Perth, NCYC, and South Australia.

So now that I have uploaded a stupid number of photographs, (300 in total), I suppose I should give a little bit of a commentary on what the holiday was actually like.
Chris and I left on the 27th of December. Dad drove us to the airport so that we wouldn't miss our flight. We arrived about an hour before lift off, and proceeded to use the electronic check-in process. There was only one double seat left, luckily it was near the window, so we grabbed that one.
When the plane arrived, I noticed that it was a Boeing 737. When we had booked the tickets, we were supposed to have an Airbus, but I guess they must have booked too many people to fit on the airbus or something. The plane flight over took about three and a half hours, and they showed a movie to pass the time. Little Miss Sunshine was the movie, I was not particularly impressed, but I guess it's better than no movie. They also served us food. I was surprised at the amount of food we got for such a short flight. Not only did we get given dinner, but loads of drinks, and an ice cream to follow! I was very impressed. (That was Qantas if anyone is interested.)
Upon arrival at Perth airport, we had to wait what seemed like forever for our bags to be processed. In comparison to the baggage handlers in Melbourne, Perth was about 4 times longer. I should have taken this as a sign that all of Perth was going to be slow. We went to a place for dinner in Northbridge with Chris and Steve. It was a really nice place, the food there was awesome, though by this stage I had eaten so much that I was not able to finish what I had ordered.
Following dinner, we hit Kings Park, which is a giant parkland area just to one side of the CBD. (Sort of like the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, but with more native plants, and bigger no doubt.) The main street in the park overlooks the city, and is lit up at night time. (I think I put a photo of it up) Each tree that lines the streets of Kings Park represents a Western Australian that has fought for Australia at some stage or another.
The next day, we went 'shopping'. It was more like just an excuse to explore the CBD. Basically, there are three main streets in Perth, and they are all connected by large shopping plazas. One of the streets seemed to be the business end of town, because it was home to more banks than shops, but other than that one street, most of the CBD was low-rise shopping centers. Surprisingly, with all this retail space in the city, it is still difficult to buy anything, because the shops all close at 5, and late night shopping is only on a Thursday night. This was most frustrating, especially when you come from a culture where nobody bats an eyelid at popping down to the supermarket or Kmart at 4 in the morning. (Not that I do that very often, but it's nice to have the option.)
One particularly cool part of the CBD is a shopping strip called "London Court". It's just like a shopping strip out of europe, with loads of quaint little shops, and foot traffic filling the narrow street. Somehow I think it was a bit of a tourist thing, because most of the stores sold giftware or chocolates or some other such thing.
Perth has a "tram" which is really just a glorified bus. It takes tourists around the streets of the CBD (which all seem to be one way streets) and return them near the river. Just alongside where the "trams" depart from is a bell tower, which was the baby of one of the recent Premiers. (I guess a bit like Jeff and Fed Square?) The bell tower looked pretty cool, but was a poor attempt at making a new focal point for the city. It's just not big enough. Apparently, the bells contained within the tower were flown from St Mary's cathedral in London, where they used to be chimed to signal important events or breaking news. (Is that like the BeepBeep of a mobile phone these days?)
During the day, Kings Park looks a lot different, I was surprised at how green everything was! I think it's because they water it using bore water from underground. (Apparently the WA government is not concerned about a receding water table.) We re-visited the strip where we had been the night before, and also found some new parts of the park. There was a giant lookout tower, shaped like 2 spiral staircases winding around each other. It was called DNA tower. The tower itself was more interesting to see than the view from the top. The tower was placed too far away from everything for you to take any particularly spectacular photos. It had a dial at the top that showed how far it is to different places in the world, which is fairly standard. Melbourne sure seemed a long way away from that tower!
Another cool part of the park was the children's area. They had a cool island set up as an educational thing. you were supposed to learn stuff about the wetlands environment and rain forests and stuff, but I think the kids probably just had fun playing under the simulated rain forest trees, which would spray a mist of water on them every so often.
