Scribble World Travel Blog

Returning to the USA From Australia

Just some facts-It’s 11:44 P.M. Australia time. I’m tired, it’s almost impossible to get comphy and sleep-but right when it seemed my fatigue would win out, on came the cabin lights.

Our altitude is 10,668 m

Time since departure: 9 hours 45 minutes

Time to destination (L.A): 3 hours 4 minutes

Air Temperature: -45 celcius

Ground Speed: 582 mph or 937 km/m

Local Time is 6:46 A.M.-Estimated arrival time: 9:49 A.M.

We’re somewhere between Honolulu and Mexico CIty.  Big help, I know…And we have traveled 5,865 miles since our departure-that’s 9,441 km.. current altitude is 35,000 feet.

The cabin is beginning to smell like coffee. Outside it is still almost completely dark, but there are no signs of stars and the darkness is faintly subsiding. We are all awake, but not in the least bit chatty. 

The Quantas Entertainment System has been a huge disappointment on this flight. The interactive menu is down-so we only have bizarre and limited “TV” to choose from-and so I’ve caught the ending to like 4 different movies.  It seems they were already in progress before departure, a bit annoying-but I tried to be philosophical about it-studying the endings-the formulas being used-noting the suspense and anticipation that lead to a satisfying conclusion-and also the huge role music plays-particularly in building suspense.

We’ve now landed in LAX and have made it safely through customs.  Getting on our Southwest flight was not quite so easy, as Chris’s bag was 16 pounds over the 50 pound checked baggage weight limit.  He put on his heavy hiking shoes, tossed out some shampoo and mouthwash, we squished a few things into my bag, which was underweight, but just about bursting at the seams, and squeezed other stuff into our carry ons.  We managed though.

The next short flight was smooth and hassle free. We landed a little after 3 in the afternoon, took a city bus as far as it could take us in the direction of home, then walked a mile or two, hauling all our big heavy luggage, then waited at another bus stop for 20 minutes or so to take us the last few miles. True, we could have taken a cab, but after our spendy vacation we were eager to find ways to save money-and the bus was only a dollar and I’m sure a little sunshine and exercise wasn’t too terrible for us either after sitting on planes for 14 hours. 

We walked through the door a little after 6 P.M. and were instantly greeted by 2 great big fuzzy purrballs, both meowing and meowing trying to tell us all about their adventures while we were away and full of questions as they sniffed at our luggage and shoes wondering where in the world we’d been. 

And now I can collapse.

Jenolan Caves and a Platypus

Chris and I sleepily forced ourselves awake this morning for our agreed upon 7:30 A.M. nature walk to scout out any platypus in the area. We spotted 2 in a little stream.  Mom took an amazing video of one leisurely scratching himself.  The platypus was unaware of her presence–they are very shy and spook easily, disappearing into their hideouts.  She’s been emphasizing what a rare and special experience this was for us to get such a good look at two platypus in their natural environment-we lucked out. Another time, she and Bruce got up at 4 A.M. hoping to see a platypus and only Mom saw it, but the water wasn’t crystal clear as it was here at the Jenolan Caves, so it was nothing to write home about that time.

We went for a self guided tour of the Nettle Cave which was fairly self explanatory with numbered posts and an audio narration of the cave’s history and properties.  Then we lined up inside the cave tunnel, the same one we drove through yesterday, to await our guided tour of the Lucas Cave. While climbing up the many stairs, it was disheartening to see kids, from a distance throwing rocks where we had seen the platypus, despite the sign two feet away from them stating not to.  It’s sad that a couple people’s thoughtless and mean spirited actions can taint an otherwise fabulous experience.

The Lucas Cave was named after a guy that used to break off the crystals in the cave and decorate his home with them.  He later redeemed himself after a house fire destroyed his entire home including all his crystals-he realized the need to protect the cave’s natural resources or there wouldn’t be any left. John Lucas was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Hartley who pressed the Minister of Lands to turn the Jenolan Caves into a reserve.  Come October, the Jenolan Caves and surrounding areas will have been a protected reserve for the last 143 years. 

The Lucas Cave is one of only several caves we could have toured, but we were intrigued by it as it has the highest chambers-the “Cathedral” Chamber measures 54 metres high.  We listened to an impressive automated musical acoustics demonstration within the Cathedral Chamber of the Lucas Cave.  Real concerts are periodically performed in this great hall.  The length of the Lucas is 860 metres and there are a whopping 910 steps. It is also famous for it’s “Broken Column,” Jenolan’s most frequently photographed formation.  Our guide pointed out another broken column, historic graffiti, and an old wishing well that is now green from the copper coins that used to be thrown in it, among other things. 

A guided tour is a good way to get the cave experience.  There were a few moments of mild panic as all the lights went out while our group was climbing the stairs up and down a narrow corridor and we found ourselves in total darkness.  It must have been a trip to explore the caves with only torches back in the day.  There were strategically placed lightbulbs all along our tour, but it was our guide who held the power of the remote to turn them on and off at will and occasionally by accident. It was fun.

It’s a cloudy rainy day and we’re now back on the road on our way back to Sydney.  We’re taking a different way back-a scenic southern route past fields full of sheep and also fields full of wild kangaroos-20 or more/field, but I lost count.  I guess they’re pretty common here-like deer in the US.  Deer are not indigenous to Australia and we have not seen any.  We did, however, see a couple rabbits and one fox, which also are not indigenous.

Mom and Bruce, who live in Alaska, have been listening to an Australian news radio show. There is quite a bit of interest in Alaska, since Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, was announced the Republican nominee for Vice President. Mom has not met Sarah Palin personally, though she did see her in an airport restroom once. Anyway, they were both amused to hear what the listeners who called in had to say about Alaska.  One caller made it sound like Alaskans all ate grizzly bears..or that there are hardly any grocery stores…or the woman all dress up in costumes at the saloons.  She said it sounds like the callers had only been to the tourist traps.

Then, on the radio, they began discussing lawyers and whether or not we should feel a little bit sorry for them since they make $$$ but don’t have time to enjoy it.  Another caller said a former employer had once said to a group of aspiring bankers, “you have to think of life as a stovetop with only 4 burners-one for family, one for friends, another for work, and one for health.  You can’t have it all.  If you want to be good at something, you’ll have to turn off one-And if you want to be great at something, you’ll have to turn off two…”

Katoomba Falls, Blue Mountains Australia

We went on a walkabout today at Katoomba Falls in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney, Australia.  The walk was scenic, we had a good view of the “Three Sisters” peaks and Katoomba Falls.  We all bought the $28 triple pass to Scenic World and road the scenic skyway with a glass floor you can also walk on.  It took us right past Katoomba Falls for a unique view.  Then we held on tight to our cameras and took a ride on the railway-which was like a straight drop down!  Intense but short lived. 

We walked along following the boardwalk, noticing the old mining relics, and yes, it really is real coal, not props-as Chris discovered accidentally when he touched one.  Walking along the scenic walkway was refreshing, surrounded by tall shady trees and interesting birds. We road the scenic cableway back up the mountain, then hiked down to the base of Katoomba Falls to see it from another angle.

I sat on a bench for a little daydream, overlooking Katoomba Falls, as the others ventured on down the trail.  I just wanted to savor the experience.  Sometimes there is too much rush-too much “we came, we saw, next!” mentality, and I really like to spend time in a place to make it feel real.  So sitting on a bench overlooking the falls, I had a very vivid future vision of there being an outdoor cafe there someday at the bottom of the falls-called “Forest Falls Cafe”-serving only food that was native to the area-including roots, seeds, nuts and things like that. And if you asked for a water refill, your waiter or waitress would prance over to the edge of the waterfall, entertaining you by hopping over stones to hold your cup under the waterfall in just the right place,-unless they didn’t like you and then they’d just scoop some sludge off the bottom…

It was good water. On our scenic walk, a sign even indicated we were at a good place to refill our water bottles. Like nature’s own drinking fountain-cool and refreshing. 

We’re at a gas station now-the price is $1.45 for a liter of the cheapest kind. 

We continue our road trip driving west.  It’s been quite the woodsy, hilly, curvy road drive with lots of wild kangaroos along the side of the road to look out for.

We have made it to Jenolan caves and are spending the night at the Jenolan Caves House. We passed through an interesting cave to get here.  We’ll tour it tomorrow while it’s light. We’re also planning to get up early to see if we can spot a platypus out in nature. 

I can’t grasp time.  It boggles me somehow. My mind keeps its own timeline-quite different than the calendar year. Earlier, I was realizing Chris and I have not worked in a whole year!  But a year of not working does not feel the way I imagined it would prior.  It sounded like a lot of time, but doesn’t feel that way now.  Thank goodness for travel journals! That and our pictures which serve as physical reminders of where the past year has led us. I love feeling as though I have all the time in the world to do all the things I’d like to-and I’m really going to miss that feeling.  Tomorrow will be our last full day in Australia. 

On the bright side, at least part of me is ready to go home-hoping Ox and Paws (our cats) and our living quarters will all be okay.  It’ll be nice to have a kitchen again and be able to make exactly what I want.  It has been great fun eating out all the time and trying new things, don’t get me wrong-but at the same time, I’m not used to every single meal being an eating out big to do complete with high end prices.  Laugh if you must, but tonight all I really wanted was a great big bowl of steamed vegetables. Instead, I got the $26  steak with all of one roasted garlic mushroom and some potato gratin.  The mushroom was good-but only one??  And the potato gratin was really sweet-like candy-call me picky, but sometimes you just want your vegetables to taste like vegetables! I did enjoy my lemongrass tea, however, which was the saving grace for the whole meal, adding balance and perspective.  I hope to find more when I get back to the states.

Mom read her 20 page bio for us tonight after treating us all to dinner.  I feel like I have a little better understanding of who she is as a person and what matters to her.  I can also see the paradigms that can make seeing eye to eye challenging at times.  Paradigm- a set of assumptions, values, and concepts that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community or generation that share them. 

For her, having a career has been such a huge part of her identity.  I’m just the opposite-working to live and to learn, I don’t define myself through my job, though I can’t help it if other people do.  To me, a job is more of a means to an end-freedom.  So if I can work until I’ve saved up enough money to take a year off-why not?  Sure, I could put it in the bank and save that money for retirement or an emergency-but most likely I’d just wind up spending it on stuff and the rising cost of existence-never getting around to doing what truely makes life matter to me. But this has certainly caused the occasional rift between us.  As a Mother-of course she wants security for her children and everyone she cares about….but, how exactly do you appeal to the senses of your grown up child who values freedom over security?  Scare tactics and guilt trips do not seem to be working, for I’m as stubborn (I prefer “determined”) as I ever was-sorry, Mom. I know your heart is in the right place.

It was interesting to hear her talk about her childhood days, so she does remember fondly those days of swimming on rafts, building forts, playing and exploring-a time when her responsibilities were fewer and her self perception was based on different criteria.

The Carrington Hotel

Wow! We’re spending the night at another fancy and unusual hotel called the Carrington.  It’s on Katoomba Street in katoomba NSW Australia 2780.  To me, it feels like staying in an elegant old castle.  The Carrington opened in 1882, then known as The Great Western-and was a popular destination for those who wanted to visit the Blue Mountains in style (those with money).  After more than a century in operation, The Carrington was closed in 1985 and remained closed until 1991 when it was sold and renovated for the next 8 years-finally reopening to the public in 1998. 

