Alice Springs/Cairns

TUESDAY, MAY 6

Alice Springs was much busier today – since it wasn’t a public holiday. We managed to get a noon checkout (instead of 10 a.m.) so we headed to town in the morning and browsed through the souvenir shops and other stores.

Todd Mall isn’t a mall in our sense of the word – it’s a street that is closed to traffic with a lot of open air stores and cafes.

Apparently, Alice Springs downtown district is a “dry” area (in public spots). Most of the signs simply say – No Alcohol Zone but this one caught our eye:

After browsing for the morning, we went back to the hotel and checked out – leaving our luggage in a locked luggage room (but carrying the laptop around in the backpack). On our walk, we had spotted a Reptile Centre so we decided to spend some time there before it was time to leave for the airport. What a neat place – they do tours throughout the day (and on our tour there were only 8 people) and bring out some of the “residents” for a show and tell and holding session. The guide started with 3 lizards – a bearded dragon, a blue-tongued skink and a shingleback (sorry no picture). The skink likes to “give kisses” – we took a lot of photos trying to catch him with his tongue out but no luck so I had the idea of taking a video which managed to capture him with his tongue out. Wish I could post it but we haven’t figure out how yet.

Chris with the blue-tongued skink

Then she brought out Olive, the olive python. She also likes to be held and she feels so smooth and it tickles when she moves around you. She moves until she finds a comfortable spot (she likes the heat of backs) and then she just cuddles. She really liked John’s hat and actually got it off him when the guide was taking her off.

John with Olive

The Centre also had a fossil room with some really neat looking fossils and skeletons.

They also had some green tree frogs (must be cousins to the ones you have Lalena *s*), some perentie lizards (the biggest in Australia) and a saltwater croc. It was a good way to spend a few hours before heading back to the hotel. We still had a little time to wait for the taxi, so we sat by the pool (in the shade) and talked to a man from Perth. The other thing we learned was that Thorny Devils are like snowflakes – no two are exactly the same.

We had asked for the taxi to pick us up at 2:50 but were still waiting at 3:05 (I think that taxi company runs on manana time) – when John tried to call them to find out where the taxi was, all he got was a busy signal so the receptionist at the hotel called a number for him to talk to the cab company. It turned out that she called a different company and the taxi was at the hotel within minutes – just before the other one arrived.

We were at the airport early but could check in about 15 minutes after we arrived and then we whipped through security. We thought we would get something to eat but the grill in the restaurant was closed so we bought a snack and some beer and sat in the outside area until the flight was called. As for the flight, Qantas is tops in our books. It was only 2 hours and 20 minutes but we were served a snack, immediately followed by a dinner. John had beef, rice and veggies and I actually got a fruit platter. I was so impressed that there hadn’t been a glitch.

We arrived in Cairns at 7:50, found a cab and were regaled by stories of man-eating crocs and staying away from the mangrove swamps. Reception at the Cairns Queenslander was closed but we followed the late arrival instructions (and noticed that the taxi driver had waited to make sure we got in ok – what a nice guy). The apartment here is more than I expected – there is a hot plate as well as a good sized fridge and microwave. I thought we would be making do with just the microwave and a small fridge. It is also a lot larger than we had thought – it’s a great deal for $105 a night.

Our first impression was that it was warm and humid – a nice change after the dry heat of the desert.

Temperature: 27 C – sunny

Pygmy Mulga Goanna

Bearded Dragon

Bedroom

Living room area

Kitchen

Dining area

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7

No activities planned for today so we had a “lazy” day. We walked the 1.5 km into town by way of the pathway along the waterfront. It’s a well maintained path, with lots of information signs along the way. On the way we saw

a few of these exercise stations (all with different exercises)
and this sign:

Cairns has a large saltwater pool near the waterfront. It looked inviting but was closed for cleaning at the time we were there. We kept walking and found a coffee shop in a fancy hotel. I ordered a coffee and John had a mocha – word of advice – if you’re ordering a mocha in Australia, it’s not sweetened. Next stop was the information centre to find out about Great Barrier Reef cruises. There are way too many choices. The receptionist at the hotel had a few suggestions and the girl at the info centre had a few others. In the end, we narrowed it down to 2 different choices and then finally chose the one with the short helicopter ride included. We booked it for Friday and on Thursday we are going to Kuranda via the Skyrail and return via the train.

Our choice finally made, we wandered into the downtown area to browse and have lunch at a Mexican restaurant (and yes, I did have nachos as usual *g*). Cairns has lots and lots of souvenir stands – some good, some tacky. We didn’t buy anything today because we thought we would check out the Night Market first. So, after dinner we walked back downtown and found the market. The prices weren’t any better than in town and it seemed like they were more a lot of the time. The store owners seemed disinterested and we were disappointed. We didn’t buy anything and will probably shop in town on Saturday.

Hopefully the internet will be working on Thursday – the date on the server is out of synch (or so the tech support guy said – it’s showing January 1, 2000 right now) so it won’t let me buy time.

Temperature: 29 C – sunny, but humid

Sculptures in the saltwater pool

Palm tree

John and the Blues Brothers

Masked Lapwings

Kings Canyon/Alice Springs

SUNDAY, MAY 4

At 8 a.m. when we left the campsite, it was already 20 degrees. We stopped at Kings Canyon to do the Kings Creek Walk – a walk up a dry creekbed to a viewpoint at the end. There were a lot of people starting off on the 4 hour Kings Canyon loop – some of them probably should not have been. They were having difficulty with the first part of the trail and were having to pull each other up.

This is the start of the Kings Canyon Loop

The Kings Creek walk was mostly in the shade – and not too bothered by flies until we were almost finished. It was the first walk we’ve done that has had signs along the way, explaining what you are seeing in the creek bed.

