The only bad part of our arrival into Australia was our
arrival into Australia. A brutally slow,
winding 5 hour drive across Bali to the airport, followed by a 6 hour flight
that left at 10:00 p.m. I’m not sure why
but Virgin Australia airlines doesn’t believe in blankets or pillows for
overnight flights, so Traci and I tried to be leaning posts for the kids so
that they could get a few hours of sleep.
We then had a 3 hour layover, another 3 ½ hour flight north to Cairns,
and then about an hour relearning how to drive on the left side of the road
until we found our hotel. I was about at
the end of my patience after the long day.
I think the kids are becoming better travelers than I am, which says a lot
for their year. Suffice it to say that
the day was salvaged by the burger.
I’ll flat out admit that Traci owns our kitchen, whatever
schedule she maintains. She owns
everything except the BBQ, the morning omelets and take-out. On this trip we’ve often talked about what
meals we miss the most, and thankfully my lovely children mention my burger
(with Traci’s overlooked help for everything other than the meat) as being the
food they miss the most. Learned over
hundreds if not thousands of lessons from my father, reinforced a few times in
college, and then attempted thousands of times thereafter, the perfect burger
is often imitated, but rarely achieved.
So in the last 320 days of travel our kids have probably eaten about 960
burgers in an attempt to find an equal.
Their valiant attempts, however, have failed miserably until we recently
found the perfect storm in Cairns, Australia (pronounced Cannes). Here we found that exceedingly rare
combination of: a barbeque that didn’t
require heating by sticks (either charcoal or gas works fine), hamburger (or
mixed mince as the Aussies call it…that was pure beef and not any other animal
such as goat, lamb, pig or mystery meat), cheese (the pure American cheddar
variety which is so rare outside the U.S., pickles (pure dill, not any kind of
sugary, sweet spiced stuff that are often called dill), big fat white onions,
ketchup (not the tomato sauce but the real stuff), mustard (not Dijon but the
good old fashioned yellow #5 that dominates the American palate), and last but
not least the soft, fluffy, wide, and preferably with sesame seeds Franz’s-type
hamburger bun. In Australia, we found
the perfect storm, and all ingredients but the bun were achieved, and even with
a minor bun compromise, the taste was pure bliss. Welcome back to civilization!
Another interesting aspect of re-entering the western
atmosphere after 10 months (the Aussies are technically in the eastern
hemisphere but they are as western as it gets) is that I am just almost giddy
with delight in speaking with everyone and not having to simplify or dumb down
my speaking with a non-fluent English speaker.
“Good morning Sir, what may I get you to drink?” and “I’d love a black
drip coffee with room for milk please!” takes approximately 2 seconds and there
is no confusion. At least a half dozen times on our trip we
have ordered “cold milk” for our kids at a meal and have in turn received “cold
Coke.” Being able to deftly use our
native language skills, coupled with the ability to safely enjoy tap water for
the first time in over 3 months, left each of us giddy.
June 2nd was Traci’s 29th birthday and
after a leisurely morning we drove north along the incredibly beautiful coast. Our first stop was at a place called
“Hartley’s Crocodile Farm” which was basically a crocodile zoo with a
smattering of snakes, insects and reptiles.
The Australian salt-water crocodile is the world’s biggest, with a large
males growing well past 20 feet. We saw
several of these, including one very close up on a little boat lagoon
tour. The Australians are a funny and
unfiltered people. There was a short
boat tour (kind of like the one at Disneyland) but they went around and fed the
crocs chicken heads from extended poles and then made all kinds of off-color jokes. When I told them I was American, he
quipped…”How do you separate two fighting crocodiles?” No idea.
“Give ‘em a Yank!”
Next stop was horseback riding. We hadn’t ridden since our horseback safari
last August in Kenya, and so we were referred to a great place where we could
ride on the beach and in the rainforest.
It was a beautiful location, riding along a huge, deserted beach and
then venturing through a lush rainforest.
Kids all did great and it was fun to get back in the saddle. Traci’s birthday dinner was a frantic effort
of a late BBQ, hot tub and a movie, then getting ready for another early flight
the following morning.
For Australia, we had three main objectives: exploring the Great Barrier Reef, learning a
bit about the Aboriginal people, and spending a few days in Sydney’s namesake
town. To explore the reef, we decided to
really get away from it all and settled on a place called Haggerstone
Island.
