on the road again

after our fabulous day enjoying the Great Barrier Reef, we had a day to drive down the coast from airlie beach to gladstone. our drive was enjoyable, although we didn't really drive "down the coast" - it was far enough inland that we didn't see much of the ocean. but we did get to see some banana plantations (farms? orchards?), and a bunch of sugar cane plantations (i'm pretty sure that one's right). definitely sights i don't see much in arizona (or california).

b-a-n-a-n-a-s

sweet sugar cane

we also saw a lot of funny road signs, throughout all of our drives, actually. apparently, driver fatigue is a serious concern in australia, probably because their cities are pretty far apart and there is not a lot of population in between them - no mcdonalds or starbucks to stop for a refresher. so there are a lot of signs that say, "stop, revive, survive" and stuff like that. the best ones were "rest or RIP" and "driver fatigue kills everyday people everyday". some of the signs were accompanied by illustrations of cars crashing (head on, of course), which was a little creepy and a little funny. on one long patch of road, there were road signs that had trivia questions (australia related, of course). they would have the question, and then a minute or two later, the answer. after a few questions there was a sign that said, "keep playing trivia. it could save your life." i got a good laugh about that one! but i didn't get a good picture, because i was driving and sarah-mae was napping. the best sign we saw, by far, was one that just said, "speedo check" -- i can only assume that "speedo" is just short for "speedometer" (aussies shorten everything they can!). still, the idea of a true "speedo check" is hilarious.

they are not messing around

anyways, we had a nice drive to gladstone, where we found the gladstone backpackers (which was not very well marked!), checked in, and got ready to head to Heron Island the next day!

not much of a FantaSea

in planning our australian adventure, i came upon a company called FantaSea, that runs tours to the Great Barrier Reef. they have a giant pontoon called "ReefWorld" that is moored out near one of the coral cays. they have a snorkeling area, a diving area, an underwater viewing spot, and a semi-sub boat that goes out for tours - oh! and a waterslide. needless to say, i was really excited to go there. originally we wanted to stay there overnight (yes, you can do that!), but they weren't available the night that we could stay. so we settled on just visiting for the day.

anyways, i didn't mention this in my previous blog, but i emailed FantaSea two days before to confirm our reservation, and i received an email saying that they were chartered on the day i thought was my reservation, and that they had be scheduled for the following day. of course, i received that email late in our last night in darwin, and we were traveling ALL DAY the next day, with no cell phone reception or internet service. we tried to use a pay phone in one of the towns we drove through, but for some reason, our phone card wouldn't let us call FantaSea. so, we were headed to airlie beach, with no reservation for the next day, and no idea what to do.

so we woke up early to call FantaSea to make SURE they couldn't accomodate us. after complaining to the customer service agent, she offered me a complementary ferry to Hamilton Island, a resort in the Whitsunday Islands, and the main hub for FantaSea tours. but, she said that anything we wanted to do from there (e.g., snorkel, take a boat tour) would cost extra. i hung up with her to discuss our options with sarah-mae.

approximately one minute later, the customer service woman (nikkia) called me back and said that she could accomodate us on a "yellow sub tour" for the day. the "yellow sub tour" included the ferry to Hamilton Island, a jet boat out to small Bali Hai Island, a semi-sub trip, and snorkeling - it sounded great, so i accepted! we got ready for a day on the reef and headed to the bus stop.

the bus took us to the marina, where we checked in for our tour. nikkia gave us our tickets and little FantaSea bags with water and hats. we hopped on the ferry and enjoyed the short ride over to Hamilton Island.

 

on the ferry, in our stylish hats

(we didn't really wear them)

Hamilton Island is a resort island, and we had a bit of time to kill before our "yellow sub tour," so we walked through the shops at the water's edge, and had some lunch. before we knew it, it was time to get on our jet boat and take our tour. the ride out to Bali Hai was incredible - the sun, the wind, the beautiful scenery - it was heaven! we pulled up to the yellow semi-sub and loaded into it for a ride through the reef. we saw a lot of coral and fish, and even a turtle! it felt like i was on a real-life version of the old submarine ride at disneyland - ha ha!

our yellow semi-sub

a pic of the coral from the semi-sub

after our time in the semi-sub, we got to get out of the boat and see the fish a little closer. it was my first time snorkeling in a long time, and i've never been good at snorkeling, so i was a little nervous. sarah was super patient while i got more comfortable under water, and we snorkeled until the tour guides rode by on their lookout boat to let us know that time was up. we were the last ones in the boat! we jetted back to Hamilton Island, and had just enough time to enjoy an ice cream sundae before getting back on the ferry to airlie beach. on the ferry back, we got to see a marvelous sunset!

after taking the bus back to our hostel, we headed into town for dinner. although sarah-mae said she didn't want pizza or pasta, we ended up at mangrove jack's, a woodfire pizza place that her tour book said was the best place in town. dinner was fantastic - i am glad she was willing to go back on her no-pizza decision. yum-o!

darwin drama!

as i mentioned, we were supposed to be at darwin airport at 5:30am. so when i woke up and saw that the clock said 5:45am, i panicked! yes, 15 minutes AFTER we were supposed to be checked in. fortunately, our flight wasn't until 7am, so there was a chance that we would at least be able to get on the flight (hopefully). we wandered down the darwin streets at 6am, trying to hail a cab. after what seemed like an eternity, a cab stopped for us. we explained that we were incredibly late and sat in tense silence until the second we pulled up to the curb.

at that moment, sarah jumped out of the car and ran to the check-in counter while i handed my credit card to the cabbie (what a time not to have cash!). the cabbie, knowing we were late, proceeded to be as slow as a snail to process my card, which he then dropped under his seat... he had to get out of the car and reach under to get it. then, the printer for the receipt was not working properly. it was SO frustrating! meanwhile, sarah came running back out of the terminal, shouting that if we checked our luggage in 20 seconds they would let us on the flight. but i was still waiting to sign for my credit card - argh!

