Ayers Rock - March 2 to March 4

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - From Cairns to Ayers Rock

OK, the day of relaxation is over.  On to more adventures.  I knew when planning the trip that Ayers Rock would be one of the highlights of the trip.  Yet it is so difficult to explain to someone in a minute or two why that is so.  It’s a big rock in the middle of the desert, 300  miles from the nearest town (Alice Springs) and a thousand miles from the nearest city.  Yet look at any travel guide for Australia and chances are the rock is on the cover.

We flew from Cairns to Ayers Rock, a three hour flight.  The time zone changed – by a half hour!  Weird.  Ayers Rock is in the Northern Territory, which is not a state.  Weird.  The resort that is the only “civilization” there has about 2,000 residents to run the resort and the national park.  But when the resort is full of tourists (like us) it is the third largest city in the Northern Territory.  The Ayers Rock Resort town is called Yulara, which means “weeping.”  Legend has it that the name comes from what  tourists do when they get the hotel bill at the end of the stay.  It still brings a tear to my eye!

What a difference in environments - from rain forest to desert.  But in keeping with our luck the past few days, the desert was quite green from… record rainfall in February!  As we approached the airport, I could see Uluru (the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock) out of my window and I had another one of those “Wow!  I’m really here” moments.

Aerial view of Uluru (from a collection by "Buniculla" on Flickr

As soon as we were off the plane, we were welcomed by the most numerous residents – the flies.  The Australian fly is maybe a third of the size of our house fly, but three times as obnoxious.  They don’t bite, but they covet any moisture they can get from you, so they go for moist orifices like eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.  We were warned about this in advance, so we bought fly nets to cover our faces for trips to the rocks, where they are the worst.  They actually weren’t too bad in the resort.

Our first activity that night was to be a dinner on the desert watching the sun go down behind the rock and eating an authentic Australian dinner under the stars.  (The flies suddenly disappear at sundown.)  But the “Sounds of Silence” event was cancelled because of… RAIN!!  IT’S NOT FAIR!  OK, IT CAN RAIN IN CAIRNS, BUT NOT IN AYERS ROCK!  We did have the same meal in Sails in the Desert Hotel, but it certainly wasn’t the same.  Nevertheless we did have kangaroo and crocodile meat in various forms  They tasted like, ah…. chicken.  No, I’m kidding.  They were actually quite good and could be a staple in my diet if we could get them here.  (Don’t shed a tear for my eating Roo – kangaroos are as common in Oz as deer are in this country.)  We didn’t get to try camel or emu.  Would you believe that there are over a million camels running wild in Australia?  And that they are not native to the continent, but were brought in to be beasts of burden while building the railroads, then released into the wild.  Big problem!

Thursday, March 3, 2011 – Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

We absolutely loved our room with a balcony with view of Uluru!  The balcony was always in the shade (yes, the sun did come out today!) and remarkably free of flies.  Very pleasant!  So with nothing we had to do until 3:00, we got a takeaway meal from the café and ate on our balcony, watching Uluru change colors during the day as the sun coursed through the sky.  One just has to stare at Uluru.  More particulars coming up tomorrow.

The view from our balcony.  It's better than it appears here.  See  next picture.

This is what it really looked like from our balcony.
I've learned that you have to zoom in a little to duplicate what the naked eye sees.

Today we are taking a tour to Kata Tjuta.  Kata Tjuta is another rock formation about 35 miles away with four or five monolithic edifices.  Taken together they are even more impressive than Uluru. Both sites are sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal tribe in that area.  We walked the Valley of the Winds, a very rugged trail, including a couple steep ascents that were a little scary, but we were rewarded with great views of the “Olgas,”  the English name for the formations.  I was very proud of Karen, for whom the trek was probably a little too rugged, but she hung in there and we completed the journey, often bringing up the rear, but hey, there were no other septuagenarians (me) or sexy-genarians (as I like to call Karen) in the group!  It was a little more challenging with the slightly limited vision through the fly nets, but I would have been in misery without them.  The flies seemed to find me especially juicy.  Here are a few of the gorgeous views.

