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Italiano (Italian)
Even now it seems unbelievable to me that I was lucky enough to visit Sydney and Australia, and I have this thought practically every morning. When I have breakfast, in front of me I have the giant planisphere covering the entire kitchen wall.
So my first thoughts are about how big the world is and how many interesting experiences one can have. I look at the most northerly, southerly, easterly and westerly points where I have been, and those furthest away from me. For a long time the furthest east and the furthest south coincided with the furthest away. A brother of mine lived there for more than six years.
Bottom right, although one must realize that in the planisphere of Australians, they are obviously in the center and Italy is in the top left. My trip to Australia, with a very brief stop in Malaysia, lasted 3 weeks. I traveled mostly solo, and moved both by public transportation and by rental cars and domestic flights.
I went there in July 2016, and the main stops were:
- Sydney
- Surfers paradise
- Brisbane
- Fraser Island
- Cairns
- Melbourne
- Wilsons Promontory
- Warnambool
- Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
This is the itinerary from my google maps.
My actual arrival in Australia was shocking: I took the featured photo as soon as I left the station. Excluding the airport and train station, in half an hour I popped out into the open air right at Circular Quey, at the most iconic spot on the continent. At a glance I had Sydney Bay with the Sydney Harbur Bridge to the left and the Opera House to the right.
Visiting Sydney starts now
The city center is small and can be turned around in a short time; however, it was more than enough to immerse me in the new reality. Even though it was their winter, it was evident how much flora and fauna were quite different from ours and especially how easy it was to encounter animals.
Prior to this trip, doing the majority of it alone, I was convinced that it was better to devote myself to the more cultural and historical trips, while I would appreciate more the naturalistic ones in company. In Australia I realized that the wonder of nature is appreciated in silence and contemplation in one’s own time. This led me even during non-travel periods to try to spend as much time in nature as possible.
I was hoping to spot some animals, well I saw plenty, and it wasn’t difficult. Already in Sydney I met a sea lion sunbathing right on a bank of the Opera House.
I slept 3 nights in Manly, a seaside town 35 minutes by ferry from downtown Sidney. This allowed me to enjoy the spectacular sea journey of the bay several times. In my opinion the highlight of the area is the oceanfront promenade between the famous Bondi beach (full of surfers) and Coogee beach.
I met an Italian girl living there. Like my brother whom I was to meet at the end of the trip, she worked in the restaurant business and we talked a lot about the plight of immigrants, who at that time were many though already with not a few difficulties. She, for example, in order to get citizenship and avoid hassle, had married an Australian friend of hers in pretense.
Santa Claus is Hungarian and wintering in Australia
After Sydney I began to travel around Australia using various means. On my Facebook page I posted this update.
Given the crisis, to supplement Santa Claus in July he moved to Australia, driving red buses and taking his passengers to a place called Surfers Paradise by playing them death metal songs.
My English is far from perfect and it always takes me 4-5 days to break in, but it is also not terrible if it is true that I even had a U.S. girlfriend with whom we spoke in her native language. In the first few days I couldn’t understand anything! Australians have very different accents to English and US so I had more of an ear.
The first person with whom he managed to have a dialogue, during a stop, was precisely the Santa Claus look-alike bus driver, but because he was Hungarian. He explained to me about why all huge buses and the majority of cars have large grilles mounted on the nose; unfortunately, they are used to limit the damage from frequent collisions with kangaroos.
Australia is immense, you have to choose your destinations well and study your travels; perhaps the only mistake I made in planning was to stop at Surfers Paradise. I liked the name too much, but then I found out that everywhere is a surfer’s paradise. It is a town full of hotels and skyscrapers, all concrete on the beach, so much so that even in the early afternoon the high-rise buildings made it shady.
Previous stop, which would actually be the last one Surprising encounters on trip to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Next stop Seeing animals in Australia and boyfriend for an evening
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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