| April 9-11 | Sydney | General sightseeing: Oxford St, Aquarium | |
| April 11-21 | Perth | Visit Brian & James, wine country | |
| April 21-29 | Cairnes | Diving the Great Barrier Reef, a night in the Rainforest, other Queensland adventures | |
| April 29-May 5 | Melbourne | Cycling, sightseeing, bootscooting | |
| May 5-7 | Sydney | Blue Mountains |
9 Apr. In Sydney after a not-unpleasant flight on United
It's a gray day, muggy but neither warm nor cool. Staying at the Old Sydney Park Royal Hotel right near the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Lovely.
A better class of hotel than I'm used to: the coathangers come off the bar in the closet.
Looks like a vibrant, fun city. Pretty busy & fast-moving, I think. Lots of construction going on, office towers springing up everywhere. Walked around most of the afternoon, checked out Oxford St. Got misc. items which I forgot to get before leaving: power & phone adapters, umbrella, haircut, money. If you stumble here, you'll fall into an espresso bar. The locals cross the streets with utter disregard for lights, crosswalks, traffic, etc.
(Thanks, Bob, for the loan of the camera)
10 Apr. I was starting to miss El Nino anyway. Torrential rain all day, a "once-in-a-decade storm".
Took the ferry around the bay to the Sydney Aquarium (really neat!). Sights along the way,
between sheets of rain, were spectacular. It's Good Friday and most places are closed. Bars close at 10 tonight (amazing piety, huh?)
11 Apr. In Perth. Had a nice flight across Australia, am now at Brian and James' house (James and Brian are pictured below)
Saw the panorama of the city and the Swan River from King's Park.
12 Apr. Visited the beach today and Fremantle, a tidy beach/tourist
town.
A very relaxing day. Nice dinner at home (James is the cook) and
a disco nap, and out to Connections for dancing... the place was packed, great
crowd. Went to bed with an Australian today, a nice guy named Jack
Jack
15 Apr. Just back from two nights at Margaret River. We drove about three hours south to this
area of rolling, eucalypus-forested hills and one of Australia's fine wine growing regions.
The region is rife with chalets (cabins) for rent,
wineries, tea rooms, good restaurants, kangaroos (didn't see one) and surfing beaches.
Watched surfers and went wine tasting yesterday. This morning
we toured one of the region's beautiful limestone caverns and visited some art galleries before driving back.
There is a lot of rammed-earth construction here too, which I really enjoyed seeing.
(Unfortunately the digi-cam didn't do well at the vineyards or caves, so I don't have much
to show yet).
16 Apr. Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. This pretty much took up the whole day, somehow.
17 Apr. Went diving off Rottnest Island, about 5 miles off the coast of Perth.
Dove in an area of fish-filled caves, and at a 125 year old shipwreck with not very many fish.
In the evening, dinner at James' Mum's house. Watched Aussie Rules Football on TV.
It's incredibly athletic: played on a 150 yard long field, moves as fast as basketball.
It's wild to watch. A player will run 20 yards, drop kick the ball 50 yards, the guys downfield knock each other
over to try to grab it, then the mob starts running again.
Makes American football look like a croquet game.
18 Apr. Went to the Cohunu Koala Park
today, a petting zoo with koalas, kangaroos, parrots, emus, ostriches,
dingoes and other native animals. For a bit of a fee, you can have your picture
taken with a koala (see below). They're quite sedate... it's a little bit like holding a warm
and woolly beanbag. They are impossibly cute.
Brian and Mollie, James and joey
19 Apr. Bicycle day... at least, that was the plan. There's a wonderful bike trail around the river, across the bridges and through the parks (see the Perth panorama above). A beautiful day until a dog, a ball, a bike and Brian von Konsky all met at the exact same place and time. Brian made a perfect 18 point landing. He'll be fine but is a bit bruised and scraped up. Get well notes may be sent to bvk@cs.curtin.edu.au. We stayed home in the evening, sent out for pizza and watched TV.
20 Apr. Took it easy today... slept in, went out for lunch, did some shopping, baked cookies. Chilled in the evening too.
21 Apr. Last year I offered a batch of chocolate chip cookies
to whoever could name the mystery language on the signs in
Yosemite National Park.
