July 26, 2007

The last day in Sydney... so we decided to do something that would keep us occupied all day - the zoo! We took the ferry over to Taranga Zoo, which was a nice ride through the Sydney harbor in the opposite direction that we have been going in. When you get off the ferry you get to jump on the sky-car that takes you up the hill, over the zoo, and drops you off at the top of the hill. It was neat! This zoo is supposed to have one of the best views of any zoo - and it does! It overlooks the Sydney harbor including the Opera House and the Bridge. We spent the whole day walking around the zoo - it's huge! And very well designed so that you can wander through the zoo without running into the same thing twice. We saw birds and Australian animals, Asian animals, and African animals. There were lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) and giraffes and elephants and all sorts of other animals. One of the giraffes was blind, though the zookeeper said he did just fine since he knew the enclosure pretty well. We also saw a couple of the shows that the zookeepers put on. One was a seal and sea lion show. It was very well done, with very subtle signals for the animals so that it really looked like they knew what the trainers were saying. They would do things like start talking about the anatomy of the flippers and the sea lion would raise its flipper and wave at the audience. They were also big on making sure that they ended with a "what can you do to help these animals in the wild" speech. The other show we saw was a "freeflight" bird show. This included doves, hawks, a couple eagles, cockatoos and owls. They flew low over the audience while someone talked about them, and a couple were trained to do things like pick up a coin from someone in the audience or land on an audience member's outstretched hand. This was done in an outdoor auditorium that opened out over the harbor for a spectacular backdrop. The whole day was a lot of fun! Tonight: packing.

July 25, 2007

Today: wine-tasting! We booked with a tour group of wineries in Hunter Valley (about an hour out of Sydney), but got a phone call last night that we were the only ones and thus, they had to cancel the tour. However, at about 7am we got another phone call offering to book us with a different group - we happily accepted!
So an hour later we got on a bus with about 10 other people and headed out of Sydney. On the way to Hunter Valley they showed us a video about wine making and wine tasting, and at about 11 (after a stop for gas and food) we arrived at the first boutique winery. A boutique winery doesn't sell its wine to stores, and definitely doesn't sell over seas. Instead they sell to their members and through the "cellar door" - or to people who show up. Our first winery for the day was Iron Gate. We all lined up along the counter with glasses in front of us and began our tasting experience. The woman there was very good about explaining the appropriate way to taste wines and get the full experience of the taste. She also showed us the spittoons that we could dump the rest of our wine into if we didn't feel like finishing it (and promised she wouldn't be offended). One should start with white wine and move to red, then finish with dessert wines. One should also hold the glass by the stem so as not to warm the wine (and by the way "room temperature" that red wine is supposed to be at is actually lower than most of our rooms' temperature - so it is supposed to be chilled a little bit before being served). And it's completely ok to cover the glass with your hand and shake the glass of wine to aerate the wine to bring out its flavor. So we tasted a few whites and a few reds and a couple of dessert wines. The white wine that is signature for Hunter Valley is a Semillon, which is one of the few whites that will age well - it becomes buttery and smooth after a few years. This particular winery offered one of the oldest of these wines that is sold at the cellar door. Iron Gate is also one of the few wineries that processes the wine on site from the grapes it grows. Many of the vineyards send their grapes to larger wineries for processing and bottling.
The next winery was one of those larger wineries. It also gets grapes from various places to make its own wine, which it sells to stores and over seas. We tasted wines here as well - many of the same wines, as certain grapes grow well in this valley. But there was also an interesting raspberry wine, which I don't think I could drink, but would have been great drizzled over ice cream or with chocolate.
Then it was on to lunch - which was delicious sandwiches of all sorts and some hot tea for me (though today was one of the nicest weather days yet!). And then we wandered through a couple of interesting little shops - a chocolate shop and a cheese store (to go with the wine), a couple of places that did flavored vinegars and olive oils, and various cooking equipment - it was basically a collection of stores for people who love food and cooking! We also walked through a bit of a vineyard and tried wines at another winery. It's winter here, so the fines are all in hibernation and they are in the process of trimming all the vines waaaay down so they will regrow in the spring. It was a very pleasant mid-day experience!
For the afternoon we first stopped at the Smelly Cheese Shop and tried some local cheeses and some imported cheeses... all smelly of course. Delicious! There were some really nice blue cheeses and some marinated fetta that was great. And we went to one final winery - probably the best of the day, but possibly just because we had all been drinking wine all day. But it was a neat winery. Each of their wines was named after a family member who had passed away, as it was a family business. And the woman who talked us through those wines was very funny. On the ride home we watched "Little Miss Sunshine" - which was a slightly surreal thing to do on a bus in Australia on your way back from a day of wine tasting.

July 24, 2007

Boats! Today was marine day. After a wonderful return to granola, yogurt, and poached fruits for breakfast, we got on the ferry to the Maritime Museum. Not to go back to the indoor displays, but to see the four ships that we hadn’t had time for the last time we went. It turns out that it was good that we didn’t try to squeeze them in the morning before we left the city last week, as a thorough exploration took us just about all day. First we went to a replica of the Endevour. This was the ship that Captain James Cook was sailing when he discovered Sydney and founded the first English colony here. The main purpose of the this trip was, outwardly at least, a chance for scientists to observe the transit of Venus over the sun. This is an astronomical event that only happens once in a lifetime or so, so they chartered a sail to the southern seas where it could best be seen. The hope was that measurements from this observation, along with other ones from throughout the world would allow an accurate calculation of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. On the ship was, therefore, a large number of scientists in addition to the captain and the normal amount of crew. We got to walk around the deck, through the galley and the eating quarters (where the sailors strung their hammocks and slept, and then into the very short officers quarters. All but Captain Cooks officers quarters were not tall enough to stand in. This is because they had to add extra rooms for the scientists. One interesting fact: There was a large wooden nail from the original Endevour that was found in the shipwreck (intentionally sunk off Rhode Island to try to block the harbor), which was then sent to outer-space on the Space Shuttle Endevour, before being placed in the replica Endevour that we walked on today.
Next we explored the Battleship Vampire, one of the last large navy battleships used by the Australian Navy. It was retired in the 1970s after having been used as a teaching vessel for a number of years. This particular ship came with audio guides that played interesting commentary on a lot of the rooms. Some thing we saw: Officers and seamen’s mess and quarters, the various heads (designed to discourage spending time in them), the laundry room, and the working rooms. The room where the shells were loaded into the guns were impressive, as were the control rooms with all their buttons and dials.
From there we moved on to the much, much smaller submarine. Rob could barely stand up at all in the submarine, and even I could barely turn around in the hallways. I now understand why they say people on submarines are vigorously screened prior to the assignments! But it was neat to see just how compact the use of space was. In every space possible there were dials and knobs. And where there was room between these, there were cabinets for storage. Very efficient use of space.
For lunch we went back to the same food court that we had eaten in last time we were at the Maritime Museum, but ate different cuisines. Still quite good. And then, on to the final ship. We weren’t expecting to see a whole lot on this ship, since it was at a dock behind the museum and not part of their prominent displays. We were happily wrong! We had a very enthusiastic guide who had been involved in the restoration of this steel-hulled barque. He also sailed the barque on the several occasions a year that the ship still took to sea. This ship had made 23 passes around Cape Horn, and spent its whole life carrying cargo. When it became obsolete, it was left to rot in a mudflat. It was rescued in the 1980s, and after over 10 years of restoration work and rebuilding, it mostly stays in the Sydney Harbor. It operates as a non-profit group that does activities in order to get the money to maintain the ship. It was a beautiful ship, with a truly spectacular officers area.
We were going to try to check out the “historic” amusement park – Luna Park, but it appeared to be closed, either due to the day of the week or the season. Instead, we walked over to the Opera House and picked up tickets to see a show! We ran home to change into more theater appropriate clothing, had a little snack and a beer, and then walked back over to the Opera House to see Othello. It was amazing! Othello is not a play that I was familiar with. The actors were amazing, especially Iago, and we had front row center seats, so we could see all the details of their action. The sets were very minimalist and very very well used. One of the unique things they used were several giant steel drums that acted as either tables or noise makers. A wonderful performance: Bravo!

