By Land, Air, and Sea

Throughout my travels of the Australia and Oceania region I was presented with extensive choices for transportation. In particular, New Zealand presented numerous transportation choices that allowed me to choose my method of travel specific to my time requirements and budget. For the most part I tried to fully utilize the extensive suburban bus network when travelling in New Zealand. This is the most economical way to get around New Zealand, with bus fares usually NZ $2.00 and a free bus service in the larger cities such as Auckland and Christchurch. Throughout the day this service was extremely beneficial to my travels around Auckland. However, one drawback of this service is that they do not run 24 hours a day to all places. Therefore, after a fun night of experiencing the Auckland nightlife I had to call a taxi which is a more expensive transportation option.

Sky City Metro, Queen Street, Auckland

The image above is a picture I took of a city street in Auckland, New Zealand. In the city, I noticed that a large portion of the cars dotting the city streets are quite compact. These cars appear much more economical than the larger taxi cabs that are generally found in places like New York City. Also, many New Zealanders are both efficient and economical by cycling around the city streets. The streets of New Zealand are very cycle friendly. In fact, in nearly all the larger cities I visited such as Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington, there were special bicycle lanes around the city streets. Unfortunately, this was not an option for my travels, because I never found a bicycle rental shop.
Other options I found for travelling throughout New Zealand were ferries for travelling across the Cook Strait, domestic air travel, and rental of motor vehicles. Despite these affordable options, I decided to mostly utilize New Zealand’s Trans Scenic Railroad network. The railroad provided a more scenic travel and proved to be more economical than other forms of transportation. Also, New Zealand has a basic TravelPass option for travelling on the Trans Scenic Railroad which allowed me to save nearly 40% on the usual fare of the railroad. The following is a short video I took while on the Trans Scenic or Trans Alpine Railway in New Zealand.

Between New Zealand and Australia I travelled via Qantas airport which brings about three million passengers per year to and from Australia. From this point I travelled to Sydney one on the numerous government-owned railways. Despite the government owning most of these railways, the system of railroads in Australia seemed poorly organized compared to New Zealand’s system. Furthermore, I many of the principal cities in Australia do not connect and switching trains is necessary, such as when I travelled from Melbourne to Sydney. In Sydney, I was amazed at number of ships I saw in this natural harbor; however, most of these vessels are used for shipping rather than the transportation of people. The following is an image portraying Sydney’s harbor.



Also in Australia, I noticed that personal automobiles are a very popular method of transportation in this region. Australia has the second highest level of car ownership in the world and three to four times more road per capita than Europe. Furthermore, I noticed that the road system is somewhat complex in that Australia has federal highways, state highways, and local roads.
Although personal automobiles are very popular in Australia, I also saw that most places like Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Darwin have buses and taxicabs for transportation. Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney were the most advanced cities I visited in terms of transportation, exhibiting methods of travel ranging from urban rail to watercraft.

The Indian Pacific railway in Perth

As I travelled to Fiji and other small islands in the Oceania region, my eyes were opened to some of the difficulties in transportation in the region. In general, these areas were much less advanced, compared to New Zealand and Australia. In these smaller islands air travel is extremely important. For example, when I visited Papua New Guinea I became aware of the multitude of airports. Also in New Guinea, the dependence on air and sea travel is an issue, because these forms of transport are usually expensive. Although some road construction has begun more recently, the difficult terrain of this area presents problems. In Papua New Guinea I did not see any railroads. The difficult terrain of this area makes construction of railways very difficult. Overall, Papua New Guinea presented a somewhat accurate view of the remaining areas of Oceania. I did see railroads, public transportation like buses, some car and bike rentals, and ferry services, but overall, the islands of Oceania had much less developed forms of transportation than New Zealand and Australia, and largely relied on air and sea transport.