This area must have huge flash floods – there were large trees washed up against other trees. You can see the water markings on the rocks – they are black in places where the water washes over them. The viewpoint at the end was pretty – and you could see hikers doing the Kings Canyon loop on the rim of the canyon. Another reason I wasn’t going to be hiking there.

After the 45 minute hike, we headed for Alice Springs. Our original thought was to stop at Erldunda again – but we were there about noon and it seemed to early to stop. We decided to continue on to Alice Springs and look for a campsite at the MacDonnell Ranges campsite – even though we were here at 3 p.m. we were lucky to get a spot – this is a huge campground and it was almost full. It’s a nice spot for families – there are lots of kid activities. They even had internet access so I managed to upload all the photos and blog entries. After dinner, I decided to take advantage of the on-site laundromat – they even have clothes lines for drying. (Actually all the campsites we’ve stayed at have had clothes lines).

On the road outside Erldunda – we spotted a thorny devil (a lizard) on the road, sunning himself (no, he wasn’t flat – he was bobbing up and down). We wanted to turn around and take a photo but figured he’d be gone by the time we got back *g*

This is John’s favourite road sign – too bad the vehicle we had wasn’t capable of doing that speed.

One of the local radio stations in Alice Springs is Sun FM – now I know of 3 of them.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Alice Springs Desert Park and the National Road Transport Hall of Fame before we return the van. We stay Monday night at the Best Western in Alice Springs and then fly to Cairns in the afternoon on Tuesday.

The campervan has been fun – but definitely costly. Fuel for the 2,664 km has cost $437. Actually it’s a little more than that as we don’t have to fill it up when we return it as we prebought a full tank (at 1.64/litre which is definitely cheaper than we’ve been paying). We thought the propane had run out but John checked it over and discovered the tank wasn’t hooked up properly and it was sucking air so he fixed it and then the stove worked well again. It’s been great being able to cook our own meals – and the best purchase we’ve made has been the frying pan (so I don’t use one that might have had eggs cooked in it). We did well with the food buying and don’t have much leftover – and only had to buy one loaf of bread after we did our initial shopping.

Temperature: 29 C – sunny

Chris and John at the end of the walk

Kings Creek Walk

Hikers on the rim of the Kings Canyon Loop

MONDAY, MAY 5

Didn’t do too much today – when we got up we cleaned out the campervan and then went to the Alice Springs Desert Park. It’s a fantastic place and well set up – we ended up spending 3 1/2 hours there and decided that we didn’t have enough time to spend at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame. They have an audio tour (free of charge) that you can use in the park. The park has various areas including Desert Rivers, Woodlands and Sand Country. There were a number of enclosures where you could see animals (mostly birds – except in the nocturnal exhibit). We really enjoyed the park – and were amazed that there weren’t many tourists there. One thing that I really liked were the signs on the various trees and plants, explaining what they were and what the natives used them for.

John got to see a thorny devil up close (and not just sunning on the road) – they are really strange looking.

We finally got to see kangaroos too – and this guy looks like the card I got from work.

After we left the park, we headed to the Best Western Elkira Inn at Alice Springs to see if we could check in there before we returned the van. We were in luck so we left all the luggage in the room and took the campervan back to the Maui dealer. We had to wait quite a while for a taxi back to the Best Western, but once there we went out for a walk.

The town itself seems to be the size of downtown Duncan – and with the same sort of problems. Lots of aboriginals on the street – some asking for handouts, others just looking “down and out”. One thing that’s noticeable is the security in all the stores and a lot of the homes – there are screens on the windows or high fences or guard dogs. It was really quiet in town, and then we found out that it’s a holiday – May Day. There were a few stores open in Todd Mall but we’ll have to go back again tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we’ll try to get out exploring in the morning before we have to check out at noon but the hotel has a luggage room where we can leave our luggage until we get the shuttle to the airport. The flight to Cairns leaves at 5:10 p.m. and we’ll arrive at 7:45 p.m.

Temperature: 30 C – sunny

An Australian Dogwood

Flowers at the Desert Park

Kangaroo grass

Kangaroo grass sign

Coober Pedy

THURSDAY, MAY 1

I think the clouds are following us – we woke up this morning to overcast skies and a cooler temperature. Even the driver of the tour bus commented on the fact that it was cooler than usual. For a change, it didn’t get blamed on the Canadians – there were a few couples from Victoria State on the tour and the weather was blamed on them. *s*

The tour driver was a lot of fun – he was knowledgeable and had a lot of interesting anecdotes. First stop was the Underground Serbian Church – there are 3 underground churches in Coober Pedy – two were made from old mining caves, but this one was built specifically as a church. It was beautiful inside – the walls and ceiling look almost like marble because of the veins of different rocks.

After the church tour, we went “noodling” – searching for opals on the ground. The only rules are no mechanical equipment – we were shown what to look for – and what not to look for (gypsum) and sent off for 15 minutes of exploring. Surprisingly, John found a small rock with the colour of opal showing – he thinks it was because of the rain the day before, the stones were a little cleaner. Most of us didn’t find anything – I did find some potch – which is an indicator of opal but not actually coloured opal.

Next was the

Coober Pedy 18-hole golf course

– the first thing we saw on the way in to the course, was a sign saying “keep off the grass”. Everyone was laughing then because this course is made of dirt and the “grass” around the holes is oil covered sand. The first tee is at the top of a hill –

it has a good view of the town.

. We drove through an active opal mining field – and George, the tour driver, explained that there is no obligation for miners to fill in the test holes. There are piles of sandstone taken out of the test holes all over the place.

They are cone shaped and varying colours – the lighter piles usually indicate that there is no opal there – the opal usually is found in the darker coloured rock. Apparently, a claim costs $160 for a year – the only stipulation is that you must work at mining it for 20 hours a week for 9 months of the year. The initial hole is done with a machine, and you can use dynamite and machines in the caves but if you find opal, it will blow the opal to pieces so the actual extracting of opals is done by hand with a pick.

