Australia, picspam the first!
Jan. 31st, 2014 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejFinally found some time to make a selection of photos from my first week of travels. Behind the cut are 40 pictures from leaving Amsterdam and a stopover in Hong Kong to roadtripping around Perth with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kennsea and exploring the Southern part of Western Australia. Considering I picked those out of a total of 540 photos I made (just the first week, yes, what?) I think that's not too bad a picspam *grins* I invite you to scroll through at your own pace, I tried to keep my commentary to a minimum. If you just want to see kangaroos, go here;). Be warned: there are a couple of alps in here, I think kids today call them selfies? Yeah. This old lady will keep referring to them as arm length photos. Just because it sounds more sophisticated :-p
Adventures Down Under, part 1
This trip to Australia was a present from my brothers and me to our mom. We had surprised her with it in March 2013. My brother Jaap, his wife Gayleen and my nephew Ruben were already going to Sydney for a long family visit, and my mom could travel with them. I would make a detour to Perth (to visit K!) before picking up my mom to accompany her back home. My brother and I would take my mom on separate trips and in between she could celebrate the holidays (and her grandson's birthday;) in Sydney. Completely by accident I ended up on the same flight to HongKong as the rest of my family, so we started our travels together!
Friday, December 14: Amsterdam to HongKong
Brotherdearest Hans and his girlfriend Benthe couldn't join us, but came to wave goodbye at the airport (and hand mom the last surprise: an envelope with spending money:)
Then it was off to the plane \o/ (Lets skip all the time it took to get through customs, pfff)
To our delight Ruben loved everything about flying; from take off to showing his gran how to use the touchscreen;)
Saturday, December 15: HongKong
We arrived in HongKong around 7 a.m. where we said goodbye. Their flight to Sydney wasn't until after midnight, so they went to a hotelroom for a bit of a rest. I only had a couple of hours before my flight to Perth but I wanted to explore the town! So I got on the superfast train to HongKong City where I spent some time getting lost in one of the malls of doom, before figuring out where the exit was. (I was more jetlaggy than I realized;)
I finally found the right walkway to where I wanted to go: the 125 years old steep Peak Train <3
View from the short and almost vertical trainride to Victoria Peak.
Such a cool station at the top!
The weather was ridiculous! I couldn't see the peak:( On the righthand side a part of the fancy Peak Tower (another mall)
After getting some food (an original egg-pie, nom) I went back down and walked back towards Central station and Victoria Harbour.
The covered walkways were very convenient with the crazy rain. I'm going to Pier 7 for the Star Ferry.
A short crossing, but such an awesome view of the city.
Well worth losing precious time; I only managed a short stroll across the other side before I had to rush back to the station to catch the train to the airport. I'll spare you my dispair of trying to find my gate. I made it to the plane in time, pfew. I arrived in Perth around 11 p.m. where I metkennsea's sister who took me to Kennedy himself, who was waiting in the car outside. We were both a little nervous about meeting up with an LJ-friend from the other end of the world, but it felt comfortable immediately. Despite my intention of going to sleep right away, we spent a couple of hours into the night talking before I finally crawled to bed. *grins*
Sunday, December 16: Perth
The next day K. drove me around, so I could get Chrismascards (my first priority, dear flist;) and he showed me a couple of his favorite places.
In the afternoon we chilled looking over Waterman's Beach.
At night we went to King's Park for an amazing view of Swan River and Perth.
Monday, December 17: Roadtrip to the Pinnacles
ROADTRIP! Kennedy's friend L. joined us for a long drive up North. We made an unplanned short stop at the monastery at New Norcia (where I saw cockatoos and colourful galas! To limit the amount of photos in these travelposts I'll do a separate picspam later with all the funky animals I spotted;)
After about four hours we arrived at The Pinnacles, where L. and I walked through the yellow desert. You can also drive through part of it, which we did later together with Kennedy.
The Pinnacles come in all sorts of odd shapes *giggles*
See? I was there \o/
I just like making alps, okay? Even if I have company to take a photo :-p
Back on the road again. Didn't see any of these creatures. YET...
Tuesday, December 18: Tree Top Tour
Today I went out on my own; I booked a tour to The Valley Of The Giants...
