Australia

Here is the link with the pictures of Melbourne:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/A3YV12

Melbourne is a great city with a lot of "soul" and character. With all the trams, sidewalk cafes, wide boulevards, distinct neighborhoods, Melbourne has more of a European flair than Sydney. Although Melbourne does not have the Opera House, it is a city full of great modern architecture..a successful mixture of old with the new.

We stayed with a friend, who lives in one of the inner suburbs. She gave us great recommendations for restaurants...one evening we had ate at an excellent fusion Japanese restaurant.

For Georges, it is the first time that he had been back to his birth place. So we found the hospital where he was born...St. Vincents. We also visited Mount Waverly, an outer suburb, where he lived as a baby. We met up with the old neighbor for tea, who still lives across the street from the house. She is 83 and still very active...back then she babysat Georges.

Here are the latest link for pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/9D37jv

After the Sunshine Coast we flew to Newcastle for our second home swap in Port Stephens. Port Stephens is a residential, but also a holiday and weekend get-a-way area for Syndeysiders, which is about a 3-hour drive north of Sydney. Port Stephens is a huge harbor, which is about 8 times the size of the one of Sydney. Like Sydney’s, Port Stephens has is rugged with numerous bays and coves. Our home is an apartment on the second floor at the tip of a peninsula, thus we have stunning views of the bay. Indeed it is a very beautiful area.

Port Stephens has the largest concentration of bottle-nose dolphins in the world. We took a cruise on catamaran to see them. About 15-20 dolphins approached our catamaran, including a baby dolphin. They were jumping….amazing to see. Two of them swam under the front of the catamaran. Check out the pictures…

Although this area is inhabited by koalas; in fact every street has a koala warning sign. Some signs indicate the number of koala deaths due to car traffic…this year only 10 have been killed so far, compared to 35 last year. So on one hike we looked through every eucalyptus tree to see if we could spot one…the only thing we got were stiff necks. I guess if anyone goes to Australia to see koalas, the best place to do it is to go to a koala sanctuary!

We spent some time examining the area. There are also some wineries in the area. Our home swap family is friends with the owners of one and we visited it: It is on a hill overlooking one of the arms of the bay and also has a restaurant on a deck. We also went to the beaches of each cove and hiked through Tamaree National Forest, including climbing up Tamaree Head for a view of the complete area.

We also drove to Hunter Valley, which is about 1.5-hour drive from Port Stephens and visited a couple of boutique wineries for tasting and purchases. At one vineyard we saw some kangaroos in the wild! At every winery I asked about Australian wines having screw-caps instead of corks. I always got different answers, but the general conclusion is that cork quality has decreased over the years and a lot develop a bacterium which can affect 10% of the wines. Screw caps have several advantages: no loss of production, wine can be stored upright, no need for a cork screw, etc. In fact even top Australian wines now have screw caps...presumably the wine can still age well, since the wine producer can control the amount of air trapped in the bottle. So definitely Australian wine producers are switching over to screw caps…at one winery we visited all production from 2004 onwards was only with screw caps. Question is: will the French catch on?

Now we are heading off to Melbourne….Georges’ hometown!

Here are the links to the latest pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/YA7DHq

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/i800h3

On our trip up north we had one disappointment: we could not go to the Great Barrier Reef. Our cruise to Lady Musgrave Island was cancelled due to the high winds and rough seas. Apparently all the cruises since Good Friday have been cancelled and most likely for the rest of the week, which is the busiest holiday period in Australia. We were told that everyone would get sea sick on the boat and when we got to the reef there would be nothing to see, since the water will be murky from all the waves. You have to admit that at least Australians are honest and do not rip tourists off, even though these cruises are the livelihood of many people. In fact the weather here in Queensland has been a bit out of whack from what I’ve heard from people here…high winds from the sea and quite a few showers…normally this is the best time of the year to visit. This problem is also present down on the Sunshine coast (500 km to the South)…we wanted to go deep sea fishing today and it is not possible at least through Sunday due to these winds.

So we made the best of the situation and explored a bit of the area around the Town of 1770 and Agnes Water. It is a very nice area and these are northern most surfer beaches on the Australian east coast. We also admired the night sky…it was so clear we could even see the Milky Way! In fact I have never seen so many stars in my life as here, since there is no light pollution. I can now point out the Southern Cross.

Then we drove south to Rainbow Beach, from where we would take a 2-day tour of Fraser Island. When we arrived at Rainbow Beach, it was raining and we had a lovely rainbow welcoming us :-). The tour to Fraser Island was with two 4-wheel drive jeeps with 18 people in total. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world…there is more sand here than in the Sahara desert. The island is a World Heritage Site and is quite large with no paved roads… every road is of sand. The main beach is 120 km long, with lovely surf…unfortunately one cannot swim here due to all the dangers of the sea (sever rips, sharks, stingers, i.e. Portuguese Man-of-war, poisonous sea snakes, etc.). In fact at some places there are so many stingers washed up on shore that they appear to be the normal beach rocks.

The tour started with an inland portion of the island to see the rain forest. At one time Fraser Island was praised for its hard timber; some of which is still in the Panama and Suez canals. The timber industry has long stopped and there are still some quite impressive trees left. We took a path along Wanggoobla creek, one of the many creeks…the water is completely clear and pure, as it is well water that is pushed up to the surface due to the pressure of the sand. We then went to Lake McKenzie, which is one of the many perched lakes on the island. The water here is also crystal clear. The beach and the water were lovely. We also saw the Pinnacles, which are sand dunes that resemble rock formations like in Arizona. We also saw the Maheno shipwreck and had great views from Indian Head. We saw 3 dingoes (wild dogs) and other wild life.

For the latest pictures, click on the link here (there are two different links):

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/UaC82k

http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/1Lt32S

So we are now in our exchange home in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast. Buderim is about 1 hour north of Brisbane. Our exchange home is nice and we do have views of the ocean from the two terraces. I haven’t taken pictures of the home yet, but I will do that later.

Yesterday we went to Noosa Heads, which is the northern part of the Sunshine Coast. Noosa is regarded as the Nice of Australia. Lonely Planet describes it as an exclusive area where the “glammed-up fashionists and wealthy do their holiday”. “The trendy café latte landscape has been cultivated without loosing sight of simple seaside pleasures”. Indeed it is very nice and the nature is still very much present. We started the day visiting Sunshine Beach. It was very windy and the surf was extremely rough and messy. We managed to stay a bit and wade in the pounding surf. Afterwards we went for a trek in Noosa National Park, which has some koalas (there are yellow warning diamond road signs with a koala in it, with a smaller sign underneath saying “we live here too”). We did not spot any. We saw some peculiar trees with some-type of flower with something that resembles mussels growing on it. Afterwards we explored Hastings Street in Noosa Heads…a chic boulevard with cafes and trendy boutiques. Just behind the street is the main beach of Noosa.

Today we went to the Lone Pines Koala Sanctuary, near Brisbane, which is the largest koala sanctuary in the world. so we were able to see koalas after being nearly a week in Oz. No wonder why we did not see any yesterday in Noosa National Park...koalas sleep most of the time high in the trees and they blend in very nicely to their environment...you really have to look to find them. This sanctuary also has other Australian animals…kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, and lorikeets. We got to hold a koala...mine was called Pepsi… and she was adorable. We also got to walk with the kangaroos and wallabies (wallabies are smaller than kangaroos and have more color). We also got to feed lorikeets…what an experience.

Tomorrow we head up the coast to the Town of 1770 (five hour drive from here), from where we will take a boat to Lady Musgrave Island, one of the first islands at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. After that we will head off to Rainbow Beach, from where we will go to Fraser Island for 2 days.

Here is the link with the pictures of Sydney: http://www.flickr.com/gp/16718975@N00/4gV5pq

After traveling more than 28 hours, we finally arrived in Sydney at 6 AM two days after we left. The flights were not that bad…basically two long overnight flights with a pleasant stopover in Bangkok. We were able to sleep on both flights. Actually the time flew by. In fact, I think the flight schedule helped us minimize the effects of jet lag, from which we did not suffer much at all.

Sydney is an amazing and very beautiful city! It is a very green city. Besides the several immense parks (Hyde Park, Royal Botanical Gardens, Centennial Park, Moore Park, etc), there are numerous smaller parks. It seems that any open space, no matter how small, is made into some type of park…it suffices to just put a bench, a tree, and some grass in an empty lot or at a street corner. The parks are all well maintained. One very curious thing: there are no signs saying “Do not walk on the grass” or “Keep off the grass”, but rather there are signs telling you to do the opposite: “Please walk on the grass”! Adding to the really green image of Sydney is that every street is tree-lined!

The highlight of the city is its fabulous harbor! This must be the most beautiful gorgeous harbor in the world. It is huge, from the ocean to the Opera house, is more than 15km. Taking a ferry in the harbor, gives you the impression you are in an Alpine lake, due to all the hills, trees, and houses on the banks. The harbor’s coastline is jagged, with countless bays and coves, which just adds to the charm of the harbor. These coves and bays are filled with sailing boats and yachts. The eastern suburbs are very hilly (quite a bit like San Francisco) and are home to the rich and wealthy. You can easily understand why they chose to live here when you see the impressive views they have! This must be the first harbor I’ve seen, where you do not see any heavy industry at all. Either the petrochemical, industrial facilities, and container terminals are well hidden in an obscure cove or they are completely not present. In any case the absence of industry just makes the harbor feel more natural.

Of course the jewel of the city is the Opera House. It is one impressive building in an amazing location. The name is a misnomer…in fact the major hall is the multipurpose concert hall. The opera is in a smaller theater in this huge performing arts complex. We’ve seen the Opera House several times and have toured the complex. There was a small exhibition on the international competition for the design, which took place 50 years ago. It is a godsend that this controversial design won. The runner-up designs look terrible and had they been built probably would have been subject to demolition by now.

Our hotel is in a district called Surry Hills. Lonely Planet describes it as a working class neighborhood that has seen lot of rough times and is currently undergoing a quick gentrification. It is very true…you see some rundown homes next to designer furniture boutiques, trendy cafes, etc. This area is being gentrified; due to it’s bordering with upscale Paddington…so the Yuppies are buying the rundown homes at bargain prices. The homes are bizarre in design…but all have wrought iron porches on the upper floor. This area is also a melting pot of different immigrant groups, predominately Turkish, Indian, and Thai, which makes it a good area to go out to eat, with plenty of inexpensive good restaurants. We’ve had good Indian, Thai, and awesome wood-oven pizza. In the neighborhood was also a great breakfast café…everything organic and freshly made with awesome coffee. The kids discovered and got addicted to the juice bars.

We’ve seen quite a bit of Sydney using the Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer. We also took the ferry to Manly. We went swimming …in famous Bondi beach and in Manly. Both places have nice powerful surf with warm water.

Now we’re off to Brisbane to go to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast for our home swap.