Downunder Finale ... Dec 16/17, 2016

Our original gang of 22 in New Zealand on November 22nd. 

Our Road Scholar group spent an entire month tromping through New Zealand and Australia, both comparatively remote island nations with unique biodiversity.  We did our best to protect and, at the same time, appreciate those special environments.  We learned as we toured, from the Seacoast to Rotarua's geyser to the Outback and the Great Barrier Reef, and including Sydney's one-of-a-kind Opera House, and, speaking for me and Jimmy, it was our great good fortune to be a part of such a dynamic group.  We met a whole lot of nice people on this trip, made new friends.  Jimmy and I owe a huge thank you to Albert Sword, our group leader, who put up with us for that long month. 😉 Honestly, he shepherded us every step of the way -- thank you, Albert.

Meeting before dinner that last night, the group shared its memories and highlights, what stood out, what meant the most to each person.  Uniformly, we agreed that the exchange of ideas (or our enlightenment) was singularly the greatest gift, and realizing how little we really knew was the biggest surprise.  Our in-depth absorption of other political systems and cultures, geology, local flora and fauna, and so much more, propelled us along; the month flew by.  Did I mention fun?  Every day we participated in adventures!  It was all grand fun ... yet it was time for the journey to end, and for us to return to our everyday lives.  We were saddened at the thought.

On our last night in Cairns, had a lovely "Farewell to Australia" dinner at the hotel, (above) with complimentary wine, or, in our case, Bundaberg Ginger Beer. I thought the ginger beer was very tasty (never had it before).  

Here's another new bird for me, and it was on the ground right outside our room before we checked out Thursday morning -- a Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles), aka Masked Plover, native to Australia. It has an all-white neck and large yellow wattles, and a black hair-do ... makes for a strange face!  Of course you knew I'd post another bird picture!

And a closer-up of the red Schefflera flowers, also just outside our room.

If you enlarge it, you will see they look like berries at this stage.

Friday morning, we packed our bags one more time, and at 10:30am, we boarded our coach to the airport and the 3-hour flight to Sydney, the staging area for our return to the states. Cairns, below, was a wonderful area to visit.  That's the Barron River running through it.

Our flight took us over the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef, which was a real delight.

The aqua color below?  They're reefs.

We overnighted in Sydney, breaking bread at dinner in our hotel one final time with our trip buddies. Saturday morning, the 17th, Day 31 of our trip, we closed those suitcases a final time, checked out of the hotel, and boarded the coach for the Sydney airport.  There were hugs all around at the airport, and we said our bittersweet farewell to Albert.

I know we were onboard the Qantas Airbus 380 (double decker) and ready to roll down the runway at 11:10am when I took the photo below.  Technically, we took off Saturday morning at 11:30, and we landed at LAX (Los Angeles) on Saturday morning at 6:30, crossing the International Date Line and the Equator.  Back to the future?  Nope, back into yesterday!  We landed before we took off?  Talk about screwing up your inner time clock!

Because we left in daytime when the body is normally awake, it was difficult to sleep on the 14-hour flight to Los Angeles.  Eventually we "ran into" darkness, and I guess I dozed (Jimmy slept), but I promise you that it took us (me, especially) a full week to return to Pacific Standard Time and "normal."  Truth be told, we were worn out.  Oh well, we managed.

Don't know if you can read this, but they fed us well and often aboard Qantas.

From Los Angeles, Jimmy and I boarded our LAST flight of this trip (the 13th flight) to Sacramento. It was delayed, which was good because that meant Matt could (and did) pick us up at the airport around 1pm.

We had another trip scheduled in our motor home (Tergel) beginning Wednesday, Dec 28th, for a week in Pasadena at the Rose Parade.  And Christmas was mixed in there, too!  With jet lag, and Christmas, and topsy-turvey weather (from warm Southern Hemisphere summer to cold Northern Hemisphere winter), it didn't take us long to realize we'd overextended ourselves (to put it mildly). Hey, we survived!  But, we learned a lesson ... let a little grass grow under our feet between trips!

"An Odyssey Down Under" -- Rewarding, enjoyable, worthwhile, a bucket list fantasy come true, yes; the best of the best.  Thank you, Road Scholar.  (If you would like to read the entire trip, click on "Road Scholar 2016" under Labels at left, or if you prefer a certain section, click on it; i.e., Australia, New Zealand, or even individual cities, such as Auckland or Sydney.  Some of the posts might seem long, but those adventurous, full days equal long posts!  Enjoy!)

Ohhhhh, I wonder what 2017 will bring?

Oh, what a day ... Thursday, 12/15/16

This was our last full day in Australia; in fact, today was the last day of our month-long journey Downunder.  So, we made the most of it, you know, make hay while the sun shines! In the tropical rainforest, the sun will shine!

When we left our room for breakfast, I automatically walked around the corner to the end of our fourth floor hotel balcony, just to look around, and came face-to-face with the cutest, uh, teddy-bear like, bat, snugly wrapped in its own cape and lookin' me right in the eye.  If you needed a jolt to get you awake, that'd do it!

