Australia - East Coast - Travelogue
Australia is beautiful beyond your wildest imagination. From the Sun-soaked beaches to the Bushlands to the Rainforests to World class cities , the diversity is amazing.The unique Flora & Fauna of Australia are a delight to the wildlife lovers .Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra are not just World class cities but cultural icons teeming with excellent architechture .
VISA DETAILS : All Indian nationals need a Visa. The Australian Visa takes a long time and henceapply at least a month in advance and be prepared to submit a huge set of documents in supportof your Visa application.
WHEN TO GO ? Summer ( Dec-Feb) is the best time to go to Australia. Its the perfect beach weather.
CURRENCY : Australian Dollar . ( At the time of writing, 1 AUD = 33.6 Rupees) .
FOOD : Australian landscape is littered with American food chains such as Mcdonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, Hungry Jack’s, KFC.Veggies get something everywhere. Mac has a Veggie Burger, Subway sells Veggie Sandwiches & a veg Pizza is available everywhere.Brisbane has a Indian Restaurant called Govinda’s ( Run by ISKCON Folks) at Elizabeth Street. Melbourne, Sydney have lots of Indian restaurants with Classic Curry Company in Melbourne(Elizabeth Street)and Maya’s in Sydney (At Surry Hills) being the good ones.
GETTING AROUND : Australia is a huge country. Domestic low cost carriers such as Virgin Blue, Jetstar offer great discount deals between Australian cities. Car Rentals are cheap and the best way to travel .Hertz, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Thrifty, Abel are some of the big players in Car Rentals.Public transport is excellent in Melbourne & Sydney.Melbourne has its charming trams and buses and sydney boasts of very good train service .
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES : Its hard not to fall in love with Australia. Friendly people, great beaches, cosmopolitan cities, unique wildlife all make Australia a tourist’s heaven. Brisbane was a typical urban city while the Gold coast was the centre of Theme parks.Melbourne was the best. Regal, Cosmopolitan, artistic, sport-loving, spacious. Its easily the best city I’ve seen till now. Sydney was beautiful in parts. The waterfronts are awesome but the downtowns and train rides remind you of a city finding hard to cope with the migrants. Canberra is small but extremely beautiful and an architect’s vision of a perfect city ( Reminded me of Gandhinagar in Gujarat, India ). The heaven of travellers are the beaches. Golden sands, torquoish clear waters are a feast for the eyes.The huge country has a population of just 20 million ( a little more than Mumbai) but is almost two and half times the Size of India. Australian wildlife is unique in the world ( The Marsupials, Adders, Colorful fishes, Whales, Sharks, Lorikeets, Cuckatoos, Duck Billed Platypus, Echidnas, Emus) and a tremendous amount of Landscape is covered by forests there.Its hard to resist the temptation of visiting Australia again !
PLACES TO SEE : Great Barrier Reef, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne.
BRISBANE : The city of sunshine has several interesting places and the Gold coast is just an Hour’s drive.
Attractions at Brisbane :
City Centre : Old Buildings and wonderful Architechture.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary : Don’t miss this place. The best of Australian Wildlife in the open.Koalas, Kangaroos, Echidnas, Wombats, Dingoes, Tassie Devils, Emus.
Brisbane Botanical Gardens : Good place for lovers of Flora.
Mt.Coot Tha Lookout : Get the best views of the Brisbane city from here.
Brisbane Waterfront : Riverfront & river tours.
GOLD COAST : The ’’ Orlando, FL’’ of Australia. Theme Parks, fun, adventure and surfing.
Attractions at Gold coast:
Surfers Paradise : A paradise for Surfers & beach lovers.There are numerous other attractions like Wax Museum, Ripleys Museum etc..
Dream World : The ’’Disneyworld’’ equivalent of Australia.Spend at least two days here and enjoy all the thrills.There is a lot for kids too.
Movieworld : The Warner brothers theme park . Its quite ok and might be fun for kids.
Seaworld : Get close to the marine Animals.
Wet’n’wild : Get wet & go wild in this theme park.
P.S : Please read Part-2 for Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra. To read the entire travelogue with embedded URL’s visit https://cerebralshangrila.blogspot.com/2005/01/australia-east-coast-travelogue.html