Future Posts

Well, we are home at last. Jet lag is amazing and the time changes have made our first full day at home very interesting. We are neither on EST time nor Australian time. Today our goal is to stay awake all day and force out internal clocks to straighten out!

I still have a few things to post with new programs I have found but I am not sure when I will get to that. Check back often just to see if I have figured out the time line program and the mapping program!

Thanks bunches for following our travels. It was an amazing journey and I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity!

More on Kangaroo Island

We loved Kangaroo Island. Over the 3 days we spoent there we went on about every road on the island! We saw Kangaroos, wallabies, anteaters, pelicans, koalas, black swans, seals, fur seals, rock formations, ocean/coastline vistas, lighthouses...oh my! It was a fantastic stay as you can see from the video montage in a previous post. Here are some photos for you to enjoy. I can't wait to see the photos on a larger screen. I'm using the Acer and it is working fine.

This fellow posed for us for some time before going back to sleep!


He was very curious about us but finally hopped away.


How many seals can you find among the rocks??

Kangaroo Island

Enjoy the video. Will post later. Checking out Melbourne today!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Olgas

The Olgas also known as Kata Tjuta lie about 32kilometers west of Uluru. The Aboriginal name which means many heads. According to our guide there are no numbers beyond 5 in the Aboriginal language. When they count 1,2,3,4,5 then they use the word tjuta which means many!

We were fortunate to have an afternoon tour of Kata Tjuta. We left around 3:30 for the drive making only one stop at a viewing area along the road. We had a great panoramic view of the Rock formation. Although it appears to be many rocks, it started as one but cracked and weathered over time and now looks as if it has 36 heads.


We arrived at Kata Tjuta with enough time to take the Walpa Gorge Walk. We followed the rocky path for 2.6 kilometers, checking out the plants and the domes along the way. This area is sacred under Anangu men’s laws. According to these laws, details of stories cannot be shared and many areas are restricted.

Instead of stories, we learned about plants, animals and geology. The primary tree in this area is the Desert Oak. It looks like a conifer. In fact when it is young, it looks like a bottle brush. It grows slowly for years boring down into the earth looking for water. When it hits water it begins to grow and sends out branches changing it’s appearance. The oldest trees in the area are up to 500 years old appear to be no more than 20 feet tall.

After our walk, we headed to the Sunset viewing area to watch the sun hit the domes as it went down. Champagne, snacks and sunset at Kata Tjuta…what could be better than that!? Check out the video which shows the slight change of colors...

Uluru

The traditional landowners of Uluru-Kata -Tjuta National Park are the Yankunytjatara and Pitjantjatjara people. In their language they call themselves Anangu, pronounced arn-ang-oo. This land was created by the Tjukuritja or the creation ancestors. In their travels they left marks in the land and made laws for the people to keep and live by.


Uluru is a sacred place and the Anangu people prefer that people do make the climb. There is a route which is the traditional route taken by ancestral Mala men upon their arrival at Uluru. Since is has great spiritual significance, they ask that we not make the climb. Unfortunately many people disregard their wishes. We chose to respect their law and culture. We had made that decision before we even arrived in Australia and after looking the climb, we felt we had made a good decision just for the sake of safety. I could just imagine taking a wrong step and ending up rolling down the rock taking out a number of other tourists along the way!!

Our day started early so we could be at Uluru for sun rise and the beautiful colors of the rock. As the sun came up the rock glowed bright orange and red. No picture could do it justice or at least none that I could take!

We continued our trek to several stops around the base. The rock drawings showed told the Anangu stories and gave directions for the area.


Marks on the rock told tales of battles between poisonous and non poisonous snakes. Oddly enough the non poisonous snake won the battle by bopping the other snake on the head and cutting off it’s nose. Now you know how to tell the difference between a poisonous and non poisonous snake. The poisonous snake has a blunt head, as if it has no nose!


The waterhole at the base of the rock is fed by the run-off from the rock. There are two water holes in this area. One is at the base and the other is right above where you see a tree growing. Anangu children come and swim in the waterholes!

The vertical marks in the rock show that the rock has been tipped to the side. These lines would typically be horizontal.

The rock has a circumference of 9.4 km (6 Miles) and is 348 m (1,141ft) aboveground. It was formed by sediments laid down 600-700 million years ago in an inland sea and was thrust upward by geologic forces. It’s beautiful at any time of the day.

