Hey Redback, forum travel agent to Australia..

[Bouncer]

Ok bro, I figure nobody knows Australia better then someone who lives there.

We plan on going in the next few years but really don't have much of a clue as to what to do or see. It just seems so huge with so many things to see that I don't know where to start. Any info for a tourist as to places to go, things to see etc.. Thanks

[FitnessBrat]

I second that. I plan to go next year (hopefully).

[Bouncer]

I second that. I plan to go next year (hopefully).

ok, you can come with me and sana. we can all play find the "snake" in the outback. :D

[FitnessBrat]

ok, you can come with me and sana. we can all play find the "snake" in the outback. :D

Haha - and I bet you're always the winner.

[Bouncer]

redback, where you at bro..

[Scrumhalf]

Probably in bed. Australia is about 14-16 hours ahead of us depending on the time zone.

[Bouncer]

Probably in bed. Australia is about 14-16 hours ahead of us depending on the time zone.

he was posting after i had posted this, thats why i bumped. no need to make me look like a dumbass. :D

[Scrumhalf]

Sorry, wasn't my intention :)

[Bouncer]

Sorry, wasn't my intention :)

suuure.. :P

[redback]

Ha Ha yeah i been workin long hours and wanted to put some time aside to post.

Bouncer you have been sayin your gona come down here for years you slack ass...

Look it really depends on what you wana do, last time you said you wana relax, so if that means sittin on ya ass on the beach all day sipping evian or cocktails at some resort thats fine, but if ya gona come all the way down here ya might as well take a look around, its a big place.

I rounded it off to afew places and you can pick outta those.

Sydney- its massive but for shopping and and entertainment check out the CBD the heart of sydney, you can go on a cruise around the most beautiful harbour in the world or pretty much anything you can think of, you can do in sydney.

Melbourne-is about 12 hrs south of sydney, its a newer more treny kinda city, the 2nd largest city, very fashionable, its all victorion-era architecture, famous for night life, vineyards and posh bastards http://www.concierge.com/destination...FR0yhgodW23U7g

Gold Coast- About 10hrs north of Syd, beautifull weather, alot warmer than syd, famous for beaches and skyscrapers, check out the link
http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au...coast_home.cfm

Great Barrier Reef- Still havent been, but if you come here you MUST go and check out this reef, you just take a scuba tour,One of the world's natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 2000 kilometers in a maze of coral reefs along Australia's northeastern coastline it has more than 1000 islands ,2,900 reefs , 1500 species of fish and 400 species of coral http://images.google.com/images?sour...t+barrier+reef

Cairnes-is 2,500kms north from syd, Very Tropical , home of the great barrier reef, also famous for its wet tropical rainforests

The Whitsundays- is all the islands, they have resorts on the islands and they all kick ass,

Thats all for now, there is so much more , thats just one coastline, i will post some more later

[Bouncer]

Ha Ha yeah i been workin long hours and wanted to put some time aside to post.

Bouncer you have been sayin your gona come down here for years you slack ass...

Look it really depends on what you wana do, last time you said you wana relax, so if that means sittin on ya ass on the beach all day sipping evian or cocktails at some resort thats fine, but if ya gona come all the way down here ya might as well take a look around, its a big place.

I rounded it off to afew places and you can pick outta those.

Sydney- its massive but for shopping and and entertainment check out the CBD the heart of sydney, you can go on a cruise around the most beautiful harbour in the world or pretty much anything you can think of, you can do in sydney.

Melbourne-is about 12 hrs south of sydney, its a newer more treny kinda city, the 2nd largest city, very fashionable, its all victorion-era architecture, famous for night life, vineyards and posh bastards http://www.concierge.com/destination...FR0yhgodW23U7g

Gold Coast- About 10hrs north of Syd, beautifull weather, alot warmer than syd, famous for beaches and skyscrapers, check out the link
http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au...coast_home.cfm

Great Barrier Reef- Still havent been, but if you come here you MUST go and check out this reef, you just take a scuba tour,One of the world's natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 2000 kilometers in a maze of coral reefs along Australia's northeastern coastline it has more than 1000 islands ,2,900 reefs , 1500 species of fish and 400 species of coral http://images.google.com/images?sour...t+barrier+reef

Cairnes-is 2,500kms north from syd, Very Tropical , home of the great barrier reef, also famous for its wet tropical rainforests

The Whitsundays- is all the islands, they have resorts on the islands and they all kick ass,

Thats all for now, there is so much more , thats just one coastline, i will post some more later

good post, thanks dude.

ya, i have always wanted to go to Australia. it is a pretty big trip though. one of those life changing type vacations. me and sana were thinking that we may look into going this coming year. we do plan to relax but we also want to "experience Australia" and to do that you have to do more then sitting on the beach. definitely want to go see the barrier reef. i also would like to see that part of Australia that has those HUGE cliffs that just drop into the water. is that anywhere near the reef or no?