July 23, 2007

Today was our last day in Cairns, and our flight didn’t leave until early evening. This meant we had essentially another full day, but with not quite enough time to do a full daytrip anywhere (not that there was anywhere we have missed on the list of big destinations). Our plan was to go see a couple of the small Cairns museums and maybe do a little shopping. First stop was the Cairns Art Gallery – closed for display modifications. This was our second failure at getting into the gallery. Ah well. Next we went to The Cairns Museum, which was a small museum completely full of displays that was put together by the Cairns historical society. It was a wonderful museum for the history dork in everyone, with displays that ranged from mining history to dentistry to teaching to telegraphs to aboriginal culture. It was also jam-packed into the little space and almost overwhelming for that fact. But still, very interesting. We had a late lunch at the Sushi Train restaurant that we had tried before, this time while they were actively making sushi. We had some very good fresh seafood and some interesting combinations and overall a great time and good meal. But then we had three hours still until we needed to go to the airport. So we wandered around and did some shopping. We thought about going to the “wildlife dome” in the one casino in Cairns, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth $20 each to see what we were sure would be a smaller and less impressive version of the wildlife places we had already seen. So we walked around and strolled along the waterfront and got a late-afternoon-coffee, and headed to the airport late in the afternoon. We got back into Sydney at about 10:30 and checked back into the hotel for a good sleep.

July 22, 2007

The Great Barrier Reef! It started out a somewhat gray morning, but was sunny by the time we got on the boat. Looking for a smaller group of people, we opted for a catamaran sail boat, rather than one of the really big fast boats. The trip out took about 2 hours to get to the reef. On the way there, Rob took the safety class to do an introductory dive, and I sat out on the deck and took a look around. When the safety class was over, Rob came out and joined me. And then the best part of the trip: we saw a humpback whale leap entirely out of the water! We had been told that there were whales in the area, so we were idly scanning the water. I saw a spray that I thought might have been a blow-hole spray, so we were both looking around attentively when Rob saw the head of a whale come up and crash back into the water. When I turned around to look, I caught the splash – so of course we both kept looking right there and in less than a minute, another whale emerged from the water. The whale arched all the way up in the air and was completely airborne before getting back into the water. The captain of the boat later told us that to see a humpback whale breach that far was a very rare thing.
By the time we got to the reef, the wind had picked up a good bit. Rob was in the first diving group, so he was in the water straight away. The rest of us on the boat took a smaller boat in to the tiny island beach that we had anchored near, Michaelmas Island. This island is also a bird sanctuary, so there was only a small portion of the beach we were allowed to go on. The birds were hovering in the strong wind, or huddled together. There were also several huddled groups of chicks of one of the birds, all fuzzy and huddled in the shelter of the few grassy hills.
I, along with everyone else on the boat, had taken their advice and gotten a wetsuit to wear while snorkeling. It was so cold in the wind that the water soon looked inviting, even though it was also cold. So in I got and started to snorkel. There was an amazing variety of corals in just the first five minutes I was under water, and a number of bright fish I had never seen before. There appeared to be three or four types of parrot fish and lots of schooling fish. There were also giant clams all over the place. Unfortunately, the area that began to have the best views of the reef I was snorkeling on started about where the protection from the current that the small island provided ended. I kept feeling like I would run into the coral, so eventually I headed back to the shore. Rob was done diving by then, so we both got back in to try snorkeling in a different direction. We quickly determined that we were both too cold and that it was time to head back for lunch.
Lunch on the boat was a lovely buffet and happily isolated from the wind. After lunch they offered the opportunity to get back in the water for a second dive (for those who did a first), more snorkeling, or back to the beach. As I think I had finally regained feeling in my toes, I opted to take a little nap instead. So did a lot of people. We did go back outside to watch them feed the fishes with scraps. A small swarm of large fishes leapt and fought to get the food. Pretty neat!
The way back into Sydney Harbor was much rougher than the ride out. We had been warned that the weather meant that the ride would be rough. On the way out there were certainly large swells, but the boat cut through them nicely and I didn’t think it qualified as “rough.” But on the way back in we were going against the waves and they crashed over 2/3 of the boat, even managing to break a small walkway (which we had all been told to stay off of for the return trip). Most impressive!
After good long showers, we went out for a lovely dinner. We decided to have a really nice dinner and get some of the things that we wouldn’t be able to eat again any time soon. So I had the local reef fish, Baramundi, which was an interesting white fish. I think a little more flavorful than cod. It was quite good and came with a grilled “Bay Bug.” Turns out that Bay Bugs are somewhere between a delicate lobster and an overgrown prawn. Delicious! Rob had a Japanese steak, which he said was delicious.

July 21, 2007

Today I managed to convince Rob that we should go to Mossman Gorge. Shortly after arriving, he agreed that it was a good idea. Since there’s not much written in any of the guide books about it, other than that you should see it, we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves in for. And when we got up before 6:00am to catch an early bus to Port Douglass, then catch another bus to Mossman Gorge, Rob was looking sort of skeptical. But it was beautiful! And once again, we got there before the crowds (though we certainly weren’t alone) when we arrived at Mossman at about 9:30. First we walked down to the “swimming hole.” This was a beautiful beach portion of the river that runs through Mossman Gorge, which would be lovely to swim in if it were a little warmer. The water was crystal clear and there were beautifully rounded boulders all around. I waded in up to my knees, but decided a swim was a bit much. From there we followed the trail along to a suspension bridge over the same river. We had moments of speculation as to how such large boulders ended up strewn throughout the riverbed. Either glacier or a much more raging river, we decided. Then we began the portion of the walk that was not on a paved path, but still a very distinct path over the scattered tree roots. We walked up a division between two rivers feeding into the Mossman Gorge river, then through a circuit in the rainforest. On this trip we saw enormous basket ferns, ancient trees with flying buttress-style roots, and very old strangler figs. Strangler figs don’t literally strangle the trees they grow around, but use all the available resources themselves so that eventually the center trees can’t survive. The result is a twisting, fascinating growth. It was an absolutely awe-inspiring walk that took us about three times longer than we were told it would, mostly because we stopped to gawk at everything.
From Mossman, we returned to Port Douglass to have lunch and do some wandering and shopping. We ate at a place called “Mango Jam” which had dancing mango logos. I had a delicious pizza and Rob had a lamb wrap – both excellent. Then for an afternoon we hoped would reveal some unique shopping. Unfortunately, there were only one or two shops that we couldn’t have found in Sydney or Cairns. We still had a good time wandering, but opted for an earlier bus back than we had scheduled. This meant that we got home in time to watch most of the rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australia Wallabies. However, since Rob is a big fan of the All Blacks, we decided it was better to watch this match in our room. A good match, with the All-Blacks as the final winners. For dinner, we found a “sushi train” place, which we realized shortly after we sat down, was about to close. So we really just had appetizers and agreed to go back for lunch when they would be open.

July 20, 2007

Today was somewhat of a “take care of things” day, where I spent some time on the internet this morning, Rob spent some time working on a fire department policy, and we both did laundry this afternoon. That meant it was a low-key day, which was sort of nice. (Also, we found out that the night before is waaay too late to book a trip to the Great Barrier Reef – so we’ll do that on Sunday.) We decided first that we’d get some breakfast and try to see a few museums. Unfortunately, we found out that today is a public holiday (fair day) for the Cairns Fair, which means that all the museums and a number of shops were closed! It also meant that there was a 15% surcharge at all restaurants (to make sure employees come to work, I guess). So we wandered around this morning and did some window shopping and booked a trip for the afternoon.
At about 1:00 we got on a medium sized motor boat and headed into the mangrove estuary for a look around. The guided tour was very informative of the history of the marina (from shipping to ship-building) as well as of the ecology of the mangroves. Apparently Australia discovered that their previous policy of destroying mangroves for “land” underneath it and to get rid of mosquitos and crocodiles was a bad plan. Now the mangroves are protected for their role in preventing farm run-off, protecting the Great Barrier Reef, providing nurseries to the fish and other sealife, and for their role as a safe-haven for boats during cyclones (which is a hurricane that spins in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere). Good for them! The cruise up the rivers through the mangroves was very peaceful. Sadly, we did not get to see any of the 30ish crocs that are still wild in this area. The crocs are left alone as long as they leave people alone. If one of them attacks or “makes a nuisance of itself” it is caught and sent to the crocodile farm – our next stop. Here, there were a number of enclosures where the breeding crocodiles lived. The small van that we were in took us around to a few spots where we could see the crocs very up-close, and the guide told us a bit about them. These crocs lay eggs, which are then collected and incubated to make mostly males (because they grow bigger faster) and then grown to an appropriate size to be used in the fashion industry. A nice thing to know is that every part of the croc except the eyes are used when they are killed for their skin: much of the meat is eaten here, and lots of the organs and other odd bits are used in Asian cuisine. Also, they are only killed to order, so there are a few pens full of crocs that became too old to be used a few years ago when there was a decline in people’s interest in travel and in exotic hand-bags thanks to the SARS epidemic. Weird. In Australia, it is illegal to sell or own any item made of crocodile skin that does not have a governmental ID stating that it is from farm-raised crocs, not caught in the wild.
For the rest of the day we did laundry and read and lounged, then got dinner on the Esplanade. On our way to dinner we saw a large group of people doing fire-juggling on the small piece of beach. They were quite good, and did some fire-juggling that I hadn’t seen before – like a hula hoop and a jump-rope that were on fire.