Here is the official presentation of the award to Kheong Chee of Imago Multimedia Centre, Perth, WA, who won the cookies by
using an internet search to solve the puzzle (it was Hmong). Kheong is Brian von Konsky's office mate and an all-around bright guy.
Leaving Perth now, on to Cairns!
Arrived in Cairns (pronounced "Cans" here) this evening. Flew through Alice Springs and saw Ayers Rock from the
air, quite a big rock surrounded by, well, thousands of miles of open space.
(This photo would have shown it clearly were it not for the cloud hanging right above it.
I had to take the picture anyway).
It's a balmy 30 degrees C here, stars blazing. Checked in to 18-24 James, a friendly and pleasant resort hotel
type place with a nice pool, spa, weight room, bar, extremely hospitable staff etc. Didn't go out on the town, just hung out chatting. Tomorrow I head to Kuranda and will spend the night
in a tent in the rainforest, so there will no update until I return on Thursday.
22 Apr. 
Took the Kuranda Scenic Railway to the town of Kuranda, with vistas back over the sugarfields to Cairns, up through
the Barrons Gorge and falls Kuranda is a
very touristy artsy-craftsy town now. The on to Tentative Nests
for a night in the rainforest.
23 Apr. 
Spent the night at Tentative Nests. Entering the forest is like walking into a cathedral... the canopy towers a hundred feet overhead while ferns, vines and
other plants carpet the floor. What a wonderful night! The rainforest was singing
with crickets and hundreds of birds. In the stream running through the forest I saw a platypus, turtles, catfish. In the trees, a type of possum.
Food was indeed yummy, and I had a serene coffee on the dining platform 
with
scrub turkeys watching on. The chairs and poles are all painted in animal motifs by local
aboriginal artists. This was a wonderful eco-experience. Took the sky-rail (gondola) back to Cairns, a decidedly un-ecologically correct operation but the view was pretty spectacular... you see the forest from above.
On the way back, visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park for a dance/music/history tour.
Ended back up at 18-24 James, a very comfy place. Host Keith is ever-present (I don't think he sleeps) making sure everything is taken care of, and handsome and cheerful bartender Graham
keeps the evening bar crowd well-tended.
24-27 Apr. 
Back in Cairns after four days
aboard the Mike Ball dive board "Super Sport", diving in the Ribbon Reefs in the north end
of the Great Barrier Reef. This was a wonderful trip.
The boat was confortable (and air conditioned),
the staff and crew fantastic, the food relentless and wonderful, the diving really amazing.
We left Cairns on Friday morning and worked our way up to Lizard Island, diving along the way,
and were flown back today to Cairns in two small planes. We made 11 dives, two at night by flashlight. Saw
hundreds of varieties of fish, corals, and other marine life, including 6' white-tipped sharks, four foot potato cod,
scorpionfish, lionfish, barracuda, sweetlips... and on and on. Clouds of fish. The other passengers were wonderful too...
my bunk mate Suzanne and dive buddy Paul were good pals. There were folks from Australia, the US, the UK, South Africa,
Japan, Canada and the Netherlands. This was about the most fun thing I've ever done on vacation!!!
Thanks David and Rick for recommending Mike Ball Diving!
I can't wait to do this again!!!
Sorry no underwater shots, you have to wait to see the video (produced by ever-so-handsome Bruce, the trip photographer & naturalist). It's spectacular. Here are a few above-water shots...
|
Jo, our amazing chef | |
|
Trip director Craig from Scotland, giving a dive briefing | |
|
Just about ready to go in. | |
|
My bunkie Suzanne from NY. Rumors flew. | |
|
My dive buddy Paul from the UK. |
After the flight back, I hitched up with Paul for a drive around the area while our underwater photos were developed, then came back to 18-24 James. I am going to try to change my flight so I can spend an extra day here to recover from the dive trip. It was strenuous.
28 Apr. A lounging-around day in Cairns. Brian von Konsky has put up a nifty page with some Western Australia pix from last week... check out http://www.wantree.com.au/~bvk/blk/oz.html (I have been more careful than he in avoiding pictures of my bald patch, but this is the internet, it's a free speech thing, so what can I do?)
Walked around the touristy shopping district in the afternoon, had dinner in a wonderful seafood restaurant named Fishlips, then relaxed, swam and chatted back at the guesthouse.