we grabbed our packs and ran back in. we checked in, but sarah had to take an oversize piece of luggage down to the "oversize luggage" counter. she grabbed our boarding passes and took off, while i grabbed our passports and headed to the gate (as a reminder, in australia, you don't have to show a boarding pass or ID to get to the gate, you don't even have to be a passenger... just like "the good ole days" in the US). anyways, i made it to the gate with plenty of time, so i made a quick bathroom break (airplane toilets are the worst!). i came back out and stood by the gate...

i expected sarah to return any second, but it was taking a lot longer than i thought it would. they started boarding our flight, and i hovered around the line, waiting. i didn't have a boarding pass - not that i would have gotten on the plane without her. i waited until the very last person went through, and i was about to explain my situation to the gate attendant, when i saw sarah's head bobbing through the small airport headed to the gate. apparently, she had gotten to the gate while i was in the bathroom, and, not finding me where she thought we would meet, she headed back down to the check-in counter to find me. of course, i wasn't there, and she spent the next 15 minutes running around the darwin airport trying to find me.

we finally boarded the plane, sat down in our seats, and said a prayer of thanks to the Lord, because it was a miracle that we even were on that plane!

after our whirlwind morning, it was a quiet flight to cairns. we picked up our rental car and headed south down the east coast. we didn't get far - we stopped at a market in cairns to have lunch. then, we stopped again about an hour later to put our feet in the south pacific. it was a great side-trek from our drive!

we hopped back on the road, and drove for a long while... but it was nice to see the country. at about 4:15, we heard a loud beeping. it took me a second to realize that it was my alarm clock - i had set it for 4:15PM instead of 4:15AM - d'oh!

we ended our drive at the Backpackers by the Bay in Airlie Beach... more on that tomorrow!

kakadu 2

we woke up the next morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for day two of our kakadu trip. okay, i wasn't bright-eyed or bushy-tailed (have i ever been?), and i was a little extra cranky after waking up just as hot as i was when i fell asleep. (seriously, i hadn't stopped sweating in almost 24 hours!) we got ready for the day, packed up our gear, and had some breakfast with our campmates. apparently, after we headed for bed, but before we fell asleep, sarah and i were laughing (mostly about shane's shorty shorts, if i recall)... i didn't think we were that loud, but our campmates definitely asked us what was so funny, and called us "the giggling wombats"

sarah made me camp!

after breakfast, we piled back into the 4wd for more 4-wheeling fun. i didn't mention it yesterday, but it was really bumpy! but fun! we splashed through some rivers, and kicked up a ton of dirt as we bumped and jostled our way through the national park. it was definitely an outback adventure! this morning our off-roading took us to twin falls, one of kakadu's waterfalls. it used to be that you could swim up the gorge to see the falls, but (as with any other water source in the area) the risk of crocs became too high, and so we took a short boat ride through a beautiful gorge, and then a short walk to see the falls. we didn't get any good pictures of twin falls, but i really like this one i took while on the boat.

we took a few pictures and then headed back to the boat and out to the 4wd. our next stop was jim jim falls. jim jim is an incredible waterfall during the wet season - exploding over the edge of the escarpment and filling up the river below. the falls dry up quickly, though, during the dry season, and so instead of getting to see the falls, we got to head to the pool just below where the falls usually are for a swim. it was a long, hot walk to jim jim falls. the first half of the walk was low-key, but the second half involved lots of rock-walking (i feel like it's not quite bouldering if you're not heading uphill). and when i say "rock-walking" i mean walking over rocks that were the tempature of a hot frying pan. HOT. we were literally baking as we walked to the falls. because the pool is located past shallow water and lots of rocks, there are no crocodiles, so we got to enjoy a dip in the freshwater. sarah and i just rested our legs in, but that was enough to be refreshing and wonderful. did i mention it was hot?

the pool is at the far end of the gorge, where the canyon walls meet

sadly, after our cool off we had to cross the frying pan rocks again, to head out. we stopped back at the campsite for lunch (and another shower - did i mention we had been sweating nonstop?) before heading back to darwin. on the way back, shane blasted a very eclectic mix of music, starting with lady gaga, which according to sarah, he sang and danced along with the entire cd. we also heard a song called "hillbilly shoes" (which i contest would be no shoes at all), music by slim dusty - an australia country western singer, sublime, and a lot of other random stuff. we stopped for a drink and ice cream treat about half-way home, and then piled into the 4wd one last time.

left to right:

shane (shorty shorts not pictured), scotty, burke, sergei,

clare, (me and cheryl are behind sarah's head), and sarah

we arrived back in darwin about 6pm, sweaty (seriously we sweated nonstop for 36 hours!), tired, hungry, and with very jostled butts. we got some dinner, cleaned up and hit the hay extra early. not only were we tired, but we had to be at the airport by 5:30am the next morning, so we definitely wanted to get to sleep! our kakadu dream was really an incredible experience - from the people, to the wildlife, to the scenery, it was all really unbelievable!

kakadu dreams (day 1)

we were picked up bright and early by shane, our kakadu dreams tour guide. we hopped into the 4-wheel-drive vehicle and, after a quick stop at the office, headed out for another adventure. kakadu is australia's largest national park, and has a lot to see and do. although i really did NOT want to camp, the park's location a few hours from darwin does not lend itself to day trips. so, i sucked it up and agreed to do the 2-day camping tour.

