This site was created to help our friends and family to track our whereabouts while we're down under and to upload our pictures. Now no one has to sit and go through an hour of pictures when we get back and I don't have to tell the same story a million times!
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The first series of pictures is up. They're not the best as it was cold, rainy, foggy and I was shaking from the cold at some points. So much for being Canadian eh? Some of the pictures aren't sharp but we kept them for now. I forgot to install a photo editor on the laptop so they haven't been retouched in any way.
We're located right on the edge of ChinaTown and there's a market in there with some amazing deals. We immediately thought of Carol when we saw it...she'd be in heaven! It's almost overwhelming, you don't know where to start! Check out the Police "smartcar". It's the only one we saw like it.
First thing we did in Sydney was go to the Aquarium while we waited for our room to be ready. In one of the pictures where it shows a tunnel, there is a big black shape on top. This was a massive sting ray. Absolutely phenomenal! Also saw some nice close ups of a variety of sharks.
We couldn't see much in the Blue Mountains (tour) which is a shame since Jennifer hasn't been there before but it was still OK. The rain and mist gave the area more of a rainforest perspective. We also went to a zoo where Jennifer got to pet a koala (very wooly) and a kangaroo. Throwing a boomarang is more difficult than it looks but we managed to get it up in the air. We also went to the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Our tour guide had worked there at the time and knew what to see.
We had Kangaroo (medium rare) and Prawns last night at Nick's cafe on Darling Harbour, which was highly recommended by our tour guide for properly cooked roo. Kangaroo is like having the best steak, without the hormones, the fat / cholesterol. They're not farmed here but simply shot in the wild so it's a wild meat but without any "wild" taste for those who don't like that sort of thing. We ordered a really good Cabernet Sauvignon from Chapel Hill....and Jennifer had all of it except for one glass....too funny.
Today we're going to do a walk through of Sydney. Maybe do a Sydney Harbour Cruise and see the Opera House. The weather is crappy again (rain) but with a high of 18 it shouldn't be too bad. We're also going to go open our bank account so that we have moola for the rest of the trip. :-)
Anyway, that's it for now. Not very thorough but we've got some walking and drinking to do.
Have a great day at work. ;-)
Den and Jenn
Well we're in Brisbane right now at the home of Mark Colletti and Lina Rechichi. They'll be getting married in Perth at the end of the month. They have an awesome home and are very hospitable. We'll get pictures of the house soon. Mark is a pilot for Virgin Blue airlines.
We're slowly getting familiar with the lingo here. They say "boot" instead of trunk, "Loo" instead of bathroom. "Rock melon" instead of cantaloupe, “bottle shop”instead of liquor store. In Sydney, when you are crossing the street, they have "Look Right" or "Look Left" printed on the ground for the benefit of NA tourists because too many were getting schmucked by oncoming traffic.! Also when walking on the sidewalks, you stick to the left instead of the right. Found out that one by trial and error.
When we first arrived in Sydney, it was 9C. So far, Sydney averaged about 17C - 19C and rainy. In Brisbane, it's currently in the upper 20's and sunny. Woohoo! Just as a side note, the gas prices here are between $1.30 - $1.40 per litre. Speaking of “petrol” we rented a car from the airport and managed to get to Mark and Lina’s house without killing ourselves, driving on the left hand side of the road. I had a mantra going, “Stick to the left, stick to the left, stick to the left”….. We purchased extra insurance for damage / collision just in case.
Yesterday we went to the Gardens in the middle of Brisbane. There are so many tropical trees. We got pictures of one Denis dubbed the "Testical Tree". You’ll understand when you see the pictures. ;-) Then we capped off the evening with a wonderful dinner at an Indonesian restaurant where we got a bit sauced. :-)
Today we walked to the market for fresh fruit for breakfast, and then drove to a hangar where we helped Mark move a plane that he’s building. Afterwards we took a drive through the Sunshine coast into the mountains. On one trail that we were walking on, wallabies were jumping out ahead of us, crossing the path. At one point I thought I saw some Koalas in a tree but they ended up just being tree knots.
