OZ - Sydney/New South Wales April 10 - April 19

We arrived in Sydney at eleven o'clock at night and were thankful we had previously booked the hotel room. Lucky again, we woke up to a beautiful morning in Sydney. The cab driver the night before told us it had rained continuously the whole week before. We started walking trying to figure out if we would do what we always do in cities, bug out! Instead, we fell in love with this place. Sydney central is built around several harbors and bays all having their own unique character.









We decided to walk to Darling Harbour first and then make our way around to the main area of Circular Quay and the Opera House from there. Darling Harbour is filled with cafes, restaurants, museums, docks and marinas. It is built for pedestrians and just leisurely strolling around. The next neighborhood is called The Rocks which is the oldest community in Sydney and has more of a village/Chelsea atmosphere.

We passed under the Harbour Bridge and had takeaway (they don't call it take out here) and sat by the wharf just watching the boats in Sydney harbour before we made our way to Circular Quay and the world famous Opera House.

The amazing thing about the Opera House is that when you get up close you realize its famous white facade, which is designed to look like billowing sails, is really just covered with cheap, white bathroom tile. it is quite beautiful, however, and the surrounding area is covered with parks, Botanical Gardens and wharf side restaurants. It is a great place to spend a day.





Listening to Frommer's advice, we purchased a day pass on the ferry system and decided in the afternoon to take the ferry back to Darling Harbour so we could go back to the hotel and get warm clothes for the night. We ate an early dinner at the Wharf, grabbed a bottle of wine and jumped on the ferry to Manley Beach in hopes of catching a sunset in the harbor on the way.


Timing was perfect. Since it was "rush hour" we met the bar car crew on the bow of the ferry. Typical Aussie hospitality, by the time we got off the ferry we knew about their lives, where they lived, helped toast the mate who was getting married the next day and all about how they loved living in Sydney. They gave us a beer and even offered to loan us their snorkel gear if we didn't have it. Great ferry ride to a very nice beach town. We wanted to do the return ferry ride in the evening so the ride back would showcase the Sydney skyline all lit up. What can we say, it was absolutely awesome. The Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Luna Amusement Park where all illuminated and it was all beautiful to see from the water.

The next day we moved to Kings Cross which is considered the seedier part of town. This is party central. There is one main street where you find everyone from tourists to drunks and is also where the Red Light District is located. We walked around in the evening thinking it was actually a pretty calm area. That is until about 2:00 in the morning when we woke up to the largest party going on in the street outside our window. These people were having a grand old time. The next morning, the fountain still had the remains of the bubble bath in it!

Time to pick up the rental car and head to the Blue Mountains northwest of Sydney.

On the way we first took a detour to see the famous Bondi surfing beach. The waves were small that morning so Tom didn't bother waxing the board! On the ride to the Blue Mountains, for the first time since Mt. Cook, NZ, the weather turned to crap. No worries!

The Blue Mountains, what can we say......First of all, they are called the Blue Mountains because they are dense with eucalyptus trees and when the sun reflects off the mist or dew in the mountains, they appear blue. The smell of eucalyptus is everywhere. On the way to the town we were going to stay in, Kolumba, we stopped and did a hike at the Wentworth Falls. The falls weren't all that spectacular but it was still a nice hike.









That evening we had great Thai food and then went for coffee at this strange new coffee shop that was hand built by the new hippies/Amish of the millennium. They started their new counter culture "of Love" and this place looked like a cross between Hansel and Gretel's and Gandalf's house from Lord of the Rings.....Pat was close to getting converted because they promised to teach her how to bake muffins!

The next day we checked into the local YHA, youth hostel of Australia. This place was like a hotel but with huge kitchen and lounge area to hang out in. We blogged, made dinner and had a bottle of wine. The yoots were all jealous! Seriously, it was the first time we had actually stayed in one and they really do a good job with the whole setup. We thought we should start an OHA, old_folks hostel of Australia!

It was "off to the Hunter".


The Hunter valley is Australia's second largest wine producing area just 2 hours north of Sydney. To get there we drove "the Puddy" which is a big motorcycle road that people come from around the country to drive. Twisting, turning and scenic, it was nice in the car but definitely not as exciting as being on a bike. We checked into a boutique vineyard accommodation (impressive huh) in the Southern Hunter Valley. This area is best known for its Semillon and Shiraz and the next day we set out to sample it. We visited several cellar doors and likely one to many. One of the vineyards was setting up tents for a Matchbox Twenty concert that weekend which would have been fun to go to but we were leaving before then.
On our way back to Sydney we took care of some errands like shipping stuff home and headed back towards town via the North Coast beaches,

where Tom had his last chance to wax up his board



and Pat could sit on the beach and watch him in awe!