We drove through the town – which isn’t much to see as most residents live underground. They do have a radio station – Dusty Radio, a bank, a few gas stations and a hospital though. The next stop was the

Umoona Opal Mine and Museum.

There we were treated to a fascinating 10 minute documentary on the finding of opals in Australia before we were led on a tour of the museum and mine. The first thing we saw was an old dugout home – it was pretty bare and small. Then it was on to a modern dugout home (70% of Coober Pedy residents live in a dugout) – the walls and ceilings of the dugouts (which are inhabited by 70% of residents in Coober Pedy) are spray coated with a sealant and then are maintenance free forever. To wire the dugouts for electricity, they dig a gouge in the sandstone and run the wiring and then cover it with a mixture of sandstone and sealant so it isn’t visible. You can keep adding as many rooms as you want (as long as you’re within your hill), and if you’re really lucky, while you’re renovating you might find some opal. Then it was down into the former opal mine – lots of tunnels and the guide showed us where opal had been found – and then showed where there is still opal in the walls. It was really interesting – and gave quite an insight into living in Coober Pedy.

Oh – and about the spaceship – it was in a movie called Pitch Black. We were both wrong *s*

After the tour was over, we headed north on the Stuart Highway again. We made it to Erldunda – just inside the Northern Territory border where we stayed at the Desert Oak Caravan Park. This is a really nice set up – lots of space, pull through parking spots, tavern, restaurant, store and they had happy hour at the tavern there – so we went and had a beer and socialized with other travellers. We saw a

kangaroo in the caravan park
but I’m not sure it could be classified as wild – we walked right past and it didn’t move.

Temperature: 31 C (at Erldunda where we stopped for the night at 4:30 p.m.) – sunny except for the above mentioned cloud in the morning

At the Coober Pedy sign

John noodling for opals

Raw opal

FRIDAY, MAY 2

It might have been hot when we went to bed last night but it got cold during the night – guess it’s to be expected as we are on the outskirts of the Simpson Desert but it was a shock. It was 11 degrees and felt even cooler after the heat of yesterday. It soon started to warm up – we were on the road at 8:30 and by 11:30, the temperature was reaching the high 20’s. Our wildlife spottings for this drive included numerous wedge-tailed eagles and a camel – still no live kangaroos.

We reached Yularu (Ayers Rock Resort) at about 11:30, and checked in to the campsite before we did anything else – that turned out to be a smart move as the number of campers checking in after the sunset viewing of Uluru was huge.

After scoping out the campsite, we headed for Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) – it’s 200 metres taller than Uluru and is very impressive. We had thought about doing the Valley of the Winds walk but it was too warm out for a 4 hour hike so we settled for the Walpa Gorge hike – just an hour long. It was amazing to be walking beside such huge rocks – the trail ended at a thicket of ironwood trees and we stopped for a photo.

When we got back to the van, we drove to the Valley of the Winds for another view of Kata Tjuta and then started for Uluru.

What can you say about Uluru? It’s every bit as impressive as photos make it seem – the walk around the base is 10 kilometres. And it seems massive – but most of all the colour just keeps drawing you back to look again. Of course we stopped for a photo opportunity there too.

Chris and John in front of Uluru

We drove around the base and then went to the cultural centre for a while. It was interesting – but one story from the legends of the Anangu (pronounced arn-ang-oo) was repeated many times. I would have liked to hear other stories as well as we saw artwork depicting other legends.

Back to Ayers Rock Resort to look around the shopping center and then out to the sunset viewing area. We got there about 45 minutes before sunset and the lot was already filling up – can’t imagine what it would be like in the high season. Watching the sunset was phenomenal.

The rock seemed to glow just before it went dark.

John and I both took too many photos but it was so easy to just keep pushing the button. We talked to a girl wearing a Vancouver 2010 Olympics t-shirt – we thought she might have been from Canada but she was from Japan and plays ice hockey.

All in all, we love Uluru and Kata Tjuta (even though it’s pricey – campsite $36/entry to park $25 ea/diesel $2.06 litre) – but hate the flies (so if we have funny expressions on our faces, it’s probably because the flies were attacking). They don’t bite but do try to fly into eyes, nose, mouth and ears at all times. I see now why people wear fly nets over their hats.

Tomorow, back to Uluru to do a short walk and then off to King’s Canyon.

Temperature: 33 C – sunny

Camel on the side of the road

Morning sky at Erldunda

Sign

SATURDAY, MAY 3

Didn’t get up early enough to catch the sunrise viewing so we headed to Uluru at about 7:45 a.m. for a walk on the Kuniya (Woma Python) Walk – which was posted as an hour walk. It was a really easy hike along boardwalk to a

watering hole – probably took 25 minutes at most (and we stopped to look at the viewpoints) but it was in the shaded area and the temperature was already climbing so we didn’t look for another walk.

We left Yulara at 9:30, heading for King’s Canyon. It took about 4 hours driving. Still no kangaroos but we saw two herds of camels and some horses. Once we arrived, we got a camping spot at King’s Canyon Resort and then walked out to the sunset viewpoint to check it out. After that, it was back in the van for a trip to the King’s Canyon Park – we had thought to do a hike there but this was the temperature

so we decided to try it tomorrow morning. When we started back to the van, there was a

dingo in the parking lot. There are signs everywhere asking people not to feed the wildlife but this one seemed to be expecting a free meal.

On the way back to the campsite, we spotted these flowers

Sturt Desert Pea

After that, it was R & R time – we had a shaded campsite and the flies weren’t too bad so we put the lawnchairs out and had a beer and some corn chips. Before long, we were surrounded by birds – crested pigeons, miners, a white-winged triller and crows (they were in the tree). The miners were very interested in the corn chips and one actually kept flying up and perching on John’s hand.

