Vlado in Australia 2006 - All Image Descriptions

My second trip to Australia, six weeks this time. It was great to meet friends from the 2003 study abroad year again! I also went on a second Bicycle Victoria bike ride, like the Summit to Sea ride in 2003, but in WA this time. So by now I've been to every single Australian state (except for the neglectable Capital City Territory).
2006-02-18__13-37-25

Düsseldorf Airport

Cold, wet, and grim: the perfect weather for leaving home.
2006-02-19__07-59-44

Dubai

This time I wanted to see Dubai as well, not just the airport.
2006-02-19__09-12-57

Big Money

Dubai is rich because of the oil, and it is growing rapidly... still I do not think of it as a pleasant place to live.
2006-02-19__10-29-50

Historical Village

There is hardly anything older than 30 years left in Dubai - this historical building with its wind towers is a reconstruction.
2006-02-19__12-43-46

Dubai Museum

The Dubai Museum in the old Al Fahidi Fort was well worth seeing.
2006-02-21__12-25-39

Tranquility in Singapore

The Merlion (mermaid lion) on Sentosa Island (sentosa is Malay for tranquility).
2006-02-21__16-12-06

Little India

An interesting building, because of the way people dry their clothes on poles, and the nearest MRT station (Mass Rapid Transit) from my hostel.
2006-02-21__21-53-35

Vegetarian Restaurant

In Little India there were several places for tasty, affordable vegetarian meals.
2006-02-22__12-01-12

Familiar Place

Not much has changed here.
2006-02-22__15-00-49

Colourful Temple

2006-02-22__16-35-58

Container Terminal

This photo has been taken from inside the cable car (see next photo).
2006-02-22__16-56-10

Cable Car

Photo taken from Mount Faber.
2006-02-22__17-16-48

Extreme Population Density

2006-02-23__14-48-35

Moving on

2006-02-24__10-44-02

Back to Watsonia

Some subtle changes have taken place... probably there are not much more buses than before, but there are new bus signs, at least.
2006-02-25__15-13-09

Train in the Rain

I was waiting for a train to Ballarat, on Melbourne's new Southern Cross Station (formerly Spencer Street)... and a third of that whole February's rain poured down in a few minutes.
2006-02-26__14-32-25

Lookout near Ballarat

Supporting PBS radio...
2006-02-26__15-58-26

At a Bird Park

2006-03-01__11-48-43

RRR Home

My favourite radio station in the world! From this day on, 01-03-2006, I'm a full RRR subscriber for another year.
2006-03-01__13-04-20

Kebab House

2006-03-01__14-57-55

St. Kilda

Luna Park and The Palace in what is still my favourite suburb in Melbourne.
2006-03-01__14-58-15

Pay Here (or die)

I have been here before too.
2006-03-02__19-45-33

Cockatoos

Back to LaTrobe University, still very familiar.
2006-03-03__10-30-09

Melbourne CBD

Central Business District
2006-03-03__10-53-18

Flinders Street Station

There is a new sky scraper behind the station.
2006-03-04__16-06-23

Another New Building

2006-03-04__16-59-08

Kite Surfing

2006-03-05__12-19-49

Down Under!

2006-03-05__19-03-36

Ballarat

Victoria's largest inland city, former gold mining town, new home to Jon and Asha.
2006-03-06__13-53-30

Renewable Energy

2006-03-06__13-54-23

A Wind Farm

2006-03-06__13-56-32

Dry, Wide Land

2006-03-06__17-18-53

Grampians National Park

A beautiful park... and if you want to know more about it or see more than just my ten photos, you might start by looking into Wikipedia.
2006-03-06__17-28-17

After the Fire

According to Parks Victoria approximately 130.000 hectares of land have been burned in the January fire, just two months ago, including 47% of this national park.
2006-03-07__09-11-12

