Category: Down-under

Our flight from Cairns arrived at the Sydney Airport on Friday the 24th around 1:00 pm and after we rented our car we headed north to Gosford on the Gold Coast.  This was a chance to spend a brief time in this area while getting a start on our next destination, the Hunter Valley wine region where we arrived on Saturday morning.

Our first winery visit was to Adina Vineyard.  Nice wine
but better olives!  We bought a jar for our picnic lunch
and enjoyed leftovers for several days.

We were actually back to this Winery for dinner
and happy to get in.  It was an important holiday
in Australia and NZ – 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.Then on to more vineyards…McLeish had nice wines and was very
proud of their Scottish roots.

Then back in the car and more pastoral scenes.

Lindenman’s is a big winery, that admitted that
their best wines don’t make it to the US market. Then on to Tulloch.We had our picnic lunch at First Creek Winery,
but we were not the only visitors…

More Kangaroos Video – 1
More Kangaroos Video – 2
More Kangaroos Video – 3
More Kangaroos Video – 4

We then drove to the Bimbadgen Winery

We spent Saturday Night at the Kurri Motor Inn at
Kurri Kurri (no relation to Curry with that spelling)
and drove on to the Mudgee Area on Sunday morning.
Our first visit in this area was to a very small but
interesting and well represented farm and winery
called Short Sheep.
These are Facebook pics of our
hostess and the farm/vineyard. Then nearby was the Pieter Van Gent Winery
Despite my first impression, the cat
did not handle the wine tasting nor
wine sales. Lowe’s is perhaps the largest winery
in the area.

The head wine maker was handling
the tastings on Sunday afternoon.
He worked for a while in California and
makes perhaps Australia’s best (and
not quite only) Zinfandel wines. He
won this award (below) in London
and called his buddies in Sonoma to let
them know, ignoring the time changes. We found the Mudgee Brewing Company
and enjoyed some craft beer and a snack.

Then we crossed the street to the Lawson Park
Hotel.  This establishment was recommended by
Simon (Dr. Simon Pedder – my old CEO at Chelsea
for anyone who doesn’t know him).  He was a
patron some years ago when the hotel still had
rooms to rent.  Today you can still get good local
wines and a big steak to grill yourself.

Monday morning we drove to Sydney.We returned the car to Avis (so no more
driving on the left for at least 6 weeks!) and
found our accommodations, the apartment
of a friend of a friend on Darling Point, with
nice view of the harbour.

Monday we took the train into the city
to see the sights and explore Sydney.  

They have quite a nice Opera house here,
which photographed from every angle
and from various parts of the city.

And they have a bridge. The shot below
was taken as we walked to the train station.As I lined up the shot above I thought I
recognized this bridge from somewhere
closer to home.
On the bridge:
Lots of birds, although we took no pictures
of the ubiquitous sea gulls.  These birds
were hustling for sugar where we got coffee.

And these guys are busy all over town.

We had lunch at a Belgium Beer Restaurant
located in an very old (for Sydney) building.Other shots from around the city: Above is taken from the Sydney bridge, looking
east.  The building in the middle is where we
stayed at Darling Point. Below is now a pass under the approach to the
bridge but originally it was a cut through “the
rock” to easy transportation between eastern and
western areas of the town.  The solution to doing this
back in the 19th century was convict labour.  Such
servitude was banned before they finished, slowing
the pace and increasing costs considerably! 

The next several shots were taken at
the Queen Victoria Building (see link)

City hall  Wednesday the 29th was our last full day down under. We
got in to town in time to get some dim sum in China Town
and to walked around a bit in the area before heading over
to The Australian National Maritime Museum where we
spent the remainder of the day.

Outside the museum were a couple ships to tour: a
destroyer – HMAS Vampire and a submarine – HMAS Onslow The crew facilities on both were perhaps the most
fascinating.  Above and below are crew berths on the sub.  Above, galley space on sub.  Below is berth for
officers or petty officers (was not clear)

Below is the captain’s quarters, just off the command
centre with the periscopes and sonar stations.

Below is the officer rec area. They played
Battleship? Really?

Now used for tourist entry and exit, this
opening was used for loading torpedoes. Also in the museum, the ~38′ sailboat that a Sydney
woman sailed around the world, becoming the first
woman to circumnavigate alone.
If you can see it, note the extent of the fore and main sails
compared to the ~18′ length of this sailboat.  Don’t know
how it doesn’t get rolled with that amount of sail.A sailboat made of beer can.  What can one say about
those folks isolated up north in Darwin? The ships bell from a US ship, named after an Aussie
ship sunk in WW2 fighting with US Navy

Near the end of our touring we encountered this
deep-see diver and Hornblower-era sea captain.

