#Blue Mountains Australia Tour

[andersonvacation]

Blue Mountains Australia Tour – Explore Nature’s Beauty 🌿⛰️

Discover the breathtaking Blue Mountains! See the iconic Three Sisters, enjoy panoramic views from Echo Point, explore lush rainforests, visit cascading waterfalls, and spot native wildlife like kangaroos and koalas. Experience scenic hiking trails and charming mountain villages for an unforgettable adventure.

📞 Contact us for bookings!

Website: www.andersonvacation.com Email: bookings@andersonvacations.ca Phone: +1–866–347–6881 Address: 303–1117 1st SW, Calgary, Alberta T2R 0T9

[techdriveplay]

This Was Voted the Best Beer in the Country (Twice) and You've Probably Never Heard of It

The last two years though there’s been a new beer on the block that has taken the top spot and they really have come out of ‘nowhere’.

Every year since 2008 thousands of Aussies lodge their vote as to what their favourite beer of the year is. This vote is then whittled down to a top 100 list, famously known as the GABS (Greatest Australasian Beer SpecTAPular) Hottest 100 Craft Beers. GABS is also known for throwing its annual craft beer festival around the country. Where the country’s best beer brewers showcase their finest…

[hellothisisangle]

You came to Australia???? I hope you enjoyed your time here! Love ur art btw 💚💚💚 Cae is very pretty💚💚💚💚

Yeah (in September) it was amazing! I planned so many things, as I often do with trips, and we got to everything without being too exhausted 😅

1 week in Cairns:

Daintree and croc tour, diving at the GBF (first time, but diving was fucking incredible and we’re legitimately looking into diving other cool places now), Kuranda, Granite Gorge, drove all the way around lake Tinaroo and saw the cathedral fig tree, Tablelands, the waterfall circuit through farmland, Paronella park, Babinda boulders. This is also where we tried roo and croc meat for the first time which was super interesting

Lake Tinaroo

Granite Gorge

And 1 week in Sydney

Visited the botanical gardens and art museums, stopped at a few breweries, Taronga zoo, Reptile park, Sydney aquarium, Luna Park, Katoomba & Blue Mountains (the highlight of this week really), Bondi beach, walked around the shopping district and city sights, saw an orchestra at the opera house (which crazy coincidence, but George miller was having a dinner next to us at Bennelong), did the Sydney bridge climb, and tried a few recommended food places like Nomad (my favorite), the tower, and Quay

I’d love to go back and potentially visit Melbourne and Tasmania next time!

[mirrorofliterature]

the temptation to rewrite the australian total drama world tour episode is strong

add alenoah for flavour (keep the aleheather rivalry and alecourtney friendship, they're cool)

MAKE IT FUCKING GEOGRAPHICALLY ACCURATE -

From the wiki: 'Chris states that Hanging Rock is in the Blue Mountains of Australia, but Hanging Rock is located in the Australian state of Victoria, while the Blue Mountains are in New South Wales, near Sydney.'

And Hanging Rock doesn't look like that, neither does the Blue Mountains!

So I would do this by:

Making London a reward challenge w/ Team Chris winning (as they truly deserve) so Noah is safe. Team Chris gains Duncan as there 'reward'. The Gwuncan kiss doesn't happen because I don't like it.

Team Chris wins in Greece as Noah volunteers and crushes the boar challenge (canonically good with animals). Team Amazon votes off Sierra because she made them lose - Courtney is annoyed at her for beating her up, Cody always votes for her, and Heather also votes for her.

In X-Files, Team Chris still lose and Tyler gets medically evacuated (RIP) (he's alive but ouch).

Then I would keep the challenge (but remove the emu riding part because you do not fuck with emus like that or ride them - we lost a war to them), but make it so that each team is split into two, tossed somewhere in Melbourne and has to find their way via public transport to Hanging Rock.

The teams:

Gwen and Courtney

Heather and Cody

Alejandro and Noah (for maximum drama), and

Owen and Duncan

Shenanigans ensue.

[wildflowerteas]

The best choice I ever made <3

So, in case you were wondering where I was... I was in Sydney, Aus for my first semester of junior year! More pictures below of my time there, but to summarize, I: got to take the morning ferry to my bio class at Taronga Zoo, in between lecture and tute I'd hit up the Art Gallery of NSW ( picture 4 ), saw Phil Burton from Human Nature at the Sydney Opera house, I turned 20!!, became known at my local coffee shop as "niko, who draws" ( pictures of my sketches, coffee, and the free cheesecake they'd give me below ),

I discovered that my film music professor was the composer for one of my favorite short films, I got to visit the Blue Mountains, Melbourne, Cairns ( where an old man gave me and my friend a tour of his house and let us ride his horses then recommended we go with him to an Italian restaurant on the water ), snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef, went on a road trip up the Gold Coast, pet a kangaroo, got bit by an emu, and watched so many movies at my local theatre that they knew me by name.

