TASMANIA!

I think any name that ends in "mania" makes a place automatically cooler. Like... take Oshawa for example- one of the more boring cities in Ontario. "Oshamania" sounds so much more exciting!

Anyways, I got back from Tasmania, or as Aussies call it, Tassie a few days ago. I've been totally swamped with getting things organized for the rest of my trip that I haven't been able to get around to updating things here, but I'm doing it now!

The Boat:
I took the boat to Tasmania, cause that's so much cooler than flying. It was your typical ocean liner; restaurant, bar, movie theatre, casino etc. It was pretty cool watching world cup games while out at sea though!

Cradle Mountain:
 My first stop after renting my car in Devonport- where the ferry docked- was Cradle Mountain National Park.

Ideally, it's supposed to look like this:

On the day I was there, it looked like this:

It was cloudy and wet... so the scenery wasn't nearly as spectacular, but it didn't stop me from going on an adventure regardless! Before I went on my hike I stopped by a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary and got to see and pet one =)

The Hike
Now this is a bit of a crazy story. I must admit I was being really REALLY dumb that day... because what I did was pretty dangerous. It's recommended that you hike around Cradle Mountain with a friend because it's some pretty rough terrain. I made the trip there alone,but I figured I could handle it since I've done a bunch of hiking on my own before. Anyways, I was halfway along the trail and I saw a sign that pointed in a different direction which read "To Lookout"... so I went for it. DUMB MOVE. About two hours later I realized I was actually 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Couldn't see a thing above me or a thing below me, cause I was in the clouds. At that point, there was no more trail, it was a chain guiding you up a bunch of VERY steep rocks.

This would be the less steep portion of the chain climb... I put my camera away after I took this so I could hang onto the chain with both hands as I climbed up. Both the chain and the rocks were VERY wet and slippery. Sounds dumb right? Well here's the worst part: I wasn't hiking in boots. I undertook this whole adventure wearing my chucks. Yeah. I'm a dumbass.

Anyways, I eventually got to a point where I saw a sign that read 2 hours to summit... at which point I had nowhere near enough time to get all the way to the top and all the way back down again, so I just turned around and made the highly tedious journey back down.

This calls for a before/after picture

Me before the hike with my ride!

Immediately after getting back down from the mountain.

There's a line between being brave and being stupid, and I crossed it.

Launceston
After that experience, I decided to play it safe and not take any more risks for the rest of the trip. I drove to Launceston just after sunset, and found a radio station on the way that calmed my nerves quite a bit. Indie rock, with some of my favourite bands featured =)
 
Launceston is a really nice old town with a lot of character. I only spent a night there, but it was an awesome place to visit. Within the city is the Cataract Gorge, where I took a nice long walk the next morning.

Hobart
Hobart is the largest city and capital of Tasmania. On my way from Launceston to Hobart, I heard that Australia had just sworn in their first female Prime Minister on the radio. Pretty cool to be in Aussie with all the political goings on... though not as cool as Toronto for G20.

I really enjoyed Hobart, the Inn that I stayed in was a really old building (19th century) and the owner was this really funny middle-aged Aussie lady who had some choice words to say about the new PM... we ended up talking for like 3 hours! I went for a midnight walk around the city, which was incredibly beautiful

So that was my trip to Tasmania! After Hobart, I drove the 300km to Devonport the next morning and had another 12 hour boat ride back to Melbourne. At the moment I'm just wrapping up packing, seeing as I'm leaving for New Zealand in about 12 hours. I also promise to have at least 3 updates a week from now until I come back home. SO PUMPED!

See you all soon!

Hakim

deets yo!

PHEW!