And in the harbour, a cruise ship
had arrived during the day.
 Our fight left Sydney around 1:00 pm on Thursday, April
30 and arrives in Dallas about 1:30. Dan and Shelly
picked us up at CLT and we were home by about 11:00 pm.

On Sunday we flew into Cairns (pronounced “Cans”), arriving about 6:30 pm.  It’s a bit startling to fly from the Outback into Cairns, with its humidity, palm trees and general greenery.  Like Florida, the state of Queensland is the closest state to the tropics along the more populated east coast.

Although much smaller than Miami, Cairns is a tourist town and rather pleasant for being small.  Near where we are staying it’s nearly wall to wall restaurants, many quite good.

North Queensland is a lush and fertile peninsula pointing north and separating the Afafura Sea to the west and the Coral Sea to the east with the Torres Strait to the north separating it from Papua New Guinea. South of this peninsula, Queensland extends into the outback to the west with the eastern coastal areas continuing down to Brisbane. 

On Monday April 20 we headed north to the Daintree River to explore the river up stream into what is essentially a rain forest and down stream into the tidal portion of the river.

Our guide grew up on or near this farm 
(below) and assured us they would only 
lose “a few” calves each year to the crocs.In the winter one expects to see crocs of up to
three-quarters of a ton basking in the sun but the
big guys were still in the relatively warm autumn
water and out of sight to tourists. We saw this
four year old that apparently can rip your arm off
but she would not have been good for more than
a couple pairs of shoes. Still it was a different geography with interesting
birds and plants including the mangrove
root systems in the tidal area, as well as a
tree snake or two.

The trip up and around the area passed
through thousands of acres of sugar cane.
Somewhere I had read about Caribbean
plantation workers enjoying the cane right
from the field so with all deference for Dr.
Atkins we had to try a little.
The cane is fibrous but the fibers not so tough
as to be difficult to bite through. Chewing will
free up the sweet juice but you have to spit out
the fibers once you’ve had enough. That didn’t
take long. The juice is certainly sweet but
somewhat watery, requiring boiling no doubt
to concentrate the sugars.

Driving back we took a few shots of the coast
despite the overcast.

You should be able to see the floating
breakwater arms above.  These support
nets that keep out the box jellyfish, one of
many Australian surprises that can kill quickly. 

We had a very nice seafood dinner in Palm
Cove, north of Cairns, including a local favorite,
“mud crab”. The cost of a mud crab in no way
reflects its humble name but it was quite
tasty, especially its lobster-like claws.

 On Tuesday we were at the wharf before 7:00 to catch “Rum Runners” overnight dive trip out to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The trip out was quite rough but the two of us were
among the minority who retained their breakfast.
Short video – Rough Seas

  Captain James Cook explored the region in 1770. The
reefs in the area where we did our dives were
so difficult that this incredibly competent explorer
ran aground there, forcing him ashore near
Cairns to make significant repairs.Above you can see breakers, miles from shore.
Below you can see where columns of coral (more
greenish in the blue of the water) rise to
within a few feet of the surface at low tide.In other places, the coral extends to
the surface, as below.

Below are a couple stock pics from the
dive group’s Facebook page. Fall is not the best time for water clarity so we did not have the legendary 200’ visibility on these dives but the coral, coral structures and fish lived up to the billing. Jan saw a little shark and I saw the biggest moray eel I have ever seen, with a head of perhaps 7 or 8” in diameter, centered by some very awesome teeth.

This pic Facebook link

Heading back to Cairns

As we arrived back in Cairns  we noted
a large cruise boat at the wharf.  It
was also visible from our hotel room.Short video of cruise boat

Big gamblers that we are, we won
laundry change at the slots at the
casino that night, although we probably
lost that much in paper money after.

Thursday we were back in the car for a tour of the “Atherton Tablelands”, east and southeast of Cairns. To get to this area we drove up through the switchbacks to a plateau at an altitude of 2000’+. If the coastal area reminds us of Florida, the tablelands are more like California with an incredible array of farm products including mango, avocado, coffee, sugar cane, corn, peanuts, macadamia nuts, bananas and other fruits as well as beef and dairy cattle. There are also beautiful vistas with the higher areas looking down on green and fertile valleys and there is some interesting geological scenery.

ClimbingMango trees? We weren’t quite sure.

The Mount Hypipamee Crater was created by volcanic
gas as explained in more detail below.  It is located
south-east of Herberton on the Tablelands and is
61 metres in diameter and 82 metres deep.Hiking in the same park…

Video – Falls-1
Video – Falls-2
Video – Falls-3

 And more Tableland vistas…

Early Friday we were in flight to Sydney to explore
some of the surrounding areas (mostly wine producing
areas) before settling back to Sydney for a couple
days there, and then catching our flight home. 

 

 

 

 





We landed in Melbourne late Friday afternoon and drove to our hotel in the city. Saturday and Sunday morning did not give us enough time in this capital city for the State of Victoria, which is a very happening city of 4+ million.  Melbourne reminded us of Toronto (although it’s been a long time since we walked around in downtown Toronto on a Saturday evening). Of course it was a bit of a rest-up and do-laundry stop as well so not the stuff of excitement, but we had a good stay nonetheless.

We had two nights in Melbourne
at Hotel Charsfield

Our mini-tour of Melbourne started with
a tram ride around the City-CentreFrom the tram:  State Government

And a long way from Lake Lure…

Then we walked, ate, walked, ate and walked.

Below was another reminder of home…

“Cookie” is a Thai restaurant, and purveyor of
some very good Victoria-made beers.

Beer geeks: Click to enlarge below; the
“Wolf” was incredible.

 And the food was excellent as well.

Melbourne’s China Town reminded us of Kowloon:

A friend of Ted VandeWoude recommended
Bar Lourinha, another winner:

The Melbourne Train Station at night as we
passed on our walk back to the hotel:

Sunday morning we walked the Botanic Gardens…

Janet looks at needle of a different
sort on this Bunya Pine

Fern Garden

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                     The Great Ocean Road

On Sunday afternoon we headed south from
Melbourne to explore the Great Ocean Road.

Didn’t take long to find surfers.  

When looking through a camera lens one can be
surprised by a wave that approaches
further than others. No dryer required.

We stopped by the Split Point Lighthouse at
Aireys Inlet, built 1890.

Kind of funky house next to lighthouse

At our Sunday night destination, the Motel Marengo,
we were caught up in a Parrot Convention…

Meanwhile, it seems that back home our dog Sasha is 
getting plenty of attention.  We wanted to crop Dan out
of this and focus on Sasha’s new friends but decided to
leave him in, even if he looks a little jealous.

On Monday we continued on the Great Ocean Road.  We
had breakfast at Apollo Bay and went across the street
for our morning walk.

After a fairly short drive we found Johanna
Beach.  Had to stop for Johanna.

Great Ocean Waves – Video

Then the main event as far as the Great Ocean
Road is concerned – The Twelve Apostles…

Short Twelve Apostles Video

Not far past the Apostles we pulled off for a different
view and found a little apostle of our own…

More driving and then we stopped when we saw a
sign for “the Arch”. What could that be?

Waves Eating Rock at the Arch

And off the Ocean Road but more scenery:

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Barossa Wine Region
Tuesday was largely a driving day as we headed north from the coast up into the Barossa wine region.

While the land awaits winter rains, it is much greener than the stereotype image of Australia based on the Outback.  Throughout this day’s drive we saw vast and mostly beautiful farms.  Certainly we will always associate Barossa Valley wine with lamb from now on!

As of Monday night we have been in the State of South Australia. Like Newfoundland, time is off by a half hour, for whatever that comparison is worth. Even before getting to Barossa, through much of this region one sees grape vines. The grapes have been harvested now with the leaves turning to reflect fall colors.

There are miles and miles of vines at some places
Before reaching our hotel in Nuriootpa we stopped
near Angaston at the Yalumba Vineyards, just on the 
dividing point between Eden Valley and Barossa.

After Jan drove the rest of the way to
the hotel, Nick took a nap. 

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The Vine Inn in Nuriootpa was reasonably nice and
had a great view out the back

Wednesday was busy.  When visiting Yalumba Vineyard
on Tuesday afternoon they mentioned that they were
holding their festival the next day so we started
Wednesday morning by returning to their vineyard.

Above, playing Music at Festival

Below, playing at Festival

Honestly, Jan made me do it!
I hadn’t even had a glass yet.
Janet hanging out with a dummy.
(I heard that!)

Above, Janet with tea.  The bricks were hard and 
sun warm so we invited ourselves to join a local
couple with a table and an umbrella…

…and stayed for lunch.

Below, Janet with ripe limes…

We then went to another winery that is an old 
favorite.  Some of you might remember the case of 
2005 Shotfire Ridge we had in the cellar several  
years ago, from this Thorn-Clark vineyard.

Their marketing folks liked the day and the setting 
so much they were doing some photography of their own.

At 1:30 we were back for a third time to Yalumba
Vineyard, this time for a Cooperage demonstration.  We
got carried away a bit with video here but anyone
interested can watch below.  We have a couple more
that were too long for this blog site that are quite
interesting for any fans of this ancient brewing/winery
art so let me know if you want to see the rest.

Some Short Cooperage Videos:
First Hoop
After Steaming and Bending
Drying & Charing
The End – 1
The End – 2
The End

We also stopped at a little cheese-making shop  
and got some very nice sour-washed-goat-brie for our  
lunch on the next day’s drive. A little philosophy for you;
click on photo to read:

Then off to another good winery – Whistler.  The
wines were fine but not sold in the US.  We really
went there for the wildlife:

…and a few videos for the grandkids:
Roo-1   /   Roo-2

There is another, longer video (too long for the site)
with more about the barking dog.  Dumb dog kept
bringing Janet little sticks to throw.  OK, I guess
maybe we are missing Sasha.

We did not intentionally neglect our brewing brethren……but unfortunately the tasting room at
Barossa Valley Brewery was closed.

You may have heard of Penfold’s, which
we passed on the way back from the brewery.

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Thursday we started north into the
Outback, camera in hand…

One of many “road trains”

Video – Road Train in Passing

Salt lakes, left from an ancient inland sea…

We had started early in order to arrive at our
day’s destination by about 3:30.  After all,
there was a birthday to celebrate.
The destination was Coober Pedy,
truly a unique town…

Our museum tour started in what can only
be called an under ground cinema.

Below is an example of early miners’ below–ground
dwellings.  Opals were discovered here in early
1915 but little mining took place until soldiers
returned from duty at the front.  With dreadful
flies and 45c summer heat, they returned to
living below ground, as they had in the war,
with the temperature always at 22-24c.

Here is the 1960’s version…

Vent hole…

Down in the mine itself…

All about finding that seam full of opal…

The museum, like every place in the town,
does sell opals and had been recommended
on Trip Advisor, so Janet did wear opals at 
her birthday dinner.  Then it was off to our 
“motel”, a real hole in the ground…

Above, the entry hall,
below, our room.
Without the limitations set by exterior walls,
if you need a bit more room for the shower,
you just take it.

Not surprisingly, if someone wants to build
 an addition to their home, they select the location
carefully.  While there is no mining allowed 
within the town limits nowadays, there’s no law 
against drilling out the addition along a promising 
seam.  Opals have been found by such “accidents”.

Leaving Coober Pedy on Friday morning

Opal Mining as we headed north:

And on the road again, heading to 
Ayers Rock or Uluru to the Aborigines 

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We had eight hours on the road Friday but 
late in the
afternoon we arrived at the 
town/resort/natural
phenomenon of Ayers Rock, 
or as more commonly
referred to now, Uluru.
 This name reflects the
ancient importance of
 the site to the Aborigine
community for whom 
it is considered sacred.

We found the resort/town and eventually 
some
dinner, including kangaroo, emu
 and crocodile.
It was grill-your-own so away we went.

Back at the hotel, is this a truck or a bus?
(Click to see better)

Saturday morning we did a walk of a couple
kilometers along the base of the rock in the
area considered most interesting, or at least
most accessible to tourists.
There is a long tradition of climbing the rock
and you can see people carefully making their way
down in several of these pictures.  The administrators
discourage this and will probably prohibit it within
a few years.  No problem for us as it looked very steep
and people fall and die every year doing the climb

There are many caves and crevices, a number
of which are considered sacred.  Visitors are 
encouraged to stay on the marked trails in order
to avoid snakes, plant damage and cultural faux pas.

On some sections of the trail we are asked not to 

take pictures because of the cultural sensitivities. 

 One of the caves marks the spot where
an ancient massacre is said to have occurred.  
This is the “Man Cave” and the victims 
supposedly still dwell there and can be seen in 
the stone shapes on the wall of the cave.
(Click on above for the story)
Then there is the teaching cave where the
walls were used as a sort of blackboard.

Later on Saturday we went out to Kata Tjuta, about
45 km from Uluru. This is less well know than Uluru
but even though none of the rocks are as
large, we found the formation more interesting.