He fed them for a while and then, when we put the chip bag away, they headed to another campsite.

Soon it was time to watch the sunset

– our camping spot wasn’t far away from a vantage point that was just as good as the viewpoint. Not as spectacular as the sunset at Uluru but still pretty. When we started back to the van, there was a dingo casually strolling through campsites.

Tomorrow we leave in the direction of Alice Springs – after a walk at King’s Canyon. Hopefully will find internet access in Alice Springs so I can post this – or no one will have enough time to read all the entries.

Temperature: 38 C – sunny

Spinifex pigeon

Sign

Galah

Adelaide to Coober Pedy

TUESDAY, APRIL 29

Up bright and early this morning (5:15 a.m.) to go to the airport. When John went out to bring the car around to load it, he discovered it was covered in frost! Guess they really do get some cold weather here. Once we were on the way, we discovered a second interesting fact – it was foggy (but mostly in the higher areas and not when we went down into valleys). I was hoping to see some wildlife on the drive but we didn’t spot anything.

We got to the outskirts of Melbourne about 7 a.m. and it took another 40 minutes to get to the airport (about 18 km). Returning the rental car was really easy (just a side note – we put 2850 km on it in the 10 days we had it) and we headed to the domestic terminal – I should have listened to Karen (my sister for those who don’t know) when she told me that just because you’re flying within Australia doesn’t mean it will be from the domestic terminal. We discovered that our flight to Adelaide from Melbourne was on an international flight that was heading to Singapore. So back we went to the International terminal, only to find that the lineup for the check-in was enormous. It did move fairly quickly however – it was good that we got to the terminal so early, although since there were only about 50 people on the entire plane – and 7 flight attendants, we wouldn’t have been bumped off because we were late. We got good service *lol*

The Maui rental place wasn’t too far from the airport and soon we were on the road in

our home for the next week. It was good to have had the experience driving on the left side in a small car – made the transition a little easier when we got the van. It’s bigger than I expected and has lots of storage space. John says that the van is about 1/2 again as long as a Dodge extended van. The drive out of Adelaide was made smoothly, thanks to some really good instructions from the fellow at the Maui rentals.

We headed for the Clare Valley. There are a lot of wineries in the valley, but we were looking for the Sevenhill Cellars – a winery established by Jesuits in 1851. It was as beautiful as the photos I had seen on the internet. They also had a museum of old wine making equipment and and underground cellar which was open for viewing.

John wanted to buy this wine keg (in case you can’t read the sign on it – it’s 500 gallons) but it didn’t fit in the van.

Unfortunately, we didn’t really enjoy most of the wines – but there was one that we really liked so we bought a bottle for on the road. We thought about staying in Clare, but it was only about 3 p.m. and we thought we could go a little further. We made it as far as Port Pirie and finally found a grocery store. It wasn’t very well stocked but we did manage to get most of what we needed (we got the last 1 litre jug of 2% milk!) – we’ll stop in Port Augusta tomorrow to try to get the rest. When we came out of the store, it was already dark (at 6 p.m.) and we still needed to find a campsite. We found the Port Pirie Caravan Park without too much problem. The campgrounds in Australia are pretty neat – most of them have rental cabins as well as spaces for vans or just for tent camping. Cost to camp for the night (no power hookup) was $25. Not sure what the cost of the cabins are, but it seems like it would be a more inexpensive way to travel (with a small car that gets good mileage.) The van has a 75 litre fuel tank and it takes diesel which is approximately $1.67 litre.

The road speeds here are something else – the posted speed on a fairly narrow, rough twisty road was 110 – we probably wouldn’t be allowed to do more than 60 on it at home. Driving the van was challenging for John as he could barely get to the speed limit *g* but he did manage to pass a few vehicles.

Only saw one animal on the road (that was alive, that is) – it was a large stag. He came running across the field just in time to leap across the road a short ways in front of the van.

Off to Coober Pedy tomorrow – about a 7 hour drive. We’ll probably get a fairly early start as it’s been a tiring day and we’re going to bed early.

Temperature: 18 to 20 C (after reaching Adelaide – it was bloody cold this morning in Ballarat) – sunny

Chris at the Sevenhills Cellars underground cellar

John at the Sevenhills Cellars underground cellar

Bamboo and Prickly Pear Cactus – an odd combination

St. Aloysius Church, Sevenhills Winery

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30

Even with going to bed at about 8:30, we slept until 6:30 this morning – waking up in the night to the sound of heavy rain and wind. When we got up, it was “misting” but wasn’t windy anymore. We discovered that our campsite was right beside a river, and that there was an iron smelter across the river. The only other thing to see was a grove of mangrove trees along the banks.

The bedding supplied by the rental company is interesting – there is a bottom sheet and a duvet plus two pillows. We found it a little cool – so when we got to Port Augusta this morning, we bought a polar fleece blanket as well as the rest of the supplies we had forgotten. We also made a stop at the information centre which was located at the Wadlata Outback Centre. It was interesting to see the history of the outback – including a short film on when the continent was mostly submerged under the ocean. We didn’t stay at the exhibit for too long as it was going to be a long drive to Coober Pedy (pronounced Pee-dee) and we wanted to get into a campsite before dark.

Just outside Port Augusta, the terrain started to change – you could see more red earth and fewer trees. Soon you could see for miles – the photos don’t do justice to the openness of the countryside. We saw

emus

numerous times during today’s travel. The first ones we saw were inside a fence so we wondered if they were being farmed but then we saw lots more on the side of the road with nothing around. We also saw some very large eagles – including one who absolutely refused to move off the road (he was guarding some roadkill) and we had to go around him. Luckily, there isn’t much traffic on the roads but some of the trucks are huge, like this

road train.
There were a lot of those on the road.

