Perth, Australia Day Two

Since we were able to reschedule our Rottnest Island tickets for the 23rd, we decided to drive north of Perth about 3 hours to see the Pinnacles, which are really unique limestone rock structures in the middle of Nambung National Park. Let me tell you, it doesn’t take long to realize you’re driving in a whole lot of nothing when you get out of Perth! This part of Western Australia reminds me a bit of West Texas, with a lot of scrub brush but not a lot of trees. Walking through the Pinnacles was really something else and well worth the trip. Imagine thousands of limestone pillars of different heights rising out of sand dunes the color of corn meal - really wild! We spent an hour or so walking around the area enjoying the dunes as well as the views of the Indian Ocean in the background and then drove to the beach to enjoy some lunch. We found the perfect spot for lunch - just outside the park entrance, we turned off the main road and turned down a smaller road that led to a parking area. From there we walked up a short path through the sand dunes and there was a picnic table on the dunes, looking out over the ocean with a beautiful white sand beach and no one around! Too much.

Tomorrow we head out to Rottnest Island and hopefully when we get to the airport I’ll have some internet access to write about it. What’s cool about the island, though, is it’s car-free so you can rent bikes to explore the island which we plan to do. The other thing we’re looking forward to is hopefully seeing some Quokkas, small marsupial mammals that are found only on the island and are supposed to be quite inquisitive. The name for the island comes from Dutch explorer William de Vlamingh who discovered the island and mistook the Quokkas for rats, hence the name, which means rat’s nest in Dutch. They look really cute, though, so I’m guessing we’ll like them better than rats!

Perth, Australia

We arrived in Perth mid afternoon and the great weather followed us with sunny skies and warm temperatures. After checking in to the hotel, which is almost downtown, we walked down the riverfront to stretch our legs. Perth is situated on the Swam River, which is about as broad as the Mississippi but very clear and blue. A light dinner followed and after that, a quiet evening back at the hotel. The next day was our planned trip to Rottnest Island (a popular holiday destination for locals and visitors alike) which is an hour or so ferry ride out from Perth. We were scheduled to be on the ferry at 8:30 the next morning so we decided to make an early evening of it. Now, we had heard that there might be a weather front blowing through the next day, but we remained optimistic that it wouldn’t mess up the day too much……oh boy were we wrong…….

We got up the next morning and looking out the window, saw that it was somewhat cloudy but no rain so things were looking up, right? We headed downstairs and asked the front desk if they had umbrellas to borrow since we were walking down to the ferry dock, about 7 blocks away. Well, when they brought the umbrellas out, they were the really big, standard sized ones not the small fold up kind, and since we were planning on renting bikes on the island, that didn’t’ seem like it would work out too well. Sooo……we headed out the door, confident that the weather would clear up. I was feeling good in my freshly ironed new shirt and shorts which I hadn’t gotten a chance to wear yet and all seemed well with the world. Well, we weren’t but about a block away when the raindrops began to fall. And fall…..and fall. The rainfall was torrential, and I mean TORR….EN…..TIAL. We were completely soaked, through and through. We started to run to the ferry terminal but at some point realized we weren’t going to get any wetter than we already were! We stopped into several convenience stores along the way looking for umbrellas (hindsight was really good at that point) but apparently everyone else on the streets were trying to do the same thing and the first few places were completely sold out. Finally, we found a store that had ONE little cheap fold up umbrella left that was rainbow colored. Too cute. We continued on our way through the downpour, at one point walking through ankle deep water rushing down the street. Finally, we made it to the ferry dock and went up to the window to see what we could do about rescheduling the tickets. The woman at the desk was extremely helpful and sympathetic and swapped our tickets for the 23rd. With that obstacle out of the way, the next order of business was figuring out how to get out of our dripping clothes. As luck would have it, there was a souvenir shop next door and we were able to find a couple of shirts in there. The owner was so helpful that he even let us use his display Australian beach towel to dry off! Geez…..what a morning. Later, we heard on the news that this was the most rain they’d had in four years! We survived, though, and by the afternoon, the weather was nice again.

