Australia and Oceania

Community and Forum → Travel and expeditions → Australia and Oceania

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Likes: 12

Likes: 17

Likes: 16

Likes: 11

Likes: 10

Likes: 11

31.12.2013 14:55, Romyald

Monument to the entomological special forces soldier in the territory of the Australian Union. This discovery is very symbolic, as Canberra is the place where the Parliament of Australia, the Supreme Court of the country, and other important departments are located. In addition, it is also an important historical place of the country with a very, very long history.
As you can see from the photo, the fighter must have two ears on each side to hear well, enlarged eyeballs to see well both day and night, and also have an elongated nose to stick it everywhere. And also be able to disguise yourself well in the color of red earth, so that the rangers can not determine where the scout is hiding.
Joke no offense to Australia.
Photo taken by the Chief of Staff in the National Security Service.Namadgi Park near lookout.

Pictures:

__________569.jpg — (313.6к)

Likes: 10

Likes: 15

Likes: 8

31.12.2013 15:14, Romyald

Kosciuszko NP, a luxury destination that every tourist needs to visit. The ascent to the highest point in Australia is best to start early in the morning, because by eleven o'clock in the afternoon there are more people in the park than in the city supermarket.
If you do not pay tribute to the history and discoverer of these places, then I would not even begin to climb.
The closest approach to the top is from Thredbo village, but there is a quieter hiking trail on the Chariotte Pass side.
The mountain vegetation of Kosciuszko NP is absolutely stunning. If you look only at the tops of mountains with remnants of snow, then you remember Lago-Naki in the Caucasus. A different landscape than any I've seen before. Mostly low-growing, stocky flowering shrubs with a sweet smell predominate. In this park, I wanted to capture a unique natural phenomenon - the swarming Cetoniinae of Au., but to my surprise, I couldn't even see the beetles flying through the air. I may have been very early ( December 23-24)
As in Tasmania, small fast-flying butterflies can be seen in the mountain meadows of Kosciuszko NP. Most likely, these are endemic to the snowy mountains. Butterflies are local, rare, in flight they cling to the bushes and disturbed quickly fly away, hiding from view.
In Tasmania, at Cradle-mountains lake NP, I was able to observe a similar butterfly, Leprea Brown.
The specimen in my hand probably belongs to the spotted Alpine Xenica, one of the endemic species of the Australian Alps.

Pictures:

__________604.jpg — (254.86к)

__________605.jpg — (109.22к)

__________608.jpg — (205.15к)

__________609.jpg — (295.43к)

__________610.jpg — (417.34к)

__________611.jpg — (370.89к)

__________612.jpg — (153.7 k)

__________613.jpg — (182.93 k)

__________615.jpg — (134.31 k)

__________616.jpg — (287.65к)

__________618.jpg — (97.11 k)

__________620.jpg — (383.3к)

__________622.jpg — (242.07 k)

__________624.jpg — (386.66к)

__________626.jpg — (558.49 k)

__________627.jpg — (301.31к)

__________629.jpg — (86.19 k)

__________630.jpg — (301.06к)

__________631.jpg — (354.42к)

__________634.jpg — (351.68к)

__________635.jpg — (359.45к)

Likes: 20

Likes: 12

Likes: 20

Likes: 15

Likes: 18

Likes: 13

Likes: 18

31.12.2013 15:38, Romyald

On the last day of the trip, I visited the Royal Botanical Gagden in Melbourne again, walked through the magnificent rows of unique plants, sat on a bench by a quiet pond. The solution to the error was obvious. When I arrived from Tasmania and saw such a diverse selection of plants in one place, I decided that the climate already allows Victoria to have a similar, richly represented natural forest. I can't say that there are no insects and beautiful forests in Victoria, just that there are too few of them here due to the low temperature. All the most interesting and beautiful things can be found in the state of South Wales and Queensland, which I eventually did not have enough time for. 1200km. empty traffic in Victoria took a lot of time and money. It would be better to plan the start of the trip from Sydney. But I do not regret the mistake, fate brought me together with other interesting events, experiences and people, leaving indelible impressions.

This post was edited by Romyald - 31.12.2013 23: 51

Pictures:

__________654.jpg — (189.04 k)

Likes: 17

Likes: 20

Likes: 1

31.12.2013 18:22, Hierophis

Mulga in the net of the Chief of Staff. Here it is less aggressive, no longer rears up and does not inflate the hood. Joke. Most likely it is a boa constrictor. But I had actually seen mulga a few minutes earlier. The snake was basking in the evening sun and, disturbed, performed the procedure I described above. I couldn't take a picture of it, it was too dangerous. Promontory NP, Vic is full of snakes.

A boa constrictor??? There don't seem to be any boa constrictors in Australia at all, and pythons are very rare, and this is clearly not him. More like an asp)) In general, I think Australia is a kind of exception to the rule that most snakes that can be found are non-venomous

Of course, it would be possible to say that people who live there are lucky, but IMHO, in South America is better, Australia is a desert country, and if you dream of being born there, then you can be born in such a place that it will be further to the wet forest than to Kiev (crustaceans

are better in South America) But +40 is cool, I would live there ))

01.01.2014 0:21, Romyald

April 27, 2013: Australian field hockey player Carl Berry, 26, died after being bitten by a snake during practice. The athlete continued running, thinking that it was a non-venomous python, and did not pay attention to the bite. He soon lost consciousness and died. As it turned out, the athlete was bitten by a mulga. The tragedy occurred at the Marrar Hockey Center.
Excerpt from Wikepedia Commons, although I don't think you should believe this information 100%.
In the wilds of Australia, I have often seen kangaroo carcasses with no visible injuries. It is possible that jumping through the bush, the animal could step on a snake.
At the information stands at the entrance to the National Park.Parks I have never seen warnings about the presence of venomous snakes ( and there are plenty of them there) and wild cats the size of cougars in Parks. Perhaps the Information Centers warn you about this? But I've never been there. Besides, I rarely saw people in Parks. It seems that they were intimidated by terrible signs about the presence of poisonous foxes and wild dogs in Parks, as well as the remains of mines after the war a century ago.

