Aussie Aussomeness

Yesterday, I arrived home to get an inquiry about accommodating a couple from Australia. Having hosted numerous Aussie and Kiwi guests in the past, this was not earthshaking news. What Susan Packer added to her note was quite awesome. She read about us in the Travel section of the local newspaper. This is what she included:

“The article was a full page feature in the weekend Travel section of The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's Age newspapers, so it's about the biggest travel-related coverage that you can get in Australia!”

Needless to say, it brought tears to my eyes that we are continuing to receive far flung coverage. We have had fabulous reviews written about us in the largest travel magazine in Africa, based in South Africa years ago. Now our coverage has spread to another continent.

This is the quote from the article “Buda B&B (budabab.com; $65 for two, $21 supplement for one-night stays) spruiks itself as "The Best in Pest"; the owners have an incredible knowledge of the city.”

The online article from the Melbourne's Age newspapers is here. You can read all of their other recommendations.

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Vienna, Zurich, Nairobi

The flights from Vienna to Zurich and then Zurich to Nairobi were nondescript. On the long haul, we had emergency row seats, so extra leg room. The movies were on a continuous loop, depending on the channel, so one could not start and stop a movie. If you tuned in too late, you missed out on part of the movie. Our screen resolution was not the best, so we did not bother with the movies after twenty minutes of eye strain. Most of the time, we either read or slept. I think I basically slept through the majority of the 7 hours - 50 minutes of the flight from Zurich to Nairobi. The flight attendants gave us six different forms that had to be filled in upon arrival.

When we landed, we had to get entry Visas. There are separate lines for Visas as opposed to those who can enter on a passport only or who already have their Visa. One of the airport attendants directed us around the corner where there was no waiting, supposedly. However, when we arrived, the line was just as long as the one we had left. It took us over two hours in line to get our Visas. I thought for sure our luggage would have been dropped off, ripped off, and forever missing during this time. Our flight was continuing on to yet another country after depositing us here in Nairobi. How little faith I have, it was there without a hitch. 

As we left the secured area, our driver was waiting with a sign in hand. He drove us to our hotel. Along the way, the modern buildings did not escape my attention. The three story high billboards were quite alarming also; each showing the latest in mobile phones and Vodafone being the mobile carrier of choice here. Had I brought my mobile, I could have connected quite easily. So much for this being behind the times. 

Our modern and tasteful hotel the Upperhill Country Lodge, where we will be spending the next three nights has free WiFi for guests. Get a clue Australian properties.  Regardless of the sleep we had on the plane, we were still anticipating a full night's sleep here too. It is two hours ahead from continental Europe. Although, it is approaching summer, it was dark out at 7:00 pm when we landed. We were told that being close to the equator, the dusk is about thirty minutes long. Sunset...boom...darkness.

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Bangarra Dance Theater

Last night, we went to see the Bangarra Dance Troupe, an Aboriginal dance company from Australia performing in the Budapest Spring Festival. This was the first time we had been to the Festival Theater at the Performing Arts Center. There was a bit of a mix-up with seating. Our tickets were for the 2nd row, seats 7 and 8; however, the usherette told us row five. Scrutinizing our tickets, we could not find a five anywhere, but went obediently to row five and seats 7 and 8...until someone else claimed our seats. As it turns out, the first three rows are A, B, C and then row 1 begins. We were not the only confused ones, because there were Hungarians in our seats, and others that were in their assigned seats should have been in a box in the upper part of the theater. At least they speak the language, so they should have understood. Staging was simple, yet effective. There was what reminded me of a giant mammoth's rib cage. Smoke was pumped in from the rear of the stage, causing a haunting effect. The first dance was called "Very Old Things" aptly named as it portrayed the traditional culture of the Torres Strait Island people's customs for hunting, fishing, celebrating the rain, and the power of desire and excitement. More than half of the dancers looked as indigenous as I do, but this did not detract from the power of their performance. Every movement was breathtaking. While watching, I was wishing I had this on a DVD that I could watch at least fifty times before tiring of it. Their body movements were incredible, incorporating traditional dance with ballet type movements. Just imagining their muscle contortions as they danced has made as sore this morning as days of rehearsal. After the intermission, their next offering was more somber, a piece called X300. Australia had an agreement with the UK in the 1950s to allow atomic explosion testing on Maralinga Tjarutja traditional lands, assuming they were uninhabited. The code name for the testing was X300. Symbolizing the joy prior, the dance starts out with jubilance, but the captivating lighting alters the mood conveying the bomb has gone off. As the dance progresses, we witness the islanders as they struggle for survival. Beyond the upsetting theme, the movements and costumes of the performers enrapture the audience to feel their pain, while at the same time celebrating the power of the body to espouse such depth of emotion. The choreographer, Elma Kris, is a Torres Strait Islander herself. The works were amazing.

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Where Readers Are From

Australia barely shows on this map, but they make up 7% of the readers.

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Heartfelt Sadness for Victoria

I just want to take a moment to say that my heart breaks for the people of Victoria, Australia. The devastating fires and the victims who have died and are hospitalized has been covered on our news. Having been there, having loved it, I really feel their pain and despair at a deeper level. They are not faceless strangers to me, but people that welcomed us. All of you will be in our prayers and positive thoughts.

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Hobart

This is the last, but not least album. I really loved Hobart and the other parts of Tasmania that we traveled to on our two day trips.

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Cairns

To see the whole album at once, click on any picture. It will take you to the web album at Picasa.

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Sydney

If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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Melbourne

Kodak Gallery turned out to be a problem for a number of people to access the photos, so I am trying this a different way. If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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Glenelg, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide

Kodak Gallery turned out to be a problem for a number of people to access the photos, so I am trying this a different way. If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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We Bid Adieu to Adelaide

Well, I think I have learned that close to five weeks is my limit for a vacation. We have traveled on planes, trains, taxis, shuttles, trams, subways, buses, monorail, boats, ferries, and foot. After numerous tours both out of cities and within the cities we have landed, each day has been full. A vacation should include some kick back time and relaxation, but we have this constant fear of missing out on something good, so each day is a race to see/do as much as possible; the exceptions being places like Cairns where there is only so much to do, but you are stuck based on airline tickets purchased before you knew better. After getting Ron to agree to a natural awakening this morning, one of the few with no alarm clock set, I was awake at 6:00 am, so read in bed until he stirred. We did our breakfast thing in the well equipped kitchen in the hostel. One of our goals was to try out the O-bahn bus/tram. We went down to the transportation information office to find out where we caught it. There are over a dozen, but we were given ideas about the best choices. One ticket for $4.20 was good for a round trip if we returned within two hours. Getting on the J1 bus, we rode like a regular bus through the city, but then it enters a track area, where the special wheel attaches and the bus goes on its own. The driver does not need to steer, and the bus travels at close to 65 mph with only two stops at stations before reaching the end of the line. Our end of the line was a mall. We browsed around for a short time, noting that Kmart and Target were the anchor stores. Both are popular in the cities we have visited. Taking the bus back, we first sat in the back seats to take pictured, moving into the front late for more photo opportunities. For more info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway. The rest of the day was browsing used bookstores, stopping for cold drinks with the heat running in the 90s, and stopping for a snack at an Irish pub, where we ordered nachos. Go figure! It saddens me to leave Australia. This was a trip I had planned fifteen years ago, but it was diverted by a new relationship. After fifteen years into that relationship, we, not just I made it, making it worth the wait. I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much if I had done it back then and alone. So to recap, we visited five of the six states of Australia, but neither of the two territories: Adelaide, the capital of South Australia Melbourne, the capital of Victoria Sydney, the capital of New South Wales Cairns in the State of Queensland Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and a whole lot of places in between. What we missed: Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, and Western Australia. Australia is the world's smallest continent, but the sixth largest country in the world, based on size, not population. Current population estimates for 2008 were 21,007,310.

