SnRSeattle

Day 23—October 25 Spirit of Freedom to Port Douglas
Accommodation: Le Cher du Monde ($135/nt) http://www.lecherdumonde.com.au/
Avis rental car ($A104)
Dan Irby evening Daintree River tour ($50/pp) www.mangroveadventures.com.au/

I don’t know why the Le Cher du Monde isn’t more popular because it is so reasonable and nice. It is right on Macrossan Street, one and a half blocks from the Courthouse, it has a pool and the rooms have an efficiency kitchen and are very comfortable. There’s no elevator, though, and no daily service. We got 10% off because we were repeat customers from 2004. Hey, it never hurts to ask! Anyway, we drove there from Cairns after saying goodbye to our SoF friends and the captain. We have a feeling that Port Douglas is going to be changing its looks in the near future—there is a huge, huge building (resort, I think) right as the entrance road meets Macrossan St. I took a little nap while Randy roamed around looking for an internet place and buying some breakfast things for tomorrow morning. We scooted up to the Ecolodge near Daintree Village to meet Dan Irby for the evening Daintree River tour. We were almost too late because I had miscalculated the time it takes to drive there, but we got there in the nick of time and settled in for a scenic ride. Right away we saw a small green double-eyed parrot in a hole in a tree right on the water, and there were babies in the nest! There was a beautiful sunset and flocks with hundreds of egrets emerging from every valley and flying overhead. In 2004 when we took this tour, the egrets roosted in some trees right by the water. This year, they had moved recently when some people who were digging for mussels disturbed them. Too bad, because that was one memory that was special to us from our last trip. We spent a lot of time looking for crocodiles and it was very cool to see their red eyes shining in the spotlight. We finally did see one close up, which was very satisfying. We also saw loads of flying foxes hanging in the trees and making a racket, flying over the water, and even one close by the boat with her baby looking over her shoulder. On the way back to the car, we saw a brightly colored tree frog, all on our own. Since the tour started at 5:30, we hadn’t had dinner, so we went to Michael Angelo’s for a nice pizza and salad.

Day 24—October 26
Cooper Creek Wilderness tour ($40/pp but a $10voucher given for return ferry) www.ccwild.com

Up early and out by 7:30 to get to the Cooper Creek site which is 17 km short of Cape Tribulation, so a bit of a hike from PD. We had booked this with Pat W. who had called a friend of hers in the Daintree area to see if it was a good one. The friend gave it the thumbs up, so we had booked it. We really wanted to sleep in, but the 2:00 pm tour was booked, so we were booked in for the 9, which turned out to be a good thing, because it was so hot that day. We were first in line for the little ferry across the Daintree. We only bought a one-way ticket because Prue of CCWild said she would give us a voucher for a return ticket. We marveled anew at the lovely drive up to Cape Tribulation. We turned into the little dirt driveway to the site and found ourselves at a motel-looking building. I guess they rent out rooms also. We paid Prue for the tickets, used the “nature toilet” and were off with the tour group which consisted of us, a young Aussie couple and a Danish woman plus the tour guide. The other tourers all were wearing flip flops, which we thought was not a good choice for tramping through the rainforest, and we were right as you will see later. Prue made an Australian-American language barrier joke when I asked her if we should wear pants and she said, “I hope everyone wears pants, but you don’t need to wear trousers.” Well, off we went in our shorts (and pants) with Siggy Heese-Pavlov, the German-born biologist. Siggy was so knowledgeable, funny and entertaining; we enjoyed our two hour tramp immensely. I recommend this tour highly. We barely saw any animals, so she concentrated on the plant life, showing us the different palms of the area, the Australian teak and different ferns. It was good to get a refresher from what we had seen with Alan, and to see the plants in a different environment. We saw lots of club moss, which is another primitive plant. There were lots of cassowary plums on the ground which are large seeds covered with a thin layer of blue fruit. They need to go through the cassowary in order to germinate. We saw quite a few cassowary droppings, some not too old, but, of course, no cassowaries themselves. Right near the end of our trip, the other two women noticed some blood on their feet and lo and behold they had had leeches on their toes! The younger woman was jumping around and making distressed sounds, saying she didn’t want a leech on her. I remained calm, but surreptitiously slipped my jacket on and put up the hood. Then I had Randy check me for leeches when we got back to the car! Interestingly, I had had one crawling on my finger at the beginning of the tour and I thought it was a weird caterpillar. They are only about 2” long and really thin, like a thread. So whichever Fodorite told me that it wasn’t the season for leeches in October was WRONG!

