Australia
Written on January, 2024. Posted in Oceania.
Travel and Arrival
Up and an early breakfast to get back into Heathrow airport for 8am. Flight with the Singapore airline departed at 11 for our 12 h flight to Singapore. We were both well fed with dinner and breakfast. We arrived at the airport as the dawn was breaking, flying over water with hundreds of brightly lit boats. At home the temperature was -2C, but here at 7am it was 25c and extremely humid. The airport here has been regarded as the best in the world and we spent our time looking at the designer shops and the artwork and sculpture in the terminal. There was also a butterfly garden in the terminal. Three and a half hours later and we were back in the air for the second flight of the day and yet more meals to occupy the 8h duration of the flight. Passed through Melbourne airport immigration, customs and biosecurity checks without too much difficulty despite being very tired. After a short taxi ride we arrived at our hotel at about midnight, temperature still about 25 C.
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Day 1 – Melbourne
Woke up at about 6.30 and turned on the news to hear severe weather warnings for the area we were in and an approaching tropical cyclone for the North where we will be later in the week. We saw the first drops of rain on the windows of our room and watched the water bouncing off the paved area outside while we had breakfast, not the best start to the holiday. We wanted to have a leisurely day today so went in search of a city bus tour which we eventually found that had been cancelled since the outbreak of Covid. However, there was an alternative city tour on a historic tram which we used to get our bearings round the city. Our first stop was to visit the old Melbourne gaol, (jail) where the cells told the stories of some of the men and women who had been held there, and in many cases executed, including Ned Kelly the famous outlaw. Some of the stories were quite heartbreaking, of people wrongly convicted and executed. And the harsh treatment and punishments the prisoners were subjected to. We saw the site of execution with the trapdoor and the last drop. We continued on the tram through the Greek and Chinese quarters of the city and stopped for lunch in a small Greek bakery full of lovely cakes and pastries. By now the sun was out and from here we continued on tram and foot through the theatre district, passed the parliament building , visited a park and St Paul’’s cathedral and saw an arts complex which we want to re-visit for a laser show if we have time later in the week.
Day 2 – The Great Ocean Road
We got up at 6am in order to have breakfast at 6:30 and leave the hotel by seven. While we were having breakfast, we spotted three hot air balloons, taking an early morning flight over the city. A short walk took us to the bus which was to take us on the full day tour to the Great Ocean Road. We drove out of the city on the M1 for about an hour and a half when we stopped in Winchelsea for a cup of coffee at the café la hoot. While we were there, we watched some of the hundreds of small white parrots. This is a small native bird and is very noisy, continually squawking from dawn to dust. From here we continued onto the Great Ocean Road. The road was originally constructed as the first road to connect communities, which were previously only connected by the sea route. One of the intentions of building Road was to provide employment for servicemen, returning from service in World War I. They constructed the road by using pickaxes and shovels and very little usage of dynamite (as many of them men were probably suffering from PTSD after their experiences in the war). It took 13 years to build the road which was originally a single lane, And a toll road. First stop on the road was to see the 12 apostles. These are limestone stacks formed by sea erosion and the collapse of the roof of caves. The number 12 is misleading as originally there were eight of them, but now they’re only seven. It was very windy here and sometimes it was very difficult to take photographs. There is no other landmass between here and Antarctica. The section of the road is referred to as the shipwreck coast. Over the years there’s been at least 400 recorded shipwrecks here. a few miles from the apostles, we stopped to visit the Loch Ard gorge. This was the site of a famous shipwreck of a ship called Loch Ard which was sailing from England to Melbourne. Some of the people on board managed to get to shore and survived. It was a very dramatic bit of the coastline. A quick lunch and we continue our journey into the next section of the road, the great coast. This took a winding road to an ancient rainforest, predominantly eucalyptus trees. This area forms the Otway National Park and we visited the Melba gully, named after the famous opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. Here are some of the second largest trees in the world, as well as a lot of tree ferns. We had a walk here before continuing along the road back to the coast and the start of the third section of the road, the surface coast. We stopped for a while at Apollo Bay, and found ourselves parked directly in front of an ice cream shop, so we had to investigate. Continued along dramatically. Stretch of coastline, with lots of big waves and many surfers out to enjoy them. We also sold the sites of another shipwreck of a boat which had been built in Inverkeithing on the Fife coast of Scotland. One final stop was to spot a couple of kangaroos. An hour or so later we were back in Melbourne.
