|  | | | | | | | | | | | Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. The nation's largest state and the second largest sub national entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants (10% of the national total), 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state. The state's capital city is Perth. The people of Western Australia are often colloquially referred to as sand gropers, the common name of an insect found on sand dunes around Perth. | | | |  | | | | |  | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | Perth became famous when the America's cup was contested in it,s harbor, Fremantle.I reached Fremantle in 1959 after a long Ocean vojage from Bremerhaven , Naples, Suez canal , Aden than across the Indian Ocean to Fremantle, in those day's sleepy small harbor town, as was Perth on to Melbourne by sea. Then in 1980 I was based in Sydney and had many occasions to travel on business to all capital cities in Aussie till 1992.It is amazing to me how this continent has modernized over the past 40 years, considering a small population.Western Aussie is sort of isolated from Eastern Australia, it is a large continent , Western Aussie has many mining sites, is rich in many Minerals. Fremantle is the largest port | |
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| | | North American travelers will feel like at home in Australia, not that the locals would like you to stay for long,the local English "oztrailian" is pleasant to our ears and there immediately is a familiarity about the land. When you arrive at one of the International very modern Airports, the immigration process is to international standard, that is if you took the time to get a Visitors Visa prior to traveling , Why does one need a Visa to visit Aussie, good question, cause Aussie is a continent, there are many Health and security reason, the Aussie Gov. needs to be very careful to sort people out ,prior to entering as a new virus that rare local species have not been exposed too, could wipe out the only species as Aussie has quite a few animal, fauna species that are only found on the Aussie continent. Besides the Aussies have no Terrorists among them, which makes it very save to travel throughout Aussie. NO worries Mates! Aussies take immigration very serious, they enforce Immigration laws to the letter.! |
| | | The familiarity starts when you line up to rent a car , Hertz, Avis, Budget etc.. are all represented, you are allowed to drive in Aussie with a US License, no international license is needed. To this point you have been pleasantly surprised, you walk to the car that is parked conveniently, open the trunk, stow your luggage and climb into the car. Just about in that moment you notice that you as the driver have no steering wheel, it's on the other side! Yes you had been told somewhere that Aussie's drive on the wrong side of the road, no joke, they do, want to strike a heated discussion, to really get to know an Aussie or a few, this is the Queue. Embarrassed, of course you are, I used a little trick, I looked around carefully and than rummaged around in my glove compartment , like I climbed in on the wrong side purposely, than I climbed out of the car, opened the trunk( Boot in Aussie), said Howdee to my luggage, looking around carefully , than of to the drivers seat, than an Aussie casually ask, "Lost Yank?",After the shock wore off, I was off to the races. Navigating is the next problem that you will encounter, watch out in traffic circles. What ever you do , do not drink and drive, for one thing it is against the Aussie law , than since you are used to pull to the right when trouble looms , you could have a pretty short vacation doing what comes naturally ( no not that), as avoiding a crash by pulling to the right will be a frontal collision on Aussie road's. I found that in the first 2 weeks I climbed into the wrong side a few times, each time using my explained routine very successfully as I still have face. Another issue came up, driving in very tight Aussie parking garages also presents a small problem, if you rented a full size Ford or GM's Holden, for some reason we lefties are used to having car to our right , not to the left and those concrete garage supports do not move, it can become expensive, CAUTION. |
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