Fiji, a popular destination for honeymooners and vacationers

Vacationers in Papua New Guinea

Works Cited:
New Zealand Transportation. New Zealand's Information Network, 10 May 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2010 .
Papua New Guinea - Transportation. Encyclopedia of Nations, 3 Nov. 2007. Web. 10 Apr. 2010 .
Transportation - Australia. Encyclopedia of Nations, 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 11 Apr. 2010 .
Transportation in Fiji - Jason's Fiji. Jasons Travel Media, 2 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2010 .

Media:
http://www.totaltravel.co.nz/guide/photos/auckland/aucklandcity-1.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkfkZeCSJc8&feature=related
http://en.structurae.de/photos/index.cfm?JS=113959
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_Pacific_Perth,_Western_Australia.jpg
http://www.caradonna.com/Assets/Shared/Photos/Destinations/PapuaNewGuinea/LiveAboards/Febrina/1.jpg
http://www.cashandtravelclub.com/wp-content/uploads/image/Club%20Freedom/Fiji_TN.jpg

Traditional Music

In addition to my wilderness adventures, I also got to spend some time learning about the traditional cultures of Australia and New Zealand through the expression of music. Some of the music I heard was very similar to that of the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, consisting of all sorts of different genres from country to hip-hop. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by the indigenous music I stumbled across while wandering the streets of Australia!

As I strolled through Sydney, I heard a long tone, fluctuating from high to low. My curiosity got the best of me so I followed the sound to a group of people I saw crowded around it. As I approached I got a better look at what was producing this unfamiliar noise. There was a man covered from head to toe with white tribal paint in various patterns sitting cross-legged on the ground. He was blowing into a long, hollow instrument that appeared to be made out of bamboo. It was elaborately decorated and produced such a unique sound that I just had to learn more about it! I turned to the person next to me to ask about this exotic instrument and he told me that it was called a Didgeridoo.



I was not satisfied by only knowing the name of the unfamiliar instrument, so I waited until the man had finished performing to ask him about it. He told me that the Didgeridoo is an ancient instrument of the aboriginal people of Australia, traditionally used in ceremony, ritual, and celebration. He said there were many myths and legends about this mysterious instrument that linked it to the creation of the world in these cultures. Also, in these ceremonies it was accompanied by a “songman” who sang stories of dreamtime. It added a little color to the stories and helped the others with the timing of their parts. Would you believe that they used to only let males play them?! Initiated men were the only ones who could perform at ceremonies of designated spiritual and cultural significance. Apparently the aboriginal society had strong beliefs about the separation of male and female responsibilities and rights. Even today, women are expected to respect their traditional culture and refrain from playing the Didgeridoo.

Here’s a short video I took of my new friend playing the Didgeridoo:


Still fascinated by the traditional music of Australia, I caught myself searching out other historical expressions of music in my travels to New Zealand as well. This time I did my research and came across the song and dance of the Maori people, the indigenous people of New Zealand. They are Polynesian and make up about 14% of the country’s populations. Their history is predominantly filled with war and oppression, with the greatest problem prior to the introduction of European diseases being over-population. This caused a need for territorial expansion and subsequently brought excessive warfare, which in turn influenced the energetic songs and dances of the Maori people.



I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky as to stumble across this historical music so I looked up a performance I could attend the following day. While listening to the songs I noticed that they used a style I recognized from my research called “heightened speech”. This is a transition between speech and song in which a leader calls out the main words in a raised pitch and the chorus responds. In addition to vocal noises, they also incorporated various body percussions like stamping feet, clapping hands, and slapping thighs to help carry out the rhythm. These chants may be called out in areas throughout Oceania to express the history of the tribe or some personal genealogy. I quickly realized that this type of music was not valued for its aesthetic effect, but rather for its conveyance of the information it contains.



As a huge music lover I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the historical music of Australia and New Zealand! It really opened my eyes to new types of music while educating me on their culture at the same time!

