Embedded Files
Prelude
Lynn always wanted to go to New Zealand and Australia. Our good friends spent a couple years there capturing and organizing the histories of the people. One fine day as she was leafing through a travel catalog from Road Scholar, she found a tour going to both places. We decided now is a better time to do it than someday. So we signed up.
Road Scholar: An Odyssey Down Under: Australia and New Zealand
After we signed up, Mark said: So that’s the month of November (meaning our whole month was planned for). Lynn had not noticed that the tour was for 30 days!
Road Scholar Tour Map
31 October 2024 - Travel to New Zealand
Thursday: We took the shuttle to the Las Vegas airport, where we were able to check our suitcases through to Auckland, NZ. Our flight to LAX was delayed but we still had plenty of time to make our international flight. For the transatlantic flight we were upgraded to premium select seats.
It is what Lynn remembers flying being like when she was a child. We found pillows, blankets, socks, slippers and individual headsets on our seats when we took advantage of priority boarding. A white napkin was placed on our tray top table before meals. Our food was served with real silverware and a white linen napkin. Just like the good old days of Pan American Airways.
Lynn waiting in LAX for the Auckland Flight
Our seats were wider than the Economy section, and there was a foot rest that elevated. It was not as good as a first class sleeper, but we both got some hours of sleep.
What happened to Nov 1st? We lost a day as we crossed the international date line.
2 November 2024 - Auckland
Saturday: Oh what a beautiful sunrise at 35,000 feet. We had breakfast in the air then arrived in New Zealand. Passing through customs was a breeze. They were not worried at all about our candy, granola bars or Marks walking stick. Our customs agent whisked us into the Express lane.
We found our shuttle and were transported to Movenpick Hotel. Even though it was only 9AM, our room was ready for us. We were soon walking around the downtown area and the wharf.
Tomokanga: Auckland Airport Entrance Gate
First impressions:
from the plane … how green it is
from the shuttle … the use of diagonal lines … on the freeway walls and on buildings.
walking around … the variety of people. This is a real melting pot. We ate some delicious Greek food in a food court featuring: Greek, Hispanic, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese Noodles, and New Zealand fish.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and ‘rested’. That means we took a nap. While the flight wasn't completely exhausting, it was a little taxing.
Sky Tower
The hotel has a Chocolate Tasting event every day at 3. We went up and tasted some of the local samples. They were yummy. Just before we went upstairs, there was a LARGE gathering out on the street. They were all lined up to march, with a police escort. There was some rabble rouser on a megaphone chanting, and the crowd chanted back. It was about Gaza, as there were many Palestinian Flags.
After chocolate, we went out and walked. The street leading to the Movenpick Hotel has expensive jewelry stores. We saw homeless people, folks busking, and some fun souvenir shops. At the intersections, it seems to be typical for there to be a timeslot for pedestrians to cross the street, and they do so in all directions, including diagonally.
There was a local-wine tasting event for the group at 6 before the 6:30 dinner. We came up for the last ten minutes. We were introducing ourselves to the guides, so we missed out on getting onto a table of other fellow tour group couples. We ended up at a table with Sylvia (the Road Scholar Guide) and Jane (the local New Zealand guide). That was fun because we learned a lot about the trip as well as the guides.
Dinner was buffet-style. Fish and chicken, plus some potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was a chocolate mousse plus a trifle that was yummy.
We learned a couple new Kiwi-isms. Jane said that, since our orientation meeting tomorrow morning wasn't until 10:45, we could have a ‘lovely lie-in’, and not have to get up at ‘sparrowfart’. Sparrows are up at the crack of dawn and usually do a dump to lighten their load before they take flight.
3 November 2024 - Auckland
Sunday: We got a great sleep in a real bed. We were able to make it through the day yesterday, and sleeping came easy. We wandered up for breakfast. The hot chocolate, while coming from a super fancy brewing station, was just fair. After, we organized our stuff until the 10:45 orientation meeting.
There we signed up for the next few meals (you get choices, which we made). We'll do this meal-selection exercise 20+ times on this trip.
Sylvia gave us an overview of the whole trip, and Jane talked more about the Auckland New Zealand portion. They handed out what they call 'whisperers', which are the wireless headsets we all use so the guide can talk to us without having to shout. Lynn queried about having to put the earpiece in when she already has hearing aids in her ears, and Sylvia said they give the guides this alternative T-Coil thing, which they had never used before. It worked great with Lynn's T-Coil enabled hearing aids.
We walked out the hotel and up Queens Street. We saw a really large example of a New Zealand Christmas Tree called Pohutukawa. Jane explained that ‘down country’ the flowers bloom differently.
Up the street was the Northern Club: historically a Gentlemans club but recently opened to all genders. Then on to Albert Park, where we saw sunbathers, LARPers, and even students. There is a speakers stand where you can spout off on whatever you want (No amplification allowed). Nearby is the Auckland Art Gallery, open (for free) to all. The outside wood roof overhang is representative of the Maori canoes. As we turned the corner, Jane exclaimed “Oh! It's quite blowy.” (Another Kiwi-ism)
Then back down to Queen Street, where we finished our Auckland Orientation tour. A couple joined us for a visit to Giapa, a famous ice cream store. The flavors were exotic (we had Super Dark Chocolate and a Cream and Cookie double scoop), but we preferred the Gelato ice cream we had yesterday down by the dock.
We took the ferry to Davenport, where we had dinner at Daven on the Wharf. After dinner we walked around the town a bit. We tried to walk up to Victoria Mountain, but since it was Guy Fawks day and many young hooligans shot off fireworks on that day, they closed the mountain.
We took the ferry back to Auckland. We visited ‘The Lighthouse’ on the shore which houses a larger than life stainless steel statue of Captain Cook resting his feet by the fireplace. We did not enter the house but looked through the windows at the statue and a lot of neon lights. The lights are supposed to resemble constellations and such that sailors used to navigate by night. Thus, it was referred to as the Light house, no relationship with a lighthouse.
1912 Ferry Building from ferry to Davenport
4 November 2024 - Auckland
Monday: In the morning, we attended a lecture on New Zealand culture by author Stephen Hoadley. Auckland has 53 volcanos. Isolation fostered unique fauna & flora, and no predators. Greenstone is unique to south west NZ.
Afterward, we walked to the Viaduct basin to the Pride of Auckland sailboats for a harbour sail. We split into two groups to board the two sailboats. We learned about New Zealand’s successful win of the 2022 American Cup. They’ve won multiple times. One thing we noticed was there was very little ‘harbor’ smell, and the water was free from floating garbage and scum. They clearly spend attention to the environment of the water.
Wintergardens Greenhouse flowers
Back to the hotel where we boarded the bus to Wintergarden Cafe’ and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We also walked through the Domain Wintergardens greenhouse and fernery located next door.
Then on to the Museum.
There was a large focus on the Maori. The museum had displays on the migration of the Maori to New Zealand, as well as the conflict between the British and Maori.
The bus took us back to the hotel, where we crossed the street to the Queens Arcade. We purchased a couple CDs: One of traditional Maori music as well as one of Birdsongs.
Dinner was fine. Mark had a Crusted Salmon and Lynn had Lamb Rump. The Tiramisu, though different, was good.
5 November 2024 - Auckland
Tuesday: After breakfast, we boarded our coach and traveled under the tunnel to Mangere Mountain. Our local Maori guides described the mountain and the people who lived there. They dug out root cellars in the lava to store their food supplies, which were shared by everyone in the tribe. Your influence and leadership was gained by how much your abilities benefited the whole group.
