Perth

Thurs., Oct. 31 - On Thursday, we took a stroll on the Hay St. Pedestrian Mall downtown. Then we rode a double-decker sightseeing bus. We exited at 2 stops.

The first was called Harbour Town and consisted of an open-air factory outlet mall. The second was at the Barrack Street Jetty and Bell Tower.

The Bell Tower plays "Swan Bells", although we weren't there at the time they rang out. But the Jetty area was quite nice, with lots of green park areas, beautiful Palm trees, gorgeous flowers, and a bike/rollerblade/walking/jogging path that runs right alongside the Swan River.

We walked along this pathway to return to our hotel. Perth is a great city. The climate is warm and sunny, but dry, and very pleasant. There is a cool breeze most of the time. In fact, they speak here about the "Fremantle Doctor", which is not a doctor at all, but which is a term for a wind that blows in from the Indian Ocean every day from 12 Noon to 3 p.m. No explanation as to why it's called the "Fremantle Doctor." Two more things about Perth - one good and one bad. First, the good: the Jacarandas are back! Apparently the weather in Perth is cool enough for Jacarandas. They are not as abundant as they were in Brisbane, but we see them occasionally and they are still beautiful.

Now, the bad: the annoying, pesky flies are in Perth also. They are almost as bad, if not more so, than in the outback. They are the scourge of the continent!

Fremantle and Perth

Wed., Oct. 30 - On Wed. morning, we parted ways with our traveling companions, Tom and Tricia, as they headed east, back home to Cairns, while we headed west to Perth. On the way to the airport in Alice Springs, we passed the hangars for the "Royal Flying Doctor Service". The RFDS was founded in 1912 by a group of men, including a Presbyterian missionary, and the founder of Qantas airlines, to serve the medical needs of the people in the outback. They are pretty big on using the "Royal" adjective here. The Australian air force is called the "Royal Air Force" and the auto club of Queensland (AAA equivalent) was called RACQ - Royal Auto Club of Queensland. Our shuttle driver also pointed out some interesting facts about the Coriolis Force. We all know about the opposite "spin" direction, due to the Coriolis Force, that exists in the northern and southern hemispheres. These effects include cyclones, whose winds swirl in the opposite direction of the northern hemisphere hurricanes. But the most fascinating fact our driver pointed out is that as vines grow up around tree barks, they tend to climb in the opposite direction around the tree here in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere, due to the Coriolis effect. (We have not "fact-checked" our driver, though, to see if he is correct.)

As we flew from Alice Springs to Perth, we set our watches back 1 1/2 hours.

We are now 12 hours ahead of Pittsburgh time. That makes for very easy math: if it's 3 in the afternoon here, it's 3 in the morning there. The further west we travel in Australia, the less the time difference between here and home, as we travel further from the International Date Line. The city of Perth is in the state of Western Australia and lies on the west coast. It is known as the world's most isolated big city. The Indian Ocean is to the west, and the Nullarbor Plain is to the east. The closest large Australian city to Perth is Adelaide, and it lies 2500 kilometers (over 1500 miles) east of Perth. The first thing we did after we landed in Perth was to pick up a rental car and drive to Fremantle. The town of Fremantle is slightly west of Perth and lies on the Indian Ocean. We walked around the town Esplanade in Fremantle, took a stroll down to the beach and dipped our toes in the Indian Ocean, and walked around an area of shops and cafes. After this, we drove back to Perth (always referred to as Perth City here), and went to King's Park. King's Park is a beautiful, large, green, scenic park right on the edge of downtown, yet with a serene feel to it.

The street leading into King's Park is lined on both sides with beatiful Lemon-Scented Gum trees. In King's Park, we walked along some paths and stopped at some overlooks that offered sweeping views of the city of Perth and the Swan River that flows through Perth. The environment of land adjacent to water, with the city of Perth sitting right on the banks of the Swan River, makes for a very picturesque setting, rivalling that of Sydney with its harbour views. In King's Park, we took a stroll on an elevated walkway, where we "walked among the treetops" looking down on the beautiful Botanic Gardens below.