Also in the children's play area, was a giant dinosaur model which was designed to climb on. Of course, being the big kid that I am, I insisted that I have a go on this dinosaur... There's a couple pictures of me on the dinosaur.
We collected our hire car, a Mitsubitishi 380, and headed off for some adventuring. The first thing I was determined to see was Margret River. We stopped at a couple of places along the way, including Bussleton, home of the longest pier in the world. The pier is 2km long, and houses a underwater observatory at the end. Chris and I didn't find out about the best thing to see there until after we had gone through that town! So we didn't get to see the pier, but we did stop for a walk along the shopping strip.
Upon arriving at the first Margret River winery, I got very excited. I had never been wine tasting before. It didn't take long to get into it though, and I quite enjoyed the relaxed, arty sort of atmosphere that the wineries had. Some of the wineries had attached restaurants, one of witch we ate at.
Following the wine tasting, we headed off towards Augusta, our resting place for the evening. Along the way, we discovered that the area was filled with caves, so Chris and I decided to stop and take a bit of a sticky beak.
What we found inside the cave was amazing, the walls and roof was formed from calcium deposits over millions of years, and it was pitch black inside. One of the interesting things was that there was some rare amobea living in the pond at the end of the cave, so they kept pumping water into the pond so it would not die out over the drought! Inside the cave was very damp and cool.
The next highlight along the way was visiting the lighthouse near Augusta. It marks the point where the Southern and the Indian oceans meet. I made a point of going to see it, because now I can say that I have seen both borders of the Southern Ocean! It's very exciting.
Near the lighthouse, all the land is parkland, so most of the non-tourist roads are unmade. Chris decided he wanted to try out our hire car "off road" (which you really are not supposed to do) so we went for a drive, and found some magnificent views.
Driving onwards, towards Walpole, we passed a town called Pemberton. It reminded me somewhat of Gembrook, because they had a tourist railway and were surrounded by Karri forests. Karri is a very tall, thin tree. Almost like mountain ash, but maybe a bit thicker and sturdier. A couple of the trees in the forest have been made into viewing platforms in the canopy, which you can climb up onto through a very makeshift sort of ladder system. The tree we climbed was 80m tall, but Chris and I decided it was only safe to go up half way. (So we climbed up about 40m into the air).
We pushed onto Walpole, in an attempt to get to see the "tree top walk" before 5pm. We made it there around 4.30, and I was pleased to see that there were still plenty of people walking around the skywalk. The tree top walk is a series of bridges that are all joined together in a loop, designed so that everyone (even wheelchairs) can see the beautiful Tinkle Gum trees. These trees were massive! The highest part of the walk was about 45m in the air I think.
Driving on, we planned to stop for dinner at Albany. We passed through a tiny town called Denmark, which was somewhat hotter and smaller than the "Denmark" Tegan keeps going on about... =)
Albany was a beautiful spot. I wish we could have spent more time there. It's the first spot settled by the westerners, before Perth was started. They have a big replica of the first ship there on display. They also have a pretty cool jail, which used glass shards on-top of the walls instead of barbed wire. It seemed to have been built a little later than the Jail we saw in Fremantle.
The next day was spent in Fremantle, we visited a shipwreck museum and WA's first jail. The shipwreck museum was fascinating. They had one of the oldest shipwrecks found in Australia on display, and the skeleton of Australia's oldest murderer! As all museums do, they also had a load of boring trollip too.
That evening, we went to "The Court", which is the local Perth pub, to celebrate new year's eve. The party was really going well, and midnight came, everyone seemed to be having a great time.... then at 2am they kicked everyone out of the pub!! Apparently on New Years the WA government doesn't give out extended liquor licenses. That sucked a little. We headed home and got a good night's sleep. Nothing was open on New Year's Day, so there was no point in getting up early.
New Year's Day was spent in the park. We swam in the Swan River, and I managed to turn my white boardies slightly brown. I did a little canoing, but quickly lost interest. Chris cooked a mean BBQ, and we ate like kings.