Uluru, Australia Day Two

Today was our full day to walk around Uluru and see the other rock formation called Kata Tjuta, so we got an early start and headed out. The walk around the base of Uluru us 10.6 kms and we headed out on the trail about 10:30 a.m. The visitor brochure said the walk should take about 3.5 hours but we ended up doing it in about 2.5 hours - and that’s with stops along the way! The weather was sunny and probably in the mid 70’s. Now, we had planed ahead and purchased some sun screen before we left Sydney knowing we’d be out in the sun for an extended period of time so we dutifully slathered it on before we left. We learned quickly that one of the trademark features of this area are the small black flies which can be pretty bothersome but apparently the scent of the sunscreen we were wearing made us unusually attractive to them. They were literally swarming around us…..I mean, it was constant. We were constantly waving our hands around our heads trying to ward them off as we walked and finally tore the map in half so we could each have a better fan to keep them off. At least they weren’t biting, but they were oh so annoying. Other than that, though, it was a really gorgeous walk. Not too many people on the trail, so that made it really enjoyable as we were often the only people on it. When we got back to the beginning of the trail, we looked up to see the people walking up the trail to the top of the rock. It was really interesting how they made the trail up to the top - it was basically a guide wire strung along a series of large metal stakes driven into the rock that people used as a handrail. Man, it was really steep! Apparently it can also be quite slippery after a rainstorm as well. Hmmm…….I think we’ll stick to the base trail.

After we finished the base walk, we drove up to café at the cultural center for lunch and then on to visit the other nearby rock formations, The Olgas. They are a bit farther away and it took about a half hour to drive there. Unfortunately, since we had worn our new sandals for the base walk, I ended up with the beginnings of a blister on my right foot so when we finally got there, I changed back into my hiking shoes which REALLY helped. At The Olgas, we decided to just do the Walpa Gorge walk, which took about an hour. This was probably more impressive than Uluru simply because there were lots of rock formations in one area as opposed to just one, and the walk took you down a really interesting gorge between two huge red sandstone rocks. Loved that!

So, we’ve been here and seen the infamous Ayer’s Rock. We were definitely here the right amount of time and are now MORE than ready to move on. We both think it is a really cool and interesting place to explore but definitely a one time thing. Afterall, once you see the rocks, there really is absolutely nothing else out here but lots of red sand and desert scrub trees! So it’s off to Perth tomorrow and back to some (hopefully) more beautiful ocean scenery……stay tuned!

Uluru, Australia

It was a smooth and comfortable 3 hour flight from Sydney to Ayer’s Rock. The approach to the Ayer’s Rock airport was classic outback Australia - red sand, scrub trees and lots of bright sunshine! We walked off the plane into perfect, 70 something degree warmth and after getting the rental car, we had our first beautiful view of infamous Uluru, the original Aboriginal term for Ayer’s Rock. What a sight!

Here’s the interesting thing, though, about coming to Uluru. Because you’re out here in the middle of the desert there is one place to stay, the Ayer’s Rock Resort. Now, within this resort, there are three hotels and two campgrounds and those are your choices for accommodations. Now it’s all very nice looking - a nice smooth road in from the airport, a little “shopping center” with two restaurants, a post office, grocery store, tourist information, etc., as well as a shuttle bus that makes a loop through all the hotels and the shopping center all day long. Let’s just say, whoever set this place up knew what they were doing. I have to say, it’s kind of weird being in this pre-packaged compound in the middle of nowhere.

Now, because there is this monopoly on places to stay near the rock, prices are outrageously high and since we’re trying to do this travel on somewhat of a budget, we decided to go with the most “modestly” priced option, the Pioneer Outback Lodge. Suffice it to say, it’s the most we’ve spent on a hotel since we’ve been traveling for the worst room we’ve had. It really looked more like a glorified prison cell than a hotel room. Our room has a tile floor, yellow painted cinder block walls with no artwork on them and a double bed that rolls across the room if you move around on it too much. Gotta love it, right???? On well…..we just have two nights here and how much time are we really going to spend in the room anyway……

After taking a spin into “town”, which is at most a mile away and getting a bite to eat, we headed out to Uluru for a sunset viewing of the rock. Uluru is actually in a national park along with another rock formation called “Kata Tjuta,, also known as “The Olgas”. While Uluru is certainly the more famous of the rock formations, I have to say Kata Tjuta also looks really cool so we’re looking forward to exploring that area as well tomorrow. The entrance fee to the park is $25 a person - I know, ouch! - but it does cover you for three days, which is about the maximum amount of time anyone spends out here. And even though the fee is steep, we know it goes to support the park as well as the Aboriginal community that lives in the area.

