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| Auckland with Sky Tower |
January 12
Got in to Auckland, New Zealand, (pronounced “new
zehland,” or referred to as “n-zed.”) last night at six. Our driver was a
Punjab from India, who’d been here since 1998. Cosmopolitan city but in
appearance and clime like Pacific NW. Some palm trees and Monkey trees, though.
Went to pharmacy and ready to walk around a bunch more looking at sights. One
other couple has arrived early like us and we talked this morning. Met a nice
Swedish couple last night when I offered to take their picture in front of the
harbour.
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| Albert Park |
We walked up Queen St. and found some wi-fi, then
went up to Albert Park, a lovely spot of green on a hill smack dab in the
middle of the downtown. Had lunch at the Harbourside Bar and Grill, out on the
patio overlooking the harbor.
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| Yum! |
January 13
We rode the Link bus which goes around the
periphery of Auckland and got off at the Auckland Museum. We spent most of the
time there with the Maori exhibits. Such beautiful carvings and faces that look
like people I've seen. The faces on gateways, bowls, and ship's prow are all so
different in appearance. Abalone rounds make the eyes and ceremonial faces have
a third eye. There was a longhouse constructed and the front of a storehouse. A
canoe so long 100 men could ride in it. Their main weapon consisted of a
"mere", what I'd call a whacking stick, a kind of flat, hand-held
paddle made of wood or jade.
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| This decorated the door to the longhouse. |
A wall chart showed the similar language origins
and from that one could see why some Hawaiians look like Maoris. Same origins.
After the museum, we finished the circle so we'd
seen the areas of Parnell and Ponsonby by the time we got back to our hotel.
Weather both days has been windy and yesterday also rainy but always a spot of
sun as well. Looks a lot like Oregon here. Tomorrow a yacht ride and a visit to
Eden Gardens and then back to the museum. We've enjoyed this being a
"green" country and all the healthy food. Last night’s dinner was at
an outdoor cafe called the Britomart Country Club--a roof, a boxcar for
restrooms a boxcar for a bar and one for the kitchen, then a bunch of tables
and chairs and that's it. That’s a good concept for an outdoor restaurant in a
warm place.
Wednesday, January 14--
First we had a lecture of New Zealand history and
a bit about politics. Do you know no humans were here until about 800 years
ago? Only mammal was a bat. No predators so birds forgot how to fly, evolved to
wingless. The kiwi grew whiskers and has furry feathers. Heard a bit about
American soldiers being here in WWII which interested me since Mom just told me
Dad had been here for a period of time then. The Americans built a park for the
citizens of Auckland.
Off we went for a sail around the bay on a
sailboat, pretending we were racing in the World Cup. Wind in our hair on the
harbour--ahh! Too short a ride.
Up to Eden Garden, a lovely garden made from a
quarry. Walked and met all our friends, the trees and flowers same as at home
but blooming instead of frozen and dead. Had a fabulous lunch where we all
introduced ourselves. Lots of scientists, accountants, pharmacists, nurses.
Only one other teacher and writer. Speaking of writing, I sold a book
already!!!
Then back to Auckland Museum for a guided tour,
seeing mostly different things from yesterday. Glad to have gone back this
second day. Neal said it was like being in a totally new museum. More history
and explanations.
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| This is one segment of the longhouse wall. |
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| A storage shed for food items. |
We all wear these "whisperers" which are
devices that allow the guide to talk and us to hear even if we are way behind
or way ahead or in the next room. Cool!
We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings as we
head to the beach and a volcanic dome.
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| The long 100-man canoe--postcard photo |
No, I did not scream the first time any transport
started out on the “wrong” side of the road. Roundabouts are fun, though. John,
our guide, says that they used to say that THEY drove on the right side of the
road, but really, they were driving on the left side, not the right side, so
now they say they drive on the “correct” side of the road.
Lots of other funny idiomatic expressions we noted
along the way, like “way out” for “exit,” (Don’t we all want to know the way
out at times?) and “Remember to indicate” for “Use your turn signal.” Many,
many more.
January 15
Today we explored the North Coast of greater
Auckland, especially North Head, Lake Pupuke, Cheltenham Beach and
Devenport--old volcanoes and WWII batteries, previous Maori armaments.
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| Looking across to Auckland |
This morning's lecture was about the geology and
weather patterns of NZ--very interesting to see weather from this southern
perspective. Our speaker showed us a map with NZ in the center and there wasn't
much else there except ocean and the edges of Australia and Antarctica. Did you
know that Australia actually broke off from India? There was a huge land mass
called Gondwana and then some major shifting occurred. NZ didn’t even exist
back then and got here because of plate tectonics. It’s a very new landform. Part
of NZ is sliding over the top and part is sliding under and the middle of the
twist is where all the earthquakes are happening and volcanic action could
occur at any time.
Auckland is very temperate and very windy with
immediate weather changes and now we know why, thanks to our lecture.
John Walsby, the guide, reminded me of our friend
Clair Thomas, because he knew so much about everything and every subject in the
natural realm that he never stopped talking and my head got very, very full. I
wish I would have had science teachers like this in my former education.
Neal took a bazillion photos so maybe he'll share
them when we get back.
Mostly I loved being outside in all the beauty.
Lunch was good, too. Hahahaha!
Tomorrow we visit a glow worm cave and move on to
Rotorua.
Friday, January 17
I forgot yesterday to say that the addition to the
bridge in Auckland, engineered and built by a Japanese group, is called the
"Nippon Clip-on."
On the road today, we stopped out in the country at
a nice place for lunch, called "Roseland," and then went on to the
Waitomo Glow Worm caves. What a spiritual experience! We could barely see in
front of us and could hear only the water droplets from the top of the cave in
the water. The boat guide propelled us by pulling on ropes. The glow worms
shine turquoisey in the dark. My sister Susie would have loved it and she would
have cried. On a boat, in the dark, no cameras, no talking, just being in a
state of awe. Once the butterfly (I just read it is called a "fly")
emerges, it lives four days in which time it has to find a mate and lay its 126
eggs. The first one out eats all the other125 for food enough to live and the
cycle starts again. Waitomo means water hole.
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| The glow worms--postcard photo |
I went swimming tonight in the lukewarm outside
pool, windy, but I needed to move all of me about after a long bus ride.
Tomorrow a morning hike, an afternoon lake cruise and then a Maori feast and
festivity. So much of the topography looks like Hawaii or Costa Rica. Many
cattle ranches, sheep ranches, and dairy farms today. People asked where the
dairy barns were because though we saw cows, we saw few barns. John said that
there are sheds but they are back away from the road and most are just open,
with a roof, because the weather is generally good. The lake down the road here
in Rotorua is the same size as Singapore.
January 18
We are now in Rotorua which rests in a giant
caldera. It smells of sulpher.
Today was incredible, just incredible. Susie would
have cried again! Hahahaha!
First we went to the Waimangu Valley Geothermal
site. We saw all the types of geothermal activity and the plants that grow in
such an area. We saw many geysers, which some people pronounce
"geezers." So us geezers were seeing geezers. However, someone
corrected the misprounouncements by assuring us we were seeing geysers. We saw
photos of before and after because the huge activity was quite recent. Now the
activity is closely monitored so everyone can evacuate safely in time.
We cruised on Lake Rotomahana (not the big one we
saw coming in—another one) created by the last blast, and got up close to many
geysers. Then we hiked for a mile and a half and studied flora, heard birds,
and got very close but not too close to more geysers. Thighs got a good
workout, believe me.
Lunch was a total shift as we ate at the Princes
Gate Hotel in Rotorua. What a beautiful old Victorian hotel that was moved
twice, the second time so miners would have a place to drink after work, since
Prohibition went into effect in the old town, and a new town grew up around the
replacement site of the hotel. The new owners have upgraded the hotel to its
present splendor.
