After Mungo National Park the next closest stop on my itinerary is clear on the other side of Victoria, a really really long drive. So I decided I needed to add a stop in between to break up that drive… and now I’m in Bendigo. I picked this place because I wanted to see the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion. Even though it’s a big modern construction, this place was pretty amazing. The main structure is modeled after the 15th…
I left Grampians and headed due north all the way to Victoria’s northern border. About half way there, I broke up my drive with a quick stop to see a pink lake, Lake Tyrell. Turns out, it’s a dry lake most of the time, but it did have a distinct pink hue. It’s part of an ancient basin that later became a salt lake when the ocean receded about a gazillion years ago. When it does get water, it quickly…
I now find myself out in western Victoria in Grampians National Park. Grampians got hit really hard by bush fires this past year and as a result a huge swath of the park is closed. Several of the trails I wanted to do are off limits due to the fire damage. Luckily, enough of the park is still open to make it worthwhile. Driving here from the coast I saw a lot of these signs. I have a good feeling…
Leaving from Apollo Bay, I made my way west along Australia’s unbelievable southern coast, specifically, a section known as Port Campbell National Park. It’s basically a long strip of the coast with lots of little hikes and viewpoints to enjoy nature’s handiwork. First up, was the Gibson Steps Beach. Down the cliff via some steps of doom and onto the beach. It was a pretty overwhelming location, in a good way, but it was just the beginning of my long…
I made it out of Melbourne and made my way southwest to my next official stop, Great Otway National Park. I took the long way here by making a huge loop around to the northwest so I could go visit Trentham Falls, but it turned out to just be a trickle, about a one on the gusher scale, and not really worth the effort. Oh well! From there it was due south for the rest of the day. My route…
Greetings from my latest adventure Down Under! That’s right, not only am I visiting the next country on my list, Australia (just in case you didn’t figure that out), but I’m also adding another continent to my tally. So let’s dive right in, since that’s pretty much what I had to do. After flying twentyish hours across the Pacific, my flight arrived into Melbourne at 8am. Which meant I had to try and stay awake all day so I could…
Believe it or not, that whole long thing is the actual, official name of the city that we all know as Bangkok. It’s the longest city name in the entire world. There are different stories as to where the name ‘Bangkok’ (Village of the Wild Plum) came from, but no one is really sure. The locals refer to their city as just ‘Krung Thep’. Here’s a pic of the city’s official name on a monument outside of the city hall….
South from Khao Sok National Park is Phang Nga Province. Phang Nga is a really quick stop for me, but it was jam packed with some really awesome sites. Lucky for me there were a ton of waterfalls to stop at along my route on highway 4, so I had a waterfallapalooza on my way to the next hotel. First up was Sai Rung. The main tourist season is obviously kicking in and this southern part of Thailand is the…
I had a pretty long drive south from Hua Hin, about seven hours. It was pouring rain again when I left and it rained pretty much all day. Getting a break from the heat is nice, but exploring in the rain is much more difficult. A little over half way on my drive I made a quick stop at Ngao Waterfall, near Ranong. It was still raining quite a bit, but it wasn’t a very long walk so I grabbed…
Hua Hin is just a short little hop south from Phetchaburi, but it’s a much bigger town. There’s lots of traffic, lots of tourists, and lots of bars. That’s ok, though, because I’m not going to be spending much time in the city. Everything I came to see lies outside the city. It is nice to have a larger variety of restaurants though. There’s an amazing vegetarian cafe a couple of doors down from my hotel and I was able…