Australia New Zealand
Australia
Down under FOUR MONTHS IN AUSTRALIA AND TWO WEEKS IN NEW ZEALAND With help of great people I had the opportunity to live for four months in Australia as part of an apartment exchange scheme. I was located on the Sunshine Coast,!Maroochydore village (or small town) near Brisbane. I had a house and a car near sea. Soon I added longboard on top of that car. From there I visited many places in East Coast like Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sorrento, beautiful Noosa Heads, hippie heaven Byron Bay, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. During traveling I had opportunity to meet wonderful people from Australia and backpackers from all around the world. Australia had many things to wonder at and enjoy, but most amazing thing was their beautiful and unique way of living. It feels like they have combined British and American habits, added some Scandinavian social security and caring attitude and mixed a lot of spices from immigrants all over from our cute blue!planet. These old prisoners and immigrants have somehow succeeded to cook everything together to have a very relaxed and tolerant society to be proud of. But as one fellow Aussie said in Yahoo forum:
"We like BBQs and have now added things like squid & octopus to the steak & chops thanks to our migrants We still drink good Aussie beer, to which we can now add fine Aussie wines We love out sport, football (whatever variety you want), cricket , tennis, swimming etc etc and it's good to see how multicultural teams are now We're a bit cynical with authority.Fortunatley the 'Tall Poppy Syndrome" is alive and well to show the pompous and arrogant as jst that We are a tolerant and open society (mostly), we are still finding our way with our differing neighbours and our indigenous peoples. We are a better nation now than we were, and hope tomorrow is better again"
New Zealand South Island to conquer some snow topped mountains with my bike and to free fall high from the sky to have good overall look for beautiful mountains and deep lakes. Happily, in addition to 44 million lambs there were a few kind kiwis to offer me very good food, local beers, some very enjoyable extreme sport and entertainment. It was beautiful to travel there on the few narrow roads around mountains in that pure,!green, snow white and crystal clear magical island which felt like Middle Earth from Lord of the Kings movies.
– Ross M
Have a good journey, where ever you are traveling now or staying. It's the thing happening during your trip, not when reaching final metro stop when wake up!from snap with iPod headphones in your ears.
NEW ZEALAND SOUTH ISLAND
Take care! I'm pleased to have you my guest on these pages.
To continue my multiple entry tourist visa I had to travel abroad to get a foreign stamp in my European Union passport. I flew with my mountain bike to the
Cheers, Markku
3
4
East Coast There is a lot to see and experience in East Coast and it is the most famous area to visit in Australia. Over 80% of the Australian population and the three largest cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are there. It takes almost 4000km to travel from Melbourne to Cairns if you choose coastline roads. Whatever way you choose to travel there, their way of living will make good for you. Australia is unique.
5
Sea
BEACH AND SURFING Nearly three quarters of Australians live close to the coastline and the beach has long occupied a special place in the Australian identity. SurďŹ ng was brought to Australia in 1915 by Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku and now it is one of the symbols of Australian life style.
7
Scuba diving in Great Barrier Reef There are many beautiful spots in our amazing planet to dive but there is only one Great Barrier Reef in the world, 2600km long living creature. Many scuba divers want to visit it at least once in their lifetime.! 8
CAIRNS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Cairns is a popular travel destination because it is a good starting point for attractions near as Great Barrier Reef, Daintree National Park, Cape Tribulation, Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula and the Atherton Tableland. It has international and relaxed atmosphere. Throw in some good food, beer and bar evening with your new adventure friends and look forward coming scuba dives and other adventures. 9
11
Twelve Apostles and Great Ocean Road Great Ocean Road is one of those must-see tourist attractions. Sandstone cliffs formed by the PaciďŹ c Ocean and turquoise colours made this beautiful coastline perfect. Amazing road itself is like from car ads. You wish to have Porsche to make beautiful curves on this nice road but whatever you have, remember to be careful with all those police radars.
New Zealand
South Island New Zealand South Island is biggest of islands but it has only a little bit more than million people there from over 4 million living together in whole country but much more lambs and tourists to take care of. Most of the area is national park and tourism is carefully directed to not wear off beautiful nature. New Zealand has very effective and helpful tourist organization to arrange all activities and accommodations on your vacation.
15
Nature GREEN, WHITE, BLUE AND CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER
Middle Earth It is said that Lord of the Rings movies were the best unpaid advertisement that New Zealand has ever had. J.R.R. Tolkien did not locate Lord of the Rings to the New Zealand but as actor Elijah Wood said: "New Zealand is Middle Earth". Anyway, take deep breath and enjoy view!
Queenstown Queenstown is an adrenalin city with trendy cafÊs and restaurants. It is built around Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu and it has spectacular views of nearby mountains. From here, tourists all over the world are looking their next adventure like skiing, jet boating, whitewater rafting, bungy jumping, mountain biking, skateboarding, tramping – you name it.
Action In New Zealand you meet all the time tourists to tell you what kind of adventure sports you should take: bungy jumping, abseiling, biking, rafting, climbing, adventure tours, skydiving, paragliding and horse trekking etc. Just have your credit card with you and sporty attitude.
Skydive photos: Yuko, www.skydivewanaka.com 22
200km/h WORLD LARGEST THEME PARK
FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER The Franz Josef (Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere in M!ori) is a 12 km long glacier located on the New Zealand's South Island. There are many of them in New Zealand but Franz Josef is one of the famous one. It’s quite easy to access for tourists. Just join group with your guide and attach your crampons.
FREEDOM “Some leave the city for the freedom of the wilds, and some leave the country for the freedom of the city. There are people who keep moving to be free from being stuck in one place, while others lust for the freedom to rest and know that the real adventure begins when we stop and take in what is around us.” – MCS Spring Summer 2010 catalog
A Word from the Author I love local beers, good food, sporty things, sea, sun, nature and good company. I took few months off after long period working to travel in Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand before starting new things again. Sometimes I remembered to shoot photos with my pocket camera and this book contains some of these moments. Click below web page to see this book online.! Thanks to all you superb nice local people and tourists I met there down under! Have a good traveling and take care, Markku www.markkuanttila.com
www.4monthsinaustralia.com
28