The next day was the last day before NCYC began. Chris and I decided to make good use of the hire car, and drove up north through the Swan Valley wine making area, to Geraldton. I was most shocked to discover that there was absolutely no mobile phone reception from the time we left Perth to the time we arrived in Geraldton. That's about a 4 hour drive!!!
When we reached Geralton, we went to the beach, paddled around a bit, then went to see the famous monument that is in Geralton. The monument was erected to honor a ship that was full of sailors that disappeared mysteriously. It was a little spooky, knowing that whatever happened to this ship was totally unknown.
Geralton is about the most windy place I have ever been. (They do have a wind farm there). There are even trees that grow completely bent over because of the wind. It's quite amazing really. After returning from Geralton, we quickly packed our bags, and got ready for NCYC, which was beginning the next day.
NCYC, the Uniting Church's National Christian Youth Convention, was held at various boarding schools around Perth. The main campus for activities was Scotch College, which is where Chris and I stayed, so we might have a rather skewed perspective about the event.
There were about 700 delegates at NCYC and just as many adult helpers or youth chaplains. The group was split into communities, which basically meant which campus you goto at night to sleep, and which group of people you would have morning worship with.
My community was based at Scotch college, as I mentioned earlier, and was named "Tutu" community. We were the biggest (and best) community out of all of them. All the communities were named after significant people in Christian life. Being in Tutu community, we had to have a mascot named "Des." Des was a toy gorilla, who managed to get around quite a bit over the course of the week, and became quite well known among my fellow delegates.
Some of my highlights from NCYC were silly little activities, like a photo scavenger hunt, and trying to piece a banana back together after cutting it into a million pieces. Each night, we woulf have a 'Rally', which was basically a huge worship service with guest speakers, dancing, singing and on one occasion, holy communion. I found the speakers inspiring, particularly one Aboriginal woman who spoke about her experience through her childhood during the stolen generation fiasco.
I was in disbelief of the way that the Australian people treated our fellow humans. I guess we can only learn from the past, and look at what we are going to do in the future. I was quite inspired to make a stand for what we are letting Mr Howard get away with now, considering our policy with asylum seekers.
Another speaker who I found inspiring was Tim Costello, head of world vision and brother of the Australian treasurer. He had some particularly insightful words about why parts of the Christian movement just are not standing up for justice, as God intended. He is really passionate about make poverty history and the Michah challenge. I think, after hearing his passionate words, that I could make a difference in the world. (And I want to too.)
Following the nightly rallies, there was a time for activities, called 'Night Life'. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. There were movies to watch, bands to listen to, a mocktail bar for some of the more social creatures, and a craft room for those who needed to express themselves. There were also a bunch of inflatable activities which were lots of fun too, but I didn't get a chance to go on them. The mocktail bar was my favorite night life activity, and was a good spot to meet people you didn't bump into during the day.
One of the more challenging parts of the NCYC experience was the 'mission immersion' activity which was designed to challenge and inspire you while exploring the work of the church in the wider community. The Uniting Church chooses to run most of it's community works through service providers such as Uniting Care, and Wesley Mission. My challenge for the immersion activity was to go door knocking on behalf of Uniting Care to gage need and interest within the community regarding a local community center. There were lots of doors that closed the instant that we mentioned the word "church" which disheartened me. However, there were a couple young families who had been living in the area for a number of weeks, who felt isolated from the community, and liked the idea of a community center.
Chris had a birthday over the course of NCYC, with a cake and everything! He turned **I think I would be dead if I wrote it here, so you better ask me**, and we all sang happy birthday in our Tutu community. =)
Memorable moments were everywhere I looked! One day, we visited a local church community, exploring the new and different ways that they explore faith and come together for God. The particular church I went to was held in a tent! It was one of the best experiences of my whole trip. I loved the fact that every member of this church came along and didn't care what building God saw them in. I really felt a spirit of community at that church, (Billabong Community Church), because many of the families had younger kids, and were attracted through their kids's love of the place. They even had sheep wandering around in the church, and a canoe in the billabong out the back for the kids to play with after the service. What really warmed my heart is that there were 3 generations of one family attending this church, and they all got something out of it, Grandma, Mum and Child.
