I visited Australia for 3 short weeks in November and December 2002. This is my travelogue.

My flight was delayed. Apparently it was in for maintenance and they were having some difficulty towing it from the hangars to the gate. Once at the gate, it would then need to be cleaned and catered. I was slightly miffed, but not to worried about missing my connection at the other end, since I had about 5 hours of dwell time in Sydney.

My plan, meticulously put together and mostly booked and paid for in advance was this: fly direct to Sydney (arriving Sunday morning) then take the train to Canberra (I was determined to make at least one train journey in Australia). Stay in lovely Canberra (where I am now, in the Barracks Internet Cafe in the beautifully planned 'Civic'), till Wednesday. Take the afternoon train back to Sydney, and stay there till Sunday, for the wedding I was attending. On the Monday morning, I would fly out to Alice Springs, and then the following day take an aboriginal run day tour to see the local clan/tribe whatever, try some bush tucker, take a bush walk, try the didgeridoo (and buy one). The next two days, a 'Red Centre Taster', going to the geological sites and sights in the area - Ayres Rock etc, then on the Friday, flying to Cairns.

On Saturday I start something called 'Raging Cairns' which is a variety of activities over 4 days: white water rafting, ballooning, snorkeling on the barrier reef, visiting the rainforest and a river cruise down the Daintree river. Then I'll have two days to take a trip up the mountains to Kuranda, and another day for a day trip to the Atherton Tablelands.

So, quite busy.

The flight to Bangkok, the re-fuelling spot was un-eventful. I managed to get some sleep, and when we landed it was late afternoon. Although the plane was only there for 45 minutes, it was dark by the time we left (that's the tropics for you, no twilight). I dashed around Bangkok airport because I wanted to post a magazine to my dad in Malaysia. I couldn't find a cash machine anywhere, so I went to one of the numerous branches of the Thai military bank to change $20 AUS into Baht. I got a fist full of Baht, and posted the letter. The postage was several hundred Baht, which I thought was rather a lot just to send the letter down the coast - it was probably more expensive than sending it from England! Perhaps it will get there more quickly though.

I popped into Duty free quickly to see it my remaining few hundred Baht would buy anything, but it seems that everything in Thailand in a few hundred Baht, so I didn't bother and got a bottle of funny tasting mineral water from a Cafe instead. Bangkok Airport was a bit strange, it was nice and modern, but the air conditioning was definitely dodgy in parts, and you could tell where lower quality paint had been used to patch up certain areas.

I was sat in one of the emergency exit seats on the plane, so I had no log room problems, but I was next to some smoker guy, who was a bit smelly. And all he was drinking on the flight was beers; still, it could have been worse. I bought a box of wax earplugs from Heathrow and these helped block out some of the noise from the whooshing air, so I was able to sleep lightly, again (just a few hours after my last sleep!) on the 9-hour leg to Sydney.

Flying over New South Wales, I walked back to the galley and had a look though the door window. It was quite amazing, completely barren ground, yet neatly parceled up in the little squares (not unlike how India looked on the previous leg of the flight). Apparently the barren look that is this season's fashion in NSW is because of the long long drought, lasting several YEARS in some places. I didn't notice any bush fires though. On final descent, the plane flew up the coastline, giving great views of the suburbs, and also a glimpse of the city itself, then out over the water again and another smooth BA landing.

Sydney Airport, very nice. Lovely little beagle sniffer dogs. It took about 15 minutes for my bag to appear, and customs was a breeze. I had to open my wedding present for the customs lady, but I was expecting that, and so had wrapped accordingly for easy-access. My Fortnum and Mason goodies and electronics were passed without complaint. Aside from entering the UK (and Schengen countries) with hand luggage only, I have never moved through immigration and customs faster. No queues at all and I got the customs lady to seal the present with bright yellow Aussie Customs tape - the final touch!

Matt (the groom) and Maddy (the bride) met me outside Customs. Matt had bought my train ticket to Canberra. Once outside I was pleasantly surprised to find the weather rather nice, not too hot, not cold. It was still quite early though (I landed about 0715). They took me to a place called Bronte Beach, which is a little cove/bay area, with a surfing beach, and a meadow running up a hill. Very nice, but I didn't have my camera with me. I was bought a wild berry smoothy, which was nice, and gosh, Australia is a very different country to Britain, yet, from the Soaps and stuff, so much seems familiar. Most of the houses are the sort of bungalows you see in Neighbours or Home and away. The traffic signs all look American, but not quite, the cars, they like them big and with proper boots over here, and the television. I had to watch some, because I had heard it was so dire. The tv adverts, on the station I watched (10) were mostly local, and we don't get local adverts in the UK on TV, but they were dire! And there are some many TV adverts, it is just as bad as America if not worse! The news on Channel 10, I mean, I didn't see the point of it, just going over the headlines, hardly any depth or anything (I gather ABC is much better here). I noted that Sports merited an entire news program of its own!