Atta girl, Karen!

Yes, that really is Jim and Karen behind those fly nets.

Kata Tjuta at sunset, with bubbly in hand.  Cheers, mate!

We were then taken to a special vantage point to watch the sunset with a glass of champagne and watch the colors change on Kata Tjuta as the sun dropped into the horizon.  A super day!!  We skipped supper and went to bed, because we were destined to arise in the middle of the night the next day.

Friday, March 4, 2011 - Ayers Rock to Sydney

We were up at 4:30 to prepare for 5:30 pickup for “Desert Awakenings”  (I hate getting up in the dark!)  Our luggage had to be ready for porter pickup while on tour.  (I hate packing the luggage in my sleep!).  Our conveyance for this tour was a 4wd truck to a high point in the desert to have breakfast (steak and egg sandwich, juice, and coffee – one of the better breakfasts of the trip!) and view the sunrise - beautiful color with scattered clouds.  From this vantage point we could see both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, which are about 22 miles apart..  This is one of those images that will be burned into my brain forever.

Sunrise at Uluru

We then drove to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) to stop at several points and view the Rock.  Our guide, a cute young lady from the west coast of Australia, told us some of the Anangu stories which helped to explain why the rock is so sacred to the indigenous people.  We saw where people can climb the rock, although it was closed that day due to high winds.  I would not have climbed it anyway, for two reasons:  1)  the Anangu tribe (who actually own the National Park land) request (but do not demand) that people not climb their sacred rock, and 2)  it would be too damn steep, anyway!  Going up wouldn’t be so bad, but coming down would be incredibly scary.

The climbing trail up Uluru.  There have been a few fatalities over the years.

Uluru is 1,141 feet high, 2.2 miles long, and 1.1 miles wide.  And, like an iceberg, we are only seeing the tip, as it extends several miles into the ground.  The famous red color comes from the rusting of the iron content in the sandstone.

We went to the Anangu Cultural Centre where more stories and history were pictorially told with art and text on curved walls, very artistic and moving.  We then drove to the classic “postcard view” to take pictures, then back to the hotel to get the bus to airport.  After takeoff, there was a great view of the rock… from the other side of the plane.  Why is it that I’m always on the wrong side of the plane for the great view?  Why is it that I get in the slow lane at the supermarket?  Have you ever noticed that…  Wait, when did this become an Andy Rooney segment?

An example of the holes formed by the erosion of water exiting the sandstone.
Note the heart shape of the top hole.  It is part of a legendary story.

The tour guide classic view of Uluru, with two classics in the foreground.

Ayer’s Rock, or Uluru as we should call it, is a very special place.  There is something mystical about it.  You could look at it every day and somehow the color is always changing – deep red at sunset, light red during the day with dark splotches from passing clouds, black during the occasional rains.  From a distance, it is a smooth, gigantic mound.  Up close it has many folds and ridges and pock marks, as its porous nature absorbs the rain, but the water exits at weak points in the rock, which widen into holes, and sometime support some vegetation.

We have been many places in the world and seen marvelous sights.  Uluru would be in the top five.

Next:  The Blue Mountains west of Sydney

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - Sheration Mirage Resort in Port Douglas

Hi.  If you are visiting my blog for the first time, you may want to go to the archives at the right of this page and click on January so you can start from the beginning.  Or just read this and other posts at random.  There are no rules!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - Sheration Mirage Resort in Port Douglas

Port Douglas is a small town on the coast about 40 miles north of Cairns.  When I was planning the trip, I found it while surfing the net for places to stay where I could use points to pay for our stays.  The Sheraton Mirage turned out to be perfect for us at this point in our journey, because we were kind of tired of excursions and activities and needed a down day to just relax.  It is a beautiful place as you will see from a couple pictures.  Everywhere you turn is a Kodak moment.  They have half a dozen salt water pools, great restaurants, spacious room with great view.  The only thing they couldn’t arrange for us was to have the sun shine!

Is this a tropical paradise or what?!