29 Apr. Arrived in Melbourne today. It was hard to leave Cairns! Having to wear clothes again is a drag! It's kinda chilly and gray here today. Checked in to the Palm Court guesthouse, a very charming B&B not far from the center of town and very close to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds), where the footy is played, so maybe I'll get to go to a game. Tonight I'm heading out for Malaysian food. Rick Walsh from SF is here in town, working, somewhere, but we have not connected yet. Melbourne looks a lot like SF, I think, so far. (Why I'm using all these commas, I don't know).
30 Apr. Walked around a bit of Melbourne (pronounced Melbn) today. This is the first Australian city which hasn't felt like a US city. It's distinctly different. Visited a shopping district (Chapel St) which is a cross between Haight St and Union St in SF. One end is ragged and the other is chic, where some of the stores sell only black clothing. This is definitely a food town as well as art and shopping town, and people dress up. I bought a new sweater as I was feeling relatively ragged. Also got a ticket to Saturday afternoon's football match (Carlton vs. Collingwood) which should be a good game; they expect 80,000 to attend.
Had dinner with Chris Cobbett, a friend of John Paul and Chip Carman's from home, and had drinks after with friend Rick Walsh from SF, who's here on business and leaving tomorrow morning. Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot to take any today.
(Note to Perth friends: the cross street for my B&B is Rowena, thought you'd appreciate that. The rest of you, sorry, it's too long to go into here).
1 May. Picture is of my B&B the Palm Court, three charming Victorians. There is a courtyard around back which
is pretty but unphotographable. (The batteries went out in the camera today so this is all I got). Did some more low-key sightseeing today... the Queen Victoria Market, a block-square
covered plaza with hawkers selling clothing, leather goods, fresh fruits and vegetables and lots of really bad souvenirs.
There was also the obligatory Peruvian band. (Here's a tip for keeping the kids busy on
a vacation: play Peruvian Band Bingo. Whoever sees the first one in each state or country gets
a point, prizes for spotting one in each country on a given continent, etc). Also the Meat Market Craft Center, which
is a showroom and sales hall for ceramics, art glass, textiles, etc, quite beautiful stuff.
Tonight I'm having dinner with Sue and Judy, also friends of John & Chip's. There is also
rumored to be bootscooting tonight, but I don't know if the venue is still in business. Tomorrow,
a bike ride around the river and the football game. Still no luck finding the Melbourne clogging group folks.
2 May. The Day of Nearly No Photography.
Went for a wonderful bike ride this morning
long the Yarra river through the city and suburbs on a miles-long bike and pedestrian
trail running from park to park. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies, almost warm but with that
unmistakable taste of Fall in the air. Spectacular day, wonderful views of the city skyline
over the river and bridges. I lugged along a backpack containing, as it turned out, a camera
with no film and a digital camera with no memory chip.
In the afternoon, the Carlton vs Collingwood football game! It was a blast... 70,000 people, a sunny afternoon, and a fun game. It's a notorius rivalry which had gone to Carlton the last seven matches, but this year Collingwood won 96 to 67. The experience was complete with a meal of pies and sauce. At the end of the game the stadium speakers played the team song which we sang with gusto:
I just remember the first verse. After each round, there was a brief pause while the tape was rewound and it was sung again, all the way out of the stadium to the parking lot. Luckily for me, I just had a walk across the park back to the Palm Court. The traffic is a mess out there right now and the drivers not well-tempered. I did get these digital photos but the film camera's batteries died on the first snapshot.Good Old Collingwood forever,
They know how to play the game!
Side by side we'll stick together
and uphold the Magpie's name!
Last night I had dinner with Sue and Judy (a truly sweet pair, those two!), went bootscooting at a pub in North Melbourne and ran into Neville Flegg from the Rainbow Cloggers. Danced a while, then did a pub crawl, and crawled home about 2 AM.
4 May. Oh my, has it been two days already?
Let's see if I can reconstruct this.
Saturday night, Craig from the Palm Court and I did another pub crawl: drag show
at DT's, pool at the Laird, dancing at the Peel. He's a real sweetheart and we did egg each
other on a bit. This ended somewhere around 4:30 AM. Somewhere in there I met this
tall handsome guy to the left.
Darren (who turned out to be quite a neat guy) and I had dinner Sunday, and on Monday he took me for a drive through
the beautiful countryside and along the coastline south and west of Melbourne...