So yesterday was payday, which also meant flight booking day... and I can now thankfully say that 90% of my flights for the rest of my trip are booked... here are the places I'll be visiting and when I'll be there:
June 22- 12 hour ferry ride from Melbourne to Tasmania
June 25- return to Melbourne
June 30- Leaving Melbourne to go to Christchurch
July 3- Christchurch bus trip to Queenstown
July 6- Queenstown back to Christchurch airport for flight to Auckland
July 13- Auckland flight to Bali, Indonesia
July 16 Bali to Jakarta (not yet booked, maybe I'll take a boat!)
July 19 Jakarta flight to Singapore
July 22 Singapore flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
July 24 KL flight to Manila, Philippines
July 28 Manila flight back to KL
July 31, KL flight to Bangkok, Thailand
Aug 3 Bangkok flight to Hong Kong
Aug 17 Hong Kong flight to Toronto

SO! Some pretty intense traveling coming up... lots of flying, but I'm trying my best to make this trip carbon neutral =)

Also, I know Bangkok isn't really 100% stable right now, but that almost makes me want to go there more... plus I got a free flight, which makes things even more enticing. Anywho, expect almost daily updates starting June 22!

dunnyjacked.

So this afternoon at work I needed to take a tinkle... but everytime I turned to head towards the bathroom, somebody else rushed in ahead of me... I notified a colleague of this pattern and his response? "You got dunnyjacked mate!"

word.

Sydney days 3-5!

Hey!

So the last three days in Sydney were such a whirlwind, I didn't get a chance to post anything while I was there! I'm gonna do my best to remember what happened back then- I've had a pretty full on* week of work back in Melbourne.

*"full on" = Australian for intense

Day 3:

Took a nice walk in the morning down to the Sydney Botanical Gardens, which actually had the most incredible view I've ever experienced. The Sydney Harbour has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Here are a couple of pics from that morning:

On my way out of the botanical gardens I bumped into another German backpacker (who took that photo of me). Apparently he had visited Canada! Well Winnipeg to be precise... we had a lovely discussion about how wonderfully exciting the prairies are.

After the botanical gardens I took a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge... which is surprisingly long- over 1km! I took my time, took some photos and enjoyed a nice view of the city from North Sydney on the other side of the bridge. Another feature of North Sydney is the amusement park- Luna Park... I was very frightened by the entrance- it's certainly nightmare inducing...

Luna Park was closed on that day, but the entrance was still open, so naturally I walked through it anyways... I was the only person in the park at the time... I was sure some clowns would pop out of nowhere and try and kill me...

After that frightening experience, I hopped on a train back home and hung out on the roof of the hostel, which also had a pretty incredible view. Michael (my German friend) intro'd me to his German crew which he had just met at the hostel... and we sat around a picnic table making fun of each others countries until somebody had a great idea to switch the radio station to classic rock... So I spent the night bonding with a bunch of Germans in Australia belting out Born in the USA =)


Day 4!

Took a free walking tour of Sydney in the morning with Michael, though we got caught in some pouring rain... it actually rained every single day I was in Sydney, I'm pretty sure the trip was kinda cursed... Anywho, the walking tour was a lot of fun and really informative, we got to see the city from the eyes of a real Sydneysider! and yes, that is what they call people from Sydney...

Michael was a soccer star back in Germany, quite a tall dude actually!

In the afternoon I checked out Sydney's Chinatown, but it wasn't nearly as cool as the one in Melbourne. They did have a bit of an interesting market area called Paddington (Paddy's) Market, but again, it wasn't as cool as Victoria Market (its rival) in Melbourne.

In the evening I went to go see a show at the Sydney Opera House. It was a play about a marriage that was broken up by a charming young lady. Very good acting; the only problem I had was when I got to the Opera House, my seat was double booked and they bounced me around to about 3 different seats before finally making me sit in the back... I got shafted by the Opera House! *not cool*- again a sign that my trip was cursed...

Day 5!

So the day before on the walking tour the guide told us to go see the Sydney Fish Market Auctions which happen every day at 5:30am... obligingly, Michael and I were up at that ungodly hour to go see the second largest fish market in the world... unfortunately we didn't hear that the auctions only happen Monday-Friday... and it was a Saturday... so we woke up early and walked halfway across the city for nothing *cursed!* anyways, I got a couple of nice shots of Sydney at dawn:

After that little incident we headed back to the hostel since it started to pour again... and ventured out again in the afternoon to check out the art festival that was going on in Sydney at the time... it was a bit like Nuit Blanche with fun and interesting art projects all over the city, except it was spread out over 2 weeks instead of one night.

One of the spots that the festival was being held at was Cockatoo Island which was only accessible by ferry... so we took the ferry over and checked out some wicked art!

