Australia Trip

[bluovl]

That description by Bill Bryson of the tourist show that is Ned Kelly's last stand is exactly how it is. So bad it's good.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

Oh bugga...I loved it when we went there. Did it look like it was closed for good or just a remodel??

That is sad if it has shut.

Edit: Just read online that it closed it's doors on the 29th May 2011!! Been awhile since I have been there I must admit!

Cheers
Col

Is there more than 1 in NSW?? I'm sure I saw one a few weeks ago... around Richmond area??

Didn't look closed either...

[MrEL]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Is there more than 1 in NSW?? I'm sure I saw one a few weeks ago... around Richmond area??

Didn't look closed either...

Yeah there are stacks of them around. It is like a franchise now.
There is one in Darling Harbour and the one you would be thinking of out Richmond way would be the one at McGraths Hill.

[Miss_XR6]

Ettamogah Pub Kellyville is still open was there on the weekend and tonight there showing some fight

[Geez Louise]

I was talking about the one that was in Albury?? Or near there...Here is the story about it. Other Ettamogah Pubs are still operational.

http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5...ah-pub-closes/

[Miss_XR6]

^^^ Oh sorry

Thats the first one sad to see it closed down

[Geez Louise]

Here is another story on it. It was a great place to go too.

http://www.awnw.com.au/pub-on-the-block/

[AC]

Originally Posted by MrEL

Yeah there are stacks of them around. It is like a franchise now.
There is one in Darling Harbour and the one you would be thinking of out Richmond way would be the one at McGraths Hill.

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Is there more than 1 in NSW?? I'm sure I saw one a few weeks ago... around Richmond area??

Didn't look closed either...

There's not one out here at Richmond, there's one at Rouse Hill your thinking of.
It's less than a minute down the road from the Mean Fiddler, city way.
I pass it every day to and from work... And the regular RBT's because they are in such close proximity.
There's also a third big pub near there at Rouse called The Brewery, they are now know for banning entry to people who have tattoos. So three decent sized pubs within a few mins of each other, two of them pretty notorious for various reasons. But I'm told they are good for a big night out.

[windowlicker]

We have some good horses down here. And places to ride them. And we have sporting properties (places to go spotlight shooting). And do get some big sky solitude; its Australia's secret resource: space.

And if you are driving down a main road out of the city and see a kangaroo or two jumping beside the road, slow down safely. If a 'roo gets out on the road proper you will hit it because of the well known Law Of Mr Murphy. Do not swerve off the road and hit a tree and die. Just hold on and run over the animal. If its a fast collison the risk / danger is it will come thru the front window, so get your head down. But animals are way softer than roadside trees.

Also, be alert and don't drive tired. I had to do the insurance work on a crash caused by american tourists in a rental car. There was no other explanation other than that they were tired and their life long american driving habit worked against them when they were react quickly in a intersection; they went the wrong side of the road and had a head-on collision. Brains are trained and ingrained - and its hard to change habits. For a week the Americans had successfully driven around Aussie on the 'other' side of the roads, and that takes real concentration after a lifetime, as I said, but a single lapse when tired was all it took. Very sad.

Come to Canberra, we have Costco too. Obama came here on AF1 the week after it opened. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe.

[Moby Vic]

Originally Posted by bluovl

That description by Bill Bryson of the tourist show that is Ned Kelly's last stand is exactly how it is. So bad it's good.

I guess I'll have to see that!

I haven't ridden a horse since I was a kid. That would probably just lead to a backache for me.

From what I've read it seems that the biggest danger from kangaroos is driving at dusk. I don't plan to drive too much, but it looks like it's unavoidable. We have plenty of English tourists driving here, and they seem to do OK for the most part.

I've read about how confusing it is driving in Melbourne when you want to make a right turn and have to get into the far left lane so as not to block the tram tracks.

Bryson has an interesting story about how he got lost in Canberra and nearly eaten by dogs.

[TC200six]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

From what I've read it seems that the biggest danger from kangaroos is driving at dusk. I don't plan to drive too much, but it looks like it's unavoidable. We have plenty of English tourists driving here, and they seem to do OK for the most part.

You would need to be out very far on the desolate highways for that to be a problem. When travelling long distances on outback highways, I would be in a motel room by nightfall. I've been on a road trip to Longreach and there was a lot of roadkill all over the place, some of those kangaroos looked so huge they would probably be enough to bust a radiator - that's why those semi trailers have large bullbars. Hitting large Kangaroos wouldn't affect them at all.

If you see a kangaroo on the side of the road while driving, always be ready incase it wants to jump in front of you (of course try to avoid swerving as windowlicker said). I've noticed feral rabbits like doing that too, so stay safe.

[tickfordcrazy21]

another simple rule if you are traveling at night is stay towards the middle of the road. when a car is coming towards you naturally move into your lane.
i work up north from northern queensland to south vic and do a hell of alot of ks. its the best advice i give anyone. you will normally find roadkill, lizards and maybe a snake or to on the edge of the road due to it still being warm from the daytime. but a simple rule is be in town by dusk is usually your safest bet. unless its wallgett. then just keep going. haha

[XR6TCraig]

Originally Posted by TC200six

If you see a kangaroo on the side of the road while driving, always be ready incase it wants to jump in front of you (of course try to avoid swerving as windowlicker said). I've noticed feral rabbits like doing that too, so stay safe.

I travel a lot of roads in isolated areas around central QLD. Much of it driving in the early morning before and during dawn as well as dusk and then into the night. Roos worry me a lot less than stray cattle after dark to be honest.

On avoiding a run in with a roo, here is another little tip or two:
If you can see well enough, keep an eye on their ears as you approach a roo. Roos will move their ears in the direction of their intended path of travel just prior to taking off in that direction. It gives you an extra second or so of warning, which at highway speeds may be the difference between contact and avoidance.

Also if roo takes off in front of you to cross the road, start slowing down while looking in the scrub on the side of the road where he just came from. 8 times out of 10 the roo you see crossing the road has a mate that you cant see yet, and that mate will be determined to play follow the leader despite the fact that there is 1.5 ton of car moving rapidly toward him.

Roos can be quite active around dawn too and as there is usually less traffic around in the early morning, you hav emore chance that they haven't become road kill yet. Best bet is to wait until after you have a good breakfast and the sun is up before leaving town and be where you want to be by sun down.

[XR6TCraig]

Originally Posted by tickfordcrazy21

another simple rule if you are traveling at night is stay towards the middle of the road. when a car is coming towards you naturally move into your lane.
i work up north from northern queensland to south vic and do a hell of alot of ks. its the best advice i give anyone. you will normally find roadkill, lizards and maybe a snake or to on the edge of the road due to it still being warm from the daytime. but a simple rule is be in town by dusk is usually your safest bet. unless its wallgett. then just keep going. haha

This is also relevant if it is pothole season! Most of the potholes are in the wheel tracks. Keep off the wheel tracks where most of the traffic drive and closer to the centre of the road and you miss most of the potholes without having to take evasive action to miss them.

[Vincenzo]

If you want to feel at home weather wise come to the topend. You'll never never know if you never ever go! We have Kakadu, crocodiles, wild life parks with crocodiles, river cruises with jumping crocodiles. Glass tanks where you can swim with the crocodiles if you are game enough. Did I mention we have crocodiles? Some of the best fishing in Australia - currently chasing the metre (39") Barramundi. Pound for pound one of the best fighting fish.

The highest available speed limit in Oz at 130 kmh (80 mph)not like the wimps down south with there 110 kmh (68), UFO central in Australia and crocodiles.

We also have some of the best story tellers in Oz.

[Moby Vic]

Maybe I'll just drive on the right side of the road to confuse the 'roos and cattle!

Originally Posted by Vincenzo

If you want to feel at home weather wise come to the topend. You'll never never know if you never ever go! We have Kakadu, crocodiles, wild life parks with crocodiles, river cruises with jumping crocodiles. Glass tanks where you can swim with the crocodiles if you are game enough. Did I mention we have crocodiles? Some of the best fishing in Australia - currently chasing the metre (39") Barramundi. Pound for pound one of the best fighting fish.

The highest available speed limit in Oz at 130 kmh (80 mph)not like the wimps down south with there 110 kmh (68), UFO central in Australia and crocodiles.

We also have some of the best story tellers in Oz.

The book I'm reading said Darwin (I think it was Darwin--it was somewhere in the Northern Territory) looks like a ZZ Top convention.

I went to Gatorland here in Orlando for the 4th of July. They actually have a few crocodiles there. I think I'd rather deal with gators.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by dylby1

The only thing I an really say, is that there is a bloody good reason alot of Aussies travel australia for holidays.

Because it's beautiful, and it's huge. Screw going to Europe when I can travel my own country, I don't need a passport every time I cross a border, an I know everybody can understand my language and accent haha

And I can do it all in my own car.

That's the very reason why I prefer to travel OS, because I want to feel like I've actually taken a holiday rather than a trip up the shops. Different cultures, experiences, different language and currency. For me it's about experience and doing and seeing something different.

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

The book I'm reading said Darwin (I think it was Darwin--it was somewhere in the Northern Territory) looks like a ZZ Top convention.

I went to Gatorland here in Orlando for the 4th of July. They actually have a few crocodiles there. I think I'd rather deal with gators.

Darwin is the Capitol of the NT find it at the top left corner. As for ZZ Top convention - yes there are a lot of beards - helps keep the sun off your face.

Alligators are more placid than the Saltwater Crocodiles. Males are very very territorial and the females have permanent PMS when it's egg laying season and they can be extremely nasty about coming near their nests.

[windowlicker]

When you're on the road in NT or the top of WA or FNQ and staying over in a motel or hotel get up early. The claim to fame of some these establishments is not usually the evening meal, its the breakfasts. Also, if you get up early you'll get the coolest water before it runs out.
To sleep well you need those squishy earplugs as most of these hotels and motels are either
A: right beside the main drag and the trucks go on all night.
B: right beside the main railway and the trains come thru at random.
C: right beside both (West Kempsey, yeah you, I'm pointing at you).

