně i jídla) i když celé letadlo „spalo“ a jako bonbónek obdarování ponožkami, kartáčkem na zuby a pastou. Vřelý personál stejně jako přítomnost ústní vody na toaletách byl samozřejmostí. To vše proloženo spánkem a nějakých 14 hodin utekl skutečně jako voda!
Singapur
Letiště v Singapuru je neuvěřitelně krásný a moderní – všude příjemné koberce, spousta místa i free internetové stánky a pitná voda. Pokračujeme dále na Sydney, opět se Singapore Airlines (to bych se teď opakoval). Jen při check-inu nám zabavili malé nožíčky, se kterými jsme se shledali až v Sydney. Nic platné nebylo ani to, že jeden maník z pasové kontroly při pohledu do pasu zvolal: „Nedvěd, Poborský!“. Snad se nožíkům letělo stejně dobře jako nám :-)
Přílet do Sydney
Letiště v Sydney je přeplněný a žádný zázrak. Pořád samá kontrola pasů, víz a opět kufrů, i těch, co jsme si vyzvedli ze zavazadlového prostoru. Hurá, po 26 hodinách jsme zde! Do zabookovaného hotelu si bereme sběrný taxi (nějakej podnikavej ukrajinec), nejlevnější doprava do centra až k branám hotelu. Hotel spíše podprůměrné kvality (tedy co by za něj v Egyptě dali!), ale také patřil mezi levnější. Zde strávíme pár dnů, než najdeme ubytování, pravděpodobně sharing flatu. Usínám a s přestávkami se probouzím po cca 30 hodinách...
Hi there!
My name's Miroslav, I'm from Prague, Czech Republic (the map).
Welcome to my blog about Australia.
Vitejte na mem blogu!
Blog je urcen mym pratelum, kolegum a zvidavym kolemjdoucim, ktere zajíma Australie, Sydney, mistni zivot a mnoho dalsiho.
CONTACTS
email: miroslav.vit@aspmonitor.cz
skype: miravit 
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