{"id":16633,"date":"2022-07-22T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=16633"},"modified":"2024-11-19T13:37:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T18:37:40","slug":"crossing-the-ditch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=16633","title":{"rendered":"Crossing The Ditch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Originally Published July 23, 2020 by Linda Lou Burton posting about Adelaide, Australia from Little Rock, Arkansas \u2013 <\/em>The plan for Thursday, July 23. Sleep late. Morning walk. Lunch at the Intercontinental. Check out. Wellington Airport. Board a Qantas. (Always loved that name!) Fly to Adelaide, Australia. Let\u2019s keep my now-defunct-due-to-COVID19-RTW<\/em> in the present tense today, it helps with the imagining.<\/p>\n

Leaving Wellington is hard to do. But then, I am heading for a major Bucket List Tick<\/em> \u2013 my sixth continent! Born in North America, got to South America and Antarctica in 2005, made it to Europe and Africa in 2019. 2020 is the year for Australia and Asia, all SEVEN CONTINENTS finally under my belt. Or feet, more properly put. Walk on all seven continents<\/em>. Check it off!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But today, I have to cross the Tasman Sea. Folks in that part of the world call it \u201cThe Ditch.\u201d It\u2019s about 1,400 miles of water between New Zealand and Australia, and water being what water is, no fences define it, though geographers will tell you the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean are to the north, the Cook Strait (that\u2019s the water between New Zealand\u2019s two main islands) to the east, the Southern Ocean to the south, and Bass Strait to the west \u2013 that\u2019s the bit that separates Tasmania and the Australian mainland. Got that?<\/p>\n

There is so much to tell you about Australia. It is the oldest, flattest, driest inhabited continent on earth! And it is both a continent, and a country. It has six states, and two territories. It is almost the size of the United States. I am googly-eyed to get there.<\/p>\n

ACT \u2013 Australian Capital Territory. Area 910 square miles. People 427,419. Capital Canberra.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the United States, Australia has set aside a portion of itself to serve as the nation\u2019s capital. The spot was voted on, chosen (though not without heated discussion, of course), and the capital city of Canberra<\/em> was built from scratch. The ACT is in the southeast part of the country between the state capitals of Sydney and Melbourne, an enclave within the state of New South Wales. More about Canberra<\/em>, of course I\u2019ll visit there.<\/p>\n

NSW –New South Wales. Area 309,130 square miles. People 8,128,984. Capital Sydney.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Everyone has seen the photo of the Opera House in the Sydney<\/em> harbor, and it breaks my heart that I can\u2019t fit Sydney<\/em> within my RTW<\/em> timeline. My parents raved about the city when they visited years ago, so I\u2019ll have to let their footprints serve for me. Sydney<\/em> is not only capital of New South Wales, it is also Australia\u2019s most populous city. NSW edges Australia\u2019s east coast, such a pretty state, with beaches, agricultural plains and highlands in the middle, and the Snowy Mountains to the west. Yes, they have skiing there. Nicknamed The First State<\/em>, NWS was originally founded as a British penal colony. That was 1788. Just look at it now!<\/p>\n

QLD \u2013 Queensland. Area 715,309 square miles. People 5,129,996. Capital Brisbane.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Queensland is huge. I\u2019m not kidding, only 15 COUNTRIES in the entire world are bigger than the state of Queensland in Australia (which is the 6th<\/sup> largest country). And Queensland is diverse. It has mountains. It has tropical rainforests. It has deserts. It has sandy beaches, and yes, Queensland is where you go for those world-famous Pacific waters coral reefs, if diving is your thing. Its nickname is The Sunshine State<\/em>, its capital is Brisbane<\/em> and sadly, I\u2019m not visiting Queensland either. I do have a friend there though! I met Jennifer last year on my trip to Portugal-Spain-Morocco (yes, she rode the camel in the Sahara) and loved hearing her stories of farm living \u2013 flying off to boarding school as a child; koalas in her back yard when her kids were growing up. So, hi Jennifer! Thanks for sharing a taste of Queensland with me.<\/p>\n