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Last Tour of This Trip

When the alarm went off at 7:15 this morning, this tour thing did not sound as appealing as it did yesterday. Because of the multi-male bathrooms, we are able to get all bathing needs done simultaneously. Ron is always quicker with his glasses than I am with my contacts, so he was up in the kitchen fixing breakfast by the time I was ready.

The shuttle bus was prompt at 8:40 like they told us. It held 22 persons and we were told it would be full. Still, the seating was comfortable for a day's adventure. The day started out hot and continued to get warmer as the day went on. The shuttle was cool, but not well enough to battle the heat.

The driver/guide was a great commentator, starting as soon as we had collected everyone, pointing out different things along the way. I kept saying, remember this, remember that, but after the second winery, it was all down hill from there.

How many people can say they have seen the World's Largest Rocking Horse, or even care to admit they did? This was our first stop after a colorful history of Adelaide and North Adelaide, a separate city. There is a toy manufacturing company that is really out in the boonies. Having difficulty drawing crowds, they followed the example of other businesses that constructed giant things to attract attention. So along with a giant lobster at some restaurant that we did not visit, they had this rocking horse constructed of cement and steel. Since 911, the insurance for letting people climb to the top was so expensive, it put the company out of business. The people who bought the business started charging people $2.00 to climb up to the top to help defray the costs of insurance.

Along side of the toy company, but also owned by them is an animal sanctuary, where they keep birds that have been hurt, kangaroos, wallabies, peacocks, and some type of geese. As you walk through the toy store to get to the gates of the animal kingdom, there are bags of sawdust for sale, but labeled “genuine rocking horse manure”. Getting into the petting zoo is free.

They had some gorgeous birds, but we were warned as much as they like to be petted, they also like to bite finger off. Further in, there was a peacock strutting around, but partially molting. He came right up to us. Behind him was a peahen with chicks. Neither of us had ever seen peacock chicks before. The gray geese with yellow markings came up to us too, until they realized our hands were empty. Then we were shunned as cheap pariahs who would not spring for the $2.00 bag of food.

Three kangaroos were huddled together, one was lying on the ground. When I was busy scratching the one eating, she totally ignored my advances, but the one lying down burst into the air, looked totally startled and then hopped away. We both thought this was hysterical behavior, but then realized he had just made a major poop, missing my sandaled foot by an inch. He was on the run.

Back on the bus, the driver sent around a list of the seven entrées we had available to choose from and then making it more difficult, there were four different desserts. When we made our first wine stop, he called it in.

Our first winery stop was the Wolf Blass Winery, started by a German man who immigrated with a degree in oenology already in hand as well as years of experience. When he arrived here, they were only creating three types of wine and would not take his ideas seriously. He settled into creating the wines they wanted for years, but then took his VW Beetle and drove around the country offering his expertise as a consultant. Finally, he returned to this area, bought some land and started his own winery making wine his way. After winning a number of international wine awards three and four years in a row, people here started to take notice. The visitors center is modern with a entry sculpture of eagle wings that weighs fifty tons. In the center of the courtyard is another eagle statue. The land was originally named something with eagle in the Aboriginal language and the flag of Germany has an eagle on it.

Here we tasted seven wines. Since I am not much of a wine drinker, I taste and then spill the rest. Not today, however. I was threatened that if I were tempted to spill the rest into the bucket provided, I would be harmed if I did not spill it into Ron's glass instead. Just out of spite, I drank them all, whether I cared for them or not and generally, it was a not.

Our lunch was the next stop at a town called Nuriootpa, a German settlement and there we ate at the Vine Inn. Due to the size of our group, we were allocated three tables. Each table was given a plate of German appetizers, pickles, sauerkraut, and smoked meats sliced. We had access to a large salad bar, but once they started bringing out the lunches, most of us avoided the salad bar. I had chosen chicken parmigiana, which was a huge portion, served on a bed of French fries, or chips as they call them. There was no way I could do this justice and partake of the salad bar too. When I was finished, bursting was my main concern, so I went for a quick walk around the building. At my setting when I returned was my dessert, cheesecake with blueberries. It was not the solid NY type cheesecake, but rather a creamy fluffier type, so I was able to shovel it in, but not without reservations of popping my belly button. Ron had a fish called barramundi, a local fish. His portion was as large as mine. We were having a chat with the others at the table. I mentioned that I was disappointed in that we did not see any kangaroos on Kangaroo Island. One of the men turned to me and said, “Well, you better avoid the Virgin Islands in that case.” Though it is an old joke, it struck me funny, considering he was Australian.

As we waddled back to the bus, we made our way to the Vinecrest Winery. This was a boutique winery run by the 5^th generation of wine makers, located in the Barossa Valley. Our driver had warned us that the first winery after lunch was difficult and he was right on the money with that statement. Here they offered six samples. I settled for four, before calling Uncle and quitting. When liquor is concerned, I am a cheap date.

With not enough time to stop for photos, we did quickly stop at the Menglers Hill Lookout, which has a wonderful panorama over the entire Barossa Valley. Onward, we went to the Barossa Vines Winery, another boutique winery offering us six samples of their offerings. When we left here, our guide was telling us that they were closing the tasting center since they have another winery also. The financial crisis that has impacted the world has really hit the wine industry severely, so many are trying to cut costs wherever possible.

South Australia, of which Adelaide is the capital, is the driest state in Australia. They are on severe water rationing, since they have been under the needed rainfall for nine years. They had been using water from the Charles River, until it was found that the other states who were using it also has created a danger to the river, but lowering it to the point of harming the entire eco-system.

The last stop was the Kies Family Winery. They offered six different tastings, but by this point, I threw in the towel completely. They had a coffee shop, so I sprung for a coffee and aspirin instead. Ron, the trooper that he is did not want any winery to feel under appreciated, so he soldiered onward.