There wasn’t time to go to the Flinders Ranges but we could see them in the distance. We also saw quite a few salt flats – and one lake that had some water but was mostly salt flats too.

We got to Coober Pedy at about 4:30 p.m. and found the Oasis Tourist Park. The cost for a powered campsite was $22.50 and they have wireless internet access. Showers cost 20 cents for a 2 1/2 minute shower and the woman at the reception desk says that Coober Pedy has wonderful drinking water. We haven’t tested it yet but will before we leave – if it really is good, then we’ll refill all the water jugs we have with us.

They have a cute swimming pool – that we didn’t use.

We did go for a walk into the main town area and checked out the price of diesel – at one station it was $1.77 litre and at another it was $1.73 litre. There were some mosquitoes and small flies – but not enough to resort to buying nets for our heads (yet!). We toured the Desert Cave underground gallery – basically a small museum of the history of opal mining and we saw this:

in town. Settle a discussion please – was it from Mad Max or one of the Star Wars movies?

We also found this water refilling station – for 20 cents you can get 30 litres of water – not bad for a town in the desert.

Tomorrow we have a tour of Coober Pedy booked – and then I think we’re off again.

Temperature: 20 to 23 C – overcast with some big fat drops of rain – usually no more than 100 at a time – how do things survive with that little amount of rainfall?

Road sign – and the light spots are bullet holes

Trench on the side of the road – these were all along the roadside – not sure if they are to slow the cattle and sheep down or to collect rainfall or both or ??

You can start seeing the red earth just outside Port Pirie

Ballarat – 2

SATURDAY, APRIL 26

Today we decided to go to Bendigo – to find the

Bendigo Woollen Mill.

It looked like a fairly simple matter to navigate to the north of town…. Ha! The roads change names when they turn corners around here so we somehow ended up on the wrong road. When we pulled over to check the map, there was a wallaby – right in the middle of town. Of course, my camera was still in the backpack. I’m not leaving the condo without it around my neck from now on! We found the way back to the main road and started northeast through the towns of Creswick and Castlemaine – part of the Goldfields Route.

It was foggy on the way so we didn’t see much of the scenery but what we could see was like the foothills of Alberta. And this is sheep country for sure – they’ve been shorn and they blend in to the background that sometimes you had to really look to be sure it was a sheep and not a clump of dried grass. We stopped at the Information Centre in Castlemaine to find a map of Bendigo. The lady at the information centre pointed out where Lansell Street was – it made us happy to see that it was at the south end of the city. She also told us that the large number of motorbikes we were seeing was because there was a bike run from Castlemaine to Maldon on the Anzac long weekend and it was a huge event. Off we went to Bendigo, happy to know exactly where the street was but, surprise! there was no wool factory on Lansell Street. John asked a man who was in his yard and he didn’t know anything about it. Hmmm, back to the map. Turns out there are two Lansell streets in Bendigo – the other one was in the

centre of town. We found the street, with much confusion, only to discover that it stops and continues in another location off another street. Luckily, we had picked up a brochure of Bendigo at the Information Centre and it showed the location of the mill. With a few twists and turns, we located it. Inside the factory store, it was interesting – yarn was displayed in large bins and there were knitted samples for all the wool. It took a while, but I found some wool (with John’s help) and we headed back out of town. There is a trolley tour in the town, the rail goes down the centre of the street but people were parked on the rails, waiting to turn to the other side of the road. We were wondering what would happen if the trolley came along while there were cars there when we saw one approaching. It had to stop and wait for the traffic to clear.

From Bendigo, we took a detour to Maldon. The bikers had arrived for lunch there – there were thousands of bikes – apparently, for this event, they were all supposed to be British made motorcycles. There were a lot of Triumphs and some Nortons, Lee Enfields, and BSA’s. We did see a few Harley and Japanese made motorcycles but the majority were British. It was totally amazing to see them lining the street – and then we looked down another street and saw them lining that one too. We wanted to stop for photos but there was absolutely no parking anywhere in the town. Back to Castlemaine, to find some lunch. Castlemaine was busy too – we found a parking spot finally and wandered up and down the streets (well I wandered while John went to Subway). I did spot a wool shop but I restrained myself from going in *lol* When we were leaving the town, we spotted a number of motorbikes outside a hotel. One of the older ones even had a sidecar.

The fog had lifted when we came back – and we could see the Pyrenees Mountain Range in the distance. There was also this sign on the highway. Who knew they had snow and ice? Apparently, there hasn’t been much precipitation lately and the towns in this area are on strict water conservation measures.

Temperature on Saturday: 16 C – windy with heavy rain at times

They must actually get some cold weather

SUNDAY, APRIL 27

We’ve been wondering about going to the airport and this morning decided to drive down that way – to time it and to find out where the rental car is returned. We headed off (and didn’t get lost this time). A short way down the highway, I noticed a castle on the hill. We did a U-turn and discovered Kryal Castle. Apparently, it is the only “medieval” castle in Australia – and it does reenactments of medieval times (no we didn’t see that, it wasn’t the right time for a tour). It was pretty impressive to see.

After that detour, John noticed that the gas tank was below 1/4 so we started looking for a gas station. We saw an off-ramp (we were on a freeway) for a town so we went looking for a gas station. Apparently, if the town sign doesn’t show a gas pump, it means there’s no gas station there. John was given instructions to go to the next town – however, when we got there, the gas station was closed because it was Sunday. Back to the freeway, and about 6 km along it was a truck stop/gas station/KFC – of course the gas was more expensive than Ballarat but what can you do? Shortly after getting on the freeway again, we noticed a field of prickly pear cactus with fruit. It was being cultivated. All along the roadside were other prickly pears but not in as extensive quantity as that one place. We kept looking for a field that we could get a photo of but of course there weren’t anymore. If we go past the field in the daylight on Tuesday, I’ll try to get a photo. The route to the airport was well marked as was the rental car return area so we drove through the departure area and found ourselves back on the freeway. Oops, not the right freeway. We finally found a spot where we could turn around and go the opposite way and then we watched for signs to take us a back way to Buninyong and then to Ballarat. The scenery on the road was fantastic –

you could see miles before there was a mountain. The weather, however, was deceptive. It looked warm but there was a very cool wind when you got out of the car.

