Small Town Surprises

March 12th

Greetings from a hammock in Atherton! I have arrived safely into Cairns and getting closer to the Great Barrier Reef. It was wonderful to see Laura again and we fell into an easy routine as if no time had passed since we had last seen each other. It was strange to get into a car with her and have her driving but all of our road trips in the past had had her on the left side of the car and me on the right, so somehow it still felt right.

We spend the afternoon running around Cairns and soaking up the humidity. We stopped at a local brewery and tried some of the local fare. It was wonderful to be in the tropics and warm warm weather again.

We headed into Atherton stopping along the way to look at the Barron Fall; a river that flows through the area and has some very impressive waterfalls. Laura had taken a swim in it during the dry season. It was much fuller than Laura had ever seen it. In order to get to the waterfall we had to walk through a bit of the rain forest. Laura talked plants and more plants and I got to see exactly what her thesis and PhD was about. It made much more sense when I could look at the plants and areas she has been studying.

We finished off the afternoon with a lovely swim in the crater lake as the sun was setting and a light rain started to fall. The water was crystal clear and drinkable. It helped to sooth any tired calves and feet I had from running around Sydney the last few days.

It was strange falling asleep last night. I am definitely in the tropics. Sounds of birds and geckos lulled me to sleep. That was till 5 am when an annoying bird decided to do his wake up call. He sounds exactly like an alarm clock, and stays just long enough to make sure you are awake. It was different to go to sleep hearing animals moving around and not fire or garage trucks or noisy neighbors.

Today we are taking it easy as Laura has work she needs to do and I am enjoying the chance to sit in her front lawn in a hammock and catch up on reading and writing. The plan is to head up to Cairns tomorrow to meet up with Cameron and then up to the rain forest north of Cairns then coming back to spend a few days in Port Douglas and doing some diving. More to follow!

Study Break!
Laura needed to take a break from the leaves and we were both hungry so we headed to Yungaburra, just east of Atherton for lunch. It was small town in the truest sense of the word. We had a lovely breakfast and wandered around one of the coolest bookstores I have ever been to. The owner of the shop was happy to help me find a book on Antarctica and talk about the fate of bookstores. Laura and I did some platypus hunting (with no success) buts still saw a turtle or two and a lot of birds. We also stopped at the Curtain Fig Tree. And came back for dinner and Smithwicks. She was all too happy to drink.

Familar Territory in an Unfamilar Way

March 10th

As much as I like to think of myself as a New Yorker, a lover of the concrete jungle and the hustle and bustle of the city, it is nice to get away from it all for a bit.. I went about as far away from New York as possible when I went over to Manly Beach on my last day in Sydney. Sydney is very much a water town and one of the best ways to get around the city is by using the ferries. I took on ferry to a beach called Manly Beach. It is about a half hour ferry ride from the center of Sydney. We went right by the Sydney Opera House and up the coast. The area was lined with houses and sail boats. It felt great to be on the water again and to breathe in the sea air and have it blowing in my hair.

The plan was to take a swim or even a little snorkel but the main thing I was hoping to do was to try surfing. Even though I am a born and raised California girl, and yes I have tried numerous different water sports, I have never tried surfing. Being in Australia and on Manly Beach seemed like the perfect opportunity to try.

I timed it just right and had a semi private lesson with a lovely man named Rob who had been born and raised on surfing a few beaches up from where he taught me and a couple from Holland. We had a brief introduction on how to paddle and how to get through the waves. He also did a great explanation of how rip tides work and how we were going to use it to our advantage to get out into the surf. In no time we were out in the water. It was tiring work. It is one thing to swim in the ocean it is completely different to try and do it while on a large surf board.

We all got out and then it was time to try and stand up. I am sure at some point it becomes second nature to get up and surf but dang there is a lot to remember. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that I did it but at the end of the day I realized I am not a good surfer at all. In fact I sucked at it. I was able to get up on to my knees but that was about as high as I got. The surf and the rip was pretty bad and I got beat up a bit but all in good fun. I even got to experience my first animal encounter with the blue bottled jellies that were floating in the water. Not the most venomous of the jellies but not fun when they sting you and wrap their tentacles around your arms and feet. They stung for a bit but did not deter from my fun of the day. Still, I was very much ready for some good fish and chips when I was done with the lesson.

After the lesson I wanted to get a T-shirt. They were a bit more than I wanted to pay especially when they didn’t have my size. The place that was the surf schools base of operations looked like a gutted out garage full of old surfboards, it looked like it had never been cleaned. In the back were two men who were watching a surf competition streamed live on their flat screen monitor and high speed internet connection. I guess they have their priorities. I asked them about the T-shirt and they were kind enough to mark down the price for me. When I went to pay for the shirt they guys were so engrossed in the competition that they wanted to wait until the set was done before giving me my change. They had me sit and watch the last bit of the set with them. It turned out a good friend of theirs was in the water and not doing as well as they would have liked but in his defense he was against one of the best surfers in the world.

I headed back to Sydney and met up with Angela for a dusk walk through the botanical gardens. It is a pretty impressive place they have. The nice thing is, it is free so there were a lot of runners and picnicker taking advantage of the great weather. We took a look at the bats, which technically were not bats but flying foxes. (Actually according to Laura they are bats but not the bats that you would find in North America.) They were just starting to wake up and go hunting. There were a truck load of them and kinda ugly (but I don’t think Laura would agree with me on that one). We had a lovely meal at a local pub in the area before heading back home. As we were walking back to her place we were able to see the Southern Cross. I had not realized until then how long it had been since I had seen stars. It was great to see them and ones that I would only see in the Southern Hemisphere. Even as much as I love New York and looking forward to getting back I am enjoying the new experiences I am having here.
Tomorrow it is off to see Laura and getting closer to the Great Barrier Reef and diving!

