Monthly Archives: November 2015

 

 

 

 

 

Well, here we are in our last stage of our journey in Australia – Perth and surroundings.  Bill and Moira welcomed us into their home in North Perth and showed us around.  On our first full day Bill showed us the great local coffee shop (no offence Melbourne, but we liked the coffee in WA better), and drove us around to do some errands, and then drove us around their old haunts from when Gary lived here.  Memory lane……….for those that don’t know, Gary lived in Perth between the ages of 6 and 12.He lived in a lot of houses and went to a lot of schools.  Now I can see clearly why he likes the sense of moving and traveling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On day two Gary and I walked into the city, approximately 1 hour’s walk away and explored a bit.  Gary got his second haircut of the trip, and then we had a yummy lunch in an old post office (telegraph) building and then walked back to Bill and Moira’s.  We really enjoyed Perth – it’s much more low key than most of the other cities we’ve been in but with lots of great little coffee shops and restaurants and a nice vibe.  A nice waterfront, and Kings Park has lovely views into the city and out to the water.  Actually, we both enjoyed WA more than the east coast.  The east coast was too touristy for us, or maybe it was the wonderful hospitality from Bill and Moira for the 2 weeks we crashed out at their place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill and Moira were kind enough (and trusting) to lend us their 4-wheel drive and so we drove south to Pemberton where Gary climbed a REALLY big tree (not me – he wasn’t going to take me out of my comfort zone this time!).  We stayed at a fabulous cottage with the forest right at our doorstep, where the only sounds were of the multitude of birds, the wind, and kangaroos thumping their tails – really, you can hear them.  We had one of the kangas visiting right outside our front door – shy and friendly at the same time.  There were bunny rabbits too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed southwest to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin (most southwesterly point in Australia), where the Southern Ocean (the Antarctic Ocean as North Americans know it) and the Indian Ocean meet.  Reminded me of Cape Reinga in New Zealand’s most northerly point, where the Tasmin and the Pacific met – anyone remember that?  Cape Leeuwin was really fantastic and we loved the lighthouse which we took the tour of and went up with a guide – BEAUTIFUL!  A highlight for sure.  And hardly any tourists; just like we like it (selfish, I know).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on to Margaret River – some of you will recognize the name from the wines you may drink.  We visited Jewel Cave that was the most recently discovered cave in the area, in the 1950’s.  That was really cool (lots of photos below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our drive back to Perth we drove on Caves Road which is a beautiful tree-lined road where most of the area vineyards are, and we stopped off at the Yallingup Cheese shop where Janni a former colleague of Gary’s from The Big Carrot in Toronto now works at making cheese.  She had no idea we were traveling and definitely didn’t expect us in Australia, let alone in her cheese shop, so it was all quite exciting.  We had a nice little visit, and we tasted a number of cheeses and decided on three – a curd (which was a beautiful cream-style cheese with a slight tartness to it); a lovely camembert; and another creamy cheese called St. Julian – oh so devine!   Thank you Janni for our “friends and family” discount – those cheeses in Toronto would have cost us a small fortunate.

Then further up the road there were the most spectacular beaches we’ve seen in a while.  We stopped off at Sugarloaf Rock at Naturaliste National Park.  We then stopped off at the “other” lighthouse – Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.  Then on to Bunkers Bay.  The weather was perfect, the water pristine, so we decided to go for a swim (the water was calling).  And then…………we stuck our feet in and that was a SHOCK!  It felt like we were at the Atlantic instead of the Indian ocean.  Gary, who usually would be the one to march on, wouldn’t go in with the water that cold, but the water kept calling me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then returned to Perth with our cheese and a multitude of wine to share with Bill and Moria, for a couple more days and then on to Bali, Indonesia – that’s if we can fly in; the volcano has decided to act up again.  We may have to fly elsewhere or just stay put until it’s clear.

So after 4 domestic Australian flights, plus one flight in and one flight out (OZ is big like Canada), and 6 weeks later, we’ll see you somewhere soon.

We didn’t actually see any real Tasmanian Devils – this one was in a museum, stuffed, but we thought he looked less vicious than the photos we’ve seen.