The door knob on the entrance of each room is so high up-as though designed for giants and giant egos of times gone by.  The ceilings are very high and the room itself feels spacious.  Some of the rooms have shared baths at the end of the hall.  Chris and I were exploring-there’s a hundred year old billiard table, old leather & wood chairs, interesting art depicting lots of nudity, fancy dining hall and banquet rooms, and an elevator more than a century old, built back in 1904 in the days of elevator attendants.  Still operational, the 2 doors to the elevator must muscle open yourself before hopping aboard and exiting-there’s a bit of trick to that when you’ve got an armful of luggage. 

We had dinner at the place next door, just a hop and skip away.  I tried a linguine dish with tuna and veggies-it’s amazing how much better tasting fresh tuna is than the stuff that comes in the can.

Chris and I are in our room for the night-watching the news.   New Orleans has been evacuated in preparation for “the storm of the  century,” that may be worse than Katrina.  In other international news, there was an earthquake in China, flooding in India-”the government is a complete failure,” one Indian man just said to a reporter on a rescue raft being swarmed by desperate people-almost sinking the raft. 

In Quantas Airline news (we were just on a Quanta’s flight) an oxygen explosion is “unlikely to reoccur” according to one guy, while another guy says, “when you start outsourcing your work you are compromising on quality.”  And a fire has destroyed the Gilbert hotel in Perth.  Enough news.

We turned on the TV briefly this morning in Sydney curious to see what kind of programming they have in Australia.  Mom was surprised to see South Park was on one of the 4 channels with good reception and wondered if very many Australians would even understand the jokes, which are geared toward a certain age demographic.  The Ellen show was on-a 6 year old girl piano prodigy was showing off her stuff and looked to be having a lot of fun, with her big toothy grin, making it look delightfully easy. 

That got me off on a philosophical tangent of my own as I began wondering about the girl-how at a young age there isn’t pressure-she was clearly having fun-but what about as she gets older?  Will she continue having fun with her gifts or will she feel like she must constantly strive to do ever more amazing feats?  A talented 6 year old pianist is a show stealer, everyone roots for her-but a talented 36 year old pianist may not be quite so impressive in the eyes of the public.  So the pressure goes up while the enjoyment factor possibly goes down. 

I suppose it would depend on a number of factors-such as how important public appreciation is versus how much one is able to just enjoy what they are doing.  Is there freedom to change paths if so inclined or do your options feel limited, practically set in stone? The answer to those questions could determine how she, and many others, come to view their lives.  Having hope is an important part of a happy life.  So to “arrive” too young can be a crushing experience if it takes away your hope instead of giving it to you. 

Another thought-we walked through an expensive mall near the Circular Quay earlier where my Mom pointed out these teenage Japanese boys all dressed in the same navy suits walking around the mall in groups.  She said they were the children of the rich-only rich kids would be hanging out at that mall. And it was true, we didn’t see any other kids there.   We passed by a few-they seemed quiet, well behaved, and…perhaps…entitled.  They did not make eye contact or seem interested in any of the other people at the mall-only each other. 

I looked at some ugly designer handbags and thought about the people who would buy them-curious about their mental state of mind-not in a judgemental way, but a curious one-imagining what it’s like to be one-to have a credit card at a young age, but feeling also this sense of deprivation-and that to spend money on some of these ridiculous items must represent a general loathing of the stuff called money-revered by others, but to them something that doesn’t have a real value attached to it-and so they can spend it on a purse that looks like cheap vinyl and feel no pain-no sense of loss-no “either/or,” tough choices to be made.  I think it’s about trying to fill a sense of deprivation with their sense of entitlement.  If it makes them feel special-they want it.  Wow, I guess I am ever so slightly judgemental on this one-it just seems like one would truely have to have a love/hate regard for money to prefer such a virtue-less bag over a pile of cash (or plastic).  I rest my case.

This room is so neat-an unusual experience with great big stained glass windows, window seat, queen bed and a twin bed, vanity shelf with historic looking jewelry box drawers on top, mirror, small decorative lamp with long beads hanging from the lampshade, tea warmer, hot chocolate, soft towels, a rack that heats up your bath towel. A nice complimentary breakfast is included with our stay as well.

Fort Denison Sydney Australia

We’re on our way out of the parking ramp-near the Rocks Quay (Circular Quay area) getting ready to leave Sydney and continue our road trip West. We’ve checked out of the Lord Nelson Hotel & Brewery. We tried to get it for a third night, realizing how much there’s still to do in Sydney, but they were booked, so we’re going to follow the original plan to leave town today, after squeezing in a few more Sydney “must do’s.”

We took pictures of the Sydney bridge and Opera House, then watched some Aboriginal street performers play didgeridoo music-it was a combination of Aboriginal vocals, nature sounds, and other trance-like rhythms. You can listen to a free sample of their interesting style of music online here.

Next, we booked a ferry with Captain Cook Cruises at Circular Quay, wharf 6, and road the ferry over to Fort Denison for a delicious lunch. Aside from a handful of employees we had the small island all to ourselves. We strolled around the grounds while waiting for our lunch to arrive. I thought the fish & chips were wonderfully flavorful with a melt in your mouth texture. The water was the pricey part which came to $8/bottle, and provided 4 people with about half a glass each-not quite enough to really quench your thirst. The waitress returned after a while and asked if we’d like another bottle of water and Bruce, who’d been off exploring and didn’t know the price, immediately said, “yes.” So our water tab came to $16. It is interesting how the price of things are so subjective. Back home, we can refill a gallon of water for 25 cents…but when I first moved to Arizona, the idea of paying for drinking water at all seemed hilarious-having grown up on good well water from the Midwest. But here, on Former penal colony, Fort Denison, paying $8 for a liter of water imported from Italy-well, you just kind of shrug your shoulders and say, “alright.” But it all tastes the same, it’s only our perception of the value that changes….the presentation and packaging. My 2 cents are up, moving on-

The museum explored the fort’s interesting history. I watched a short video about the prisoners who were kept there and fed only bread and butter-they were always hungry thus lending the island the nickname “Pinchgut.” Ships that couldn’t be accounted for were seized and the crew sent to the penal colony until proof was received of their allegiance. The fort was completed in 1857, spurred by fear of a Russian Naval attack during the Crimean War-locals didn’t want their first warning of an attack to be that of cannons being fired through their windows.