Jennifer
Today Denis and I took the car and travelled to the Australian Zoo, home of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, and the Glass House Mountains, both located in the Sunshine Coast about 2 - 2.5 hours North of Brisbane. On the way there, we passed by a bush fire that was along the highway. Very sad. We had had a tour guide in Sydney tell us that most of these fires are caused by smokers flicking their butts out their cars.
Denis and I agreed that the zoo was one of the nicest we had seen. Very clean. Denis has pictures of some wild lizards that were running loose. Lots of native Australian animals. Keepers were walking dingos although you weren't allowed to touch them. Apparently they can be unpredicable. A massive island is being built on the zoo grounds to house gorillas and other primates, and elephants. It looks like it's going to be quite impressive. We did see the crocodiles being fed, however it's done now in a "crocoseum" sponsered by Animal Planet.
After spending a couple of hours at the zoo, we went to the Glass House Mountains on the way back to Brisbane. The mountains are actually ancient volcanos. The exterior sandstone eroded away and what was left was the hardened lava which gives the tips of the mountains their unusual look. Leaving the mountains we stopped at a cafe. Although closed, we noticed in the orchard behind the cafe a kangaroo hopping about. It's neat to think that Australians take roos for granted much like we would deer. We have deer and moose signs on our highways to indicate potential danger, they have roo signs. Occasionally you'll see some for koalas too.
Arriving back at Mark and Lina's, we had a great appetizer of mussels, calamari (the real thing) and other seafood on fettucini. After that, dinner was "wild" baramundi (fish) which was quite delicious.
Jennifer
Today Denis and I took the car and travelled to Noosa Heads where we had an absolutely amazing time. It's on the Sunshine Coast and was "re-discovered" in the mid-1980's by surfers when it basically just had shacks. Now it's laid back community of surfers with some exclusive shops along Hasting Street. The water was chilly at first at Laguna Beach where we parked the car but you quickly got used to it. The sand squeaked for some reason when you walked on it. From the beach, we walked along a coastal pathway to Noosa National Park. Along the way to the park, the beach gave way to rocks and we got some great photos of myself on them. At the park we took the Coastal route which meant you were walking along the edge of a cliff. No railings and you had to walk one behind the other, passing others coming in the opposite direction with care. The views were phenomenal. At "Hell's Gate" the route ended and we continued on another path which took us into the interior of the forest. We have a picture of the map showing the routes. At Hell's Gate there was the Alexandria Beach. The only way to get to this beach is to walk these routes. This explained the people we saw with surf boards along the cliff edge! Cuttle fish bones were scattered everywhere and a sign indicated that swimming was not recommended as the ocean pull was very strong. Leaving the beach we caught sight of a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos. It's funny how you see parrots and parrakeets flying wild. Denis said the Galah can sell for almost $5000 in North America. On the forest route we got a great photo of a bush turkey. He seemed territorial so we moved on. By the time we were finished, we had walked 7km. Back at the entrance to the park there was a monitor lizard walking around the BBQ pits. Big thing. Kept following a turkey. Didn't see any wild koalas though.
To go back to the car we went along Hastings Street which has an eclectic mix of eclusive shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. You'd need a week to see all of it.
All in all, Noosa was somewhere where we both agreed would be our ideal place to live. It's clean, friendly, and interesting without a city atmosphere but with limitless activities. The photos speak for themselves.
Jennifer
Today Mark and Lina took us for a tour of the Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise) which is South of Brisbane. Basically it's like Daytona Beach / Miami from what I'm told. Surfers and bars. Lots of money too. The malls have Versace, Escada, Louis Vuitton, etc. If you want to buy something be prepared to fork out $1000 plus to just get you started. It has the only Versace hotel in the world whose lobby we walked into. It also boasts the tallest residential tower in the world. Denis got a picture of it. Other than that, as described by Mark and Lina, it's a concrete jungle that meets the ocean. We didn't stay for long as it wasn't a place with much substance. At least we could say that we were there.