July 19, 2007

Today we saw the rainforest! Having heard such wonderful things about it, we decided to sign up for a package to and from the rainforest village via train and skyrail. Good choice! First thing this morning we were picked up at our hotel and taken to the train station. The train followed the old train tracks that had been placed there by miners, with all of the tunnels dug by hand and all the bridges held together with rivets. There were beautiful views the entire way. It was funny, however, that we were told where all the perfect photo-ops were. The train made one stop on the way up to look over Barron Gorge Falls. The falls are naturally gushing, but thanks to the dam further upstream it is not as fast. It was still very beautiful. The falls had many levels to them, with pools and ponds in the rocks along the way down. The damn also provides hydroelectric power to Cairns.
We arrived at Karunda around 10:00. This is the “village in the rainforest” and is entirely set up for tourists. We signed up for a package that gave us entrance into the three wildlife areas. First we went to Bird World. This was basically one very large room with trees and water and many many birds flying around. For $2, you could get a bag of birdseed and peanuts and almonds to feed the birds with. A gimmick, but so cool! We walked around once first, which was nice because it was early enough that there were only one or two other people, so it was very quiet. There were an amazing selection of different sorts of parrots, many pigeon and dove varieties, as well as water birds, finches, and humming birds. We decided after one pass through the bird room to take out the seeds and feed some birds. The parrots were the only birds who were really interested in being fed, but they were a lot of fun! Rob and I both got little yellow and green parrots to land on our hands and eat, and Rob was surprised by a large red Macaw that landed on his shoulder. It was a very picky bird who only wanted almonds, and when offered anything else, would pick it up and throw it on the ground.

Next stop was the Koala Gardens. There was one itchy koala who kept stretching out to scratch, several sleepy koalas, and a mom and baby. Very cute. Apparently, their inactivity is due to a very slow metabolism that is adaptive to their low nutrient diet. And how could we pass up the opportunity to cuddle a koala? The koala they let us hold (for a small fee) was named Hogan, and was very interested in going back to sleep. He was also soft, though not as soft as the kangaroos that we were able to feed next. Only one of the wallabies was hungry, probably since people had been feeding them all day, but the kangaroos and wallabies were all lounging and completely ok with being petted. Except for the one wallaby who had a joey in her pouch – she stayed far away from everyone. She also kept her joey tucked in, but you could clearly see little feet kicking around in the pouch and occasionally caught a glimpse of ears or feet over the edge of her pouch.
We decided to see the last of the three wildlife experience areas before we got lunch and headed next into the Butterfly Sanctuary. This was another large enclosed room with plants and water and trails to walk through the room full of butterflies. It was pretty neat, and there are some beautifully colored butterflies here. There were also terrariums with caterpillars of each of the types of butterflies we had seen in the room, some with cocoons. Many of the butterflies here apparently have very spiney caterpillars.
We got lunch at the Trading Outpost, which was decent food if confusing. The people behind the counter were very busy and discombobulated over the vouchers that the tour groups had given people. After lunch we spent about an hour wandering through some more shops (of which there were many) and doing a little bit of shopping (or “retail therapy”). We had passed through some of the more interesting and unique crafts earlier in the day. Then we decided to do a short “jungle walk” before catching the skyrail back. However, we picked the wrong trail and ended up much farther away from the village than planned. This meant a very quick walk up the main road into the village. Turns out that there is quite the little residential area around the village – unexpected! We walked past a number of houses, the elementary school, and the Seventh Day Adventist Church. We made it back in time to catch the Skyrail back over the rainforest. It was a truly spectacular ride! There were moments when we skimmed the top of the trees, and other times when we were soaring above them. The glass all around the cart meant that we had 360 degree beautiful views of the mountain ranges. We also had clear views of the many epiphytes growing on a variety of trees. There were sounds of birds, but otherwise it was very quiet. There were two stops on the way. One was a view from the other side of Barron’s Gorge. The other was a small boardwalk with information about the trees nearby. The whole ride was spectacular! Tomorrow, perhaps we’ll go to the Great Barrier Reef.

July 18, 2007

A very leisurely first day in Cairns, we spent the morning lounging about and had a late breakfast. Apparently baked beans are a fairly standard item to a lot of Australian breakfasts, and we finally tried some today (along with our eggs, toast, etc). They were quite good baked beans: heavier on the tomato sauce than American baked beans, and a little less sweet. After breakfast we walked around a bit and got Rob a bathing suit. Then we went back to the hotel thinking that we would have a swim in the pool. We had not realized that the wind had picked up and that the pool was still in the shade. Too cold for swimming, we read by the pool for a bit instead. Then, to continue the leisurely day, we wandered down the waterfront to find a late lunch, then wandered around Cairns some more. We walked past the “man made beach” called the Lagoon – a public swimming pool in the middle of the waterside park, with a stretch of sand along it. It’s a very popular spot. Then we wandered to a pretty empty mall at the end of the Esplanade, where we booked a trip into the rainforest for tomorrow.
For the late afternoon we decided to go to the Cairns Show that we had read about in the morning paper. It happens once a year, and is a very big deal around here, though apparently not amongst tourists. The big events for this year were billed to be acrobats and fireworks and petting zoos. We got somewhat lost on our walk there and stopped in a very busy hostel to ask for directions. With a pause and a slightly quizzical look, the woman who worked at the hostel pointed us in the right direction, and we found it. She also gave us a map that included the fair grounds, which is outside the “downtown” found on most tourist maps. By the time we got there it was very clear that this was a thing that was very popular amongst local residents. It also emphasized that this is really a blue-collar working town, which just happened to have a tourist boom with the start of reef trips a few years ago. The place was a giant carnival with rides and carnival booths and cotton candy that wrapped around and around itself. There were also farm equipment displays, petting areas of ducklings and baby sheep, and a few craftsmen displays. We found the blacksmith just as he finished making a lizard for the crowd watching him. Eventually we found where the performers were, just in time to catch the very end of the acrobatics display. It wasn’t that impressive (and given it was the very end of the show) until they reminded the audience that the male of the pair of performers was 72 years old! Next we watched chainsaw competitions for a little while. There were speed and skill competitions, and I thought that it not only demonstrated skill, but also a great deal of trust in your chainsaw-wielding competitors. Yikes! And last we saw some very well trained horses perform coordinated routines with only a little direction from the rider on one of them. It was impressive! Next: back into the heart of the city, by a much more direct route, for dinner and then desert along the Esplanade.