The Denison Fort has the only Mortello Tower in Australia, and, not only that, it was the last Mortello tower built in the British Empire. A Mortello tower is a round fort up to 40 feet tall with thick sturdy walls resistant to cannon fire. At Fort Denison, the Mortello tower’s walls are between 3.3 and 6.7 meters thick at the base and 2.7 meters thick at the top. Some minor damage can still be seen on the tower today from some 5 inch shells that accidentally hit the fort when the USS Chicago fired upon 3 Japanese midget submarines that were attacking Sydney Harbor in May of 1942.

I just learned an interesting connection, compliments of Wikipedia, between Fort Denison and the Titanic. Charles Lightoller, the future second officer of the Titanic once played a practical joke on the fort. In 1900, Lightoller, then the 4th officer of the White Star Lines ship, and 4 midshipmen rowed to Fort Denison during the night, climbed the tower and raised a makeshift Boer flag and fired a cannon shot to fool locals into thinking they were under attack. This was during a time when the Boer war was raging in Africa and the citizens of Sydney were not amused. Lightoller accepted full responsibility for the prank and the White Star Line had to pay damages to the city. Twelve years later, in 1912, Charles Lightoller was to be the most senior officer to have survived the sinking of the Titanic. He became a key witness answering American and British inquiries about the disaster.

On the ferry ride back, it was kind of interesting to hear about the expensive houses in the area. I remember her, the ferry guide, pointing one out that had been rented for $33,000/week to a guy (the director, maybe?) of the movie “Australia.”

We’re leaving Sydney now, heading West.

Travel Journal Entry for Sydney Tower and Chinatown

After visiting the Sydney Wildlife World we decided to walk over and see why 800,000 people visit the Sydney Amp Tower every year. The tower has 1,504 steps up to the top, but we just took the high speed double decker elevator, which can carry up to 2,000 people/hour.  A trip up takes only 40 seconds, traveling at the swift pace of 7 metres/second. 

The 4,067 tonne Tower took 6 years to build, costing $36,000,000.  Sydney Tower will soon be celebrating her 27th birthday haviing officially opened on September 23rd back in 1981.  The Tower has had more than 16 million visitors since then. 

One thousand feet tall (305 metres high), the Sydney tower is the same height as the Eiffel Tower, making it the highest point above the city-twice the height of the Harbour Bridge. With windows all around, you can wander around at your own pace for a great panoramic view of the city. Thanks to the automatic window cleaner called “Charlie,” all 420 windows can be cleaned in two days time. 

The Sydney Tower also boasts the highest working mail box in the Southern Hemisphere! 

From the top of the tower we could see a fountain at a park that was used in the Matrix movie.  We walked over to it afterwards-one of those silly tourist things you can’t help but get excited about, but it was pretty cool.

Then Chris & I went off on our own for the evening to explore Chinatown.  We took the monorail, where we got a day pass.  Our Chinatown adventure began with tea at an authentic Chinese tea house.  I had a cup of tasty chrysanthemum tea and Chris had a cup of cool refreshing mulberry tea.  Then we decided to be brave and split the 24 herb wonder tea-boy was that potent, and I have no idea what was even in it, but anything that tastes that pungent has got to cure cancer and all other ailments-it’s practically an unwritten rule, so we drank the whole cup, then moved on to get some less healthy food.  I bought a bubble tea drink *yum yum* and then we were walking around a mall that looked like it was closed..and I was randomly peaking over at a massage shop, I’m just magically drawn to these places, and low and behold, the girl and guy who worked there saw me and waved me in-even though they had just put their coats on and very much looked like they were about 2 steps from heading out the door-in broken English, they excitely invited me to point out on a poster what service I wanted. I asked if they were closed, “yes”they replied with big smiles on their faces, every question I asked seem to be automatically answered “yes” with a smile.  Finally I just pointed at the refexology picture for 30 minutes and the rest is a pampered memory-my first reflexology session, but my feet kept thanking me, it felt wonderful.  Kind of funny how that worked out though, I got lucky because technically, according to the sign-they were closed, but must have been eager for business because they were willing to stay an extra half hour and actually seemed happy about it.  If anyone’s in the mood for a great foot massage after walking around Sydney all day, Massage World on George St. is the place!

We did a little more late night Chinatown exploring, then took the monorail to the harbor for some night pictures of the Sydney Harbor  Then we road the monorail in a complete loop for the ride and experience and walked the kilometer back to our room at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery. 

It’s a pity there isn’t more time and energy in a day.  I’m beat, sore from all the walking and just plain tired having been up since 5 this morning.  I woke up early after some interesting dreams and noticed it was raining and had to look out the window and take in the experience.  I’m looking forward to some rest and enjoying a cup of chamomile tea.  I like this comforter-it’s a faux suede feel even though its made with 100% Egyptian cotton-I would have guessed a rayon & polyester blend. it’s very soft.  This room also has a nice window seat. Charming.  Midnight now, so goodnight!

Sydney Wildlife World

Sydney Wildlife World is conveniently located next to the Sydney Aquarium.  You can usually get a discount if you do both.  Wildlife World features the largest variety of animals and Australian plants under one roof! It covers 3 floors, 9 habitats and 65 exhibits ranging from bugs to cute cuddily looking koala bears. 

We had great close up looks at wallabies, frogs, birds and more.  The butterfly room was particularly neat-we could sit and admire the butterflies flying around our heads and we even saw a couple land on people. There were children running around playing and no one guarding the place-they must have to restock the butterflies with so many people frequently coming and going but it sure was neat! I’ve never seen so many butterflies in one place before-and so many kinds too.

