AUSTRALIA #8 -Farewell!

Our last two days in Sydney. We were up bright and early for our outing to Featherdale Wildlife Park, the Blue Mountains and to Leura Village for lunch. Since we had already been to Kangaroo Island and saw an abundance of animals in their natural environment, we scoffed at the thought of seeing animals in a “zoo-like” environment. It was fabulous.

Kangaroos and wallabies were bouncing around the park and koalas were smiling for pictures from their perch in a eucalyptus tree. In one area you could actually feed and pet the kangaroos and wallabies. When they had “had it” with tourists, they bounced off to a roped off area where no tourists were permitted. We even saw a wallaby with a joey in her pouch, sticking its head out to check out his new surroundings. So cute!!!

We walked through the park, amazed at the abundance of animals and the interesting and well-kept areas in which they were housed. I finally saw a tasmanian devil…strange looking with a disproportionate head and prominent jaw and teeth.

I also saw an albino kangaroo for the first time. I didn’t even know they existed. And I finally saw a Glossy Black Cockatoo (we looked in Kangaroo Island but never did find one in the wild.) It was an amazing morning and none of us wanted to leave the park. If you’re planning an outing outside Sydney, Featherdale Wildlife Park is a must. If you’re an animal person plan for at least two to three hours, you won’t be disappointed.

Next on our agenda were the Blue Mountains and the famous “Three Sisters” rock formation. The Tree Sisters is one of several well-known natural attractions, a unique sandstone rock formation towering above the Jamison Valley at Echo Point. The name of the formation is from an Aboriginal legend about three sisters who fell in love with three brothers from another tribe, whom they were not allowed to marry. This caused a tribal battle. To make the story short, in order to protect the three sisters they were turned into stone by a witchdoctor. It was supposed to be a temporary spell, but the witchdoctor died and no one could reverse the spell. I love these romantic tales.

The Blue Mountain region is absolutely beautiful with many hiking trails, waterfalls and amazing rock formations. While most tourists come out to see the Three Sisters rock formation, there are lots of places to visit if you have the time and enjoy the great outdoors. On our way back to Sydney we stopped for a late lunch in Leura, a small village with quaint shops and a really nice restaurant, the Bon Ton.

Sunday, our last day in Sydney. Carolyn Groves and I walked down to the Rocks, near the base of the Harbour Bridge, to an artisan outdoor market that stretched on for blocks.

Several members of the group visited the Sydney Aquarium and spent the afternoon in Darling Harbour. And then there was Dave and Lisa Lunzer and Sabina and Alan Duke, who had reservations to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 11:00 that morning.

I’m glad to report that all went well and they had a great time on the climb. They reported in at 10:30, changed into the grey climbing suit and met with the other eight brave souls for an orientation meeting and a class on Bridge Climbing 101!!! According to the climbers, the view was magnificent, the climb down a bit scary, and the exaltation and realization that they actually climbed 440 feet above Sydney Harbour, priceless. Check out their smiling faces--they really enjoyed the climb. If you are planning a trip to Sydney the cost of the climb is $125 (AUS) per person and reservations are a must.
We met for cocktails at 6:00 that evening at the Shangri-La lounge to share our days’ adventures and then to the Summit Restaurant for our farewell dinner. The restaurant was delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed the revolving 360-degree view of the city skyline. According to Lisa and Sabina, it was a lot easier seeing the view from the restaurant and taking the elevator up 47 floors than it was climbing the bridge that morning!!!

Usually after a three-week trip I’m ready to head home. I wasn’t ready to leave Australia. The trip was wonderful from the rainforests and reefs of Cairns to the bright lights and excitement of Sydney. For nature lovers to city slickers, Australia has something for everyone.

AUSTRALIA #7 - Sydney, the Heartbeat of Australia

We flew into Sydney in the late afternoon. I had mixed emotions. I didn’t want to leave Tasmania, yet I was excited to get to Sydney. It also meant our trip was coming to an end.
We stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel in the historic Rocks area overlooking Sydney Harbor and the Sydney Opera House. The view from our room was spectacular.Once settled in the hotel we walked down the hill to Circular Quay, a lively area with parks, boutiques and restaurants and a great place to people watch. It is also the transportation hub for ferries and trains coming into the city and is quite near the Opera House.

