Big Sunnies!

In Australia we noticed a trend of gigantic sunglasses. I, of course, had to try them out. Here are a few...

go to september and read about the bully lorakeets!

Here are the pics that go with my previous Lorakeet post.

I figured if I posted the pics with the original no one would see them!

First picture, I was not expecting the bird to land on me, can you tell I'm a little startled!

Picture 2.. Clearly we've bonded!

Three of my Favorites

Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, NZ


Lake Pukaki - Near Twizel, NZ



Tasman Glacier, Mt. Cook area in NZ

Don't Let the Emu Out.

Really? Cause I think that if one comes running toward me I may not be able to heed this sign.

Pictures on the web! My pictures!

I think this will work. I am putting up all my pictures, with captions, in web albums in Picasa. Here is the link. I will try to blog more specifics like Kris. I just did the Great Ocean Road album. So cool!

Jenny's Crazy Road

When driving from Twizel NZ to Queenstown NZ, we took a crazy road through a mountain range that led into Queenstown. This road was nuts, tons of switch backs with one side rock face and the other side a huge drop. Jenny was driving part of this road and we noticed about 3/4 of the way down the insanely steep hill that there were signs saying "Check Your Brakes." Why now? Why when we have made it this far should we worry about our brakes. Wouldn't it be pretty clear at this point if our brakes weren't the best?

Here's a shot from the high point of the road before we started the straight drop down.

Meet Biddy - Everyone's favorite knitter

This is Biddy.



We met her in Queenstown , NZ at the Warf Market on our last day in New Zealand. Biddy makes hats, scarves and other knitwear. She explained to us that she tends her own sheep, spins and dyes the wool and then makes her goods. I'm not sure if she sheers her own sheep but I'm going to think that she does. It just makes Biddy cooler. She told us that for some of her hats she uses fruit juice for dye. The results are some pretty loud hats and I have to wonder if you feel like a melting popsicle if it rains on your hat.

The best part though is that in front of each basket of hats Biddy had placed pictures of the sheep who provided the wool for those hats. If you click on the picture above you can see one of the sheep photos on her table.

Biddy is da bomb! Want to meet her, check out her web site!

Fancy Bathroom

We found this in Port Douglas.

Rainforest Habitat - Port Douglas

Owl in disguise.



This is a Kookaburra. Contrary to what I thought, it is by no means a marsupial. My bad, thought it was. Nope, it's clearly a bird. And when it is sitting in the old gum tree as the song goes, we learned that's another name for a eucalyptus tree.

Sydney Fish Market.

Check out the piece of fish in the pelican's beak. The pelican started to close in on Rosemary. We decided to head inside after that. And, Australians are serious about their food. This is one of many signs for sashimi and sushi queues.

Huh, I just noticed too that the Pelican has a bit of a Matrix thing going on with it's one leg up and wings spread out. Guess it was serious about protecting the fish slab.

Cassowary!

Reflections in the Tasman Sea

Mmm rubber

The Kea is a type of Alpine Parrot that lives in New Zealand. We first saw one on the way to Milford Sound when we stopped to look at a glacier. The bus for our tour had a partially see through roof, running along each side of the roof so each seat had a great view in pretty much all directions. When the bus pulled into the lookout spot the Kea's descended on the bus and sat on the roof. There are signs everywhere saying to watch out for the birds because they like to eat rubber, the weather stripping off of car windows and have also been known to attack hiking boots to get their rubber fix.

Kris and Dominic take out people with a paraglide chute

Brendan caught Kris and Dominic on video as they cruised in for a landing.

Melbourne and Geelong - Go Cats!

When we flew into Melbourne after Port Douglas. It was the start of our Great Ocean Road adventure. Sis and Rachel decided to be designated driver while Kris and I would be the designated kids-in-the-back.

It was dark and the front seat drivers immediately got lost. I think they made one correct turn before it all went wrong. Let me tell you pulling over for directions on the left is not easy.

Anyway we found the Western Road which turns into the Princes Highway which become Rt 101 (I always thought of soft rock when we drove on it) which is the Great Ocean Road. They have better highway names in Australia.

We were headed for Torkay where the resort was but by Geelong we were starving. We tried to stop at the restaurant on the Wool Museum for some food but they were closed for a private party. Stupid us! It was the AFL premiership and Geelong was playing against Port Adelaide!

We ended up at a diner like place called, of all things, Texas, watching the game and eating sandwiches. We didn't stay for the end but the Cats ended up winning and Geelong went mad with joy.

Victoria (the state) kept feeling joyful as the Melbourne Storm won the national rugby title.

We were in a sports mad country in a province with two winning teams. How can you go wrong? Kris and I bought Cats tees on the side of the road.

Signs

Photos from a friend

Hi,
Our teammate and friend Rosemary created a website with her photos from the trip. She is an artist and it shows in the pictures she takes. She has graciously said I can post the link.

We were not together for the entire trip but she traveled with the Wandering Wallabees to the races, a day in Sydney, Ayers Rock and Port Douglas.

Enjoy!

Jenny

Paragliding still rocks!

We are back from our amazing trip and catching up with bloging and pictures.

Here are two clips from my paragliding trip with my pilot Dominick. The first one starts my death spiral and the second one finishes it . In the first video you can see glimpses of a white parachute, that's Jenny! Check out my goofy grin. The wind got pretty strong and chilly in the last spiral. Everyone should try it.






Hmm..the videos look kind of dark in these clips, hopefully you are seeing much brighter shots as the day was perfect. Brilliant blue skies with few clouds.

Paragliding story

While I was waiting to take off on my paragliding trip I watched another pair of women arrive. (Paragliding seemed to be mostly women.) I watched as the instructor explained how to move forward towards the cliff and give a physical demonstration using one of them as an example. He held the strings of the glider as she tried to walk forward. I thought it was interesting until he paused, looked at the second woman expectantly and she responded with a flood of of non-English sentences and a great deal of hand gestures. Then it was a lot more interesting.

One down 3 to go

Posting from Auckland--one flight down and 3 to go until we are back in Philly!!

Wow!

For when we are all home together :)

Let's try it again... shall we..
Key Lime Pie Martinis
2 lime wedges
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) vanilla flavored vodka
1/4 cup (2 ounces) key lime liqueur
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Ice cubes
Graham cracker crumbs, for rimming the glass
Pour the graham cracker crumbs in a shallow dish. Rub a lime wedge around the edge of a martini glass and roll the edge in the graham cracker crumbs. Chill the glass for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
Combine the vanilla vodka, key lime liqueur, pineapple juice, and cream in a shaker. Fill the shaker half full with ice and shake until well blended. Pour into prepared martini glass, garnish with a lime wedge and serve immediately.

Paragliding Rocks! (Part II)

Here are Jenny and Kris before we leave with Dominic and Brendan-hot New Zealand flight instructors.

Here is Jenny just before her flight-guy, Brendan, takes her into an inside death spiral over a preschool and lands in the middle of a rugby field!

Paragliding Rocks!

This was a fantastic experience. Nuff said.

What a month!

It is really hard to believe that our month-long adventure is almost over. Almost a year of planning went into creating this amazing trip. It has flown by so quickly as time seems to do as I get older.

We have experienced so many different things, some of which made it to the blog and others will be stories told in person. We have taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures in an attempt to capture and share the amazing things we have seen, knowing that only a fraction of the experience will be in those photos.

We will include some pictures with our many posts after we return home. It is going to take some time for me to organize my nearly 550 photos. So many places, including much of New Zealand couldn't be captured on film--the immenseness of the mountains, the incredible beauty can only be experienced first hand.

Our last day and a half will most likely include a hike, gondola ride, hang gliding for some, last souvenir shopping, lolly shopping :), and food tasting.

While this trip has been amazing, I will be happy to return home to my loved ones. Tomorrow we begin the last leg, 4 flights left of the 17--so hard to believe!

What an amazing adventure this has been--so what's next???