We also saw our first Wombat!  A wombat is an Australian marsupial-short legged, muscular, tiny little tails..they’re really adorable.  They are nocturnal so it is difficult to see them in the wild-though they will come out on overcast days now and then. 

Our road trip has turned into more of a walking trip in the city of Sydney.  It’s neat how there are so many interesting attractions all within walking distance of each other.

Sydney Aquarium

The Sydney Aquarium has over 12,000 Australian marine animals and has the world’s largest Great Barrier Reef display.  We were very impresed to see the platypus up close and personal.  Even so, the little bugger moves fast and it’s hard to get a good picture of him. They are very shy and particularly difficult to see in the wild.  We’ve enjoyed walking through the aquarium tunnels with sharks and sting rays swimming above our heads and many other fish to the side and even beneath us!

There was a little look and touch area to feel some of the little spongier critters.  We saw seals swimming and playing, a salt water crocodile, sea horses, a fish that looks like a rock, squid, penquins, and many more strange and interesting species.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll just have to show you what I’m talking about! 

The Sydney Aquarium is open everyday from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. and is located on Aquarium Pier on Darling Harbour.

Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery

Looking for an unusual and novel place to stay in Sydney? The Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery is simply awesome! Nice deep bathtub, yummy smelling bath products in cute containers, comphy bed, fancy metal hot water maker that’s even faster than the other kinds I’ve used on this trip, Earl Grey tea samples, and interesting art and antiques all over the small privately owned hotel.  People seem to like the beer too…

For breakfast, we went down to the Lord Nelson’s in house restaurant and had the continental which consisted of a small plate of fruit cut into fancy designs, toast, small amount of butter (about enough for half a piece of toast), little jam, and a tea or coffee drink of your choice.  We each had a latte and then a cereal selection and juice.  They charge $11 for it if you’re not a guest, and comp if you are. 

We have a busy day ahead of us with lots of walking.  We’ll be visiting the Aquarium first.

Quantas Flight 580 Perth to Sydney

We sit in the middle row of a giant 747 Quantas Jet waiting to depart Perth and fly to Sydney.  We’ll be arriving approximately 6:30 this evening where we already have reservations at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery for two nights.  They’re performing a maintenance procedure on the plane before we can take off.  The pilot says he’ll try to make up some time on the way.  We’re running a little behind.  My stomach is already starting to growl, but satisfaction will be a while.  Getting here took a little longer than the guy at the Comfort Inn thought. He said it wasn’t a busy airport and if we got there an hour early that should be plenty—but that may have been to suit his schedule more than ours since he was the one driving the airport/hotel shuttle service. The lines were longer than we would’ve expected from a “not busy” airport and they started boarding our plane as soon as we made it to the gate. 

We’ve made it off the ground and are steadily climbing.  This is a bumpier ride than usual.

Kings Park in Perth, WA

After dropping our stuff off at the Comfort Inn hotel in Perth that’s near the airport, we got to thinking, hmm..it’s still fairly early-what can we do in Perth that doesn’t cost a lot of money without a vehicle?  Chris remembered the Elevated Walkway he had read about in a guide book on the road trip from Broome to Perth.  We couldn’t establish an internet connection to get any information on the Elevated Walkway and only knew that it was at King’s Park.  We found the nearest bus stop which was right out front and asked a local if he knew which bus went downtown. He was very helpful and instantly had answers for us which was pretty cool.

We waited just a couple minutes at the bus stop and took the Transperth bus #36 to the downtown Perth bus terminal.  There we found a free bus, #37 to take us to Kings Park on Fraser Avenue.  We arrived a little after 5 in the afternoon and walked around for more than 3 hours. 

We found plenty to enjoy at King’s Park-floral, beautiful gardens, Swan River views, interesting birds and more. It was reminiscent of our interstate travels-seeing so many of the wild flowers and plants all in one place. It’s a cool free thing to do in Perth.  Now that I know what’s there I wouldn’t miss it-thank goodness we took a chance!

The streets are lined with tall trees planted 70 years ago by the families of Western Australia’s fallen Service men and woman of WWI an WWII, and each is dedicated with a plaque-over 1,100 plaques in all. 

A 750 year old boab tree was replanted here at Kings Park, originally from the Kimberly.  The 750 year old boab tree is expected to live another 300 years. 

The Eternal Flame in the Court of Contemplation, Kings Park

We saw a flame in the Court of Contemplation that has been continuously burning since lit by Queen Elizabeth II in the year 2000 known as the Kings Park War Memorial, The Eternal Flame. The 4 flames represent the Navy, Army, Air Force and Women’s Services. I liked the quote on the side of the fountain, also known as the Pool of Reflection-”Let silent contemplation be your offering.”  Every April 25, many Australians gather here for a touching memorial during Anzac Day.  Anzac stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the day of their first major military action in 1915- during World       War I. 

Kings Park, formerly Perth Park, was renamed in 1901, after a visit to Perth by the son of King Edward VII of England.  Kings Park has since been visited by other royalty as well and is visited by millions of people each year making it the most popular visitor destination in all of Western Australia.  Popular among local Australians, tourists and interstate travelers. The park sits on more than 1,000 acres and is filled with more than 300 native plant species covering 2/3rd of the park. 

Also of interest, Kings Park is larger than Central Park in New York.  You’ll get some good exercise exploring its unique beauty.

The elevated walkway Chris had read about in the guidebook was already closed by the time we got there.  It closes at 5 PM. We walked beneath it instead and still had an interesting view.  It was sort of a neat walkway going through the trees, but wasn’t using the trees for support, as I had imagined-a cool bridge-but not like a tree fort.