Off to Takapuna Reef, where trees were fossilized via Lava.
We drove thru Takapuna central and on to Lake Rd. It goes straight to Devonport because it parallels the water pipe that supplies Devonport.
View of Auckland skyline from Victoria Mountain
We had a nice lunch with baked Alaska for dessert. While the topping was marshmellow (rather than meringue) it was still really good. Afterwards, we followed the Ditmers up to the top of Victoria Mountain which provides a fabulous overlook of the bay, Devenport and Auckland.
We took the ferry back and stopped by our new favorite Gelato ice cream store: Island Gelato. Then back to the hotel for a rest. We were still pretty full from lunch, so we wandered over to the food court for Fish and Chips. We walked a bit longer until we had a chocolate shake at the White Lady food truck. It was not thick. They do things differently in a foreign country.
6 November 2024 - Rotorua
Wednesday: The election in the United States is over (thankfully)! But we don't know the results, even after dinner, because of the international date line.
For lunch, we went to the Roselands Restaurant near Waitomo Caves. Dessert included Anzac cookies. These were sent to the NZ soldiers by their moms. Because they were made without butter, when they arrived they were still edible.
Then, on to Waitomo caves. We went underground and saw stalagmites and stalactites. The cave has lovely acoustics, and our group was invited to sing, so we sang a Maori song: Pokare Kare Ana. The guide was very impressed. He turned out the lights and we saw a multitude of glowworms. We went down more steps and onto a boat. Now we began to see a bunch of glowworms. The boat took us out of the cave, and we exited through the gift shop where we purchased a Kiwi bird Christmas ornament.
Exit from Waitomo Caves
Arapuni Bridge
It was enjoyable traveling by coach. The countryside is so green! There is amazingly varied vegetation. In the afternoon, we traveled through farmland. We watched the cows heading single file to the barn where they would be milked. On the way south out of Auckland we passed by the Auckland LDS Temple which will be dedicated in April 2025.
The bus stopped for a bit at the Sir Ed Hillary Walkway. It has display boards with successes of the Kiwi world.
We stopped at the Arapuni Swing Bridge. It's used by the workers to get across the gorge to the Dam so they can get to work
As we drove to Rotorua, we passed a Butcher shop with a funny name: Moos, Baas & Oinks.
We checked into our hotel where we had dinner and then went for a walk around the sulfur lake next door with the Ditmers. They do a lot of walking, and we were glad to join them.
7 November 2024 - Rotorua
Thursday: The bus took us to the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, where a local expert guided us down the hill to the volcanic area. In the 1800s, there was a boarding house in the valley, and people would come to see the eruptions. Sometimes they would get too close. One day, it erupted violently and destroyed the boarding house as well as the owner couple.
At the Inferno Lake we saw a beautiful green/blue water, caused by the minerals and acidic level of the water. We learned that geysers take time to build up enough pressure to erupt, while hot springs flow constantly.
We also visited the lake, but the boat is undergoing refurbishing and won't be available until next year. We did see 2 native NZ Diving ducks, of which there are only 1700 left.
Inferno Lake
Redwood Tree Memorial Walk
Back on the bus to the Redwood Tree Memorial Walk. They planted thousands of redwood trees. We took a peaceful 30 minute stroll through the forest. There were also a number of bridges suspended in the treetops.
We returned to Rotorua to the Princes Gate hotel for lunch. Lynn had Cajun Chicken (it was not spicy) and Mark had the Fish of the Day, which was a white, tasteless fish.
Then on to Te Puia, a Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. They accept one member of each tribe and teach them one of the four Maori skills: Wood Carving, Stone Carving, Metal Molding or Weaving (for the females). We also visited their volcanic area and saw multiple geysers. As we waited for the tram to take us back to the gift shop, the rocks we sat on were warm from the geyser water that flows underneath.
Native Drill-tool demonstration
There was a Maori cemetery nearby. Our guide explained that before the Europeans came and introduced burials, when a Maori would die, the body was taken to an embalming lake where the dead body was soaked. Then wrapped in weavings, the body was hung in a tree until the flesh was desiccated. The bones were then gathered and placed in a cave.
At the gift shop, Lynn found a lovely Kiwi Bird to hang in our courtyard.
Maori Cemetery
Back to the hotel for some downtime, when Lynn packed one of our suitcases.
Then back to Te Puia for a Hangi (dinner) and Maori cultural show. The food was plentiful and generally good. The dessert area was great with chocolate mousse, ice cream, creme brulee, Tiramisu and Pavlova, a meringue type dessert (whose national origin of New Zealand or Australia is contested!)
8 November 2024 - Christchurch
Friday: We checked out early to go to the National Kiwi Hatchery in Aotearoa. First we heard a discussion about the Kiwi as well as how the Hatchery works. Then, into the dark!
The Kiwi are colorblind, so they can't see the red light that baths the enclosures. After letting our eyes accustom to the light level, and with the help of the guides, we were able (finally) to see the Kiwi scurrying.
Next we went to the incubation area. But before the guide started the discussion, we were notified that a new chick that hatched recently was going to be displayed, so we moved to that area of the hatchery. It was a cute little Kiwi that will soon be released back into the wild.
Afterward, we backed up to the incubation area where we saw the incubator that automatically rotates the eggs. They check the arriving eggs to make sure everything is Tickety-boo (=Hunky-dory).
They have an egg that will probably hatch in the next week.
The bus took us to the Rotorua airport. It's a regional airport, so security was sparse.
A 2-hour flight on a 2-prop plane brought us to Christchurch. A new bus took us to the International Antarctic Centre. Christchurch is one of a few cities from which scientists ferry to the Antarctic. The USA, South Korea, and New Zealand research teams are all based out of Christchurch.
Our guide described how the Antarctic is Peace-based and won't be claimed by any nation. We saw a few webcams that shows the current view of Antarctic stations. Next, we put on warm jackets and went into an Antarctic Indoor Storm room, which from time to time starts to blow a 15mph wind. It was brisk!
Finally, we took in a 4D movie about the Antarctic with chairs that vibrate and blow wind and water to simulate travel to the Antarctic.
Back on the bus to the Riccarton Bush. It's a protected forest area near Christchurch. It's protected by a large fence, and a 10,000 watt electric wire.
Finally, into the Riccarton House for a tour and dinner. We both had Medium-rare steak which was delicious! A ‘storyteller’ actress (Te Puna Ira Storyteller-Margaret Copland) entertained us after dinner with stories about immigrants that came to New Zealand. It was informative and interesting.
We made it to our hotel at 9pm. We were pretty tired.
9 November 2024 - Akaroa
Saturday: Our bus took us south of Christchurch to the Banks peninsula. We traveled on a windy country highway through farmland alongside rivers or lakes (like Lake Ellesmere and Lake Forsyth). Occasionally we would see square batches of trees up on the mountain side. That represented a farmer raising trees for lumber; probably his retirement fund.
We stopped momentarily at Little River, then on to Akaroa. We rode through town to the harbor where we boarded a motorboat that took us out into the Akaroa Harbour searching for Seals and Dolphins. The captain had a three-legged one-eyed little dog that would bark whenever it smelled dolphins. We saw New Zealand fur seals and some Hector dolphins. These dolphins are small and quite rare, living in the coastal waters of New Zealand. There are around 10,000 which makes this an endangered species.
