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Communing With Camels and Koalas
Dipak, left, and Anand Oza of North Potomac rode Willy the camel in desert at Uluru in Australia during their vacation. The Oza family of four said the camel rides reminded them of pony rides from the kids' younger days. They spent two weeks traveling in Australia and a week on New Zealand's North Island.
(From Dipak Oza)
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MOST UNUSUAL MEAL: Rachana chowed down on a grilled kangaroo wrap for lunch in Australia. The rest of us are vegetarians and stuck with non-kangaroo dishes.
MYTH EXPOSED: Anand discovered that the reason toilet water swirls in the opposite direction of that in the Northern Hemisphere has nothing to do with the Coriolis effect. It's because of how the toilets are constructed.
MOST DIFFICULT ADJUSTMENT: Driving on the "wrong" side of the road and observing distances in kilometers. The scenic highway in New Zealand winds through forests and climbs up and down mountains, so we could not estimate time based on distance.
UNANTICIPATED PROBLEM: Almost running out of gas on a North Island highway in the middle of the woods, with the nearest gas station about 100 miles away. As we were on our last drop, we came across a convenience store that had a lone 10-liter tank of gas for emergencies like ours, at twice the market rate. Coincidentally, the store owner was a Maryland native who married a Kiwi.
TOURIST ATTRACTION THAT TURNED OUT TO BE FUN: Riding camels in Uluru reminded us of pony rides when the kids were younger. A few months after our return, we were surprised to see one of our camels, Willy, in a KidsPost photo.
DON'T FORGET TO PACK: GPS navigation system with Aussie and Kiwi maps, lots of MiniDVs for video cameras and electronic storage to back up photos. We taped about eight hours of digital video and snapped 6,000 photos.
GO AGAIN? In a heartbeat! There was so much left unexplored, especially the gorgeous South Island of New Zealand. However, it would be a whole lot more inviting if a wormhole path were found to reduce the travel time.
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