Day 3 – Melbourne – Ferry to St Kilda and Eureka Skydeck
A later start this morning and decided to take a ferry along the bay to St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne. We booked the tickets online before leaving the hotel because we didn’t want to risk there being no room for us. Did note that the ferry had been cancelled the previous day due to the rough water conditions (didn’t tell John that!). Short walk to get the tram to take us to Port Melbourne. We were expecting to see something like the ferry to Aran. The ferry was due to depart at 11.30 , but there was nothing there. On time a small boat turned up crewed by the captain, his dog and his mate. We were the only passengers on board. We sailed out to Williamstowns , getting good views of the Melbourne skyline. Stopped here for 10 minutes (lovely fish shop with oysters and lobsters) and two more people got on board. Then a slightly longer trip to St Kilda with slightly rougher water. St Kilda is a lovely seaside area with a Victorian pier which is being redeveloped and a lot of arts venues and a funfair. We walked along the esplanade and had time for lunch (fish and chips (with head attached) and avocado salad and potato wedges). Then time to take the reverse ferry journey back to Melbourne. The rest of the afternoon took us to the Eureka Tower, the 2nd tallest building in the southern hemisphere. A lift rapidly took us up to the 88th floor and the observation deck for clear views over the city, including the Australian Open tennis. The highlight was experiencing “the Edge”. This is a glass cube with a glass floor. When we entered the glass was opaque. Slowly the cube was propelled 3 metres out from the side of the building and the glass cleared to give clear views of the ground 88 floors beneath us.
Day 4 – Royal Victoria Botanic gardens
The sunniest and warmest day yet with a mid afternoon temperature of 28C. Short walks and tram rides took us to the Shrine of Remembrance commemorating the Australians who died in the wars. From there it was a short stride to the gardens. The gardens cover a large area and it wasn’t possible to see everything but we saw the highlights and enjoyed the variety of trees and plants and the scents of the garden. The wild birds seemed to be very used to people and would walk up to us. We walked round the central lake where we stopped for lunch. We got some more views of the Melbourne skyline from the garden as well as seeing the state parliament building. Late afternoon was too hot to do a lot of walking. Healthy burgers for tea and the4 back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s flight.
Day 5 – Melbourne to Cairns
Melbourne in the summer is like Edinburgh, the clouds come in from the sea, so it was sunny and clear at 6am when we got up, but by the time the aircraft took off this morning the clouds had come in. (The clouds would usually have gone by the afternoon). Our flight was to take us North to Cairns a distance of about 1450 miles and about a 3h flight. Fairly soon the clouds disappeared and for most of the journey we had clear views of the ground below. On our flight from Singapore days ago, we only had a brief view of the desert in Western Australia. Today we passed from the agricultural green vegetation of Victoria through progressively drier areas passing over New South Wales and arriving in Cairns (in Queensland) which is surrounded by Cloud forest. During the flight we were served a snack meal (two meat pies or vegetarian bites) which was a vast improvement over the packets of nuts that we are used to! We were monitoring our progress during the flight and at one point passed over a town where the temperature was 40C, it was 31C and very humid when we arrived in Cairns. Apart from planning to go out to the Great Barrier Reef at some point we have not planned our time here. A few weeks ago there were severe weather conditions here and flooding and a lot of the major roads impassable because of mudslides etc and we were not sure what would be possible to do now. We had a short taxi ride to the hotel and had a nice room with a sea view. We also now have been able to plan for the next few days.