They kindly offered us drinks, and we accepted cups of hot chocolate. The problem was that they got delivered just after a set of Hector dolphins were spotted, and the captain was turning the ship around. Lynn was standing with her cup, and the wave action caused her to capsize, spewing hot chocolate over herself, the walls, the seats, her shoes and even her husband. After it was cleaned up, the crew asked her if she wanted a replacement. She said Yes!
For lunch we went to Bully Hayes restaurant, and Mark had a large bowl of Seafood Chowder. Lynn had a Kiwi burger which included: 180g Prime beef mince patty, gruyere cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, beetroot, fried egg, onion relish & aioli in a grilled milk bread. Needless to say, it was gigantic.
After a too-long wait, we boarded the bus and returned to Little River, where we tried some quintessential Kiwi dessert: Hooky-Pocky ice cream. It's vanilla ice cream with honeycomb toffee candy pieces. It was a little too sweet for Lynn, but the Triple Chocolate underneath made it OK.
We returned to Christchurch, learning about the new areas being developed outside the liquefaction areas in the inner city. House prices average about 800,000 NZ dollars, which is cheaper than Auckland.
In 2010 an earthquake destroyed much of Christchurch. It is still being rebuilt. The new construction is modern glass with visible X's for earthquake prevention. Many of the old buildings were torn down resulting in many carparks downtown. Some are still closed with reinforcements on them and bricks taken from the rubble stacked up for rebuilding. The planetarium crashed to the ground. Somehow the optics in the telescope were not destroyed so it has been restored. Regular citizens were not allowed in the downtown area for two years while clean up was going on.
After a brief rest, we gathered for a walking tour around Christchurch historic central. There is a French flavour to Christchurch because of a historical group of French immigrants that came. We also walked through the central park and saw multiple statues. We strolled by the Earthquake memorial wall and walked across the Bridge of Remembrance.
Christchurch likes to do murals on anything that is flat, and one of the murals is an optical illusion. It’s drawn on a flat wall, but looks 3 dimensional.
For dinner, Lynn had Beef Cheeks, a New Zealand speciality. It was very tender and tasted like a pot roast.
10 November 2024 - Invercargill
Sunday: We had to get up early to board the bus by 7am, so we could get to the airport for our 8:45 flight to Invercargill.
We arrived in Invercargill, loaded our luggage under the bus and set off on our southern adventure. It is so green here and there are sheep everywhere in the meadows. We've never seen so many lambs anywhere. They are about 8 to 10 weeks old. We stopped in Aparima, at a museum called Te Hikoi and learned about the history of this southern part of New Zealand. Afterwards we walked a block and a half to the Riverton senior center where we ate a preordered lunch. We had rice and butter chicken with mango lassi and a cookie.
Butter Chicken (spicy) & Mango Lassi in one of the southern most cities in the world at a senior center from the 70s. That's a story right there!
We continued south to Te Anau seeing much more green countryside and sheep, then finally the Pacific ocean. We stopped at McCracken, a rest stop to take pictures and stretch our legs. It seems that there were a bunch of Scottish settlers here. Even our coach driver is of Scottish descent.
We arrived at Kingsgate hotel where we quickly ran off to do our laundry. 45 minutes later the coach driver dropped us off at the movie theater to see a locally produced movie Ata Whenua-Shadowland. It was a 32 minute feature on Fiordland National Park. For a couple of years helicopters flying around the forest and waterways had cameras mounted to them. The producer culled through 100 hours of film to create his story of the wilderness area. It was the first time we had a good look at the canopy of a tropical rainforest.
We walked 10 minutes back to the hotel, folded our laundry and went to dinner, a wonderful buffet at the hotel. After dinner, the walking group did a 2 mile walk.
11 November 2024 - Milford Sound
Monday: We drove into the Fiordland National Park. Our guide mentioned that the mountains of the park were used in part of the Lord of the Rings movies. When Strider announces “The Beacons of Minis Tirith are lit!”, those beacons were the mountain tops of Fiordland. Also, when Frodo and Sam get Golem to join them, the Misty Mountains were also shot here. And the mountains are misty.
As we drove to Milford Sound, we stopped along the way. We walked the boardwalk at Mirror Lakes, and saw a lovely waterfall at a rest stop. We saw two Kea birds perched atop a car, and they stayed on top even as the car drove away. We drove through the Homen Tunnel, which is one way and has a 10% gradient sloop. We walked out onto the Tutoko-Topuni bridge.
Finally we arrived at the Milford Sound. After a bit of waiting (while the sandflies annoyed us), we boarded the Milford Mariner sailboat, and cruised out on the sound. Captain Cook in 1773 called the Te Namu (sandfly or blackfly) the most mischievous animal.
We learned that a sound is created by a river eroding away a V-shaped valley that's filled with water, while a fiord is a U-shaped valley created by a glacier that's filled with water. The Milford Sound is actually a fiord, but that word wasn’t in the vocabulary when the valley was named.
We saw lovely waterfalls. At one point, we were simultaneously looking at a Glacier, a Fiord, and a Temperate Rainforest. The only other place where this occurs is Patagonian Argentina.
The Milford Sound is the northernmost sound of the 14 Sounds that are part of the Park. It's also the smallest. It is beautiful with many cascading waterfalls. Some dry up but it rained last night so we saw quite a few, one cascading 169 meters. Some are taller than Niagara Falls. We thought of our Maid of the Mist ride at Niagra Falls as we pulled close to one of the falls. In all we sailed 13 kilometers out of the sound into the Tasman Sea and back to the dock. We had beautiful blue skies, which we understand is rare this time of year.
After the cruise, we boarded the bus and backtracked through the tunnel, along the tree lined road to the main road, and then on to Queenstown. The coach stopped by the Copthorne Hotel to unload our luggage.
An hour later the coach took us a short distance to the base of the Queenstown Skyline gondola. We rode up and took in the view. We saw a couple paragliders descending from the top. We even considered trying it out, but found the NZ$320 price per person plus price for the gondola just too much.
The dinner was an outstanding buffet dinner with a really good guitar player creating a nice ambiance. The walking group left before Lynn had partaken of the dessert bar. We decided to walk back anyway, having eaten too much food too late at night. It took about 25 minutes. Unfortunately the main road into town was being repaired at night right outside our window so we put on a movie to entertain ourselves and drown out the noise. By the time the movie was over they had moved down to the next hotel.
12 November 2024 - Queenstown
Tuesday: We had the opportunity for a lovely lie-in, but were up at 7am anyway and had a leisurely breakfast with hot chocolate in which we could actually taste the chocolate. Then we chose to walk to the wharf while others used the coach. Today we are cruising across Lake Wakatipu to visit the Walter Peak Sheep Station.
Most of the group walked down to the harbor, by way of the Queenstown Garden park. We assembled at the TSS Earnslaw ship (Twin Screw) also known as the Lady of the Lake. It started its life as a cargo ship, but in the early 1900s was disassembled and hauled by train to Kingsgate, where it was reassembled and placed into service around 1912. It's a steam ship, and they have two coal ovens they have to shovel coal into.
The ship took us across Lake Wakatipu to the Walter Peak sheep station island. There we had lunch: Supposedly a BBQ, but mostly grilled meat. They did have lamb, as well as pork, chicken and fish. The ambiance was somewhat lacking as there were a bunch of Asian tourists who were quite boisterous.
After lunch we dailied in the gift shop until the Farm show. A shepherd showed us how to shear a sheep. Then he demonstrated his sheep-heading dogs capabilities. That was very interesting. He used both voice and whistle commands. The dog was great. A shepherding dog recently sold for $65000. That seems expensive but they are good for ten years.