<33 I miss Australia so much u guyss

[adventureswithteddy]

Every time your posts show up in my timeline I get a little happier. It means a lot to me :) I don't know who's running this account but it's very obvious that you're well travelled and knowledgeable of the countries of the world. (And have a great love for Teddy!!) So to whoever is running this account, thank you for sharing your travels with us, through Teddy. (⁠≧⁠(⁠ｴ⁠)⁠≦⁠ ⁠)

I'm going Australia NSW this March, and if you've got any recommendations for exploration, I'd love to hear about your adventures!!

:D Thank you!! You telling me of your joy means a lot to me.. Just little ole Teddy's photographer here, while some days I think it could be nice to have someone helping out I don't think I could relinquish the reigns. Just trying to see what I can while I'm here and keep an open mind to new adventures! :) I really enjoy so many aspects of sharing Teddy's adventures. I get a little photo diary of where I've been and Teddy does a great job of tying it all together. I do have a love for Teddy and am quite protective of the little guy. He needs some support you know? I'm so happy that you're enjoying supporting Teddy and really appreciate you taking the time to tell me.

Ooo how exciting! That's tough! It's a big area!! Will you have a vehicle? Where will you be going? I think I tagged all the photos I took in NSW with either #NSW or #Australia so I would definitely recommend searching those on my page for some photographic inspiration.

If you're going through Sydney a neat way to see the opera house is to take the ferry across the bay -- there is a line that shoots straight across and takes you right past the opera house. It's only a few dollars so I think it's a lot cheaper than the bay tours you can get.

Royal National Park is gorgeous, depending if you like to hike there are some great coastal walks you can do there.

Rock climbing and hiking in the Blue Mountains is beautiful.

Obviously you need to get some meat pies. So many cafes and otherwise will sell a huge variety and just yum.

Teddy and I lived over in Australia for about a year and a half and were planning to be there longer but Covid threw a major wrench into those plans (got laid off, living out of a van, foreign country and no way to have a stock up of food while all the grocery stores were emptying out... it had some scary aspects to it). But living there that long there was time for us to explore the area in more depth. I'm not sure how much you have available in this trip so that could help narrow the recommendations.

Feel free to shoot me a message and I'll try to go into more depth on anything you want more information on :)

[louisupdates]

UK superstar hands local band its biggest gig yet

By Cassidy Pearce - January 31, 2024, 14:15

After taking over venues everywhere from Katoomba to Canberra, local band Club Halifax is about to hit their biggest stage yet, opening for internationally renowned singer-songwriter Louis Tomlinson at Qudos Bank Arena.

Club Halifax initially came together in 2021, when existing bandmates Bree Greasley, Cameron Browning and Cameron Hopcroft joined forces with new members Robert Jinks and Ethan Karpathy to create a brand new sound.

Over the last few years, the group has performed all over New South Wales and interstate whilst working collaboratively to write and release two singles, with Karpathy admitting that Glenmore Park local Hopcroft, whose home they record at, is always the “secret ingredient” in their music.

“I like a lot of heavier music, a lot of the other guys like a lot of the folkier stuff, so you blend that all together, and then our sprinkle on top is always Hop – whenever Hop brings his lead lines on, that’s when it goes from a song, to a Club Halifax song,” he said.

Everything changed for the band last year when a targeted advertisement came up on Karpathy’s Instagram looking for a local act to support the former One Direction member at his Sydney show on Friday, February 2.

Despite saying he ignored the advertisement at first, thinking the band had no chance at the spot, Karpathy ended up applying the next day with a short blurb and video of them playing at the Blue Mountains Theatre.

You can only imagine their shock upon opening an email from Tomlinson’s team just a few weeks ago naming Club Halifax as the official opener.

“[Browning] and I yessed it before we got everyone else saying ‘yes’ – we just knew it had to be done,” Karpathy said.

Club Halifax is one of three Australian bands opening for Tomlinson over the span of his tour, with The Velvet Club performing in Melbourne, and Safety Hazard in Brisbane – each local to their respective shows.

According to Greasley, artists like Tomlinson providing opportunities like these for smaller bands is an integral part of the industry locally, showcasing that there’s no shortage of musical talent in Australia.

“I think it’s awesome, because all of these smaller bands are getting so much momentum out of it, and hopefully opportunities out of it as well,” she said.

With the countdown now officially on, the band said they’re all dealing with mixed emotions, struggling to focus on day-to-day life without being reminded of the gig.

“I think we’re all feeling terrified, but excited,” Hopcroft said.

Ultimately, however, Jinks noted that they can’t wait to soak it all up, especially given they’ll be surrounded by loved ones who have bought tickets to support them.

