WHY Never Join A Tour

Okay, in the last 7 years of travel, which spans to over 15 different countries, 5 continents, I am proud to say I have never signed up or been a part of a full on organized tour for one particular reason. My definition of a tour includes a tour guide, a bus and 20-40 other people traveling together and seeing what only tourist are meant to see.

The reason I bring this up is because my family recently came and visited me here in Australia as part of a tour group. Due to the sheer volume of all of them (9 in total), I can understand the reasoning for the tour. What did annoy me however was the way in which the tour company's treat their customers probably not taking into consideration that this may be the only time out of 365 days in which some people can have an opportunity to say they are "not going to work" today.

I ended up joining a portion of my family's tour to spend some quality time with them. What I learned only reinforced my reason's for never wanting to join a guided tour.

I saw it in their eyes as soon as they all landed. Pure exhaustion. After being moved around like a herd of cows and being milked for every dollar they have, there are but a few brief moments in which they can enjoy what they are actually seeing. For instance, our tour in Sydney consisted of a cruise on the Sydney Harbour that featured a seafood buffet. What we got was a boat ride on the harbour, no explanations as to the history, sites or sounds and a simple goodbye when it was all said and done. And let me explain that seafood buffet does not mean FISH STICKS made by McCain and baby octupus in vegetables. But let's continue along with the story.

The next stop was the Oz tower which is basically an observation tower taller than the highest buildings in the city. From the top, you can get a 360 degree bird's eye view which I've been told is spectacular. Unfortunately because the tour was on a tight schedule, we were ONLY able to go to the bottom of the tower (which doesn't even surpasse 10 stories) and watch a video about what the top looks like. THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, they weren't even allowed to take the elevator to the top even though they were right there (talk about a tease).

But that's okay, because alot of people wanted to go and see the infamous Bondi Beach. Upon their arrival not only were they given a whole 15 minutes to see it (even prisoners get a longer visiting time), they were also told that they weren't allowed to take pictures even though it was a public beach probably because the TOUR GUIDE IS AN IDIOT! (sorry, little pent up frustration... it's out of my system now)

As you can see, we took the picture anyways...

In the end, it was great to see the family though I felt bad they had to see one of the most beautiful cities in the world in the way they did.

The lesson of the day is "don't try and do everything in one trip and spend more time exploring a particular area because remember, you are on vacation!"

- the lone asian

DANCING WITH FIRE - A Memorable Night in Sydney

For the following entry I have no pictures though I wish I did. I will try and describe this night as best I can but you will need to try and paint the picture in your head.

It was Friday night. Our friends had asked us to come along to some drumming session held at Bondi Beach. We didn't think anything of it, but it sounded like something cool to do. When we arrive, we end up walking to the end of a cliff (overlooking Bondi Beach) where there was a stone circle just before the edge. Beyond the horizon, all I could see was the ocean stretching for miles with storm clouds edging closer as each minute passed.

Suddenly, the light show begins! We were shown a spectacular display of lighting dancing from one end to another. This combined with the ocean waves crashing hundreds of feet against the rocks was the perfect stage which was about to come.

Our friends then take out their African drums, along with bongo's, cowbells and rice shakers. We begin jamming on this cliff top and as we become more insync with each others sounds, more people started showing up from nowhere as if they were being called on stage. Pretty soon there was close to 30 people on this stone circle jamming the night away. All of them had some type of African drum or instrument that when played together creating an energy filled atmosphere. If you weren't playing you were dancing!

The highlight for me was at the peak of our performance, not only was everyone playing something, there ended up to be three fire twirlers all lit up and moving to the beats. I can imagine from a distance all you could see was a dancing flame that was powered by the sound of African rhthyms.

In the end, mother nature held off long enough for us to enjoy what was one of the most memorable nights in Sydney thus far...

- the lone asian

Wall of Fame

I wanted to take this opportuntity to thank all the people that came and visited me in the past month. As exhausting as it was to host 15 people in 30 days (spanning from 3 different continents and 4 major cities), it was worth every second. I am glad you had a chance to experience a little of bit of Australian culture as well as prove that I never fabricated any of my stories.

I am also proud to annouce that we are now fully fledged official (maybe more "un-official") tour guides for the city of Sydney and are Eco tour certified. This is our invitiation to everyone who has ever thought about or wanted to come to Australia. All are welcome to come by and experience the Land Down Under wItH a tWiSt. Not only will we take you to the most famous places in the city, we'll throw in wierd and quirky facts, authentic accents and if there's time, perhaps a one on one encounter with some winged creatures.

For those who have already experienced Lone Asian Adventure Tours, we thank you for your time and efforts and hope that you will come back in the near future. This entry is dedicated to all of you!

"this was one of the greatest vacations I have ever had..." - JTL

Cultural Understanding

As we have now spent some time in the land down under, I feel we have a good understanding of Australian culture and can now answer some of the questions pertaining to stereotypes about Australians:

Q: Are Australian's as laid back as everyone says?

A: Maybe out in the bush, BUT living and working in Sydney, I have found that Australians work alot more than even people in Toronto. They work later hours, weekends, 2 jobs you name. In fact, as I have discovered, there are only about 6 national holidays compared our 11 for the entire year. The price to pay to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world

Q: Do Australians only eat shrimp on the barbie?

A: In 4 months of being here, I have probably seen shrimp on the barbie twice. Not sure where the saying comes from, but definately an over exaggeration (I did however add the photo of our first shrimp on the barbie)

Q: Does the toilet flush backwards in the southern Hemisphere?

A: It sure does...

Q: What do native Australian's look like? Do they really resemble convicts of the past?

A: No, there was actually thousands of Aboriginals that lived on this land long before settlers came (see below)
Q: Did the dingo really eat the baby:

A: Yes it did. Quite a sad story actually. Our first encounter with a dingo was in Fraser Island (right: not a dingo but native Australian animal nonetheless)

Labour Weekend in Oz

This year there was no September long weekend. No Thanksgiving. Our first and only long weekend before the Christmas holidays would occur on the Oct 1 weekend. As this was our only short break, we decide to take an extra day off and leave the city for the entire holiday.

Choice of destination: Port Stephen's.

Located about 2.5 hours north of Sydney, this getaway town is far enough to feel away from the noise and congestion of the city and intimate enough that only locals inhabit this small port town (which also means no backpackers). The weekend went as such:

Day 1: we had our own one on one encounter with Australia's most lovable animal the Koala. Not only did we see it up close and personal, we were lucky enough to feed it and hang out with it for a good period of time while everyone else got to envy us from up top

Day 2: our own personal tour guide (luck was on our side today) take us through the Stockton sand dunes which are the largest sand dunes in the country. It stems for over 65km long. The sand is actually exported out to Hawaii's Wikiki beach twice a year. As you can see we were fortunate enough to go sandboarding in this natural wonder

We then take a hike across a spit that connects an island to the land during low tide. It's amazing as we crossed back we saw the ocean connect once again as it erased what was once our path and separated the island once more

Day 3: Today we spent the day swimming with dolphins. As great as it sounds, they weren't as close as we would like and our swimming consisted of sitting in the boomnet of a moving boat. The evening was truly an ozzy experience as we were situated in a campsite where every single site had a TV as they were watching the Rugby League Finals (equivalent to the Superbowl)

Day 4: As we head back into Sydney, we decide to end the weekend off with a trip to Manly beach (our first home) and catch the last bit of the Jazz festival.

Truly a nice weekend to get out of the city and experience what locals do when they have a few days off.

- lone asian