When we got back to the condo, John was ready for a powernap but I decided to head out to the grounds and take a few photos. I checked out the exercise room , the hot tub and the swimming pool (just a lap pool – only 1.5 metres deep) and then walked around the grounds a few times. It was brisk and I was the only person out there. The swan came swimming up to me, hoping for food but I disappointed him. Tomorrow, we have to do laundry, find a post office and a bookstore. Maybe there will even be some time to explore downtown Ballarat now that we’re a little more familiar with the city.

Temperature on Sunday: 10 C – sunny but windy

Kryal Castle

Sign at Kryal Castle

Flower in the gardens at the condo

Pathway around lake at condo – it’s autumn!

MONDAY, APRIL 28

We found the post office easily and had a nice chat with the lady who runs it. We sent the parcel off – will have to stop collecting as much in the way of books and pamphlets as postage is just as bad as it is at home. Our next stop was Lake Wendouree, site of the 1956 Olympics Rowing, Canoeing and Kayaking events. We had heard that the drought had affected the lake but we were surprised to see just how much. The information pamphlet I read stated that “A recently announced ‘rescue plan’ should see the Lake at full capacity again by 2008.” They were a little out on their planning.

This is how the lake looks now – the building in front is the Ballarat Yacht Club

And these are the yachts at the Yacht Club.

We found the site where the Olympic Rings are and couldn’t resist the chance to take a photo with our Olympic wear. My hat has the Olympic logos on it as does John’s shirt. (Lizz – my Olympic shirt is on the way home – the letters are coming off!)

John at the Olympic Rings

Chris at the Olympic Rings

We found these signs amusing while we were at the lake – you’d think they might change them slightly now that the lake is dry (well, John said it was a little damp where he walked but definitely not wet).

After driving around the lake, we went further into the downtown area and went looking for a bookstore. It was really windy while we were walking – and we really wished we had heavier clothing with us! The main street in town contains a “Sculpture Walk”. The sculptures range from a contemporary art structure called Eternal Flame to statues of

Robbie Burns and Queen Victoria. We found a large bookstore called Book City. Word of advice – if anyone is coming here and they want paperbacks to read, either bring them with you or try to find a used bookstore (or possibly thrift store). The paperbacks on the shelves were $20. We did find a book for John in the bargain bin and I found some guides to birds, mammals and reptiles found in Australia. They probably weigh as much as the papers we sent back already today *s*

Now it’s time to do the laundry and figure out how to pack everything for the flight tomorrow. Not sure when there’ll be internet access again – possibly in Coober Pedy. Will post again when we can. With today’s temperature, I’m really looking forward to getting to the desert.

Temperature on Monday: 10 C – clear but windy

Sign at the lake

Ballarat fly fishing club (see next photo for what the small sign on the building says)

Sign on the Fly Fishing Club building

Swamphen

Ballarat – 1

Woke up during the night to the sound of pouring rain – and we were sure it was going to be horrible and wet in the morning. To our surprise, it looked completely dry outside, like it hadn’t rained at all. It was a little overcast but still fairly warm.

We headed out to see the last scenic stops of the Great Ocean Road – first off was

The Arch.
There was an extra bonus from being out that early – there was no one else around. It was a short walk to the viewpoint for The Arch and the view was spectacular. The next stop was

London Bridge
– one section of it fell in the late 90’s so it’s not quite as impressive now but there was a descriptive plaque showing how it originally looked. We ran into a couple of other people there but they were heading back from the lookout.

It was still pretty quiet when we got to The Grotto. It was a long hike down the hill but well worth it. And it was so nice not to share the experience with 100’s of others. We used the self timer on the camera and took a picture at the lowest level of the lookouts.

Chris and John at The Grotto

The next stop was at

The Bay of Martyrs
– there was nothing to explain why it was called that but the limestone stacks all over the bay were fantastic. Just a short distance down the road was The Bay of Islands – similar to the Bay of Martyrs but the stacks were further apart.

We ran into a little rain on the way to Warrnambool but it didn’t last long. We did turn to go to Ballarat at Warrnambool – and I was glad we did. A short way up the highway, we spotted a family on the side of the road who were looking up a tree. As we drove past, I spotted a koala so John turned around and I got a couple of pictures of it. It was just sitting in the tree – and looking at me when I talked to it. It was so neat to see a koala in the wild *s*

We got to Ballarat about 1:30 and stopped for some groceries before finding the way to Worldmark, Ballarat. This place is fantastic – the main building was built in the late 1800’s – and it’s huge. The room wasn’t ready so we drove around for a while (trying hard not to get too lost) and then came back and walked around the grounds. There is a lake on the property and lots of trees.

We are in the main building – The Grange, and there are two other wings – Humbert House and Gilston House. To get to our apartment, you need to go up a long staircase – no elevators here. The apartment is smaller than a normal one bedroom, but about the same size as Seattle however, the ceilings are 8 feet high. The “full” kitchen has a convection oven, a two-burner hotplate, a microwave, a fridge and a sink. No dishwasher 🙁 oh well, it was good to be able to eat a balanced meal tonight. This is another wine region in Australia so we might try to find a winery and do some taste testing. *s*

There is no internet in the room here so will try and post as often as I can.