Good morning!

After breakfast and a lecture from Brian, an expert who was (among other pursuits) one of the last professional crocodile hunters and who lives in the rainforest, we boarded our coach for a short trip up to the Village of Kuranda, a mountain retreat in the rainforest.  I say "up," because the village is about 1,000' above Cairns, though only 15+ miles away.  It's a beautiful place to visit, filled with flowers and ferns and trees and critters unlike we've yet seen.

First thing I saw?  This pair of Stone Curlews.

We walked about the town, poking into shops, agog over the "landscape."  The trees are unique and massive; in fact, everything we saw growing was over-the-top!  A couple of examples below:

One huge Ficus (Curtain fig), and me.

Heliconia or false bird of paradise of some kind.  

As Jimmy and I meandered, we came across this vintage 1942 C-47, manufactured in Long Beach, CA, destined for Australian shores as part of the USA 5th Air Force, and nicknamed, "GERONIMO." After the war, it became a work horse in various venues and places.  In 1983, it was repainted and renamed "Miss Fortune" for a movie called "Sky Pirates," and -- long story shortened -- ended up, in pieces, right here, where you see Jimmy.  And apparently being swallowed by the jungle.

Good food, and lots of iced tea and water, perfect ... we were all thirsty.  Sitting under shade on the deck, listening to birds and admiring the lush plant diversity, plus the entertainment (below) made for a nice lunch.

Eastern Water Dragon  -- three of them roamed the deck at Frog's, at our feet!  And these dudes aren't dinky little lizards!  The biggest one was approx 18" long.  I guess they're the rainforest's version of a beggar dog!  Someone dropped a piece of bread near one of them, but that wasn't the ticket.  They're vegetarians ... he should've dropped a piece of lettuce!

Papaya tree with fruit and a windmill (?) just off Frog's deck.

I used to have a Schefflera houseplant, many years ago when I lived in SoCal, easy to grow, not too big.  Then there's the rainforest kind, called Umbrella Trees (Schefflera actinophylla), 50' tall, with bright red flowers on long spikes that radiate out of the end of each branch, rich nectar food source for Honeyeaters and Rainbow Lorikeets.  I nearly fell over when learned they were in the Schefflera family ... we saw quite a few.

Australian Bush turkey, just scratching around, like chickens and turkeys do.

Not very pretty.  Again, we saw more than one.

Following lunch, the group had an easy walk to the Skyrail Cableway.  There we boarded cable cars for a stunning cableway excursion, sweeping above the rainforest canopy, that left us breathless, at least for me and Jimmy, Bernice and Ibby.  The entire trip lasted about 90 minutes, including a stop at Red Peak Station for a guided tour (via boardwalk) of the forest floor.  Wonder how many towers from to beginning to end?  33 towers in 7.5km, wow!  

We crossed Barron River at least once, and somewhere between Towers 18-25, our cable car seemed close enough to the canopy, that leaves looked almost within reach!  Bernice and I braced ourselves approaching each tower, usually accompanied by a "whoa" as we passed beneath it.

With the approach of the rainy season, Barron Falls wasn't a spectacular show, but it looked good to us.  We also liked the guys in the photo below. 💕 Ibby on the left, Jimmy on the right.  Cool guys in their hats.

From the cable car, I saw a lot of something that had me wondering, and when I asked later, I found out the yellow/ish whip-like "cords" I saw were part of a plant called Golden Lawyer Cane, a type of palm (Calamus australis).  It really stood out amongst all the green.  Don't know if you can spot it in the photo above.  Maybe enlarge the pic.

Returning to Cairns.  Really enjoyed this ride!

All day, we saw an array of Epiphytes -- staghorn, elkhorn, basket and bird's nest ferns.  

Even an orchid or two.

Back to Cairns, we regrouped and walked to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Park, which was quite an eye-opener.  We learned so much about the lifestyle of these northern coastal Aborigines. 

First we "got painted."  Lightly on me, please.

Playing the Didgeridoo.  What a sound!

This is a fierce warrior (from New Zealand?) 😀

Dancing a traditional corroboree.  You can tell the Americans from the native Australians ... they're the ones in western clothes.  Linda in blue shorts, then Ron, Ibby, Mary partially hidden, and Bob toward the right-hand side.  They managed to "do" a pretty good dance, while the rest of the audience joined in by singing and clapping.

Indoors, the gathering and cooking of bush foods, and medicinal values of native foods, was an interesting, hands-on presentation.  We watched a fire-making ceremony ... starting a fire like they did in ancient times, before matches, and then we trooped out to a field for boomerang and traditional "milay" spear throwing.  My first try at pitching the boomerang nearly lopped off someone's head (kidding), but on the THIRD try, my boomerang did a bat-turn and came back to me.  Jimmy did great on the spear throwing.  We'll probably never do these activities again, but it was fun giving it a try.

