17 May
Cairns
Sunny and Mild (as usual!)
12310 steps (16 May)
6600(?) steps
Today we went over the mountain range to the edge of the Atherton Tablelands. We began by ascending the Great Dividing Range at the ocean's edge, using the Kuranda SkyRail, a system of cable cars that lifts you far above the World Heritage rainforest of Tropical North Queensland. The virtue of SkyRail is that it gives one a sense of the scope and depth of the ecosystem, with minimal intrusion. Of course, it's not the best of rides for anyone scared of heights.
There are two stops along the way, where you can quit your car and take a brief walking excursion. There are guides to explain what you see, as well as an interpretive centre. Along one of the walks, I had a very nice photo opportunity, and whipped out my camera, only to knock my pedometer off and into the raniforest, beyond my reach. Some archaeologist will dig this up thousands of years from now and wonder what it's doing there -- though I doubt that I'm the first to lose something off the boardwalk there, I still feel silly. Anyway, that's why there's a question mark on the number of steps above. I'll be estimating for teh rest of the trip.
SkyRail follows the Barron River and its gorge, a deep cleft cut into the mountains. There's also a railway that runs from Cairns all the to Kuranda that follows along this same gorge. The history of the railway is interesting; it includes episodes about the conflict between the whites and the Aboriginals, and revolves around the mining and clearcut timber industry that flourished during the late 1800s. The rainforest was much larger before then, but of course the growing nation needed its timber. It's pretty much the same story in the USA; there are areas that were forested that will never be again, both in the States and here in Queensland.
The mountain that they had to scale is significant. Putting in the cable cars was easy, compared to what went into laying the track for the railway. As the train ascends, it goes through many tunnels and trenches, all of which had to be dug, and still need maintenance. These days, the Kuranda Scenic Railway is a tourist line only, connecting the city of Cairns to the mountain village of Kuranda.
I've written about Kuranda in earlier journals, and will say little about it here, as we spent very little time there. Our bus picked us up at the top of the SkyRail, and took us along to Rainforest Station.
When the US was in Australia during WWII, they made use of DUKW -- I do not know what the letters stand for, but I believe everyone just calls them "ducks." Rainforest Station obtained a number of ducks that the US ARMY abandoned, and adapted them for use as tour vehicles in the rainforest. We boarded the ducks, and took a tour of the rainforest at the upper level, riding over a mountain lake, and seeing many of the tropical plants up close, as well as a few animals. No crocs, though; we were far above the salt water level.
Rainforest Station also employs many Aboriginal cultural instructors, who performed dances for us, showed us how to properly throw a boomerang, and demonstrated spear throwing. The guide we had for this was Aaron, a man in his forties (I suppose) who has been at Rainforest Station doing this for ten years. I recognized him as the same fellow who guided us last year, too. He's very funny and engaging, and I did have a chance to chat with him a little after the tour. It was nice, especially after that depressing conversation from the cruise. He's just a nice man whom it would be a pleasure to have as a buddy. We need to meet more folks like him during the course.
I should point out that the whole show is quite witty, and really with no edge to it. The dances are probably the sort of things parents might do to entertain children, but that's okay -- I get a chuckle from an Aboriginal story about fighting kangaroos, too.
We then had a very nice lunch. There were chopsticks available (many Japanese tourists) and I used them instead of a fork. I do wonder: why not use chopsticks all the time? I suppose it's a little weirdness on my part.
After lunch, we had a tour of their wildlife park. It's a gudied tour, and though the animals are similar to ones we've seen before, a knowledgable guide provides a depth to the exhibit that was lacking elsewhere. I think the students learned quite a lot.
After we returned, I walked down to the central city to find a bank. I pass out money to the students occasionally so that they can buy lunch, and I will do this tomorrow at the sugar museum. So, I needed to find a bank so that I'd have sufficient numbers of $10s and $5s. As I was walking along, a local 'character' starting walking with me, telling me his life story. He said he was feeling a lot better since he had taken his meds -- he was really quite nice, and helped me find the bank. I did find the empty shopping cart he was pushing a little strange, though.