NCYC was a great experience, I think I really want to help out in some way with the planning for NCYC 2009, because it's being hosted by our synod (Vic/Tas).
The bonding didn't stop with the last day of NCYC, because a group of about 60 of us were participating in a "plus two days" activity which Al and Di had organized. So, picture this, 60 people with luggage, trying to cram onto a train (which is only little in Perth, about 2 carriages) to travel from one side of the city to the other! It was such a funny sight. Great laughs. Our group stayed at the YMCA, on the outskirts of the Perth CBD. It was a really good place, and we managed to book out a bunch of floors in the building!
The first day of "plus two" was experiencing Fremantle. Chris and I re-visited the original jail, which is known as the round house. We also re-visited the museum, and got to see come more interesting artifacts. We returned to Di and Al for lunch, which was some cool Nacho-wrap thingy, before setting off to the beach. Then we swam and played in the waves for the rest of the day, until it started raining. We then all went to the local church hall, and played some more games, and had some quiet reflection time.
The second day of the "plus two" activity was educational again, visiting the Perth mint, and then having a really cool photo scavenger hunt around the city. I have to hand it to Di and Al, they know how to plan some fun activities. =)
Dinner and an improvised worship was great fun in Kings Park, and I got some warm fuzzy feelings when I saw some of the public taking an interest in what we were all about. Unfortunately, this was our last worship together, and we had to go our separate ways. Chris and I were staying on in Perth, while the rest of the group was off to Melbourne.
Our last couple of days in Perth were really special, we visited Rottnest Island, and went snorkeling over the reef that is just off the island. Our transport around the island was by bike, which sounds like a good idea, but Chris reckons that they were really dodgy bikes that we hired. We rode from one side of the island to the far tip, passing many deserted beaches and lots of beautiful scenery. I got very sunburned that day, but it was worth it. Quokkas live on Rottnest Island, so we got a chance to see them, they look like a rat crossed with a kangaroo.
My favorite part about Rottnest was when Chris and I went snorkeling on the reef. I had never been snorkeling before, so it was a great feeling to be so close to all the fish and sea creatures, even if the water was REALLY COLD!!
We also spent some quiet time over the last days in Perth, exploring the city and getting ready to leave on the bus tour from Perth to Adelaide.
The bus tour left early on Sunday morning. The first stop on our trip was the historic township of York on the Avon river. The town was the first inland settled town, and was a shipping center, sending mined goods further down the river to the bigger coastal city of Perth. We took some time to look around York, and discovered the river was more like a stream now, due to the drought, and that the hotel was abandoned after the owner tried to burn it down and claim insurance! It was a cosy little town, and a good spot to stop on our road trip.
The next stop was the rabbit proof fence. The fence was designed to prevent rabbits from invading the fertile land that was being used for farming wheat, one of Australia's biggest wheat belts. The fence only had mixed results, and the rabbits ended up coming onto the other side and eating some of the farmland, but nowhere near the number that could have gotten through had it not been for the fence being built.
Sunday night we went to see Wave Rock. This rock was originally made famous by an American photographer who won the New York photography competition with a photo of this granite formation. On top of the rock, there is a water catchment area and a dam, which supplies water to the township.
The next day was full of challenges. The first challenge we faced was in the morning, the tyre on the trailer with all our gear in it lost it's tread. Luckily our tour guide, Ash, could change it quickly and we were soon on our way again. We were heading towards Esperence, but because a cyclone had come by about a week earlier, our route was blocked. The detour was only an extra 70km, which is nothing in the Australian scrub land. The detour took us on unmade roads, which were not kept very well. The back of the trailer fell ajar, and my pillow, KL's rucksack and a sleeping bag fell out the back! We found the rucksack, but had no luck with the pillow and the sleeping bag. I guess that's my donation to the Australian landscape.
