Australia

Australia is one of the most visited destinations for Singaporeans outside of Southeast Asia. It is not just for leisure too. So many study there, migrated there or worked in Australia. Some even retire there! For folks like us, Australia can easily be journeyed to on our own. Thus, all of our adventures thus far has been independent travel.

Broadly speaking, it has been historically coincidental that favorable currency exchange rates had been the derived factor for our journeys to Australia. This is a timeline spectrum of the travel “intensity” (as if) we made to this island continent:

Suan first went in 1995 to the ‘Gold coast’, a favorite then (and perhaps resurgent now) for tourists from Asia. These days it is more the Chinese wave than the Japanese.

Our first journey as a couple was to Cairns, as a springboard to explore the Great barrier reef. Definitely something to do while you have the chance before the bleaching of the reefs change the experience you will have. By the way, it has been published that the risk of being stung by jelly fish is higher on days when the moon is full. In Australia, it is not just the apex predators that you need to be wary of. This tiny predator’s tentacles can send you into a shock within minutes. In the sea this will be fatal.

Visiting Sydney is another must do if one is to “cover” Australia. This commercial and cultural capital is vibrant. At that time Suan’s brother worked in F&B and got us a great deal for the hotel stay. The only drawback was it was triple sharing, so no privacy to speak off…

Western Australia is almost a country in itself and looks to us a cross between desert and savannah. Parched areas of the state seem to run forever as we drove (part of a group) up towards Monkey Mia and well beyond the comfort of little Perth. Not so little anymore since the time we journeyed there.

But you know the highlight thus far have to be the Great ocean drive. This stretch of road that hugs the southern coast of Victoria is home to the 12 apostles – well not quite since quite a few have fallen over in the last few years. Perhaps we may get some flak for saying this. But what we do not understand is the voting on Melbourne being one of the most liveable cities in the world. It is true that the city has a vibrant culinary and cultural offerings but we would stop short there, because to have that vaulted life costs quite a fair bit of income to sustain. I guess having a living wage was not part of the survey.

Our main gap in Australia would definitely be Uluru where Ayer’s rock is to be found. The mission, if we have the opportunity to take it – is to fly into Alice Springs and do a couple of days of exploring.