Afterwards we went to Mount Tambourine. The roads are extremely steep and signs are posted warning motorists of this. We stopped at one lookout where paragliders jump off the face. Just like that. Run down the decline and then...nothing! There was one guy preparing to do this as we were leaving. Some people had remote controlled gliders and were flying them. Again no railings and definitely not a place to bring children! Absolutely spectacular though.
For lunch we went to the St.Bernard Hotel where they had the backyard eating terrence on the face of the mountain. Again awesome views. They also had a peacock and two peahens. The peacock was in full display when we came upon him, right in front of us like a pigeon in a park. It was so interesting to see one at your feet. The feathers were absolutely beautiful.
After lunch, we went to the Tambourine Nature Walk which was a real rainforest with a waterfall at the end. The trees / palms / ferns were amazing. A kookaburra came close to us and we also encountered a bush turkey with her chicks. A slight drizzle added to the ambience. The forest was so dense that it was actually dim to see.
Tambourine Mountain was defintely the highlight of the day. Tomorrow we pack and leave for Cairns (Great Barrier Reef), so I guess it's laundry night tonight!
Jennifer
This is just a quick update with a few pictures...more to come. These pics are from a photographer that goes down with everyone. Of course there's only one pic to me! Jennifer took a couple of introductory dives and did well. There are some good pictures of her with the coral and "Nemo(s)". I also took some pics which I'll upload soon but I quickly discovered that I need a better flash...like a huge flash. The red spectrum is quickly absorbed by the density of the water so without a flash everything looks green/blue. So, from this trip I've come to the conclusion that I need a camera with manual focus (I couldn't take good pictures of a Kookabura since the autofocus kept picking up the branches instead of the birds) and I need a hotshoe for the flash (since I can't force the flash to go off everytime). OK, that's it for me. You'll get a better description from Jennifer. I just like to complain. :-)
Denis
Well I did it! I actually went diving! A foot down or so I panicked a bit because I felt like I wasn't getting any air. The instructor laughed, said it was nerves, adjusted my respirator anyways for my comfort, and away I went. I had to go into "yoga mode" and relax my body in order to relax my breathing. It was really cool! I might even look into getting certified when we get back to Canada. We practiced getting water out of our masks and our of the respirators, some hand signals. Just enough of an introductory to get us around. Didn't see any sharks, just a big beaver (Denis, hardy har har!). I paid for 2 dives and I was the only one in the Intro group that wanted to go the second time so it was just me and the instructor which was quite nice. Since I swim well, her and I just took our time figure-eighting around the reefs. Saw a huge parrot fish, named so because of it's beak. It was like swimming underwater in a big aquarium. It was so clear. Cairns doesn't have any beaches, just an inner city water park and mud flats (mangroves) where crocodiles are sometimes spotted. In our Fodor's book, Cairns is usually used as a base, then most people take tours elsewhere. It's loaded with backpackers so there's definitely a bohemian atmosphere. Wednesday (Day 12) will be spent wandering the city, Thursday we've booked a tour to go on a Port Douglas, Moss Gorge, Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation tour. It's suppose to be all day so we're looking forward to that. Friday will be a lazy day and then Saturday morning it's off to Ayer's Rock.
