Spent a nice (but awfully quiet) day in Fremantle. Guess I can blame it on the weather and it being during the week, not as much people as I expected. Oh well.
Started off in the maritime museum - where I found an exhibition with thanks to the Rotterdam, Den Haag and some other dutch places, because they were lending stuff which was on display...travel across the whole freakin globe, and you still see the same stuff...nah, just kidding. It was well worth it, especially the remainders of the Batavia (Dutch VOC ship). Had lunch at Little Creatures Brewery, that was good beer! I at least had the decency to go to the museum first, the old folks on the train went straight to the beer. Guess they've had their fair share of history already.
Toured the jail - impressive, strange, haunting and beautiful all at once. The size of it, the feeling you get while you're in there, the gallows and the paintings in there...walked around the rest of town for a bit, reckon I should go there with good weather during a weekend - sounds more promising. Oh right, get this; on the way back I saw two old men looking into a XXX-shop, having a really serious discussion by the looks of it, and I hear one saying to the other - it runs on three AAA batteries...
Enjoyed the sunset on the way back in the train, all the other people were staring at me because I got up and took a picture of it...guess they didn't realize what they were missing/neglecting
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Walkabout WA - 12/18 Sept
So after having seen some more of Perth, getting to know the city, botanical gardens, a nice day out cycling along the beach and looking where I want to go after Perth it was already time for the next road trip.
We started of on Max's birthday, getting chili/chocolate cake! Then a whole day of driving to end up at Hyden Rock, with it's famous Wave Rock. Next morning walked around the Wave Rock, and Mulka's Cave (old Aboriginal cave paintings) and then on to Southern Cross for the next night' stop.
Driving to Kalgoorlie after that, visited one of the pumping-stations that transports water from the coast (Perth) over almost 500km's to get water to Kalgoorlie...
then again, they do have a huge dig-out there, where they mine gold, called the Super Pit. Quite mind-blowing, and by the time it's done it'll be half a kilometer deep. Mining machines with fuel-tanks of 12000 odd liters, with a max speed of 2.5km/h. Spent the end of the afternoon watching the Wallabies (Australians) at the World Cup Rugby - way better then watching soccer in my honest opinion...
The drive back - just like the pipeline, almost 500 km's, but this time we went west across the Great Eastern Highway, which does speed up your trip a little. After having good weather up until now, the sky literally burst open, heavy rain and big gusts of wind. At least it explains where all the flowers get their water from.
We started of on Max's birthday, getting chili/chocolate cake! Then a whole day of driving to end up at Hyden Rock, with it's famous Wave Rock. Next morning walked around the Wave Rock, and Mulka's Cave (old Aboriginal cave paintings) and then on to Southern Cross for the next night' stop.
Driving to Kalgoorlie after that, visited one of the pumping-stations that transports water from the coast (Perth) over almost 500km's to get water to Kalgoorlie...
then again, they do have a huge dig-out there, where they mine gold, called the Super Pit. Quite mind-blowing, and by the time it's done it'll be half a kilometer deep. Mining machines with fuel-tanks of 12000 odd liters, with a max speed of 2.5km/h. Spent the end of the afternoon watching the Wallabies (Australians) at the World Cup Rugby - way better then watching soccer in my honest opinion...
The drive back - just like the pipeline, almost 500 km's, but this time we went west across the Great Eastern Highway, which does speed up your trip a little. After having good weather up until now, the sky literally burst open, heavy rain and big gusts of wind. At least it explains where all the flowers get their water from.
Promenading through Perth - 07/11 Sept
Right, so I have arrived in Perth. Took a shuttle into the city, stopped in front of a big office building and met Max. Dorrit and Max are family of mine living in Perth, and they were so kind to take me in for a while during my stay in the west of Australia. Turns out they had some weekend trips planned for the upcoming two weeks, so I had the luck of joining them :)
Fixed an Aussie phone number, and walked along the beach the next day, took the wrong bus heading back, so I got picked up. Next day was time to explore the city! Started with the Art Gallery and Museum, both really interesting - preferred the art gallery though :P Then did the 'Lonely Planet-walk' along all sorts of sight, including some nice brick-building and some pretty neat architecture from the 60's and of course the bell tower. Then on to Kings Park for a view of the city from the top of the hill, and that evening actually left on my first trip into the Outback!!
Two day trip via Toodyay, Dowerin and Wyalkatchem, lots of wildflowers to see all around, not just red sand, but fields of yellow, pink and white flowers. Amazing!
Visited Wongan Hills and New Norcia as well, and headed back via Yanchep Park, taking a peek at the local koalas and kangaroos. (Kangaroos taste good btw...)
<- Nice picture eh!? they built the friggin thing in the 1960s! How's that for architecture. And I love the way the shading makes a whole new pattern on the window itself...all sorts of blue...
Oh, and before I forget - click any of the pictures to go to the corresponding album - there's more pictures in most - Singapore & Seoul are in the same group, due to my mess-up but the rest should be sorted :)
Fixed an Aussie phone number, and walked along the beach the next day, took the wrong bus heading back, so I got picked up. Next day was time to explore the city! Started with the Art Gallery and Museum, both really interesting - preferred the art gallery though :P Then did the 'Lonely Planet-walk' along all sorts of sight, including some nice brick-building and some pretty neat architecture from the 60's and of course the bell tower. Then on to Kings Park for a view of the city from the top of the hill, and that evening actually left on my first trip into the Outback!!
Two day trip via Toodyay, Dowerin and Wyalkatchem, lots of wildflowers to see all around, not just red sand, but fields of yellow, pink and white flowers. Amazing!
