May 19
Alice Springs
Sunny, warm, and dry.
I do apologize for being away for so long. Our schedule has been hectic enough so that it's been pretty much impossible to get some time for writing, let alone getting on the internet to upload journal entries.
Were back from our Central Australian camping trip, and have but a few things left in the course. Tonight, after their final quiz, we will have dinner at the Red Ochre Grill, followed by a didgeridoo concert at Sounds of Starlight. Tomorrow we head back to Sydney for a couple of free days before returning home.
Let me first write about our day tour of Alice Springs. Though Alice is very small as cities go, with a population of just over 25,000, it is the largest city within 1000 miles in every direction, and thus serves as a hub for much activity. So, there is actually a fair amount of things to see here.
We began our day at the Alice Springs Desert Park. The park is a zoo of sorts, though the emphasis is much more on presenting the habitats one is likely to encounter in Central Australia. The students thus had the chance to see the sorts of conditions that they would encounter while camping.
The Bird Show is particularly interesting. Though it is a free flight show, the birds are clearly well-trained to display their natural behaviors. The species we saw were the standard birds of prey one finds in the wild, with the exception of the wedge-tailed eagle. But we saw plenty of kites, a magpie, an owl, and a tawny frogmouth as a part of the show.
We stopped at the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS) Visitor Centre for a tour and a lunch. The RFDS is the first line of medical care for anyone in the remote Outback, providing over-the-phone emergency care, emergency airborne medical transport, clinics in villages and on stations, and medical evacuation. They do this with a small fleet of planes, a staff of pilots, mechanics, nurses, doctors, and radio operators.
We had a leisurely lunch at the RFDS Cafe. Since we had so much time, I wandered about the neighborhood, as our coach driver had suggested that I take a look at the nearby Old Gaol. This old eyesore is being refurbished as a museum celebrating Australian pioneer women. Perhaps we'll include it in the tour for next year.
We continued to the School of the Air. The running joke is that tourists often think that it's a school for pilots, though our students always arrive knowing that it is in fact a school conducted from Alice Springs and other central locations in Australia, for the children in remote stations and Aboriginal communities. Because many of our students are preparing for careers in education, this visit usually turns into a long question-and-answer session during which the students learn a lot, not only about the School of the Air, but also about the educational system in Australia.
The Telegraph Station is the reason Alice Springs is located where it is. During the 1800s, Australia underwent tremendous economic growth, and needed therefore to be in touch with the rest of the world. The plan was to run a telegraph line from Asia undersea to Darwin, and then down the middle of Australia to Adelaide. The terrain itself certainly represented a barrier, but gaps in the central ranges needed to be located as well. Most importantly, repeater stations needed to be located every 150-200 km to amplify the signal, and the people staffing those repeaters needed water.
The local river, now named the Todd River, had an unusual amount of surface water in it when the explorers came through; they thought they had discovered a spring, though there was no reason for a spring to be located at that point. The telegraph station was located on the spot, and a town named Stuart soon flourished nearby. Of course, everyone knew the name Alice Springs, since that was the telegraph station, so the citizens of the town eventually renamed their city Alice Springs.
The telegraph station was closed in the early 20th century, but the history of the place continued. Under the name of the Bungalow, it was used as a native school for some of the children of the Stolen Generation until the mid 1960s -- in fact, our tour guide, Merrill, was the daughter of a woman who was a resident of the Bungalow, and had several other relatives who had passed through there. So, her lecture about the place had an extra dimension to it.
I'll recount our camping trip in my next post.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
The Daintree
May 12
Daintree Rainforest
Partly sunny and warm. Early afternoon shower.
(Of course, I am posting this after our camping trip to Central Australia. Just catching up....)
Our visit to the Daintree took place today. On this day, we go the farthest north in Australia as a group that we will, past Port Douglas and Mossman, across the Daintree River, and continue up the Bloomfield Track to Emmagen Creek. It's usually a very good day, and this one was no exception -- except for a personal stupid moment that did not end well.
Our guides were John and Matt. John is a old friend of the course; I think he's been one of our guides almost every year we've included Billy Tea Bush Safaris as a part of the excursion. We started very early, as it is a ways up the coast -- we'll be over 150 km north by the time we get to Emmagen Creek, and we have several stops before then.
At 8 am -- the same time the children were going to school -- We stopped in Mossman to pick up some fruit for lunch and our afternoon billy tea break. I went in the Yum-Yum Tropical Fruit Store along with John just to have a look around the place. It's a small food store with an eye toward supplying folks in the more remote areas of the north with quantities that will last a few months.
We continued up north to a river boat stop where we boarded for our cruise on the Daintree River. This cruise serves two purposes: it gets us across the river; and it gets us pretty close to a wild saltwater crocodile. There are five dominant male crocs along the stretch of river that we visit, along with about 20 or more females and many additional juveniles and hatchlings. The tour guides have names for the males, though I can recall only three at the moment: Gummy, Fat Albert, and Scarface. Gummy has no teeth; he has lost them all in fights with the other males. Fat Albert is huge. Scarface has an obvious scar on his snout, no doubt from a fight.
Males fight over territory; whoever controls a section of the river has mating rights with all the females in that section. Fights typically occur when one croc challenges another in an adjacent territory. It is rarely a fight to the death; like most fights for dominance among animals, it's over when one backs off. But fights almost always result in crocs losing some teeth, thus eroding their ability to catch and hold prey.
Most of the crocs were in hiding during our visit, but we did get a good look at Scarface today. I've seen Gummy and Fat Albert before, but this was my first glimpse of Scarface. He's somewhat smaller than the others, though he routinely holds his own in frequent clashes with the other males along the river. I got many really good shots of Scarface -- but more about that in a moment.
Of course, there's other wildlife on the river besides the crocs. We saw some tree snakes, as well as an azure kingfisher -- and I had very nice photos of those, too. (My guess is you sense that the disaster coming involves my camera in some way.)
We got off the Daintree river at the cable ferry crossing, where our 4WDs were waiting, having crossed while we were on our cruise. Our next destination was a rain forest walk in the Daintree.
The rainforest walks in the Daintree take place on boardwalks built slightly above the forest floor. You are thus not crushing anything valuable, and will tend to not take anything as a souvenir (which is a crime and is punishable by a fine). Since the boardwalk is raised, the small animals of the forest can get underneath and are unimpeded; the larger ones like cassowaries can easily cross it.
The numbers about cassowaries are depressing. The last authoritative number I heard was 2500 left in the wild, but the tour guides are all saying that it's more like 1100-1500 left. It seems to be a quick downward spiral to extinction, and I have heard of no successful breeding programs at any zoo or sanctuary. Needless to say, we saw no cassowaries during our travels today -- I think that the responsible guides probably stay away as much as possible from areas in which particular birds are known to range.
The cassowaries have lost much of their habitat, and the introduction of feral pigs into the rainforest has had an additional negative impact. The chief thing that kills them these days, though, is the automobile. As the roads improve, the threat grows for the bird. There was some attempts by developers to pave the road north of Cape Tribulation; this would of course increase the property values. But the regional councils and ratepayers (= homeowners, I think) associations put a stop to it by getting the entire area World Heritage listed. So, nothing but dirt north of the Cape.
Okay, the disaster was that I lost the roll of film in the camera. I was at the end of the roll, and push a little too hard on the advance lever without thinking and snapped the roll. Of course, the whole roll was ruined at that point, since I had no changing bag and would have had no place to put the film anyway, and no way to get it to a developer willing to try to save it. So, I threw the film away. Arrgh! I know, I know; it wouldn't have happened if I used a digital SLR...
We had lunch at a small resort in the Daintree, one that we've stopped at many times before. John prepares fantastic steaks, complemented with salads and avocado slices. While he was busy cooking those up, a few of the students visited the kangaroo refuge. There were only two red kangaroos and two wallabies; two of the kangaroos that had been there in 2006 had died. Since it is a refuge for kangaroos that could no longer survive in the wild, they often have ailments that will limit their time, so it was not really a surprise to find some gone. Of course, it did not mean as much to the students as it did to me, since one of the ones who had passed on had given me the strongest 'kangaroo hug' after I had given him a particularly tasty treat back then.
The kangaroos and swamp wallabies were very sweet, of course, and seemed very grateful for the attention. The reds were both very old, and one who clearly had difficulty moving about had hip displacia, according to Matt. I suspect that it's a common complaint for elderly kangaroos, as their hip joints probably get quite a pounding over the years.
After lunch, we continued north, through the tea plantations and the forest, until we left the paved road at the Cape Tribulation and continued north through the forest to Emmagen Creek. The creek is a freshwater stream up the mountainside, well away from the crocs and any other nasties, and is a place where the students could have a bit of a splash in the water while John and Matt got the billy tea going.
The 'billy' in billy tea refers to the can in which the tea is boiled. A billy is a can with a wire handle that probably holds about 2 litres of water. The word 'billy' is a corruption of a French word that means 'to boil,' and refers to the cans of 'bully beef' from which the billy cans were originally made.
The process of making billy tea is straightforward: get the water boiling in the billy, throw the tea in, wait a few minutes, and then whirl the hot tea water overhead to force the tea leaves to the bottom of the billy. This was demonstrated for us by Matt this time, though I suppose it's something anyone could do. You must simply trust the physics of it.
They also served a sweet bread, a sort of raisin loaf, with golden syrup made from cane. Along with that, we were treated to several exotic fruits. These are grown in Tropical North Queensland but are not native to Australia, and included familiar items like bananas, papayas, and pineapples, but some unusual things too, like Amazon custard apple and mammy sapote. They were all very tasty, though some of the students were a little intimidated by the latter two.
We did stop at Cape Tribulation on our way back. The Cape was so named by Captain Cook, as he felt that all his troubles with the voyage started at this point: running aground on the reef and tearing a hole in his ship; ravaging the crew; and many other difficulties began at this point.
The Cape has a lovely stand of mangroves on its northern side; at low tide, the complex root system is revealed. It's also a good place to watch for wildlife. Some students found small translucent crabs on the beach, and many saw a variety of birds about. There was an enormous golden orb spider hanging around outside the women's toilet, and apparently an even larger one inside -- needless to say, I couldn't see that one, and had to take the students' word for it.
We made a stop at a tropical ice cream store, where I got my yearly taste of wattleseed ice cream. Someone must bring this to the US! It has a taste somewhere between chocolate and coffee, but lighter. It's very good. If I can, I will find some roasted wattleseeds, bring them back, and make some for folks back home.
The tropical ice cream store sells one item only, a cup containing four flavors of the day. They were wattleseed, black sapote, soursop, and macadamia nut. All were very good, of course -- but I was waiting for the wattleseed.
After the ice cream store, we came back to Cairns and said our good-byes to John and Matt. A note to Larry: John sends his regards.
Tomorrow is a free day. And then on the 14th we're off for our final round of adventures in Alice Springs and Central Australia.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A quick note from Alice Springs
This is a very brief note to let you all know that we are down here in Alice Springs, where it is sunnay, warm, and very dry. We seem to have the rooms at Toddy's sorted out, and will have an evening meal there with an Aboriginal didgeridoo player giving a concert this evening.
Everyone is fine and in good spirits. We are not weary of Australia yet!
--charlie
Everyone is fine and in good spirits. We are not weary of Australia yet!
--charlie
Monday, May 12, 2008
Kuranda
May 11
Cairns
Cloudy, then rainy and cooler.
Today was our day to head up to Kuranda via Sky Rail, and then pay a visit to Rainforest Station.
Sky Rail is an interesting enterprise. The system consists of a series of stanchions supporting a cable car system that has occupants glide over the rainforest, probably about 50 feet or so above the canopy. There are two stops along the way: one that lets out to a boardwalk permitting a short walk through the rain forest, the other with an education center and a second walk along the Barron River gorge, a major hydroelectric works. From this second stop, one can see the Kuranda Scenic Railway on the other side of the gorge as it brings its load of tourists to the top.
We do not have time for a walk through Kuranda itself, but our driver did drive us through for a quick look. Kuranda is very much a tourist village, with many craft shops alongside souvenir stores and eateries. There are a few interesting attractions: a butterfly garden, and sanctuaries for koalas and birds.
Our tour guide, David, is a native of the area, and told me a little bit about the history of Rainforest Station. It started off in the late 1800s as a coffee plantation, and one can still find coffee plants growing in the surrounding forest. During David's childhood in the 1970s, he remembers it as a citrus fruit orchard. The theme park started in the late 1980s, with the wildlife exhibits, the Army DUKW("Ducks") tours, and the restaurant. The Pamagirri Aboriginal Dance troupe was added in 1993, and the Dreamtime Tour in 1995.
We first took a tour of the wildlife park. Much of it repeats things that we have seen elsewhere. We then walked over to the Pamagirri Aboriginal Dance theatre for the noon show. The dancers have a very good sense of humor, and entertain the tourists very well. I was the butt of one joke; they do a snake dance in which they go into the audience, behaving like snakes, waiting to strike a victim. I was watching one of the dancer on the far side while, unknown to me -- and in full view of most of the audience behind me -- another dancer had positioned himself directly behind me and ready to strike. All the other dancers were a distraction; the surprise attack on me was the whole point, I guess. It was a very good laugh all around. The dance ended with some audience participation, and I am happy to report that two of our students got up right away to volunteer. The dance consisted of two steps and a pose, all of which look simple enough, though as the father of two dancers, I am very certain that what the Aboriginal dancers are doing is quite difficult to do well.
During the performance, the rains came. (We are in the wet tropics, and there's a reason it's called the rain forest.) Most of the areas for the tourists are under corrugated tin roofs for this reason. There have been times when we've visited Rainforest Station and it's been dry and sunny, but this day was not at all untypical. The rain continued as we we guided along the Dreamtime Walk, during which an Aboriginal guide shows us how to throw spears and boomerangs and how to play a didgeridoo. I did feel a little sorry for the guide, as he had to stand out in the rain during all of this. My boomerang throw was shameful, though my colleague and many of the students did quite well.
Lunch was a little disorganized; this is probably the weak link in the setup. In the past, our Aboriginal guide would lead us to our lunch spot, but not this time. So, when we arrived at the buffet area, no one told us what to do. Since there were many tour groups being seated or already eating, we felt a little at sea, though once I got a staff member's attention we got it all sorted out. Their buffet lunch is very good: many choices, all of it fresh and well-prepared. They feature a pumpkin soup that is particularly good.
The DUKW is a WWII vehicle brought over by the USA for use as an amphibious troop transport vehicle. The 'Duck' has six-wheels on the ground, all of which are driven (6WD). It also has a propeller, and so can scoot around in the water when need be. The DUKWs were just abandoned by the US after the war's end, and so many Aussies took them over and put them to use in various ways. Rainforest Station has six, I believe, and spare parts from many others. They have more or less the same appearance they had back in WWII, though they probably did not have the name 'Rainforest Station' stenciled on. They have all been converted to run on propane, too.
The rains returned for our Army Duck tour of the rainforest, but our driver passed around ponchos, so we were all fine. And seeing the rain forest while it's raining makes a point, too, as one can watch what the water does on its way down. The tour is a short one in terms of distance covered -- they run these Ducks in low gears and make a lot of stops. But it is informative; the guides always seem to be knowledgeable about the plants, and there is a lot to see. We were probably the only non-Asian tourists at Rainforest Station in the afternoon. Cairns has become a popular destination for large tour groups from Japan, China, and Korea. David estimates that about 75% of the tourist business he sees comes from those three countries. The rest are mostly Europeans, with a very few Canadians and even fewer Americans.
The students took their third quiz after we returned to the hotel; they did quite well, by and large. After that, we all got involved in our evening activities and got a good night's rest for tomorrow's tour of the Daintree.
Cairns
Cloudy, then rainy and cooler.
Today was our day to head up to Kuranda via Sky Rail, and then pay a visit to Rainforest Station.
Sky Rail is an interesting enterprise. The system consists of a series of stanchions supporting a cable car system that has occupants glide over the rainforest, probably about 50 feet or so above the canopy. There are two stops along the way: one that lets out to a boardwalk permitting a short walk through the rain forest, the other with an education center and a second walk along the Barron River gorge, a major hydroelectric works. From this second stop, one can see the Kuranda Scenic Railway on the other side of the gorge as it brings its load of tourists to the top.
We do not have time for a walk through Kuranda itself, but our driver did drive us through for a quick look. Kuranda is very much a tourist village, with many craft shops alongside souvenir stores and eateries. There are a few interesting attractions: a butterfly garden, and sanctuaries for koalas and birds.