Works Cited
http://www.sunreed.com/Didgeridoos.htm
http://www.australianoriginals.com/docs/products.cfm?SubCatalog=123
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/sass/music/musicarchive/NZInfo.html
http://www.janesoceania.com/newzealand_maori_music/index.htm
http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/maori/

Pictures and Video
http://www.steveandjacqui.com/images/Didgeridoo%20Player.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa0KhHQFMdw
http://www.barreoperahouse.org/magick-event.php/Kahurangi_@_Pahiatua.jpg
http://www.johnsommers.com/johnsommers/2004NewZealand/Places%20Large/NZ0004.jpg

Australians Play Football?

Hey everybody,

When I knew I was going to visit Australia and its surrounding nations one of the most appealing opportunities I hoped to have was to experience the most enjoyed sporting events in the region. I am a big sports fan back home in Chapel Hill, rooting on my Tar Heels in various sports, especially basketball! I expected to experience a region who shared a lot of the same sports that we do in America like basketball, baseball, soccer, and golf. It is true that these sports are huge in Australia and the surrounding areas and are gaining more and more participants, but I was surprised to realize there were many different sports that I am not quite familiar with. In this post I want to focus on my fascination with these unique sports and stray away from American ideas that you guys already know a lot about. I will start with one of the most popular sports in Australia in both participation and in spectators.

Australian Rules Football

When I first landed in Sydney on my trip to the Oceania region one of the first things I noticed upon getting off the airplane was an advertisement for the AFL (Australian Football League). I instantly was surprised that Australia had a football league, but a local “Aussie” quickly informed me that Australian Rules Football was defiantly not like your “American” football, he said it was “More physical, more exciting, and defiantly more fun”. I am a big fan of football back home and I knew I wanted to learn a lot more about football, Australian style. I bought tickets to a local Sydney Swans match. After sitting through that game I defiantly had to agree that Australian Football is a tough sport to play. In my opinion is a mix of soccer, rugby, and American football, except you cant throw the ball. The object of the game is to score by kicking a ball through goalposts. My favorite aspect of the game is seeing players gate down the field while bouncing the oddly shaped ball.



Rugby

Perhaps the most widely watched competitive sport in Oceania is Rugby. I knew of the sport when I first traveled to Australia, but I will be the first to admit that I knew very little about it. Traveling around Australia has only made me more curious about Rugby. I attended a few matches in both Australia and in New Zealand. It is a rough sport; all the players are lightning fast and strong as oxen. In some ways it resembles American football but it is defiantly more violent and ruthless. The games are very entertaining to watch (Take a look at the video to see for yourself). I recently watched a match with some local guys and a few of my friends in a pub, they all said their particular team was going to win the “Grand Final” (Sort of like our Super Bowl), for the right to play the European Champion for the “World Cup Challenge”.





Sports in Papua New Guinea

After learning about Australia’s famous sports culture I was curious to know if the population of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea was just as passionate. During my visit to Papua New Guinea I did not feel the passion I felt in Australia for sports, but people took their respective sport very seriously. Rugby is by far the most important and popular sport in New Guinea, along with Australian influences of Soccer and Aussie Rules Football. One sport that is really popular that surprised me was Cricket. This can be attributed to the British colonial imprint on the region. Throughout my trip I noticed kids playing sports of all kinds branching from all cultures and parts of the world. I think that sports is a great example of the globalized world that we now live.

Works Cited
http://www.nrl.com/
http://www.afl.com.au/
http://www.ombac.org/ombac_rugby/rulesofrugby.htm

Pictures and Video
http://www.steadyburn.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/australianrugby.jpg
http://myee.org/footybig.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZoq9FHfWwQ

My trip to the Outback!

Kangaroo mother with newborn kangaroo
Emu

Orchids
Bluey Blundstones Blacksmith Shop
St. Mary Peak
Cave drawing at the Yourambulla Caves
Alligator Gorge
While I was in Australia, I decided to go on a three-day wilderness adventure through the Australian Outback! I had always imagined walking by kangaroos and wallabies but the Outback turned out to be a very different experience for me. We traveled to so many different places in only three days it was intense!