Tropical rain forest landscaping everywhere

The view from our hotel room

So we slept in, had a late buffet breakfast, and did a laundry!  The rain finally stopped around noon, so we were able to go swimming in one of the beautiful pools.  Quite refreshing, a real treat! 

One more look at my own personal bathing beauty

Then we went to high tea, dahling!  A tower of sandwiches, rolls, and desserts, all very dainty, thank you!  I was very careful to lift my pinkie while sipping my Earl Grey tea!

Why do they call it "high tea?"  Is there something added to the tea?

Dinner was a seafood buffet, best meal we’ve had the whole trip.  I took a dozen pictures of the buffet itself, it was so amazing.  It included (for me) a wine buffet, i.e. unlimited trips to help myself to a selection of wines and bubblies.  Mmmm, baby!

Sushi, prawns, crab, salmon, trout, mussels, yabbies, etc.
(What's a yabby? A crustacean native to Australian waters - like a large prawn, but tasted like lobster to me.)

"Would you like the head with your portion, sir?"

C'n I have another glassh of the Sssshhhardonnay, pleezsh?

So this wasn't the most exciting post on this blog, but it was a great day for us to replenish the élan vitale and prepare ourselves for the trip to Ayers Rock.

Daintree National Park

Hi again.  We are actually safely home now, but as promised there will be a few more posts to complete the blog - before I forget everything!

Monday, 2-28 in Cairns, Daintree experience

When setting up the itinerary in Cairns, the two things I knew I wanted to do were the Great Barrier Reef and the Skyrail.  After that, I wasn't too sure, except that the Daintree National Park sounded interesting.  So the concierge set up a tour on “Billy Tea Bush Safari.” With a name like that, I did not have high expectations for the day.  Was I ever surprised!

One great thing is that we were transferring to Port Douglas that night and I was going to rent a car to get us there.  But since the tour to Daintree would take us by Port Douglas, the tour operator agreed to pick us and our luggage up from the Cairns Hilton and drop us off at the Sheraton Mirage on the way back.  Brilliant!

Ready for safari!

So the day began when Andrew, our driver/guide picked us up early in the day, and also picked up two Japanese women, a young single woman from North Carolina, and a nice couple from San Antonio that we hit it off with early on.  For the long two hour drive north to Daintree, a World Heritage forest well north of Cairns and Port Douglas, Andrew entertained us with a running commentary about everything under the sun, but mostly about the history of the area, the agriculture, the type of vegetation, unique animal life, including the cassowary, an endangered and rarely seen flightless bird, the largest in the world, with the possible exception of Big Bird on Sesame Street.  He sees one two or three times a month, so one never knows.  (We didn’t.)

If we had seen a Cassowary, he (or she) would have looked like this!

He dropped us off at the Daintree River, where we boarded a small boat captained by a rough and ready Australian with heavy accent.  It became apparent immediately that we were in the hands of an expert about the mangrove environment.  While not degreed academically, he has a virtual PhD in his knowledge of the plants, their biology, the animals like snakes and birds and crocs, and many other things which he showed us as he piloted us around the bayous off the Daintree River.  Someone asked him about how he knew so much, and he basically said life experience primarily, but that he also works with professors from many universities discovering new species and the ecology of the mangrove environment.  He learns from them, and they certainly learn from him!

In mangrove forests, multiple roots develop above the water so the plant can breathe.

Just to pick one example:  there is one particular tree (don’t remember the name) that develops a long pod, looks like a super long string bean.  When it is fully developed, it drops into the water and bobs along in a vertical position until the bottom touches ground, at which point it immediately sprouts roots and starts another tree.  In the top of the pod, there are already miniature leaves developed, which start growing rapidly once supplied with nutrients from the newly formed roots.  Now here is even more amazing stuff:  this tree thrives in a 50% salt water environment, but does not do well with either greater or lesser salinity.  So this pod only floats in a vertical position, ready to strike soil, if the salinity is around 50%.  If less or more than 50%, it floats horizontally so it will not make contact with the river bottom until the tides bring it back upstream or downstream to the proper environment.  Is this as fantastic to you as it is to me?