July 17th, 2007

Today was our last day in Sydney (until we come back for a few days at the end of the trip). The first thing we did after breakfast was to check out of the hotel and leave them with our bags until it was time for us to leave. Then we headed down to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to Darling Harbor. On our first few visits, we were able to use student ID’s for discounts to places such as the Aquarium. However, since then we have been told that the only students permitted a discount are local students. Ah well. Since we were able to see our breath this morning, and later found out that today was one of the coldest days in Sydney in years, we opted for the inside of the ferry. It was still a great way to see the harbor. Our purpose of going to Darling Harbor was to see the Maritime Museum, which we had been admiring from across the bay several days ago. From outside you can see the three large ships that you can explore, so we knew we would be wanting to do that. But, once again considering the cold, we decided to do the inside portion of the museum first. It was fairly extensive and interesting. We saw lots about the life people lived on the various ships that brought people to Australia from schooners to liners. There were exhibits on navigation, on the famous captains that came to Australia, on immigration, and on various more modern maritime topics. One of the exhibits was about the sports that people use the ocean for – including sailing solo around the world, swimming, rowing, and surfing. Apparently the Australian long board was over 5 meters long and made of hollowed out wood – at least until some Australian surfers went to Hawaii and saw how much more maneuverable the shorter balsawood “long boards” were – within weeks, they were the board of choice in Australia. There was also a good bit on the Australian navy, and it looked like they were in the process of setting up a room on the American navy.
By the time we were done with the inside of the museum, we didn’t have time for both lunch and exploring the ships before we had to head back to get our luggage and go to the airport. So we opted for lunch, promising that we would return to see the ships in a week. For lunch we found a nearby food court, which was delicious! I had a smoked salmon sandwich with avocado and cream cheese, and Rob had a freshly prepared bowl of soup with noodles and dumplings and barbequed pork and vegetables. All this prompted the quick agreement that this was definitely the way to do fast food. The food court looked out over Darling Harbor and had a few of the Darling Harbor residents wandering through it. Apparently the sliding door was all the opportunity that a seagull and an ibis needed to get inside and stroll between tables.
We (just barely) caught the ferry back to Circular Quay, picked up our bags, and took the train to the airport. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the airport, we were at our gate. Very efficient. Three hours later, we arrived in Cairns. It was after dark when we got in, so I am looking forward to the morning to see the landscape around us. Our hotel is right on the water, with a balcony overlooking the Esplanade (walking path along the waterfront)! For dinner, we wandered into the “center of town” and had some really good Italian food.

July 16th, 2007

Today we knew we wanted to do the BridgeClimb. It is something that Max has been telling us about for two years, so it was a definite item on our agenda. But, given my dislike for cold – we decided to wait until afternoon, when things warmed up, to do the climb. This meant we had to find something else to do for the morning. We attempted to go to the Police and Law Enforcement Museum – but it is only open on weekends. Instead we strolled through the Botanical Gardens to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It is a very nicely done museum. It has collections of European and Australian artists from the 1700s to modern day, as well as select samples of Oriental art also from that time period. It’s also got a collection of Aboriginal art work (which we both agreed that we don’t know enough about to understand/appreciate particularly much). The temporary exhibit was the only thing that charged an entrance, and we decided we were pretty much art-museumed-out at that point, so passed on the walk-through of Islamic art. Perhaps if we find ourselves with a bunch of time on the return trip. We instead opted for a lovely lunch at the museum café, where we watched two parrots help themselves to the left-over cake on the table of two delighted women. Clearly these parrots figured out that they are cute enough that people will take their pictures rather than shoo them off.
We took a very leisurely stroll back around the water-front perimeter of the Botanical Gardens, which ends in the water-front perimeter of the Opera House. It was somewhat treacherous mid-day as there were probably hundreds of people jogging through the park, we think on their lunch break! On the way to the BridgeClimb, we also stopped in a wonderful little French Patisserie to get a pan au chocolat, just for old-times sake. Then we arrived at the BridgeClimb building. We signed up for a climb about half an hour after we arrived, which meant we sat around gazing at the wall of pictures of famous people who did the bridge climb – kinda neat.
The Climb itself was spectacular!! We started with a good deal of safety preparation – mostly to the effect of preventing things (and people) from falling. Pockets emptied into lockers with your bags and jackets, jumpsuits without pockets zipped up from the back, and all accessories such as hats and fleeces clipped on in several places. There was also a clip for people, attaching to our harness belts at one end, and with a wonderful piece of equipment that would run the cord along the trails for the length of the climb at the other end. We practiced moving around with the clip, got radios that didn’t have earpieces, and were on our way! (The headsets sat just in front of the ear and used vibrations against bone to transmit sound.)
The climb starts out with some “catwalks” over the base of the bridge as it begins to extend out, then up a bunch of ladders, and then out onto the top of the archway and up to the very peak. With spectacular views and interesting tid-bits the whole way, it’s well worth it. Some things we learned: The large concrete pillars at the base of the bridge do not support any weight, but were added because they didn’t think anyone would believe that the bridge would hold up otherwise; there are 6,000,000 rivets in the bridge – which was originally only held together with rivets, though there is some soldering now; the owner/inventor of the BridgeClimb had to fight the government for 9 years to finally get permission to set up his business; and the bridge overlooks a building that has been voted the worst eye-sore in the city, but cannot be taken down as it was build early enough in the 20th century to be considered a historic site. But what made this climb even more spectacular than it would have been anyway was that we managed to time it such that we were on our way down the bridge when the sun set! That meant we got to see the sun setting over the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney from on top of the bridge, which gave a spectacular view of the sun, the mountain silhouettes, and waterways winding to the west from the harbor. The whole thing was amazing! After the climb, we had a wonderful (somewhat surprisingly so) meal at a pub, and went home to pack up in preparation for leaving tomorrow.

July 15th, 2007

Today we managed to both sleep in until 7:00! Hurrah! And sadly, still too early for breakfast at “our” breakfast place. Since it’s Sunday, the place opens a bit later. Instead, we walked to a café that was along the market that was being set up again, and had breakfast there. After breakfast we went back to try to get things we had forgotten at the hotel. Rob got his sunglasses; I failed at retrieving the Sydney guide book that I had used as a camera stand last night and then left on the roof of our hotel. Hope the picture comes out at least. Then we attempted to walk through the market while it was less crowded. However, it was very very cold, and Rob suggested we do something inside for a bit while the sun warmed thing up. So we finally walked through the Rocks Discovery Museum, which was very interesting. It traced the history of the founding area of Sydney from the Aboriginal population that had occupied the area, through the British settlement and the various immigrants that came in until now. It had some interesting artifacts and some video footage of the tumultuous times that the area went through in the 20th century. At some point, it became a rallying point for the working class, as an area that had long housed working class people, there was a huge civil protest make sure it stayed that way rather than being replaced by skyscrapers for the wealthy.
After the museum visit, the sun was out and it was much warmer, so we went back to the market again and wandered through the stalls. There was some neat stuff there! Beautiful photographs, interesting original crafts, and plenty of jewelry. Still, we only bought a silly Australian Christmas ornament. Then we headed to the Rocks Square and had oriental food from a noodle bar. It was fully decent, though I doubt we’ll go back for the two more meals that will get us a fourth free meal.
After lunch we walked along the water and then wandered through a couple of galleries. We both especially liked a gallery with work by Nelson Mandela. It is part of a collection that has pieces all over the world of drawings he did in memory of his time in jail. One of the features is his handprint, which he did by accident in his studio. Someone else noticed that the center of the handprint looked like the continent of Africa, and printed a number of lithographs of the print.
Next stop: The Observatory. A neat building with some fun tools of the trade from the 1800s, but the highlight came later. We signed up for a 3-D show and tour. The show was a cute “teach kids about science and space” video that also included a talk though the planets of our solar system. The tour took us up to one of the observatory towers, where the guide rotated and opened the roof, then pointed the telescope at Venus and let everyone have a look. Even in the daylight we were able to see the crescent shape that was in the sky! Very cool!
For the late afternoon we headed back to the hotel for some lounging about, and then went out to dinner. We finally decided to eat at a German restaurant we kept passing that advertised nightly “oom-pa-pa” music. When we asked for a table inside they told us they could only seat us next to the band at a big table we’d have to share. Darn. We were seated right next to a group of four already drunk young Aussies who were clearly enjoying themselves. Then we ordered German beer and German food – Rob got sausages and mashed potatoes and sauerkraut and I got spanzle with cheese, which turned out to be much like macaroni and cheese. It was all quite good and heavy. Shortly after we sat down, the promised oom-pa-pa band came on. They were fun. They also did “traditional Bavarian” knee slapping dances, played cowbells, and a giant Swiss horn. Then after we had finished our dinner, they started pulling people up on stage. Between Rob and the four Aussies, I was clearly going on stage to play the cowbells – and then for a surprise Chicken Dance! (And of course, Rob videotaped it.) This meant revenge: and Rob got up to do the “traditional Bavarian” hat dance, which was followed by a surprise knee slapping dance. (And I videotaped that.) By the time neither of us could stop laughing, why not also enter the drinking contest – which I dramatically lost, and am going to blame on the fowl tasting non-alcoholic beer they were using. It was, all in all, a lot of fun.