Anyway, Maddy drove me around Sydney, and I got a pre-viewing of the Harbour Bridge (amazing), the Opera House, (bloody incredible) and the central area, very nice, hilly, clean, skyscrapers.

Time ran out and we headed for the Station, which was indeed opposite the hostel I'll be staying in Wednesday night. On visiting the gents, I noticed a sign on entering, which said, Beware, Blue lighting in used in this Toilet. And indeed it was. On enquiring, this is because you cannot see veins in blue light. (Eyebrows raised). Apparently this is to stop drug users shooting up in there. Gosh, I thought. I was even more surprised to see in the toilets at the National Gallery in Canberra, and also, if I remember correctly, the Parliament House (which despite what is suggested in The Simpson's, is not second-hand from Vienna), little yellow boxes on the wall for safe needle disposal. I suppose this is an enlightened drugs policy, or certainly an 'aware' one.

As we approached the train, Maddy noticed that the train was terminating in Goulburn and we would have to use a rail-replacement coach for the rest of the journey (due to track work). This was a bit annoying, since I had a first-class ticket, but it wasn't the end of the world. When I got on the train, I was confronted by a carriage full of pensioners. I was sat next to this friendly pensioner, whose name I forget. And, as I expected, he started to talk to me about Australia, and the book he was reading, and England (he came from the Salisbury area originally).

I wasn't in the mood really (I was rapidly deteriorating despite feeling fine in the morning), but it was interesting to find out stuff. The train passed up, up and up in the Great Dividing Range, and through previously burnt out forest. It was a bizarre sight because many of the trees still had frazzled leaves on them. Should the rains return, the area apparently should regenerate easily. The man then explained why the carriage was full of geriatrics (his term). Apparently all retired people get free vouchers for train travel, and the rail company always put them in first class. probably, he thought because it was close to the buffet, and yes, most of the people in the car got some sort of meal from the buffet. At Goulburn I was surprised to arrive in a very English looking village, English looking that it, I couldn't really see any actual English houses, apart from the Train station, which could have been from any English railway.

There was a lot of confusion getting on the buses, but they were all going the same way so I wasn't too worried when my bag left about 5 minutes before me! On the highway to Canberra we were in the open plains, and I kept awake to see the amazing view of the country. At least, that's what it said on the CountryLink trains website. I found it all (heresy alert!) rather boring, big dry fields, the odd cow, more dry fields, wooded hills, deforested hills, empty creeks, dry rivers zzzzzz.

Once in Canberra (on time!) I walked to the hostel in a sort of stupor, desperate to find a bed, but also hungry. I checked in, and was the only person in my clean and nicely sealed from the elements, dorm room. While it was not was air-conditioned, it was cool enough.

Later I walked to the local shopping area, in Kingston, which was a block of various shops. I bought some pasta and tuna, a deli pasta salad and a little cake. Walking back to the hostel, I was persistently harassed by flies, despite wearing 100% deet repellent. Maddy had warned me about these 'persistent flies'. I have been all over the world and have not encountered anything like it.

The flies have partly ruined my time in Canberra. I was going to walk all over the town, but instead I find my self speed walking or actually running from one place to the next! These buggers first dive-bomb your head. Then when you brush them away, rather than taking the hint like normal files, they follow you around, and dive bomb again! The next evening I bought some Bayer repellent (apparently Deet only works for Mosquitoes, and because of the drought, no mosquitoes). I have only had partial success today. They still dive bomb, which just stresses me out, it really does, but after my first swipe, they bug-off, till the next one.

Anyway I have, to my surprise managed to see mostly everything I wanted to see, despite being able to do much less walking about than I wanted. It has been hot in Canberra, about 30 plus degrees, but there has been a nice breeze, and it's been OK. There was even some rain yesterday.

So, I started out for the Parliament, before I got the repellent, and it was hell, and all the pavements have ant colonies every few meters (I am going by bus now!). I passed by the Serbian Church, and then it hit me, the Parliament building is huge and visible from a LONG way away.

It is literally built into a hill, well, the hill was completely removed and the parliament put in its place and grassed over. It was hard to find the way to it (Canberra is built for cars and bikes only it seems), but I followed a Civil Servant through some bushes, up some non-descript steps, and I was there. There are no signposts for pedestrians at all. Anywhere in this city. I am running out of time, so will write about what I did in Canberra in my next e-mail. I have seen both Parliament houses, the National Museum, the National Gallery and the Canberra Exhibition. All really good. I would have really enjoyed walking around lake Burley Griffin, but I was chased off by the flies. I am going to try and go on a trip to the look-outs around the city for an aerial view, and am off to Sydney tomorrow night.