Saturday, February 28, 2015

Day 21 New Zealand's Hamilton and Cambridge and a dip of Serendipity

Our first stop was Hamilton to visit another map store; The Map and Chart Shop. The owner, Murray was very friendly and offered us some advice on mounting maps to wood blocks.

There's a famous Botanical Garden in Hamilton with various sub-gardens. This first one is an English Tudor Garden. It has only been open a month.







The next garden is a Maori Garden patterned after the indigenous people of New Zealand.












Next came our dip of serendipity. On the way from Hamilton to Cambridge we stopped at this little cafe.. I love soft ice cream and I love raspberries. But I never thought I would see a way to combine them. They do that here. They took a big scoop of fresh raspberries and dropped it in the soft serve machine. The result was pure heaven.
That's our little blue rental car in the carpark.





We actually like the town of Cambridge better than Hamilton. Here's their Art Deco clock tower and the restaurant across the street is Nash's where we have just had the best meal of the trip.


Thursday, February 26, 2015

Day 20 The All Day Trip to New Zealand from Northern Australia

For some reason, it never occurred to us (or our travel agent) to fly directly from Cairns to Auckland. It would have added almost a full day to our trip.

We also learned a lesson about international trips.  We know to allow a full 2 hours prior to departure for an international flight. But the Aussies threw us a curveball.  They run you through an exit procedure PRIOR to security. We hadn't anticipated that. In the US, you just leave. Not in Australia. Or any other country we could remember.  It added about 30 minutes to our trip from check-in to the departure gate. We were still on time, but it made us cut it much closer than we usually do.

It all worked out and we got to Auckland on time. Even though it was late, we stopped at the Vodafone booth in the International terminal and bought a SIM card for my phone for New Zealand.

Day 19 Exploring Port Douglas

By now the heat is really getting to me. The A/C in our room at the B&B has stopped working and it was one very hot night.  What makes up for all this is the adventure of being in a new place and getting know the people of Australia. Our B&B hosts, Pam and John Burden are truly fascinating people with a long and storied career in movies, television and newpapers.  Pam worked with a number of A-List stars and John had a number of positions with the NY Times.  When you sit down over drinks and have a long conversation with folks like these you get to understand the country and its psyche at a whole new level. The time we spent with them is the highlight of our trip, at least so far.
All good trips have to come to an end and our visit to Mossman and Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef was no exception.. sort of. Pam let's us know she's driving down to Cairns the same morning to do a radio show. Even after we left we got to hear her on the car radio as we were leaving town.

By the time we got to Cairns, we were ready for some R&R from our R&R. In other words we just wanted some down time.  So we explored the Esplanade and had a great and leisurely lunch.  Then back to our room for the all-day journey from Cairns to Auckland.

Day 18 The Mossman Gorge and Port Douglas

By now, I think we have seen just about every Aussie tropical animal that's willing to show itself in this heat.  It's been 34 to 35 degrees for the last few days. That's 93 to 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity. The kookaburras sounding off first thing in the morning reminded us we were in the warm tropics   It's great for lizards, spiders and crocs but all the other animals are sleeping on the forest floor in this kind of heat.
So we took this shady walk through the Mossman Gorge. Luckily it was a great path and there were lots of nice things to see, like this giant spider and a pretty waterfall.


It seems that cane toads are a real nuisance in this part of Australia. As you can see they race them in the bars and they organize contests for kids to see how many they can catch.






In the afternoon we explored Port Douglas and learned how to interpret parking signs. 2P means you can park there for free for 2 hours. When we asked about it at the local information desk, we were told we could ignore the 2 hour part since it is the low season and no Aussie in there right mind would be visiting here in this heat. Next we had a leisurely lunch at a great restaurant called Salsa. It was beautiful visit. But most shops and eateries we wide open. For some reason, maybe due to the price of electricity, the A/C was shut off.  It made for some very hot eating and shopping.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Day 17 The Daintree Rain Forest and Cape Tribulation


Our entire day was devoted to exploring the Daintree tropical rain forest. We were fortunate to have Nicholas Fox as our guide to the Daintree. We started out with a walkabout in the forest over a 2K boardwalk. Due to the heat, we didn't see as many animals as we'd hoped but I have included some pix for the ones we saw. Can you find the Boyd's Forest Dragon in the picture on the right?  It was cool to see him running upright on his two hind legs.

From there we went to see Cape Tribulation, where the rain forest meets the Coral Sea.

Again we saw signs about the dreaded jellyfish stingers.  Who knew that vinegar to reduce the sting.

We stopped for a great lunch at the Daintree Teahouse and ended the day with a river cruise where we saw this guy sunning himself



Day 16 - Great Barrier Reef

We went on a 60 foot catamaran out to Low Island. It's the third one down on this dock with the gray sail cover.
We got out to the island, which is less than halfway out to the outer reef. And it gave Patrice a chance to get off the boat and out to the island and snorkel in shallower waters. They supplied lycra full body suits to prevent dangerous and painful jellyfish stings.
Meanwhile, on the way back they raised the sails with electric winchs and let me ham-it-up at the wheel.  Believe me, the boat was on electronic auto-pilot  at the time




Day 15 Brisbane to Cairns

The rain finally let up as we made our way to Cairns. We rented a little Toyatoa Corolla there and drove to our B&B in Mossman, just north of Port Douglas. The B&B was a little hard to find. We either missed some info on the directions or they were never given to us. No problem, we called the owner and she literally walked us into her B&B.
It overlooks the Mossman Gorge. Here's the view from the breakfast terrace.




It is really hot here 95 degrees and 80 per cent humidity...

