Just the Opposite (Brisbane, Australia)
Strange how looking with new eyes can change your perception of a place. Before I started traveling in my mind I had always thought that Australia might be a place I would like to move to. Now I can't wait to get out of Australia! In fact I've moved up my departure to Japan a couple of times. It is now Nov.26th (Originally Dec.2). I would make it even earlier if I could.
In my HOW I TRAVEL article I discussed a Magnitude of Experience problem and how it would slow me down during traveling. Well, now I am suffering from just the opposite. A lack of unique stimulus.
I mentioned earlier on how traveling around Australia after a 2.5 month road trip in the USA wasn’t such a good idea in hindsight. For one there is no shock / “totally new” value as I was here 2 years ago for 2 weeks. While Australia is different there are enough similarities to make traveling seem like just a continuation of traveling in the USA.
The desert areas (A majority of the country) are similar to what I drived through in Southwest US and West Texas. [Thus far - nothing measures up to North Texas though.] And of course the people all speak English. The architecture is modern. The majority ethnic base is from England - which is the same as America with a big serving of Germanic and African American (Depending on the area) thrown in. The food is similar (Except for vegemite) in that there is no exceptional native cuisine - most anything of interest to the palate is imported. Australia is also very suburbanized - although there is a push to change this in some cities. A lot of US television (Which affects attitudes) is played in Australia too - something I didn’t notice 2 years ago.
Of course - the US has nearly 15x the number of people than Australia so the US has many more diverse aspects based on that alone. And the US was founded more on religion rather than convicts. And yes..everything in the US is bigger too. People, cars, homes, etc...but the shade of difference is not enough in my mind to hold my interest.
Even if the differences were enough from the US to keep me going – most of the capital cities are starting to look similar too. Brisbane is very similar looking to Melbourne when viewed from down the river. They even use the same names for some of the city areas (South Bank). Perth and Adelaide, which each have a different feel and look - do share a similar layout from the perspective of having alot of spacious park land surrounding the city and being built on rivers too and near the ocean. Actually the latter point of being built near the ocean and by a river pretty much applies to all the cities. Australia advertises its beaches a lot too. After 1.5 months I couldn’t care less about seeing another beach or bay. Even the meeting of dolphins on the shore which I thought was unique to NW Australia and the Carribbean isn’t. It can be done in SW Australia, South Australia, and on the East Coast too.
The expense of traveling in Australia certainly doesn’t help either. 2 years ago the exchange rate was 2 to 1. Now it is 1.4 to 1. That’s a 30% decline in the value of the US dollar in a little over 1.5 years. Now I know what some folks in countries with currencies declining against the US dollar must feel like.
Traveling in Australia then to me now is mostly picking up on the more subtle differences and the differences that most tourists probably don’t notice. I’ll add that the Culture Shock: Australia book that I brought along does a good job of pointing these differences out. The obvious differences - like the presence of a really old native culture, wildlife, remarkable change of seasons in Kakadu national park, breathing rocks that supposedly existed 2 billion years old (They are not that old themselves), and reefs - I’ve made sure that I got a proper experience.
Another Reason - Altitude
Another reason I had so many flights in Australia was because Australia was near the top of my list for a future home I thought I would tour all the cities and decide which one I would want to live in the most. Now I know – that feeling was based off a short trip 2 years ago under very different circumstances and mindset.
I’ve written an article that I’m due to post soon on how looking at places from a “Would I want to live there?” perspective differs from touring / visiting. The fact that I like to live in a hilly / mountainous area eliminates many of Australia’s cities right off the bat. Australia’s highest point is Mt Kosciusko at 2,228 m (7,310 ft). It drops off pretty fast from there. The next highest is Mount Bogong (1,986 m/6,516 ft). Other than mountains - areas of any notable altitude are under 1800m / 5900 ft. All these are clustered in the Southeast of Australia I believe. Every capital city (Save Hobart, Tasmania - which I did not visit) in Australia is built on pretty much flat land. Sydney is the hilliest. Brisbane has a few hills. Adelaide has scenic hills nearby but Adelaide is definitely a place I would not choose to live in. Let’s just say the host I was staying with there called it dull. I’ll leave it at that for now.
After living in Washington State with the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges in sight and in California with the Sierra Nevada Mountain range my definition of a mountain is different than some. I suppose someone living in Nepal would consider my definition of a mountain to be a bit “small” too. For reference the US Appalachian chain ranges from 460 to 2,040 m (1,500 to 6,700 ft). No wonder I don’t have a strong urge to move to the Eastern US.
If you relied on surveys alone you would find out that many of Australia’s cities are near the top of the list of being most livable. As an student from India in Adelaide mentioned to me. A check of many US livable city surveys (US News, etc...) would find many East Coast cities on the list. But - they don’t take into account natural altitudes / geography.
One man’s rock is another man’s gold.