Then we visited Te Puia, established to preserve
the traditional arts and crafts of the Maori. We saw the geyser Pohutu, which
goes for 40 minutes at a time, in action, and some boiling mud pools. We also
learned how to cut, prepare and weave the flax for use in making cloaks and
skirts and bags and such. Our Maori guide said it was very uncomfortable to
wear. I have to say that if I ever got a tattoo, it would be one of the amazing
Maori designs. I enjoyed looking at them all.
Back home for a shower and a brief rest while Neal
shopped in town at the jade shop Back home for a shower and a brief rest, and
back to Te Puia for a dinner and entertainment, a hangi (cooking in the ground)
at a Marae--meeting place. The coolest thing about this was the opening
ceremony at which Neal was chosen to be chief of us visitors. There was a
ritual he had to learn that is taken very seriously and then there was music
and dance. As Mrs. chief, I got to sit up front with him and I also got to do
the women's dance with the white balls. I felt like a cheerleader! Hahahaha!
Then Neal got to do the Haka with the Maori men. OMG! What a spectacular event!
Dinner, much of which was cooked in the ground, was amazing as well. An evening
to never forget and a wonderful celebration of yet another culture that wasn't as
primitive as everyone assumed.
Neal is floating in the clouds with his new title
as chief, and everyone is calling me “Miss Chief.”
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| The skirt |
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| Carving |
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| Hangi food, cooked in ground |
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| Me doing the white ball dance |
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| Neal doing the Haka |
En route, North Island to South Island to Te Anau,
Sunday January 19th
Tiring travel day. Two plane rides, nice
attendants, tea and biscuits the middle of each flight, but no tea second
flight because of turbulence. Landed in Invercargill and lunched at local
Salvation Army, whose ladies prepared a typical Southland meal. It seemed like a regular picnic meal to me,
corned beef sliced cold, potato salad, beet salad, bean salad. I don’t know
what dessert was because I didn’t have any. Cookies, I think.
Then a geography lecture about the places we are
going during which I did what I usually did during junior and senior high
school geography classes, especially after lunch--fall asleep. Hahahaha! I was
so comforted to learn almost all of my tour mates did the same thing. I hope we
didn't dishearten the speaker who addressed our continually nodding heads.
However, I have to credit him with some blame as he said he knew most people
didn't learn much by being talked at and then, by golly, that's what he went
and did!
Next came our looooong bus trip through dairy,
deer, and sheep farming country. Think Baker valley and Wallowa County and
Summerville area of Union County, Oregon for what the topography looks like.
The deer are the English red deer and they don't jump the fences. Plenty to eat
right where they are. Dairying is four times bigger than sheep farming here
now. Very windy here and more so tomorrow. Hope my eyeballs are big enough for
all we'll see tomorrow.
At 7:15 tomorrow, off we go to Milford Sound, then
back up to Queensland.
And by the way, Roget wrote the thesaurus in 12
years of his retirement, so no fair sitting around on your tuckus when there's
plenty to do! He also figured out how animation would work. Neither of which
has a darn thing to do with this trip, but it just shows how a person can learn
something new every day even when she's 67!
Monday, January 20
Te Anau to Milford Sound to Queenstown
Up early and out for good reason, to miss the
traffic and zillions of other tourists who wanted to do the same thing we did,
jump on the boat and cruise to the end of Milford Sound. More gorgeous scenery
on the way there, dairy, deer and sheep farms, giving way to more glacial
mountains and rocky land. We stopped to take photos of fog rising from the
fields and giant mountains reflected in clear rivers and ponds. In one place,
The Chasm, we stood on a bridge and looked at The Sculpture, a place where the
rock had been worn through by raging water so there were holes and boulders
that looked as though they were turned this way and that on a lathe.
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| Taking my breath away! |
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| My favorite NZ photo! |
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| The Chasm rocks |
Once at the end of the sound, we boarded the
mini-cruiser and gave ourselves neck and eyeball exercises, looking almost
straight up on both sides, five to six thousand feet. I didn't look much down
in the water that Neal tells me is at least half a mile deep. Many waterfalls
bore the typical names of waterfalls, like "Rainbow" and "Bridal
Veil." Some waterfalls came from streams and some were just run-off from
rains. The boat got right up to them and people in front got soaked!
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| Our boat, and Bishop's Mitre in background |
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| Just breathe. |
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| Ahh! Awe! |
Here I must stop to say how gloriously lucky we
were today to have SUN because it rains 360 days a year on the sound. I was
outside the whole time except when we were eating lunch and I'm mad about
having to be inside eating because I missed a lot of waterfalls. My eyeballs
actually DO hurt from looking! We saw New Zealand fur seals basking on a rock
but they weren't barking.
On the way back through Homer tunnel, as we exited,
we pulled off to visit a couple of Kea birds alongside the road. Google them to
see how smart they are. They are about the size of a small turkey.
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| Kea |
Back through Te Anau and then up to
Queensland--again looked like a greener version of Eastern Oregon. The lake
here at Queensland is turquoise and so beautiful to regard, with the craggy
peaks across the way. Our room is like a condo, our bedrooms upstairs. We have
our own bathrooms as well. Can't wait until tomorrow to cross the lake to see a
sheep farm in action, come back to walk around town and the gardens, drink wine
on the deck, and then take a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain for
dinner. Woo-hoo, NZ!
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| Queenstown waterfront |
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| Queenstown from gondola window |
Tuesday, January 21, Queenstown
Slept in a tad later today and then went on a
steamboat ride across the lake to Walter Park Homestead. We saw a demonstration
of sheep shearing, and yes, by golly, they still do it the way Pascal Arritola
did it for our 4-H sheep every year. And yes, the lanolin still stinks as much.
Then we were shown how sheep dogs round up the sheep. What a good dog, part
Border Collie and something else, very smart. He was about 12 years old, so an
old guy still good at his job. His name was Kenny. All the tourists got to feed
some sheep if they liked. The sheep seemed to know that was coming because they
all ran up to come through the gate out of the pasture and into the enclosure.
The young man was such a comedic and personable
presenter, so I asked him what he studied at university and he said commerce
management and agriculture. He did not plan to be an all-time sheep shearer and
he explained that a person can't do that every day of the year and after awhile
any shearer gets all hunched over from that back-breaking job. The top shearer
in contest did 700 sheep in a day. Wow! He did mention how dumb sheep are. From
experience, I can agree with that.
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| Steamboat that brought us |
We all ran off to a fabulous barbecue lunch at the
lovely farmhouse. If you ever wonder about Road Scholar trips, let me tell you,
you will be fed superbly, more food and more often than you really require. I
am going to have to work out so hard for awhile thanks to the holidays and now
this. Today one of the desserts was homemade ice cream, I could tell because it
tasted like Susie's, soooo delicious! Black Quinoa salad which was crunchy.
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| The Farmhouse |
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| Another favorite NZ photo |
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| Queenstown, The Remarkables to the left |
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| Sunset, Queenstown |
On the way back, I eavesdropped on a conversation
between the steamboat's boiler tender and some other New Zealanders he'd met
while they all were on holiday in Alaska. His neck had been burned in a
flashback of the boiler due to big wind coming down the pipe and he'd been in
hospital for a month. Quite a handsome lad despite all that.
In Queenstown there is a plethora of activities to
partake in, something like Bend, Oregon. Jet boat rides, parasailing,
paragliding, hiking, kayaking, etc. and skiing in the winter. There are even
sporting games for kids along the beach. If you are an outdoors person, this is
the town for you.
Back across the lake in Queenstown again, we
toured the town on our own, looking for whatever treasures we desired. I found
a tee-shirt and Neal got postcards and stamps. Then we trekked through the park
back home. We rode up the gondola for dinner tonight. Just got back from that.
Great view from above!
Sunset—stupendous!
Tomorrow a visit to Arrowtown and then a plane
ride to Wellington where there was an earthquake two days ago. Wish us luck!
We've enjoyed our condo apartment here, believe
me!
Wednesday, January 22
Another long day and plane ride. Now in
"Windy Wellington." As I stepped out of the plane, the wind blew off
my glasses.
