G'day, mates!

We’re off on our biggest and longest adventure yet to Australia and New Zealand - 35 days, 16 flights, and who knows how many miles. Overseas Adventure Travel is once again our tour company, and we’re joined on this outing by our friends Dennis and Vicky Shepard. The trip begins with an endless flight from Columbia to Australia. Read on …

TWO COUNTRIES A WORLD AWAY ...

AUSTRALIA is the world's sixth largest country, about the size of the continental United States. It is the smallest continent and the largest island. It is the lowest, flattest and second driest of the continents (Antarctica is drier!). And, it is very old - geologically, Australia's landscape can be aged in the billions of years. There has been little volcanic activity and earthquakes are rare. The northern tip of Australia, Cape York, is equivalent to Costa Rica in the northern hemisphere. The most southerly point, South East Cape in Tasmania, is similar in climate to Boston.

The country's original inhabitants probably arrived about 50,000 years ago - these Aboriginal people spread throughout the country over the next 30,000 years. After Captain Cook's first voyage, Britain decided that Australia would make an ideal penal colony for many of the inmates of Britain's overcrowded prisons. The first convicts arrived in 1788 and there followed a fifty year period when settlements were established around the coastline, large tracts of land were settled by sheep and cattle ranchers, and convicts helped free settlers get rich.

The "Convict Period" of Australian history came to an end with the discovery of gold. In 1852, when the last convicts arrived in eastern Australia, a total of 168,000 had been delivered to this country. In 1901, the colonies, which had all become autonomous states, came together to create a unified federation which was a member of the British Commonwealth, with the Queen as head of state. The new nation flourished and more than 5 million people migrated to Australia in the latter half of the 20th century. Today 1 in 5 Australians were born overseas and 22% of these are from Asian countries. The links with Britain, the mother country, has slowly eroded with this change in population base and within the next few years, Australia may complete its journey and become a free-standing republic with its own head of state.

Unlike its predominantly flat and dry neighbor, NEW ZEALAND has mountains, lakes, fjords, hills, plains, beaches, rivers and rainforests all in a relatively small area. New Zealand broke away from an ancient super-continent before the evolution of mammals; as a result, this island country had only birds when the first humans arrived 1000 years ago. All mammals (e.g., rabbits, possums, dogs, rats, ferrets, weasels) arrived in the past 200 years, since the arrival of white Europeans. These predators, plus over-hunting by the Maoris have wiped out 17 of 84 native birds; many of those remaining are endangered. Thanks to white European loggers, 80% of native trees have been destroyed as well.

New Zealand covers an area of 104,000 square miles, about the size of Colorado, divided into two main islands and smaller outlying islands so scattered that they range from tropical to antarctic. Three-fourths of the country is rolling hills and mountains, but to the south, fjords carved by ice are among the most spectacular in the world. The climate is temperate, but heavily influenced by the surrounding seas - it's not uncommon to experience all four seasons in one day. The west coast of the South Island is one of the wettest places on earth, with over 20 feet of rain falling every year.

The first settlers, the Maori began to arrive in New Zealand about 700 years ago. Travelling from Polynesia, the Maori established a nomadic hunter-gatherer society and quickly spread over much of New Zealand. The food supply of plump, flightless birds made life easy until 200 years of hunting made the giant Moa and many other flightless birds extinct. The Maori then turned to farming and fighting among tribes for land ownership. Captain Cook first landed here in 1769, and by the late 1700's, exploration, exploitation and colonization of New Zealand was in full force. The impact of these visitors was catastrophic on the traditional Maori way of life - between European diseases and firearms, their population was decimated. Today about 15% of New Zealand's 4 million people claim Maori descent, and the government has worked hard to restore Maori lands and absorb Maori culture into mainstream life.

Friday, October 30, 2009

We met Dennis and Vicky Shepard at the airport in Columbia and got all checked in to learn that our flight was delayed - off to a grand start. We made it to Atlanta but missed our flight to Los Angeles. Fortunately, there was another flight - we got on it and made it to LA about 9 PM local time. We boarded the flight to Melbourne about 11 PM, and settled in for a long ride - only to learn that dinner was served (at about 2 AM).

