Sydney Oct. 20

We spent the day in the Blue Mountains, that is, if you count the two hour train there, and two hours back, as part of the day.
The Blue Mountains are "Ontario" mountains, not "Alberta" mountains. It would be similar to our Collingwood area, and is a popular destination for weekend getaways for Sydneysiders, as they call themselves. Pretty scenery, lots of hiking trails, parks, and small villages.
We visited the main scenic area at Katoomba, one of the villages. Tourism is the main industry. The lady at the info desk told us that they had a snow storm a week and a half ago. The roads were closed, and nothing was open. Hard to believe!
It is a very scenic area, deep valleys, and some interesting rock formations, the "biggie" being The Three Sisters. We did some hiking to get views of the rocks and the valleys.
We also took a cable car across a gorge, and by a waterfall. The next part was a ride down a very steep incline on a cog railway. It was steep, 52 degrees, most of the way. The railway was built to transport coal from the mines in the valley to the top. Coal mining was started here in the 1890's, and continued until1940. They have done a beautiful job to make this a really nice attraction. There are displays of mining history, and also several walks through the rainforest, at the bottom of the valley. The walks are all along very well constructed boardwalks, about 2 m wide, and railings all along. No steps, just inclines, so baby carriages and wheel chairs can be used. It is quite an extensive system, covering several kilometers.
There are some gorgeous trees, huge and very impressive. Lots of varieties of eucalyptus trees. One of the reason for the blue coloring of the sky is that the trees give off an oil vapor, that refracts blue light more. ( The science lesson of the day)
The highlight of the walk was that we saw a lyrebird, which is quite shy and rarely seen.
After the hike through the rain forest we took a cable car back to the top.
Before we boarded the train back to Sydney, we walked through the village of Leura. It is very pretty, lots of flowers, and lovely, upscale shops.
As we were walking back to our home, we passed a noodle shop, and had soup for supper. I had trouble finishing my bowl; it was the best soup I have eaten since my trip to Vietnam.
Great way to finish the day.
By the way, the weather.....another perfect day, high 26, clear and sunny. I could get used to this.
Only two more days!
Ralf

Sydney Oct. 19

Another beautiful day in Sydney. 26, sunny and a nice breeze.
We went back into the city, and started out by visiting the Museum of Contemperary Art. First positive comment...it's free. In addition to that it is very interesting. I'm the first to admit modern paintings don't appeal to me, and this gallery hasn't changed my opinion.
The amazing thing weren't the paintings, but all the other examples of creativity. It was truly amazing, and I loved it.
There was an exhibit, by an Australian couple that dealt with house and homes. One exhibit, which was shown, using a photograph, was of a home that was being demolished. They carefully removed the roof and all the walls, so that all the was left were the floors of the rooms, showing the various tiled floors.
Another was of a small airplane that they cut up into pieces small enough to be shipped by mail. They then sent all the pieces, by mail, to San Francisco, where they loosely reassembled it. The pieces were not packaged, so each piece had addresses, and postmarks. At the end of the exhibition every piece was sent back to Sydney, again by mail. So, what you have is a loosely assembled plane, each piece showing that it was sent by mail.
There were also some interesting videos, quite good.
As I said there was a lot of very creative exhibits on display.
There were also some native bark paintings, which were better than anything I have seen.
After our visit to the MCA, we toured the Rocks, which is the area which was first populated by the English exiles that first colonized Australia. The sad thing is that there is very little known about the natives that lived here. They lived in clans of 20 to 60 people, had no written language, and only a primitive culture. The only things we know are some written records, by the colonists, all from their point of view. If you think our natives were mistreated, the Australians were worse. Aboriginals didn't get the vote until 1967.
We also visited Hyde Park, another lovely park in central Sydney. At the moment there is an exhibition of photographs, showing everyday life in Sydney. The photos are blown up to a 3 m by 2 m size, and suspended along the main path through the park.
My impression of Sydney is that it is much more cosmopolitan than Melbourne. The people downtown dress more smartly, there don't seem to be as many obese people, and the pace is faster.
All in all another great day in Sydney