 

Loved Tassie!  Six days was nowhere near what we should have spent here.  Reminded us of New Zealand and Canada’s east coast. Very laid back, great local food and wine – just about every restaurant we visited did the local thing.

Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 162,000 convicts were transported to the various  Australian Penal Colonies (Tasmania was one of them), by the British government.  Many of the convicts didn’t commit major crimes, sometimes just stealing a loaf of bread, or other necessities, and of course others did commit murder, etc.  Many of the towns were built by the convicts and now they are historic towns with beautiful stone buildings.  We stopped off in Richmond as well as Ross, and the most prominent and quite impressive, Port Arthur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We flew into Hobart on November 12, stayed one night in this beautiful city.  Unfortunately for us we couldn’t see Mt. Wellington that day for the clouds but we saw it at the end of the trip from various perspectives.  Hobart is situated in such a beautiful setting and apparently it has the second deepest port in the world, next to Rio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a night in Swansea which is just northeast of Hobart on the eastern coast, had lunch along the way at the beautiful Frogmore Vineyards.  We had a lovely view from our hotel (cottage) room overlooking the bay and mountains of Freycinet National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we drove to Launceston, another lovely city with great architecture, in the Tamar Valley wine region.  Spent 2 days/nights here to relax a bit in the Clarion City Park Historic Hotel, and although you can’t see the detail in the third photo, there was stained glass all around the top; enjoyed another amazing winery lunch at Josef Chomy Vineyards (wineries have been our best lunches – always local food, cooked to perfection), and the wine was pretty darn good too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the highlights in Launceston was the gorge right in the city.  It was so beautiful.  We hiked in, very easy, flat hike, but stunning views, and then we hiked up to a look out – not so easy but really beautiful.  Then ‘we’ took me out of my comfort zone again by crossing the gorge in a chair lift.  I thought it would be fine, and if you didn’t know me you would have thought that all was well, but Gary knew better.  You’ll notice in the photo that I’m all smiles but personally I think the smile looked a bit phony (scared!).  I have to admit that it was beautiful.  I don’t mind heights if I’m completely enclosed and prefer that my feet aren’t dangling in space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were trying to make it further to the west coast where the real mountains are but we realized that we had already been driving for far longer than we wanted to so we headed back down to Hobart to spend our last two days.  We couldn’t get accommodation right in town so opted for another historic property about 10-15 minutes from Hobart city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hobart has a wonderful art gallery, MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), on an absolutely spectacular setting, with a wonderful view.  The exhibits were also very interesting and I couldn’t help but include some photos here.  The ‘rain’ exhibit at first looks like there is a stream of water falling, but on closer look you realize that only each word is raining – really remarkable.  There was even a vineyard on the property and a trampoline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as mentioned previously, the main convict/prison attraction was Port Arthur village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flew into Perth on November 18.  Talk soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We marked our 2 months’ travel while in Melbourne.  Hard to believe.  The last time I traveled this long I was 18 backpacking in Europe for 2 1/2 months.  LONG time ago!  And although traveling lighter this time, not backpacking.  Our one experience at a Backpackers’ Hotel was enough.  So to mark our 2 months away, we assumed that the fireworks outside our hotel room the first night were for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed Melbourne.  We spent 5 days and could have spent a few more – so many restaurants, so little time.  And although it’s a large city, approximately 4.4 million people, it had a smaller city feel to it.  Lots and lots of small neighbourhoods.  We couldn’t believe the number of restaurants and cafes, in all shapes and sizes, that Melbourne accommodates.  We had some of our best meals here.  Thank you to Christine, Christian and Kiera for showing us around and extending the Aussie hospitality our way.  They introduced us to two of their favourite restaurants (and now our favourite too!).  Christine is the sister of a friend of ours, Ric Glowienka, from Canada.  Thanks Ric for connecting us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city has so many laneways, some of them are just what most of us think of as laneways, i.e. a place to deliver goods or take a piss in (not that we would ever do that), and others are graffitti lanes – really amazing – and then others are packed with cafes, restaurants, etc.  You could walk around forever in these lanes, never mind all of the other sights around the city.  The city also had wonderful shopping arcades.  The most lovely one was The Block Arcade with beautiful floor tiling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those AC/DC fans out there, there was even an AC/DC laneway (after all they are Australian).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some time in the city’s Southbank and the district of St. Kilda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of Melbourne’s great architecture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city’s wildlife (not in a zoo):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop:  Tasmania

Please excuse the spacing of some of the wording and some of the photos; WordPress can be a bit of a pain.