Tomorrow, we go to Innisfail to find out about the sugar industry.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
In Search of Baseball in Cairns
Many Australian newspapers carry American sports scores -- Australians love just about anything to do with sports, although they find our baseball a little more boring than they do cricket. Nonetheless, in past years I've been able to keep up with the Chicago Cubs by reading the sports page in papers in Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns.
So last year, while I was in Cairns, I happened to see a score: "CUBS 5, REDS 2." But after further review, I realized that they were referring not to major league baseball in the US, but rather to a local Queensland league, and the Cubs involved were not from Chicago, but from Cairns: The Cairns Cubs.
One of my projects this time 'round has been to find out more about this team, and to see if I could obtain some Cairns Cubs memorabilia. So, I began searching on the internet and calling around here, and eventually was put in touch with the president of the Cairns Baseball Association, who is also the general manager of the Cairns Cubs. They played a game yesterday, but the time conflicted with the cruise, so we arranged to meet today at his day job, a car dealership on the west side of Cairns.
Unfortunately, I learned after walking out there that he had not been able to get the caps after all. So, I am going to leave some money at the front desk of the motel, and he is supposed to drop by with the caps tomorrow. We'll see.
We did get to talk a few minutes before his duties called him away. He is a Chicago Cubs fan as well; says that they get to watch a game once in awhile over ESPN International. He seemed to be up on the injury report, knowing about Zambrano.
And yes, the Cairns Cubs lost yesterday, too.
There was one additional matter I wanted to write about from the reef cruise yesterday. It's somewhat unpleasant, but it's one of those inevitable conversations a US tourist has while in Australia. One of the boat crew sat with my senior and junior colleagues and I toward the end of the day, as we headed back towards port, just for some light conversation. Somehow -- I do not recall how -- the conversation turned to Aborigines. This is always a difficult topic; you can tell that it makes white Australians uncomfortable. She wanted to be sympathetic to the Aborigines, owing to the history between the two peoples, but I think she found it difficult. She lives in a neighborhood in Cairns that is nearby a housing complex for Aborigines, and she has had to take several security measures to prevent break-ins -- she said her house had been broken into by young Aboriginal men over a dozen times. Pretty soon, a few more of the boat crew joined in with stories of their own. Soon after that, it had really become a conversation among Australians, and I moved elsewhere on the boat, feeling quite uncomfortable with it all. A lot of the stories were not firsthand, and so I suspect were inventions or needed to be discounted, as they were essentially about 'a friend of a friend.'
I don't hear those conversations much from Americans. Perhaps it's that the folks I associate with know enough of my own history to know that I don't appreciate that kind of talk -- I like to think that Americans of all races are starting to realize that they are more alike than they are different, and that the racism of yesterday has landed in the dustbin, but I am pretty sure that's naive. But it's disconcerting to hear it down here.
When you see the Aborigines in the cities for the very first time, you know for certain that you are looking at a people that have been beaten down by this society. They look tired. Their clothes look shabby and ill-fitting. In a society that values fitness, the way that Australians do, the Aborigines stand out in their poor health. It's heartbreaking. It's all the more so that some otherwise very good people view them with contempt, however gently put.
But it's hard to be judgemental, too. I'm a guest here. Have you been a guest at a meal in a home where your host family has obviously been fighting? You don't know what to say, but you'd like it to stop. That's about the best I can do to describe it all.
We take the students to the Cock and Bull tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, we're off to Rainforest Station, up in the mountains.
So last year, while I was in Cairns, I happened to see a score: "CUBS 5, REDS 2." But after further review, I realized that they were referring not to major league baseball in the US, but rather to a local Queensland league, and the Cubs involved were not from Chicago, but from Cairns: The Cairns Cubs.
One of my projects this time 'round has been to find out more about this team, and to see if I could obtain some Cairns Cubs memorabilia. So, I began searching on the internet and calling around here, and eventually was put in touch with the president of the Cairns Baseball Association, who is also the general manager of the Cairns Cubs. They played a game yesterday, but the time conflicted with the cruise, so we arranged to meet today at his day job, a car dealership on the west side of Cairns.
