Cairns, Australia - The Great Barrier Reef

 

We took a shore excursion to Green Island which is a natural preserve about 50 minutes by ferry from Cairns (pronounced Canes).  The first thing we learned is it’s jellyfish season in the ocean around Cairns/Green Island.  Now, these are not big blobby jellyfish, these are ‘stingers’ which are as small as your fingernail, and their venom can be fatal to humans.  Every snorkeler or swimmer or scuba diver were highly encouraged to rent a full boy neoprene wet suit which included shoes and close fitting cap as part of the suit.  I could just imagine trying to get my fat ass into that suit.  

The alternative to snorkeling was to ride around in a glass bottom boat to see a glimpse of the reef.  You can guess which one I picked.  This picture is from late in the day.  It was totally cloudy most of the time we were on the island.

Swimming Beach - Green Island
(Notice how few people are actually in the water.)

Green Island is also part National Park.  There is a boardwalk trail through the tropical rainforest.  It has informational signs along the walk, and it’s so short even I could do

Pacific Reef Egret

This gives you a chance to see how impenetrable a tropical jungle can be

It was hard to imagine how such a diverse tropical rainforest could appear on what is essentially a coral cay composed of coral rubble.  First, birds arrive and defecate all types of seeds some of which sprout.  As more vegetation arises, soil is actually built from the plant debris on top of the coral rubble.  Gradually, a cay with no life becomes a rainforest like Green Island.  

Without even really trying I found several species of birds all of which are shameless beggars.  Of course, you are directed not to feed them, but people told stories of holding a sandwich in one hand, and a bird swooping down and snatching it midair.  The following bird, a buff banded rail, walked around and would try for potato chips as it angled closer and closer to the picnic table.

This bird, an orange footed scrub fowl is a ‘digger’.  It was digging a hole, looking for worms, snakes or I don’t know what.  I did learn they don’t nest, but rather dig down into the earth to bury their eggs.

Black Noddy

The black noddy is a type of sea tern.  It lives in colonies and nests in trees.  Of course, this colony chose an area right over the boardwalk and the walkway was dotted with white bird droppings - about every 2 inches!  We raced through this area since the chances of getting your clothes ruined or your hair full of bird shit were quite high.  

Finally, it was time for the glass bottomed boat.  

The view of the reef was a bit disappointing, but at least I was prepared for it.  The reef is only full of ‘colors’ when the sun is directly shining on the water and the reef isn’t too deep.  Of course, it was overcast the day we took this boat.  It was still impressive.  There were so many types of fish and coral even if they were not brightly colored.

This shore excursion was a real bust.  I wish we’d gone to the aquarium in Cairns, but we really wanted to see the reef.  We had about 1.5 hours of activity and a two hour ferry ride.  We waited around in horrible heat and humidity to the point I was afraid I was getting heat exhaustion.  We couldn’t get on an earlier boat back to Cairns and the ship because they were totally booked.  The upshot was we waited three hours to get off Green Island.  UGH.

Coming into Cairns Harbor.

Darwin - Shop til you drop

The title of this should be an utter shocker.  We all know I rarely shop at home much less ‘on the road’ or should I say ‘on the ocean’.  I usually buy souvenirs at art museums in order to support the museum plus I’m already there.

However, Darwin, Australia is the most northern point in Australia and is the disaster capital of Australia.  At one point Cyclone Tracey nearly wiped Darwin off the coast about 50 years ago.  They also have tornadoes, flooding, tsunamis and fires.,  

If that isn’t bad enough, the climate is beastly.  Think Houston, Texas which I’ve always contended is the worst climate in the United States.  It’s also relatively isolated from the rest of Australia - not like the deep interior, but it is a long, long way from any other place. 

On the plus side, they pay handsomely for any skilled worker.  A policeman in Darwin has 7 weeks vacation a year the day he signs a contract.  There is subsidized housing, and a vehicle for his private use.  Other professions have equally generous packages.

Darwin is also closest to aboriginal communities, and because Darwin is on the cruise ship route, the art galleries and souvenir shops partner with aboriginal artists to sell their artwork.  I was thrilled because in an earlier blog I stated I was so enthralled with aboriginal art.  Thus, the majority of my purchases involved aboriginal art.  

I got an original painting as well as an original piece of jewelry with aboriginal themes.  Of course, I bought notecards and stationery (with platypus’ designs).  I got two t-shirts with Australian themes, and two pairs of sox.  Drake even got a shirt, and claimed one pair of the sox.  

