Queensland - Take 2

Hey Everybody!

Yesterday was a travel day - much more of a travel day than I had planned, but in the end it worked out just fine. But I was not a happy traveller in Brisbane yesterday...maybe it was the $30/hr parking. Maybe it was the outrageous overnight parking. Maybe it was the parking pay station machine that eagerly took my $30 & then broke as if it wouldn't give me my receipt exit ticket. Of course, these parking stations are automated.... nobody around to help. No point in throwing a tantrum! Plus, it did spit out my receipt eventually...

Oh yeah....and....when I picked up the rental car and hit the blinker lever the wipers went on! It's is a Ford..apparently when they moved the steering wheel they didn't reverse the levers! You cannot imagine how that messed with my brain! I hit the wiper lever 3 more times before i stopped last night. Now it's ok again.....wonder what the next rental will be?

Anyway, I cancelled my two nights in Brisbane - and hit the road for a four hour drive. In Brisbane's defense, the riverfront is appealing. Beyond that, it is the first stop in Australia that I wouldn't recommend. Maybe it's better without the car, but I needed the car for distant activities. Of course, the first activity - a 2hr drive (round-trip) to a rainforest -wasn't worth it. Mostly, it seemed a bit of a scam to me... First such experience in all of Australia so far. In fact, one more thing in defense of Brisbane....the rainforest along the river was far more interesting. However, the drive was made worthwhile when I found THE sign. I have seen several since this one. :-)

That means the animal that remains to be seen is the elusive Platypus! I'm still trying to figure out a way to see one...just because!

It's been 24hrs since all this dumb travel stuff & I've played with several Humpbacks so all is well tonight. In fact, had yesterday not been frustrating I'm pretty sure that my three days in Hervey Bay (pronounced Harvey) would not have worked out as well as they are simply because today would have been the travel day.

The next two days should be good & since the plan turned out to be a bit of a surprise to me, they have to be for you too. That oughta keep all my readers interested :-). I hope to be able to post each night from the hotel.

A few pics from today:

 

Anytime I go whale watching I am reminded of how lucky I've been with whales. These whales are migrating to Antarctica. Naturally, I had to stop and see them...who knows if I'll get to see them again. We spent about an hour being "mugged" by 3 whales as soon as we got in the bay. It is said that this is a behavior not seen anywhere else in the world. They stay close to the boat and seem to be "playing" with us. The coolest part of that was the amount of talking the whales did. As usual, the most frustrating part.... other people! I went on a vessel with low passenger numbers & still couldn't get photos much of the time. None of the above were taken when the whales were right beside us. Next times I think I'll rent me a boat and go sit out there with them!

 

Guess I better wrap this up for tonight. More soon...thanks for stopping by!

 

 

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Last day in Victoria....

And it's been a doozy....mostly good, with the occasional hiccup and hail storm.

On the doozy side:

Heavy rains & severe winds continued on and off through the night and morning. Not the end of the world, but 60+ mph winds does impact a 4hr hike on coastal cliffs. Guess I'll have to come back.

The benefit:

(a) 3.5hrs at an animal sanctuary that I hadn't planned to visit. They let me in early. I was the only guest for at least an hour! I pet a Koala. I fed kangaroos, which is quite fun! I saw my first Tazmanian Devil - they don't seem nearly as destructive as the one on cartoons :-). I saw not one but two Joeys in the pouch; three if you count the little guy who was upside down & just showing his booty.

Tazmanian Devil

Baby!

This is Dez....the girl koalas don't like him b/c he's from the north (short hair) and looks small to them.

There are 3 kangaroos trying to eat....

This is the third, patient smaller kangaroo finally getting a turn to eat.

Wombat

An albino kangaroo....who knew

Emu....a very large bird! Second only to Ostrich.

(b) made it into Melbourne in time to see two more Monet paintings at the National Gallery. For free, which turned out to be a good thing!

 

On the doozy side:

I parked in front of the hostel to check in. The front desk said it was okay. I brought my bag in, came back downstairs and saw an officer writing me a ticket. For $141!!! He was very nice, but gave me the ticket. He told me where to write to ask for an exception.

 

The benefit:

(a) one hour free Internet from the guilt-ridden front desk

(b) dinner for under $10 at the hostel bar. I wasn't going back out after finding a place to park!

 

My biggest disappointment in Australia so far....actually, my only one probably. This is a plastic sign in a souvenir shop....these signs do exist on roads, but I have yet to find one!

My last photo in Melbourne. This was taken on the "space deck" - the roof deck of the hostel where I'm staying tonight.

My parking spot is good until 5am, so I will be up and outta here by 4:45am. Will fly to Brisbane next....should get some wifi up there at some point. More soon.

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Rainbows & other natural wonders

Hey Everybody!

Disclaimer: To prevent any disappointment I want you to know there is no pic of a rainbow. I hope you'll keep reading....

Overnight it poured rain. This afternoon it hailed...when it wasn't raining. But in between destinations I saw a rainbow very similar to the one I saw in Melbourne Friday evening. As a general rule, I take rainbows as good omens. And so it was today too.

