A New Kind look at Australia

“Australia’s Coober Pedy: A Gemstone in the Desert,” by Laura Sicilano-Rosen, characterizes what you don’t picture of Australia. Cooper Pedy is a small town in Southern Australia, a very dry dessert land not depicted as that lovely from first sight. However, as Sicilano-Rosen continues, as she states herself, Cooper Pedy is in example of how beauty is “not skin-deep.”

An inexplicable amount of junk — rusty street signs, abandoned tires, plastic doll heads — dots the moonscape terrain. There is little vegetation except where determined residents make watering efforts, for the climate is extreme and water expensive in this strangely apocalyptic land. Actually, there’s little hint of life in Coober Pedy besides the locals, the black flies that swarm the air, and the camouflaged grasshoppers that leap from the dust.

Less than a century old, the town’s history is short but remarkable, and marked by a number of novel developments that have made living and visiting there both possible and enjoyable — like underground businesses and a grassless golf course with “greens” of oiled sand.Construction workers from the country’s Transcontinental Railway and soldiers returning from World War I were among the first to populate Coober Pedy in 1917, back when it was called the Stuart Range Opal Field.

Modern dugout homes are, like the opals, hidden riches of the land. Half of the residents live underground today, and, as I discovered on my visit to Coober Pedy, it’s impossible to imagine the luxury concealed within the unassuming orange sandstone hills scattered around town. No two dugouts are ever the same, but they often begin on ground level with doors and garages, and descend deeply into endless cool spaces of utmost comfort and modernity.

There’s no shortage of stores selling opal jewelry or even just non-precious (common) opal pieces, so, having admitted defeat in the mines, I picked up a little souvenir before heading to one of Coober Pedy’s more recent tourist draws — Underground Potteries, family-run since 1982. The gallery, a pretty display of finished pottery and local photographs for sale, offers instant respite from the uncomfortable outdoors.

Great Deals Down Under

While Americans are busting out the SPF 55, lawn chairs and oversized sunglasses, Australians are preparing for the winter. However, an Australian winter is not what it seems for they experience a much milder winter than any northerner can comprehend. Michelle Higgins, reporter for the New York Times, outlines the discounted prices in travel due to the struggling economy and also provides some great deals for those interested in checking out the land down under this summer (their winter). Enjoy the excerpts!

"A number of factors are making Australia look like a steal this summer. Just as the winter season in Australia is starting, the United States dollar has gained close to 25 percent over the last year against the Australian dollar, to 1.27 Australian dollars, bolstering Americans’ buying power. On top of that, resorts from Uluru to Melbourne are offering discounts of as much 30 percent to lure guests amid the travel slump."

"Jetting around the country has also gotten cheaper. Qantas has been offering its Aussie AirPass, which includes an international round-trip ticket and three domestic Australian flights for as low as $999. Virgin Blue is offering its own air-pass deal from 69 Australian dollars a flight."

"New Zealand, where the United States dollar has been buying about 1.60 local dollars, is also trying to bank on its increasing affordability with comparisons to Europe. “Compared to a holiday in the U.K. or Europe, it’s like getting a champagne vacation on a beer budget,” states its tourism Web site,."

A glimpse into Melbourne, Australia

I had the privilege of visiting Australia many years ago and even at that young age I was amazed by the country. The people were friendly, the beaches were clean, the food was excellent. Max Hartshorne from GoNOMAD.com was given the opportunity to visit Melbourne just a week ago and wrote up an excellent into to the city and all it has to offer. Read below for more on Melbourne, Australia: The City of Arts, Sport and Fun:

Melbourne has the prosperous feel of a city on the up and up. I got this sense right after we got off the plane and stood in a line waiting for customs. As a cute blond Labrador was walked through the line, sniffing every passenger's feet and luggage, posters up on the wall described the multi-billion dollar upgrade going on at the airport, with new terminals, parking and jetways that will accommodate the biggest plane ever built, Airbus' A380.

The Wines Were Great But No 'Roos en Route

Today I joined a group of about twenty wine enthusiasts for a trip to the Yarra Valley's wine country. The van drove down winding roads through wooded hills and then onto more wide open areas with rolling hills and mountains in the distance.

Here too, I learned that screw tops are becoming more and more popular, as winemakers have discovered that the metal tops avoid cork rot that can spoil good wines.

The Tiny Butterfly Club is Where Talent Begins

In Melbourne, the arts are a seriously high priority. Whether it's public art in city squares, or nurturing the art of new clothing designers or performers, the arts are a big part of the experience of visiting here. Even the highways coming into the city are lined with gigantic steel posts, angling sideways, there just to make the city look nicer.

Last night I met two men who have developed the country's most successful incubation center for new cabaret talent, and do it without a penny of government grants or other assistance. In a country where arts dollars flow freely, this is a big change. They prefer to make money with a jumping bar and sell tickets to the lucky few who can snap them up.

The Butterfly Club operates in a cramped Victorian apartment in South Melbourne, where guests stream for 600 shows a year. The one-hour cabaret performances are held in an intimate 50-seat theatre. Neville, the affable silver-haired gent in charge of the front of the house, welcomed me with a glass of wine as I mingled with the pre-show audience just before nine last night.

For more on this article and others, please visit GoNOMAD.com

Down Under when surfs up, it's time to eat

Ah summer time... when the sun is hot and the living is easy - that's what the Australians are thinking anyways! Right now they are soaking in the suns rays, drinking margaritas on the beach, enjoying their summer vacation, and eating. An article in the New York Times wrote all about the beach food down under, the different places to go, and the dishes to taste. Just a tidbit of "Sydney's beach side cuisine" is below:

“It’s time for lunch,” I say to a friend who had taken the ferry ride from Sydney to Manly with me earlier in the day. Now, if we were back in the United States, perhaps at Jones Beach on Long Island, or Truro on Cape Cod, we would probably gather up our things and head off to some rustic beach shack for a hot dog, a slice of pizza or a lobster roll.

Things are a little different Down Under.

On Sydney’s most famous beach, Bondi, there are, of course, dozens of casual restaurants and cafes, offering up everything from pizza to fish and chips. But on the south end of the crescent-shape beach is one of the city’s most inviting restaurants.

In fact, some of the city’s best restaurants can be found at its beaches, from historic Bondi to upscale Balmoral, ranging from former changing rooms converted into elegant dining spaces to informal street cafes where you can rub shoulders with Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman before going for a swim in the roiling surf.

As I sat there recently, taking in the warm summer sun and watching the sailboats glide by in the bay, lingering over a salad of fresh prawns and avocado (23 Australian dollars) while a friend contentedly made her way through an order of fried calamari with chili basil mayonnaise (16 dollars), I had one thought: I won’t be rushing back to Jones Beach this June.

For the rest of this article and the many restaurants recommended visit the New York Times