Back on the ship, and back to Queenstown. We wandered through town, visiting shops, including a gelato ice cream store: FergBurgers gelato shop. Lynn purchased some lovely necklaces and earrings as well as some Manuka Honey hard candy. Manuka is a flowering bush here in New Zealand, and they harvest the nectar for honey.
Back at the hotel for a rest before dinner. Dinner which had been pre ordered was good. Lynn went for a walk with Kate and Anne. They went up a steep hill and noted that some of the homes did not seem to be occupied. Our guide told us earlier that many people have vacation homes here. The homes have amazing views as they are on a steep hillside.
13 November 2024 - Wellington
Wednesday: We left the hotel at 8am to visit Arrowtown, a former goldmining settlement at the head of the Arrow Valley just outside Queenstown. We visited the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement and saw a few of the remaining huts they lived in, which were very small. One was built right into the rock mountainside.
Arrowtown is where they filmed the Lord of the Rings scene when the Black Rider stops on the trail while the hobbits are hiding underneath in the roots of a tree.
Then, on to the Queenstown airport. By now, we are getting good at leaving. But this time, the airport security did not like the way we had our rechargeable batteries stored in our carryon. It's a perfect example of a small person that has a bit of authority and power, exercising it wrongly.
Chinese settlement at Arrowtown
View from Victoria Hill
The flight was a mere 1 hour 6 minutes. We changed islands on this flight, arriving on the North island at the Wellington airport. The airport has a couple eagles similar to those in the Lord of the Rings movie.
We went to the Spruce Goose restaurant. We shared a Fish & Chips, and also got a Thick chocolate shake which was reasonably thick.
The bus took us to Victoria Hill, where we had a 360 degree view of the city. There was a memorial to Sir Richard Bird, the Antarctic explorer. Then on to the Hotel for check in.
After a little rest, we joined our local guide Sue for an optional walkabout the city center.
Back at the hotel, we held a lecture on the New Zealand Political environment by an Associate Professor. She called it the 10 differences between New Zealand and USA. Then dinner!
14 November 2024 - Wellington
Thursday: Today is Government Day. We started by visiting New Zealand’s parliament building. We were able to see the Press Conference room: Beehive Theatrette, a sub-committee room (the one decorated with Women's Suffrage motif), as well as the Grand Hall. They were discussing a bill for Renters Rights, and at one point they broke into a general argument.
Later that day, a bill that would severely restrict the Maori rights from the Waitangi treaty was introduced. At one point, a Maori Minister broke into a Maori Haka War Dance. She was expelled, and the whole thing made international headlines. BBC New video
Beehive Theatrette in Parliament Building
Next we walked across the street and down the way to the new Supreme Court building. They were discussing a case with a half dozen litigants (represented by a half dozen lawyers), having to do with the Maori rights to beach and sea vs other usages. They did not break into a brouhaha.
Then up the hill to the National Library of NZ, where we saw the Maori Declaration of Independence, the NZ suffrage petition, and the Treaty of Waitangi.
For lunch, we walked to the Thistle Inn. It is the oldest bar in NZ in the same place.
We walked back to the hotel observing the harbor development. We stopped by the Wellington photo station where the ‘I’ is missing so you can stand there for a picture. It reminded us of the Lima sign in Peru.
Back at the hotel, we arranged an Uber to take us out by the Airport to the Weta Workshop.
Home to an entire community of creative Wētā Workshop artisans who’ve brought life to such films as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, Avatar, and many others.
They made the prosthetics, weapons and body armor for Lord of the Rings, among many others. They had very expensive props you could purchase as well as models and even a replica of the One Ring to Rule them all. Just a mere $7,000. Apparently, some guy purchased one as well as a helicopter ride over the volcano where he threw it in. Just so he could say he destroyed the One Ring.
Another Uber ride back into town, but to Nicolini's, an Italian restaurant where we had Spaghetti and Meatballs. We popped over to the grocery store to get a carton of Triple Chocolate ice cream that we took back to the hotel.
We spent the evening with a romantic washing of our laundry.
15 November 2024 - Wellington
Friday: Windy. Wellington is known as Windy Wellington, and last night, we discovered how windy. Our balcony howled.
Today we took the bus just a short few minutes to Zealandia, an Ecosanctuary protected Wildlife area where they are trying to restore what New Zealand looked like before the Europeans and the Maoris brought the pests. We saw lots of neat birds as well as a Tuatara.
Tuatara are a rare reptile found only in New Zealand. They are the last survivors of an order of reptiles that thrived in the age of the dinosaurs.
Our guide informed us that many biologists place seeing a Tuatara once in their life on their bucket list of things to do, it’s that rare.
Tuatara reptile (closeup)
Back on the bus to the top of the Wellington Cable Car. We rode it down to Lambton Quay, the center of town and wandered through the fancy shops. We stopped on the City to Sea bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge as well as a public art area. Wellington is still dealing with the effects of the 2013 earthquake that ravaged the buildings. They are earthquake-proofing their buildings at great cost.
We walked to Karaka Cafe, a Maori-owned & operated restaurant. Mark thought it was just OK, even though he skipped breakfast.
Then on to Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand. Our museum guide was a little too quirky for Mark, but we did see some very interesting exhibits, such as: Gallipoli - The Scale of our War, which discussed the soldiers New Zealand sent to Gallipoli to fight. The Weta workshop folks created 2:1-scale soldier models for the display, which were very accurate, if not super large. We also saw an exhibit on the Waka (canoes) used by the Maori to travel to New Zealand. The guide said DNA indicates the Maoris came from southern Taiwan! They also had a universal marae (communal meeting place).
As Mark waited for Lynn, a Museum employee asked if Mark wanted to take a short survey, which he did. Afterwards, we both talked with him about Australia (where he's from) and Las Vegas. He wanted to know if Vegas is all that.
Walking back to the Hotel, we stopped by the Grocery Store, and this time the Inside Scoop ice cream section was open. We felt the ice cream was just OK, and that the Island Gelato ice cream was better.
2:1 scale Gallipoli model
NZ Museum: Universal Wharenui
16 November 2024 - Travel to Sydney
Saturday: Travel day! We got on the bus with a geologist, and we drove around the South of Wellington. We were introduced to the ismas section of the city, which is where the airport is. It's a wide, flat section of land that was thrust up by the 1855 earthquake. We went around the peninsula, passing the old air force base as well as Peter Jacksons ‘house’ which is actually about 4 houses on the beach. He's torn one down so he can make a garden area. Each house is $1 million plus.
We ended up at the end of the road, and got out and walked a bit further so we could see the old mining area. Then a picnic lunch. The wind was howling and we had to endure some rain, from time to time. We got through our planned program early, so the bus driver took us to the airport through the towns and over the hill. He had previously lived in the vicinity.
Some of the houses are built up a very steep bank of the hillside, so you have to either walk up or walk down. But some people built mini trams to take them up their hill.
The plane ride was 4-5 hours, so not too bad. We got in an hour early, but our Australian Roads Scholar Guide was right there to receive us.
Since we had a ‘lunch’ on the plane, they planned a lighter dinner for us, which was not that lite. Then we walked about the hotel for a few blocks. There seemed to be a lot of people out, especially couples dressed up pretty fancy. We couldn't figure out what the event was.
17 November 2024 - Sydney
Sunday: We started our first real day in Australia with a group meeting to get oriented. Our local guide (Michael) is experienced, but his presentation skills need some work.
Whereas we traveled predominately by coach in New Zealand, we're starting in Sydney on public transportation. We walked under the roadway to the tram station, and took it across the famous Sydney bridge to the North side. There we disembarked and walked back up to the bridge and walked back across! On our left was the Sydney Opera Center and on the right the Sydney downtown with its many skyscrapers.
On the south side of the bridge, we climbed the bulwark to the top for ‘stunning views’. The museum showed the development and construction of the bridge. It was interesting to see pictures of the bridge as it started to span the harbor from both directions before it finally joined together.
We went west toward the ‘convict’ side of town. We walked about and saw some excavations that showed the earliest construction of Sydney. We made it to the wharf where we boarded the Captain Cook Cruise premium harbor experience, with lunch. Well, 3 charcuterie plates.
We cruised under the bridge and near the Darling Harbor.
After the cruise, we left and wandered a bit. The rest of our walking group took a table at the Oldest Bar in Australia. We walked through the vendor faire again, ending up at a lovely park just north of the vendor faire they hold on the weekends. We took the tram back towards the hotel, and decided to get off in Chinatown. As we approached the door to prepare to exit, two young girls offered us their seats. We declined as we were getting off. Then two more young ladies offered us their seats. It is nice to see this culture show respect for their elders. We exited the tram, found a phone store and purchased an Australian SIM card for $22 Australia.
We made it back to the hotel and took a 2 hour nap.
We gathered and walked about 20 minutes to Planar restaurant. When the guide described the walk and the restaurant, he mentioned that there was a good Ice Cream store nearby. Everyone turned and looked at Mark!
There were many young folks out and about. Several were dressed fairly fancy. Mark noted that many more young ladies in Australia exposed themselves than in New Zealand.
The dinner was pretty good, and the appetizers were really good. We talked about retirement plans, and our guide (who was sitting with us at our table) said the Australians use a plan called superannuation which is similar to our 401K plans. Half-way thru dinner, the rain came. We had to dodge our way back, with a slight detour to Andersen Denmark Ice Cream store. We had a double scoop of Belgium Chocolate Chip in a cone. It was delicious. We made it back only slightly drenched.
18 November 2024 - Sydney
Monday: Our local guide gave a lecture on the history and settlement of Australia. It was interesting how the country was explored, settled, and developed. Of interest to us was the relationship between Australia and the United States. Australia requested American troops during WWII as all of her soldiers were in Turkey and she was defenseless as the Japanese approached her. The U.S. sent forces which gave the U.S. a foothold in the South Pacific. Australia is very grateful for the U.S. response.
We then boarded a coach which took us to the Sydney Opera House where a guide told us about the construction and the construction delays. A ‘projected’ $7 million building (which was the original cost given to the voters so they would buy into the project) took something like a $117 million to build. Fortunately the overrun was paid for, not by taxes on the Australian people individually, but by profits from the Australian gambling industry. The building was an amazing engineering feat. There were some parts of the design engineers did not know how to do and they had to develop new techniques and products such as the tiles on the sails. Shaping the sails was also quite challenging.
Opera House Structure
Tasman Sea
Inside the building we saw two of the multiple performance venues. The guide described how, if the modern dance team wanted more grip on the floor, they would wash the floor with 10 parts water and 1 part Coke. That provided just enough traction and was very cost efficient.
We then boarded the coach and drove around the eastern part of the city. We stopped for photos at Dudley Page Reserve, and then on to Bondi beach where Andy and we took off our shoes and went wading in the Tasman Sea. The water was quite cold. We had a good lunch there in the RSL club. The Returned Services League raises money to support soldiers and their families.
St Mary Cathedral
Then we had free time for the remainder of the day. We visited the Australia Museum and their exhibits on animals and birds, the original settlers of the area (Aborigines), animals that survive in the Australian environment, and dinosaurs.
Leaving the museum, we walked north past the St Mary Cathedral (a lovely building), through the Domain park to the Art Museum. We saw both the old and the new buildings, and walked into the Botanical Gardens. That was a lovely walk in the park, and we rested on a bench near the main pond.
Mark was running out of energy, so we walked back to the Central station and took the tram back to the hotel.
After a rest, we went out, back towards Andersens Ice Cream, with a stop at Holy Basil, a Thai restaurant, for some Garlic and Peppercorn Chicken dish. Then on to Andersens. We met Nancy and Dale coming back from Andersens as we were going. We met Rog going to Andersens as we were returning. So it's become a favorite of our group.
19 November 2024 - Sydney
Tuesday: Our adventure this morning is the Sydney Zoo. We started by seeing Red Kangaroo. We saw Wombats, Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, Dingos. We also saw a lot of Australian birds like Cassowaries, Swift Parrots, Freckled Ducks (endangered).
After all the walking, a Ranger gave us a discussion about Possums and allowed us to touch one; they are so soft. He then took out a lizard (two-faced/shingleback) and let us touch it. Lastly he showed us what he described as the most poisonous spider in the world, the Sydney Funnelweb.
Red Kangaroo
Sydney Zoo: Koala
Then we ran over to the noon Bird Show, which was outstanding. They had a South American Condor swoop in, and at the end, a couple dozen parrots flying overhead. It was very touching.
We had a very poor lunch before walking down to the ferry to take us back to the Quay, which gave us a great view of the Sydney Opera Center from the harbor. We boarded the L3 tram back to the hotel.
We went to the hotel basement to wash our whites. Anne followed and washed colored. There were only two working washers. We combined our loads and saved a couple dollars on the drying.
After an early dinner, a coach took us to the Sydney Opera House to watch a drama called SUNDAY. The acting was quite good. Lynn had trouble following the timeline and did not approve of the subject matter. It was about artistic people in a Free-Range, Free-for-All marriage.
20 November 2024 - Melbourne
Wednesday: This was a travel day with a 9AM transfer to the airport. Quantas had a nice group check in facility. It was so efficient! The coach in Melbourne was waiting and transported us to the city for lunch at a restaurant located in the Botanical Gardens. It was rather chilly as we were seated outdoors on a breezy cool day. Tomorrow we will probably wish to have it cool again. It was a beautiful setting with lovely birdsong and several varieties of birds.
After lunch we walked through perhaps 1/10 of the gardens which included a rain forest area in which a high canopy made a wonderful environment for ferns to grow below. We exited by the Shrine of Remembrance for the soldiers of many wars, with an eternal flame in the grass below.
The coach dropped us at the Marriott Hotel where we settled in our room and promptly fell asleep. Our discovery of the town had to begin after dinner. On Friday, some of our group are going to Beauty & the Beast at the performance center across the street. We tried to get tickets, but the box office has just closing, so we went online and picked up some seats directly behind our friends.
The streets were quite busy. The shops on the hotel street are very high end. We also wandered through Chinatown then purchased juices and ice cream to enjoy in our room.
Royal Arcade
Evans Walker Bridge
21 November 2024 - Melbourne
Thursday: We had a bit of a sleep in then breakfast and lecture. Richard de Gille talked about Contemporary Australia.
We took an Arcade & Lane-way walking tour at 10:00. This tour included several narrow alleys, a tram ride, the Royal alley, Block alley & Central alley, the last of which was a pale comparison to the first two. The Royal Arcade was beautiful, very Victorian in style, while the Block arcade was very 1980's style.
Continuing our walk took us across the Yarra River on the Evans Walker Bridge to the Eureka Tower. We took the elevator up 88 floors to the observation deck of the sky tower.
