Melbourne Last Day in Australia May 2, 2011

It was an overcast morning and rain was foretasted for the day. We decided to ride the City Circle Tram, with our first stop at Federation Square. The trams are historic and remind you of the European trams. Other trams are more modern, but the City Circle are the old ones. We got off at Federation Square and admired the view of old and modern architecture and the fancy rickshaws that Quantas provided as a p.r. vehicle to promote trips to Asia. Young women were handing out fortune cookies.

Back on the tram and we got off at the end of the line at the harbour where we had lunch. Back on the tram again and all of a sudden, everyone's cell phones were going off. One woman said out loud that there was breaking news from the US that Osama bin Ladin was killed. The women sitting opposite us said yes, that was what she was getting by text and she read it to us. President Obama was to address the nation. We got off the tram near our hotel and went back to hear the President's address. Quite the news, then we thought, oh my, we are flying tomorrow. We headed out for a bit more sightseeing at the Melbourne Museum and the Exhibition Hall. Had dinner in Little Italy and went back to pack. Matt called and said fireworks were going off in his neighborhood. We watched the celebrations in NYC and DC. We are hoping for the best on our trip home.

Pt. Douglas, to Cairns to Melbourne May 1, 2011

It was a beautiful and warm morning as we left Pt. Douglas. Since we were not in a hurry, we were able to stop at various overlooks (they were on our side of the road) on our way to the airport. At one spot, we encountered parasails and hang gliders getting ready to take off; the cliff was quite high at this point. The driver of our bus to the Skyrail told us this was a popular spot to set off and on a good day, you could soar as far as the beach at Pt. Douglas. We waited quite a while, but no one took off. We continued to the airport. A full flight to Melbourne, with many screaming children. We were followed onto the airport bus into town by one of the screamers. We were glad for the silence of our hotel room.

Great Barrier Reef April 30, 2011

What a day for the trip out to the reef. Sunny, but still windy. As we boarded our boat, the crew provided sea sickness tablets. We took one, just in case. On board with us beside the captain were two marine biologists and a biologist in training. It took one hour and 40 minutes to reach the reef. The boat rocked quite a bit, but it was not the worst trip we have taken on a small boat in the ocean. Once we reached the reef, we put on our stinger suits, which covered us head to foot, including our hands. There were still some stinging jellyfish about, altho we did not encounter any. The suits also were SPF 50, so no chance of sunburn. The water was warm, and we had an amazing view; wonderful fish and spectacular coral. Of the one hour snorkel, I was in for 50 minutes and actually got cold. For my next snorkel adventures they provided me with a wet suit, to go over my stinger suit. It made a difference. Other people on board requested one, which made me feel better. We had two more snorkel opportunities and they were wonderful. Of course, this reef is in danger and the biologists on board gave us information on the status of things. Back to shore, one hour and 40 minutes later. A beautiful day at one of the most amazing sites I have seen on our trip. No pictures today; Mike took them all with his underwater camera.

Skyrail and Scenic Kuranda Railroad April 29, 2011

We decided to let the bus do the driving today. We were picked up at our hotel and driven to the Skyrail terminal near Carins. This was a gondola trip that traveled 7.2 km over the mountains, over the rainforest canopy to the town of Kuranda. As you went up the side of the mountain you had a wonderful view of the Coral Sea and the town of Cairns. There were two station stops along the way. The first allowed you to walk on a boardwalk through the rainforest with a guided tour by a ranger. You then boarded the next gondola. It shot you out of the station and up high above the canopy with tremendous views of the Barron River Gorge and falls. At the next station, you walked to overlooks of the gorge and falls. Back on the gondola and the next stop is the town of Kuranda.

Kuranda was a town housing people who built the railway and in the 60's and 70's became the home to hippies. Today it is a tourist haven. Many shops, an aviary, koala center and butterfly house. We visited the aviary and the koalas. A large parrot at the aviary found Mike and latched on to his back, fascinated by the snaps on his camera vest. He finally got off, but took the snap with him. The koalas were interesting, but sad that they had to pose for pictures with folks in the middle of the day, when they normally would be asleep. There were kangaroos and wallabys that you could feed. We took the historic railway back down to town. A slow ride along the river and through the mountain passes, with amazing trestle bridges and 15 tunnels along the way.

Rest Day in Pt. Douglas April 28, 2011

Rainy and overcast today. We drove into town and walked around the shops. We found the grocery store to stock up and we had lunch. We hoped to just sit at the pool and not tour anywhere. Well, the weather semi-cleared up but not pool weather so we drove farther up the coast to a town called Mossman. We passed sugar cane fields and occasionally crossed over the narrow gauge railroad track that serviced the fields during harvest. Our goal was the Mossman Gorge. We drove up the narrowing river valley and the narrowing road until we reached the park. There was a nice raised walkway through the rain forest. We came to the falls at the Gorge. The river was filled with boulders and cascaded down a series of short falls. The boulders created pools where the local folks were swimming. It was a place where you could cool off on a hot day.