Our knowledgeable riverboat captain with the  pod I described above

Andrew said later that every animal and plant on earth except one exists for a purpose to support the rest of nature.  The one exception?  Humans!  So as much as we may abhor flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, etc., etc., if you eliminated one of these pests completely, the balance of nature would crumble!  (However, ask me again about flies when we get to Ayers Rock.)

Andrew picked us up again from the boat and we drove up into the mountain rainforest, where it was time for lunch.  The driver/guide now turned into cook and did some great steaks and sausages at a little wildlife place.  He also led us into a pen where we could feed kangaroos and wallabys.  There was also a crocodile in another pen and for a short time then, and a long time later, gave us more information on the life and evolution of crocs than I could have imagined.

Now this really was an Outback Steakhouse!

Karen and Roo

Moving on, we stopped to take a walk into the rainforest, where he showed us fascinating plant life, including fern species such as the King Fern shown here, that have been in existence for over 300 million years.  The individual plants may live for hundreds of years.  These rainforests are the oldest in the world.

King Fern - a 300 million year old species!

The highlight was a continued trip into the forest to a mountain stream where we were invited to take a swim (yes, we knew this in advance - no skinny dipping!) in cool, but pristine water.  While we did this, he prepared a table with all sorts of local tropical fruits whose names I cannot remember, but they were all delicious.

Do they or don't they have swim suits on?

We packed back into the 4WD vehicle which got us to this idyllic place over rough unpaved roads and took us to the beach at Cape Tribulation, which would have been another great place to swim except for deadly box jellyfish which inhabit these waters during their summer months.  He said, “Don’t even stick your big toe in!  One thing I noticed there were little holes in the sand, perhaps an eighth of an inch in diameter, with little balls of sand all around them.  This turned out to be the Sand Bubbler Crab, who makes these holes in between high tide and low tide, and when the tide comes in it washes nutrients down these holes, then consumed by these tiny crabs.  I actually got a video of one of them pushing sand out.  Really funny!

That's close enough, Karen!

Sand bubbler crab hole, about 1/8 inch in diameter, surrounded by sand balls pushed out.

We began the drive back from a tremendously informative and entertaining day, with a discourse from Andrew about agriculture.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to hear it all, because it was a relatively short drive from there to our new home for two nights, the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas.

I hope this post wasn’t boring to you.  It is very hard to put into words or even pictures, what we experienced on a tour into such an environment rich in plants and animals totally unfamiliar to us.  There is a whole world out there we know nothing about!  In fact that no one knows about!  The estimate is that only 1/3 of the species of plants in Australia have been discovered and named.

Cairns - Sky Rail to Kuranda

Hi.  We are now in the Blue Mountains east of Sydney and I have pretty good internet at semi-reasonable cost, so I'll put up another post.  Heading home tomorrow, but stay tuned for more posts after I get home.

Sunday, 2-27 in Cairns, Sky Rail to Kuranda

After the most popular attraction in Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef, there is nowhere to go but up.  Up, that is, into the mountains, although my nephew Jeff in Colorado would not call them mountains.  The entire east coastal area of Australia has a range of mountains, called the Great Dividing Range.

In many of these mountain areas, gold was discovered in the 19th century and it was imperative to construct railroads to transport the gold and other minerals to the coast for export.  Hence the railroad to Kuranda, which later became a tourist attraction and a hippie and artist haven in the 60’s and later.  In 1995, someone was smart enough to put in a gondola system all the way from Cairns to Kuranda, which passes over various rainforest environments.  You ride above the forest or sometimes through it, and there are two stops which allow you to experience the rainforest up close and personal.  So like most dutiful tourists, we went for it.  Our hotel concierge recommended the RainForeStation experience, which would normally be a train ride up and the gondola down, but the train was not running because of the high water from the rain so we were on the gondolas both ways.

The SkyRail to Kuranda - excuse the raindrops!

Ascending to the top of the first mountain was impressive, as the ocean was behind us and the rain forest below us.  Because of the rain (have I mentioned rain before?) the tops of the mountains were in the clouds, so we were in the clouds much of the time, but could still see the rainforest below.  When we came to the first stop, we got off and took the interpretive boardwalk through the rainforest.

