The red centre of Australia, Alice Springs, and thereafter Adelaide

Alice Springs and the surrounding 'red' desert met most of my expectations of high desert temperatures, and arid landscapes. A total of 11 days in the area, with a 3 day a tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta (the Olga's) which involved 7-10kms of hiking a day at each of these spectacular sites. Camping for the 2 nights in swag bags was a new experience giving me a rare opportunity to see the night sky, thankfully unimpeded by light pollution. The tour also included visiting Uluru at sunrise and sunset, equally unforgettable experiences. Before returning to Alice Springs we had the opportunity to have a camel ride, not to be missed and very entertaining in itself with much laughter and jesting from the others!
A further 3 nights in Alice at the YHA was a chance to catch up on much lost sleep, swim in the towns surprisingly good olympic size pool and visit local places of interest, including the local control centre of the Flying Doctor Service. A short bus ride out of town to the Alice Springs Desert Park was a worthwhile visit especially the nocturnal animal house which contained many rare and endangered species of desert animals.
Alice Springs had many close links with the surrounding aborigine communities and many galleries selling their artwork, however many of the community members were homeless on the streets of Alice and a good proportion of this group had drink problems. Many of the street homeless aborigines had been rejected for many and varied reasons by their own communities out in the bush and Alice was a magnet to them.
I decided to travel to Adelaide 'the Ghan' train, a journey of 25 hours, but lightened by the fact that a couple of people from the Uluru tour were also travelling, the food was OK and we wiled away the time in the buffet car, though sleep in a recliner seat was decidedly elusive.
Stayed at the YHA in Adelaide, pretty comfortable but unfortunately next door to some of the Adelaide nightlife! Able to ring the bells at 3 out of 4 of the towers, even ringing for a wedding on the Saturday at the catholic cathedral. The ringers were a welcoming group of people who were short in number that weekend and therefore pleased for me to help out, even to the extent of chauffering me around the city to the different churches. I rang a total of 5 times over the long weekend in Adelaide and finished by ringing for a concert at St Cuthberts where I met Peter, probably the oldest ringer in the world at 100. The concert by a quartet of clarinetists from the South Australian Police Band was of a high standard and entertaining and a fitting end to my stay in Adelaide. Managed to squeeze in a trip to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens in between ringing, even taking a guided tour of the gardens with their Spring blooming.
I left for Brisbane on the earlybird flight at 06 15 on the 21st September, back to Yandina for a few days relaxation including a further visit to the observatory to view the sun, this time, before taking the train to Brisbane. Again staying at the YHA for 3 nights and the opportunity to buy some last minute things for South America, followed by an overnight stay in Sydney before flying out to South America.
Photo 1. The Flying Doctor Control Centre in Alice Springs.
Photo 2. Termite nests in the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Photo 3. A brief stop before tackling the rocky climb to the rim of Kings Canyon.
Photo 4. The dome rock formations of Kata Tjuta.
Photo 5. The 'crew' of the Rock Tour
Photo 6. Campfires and swag bag.
Photo 7. Uluru at sunrise, followed by breakfast from the 'kitchen' trailer.
Photo 8. The 'Rock Tour'bus. NB swag bags on the trailer.
Photo 9. Camel ride.
Photo 10. Post tour dinner with Isabella (Peruvian) and Tim (Netherlands) alongside the rest of the crew.
Photo 11. The excellent pool at Alice Springs.
Photo 12. The desert viewed from 'the Ghan'.
Photo 13. Midday and ready to leave for Adelaide.
Photo 14. Bluebells in the Adelaide Botanical Gardens.
Photo 15. The newly restored palm house in the gardens.
Photo 16. St Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral, Adelaide. Rang the bells for a wedding here.
Photo 17. The separate bell tower at St Cuthberts church. Centenarian Fred on the left, with Graham, one of my chauffeurs.
Photo 18. St Peters Anglican Cathedral, Adelaide