Our tour guide, David, is a native of the area, and told me a little bit about the history of Rainforest Station. It started off in the late 1800s as a coffee plantation, and one can still find coffee plants growing in the surrounding forest. During David's childhood in the 1970s, he remembers it as a citrus fruit orchard. The theme park started in the late 1980s, with the wildlife exhibits, the Army DUKW("Ducks") tours, and the restaurant. The Pamagirri Aboriginal Dance troupe was added in 1993, and the Dreamtime Tour in 1995.
We first took a tour of the wildlife park. Much of it repeats things that we have seen elsewhere. We then walked over to the Pamagirri Aboriginal Dance theatre for the noon show. The dancers have a very good sense of humor, and entertain the tourists very well. I was the butt of one joke; they do a snake dance in which they go into the audience, behaving like snakes, waiting to strike a victim. I was watching one of the dancer on the far side while, unknown to me -- and in full view of most of the audience behind me -- another dancer had positioned himself directly behind me and ready to strike. All the other dancers were a distraction; the surprise attack on me was the whole point, I guess. It was a very good laugh all around. The dance ended with some audience participation, and I am happy to report that two of our students got up right away to volunteer. The dance consisted of two steps and a pose, all of which look simple enough, though as the father of two dancers, I am very certain that what the Aboriginal dancers are doing is quite difficult to do well.
During the performance, the rains came. (We are in the wet tropics, and there's a reason it's called the rain forest.) Most of the areas for the tourists are under corrugated tin roofs for this reason. There have been times when we've visited Rainforest Station and it's been dry and sunny, but this day was not at all untypical. The rain continued as we we guided along the Dreamtime Walk, during which an Aboriginal guide shows us how to throw spears and boomerangs and how to play a didgeridoo. I did feel a little sorry for the guide, as he had to stand out in the rain during all of this. My boomerang throw was shameful, though my colleague and many of the students did quite well.
Lunch was a little disorganized; this is probably the weak link in the setup. In the past, our Aboriginal guide would lead us to our lunch spot, but not this time. So, when we arrived at the buffet area, no one told us what to do. Since there were many tour groups being seated or already eating, we felt a little at sea, though once I got a staff member's attention we got it all sorted out. Their buffet lunch is very good: many choices, all of it fresh and well-prepared. They feature a pumpkin soup that is particularly good.
The DUKW is a WWII vehicle brought over by the USA for use as an amphibious troop transport vehicle. The 'Duck' has six-wheels on the ground, all of which are driven (6WD). It also has a propeller, and so can scoot around in the water when need be. The DUKWs were just abandoned by the US after the war's end, and so many Aussies took them over and put them to use in various ways. Rainforest Station has six, I believe, and spare parts from many others. They have more or less the same appearance they had back in WWII, though they probably did not have the name 'Rainforest Station' stenciled on. They have all been converted to run on propane, too.
The rains returned for our Army Duck tour of the rainforest, but our driver passed around ponchos, so we were all fine. And seeing the rain forest while it's raining makes a point, too, as one can watch what the water does on its way down. The tour is a short one in terms of distance covered -- they run these Ducks in low gears and make a lot of stops. But it is informative; the guides always seem to be knowledgeable about the plants, and there is a lot to see. We were probably the only non-Asian tourists at Rainforest Station in the afternoon. Cairns has become a popular destination for large tour groups from Japan, China, and Korea. David estimates that about 75% of the tourist business he sees comes from those three countries. The rest are mostly Europeans, with a very few Canadians and even fewer Americans.
The students took their third quiz after we returned to the hotel; they did quite well, by and large. After that, we all got involved in our evening activities and got a good night's rest for tomorrow's tour of the Daintree.
A Free Day
May 10
Cairns
Cloudy, then partly sunny. Warm.
I realized that I failed to post my May 7th journal entry. I'll post that before this one.
Today was a wash day for me, so I did not get away from the Queenslander until almost 11am. The washers and dryers here are only $2/load, but it seems that every dryer I encounter in Australia turns wet clothes into damp clothes. Once in awhile, I find one that works well.
There was not much new for me today: taking a few more photos, getting some developed, a few other errands. My underwater photos are only OK; you can see the better ones at Flickr. They are not as blue-green as the ones I've had in the past -- they're just grainy. The camera has a 28mm wide-angle lens, with fixed aperture of f/8 and 1/100 sec shutter speed. So the flash sort of does the work, although with preloaded 800 ISO film, there's plenty of light without. I think that it leads to an overexposed shot with some fuzziness. Preloading it with 800 ISO makes it the right thing for divers, as things will be darker farther down. Since I cannot dive, I'm snorkeling up at the top where all the light is. Next year, I'll try it with 200 ISO film and see if things look a little better.
The purpose of the flash in this case is less about making the objects brighter, and more about restoring some color balance. The water absorbs the reddish end of the spectrum, hence the blue-green tinge to a lot of underwater photos. I suppose a red fliter might do the trick as well. Since the underwater camera is really a regular camera in an underwater housing, there\'s no reason I couldn't just fit a bit of red filter material in front of the lens. Maybe I'll try both next year.
I did manage to get what I hope,is a nice photo of a willie wagtail, a small perching bird with clack feathers and a white underside. The pronounced tail wags back and forth along with the bird's head as it moves about while foraging. Some years ago, an Aborigine told me that for his people, willie wagtail is the watcher for the departed elders, keeping an eye on the people and making sure that they follow the law.
I ran into a few students as I walked around today. They are having wonderful adventures: one group went horseback riding on the beach at Port Douglas, another group went whitewater rafting on the Barron River. The 13th is our last free day in Cairns, and several have told me tghat they are planning additional reef cruises and fishing tours for the day. I'm glad that they keepme in the loop. Not only does it help to know ehere folks are, but also as they learn more about the place4, so do I.
For example: the group of students who went horseback riding needed to take a trip of about an hour or so up to Port Douglas, and were faced with the problem of how to get there. The outfitg that they were riding with arranged for a coach transfer, done by a local man who makes his living shuttling tourists between the two cities. He was especially kind to the students when their tour ran late, making sure to wait fo0r them. The students got his business card and gave it to me -- so now I know tyhe name of a good coach driver who works the Cairns-Port Douglas run.
The only other task for the day was making the 3rd quiz, which the students take tomorrow. It has been a challenge to get these quizzes together this year, though I suppose that means that it will be much easier next year. For the current quiz, I could find no copier service open on Saturday anywhere in Cairns, until I walked pastv the library and realized that, of course, they would have one! So, that's done.
====
It is the morning of the 11th, and we've just had a power failure in the building. I seem to recall that this would happen from time to time here in Cairns. Since I'm on batteries on the handheld computer, it really does not affect me.
Today we will head up the mountain via Sky Rail to Kuranda, where we will visit Rainforest Station, a wildlife and cultural theme park.
Cairns
Cloudy, then partly sunny. Warm.
I realized that I failed to post my May 7th journal entry. I'll post that before this one.
Today was a wash day for me, so I did not get away from the Queenslander until almost 11am. The washers and dryers here are only $2/load, but it seems that every dryer I encounter in Australia turns wet clothes into damp clothes. Once in awhile, I find one that works well.
There was not much new for me today: taking a few more photos, getting some developed, a few other errands. My underwater photos are only OK; you can see the better ones at Flickr. They are not as blue-green as the ones I've had in the past -- they're just grainy. The camera has a 28mm wide-angle lens, with fixed aperture of f/8 and 1/100 sec shutter speed. So the flash sort of does the work, although with preloaded 800 ISO film, there's plenty of light without. I think that it leads to an overexposed shot with some fuzziness. Preloading it with 800 ISO makes it the right thing for divers, as things will be darker farther down. Since I cannot dive, I'm snorkeling up at the top where all the light is. Next year, I'll try it with 200 ISO film and see if things look a little better.
The purpose of the flash in this case is less about making the objects brighter, and more about restoring some color balance. The water absorbs the reddish end of the spectrum, hence the blue-green tinge to a lot of underwater photos. I suppose a red fliter might do the trick as well. Since the underwater camera is really a regular camera in an underwater housing, there\'s no reason I couldn't just fit a bit of red filter material in front of the lens. Maybe I'll try both next year.
I did manage to get what I hope,is a nice photo of a willie wagtail, a small perching bird with clack feathers and a white underside. The pronounced tail wags back and forth along with the bird's head as it moves about while foraging. Some years ago, an Aborigine told me that for his people, willie wagtail is the watcher for the departed elders, keeping an eye on the people and making sure that they follow the law.
I ran into a few students as I walked around today. They are having wonderful adventures: one group went horseback riding on the beach at Port Douglas, another group went whitewater rafting on the Barron River. The 13th is our last free day in Cairns, and several have told me tghat they are planning additional reef cruises and fishing tours for the day. I'm glad that they keepme in the loop. Not only does it help to know ehere folks are, but also as they learn more about the place4, so do I.
For example: the group of students who went horseback riding needed to take a trip of about an hour or so up to Port Douglas, and were faced with the problem of how to get there. The outfitg that they were riding with arranged for a coach transfer, done by a local man who makes his living shuttling tourists between the two cities. He was especially kind to the students when their tour ran late, making sure to wait fo0r them. The students got his business card and gave it to me -- so now I know tyhe name of a good coach driver who works the Cairns-Port Douglas run.
The only other task for the day was making the 3rd quiz, which the students take tomorrow. It has been a challenge to get these quizzes together this year, though I suppose that means that it will be much easier next year. For the current quiz, I could find no copier service open on Saturday anywhere in Cairns, until I walked pastv the library and realized that, of course, they would have one! So, that's done.
====
It is the morning of the 11th, and we've just had a power failure in the building. I seem to recall that this would happen from time to time here in Cairns. Since I'm on batteries on the handheld computer, it really does not affect me.
Today we will head up the mountain via Sky Rail to Kuranda, where we will visit Rainforest Station, a wildlife and cultural theme park.
The forgotten post!
May 7
Cairns
Sunny, pleasant
This is not in the correct order! Sorry about that; I never posted this one. What follows was written when we arrived in Cairns.
It is now the evening; we've been in Cairns a few hours. I have now once more had my very favorite meal in Australia: coral trout, blackened, at Barnacle Bill's on the Esplanade. It has become a bit of a joke on the course that I've planned the entire experience just so that I can get back to Cairns and eat here. I missed it last year, of course, as we did not go in 2007, so it's been two years. It is still a very good meal, cooked exactly right with a wonderful Cajun coating with jerk overtones. If ever you're in Cairns ...
The remainder of our trip north on the train was uneventful. We passed through field after field of crops; mostly sugar cane, but there are banana, pineapple, and pulpwood plantations, along with some citrus orchards. There are a number of sheep and cattle stations along the way, too, as well as open scrubland. I only saw a few kangaroos, but some of the students tell me they saw many.
It is typical to see kangaroos wherever one finds grazing animals, as the conditions favorable for the one are also good for the other. Add to that the fact that the kangaroo is a 'dawn and dusk' animal, just like our deer, and the right times and places for watching for 'skippy' are pretty easy to figure out. I get up very early while in Australia anyway, so I go to the buffet car or the club car and gaze out the window right around dawn just in case.
This far north, the main Bruce Highway has become just one lane in each direction, with rail stops blocking it in some towns. As we passed through Innisfail, one such town, I was struck by how well it has rebounded from the hammering it took from Tropical Cyclone Larry a few years ago. The cyclone had charged ashore with winds around 120 mph, ripping off roofs and flattening cane fields and banana plantations. The estimates at the time were that 80% of the crop was destroyed. Of course, they replanted right away, and the stuff grows very fast, so in 9 months time the fields were full once more.
The land is flat for several hundred kilometers along the rail route, punctuated here and there on the east by hills and small mountains that just rise out of the ground for no apparent reason. Off to the west lie the Great Dividing Range. As the train moves closer to Cairns these two converge, so that by the time the train moves north of Innisfail on the last couple of hours of the trip, the land has become rolling, with high hills on both sides.
Cairns is the place where at least three ecosystems meet: the mountainous tropical rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, and the Great Barrier Reef. The Tablelands serve as one of the breadbaskets of Australia; there is a lot of cultivated land throughout. Together with the coastal plantations, this entire region sees huge agricultural activity. Runoff from these finds it way into coastal waters and eventually into the ocean, where it has an impact on the Reef. We will no doubt hear more about that tomorrow night at Reef Teach.
We actually arrived a little ahead of schedule. Our driver was waiting nevertheless, and we arrived at the Cairns Queenslander without any problems. All our rooms are on the first floor (you and I would call it the second floor) -- the students were a little grumpy about that, but we should get less patio noise higher up.
After getting settled in, we all met for a few minutes by the pool so that we could go over the lodging rules and the schedule for the next few days. It was pretty clear that the students were already thrilled with the place, and particularly interested in the patio BBQ. Some of the students left with my colleague and me for a guided walk down the Esplanade, while others took off for the nearby IGA for provisions for an evening meal.
After dinner, my colleague and I walked back, stopping to buy a few things for the next couple of days. And a note to my lovely wife: I am able to get back on my healthy diet for awhile.
Cairns
Sunny, pleasant
This is not in the correct order! Sorry about that; I never posted this one. What follows was written when we arrived in Cairns.
It is now the evening; we've been in Cairns a few hours. I have now once more had my very favorite meal in Australia: coral trout, blackened, at Barnacle Bill's on the Esplanade. It has become a bit of a joke on the course that I've planned the entire experience just so that I can get back to Cairns and eat here. I missed it last year, of course, as we did not go in 2007, so it's been two years. It is still a very good meal, cooked exactly right with a wonderful Cajun coating with jerk overtones. If ever you're in Cairns ...
The remainder of our trip north on the train was uneventful. We passed through field after field of crops; mostly sugar cane, but there are banana, pineapple, and pulpwood plantations, along with some citrus orchards. There are a number of sheep and cattle stations along the way, too, as well as open scrubland. I only saw a few kangaroos, but some of the students tell me they saw many.
It is typical to see kangaroos wherever one finds grazing animals, as the conditions favorable for the one are also good for the other. Add to that the fact that the kangaroo is a 'dawn and dusk' animal, just like our deer, and the right times and places for watching for 'skippy' are pretty easy to figure out. I get up very early while in Australia anyway, so I go to the buffet car or the club car and gaze out the window right around dawn just in case.
This far north, the main Bruce Highway has become just one lane in each direction, with rail stops blocking it in some towns. As we passed through Innisfail, one such town, I was struck by how well it has rebounded from the hammering it took from Tropical Cyclone Larry a few years ago. The cyclone had charged ashore with winds around 120 mph, ripping off roofs and flattening cane fields and banana plantations. The estimates at the time were that 80% of the crop was destroyed. Of course, they replanted right away, and the stuff grows very fast, so in 9 months time the fields were full once more.
The land is flat for several hundred kilometers along the rail route, punctuated here and there on the east by hills and small mountains that just rise out of the ground for no apparent reason. Off to the west lie the Great Dividing Range. As the train moves closer to Cairns these two converge, so that by the time the train moves north of Innisfail on the last couple of hours of the trip, the land has become rolling, with high hills on both sides.
Cairns is the place where at least three ecosystems meet: the mountainous tropical rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, and the Great Barrier Reef. The Tablelands serve as one of the breadbaskets of Australia; there is a lot of cultivated land throughout. Together with the coastal plantations, this entire region sees huge agricultural activity. Runoff from these finds it way into coastal waters and eventually into the ocean, where it has an impact on the Reef. We will no doubt hear more about that tomorrow night at Reef Teach.
We actually arrived a little ahead of schedule. Our driver was waiting nevertheless, and we arrived at the Cairns Queenslander without any problems. All our rooms are on the first floor (you and I would call it the second floor) -- the students were a little grumpy about that, but we should get less patio noise higher up.
After getting settled in, we all met for a few minutes by the pool so that we could go over the lodging rules and the schedule for the next few days. It was pretty clear that the students were already thrilled with the place, and particularly interested in the patio BBQ. Some of the students left with my colleague and me for a guided walk down the Esplanade, while others took off for the nearby IGA for provisions for an evening meal.
After dinner, my colleague and I walked back, stopping to buy a few things for the next couple of days. And a note to my lovely wife: I am able to get back on my healthy diet for awhile.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Great Barrier Reef Cruise
May 9
Cairns
Sunny, breezy. Cloudy late.
We have returned from our Day cruise on the Great Barrier Reef on the good ship Passions of Paradise. It is actually early in the morning on the 10th, a free day in the calendar, though my colleague will host a group dinner tonight at the Cock 'n' Bull restaurant nearby.