Finally, we posed one last time for a group photo, and I think we look as happy as a group of people who have successfully completed a fantastic one-month journey "on the other side of the planet," enjoying almost every moment.  Look at those smiles!  Life is good.

Great Barrier Reef! Wednesday, 12/14/16

We shook off that red rock desert ennui the moment we stepped off the plane on Tuesday evening into Cairns, "where the rain forest meets the reef."  The grounds of our Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort are filled with abundant, lush tropical plants and flowers, and exotic birds.  We were happy to be here.  

First order of business was the introduction of Sue, our site coordinator, and Dave, our field guide ... he's the guy who gave a marvelous lecture that evening on the Great Barrier Reef, complete with slides, and the guy who will be with us tomorrow when we cruise out to the reef.  Cut to the chase!

Wednesday morning, we're boarding the 105' luxury catamaran, Ocean Spirit, at 8:30am for our day trip to Michaelmas Cay.  They have a great website, complete with a map of where the cay is located in relation to Cairns, and photos.  Check it out.

Bernice and I stood at the bow, watching, feeling the wind on our faces.  Sure, those are rain clouds. This is the tropics, warm and humid, with intermittent sun and squalls.  We did not care about rain, but when it started, we went aft and under cover.

This has to be one of the most colorful trios I've ever seen.  Albert, Ibby and Jimmy greeting y'all. Ibby is tall, but not that tall ... he was standing on tippy-toes!  What a merry-lookin' bunch o' pirates!

Our first look at Michaelmas Cay.  I thought it would be bigger, like an island.  One other cruise boat was here before us.  As our boat closed in, I realized the cay was bigger than it originally looked, but devoid of trees or vegetation, like a long sandy spit.

After dropping anchor, a fish-feeding frenzy took place on the port side.

For those not too claustrophobic, a short cruise in a semi-submersible for coral-viewing was included. Jimmy and I have overcome most of our claustrophobia, and we opted to go, so we could view what a scuba diver might see.

And it was great!  Even with tinted windows, the blue coral was a standout.  Seeing my first giant clam was neat.  Blue and yellow fusilier reef fish were plentiful (below).

Initially when we entered the water, the sky looked ominous behind the Ocean Spirit and Jimmy.  He was getting ready to snorkel in the clear, warm sea water; all equipment and wet suits were provided by Ocean Spirit, the suits mainly to keep us from sunburn while in the water.  The clouds finally passed and when the sun shone on the coral, it was like a magic wand had been waved, and everything below came into sharp focus and brilliant color.

What a win-win-win for me!  Not only do we enjoy a boat ride to the cay and we get to spend a very long time snorkeling, I find out that Michaelmas Cay is recognized as one of the most important seabird breeding sites in the Great Barrier Reef! This small vegetated cay is an ideal habitat for thousands of ground nesting seabirds (with up to 20,000 birds observed at the height of nesting and breeding season during Summer months), especially many varieties of Terns.  (I didn't see any vegetation today, but I saw thousands of birds!)

Ahoy, there, mates!

A rope (fence) is there to protect the nesting seabirds,

people on one side, birds on the other.

Common (Brown) Noddies with lots of chicks.

Brown Boobies feeding their chick.

Seemed like most everybody had a chick.

A guano-besmirched sign about the nesting birds on Michaelmas Cay.  I saw:  Brown boobies, Common Noddies, Sooty Terns, Crested Terns and Lesser Crested Terns, Black-naped Terns, and a few Gulls.  Dave saw a Red-footed booby, but I missed it.

While I watched from my side of the fence, these two Common Noddies on their side got involved in a serious dispute!  Two feet (that would be 24") and one rope separated us.

When we were finally dragged out of the water (as usual, last ones out), and changed into dry clothes, a really good buffet lunch was served, plus beverages and snacks later as we neared Cairns.  Jimmy and I could easily have spent a week on the cay!  Sorry, we didn't take an underwater camera with us while we snorkeled ... we simply wanted to enjoy what we saw.  I think I was most impressed with the numbers of giant clams (and the beautiful colors of their mantles).  Yes, we saw lots of colorful sea life; it was grand.

Many people we've talked with ask about the reef, and if we saw a lot of dying coral.  The answer is, no, the coral we saw looked alive and healthy.  Such a variety, too!  If you want to see pictures of the Great Barrier Reef, Google it and drool over the photos!  We loved our day out on the reef today!

Would you just look at this tree in front of our hotel?  What are those things hanging up in the branches?  Bats, oh yeah, big ol' fruit bats, almost like creatures from the movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers!"  Naw, not really, they're harmless pollinators.  We sure didn't expect to see a tree full, though!

Later, Bernice and Ibby, Jimmy and I went out to dinner, choosing a restaurant on the waterfront called Dundee's, followed by a leisurely stroll in the balmy evening air, back through the Christmas lights to our hotel. Remember, we're still workin' up to Christmas!

And a pleasant goodnight to all from the gang in Cairns!

Tomorrow we visit the rain forest.