ANZAC Day
Hey Everyone,
I'm back on the road again, so I expect posting frequency to increase again.
Invigorated, in fact. It was about a month in Brisbane total. A lot of that time was spent recovering from the two months of travel before I landed there. The last week or so was spent in self involved reflection-- readying my heart for the journey ahead. Pictures from some of my last adventures in Brissy should be up in a few days.
I left B-bane yesterday afternoon, saying goodbye to Ant, Jason, Michelle and Hugo who were gracious enough to have me in their home for so long. Taking my time, I wound down the coastal route, ending up in Byron Bay for dinnertime. I stayed last night at the Arts Factory Lodge, a busy but very chill hostel on the outskirts of downtown Byron. Blaz is supposed to be working here, but I couldn't find him last night. I'll have to see if I can locate him before I leave today.
Went to bed very early last night so that I could get up at 4:30 this morning. Today is ANZAC Day in Australia, sort of a combination of the USA's Memorial and Veterans days. The Australia New Zealand Army Corps were "volunteered" by the British in WWI to take the Gallipoli from the Turks. The loss of life was massive and to this day, the ANZACs don't really forgive the Brits for using them as cannon fodder. Interestingly, there's actually close kinship with the Turkish soldiers, with whom the ANZACs established great respect. The grandfather of my sailing instructor, Lachlan Wilson, (same name) was an ANZAC brigadier general of some reknown.
So anyway, the ceremonies today started at daybreak with a service at the local memorial park , which I attended. A few prayers were said before the crowd of 80 or so, then everyone went back to the RSL Club (think of your local Veteran's Hall only with a public bar, restaurant and video poker) for a beer and brekky. So yes, by 5:30am, I'd had my first beer of the day. I stayed at the RSL for a bit and chatted with young Obie, just out of the service himself at 24, now a personal trainer here in Byron.
After the ceremony, I took advantage of the quiet and early hour to call my grandparents at home. It was great to talk to them-- they've both got colds at the moment, so send them a happy thought! They were also the first to hear about my new travel idea that I started in motion just before sitting down to write this entry.
I'm applying for visas to China and Russia, my intention is to spend May in Australia, make my way to Beijing in early June and then take the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Siberian Railroads to Moscow, arriving sometime around the end of July. At that pace, August can be spent in and about Eastern Europe before I set back to NY in time for Dr. Michaels' wedding.
In order for that to all happen, though, I need to get my hands on a Russian Visa, not a completely easy task. I've contacted a travel agency in Russia (recommended by Lonely Planet), for the first bit, which it to get an invitation letter. That will take over a week or so. Then, I have to bring my passport and the letter to the Russian consulate in Sydney and wait another week or so to get the visa. After that, I still need to get my Chinese visa, which can take a week or so, too. The point is that if I'm to leave Australia by June, I don't have much time to waste. I've submitted the request for the invitation letter today, so hopefully by next week, I can get the visa going. I'm getting a certain excitement from dealing with all these logistics. Wheee.
I'm not going to linger here in Byron. I want to make some headway into different territory, so I'm going to start driving out west again. Goal #1 is to have a snack in hippy haven Nimbin and then make it out to see the big optical and radio telescopes near Coonabarabran. Then, I've got to decide whether to head down to Sydney first or to hit up Melbourne and then finish up in Sydney. Details to be figured later.
Ocker Quiz results soon!
I'm back on the road again, so I expect posting frequency to increase again.
Invigorated, in fact. It was about a month in Brisbane total. A lot of that time was spent recovering from the two months of travel before I landed there. The last week or so was spent in self involved reflection-- readying my heart for the journey ahead. Pictures from some of my last adventures in Brissy should be up in a few days.
I left B-bane yesterday afternoon, saying goodbye to Ant, Jason, Michelle and Hugo who were gracious enough to have me in their home for so long. Taking my time, I wound down the coastal route, ending up in Byron Bay for dinnertime. I stayed last night at the Arts Factory Lodge, a busy but very chill hostel on the outskirts of downtown Byron. Blaz is supposed to be working here, but I couldn't find him last night. I'll have to see if I can locate him before I leave today.