There were a couple of short stops on the six-plus hour drive down South, this is Donnybrook, guess what they grow here.
I'll skip the rest of the long drive to get to the goal of the tour: to walk 40 metres high through the canopy of the tingle forest in The Valley Of The Giants...
Looking out over the tree tops, very impressive:)
Tadaah! Made it to the highest point \o/
Some tingle trees are still higher!
Looking down. So. Cool.
I was so excited about the Tree Top Walk that I did another round. When I got back to the bus I discovered I had completely missed the Ancient Empire walk down on the ground. Oops. I guess one day I'll have to go back to fix that mistake.
To make sure I didn't miss out on any other experiences, I made the most of all the stops on the way back...
Like walking into the freezing Southern Ocean. Brrrr. ;)
Wednesday, December 19: Perth
Another relaxing day in Perth. If you can call bookshopping in this awesome shop relaxing;) K. and I also went to the cinema to see Catching Fire in grand style; K. treated me to the Gold Class experience. That made the film even more awesome.
OOOooh, aaaaaah! At night we drove around the neighbourhood checking out the decorations. It was still a little weird to think it was near to Christmas when the weather was so freaking hot;)
Thursday, December 20: Kangas and Freemantle
Okay, here's the thing you've all been waiting for: kangaroos! Kennedy knew just the place to spot them. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to go to the Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park. Well worth it. We spent nearly two hours watching this group of red kangaroos. This is a small selection out of the 150+ photos I made, I'll let you enjoy them without comments:)
How cute is this? I felt so privileged that she allowed me to come this close. I sat on my knees for fifteen minutes just watching them eat.
Want more? I also shot a short video!
After lunch with the family. Kennedy and I went to Fremantle for a dose of Australian/Dutch history.
We drove by this cool Dingo logo, that K's dad used to paint.
The Roundhouse, the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia. Opened in January 1831, just 18 months after settlement, it was built to hold any person convicted of a crime in the settlement and was used until 1886.
Different types of punishment inside the Roundhouse. Another bit of torture was being able to hear and smell the sea, but not see it.
The Shipwreck Galleries holds the remains of the stern of Dutch VOC ship Batavia, wrecked in 1629.
They also recovered loads of old Dutch coins, even from my hometown Zwolle, how cool is that!
The Batavia is an important part of Dutch colonial history. In the back you can see a replica of the impressive portico façade – carried as cargo to be used as a grand entrance to the city of Batavia (Indonesia).
I could have easily spent another couple of hours in that museum. But I also wanted to see another part of Fremantle: Kennedy set me free to wander the Markets for a bit. So many things to see and eat and buy...
Friday, December 21: Perth
My last day in Perth:(
For all the coffee lovers on my flist -you know who you are-: a drive through just for coffee. (also hot/cold chocolate for meeee)
There are still shipwrecks out in the ocean, that you can spot from the shore. Kennedy and I sat near the harbour for a bit. Look at those gorgeous blues in the sky and the water. *chinhands*
A last look at water before I got on the Indian Pacific the next day for a four day trainride through the desert...
To be continued :-p
Thank youkennsea for offering me a place to stay and being marvelous company. I wouldn't have been able to experience Western Australia as extensively without you. *smishes*
FYI, flist: K and I met eight years ago in the CSI fandom where I loved his writing right away. A few years ago he published his first novel and since then he's written a follow up and a couple more awesome books and stories. You can find them here! (I recommend Tigers and Devils, I got K. to authograph my paperback version, woohoo *fangirls all over again*)
kennsea and exploring the Southern part of Western Australia. Considering I picked those out of a total of 540 photos I made (just the first week, yes, what?) I think that's not too bad a picspam *grins* I invite you to scroll through at your own pace, I tried to keep my commentary to a minimum. If you just want to see kangaroos, go here;). Be warned: there are a couple of alps in here, I think kids today call them selfies? Yeah. This old lady will keep referring to them as arm length photos. Just because it sounds more sophisticated :-pAdventures Down Under, part 1
This trip to Australia was a present from my brothers and me to our mom. We had surprised her with it in March 2013. My brother Jaap, his wife Gayleen and my nephew Ruben were already going to Sydney for a long family visit, and my mom could travel with them. I would make a detour to Perth (to visit K!) before picking up my mom to accompany her back home. My brother and I would take my mom on separate trips and in between she could celebrate the holidays (and her grandson's birthday;) in Sydney. Completely by accident I ended up on the same flight to HongKong as the rest of my family, so we started our travels together!