VIC \u2013 Victoria. Area 91,761 square miles. People 6,651,074. Capital Melbourne.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I am headed for Victoria as Melbourne<\/em> is my first stop beyond the Tasman Sea. The state is small, but lots of people live in The Garden State<\/em> (wheat, barley, pears, apples, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes in abundance). With the Australian Alps to the east and the Little Desert to the west, the OMG city of Melbourne<\/em> sits midway, right on the harbor; Australia\u2019s busiest seaport. Architecture ranges from 1800s Victorian to high-rise modern (52 skyscrapers!). It has the country\u2019s most extensive network of freeways and the largest urban tram network in the world. Tullamarine Airport is where I\u2019ll be changing planes often, wait and see how many times I stop here!<\/p>\n

TAS \u2013 Tasmania. Area 26,410 square miles. People 537,012. Capital Hobart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tasmania is Australia\u2019s smallest state, situated directly south of Victoria across the Bass Strait. There is a main island, with the capital city of Hobart<\/em> in the southern part; but the state also includes 334 surrounding islands. Tasmania\u2019s fascinating history of geology, peoples, settlements, and colonization make it a place I\u2019d love to know more about and wish I had time to visit. It is generally Australia\u2019s coolest spot, thanks to Southern Ocean breezes; maybe the reason for its nicknames \u2013 The<\/em> Apple Isle and The Holiday Isle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

SA \u2013 South Australia. Area 402,903 square miles. People 1,759,184. Capital Adelaide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m spending two nights in Adelaide<\/em>, South Australia\u2019s capital city. Some of the driest parts of the country are in SA, but the Adelaide<\/em> area has plenty of water. One is the nearby Murray River, one of my reasons for stopping here. South Australia seems to have two nicknames \u2013 The Festival State<\/em> and The Wine State<\/em>. I\u2019ll let you know which I find most appropriate after my visit, either one sounds like a party!<\/p>\n

WA \u2013 Western Australia. Area 1,021,478 square miles. People 2,639,080. Capital Perth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Queensland is huge, but Western Australia is REALLY huge. It makes up the entire western third of Australia! It touches two oceans \u2013 the Indian and the Southern. The Tropic of Capricorn runs across the middle of it. The Great Victoria Desert and The Great Sandy Desert sit on either side of that. If you stand at the edge of Kansas and look west to the Pacific, you\u2019ll sort of get the idea of WA\u2019s vastness. It seems to have two nicknames, The Wildflower State <\/em>and The Golden State<\/em>; that last one makes me think of California. I\u2019ll tell you much more about WA when I visit the capital city of Perth<\/em>, my last stop on my 6th<\/sup> continent.<\/p>\n

NT \u2013 The Northern Territory. Area 548,640 square miles. People 244,761. Capital Darwin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m putting NT last on this list because it is officially a territory, and not a state. But I\u2019ll be making two stops in this incredible, almost-other-worldly place I\u2019ve been longing to see for years. My two stops are Alice Springs and Uluru \u2013 I\u2019ll tell you all about them later. Sadly, Qantas connections just didn\u2019t work timewise to get me to the capital city of Darwin<\/em>, a grievous fact! And The Ghan, the train that runs between Adelaide<\/em> and Darwin<\/em>, runs just twice a week. Nickname for the NT — The Territory<\/em>. Natch.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made a solemn promise \u2013 I\u2019m not only going to reschedule my RTW<\/em> when COVID-19 restrictions end and the world is safe for travel once again. I\u2019m going back even after THAT, to stay at least a month in the Land Down Under<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s my story, as I imagine myself flying across The Ditch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally Published July 23, 2020 by Linda Lou Burton posting about Adelaide, Australia from Little Rock, Arkansas \u2013 The plan for Thursday, July 23. Sleep late. Morning walk. Lunch at the Intercontinental. Check out. Wellington Airport. Board a Qantas. (Always loved that name!) Fly to Adelaide, Australia. Let\u2019s keep my now-defunct-due-to-COVID19-RTW in the present tense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3464],"tags":[3704,3713,3710,3714,3701,3706,3708,3711,3699,3702,3709,3703,3712,3705,3707,3700],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16633"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19234,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16633\/revisions\/19234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}