On the Road to Uluru

Our 5 hour journey to Ayers Rock started at 6:50am. The Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock is Uluru and that is what I will use from this point forward. We traveled 500 kms from Alice Springs to Uluru on a straight and paved road through the red land, past the McDonald Range and the Waterhouse Range. The land here reminds me of Montana with some trees and lots of scrub bushes and native grasses. We traveled on the Stuart Highway named after the Scot who first explored the middle of the continent and was the first to travel from Adelaide to the top end. It took him 3 times and in the end he became so sick that he had to be carried back to Adelaide. Unfortunately he never regained his health and died 4 years later.

The kangaroos here are elusive. I have been told they are huge red guys and I kept my eyes peeled in the hopes of finally seeing one. My expectation was that they would be as plentiful as our deer. So far that does not seem to be the case. Everyone tells us that they come our at night and early in the morning. 5 hours and 300 kilometers and NO KANGAROOS!!

I am also fascinated by the road trains. These are tractor trailers that are 2 to 3 times longer than our tractor trailers. I've seen a few but have had difficulty getting a photo. I'll keep working on that!

As we traveled down Stuart Highway I noticed dirt roads that headed off in different directions and wished we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle and could just turn down one or two of them. About an hour into the drive the rand changed slightly and reminded me of red rock country near Lander, Wyoming or Sedona, AZ.


Once the center of the continent was explored people started settling there and they decided camels may be useful. They brought in the 2 hump camel along with some Afghan cameleers to drive them. The 2 hump camels did not seem to adapt to the environment so they tried the Dromedary camels in the 1860s.. They were very efficient and seemed perfect for the dry country. Since they were able to carry their own weight, they began to carry goods back and forth through the desert. Camel trains, at least 10 camels with their Afghan rider, would move building materials, furniture, foods, even pianos into the outback. The Ghan train replaced the camels and brought about the demise of the camel trains. The camels were set free and today there is an estimated 1.5 million camels running wild in Australia. Our first stop on the Stuart Highway was at the Camel Farm where you could have a camel burger or take a ride on a camel. I opted for the ride. Goldie didn’t spit at me once and was quite gentle. Getting up and down was interesting but I kept my eyes closed, leaned back and held on tight!

We passed by a small cattle station…only 3,000 square kilometers! This one had citrus trees and grew totally organic oranges. Seems there is a huge aquifer under the land here and they were fortunate to find good soil. Most of the soil is sand here and doesn’t seem to grow much. The largest station we traveled thru was 5,000 square kilometers. Although the ranchers do not own the land they do have a lifetime lease. I saw a few fence lines that run next to the road but for the most part the land is still open. Every cattle station has it’s own airstrip. Most cattle ranchers have planes or helicopters to check their cattle or to muster them during round up. The airstrips are also used by the Flying Doctor Service. These doctors provide medical care for the people spread all over the continent and they are housed at airports throughout Australia.

The three river crossings were interesting since there was no water in any of them. During wet season, the rivers flow once or twice a season. The Fink River goes all the way to the sea and is the oldest river on the continent.

We made a quick stop at Ebenezer’s Roadhouse and had a grand snack of a lamington cake. We heard about lamingtons on our first day in Australia and boy am I glad I waited so long to try one! Sponge cake is cut in squares, layered with a raspberry jam, covered with chocolate icing and pressed with fine coconut flakes. They are delightful! I will try to resist them and fortunately I only have 10 more days to resist the temptation! Ebenezer’s Roadhouse is on a rather small cattle station. The roadhouse is run by white people but the cattle station is run by an Aboriginal tribe. It was a quick stop; long enough for the lamington and a few pictures,

Our last stop was an overlook for a few pictures of Mt Connor. This land formation is often mistaken for Uluru but we were still an hour’s drive away. The Aboriginal name for Mt. Connor translates to Land of the Ice People. There are several salt water lakes in the area and these lakes around Mt Connor keep the temperatures a few degrees cooler than the rest of the interior. Weathering has formed Mt Connor leaving the rock formation standing and the rest of the earth eroded away.

We arrived at the Desert Palms which is one of the hotels in the Ayers Rock Resort. There are about 4 hotels here with restaurants, shops and a grocery store. We explored the resort in the afternoon and when the guys took a nap, I headed off to one of the lookouts for my first view of Uluru.

Pictures

We have made it to Kangaroo Island and internet has been shaky for the past 4 days. I am unable to upload pictures with any speed so I will post those later as I add new posts. Keep checking back!

