Australia Bush Country - Casterton, Victoria

After a pleasant 5 hour train and bus journey, we were picked up in a town called Hamilton by members of the Casterton Friendship Force Club.  They drove us 20 minutes to the town center where 20 club members greeted us with gifts of tiny koala bears.

Our friends, Sue and Rob Linehan, introduced us to Friendship Force (FF) about a year ago.  The Southwest Florida Group is made up of ~100 members who are predominately located in Fort Myers, a 30-minute drive from our town of Punta Gorda.  FF formed in the mid 1970's by US President Jimmy Carter who wanted to promote world  peace and understanding. Today approximately 60 world countries on 6 different continents are involved with the group.  The group promotes world understanding by welcoming FF members into their  home to experience firsthand how they live.  This is called a "home exchange (AKA home stay)."  In our case, we joined a group from Charlotte, N.C. who were going to Australia.  Our first home stay location is Casterton in the Aust state of Victoria followed by a homestay in the Tweed Valley on the Gold Coast for the second week.

After our rousing welcome, we were guests of honor at a dinner at their local hospital.  We were touched when they presented us with an Australian flag and other gifts. 

Our home hosts, Janet and Bruce Cross, are prominent in their community.  Bruce is the Mayor of the Shire of Glenelg and has many responsibilities for the roads and community service organizations.  They renovated a property close to town into a Bed & Breakfast, where we are staying.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activities.  Some of the highlights have been visiting the Carmichael Sheep Farm where we were guests at a tea, touring the local vineyards that are famous for their red wines, visiting the town of Penola (home of Australia's first saint), and having dinner at the Pub in the Shrub! 

Richard will be posting pictures soon.  Some Pictures from trip to Penola in state of South Ausltralia.  More to come.

Melbourne

Today we are in the south of Australia in the town of Melbourne. It's cold and wet here with sprinlkles and occasional showers. Tomorrow a train and bustake us  to a rural area called Casterton (which is between Adelaide and Melbourne). We've met the 4 other folks from the Charlotte North Carolina Friendship Force and they are great folks!

Today we saw a parade before the big football final between Collingswood versus Goulang. They call football FOOTY. It was quite a parade with thousands of people complete with bands and the team players.  Standing right behind a ABC camera and a gorgeous TV reporter, Richard videoed her reporting with the parade in the background!  We had a nice spot to view the parade at St Paul's  Cathedral. A very nice lady gave us a tour of the church.  

We also went to a neat aboriginal art museum and Fitzroy Gardens that had Captain Cook's childhood cottage that was brought here from England. The cottage dates to the 1570's.

Melbourne Bound

At the Cairns airport waiting for our flight to Melbourne. 11 AM 29/09/11 our time;  9 PM 9/28/11 Florida time.

We are having some fun reading the newspaper and looking at the traffic signs.  A sign in the Circle Quay rail station reads "No Way Out."   The paper reported an Aborginal  representative from the Northern Territory calling MPs bludgers and lairs.  This all has to the Greens protesting drilling for gas that provides jobs for local people - Read Story here.    The Greens also want to extend  a mining tax for coal and iron to gold but the prime minster says the new tax is done and dusted. 

Melbourne  Melbourne Visitors     State of Victoria

After Melbourne - Casterton

Great Barrier Reef

Giant Clam on Normans Reef

More Later 

Reef Encounter  served as our floating hotel on the Great Barrier Reef for two nights.  Both Joanne & I tried introductory dives.  I had a lot of trouble with clearing my ears as expected but I did get close up encounters with a gaint clam and huge wrasse fish.   Check out this picture of the Giant Clam! I didn't bring my camera while diving so no photos from real deep down.  Joanne couldn't clear her ears so her dive lasted only a few minutes.

We snorkeled on three reefs, saw lots of topical fish and coral but no sharks!  Divers, especially at night encountered large fish and nondangerous sharks. On the first snorkel, the current carried Joanne away. After climbing aboard, she realized she was on the wrong boat!   She managed to swim back to our boat as the crew were anxiously looking for her.  No Worries (as they say in Australia!)

We met lots of interesting young people from many parts of the world.  Hendrick and his friend were two young guys from Denmark who were working as dive instructors on the boat.  I related that my Dad's ancestors had come to the U.S. from Denmark in the late 1800's to avoid forced conscription into the German Army.  They knew about this part of Denmark's history and filled me in about it.  They said that in the rural Danish farm area known as Jutland, that bordered Germany, many Danish people left to avoid this fate.

We also met a wonderful Japanese girl who was traveling around Australia.  She said that she loved the casual Western ways and wanted to see as much as the world as she could before she had to return to Japan and work in Tokyo.