Haggerstone Island is about 400 miles north or
Cairns. If you look at a map of
Australia it is only 100 miles south of the northern tip, probably similar to
Portland, Maine if you were comparing the countries. It is only a couple hundred miles south of New
Guinea (an island that is partially Indonesian) so the climate wasn’t that
different than that of Bali. In fact by a small
airplane it would have likely been a 5-6 hour flight from Bali, but instead it took us
approximately 3-4 days to work our way there.
Suffice it to say it is more tropical than what you’d perceive as dry
Australian. If there is a more remote,
unspoiled, tropical location on the planet, I’d be surprised. Haggerstone is hundreds of miles from the
nearest settlement, and the neighboring ocean literally teems with fish in the
clearest waters I’ve ever experienced.
Snorkeling in the pristine coral gardens was incredible, with the
clarity of the water almost limitless. We
saw thousands of fish species, reef sharks, and huge sea turtles. We fished for hours each day, had a boat
lunch of our fresh catch, and snorkeled and explored Haggerstone and
neighboring islands. I know the girls
really enjoyed it, but Hayden and I were particularly in heaven. A few
of my fondest memories:
Haggerstone Island was incredible, with the exception of
sleep. The accommodations were
fantastic, but it was hot and we also shared our quarters with an infinite
number of sand flies, better known as no-see-ums, which had a preference for
foreign cuisine. These bugs are pretty
much immune to mosquito repellents. We
learned on the last day that you just need to rub oil on your skin and then
they won’t bother you, but by then the damage was done and we were each covered
with hundreds of incredibly annoying, itchy bites.
So leaving our blood behind, we departed from Haggerstone
for Cooktown to learn a bit about the European discovery of Australia and its
original inhabitants, the aborigines.
Cooktown is only about 200 miles south of Haggerstone but we had to take
a boat, a 100 mile flight in a small plane, fly 500 miles south to Cairns, then
drive 4 hours North from Cairns to Cooktown.
Cooktown was named after British Naval Lieutenant James Cook who landed
there in 1770 when his boat the “Endeavour” struck the Great Barrier Reef and
he had to bring it into the lovely port for several months’ worth of
repairs. We by chanced happened to be
there during the annual “discovery days” celebration when the town’s population
swells from about 2,000 to about 2,050 and the locals perform a re-enactment of
the landing. Good fun. Our
main reason for visiting Cooktown was to visit Willie Gordon. Willie is a local aboriginal elder who
provides tours to view aboriginal rock paintings at a sacred area where his
father and grandparents were born.
Willie was a beauty of a man, and he led us on a wonderful hike where he
explained aboriginal history, culture and religion. His knowledge of the native plants and
animals and their myriad of uses was incredible, and he presented it all
directly to the children. What we will
never forget is his finding several large grubs, cooking them over a small
grass fire, and then enticing Hayden into trying one as if they were an
incredible delicacy. Poor Hayden. He gave it a hearty chew, then instantly
started gagging, nearly vomited, and finally spit most of it out before
explaining “Augh, that was worse than a tomato!”
After another day in Cooktown, we drove through vast cattle
ranches and farms about 250 miles south to Cairns for a night’s stay before
catching an early morning flight to Sydney.
Fun to drive a rental car on the left side of the road. Upon arriving in Sydney we were greeted with
very Seattle-like weather, about 55 degrees and raining. We used this as a great excuse to stay in our
hotel and study and exercise. We stayed
in a wonderful hotel with apartment suites called Quay Grand which was about 2
blocks from the Opera House and overlooking Circular Quay. Our second day the weather had improved so we
hopped on the ferry to Manly Beach and went exploring there. We hiked by the house above Shelly beach
where I had lived for 5 months in 1991, and on to the nearby 200’ cliffs that
were being assaulted by enormous swells from a recent storm. In the 5 months that I had lived there, I had
never seen such huge waves. Despite getting
drenched by several rain squalls, we were captivated by the hundreds of surfers
and boogey boarders who were getting absolutely pummeled by 15-20’ waves. Given
the ohs and ahs by the kids, I’m confident that at some future time each of my
kids will become a surfer. I’m also
quite sure that with my inflexibility the chances of my quickly moving from my
stomach to standing on a surfboard in a split second are nil and that my
surfing career has officially ended before it ever started.
