Well, the long awaited day had nearly arrived - we were off to Australia on Friday 2nd April. But we couldn't wait, so straight after work on Thursday, we rushed home and finished the packing, and went to stay the night at a hotel in Heathrow, so we weren't anxious about reaching terminal 4 to check in the next day and had cheap parking while we were away.
What can I say about the Quantas flight? It was long. We watched "Something's Gotta Give" the Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton film, which was very good, then I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" with Diane Lane, which was pleasant enough and then played Tetris, and answered general knowledge quizzes and tried to sleep, and ate all sorts of odd meals at peculiar times, and finally arrived in Sydney at 6.30 pm on Saturday, local time.
First priority was to phone Lewis Laing and arrange to meet up with him and Keeley later on. We were booked into the Novotel, near Darling Harbour. This was slightly confusing, as there is another Novotel actually on Darling Harbour; whereas ours was next to the Chinese garden and Tumbalong Park. Anyway, in spite of not understanding his directions ("See the footbridge at the front of the hotel?" "..er, no") we successfully met up with them at a bar in Cockle Bay Wharf and had a few drinks and an orienteering stroll round the area, finishing up in the top floor bar at the Shangri-la hotel for cocktails overlooking the famous Harbour Bridge. Lovely to see Lewis agin and very nice to meet Keeley. Here we are that evening, complete with trusty map!
On our first full day, we strolled around the city. A pleasant feature of Sydney were the varied water features. We snapped this one, as we liked the Sacred Ibis strolling amongst bronze birds!
We ended up at Circular Quay, and took the ferry to Manly. Here's Ed on the ferry, with the Harbour Bridge behind him. You'll notice the weather wasn't great - mild, but showery.
Just to prove I was there too, Ed took one of me with the Bridge and the Opera House!
And here's the Sydney cityscape, with Opera House but neither Davies.
This is Manly beach - or rather one of several, as the town straddles a peninsular, and boasts several bays. We enjoyed a stroll along Cabbage Tree bay to the Sandy Cafe, where we had a sandwich, then walked back to town via the small art gallery and the Seaworld Centre, where we walked through the shark tunnel, and were introduced by the keepers to some venomous snakes and spiders!
Here is the ferry leaving Manly - luckily there was another one later! We were very impressed with the Sydney ferry service - they ran frequently, to many destinations, and on time.
And the Opera House again, from the returning ferry. This, unfortunately, was the nearest we got to it, time being against us.
Back to Circular Quay, with all the ferries buzzing in and out.
Continuing our tour of the city, we walked down Maquarie St, where several notable buildings are located, many commissioned by Lachlan Maquarie, who wanted to transform the city beyond a penal colony - his chosen architect was Francis Greenway, in Sydney as a convicted forger. Outside the hospital is a bronze statue of a wild pig - it's supposed to be lucky to stroke his nose, so I did.
The next day, after meeting up with Lewis again the previous evening for a meal in Sydney's famous chinatown - I had an excellent seafood dish - we were back in Darling Harbour, to visit the Maritime Museum. It was very impressive, but we both really enjoyed looking around the submarine the best - it was an Oberon class, built in Chatham Dockyards, which we had visited a few weeks previously!"
After a trip on the monorail train - rather a futile experience, as it doesn't really go anywhere! - we caught another ferry from Circular Quay, to Taronga Zoo, where we were assured of seeing an array of indigenous creatures we probably wouldn't meet in the wild, and of getting a lovely view of the city from the Bird Theatre. Our first sighting, however, was a "wild" one - this Kookaburra begging in the cafe! It wasn't until seeing one in the feathers, that I realised the obvious, that it is a large kingfisher. We were excited to see him anyway. (We also saw, and photographed, some Koalas here, but as we got much better pictures later, I deleted them. It was very exciting to see them though - cute, or what?)
OK, I know Pelicans aren't only indigenous to Australia, but Ed is fond of them from our Puerto Rico days, so here they are.
Now, we did later get to see kangaroos up close, so again I've not included some pics taken here. We also saw more of these little Wallabies, known as Pademelons, living wild in a national park area. But in the wild, they were lurking amongst the shade of the rainforest trees, so I didn't get such a good shot. So here she is - remember her again later!