When we came down we went back through the Royal Arcade to look for an Australian Christmas ornaments but did not find anything that appealed to Mark. We had decided to have Chinese for lunch, so we made our way to the Shark Fin Inn Restaurant. On the way we caught up with the Ditmers, and joined them for a wonderful Chinese dinner.
At 3PM we boarded a coach to take us to Phillip Island where we had an Italian dinner at Mario's at San Remo. Then on to the Penguin Parade. On the way we stopped for an Echidna (like a porcupine) to cross the road. We also saw many Willoughbys and Cape Barren geese from the coach windows.
We were in the Premier Penguin Parade section, which put us right on the pathway the penguins take to their burrows. About 800+ penguins made the exodus that evening. It was interesting although a little underwhelming. Some evenings there are 3000+ making the trek.
We returned to the hotel about midnight and went promptly to sleep.
Penguin Parade
22 November 2024 - Melbourne
Friday: Despite our late return, everyone showed up for our 9AM lecture by Dr Ruth Pullin on Australian Art, Culture and Identity. During her lecture, she made this statement
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which we work
and pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging.
She actually left out the part about the Elders. Mark asked her about this paragraph, as we've heard it expressed multiple times during our stay in Australia, for example on the Qantas Airplane. She tried to say it was to acknowledge them, and stated that it was used often by progressive institutions. Rog whispered he was going to ask the same question. She didn't answer the question very well. Her discussion about Art reminded me of the Sydney Opera play we went to (SUNDAY) where she used lots of creative words.
She did talk a lot about the aboriginal art world, which was interesting.
We walked to the State Library of Victoria, where we saw the very beautiful Dome reading room. Around the walls were bookcases, and reading stalls radiated from the center of the room. In the very center was a command center, where the Invigilator sat. That was the person in charge of the room. They had an overview seat plus a mirror so they could see both in front and behind themselves. They were sometimes called the Chief Shush-er!
Passing thru the reading room and out the front door, we jumped on a tram for a couple stops (all travel in the center of town is free!) to the National Gallery of Victoria art museum housing the Australian collection. In this gallery we saw some paintings by Sidney Nolan, one of the characters in the musical Sunday, which we saw at the Sydney Opera House.
We learned of a character called Ned Kelly who was a Bushranger something akin to Butch Cassidy. He built himself a set of armor to protect himself against bullets. The National Gallery of Victoria is in 2 buildings. The other one has the international collection, which we did not visit.
Ned Kellys Armor
One of the concepts universal to Australian ethos is the notion of Fair Go. That's where everyone has an equal chance.
The afternoon was free, and some of us wanted to shop Opals. OK, some of the gals wanted to. But we were all hungry. Nancy has a gluten issue, and often ends up at French restaurants, which feature food types that are gluten free. We walked to Roule Galette, a French Crepes place for lunch. A couple of us were reticent, but marginally willing. It was great. Lynn had a cheese charcuterie board and Mark had a crepe with apples, caramel and ice cream. We all enjoyed it.
Then, on the Ashley Opal Jewelry. We initially thought it was at one place, but getting there and not finding it we consulted Google Maps and found it just down the road.
It was a super fancy place, up on the second floor. You had to pass through two locked doors to get into a very nice opal reviewing room. Lynn found some lovely opal earrings and a matching necklace, but in the end selected an opal ring that was so nice. It was also so ni$e.
It needed to be resized, so we escorted Tika back to the hotel while they resized it. We went back a couple hours later and retrieved it then placed it safely in the safe in our room. Then out for dinner. We noticed that the local church building was right across the street, but when we attempted to to visit, we did not have the proper permission to get upstairs in that building,
As we were leaving, we bumped into a couple missionaries, one of which was from the greater St George area. They took us up and we toured the lovely small church area.
Then down the road to the local Food Court, where we had South Korea Kimchi Fried Rice, which we shared for dinner, since we were still semi full from lunch.
We walked around a bit before going to Her Majesty's Theater for the musical: Beauty and the Beast. 6 others from our group also attended. It was great! The orchestra played great, the stage props were great and the dancing was great. In one number the dancers laid down on a revolving circle on the stage and the movements reminded us of the kaleidoscopes we enjoyed as a child.
23 November 2024 - Alice Springs
Saturday: A coach ride to the airport with another group checkin. Our flight was delayed a few minutes. This was the third Qantas landing that was hard. They must specialize in that.
Alice Springs is in one of the few strange time zones that is off by 30 minutes.
In May 1899, in a break with the common international practice of setting one-hour intervals between adjacent time zones, South Australia advanced Central Standard Time by thirty minutes after lobbying by businesses who wanted to be closer to Melbourne time and cricketers and footballers who wanted more daylight to practice in the evenings (Wikipedia)
Mark found an outback-style hat that Lynn really liked, so another airport gift shop purchase. But it does look nice!
We checked into our hotel (Mercure Alice Springs Resort) and were given slightly ominous advice not to walk around the city alone. Apparently the aboriginal youth are not happy and are causing issues.
Our first visit after lunch was the ASSOA: Alice Springs School on the Air headquarters. They were pioneers in remote learning/teaching, utilizing the Royal Flying Doctors frequencies to teach children that were remote out in the outback. They now use the internet.
Next was a stop at the ANZAC memorial hill where we got a great view of Alice Springs city.
We made a grocery stop for those that needed some wine. Because of the unrest, you have to get police-wand-scanned and present identification, and are quantity limited. The rest of us just stayed in the bus and went back to the hotel. The walk for the shoppers, while advertised as ten minutes, was more like 20 at a brisk pace.
After a break, it was back on the bus. As we drove out of the hotel complex, we noticed a couple brightly colored birds. They are Rose-breasted cockatoos, which the Aussies call Galah. And the birds do silly things like hang upside down from telephone wires (which we saw later on the trip!) If someone does a silly stupid thing, they might say “Oh you silly Galah’.
On the way, our local guide Mark talked to us about the reason for Alice Springs’ existence, way out in the middle of the outback. Back in the mid 1800s, if you wanted to communicate with Mother England, you had to write a letter, send it by ship (which would take 2-3 months to arrive) and then wait for the answer, which would take another 2-3 months to return.
So they wanted a telegraph method. Telegraph wire, using morse code, only goes well for about 100 miles, so they needed relay stations from Melbourne through the middle of Australia to the north end, and then via underwater cable to Java, and up, so all the Commonwealth countries of England could communicate.
The guy in charge of scoping out the route (John McDougal Stewart) followed the original route Charles Sturt developed and came to Alice Springs. There was a lovely lake here, which he assumed was fed by an underground spring. He named the place after his boss's wife (anyone looking for a promotion here?!!)
It turned out that there was no underground spring feeding the lake. It was just a big waterhole that had been filled by an unusual rain. But nobody wants a city named after them called Alice Waterhole, so the name stayed.
Our trip took us to the Alice Springs Desert Park. A very knowledgeable lady gave us a lecture about Bush Tucker. Tucker is slang for Food, so we heard about the food sources used by the natives. She had samples which we were able to try.
For dinner, we had more of the spices, as well as Kangaroo meat, which was very tasty, and some local white fish.
After dinner, we enjoyed hearing from a local astronomer. Unfortunately the entire western side of Australia was covered with clouds, so our actual viewing was zero. But he did paint a wonderful picture of what we might see Monday night in Uluru.
Back at the hotel, we fell into bed and sleep almost immediately.
24 November 2024 - Alice Springs
Sunday: Wheels on the road at 7:30 AM. We actually pulled out at 7:28AM and went back to the place where we had dinner last night, the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Here we saw the Red Kangaroo, an Emu, some nocturnal animals and talked about vegetation, empty rivers, birds, and snakes. There are apparently 7 different desert area types. We saw three of them: desert woodland, desert rivers and sand country. There was a wonderful smell in the air, which turned out to be eucalyptus from the Red River Gum Tree. We also saw a Ghost Gum tree, so called because the white bark in the moonlight gives it a ghostly appearance. These Gum trees (which are very prevalent in the outback) are also called Widowmakers because when the dead branches break off, they just break without warning or sound. Unlike the Crack-ing sound most trees make.
While Australian snakes have the most toxic venom (19 out of 20 of the world's most deadly snakes are in Australia if measured by venom toxicity) our guide tried to persuade us that they may be less dangerous than our rattlesnake. Apparently they are blind, so if you stop, they will probably not bite you. If they do bite you, sometimes they do not release venom. But if they do, you need to immobilize the appendage from the extremity towards the heart to slow the flow of venom.
The guide said their snakes have shorter fangs, so they don't pump venom directly into the bloodstream. Instead, it is absorbed through the lymphatic system. The treatment is to wrap the appendage with gauze to stop the lymph nodes but not the blood. Immobilizing the victim, keeping them calm and transporting them to the hospital is the prescribed first aide.
We also explored the nocturnal house, where they have reversed the day/night so the animals (that only come out at night) are active during the day when we, the tourists, come around. Therein we saw a Mala Wallaby, which is extinct in the wild and only lives in captivity. It's so small that when they do release it into the wild, the feral cats and other non-native animals that were released into the Australian outback pick them off.
Our guide gave a lecture on the geology of Australia and we also saw a movie about how Australia was formed, Geographically. Then lunch.
Simpsons Gap
We took a bus ride to Simpsons Gap. They have a saying: The rivers are dry or 10 feet high. We went into a river bed at the Gap and took some wonderful pictures. While water is a scarce resource, Sylvia explained that most animals come out at night (to keep them from dying in the heat of the day) and there are so few large animals anyway that it's rare to see an animal at a watering hole during the day. While we were at the gap, many of us gave the Australian Salute: Waving your hand in front of your face to shoo away the annoying flies.
There were some Aboriginal ladies selling their native art.
Again we had a lesson in how man upsets the balance of nature. When cattle were brought into this area, the local grass (spinifex) did not have the nutrients to sustain them and is super spiky. In a study it was determined that buffel grass would be able to sustain them.
Yes this was good for the cattle but not for the environment. It is very invasive and has taken over. The forest resets its balance through fires, The previous grass burned at 150c but the buffel grass burns at over 800c degrees. That burns everything, resulting in erosion, dust storms, and a scarcity of vegetation. The lower temperature of the earlier fires was the heat source telling seed pods to start growing. The hills and flatlands recovered quickly, but not now.
In the afternoon we visited a museum operated by the RFDS: Royal Flying Doctors Society. We were shown how emergency and routine medicine gets to people who live in isolated conditions. These services are free to Australian Citizens.
It was back to the hotel for a rest and laundry.
For dinner, we went to Olive Pink cafe for a steak BBQ. On the way, our guide talked about the Todd river regatta they hold each year called Henley on Todd. Of course, there is no water in the Todd, so everything is done on land. For the Rowing race, they install rails on the river bed and wheels on the boats. Instead of oars, the teams have shovels!
One year they had to call the river regatta off. It rained so hard there was water in the river.
Dinner was nice, and we had an entertainer: Alison Mapleson. She was a speech pathologist professionally as well as a Music Therapist. So she brought her guitar and sang for us. Of course we joined in and sang Waltzing Matilda and Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. She thought our singing skills were great.
She sang a couple songs that were Australian:
We are Australian
Give Me a Home Among the Gumtrees (which includes hand movements)
As we left, some of us spotted Venus in the evening sky, but the lights and trees masked the Magellan galaxies.
25 November 2024 - Uluru
Monday: We had to have our bags at the bus by 6:40am. Ugg.
The trip to Uluru involves driving on a road for 2 hours and making a right turn, and then following your nose for another 2 hours. If you miss the right turn, you'll end up in Adaline. We passed by the unmarked road that takes you to (prison if you turn down it) the super secret US CIA base in Alice Springs.
The landscape was unremarkable. Wild open areas backed by distant low mountains. And lots of buffel grass and scrub trees.
Our first stop was at Stuarts Well Roadhouse, really just a rest stop gas station. But it's apparently quite famous as the home of Dinky, the world famous Piano Playing Singing Dingo. They had a collection of Smurf toys, a Pithon snake, Emu birds out back and a funny sign: Uluru Segway Tours, with a Kangaroo riding a Segway.
As we rode along the highway, from time to time we would encounter a small hut with solar panels. They are the transmission relays for the North to South fiber optic cable for Australia.
The Stuart Highway is 2,000 miles, going from north to south. Occasionally, the highway is designated as dual-purpose. The highway widens, windsocks and landing lines are installed, and the road serves as an airplane landing zone, with planes having the right of way. This can be unnerving for foreigners driving down the road and seeing an airplane coming toward them!
John McDougal Stewart was a Scotland born surveyor. Regarded by some as the Australian version of Lewis & Clark. Charles Sturt was sure that there was an inland sea, and arranged an investigation study and included John as the surveyor. They named the area we drove thru the Sturt Standing Desert.
South Australia selected Stewart to find a way to get from South to North Australia for the overland telegraph. He took three attempts. He finally made it to the North Shore. On the way back he suffered from scurvy. His return was not appreciated and he died back in Scotland penniless and forgotten. Nowadays, his work has been appreciated and they named the highway after him.
Our second stop is ErlDunda: The Centre of the Centre. We had Scones and Tea. The scones were lovely with some whipped cream and jam. We got some Hot Chocolate, and picked up some Bush Tucker: M&Ms
A term they use: long drop dunny = outhouse
Off to the right side of our trip was Mt Connor: Similar to Uluru, but horseshoe shaped. Discovered by White man during the expedition to find a route from the Alice Springs to West Coast line for the telegraph. To the west is a dry salt lake. It is usually blindingly white, from the thin crust of dry salt. When we saw it, there had been rain recently, so we had actual water and brown soil.
Desert Oak or Kukkura Tree. Stays juvenile for 30-60 years while it sends its tap-root 15 meters deep. It will then start growing. Very dense wood, burns a long time and has great coals for winter heat. The juvenile trees look ‘like cousin It (from Addams Family) on a stick’
Palya: All’s Good, Hello, Good bye.
After lunch, we purchased three boomerangs, some books and a kangaroo ornament for our Christmas tree. We stopped for a very short visit to the very interesting Uluru Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre. The building is shaped like two intertwined (fighting) snakes. We saw a few native artist women doing point art. Art work and carvings were available for sale.
The bus took us back to Uluru, where we set up camp in the Uluru Bus Sunset Viewing area. They arranged for chairs, a serving table, wine, orange juice, soda and crackers. The sunset was behind us so the setting sun would shine on the face of Uluru. It was pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful.
26 November 2024 - Uluru II
Tuesday: We had a tremendous thunderstorm about 2am. When we got up, there was water all around. We checked out and drove to Kata Tjuta viewing platform. This is a Mens Business area for the original natives. The name means Heads Many, and the mountain looks like lots of BIG boulders stacked together in a line.
