Travel Diary #4: Australian east coast in a minivan 7747

Antoine, 7 mon.

- Lifestyle - Realist -

3.7 min read.

- My travel diary -

As I mentioned at the end of the previous article, the journey was long: about 35 hours, including two 5-hour layovers in Addis Ababa and Singapore before arriving in Melbourne. We planned to stay in a hotel for 3 nights before renting a minivan for our road trip along the Australian East Coast. In addition to the change of scenery, arriving in a modern city, when we reached the hotel, a white parrot with a yellow crest perched on a lamppost reminded us that we were still far from home. During our rest, we took the time to explore Melbourne and meet up with a colleague from nearly 10 years ago. We spent a wonderful day together visiting a museum, the library, enjoying drinks on a rooftop terrace, and, most importantly, chatting! There are some people you reconnect with after years, and it feels like you saw them yesterday... The day of our road trip departure arrived, and we took the keys to our home and transportation for the upcoming month. It was a minivan with a small bunk area, which allowed my son to have a bed. It's more expensive than a tent but far less of a hassle to set up and pack away every day. Plus, given Australia's reputation as a rather hostile environment, we figured we'd be more comfortable in the van than on the ground. The beds turned out to be very comfortable. We began by following the coast southwest of Melbourne, known as the Great Ocean Road. It truly lives up to its name. The coastline is hilly and offers stunning views of the bright blue ocean below. The next day, we got acquainted with the local wildlife during a hike at Kenneth River: koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos. Continuing along the Great Ocean Road, we visited the breathtaking cliffs of the Twelve Apostles. Next, we headed east of Melbourne for two nights at Wilson Promontory. This is a mountain by the sea in a national park. A relatively challenging 1.5 hour hike with steep elevation gave us a panoramic view of the park. The coastline alternates between mountains and beaches, providing yet another breathtaking viewpoint. We were truly spoiled. But it wasn’t just one sense that was stimulated; since the start of our road trip, the scent of eucalyptus forests has been very pleasant. After two nights in the park, we found a last-minute small bar/bistro that allowed campers to stay for free at the back of their property: the Bellbird. We had some great encounters there. The owner, Gary, and an elderly couple traveling in a caravan (the man was 78) joined us for a beer, and we struck up a friendship. On our way back to our camper to prepare dinner, they invited us to open a bottle of Shiraz 2022. It was delicious, complex, and not too tannic. We shared our travel plans with them, telling them we wanted to head toward Canberra for a wine tasting. They were at the end of their 3 months journey and were heading back to their home in the suburbs of Canberra in two days. They offered us to stay with them, and we accepted in exchange for me cooking them a meal. We had a wonderful evening together. It's a strange and pleasant feeling to be so comfortable with people you barely know. The next day, we continued towards the coast. Upon reaching Sydney, on the advice of our new friends, we set up our base camp at a campsite just outside the city. There are efficient water taxis at an unbelievably low price compared to parking fees. We arrived by boat to the city center, right next to the famous Opera House. We explored the area to the west on our first day. The next day, we returned to the city center, but the weather was less favorable. It was raining. We took advantage of the weather to visit the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, which explains how the first convicts built this building and the city's first structures and roads. We wandered through a few shops and encountered lots of people; something we weren’t used to anymore. Checking our phones, we realized it was Black Friday! After this crowd immersion, we returned to nature for a hike in the Blue Mountains northwest of Sydney. These mountains are actually more like cliffs overlooking a canyon. We enjoyed some beautiful viewpoints and watched parrots gliding through the air. We then made our way back to the coast, north of Sydney, where we spent three days along the coast, walking, swimming, and camping by the sea. We finally arrived in Byron Bay. It’s a very touristy destination, but it lives up to its reputation. Despite the slightly commercialized town center, the beaches are magnificent, surrounded by rocks that form little coves, offering protection from the various sea dangers: sharks, jellyfish, rip currents, etc. We took the opportunity to go kayaking in the hopes of meeting dolphins. No luck with the dolphins, but we did manage to ride some waves with the kayaks, which was still an amazing experience. Next, we headed to Brisbane, where we stayed for just half a day. We used the same method as in Sydney. Since a river runs through the city, a ferry service took us to the city's key attractions. Our next stop was Noosa Heads beach for a 2 hour surfing lesson. The whole family gave it a go, and we had a blast trying to stand up on the boards. One of the best nights of sleep since the beginning of our travels followed. We hadn’t planned to go much further north, but we decided to exceed our budget to visit the Great Barrier Reef. There’s a departure point in Bundaberg, which is a 3 hour drive away. From there, a small tourist plane flew us to an island called Lady Elliot. The island has just enough space for a dirt airstrip that cuts the island in half. On one side are a few bungalows and a small restaurant for those lucky enough to spend a few days there, and on the other side is a lagoon where we did some snorkeling. This is the very beginning of the Great Barrier Reef, and what a sight it was! Colorful corals and literally hundreds of sparkling fishes. To wrap up our road trip, we had three days to return to Brisbane and drop off our camper. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on our side. It rained a lot. Still, we managed to visit a few coastal towns and swim in the ocean a few times. After all, we’ll have to get used to the humidity, it's rainy season at our next destination!

Antoine

I am the CTO and co-founder of Bluwr. I love designing and writing scalable code and infrastructure.

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THE ENCHIRIDION - I 2157

Bluwr X Commons: Epictetus, 2 y.

1.1 min read.