We had lunch at a local place along the road called the Fan Palm Café. Their electricity was out and they were on a generator, so it took a long time for our food. We were interested to learn that there is no electrical grid north of the Daintree River, so all the businesses use solar and water power with fueled generators as a back up. With high hopes of seeing a cassowary, we headed for Jalbara National Park with, again, signs all over the place warning about how dangerous cassowaries are and what to do when you see one. We crept quietly around the trail, but no luck again. Randy believes they are extinct! We did have a nice hike, though, and enjoyed the search. We stopped at the petrol station on the way back to PD where they had a set of statues of a cassowary family. We got a picture of us with them, which was the least we could do after all the searching! Back at Le Cher du Monde we had a nice swim at the pool and went out to do a bit of internetting. We planned to go to Anzac Park with the wine and brie like we did in 2004, but were sidetracked by a shop selling Aborigine art and some less expensive souvenirs. By the time we had finished with some minor purchases, the sun was setting, so we walked to the pier and watched it there. We were happy with our choice of viewing area, though, as we turned around and saw the most beautiful moon rise over the hill—big and round and orange. We were going to go to Soul n Pepper restaurant as another 2004 repeat, but the exhaust fan was making such a racket, that we went on to the Courthouse and had a lovely dinner upstairs with live music playing downstairs. We were starting to feel a little sad that our great adventure in Oz was winding down to its end. However, we had 5 nights in Sydney still to go!

Day 25—October 27
Shuttle from airport to Sydney $20/pp round trip
Lord Nelson Hotel in the Rocks $180/night ensuite room
One week Green pass (for busses and ferries) $41/pp

We got to the Cairns airport about 9:30 for our 11:00 JetStar flight to Sydney. Check-in was a breeze and so we sniffed around the airport shops for FNQ presents to bring back and lunch. We had our sandwiches made by a “sandwich artist” almost Mr. Bean-ian in her mannerisms and flourishes. It was a hoot to watch her! (we can be easily amused.) We got to the Lord Nelson about 4 pm. I am not convinced that the shuttle is a good idea, even if it is the cheapest option. It is hot, it takes forever, and you are squished for an hour while they drive everyone else to their hotel first. Our room at the LN was #301 and in case you don’t know this, in Australia the third floor is really the fourth floor (there being a “ground floor” before the first one.) Luckily we got someone from the hotel to haul up our duffle bag that had all the snorkel equipment in it—it was quite heavy. The room was a mixture of charming and tired, but the bathroom was great. It was bigger than the room with a dormer window with a peek-a-boo view of the bridge. The room actually had two twin beds, but they pushed them together and made them up as a king, but that left about one inch of space between the bed and the wall. Oh, well, it was comfortable enough with AC, roomy enough, and a fantastic location—and, came with breakfast included. We scampered off to the Info center to see what was available in Hunter Valley tours and other brochures (I am a brochure-hound.) On the way we started seeing the first of many, many brides! They were waiting to go into the church, waiting for pictures, walking to get pictures, going into restaurants—they were everywhere! It really added a festive note to our first day in the lovely, lovely city of Sydney. We were also relieved to realize that the reason the people in the LN bar were all dressed up wasn’t because Sydney dress code had suddenly upgraded, but they were waiting for the wedding or reception to start! We also saw a couple of hen parties walking around the Rocks (for American readers, this is a batchelor-ette party.) Over at the Circular Quay there was a monster cruise ship just pulling out on its way to New Zealand, the ferry boats were zipping in and out, and the Opera House was looking beautiful as the sun set behind the bridge. We bought a one week Green Pass which made moving around the city so much easier and it covered the ferry rides, too (but not the Jet Cat). We went to the LN for dinner after arranging for a 9:30 am tour at the Opera House for the next day on the internet. We also found out that Bokhara from Fodors was willing to meet us the following day, so we emailed back and forth to set this up.