It is, after all, a RAIN forest!

 It is interesting to note that the entire Australian continent was once rainforest, but now it is only a narrow strip along the Pacific coast.  Most of the continent is arid and treeless, partly due to climate change over the past two centuries, but also due to some lamebrain human intervention like introducing rabbits to the environment who multiplied (as rabbits are wont to do) and ate their way across the country.  With poor soil and lack of rain, the vast midlands (my term) of Australia never recovered.  But northern Queensland along the coast will get as much rain in a month as we get all year.  And guess the peak of the rainy season?  February and March, of course.  Who planned this vacation, anyway!?

The Planner

We got off again at the second stop to see Barron Falls, always a powerful falls, but especially amazing during the rainy season.  So, hey, at least we picked the best time to see Barron Falls!

Our first attraction in Kuranda was the Butterfly Sanctuary.  This was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t help but think about my grandson Sammy, who loves butterflies.  He could have spent the whole day here and would still have wanted more.  They “raise” their own butterflies here, feeding the caterpillars, waiting for the transformation that takes place inside the cocoon or pupa, then release the butterflies and moths into the contained viewing area, where they are fed at stations which appear to the butterflies to be flowers.  With hundreds of butterflies in the space, it is impossible to supply enough flowers to feed them.  If you want more information about this remarkable operation, go to www.australianbutterflies.com.  Pictures?  Well, I discovered that trying to take a snapshot of a butterfly in flight is nearly impossible (and somewhat comical to watch), but here are some representative images, Sammy.  More to come when we visit you in Geneva!

At RainForeStation, we first took a ride in a DUCK, an army amphibious vessel and got more education about the rain forest flora and fauna.  Here was one interesting sight - a termites nest with a bird nest in it!

Then we were treated to an Aboriginal show with dancing accompanied by the didgeridoo, a fascinating instrument played by vibrating lips, vocal chords, tongue movement, with the musician doing circular breathing, a technique some saxophone players use to keep the air flowing constantly without any breaks.  Then we got demonstrations of spear throwing and boomerang throwing, at which some of us tried our hand.  I bombed miserably, but I might have killed an earthworm or two.

The movie version is much better...

Back on the gondolas again, this time we were really in the clouds!

Plunging into the great abyss!

Then back to the hotel, where I managed to convince Karen that the heavy hors d’ouevres in the Executive Lounge were all the supper we needed.  Saved a few bucks anyway.

This may be the last post until we get home Sunday night

We are now at Ayers Rock, so I'm three days behind with posts.  I actually have them written, but the time to upload the pictures with the wireless connection I have right now is taking forever, and every six minutes costs a buck, so I'm giving up.

I'll just update you on what has happened since the last post and then give you details and pics when we get home.

On Sunday (2/27) in Cairns we took the SkyRail to Kuranda and had a great experience at the Forestation Wilderness Adventure with a DUCK ride and water excursion through the rain forest, then Aboriginal show including dancing, spear throwing and boomerang throwing.  I tried my hand at the boomerang, but bombed miserably.  We also went to the Butterfly Sanctuary, where I thought how much my grandson Sammy would have enjoyed this experience.  I took some movies, so he will be able to see those, at least.

On Monday we went on a "Billy Tea Bush Safari" into the Daintree National Forest, a fantastic experience with a great guide/4WD driver/cook/fruit purveyor/educator on everything about the rain forest.  And for once it didn't rain!

Tuesday we were in Port Douglas at the Sheraton Mirage Resort, a beautiful resort, even when it's raining!  We decided to have a "down day" and just relax in the luxury of the resort.  It quit raining in the afternoon long enough for us to go swimming in the pools.  The seafood buffet that night was the best meal by far we have had the entire trip.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we flew to Ayers Rock, where (by design) our hotel room has a direct view of Uluru, the monolithic rock structure sacred to the Aborigines.  It is impressive!  Our "Sounds of Silence" excursion (dinner in the desert under the stars) was cancelled due to the threat of....  RAIN!  It's not supposed to rain here!  We must have brought it with us from the rain forest.