Day 6 – Great Barrier Reef
An early breakfast and then a short taxi drive to take us to the reef terminal to get a tour out to the Great Barrier Reef. The day started with clear blue skies and it got progressively hotter. There were a variety of tours and boats available, the one we had booked was a small catamaran with about 110 other tourists on board. We were taken out about 28 miles to a platform near one of the reefs. The journey took about 90 minutes in rougher seas than we were expecting. During this time we had a presentation about the reef. The platform was equipped for diving, snorkelling and various other activities. On arrival we took a short tour of the reef in a glass bottom boat which gave us a good view of the different types of coral and the variety of fish, including clown fish and many larger fish. After this we had booked a snorkelling session guided by a marine biologist who talked more about the coral and the fish. We saw a giant clam and the largest resident fish – a Maori Wrasse. After a buffet lunch we took the opportunity for more snorkelling before the return journey. We had a cultural presentation about the didgeridoo, how the instrument was made and how to play it. The colours and variety of corals and fish made a great, but tiring day.
Day 7 – Waterfall, Wetland and Skyrail
Today we were doing a tour out of Cairns. Since the devastating cyclone and floods in December the tour operators have had to rearrange their tours as many places are still inaccessible. Indeed within 20 minutes we were travelling on a road which would have been impassable 2 weeks ago. Our first stop took us into the Cattana wetlands for a guided walk through the heart of a remnant feather palm forest. We were greeted with a sign advising of the sighting of a crocodile within the last week, however this wasn’t a concern to us as the bigger problem was the very aggressive mosquito, and we will carry the scars for the next few days. We saw a kookaburra, Jesus birds, so called because they appear to walk on water as well as butcher birds which kill other birds, then hang the carcasses from the trees, returning days later to eat them. We also saw a termite nest which a bird had used to lay its eggs, the parent bird could then abandon the eggs because the heat from the termite nest would hatch them. Similarly there were mounds of decaying vegetation which birds would use in the same way.
From here we took a winding mountain road, the Kaunda range Road which was taking us into the world’s oldest continually evolving rain forest (older even than the Amazon), seeing more evidence of the damage caused by the recent flood along the way. We stopped to be met by a Djabugay Aboriginal guide who took us to stand on a bridge and welcomed us by participating in “Calling to the Country” a ceremonial introducing yourself to the country and the ancestral spirits. We were presented with quartz stones and told to take one, rub it between our hand and under our armpits and then throw it into the water below, the idea being that the ancestors would recognise us by our scent if we return. He then took us to the Barron Falls which he knows by the local name Din Din (waterfall). The waterfall holds profound significance to the Djabugay people and he told us the story of the creation of the falls and we then proceeded along a series of walkways to get increasingly dramatic views of the falls.
After saying goodbye to our Aboriginal guide we continued on our way with our driver , passing through small outback towns and largely agricultural land (good volcanic soil) which once was used for growing tobacco, but is now used for avocados, mangoes, papaya and macadamia nuts. We had lunch at the Skyrail coffee plantation which is Australia’s oldest. It is also the largest producer of papaya, although production is currently down by 50% as a result of the devastation caused by the storm. After lunch they described the process for coffee production. After lunch we retraced our steps seeing more kangaroos on a golf course and stopped for an afternoon visit to the Emerald Creek Ice Creamery where we were given a tub with 4 different flavours of ice cream and sorbets (Mango, papaya,tangerine and lychee).
Our final visit of the day was to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, a 4.5 mile long cable car riding over the top of the rainforest. There were two stops along the way, one for a different view of the Barron Falls and Barron river, the other a walkway through the forest.
Day 8 – Aquarium
Hot and humid day in Cairns ( Northern Queensland has two seasons a year, the extremely hot season, and the extremely hot and wet season which it is now) so we decided it was to be a relaxing day so we had a short walk along to Cairns Aquarium. The aquarium was arranged in a logical progression, so we started with the fish in the billabongs and were told examples of how they adapted to a drying environment in the summer, for example building up body reserves during the wet season and having lungs to breath out of water. From here we moved onto freshwater river fish which took us through to the rain forest and mangrove swamp section (where we also learned more about the plants and animals as well). The high lights came once we moved into the sections dealing with the coral reefs and deep ocean. As well as an educational resource the aquarium also has a hospital for injured turtles and has a coral biobank having the world’s first conservation program to protect all 415 known species of Great Barrier Reef Hard Corals. Attached to the aquarium was a nice place for lunch, then a walk along the esplanade for coffee and cake. Then by the time we walked back to the hotel we were soaking with sweat, but the hotel air conditioning cools us down nicely.