..and some more isolated rural hotels used have a black bar and a 'all other' bar. Maybe some still do.

[Professor Farnsworth]

a lot of beautiful spots in vic, then as you head up to the NW to Mildura, across the NSW border to Wentworth, there's a modest expanse of sandhills out of nowhere which is quite unique, surrounded by some of the flattest land with the most spectacular silence you've ever heard.

[Moby Vic]

I have to share this--we have an Australian working with us. I was telling him about what I'd read about a tourist attraction in Glenrowan, and he said, "Ned Kelly's Last Stand."

I said, "Oh, have you heard of it? Have you been there?"

He replied, "My uncle built it. He built the animatronics."

He said it's sort of "dodgy."

[Moby Vic]

Now I'm trying to buy my Bathurst ticket and I can't get the Ticketek site to work. It tells me I either haven't ordered enough adjacent seats (for my one general admission ticket?) or that other people are completing their transactions. Grrr.

[Moby Vic]

Man, short edit time here.

Here's the message I keep getting:

• Sorry, we're unable to obtain the tickets you requested.
  
  Other customers may be in the process of completing their transaction on all remaining tickets, or the number of tickets requested is greater than the maximum available adjacent seats. Please try again, or try reducing the number of tickets you have selected. When tickets are no longer available the event will be displayed as Allocation Exhausted.

Can anyone tell me if this is typical for Ticketek?

[Trevor 57]

yes it is, try going online in our daytime.

As for seeing Australia, I have just completed a 3 month trip towing a caravan that took me from central Victoria through to Coober Pedy to Alice Springs to Katherine, didn't go to Darwin (been there before), turned left and went to Kununurra, then to Derby, Broome, right down the west coast to Perth then home again via the Nullabor Plain. 11 weeks and 18,000 kilometres, there is some beautiful country up around the top end of Western Australia that really does need seeing, BUT you can't travel up there successfully in the 'wet season' which is December, January & Februaury, even the main highways get blocked by floods.

[Moby Vic]

I was trying around 9:00 last night here—I think that's 11:00 in the morning for you. No luck.

I'll be visiting in September and October, so I should miss wet season.

This weekend I hope to fill out my itinerary. It may be too late for me to book a room near Uluru, and apparently it's quite a drive from Alice Springs.

Since I'm flying into Sydney and out of Melbourne, I hope to work my way around roughly counterclockwise. I don't know if I'll make it to every state, though, and I may skip ACT.

To learn a little more about your fine country, this week I watched two very different movies: Rabbit-Proof Fence and Two Hands.

One of the bonus features for Rabbit-Proof Fence taught me that I've been pronouncing "Geelong" incorrectly (I thought it had a hard "G" up front).

And I'm trying to figure out what the car is in Two Hands. It looks like an XC hardtop, but the grille doesn't look like the Falcon grille. Is it a Fairmont? (I haven't learned the variants very well yet.)

[AC]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

And I'm trying to figure out what the car is in Two Hands. It looks like an XC hardtop, but the grille doesn't look like the Falcon grille. Is it a Fairmont? (I haven't learned the variants very well yet.)

It's an XA hardtop, a nice nice car

How'd you like the bank robbery scene?

[Moby Vic]

Originally Posted by AC

It's an XA hardtop, a nice nice car

How'd you like the bank robbery scene?

That's an XA? I never could get a good look at it in daylight, but I didn't see the fake scoops on the fenders, er, guards.

Loved the bank robbery! I was still laughing about that today.

And is that an XD or XE that hits the kid? And was the other kid a girl? It was very difficult to tell.

And what's up with the zombie brother?

[AC]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

That's an XA? I never could get a good look at it in daylight, but I didn't see the fake scoops on the fenders, er, guards.

Loved the bank robbery! I was still laughing about that today.

And is that an XD or XE that hits the kid? And was the other kid a girl? It was very difficult to tell.

And what's up with the zombie brother?

I think the jury is still out on the kid, lol

The zombie brother.... Uummm, I got nothin

[Moby Vic]

He was very philosophical, but I didn't really understand his part in the story.

Tonight I watched Romper Stomper. It was less fun than Two Hands. It was less fun than Rabbit-Proof Fence!

But hey, now I've seen Melbourne!

I've still got Chopper, The Interview, and The Man from Snowy River to watch. (I've already seen Mad Max, The Sundowners, The Proposition, Walkabout, and Young Einstein, so that should about do it!)

[AC]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

He was very philosophical, but I didn't really understand his part in the story.

I found this on another website, sort makes it make a little more sense.

"Jordan(Screenwriter) begins the movie with the rather forced metaphor of the Chinese yin and yang, told through the tattoo that braces Jimmy’s arm so obviously as he moves through the plot. Jimmy’s dead brother, narrating the story rather literally from the grave, explains that there is a little good in even the worst people, and a little bad in the best. Despite the hokeyness of its initial enunciation the ying/yang motif is carried expertly throughout the film."