“For a western Sydney band, this is a huge opportunity. I don’t think any of us saw this coming, and definitely not this quick. It’s the dream, but it doesn’t happen often,” Jinks said.

“I’m pretty excited that we’re going to have all of our friends and family in the audience. I think that’s going to be the only comforting thing in the whole gig – looking out and seeing mum. But also, brushing shoulders with pop royalty Louis Tomlinson is super exciting.”

As for what’s next for Club Halifax, Browning assured that there’s plenty more in the pipeline for 2024.

“There’s at least one EP, potentially two, in the works, and then other stuff beyond that, like merch and more gigs,” Browning said.

[mariki33]

PART 1

Nordmark pod translation Swe-Eng

First third of the interview. I have left out Per Nordmarks moments of reminiscens..

-Please excuse things lost in translation and lack of knowledge in the English language🙈

Enjoy, fellow Ghostie's 🖤👻

N: Tobias Forge. Welcome to the Nordmark pod.

T: Thank's for having me.

N: How's it going?

T: Fine,fine.. It's fucking boring to speak of the weather and such,, but shit! What a great weather we have?

N: Do you get the blues during the winter season?

T;, Ee mm.. Like this.. Like all kids i had, at least some, restless feet and thought it was relatively fun to be outdoors. But at kindergarten and such i was often the one left last. Single mom, had to work you know. Eem, so i liked to be on my own, last, and indoors. I could sit there and have all the Lego for myself and i could sit there with the tape recorder with a bunch of kasettes i brought. And i. I like to be indoors in the nature. If i go to the mountains i like to watch the outside from the indoors. Snowcovered slopes..Being out on the country side, being close to nature but not in it. I'm not an outdoors person. But! I am a very season effected person and so. But when i started going on your, for real. And when i, for the first time, had a shock from when in January going to Australia. Then you noticed like,, my back pain is gone all of a sudden. My body doesn't hurt. What's going on? And because of me going back and forth to Los Angeles during the year i notice, purely physical, that smaller leaps (season wise) feels better. One last thing about weather.. I can say the upside of living north of a certain latitude is that it will take a lot for Sweden to "stop" because of the weather. And i don't know, maybe you didn't go to school at that time. Out,, I'm an -81,,

N: Yeah you're a bit younger than me.

T : Most people remember 1995, when it was one day when baisicly all of Sweden was covered in snow. And it was stated, -Today you don't have to go to school.

N: School for you,,was it a catharsis for you?

T: He he, as in a had a revelation of not wanting to be there? Well yeah. I guess i felt it was pretty boring. As, I found myself socially in a twilight zone, because i was an outsider, like by choice. I had friends, plus i was like… I come from Linköping. Its a small town, or smaller town at least. And when you start in first grade and onwards, and you don't move around, you end up knowing everyone who was around from the start. Like so. And there.. One can say i had wind in my sails in that sense that i knew the "right" people, and people who…But most of the people i knew and was around were of the same age, or one year older. They were,, almost none of them were interested in music, listening to music maybe, but not playing. And then I ended up sort of outside. Plus i wasn't just interested in music, but extreme music that nobody liked and my interests became very specific and i had a laser focus on it. Early on. And that lead me to slipping further and further apart. And at the same time becoming tiered of school and turning teenager. With all that comes with that. And um, eeh, i was pretty messy, both outsider and maybe not that nice to everyone.. It was a messy time.

N: Is the boy playing alone still in there?

T: Aah ey, i,,,I think i create myself a lot of time alone when on tour. I don't know, i'm pretty much in between all the time. But i really need to walk away to charge the batteries. And i have to, ehh,,i go nuts if i don't get to be alone. So basically i make sure of it. If its only to walk the other direction, walk around and return. Just to have some.. But, well, as a grown up i have power over my life and have made sure to get an amount of space. Em, And need to, Emm.. As a, it sounds boring but i'm kind of the boss over a bunch of people, like that, Ee, Now, of course i have hired someone else to be tour leader, to boss over others. So i don't have to be the executive, telling people.

N: But in the end you're the narrative..

T: Yes, and that means to carry a social responsibility to some degree. Like, i can't behave like everybody else does. And I can't.. When were on tour we are like 40 ppl or so. And of course you're not best friends with everybody. And many of them are there because they are very good at what they DO. While if you sat down to talk you find out you don't agree politically and aren't remotely alike. So its kind of easy to, -you go your way and i go mine. I got my stuff over here, and then participate sometimes. It suits me pretty well,.. Oum,, When i'm at home… I've got two kids, wife,, so, So of course it's not… Of course i can just go for a walk, and i do. But you don't have the same possibilities to be solo. To just stay awake all night and just watching.. If i have a day off, like on tour, if i have a day off i can spend the whole day and night in a hotel room just watching You Tube.

…..

…T: It's a plus to come to a city you know..

….

T: But i like Stuttgart. There are some great record shops.

N: Are you a big record collector ?