Day 26—October 28
Opera House tour $26/pp

We got to breakfast in a timely fashion and were chatting with a nice British couple when we realized that Australia had changed to Daylight Savings Time and no one had reminded us!!! We skipped out of breakfast and caught a taxi to the OH, but were too late for our 9:30 tour. The person, in typical Aussie fashion, was very nice and let us go on the 10:00 tour. We had a fabulous guide, Sharyn, who was so knowledgeable about the OH and how it was built and how it was used. We were really glad to see the inside of the building and hear that the architect was now reconciled with the city and had worked on some of the improvements. He probably will never get to see it, though, since he is 90+ and doesn’t travel, but his son has been to Sydney and worked on the building, too. We walked back to the area of the Rocks that has the weekend markets, which are stalls with people selling all kinds of things, not just souvenirs. We had a fabulous lunch at a pub and did some first class people-watching as they strolled through the market. We did some present shopping and then went to the internet place to research Hunter Valley tours since the Info center’s brochures were all for large tours and we wanted a small one. We booked one for the following day and then went to meet Bokhara at the Phillip’s Foote pub and had a lovely chat with her for a long while. We were 4 for 4 with nice people we’ve met through the Forum! Robin had told us about the cheaper alternative to Doyle’s Restaurant at Watson’s Bay, so we meandered down to the Circular Quay and hopped on the ferry. It was a Jet Cat (but it took our passes) and was fun to ride as it stopped in at two waterfront suburbs before getting to Watson’s. We found out that IT was the last ferry going back to Sydney and it was leaving in 15 minutes. Since we had no knowledge of busses back to town and had an early go for the Hunter Valley tour the next morning, we opted to go back on the ferry and skip the dinner at the pub adjoining Doyle’s. We got a good sunset over the city, though, and loads of pictures of the bridge and OH. It was such a lovely view! We ate dinner at Caminettos restaurant because they offered Sangria which sounded tasty on this hot evening. The ambience of this restaurant can’t be beat with the high wall of limestone behind it, the interesting buildings of the Rocks all around, and excellent live music. Too bad the food wasn’t very good.

Day 27—October 29
Hunter Valley tour with http://www.visitours.com.au/Hunter_V...Wine_Tours.htm $95/pp

We were picked up by a van just after 8 with me riding “shotgun” since they had a full bus. The driver Steve talked non-stop on the over two hour drive to the HV on various interesting topics from the Harbour Bridge history (March 2007 was the 75th anniversary of its opening) to Australian slang to the geography of the places we were going through. He gave us an overview of the wine industry in Australia, it being owned by now three major corporations. The HV, however, in addition to having wine tasting at these places, also has over 120 family owned cellar doors that are unique. They only sell to visitors, not to restaurants or exporters, which is where this tour was going to take us, being named Boutique Wine Tours. Steve also told us the technique used by many of the larger wineries to “oak” their wines since it wasn’t financially practical to put all that volume in oak kegs—they use oak chips like tea in a tea bag and dip them in the wine while it is stored to get the oak flavor.

The first place he took us to was called Iron Gate, which was a new, Tuscan-styled winery only in operation since 2000. John was the laid-back server who gave us wines to taste and a brief tour of the back room of the winery where the whites were in actual oak barrels and the reds were still in the huge cylindrical steel containers. We didn’t like any of the wines—me because I only like sweet wines (I’m a philistine) and Randy because he likes fruity Shirazes and the ones at the winery were very, very peppery.

The next place was Audrey Wilkerson Winery which was one of the first wineries (started in 1866). It was a much larger operation than Iron Gate and the server was very knowledgeable and gave us a good education in how to taste wines, how to look for visual, smell, and taste faults and strengths, and how judges judge wines. It was very interesting and educational, even though I didn’t taste any except the “ice wine”, not wanting to be under the table prior to lunchtime. We went to lunch in the Gardens shopping area, where there were shops and the ability to go to more wineries if anyone wanted to. We had a nice lunch and a walk around the shops until 2:45 when we were off to the last winery. We didn’t record its name, but the server was also knowledgeable and proud of their wines. A couple of sweet ones were appealing to me, but Randy was disappointed in the Shiraz and was told that it was the type of soil in the HV that created the strong peppery taste of the Shirazes. He went away glad that the Barossa Valley wines had a different type of soil! We left the HV about 3:45 and watched a great DVD in the van or snoozed on the way back.