July 14th, 2007

We really need to get this new time-zone thing down. Once again up too early, we had some time to kill before the breakfast place we like was open. It turned out to be a great time of day to wander through this area. On George Street, they were setting up tents for a street market that goes on Saturdays and Sundays. We walked through that for a bit, then cut uphill through the cobbled streets carved out of the sandstone rock that give the area its name. There were some wonderful views and interesting old buildings and terraces in this road. We only passed one person, and one little sweatered dog who was not interested in our company at all. When we wound our way back down through some of these terraces it was time for breakfast! Poor Rob didn’t realize that the frittata that looked so delicious had chunks of pumpkin in it, but other than that it was a delightful breakfast. Pumpkin seems to be a feature in cuisine here, either because it’s winter or because it’s a regional food. I’m game!
After breakfast and changing some money (sadly the US dollar has hit an 18 year low against the Australian dollar), we went down to Circular Quay to buy ferry tickets to the Aquarium. We tried to buy tickets that included entrance to the Aquarium and to Wildlife World, but through miscommunication, only got Wildlife World. It just meant a few dollars not saved on the combined ticket, not a big deal. The ferries are part of the Sydney public transportation, but early on a Saturday morning, they are not at all crowded and allow for beautiful views of the Sydney harbor on the way to your destination, which for us was right outside the Aquarium. We opted for the Aquarium first and had a delightful time! There was an energetic platypus, who was no more than a foot long and every bit as ridiculous as you would expect from photos. There were many fresh water fish, some very large. One tank/enclosure had little penguins, the smallest type of penguin, and the penguins indigenous to this area. They were adorable! And then there were the ocean displays. We watched seals play in a tank with water constantly pumped in from the Sydney harbor, and sharks and rays in a similar tank next door. The really neat thing about these tanks was that there were glass tubes that you could walk through to see the sea creatures swimming over and around you! One seal spent a lot of time sitting on top of the tube, much to everyone’s delight. When we entered the shark and ray tank tubes, there was a giant ray right over us, who was probably wider than I am tall! After these tanks, there were also tanks full of reef fish of all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes. A remarkable number of them are the same or very similar to those found in the Caribbean. This was also the place that Disney/Pixar was milking the Finding Nemo story with signs on several tanks saying “find Nemo’s friends here!” Cute.
And what better to do after a morning at the aquarium than to have fish and chips for lunch? Only doing so with a flock of seagulls anxiously awaiting scraps at your feet! But the fish and chips were good and the harbor was beautiful and sunny – so a good lunch all in all. And then back into animal world for a walk through Wildlife World. This was a well done middle-of-a-city zoo. There was a butterfly room, followed by terrariums of creepy-crawlies, then snakes and reptiles. There were nocturnal animals, who were a bit hard to find, possibly because people kept trying to take flash pictures of them. And then: several large enclosures of typically Australian animals. This included wallabies of several species and koalas. These wallabies were at the smaller end of the spectrum of kangaroo-like animals, and are fascinating to watch leap around. At some point I think we need to find out exactly what separates wallaby from kangaroo. The koalas were mostly sleeping, except for one who was eating and one who was patiently readjusting her baby who was nestled into her stomach.
We took the ferry back to Circular Quay and walked quickly through the street market outside our hotel, then decided we would return tomorrow morning when it wouldn’t be quite as crowded. After grabbing a delicious piece of sweet corn to nibble on, we went back to the room for a mid-afternoon nap – hoping that this would help with the readjustment to the time zone. We had a slightly later dinner (I had pumpkin soup – yum!), with a cup of coffee, and are well on our way to staying up later than 10:00!

July 13th, 2007

Today we woke up very early. Both of us were awake at around 4:30am. I was able to go back to sleep, but Rob gave up and has been awake since 5:00am. Yikes! Our goal for tonight is to make it until about 11:00pm before we go to bed – in hopes of waking at a much more reasonable hour. As a result of our early rise, we got to breakfast (just downstairs at a lovely little café) earlier than most places are open. This means that we opted for a good walk prior to seeing any museums today. One of our main objectives for the day was to find a couple more warm items. We read the predicted temperatures, which were highs of mid-70’s, lows in the 50’s, and did not take any wind into consideration. As such I have been cold. So we found a listing for a mall with large outlet stores where we might be able to find some relatively inexpensive jackets/windbreakers, and decided that we should head there at some point today. It happened that this mall was towards an end of a walking tour that we found in the Lonely Planet Sydney guide, so we decided to follow that roughly on our way to the mall. This meant that we started with a walk towards and through the Botanical Gardens. It turns out that this was a phenomenal choice of things to do. It was quiet, peaceful, and fascinating to wander through the grounds of the gardens. We encountered a number of birds we found to be exotic (and later found out that they are very common here), including cockatoos and ibises that were being fed by tourists and would come right up to you if you gave them the chance. One of the cockatoos even came up and tugged on Rob’s sweatshirt! There were also bright red-faced water hens, and a number of different types of ducks. We walked through the herb garden, which was interesting, but appears to be in the wrong season as many of the plants didn’t look so well (and it is winter here). Then we spotted bats! There were trees full of these bats: sleeping, crawling, stretching, and occasionally flying. They were huge bats and we found out that they are grey-headed flying foxes. A man who worked in the gardens told us that they are native to the park, but have managed to destroy a number of trees in their nesting. He told us that they eat entirely flowers and fruits, and that at night they can be seen soaring through Sydney. We then joined the beginning of a walking tour/talk by a garden volunteer. His specialty was the history of the site. Apparently the Botanical Gardens are on the site of the original food gardens for the first colony in Sydney. Unfortunately, the ground here is make of sandstone and not very fertile. This means that the first round of crops failed dramatically. Since then, enough nutrients have been added that the gardens are very lush. This guide was very interesting, but moved very slowly, so we moved on to continue the tour on our own after about half an hour.
After the gardens, we started walking towards the mall that we were looking for. I was pretty hungry by the time we started this part of the walk, so when we saw signs for a food court, we followed them. We both ended up having food from a Japanese/Korean place, but had options ranging from burgers to Indian to Thai. And the food was pretty good! As we continued our walk, we moved away from the trendy shops into the areas that boasted a number of “Adult Book Exchanges,” which I thought was a bit odd, and through Chinatown. When we found the mall and the outlet floor within the mall, we were somewhat overwhelmed. A lot of the stores were still ridiculously expensive. For example, the Ralph Lauren shop was selling sweaters for over $1,000! Thankfully, I did find a coat that would break the wind for me and Rob found another sweater to wear, both for significantly less than the Ralph Lauren sweaters. After a cup of tea and coffee, we decided to see the new Harry Potter as a good way to stay off our feet for a bit of time. Great movie! We walked back to the hotel afterwards, passing through another bay that contains the Aquarium. Dinner tonight was an Italian restaurant near the hotel (Zia Pizza), followed by a beer in the “first pub in Australia,” where we watched a bit of the rugby game and a bit of the Australia Cup football game. Also of interest, the vending machine in the womens bathroom of this bar contained not only tampons and condoms, but also “Australia’s Premier Pheromone Wipes” that were “Scientifically guaranteed to increase your sex appeal.” ???? And finally, an exhausted flop back into the hotel room.

July 12th, 2007

Arrived in Sydney this morning at about 8:30 local time. It is 14 hours later here than it is on the east coast of the US. Australian customs appeared to be very efficient, but leaving the customs area could use a bit more coordination. We finally just decided to jump in line where we were rather than squeeze through crowds to find the end of the line. Lots of other people were doing the same thing, so I didn’t feel too badly. We hopped into a taxi and headed for the hotel. We were able to check in and leave our bags, but our room was not ready yet. So we headed off in search of a good breakfast place. We’re staying at the same hotel that Rob’s mother and brother stayed in two years ago, so we have been told that there’s a great breakfast place very nearby. We wound up eating just behind the Circle Quay at an outdoor café. Breakfast was delicious – and also didn’t quite register exactly which meal we were eating. From there we wandered back towards the hotel via a park that looks across the water to the Sydney Opera House and up to the Sydney Bridge. The sky is so crisply blue and the sunshine so bright, that everything looks brilliant. Having seen a couple of workers cleaning a public phone, perhaps it really is as brilliantly clean.
We decided to kill a little more time by wandering through the Rocks, the first settled area of Sydney. The tiny cobbled streets were delightful and there were a number of shops and restaurants. When we haven’t just gotten off an airplane, we will return to look at The Rocks Museum to learn a bit more about the area. This is easy, as our hotel is less than a block from this historical area.
At about 11:00 we were able to get into our hotel room and promptly lay down for a good 4 hour nap… much needed as in our minds, it was now about 1am. Oh jetlag. We got up again mid-afternoon and headed out to wander around some of the sites. The Rocks Museum was about to close for the day, so we went down to the waterfront, walked through the park there and then through the Circular Quay station. There are many places to find a quick bite to eat there. This is also a leaving place for ferries and trains. From there, we walked further along the water to the Sydney Opera House. I was surprised to find out that all the famous arches are not connected… there are several separate buildings at the top of one larger base. It also appears that there are many different performance areas. There is room for music, for dance, and for drama. Maybe we’ll try to see something there.
Having woken up with a stomach upset from random times and types of food over the last two days, I decided I would rather skip the adventurous new food for dinner, and we had pizza. It was very good pizza – mine had avocado on it and Rob got a four-cheese pizza with blue cheese. Then we went back to the hotel to look at our wedding photos, which are online! Lovely!! And finally – back up to the room and an early bedtime.

July 11th, 2007

Lost to time-travel over the dateline.

July 10th, 2007

Today we began our honeymoon! And also, our about 36 hour trip to Australia. We started in Philly this morning, raced through the Chicago airport to make the connection in less than 10 minutes, and then got to LA where we have 9 hours. Rather than sitting around the airport for 9 hours, we decided to investigate what we could do via a cab ride in LA. I had been told to go to Venice Beach, but since we didn’t actually know where that was in relation to the airport, we first stopped in a bookstore at the airport and investigated. As it turns out, Venice Beach is relatively close to the airport. Probably about a 15-20 minute cab ride. We also bought a couple of Australia guidebooks as we have managed to lose the ones we have, and will need them for the next few weeks.
We got out of the cab pretty much right on the beach. The beach is very wide and somewhat windy. The sands are beautiful, but since we were in travel clothes we opted not to fill our shoes with said sand and instead looked at it and the Pacific Ocean beyond. We then walked along the stores that line Venice Beach. I think the whole area is Venice Beach. There was everything from cheap sunglasses (which Rob was thankful for) to people with signs saying that they need marijuana to t-shirt shops and ice-cream shops. There was a wild array of people wandering the street or seated on the grass watching. We decided to grab a cup of coffee and do some people watching. Shortly thereafter, a giant fire truck parked right in front of us. It was a very pretty truck – complete with wooden ladders on its sides. The fire truck was soon followed by an ambulance, into which they put someone who appeared to have wounded his hand, and both rolled slowly off down the pedestrian street. Somewhat surreal.
We asked for dining advice in the coffee shop and were told to head down to Washington Street and we would find a few nice restaurants. This was definitely true! And on the way there, we wandered along that same pedestrian walk through waves of different cultural experiences. The hippies, the hip-hop, and the hip. Towards Washington Street there were some really impressive beachside buildings with stone artwork and water fountains on their front. We found a lovely restaurant and had dinner sitting outside and watching the world go by. From there, we were also able to easily catch a taxi back to LAX. Still with 3 ½ hours to go before we leave, we found a couple of seats near an outlet (which turns out to not work very well), and are playing cards. Soon – crossing the Pacific!

February 4th, 2006

Today was the end of the trip. Sadly, we did not get to se one last bit of scenery or beach, as the people on the Wednesday to Wednesday trip had done. But then, we were farther from the airport. So after packing up the last of our stuff and saying good-byes and thank-yous to the crew, we headed to shore in Puerto Ayora. Janine and Rob had lost their printed tickets, so they went straight to the TAME office to get them reprinted, only a bit nervous. Erica and I took the ½ hour to finally attempt to buy souveniers for ourselves and to take home. Since it was early and not much was open, we went into the first shop we saw, were indecisive for about 20 minutes, then settled on a couple of t-shirts and such. We felt justified when we noticed that all the shops had the same items. From Puerto Ayora we took a taxi to the bus stop, then a bus to the Baltra Airport. We met Rob and Janine at the boat transfer to Baltra, since their tickets had taken a while to print so they had to take a taxi – they beat us there. In the airport, Daphnie got her passport back, and all five of us waited for the plane together. We said good-byes there, since Erica and I were the only ones going to Quito.
Once in Quito there was only a bit of confusion as apparently Zenith Travel had decide to book us a hotel for the night, even though we had a reservation at the hostel we had stayed in before. IT was sorted out and we checked into Posada del Maple before dark, switched our flights to return to Miami tomorrow rather than Sunday, and went out for a bit to check email and get dinner.
Both of us decided today that it was now time to go home. I realized I had the same feeling all of the other trips for the “one extra day” I was going to spend somewhere. Erica pointed out that it was just because there was only a day. If we had planned to spend a chunk of time in Quito (or wherever) it would be like starting another trip, and maybe feel less like we were ready to be home. A note for future travel, I suppose.

February 3rd, 2006

RABIDA
I woke up feeling somewhat sick this morning, which unfortunately ahs made most of today not particularly pleasant. But there were still good parts of the day. We started with a wet landing on a beach that seemed part dark sand, part dirt, populated by several sea lions. We walked from the beach up to a little hill and then along a cliff shore. Today was the first that John talked about “Darwin Finches” and suddenly everyone wanted to take pictures of them. Sadly, they are camera shy and no one succeeded. From there we walked to a pond that used to have Flamingos in it, and now has several sea lions instead.
The next two hours were spent on the beach. Erica, Janine, and I walked up the beach, but didn’t find much interesting. We all snorkeled from the beach, though, which was great. After the grumpy male sea lion had moved his barking down the shore a bit, we got in and swam along the rocks. This was the clearest day for snorkeling so far, and the fish and small growths along the rocks were quite pretty. I saw a bullet of a small penguin dive into the water, bob to the surface, and then disappear. There were also several sea lions that swam past us.

SANTA CRUZ – Cerro Dragon
While we were getting ready to go to shore, the “kid” in the crew (probably my age) pushed our panga driver into the water. Erica commented that it was the most she’d seen the driver smile since we’ve been here.
Once on the shore, with a somewhat wet driver, we walked for 1 ½ - 2 hours on trails from Cerro Dragon, a beach on Santa Cruz. There were a few land iguanas and 2 flamingos, but other than that, very little wild life. I was feeling sick again by the time we were halfway through the walk, so I didn’t enjoy it very much. When we went back to the boat I opted out of snorkeling, took a shower, and went to bed. Erica, Janine, and Rob said they got to “play” with a sea lion while they were snorkeling, though.
I got up after dinner and had a small piece of the apple cake that the cook baked for us. He was also very cute and very happy when a couple people asked to take pictures with him. Rob, Janine, Erica, and I stayed up for a few hours chatting. I declined to join in on the rum and beer, but it was a good deal of fun.

February 2nd, 2006

BARTOLOME
With no sailing last night, it was quiet all night. However, we got here after dark and could not see the landscape until this morning. We were anchored between Bartolome and Santiago, both much younger islands than any we’ve visited so far, and thus much more dramatic. First thing after breakfast we took a panga ride along the rocky shore of the island to look for penguins. We saw 3 of them, though only briefly. They are shy little creatures. Then, around an impressive jut of rocks, we landed to walk to the peak of Bartolome. The island is sculpted out of lava flows and slightly worn ash rocks with two beaches below. The main volcano that formed this and Santiago is on Santiago, with smaller ones all around. From the top of Bartolome was a spectacular view.
After coming down the stairs again, we went to the beaches. We landed on one, then walked to the other one to see the sharks that swim there. At any one time you could see at least six in the shallow water, though never close enough to make you nervous about your ankles in the surf. Then back to the other side to snorkel at the shark-free beach. There were more fish here than any of the other places, including starfish, and I saw a barracuda (I think).

