Well, we are back after an absence from our blog of over a month. We are now in Cairns in “Far North Queensland” as it is called here and have finally taken some time to make our initial blog entry for our Australian travels. We have been pretty busy over the last few weeks and haven't made time to update the blog, but as we are going to be settled now for a while, we will be able to record some details on our travels.
The last entry to the blog was to finish off our travels in Central America and Peru. That was done during our brief return to Calgary between Peru and Australia. We had arrived back in Calgary on April 12th and spent two and a half weeks visiting family and friends, catching up on our mail and affairs, and getting organized for our travels to Australia. We were certainly ready for a break from travelling. I had lost over 15 lbs during our travels, most in the last few weeks in Peru, and I was still getting over the last of my GI problems. I had checked my condition out with our GP but he didn't seem too concerned...these things take time he had said....and thankfully I was fully recovered when we left for Aussie. During our three months away we had done a lot of walking, but no real exercising and as a result I had lost a lot of upper body muscle and was looking decidedly thin. One of our objectives while in Australia will be to get back in shape!
We were reminded what spring could be like in Calgary as we we had snow a couple of times while we were home, but besides the nuisance of having to shovel the driveway, it just served to whet our appetite for sunny Australia. So, after time spent shopping for some new clothes, a couple of parties, visits with friends, filing our taxes, and generally enjoying our time with the boys and Maddy, we packed up our suitcases and headed off for the next leg of our adventure.
My sister Lynne dropped us at the airport in the afternoon of Saturday April 28th and we boarded our flight to Vancouver for our connection to Sydney. We had a beautiful day for flying over the Rockies and had some spectacular views of the spectacular mountains, still heavily covered in snow. In Vancouver, we cleared US Customs (we had to go through the pain of actually entering the US on our 90 minute stopover in Honolulu) and headed off for our departure lounge for our Air Canada flight to Sydney.
We had arranged this flight months before as we were travelling in business class thanks to frequent flyer points. We saw on our boarding passes that our seat assignments had been changed from the ones I had booked and when I enquired about this, I was told that these seats reflected the new configuration in the Executive First cabin. And we were delighted to learn that the new configuration was to the new seats that fully recline in to a completely flat bed. Each seat is actually a mini compartment with “bed seat” and individual “video on demand” tv's. Very impressive and very comfortable for sleeping. The only down side is that the compartments take up considerable room and as a result each seat is separated by an aisle, so Sue and I were actually sitting across the aisle from each other. Sue felt she was isolated in a little cocoon, especially as, because of the white noise on the plane, you couldn't even here someone speak across the aisle. But that didn't really detract from our enjoyment of the executive class service and we were soon sipping a glass of wine as we winged our way south westward.
We arrived in Hawaii about 10:30 and were on our way again shortly after midnight. The flat bed and cozy duvet made for a very pleasant night as we traversed the Pacific far below. We were due to land just after 6:00 a.m. Sydney time (Monday April 30th as we had lost Sunday by crossing the International Date Line en route) though this was actually 2:00 p.m. Calgary time and we were awake well before our landing. A couple of hours after breakfast we began our descent into Sydney as the pre-dawn sky began to redden at the northern horizon. The pilot reported that the we would be welcomed to Sydney by clear skies and 20 degrees. As we skimmed over the coastal cliffs, we could see evidence of heavy rains in the form of large puddles on the ground, but as advertised, only a few pink clouds were scattered about as our jet set down and taxied to a stop at the terminal.
We were through Australian Customs in no time, a much different process than what we had experienced in Houston with US Customs some weeks before. After a bit of a search through the crowded terminal we found our friend Lyn who had come out to meet us. We had met Rob and Lyn and their twin boys in 1992 when we had shared a table on board a Caribbean cruise and had kept in touch since. We had also stayed with them for a few days on our last visit to Australia in 1994.