Aoraki/Mount Cook

The place we stayed at Omaua Downs was so lovely. It wasn't easy to top it but Aoraki/Mount Cook did.

We got up and the sun was shining on the far mountains. From where we were we couldn't see where we would end up that day. We got into the car and started driving to the park. Parks here are under DOC, Department of Conservation. Yesterday we were told that 1/3 of the South Island is national park. The ride took us past Lake Pukaki. This is the second of the two stunning lakes we say.

We stopped and took pictures and I had my first experience of the deceptive distances caused by the clarity of the air. We walked to the lake and it was a whole lot farther than I thought! This would be a theme all day.

We drove into the park and into Hooker Valley. The guy who ran the place we were sleeping at with his partner recommended a walk to Rachel. It was a 3 hour return walk that led over 2 suspension bridges and to a glacial lake with ice and maybe a view of Mt Cook.

What he didn't mention was the other lake, the glacier we walked beside, the mountains all around us, the fact the path not only led over two rivers but through a stream, and the Alpine Memorial to those who had died on the very same mountains.

Other things we were lucky enough to discover on our own were the views behind us the Lake Pukaki in the distance melting into a blue sky and clouds, the awesome roar of a avalanche in the distance, the look of blue ice under the snow, watching the clouds move in as the weather made one of it many dramatic changes, removing and then re-adding layers of clothing as we went through another micro-climate, seeing such brilliant colors in a landscape that I had stupidly thought was barren, and getting to talk to people from around the world as we walked.

After that walk we warmed up in the Old Mountaineer's Cafe with pies and chips. We finished our day at Mt Cook with a shorter trip to see the Abel Tasman glacier. That walk was much shorter but it was straight up! And the DOC had done such a nice job of making the path look like part of the landscape that I lost it and ended up going straight up the side at one point.

We were pleasantly tired when we got home and after a nice starchy dinner Kris and I took the star map (that Joce was nice enough to buy) outside to see if we could figure out the sky.

I am sure you can guess how well that went. The map is glow-in-the dark. But the print and images are little, very little. We were sure we had it down until we would look again and then it would be like, "Huh. I thought that was the Southern Cross."

We went to bed.

The journey back

We start the trip back on Saturday. It involves four flights and a whole lotta time zones. At this point we have been on 13 flights and been in, I think, close to 12 different airports. They have been good though and I'm looking forward to Air New Zealand's food. They do it right.

But first, two more days in Queenstown. On the agenda for today is paragliding for Jenny and I and/or luging if the weather doesn't cooperate. Maybe a little tramping in the hills of Queenstown and whatever else we find.

Penguins and Seals

Continuing the animal theme---during our nature cruise yesterday on the Milford Sound, we were hoping to see more wild animals and we did! We saw little brown seals sunning themselves on the rock and two seals having a bit of a face off--for warm rock space--the bigger one won!

During our time in Christchurch we went to the Antarctic Center, a really great museum which also has a penguin exhibit. So, we had gotten quite an intro to penguins and were hoping to see some in the wild.

During an earlier cruise a few had been spotted but they are quite shy so the guide on the boat said that normally you get one glimpse at the top of their heads then they go under water. Well, lo and behold we got one of those glimpses really quick.

Wellll Jocelyn, Kris and I were not satisfied with that little glimpse and went into nature finder mode--searching the calm open waters for more penguins. Off in the distance there was something shiny. Throughout this trip we have all demonstrated our love of shiny things--easily distracted, sentences left unfinished, stepping off a walking path to investigate etc. Yesterday was no different.

We honed in on those shiny heads--not sure whether they were a dolphin or penguins and lo and behold they were penguins! The guide was so impressed with the ladies from Philly for finding them. We got great pictures of the penguins, one swimming on his back and one on his belly.

Yeah us!!

More Chicken Talk

On our boat tour of the Milford Sound yesterday, our guide was pointing out some seals bathing on a rock and a penguin in the water. I was looking around and spotted two more penguins swimming off the other side of the boat. I pointed them out to Rachel and Joce and the guide mentioned into his microphone that "the girl's from Philadelphia had spotted more penguins." He came over to say thanks for pointing them out and asked how we spotted them. I admitted it was because they were shiny. He laughed and said yeah, I have some chickens at home and they do that too. So once again, chicken stories were traded. Ahh chickens... they are the universal language.

Lambs lambs lambs

Yesterday we did a great tour of Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound which included a 4 hour bus ride each way and a 2.5 hour boat ride in the Sound. We seem to have some sort of weather karma--we were in Ayers Rock for one of the 3 days of rain, the sea was calmer then normal during our snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and yesterday we had one of the few days of sun and calm waters at Milford Sound.

New Zealand is known for having more sheep then human residents and yesterday I believe we saw many of those sheep residents. Since it is spring here, it is also lamb season and oh they are cute. There must be some sort of lamb camp they go through to be sure they know how to be super cute when tourists pass by. They were seen bounding across the fields, curled up sleeping, there were two curled up with their heads together so they formed a heart shape (such a postcard) and we even saw several lambs perched on top of their mothers back!

There was an incredibly high cuteness factor in those fields.

Why yes, they are quite Remarkable

We went to Milford Sound yesterday, same trip that Joann posted about earlier. It was amazing, the scenery was like nothing I've ever experienced. Almost too perfect. Kinda like one of those disney backdrops where they cue the giant waterfall ans the boat passes by, but this was all natural. Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park. We learned about fiords, sounds, New Zealand explorers and as it was the Nature cruise, lots about plants and animals.

On the 4 hour drive out to Milford we drove through a few mountain ranges and endless sheep land. One of the mountain ranges is called The Remarkables. And yes, they are. Huge snow topped peak es poking out above the cloud line. Fantastic!

Our bus had huge side windows and a row of windows on the roof so you could look everywhere. I saw tons of sheep and lambs and the little lambys spend here days frolicking. I saw lambs jumping, bounding, crashing ino each other and twice I saw a lamb standing on its mom. We read something that said New Zealand has far more sheep than it does people.

Lolly Lolly Lolly

So, since I seem to be quite food centered today, I'll continue in that vein. Kris and I have been on a bit of a lolly seeking adventure since we began this trip. I feel it is an integral part of any international travel adventure to check out the candy aisle and this trip the focus has been two-fold : chocolate and gummy items. Here gummies are called Lollies--well perhaps most candy is referred to as lollies.

We have tried everything from all natural gummies shaped as dinosaurs to a variety of sour lollies and yesterday's favorites--strawberry and peach lollies that tasted quite like fruit.

Even Jenny---who is seriously opposed to most things Jelly-like (especially items like twizzlers) has been seen enjoying the mandarin and peach lollies along the way.

In Queenstown there is a fun lolly shop that also has fudge in many flavors--lollies of all shapes and sizes, all flavors and yumminess--we'll be heading there before leaving town. ;)

More seafood adventures

We have had a running list of food items we have to eat while in NZ since well they are famous in this area of the world. I have been on a hunt for mussels and we learned about whitebait in Melbourne. It is sold at the fish counters and is actually juvenile smelt fish. It can be used either as bait or for human consumption (human bait? :) ) Traditionally it is lightly floured and then fried in a pan.

So, of course we had to try it. Last night we accomplished both of these tasks---the mussels (green lipped mussels) were super yummy in a garlic and white wine sauce.

The whitebait was interesting. The texture was a bit like baby eels, without the fatty 'ness. There was not a whole lot of flavor and I don't think I could have made it through a whole patty of it, but a taste was enough and now we crossed it off our list.

Ahh salmon....

On our way out of Twizel (near Mt. Cook in NZ) we passed a salmon farm--you could feed them for free and then buy either smoked or fresh salmon. Of course, we had to stop! Hesitant at first about feeding the salmon, we accepted the challenge. Walking over to a seemingly placid pool we searched for any visual sign of salmon in there. Finally one of us threw a piece of food in and wow!!! those salmon were huge and they were jumpers. Then of course it became quite the game to get them to leap and twist over each other to get the food.