Friday, December 14: Amsterdam to HongKong
Brotherdearest Hans and his girlfriend Benthe couldn't join us, but came to wave goodbye at the airport (and hand mom the last surprise: an envelope with spending money:)
Then it was off to the plane \o/ (Lets skip all the time it took to get through customs, pfff)
To our delight Ruben loved everything about flying; from take off to showing his gran how to use the touchscreen;)
Saturday, December 15: HongKong
We arrived in HongKong around 7 a.m. where we said goodbye. Their flight to Sydney wasn't until after midnight, so they went to a hotelroom for a bit of a rest. I only had a couple of hours before my flight to Perth but I wanted to explore the town! So I got on the superfast train to HongKong City where I spent some time getting lost in one of the malls of doom, before figuring out where the exit was. (I was more jetlaggy than I realized;)
I finally found the right walkway to where I wanted to go: the 125 years old steep Peak Train <3
View from the short and almost vertical trainride to Victoria Peak.
Such a cool station at the top!
The weather was ridiculous! I couldn't see the peak:( On the righthand side a part of the fancy Peak Tower (another mall)
After getting some food (an original egg-pie, nom) I went back down and walked back towards Central station and Victoria Harbour.
The covered walkways were very convenient with the crazy rain. I'm going to Pier 7 for the Star Ferry.
A short crossing, but such an awesome view of the city.
Well worth losing precious time; I only managed a short stroll across the other side before I had to rush back to the station to catch the train to the airport. I'll spare you my dispair of trying to find my gate. I made it to the plane in time, pfew. I arrived in Perth around 11 p.m. where I met
kennsea's sister who took me to Kennedy himself, who was waiting in the car outside. We were both a little nervous about meeting up with an LJ-friend from the other end of the world, but it felt comfortable immediately. Despite my intention of going to sleep right away, we spent a couple of hours into the night talking before I finally crawled to bed. *grins*Sunday, December 16: Perth
The next day K. drove me around, so I could get Chrismascards (my first priority, dear flist;) and he showed me a couple of his favorite places.
In the afternoon we chilled looking over Waterman's Beach.
At night we went to King's Park for an amazing view of Swan River and Perth.
Monday, December 17: Roadtrip to the Pinnacles
ROADTRIP! Kennedy's friend L. joined us for a long drive up North. We made an unplanned short stop at the monastery at New Norcia (where I saw cockatoos and colourful galas! To limit the amount of photos in these travelposts I'll do a separate picspam later with all the funky animals I spotted;)
After about four hours we arrived at The Pinnacles, where L. and I walked through the yellow desert. You can also drive through part of it, which we did later together with Kennedy.
The Pinnacles come in all sorts of odd shapes *giggles*
See? I was there \o/
I just like making alps, okay? Even if I have company to take a photo :-p
Back on the road again. Didn't see any of these creatures. YET...
Tuesday, December 18: Tree Top Tour
Today I went out on my own; I booked a tour to The Valley Of The Giants...
There were a couple of short stops on the six-plus hour drive down South, this is Donnybrook, guess what they grow here.
I'll skip the rest of the long drive to get to the goal of the tour: to walk 40 metres high through the canopy of the tingle forest in The Valley Of The Giants...
Looking out over the tree tops, very impressive:)
Tadaah! Made it to the highest point \o/
Some tingle trees are still higher!
Looking down. So. Cool.
I was so excited about the Tree Top Walk that I did another round. When I got back to the bus I discovered I had completely missed the Ancient Empire walk down on the ground. Oops. I guess one day I'll have to go back to fix that mistake.
To make sure I didn't miss out on any other experiences, I made the most of all the stops on the way back...