Friday, February 20, 2015

Day 14 Patrice Cuddles a Koala


It's an hour boat ride up a rain swollen river but we finally get to the Lone Pines Koala Reserve..
It's the largest koala sanctuary in the world! There are 130 koalas. I took a selfie with a friendly kangaroo!


Day 13 Wet Day in Brisbane

We knew the weather from the hurricane was going to make it a very rainly day.  The news reports had some people kinda spooked about the weather. Here's a note on one shop's door.
We could either sit and mope at our B&B or get wet and revel in it. We took the latter and focused on inside activities.




So we went to a museum on the third floor of this building, Brisbane's Town Hall and saw an exhibit of clothes from 1940s and 50s movies.

Next we went up in the clock tower which was a lot of fun.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Day 12 Sydney to Brisbane

We left Sydney in the morning and arrived in Brisbane to rain. Little did we know we were just in time to feel the effects of Cyclone (Hurricane) Marcia. She is a Category 5 hurricane about to hit the coast  150 miles north of Brisbane.  Hurricanes in this part of the world stir up in late summer. And just like the US, they tend to turn toward the upper latitudes  when    they hit land. Which in our case is south toward Brisbane.
I will post a picture of our quaint little B&B later today from under an umbrella....
OK, I cheated a little and scraped it off their site. But it does look like this, only not so sunny. It was built in 1880.

More on our rain dodging strategies tomorrow.

Day 11 Last Day in Sydney

Today was the day to wrap up and see the last few places we didn't want to miss before we leave for Brisbane.
We had just one day to take in Paddy's Market (arguably the best prices in Sydney), Darling Harbor, Chinatown and a cabaret-style show in the basement of the Opera House called Club Swizzle.
As we were leaving the Opera House on our last night, they had it lit up in red presumably for the Chinese New Year.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Day 10 The Taronga Zoo

I have to confess I didn't think a visit to another urban zoo made sense. But we heard so much about it, I just had to see it.  What makes this zoo cool is it's location. We have never seen a zoo with such a pretty backdrop. It's located on a hill on the other side of the harbor. You take one of Sydney's efficient speedy fast ferries to get there. Where else can you see giraffes with the skyline as a background.



We talked to an interesting lady with flaming hair on the ferry over to the zoo
. She highly recommended the bird show. It was fantastic, better than any animal show I have seen any where, including Disney. Of course it doesn't hurt to have the Sydney harbor as a backdrop.
And last but not least were the lemurs.  We got a guided tour through their habitat.
After the zoo we checked out Manly beach.
It's about a 15 minute ride on the Fast Ferry. It was not named after the great bodies that inhabit the place. It's named after Robert Manly.









After dinner, we went to the Sydney Opera House. This is our only picture of the inside. As for the performance  of Vivaldi's Four Seasons,  they decided to jazz it up a bit so it was more like Vivaldi meets Yanni.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Day 9 The Blue Mountains

About 60 miles outside of Sydney you'll find the Blue Mountains. It gave us an opportunity to explore some of New South Wales outside of the city.  The Gorge there looks like a green version of the Grand Canyon. As you can see the ridge in the background, it's obvious why they are called the Blue Mountains. One the most striking features there is called the Three Sisters, as shown here.  We had a great tour guide that took us on a cable car across and down into the gorge.  Our wild Aussie guide was full of personality. We went on a hike through the tropical forest and he somehow persuaded  Patrice to grab his hat and mount a brass horse.

At the end of that hike we rode an inclined railway that seemed like a crazy cross between a rail car, a roller coaster and an elevator.  Here's a look down the track at the end of the ride.









From there we went to a petting zoo for Kangaroos and Koala's.  You get a little food in an ice cream cone and they will eat it out of your hand.





At the of the trip you catch a water taxi back to the city center. You get great on-the-water views of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

At the end of the trip you wind up at the rail and taxi terminal about a block from our hotel. About 11 hours of travel and adventure.


Day 8 More of Sydney Harbor and the Botanical Gardens

We explored The Rocks which was originally a barracks for convicts and is now a craft center. We found Hofbrau and had a great German lunch which was relatively inexpensive by Sydney standards.

In the afternoon we explored the Botanical Gardens and the Government House. The latter is home to the Governor of New South Wales; Ausstralia's most populous state.  We were fascinated by the way Australia's state government is organized.




The tour through the Government House is only done on the weekends, presumably because the Governor still lives there.



Nice view from the porch.

Tomorrow is our day long trip into the Blue Mountains. Expect some kangaroo pix!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Day 7 Exploring Sydney Harbor

The Harbor area of Syndey is right outside our doorstep so it made sense to explore that first. You can see the Marriott in the back left of this picture.There is so much to see, we can't take it in on our first day. But here's our best shot. 
The next picture shows the mix of old and new architecture that helps make this area so interesting.  And it's colorful; with things like this outdoor flower shop (lucky to find it because it's Valentine's Day) 


We did a double-take as we walked along the harbor. How often do you see 200 people come running by in their underwear.  Turns out it's a charity run for an organization fighting children's diseases.  Those crazy Aussies.
It's also the Chinese New Year. So to celebrate they set up these Chinese Soldiers (like the famous sTerra Cotta soldiers) with the Opera House in the background. Just like Hawaii, there's no shortage of tourists from the Orient.
There's so much going on in the Harbor itself. It's the busiest body of water I have ever seen, There are ferries to places we haven't explored; jet boats with passengers in raingear; and the odd 3 masted schooner coming under the bridge. It also looks like they moor a different cruise there every day.
We completed our day by walking out to the Opera House itself. Along the way there were great eateries and various performers, like this guy playing his big digereridoo..