Likes: 1

01.01.2014 1:13, Hierophis

I think that special forces do not need such warnings, because it is already clear that you should not underestimate any unknown snake, and the entrance to such places is inherently risky)
And even I think that most tourists do not need any signs, they are already afraid of the "wild jungle")

And thank you very much for such detailed stories and great pictures, and without any "copywriting"

Happy New Year, good luck in making boxes, so that there are more such trips

Of course, I dream of living in South America, I didn't really dream about Australia, but after the story, with this "private property" - so I dreamed at all, it's neither climbing nor going somewhere, and I still say that we have feudalism! ))))

Likes: 1

Likes: 2

Likes: 1

06.01.2014 14:28, Romyald

Yes, Roman, in the presence of large-caliber photographic equipment, you can absolutely not twitch about "see-arrest", photographing flora and fauna in Australia is not prohibited, even with a generator, even without, so any question from the rangers should be confidently answered that you are a photographer-they will also tell you where there is something interesting, and at customs the generator is also presented as part of the photo-equipment - all questions disappear immediately.

This is understandable. But I had other feelings in mind

. In Australia, people trust people so much that they take their word for it. But in the Russian sense, this is not

the case . We say: "Trust, but verify."
In addition to the generator and camera, I also have fees in my luggage!

So I tricked the ranger!

There will be no faith next

. And this is a complete failure of the operation!

06.01.2014 16:55, Romyald

Then the report recalled several events that happened to me in Australia.
Everyone loves it when everything is free. This is not news, especially for Russians.
At the very end of the trip, I decided to take a walk around Melbourne. You don't need to look for parking spots here, there are plenty of them everywhere. I chose a suitable place and decided to check if I need to pay for parking. I looked around and found a nasty sign indicating the boundaries of paid parking. "Well, just like everywhere else, you need to pay again!" - I thought to myself. "Oh, maybe it will pass, and no one will check?". I decided to go to the vending machine, and at the same time check which of the Australians did not pay for parking ( everyone has a parking ticket on the dashboard). My surprise knew no bounds, all the cars were paid for. I went far away from the vending machine and did not find any "tricky" cars. Doomed to embezzlement, I went back to the car and scraped together the necessary amount of change. I fed the vending machine, put my ticket on the dashboard, and walked calmly through the streets of Melbourne.
What kind of honest people live here, no one checks, but they still pay ( I, in some places, still did not pay and no one checked it. In Europe, the parking ticket is checked every hour, if there is no payment, then a fine of 50 euros is imposed. Creasy).
During my first week in Australia, I was constantly confused about the direction of traffic flow. Driving through the forest there are no problems, how to drive on the road food in the forehead. And so on several times. The drivers who were driving towards me were probably very scared, but no one beeped at me, did not show scary faces, and did not twist a finger at my temple. Everyone was understanding and patient.
Just got used to the direction of traffic in the stream, there is a new problem-police officers and cameras. In Australia, everything is very strict, especially with the implementation of the speed limit. I didn't manage to guess the amount of the fine, but I will say this, even Lexuses and Mercedes - Benzs go slowly here-like everyone else. Penalties are obviously measured in zeros.
Only once did I get chased by a police car with flashing lights on. I didn't even realize that it was for me. I stopped, a policeman came up, asked for my driver's license and asked me why I had exceeded the speed limit by 25 km. h. I had no choice but to apologize and say that I had missed the warning sign, and that I would not do this again. He asked me to count to five and blow a pipe. I did everything perfectly, because I only drank wine in the forest, among the kangaroos. He gave me his license and told me to be more careful when driving in Australia, and then we parted ways.
Once again, at the very end of the trip, I decided to take the Australians to the second lane at a faster speed than allowed on the track. In Australia, people on the roads scale, go almost as allowed and exceed rarely. It often happens that two cars are stuck in two lanes and no one wants to add a little gas to overtake and get into the left lane, freeing up the right lane as required by the signs (Keep left).
So, I'm driving the Australians in the right lane, driving 115-120, 120-115, and the sign indicates the allowed speed of 110!. Here, as always, the blue muzzle of a police car appears from behind the bushes ( in NSW, the police drive blue sedans, in Vic more on white ones). He followed us and took off.
I'm driving first and I can't slam on the brakes, because then I'll definitely create an emergency, and I'll also go off the rails like the Australians. I slow down, and behind me the Mercedes, Volvo, and Subaru quickly move into the left lane, giving way to the policeman. Then it was my turn. Well, I guess the cop will take me or not? I turn on the turn signal and also want to change lanes. Ff...y. Like swept.
But the policeman was really angry, because we exceeded the speed limit. He was so angry that he taught us the speed limit as much as ten kilometers. He drove in front of us in the left lane and looked in the side mirror for our behavior. And I still overtook cars, but not so fast.
The maximum speed with which I managed to drive on the federal highways of Australia is 126 km. h. It was possible and more, but why? There is no need to exceed the speed limit in a country like Australia, the roads are good, without traffic jams, with chic recreation areas . That's just the right leg is numb from long control of the gas pedal. Next time I'll take a car with cruise control.

Likes: 10

Likes: 1