WanderingSusan

Friday, February 13, 2015

2/10 Flight to Alice Springs School of Air, Flying Drs., Telegraph station

Morning was spent packing up and transferring to the airport for our 2+ hr flight to Alice Springs, arriving around noon. The Outback area is known as the “Red Center” for it’s russet colored soil and its location in the virtual geographic center of the country.

We began with a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service which delivers, via its fleet of $6 million each planes, emergency and health care services through the vast country. Very interesting visit with dedicated professionals who service these outlying area.

Next was the ASSOA (Alice Springs School of the Air) started in 1951 using the radio to teach students in the outback. Now they do it by satellite and provide the family out on the ranch with about $10,000 worth of equipment and computers for students from Pre-K through 9th grade I think it is. Then the equipment is returned and the students either go to boarding for high school or have a home private tutor. Each family has to have a designated “govie” or governess/tutor on the ranch or one of the family members has to be trained as the tutor, to work with the student and supervise their studies on that end. Once a year the teacher from Alice Springs and an assistant spends 2 days with each family on the ranch with one to one. And then two or three times a year, all the students spend a week in Alice Springs with the whole class interacting and doing fun stuff together, to develop a community.

We sat in an observation room where we could see the two studios and one of the teachers was on air teaching math. I think there are about 120 students in all, in all the grades. It sounds like a really neat idea and keeps these families from being so isolated. I’m wondering how they adjust when they are finally living in a city later on. Or maybe they love that life and become ranchers or drovers themselves. There is something beautiful about the vastness of it all! I can’t imagine how difficult it was years ago when there was no medical or educational support - just you and your family to survive out there! It’s not easy which is why the majority of Australians live on the east or west coast.

Our next stop was the telegraph station where the spring that they named Alice after somebody Brit official’s wife (who never visited the town named after her!). There is a river running through the town that a month before this was raging and full and was now just a dry sandy bed! The plan was to string a telegraph line from there to Darwin in the north. It took several attempts but it allowed a quick time connection between Australia and the UK back at the end of the 19th century. It took 3.5 months by ship for letters, and people to get there. So this was a big improvement.

We finally arrived at our hotel at the Lasseters Hotel. We all met for dinner at the “Juicy Rump”, a disgusting name for a restaurant, I thought!! But we crammed into a booth (it was crowded as there was a big cricket competition going on among two Aborigine teams - Peter said it was a terrific focus and outlet for these young people). I headed right after to the swimming pool, which was tepid warm, probably from the sun beating down, but refreshing!! In the hot tub I met two 37 year old women from Sydney who were traveling with the Pamela Rugby team who were arriving the next day. They were like organizers and there were a couple of guys in the pool who were the video crew with them. They were taking the rugby players to visit schools there to inspire kids to get an education, play a sport, etc. I was hoping to get a rugby shirt from them for Jackson but we didn’t connect later!

2/9 First full day with GCT, Monday

Our group is now 21, until we get to Cairns when it will double. We had a meeting of the group when I arrived, just an orientation. Peter is our group leader for the whole trip. We had a lovely dinner at the hotel with the best beef I’ve eaten! Especially after the tough meat I’ve had in Mexico!

At dinner I chatted with Bob from Cleveland area and his wife Mary. He worked for a public TV station/program and has met my travel guru, Rick Steves, several times. He and Mary are going in the spring to Paris for a trip with Rick’s travel group.

I finally got to my room where Summer, the hostess at the desk, had already put my white wine in to chill. I forgot to take a picture of the room. It was a really cool, very modernistic room. One of the great things about OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) and its umbrella company GCT (Grand Circle Travel) is that there is no charge for a single traveler, called a Single Supplement. So I have a lovely room all to myself and can walk around naked if I want :) or read in the middle of the night, which frequently happens, or have to chatter, and I don’t have to consider a roommate. It’s really selfish but nice!! When I joined that tour last spring in Istanbul for 11 days around Turkey, I paid almost an extra $800 for the single supplement. All of our group from the Cape were able to get it. Two of the other women on the trip booked later and are rooming together, but they had never met before.

On Monday we met the bus outside for a driving tour around town. We drove past many of the sights I had already seen with Anna on Thursday. We passed Parliament house, the National Treasury building where all the gold was stored during the gold rush, drove down to the beach town of St. Kilda with a Coney Island style amusement park with an old wooden roller coaster, back around the figure 8 shaped lake in the park that holds Formula 1 races and ended at the WWI monument. 19,000 Victorian men between 18 and 30 went off to fight for England and one in 5 didn’t return. And so many of them were buried right where they fell all over the war zone in Europe that families had nowhere to mourn. So this lovely, moving monument was erected to honor them and they have added tributes to soldiers in other wars as well.

We stopped to go in St. Patrick’s Cathedral but were only able to walk around the outside and the gift shop as there was a mass going on inside for schoolchildren. Church of England seems to be a dominant religion but many Italians immigrated here so this is the Victorian diocese headquarters, I think.

The bus dropped a bunch of us at the Eureka Skyjack and I went along again, even though I’d been up there with Anna on Thursday. I was able to point out the fantastic bee sculptures on the side of the building and show them where to watch the piece of skyjack that people pay an extra $12 for to move out from the building, with opaque windows and flooring; then when they are out they flick a switch and it becomes clear. It seems like you’re standing in space. Nobody in our group did it but we watched the other people doing it. I pointed out the racetrack, mountains where the vineyards are, the West Gate bridge, and other landmarks that Anna had pointed out to me.
We rode the free trolley/tram around the square to Parliament house near our hotel (saved walking!) We all went to Mitchell’s sporting goods as many had to buy fly nets, a requirement for our trip to the outback. They hover around your face to get at the sweat there and are exceedingly annoying. So Peter said wear it from the time you get off the plane in Alice Springs until we depart for Cairns. Of course, some people are always asking, “Do we need the fly nets for this?” I already had one that was treated with insect repellent for my trip to the Amazon rain forest (see 2012 trips) But I DID need a new pair of pants. I forgot to mention the one pair of long black pants I had worn on the long flight from JFK/LAX, and as I got off and was walking through the airport, carrying my coat with 18 pockets (another story!) and my backpack. I reached down on my left just under my bum and there was about a 9 inch tear in my pants!!! I quickly put on my coat before I got my luggage. Anna had a sewing machine but the material was so thin it was hopeless. So I tossed them. I got a pair of cargo pants that the bottom zips off to make shorts, which I did when I went out for our evening BBQ in the outback. They are nice and light especially when I want to cover up from the sun and/or bugs!!

I hopped across the street to a pizza place for a beer and small Hawaiian pizza. Judy McNulty (from Wellfleet) ended up joining me and she got a salad. The other walked down to Chinatown to get dumplings. We all met in our hotel at 4 to ride the tram down to St. Kilda to see the blue tiny penguins that come out at sunset on the rocks by the pier. We didn’t want to get on crowded rush hour trams so we left early. We ended up having a bit too long to hang around until 8:30 when the crowd gathered to see the penguins.

While others shopped, I opted for a 35 minute HEAVENLY foot massage for $40. Very firm but felt great after! Then I wandered around the area and met up with a couple of our group along the beach. We were trying to find possums and had some grapes to feed them, but had no luck. We walked down the end of the long pier to a little restaurant where some of our group ate; Barbara and I had a cold beer!!

Finally we saw the crowd along the railing and headed over to take a look. I saw one baby in the rocks that was molting and then one parent that waddled along the beach into the rocks. We then headed back to catch a tram. Cindy in our group couldn’t find a credit card she had used to pay her dinner way back out on the pier. She told us to go on when the tram came, as she was trying to call back on her cell to the restaurant and see if they found it. We heard right after we left, she stood up and walked away to call, as there were a bunch of punk kids hanging around. She was a little nervous. It turns out the cards fell off her lap and were on the ground. She picked them up, and then one of the punks came over to her to apologize for his rowdy friends!! She was stunned! She followed us on the next tram back to the hotel.