[Bouncer]

oh ya, i meant to ask earlier. do you ever see Dingo's and kangaroos and shit running around where you live?

[redback]

Your proberbly talking about the 12 apostles, http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/portc...l/apostles.asp

There is so much more i wana post, but i need the time

Dingo's and Kangaroos...lol. I live about 30mins north of sydney CBD which is kinda the "upmarket" part of town. The suburb i live in backs onto the national prk and occasionally we have a wallaby(small kanagroo) who comes to visit. But this is only cause we are near the national prk, not really that common in other areas of syd.
If you wana see Dingo's you would go north to Frasier Island, they come up and grab your food outta your hand or you could go to outback australia to see em.

[Bouncer]

Your proberbly talking about the 12 apostles, http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/portc...l/apostles.asp

There is so much more i wana post, but i need the time

Dingo's and Kangaroos...lol. I live about 30mins north of sydney CBD which is kinda the "upmarket" part of town. The suburb i live in backs onto the national prk and occasionally we have a wallaby(small kanagroo) who comes to visit. But this is only cause we are near the national prk, not really that common in other areas of syd.
If you wana see Dingo's you would go north to Frasier Island, they come up and grab your food outta your hand or you could go to outback australia to see em.

ya, thats is what i am talking about. looks awesome! wallaby's, ya we have them in jersey too. :P

post more about the other parts of Australia whenever you get time. i am very interested in everything i can learn so i can make my best decision on where exactly i want to visit there.

[redback]

I always laugh how this is suposed to be one of the wonders of the world, its just some big hunk of rock...

Ayers Rock is also known by its Aboriginal name 'Uluru'.


Uluru is considered once of the great wonders of the world.

Ayers Rock is a large magnetic mound large not unlike Silbury Hill in England. It is located on a major planetary grid point much like the Great Pyramid in Egypt.



Uluru (also Ayers Rock or The Rock) is a large rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 350 km southwest of Alice Springs at 25 degrees 20' 41" S 131 degrees 01' 57" E. It is the second-largest monolith in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia), more than 318 m (986 ft) high and 8 km (5 miles) around. It also extends 2.5 km (1.5 miles) into the ground. It was described by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872 as "the remarkable pebble".





Kata Tjuta National Park is owned and run by the local Aboriginals. The Australian government handed ownership of the land back to the Aboriginals some years ago.



Climbing Uluru - The local indigenous community request that visitors respect the sacred status of Uluru by not climbing the rock, with signs posted to this effect. In 1983 the former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, promised to respect the request from the community that climbing Uluru be prohibited, but broke his promise when title was handed to the traditional owners in 1985 because access for tourists to climb Uluru was made a condition before they could receive the title. The climb crosses an important dreaming track, which has been a cause of sadness and distress among traditional owners. Neverthless, they are unable to prohibit climbing, and climbing Uluru is a popular attraction for a large fraction of the many tourists who visit it each year. A rope handhold makes the climb easier, but it is still quite a long and steep climb and many intended climbers give up partway up. There are several deaths a year as a direct result of climbing the rock, mainly from heart failure.



The Rock is arkose, a course-grained sandstone rich in feldspar at least 2.5 km thick. Uplifting and folding between 400-300 mya turned the sedimentary layers nearly 90 degrees to their present position. The surface has then been eroded.

Depending on the time of day and the atmospheric conditions, the rock can dramatically change color, anything from blue to violet to glowing red ! Many avid photographers set up for days and record the many changing colors of Uluru.


Mount Urulu Turns Violet

Uluru went from red to violet on 1 June 2004,
waterfalls on the rocks causing the color change.

Ayers Rock was named for the Premier of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. It extends down over 3 and a half miles beneath the surface.

Approximately 500 million years ago it was part of the ocean floor at the center of Australia. Some report that there is a light source emanating at various times of the year. Most likely this can be explained scientifically.

The Aborigines believe that there it is hollow below ground, and that there is an energy source that they call 'Tjukurpa' the dream time. The term Tjukurpa is also used to refer to the record of all activities of a particular ancestral being from the very beginning of his or her travels to their end. Anangu know that the area around

Ayers Rock (Mount Uluru) is inhabited by dozens of ancestral 'beings' whose activities are recorded at many other sites. At each site, the events that took place can be recounted, whether those events were of significance or whether the ancestral being just rested at a certain place before going on.