It all just reinforced our opinion that Sydney is one of the best cities in the world. It offers a bit of everything for everyone!

It's the next morning and we are on our 8:00 am flight to Beijing (thru Seoul).

Bye Bye OZ, "No worries".

Best sayings in Australia:

--She'll be right
--Copin a harden
--Giddyup
--Mate
--G'day mate
--cheers
--no worries
--that's too easy
--Bob's your uncle

Things Australian:

Still NO pretzels
Middle bacon (no streaky bacon)
Fish and chips (everything with chips)
Skirts, middies, pots, pints of beer
AFL football and two different types of rugby
Great beaches
Road kill
Non stop sports coverage
Shiraz, Shiraz, Shiraz
Crumbed (breaded)
Surfing
Roundabouts
Stingers, crocks and cassowaries
Long, very long, perfectly straight roads
Wallabies, Koala's and Roo's

and......best of all "The Great Barrier Reef"

OZ - Queensland April 2 - April 10

Because we were leaving Airlie Beach so late, we started looking for a hotel about one hour out of town in a place called Bowen. Of course, the hotels were all booked but at the last one the manager suggested a place further down the beach road. We had to call the manager who lived a few miles away and he checked us in. Unfortunately, we realized after he left that he gave us the key to the wrong room. So, rather than call him back, we just moved. Somewhere around 1:00 in the morning, Pat heard someone walking around the living room of the unit and woke Tom who thought she was crazy until he heard someone knocking on the door. It turned out the manager had come back to check in a new guest and was very surprised to find us in that room. No worries!

In the morning we drove around and checked out the different beach coves of Bowen and found a really special site called Horseshoe Bay. We decided, if the schedule permitted, we would love to come back on the return from Mission Beach. They had these perfect little beachfront units with balconies overlooking the bay that had our name all over it. We left Bowen and were headed towards Townsville for lunch but discovered there were a lot of people, cars and traffic lights there so we just kept driving instead and made it to Mission Bay late afternoon.

Mission Bay is made up of four townships and is a unique area because it is a beach town where the rainforest meets the coast, a very unusual occurrence. We stayed in the South Mission Beach township in a great caravan park by the beach.








We had a small basic cottage on the beach, nothing special, but the rest of the amenities of the park made you feel like you were at a resort. Very nicely done. The big thing the area is known for is this huge flightless bird known as a cassowary. They get to be up to six feet tall and are a cross between an ostrich, a turkey and a peacock. There are signs everywhere, don't speed because of the cassowarys, don't hit the cassowarys, cassowary crossing, etc. When we went to the information center to find out where we could go hiking to spot them, the guy there said to go to a zoo......I guess there are more signs than there are actual birds!


However, driving back to the park that afternoon, Tom thought he spotted one, or else it could have been a tree stump! We backed up the road, kept our eyes peeled, and sure enough there was Cassie the Cassowary!.. This is one beautiful, funny looking bird and we were lucky enough to get pictures. Between us and the bird was a fence, so Tom decided to climb thru it to get even better pictures.

With that a pickup truck driving by stopped and started yelling at Tom to stop. What you can't see in the pictures is that this bird has these huge prehistoric feet that developed from a reptile and there are instances of people who got to close being attacked and clawed to death. They are very fast and strong and the guys in the truck just kept saying to stay away because "that thing will kill you" before they drove away. With that, the damn thing started walking towards us, probably because Tom kept calling it, and walked thru a hole in the fence. Pat went into panic mode and kept screaming for Tom to get in the car, roll up the windows and start the engine.


Meanwhile, the poor thing was just crossing the street!



After that excitement there wasn't much left in Mission Beach to keep us so we started heading south again and drove inland to the Tully River Gorge. This is the big whitewater rafting area in Australia with up to class 5 rapids. We drove up along the riverbank watching the rafters and then found a perfect spot to hang out and go swimming. The current was quick just below the rapids and, like an endless pool, you could do laps swimming up the river but stay right in place. The water is beautiful and the river runs thru the rainforest so we were regretting that we had no supplies to camp for the night.


Pat had read about this place called Paluma which was nicknamed the Town in the Clouds, so we headed there. The town is at 3000' elevation up a mountain and the local brochures said there was camping there. We were racing the darkness up the mountain in hopes of finding something to eat and a place to camp. To our surprise, when we got to the town we stopped at a cafe to eat only to find that the campground was another 15 kilometers away down a steep, twisty, narrow, supposedly maintained road that cut thru the rainforest. By now it was pitch black and we were second guessing our decision, but on we went. Driving down that "well maintained road" (not even close) to the campground at Lake Paluma was a little intimidating and we thought there couldn't possibly be more than a grass field full of bugs and night creatures when we got there. It took about 45 minutes to go the 15 kilometers and a 4 wheel drive would have been the more intelligent choice, so imagine our surprise when we pulled in and there was a beautiful, almost fully packed campground on the lake.

