In June and July 1981, at the age of sixteen, I traveled to Australia with my family-of-origin (parents, siblings) for a month-long trip there. On the way there we also saw some of Hawaii and the western U.S. To get around Australia, we bought bus passes covering the network then run by a company called Ansett Pioneer. We flew into Townsville, Queensland from Hawaii and began and ended the trip in Townsville. The resulting trip was extensive and covered approximately 11,000 bus miles though every one of Australia's mainland states, and every one of those states' capital cities. This gave me an extensive look at this huge and beautiful country with so much unique scenery and wildlife. Some of the highlights of the trip included Ayers Rock and the Olgas (in the center of the country); numerous koala bear and wildlife parks; Magnetic Island off the coast of Queensland; the Great Barrier Reef; the Nullarbor Plain; the Gold Coast; and the government buildings in Canberra. We also got to see the famed Beer Can Regatta in Darwin. The geographer in me noted at the time that at the farthest point in the trip- Fremantle, Western Australia - we were very close to the "antipodal" point (i.e. the polar opposite point on the globe) to where I was living at the time on the U.S. East Coast.
None of this should not be taken to mean that this trip was easy, or merely some nice rest and relaxation. Some of the bus rides were up to 36 hours long, meaning that we had to sleep aboard the buses. There was also a lot of walking and busy sightseeing during the visits to the cities. Also - this being 1981 - smoking was allowed aboard the buses, a great inconvenience for someone like me who has always been a nonsmoker. About a third of Australian adults were smokers at the time of my trip, and many of them seemed to find their way onto my bus rides. The company made some attempts to segregate smokers and nonsmokers but this didn't really work. How unpleasant this was really depended on how many people were on the bus rides, and who you got. Sometimes the bus drivers themselves were smokers. Fortunately, in most countries, this type of transport is all non-smoking now, so this problem hopefully will not recur in any of my present or future travels.
Map of bus itinerary around Australia, which took 29 days and about 11,000 miles. This was taken from a trip log that I kept daily during the actual trip. This map is pretty orderly, but some of my other entries are messy, as I would often try to write them while aboard the bus and being jostled about during the ride. I had seen plenty of gum trees, desert, and kangaroos by the time all this was over.
One of many koala bears we met on this trip; this one was at a park in Adelaide, South Australia.
Flinders Street Station, a landmark of Melbourne, Victoria.
Dramatic coastal cliffs near South Australia - Western Australia border.
Coastal road at sunset along the Indian Ocean north of Perth, Western Australia.
Downtown Townsville, Queensland. This was our Australian starting and ending point for the trip.
Up-close view of the Olgas, a rock formation in the Northern Territory near Ayers Rock.
Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, viewed from the east. Along with Sydney Opera House and the Great Barrier Reef, this has to be one of Australia's most well-known tourist attractions.
Downtown Perth.
One of the buses that I rode during the journey. This was at a rest stop in Western Australia.
The Three Sisters, a rock formation located in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney.
View of Sydney Harbour from the namesake Harbour Bridge, which has a pedestrian walkway that we took. The Opera House is easily seen at right.
Close-up view of Sydney Opera House.
This is a jellyfish that washed onshore while we were at Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast (Queensland).
View from an underwater observatory at Green Island, Queensland (just offshore from Cairns). The foreground shows a large golden-colored coral formation.
Wild, bumpy catamaran ride aboard the "Big Cat", going from Cairns to Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
Mileage sign in Townsville.
This is the Qantas 747SP jet that took me from Townsville to Honolulu. Here the jet is parked at Honolulu's airport, with the extinct Diamond Head volcano visible in the far distance.
None of this should not be taken to mean that this trip was easy, or merely some nice rest and relaxation. Some of the bus rides were up to 36 hours long, meaning that we had to sleep aboard the buses. There was also a lot of walking and busy sightseeing during the visits to the cities. Also - this being 1981 - smoking was allowed aboard the buses, a great inconvenience for someone like me who has always been a nonsmoker. About a third of Australian adults were smokers at the time of my trip, and many of them seemed to find their way onto my bus rides. The company made some attempts to segregate smokers and nonsmokers but this didn't really work. How unpleasant this was really depended on how many people were on the bus rides, and who you got. Sometimes the bus drivers themselves were smokers. Fortunately, in most countries, this type of transport is all non-smoking now, so this problem hopefully will not recur in any of my present or future travels.
Dramatic coastal cliffs near South Australia - Western Australia border.
Downtown Townsville, Queensland. This was our Australian starting and ending point for the trip.
Up-close view of the Olgas, a rock formation in the Northern Territory near Ayers Rock.
Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, viewed from the east. Along with Sydney Opera House and the Great Barrier Reef, this has to be one of Australia's most well-known tourist attractions.
Downtown Perth.
One of the buses that I rode during the journey. This was at a rest stop in Western Australia.
The Three Sisters, a rock formation located in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney.
View of Sydney Harbour from the namesake Harbour Bridge, which has a pedestrian walkway that we took. The Opera House is easily seen at right.
This is a jellyfish that washed onshore while we were at Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast (Queensland).
View from an underwater observatory at Green Island, Queensland (just offshore from Cairns). The foreground shows a large golden-colored coral formation.
Wild, bumpy catamaran ride aboard the "Big Cat", going from Cairns to Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
Mileage sign in Townsville.
This is the Qantas 747SP jet that took me from Townsville to Honolulu. Here the jet is parked at Honolulu's airport, with the extinct Diamond Head volcano visible in the far distance.
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