Sailing

Ahoy from the Whitsunday’s!!

Made it back to Airlie Beach, Australia with the mates from the three day sailing trip. What a great time. The Derwitt Hunter is decked out for 18 people and we lucked out with only 9 of us on board. It was especially great. When we boarded the first thing they did was confiscate our shoes, as no shoes are allowed on deck.

The ship is a 64 year old tall wooden ship with 4 sails. We set sail when the wind was in our favor with all the mates on deck helping. (Well actually I was the historian taking the pictures-- someone has to do it.)

We started out with cloudy, rainy skies but after about a 3 hour sail to Hayman Island, where we snorkeled for the first time, no one cared as we were all going to be wet anyway. Bob and I prefer not a lot of sun so it was great for us. Despite the lack of sun it became an official vacation when Bob burned the top of his feet from not wearing shoes on deck and not applying any sun screen.

There were lots of fish to see including ‘Elvis’ a beautiful 2 1/2 foot pet fish that was easily called in up next to the boat. We snorkeled each day at different spots, one spot for the fish, one spot for the coral and we spent time on the whitest sandy beach, known by all in these parts. We all wore stinger suits for the jellyfish which we luckily did not see.

Bob slept on deck the last night and said it was his best sleep. It was rather warm below deck. The last morning we set sail to Black Island which was uninhabited and we had it all to ourselves for several hours where we saw Ospreys building their nests, beautiful beaches and interesting rock formations.

After lunch it was time to head back and bring this adventure to a close. The God’s were again with us with good winds and we were able to, once again, set sail back to Airlie Beach. Our captain said we were traveling at about 9 or 10 knots and that seemed fast to us letting us arrive early.  It was a great and peaceful time. Now it’s time to wash the clothes and get ready for Bali.

Our sailing ship

Raising the sails

Mary snorkeling

Beach beauty on the white sand

The skipper going to the crows nest

View from the crows nest

Sailing into the sunset

The Rain Forest

Cape Tribulation, Australia 

Muggy, muggy, muggy. That’s what the rain forest is like and we were there in the rainy season. In the three days we were there, there were several rain showers each day. We only got caught once in the showers but even without rain I was soaking wet after a 2 hour walk in the forest from the humidity. Our clothes never got dry and we were looking through the dirty clothes bag to find dry and somewhat clean clothes.

Of course it is lush green everywhere. We stayed at a very nice B&B that is on a exotic fruit farm. We had exotic fruit with our breakfast every morning, the most unusual was the ‘hairy man’s eye ball’ and was not as bad as it sounds. Our cabin was almost all windows which looked out into the rain forest but not enough of a breeze coming through. The cabin was ‘eco’ friendly and the electricity was solar powered, so no air conditioning, not even a fan and couldn’t even use our hair dryer. 

Mary and I talked about just getting in the car and driving around all day just to keep cool. But usually it was walks in the morning, naps in the afternoon and early to bed at night.

We did go on a night river boat ride to find crocodiles and other animals. It was the last night there and we had to put on wet clothes to go. We were saving one pair of dry clean clothes to leave on. The boat trip was great we saw some different animals and it was cool on the river and there was only a short shower.

When we left we put on our only clean dry clothes and as soon as we got in the car at 7:30 AM we turned on the A/C. Glad to be cool and dry..... but it was a great experience!   

Our cabin in the rain forest

Breakfast outside our room.

A big spider outside our room

Outback Camping

We spent 5 days camping in the outback in the center of Australia. It was a very interesting and a mostly enjoyable trip with lots of walks into the interior of the mountains  and around Uluru. We walked up Kings Canyon's "Heart Attack hill”--straight up on rocky terrain then walked for about 3 plus hours and most days did not get into camp until dark then fix dinner, eat, take showers (most days) and try to get to sleep. Wake up each day was before SUNRISE. We saw lots of sunrises and sunsets and they were extremely gorgeous. The sky was filled with stars at night and we slept all nights but one out in our swag (an Australian bedroll). The swag was comfortable except when it got cold because my sleeping bag was not very warm so I put on all my clothes and then it was OK.

Our best experience was when we went to see Craig an aborigine from the local area. He took us out in the bush and sat down brushed the sandy red ground and started drawing hieroglyphic symbols to tell the story of his aborigine belief in how his people and his clan, ‘the rainbow clan’, came to the area.

Most of our group swam most days but we chose to find places away from the group and just enjoy the quiet. One particular area was the Red Bank Gorge in the Western McDonnell Range. The Red Bank Gorge was one where you needed to swim back into to get to all the swimming holes. They say it was fantastic but we enjoyed just being..