Three hours of shopping, and we headed back to the ship.  I just couldn’t find anything close enough to see.  There’s a National Park, but it was too far to go since the ship left at 5:30pm.  We’ve learned that Holland America will wait for their own shore excursion groups, but not for anyone else’s.  

This is goodbye to Australia.  It’s been like trying to see the United States in ten days.  It’s just not possible.  I’ve said this trip is about getting the icing on the cake without ever really seeing the cake.  Well, Australia has been about smelling the icing!  I would hope to return, but that 20 hour flight is a big deterrent.  On to Komodo Island.

I managed to get a link of Darwin photos, but they aren’t much.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kUA3rCwC98E4JjQf6 

Magnetic Island, Australia

 

Townsville is on the western side of Australia.  This is the start of the Great Barrier Reef which is more like a passage between islands you can see above the water and reefs below the water.  This is where the ship is required to take on a specialty pilot whose job it is to guide a ship through the intricacies of the reef.  

Our excursion choice was to take a ferry to Magnetic Island from Townsville.  Lt. Cook, yes, the young man who eventually became Capt. Cook, named this island because he was sure something on this island was messing with his compass.  Not true, but the name stuck.  

Today it is mostly a National Park with Mount Cook in the dead center.  The British were as eager as the Americans to attach their names to places which already had names for thousands of years.  

Basically, we did a bus tour of the island because we were looking forward to getting up close and personal with koalas.  Just our luck, the koalas were sick, and we couldn’t visit them.  I’m glad we went to the Toronga Zoo in Sydney to see koalas.  Koalas are actually very shy in the wild, and they are hard to spot.  

On the plus side of the Magnetic Island excursion, we did get to see Rock Wallabies, and as a bonus, saw joeys in situ (in the pouch).  These animals hop like kangaroos, but are much smaller.  They were as tall as around your knee.

Since I can’t get a multiple picture ‘link’, here are some rock wallaby pictures.

Our tour guide brought sanctioned food, so we were surrounded!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a8lb3VmiwEGva18gKDOWp2UQ

(The above link is supposed to be a video, but I don’t know whether it will work or not.)

On to more pictures:

Notice the joey peeking out?  It is about 6-7 months old.  They start leaving the pouch at about 9 months old, but stay close to mom and dive back in for warmth or if they feel they are in danger.

The moms ate all the treats - carrots were the favorites.

We landed at Nelly Bay, a very small settlement on the fringe of the National Park.  The island is very hilly.  Mount Cook is a shade under 1500 feet high.

There were also interesting birds on the island.  It’s hard to get pictures, but this curlew was posing.

I also took pictures of some trees and plants on Magnetic Island

This is a beach vitex and was a sand holder all along the shore line.

This is a flowering evergreen.  Its common name is horsetail tree, and it’s a beach tree.

The beaches on Magnetic Island and the coastline of Townsville are sea turtle hatching sites.  These are sacred animals to the First People, and all Australians protect hatching sites.

The tall trees are ‘gum’ trees which is what all Australians call eucalyptus trees.  There are 900 varieties of gum trees spread over Australia.

There are huge gray granite boulders all over Magnetic Island.  Norwegian pines were introduced here, and the climate must be perfect because they are huge.

Back to Townsville (ship dock), and the harbor.

And, we’ll finish up with Drake

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xFR4a4zhQ417QdBo8

 

 

Canberra, Australia

When you have Australian friends, they are delighte when you come ‘down under’, and can’t do enough. To entertain you.  So how do we have Australian friends?  Drake and I met them in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2013.  We met our kiddos there for Thanksgiving.  I rented rooms for us in a B&B, and the only other people staying there were this lovely Australian couple.  Shocker:  Lancaster rolls up the sidewalks about 8pm, earlier on holidays, so we played cards, dice, and board games for several evenings with this couple.  I kept in touch, and they were super excited to host us when we told them we were coming to Australia.

They live in the capital of Australia, Canberra.  Canberra is a planed city, and it has all the national/governmental buildings.  We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and left mid day Saturday.  They provided a whirlwind tour.

Our first stop was the Australian National Museuem which houses a lot of First People (Aboriginal) art.  This art truly spoke to me.  It was powerful.  

 

That evening we attended the “Enlightened” festival.  The government buildings are lit in changing light patterns, and everyone walks around and looks at them.  Then, you eat ice cream!  The Aussies eat more ice cream than Americans.