Usually, there is a physical feature of some form at each ancestral site which represents both the activities of the ancestral being at the time of its formation and the living presence of Tjukurpa within that physical feature today. For the Australian Aboriginal people, that physical feature, whatever its form or appearance, animate or inanimate, is the Tjukurpa. It may be a rock, a sand hill, a grove of trees, a cave. For all of these, the creative essence remains forever within the physical form or appearance.

Around Mount Uluru there are many examples of ancestral sites. The Anangu explanations of these sites and of the formation of Mount Uluru itself derive from the Tjukurpa. Most of these explanations are in the realm of secret information and are not disclosed to Piranypa, the non-Aborigines.

'The Dreaming' is not a creation myth, per se, but a myth of formation. The world existed, but was featureless. Giant semi-human beings, resembling plants or animals, rose up from the plains where they had been slumbering for countless ages.

These ancient heroes roamed the land aimlessly. As they wandered around, they carried out the tasks that the present Aborigines do today including camping, making fires, digging for water, fighting each other, and performing ceremonies. When the heroes became tired of doing these things, Dreamtime came to an end.

Wherever the creators had been active, some form of natural feature now marks the place. The creators made everything with which the aborigines are in daily contact and from which they gain their living. The heroes also established laws that govern all aspects, both secular and sacred, of the tribes.

Dreamtime was in the past, but it is the Aborigines present religion and culture. The saying, 'As it was done in the Dreamtime, so it must be done today,' dominates all aspects of aboriginal behavior. Because of their beliefs in 'the dreaming,' ceremonies and rituals are held, stories are told, pictures are drawn, and daily life is defined.

In order to understand the religion of the Aborigines, one must have a basic understanding of the organization of the tribes. All men and women belong to small groups, called clans. Each clan posses a distinct body of spiritual properties, or sacred sites.

A clan may have several sacred sites that they claim, and the area surrounded by the connection of these sites forms the clan's estate. Clans are linked by common religious traditions, intermarriage, shared dialects, and overlapping foraging rights.



Stone monument made by the heroic ancestors



Clans people of the crow believe they are descended from
the Dreamtime's crow spirit who became a man.

Each clan has a totem. 'Totemism is a view of nature and life, of the universe and man, which colors and influences the Aborigines' social groupings and mythologies, inspires their rituals and links them to the past. It unites them with nature's activities and species in a bond of mutual life-giving, and imparts confidence amidst the vicissitudes of life'. The totem provides a tangible expression of a man's relationship to his deities. Everything in the Aboriginal world contains an essence or spirit that had its beginnings in the Dreamtime. Each person descended from one of these spirits and possessed some of its life force. The spirit it descended from is the person's totem. Images of totems make-up a large part of Aboriginal art. They were painted on cave walls, which we title rock art, drawn on the interiors of their huts, drawn on their bodies, and carved in wood. Totemic spirits are celebrated in ceremonies and rituals, and played a prominent part in Aboriginal myth.



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Ayers Rock - Dreamtime Story


Tjati tries to retrieve his kali

In the creation period, Tatji, the small Red Lizard, who lived on the mulgi flats, came to Uluru. He threw his kali, a curved throwing stick, and it became embedded in the surface. He used his hands to scoop it out in his efforts to retrieve his kali, leaving a series of bowl-shaped hollows.



The cave where Tjati died at Kantju

Unable to recover his kali, he finally died in this cave. His implements and bodily remains survive as large boulders on the cave floor.



Mita and Lungkata's Emu Meal

The Bell-Bird brothers, were stalking an emu. The disturbed animal ran northward toward Uluru. Two blue-tongued lizard men, Mita and Lungkata, killed it, and butchered it with a stone axe. Large joints of meat survive as a fractured slab of sandstone.



The Body of Lungkata

When the Bell-Bird brothers arrived, the lizards handed them a skinny portion of emu, claiming there was nothing else. In revenge, the Bell-Bird brothers set fire to the Lizard's shelter. The men tried to escape by climbing the rock face, but fell and were burned to death. The gray lichen on the rock face is the smoke from the fire and the lizard men are two half-buried boulders.



Uluru Rock Art

In several caves in Uluru, rock represents many stories of the Dreamtime. The paintings are regularly renewed, with layer upon layer of paint, dating back many thousands of years.



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Ayer's Rock Area - Satellite Photo [Click and Drag]