Jocelyn thought she was far enough away from the rest of us who had food, but alas no, we very nicely tossed the food to the far side of the pond where she was so she too could enjoy the show!

Sooo now to the yummy part. We also bought a half of a salmon--smoked of course! and oh wow it was by far the best smoked salmon I have ever had. They use rum in their smoking process--hmm that must be the reason!

Yummmyyyyyy

Blown Away

While in Melbourne....

As my previous post said, while we were in Melbourne we drove to see the 12 Apostles which were 12 rock formations along the coast--there are only 8 standing now as the previous ones crumbled into the sea--the most recent last year.

The day we went was a blustery rainy day--the weather report described the winds as "Gale Force Winds" and well um yeah they were gale force!! At times on the walkways to view the Apostles and Thunder Cave and other lovely sites, we literally had to fight to stand upright and I feared for the few small children that were not tied down. No joke the winds were that strong. It was incredible to be walking along and feel the wind pick up your feet as if to blow you down--yup I experienced this--wow!! Mother nature is super strong!!

The yummiest wrong turn ever!!!

It is getting challenging to remember what we did post and what we didn't considering our internet access has a been a bit sketchy as of late. Soooo, I apologize if this is a repeat--but well it was a great experience so no harm in repeating it!

Way way back when we were in Melbourne and travelling the Great Ocean Road, we spent a day driving to see the 12 Apostles. As was our normal course of action we tried to take a different route each time we went out. This time we were taking an inland route that was supposed to get us to the 12 Apostles quicker then the Great Ocean Road----well it did but we sort of took a wrong turn and oh boy it was a great wrong turn!

A few days earlier I had been reading about cheesemakers in the region and really wanted to visit one of them. And lo and behold we found ourselves right at the turnoff for the Apostle Whey Cheese Factory. It was 9am and they didn't open until 10, but they had a public bathroom and well we needed it. It was a small farm with the owners house right next to the shop, so he saw us waiting for the bathroom and came out and offered to give us a tasting, which of course we accepted.

Our timing was quite fortuitous as well because a huge rainstorm (hail and horizontal rain) came in about 2 minutes after we got inside. So, we were able to watch the storm from the relative warmth of the shop while tasting really delicious cheese.

Yeah!!! such a lovely wrong turn!

Gus and I

As Kris said, we stayed the last two days at Omahu Downs--a small farm--where we rented a cottage. The views were incredible of a mountain range in the distance with fields nearby. The owners used to live in the cottage that we were staying in and had adopted their black lab dog Gus while they still lived in the cottage. So, he considers it a second home.

Yesterday morning, Gus and I hung out on the porch watching the sun come up fully over the mountains. He was a definite help with my feelings of missing my canine nieces (hi to Summit and Knox). Who by the way are going to be famous and will be featured on October 22, 2008 of the 365 Day Dog calendar!!

Mouth Gaping Open

Where do I begin? I can't begin to describe the beauty and majesty of New Zealand. Bill had tried to give me an idea beforehand, how incredible this country is, and it was a good try but..... I think I have spent most of the past 4 days since we arrived with my mouth slightly or fully open in awe of my surroundings. The mountains are tremendous, in stature and beauty and they seem to be endless. Some have snow on the top and others are seemingly barren with scruffy trees or alpine pine trees, grasses and low bushes. Sheep are everywhere and cattle is mixed in.

We drove past Lake Tekapo a few days ago and oh my gosh!! The water was such a brilliant turqoise and the mountains framing it were topped with snow and seemed to go into the clouds.

Amazing truly amazing.

and it never ends--we have driven for hours across the southern island and it just keeps getting better and better. Wow!! Amazingly enough this place dwarfs Colorado (my other favorite mountain area) and I never thought that was possible!

Does a chicken need a passport?

Yesterday we went hiking, or tramping as they say here, in the Mt. Cook area near the Tazman Glacier. It was amazingly beautiful. We found a fantastic farm stay for our lodging that was a cabin on a working farm run by a younger couple. We got to talking with them and learned that they were getting 9 chickens delivered this week and were a tad nervous. Well, who knew my recent chicken ownership would assist in conversations in New Zealand. The owners and I had a fun chat about chickens and they showed me the coop they were building. These chicken are going to be living the high life. This coop is tricked out. The chickens were supposed to arrive yesterday but things got delayed a bit and we had to start our travel to Queenstown. So I didn't get to see them but the owners told me that they were much more excited for their arrival now that they heard some stories. Hmm...maybe Biggie FiNu and Triple Threat can go on an exchange program.

Nabed by the customs beagle

We are in New Zealand this week and our postings have been a bit slow as we have had some limited access. When we arrived in the Auckland airport over the weekend we had two food bags with us that needed to be consolidated before we went through customs to get rid of the contra ban meats, chesses and fruits. Most airport give you an option to dispose of the dreaded contra ban items before going to get your luggage but either we didn't see it or that isn't an option in Auckland. Once past the first screening and while waiting for our baggage, I heard someone yelling "Sit, Kwiss, good girl." And a lot more use of the name Kwis. I started looking around cause it sounded like my name but no, it was a customs beagle dog going crazy over our two food bags. We had to show the food to the customs lady and the declaration card and she took the suspect meat, cheeses and fruits. Then Kwis, the sniffing beagle spent some time sniffing around Rachel's bag. Rachel was food free but her bag was used to carry the food a few days before so the customs lady said, "oh, ok she must just smell like meat then." Good times in the Auckland airport.

South Island feelings of inadequacy

Last night Sis and I went to a Maori concert. It was neat. There were 7 performers who sang and danced. We got to see them do a haka. Haka are the preparation for battle. Performing one gets a warrior ready to go berserk. Recently the haka has been used by the All Blacks before games. I guess it didn't work Sunday. All Black lost to France and a lot of people have been upset. (I find it fantastic that the link above is from Al Jazeera English-everybody loves rugby!)

The concert performers were mostly young and I was thinking this could be a great summer job. They have to do two shows a night but their days are free!

On the way back we were talking to the the bus driving who told us South Islanders don't feel quite equal with North Islanders. He said it was because the bigger cities, the financial city and the capitol are all in the North. He says people ask him where he is from and when he says the North they say with mingled disgust and envy, "Oh, Auckland." (He isn't from there but it's like saying you are from the US and people replying, "Oh, New York.")

He said part of the reason was in the entire South Island there are 1 million people. And that a third of them live here, in Christchurch. 1 million people in the whole island. He said the North has 3 million which is still small but only 1 million people? That's got to be less than Mount Airy!

Today we are leaving Christchurch to drive to Twizel and Mt Cook

According to the guide books we will be driving through county used in the filming of Lord of the Rings. Edoras and the battle on Pellinor fields.

This will be my first time driving to on the left. Think good thoughts for me.

10 down 4 to go..

I head off this afternoon back to Auckland, and then tomorrow the loooooonnnnnggg trek back to the US.

At this point I have 10 flights down, and 4 left to return me to Philly.

Types of transportation used this trip:

• Planes
• Trains
• Cars & buses of all sizes
• Boats
• Parachute (paragliding)
• Gondola
• Shoe leather

This will be my last blog post until I get home.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the adventures from the rest of the Posse.

Rainbows over lambs

Ok so on the trip back from Milford Sound, (13 hours round trip) I saw 2 complete rainbows, they lasted really long, but I could see where the started and where the ended, so cool. It looked like we drove through the arch of the one, and the lush green with white sheep speckled landscape so cool.

Milford Sound

My trip to Milford Sound happened on Friday!

I was met in the morning by a cab that took me to the bus, it was raining. I had inquired to why it was canceled the day before, and the response was a nonchalant, "there was an avalanche, the road was blocked, but it's open now".

So Tracy our driver collected us and off we went, through Kingston and to Te Anau to pick up a few more people and stop for a Toilet use, it's a big bus but there are no facilities on board. Then from Te Anau into the Milford sound with one more toilet stop, this was all total a 4.5 hour trip just to get to the Sound.

