An unusual zoo; Final Post

Our flight to Sydney was in the late afternoon, so to fill the day we had a late start and then went to a unique place.  There is a casino in Cairns, and on the top of it is a large dome with a zoo!  Really!  There is a collection of Australian fauna there, including a few things we had not seen in the wild.  Nonetheless, it is a zoo with all the issues a zoo entails, especially because the real estate allotted to it is so small.  We don’t know exactly how it came to be, but one can imagine the casino developers needing to please a segment of the Planning Board or the Town Council or whoever had to give permission to site the casino right in the middle of downtown Cairns.

Here’s a bird called a Papuan Frogmouth which, we were told, is not an owl:

 The keepers had baby crocodiles for handling:

 After lunch we went to the airport for the flight to Sydney and checked into the airport hotel.  Our flight to Los Angeles leaves at noon on Thursday, and we arrive in LA at 8 AM Thursday, before we left.  Strange, this time travel.

So that’s the end of the trip and the end of the blog.  Writing it helps me to plant the memories and it’s fun to share.  Thanks to those who commented or sent notes—it’s appreciated!

Cairns and the Rain Forest March 10

Our day started with an hour-long lecture on rainforests in general and the local Cairns rainforest in particular.  Lots of wonderful facts about them, and great preparation for the day.  Of great importance is that one of the features of a rainforest is the minimal light on the forest floor, and the concentration of life from mid-height to the top of the canopy.  We heard about the evolution of angiosperms (flowering plants) and how, in the rainforest, there are no flowers on the forest floor—they are all in the canopy or just below.  Gymnosperms (non-flowering plants) dominated life on earth in its early millennia, but since the evolution of angiosperms the flowering plants have taken over and outnumber the non-flowering plants 16:1.  We learned so much more!

We then went to the train station and boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway, built in the late 19^th c. to open the gold mining and farming area around Kuranda.  The track is narrow-gauge, is 37 km. long, and ascends 327 meters in that length.  The locomotives were built in the 1960’s and have the carpet snake of local legend on them:

The carriages are more than 100 years old, have no air conditioning, but rather have open windows:

The train goes through a number of tunnels and over a large number of bridges which traverse deep gorges.  Here’s a view of an uphill 180 degree hairpin turn:

Kuranda is a small village which today is very touristy.  We visited a butterfly sanctuary and saw a number of unfamiliar specimens. Here’s a chart of those they keep:

They claim the record for the butterfly with the largest caterpillar(actually a moth)—the Hercules Moth Caterpillar is truly enormous:

After lunch (and shopping) we took a very long cable car over the canopy to see the flowering trees which we had been educated about in the lecture.  Here’s a sample:

There were spectacular views from the cable car.  We stopped at a station and had a short walk on the forest floor with our naturalist guide who pointed out the things to be seen there.

Finally back to the hotel for dinner and packing.  One more excursion tomorrow morning and then we begin the trip home with a flight to Sydney.

Uluru to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef March 8-9

On Sunday we flew from the small airport at Uluru to Cairns and, after checking in to the hotel, had a superlative lecture by an oceanographer on the Great Barrier Reef.  The reef extends at the outer edge of the continental shelf for 2300 km along the northeastern coast of Australia.  The shelf is only 20-30 meters deep and thus provides an ideal environment for coral.  We learned about the geology, the nature of coral and about some of the fish living here.

Up at 6:00 this morning to have breakfast and get to our boat, the Ocean Spirit, a motor-sailing catamaran:

 The entire reef is protected and there are a number of boats which are permitted to take tourists out to very limited sections of the reef.  They work with one another so that only one or two boats are at the same reef at the same time.  The trip to the reef took two hours, during which time the passengers were fitted with masks, snorkels and fins.  We had brought our own masks and snorkels, which we bought for a previous trip because Joyce needed a prescription lens for her mask:

 Our visit was to Michaelmas Cay, a small islet with a protected sandy beach and a large coral reef just 100 yards or so off of the beach:

When we anchored off of the cay, the crew threw some chopped fish over the side to attract the fish, which it really did:

Our first excursion was in a semi-submersible boat with walls of windows.  While the fish were lovely, and it was like being in a tropical fish tank, I was surprised that for me the main attraction was the coral itself.  There are so many kinds and they are so amazingly beautiful.  I was able to take photos from the boat, so here are a few:

 This one is called “spaghetti coral” and waves in the flow of the water just beautifully:

After lunch on the boat we went ashore, put on our gear, and swam out to the reef.  It was just amazing.  Again, the fish were lovely, but the main attraction was the coral and here another incredible attraction were the giant clams.  Unfortunately I have no photos as I don’t have a waterproof camera.  The clams are 3-4 feet across and the shells are about 10-12 inches apart at the opening side.  The undulating edges of the clam shells are faced with brilliant green structures which our naturalist said are all eyes!  They were astonishing.  By the end of an hour I was totally baked on one side and soggy on the other and I quit.

Then, of course, a two-hour boat trip back to the harbor at Cairns which was made shorter by the champagne served as we went.  An extraordinary day!

Uluru March 7

Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00 for an early departure for the drive to Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock.  This may be the most prominent reversion to Aboriginal names in Australia, where it seems they are trying hard to compensate for the years of horrible treatment of the native population.  So Uluru it is.

We stopped for bathrooms and coffee at a desolated spot in the desert, the Stuart’s Well Camel Farm where they had a couple of camels waiting for tourists to take rides.  Until the railroad was completed, camels were the primary mode of transport in desert Australia, and they were released into the wild when no longer needed.  They’ve become a nuisance, and now are being culled.  There used to be one million wild camels in the country; the number is now down to 400,000.  There was a small general store and a café at the stop, and looking around we saw this in the freezer:

Think we can find some at Wegmans?    As we approached the rock we had a view like this, coming from the northeast:

The geology is fascinating, but in just a couple of words, the rock is part of a long, mostly buried rock formation, and it is bent up so that the top of Uluru is the end of the rock.  It is a giant monolith, the largest in the world but like an iceberg under water, most is underground!  The exposed part is 1200 feet high and 6 miles around.  We had a late lunch in the Cultural Center and then went for two walks at two different sites at the edge of the rock:

There is some rock art here:

We then checked in to our hotel, and just before sunset went to a western side viewing spot where our trip leader, Jim Archibald, set up a table with snacks, champagne and orange juice, and we had mimosas (or plain champagne) as we watched the sunset:

 Then dinner.  Tomorrow is a travel day to Cairns, the last adventure on this trip, where we’ll go out snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.

Alice Springs March 6

Alice Springs  March 6

The weather has broken and a cool spell has arrived.  The high today was only 90, there is no humidity, and it isn’t too uncomfortable!

We left the hotel at 7:45 to get to the Alice Springs Desert Park before the worst of the heat.  The early morning was absolutely lovely with a temperature in the low 70’s and a slight breeze.  Skies are deep blue and there are a few puffy clouds.  Ideal.  The Desert Park is an incredibly well done collection of flora and fauna from all over the interior of Australia.  Some of the animals are in enclosures, some are attracted by the flora and stay here.  There are a number of extremely large spaces enclosed by wire nets to keep specimen birds in place, but they are so big you don’t really feel like you’re enclosed.  The artificial bat cave allowed us to see these unusual mammals with white undersides to their wings.  Here are a few of the things we saw:

Ghost Gum trees which are a kind of eucalypt, of which there are many:

 Here’s an Australian Bustard:

A Pied Stilt:

My favorite, a Thorny Devil:

 Ghost Bats:

 A Princess Parrot:

And the Dingo—a close relative to a dog with which they can interbreed:

 After lunch we drove to the Western MacDonnell Ranges, mountains on one side of Alice Springs, and hiked into Simpson’s Gap through which runs a huge river bed which has water running in it about twice a year!:

 Looking downstream you can see Ghost Trees which grow in the river bed.  They have been bent in the direction in which the water flows, as when it does flow it is a torrent:

 There are a couple of permanent pools of water which do not dry up and are an important source of water for the wildlife:

 Our last stop of the afternoon was at the headquarters of the Royal Flying Doctor Service where we learned about this amazing organization.  It began as a small program for severe emergencies and has expanded until now it provides all kinds of medical service, not just evacuation with advanced life support for emergencies.  Here’s a graphic which is updated constantly showing the planes which are in service at any given time. 

The Service has more than 60 planes, all of which are capable of providing almost ICU level care, and they service the far-flung families who inhabit the Outback as well as the Aboriginal people who may need care.  They now provide some routine services to these isolated people including immunizations, well-baby checks and monitoring of chronic conditions.  We watched a well-done video about their history and current mission and had a Q&A with a staff member.  We were all quite impressed.

We had a fascinating lecture/dinner in the evening.  There is an operation here called “Kungkas Can Cook” which is sort of a catering service specializing in Aboriginal bush food traditions melded into European cooking.  The owner, an Aboriginal entrepreneur, gave us a short lecture-demonstration on survival in the bush, and we then had a dinner with many unusual flavors derived from roots, berries, leaves and meat from bush animals and plants.  Full and tired, we are going promptly to bed as we get up at 5:30 AM for our trip to Ayers Rock (Uluru).

The Ghan and Alice Springs March 4-5

We boarded the “fabled” Ghan after breakfast for the overnight trip from Darwin To Alice Springs. 