But to backtrack, this morning after leaving
Queenstown, we made a detour to the old mining town of Arrowtown--refurbished
sort of like Virginia City, Nevada or any other kind of ghost town. We walked
around and looked at the old, tiny houses and shops and visited some of the
Chinese settlement. We had the tourist coffee and treat and enjoyed the sun. I
bought a watch because mine broke from continually catching on seat
belt-latching and un-latchings.
Had lunch at the airport and rode the big bird in
the sky to Wellington. The airport in Wellington is named "the Middle of
Middle Earth." The bus driver gave us a quick tour of the city, took us to
the top of Victoria Hill to look at the entire almost 360-degree city, told us
where Antarctica was, and let us get off the bus for 10 minutes to visit the
botanical garden and begonia room. Then, the pièce de resistance: once at our hotel, we attended a discussion of
politics in New Zealand that would have been much more interesting had we not
been at the end of a big travel day. The main gist is that one party has the
majority gained from the political process so if something to help constituents
needs done and that party wants to do it, it gets done.
One new thing I learned today is the term
"lifestyle blocks." If you buy a 2-10 acre parcel of land and build a
house on it, this is called a lifestyle block. In Queenstown, the homes built
are usually McMansions. I told Neal that our lifestyle block had only a
gatekeeper's cottage. Hahahaha!
Beets. As I was to discover, in both New Zealand
and Australia, people eat beets quite often. More often than in the states and
in many different recipes. Delicious.
We are exhausted and I'm starting to get a cold,
(too many buffets with a zillion germs hands on the food tongs). Oh, rain last
night turned back into sun! Hooray!
One last note--Wellington reminds me of Russia in
that many buildings are painted grey and styled utilitarian, flat stacks of
floors, no greenery. Homes squished together, no yards and mostly unkempt,
peeling paint and such. So different from where we've been.
Wellington, January 23
Woke to bright sunlight and--WIND, our constant
companion. Still, we intrepid travelers persevered!
The entire city looked better in sunlight. Doesn't
it always?
We started with a cable car ride up to the top of
the botanical gardens. That was a fun ride, more like a funicular sit-down ride
but an enjoyable experience nonetheless. Since we were at the top of the
gardens, we had to walk down, right? Ahh, finally some real activity that
wasn't too much stop and go. We stopped almost down to look at a sculpture by a
famous American sculptor, Henry Moore, and the sports-playing fields the
Americans in WWII constructed in appreciation for the city of Wellington. Back
down to the rose gardens, but no stopping to smell, just on down to visit the
oldest church in town and then to our appointment with the Supreme Court.
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| Henry Moore sculpture |
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| St. Paul Church |
Of course Neal was in 7th Heaven. First we saw the
present building, and then the older, restored one. The new courtroom inside the
new building is in a dome-like configuration. Like a Kaori cone. I hope I have
the right spelling, anyway. Copper on the outside and triangular pieces like
that cone on the inside. The ceiling has an oblong glass skylight ceiling in
sort of triangular, long shapes (leaves?) to deflect sound and that part can be
covered over when it's too warm, like in midday. There are five judges who are
the final deciding court. We were allowed to go up and look at their chairs and
touch the screens made to look like Maori Longhouse wall mats on either side.
This building was made so that the public can see
the judges at work through the glass at the doors of the court. So people
standing across the street at a bus stop can look in and see that the court is
in session. The windows can be shaded if a case warrants, so of course the
guide demonstrated that for us, several off and ons.
Then we saw the old, reconstructed courthouse and
it looks more like what we expect a courthouse to look like. Of course Neal got
up in the witness box and took the oath, etc. there ensued a big discussion on
which hand was supposed to be on the Bible and which in the air. The docket
with steps leading down to the prison was right in the middle of the courtroom.
Some people told Neal that was where he really should have been! Hahahaha!
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| Inside Supreme Court |
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| Supreme Court building |
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| Old courthouse |
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| Parliament |
Lunch was at the Backbenchers Gastropub. Good
salad. Funny political cartoons that fit our government officials to a “T” as
well as the ones being commented upon. Evidently, politics is the same
everywhere. The Parliament Building was being refurbished and a meeting of all
the countries in the Commonwealth was going on, so we didn’t see inside those
buildings.
We spent the afternoon at the Te Papa Museum. We
heard lovely philosophy from our Maori guide. I hope to find a book that
includes it all. One particularly striking statement he made was that the Maori
believe that if people want a good society, then parents must parent well. If
they don't, the young people will turn against society. The museum was a place
where one could go at ten in the morning and maybe see what you most wanted to
see by 6 p.m. One highlight was the Pygmy Blue Whale skeleton which hung from
the ceiling and filled the room. After
the museum, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with some of our group on the
waterfront.
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| Te Papa |
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| Te Papa Welcome Ceremony Room |
Wellington, January 24
Zealandia, the place in the city that has been
fenced off with footings and mesh with holes less than quarter of an inch in
thickness so nothing can get in by foot (except some very small mice being
watched to see they don't become invasive). Zealandia, where anything not
native to NZ before humans arrived is being eradicated and where things that
were here before are being reintroduced, like certain species of trees. Our
guide said it will take about 700 years for that to happen, but you have to
start somewhere, right? We had a lovely, brisk morning walk through the
reclaimed land and although all the birds and creatures weren't out yet, since
some are nocturnal, some cormorants were out.
By the way, if an ornithologist here asks you if
you want a shag, don't bop him one for his impudence--"shag" is what
cormorants are more commonly called. We saw the NZ version of geckos, several
varieties of birds I now forget the name of, and some ugly three-eyed lizard thing
that sleeps burrowed in a hole.
We heard the bell bird but we didn't see it, same
with the saddleback. I guess the ornithologist could say, "If you don't
want the shag, give me my saddleback." Hahahaha!
After the outdoors walk, we went inside the
visitors center and watched a 7-minute film showing what NZ was like before
humans, then all the bad stuff Maoris and Englishmen did, unwittingly, when
they showed up and now how in this one space and in several NZ islands the
damage is being reversed. Quite an inspirational movie. We all could do a bit
more to live more sustainably. I saw a quotation yesterday that I liked--If you
live like there's no tomorrow, there definitely won't be."
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| Ugly, three-eyed lizard thing |
As a surprise, we were gifted a Quickie surprise
trip to Weta Studio gift store. People snapped photos of the giant trolls and
the Golom (sp) and the big fang-toothed monster. I did that, too, it's true,
and Neal bought himself and his mentoree Lucas a Hobbitown shirt.
This afternoon the gang drove around with a
geologist who explained the geology of the area. I, on the other hand, took a
nap. We have to arise at 4:00 in the morning to fly to Australia and I need to
catch up on sleep before then. We had a lovely farewell dinner for those who
were going back home without seeing Australia.
If you've ever wondered if you'd like NZ, I have
to say the answer is probably yes. I'll be sad to bid it farewell.
Saturday, January 25
Travel day, wake up 3:45, flight to Sydney,
Australia, at 7:05.
Upon arrival, as we drove in from the airport, we
stopped for a breather at the famous Bondi Beach, drove up to a park where we
could take in the all of Sydney, and then out to the south headland of the
harbor and a place where people used to leap to their deaths.
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| Bondi Beach |
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| At the headlands |
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| Sydney, bridge and opera house in distance |
Once ensconced in our hotel, we walked around the central
city area in a circle and experienced George Street and Market Street, and the
Queen Victoria Building. Our hotel is right on Darling Harbour. Briefing for
rest of time in Sydney and then dinner. Pooped. We have cruises and a zoo trip on
our list and we’ll learn about opal mining. We also have a tour of Sydney Opera
House where we all plan to sing. Sydney is lovely and lively. More to come!
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| Queen Victoria Building |
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| Sydney Opera House |
Australia Day, January 26, 2014
Happy Australia Day!