Hiking in Tasmania, with a chill wind in Hobart

After the tropical temperatures of Cairns and Cape Tribulation Tasmania was a shock to the system especially as I'd become acclimatised to temperatures in the high 20's celsius and Hobart only reached 10C in the day with a chill wind from the Roaring Forties. Hobart itself reminded me of England (especially Lincolnshire) on a cold,windy and wet February day with a relentless north easterly wind blowing across the flatlands. Altogether I spent 10 days in Tasmania, 5 of those days (3 and 2 respectively) in Hobart itself, and both of these short periods were marked by successful opportunities to ring bells. I was able to join the ringers for 2 Sundays of ringing, at both churches and also attended a practice night. The ringers were very welcoming and after Sunday ringing would always move on to the local coffee shop. After ringing at Holy Trinity (now a Greek Orthodox church) we were invited to join the congregation in refreshments that included much drinking of Greek coffee and a few slices of freshly baked and delicious chocolate cake. The other noteworthy activities in Hobart was a visit to the Cascade Brewery, which after a serious sampling session with a fellow guest of YHA, decided it was a pretty good beer, even if a tad cold! The town also had a fine arts cinema, (serving great coffee and cakes) where I found time to see Pete Postlethwaite in a post apocalyptic film on climate change.
Hiking in Tasmania was hosted by Tony, a 'tramper' I met in New Zealand who had a thorough knowledge of all the accessible walks in Tasmania, though I was disappointed in being unable to meet with Jean, a GP I met in NZ as she was out of the state on 10 days of my Tasmania stay but we are maintaining contact by email and may meet in England.
Nevertheless I spent 2 separate days hiking both on the Tasman Peninsula and near the west coast of the country visiting the Gordon Dam followed by shorter walks to 2 waterfalls , the Russell and the Horseshoe Falls in National Park , stopping on the way to view Lake Pedder. The peninsula hike was a worthwhile 11km hike to Cape Raoul with its amazing red dolomite volcanic rock formations and even the weather held without the downpours that were very much a feature of Tasmania at the time of year.
The most memorable area for hiking was on the Freysinet Peninsula where we spent 3 days, with 2 nights in the YHA 'hut', very reminiscent of tramping huts in NZ, ie basic but clean and dry. The weather held being sunny and warm with little wind, so we were able to complete a 11km hike on the Hazard Bay and Wineglass Bay Circuit Track as well as an unsuccessful attempt at the Mount Amos hike (too steep with slippery rock faces). The third day was spent travelling back to Hobart and stopping off at Sleepy Bay and Cape Tourville and having one of the best fish and chip lunches in Swansea (!) since I left the UK.
I flew back to Brisbane on the 1st September and took the train up to Yandina where I was able to relax and warm up for a week by walking, playing table tennis in the garden, and helping Lesley with some gardening before setting off again to fly to Alice Springs (on the 9th September)and hopefully some guided bush walking in the desert.

Photo 1. View of Hobart from the viewpoint on Mount Nelson.
Photo 2. The Antarctic explorer ships in Hobart harbour.
Photo 3. The coastline of the Tasman Peninsula.
Photo 4. The rock formations of Cape Raoul.
Photo 5. St Davids Cathedral tower, Hobart. (12 bells)
Photo 6. Daffodils in Hobart Botanical Gardens.
Photo 7. Russell Falls in National Park.
Photo 8. Horseshoe Falls in National Park.
Photo 9. Rainbow over Lake Pedder.
Photo 10. The Gordon Dam. Apparently one of the highest dams in the world, and its waters provide a large chunk of the hydro-electric power of Tasmania.
Photo 11. Wineglass Bay
Photo 12. Mount Amos.
Photo 13. Coles Bay viewed from the Hazard Bay/Wineglass bay circuit walk.
Photo 14. The YHA hut on the Freycinet Peninsula.
Photo 15. Coles Bay viewed from the garden of the YHA.
Photo 16. The bar at the Cascade Brewery.
Photo 17. The ringing chamber at Holy Trinity Church, Hobart.
Photo 18. Holy Trinity Church (8bells)

