Uluru

We left our hotel in Alice Springs at 6:30 a.m. for our 462 km (287 mile) bus trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock). We travelled 200 km south on the Stuart Highway which runs right through the centre of Australia.  Stuart was an explorer who travelled across Australia in the 1800's.  He forced his men to carry boats on their heads because he was convinced that they would discover a huge inland sea. When all he found were salt flats he gave up exploring and became a cartographer.  Mark from AAT Tours was very good about making bathroom stops every 100 kilometres, the first being at a camel farm where we opted NOT to ride a camel.

The next leg of the journey was on the Lasseter Highway to the west. The story of Lewis Hubert Lasseter is a mystery.  He claimed to have discovered gold and was backed financially by several large companies.  Eventually, when unsuccessful, all of his party left him and he wandered in the outback until his decomposed body was found near Uluru. His bones were buried.  However, many believe that his death was fake and he later lived a very luxurious lifestyle in the United States  under the name of Harold Best, as he had in fact discovered a rich gold reef and wanted it all to himself.


On the approach to Ayers Rock,(native name Uluru), we saw Mount Connor, a flat topped rock made of sandstone.  It is 4 feet shorter than Uluru and does not have the impressive colour or cultural significance of Uluru. We passed through a 1,280,000 acre cattle station which houses 3000 cattle.  The vegetation is so sparse, 300 acres are needed to feed 1 head of cattle.



Finally, the impressive red rock came into view.

Everywhere we stopped the little flies were terrible, gathering around mouth and eyes, so the nets came out. On the way, Jack visited a "long drop", deep hole with a toilet on top.  I had been warned to pass on the opportunity to use a long drop.  He said it wasn't too bad.  I decided at lunch in our hotel to experience eating kangaroo in a gyro since this might be my only chance.  Later, at dinner, some native Australians told us that they only use kangaroo meat as dog food!

This was the temperature outside our hotel as we boarded the bus for our dinner at the Field of Light Uluru.  Bruce Munro is a renowned artist whose medium is light.  The installation on the outback consists of 50,000 solar powered lights connected by fibre optic cables which come alive at sunset.  After drinks and canapes in a viewing area of Uluru and the sunset to the west, we descended the path to the dinner tables set up below.

After dinner, the tables were darkened and a "star talker" pointed out the features of the southern sky.  The moon was full and bright. This was our last official event on our trip and we could not have asked for a more beautiful night.  AND the flies disappear after sunset!

We walked through the paths among the lights back to our shuttle bus to the hotel.

This is the end of our blog.  We hope you have enjoyed sharing this adventure with us.

Alice Springs

We arrived at the Alice Springs Desert Park shortly after 8 a.m. thank goodness as the temperature was a pleasant 28 C (82 F).  This is a 54 hectare park with 3 km of walking trails. Our first stop was at the home of the Red Kangaroos.  Up to now we have only seen the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, which is smaller.  The males were quite active, with younger males challenging the older male for dominance.  This looked serious enough to harm a human but was only playful behaviour.  Nonetheless, we kept our distance.

Our next stop was at the dingo enclosure.  There are about 200,000 dingoes in the desert; 20% are believed to be domestic dog hybrids.  Dingoes live and hunt in packs over a range of 25 - 67 km (15 - 40 miles).  Dingoes do not bark - they howl.  During the heat of the day they take refuge in caves and hollow logs .  While we were watching a couple arrived who used to work at the park.  The dingoes immediately ran over to greet them probably expecting food.

In the Amphitheatre, with the MacDonnell Range as a back drop, we saw a Flying Bird Show showcasing natural bird behaviours.  We saw several impressive large birds and surprisingly a small heron. The buzzard opened an emu egg for food by dropping rocks onto it, an instinctive behaviour.

Wedge tailed eagle

The huge wedge tailed eagle has a wing span of 2.3 m (7.5 ft). It is Australia's largest bird of prey, They soar up to 2000 m (1.25 miles) and their binocular vision allows them to spot their prey below - rabbits, kangaroos, wallabies, snakes, lizards, possums, foxes and sheep.

Whistling Kite

The Tawny Frogmouth is called the "stick bird".  It hides from predators by remaining still and resembling an upright stick.



A barn owl silently swooped over the crowd.

We have to admit that we ran out of steam by 11:30 when the temperature reached 38 C (100.4 F). We watched a film in the air conditioned cinema showing the evolution of the desert then returned to our hotel for rehydration.

               

The Ghan

The Ghan is a legendary train that travels a distance of 2979 km (1850 miles) from Adelaide to Darwin through the Red Centre of Australia.  It was named after the first cameleers who arrived from Afghanistan in 1839. Camels were used to deliver supplies to outposts and miners. Construction of the railroad began in 1877.  As the need for the camels diminished, The South Australian Government passed the Camel Destruction Act, giving police the right to shoot any unregistered camel.  Rather than see their camels shot, some cameleers released their camels into the wild.  Today it is estimated that there are around 1 million wild camels in Australia! The track used today was completed in 2004. The train we rode was 996 metres (0.6 miles) long with 42 carriages, 1692 tons of rolling stock, 320 guests and 52 crew.  We were in the middle of the train so often could see the front and the back when going around curves.

After boarding the train in Adelaide and exploring our luxury "superior" compartment, twice as big as a regular compartment, we settled back to watch the world go by for two days. Leaving Adelaide, we travelled through the Adelaide Plains, home of huge grain fields and market garden operations.  Then the Snowtown Wind Farms appeared - 137 turbines that supply 40% of the power for South Australia.  On the distant highway we watched for "road trains", trucks pulling several trailers.

After dinner in the Queen Adelaide dining car, we attempted to sleep in our berths, Ruth Anne in the top, as we had an early wakeup call to see the sun rise over the outback.

 Coffee, tea and goodies were served as the sky came to light over a barren landscape.  We were surprised , however, at the amount of vegetation in the desert - scrub bushes, grasses and acacia. Enough for herds of cattle to survive.

We left the train at Alice Springs, a town of 28,000, home of flying doctors, camel races, and regattas on parched riverbeds.  After our bumpy, swaying night and early morning, we were ready for a big nap. 

On to Adelaide

We have spent the last three days travelling The Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide with Pierre of Natural Treasures Tour.  Strangely Pierre is originally from Sweden! The road is a permanent memorial to those who died fighting in World War I. It winds around the rugged southern coast for a distance of just over 1000 km (621 miles). The road was constructed by soldiers returning from the war and was completed in 1932.  Day one was very scenic as we travelled along the cliff-hugging road and stopped to view beautiful beaches ideal for surfing.

In the afternoon we stopped at a wildlife park to see parrots and koalas in the wild.  The parrots were happy to land on an open hand, or head, for food.  One was particularly taken with the Canada flag pin on my hat. It kept trying to peck it off.  Lazy koalas watched from the eucalyptus trees.

Day two began with a walk through a temperate rain forest gully to once again admire the lush greenery.  Then on to view the "Twelve Apostles". These limestone stacks are created by erosions of limestone cliffs.  Arches form then break away from the shore to form free standing rocks. The number is constantly changing.  There have been as many as 8 but now only 4 can be seen.  Down the road we stopped at the site of the Loch Ard shipwreck. We heard the story of the voyage to the exposition in 1880 from England ending with the loss of all lives but two.

On to our final day which was mainly through large fields of cattle and sheep and vineyards.
We took a tour of the Naracoorte Caves, a World Heritage Fossil Site, where we saw impressive formations and fossilized bones of animals that fell into the caves and were trapped below ground.

Melbourne and the Penguin Parade

We are back in Melbourne, voted the "most liveable city in the world" many times. Melbourne has a population of around 5 million. It was established in 1830 by an Englishman named John Batman.  Believe it or not, originally it was suggested that the settlement be called Batmania.  Thank goodness it was named Melbourne. The gold rush in the 1850's led to an influx of immigrants from North America and Europe. The riches of the next 40 years is still reflected in the beautiful buildings, opulent churches and lush green parks.  More Europeans immigrated after the second world war and recently the largest groups of immigrant are from China and India.  Thus, we explored a very multicultural city and one which has an ongoing rivalry with Sydney, we learned.                              

Our morning tour of the city included a stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral, with a huge, opulent interior, beautiful stained glass, and a peaceful exterior garden with waterfalls and benches for contemplation and prayer. We then strolled through Fitzroy Park, a free area of green right in the centre of the city. Melbourne is known as a city of sport.  In this photo, taken from the Eureka Sky Deck, 88 stories in the air, shows four major sports venues within walking or a tram ride from the city.  These are the Cricket Ground which holds over 100,000 people, The Rod Laver Centre, home of the Australian Open, Docklands Stadium where Aussie Rules Football is played before more than 50,000 fans, and AAMI (soccer).

After lunch we headed to Phillip Island on our way to see the Penguin Parade.  On the way we made a stop at the Brighton Bathing Boxes and at a Heritage Farm on Churchill Island.


Our guide, Fred, made a visit to his friend Dolly, who reminded us of Miracle at Riverside.

After dinner in Cowes, we proceeded to the Phillip Island Nature Park where every evening at sunset thousands of Little Penguins come ashore to return to their nests in the Nature Preserve.  This area was set up to help restore the Little (Blue) Penguin population which was close to extinction due to habitat disruption, predation by foxes and eagles, and human traffic.  The penguins form rafts offshore until twilight then come ashore under cover of darkness where they feel less threatened by predators. Their eyes are very sensitive to light so the audience of 3500 people is asked to refrain from photographing them as they walk up to three kilometers to their nests on shore.  Unfortunately, a certain percentage of the viewers ignore this instruction in spite of the requests of many park rangers.  We did not photograph them ,just enjoyed watching their comical waddling over the sand and shrub land in the dark.

We left home at 8:30 a.m.and returned to our beautiful hotel lobby at midnight.  What a day!

Two days in Auckland, NZ

We have left the Celebrity Soltice for the last time. Now we have two days to explore Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand with a population of 1.6 million people. At one time, Auckland was the capital of New Zealand.  However, the capital was moved to Wellington in 1865 in order to be more central to the country. Departing the ship took no time at all so we had all day to explore.



The commitment to bilingualism is very apparent here in the city.  Children are educated in school in partial or full immersion Maori/English.  Signs are bilingual.  The national anthem is sung first in Maori and second in English at events.  When the English arrived, they encountered fierce warriors and decided to sign  a treaty rather than try to conquer them. Anyone who has seen the Haka (Maori war cry) would understand why.

The treaty of Waitangi was signed on Feb. 6 1840 by representative of the British crown and Maori chiefs of North Island. Over the years, however, the Maori suffered loss of culture and land.  A reconciliation process began in 1975 and settlements are still occurring.  It was interesting to see how the Maori are integrated into the population of New Zealand, with 15% of New Zealanders claiming to have Maori blood.  At the Auckland War Memorial Museum we saw a presentation about Maori history and culture.

The museum sits on the grounds of a 75 hectare park - The Domain - sitting in the crater of the Pukekawa volcano. with the cricket pavillion, The Wintergarden, sports fields, duck ponds, and hundreds of different trees.

From high atop the rim of the old volcano we descended to the harbour which opens to the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is known as the City of Sails.  The Westhaven Marina, under the Harbour Bridge, holds 2000 boats.  The original bridge was built in 1959.  By 1969 more lanes were needed to accommodate the traffic.  A Japanese company engineered extensions to each side of the bridge - known affectionately as the "Nippon Clipons".

After crossing the bridge to the North shore we drove to the west coast which sits on the Tasman Sea.  New Zealand is very narrow at this point. The beaches along the west are totally different.  We drove through rugged hills as we crossed to the west coast.  First stop was the Arataki Visitor Centre in the Waitakeri range.

Part of the Hillary trail runs through this area. The trail itself is 76 km (47 miles) long.  It was established in honour of New Zealand's famous citizen Sir Edmund Hillary who conquered Mount Everest.

We walked through part of the trail with our guides identifying native plants which have re-established themselves on these hills which were clear cut by the European settlers as pasture land. The guides also talked about the continual need to remove the non-indigenous mammals which have destroyed so many native birds.  Traps and poison are used to kill possums, stoats, rats, and weasels.  There is a program known as TIMBY - "trap in my back yard" supported by the government.

Then, on to Karekare beach near the town of Piha. Here the sand is a mixture of volcanic rock and iron oxide.  It is a popular spot for surfers as well due to the huge waves.

"Magnetic sand"