Miss Traveler » sydney

leave room for Australian desert

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:30:00 +0000

I don’t know what possessed me to book a 4 day train from Sydney to perth. My friend’s reaction to me renting a bicycle in Paris was “You? You? I never thought of you as that type” and then he was shocked wordless for the next few minutes. Honestly, I surprised even myself by buying a ticket for a seat (not a bed) on the train, but I crossed my fingers and hoped the air-con would work throughout the trip. 4,352km to cover, top speed of 110kmph, but usually going at 80kmph.

The seat turned out to be comfortable enough if you’re 5 feet tall, skinny, flexible, wear an eye mask, ear plugs, bring your own pillow, sheets and can sleep through constant shifting and clanking of a train. And the air-con worked in the passenger carriage but later, not in the dining car, which turned into a mini sauna in the desert heat.

The train makes stops at several places along the way to refuel and fill up the water tanks, they included Broken Hill, Adelaide, Cook and Karlgoolie. They organized tours of these places (additional cost) and it was a chance to see places that I’d not normally go to. Australia is BIG. Australia is so big that it costs a lot to go anywhere. Adelaide is not on the top of my list, but it turned out to be a city with a lot of beautiful buildings, old houses and parks. Or going to Cook, a ghost town in the desert with a population of 4 people and 1 billion flies. Or Kalgoorlie, gold mining town with the SuperPit – a hole 300m in the ground. When you live in a country with the “Big Banana”, “Giant Merino (Sheep)”, ” Giant Prawn”, “Giant Pineapple”…you kind of go… “ahhh.. yes.. the SUPERPIT”.

As in Amsterdam, you can also tour the red-light district of Kalgoorlie, all 3 brothels of it. By the way, the youth hostel is located across the street from the brothels so please don’t turn the wrong way if you decide to stay in Kalgoorlie. Skimpies (sexy barmaids) in the hotel bars are part of Kalgoorlie tradition, locals also elected a transsexual brothel madam to council.

In a sense, I feel incredibly privileged to have seen all of it. Unfortunately after this privilege, I felt malnourished, fatigued and dehydrated. Almost like I’d crossed the desert by myself. If the opportunity ever comes up again to choose between a train or a plane between perth and sydney – PLANE! PLANE! PLANE! (but I can only say that after doing the train)

hehe

Shi

summer sydney video link

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:30:00 +0000

It’s been a fun few days, brought around a visiting friend in Sydney.

Best to view to the video before youtube takes off the music. My fault really…I didn’t have any good ideas for songs so used a very popular one. Would like to do more vids, as I have a few more stops coming up in the next few months. Also it’s a video diary for myself, for when I age disgracefully (not a typo). I have photos and stuff that are scattered all over globe from the past few years but nothing beats the memories in your head..however the vids and pics definitely help me remember them!

Hope you enjoy.

Shi

summer crowds

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Something very odd happened the moment the calender went into december. My quiet little rock pool and beach became flooded with people talking about the american football game, spanish speaking retirees who wanted to take pics in various We-are-still-so-much-in-love poses (awwwww), chinese who brought chopsticks to the beach to eat whatever they could find in the rock pool (??), golden scandinavians, drunk burnt brits in badly matching summer clothing, westies in mullets and football shorts and white australians who wanted to speak to me like this: “so..jump..here?”

Why, thank you, my english is perfectly fine. How’s yours?

Welcome to another aussie summer!

Can’t really complain though. Tis good to share with others, good karma and all that.

Heading up to the Gold Coast for xmas & new year… bring on the bogans! I mean..errr… the beach. And surf. And even crazier crowds.. haha…

Merry christmas,

Shi

60 days of summer

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Hmm. Summer. I think all this sunshine, beach, warm weather and walking around in shorts has killed my ability to elucidate my thoughts in written form. So here goes. Sunny. Nice. Beach. Snorkel. Fish. Swim. Jump. Happy. Sculpture by the Sea (again). Tired.

More here.

http://60daysofsummer-shi.blogspot.com/

Shi

between a fort, a shark and a t-rex

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Island hopping is something I like to do in when in tropical Malaysia, Thailand, Greece or Croatia, but Sydney? Yes, Sydney Harbour has islands. Sydney Harbour also has scuba diving and sharks but that’s a different story.

Last weekend I hopped on a fast boat and went around to 4 tiny islands: Fort Denison, Clark Island, Shark Island and Garden Island. Fort Denison also used to be known as Pinchgut Island as convicts were left on the island without food for 1 week as punishment and when a fort was built there in the 19th century, construction took so long to build that the cannons went obsolete when it was finally finished. The island hopping was actually part of Crave Sydney, a month long festival, so there were performers on the other islands.

Shark Island is called that for it’s shape, but it used to be a quarantine island for animals entering australia. This time they had puppeteers with dinosaurs and mystical creatures, including men in t-rex and stegasaurus costumes – good fun. No, barney the dinosaur was nowhere in sight. Also it’s a gorgeous place for having a picnic, sydney weather was in fine form that day after weeks of rain and wind, sydney dazzles when the sun is out

On Clark Island they had Aboriginal cultural performances (dances, didgeridoo etc), art and some talks/demonstrations about how they used the plants and coastal tides. I really enjoyed it, it was a good insight into how they really lived in harmony with nature. The sad reality is that within 3 years of the european settlers arriving in sydney, an entire aboriginal tribe in the harbour were wiped out by the european disease, smallpox. Disease would wipe out 50% of the aboriginals in australia and their babies taken away (the stolen generation) by the australian government to “civilize” them..or to breed them out. No wonder most aboriginals hate white people so much.

http://reconciliaction.org.au/nsw/education-kit/stolen-generations/

But of course they didn’t mention this on that day but had activities for the kids and we all enjoyed the sun and the beautiful harbour. Last stop was the naval museum that had 1 of the 3 Japanese mini-subs that snuck into the harbour during WW3, got stuck in the nets and torpedoed the wrong boat. 1 sub got lost heading towards Narabeen beach instead of Bondi Beach and the japanese crew committed harakiri (suicide) when found.

All in all, It was a good day out, I really enjoyed it Hope you like the pics, fingers crossed that summer comes soon, the weather has been horrible lately. Well..horrible for sydney anyway

Shi

happy birthday queenie!

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Hello…it’s been a while

I think that I’ve just been settling into life in Sydney, so not taking many pics anymore. But we just had a long weekend – here’s a little historical info.

In 1770, the first British settlement was established in Sydney. In 1999, Australia voted to keep the British monarch as Head of State and to keep long weekends celebrating the Queen’s Birthday

Which is funny because there was not a single event related to the queen’s birthday or British customs & traditions whatsoever. Instead there was a distinct lack of traditions that made it more fun because the events of the weekend (if you were still in town) included freestyle motoX (carey hart! woo!) jazz festival, light festival (month long event, nothing related to the queen’s weekend) and visits to the sydney fish markets (just felt like it).

It was more fun than Australia Day that heavily featured Aussie icons such as the clotheshanger, jumping castles, sausage sizzles, a ferry race and a pin-sized jet (that came and left in 3 seconds flat!) There was also an Aboriginal sunrise ceremony on Australia Day that only 0.00001% of the population managed to wake up for it. I was not one of them but I almost was, until I rolled over and put the alarm clock on snooze :p

But on this queen’s birthday weekend the sun was out, the music was good and everyone danced into the sunset….

x
Shi

My pool is attached to a beach

admin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Went down to the beach for the last swim without layers of neoprene. It’s not exciting, but I like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf2ZYhyPY6Q

At the end of the day I was a frozen fish finger Girl sized.

Life is good

hope you’re well in your part of the world.

Shi

ps: will probably delete the vid in a week or so

big hair and fake tits

admin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Pretty frocks! Bright lights! Skin! Tits! Real, fake, silicon and latex pairs! 6 inch heels! Nuns! The pope-mobile! Dykes on Bikes! Bums! Big hair! Hot pants! Kilts! Glitter! G-strings! Leather! Whips! Bondage outfits!

And all the amazing things that come out on Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.

Enjoy, and hope you’re well

Shi

of waterfalls and CNY

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Hello!

Happy belated Chinese New Year. Weather has been crazy, too hot and then too cold (for summer anyway). Tragic bush fires happened and lots of shark attacks.

They say that one of the lies to tell tourists in Sydney is that people have been attacked by sharks at Bondi Beach..

…until it actually happened today in Bondi at 730pm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/12/2490164.htm

there are little ones actually, I’ve gone scuba diving below Bondi and there are cute little ones (Port Jacksons) and around Maroubra beach there is a dive spot with big grey nurse sharks (sand tiger sharks?) about 100ft down… anyway best not to think about sharks and just enjoy the water :p

Went to the Blue Mountains some time ago, it’s blue because of the eucalyptus oil from the trees. Was good, went to see a 125m tall waterfall..walked for day including going down a 1000-steps stair…as opposed to UP the stairs as recommended in the tourist guidebook. Some kid on work experience training must have got his hands on that edit…

At the end of the trail saw a tiny 3m high waterfall, left feeling cheated. Got back to the car, had a final look at the scenic lookout 5 mins from the car – and saw the 125m high waterfall. What we saw in the forest was the bottom 3m part (122m covered by the trees)

Things are pretty crazy here… hope you like the pics.

x
Shi

Sydney festival

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Mid-week photo collage! Sydney Festival has been really good

Favourite bit was probably watching Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon with a great new live soundtrack by Karsh Kale..

http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2009/Precincts/_item/event/ENTER_THE_DRAGON/_mode/audioVideo

or maybe it was lying on my back on the grass listening to the Sydney Symphony play in the open air, looking at the stars..and then the closing fireworks to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture..

or watching Santogold completely rock the stage at (Sydney) Hyde Park!

Or maybe the brilliant sunny and warm (sometimes MUCH TOO HOT) weather…good weather that didn’t materialize on Australia Day Did I mention all those events were all..free?

Sending some Sydney love your way..

Shi

ps: oh, the chocolate thing in the pics…hot chocolate fondant with peanut butter icecream and raspberry injection..I just about died and went to heaven !

http://www.chocolatesuze.com/2008/11/11/adriano-zumbo-cafe-chocolat-photos