The elevated walkway included a glass and steel arched bridge. A very unusual tree in King's Park is a Boab Tree - a tree which stores water in its trunk, and so has an odd bloated-looking trunk.

We also climbed the DNA Tower in King's Park, which has 2 winding staircases on opposite sides that form a DNA-style double helix. There are 101 steps to the top, where there are commanding 360 degree views of the surrounding area. We ended the day with a quick supper at McDonald's, where we noticed the menu listed, not calories the food items contained, but kj, or kilojoules - the metric system unit of energy.

Ayers Rock to Alice Springs by Coach

Tuesday afternoon - The bus ride from Ayers Rock to Alice Springs took about 6 hours and covered approximately 450 km (almost 300 miles). The first part of the ride was due east along the Lasseter Highway. Then we turned north onto the Stuart Highway. The entire drive was all strictly outback, and so any signs of civilization along the way were few and far between. The coach stopped a couple of times at places set up for travelers.

They are called "cattle stations" or "roadhouses", and consist of a gas (petrol) station and a convenience store. The highways are very narrow 2-lane roads. Rarely do you see any other traffic. Unlike the US, there aren't a lot of big trucks on the highway. In fact, we only saw 2 during our 6 hours of travel. We saw 2 "truck trains" - a tractor-trailer pulling 3 or 4 trailers behind it. According to Joe, they were about 135 feet long and had 16 axles and 62 tires. They were transporting fuel. So there is no widespread truck commerce like in the US. Can you imagine driving down a major interstate in the US and not seeing any trucks?! The scenery is all barren, desert scenery with a few scrub-brush trees.

The most interesting feature along the route was Mt. Conner, which is a large monolithic rock very similar to Uluru. In fact, it is so similar that some tourists have mistaken it for Uluru, prompting the locals to call it "Fooluru". We stopped to take pictures of Mt. Conner, and also climbed a small sand dune to view a huge dried salt flat. Because of the dryness of the desert, the water in the salt lakes has evaporated, leaving behind the halite and/or gypsum minerals (salt), giving a white-coated appearance to the dry lake bed.

Once we turned north onto the Stuart Highway, the scenery changed slightly. There were a few more trees, and they were slightly taller. There was more character to the landscape, with some topography - hills - but mostly still desert in character, the hills being covered by the typical desert scrub-brush trees. Eventually the MacDonnell Ranges came into view to the west. We crossed many rivers and creeks; however, they were all dry beds - just another indication of the desert environment of this area. We were told later by a local that "Once you've seen the river flow three times, you're entitled to call yourself a local." At times, they can get monsoonal rains, where not only the river beds fill up, but the Stuart Highway becomes flooded. Once we arrived in Alice Springs, we went to eat at the hotel restaurant and waited a very long time for our food to arrive. This has been our experience every time we've dined out in Australia. Apparently since there is no tipping here, there is no incentive for good service.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Tues., Oct. 29 -

In addition to sunset viewing of Uluru, another popular activity here is sunrise viewing. This meant getting up at 4:30 a.m. and driving to the sunrise viewing area. We walked down a short path to a platform from where we had a great view of the big red rock as the sun came over the horizon, and different hues of red emerged on the rock, almost by the minute. Afterward, we drove closer to Uluru, took a few short strolls, and were able to actually walk right up to the rock and touch it.

Another geological phenomenon in this area is what is called "The Olgas", or in aboriginal language, Kata Tjuta (pronounced Kata Juta - the T is silent). While Uluru is one big monolith, Kata Tjuta consists of several vast, solid, round blocks of red conglomerate rock that are all interconnected.

The name, Kata Tjuta, means "many heads". Kata Tjuta is located 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) from Uluru, so after we finished exploring Uluru, we drove to Kata Tjuta. We again took a couple of short walks to get an up-close look at the rocks.

One of these walks was along a path called the "Valley of the Winds" - aptly named, as it was extremely windy. During our visits to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, we continued to be pestered by the previously mentioned annoying flies that are particularly bad everywhere in the outback. In fact, a popular hat here is a "cork hat" - a hat that has corks hanging an inch or so from the brim all around, the purpose of which is to keep flies away from the face. (More than one of us have unexpectedly swallowed flies while merely talking.) After taking more pictures than we could possibly know what to do with - but doing it anyway because Uluru and Kata Tjuta are just that impressive - we headed back to Ayers Rock where we boarded a coach (bus) to travel back to Alice Springs.

Camel Riding at Uluru

Mon., Oct. 28 - We were up early Monday morning, ready to get on to our next Australian adventure. At 5:15 a.m. in the hotel room, I decided to turn on the television to see if by chance there would be an Australian channel that would possibly give some football scores, since at this time back home the early Sunday afternoon football games were in full swing. Well, to my surprise, I didn't find football scores; instead I found an actual football game being shown live. And to my delight, it happened to be the Saints game. So I got to watch 15 minutes of the New Orleans Saints game before departing - another one of the many things I can do in Australia, but can't do in Pittsburgh. We headed to the Darwin airport for an early flight to Alice Springs. The town of Alice Springs sits pretty much in the middle of Australia, and is in fact known, along with the surrounding areas, as the "Red Centre". This part of Australia is desert, very hot and very dry. Our time spent in Alice Springs on Monday just consisted of a layover at the airport. We had a 4 hour layover, which thanks to our travel partners Tom and Tricia, who have racked up the miles with Qantas and have privileges in the Qantas lounge, we spent a relaxing time using the free wi-fi (which is how I got caught up on my last blog), and enjoying the complimentary food and drinks. Continuing our journey, we flew from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock. Ayers Rock is still in the Northern Territory, located in the very southwest corner of the territory, not far from the border with the state of Western Australia. The town of Ayers Rock is best known for its massive, monolithic, gelogical feature - a big red rock - that sits smack dab in the middle of the country. The rock itself is also known as Ayers Rock (in addition to the town), but generally goes by the aboriginal name of Uluru. It is perhaps (along with the Sydney opera house) one of Australia's most famous icons. We got our first glimpse of Uluru from the air as we flew in.

At the Ayers Rock airport, we rented a car and drove to the Desert Gardens Hotel, where we had a view of "the rock" from our hotel room.

Later that evening Tom, Tricia, Joe, and I headed out for a camel-riding adventure. After climbing aboard our camels - Tom and Tricia sitting atop "Spinifex", affectionately known as "Spinnie", and Joe and I aboard "Chester" - we rode off into the sunset (okay, corny) for a "sunset viewing" of Uluru. The most precarious part of the camel ride was getting on and off the camel. The camels were lying on the ground when we got on. Then they got up by rising on their hind legs first, and then they stood completely up by getting their front legs up. So when their hind legs are up, and their front legs are still down, the riders are tilted forward. We were told to sit back in our seats as far as we can to counter this effect. Fortunately, none of us ended up face down in the red Australian dirt. When we got to the sunset viewing area, we paused to watch the awesome effects of the sunset on Uluru, how the rock changed colors and how the shadows crept across the rock as the sun set. It was a truly spectacular sight! After the camel ride, the hosts provided us with generous complimentary snacks and drinks, including beer and wine. Yet another fantastic Australian adventure!

Kakadu National Park

On Sunday, we took a tour of Kakadu National Park. The entrance to Kakadu is about 170 km (a little over 100 miles) east of Darwin. It is Australia's largest land national park (the Great Barrier Reef is the largest national park - land or sea).

Most of the park is aboriginal-owned land, and it is leased to the government for use as a national park.

The park consists of such varied landscapes as escarpments, plateaus, coastal estuaries, tidal flats, floodplains, rivers, lowlands, rainforests, hills, and billabongs. A billabong is a "watering hole" that is full of water during the wet season and is dry or almost dry in the dry season.

Kakadu is known for its ancient rock art.

As we rode (we were on a tour bus) through Kakadu, we crossed rivers that were teeming with crocodiles.

We also saw HUGE termite mounds. These mounds were about 7 or 8 feet high and 3 or 4 feet in diameter. Occasionally the bus had to break for wallabies crossing the road. Some of the other wildlife in the park consisted of magpie geese, egrets, herons, wild horses, buffalo, and dingos. Some interesting crocodile facts that we learned along the way is that only about 1% of crocodiles die of old age. The rest die fighting other crocodiles, or from human contact. The two types of crocodiles that inhabit this area are saltwater crocs and freshwater crocs. Saltwater crocs have bigger teeth than freshwater crocs. Freshwater crocs are scared of people and will run away from you; saltwater crocs will eat you. There are no alligators in Australia, only crocodiles. However, one of the rivers that runs through Kakadu is ironically called Alligator River. The story goes that someone had previously visited Louisiana and then while subsequently visiting Australia, mistook the crocs for alligators and so named the river after the alligators. One of the stops that our Kakadu tour made was to visit the ancient rock art of Nourlangie Rock. There we saw aboriginal paintings on the rocks. We also took a short walk to an overlook where we had gorgeous views of the park.

Another stop our tour made was for us to take a 1 1/2 hour boat ride on the Yellow River. Like all rivers in Kakadu, the Yellow River is home to many, many crocodiles. As our boat ride began, our guide went through the mandatory safety rules. At one point, she said, "Should it become necessary to abandon ship..." I can't imagine what this boat would have to look like in order for me to decide that I'd rather be in crocodile-infested waters than aboard the vessel! We were also told not to put our arms outside of the rail because, as our guide noted, "Crocodiles do jump." The ride on the boat was actually a great way to see this part of Kakadu. On the ride, we saw many beautiful birds such as cormorants, eagles, egrets, herons, pelicans, and cranes.

But the highlight of the trip was the crocs. Most of the crocs we saw were swimming in the river, but one in particular was on the bank. Our boat pulled over to the bank and we were probably within 6 feet of him (or her), so we got a nice, close-up look. Back on the bus, on the drive back to Darwin, we watched some DVD documentaries about Kakadu. One showed the different environment at Kakadu during the wet and dry seasons. Another showed some scientists who were tagging crocodiles in order to track their migratory patterns. Also, our bus driver played his didgeridoo for us (not while driving, obviously). He walked down, then back up the aisle of the bus while playing. Upon our return to Darwin, we got off the bus at the local Darwin market, where there were food booths and other booths where local people were selling various wares. It was a great place to sample the local flavor of Darwin, both literally and figuratively.

Darwin and the Northern Territory

As we were approaching Darwin, we were instructed to "adjust our timepieces" to local Darwin time. Now Darwin is located in the Northern Territory, and the NT, being adjacent to Queensland, you would think that you set your watch back one hour. Not so. The NT is one half hour behind Queensland, so we turned our watches back a half hour, and are now 13 1/2 hours ahead of Pittsburgh time. The Northern Territory, as the name implies, is not an actual state, but is a territory. The population of the NT is probably too small for statehood, even though the land area is quite large. The population of the NT is 239,000. It appears that all of the Northern Territory is considered to be "outback". Darwin is located in the extreme north part of NT. They call it the "Top End". It is a fairly small town. There are beautiful white flowers around here called Frangipani. They are not as beautiful as the Jacarandas of Brisbane, but they are everywhere and they are quite lovely. In 1974, Darwin was hit by a devastating cyclone, Cyclone Tracy, that destroyed almost the entire town, with only a building or two left standing. (It was the Hurricane Katrina of Australia.) So virtually the entire town has been rebuilt since the 70's. The weather is always hot here, and there are only 2 seasons: the wet season and the dry season. Right now, we are at the very end of the dry season, with the wet season likely to begin in November. Some more Australian oddities: they like to abbreviate words here. I already told you about brekky (breakfast). They also call your sunglasses your sunnies, and a costume is a cossie.