T: Aaa,ah, I am, but the collecting, or the record store visiting frequency has become less because, Ehh, partly from a knowledge of what it is. So when i come to cities i know where i want to go. In the beginning i went all ower. I could take a cab to go to all the record stores in the city. A whole day. Even if it was a gig in the evening. I was totally exhausted when the evening came. But today i've taken that into consideration. Damn, if i'm in Stuttgart, we're playing in the evening. I can't be out sightseeing. In that case i can make an estimation the day before and say - tomorrow i want to go to a place and make arrangements for that.

N: You do pretty long shows..

T: Nah, ah, well, Yes.. One hour forty five minutes, somthing like that.

N: How does it work those days when you don't feel like it. Are there such days?

T: Well sometimes of course you can be physically and mentally tired, Eem, We had, when we just started this tour cycle now, a little bit over a year ago. We did a,, At first we did a US tour that lasted six weeks or so. Six weeks is pretty normal, i have to say. It's not like shit, it's pretty normal and the amount shows you have to do to cover enough land, and economical aspects aswell. Ja,oo,, if you do shorter tours it tends to be crew quitting. Because they want lasting jobs, and short breaks but no breaks preferable. So one must think holistic what's most efficient for all, so people don't end up quitting. Its a pretty advanced show. We can't, it's disturbing if we have new people in the crew -if they're not awesome that is. It's always like -Shit! we have a new guitar tech. And stuff happens and you hear it goes wrong, and it's the wrong guitar and wrong tune. Ehm, but we did the US tour January, February, March. Pretty dark then. And it was exact in time for covid to be seen as "passed". Concerts was allowed. As far as that it was a go. But rules varied between the states. Almost equal to if it was red or blue. Red state -All is fine,, and blue, it was EH! From a touring perspective my reactions was almost like opposite my political standards. It was pretty tough coming to a city and everything is forbidden, you can't do anything. You're only allowed to leave the bus and walk into that air lock and everybody are supposed to be tested. To me this became so troublesome because now we've decided to do this tour and, -Damn ! It's 7000 people coming.. -And they're NOT! supposed to be tested. You know,, AAAHH!! But in the end we had a deal amongst us, and Volbeat was on the tour too, -We will not test everybody, everyday. As was the plan at first. Because what happened was, we just ended up sending people home, it was such a mess. People getting scared of being fired, hiding they were sick, -you know..such a mess. So we said, well, lets make this tour work now. But we stayed in "bubbles", like many did When you've been in a bubble and not been outside in three weeks,, and to the advantage if our success we're playing in hockey arenas. -Hockey arenas. You know? -it's not many windows, and like, it's somewhat like a being in a cellar, -like this almost. Storage rooms, boiler rooms, long corridors, tile, kitchen, industrial kitchen..Then, you really had to make an effort to just keep up some level of serotonin. So, i walk, everyday, 10.000 steps before the gig. Just to get..I have to walk. And when on tour the easiest way to do that is around the arena. So i was standing by the entrance in a lobby, in front of these huge windows, just standing there to just, i don't know, get some d-vitamin. I felt like i have no reason to be sad but i don't feel happy. I feel tiered and want to sleep, can't take no more ..

…To be continued

Translation by Ulrika Linderoth from the Ghost Sweden Facebook group

[mancer-in-the-abbey]

Hello I have not had nearly the time I’d have liked to be writing for Ghost but I was talking about the Ghouls in Australia since that’s where the tour is ending and we came to the conclusion that Mountain and Rain are both the ones that know everything about the wildlife there but have very different responses to it

Mountain, holding a baby crocodile, the mother for some reason minding her business in the background: Swiss! Take a look at this little guy! Isn’t he just the cutest? 😃

Swiss, standing a good ten feet away and backing up quickly: Mountain I love you more than the sky itself but I’m begging you please-

Meanwhile

Aurora, holding what’s clearly a blue-ringed octopus in her bare hands: Hey Rain! Look what I found!

Rain, running at her full-speed: PUT THAT DOWN RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO SATAN-

My point being

Mountain Vs. Rain

[edge-oftheworld]

thinking about the way when i interact with fellow aussies on here I see so much disappointment about how they didn't come here on their last tour. how sydney 5sos fans are a different brand of human i'm not really sure how to describe (we all freaked out when we went to the same concert lauren was at for example). thinking about how the australian leg of take my hand tour felt like it was almost its own thing, sandwiched between the gap after the bulk of the tour before it and that short gap before they announced the most recent tour after it--almost as if it was meant to bridge both of those tours. how they played in newcastle and on the gold coast and it wasn't quite cairns or coffs but it was a bit more than your state capitals headline tour. how, with the exception of the big four, we often don't realise how small our cities are on a global scale. there are only 27 million of us on this desert island.

