David Gustafsson » Traveling

Poll: Where is the best place to spend a week in the pacific?

David Gustafsson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:42:44 +0000

What do you think?

[poll id="6"]

Fiji - one of 303 islands. Found on flickr

Queensland NSW journey planned – google my maps.

David Gustafsson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:11:46 +0000

Everything is now booked (or almost) for our next journey in Australia. I have mapped the journey on my google maps to get an overlook. Please see this:

The total travel distance is almost exactly 1000 miles (the bird way) which equals 1609 km. The trip will take about 14 days which makes the average daily distance close to 100 km. Some days we do longer trips and some days shorter. The travel upwards in Queensland is planned to 10 days and the journey back will take the remaining 4 days. We plan to stop in Hunter Valley for some wine tasting. Apart from that the journey back has not been planned. Any recommendations for us?

In the middle och nowhere, in Australia

David Gustafsson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:30:16 +0000

Yesterday we stayed in Echoca by the Murrey river that divides the state Victoria from New South Wales. The motel had a pool and a nice BBQ area that we used. 41 degrees in the shade made it very hard to do something! The major attraction in town was the steam-boats that traficated the river (like the ones you see in Mississippi in the “Huckle-Berry-Finn” story.
Tonight we are staying outside Wagga Wagga. Also in the middle of nowhere. We have visited a water land park and Lars-Ove and I enjoyed the water slides. Something that did not attract Sofia or Kerstin

Pictures later!

-David

Great ocean road on one day from Melbourne

David Gustafsson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:09:07 +0000

Today we made great ocean road from Melbourne to Warnambool. We started from our hotel 7 am and finished the journey 8 pm. On 13 hours from Melbourne you manage to travel the most famous road in Australia in a moderate pace without stress. On the way we stopped at tree beaches and probably ten lookouts. The most interesting part was between Apollo Bay and Warrambool. This is where the sand stone makes a very beautiful coastline with the Twelve Apostles as the most famous attraction. This is sand stone cliffs that have been cut off in the ocean. Fantastic beaches stretch below the mountain range of the sand stone cliffs.

Album from flickr:
[flickr album=72157623033900655 num=30 size=Thumbnail]

First stage of finding fruit picking job

David Gustafsson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:36:17 +0000

Time is passing and the first half year of mine and Sofia’s Sydney stay are over for a little while. It has been a tough period with many things to adapt to. Looking back, however, it is not a big deal. Studying is simple (Can’t believe I am writing this?). Here is a picture of my very successful and wonderful applied marketing research group from the last semester. From the left we have Nita, Paris, Imelda and Joey!

My marketing team

Tomorrow we are moving out from our room in Randwick. Sofia as at her exam at the moment and I spend my time in the room calling for jobs. It seems like the luck has abandoned us. For a few weeks ago we called a couple of farms that all said (quote):

“Don’t worry; we’ll have work for you.” or: “We have work for you.” or: “Buy a car and it will sort out.”

It turned out to be wrong. Somehow they where fooling us to believe that getting a job were nothing to worry about. I just spoke to the employment plus hotline that coordinates fruit picking over Australia which gave me a number to a winery along the cost. A dream job for a fruit picker! After calling and receiving no answer I called back to the national service and asked for more numbers. Unfortunately this was the only number they could give me; the fruit market is currently dead in NSW (Sydney) and VIC (Melbourne)!

Left are two wonderful options and we are going for one of them tomorrow when we move out:

1) Pick onion 365 km west of Sydney. The ad is visible at the national fruit picking web and has probably dragged 200 other fruit pickers or something. When calling today it was still available places but we have no idea how it will be tomorrow. As with all fruit picking jobs you could only register once you have got to the area.

2) Outside Melbourne we have been in contact with a labor assistance that is confident to find jobs for us. However he stated that there has been a bad crop so that all strawberry pickers basically compete with other picking jobs. Some wineries and cherry farms might still require workers (although we have called many of these farms directly with no result).

The options are not very good and we have hard to put a risk factor on them for the likelihood of a positive outcome! The current action plan is to head for Melbourne a bit inland and pass by some farms that seems to be in need for help from four strong hands. If we don’t find any jobs this way we will anyway have a great journey and hopefully find something when we get closer to Melbourne.

Ford Falcon station wagon

David Gustafsson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:08:06 +0000

I have almost bought my first car (together with Sofia). The hand shake is made on a Green Ford Falcon 98 Station Wagon with the following set of features:

Tow bar

Tape player (not working at the moment)

Radio

Air con.

Power steering

The car has some minor flaws:

Smashed left back door

Not working stereo

Some missing lists

However, she has recently been serviced and has new tyres. We will pay for everything tomorrow, register and fix insurance. By the way, the car has gone 222 000 km. The agreed on price has been set to $2050 dollars. Is this a bargain? Bargain or not, I think we made an good deal. We can’t do anything about the Australian currency that is very strong at the moment though…

Ford Falcon 98

[poll id="5"]

Travling

David Gustafsson — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:25:42 +0000

Accommodation in Gold Coast

The spring break is now booked. We fly with JetStar.com.au for $350 per person (2000 SEK).
I have not yet decided about the Australian football tournament at the Gold Coast. Ti is $500 for accommodation and registration. Above that I need to travel etc. What also bothers me is that i miss a lot of classes. BUT, it might be a great event to do while being in Australia!!
Please give me your comments on this!

To the left is a picture of the accommodation in Gold Coast. It is next to the beach an compulsory for all competitors at uni-games to stay at. Maybe expensive but probably cool!

Planning the spring break

David Gustafsson — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:41:03 +0000

The spring break is getting closer and I and Sofia has started to plan. Cairns, Brisbane or Darwin are a few of the options. Darwin sounds cool since it remind me of Charles Darwin:

Survival of the fittest

I am not sure whether Darwin Australia has anything to do with Charles Darwin. Darwin is neither famous for beaches. Cairns, on the other hand, should be the paradise on earth. It is located between Darwin and Gold Cost and has an average tamperature of 28 degrees in the water as well as the air.

Show larger map
We will probably book the flights tomorrow somewhere. Sofia and I has had a discussion whether it is necessary to pay extra for a 20 kilo bag. A 10 kilo bag is included in the price and I think that will be more than enough. Basically all I will need is a pair of speedos and sun lotion (which you by the way can buy when getting there!).

Give me your comments!