[page
references are to the Rough Guides for Thailand, Australia and
Singapore and the Lonely Planet Australia guide]
This is from our six
week trip to the region starting March 1996. Sights in bold
are the 'must sees'. Those included in [square brackets] are from
variations that we considered for our route (it isn't possible to
cover all of these without a lot of backtracking).
Thailand
1. Maps - get colour bus map,
Nancy Chandler’s map too; rg65
2. Longtail boats - Khlong Sen Seb
route should go from hotel to the main sights; rg67 (map rg62).
3. Wat Phra Kaeo and the Grand
Palace; rg78
Daily 08.30-11.30 and 13.00-15.30,
B125. No tank tops, leggings, shorts, fisherman’s
trousers or flip-flops. Also see view of Wat Arun
from near here.
4. Wat Po; rg84
Daily 08.00-17.00, B10. Use
the main entrance, not the tourist one.
Nice trip upriver from near
the National Museum. About 45mins, B8 each way.
7. Vinanmek Palace; rg101
Daily 09.30-16.00, B50 (free
with a Grand Palace ticket). Compulsory free guided tours
every 30 minutes.
8. Royal Barge Museum; rg100
Daily 08.30-16.30, B10
9. Culture shows; rg125/126.
10. Shopping; rg126
11. Get Nancy Chandler’s Map
of Bangkok
12. Hua Hin; rg392
See Khao Sam Roi Yot National
Park
Australia
New South Wales; tsk157,
map62
1. Sydney; tsk160
NSW Travel Centre, 19
Castlereagh Street: ask for The Official Sydney Map;
rg64
Sydney Opera House;
tsk168,rg76. Free lunchtime recitals (usually on
Wednesdays); best is evening performance. View from ferry
from Manly (30 mins, A$3.40); tsk202
Darling Harbour monorail (A$2.50),
people mover (A$2.50); tsk169
Koala Park Sanctuary, 25km
north of Sydney on Castle Hill Road, West Pennant Hills (daily
09.00-17.00, A$8.50); rg121
buy: Aboriginal Art -
Aboriginal Artists Gallery; tsk197
2. Blue Mountains
Glenbrook: from the Blue
Mountains Information Centre get the Blue Mountains
Wonderland Visitors Guide; rg137
Katoomba: see the Three
Sisters from the information centre; town can be thronged
at weekends; rg137,138; supermarket off Katoomba
Street (Mon-Sat 09.00-24.00, Sun 09.00-21.00)
Leura: Bridal Veils Falls, rg139
Jenolan Caves (daily tours
every half hour 09.30-17.00, A$5-A$10), 30km from
Katoomba; rg143
3. (Canberra: Tidbinilla Deep
Space Tracking Centre (daily 09.00-17.00, free); rg168)
4. Belgrave: Puffing Billy (55mins,
A$15); tsk728,rg688
5. Mornington. Australian Museum
of Modern Media; tsk729
6. Melbourne; tsk688
a city of few sights and much
lifestyle; rg649
watch out for the trams!; tsk687
Old Melbourne Gaol is most
worthwhile of all downtown sights (daily, 09.30-16.30, A$6);
tsk692,rg651
St Kilda Pier: Penguin Waters
Cruisers (hourly departures to midnight, A$15-A$20) to
see Fairy Penguins; rg662
Glenwaverley district.
Neighbours location?
Polly Woodside Maritime
Museum; tsk693
Royal Botanical Gardens; tsk695
Captain Cook’s Cottage;
tsk696
Colins Street: Block Arcade
is Melbourne’s grandest shopping arcade; rg650
trams - free city circle,
tram number 8; tsk698,rg644
7. Hanging Rock; tsk726
8. Phillip Island. Fairy Penguins
(also near St Kilda Pier in Melbourne; rg662), bring water or
windproof clothing (nightly after dusk, A$6.50 including
admission to Penguin Parade Information Centre); tsk732,rg684
2. Princes Highway. Passes through
Mt Gambier (crater lakes) and Coorong (coastal lagoons); tsk577
3. Coorong. At Salt Creek take the
nature trail turn-off from the Princes Highway to follow the old
route along the shore. Camping requires a permit from Salt Creek
or Noonameena; tsk577
4. Camp Coorong. Dreamtime
stories; tsk578
5. Mt Gambier. Blue Lake; tsk579
6. Adelaide; tsk541
South Australia Museum; tsk542
Tandanya. Aboriginal
cultural institute (daily 10.00-17.00, A$4); tsk544,rg581
day-trip bus ticket (A$4 from
shops, A$4.40 on bus)
Bee Line bus (from Victoria
Square, every 8 mins Mon-Thurs and Sat 08.00-18.00, Fri
08.00-21.00, free)
Adelaide hills; tsk556
Mt Lofty; tsk557 (on the
route in)
Hahndorf; tsk558 (on the
route in)
7. Murray River; tsk581
8. Loxton. Historical village; tsk582
9. Manum. Cascade waterfalls; tsk584
10. Eyre Peninsula; tsk588
11. Port Augusta. Homestead Park
Pioneer Museum; tsk589
12. Mid-North; tsk573
13. Kapunda. Pleasant route back
from the Barossa Valley; tsk573
14. Port Augusta. Wadlata Outback
Centre (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.30, Sat-Sun 10.00-16.00, A$5.50); rg619
15. Flinders Ranges; tsk593
16. Mt Remarkable National Park.
Hancocks Lookout; tsk596
17. South of Flinders Ranges.
Germein Gorge; tsk596
18. Outback; tsk601
National Park Permit A$50.
Adelaide or Port Augusta or Coober Pedy or Alice Springs.
Get Outback Central &
South Australia from South Australia Department of
Lands.
19. Woomera. Heritage Centre; tsk602
20. Andamooka. Olympic Dam (uranium,
gold, silver and copper mine); tsk602
21. Coober Pedy; tsk602,rg625
everyone shops on Thursday as
that’s when the supplies arrive (so will we)
Big Winch. Lookout; rg628
Old Timers Mine A$3
Umoona Mine & Museum A$2.
Tours A$15
Northern Territories; tsk297,
map30-31
1. Ayers Rock (Uluru) area; rg482
tour buses visit here in the
morning (daily 06.00-19.30, A$10); rg482
Yulara. Ayers Rock village.
Flights A$50 (for plane over Ayers Rock and Olgas, or
helicopter over Ayers Rock only). Cash available in the
pub; tsk366
Park Visitors Centre (daily
08.00-17.00). Tour Operator’s Workbook (A$35)
is the definitive handbook to the park; rg482
Liru Walk. Two hours,
Aboriginal guides (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 09.30,
bookings required); tsk365
The climb. Around an
hour each way; the top of the chain is about half-way;
tsk366
2. Olgas (Kata Tjuta); tsk366,rg484
tour buses visit here in the
afternoon
Valley of the Winds Walk (6km,
3 hours, go clockwise)
Watarrka National Park
from Ayers Rock take sealed
Luritia Highway then single width bitumen road west to
the canyon (there’s fuel at the King’s Creek
Station)
3. Kings Canyon three hour
walk from the car park to the rim; tsk363,rg479
Ernest Giles Road on the way
back to the highway is sandy at times
4. MacDonnell Ranges; tsk355
5. Standley Chasm; tsk359
6. Alice Springs; tsk342
a wide brimmed hat, covered
shoes/boots, water bottle, and loose long-sleeved
clothing with lots of sun cream are essential