We asked to be dropped off at the Aquarium because we wanted to go there that evening. We arrived about 6 and stayed over 2 hours. We loved seeing all the animals up close that we had seen in the wild (crocodile, platypus, fairy penguins, and fishes of the GBR) plus one that we had only seen on our plate—the barramundi! The walk-under tanks were as amazing as they were in 2004, but the GBR tank that had fascinated us then was sadly lacking compared to the incomparable views of the real thing we had seen with Reef Sleep and the Spirit of Freedom. It was still fun to see some “old friends” like Nemo, the chocolate-dip damselfish, Wally the Napoleon wrasse, and some white tipped sharks. We also enjoyed the seahorses and other exotic creatures in the exhibits. We ate dinner at the Cargo bistro at Cockle Bay near the Aquarium.

Day 28—October 30
Bridge Pylon climb ($9 each) http://www.bridgeclimb.com/theBridge/pylon.htm

We had a late brekky and wandered around until we found the maze-like way to the Bridge Pylon climb. We considered doing the actual Bridge climb since so many people raved about it here, but it was $179 per person (more if you go at dawn or dusk) and you couldn’t bring your own camera, so only got the picture that they take, which didn’t please Randy. The pylon has 200 steps (but lots more to actually get to the place where the 200 steps begin) and takes you about half as high as the bridge climb, but you get a museum on how the bridge was built that was excellent and great views all around the city—even to the Blue Mountains they said, but it was hazy and we didn’t see anything that far away. We took loads of pictures and had a good time. Learning about the building of the bridge was quite educational as there were loads of factors that had to be considered in order to build it. We went back to the Info Center and found out that we couldn’t go to the evening show at the Observatory that night, but could the next. We decided to go ahead and book it even though the weather report was for clouds. We then went to the Rocks Bakery Café for the best sandwiches ever (turkey and brie on Turkish bread) and ate them under a flowering jacaranda tree at the Circular Quay with ibis and sea gulls walking by and didgeridoo music in the background. It was very enjoyable. We caught the 2:30 ferry to Manley Beach and walked to the headland past Cabbage Palm Bay and enjoyed the pewter sculptures that are embedded in the rocks all along the path. We watched the waves pound the outer part of the headland and wished we had brought our snorkels to try to see the weedy dragon in the bay. For dinner we went to the Hero of Waterloo, famous for its tunnel in the basement where unwary drinkers might get pressed into His Majesty’s Navy. We ate and then had a quick peak at the cellar. They really should fix it up like a museum down there, but they really don’t seem to want to be known for it, barely wanting to show it to us. Food was good, though.

Day 29—October 31
Last full day in Oz
Observatory night tour $15/pp

We caught the earliest ferry to the Taronga Zoo and the bus up to the top. Although we enjoyed seeing the Australian animal exhibits and the views of the city were outstanding, we weren’t as impressed as we were in 2004. Even the cassowaries they had were juveniles and didn’t have their bony plate on their head nor their blue wattles yet, so they looked like emus. However, we really enjoyed two areas: the nocturnal animals with the bandicoots scooting around and the other animals, too, some of which I had never heard of. The other area was the Wollemi Pine section which had animals in their natural habitat and some small examples of the Wollemi Pine. This tree is so rare it is only found in one small area and the funny thing is that this area is right near Sydney and wasn’t discovered until 1994. There are only 100 mature trees in the wild and the trees existed back with the dinosaurs. They even have their own website: www.wollemipine.com !
Some small excitement when we saw smoke billowing nearby and a helicopter putting flame retardant on it. It was on an uninhabited part of the land near the zoo. Luckily we were leaving then. We decided to do some present shopping since previous jaunts were mostly “just looking.” We took a bus up to the Queen Victoria Building and were amazed at the number of people milling around, especially in the underground mall part. We went to a travel place to get the Qantas phone number and called them to confirm our flight for the next day. The building was beginning to be decked out in Christmas regalia with a huge over-decorated tree as a centerpiece. The two clocks went off and were of some interest as they had dioramas with Australian history and English history, but were pretty basic mechanically. We wanted to have a nice dinner for our last night, even though we had the Observatory appointment, so we went back to the LN and got our nicest clothes on (i.e., not hiking boots) and went to Cockle Bay where we had had a nice meal in 2004. This time we went to Nick’s Seafood restaurant because it was recommended to us and we couldn’t remember the name of the one we went to before. The food was very good, but expensive. We didn’t order the seafood special, though, which was a huge construction of dishes and cost $132! We got a cab back to the LN and walked up to the Observatory.