We all went to bed early as we had an early a.m. call to depart for our flight to Alice Springs

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Saturday Feb. 7 Bus trip

12 Apostles: originally about 18 rock outcroppings. Now only about 7 left. Many areas along the coast eroded over the years. Option for helicopter flights. Busiest flights in Australia. Special flight for 10 minutes for $95.

Feb. 7th, 6 years ago in 2009, was the hottest day on record, 47 degrees C. or about 115 degrees F. Worst casualty for Australia except for war - 179 deaths. Wild fires in the western part of Melbourne. Today was this anniversary.

Melbourne: 4.5 million, second only to Sydney. (5 million). Brisbane, 2.5 million. Western side Perth: 2 million and Adelaide: 1.5 million. 5 major population centers. Total population: 23.5 million, most living around the outside. Population of Melbourne increasing at about 70,000/yr. 200 people every day.

Headed to Geelong still on the bay. First stop at Angle sea. morning tea break. Then follow the Great Ocean Road, 152 miles but we’re only doing 112 miles of it to Port Campbell before we head back . Total 500+ KM. round trip.

First stop at Angle sea by a river entrance to the South Ocean. Jeff, our driver, set up a table with Billy Tea - because beef and other meats used to be shipped to Australia in tins, with salt added to preserve the meat

Biggest gold rush in the world, in the 1850s, happened outside of Melbourne. Miners from all over the world sailed past here. The Surf Coast along here, but past here is Shipwreck Coast as 164 ships never made it to Melbourne as waters treacherous. Thousands of people died.

32 years ago, 1983, all this area was burning, as well as Blue Mountains, were on fire.

Split Point lighthouse at Airey’s Place. Whole town burned to the ground, with people standing in the ocean to escape, while the town burned down. Many weekenders, small beach homes for getaways from Melbourne or Geelong Road was built in 1918 as a work project for veterans from WWI. 3000 men were given jobs to cut this road to Apollo Bay - 40 miles - 14 years to build it. Officially opened in November 1932. We stopped at the archway over the road that says Great Ocean Road. Gorgeous beaches here but Jeff said we would be stopping at many more beaches later in the afternoon so I didn’t get off. I’m relying on Anna to get some great shots with her camera. She got off to get a shot of the white lines on the road under the archway.

Met a woman on the bus from Capetown, SA, She is traveling with her husband who is one of the managers of the International Cricket competition beginning this week in Melbourne. Usually she only sits and watches the matches but this time wanted to get in some sight-seeing. She’s been to India, West Indies, and of course, England - any place that used to be part of the British Empire is crazy about this game. She says sometimes the matches are REALLY long; but now they have a more popular 3 hr. matches version. We saw some school groups out in fields yesterday with bats so knew they were playing it.

Our driver told us this stop should be 10 minutes. This is one of the reason I object generally to group tours like this. We had a stop of 22 minutes, 12 minutes over because of 2 people who dawdled. When we left, the driver scolded them (gently!) but hopefully they got the message. There are mostly foreigners on the bus (52 people) and some may not understand English so didn’t get his directions at the beginning. Hopefully it will change

Coming into Lorne - the number 1 holiday place. In winter only about 2000 residents. But in summer about 30,000 - like Wellfleet! More than $1,000,000 for a house here! Had our ham/cheese sandwiches, our beer and french fries and added a chocolate/cherry cake for us to share for lunch in front of the Apollo Bay Hotel. We had a few minutes to cross the street and I bought a couple of beautiful glass pendants, one blue and one turquoise.

Average rainfall for Melbourne - 26 inches in a year. Up here it’s 80 inches of rain - in this rainforest where we’re crossing the mountain. We’ve been going along the Tasman Sea until we get to the 12 Apostles when we will be at the Southern Ocean (An ocean divides continents as opposed to a sea). Northern Australia around Great Barrier Reef is the Coral Sea, south by Brisbane and Sydney is the Pacific. On the western side is the Timor Sea and the Arafura Sea.

BTW, Anna met an acquaintance who drives the city bus we took when we went downtown. He is driving one of the tour buses and joined us as we were eating. His name is John from Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia).