Temperature on Thursday: 20 C – sun, cloud and a little rain

Koala

John at The Arch lookout

Chris at The Arch

Worldmark Ballarat, Kitchen

Worldmark Ballarat, Living Room

Worldmark Ballarat, Dining Area

Worldmark Ballarat, Bathroom

Worldmark Ballarat, Bedroom

Exterior, The Grange

Exterior, Gilston House

Great Ocean Road

We had a great visit with Charles and Beatrice – it was different actually visiting while not driving vast distances (in the past we’ve spent our time together driving between Duncan and Prince George (or vice versa). We had thoughts of catching the practice for the Melbourne Ice but the practice didn’t start until 10:15 and we’re still falling asleep early – it would have been too hard to drive back to the hotel late at night so we had to pass. Joey’s brother, Vinnie, plays for the Ice.

Another early morning, but this time on purpose. We wanted to get an early start so that we could catch the 9 a.m.

ferry from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula to start our journey at Queenscliff on the Great Ocean Road. And yes, we did voluntarily decide to take a ferry! It took just about 1 1/2 hours from the motel in Dingley to Sorrento but we were at the ferry in time to board the 9:00 ferry. The crossing takes 40 minutes and cost $60 for the car, driver and passenger – and included a free copy of one of the Melbourne newspapers *s*. There was a snack bar on board so we got a cup of coffee – we ordered large black and got a coffee that was the size of a small Tim Horton’s. And it cost almost 3 times what Timmy’s does for the same size. The ferry is a catamaran and is quite nice inside. There are comfy chairs and tables in the lounge area, and in the forward passenger area are a number of table and chair sets. There were also tv’s in a number of locations.

The Great Ocean Road is beautiful – a little twisty and narrow in spots – kind of reminds us of the Malahat when it was only 2 lanes (one each way). We stopped at various

pullouts and

lookouts and kept marvelling at the colour of the ocean and the land formations. There were lots of places to pull over and gaze at the scenery without stopping on the road. We ran into some mosquitoes at one of the stops, they sent us back to the car in a hurry. Guess we need to get some insect repellant.

We enjoyed seeing the Memorial Arch on The Great Ocean Road and finding out that the road was built and designated as a memorial to the World War 1 veterans.

Chris at the Memorial Arch

John at the Memorial Arch
Of course, the highlight of the trip was seeing

The 12 Apostles and

Loch Ard Gorge.
They are fantastic – and draw visitors from all over the world.

Instead of driving the entire road at once, we decided to stop at Port Campbell. There is a Best Western here and since it’s a chain we know, we thought we would try it. The room is small but clean and comfortable. Tomorrow we will head to Warrnambool and then to Ballarat. Of course, plans may change and we may go further on The Great Ocean Road or not as far. It’s Anzac Day in Australia tomorrow (the same as our Remembrance Day or Veterans Day in the States) and there are daylight ceremonies going on at the cenotaphs and memorials. They even sell poppies for people to wear in remembrance.

These signs are all along the Great Ocean Road

The temperature was really hot today – or as John says (sorry Paul, you can’t read this out loud) fuckin’ hot *lol* Actually it was 25 C – total sun, no wind or clouds. I was wishing I had my shorts on but someone had told us that it was windy along the drive *s* Apparently, the forecast for the next few days is showers – we should head to the drought areas as the rain seems to be following us – oh well, at least it’s not snow!

Sculpture and Memorial Arch, Great Ocean Road

Great Pacific Hotel, Lorne – love the wrought iron decorative work

Flower on the cliffs at Point Addis

View from Cape Patton Lookout

Phillip Island

We left Lakes Entrance at about 8 a.m. on Tuesday and travelled along the Prince’s Highway, heading to Phillip Island. As before, the drive covered all kinds of geography. We went through a lot of cattle ranching areas and some sheep farming areas. The road wasn’t very busy and John convinced me to try driving – I have to say it’s a lot easier as the driver than the passenger *lol* (laughing out loud for those who don’t know what that means). Of course, I was driving on a fairly straight road with very little traffic and only had to make a few turns on to other streets.

On the way, we saw the

Toora Wind Farm – it was pretty neat to see them up close and hear the sound of the blades whirring. There was a viewpoint on the way back down from the viewing station – unlike most of the ones at home, there was only one entrance at the bottom end and it was a tight turn even with our little car. You could see forever though.

When we made a rest stop in the middle of nowhere and also when we stopped for lunch in a small town, we noticed that the parks have natural gas public bar-b-q’s. What a neat idea. Since then we’ve noticed them in a few more parks.

We got to Phillip Island about 2 p.m. and found a nice, quiet motel in Cowes. It was very basic, but spotless and suited us perfectly. One thing we did notice was, like Justin used to tell us, there was no heating in the room. There was air conditioning but no heating unit. There were extra blankets, however, and they came in very handy after the Penguin Parade.

After finding the room, our first stop was the Koala Sanctuary – where we had an upclose and personal experience with a koala. He was roaming back and forth along the boardwalk railing and came turned around right where John was standing.

John at Koala Sanctuary

Chris at Koala Sanctuary

It was so cool to actually see a koala that close – he walked right past me and then climbed a tree. He looked like he was showing off.

In the evening, we went to the Penguin Parade.

John at the Penguin Parade

The exhibits were really neat – especially the places where you could look into the burrows and actually see penguins inside. If I ever went back again though, I would buy the Penguin Plus tickets as most of the penguins came off the beach and up in that area. Some of them did come in front of us though and they were so cute – all waddling in a group to the brush. I have a lot of respect for the rangers at the park, there were a lot of tour buses that came in time for the parade – the tourist didn’t listen to the instructions (sit down, don’t talk and no photos) and were rushing all over the place. The ranger in our area had to keep telling them to sit down and they really didn’t listen). Luckily they only waited until one or two groups had come ashore and then they raced back up the hill. When John and I went back up, you could see penguins beside their burrows alongside the boardwalk – there were two who seemed to be bickering like a couple of kids – and they were loud! I didn’t know that penguins made a variety of noises – and that they come into the bay as a raft. There was one little guy who was separated from his mates but he managed to find a group and head up to the burrows. Sorry, no pictures but I did buy some of the ones they had so I can share them when we get home. It was pretty cool out – not really cold, but very windy so we made use of the extra blankets at the motel when we got back so we could warm up.

