Last time, we showed you a list of some of Australia’s most distinguished destinations (and the things you can do there to make your trip more memorable). And there’s a reason these places are popular and inconic. In a single glance from postcards and travel websites, you can pretty much recognise them. The Sydney Opera House with its sales soaring regally in the sky. Barossa Valley and its lush and thriving vines. And the Parliament House with its familiar flagpole.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but these buildings and landscapes do not always look like these. You switch the camera angle or you take the picture on a different time of the year, and they will look instantly unfamiliar, even boring places. They are no different from those cute girl from Instagram who look somebody else when viewed on a different angle.

Let us count the ways.

 

 

 

Sydney Opera House On The Front View

 

 

We always see Australia’s most iconic landmark from the side. The sails (or shells, depends who you ask) angling upwards, covering each other in succession, and mounted on a majestic podium. The building’s structure is akin to modern expressionist design.

 

 

 

But viewed from the front, the Opera House looks like a weirdly constructed church, or even an ambitious event tent. But this doesn't even take away the beauty of the building’s design. What you are seeing at the foreground of the entrance is the smallest of the shells, the Bennelong restaurant. And yes, that’s where the most expensive cheese toast in the world is being served.

 

 

 

Ayers Rock From Above

 

 

Ayers Rock, or Uluru, is the Australian Outback’s shining gem. Its far-reaching, horizontal grandeur is darling for any panoramic shot of the otherwise barren desert land. This natural wonder is also the largest and most famous single rock formation in the world, only slightly rivaled by Dwayne Johnson.

 

 

From an aerial view it looks like, well, a huge piece of rock. The white lines around are not added digitally to encircle the geological marvel. Those are roads constructed around the rock to give tourists access and a good view of Uluru from all angles.

 

 

 

Great Barrier Reef As Seen From Space

 

 

The Great Barrier Reef’s wonder can be mostly appreciated when you dived down and get yourself face to face with the hard corals, sponges, echinoderms, mollusks, fishes, mammals, and other aquatic marine creatures that populate its ecosystem, making it one of the most popular eco-tourism destinations in the world.

 

 

But people tend to forget that it is also the largest coral system in the world and one of the very few landmarks that can be seen from space (and no, the Great Wall of China isn’t one of them). The aerial image was shot from the International Space Station and shows a section of the north Queensland coast near Cooktown and Hope Vale.

 

 

 

12 Apostles Viewed From The Sea

 

 

 

The 12 Apostles is one of the most awe-inspiring beach sights on the world, and the Google image searches can’t even argue against it. Towering pillars of limestone are standing proudly and bravely guarding the beach off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. Right now, there are only eight apostles left, as the other four have collapsed through erosion. But still, the name remains intact.

 

 

Looking from the sea side reveals a different beauty, however.  On the background of the Apostles are tall, smoothly chiseled walls of stone that make up the rugged and jagged shoreline of Victoria. Its convex formation only reveals how wind and water shaped the shoreline, and the carved nature displays the different layers of the rock over various geological eras.

 

 

 

A Snowless Mt. Buller

 

 

Mount Buller is a town in Victoria popular among snow sports enthusiasts because of the thick sleet enveloping this alpine region all year round in place where extreme temperatures can reach 50.°C, making it hold the distinction of being a wrong mountain in a wrong country. A quick search in Google reveals a winter wonderland where hundreds of thousands flock every year to ski, compete, or throw snowballs at each other.

 

 

However, it’s not always like this. Last 2014, Mother Nature played a prank on the mountain and robbed it of snow, resulting in bare, boring, and non-white slopes with misplaced chair lifts. According to the owners, this phenomena isn’t the first time to happen. As expected, the snow returned a few weeks later.

 

And conversely…

 

 

 

A Snow-Covered Barossa Valley

 

 

Barrosa Valley in South Australia is one of the largest wine-producing regions in the country. But you don’t even have tastes their red liquids to be a fan. The picturesque view of the place is a huge draw enough. Rows upon rows of grape vines neatly juxtaposed to each other as they extend towards a lush horizon, while the warm rays of the sunrise or sunset blankets them. Seriously, it’s like stepping inside the postcard, being able to smell the berries and the grapefruits that permeates the atmosphere.