The 12 Apostles was our next stop, with a highlight - a 15 minute helicopter ride!! My first time! We flew with 8 people and the pilot out over the cliffs down the line to see this soft rock outcroppings. Originally there had been 18 of them but now are down to like 9. There was an archway connecting one to the land and Anna bought us a postcard that showed it on Jan. 18th, 1990 and then the next day, the arch had fallen in, leaving two tourists stranded. They had to be rescued by helicopter! But no one fell in with the arch.

We left our bags with the driver and flew out past the row of rocks and then back. It was exciting and noisy but we had headphones so we could hear the pilots commentary. Usually flights are more like $250, our driver said, but Grayline had a discount so ours was $95 for the ride. I’m hoping to do a flight over Waimea Canyon on Kauai but we’ll see how much that is when I get there.

Next was Gibsons Steps, a stairway down to the beach - 82 or so steps. I stayed at then top but Anna hiked down and up!! My knees just couldn’t take it! I had lovely views from the top. Next was Lard Arn Canyon, named after a ship coming from London to Melbourne. It foundered on the last day and sank in 20 minutes in mid-winter. One sailor 17 years old floated ashore here and then heard screaming. He rescued an 18 year old girl clinging to a spar. They spent the night in a cave and then he climbed the cliff and got help to rescue her; four other bodies washed ashore - her mother, sister - all dead. They are buried there. All other 52 crew and passengers, including the girl’s other family members perished. The guy was a hero and later joined the Navy. Melbourne rallied round the girl who was left with no family members and they raised funds for her to return to Ireland. No Hollywood movie ending where the guy marries the maiden!!!

Last stop was Port Campbell, a little town of 400, where I put my feet (without climbing a huge number of steps, in the Southern Ocean! We had our requisite beer, bought an Ocean Road tea towel and headed back to Melbourne - by an inland highway for 3 hours!!

Friday, Feb. 5th, Racetrack:

Today Anna dropped Greg at work so we had the car. We were headed out to Williamstown by the harbor, a funky, high-end suburb that reminded me of La Jolla in CA.

We started at a beautiful nursery along the second major river, the Maribyrnong, where tons of people were out jogging on both sides of the river. At the top of the nursery we had a lovely view of the river with Eggs Benedict again for breakfast. We then made a stop at the Flemington Racecourse, Victoria’s oldest racecourse. It’s home of the Melbourne Cup. This is also where the tents were set up for Cirque de Soleil (on my list of things to do - I’ve never been to one - but don’t know if it will fit in to schedule) This racetrack is only used a few times a year. I’ve never actually been to a racetrack so this was cool. After driving around the grounds and stopping for a photo of Phar Lap, Anna decided we’d go into the Tavern (not for our daily beer - it was only about 10) but to see if we could view the grandstands and the best view of downtown Melbourne from there. We found a security guy who graciously unlocked the doors for us and up we went.

It is a spectacular view over the grassy course to downtown and the city skyline. Inside on the ceiling were some murals showing the history of horse racing here with horses, jockeys, trainers, etc. from the 1800s to present day. The security guy told us to drive around the buildings to see the stables where the racehorses are kept before the race, the ring where the winners go, an old stable from Cable, a famous horse, from the 1800s. We did a photo with a statue of Bart Cummings, the most winningest horse trainer, who is still alive. Got more great photos here.

We then headed down to Williamstown and sat near the docks where many yachts were moored and had a refreshing beer (this is Australia’s favorite beverage!) We then drove over the huge bridge built in 1979 called West Gate. We had stopped under it on the way to Williamstown at a memorial to the accident that happened during construction. At lunchtime when workers were under one of the spans, the entire span dropped and killed 35 workers. Anna was working in Children’s hospital at the time and actually was looking out a window and saw what looked like a big explosion. I was a bit nervous driving over this huge bridge span that was so high so ships could go under.

Williamstown was where the first port that was settled. She took me past the mortuary, a blue stone building built by convict laborers. The first person dead to use the mortuary was the director of the construction when the laborers turned on him and killed him. This really tickled Anna’s sense of humor.