The day cruise was a little different than the ones we have done in the past. We have always used the same outfit. Passions of Paradise (PoP) is a sailing catamaran, a vessel large enough to hold about 80 passengers. The name refers to Paradise Reef, a part of the patches for which the PoP holds exclusive visitation rights. several bits of the Reef are franchised this way, while others are off limits to any commercial or private use. The idea, of course, is to keep the reef as pristine as possible.
The Reef is being threatened by many things: rising ocean temperatures cause coral bleaching, a phenomena in which the coral expel the algae that they host, leading to the coral starvation. Agricultural runoff from the large cane fields and other farms enrich the waters around the reef, causing rises in the population of species such as the crown-of-thorns that predate upon the coral. Mangroves act as a barrier between ecosystems, and, among other things, hold such runoff in check. Thus, the removal of the mangroves to create oceanfront and increase property values also threatens the Reef. And of course, the ignorant tourist contributes as well, by touching the coral, and in some cases, walking on it.
The only thing that was different was the order of the day: we visited Michaelmas Cay first, a huge bit of patch reef with a small stage I island at the back. This island is a bird sanctuary; we are only allowed to stand on a small portion of the coral sand beach as we swim out to the snorkeling sites.
The snorkeling I did was most pleasant. I invested finally in an underwater camera with a flash, preloaded with high-speed (800 ISO) film. It's a good investment, though the prints are still developing. In the past, I was pretty uncomfortable being in the water, and I was not sure I was going to even get in, but I'm glad I did. I saw the cleaner wrasses busily at work at their cleaning stations, parrot fish crunching away at algae, all manner of damsel fish, wrasses, angel fish, and many of the others we learned about at Reef Teach. My hope is that some of the flash pictures will lose that blue-green cast.
Some of the students found a neat device for rent the day before: underwater digital cameras. One rents these before leaving on the cruise, takes all the pictures desired, and then returns the camera. The shop then transfers all the photos onto a CD, together with some of additional professional photos. A very nice idea that I will definitely think about for next year.
The weather was great in the morning. They collected us for lunch, and as we began heading toward Paradise Reef for our second snorkeling experience, it started clouding up- a bit. I stay on the boat the second time, but most of the students went in for a second visit. A few grumbled afterwards, as the sea was getting some moderate swells -- nothing dangerous, just annoying. I suspect that this is the reason that the boat visits Michaelmas Cay first; it's the one most likely to draw folks, and fewer passengers decide to snorkel at Paradise Reef, thus making their custodial role a little easier.
After returning to Cairns, my colleague and I visited the Cock 'n' Bull ourselves for dinner and to make the arrangements for tonight's group dinner. We were both tired, and so turned in pretty early. All in all, a pretty nice day for the course.
Cairns
Sunny, breezy. Cloudy late.
We have returned from our Day cruise on the Great Barrier Reef on the good ship Passions of Paradise. It is actually early in the morning on the 10th, a free day in the calendar, though my colleague will host a group dinner tonight at the Cock 'n' Bull restaurant nearby.
The day cruise was a little different than the ones we have done in the past. We have always used the same outfit. Passions of Paradise (PoP) is a sailing catamaran, a vessel large enough to hold about 80 passengers. The name refers to Paradise Reef, a part of the patches for which the PoP holds exclusive visitation rights. several bits of the Reef are franchised this way, while others are off limits to any commercial or private use. The idea, of course, is to keep the reef as pristine as possible.
The Reef is being threatened by many things: rising ocean temperatures cause coral bleaching, a phenomena in which the coral expel the algae that they host, leading to the coral starvation. Agricultural runoff from the large cane fields and other farms enrich the waters around the reef, causing rises in the population of species such as the crown-of-thorns that predate upon the coral. Mangroves act as a barrier between ecosystems, and, among other things, hold such runoff in check. Thus, the removal of the mangroves to create oceanfront and increase property values also threatens the Reef. And of course, the ignorant tourist contributes as well, by touching the coral, and in some cases, walking on it.
The only thing that was different was the order of the day: we visited Michaelmas Cay first, a huge bit of patch reef with a small stage I island at the back. This island is a bird sanctuary; we are only allowed to stand on a small portion of the coral sand beach as we swim out to the snorkeling sites.
The snorkeling I did was most pleasant. I invested finally in an underwater camera with a flash, preloaded with high-speed (800 ISO) film. It's a good investment, though the prints are still developing. In the past, I was pretty uncomfortable being in the water, and I was not sure I was going to even get in, but I'm glad I did. I saw the cleaner wrasses busily at work at their cleaning stations, parrot fish crunching away at algae, all manner of damsel fish, wrasses, angel fish, and many of the others we learned about at Reef Teach. My hope is that some of the flash pictures will lose that blue-green cast.
Some of the students found a neat device for rent the day before: underwater digital cameras. One rents these before leaving on the cruise, takes all the pictures desired, and then returns the camera. The shop then transfers all the photos onto a CD, together with some of additional professional photos. A very nice idea that I will definitely think about for next year.
The weather was great in the morning. They collected us for lunch, and as we began heading toward Paradise Reef for our second snorkeling experience, it started clouding up- a bit. I stay on the boat the second time, but most of the students went in for a second visit. A few grumbled afterwards, as the sea was getting some moderate swells -- nothing dangerous, just annoying. I suspect that this is the reason that the boat visits Michaelmas Cay first; it's the one most likely to draw folks, and fewer passengers decide to snorkel at Paradise Reef, thus making their custodial role a little easier.
After returning to Cairns, my colleague and I visited the Cock 'n' Bull ourselves for dinner and to make the arrangements for tonight's group dinner. We were both tired, and so turned in pretty early. All in all, a pretty nice day for the course.
Reef Teach
May 8
Cairns
Sunny, warm
It is mid-afternoon on the 8th, and I have a little time before I start dinner for my colleague and me. It is a beautiful day here in Cairns, sunny, slightly warm and humid, but with a very stout breeze. I am sitting on the second level patio of the hotel, just watching the palms wave about.
There are so many types of palms that I think I cannot even begin to get them all straight. Of course, there are the ones that produce crops, such as date palms or coconut palms. And there are short ones, tall ones; some have a different leaf structure, like the fan palms; others are characterized by their vines, like rattan... I am sitting at this table looking at two palms. Both have fruits: one has a number of short stalks from which tiny green buds sprout and grow into a red berry; the other has a similar but thicker stalk, and the fruit appears to be a nut that turns from green to a deep red. It might be a date palm, I suppose ...
We have an evening activity, but the day was free, so I spent the morning walking along the Esplanade and taking some photos. I found a few nice blossoms, including the sensitivity plant with its light purple fuzz ball flower. I know little about it, other than that I've seen it here, but do not know if it is native or not. I also got a couple of mudskippers and a crab; I hope they turn out.
Dinner tonight is a pork and vegetable stir-fry with rice. I'll probably throw in some curry powder I bought for a little kick. It is incredibly expensive even to make a meal this simple! The meat was $14/kilo -- that's about $7 per pound. I used the smallest package I could find. Vegetable prices were outrageous, too. But, still, it's no doubt less expensive than what we'd pay to order it in a restaurant.
===
Reef Teach is a two-hour evening lecture to which we have brought our students every year we have offered the course. In years past, the lecture was run by an Irish fellow named Paddy, a marine biologist committed to protecting the Reef by educating tourists on how to best prepare for their cruise. Paddy retired and sold the business last year, so our host this time 'round was Natalie. She is not so much older than our students -- I would guess her at about 30 or so -- so the students warmed up to her very quickly.
The lecture itself was as informative as ever: we are introduced via slides and pass-around exhibits to the types of creatures we might find on the Reef: fishes, turtles, sea stars (incorrectly a.k.a. 'star fishes'), octopuses, prawns and shrimp, dolphins, dugongs, and whales. And of course, coral.
Natalie's style is very different from Paddy's. Paddy was sometimes a little over the top in his mannerisms and his sounds, and, while entertaining, these things sometimes got in the way of student learning, as though the show was the thing, not the reef. I never thought that was his intention; he was the same fellow that would be on the Passions of Paradise cruise with us the following day answering additional questions the students would have, the same man who would spend his off-days planting trees along estuaries to help stop agricultural runoff. Natalie's presentation style is more accessible to a crowd like ours, though.
The facility that Reef Teach uses is the fourth one they've occupied. For the first few years of the course, they had a store front on the ground floor of one of the streets just off the Esplanade and across from the casino, a very nice location. Then they moved to a first floor location on the same street; Paddy told me that this was due to an increase in the rent -- sounds like a similar story to what all too often happens to small businesses in America. The new owners occupied a ground-level storefront again for a short time, before moving to this second floor location a few blocks away on Lake Street. We were the first to arrive, and I was afraid that it would be only us, but the lecture room filled up pretty quickly. So, I am hopeful that this is not a business withering away; a lecture like this before we go on the cruise is an important piece of understanding the Reef.
Cairns
Sunny, warm
It is mid-afternoon on the 8th, and I have a little time before I start dinner for my colleague and me. It is a beautiful day here in Cairns, sunny, slightly warm and humid, but with a very stout breeze. I am sitting on the second level patio of the hotel, just watching the palms wave about.
There are so many types of palms that I think I cannot even begin to get them all straight. Of course, there are the ones that produce crops, such as date palms or coconut palms. And there are short ones, tall ones; some have a different leaf structure, like the fan palms; others are characterized by their vines, like rattan... I am sitting at this table looking at two palms. Both have fruits: one has a number of short stalks from which tiny green buds sprout and grow into a red berry; the other has a similar but thicker stalk, and the fruit appears to be a nut that turns from green to a deep red. It might be a date palm, I suppose ...
We have an evening activity, but the day was free, so I spent the morning walking along the Esplanade and taking some photos. I found a few nice blossoms, including the sensitivity plant with its light purple fuzz ball flower. I know little about it, other than that I've seen it here, but do not know if it is native or not. I also got a couple of mudskippers and a crab; I hope they turn out.
Dinner tonight is a pork and vegetable stir-fry with rice. I'll probably throw in some curry powder I bought for a little kick. It is incredibly expensive even to make a meal this simple! The meat was $14/kilo -- that's about $7 per pound. I used the smallest package I could find. Vegetable prices were outrageous, too. But, still, it's no doubt less expensive than what we'd pay to order it in a restaurant.
===
Reef Teach is a two-hour evening lecture to which we have brought our students every year we have offered the course. In years past, the lecture was run by an Irish fellow named Paddy, a marine biologist committed to protecting the Reef by educating tourists on how to best prepare for their cruise. Paddy retired and sold the business last year, so our host this time 'round was Natalie. She is not so much older than our students -- I would guess her at about 30 or so -- so the students warmed up to her very quickly.
The lecture itself was as informative as ever: we are introduced via slides and pass-around exhibits to the types of creatures we might find on the Reef: fishes, turtles, sea stars (incorrectly a.k.a. 'star fishes'), octopuses, prawns and shrimp, dolphins, dugongs, and whales. And of course, coral.
Natalie's style is very different from Paddy's. Paddy was sometimes a little over the top in his mannerisms and his sounds, and, while entertaining, these things sometimes got in the way of student learning, as though the show was the thing, not the reef. I never thought that was his intention; he was the same fellow that would be on the Passions of Paradise cruise with us the following day answering additional questions the students would have, the same man who would spend his off-days planting trees along estuaries to help stop agricultural runoff. Natalie's presentation style is more accessible to a crowd like ours, though.
The facility that Reef Teach uses is the fourth one they've occupied. For the first few years of the course, they had a store front on the ground floor of one of the streets just off the Esplanade and across from the casino, a very nice location. Then they moved to a first floor location on the same street; Paddy told me that this was due to an increase in the rent -- sounds like a similar story to what all too often happens to small businesses in America. The new owners occupied a ground-level storefront again for a short time, before moving to this second floor location a few blocks away on Lake Street. We were the first to arrive, and I was afraid that it would be only us, but the lecture room filled up pretty quickly. So, I am hopeful that this is not a business withering away; a lecture like this before we go on the cruise is an important piece of understanding the Reef.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Sunlander at Townsville
May 6
Sunlander Train
Sunny, pleasant
(I am actually uploading this on the 8th. So, the shot of the Townsville platform might be problematic if you are following our progress with a map, as Townsville is much farther north than the city of Rockhampton that I mention below.)
We're on the train taking us from Brisbane to Cairns, passing through the immense sugar cane fields and the eucalyptus scrubland tracts. It's about a half hour before dinner begins in the buffet car, so I thought I'd write down a few notes about the last couple of days.
I think I had mentioned that there was a cold circulating through our ranks. The first student reported getting a scratchy throat the night before we left for Fraser Island, with others -- myself included -- becoming symptomatic shortly afterwards. I am still fighting the cold, but it does not appear to be too severe in my case. One student seemed to have it pretty rough on the island, but reports feeling much better now that we're on board.
------
My colleague and I just returned from dinner in the buffet car -- which is not a dining car, as the conductor informed me via a somewhat stern lecture this morning. I guess it's not a dining car because the table service is not complete; one orders at a window, sits down, and then the food is brought to you. So, buffet, not dining. It's important to have this right, y'know. By the way, 'buffet' rhymes with 'little Miss Muffett.'
I had the steak, with mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes. Very good, and only about $15. My colleague had the fish and gave it a very good report. The train food on the Sunlander has always been quite good and reasonably priced. The dining-- buffet -- car was very crowded, as a number of our students arrived at 6 pm right along with the older crowd with us up here in the single berths.
As usual, the presence of our student group has not gone unnoticed on the train. Some of the other passengers have asked my colleague and I about the course. And the Club Car hostess just came on the PA system and announced that in honor of the special group from New York, the next movie they show will be Hairspray. I do not have the heart to tell them that the movie is set in Baltimore.
Back to the 5th of May: that was Labour Day here in Australia. I confess that I did not know that they celebrated it here. But it is a holiday that honors workers, particularly union workers. Some of the papers published articles on Monday examining Australian attitudes about the holiday. Many people do not know what the holiday represents, and treat it as another day off-- that's true of a lot of Americans, too. Some business folks want the holiday abolished, since only about 19% of the labor force here is unionized. Others want it moved to a different time of the year; since it falls so close to ANZAC Day, they claim that productivity falls during this time. I just wanted more shops to be opened.
What we would call a 'pharmacy,' Australians call a 'chemist.' There were no chemists open during the day, so I could find no cold medicines. And when one was open in the evening, I found the experience of shopping there strange; I am used to just going to the shelves and finding the product that I need, but that is not at all how it works in Australia. One must tell the chemist behind the counter the symptoms, and then he/she will recommend a medication. I felt so confused by the process that I didn't get anything.
Mostly, I just rested on Monday, like a lot of the students who have the cold. But some students went up to the Australian Zoo at Beerwah, about a hour north of Brisbane. This is the zoo of the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. The zoo is run by his widow, Terri, and their daughter Bindy is prominently featured these days, with her own nature show and many personal appearances. This was the second group of students to go this year; another group had gone before we left for Fraser Island. We had taken the students there in 2006, and it is a nice zoo -- I like Taronga Zoo better, but that's not meant as a knock on the Australian Zoo at all. It is a tribute to Steve Irwin that he could take his parents' small reptile park and turn it into a huge commercial success, and going beyond that to fund wildlife research and rescue efforts in many parts of the world. We might think of Steve as a bit of a nut -- many Aussies do -- but the man did truly good work, spotlighting endangered species and working with governments on the animals' behalf-- he was especially vigorous in his work with the Bengal tiger. And his zoo reflects his love of animals with many mega-habitats for creatures from all over. Both groups of students thoroughly enjoyed their visits this year.
I did get out a bit to develop some photos, walk around the Botanical Gardens, and shop a bit. I found two books for the train: War Letters of General Monash, and The Bone Man of Kokoda. General Monash was one of the first significant military leaders of the ANZACs, and was a brilliant strategist, some say the best ever. He was responsible for many ANZAC and British victories on the Western Front in WWI. I just finished his letters about the battle of Gallipoli, and hope to get through the Western Front letters this evening.
I wrote a little about the Kokoda trail last week. The 'Bone Man' is Kokichi Nishimura, a Japanese soldier and the only member of his troop to survive the battle along the trail. Determined to find the remains of his fellow soldiers, in 1979, he gave away all his assets to his wife and children, and went back to New Guinea. Not only did he work at finding his comrades, but he also began helping the impoverished Papuans. Some friends of my wife were missionaries in Papua New Guinea during this time; it's possible that they might know this fellow. But it looks like interesting reading; I hope to start it in the morning.
We have stopped at Rockhampton for about a half hour, and will depart shortly. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through this city, so we are truly entering the tropics right now. The train will cruise through the night; we will be in Townsville in the morning, and arrive in Cairns in the later afternoon, around 4:15 pm.