...I'd just like to acknowledge my friendly day hosts Nic and Nancy in Brisbane whom I met through Global Freeloaders. They did offer me a place to stay but because I changed my schedule at the last moment I didn't stay with them, they did treat me to a nice lunch at a place which has a one-way mirror in the mens bathroom!
In my HOW I TRAVEL article I discussed a Magnitude of Experience problem and how it would slow me down during traveling. Well, now I am suffering from just the opposite. A lack of unique stimulus.
I mentioned earlier on how traveling around Australia after a 2.5 month road trip in the USA wasn’t such a good idea in hindsight. For one there is no shock / “totally new” value as I was here 2 years ago for 2 weeks. While Australia is different there are enough similarities to make traveling seem like just a continuation of traveling in the USA.
The desert areas (A majority of the country) are similar to what I drived through in Southwest US and West Texas. [Thus far - nothing measures up to North Texas though.] And of course the people all speak English. The architecture is modern. The majority ethnic base is from England - which is the same as America with a big serving of Germanic and African American (Depending on the area) thrown in. The food is similar (Except for vegemite) in that there is no exceptional native cuisine - most anything of interest to the palate is imported. Australia is also very suburbanized - although there is a push to change this in some cities. A lot of US television (Which affects attitudes) is played in Australia too - something I didn’t notice 2 years ago.
Of course - the US has nearly 15x the number of people than Australia so the US has many more diverse aspects based on that alone. And the US was founded more on religion rather than convicts. And yes..everything in the US is bigger too. People, cars, homes, etc...but the shade of difference is not enough in my mind to hold my interest.
Even if the differences were enough from the US to keep me going – most of the capital cities are starting to look similar too. Brisbane is very similar looking to Melbourne when viewed from down the river. They even use the same names for some of the city areas (South Bank). Perth and Adelaide, which each have a different feel and look - do share a similar layout from the perspective of having alot of spacious park land surrounding the city and being built on rivers too and near the ocean. Actually the latter point of being built near the ocean and by a river pretty much applies to all the cities. Australia advertises its beaches a lot too. After 1.5 months I couldn’t care less about seeing another beach or bay. Even the meeting of dolphins on the shore which I thought was unique to NW Australia and the Carribbean isn’t. It can be done in SW Australia, South Australia, and on the East Coast too.
The expense of traveling in Australia certainly doesn’t help either. 2 years ago the exchange rate was 2 to 1. Now it is 1.4 to 1. That’s a 30% decline in the value of the US dollar in a little over 1.5 years. Now I know what some folks in countries with currencies declining against the US dollar must feel like.
Traveling in Australia then to me now is mostly picking up on the more subtle differences and the differences that most tourists probably don’t notice. I’ll add that the Culture Shock: Australia book that I brought along does a good job of pointing these differences out. The obvious differences - like the presence of a really old native culture, wildlife, remarkable change of seasons in Kakadu national park, breathing rocks that supposedly existed 2 billion years old (They are not that old themselves), and reefs - I’ve made sure that I got a proper experience.
Another Reason - Altitude
Another reason I had so many flights in Australia was because Australia was near the top of my list for a future home I thought I would tour all the cities and decide which one I would want to live in the most. Now I know – that feeling was based off a short trip 2 years ago under very different circumstances and mindset.
I’ve written an article that I’m due to post soon on how looking at places from a “Would I want to live there?” perspective differs from touring / visiting. The fact that I like to live in a hilly / mountainous area eliminates many of Australia’s cities right off the bat. Australia’s highest point is Mt Kosciusko at 2,228 m (7,310 ft). It drops off pretty fast from there. The next highest is Mount Bogong (1,986 m/6,516 ft). Other than mountains - areas of any notable altitude are under 1800m / 5900 ft. All these are clustered in the Southeast of Australia I believe. Every capital city (Save Hobart, Tasmania - which I did not visit) in Australia is built on pretty much flat land. Sydney is the hilliest. Brisbane has a few hills. Adelaide has scenic hills nearby but Adelaide is definitely a place I would not choose to live in. Let’s just say the host I was staying with there called it dull. I’ll leave it at that for now.
After living in Washington State with the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges in sight and in California with the Sierra Nevada Mountain range my definition of a mountain is different than some. I suppose someone living in Nepal would consider my definition of a mountain to be a bit “small” too. For reference the US Appalachian chain ranges from 460 to 2,040 m (1,500 to 6,700 ft). No wonder I don’t have a strong urge to move to the Eastern US.
If you relied on surveys alone you would find out that many of Australia’s cities are near the top of the list of being most livable. As an student from India in Adelaide mentioned to me. A check of many US livable city surveys (US News, etc...) would find many East Coast cities on the list. But - they don’t take into account natural altitudes / geography.
One man’s rock is another man’s gold.
...I'd just like to acknowledge my friendly day hosts Nic and Nancy in Brisbane whom I met through Global Freeloaders. They did offer me a place to stay but because I changed my schedule at the last moment I didn't stay with them, they did treat me to a nice lunch at a place which has a one-way mirror in the mens bathroom!
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