Cairns to Darwin via Gove

First I apologize - I have not had an opportunity to post more pictures, and probably will not be able to do so again. Saturday we sort of took a vacation from our vacation and spent most of the day just relaxing at Tom and Tricia's. It was a beautiful day, and was quite nice to just lie around on the veranda and enjoy the tropical breeze. In the evening, we were scheduled to fly to Darwin, but our direct flight to Darwin was cancelled, so they booked us on another flight through Gove. Now if you're looking for the town of Gove on an Australian map, don't bother. You won't find it on the map. Gove is a small "outpost" in the middle of aboriginal land known as Arnhem Land. There are very strict restrictions about traversing on Arnhem Land, and visitors are required to obtain permission to gain access - not that we were planning to go there. The Gove airport was very small. In fact, it's probably the smallest airport we've ever been in.

We were required to deboard the plane, even though we were flying through to Darwin. We walked down the steps - there are no gates here for the plane to pull up to - and took a short walk across the tarmac and into the terminal. Once inside the terminal, we took a few steps, turned right, went through security which consisted of a short conveyor belt (we had to go through security again even though this was just an intermediate stop) and stepped out of the security area and into the gate area, which was the only gate at the airport. Then we re-boarded the plane and were off to Darwin. Tom and Tricia are joining us for this portion of the trip, and will be traveling with us for the next few days.

Kuranda

On Friday, Joe, Tom, and I visited the town of Kuranda, which is up in the mountains west of Cairns.

The mode of transportation we took to and from Kuranda was a Skyrail cable car on the way up, and aboard a scenic Railway on the way down. In fact, the purpose of the trip was more the adventure of the travel rather than the actual visit to Kuranda. The 7.5 km (4.7 mi.) Skyrail took us over the rainforest canopy of Eucalyptus, Pine, Banyon, and Palm trees, as well as numerous vines and ferns. From the Skyrail we had sweeping panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, the coastal area around Cairns, and the Pacific Ocean beyond. I've decided that the English language doesn't contain enough adjectives for a place like Australia. How many times can you say spectacular, fascinating, gorgeous, breathtaking - all these words could describe the vistas we saw today, yet that still wouldn't do it justice. Along the Skyrail there were 2 stops where we disembarked. The first stop, at Red Peak, we took a short stroll on a boardwalk through the rainforest. At the second stop, we took a short walk to an overlook for an amazing view of the Barron Waterfall. Once we reached the top, we walked around the touristy town of Kuranda, where there were mostly gift and souvenir shops and cafes.

We came across a Gourmet Pie Shop. Now I know what you're thinking: lemon meringue, banana cream, homemade apple or pecan pies. Not so. In Australia, a pie shop serves meat pies. This particular shop boasted of 30 different varieties, including kangaroo, crocodile, and emu. We did not partake of any of these delicacies. After we purchased a few souvenirs, we headed back down to Cairns on the scenic Railway where we continued to be impressed with more beautiful sweeping views of the area.

Pictures posted

As requested by Rachel, I have begun posting pictures. You'll have to go back and look at some of the older posts to see the pictures that accompany them. I will try to post more pictures tomorrow or Saturday. I can only post pictures while I have use of a computer (can't do them on my tablet), which means only up until Saturday when we leave Cairns. The rest of the pictures will have to wait until we get home. Hope you enjoy the ones I've posted so far.