We took what we thought was a free space and pitched our tent. Typical Aussie hospitality, the next thing you know we were sitting at someone else's campsite, in front of the fire, drinking beers. After talking travel and a lot of politics under a star filled sky, the subject turned to cassowarys (you know that bird we mentioned earlier) because there was supposed to be some in that park. All the locals that were there had never seen one and one of the guys who was a Kiwi swore they didn't really exist. When we told him we had seen one on the side of the road and had pictures, he told us there were people who actually hide in blinds hoping to catch site of one. Tom had to show him the pictures to prove we really had seen one.


In the morning we really got to appreciate how nice this place was. We were down in a valley, in a rainforest, on a lake with chicken turkeys that woke us up. We said our goodbyes and headed out and after driving for a while realized what we had come thru the night before. The drive out in the sunlight was definitely much easier.

On the way down the mountain from Paluma we stopped at little Crystal Creek to check it out. There was a waterfall and crystal clear pools that you hiked back to and it was a wonderful place to take a dip. We had decided after all to head back to Bowen to spend two days at Horseshoe Bay.

We had a great room with a balcony just steps from the beach and the cafe where we ate the first night. The second night we had a candlelight dinner right on our balcony. With the ocean, the coastline and all the various bays it was a nice place to spend time reading our books and just chilling.

With only two days left in Queensland, we headed back to Airlie Beach where we would eventually be catching our flight to Sydney. But first, we wanted to do a cruise around the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. We booked on a tour which they call ocean rafting which is a high speed pontoon rescue boat which held about twenty five people. We snorkeled, had lunch and climbed up a hill to a point overlooking Whitehaven Beach Inlet which is an amazing stretch of 100 percent white silica sand that goes for miles. Combined with the blue water, it is an awesome, awesome sight.


Once we got back to shore, we had 3 hours to shower, get packed, find and book a hotel room in Sydney and get to the airport for our flight.

Goodbye Queensland! No worries......

OZ - The Great Barrier Reef

We flew in the morning to Brisbane and then had a 5 hour layover until our flight to Proserpine, which is a tiny airport in an area of Queensland called the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays consists of a collection of 74 islands much like the collection of islands in the Bahamas. The town we stayed in on the mainland, Airlie Beach, is a common jumping off point to get to the Great Barrier Reef where we were going in two days. Airlie Beach is a young, backpackers dream crammed with live music, cheaper food and cheap shared dorm type accommodations right on the beach.


Most of the stuff we love but we did stay at Boathaven Resort and Spa and made full use of the pool and jacuzzi before we went for beers and pizza and to listen to live music. No worries!

On Monday we found ourselves carless for the first time of the trip and we had to get up and out early because the bus shuttle was picking us up at 7:10 am for the short ride to Shute Harbour. Shute Harbour was where we met the FantaSea high speed catamaran to go to their platform on Hardy Reef at the Great Barrier Reef. The platform is about 40 miles offshore.

We had booked not only a trip to the reef for snorkeling but also what is know as the Reef Sleep, which includes for a maximum of six guests, snorkeling on the platform all day, two introductary dives, champagne, cocktails and h'orderves, a gourmet dinner under the stars and overnight accommodations on the platform after everyone else has left for the night. Because we had booked the Reef Sleep, even though the platform can handle about 500 people, the 5 of us who were staying were treated special all day long.

It was quite a moment waving goodbye to the other day visitors as they pulled away leaving only the 5 of us and 5 crew members. They made us feel right at home with cocktails and h'orderves on the platform as soon as the other guests had left.


Alone on the reef, under the stars with the sound of the reef at night made for a peaceful and tranquil evening. It was really cool! But, the really best part, was the diving.

We had a dive scheduled for 11:30 on the first day with 5 other people and 2 instructors. They geared us up and took us to a specially constructed dive platform under the main facility where they instructed us on all the basics. After they tested you on clearing your mask and removing your regulator, they led us down these lines towards the reef. They carefully watched us as we all got adjusted and we dove to a depth of about 7 metres (apx 21'). The instructors took us off the lines individually giving us each an opportunity to get up close to the reef at various points.

We also had the opportunity to meet the resident 4' Australian Razzi, named "Wally" who actually hangs around with you when you are diving and lets you pet him. It was wild. We were diving for a total of about 35 minutes. It was an awesome feeling and an awesome experience, truly better than anything we had anticipated. But the best was yet to come.