Jennifer
Well, we were suppose to go to Daintree today however we decided to go diving again instead. Daintree we'll do on Friday. This time, instead of a big yacht (white boat, black glass windows, that type of thing), we went on a sailboat that was travelling to Green Island which was a 2 hour boat ride from the Cairns mainland. Once there, Denis took off with the other certified divers, I had to do another Intro dive as I'm not certified. Before the Intro group went out, they had us do some snorkelling while the certified group went out. At one point I noticed that I was at the edge of the reef as the ocean was getting much darker on my other side plus myself and the two others I was with were drifting farther than the others from the boat. My Canadian lake water logic stipulates that if you go into the middle of the group, those on the outside will get eaten first (I have a dark water paranoia). So I'm putting my face back into the water to get around the two others I'm with when I see a shark underneath me. Murphy's Law. As it's dorsal fins were tipped, it looked like a black tipped reef shark swimming away from the reef into the ocean. Another lady saw it too so it wasn't my mind getting carried away. Denis is not happy as he wanted to see one but didn't.
There were more wildlife on this trip; giant clams, wrasse, parrotfish, etc than the first dive tour with Tusa, although Tusa I found to be more instructional which I benefited from. There are also these huge fish called 'trebally' (sp?) that when a member of the crew threw out salami pieces into the water, these fish would "run" towards it like a pack of dogs would, hitting the same spot at the same time with enough force that one or two would come jumping out of the water. I wanted to take some home to put in our lake at the cottage just for the high entertainment value!
Once the tide went out, we were brought to the island where we could do the beach thing or wander to the croc farm or Green Island Resort. I opted for the beach while Denis went diving again. On the way back to the Cairns mainland, we had wine and platters of cheese, crackers, meats, breads and fruits while the crew put up the sails. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
Jennifer
Well, we were suppose to go on a tour to the Daintree rainforest today but the tour company screwed up and didn't put us on the manifest to get picked up at the hotel. So we rented a car and decided to do it by ourselves. The route there was like the Sea to Sky highway in BC according to Denis. Very winding. The first thing we did in Daintree once we got there about two hours later was go on a pontoon river cruise. We saw 3 crocs (2 small, 1 large one nestled in the water) in the mangroves. Lots of birds too were seen. Definitely one place were you don't want the boat to tip!
Afterwards we went to the Daintree Discovery Centre which has an aerial walkway and tree canopy tower. Audio guides explain everything that you see which was interesting. Denis was hestitant about the tower as it was a bit shaky but he managed to get to the top. Although we didn't see any wildlife and was a bit too "structured" for us what with the metal walkway and all, it was defintely educational.
It was good to see this first as we later went to Mosman Gorge and did a 3km nature walk in the rainforest. Denis has amazing pictures of one tree that is absolutely gargantuous. Photos almost don't do it justice. We were also stopped by a guy as we were climbing some stairs as a black snake was crossing our path. Not sure if it was poisonous or not, the guy said it was but that could have been snake paranoia.
Afterwards we went to Port Douglas which is a resort town close to Cairns but we were tired and thought that Noosa Heads near Brisbane was similar and nicer so we headed back to Cairns.
Jennifer
Leaving Cairns to go to Ayer's Rock, we bumped into Denis's friend Lochlan (the Australian guy who showed up at my Christmas party a couple of years ago). Completely small world, he was handing Denis his laptop at the security check point so that he could get at his stuff. They didn't even realize that they were one behind the other in line. We'll be meeting up with him again in Perth.
We are now in Ayer's Rock, or Uluru as the aboriginals refer to it. We are staying at the Ayer's Rock Resort which is absolutely lovely, very modern in design. Definitely a tourist trap though. Tomato soup at the "cheap" cafe was $17.50. So after Denis finished his $25 fish and chips and I finished my $16 Greek salad, we found the resort grocery store and decided to stock up on "picnic" items and a 10 litre box of water (like wine boxes). In the desert they recommend that you drink 1 litre of water for every hour outside. Went on some walking paths and saw some pinky-orange lizards and some cool ants. Lots of birds surprisingly.