Visited Wongan Hills and New Norcia as well, and headed back via Yanchep Park, taking a peek at the local koalas and kangaroos. (Kangaroos taste good btw...)
<- Nice picture eh!? they built the friggin thing in the 1960s! How's that for architecture. And I love the way the shading makes a whole new pattern on the window itself...all sorts of blue...
Oh, and before I forget - click any of the pictures to go to the corresponding album - there's more pictures in most - Singapore & Seoul are in the same group, due to my mess-up but the rest should be sorted :)
Sightseeing in Singapore - 03/07 Sept
Alright, arrived at Singapore safely!
Saw this airport once, coming back from Indonesia to Holland, was still exactly the same as in my memories. Fun :)
Oh well, got in line to get a cab, because apparently there's about a 100 people trying to get a cab in the middle of the night from the airport into Singapore city center...I got the address I was supposed to go from Jess, but the taxi-driver didn't seem to speak too much English, so I ended up in the parking garage, exactly as predicted. Good luck finding the entrance - thanks cabguy!! Warm welcome by Sean and Jessica and then off to bed, seeing as it was in the middle of the night and I was still trying to neglect jet-lag :)
The following days were all well spent with a flurry of activities, starting off with a bushwalk through the Singaporian rainforest (no mosquitoes, and in the middle of the city) including monkey-attacks, giant lizards, swaying bridges and a dinner on the side of the river with Chinese lanterns all around. And that's just ONE day...
Spent the next day discovering Chinatown with Jess, and the day after exploring Little India (both suburbs), gotta love the diversity they have around here, all sorts of temples and religions, even art-deco buildings, and monkeys, monkeys :)
On to botanical gardens, the Merlion (the national symbol of Singapore) and a Dali-exhibit in a crashed UFO (well it sure looks like one...) When it was dark up to the 41st floor to take some pictures of the skyline, and then off to bed, as the taxi would be waiting on me at 4:15 the following morning - which it wasn't so I called a new one. Was in time for my flight though :)
Saw this airport once, coming back from Indonesia to Holland, was still exactly the same as in my memories. Fun :)
Oh well, got in line to get a cab, because apparently there's about a 100 people trying to get a cab in the middle of the night from the airport into Singapore city center...I got the address I was supposed to go from Jess, but the taxi-driver didn't seem to speak too much English, so I ended up in the parking garage, exactly as predicted. Good luck finding the entrance - thanks cabguy!! Warm welcome by Sean and Jessica and then off to bed, seeing as it was in the middle of the night and I was still trying to neglect jet-lag :)
The following days were all well spent with a flurry of activities, starting off with a bushwalk through the Singaporian rainforest (no mosquitoes, and in the middle of the city) including monkey-attacks, giant lizards, swaying bridges and a dinner on the side of the river with Chinese lanterns all around. And that's just ONE day...
Spent the next day discovering Chinatown with Jess, and the day after exploring Little India (both suburbs), gotta love the diversity they have around here, all sorts of temples and religions, even art-deco buildings, and monkeys, monkeys :)
On to botanical gardens, the Merlion (the national symbol of Singapore) and a Dali-exhibit in a crashed UFO (well it sure looks like one...) When it was dark up to the 41st floor to take some pictures of the skyline, and then off to bed, as the taxi would be waiting on me at 4:15 the following morning - which it wasn't so I called a new one. Was in time for my flight though :)
Seoul's got soul...and lots of people - 02 SEPT
So I'll start of with a bit of backtracking...
I left Amsterdam for my leg of the trip heading out to Seoul, South-Korea. I spent a day there, but didn't feel like hanging around the airport terminal for 12 hours. Luckily there are a lot of 'one-day-transfers' in Seoul, so they have one day tours prepared for ya! How convenient!
Had a nice little tour group with which I visited the biggest Buddhist temple in Seoul, one of the palaces, a nice market street with all sorts of stuff for sale, had lunch in a small restaurant, typical South Korean meal (don't hear me complaining, yum) and a newly designed 'river' which ran through the center of the city. Strange to see there's pretty much only highrises here, but then again, this one city needs to hold more people than the whole of the Netherlands...go figure...
back on the airport I crashed (hadn't really slept much, was trying to prevent a jet-lag) and when I woke up I could walk into the next plane taking me to Singapore!
I left Amsterdam for my leg of the trip heading out to Seoul, South-Korea. I spent a day there, but didn't feel like hanging around the airport terminal for 12 hours. Luckily there are a lot of 'one-day-transfers' in Seoul, so they have one day tours prepared for ya! How convenient!
Had a nice little tour group with which I visited the biggest Buddhist temple in Seoul, one of the palaces, a nice market street with all sorts of stuff for sale, had lunch in a small restaurant, typical South Korean meal (don't hear me complaining, yum) and a newly designed 'river' which ran through the center of the city. Strange to see there's pretty much only highrises here, but then again, this one city needs to hold more people than the whole of the Netherlands...go figure...
back on the airport I crashed (hadn't really slept much, was trying to prevent a jet-lag) and when I woke up I could walk into the next plane taking me to Singapore!
Right...
So this will be the spot for people to catch up with my adventure while I'm abroad. I'll put it in English though, seeing as that's what I'm speaking most of the time while I'm writing this. Due to the fact that my camera-battery is out, I'll have to wait with the posts with pictures, but this will at least give a set-up for what's about to come! (I've got some catching up to do - but it's raining, so that'll be ok) Enjoy
Oh, in the meantime - you might as well check out my website with 'work' on it.
Me, Designing
Cheers!
Oh, in the meantime - you might as well check out my website with 'work' on it.
Me, Designing
Cheers!
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