Scotland

When I visited Scotland I fell in love with the country and the people. I don't know if I have ancestors from there but I hope so since my family primarily came from the British Isles. But I am confident from this trip that anyone would love Scotland. There are not only beautiful golf courses which I'm not really into the city of Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful.

The city is pretty compact but the public transit system is kind of a joke because they're making a new trax line. So getting around can be tricky but it's not too much of a walk or if it seems to much you can use the hop on hop off buses to explore the sites or rely on taxis for long distances but a rental car would be difficult to drive on those small one way streets and the parking seemed nonexistent. So I would recommend exploring on foot. And these are the things that I would definitely see.

"We have a piper down...repeat we have a piper down" (gotta love that movie)

A castle has been atop Castle Rock since the 1100s. There have been numerous battles in order to try and take over the fortress. Most of the buildings on top of the hill date from the 1500s but St. Margaret's Chapel dates back to the 1100s.

 

A view of downtown Edinburgh all of the buildings are made of the same stone

This cafe is where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the Harry Potter books when she was a struggling single mother.

Greyfriars is the name of a cemetery. Greyfriars Kirkyard was where this dogs master was buried and the dog lived there for years and stayed by its masters grave until the day it died.

Views from Carlton Hill  the one on the right is Hollyrood Palace but I couldn't take a tour because they were preparing for Prince Charles' garden party.

As for the rest of Scotland because of the fact that we had limited time and we didn't want to try and drive around Scotland we decided to take a guided tour which allowed us to see the scenery, know exactly what we were seeing, listen and talk with a Scot and we lived to see the next day. It has always been my belief that if you want to see a country you have to really get into the country to see and experience it because cities are usually different from the rest of the country. 

This tour led us from Edinburgh toward Stirling via Callander where we
got to feed the Hairy Coo named "Hamish". Then we continued through the Highlands to the Pass of Glencoe. Then we headed across Loch Leven and continued onto Fort Augustus on Loch Ness. Then we rode a boat on the lake and heard some stories about the mysterious sea monster. We even drove through Inverness, Perth, and the Kingdom of Fife. Even though I didn't get to see as much of the Highlands as I would have wished, this was the next best thing and I look forward to my next trip to Scotland. 

                        "Hamish" the hairy coo                                Canola oil comes from these yellow plants

Loch is the Scottish word for lake

A farm in the Highlands. Those in the Highlands think that those in the cities are wimpy. It is rugged and they do have to be tough to live there especially in the winters.

One of the many castles located throughout Scotland






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Cairns

Me holding a real life Koala

Yes I finally got the opportunity to go see the Great Barrier Reef. It was one of the most amazing things I have seen. There were the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. Some of them were huge. I saw a bright purple starfish, bright green, purple, and orange coral. There were clown fish and fish that had an iridescent color. There were fish that were the brightest colors and had really neat patterns on them. I even saw 4 turtles. At one point I felt like I was watching a fish parade, because there were several schools of fish that went right by me, and right after the other. I went snorkeling for many hours but I had to wear a lycra suit because its jellyfish season. Oh and I did see quite a few jelly fish and I saw a three foot clam shell. It was like I was a part of Finding Nemo. This all happened at Green Island. Then I went on a glass bottomed boat and saw even more fish. It was so amazing.

on gree island, the dark spots are where the reef begins

2 thumbs up

Then on another day I went to the tablelands. I saw Lake Barrine which is a fresh water lake that has eels in it although I didnt get to see one. However I did see a python. Then we drove through parts of the rainforest and saw some waterfalls. There was even whats called a curtain fig which is a tree and you will how large it is, its amazing. Then we went to a cattle station. They owned thousands of acres and they were so isolated. It was interesting to see though. Then we stopped by a banana/macadamia/avacado plantation. They grew lady finger bananas and it was interesting, I've never really seen that before. We even drove past fields and fields of sugar cane, and then some coffee up in the tablelands.

The Curtain Fig tree

Milaa Milaa Falls

The next day I went to the Daintree Rainforest. It was so humid and hot, I could hardly stand it. It was very pretty though. Then we went to Port Douglas and we even stopped a zoo type place. Then we went to Cape Tribulation and saw even more. Then we went on a Daintree River cruise so that we could see the crocodiles. There were probably about three that we saw, but many more we didn't because it was so hot. Then we left and I saw kangaroos grazing in some fields. Oh and whats interesting is that Cairns doesn't really have beaches, they have a lagoon which is really a salt water swimming pool. The beaches after world war II, were basically destroyed, because the allies had to dig the harbour deeper for the ships coming in. Well after they would just dump the mud out in the ocean and it would end up on the beach. So its yucky, the beaches you have to go a ways to get to. They are really pretty to but you cant really swim very many places because of the jelly fish and the crocs. Even at the beaches there will be an area that is sectioned off to keep crocs and jelly fish away from you. Its really quite bizarre. Its to bad they have such beautiful beaches, but many aren't used for those reasons.

Me and the Aussie guide Ian (notice the hiking boots and akubra hat)

Oh and I met some girls at my hostel named Nadi from Switzerland and Marjorie from France. They were super friendly and I really had fun with them. Oh and then we became friends with a guy my last night there from France but he lives in Zurich. It was really fun and they would practice their english with me. I would use their dictionary and try to pronounce some words and they would just laugh and then tell me how to say it after I showed them the word I was trying to pronounce. Anyways, it was a really fun vacation, and yes I finally got my black opal.

Marjorie, Me, and Nadi

Great Ocean Road

Last weekend I was finally able to take a tour and drive down the great ocean road. Its a ways away and you get to go through lots of little towns. The road was built after WWI. It was a government project that was strictly for returned veterans, to help them adjust back to real life. They built the road in two different sections and the last half wasn't finished until I want to say the 1960s or something. The great ocean road is famous for the 12 apostles which are rocks that shoot out of the ocean along part of the coast. The only thing is that one of them collapsed a few years ago, so now you can only see 11. It was so beautiful, but chilly, the wind was blowing hard. These are all shots from my trip down that infamous road. There are lots of little towns along the way and there might only be a handful of residents that actually live there, because most of the houses are holiday homes. That would be pretty nice to have a beach holiday home.

the road was quite windy at some parts because of the coastline and the mountains/hills

Fishermen

On this trip I got to see lots of farmland. It was fertile and green, which now I understand why Victoria is called the garden state.

vegetation which can withstand both the salt water and the wind

This was along Shipwreck coast. There are over 150 known ship wrecks along the Victorian coast line. There were so many, that in the 1980s the government made a law protecting them and making sure the loot belonged to them.

This is where after a shipwreck, one sailor and one Irish girl made it to shore while the rest perished.

Too bad it was so windy and chilly, I might have jumped in.

check out the rock formations

The 12 apostles, well really 11.

well you can only see a few of them, but they are there.

prime land for sheep and cattle to graze on.

This is Bells Beach where many surfing competitions are held, because of the large waves that come in here. Unfortunately I didn't see any surfers, but there were some just sitting in the water, hoping some waves would come up.

This is called London bridge, but in the early 90s part of it collapsed. It left some people trapped on the other side and a helicopter had to come from Melbourne in order to get them. Apparently two of them stuck on the one side, were having an affair with each other. How would you like that to be plastered all over the TV.