Land Down Under

The south-Pacific routes of Captain James Cook's voyages and my journey. The Cook's first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, third voyage in blue. My journey is shown in yellow.

 

Australia, labeled as The Land Down Under, is an Oceania continent situated between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. History claims that in 1770, the continent was discovered by a British lad, James Cook on his first voyage across Pacific Ocean. Cook, being superior in surveying and cartographic skills, courageous in exploring dangerous locations to confirm the facts and excellent in leading men in adverse conditions had earned himself a title of World's Greatest Explorer.

Spinning the globe made of glass on my table, I searched for the little continent I wished to explore one day. That day came few months later. Early morning of 16th April 2004, together with two other friends, I boarded a Singapore Airlines air-bus from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Brisbane. The journey wasn't so fun should I need to describe it. Bad weather had caused some turbulence to the air-craft making the trip a bumpy ride. We had to endure the not-so-relaxing journey for almost 10 hours (stopped for a transit at Changi Airport, Singapore).

We reached Brisbane at half-past 8.00pm Australia Time (2 hours ahead of Malaysia Time). Since the South-east part of Australia was experiencing after-winter at that time, the temperature touched 18 deg Celcius. For a person who had never been to cold climate countries before, I felt this coldness an exciting new experience. Despite that joyful feeling, I pulled my jacket more tightly around my shivering body. As we were not able to find a cheap lodge or motel, we were left with no other choice but to stay overnight at Hilton Hotel.

Waking up the next day, we checked out from the hotel and searched for a shop where we could rent a campervan. Managed to get one, we drove our way down to Surfer's Paradise and Disney World, Gold Coast. 

As another day was dawning, we continued our journey to Sydney. The breathtaking views of the majestic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge would forever perpetuated in my mind. We stood there by the harbour watching the sun set and disappear behind the glorious building where great entertainers around the world performed.

The day went by so fast and our next plan for the next day was to head further southwards to Canberra. We made few stops along the way; Bondi Beach and Blue Mountain where the Three Sisters, Grand Stairway and Echo Point were. Renowned as Diplomatic City of Australia, Canberra boasted many well-maintained old administration buldings. At 2000hrs the city was already 'dead' and quite. Feeling a little bored of the surrounding, we felt we should continue our journey straight to Melbourne.

At 0200hrs, awaiting us in Melbourne was a friend of ours (who happened to work and reside there) who later took us to his apartment for a good rest. The long hour journey had made us feel lethargic and soon, we were fast asleep. We woke up to the sound of bird chipping by the window pane. The clock on the desk showed it was time for lunch. After refreshing ourselves with halal Indonesian food at a Muslim restaurant across the road, we took a walk along Chapel Street and visited the Zoo of Melbourne. It was a great feeling to be able to play with the kangaroos, koalas and peacocks. Wombats and dingoes were also among the animals featured in the zoo. Finding a spot at St. Kilda, we basked in the splendour of its beautiful beach and inhaled the freshly brewed coffee from a cafe nearby. At night, after having a light dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, we checked out some 'places' where they sold kinky stuff and where the naked ladies danced.

From Melbourne to Adelaide, we moved along the Great Ocean Road, the most spectacular and breath-taking coastline of south-west Victoria. As we traveled, we passed by few fascinating areas including the famous Twelve Apostles, the Otways R ainforest and the Great Ocean Road itself. We also stopped for photoshots at some resort towns like the Apollo Bay and Lorne, the coastal cities of Geelong and Warrnambool and the historic villages of Queenscliff, Port Campbell and Portland, before reaching the town of Adelaide at 1900hrs. 

Adelaide, built on the Torrens River and entirely surrounded by parklands, is perhaps most well known for its fine dining, wine (such as the Barossa Valley), festivals, theatres and boutique shopping. Scrutinizing the surrounding, I found that the city possesed a strong sense of history as it was portrayed in its well preserved 'low rise' heritage buildings, churches and Edwardian mansions. The city of Adelaide was named in 1836 after the wife of King William IV, Adelaide, Princess of Saxe-Meiningen. We searched every corner of the city for a cheap motel to stay in. We finally found one and settled for the night.

It was the tenth day of our trip, our last day day in the Land of Oz and we all started to miss the tasty Malaysian food, the Malaysia's warm weather and the familiar faces of the country's mix-nations; the Malays, Chinese and Indians. I couldn't wait to board the plane and meet all my friends and family in Malaysia to tell them what a tremendously good time I had while in Australia. We departed at 1400hrs, leaving our Melbourne friend and sweet memories behind.