Queen for a Day or two

What a cute town! (Queenstown New Zealand). It sits right on Lake Wakatipu which is the bluest blue we have ever seen. The lake is surrounded by a ring of majestic snow covered mountains and the town is filled with shops catering to tourists , although the prices are outrageous. We took a cruise on an antique steamship. It had a sing-along piano player and the sights along the lake were beautiful.

Our room had a fantastic view of the mountains.

Today we went to a little gold mining town named Arrowtown. Old buildings now serving as restaurants and shops. Probably the best hamburgers we have ever eaten at a little shop named "The Shed". Visited a chinese mining settlement on the river. Amazing to see how they lived 100 years ago, little tiny shacks serving as home. Later on we took the gondola to the top of the mountain that gave us a fantastic view of the town and the surround lake and mountains.

Koalas in Trees

Today we finally found them. Koalas in trees! It is a whole new thing to see animals in their natural habitat than in a zoo. We had been looking for these little guys since we set foot on Australian soil. Today while driving through the forest, Tim spotted one above the road, clinging to the branches of an overhanging tree. Once we recognized what they looked like in the wild (fluffy balls of fur) we were able to spot them everywhere. We must have seen thirty of them within an hour or so. Most were sleeping, a couple awake and munching eucalyptus leaves. We also saw a kangaroo eating grass by the side of the road.

We drove the coast highway today. Beautiful views. Saw the 12 Apostles and a telegraph station and and antique lighthouse. The date was 1850. We are in the state of Victoria, staying tonight in the small town of Apollo Bay.

Adelaide to Warrnambool

Well we left Cairns and flew to Adelaide on the 20th. We had to change planes in Sydney so flying was an all day affair. We arrived in Adelaide after dark and had to find our way to our room for the next two nights. Good thing Tim is great with directions because none of the streets have signs , only the cross streets. Top that off, Google directions uses names for the streets and most of the main streets use numbers such as A1 or A7. Very confusing. The place we stayed at was owned by a friend of Tim's. It was a house and had a wonderful internet connection that allowed us to upload. On Sunday we drove down to the port of Adelaide and went on a river cruise looking for dolphins that live in the river. We saw a couple without ever leaving the dock. Oh well ,the boat ride was fun. After the river cruise, we went to a museum downtown. Good fun.

Today, we got up early and bought some groceries for our long car ride. Our plan is to drive the Great Ocean road on our way to Melbourne. It rained all day but the drive was nice. Mostly farm land with cows and sheep everywhere and a few dead kangaroos along the road. FINALLY! Found a restaurant in Warrnambool that had a salad bar and a $10.00 steak. Jackie (salad) and Tim (steak) were in heaven. By the way, if you are ever in Cairns, stay away from the mexican food. Mexico is a long way away (obviously!)

Fun in Cairns

Jackie and I had to "rough it" in Cairns






Lagoon view from our room











Perenti grabs lunch







Watch out for Big Bird
















Madame Butterfly

Pics from Alice and Ayers Rock

Looking cool at the Olgas












Look out for Spiders (big as a teacup)





Ayers Rock at Sunset












Mr Lizard comes a calling

Jackie sings Waltzing Matilda with an eel and watches TV with a grouper in Sydney

Wild weather
at Manly

Cairns

Here we are in Cairns. It has been a busy week. We have one more day here, and then on Saturday we fly to Adelaide. Tomorrow we plan on going to a crocodile farm and the beach. We have had many adventures this week, including several treks through the rainforest, a drive to Cape Tribulation, a train ride up a mountain, a sky ride down a mountain, a visit to Kuranda village (where we bought a beautiful opal!), a visit to a butterfly sanctuary, a boat ride on the river (where we saw a baby crocodile, a tree snake, and of course, birds), many beach days and an afternoon in the city of Cairns. This is a resort area with tons of hotels and restaurants. I really enjoyed getting away from all of that by driving and hiking in the rainforest. We didn't see a lot of wildlife though, except for lots of interesting birds. I did see a bandicoot while I was sitting in the car. Tim scared him off!

Hey Everyone!

You never know how well you have it until you have to do without... We wanted you all to share in our trip by having pictures of our escapades on our blog, but either we did not have access to a computer or when we did the connection is way too slow to upload our pictures! Bah!

So, for the time being, enjoy our muses and when we get back, we will have a slide show for those of you "fortunate/unfortunate" to see...

Off to Cairns!

Sydney

We flew into Sydney on Oct 4 and had a whirlwind week. We stayed in "Freshwater Bungalow" just outside of Sydney--a charming little place--with everything we needed except a phone and internet. It was an awakening to realize that not everyone has such conveniences. We had to take the bus and ferry into Sydney to see the sights, as traffic is a bit unnerving when you don't know where you are going and driving on the left side of the road! But we did it. We saw the opera house, the bridge, the royal botanical gardens, the Taronga Zoo, the Sydney Aquarium, and Paddy's Market. We also went to church in Sydney at Hillsong Church. One day we packed a lunch and hiked along the beach trail to Cabbage Tree Bay and Shelly beach. It was great. Probably about 3 miles of up and down......at the end is a hill with a beautiful view! We saw
"water dragons"-- big lizards that like to hang out on the rocks by the sea. On the way back, a whale was putting on a show for us. It was a great day!

Alice Springs

Oct. 10 2007

We flew into Alice Springs today---bumpy ride. This is like another world here. Desert terain--much like Arizona. The town is rather charming--kind of like a "trading post" grown up. Aborigines hang around doing nothing: lots of yelling at eachother. Hard to understand a way of life so different than ours.

1st Post

We made this blog to keep you all informed of our Australian Adventures!!! Enjoy!