On Day 1 I had to wake up early because the bus was coming to pick our group up at 7:00 a.m. from the Adelaide Central Bus Station. We had a bus ride that lasted most of the morning and we stopped at Alligator Gorge National Park for lunch. There were places to barbecue and picnic tables and we had a great lunch (we were all so hungry). Afterwards we walked around the trails surrounding the gorge and saw beautiful native orchids. Orchids are the largest family of the flowering plants (Angiospermae). There are over 26,000 species of orchids in the world! In Oceania there are between 50-70 different genera of orchids. They are some of the most beautiful flowers on Earth. While we were walking the trails we got a spectacular view of the Spencer Gulf. It has two inlets in south Australia that are breeding grounds for Australian Giant Cuttlefish. They spend almost 95% of their time resting and divert the majority of their energy to reproduction. The only time they are really active is during mating season.

We left Alligator Gorge and traveled through the Pichi Richi to Quorn which our guide told us was the original start of the Ghan Railway. We also passed the Willochra Plain which was very beautiful. My favorite stop of the day was when we traveled to the Yourambulla Caves to view the aboriginal artwork in the caves. The pictures on the walls and ceilings of the caves told a story of how the native people lived in the past. It was like stepping into a time machine!

Our final stop of Day 1 was at the Rawnsley Park Station for a good meal because we were exhausted from our day of travel. It is situated right in the middle of the Wilpena Pound. Many believed that it was a large volcano but in actuality it is a large deposit of sedimentary rock that has been tectonically formed into a syncline. This means that two plates have been moving together to fold the land up into alternating synclines and anticlines. We ate a simple meal of hot dogs made over an open fire and then started to set up camp for the night. I had a little trouble setting up my tent but I eventually got it figured out with the help of one of the people on the tour with me. The minute I laid down I fell right asleep!

On Day 2 I woke up after a good night’s sleep and ate some breakfast. We set out to explore the Wilpena Pound. We went on a bushwalk that would end with us climbing to the top of St. Mary Peak. On our way to the top of St. Mary Peak we passed through the Bunyeroo and Brachina Gorges which were breathtaking. We saw a couple of kangaroos and I even got to see an emu! I had never seen one before but they turned out to be an interesting creature. They are the largest bird native to Australia and can run at speeds up to 31 mph! They tend to be nomadic and will travel long distances for food. I was so excited to finally see one. The kangaroos might have been the cutest creatures I have ever seen, especially the mother I saw with a newborn kangaroo in her pouch. I was sad to hear that kangaroos are actually hunted for their meat and sport. However, hunting kangaroos for meat actually have environmental and health advantages over cattle and sheep grazed for meat. The bushwalk took up most of the day so we returned back to Rawnsley Park Station where our camp was still set up. We had a nice dinner and I got to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine as well! The exhaustion from the day got to me (or maybe it was just the wine) and I headed to bed pretty early.

On the final day of our trip I packed up my tent and we left Rawnsley Station to travel to Melrose, the oldest town in the Flinders Ranges. My favorite part of Melrose was Bluey Blundstone's Blacksmith Shop. It was built in 1865 and has been fully restored into a very quaint bed and breakfast. The owners still use blacksmith tools to steelwork. We left Melrose to travel back to Adelaide for the end of our trip. We had one last bit of fun on the way when we traveled through the Clare Valley which is known for its exquisite wines. The area is very prone to wildfires, though, and in 1983 a huge wildfire occurred on Ash Wednesday that burned over 6,100 hectares of land. After participating in a wine tasting we arrived in Adelaide shortly before dinnertime to end our trip.

I had an amazing time going through the Outback. I had never really “roughed it” before but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in nature with some great people! Thanks to Heading Bush Outback Adventure Tours for a fun and affordable wilderness adventure!

Works Cited

http://www.headingbush.com/outback-safaris-3-day-mountain-safari.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outback#Tourism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilpena_Pound#Tourism

http://www.about-australia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilpena_Pound

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Valley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Giant_Cuttlefish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Gulf