The following morning we were off early for a tour of the city. Our first stop--the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of Australia's most well known and photographed landmarks. It is the world's largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 440 feet above the harbour. The bridge opened for traffic in March, 1932. Four people in the group had reservations to climb the bridge the following Sunday. It was interesting to see their reaction as our guide talked about the bridge and the height over the water.Our next stop was Darling Harbour, a large recreational and pedestrian area near Chinatown in downtown Sydney. On my first trip to Sydney in 1999 we stayed in the Darling Harbour area and it was fun with all the restaurants and tourist attractions close by. Since 1999 the area has doubled in size. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, a venue for the 2000 Summer Olympic, contributed to the area’s popularity along with several other major facilities including the Sydney Aquarium, the Australian National Maritime Museum and the Imax Theater, among others.The last stop on our morning tour was Bondi Beach, well known among surfers worldwide. It became a household name during the 2000 Summer Olympics as the venue for volleyball. It has a beautiful white sandy beach and lots of cafes and restaurants, a popular nightspot for the younger crowd.Absolutely no trip to Sydney would be complete without a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It is probably the most recognizable building in the world as well as the most famous performing arts center in the world. The tour of the Opera House was wonderful.The planning of the Opera House actually began in the late 1940s. A competition was launched in September 1955 to find the best design for a multi-functional performing arts center. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000 and a small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses including full-scale operas, orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings, lectures, ballet performances and other presentations. The winner, announced in 1957, was Jorn Utzon, a Danish architect.The estimated cost of the project was seven million dollars with a time estimate of three years. The Sydney Opera House opened its doors on October 20, 1973, 93 million dollars over budget and taking 14 years to build. Jorn Utzon, the architect, was ahead of his time. His original design was structurally impossible to build. After several long and frustrating years Utzon finally altered his design and gave the roof vaults a defined spherical geometry. This enabled the roofs to be constructed in a pre-cast fashion, greatly reducing both time and cost.The construction problem’s continued and were compounded when a new government was elected in NSW (New South Wales) in 1965, partly on the campaign promise to "do something" about the cost overruns with the Opera House." The new government refused to agree to Utzon’s new design ideas and proposed construction methods. In February. 1966, Utzon was forced to resign as stage II was nearing completion. A team of Australian architects took over and after an extensive review of the proposed functions of the building, proceeded with its completion. Utzon went back to Denmark. He was not invited to the grand opening in 1973. In later years there was a reconciliation and Utzon was hired as a consultant for a new addition to the Opera House. In June, 2007, the Sydney Opera House was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jorn Utzon died in Copenhagen in November, 2008, at the age of 90, having never seen in person his masterpiece come to life for the world to enjoy.
The Opera House tour is an hour and cost approximately $25.00, less if you order online. Since we had tickets for a concert that same evening we strolled along the waterfront and had dinner at the very popular Opera House Bar, overlooking the Harbour Bridge.
The concert, Sense and Sensibility, from Bizet to Debussy, was fabulous and being in the Concert Hall made it even more special. A perfect ending to a wonderful day in Sydney.
Join me next week as we venture outside the city to Featherdale Wildlife Park and a tour of the Blue Mountains.

AUSTRALIA #6 - Cradle Mountain: The Great Outdoors in Tasmania

When I first started planning my trip to Australia, the company I worked with suggested a week in Tasmania. I, of course, said no because there were just too many other places I wanted to see on the mainland. I should have listened--or at least spent more than four days on the island. Tasmania is beautiful with lots to see and do all year around.
After two nights in Hobart we left early in the morning for Cradle Mountain--Lake St Clair National Park, a World Heritage area in central Tasmania. After being on the move for the past two weeks the thought of a restful two days surrounded by Mother Nature was a real plus. From Hobart it took us about six hours driving through small towns and some beautiful wilderness areas.