Sydney Oct. 18

We took the bus into the city, a 35 minute ride, ending at the harbour.  Sydney has a population close to 5 million, and the CBD is very similar to downtown Toronto, tall, striking office and apartment buildings. Sydney has a very ragged coast line. Lots of bays and coves, so there is a lot of varied coastline. The central harbour is beautiful. The world renowned operahouse sits right at the tip of one of the "fingers" . The large Botanical Gardens are next to it. The harbour is deep enough so that huge ocean liners can come right into the city.
This is also the area where the first settlers lived, so there are many historic buildings.
We decided to take one of the "hop on and off" bus tours. It was a pleasant way to see the various parts of Sydney. The city has a curious mixture of buildings. There are structures from the 1860's nect to modern office buildings. We saw some areas, that were mainly cottages from the 30's and also spectacular homes overlooking the city. There are quite a few hills in the city.
It is a very clean city, lots of parks, and I didn't see one homeless person.
One of the stops we made was the Sydney Fish Market. It is, supposedly, only second to Tokyo, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. It must refer to the commercial side, because what we saw was not that impressive. There were about a dozen individual stores, that had an astonishing selection of fresh seafood, and quite a few restaurants. We had a seafood meal at the market. I still am not a fan of oysters and calamari.
Before we headed home we walked around the opera house. It is very impressive, and the views are great, especially the view of the Harbour Bridge, another Sydney landmark.
Tomorrow we plan to do more walking.
Ralf

Sydney Oct. 17

We had another early, 6:45 am, flight from Cairns to Sydney. Everything went smoothly, and we arrived at our apartment by noon.
Our hostess is a gem. She is originally from Poland, but has been in Australia for 20 years. She volunteered to drive us to do some shopping, then drove us around to show us the neighborhood. She is very enthusiastic about Sydney, and rightly so.
We were blown away by the coast line. Sydney is right on the ocean. The shore is made up of small coves, with many rock outcroppings, so there are many small beaches, separated by rocky "fingers" reaching out into the water. The local government has constructed "rock pools" that are man made swimming pools, right by the ocean. They are fed by the sea water, but you don't have to worry about waves. The beaches are beautiful sand beaches, very clean.
Our beach is about three or four beaches down from Bondi Beach, which is famous for its surfing.
After we unpacked Sandy and I walked down to the beach closest to us, about a 20 minute walk. It was lovely. Nice and warm, and sunny. All the beaches are connected by a a walking trail.
There are also a lot of parks. We watched kids skate boarding, and there were quite a few surfers. What a great way to spent your time after school is over.
It is interesting to see every school having school uniforms.
Tomorrow it's time to visit the Big City.
Bye for now
Ralf