A brief respite on Cape Tribulation

After the hectic time and steep learning curve of the dive course it was bliss to spend 4 days at Cape Tribulation. A very beautiful place of contrasts where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest, the oldest in the world. The two hour journey from Cairns to Cape Tribulation included a river cruise along the Daintree River where we were able to see crocodiles of all sizes, some of whom were up to 5 metres in length, though thankfully viewed from the safety of the boat! The stay at the cape was at a small budget resort, Ferntrees, situated in the rainforest where I met Christine and Stephanie, a mother and daughter from Vienna. We found the local water hole, a crocodile free Mason's Pool, where we were able to swing from a rope into the river and generally have a few hours of undignified behaviour and fun.

I took the opportunity to go on a three hour jungle hike, led by an extremely knowledgeable local man, who taught us about the plants, trees and local wildlife. I came away with a healthy respect for the jungle environment and how it protects itself... A further diving opportunity arose so having brought my snorkel and fins decided to make a further trip onto a different part of the Great Barrier reef. The weather was perfect and we snorkelled in the morning and scuba dived only to about 12 metres in the afternoon and again saw the rich variety of life that inhabits this unique environment. Visibility was about 15-20 metres and I saw 2 stingrays as well as "nemo" fish and more white tip sharks, as well as a vast number of different live corals (not much bleaching here) so a very worthwhile day.

The last evening was spent having dinner with Steph and Christine sitting by the poolside at the resort drinking Australian wine, a great finish to 4 days.

The final journey back to Cairns, included a stop at the Mossman Gorge (part of one of the national parks in North Queensland), and an hours stop at Port Douglas, an up-market edition of Cairns, where we had time to discover the locally made icecream (scrumptious - to die for!)before finally journeying to Cairns. A further 2 nights back at the YHA in Cairns (quieter this time....) allowed me time to prepare for the next leg, Hobart.

Photo 1. A jungle vine that has completely destroyed the prayed on gum tree, a process that can take many years.

Photo 2. A small-ish crocodile (?) sleeping on the side of the Daintree river.

Photo 3. The mangrove swamps in the Daintree Rainforest.

Photo 4. Cape Tribulation (the promontory on the left) as seen from the dive boat as we journeyed to the reef.

Photo 5. Steph, Christine and myself on the last photo opportunity before we left the cape.

Photo 6. The one that should not be there!!!!!

Photo 7. Part of Mason's Pool, it was about 8 feet at it's deepest and refreshingly cool.

Photo 8. Mossman river, apparently low at the present time as there had been so little rain this season.

Cairns and Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Arrived in Cairns on the 8th August to find the town buzzing with Saturday night revellers, a definite party town, as the YHA was situated in the centre of town, needless to say sleep was somewhat difficult!
The course started on the Monday, lasting 5 days, the first 2 in the classroom and Pro-Dives' pool, followed by 3 days on the Great Barrier Reef on their boat. Our instructor, Dave, was very good in his role and were it not for his superb efforts many of us would not have got through the course. The first 2 days proved to be a steep learning curve but I was considerably relieved to pass both the medical and the water tests, the first hurdle. After an exam at the end of the second day, all 16 of us were ready to go to the reef and continue the course in open water, and what a truly amazing experience it proved to be. The weather conditions were perfect, and over the 3 day period we had 7 dives, including a night dive (quite daunting). After dive 4, having passed the Open Water Course allowing us to dive to 18 metre depths, we had the option of completing the Adventure Dive Course. This enabled you to dive to 30 metre depths, particularly useful if wanting to dive to wrecks, so for relatively little cost , only 3 further dives plus study, decided to take this extra challenge and 24 hours later became a certified PADI Adventure Diver. Returning to Cairns in the afternoon of the 3rd day at sea was quite sad as we had all worked well together, particularly my dive buddy, Jonathon (also from England). We all met that evening and had a night out on the town, though I was pretty exhausted and left fairly early, especially after the long day that started at 5.45am with the first dive at 6.30am!
To recover from the intensive work of the past week I booked a 4 day visit to Cape Tribulation starting Sunday 16th August, though managed to squeeze in a chinese massage before leaving for the cape. (unfortunately am unable to upload all my photo's onto the blog until returning to Yandina)
Photo 1. The green turtle we were able to photograph on our last dive.
Photo 2. Again the final dive showing the variety of coral, and fish on the reef.
Photo 3. My last dive though it would have been better to have taken the photo on an 'in' breath!
Photo 4. Jon and I before stating the last dive on the dive deck, all booted and suited ready to go.