Couldn't catch the echidnas with their snouts out of the syrup jar! They are cute little animals - apparently those are not true quills, like a porcupine has, but adapted fur - so the echidna can't raise and lower them. I guess our hedgehog is similar.
And here is the promised lovely view from the Bird Theatre. We were impressed with the bird show. We saw our first Brahminny Hawk - which we later also saw in the wild, along with the Lorikeets and flaming Galas!
Later that night, we met up with our second surrogate son - Ben Van Lit and his girlfriend Liz. Several people had reccommended us to visit the famous Doyle's Fish restaurant in Watson's Bay, so we did. I had the best calamari I've ever tasted, followed by Barramundi and chips - delicious! Ed had some scrummy mussels. We'd had a slight epic getting there. Our trusty ferry failed us - they only went as far as Rose Bay in the evenings - so we went there anyway, and caught a bus to Watson's Bay. (We got a taxi home.) Then we discovered that Liz doesn't eat fish - and Doyle's offered no alternative. So she dined on salad and garlic bread -
but at least she had room for dessert, which was more than Ed and I. Ben however, enjoyed a Black Forest Gateau!
On our last full day in Sydney, we did the Harbour Bridge Climb!. Here we are on the way up, with Circular Quay and the city in the background - also the ship "Bounty", a replica of the original, which now does corporate entertainment. Lewis used to work on it - Linda says he was in charge of "frigging in the rigging"!
Here's your last view of the Opera House! The Bridge Climb company are very professional. You notice we had to strip off and don the lovely grey boiler suits, and attach glasses and hats to it. We were then clipped on to a safety line.
Here we are at the top, with the other 10 in our group behind us. Our photographer and guide, Richard (no relation) had put me at the front next to him, because my response to "Are you looking forward to the climb?" had been slightly unenthusiastic. However, it was not nearly so scary as I had expected, and I did enjoy it very much.
And here we are, actually on the way back down, but it gives a good idea of how steep it was. Apparently Paul Hogan, of Crocodile Dundee fame, used to work as a maintenance man on the bridge before finding fame on a TV talent show. He had no fear of heights at all, and scrambled all over it happily.
Cut to Brisbane, where we arrived early afternoon on the Wednesday, picked up a hire car and drove to Clontarf, on the Redcliff peninsular, to stay with Don and Linda Laing. Great to see them both again - we spent the rest of that day catching up on news and being introduced to their home and dog. But the next day, we caught the train back to Brisbane, where we went on a boat trip up the Brisbane River, to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. And here we are with Angus, our own Koala to cuddle. He smelled deliciously of warm furry eucalyptus.
Ed loved him too.
There were kangaroos, too! Here's Linda, making friends with one.
Mine's a big lad.
Ed got in on the act too.
Don attracted a whole team.
Ed and Linda waiting by the river for the "Mirimar" to go back. We passed an island full of Flying Fox fruit bats on the way, but didn't see the Sea Eagle that sometimes shows up there too.
Here's Brisbane from the river, as we returned.
On Good Friday, we stayed in Redcliff for their Festival of Sail, the highlight being the beginning of this year's Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race. Here is Skandia the eventual record-breaking winner, in the blue spinnaker, passing the buoy before heading out of Moreton Bay and heading North up the Sunshine Coast.
Here are the sailing buffs, watching from the beach.
Meet our friend Max, Don and Linda's dog, by the pool in their garden. We took her for walks every day while we were staying in Clontarf. Her hobbies include chasing pine cones, catching rugby balls and snoozing.
Me, relaxing by the pool after a swim.
Don and Linda took us into the Rainforest, to get a flavour of what the hilly areas of Queensland are like. We visited the Mary Cairncross Park. This is where we saw the Pademelons (remember them?) including a mother with a joey in her pouch, which was lovely to see. But the first real highlight of an amazing day was seeing a venomous red-bellied black snake cross our path!! If you look very closely, you might see him. Linda was ahead of me, saying "Just don't move. You should come over here, out of his way. Don't move." I followed neither instruction, but got my camera out. As always, a fraction too late.