Unfortunately, I learned after walking out there that he had not been able to get the caps after all. So, I am going to leave some money at the front desk of the motel, and he is supposed to drop by with the caps tomorrow. We'll see.
We did get to talk a few minutes before his duties called him away. He is a Chicago Cubs fan as well; says that they get to watch a game once in awhile over ESPN International. He seemed to be up on the injury report, knowing about Zambrano.
And yes, the Cairns Cubs lost yesterday, too.
There was one additional matter I wanted to write about from the reef cruise yesterday. It's somewhat unpleasant, but it's one of those inevitable conversations a US tourist has while in Australia. One of the boat crew sat with my senior and junior colleagues and I toward the end of the day, as we headed back towards port, just for some light conversation. Somehow -- I do not recall how -- the conversation turned to Aborigines. This is always a difficult topic; you can tell that it makes white Australians uncomfortable. She wanted to be sympathetic to the Aborigines, owing to the history between the two peoples, but I think she found it difficult. She lives in a neighborhood in Cairns that is nearby a housing complex for Aborigines, and she has had to take several security measures to prevent break-ins -- she said her house had been broken into by young Aboriginal men over a dozen times. Pretty soon, a few more of the boat crew joined in with stories of their own. Soon after that, it had really become a conversation among Australians, and I moved elsewhere on the boat, feeling quite uncomfortable with it all. A lot of the stories were not firsthand, and so I suspect were inventions or needed to be discounted, as they were essentially about 'a friend of a friend.'
I don't hear those conversations much from Americans. Perhaps it's that the folks I associate with know enough of my own history to know that I don't appreciate that kind of talk -- I like to think that Americans of all races are starting to realize that they are more alike than they are different, and that the racism of yesterday has landed in the dustbin, but I am pretty sure that's naive. But it's disconcerting to hear it down here.
When you see the Aborigines in the cities for the very first time, you know for certain that you are looking at a people that have been beaten down by this society. They look tired. Their clothes look shabby and ill-fitting. In a society that values fitness, the way that Australians do, the Aborigines stand out in their poor health. It's heartbreaking. It's all the more so that some otherwise very good people view them with contempt, however gently put.
But it's hard to be judgemental, too. I'm a guest here. Have you been a guest at a meal in a home where your host family has obviously been fighting? You don't know what to say, but you'd like it to stop. That's about the best I can do to describe it all.
We take the students to the Cock and Bull tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, we're off to Rainforest Station, up in the mountains.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Sunlander, ReefTeach, Passions of Paradise
15 May
Cairns
Sunny and Mild
4720 steps
I am caught up enough so that I can risk writing things down in order. Let me begin with the train ride to Cairns. Really, there is not much to say about a 30-hour train ride. My senior colleague is a train buff and enjoys traveling that way. It has some advantages, as you can do an amount of sightseeing from the train. As we go north and enter the tropics, we begin to see more sugar cane fields and banana and pineapple plantations. There's also plenty of cattle and sheep grazing land, on which we see cattle egrets, ibises, pelicans, and other birds. We spot the occasional dingo, and there are a lot of kangaroos. I've never seen a wild koala yet.
We scheduled nothing on the day of the 14th, so everyone had their separate adventures. I walked the Esplanade and found this internet shop, Global Gossip. The students engaged in many actvities, from shopping and hiking to river cruising and parasailing. Tomorrow (Monday) is a free day, so I expect that the students will have many more adventures.
I did find out about the Cairns Cubs. They played today (Sunday), and I was out on the cruise, so I couldn't go. But I will meet with their manager tomorrow, and will purchase some Cairns Cubs memorabilia. Before I leave this evening, I will find out when the next Cubs games on WGN-TV will be broadcast, and will send a message to the announcers about the Cairns Cubs. If you're interested, listen in.
Saturday evening, we went to ReefTeach, a 2-hour lecture about the reef intended for people who are planning on going out to the reef the next day. The man who gives the lecture is a marine biologist, Paddy Coldwell. He is a transplanted Irishman, and has a very distinctive lecture style. Some people find him a little over the top; he screeches and moves about the stage, full of energy and enthusiasm. But he is very effective at getting a few important points across to his audience about what to expect on the reef, how to treat the reef, and how to help preserve the reef.