We walked every day and the first 3 days were fairly strenuous  I thought I might lose some weight with all the walking and the camp food but don't think I lost that belly that I would like to.

When we got back to Alice Springs we decided to rent a car as it was less expensive to take in the sights of Alice Springs and also get to the airport. It was a good idea. We went to the Desert Park, the School of the Air and the Flying doctors. All of these really show  the Aussie ingenuity. 

We ate Emu, Camel, Kangaroo last night for dinner and it was all good--a good way to end our trip in the Red Center.

We bought some art aborigines  art, and mailed it backed to the states. It will be fun to unpack when we get home.

Me and the flies at Uluru

Sunset in the Red Center

Kings Canyon

Our aborigines story teller

Push starting our day

Early morning pack up

Mary at sunset

Kangaroo Island

We had a very busy time on Kangaroo Island, long days in a 4 wheel drive car on gravel, wash board roads, driving very fast, going from one site to another. It was very interesting and enjoyable but tiring. We saw many animals and some birds up close and personal. There were not large groups of Kangaroo's like I expected but many more wallabies groupings (wallabies are similar to kangaroo’s only smaller). The Kola bears were very cute but sleeping in the trees and not active when we saw them. Bob was able to get up close for all pictures as there are no predators here.

We had to cook, can you believe that. We had a small apartment with a full kitchen and they provided the makings for two breakfasts which we cooked. It was nice for a change. We still can not believe that they put instant coffee in the rooms.

We took an evening tour of the penguin nests. These are the smallest penguin’s in the world. They only come on shore at night, being small, they have predators waiting to snatch them. We could hear them outside our “apartment”. They come and nest under peoples houses and in their gardens in the evenings.

Mary and our guide outside our B&B

Melbourne

Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne on Good Friday and spent the day walking and bussing around  the city to find most places closed. They close for Christmas, Good Friday and the monday after Easter as well as Easter--interesting. (They were surprised that the US did not do this as we are so “religious”.

They have a free bus and a free trolley that takes you around the downtown area to specified places and it was good as my legs were tired from the two previous days of walking. This is a beautiful city and it has developed along the river very well on both sides. We can no longer brag about Portland's Light rail transportation system. They are best in the world, it says. They have commuter trains, light rail, under ground trains, busses, trams or trolleys and don’t know if they have ferries. They have a beautiful old building which houses the commuter train system. I don't know how old but it is something to see.

We attempted to find the Melbourne’s  ALLEYS or alley lanes, as they are called, where they have developed small cafes and shops. Since it was good friday most were closed, but we happened onto one cafe that was packed to the hilt with no room. We had to look for a place to eat and we had our first eggs benedict on our trip and it was very good. (Both NZ & Au serve breakfast most of the day)

There is a lots of public art and the graffiti artists have taken over the alley lanes. Bob says it was a photographers dream with all the colors. 

We loved the mixture of old buildings and modern buildings. There was lots of iron work from the 1800’s and we walked the neighborhood one early morning to see them.

One of Melbourne’s highlights was the trip up to the 88th floor of the Eureka building at night to view the city lights. I had to hold onto Bob as the floors were not even giving additional unsteadiness to the experience. The building has many angles jutting out and it feels like you are standing out beyond the building. Those hearty souls went to a special area which had a glass floor that looks down 88 stories. Melbourne was beautiful at night as was Sydney.

Melbourne

The Tour Nazi

We took a tour from Melbourne to see what’s called the 12 Apostles, which are some unusual rock formations on the ocean coast about 120 miles away. It was a 12 hour tour, and should have been 14 hours. We got picked up at 7:30 am in a small bus and right away the driver John our tour guide started giving us information about Melbourne on the way out. After 2 hours he was still talking when we got to our first stop for a coffee/tea restroom break. He made it very clear you have 15 minutes be back at the bus on time. And when someone was a minute late he told in no uncertain terms that they were late and needed to be on time. 

Our next stop was a photo op that was so quick we might as well just rolled down the windows and taken the picture out the window. And later when we stopped to take pictures of the kolas bears several people were late and they got a lecture that we needed to be on time! (no restroom).

As we were driving along we looked at the lunch menu and told to take out a number that corresponded to a meal on the lunch menu. We were told when we got to the restaurant “Don’t go to the restroom. Don’t take pictures. Go directly to your assigned table and place your number on the table so we can get your order to you as soon as possible. Then you can go to the restroom.”

We were starting to get the picture, eat fast, follow orders, and don’t drink water, you might have to go to the restroom later!

When we finally got to the 12 Apostles, there were so many people we had to fight our way through them to get photos. We didn’t want to be late. I was practically running from place to place to take photos. We were so rushed I was thinking I hope the pictures come out because I’m so pushed for time I won’t remember this place. Well I did get some pictures and it’s a good thing because what I remember most is John our driver the ‘Tour Nazi’.