Ayers Rock to Cairns (Pt. Douglas) April 27, 2011

Our plane did not leave until 2:30 so we visited the Information center at the resort. They had a very nice presentation of the history, geology and animal life of the area. We bought lunch at the grocery store and ate outside, with not too many flies around.

Let me speak to the flies. Never could I imagine the fly situation, especially out by the rock. A head net was a necessity. The locals kept saying how much worse it was in the summer. I cannot imagine it. I thought the head net would be good for smaller insects, but we were never bothered by them.

We were glad to board the plane to Cains and ditch the flies. It was a nice flight over a good part of Australia, with the terrain changing from red to green as we approached the coast and the rain forest. The drive to Pt. Douglas was hair raising, as the road narrowed and hugged the mountains along the coast, with many roundabouts and it became dark. We found our resort, and found we had a small two story apartment, with full kitchen, laundry and living room. The restaurant on site is good and very reasonable.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta Nationa Park

We drove to Uluru, not far from the Ayers Rock resort. It is an amazing site; a big red rock looming on the horizon. We did the walk around the rock, about 9.5 k. It was hot before we finished and we did the whole thing in 2 1/2 hours. There were amazing holes in the rock, including this one which looks like Darth Vader in profile.

Lunch at the cultural center, then a 55 k ride to Kata Jjutu. As beautiful as Uluru. It has many rocks looming out of the desert. If we were not so tired, and if it was earlier in the day, we would have walked the Walpa Gorge walk.

Alice Springs to Uluru April 25, 2011

It was a long drive to Ayers Rock, with the occasional roadhouse to break the monotony of the drive. Mike downloaded a mile by mile mp3, but to hear it, we had to listen through the computer. It had interesting stories and facts about the terrain, geology and history of the land we were passing through. We were welcomed at the resort at Ayers Rock with the flies. We thought they were bad at the resort; little did we know they would get worse. After dark, the sky was magnificent. I cannot remember seeing a sky so full of stars.

Alice Springs Desert Park and the MacDonnell Range April 24, 2011

It was cool overnight. We needed heat to warm up the room. Then we headed out to the Desert Park. This was quite an amazing park; we got there in time for the bird show, which was mostly raptures, and very interesting. Then we visited the nocturnal house and saw some snakes, lizards, small mammals, and then we walked around the various habitats, enjoying the aviaries that were interspersed on the walk. Each aviary had a collection of local birds, which made it easy to identify them.

The birds are so colorful here; parrots and parakeets, all kinds of color combinations. You wouldn't think the desert full of so many colorful birds. But this desert is green this year, because of the rainfall. This is supposed to be the big red center, but much of the red is very green.

We did see kangaroos in the park. I felt sad that they were fenced, but not many red kangaroos exist in the wild in this state (Northern Territory). The eastern states have a fence that has been erected to keep out the dingos, a predator, hence many more kangaroos.

After lunch we drove to the East MacDonnell range to see the Emily and Jesse Gaps. The contain aboriginal paintings and are important spiritual centers. The color of the sky and the red of the rocks made a beautiful setting for both gaps. Then we headed to the West Macdonnell range to see the Simpson Gap. This was a spot where late in the day you could see wallabys climbing the rocks. When we got there people were climbing the rocks, so no wallabys.

Adelaide to Alice Springs (Alice) April 23, 2011

Here we are in Alice. I sat next to a young woman on the plane, who was going home to accompany her sister to a high school reunion. She lives in Adelaide and is studying for her masters in social work. She told me about her family who run a roadhouse on the way to Kings Canyon and Uluru. Had we not heard about the famous dingo, Dinky, who plays the piano and sings? No we had not.

On landing, we got our car and drove to Alice. Our motel was like a campground with the chalet rooms. It had a kitchen, which was nice, so we shopped for food, wine, etc. We had some time left in the day, so we went to the Royal Flying Doctors Museum. It was interesting, in that it spoke to the lack of communication that existed early in the century. In the 1920's, a radio run by pedal power was developed. This opened up a connection among people in the outback. Women often ran the radios and a community developed that had not existed before. Soon batteries replaced the foot and as all was history. Today, each cattle station and indigenous population maintains their own airstrip to receive the Royal Flying Doctors, if needed. There is government support for this service, but it raises its own funds to keep up the airplanes and medical equipment.

Kangaroo Island to Adelaide April 22, 2011

We experience another beautiful sunrise. Then the clouds roll in. We are in search of the town roos and we found them. They were lying down and if you didn't know they were there, you could miss them. You thought you were looking at mules with big ears.

On the road to the ferry we stopped at a town called American River. There was a wharf where you could see pelicans and we stopped to take pictures of them. They had beautiful black and white plumage.