As we’ve been doing, we were asleep early and woke up on Wednesday morning to the sound of some really noisy birds. We were on the road again by 8:30 and headed for the Melbourne area. The closer we got to the city, the more sure we were that we didn’t want to drive in it. We bought a phone card (Karen, the one you gave me didn’t work) and called Charles Hughes. He was happy to hear from us and insisted that we come to their home to visit. He gets off work about 4 so we’re heading over there soon. We found a hotel near their house but it was terrible – smoky (even in the non-smoking rooms) and not very clean. We went to a nearby gas station to ask for directions to another hotel (a nice one), and a kind man offered to lead us there as it was in the direction he was going.

We’re staying at the Dingley International Motor Inn and it is nice. Tomorrow, we are heading for Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula and the ferry to Queenscliff for the start of the Great Ocean Road Drive. We’re going to stay one night overnight along the road and then head to our timeshare at Ballarat for checkin on Friday.

You might notice that I’ve separated this posts photos into a folder called Australia – Phillip Island on the right sidebar. I thought it might be easier to locate the ones you haven’t seen that way as the main Australia category was getting pretty big.

Temperature on Monday: not sure – partly sun, partly cloud

Road sign

Koala

Lakes Entrance – 3

Kind of a lazy day today – we did visit the Buchan (pronounced Buck-n) Cave Reserve and toured the Royal Cave.

It was fantastic and we only bumped our heads a few times on the narrow, short passageways. It was 17 degrees C with a 95% humidity but it wasn’t steamy. There were quite a few interesting formations and the guide had a lot of stories and anecdotes to spice up the tour.

Before the tour started, we had a little time to explore – and we saw our first wild kangaroos. The park is home to some Eastern Grey Kangaroos and they were on the move through the campground area. Of course, we didn’t have the camera ready and we were so startled by their appearance that we didn’t get any photos 🙁 The other thing we noticed is that there are a lot of native and imported trees planted – and marked with tags saying where they are from. It was neat to find a

Canadian Poplar
– and to actually see that it is

fall here and the leaves are changing colour and falling. The kids who were waiting for the tour were covering each other with leaves and doing the typical kid shuffle through the fallen leaves.

After the tour, we drove to Bairnsdale and then back to Lakes Entrance with a side trip to Metung to look at Victoria Lake. Erik and Reed will be interested to know that there is an EB in Bairnsdale – no, we didn’t stop.

The rest of the day was pretty much taken up with napping, and going to the Safeway store to buy a few groceries for dinner and snacks for tomorrow’s car drive. Right outside the Safeway is a fisherman’s co-op store selling fresh fish – so of course we had to get more fresh cooked prawns for dinner. They were excellent.

We leave Lakes Entrance tomorrow and are heading for Phillip Island, the home of the Little Penguin colony. Not sure if there will be internet access for a while – will post when able.

Temperature on Monday: 22 C – partly sun, partly cloud

Road sign

Lot’s Wife, Royal Cave, Buchan Cave Reserve

Shawl formation, Royal Cave, Buchan Cave Reserve

Not the entrance to the cave tours

Lakes Entrance – 2

When we woke up this morning, it was sunny and calm (the wind seems to come up in the afternoon), so we ate a quick breakfast and headed back across the footbridge to the “Entrance Walking Track” on 90 Mile Beach. The signs indicated that users go out and back on the same path but there were other paths that led off the main track to the beach. The main path didn’t go to the open ocean so we took the first path that led out to the ocean. It was so beautiful out there – we were the only people on the beach – the only sounds were the waves breaking and the birds. We saw so many

shells
and a lot of

animal tracks (we’re now looking for an identification guidebook so that we can identify them). The end of the walk brought us to a Historical area where there was a lot of

old machinery on display.

The path back was through the forest on unpacked sand – it was harder walking than the beach had been. The entire walk took about 2 hours and we only started to meet other people when we were returning to the starting point of the trail. All the way back, we could hear birds but couldn’t see them. It was like they were playing hide and seek.

On our way back to the condo, we took a few side trips to view the entrance area from a higher altitude. There are 3 viewpoints on the way up the hill out of town and they all have spectacular views.

After returning to the condo (and having my coffee), we headed out to The Wynanga Park Winery to check out their “cellar door” (the wine tasting room). When we arrived, there was a group who had travelled to the winery on the “Corque”. It’s a 90 minute trip up the North Arm and includes lunch at the winery cafe. The owner of the winery, Geoff, transports the tour group from the dock to the winery in a bus and he was just ready to take them back to the boat. We were invited to ride along while he did that – what a ride. The tour group and Geoff were in fine form – and we enjoyed the trip to the boat and back. When we got back, we tasted some of the wine. We really enjoyed the riesling and the muscat and got a bottle of each. While we were there we were talking to Geoff about where we came from and he pulled out a map and got us to sign it and indicate where we were from. His map is getting tattered so we’re going to send him another one as he collects maps. While he was asking where we were from, he said “Oh Canada – maybe you know my cousin”, so we laughed and played along. Turns out that he’s related to Adrienne Clarkson (through a grandfather 3 times removed – so that would be great, great, great grandfather??) so we did know his cousin. It was a fun afternoon and we were glad we decided to check the winery out.

Temperature on Sunday: 23 C, sunshine and a few clouds