Mary at the twelve Apostles.

Bob at the twelve Apostles

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A THIEF

       We got off the tram thinking we were on our way to the Melbourne China town but ended up in the Melbourne Gaol (jail) instead. We were marched into the holding room, made to call the man sergeant, stand erect, put our tongues up to the roof of our mouths for check, lift our feet for check, leave our belongings and marched into small cells, closed the thick, heavy steel door, turn off the lights and let us sit. We knew we were in trouble now.

We were booked and mug shots taken and sent out for a new day of trial. Now we were truly ready for Chinese food and what a meal it was, not our last but a meal as a free woman and man.

The Gaol was built in 1858 and was closed in 1924. The Police Watch house where we were incarcerated was still active long after. The good news is that they, long ago, abolished capital punishment. This was a reminder of how cruel humans can be and questions how much we have really advanced. 

Sydney

     We had a great day today and our energy held out really well. We just got back to the room and it is 8:30 PM, that is late for us. We really enjoyed Sydney at night with all the lights on the big bridge, the city skyline all in lights and the harbor with the lighted ferry’s coming and going. It is really a special city. We started out walking to town at about 7 AM and we walked until noon when we stopped for lunch. We walked through the Botanical gardens and passed the old government buildings and many very nice structures then on to the fantastic Opera house sitting majestic on the water with the huge bridge on the other side. The hardy were climbing the bridge all attached to a safety cable and it was so far away they were dots up there. We took the ferry for a ride in the harbor and got  up close so we could wave at the hikers on the bridge. It was in all a beautiful day though cloudy and once it rained for about a minute. We are getting real good at the bus travel.

Bats Flying Overhead

     We got up at 4 am to fly from Christchurch NZ to go to Sydney Australia, got to the airport only to find out there was no longer a flight leaving at 6:30 am. The next flight would be 9 hours later. Christchurch airport is not very exciting for 9 hours. When we finally got into Sydney we arrived right at the afternoon rush hour and sat in downtown traffic on the shuttle to our hotel. When we finally arrived at the ‘Arts Hotel’ there were bats flying overhead. A bad sign on a long day.

Another Great Experience

      Our next and last Couchsurfing experience was our last two days in Christchurch. Verna & Ian Stewart were just a delightful couple that we truly enjoyed. We took them to dinner and spent the evening chatting about a number of things including their love of Tango and enjoyed reliving our trip to Buenos Aires as they had also experienced it. Ian was a wealth of knowledge regarding NZ, history and all. 

THE TRAIN THAT WENT NOWHERE

Anyone you talk to knows about the train ride from Christchurch to Arthur’s pass. it’s a must see they all say.

We arrived early, as that is our way, boarded the train with a lot of other folks and waited. The time to depart slipped away and then we got the message that a train, not too far from CC had an accident and there were two fatalities. We waited about one hour and were told the train could not get through. We all disembarked, told we could get a refund or catch a bus and come back later on the train. We chose to get the refund which would be deposited in 15 working days. It always amazes me as to how quickly they can remove the funds from your account and how long it takes to put them back.

New Zealand Fjords

The number one place for people to visit in New Zealand is the Fjords. Pictures don't do it justice but here is a link to some photos I took.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WybY6F4HB2g

Dog Trails

We were leaving Te Anau in NZ heading for Gore when someone told us he used to live in Gore and said you should take the scenic route, and the scenic route is what this trip is all about. The scenery as a Kiwi would say was ‘lovely’ and we were getting hungry for lunch and there was no town on the map near us, rarely a house and hardly saw a car when we came up on this sign....

I stopped as fast as I could & backed up to find out what was going on. We drove into the parking lot (actually the parking lot was a field) to find out what was happening.  Here I am asking Dave ...........

Dave says there are dog trials going on here and that we are welcome to stay and watch. Here’s Dave and his sheep dog......

So we decided to stay and watch for a while. We walked up to where all the people were and they were very friendly and they offered us some lunch. Here’s Mary talking with some of the locals

Here’s how one of the contests works. Three sheep are released at the top of the hill, (there are three sheep at the top of the hill).

The dog owner sends his dog up the hill (there is a dog running up the hill) and the owners sends commands for the dog by voice, whistle or raising a cane. The object is to bring the sheep down to the bottom of the hill, not as fast as possible, but in a straight line to a circle hold them there. Here is Dave with the sheep almost in the circle.

We had a lovely time and enjoyed talking with the local people and hearing about their lives. We greatly appreciated the great hospitality of the folks there including the free lunch.