 This train is a sister of the Indian-Pacific which we had taken from Perth to Adelaide, and we had exactly the same room in an identical car that we had on that trip.  We had bought an upgrade, and had a roomy cabin:

Note the pull-down bed above the bed you can see.  The upgrade promised a bigger lower bed, and it was—it was about six inches wider than one of our twin beds.  We tried to share this, but each of us had as much width as a baby has in a crib, so we gave up.  I took the upper two of the three nights and Joyce did for one.  The food on the train was absolutely wonderful with choices of innovative meals.  For one meal I had kangaroo steaks with a ground crocodile patty.  The Kangaroo is very tasty, much like venison—lean and gamy.  The crocodile was bland.  All alcoholic drinks are free on the train which led to animated conversations, and dinner seating is with random people so we met interesting folks.  The rails are not smooth and there’s a good bit of lurching and rocking and the cars creak and groan considerably.  Sleep was not ordinary.

The train stopped in the tiny town of Katherine where we had an excursion to Nitmiluk Mational Park where the Katherine River has formed a series of beautiful gorges.  We went out on an aluminum boat in 100-degree heat (with a marginally effective canopy) and cruised the first gorge:

The scenery was truly beautiful.  We then did a fairly vigorous walk to the second gorge where we had another boat trip.  

We reversed the process and arrived back at the train as limp as spaghetti and drenched with sweat as the humidity is high and the sweat doesn’t evaporate.  We’re carrying lots of water and drinking all the time.  It was beautiful to see, but not easy.  Dinner and overnight, then, on the train.

Thursday morning we disembarked at Alice Springs where the temperature first thing in the morning was in the mid-70’s and the humidity absolutely dry.  Gorgeous!  We went to ANZAC Hill, a war memorial on the top of a tall hill, and had an overview of the town, its history and its people.  It does have a colorful and interesting story, its founding revolving around the telegraph and connecting Australia with England via Java.  The current population is 28,000 and includes two US installations, one somewhat secret with 1000 Americans, run by the CIA, and having to do with satellite communications, and the other a joint US-Australian seismic monitoring facility.  Here’s a view of the city and the countryside surrounding it:

 We then went to a phenomenal school, the School of the Air, which runs interactive school programs for children who are isolated on remote “stations” or what we would call ranches. 

Central Australia is huge and the land so difficult, that the acreage per animal is large and thus the ranches are far-flung.  We learned about how the system works for these children and watched a kindergarten class in progress with each child in front of a computer and a video camera.  They do develop a sense of community, and three times a year all the children come to Alice Springs to meet each other and to have some more ordinary interactions with other children and with their teachers. Quite extraordinary.

After lunch we had a 90-minute lecture and slide show on the culture, art and heritage of the Aborigines which was extremely well done.  Their societies and their interpersonal relationships are very complex and we now have a slightly better understanding of them.  With some free time we walked to town from our hotel (about 15 minutes, and only about 94 degrees) and visited a couple of fine art galleries which featured the art of Aboriginal painters.  We bought a wonderful piece which will be mailed to us.

Finally we went to dinner at the local botanical garden where we had a barbeque and were entertained by a local singer/songwriter who was very good.  After dark we took our chairs to a field, all the lights were turned off, and the gorgeous sky revealed itself while an astronomer took us through the summer southern sky.  The end of another very busy day!

Defence of Darwin and Art March 3

Darwin  March 3

This morning we went to an exhibit called the “Defence of Darwin Experience” which is a history of what happened here during WW II.  Although I had known of the US presence in northern Australia as a staging base, I had been totally unaware of the assault on Darwin by the Japanese.  The same fleet of aircraft carriers which attacked Pearl Harbor in December, 1941 came to northern Australia in February, 1942.  The attack on Pearl Harbor was an attack on a military facility; the attack here was on a support city, and although many civilians had been evacuated because of the threat, many died in the carpet bombing which took place.  Moreover, the Japanese continued to attack for more than a year until the defenses were adequate.  The museum had a number of pieces of old military hardware and interactive exhibits as well as a video.

We next went to the Northern Territories Museum and Art Gallery where Joyce and I spent all of our time in the modern Aboriginal art portion.  The pieces were exquisite, and photographs cannot do them justice.  Here’s one called “Ceremony”.  “A group of women are dancing with ceremonial string held between their hands.  They are singing a song about the yam, anyong, during a regional dance that was taught to them by Mimili Spirits.”

Another piece is called “Fish Trap Story”.  “This painting relates to the Morning star Mortuary ceremony that celebrates the connections between life and death.  …it represents the soul of dead people, as in this region people believe that a person’s spirit returns to its clan well for rebirth.  Water facilitates the transformation of a deceased person’s life force into a spirit being.”  

And more.

Our afternoon and evening were free, and we spent time shopping, especially in art galleries, looking for pieces as special as we had seen in the museum.  We didn’t find any.  Perhaps in Alice Springs.

Tomorrow morning we board The Ghan, the train which will take us from Darwin to Alice Springs, where the sun is shining, the humidity is low, and the temperature is 42 degrees C.  I don’t want to convert it to F; too scary.  No internet on the train, so no posts for a couple of days.