So the Milford Sound (actually a fiord), is you guessed it, a world heritage site! and with those come Dragon Boaters apparently as there was a woman from the Masters Canadian team on the tour with me.

So on the one and only road that runs into Milford Sound, the terrain changes dramatically as we pass through 3 valleys. One was very lush and technically a rain forest. Still raining... Then we get to a safety check area, and we pull over and our driver gets out and shows the safety guy that we have chains for the bus. Gets back in and we are off.. A few miles down the road we pull over with a bunch of other vehicles and those chains get put on, I'm watching cars come back from the Sound covered in snow. All chained up, we are off, up the mountain we head. We creepped along, I was looking out the window and watched an avalanche slide down the side of a far off mountain so cool looking. Up through the snow and into the next valley, we pull over to take the chains off, although we are still in area where you can see snow all around, but the road wasn't slushy here. As soon as Tracy jumped out of the bus, I looked up and behind us to check out the mountain, and ohhh crap!! Avalanche, really close, it slid gracefully down and across the road behind us, and we were sprayed by the snow, but not enough to be more than a spray, the road behind us only ended up with a dusting of snow on it. But that's close enough for me.

Off again, and finally there and on to the boat, it's now sleeting.. On the boat ride, I saw so many pretty and large waterfalls, one nice benefit of the rain! I've a nice collection of waterfall shots.

We headed out the sound and into the Tasmanian Sea, the water so clear and turquoise. We saw 4 bottle nosed dolphins, Albatross, and a female yellow crested penguin. I've a picture of the dolphins, but I couldn't zoom in well enough to get the penguin.

The water was really choppy and the swells as we headed into the Tasmanian Sea were huge and rolling. A few people on the boat were a bit green, but I found my spot out toward the port side stern, where I was out of the wind and the spray and could get some great photos.

Back to port and back on the bus, at this point the rain had lifted out at sea, but not on land, we were off, and no chains needed on the bus this time, what a change in weather in that short time, as we headed back into the mountain it stopped raining and some of the overcast had lifted so we could see the landscape.

Home we go! There were rolling hills of sheep with their young in the paddocks close to the road, they were cute. A few were startled by the large machine some were playing, a group of six lambs tried to race us. There were packs of red deer and smaller elk and cows.

The sheep that we saw weren't Marino they were some cross breed ones that were breed to have twins to increase profitability. The marino sheep won't have their young for a few more weeks and are still up in the mountains.

What an awesome trip!

Farmers Markets!

We are also doing a tour of Australian and New Zealand Farmer's Markets. They are fantastic. More on this later but so far we have hit two of the biggest in the country, Rusty's in Cairns and the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

Tomorrow we are going on a foodie tour of the Queen Victoria Market. Kinda like a behind the scenes tour with samples. The respect that Australians have for their farmer's markets is amazingly impressive.

Victorians love their homeland!

Since arriving in Geelong (pronounced Ja-long) we have been asking for recommendations of what to see along the Great Ocean Road and boy do the residents love to talk about their home. They will give you a long list of sites to see and about how long it will take to get there.

Interestingly enough they agreed on the sites and totally differed on time--some said 4.5 hours to the furthers site, others said no no just 2 hours, maps said 1.5 hours or 4-5 hours on and on---needless to say we just sort of figured it out as we went and well I guess they could all be right depending on how quickly you take the turns on the Great Ocean Road.

We were open to Kangaroos!!

So, Rosemary often said "I am open to seeing Kangaroos" and well we all were. Soooooooooo, this week while exploring the area near our time share in a rural part of Victoria (near Geelong, near Melbourne) we were out driving at dusk and I said " I would love to see a Kangaroo in the wild" and well I looked out the window and there one was!!! Well a few actually in a field .We stopped the car so I could get a picture and they stayed relatively still until I had taken the shot and then I thanked them and they hopped away.

We saw a few more during our adventures that evening!! Sooooo coooool!!!!!

umm... do Koala's snort?

Jenny, Rachel and I went fora hike in the Otway National Forest to seem some spectacular waterfalls. On our way down into the valley we heard a low, guttural snorting sound. Rachel asked if it was a dragon and mt first thought was wild boar (because when we were all traveling in Germany for the last dragon boat World's we had to cut through a forest to get form the train station to the race site and we were warned to watch out for wild boar). Jenny's response was that it must be a frog since we didn't hear anything moving.

So on we walked. We were in a rainforest area and the ferns are gigantour!

On our way out, Rachel happened to look up, way up as the trees are hundreds of meters tall, and spotted a Koala sacked out on a branch. Ever seen a Koala sleep? It's great, then loose all form and become little sacks of fur.

We started looking around at other trees and spotted one more Koala. Then we heard some rustling in the underbrush and Rachel got a little panicky, said "Snake"a lot and started moving us all away. The glimpse I got was of some part of a rather large red snake headed up the hill. That was the end of our nature watching for that day.

We're still not sure what the sound was but I'm going with Koala.

Too much to Tell!

My keyboard has a stuck space bar and it is making me crazy!

I have so much to say and very little time. Here is a list:
Kuranda and the Railway/Scenic Skyway
Rusty's Market in Cairns
Meat Pies!
At the Great Ocean Road
Geelong Wool Museum
Go Cats!
A diner called Texas
The strange noises at night outside
The strange noises next door
Farms everywhere!
The variety of Asian sauces in the grocery stores
Filling up a gas tank-scary!
First sight of the sea!
Lighthouse at Airey Points
Lorne and waterfalls and more nature than we could handle
Trampoline park!
Night driving and bugs on the windshield
12 Apostles and Gibson's Steps and a wind out of the Weather Channel!
Nap Info along the roads
Arrows on the highway for foreigners pointing the direction to drive
Colac and feeling back in the 1950's
Port Campbell's inlets and the crazy waves
Crazy weather! Sun, rain, hail, sleet and sun again!
Thunder Cave!
Otway Flyway!
Instant soup at the Safeways in Curry, Pumpkin and Prosciutto, Pumpkin and Ham and Cream of Pumpkin. Campbells' make canned pumpkin soup here.

Melbourne
Pixar!
Queen Victoria's Market

More later!

The Uncoordinated One Triumphs!

Well, I decided that since this was an adventure of a lifetime, I was going to be brave and volunteer to drive during our Melbourne week! Oh yes, me one of the more uncoordinated people I know, elected to get into a right side car and drive on the left side of the road and attempt to keep my good friends and the strangers around me safe!! Oi vey!!

What an adventure this week has been--just driving alone.

The mantra has been---STAY TO THE LEFT and LOOK RIGHT, THEN LEFT THEN RIGHT

oh boy--the first few days my hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so hard and my normal wonderful sense of direction was shot because i turned wherever jenny said to and just focused on staying to the right side of the lane--that was the hardest part--the instinct is to to drift left--oi vey!!

oh and the stems on the steering wheel that have the blinkers and the one with the wipers are reversed so that has been pretty funny--turning on wipers when yo uwant to turn!

Jocelyn has been my co-driver this week and has done an amazingly good job as well!

i am very proud of us and am a little scared that i won't know how to drive when i get home! Ummmm Bill--do you think you could drive me to work my first day back? :)

The Great Ocean Road

First off, Kudos to Rachel and Jocelyn for driving this past week. Driving in Australia is quite the adventure. We went along the Great Ocean Road, which runs along the coast outside of Melbourne. The coast line is dramatically jagged and jutting out from the surf are huge limestone formations. This area has a rich history of shipwrecks and after seeing the intensity of the surf and the crazy rocks, I can see why.

The Great Ocean is just part of the adventure. This area is also part of the Otway National Forest. So throughout one day we saw ocean and dense forest. Amazing mix of scenery as they are separated by huge farming areas dotted with sheep.

Woollamalloo

It's fun to say.

Try it, I'll wait.... fun right?

