Untethered

We are in Freemantle, Western Australia..........or as the locals call it Freo.  It is a coastal village with a huge working port as well as an eclectic mix of tourist spots, shopping, yacht clubs and sandy beaches.  Like many towns in Aussie, it was built primarily by the hard labor of prisoners sent from Great Britain. Many of the 10,000 prisoners sent had committed only minor crimes so the length of their prison terms seems wildly harsh for the infraction.  But the truth is that the Great Britain needed labor to build its Empire.  In lieu of slaves as we know it, the crown jailed thousands and sent them to Aussie to serve out their sentences building infrastructure and administrative/government buildings throughout the cities.  Prisoners who were well behaved and survived their imprisonment were then freed and allowed to pursue their own career doing the trade they had been doing as forced labor.  Freemantle's famous Colonial era architectural style ...

We are celebrating our "2 months in Australia" anniversary in Perth.  It is a lovely river city located on the west side of the continent and serves as the capital for the territory known as Western Australia (WA).  Blessed with gold, the area really began to grow as a boom town in the late 1800's. The area is rich in other minerals so mining remains a significant economic driver of the area.  We like the mix of old historic buildings and cutting edge sky scrappers that sit nicely together in the Central Business District of the city. Old government building now hosts a H&M department store. The waterfront hosts cafes, pubs, plenty of green spaces and miles of walking paths. There are sculptures and massive paintings on the sides of buildings sprinkled throughout the city as well as some really interesting shopping areas.  The food scene is overflowing with cafes lining every street and nearly every type of cuisine from across the globe available. ...

We've just arrived in Perth after spending 5 days in Australia's rugged & remote national parks in the Northern Territory.  Kakadu is a national gem which is still owned by the Aboriginals but leased back to the commonwealth so that all people can enjoy its amazing beauty.  It is a giant park that both Yellowstone and Glacier parks would fit into with room to spare.  This area has been the homeland for several tribes of aboriginals for more than 40,000 years.  There are still 3000 who live in the park using the hunting and gathering traditions of their forefathers Besides viewing the various landscapes, we also visited an area filled with rock art that was incredibly well preserved. Some of the art work can't be photographed per the request of the aboriginals as the picture may depict something that is sacred.   Painting of a Wallaby We also finally got to see salt water crocodiles!  We took a Yellow River cruise and saw tons of b...

We are in the largest state of Australia known as the Northern Territory.  It is twice the size of Texas and the least populated state in the country.  In the US, it would be considered a frontier state and that is exactly how it feels.  Darwin is its largest "city" with a population of around 150,000.  It is a working city prone to booms and busts depending on what's happening in the oil or gas industries giving it an earthy blue collar vibe.  The coastline is rugged in a very different way than on the east coast of Australia.  This is the Timor sea, amazing beautiful in color but filled with saltwater crocodiles and box jellyfish so swimming/playing in these waters is extremely dangerous and you see literally no one even wading in the water here. Timor Sea in Darwin The Northern Territory has the highest concentration of Australia's indigenous peoples in addition to many immigrants from around the globe.  We have learned that in order to immigra...