thinking about how they wrote easy for you to say and had to perform it on tour six months before its actual release, it was so important to this setlist, to the vibe, and how it's about nostalgia and missing sydney and they finished the tour in sydney and it makes me wonder, i can kind of guess when the song means the same thing to me, how much it hurts to be able to perform here and yet not be able to stay for longer than a holiday. and yet they do do that for us, put on shows about as regularly as any other artist does. even if they didn't play splendour in the grass. or falls festival. even if it's been four years since fire fight australia, it was only months ago sierra was promoting beyond blue as a charity to donate to. friends of friends did some fundraiser for a youth centre in blacktown: maybe I have to look to see it, but I can see the impact they've left.

and then I see how happy they all seem to look when they've gotten a chance to hang out in australia. ashton covering songs in the heat. calum obviously having a blast. luke dropping sydney pics that were assumedly from before it got really hot, looking carefree, a familiar skyline and familiar urban graffiti. the way when michael arrived in perth for the first time after lockdown he simply had to tell us all right away. and i've always kind of seen them coming back here for good? heck, joel madden even assumed right on his podcast some of them might have already. the way ashton doesn't have a dog in the states, and how i've always seen him with an aussie. the way luke integrates seamlessly into the life and culture of the inner west area; and calum carries blue mountains vibes with him wherever he goes, as michael does with the sydney pop punk scene. we know brandy and sierra at least love australia--i was actually fangirling about sierra in their comments with the veronicas just the other day (bless them for deciding my comment was something that needed to replying to). while crystal does have a massive group of usamerican friends and family I can see her enjoying the vegan places in melbourne and brisbane (they're coming to sydney too. the inner west and parts of the north side are almost there) and maybe being a little more hopeful about politics. I can also see it being a really healthy place to raise lua.

maybe it's the hopefulness of an urban designer who sees the impact of art and culture and having people around who create for a living on our cities, but maybe I see myself in 20 years bringing my kids to see them play and being able to tell the story of a series of songs (red desert, efyts, whatever is next in the theme in the works for 5sos6 as well as the solo stuff like a lot of wfttwtaf and boy) and how they figured out what we all have to, how to find and create a place that's home to you--because it's actually a pretty likely event. and i love seeing the evolution from the 'let's get out' / 'worked every weekend just to get out of town' vibe of self titled and sgfg to now. I really do want them all to feel like they can relax now after so many years of working and depriving themselves of the love that comes from belonging (I do feel like we've heard more about it from luke and ash specifically) and I also get the subtle vibes of where that might happen. and how much it might hurt when they don't get to have that. what did they do for aussies? gave us hope that we could make it, in whatever we want to do and whatever success means for us. maybe it's just me though. for now. maybe i've got the expectations of someone who grew up unable to afford things like concerts mixed with the anticipation for this june. I hope i'm not projecting, but also, the empathy I feel when I see myself in someone is usually spot on.

so idk. one day i'm gonna design some really classy public housing made to unfuck the status quo and i'm gonna raise money to build it and sierra will write a song and say she's doing a donation to this charity in australia doing things about homelessness and the class divide and it's gonna help me fund it. that's just one option of something i can see going down that's not completely unrealistic if very very optimistic but it's how i live my life. but i'll go to a 5sos concert eventually. i'll play their songs i've arranged with an orchestra one day too and we'll do it impressively, noticeably. i don't really know what else i'm supposed to expect? I know my experience is worlds away from many people's. but these guys inspire me to create and I don't really need anything else to do that.

[charlesandmartine]

Saturday 21st December 2024

Fraser Island/ K'gari

The alarm clock agitated at 6.15 and we were instantly awake for today's adventure. We had to present ourselves at the tourist information place in Urangan to be herded by bus to River Heads port to catch the early morning ferry to K'gari, the K being silent, leaving gari pronounced Gaary. (Fraser Island is a lot easier to articulate) Due to little research on my part, I was surprised at how large an island this was. In length, it is 123 km, 15 km wide, 22 km at its widest part; 1840 square kilometers in all. We were informed it was different from any island we are likely to have visited before because K'gari is made entirely of sand. Because of this, we were half expecting to pull alongside a giant sandcastle with a couple of paper flags at each end! Our tour guide put us right on this fallacy. I prefer, he said, to think of K'gari as a sand bank, not an island. If you imagine the last ice age, when sea levels were much lower, K'gari would merely have been a great big pile of sand attached to the rest of Australia, and the continental shelf would also be visible. The notion of how the sand was built up in the first place was put forward. It all began a long way away to the south of us here, in the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney. The wind blew, eroding and separating tiny particles of sand, depositing them into creeks, carried by rivers into the Pacific, where the longshore drift carried these sand particles north of Brisbane, forming this chain of islands. Today, K'gari is seen as the largest sand island in the world.