Sunlander Train
Sunny, pleasant
(I am actually uploading this on the 8th. So, the shot of the Townsville platform might be problematic if you are following our progress with a map, as Townsville is much farther north than the city of Rockhampton that I mention below.)
We're on the train taking us from Brisbane to Cairns, passing through the immense sugar cane fields and the eucalyptus scrubland tracts. It's about a half hour before dinner begins in the buffet car, so I thought I'd write down a few notes about the last couple of days.
I think I had mentioned that there was a cold circulating through our ranks. The first student reported getting a scratchy throat the night before we left for Fraser Island, with others -- myself included -- becoming symptomatic shortly afterwards. I am still fighting the cold, but it does not appear to be too severe in my case. One student seemed to have it pretty rough on the island, but reports feeling much better now that we're on board.
------
My colleague and I just returned from dinner in the buffet car -- which is not a dining car, as the conductor informed me via a somewhat stern lecture this morning. I guess it's not a dining car because the table service is not complete; one orders at a window, sits down, and then the food is brought to you. So, buffet, not dining. It's important to have this right, y'know. By the way, 'buffet' rhymes with 'little Miss Muffett.'
I had the steak, with mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes. Very good, and only about $15. My colleague had the fish and gave it a very good report. The train food on the Sunlander has always been quite good and reasonably priced. The dining-- buffet -- car was very crowded, as a number of our students arrived at 6 pm right along with the older crowd with us up here in the single berths.
As usual, the presence of our student group has not gone unnoticed on the train. Some of the other passengers have asked my colleague and I about the course. And the Club Car hostess just came on the PA system and announced that in honor of the special group from New York, the next movie they show will be Hairspray. I do not have the heart to tell them that the movie is set in Baltimore.
Back to the 5th of May: that was Labour Day here in Australia. I confess that I did not know that they celebrated it here. But it is a holiday that honors workers, particularly union workers. Some of the papers published articles on Monday examining Australian attitudes about the holiday. Many people do not know what the holiday represents, and treat it as another day off-- that's true of a lot of Americans, too. Some business folks want the holiday abolished, since only about 19% of the labor force here is unionized. Others want it moved to a different time of the year; since it falls so close to ANZAC Day, they claim that productivity falls during this time. I just wanted more shops to be opened.
What we would call a 'pharmacy,' Australians call a 'chemist.' There were no chemists open during the day, so I could find no cold medicines. And when one was open in the evening, I found the experience of shopping there strange; I am used to just going to the shelves and finding the product that I need, but that is not at all how it works in Australia. One must tell the chemist behind the counter the symptoms, and then he/she will recommend a medication. I felt so confused by the process that I didn't get anything.
Mostly, I just rested on Monday, like a lot of the students who have the cold. But some students went up to the Australian Zoo at Beerwah, about a hour north of Brisbane. This is the zoo of the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. The zoo is run by his widow, Terri, and their daughter Bindy is prominently featured these days, with her own nature show and many personal appearances. This was the second group of students to go this year; another group had gone before we left for Fraser Island. We had taken the students there in 2006, and it is a nice zoo -- I like Taronga Zoo better, but that's not meant as a knock on the Australian Zoo at all. It is a tribute to Steve Irwin that he could take his parents' small reptile park and turn it into a huge commercial success, and going beyond that to fund wildlife research and rescue efforts in many parts of the world. We might think of Steve as a bit of a nut -- many Aussies do -- but the man did truly good work, spotlighting endangered species and working with governments on the animals' behalf-- he was especially vigorous in his work with the Bengal tiger. And his zoo reflects his love of animals with many mega-habitats for creatures from all over. Both groups of students thoroughly enjoyed their visits this year.
I did get out a bit to develop some photos, walk around the Botanical Gardens, and shop a bit. I found two books for the train: War Letters of General Monash, and The Bone Man of Kokoda. General Monash was one of the first significant military leaders of the ANZACs, and was a brilliant strategist, some say the best ever. He was responsible for many ANZAC and British victories on the Western Front in WWI. I just finished his letters about the battle of Gallipoli, and hope to get through the Western Front letters this evening.
I wrote a little about the Kokoda trail last week. The 'Bone Man' is Kokichi Nishimura, a Japanese soldier and the only member of his troop to survive the battle along the trail. Determined to find the remains of his fellow soldiers, in 1979, he gave away all his assets to his wife and children, and went back to New Guinea. Not only did he work at finding his comrades, but he also began helping the impoverished Papuans. Some friends of my wife were missionaries in Papua New Guinea during this time; it's possible that they might know this fellow. But it looks like interesting reading; I hope to start it in the morning.
We have stopped at Rockhampton for about a half hour, and will depart shortly. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through this city, so we are truly entering the tropics right now. The train will cruise through the night; we will be in Townsville in the morning, and arrive in Cairns in the later afternoon, around 4:15 pm.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Fraser Island. part 3
May 4
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the last of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. I am writing this one on the 6th, shortly before our departure on the Sunlander for Cairns. Once again, I will be out of touch for a day or so as we travel up to the tropics.
The morning started out cloudy and slightly rainy, but it never did much more than sprinkle a little. One of the students had taken his sleeping bag outside to sleep by the campfire and had to relocate under the dining area tarp.
After breakfast, we drove up the beach for our last lake visit. We met two more dingoes, one of them quite large, according to the guide. I got no photos, as I had given up the front seat to one of the students who was nursing a cold. Butt a couple of the students did, so I am hopeful that they will share some with me.
Lake Wabby is a barrage lake, created when a sand dune moves to cut off a stream. The effect is reminiscent of an oxbow lake sometimes formed when a river changes course, though the process is quite different. The lake is at the end of a 2 km walk, one kilometer of scrubland forest, the other of sand dune. It is a challenging walk, especially for an older out-of-shape guy like me -- my legs are still a little sore from it.
The students actually found the lake a little boring, and many left by an alternate path early to head back to the seashore. That's another thing we'll change about the tour next year: more time on the walks to and from Lake Wabby; less time at the lake itself.
And the walks were interesting: more cycads, including a couple with ripening seed pods -- I hung a photo of these at the Flickr site. We also started to see some of the tropical birds: cockatoos, lorikeets, and parrots. No photos yet, but I should have opportunities in Cairns.
We returned to Brisbane with only a minor incident. The van holding the other American group was pulled over for speeding. That group was a bit wild for my taste anyway.
There is a bit of a cold running through the students and faculty. I have it but am recovering. I think we all agree that the train travel today (May 6) will be exactly the rest we need after our intense camping trip at Fraser Island.
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the last of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. I am writing this one on the 6th, shortly before our departure on the Sunlander for Cairns. Once again, I will be out of touch for a day or so as we travel up to the tropics.
The morning started out cloudy and slightly rainy, but it never did much more than sprinkle a little. One of the students had taken his sleeping bag outside to sleep by the campfire and had to relocate under the dining area tarp.
After breakfast, we drove up the beach for our last lake visit. We met two more dingoes, one of them quite large, according to the guide. I got no photos, as I had given up the front seat to one of the students who was nursing a cold. Butt a couple of the students did, so I am hopeful that they will share some with me.
Lake Wabby is a barrage lake, created when a sand dune moves to cut off a stream. The effect is reminiscent of an oxbow lake sometimes formed when a river changes course, though the process is quite different. The lake is at the end of a 2 km walk, one kilometer of scrubland forest, the other of sand dune. It is a challenging walk, especially for an older out-of-shape guy like me -- my legs are still a little sore from it.
The students actually found the lake a little boring, and many left by an alternate path early to head back to the seashore. That's another thing we'll change about the tour next year: more time on the walks to and from Lake Wabby; less time at the lake itself.
And the walks were interesting: more cycads, including a couple with ripening seed pods -- I hung a photo of these at the Flickr site. We also started to see some of the tropical birds: cockatoos, lorikeets, and parrots. No photos yet, but I should have opportunities in Cairns.
We returned to Brisbane with only a minor incident. The van holding the other American group was pulled over for speeding. That group was a bit wild for my taste anyway.
There is a bit of a cold running through the students and faculty. I have it but am recovering. I think we all agree that the train travel today (May 6) will be exactly the rest we need after our intense camping trip at Fraser Island.
Fraser Island, Part 2
May 3
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the second of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. One more will follow. I am writing these on the 4th and 5th, after our return to Brisbane.
I get up pretty early in the morning, and even earlier while down here, since my internal clock is still a bit messed up. The campsite we use on Fraser Island has a dingo-proof fence around it -- not that the dingoes would come into a camp site populated by humans and get vicious; it's mostly to keep them out of the rubbish bins. There's a nice little path just outside the fence that's perfect for a pre-dawn stroll.
I found this wooly caterpillar chain. Eight of them marching along a sandy road, head of one direct behind the backside of another, slowly crossing the road. Nearby, several more seemed to be writhing about in a ball. When I asked Reg about these later in the day, he told me that they were poisonous to the touch.
Breakfast at the campsite was simple: cereal and toast, with coffee, tea, and juice. The toast spreads included the usual: margarine and jam, peanut butter -- and of course Vegemite. Vegemite is a 'yeast extract.' I've never been completely clear on what that means, and the rumors about the way it's made vary, with some saying it's a byproduct of beer-making and others saying grosser things about yeast 'poo.' It's a dark brown in color, and has a consistency about like peanut butter, though not as sticky. The taste is tangy and very salty. I like the stuff just fine, but in very small doses. Americans generally do not seem to like it much. I do suspect that half the reason Australians have it around is to get some amusement out of tourists trying to cope with the stuff. I will bring a jar to the course reception at the end of the trip for those brave enough to try it.
Because Fraser Island has such a high water table, many streams pop out of the sand, cutting deep sandy gorges as the fresh water finds it way to the sea. When these reach the beach, they fan out and become very shallow. The larger ones will have steep banks that the tour guides must slow down for and maneuver through, while the small ones are a quick bumpy thrill when taken at high speed. The map of these streams is ever-changing: some dry up, others change course, new ones appear.
The largest and most permanent of these is Eli Creek, about 2/3 of the way up the eastern side of the island. We spent about an hour walking through the lower part of the creek -- literally walking in the water of the creek at some points. Th water was pleasantly cool, and the plant life abundant. Some of the students saw some eels, but I only noticed some fish that may have been Moses perch.
Right after we pulled away from Eli Creek, our tour guide stopped and had us dig up pippis, small mollusks similar to clams. Once I knew what I was doing, I managed to find about a half-dozen. That evening, we cooked them and had them as an entree dish. Their taste is like a clam or mussel but a little more delicate. I've never been a fan of either, but the pippis were not too bad if you like that sort of thing. One of the tour guides encouraged our students to eat them raw, and one actually did -- I was not nearby to discourage her. (For the parents: she's fine.)
We had lunch at Indian Head near the northern tip of the island. The climb up to the lookout point was challenging, especially for those of us who were barefoot, but the view of the water below was breathtaking. Some of the students reported seeing sharks and manta rays from their vantage point. Indian Head also seemed to be a chance for some of our younger tour guides to go surfing. They seemed to be quite good; but I know little about the sport. One of them came in very quickly after seeing a shark only a few metres from him, one of the same sharks our students saw from the lookout point.
After lunch, the students had a chance to visit some nearby tidal pools. There was a barnacle-like animal lining the seaward side of the pool that would squirt water when stepped on. The pools also had some fish, small stripeys and whiting. The students had a good time splashing about.
Later in the day, we went for a subtropical rainforest walk. It was a little unfortunate that the student groups arrived at different times, as we were unable to offer them a consistent guided experience. I was able to talk to my group about the rainforest canopy, a few of the trees found in the rainforest, strangler figs, epiphytes, and cycads, but other groups were left without any such commentary. It was also late in the day, so they were all a little tired. The order of the day's activities is something that we will change next year.
The evening was pretty much devoted to card games. Some students played Uno, while another group attempted to teach me how to play Pitch. It seems to be a relative of the bridge/euchre style of games, with a complex point structure. We played a few hands and then stopped for a simple dinner of hamburgers and sausages. I was exhausted enough to turn in early and get ready for our last day on the island.
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the second of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. One more will follow. I am writing these on the 4th and 5th, after our return to Brisbane.
I get up pretty early in the morning, and even earlier while down here, since my internal clock is still a bit messed up. The campsite we use on Fraser Island has a dingo-proof fence around it -- not that the dingoes would come into a camp site populated by humans and get vicious; it's mostly to keep them out of the rubbish bins. There's a nice little path just outside the fence that's perfect for a pre-dawn stroll.
I found this wooly caterpillar chain. Eight of them marching along a sandy road, head of one direct behind the backside of another, slowly crossing the road. Nearby, several more seemed to be writhing about in a ball. When I asked Reg about these later in the day, he told me that they were poisonous to the touch.
Breakfast at the campsite was simple: cereal and toast, with coffee, tea, and juice. The toast spreads included the usual: margarine and jam, peanut butter -- and of course Vegemite. Vegemite is a 'yeast extract.' I've never been completely clear on what that means, and the rumors about the way it's made vary, with some saying it's a byproduct of beer-making and others saying grosser things about yeast 'poo.' It's a dark brown in color, and has a consistency about like peanut butter, though not as sticky. The taste is tangy and very salty. I like the stuff just fine, but in very small doses. Americans generally do not seem to like it much. I do suspect that half the reason Australians have it around is to get some amusement out of tourists trying to cope with the stuff. I will bring a jar to the course reception at the end of the trip for those brave enough to try it.
Because Fraser Island has such a high water table, many streams pop out of the sand, cutting deep sandy gorges as the fresh water finds it way to the sea. When these reach the beach, they fan out and become very shallow. The larger ones will have steep banks that the tour guides must slow down for and maneuver through, while the small ones are a quick bumpy thrill when taken at high speed. The map of these streams is ever-changing: some dry up, others change course, new ones appear.
The largest and most permanent of these is Eli Creek, about 2/3 of the way up the eastern side of the island. We spent about an hour walking through the lower part of the creek -- literally walking in the water of the creek at some points. Th water was pleasantly cool, and the plant life abundant. Some of the students saw some eels, but I only noticed some fish that may have been Moses perch.
Right after we pulled away from Eli Creek, our tour guide stopped and had us dig up pippis, small mollusks similar to clams. Once I knew what I was doing, I managed to find about a half-dozen. That evening, we cooked them and had them as an entree dish. Their taste is like a clam or mussel but a little more delicate. I've never been a fan of either, but the pippis were not too bad if you like that sort of thing. One of the tour guides encouraged our students to eat them raw, and one actually did -- I was not nearby to discourage her. (For the parents: she's fine.)
We had lunch at Indian Head near the northern tip of the island. The climb up to the lookout point was challenging, especially for those of us who were barefoot, but the view of the water below was breathtaking. Some of the students reported seeing sharks and manta rays from their vantage point. Indian Head also seemed to be a chance for some of our younger tour guides to go surfing. They seemed to be quite good; but I know little about the sport. One of them came in very quickly after seeing a shark only a few metres from him, one of the same sharks our students saw from the lookout point.
After lunch, the students had a chance to visit some nearby tidal pools. There was a barnacle-like animal lining the seaward side of the pool that would squirt water when stepped on. The pools also had some fish, small stripeys and whiting. The students had a good time splashing about.
Later in the day, we went for a subtropical rainforest walk. It was a little unfortunate that the student groups arrived at different times, as we were unable to offer them a consistent guided experience. I was able to talk to my group about the rainforest canopy, a few of the trees found in the rainforest, strangler figs, epiphytes, and cycads, but other groups were left without any such commentary. It was also late in the day, so they were all a little tired. The order of the day's activities is something that we will change next year.
The evening was pretty much devoted to card games. Some students played Uno, while another group attempted to teach me how to play Pitch. It seems to be a relative of the bridge/euchre style of games, with a complex point structure. We played a few hands and then stopped for a simple dinner of hamburgers and sausages. I was exhausted enough to turn in early and get ready for our last day on the island.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Fraser Island, Part 1
May 2
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the first of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. Two more will follow. I am writing these on the 4th and 5th, after our return to Brisbane.
The drive from Brisbane to Rainbow Beach is a little tedious, and one of the things I will seek to alter in the future. But there's little to be done about it; it's not likely that we'll move the island closer to the city -- and I don't think we'd want to, anyway.
But I cannot say that the scenery is bad; quite the contrary. And it is really only the second chance the students have had to see something outside the city. One of the things I think I might want to do in future offerings of the course is to decrease the big city portion and have more country experiences. But that's for another day. North of Brisbane on the way to Rainbow Beach lies a lot of pulpwood plantations that we passed through, so that's perhaps what made it a little boring.
We stopped for lunch at the seaside village of Rainbow Village, a pleasant little town just a few minutes from the barge ferry that would take us to Fraser Island. We had about an hour to wander around and eat. I ordered a hamburger made in the Aussie fashion -- and that means beets. Yes, they put a slice of beetroot on their burgers. Now I love beets, and having them on a burger is fine -- but definitely an Aussie thing.
Our tour guides are Reg, Wes, and Graham. Joining us for the first days were eight American students; they are on a weekend jaunt from some universities and are led by another guide, Matt. And Brendan, a guide I knew from years past, just showed up on the night of the 3rd with some backpackers.
Reg is the oldest of the bunch, roughly my age (early-mid 50s). He's had an interesting life in and out of the tourism industry; I think this is a semi-retirement position for him, taking jobs as he pleases. A very pleasant fellow that the students like a lot. The other guides are much younger. Wes is the driver of the LandCruiser I am riding in. He and Graham are both surfers, and in fact ran off several times looking for the perfect wave during today's stops. He's a nice man, but very young. The girls adore him. They like Graham too. He's a lot like Wes -- I think they're mates away from the job -- but sports a large set of dreadlocks, as does Brendan. Matt reminds me of the sidekick in Shaun of the Dead.
We crossed over to the Island via a small ferry barge. There were three that I saw operating, and probably were normally kept busy. Th island does seem oddly quiet -- it is, after all, a holiday weekend. Once on the island, we went driving up the beach at highway speed.
Fraser Island is a sand island, an accumulation of sand against a harder undersea mountain, taking place over eons. It is the largest such island in the world. This gives the island a very unique geography: sand dunes held in place with dense vegetation; sub-tropical rainforests inland; about 75 miles of beach on the seaward side; mangroves on the side facing the mainland.
Dingoes are the wild dogs of Australia, and Fraser Island is the last place on earth that one can find dingoes that have a purely dingo ancestry -- I am reluctant to call them 'purebred' because that implies a breeding program that does not exist. But most of the dingoes on the mainland have interbred with the European dogs brought by the settlers, so the pure dingo line no longer exists there. To keep the population on Fraser Island pristine, no one can bring a dog onto the island for any reason.
As we were driving along, we saw a woman outside a truck with a medium-sized dingo with dark honey-colored fur. It was very comfortable with her, and did not run away when we pulled up for a photo. But once several other cars pulled up for a photo, it ran off. Wes told us the woman is a researcher who is studying the dingo; apparently befriending them and gaining their trust along the way.
We also saw a sea snake as we drove along, and stopped for some pictures of it. It was a sad event, though; the snake had been washed ashore with the tide and was clearly exhausted with the struggle to regain the water. They are highly venomous and aggressive, so there was nothing we could do. The tide was coming in, but the guides figured that the snake would become a meal for a dingo or a sea eagle in awhile.
After dumping our bags at camp, Our first stop was Lake Mackenzie, a window lake. Window lakes are clear like a pane of glass, but they are so named for a different reason. Fraser Island has a fresh water table about 30 metres above sea level -- though they do mix, fresh water will tend to float on salt water. When the sand dune level on the island drops below the water table, a pool of fresh water forms, essentially a window into the water table.
The water in Lake Mackenzie is acidic, enough so that the acid combined with the fine silica sand will act as a metal polish. Tour guides often invite people to put rings or other jewelry into the lake to see the effect. The acid level keeps most fishes out; only a few turtles populate the lake. The water is one of the deepest blues one might ever see, and the sand is as white as snow and as fine as popcorn salt.
The walk-around would take too long to complete for the time we have at the lake, but I do manage to get to the second beach, effectively hidden from the first by a stand of paperbark trees. Since it is seldom used, this beach does sport some life not found on the heavily used main beach. There's a small red carnivorous plant called a sundew that secretes a sweet and sticky substance to attract ants and other small insects. Once the animal has approached, the red branches curl over it and the plant proceeds to digest it.
After the evening camp meal, my colleague gave a lecture on the Southern Sky. Because our heads are inverted in relation to yours in America, the constellations that we both can see appear upside-down to us. Leo is lying on his back, for instance. On the other hand, Orion is still in the West in the evening, and because of its proximity to the celestial equator, does not appear much different. And there are some things that we can no longer see down here: we can only see some stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, though it is almost directly overhead for you at night.
Just as pointer stars in the Big Dipper helps one locate the relatively dim North Star, anyone in the Southern Hemisphere can use the Southern Cross to find south. And because there are 'false crosses' in the sky, the Southern cross itself is located with two bright pointer stars in the constellation Centaurus. One of those, Alpha Centauri, is the closest visible star outside of our solar system.
The Southern Cross lies in the Milky Way, the edge-on view we have of our home galaxy. One can see much of the Milky Way in the Southern Sky at this time of year, and the view is spectacular. The Cross and the constellation next to it, Carinae, contain the Carina Arm of the Galaxy, the one in which our own solar system lies. The constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius contain the galactic center, an area so bright that we would cast shadows at night from it were it not for the immense dust clouds that block our view. Still, the image of the Milky Way Galaxy spread out before us like that is pretty unforgettable.
Toward the south celestial pole are many celestial sights of interest. There are two objects that look like clouds at first, until one realizes that they move with the sky and not with the wind. These are the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, small dwarf galaxies that orbit our own. The clouds themselves are visible with the naked eye, though a small pair of binoculars would reveal individual stellar structure.
After the Star lecture, we all went off to sleep, resting up for the next day's adventures. I will write about those in the next entry.
Fraser Island
Sunny, breezy
This is the first of three blog entries about the Fraser Island camping trip. Two more will follow. I am writing these on the 4th and 5th, after our return to Brisbane.
The drive from Brisbane to Rainbow Beach is a little tedious, and one of the things I will seek to alter in the future. But there's little to be done about it; it's not likely that we'll move the island closer to the city -- and I don't think we'd want to, anyway.
But I cannot say that the scenery is bad; quite the contrary. And it is really only the second chance the students have had to see something outside the city. One of the things I think I might want to do in future offerings of the course is to decrease the big city portion and have more country experiences. But that's for another day. North of Brisbane on the way to Rainbow Beach lies a lot of pulpwood plantations that we passed through, so that's perhaps what made it a little boring.
We stopped for lunch at the seaside village of Rainbow Village, a pleasant little town just a few minutes from the barge ferry that would take us to Fraser Island. We had about an hour to wander around and eat. I ordered a hamburger made in the Aussie fashion -- and that means beets. Yes, they put a slice of beetroot on their burgers. Now I love beets, and having them on a burger is fine -- but definitely an Aussie thing.
Our tour guides are Reg, Wes, and Graham. Joining us for the first days were eight American students; they are on a weekend jaunt from some universities and are led by another guide, Matt. And Brendan, a guide I knew from years past, just showed up on the night of the 3rd with some backpackers.
Reg is the oldest of the bunch, roughly my age (early-mid 50s). He's had an interesting life in and out of the tourism industry; I think this is a semi-retirement position for him, taking jobs as he pleases. A very pleasant fellow that the students like a lot. The other guides are much younger. Wes is the driver of the LandCruiser I am riding in. He and Graham are both surfers, and in fact ran off several times looking for the perfect wave during today's stops. He's a nice man, but very young. The girls adore him. They like Graham too. He's a lot like Wes -- I think they're mates away from the job -- but sports a large set of dreadlocks, as does Brendan. Matt reminds me of the sidekick in Shaun of the Dead.
We crossed over to the Island via a small ferry barge. There were three that I saw operating, and probably were normally kept busy. Th island does seem oddly quiet -- it is, after all, a holiday weekend. Once on the island, we went driving up the beach at highway speed.
Fraser Island is a sand island, an accumulation of sand against a harder undersea mountain, taking place over eons. It is the largest such island in the world. This gives the island a very unique geography: sand dunes held in place with dense vegetation; sub-tropical rainforests inland; about 75 miles of beach on the seaward side; mangroves on the side facing the mainland.
Dingoes are the wild dogs of Australia, and Fraser Island is the last place on earth that one can find dingoes that have a purely dingo ancestry -- I am reluctant to call them 'purebred' because that implies a breeding program that does not exist. But most of the dingoes on the mainland have interbred with the European dogs brought by the settlers, so the pure dingo line no longer exists there. To keep the population on Fraser Island pristine, no one can bring a dog onto the island for any reason.
As we were driving along, we saw a woman outside a truck with a medium-sized dingo with dark honey-colored fur. It was very comfortable with her, and did not run away when we pulled up for a photo. But once several other cars pulled up for a photo, it ran off. Wes told us the woman is a researcher who is studying the dingo; apparently befriending them and gaining their trust along the way.
We also saw a sea snake as we drove along, and stopped for some pictures of it. It was a sad event, though; the snake had been washed ashore with the tide and was clearly exhausted with the struggle to regain the water. They are highly venomous and aggressive, so there was nothing we could do. The tide was coming in, but the guides figured that the snake would become a meal for a dingo or a sea eagle in awhile.
After dumping our bags at camp, Our first stop was Lake Mackenzie, a window lake. Window lakes are clear like a pane of glass, but they are so named for a different reason. Fraser Island has a fresh water table about 30 metres above sea level -- though they do mix, fresh water will tend to float on salt water. When the sand dune level on the island drops below the water table, a pool of fresh water forms, essentially a window into the water table.
The water in Lake Mackenzie is acidic, enough so that the acid combined with the fine silica sand will act as a metal polish. Tour guides often invite people to put rings or other jewelry into the lake to see the effect. The acid level keeps most fishes out; only a few turtles populate the lake. The water is one of the deepest blues one might ever see, and the sand is as white as snow and as fine as popcorn salt.
The walk-around would take too long to complete for the time we have at the lake, but I do manage to get to the second beach, effectively hidden from the first by a stand of paperbark trees. Since it is seldom used, this beach does sport some life not found on the heavily used main beach. There's a small red carnivorous plant called a sundew that secretes a sweet and sticky substance to attract ants and other small insects. Once the animal has approached, the red branches curl over it and the plant proceeds to digest it.
After the evening camp meal, my colleague gave a lecture on the Southern Sky. Because our heads are inverted in relation to yours in America, the constellations that we both can see appear upside-down to us. Leo is lying on his back, for instance. On the other hand, Orion is still in the West in the evening, and because of its proximity to the celestial equator, does not appear much different. And there are some things that we can no longer see down here: we can only see some stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, though it is almost directly overhead for you at night.
Just as pointer stars in the Big Dipper helps one locate the relatively dim North Star, anyone in the Southern Hemisphere can use the Southern Cross to find south. And because there are 'false crosses' in the sky, the Southern cross itself is located with two bright pointer stars in the constellation Centaurus. One of those, Alpha Centauri, is the closest visible star outside of our solar system.
The Southern Cross lies in the Milky Way, the edge-on view we have of our home galaxy. One can see much of the Milky Way in the Southern Sky at this time of year, and the view is spectacular. The Cross and the constellation next to it, Carinae, contain the Carina Arm of the Galaxy, the one in which our own solar system lies. The constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius contain the galactic center, an area so bright that we would cast shadows at night from it were it not for the immense dust clouds that block our view. Still, the image of the Milky Way Galaxy spread out before us like that is pretty unforgettable.
Toward the south celestial pole are many celestial sights of interest. There are two objects that look like clouds at first, until one realizes that they move with the sky and not with the wind. These are the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, small dwarf galaxies that orbit our own. The clouds themselves are visible with the naked eye, though a small pair of binoculars would reveal individual stellar structure.
After the Star lecture, we all went off to sleep, resting up for the next day's adventures. I will write about those in the next entry.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Off to Fraser Island
This is a quick note to let everyone know that we're off to Fraser Island for a two-night camping trip. I will be out of touch until May 4. Check back then.
--charlie
--charlie
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A quick note
I just noticed that there are news accounts of a boat accident in Sydney Harbor in which some people were killed. This is a note to any parents reading this blog: our students are fine. We're in Brisbane, many miles north of Sydney. None of us were involved in that accident. We're fine.
It seems that the accident involved a pleasure boat and a fishing trawler. Neither of these are the sort of craft the students are likely to be on while in course activities. We do use the ferries in Sydney Harbor, but they are run by very capable folks and are quite safe.
So, if you saw this on CNN or some other network and had a moment of worry, put your mind at rest. Everyone's safe, and all seem to be having a good time.
It seems that the accident involved a pleasure boat and a fishing trawler. Neither of these are the sort of craft the students are likely to be on while in course activities. We do use the ferries in Sydney Harbor, but they are run by very capable folks and are quite safe.
So, if you saw this on CNN or some other network and had a moment of worry, put your mind at rest. Everyone's safe, and all seem to be having a good time.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
April 30
Brisbane
Sunny and Mild
So much has changed in Brisbane sine I was last here in 2006. There had been a construction project that seemed never-ending, spanning several of our visits, by the river between the Queen St. Mall and the Victoria Bridge, across from the casino. It's all finished now, yet another high-rise structure along the Brisbane River. But they do have a very nice plaza complementing the Mall across George St.
On the other hand, some things have not changed. Every year I have been here, there is an African fellow playing a set of steel drums outside the casino. I did not think street musicians would stay at it that long, but he does appears to make very good money at it. Maybe he catches a lot of folks leaving the casino who have just won big and are feeling generous, although I have listened to him and think he's quite talented.
One thing that has changed is the location from which we board the Mirimar Cruise that takes us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In the past, we would board on the north side of the river, but the captain e-mailed me before we left with the news that we must go to the south side, nearby the State Library. I learned yesterday that there had been plans to build up the North Quay, the former location of the dock for the Mirimar and several other tour boats, with a large entertainment complex that would jut out about 1/3 of the way into the river. So, the boat docks were closed and the Mirimar found another mooring place. Needless to say, the plans for the entertainment complex were scrapped, once people pointed out to the city planning board that restricting the river by that much would have serious consequences and increase the risk of upstream flooding. But the docks are still gone.
We boarded the boat and started up the river under a cloudless sky. The cruise is only slightly different now from the past. The Brisbane River still meanders about, creating long fingers of land and islands about which the river winds. The flying fox colony on Indooroopily Island has dwindled as it often does this late in the season, with the fruit bats often heading north for better pickings. One year, there were none at all when we went on the cruise. This year, there were only about 1/5 as many as we've seen in peak years. The cruise has a pre-recorded guide, who pointed out that the flying foxes can now transmit a deadly fever to humans if they scratch. Coming into contact with them seems very unlikely, though.
One notable change this year was the absence of a former eyesore along the river. There had been a large old coal-fired power plant, long since abandoned, that had been sitting unused and decaying for nearly a quarter-century. No one wanted to demolish it because of the heavy use of asbestos in it construction, so it just sat. But sometime after 2006, it was knocked down, and construction on a tennis complex has commenced. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in a few years.
Since the Brisbane river is a tidal river, the trip to Lone Pine will vary in the time it takes; when the current is against the boat, it can take up to an hour and a half. Today, though, the tide was with us, and we arrived in about 75 minutes. That was nice, as it takes a little while to do the paperwork so that we can enter.
We began the visit with a BBQ lunch, the first of several we will have during the trip. It's a nice feature of many of the tourist attractions over here, and allows us more time to enjoy whatever the spot has to offer.
After lunch, many of the students went to the 'koala cuddling' area, where for a fee they could hold a koala for a moment. My colleague took several photos of the students doing this, and will probably post some of them on the course site.
The koala show illustrates the koala life cycle, the threats to the koala, and some of the work that Lone Pine is doing to help the koala survive. The koala is a marsupial -- it is not a bear! -- and thus gives birth to a highly immature cub with the appearance and size of a jellybean. This cub must crawl on the mother's fur from her cloaca to her pouch, where it attaches to a teat for some weeks before emerging as a cub recognizable as a young koala. Too large for the pouch, the cub clings to the mother's back for a few more weeks until it is weaned. During this time, the koala cub must ingest a special type of feces that the mother excretes; this feces contains important bacteria that the koala's digestive tract must be inoculated with in order to digest eucalyptus leaves. After weaning, the cub begins foraging for itself and drifts away from its mum.
Koalas lead solitary lives except when mating. They forage for food about four hours a day and sleep the rest of the time, snuggled safe in the crotch of a eucalyptus tree, high overhead. Their fur helps them retain body heat that would otherwise be lost in the breeze. They have little body fat; their plump appearance is due to a very long intestinal tract necessary to extract as much as possible from the nutrient-poor leaves in their diet.
Koalas are always described a 'fussy eaters,' as they will consume only eucalyptus leaves, and only a few varieties at that. Depending on who is doing the speaking, I have heard that they consume only 8, or 25, or 50 varieties of the 700 or so types of eucalyptus in Australia. So, I don't know the number, and I guess the experts don't really, either, but it's small. They will rarely drink water, obtaining what they need from the leaves they consume most of the time.
That they are fussy eaters probably comes from the fact that they have a limited set of behaviors generally. The koala's brain is very small, and has no folding typically seen in other mammals. They are cute, but unfortunately not very bright.
Since they live high in the trees, what threatens the trees threatens them. Loss of habitat is the chief danger facing koalas today. Much of the eucalyptus on which they depend is being cut down as Australia's population and economy grows. Related to this is the issue of roadkill. Many koalas are killed by motorcars and trucks on the highways, as the koalas attempt to cross the road in search of food. Some of the highways in New South Wales and Queensland have specially constructed tunnels and koala-proof fencing as a means of keeping them off the roadways, but it's an incomplete measure at the moment.
Though they do live in the trees, they do come down to forage, and are thus exposed at times to predators: dingoes and other dogs, feral cats, and quolls. The very young and very old koalas are particularly vulnerable.
The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary acts as the koala's advocate in the legal system, and also educates Australians about the animals and the dangers facing them. But it also houses many other animals. They have exhibits on the wombat, the dingo, many birds, and a couple of crocodiles. They have an open feeding area where one can feed kangaroos and wallabies. There are even a couple of emus wandering in the enclosure. They have small animal demonstrations throughout the day, including a sheep dog show that's quite good.
For this visit, the students stayed at the sanctuary as long as they wanted, and took the city bus back to the hostel when they felt like leaving. We gave them each the bus fare to get back. Much less expensive for the course than hiring a coach or taking the boat back, and much more time for the students to enjoy the animals. And it's easy, since Lone Pine is a terminal of one of the bus routes.
Tomorrow is a free day. There's a botanical garden on this side of the river that I've never gotten to visit, so I'll be doing that. And then we're off camping.
Brisbane
Sunny and Mild
So much has changed in Brisbane sine I was last here in 2006. There had been a construction project that seemed never-ending, spanning several of our visits, by the river between the Queen St. Mall and the Victoria Bridge, across from the casino. It's all finished now, yet another high-rise structure along the Brisbane River. But they do have a very nice plaza complementing the Mall across George St.
On the other hand, some things have not changed. Every year I have been here, there is an African fellow playing a set of steel drums outside the casino. I did not think street musicians would stay at it that long, but he does appears to make very good money at it. Maybe he catches a lot of folks leaving the casino who have just won big and are feeling generous, although I have listened to him and think he's quite talented.
One thing that has changed is the location from which we board the Mirimar Cruise that takes us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In the past, we would board on the north side of the river, but the captain e-mailed me before we left with the news that we must go to the south side, nearby the State Library. I learned yesterday that there had been plans to build up the North Quay, the former location of the dock for the Mirimar and several other tour boats, with a large entertainment complex that would jut out about 1/3 of the way into the river. So, the boat docks were closed and the Mirimar found another mooring place. Needless to say, the plans for the entertainment complex were scrapped, once people pointed out to the city planning board that restricting the river by that much would have serious consequences and increase the risk of upstream flooding. But the docks are still gone.
We boarded the boat and started up the river under a cloudless sky. The cruise is only slightly different now from the past. The Brisbane River still meanders about, creating long fingers of land and islands about which the river winds. The flying fox colony on Indooroopily Island has dwindled as it often does this late in the season, with the fruit bats often heading north for better pickings. One year, there were none at all when we went on the cruise. This year, there were only about 1/5 as many as we've seen in peak years. The cruise has a pre-recorded guide, who pointed out that the flying foxes can now transmit a deadly fever to humans if they scratch. Coming into contact with them seems very unlikely, though.
One notable change this year was the absence of a former eyesore along the river. There had been a large old coal-fired power plant, long since abandoned, that had been sitting unused and decaying for nearly a quarter-century. No one wanted to demolish it because of the heavy use of asbestos in it construction, so it just sat. But sometime after 2006, it was knocked down, and construction on a tennis complex has commenced. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in a few years.
Since the Brisbane river is a tidal river, the trip to Lone Pine will vary in the time it takes; when the current is against the boat, it can take up to an hour and a half. Today, though, the tide was with us, and we arrived in about 75 minutes. That was nice, as it takes a little while to do the paperwork so that we can enter.
We began the visit with a BBQ lunch, the first of several we will have during the trip. It's a nice feature of many of the tourist attractions over here, and allows us more time to enjoy whatever the spot has to offer.
After lunch, many of the students went to the 'koala cuddling' area, where for a fee they could hold a koala for a moment. My colleague took several photos of the students doing this, and will probably post some of them on the course site.
The koala show illustrates the koala life cycle, the threats to the koala, and some of the work that Lone Pine is doing to help the koala survive. The koala is a marsupial -- it is not a bear! -- and thus gives birth to a highly immature cub with the appearance and size of a jellybean. This cub must crawl on the mother's fur from her cloaca to her pouch, where it attaches to a teat for some weeks before emerging as a cub recognizable as a young koala. Too large for the pouch, the cub clings to the mother's back for a few more weeks until it is weaned. During this time, the koala cub must ingest a special type of feces that the mother excretes; this feces contains important bacteria that the koala's digestive tract must be inoculated with in order to digest eucalyptus leaves. After weaning, the cub begins foraging for itself and drifts away from its mum.
Koalas lead solitary lives except when mating. They forage for food about four hours a day and sleep the rest of the time, snuggled safe in the crotch of a eucalyptus tree, high overhead. Their fur helps them retain body heat that would otherwise be lost in the breeze. They have little body fat; their plump appearance is due to a very long intestinal tract necessary to extract as much as possible from the nutrient-poor leaves in their diet.
Koalas are always described a 'fussy eaters,' as they will consume only eucalyptus leaves, and only a few varieties at that. Depending on who is doing the speaking, I have heard that they consume only 8, or 25, or 50 varieties of the 700 or so types of eucalyptus in Australia. So, I don't know the number, and I guess the experts don't really, either, but it's small. They will rarely drink water, obtaining what they need from the leaves they consume most of the time.
That they are fussy eaters probably comes from the fact that they have a limited set of behaviors generally. The koala's brain is very small, and has no folding typically seen in other mammals. They are cute, but unfortunately not very bright.
Since they live high in the trees, what threatens the trees threatens them. Loss of habitat is the chief danger facing koalas today. Much of the eucalyptus on which they depend is being cut down as Australia's population and economy grows. Related to this is the issue of roadkill. Many koalas are killed by motorcars and trucks on the highways, as the koalas attempt to cross the road in search of food. Some of the highways in New South Wales and Queensland have specially constructed tunnels and koala-proof fencing as a means of keeping them off the roadways, but it's an incomplete measure at the moment.
Though they do live in the trees, they do come down to forage, and are thus exposed at times to predators: dingoes and other dogs, feral cats, and quolls. The very young and very old koalas are particularly vulnerable.
The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary acts as the koala's advocate in the legal system, and also educates Australians about the animals and the dangers facing them. But it also houses many other animals. They have exhibits on the wombat, the dingo, many birds, and a couple of crocodiles. They have an open feeding area where one can feed kangaroos and wallabies. There are even a couple of emus wandering in the enclosure. They have small animal demonstrations throughout the day, including a sheep dog show that's quite good.
For this visit, the students stayed at the sanctuary as long as they wanted, and took the city bus back to the hostel when they felt like leaving. We gave them each the bus fare to get back. Much less expensive for the course than hiring a coach or taking the boat back, and much more time for the students to enjoy the animals. And it's easy, since Lone Pine is a terminal of one of the bus routes.
Tomorrow is a free day. There's a botanical garden on this side of the river that I've never gotten to visit, so I'll be doing that. And then we're off camping.
Danielle with Emu
Yesterday was our trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and I will have a proper post about it tomorrow. But I wanted to add this separately from the regular posts.
Many years ago, Danielle's cousin Robin was a part of the course, and posed with an emu. Danielle returns the favor in this photo.
So, Robin, if you're following the blog ... yes, she really is in Australia.
Many years ago, Danielle's cousin Robin was a part of the course, and posed with an emu. Danielle returns the favor in this photo.
So, Robin, if you're following the blog ... yes, she really is in Australia.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Arrival at Brisbane
April 29
Brisbane
Sunny and Mild
What a change from Canberra. It is a sunny and warm afternoon here, just made for a stroll about the town. I just got back from a very nice walk using a couple of the bridges over the Brisbane River.
It was cold but sunny this morning in Canberra. While I was uploading the journal entry and a few photos from yesterday, I noticed that our coach had already arrived, about 45 minutes early. He thought he was to pick us up at 7:30, while my contract said 8am. It of course was not a problem for us, but I felt badly for him, as he had nothing to do for about a half hour. The students started showing up at 7:30, and we had the coach full and ready to go by 7:45. So, it's all good!
As we drove to the airport, we saw frost on the ground. It was really cold in Canberra last night! There had been snow in the mountains south and west of us, which means that skiing season is arriving for Australians about a month early. But I have seen frost only one other time while in Australia: our second year, while on a sunrise camel tour in the desert.
The flight from Canberra to Brisbane was an uneventful 90 minutes. Our train ride into Brisbane made me a little nervous, as the recorded announcement kept saying that the train was an express and would only be making limited stops. But it stopped at Roma St., and we got off, walked out of the station and over to the Tin Billy.
Tin Billy is a very simple hostel: clean, nice features, and a good location. Of course it's near the station, so that helps a lot. There is a pub adjoining it so students can get a meal that's fairly inexpensive, and it's a short walk to the city center. We've used it for several years now, whenever the course has gone through Brisbane. It's also pretty quiet, and this year, our rooms are not on the street side. That was one drawback of the Y Hotel: the rooms faced a very busy street, and it could get quite loud. But I anticipate quiet evenings here.
For the first time on the trip this year, my colleague and I will share a room. That's a departure from past years, where Larry and I usually had twin shares, and I am a little mystified that the Y Hotel and Canberra YHA gave us two singles -- we were charged for one twin share in both locations. I did not complain; it's always nice to have some space. But it will be fine, and the room is very nice.
I spent the afternoon looking for the new dock for the Mirimar. In past years, the boat would depart from the north side of the river -- that's the side we're on. But this year, it leaves from the south side, so we need to cross to get to it. It's about a half hour walk; not too bad. From the maps, it appeared that there were two bridges that would serve us equally well in getting to the boat, so I wandered about to figure out the shortest route.
The Brisbane River is a tidal river, salty for much of its length, then brackish. Like any tidal river, it changes course four times a day. Sharks do inhabit the river, so humans tend not to use it so much for swimming, though I have seen water skiers on it in some years. The river does empty into the ocean, widening as it becomes the waterway for a major industrial port.
In the city, it is lined with parklands and docks. The parklands are like most in Australian cities: kept up well and friendly to the users. Since swimming in the river is problematic, many of the parklands will have swimming pool areas as well that include artificial beaches. Most of the docks are private; there is a lot of pleasure boating on the river, and some folks will have craft worthy enough for the coastal ocean waters. Brisbane Public Transit does operate RiverCat ferries, so some of the docks serve as terminals for these. There are only a few bridges across the river, so certainly there are traffic snarls; the RiverCats presumably alleviate that.
And tomorrow, we will sail up the Brisbane River to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Brisbane
Sunny and Mild
What a change from Canberra. It is a sunny and warm afternoon here, just made for a stroll about the town. I just got back from a very nice walk using a couple of the bridges over the Brisbane River.
It was cold but sunny this morning in Canberra. While I was uploading the journal entry and a few photos from yesterday, I noticed that our coach had already arrived, about 45 minutes early. He thought he was to pick us up at 7:30, while my contract said 8am. It of course was not a problem for us, but I felt badly for him, as he had nothing to do for about a half hour. The students started showing up at 7:30, and we had the coach full and ready to go by 7:45. So, it's all good!
As we drove to the airport, we saw frost on the ground. It was really cold in Canberra last night! There had been snow in the mountains south and west of us, which means that skiing season is arriving for Australians about a month early. But I have seen frost only one other time while in Australia: our second year, while on a sunrise camel tour in the desert.
The flight from Canberra to Brisbane was an uneventful 90 minutes. Our train ride into Brisbane made me a little nervous, as the recorded announcement kept saying that the train was an express and would only be making limited stops. But it stopped at Roma St., and we got off, walked out of the station and over to the Tin Billy.
Tin Billy is a very simple hostel: clean, nice features, and a good location. Of course it's near the station, so that helps a lot. There is a pub adjoining it so students can get a meal that's fairly inexpensive, and it's a short walk to the city center. We've used it for several years now, whenever the course has gone through Brisbane. It's also pretty quiet, and this year, our rooms are not on the street side. That was one drawback of the Y Hotel: the rooms faced a very busy street, and it could get quite loud. But I anticipate quiet evenings here.
For the first time on the trip this year, my colleague and I will share a room. That's a departure from past years, where Larry and I usually had twin shares, and I am a little mystified that the Y Hotel and Canberra YHA gave us two singles -- we were charged for one twin share in both locations. I did not complain; it's always nice to have some space. But it will be fine, and the room is very nice.
I spent the afternoon looking for the new dock for the Mirimar. In past years, the boat would depart from the north side of the river -- that's the side we're on. But this year, it leaves from the south side, so we need to cross to get to it. It's about a half hour walk; not too bad. From the maps, it appeared that there were two bridges that would serve us equally well in getting to the boat, so I wandered about to figure out the shortest route.
The Brisbane River is a tidal river, salty for much of its length, then brackish. Like any tidal river, it changes course four times a day. Sharks do inhabit the river, so humans tend not to use it so much for swimming, though I have seen water skiers on it in some years. The river does empty into the ocean, widening as it becomes the waterway for a major industrial port.
In the city, it is lined with parklands and docks. The parklands are like most in Australian cities: kept up well and friendly to the users. Since swimming in the river is problematic, many of the parklands will have swimming pool areas as well that include artificial beaches. Most of the docks are private; there is a lot of pleasure boating on the river, and some folks will have craft worthy enough for the coastal ocean waters. Brisbane Public Transit does operate RiverCat ferries, so some of the docks serve as terminals for these. There are only a few bridges across the river, so certainly there are traffic snarls; the RiverCats presumably alleviate that.
And tomorrow, we will sail up the Brisbane River to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Canberra Tour
April 28
Canberra
Rainy and Cold
Our tour of Canberra is always one of the most interesting days of the course. We visit the Australian Parliament House, the US Embassy, and the ANZAC War Memorial. It's the day that the students learn about the important relationship between the USA and Australia.
We began at Parliament House at 9am. Our tour guide, John, was a former ministerial aide, and certainly an expert on the workings of Australian government. He was also a well-traveled man, and understood US government as well. As a result, he was a perfect guide for our students, pointing out similarities and differences between the two systems.
Australian government is bicameral, like ours, with one house elected more or less proportional to the population, the other with equal representation for the states. Of course, the head of the government is a prime minister; the executive portion of the government is not a separate branch, but contained within the majority party or coalition of the legislature.
The building is remarkable, containing many layers of symbolism to remind the citizens and government officials alike of their roots and their mission. The colors are chosen to reflect the land: the reds of the harsh interior; the greens of the eucalyptus forests. Most of the building is underground with parkland above, so the government building literally supports the citizens above. It is a beautiful building, and reflects the finest in Australia.
This year Parliament House was very quiet. I think we hit the very tail end of the school field trips (down here called 'school holidays'), so probably will not see a lot of children at most of the places we visit, as we sometimes have in past years. I did learn something interesting that explains the high level of knowledge most Australians have of their government: travel for schoolchildren to Parliament House is subsidized: the farther one lives from Canberra, the higher the level of subsidy. The chambers of both houses are equipped with classroom areas into which teachers can bring their classes and have them watch Parliament in action.
Our trip to the U.S. Embassy often is a moment when some of our students get a glimpse of a possible career in the Foreign Service. We meet with four embassy staff, officers from some of the sections. The generalist officers we meet with rotate their post every two years; this policy prevents them from getting to know the country so well that they become its advocate rather than ours. It's a perfect career for someone who wants to travel around a lot and get to see many parts of the world.
The ANZAC War Memorial also houses one of the best military museums one will find. The matching of memorial and the museum was intentional and wise; placing the Roll of Honour and the Tomb of the Unknown in a moving context.