We stopped for lunch in Sheffield, a small town with a nice restaurant for lunch and a great country store with everything from groceries to ski equipment. The weather had turned cold (not typical fall weather in Tasmania) and we took the opportunity to shop for scarves and gloves.
By the time we arrived at Cradle Mountain Lodge, the skies looked ominous but it wasn’t snowing, and for that we were thankful.We checked into our “cabins” and for the next two days we were free to do some hiking, mountain trekking, have a massage or just sit and enjoy the great outdoors.I learned that my good friend, Carolyn Groves, had been a camper in her youth and could actually build a fire in the pot-bellied stove in our cabin. I was impressed. We would have frozen to death if it had been left to me!!The group actually did it all. The park covers more than 650 square miles of wilderness area with stunning gorges, lakes, and mountains plus a vast variety of wildlife.There are hiking trails throughout the park, which you can pick and choose, depending on your fitness level. Carolyn and I did a combination tour and hike that ended at Lake St. Clair, Australia’s deepest freshwater lake.
The scenery was magnificent and we even saw a wombat and echidna scurrying across the trail. Wombats are marsupials and look like small, furry bears with short legs. For some reason I always thought wombats were like beavers and spent most of their time in the water. They spend all their time on land digging extensive burrow systems and are vegetarians.

The Echidna, which we first saw on Kangaroo Island, looks like a cross between a porcupine and an anteater. They are actually egg laying mammals and live on a diet of ants and termites, but are not related to the anteater species. Being an animal person I was really excited when our guide spotted the echidna.
We were actually on the lookout for a Tasmanian Devil (a carnivorous marsupial that smells bad, has a loud screech and is about the size of a small dog), but we never did find one, even on our nocturnal tour.

Day two we spent relaxing and enjoying the amenities of the lodge, including a massage in the spa adjacent to the lodge. For a long time I sat on the balcony of our cabin with my binoculars, hoping to do some bird watching. Apparently, when the weather turned cold the birds headed north (Southern hemisphere) and I mostly saw blackbirds, which I thought were crows but were actually Currawongs, not part of the Australian crow family (thank you Terry Davitt Powell and her knowledge of crows.)
In the afternoon, on one of the many trails around the lodge, we did find a wallaby taking a nap and enjoying the few minutes when the sun peaked through the clouds. He blended in so well we passed him.

The people behind us spotted him. After our hectic schedule in Hobart, Adelaide and even Kangaroo Island, it was good to have a day to ourselves.

In the evening we gathered for cocktails and dinner to catch up with the group and share the days activities. It was a great way to end a near perfect day.

Refreshed and ready to go, we packed up and headed for Launcestron Airport for our flight to Sydney. Join me next week as we explore Sydney, tour the Opera House and take a trip outside Sydney to the Blue Mountains and Featherdale Wildlife Park.

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AUSTRALIA'S Tasmanian Devil

After viewing this video from National Geographic, I'm glad I didn't stumble across one of these devils in the dark!

AUSTRALIA: One Meal We Missed--Not for Sheilas!!

AUSTRALIA #5 - Hobart, the Heart of Tasmania

I guess it’s a good sign when you’re not ready to leave a particular city or destination. That’s how I felt about Kangaroo Island; I could have stayed and watched the animals for several more days.

We left Kangaroo Island in the evening with a quick overnight in Adelaide before heading for Tasmania. Actually, the overnight proved useful. From all our hiking and outdoor activity on Kangaroo Island we had a lot of muddy clothes and it was nice to have a washer and dryer in our hotel suite. Not exactly an exciting evening in Adelaide, but it sure is nice to have clean clothes to wear!

It was interesting flying into Hobart. Like California, you are not permitted to bring plants or fruit products into Tasmania, and they are serious about checking both hand and checked luggage. I was glad I took the apples out of my suitcase when I saw the dog sniffing the luggage on the carousel.When I was researching Tasmania I found a hotel in Hobart that sounded absolutely fascinating--the Henry Jones Art Hotel.Standing on Hobart’s waterfront where Europeans first stepped ashore over 200 years ago, stands a row of warehouses dating back to the 1820s that have been transformed into a first-class, unique hotel and shopping area that showcases the work of Tasmania’s finest visual and performing artists. The hotel is a unique combination of antique and the ultra modern.In its prime the building was a jam factory and, in its conversion, lost none of the original charm. It still has some original staircases, brick interior walls and restored machinery along with a new, magnificent all-glass atrium that is used for major hotel functions. It lived up to all the hype--we all loved staying at the hotel.When we arrived in Hobart the weather had turned cool and none of us ventured far from the hotel. There were several seafood restaurants along the waterfront that turned out to be really good. We also discovered that Tasmania produces quite nice wines, particularly their Chardonnay and Riesling due to the cooler climate down south.