our first stop was at a crocodile cruise. before our cruise, shane brought out a giant snake and we had the chance to hold it. sarah held it and i touched it, but really had no interest in wrapping it around my arms - ew! we had some "morning tea" (i.e., toast and tea/coffee), and then boarded our little boat for the crocodile cruise. we sailed out down the river a bit, and when the crocodiles began to swim out to us, one of the guides used a piece of meat on a stick to show us how crocodiles can "jump" out of the water in a moment's notice. one of the crocs missed the meat on his first try, and his jaws made a thunderous noise as they clapped together - i would NOT want to be on the receiving end of that! although sarah got it on video, the file was too large to upload here - you will have to take my word for it. we saw almost a dozen crocs on our cruise, and the tour guide even used the meat to draw some birds of prey to our boat - the birds were whipping around the boat to get a piece of the meat - incredible!

after the croc cruise, we piled back into the 4wd and headed into kakadu national park. it was a bit of a drive, so we used the time to get to know the 5 other people on our tour. there was an older couple (scotty and cheryl) from sydney, sergei, who was in australia for the weekend from singapore, burke, from western australia, and clare, a recently graduated doctor from new zealand. we were a diverse bunch, but all got along well!

our next stop was yellow waters billabong (a watering hole), that was beautiful. here, and everywhere else that had any water whatsoever, there were signs warning about the wildlife dangers...

can you see the picture in the bottom left corner?

let's take a closer look...

after our quick stop at the billabong, we headed to an aboriginal cultural center. just as with uluru, i was fascinated with how the communities functioned and used the land. we also had lunch there, and tried to find some shade to keep cool - seriously it was SO HOT.

next up was a short hike to an incredible lookout point. shane told us about the geological history of the land, and about the aboriginal people who lived here for so long. he was really a great storyteller, and full of fascinating information. the only downside was that he was rocking a pair of seriously short shorts. honestly, his shirt, when untucked, was longer than his shorts! and shane's shorty shorts had a hole in the inseam. i wish i didn't know this information, but he was crouching while telling us all about the park, and it was like watching a terrible train wreck. once i had seen the hole, there was no un-seeing it! i just had to try and focus on the beautiful landscape of kakadu...

do we look hot yet?

we hiked back down the rocks and headed over to nourlangie rock - the site of some great aboriginal rock art. there were paintings of kangaroos, and men and women in ceremonies, but my favorite by far were the hand paintings. it is incredible to think that people so very long ago have left a part of themselves on this rock. those are the hands of real people who lived in this land long, long ago. i love it!



shane (in his shorty-shorts) told us that while it is unacceptable to change someone's drawings in aboriginal culture, it is perfectly acceptable to paint over them. so a lot of the art had multiple levels, to the point where you can't really distinguish what elements go with what story. it seems like an interesting way to approach learning and history to intermingle past and present.

after spending some time appreciating the rock art, we headed over to our campsite to set up before dark. i was not looking forward to camping, but i did enjoy the campfire, even though it was still hot outside (i passed on the kangaroo meat and buffalo sausages), and getting to know our campmates. burke even brought marshmallows to roast over the fire! oddly, it was not unusual to roast marshmallows, but no one knew what a "smore" was! sarah and i also learned that "for reals" is a uniquely american phrase, and in australia, they say "fair dinkum" instead.

i'm not going to say that i enjoyed camping, but there are worse places to fall asleep than stargazing through your tent in australia!

tropical darwin

after rousing ourselves VERY early in the morning, sarah was courageous enough to start our drive (which was uneventful). we arrived at the alice springs airport a bit later than we planned, but actually more than 10 minutes to spare (for once!). we flew to darwin, and were seated next to a wonderful woman who works on building job skills in aboriginal communities. she even recommended that we head to mindel beach for the markets that evening.

after landing in darwin, we gathered our belongings and headed to the yha to check in. after staying at the adelaide yha, we had high expectations for the one in darwin... but it was definitely not as nice. after unloading our stuff, we decided to take a walk to mindel beach and the markets.

darwin is in the far north of the middle of the country, and is definitely a tropical location. it was hot and humid, but i was willing to put up with that because there were plumeria everywhere! my favorite! our walk took us past the botanical gardens, which had a number of plumeria trees, all of them beautiful! we also walked past a team of young cricket players - think "little league" for cricket.

we strolled over to mindel, where the sellers were beginning to set up their wares, and walked out to the beach. this was our chance to put our toes in the indian ocean! although it's the timor sea, sarah assured me that in oceanography, it counts as the indian ocean.

after some beach time, we walked back to the booths and did some shopping. we bought some fun stuff, and returned to the beach in time to watch the sun set. although the view was not perfect because of some low-level clouds on the horizon, it was still very beautiful. we walked back through some more booths and grabbed dinner just in time to see the sky turn bright pink and purple. the sunset had turned the sky into an incredibly beautiful scene - which of course my camera could not really capture.


we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the hostel for a good night's sleep. tomorrow - kakadu national park!

quick interlude

we are back! safe and sound! but since we are soooo far behind, we will keep updating over the next few days...

uluru (formerly known as ayers rock)

we we woke up, checked out of the "motel adjacent casino" (very classy!), and headed to get a taxi to the airport. after our close call in melbourne, we had tried to give extra time to get to the airport, but finding an empty taxi stand put a small dent in our plan. eventually we got a taxi and we arrived at the airport with about 8 minutes to spare (we were getting better!).

once we landed in alice springs, we headed down the stairs and over to the terminal - yes, this was a small airport where we disembarked outside the terminal. we picked up our rental car and headed off on our outback adventure. our plan was to drive the 500km from alice springs to uluru - which takes about 5 hours. this way, we could see a bit of the outback for ourselves.

we grabbed a quick breakfast at a cute cafe in alice springs. the cafe was situated in a small shopping centre, and there were a bunch of art and souvenier stores that we really wanted to visit... but we didn't want to end up driving in the dark, so we had to forego the shopping :( if you ever plan to visit alice springs, save half a day or so to do some shopping!