Now, some important advice from information gleaned from our last excursion experience that included a paid for lunch. 4 rules that you break at your peril and put you at risk of going hungry. 1. Assess the competition and position yourself at the front of the queue. There will be plenty of food. 2. Carry out a size assessment of the fellow eaters. Be sure to be in front of the people who appear to be the most familiar with large portions of food. Ergo, there will be more food available. 3. Take high value items; New Zealand green mussels, fish fillet (any sort), large lumps of chicken. (forget the legs), 4. Follow these rules, and you will be well placed for seconds.

Our tour firstly took us to McKensie Lake, which was indeed a curiosity because it was one of three lakes sat in pure sand! Afterall, sand doesn't usually hold water! This was an opportunity to lay on the sand by the lake before setting off for a boardwalk through rainforest. Between the years 1886 and 1991, loggers worked these forests on the island for their timbers: Hoop Pine, Kauri Pine, Turpentine, Blood Wood were some. This was big business, shipping timbers across to the mainland and processing them in Maryborough, yes of Mary Poppins fame. One large logging company was Mckensie and Sons, which dominated operations, even building railways to move these huge logs across difficult terrain. Then, in 1991, the federal government put a stop to the whole thing. They wanted UNESCO status as a world heritage site, and the price for this was to stop the logging. In 1992, UNESCO agreed and K'gari was granted what it wanted.

The east side of the island remarkably has approximately 80 km of flat tidal beach that our bus could drive along! Today, we probably covered 20 km of it, but often at speed. Our destination was the wreck of the SS Maheno, a steam packet that used to ply these waters and across to New Zealand in the early 20th century. 1935 came, and it was no longer cost-effective to run a steam ship, and our vessel was sold for scrap to a Japanese company who came and collected her. Deciding to tow her to the scrap yard rather than sail under power, both ships got into difficulties in a cyclone, resulting in the Maheno drifting and running ashore in the sand, where her hulk remains to this day. Now, a protected shipwreck, she will always be there rusting away. Great photography, though. We made our way back along the sands passing Coffee Rocks; ancient deposits of tree formations which break down leaving a coffeestain in the water, seeing the coloured sand cliffs and then to Eli Creek, a bit of a magnet for kids to play in the fresh waters flowing into the sea. Also, a magnet to the local population of dingoes keenly looking for a crafty meal either left by humans or foraged.

Then, it was back to the ferry and setting sail for Urangan and home. Fully fed, but weighing up whether a fish and chip supper might be required as a top-up. Another great day, tomorrow promises to be somewhat quieter.

We don't really like organised trips; being organised, conforming to a demanding itinerary, shuffling along with a whole load of other people, not being able to spend time on the parts that interest us, and not being able to skip or move on from areas that do not. It was a very long day, but we went places and saw things that we would not otherwise have had access to by our own resources. Therefore, it was well worth it, and the advice given was correct. This island, although by topography, was not remarkable, it was instead quite amazing and unique.

ps. We did stop off in Hervey Bay to get snapper and chips, but it was the third fish and chip we had tried before finding one that was open on a Saturday night beyond 7pm! What is the matter with these people? The one we did find open managed to stay open till eight! The rest of the Esplanade, the main entertainment area, was in darkness by then!

pps. We passed the Botanical Gardens at about 7pm, and we were somewhat surprised at the crowds queuing to get in. Then we remembered the Christmas lights display. And then we recalled it was nearly Christmas! A fact that to date that had escaped us!

[andersonvacation]

Explore the stunning Blue Mountains in Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its majestic cliffs, lush eucalyptus forests, and cascading waterfalls. 🚞 Enjoy scenic lookouts, ride the Scenic Railway, and marvel at the iconic Three Sisters rock formation.

🌿 Breathtaking landscapes & panoramic views 🚶‍♂️ Hiking trails & adventure activities 🦘 Wildlife spotting & cultural experiences 📷 Perfect for nature lovers & photographers

Book your unforgettable Blue Mountains adventure today! 🌏✨

Contact Us at:

Website: www.andersonvacation.com Email: bookings@andersonvacations.ca Phone: +1–866–347–6881 Address: 303–1117 1st SW, Calgary, Alberta T2R 0T9

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

Question if it's okay, I understand if it's too personal.

Do you operate out of Canada?

DO I SEEM CANDIAN????/srs

HOW ON EARTH DO I GIVE OFF CANDIAN????

I live in the weirdest country man, Australia is weird. I love it here dearly but I wish the air wasn’t actively trying to kill me.

it’s mostly filled with sadness and damp, despite what most common conceptions are.

born and raised in Victoria lol, so fucking wet. And then it gets so fuckkkkkkinggggg hot

Also yes it fucking snows here Australia has a vast array of biomes

I am excited for snowy 2.0 tho, that’s gonna be a metric fuckton of hydroelectric energy in the next 10 odd years

I went to the snowy river hydro learning facility thing it’s surprisingly cool I suggest 10/10

we have rainforests, deserts, tundras kinda, reefs, giant lakes and rivers and shit, huge mountains, and all sorts of really fucking cool geographical anomalies and animals!