While tourists do some damage to the reef, far and away the most damage to the reef somes from agricultural runoff. Earlier generations tore out the mangrove swamps and riverside trees, thus robbing the reef of runoff water that was relatively nutrient-free. More nutrients mean more algae; more algae is a threat to the coral, and if/when the coral goes, so goes the entire ecosystem. Personally, I think the reef is tougher than we are, but that doesn't mean we shoudln't be good caretakers.
Today, we got on the Passions of Paradise II, a twin-hull sailboat bound for Paradise Reef, a patch on the Great Barrier Reef. My colleague and I had both been on the original Passions of Paradise twice, and have now been on this new boat a couple of times. The weather was cooperative, and the sea was unusually calm. I have a cold, so I did not go snorkeling this year, but was content to watch the students as they snorkled and went scuba diving. They saw all mannr of fishes and corals, a few reef sharks (parents: the reef sharks are no threat to people), sting rays and sea turtles. Most report this as the high point of the trip so far, though they still talk about holding koalas.
I apologize for ending this entry so son, but it has been a long day, and I have about a kilometer walk back to the motel. Tomorrow is Monday, a free day, and I will return with more about Cairns.
Cairns
Sunny and Mild
4720 steps
I am caught up enough so that I can risk writing things down in order. Let me begin with the train ride to Cairns. Really, there is not much to say about a 30-hour train ride. My senior colleague is a train buff and enjoys traveling that way. It has some advantages, as you can do an amount of sightseeing from the train. As we go north and enter the tropics, we begin to see more sugar cane fields and banana and pineapple plantations. There's also plenty of cattle and sheep grazing land, on which we see cattle egrets, ibises, pelicans, and other birds. We spot the occasional dingo, and there are a lot of kangaroos. I've never seen a wild koala yet.
We scheduled nothing on the day of the 14th, so everyone had their separate adventures. I walked the Esplanade and found this internet shop, Global Gossip. The students engaged in many actvities, from shopping and hiking to river cruising and parasailing. Tomorrow (Monday) is a free day, so I expect that the students will have many more adventures.
I did find out about the Cairns Cubs. They played today (Sunday), and I was out on the cruise, so I couldn't go. But I will meet with their manager tomorrow, and will purchase some Cairns Cubs memorabilia. Before I leave this evening, I will find out when the next Cubs games on WGN-TV will be broadcast, and will send a message to the announcers about the Cairns Cubs. If you're interested, listen in.
Saturday evening, we went to ReefTeach, a 2-hour lecture about the reef intended for people who are planning on going out to the reef the next day. The man who gives the lecture is a marine biologist, Paddy Coldwell. He is a transplanted Irishman, and has a very distinctive lecture style. Some people find him a little over the top; he screeches and moves about the stage, full of energy and enthusiasm. But he is very effective at getting a few important points across to his audience about what to expect on the reef, how to treat the reef, and how to help preserve the reef.
While tourists do some damage to the reef, far and away the most damage to the reef somes from agricultural runoff. Earlier generations tore out the mangrove swamps and riverside trees, thus robbing the reef of runoff water that was relatively nutrient-free. More nutrients mean more algae; more algae is a threat to the coral, and if/when the coral goes, so goes the entire ecosystem. Personally, I think the reef is tougher than we are, but that doesn't mean we shoudln't be good caretakers.
Today, we got on the Passions of Paradise II, a twin-hull sailboat bound for Paradise Reef, a patch on the Great Barrier Reef. My colleague and I had both been on the original Passions of Paradise twice, and have now been on this new boat a couple of times. The weather was cooperative, and the sea was unusually calm. I have a cold, so I did not go snorkeling this year, but was content to watch the students as they snorkled and went scuba diving. They saw all mannr of fishes and corals, a few reef sharks (parents: the reef sharks are no threat to people), sting rays and sea turtles. Most report this as the high point of the trip so far, though they still talk about holding koalas.
I apologize for ending this entry so son, but it has been a long day, and I have about a kilometer walk back to the motel. Tomorrow is Monday, a free day, and I will return with more about Cairns.
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