It's a neighborhood in Sydney where we stopped to have Meat Pies at Harry's Cafe De Wheels. A Sydney Institution. This was during our first week of the trip and it sparked a Meat Pie tour of the country. Yummmy. Pies. Not just meat, also veggie, fruit, sweet, savory. Mmmmm...Pie.

ergh!

Not fair. Jojo has constant internet access. THe rest of the posse has fly by night access.

We are headed to New Zealand on Saturday.

Flat out

Notes for the posse on their way to Queenstown

• Enjoy the Views :)
• Internet and Phones
• There are many places, this town is made for backpackers.
• I've been using the global gossip on Beach St. between Rees & Camp Sts. There are phones and a cafe here too. E-mail is $3 per hour and less if you use the card.
• Grocery Stores
• There are two larger grocery stores on Gorge if you have a car.
• In town there is Alpine Grocery at Beach & Athol Sts.
• There is an All day All Night, on Beach & Rees Sts. but it's very small, but has prepared foods and pies for fairly cheap.
• Tours
• There are "i sites" for tour and booking info at almost every corner.
• If you get better weather than I did, the Milford Sound is "must do" here. I went through Real Journeys, because I was leaving from Queenstown, and it takes about 13 hours, to do the trip. There are cheaper trips and if you have a car it's even cheaper if you leave from Te Anau.
• Arrowtown
• The Merino wool is cheaper here, check out a place called the "outlet shop" I got a shirt for 50% off. Otherwise the pricing here is pretty much the same as in the US for the product.
• Arrowtown is small but the touristy gifts were a little cheaper. And it's a neat mining town.

- Kris... Check out the Remarkable Sweet shop :)

• Food in Queenstown
• The Starbucks is at Camp & Church streets
• Other dining, there are many cafe's and bars here, make sure you explore the side walkways, many are tucked in.
• The Lone Star on Brecon Street (not the chain) was really good and they offer half portion meals, which I couldn't finish so you know that was huge. And the "chips" were awesome!
• If you go to Lucciano's on the Wharf say "Hello" to Debra or if you go to the Minibar say hello to Adam, my hosts here in Queenstown.
• Enjoy the Views
• The Gondola to the top of the mountain is fun, it's $21 to go up and return, I've been told if you hike up the trail they usually don't check your ticket to come back down...
• For $28 you can take the Gondola up and Luge down.
• For a lot more you can do what I did, and take the Gondola up and paraglide down (cheaper and more time in the air than bungee).
• There are MANY hiking "tramping" trails, if it wasn't raining so much I'd be on them, pick up a guide sheet in town, some of the paths are not well marked, but the guides make it easier to follow the route.
• Big Red Bus to Arrowtown, $38.. not needed if you have a car but pick up the map it indicates Lord of the Rings filming sites.
• Lastly if you have time and haven't seen anything about the Maori Tribe take in the show, it's a fascinating culture. I saw what I wanted to see in Rotarua.

Soggy

Ok so.. I should be out in Milford Sound today, and not sitting in an internet cafe..But the weather thought otherwise. It's a lovely 8 today which converts to about 46 degrees, and raining pretty steadily and snowing in the mountains. Actually kinda cool to see it snowing up there.

My trip was canceled because one of the roads to get to the sound is closed. They were going to let me know this evening if I can re-book for tomorrow. But the weather doesn't look like it's going to let up until Sunday.. And I leave on Saturday. So tomorrow will be my last chance to go to the sound.

Since I got up bright and early, I decided to head into town, it hadn't started to rain yet so I walked into to town, headed over to the Starbucks for some drip coffee, which is fantastic, as much as I've found I like the flat whites, a good drip coffee is enjoyable. I sat there and watched the town come to life trying to sort out what to do with my day and watching the rain pick up.

I walked over to an "i site" and saw that I was just in time to catch the big red bus to Arrowtown, so off I went to Arrowtown, stopping at the birth place of bungee (no I haven't jumped yet), then to Gibson's Winery and Cheesery, for a tasting of both. Cute winery, the cheese was awesome. Then off to Arrowtown which was one of the first Gold mining towns in New Zealand. Then back to Queenstown, the trip took about 3 hours, but it was fun, and worked well despite the rain.

Paraglide

Today was a beautiful day in Queenstown. So I headed up the mountain on the Gondola to see the view from above.


Once at the the snow last night left it's evidence on the tree tops, it was so pretty. After checking out the view from the lookouts I walked over to the paraglide folks to see the prices. I was thinking of maybe doing this on Friday... After talking to the guy he told me that there was a snow storm coming in for tomorrow and after 5 pm today the winds and the weather probably wouldn't allow any gliding until Sunday...Humm, I leave Saturday.. He then said, you don't get a better day than today, and I have a pilot how bout now? Sure.. Away I went with Clarke, we took the luge chair lift up the mountain, walked over to a take off point.


Clarke looked at the winds and said, up for a hike? So I said sure. He tossed our gear in the back of a 4-wheeler, radioed someone about running it up the hill, and we were off.. up into the mountain o n a hill that was fairly steep, and becoming more and more snow covered as we went up. about 15 minutes later we are the top of the mountain, such a view. After setting up the gear and getting my harness on, a quick review of the commands and off the side of the mountain we ran, he said we were about 2000 feet up.


We floated over the newly snow powdered pines and out over the town, it was fantastic!


Closer to the landing site we did a spin and then Clarke asked if I was up for a fast spin, of course I was! So in a fast spiral we headed towards the earth below, so much better than a roller coaster.


Ahh, what a great time! Much more fun than riding the Gondola back to the bottom.

Burr

I'm now in Queenstown New Zealand. When I landed yesterday in the small airport in a valley it was quite interesting; we came in and circled, I didn't see anything that resembled an airport, then we circled again, and turned into a valley and there was the landing strip, it started at the edge of a cliff. But it was a nice gentle landing.

It was raining when I arrived and only about 45 degrees. Last night I dug out my layers and my raincoat and went to wander the town. I booked a tour of the Milford Sound for tomorrow so I'll be there all day. It's a coach ride out and then about 4 hours on the sound in a small boat, then the ride back, which I think it's about a 4 hour drive. So it'll be a long day of scenic sights and hopefully some animals. The brochure claims that their are penguins out there.

After some dinner I walked out to head back to my fabulous hosts' place, and there was fresh snow on the mountains, and it had started to clear so it was really pretty.

Today it's still chilly but no rain, let's hope that's the way it is tomorrow too for my boat ride.

Rotarua

I am currently in the North Island of New Zealand. I met up with Paul and Judy at the Sydney Airport and we arrived in Auckland together.

I am thankful that folks figured out we were on the same flight and headed to same place, as Rotarua is 3 hours south of Auckland. Paul and Judy rented a car, so we traveled here together. Julie and Rosemary were already here, the arrived the day before and took a couple of buses to get here.

I'm staying at the same hotel as Paul and Judy. When we checked in my on-line registration hadn't worked so they didn't have me reserved; no worries, they had plenty of room and the receptionist said that the system still had some flaws. To apologize they gave me an "upgraded" room, I was hoping for a suite, but instead I got a terrace room that looks out in the direction of the lake and is right near the pool. All good. I get to the room and there is a bit of irony to it. Since my travels to Australia, I've been sharing rooms with 4-6 people. Now I have a room to myself and well it has a king bed and two twin beds, and probably the largest room I've been in yet, and it's just me...

So today Julie and Rosemary were headed back to the airport to fly home, Paul and Judy drove them back, so I opted to go exploring. I went the Wachereraru, which is a Maori Thermal Village. I took a guided tour, it was really fascinating how they used the hot springs, really hot springs 110 was the coolest one, they used it to cook, bath and for medicinal purposes. Tonight I'm headed to Mitari which is another Maori Village to have dinner (thanks Julie and Rosemary for the recommendation).

Paul and Judy have graciously offered to drive me back to the airport tomorrow morning, Paul is going to be an expert driver after all those miles!

Who's the more fit driver???