We stayed with Rob and Lyn for a couple of days before setting off for Brisbane. Over the previous few months, largely by email correspondence, we had arranged to purchase a camper van from a Canadian couple who had returned to Canada a couple of weeks previously from their Australian tours. The van was waiting for us when we arrived at Rob and Lyn's home in north Sydney. Over the next two days we checked out all the camping gear, erected the small two-man and larger eating tents and registered the van in our name. On our second afternoon we took the van out for an initial test drive and unbelievably within 3 minutes I got into an accident. And it wasn't anything to do with driving on the left, a skill that had been developed driving on the left in NZ, Australia and the UK in years gone by and which immediately came back to me. I had driven to a shopping centre nearby and my problem resulted from a simple problem of not being familiar with the van's controls. As I came up behind a car stopped at a crosswalk, I applied what I thought was the brake, but as hard as I pressed down, the van didn't slow at all. Thankfully we were going slowly, but I sat there unable to comprehend why we weren't stopping as we bumped into the older model car in front of us. As I later figured out, my foot had overshot the brake and was actually pushing on the steering column, something that just would not stop the van!! Fortunately, there was no damage to the car in front because of its protruding trailer hitch, though we had a small dent in our front bumper. Also fortunately, the driver was good humoured about the whole thing. I think he must have taken pity on us foreigners and said he understood when I stammered on about just getting used to the van and that my foot must have slipped off the brake. Anyway, he went on his way and my fears of having to deal with an accident before we even set off, were dispelled.
So on Wednesday morning after a good reunion visit with our friends, we set off through the northern suburbs and joined the Pacific Highway heading north. Our first stop was in the Hunter Valley about three hours drive north. The Hunter Valley is one of Australia's many fine wine regions and we spent a few hours visiting some of the vineyards and sampling some of the wines of the region. One of the specialty grapes of the region is Verdelho, a varietal that originated in Portugal, and we bought a couple of bottles of this crisp and fruity wine from the Hope winery, and a couple of surprisingly fine Pinot Noirs which were on sale at the Rosemount Estate winery, a name well known to Canadian wine consumers. We were a bit surprised to find that wine is not as cheap here as we had hope it would be. There are some “bargains” available for ten or twelve dollars, but most wines are priced about the same as they are in Canada. One specific wine we know, Rosemount Shiraz, was exactly the same price as at the liquor store we frequented in Calgary.
Speaking about wine prices, it's probably a good opportunity to talk a little about prices here generally. The one thing we noticed immediately was the price of fuel. Our van is a diesel and we were anticipating a lower cost for fuel. But in reality, it is about the same as unleaded gas (petrol) and in Sydney was actually more expensive. It costs about $1.22 per liter which means our fuel costs have been our major expense over the first month here as we have done over 3000 kms already. Other costs are much the same as in Canada with one very notable exception. Bananas are astronomically priced. A cyclone hit Queensland 18 months ago and devastated the banana industry. Our friend Lyn told us that bananas had been as high as $13 per kilo recently, though now they are in the $6 range. That translates into one small banana costing about $1! It's hard to fathom as we drive through mile after mile of banana plantations here in Queensland, but I guess prices will come down as the industry recovers.
After our afternoon touring a few Hunter Valley wineries, we found a campground in Cessnock, the small town in the region, and set up our two man tent. The previous owners of the van had removed the back seats and had rigged up a platform for a bed. They had told us they slept in the van, but it looked pretty cramped to us and we had decided to use the tent instead. The tent took only a few minutes to erect, but it was pretty clear that it would not be suitable for long-term camping. It is a small dome tent only 6ft square. We had to place our air mattresses on the diagonal so we could fit in and there was very little room left over for anything else...like luggage! However, after buying fish and chips for dinner in town, we settled in for the night. The van had come with lots of camping gear including pots and pans, bedding, gas cooker and even a long outdoor extension cord and fluorescent light to hang in the tent. Having a power source is a real advantage over the camping we did years ago. We had brought along a dvd pack of Season 2 of the tv series “24” and we started to watch it on our laptop as we lay in the tent that evening. An hour or two of dvd watching each evening became standard over the next few days. Anyway, we managed to get a fairly decent sleep despite the cramped quarters and set off the next morning for points north.
