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.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Australia - week 2 - Ocean Road and Grampians

A few of the remaining Apostles
Our second week in Australia is coming to a close.  We drove the Great Ocean Road for three days and then dropped into the Grampians for a couple days.  Now we are headed to Adelaide to see the city and catch a flight to Ayers Rock in a couple of days.  So far the most colorful sunrise we have seen was from an airplane window as we flew from Launceston to Melbourne.  Wonderful to see but disappointing when we have gotten up before sunrise on many days and not had the color we saw on this morning.  Here is our week through pictures.
This is Erskine Falls outside of Lorne
Sunrise from our hotel room in Lorne
Beauchamp Falls outside of Apollo Bay
Grey River in Great Otway National Park
Trees along the road to Beauchamp Falls.  The road was just a little wider than one car width.    
We stayed in the Cape Otway Lightstation Manager's Bed and Breakfast. Since the grounds closed at 5:00pm this was the only way to get access to the grounds for sunset pictures.
Point Franklin next to Otway Lightstation
Sunset from Otway Lightstation
A few of the remaining 12 Apostles
A short walk down the Gibbons Steps gives you beach access to two of the Apostles. There is no beach access to the others.
Reflections in the sand
The Arch
This is the London Bridge. It is no longer connected to it's home land.  Sound familiar?
My favorite spot on the Great Ocean Road was the Grotto. I don't think I captured it's true beauty.
Kathy on our walk to the Pinnacle in the Grampians
Kathy at the Pinnacle
The walk to the Pinnacle takes you on a path through an area called the Grand Canyon. This reflection was captured along the walk.
1919 car at our motel in the Grampians. There were about 150 vintage cars in town.
Kookaburra outside our motel room
Small Kangaroo outside our motel room.
Koala along the road to Cape Otway
Kathy and I took a 4wd tour of the Grampians.  It was nice not to drive for a day.
We made it up to some lookouts I never would have found.
MacKenzie Falls
The person on the far shore gives you a perspective on the size of these falls
Kathy at one of the lookouts
Wallaby in the Grampians