I wished we had come there in the daytime because it had lots of interesting exhibits that we didn’t have time to see, and it’s free. We were among a group of about 30 people who were directed to a small meeting room with a screen. We were shown an animated 3-D film suited for a 5th grade science class and were wondering what kind of tour we had gotten into. Then the young astronomer gave a fascinating talk about where Earth is in the universe and how many stars in our galaxy (450 billion) and in the Universe. We were then taken up to the telescope which is a relic from the 1800s and a talk by the head astronomer. He was so fond of the telescope and told us so many interesting anecdotes about the old days of astronomy, that we almost didn’t mind that we couldn’t see any stars and had to be satisfied with looking at a clock tower in the telescope. Then we went downstairs to the “planetarium” which was really an umbrella-looking contraption that he shined a light to with templates with star patterns punched out. We lay on the floor with bean bags for pillows and looked at the star patterns as he spoke about the Southern Cross and other constellations. For such a hokey set up it was quite interesting. We walked back to the LN in the dark with fruit bats flapping around us and then finished packing.

Day 30—November 1

We packed and stored our bags in the LN office, and took off on foot to go to the “picture points” we had missed from the map of the Rocks. We went under the bridge near the waters’ edge and there was a display of pictures showing the history of the point from Aboriginal days when it was called Tarra and then Dawes Point by the Brits. The harbor was claimed by Spain at one point and was torpedoed by the Japanese in WWII. There was an excavated place where you could see the holders for the cables that they used to hold up the bridge while it was being built. We walked around the point and by the Hyatt hotel which, unlike the hotels across the Quay, was low and fit tastefully into the surroundings. Lots of pictures of the Opera House, us, the Bridge, etc. We were feeling quite sad at leaving, but the views around the Quay were soothing. We walked back to the LN to await our shuttle and found that we were the first ones picked up. That meant we had an hour of driving around in traffic to pick up the rest of the van load and our luggage would be squished on the bottom of the pile. Grrr. Double grr when we found out that the first class lounge at the airport had a spa and if only we had gotten there earlier, we could have had a massage! Oh, well, we had a nice lunch in the lounge and Randy got a short foot massage. We reflected on our wonderful trip to Australia and wondered if another trip would ever be in the cards for us. We hope so, because it is a wonderful country with wonderful people.

LizzyF

Just a fantastic report Sally. So pleased you had a good time. By the way I have always said that the best place to see a Cassowary in or around Cairns was at the Botanical Gardens which are really worth a visit if people are up that way.

SnRSeattle

Well, we went there, too, and no cassowary! PLEASE don't taunt us with all the places that they can always be seen! We went to lots and lots of places with that claim and no luck. We did see one in the Cairns zoo in 2004 and that will have to suffice.
Sally

LizzyF

You probably realize that the cassowary is only a chicken dressed up for halloween.

BarbaraS

Sally - thanks for your trip reports. Lots of good information. I've enjoyed reading them!