Finally, we had one stop left, but not another winery. It was the whispering wall. What it actually is is a dam that at one point in time was the largest dam in the world, but no longer. Due to its construction, if you stand on one end and speak in a normal voice, a person 140 meters away can hear you like you are standing next to them. Ron stood on the one side, while I walked to the other. While others were in line ahead of me, I could hear the people speaking to them as clear as a bell. When I spoke to Ron, I did not get an answer. Trying a second time, there still were no results. I thought it figured since he never answers his mobile phone at home either.

One thing that the guide did tell us about that I do remember is that they have a Oban bus track here. It is the only one in the world, outside of Germany. A specially equipped bus can drive the city streets, but when it gets to this specific track, a special part comes down from the wheel and the bus is driven automatically without the assistance of the driver. We would like to try this tomorrow.

The Tour Down Under, a major cycling event is having its pre-event tonight. Lance Armstrong is here to make his comeback debut. Cycle clubs from all over the world are here to compete. It seems that this was Adelaide's dream ten years ago to increase tourism. They worked out with the cycle clubs in Europe to host this event, which is a win-win. The weather here is warm to hot this time of year, it gives the cyclists the training in a competition they need before the European season starts, and the city gets flooded with tourists. They expect 500,000 tourists alone for this event.

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Adelaide, Oh Sweet Adelaide

Not even twenty-four hours in Adelaide and I am ready for medication again. Part of it most likely due to not having the air conditioning on last night. We did not ask for it, because it would cool the three other rooms around us too, so we were being considerate. Having the window open for air did not work either. We are on the ground floor and the party people who are not allowed to cause a ruckus inside, stand outside to drink and carry on. It was a trade-off between heat or noise. I woke with a sinus headache, not feeling rested, and as dreary looking as before Hobart. Where did that Hobart healing go so quickly? Up in the kitchen, we made our scrambled eggs and raisin bread toast. There were young and old scrambling around cooking, cleaning up their dishes, or using the computers in the lounge. As I watch all of these twenty somethings, it makes me sad that I missed out on these opportunities in my youth. When I grew up, hostels certainly existed, people my age backpacked primarily through Europe, and experienced life. I on the other had was raised with fear. Fear of being alone, fear of asking my family if I could go, fear that I knew the answers already, fear of not knowing what, where, when, and especially how to navigate from one place to another. There certainly wasn't Internet back then to help plan the details out or to keep in touch to let those left behind know I was still living and breathing. For God's sake, my family had a fit when I went to Europe the first time and I was then thirty years old. They had no sophistication about travel, museums, culture, or life experiences in that fashion. Since then, I have truly made up for these deficits by traveling extensively. This is the forty-eight country Ron and I have have visited together in the last fifteen years. I have been to Mexico before I met him, so I am one up on him. With all of the flurry of youthful activity, I also regret that my own nephews have been raised with the same types of restrictions I lived through. Our parents were so much more liberal with my brother, it would seem he would be more liberal with his sons, but apparently not. When we lived in California, I repeatedly asked for them to come visit, even offering to pay the airfare. Since, we have made the same offer for their visiting Budapest, all to deaf ears. Even appealing directly to the offspring has not dented their armor. The response is always, I will have to ask my father, but then there is never another response. The eldest no longer needs his father's permission. Soon he will be graduating college and is over twenty-one years old. One would think that if you had college buddies who knew you had an uncle in Europe, they would prompt you to visit just so they could join along. Free lodging for all, what a deal. Apparently, American youth have a lot to learn from European and Asian youth who seem too jump on any opportunities they can. Back to the moment, Ron tried booking the tour he was interested in, the wine tour. Unfortunately, they were not planning on running it tomorrow due to lack of interest. He is considering other tours with different companies. The major agenda item today was shopping. We have not bought a single souvenir or gift yet. Each time I have seen something, the response I get is “That will be everywhere we go, do you really want to lug it around? Wait until we return to Adelaide.” Refusing to do anything until we went shopping seemed to work, now we had to remember where the shops were. The first one we went to had some of the things that caught my eye in Melbourne, but at twice the cost and not as good quality. Keep looking. Another shop, but more disappointment. They did not have what I wanted. They did have some adorable plastic bag storage bags with kangaroos and koalas on it. I bought five of them for gifts. With today being Saturday, nothing will be open tomorrow, so the pressure was on. There was a small department store that is a chain and I had a feeling, which turned out to be correct. They had some stuffed animals that were just right and at a better price than anywhere I had looked. Put a bunch of these in the shopping cart. As we were sitting at a coffee stop, Ron had mentioned Iowa with the idea of going there this summer. Normally, that would be fine with me, but we may have to return to New Jersey to clean out my father's house, in addition to deciding on what to do with our things in his back room. This led to my re-entry thinking, which I really hate dealing with. Re-entry thinking usually starts toward the last two to three days of a vacation if I am lucky enough to hold it off that long. The phenomenon creeps on on me with thoughts of things I need to do as soon as I get home that have to be dealt with. As soon as I get home, I have fourteen thesis students to advice and kick in their butts to get their thesis written and completed by March. Never have I had this many in one semester before, so the reading is going to be insurmountable, but each was warned with a strict time line expected of them for my return. This led to thoughts of my father and his predicaments, leading to the B and B if we were both gone at the same time, but how could one of us make decisions on what was worth keeping or not alone? However, this led to the negative thoughts that neither of us have a valid driver's license any longer, so there is the hassle of getting from the airport, but more importantly, the stress of being held captive at my father's house since he does not drive any longer. He doesn't have Internet access, so I am cut off from the world; the city he lives in is not all that sophisticated to have Internet cafés within walking distance. It may be lesser of a strain and expense to have the whole lot of it shipped to Hungary and we sort it out there. Oh, how I hate re-entry thinking. A diversion is what I need, to ban it from my mind. The Tandanya Aboriginal Museum did the trick; we went to look in their gift shop. Everything there is guaranteed work done by Aboriginal people. We found a small wall hanging called “Men's Ceremony” that was also on sale for 20% off. That and a boomerang will fill our souvenir needs for ourselves. The next stop was the Central Market, after taking a two stop ride on the free inner city loop bus. The market is a humongous place filled with produce stands, butchers, cheese shops, and pre-cooked foods for sale. Aside from the Budapest Central Market being more attractive, next to this one, it looks like a small convenience store. It was mobbed with people shopping for the weekend. The market is closed on Sunday and Mondays. One would think it was a Christmas rush at a give-away sale. Avocados out for sample were creamy, rich in flavor, and ready for eating. We bought a couple of them, a few sweet potatoes, and some sausage with chicken, spinach, cheese, and onion. Ron likes a snack before dinner with a glass of wine, so we found some sharp cheese we sampled, so we bought a piece along with plain crackers. At another stand, we found beautiful bacon to supplement our breakfast. We walked out with our arms full and spent less for two days dinners than we would have for one night in a restaurant.. There is some sort of bicycle race starting here on Monday, but tomorrow is the pre-event, though I have no clue what that means, there are a number of cyclists riding around the city. We returned to the hostel to put our food away in the wall filled refrigerators in our marked bag. Now I am sipping tea and writing while sitting on the balcony of the second floor, shaded and enjoying the breeze. When Ron mentioned he wanted to go on a wine tour, I briefly stated he should go alone since I don't like most wines. He went and booked it for tomorrow for himself without asking me again. I sent him back to book me too. Being Sunday, there will not be much for me to do here alone, so I might as well get to see some of the countryside. They also have an offer that if you spend $100. on travel you get a free hour of Internet that they otherwise charge $4.00 an hour for, but it turned out that one person has to spend $100. on themselves, not combined. Well, I wanted the day out anyway, so the tour should be fun, but in the meanwhile, I am paying $5.00 an hour for WiFi or Internet in any fashion. Our plan is to do laundry on Monday evening. The worst thing when you get home is to have lots of wash to do. The charge is $3.00 for a load of wash and the same for the dryer. We only travel with a small amount of clothes, so one load should do the trick if we combine colors with whites. The dryer can be increased with 20 cent coins. When we get home, the only dirty clothes to worry about will be the ones we are wearing. This is another advantage of traveling with only a carry-on suitcase for five weeks. I left behind three shirts as we went, shirts I had intended to toss or donate anyway. When they used up their usefulness, I left them behind, lighting the suitcase. Conversely, we bought about five t-shirts with slogans on them, so we do have alternative clothes to wear. When we get home though, the clean clothes can be put away and we can recuperate the flights with “no worries” as everyone says here. No worries, mate. No worries, no worries, no worries. No wonder the Australians can afford to be nice and kind. None of them have worries. Must be nice. The other thing that I noticed is that they spell thank you as a closed compound: thankyou or Thankyou. Oh, and gyro or giro is yiro. There are tons of slang words we have had to ask as people used them, but none that I will commit to memory for longer than our flight home. We did not do much after returning earlier. Ron bought at bottle of sparkling shartz wine, so we had a couple of glasses before dinner with the cheese and crackers we bought. The wine went down really well, but the kitchen started turning into a frenzy, so we hightailed it in to start our dinner too. We fried the sausages in a cast iron skillet while microwaving the sweet potatoes. After the sausages were cooked, I cut the sweet potatoes into large chunks and fried them in the balance of the butter from the sausages; the sausage did not have any fat to coat the pan. It was delicious, but we continued drinking the 750 ml bottle of wine with dinner as we sat on the balcony enjoying the breeze. If you don't know how much 750 ml of wine is, let me tell you, I can get shitfaced on 200 ml. This particular wine is sweet, so after a more than a few glasses, I was ready to collapse face first into my dinner dish, reminding me of Ruth Gordon in Where's Papa, an old movie with George Segal. Ron, bless his heart continued drinking, finally finishing off the bottle to save me from myself. His Irish background comes in handy for things like that. Give it to Ron, he will drink anything, reminiscent of the LIFE cereal commercial, “Give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything.” After crawling to the sink to get the dinner dishes done, somehow I miraculously made it back to our room, though I don't remember it spinning before dinner. After resting for an hour, Ron insisted we walk around the block to get our gastric juices the motivation to perform. That was the longest block I walked in five weeks.