As we went on toward the ferry, we decided to stop at Prospect Hill, a big sand dune with 512 steps to the overlook. It was a beautiful vista, since this is a place that is the most narrow on the island and you can see off to both directions.

At the ferry terminal, there was a beach where penguins had their nests. They were out to sea during the day and come back at night, so we saw no penguins, but two wallabys. We were able to get on the earlier ferry, which allowed us plenty of time to get to Adelaide.

Kangaroo Island April 21, 2011

It was a beautiful sunrise over Nepean Bay. We headed out to to other end of the island to the National Park. It was a beautiful spot. On the way we see no Kangaroos or koalas. Our first stop was at the Remarkable Rocks. It was a few huge rocks that had been carved by the wind and the sea, just sitting on the edge of the water. Further along we reached Admirals Arch, a wild spot, with the wind blowing and sun showers happening as we walked down the path to see the New Zealand harbor seals hauled out on the rocks below us.

We had lunch and then headed out on a hike to the platypus pools. We saw no roos or koalas or even platypus, but did see some huge geese and other colorful birds. On our way back, almost to the visitors center, yay, we saw kangaroos.

Sydney to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island April 20, 2011

We learned this morning that yesterday at the Sydney Airport there was a power failure and 16 people got though security without being scanned. They closed the terminal, rescanned people, kept flights on the tarmac, etc, etc. The backup continued to this morning. All flights full. We got on our flight and as everyone was seated it was announced that someone put a lithium ion computer battery into their checked luggage. They needed to find that piece of luggage which they did in 20 minutes, so off we went to Adelaide.

I am sitting in the row with Elvis. What a nice guy. He and his girlfriend are dressed to the nines in animal print. He has been to Memphis three times, including the 30th anniversary. He showed me part of his Elvis collection; a picture on his cell phone. As we waited for luggage, he graciously posed for a picture.

Off to Kangaroo Island. Made the ferry with little time to spare. It is only a 45 minute ride. Once there we had about another 45 minutes to our motel; met no kangaroos on the road.

Blue Mountains April 19, 2011

This was a much anticipated trip. Got on the bus at 7:50 am and headed to other pick-ups in the city. Then out onto the road and ran into lots of traffic. Finally reached the Blue Mountains. They reminded my of our Blue Mountain, but they had spectacular rock formations.

We walked down 1000 steps into the valley. We passed some nice waterfalls and views. We reached the area that was a mining village and we took the railway or funicular back up. The ride was fast and scary, through cliffs and straight up.

We opted for the ferry ride home and unfortunately took the slow ferry, but it put us closer to our hotel at Darling Harbour.

Monday in Sydney April 18, 2011

Mike and I had forgotten that we wanted to have breakfast at Bill’s, a café mentioned in a Rudy Maxa travelogue about Sydney. It seemed that we could do this and continue on the bus to the famous Bondi beach. We got our all day bus/ferry/train pass and headed out. Unfortunately we got off the bus too soon, and found ourselves hiking up hills on Victoria Street to get to the address we had. And there it was, just as we saw it in Rudy’s film. We ordered the Ricotta banana pancakes with honey butter. So yummy and worth the climb up the hill.

With better directions we found the bus to Bondi Beach. It is a beautiful day and the beach is sparkling. Surfers, swimmers, old men in speedo’s. Both of us dabbled our toes in the water. Too cold for me, but Mike said he could swim there. We walked along the edge of the beach and up along the rocks. It is just like the travelogues.

We get back on the bus to travel to Watson’s Bay, where there is a ferry. It is a beautiful spot. We have a really fast lunch and get on the ferry to return to the Circular Quay. We have dinner again at Darlington Quay and back to the hotel.

Last Day in New Zealand April 16, 2011

Rainy day. We decide to go to the International Antarctic Centre. It was pretty pricey, but it turned out to be an interesting place with information on Antarctica. Our first half hour saw us on our trip on a Hagglund, a Swiss or Swedish built all terrain vehicle used in the Antarctic. There was a whole course built to travel over with this vehicle. We went up and over bumps and chicanes and over hills, especially one that replicated a crevasse. Then the hill of terror, so steep the driver could not see over it. And through a three foot deep pond. Quite amazing.

There were several rooms that provided the Antarctic experience, including one that was at a temperature of 17 degrees F. You put on parkas to enter it and then the wind began to blow and after it reached over 35 mph, with the howling sound in the background you could believe you were down there on the ice. There was snow underfoot as well.

On to the Little Blue Penguins-they have the capacity to keep 26 of them. Most have broken wings or beaks; one is blind. The viewing included seeing them in the water, on the rocks and in their dens. We did a 4-D movie, which was interesting, but being splashed in the face with water got old after the 3rd time.