Next stop was the Time Ball tower, a big granite tower/lighthouse with a huge ball that was dropped at 1 pm every day to send the signal to Flagstaff Hill so that everyone could coordinate the correct time. All the harbor clocks could be set to the right time. We headed back to then cross the West Gate bridge to head downtown. Anna dropped me off at the Victoria Gallery that had a fashion exhibit of a French designer called Jean Paul Gauillet, who began in the 70s. I was meeting up with Anna’s friend Nina and one of her friends, both of whom had been dressmakers and pattern makers to walk through.

I got there first and waited by the water wall, a huge glass wall with water running down the outside right close to the glass. Kind of cool! As I looked to where you get tickets, there was a huge snaking line like an airport security to get tickets. I thought maybe I should start waiting in the line. As I headed there, a woman stopped me and when she asked my age, she said I should talk to the guard at the head of the line and he sent me to a second line with no people, to a window on the left to immediately get my ticket!! So cool! It was $22 AUS to get in. I then went out to find Nina and Jodi coming in. They went to the back of this long queue. I went back to the security guy and asked if I could get tickets in that shorter line for my friends/guides. He said yes, I did and we got right in!!! I think we would have been waiting an hour or more in that other queue.

The exhibit was the first ever anywhere for this designer. Anna thinks the guy actually came there for the opening. The exhibit was closing Sunday so that is probably why it was crowded. It was hard to get past people to read the plaques. It was an interesting exhibit, but very few outfits I would EVER have worn! Lots of corset type wear. He designed Madonna’s musical tour with some of her booster outfits as well as several awards dresses for Cate Blanchett, Kate Moss, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others. He had a fetish for sailor wear and several of his men’s outfits were displayed, like a mannequin like him with a striped sailor top made of MINK!! Or blue sequined pants! He was pretty far out there!

Nina and I took the train, a first here, back to the suburbs where she had left her car and she dropped me at Anna’s.

I had a dinner invitation at 5:30 from David Magris, a friend that Kerry and Jay had met in 1999 on their Kontiki bus trip out west, when she graduated. It was a graduation present from her dad and Jay went along. It was all foreigners, many Australians and them. They were the only “couple” on the trip. So when they got to Las Vegas the tour directors picked them to “get married” by an Elvis Presley preacher, promising not to step on his blue suede shoes, etc.! I remember she called me fro there and said,” Guess what, Mom? We got married in Las Vegas!” There was dead silence on my end!!!

Anyway, David then came to CT to stay with his mother’s cousin, Toni Bunocci in Danbury. Turns out she worked at Bethel High school and we had met! She was friends with Cara, the media specialist there, and Cara and I are friends. Small world!! So David stayed there a week and then went to Boston and stayed with Jason for a week.That’s how he got to know them better and they have stayed in touch. He was invited to their wedding and vice versa but neither was able to attend. However, they have stayed in touch over the years. She gave me his email and I sent a quick message to say I had arrived in Melbourne. He invited me to dinner at his Mom’s (Toni’s cousin) Phil (Philomena) who lived nearby Anna. He picked me up and I had a delightful evening with his family.

His wife Leah (they were married in 2007, a year after Kerry and Jay) is a nurse but, since, they have 3 children - Jack, soon 6, Aiden, 4 and Hayley, 3 - she just works on weekends when they need her, in intensive care. So after dinner, since it was Friday night, she went off to work. He seems like a great dad and handled the 3 of them himself.

We had a delicious dinner, I thought, of lasagna with some beer. I thought we were finished and then Phil brought out chicken cutlets, a big salad, eggplant slices, potato cheese casserole and baked chicken legs!!!! I made an effort to eat a little of each!! But I was stuffed!

David is a high school teacher at the Catholic school where both he and Leah went (but they didn’t date until much later, after university). He seems like a really dedicated teacher and loves it. He started out in business/accounting and hated it. So later went back for a year so he could teach. He has a class of boys (it’s co-ed school but they segregate the classes; finding it very successful.) He teaches several subjects but talked about this one on becoming a man, where they study various male figures in history and what made them great. Very interesting! It’s so great to meet a teacher who really values and loves the profession. And they are better paid here than in the US.