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So Long Hobart, It Has Been Great

Check out time is 10:00 am. This seems to be fairly standard practice here, but it seems way too early to me. We had everything ready, went for breakfast and checked out. The shuttle was arranged to take us to the airport at 2:40 for our 4:15 flight to Adelaide. We had time to kill. These were the best four nights sleep I have had in years. The coffee shop in Salamanca Square had free WiFi Internet with a purchase. This was the first time I had an opportunity to download mail so it took some time sorting through the spam and the good stuff. We were there for close to an hour, before Ron started getting antsy, so I knew I could not take the time to upload blog entries then. The day was gusty, really windy, making it feel colder than it was since the sun was trying to penetrate the clouds. We had not explored the wharf, so we did that, but the wind was blowing the water off of the bay making it feel like a cold rain. There is much history down at the docks if one is interested in Australian history, but we gave it a quick going over. We walked into the downtown area, where the wind was still whipping around. People walking around in shorts and short sleeve shirts were huddling themselves against the gusts of cold air, but looking accepting as this is a fact of life for them. It seemed like we were never going to get close to the time for the shuttle, so we headed back to the 24 Hour Salamanca Bakery to share a sandwich for lunch. Yet, we still had over an hour to kill. After picking up our things at the hotel, we went to the meeting point and waited. The shuttle was late, so Ron ventured back to the hotel to have them call again. As soon as he disappeared from sight, the shuttle showed and I had to run to get him. Hobart is by no means a large city, so the ride to the airport was not a long one. The whole of Tasmania has 500,000 inhabitants on the island. There was something healing about Hobart and Tasmania. I never used my sinus medication nor did I ever have to use a tissue. I felt better than I have in years, breathing like a teenager again. The dark circles under my eyes disappeared completely, and I am actually feeling good about the way I look facially, at least. With all of the eating out and the coffee stops, my body doesn't look as good as my face. At the moment, if I was floured down, I could be a fill-in for the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Much of it is water weight, since I am accustomed to drinking a couple of liters of water a day. It is impossible to do on a vacation when you wind up spending half of the day looking for a men's room. Tasmania is really a beautiful state and well worth the trip. Checking in to Virgin Blue, we found our plane was going to be fifteen minutes late. This after e-mailing me that our flight was moved up by five minutes. The plane was unusual as it only had a 2-2 configuration, but very long. The safety card showed it as being an E190. I had never flown on one before. The flight was less than two hours and Adelaide has a half hour time difference, so we gained one half hour. The shuttle was the best way of getting into the city; for $5.00 each it is a bargain. We were dropped off right around the corner from our hostel. This is the same hostel we stayed at when we first started the trip and we are just one room away from our previous room. The hostel room for both of us is $88.00 a night, a bit pricey for a hostel, but this one is worth it. After dumping our things, we went to find food. We bought some things at the Chinese supermarket since it was the only one open. We have breakfast covered anyway. Then we went to the Hog's Breathe Café for dinner. Funny, we did not do much today, but we are both worn out. There is something about the stressors of getting to and from the airport and the poor circulation of air on planes that knocks you out. Ron is already talking about what tour he wants to take while here.

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Mount Field With Devilmania

Another day with Charlene to look forward to, today we were going to Mt. Field. First things, first though, breakfast were more mouth watering pancakes with whipped cream and maple syrup. When Charlene came to get us, she said she had a total of six for today. This was really a relief since we felt we had to talk all day since we were the only two on the tour yesterday. With Britney with her, her daughter, it broke up the monotony. She picked up an Aussie couple from Sydney, a South Korean, and a Brazilian along the way.

On the way, we stopped at a little town for a coffee and bathroom break. Mt. Field is a national park with wildlife and millions of trees. There are a number of walking trails, each marked with the amount of time it would take to go from the car park to the destination. Charlene was returning for us in close to three hours, so it limited how many trails we could do to return in time. We went to the Russel Falls first. It was a small falls, but pretty nevertheless. After seeing Niagara, Victoria, and Iguassu falls, anything smaller is just not an incredible site.

From there we took the trail to the big trees. We walked quite a distance, but we were uncertain if big trees referred to height or width. Thinking in terms of California's big trees, we never came across anything like it. What we did see were tall trees and what I read later was that they are the world's tallest flowering tree, part of the gum family. I kept having the feeling that dinosaurs were going to come out of the trees at any minute. The wooded area was so lush, it felt like Jurassic park. You can go through at night too, but I think that would be too creepy. Along the way, a man was standing on the trail looking into the woods, but not moving. As we closed in on him, he pointed to a wallaby eating. It is the only one we saw, but the others say they say five or six along the trails.

After we all met up again, Charlene took us on a ride to the top of the mountain. As we drove, you could see the foliage change from tropical and lush to more desert type shrub foliage. The air increasingly became colder and the wind was really whipping around. We all donned our jackets when reaching the peak. At the top is a pristine lake, but I stayed by the van for warmth. I could see it just fine from the top and did not need to stretch my legs any further to have a closer look. Driving up and back is risky business, since they had snow up there just two weeks ago and the narrow road is a two way lane. On the way back, I sat up front with Charlene for more leg room, but sitting on the left front side, makes me feel like I have to assist in driving.

On the way back to Hobart, we stopped at another fruit stand. This one had Bing cherries the size of small apricots. They were the sweetest, juiciest cherries I have ever had. They also sell nectarines and apricots, but were out of both.

Charlene found lots of things to talk to the other Aussies about, and the woman kept saying “yea, yea” to everything she heard. It was quite funny for awhile, then became annoying after forty-five minutes. We were the last to go at the end of the trip and told Charlene to say hello to Britney for us and we would recommend her to others. I was so glad she had more people today, being a single parent trying to get a business off of the ground. She has to compete with Grayline Tours.

After a rest and a nap, we went to the New Sydney Hotel again for dinner. I had the scallops, because after trying one of Ron's last night, I knew I had to have them before leaving this country. Dinner was great for the third night in a row.

We walked across town so we would have room for dessert at the 24 Hour Salamanca Bakery. I had to try their caramel cheesecake. Heavenly!

Tomorrow, we are out of here and back to Adelaide once again.

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Palm Cove - Cairns

Sunday and pouring rain did not inspire us to go anywhere, but since it was our last day in the Cairns area, we wanted to see Palm Cove. The other guests as well as Andrew had told us how nice it is. Around one in the afternoon, there was a break in the weather, still more rain coming, but Andrew said that according to the forecast, if we did not go then, we would miss out.

We waited to hail the bus down, but it arrived with fifteen minutes. The female driver had long dreadlocks, was personable, and polite. Our ride lasted for almost thirty minutes, before we saw resorts on one side and beach on the other. This was Palm Cove, all three blocks of it. Well, it may actually, be a few more, but none of the others are of interest to anyone other than those living there.

The first thing we did was walk the beach, looking for any seashells and just relaxing to the rhythm of the shallow ocean waves as they softly broke on the shoreline. Pristine sand stretched for miles; the cleanliness of it was incredible impressive. Not only was no human litter, there was barely any seas litter, either. The sand was void of shells, few fragments of driftwood, no seaweed, and no remnants from the ocean left as souvenirs. This only made it more challenging to find a shell or some memento take away as a remembrance. I found one shell, so I won the game over the sea. Ron found two.

In addition to being void of litter, it was also void of people sunbathing and swimming. We only came across on couple sunbathing, but as we walked further, we realized the only bathing was being done in the roped off and netted area. One large rectangular area was marked off as the designated swimming area, with lifeguard overseers. The lifeguard was patrolling in the little shed set above the sand to give a broad view of the area.

It still amazes me that all of the nasty creatures know the net is their barrier and they should not try chew through it, or swim through the holes, or even go to the bottom of the sea and lift up the bottom of the net to travel under and up. With the tides, the water movement, I am also curious as to how they can keep that netting close to the ocean bottom to create a sealed off area.

Part of my answer was answered by a sign behind the lifeguard station. The township, the county, the state, and the nation will not be held responsible for anyone who chooses to swim in this area, regardless of the netting. Although the netting is a barrier, it is not foolproof and no section of government can be held responsible if anything happens, thus you are swimming at your own risk. Right above this warning are pictographs and a note stating that this area is known to have crocodiles, jellyfish, and sharks. How comforting that netting it under these circumstances.

Just after I was getting my laughs over these signs, it started raining: heavily raining. I had an umbrella, Ron had a poncho we bought at the Skyrail, yesterday. But this weather made a fairly dead Palm Cove even deader. There were hardly any people around to begin with, but some of these few fled when the heavy rains started. We used the time to check out what was what.

Basically, this strikes me as an artificial little community set up to sell expensive condominiums, hotels, and resorts on beach front property. Then to cater to these people, you need a small assortment of stores to make them feel like there is something to do here. There are a few clothing stores, a couple of souvenir stores, one small supermarket that is not much more than a convenience store, and a smattering of restaurants spread down the street. People need to drink, eat, and feel good when they are on vacation. I could not help but imagine how beautiful this area must have looked before people started messing with it.

Andrew had suggested a restaurant if we were going to eat here, so we found it easily amongst the four choices. I had a burger called the LOT. It was too. It was a hamburger, beetroot, pineapple, fried onions, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, and BBQ sauce. I could not keep it together to bite into it. We also shared the largest french fries I have ever seen. They were larger than steak fries, hot, and delicious. All the time we were eating out on the balcony under umbrellas, the rain was coming down in sheets.

As we were finishing our meal, the two women at the next table started talking to us. They admitted they had too much wine, but chattered away. One of the women left to go to the ladies room and never returned. It took her friend about twenty minutes to realize this, but then she kind of panicked and went looking for her. It was kind of comical. Eventually, she found her and came back to announce it.

Ron went to the grocery store to pick up snacks for later and I went to check the bus schedule. There was four minutes before the bus, so I ran to get Ron. There were two guys waiting on the other side at the bus stop, so I asked if they saw a bus go by. They told us we were on the wrong side. This led to one of them telling us he is a medical doctor and is trying to get licensed in the States. We were so rapt in conversation, we almost missed our stop.

The rain was intermittent showering and pouring, so when it was only showering, we took that opportunity to jump into the pool for a swim.

Time to pack up. We leave tomorrow for Hobart, Tasmania on Virgin Blue.

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Skyrail in the Rainforest and Kuranda Railroad - Cairns

Another day, another tour. Today we set out for the Rainforest Skyrail Cableway and Kuranda Railway. Once again, Andrew drove us to the resort to catch our shuttle, but then ran back home to transport all of the others to the airport. We will be the only guests for the rest of our stay.

The shuttle arrived promptly with a family of five on it and within twenty minutes had us at the boarding station for the Rainforest Skyrail. We had tickets for 10:15, but arrived at 9:50 and thought we had to wait it out. However, there was no one waiting in line, so they let us on early. We had a whole gondola to ourselves. The Skyrail Cableway is 7.5 km (4.66 miles). It glides just above the rainforest canopy; each tower was put in by helicopter so as not to disturb the environment. Swiss engineers were called in to design the system, which was completed in 1995 after one year of construction. Tower six is the tallest at 40.5 meters or 133 feet. There are 114 gondolas.

After boarding it took about fifteen minutes to reach the Red Peak station, the highest point on the cableway at 545 meters or 1,788 feet high, where you get out and explore the rainforest at this point along boardwalks. Umbrellas are provided for those who did not think to bring one. A guide met us and offered us a free walking tour as he pointed out a number of trees and facts about them and this area of the rainforest in general. He was quite impressive with his knowledge. After he completed his tour, we were free to roam the area before boarding another gondola to the next section.

In another fifteen minutes of hovering over this incredible site of millions of trees and plants, we arrived at the Barron Falls Station where again we were able to walk around a boardwalk to see and read about various plants and trees. At this station is the Rainforest Interpretation Center where there are a number of displays on the rainforest and its inhabitants both animal and vegetative. We learned that Australia's rainforests are the oldest continually surviving rainforests one earth, dating back 120 million years. This rainforest occupies 900,000 hectares. Australia's rainforests have 2,800 plant species, of which 380 are considered threatened. Seven hundred of them are not found anywhere else in the world.

Also calling the rainforest home is the Southern Carrowary, the largest flightless bird of Australia, two types of tree kangaroos, the primitive Musky Rat kangaroo, the largest butterfly of the continent, the Cairns Birdwing. There are three lookouts that provide a great view of Barron Gorge and Falls. We spent a good deal of time wandering here, before boarding another gondola for the balance of the journey.

At the end, we disembarked in the village of Kuranda. Very touristy, it is souvenir shops and restaurants galore. We had train tickets for the railroad going back down at 3:30, the last train of the day. There are only two of them and the earlier one is at 2:00. We went to the butterfly sanctuary to spend some time. We hesitated at the $16.00 entry fee per person, but once in, realized it was well worth the money. There are over 2,000 butterflies of various species at any given time. After ten minutes in we were offered a free guided tour. Our guide explained the details of half a dozen different breeds of butterflies, their life stages, their sex life, colorations, and so on. The amount of information was incredible, but the beauty of the Ulysses butterfly with its vibrant blue wings outshone anything she had to say. Two of them landed on her chest. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a Ulysses butterfly on it. There is also a large green species that I cannot recall the name of that was an incredible emerald green. At the end of the tour in the butterfly area, she took us into the museum to show us butterflies of the world. Mother nature is quite the artist. Some had wings that when opened looked like snake heads to thwart their enemies.

We really ran through the village concerned about missing the train, but actually arrived with almost three quarters of an hour to spare. With assigned seats on the railway, we boarded. The seating is cushioned bench type seating with four seats across from four seats across. We were on the end with the aisle, not providing the best views. No air conditioning made it hot and steamy, so everyone opened every window in the car, but as the female conductor came through, she closed them all again. The ride is twenty-one miles long, but takes one hour and forty-five minutes to complete. It is considered one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world and would be if we had seats that did not look out on rock sidings. We passed through Barron Gorge National Park passing gorges and waterfalls on the way. It rises to a height of 1,076 feet and makes its way through fifteen tunnels before concluding the trip. It was built by hand in the late 1880s taking five years to complete through the work of 1, 500 men working on the construction. The steam engine was retired two years ago along with some of the romance of the trip.

We took it all the way to Cairns where we thought we would have dinner and avoid another take-out menu dinner. The rain was coming in sheets here too, so we tried staying under awnings as much as possible. As we walked, we noticed the sky was littered with the bats we saw hanging from the trees on our last time here. At dusk they were flying the friendly skies looking for their meals. At times, sections of the sky were black with bats.

Not being able to decide where to eat, we wandered into one of the street markets. In the back was a food court, so Ron had fish and chips and I had Chinese. We had fifteen minutes to catch our bus, so we ran for it otherwise the next one would not be for another hour.

After fifteen minutes on the bus, the driver pulled over and told us he was letting all of us out in the rain. We had to board the bus behind him. The back bus took a different route than we were used to and for a few minutes we thought we were in trouble. When Ron asked the driver, he explained he was a local route, not an express, so there would be more stops. Trying to find our stop in the dark is challenging, but each driver has been patient enough to drive slowly when we think it is approaching.

By the evening now, it is pouring rain in buckets, but still that pool is calling out to us and the water is warm. It would be rude to decline such a gracious offer.

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Going into the Big City - Cairns

We ventured into Cairns today getting the bus at the correct time, but not sure which direction we needed. Apparently we did not realize what an adventure it would be, so we each stood on one side of the road to flag down anything that came. Since I was on a bend, I could only hear large motor noises and tried flagging down a couple of trucks before realizing they were not buses.

When we finally had a bus arrive, for the first twenty minutes, there were only three of us on it. Traveling through the suburbs, it is strip mall after strip mall, but once we reached a highway, the highways were beautifully manicured; I could easily have felt like I was in Hawaii. The hills and mountains in the background filled with trees, foliage and lush flowers planted along the way, was really lovely scenery. It was in the 90s today with equally high humidity, so the mist was playing off the tips of the mountain tops. Our journey lasted forty-five minutes before we arrived at our destination.

Cairns immediately reminded me of an East coast city, circa 1970s. Only a couple of buildings look like they were built long ago, while the others look like they were built without the aid of an architect's imagination. There is not much of a city there; the streets were fairly empty of tourists. The central business district is just about three long streets made up of restaurants, souvenir shops, cafés, and of course, hotels and one casino. Here and there is a mall or shopping plaza interspersed with the other stores. We walked up one street and down the other, checking out everything, lest we miss some hidden treasure.

Stopping for a coffee, we thought we had picked a prime location with outside seating. However, when we asked for an ashtray for the outside table we were informed that there is no smoking outside anywhere in Queensland. Queensland, the state we are currently in restricts smoking within four meters of the opening of any food serving establishment. Perhaps this is the reason why there are so few people eating in these places. Making it stricter, you cannot smoke in any area that is covered either, which includes awnings; most of the stores have metal awnings that span the entire block. In order to smoke, you have to stand in the curb and on a corner like a pariah. This explained the congregation of people at the curbs and corners of the streets, puffing away until they finished and then went back to the store or restaurant they came from.

One section of the business district has all of the Asian oriented stores and businesses that range from travel agents to souvenir shops that specifically cater to the Japanese and Korean tourists with all of their signs in both languages. Business must be poor is the city. There were a number of empty store fronts with for sale or for rent signs posted in windows.

As we walked the streets, we saw this fascinating tree that had hundreds of branches coming from the trunk rooting into the ground. We found it was a type of fig tree called a strangler fig. A sign on the tree caught my attention and thinking it was an explanation of the tree, it was a request to inform the authorities if anyone spots a flying fox bat baby that has fallen to the ground. Included in the warning was not to touch it as they carry a virus fatal to humans. When I looked up, there were hundreds of bats hanging in the tree. All of the squawking we assumed was coming from birds was in actuality coming from the bats hanging around. Although daylight, they were busy flying around, spreading their wings, and most likely fighting for territory. We thought better of staying under the tree for too long fearing bat pooh bombs.

Our host had suggested we walk toward where the beach should be, but explained that Cairns does not have a beach, but a mud land. With the waters out, there is very little sand, but a large mud area, so the city built a pool for the locals to swim. It is splendidly designed so that it starts as a fountain working its way into a full fledged pool. Boasting a full 43,000 square feet, each area of this salt water pool is clearly marked with the depth and one point is deep enough to dive into. Huge starfish sculptures elevated into the air on poles are fountains pouring water into the pools. There is park area all around for sunbathing, plus ingeniously, the city installed permanent grills, in series of three that can be started with the push of a button, so people can barbecue and then eat at the picnic tables spread through the area. It is so completely user friendly, but no smoking anywhere in the area.

Cairns may be small and the area may seem like one suburban resort after another, but this area is the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites are side by side: the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest. The rainforest in Daintree is 110 million years old.

We were told by our host that if we were too hot, we should check out the air conditioned mall to cool off. Malls are malls anywhere in the world, same same, but different. We did however stop into a grocery store to buy a roasted chicken and some salads for our dinner, before catching the bus back to where we are staying. When we boarded the bus, I asked the driver if he would warn us when he was approaching Gannett Road and Bondi Court. He said “Do you see this blank look on my face? I have no idea where you are talking about.” If we were not positive it was the right bus, I would have been concerned. There was no reason to even pay attention until after forty-five minutes had passed and by that time, there were only three of us on the bus anyway. When we told the driver we thought we were close, he drove slower so that we could identify the stop. Our stop is the only one not marked with a sign. It is only a utility post that identifies it as a place to hail buses. One thing I have to say is the bus drivers are terrific and helpful. They will do anything possible to be of assistance and none of the other passengers seem to mind being held up while the driver is helping others.

After a shower, we jumped into the pool to cool off. After reading some e-mails, we chowed down on our dinner while the two Argentinians ordered take-out and the Brit had gone into town. The hosts went out for dinner, so it was cozy. Our chicken and salads were exceptionally good, one salads was an antipasto, which I had doubts about when ordering. It was memory shattering, bringing me back to my childhood. Now I wish we had bought a larger container. What a treat to jump back in the pool to cool off before going to bed.

I have come to grips with appreciating where we were staying. The host Andrew is beyond accommodating and the other guests are really a treat to spend a few hours with in the evening. The one clincher is there is WiFi here. If I had to hunt around for it, it would have been murder. Oh and the pool calls with invitations to jump in regularly.

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Snorkeling Off Frankland Islands - Sydney

It was an early morning again as Andrew had to drive us to where the tour bus was going to collect us, a resort with real services. Breakfast here is substantial with four varieties of bread including English muffins, which I have not had in years, fresh fruit salad, yogurts, and cereals. Everyone is up and eating by 7:30, so we are able to chat with the other guests, making it amicable. We waited only ten minutes for the shuttle to gather us up to bring us to the larger bus, but in the end, after we collect ed the others, it turned out the larger bus had already left. Our shuttle would now take us directly to the boat for our tour. About an hour later all of the others were gathered from various hotels. The boat was a hovercraft with comfortable seating. Once underway, they served us coffee and cookies, gave a safety demonstration, and fitted people for snorkel suits. I have snorkeled in the past, but never had to wear a suit to do it. Ron and I both wore wet suits when we took scuba lessons, but never for snorkeling. This determined it would be a non-snorkeling day for me off of Frankland Island. I have this thing about claustrophobia. Having a mask over my face is torture, but I most of the time can rationalize my way through it. I think it goes back to a trauma as a child when I had my tonsils out and they put the mask over my face for the gas. I remember pleading with the doctor to just let me take one more breath before we continued, but he refused to remove the mask. Ever since then, I have had nightmares about drowning or being suffocated. With a suit on and the flippers, I feel really confined, closed in, and definitely claustrophobic. That is why I never finished getting certified in SCUBA, but another reason is that the limitations of peripheral perception makes me paranoid to the point that I have anxiety attacks. It turns out the reason for the skins they wore is because jellyfish don't like them. Well I don't like the skins, I don't like being near to jellyfish, I won't snorkel. Case closed. Ron lost his snorkeling virginity and I stayed on the beach. He had a great time, I did not have a bad time, but damn it was hot. The temperature hovered around 90 degrees, while the humidity was close to the same. Even in the shade, I sweat like a pig on a roasting pit. Taking off on my own down a trail, I did find the other side of the island's weather was fantastic with a great breeze. I stayed there as long as I thought I could get away with without being missed and then headed back again in time for lunch. This island is also home to some of the worlds deadliest spiders, which did not exactly make me feel secure being alone, dying somewhere of a spider bite when no one knew I was gone. One spider is so venomous, its bite kills within three hours. There is no antidote. The island has a protected roped off area where a variety of seabirds are nesting. We were told that we could go up to the ropes, but no further without a fine. However, if we disturbed the birds, they would fly at us to scare us away and we should move back, since making the birds agitated is also worthy of a fine. While I was on the other side, I was also on the other side of then roped off area, watching the birds coming and going. On the beach was a dark brown bird, a different species than any of the others nesting. The white cormorants did not care for this bird being so close to their area, so they started dive bombing it. Instead of the brown bird flying off, each time it was dive bombed, it just ducked. This went on about ten times before it finally flew off. It was hysterical to watch this aviary circus show. After two hours of snorkeling, lunch was served. They put out quite a spread of roasted chicken, prawns, salads, and cold cuts. Beverages were for sale. Following lunch, we did the glass bottom boat adventure. It was like visiting the moon, visually disorienting with beautiful life forms we don't normally know exist. The guide pointed out all of the different varieties of coral and the fish we were being voyeurs to. I was surprised that the colors were not as vibrant as seen in pictures. She explained that they would be brighter if the day were not overcast, but still not as vibrant as we would expect. She went on to say that when they film underwater, they use powerful spotlights for filming, so the light from there highlights the color more and the rest is done with Photoshop. They had to run the glass bottom boat twice to accommodate all of us, so in the meanwhile, we just needed to hang sweating again, but those snorkelers were welcome to jump back into the water. When everyone was done, we had the option of doing an island walking tour so we joined in. Amanda our guide pointed out the different trees that are specific to this area. She fished out two sea cucumbers and had us hold them. They squirt water and then a white creamy substance that cements closed the gills of fish that are trying to eat them. With the glued gills, the fish suffocates and loses interest in the sea cucumber. We also came across a humongous golden orb spider. She said they can get as large as dinner plates and like black widows, eat their mates after mating. The island is a protected reserve, which means there is no fishing, no cutting plants, and nothing, not the smallest piece of coral, nor any sand can be removed without a stiff penalty. An hour ride on the boat and then 1 ½ hours on two buses, got us back to our 'hotel'. The other guests came back wiped out also from their tour, so all five of us decided to order in, having it delivered. Andrew arranged the whole thing. After speaking to the others, two Argentinians and one Brit, it seems we made a wise decision. They had a longer boat ride that was not scenic and they had less time snorkeling. They also had to snorkel from the boat, there was no island to rest on in between dives, so they tired out long before the people in our group would have being able to come and go. Tomorrow we want to see if there really is a city of Cairns or if there is just a grandiose number of suburbs. It will be tricky since the public transport in this area is feeble to say the least. We will have to stand on the side yard of someone's property and flag the bus as it comes around the corner. Earlier this evening, a frog made an appearance. Did a take on the situation and then decided he did not like our company and hopped off elsewhere. But as I write this, I am sitting at the large wooden table on the covered patio of the resort, watching the breeze sway the palm tree leaves. On the table there is a good sized marble block where the hosts put out the jams and jellies for breakfast. It sits on little legs, giving some room underneath. As I am typing, I am aware of a little face staring out at me. There is a tiny, tiny gecko poking his head out at me, it runs out for a quick fix of the situation, and then back it goes under the security of the marble. Arched high ceilings of the patio are covered with this little fella's relatives. They are keeping the mosquito population down, but I wish they would eat faster, there are more than enough for everyone. We have to cover ourselves with repellent creating a second skin of lotion or we are bound to be a human buffet table for the flying creatures. All of us have a half dozen bites. The mosquitoes must have silencers on them. Not one of us has heard one yet. The only evidence they are around is when we have an itch and notice the swelling red lumps. All of this is to be expected since this property butts up against a protected rain forest. There is literally a wire fence at the perimeter of the property in back to keep crocodiles out of their yard and pool. After the day's heat, it is refreshing to be able to come back and take a dip in the pool at any time day or night. Like the moss that grows on the sides of trees, I am beginning to lichen this place.