Saturday, October 31, 2009

We crossed the International Date Line and missed Halloween altogether. Wish we could say we slept through it all ... it was a long day's night.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

At last we saw the sun rise – a glimmer of hope that this flight might end before we do. Alas, our plane was diverted to Sydney due to weather problems in Melbourne. We refueled in Sydney and arrived in Melbourne about Noon local time. We missed our flight to Hobart, Tasmania, so we joined our 8 travel mates and program director (Wayne Robertson) for lunch and an overview of the trip to come.

We finally got to Hobart about 5 PM local time, where we were met by Daisy, the Tasmanian Sniffer Dog. Her job is to check bags for contraband, especially fruits, vegetables and meat.

We had dinner that night at a local pub and headed back to the hotel to crash.  Over the course of the trip we were to learn that every town has at least one pub and it often is the place to find the best (or at least the cheapest) food around.

Monday, November 2, 2009

We were out early this morning for a walking tour of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. The town has a rich history of convicts and sea-faring life. Many of the old buildings were constructed by convicts, using local sandstone. Each stone mason had a distinctive pattern to identify his work.

Later we headed down the Convict Trail to visit the historic site of Port Arthur. It's a narrow winding road - everyone was on full alert for wildlife sightings. We were hoping to spot a Tassie Devil in the wild, but this sign was as close as we came.

Along the way, we saw the beautiful southern coastline of Tasmania - cliffs, coves and fishing villages bringing in scallops, oysters, crayfish and abalone.

We stopped at Eaglehawk Neck for an introduction to tessellated pavement ... an intertidal rock platform with cracks formed by salt water seeping into the rock.

We rode through "Doo-Town," a little seaside village in which all the home owners have named their houses somehow using "doo" in the title.

We arrived at Port Arthur, the notorious prison that was a dumping ground for British convicts. We expected a sad tale of torture and misery, but learned that this prison aimed at reform through discipline and punishment, religious instruction, classification and separation, and training and education. In 1840, over 2000 convicts, soldiers and prison staff lived here. The prison had become a major industrial settlement, showing a profit by producing ships, shoes, clothing, bells, furniture and other items. After England stopped sending convicts, the facility here gradually went out of business and closed for good.

We had a walking tour of the place, as well as a cruise around the prison area and a visit to the museum. At the museum we followed the fate of one of the prisoners as represented on a playing card. The ace of spades pictured Robert Goldspick, a shoemaker who was transported to Port Arthur after he was convicted of housebreaking.

Back in Hobart in late afternoon, we drove through some of the old residential areas and wandered around the waterfront. For dinner, most of our group ended the day eating fish and chips on the wharf at Sullivans Cove.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

On the way out of Hobart we visited the Bonorong Wildlife Conservation Center, which focuses on conservation, education and native animal care. The animals here were orphaned or injured and brought here for rehabilitation. Pictured here are the koalas and kangaroos; they are marsupials (babies in a pouch) as are most of Australia’s native animals.

The Tasmanian devil is found only on this island. It is the largest carnivorous marsupial, but mostly acts as a scavenger. They eat about 15 pounds per day; if pressed, they can consume half that amount in 30 minutes.

As we hit the road, we tried our first pack of Tim Tams, a rich chocolate cookie unique to Australia and New Zealand. This was the beginning of a month-long love affair - for the rest of the trip we tried every flavor - original, caramel, dark chocolate, double-dipped, hazelnut, Black Forest, coffee.  Occasionally, we'd try some other local delicacies, but Tim Tams ruled as the favorite.

We traveled across Tasmania on the Heritage Highway, through small towns that were built (by convicts) as stagecoach stops. We saw lots of cattle and sheep farms before we rolled into the town of Ross, the sheep and wool 'capital' of Tasmania. We stopped at the Ross Tea Room to try Australian meatpies for lunch.

Ross is another convict-built town with lots of sandstone structures, including a beautiful bridge over the Macquarie River. Ross looks much like a sleepy English town. Its main intersection in town is known as the Four Corners of Ross: temptation, recreation, damnation and salvation - the pub, the town hall, the jail, and the church.