SANTIAGO – Puerto Egas
The next four hours were spent sailing around Santiago to the landing point at the black-sand beach of Puerto Egas. Along the way, we passed many dramatic landscapes where you could see where lava had flown or where the island had been pushed in a buckle through the water. Landing on the beach we were greeted by sea lions, and some snorkelers. Just above the beach there was a game of soccer being played by the crews of the boats there. Apparently two brothers had tried to make an industry on the island years ago – and now what’s left is a couple of buildings, some paths, and a soccer field. We walked mostly along the rocky shore of the island, which was beautiful in itself. The combination of the lava flows and the sculpting of the ocean was striking. We also found the cutest sea lion pup yet – John said she looked to be about a week old, and she had tucked herself into a little rock crevice. We decided we were going to pretend that her mother was out eating some of the 11 kg/day that mother sea lions eat, rather than possibly having abandoned the pup because some tourist had touched it and changed her smell. There were also fur seals on the island – not actually seals, but another type of sea lion. They were smaller, with shorter snouts and larger eyes and ears. Some people saw Galapagos hawks, which apparently have a lek behavior – many males and one female occupy a territory.
This evening was a very rocky 3 hour sail so that we can have another quiet night.

February 1st, 2006

NORTH SEYMORE
This morning was a relatively late start – 7:00 breakfast – and then a walk on the island. There were, of course, sea lions at the landing, cute as ever! From there we walked around the island for about an hour and a half, mostly looking at the birds. Blue footed Boobies were dancing and whistling/honking and then ignoring each other. And lots and lots of Frigate Birds. It is in the midst of the 400 days of mating season, and then there will be two years off. As a result, there were many nests with fluffy chicks and quite a few white-headed juveniles. There were also showy males. When they were posing, their red ballooned chests could be seen from a great distance. When they weren’t showing off, they simply had red waddles of the uninflated skin. The iguanas on this island are decendants of ones that were saved from U.S. bomb testing on Baltra.

BALTRA
After a quick sail, we arrived in Baltra to send off the 5 people who were leaving and wait for the new passengers. In the mean time, Janine, Rob, Erica, and I asked to go to shore to buy bear because, as Rob put it yesterday “there’s an emergency on the boat – we’re out of beer!” We ended up having to stay on the island until 12:00, which meant sitting on the beach and getting a little sunburned. But the water was a great temperature.

BACAS
This afternoon, after we got five new passengers, we did a wet landing on Bacas to “look for flamingos.” Turned out there were 2 on the island – in separate ponds. But there were loads of turtles’ nests. Unfortunately, I knew a bit more about sea turtle’s nesting and navigation than John did, but he got most of it right and nothing blatantly wrong, just missed a few things. However, it was neat to see the nest immediately after seeing two pairs of mating turtle on the sail to Bacas. After that there was time on the beach. We all tried snorkeling, but mostly only briefly, as the water was quite cloudy. But Erica, Janine, and I just swam for a bit since the water was the warmest it’s been yet. Back on the boat we sailed for a rocky 3 hours before dinner, then chatted with the new passengers for a bit before most people headed to an early bed.

January 31st, 2006

SANTA FE
I once again woke up to seeing sea lions leaping through the water just outside our cabin, and the strange barking of the sea lions coming from all sides. After breakfast we headed to land, pulling the panga up to a stretch of beach full of sea lions. There were barking males, sleeping females, and playful pups. One pup came right up and sniffed at John’s feet and others’ knees. She also sat amongst a group, rolling her head to dry to look at everyone. Unfortunately, her eyes were somewhat glazed as if there were something wrong with them. From the beach we walked the rocky trail to the top of a hill where there were land iguanas. We looped around the trail a bit longer, then back down to the sea lion beach and onto the boat.
From the boat we quickly grabbed snorkel gear and got into the water. We saw fish, a couple of sea lions in the water, and a green turtle! He swam gracefully and slowly and let us follow along and get right next to him. At that point, I got cold, so after looking this 5 foot turtle in the eye, I got out.
During lunch while we were sailing, John called us all out to see the dolphins! They leapt and swam and played in front of the boat for at least 20 minutes!

NORTH PLAZA
About 2 hours of sailing later, we arrive at North Plaza, where several people did more snorkeling. It was cloudy and windy at that point, so Erica, Janine, and I declared it too cold to go swimming and stayed on the boat reading and napping.

SOUTH PLAZA
A short panga ride got us to this island, which again abounded in adorable sea lions. We all decided that we’d probably taken about half our pictures of sea lions. On this island, there were also land iguanas, marine iguanas, and (precisely) two hybrids, which apparently cannot reproduce themselves. There were also finches, gulls, “Tropic Birds” with beautiful tales, and more dead animals than we’ve seen anywhere else. Perhaps it was just that there was very little cover on the island to hide carcasses that we noticed them. One side of the island was cliffs, climbed by the “loser” male sea lions – the ones who didn’t win any female mates. The rest of the afternoon was spent sailing and reading, with a beautiful sunset and chit-chatting after dinner.

January 29th, 2006

FLOREANA
This morning started off grey and stayed that way all day. On our way to shore, we found a second meaning for “wet landing” when the skies opened up and started pouring. As we got to the lava cave we were heading for, however, the rain had let up. The lava cave was created when running lava solidified on the surface but continued to flow below, leaving this hollow cave/tunnel. The theory is that this means there are likely to be more scattered throughout the island. Inside the cave was quite high, and very dark. We descended almost straight down, the path straightened to a gradual slope inside. As we found our way with a few flashlights, there were several comments about who would be eaten by a monster if it were a movie. There was water at the end of the cave, but only a couple people ventured all the way to putting their feet in.
Next, on the way back to the beach, as it still was not raining, we stopped at the “post office” where sailor sued to leave letters home. Any sailors returning to the mainland were supposed to deliver them. Today the barrel is full of post cards from tourists and surrounded by signs announcing who has been there. Tourists are now the ones who are supposed to deliver the cards to near-by addresses when they go home. The beach itself was not exciting. We were going to snorkel, but there wasn’t much to see and the water was cold (at least, I found it cold). Erica and I wandered along the rocks for a bit, and when we got back were told we should have. Ooops. And then, back to the boat a bit early, as everyone was cold.
We motored around the island and had lunch before getting off again. This time we went to “Devil’s Crown” to snorkel. It was still grey, the water cold, and occasionally raining, so I almost didn’t go. I’m glad I changed my mind, though, as it was a really neat place! Several large rocks stuck out of the water to form nearly a circle, with one in the middle. We snorkeled around the outside of the longest rock, and thin into the shallower water inside. I saw two sharks, several sea lions, many rays (eagle rays according to our guide), blue footed boobies on the rocks, and approximately a million fish. The fish varied a great deal in size and color. I recognized Angel Fish and Parrot Fish, but most of the rest I couldn’t identify. I got out of the water before some people, as I was again quite cold. Also, my mask kept fogging, so I must remember to soap it and see if that helps.
After a short return to the boat – and a change into dry clothes – back to the beach, this time at Punta Cormorant. On landing we were greeted by a dead sea lion lying on the beach. Around the corner, a live one was guarding the trail. He sort of huffed at us as we took pictures and walked around him to the trail. First on the trail was a flamingo pond. There were several relatively close to us, including one juvenile that was just starting to turn pink. We hid from the rain underneath a tree while looking at them. Up over the ridge to the other side of the island we found another beach. From this beach, you could see golden rays, sharks, and green turtles swimming, as well as a few sea lions sunning and many many brightly colored crabs on the rocks. Beautiful spot – and the sky finally start to clear just before we left at 6:00. Now we’re on the boat for another night sail and an early morning start tomorrow.

January 30th, 2006

ESPANOLA
Up bright and early to be on shore as the sun rose. It turned out to be a great idea, because we beat the heat and the other tourists, and caught all the animals in their morning routines. The sea lions were lounging about across the paths and on the beaches. Just the babies were awake, sometimes nudging moms to roll over so they could nurse (apparently sea lions nurse for 1 year and the mothers can become pregnant again a few weeks after giving birth), sometimes playing in the waves with each other. SO cute. There were also sluggish iguanas before the sun came up. And tons of birds. Nasca Boobies were nesting and feeding their young and some juveniles (who were rather ugly) were causing trouble. Blue-Footed Boobies who whistled and quacked and danced. There were also doves and gulls and frigate birds. And of course, beautiful (if rocky) views. Then back on the boat as loads of somewhat older groups from fancier boats got to the island for their tour.

