Day 74 Sunday, March 26 2006 We spent a delightful day with Uncle Rob’s longtime friends, Arthur and Dorothy, and their two sons in Canberra. They kindly showed us around the very picturesque capital city and invited us to a wonderful evening at their home.
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Day 73, Saturday, March 25, 2006 The Snowy Mountains are Australia’s ski areas from June through September when this high plateau receives substantial snowfall. It’s early fall here now and we picked a perfect day to visit. The plateau is very much like Alberta’s foothills, rolling hills and grassland.
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Day 72, Friday, March 24, 2006 The Commonwealth Games have been a huge success in Melbourne, (Australia has been kicking butt). With huge crowds, little or no accommodation, no parking, streets closed for track events, we reluctantly bypassed the city. The countryside to the north of Melbourne is beautiful with golden fields, (it’s fall here), and very green trees. The leaves on the native trees here don’t change colour, nor do they shed, so it’s a strange sight to see very green trees with the fields in full fall colours.
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Day 70, Wednesday, March 22, 2006 The Great Ocean Road runs for 140 kilometers from Warrnambool to Torquay along the southern coast. Millions of years of erosion have created incredible natural sculptures out of the sandstone and limestone cliffs. These monuments are continuously created and destroyed by the sea, as several have collapsed in recent years from the pounding surf.
Bob’s BlogPSI don't know why but I have been unable to load any photos the past couple of times. And they are absolutely spectacular along the Great Ocean Road. B
Day 69, Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Coorong National Park is comprised of a miles long sand bar that separates the sea from a fresh water lake. A pelican reserve is part of the park however they must have been out fishing when we stopped as they were nowhere to be seen. Today was a driving day as we needed to make up for for the three days we stayed at Cape Jervis.
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Day 67, Sunday, March 19, 2006 Unable to book the Kangaroo Island tour today, we drove the short distance across the peninsula to the resort town of Victor Harbour. The landscape here seems so out of place so near the sea, it’s rolling hills, grazing land, almost like Alberta. Victor Harbour is a neat little town with lots of restaurants, cafes and bars. The tiny Granite Island, connected to Victor Harbour by a causeway, is home to a Small Penguin Colony. Five or six of the little birds were perched on some rocks a considerable distance from any vantage point, making it difficult to see much detail. We walked the trail around the island that provided great views of Encounter Bay, named for the chance meeting of British and French ships exploring the south seas in the early 1800’s.
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Day 66, Saturday, March 18, 2006 The huge park that encircles the inner city was alive with cricket, rugby and tennis players this Saturday morning. The Adelaide Botanic Gardens are a part of this huge green space, and the display of roses was awesome. The University of Adelaide has numerous beautiful old Victorian era stone buildings. We really enjoyed wandering through this beautiful and unique city. By mid afternoon we headed south toward Cape Jervis, the ferry port to Kangaroo Island. There isn’t a lot here, except a really neat bar that serves a great meal. We dined on Thai butterfish and West End Original Draught.
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Day 65, Friday, March 17, 2006 Ah!, temperate Adelaide. For the first time in a month my clothes don’t stick to me. Adelaide is a planned city with a huge park surrounding the central core. We spent several hours exploring the many fascinating shops, a large market, and neat restaurants. But the early mornings this week in the Outback and the tiring train ride has taken it’s toll. We had an early supper and turned in, foregoing the lively St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations around the downtown.
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Day 63, Wednesday, March 15, 2006 The drive to the Palm Valley was unsurpassed. A part of the road was Australian red dirt washboard, the remainder, worse. It was a dry riverbed. An hour in a cement mixer would be more pleasant. Next time I will bring a crash helmet and an athletic support. All was not lost, however, as we encountered this substantial snake along the way. We also saw a kangaroo, a dingo, a goanna and a wallaby. The guide said that on many trips, no animals are seen. At the end of the road is a magnificent stand of Red Cabbage Palms, the only place on Earth where they grow. We ended our amazing adventure with a visit to Standley Chasm, 80 meters high and only 9 meters wide. With the short drive back to Alice Springs, we had traveled 1600 kilometers in 5 days and had seen some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world. What can’t be described in photos is the torment of the flies, the incredible heat and humidity, the exhilaration of the slightest breeze, the vast expanse of the bush land, the stillness of the night, the brilliance of the stars, the songs of strange birds, the intensity of the rain. You will have to come to Australia’s Red Centre to experience these for yourself.
