Greetings from Port Douglas in Cairnes, in the state of Queensland. We're halfway in our travels. Here's what we've been doing:
Back in Melbourne on Monday 9/11, we took a delightful coach trip along the Great Ocean Road along the Bass Strait. We look south towards Tasmania. We saw the the wonderful 12 apostles. Really lovely and awe-inspiring to see the power of wind and water. My photographer took some lovely photos. Just beautiful. We all reflect on this remembrance day.
Tuesday 9/12 we have an early flight to Adelaide in the state of South Australia, a town not built by convicts. We curiously change time back one half hour. This is another lovely town. Tonight we are the guests of Antoinetta for a home-hosted dinner. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants. We meet two English student-doctors who are renting rooms in her home and her granddaughter Amelia, who has helped prepare dinner and personally prepared tiramisu for our dessert. A pleasant evening.
Wednesday 9/13 we meet an Aboriginal elder named Lindsay. We have been learning from Udo about transgressions against the Aboriginals for the last 150 years or more. To say that a white man 'discovered' Australia is a huge insult to their nation of tribes. They are a proud people who have suffered much indignity from white colonizers. Interestingly, Lindsay's front tooth was knocked out which indicates to all that he is a respected tribal elder. We walked to the museum to see Aboriginal artifacts. Later, Anne, Patsy (our new California friend) and I all have sore legs, feet, knees; we stop at the Afghan restaurant next to our hotel for tasty appetizers and sandwiches and return home to mend.
On Thursday 9/14 we are in a plane, again; we are heading to Alice Springs in the territory (not state) of North Territory. We visited the base of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Very impressive. Along the way we visit the Old Telegraph Station and learn of its history and service. The next day we visit the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Air Corps) memorial on the top of a hill looking toward the McDonald mountain range. Then we met teachers and a couple visiting students at the School of the Air, which teaches 142 students all over the outback over the Internet. We watched as a class was broadcast. The U.S. owns some high-security radar domes just outside Alice. Big controversy over the site; a lot of Aussie's don't like it being there.
On Saturday 9/16, a long bus ride to the 600 million year-old Uluru (known by the white man as Ayers Rock), a most sacred place to the first people. Along the way, Udo showed us a road train. These are trucks that haul 3 or 4 trailers behind it. Kinda scary, but they are on this long straight drive out in the middle of nowhere. Here and further west there are camels in the wild which were brought here @ 1860 from Pakistan . Any hoofed animal is not native to Australia. So the camels are not liked by ranchers because they chew up the land. There's also a huge problem with wild rabbits that I believe I forgot to tell you about. A pair was brought from England as a goodwill gesture in order to provide food for the native people. Now there are more than a million of them. We stopped at a cattle ranch that they call a station. We met the granddaughter of the founder and learned how pesky the flies in this part of the country are. We wear our fly nets for the next 2 days. We pass Mount Conner, which we all think is Uluru. We drive further and actually see red Uluru. We meet Owen, a front-toothless elder who also is a park ranger, and we walk with him and hear some traditional tales of the mountain. We take a short drive to Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas) and are surprised and delighted to have champagne and snacks awaiting us to watch the sunset.
On Sunday we flew to Cairns (cans) and arrive after dark. We forward our watches a half hour. We awake this morning to take a 1-1/2 hour boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. We spent a fun day snorkeling, riding in a submersible to see the coral, plants and fish of all sorts. Some of us took a short helicopter ride around a small portion of this huge reef. Corals look like cabbages, rocks, spaghetti, brains. We saw 5 huge turtles and about 4 huge clam shells. Everyone had a great time, even though the skies were overcast. Beautiful trees and plants in this tropical area. Early tomorrow we visit the Daintree Rainforest. Mosquito spray is a must.
I've noticed several auto-corrected words that are obviously so wrong. Hopefully we correct them on the blog. BTW, the address is: jinkski@blogspot.com or jinkski.blogspot.com
Did this email tire you out, Thom? Hope you all are well. We remain your friends,
A & M
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