Damn flies, they’re everywhere






For sunset we were back at Uluru

Sunday morning we did laundry and struggled
with wifi to update the blog.  We checked out of
the hotel about 11:00 and headed to the airport
where their “free wifi” again frustrated efforts
to work on this blog.  WiFi is very consistent here,
consistently difficult!  Still we caught our flight
to Cairns for the next leg of the trip.
Leaving the state of Northern Australia…
…with a final view of Kata Tjuta
and the Outback desert

We are touring New Zealand from our arrival in
Christchurch on April 3 through to April 10.

Welcome to Christchurch!

Christchurch is dominated by the destruction from a series of earthquakes starting in late 2010 and continuing into 2012. The worse quake came in February 2011 but aftershocks were so severe and frequent that demolition and reconstruction could not begin until 2013. The city-center was virtually shut down for over two years until there was consensus that it was safe to return.  Above is “Cathedral Square”.

Not everything was destroyed however!

The sheep remain – it’s New Zealand

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Saturday was our first full day in NZ and had us on the train
across the “Southern Alps” from Christchurch to Greymouth,
then driving for a couple hours, down to the “Glacier Country”

 Jan at breakfast as we prepare for the
Trans-Alpine train across the Southern Alps.

Into Greymouth, lunch at the pub and then pick up the
rental car for the drive south to the Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers

Tasman Sea behind

Franz Josef

We got an extra hour Saturday night as daylight
savings time came to an end.  Seems like it
just started a few weeks ago!

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Easter Sunday was a busy day.  The morning’s activities started with
an 80 minute hike to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier:

Then we drove 30 minutes south to get a
closer view of the Fox Glacier

Mt. Cook, to the right, is NZ’s highest peak

That afternoon we had a 5+ hour drive to Queenstown.  Some of the best views are not included because our photography doesn’t do it justice.  Around every corner were views that made you reach for the camera.  Not that even this would do it justice but you can watch The Lord of the Rings again and get a sense for it.

…watching porpoises play in the Tasman Sea

Lake Wanaka
(Many/most place names sound  Hawaiian.
The native Maori people are Polynesian)

…and there are sheep

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Monday, April 6 was a relatively quiet day with stuff like laundry, walking around the town center, shopping for almonds and other snacks for Tuesday’s drive, etc.  We did get a nice cask conditioned pale ale at lunch, drawn with a hand pump and served at the right temperature so that was kind of nice.  Also there was the Thunder Jet boat ride. 

See Atlas Beer Cafe

Ride the Thunder Jet Boat

Jan with a kiwi
Fall colours emerging in the background

Views from Queensland town-center

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A Walk in the Park
Tuesday Morning

Then we found the ice rink…

“Southern” as in southern end of the South Island

2005/06 NZ Ice Hockey League Champs

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Tuesday & Wednesday Trip to Milford Sound

The drive out to the sound (really a fiord) was probably
as spectacular as the cruise.  Around every curve… yea,
you heard this before.

Upon arrival we waited for our boat, the Milford Mariner, to board.

Milford was a popular name for the boats…

And the cruise was nice…

Seals – The Video

For Tuesday evening’s activities we did kayaking

Tea?

On our way back to Queenstown we stopped at “The Chasm”

Video

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Gondola Ride and Views

Back in Queenstown on Wednesday the 8th we took a gondola to the top of a mountain overlooking the town.

View of gondola cable run from our hotel room (above)

 

Notes on the view and our shot from same perspective

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Thursday and Friday – Back to Christchurch and to the Airport

On our drive we had more early fall foliage…

...and about half way back, at a lake near the east side of Mt.
Cook (see earlier pics) we visited “the worlds highest salmon farm”.
We erred on the side of buying too much sashimi and smoked
salmon, well over a pound, and then proceeded to eat it all.

Back in Christchurch…

…more devastation…

…and rebuilding

For Thursday dinner we wanted something simple.  Our
hotel (right, below) was just next to the tram line and
there was a little area for shops and restaurants in a
covered terminus from where this picture was taken.
Unfortunately nothing looked interesting…

…until the Restaurant Tram pulled up.

Not exactly “simple” but it was very nice.

And here we are on Friday afternoon, working on the blog while
we wait for our flight into Melbourne to start our travels in Oz.

We are off to New Zealand (NZ) and Australia (Oz) for the month of April.  Our flight departed on Fools Day (hopefully not prophetic) at just before 4 pm.  We traveled through Dallas then took the 16 hour Qantas flight to Sydney, followed by a flight across to Christchurch from where we will launch our week long tour of the South Island of NZ.

In Charlotte as the journey begins
 Lounging in the Centurion Lounge – DFW

More wine as we settle in for the 16 hour flight to Sydney

Final flight, looking north on approach to Christchurch