The following morning we took off for a full day tour of Port Arthur, the infamous penal colony that became the major center for punishment of convicts who re-offended after their arrival in Australia from Britain in the late 1700s.When you first look at the colony it looks quite tranquil: beautiful old buildings, manicured grounds with lovely gardens, a nice church and several beautiful homes once lived in by the administrative staff. Over the years, convict labor was used to develop the public facilities of the colonies--roads, causeways, churches, courthouses and hospitals. But the guided tour certainly dispelled any notion that this was a “walk in the park” for the convicts incarcerated in Port Arthur. According to our guide, convicts shared deplorable conditions.One convict described the working conditions as inhuman:

We have to work from 14 - 18 hours a day, sometimes up to our knees in cold water, 'til we are ready to sink with fatigue.... The inhuman driver struck one John Smith with a heavy thong.

The first boys' prison was built on Point Puer, two miles across Opossum Bay from Port Arthur. (Puer is the Latin word for boy.) It was for young boys, some as young as nine, like James Lynch, arrested for stealing toys. James Gavagan stole some umbrellas when he was 11 and was sent to Tasmania for seven years. He arrived at Point Puer in 1835. When he turned 17, he was sent to the main prison at Port Arthur. He was released in March, 1842.

The boys were kept away from the main convict area. About 3,500 boys were sent to Point Puer. Like the adults, the boys were given hard work such as stone cutting and construction. There was also a school run by two ex-convicts. There are only a few stones left on the island to mark the site of the boys' prison.Escape from Port Arthur was said to be impossible, often compared to Alcatraz. Some prisoners did try to escape. One prisoner, George "Billy" Hunt, covered himself with a kangaroo skin and tried to escape. The hungry guards on duty tried to shoot him for food. When he saw them pointing their guns, Hunt gave himself up. He was whipped 150 times.

I was glad when the tour was over. It was interesting, and is a significant part of Australian history, but I truly hate hearing about the terrible conditions and treatment the prisoners were subjected to.

On the way back to Hobart we stopped at a cheese factory and tasted some really interesting cheeses. My favorite was the wasabi cheese, strong with a real bite!Gus, our driver, took us on a city tour of Hobart, pointing out the downtown shopping area, the town hall, the large sports arena, the residential areas and other points of interest. Several of us got out and walked back to the hotel, after engaging in some shopping therapy! Actually, we went to a sporting goods store to buy some long johns --the weather report for Cradle Mountain was snow.

Join me next week on our adventures in Cradle Mountain.

AUSTRALIA #4: A Hop, Skip and Jump to Kangaroo Island

This was the part of the trip I was most excited about--Kangaroo Island. I’m a real animal person and love seeing animals in their natural environment. I had read an article several years ago about the animals of Kangaroo Island and knew I had to go. Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third largest Island (after Tasmania and Melville Island) with a population of around 4,200 inhabitants. The island is 92 miles long and 35 miles wide with beautiful beaches and an abundance of wildlife. Several species of kangaroo and wallabies are native to the island along with the common brushtail possum, the New Zealand fur seal and the short-beaked echidna (a type of anteater that looks like a porcupine.) The koala was introduced to the island and has survived because of the vast numbers of Eucalyptus forests. More than half of the island has never been cleared of vegetation and a quarter of it is conserved in National Parks, Conservation Parks and wilderness area. I did my homework before leaving for Australia!!!

