Australia
Oct 30-Nov 13, 2024
Day 1
Australia is called many things, but I will now be referring to it as The Land of Loud Birds. We went to several national parks, but since they are not in the US I put this in one long page instead numerous. All of the pictures are mine except the platypus which is from another member of our tour group. Our first stop of day one was a morning walk through the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt. Coot-tha. It is a beautiful free park that is divided into sections including an amazing Bonsai garden. There were so many trails that we got lost three times but always found our way out trying to avoid stepping on the numerous water dragons along every path. Next up was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. They had many birds in cages that we saw in the wild at the botanical gardens such as cockatoos, brush turkey and lorikeets. There were several native animals I had never seen before including platypus, dingo, Tasmanian devil and wombats. I lost track of how many cute koalas were hanging in the perches with one large male bellowing for a mate. The best part was an open field of kangaroos that you can wander among and feed. Feeling serious jet lag, we made one more stop at Sherwood Arboretum mainly due to the name. It was a nice city park with trails leading to wetlands, the river and lots of various trees that each had an identification placard. After an afternoon nap, Wilson had his first legal beer as the drinking age here is 18. The only problem we ran into was the service was super slow. We got our drinks and his food at the same time 40 minutes after ordering. He was done eating by the time I could flag down the waiter asking about my food that was completely forgotten and never made. Another 20 minutes later, I finally got my sandwich.
Day 2
Australian food day. At the hotel, we tried beans, toast, vegemite, thick bacon and sausage. The vegemite was edible if there was orange marmalade in the same bite. Browsing in a grocery store in the evening was fun. We bought TimTams (wafer cookies with layers of filling and coated in chocolate) and Shapes (crackers where each flavor is a different shape). Both were quite yummy. Wilson did not like what I picked for dinner, so he walked to Hungary Jacks (Australian Burger King) for a Mexican Burger that he liked. After successfully adjusting to the new time zone, we were up early for a stroll around downtown Brisbane. We visited a public market and a beautiful Angelican church that appears to double as a homeless shelter at night. On the walk down to the river, I stepped weird and sprained my ankle. No serious injury, so I can live with a scrapped up knee and a throbbing ankle. The boardwalk along the river was nice seeing the ferries shuttling business workers from side to side. Most of the rest of the day was traveling to our next location of Airlie Beach. The toughest part of the whole trip has been getting used to driving a car with the steering wheel on the right side. I keep turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals.
Day 3
Woke up to insanely noisy birds that ended up being lorikeets in the trees! Huge bucket list mark off item today; snorkeling the great barrier reef. We took a three hour ferry ride out to Hardy reef that forms a heart shaped reef with several other reefs. It was the start of box jellyfish season, so we had to wear stinger suits for protection however, we did not see any jellys. The snorkeling was amazing with tons of fish. Most were the same species as I saw in the Caribbean with a few additions like clown fish and a giant maori wrasse. The coral was slightly different with some cool purple branching coral and lots of plate coral. I took great joy in playing with the giant clams, it involved diving down and getting near the clams. They would flex if you got near them. I did not touch any and they did open back up within a few seconds so it did not do any harm. Our trip included a glass bottom boat tour which was cool. Back on board the ferry, Wilson stubbed his toe and was bleeding all over. Both of us have now suffered minor injuries in Australia. Almost had a bird fatality on the drive to our hut for the night. The thick kneed bird was just standing in the middle of the road and it was dark out. Barely missed it.
Day 4
This day started at Cape Hillsborough National Park where we spent the night in a small hut (no bathroom so we used communal amenities). Dawn on the beach brought out the wallabies. The animals naturally flock to the beach at sunrise to eat seed pods at the high tide mark. The rangers have segmented a section of beach off and place feed piles so the wallabies can eat without being disturbed by tourists although they are wild and free to hop in any direction they feel like. The biggest one had a joey in her pouch that was visibly squirming around. We saw another wallaby hop across the road on our way to the port and then ate breakfast at McDonalds. The menu was vastly different and we both liked it better here with a Big Brekie Burger (bun, two patties, egg, ham and hashbrown burger) and I had a bacon cheese toastie (grilled on thinly sliced bread). The rest of the day was a cruise to the Whitsunday Islands with a couple hours on Whitehaven Beach. The incredibly soft fine sand makes this one of the top rated beaches in the world. We tried stand up paddle boarding, or in my case kneeling on the board while paddling. Wilson wanted to climb some rocks but had to change rocks so he would not disturb a large lace monitor lizard.