We drove through the beautiful coastal lands of New South Wales as we headed north, the terrain alternating between rain forest and farmland. Along the way we encountered some interesting road signs. The Australian government has launched an intensive campaign to educate drivers, mainly about the dangers of driving while tired, and there are frequent rest stop areas along the highways and numerous signs – here are some of our favourites:
Stop Revive Survive
Survive this Drive
Tired Drivers Die
Rest not RIP
Take a Rest and Refresh
Fatigued Driver Crash Zone Next nn Kms
Don't Roll Over in Your Sleep
Rest Stop or Dead Stop
and on other subjects:
Wear a Belt or Wear a Fine
Every K over the limit is a Killer
High Speed. Low IQ.
These Australians certainly have a way with words. Another example: Slip, Slap, Slop. (Slip on a shirt, slap on a hat, slop on some sunscreen.) And speaking of which, the school uniforms include wide-brimmed hats, which the kids wear whenever they are outside for sports or whatever, as do road workers and other outside workers, including some policemen we saw directing traffic. They take skin cancer very seriously here, particularly as there is no ozone layer over the continent anymore and no protection from UV rays.
As we drove north, we passed towns with interesting sounding names like Morpeth, Karuah, Bulahdelah, Coolongolook, Woolgoolga and Arrawarra, before stopping for the night at a small town on the coast called Uranga. We discovered a lovely campground right by the sea and again erected our small tent. We watched the full moon rise over the sea, the bright disc (which appears upside down compared to our usual perspective in the northern hemisphere) casting a brilliant golden path from shore to horizon. The next morning we had a walk along a boardwalk through the mangrove coast line and then packed up and were on our way to Brisbane. We had been very much looking forward to our visit to our friend Cheryl who had been close friends with Sue when we lived in the UK in the late 80's. She now lives in a lovely house in Ashmore on the Gold Coast about an hour's drive south of Brisbane, with her partner Mike, a high school teacher at a private school. We arrived at their home about 4:00 and had a very happy reunion.
This weekend happened to be the Labour Day Weekend in Australia and Monday was a holiday for both Mike and Cheryl who works part time for a property developer. We had a very enjoyable weekend with lots of Mike's homemade beer and some fine Australian wines to accompany some great meals. On Saturday morning we headed down to the nearby beach and had a long walk on the golden sands stretching for miles along the coast past Surfer's Paradise, followed by a swim and some frolicking in the small (for this coast) waves. We hadn't had any beach time since we visited Mike and Sue in Costa Rica in mid March, so we really enjoyed the morning outing.
The coast here is lined with dozens and dozens of towering apartment buildings. The beautiful coast line and wonderful climate of the Gold Coast make it a favourite destination for vacationers, retirees and increasingly larger numbers of permanent “working” residents. And thus the building boom continues. We remembered the tall buildings at Surfers from our previous visits but the building density has certainly increased since we were last here in 1994. The most impressive of these new buildings is the Q1 tower, the world's tallest residential building. I can't recall exactly but it seems to me it is about 90 storeys tall. There is an observation deck at floor 77 and on Monday, we took the exhorbitantly-priced elevator ride - $17.50 each for the 43 second ascent! - to the lookout. (We have since found that many tourist attractions are very expensive here.) And what a magnificent view there was! A panoramic vista spread in all directions: the blue Pacific to the east (next stop Peru where we had been a few weeks before), the beach with its border of white waves dazzling in the bright sun, the Gold Coast urban areas to the north and south, and the dark green hills of the rain forest and tablelands to the west.
On Sunday Mike drove us to a nearby camping supply store to look for a new tent. We had quickly decided that our two-man pup tent would be too small for any lengthy habitation, so we went in search of something larger. At the store we met a young bloke named Toby (the tent guy!) who, as it turned out, was very familiar with Western Canada. He had spent a couple of years in BC and had in fact married a young woman from Kelowna (who we met as she also worked at the store). Toby told us they were planning to relocate to Canada in a year or so and he couldn't wait to get back to some real seasons and some hockey! (He apparently still followed the NHL and was able to update us on the playoff status of the Flames and “his team” Vancouver.) Anyway, after a lot of chat about Canada, tenting, and what to see in Aussie, we got around to looking at tents and finally picked out a larger (nominally 6 person) tent. We also bought a queen size air mattress and the essential accessory – a pump that is powered by the cigarette lighter in the van. We have since used the tent and mattress several times and despite taking an hour or so to get set up and to take down, we are much happier with the larger gear.
