Aussie Road Trip pics & thoughts

[crazycanuck]

After 8 days of driving (2 1/2 days to drive from Perth-Sydney, then over to NZ & 5 days back to Perth) we are now back home in the heat

I learnt a few things on our journey:
1-Peeing in the bushes is an art & it's hard to find a flat piece of ground at times..
2-Road trips are cool! Can't beat sleeping on the side of the road!
3-Australia has many many hidden gems off the beaten path.
4-Western Australia & NSW roads are crap. The best road we had was from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy!!!
5-Why is it that there isn't consistency across Australia in terms of roadside pullouts? IE-drop toilets in NSW, SA but not in WA???!!!
6-Always know how much time you have before the next agricultural checkpoint & buy your fruit afterwards!!!! Dried fruit comes in handy...(we had three & I could never figure out where we would be able to get fresh fruit next..)

Some photos from the first part of our journey..
The first few are from Manly beach in Sydney..
The Manly ferry to Sydney Harbour. I'm still not too crazy about the Sydney Opera House, I just don't get the hoopla over it.

The last photo's from our hop over the Tasman to visit family & friends in NZ. It's at the top of One Tree Hill (umm no tree hill actually...) with a few of Rangitoto

More photos to come

[Aquila]

Wow, that looks like an amazing trip!

I'd love to see some more pics

Congrats on a great trip!

[Biciclista]

was the white thing the opera house?
It looks like you guys had a great time. What kind of fruit did you have to discard?

[Trekhawk]

was the white thing the opera house?
It looks like you guys had a great time. What kind of fruit did you have to discard?

Yep that is the Opera House.
You can see a few more pics of it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House
I like it but hey that is just my opinion.

Welcome back to the heat CC.
Glad to hear you had a good trip.

[ClockworkOrange]

The Opera House still looks impressive to me, did you go inside to catch a look around?

What I did not know was:

The base for the building was started in 1959 - years before the designs were finished. It took four years to design by Danish architect Jorn Utzon and by 1962 the designs were finalized and construction began. In total it took 14 years to build and was officially opened on the 20th of October 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II.

They sure didn't rush things!

Yes, more photos would be good.


Clock

[crazycanuck]

Next 5 photos for you: (you may want to find a map of Australia...!)

First-at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney
Then-near Lithgow, NSW..part of the Blue Mountains
The Parkes Radiotelescope
Just before one of three agricultural checkpoints in NSW, SA & WA..(this one ended up not being manned!!!! )
Our cozy side of the highway campsite near Mildura, NW Victoria(just on the border)


More to come..

[crazycanuck]

From Mildura we drove(in one day) to Coober Pedy, South Australia & had yet another ag checkpoint
Next, we crossed paths with the Ghan railway line..
Coober Pedy & surrounds (the town was very quiet as it was off season oops) where many a film has been filmed...Mad Max etc..

Will post more tomorrow..i'm off to bed

[RoadRaven]

Great pics, CC
Thankyou for posting them!
You enjoyed EnZed whild you were here too?
One day we'll get to go for a ride together, my friend... we'll be in the same place at the same time AND we'll both have bikes

[RoadRaven]

PS... I meant to say - love you on the penny farthing!

How difficult do you think it would to actually ride one? I've always been a bit daunted at the idea, but have never actually sat on/ridden one...

[jesvetmed]

Great pics, CC! Wow... that's a lot of flat! Was it hot while you were traveling? It looks hot!