It started off cloudy and misty. We had two
lectures about Australia's history, but at tea time I left to go buy a pair of
shoes because mine just died. I traversed where we'd walked yesterday so I was
reasonably sure I wouldn't get lost. That way I got a photo shot of Queen
Victoria's Market which I had missed yesterday because my iPhone had died. My
new shoes felt great as we walked around alongside the harbour all afternoon at
"The Rocks."
Just a little bit about what I did learn. The
median Australian taxpayer makes about $50,000, the range being from $37,000 to
$80,000. 1.5% of pre-tax income goes to medicare. 9% goes to superannuation for
retirement fund and employers have to contribute half of that. There are also widow’s pensions, disability
pensions and returned servicemen or their widows’ pensions. Healthcare is both
public and private and palliative care is available. I also have a great fact
sheet should anyone be interested in more comparisons between our two
countries.
Australia Day, January 26, 2014
Happy Australia Day!
It started off cloudy and misty. We had two
lectures about Australia's history, but at tea time I left to go buy a pair of
shoes because mine just died. I traversed where we'd walked yesterday so I was
reasonably sure I wouldn't get lost. That way I got a photo shot of Queen
Victoria's Market which I had missed yesterday because my iPhone had died. My
new walking shoes felt great as we walked around alongside the harbour all
afternoon at "The Rocks."
Just a little bit about what I did learn. The
median Australian taxpayer makes about $50,000, the range being from $37,000 to
$80,000. 1.5% of pre-tax income goes to medicare. 9% goes to superannuation for
retirement fund and employers have to contribute half of that. There are also widow’s pensions, disability
pensions and returned servicemen or their widows’ pensions. Healthcare is both
public and private and palliative care is available. I also have a great fact
sheet should anyone be interested in more comparisons between our two
countries.
We saw warehouses and bond shops turned into
restaurants. Many buildings are kept the same on the outside and re-purposed
inside. We saw the tall sailing ships race, ferries racing, a cruise ship and a
steam ship. A helicopter pulling an Australian flag, news helicopters, and
about 30,000 people milling about with us.
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| Bond shops, now restaurants |
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| sculpture depicting first settlers |
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| Oldest house in Sydney |
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| Tall ships race |
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| Australian flag |
The coup de grace, though, was getting
to tour through all the various performance stages of the Sydney Opera House
and watch a couple of films about its design and structure. We weren’t allowed
to take many photos. We can also say that we sang at the Sydney Opera House. We
go back Tuesday to see a performance there.
 |
| beams inside Opera House |
We went to dinner along the harbour and Neal and I
stayed to see the most fabulous fireworks show I've ever seen in my life, and
I'm OLD! It was synchronized with music and just when we thought it had come to
the finale, it would take off again. What was also cool was the way the
fireworks were reflected in the windows of the buildings across the harbour. Neal
said it was half an hour long. Everyone present was mesmerized by the show, all
180,000 (paper said next day) of our closest friends. Getting out of there
pushed our claustrophobia and agoraphobia limits to the max but I'm so glad we
stayed to experience it. Plus, 1.8 million people came into Sydney for the
Australia Day celebration. Tomorrow we go on a cruise and then we have the day
and night to ourselves. I wonder what we'll come up with?
January 27, still Sydney
We cruised Sydney Harbour today, all the way out
to the north and south headlands, into all the little side harbours and back.
Sunny, light breeze, a perfect morning for a cruise. We had the "morning
tea" cruise and halfway through, we were served our tea and box of sweets.
Being in the harbour helped with understanding Sydney's layout so much better.
Gosh, that was fun!
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| Darling Harbour amusement park |
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| Harbour cruise |
Our lunch was in the very first hospital, at The
Rocks, built by convict labor and the stones were at least a foot thick. That
place is going nowhere for awhile!
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| Look at the stones in the doorway |
I will talk about ketchup here. The formula for it
is very different from in the states. The bottles and labels are the same, but
the texture and taste are different and it’s not called ketchup. It’s called
“tomato sauce.” I’m not sure what they call what we call “tomato sauce” but I
can imagine Aussies and NZeds are disappointed when they come here and buy
tomato sauce and find it to be thin, runny stuff not like their ketchup at all.
Did I talk about vegemite yet? If not, that’s
probably because I find it disgusting. I first encountered it in a bowl sitting
next to the croissants at breakfast buffet. I thought, “Oh, goodie, chocolate
sauce which will taste great on my croissant.” Imagine my surprise to taste a
black, tinny, salty spread made from yeast, rotten yeast, surely, in my
opinion. What a waste of a bite of an otherwise perfectly good croissant!
Others in our group made a similar mistake. We are told kids really like it on
their toast. I guess it’s what one grows up with, but if I’d tasted that as a
kid, I don’t think I’d have wanted to grow up! At least now I know what English
and Commonwealth writers mean when vegemite is referred to.
I love kiwi juice!
We walked back down George Street to our next
destinations, first the convenience store for Kleenex, batteries, cough
drops--those things you find yourself needing whilst traveling, then we headed
up Market Street, over the overpass, and down to the Aquarium, as Vallie (one
of my former students who works here sometimes) suggested for spare time fun.
Saw our first platypus, huge sting rays with giant tails, all types and sizes
of sharks, eels, giant water snakes, turtles with almost foot-long necks and a
turtle that was trying to mate with a fish. Persistently so. Adults couldn't
explain that to each other, let alone their kids.
We walked slowly back to our hotel, stopping for
libation along the waterfront.
Loving the free afternoon! Tonight we'll head back
to Darling Harbour for dinner.
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| Neal at Darling Harbour |
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| Beautiful sculpture, Darling Harbour |
Tomorrow, the zoo, free time, and then the Opera
House performance.
Tuesday, zoo and Sydney Opera House Day
Before anything, we stopped at an opal store to
learn about opal mining. We did not get
to see an actual mine, just a little video. Interesting, because opal is my
birthstone (Who decided stuff like that anyway?) and because I hadn't known
there were three kinds and all three are mined in Australia. I liked the bluish
ones the best but since I didn't have $14,000 for a necklace, I didn't buy one.
Some women on our trip did, though. One woman couldn't decide between the
$6,000 pair or the $18,000 pair. She's 80, though, so why not spend it while
she can enjoy it? Me, I'd rather have a new car. Hahahaha! I can't lose that as
fast as I seem to lose jewelry.
Most of our guys stood in the hall wondering why
these tours didn't have fun stops for guys but when I asked them what they'd
suggest, they came up blank.
Off to the zoo where we saw wombats, kangaroos,
echidnas, possums (not the same thing as what we call possums), a shingle back
lizard, a platypus, a pigeon that looked like a cousin to a peacock, a gorilla,
elephants and a Tasmanian Devil. And another great view of Sydney Harbour. Oh,
and the most dangerous spider in Australia, the funnel spider. Supposedly it's
not aggressive and there is now an antidote. Males' venom is worse than
females'. I did not like when the spider was being passed around, believe me!
However, the male platypus has stinger on his left foot with venom worse than
that spider! Learning all kinds of things. And today was the last day of Christmas/summer
break before kids have to be in school. We enjoyed our ferry ride back to town.
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| Koala (not my photo) |
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| Wallaby |
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| Possum |
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| Tasmanian Devil (so cute) |
Came back
to the hotel for rest and re-packing for our flight to Melbourne. John
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| Echidna |
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| Shingle-backed lizard |
said
tonight it was 27 and fine in Melbourne tomorrow, so not as hot as it's been.
“Fine” means “nice.”
Dinner and then off to see this evening's
performance of "La Soiree" at the opera house, a cabaret like a cross between Cirque de Soleil
and Darcelle's. The acrobatic acts were amazing feats of muscle control. There
were naughty bits, such as the strip teaser who kept finding a red cloth in her
clothing pieces so she had to remove them and when she got down to nothing, she
found one more red hanky in her hoo-haa. One woman was a sword and knife
swallower. Lots of trapeze and twirler acts. Another woman twirled hula hoops,
and finally one woman was a powerful songstress. All in all, a funny evening
laughing at all the naughties.