On the holiday Monday, Mike again got out his older model Jaguar and we headed off for a tour of the rain forest area to the west to an area near Spring Brook. We had a nice walk through the forest along the base of a cliff which passed by a number of waterfalls and a couple of spectacular lookout points where we had awesome views of the surrounding hills.
We had decided to give our new camping gear a “shakedown” so on Wednesday we headed off southward following a route off the main highway which took us along a winding road through the thick foliage of the coastal rain forest. The forest here is different from what we had recently seen in Central America. The trees seems to be taller and the foliage is thick with many varieties of palms, vines, eucalyptus,white gum trees and dozens of other kinds of trees and shrubs. All very impressive. We drove south for about a 100kms and eventually made our way back to a campground on the coast where we set up our new tent for a two-night stay.
Wednesday morning, we set off inland again about 30 kms to Mount Warning. We had been told about this attraction by a number of people and were looking forward to doing the climb up to its summit at about 3500 ft. above sea level. Mount Warning is thus named because it is the first point of land visible from the seas off Queensland's coast and was a “warning” to ships that they were approaching land. Today it is best known as the first point in Australia that the rays of a new day strike the mainland. Thr Tweed Vallley through which we drove is extremely pretty with gently rolling farmland, very lush and green, and the wide, slow-moving river.
Luckily it is possible to drive to a point about half way up the mountain and it was there that we set off through the thick jungle up an initially well laid out path which became narrower and rougher the further we climbed. The day was muggy and warm and we were soon sweating from the humid conditions and challenging climb. After nearly two hours we approached the summit but were a bit taken aback to see that the last 500 metres were up a very steep rockfall where climbers had to work their way along a chain anchored in the rock face. We started up but after a few metres we stopped, thinking it may be more of a challenge than we wanted, especially considering Sue's tendency to suffer vertigo. Luckily (as it turned out) two young Aussie fellows came up behind us and encouraged us to “give it a go” as they said the climb was really not that bad and certainly worth the effort. So we decided to carry on and slowly made our way up to the top, progressing slowly and we great caution as any fall would have been very serious if not deadly. But we reached the top without mishap and again were rewarded with a wonderful 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. We could even faintly see the Q1 tower on the coast many kilometres to the North East. After eating our lunch we carefully descended the rock face and made our way down the mountain path. It had been a great trek through the beautiful forest and we had to agree with everyone who had told us we would really enjoy the experience.
Friday we returned to the Gold Coast early in the morning and made our way to the train station near Mike and Cheryl's. We hopped aboard the commuter for the one hour trip into Brisbane where we spent the afternoon walking through the area that had been redeveloped following the World Exposition held in Brisbane in 1988. The old waterfront area had been turned into a beautiful area of modern apartment buildings, restaurants, pathways, and, most impressively, a large pool area surrounded by a real sand beach right in the middle of the city where people can come for a swim or sunbathing in the midst of the busy business district. We also visited the very impressive Brisbane Museum where we spent a couple of hours touring the fascinating exhibits about Australian culture and the animal and plant life of Australia and its surrounding seas.
We spent Friday through Sunday nights with Mike and Cheryl again. On Saturday we went out to lunch at a restaurant at an upscale marina development in a place called Sanctuary Cove. (Lunches out seem to be a key part of the social scene here!) I had grilled Barramundi, the local freshwater fish specialty, while Sue chose the Moreton Bay Bugs, small lobster-like creatures that we remembered having when we were travelling this coast in 1978. We recalled buying these delicious cray fish for a dollar each in those days, but of course now a couple of bugs with chips was $19 at the restaurant. Sunday was Mother's Day and we had all been invited to a friend's of Cheryl's for “lunch” which in true Aussie style was more of a party with lots of Australian wine flowing. There was a large gathering of people and it was nice to meet and chat with all of them.
Monday we said our good-byes to Cheryl and Mike as they headed off to work, as we were leaving that morning to head northward towards Cairns. We would be seeing them again before too long as they had a week booked in Palm Cove, a beach resort just a few kms north of Cairns. So, with our van loaded with all our possessions, we set off to join the Pacific Highway northward for our 2000 km drive to Cairns.
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