There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs. Now the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted, unhindered; but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted, alien. Remember, then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you; you will find fault with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will you suffer any harm. Aiming, therefore, at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself any inclination, however slight, toward the attainment of the others; but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and wealth likewise, you may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you will certainly fail of that by which alone happiness and freedom are procured. Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER - PREFACE 2261

Bluwr X Commons: Mark Twain, 2 y.

- Short Stories -

0.6 min read.

Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual—he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture. The odd superstitions touched upon were all prevalent among children and slaves in the West at the period of this story—that is to say, thirty or forty years ago. Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in. THE AUTHOR. HARTFORD, 1876.

THE MEDITATIONS - Book I.[1/3] 2321

Bluwr X Commons: Marcus Aurelius, 2 y.

3.7 min read.

1. I learned from my grandfather, Verus, to use good manners, and to put restraint on anger. 2. In the famous memory of my father I had a pattern of modesty and manliness. 3. Of my mother I learned to be pious and generous; to keep myself not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and to live with a simplicity which is far from customary among the rich. 4. I owe it to my great-grandfather that I did not attend public lectures and discussions, but had good and able teachers at home; and I owe him also the knowledge that for things of this nature a man should count no expense too great. 5. My tutor taught me not to favour either green or blue at the chariot races, nor, in the contests of gladiators, to be a supporter either of light or heavy armed. He taught me also to endure labour; not to need many things; to serve myself without troubling others; not to intermeddle in the affairs of others, and not easily to listen to slanders against them. 6. Of Diognetus I had the lesson not to busy myself about vain things; not to credit the great professions of such as pretend to work wonders, or of sorcerers about their charms, and their expelling of Demons and the like; not to keep quails (for fighting or divination), nor to run after such things; to suffer freedom of speech in others, and to apply myself heartily to philosophy. Him also I must thank for my hearing first Bacchius, then Tandasis and Marcianus; that I wrote dialogues in my youth, and took a liking to the philosopher’s pallet and skins, and to the other things which, by the Grecian discipline, belong to that profession. 7. To Rusticus I owe my first apprehensions that my nature needed reform and cure; and that I did not fall into the ambition of the common Sophists, either by composing speculative writings or by declaiming harangues of exhortation in public; further, that I never strove to be admired by ostentation of great patience in an ascetic life, or by display of activity and application; that I gave over the study of rhetoric, poetry, and the graces of language; and that I did not pace my house in my senatorial robes, or practise any similar affectation. I observed also the simplicity of style in his letters, particularly in that which he wrote to my mother from Sinuessa. I learned from him to be easily appeased, and to be readily reconciled with those who had displeased me or given cause of offence, so soon as they inclined to make their peace; to read with care; not to rest satisfied with a slight and superficial knowledge; nor quickly to assent to great talkers. I have him to thank that I met with the discourses of Epictetus, which he furnished me from his own library. 8. From Apollonius I learned true liberty, and tenacity of purpose; to regard nothing else, even in the smallest degree, but reason always; and always to remain unaltered in the agonies of pain, in the losses of children, or in long diseases. He afforded me a living example of how the same man can, upon occasion, be most yielding and most inflexible. He was patient in exposition; and, as might well be seen, esteemed his fine skill and ability in teaching others the principles of philosophy as the least of his endowments. It was from him that I learned how to receive from friends what are thought favours without seeming humbled by the giver or insensible to the gift. 9. Sextus was my pattern of a benign temper, and his family the model of a household governed by true paternal affection, and a steadfast purpose of living according to nature. Here I could learn to be grave without affectation, to observe sagaciously the several dispositions and inclinations of my friends, to tolerate the ignorant and those who follow current opinions without examination. His conversation showed how a man may accommodate himself to all men and to all companies; for though companionship with him was sweeter and more pleasing than any sort of flattery, yet he was at the same time highly respected and reverenced. No man was ever more happy than he in comprehending, finding out, and arranging in exact order the great maxims necessary for the conduct of life. His example taught me to suppress even the least appearance of anger or any other passion; but still, with all this perfect tranquillity, to possess the tenderest and most affectionate heart; to be apt to approve others yet without noise; to have much learning and little ostentation. 10. I learned from Alexander the Grammarian to avoid censuring others, to refrain from flouting them for a barbarism, solecism, or any false pronunciation. Rather was I dexterously to pronounce the words rightly in my answer, confining approval or objection to the matter itself, and avoiding discussion of the expression, or to use some other form of courteous suggestion. 11. Fronto made me sensible how much of envy, deceit and hypocrisy surrounds princes; and that generally those whom we account nobly born have somehow less natural affection. 12. I learned from Alexander the Platonist not often nor without great necessity to say, or write to any man in a letter, that I am not at leisure; nor thus, under pretext of urgent affairs, to make a practice of excusing myself from the duties which, according to our various ties, we owe to those with whom we live. 13. Of Catulus I learned not to condemn any friend’s expostulation even though it were unjust, but to try to recall him to his former disposition; to stint no praise in speaking of my masters, as is recounted of Domitius and Athenodorus; and to love my children with true affection. 14. Of Severus, my brother, I learned to love my kinsmen, to love truth, to love justice. Through him I came to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, and Brutus. He gave me my first conception of a Commonwealth founded upon equitable laws and administered with equality of right; and of a Monarchy whose chief concern is the freedom of its subjects. Of him I learned likewise a constant and harmonious devotion to Philosophy; to be ready to do good, to be generous with all my heart. He taught me to be of good hope and trustful of the affection of my friends. I observed in him candour in declaring what he condemned in the conduct of others; and so frank and open was his behaviour, that his friends might easily see without the trouble of conjecture what he liked or disliked.