Hawaii

Stopped in Hawaii on the Big Island on the way home to help break up that long flight from Australia to LA.  The Big Island means the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  We were here many years ago, in 1995, and the park is different now, not unexpected considering the volcanoes are active ones.  Then, we were able to drive around the crater rim of the Kilauea caldera.  Now the visitor enter on the far said and part of the road have fallen into the crater.  We also saw lava flowing into the ocean back then but that stopped 2 yrs ago as other outlets for the lava have been created.  There is still an awful lot to see there and it is always interesting.

Thurston Lava Tube

Viewed more waterfalls including Akaka Falls.

This is the Kawaiahao Church which is made out of coral.  Early European missionaries "persuaded" locals to dive, cut, and carry up the coral pieces.   Each piece could weigh 1,000 lbs or more and be 10-20 feet under water.  Don't even know how they could have accomplished this but they did.  Done in 1837 and was known as The Stone Church.



We also went over to Oahu for a day and visited our final state capital.  We have now toured all 50 state capitals.  Not sure what the next big bucket list item will be.

While we were on Oahu, we went by the Aliiolani Hale Judicial Building.  You might recognize this as the one they use on Hawaii 5-0 with the statue of King Kamehameha in front.  They actually were filming a scene for the show while we were there but it was a background scene with a minor actor, no one we recognized.  Kind of cool, though.

Leave for Calif tomorrow and then a few days to get home.  Was a wonderful trip but looking forward to my own bed again.

Brisbane

Brisbane was our last stop before coming back to the US.  It is the second largest city in Australia, I believe.  The city is built around a curving river that zig zags through the city.  They have made good use of that geographical feature, though, better than I've seen anywhere.

They have a river ferry that you can use for free.  It acts like a bus along the river.  There are other boat/ferries that cost and don't make as many stops, but if you don't mind a few extra stops, you can use the one for free and have a lovely trip down the river.  We saw lots of tourists using it as well as locals.  Since it was a weekday when we used it, we saw mothers with small children and strollers as well as shoppers and tourists.  It was really fun and we actually used it twice.  The first day we rode it the whole route, you just don't get off, and got a good look at the downtown city area.  It was cloudy that day.  The second day we used it to get across downtown and it was a beautiful, sunny day.  We were able to get on the top that day and found people just riding it to enjoy the sun and scenery.



Along one section of the river is a long park called Parklands.  It goes for quite a distance and is done in sections.  There is a pool area right next to a beach area that was full of people.  There is a Japanese garden type section, lots of walking paths, eateries, a civic center, and a beautiful modernistic arbor that was partially in bloom that you walked under to go along the park.  It is popular with the locals and for good reason.  It was really quite something, well done, and very unique.




We also went to a viewing point called Mt. Coot-tha Summit Lookout.  That really showed you how big and sprawled out Brisbane is.

The city was originally a convict town that grew around the river.  One original bridge was replaced with many all up and down the river.

We also went through QueenStreet Mall which is about 4 blocks of shops with inner pedestrian streets.  It was interesting and crowded.  All in all, an active, diverse city.

Sunshine Coast and Maryborough

Glass House Mountains

North of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast, which was our next destination.  We passed the Glass House Mountains on the way.

We spent 2 nights there and the one day between it rained off and on.  Oh, well.  Doug spent part of the day hiking Mt. Coolum which was cloudy but not raining.  It was rated a 4 in hiking difficulty which meant it wasn't for me so he went alone.  It is a popular hike and he certainly wasn't the only one on the trail.  He even met a person who runs it twice a day.  More power to them.  My day was restful and uneventful by comparison.  (I walked the beach and shops around the hotel.)  The views from the top of the hike were pretty expansive but you can see the trail is not for wimps (like me).

Next we went further north to Bargara which is at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.  We decided not to take a boat trip out for snorkeling at the reef.  Missed opportunity, maybe, but you make those in life sometimes.  We were also a little early for the sea turtle nesting.  Oct is mating season and Nov/Dec is when the females come up to lay their eggs.  Jan/Feb is when they hatch and the babies return to the sea.  We did tour the conservation area that protects one of the nesting beaches and does research on the turtles, Mon Repos National Park.  We startled three wallaby while we walked the woods path.

Also went to Australia's largest aviary while there.  You walk amongst the birds, which are not all in cages, and they have an outdoor area with wallabies and emus.  There were a couple baby emus and a couple baby wallabies, too.  They also had a cassowary, that odd looking prehistoric looking bird.  Like I said before, the wildlife here fascinates me.

Spent some time in the neighboring town of Bundaberg touring the Bundaberg soda distillery and the Bundaberg rum distillery.  Had samples at each place.  Bundaberg soda's claim to fame is that it is naturally distilled, not like Coke and such which is forced and done in a matter of minutes.  Bundaberg soda takes a couple to several days, depending on the flavor, and they were very good.  They ship it to over 50 countries worldwide and the US is one of them.  I will have to look for it when we get home.  Hope Colorado is one of the states because it is quite good and much more natural than Coke and Pepsi.  Flavors are more along the fruit and ginger beer line.  As to the rum, I am not a rum fan but the process was interesting.  Tasted choc/coffee and banana/toffee flavors and they weren't bad.  Not becoming a rum drinker, though.

From there we headed back south and stopped at Maryborough, the hometown of P L Travers and the Mary Poppins series.  There are actually 6 books in the series although most of us are only familiar with the Disney movie.