This morning when I was on the coast (Great Ocean Road briefly) and this evening when it mattered most the weather was good. It was windy enough to nearly knock my feet out from under me, but not raining! What's more, during the hail/rain I found the perfect place to hang out.

This morning I was on the road at 7am as planned. I wanted to see a couple things on Great Ocean Road before heading to a cool island about 4hrs away.

Bay of Martyrs

London Bridge

The Twelve Apostles. Don't count 'em.... You can't see all of them because of headlands, but they do exist.

It was not easy, but I forced myself inland to take the fastest route to Phillip Island. I just had to come here to see the Fairy Penguins. They are the smallest of the 17 species of penguins at barely 1ft high. Every day of the year at sunset, hundreds (or more, depending on the season) return to their nests after a day (or days) of fishing. It's called the Penguin Parade and is one of Australia's biggest attractions. Some nights more than 1,000 people come to watch. It rained before and after sunset, but not a drop while all the people were out watching the penguins waddle back home.

 

One more thing about the penguins: earlier today I saw a pic of penguins and a kangaroo. I thought for sure it must be a scam...tonight while we waited for the penguins we saw about 6 kangaroos on the hillside near some of the penguin nests. How cool is this country?!

Cameras are NOT allowed, so I snapped these pics earlier just so you could see them too. The first pic is of a postcard & the second is a 100% chocolate display at the chocolate factory (we'll get to that in a moment).

How often do you run into a sign like this one?!

Although I will stay the night on the island I really don't have much time to explore here. My plan was to bushwalk some coastal paths 'cuz I love to say I'm bushwalking :-). Anyway, rain and hail led me in a different direction.

I'm SO glad! I know some of you have been hoping I'd find a good man during my travels. It finally happened today. His name is David (after Michelangelo's masterpiece) & here's his pic:

By the way: He is made of 100% milk chocolate!

So, at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory you can take a tour, see cool stuff, and make your own candy. I made this piece on one of the machines & a candy bar on another. On the candy machine you can choose the type of chocolate & the filling. One of the options was Vegamite. Uugghh! Speaking of Vegamite, it is available at McDonald's here - in little packets (like a jam packet). I have no idea how people use it at McDonald's, but apparently they do.

Two of the fun things to see on the tour:

 

The Chocolate Bar

Chocolate Ice Scream

Another early start in the morning, so I better wrap up. Hope all is well at your end. I will be in touch again soon. Thanks for stopping by!

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The Great Ocean Road

Hey Everybody!

I head out this morning for The Great Ocean Road. It's about a 5hr drive from start to finish. The guides tell you to give it two days. I didn't listen because what's the big deal about a 5hr drive, right?

When you come to Melbourne (and you want to!) give this road two days... would be much more doable in one day in the summer, but we don't have 12hrs of light right now, so I didn't see it all (yet). I have a long drive again tomorrow (Sunday), but will aim for the spots I most wanted to see.

I could have started earlier today, but didn't really believe it was necessary so I stayed in bed an extra hour. I was wrong! I could have skipped the Surf World Museum in Torquay, but that would have been a mistake. I highly recommend it; it's cool. It also made me want to try surfing, which I keep not doing....might have to. You know, when I'm back in calm Gulf waters.

One of my favorite things at the museum was this art exhibit in the Board Room. I hope you can read this.

Torquay Beach looks something like this....waves were okay today, not great. There were almost as many stand-up paddle boards as surf boards along the way.

Because you expect it....here's the Split Point Lightstation (1891).

Some views from The Great Ocean Road:

Again, because you expect it :-) This is one of the rainforest waterfalls, Erskine Falls. It's part of Great Otway National Park. I did not have the time to explore this like I wanted to. Nor am I doing it justice with the pic.

Remember flipping through glossy magazines and finding the perfume pages? Remember how the scent was gone after a few sniffs? This place reminded me of that only the scent seemed to be new around each bend. It's a combination of home (CA) because of the Eucalyptus trees, but with all these other fresh scents. It was hard to leave the rainforest, even though I was at the beach!

Nevertheless, I had enough time to find this cute little guy!!!

That's right....a wild Koala! As soon as I got back in the car Rob Thomas started singing, "Little Wonders." How fitting! I saw saw a handful of them, including one walking down the shoulder of Great Ocean Road. I hope he made it! One was hit just a few days ago and was taken to the Brisbane sanctuary for care.

The other animal I was watching for -thanks to a tip from a woman at the surf museum - was a colorful member of the parrot family.

Tonight was my longest night driving experience....on the switchbacks of the Great Ocean Road. There IS a lot of wildlife at night....kangaroos on the shoulder for a bite to eat & smaller, nocturnal creatures running around. All is well, but after that first kangaroo chillin' on the roadside and a pair of eyes in some low bushes, I turned on the brights.

Finally, since I know you want to know :-)

I have not gone to the wrong side of the car once (yet). And I haven't made any more mistakes with the blinkers. All in all, the left side of the road driving is easy....which doesn't quite explain how I might have gone the wrong way for about 30 seconds tonight coming out of KFC. But I'm pretty sure that I did. Luckily the opposing traffic was turning and the cop at KFC didn't see it.