Day 9 – Flying Cairns to Brisbane
A lazy day today flying to Brisbane. For that last week there has been concern about a cyclone building up off the coast of Queensland. Until the last day or two it wasn’t clear where the storm would make landfall and whether it would hit us in Cairns. Well the storm will hit land tonight, but South of Cairns and people there have been advised to batten down the hatches or evacuate and warned of possible loss of power for 3-5 days. This morning when we left for the airport the weather was already changing – it was very humid and rainy. Our flight left a few minutes early as the pilots wanted to get away before the weather worsened. The first 30 minutes of the flight we were flying southwards through dense clouds and with some turbulence, but we had a smooth flight into Brisbane after that. We picked up a car at the airport which we will use in the next few days.
Day 10 – Surfer’s Paradise
A hot humid and wet day today, so we took an easy option and took a drive to the Gold Coast, stopping for lunch at Surfers Paradise. Passed the local theme and water parks, which we would like to explore, but maybe not when it’s so hot and humid.
Day 11 – Theme Park
Woke up to sunny blue skies so decided to try the theme park. We arrived to find the temperature was 34C, but allowing for humidity and still air meant it felt like 43C. Even the cold water out of the tap was lukewarm. Some good rides and attractions. Queuing for rides under cover and there were no fans so was a pretty exhausting day, but we enjoyed it. Don’t think the water park with all the steps would have been any easier. The locals can cope with the heat, we struggled despite drinking litres of water.
Day 12 – An Easy Day
As you can see from the pictures, we opened the blind this morning and the weather’s a bit wet and grey so we had a very easy day going to the cinema as it was indoors, we also took the opportunity to do some washing by using the guest hotel washer/dryer. Weather’s not looking great for tomorrow either.
Day 13 – River Boat Ride
A dry but hot and humid start to the day, so we decided to use the day to see a little more of Brisbane. A short drive took us over the Story Bridge over the Brisbane river. This bridge was designed by the same person responsible for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and like the latter you can pay to climb it. The bridge was built to provide employment at the time of the depression in the 1930’s. We stopped for a few photographs of the view over the river and retraced our steps to find the place to get a river boat tour. While waiting for the boat we had time for lunch in a massive arts complex which also housed the state library and art gallery. The boat journey lasted a couple of hours up and down the river giving us good views of the city and lots of historical information of the growth of Brisbane from the penal colony, through the discovery of gold which led to massive growth. We also heard of the devastating floods in the 1970’s and the worries for the long term when the existing flood defences are no longer adequate. From here we took a scenic drive to Mount Coot -tha lookout. This is the highest point in Brisbane and gave us a great view over the city and also had the advantage of a great cafe and our first taste of Lamingtons – iconic Australian cakes (vanilla sponge covered in chocolate and coconut, and in this case filled with cream and jam).
Day 14 – Flying Brisbane to Sydney
A short 20 minute drive to the airport to Hand the car back and check in. The flight to Sydney was just over an hour and one hour ahead of our watches. Thick clouds most of the way and some turbulence, but the clouds broke enough as we approached Sydney. We got our first glimpse of the opera house and the harbour bridge. We had a short taxi ride to our hotel which we found to be in the heart of a Chinatown in full preparation for the Chinese New Year celebrations. We had a short walk to Darlington harbour and found an Italian restaurant for tea and checked out a few ice cream shops to visit later in the week.
Day 15 – City Bus Tour
Just before we mention the day’s activities you’ll see from the first picture that we had an unexpected visitor in our room this morning, anyway we got a man in to deal with it.