I suggest coming here and not going to Sydney and seeing the giant wonderful place here.

I AM NOT PAID BY ANY GOVERNMENT I JUST GENUINELY LOVE IT HERE

why the fuck am I type cast as Canadian or American, like yeah I know a ton about the politics and culture and whatever it just goes to show how easy it is to lie.

I did fake being American for about uh 5-6 years of my life online?

And I picked up a LOT of cultural and social shit, at this point I’m an honorary American purely through nothing other than living on the American internet more than half my life.

I;m not Canadian please learn more about Australia it’s super cool here

[itravelwithmyheart]

Nestled near Sydney, Australia, the Blue Mountains present a captivating natural landscape renowned for its rugged terrain, cascading waterfalls, and vast eucalyptus forests.

https://www.klook.com/en-PH/activity/95647-blue-mountains-day-tour/?aid=43538

𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨 ��𝐨𝐝𝐞 at 𝐊𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 app / website 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐬𝐢𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐭𝐜 🙂

𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 ⬇️ NEW Klook promo code: 𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐇𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐊𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 : https://www.klook.com/coupons/?code=SARAHMAYKLOOK

[umichenginabroad]

New Zealand Part 1 (Week 11)

One of the beautiful things about studying at UNSW is that during week 6 of our studies, we get a flexibility week where the majority of courses don’t hold class and students are given the chance to catch up with schoolwork, get ahead, or do nothing and just relax! My hostel-mates and I knew about this opportunity from the day we got here, so a big trip was always in the works. We even knew that we all wanted to spend the time in New Zealand. The only problem? There’s 18 of us living in the hostel together and we’ve had enough trouble planning trips for just 5 or 6 people, let alone 18. Everyone had a different vision of what a trip to New Zealand could look like between camping, or renting cars and staying in AirBnBs, or living out of campervans. Needless to say, the trip planning was procrastinated all through the 4 weeks of summer and another 4 weeks of term 1. Once in a while someone would say, “Guys, we really have to plan this. Plane tickets are getting expensive!” and they’d be met with more approval and support than a professor who has suggested extending a homework deadline. But, as expected with our group, no action would be taken. Until one person sits down and buys themself a roundtrip flight to New Zealand, nobody is going anywhere. Soon enough, after intense procrastination and discussion, tickets were bought, plans were made, the group of 14 (four couldn’t make it) had divided into two campervans and two cars (who would be staying in AirBnBs), and I was sitting on a plane to Queenstown. 

^^ Landing in Queenstown

Queenstown may not be among New Zealand’s 20 largest cities, but it is renowned for its adventure sports and stunning scenery, earning it the nickname "Adventure Capital of the World," as my friend Elizabeth would say. Our adventures in Queenstown, however, were put on hold until the end of the trip as we had a road trip planned that would take us up north to Christchurch and then back down to the Adventure Capital. So, on our first day there we picked up our car rentals and headed to Fiordland National Park for a quick hike. The greenest plants, mossiest rocks, and most colorful mushrooms riddled the paths and made our short hike one of the most memorable. 

^^ Some New Zealand Flora

I also felt a lot safer hiking in New Zealand compared to Australia. New Zealand has none of the snakes that Australia is infamous for and has an almost negligible amount of dangerous spiders compared to the numbers Australia boasts! With our glow worm cave tour waiting for us in Te Anau, we had to get back on the road quickly. Lucky for us, there are worse places to be driving than one of the most naturally beautiful countries in the world where mountains surround you in every direction and lakes bluer than the sky itself pop up out of the blue (pun intended) every few moments. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the glow worm caves, but imagine yourself sitting on a boat in a pitch black cave with little blue/green specks scattering the ceiling. That was pretty much it! It was interesting to learn about the glow worms themselves – they glow brighter the hungrier they are (to better attract flies) and they’re actually larvae, not worms, so they just need to survive long enough to turn into gnats and reproduce. You may be wondering why I’m sharing so much detail about random worms. Well, as a recent trivia night attendee (two weeks in a row), I see every random fact as a future topic in trivia. You can thank me later.

^^ Just the average roadside view while driving along the west side of the South Island!

Milford Sound was next on the list. Just a two hour drive from Te Anau with the option of a bus service to shuttle you there and back, Milford Sound is a large fiord stretching 9 miles (or, 15 km should I say) to the open sea. Once there, a boat cruise takes you down to the ocean and back while passing waterfalls, dramatic cliffs, and some popular scuba diving destinations. Milford Sound was highly recommended as an activity on our itinerary, and it truly lived up to the hype! From the stops on the bus ride to the scenic cruise, I was in a constant state of awe that I will never forget. The rest of the trip was just as exciting, but I’ll cover it in the next post! Until then, Cheers!