Bugs, Yabbis, and Prawns

On Thursday night, we went to a restaurant in Cairns to try some of the local Australian food. The restaurant we went to is called Tha Fish (presumably pronounced The Fish). I needed an interpreter to read the menu. Fortunately, Tom and Tricia have lived in Australia long enough to speak "the language." After they interpreted, I ordered Bugs, Yabbis, and Prawns. I was served a delicious meal of lobster tails (bugs), crayfish (yabbis, similar to Louisiana crawfish), and a large boiled shrimp (prawn). Joe ordered wild Barramundi, which is an Australian fish. Everything was delicious.

Daintree National Rainforest and Mossman Gorge

On Thursday, we drove north of Cairns to visit Daintree National Rainforest and Mossman Gorge. As we were making our way out of town, I was struck once again with the beauty of Cairns. When I described Cairns previously, I forgot to mention the mountains. While the ocean borders Cairns to the east, the mountains form a backdrop to the west, making Cairns a very picturesque town nestled between the rolling waves of the Pacific on one side and the mountains on the other. Today we drove in the same direction as yesterday, toward Port Douglas, but went a little farther north. Mossman is about 77 kilometers (about 48 miles) north of Cairns. Mossman Gorge lies within Daintree National Rainforest.

Daintree is an area of steep mountain ranges, ancient rainforests, and streams/rivers of crystal clear waters. The first thing we did was to take a tour, called a "Dreamtime Walk". The tour was led by an indigenous guide. Our guide's name was Rodney, and he was part aborigine and part Irish (yes, a very odd combination). Our tour consisted of a small group of 10 people - besides Tom, Tricia, Joe, and myself, there were 6 other people. Of these 6 people, 2 of them were from Pennsylvania. Small world. The tour consisted of walking in the Rainforest along secluded trails, stopping every so often so Rodney could enlighten us about his culture, the natural surroundings of the rainforest, and the special relationship the indigenous people have with their environment. We learned a lot about the heritage, ancient culture, and traditions of the local people; this particular group of aborigines are known as Yalanji. Rodney also gave us a demonstration of using ochre paint in the aboriginal tradition of painting their skin. At the end of the tour, we were treated to a sample of Daintree tea and muffins. After the tour, we walked through the Mossman Gorge area, where we saw more interesting flora and fauna.

We found a nice spot on the banks of the Mossman River to enjoy a picnic lunch, so we spread out a tablecloth over some boulders, and enjoyed some sandwiches that we brought from home. While we were eating, a turkey came right up to us and gave us a sad, hungry look, hoping we would throw some food his way. Of course, we didn't, but he hung around anyway, just hoping to sneak something when we weren't looking.

After lunch, we went for a cool dip in the peaceful waters of the Mossman River (which the locals promised us did not have crocodiles). The water was refreshing, and the view from the middle of the stream/river of the steep cliffside of the Gorge and the valley emanating from it was absolutely breathtaking.

On the drive back to Cairns, we stopped to collect some mosquito larvae. Yes, you read that right, we stopped at a lagoonal area off of the beach on the Pacific coast to collect mosquito larvae. Why did we do that, you might ask? My brother-in-law Tom is an entymologist who does malaria research, and he decided to mix a little business with pleasure. When we approached the beach area from the car, there were danger signs warning of crocodiles in the area. So we kept a careful watch, but no crocs out today. Whew! Just another day in the beautiful country of Australia, a land of many natural scenic wonders!!!

The Great Barrier Reef

On Wednesday, we drove from Cairns north along the coast to the small town of Port Douglas. The drive was filled with spectacular scenery of the Queensland coast, where the Pacific Ocean meets either rocky shores or sandy beaches. We saw fields of wallabies along the way. When we arrived in Port Douglas, we took a catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef. It took 1 1/2 hours to get out to the reef. The catamaran docked at a pontoon, where we spent 3 1/2 hours before making the return trip home.