We took the long way back by walking to the bus terminal instead of waiting for the bus.  We’ve got legs, let’s use them   This also gave us a chance to go for a nice night walk and see more of the city, plus it gave Chris a chance to show off his good sense of direction! We found the bus terminal and caught the return bus to The Comfort Inn.  The bus was only $2.30/person-pretty good deal for a half hour drive across town. Much cheaper than a taxi alternative, I’m sure.  The bus driver was friendly, but he was a little thrown by my accent at first and thought I was Irish! That’s a first!

We couldn’t get the heater to work at our hotel room, so it has been a chilly night, but we’ve been piling on the blankets instead.  We’re no doubt spoiled from living in Arizona for so long.  Tomorrow, we’ll be flying to Sydney.  Can’t wait to see what’s there too!  This whole trip has been awesome, it’s hard to believe we’re really here-doing all this stuff.  Each day is full of surprises.

Exploring downtown Fremantle

We spent the night at the ritsy Hotel Esplanade in Fremantle, WA.  Last night, Chris and I went out to a nice Indian restaurant for a late dinner.  I tried something called a Mango Lassi with mango, yogurt, milk and a splash of rose water.  It was delicious. 

After dinner, we walked to the Anchor Sail Brewery, where Chris tried a couple beers. He liked the house IPA and the Pilsner. I had water with lemon.  It was an interesting atmosphere. We sat up on the open air balcony on fancy cushions.  There weren’t any waitstaff coming around pestering us-if you wanted to order a drink, you just went up to the bar yourself.  Kind of a low-key place to just hang out and do your own thing.  A free salsa lesson had just ended, so there were people practicing their footwork in a few of the rooms.

This morning, Chris & I started our day having breakfast at Hungry Jacks, a master franchise of Burger King with over 300 restaurants in Australia.  Then we had the rest of the morning to explore, so we meandered through the park and down to the beach, then walked downtown to explore the shops.  I tried on a couple designer pants, just for fun.  Then I ordered an orange, carrot and ginger juice and it was my turn to follow Chris around for an hour. It started to rain, so we went in a large market building with all kinds of fresh produce, art and other things for sale.  We listened to a guy playing a metallic guitar with a slider on his thumb and using a kick thing to hit his guitar case and make a drum beat-he was good and it was an unusual sound. 
We went into a new age shop and I bought a candle that smells like a chocolate tootsie roll pop.  I wanted to buy a book but didn’t want to add anymore weight to my luggage and thought I’d try to find it online, only now, of course, I can’t remember the name.

My Mom had a semi humorous experience at the post office.  She was mailing a box and the lady asked if she wanted stamps, Mom said, “that’s ok” thinking she was asking if she needed to buy stamps-so the lady set about individually sticking dozens upon dozens of stamps all over the box to make up the correct postage, then re-added them all up with the calculator afterwards to make sure it was just the right amount.  Mom was getting ready to pay and commented how in the United States they can just print out a stamp with the exact amount-instead of having to cover the whole box with stamps—”Oh, I can do that,” the lady said.  Mom just stared at her stunned…we’d all been out in the RV waiting for her and time was of the essence to get the RV returned on time.  We think that when the lady asked if she wanted stamps and Mom said “that’s alright”-she took that as affirmative-as in “yes, alright, I’ll have stamps all over my package.”  The accent and way questions are phrased can be challenging to understand the true meaning sometimes.

We’re in a rush to get to our hotel now, which is near the airport, so we can drop off all our stuff and return the RV on time.

Namburg National Park

Namburg National Park-our adventure began as a 3.5 km hike until we decided to stray from the path and then it became something much longer, but we still had fun. It was cool to see all the pinnacles.  Some pink birds made their home in one of the pinnacle rocks and crawled down a hole to get to it’s nest while the other stood watch at the top and occasionally flew around a large circular perimeter to squawk a lot.  We also saw a wild emu at the park running around the pinnacles.

We’re stopped along the roadside now to empty the gray water from our RV, which is what the dealer said to do.  The tank fills up so fast, I’m starting to see some of the many disadvantages to having an RV-constantly needing to empty gray water and refill the fresh water, among other things. The shower is basically useless for anything longer than a sponge bath.  But before I start getting nostalgic and missing our van-there is a lot more room…

We’re heading to Fremantle tonight, south of Perth.  The road seems rougher and bumpier on this stretch.  I’m ready to just be in one place for a while.  We stopped at Regans Ford Windmill Roadhouse for a little break and got a very close up look at their emus.  That was a treat-it’s been hard to get a good look at the couple wild emus we’ve seen because they’re usually far away on on the run-at least that was the case when one ran across the road in front of us and again at Namburg National Park with all the pinnacles.

Sandra’s Bio Reading at Snag Island Leeman Caravan Park

We spent the night at a caravan park somewhere between Geraldton and Perth, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was near the ocean and there was a cage with colorful birds inside near the entrance. Chris thinks it was the Snag Island Leeman Caravan Park in Leeman, Western Australia.

We walked to the beach to watch another beautiful sunset, then leisurely strolled back watching for the cone shaped shells Bruce had pointed out.  They were everywhere-and seemed to be feeding off the plants and grass.  It’s bizarre how we hadn’t even noticed them on our walk down to the shore, yet after they were pointed out to us, they were plain as day-you couldn’t miss ‘em.

That night, after dinner, it was my turn to read my bio to the group. Kind of a nerve racking experience, but I stumbled my way through it.  I’ll include a copy below.  Maybe.

HMAS Sydney (II) Shipwreck, Geraldton, WA

We stopped at a scenic ocean overlook in Geraldton-it was cold and windy with the strong smell of fish. 

We drove to the Western Australia Museum in Geraldton which is full of fascinating maritime exhibits among other things. 

