Some ideas and inspirations
Inspire Me Oceania
“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world”
Quote Source – Mary Ann Radmacher
Australia
Australian Wonders of The Modern World
Sidney Opera House
The Coat Hanger
The Ghan - Train from top to bottom of Australia
Darling Harbour
Sidney Opera House This 1960’s design still looks fresh today, and it is often used for various events and backdrops, and even the odd bit of Opera! It can host multiple events at the same time, split into several theatres. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon it is now a World Heritage site. It opened in 1973 and some 8 million people a year visit it, but only 350,000 people have ever gone in.
The Ghan - We have taken some iconic train journeys in our time, The Trans Siberian Express from Beijing across Mongolia into Siberia and across Russia and onto Finland. We’ve been 4th class across India in noisy, smelly but interesting journeys on Indias extensive rail network to see tigers in Ranthambhore, as well as the complete opposite on the ultra modern and fast - Bullet Train out of Tokyo. We’ve taken Cog Mountain railways in Switzerland, and even a train from Thailand to Cambodia via Maeklong Railway Station in Samut Songkhram where they have to move the market covers to let the train go through, but never the Ghan. It takes the route from Darwin to Adelaide, a three day journey and is named after the Afghan cameleers who once traversed this route. The train and carriages itself is over a kilometre long, the longest of any train, so you could get a good work out in too.
One day.
The Coat Hanger - The Sydney Harbour Bridge - climb it, see it, sail under it, you can’t ignore the coat hanger. It is one of the modern icons, and made all the more famous by New Year fireworks in recent years. We passed under it on the way to see some Humpback Whales and Australian Sealions (Neophoca cinerea.)
Darling Harbour - We have popped Darling Harbour in here as there is so much going on. It is the hub of ferries and boats that get you around, as well as train links. It is stuffed full of designer buildings, museums, places to eat and much more. You could very easily spend a whole day or two here, and we did. But it is the Australian National Maritime Museum that is the star of the show and they even have an Endeavour replica of Captain Cooks famous ship. It has two Mercedes Diesels - very advanced for its day. (That is a joke by the by, but it actually does have two diesels). The main stars of the Museum are the Daring Class destroyer and HMAS Onslow an Oberon Class Submarine. In strange coincidence our local Museum at Chatham in Kent England has the same two ships, although we should say a ship and a boat to be on the safe side of our nautical friends. Submarines are always boats. HMAS Onslow was built in Scotland rather than Chatham where the Royal Navy Boats of the same class were built. The Daring class was the last of the open cockpit type that ended up on the Bearing Sea in the high artic convoy runs - not the perfect place to be outdoors. Chatham Royal Dockyard - England closed in 1984. It is now an equally fabulous maritime museum as is the Australian one.
Australian Wonders of The Ancient World.
Nothing
Nothing - And that is the wonder. Like many indigenous peoples the aboriginal peoples lived within their land - within their means. They didn't have objects beyond what they needed or left piles of rubbish - the detritus of life. Yes there are cave paintings and carvings, but like most indigenous peoples across the globe they lived lightly on the land, taking only what they need and leaving nothing but footprints....oh and a few crab shells from lunch.We spent a day with two brothers from one of the aboriginal tribes in Queensland. Armed with a bucket, a sharpened stick - shorts and a T-shirt we set off into the mangrove swamps to find dinner. If you have ever been into a mangrove swamp they ooze thick stinking mud - its squirts between your toes. Soon knee deep and covered in it, encouraged by our guide we looked for mud mussels - which you find with your feet and hands by squishing in the mud, we soon got the hang of it and soon had some in the bucket - we moved on. If you look at how animals feed they stop take a little and move on - always leaving some behind, when I have watched mankind - we often take everything. We added some Mud Crabs which understandable eager to defend themselves and did so with vigour - but they make great eating.
Next we went in to the sea to hunt for stingrays with a stick, mindful of what happened to Steve Irwin on that fateful day, (we were in the same place Steve got struck) such a loss, and we miss his verve and enthusiasm for life. We didn’t find any and even if we had I don’t think I could have stuck one of these magnificent creatures. I’ve spend many hours scuba diving with these gentle graceful giants.
We added some cockle shells to our bucket and we had the basis of our feast.
There was something special sitting on the balcony of one of the brothers homes with a cold beer, some freshly cooked and spicy sea food, having just spend several hours hunting for it. The mud had dried on shorts and T-shirt and we looked like proper hunter-gathers. As the Kookaburras (Blue winged) gave their strange laughing call.
As the sun settled on another day, I couldn’t help but wonder if we had got it right in the industrialised West, and if there was a better balance to be struck for humans and our fellow creatures that share this amazing biodiverse planet of ours. It would be a less rich place if there was just us on this rock in space.
What’s Next?
We have some more places from this region to add and we will be starting with New Zealand and Fiji. We hope to add a world map which you can click on for each country soon, which will make it easier to navigate.
Australian Wonders of Nature
Uluru - Ayers Rock
Kata Tjuta - The Olgas
The Great Barrier Reef
Kakadu National Park
Uluru - Ayers Rock When we went to Uluru you could still climb it. Our aboriginal guide said it was up to us but he would rather we didn’t as for them it was sacred site. I thought back to one of our own sacred sites Avebury Rings, my own ancestors and the road and village that had been built on top of it, and so we didn’t. The Australians do put on a good show, and sitting drinking local sparking wine as the sun sets and the rock goes through its myriad of colour changes, whilst the didgeridoo provided the unique sound backdrop to an almost overwhelming sensory experience. It’s a bloody ripper! if you will excuse the cultural appropriation.
Kata Tjuta - The Olgas In many ways this was a far more interesting area than the more touristy Uluru site. You can feel the atmosphere sucking the moisture out of you in the desert, no wonder it is the local rules that you have to take water with you. For me the most exciting thing we saw were Budgerigars and Zebra finches, and that’s being serious - really exciting, both of which I used to keep growing up, but had no idea where they came from? To see these colourful and charismatic little birds in their natural habitat and not in a cage was really fun.
The Great Barrier Reef - We Helidived the Great Barrier Reef to try to find an area that wasn’t coral bleached. It was an amazing experience and the area we found was pristine and just like you see on the films. Many of the areas we boat dived were shot - trashed beyond belief, although we did have an amazing encounter with a Goliath Grouper on one occasion, she was huge!. The size of an old mini. (no offence marm) As with all animals let them come to you if they want to and if they don’t let them go. She came right up to us.
The Australian pilots are awesome (no other words to describe it) how he managed to land the helicopter on the tiny pontoon to pick us up is beyond me, but glad he did or it was a long swim back. We kept low and slow on the way back in so no problems with the bends. (Decompression Sickness).
Kakadu National Park - Whilst we were here I was sitting on the bus with the driver when a bright white dot with a red centre appeared in the sky, “Can you see that” he muttered - I could. I took a picture of it - but haven’t been able to re-find it since. The dot then wizzed off, we were both stunned. I have since seen this same dot and colours in aboriginal paintings. The mystery deepens. The wildlife is so diverse and abundant it is hard to look up from the camera, but if you do you will be greeted by some stunning scenery. We also did a night zoo tour in Cairns and this was fun. Many of Australias species are more active at night for obvious reasons. “Molly” the Wombat at Cairns Night Zoo was our favourite - so cute, they can move pretty quickly when they want to and have an impressive sprint speed.
Australia
Vintage Aboriginal Penis Gourd
Boomarang with painting of a Goanna
Coloured rocks for dyeing / painting
Opal (small) and opal rocks.
Coins & Banknotes
Geology Samples
Photographs and Video Clips