Kata Tjuta (Many Heads) viewing platform
We returned to Uluru to drive clockwise around for a different look. While we drove, one of our group mentioned that she just got a text saying our flight to Cairns (that was supposed to leave about 10:30am) had been cancelled!
That started a whole bunch of flurry work, for the Road Scholar folks. Our local guide had to get back home for another tour that starts tomorrow, and our bus driver had to start back to get the bus back to Alice Springs for another tour scheduled for the next morning.
We went to the airport, and all that did was confirm the cancellation. But we did get upgraded accommodations for the evening here in Uluru. Back to Ayers Rock Resort area. The rooms weren’t available until 3, and it was lunch time.
We returned to yesterday's lunch place, and we shared a gigantic Rook Hamburger (which was just a double with cheese and bacon). It was then that we learned normal Sprite with normal sugar also uses Sweetener 951, which is Aspartame. Mark has a throat allergy to that, so that means no more soda for him.
We walked back to the Resort Garden Hotel and waited a bit. There was a Hotel activity on the Cosmos, so a bunch of us went to that. It was a movie plus a Q&A with the local Astronomer. We walked through the GOCA (Gallery Of Central Australia) which had more art and craft items.
Finally we received our room keys. We dragged our bags up and promptly took a 1.5 hour nap.
We were served chicken burgers for dinner and Lynn went on a 1.5 mile walk with Anne.
Mark titled this day: Stranded in the Outback!
27 November 2024 - Cairns
Wednesday: No rush to get up and get going today. We were scheduled to be on the bus at 9AM. One group had their luggage on the sidewalk outside. We gathered for the shuttle in the lobby parking our luggage where there was a sign with our Qantas flight departure time on it. As soon as the first coach pulled out another one pulled in and we loaded our luggage and the luggage of the other group who couldn't fly yesterday. The largest bus we had been on yet was filled to capacity.
7 minutes later we were at the airport; there was no group check in this time. We made a long line at the tiny airport Qantas ticket counter. Fortunately our respective tour guides went up to the counter and got our individual boarding passes, so all we had to do was load our bags onto the conveyor, have them weighed and get our luggage claim tags and we were done.
As we flew away from Uluru, we noticed the salt lake formed to the left of the plane, just as our local guide mentioned. The flight was fairly quick, and another Qantas signature hard landing and we were in Cairns (pronounced Cans).
We quickly got our bags and quickly checked in and quickly made our way to the Dundee Restaurant by 3:15 for our 2:30 scheduled lunch. Then, we did a Cairns Center walking tour with a local Rain Forest guide, who pointed out the trees, flowers and birds. Someone asked why there was no one on the beach, even though it was warm and the sand and water were inviting. Our guide replied, “That's because of biting handbags (crocodiles) that are often in the water here”. She mentioned another beach where people can swim because the bay is monitored and crocodiles are removed.
Back to the hotel for a lecture on the Great Barrier Reef and what we should expect to see and do tomorrow by Dave O'Brien, a marine biologist type. We had a finger-food snack dinner while we listened and watched him describe the fish and coral we'll be seeing.
Tomorrow should be an exciting day!
Crocodile Warning
28 November 2024 - Great Barrier Reef
Thursday: Breakfast at Novatel Hotel was actually pretty good. Then a quick coach ride to the dock, where we boarded the Ocean Spirit. Our group camped on the top deck under a lovely shaded area. During the 2 hour trip to the Great Barrier Reef, we were instructed on the equipment and technique of snorkeling. We all wore full-length lycra suits which protected us from sunburn and any stray jellyfish. Mark wore a flotation device as did many others. Lynn declined as she is naturally buoyant.
For Lynn, at age 73 this was her first time snorkeling. What an experience! So easy! So beautiful. Once we arrived, we all boarded a Semi-Sub. That's a boat with an underwater viewing section where the keel should be. We cruised the coral reef and saw coral (of course) but also fish and even a shark and turtle.
Lunch was a curry roast veal stew on rice (which was really good). Then we all put on our gear and were ferried over to Michaelmas Cay. Part of the Great Barrier Reef, Michaelmas Cay is a National Park and a protected sanctuary for migratory seabirds. After a very quick live-snorkeling instructional, off we went.
And it was incredible!
Semi Sub
Clam and Coral from Semi Sub
We saw tons of coral (Table coral, String coral, Spaghetti coral, Boulder coral). We saw fish. And turtles, sea stars, sea cucumbers. And many clams, some 3 feet in length. As you floated over them, as they sensed your presence, they would close up.
At times, if you just held still and listened, you could actually hear the parrot fish scraping algae off the coral.
After a couple hours of incredible views, we gathered on the beach to hear a quick lecture on the many birds that were nesting on the island. We saw a white bird annoying a Bobbing bird (it wanted to eat the egg the Bobbing bird was sitting on). We saw some dead white coral that had washed up on the beach.
Back on the ferry to the Catamaran. a quick wash off and some bubbly (we had cranberry juice) and crackers, then back to shore.
We were excited and exhausted.
The evening activity is the Australian MASH (Memories and Shared Highlights).
MASH
Andersen Ice Cream
Bird Show
Bush Tucker talk
Beauty & the Beast
Music Therapist
Snorkeling
Stranded in the Outback
Happy Thanksgiving!
29 November 2024 - Sydney
Friday: Sitting in the airport, waiting on another late flight on Qantas. At least this time we know that it is in the air, to Cairns and we should get to Sydney today. Tonight we will be at the Sydney Airport Hotel and we are on our own to get to the airport for our various destinations tomorrow. It is just across the street. Before dinner we ran over to check it out. There were no signs for Delta but we were assured that they would be there tomorrow.
30 November 2024 - Returning Home
Saturday: We headed to the airport 30 minutes earlier than we had planned. We found Delta and got our bags checked and boarding passes without any problem, with just a little wait. Next we went to the TRS (Tourist Refund Scheme). Lynn was looking for Opal Earrings while in Melbourne and walked out of Ashley Jewellers with a 14k w/gold solid opal and diamond ring worth almost $3,000 AUS after having it resized. Australia has a 10% gross sales tax which may be refunded if you spent more than $300 in any one store and if you have all of the correct paperwork and the item(s) purchased at the TRS as you exit the country. The TRS will not accept your application if made less than 90 minutes before your departure. They did not open until 6AM. We worked our way through a very long line (something like waiting in line to ride the Matterhorn) to get to one of six agents available to approve the paperwork. Fortunately we had it all right and will be watching for the credit to show up.
We ventured out to our gate waiting area. Fortunately our plane was there. We would be boarding in 2 hours. Others of our group were not so fortunate. The airport was rather socked in with bad weather (it was the beginning of the monsoon season). All the other incoming flights were being diverted elsewhere.
Soon it was announced that the American Airlines flight to LA was being diverted and immediately thereafter: “American Airlines Flight to Los Angeles has been cancelled”. Three of our group were supposed to fly home on that flight. 30 minutes later the United flight was diverted and immediately thereafter “United Airlines flight has been cancelled”. At least 3 from our group were scheduled on that flight. We were quite happy that our plane was on the ground and at the gate. The airport was allowing departures but not arrivals.
We had a good tailwind and arrived at LAX early. We hadn’t slept much on the 14 hour flight so we were tired. Our flight to Las Vegas went out on time and we slept on it. We arrived and collected our bags and were ready for our shuttle almost 3 hours early. Mark called and got us on an earlier shuttle. Our good friend Brian picked us up from the shuttle and drove us home.
All is well except the refrigerator is nearly empty.
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