we hit the road, and found the drive to be as expected: hot, dry, a whole lot of nothing! it was actually quite a bit greener than i thought it would be, and with many more plants, bushes and trees. but the places to stop for gas, food, or toilet breaks, were few and far between - about 100 km apart! and even then, the "stops" were generally a one-stop shop with a small cafe, gas station, and bathrooms outside.

the driving went quite well - we even got to stop for a red kangaroo in the middle of the road - and after a few hours, we saw a large monolithic mountain looming before us - not uluru, but mt conners, australia's only mesa. we stopped at the lookout for a few pictures, but kept heading for our destination. we pulled in just before sunset, but decided to check into our hotel and save the rock for tomorrow.

uluru, formerly known as ayer's rock, is basically a giant rock that towers about 350 meters high, and also runs 6km underground. it is a sight that is sacred to the aboriginal people in central australia, as it contains evidence for a number of their dreamtime, or creation, stories. a few kilometers away from uluru, there is now an "ayers rock resort" which is home to five different accomodation options, ranging from camping to a deluxe resort. we chose to stay at the "outback pioneer lodge," a sort of lower-end accomodation. we settled in and headed to bed early, as we had both sunrise and sunset tours scheduled for the next day.

we woke up before the crack of dawn, to meet our sunrise tour. we booked tours through a compny run by the anangu (pronounced ananu) aboriginal community that has been living around uluru for thousands (and thousands) of years. we loaded onto our mini-bus around 5:45 and headed over to the sunset viewing area. it was cold and rainy, but we braved the wet weather and watched the first rays of sunlight hit the giant monolith. we took about a LOT of pictures!

sunrise at uluru

after the rainy sunrise, we hopped back on the bus and headed over to the cultural center. the center has two education areas, one with some of the dreamtime stories of uluru, and another with general information about the rock, the animals, and the people of uluru. we read some of the dreamtime stories, and then headed over to the cafe for our breakfast overlooking the rock.

after breakfast, it was time for our cultural tour walk, lead by an anangu man. he told us about the story of blue-tongue lizard-man, an anangu dreamtime ancestor who traveled to uluru to make friends, and then betrayed his hosts by eating their emu meat and lying about it. his nest is visible on the side of the rock. after hearing the story, we learned a bit more about "men's business" - hunting food and building weapons. it was really interesting to learn about this culture and heritage of people who have been in australia for tens of thousands of years!

after our tour we decided we wanted to return to the cultural center to learn more about uluru (and to shop!). we even went on our own walk around the base of uluru. we got to see a few of the caverns in the rock, and the art that anangu people have used to tell stories for thousands of years. it was beautiful and poigniant to be able to see such history with my own eyes!

walking the base of uluru (it warmed up in the afternoon)

rock art!

we had to head back to the pioneer lodge to embark on our sunset tour. for the sunset tour, we ended up starting with more time at the cultural center - if we had known, we wouldn't have spent our early afternoon there! then, we went on another anangu walking tour, where we learned the story of the woma python, another dreamtime ancestor. she came to uluru because her nephew had been stabbed, and she took out her vengence on the attacker. she slammed her walking stick onto the snake who had stabbed her nephew; the first time missing, and the second time hitting him square across the face. the evidence of her attack is found on the rock - there are two long scratches in the rock, and the second long mark actually drips red after the rain - all of the other spots drip dark!

the two marks made by woma python's attack - the fatal blow is on the left

it was really interesting to see how the anangu tour guides used drawings to tell their stories. this was a recurring theme - a common way for the anangu to communicate, and it was evident in the drawings throughout uluru. we also learned about "women's business" - gathering bushtucker. we got to see a variety of fruit and seeds that women collected and prepared for food.

after our walk, we headed over to the sunset viewing area. there were already hundreds of tourists lining up to see the rock turn bright red as the sun set. although it had stopped raining as we headed over to the viewing area (with the tour-provided glass of champagne), a giant rainbow appeared over the rock. it was unbelievable! we even saw a guy lead his girlfriend off the main path, under a large tree, and get down on one knee! i can hardly imagine a more beautiful place to get engaged than uluru at sunset, with a rainbow!

although the clouds in the west kept us from seeing the true "uluru sunset" with bright blazing colors, i think the rainbow was worth it!

that night, we decided to take advantage of being in the outback, spent some time looking at the stars in the southern sky. after our eyes adjusted to the dark, we could see SO MANY beautiful stars, and even galaxies, light up the sky! to add to the splendor, several thunderstorms were raging across the horizon. one of them, just to the south of us, had lightning strikes across giant thunderhead clouds. it almost looked like a mushroom cloud being lit up every five seconds or so in bright red and blue colors - incredible!!!


we didn't stay out stargazing too late, as we had to be up bright and early the next morning for our drive back to alice springs airport. more on that tomorrow!

Wine-ward Ho!

After getting back into Adelaide from Kangaroo Island, we made our way to the Adelaide Central YHA for some sleep before getting up early the next morning to head to the Barossa Valley. Kim, our tour guide, picked us up at just before 9:00 a.m. and we set off for a few days of wine tasting shenanigans!

The Barossa Valley is about an hour northeast of Adelaide, so we had some time to chat with Kim and learn about the history of the valley. The Valley was originally farmland until one farmer happened to grow grapes and realized it was a great area for growing them. More farmers started planting grapes to supplement their other produce, and soon the Valley was covered with over 600 vineyards. In Barossa, the grape growers aren't winemakers. The winemakers work with different farmers to harvest grapes for their vintages. The Barossa Valley has the oldest surviving grape vines in the world - a blight that has affected the rest of the world's vineyards has never reached Australia and some of the Barossa vines date back to the 1840s.

Kim took us to a little German bakery to have morning tea. We had a German pastry called Beesting Cake that is almond-flavored custard cream with honey cake topped with roasted almonds and honey. It was so rich and wonderful. It reminded me of burnt almond cake from Dick's Bakery!