David then looked at some of the optional tours on my tour and gave his opinion of which ones the thought might be worthwhile to help me decide. He then loaded the three very tired children into his SUV and dropped us back off at Anna’s. He said he hoped to bring his family to CT for Christmas (their summer holidays) one year and then New Year’s in Foxboro with K and J. Fun!

Hope he brings Phil with him as she was a hoot! She is early 60s, works at an elementary school with special needs kids. She had just spent a few weeks in Danbury with Toni and other family.

End of a great day!!

Day 1 from Stamford to Melbourne: Feb. 2, 2015

I drove down from Kerry’s on Sunday to Susan Kelly’s (she taught in the China program after me) to stay the night and leave my car for this trip. I’ve done this a couple of times, one of her friends dropping me at the AMTRAK station that I take to Gran Central and then pick up the bus shuttle to the airport. In the afternoon we watched the great Superbowl game between Patriots and Seattle Seahawks (Yea! Pats!) while eating delicious Chili that Sue had made. We killed a bottle of wine and then watched more snow come down.

In the morning my flight still looked on time so we shoveled about 6 inches of snow out to the road. Her school had been cancelled. They said 95 was very icy and it was still sleeting. Some of the trains were delayed so I opted to reserve a seat on the Airport Shuttle. She took me to the Marriott and waited to be sure I got off (Thanks so much, Sue!! You’re the best!) The company had switched from vans to 4—wheeled drive SUVs so I felt pretty safe. We saw many spinouts off the road as we went in but we managed just fine. It only took about an hour and a half to get to JFK and the Qantas terminal.

I had about 4 hours of waiting to make phone calls and check in with Kerry. They (Boston area) were getting snow all day and everything was closed. My flight was 2 hours delayed taking off but they ended up holding the transfer flight in LAX (I had only had a 1.5 hr. layover there). The flight was long but I was able to sleep. All in all I was from airport to airport 23+ hrs. but add in another 6 hrs to the airport and waiting!

Anna is a very good amateur photographer with a great Nikon camera (want to maybe buy one of these here to use. Very light weight, great zoom!). She actually got pictures of my Qantas flight coming in for a landing! We went home and got unpacked. Anna is a friend of my college mate Betty/Elizabeth, she calls her. We have been on Facebook for several years but had never met. I wanted to come a few days before the Grand Circle tour starts on Sunday as we only spend a day and half here. So Anna has been a terrific tour guide! Hopefully she’ll come to Boston/Cape Cod some time and I can return the favor.

We had to pick Greg, her husband, up at the airport after work as he works for Qantas. On the way that afternoon we went by the Woodland Historic Homestead area, that used to be a huge horse farm. We spotted a mob of kangaroos resting in the shade in a field. We parked and walked closer for some pictures. Most of the mob hopped off, including a large male. There was a female with a huge joey with long legs sticking out of her pouch and she didn’t move. We got quite close and eventually the joey stuck his head out. Very cool!!!

Dingoes,

Frill neck lizard,

Platypus,

Echidna

Kookaburra

Australian King Parrot

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Lyrebird

We had a lovely dinner of roasted lamb that night that was delicious! I had fought to stay awake and not nap so I would sleep that night and I did. Greg was gone (he leaves early and gets off work around 3 each day). He’s a big biker and has several bikes around the house. He’s done the Bay loop of 210 KM, including a ferry ride at the end of the bay where it meets the Tasman Sea, called Round the Bay in a Day several times! He had a bad accident last year where a loose dog ran out at him and he broke 4 ribs, lots of damage to his bike. So he hasn’t gotten back into it yet. Actually he and Anna met in a bike touring club years ago, married and have one son Tom who is now 27. She didn’t have him until just before she turned 40! He lives and works in downtown Melbourne. He got a bachelors and master in sciences.

So end of my first day Down Under!