This is Australia

Australia is Top Shit, okay? I've lived here for the past 23 years and have hardly moved from Brisneyland in all that time. Shit, I'm sitting in the house I grew up in while my mother is away in Townsville (It is not where the Power Puff Girls live, so when monsters come attack nobody will care about the decimation unless family are living in Townsville. In which case, my condolences.)
Now, the problem with that statement (The Top Shit, not the Powerpuffs) is that it's all that I know, short of what is in film and where I HAVE travelled to.

During my childhood, my dad would occasionally take me or my sister out with him on his trips. Being a Truckie taking cars to the middle of woop woop, its safe to say that there wasn't much to see short of a lot of open plains and the occasional Tourist Attraction. The Big Prawn in Ballina is one of them. I remember seeing it with my sister in the truck.

Way back when, Dad drove me out to Cunnamulla. We were driving along this open stretch of road, nothing to be seen on the horizon except maybe a few cattle sheds and tall grass, and Dad pointed out to what I think was a small rise in the cement piping that followed the road. It was hardly twenty metres long, but on the side was a few paintings, from what I would assume would be a local school or a group of hippies, and a large indent in it.
"You know what that is?" Dad asked, somewhat excited at making conversation.
"No, what is it?" I answered, curiously. It was the first thing to be seen for quite a few clicks.
"It's a footprint from a Kangaroo," he said. "Massive Kangaroo that hopped along here years ago. People were chasing it for days and as it passed by this road, it landed on that and left its footprint."

That was a pretty good one. Otherwise, I remember dusty roads rolling through one street towns. And sleeping. The truck would always lull me to sleep.

I do remember seeing my Uncle Scott in Dalby in the middle of the night with my sister. Couldn't have been more than 4*C and my sister stole the blanket to wrap around herself while I was stuck in my jumper and trackie dacks.
My Uncle Scott, however, was in a blue singlet and a pair of stubbies and thongs. He was a large fellow, probably a good 130kg, and he could feel nothing in regards to the weather. He loved it.
As for the scenery, well we couldn't see much for a few hundred metres since it was about one in the morning.

Moving back to the subject, I move south. Quite a few years ago, probably about eight now, my family went down to my Aunty Carols 50th to Newcastle. All I can remember is seeing the opposite shoreline of some small expanse of water, no idea if it was a river or just a quay, but I thought it looked pretty nice.

Another truck trip with Dad had the whole family going. We were going up a mountain range, and it was continually climbing. Because of my fear of heights I was getting rather anxious, but the view was still not half bad.

I know I've been to Charleville, but I can't remember a thing about it. We have proof that I've been to Grandpa's farm (My Dads side) and played there. Still don't remember anything about it.

Come up to a time more recent. Last year. I had plenty of friends. Some odd, some annoying, but overall good. Many of them are gaming buddies, which brings us to my next venture: Melbourne.
Arcanacon was on and a few guys from here were going, Kel and Alan. They invited me along and because I was very keen on Warmachine at the time, and had plenty of money to fool around with, I said I would love to come along not only for the gaming, but for the social aspect as well. I like alot of the guys on the forums and there's no harm in shaking their hands over a good game.

We arrived in Melbourne and Kel loaded up his GPS and made for the planned route to the event. I still remember looking out of the window at Melbourne and saying "Holy crap it is so Flat."
From the road heading from the airport, you could see the skyscrapers of the CBD (or so I believe them to be).
As we drove through the streets, I looked at the various houses and how they were built. Think the stereotype of England, where each building stood shoulder to shoulder, and drop them down to one storey houses; Small picket fences, or lace fences segregating Property from the 2-3 feet wide footpath; various overhanging decoration for the patios would compliment the aging building itself.
It's something I'll remember whenever I watch an Australian film set in Melbourne. Like the movie I saw today: Malcolm.

Moving on to this year I went to Canberra for Cancon, another gaming convention, with Rob and a few of his mates. I wasn't expecting much of Canberra except maybe a scant view of the Parliment house and meeting Waggles, which was inevitable since he was running the event I was attending. There wasn't much in the way of sight seeing while I was there. We mostly travelled between the convention centre and the Lodge we were staying at.
One night after a very solid day of gaming, we went into town for some drinks and to meet a few of Robs friends. I dressed up a little too much, wearing a good shirt and my straw hat that I adore so, and we travelled to a pub that I can't remember the name of. But what I do remember was 2 things: The second was one of the girls was a friggin stunner. I felt bad in the end because I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.
The First was the way there. Now people have made mention about Canberra being weird because the entire city was planned out and built as such. I slowly began to notice it as we drove through. Alot was much the same and I swear I got myself lost. I wasn't even driving!
But it was still nice. It was an experience.

Now we compare this to Brisbane.
Brisbane has a new horizon every 100 metres because of the hills. The old queenslanders that line the beach, or sit about in the middle of the older suburbs that aren't designed as part of the housing commission, are gorgeous houses in my opinion.
The most amazing culdesac I have ever been in was around the Ashgrove area. It was in the middle of an extremely tiny valley with a few of the older houses around and almost completely covered in trees. One of them was probably a Jacaranda. I almost told Kyle to pull over and stop the car while I absorbed the area.

Now, having mostly lost the point of what I was talking about, aside from the few sights I have seen and enjoyed, I remembered one thing. This isn't a thing to say "I want travel advice". I already have travel advice. Kel has given me good advice by saying "Travel everywhere else before you travel Australia. You'll appreciate Australia more in the end".
Other things have contributed to a faint desire to travel. The only downside I see about travel is that if I joined an arranged tour, I would be sent to see the sights that I could probably see in a book.
No, if I were to travel, I would want to see the nooks and crannys of their homes; the dingy little swillholes that people would frequent; meet the characters that contribute to so many lives, like the local grocers.
I would want to actually LIVE there.

That sort of thing is hard, considering I would have to sacrifice alot to do that sort of thing, but hey: A man can dream.