 

 

But last July 2012, a thunderstorm hit the valley, pelting and covering it with hailstones the size of ten-scent coins. And the result is a white and barren landscape with only the vine poles standing. It is quite desolate if you’ll ask us, but the people of the valley think it’s a rather picturesque and charming look of the valley

 

 

 

Aerial View Of The Parliament House

 

 

Opened on May 1988 by Elizabeth II, the Parliament House in  Canberra is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and undoubtedly one of the most important and famous government buildings in the country. It is built into Capitol Hill with the main entrance as its emblematic and expansive facade.

 

 

The aerial view of the building, however, gives us a glimpse on how big the place really is. Visible are the two "boomerangs" overarching the western and eastern part of the ground. The famous flagpole can also be seen in the center. It does not, as many people always think from the images, actually sit on top of the entrance building.

 

 

 

Australia is a weird land. We have beavers that have beaks and lay eggs. Our government is a mash-up of four different types of governing system. We think beer after-work is fine all week. Our electoral process is a heaping mass of complicated work. And we experience four seasons each day.

This quirkiness spilled over to the legislative side of the country, where some of the weirdest laws in the world has been created and enforced for only God knows what reason.

Here are some of them.

(Note: Australian Weird Law articles are a dime a dozen in the Internet. We just picked those that legitimately exists.)

 

 

You cannot posses more than 50 kilograms of potatoes.

 

 

The Potato Marketing Corporation, the organization responsible for managing the supply of fresh table potatoes in Western Australia, is responsible for this. As mandated in the Law of 1946, the have the authority to stop and search any vehicle suspected of carrying more than 50 kilograms of spuds.

Not all hope is lost, though. If he wins the state election next year, Premier Colin Barnett promises he will dismantle the archaic Potato Marketing Corporation, so tuber fans can carry as much potatoes as they can without fear of incrimination.

 

 

Offering a reward, with no questions asked, for the return of stolen property is against the law.

 

 

In South Australia and Tasmania, that is.

Publicly advertising a reward for any property stolen with no inquiries asked whatsoever about any information, identity, or whereabouts of the thief will warrant you an offence and maximum fine of $500.

Because just getting your valuable and not seizing the perpetrator is highly discourage. In the long run, not letting the burglar off the hook is a bigger compensation.

 

 

It’s against the law to disrupt a wedding.

 

 

In South Australia (Oh, hello there again!), disrupting weddings and funerals will not only earn you raised eye browns and eternal ban from social events, but also a maximum penalty of $10,000 or two years’ imprisonment.

As mandated in the Summary Offences Act 1953, any person who intentionally obstructs a funeral or a wedding, whether religious or secular in nature, is guilty of an offense.

 

 

False announcement of births, deaths, marriages or employment is illegal.

 

 

We always have that one Facebook friend who posts weird stuff like “We are now accepting job applicants for Hydra. Hail Hydra!”

In Queensland, he/she is up for 10 penalty units or a six-month jail time. According to the Queensland Consolidated Acts, a person who publishes in print, radio, TV, or Internet that a child has been born but isn’t yet, a person died but still haven't, a particular couple are engaged but isn't yet, or an employment is available but isn't, faces a maximum of 10 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment.

 

 

It’s illegal to be near or inside a house frequented by thieves.

 

 

The Vagrancy Act 1966 in Victoria states that being an occupier of a house or place that is frequented by alleged thieves earns you jail time. Being found inside or near said house won’t make you luckier either, even though you’re not living there.

Thankfully, this archaic law not completely fitting in modern times has been repealed. In 2005.

 

 

Walking on the on the side of the road that is not facing approaching traffic is prohibited.

 

 

According to the Internet, it’s illegal in Australia to walk on the right-hand side of the road. This is not true. What is against the law is walking on the side of the road where traffic goes the same direction.

If you are walking on a road with no footpath, common sense only dictates that you walk on the side with approaching traffic for more awareness. This is goes for all Australian state and territory governments.

Violating this will warrant you a $76 fine in Victoria, a $45 expiation fee in South Australia, 20 penalty units in NSW and 20 penalty units in Queensland.

 

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