What a Travel Gave Me

Years of hard work made me fed up with routine work; perhaps it was the time to catch my backpack and camera to have a relaxing journey. Jelly said Canada is waiting for me; Patrick said Malaysia was calling me; Howard said dinner had been served in Australia. Really, so Australia became my destination last year.

Australia is a land of contrasts - topographical, cultural, physical, and visual. Nearly 40,000 years ago, the Aborigines were the first to settle. They lived as hunters and gatherers for this entire time, living with a close link to nature. Their poor ability to interact with nature, despite it being so important, helps to explain why many Australians are now unsuitable for sustaining life. Interestingly, this provides one of the few examples of where the native population damaged the land more than later waves of settlers. Their way of living developed into a complex culture based on oral tradition and intricate social bounds, which was almost destroyed by the second wave of settlers, who were able to populate the land with much more success. These are what I knew about Australia from Internet before reaching there.

Australia is a picturesque nation with large differences between regions, which has a reputation as a land of leisure, with sun, sea and an enviable 'Crocodile Dundee' outdoor lifestyle, but this is just a very narrow conception of a continent. The reality however, is that most people work all day, and then spend the weekend running around trying to pack life into the 2 days on the weekend. Only the homeless and tourists have time to sit around on the beach, or idle away days watching comic series on TV.

One of the states is the island state Tasmania also the World Heritage area. Each state has its own national parks with their specific character where you can indulge in bush-walking or maybe even rock-climbing. How can I miss this? My camera took them for future share with my friends. The day I arrived at the Great Barrier Reef on the east coast is the sunny, and I really took hundreds of photos there, which can be turned into card, cup or cell phone covers then. Rare species of animals can be spotted in the famous Kakadu National Park as well as ancient aboriginal art. These old drawings can also be seen in the Namadgi National Park. When I checked on the Internet, I found many online wholesalers are selling the copies, which are not very expensive but rather beautiful to be practical gifts.

Watching photos I took in different places of Australia and listening to the music in the best best mp3 player on the plane recalled my happy and relaxing hours in Australia. This important experience enabled me have more understanding about her beauty and gave me a chance to feel her uniqueness. Each time I introduce the photos to others, I feel there are really more than the photos themselves or the beautiful sceneries in my memory.