For this visit, I concentrated on the battle of Gallipoli and the Kokoda trail. Since I've already written about Gallipoli, I'll explain what little I know of Kokoda. This trail cuts across Borneo; the Japanese in WWII intended to use this as a route by which they would stage an invasion of Australia. Keeping this from happening was a key objective of the Battle of the Coral Sea. Defending this trail was a band of Australia militia that faced incredible odds. They were successful in keeping the Japanese from completing the trail, but suffered heavy losses. Along with Gallipoli, Kokoda is remembered as another in a long line of battles that showcased to the world the character of the Australian solider.
AT the ANZAC War Memorial shop, I found a very cute little book that I had to have: a reproduction of the US War Department's 1942 booklet "Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia." It contains a lot of interesting facts, along with a fair amount of misinformation. But I will think of my Uncle Burt Jacobson, who was stationed in Australia at the time, every time I look at the book.
It is now early on the 29th, and we will fly out to Brisbane soon. It's sunny and in the 70s there, so we'll shake the chill off.
Canberra
Rainy and Cold
Our tour of Canberra is always one of the most interesting days of the course. We visit the Australian Parliament House, the US Embassy, and the ANZAC War Memorial. It's the day that the students learn about the important relationship between the USA and Australia.
We began at Parliament House at 9am. Our tour guide, John, was a former ministerial aide, and certainly an expert on the workings of Australian government. He was also a well-traveled man, and understood US government as well. As a result, he was a perfect guide for our students, pointing out similarities and differences between the two systems.
Australian government is bicameral, like ours, with one house elected more or less proportional to the population, the other with equal representation for the states. Of course, the head of the government is a prime minister; the executive portion of the government is not a separate branch, but contained within the majority party or coalition of the legislature.
The building is remarkable, containing many layers of symbolism to remind the citizens and government officials alike of their roots and their mission. The colors are chosen to reflect the land: the reds of the harsh interior; the greens of the eucalyptus forests. Most of the building is underground with parkland above, so the government building literally supports the citizens above. It is a beautiful building, and reflects the finest in Australia.
This year Parliament House was very quiet. I think we hit the very tail end of the school field trips (down here called 'school holidays'), so probably will not see a lot of children at most of the places we visit, as we sometimes have in past years. I did learn something interesting that explains the high level of knowledge most Australians have of their government: travel for schoolchildren to Parliament House is subsidized: the farther one lives from Canberra, the higher the level of subsidy. The chambers of both houses are equipped with classroom areas into which teachers can bring their classes and have them watch Parliament in action.
Our trip to the U.S. Embassy often is a moment when some of our students get a glimpse of a possible career in the Foreign Service. We meet with four embassy staff, officers from some of the sections. The generalist officers we meet with rotate their post every two years; this policy prevents them from getting to know the country so well that they become its advocate rather than ours. It's a perfect career for someone who wants to travel around a lot and get to see many parts of the world.
The ANZAC War Memorial also houses one of the best military museums one will find. The matching of memorial and the museum was intentional and wise; placing the Roll of Honour and the Tomb of the Unknown in a moving context.
For this visit, I concentrated on the battle of Gallipoli and the Kokoda trail. Since I've already written about Gallipoli, I'll explain what little I know of Kokoda. This trail cuts across Borneo; the Japanese in WWII intended to use this as a route by which they would stage an invasion of Australia. Keeping this from happening was a key objective of the Battle of the Coral Sea. Defending this trail was a band of Australia militia that faced incredible odds. They were successful in keeping the Japanese from completing the trail, but suffered heavy losses. Along with Gallipoli, Kokoda is remembered as another in a long line of battles that showcased to the world the character of the Australian solider.
AT the ANZAC War Memorial shop, I found a very cute little book that I had to have: a reproduction of the US War Department's 1942 booklet "Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia." It contains a lot of interesting facts, along with a fair amount of misinformation. But I will think of my Uncle Burt Jacobson, who was stationed in Australia at the time, every time I look at the book.
It is now early on the 29th, and we will fly out to Brisbane soon. It's sunny and in the 70s there, so we'll shake the chill off.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Trip to Canberra
April 27
Canberra
Rainy and Cold
The truth is, much of the day was sunny and pleasant. The chilly rain did not move in until after our arrival. But it is cold here -- this is the southern most part of our tour, and it is in the middle of their autumn, so the weather is not surprising at all.
It was sunny in Sydney when we left this morning for Canberra on a Murray's coach. Our driver's name was Arthur, and he turned out to be an excellent driver and guide, even taking us on a side trip for lour first encounter with wild kangaroos.
The daily life of a kangaroo has many points of correspondence to that of the deer in North America. Just like deer, kangaroos feed at dawn and dusk, and spend the middle of the day resting under the shade of a eucalyptus stand. The alpha male will stand guard, keeping some level of alertness while the females and juveniles relax. Kangaroos are also creatures of habit, using the same areas for foraging and resting. So, Arthur could be reasonably certain that there would be a mob on the outskirts of Canberra.
Many of the students got some pretty good photos of the mob. In addition to the alpha male, there were probably three females and as many juveniles -- at least seven in the mob. They were watchful of us but not terribly frightened; some of the students got within 50 feet or so of the alpha male without it fleeing. No doubt many tourist coaches come by this location, and the kangaroos are used to it.
We always go up Mt. Ainslie for the view of Canberra. I usually prepare a few remarks about Canberra at this point: the city layout was done by American architect Walter Burley-Griffin; the line of sight between the War Memorial and the Parliament House is kept unobstructed by design; the city layout is radial, and so on. But Arthur went ahead and spoke about all this and more -- it made an impression on the students that this fellow had that much pride in his country and such a sense of history about it. We gave him a round of applause at the end of the trip.
Canberra is very cold right now. Some snow is forecast to the west, but we're under a cold rain here. Th rooms are comfortable and clean, and we were ushered in pretty swiftly. Their elevator is broken, so we had to carry the bags up a flight, but that's wasn't too bad.
We had the students do their first quiz right away after getting settled in their rooms. They did fine; most of the scores were 7-9 out of 10, which is pretty good. They get so nervous about these things, as though a miss or two on a quiz will ruin their chance for passing. I want my students motivated to do well, but sometimes their obsession for good grades gets in the way of their learning -- some seem to spend their intellectual energy trying to figure out what my colleague and I might ask on a quiz rather than taking the travel experience all in and processing it. And the fact is that the students who get past that behavior of trying to guess what's on teacher's mind are often the ones who do better on quizzes and other course grades.
Since it is still a holiday weekend, the shops closed up early here, so there was even less to do than usual. My colleague and I had dinner at an Irish pub off the main shopping area; some of our students went there as well. My meal of a steak sandwich was okay, but my colleague had fish and chips that looked very good. Then it was back here for a quiet night.
It is now about 6:45 am; I'll upload this in a few minutes. I will run the students through the continental breakfast line at 7:30; then we take our tour of Canberra.
Canberra
Rainy and Cold
The truth is, much of the day was sunny and pleasant. The chilly rain did not move in until after our arrival. But it is cold here -- this is the southern most part of our tour, and it is in the middle of their autumn, so the weather is not surprising at all.
It was sunny in Sydney when we left this morning for Canberra on a Murray's coach. Our driver's name was Arthur, and he turned out to be an excellent driver and guide, even taking us on a side trip for lour first encounter with wild kangaroos.
The daily life of a kangaroo has many points of correspondence to that of the deer in North America. Just like deer, kangaroos feed at dawn and dusk, and spend the middle of the day resting under the shade of a eucalyptus stand. The alpha male will stand guard, keeping some level of alertness while the females and juveniles relax. Kangaroos are also creatures of habit, using the same areas for foraging and resting. So, Arthur could be reasonably certain that there would be a mob on the outskirts of Canberra.
Many of the students got some pretty good photos of the mob. In addition to the alpha male, there were probably three females and as many juveniles -- at least seven in the mob. They were watchful of us but not terribly frightened; some of the students got within 50 feet or so of the alpha male without it fleeing. No doubt many tourist coaches come by this location, and the kangaroos are used to it.
We always go up Mt. Ainslie for the view of Canberra. I usually prepare a few remarks about Canberra at this point: the city layout was done by American architect Walter Burley-Griffin; the line of sight between the War Memorial and the Parliament House is kept unobstructed by design; the city layout is radial, and so on. But Arthur went ahead and spoke about all this and more -- it made an impression on the students that this fellow had that much pride in his country and such a sense of history about it. We gave him a round of applause at the end of the trip.
Canberra is very cold right now. Some snow is forecast to the west, but we're under a cold rain here. Th rooms are comfortable and clean, and we were ushered in pretty swiftly. Their elevator is broken, so we had to carry the bags up a flight, but that's wasn't too bad.
We had the students do their first quiz right away after getting settled in their rooms. They did fine; most of the scores were 7-9 out of 10, which is pretty good. They get so nervous about these things, as though a miss or two on a quiz will ruin their chance for passing. I want my students motivated to do well, but sometimes their obsession for good grades gets in the way of their learning -- some seem to spend their intellectual energy trying to figure out what my colleague and I might ask on a quiz rather than taking the travel experience all in and processing it. And the fact is that the students who get past that behavior of trying to guess what's on teacher's mind are often the ones who do better on quizzes and other course grades.
Since it is still a holiday weekend, the shops closed up early here, so there was even less to do than usual. My colleague and I had dinner at an Irish pub off the main shopping area; some of our students went there as well. My meal of a steak sandwich was okay, but my colleague had fish and chips that looked very good. Then it was back here for a quiet night.
It is now about 6:45 am; I'll upload this in a few minutes. I will run the students through the continental breakfast line at 7:30; then we take our tour of Canberra.
Koala at Taronga Zoo (A Test Post)
I'm just checking out this ability to post my Flickr photos here. You can see more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chazjac/.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Our First Free Day
April 26
Sydney
Mostly sunny and mild
We were awakened twice during the night by the hotel fire alarm. It's a little different than what I've experienced in the States; the alarm sounds in the room as well as in the halls, and one then hears a voice saying that the fire alarm system has been activated and the hotel guests should stand by. So, one has time enough to throw a few clothes on and retrieve the passport and money. After a few minutes, the sound changes from a beep to a wail, and the voice instructs the guest to evacuate.
The first alarm was at 3:30am. After getting downstairs, we waited outside for just a moment before the firefighters arrived, and then a little while longer before they gave the all-clear for us to return to our rooms. The firefighters said that someone was probably smoking and set off the alarm.
We were all awakened again around 6am. The drill was more or less the same, but then they discovered smoke coming from an electrical closet on the third floor, and kept us out while they checked it out and let the smoke dissipate. They shut down the suspicious air conditioning unit and stuck around for a while to make sure that there was not anything else going on. WE all got to go back to our rooms around 6:45 but like many of the students, I just stayed up and started my day. My guess is that we'll have some repair guys in the building soon.
As my lovely wife will attest, this is not my first experience with hotel fire alarms. But I have to say that the Y Hotel's fire alarm system seems to be more considerate of the guests. Announcing that the alarm has been activated but that we should stand by presumably allows the hotel staff to check out whether an evacuation is truly necessary. That's more than we got at the Holiday Inn at Atlantic City, where my lovely wife and I found ourselves outside in our pajamas on the Boardwalk at midnight -- in January -- with our two children who were very young boys at the time. That time, it turned out that some idiot was smoking in the stairwell and set off the alarm. A whole building evacuated and a fire department called because of a cigarette?!
--------------
I spent the day on laundry, errands for the course, and a walk around the Botanical Gardens. I always get a bit of sticker shock the first time I do laundry over here. The machines are $3 for a load of wash, $3 for dryer time. I bought a box of laundry soap that should last me the course with some left over for my colleague or the students.
In general, the cost of food and other daily needs has risen a troubling amount in the last two years. And since we're much closer to parity between Australian dollars and US dollars, we really feel it more while traveling. The course money is good, and my colleague and I plan on throwing in some extra meals along the way, so the students will be fine. But I can see that it's affecting the Australians; the economy is a constant topic on the news. There are two forces driving food prices here at the moment: the price of oil; and the severe drought affecting much of the country's breadbasket. So, Australians are hunkering down for a rough patch.
------
The Botanical Garden was very pleasant. The weather has improved, so a lot of folks were out walking, picnicking, playing rugby or Frisbee, and generally enjoying the return of good weather. We arrived at the tail end of a two-week period of dreary skies and showers. It was good for filling the catchments and easing the drought, but the gloom was foreign to Sydney; it's tuned to sunshine.
The flying fox colony in the Gardens put on a very good show for the camera bugs. They were squabbling and flying about. Though they are classified as bats, they are neither nocturnal nor carnivorous, preferring to eat eucalyptus blossoms and/or farmer's fruit. A couple of them even obliged flying about for a moment so that I could get a good couple of photos. We'll see how they turn out.
It is now the morning of the 27th; we will leave in a little while for Canberra. The course is off to a very good start. The students are good traveling companions: not too many problems, and when problems have come up they've let me know right away. Of course, sometimes there's nothing I can do, but it's still good for me to be in the information loop. And they've acquitted themselves well also, doing what we've asked of them with little complaint. I am very happy to have this group traveling with me.
On to Canberra!
Sydney
Mostly sunny and mild
We were awakened twice during the night by the hotel fire alarm. It's a little different than what I've experienced in the States; the alarm sounds in the room as well as in the halls, and one then hears a voice saying that the fire alarm system has been activated and the hotel guests should stand by. So, one has time enough to throw a few clothes on and retrieve the passport and money. After a few minutes, the sound changes from a beep to a wail, and the voice instructs the guest to evacuate.
The first alarm was at 3:30am. After getting downstairs, we waited outside for just a moment before the firefighters arrived, and then a little while longer before they gave the all-clear for us to return to our rooms. The firefighters said that someone was probably smoking and set off the alarm.
We were all awakened again around 6am. The drill was more or less the same, but then they discovered smoke coming from an electrical closet on the third floor, and kept us out while they checked it out and let the smoke dissipate. They shut down the suspicious air conditioning unit and stuck around for a while to make sure that there was not anything else going on. WE all got to go back to our rooms around 6:45 but like many of the students, I just stayed up and started my day. My guess is that we'll have some repair guys in the building soon.
As my lovely wife will attest, this is not my first experience with hotel fire alarms. But I have to say that the Y Hotel's fire alarm system seems to be more considerate of the guests. Announcing that the alarm has been activated but that we should stand by presumably allows the hotel staff to check out whether an evacuation is truly necessary. That's more than we got at the Holiday Inn at Atlantic City, where my lovely wife and I found ourselves outside in our pajamas on the Boardwalk at midnight -- in January -- with our two children who were very young boys at the time. That time, it turned out that some idiot was smoking in the stairwell and set off the alarm. A whole building evacuated and a fire department called because of a cigarette?!
--------------
I spent the day on laundry, errands for the course, and a walk around the Botanical Gardens. I always get a bit of sticker shock the first time I do laundry over here. The machines are $3 for a load of wash, $3 for dryer time. I bought a box of laundry soap that should last me the course with some left over for my colleague or the students.
In general, the cost of food and other daily needs has risen a troubling amount in the last two years. And since we're much closer to parity between Australian dollars and US dollars, we really feel it more while traveling. The course money is good, and my colleague and I plan on throwing in some extra meals along the way, so the students will be fine. But I can see that it's affecting the Australians; the economy is a constant topic on the news. There are two forces driving food prices here at the moment: the price of oil; and the severe drought affecting much of the country's breadbasket. So, Australians are hunkering down for a rough patch.
------
The Botanical Garden was very pleasant. The weather has improved, so a lot of folks were out walking, picnicking, playing rugby or Frisbee, and generally enjoying the return of good weather. We arrived at the tail end of a two-week period of dreary skies and showers. It was good for filling the catchments and easing the drought, but the gloom was foreign to Sydney; it's tuned to sunshine.
The flying fox colony in the Gardens put on a very good show for the camera bugs. They were squabbling and flying about. Though they are classified as bats, they are neither nocturnal nor carnivorous, preferring to eat eucalyptus blossoms and/or farmer's fruit. A couple of them even obliged flying about for a moment so that I could get a good couple of photos. We'll see how they turn out.
It is now the morning of the 27th; we will leave in a little while for Canberra. The course is off to a very good start. The students are good traveling companions: not too many problems, and when problems have come up they've let me know right away. Of course, sometimes there's nothing I can do, but it's still good for me to be in the information loop. And they've acquitted themselves well also, doing what we've asked of them with little complaint. I am very happy to have this group traveling with me.
On to Canberra!
ANZAC Day
April 25
Sydney
Partly Sunny and Mild, Windy
(NOTE: This didn't upload properly the first time around, fo that's why it's out of order. Sorry about that!)
ANZAC Day is a day of remembrance and commemoration for those who have served in the defense of Australia in some way.
The date of April 25 commemorates the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) troops joining the Battle of Gallipoli against the Turks. The Gallipoli Peninsula is a mountainous region alongside the Dardanelles, the strait leading to Constantinopole. Control of Gallipoli was therefore critical for the British; with the strait open to the British, an attack on the Turkish avenue into Europe was possible. Of course, the Turks had gun emplacements on the hilltops, heavily protected with machine gunners dug in all along the hillside. The ANZAC objective was to assist in capturing the hilltops by fighting their way up the hill, trench by trench. That they threw themselves into this with grit, tenacity, and pluck, earned the ANZAC soldier a reputation that has become legendary.
Of course, this came at a heavy cost to the ANZAC troops, with thousands dying in the battle. Moreover, the British commanders had their priorities backwards in the battle, worrying about freeing the channel for the British ships instead of concentrating on the hills on Gallipoli first. Without support, the ANZAC troops had no hope of taking the summit; the greatest success was getting so many ANZAC troops down from the hillside that had pretty much turned into a trap for them.
ANZAC Day became a day of remembrance in 1916, though it caught on as a national holiday only slowly. But by the late 1940s, the holiday began to look much like it does today. The events of the day include: 1) a pre-dawn 'stand to' attended by veterans and immediate family; 2) a parade march through the city; and 3) a commemorative service following the parade. Some Australian cities will vary this a bit, but the format is pretty much followed in Sydney. And of course, the holiday has grown in meaning so that it now is a day of remembrance and commemoration for all veterans in any military action in which Australia has taken part.
The pre-dawn service is considered private, so I skipped that one and advised the students too do the same. (I certainly could have gone, as I am still jet-lagged enough so that I am awake and ready to start my day at 3:30am! I'm sure the same is true for many of the students.) I put the 9am parade into the student's planner, though I told them that they did not need to attend the parade as a group.
I wandered around Hyde Park for awhile before the parade began. The area to the north was serving as a staging area for the marchers, and there were some vendors selling tea and sausages. A group of youngsters sold me a sprig of rosemary, an herb worn on this day in remembrance.
I watched the parade from a very nice vantage point along George Street, across from the Queen Victoria Building. I hope I got some nice photos of the event; I'll post them if they turn out. Standing next to me was a man from California visiting Sydney for the third time, so we chatted a bit during the parade. I was eventually muscled out of my spot by a family that was rather rude, but I was pretty much ready to go anyway, as the parade had already gone on for two hours.
The format of the parade is pretty straightforward: lots of marching bands, lots of bagpipes and drums, and lots of marching veterans. No floats. Veterans and sometimes their families march behind the banners for their battalion, regiment, or corps. Almost every type of service is honored. Of course infantry, light horse, armored divisions, naval, and air force were present. Signal corps, intelligence units, medics and nurses had their banners. Even ones that I would not have thought of were there: the Dental Service had a banner, as did the Entertainment Corps and the Carrier Pigeons. Even the War Correspondents had a banner. There was a unit of French and Polish veterans, and US veterans of the small ships corps had their place as well. No wonder it lasted so long.
The bagpipes and marching bands seemed to play either Scotland the Brave or Waltzing Matilda. I must have heard both of those half a dozen times each. But I love bagpipe music, so I enjoyed it.
The commemorative service began in the early afternoon, and lasted about an hour. It featured a choir and another bagpipe and drum corps. The speeches were not very memorable -- but I don't suppose the speeches at these services ever are. It was moving in the same way that a Memorial Day service is. During both the parade and the service, I was struck by the personal connections between the participants and the bystanders; a portion of the crowd would start cheering for a particular veteran who was also a great-grandfather; or a mother would take a picture of her son as he marched with the band.
I spent the rest of the day running a few errands regarding the course and photographing ibises in the park. Tomorrow is a free day, so I'll use the time to get my photos developed and do laundry. I also hope to wander about the Botanical Garden and maybe get a picture or two of a flying fox.
Sydney
Partly Sunny and Mild, Windy
(NOTE: This didn't upload properly the first time around, fo that's why it's out of order. Sorry about that!)
ANZAC Day is a day of remembrance and commemoration for those who have served in the defense of Australia in some way.
The date of April 25 commemorates the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) troops joining the Battle of Gallipoli against the Turks. The Gallipoli Peninsula is a mountainous region alongside the Dardanelles, the strait leading to Constantinopole. Control of Gallipoli was therefore critical for the British; with the strait open to the British, an attack on the Turkish avenue into Europe was possible. Of course, the Turks had gun emplacements on the hilltops, heavily protected with machine gunners dug in all along the hillside. The ANZAC objective was to assist in capturing the hilltops by fighting their way up the hill, trench by trench. That they threw themselves into this with grit, tenacity, and pluck, earned the ANZAC soldier a reputation that has become legendary.
Of course, this came at a heavy cost to the ANZAC troops, with thousands dying in the battle. Moreover, the British commanders had their priorities backwards in the battle, worrying about freeing the channel for the British ships instead of concentrating on the hills on Gallipoli first. Without support, the ANZAC troops had no hope of taking the summit; the greatest success was getting so many ANZAC troops down from the hillside that had pretty much turned into a trap for them.
ANZAC Day became a day of remembrance in 1916, though it caught on as a national holiday only slowly. But by the late 1940s, the holiday began to look much like it does today. The events of the day include: 1) a pre-dawn 'stand to' attended by veterans and immediate family; 2) a parade march through the city; and 3) a commemorative service following the parade. Some Australian cities will vary this a bit, but the format is pretty much followed in Sydney. And of course, the holiday has grown in meaning so that it now is a day of remembrance and commemoration for all veterans in any military action in which Australia has taken part.
The pre-dawn service is considered private, so I skipped that one and advised the students too do the same. (I certainly could have gone, as I am still jet-lagged enough so that I am awake and ready to start my day at 3:30am! I'm sure the same is true for many of the students.) I put the 9am parade into the student's planner, though I told them that they did not need to attend the parade as a group.
I wandered around Hyde Park for awhile before the parade began. The area to the north was serving as a staging area for the marchers, and there were some vendors selling tea and sausages. A group of youngsters sold me a sprig of rosemary, an herb worn on this day in remembrance.
I watched the parade from a very nice vantage point along George Street, across from the Queen Victoria Building. I hope I got some nice photos of the event; I'll post them if they turn out. Standing next to me was a man from California visiting Sydney for the third time, so we chatted a bit during the parade. I was eventually muscled out of my spot by a family that was rather rude, but I was pretty much ready to go anyway, as the parade had already gone on for two hours.
The format of the parade is pretty straightforward: lots of marching bands, lots of bagpipes and drums, and lots of marching veterans. No floats. Veterans and sometimes their families march behind the banners for their battalion, regiment, or corps. Almost every type of service is honored. Of course infantry, light horse, armored divisions, naval, and air force were present. Signal corps, intelligence units, medics and nurses had their banners. Even ones that I would not have thought of were there: the Dental Service had a banner, as did the Entertainment Corps and the Carrier Pigeons. Even the War Correspondents had a banner. There was a unit of French and Polish veterans, and US veterans of the small ships corps had their place as well. No wonder it lasted so long.
The bagpipes and marching bands seemed to play either Scotland the Brave or Waltzing Matilda. I must have heard both of those half a dozen times each. But I love bagpipe music, so I enjoyed it.
The commemorative service began in the early afternoon, and lasted about an hour. It featured a choir and another bagpipe and drum corps. The speeches were not very memorable -- but I don't suppose the speeches at these services ever are. It was moving in the same way that a Memorial Day service is. During both the parade and the service, I was struck by the personal connections between the participants and the bystanders; a portion of the crowd would start cheering for a particular veteran who was also a great-grandfather; or a mother would take a picture of her son as he marched with the band.
I spent the rest of the day running a few errands regarding the course and photographing ibises in the park. Tomorrow is a free day, so I'll use the time to get my photos developed and do laundry. I also hope to wander about the Botanical Garden and maybe get a picture or two of a flying fox.
Photos on Flickr
If you look at the left side of the page, you'll see a link to my Flickr account. I've uploaded a few photos I took with the Canon and the stupid digital camera. Enjoy.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Taronga Zoo and Sydney Aquarium
April 24
Sydney
Breezy and cloudy with afternoon rain
Finding the Kinkos this morning facilitated uploading the journal entries, and should help also with uploading what photos I do take. I'm doing much less than I did in the past -- my colleague is doing the course blog at http://ecaustralia08.blogspot.com and should have many nice ones there.
I'm pretty happy that I've gone back to film. It lacks the immediacy of feedback, but the shutter opens without a delay when the button is pressed. And I just went too long with cameras that behaved that way to ever be comfortable with the digitals -- at least until they find a way to shorten the delay so that I don't notice it.
We introduced the students to Sydney's mass transit system today, taking them on the subway and then a couple of ferry rides. My colleague went out earlier and bought day passes for all of us. $16 (Australian) gets a ticket that is good until 4am the next day on all the subways and most of the ferries.
Our ferry to Taronga Zoo was one of the rivercats, which is a little different than what we encountered in the past. The older green and yellow ferries are still in use, and in fact we did ride on those back from Taronga and over to Darling Harbour later in the day. I prefer the older ones; ferry rides are best done on an outside deck, and there's only space for 28 outside on the rivercats. There's plenty of outside room on the older ferries.
So far, I'm pretty impressed with this group of students along with us. They've been engaged in the course experiences with little complaining. More importantly, they seem to be pretty friendly with one another. A group that looks out for one another will do very well as we progress through the course.
The last time I was in Australia was 2006, and in that two years a lot has changed at Taronga Zoo. Several habitats have come online, such as the one for the elephants. The cable cars we ride up to the top of the zoo glide right over the elephant habitat, much to the delighted surprise of the students who rode up with me. The ocean animal exhibit that includes the sea lions and the little penguins has been relocated into a more sophisticated viewing area, though the old empty and drained pools have not yet been dismantled.
New to me was an outdoor riverbank habitat that includes a platypus -- it was in its burrow when I was there, unfortunately. I also did not get a photo of the echidna, though my colleague did. But I did get nice photos of some black swans and other birds, and can also include photos of tree kangaroos and swamp wallabies in next year's course booklet.
The bird show had an unexpected moment involving an Andean Condor, the only non-native bird in the show. It's an enormous bird, with a wingspan of nearly ten feet, and when it soared above the crowd at the show, it startled several birds in the area, who started squawking and chasing it around. Though the host treated it as a humorous event, it was pretty clear that the handlers were concerned. The birds used in the show all have tracking devices installed, and so the bird would be found should it not return; the staff was no doubt more concerned about what damage the local birds might do to the condor. But it did come back eventually and finish the show. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, as usual.
There is also a new attraction nearby the Aquarium, a nature center called Wildlife World. I hope to scout it out on Saturday to see whether it would be suitable for future years. It looks to have several enclosed ecosystems and might serve as a good introduction to the rainforests and plains regions.
We arrived at the Sydney Aquarium in mid-afternoon, right around feeding time for the estuarine crocodile. The handlers come out with a large fish that looked like a barramundi, and, protected by a thick Plexiglas shield, held the fish over it and waited for the croc to jump up to take the fish. It obliged after a moment, much to the delight of the crowd.
It was also feeding time for the little penguins. They are every bit as cute as the koalas, and seem to have a better temper about them.
One exhibit feature that caught my attention was a visitor-controlled camera that allowed enhanced views of some of the tanks. The visitor could manipulate the position of the videos camera and control the zoom factor, with the image showing up on a screen nearby the tank. This allowed a person to concentrate on features of the small fish not otherwise visible.
We dispersed at the Aquarium. It's located in Darling Harbour, a very busy area that caters to tourists with many restaurants, shops, and other museums. I came back to the hotel to begin working on their first quiz, taken on Sunday.
When my colleague returned in the evening, we went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and then visited a nearby supermarket. Food prices down here have gone up so much in the last two years! It is quite unbelievable. Bananas have always been ridiculously high here -- they grow the darned things in Queensland, but I think those are shipped to Asia, with Australians buying imports from the Philippines. But everything else is expensive as well, very different from what I had become accustomed to in past years. It's oil prices, of course, but also the drought here has driven up food prices, too. It's worse than in the states.
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, and I hope to see some of the students at the parades and services. It will be interesting to see what the Australians do.
Sydney
Breezy and cloudy with afternoon rain
Finding the Kinkos this morning facilitated uploading the journal entries, and should help also with uploading what photos I do take. I'm doing much less than I did in the past -- my colleague is doing the course blog at http://ecaustralia08.blogspot.com and should have many nice ones there.
I'm pretty happy that I've gone back to film. It lacks the immediacy of feedback, but the shutter opens without a delay when the button is pressed. And I just went too long with cameras that behaved that way to ever be comfortable with the digitals -- at least until they find a way to shorten the delay so that I don't notice it.
We introduced the students to Sydney's mass transit system today, taking them on the subway and then a couple of ferry rides. My colleague went out earlier and bought day passes for all of us. $16 (Australian) gets a ticket that is good until 4am the next day on all the subways and most of the ferries.
Our ferry to Taronga Zoo was one of the rivercats, which is a little different than what we encountered in the past. The older green and yellow ferries are still in use, and in fact we did ride on those back from Taronga and over to Darling Harbour later in the day. I prefer the older ones; ferry rides are best done on an outside deck, and there's only space for 28 outside on the rivercats. There's plenty of outside room on the older ferries.
So far, I'm pretty impressed with this group of students along with us. They've been engaged in the course experiences with little complaining. More importantly, they seem to be pretty friendly with one another. A group that looks out for one another will do very well as we progress through the course.
The last time I was in Australia was 2006, and in that two years a lot has changed at Taronga Zoo. Several habitats have come online, such as the one for the elephants. The cable cars we ride up to the top of the zoo glide right over the elephant habitat, much to the delighted surprise of the students who rode up with me. The ocean animal exhibit that includes the sea lions and the little penguins has been relocated into a more sophisticated viewing area, though the old empty and drained pools have not yet been dismantled.
New to me was an outdoor riverbank habitat that includes a platypus -- it was in its burrow when I was there, unfortunately. I also did not get a photo of the echidna, though my colleague did. But I did get nice photos of some black swans and other birds, and can also include photos of tree kangaroos and swamp wallabies in next year's course booklet.
The bird show had an unexpected moment involving an Andean Condor, the only non-native bird in the show. It's an enormous bird, with a wingspan of nearly ten feet, and when it soared above the crowd at the show, it startled several birds in the area, who started squawking and chasing it around. Though the host treated it as a humorous event, it was pretty clear that the handlers were concerned. The birds used in the show all have tracking devices installed, and so the bird would be found should it not return; the staff was no doubt more concerned about what damage the local birds might do to the condor. But it did come back eventually and finish the show. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, as usual.
There is also a new attraction nearby the Aquarium, a nature center called Wildlife World. I hope to scout it out on Saturday to see whether it would be suitable for future years. It looks to have several enclosed ecosystems and might serve as a good introduction to the rainforests and plains regions.
We arrived at the Sydney Aquarium in mid-afternoon, right around feeding time for the estuarine crocodile. The handlers come out with a large fish that looked like a barramundi, and, protected by a thick Plexiglas shield, held the fish over it and waited for the croc to jump up to take the fish. It obliged after a moment, much to the delight of the crowd.
It was also feeding time for the little penguins. They are every bit as cute as the koalas, and seem to have a better temper about them.
One exhibit feature that caught my attention was a visitor-controlled camera that allowed enhanced views of some of the tanks. The visitor could manipulate the position of the videos camera and control the zoom factor, with the image showing up on a screen nearby the tank. This allowed a person to concentrate on features of the small fish not otherwise visible.
We dispersed at the Aquarium. It's located in Darling Harbour, a very busy area that caters to tourists with many restaurants, shops, and other museums. I came back to the hotel to begin working on their first quiz, taken on Sunday.
When my colleague returned in the evening, we went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and then visited a nearby supermarket. Food prices down here have gone up so much in the last two years! It is quite unbelievable. Bananas have always been ridiculously high here -- they grow the darned things in Queensland, but I think those are shipped to Asia, with Australians buying imports from the Philippines. But everything else is expensive as well, very different from what I had become accustomed to in past years. It's oil prices, of course, but also the drought here has driven up food prices, too. It's worse than in the states.
Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, and I hope to see some of the students at the parades and services. It will be interesting to see what the Australians do.
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