Dan Will Travel
I'm Dan and I WILL Travel
Leaving Halifax for the southern Atlantic coast I came across many picturesque towns hugging the rugged shore. Tough weather but sort of seemed appropriate for the setting. The weather has led to various shipwrecks and other disasters over the years. Two are noted below, as well as of course, the Titanic which happened near here.
On a lighter note, I ended up the day in beautiful Lunenburg. This town is so wonderful and so historic that the entire town is a Unesco world heritage site. And very deservedly so. And, as a special treat, the rains subsided and I was able to walk around easily.
I began my trip to the Maritime Provinces of Canada here in Halifax. Turns out that they define the area as Atlantic Canada. So, that is what we will call this trip and it’s blogs.
The city was founded in 1750 and has been an important port city ever since. Strategically situated in an inlet of the Atlantic, it was easy to defend with warships in the harbor, and if the going got really tough, they literally had a giant chain with each link the size of a human that they could raise up to cut off the harbor totally. And, if some enemy wanted to attack from the land side they built an impenetrable fort to guard against that. So, al the time there I felt totally safe…… I just wish I had been warmer and dryer. A bit too much like Seattle. As well as the complaining about the weather. I guess they had 5 sunny days in the past 6 weeks!
The city has a number of historical buildings, but frankly less than I would have thought. I am not sure if it was weak preservation codes or lots of fires, but far too much was gone.
Well, I think it starts by going back to the very beginning of white settlement. In America, we see that as the pilgrims and such. Upstanding proper serious people coming on the Mayflower or whatever for religious issues. Puritans. In Australia, they were convicts, pretty much dumped off here to fend for themselves. Petty thieves, debtors, and the like. Not upstanding citizens by any definition. Ever since the beginning they had that in common and the need to work together to survive a pretty hostile place. (Remember that saying, “pretty much everything in Australia can kill you…..”)
I think this has evolved to just not taking everything so seriously. Of course, they have issues to resolve as we all do, but a different approach to stuff it seems. I repeatedly heard this when they talked about themselves as a culture. “We do not take everything so seriously.”
Hopefully I have highlighted some of that approach to things in the captions below.
I saw this out of the corner of my eye in South Australia. later I saw a shoe tree, and a bra tree. Like totally in the middle of nowhere.
Entrance to the bar at the Nullarbor Road House.
Penong, SA. Famous for its windmills. The official history says that in 2000, after much drinking, and smoking (Yes it said that!) the townspeople decided to make a windmill park. And so they did. Got them selves the largest one in Australia along with many other models. And, added a nativity scene for the holidays.
Well, the time issue is weird here. When you go west, entering South Australia, you go back 30 minutes. OK, weird, but doable. Then as you approach Western Australia (not the line itself, just somewhere near the line), the time goes back 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then as you get a bit into WA, it goes back another 45 minutes. (Again, not at the actual state line.) What all of this adds up to I really do not know, but it sure is confusing, hence the sign.
Cocklebiddy road house. Not sure what a Budgie is, but it looks like they and the kangaroos are in charge here.
The Nullarbor Nymph: A creation of a unemployed PR person stopping in Eucla for the night, unable to pay for his room. After an evening of much drinking, he promised to “put them on the map.” And that he did. Creating a topless nymph seen cavorting with the ‘roos. Grainy photos and all. (Sound familiar, Pacific NW readers?) Well, it worked. Besides the Australian press being all over it, the BBC did a feature, and Walter Cronkite talked about it on the CBS evening news. only to find out that it was a total hoax. But Eucla got on the map!
Wow, a classic! Found him on the Nullarbor at the WA-SA border. A giant kangaroo with a can of Vegemite. Cannot get more Australian than this! (This weird stuff is spread on nearly all that they eat. I can only liken it to spam in America.)