The first view of that rock as you drive out to it is truly breathtaking. To see this amazing, other worldly looking huge loaf of a rock rising out of the desert landscape with nothing else around it is truly something. Once you’ve entered the park, there is a bush walk around the base of the rock that you can do that is 10.6 kms long and takes about 3.5 hours (we’re planning on doing that tomorrow). As you drive through the park, there is a parking lot specifically designed to watch the rock at sunset, which we did tonight and it was spectacular. The rock starts out this beautiful red adobe color but as the sun goes down, it starts to fade to purple. What a cool sight! The best part of all is that there was a full moon tonight and we got some great pictures of the full moon rising behind Uluru.

Sydney, Australia

Well, Sydney has turned out to be just as wonderful as we remember from when we were here six years ago. Unfortunately at that time, we only had a couple of days to explore so this week has really given us a great flavor for the city.

First off, we have once again lucked out with absolutely lovely weather the whole time we’ve been here. It has been just cool enough in the evenings to wear our light jackets, but otherwise our short sleeved shirts have been just fine. We did manage to buy some shorts and sandals for the rest of the trip, which should take us into warmer weather, so that’s been nice. We mailed back two boxes of our heavier clothing back home, so that has really freed up some space in our bags!

You might remember us mentioning a couple we met on our cruise through Milford Sound in New Zealand, Ian and Carol from Sydney. Well, they invited us to look them up when we got to town so they could show us around, so wee contacted them and arranged to get together last Saturday. Ian picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Carol’s condo, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. It’s a beautiful area with lots of rolling hills, heavily wooded with eucalyptus trees. Carol greeted us warmly and had even made a homemade date loaf for my birthday, complete with a sparkler in it! It was really tasty and kind of reminded me of banana bread. Anyway, they drove us around the coast north of Sydney to some spectacular lookouts over the ocean and bays and then we ended up at a great little dockside restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately, Carol had tickets to the ballet that night which she couldn’t get out of, so after dropping her off we went to Ian’s house where he made us dinner. All in all, they were absolutely lovely hosts and really made our time in Sydney enjoyable.

For my birthday, we had decided to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Not sure how many of you have heard of this experience, but it is quite a popular thing to do here. After you check in, you sign a release saying you won’t sue them for whatever might happen, etc., and then they give you a breath test to make sure you haven’t been drinking. Since our climb was at 2 p.m., it wasn’t too hard for us to stay off the sauce prior to heading up!!! Then you get all geared up in a jump suit, harness, and radio with headphones so you can hear your tour guide as you climb the bridge. Basically, you climb up a couple of stairways that are like climbing ladders and then you’re walking along the upper arch of the bridge along a sort of catwalk. It’s all very safe as the company has been doing this for years, and you’re clipped to a guide wire the whole time as well as having hand rails to hold on to. Let me tell you - the view from the top of that bridge is completely AMAZING!! We were about 500 feet above the water and had the entire harbour and city laid out below us with unobstructed views to the west of the Blue Mountains and to the east of the Pacific Ocean. Really something to remember. Of course, we couldn’t take our camera or any other personal belongings up on the bridge, so we purchased a CD with pictures on it from them and maybe down the road I can post some pictures from up there.

The entire event took about 3 hours and was well worth every penny. It was about 5 p.m. when we got back down and we had planned to have dinner at a restaurant I had researched before heading over to the Opera House for a blues performance that night. Unfortunately, we had left the tickets to the show in the hotel room! Since our hotel was about 10 blocks from the bridge, we jumped on a bus and zipped back down to the hotel. Once in the room, we went right to where we thought the tickets were but lo and behold - no tickets!!! We tore the room apart and just couldn’t find them. Poor Jim was really stressed as he just wanted me to have the perfect birthday so I suggested that we just head down to the Opera House and see what they could do to help us. To make a long story short, they very kindly printed out new tickets and we enjoyed a really fantastic show. Of course, what do you think happened when we got back to the room that night? Right - we found the tickets in a pile of paperwork we thought we had gone through……geez……

Some “Australian” we’ve learned:

Instead of “The road is packed with cars“, “the road is choc-a-block with cars”, and instead of “We had lots of fun”, “We had heaps (or loads) of fun.” And then, of course, there is the classic Aussie fashion of shortening so many words, so rather than breakfast, it’s brekky and sunglasses are sunnies. I know there are bunches of others we’ve heard, but they escape me right now! Suffice it to say, it’s quite an endearing way of speaking.

So, that’s our time in Sydney. We head out tomorrow morning for Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in the center of the country. It will be about a 2 hour flight and we’ll be out there until the 19th, when we fly to Perth on the southwestern corner of the country.

Hope all is well with everyone!!!

P.S.: I'll add more pictures shortly......internet issues......nuff said!!!!

Tasmania Day Two

Today was the big day - our zip line tour through the forest canopy!! Our tour was taking place at Hollybank Treetops Adventures, which was about a two hour drive north of where we were. We were really impressed with how well run the place was and how thorough and safety minded they were. There were about 10 of us that headed out and it ended up being a really fun group to spend three hours with. First, our two guides Jackie and Alex got us all rigged up in our harnesses and safety gear, and then we all went outside to do a practice run down a cable they had set up in back. Once they were satisfied with all of our abilities, we headed out for the actual trip. There were six “cloud stations”, which is what they call the platforms that have been built around the trees in the middle of the forest. Fortunately, the first run was not too high up or too far away for those of us still adjusting to the idea! Basically, our harnesses were clipped on to a pulley system attached to the overhead cables which ran the whole length of the track. There were six cloud stations with stretches of cable of varying lengths and heights between them. In a nutshell, it was TOTALLY cool and we would do it again in a heartbeat!! It’s hard to describe how amazing it feels to sail through the treetops above a valley with a river flowing below you…….it’s the closest thing to flying I’ve ever felt. We were instructed on how to tuck our legs in and do a “cannonball” run to really pick up speed on one of the longer runs and were also told that if we slowed down too much before we reached the station, we would have to sort of scoot our bodies forward to get our pullies close enough so the guide could get us hooked and pull us the last few feet to the station. Well, I was the first lucky one to somehow slow down - even though I thought I was going pretty fast - and I didn’t quite make it all the way to the station. So there I was, hanging I don’t know how far above the forest floor, with the guide telling me to do what they call “the walrus” and scoot and swing my body to make my pulley move up to where it needed to be. Now, I do actually have somewhat of a fear of heights which usually isn’t too bad if I’m not in a position to dwell on it. Hanging there, I either could have looked down (bad idea) and frozen in fear or just focus on the task at hand. Focus I did, though, and after a bit of swinging back and forth, I scooted up to where I needed to be and the guide pulled me in the rest of the way. Hooray!!! Now I’m ready for that Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb on my birthday!

Tomorrow, we’re going to head south from Hobart and explore the Tasman National Park on our way to Port Arthur, which was one of the first penal colonies in Australia. It sounds like we should see some really beautiful scenery on the way, so keep your fingers crossed! All in all, Tasmania has exceeded our expectations and we would definitely return here as there is so much more to see & do that we didn’t have time for on this trip.

Oh, we did get a CD of pictures from our treetop adventure, but since it’s on a disc and we don’t have a disc drive on the computer, I don’t think I can get any pictures of it on the blog for now…..darn!! If that changes, we’ll let you know for sure.