After visiting the stormy beach, our next day was spent with
a wildlife guide about 80 miles south of Sydney in an area called the Southern
Highlands. Our day and evening were
spent in search of platypus (success), koalas (no joy), wombat (saw dozens) and
emu (zippo). We had a fabulous guide,
with a great sense of humor, who captivated us with his knowledge about the
animals and Australian history.
Our final day in Sydney was spent walking and exploring the
city. The aquarium was fantastic, with
two walk-through underwater tunnels, surrounded by huge sharks and rays. No trip would have been complete without
climbing the Harbour Bridge. In 1998,
after 10 years of dealing with a myriad of government agencies, a local
entrepreneur raised about $20m and strung several cable routes to the top of
the harbor bridge. His determination and
investment were keen as since then almost 3 million people have climbed it at
about $100 a pop. I wanted start a
local version of “Occupy Sydney” to protest that his success wasn’t fair, but
Traci wouldn’t let me and insisted that I join the climb. To climb you have to be 10 years of age so as
responsible parents we had our kids miraculously age one year older and
remember their new birthdays. We then
had to eliminate any possible item that might be thrown or fall from our
bodies, donned climbing suits, and put on a harness, donned hats, gloves and a
radio, had a quick lesson and we were off.
The harnesses were fixed to a static cable the entire way, and it was
impossible to detach from the cable, so the only danger was of heart failure or
stroke. Most of the route was on the
main girder beams, with handrails on each side.
There were several spans, however, including one across the top, where
we walked on metal grating, and seeing traffic and water 300+ feet directly
below you was a bit unnerving for those of us that are bothered by heights
(note the use of the word “bothered” en lieu of “scared”). Our sweet Sydney is terrified of heights, but
she agreed to do it and did great, except for when her bratty younger siblings (who
were ahead) made snide comments such as “ooh Sydney, don’t look down there at
the sharks” or “ooh Syd you’re really not going to like this part.” I quickly gagged the miscreants and we made
our way to the top. It was a super cool experience. We arrived at the top of the bridge as the
sun was setting, the weather was clear and calm and relatively warm, and we
were alone with our comical guide, soaking up the sights from the greatest
vantage point in town. So our last day
was truly memorable. I wish we would
have had a few more days to enjoy the town.
It was a great fit for our family.
As I write this, I think I just solved an important historical
riddle. In 1788 Sydney was started as a penal colony. It must have been illegal to have been funny
in 18th century England, and so every English man, woman and child with
a sense of humor was rounded up and put on a ship and sent to Sydney. How else can one account for the English
having no sense of humor, while every Australian is quick, clever and mostly happy? Brilliant!
Seriously, I doubt that on the whole that there are a better bunch
of folks on the planet than the Aussies.
They are well-read, incredibly friendly, and are probably the most
well-travelled people on the planet.
Also, I don’t think there is a more beautiful city in the world than
Sydney. Seattle and Vancouver have
beautiful mountains but their harbors are fairly simple. The Bay Area harbor has a beautiful and
rugged entrance but then it is rather drab.
While Sydney doesn’t have the mountains that Seattle or Vancouver do,
the harbor is undoubtedly the world’s greatest.
It is huge, with tendrils running off in every direction for up to 20
miles. There are dozens of islands and
inlets everywhere, and the harbor protects all from a vicious ocean that is
only a few miles away. Top that off with sheer cliffs and dozens of
world class beaches, great cultural diversity and a marvelous infrastructure
and I think the city can’t be beat.
While I’m not a huge fan of cities, I think I could very happily live in
Sydney. If I happen to run away from
home, don’t look for me down under.
We’re now somewhere high above the South Pacific, en-route
from Auckland to Santiago, Chile. We’ll
be back in the Western Hemisphere for the first time in 11 months, and have
just 6 weeks remaining in Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica.
