Australia Tales Continued

We have had an amazing time exploring a couple of towns in NE Victoria. Echuca, where our friends, Rob and Jenny live is a really nice town with a lot of historical homes and buildings. We went walking down town to explore their farmers market local shopes and had a coffee at Rob's sisters shop, (really good coffee). We stopped by a local brew pub and tasted some local brew at a local brewery. Drove about an hour south to Bendigo. This is a much larger town with a history back to and older than the Gold Rush days of 1800's. We visited the Golden Dragon Museum , where the history of the immigrant Chinese to the area is the best we have ever seen. They have the longest dragon in the world (over 300 feet long), "Sun Loong", and also one of the oldest at over 100 years old. We learned that the dragons need to be awakened, blessed and fed at least once a year. We also visited a really nice art museum, climbed an old mining tower to view the area, (125 steps) and had lunch at the Shamrock Hotel, a really nicely restored pub/hotel. On the way back we stopped at Bendigo Pottery where Karen had a good time shopping. After that wonderful drive we settled in for an evening of Pizza and Australian Football (Aussie Footie). There is a terrible drought going on in all of southeastern Australia, and much of the rest of the country. They are doing a great job of conservation. The homes are being built with a lot of thought into environmentally good practices, such as sensors on many light fixtures, water storage, gray water usage, and very well insulated. New homes here run around $350,000, but you get more that what that would get you in So. Oregon. Also, many of you have asked about fuel costs. We have been paying $1.40 to $1.60 per liter of Diesel. Australia is expensive for the most part. A six pack of beer today was $22, a loaf of bread is $6.50, a new battery for the small Pentax camera was $45. Karen went into a quilt shop in Echcua today, the prices seemed pretty compaaible to home.

We are having a wonderful time, the adventure continues for us. Tomorrow we leave our friends the Wrights and continue on our adventure.

Southern NSW and Echucha, Victoria

Well we are taking the next few days to unwind and re-charge our batteries after a BUSY and ACTIVE visit to Sydney. We took a bit of time to catch up on our e-mails, do laundry and pick up and re-pack before hitting the road on Tuesday, March 26, 2008. We traveled about 250 miles we reached the town of Wagga Wagga. It was a nice drive, through mostly ranch type land. Lots of pastoral rolling hills, cattle, sheep and still many eucalyptus “gum” trees of many descriptions. We learned that there are over 300 varieties of gum trees, only about 50 are the habitat for koalas. Our camp site in Wagga Wagga was right on the Murrumbigee River. A very pretty area. Saw little possums in the evening, a lot cuter critters than the ones we have at home. They are about the same size, but their noses are shorter, softer bushy tales and quite friendly, not snarly like the southern Oregon varieties. We left Wagga Wagga which is Aboriginal for “Lots of crows”; the aboriginal language does not have plurals, so to indicate quality or quantity they just repeat the words for emphasis.

Wednesday morning we headed about 200 miles south and west to Echuca, Victoria to meet up with some friends from long, long ago. We had a nice drive through more pasture lands and crossed the Murray River. We met Jenny and Robert Wright and were happily surprised that we remembered each other. We spent the afternoon having a nice tour of the area. We saw the largest collection of antique paddlesteamers on the Murray River, some beautiful 150+ year old homes, and many of the local sites and scenes. We had a lovely evening dining with our friends, and reliving our younger adventures together.

Thursday we set out to see more of the area. Mike and Rob decided that they would “strut their stuff” on the golf course. Jen and I walked along and gave them some coaching advice. We followed up the game with a nice lunch at the clubs café and put a few dollars in the “poker” machines. We followed up the afternoon with a visit to the Cape Horn Winery, tasting a few of their local wines. A great day - perfect weather: cool and sunny, so far NO RAIN. We will stay here in northern Victoria until Sunday when we will head towards Southern Australia via the Great Ocean Road. We will be back to Melbourne mid May and see the sights in the city before flying home.

Sydney, last day

Our last full day in Sydney, and it was packed full as usual. It started with a full cruise of the most beautiful harbor in the world. We sat on the aft deck and enjoyed the sights, except the occasional diesel fumes, as we sailed around most of the harbor with a nice commentary. It was a nice relaxing day. The harbor is so picturesque that Mike took over 100 photos. After the cruise we ran through the Museum of Contemporary Art as it was closing in 15 minutes. We headed off to walk the Sydney Bridge and stopped for a little refreshment at the oldest pub in Sydney, the “Fortunes of War”. Then fortified we started across the bridge. We opted NOT to climb the bridge and just walk it. After building up a good appetite we went for a final dinner at a wonderful restaurant on the water, “Peter Doyles”. We had a wonderful appetizer of fresh sea food and shared a really big scotch fillet steak. We ended our day with some Irish Coffee and then made our way by train and taxi back to the camp ground. Tomorrow is WASH DAY. After getting cleaned up we will be on our way south to Melbourne with an overnight stop in Wagga Wagga.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sydney is fantastic! We are having a great time getting around the city. We are staying about 40 miles or so out of the city, so we take a bus to the train station, and then about a 40 min. train ride right to Circular Quay, right on the majestic Sydney Harbor. We have taken two days of bus tours around the city and out to many of the beautiful beach areas. It has been wonderful. We took a tour of the amazing Sydney Opera House and saw Harry Connick Jr. and his big band last night in the main concert hall. Great seats, great sound, great show. We left the theatre to fireworks over the harbor. PERFECT DAY”! Today we go back in to try and do all of the other things on our list: walk across the Sydney Bridge, take a harbor cruise, and check out a museum or two. Wish we had more time, as with almost every place we have been, but know how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing.

Tomorrow we head out of town and make a one night stop before getting to our old stomping grounds of Melbourne. We are getting anxious to see our old friends, and see what has changed around the area. Stay tuned to these crazy “old farts”. Hope you are enjoying our adventures.

Brisbane to Sydney

March 18-21 --- Where are we and what the heck are we doing here?

We continued our journey south along the East Coast of Australia. We made it to Brisbane, stopping for a couple of nights. We are beginning to tire a bit with all of the road time we are putting in. We attempted to go in to Brisbane City and see the sights. It was quite a frustrating experience. Our maps have been a bit on the lean side and even when we have had maps, they haven’t always been very user friendly. Let’s just say we drove around and around and around Brisbane. Do you get the picture J? We really did see the city, but were not able to park cuz most of the parking was underground and our rig is too tall to fit in the parking garages. So after a couple of frustrating hours, we got directions back to the camp ground and called it “good”. The next morning we headed towards the popular beach towns of Surfers Paradise, Coff’s Harbor and finale destination of Nambucca Heads. It was a long day of driving (500+ km, 350 miles or so), but a beautiful little spot to rest our heads. The day’s scenery provided us with a lot of variety. We saw the ever growing sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, and beautiful ocean scenes.

Friday morning we headed out to reach Sydney, another long driving day (300+ miles) but the roads were pretty good and we made good time. We enjoyed the lush bush country and made it to our camp site with minimal trouble. For us anytime we only have to ask directions one time, is GOOD! It was raining off and on again today; beginning to think we are back in Oregon, think it has rained everyday so far on our trip. Today marks the end of our 3^rd week on this adventure. Still having a heck of a good time.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Australian Zoo

The Australian Zoo was our goal today. This is the famous Steve Irwin’s aka “Crocodile Hunter’s” home away from home. This zoo was originally opened in 1970 by Steve’s dad who was a respected herpetologist. It was a very nice animal park with an amazing collection of Australian flora and fauna. We enjoyed the many animals; saw up close koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, alligators and of course the saltwater crocs. We enjoyed a Wildlife Warrior show in the famous Crocoseum – 5000 seat amphitheater that had a good performance of elephants, snakes, birds and of course the CROCODILES.

We were very pleased to see the emphasis put on conservation through education and the various projects they are sponsoring to improve the life of the animals in the wild. We saw the bench that our own Wild Life Images in Merlin, Southern Oregon sent to the Australian Zoo, dedicated to the memory of Steve Irwin.

We are off to see Brisy, Bris-vegas, Brisbane – the first big city we have been to in Australia.

Fraiser Island

March 17, 2008 – we are off for a day’s adventure to Fraser Island. This is the world’s largest sand island – approximately 80 miles long by 15 miles wide, all made of sand. There is more sand on this island than all of the Sahara Desert, less land mass, but deeper/thicker sand layer. This was not on our original itinerary, but so many people suggested we not miss it; we punted and added a day to make sure we got there. We arose early and caught our shuttle at 6:00 am to Urangan boat harbor where we caught the Kingfisher Bay catamaran for the 35 minute ride to the island. From the pier, we boarded our 4 wheel drive tour bus to see the sights. It was quite a ride, there was no pavement once we left the resort area, you were riding on sand tracks, which were very bumpy, steep and unimproved. It was really like being out in the wild. As we rode along, branches of the trees and bushes were beating on our windows. We were in the middle of more rain forest, amazing to see these tall trees: scribbly bark gums, Kharey pines (no pine needles, but leaves – with huge pinecones), ferns, fox tail sage and many more growing out of the sand. We rode up and over the sand dunes, down to the 75 mile beach. We then took a short airplane ride out over the ocean and then over the interior of island. We saw the massiveness of the rain forest; the trees looked like heads of broccoli poking up out of the sand. We saw many of the fresh water lakes that dot the island. The takeoff and landing off of the beach were amazing, so smooth, such a trill.

We then re-boarded the bus for a visit to Eli Creek, amazing clear fresh water creek that feeds into the Pacific Ocean. We saw the rusted wreck of the Maheno – landed on the shores in 1935, the colorful sand pinnicles and on to lunch. The afternoon we bumped along (I mean BUMPED along) more of the sand tracks, I am sure I would have gotten lost if I was navigating. We stopped and saw Central Station where the big logging community was situated back in the early 1900s. The Satinay trees were logged to line the banks of the Suez Canel. A walk along the Wanggoolba Creek was next; it was a beautiful look at a very important place in the Aboriginal’s life when they were in residence there. Lake McKenzie was our last stop of the day; it is a beautiful fresh water lake – crystal clear waters, with pure white sandy beaches. We had a good time watching the dingoes going up and down the beach, checking people’s bags out, snatching a few that they found interesting, probably had something to eat?

It was another wonderful day, such experiences we are privileged to be having. Stay tuned for our next stop.

Bundaberg

“On the road again, just can’t wait to get back on the road again…” Well that should be our theme song, we seem to keeping a pretty good pace, there is just so much we want to see and the time seems to slipping away from us. Tomorrow marks the 2 week point, phew, what a blast it has been so far. Yesterday, March 15^th, we made our way to Bundaberg –“Bundy” as the locals refer to it. This sugar cane growing area was beautiful and seems so typical “Aussie”. Lots of pubs, shops, parks, recreational activities, cricket games, hoop ball (basketball), moto cross bike racing…. Looked like a Saturday, in the US, with families our doing a lot of different family things.

Everyone we talked to had recommended that we do two things while in town: go to the Bundy Distillery and go see the sea turtles. We did both! We got to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery just in time for their last tour of the day. It was very interesting and tasty. The plant was quite concerned about safety and security. You had to lock up all of your possessions, camera, wallet, watch, hearing aids…in a locker they gave you. The lockers were all controlled by a wrist band they give you with a bar code (no keys or coins). You put your hand under a scanner and it reads your code and then a voice comes on and tells you that you locker #24 is open and available to store your belongings. You repeated the process to reclaim your stuff. We learned that rum is distilled from molasses a sugar by product. The sticky stuff is piped directly from the sugar processing plant to the distillery. There it is distilled in a process similar to making beer. It only takes about a week to process it and from there is goes into HUGE American white oak barrels and sits for 2 years. They said it was a law that the rum must age that long. We went to the tasting room where we were given very small tastes, the Australians take their alcohol consumption and driving very seriously, they warn you not to consume any more than two of these little drinks. It is good that they are taking this stand, as we have heard that drunk driving is a very big concern here too.

Our next stop was to get our camp sight and rest before the night’s turtle hatching. We camped in a nice little camp ground right off Mon Repos Bay. This was beautiful little bay and safe to dip our toes in, no stingers or crocs this far south – FINALLY! This is where the Loggerhead turtles have come ashore and laid their clutch of eggs in January or so. The turtle conservation folks have done a really nice job of organizing this, they are trying to educate the public and make them part of the solution of saving this endangered species. Only about 1 in 1000 ever reach maturity (30 years plus). We met at the visitor center about 7:00pm and were put in groups of about 70 each. Each group got to go down to the beach (which had been closed off from 6pm – 6am) and watch the hatchlings make their amazing trek from the nest to the ocean. These little guys scampered about 50 yards or so from their nest to the ocean. At high tide they start their journey, becoming imprinted as they go. The females that survive will come back here to lay their eggs when they are 30years old or so and may come back as many as 20 years. It was an incredible experience for us, we are so glad we were here at the right time to see it. The Ranger said that is was getting close to end of the hatching season. Another amazing day “Down Under” .

Cheers Mates! M & K

Mackay to Rockhampton

We continue to make our way southward along the east coast of Australia. Tonight brings us to Rockhampton, Queensland... We stopped this morning at a place called the Sugar Shack. It is a working example on a very small scale of how sugar cane is processed into raw sugar. We walked around and looked at the equipment used to cut and bring the cane to the train. From there is goes to the processing plant where it is squeezed, boiled, separated and somehow dried into the product we know as raw sugar. We learned that the first crop was brought to north-east side of Australia by the famous Captain Cook. He is thought to have brought it from Hawaii or some Pacific Island. The rest of the day was a pleasant drive. It was through a bit of sugar cane this morning, turning to eucalyptus trees and a more plains look of cattle country. This area of Australia is known for the beef it raises. The road kill count today was at least a dozen Kangaroos; a couple of Echidnas, a few birds, no Koalas, but lots of beware signs. We are staying in a really beautiful RV park, part a large RV park chain. We continue to meet very friendly Australians along our trip. Thanks for following us. Tomorrow is Bundaberg and a rum distillery.

Townsville, Magnet Island and Mackay

We are really enjoying seeing Australia, up close and personal. Tuesday March 11, we drove our little motor home south from Cairns to Townsville; it was about 350 Kilometers (about 250 miles). It was a slower drive than we expected, the posted speed was 100 km, but we rarely could go that fast; not freeway driving, but two lane traffic with quite a few road repair slowdowns and stops. We got into Townsville mid afternoon and spent the rest of the afternoon resting, reading and enjoying our “down time”. The drive was very beautiful, a real look of the tropics, LOTS, lots and lots more sugar cane along the road. We also saw many banana plantations. The bananas were curiously all covered up in plastic bags. Many different colored bags, so it gave them an interesting look. Because we have seen so many fruit bats, we are wondering if that is why they were under wraps(you can view fruit bats with 4 foot wing spans on the Daintree blog).

Wednesday morning – Mike's BIG 60th Birthday, we took the ferry from Townsville to Magnetic Island, Maggie as the locals refer to it. We enjoyed a nice tour of the island and saw many interesting things. Karen’s favorite was feeding the Rock Wallabies. We visited many of the locations that we had been to 36 years ago, of course everything is different. Returning to the mainland we went to the Reef HQ – Aquarium based on life of the Great Barrier Reef. It was interesting and had a great number of fish that we didn’t get to see on our visit to the GBR. We celebrated Mike’s natal anniversary at a restaurant on the wharf, sitting outside, it was still very warm, oh, and yes we are still in the tropics. Australia is in the middle of a real heat wave. Many of the major cities are reaching record temperatures (38-40 degrees C, or 106-110F), we have been lucky; it has been in the low 30 degrees Celsius (90degrees Fahrenheit or so) with quite high humidity. Each day we get a bit more accustomed to it.

Thursday morning, March 13, 2008 we headed south again towards Mackay (386 kilometers) away. It was a very pretty drive, still lots of cane fields and eucalyptus trees. We didn’t see any Koala Bears, but we did see some interesting road kill, a kangaroo, wallaby, echidna, boa snake and many colorful birds. The trip so far has been such a wonderful adventure, we are loving it. It is everything we had hoped it would be and more. Wish we had more time in each little city. Till the next blog – Mike & Karen

Our camping adventures begin!

Monday morning we packed up all of our STUFF and went to rent our little motor home for the next 4 weeks. It is a Mercedes turbo diesel van like rig. Quite compact and efficient. We were a bit worried that we had brought more than would fit in it, but alas, we squeezed it all into the cupboards with a bit of room to spare. We stayed and camped in Cairns for one night as a bit of a "shake-down" cruise. All went well; systems seem to work fine. Mike seems to have already gotten the hang of driving on the "other" side of the road, Karen in her best back seat driving form kept cheering "keep to the left, keep to the left, not too far, not that far! " We are moving south towards Townsville, scoping out the sights of the Gold Coast. Will keep you all posted on our adventures. We love hearing from you when you have an opportunity, our "wifi" has been pretty good so far. Mike & Karen

Daintree, Cape Tribulation, Aboriginal Cultural Center

We are back on dry land and still feeling the effects of 4 days of sea legs. Amazing how long it takes to get one’s land legs back under you. We are in Cairns staying at a very nice hotel – Hotel Cairns.

Saturday we spent all day out on a trip to the Daintree National World Heritage Sight – 110 million years old. Unchanged by ice ages, contains 65% of Australia’s bird species. We saw an amazing number of huge bats. So much amazing flora and fauna! We took several walks on the floor of the forest looking up into the amazing canopy. Everywhere we looked we saw something new and different. We had a wonderful tour guide, who was very knowledgeable about the history of the area as well as knowing the plants, animals and what it all means. We also drove down to the Coral Sea at the foot of the rain forest, near Cape Tribulation where Captain Cook became stranded in 1770s, hence the name “tribulation” - beautiful water, but no swimming, cuz of the “stingers” and crocs.

Sunday morning we joined Rick, our tour guide again to see the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Center. They presented shows that shared history, beliefs and many skills of the Australian Natives. After lunch we rode the Kuranda Skysail up above the Daintree Rain Forest. Wow again we saw such beauty. The weather was very tropical – warm, humid, rain storms coming and going. We ended the day in the small town or Kuranda, where we shopped and enjoyed an afternoon break.

Tomorrow we pick up our motor home and start the driving adventure. We are both well and having an extremely good time.

Great Barrier Reef - March 4-7, 2008

Mike & Karen have Returned 2 OZ: We have had a busy 5 days so far. We made it to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and survived the Monsoons, with torrential rains and ROUGH Seas. It was a great experience, not exactly what we had envisioned the reefs to look like, but fun none the less. Mike and I both dove; Karen 1 dive & Mike 5 dives. We did several snorkel outings as well. The water was quite rough and the conditions were not as clear as one would have hoped for, but we saw a lot and had a lot of fun. It truly is a wonder of the world. The ship The Reed Endeavor was our home for 4 days; we learned to walk the “drunken sailor” walk. Food was great, and the folks met were interesting to talk to. We arrived back in Cairns last night - tired, but ready for the next adventure(s). Happy days our luggage was waiting for us. J.

First day in Cairns Australia

The good news is we made it safely after 30+ hours of flying and waiting in Airports. The bad news is that Qantas lost our luggage. the airline gave us $200 for some clothes. We went to a Target and got a few essentials. Tomorrow we will be on the Great Barrier Reef diving for 4 days, so you won't get another blog until after then. Hopefully our clothes arrive by then. All for the first day. Mike