Fitzroy, The Reef, Cairns

We finally get to run away to a rainforest covered deserted Island - almost.  Fitzroy used to belong to the mainland and now belongs to the Great Barrier Reef.  The only thing on the Island is the abandoned Lighthouse, some remnants of WWII batteries, and the hotel.  There are no cars but the worse was NO internet!  And we soon learned that when the sun slowly set then other living creatures slowly appeared.

The next day, we went out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel for the day. These pictures do not even start to show the great colors and variety of the coral. Even though we also saw plenty of fish, they were just a sideshow to the great coral.

Cairns our last day.  We didn't have time to go very far so we thought we would visit the local museum, they are usually unique and this one did not disappoint.  We had a crusty tour guide who swore up a storm, told a few raunchy stories but all in all was a lot of fun.  He shared a lot of interesting history and took a picture of our only shark encounter.

On the way back from the museum we heard some loud shreiking birds and could smell a foul smell and when we looked up the trees were covered with large hanging bats.  They were each about the size of a cat.



Our hotel is an open air court with a tropical jungle with stone walkways and a couple of fish ponds.  In the fish pond were barramundi (approximately 40 pounds and three feet long).  We helped feed the fish. Barramundi are native to Australia and grow to 60 pounds. They seem to be a slow lazy fish, until presented with food ; at which point they become the fastest biting fish known. See the video below. Fortunately, they have no teeth, so it is safe to feed them. They are the ultimate sport fish here, and often take several hours to land.

So tomorrow, our walkabout is over. It was great, but as they say down under, No worries and Gday mate.







Boonorong Wildlife Reserve

The Boonorong Reserve is a park to help protect and rehabilitate animals that have been injured or orphaned, and in the case of the Tasmanian Devil they have developed an extensive habitate area.  The Devil is facing possible extinction due to an incurable cancer (and unfortunately- road kill).  Some of the animals we encountered were the Tasmanian Devil, kangaroos, wombat, koala, and rainbow lorakeets.

Mt. Field Natl Park/Salamanca Market

Two thirds of Tasmania is World Heritage National Parks and the world's largest remaining temperate rainforest.  The easiest park to reach was Mt. Field Natl Park within the heritage site and here is a picture of Horseshoe Falls.

On the way to the Park, we passed the "Salmon Ponds". This is the first hatchery in the southern hemisphere, being established and continually in service since 1864. While initially designed for salmon, it was quickly converted to the more suitable trout. The grounds are manicured like an english garden. Here, Cyndy is feeding the fish.  We should have stayed an extra day, as the trout fishing here is said to be excellent.

The Saturday Market (Salamanca) in Hobart is very popular and perhaps famous with its street performers, delicious and novel foods as well as local craftsman.  One of the best aboriginal artists that we had seen was here ($).  Note the Georgian architecture in the market picture. Hobart  was established in the early 1800s.

We stayed at The Lodge on Elizabeth Street built during the 1830s and had been a local mansion with a wash house located in the back garden.  The wash house was converted to a guest cottage and made a cozy place for us to stay during our visit in Hobart.





Hastings Cave - Cygnet

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We toured through the Hasting Caves formed from dolomite instead of the usual limestone.  They exceeded our expectations and were spectacular!

We finally sited a LIVE Wallaby, they certainly weren't concerned about the local tourists.  And then one of the few remaining trees left from logging during the early 1900s.

The evening was still early and our hostess being aware of our interest in rocks and fossils sent us out to Poverty Bay to go for a bit of a look.  The shoreline was covered with fossilized sealife.



The Cynet Hotel was nice and friendly.  And we had delicious hot hazelnut and orange cake with very heavy creme.

Day 18 and 19 Tasmania

Whereas the continent of Australia is hot and dry, this southern island is cool and green, lots of forests and lakes. We visited Port Arthur, where in the 1800s, many of the prisoners were transported  from the British Empire (after they couldn’t send them to America anymore after the revolution). It was an inescapable place, where the prisoners used the local large timbers  (300 feet high and 5 foot diameter) to make ships.

Pirates Cove

Port Arthur Prison Complex

Adventure Bay, where the old ships would resupply.

Walking through the fern laden rainforest under the 250 foot canopy.

Day 15 Adelaide

Adelaide is about the size of Salt Lake. Instead of trying to see and do a lot, we set our eyes on one venue, the South Australia Museum. This museum is about 150 years old; and unlike most modern museums, the exhibits in this museum are full and complex. It reminded me most of Carnegie Museum as a child before they modernized it (though it is quite a bit smaller).

The most intriguing exhibit halls are the two floors of aboriginal life, the large hall of Polynesian Culture (the largest collection of Pacific Island artifacts in the world), a respectable geology collection ,  the opening of Antarctica (It’s geology is closely related to that of Australia) , a small but decent Egypt room and the National Opal Fossil Collection.  We’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Halfway through our walkabout, we are returning from The Red Center back to Adelaide. It is a 16 hour drive, so we took two days to do it. Lots of time to just watch the outback and talk. Here are a few pictures – a salt flat (lots of those), some forest (looks very similar to out pinyon/juniper), a lot of featureless plains (except notice the emus running away in this one). 

When crossing the aboriginal reservation, we stopped in the small town of Mintabe (say meant to be).  About 30 years ago, this was the big opal producer, 3000 folks, but now there are only 300, about a dozen are mining. But it is here, in the sands of an old miners camp, that we noodled up our nicest finds (of those we actually found on the trip)

We stopped by in Coober Pedy again for the night. We stayed at the same nice underground motel. It was very nice. We would like to bring our kids and grandkids here someday.

On the way back to  Adelaide, as we got into wheat country and close to the sea, we stopped at Port Germaine for dinner.  All of this small town is old, and very much as sleepy little town. Of note , there is a mile long jetty (pier) extending out into the tidal basin, and a cool old lighthouse. From 1881, until  the railroad came in 1934, this was the major wheat shipping port. Every day, tall sailing ships would dock and take on sacks of wheat to feed the British Empire, loading 100,000 sacks a year from this dock.