The other three guests staying at the reef with us that night were all certified divers, an Aussie couple on their honeymoon and a young girl from Brazil. The next morning after breakfest on the deck, we scheduled or second dive for 9AM before the day boat arrived. This time it was only Pat and I and the Yasmina, the girl from Brazil. We went through the same procedure on the dive platform and then headed down. This time after decending to a depth 7 meters we all went off the lines and out to the reef. It was a very strange sensation.

You found yourself concentrating so hard on your breathing, the instructor and controling your depth that at times you had to consciously focus back on the reef, the object of being there. On this dive we went to a depth of about 12 meters before slowly heading back up. Unreal....

Later that morning before the new boat load of humanity arrived we went out for a snorkel on the reef, jus the five of us. In many ways snorkeling lets you see areas on top of the reef that you can't experience when diving. It is amazing how alive the reef is. There is life and movement all around you. We finished or snorkel and headed back to the platform before the boat from shore arrived.

After we had lunch on the catamaran we were preparing to go out on another snorkel when Emma our "dive instructor" asked us if we wanted to go out again. She was doing a dive with another group of certified divers and asked if we wanted to come along. We jumped out of our wet suits at the chance. For this dive we all boarded a platform pontoon boat and headed out to a very special section of the "Hardy Reef". This was one of Emma's favorite dives. This new experience gave us the chance to learn how to enter the water stepping off a boat. Inflate your VCT, hold your mask and regulator with one hand and step straight out, head up. We both did just fine.

We dove to a depth of 14 meters all along the reef. Incredible walls of hard and soft corals and dozens of spectacular and different fish and sea creatures. This was the absolute best!!!!! This time you really felt like you were truly diving on the "Great Barrier Reef".


I wish we could say the voyage back to the harbor was as pleasant an experience. The wind was at 25 knots and the seas were rough and getting rougher. Tom was bent over with a "Barf Bag" in hand the entire 2 hour ride. Pat was her usual sympathethic and helpful self and sat on the oppisite side of the boat talking with our overnight friends. The crew however were fantastic and did a wonderful job playing nurse not only for Tom but the many others that took ill.

The next day we hung out in Airlie Beach (had to because we had left our snorkels on the boat and had to wait for that days boat to return with them) then we headed up the coast to our next stop "Mission Beach".

The Rick Reiter Roo.......(video)

OZ - South Australia March 25 - March 28

Back on the mainland, while traveling to the Barossa wine valley we stopped in a quaint town in Adelaide Hills called Hahndorf settled by the Germans in the 1800's. This meant traditional German architecture, great German food and even better German beer. We soaked it all up and finished with a German pastry from the local bakery for the road.




The Barossa wine valley is much like the Napa region in Calif and known as the Shiraz wine producing capital of the country (at least to us). We got a room for the night and in the late morning we started out for tastings at a reasonable hour in the morning. Our first stop, Penfolds. This winery is known for some of the best wines in the country and we fell in love with Bin 389, otherwise know as the Baby Grange because they use the barrels from their Grange bottling the previous vintage for this wine and it is made by the same wine maker. Grange is their premium estate Shiraz. Tom wanted to try the Grange but it was $200 for just a tasting!!!!!


We also went to several other wineries including Two Hands, Seppletsfield (where the guy spent a lot of time with us and even let us taste their 25 year old tawny port), Wolf Blass and Yalumba. Yalumba is the oldest winery in Australia and still family owned. Their estate and cellar door (tasting room) was definitely the most beautiful of the bunch. Then because it was the next day, we decided we could stop at Penfold's again for one more taste of Bin 389!!!!!

The people in the cellar doors in the Barossa spent a lot of time with us personally and were remarkably informative and friendly. Once again, we found the people to be fantastic. It was a great education on the wines from the valley and the whole region.
Unfortunately, we had to sober up and drive to Adelaide for the next two days. When we got to Adelaide, we realized it was too much like a city so we did our usual, we bugged out! No worries!, we found Glenelg.

Glenelg is a small residential beach community that still has the flavor of a working town. It's much like a Long Beach on LI. But the best part was the Professional World Volleyball Tour was there and an event had just started. We started following the men's and women's US teams and even got to see several of the US teams play on the center court. We saw a great match between one of the US men's teams and Germany. The German fans were absolutely crazy and made the match a great time (but the US won)......The atmosphere was fun but intense because all of the teams are vying for spots to make the Olympic teams for Beijing. The finals were after we left, so we don't know who won, but we have decided to become beach volleyball groupies! We figured they must play on the nicest beaches in the world!









It was time to leave South Australia and get on the plane to fly to Queensland, home of the Great Barrier Reef. Next stop Airlie Beach.