Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A view of the resort at Hamilton Island
Fourth and Final Blog From Our Australia and New Zealand Holiday

Our fourth week in Australia began on Hamilton Island. A very nice family resort location. Golf carts are everywhere on this island.  They are the primary mode of transportation. And since most of the drivers don’t pay attention to any of the traffic signs it is a pedestrian beware location. Snorkeling was only fair off of Hamilton Island but I did get to snorkel with two large turtles for about 15 minutes with no one else around. Unfortunately one of our boat tours of the Whitsundays Islands that I was looking forward to taking was cancelled because not enough people signed up. Since three meter waves were forecasted for the day Kathy was not too disappointed about the cancellation.  Kathy and I spent the day sea kayaking and hiking to the highest point on Hamilton Island.  Here are some pictures from our hike.

There were quite a few butterflies on our walk to the highest point on the island. This was the prettiest.
This picture is for John Miller.  In Africa he laid down in the dirt to get a picture of mushrooms. This fungi is much prettier and I took this picture standing up.
Sunset shot from one tree hill.  This is such a popular spot for sunset that the resort sets up a bar every evening.

Sunrise from the hotel beach.

After three days on Hamilton Island we flew to Brisbane and spent more of those Hilton points. The highlight of our Brisbane stay was catching up with Susan and Larry Dio.  They cooked us a nice dinner at their home.  It was so nice to see them and have a home cooked meal.

We visited the Botanic Gardens and walked through the city center. Here are a few pictures from Brisbane.




This guy was just hanging around on the south bank of the Brisbane River
Emu with a bad hair day
A lizard who was visiting a Wombat enclosure. I thought he was colorful.  I wish I knew his name.
Our time in Australia spun to a close, now we are off to New Zealand.
Our time in Australia was now complete and we flew to Auckland and spent even more of those Hilton points.  We decided to stay on the North Island this trip. We visited the Auckland Art Gallery to see an exhibit titled from Degas to Dali. It must have inspired me to take the following pictures which are not my typical landscapes.



The picture captures Auckland. Areas of beauty and some areas a little gritty.

After three days in Auckland we caught the bus up to Paihia. I didn’t know we were leaving the sun behind when we left Auckland. Paihia is a resort community set on the shore of the Bay of Islands. Sun makes the world go round in this location. Lucky for us we scheduled a tour of the Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga and left the rain behind. Cape Reinga is the northern most point on the North Island. The souls of Maori people leave New Zealand from this location and head back to their home island. So it is a very sacred location for the Maori.


Cape Reinga Lighthouse

The Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet just beyond the Lighthouse.
After visiting Cape Reinga it was off to the Ninety Mile Beach for a little sand boarding  and a drive down the beach. Since I was the one sand boarding I don’t have any pictures to post. I expect Kathy will be posting some pictures on Facebook. Here is a picture of the bus on the beach.  The speed limit on the beach is 100km/hr.

Rental Car agreements won't let you drive down the beach so this bus is the best way to get here.
Ninety Mile Beach
Kauri Forest Boardwalk

The sun has set on our trip and today we begin the long flights home.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Third Blog From Australia

Our third week in Australia began with the longest drive of the trip, 500km, from Halls Gap to Adelaide. The drive was made even longer by 17 construction zones, although watching a small steam roller flatten the asphalt on a pipeline cut for 10 minutes was quite exciting.

Upon reaching Adelaide we were once again roughing it Kathy style by staying in the Intercontinental Hotel for two nights. (Goodbye to all of my Holiday Inn points) We rushed down to the river to catch the sunset but clouds at the horizon spoiled any opportunities to get a good photo. The best shot of the day is below.

Twilight Rower
 The next morning we headed to the botanic gardens and the zoo. The botanic gardens was advertising their Amazon Water Lilly exhibit.  We expected to see multiple flowers in bloom and were a little surprised to see only one flower.
The only Amazon Lily Bloom

Sharing the lily pond with the Amazon flower were several nice Blue Lotus of Egypt flowers.


The Adelaide Zoo was the most expensive zoo I have ever visited. $31.50 a person, ouch.  It had a wonderful panda exhibit but the rest of the zoo was disappointing.  The next morning there was an article in the paper and several editorial comments complaining about the zoo’s cost. Here are a few panda pictures.

Wang Wang, the male, on the prowl
Funi, the female, enjoying some bamboo
Funi
A White Cheeked Gibbons baby playing while mom supervises.

We enjoyed several good meals in Adelaide included one of the best Thai meals I have ever eaten. Haigh chocolates are pretty good too.

After a day and a half in Adelaide we headed to Uluru (Ayers Rock) hoping to capture that iconic shot of a red glowing Uluru against the twilight blue sky. But we didn’t see the sun for almost three days.

Here is a sunset picture from our first night there.  

Uluru with no sunshine

The Voyages Resort at Yulara owns all of the hotels outside of the park.  This was the first time and I hope last time we spent $240 to stay in a room with bunk beds. 

Since it was raining the next morning we took a few pictures of Uluru up close to capture the water falls.
Water cascading down Uluru

There are black stains where the water runs down Uluru
There are quite a few holes in Uluru
 

After a non-eventful rainy sunrise we headed off to Kings Canyon. During our three hours drive I saw my first road kill camel. We stopped briefly at Curtin Springs in the outback for a short break and a little gasoline. I paid the equivalent of $9/gallon; another first for me.

Since it was cloudy the temperatures were low enough for us to take the Canyon Rim Walk to the Garden of Eden. Here are a few pictures from our walk.

The canyon walls were once sand dunes.  Kathy was willing to pause to let the camera man capture a picture after a challenging climb to the rim.
A view from the Rim Walk


Picture of the ripples
Trees and grasses took root in the smallest crevices
The white bark on these trees provided a nice contrast to the red rocks
At the back of the canyon was the Garden of Eden. An area that captures water so it was rich with plant life and quite a few birds.
Swimming hole at the Garden of Eden
We had to climb back up to the rim to make our way out of the canyon
There are a coupe of people in the middle of this picture to help provide scale to these frozen dunes.
 We enjoyed our room and dinner at the Kings Canyon resort.  Considering that we were in an isolated part of the outback prices were reasonable and the food was great. 


The next morning we headed back to Yulara hoping to capture the setting sun on Uluru and to make the Valley of the Winds Walk at Kata Tjuta. (formerly the Olgas) Here are some pictures from our hike.
The rocks are quite different from Kings Canyon. These look like rounded river rocks cemented together by red sand.
A view from one of the lookouts on our 7.4km walk
Kathy is sitting on the trail below hoping I don't fall from the steep incline I climbed to take this shot.
There are plants growing on the top of some of the Kata Tjuta Dunes
The sun actually came out our last morning in Yulara. It was nice to see blue sky.
Uluru Sunrise
Sun on the Kata Tjuta Dunes. Our Valley of the Winds hike took us into the middle of these dunes.
After our sunrise pictures we headed to the airport for our flight to Cairns.  We spent one night in Cairns before catching the ferry to Fitzroy Island.  We enjoyed our two plus days on Fitzroy Island, a small Barrier Reef island that is primarily a national park. (Our eighth national park to visit) The snorkeling was pretty good just off of the beach. We also completed four hikes on the island, the most difficult being the summit hike. There was supposed to be a 360 degree view from the summit. But after a two hour challenging hike we learned the platform had been destroyed in rains a few weeks ago.
Kathy on the summit hike
A pre-sunset picture
 
Sunset from Nudey Beach - Fitzroy Isand

Good bye for now.  The next blog will be published from Brisbane in about 5 days.