On Friday we started at the National Art Museum.  It had some lovely works.  I discovered a famous Australian Bush Ranger (think outlaw in the sparsely settled regions) called Ned Kelly.  He’s an Australian icon, and our hostess was non-plussed to discover we’d never heard of him.  His claim to bush ranger fame was he wore a metal suit  while he was robbing people.

A famous primitive painter immortalized him in a series of paintings which are very popular.  This guy, Ned Kelly, is the equivalent to Jesse James.

There was also a stained glass house which drew my attention.

Aboriginal grave markers were something I’d never seen.  (These are reproductions/new works - not the actual markers.). They are about six feet tall.  

Finally, here is a genealogy record of ONE aboriginal family.  Ordinarily, this would be passed on orally, but the artist decided to write it down.  The sheer numbers of generations is astounding.  These First People arrived in Australia 65,000 years ago.  If you look at these pictures carefully, you’ll notice a few ‘holes’.  These represent massacres by the English.  

Genological record of an Aboriginal Family

Canberra has the most beautiful Parliamentary House I’ve ever seen.  This is 21st century architecture at its best.  The architectural committee decided not to copy the ‘capital dome’ which is very 19th century.  Instead of a dome, they have an upswoop of aluminium ribbons in a triangle with the Australian Commonwealth flag at the apex

Sorry about my finger!  We are actually walking on top of the Parliament building which is sodded with grass.  There are great pictures from the top of this building of the countryside as well as other monuments.  Australians have a great sense of humor.  There is a complete Parliament building constructed out of Legos.  Here’s the front of the Lego building and you can see how the Capital swoop looks in relation to the real building.  There’s also a glass pyramid which is similar to the Louve.  The Australian guide was quick to point out ‘their’ pyramid  was first.  Here’s the front of the Lego Parliament:

 

Sheep grazing on the top of the

Parliament Building

 

Protesters out front

Representative’s Chamber

Three flags fly over Australia:  The Commonwealth flag; the First People’s Flag’ and the Torres Straits Flag.  Here are all three in the Representative’s Chamber:

This is the real Representatives’ Chamber.  When Parliament is in session, there is a mace laid in place in the Chamber

The trough in front of the white boxes is where is Mace lays when Parliament is in session

The symbol of the House of Representatives is a square.  This symbol is repeated throughout the ‘house’ side of the Parliament Building.  It stands for the idea that Representatives come from all sides of the country with competing ideas.

 

The dominant color of the House side of the chambers are all shades of what could be called Australian green. It’s a dusty looking color of the ‘bush’.  

The dominant side of the Senate is all shades of the Australian desert.  It’s a dark pinkish red.

The Senate also has a symbol.  It is a circle which symbolizes the compromises the Senate makes to get legislation passed.

Another moving symbol of the Capital is the building at the other ed of the Capital Mall.  It is the War Memorial.

The War Memorial is the building with the dome.  The white building i front is the temporary capital while the real one was being built.  The POINT is for legislators to remember what war actually costs before starting one.  

Finally, I want to show you one piece of art which was my favorite.  It is a very large tapestry of the Australian bush.

This portion includes Halley’s Comet which appeared when the tapestry was finished

This portion contains the Australian White Cockatoo

I could go on and on about the art in the Capital Building.  I’ll just share one picture of Aboriginal Art:

The Australian birds are totally different from European/American birds.  We saw flocks of White Cockatoos flying over the trees at our friends’ house.  There were other colorful birds as well as a Black Cockatoo.

We also saw kangaroos in the wild thanks to both our friends as well as the extremely knowledgeable guide, Kerstin, who came out of retirement to give her Parliament House tour.  I could write and write about all the knowledge she imparted. I just hope I’ve done her justice.  

Kangaroos hanging out at the Royal Canberra Golf Course - they like to eat the grass!

Our friend, Dr. Mathews is a theologian who is moving toward retirement, but she is still a supervising professor to some doctoral candidates. Her campus is part of the Charles Stuart University.  Here is a billion year old rock at the start of the labyrinth which is part of the seminary school.

Finally, a snapshot of the Australian cattle raising countryside out of the train as we whizzed by on our way to get on the ship.  

Normally, I would have oodles of photos, but I’m still struggling with this slow internet.  We don’t hit port for another two days, so perhaps I can get a better signal and I will send everyone links to pictures.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PJYHtWjtaqPgHVyo8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/a4JVBBhzHhPqaW479