I spent some time in a special exhibit for the Pride of the Fleet, the search for the HMAS Sydney (II).  I learned about how the HMAS Sydney (II) was lost at sea after a defeating battle with the German raider HSK Kormoran on November 19, 1941.  All 645 crew members were tragically lost.  This unexpected loss of youth meant a great deal of anguish for many Australians, particularly the family and friends who never had closure as the ship remained lost at sea…until this very year. 

March 16, 2008 the HMAS Sydney (II) was found in 2,470 metres of water 112 nautical miles off Steep Point in Western Australia-truly a monumental occasion after being lost at sea for 67 years.  The special Pride of the Fleet exhibit contains stories of the crew, the families left behind as well as the Finding Sydney Foundation search team.  The exhibit will be available until late 2008 for viewing in Geraldton, WA.

It was also of interest to visit the Shipwreck Gallery to learn the gruesome history of the famous Batavia shipwreck.  The Batavia was shipwrecked on June 4, 1629 near Beacon Island, one of the 122 Houtman Abrolhos islands associated with coral reefs off the Western Australian coast.  A mutiny led by Jeronimus Cornelisz, a bankrupt pharmacist fleeing the Netherlands on the newly built Batavia, led to the brutal murders of 125 men, women and children.  Only 68 people reached the Batavia Port alive out of 341 original crew members. 

Admission is by donation and well worth an afternoon or longer.  There are also animal exhibits and many other interesting artifacts.  We spent a little time in the gift shop afterwards and found some delicious smelling lemon myrtle oil aromatherapy lotion.  It smells good enough to eat.  The people that work there are wonderful and helped us pick out a good local seafood restaurant.

Another memorable place to visit in Geraldton is the Old Geraldton Gaol Craft Centre, formerly a historic old prision built in 1858.  Admission is free and you can browse around at your leisure peaking into the various prison cells and reading the framed letters about prisoners asking for more food and other matters and history. 

We also browsed around the craft shops where I bought a neat old book from the 1940’s called Practical Knowledge For All. It contains a gold mine of interesting information on physiology, latin, social anthropology and more.  I look forward to exploring it-best of all, it was only 2 bucks-much cheaper than college though perhaps slightly outdated
We also purchased some handmade rose cream, another neat find. 

Time to hit the road!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

It’s been an eventful day having already been to visit the dolphins at Monkey Mia and the Stromatolite Colonies at the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.  Now it’s time to relax and smell the flowers. Mom has been working away on her bio in the back of the RV with me, while Chris is taking a turn up front as the co-pilot and is searching through a travel guide for things to do in Perth.  So far he wants to go to Kings Park, do the tree top walk, bells from Academy of St. Martins in the Field, Perth mint-see poured gold, touch gold bar, and walk around Freemantle.

 
This stretch is such a pretty drive-yellow flowers all over, green brush, orange flowering bushes, pink flowers, yellow pods, purple flowering bushes, light purple flowers-the scenery is ever changing and always beautiful.  It’s overcast and dim considering it’s only 1 P.M.

It’s about a 4 hour drive to Geraldton. Time to wonder things like-has human intelligence gotten the best of us? Can people live, be happy and smell the flowers anymore?  Or do most people prefer to always be doing, having and altering the natural state of the world?  If only we could learn a more effective form of communication-not just among ourselves-but with all life-for all areas of existence are ultimately reliant upon one another. 

We made a pitstop at a roadhouse with 2 kangaroos and a goat. It’s been fun being surprised by these litle unexpected things-makes the road trip awesome never knowing what you’ll come across next.  The landscape changed for a while, no yellow flowers, but it was only a brief lapse and now they are here again stretching on as far as the eye can see on both sides of the highway.

Hamelin Pool Stromatolites

Our first stop, after Monkey Mia this morning, was to pay tribute to the oldest life forms on Earth-the living stromatolites at the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. The stromatolite colonies at Hamelin Pool were created by cyanobacteria and many are thousands of years old and still ticking. 

Cyanobacteria first appeared, as evidenced in stromatolite colonies, when oxygen was scarce on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago- that’s long before the first plant life evolved.  We owe our existence to these cyanobacteria, the simplest life forms to use photosynthesis in the production of oxygen. They raised the Earth’s oxygen levels to around 20% paving the way for other life forms. 

Cyanobacteria have thrived at Hamelin Pool, where it is twice as salty as the ocean, keeping most other marine creatures from disturbing them.  We walked around the interpretive boardwalk to admire the stromatolite colonies.  These colonies are actually a sediment created by the cyanobacteria that mixes with calcium carbonate.  Some are 1.5 meters high and have taken thousands of years to develop. 

Despite the high salinity of the Hamelin Pool, we did see a couple species of jellyfish swimming among the stromoatolite colonies. Stromatolites are fragile and damage easily as evidenced by some of the wheel imprints visible today. 

It’s really neat that when the tide is in, air bubbles can still be seen around the stromatolites.

The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve covers 1,270 square kilometers and is home to one of only a few remaining living stromatolite colonies-the others are also in Western Australia and can be found at Lake Thetis and Lake Clifton.

Monkey Mia

Chris & I spent the night in the RV while my Mom & Bruce got a room at the Shark Bay Hotel in Denham, situated right across from Shark Bay.  Shark Bay Hotel also has a Beer Garden and dining hall. It is located at 43 Knight Terrace, Denham 6537 Western Australia. 

Up by 6 and back on the road by 7 A.M. we drove to Monkey Mia to see the first Bottlenose dolphin feeding of our lives-and of the day-which we thought was scheduled for 8 A.M. but we felt a little late because a group had already congregated along the water’s edge at 7:45 and were listening to a young woman in waterproof overalls standing knee deep in the water with a dolphin by her side. We made our way right up to the edge of the water. I kicked off my sandals and stood about ankle deep for an even better view of the dolphins.