Because of my flight time to fly out of Sydney to head to Auckland New Zealand, I had to fly in the day before. Jen hooked me up to crash at her cousin's house (thanks Jen!).

I caled Evelyn, Jen's cuz the day before I left to check in, and found out that she was going to be having dinner at friends... No worries, I was given the address and directions on the best way to grab a cab to get to the friends house.

Back in Sydney...Train to Wynard station then a cab to the house, all went smoothly. At the friends' house I arrived in time for dessert, yum! So I was introduced to the United Nations of friends gathered for dinner, only one true Aussie in the bunch... Canada and the US were well represented.

So since it was a dinner party and the group were fine coniosuiers of wine there were a few bottles consumed before and while I was there. I was offered some, I drank water mostly and had a glass of white wine. Then there was the cheese tray, and of course with cheese goes a good brandy, scotch or whiskey.

Then we moved into the sitting room and watch the rugby match between Australia and Canada... Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy.. Australia won! And wow, I actually have a better understanding of the game!

There was some discussion during dessert on how we would get back to Evelyn & David's house were I was staying the night. The options were to walk.. ride with one of the other dinner guests but none of them had enough space in the car, and then it was realized that I hadn't really been drinking... So which is better for a short trip across the neighborhood, a buzzed ex-pat or the American who drives completely opposite... The car was an automatic so the backward American, yes that's me drove home. I did fine, just kept saying in my head stay left, stay left.. I even made it down a narrow street, with mirrors in tact. AND I got to drive in another country.

Then there were 4 and 1..

I head off to New Zealand.. a short stop over in Sydney for the night then I'm off to Auckland and the Rotarua in the North Island of New Zealand.

When you travel with a large group (all of Team USA), you are bound to run into to familiar faces in other parts of your trip. So, I am purposely meeting up with Judy G. from my team and her "Hunny Bunny" Paul at the Sydney Airport tomorrow and we will explore the Rotarua together, before I head off to Queenstown.

Rosemary left us yesterday to head to New Zealand so I will also meet up with her and Julie there for a day also.

While here in Port Douglas, we ran into 5 others who traveled here with the Team.

So this morning I said "see you in 2 weeks", to Kris, Jenny, Rachel and Jocelyn as they boarded the shuttle to head of Karunda for the day. I'm headed to the beach for a bit, then I'm off to the airport.

Hoping that I'll be able to find some Internet places to keep everyone posted on my adventures on my own. :)

Cheers!

Blogapalooza!

Some of us (not all) are trying to catch up for days of fun with numerous posts. Some are going for quality. Hehe.

Anyway, check out the whole looooong list of posts by clicking on the month of September and working your way forward from the last post you read. Dates and order are meaningless here so go with the flow and stop being so linear.

Flat out mates!

Watch out for Bully Lorakeets

This morning after not being able to get space on a tour of the rain Forest, we headed to the Rainforest Habitat for brekky with the birds.

The Habitat was so much fun! After we had a really nice breakfast buffet (for those reading from GCI, yes everything was labeled!), we walked around.

I was checking out close up some really cool colored Lorakeet (parakeet like birds), and it was chased away from it's food by two other lorakeets, little brightly colored bullies.... So, I felt bad for it, and put my had out to it and it proceeded to head right to my shoulder. I guess I looked like I would keep it safe?? So after it scared me a little, because I couldn't see where it was on my shoulder, it made it's way to my other shoulder and I could then see it. We chilled for a few minutes as I checked out a few other birds. Then it was off to the tree tops after saying good morning to Rosemary.

Science - Round Two

We went to a rainforest habitat today and saw the great Cassowary. It was gigantic and scary. They can be at least 180 lbs and looks like a small emu. But scarier.

We also saw a bunch of kangaroos hopping around the site. I walked up to one and got into a boxing stance. It looked at me and hopped away. I tried it with a few wallabies too and they all hopped away. So for our second experiment, as requested by a comment, kangaroos are not so much about boxing.

Rachel & Jojo the German tourists

So at the sunrise viewing at Uluru, I wanted to get a better shot of one of the cracks in the side of the mountain, so Rachel walked with me up the road a bit and we saw a side path, so we walked the path a short distance to a viewing area.

I made my way to the fence to take a picture, Rachel was right behind me, there was a group touring from Germany and they made comments that we had coffee(actually it was hot chocolate), so at the fence I took a couple shots, using the fence as a tripod.. Then the woman next to me taps me on the shoulder and tells me to turn around (in German) so I did, then I realized at the same time as Rachel that we were in a group photo, after two failed attempts to break away, and several pictures taken (apparently they either really waned us in the picture or thought we were with them), we escaped by me offering to take the picture so the person who had taken pictures could be in one...

It was a short comedy amongst a beautiful sunrise.

Koalas, Kangaroos, Cassowarys Oh my!!

This morning we went to a Rainforest Habitat reserve for Breakfast with the Birds!! Oh what fun---we had a lovely brunch with sorts of tropical fruits, eggs, bacon and pastries amidst an aviary of tropical birds. Parrots buzzed by our heads, and all sorts of other birds hopped onto tables and flew all around. What an incredible experience.

After our lovely brekkie. We explored the habitat and finally saw the evil Cassowary--an ostric sized bird with a massive horn and pointy claws that can rip you apart. They live in the rainforests--several were seen in the Daintree rainforest just north of us. They are now as seed carriers and they can hasten the germination of seed pods by passing them through their digestive systems.

The highlights of the day were surely the wonderful mix of tropical birds---the oh soooo cute koalas who sleep 20 hours a day and eat the other 4! Who knew???

We finally got to see kangaroos up close. A few a little too close--a male was "courting" a female--around here it seems to include some back scratching and mabe some leg rubbing and then well it is time for the more serious action to take place. Yes, we witnessed Kangaporn!--I admittedly took some pictures too :)--but so did everyone else --I don't think the small children that were present knew what was going on though--phew!

Rosemary got to pet and scratch a wallabie behind the ears--they like the ear scratching bit a lot. There was one that really wanted to visit the red tree kangaroos and paced back and forth between the two gates waiting for some silly human to accidentally let him in.

Oh boy what an animal filled morning!!

Lovely lovely morning

This morning Rosemary and I went for a run on 4 Mile Beach---such a lovely morning, even at 6 am there was already a crowd out there, lots of little dogs (small dingos as Rosemary says) and people of all ages enjoying the hard packed sand--walking, running and biking.

Truly a lovely morning.

What's the deal with Word Heritage Sites?

I thought they were supposed to be amazing iconic places far and few between. So far on this trip we have visited 5 such sites - the Sydney Opera House, The Great Barrier Reef. Ayers Rock, Captain Cook Highway and the Daintree Rain Forest.

Was Australia part of the review board for the applications? Or is this part of the world really that fantastic?

Captain Cook Highway

The inside of the airport in Cairns was built to look like you are underwater. Its a rather interesting turquoise color with lots of fish. Very different from the Outback. Our transport to Port Douglas was included with our lodging so we went to find our van. It was waiting for us with a seemilngy surly older man as the driver. We were all a little nervous because he kept asking where we were going and each time I told him, he asked again and looked confused.

Once the ride started though everything changed. Surly man turned into everybody's grandpa and gave us a driving tour of the Captain Cook highway and surrounding area. At one point we stopped at a lookout point to see the beach. It was night time and the moon was full so it was a pretty spectacular site. We think the driver just wanted a cigarette stop but it worked well for us.

Oh, and on the way, I saw a road sign that said "Wilderness Careers" with a phone number posted underneath it. Hmm...

Here's a shot I took of Jenny and the full moon as we wound our way from Cairns to Port Douglas.

Quotes

A few out of context quotes from our trip

"She did say Plastic Camel."
"We took the lamb chop for a walk."
"We've lost the hummus."
"I wanna scratch a wallaby behind the ears."

Did I remember to turn off my Furby?

