March 24, 2008

Uluru

Went to the Red Centre of oz to see the famous Ayer's Rock, known to the aborigines as Uluru.

The first day we went for a hike in the Olgas which is a rock formation nearby. These rocks were pushed out of the gorund and then split apart which resulted in theses massive domes.

Then we went to Uluru itself for a few beers at sunset. Wasn't exactly a spectacular since it was overcast.

The next day was the day to see Ayer's Rock. The centre of Australia is a very dry area that sometimes doesn't get any rainfall for ten years at all for ten years. So of course the day I was there it was pouring down rain. But we did get to see waterfalls cascading down the rock which is a rare sight.

I wanted to climb the rock, but because of the rain the climb was closed.

Also the night before we slept outside in swags. Important note: no matter what the guide says, swags are NOT waterproof.


Camel


a tame dingo


my best bud


me in my sporty fly mask


The Olgas

some ominous clouds


Olgas at sunset


yup thats a pretty big rock



the first man to walk on Mars...


waterfalls





Not allowed to climb it that day.


This is where you climb up


big camp fire


March 21, 2008

Kangaroo Island

Many native species of flora and fauna were wiped out in Australia as animals from europe and elsewhere were introduced. But Kangaroo Island is the exception to this and still has most of the original wildlife the rest of Australia used to have.

The weather wasn't the best, it was quite cold and it rained a bit on the second day. But the amount of wildlife we saw was amazing.

The first day we went and saw a beach where Sea Lions rest. Sea Lions swim out to sea for three days to hunt for fish. When they return they are exhausted and just collapse on the beach and sleep for three days before returning to sea. The adults are too tired to lift their heads to look at us, but the younger ones have the energy to be a bit more curious. We had a pup come and look at us, it was really great to see a wild sea lion pup that close.

We saw some Koalas, which are probably the laziest animals in the world. They are only awake for about 4 hours a day and even then they don't do much other than eat. All of the Koalas we saw were sleeping, though some would half open their eyes for a second before looking at us.

We checked out the Remarkable Rocks which were... well.. remarkable.

Then we went to the Admiral's Arch which was beautiful in its own right, but to add to that there were some New Zealand Fur Seals that hang out there.

After dinner we went out and saw some Penguins, which can only be seen at night as they spend the entire day out in the ocean fishing.

We had a Possum visit the camp, it was pretty fun chasing him around.

The next day we went to a sand dune called Little Sahara to do some sand boarding. Much harder than snowboarding as you can't really steer.

Saw some Dolphins at a cove we stopped at for lunch. Its always great watching Dolphins out in the wild. Its too bad it was so cold or else I would've jumped in and had a swim with them.

Kangaroo Island was an awesome experience, I wish I could've stayed a little longer.


A nice beach


nice view from a lookout

more than one way to skin a cat... feral cats are a big problem on KI, so they are trying to eliminate them

Emu

baby sea lion getting some milk

a curious little pup

me and my friend

a really huge roo

a koala sleeping in his tree

a timid little wallaby

Remarkable Rocks



Admiral's Arch


Fur Seals out on the rocks


an intruder at the camp

nice sunrise.

Little Sahara

moments before I stacked it

Dolphin up to take a look


the only way to get to stoke's beach

Our ride back to the mainland.

Adelaide

We just got to Adelaide on the tail end of a heat wave. It was over 40 degrees the evening we arrived. But after that it has cooled to below 30. Its a nice little city, but there isn't much to do, especially on Good Friday when all the shops were closed.

Adelaide is known for its many churches, and seeing as how its Good Friday I just wandered around taking photos of all the many churches in monuments they have here.


giant ball bearings

A church

a church that is being refaced


another church


yet another church

a statue... in front of a church


and here we have... a church!


yet another... oh wait this is actually the state parliament

this is the old parliament


a war monument


another war monument... this one has an angel on it for some reason.


A picture taken of a church from the vantage point of a war monument.


St. Peter's Cathedral

Inside the cathedral.



A fountain


the ducks are enjoying it...


a foot bridge


some people taking a cruise down the river.


playing cricket out in the mall.


I really like these statues of pigs.

coolest garbage can ever...

a clock tower.