We turned in our rental car and returned to the hotel to do laundry. Around 5:30 my worst fear happened. Our room started to shake and the ground rumbled and we experienced a 5.3 earthquake. It was the first aftershock in many weeks and was quite large. Power went out in parts of the city; however, we were ok. The hotel staff pointed out the gathering spot in the parking lot, should we need to evacuate. A little later in the evening, a second tremble was felt, but not anywhere as big as the earlier one. There is an amazing noise associated with these quakes; sounds like the earth is grumbling.

We got into bed, knowing we would be up at 3 a.m. to go to the airport for our flight to Sydney. It was quiet the rest of the night.

Mt. Cook to Christchurch April 14, 2011

After a glorious day, we awoke to the sound of a flock of Kea and clouds. The Kea is the mountain parrots of New Zealand. They sound like cats. They flew onto the roof of the buildings down below our hotel room. I did get a picture of them. When they fly they are colorful birds.

We headed off to Christchurch but stopped in Lake Tekapo to see the Church of the Good Shepard. It is a non-denominational church sitting on the edge of the lake. It is a beautiful setting with the lake beyond. A glass wall beyond the alter gives a view out to the lake. There were a lot of folks stopping to see the church; hence you couldn’t get a good picture.

We drove up into the cloud cover and there were no vista’s to be seen, but lots of sheep in pastures.

We drove to the train station in Christchurch to purchase our tickets on the TranzAlpine for tomorrow. The forecast was for a cloudy day, but we thought we would go despite that. Our hotel room turned out to be quite nice and very near the airport.

Christchurch to Arthurs Pass April 15, 2011

Rainy, misty, clouds-not a good day for this trip with the spectacular scenery it promised. This is the train that travels across the south island from Christchurch to Greymouth on the west coast. Our plan was to get off at Arthur's Pass, which is about half way, and take some hikes, have lunch and catch the train on its return trip to Christchurch. We traveled through Greymouth last week in a rainstorm and really hoped we didn't have to visit there again in rainy weather. However, once we got high enough into the mountains, the sun broke through and it was beautiful. We had some nice vistas, especially over the viaducts that spanned the rivers. The high country is also home to some of the biggest sheep stations on the south island.

Sun is shinning in Arthurs Pass and we get off, head to the visitors center to get some direction from the staff. We are off to the Devils Punchbowl Falls. Yes, up you went, several hundred steps but the view at the top was quite nice. While at the observation spot, we met an Ozzie couple that offered to take our picture. They said they didn't travel with a camera, so we took their picture and offered to email it to them. They were pleased about that and said to call them if we wished when we arrived in Melbourne.

We trekked back to the village for lunch before tackling another hike to the Bridal Veil Falls (has to be the most popular name for a waterfall, world wide). The trail was under construction, so we could only go part way. Back down to the main road and a hike through the town, which in its heyday, housed the miners who tunneled through the rock for the railroad. The miner's cottages lined the road; some were run down, others were fixed up for holiday cottages. This area is known for its hiking trails.

Back onto the train and as we descended, the clouds appeared. It was not as foggy as in the morning, so we got to see some vistas that were hidden in the morning. It was a better day than we thought it would be.

Otega Peninsula Birds April 11, 2011

Bird Day on the East Coast Otago Peninsula April 11, 2011

We left the city and ventured onto a narrow two laned road that hugged the coast of the peninsula. We passed beautiful bays along the way with calm water and beautiful reflections. It was tough to find pull offs to photograph, but we did find one spot were we saw birds and boats in the quiet of the morning.

Larnach Castle was our next stop. We were glad we stopped because it was a beautiful spot, high on the hill overlooking the harbor. The Castle was built by William Larnach, a rich man who made and lost fortunes, became a member of Parliament, married three times and committed suicide in the Parliament building. The building and grounds are privately owned and restored. The building was interesting, especially the wood carvings that covered the ceiling and trim. There was a beautiful Georgian hanging staircase, the only one in the southern hemisphere. The gardens were fading, but still interesting and beautiful. We had lunch in the ballroom, which is now the café.

Off to Taiaroa Head at the end of the peninsula to visit the Royal Albatross Center. Managed as a Nature Reserve by the Dept. of Conservation. Our tour consisted of a movie and talk by a naturalist and a walk to a viewing observatory. We saw several chicks but no adults. The chicks were huge and they slim down before they fledge. The wing span is 91/2 ft and they can fly at speeds of 75 mph.

Next we went off to the Penguin Place, a privately owned conservation effort to save the yellow eyed penguin. They have a penguin hospital, where they keep mostly juvenile birds to fatten them up to fly off on their own. They have a series of viewing stations allowing you close-up views of the penguins. We saw several juvenile penguins who were shedding their feathers; funny looking guys. As we walked along the cliff we saw a juvenile that should have been out to sea, so they came and collected him. He will probably stay overnight to be weighed and fed and released back into the wild.