It was amazing seeing these wild dolphins swimming around such a large group of people without fear.  They would swim past me all of about 3 feet away.  We were instructed not to attempt to touch them, however, as that is seen as intrusive. A few people were chosen to hand a fish to a dolphin.  We learned a little about various dolphins-like Nikki, who had been herded away from her pack by a group of male dolphins who kept her hostage until they were sure she was pregnant. They had been worried when she didn’t show up for feedings, but were happy when they heard she’d been spotted among this group of males.  She was visibly pregnant when we saw her. 

I’ve been doing a little more research on dolphin breeding for my own curiosity-it sounds like groups of 2 or 3 male dolphins is all it takes to herd one of the females away.  These males have an alliance together and attempt to keep the female to themselves for up to a month, however, sometimes another alliance will come along and try to steal the female away.  In the 1990’s a “super alliance” of 14 male dolphins was discovered working together and stealing the females from smaller groups.  Dolphins have complex social alliances just as humans do.

Sadly, once born, more than 40% of calves do not survive to age 3 and less than half of the babies born to mothers receiving food provisions were surviving to age 3. To reduce this problem some steps have been taken at Monkey Mia like not feeding the calves at all and only feeding the adult female dolphins less than 25% of their daily food requirement-this way they’ll continue hunting their own fish and passing that ability on to their young. 

We saw a number of healthy young calves on our visit. Like human youth, they were rambunctious and playful-happily zooming around while the adult females enjoyed their morning snack.

Up on the beach, a large pelican was being a show stealer.  He hung out on the beach and fearlessly posed for pictures as tourists, myself included, inched closer and closer.   Inside the little restaurant overlooking all this activity, we spotted a couple birds flying around inside the restaurant too-they had a birds nest near our table.  We wondered if management knew or cared, for health reasons, but it was interesting to see an occupied birdsnest inside a busy tourist restaurant. 

The day is young and we are continuing our Australia adventure heading back toward the main road to Perth, backtracking along the Perron Peninsula, again passing the hotel we spent the night at-the sign reads, “Shark Bay, Australia’s Westernmost hotel.”  The next blog entry will be coming soon. 

Road Trip to Monkey Mia, Australia

It’s 7:31 A.M. and I’m writing from the Nanutarra Roadhouse, where we spent the night in another caravan park, and are now getting ready to continue our RV travels. Time has run short, as it is now Monday and we have only until Friday to travel many hundreds of kilometers to get from where we are now to Perth and return our RV rental on time.  Sadly, this means we simply will not have time to do everything on our action packed agenda.

We have reached our first tough decision-to skip Exmouth.  The Ningaloo reefs make Exmouth a good place for snorkeling-but since the water is still a bit cold this time of year, and would be going a little in the wrong direction, I think it makes sense to cross this one off our list for now.  Instead we’re working our way toward Monkey Mia in hopes of seeing real dolphins in the wild.  Chris and I have never seen wild dolphins before so it would be a real treat for us. 

We’re driving as much as possible today. We do have to make a detour in Carnarvon for an internet and laundry break, but there will be plenty of time for looking out the window in the meantime.  We saw the Carnarvon Satellite Tracking Station which was used in the Apollo and Gemini missions.  I love long road trips like this-they give me a chance to think as well as take in all the colorful grasses, brush, and flowers.  The sand is still red and the sky a deep obscure blue…Australia is a beautiful country, very wild and free.

Karijini National Park, Australia

Karijini National Park is about 1,400 kilometers from Perth, so this was a little bit of a detour for us, but the views were well worth the extra drive.  As the only inland national park we’ll have the time and pleasure to visit on this epic road trip, the wonderful Visitor’s Center was a wonderful place to stop and get some info. The Karijini has helped give perspective to the dramatic landscape changes we’ve seen on this Australian journey which began in Broome and will continue on to Perth.

After some driving, we hiked down Dales Gorge, a level 3 trail yesterday, which probably had a few more steps than a typical American “moderate fitness level required,” trail would have had-but we all did just fine, and it was a great day for it.  Down below was a lovely waterfall called Fortescue Falls with people swimming and playing in it.

We continued on toward the Fern Pool which is a little beyond Fortescue Falls.  Our hike led us past great big twining trees and large fallen boulders. We came to a clearing with a natural pool of lagoon like blue water and two smaller waterfall streams flowing into it.  We had arrived at Fern Pool where the water was so clear, I swam all the way out to the waterfall and could see rocks and fallen logs below the whole way there-and that was kind of a trip because I could see just how in over my head I was!  The water was quite chilly, but once I crawled up on the rocks beneath the waterfall, that felt nice-warm and relaxing-I could have stayed there all day had the others not decided the water was too cold for them to swim.  Wusses!

We drove to find our campsite-#110 and then decided we probably had time to explore a ways further on the Banyjima Drive dirt road (which is pretty rough in places). We drove until we got to a beautiful overlook of gorges-the Oxers Lookout.  It would probably make a beautiful sunrise picture, but is rather stunning any time of day with all the colors.  From Oxers Lookout, we could see Hancock Gorge, Joffre Gorge, Red Gorge and Weano Gorge.  Over 2.5 billion years ago sea level was even with the Oxer’s Lookout point.  It took nature many millions of years worth of erosion to form the impressive gorge display of today…and as Bruce tactfully reminded us as Chris & I ventured out past the safety perimeter to peer over the edge-nature has not yet perfected this masterpiece-pieces of the gorge will continue to tumble down into the depths below for many years to come.

The next morning, we again drove our slightly bulky RV down some perilous Karijini National Park dirt roads (which I would probably not recommend too highly as I can not over-emphasize just how bumpy these roads are).  We had a good time exploring Joffre Gorge as one of our final undertakings. Joffre Gorge was relatively easy to navigate our way to and around although we did veer from the official path a bit. We walked right up to and around the gigantic falls and took pictures til our hearts content.

We concluded our Karijini adventure with a visit to Mount Bruce, the second highest peak in Western Australia.