Today (Thursday) we will be going on a tour of Kata Tjuta, another rock formation that everyone says is even more spectacular than Uluru.  The sun is shining as I write this, so I have my fingers crossed!

Tomorrow we get up at 4:30 for a 5:30 pickup for "Desert Awakenings," a breakfast where we watch the sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta, then are driven to Uluru for a driving tour around it and a short walk at the base.  When we get back to the hotel, it's off to the airport for the flight to Sydney and the drive by rental car up into the Blue Mountains, where we stay at the Lilianfels Spa and Resort for two nights before going back to Sydney on Sunday for our flight to San Francisco, then on to Cleveland, where we'll try to adjust to winter again.

Expect the next posts starting next Monday after we are home.  It's been great, but it will also be great to stop living out of a suitcase!

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Saturday, 2-26 in Cairns, Great Barrier Reef

We have a fantastic room at the Hilton in Cairns.  We are on the 9th floor, which has a view of the Coral Sea, aka the Pacific Ocean.  It also has an Executive Lounge = free breakfast and free appetizers and drinks in the pre-dinner hours.  “Free” is a relative term, of course, as I paid a modest upgrade charge over the points used to acquire this lodging, but it is definitely worth it as we continue our fantasy of upper class living.

View from our balcony at the Hilton.  Great Adventure Boats dock.  Note low-hanging clouds.

Today we headed out on our Great Barrier Reef Adventure on the Great Adventures boat line.  We went first to Green Island, a unique island which formed on top of the Great Barrier Reef and over time developed into a rain forest.  And just to make sure we understood that, it began pouring down rain as we walked the interpretive boardwalk that circumnavigates the island.

Karen on a very wet interpretive walk at Green Island.

There was a little wildlife park called Marineland Melanesia (which we called A Way To Get Out Of The Rain) which had a crocodile-feeding show.  The croc you see here is over 15 feet long!  I learned a lot about crocs on this and other outings described in future posts.  They are amazing creatures and are the only reptile still in existence from the dinosaur era, due to their ability to continually adapt to a changing environment, whereas most species are unable to do so.

Estuarine crocodile - 15 feet long!

Back on the boat to continue to the Reef.  They have a permanent pontoon over the reef, from which the diving and snorkeling activities can be launched.  I had signed up to snorkel and had confirmed many times with Karen that she did not want to, but to my great surprise, when we got there, she changed her mind.  We had a personal guide, so that helped immensely with the preparations and the snorkeling activity.  The most difficult part of the preparation is putting on the Lycra suit to protect from jellyfish stings.  The suit is skin tight; no, it is tighter than my skin, surely worse than putting on pantyhose!  Of course, it was made somewhat easier when the guide politely pointed out that I was trying to put my leg into the arm…

Have I mentioned rain yet?  As we prepared to launch into the water, it was pouring down rain again and we got all wet!  OK, the irony in that statement was intentional, but the disadvantage of the rainy, cloudy day is that visibility is reduced in the water, so the colors are not as vibrant as they are if the sun is shining.  The guide took us to all the best places to see the incredible coral formations and gave us two encounters with sea creatures, including touching a sea cucumber and a face to face view of a Napoleon fish, which seemed to genuinely enjoy our company.  Here are pictures of these animals from a display on the boat.

Judy Petricevic had loaned me her underwater camera, which she will be glad to know I didn’t destroy!  However, the pictures I took are vastly inferior to hers, partly because of the overcast day, and partly due to the incompetence of the photographer/snorkeler.  Therefore, I will use the pictures she took and claim them as my own.  (Don’t tell anyone!)  Here are 2 of my better efforts.  OK, to be honest, the only good shots out of 104 taken…

It was a great day nonetheless, and we have now seen the Great Barrier Reef with our own goggle-covered eyes!  Dinner that night was a pizza at Villa Romana on the Esplanade in Cairns, watching the people walk by and the rain come down.  Have I mentioned the rain?