Lovely bright sunny day in Sydney. To see a bit of the city and hear of its history we had decided to take an open top bus tour. The city is full of modern buildings, but interspersed amongst them are preserved older buildings dating back to the early days of the colony. We spent a lot of time at the harbour for the views of the bridge and a walk round the opera house where we also had lunch. We watched some of the people doing the walk along the top of the bridge. Later on we moved on to the Sydney Tower for a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. We had to miss out on a nearby attraction – the world’s largest Lego store, but there’s time yet! One of the many historical buildings we saw was the Sydney Rum Hospital, named because the builders were paid in a tax free allowance of barrels of rum. Rum at the time was a practical form of currency and we were told of one of the roads which was financed in the same way. After the bus trip it was time for tea. Unfortunately we chose a restaurant next to an ice cream shop so we had to investigate and would recommend the cherry brandy ice cream. An early start tomorrow…
Day 16 – Blue Mountains
Up at 6 and no time for breakfast as we had to walk to meet our tour bus by 6.45. We then had a 2 hour drive to the Blue Mountains. The reason for the name is that from a distance the mountains have a blue appearance, this is due to diffraction of light by eucalyptus oils, pollen etc in the air. As we journeyed towards the mountains, the mist descended and we could see little. We stopped at a series of viewpoints, from which the mist would briefly clear giving us a partial view into the valley below. The eucalyptus trees here had been the victim of a massive fire 3 years ago, but they had quickly recovered and it would appear as if nothing had happened. We were lucky, the fog cleared and we had a great view of the Three Sisters (a line of 3 rock faces). We then transferred to different forms of transportation at Scenic World, taking two cable cars to travel down toward the bottom of the valley. Here we had a short board walk through the trees and saw the original coal mine which had been here (using Welsh miners). The journey back up was by means of the world’s steepest funicular. A short drive took us to an ex- servicemen’s club for a very good lunch. We continued our tour visiting another viewpoint (Serene Point) for some stunning views then headed back towards Sydney along the route we took this morning but now with perfect views of the scenery. We stopped to visit a wildlife park where we saw various species of kangaroos, koalas, birds and reptiles. The drive finished at the Sydney Olympic Park (Olympics in 2000) and we transferred to a ferry to take us into the heart of the city. We passed under the harbour bridge and berth alongside Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth – hopefully she will have left by Sunday as that is where our ship will be.
Day 17 – Bondi Beach
Hot and sunny start to the day. We took another open top bus tour which took us through different parts of the city to where we had been before. The aim was to get to Bondi Beach to watch the waves and the surfers and we arrived just in time for lunch. A lovely stretch of the coast, but earlier in the week someone had been the victim of a shark attack. We returned to the city mid afternoon in time to do a tour of Sydney Opera House. We were guided by someone with an architectural background. We heard the story of the design competition and the controversies about its building and final design. A lot of the architectural features were pointed out and we were taken into the large concert hall and then into the Opera theatre. An interesting tour. Ferry back to Darling harbour and tea.
Day 18 – Maritime Museum
Today we visited the maritime museum a short walk from our hotel. We had passed here several times during the last few days and today was an ideal opportunity to visit. Moored outside the museum were a collection of boats, a lighthouse and a light ship some of which we could explore. We started with a submarine, not sure we would have liked to work in the cramped claustrophobic conditions. Notice the plaque showing that the engines were built in Greenock, Scotland. Then a naval vessel with quite heavy firepower. The highlights were a replica of the ship which brought the Dutch East India Company to Australia long before Captain Cook and a restored boat originally built in Sunderland and which started life trading from Glasgow. It ended its life as a rotting hull in Tasmania and was brought to Sydney and restored to sailing condition. Our last night in Sydney ended with ice creams and fireworks over Darling Harbour. Tomorrow we leave on the cruise so will update when and if we can.
Day 19 – Chinese Garden and Ship Embarkation
Another hot and sunny morning. We had a couple of hours to fill in between checking out of the hotel and going to the ship. So we decided to leave our bags at the hotel and spend our time visiting the nearby Chinese Gardens. On the way we stopped to see people practising for the forthcoming new year, a very colourful dragon. The gardens were larger than we expected, very beautiful and peaceful. The water was full of large and multicoloured Koi Carp. We got a taxi to the cruise terminal and very quickly we were through all the formalities and onboard our ship. The view from our stateroom is the Sydney Opera House. We will sail to New Zealand later this evening.
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