After stuffing ourselves on cake, we were off to our first winery - Kellermeister/Trevor Jones. We went in to the tasting room and had a lovely view of the valley while we learned how to taste wine. We started with whites, then reds and then moved onto "fortified wines" also known as port. We did a good job of using the spitoons and not drinking too much :) My favorite wine was Kellermeister's White Tawny port. Kellermeister wines are only sold at the vineyard itself - and no where else in the world. Neither Stacy nor I bought any wine since we figured this was our first go and we had many more to try. (Little did I know the White Tawny would be my favorite of both days!)

Next we were off to Kabminye, a much smaller winery but with more of a homey feel. Our favorite tasting tender was here. He was a nice guy from Brisbane and I had a good chat with him about the city. Stacy and I felt like we were beginning to get our footing. The two of us definitely have different palates!

We ate lunch at Kaesler Vineyards. Stacy had some pasta and I had kangaroo (yum!). Of course we had wine, and a gooey-toffee-date-cake thing for dessert. After lunch we made a quick stop at the Barossa Cheese Shop. Stacy and I were stuffed from our giant lunch but we still sampled some flavorful cheeses made from local cow, sheep and goat milk.

(As an aside, just after our beautiful morning at Trevor Jones the weather got pretty fitful. There were drenching downpours about every 30 minutes and we were very glad we were either in a car or inside.)

Next, we visited Yalumba. One of the wines I drink regulary (the Scribble Gum) is a Yalumba wine, so it was nice to see where it had been made. The tasting tender was a nice and cheerful woman who could have used some Aussie 3-minute miracle. Yalumba also has an old, beat-up taxidermied sun bear that sits in their tasting room and is featured on many of their labels. (It was kind of dodgy looking...)

The last winery of the day was Langmeil. I think I liked a few of their wines but honestly everything was beginning to taste the same. By this point we had probably tasted 40 to 50 different wines and my palate is just not sophisticated enough to distinguish the finer points of a wine when I am slightly intoxicated and tired. The one wine that I know both Stacy and I liked and agreed on was the $100 bottle of Freedom that happened to be open and the tasting tender let us sample (it is not normally a tasting wine). It was amazing and now I know why people spend $100 or more on bottles of wine.

We had visited five wineries and we were ready for some dinner and some sleep. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast called Blickinstahl. Sue, the proprietor, made a dinner reservation for us at the local Tanunda Club and called us a cab (the only cab in town!). We had a good dinner and, being that it was Australian father's day, saw lots of Aussie families enjoying a meal as well. Dinner served to make us even sleepier and we settled in for a long evening's nap.

The next morning, we left Barossa and headed west to the Clare Valley. It was about an hour's drive and Kim continued to regale us with the history of the region, wine making and grape growing information and some of his own personal stories. (Like how he and his wife are planning on taking nine to 12 months to drive from Australia to England - yes, literally drive! It involves a few ferries and about 25,000 kilometers.)

The first winery we stopped at in the Clare Valley was Sevenhill (formerly Sevenhill monastery). This was the first winery in the Valley and it was begun to provide the friars with sacramental wine. It turned out this was such good wine that they started shipping it all over the world (and they still do today). There is only one priest left that has been trained in the wine making tradition and there is no one else to take his place. Wine makers don't want to be priests and priests don't want to be wine makers. They are trying to get another local guy to convert to Catholicism to carry on the tradition, but... Here we got to see some of the actual casks of wine and part of the bottling process. The wines we tasted were quite good and Stacy ended up buying some Semillion that she really liked.

Our next winery was Neagles - a small one right off the main road. We tried several different rieslings here (we tried many rieslings throughout the Clare since it is home to the Riesling Trail :) and were soon on our way to the next stop on our tour - Jim Barry Winery. Jim Barry is home of the Silly Mid On - a wine named after a cricket position where the player stands between the bowler and the batsman and often gets knocked out by the ball. It is a strategic but dangerous position.

After a quick lunch we visited Jeanneret, a lovely small winery at the end of a long winding road through the eucalyptus forest. The wines here were very different than the others we had tried over our previous two days. Its winemaker has no formal vintner training so he makes wine the way he thinks it should taste. It was different but very good. We finished our day in the Clare Valley at Paulett Winery on Polish Hill. It had a lovely view of the valley and some nice rieslings too.


Two days, two valleys, ten wineries, one hundred vintages and two tired girls. We loved our tour but were happy to be alcohol free for a while.

kangaroo, part 2

after visiting the Australian Sealions, we had time for a quick stop at a local art gallery and coffee shop. it was a renovated shearing shed that now houses beautfiul local art, some ecletic knick-knacks, and delicious drinks that really helped warm us up after a cold and rainy morning.

we continued on our tour and headed to a gorgeous park filled with eucaluptus trees. the rain continued to pour on us, so we headed to a covered table area, where Keith and Robin set up our lunch. the meal was wonderful, and included a great seafood platter (for sarah), a couple of different types of salads, wine, and bread rolls that were hard as rocks. everything was excellent, and i think sarah even enjoyed her rock-bread.
 

cheers!

during lunch, we heard a loud crack - it definitelty got our attention! a giant eucalyptus had fallen over and blocked the walkway entrance! fortunately, it was not near our car (or anyone else's). after we finished our lunch (and wine), we continued on to Admiral's Arch, a rock formation where New Zealand Fur Seals come to relax. We knew we were in trouble when we got out of the car and had to fight the wind to walk down to the wooden boardwalk that leads down the seacliff and around to the arch. from the boardwalk, you could see two isles, just off the coast - and the incredibly rocky and raging ocean. it was unlike anything i've ever seen! we put our heads down and kept walking down to the arch. fortunately, it's position behind and slightly underneath a large portion of the seacliff gave us a bit of respite from the wind. it was beautiful to see the rock formation, and we also saw at least two dozen fur seals sleeping on the rocks. we took a few pictures and enjoyed the view. on our way back up the boardwalk, we stopped to take a few photos of the isles, and that's when sarah spotted an albatross! she has been on the lookout for one for a while, and was incredibly excited to see one in the wild. it was hard to believe it could glide so easily in the stormy winds!

from admiral's arch, we headed to remarkable rocks, a group of oddly shaped granite boulders perched atop a sea cliff. The rocks were an amazing sight - remarkable indeed! i didn't get a good picture of them from afar, but they were all different shapes, some round, some with jagged edges, one was triangular... incredible! it was also incredible that we didn't get blown off of the rocks by the wind! we had to speedwalk from one rock to the next, using the large boulders to block the raging wind. it added a bit of adventure to our experience!

VERY WINDY at remarkable rocks

next, we headed to a koala walk to see some wildlife. and indeed, we did see some koalas in the trees! and we saw wallabies, my new favorite animal! they are adorable (see below for evidence!). we also saw a bunch of wild kangaroos, feeding on the grass there. because it is a well-visited site, we were able to get fairly close to the kangaroos to see and photograph them. it was fantastic! there were three kangaroos in a corner of the field, and as we walked over to them, a magpie swooped down from a nearby tree to tell us that he (or she?) was not interested in us trespassing on his (her?) nesting area. we waited a minute, and then continued forward, keeping an eye out for the magpie. robin was the most assertive in approaching the kangaroos, and she was particularly interested in one kangaroo with a joey. just as she was distracted by the adorable sight, the magpie swooped down again - and before we could warn her, the magpie cracked Robin on the head and flew back into its tree! it was one of the funniest things i have ever seen. Robin was alright - and even asked if we had gotten that on video (we hadn't). we kept a much closer eye on the magpie after that!

wallabies!

kangaroo (and joey)

after our koala walk and robin's magpie attack, it was time for afternoon tea. we stopped at a caravan camping spot, whic h was empty (likely because of the poor weather), and took a short walk to a great view of the kangaroo island coast. it was still windy and cold (although no longer raining), so we kept the view time short. we returned to the camping spot and enjoyed an afternoon tea of wine, cheese, fruit, and some of the lunch leftovers. yum-o!


sadly, after tea, it was time to head back to the ferry. we had an incredibly, slightly wet, and very windy day. we had seen so many animals, although one had eluded us: the echidna. these porcupine-looking creatures are a notoriously rare sight, as they are few and like to burrow into the ground as soon as they sense danger. but they are seen occasionally. i had given up hope of spotting one after our pre-tea walk, especially because it began to get dark as we drove to the ferry. BUT, sure enough, during our drive, we all saw the echidna as it darted across the road in front of our car! if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes, i wouldn't have believed it!

we had a ton of new memories and experiences to talk about on the ferry and bus back to adelaide... we had an unbelievable time on kangaroo island and i wish we had more time to explore all of its sights, adventures, and animals!

Sweet Adelaide

We were up early the next morning to return the rental car and get to the airport for our flight to Adelaide. The rental car place opened at 8:00 a.m. and we needed to be at the airport (20 minutes away) no later than 8:30 a.m. to check-in for our flight. Thank heaven we made it with three minutes to spare. (Both Stacy and I decided to never ever cut it that close again!)
After a short flight we landed in Adelaide - in the middle of quite the rain storm. We found a ride to the bus station (where we would later catch a coach to Cape Jervis) and stowed our giant bags in a locker (it was like a real life game of Tetris).

In spite of the rain we wanted to see what we could of Adelaide so we donned our wet weatehr gear and set out. Our walk took us past one of the reasons why I love Australia... just kidding I don't... just kidding I do... just kidding I don't...

We found a great little cafe in Victoria Square for breakfast and while we ate we watched the weather outside grow continually worse.

We didn't have much time in Adelaide and with the weather deteriorating we decided to stick to one stop and that was the South Australian Museum. We had about five blocks to walk down one street and three blocks over another. I think we made it one block before we had to take cover in a doorway to let the torrential downpour pass. We made it another block or two before having to stop again. Then three blocks to the end of the street. Only three blocks to go!

We made it about two blocks up before having to duck away, then half a block more. Finally we decided to just make a run for it since the sheets of rain weren't letting up. When Stacy and I arrived at the museum, we were soaked to our shins and our rain jackets were completely saturated! Hooray for coat checks! We peeled out of our wet jackets and went to explore the museum.

There were many amazing Aboriginal artifacts and art pieces. It is incredible how advanced the cultures here were before the Europeans arrived. They learned how to live within the means of the environment and how to read the seasons and changes in climate cycles. Europeans imposed their system on the continent and many of them died trying to make Australia something it is not.

After only a few short hours at the SA Museum we had to return to the bus station to board our transportation to Cape Jervis and the ferry to Kangaroo Island. The bus ride wasn't bad it just took about two hours. The countryside was beautiful and unexpectedly green. It continued to rain our entire trip down and when we got off the bus to get onto the ferry it was in a high gale!

We made it across the straight and onto Kangaroo Island! It was POURING rain and we had to find our tour operator who was taking us to our hotel. Keith (the tour operator) was in the passenger bay with a sign saying Ms. Sarah-Mae Nelson and Ms. Stacy Hawkins. First time I ever had someone holding a sign with my name like that!

We dropped of our things at our hotel which was only a block from the ferry. The room was incredible! We could have stayed there for weeks but we had to run to dinner and our nocturnal little penguin tour.

Dinner was amazing! We had fried halumi and zucchini fritters for an appetizer. I had lamb chops and Stacy had fried gnocchi for main with a chocolate pear torte from dessert (which they delivered to our room because we had to run to our penguin tour!).

We met Simone at the Penneshaw Penguin Centre at 8:30 p.m. for our tour of the little penguin nests. The adults are at sea searching for food all day and come home at night to feed their chicks. Not a whole lot more I need to say except that we saw three week old baby chicks! The pictures speak for themselves.

We got back to the hotel around 10:30 p.m. and crashed.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and took in the ocean view from our window. Keith (the tour operator) and Robin (who he says was learning to be a tour guide but Stacy and I both thought was also his girl) picked us up at 9:00 a.m.

We set out for the hour-long drive that would take us to Seal Bay to see the Australian sea lions. Along the way Keith told us all sorts of interesting things about Kangaroo Island and how it came to be settled. At one point we passed the American River (which is not a river at all but a tidal inlet) and learned that the beach used to be called American Beach but after 9/11 they changed the name because they were afraid of terrorist attacks (yikes!).

It had been raining in the morning when we started the tour but it slackened as we drove. We got to Seal Bay with stormy skies but no rain falling. Keith said we could give it a go if we wished and Stacy and I are pretty much up for anything so we went. It was super windy but no wet.

There are only about 1,000 Australian sea lions left on Kangaroo Island. Their numbers have been declining over the last decades as the New Zealand fur seal populations grow. No one knows exactly why. We got to see females and males and a pup! The beach was beautiful and wild. On our way back we had to stop in the path and wait out a young male sea lion who decided the path was his.

That is also when the weather started to get more interesting ;)

Pacific Coast Highway, Australian Edition: The Great Ocean Road

Yesterday, Sarah-Mae found a coupon for a brekky restaurant called “Pancake Parlor,” which I continued to call Pancake Palace. Since Australia has no natural maple trees, it does not have any natural maple syrup either. The result is that Aussies put a number of different toppings on their pancakes in substitution for maple syrup. One common topping is vanilla ice cream! How could we pass up a chance to eat pancakes and ice cream!?!?

After a delicious breakfast, we headed up to the car rental agency. We were scheduled to spend the day driving the Great Ocean Road. After picking up our car, we settled into our seats, with me on the wrong side as the driver, and Sarah as the chief navigator. With Sarah’s help, I managed to get out of the city center and onto the motorway, without driving on the wrong side of the road, or hitting any one or thing! Driving on the left side of the road was not as difficult as I thought it might be, but being on the wrong side of the car was the real challenge. It’s much harder to keep the car appropriately spaced in the lanes when you are on the wrong side! And, the blinker and windshield wiper levers are reversed. So everytime I went to change lanes or make a turn, I flipped the wipers on. It was actually pretty funny.

The Great Ocean Road is a ways out of Melbourne, so we didn’t actually see the ocean for a while. But, once we made it to Torquay, we were officially on the GOR! We stopped at the Information Center, and got some advice from the woman working there. She mentioned that just the other day she saw a whale off the coast of Wye River, and that if we stopped at Kennet River, we might see koalas in the trees. Armed with a few new maps and suggestions from the Information worker, we headed out! Almost as soon as we could see the ocean, we stopped to take pictures. The view was beautiful, and of course, reminded me of California… except instead of Hawaii being somewhere off in the distance, Antarctica was out there!

view from the Great Ocean Road

As soon as the road curved close to the beach (and there was a turnout in which to park our car), we pulled over to dip our toes in the Southern Ocean. It was cold, as expected… it is practically Antarctica! We enjoyed some time on the beach and “enjoying” the water, then hopped back in the car to continue down the road. I didn’t have too hard a time remembering to stay on the correct side of the road, but I guess foreign drivers cause a lot of problems on the GOR, because there were a number of signs gently reminding people that, in Australia, cars belong on the left.

After a while of driving, we took a quick break at Wye River to grab a snack. We kept a close eye on the water while we ate our sandwiches, but unlike the woman at the Torquay information center, we didn’t see any whales. So, we got back in the car and kept driving. BUT, we were just a few minutes down the road when Sarah shouted, “I see a whale!” For our good fortune, there was a quick pull-over spot on the side of the road just a few meters past, and I quickly parked the car. She pointed out the spot where she had seen the pouf of whale blown water and we watched for a few seconds. The whale popped it’s giant head out of the water and looked around for a few seconds before sinking back into the water!!! I could not believe it!

After waiting a few more minutes to see if it would make another appearance, we celebrated our whale sighting and continued down the road. We pulled off of the road in Kennet River, where the Torquay information center woman had told us there might be koalas. But, we didn’t really see any, and we couldn’t identify any visible eucalyptus trees in which the koalas might have been sitting. We decided to just keep driving and keep an eye out for possible koala zones. We only got about five minutes down the road when we saw two cars and a number of people pulled on the sides of the road. There were two koalas in the trees hanging over the road!

After taking about a million pictures (and nearly falling into the middle of the road – a story I will have to tell in person), we continued our journey down the GOR. We stopped again to put our feet in the Southern Ocean, and enjoy the beach.

It was a long drive, but eventually we made it to the 12 apostles – one of the primary highlights of the GOR. The 12 apostles were (and some still are) a set of sandstone pillars just off the Australian coast; although there were once 12, they have dwindled down to fewer as the pillars have collapsed over time. Regardless, they were a beautiful sight. It was freezing cold and rainy while we walked out to the viewpoints, but as we were taking pictures, the rain cleared, the sun shone (if only for a few minutes), and we even spotted a rainbow down the coast. It was incredibly beautiful!

After fully enjoying the beauty of the apostles, we headed back to Melbourne. It was a long day of driving, but we had an unbelievable day: seeing the Southern Ocean, a whale, wild koalas, the beautiful coast… I felt truly blessed!