Another interesting fellow was a passenger from Spain named Pablo.  He is a physicist who is working in Geneva, Switzerland.  He spoke flawless English and told us how his country has changed after Franco's rule (when Richard last visited in the 1970's) into a much freer society.

All of the young people commented upon the U.S.'s strict Immigration and Visa Laws.  They have a difficult time getting into the U.S. even for a visit after 9/11.  Hendrick is hoping to visit the US Virgin Islands and if he likes it, may try for a green card.

We had a wonderful time snorkeling and interacting with all the crew and passengers.  Today, we travel to the south of the country to Melbourne to meet up with our Friendship Force Charlotte North Carolina Group.  We'll be going to a rural place between Melbourne and Adelaide called Casterton.

Check these out  - -  Giant Clam     Giant Clam Video

Kuranda Koala

Skyrail "floated" us over Queensland rainforest 7.5 km to the tourist town of Kuranda with two stops  enroute, one for a ranger lead tour within the rainforest and another for a park interpretive center. No rain as this is the dry season.  Joanne held a Koala for a photo opporunity in Kuranda. We hand  fed wallabys and checked out the shops before taking the scenic railway back to the outskirts of Cairns.

We walked to Cock and Bull, a pub about a mile from our hotel for the first not so expensive good meal we have had in Australia. Generally one gets what one pays for but sometimes one gets a break. I had a whole pint of Guiness too.

Cairns is about 1500 miles north of Sydney. I could feel the tropics as the plane landed amonsgst densely wooded hills. Our room at the Holiday Inn looks out onto the Coral Sea. A rainforest fills the atrium in the center of the hotel.   More later.


Photos

This morning we head for the great barrier reef for three days. We will stay on Reef Encounter, a "floating hotel."

Concluding Our Sydney Visit - Onto the Great Barrier Reef!

Time flew by the last few days!  There was the hike over the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge.  Oprah and her entourage climbed to the top of it - but the Bridge Climbing Company has a lock on the experience at $200 each; so we took the cheap scenic route.  Then, we decided to have a drink at the famous Sydney Tower.  As I sipped my $18 Cosmo and Richard downed his $9 beer, we watched the gorgeous sunset over the city.  Just awesome! 

Now - not only can we say we've see an opera, but also we've seen one at Sydney's iconic opera house!  Our first opera!

Downtown is vibrant day and night with many shopping malls. At QVB, Queen Victoria Building, we purchased Aussie hats. 




Now we are  looking forward to snorkeling on the Reef.  Tomorrow we take a 3 hour flight north on their discount airline called JetStar.  It's easy to book from the U.S. - just like you are taking a Southwest flight!

Richard and I talked about our impressions of the last 10 days.  Here they are...

   - Wonderfully friendly laid-back people who LIKE Americans!  (We can't tell you how many people on the street started to talk to us and welcomed us here!)

    - Gorgeous city!  The harbor is awesome, the public transportation is great.  You can take a subway, a free bus, a ferry or a monorail to different parts of the city very easily.  You always feel safe.

   - Lots to do and see, as you can see by our write-ups of what we've visited here!

   - September is the beginning of spring time here and the weather has been so nice - in the 70's with low humidity and sunshine

   - There is much diversity in the city with lots of Asians, Indians, etc. which gives it a nice feel

   - Food is a bit pricey; however, there is NO TAX or TIPPING in restaurants so you have to figure that in.  To give you an example, in a nice restaurant the main entrees are $25 and up.  A cup of coffee is approx $3.50 and a glass of house wine is $8 or $9 a glass.  Everything in a nice restaurant is al la carte - salads are served after the entree and can be high - approx $10.  There are lots of cafes serving spectacular European desserts that are very hard to pass up. 

If for some strange reason we had to leave the U.S., this is the place we would live.  It's so nice here and it's a pleasure to spend money in a country that likes Americans!!

Guess What? The natives can understand us despite our North American accents! And on a final note, we haven't seen a single ambulance-chasing lawyer commercial on television, so unlike Florida!!! (not that we've been watching much tv)

Coastal Walk

A train from the Museum Station to Circular Quay linked a  ferry for a ride to Watsons Bay.  A cool and exceedingly useful Travel Planning Tool  on the Internet allows easy route finding using Sydney's buses, trains and ferrys. Even maps and walking directions to transport stops can be displayed.  We used this website to check out our route to a  Coastal Walk above Watsons Bay.  We walked along the coast enjoying the beautiful views of the Tasman Sea from the cliffs to South Head where we caught a bus to the golden sands of Bondi Beach. A bus ride brought us back to Watsons Bay for an expensive but excellent lunch at the very famous Doyles Restauarnt, a don't miss Sydney dining experience.

Bondi Beach

Check out our Pictures