By the way: KFC in Iceland is still the best chicken, but the Australia KFC has better fries.

That's all for now. I really do have to start early in the morning, so I better get my plan together and get to bed. As always, thanks for stopping by! More soon.....

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The Outback...part 2

Here we go....more from the national park. The second full day I spent at Uluru. I drove out about 6:30am to see sunrise and start the 10.6km base walk. There is a climb here, but the traditional owners (an Aboriginal tribe) consider this rock sacred and ask visitors not to climb. The climb is tempting - the view from the top must be amazing, but I wanted to abide by their wishes. I can report two facts: (1) more people climb than complete the base walk - at least it sure looks that way & (2) there is at least one death each year due to the climbing. It's not uncommon for the death to occur hours later (cardiac). The other thing I can report is that by the time this walk was finished I was beat. There was about a 50* temp change during the walk, not much shade, and even though it is almost entirely flat...it becomes a hard walk. I can't even imagine doing it in the summer. The park closes trails sometimes because of the temps.

A couple more views of Uluru:

Morning

Evening

The only way to see the caves (family dwellings, camps, "schools" - where men taught boys to hunt) & aboriginal cave art is to walk. There are shorter trails, but I had to do the base walk. This is from a cave that families lived in for many generations.

If you look closely you can see a snake's head. It is said that the snake is lying here over the cave and kept watch on the children so they didn't swim in the waterhole (that would scare off the wildlife) or run off from camp.

I LOVED The Outback. But it is quite isolated....would be a very different life out there. If I'd had a car with unlimited kilometers I would have spent an afternoon just driving. FYI: the care hire companies do not support night driving & if a driver hits an animal at night the damage isn't covered by any level of the extra insurance coverage. But...it was a miracle that I got a car at all so not complaining about the mileage. There were none available for weeks & I don't know how I lucked into this one, but I am so grateful for it! I was also lucky that it was automatic. It really should have been manual - most the cars are. I was so happy to luck into a car that I didn't even ask about the transmission. My right hand would have taught my left hand to shift in the airport parking lot if necessary!

 

I guess I better start thinking about tomorrow's plan and getting some sleep... without the snoring duo. Yay!! I hope to have wifi again soon. Thanks for stopping by!

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The Australian Outback

Hey Everybody!

Now that I have (a) landed in Melbourne, (b) successfully driven all around the city center at traffic hour on a Friday evening, and (c) checked into an actual hotel for the first time since arriving in Australia.....it seemed like a good time to write about my days in the Northern Territory. Don't believe me... :-) Here I am: hat, jacket, backpack, camera, and all.... bushwalking near Kata-Tjuta (The Olgas). The Olgas are the less famous (but possibly more beautiful) rock formation at the national park.

First of all, The Outback it is unbelievably large...I saw only a small part & then was lucky to be able to see a few hundred kilometers of it during the flights in and out. Secondly, it is stunning!

Yes, it's desert. Yes, it's dry - 12inches of rain per year on average. The sand is SO much harder to walk in than at the beach because it has no moisture to hold it together. Yes, it was cold before sunrise (approx 30F) and gets hot (up to 130F in summertime); so glad it's winter here! Out temps were probably not over 80*. This place is full of life and the colors change throughout the day. It's very cool!

So, on 7/31 I flew to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to spend 3 nights in The Outback. In Sydney a few people told me 2 days was enough; I wish I'd had one more night. But it's ok...I met a very cool expat when I was checking in tonight. Before he went to his room to do paperwork he gave me lots of good ideas for the rest of my trip. So did the man on the flight today. And the woman at the car hire counter at Ayers airport...and.... People here seem very happy to share tips with visitors.

This was my first glimpse of Uluru.

Even from a distance I'd swear I could see or feel this rock breathing. Unfortunately, the Ayers Rock resort (the ONLY place to stay) has a real noise pollution issue (in my opinion) and I found it very difficult to hear the desert sounds until I went bushwalking for hours each of the next two days. But I did get the first true opportunity - under a cloudless sky - to see the Southern Cross for the first time.

Now a little closer:

First close-up of the Outback's red earth while walking around the resort area:

And the first desert flower:

There is animal life here too - lots of birds, very cool lizards (sadly, they hibernate in the winter), and these guys were hanging out in the area too!

The one-humped camel....

And a larger kangaroo. I got to see two kangaroos here, but barely a chance to get a photo. Turns out I was walking with former kangaroo factory workers (yes, really! I thought they were kidding at first) and I'm pretty sure the 'roos sensed their presence!

Another view of The Olgas:

The first full day I went to Kata-Tjuta. The long hike there is called Valley of the Winds. It's long and not always easy - up and down hills like this - but it's the only way to really see the place!

This is how orange the rock turned in the afternoon, out of the sun...even my skin and hat were turning a bit orange.

 

 

That's probably enough pics for one post....more on the way.

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