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Day 62, Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Ormiston Gorge is a beautiful canyon where today the rains had caused some high water that again required us to wade across at a couple of places. Several of the group went for a swim. Sharron and I decided to swim with the crocodiles at Ellery Creek Big Hole, a picturesque little lake beneath the canyon walls. We didn’t see any crocodiles. I have concluded that a “hole” is any meaningful depression that is more or less permanently filled with water. Wallace Rockhole is an Aborignal Community where we camped for the night. A local guide took us on a short tour and explained some of the background of their history. Finally we experienced what we had been expecting from the start, blue sky from horizon to horizon, not a cloud in the sky, and the intense heat that goes with it. For the third night in a row we had a visitor to our camp, a more ominous huge spider. A brave sole captured it in a tomato tin and dispatched it back into the bush.
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Day 59, Saturday, March 11 , 2006 Our Safari Tour began with a 6 am pickup for the 480 kilometer trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The desert is alive with vegetation from small shrubs to lots of bush to substantial trees, and with a rather wet summer, everything is green and very humid. Along with several hundred other tourists, we watched the sunset on Uluru, however a heavy cloud cover prevented a more spectacular view. Earlier we all hiked through Kata Tjuta, an unusual formation of domes that rise to over 500 meters above the surrounding plain. Our guide explained to us that there were no washrooms on the trek, however, he reminded us that every tree is a “lava tree“. Our transportation is an 18 passenger bus pulling a trailer loaded with everything that we will need for 5 days, food, luggage, etc. Our accommodation at each of 4 locations is 9 permanent tents for two people each, a kitchen with power and running water, plus hot showers and flush toilets. Well, sometimes you just have to rough it.
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Day 58, Friday, March 10 , 2006 Alice Springs is situated essentially in the geographic centre of Australia. It lies beside the MacDonnell Range, a rift that runs for several hundred kilometers through the Red Centre of the continent. This road sign demonstrates the remoteness of “Alice”. Bojangles Saloon and Restaurant reminds me of the Longbranch from Gunsmoke.
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Day 57, Thursday, March 9 , 2006 North of Cairns is the small town of Kuranda in the Queensland rainforest. The Kuranda Scenic Railway runs between the two at a very leisurely pace allowing time to view the scenery along the way. Kuranda has a number of attractions, including the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary where dozens of colourful butterflies zip around you. For the trip back to Cairns we took the Sky Train, gondolas that are suspended above the rainforest providing a unique and spectacular view of the forest below. This evening we had supper at The Swiss Pencils Restaurant again as we had dined there last night as well. The owner, who personally meets everyone at the door, greeted us by name and remembered what we had ordered last night. I was amazed. The food was also exceptional, Sharron had “bugs”, a crayfish and I had rack of lamb. If visiting the Edge Hills district in Cairns, don’t miss The Pencils.
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Day 56, Wednesday, March 8 , 2006 Forty kilometers east of Cairns is the small sand island of Michaelmas Cay. Ocean Spirit Cruises takes you out on a catamaran to the island and then shuttles you to the beach. Once there you can don your snorkel gear and head for the reef, just meters away. After several days of showers, today was perfect, scattered clouds and most important, no wind. The calm sea made for easy snorkeling, easy for those who can, that is. I was rather inept at it, taking on a lot of water, chocking frequently and generally scaring the fish. In spite of this it was an outstanding sight, endless coral of every shape and colour and numerous fish which hung around in spite of me. This is a photo of Sharron, doing it right. We wore “stinger” suits. In the afternoon they took us out on the semi submersible that goes into the deeper waters for more spectacular views of coral and marine life. Schools of fish of all sizes and colours darted around and in and out of the coral. It’s an awesome sight.
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Day 55, Tuesday, March 7 , 2006 They can grow almost anything in Queensland, we’ve seen corn, cotton, sugar cane, bananas (shown here), coffee, and pineapples plus various citrus fruits. The town of Mareeba is the site of the Coffee Works, a coffee processing plant where they produce several blends of Australian coffee. The tour takes you through the entire process from how the “cherries” are harvested to roasting the beans, which determines the strength, hence the brand of coffee. This tree won’t be harvested until all of the cherries are a deep red colour. We booked into a nice B&B in Cairns, dropped off our car and made arrangements to visit the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.
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Day 53, Sunday, March 5 , 2006 Today was basically a driving day as we wanted to get to the Cairns vicinity to spend a couple of days in the Tablelands to the west and then a couple more days doing the touristy things there. Bramston Beach is just another of Australia’s beautiful beaches, however it is jellyfish time so no one goes into the water unless it’s inside the “stinger net”. We stayed at the Bramston Beach Motor Inn, and one of the attractions is the local kookaburras which come around at supper time looking for a free meal.
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