Rainy Harbor

March 9th

Today was my first full day in Sydney and with the cyclone Hamish sitting off the coast it did not look like the best of days for going to the beach. It gave me the perfect excuse to check out the Australian Aquarium and the Maritime Museum. Luckily it being a Monday neither one of them was very busy. Australia knows how to put on a good Aquarium, it has two tanks that had two walk through tubes in them. One was full of manatee like animals and the other was full of skates and rays and sharks. They were very impressive. I was more interested in seeing some of the fish and critters that I was going to see in the Great Barrier Reef and spend a bit of time just looking at what I was soon going to get up close and personal with. I also found out that sea horses and sea dragons live in the Australian waters. I hope to see a sea horse when I go diving but may not work out, but would still be very cool. It is one of those animals I have always wanted to see in the wild.

It was still a bit overcast but luckily the rain had stopped when I went to the Maritime Museum. Their big claim to fame is having four different vessels that they let the tourist walk through. They have a Navy ship, a submarine, the Endeavor,(the ship which Captain James Cook took when he discovered Australia) and a tall ship called the James Craig. The two older ships were the ones I was most interested in, having worked on a Tall Ship I was curious how different theirs was to the Pilgrim of Newport. I will say that the submarine was pretty impressive. If nothing else, it amazed me that 68 men would live in something that small. There didn’t seem room to breath much less work and not want to kill your shipmates. The Endeavor and the James Craig were impressive as well and made me miss the days that I use to sail on ships like that. There were plenty of volunteers on board who were happy to tell me a bit of the history of the people and the ships and how they were restored and brought back to life. They even take the James Craig out with tourist occasionally.

The weather continued to get better and I was able to spend the afternoon in Sydney’s version of Central Park. I sat in a little outdoor café and had a nice glass of wine and watched the world go by. It was a nice way to end an easy and fun day in the city.

Not exactly a Walkabout but close....

Greetings from Sydney! Arrived safe and sound yesterday. Angela and Stephen were kind enough to keep me busy and the jet lag at bay. We headed down to the nearest beach to them and then took a lovely 7km (or so) walk along the coast. We passed about 5 different beaches all unique. Some were more designed for kids, some were for swimmers while others were more for the surfers (can you guess which one I liked better?) We even had to walk through a cemetery at one point (pics to follow soon). So my first day didn't have the typical "walkabout" that you hear of people doing in Australia but a 'walk around' instead.
It is great to be traveling again and seems strange to be in a different country but one that they speak the same language. There are still some things that take getting use to, mainly the cars and buses driving on the wrong side of the street and also when you pass someone while walking you do it on the left. I am trying to get into the groove of it and not embarrass Angela and Stephen by being the stupid American tourist. Though, I do think that the woman yesterday has me beat. As we were walking along the coast yesterday we came across a man sleeping in his tent it obviously looked like it was his home. There were a bunch of tourist staring at him and taking pictures and one American woman said very loudly, "It's an Aborigine" which it wasn't. It was just a homeless man sleeping on the beach. I kept apologizing to them for the rest of the day and tried to assure them that not all Americans or that stupid... or loud.
I am happy to report that Jet lag didn't seem to take its toll on me. Though sure that the company of Angela and Stephen and the few beers we had a great pub in Sydney had a lot to do with it. As Angela said that the pub had more of the local flavor of what Australia and Australians do than the Swedish backpackers (though still looking forward to meeting them as well.)
It appears that Hamish the cyclone is bearing down on the middle part of the country so we are in for some bad weather. Just makes the day overcast but still great for walking around the city. Which I am off to do now!

Another Continent Another Adventure

Australia and the Great Barrier Reef have always been on my "To Do List" probably since I knew such a place as the Great Barrier Reef existed. I have tried to get "down under" a few times but it has never worked out. It wasn't until Laura moved there on a semi permanent basis (or about as permanent as she can be) that it has now became a reality.
Now I have been to numerous countries (this trip will make 4 out of the 7 continents) With Laura there have been some rather interesting adventures; be it trying to get windshield wipers to work in Arizona, scaring seagulls away on Santa Barbara Island or the lack of facilities that we have encountered in our trekking through Mexico. Though, I will have to say that this one maybe the the grandest adventure of them all.
Take the phone call I got from her just a few days ago. As she tells me about the three shark attacks in Sydney and the five year old body they took out of the crocodile and how we will need to be careful along the coast because of the dengue fever, not to mention the cyclone that is currently baring down off the coast of Australia.
Even Bill Bryson's book " In a Sunburnt Country", a lovely book all about Australia given to me by Angela had something to say about how dangerous it is down under....
It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures—the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stone fish—are the most lethal of their type in the world.
So what do I plan on doing while I am there? Well of course running a muck with Laura in the rain forest (and getting me a leech, as per Laura's request), exploring the exciting city of Sydney and maybe taking a swim in the ocean (shark attacks permitting), diving in the Great Barrier Reef (dengue fever be damned!) and swimming in some craters. Hopefully I will partake in some local flavor (like the sexy Swedish backpackers that apparently hang out in Port Douglas). Whatever it is, it will be interesting and hopefully fun and exciting. I hope to be able to put up some more posts in the coming weeks, so check back occasionally and see what I have been up to and if all my body parts are still attached. :-)