Further along the road, we stopped in the little town of Sheffield for a little sightseeing and a bit of fun. Sheffield's claim to fame is the painting of murals all over town - just about every building has one. Most depict the early history of the area; there's an annual contest to select new projects for any remaining blank walls.

After a look at the murals, we all gathered in the local pub to watch the Melbourne Cup - Australia's answer to the Kentucky Derby - a huge horse race that draws the whole country to watch either in person or on television. We had a little pool among our group, so we each had a horse in the race - we joined the crowd, pulled for our favorites, and cheered the winner. Nobody got rich.

Onward to our final destination - Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park, a huge area of temperate rainforest and steep mountains. We stayed at the Cradle Mountain Lodge, in little cabins in the woods. Spa baths and fireplaces inside the cabin and interesting little critters (wallabies and wombats) wandering around outside made this a memorable place to stay.

After a short rest in our cozy cabin, we all headed out to walk the Enchanted Trail - along a rushing stream, amid giant pencil pines and myrtle beech trees. We saw some patty mellons (very small wallabies), Bennett's wallaby, and a wombat.

Dinner was a grand affair in the lodge, followed by a slide show about the park and its animals. Then we were off in a four-wheel drive vehicle for a spot-lighting tour - riding through the woods looking for animals. In spite of the drizzly rain, we saw quite a few animals.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The day dawned bright and sunny, but it didn't last long - we spent the morning in alternating sunshine and misty rain. Perfect hiking weather, so off we went to explore the national park on wonderful boardwalk trails covered with chicken wire - great for wet weather.

The King Billy Pine Trail led us up in the mountains, through the rainforest and huge King Billy Pine Trees. This tree was named for the leader of the Aboriginal people who first lived in Tasmania. The significance of this tree is that it helps confirm Tasmania's link to the ancient supercontinent Gondwana; fossil records of this species from nearly 100 million years ago have been found in New Zealand and South America.











Further into the park we picked up the Ronny Creek Trail, which traveled through an area devastated by drought, as well as lush rainforest. This is part of the Cradle Valley Boardwalk, a wonderful system of trails throughout the wettest areas of the park. We saw a pink robin and were introduced to square poop left by wombats on the boardwalk. A friendly wallaby came out to visit along the way.

We had a look at Dove Lake and walked the trail around the lake to Suicide Rock. It was mostly misty, but we caught a bit of sun to get a nice view of Cradle Mountain across the water.

We visited Waldheim Cottage, the home of Gustave Weindorfer - the man who pushed for the creation of this national park. His life and love of nature makes him sound like Tasmania's answer to John Muir. Our final trail was to Pencil Pine Falls - the water is reddish brown due to the tannin from the surrounding plants and trees.

Leaving the park, we enjoyed a beautiful ride through the countryside over to the northern coast of Tasmania. In mid-afternoon, we arrived in Launceston, in the northeastern part of the state. Located on the Tamar River, it is Tasmania's second largest city.

Soon we were out walking again. Launceston has a population of about 65,000, but it has the feel of a large country town - with lots of elegant nineteenth century buildings. Wayne took us first to the local pub for a cold drink and a lesson in understanding the fine old sport of cricket - we watched the game on a big TV, but we're a long way from understanding it.   It's a pretty quirky game - kind of like an 8-hour baseball game with a break for tea.

We looked at assorted historical buildings and learned about this city's role in colonizing two cities on the Australian mainland. It was news to us that Tasmania was settled first and folks moved from there across the Bass Strait to develop Melbourne and Adelaide.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

After breakfast, we walked to the Cataract Gorge Reserve to see the high vertical cliffs where the North and South Esk Rivers converge to form the Tamar River. A pathway along the cliff face overlooks the river and leads to a Victorian Garden (complete with peacocks). After walking the path and enjoying the view, we took the Alexandra Suspension Bridge back to meet our bus.

Later, riding up the Tamar River Valley, we saw lots of vineyards and posed for pictures at the hideaway/lookout of Matthew Brady, a notorious Tasmanian bushranger (outlaw).

