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Detailed travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Detailed Travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Larry2006-05-27 03:23:16
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Most are either dormitory, 4-person, or 6-person rooms, though many
also offer private single rooms, and even family rooms for families
travelling with young children. Even if you don't plan to stay in a hostel
all the time, it's still worth getting a card. There are often concessions
("discounts" are called "concessions" in Australia) available for people
with youth hostel cards. All you have to do is ask, and about 1/2 the time,
you'll save a few dollars by showing your card. A youth hostel card
currently costs US$25 in the U.S., and it easily pays for itself, both from
being able to use the hostels (at the YH member rate), and from the many
concessions you get by showing the card. (Just the trip out to the Reef had
a $14 concession for youth hostel cardholders).
CAIRNS AREA
After waking up before sunrise and dropping the car off at the Darwin
airport, I took an Ansett flight into Cairns (pronounced "Canns"), a major
tourist destination on Australia's north-east coast, and the point to catch
trips out to the Great Barrier Reef.
Cairns itself is a large city that is almost totally tourism-based. It's
not a bad place at all, but, like Honolulu, if there wasn't tourism in the
area, the city would look radically different.
Actually, the comparison to Hawaii is most appropriate, for here, much of
the area outside the city could double for Hawaii. Everything about the
area surrounding Cairns reminded me of Maui's interior: the weather, the
mountains, the clouds, the endless fields of sugar-cane, the odd smokestack
or two on a sugar-cane farm, and the lush green of the area.
Inside the city, Cairns itself is busy, bustling, and almost all
tourism-based. There are direct flights to Cairns from Asia, and many
tourists fly directly from into Cainrs from Asia, then fly right back
...
See photographs from:
Australia Gallery
,
New Zealand Gallery