SnRSeattle

Well, a pretty LARGE chicken, Lizzy! We did see the smaller cousins the bush turkeys as well as the swamp hen, plus lots of other birds and creatures. Barbara, thanks for the compliment. Doing this trip report has in some way helped with the no-Australia-depression I have been suffering since we returned. Now if it were only sunny and warm out instead of chilly, wet and dark. . . Maybe October isn't a good month to go to the Southern Hemisphere since when you get home, you have the whole dark winter ahead of you.
Sally

Toucan2

Thanks for the entire trip report, all installments! It sounds like you had a wonderful time, and I suspect you are already planning your next trip, right

We plan on spending a bit more time at the Botanical Gardens in Cairns this time around, so that's a good tip LizzyF. Sally, I won't tell you if we see one, okay?

SnRSeattle

I hope you DO see one, Toucan, and I think I am strong enough to take it if you do. I wish we were planning our next trip Down Under, but we took such a financial hit with this one with our dollar so weak, we have a long recovery before we can think about it. We ARE collecting those FF miles, just in case. . .
Sally

Bokhara2

Hi Sally & Randy,
Great to see your last couple of days were enjoyable & interesting.
You two are great visitors - get out & do "off the beaten track" stuff by yourselves and, I suspect, see a lot more of the country and people than most.

I agree with you about the shuttles, BTW. I don't think the taxi fare (about $30, I'd guess) in anyway makes those "milk runs" worthwhile. Like you, the only time I've done a shuttle, we were the first to be collected & last deposited at our destination.

I just had a weekend in the Megalong Valley (near Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains).... you'd LOVE it up there and there are heaps of hikes to wonderful scenery.

Cheers

SnRSeattle

I think they said the taxi was $40 each way (to the Lord Nelson, anyway) and the shuttle was half that, so we went for the shuttle. I was NOT happy, especially after the hour we sat there on the way to the airport, but too late. There is the option of getting a rail pass that you can take from the airport to Circular Quay and was $120/pp if I remember correctly. But then we'd have to tow the luggage to the LN or get a cab at Circular Quay and the fee was pretty high--and we didn't have many places we wanted to go by train. Bottom line, I think that the taxi would be the best way to get to the Rocks. It would save a lot of time and A LOT of aggrevation.
Sally in Seattle
p.s. we envy you being able to just go to the Blue Mtns., although we have great hiking trails around here if it would ever stop raining!!

caligirl56

Sally,
Thanks for such a wonderful trip report. I've read all of the installments and they are all full of really great details and information.

We just got our plane tickets for our 5-week trip next Sept./Oct. (crossing our fingers that my husband's work is o.k. with this!). Your report has given me lots of new ideas and options to consider.

Sounds like you had a really memorable trip. I know what you mean about the post-trip blues--it always helps me to frame a few pictures!

SnRSeattle

thanks, Caligirl! Wow, you have a whole year to think about it and plan the perfect itinerary! 5 weeks is a good amount of time and we were missing our family, our dog and friends by the end of it, but don't regret the time and wish we had had more. I would be glad to answer any questions you have about where we went/stayed. The email is swswash at yahoo. Having so much time lets you do the bookings and planning yourselves, which IMO is the most fun. Where are you thinking of going?
Sally in Seattle

caligirl56

Sally-I'll definitely have lots of questions as we get a bit closer to the date. Right now we've just got the bare basics mapped out: 5 nights in the Red Center, 6 in Darwin/Kakadu, 10 in the Great Barrier Reef/rainforest area, 7 in Tasmania and then 6 in Sydney. We already have all the flights, because we were trying to use British Airways miles--so now we just need to fill in the details!

I'm reading "Kangaroo Dreaming" right now--can't wait to see all of the amazing wildlife! And I have quite a list of other books just waiting to be read. Wish we were going sooner!

margo_oz

Sally

I don't believe that cassowaries exist, really!

I've not seen one - and what better proof is there? I've been to all the rumoured places, and......

Perhaps they really are halloween chooks! Or feral chooks!

SnRSeattle

We saw two adolescent ones in the Sydney zoo and they looked amazingly like emus. Maybe the cassowaries that they have in other places are really emus with hats on, plus a fake blue wattle and a dye job! Pretty big to be chooks, don't you think?
S in S

Toucan2

Well, we did see a cassowary on our trip to the Daintree area this month. Alas, it was at the side of the road back to the ferry at the Daintree river. Two lanes, no shoulders, two cars behind us, no chance to pull over and view from a slight distance.

But, we did see one!