The beginning of the Australia experience: Brisbane

Fiji
n
a couple of
area.


ngle


I arrived in Brisbane, Australia on the 20th July to be met at the airport by Lesley, an ex-nursing colleague from London. It was a tremendous relief to see a familiar face and catch up with her news. She had kindly agreed to letting me use her home as a base in Australia, travelling out from her and , her husband Jez's home, to distant parts of the country, usually by plane as the distances are so very great. Their home is situated 100km north of Brisbane, and about 15km inland from the 'Sunshine Coast' and on my arrival, despite being winter in Australia, the daytime temperatures were in the low to mid-twenties, though the night temperatures dipped often into single figures. Travelling to Brisbane for a few days and staying with Lesleys' cousin, I attended bellringing practice nights at the 2 churches in the city with ringable bells, the cathedral, St Johns and St Andrews, south of the main city. The days in Brisbane were spent visiting the very fine botanical gardens, some retail therapy and finally a visit to the south bank centre which boasted an artificial sandy beach , with pools, as well as an arts complex not unlike the Southbank Centre in London. Sadly the beach and pools were closed for maintenance, but most of the restaurants were open and I had a couple of reasonable meals in the area.
Most of the first two and a half weeks were spent at Yandina, Lesley and Jezs' home village/ town, relaxing and planning the Australian journeys. My birthday was well celebrated by dinner at a Turkish restaurant followed by a visit to see the new Harry Potter film. The next day a surf lesson at Caloundra beach, generously given by Lesley for my 61st. Inbetween times I visited the local Astronomical observatory named after nearby Wappa Falls, run by an eccentric 'Patrick Moore' character and entirely privately owned. It had a surprisingly good series of telescopes, and was also very informative, particularly as it was my first opportunity to see the southern sky.
Hiking each day, exploring the local places of interest, for example, Mount Nindary, gave a focus to the days , and also insured I was fit enough for the diving course and more tramping in Tasmania. Yandina is renowned for its ginger farming and has a factory processing the ginger, much of which is exported to the UK. I duly paid my $10 (senior citizen rate!) and joined a group touring the 'Ginger Factory' which included the opportunity to sample some of their products including, of course, their excellent ginger beer. Other sightseeing included a visit to the macadamia nut factory, another homegrown industry in the area. Part of each day was spent arranging the visits to other parts of the country and arranging to meet up with people I'd tramped with in New Zealand, especially people in Tasmania. Having met a couple of groups of travellers in Fiji who'd recently been in Australia I decided to visit some of the places they'd been to, including bush walking in the Northern Territories, near Alice Springs, this latter journey was planned after the Tasmania visit.
The PADI diving course , starting from Cairns was booked for the 10th August, and assuming I passed the medical and the water tests, was optimistic about completing the course. The actual diving would be over the Great Barrier Reef, and for me this was probably one of the best places in the world to learn to dive, and would fulfil one of my ambitions for this journey!

Photos 1 and 2. The local observatory, surprisingly well equipped despite its ramshackle appearance!
Photos 3 and 4. Lesley and Jez's lovely home, set in a semi rural area and part surrounded by forest.
Photo 5. Post-surf posing with the surf instructor....
Photo 6. Post surf photo.
Photo 7. An Ibis at the botanical gardens in Brisbane, also seen in the fields near Yandina.
Photo 8. A view of the recently completed bell tower at St Johns' Cathedral, Brisbane. One of the few stone built churches seen in this hemisphere, a very fine building that has taken 150 years to complete, and this is being celbrated in November this year.
Photo 9. The view from the rocks on at the top of Mount Nindary. The coastline is visible, about 12km away.