After Mary Cairncross, we moved along to the Kondalilla Falls, where we were promised a swim and a barbeque. The foraging Monitors and Brush Turkeys were extra.
One of the Kondalilla Falls.
A stunning view from a highpoint.
We got our swim in the next forest pool. Ed sat at the edge and put his toe in and decided it was probably too cold. I just jumped in, on the sage advice of the chap already swimming.
I was able to resume breathing after a while, so Ed followed me in. After a minute, all went numb and the water was lovely.
"I may have a heart attack" he opined, but luckily didn't.
Just to prove it was me.
Meanwhile, back in the clearing with the monitors, the Boss was sorting out the Barbie. They are provided free, with kindling and logs also handy. We were very impressed.
"Throw another steak on, Don!"
"Well, I've done my bit with the salads and dips..."
It was worth the wait - the steak and sausages were delicious, and all the better for being outdoors.
We were fascinated by this place, on our way home from Kondalilla. When they say House Removers, that's exactly what they mean - the houses in the yard are for sale, and they will transport them to the plot of your choice for erection! By the way, this photo was taken expressly against the will of the ferocious Doberman on the other side of the fence.
We left Don and Linda, reluctantly, the next day and set off on our epic drive to Airlie Beach. We stopped overnight on the way up, at Rockhampton, a small city with a bridge across the river that was built in the 1870's to take the road North - but such was the local suspicion of going over the river, that only recently has the city actually extended onto the North bank, with a retail and business park luring locals over the bridge. Like other cities in the eucalypt forest, it's hard to spot from a distance, as it is predominantly low-rise - many buildings are single story, or else on low stumps - and hidden below the tree line.
We saw the Customs Building (the sight) and the small but interesting art gallery (Australian art from the 1970's mainly) and serendipitously happened upon the Eastern Queensland Eisteddford, which was taking place in the theatre. We bought tickets for the evening performance, and watched the finals of the "Art Song" and "Show Song" sections, each with six finalists. Our enjoyment was greatly enhanced by an elderly lady afficionada sitting beside us, who filled us in on who was whom, and the iniquities of the adjudicators. "Good thing you missed the children's violin final, my dears. Oh, what torture!"
We stayed at the Cattle City Motel, and were given an excellent dinner of steak, after a scrummy tomato soup. Our hosts told us we had missed the Easter Rodeo and we were momentarily disappointed, but felt we had had good value at the eisteddford.
We left "Rocky" the following morning, but realised we had been slightly misled about the distance from there to Airlie. It being the much shorter leg of the journey, we were more relaxed, and stopped off at the Capricorn Caves on our way. They are a system of dry limestone caverns just North of Rockhampton, and have been a tourist attraction since the 1800's. here's Ed negotiating a tight passageway in the dark. The angle and flash distort both the tightness and the darkness, so it's not the world's greatest picture.
Australians are convinced their roads are lethal. On the outskirts of every town are boards urging you to "Survive this Journey" and along the route are continual reminders to "Revive and survive". At weekends and holidays, there are these "Driver Reviver" stops at intervals along the Bruce Highway (and presumably other roads). Manned by local charitable groups - Lions; Rotary; Scouts, etc., they offer free tea or coffee and biscuits, luring drivers in for a break and a leg-stretch. We chatted to the lady at this one. I asked her what the small birds with the yellow spots on their cheeks, that were pecking about, were. "They're small birds with yellow spots on their cheeks. Don't ask me what they're called." She replied.
At last we get to see our own dear boy. Phoning up as soon as we arrived in town, we met him after he'd finished work and went to "Shipwrecked", the famous seafood restaurant. Here's Richard messing about with the crab that came as part of our mega seafood platter. We had oysters for the first time ever - quite nice, but nothing to write home about, really. It was wonderful to see Richard, and try to catch up on some of his news, prior to going diving with him the next day.
While we were in Airlie Beach, we stayed at the Whitsunday Gardens Holiday Park, in a cabin. It was very nice, set in lush surroundings, with a small pool which Ed used a couple of times, and all we needed indoors, at a reasonable price.
The next day, we drove down to Abel Point Marina, to join our boat for the day, "Reefjet". Here she is on her mooring.