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| On the beach in Palm Cove, about 20 miles north of Cairns. Beautiful and our first cool weather in over 3 months |
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| The first real "daddy burger" in 10 months. Poor Sydney is sooo sad as hers is all gone! |
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| Traci should keep the medicine kit locked |
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| Big fat male salt water croc |
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| Hard to see but if you look about 1 foot above Hayden's left ear you can see one of the famous golden orb spiders. This is a medium sized one, only about 8" in diameter. |
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| Guarding a bit of meat from the birds |
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| Feeding time. As it was a cool day, they could only raise about 1/3 of the way out of the water. When it is hot and their blood is warmer, they can get about 2/3 of the way out of the water. |
Brief video of a croc feeding
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| Riding at Woonga Beach, about an hour north of Cairns |
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| If this was a donkey, I'd have commented on how nice it was |
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| If one believes in reincarnation, then I think this horse was previously human and is telling us to not wish to come back as a horse. |
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| Halle on her steady mount. He was on his last legs. |
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| Great commentary on making due while traveling. Traci's birthday gifts (beach jewelry) are lovingly wrapped in plastic bags, toilet paper, with Halle making the finest effort by writing a note on her gift wrapped in an airplane barf bag |
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| Despite the wrapping or lack thereof, I'm sure Traci will cherish the memory of this birthday for many years |
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| Haggerstone Island on the right and the neighboring Hicks Island with a brown airstrip on the left |
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| Typical sunset in paradise |
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| Our first evening is highlighted by sunset fishing with Roy and his dog Lucy. |
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| Holy Mackerel! |
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| Roy and Halle with Halle's shark catch from the beach |
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| Kid's laughing at dinner at Roy's guitar songs |
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| Nice Coral Trout |
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| Halle prepares to snorkel. She has gone from not being able to use a snorkel to being incredibly proficient and spending as much time diving as she does on the surface! |
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| With the half-dingo Lucy heading to a fishing ho |
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| Two guys in a dinghy drove up and traded us two huge lobsters (street value of about $400/ea in China) for 20 liters of water. |
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| The incredible rope swing system at the main lodge. Note Halle in her PJ's |
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| Hayden digs down in a fight with a spanish mackerel |
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| Halle's determination is unwavering as she pursues a big mackerel. Not many fishermen wear dresses this pretty |
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| The half dingo Lucy rests on our towels and dry bag |
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| Hayden and Sydney with our lunch...a couple of small red emperors |
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| You should see the other half. This red emperor was massive....and the big ones like this are all released |
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| Tiny island on the reef. The snorkeling here was incredible, with hundreds of feet of visibility |
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| Halle ready to fish and snorkel, in her PJ's and swimming suit |
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| Huge coral trout. These are beautiful, with their torquoise spots and pink skin and they are great fighters to boot |
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| After the robe Kung Fu incident, we switched medications but he still think's he is a super hero |
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| The hunters prepare to get the evening meal |
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| Lucy digs for crabs (note the PJ's) |
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| He fought a good fight but Hayden finally succombs to his curiousity |
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| On the pier at sunset |
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| With Willie Gordon outside of Cooktown |
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| Willie catches, washes and cleans two "tasty" grubs |
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| Bottoms up |
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| Nearly up-chucked. So proud of him for trying. No chance anyone else would have done that. By the way Willie tossed his into his mouth and savored like a Hershey's kiss. Hayden thinks it is an acquired taste. |
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| Halle giving water on a leaf to a small gecko |
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| Looking up into the cave at paintings |
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| Snake snout rock. Below this is where Willie's grandfather was born and buried |
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| Sorry Coolin, ID but the Cookstown parade just beat you out as the world's worst |
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| The Aborigines await the arrival of Captain Cook |
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| Scary in that this is probably what the Brit forces looked like |
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| Enough said |
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| On the path between Manly and Shelly beaches outside of Sydney. The waves were HUGE |
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| My photogenic progeny on the cliffs on Sydney Harbour's north head |
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| In a downpour watching surfers and boogey boarders get pummeled in 15-20 foot waves. We only stood there for an hour and the kids were very upset that we forced them to leave before it turned dark. |
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| Searching for platypus (successfully) on a river in the Southern Highlands about 90 minutes SW of Sydney with uber guide Steve |
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| Hayden with the perfect human-wombat photo opp |
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| Wombat. These are very closely related to Koalas which I never realized. |
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| The view from our hotel. The opera house is at the end of the pier to the right but obscured by an office building |
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| Koala finally spotted at a tourist attraction near the aquarium |
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| In the shark tunnel at the Sydney Aquarium |
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| From one of the prime photo locations |
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| Atop the Harbour Bridge |
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| And going down the other side after sunset |
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