Went to bed very early last night so that I could get up at 4:30 this morning. Today is ANZAC Day in Australia, sort of a combination of the USA's Memorial and Veterans days. The Australia New Zealand Army Corps were "volunteered" by the British in WWI to take the Gallipoli from the Turks. The loss of life was massive and to this day, the ANZACs don't really forgive the Brits for using them as cannon fodder. Interestingly, there's actually close kinship with the Turkish soldiers, with whom the ANZACs established great respect. The grandfather of my sailing instructor, Lachlan Wilson, (same name) was an ANZAC brigadier general of some reknown.
So anyway, the ceremonies today started at daybreak with a service at the local memorial park , which I attended. A few prayers were said before the crowd of 80 or so, then everyone went back to the RSL Club (think of your local Veteran's Hall only with a public bar, restaurant and video poker) for a beer and brekky. So yes, by 5:30am, I'd had my first beer of the day. I stayed at the RSL for a bit and chatted with young Obie, just out of the service himself at 24, now a personal trainer here in Byron.
After the ceremony, I took advantage of the quiet and early hour to call my grandparents at home. It was great to talk to them-- they've both got colds at the moment, so send them a happy thought! They were also the first to hear about my new travel idea that I started in motion just before sitting down to write this entry.
I'm applying for visas to China and Russia, my intention is to spend May in Australia, make my way to Beijing in early June and then take the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Siberian Railroads to Moscow, arriving sometime around the end of July. At that pace, August can be spent in and about Eastern Europe before I set back to NY in time for Dr. Michaels' wedding.
In order for that to all happen, though, I need to get my hands on a Russian Visa, not a completely easy task. I've contacted a travel agency in Russia (recommended by Lonely Planet), for the first bit, which it to get an invitation letter. That will take over a week or so. Then, I have to bring my passport and the letter to the Russian consulate in Sydney and wait another week or so to get the visa. After that, I still need to get my Chinese visa, which can take a week or so, too. The point is that if I'm to leave Australia by June, I don't have much time to waste. I've submitted the request for the invitation letter today, so hopefully by next week, I can get the visa going. I'm getting a certain excitement from dealing with all these logistics. Wheee.
I'm not going to linger here in Byron. I want to make some headway into different territory, so I'm going to start driving out west again. Goal #1 is to have a snack in hippy haven Nimbin and then make it out to see the big optical and radio telescopes near Coonabarabran. Then, I've got to decide whether to head down to Sydney first or to hit up Melbourne and then finish up in Sydney. Details to be figured later.
Ocker Quiz results soon!
posted by Scottley at 2:28 PM
6 Comments:
I just saw an interesting documentary on the Kuril Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute)
They're islands to the north of Japan, which are part of the Russian federation now, but Japan still claims them. They're interesting historically because, on the Kuril islands, WWII is not yet over. They're also interesting from an eco-tourism perspective, because they're very undeveloped volcanic islands. I don't know if it's even possible to get permission to go there, but you might consider looking into it.
get cracking boy! You've got no time to lose!
Sounds awesome - Learn some basic Chinese and Russian phrases - I can speak from experience how helpful it will be considering you can't read anything (or have you been studying your Cyrillic lettering?).
You should totally ride a motorcycle across Mongolia and chill in some yurts along the way. You'll need a fast bike after you escape China in your commemorative "I Heart Falun Gong" t-shirt.
Sounds awesome - Learn some basic Chinese and Russian phrases - I can speak from experience how helpful it will be considering you can't read anything (or have you been studying your Cyrillic lettering?).
You should totally ride a motorcycle across Mongolia and chill in some yurts along the way. You'll need a fast bike after you escape China in your commemorative "I Heart Falun Gong" t-shirt.
I second everything that uslennar says!
I second everything that uslennar says!
Post a Comment
<< Home