While out at the pontoon, we had numerous opportunities to view the reef. First we did some snorkelling, where we saw some fish swimming in and out among the various parts of the reef, and Tom saw a couple of giant clams nestled in the reef. We also rode in a semi-submersible, where we were able to get a better, underwater and close-up view of the vast array of corals, some of them very colorful, and the various species of fish that inhabit the coral reef area. The sight of the reef is an amazing sight. The reef actually extends for about 2900 kilometers off the coast of Queensland. It's hard to believe that what we were seeing is actually that vast and extensive. There are so many different kinds and shapes of coral. Some are flat and are called plate corals; others are called brain corals and yes, they actually do look like a human brain. Some are sharp, others are spaghetti-like, some are round and smooth. Even though the appearances are different, they all run together in this one long reef, with the shapes - and colors - changing constantly as we moved along in the semi-submersible. It truly is an amazing sight.

Cairns

On Tuesday, we flew from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced Cans) where Joe's brother Tom and his wife Tricia live. Cairns is about 1000 miles north of Brisbane, on the Queensland coast. It is in an area known as FNQ - Far North Queensland. The climate is very tropical. There are many palm trees and sugar cane fields here. In fact, Tom and Tricia have some nice palm trees in their yard, along with a mango tree, and there are Kukkaburras and Lorikeets that frequent these trees.

After spending a relaxing afternoon visiting with Tom and Tricia, we drove around Cairns a little and then walked around the town Esplanade and went down by the Marina, and also went to an Aboriginal Craft shop. There we bought a CD of Didgeridoo music. They had Didgeridoos for sale at the Aboriginal Craft shop, but since it would not fit in our luggage, we decided against purchasing one.

Have you Hugged your Koala today?

On Monday, we walked around Brisbane. To give an idea of the time difference between here and PA, we were enjoying our breakfast at a coffee shop Monday morning, and back home it was half time of the Sunday afternoon Steelers game. After breakfast, we walked along the Brisbane River where they have an attractive pathway with nice trees, and some flower-covered archways. We decided that one of the things we really like about Brisbane is that there are no pesky little flies here.

Down by the river, they have what's called the "Wheel of Brisbane", which is a big gondola that you can ride and from which are beautiful breathtaking views of the city of Brisbane. (We did not ride the gondola.)

We boarded a boat called the Miramar that took us on a 1 hour and 15 minute ride down the Brisbane River, complete with commentary, for a nice tour of the area.

The purpose of the ride on the Miramar was twofold: one was to enjoy the sights along the way; the other was to arrive at the destination, which was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

This sanctuary is like a small zoo, but has only Australian wildlife.

Here we saw koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypus, dingos, tasmanian devils, kookaburras, lorikeets, crocodiles, and cassowaries. Contrary to popular belief, the koalas are not bears; they are marsupials. So they don't call them koala bears, they just call them koalas. The koalas at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (as the name suggests) are plentiful. I had an opportunity to "hug a koala", although it would be more accurate to say that I let a koala hug me. It is very controlled. They tell you how to hold your hands, then they place the koala in your arms and they wrap the koalas arms around your neck.

Since koalas are used to hugging Eucalyptus (Gum) trees, a hug is a more-or-less natural pose for them. So they hang on tight. They are very cuddly. I hugged 2 koalas; one was named Wisely, the other was Orinako.

After this we walked in and amongst the kangaroos. At one point, a large group of them hopped across the field together like a herd - it was a very impressive sight. We also saw a sheep shearing demonstration. It was fascinating to watch the shearer as he took a razor and shaved all the wool off the sheep. The sheep was just very still - like putty in his master's hand - as the shearer would gently turn the sheep this way, then that way, until he was finished and all the wool lay in a big pile on the platform. After this we took the Miramar back to Brisbane. On the way back, we passed under a bridge that is called "Green Bridge". No cars are allowed on the bridge - only [natural] gas powered buses, along with bicyclists and pedestrians. When we returned to Brisbane, we took a walk through the Queensland Museum and then called it a day.