Later that night we did the "Sounds of Silence" dinner. We were picked up from our hotel by bus and brought with about 70 others to a sand dune overlooking Ayer's Rock and the Olgas and watched the sun set over both monoliths with champagne and canapes. Seating was 8 to a table and everyone was very friendly. Everthing was inclusive including alcohol. Dinner was a buffet of kangaroo, ceasar-croc salad and other interesting items. A digiridoo was played before an astronomer came out to explain the star-scape we were seeing. Scorpio was directly overhead appropriately enough. Interestingly it was quite cold. I believe the temperature at night was getting down to 5 degrees celcius. We were advised by the hotel staff to wear pants and bring a jacket. The evening ended after 4 hours. We really enjoyed ourselves. The dinner is apparently award winning. We were also lucky as we were told the next day at dinner that recently people had to be brought back to the hotel as a sand storm suddenly occured in the middle of dinner. Can't control the weather I guess.
The next day we rented a car and went to see the Olgas and Ayer's Rock. Beautiful scenery. While we have pictures of people climbing the rock, there are notices everywhere saying not to out of respect to the aboriginals who consider it sacred. Also it's extremely steep. People have fallen off the rock while climbing or leaned to far over the edge once at the top (can you believe it!), or have had a heart attack at the top. They close the climb if the weather gets over 36 degrees or if there's wind. So we opted for the base walk which was 10km. It took us about 2.5 hours and lots of water. After the first hour you feel like more time should have passed but I think that's the dehydration talking. At one point I did wonder what the hell we were thinking but we reached the car with relief. We capped off the evening by rewarding ourselves to a fabulous fillet mignon gourmet dinner which I thought we'd have to re-mortgage the house for, but really wasn't that bad. Slept like logs.
Jennifer
Met Lina and Mark at the airport. Mark hopped a ride with us in our rental car and we were off to Pemberton, 3 hours away, for the "buck" party. I had my first experience driving in Australia after dropping the guys off, at night, "wrong" side of the road, "wrong" side of the car, in the country, in a strange village. It was great! Luckily I had been a passenger enough times to rethink the driving. While Denis and I have yelled enough times at each other in the car through out our trip, I'd say overall we haven't done that badly. No damage to anyone or anything. Hopefully I'm not jinxing it right now. We do prepare by buying the extra insurance so that our deductible is brought down to $300./p>
The next day, the guys and I went to a couple of parks, one of which was Gloucester Park. There stands the Gloucester Tree. It is a 61 metre tall Karri tree and is used as a fire lookout. To climb it means you have to climb in a sprial on 153 metal posts with nothing more than chicken wire on the outside of the posts, which in our opinion will do nothing if you slip. There are warnings that in some instances the climb is almost vertical. Denis said they would never have anything like this in Canada due to legal issues. I told him that because I went diving, he had to climb the tree. Half way up I was wondering what the hell I was thinking. My breathing and legs were starting to get a little shaky. Denis, always the trooper, continued behind me which made me continue as well. Murphy's Law again, it starts to drizzle. It's stated at the bottom of the tree not to climb if it's raining as the metal rods will get slippery. Not much you can do when you're halfway up but to keep trucking!. Once at the top we had our picture taken by another fellow although Denis wouldn't go near the edge. It turned out quite nice thank goodness. Denis did better on the climb down which was more my weaker vantage and took me longer. Of all of the walks, hikes, etc we've done so far, the tree climb was the only one I could feel in my legs. Denis says it was the scariest thing he's done but it's a fear conquered. One of the guys with us says he wouldn't do it because you don't know when a tree has root rot or something. Lovely.
One of the guys, Eugene, has an avocado farm and is the location of the week's "debauchery". Avocado trees look like apple trees and are about as big. He is also growing lemons and oranges and has a pond in the back of his property where there are wild "marron" (crayfish / lobster thing). Unfortunately it is raining and it's cold here (got the electric blanket going at night) so I might drive to some wineries or stroll down the main drag here to see a few of the shops. Supper doesn't seem to start here until 6pm and the whole village shuts down at 9pm so you have to plan your day accordingly. Tomorrow we're off to Perth.
Jennifer