January 29th, travel to Melbourne (pronounced “Melb’n)
After we arrived, we were taken to the Fitzroy
Gardens for lunch--tea sandwiches and fruit platter. Very lovely, prim gardens,
a darling miniature Tudor village--some of the guys thought it looked like the
buildings were constructed from Legos. Also, a fairy tree--when a tree was
damaged and had to be removed, an artist asked if she could carve the bottom
part into a fairyland for kids and the city agreed. Captain Cook’s parents’ home has been
re-constructed here as well.
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| Mini Tudor Garden |
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| Fairy Tree |
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| Captain Cook's Parents Home |
Menus here in Australia often appear as sheets of
paper attached to a clipboard.
Next, we went to the top--of the Eureka SkyDeck
88--and looked out over the city.
No matter how high we build something, we
have to go to the top and look out, don't we? Supposedly, that is the highest
vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere, but I couldn't see Antarctica no
matter how much I squinted, so I'm just not sure about that! Hahahaha! One part
up there, called "The Edge," has a floor of plexiglass so if you pay to
go in it, you look down 88 floors to the street. And then you pee your pants.
Road Scholar didn't pay for us to do that and no one protested or paid to do it.
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| Melbourne, our hotel to the left |
 |
| Melbourne |
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| Melbourne Harbour |
Our last stop before checking into our hotel was
at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance, honoring all the troops who went
halfway or more around the world to fight England's wars. So many men were lost
in WWI, mostly in Gallipoli, buried in common trenches where they fell, so that
their families had no place to take their grief and a whole generation of women
went without husbands. There are memorials to WWII, Korea, Vietnam Nam, and
Iraq as well. These places make me so sad, remembrances of senseless slaughter.
I can't see one good thing that killing others ever does. I'd like to see
memorials to peace and reconciliation once in awhile.
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| Depiction of WWI hero |
Tomorrow we get to see penguins, so I'll have
something black and white to look forward to! We've been warned it's freezing
down there and we're to wear our warmest clothing. OK! My earmuffs are at the
ready!
Thursday, 30 January
Started the day with a lecture, "Introduction
to Australia's Economy and Health System." The two main things I retained
from this lecture were this: The Australian economy and employment are both so
much better than in the states and have stayed stable during the recession, and
most importantly to me, there is free health insurance for every single person.
Sometimes a person has to wait for an operation but that means nothing to me
since I had to wait six months for my knee replacement to get the person I knew
who did the best job. Aussies can purchase private health insurance and get
things done faster, but most are smarter, and make themselves a fund as they
start out life for their health insurance--whatever dividends come in go to
their fund and not to an insurance company. If they stay well, they have a nice
nest egg once they reach our age and to me that makes so much more sense than
paying an insurance company what you could be packing away yourself so much
more safely since you DO have health insurance as a backup anyway.
Here's my impression of Aussies overall--if they
want something to be done or built, by damn, it gets done and gets done now. If
it's not right, it gets torn down and replaced with something that actually
works. Needs do not get bogged down by partisan politics. If the people want
something, their elected officials do it. That's the way government is SUPPOSED
to work. They do have have lobbies, but the peoples' voice is so much stronger.
Hooray! So if they want a beautiful public arts center, for example, it gets
built. Roads, they get built. A certain law, it gets passed. I love it. AND,
their taxation doesn't work out to be any more than ours and EVERYONE'S salary
is taxed that certain percentage (I think it's about 30%) and that includes
people who are excluded by our tax laws because of the huge amounts of money
they make. I don't believe the wealthy should get a pass--noblesse oblige is a
concept I embrace. It's also a Christian concept, actually. We're only as good
as the poorest among us. Help out everyone (oh, those on welfare, those mothers
who had children, have to find a job when the kids are in school) Also the
basic minimum wage is something like $15 per hour! Another hooray!
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi! (That is a
positive Australian cheer. After we learned it, we said it many times!)(Wikipedia
tells me this is now an official registered trademark chant—plus many more
facts. Go google it. Fascinating.)
After the lecture, and after tramping around in
alleyways to enter a couple of famous arcades (Royal Arcade, Block Arcade)(like
mini-malls), we all rode the tram over to Victoria Market, which is a larger
version of Pike Street Market in Seattle, about the same size as the outdoor
market in Cuernavaca, or similar to any number of European open-air markets, a
vast majority of stalls under a roof. Neal and I ate lunch in the food court
and then walked up and down each aisle and looked at "stuff." We saw
some of EVERYTHING--items from every nation, so many colors, smells like
leather, for example, or wool, and sounds, like the fishmonger and meat market
monger shouting about their wares. Some of the vendors shouted out at us
information about their products as we walked by. I got some pants that Neal
called my "lounging" pants, and a tee-shirt. He got some stuff but
mostly we just looked and enjoyed the sensory splendor. Our friend Sally got a
foot massage. Sorry I missed that one! Hahahaha! I almost had my fortune told,
but at my age that might be a very short reading and I don't want to know that!
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| Royal Arcade |
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| Arcade with Figures that strike the time |
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| foodcourt at Victoria Market |
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| Victoria Market |
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| Looking for the perfect tomato! |
Everyone loaded into the bus at three and we were
off to see the Phillip Island Penguins come in from the ocean where they've
been fishing and swallowing enough to feed their chicks when they return. They
get so full they have to walk at a 45 degree angle up the beach. Our meals have
been so plentiful during this trip that I empathize entirely. Now if I only had
some chicks to share with when I got home!
More about that experience in a moment, because we
made two stops on the way there. First we stopped at a family viewing and
petting farm (mostly to pee, but then again, feeding wallabies and kangaroos,
seeing some more Tasmanian Devils (so cute!) and petting koalas was an
enjoyable by-product. Neal fed a wallaby and he said it was really soft. You
don't move your hand when they are eating the food or you get scratched. I just
watched.
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| Wanna be friends? |
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| Kangaroo |
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| Yummy! |
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| Tasmanian Devil (I'm cute, huh?) |
Our next stop was San Remo Pub where we had dinner
and our friend Mike who is a motorcycle race enthusiast realized this is a pub
where one of his idols hangs out because a whole wall is dedicated to him.
There's a giant world cycling event held here apparently. Mike went to talk to
the owner and get the scoop, and he was gifted with a poster from the race held
in San Remo from 2013. He was thrilled and of course someone took a picture of
him and his poster so it can be emailed to him. That's how nice Aussies are.
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| Neal on refreshment duty |
Then we were at the beach at the site where the
penguins come up. Everyone has to be very quiet, seated, and without electronic
devices or cameras (so I have no photos of this event, but you can go online,
google it, and see it). (You can go to penguins.org.au online or you can
download a free app, Penguin Parade, Phillip Island at the App store.) Some
people from another culture group did not obey even though they were told how
the flash disorients the birds and then they don't know where their burrows are
and they go back into the ocean and their chicks die because they didn't get food.
Some members of our group pointed out any infractions they saw. Since
directions were given in every language, it's not like that other group didn't
understand the fragility of the situation.
 |
| Beach at Phillip Island |
First three birds arrived, the lookouts, and then
once things looked safe to them, the others came in and began waddling up the
beach, swaying sided to side, bellies low to the ground. Every time we saw yet
another group emerge, it felt like magic. The audience is asked to wait an hour
after the first ones come in so that they have time to get to their burrows so
people don't scare them. by the time I walked back up the hill, I saw only
little butts coming from the burrows. They have worn dirt paths up the hill to
their burrows in their nightly march. I started counting but so many came in
last night I soon lost count. I'm sure at least 50 were there. Here's another
place my sister Susie would have cried! It's simply wonderful to see Nature in
action and to realize we humans are finally smart enough to protect another
species while enjoying their process.
We got home at midnight. Our bus was very quiet
the two hours it took to get back to the hotel. What a wonderful day!
January 31, Still Melbourne
Our butts are dragging! We had to get up early to
be at the Ian Potter Centre NGV by 9:00. Somehow I don't think that's very
fair! We had a most informative lecture about the exhibitions there, one of
them Aboriginal art. We learned what some of the symbols used by the Aborigines
mean so we can now understand the paintings better.
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| Ian Potter Centre NGV |
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| Royal Exhibition Hall |
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| I took this for my knitting friends. |
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| For my old car buff friends, Dave and Gene |
After the presentation, Neal and I took the free
shuttle tram over to the Melbourne Museum at Carlton Gardens, next to the Royal
Exhibition Hall. More lovely architecture and gardens. I have to say we have
enjoyed the availability of public transportation and appreciate how we can get
from place to place without a car. That makes a city livable.
At the museum, we focused on the Aborigine
exhibit. There was one section where you could sit at a jukebox and press your
selection and hear the story of an Elder. There was a large structure that
featured several modern Aborigines speaking about their language and their own
clan. There used to be over 250 different languages that are largely lost now
because none of them were written and each clan had its own (three) languages,
each one for certain situations. But Aborigines sure as Hell know what dirt was
done them by the English and other white settlers who came here and reparations
have begun to be made. I read Bill Bryson's very funny book about Australia
before I came, and realize that even since that writing, things have improved for
the Aborigine culture. About time. The story is similar to that of our African
Americans and our First Nation peoples. Kids ripped away from their parents and
family and language in order to assimilate and "civilize" them. The
sad thing, for whites, is that they were too stupid to learn from those
cultures who had so much figured out that we are just now beginning to realize.
We took a lovely stroll back to the hotel after
our visit, passed a "bottle store" where Neal found an excellent
Aussie sparkling wine made from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, because, when
in Rome...Right? We figure while we're here we should sample the wares and
today's selection called "Izzie" was yummy. It goes well with Koko
Black 80% chocolate, by the way. The rest of our afternoon involved finding a
free wi-fi, a good dinner place, and then packing, because Alice Springs is on
the agenda for tomorrow. Uluru, here we come!
Something I keep forgetting is that in Sydney and
here in Melbourne, both, there are neighborhoods where it looks like New
Orleans with all the wrought-iron verandas. Wrought iron was used as ballast on
the way over in ships that would be taking back wheat and other agricultural
products.
February 1, Alice Springs
Yet another plane trip and here we are at Alice
Springs enjoying heat and sun.
We have had a most informative lecture on the
Aborigines who live in this area, their lifestyles, beliefs and art. Aborigines
are around 3% of Australia's population, and about a third of those are
full-blooded. Some recent DNA tests have shown similarities between people in
the area of Pakistan and the indigenous peoples here. How interesting! Other
animals have also migrated here from that area, dingos and a certain type of
tiger. There is way, way more information and more to come.
We went to The School of the Air which I've read
about and seen films about for a long time. Instead of the radio system they
used to use, there are now satellites, fax, phones, and internet. Although the
school is funded by the government, they are looking for funding for extras,
like books to add to their library. Kids over the years have made quilts,
murals and other artwork to symbolize how even though they live 1200 kms apart,
they are classmates. They get together three times a year for events such as
camping and sports and are sometimes surprised about what each other really
looks like.
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| NW Territory Flag and old radio set-up |
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| mural outside School of the Air |
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| looking into a classroom |
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| quilt students made |
After the lecture, I jumped in the pool for a bit
and that felt wonderful! Thank goodness for air conditioning!
At the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens cafe, we were
entertained by an Australian folk singer who was really wonderful, all songs
new to us about old Australian life, except "Waltzing Matilda" which
we all joined in singing. Then we enjoyed a steak barbecue.
Afterwards, an astronomer pointed out stars in the
southern sky as much as could be seen through intermittent cloud cover. He was
a talker and finally our Alice Springs leader, Martin, said in the midst of the
speaker’s spiel, "Thanks so much, Andrew, this has been so informative. On
the bus, everyone." Hahahaha!
Another very full day!
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| folk singer |
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| Our guide, Martin |
Sunday Feb 2, Alice Springs
We spent the morning in the very lovely Alice
Springs Desert Park, learning about the desert landscapes, flora and fauna of
Central Australia. Martin is so knowledgeable and his lecture was great. He
took us through the Desert Park, looking at the birdlife, very colorful birds
which I didn't write down the names of, but Neal probably did. Parrots,
budgies, a red-capped robin, a bustard and a big black bird with red undertail. It was
around 103 degrees today, so it was hard to concentrate. We went through the
marsupial house and saw the little kangaroo mice and Rock Wallabies, snakes,
lizards, and spiders. These are a few of my favorite things, not. Well, not the
snakes and spiders, anyway.
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| horned lizard |
We learned about several forms of acacia, one with
leaves like spikes and shaped like an upside down umbrella so rain goes down to
the roots when it rains, the Mulga. Big Moga snakes live under that tree. Then
there were the Witchetty bushes under which grubs live and are the first real
food, just lightly seared, for Aborigine infants. Oh, yum. We also saw the
Mulga Goanna lizard, and one lizard that was see-through and luminescent. Some
lizards look just like branches of a tree and blend in well with the
environment. I also saw the Spinafex grass mentioned in the novels about this
area that I read. We were given a many-paged informational packet with names
and information about this area which I will read in its entirety later because
this is the most interesting area in Australia and the one we seem to hear the
most about through songs, poetry, and novels, not to mention films.
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| Moga snake |
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| Acacia |
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| Eucalyptus |
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| Spinafex |
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| Termite mound |
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| luminescent lizard |
We went into the MacDonnell Ranges a bit, passing
by the memorial to Rev John Flynn who designed the Royal Flying Doctor Service,
the medical service for remote cattle stations and Aboriginal communities in
Central Australia. We ended up at Simpson's Gap, which is the home of a small
colony of black-footed wallabies but it was too hot for them so they stayed in
the shade, so much smarter than us. Flies, volumes of flies, made up for it
though. I have a little fan, so I got it out and blew that around my face and
they couldn't come near although some black flies bit me on the leg. Everyone
was doing the Australian Wave, which is the flapping of hands across the face
to keep the flies away. I'm wearing my head net tomorrow at Uluru.
Where part of the stones between the north pushed
down and the south pushed up the MacDonnell Ranges, the middle part has been
worn away and that is called Simpson's Gap and there is a bit of water in
there. We could hear a frog croaking and Martin said when it finally rains a
lot, if you're down there or anywhere where the water level is close to the
surface, all of a sudden a frog could just pop up. Hahahaha!
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| The state flower depicted on the flag |
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| Simpson's Gap |
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| Simpson's Gap |
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| Simpson's Gap |
The Royal Flying Doctor Service center was our next
stop and we saw a film explaining its importance to the very rural areas of
Australia. The very first radio ran by someone pedaling a bike to make energy.
I think we need our TV's to be run like this. Hahahaha!
I came home, took a shower, re-arranged for the
bazillionth time my suitcase, washed out some clothes and hung them to dry, and
read e-mail. The heat is draining.
 |
| Royal Flying Doctor Service |
For dinner we are going to Kungkas Can Cook to
learn of the importance of aboriginal traditional bush foods and their use in
modern cuisine. We will be sampling some but I truly don't want any grubs,
thanks.
The food was fabulous. No grubs at all! Our
starter was a platter of tasting samples, camel meatballs' (yum), sliced kangaroo(which
tastes like venison or elk, yum!) and bread for dipping into some oil and then
dried herbs, including ground wattle. ( I'm bringing some of that concoction
home.) For the meat there was a chutney made from a berry which is related to
the tomato. Dried, it tastes like a burnt raisin and it's full of
anti-oxidants. As a chutney ingredient, it was fabulous. Also there was a pesto
of oil and chopped lemon myrtle. The main dish was chicken, with a sauce using
a berry shaped like a small grape but tasting lemony, with the consistency of a
melon. I tasted one of those berries on its own. Yum! We also had rice with a
desert herb, and then veggies of steamed sliced carrots and chopped bok choy.