Walking Track

2006-03-07__10-23-38

On Top

2006-03-07__10-33-49

Triumph

2006-03-07__11-29-10

Rock Wall

This reminded me of Kings Canyon.
2006-03-07__14-45-44

Dirt Road

2006-03-07__15-42-15

Regrowth

2006-03-07__15-51-43

Grass Trees

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2006-03-07__16-48-14

2006-03-08__08-59-15

Emu Defense

Jon shows me how to behave if an Emu attacked me.
2006-03-08__09-15-09

Two Emus

This is in the Tower Hill State Game Reserve, 15 kms north-west of Warrnambool, where we had spend the night at a friend's place.
2006-03-08__09-17-37

Climbing Koala

2006-03-08__09-58-07

Feeding Koala

2006-03-08__09-58-25

Koala in the Wild

This was such a great day for wildlife spotting: several Emus and two Koalas, both awake, moving, and on low enough trees for good photos.
2006-03-08__11-44-17

A Secluded Beach

Somewhere near Warrnambool, just off the Great Ocean Road.
2006-03-08__11-49-51

Jon Enjoys a Swim

2006-03-08__12-11-16

Beach Walk

2006-03-08__17-07-26

The Queen’s Baton

The baton (a kind of olympic torch) is carried from Buckingham Palace to the Commonwealth Games' opening ceremony.
2006-03-09__09-35-03

Radical Spirit

The young students with the Eureka Flags are somehow (accidentally) supporting the protesters against the Queen‘s Baton on the ‘sacred ground’ of the Eureka Rebellion. Today's protesters repeated the uprising miners' oath:
“We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.”
2006-03-09__09-41-23

Defacing the Flag

Against the “Union Jack”, the symbol of dependence from Great Britain, in the Australian Flag.
2006-03-10__12-42-09

“Radical” Students

2006-03-12__08-20-39

Dawn in Adelaide

On my way to WA I took the train via Adelaide, so I have been there for the third time.
2006-03-12__12-02-55

Glenelg

2006-03-12__17-46-50

The Ghan

This is the “legendary Ghan”, the recently (in 2004) reestablished train from Adelaide to Darwin. ‘Ghan’ is short for ‘Afghan’ and refers to the main means of transport to central Australia before the advent of the train.
2006-03-13__11-14-30

Ghost Town

According to the information I read on the train Cook once had a population of 120, a school, and a hospital... not much of which is left today, where the official population is 2.
2006-03-13__11-20-32

Indian Pacific

The train I took from Adelaide to Perth, the Indian Pacific. In Cook there is a crossing loop, so that trains can pass each other. The fright train here in the photo was 1.5 km long, according to the announcement made in our train.
2006-03-14__11-31-54

Luxury Travelling

An old car from the “Gold Kangaroo Service” (first class) had been made available for daytime usage by “Red Kangaroo” travellers. I enjoyed the sun because unfortunately Australians tend to over-use air conditioning and it was quite chilly in the train.
2006-03-15__10-06-31

Perth

There are some fantastic, clean bike paths around the Swan River.
2006-03-15__14-47-35

Indian Ocean

2006-03-15__15-19-56

School Ruin

2006-03-15__17-06-40

Kings Park

2006-03-15__17-23-27

Rush Hour

I'm watching the traffic from the quiet of Kings Park.
2006-03-16__19-37-11

Pre-Ride Camping

I would have liked to spend more time in Victoria, but because the train just ran twice a week I had to come to WA a few days before the beginning of the ride, which at least turned out do be some rather pleasant and relaxed days.
2006-03-17__08-53-08

Albany

“City of Albany welcomes Great Western Australian Bike Ride”

For places like Albany, with a population of 30,000, and even more so for smaller towns, the arrival of about 2000 cyclists was a major event.