We stopped at the Tamar Island Wetlands for a walk through the tidal marshes in search of birds. A nice boardwalk allowed us to cross the marsh over to the river.  We didn't see any birds, but we did see a rare green frog. It didn't really matter - it was just a great day for a walk.

For yet another look at the river and the gorge, we boarded a small riverboat for a quick boat ride before heading into town to check out the local $2 store, known as "Chickenfeed." After dinner at Charco-Chicken - grilled chicken buried in peas and carrots and gravy - we wandered back to the Gorge for a little stroll and ended up watching some crazies climbing on the sheer rock walls of the Gorge. It was hard to understand why they were climbing in the dark, but everyone made it out safely.

Friday, November 6, 2009

This morning for breakfast, our fearless leader bought some wallaby sausage for us to try and had the kitchen cook it for us. We tried it, but all agreed that we wouldn't be out looking for more – just as well that it’s only available in Tasmania.


We flew today to Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, with a population of nearly four million. It was colonized by Tasmanian settlers looking for more land for raising sheep. Life would have remained pretty much rural except for the discovery of gold nearby - as a result, Melbourne became one of the world's richest cities, a fact reflected in its elaborate architecture.

We met up with 4 more travelers who joined our group for the rest of the trip and the whole gang (12 travelers and 1 guide) headed to Melbourne Central Station for lunch. Afterwards, we took a walking tour of central Melbourne - saw lots of interesting buildings and public art and ended the walk at Federation Square. This unusual, somewhat bizarre, building is home to galleries, theatres, restaurants, cafes and grand open spaces.

Melbourne is a city of broad boulevards, green parks and Victorian architecture - lots to look at. To see a bit more of the place, we hopped on board the free city tram, which makes a circular loop around the central part of town. We got off to find the Harley Davidson store, so Dennis and Vicky could pick up some tee-shirts for bike-riding relatives.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

This morning we're off to see more of Melbourne. Our first stop was the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail), which was built in the mid-1800's and grew to cover an entire city block. Its eerie corridors and dark cells aren't very inviting, but our guide made the place come to life. One hundred thirty-five people were hanged here, including Australia's most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly.

Next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral, mother church of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. It was built in the mid-1800's, in the Gothic Revival architectural style. Nearby, we also saw the State Houses of Parliament, which served as the national seat of government for a time before Canberra was established as Australia's capital.

We’d already heard about the Melbourne Cup (horse-racing) and the Australian Open (golf), but today we saw some of the sports arenas that made Melbourne the sports capital of Australia. There are huge complexes for Aussie rules football, soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis, swimming, even field hockey. These people are seriously crazy about their sports. (Thanks to Melbourne Sports Authority for aerial photograph.)

Next stop was Altman and Cherny, opal dealers extraordinaire. Here we learned all about opals. Australia produces 90% of the world's precious opals including the most rare and valuable black opals. In the safe at this store sits "Olympic Australis,” the world's largest opal - 17,700 carats (over 7 pounds, uncut) and valued in the millions.













We visited the War Memorial, known locally as the Shrine of Remembrance. The building is designed so that on Memorial Day at 12 noon, a ray of sunlight shines through a small hole to illuminate a simple plaque which says "Greater Love Hath No Man." We participated in a re-enactment of the annual ceremony held here, with the light provided artificially.

Final stop was Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne's shopping mecca - a giant complex of sheds housing fresh seafood and other meats, fruits and vegetables, clothing, toys, jewelry and souvenirs. We had lunch in the deli shed and then wandered around taking in the sights (and supporting the local economy).

In late afternoon, we went by bus to Phillip Island, about 1.5 hours south of Melbourne. In spite of drought conditions elsewhere, this little island's rolling hills were lush and green. Our aim was to see the tiny (17") fairy penguins as they emerge from the ocean and cross the beach to their sand burrows. At this time of the year, the young are in or near the burrows eagerly awaiting their parents return. After a day or more foraging out at sea, some of these little guys can barely waddle. They arrive in small groups, wave after wave - it was quite a spectacle.