^^ The car gang on our way to Milford Sound

^^ A snippet of Milford Sound

David Bayer

Biomedical Engineering

University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia

[lagroupie]

Interview: DZ Deathrays - R.I.F.F.

DZ Deathrays after a few cocktails in Bern, through my Nikon.

Last month, DZ Deathrays were back in Europe, touring with Pabst. The Australian and German combo had a couple shows in Switzerland, in Aarau and Bern, and I happily attended both of them. After their show at ISC in snowy Bern, I met with DZ Deathrays backstage for an interview.

Join us as we catch up and the guys tell me more about their latest record R.I.F.F. Many thanks to DZ Deathrays for their time and their kindness, and to the team at ISC!

First, I wanted to catch up with you. Last time we talked, everyone was living in a different city in Australia. Is that still the case?

Shane: Yes. Simon is in Brisbane, Luke is in Gold Coast, Lachlan in Sydney and I am in the Blue Mountains, which is Western Sydney.

Wow. I understand now why it took a bit longer to record R.I.F.F.

Shane: Also, during Covid, we weren’t allowed to travel between states in Australia. So we didn’t see each other for months. You know, that was a whole year of our lives that was kind of wasted.

I hope you’re not sick of playing the songs yet.

Simon: No, we didn’t really get to play them for a while.

Shane: We really just started playing them this year, so it’s still fresh. It feels good.

There’s also a new member in DZ Deathrays, Luke! Did you know each other before?

Lachlan: Right, we’ve known each other since before the band.

Luke: I’ve actually been to their album recording sessions, taking photos! I’ve been around the band a long time.

Simon: Luke is always around. ‘Come on man, let me in!’ (laughs)

Shane at ISC in Bern, shot with my Nikon.

I also wanted to know how you met Pabst?

Shane: I actually saw them on Twitter. They tagged us and them together in a tweet. I think I’d seen their name a couple times that week, because they released a live record the same week we released our record R.I.F.F. So I kept seeing those two records together and wondered ‘what is this band?’. In rock music, there’s not that much innovative stuff or things that I love immediately. But I listened to this band and thought ‘wow, I actually really love them’ straight away. I didn’t even know they were German, because they sing and speak in English.

And then, we saw that they were doing these shows and just messaged them asking ‘can we come over and play some shows with you? We want to go to Europe.’ After not being in Europe since 2020, and how things have changed after Covid, it was hard for us to plan anything rock solid. So we thought, ‘why don’t we come over and do some shows with them? It won’t be as stressful to book all the shows and make sure it works’. We had some shows booked for November, but the run wasn’t great – it didn’t look great, it wasn’t the right shows. So we thought it might be cooler if we played with someone else. And they said yes. They’ve been really friendly and looking after us. They’re driving us around and everything.

And I like how your music and theirs match. I’ve only been to two shows on this tour, but all the people I’ve talked to were looking forward to seeing both bands.

Shane: Nice! That was the plan!

Let’s talk about your new record R.I.F.F.! First, the album cover – I see now it’s similar to the tattoo on Shane’s arm!

Shane: Right but it’s not my arm! It’s our guitar tech’s, David Herington. Tall guy, beard, curly hair…

Lachlan: Funny man. (laughs)

Shane: It’s a stick and poke tattoo.

Simon: We got it after our last show in Toronto, in 2019. We had Sadstab – they just do lots of stick and poke tattoos for all sorts of bands – we got them on the bus, got fucked up and got tattoos. It was great!

Shane: It was one of those things we did to remember it’s for fun. When doing shows and having everyone standing at the back of the room, it’s like – ‘what are we here for? We’re here for a good time.’ If you have fun, it makes the show look better. It gets reciprocated back. With the band, we’ve done so many shows and haven’t had many people there or whatever. But we always go out on stage thinking ‘let’s just enjoy ourselves and have a great time’. And they end up becoming good shows. Back on that tour in Canada, there were a few shows that were very bad, but we all had fun at them. And then it made the whole tour really good. At the end of the tour, we decided to get ‘Remember It’s For Fun’ tattoos.

I also wanted to talk about the song King B. I love it and sing along to the lyrics, but I don’t know what it’s about. (laughs)

Shane: It’s about people in the room when we play. When we first had the riff, it was called King B. I didn’t know what else to call it, so we just kept it as the title. It’s actually a B flat!

Where are you guys in the music video?

Luke: It’s in a studio.

Luke: I got to be the crazy doctor in that one. I got to look after Simon (laughs).

Simon: It was like a warehouse.

What can we expect from DZ Deathrays in the future?

Shane: We’ll do a 10 year anniversary for Black Rat. Then we’re going to record more songs.

https://www.instagram.com/dzdeathrays/?hl=en

https://dzdeathrays.com/uk.php