Day 5
The morning was early for wallabies on the beach at dawn again. There was a large male today that was very timid of the people and had a difficult time making it to the feeding area. When I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, there was a big gray kangaroo by the toilets just hanging out eating grass. After viewing the wallabies on the beach, we took a trail down the estuary spotting several lizards and birds along the way. The tide was out leaving the mangrove roots exposed. Wilson was more daring and went further down the muddy area and had a crocodile growl at him. He quickly vacated the area. Flying to Sydney took most of the day. Our hotel is in a very busy red light district that is strongly LGBTQ, mostly gay men. It was hard to navigate the streets to find the parking garage but it helped that our hotel was a block away from a giant Coca-Cola sign that is a landmark. Wilson was finally happy to find some spicy food for dinner at a Portuguese chicken place. We already bought him some hot sauce to carry along.
Day 6
We left the hotel before the birds were awake to take a kayak tour through Syndey Harbor at dawn. The paddle went under the bay bridge and had a great view of the opera house. Ferries are popular and we successfully avoided them and the huge cruise ship coming into port. This area is popular for Jacaranda trees which have vivid purple flowers. Supposedly, a hospital nearby gave seeds for the trees as parting gifts to parents of newborn children in the 1950s-1960s. The entire afternoon and early evening was spent walking including three hours in the New South Wales Art Gallery. This is comparable to the Smithsonian as it is a free national museum. There were classics like Monat, Manet, Pissaro and Van Gogh mixed with an entire floor of surreal (one Picasso) and another building of modern art and aboriginal art. We enjoyed most of it but some of the modern art was freaking strange like a wall of netted orange bags tied together (a few orange peels still in one of the bags) or a blue background with a single stripe of white. We continued walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens. These were similar to the ones in Brisbane but more compact and loads more tourists. The coolest feature we found was they get eels in the ponds in the Oriental garden section that naturally squirm their way from the bay. Last stop was the Opera House for an up close look.
Day 7
Our flight to Hobart in Tasmania was in the morning. The afternoon we walked along the waterfront dock area. I tried fish and chips made from flathead fish. It was kind of like catfish, so not my favorite but I did love having it with vinegar instead of tartar sauce. Wilson spotted the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, so we went to another one. This was smaller than the one in Sydney but also had a strange mix of classics, modern and local art. We did like it better for the museum factor with artifacts including large sections on an Australian Antarctica exploration, indigenous peoples and one dedicated to local animals. The Australian colonial government was almost worse than the US government in having policies in place to remove all native peoples. There was a beautiful large art piece noting all the individuals being sent to Australia on an all-female prison ship. The sentences were ridiculous for the crimes. One 18 year old got seven years in prison for stealing a shirt. Some women even had their female children sent with them. The most famous article in the museum was a taxidermy Tasmanian Tiger which was the last one of the species to have been seen alive when she died in a zoo in 1936.
Day 8
Today was the start of our 5 day organized tour of Tasmania. There are only two other ladies in our group that were traveling solo. After driving through Dunally (famous for Neal the seal but not around today), we checked out several locations in Tasman National Park including high sea cliffs and cool rock formations such as the Tasman Arch, Devil’s Kitchen, Waterfall Bay, Tessellated Pavement and Magnificent Cave. We did a mile long hike along the tall sandstone cliffs and then made our way to Port Arthur. I spotted an echidna (spiney anteater) along the way. Port Arthur is a large compound that is along a bay and quite beautiful if it was not a prison. Thousands from the UK were transported to the Island of Tasmania with many of them housed in Port Arthur. During the day, they were essentially slave labor mining or making furniture, tools and several hundred boats. Across the bay was a boys prison where children as young as 9 were transported from England and forced to remain working until released.
Day 9
Last night was a place I have never stayed before, a hostel. It was definitely not quiet nor luxurious but we survived the night. Our main location today was Freycinet National Park. On the way, we stopped at Spikey Bridge that has stones placed on the tops of the sides standing upright like spikes. It was built by the convicts, so nobody knows why it looks this way. In Freycinet, we split our group up with everyone else climbing Mt. Amos. I climbed hundreds of stone stairs to see Wineglass Bay. It’s name comes from the whaling time period of the area when the bay would turn red from the slaughtered whales. I then walked down to Honeymoon Bay for lunch on a rock while watching a cormorant fish for it’s lunch. After the group joined me, several of us went for a quick swim in the rather cold water. We did a short trek around a lighthouse and saw a wallaby in the parking area. Our last stop was a visit to the Blowhole in Bicheno which spews water high in the air when a big wave comes in. Dinner was a fabulous seafood pizza and then we watched a colony of Little (Fairy) penguins return from the sea. They cannot see red so the organizers use red lights so we can see the penguins. We saw at least 40 cute little penguins waddling their way out of the sea, up the hill returning to their chicks and nesting boxes. Many fluffy chicks were waiting at the top for parents to return with food.