The Great Barrier Reef Oct. 16

Another early morning. Up at six, caught the 6:42 bus to central Cairns and were at the boat at 7:30.
Our boat was the Seastar, a large yacht, room for 35 passengers. It prides itself at being the first boat to Michaelma Cay, about an hour from Cairns. Speed comes with a price!
To get there first you have to fast. Going fast in choppy water causes sea sickness, as I and a few others discovered. They do provide great barf bags.
We were the first to the Michaelmas Cay though. This Cay is also a bird sanctuary, which explained the presence of a few bird watchers on this tour. You can identify them by the size of their equipment. The phrase "well hung" comes to mind. Nikon and Canon can be proud.
What is a Cay. It is a sandbar, about 100  m long, and narrow. Because it is the only thing that sticks above the water, within many kilometers, it is a great place for birds to nest. There were several hundred of them, the problem being they all looked the same to me. I was told that there were some "small" boobies. They're the same as the other boobies, only a smaller bill.
Even in the aviary world size counts.
We did get a chance to snorkel. Let me tell you about snorkeling. I have tried it in a swimming pool, and I coped quite well. Snorkeling in the ocean, with good-sized waves, and salt water is nothing like that.
It's like comparing shooting layups in a gym, all by yourself, and shooting layups in a game.
First there is the problem with putting on the flippers. They told us it would be easier from the beach. I don't think so! Pulling on those tight rubber thingies while sand is swirling around, and the undertow is pulling like crazy is not my idea of fun. But I eventually succeeded.
I could not get the breathing right, I took in a fair amount of sea water.
After all that I did get to snorkel, by holding my breath, and looking down through the glasses. What I saw was spectacular. There are a great number of different corals, all sizes, all shapes, many different colours. They don't move, but the movement of the water causes the soft corals to sway, as if they were dancing. At this cay there weren't many fish, but I saw a sea turtle, and a glimpse of a small shark. My favorite was a huge clam, almost a meter in size, with scalloped edges. One of our guides dove down, and as she approached, it closed up. Neat.
Another clam, about half the size had a brilliant blue interior. It was really great.
After lunch, and I actually did eat lunch, we went on the Hastings Reef. Most of the reefs are completely underwater. You can spot them by the fact that the colour of the water changes from a brilliant blue to turquoise or green. You are in the ocean, without anything visible, but the reefs are there.
The boat stopped, and most passengers snorkeled. The bird watchers, all men, played with their equipment, and compared the size of their lenses.
This reef was spectacular. I hadn't imagined that it would be this beautiful. I put my flippers on on the ship. Much easier. I then spent a half an hour or so, drifting around, and looking underwater. This reef had coral that went much deeper, almost like underwater canyons, and a great number of different fish. Unbelievable colours, and a great variety of sizes. There was one school of tiny fish, no nore than half a centimeter, in brilliant iridescent blue, flitting around me. I came across a good sized iridescent blue fish, that changed to iridescent green as I drifted closer. It was just like the movies. I even saw some Nemo fish.
There was also a glass bottomed boat, for those that didn't snorkel. It was neat seeing the coral, but the motor scared away the fish, so there weren't many to be seen.
The trip back took one and a half hours, and wasn't quite as bad as the trip out, but I have to admit it was a long day. Swimming for about an hour was tiring, and I was sore. I have a good sun burn, and everything I wore was covered with salt, from all the sprays.
I must say though that it was very worthwhile. Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef was always one of my dreams. It was right up there with Macchu Piccu. I think it would have been a lot easier twenty years ago, but I'm not complaining.

Cairns Oct.15

Flew to Cairns today, to visit The Great Barrier Reef.
We had fun at the airport. There is a 10kg limit per person for carry- on luggage and also a 10 kg limit for checked luggage. Our two checked bags totaled 24 kg. Our carry-on was well below. The penalty was 25 dollars per kg. 100 dollars, almost the price of a ticket. We were allowed to rearrange our suitcases, so that the checked ins were 20 kg. we put it in our carry-on bags. Now does that make any sense? The total baggage we took on was exactly the same! Do you really save on fuel costs by having 4 extra kg in the overhead compartments?
The company was a economy flight company, bare boned. Everything was extra. The one thing I did not check was the toilet paper dispenser.
The other thing was that the plane was a new Airbus 320. It has the new seats which have no metal parts, and they are thinner in the back. More rows. They were quite comfortable. There were also front and rear entrances, making getting on and of more efficient.
The weather in Cairns was very different from Melbourne. 16 in Melbourne, 30 in Cairns.
Cairns is a pretty little town, surrounded by good sized hills, very lush, and right on the ocean. Tourism is the main industry. There are at least 3 travel agencies on every block, selling tours to the Reef, to the tropical jungles, to the interior.
Cairns reminded me of an old west town. The sidewalks run under the balconies of the buildings lining the streets. Very laid back.
The water front is beautiful. A lovely esplanade along the beach, and a fantastic swimming pool, right at the edge of the ocean. There are yoga classes at 6 every morning.
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY.