australia: part ii

“There’s a lollypop lady in the zebra crossing in front of Hungry Jacks”. Say what? It can be a challenge to understand what Australians are saying to you. If the accent doesn’t get you, the words they use probably will. Of course, many of the words they use are from “The Queen’s English”, which includes words that Americans simply don’t use like pram (stroller), bonnet (hood of a car) and boot (trunk of a car). The Aussies also have many of their own words or sayings. For example, the translation for the opening sentence of this paragraph from Australian to American English is “There’s a crossing guard in the cross walk in front of Burger King.” BTW, all of the Burger Kings in Australia are called Hungry Jacks. I’m guessing it is because there was already a Burger King in Australia of some kind when the Burger King chain that we all know tried to start expanding into Australia.

We flew into Brisbane, or “Brissy” as the Aussies call it, from Mackay on December 9th. We booked 2 nights at an AirBnB to tie us over before a short house sit that we had scheduled starting on the 11th. The AirBnB had a good location in a high rise right on the Brisbane River. We could catch the free “City Hopper” ferry right outside our building and take it to the CBD (Central Business District). We walked around downtown Brisbane, exploring walking streets full of shops. We also checked out the city hall square. Parts of the city were decorated for Christmas which made for a festive scene – but – the temperature was in the high 80’s/low 90’s Fahrenheit (low 30’s Celsius) and humid. So, it really didn’t feel too “Christmassy” to us. We ended our downtown excursion at a sushi place where you select your sushi off a conveyer belt that runs through the entire restaurant and passes by all of the tables.

We spent one day in Brisbane checking out the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This sanctuary has been rescuing koalas since 1927. It is the oldest and largest koala sanctuary in the world and, as best we can tell, the place that is doing the most to help koalas in all of Australia. I don’t think koalas are officially listed as an endangered species but they are definitely under threat because of a loss of habitat due to man (urbanization/lumber) and bushfires. There have been some really terrible fires while we have been here in Australia – more on that later in the post. Anyway, Lone Pine was a really cool place. We got to see tons of koalas, got to touch koalas and they had some other animals as well. A few things we really enjoyed seeing there besides the koalas were platypus, Tasmanian devils and wombats. They also had a couple shows that we enjoyed. One was a bird of prey show that included throwing dead mice in the air to demonstrate how this one type of bird catches and eats its prey in flight. Another show demonstrated how sheep dogs herd sheep.

Probably the coolest thing at Lone Pine (except for maybe the koalas) was a cassowary. Don’t know what a cassowary is? Think raptor from Jurassic Park. To me, these birds are amazing. Cassowaries are the 3rd largest bird in the world (after the ostrich and the emu) and they are generally considered “the world’s most dangerous bird”. They are not aggressive, and avoid human contact, but they have been known to kill both humans and dogs – although this is an extremely rare occurrence.

Cassowaries are amazing beasts – yes, a bird can be a beast. The largest cassowaries can grow to 6.5ft (2m) tall and weigh up to 130lbs (58kg). They have three-toed feet with sharp claws. The middle toe, sports a dagger-like claw that may be 5 inches (125mm) long. These claws are particularly fearsome since they are attached to enormously powerful legs. Cassowaries can run at up to 30 mph (50kmh) through dense forest and can jump up to 5 ft (1.5m) high. In addition, they are good swimmers, crossing wide rivers and swimming in the sea. The primarily eat plants, but they are omnivores, sometimes eating invertebrates and small vertebrates. Another cool thing about cassowaries is that their call is at a super, super low frequency (almost beyond the range of human hearing). It is an intimidating sound.

We took a day trip to another animal attraction when we were in Brisbane: The Australia Zoo. The Australia Zoo was founded by Steve Irwin - better known as the famous “Crocodile Hunter” - the over the top “excito” that had a pretty entertaining TV series for a while. Since his untimely death back in 2006, his wife and children have kept the place running and kept, not only his memory alive, but have really kept his life’s mission alive, which was helping to conserve wildlife around the globe. We enjoyed the Australia Zoo but if you ever find yourself in Brisbane short on time and/or money, we would encourage you to check out Lone Pine as it is less expensive and located right in Brisbane, whereas the Australia Zoo is about an hour and half drive away. But, if your main interest is crocs, then go to the Australia Zoo.

Brisbane is a river city, but it is close to the coast and sits right between two popular beach areas. South of Brisbane you have the “Gold Coast” and north of Brisbane you have the “Sunshine Coast”. Both areas are tourist havens for foreign travelers as well as for Aussies looking to hit the beach for a break from the heat. We took day trips to both areas.

Surfers Paradise

First, we headed south to the Gold Coast. We drove from Brisbane down through Surfers Paradise (yes, there really is a city called Surfers Paradise) and Burleigh Heads, all the way down to Byron Bay. There are beautiful beaches throughout the Gold Coast but they are pretty much all tourist traps. Surfers Paradise is full of high-rise apartment buildings with ocean views. Kind of like Miami. Traffic is bad. Byron Bay is more chill. It has a beach vibe, but it is becoming overrun by tourists and big money.

Another day we headed north to the Sunshine Coast. We found it a bit more mellow heading that way. We liked a quiet beach town named Mudjimba. But further north from there is Noosa, which is quite beautiful, but there is a LOT of money in that town and it is a nightmare on a day when tourists are descending on it. We did have a great walk/hike along a coastal path in the Noosa National Park. We had hoped to see wild koalas there, but no-go.

On December 16th, we flew from Brisbane to Melbourne (pronounced “Mel-bun”). We were looking forward to Melbourne and escaping some of the high temperatures and humidity we encountered in Cairns, Mackay and Brisbane. The weather in Melbourne reminds me a little of the weather in Denver. Of course, Melbourne and Denver are really not at all alike, but they do share what I’ll call “volatile weather”. The weather can change quickly and dramatically. To illustrate this, on a Wednesday we were looking at a possible all-time heat record of 102f (39c). The following day, Thursday, it was a beautiful 74f (23c). Then, the next day, set an all-time record of 105f (41c) and then the next 3 days had highs of only 66f (19c)!

As I’m sure you are all aware by now, these unusually hot temperatures, coupled with a years-long drought and high winds, have led to some devastating bushfires that are still burning as I write. In fact, there have been hundreds of bushfires burning across all of Australia for months now. Hundreds of homes have been lost and many people have died - both civilians and firefighters. Unlike in the States, many, if not the majority, of the firefighters in Australia are volunteers.

From my perception, these bushfires are far more wicked than the wild fires we deal with in the western U.S. A few of the fires have encroached on major population centers such as Sydney and Melbourne. While we were in Melbourne, we had several hazy days where we could smell smoke and we would notice a few people walking on the streets wearing surgical masks. We fielded several emails and texts from family and friends that were worried about our safety. I downloaded the “VicEmergency” app to my phone, which the government of the State of Victoria has put out so that it’s citizens can keep track of where the fires are and also be notified if the fires start to get too close.

Our friends Andrew and Kerrie, who’s apartment we stayed in when we visited Sydney, have had quite a scary time dealing with these fires. We stayed with them in their downtown apartment in Sydney, but their main home is in a town south of Sydney called Nowra. After we parted ways in Sydney at the end of October, we kept in touch with them. They shared stories about the fires getting so close that they had their car packed for evacuation, their home had been covered with ash and they had taken fire prevention steps to protect their home (more on those in a minute). They had been “lucky” so far because the area they live in has a river running through it and, although the fires came very close to the river, they never jumped the river to the side that Andrew and Kerrie lived on. Well, very recently they had a very, very serious situation on their hands. Here are some excerpts from a letter they sent to concerned friends and family on Jan 4th when the weather there was around 109f (43c) with high winds ……

“Yesterday the fires crossed the Shoalhaven River which we had hoped to be our safety barrier. Fortunately (and probably the only thing that saved us from coming under direct fire attack) the forecast for strong westerly winds didn’t eventuate.”

“We had done all the preparations we could; hoses laid out, downspouts blocked and gutters filled with water, generator and pump attached to the water tank (to overcome the expected loss of domestic water pressure), hose ready to suck water out of the neighbor’s pool, foliage and vulnerable surfaces wet down, firefighting clothing at the ready ….”

“The fire got to Tapitallee (from North Nowra, the next “suburb” west is Bangalee and then Tapitallee) about a 10 minute drive. We could see the big Boeing 737 water bomber working the fire.”

“And then the southerly arrived! Andrew was standing in the driveway and there was this roaring noise accompanied by a wall of smoke. In about 30 seconds it went from almost calm and watching the smoke rising from the fires to the west to being in a gale and barely being able to see the end of the street 100m away. That got people out into the streets again before we all went and donned overalls and masks.”

“The wind lasted for about an hour before calming down. However, it then pushed the fire totally out of control to the north at speed.”

Pretty scary stuff! A couple days later they sent us a note that they were still OK but the danger was far from over. They also said: “100 more firefighters have arrived from USA. Hurrah!”. They are still not out of danger at the time of this writing. Closer to where we were in Melbourne, homeowners and tourists got cut off by the fires and had to take shelter on the beach and get rescued by ships from the Australian navy. Crazy stuff!

Putting the fires aside, we enjoyed Melbourne. We actually didn’t get too rattled about the fires because we were doing a house sit where we had no TV and no internet so we were kinda’ out of touch. Our house sit in Melbourne was located in the desirable suburb area of Elwood/St. Kilda. We were there from Dec 18-Jan 4. We were looking after an “Iggy” – an Italian greyhound – named Charles. He was a cute 8-month old puppy that quickly stole our hearts. We stayed in an apartment complex that was composed of buildings from three different eras. The oldest was built in the 1800’s – supposedly to house an illegitimate son of a King. Another portion of the complex was built in the 1920’s and the third portion in the 1960’s or 70’s. The buildings were arranged in a “U” shape around a beautiful garden. It is believed that when the first large house was built in the 1800’s the garden was very large – maybe even a city block. Some of the trees in the garden are thought to be well over 100 years old. It was a very cozy place and the garden was like an oasis in the middle of the city.

St. Kilda

From the apartment we could walk to the nearby beaches of St. Kilda and Elwood. We could also take a longer walk to Brighton Beach – around 5 miles (8km) round trip. The St. Kilda beach area was kind of neat. It had a walking street about twice as long as the one by the Hermosa Pier but it also had a small amusement park that was reminiscent of the one on the Santa Monica pier. We had no car during our sit, but that was no problem. Melbourne has awesome public transportation. We were easily able to get to downtown via a number of different options (train, bus or tram). We elected to use the train most of the time but we did try out the trams and the bus as well.

Melbourne is a great city. Unfortunately, it is an expensive place (like all of Australia) and we simply didn’t have the budget to really explore all that it had to offer. That being said, we had some lovely days where we strolled along the Yarra River or walked down the “laneways” finding little cafés. We walked the downtown streets of Melbourne, weaving our way through sometimes dramatic Christmas decorations as we window shopped.

While we enjoyed our sit in Melbourne and looking after Charles, we were quite excited to get back on the road and continue our journey. This is because we already had our next 3-months all planned out and the plans include visiting a LOT of cool places at a somewhat “rapid fire” pace. Put it this way, without providing spoilers to future blog posts, between Jan 4 and Mar 5 we will be hitting the Great Ocean Road in Australia, catching 11 flights, taking a 3-day cruise and visiting around 20 cities across 5 different countries!

This travel onslaught began with 3-days exploring Australia’s Great Ocean Road (GOR). On the evening of the 4th we drove 3 hours from Melbourne to Port Campbell, which sits on the “end” of the GOR (meaning the far western point of the road). We took the inland route, so we really weren’t on the GOR itself. Then the next day, we started our 3-day leisurely trip back east along the GOR toward Melbourne.

Our first day on the Great Ocean Road was a memorable one. We drove east from Port Campbell down to the 12 Apostles and then we headed back west, past our starting point, and all the way up to Warrnambool. Then we headed back east to spend a second night in Port Campbell. We saw the 12 Apostles (of which there are now only 7 left) and other beautiful sights along the coastline. We also saw some great wildlife. First thing in the morning we saw a wallaby hanging out on the side of the road. Later in the day we saw a flock of ibis as well as a flock of black cockatoos. Unfortunately, the wildlife appeared and disappeared too quickly for us to capture any photos, but we did get a few shots of the beautiful coastline.

Day two on the GOR we headed east from Port Campbell, stopping to revisit the 12 Apostles, and then continuing east through Cape Ottway, Apollo Bay and Kennett River and then stopping for the night in Lorne. Day two provided more wildlife viewing. We saw two wallabies or kangaroos (not sure which), we saw 3 wild koalas, a kookaburra and many, many sulphur crested cockatoos. This time, we were able to capture a few pics of the wildlife.

Day 3 on the GOR we continued east back to Melbourne from Lorne. On the way we stopped for “brekkie” (breakfast) in Anglesea. Then we hit the world-famous surf break, Bells Beach. Unfortunately, Bells Beach was totally blown out and nobody was in the water. We also stopped in surf town, Torquay, the home of surf lifestyle brand, Rip Curl. The only wildlife we saw on this leg were more sulphur crested cockatoos.

Some final musings on Australia. The money in Australia is similar to that in New Zealand. Their currency unit is the Australian dollar. The bills are colorful. The coins are a bit boring as, just like in NZ, they all have a profile of Queen Elizabeth on the heads side. Also, like NZ, Australia has done away with the 1-cent coin, however, unlike NZ, Australia still has the 5-cent coin. Beer and alcohol are super expensive Australia. This is due to taxation. It’s kind of crazy that I can buy a Corona here for the same price, or less, than an Australian beer. Beers were on average about $20AD per 6-pack. That’s about $14USD per 6-pack or about $2.33USD per beer. I think back in the U.S. you can get a mid-range beer like Budweiser for about $1USD per beer (way less if you buy a 12-pack or a case). There didn’t seem to be much of a price break in Australia if you bought a 12-pack or a case. People in Australia say “no worries” way, way too much!

If you have been thinking of going to Australia or New Zealand, here is my advice (assuming you are more interested in nature and history like we are, than in cities and night life partying). First, go to both countries. You are going all the way across the world, it simply doesn’t make sense to only visit one unless you are confident you have the time, money and health to make it back. Second, regardless of how long your trip is, you have to make some tough choices about what to skip in Australia. The country is just too big. Third, I suggest you visit Australia first and then New Zealand. You will be impressed by the landscape in Australia and then blown away by the landscape in New Zealand. If you go to NZ first and then Australia, your reaction to the Australian landscape will be – “meh”. Australia does beat out New Zealand, though, when it comes to animal life and enjoying the ocean.

Well, that is it for our experience down under. Future blogs should be posted fairly often over the next couple of months provided (A) we have decent internet and (B) we have access to all internet sites since – and here is a hint for you as to one of the countries we are going to – we will be in a communist country.

Here are a few final random pictures from our first six weeks in Australia. Many more photos can be found in the "Gallery" section of this website.....