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Sydney to Cairns

The shuttle was promptly there to get us at 7:50 am, but like at home, there were others to collect before heading to the airport. We were flying Virgin Blue, a subdivision of Virgin Airlines from England, owned and operated by Richard Branson. They were most efficient in checking us in, surprisingly, with the exceptionally long lines, we had our boarding passes in fifteen minutes. They board by having the front rows board in the front of the plane and the rest from the back. By 10:00 am, we were on the runway. Food and drinks are available for purchase at slightly inflated prices, but not much more than in the shops. The flight was three hours, but Cairns is one hour earlier, so we gained an hour.

As soon as we collected our luggage, we called Boyz on the Beach, where we are booked. Bob was there within five minutes to transport us to the place. A bit of a diversion here. Think about the name of the place we are staying and picture it in your mind. Boyz on the Beach...Now, I knew it was a gay place. We looked at their website http://www.boyzonthebeach.com.au/home.htm. Boys Beach, ready now. Andrew and Bob, the two owners are my age (Bob) and older (Andrew) if they are day. It has been decades before now that they could call themselves boys. The beach is fifteen minutes away and is only a small beach where you have to be concerned about jellyfish, the nasty kind that was in the video of the 12 Most Dangerous Animals of the World. The beach is netted for protection from the nasties, but still is no guarantee. None of this information is on their site. I wonder why?

Okay, their place is lovely, the pool is exactly like the photo. All around the pool are lush plants of the tropical kind, both naturally planted and landscaped. They are more than hospitable and generous with their time. One major point for them is that they have free WiFi connections.

We booked a day trip to the reef, but not the Great Barrier, to an island. They told us that the problem with the great barrier reef was that due to recent storms and other storms threatening, the reef was so covered in whirling sand that it would be difficult to see anything. However, the other three guests here are booked for that trip already, since they booked before the storms came in. They will also be snorkeling from a boat, which is not the best. Once you are tired out, you are done. Snorkeling from land is much better to pace your energy.

So now here is the problem with the location. We decided to go to dinner, so we walked to the end of the street to catch the bus, which only runs once an hour. Just as we started walking out, the bus flew by, so back to the house we went to wait an hour. We left early, but again, a bus passed us by. We decided to wait it out in case there was more than one bus. We waited an hour, but the only bus we flagged down was going in the wrong direction. After moving to the other side of the street, we waited another half hour when a bus arrived. The female driver told us she does not go to where we wanted, but she would drop us off. There was no one else on the bus anyway.

The place Andrew and Bob sent us to was a strip mall. There was only one restaurant open, the mall attached was closed with the exception of the grocery store. We had to settle for Roberto's pizza with beers bought at the bottle store next door. There does not seem to be anything local here, which confirmed our impressions when they told us they were ordering out from a take-away restaurant for the other guests if we wanted to order. It is not like we can walk a few blocks and have choices, let alone a Starbucks or Gloria Jeans. I am not going to like it here, I can tell.

After dinner, we had to wait for the bus due at 9:50, because I saw the 8:50 whizzing on by. Everything closes at 9:00 in this strip mall, so we had to stand on the highway where we thought the bus would stop. After waiting in the pitch dark, no stars, no moon, no lighting, we had real concerns that when the bus came flying by, it would not see us anyway. By luck a taxi drove by and we flagged it down. It cost us $13.00 for the ride, but since he did not know the street we were on and it was not on his GPS, we gave him general directions. It was the wrong end of Bondi Street. In the black of night, we walked all of Bondi, hoping our street intersected at some point. It did. At the very end, we found our street, but I was a little panicked at the time thinking we were going to wander for hours before we found it. I had my phone with me, so as a last ditch effort, I could have called them for directions, but did not want to seem like helpless Americans, regardless of feeling like one.

This is definitely the tropics of Australia. It is hot and humid with monsoon and cyclone warnings all of the time. It is so hellish hot, getting out of the shower, you never get dry with sweat replacing shower water.

I am not going to like it here, I can tell.

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