Across the Great Southern Land

Over the past week and a half, Callie and I have been traveling across the Southern expanse of Australia- from Perth to Adelaide to Melbourne and back to Sydney. We left last Monday bound for Perth, which interestingly is closer to Singapore that it is to Sydney.  As Australia's most remote capital, Perth sits on the Swan River and is growing rapidly thanks to the mining windfall in Western Australia. We didn't have long to spend in the city, however, as we were leaving on Wednesday morning, but we did manage to see most of the sights. We visited the Perth Mint on Monday afternoon, which is a unique exhibit of Australia's gold history. We walked through King's Park on Tuesday morning, which is an incredibly large urban park and botanical gardens that displays the rich biodiversity of Western Australia. And we took the ferry down the river to Fremantle on Tuesday afternoon, which is a small port city on the Indian Ocean. Fremantle also has a particularly notorious prison that we toured before returning for an early dinner.  The next morning we were off for the Indian Pacific Railroad and the trip to Adelaide.

It strikes me as an incredible feat that a railroad could be built 1,656 miles across the most inhospitable stretch of earth I have ever seen. But that is exactly what happened. The Indian Pacific Railroad, which runs from Perth to Adelaide and eventually on to Sydney, crosses some of the desolate terrain on the planet- from the Wheat Belt on the outskirts of Perth to the unbroken nothingness of the Nullabor Plains to the Red Hills north of Adelaide. It crosses through towns like Kalgoorlie and Maralinga and Cook (with a population of 4 permanent residents), and while we were glad to see the station in Adelaide, the journey was quite spectacular. We met some incredibly interesting people- from a U.S. Coastguard officer on leave from the Persian Gulf to a lawyer from Adelaide to the quintessential Aussie bloke who helps manage sheep and cattle stations in Western Australia. We saw kangaroos and dingos and wedge tailed eagles; the food was good and we were able to savor the journey itself as the environment changed gradually and fluidly from one landscape to another. As mentioned above, we were glad to "detrain" once we arrived in Adelaide, but the trip was very enjoyable given that we probably would have never had the chance to experience such an incredible environment without the Indian Pacific.

 

Once we arrived in Adelaide, we wasted no time in leaving again- this time bound for the Barossa Valley.  The Barossa is Australia's premier wine region and is located about an hour north of Adelaide.  We spent the day on a winery tour learning about wine making and production, and it was interesting to discover the reason the Barossa such an exceptional wine region is that the parasite that normally destroys the roots of grape vines doesn't live in Australia. As a result, the Barossa (known for its Shiraz) has grape vines that are over 150 years old. We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast and on Saturday morning, we visited the Barossa Farmers Market. All the vendors are also the producers at the market so the food was exquisitely fresh and flavorful, but what made the morning memorable was the fact that Callie had the chance to meet and talk with Maggie Beer. Maggie is an Australian food icon who lives in the Barossa and is responsible for really starting the locally grown movement in Australia. We spoke to her briefly at the market and then ran into her again at her farm shop, which showcases some of her recipes and cookbooks. After browsing enviously, we made our way out of the Barossa back towards Adelaide through the Eden Valley (another wine region famous for its Riesling) along a beautiful scenic highway. We stopped at the world's largest rocking horse and toy factory; we had lunch at a beer house in Lobenthal; we went by the Melba Chocolate Factory, and we stopped at a quaint German town called Hahndorf. It was a pleasant and enjoyable drive back, and we returned to Adelaide in time for dinner and an early evening.

Adelaide (a little larger than metropolitan Birmingham) is known as the "City of Churches," which is an appropriate characterization given that it has over twenty churches in the city center. It has lots of green space, a gentle river, some nice looking buildings but not much else. Honestly, Adelaide is not one of those cities you would normally visit when traveling in Australia, but it would be a great city in which to live. We spent most of our time exploring the abundant shops and restaurants, and we were pleased to find out that the Tour Down Under would begin in Adelaide while we were visiting. For those of you who follow cycling, the Tour Down Under is Australia's equivalent to the Tour de France without any of the pomp or reputation. However, it has received significant coverage this year because it is the site of Lance Armstrong's professional comeback. So, we went to watch as Lance rode in a cancer foundation sprint on the eve before the Tour Down Under began. Having never been to a cycling event, I'm not sure we knew what to expect, but it was quite exciting to see some of the world's best riders right in front of you. Again, there wasn't a lot to do in Adelaide, so we were glad to see that Lance was in town.

From Adelaide it was off to Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, for the Australian Open which began on Monday morning. We had tickets on Rod Laver Arena for the Monday through Thursday day sessions, which means we had the chance to sit court-side to watch some of the world's best tennis players. We saw Andy Roddick, Jelena Jankovic, Novak Djokovic twice, Roger Federer twice, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, James Blake, the Bryan Brothers, Lleyton Hewitt and Ferando Gonzalez. It was exceptional tennis, but it was incredibly hot and so we spent many of the days sweltering in the sun. Nonetheless, it was a great occasion and we were lucky because we had the chance to see most of Melbourne while we were there. Melbourne is a little smaller than Sydney, but it is the self-proclaimed cultural capital of Australia. It is distinctive architecturally, it has the world's oldest zoo, it has the world's largest tram network, it has great restaurants, two beautiful cathedrals and lots of urban gardens and parks. Additionally, it is home to the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail), which was the last residence of notorious outlaw Ned Kelly.  Kelly is one of Australia's folk heros, but we felt that his iconic reputation might be undeserving given his penchant for robbing banks, taking hostages, killing police officers, etc. In sum, Kelly was born a criminal, especially considering that both of his parents also spent time in prison (Interestingly, Kelly was reunited with his mother in the jail in Melbourne). In addition to seeing the prison, we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, Cook's Cottage, and we walked past the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, which is arguably one of the most famous cricket venues in the world. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Melbourne, but when Friday morning arrived, we were eager to return to Sydney in order to restore a sense of personal normalcy. We had a great trip and we had a chance to see parts of Australia that many Australians probably never had seen, but it was nice to return so that we could stop living out of our suitcases. Plus, it's Australia Day tomorrow and we wouldn't want to miss the celebration in Sydney.