Melbourne, it's pronounced "mel-bun"

After an amazing day at the Taronga Zoo, we made our way back to the Australian Hotel to pick up our bags and get some dinner. Stacy had a Caesar salad and I had beef sausages with garlic and thyme, mashed potatoes and gravy. It was a hearty Aussie meal and very delicious!

After eating we trudged down the hill with our heavy packs to the Circular Quay City Rail Station to catch a train to the Central Sydney Station to catch our train to Melbourne. Upon arriving at the train station we learned that it was only a train for eight of the ten hours of the trip – there was work being done on the rails and they would have to wake us up at 4:30 a.m. to transfer us to coaches to take us the rest of the way. Stacy and I tried to sleep on the train but it was not comfortable. The coaches were much better and we got some sleep then.

We arrived in Melbourne at about 8:00 a.m. Melbourne Southern Cross Train Station has a fantastic facility called Traveller’s Aid. It is a small set of rooms that you can rent for $5 an hour.

We took an hour to rest, change our clothes and reorganize for the day then we stored our packs and set off to explore Melbourne.

First things first, we needed some breakfast! We found a little café on one of Melbourne’s many small side streets. We had tasty omelets and some excellent coffee. After breakfast we made our way to the Melbourne Aquarium.

The Aquarium is small and many of the exhibits are aging but the animals are well cared for and the staff was wonderful. The main attraction is the new Antarctic exhibit that features king and gentoo penguins. The exhibit is home to 12 king penguins and about 30 gentoo penguins. They are working to breed the gentoos and have done a great job training both the gentoos and the kings when it comes to feeding time.

I had a chance to talk with one of the keepers after the feeding presentation. All the keepers at Australian zoos and aquariums are also the presenters for the feeding shows and such. The get on the job training to care for the animals and learn animal husbandry as well as training on how to present to the public. The idea is that the keepers know the most about the animals and are the best people to answer questions about them. (Fantastic idea! I think we should incorporate this more in the states! I miss presenting with Husbandry staff!)

After the Aquarium, Stacy and I headed off to the Immigration Museum. It was interesting to read about the colonization of Australia (specifically Victoria). For most of its history, Australia has active recruited immigrants (although some of the selection practices were more exclusive than inclusive). Only in the last decade has there been an effort to slow immigration to Australia.

Once done at the museum, we walked around town to Federation Square, Birrarung Marr park and generally around the central business district (CBD which is like downtown). We stopped by a family run opal shop and learned all about how opals are mined and made into jewelry. Most important lesson – solid black opals are more expensive than diamonds and since I want some I need to find a rich man to buy them for me :)

After much walking around, we collected our packs and headed to our accommodation at Victoria Hall. Thank heaven there was a tram to take us there because my knee was so swollen I could not have walked up the hill with my 40-pound pack!

We checked in to our room and headed out for dinner. We had some delicious gnocchi at La Spaghetteria on Lygon St. just north of our hotel. By this point, Stacy and I were asleep on our feet and so grateful to get back to our room and relax. We watched some odd Australian television then crashed for the night.

Tomorrow we are renting a car and heading out to the Great Ocean Road. I am excited to put my feet in the Southern Ocean and to see some amazing vistas. This will be the furthest south we are traveling and really we will be practically in Antarctica ;)

Taronga Zoo (and more)

Good morning Sydney! It was wonderful to sleep in a bit this morning and get going at our own pace. We had a few items on our agenda, but no specific timetable until our 8:40pm train to Melbourne. After checking out of our B&B (and leaving our heavy bags), we headed out to the Harbor Bridge Pylon lookout, a spot just under the bridge that offers great views of the harbor – and it did not disappoint!

We strolled around the harbor, enjoying the gorgeous weather – the sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean. We walked around to Circular Quay and boarded the ferry to the Taronga Zoo, Sydney’s zoo about 10 minutes down the harbor. As we rode up to the dock, you could hardly tell that there was a zoo amongst the trees and plantlife! Although it’s positioning on the hill meant a lot of uphill walking, the animals were a great distraction! Maybe Sarah should have written this entry… she’s definitely more into animals than I am! Here is the science-free lay-person’s account of our trip to Taronga:

There were a wide variety of animals, and we did not make it a priority to see them all… instead, we focused on the Australia-specific animals, and two of the presentations that seemed interesting. Two of the highlights for me were the mountain goats (I love watching them jump down and around the rocks!), and the tiny baby elephants – so adorable!!!

We made time to see the “Birds of Prey” presentation, and the view from the amphitheater alone was worth the trip to Taronga! It was incredible!!!

 
The bird show had some interesting birds, it was neat to see them fly around, but the best part was when they had one bird swooping through the audience. I was committed to getting an “extreme close up” picture, but I think I waited a second too long to duck – it was a close call!
 

After the bird show, we spent quite a bit of time in the exhibits of Australian animals – they are amazing! I got to see a platypus (it is so small!), a Tasmanian devil, an echidna, and a super cute and chubby wombat! The best part, by far, was the interactive section, which wasn’t a petting zoo, but did allow visitors to walk through an open area with an emu, wallabies, kangaroos, some birds, and other creatures. It was incredible to be face to beak with an emu (and a little scary!). One of the wallabies had a baby joey, and we got to see it peak out of its little pouch. It might have been one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Sarah began to chat with the zookeeper (Cristal, my new best friend) who was wandering around the interactive zone, and after a few minutes, Cristal invited us to come pet one of the sunbathing kangaroos!!! She fed the kangaroo a little treat while Sarah and I pet the gorgeous animal. It was so incredibly soft! I wanted to cuddle right up to it, but I don’t think that would have been a good idea ;)

We ended up spending a bit longer at Taronga than we had anticipated, but the unexpected benefit of that was a sunset ferry ride back to the harbor. Watching the sun set behind the harbor was the best way to say goodbye to Sydney, and a perfect ending to our time there!