SAN CRISTOBAL
After about 4 hours of boating we arrived at the port where the Poseidon “makes berth.” We were quickly ushered off the boat and onto the island. There was a museum of sorts – “the Interpretation Center” – that had lots of information on the human history and current conservation of the islands. There was also some information on evolution and the formation of the islands. From there, Erica and I walked into town to find a post office and ice cream (nice and cold!). The directions we got to the post office were a bit confusing, so we asked a second time when we realized we were probably on the wrong street. Found the post office and some ice cream, but everything else was closed. Then we tried to find a snorkel spot that John (our guide) had pointed out to us on the map. However, we wound up at a beach. We stuck our feet in the water and declared it far too cold to swim or snorkel. Instead, we watched the sea lions and turtles in the water for a bit, then made another attempt at finding the snorkel spot. After starting at the beginning again, we succeeded. It was a beautiful spot to sit in for a little while, even without the snorkeling. Then another walk back over the rocky trails to meet the panga at 6:00. After dinner, several of us hung out around the dining table, discussing travel, TV, politics, and pets.

January 28th, 2006

SANTA CRUZ
Today was full of a lot of traveling – most of it somewhat confusing. Left the hostel at about 7:30, figured out the three places we were supposed to go to get checked in at the airport, and left at 9:30. The flight made a 40 minute stop in Guayaquil, and then on to Isla Baltra in the Galapagos. On arrival, I fist left my jacket on the airplane – thankfully realized it in time to get it back – and then we finally found our guide, who didn’t have a sign like everyone else, but instead sported a “Yate Poseidon” hat that was supposed to be identification enough. Well, we did eventually find him. Then we waited for a while for the other passengers and for a bus that wasn’t full. From bus to small ferry boat that got us to Santa Cruz, from small ferry boat to another bus across the island, and from there to our boat. Everything got easier from there.
It turns out that Erica and I got the “luxury” room – the only one above deck. After plopping bags and taking a peak around, we headed to the Charles Darwin Station for more wildlife. While waiting for the dingy (“panga”) to get onto the boat, we had already seen bright red crabs, a small iguana, and a sea lion rolling around along the edge of the water near the dock. From the boat we saw a swimming marine iguana and a pelican that was hanging out on the bow of the boat.
Docking at the Charles Darwin Station, we found dozens of marine iguanas sunning themselves. At the station itself, we mostly saw giant tortoises. First our guide gave us a history of how they have been wiped out from several islands and what kinds of recovery efforts are being made. Hatching eggs at the station and raising them for 4 to 5 years was making progress on restoring the population to many islands. However, there is one male at the Charles Darwin Station who refuses to mate (this led to several entertaining stories of efforts to get him to procreate). “Lonesome George” is said to be less than 100 years old (tortoises can live about 200 years, they think) and was the last giant tortoise on Pinta. There are some tortoises that have mated in captivity, and there are many young tortoises who were born at the station after their eggs were collected from the wild (and carefully transported right-side up). They also control the sex of the hatchlings by varying the temperature of the incubators, generally trying for more females.
We caught a glimpse of George, and saw several other male giant tortoises up close. Then, in an effort to avoid annoying people who complained at the inconveniences imposed on them to benefit the animals (such as walking around the feeding pad rather than over it), we headed into town - Puerto Ayora. This is the same town we got off the second bus in. Erica and I were still hungry, having not really eaten a meal all a day, and grabbed some food in town, then made a failed attempt to mail post cards. Then back on the boat for the night, with an overnight sail planned to Floreana.

January 27th, 2006

ECUADOR
Arrived in Quito yesterday, after a very long day of travel. Not that there was anything wrong with the flights – actually, it was completely problem free – just that it was a long day. We even took some of out 6-hour layover in Miami to stop at Erica’s house, get lunch out of the airport, and drive around Miami for a bit. It passed the time. On arrival to Quito there was only one person there to greet us – a relief considering both the hostel and Zenith Travel wanted to send someone to greet us. Sadly, though, Zenith Travel could not tell us what time the flight was going to leave on Saturday. A bit frustrating at this point. The hostel, “Posada del Maple” is very nice. And Erica and I have the room to ourselves!
Today we got up in time to grab a banana from the breakfast table as it was being cleared, and then headed into the “old town” or “centro historico.” We went via bus, which cost $0.25 and got us right where we wanted to be… unfortunately, at some bad advice, we stayed on the bus for one more stop, which meant a longer up-hill walk to where we were going. The bus stops aren’t really labeled or announced. Walking around the historic city, we stopped at several somewhat random places. “Casa Sucre” was the first – a museum that had filled the neat colonial-style house with period furniture, paintings of official looking men, and various displays on a war that we knew nothing about. Next was Cathedral San Francisco – mostly to get inside a building after some sketchy American asked us for money. While waiting for our eyes to adjust to the dark so that we could see the gold-covered walls and ceilings, Mass started. We took a quick peak at the back of the Cathedral and headed out. Next coffee at some chain place (a slightly more up-scale fast food – they had real dishes). Then we actually found the entrance to the “Centro Cultura” that we had been looking for earlier. It turned out to be mostly a large library in an interesting building. There was a museum that we elected not to go into, and several small galleries. One was full of black and white made-up clowns doing silly things in the middle of the street. Another room had large black and white dotted canvases forming pictures of people. Across the room were the sketches that the painting came from. There were also 2 large photographs – one said it was digitally altered, the other just said “photograph.” That other one was of a guy standing on a balcony that overlooked NYC with a plane flying below him. The digital date at the bottom: 09-11-01.
After lunch, a siesta, and finally figuring out what time we were leaving tomorrow morning, we grabbed a bus to “El Mitad del Mundo” – The Middle of the World. The bus was actually two busses and took about twice as long as the guidebook claimed it would. But we got there and it wasn’t very crowded. The monument was neat, but I think we were both more impressed by the mountains and the clouds moving across them basically at eye level. Inside the monument there was an extensive museum on the various Ecuadorian peoples. It was interesting, though too much similar information to take in all at once. The small “village” of shops and cafes at the foot was closing when we left, so we grabbed a quick bite and got back on the bus. The return ride was uneventful, though we spent significant periods not knowing where we were and hoping we’d recognize our stops. Worked out fine. Now, after dinner, it’s off to an early and sleepy bed.

November 10th

Today is the last day in Paris - headed home in a few hours, catching the train to the airport much sooner. But this morning there was still time for one last museum. Joy and I went to the Maritime Museum this morning. It was an extensive museum with mostly model ships and paintings. Strangely, some of the paintings and sculptures seemed to have very little to do with the ocean. Many of the model ships were very old and based on real ships. Apparently, the French royalty had scale models of all their ships built while the real ones were being constructed. Overall, a neat museum, but nothing spectacular. And now - to see the space that the theater school has to work in, which is apparently quite beautiful.

November 9th

This morning was mostly spent in Avie's beatiful apartment, having coffee and pasteries. Then Joy and I wandered about the Bastile area, doing a bit of shopping, and went to her plaza so that she could check on the spice store that she is imitating. From there we wandered back towards the metro so that Joy could go to class, stopping for a bit more shopping along the way. After sending Joy to class, I walked back to the hotel to deposit bags. On the way I walked down Rue Montorguel, a street full of cafes and food shops of various sorts. It is a lovely little street, and mostly not driven on (though it appeared delivery vans were allowed).

For the rest afternoon, I decided to actually see some of the "big" sites in Paris. Namely, I took the metro to the Champse-Elise and walked up to the Arc de Triumph, which you can only get underneath if you pay. Since I decided I didn't really want to go up the Arc today - save that for the next trip - I continued on to the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, just as I rounded the corner to see the whole thing, the sun took its final dip below a bank of clouds. But it is still an impressive structure.

From the Eiffel Tower, I again jumped on the Metro and went to the Photography Museum. It had a lot of strange modern photography, which I did not like - very violent. There was also an exhibit by a man who mostly paints industrial type things in stylized ways. Here, though, was mostly a display of the photographs he takes as references, which were surprisingly beautiful and colorful.