Yum! Dessert was a caramel tart with a hard chocolate top and ice cream
containing wattle. The Aboriginal woman who runs the catering business says
that chefs from around the world have come to learn how to use bush food
ingredients from her and a group of women are staring a business providing
those ingredients worldwide. Hooray!
Homes here are much like home and more energy
efficient in that solar power is encouraged and supported by the government.
There is a big aquifer here so there's enough water for the 28,000 population
but they are planning to pipe from another aquifer farther away in order to let
the water rise in the one they are presently using. So there is energy and
water, air conditioning, and satellite service here, and more services than in
most cities this size anywhere, because of what all has to happen here to
service all the outback peoples in a huge area. (Australia is the same size as
the US, and Alice is in the middle, well, a little more to the eastern side,
but there’s a lot of nothing around it.) The railroad went through to Darwin in
2004 so that helped more goods to be shipped back and forth more cheaply than
by road, although there are still plenty of trucks pulling three trailers going
north to Darwin and south to Adelaide.
 |
| Cicada, about 2 and 1/2 inches long |
Alice Springs reminds me in many ways of Burns but
red, like Sedona, and the desert park reminded me of Bend's High Desert Museum.
Tomorrow we'll get up at 5 am and head for Uluru,
more heat and more history. It will take us 5 hours to drive there, but we're
having potty stops, thank god! The trip is like going from Portland to La
Grande. We'll stop for morning tea and then at some place where we can ride
camels if we want to.
That reminds me to say that camels are now an
unwanted species in Australia and measures are being taken to reduce their
population drastically.
February 3
Alice Springs to Uluru? Well, the road curved
once. Hahahaha! Think the road from Bend to Burns, three times over. The most
unusual thing was that it rained! We stopped for camel rides at one roadhouse
and morning tea and scones with Devonshire cream at another roadhouse. We saw
Mt. Conner through the rain. The DVD we were meant to watch didn't work. We
stopped at pit toilets and I told the person after me to flush. Neal's constant
joke is wearing off on me. I saw a bunch of Desert Oaks, which I had read
about. They have little cones like pine trees and they look like short, droopy
pines. They got their name because the wood looks like oak when cut. I finally
got to see what a roadhouse looks like inside after reading about them in
novels. We hadn’t known our driver was a champion camel racer.
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| inside the roadhouse |
 |
| outside the roadhouse |
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| Kay and John riding camels |
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| Camels |
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| Our bus driver and champion camel rider, Graeme |
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| Dingo |
When we arrived at Uluru, they had just survived a
major downpour and the place we were going to eat had flooded, so we had to eat
at the 5-star hotel instead and everyone thought that was the place we were
staying overnight. Alas, our hopes were dashed when Martin said that no, this
is a 5-star hotel, but we're staying in a 3-star hotel. Waaaah!
We went to the Uluru Culture Center and National Park
Service, went into two Aboriginal shops where Neal found the gifts he was
looking for, and looked at art in the gallery. Then we went on a couple of
walks up to the actual Uluru. This is not the time of year for walking around
it and besides, most people in our group could not do that anyway. I'm so glad my
former student Nancy told us to take our headnets because the flies are
persistent, shall I say. Martin says when the flies are bad, you must perform
fly chi, and when they're terrible, you must employ fly kwando. They go for the
ears, mouth, nose and eyes because they are seeking moisture. Neal says
yesterday's temp was 105 and the visitors' center thermometer said 95 in the
shade. Want to take a walk? Reminds me of when I used to bike around town and
out to the gravel pit with Sean on the back of my bike when I lived in Burns.
So I have my headnet, my hat, my sweatband, and my little battery-operated fan
to cool off with.
There are no words for the beauty of Uluru, the
red, massive popped-up fat layer of sediment in the middle of flat land. We
visited caves and water pools on our walks and saw a falcon and two pie-eyed
butcher birds.
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| Oaks |
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| My favorite shot of Uluru |
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| more Uluru |
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| There's a falcon in this tree. |
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| A myth goes with this section of Uluru. It involves a snake. |
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| Aboriginal drawings |
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| Ceremonial cave |
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| Uluru from far away |
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| My favorite part of Uluru |
We went back out tonight to see sunset and were
surprised with champagne, a nut mix, crackers and orange juice. We sat on
little chairs to see the changing colors at sunset. The sky was spectacular,
darkening and lightening in places. A magical time. We came back by dinner and
by the time we finished, rain was falling outside.
Another adventure.
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| Our main guide, John, and site guide, Martin |
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| Louise and Bob |
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| John, Sally, Cynthia |
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| Kay |
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| Mike |
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| Celebration |
February 4, Kata Tjuta (Kah-tah Tyou-tah)
When we got up this morning, we saw kangaroos jumping all over the cliff out our back window, a dingo, and a hawk. Neal saw an eagle.
We rode to Kata Tjuta and viewed the rock formation from afar at two
different spots, and then climbed one part close-up. We were walking on
550-million year-old track. Awesome, in the true meaning of the word, when you
think about it. There's no way to get an idea of the immensity or density of
this place. It's like trying to get all of Grand Canyon in one photo shot. Not
going to happen! It was cloudy today, probably another rainstorm, so we
couldn't see the Petermann Range in the distance that this is a part of, the
part of sedimentation that got pushed up out of the earth.
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| Kata Tjuta |
After lunch and one last visit to the shop for those
things we just couldn't live without, we caught the Uluru plane to Cairns. By
the time we got to the airport, the rain poured. For some reason this airport
allows carry-ons only up to 7 pounds, so many people had to re-pack in a
hurry--weigh and pack, re-weigh and re-pack etc. etc. etc. Than we sat and sat
and sat. Some mechanical problem with the plane. One kinda doesn't mind sitting
when you know something is going to be fixed on the plane you will be boarding.
Even the shop and the cafe closed while we sat there. Hahahaha! Cobwebs grew on
us. Even more rain poured--in the DESERT, mind you. We watched them load our
luggage, one suitcase at a time, by hand. No automation there. OMG! Whoever
lifted my bag probably got a hernia because I had to stuff many items from my
backpack to my suitcase.
Finally, we boarded and were only about a half an
hour late. The plane ride was bumpy and we were stinky from hiking around the
desert all morning so by the time we got to Cairns we were a bus full of
grumps. You can imagine how happy we were to find out we had to attend a
lecture half an hour after our arrival. The hors d'oeuvres made it nicer and
the speaker told us about what we'd be seeing on our fantastic trip to the
Great Barrier Reef, which was on the bucket list of most participants. Isn't
that on everyone's bucket list?
February 5—Cairns (pronounced “Cans”)
We got up an hour early this morning because we
didn't know that Cairns was an hour later than Sydney (and a half hour earlier
than Uluru--how odd!) So we get up, cranky, drink our coffee, take our showers
and go down for breakfast and no one is there. We ask the receptionist what
time it is and find out about our error. We could have used that extra hour,
dang it! We laughed, because what else could we do?
After breakfast, we headed out to the docks and
boarded our catamaran bound for The Great Barrier Reef. Not sunny, cloudy, but
no rain. Still, we are sunblocked to the gills, our swimsuits, or what
Australians call their "cozzie" (for bathing costume) under our
clothes. It takes two hours to get to the reef from Cairns, so about halfway we
had morning tea. Then, upon our arrival, the fun began. The seas had been
rough, so everyone was a bit green around the gills, the sunblocked gills,
remember. Even though it’s cloudy, sunblock is necessary in NZ and Australia
because of the hole in the ozone layer right overhead. Tons of skin cancer in
both countries. We were in the first group to go on the semi-submersible and
see the coral and fish close up. However, because of the recent cyclonic
activity, the water was murky and it was difficult to see much other than what
was close up. Still, we saw jellyfish, cleaner fish, great big fish, little
tiny fish, blue fish, yellow fish, zebra fish and one turtle. I got really sick
to my stomach and thought I was going to have to use my puke bag. The staff
told us we had to read the instructions inside first. Hahahaha! And they told
us not to hand the full bag to them when we'd finished. I was happy to reach
the open hatch and full air again.