That evening, we visited a beautiful spot called "Cape LeGrand". It has some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, and like Rottnest Island, most of them were deserted!
The next day we climbed Frenchman's peak, a rocky outcrop that looks like a French sailor's hat. I thought it looked more like a mound with a rabbit jumping over it. The top was really windy, but the view was stunning. Once we got to the top, the sun decided to show up, but it was still a bit nippy.
We went on a hike along the coastline, and saw lots of cool birds and coastal plants. The beach looked stunning from several vantage points throughout the walk, and I took far too many photos.
That night we camped at a bush camp near the start of the longest and straightest road I have ever seen. It felt like when they were planning the road, someone just ruled a line on the map! The bush camping was a lot more fun than I had imagined it would be, and I loved the really clear night sky you could see from this remote part of Australia.
The 90 mile straight was on our travel path for the next day. We stopped along the way to check out the caves that surround the Nullabor region. Unfortunately, we were not able to go swimming in the caves as we had hoped because the safest cave fell down last year. It was still neat to hear about the cave system that is still a mystery to most explorers and could hold some of Australia's most rare and prehistoric creatures.
On some of these remote and straight parts of the road, they have airstrips for the flying doctor's service, complete with the piano keys and everything! I think it's fairly rare that they are used though.
Our next stop was Eucla. It's pretty much the dead center of nowhere. They are the closest town to the border of Western Australia and South Australia. The town used to be Western Australia's communication link to the rest of the world, because they hosted a large telegraph station, however due to the shifting sand dunes, and erosion caused by rabbits, the town got buried under the sand. The ruins of the telegraph station are still visible, and I have included a couple photos of it. The coolest part about Eucla would have to be the friends we made there. In particular the barman, Craig. **Hi Craig** We had lots of fun that night, and ended up having photos taken on the whale (which has a sign next to is saying "do not climb on the whale") LOL. It was most amusing.
The next part of our journey was stopping at the SA border village, which is a glorified fuel station and a customs checkpoint to make sure you aren't infecting the country with fruit flies.
The next day, we stopped to view the Bunda Cliffs. These cliffs are about 100 meters tall, and are very fragile. The Nullabor runs right to the edge of the cliffs, and this is one of the most stunning sections of coastline in Australia. This is a favorite spot for whale watching in the right season.
We traveled on to a small town called Fowler's Bay, stopping to have a look at the Dingo fence. Once stopping that night at Fowlers Bay, we went sand boarding. Fowlers Bay is one of those towns which is going to become victim of the sand dunes over the next 50 years.
We went swimming with the seals and dolphins at Baird Bay. Chris and I bought an underwater disposable camera, and we took some photos, but we haven't gotten the photos developed as yet.
We stopped at Murphey's Haystacks, which is another granite formation, said to look like haystacks on a property that was owned by a guy named Murphy. Wow, Australians are so imaginative with naming places. That night, we stayed at a farm, and managed to see comet McNaught in the night sky.
The next day, we learned to surf. and made our way slowly closer to Adelaide. We stopped at some little towns that are not really mentionable, and camped in another spot that was incredibly windy. (I can't remember the name of the town though) I think by this stage of the trip I was pretty tired and spent nearly an entire day sleeping in the bus.
Upon arriving in Adelaide, we all went out to dinner at the local Thai restaurant. The rest of our stay in Adelaide was fairly uneventful. The highlights were: going to visit Sravan, watching Em and Ash's play, visiting Glenelg on the tram, visiting the national wine center in the botanic gardens and the local design university.
Then we headed home on the plane, flying with virgin blue, watching the beautiful sunset. Chris's Dad gave us a lift home from the airport, after we forgot where the car was parked in the airport carpark!
All up, it was a fantastic trip, and I can highly recommend that you go out and see Australia! =)