Endless horizons, tropical rainforests, and beaches. Australia is a beautiful country. I thought of Australia, as forgotten country “down-under”. But this country is so much more!
I went to Australia, and I wanted to see everything this gorgeous country could offer, the opera house in Sydney, rare animals, the outback, with Ayers Rock and Great Barrier Reef. Australia is on the other side of the planet, it is almost as far from Norway as you can come. I sat on a plane to Sydney, looking forward to this trip to Australia, only 32 hours and 15 minutes left to fly.
First I visited Sydney. Many people think that Sydney is the capital of Australia. It could be, because it is Australia’s most famous city and Australia’s oldest city.
Sydney has amazing shopping opportunities, nice restaurants and great tourist attractions. The Sydney Opera House is the most famous building in Australia. This massive building contains almost 1,000 rooms and many different performance spaces, halls and theatres linked together. Every year people perform different theatres, musicals, operas, dances and ballets. Many people visit the Opera House just for the sake of watching the building.
My travel went to Canberra. This city is famous for its architecture and art.. After visiting the beautiful buildings and museums, I rented a bike and went to the huge Lake Burley Griffin. This was an amazing experience. I saw kangaroos, koalas, platypus and plenty of birds.
After the great nature experience, I moved on to Melbourne witch is called the capital of fashion. The stores in Melbourne has something for any budget,. Melbourne is also the capital of sports in Australia. This city is the home to world-famous sporting events such as the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open Tennis and the Qantas Australia Grand Prix.
The next city I visited in Australia was Adelaide. A perfect way to start my day was to visit the Adelaide's famous central market.. It was a great experience, sitting there, eating breakfast.
After this little marked visit, I went outside the city to the Adelaide Hills. This hills offer spectacular views, and is an amazing place in spring and summer time, when the flowers are in full bloom.
After visiting this fresh, Adelaide Hills with lovely country air, I continued my trip to Alice Springs. This city has, been for more than 40 000 years a traditional meeting place for trading of knowledge, art and culture by the people. I even learned to play a didgeridoo and to throw a boomerang.
I went to see the Uluru, also called the Ayers Rock. It was easy to see why the rock has such huge spiritual importance for the Aboriginal people. The rock is enormous, but yet more than two thirds of the rock is hidden beneath the ground. It changes colour from black to purple, blue to brown, orange and red throughout various times of day and weather. It makes a great contrast with the flat sand plain that surrounds it.
After seeing this wonderful, holy rock, I travelled on to Cairns, to explore the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest.
I was looking forward to experience the Great Barrier Reef. I have read about it, and when I saw it, it stunned me with its magnificence.. I used a water taxi to reach the reef.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 6,600 species, plants and beasts,. The reef is protected, but there are many ways to enjoy it, diving, snorkelling, renting boat and guided tours.
Australia has arranged the Olympics games twice now, once in 2000 at Sydney and once in 1956 at Melbourne. It turned out to be a successful arrangement both times.
My visit to Australia showed me that Australia is an amazing country. The one thing that surprised me most, was the big distances! But despite the distances, I strongly recommend a visit to this fantastic country. It should be seen by everyone.