Day 10
The night was at another hostel, but this one was shut down except for tour groups so we were the only guests. The day was jam packed with stops along the coast line at several beaches including Bay of Fires, Shelly Point, Taylor’s Beach, Sloop Reef and Cozy Corner. We got lucky at a few of them but most we caught during intense wind and rain. We were able to collect some cool shells at one of the beaches. Working our way inland, we stopped at a dairy farm, a quick walk in a rain forest that has ancient looking tree ferns and a World War 1 memorial carved into tree trunks. Our next stop was a cattle farm that has platypus in a couple ponds. We saw several cute little platypus swimming and diving. The last two stops were a lavender farm and a hike to Lilydale Falls before staying in a third hostel in Launceston.
Day 11
This hostel was decent. Much larger with a huge kitchen. We cooked beef and a teriyaki stir fry kit for dinner which was nice not eating out. Today was Cradle Mtn National Park. It is a cradle shaped mountain and was rainy all day. The group split again with the younger folks heading up to a viewpoint while I did a circuit of Dove Lake. My hike was shorter, so I added on another section to Ronny Creek to meet them for wombat viewing. I had to endure wet feet for most of the day as the rain had turned my trail into a river. The wombats were perfectly fine in the rain and were happily munching on grass while us tourists took their picture. Back in Launceston for dinner we ate at an English style pub. The meat pies are to die for in Australia including a wonderful curry scallop met pie.
Day 12
Cataract Gorge was our first highlight of the day, which was a nice walk along a river. We had to stop quite often as the Chinese lady in our group liked to pose as a dead body in various places throughout the tour and Wilson decided to try it also. It was hilarious and she got some really good pictures. The walk continued up some trails to look at peacocks and wallabies including the cutest juvenile with mom. We crossed a suspension bridge and saw an outdoor Olympic size swimming pool that was built as a practice location for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Wilson got bounced around at the playground that has a human sized hamster wheel. Next up was the town of Ross for a tour of the Female Factory. Women are not made here. It was the housing and work station for females transported to Tasmania as convicts. This town also had a very nice bridge built by more incarcerated labor. Bonorong animal sanctuary was after lunch. We fed and pet numerous kangaroos hopping about. The Tasmanian devils were adorable and we saw more echidnas, wombats and cute little spotted quolls. The entire trip to Australia I was worried about the snakes. This was the only place I saw one and it was behind glass. Last stop was the historic town of Richmond. Rather touristy but some nice shops and good ice cream. This was the last day of our tour with an excellent tour guide and fun new friends.
Day 13
Back in Hobart, we had booked an early ferry ride to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). On our way to the ferry, I spotted a ship docked that I instantly recognized. It was the Allankay, which is part of the Sea Shepherd fleet that effectively stopped whaling in the southern oceans. That made my day with a total fan girl moment. The ferry to MONA was interesting with graffiti on all the walls and some of the seats were plastic sheep. We were able to wander the grounds before entering including outdoor art, a bell laden trampoline and playing air tennis. The museum itself is a strange mix of modern, sometimes very weird art and mostly ancient Egyptian artifacts. It is located underground in a variety of tunnels that we got lost in very quickly. Turning a corner, you had no idea if you were going to run into a mummy’s coffin, plaster casts of pubic areas, Andy Warhol painting or a room full of TVs with people singing Madonna songs. We ate lunch there and the food is just as eclectic as the museum as the portions were tiny, expensive and delicious. The smoked wallaby was served on a wood plank with a real wallaby skull and one of the utensils used to eat another dish was a ceramic finger. This place is a must see of Tasmania for the weirdness factor alone.
Day 14
Our last full day in Australia we flew to Brisbane in the morning and drove to Surfers Paradise. It is famous and I wanted to see it. Once was enough. The beach is beautiful, but the Gold Coast is a combination of Miami (tall buildings at the edge of the beach) and Orlando (massive theme parks with hordes of rude tourists). We did a jet boat ride zipping around and around at high speed. Soaking wet, it dropped us and several other tourists off for a short helicopter tour. The helicopter is only a 4-seater so the other group was told they could not all go together. They threw a bloody fit, complaining and suggested that we get broken up into two flights instead of them. I would have volunteered to do that until they behaved so badly. They finally paid for an additional flight, so it was two people per flight which left us happily without any of them. Wilson got the front seat and we enjoyed our quick overhead tour of the Gold Coast high rises. For the last goodbye, we walked back to our car along the beach. The more northern section of the beach had few people which was nice. We stayed at a huge resort but did not do anything there as we were late checking in and early checking out in the morning.