We left Adelaide in the early morning for the short flight (35 minutes) to Kangaroo Island.For this flight we had to pare down our luggage to 33 pounds, which wasn’t too hard since we were only staying one night. We were met at the airport by our naturalist guide, Brian, and immediately set off to explore the island. Brian told half the group to keep their eyes on the treetops and look for dark clumps (koala bears,) while the other half was checking along the highway for wallabies and echidnas. It didn’t take us long to spot our first koala bear--high up on a eucalyptus tree, sleeping. During our two-day stay on the island we saw several koalas, and only one was actually awake, eating.Koala bears, which are not really bears, but marsupials, may look cute, but have long claws and can be vicious when cornered. Apparently koalas sleep 75 percent of the time and the other 25 percent they spend eating eucalyptus leaves. Koalas have a slow metabolic rate due to their high-fiber, low nutrient diet. Because they store little or no fat, koalas must adopt strategies that conserve energy. Sleeping is one of them. Each koala eats over a pound of leaves a day.Not long after we arrived the weather cleared and the sun peeked through the clouds. With the sun came the wallabies. All along the road they were sunning themselves and trying to get dry like the rest of us!!They are so cute. Wallabies look like small kangaroos and come in a variety of sizes from the very small hare wallaby to the larger shrub wallaby. All wallabies are marsupials or pouched mammals. Wallaby young are born tiny, helpless, and undeveloped.
They immediately crawl into their mothers' pouches where they continue to develop after birth--usually for a couple of months. Young wallabies, like their larger kangaroo cousins, are called joeys. Even after a joey leaves the pouch, it often returns to jump in when danger approaches.

That first day we literally drove from one end of the island to the other. On the way to the North Coast we stopped at Lathami Conservation Park in search of the Glossy Black Cockatoo, a rare subspecies of cockatoo found only on Kangaroo Island. We never did see the elusive Black Cockatoo, but did see a pair of beautiful Crimson Rosella Parrotsand flocks of Galahs ( beautiful pink and grey parrots native to Australia,)and several kangaroos lounging in the grass.One in particular had quite a large joey in her pouch with the feet and tail sticking out--a funny sight to see.Our next stop was Seal Bay Conservation Park on the North Coast. On the way we stopped for lunch among a forest of Eucalyptus trees in hopes of seeing more Koalas. What we thought was going to be a quick lunch turned out to be a feast with fish cooked over an open grill, several different kinds of salads, yummy grilled potatoes, rolls, wonderful Australian wines and, of course, the local beer of the region--Coopers.Not only was Brian a fabulous naturalist guide, he was also a fabulous cook.We made it to Seal Bay and started our walk down to the beautiful sandy beach, home for a large family of sea lions. We were greeted on the path by a fairly large sea lion that came out of the bushes and “honked” at us for several minutes.
I think we disturbed his nap!!! We stood on the beach for a long time watching the sea lions play in the surfand chase each other around the sand.We checked into our hotel in the late afternoon. It had been a full day and we were looking forward to the nocturnal tour planned for that evening. Many of the animals living on Kangaroo Island are nocturnal--marsupials are mainly active at night. We did see some kangaroos and wallabies foraging for food along with a small group of Fairy Penguins nesting by the beach. Our guide did point out a brush-tailed possum, but he moved too fast for me to get a good look.

The next morning we were off again bright and early--our flight back to Adelaide wasn’t until 7:00 that evening so we had the whole day to explore the west end of the island. Our first stop that morning was Flinders Chase National Park--a vast wilderness area covering the entire west end of the island. At Cape du Couedic there is a large fur seal colony and we made a valiant attempt to climb down the path to Admirals Arch,
a spectacular coastal grotto where the fur seals congregate. The wind was fierce and at one time I was actually pushed up against the rail. I gave up the quest but several of our group did make it down. The pictures are courtesy of Dave Lunzer.
Another fun stop was the old Eucalyptus Oil Factory at Ridge. At one time eucalyptus distilling was one of Kangaroo Islands major industries with over 100 stills. Sheep farming took over being more viable for farmers, and thus eucalyptus distilling became part of history. Today Emu Ridge is the only commercial Eucalyptus Distillery in South Australia. We walked around the farm, visited with a pair of Emus, and did some shopping in the craft center adjacent to the distillery.
We continued our drive along the rocky coastline at the west end of the island to Kelly Hill Conservation Park. We had another late lunch and thoroughly enjoyed Brian’s “home cooking.” We walked through the park, on the lookout for kangaroos and wallabies, and was pleasantly surprised when a pair of kangaroos hopped across our path.

It had been a wonderful two days and I really didn’t want to leave. If you’re planning a trip to Australia, definitely consider adding Kangaroo Island to your itinerary.

Join me next week in Tasmania and our visit to Port Arthur.