Tasmania Day One

After a 3 hour flight from Auckland to Melbourne, a 4 hour layover and then a 55 minute flight to Hobart, we arrived in Tasmania about 9 p.m. on Saturday. Fortunately Hobart is not huge or hard to get around, so after we collected our rental car, we made it to our cottage within the hour. Our accommodation is quite nice though not exactly what we expected. We’re basically just outside of town in a neighborhood overlooking the harbour and the city and our cottage is right next to the owner’s home. Suffice it to say, though, it has everything we need and since they also market themselves as a B&B, it was well stocked with a fresh loaf of local bread, cereal, yogurt, cereal and other necessary extras. The instructions from them explained that if we were arriving late the door to the cottage would be open and the keys inside, which is exactly how it turned out, but I have to say, it’s kind of weird staying so close to the owners of the place and not actually meeting them……oh well……

Our first full day we drove down to the harbour area of Hobart and walked around a bit to get the lay of the city. Hobart is Australia’s second oldest city and is ideally situated on a harbour that is ringed by petty hills and Mt. Wellington. One of our must do’s while we were here was to actually see a Tasmanian Devil so we had researched a bit and found a wildlife park called Bonorang Animal Park about 25 minutes out of town where they had Devils as well as other Australian animals. So, after our walk around the harbour area and a light lunch, we hopped back in the car and headed out towards Brighton, where the wildlife park is. The weather really cooperated for the most part and even though it was pretty chilly, at least the sun has been out.

Arriving at the wildlife park, we found out the next guided tour was at 2 p.m. and since we had about 45 minutes until then, we were each given a bag of treats to feed the friendly mob of kangaroos they had in the back field (yes, that’s what you call a group of kangaroos!). So off we went and, indeed, there were about 30-40 kangaroos relaxing in a field in the back of the compound. Now, we had fed kangaroos the last time we came to Australia in 2006, but it was still quite a site to see them start bounding towards us as we reached into our bags. I’m sure as many of you know, there are a variety of types of kangaroos, from very small tree wallabies to the huge red kangaroos you find in the Australian outback. These fellas were in the “medium’ range, standing about 4 feet tall and very sweet and friendly. We would hold our a handful of feed and they would very gently take it from our hands without any kind of nipping or jostling. And it was just as fun as the last time we did it!!

The tour was equally enjoyable. Our tour guide started with a wombat, which had been orphaned as a baby when his mother was hit by a car. Now, this was a real treat for me as I had always wanted to see a wombat and did not expect that we would get to see one on this trip. If you’re not familiar with what a wombat looks like, you should check them out - they are COMPLETELY adorable! They’re the largest burrowing marsupial, and they basically look like a big, fat ball of fur. Apparently, road kill is a big problem on Tasmanian highways, and what happened to his mother is not an uncommon story. He was still in her pouch when he was found, and according to what the guide said, a baby in the pouch can actually live on for a few days after their mother has been killed. Well, this little guy was about 12 months old and so darn cute - he was chasing the guide around, nipping at his heels and then he would just pick him up and snuggle him in his arms while he talked about him……too cute!! Interestingly, wombats have a layer of hard cartilage on their butts which protects them from predators. If a dog or whatever chases them into a burrow they tuck their bodies into a ball so that just their backside is exposed and it becomes much harder for the predator to bite through this tough layer.

We then moved on to see the star of the park, the Tasmanian Devils. Cute little devils they are with some very unique features. Their young are born after only 21 days gestation and are about the size of a grain of rice when they come out. They have the largest litters of any marsupial, with the mother having as many as 20-25 babies. Since she only has four nipples in her pouch, however, a lot of the young simply don’t make it beyond the 21 days. The devils are about the size of a house cat (think Seamus, Jeannie & Deb) or a small dog and all of them look the same because they‘re genetically identical, with mostly black hair and a few white marks on their backside. They are also carnivores, and often eat road kill, which is one of the reasons they’re endangered because they will wander onto the highway to have a nibble at something and get hit by a car. In addition, there is a contagious skin cancer among the wild population here that has also significantly reduced their numbers.

Finally, the guide brought out one of the two koala bears they have at the park, but explained that these two guys were donated to the park as they don’t naturally occur on Tasmania and are only found on the mainland of Australia in either the tropical north and in South Australia. Also really cute buggers and just as fun to be around as the last time we were in Australia.

We finished up at the wildlife park about 4 p.m. and realized we still had time to visit one of the newest big attractions in Hobart, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). This place just opened in January of this year and was, for both of us, one of the absolute coolest and most interesting museums we’d been to. In addition to the museum they have a restaurant and winery on the property as well as overnight accommodations. The exhibits were all really modern, some very wild, and altogether totally cool. If you want to learn more about it, click here. Nuff said…….