While on the Qantas Flight from Sydney to Melbourne, on our way to Ayers Rock, I was looking at the emergency information sheet in the back of the seat. They had a section with graphics saying no radio, TVs or anything else that transmits a signal could be turned on during the flight. One of the graphics was that of a furby. You know, those little toys from the early 90's that look like a cross between an Ewok and an Owl that could talk back to you? Dag! Australia must have been riding high on the furby craze for it to get special mention on a plane safety sheet.

Swimming with Nemo and Dori

Wow---this seems to be the only word that comes close to describing all the sights and experiences we have had in Australia so far--WOW WOW WOW. As Kris talked about in an earlier post, we went out on a sail boat yesterday with a total of 18 people, including us. We sailed out from Port Douglas, passing Crocodile Island (totally looks like the hippo from the Hungry Hippo game) and out further into the ocean.

We sailed for a glorious two hours, enjoying the sun, at one point we did question whether our sunscreen as going to be strong enough, thankfully it was! The crew fed us fruit, biscuits (cookies) and beverages and promised a lovely bbq at lunch. The Aussies do know how to eat!

We anchored at a place called Bats Tongue Reef--a part of te Great Barrier Reef. After a short intro to snorkeling we were ready to go. I was a wee bit nervous about snorkeling. The only time I have snorkeled before was in Eilat, Israel and I managed to inhale a whole lot of water. So, after getting instruction, I bravely put on my flippers, mask and snorkel and eased into the water.

I was so excited--I didn't take in any water and was just fine breathing through the tube. It is so hard to describe this experience, other then to say I had chills the entire time (ok the water was a bit chilly too) but you'd been swimming along and see the most incredibly beautiful fish--bright yellows, blues, greens and well you were in your own world so you couldn't really tell anyone else--they were all doing their own venturing.

Several times I saw a fish or an incredible piece of coral that made my heart skip a beat, soooo amazing and I kept saying to myself "I am snorkeling at the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!" Oh my g-d!!!! This is sooooo incredible.

For my niece, Aiden Rose---I saw Nemo and his dad, who do indeed live in a sea anemone!! They were swimming around in it and I saw Dori--she swam by me a few times.

Along with the loveliness came some terrifying bits where the water was so shallow that the reef was literally a few feet away---so scary to feel like you might touch it and hurt it. The captain emphasized that it can take a full year for the reef to grow even an inch and with some flipper kick you could destroy 30-40 years of growth!!

Talk about pressure. Several times I had to furiously try to back up so as not to hit anything.

The other incredibly scary part was two huge black bat fish that were swimming around the ladder that you needed to get back into the boat. The crew had made the timing mistake of letting the passengers feed them prior to allowing us to go back out for a second snorkel so they were hanging out by the ladder.

When I was going out for my second trip they were nipping at my flippers as I tried to get them on, thinking they were food I guess? By the time I got back from snorkeling they were still circling the ladder. One of them came at me directly with his little white teeth showing---eeek!!! I couldn't get out of the water fast enough! They probably would have just nibbled but oh boy I started having flashes of the movie Jaws!! So irrational ;)

After snorkeling we just lounged around for another 2 hours for the trip back to Port Douglas---truly a lovely lovely day!!

Stepping outside my comfort zones..

Well, first if you've known me for awhile you know that when I was younger I was the bashful kid who would pretty much crawl into my gym locker in High School to change. .. And mingling with strangers or being overly daring.. um.. yeah right..I'll watch from a distance and learn.

So, when I turned 30 a couple years ago, my whole perspective on life began to become more adventurous. So....here I am in Australia....

Sharing hostel dorms with strangers who may or may not speak english, and using shared bathroom facilities, actually all the accommodations and facilities have been really clean.. We won't mention the scorpion in the bathroom sink in Uluru...

And yesterday...I went snorkeling and lived to tell about it... I'm glad I've been pushing myself to become a more confident swimmer, still not sure of myself, but getting better.

The original tour that we booked was canceled because the boat was not running. But our lovely hostel manager and his daughter found us another option.

The reef was beyond describable beautiful and amazing. We totally found Nemo playing, we also saw 3 large bat fish, did I mention they were large?? It was so surreal swimming over all these amazingly large and ornately colored fish . The coral was amazing, blues, green, reds and purples.

I'm really glad I experienced this while we were here. But I will admit I took a water noodle with me as my "security blanket". At moments when floating over the reef I was so close to it I was worried that I might hit with a fin. There were also moments when I was staring at fish that were staring back and you have that moment of awe, and you realize that you are in their home. Then there are those thoughts from watching too many shows where people get attacked, and I was slightly worried about something large and eel like shooting out of the coral and taking me back for dinner. But luckily those thoughts were short :)

The reef was awesome!

The Big Red Rock

The first wonderful thing we noticed when we landed in Ayers Rock, was the warm dry heat---we all just stood on the tarmack after deplaning and absorbed the heat. After a week of cold and damp, then warm, then cold and damp in Sydney this was such a welcome change.

The second thing we noticed was all the red sand. We were in an incredibly beautiful desert. In the distance you could see the Olgas--a rock formation consisting of several "humps" of rocky outcroppings (mountain size) and off in another direction is Ayers Rock, the famous red rock seen in many pictures of Australia.

Incredible!! I love the desert.

The first day we did a lovely 7.4 km (4.5 miles or so) walk through the Valley of the Winds at the Olgas. It was incredible--scrambling up rock faces to see incredible views of valleys of scrub trees between the mountains and then looking out between them to wide open spaces. I really expected to see the sea at one point, but alas no--I was in the desert.

Truly a lovely hike, but I understand why they close it at 11 am most days because it gets really really hot there!! Over a hundred on most days.

Our time in Ayers Rock was really all about a series of sunsets and sunrises, getting the best shots of the rocks and amazing trees and looking and looking for the ever evasive kangaroo. Rosemary kept assuring us that she was "open" to seeing a kangaroo--we all were! but alas we didn't see any in the wild.

I am happy to say that my hiking shoes are covered in lovely red dust now--a memento of our time in the desert. While this was surely the most expensive part of our trip, it was soooo worth every cent!!

Stargazing

One of the things I really wanted to do while in the Outback was go on the Ayers Rock Observatory Night Sky Tour. The sky at Ayers Rock was huge. Ever been to Montanna and expereince the Big Sky State thing? Well think bigger, lots bigger. Just you and the stars.

The day of our planned tour was cloudy and we had a little rain (it rains all of 3 days a year in Ayers Rock) and as the day went on the clouds stayed so we found out that the tour was cnacelled. I was pretty bummed but decided to go to a lookout point at our camp resort to check out the night sky.

Jenny and I walked up to the lookout and it was friggin beautiful. There was an almost full moon and a strong breeze that had blown away a fair amount of the clouds and left a patch of clear sky. We saw the Southern Cross and countless other constellations that I'm not sure of. We were the only ones at the lookout. We were kinda suprised as it seemed like the perfect night to do some star exploring.

I love Australian Airlines!!!

Unlike the US airlines who have all deemed food unnecessary on flights, Australians still understand that travelers are happiest when they are given food and beverages. Each of our domestic flights thus far even the shortest, 1.5 hours, have given us a meal and lots of beverages. Lovely sandwiches and fruit, muesli bars, cookies and all the Lift (lemony soda) you could want.

Yeah!!!

On our early morning flight from Sydney to Melbourne (enroute to Ayers Rock) we even had a choice of 4 different newspapers!!

Ah I love good airline hospitality.

Full Moon in Australia

We are so lucky, we had a full moon in Uluru and another in Port Douglas. (Well, one had to be not quite full but I couldn't tell the difference.)

The one that happened while at Uluru was on the night we had booked a Sky Tour (shout out to Derek Pitt!) a tour of the night sky at the Uluru Observatory. We were worried the moon would make it hard to see the stars. It did and the clouds made it even harder. The official tour was cancelled.