The outback from the airplane:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we visited I could understand why most Australians don’t visit Uluru/Ayres Rock, sacred rock of all rocks (I’m sure there are many such rocks in the world, but it just sounded good) – it’s damn far away from everything and damn expensive to get to.  Hell, it’s even known as ‘The Centre of the Centre’; it’s right smack in the middle of Australia.  But since visiting, I now think everyone should visit if possible.  I’m not sure any words I put into this blog will do it justice and either will the photos (as good as Gary is at taking them), but I’m going to try anyway.  It was one of the most spectacular things we’ve done.  It was also a very emotional experience for me, and more so since we left the area.  I’ve been thinking about how aboriginal people and people native to a country get treated, and not just in Australia but something really affected me here.  I’m not ready to attempt to express this yet, but possibly in a later post.

Although neither of us like organized tours, we decided to book through an agent and it was a good way to go for sure; it was just taking us too long to piece all of the bits together.   The tour comprised of 3 days and 2 nights in luxury (not really) permanent tents, guided hikes, meals, etc.  We arrived in Alice Springs and spent a night in a Backpackers accommodation on our first night there and then again one night at the end of our 3 day tour.  The drives were long – anywhere from 4- 6 hours each day in the outback.  The temperature was well over 30C (our 3rd day was 39C).  Hikes were from 1.5 to 4 hours long.  And although the focal point was Uluru/Ayres Rock, the other visitation points were equal highlights.  Hard to believe most people probably haven’t heard of the other places:  Kata-Tjuta, Kings Canyon.

The Outback

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve included lots of photos and if I haven’t labelled them just assume that it’s the same rock/mountain/area as the previously labelled photo.  Here’s how it went:

Day 1

Arrived in Alice Springs and checked into our luxurious Haven Backpackers Resort (the name is so deceiving); had a quick bite in Alice (as the locals call it) since most everything was closed by the time we ventured out.  Later we had dinner in Alice at the best restaurant, for Alice that is (one of only 2).  After all this is the outback.

Day 2 (official day 1 of the tour)

Woke up at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for our pick up, and drove for approximately 6 hours (with stops along the way) to our camp, had lunch and drove to Kata-Tjuta also know at The Olgas which are in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park http://www.australia.com/en-us/places/red-centre/kata-tjuta.html.  They are certainly overshadowed by Uluru but quite spectacular.  Then back to our luxurious camp (not really, I would have preferred a real room) with our permanent tent, relaxed a little then a 20 minute drive to Uluru for our sunset viewing and a glass or two or three of bubbly, and then off to bed.

Our camps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The landscape was quite incredible in itself.   Although the colours pretty much stayed the same, the terrain and textures were constantly changing.  We also loved the smell of eucalyptus in the air when the wind blew through the trees.

 

Day 3 (official day 2 of the tour)

On the bus by 5:15 (no ifs, ands or buts) and off we went to our sunrise viewing of Uluru.  Another amazing moment.  I should add at this point that Uluru is a very sacred place for the aboriginals from this area, and as a matter of fact there are sections that we were not allowed to photograph.  We spent about 4 hours here in the morning, walked around the entire rock (appx. 10 km) and even had a very passionate and political aboriginal guide by the name of Vincent walk us around a certain sacred area and tell us the ‘story of creation’, and how their children are educated (loved it!).   When I asked Vincent about the comparison of the struggle and challenges with the Canadian native people and Australia’s aboriginal people, he thought that Canada had made huge communication headway in comparison, and that at least we had open dialogue.  That says a whole lot.