The town has a very nice park there and a little steam train that runs during the spring/summer.

Saw an interesting tree called the sausage tree and this is why.  This is the fruit of the tree.

The Gold Coast

We have moved up the Australian eastern coast to south of Brisbane which is the area called the Gold Coast.  We are actually staying in Mermaid Beach, but this part of the coast is one community after the other, definitely vacation territory.  Everything is geared to water activity.  Surfer's Paradise is one of the communities/beaches and the beach is lined with high-rises and restaurants.  Makes you wonder how they can keep so many hotel rooms filled, but I guess there is enough year-round traffic to keep them in business.  We have certainly seen lots of young adults and young families, even though their school season is still in.  (We have seen TV commercials and such gearing into the Christmas season, too, which is really weird when the weather is summer weather.)  There are some lovely, big houses jammed together along the ocean side as well.

The beaches seem endless and there are life-guard stations all down the coast.  The last one we saw was #38.  Surf rescue is important and they even have sports related to it.  We have passed more than one surf rescue school and we saw several groups in the water training.  They have competitions and everything.

If you go just a little west into the interior you get into hilly, wooded terrain with big open valleys left over from the active volcanic period of their history.  We came across some para-gliders taking off from a steep hill on one such excursion.  Maybe half a dozen guys took off or were gearing up to while we stayed and watched.  They waited for the right wind gusts, ran a little down the slope, and took off up into the air lift.  It was amazing how high they would go and someone told us that they could glide for up to 6 hours if they wanted to.  They sat in a big, complicated kind of sling.  Guess if you stayed up that long, you would have to make accommodations for personal needs.

We also toured a couple of national parks.  Their national parks seem more primitive than what we are used to with Yellowstone and Yosemite.  They are more like national forests.  Lots of waterfalls to hike to.  The foliage is more like rain forest, too.  We took a walk in one, a private attraction called the Skywalk.  It is a raised open-grid walkway and gravel path that takes you through the upper rain forest on the walkway and down into the lower part on the pathway.  Gives you a better appreciation of rain forests and they are trying to promote understanding to also promote preservation (while making some money at the same time).  It was really interesting.

can you see the joey in her pouch?

We toured the David Fleay Wildlife Park, too.  Saw a lot of unique animals and birds up close and personal.  The wildlife intrigues me.  It is just so different.  They had lots of wallabies in the park and we found out the difference between a wallaby and a kangaroo.  The wallabies are smaller, much smaller in some cases, and have fuzzier fur.  We saw many varieties including one that they thought was extinct for 30 years before being rediscovered and one that lives in the rocks.


This guy is a cassowary bird.  It looks like something prehistoric.  It is a flightless bird with powerful feet that remind me of an ostrich.  It's funny topknot is hard and acts like a helmet when they push through think forest undergrowth.  The park's pair were in mating season.







Just some pictures of some of the different birds for a flavor of the country.

Pokolbin and the Hunter Valley

Most of the timeshares are not in the large cities and that has worked out pretty well, actually.   We are seeing parts of Australia that we probably wouldn't have otherwise seen, like the Mornington Peninsula and the Hunter Valley.  Pokolbin is in the Hunter Valley, which is the Napa Valley of Australia.  There are a lot of big wineries there and we would have liked to spend some time at them but we refrained.  We have had NZ and Australian wine at home and they were pretty good.  I think, after spending some time here, I would like to try more of them when we get back home.

We drove the area and it isn't far from the coast.  Have seen more of the spectacular coastline and beautiful water of Australia.  We toured Fort Scratchley in Newcastle and were met by one of several older gentlemen tour guides.  This guy was a real character, friendly and talkative.  You almost had to be rude to get out of there but he was so sweet.  He taught us how to properly say "g'day, mate" with just the right inflection.  If you say it one way, it is a greeting.  If you say it another, it is almost a challenge and rude.  He also told us the history of the fort and the harbor, plus gave us several rules to follow.  We always use our seatbelts but he admonished us not to forget as the fine is $800 on the spot if you are stopped by the police.  We were informed that we also just missed the firing of the canons which they do regularly and are quite proud of.

We went up to Nelson Bay Head Lighthouse at Port Stephens.  Wonderful views.

We have also seen quite a few kangaroos in the wild.  I tried to take pictures but zoomed too far and some didn't come out very well.  I just need to stay within the limits of my camera and not try to push it so far.  It has been really cool to see kangaroos in fields by the road, though.  I really didn't expect to see that.

When we were in Nelson Bay at the beach, we saw the biggest pelicans I have ever seen.  I couldn't believe how big they were and just kept taking pictures.  A fisherman had come in and was cleaning his catch, occasionally tossing fish to them.  It must be a regular event because they all
knew he was coming and congregated, waiting for him.  It was so funny to watch them.  We saw others in the area, and I can only say they grow them big here!



We have seen many species of plants and birds here that are different from what we know.  I am enjoying that part of this country as well.  The national bird is the ibis, we found out, which we have seen in a lot of places.  Turns out they are so numerous that they are somewhat of a pest.


We also have been to several gardens and they have some really pretty flowers, too.  I didn't get the names of all of them but this one is the trumpet flower tree.  Many parts of it are poisonous.  Pretty but deadly.  One was simple and we came across a frilly one later in the garden.  Just so much to appreciate.