Cairns - Day 3

Today we visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park which is around 38 acres.  It was started 25 years ago by 7 Aboriginals who performed on the street. We then went to the Skyrail Rain forest Cableway which is 4.7 miles long.  The Kuranda Village was close by which is where we had lunch; meat pies from Annabel's Pantry - the 2nd best meat pies in Australia (according to our program director, Pam).

These are pictures of Tjapukai tribesmen who performed for us.  We also had an opportunity to throw a boomerang and a spear.

This is a picture we took while riding on the cable car. Look at the scenery!

Our new friends rode the cable car with us.

Wayne just loves having his picture taken!

There was a station (stop) where we got off the cable car and walked to a view of a waterfall.

The friends enjoyed the walk, too!









P.S. Our friends are traveling with us from Melbourne to Baton Rouge and then will go to new friends, Rachel and Ariel.

Cairns - Day 2

Wayne snorkeled at the outer barrier reef.  I could have gone with some of the group to Green Island.  There was snorkeling and shopping.  The boat ride out to the island was an hour long. I chose not to chance getting seasick. Wayne said I would have gotten sick, so I made a good choice.  I had a great time washing and drying clothes; ironing; cleaning the red dust off our shoes; and, of course, shopping!

This is the view from our hotel room.  It's enjoyable watching the boats sail into the harbor.

On the left is the boat Wayne was on traveling to the reef.  The right is a section of the platform they swam from.  It's a stationary platform that is moored.  It has dressing rooms; a restaurant; and a semi-submersible reef viewing boat.  The platform is over 2 hours from shore.  You can't see any land from it.

Wayne took pictures with an underwater camera.  This is one of the best.  The pictures really don't do the reef justice, he says.

Cairns - First Day

Our first stop was Hartley's Crocodile Adventures.  We did, however, see a lot more than crocodiles!

We were able to pet the Koala Bear, but couldn't hold it. Shoot!

We did see a lot, I mean a lot, of saltwater crocodiles!  They look just as mean as alligators.

There was also a pen with kangaroos that we were able to feed.

We then visited the Wetherby Outback Cattle Station.  Besides learning a little about breeding cattle  (what???), we had a great meal and musical entertainment.

Our last song of the evening was the kangaroo dance.  We learned this at the Alice Springs barbie, so we did a pretty good performance.

Trip to Uluru

Ayers Rock is now called Uluru which is the Aboriginal name. We were fortunate to have both clouds and sun the 2 days we were there for spectacular pictures. We were also fortunate to be visiting Uluru on October 26 for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of turning Uluru over to the Aboriginals by the Australian government. We were allowed to take pictures, which is not usual. However, the ladies who performed dances were not suitably dressed to post pictures here.

On the way to Uluru, we visited a camel farm.  Me and our new friends were excited to be able to ride one.  Not old 'stick-in-the-mud' Wayne!

The travel company surprised the group with snacks and champagne or juice upon our arrival.

Our new friends also enjoyed our time at Uluru.

The pictures really don't do it justice! It's like seeing pictures of Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon.  Seeing it in person is awesome!

Alice Springs day 2

We took our new friends down to Ross River to play.  Actually, this is more like a river bed.  Very seldom is there flowing water. The kids had fun, anyway!



We went to Alice Springs Desert Park.  This is one of many gorgeous landscapes.

This is an owl we saw at a birds of prey presentation. They are flying free, kinda taking instruction from a trainer.

This black-tipped falcon would swoop down and grab food from the trainer, either from the ground or when she threw it up into the air.

We went to an area where you can buy pellets and feed rock-wallabies.  They come down from a rocky hill in the evenings to be fed.

This little guy jumped on a log so Wayne wouldn't have to stoop down to feed him. They eat the pellets from your hand.

Vist to Alice Springs

Alice Springs is in the geographical center of Australia (the Outback).  It was founded as a telegraph repeating station to aid in Australia's communications in 1870.

Our new friends traveled with us to Alice Springs. 

Our first sighting of a wild kangaroo, just outside the telegraph station. A fellow traveler had the patience to get a picture of her with a 'joey' in her pouch!  At lease we saw her bounce away.

These two love birds are Galah parrots which can be seen everywhere in this area.







                                                                                                         



Our guide at the telegraph station is Alec Ross (blue shirt) who was one of the 'lost children', those who were if mixed race and were taken from their parents.  We were lucky to have him as our guide as he is not there often.

In the evening, we attended a Barbie at an old rock quarry.  This is a boomerang throwing demonstration. 

Grilled steak, baked potato, tac bread (not sure of the spelling - which is flour, water and salt, cooked in a cast iron, deep skillet), apple cobbler, and all the beer, wine or soft drinks you could want.  The evening included a talk on the aboriginal people, music, which included guest musicians, and star gazing.

New Friends

We met these two guys at an open-air market and brought them back to our hotel.

They came with us when we visited Chinatown.

Melbourne city tour.

As you can see, cars drive on the left side.  So, when you turn left, or when you want to cross the street, you have to look left, right, left!  In addition, we noticed that when walking on the sidewalk, people tend to pass on the left instead of our usual right.

This is in front of a side door of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

This is Melbourne's war memorial, Shrine of Remembrance. 

After the city bus tour, we shopped at an outdoor market where we picked up a couple of small friends which you'll see in future pictures.  We had hot dogs for lunch which had sausage and tough bread; definitely not like home.  Tonight's italian dinner at a local restaurant was much better.

We finally made it!

Just a quick note to let y'all know that we made it. AND to tell you that you should never fly through Los Angeles if you have to change airlines. Getting from United to Qantas was a trip from hell.

READY TO GO!

Put this in; take that out.  Bring that; leave this.  We did this over and over again.  Having to pack for both cold and hot climates is not easy.  AND, we want to be able to bring some souvenirs home.  After three days of ‘ins and outs’, we think we’ve got it!

THE CHALLENGE BEGINS!

The suitcases are down from the attic.  Somehow, all this ‘stuff’ has to fit in them.  AND, each ‘check’ bag has to weigh less than 50 lbs!  Each carry-on bag is limited to 15 lbs!  Piece of cake (not)!!!