I left the island early so I could check out the Contemporary Art Gallery back in the city before it closed... and guess what... as soon as the ferry left the dock it started pouring again! Though this time it was totally worth it... there was a beautiful double rainbow over the Harbour and I was once again treated to one of the most incredible views I've ever experienced:

That evening I went to the best place for pie in Sydney, but there was a super long line. I decided to stick it out anyways, and that was the best decision I made all trip. This big bouncer-looking dude comes out of his fancy car and hands me a $5 bill and says "I'll give you five bucks to hold a spot in line for me while I wait in my car". I told him to keep his money and I'd hold it for him anyways, but he stuffed the bill in my pocket, so I wasn't going to say no. Anywho, I waved him over when I got to the front of the line and he asked what I was going to order and bought my dinner for me! I think all that bad karma from everything that had happened on the trip up to that point came back as free pie and five dollars =)

Well that was pretty much the extent of my trip to Sydney, I did check out a pretty sweet cafe that night and spent a few hours writing. Other then that, just packing and making sure I made my flight on time! Hopefully I haven't bored you all with the longest post of life... stay tuned for more in the next few weeks! (probably not much until next week though- got a full week of work coming up again!)

Cheerio!

Hakim

sydney day 2!

Woo!

Sydney has treated me awesomely so far... today was a pretty rad day, the weather was great and the activities were even better. Visited the Australian Museum with my German friend and had a lovely conversation about politics, society and education... the Museum itself wasn't the best- a couple of the more popular exhibits were closed for renovations, but it was still a fun trip.

Around lunchtime, I googled "best Pho in Sydney" found a place that had a pretty strong consensus as the #1 pick, hopped on a train across town, and had a nice bowl of Pho. It wasn't as good as some of the stuff in Toronto, but it hit the spot real good... I was craving Pho for a whilee...

In the evening, I decided to hop on a ferry and check out this suburb beach area called Manly... the sun had already set by the time I got there so the beach was completely abandoned... it was freaking awesome being the only dude on the beach, feeling the waves tickle my feet =D

Later I headed back to a bit of a posh area around the Harbour called "The Rocks"... ended up spending $17 on dessert and coffee... I felt less guilty because dinner only cost me $2.15 in Manly...

anyways, that was day 2... hopefully day 3 will be just as awesome! (considering its me planning it, it probably will be)

Photo time!

Sydney Opera House from the ferry

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the ferry

sydney day 1!

Wow.. what a long day...

As most of you have probably already heard, I missed my flight this morning to Sydney... I had to pay an extra $75 to get onto the next flight (the original ticket was only $28) and wait another 8 hours in the Melbourne airport. Anyways, after all that I made it into Sydney at around 4:30pm

My first impressions of the city are very good... Even though it's been pouring rain since I got here, I really like the feel of the city. It has more of a "big city" vibe to it than Melbourne, which appeals to me in some ways.

The hostel I'm staying in is pretty nice and the people that I'm sharing my room with seem super cool- two Italian girls and a law student from Frankfurt, its a good mix =D

I spent the night eating the best pizza ever, at this gourmet pizza bar called Zachary's (ranks as the seventh best meal I've ever had) and going for an evening walk in the city.

Here are some photos from my first night!

sanctuary!

Yo!

So it's high time I post an update here... been far too long... Anyways, yesterday I saw my first kangaroo! yay!! To commemorate the event, here's a small tribute to the great Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter




The video was supposed to carry on a bit longer, but I guess I accidentally hit stop... oh wells...

So yeah! I saw kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies and all other sorts of Aussie wildlife at the Healesville Sanctuary. Totally rad place to be. Highlight of the day (besides befriending a kangaroo of course) would be watching this toddler ask her mommy what the Emus were doing (it) and the resulting explanation

I'll post a crapload of photos when I finally get around to uploading stuff onto flickr... work has been prohibiting that lately, but hopefully soon..

Oh and good news! I'm leaving for Sydney in less than two days... so that means a whole lot more updates! YAY!

So yeah, if you wanna check out what the biggest city in Australia looks like from my eyes, then check back often this week- I'll be posting daily while I'm there!

 Koala Jump!

Skippy and Me :)