No, it's not a filial hug - Richard is helping Ed get kitted up to take us scuba-diving for our first ever time, off Butterfly Bay.
There goes Ed.
Here we are in the water, almost ready to go.
Breathing regulators in position, and we are all set.
We were very nervous under water at first, but once we realised that a) we could breathe, and b) Richard had us firmly clamped to his capable sides, we began to relax. As Richard did all the technical bits to get us down and up, we saw lots of wonderful things, including clams.
And wrass.
And angel fish.
And these wonderful corals.
It made me proud to watch Richard at work. He was so good at his job. Here he is helping snorkellers into the dinghy to go off to the beach. See how he is holding on to the girl whilst looking out for the next one.
Here he is bringing tham back from the beach.
At the boat.
And again.
Langham Reef.
And again.
Me on the boat, in my favourite old red swimsuit.
Two of my three favourite men.
And again.
Richard being the Lookout, watching for returning divers and any snorkelers requiring pick-up or rescue.
And at the end of the day, a crew picture! I didn't take my camera the next day, expecting to get more from the on boat photographer like some of the above. But unfortunately, although he came on board , he was "Feeling fairly ordinary" and didn't get any new pictures. I was disappointed, as we had a brilliant day, doing two dives off Maureen's Cove (named after a boat owner whose favourite mooring place it was - not surprisingly), where the visibility was excellent, and once again mooring off Langham's Reef. This day Richard carefully let go of us for a while, and let us dive independently for a while. That was interesting, though I didn't feel I knew what I was doing at all!
Back at the cabin, this visitor alighted on my leg as I was reading! About 5cm across, I'm not sure what he was.
The next day, Richard came to pick us up in Lionel, whom we were pleased to meet after hearing of their adventures together.
We drove to Shute Harbour (the next busiest ferry harbour in Australia, after Circular Quay) to catch the islands ferry to South Molle. Here they are on the pier at South Molle, where Richard was pointing out the fish swimming near the surface. I tried to get a picture, but it wasn't worth saving.
Resting on a scenic bench, on the way to the high point on South Molle.
The Whitsunday Islands. Looking out towards Cid Island. This was named after Captain Cook's dog, who unfortunately died whilst they were in this area. The Captain was heartbroken, and wanted to give the dog a burial with full naval honours. Of course, this was against regulations, so he and his gunmaster decided to compromise and actually blow Cyd out of the cannon during the "salute". They loaded him in at the dead of night, ready to hold the ceremony the next day. During the night, both men doubted whether they had loaded enough powder to shoot out a dog, so both added extra. The result was that they blew the dog into the air at a great speed, and he flew into the forest at the centre of an island, instead of into the sea. Cook landed on the island, searched for his pet, and buried him on the island - ever after known as Cyd Island in his honour.
Me and my boy. He also told us about Plum Pudding Island, so-called because it was surrounded by so many visible currents! At this point I took a dozen pictures to make a joined up panorama of the Islands, but I won't put them here.
Not a great picture of the Lorikeet, but I was trying to capture the fight between it and the Bustard over a piece of bacon rind, back at the resort at the beach on South Molle. As the tide was low, we were able to take a quick hike across the causeway to Mid Molle, before coming back just in time to catch the ferry home.
Here we are back at the ranch - Richard's shared flat in Cannonvale, where he made us a roof-top barbie.
Looking down towards the beach.
Ed and Rick, enjoying a beer.
And all too soon, it was time to take our life in our hands and brave the 100 kph speeds of the Bruce Highway. It's so ridiculous, everyone trundles along at these slow speeds, in line formation as everyone has their cruise-control activated, until you reach a designated overtaking zone, with an extra lane. Suddenly, everyone speeds up to 120 kph and jostles to overtake as many as possible, only to slow down back into formation as soon as the lane ends. One or two slower vehicles get dropped off at the back, but generally it's the same group as before! Back to Clontarf, and final farewells with Don and Linda.
Until we meet again.
Read about Richard's adventures.
See Don & Linda's Wedding Day, when we were Best Man and Woman.
Read about the epic voyage of "TeKore"