Like walking into the freezing Southern Ocean. Brrrr. ;)
Wednesday, December 19: Perth
Another relaxing day in Perth. If you can call bookshopping in this awesome shop relaxing;) K. and I also went to the cinema to see Catching Fire in grand style; K. treated me to the Gold Class experience. That made the film even more awesome.
OOOooh, aaaaaah! At night we drove around the neighbourhood checking out the decorations. It was still a little weird to think it was near to Christmas when the weather was so freaking hot;)
Thursday, December 20: Kangas and Freemantle
Okay, here's the thing you've all been waiting for: kangaroos! Kennedy knew just the place to spot them. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to go to the Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park. Well worth it. We spent nearly two hours watching this group of red kangaroos. This is a small selection out of the 150+ photos I made, I'll let you enjoy them without comments:)
How cute is this? I felt so privileged that she allowed me to come this close. I sat on my knees for fifteen minutes just watching them eat.
Want more? I also shot a short video!
After lunch with the family. Kennedy and I went to Fremantle for a dose of Australian/Dutch history.
We drove by this cool Dingo logo, that K's dad used to paint.
The Roundhouse, the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia. Opened in January 1831, just 18 months after settlement, it was built to hold any person convicted of a crime in the settlement and was used until 1886.
Different types of punishment inside the Roundhouse. Another bit of torture was being able to hear and smell the sea, but not see it.
The Shipwreck Galleries holds the remains of the stern of Dutch VOC ship Batavia, wrecked in 1629.
They also recovered loads of old Dutch coins, even from my hometown Zwolle, how cool is that!
The Batavia is an important part of Dutch colonial history. In the back you can see a replica of the impressive portico façade – carried as cargo to be used as a grand entrance to the city of Batavia (Indonesia).
I could have easily spent another couple of hours in that museum. But I also wanted to see another part of Fremantle: Kennedy set me free to wander the Markets for a bit. So many things to see and eat and buy...
Friday, December 21: Perth
My last day in Perth:(
For all the coffee lovers on my flist -you know who you are-: a drive through just for coffee. (also hot/cold chocolate for meeee)
There are still shipwrecks out in the ocean, that you can spot from the shore. Kennedy and I sat near the harbour for a bit. Look at those gorgeous blues in the sky and the water. *chinhands*
A last look at water before I got on the Indian Pacific the next day for a four day trainride through the desert...
To be continued :-p
Thank you
kennsea for offering me a place to stay and being marvelous company. I wouldn't have been able to experience Western Australia as extensively without you. *smishes*FYI, flist: K and I met eight years ago in the CSI fandom where I loved his writing right away. A few years ago he published his first novel and since then he's written a follow up and a couple more awesome books and stories. You can find them here! (I recommend Tigers and Devils, I got K. to authograph my paperback version, woohoo *fangirls all over again*)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-01-31 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-01 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 09:02 am (UTC)(If you go back with me, we can do that tree walk on the ground which would mean we BOTH win, lol.) :p
no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 06:53 am (UTC)i'm still wrapping my head around the fact that you drove from Perth to Sydney. Badass, you and your Mom are it.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 05:56 pm (UTC)It was wonderful having you, and hope you (and Tanni) make it back! Next time, though, we'll have to do a proper travel down south and stay a few nights so you can see Cape Leeuwin and Albany.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 08:54 pm (UTC)I had meant to wish you happy travels and now you're already down under! Hope you have as much fun as I did (I absolutely loved Melbourne) but first have a splendid time in New Zealand!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 08:57 pm (UTC)I have more photos of the Batavia, prepare for the slide show when you come over here!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 09:01 pm (UTC)Before I do the animalpicspams I'll post about the train, New Year's Eve in Sydney and the Great Ocean Road plus Melbourne. I did SO MANY things!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 09:07 pm (UTC)I can't believe all the things I managed to do in such a short time. I have still so many pics to go through, it was absolutely brilliant and you were a big part of that. *smishes*
I definitely want to go back; as soon as I get real life on track again, I'm gonna start saving and planning;)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-08 09:44 pm (UTC)I'm gonna stay and look at this post for a while. Thank you so much for sharing them!!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-10 05:48 pm (UTC)As soon as I'm done with all the RBB arting, I'll sit down to make another picspam:)