Flies, flies, everywhere flies.  They were quite distracting and annoying and I wish they had handed out head netting as part of the tour.  They hand out snorkles, masks and fins when you go on a snorkelling trip, so why not head nets.  Many of the people had brought them so obviously more up on things then we were.  They were small flies but with a constant buzz around the ears, nose, mouth; you can imagine there was little talking going on at first.  I did get one in my mouth but was able to spit it out before going down my throat.  We’ve included a couple of pictures with flies in them (but they didn’t tell the true story).  There could be 20 in and around your face at one time.  And we figured out that they seemed to like black and at times there would be at least 100 on someone’s back or knapsack.  And the buzzing, oh my, enough to drive you to pull out your hair.  On a positive note, they didn’t bite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 (official day 3 of the tour)

Another early rise and on the bus at 5:30 a.m. to get us to Kings Canyon.  I’m not going to say anything except that it was fabulous – I’ll let you see it for yourselves.  We did the 6 km canyon rim walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on that note, see you in Melbourne.

The Aussies use short forms and acronyms for just about everything.

After leaving Bill at the Brisbane airport we flew to Cairns, picked up a car and drove to Port Douglas about an hour north of Cairns.  This is GBR (Great Barrier Reef) country and of course you have to go snorkelling.  So I just have to tell everyone that I’m not an avid snorkeller at all and would prefer not to, but we are in snorkelling territory.  And although Gary acknowledges my unwarranted fear (after all I am the better swimmer of the two of us), he also thinks I should go, regardless.  So off we went to the ‘baby’ reef – the Low Isles as they’re known, instead of the Outer Reef (for the big people who don’t have melt downs like me).  Anyway………..we only did a short morning instead of the all-day excursion, and part of that time was taken up in the glass bottom boat (children and elderly people, oh yeah, and Gary and I) and then the beach and on came the fins and the goggles and snorkel.  And that’s when I felt the melt down coming.  But I got over that and Gary gently coaxed me into the water.  I’m sure it didn’t look very graceful in the backward walk into the water and continuously falling due to my fins getting caught in the sand, but eventually it all came together and the coral was really amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos look like I’m having a great time – smile for the camera!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although Port Douglas was a quaint town (or at least it probably was a few years ago), it was very touristy (everything is about the tours and packages, and they all cost a fair bit).  I think everyone, except for maybe the restaurant/tour company industry (and even many of them were on work visas) was a tourist there.   Besides snorkelling there is the rain forests and gorges.  We drove to Mossman Gorge in Daintree National Park and had a lovely, easy 2.5 km hike, and then drove to Cape Tribulation (don’t you just love the name) – that took almost 2 hours to get there.  It’s probably only 30 minutes worth of kms but the winding roads and speed bumps and ‘watch for cassowaries’ signs and the ferry that crosses the river……….but it was all worth it.

I love this sign entering the beach at Port Douglas.  It sure made me want to swim, NOT! (double click for a larger look)  At least there was a bottle of vinegar in case you got stung by a jelly fish, although if I remember correctly, someone in one of my classes once said that you can urinate on the sting (same idea – ammonia, I guess).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to try a little taste of local Australian food – I don’t actually think the Aussies eat it – Crocodile croquettes (croc croqs) and Kangaroo steak, and I can tell you why they haven’t become world renowned – a bit boring.   And I know this isn’t Australian, but we both tried snails for the first time.  I’ll try most things once but I usually encourage Gary to get it as his meal so that I’m not stuck with it if I don’t like it.  Snails, probably like crocodile and roo meat, are really all about the sauce.

After 4 days in Port Douglas we headed back south to Cairns where we spent 3 days.  We both liked Cairns although quite a bit bigger than Port Douglas but it had local people in the city as well as tourists and some art galleries and restaurants that weren’t just surviving because of the tourist industry (locals ate there too!).

If you’ve been following us on our travels you’ll know that we like botanic gardens, so we couldn’t resist visiting the one in Cairns.  And we also love markets and the one in Cairns was a bit more interesting then some because of it’s Asian influence, and it was also quite bohemian as it seemed to also cater to the backpackers.  There must have been at least 5 local varieties of mangos – YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and did I mention the bats here?  Huge!  Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo that would show their size, but they had at least 2 feet wing spans.  They flew around in a colony in the evening right in the middle of town.  YIKES!

Stay tuned for our next post – we’ve booked a 2-day/3-night tour to Uluru (Ayres Rock) on November 3.  Flying to Alice Springs from Cairns and then flying from Alice Springs to Melbourne.