2006-03-17__09-20-46

Atatürk Monument

“Peace at home,
peace in the world.”
2006-03-17__13-17-27

A Lizard

2006-03-18__09-32-24

Whaling Museum

Scary, for a vegetarian Greenpeace supporter, to visit Whale World, where they talk about whales being ‘taken’ and tanks holding ‘the equivalent of so-and-so-many whales’...
2006-03-18__11-05-47

Whale Skeleton

This blue whale allegedly just beached itself. Only Humpback and Sperm Whales were killed by the men from Albany.
2006-03-18__12-15-25

Bad Publicity

How about a swim in the Salmon Holes? Or maybe spend a day at Misery Beach?
2006-03-18__13-25-42

Historical Ship

2006-03-19__08-40-46

Mail Eater

2006-03-20__11-53-37

Tree Top Walk

The highlight of the 73 km trip from Denmark to Walpole, the Tree Top Walk.
2006-03-20__12-01-24

Peak at 40 Metres

2006-03-20__16-22-55

Late Summer Afternoon

2006-03-20__17-23-11

Birds

A seagull and some rosellas (?).
2006-03-21__09-33-14

Trek of Cyclists

2006-03-22__13-22-56

Rain in Manjimup

The ride's first rest day was in Manjimup.
2006-03-23__12-52-43

Campground with Puddle

I don't think I have experienced anything like this before, in Australia: three overcast days in a row, with constantly wet ground.
2006-03-23__12-53-10

Gimme Shelter

2006-03-23__14-24-25

One Teacher School

Manjimup has a nice open air museum on logging and on the lives of the early settlers in WA. The following information was given on this school:
This is an original Group Settlement School from Banksiadale near Serpentine which opened in 1920 and closed in 1963.
Schools such as this catered for children aged 5 to 12 years. Children walked or rode to school on horseback.
As well as educating children the teacher was responsible for cleaning, maintenance and emptying the toilets. They usually boarded with a farm family.
2006-03-25__12-21-13

Entry to Augusta

2006-03-25__15-54-29

Water Truck

2006-03-26__09-20-13

Forest Scene

2006-03-26__10-35-52

A Winery

This estate has been built around 2001, in an old Dutch/ South African style. An impressive “lunch spot”.
2006-03-27__09-59-57

Margaret River

In Margaret River we had two more rest days.
2006-03-27__10-23-55

Surfing Competition

Elsewhere on the web you find (or found) more, and better photos of the Margaret River Pro 2006.
2006-03-27__10-54-44

Surfer’s Car

2006-03-27__13-16-00

Modified Free Bike

Everyone who signed up early for this event got a “free bike”... not a very good bike, as one had to expect, so that many riders chose to change the seat and/ or the handle bar. I brought my handle bar all the way from home and bought a new (still not very good) saddle in Melbourne.
2006-03-28__13-51-57

Bird Park

2006-03-28__14-55-08

Mammoth Cave

This cave got its name because of its size, no mammoth ever lived in Australia, only giant wombats and the like.
2006-03-29__11-42-11

A Tiny Frog

2006-03-29__15-03-09

An Oasis of Beer

This was my longest ride day, although it was just 66 km from Margaret River to Busselton. How could that be? Because I had joined a group of Aussies, mainly from Brisbane (Queensland), and we stopped at about every winery on the route. At (this) brewery too. The beer was expensive but good.
2006-03-31__06-32-22

Our Police Escort

2006-03-31__14-56-12

Aaarrgghh!

No, I really don't like off-road 4WDs (‘Toorak tractors’) on my road...
2006-03-31__15-54-35

The Longest Ride

This is after the 108 km ride on day 13, from Bunbury to Pinjarra.
2006-03-31__18-20-12

Sleep Easy Tents

Some riders paid an extra fee to have tents provided. In the back we see some of the numerous shower and toilet trucks.
2006-04-01__13-36-39

Back to Perth

2006-04-02__11-22-45

Löwenzahn

This looks like a dent-de-lion (French for Lion’s tooth, Löwenzahn in German)... a plant that is certainly more popular in Germany than in Australia and additionally famous through a 25 year old tv series for children that started in 1979 (according to Wikipedia).
2006-04-02__11-40-26

Perth Skyline

2006-04-02__12-55-04

2006-04-02__12-55-04

2006-04-02__14-21-58

Old Car

2006-04-03__12-18-21

Dubai Airport

My return flight was Perth - Dubai, Dubai - Düsseldorf, and it only took from late Sunday evening till Monday noon, thanks to the time difference.
2006-04-03__12-18-33

A Turbine

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