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| Out the back of our boat |
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| What I saw out the submersible window. |
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| Neal coming back from snorkeling. |
A very nice lunch was served and then we got on
the boat to take us over to the beach so everyone could snorkel or if they are
terrified of putting their faces in the water like me, they could swim, which
is what I did. Some kind of fish was right up there once I stuck my feet in. I
got in up to my neck and swam around. That's my comfort level. Neal snorkeled
for a long, long time and saw a sea cucumber, and giant clam, parrot fish,
zebra fish, tiger fish, a Moorish angel fish, a manta ray, spaghetti coral,
brain coral, staghorn coral, needlenosed fish, groupers, etc. ( I just copied
his list--note the difference between my fish naming [big, little, etc.] and
his specifics. That's the way we roll.) We saw most of Neal's list from the
semi-submersible window, too.
Lots of people in our group who'd never snorkeled
before learned how. Our guide, John, and the Cairns guide, Sue, were very
patient in teaching everyone so they had a great experience. Such happiness on
their faces when they got back on the big boat!
The weather turned god-awful, rain pouring in on
all sides of the boat and choppy water. We had seats on top and because there
were so many people on the boat, that's where we were stuck. Everyone held on
to the poles (from floor to roof) and I took pictures I'm going to post on the
Road Scholar website saying here's our guide and group pole dancing. Hahahaha!
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| Pole dancing |
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| Pole dancing |
Some of us gathered in a circle and we asked John
if he could please bring us some wood for making a fire. We all laughed at
that, and then one of the crew came out of the cabin and brought us a flare and
said, "Try this." We really laughed then. Next, he came out and took
a photo of us. What a sodden lot we were once we got back in port. Freezing on
the bus because the driver had to keep on the air conditioner so it wouldn't
fog up the windows. Good thing we only had to go ten blocks to the hotel.
Everyone headed for a hot shower.
I have to say I'd thought the reef would be white,
and it's not. The sand is golden. Today there were a bazillion black birds on
our portion of the reef, shitting all over everything. Sally saw one mature
bird eat a baby bird of the same species. Normally they are not there on that
reef, we're told, but they are all disoriented because of the cyclone, and not
quite themselves. Poor things. We've all been there, haven't we?
Dinner was on our own, so we decided on Greek
food, and our tour mate Sharon went with us because she loves it as much as we
do. We were in for a treat. The place is called "Fetta's" and I
highly recommend it should you ever be in Cairns, Australia. I ordered my
favorite things for starters and so did Neal--dolmades, calamari (pan-fried,
not deep-fried) and hummus. Then we had our main entrees. I chose spanikopita,
Neal had falafel, and Sharon had moussaka. I was in Greek Heaven. I shared mine
with everyone because there was no way I could eat ALL of that after ALL those
starters. I had three triangles so I gave one to Neal and one to Sharon and
they loved my spanakopita, too. We did NOT have dessert. But I did give the
owner a big, fat hug because that was the best Greek food I've ever had, even
in Greece. I said, "Are you the owner?" and he patted the top of his
head which was grey and balding. "Our meal was excellent, every part of
it, including the service!" I said. "Thank you, thank you, thank
you," he said, and then Neal hugged him, too. I was out of the main room
by then so I don't know if Sharon hugged him or not.
On our way back home, we were harassed by a drunk
Aboriginal woman who told us this was HER town, her ORIGINAL town and we were
tourists. We already knew all that, so we kept quiet. And said a prayer to send
her love.
Another wonderful adventure today, and I still
feel like I'm on the boat, rocking in uncontrolled motions. I may fall down,
right onto my bed. You know what's going to happen when I close my eyes. You
know.
Tomorrow is the rain forest. The dripping rain
forest. Of course.
February 6, Kuranda and the rainforest
Kuranda started as a place to grow coffee, was
used as a military base in WWII, and overtaken by hippies in the 70's. Now it's
a tourist haven with lots of outdoor market stalls. About 25 kilometers from
Cairns, it's a lovely place for those who work in Cairns to live. Kuranda is
surrounded by World Heritage rainforest. Very similar to parts of Costa Rica.
Instead of taking the guided rainforest walk, Neal
and I felt the need for coffee and a bit of shopping. We had a short rainforest
walk anyway, later. The coffee was delicious, and the scones that appeared with
it--who ordered those, anyway? Mostly we just sat and talked about our day
before and our trip in general and tried to summon energy for one more day.
After lunch, we took the Skyrail Rainforest
Cableway 7.5 km gliding just meters above the rainforest canopy in a gondola.
This is one of the most botanically fascinating and diverse areas on earth. The
presence of certain species serves to prove the theory of the land mass,
Gondwana, as things similar to here are found all over the globe in areas no
way connected to here. On the other hand, many things exist here and nowhere
else. And that seems to prove the theory of evolution. That's why it's a
protected area and Australia works as hard as New Zealand to keep out any
foreign species.
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| gondola cables disappearing into the mist |
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| Out the gondola window |
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| Neal in gondola car enjoying view of rain forest |
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| gondola station partway, forest walk |
At the bottom of the Skyrail, we visited the
Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. Tjapukai means rainforest. First we were
presented with a show of Aboriginal song and dance and didjeridu playing. Then
we learned about the many kinds of boomerangs and what purpose each had, after
which we learned about the bush plants and how each was used for either food or
medicine or paint.
We went on to throw spears (Neal was really good
and actually hit the straw bale with the kangaroo picture on the front.) While
I chose not to throw a spear, I did try my hand at boomerang throwing and that
was fun. I was successful, but Neal was very, very good, surprising people so
much they commented on it at our farewell proceedings last night.
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| Playing didjeridu |
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| Neal tossing boomerang |
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| Playing didjeridu which involves 5 things at once! |
Back home, showered and re-dressed, we had our
final comments and a lovely dinner.
Feb 7--have not been able to access wi-fi for
several days until now. We walked around Cairns through pouring rain looking
for a wi-fi access and after so doing, passed by the welfare office and saw the
state of affairs Aboriginal people are really in. Much the same as people
waiting at welfare offices here in the states. Some of the men laughed at us
for being tourists. Did our jungle hats and zip-off-legged pants give us away?
Two policemen strolled up behind us and told us there was really nothing for us
in this area and we’d do better in the first or second street back from the
waterfront. Subtle suggestion. Strong meaning.
Waiting for our bus to take us to the airport now.
We fly to Sydney this afternoon and then on to home tomorrow. Hope we dry out
before our flight! Another adventure!
What a fabulous trip! If you have always wanted to
see Australia or New Zealand, do it. The
people and the land itself are remarkable, memorable and unforgettable. I laughed every day at some idiomatic
expression or another, some of which I’ve relayed to you previously, and I
found them all charming. Our guide John’s asides had me in stitches. For
example, of the barely trickling showers in our first hotel, he said, “You have
to turn around several times to get wet in there.” Hahahaha!
When you say to yourself about a place you’ve just
visited, “I could live there!” that means it’s a very good place, indeed. This
has been a journey good for the brain (new things to learn every day—how the
shower works, how the room key works, how the light switch works, how the
elevator works, how the money works, where the tram goes, besides all the
information at each place we visited), good for the soul (primitive peoples
knew a lot more than we do in the spiritual aspect and in living sustainably),
good for the physical well-being (lots of good food and plentiful exercise) and
good for the eyes in the beauty we saw all around us every day.
Speaking of which, Neal has just shared some of
his photos with me, and he captured the beauty with his telephoto lens in ways
I couldn’t, so I hope he shares them on Facebook or in his own blog. They are
very much worth looking at.
Feb 8—For two days, in fact. Qantas International
is a marvelous flight to take if you choose premium economy because it’s just
like first class on any other airline. I’m telling you this because I know that
after reading my journal, you are already planning your trip to New Zealand and Australia.
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