The guide told us when he came to pick us up. I was really disappointed. I asked him to point out the Southern Cross. He was funny. He pointed straight down and said, "The north star is that way," and then pointed towards the sky saying, "The southern cross is that way." When I pressed him he showed us the cross and Jupiter and asked for the refund back. (hehe)

The night before we had watched the sun set from a lookout above the hotel. The moon was so bright and the wind was blowing the clouds so fast that Kris and I decided to go back and check out the sky from there. The path moves away from the lights of the lodge and I couldn't hear any cars or anything except the wind. The day had been so outdoorsey. We had slept in bunk beds, gotten up early for the sunrise, walked Kata Tjuta for three hours, gone to the Cultural Centre, seen the sunset over the Rock, taken showers in a group shower hut and now were outside looking at a movie set moon. It felt like camp. And I felt the same way I felt as a kid when I went camping with my family. There was even a guy playing acoustic guitar! As we walked up the path in the bright moonlight I turned to Kris and said, "We should be getting high." She laughed and said she was thinking the same thing. It just seemed like such an appropriate thing to do, notwithstanding the fact that I have never seen her do it and I haven't smoked since I was a teenager!

When we got to the top I was shocked to see that there was not a single young couple canoodling, no old folks getting high on weed or wine, in fact there was no one there but us! What is wrong with these campers?

We sat and watched the cloud race around, watch the light get stronger and weaker, tried to remember where the southern cross was, tried to remember if Alpha Centuri was the closest galaxy to the ours and other important things. Eventually we had to go to bed because the next day we were getting up early again to watch the sun rise on Uluru.

The full moon in Port Douglas was seen as we raced up a coastal road. More about that later.

Talllarook

When we arrived at the ParrotFish Lodge in Port Douglas on Wednesday night we were planning to go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef the next morning. We did a quick email check and saw that our trip had been cancelled. Umm.. it was now about 9pm and we wanted to get our snorkel on. Jason, the ever so helpful hostel owner said he would pull some favors for us and did his magic. He got us booked on the Tallarook, a 90ft sailing yacht. We weren't sure if this was a good or bad idea as there seem to be two choices of snorkeling boats - small or cruise ship huge.

We went to the Marina the next morning and here is the scene - a beautiful yacht with a crew of 5, jack Johnson music playing on board and the crew telling us that there will only be about 20 people for the trip. Fantastic. Small boat definitely the way to go.

It took about two hours to get out to Tongue Reef. The water was a collection of brilliant blue and green hues and we motored/sailed past the highest peak in Queensland.

We all lounged on the boat and got our snorkel briefing. The snorkeling was amazing. Fantastic bright colors, tons of fish. We found Nemo, Dory and the whole gang. At points we were only about 1 meter from the reef and I had a bit of panic that a flipper would hit part of the reef and destroy countless years of growth.

This was an amazing experience. We went out for about 2 hours of snorkeling. On the first round, the crew worked on lunch and we were treated to a major food spread.
The second round of snorkeling was completely different. The current was strong, the colors seemed less vibrant but still amazing. What I did notice on the second time was the sun breaking through the water and seeing the individual rays cutting through the water and hitting the ocean floor. So cool.

For our first snorkeling trip I went off the area at the back of the boat pretty much even with the water and kind of eased my way in. On the second trip. I jumped off the deck of the boat. About 15 feet to the water with my flippers on and mask in hand.

I gotta confess, when I was a little kid I used to play "Jacques Costeu" in our backyard pool by flipping off an inner tube and pretending to explore the ocean. No more pretending, this was the real thing!

So much to blog

So much to blog, so much to blog.

Get ready for marathon blog updates from all of us. We found cheap internet in Port Douglas. Still working on the pictures too.

Raised by a military policeman

Sooooo imagine it is about a week ago----dragon boat races are done, we have packed our bags in preparation for leaving Sydney, the alarm goes off at 3:45 am so we can be ready for our 4:30 am transfer to the Sydney airport, thus beginning the next leg of our adventure--travelling to Ayers Rock.

Our group of six (Rosemary, Jenny, Joann, Jocelyn, Kris and I) travelled with 4 other people to the Sydney airport. As you can imagine we were still half asleep as our drive pulled up in a mini van with a trailer behind for the luggage. We loaded it all up quickly and hopped in ready to go---then it began.

He started fiddling with the spark plugs--apparently the one that controlled the rear brake lights on the trailer had blown and he was trying to fix it. Asking us for various tools, borrowing some from the hotel but to no avail. Finally after we have been anxiously looking at our watches and realizing that our 4:30 departure was creeping ever faster towards 4:45 am --he shut the door on the van and off we went.

From the first block we knew something was up--he raced through one traffic light, braked hard for another and was swerving around a bit. A few people chuckled and made quiet comments which infuriated the driver and he started into a brief tirade of how it wasn't nice to laugh at him, he had already had one heck of a morning--was sent to the wrong hotel to get us and had been stopped by police TWICE!! before getting us!! Oi vey!!

At this point, he told us about the rear lights being out and said if he got stopped by the cops again we wouldn't be able to continue to the airport and he might lose his license. Hmmmmmm


Then the real fun began--just as I thought we were going to get on the highway to continue to the airport--he veered off and began a twisty turvy mad dash through a variety of neighborhoods. Jocelyn innocently said "I don't remember going this way when we arrived." Unable to withhold my annoyance with the driver I sarcastically replied "That is because we are SUPPOSED to be on the highway!!"

The driver was attempting to avoid the cops at all costs. This is where my upbringing really came into play. I watched every sign post, made note of all neighborhood related signage and tried to maintain some sense of direction as we went careening through sleeping neighborhoods. All in an attempt to be able to tell the authorities in case we were dropped off in some dark abandoned warehouse or some other scary place. All sorts of things were running through my brain.

Dad--you would have been so proud of me!!

I was also trying to figure out at what point, I should just yell--pull the van over, we are getting out!! Thankfully, we finally saw a sign for the airport and he indeed had taken us where we wanted to go and we still had 45 minuts before our flight left. Unfortunately, he had taken us to the international terminal and the domestic terminal was a good 5 minutes away.

As you can guess, we made it to our flight in time and got to Ayers Rock ok!

Phew what an adventure in transport!!!

Blogging Challenges

G'day to all of our fans,

We apologize for the spotty blogging over the last few days. We have had a variety of blogging issues to contend with from really expensive internet access to well our most interesting challenge--Blogspot in Japanese! The computers at our hostel in Port Douglas translated everything into Japanese and it took a few days and the brilliance of travelling Librarian (Jenny) to figure out how to change it back into English.

Fortunately for you a few of our attempted posts in Japanese disappeared into cyberspace, who knows what sort of things we might have said!!!

Soooooooo, some of our posts are going to be a bit back dated as we attempt to catch you up on our adventures!!

Two Strange Mornings...

Ok, so when we left the hotel in Parramatta, we took a back road tour on the shuttle, since our driver had already been stopped 2 times by the police because his tail-light on the luggage tralior was burned out... So he picked us up 15 minutes late, then spent another 15 minutes trying to see if he could fix the tail-light. Then we were off with tail-light not functioning.

He took us through all these neighborhoods with circles and spped bumps... Then Sissy laughed and we were told it wasn't a laughing matter... All this before 5 AM...

Finally at the airport.. but it's the wrong one, we were in the international terminal.. hummm..Finally over to the domestic terminal and phew we made the plane.

Second strange morning in Uluru... Jenny mentioned earlier that we were sharing the room with an Asian couple. We asked the night before if they were leaving early also, since we were going on a sunrise tour. They said, yes, so I, being the light sleeper that I am, heard them get up at 2:40 am... and they came back about an hour later.. Hummm.. late night snuggle i n the desert??

Then our alarm went off at 4:20 am, and the couple were still sleeping, luckily the rest of the group had a room to theirselves, and all my stuff was packed, Jenny and I by the light of an indiglo clock evacuted the room quickly and as quietly as possible.. I kind of felt like I was doing a covert operation.

Then we were off to the Kata Tjuta for sunrise. Which was Awesome, then out 2 plus hour hike through the Valley of the Winds!!