Alice Springs

We arrived in time to find our hotel, have a bit of a walk, eat dinner and hit the sack so we would be ready for our full day in Alice Springs. The land here is beautiful, red, dry and reminds me a bit of the west. Since it’s winter here, the temps are pleasant with a nice breeze blowing. Todd River is a dry bed right now but we were told water is often 6 ft deep during wet season. I imagine it doesn’t last long though!

We started our day early with a 5:30 wake-up call. Our transport arrived about an hour later to take us to meet our guide for our Aboriginal Dreamtime and Bushtucker Tour. We learned about the past and present culture of the Aboriginal people. Sounds as if there were only about 40,000 people in Australia before the white explorers arrived. Now consider the size of this continent and imagine only 40,000 people in a land about the size of the US. There were hundreds of tribes each with their own language, customs and foods.

Dreamtime is the story of the Earth. First there was the BEGINNING with nothing on the surface of the earth. All the spirits lived below. During CREATION, the spirits came up to the surface of the Earth and wherever they walked they left their prints on the land, The prints created the land, water, mountains, etc. LEGACY is the continuation of all that was created. Stories were developed to share this Dreamtime and the stories were put to song. The songs continue to the present.

We met some Aboriginal people and were able to chat with them and purchase their paintings. I have been waiting for this my whole trip and finally purchased two of their “dot” paintings. The ladies were happy to have their pictures taken with their paintings but we did learn that this is not typical. When an Aboriginal person dies, their family and friends do not speak of them and do not want to have photos of them. They believe that if they speak of the dead person, he/she will hear them and be sad they are unable to return to be with their friends and family.

Elizabeth KataKariiuja’s Bush Banana Dreaming, very quietly talked about her family members who are artists. One is a very popular landscape artist here in Australia. She explained that the women typically do paintings about gathering. Here in the bush, they gather bananas, tomatoes, potatoes and seeds. The men are the hunters. She also explained that she now considers me her friend and someone who will share the stories with other white people.



Audrey Nungarrai and her husband showed me the pictures of all the things they gather and the color of each. They were very quiet and a bit shy but we did learn that their grandson is on the Melbourne Football team. They were very proud of that and rightly so! Football here is not the same as American football and I can not ever begin to explain it. Nonetheless, we did watch the game later in the day in the hopes of seeing their grandson. Evidently he did not play today and I understand he is new to the team and has only just started with them this season. Audrey’s painting is Wallaby Dreaming East of Mount Doreen. She explained that it is the story of the men hunting the wallabies.



Talking about hunting, we learned about boomerangs and actually got to try them out. Josh was almost an expert and , well, I tried it! Nuff said!!! The boomerangs they use here are not the returning ones. The shape is a bit different and you do have to retrieve it along with the animal!


The bush tucker was interesting. We started with Billy tea (hot tea) and damper (bread) both cooked over the open fire. Then we moved to another area and tried whattle seeds, bush tomatoes and witchetty grub. My new friend Elizabeth assured me that the cooked grub tasted like eggs and was also used as medicine for colds and asthma. I could not try the live grub but I did try a teeny, tiny piece of the cooked grub and, by gosh, it did taste like egg! It did NOT seem to make me feel any better by eating it though.


After our tour, we headed downtown and spent several hours walking around, enjoying the shops and having lunch at an English pub. We lazed around the pool until late afternoon before getting our bags ready for our next few days at Uluru.

BeFunky

Had a little fun with a new program. I turned Kip and Josh into a cartoon. Check out this program and have some fun playing with it. Just click on the title. No registration and no cost!

MagToo

Here's a video I put together using MagToo and a few photos taken by the on-board photographer during our reef trip. To try to make your own video, click on the title of this post.

The Future

Tomorrow we head out to Alice Springs, then to Ayers Rock, and back to Alice Springs. We fly to Alice Springs, then bus to Ayers Rock, then fly back to Alice Springs, then catch a flight to Adelaide, then catch a flight to Kangaroo Island. Who knows when we'll have internet again but keep checking back just in case we post anything new. BTW...camels were introduced to Australia years ago and I understand that we will see wild ones in the desert area. Sounds like we'll see the large kangaroos there also. Exciting!

Australian Speak

Just so you can understand us when we get home, we wanted you to know some new terms we have learned down under.

Mind your head = watch your head
No worries = all is okay
Bloke = man
Loo = bathroom
Give way = yield
Round-About = traffic circle
Sheila = woman
Lollipop man =flagman
Mates = friends
Mateship = friendship
Crook = sick
Fortnight = 2 weeks
Biscuit = cracker or cookie
Pot of beer = glass of beer
Capsicum = bell peppers
Tomato Sauce = ketchup
Flat White = espresso with milk
Road Trains = very large and long tractor trailers
Bah Bah = Good Bye in one of the Aboriginal languages

Mindl Beach Market

We had a fun day in Darwin today. We enjoyed walking all over the town...first downtown to all the shops, then to Sky City Casino and finally to Mindl Beach Market. The Beer/Soda Can Regatta was in full swing right on the beach and crowds were watching people in their "can" boats. Seems this is an annual event and there were swarms of participants and people just there for the fun. The market was a grand time with over 150 stands. People were selling incredible things...camel jerky to clothing from India to native crafts. Food vendors sold foods from India, Sri Lanka, Timor, Thailand, China, and even Australia. Great time!

Kakadu-Day 2

The 4 wheel drive vehicle picked us up at the hotel at 7:30am for our day in Arnhem Land. This area is one of Australia's most remote and least traversed regions. We had to cross the East Aligator River first and that was very exciting considering we were driving through the river in our vehicle!! It is Aboriginal land and permission from the Manilakarr people had to be granted before heading into this area. Our guide shared bush skills of hunting and gathering, took us to burial sites and showed us ancient Aboriginal rock art. Our day was interesting and laid back. We spent time at billabongs, climbed more rocks and had a great day. Much of the area we visited could not be photographed but here are a few of our sites.





We ended our day at Windows on the Wetlands Visitor Center with wine and cheese enjoying the sunset. What a view!

Kakadu-Day 1

Arrived in Darwin 3 days ago with just a bit of time to explore before we headed off at 6:30am for Kakadu National Park. Our travels on a tour bus took us past river systems and wetlands and finally into the park. We stopped at the rock escarpments to check out the ancient Aboriginal rock painting at Ubirr, some of them over 3,000 years old. The rocks were great fun to climb around and we had great views at the top!





Termite mounds were all over the place. Some were more than 6 feet tall. Sometimes the termites would build their mound right next to a tree. They would bore into the tree and eat out the center. The aboriginal men would then use these hollow trunks to build their musical instrument called a digeridoo. This instrument is played only by the men and has a deep, beautiful sound.



This picture of a digeredoo is from Wikipedia. Although we saw many of these musical instrucments being played by Aboriginal I haven't taken a picture yet. Permission must be granted before you take a photo of an Aboriginal person.



We took a cruise down the East Alligator River with an aboriginal guide who told us about the crocs here and talked of survival skills for the aboriginal people. The river may be called Alligator River but there are no alligators here, only crocodiles and very big ones! As we moved down the river we saw dozens of crocs lazing on the sides of the river and even had one come up from the bottom of the river right by our boat. Very scary!




We spent the night at the Gagudju Crocodile Hotel and slept in the belly of the croc! Fun!! Borrowed this picture from the hotel website! Sure wish that was me in the bikini but I'm afraid the great food has taken it's toll!!

Wordle

Remember Wordle. I linked it to my blog to make a poster. Click on link below.
title="Wordle: Australia"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1000852/Australia"
alt="Wordle: Australia"
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The Future

We're heading to Darwin tomorrow and don't know what will happen with Internet. Keep checking back; I'll post as soon as possible.

We fly out around noon and it is a two hour flight. We are staying downtown but will be there for a brief time. Friday morning we head into another National Park and will be exploring with a tour group. Expect to see more crocodiles...bigger ones and scarier ones, too!!! In fact we'll be staying in a hotel shaped like a crocodile...wow...exciting! We'll be joining an Aboriginal ceremony somewhere along the line so we have lots to be excited about!

Just in case we have no internet for longer, After Darwin, our next stop is Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. There is another name but I don't know how to spell it. Then we off to the south to Kangaroo Island and then to Melbourne.

Our trip is more than half over and we are trying not to think of that countdown. I am still amazed that we are having this opportunity.

OMG

Australia East Coast on Tsunami Warning. I think I am far enough north but I'm just a bit worried!
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5728640/tsunami-warning-issued

The Great Barrier Reef

We had a great time on the reef. Our trip out to Michaelmas Cay took 2 hours on the Ocean Spirit. We spent about 4 hours at the reef. We rented an underwater camera on the ship and Josh was able to take a number of pictures. I've put them together in the video below.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com