There were many sights but it got too dark to photograph; you'll have to take
my word for it that the rock formations off the coastline were beautiful.
The countryside is just gorgeous, very reminiscent of West Marin and the Sonoma coast.
We covered 600 Km and had a few adventures along the way.
5 May. Arrived in Sydney in the rain. Decided to hire a car and drive up to the Blue Mountains anyway... it's not that far, I didn't want to go out tonight anyway, and I can always head back tomorrow if it doesn't stop raining. Cycling is out no matter what, it's been raining here for weeks. Getting from the airport to the highway out of town was a little hair-raising, as was driving after dark in the rain, but I arrived here without causing any serious accidents. The Blue Mountains is a region of rolling, eucalyptus-covered hills. There are miles and miles of trails into the woods, waterfalls, etc. The weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow and if it does I will try to get out there.
On the road I listened to these two disc jockeys (Martin Malloy?) with what I guess is a nationally syndicated show... they did a fake advert for a Mothers' Day "976" line, only instead of calling someone who talks dirty, moms call and choose from a "selection of well groomed and well behaved young men" who purr things like "Do you know what I'm doing right now? I'm cleaning my room." "I've just folded up a big stack of underwear, and tomorrow I'm going to go look for a job." "Mum, when I come over to dinner tomorrow night, I want you to make lots of peas" while the LOL who's calling gets worked up to a frenzy. I almost drove off the road.
I'm staying at Leura House, a hotel/guesthouse built in 1884. It's quite nice; my room is huge (even if it is in the attic) and has a porch overlooking
the garden. At first I thought I'd checked into Fawlty Towers. I keep expecting Manuel to appear from around the corner.
(Actually, it's beautiful, nothing fawlty about it). The plan for the evening is to go find dinner somewhere, go to bed, read and stack some zeds. I'll head back to Sydney tomorrow afternoon.
Postscript: had a wonderful dinner of potato soup, roast lamb, and warm chocolate pudding at the Avalon restaurant in town, which is a cross between Grandma's Attic and... and, what, I don't know. It's unique and worth the trip up here. Came back to Leura House and had a port in front of the fire with John, the proprietor. To bed now. It's raining quietly and all's right in the world.
6 May. Today 
came out clear and blue and beautiful, a perfect Autumn day.
Spent the day sightseeing in the Blue Mountains. Though I'd given up hope yesterday, was able to rent a mountain bike and ride for
a couple of hours, visiting the Three Sisters (left) and touring around town. There are great bike tours to be had here.
(next time). Wasted too much time trying to get organized to go see the Glow Worm Tunnel to the north, but I did take a
hike in and around the National Park. There was a 310 foot waterfall
and wide vistas of the hills. This part of the trip was as wonderful as I'd hoped it would be. I could easily
spend a week just here.
Drove back to Sydney. The traffic upon reaching the City however, was really maddening and the routing as crazy and unforgiving as San Francisco. I made an unrecoverable error downtown which resulted in 30 minutes of not knowing where I was headed, having to make forced turns, in gridlocked traffic... I somehow ended up crossing the Sydney Harbour bridge and had to cross back over... (I wanted to see it sometime, anyway)... finally made it to the Dorchester Inn in Potts Point, which was recommended by John at Leura House. Phew! On the plus side, though, by the end of this I was not even having to think about the opposite-side driving. Going to rest up, get a little dinner, go out for one last beer on Oxford Street, and get ready to go home... I leave in the morning.
7 May. Heading home today... hard to believe it's been a whole month! It hasn't gone by too fast, though, it's been just right. I'm ready to go home now, where I don't have to live out of suitcases and I know where I'll be sleeping tomorrow.
This has been a wonderful trip. A month hardly lets you scratch the surface of what there is to see and do here. It's a beautiful country, very livable, and very friendly.
7 May (again). A 13 hour 
flight home across the dateline and a
seven hour time change... means I got into SFO four hours before I left Sydney.
The trip home was so easy... except for the part where I returned the rental car to the Domestic airport instead of the International airport... luckily there's a shuttle bus.
Other than that, effortless.
Took the Airporter to Marin and Mom drove me home.
I'm sitting in my little house now, surrounded by cats and mail and the contents of the suitcases... it looks like it will take more than
a month to put all this stuff away! I'll take the film in this afternoon.
Well, Australia, I had a great time! There are several things which stand out above all:
