AUSTRALIA

Western Australia is the largest state in Australia and covers about a third of the continent. It has only 2 million inhabitants and 1.2 of them live in the capital Perth. Perth lies at the edge of the Swan River, named after the black swans that used to live in the river, and it is about 10 miles from the coast.

We finally got to Perth, at about 3:00 p.m. and found a temperature of 100°F (38°C). The next day was to be 104°F (40°C). After arriving in our hotel, we took showers, but we didn’t go out right away, instead decided to wait until the midday heat went away. Eventually we decided to go out for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that our hotel was walking distance from a big restaurant area. Since it was a holiday, a lot of the restaurants were closed, but we found enough choice. We decided to eat at an Italian restaurant because we could sit outdoors. While we were looking at the menu, the people on the next table, who had had a bit too much to drink invited us to sit with them. One was Italian, one was Irish and the other Polish, and had all been living in Perth for many years. After a nice dinner and nice conversation, we decided to go back to the hotel and eventually made it to bed and finally slept.

On our first full day in Perth we went to Rottnest Island. We got up early and walked to the harbor. On our way to the harbor walked through downtown Perth and we saw the Christmas ornaments still on the streets. It was already so hot that they seemed so out of place! We bordered a boat and traveled down the river. It was interesting to see the millionaire homes as we were traveling down the river. Once we got to the coast, we traveled another 10 miles on turquoise water to get to Rottnest Island. The first Dutch explorers who got to the area named the island. The island has a huge population of quokkas (a small cousin of the wallaby, about the size of a large cat). The explorer thought they were giant rats so he named the island rat’s nest in his language.

There’s a bus that goes around the island, and for AU$ 5.00 (about US$ 2.50), we could take the bus and get on and off wherever and whenever we wanted. So we visited some of the beaches. On the first one, as we got off the bus, we encountered a Quokka. They actually do look like giant rats! They were so friendly that we could’ve touched it if we wanted to. That first beach, and all the others we saw, was beautiful: white sand, turquoise and perfectly clear water. In some areas there were some stones and some people were snorkeling. Claudia had forgotten her bathing suit at home, so we didn’t go swimming ourselves, but we did put our feet in the water, it was after all the first time we set foot in the Indian Ocean. We spent the whole day in Rottnest. It was actually a good idea to have gone on this day. There was always a breeze blowing in the island and the promised 104°F were not as terrible as we expected. At 4:00 p.m. we bordered the boat to take us back to Perth. After dinner we sat by the pool and saw a scene that describes Christmas in Australia. There was an inflatable Christmas tree, with painted red spheres and a yellow star on the top, floating on the pool.

The next day was still hot, but not as much. In the morning we went to King’s Park. To get to the park we found another pleasant surprise: Perth has two bus routes that travel through the downtown area, that are completely free! The busses go every 5 minutes and one can pretty much go everywhere with them. At Kings Park we visited the Botanical Gardens. There we learned about the plants that exist only in Australia. King’s Park is located on a hill, and we had a beautiful view of the city center and the river. In the afternoon we took a train to go to Fremantle, another little town (more like a suburb) on the coast. Fremantle is very pretty. It is full of colonial buildings, many of which are now cafés, restaurants and tourist shops. We were supposed to visit some historical buildings, but instead we just wandered around the center of town checking out the shops and admiring the architecture. When we returned to Perth we went to check the after Christmas sales and buy Claudia a bathing suit.

We originally had planned to rent a car for the next two days and travel through the southwest of Australia (a very little area called the southwest). Unfortunately we didn’t reserve the car before going and since this was the week between Christmas and New Year, there were no rental cars available in all of Perth. So we decided to take tours the last two days: one to the north and the other one to the southwest.

The first tour was to New Norcia and the Pinnacles. After being picked up by the bus at our hotel, we drove northeast through the Swan Valley. On the way we saw a lot of vineyards and a lot of agriculture. We also saw the damage that over cutting of trees has done to the soil. Apparently there’s a layer of salt under ground. Since too many trees have been cut, the underground water level has gone up and the salt has been brought to the surface, killing all the plants in those areas.

Our first stop was New Norcia where we visited the monastery. A Spanish monk called Salvado founded the monastery. He came to Australia to Christianize the Aborigines and save them from persecution. He also taught them to do European stile agriculture. In the church there’s a huge organ. Salvado brought the organ from Germany on one of his trips, and found that it was too tall to fit in the little church. To solve the problem, he had an extension built which is about 3 feet long and the ceiling is a couple of inches higher than the rest of the church. Although it still works, the organ can only be played at 40% of its volume, because the monks are afraid that if they play it louder the church will fall down. In the last years, the monks made a living with two private schools: one for boys and one for girls. We visited the girls’ school. Both schools are now closed due to the lack of students.

Next we traveled northwest through the Nanbung National Park. In spring this park’s native desert flora blooms in spectacular colors. We came in the middle of the summer so we only saw some flowers. We got to the coast to a little town called Cervantes and we visited a little beach. We were supposed to see something special in the water but the high tide prevented us from seeing it. This beach was really spectacular though. The sand was incredibly white and the turquoise of the water was unreal. It looked like the movie Contact, when Jodi Foster meets the alien on a beach that she had drawn when she was a kid. The colors of this beach were as unreal as the colors in that place. After the beach we got to the Pinnacles Desert (150 miles north of Perth). The Pinnacles consist of thousands of limestone pillars, up to four meters tall rising out of a landscape of yellow sand. Apparently thousands of years ago the roots of the plants that existed here broke through some of the sandstone in the subsoil. With time the trees died and the erosion removed the bits of broken sandstone, leaving the sandstone only in the places where no plants were growing. These stones look now like pillars of an ancient city or the smaller ones like headstones on a cemetery. On the drive back to Perth we finally saw some Kangaroos. The bus driver stopped to show us a group of about 50 wild kangaroos that got scared when the bus stopped and started jumping away.

On our last day in Western Australia we went on a tour to the southwest. Our first stop was a winery, which was close to a beach where we could see some stone/like creatures in the water, which are apparently the most ancient form of life found on earth. After that we went to see the Gloucester Tree. The attraction to this tree is that it can be climbed, all 200 feet of it. It has metal bars drilled into its trunk in a spiral pattern, which can be used as a ladder to climb to a fire lookout platform. We heard the view was spectacular, we didn’t make the climb, though. Next we went to the Valley of the Giants in the Walpole National Forest. Here we could see triangle trees, a Eucalyptus type and second tallest living beings in the world. Apparently the roots of these trees are very delicate, so the Aussies came up with a different way of viewing the trees: from the top. There’s a system of swaying bridges attached to metal poles, the highest of which reaches 40 meters high! The view is spectacular and the walk on the bridge is an adventure on its own. After the tree walk we started our 4-hour drive back to Perth.

On December 30 we flew back to Sydney. Since there’s a 3-hour difference to Perth, we got there in the late afternoon and we only had time to walk a little around our Hotel.

On December 31^st, we wanted to use the day for sightseeing. We started at the Art Gallery of New South Wales where we saw some interesting Aboriginal art. We next made our way to Mrs Macquarie’s Point, which is on the harbor and from where great pictures of the Opera House with the Harbor Bridge on the background can be made. Getting there we noticed that people where already picking their spots to see the fireworks. It was only 10 a.m.! We wanted to cross the Botanical Gardens to get to the Opera House, but the gate was closed and we couldn’t get through. Inside the Botanical Gardens is the Government House, so we decide to take their guided tour. The Government House is a Gothic stile building, which looks totally out of place in the center of Sydney. It is supposed to be the House for the representative of the queen in Australia, but the last have chosen to live in their own homes. The building is still in use, though. The office is used as well as the dinning room and the Dance hall. We visited all of these rooms and also saw the paintings on the wall of all the previous representatives of the Queen.

After the one-hour tour of the Government House, we again tried to make our way to the Opera House and again encountered a closed gate. We had to go back all the way to the entrance of the Botanical Gardens to be able to get to the only entrance to the Opera House. When we finally got there, the place was already full with all the people who came to see the fireworks. We tried to get a tour of the Opera House, but because of special New Year’s Eve events, there were no tours. We next went to Circular Quay (pronounced "kay") to try to get a boat tour of the Harbor, and again found that everything was sold out.

With the frustration of no being able to do our "tourist work" we decided to go back to the Hotel, get some dinner, get our jackets and come back and join the crowd and wait for the fireworks. We did exactly that and made it back around 7:00 p.m. When we got back the place was totally packed. We found a spot in the crowed and we waited. The first set of fireworks went off at 9:00 p.m. This was so that the people with children see something and make it home so the kids can go to bed. There were actually three sets of fireworks: one on next to the Harbor Bridge, one off a barge on the other side of the Opera House and one behind the downtown skyscrapers. We could see them all from where we were! After 15 minutes of fireworks, we again waited for the next set at midnight. They had promised this fireworks to be special. Not only were we celebrating the New Year and the real start of the 21^st Century, but also on January 1, Australia celebrated its 100^th birthday. I may say, we were not disappointed. The fireworks were truly spectacular! Not only where there fireworks coming from the places I mention above, but also from the top of three of the skyscrapers and then the Harbor Bridge lit up and had sparkles coming out from the bottom (road) part of the bridge and fireworks going up from the upper part. It was truly spectacular! Never had I seen anything like it, and I don’t expect to ever see it again.

On New Year’s day, while everyone was watching the centennial parade, we took a boat tour of the Harbor. Next we went to the Rocks, a historical area of Sydney. This is really a tourist area, and it’s supposed to be the oldest part of the city. In the afternoon we had to make our way back to the train station to catch our 4:00 p.m. sleeper train to Brisbane.

When we first bought the tickets for the train we thought they were a bit pricey, then again, we won’t be paying for a Hotel and it is a long distance. When we got on the train we were impressed. There were only two berths per cabin and every two cabins shared a bathroom. The bathroom was a little room with a shower and a foldable toilet and sink. On each seat there was a towel and a little bag with shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush and toothpaste and a comb. Each berth had a feather blanket with fresh duvet cover as well as top and bottom sheets and pillow. Soon after departure, someone came and asked whether we wanted coffee or tee with our complementary breakfast! We no longer thought the train was expensive.

We arrived in Brisbane at 5:30 a.m. (there’s a one hour difference) and waited for our continuing train to Rockhampton, our final destination, which left shortly after 9:00 a.m. The second train was also very nice. It was also nice to see the landscape. We were mainly traveling through agricultural areas and small towns. I thought it was funny that we needed to make reservations for the restaurant. A couple of people came and asked who wanted to eat at the restaurant and passed out appointment times. When the time came, we where called through the speakers. The only problem with this train was that it was very slow! We made very long brakes at every stop and sometimes we stopped between towns for no reason at all (OK, I’m sure there was a reason). It took the whole day to get to Rockhampton and by the time we got there it was already dark.

Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia, and no, that’s not the reason we went there. It has about 60 thousand inhabitants (and 3.5 million steers) and it lies right on the tropic of Capricorn. It also lies about where the Great Barrier Reef starts. The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s crown jewel. It is a system of reefs and islands that cover a distance of 1,200 miles and it is off the coast of Queensland (northeastern Australia). The main reason of going to Rockhampton was to visit one of the reef islands. Our hotel was also very nice. It was built at the end of the XIX century, as a very high-class hotel. It still has very nice furniture in the restaurant and the staircase was also very beautiful. The bar seemed to be the popular place in town and the hotel has one of the best steak houses in all of Rockhampton.

On our first full day in Rockhampton, we booked a tour for the following day and we did laundry (part of traveling). In the afternoon we took a tour of the Dreamtime Cultural Center (an aboriginal cultural center). In the tour we first learned about the history and legends of the Aborigines. Apparently there are paintings in some of the caves where the Aborigines lived many years ago, and the guide explained to us how the paintings were made. She also told us the legend of the Goori Goori bird. This bird used to eat the children who wandered off and separated from their parents. One young boy lost his way while picking berries and the bird carried him off to its nest. The boy escaped and told his father what had happened. His father and some other adults, who were enraged at the large bird for eating the children, set its nest on fire while the bird was sleeping. The Goori Goori bird flew off to find water to extinguish the flames and as it was flying some of the feathers, that had also caught fire, fell off leaving a trail of sparks behind it. This trail of sparks became the Milky Way!

After learning about the history we were passed on to another guide: an Aboriginal lady from the northern islands. She told us about the present life of the people of the islands: how they fish, the utensils they use in the household and their traditional commerce with mainland Australia as well as with New Guinea, their neighbor to the north. On the third and last segment of the tour we learned to throw the boomerang (not easy at all) an then the new guide, also an Aborigine, gave us a didgeridoo concert and also explained to us how it is played (also very difficult). To play the didgeridoo, the guide brought us into a man-made cave (for better acoustics). Inside the cave were dozens of moths, like the ones in the movie Silence of the Lambs: with eyes on their wings (not real eyes, just looked liked like eyes). The music was very interesting, but Claudia found considerably more fascinating the moths than the music. After the cultural center we went back to town and wanted to do some shopping. The problem was that in Rockhampton all the stores close at 5:00 p.m., so as we got there, the stores were closing down.

The next morning we were picked up at the hotel early in the morning and taken to the harbor, about 30 minutes out of town, to go on the tour of Great Keppel Island, one of the reef islands. To start, the tour took us to an underwater observatory. That is basically a building that is partly underwater and has windows so one can see outside. The weather in the past few days had been bad, and the boat had not been able to dock with the observatory. We were lucky, so we did. The problem was, that since the tours had not been there, the divers who normally clean the windows from the outside, had not been there. The windows were so full of green stuff that it was hard to see anything. Also, because of the bad weather, the water was very not clear. We could get an idea of what it must be like, but we couldn’t fully appreciate the underwater observatory.

We were next taken on a glass bottom boat and were supposed to see some coral. Again, since the water was not clear we couldn’t see anything. For the afternoon we were taken to the island. After lunch we went swimming in a beautiful beach with white sand and turquoise water. A young woman who was close to us had some food in her hand and a rainbow parakeet flew onto her hand! After getting out of the water, we went for a walk. There were a lot of the insects that make noise. They are not crickets, but a flying insect. At some point there were so many of them and the noise was so loud, that our ears almost hurt! After the walk, we went back to the restaurant, where we had had lunch, to wait for the boat. We decided to get something to drink, when we saw this huge lizard, kind of like an iguana that was looking for food. Here, too, the rainbow parakeets were all over the place waiting to be fed by the restaurant guests. Finally the boat came and we returned to Rockhampton. After a nice steak dinner at our hotel, we went to bed.

The next morning we left Rockhampton and traveled north by bus to Airlie Beach. The trip took 7 hours. The landscape was again very interesting. By now we were really in a tropical area. We could see lots of plantations of sugar cane and pineapple. Airlie Beach is a little tourist trap of less than 4 000 inhabitants. The idea of going here is that this is one of the only two places from where one can visit the Great Barrier Reef. The other one being Cairns, which is farther to the north and bigger and probably even more of a tourist trap. A van from our hotel picked us up from the bus station and took us to the hotel. The hotel was very nice. Instead of rooms they had cabins. Our cabin had two rooms, but the entrance to the other one was on the opposite side, so we didn’t even notice anyone else. The restaurant was open, just with palm roof and there was also a pool. When we got to the hotel, there were lots of young people (we were the oldest people in the hotel) watching a movie in the restaurant. We found it interesting that in such a beautiful place, this people didn’t find anything better to do than to watch TV.

The next morning we went to the Great Barrier Reef. We were picked up by a bus and taken to Shut Harbor to board our boat, a huge catamaran for more than 100 people. This tour was the best one we took and you can tell they are professionals. The ride from the coast to the reef is about two hours long. After tea and coffee we were all offered and suggested we take motion sickness pills. Off shore, there is a group of islands called Whitehaven Islands, and between the shore and the islands the water is very tranquil, but after the island there’s an area of rough sea, until the boat is under the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. Just in case, we both took motion sickness pills, as most people in the boat. Some people still got sick though, and the crew was always paying attention and passing out barf bags. We finally got to the reef. The tour company has a platform just off the reef. We docked to the platform and we were let off the ship. On the platform was all the equipment to snorkel. There were even masks with optical glass so that people like Theo who wear glasses could see underwater!

We both got our gear and got in the water. Since Claudia is no a very good swimmer and after all we were in the middle of the ocean, she wouldn’t let go of the platform. Theo then went alone and snorkeled to the reef, which was really only a few meters away. Claudia stayed in the water admiring the many fish which were surrounding the platform. They seemed to be as curious about the people as the people were about them. There were many different fish. From large schools of anchovies to fish that were several feet long. Some would come to the mask to see what was inside and others would allow the people to touch them.

After a while Claudia took advantage of the other facilities of the platform. There was an underwater viewing chamber, which is a submerged room with a huge window. Outside one could see lots of fish, again as curious about what was inside the room as the people were of them. There was also a submarine. Actually, a boat, where one could sit underwater and the boat would take the passengers to see about two hundred feet of the reef. This was really fantastic! The reef seems like a scene of a far and inhospitable planet. There were coral that looked like trunks of dead trees, some brown and others blue. There were others that looked like brains, others looked like huge mushrooms. There was even a huge clam like the ones on TV! And of course there were lots of fish. Later Theo came out of the water and we had lunch. The lunch was served inside the boat and one could sit at tables inside the boat or outside on the platform. The lunch consisted on an all-you-can-eat buffet with lots of salads, breads, cold meats, cheeses and fish. After lunch we got back in the water and this time Claudia did dare to leave the platform and went to see the reef up close and in person. On the way back, we again were offered motion sickness pills and after the rough part was over, we had coffee and dessert.

For the next day, we decided to do something outside the water and we took an Eco tour. We were again picked up and taken to a field were we boarded a kind of carriage pulled by a tractor. We traveled through a marsh area, where we saw lots of birds. Part of the area is salt water and other is sweet water. We also learned about the kind of trees that live in both areas (mangroves). For example we learned that there’s a type of eucalyptus tree that can live on salty water. It somehow filtrates the water and the salt comes off on its leaves. After about 1/2 hr we came to the camp, where got off the carriage. The guide wanted a volunteer to make a cake. Theo of course volunteered to mix the dough. He mixed self rising flower with milk, water, butter and raisins. Once everything was mixed the guide put it in a pot to cook and we got on a boat and traveled through a salt-water river.

Here we saw crocodiles! Unfortunately we only saw little ones. The smallest one we saw was about a meter long and the longest was two meters long. We saw tracks of bigger crocodiles, up to five meters long, unfortunately shortly before us a motor boat had passed and scared the big crocodiles into the water. In any case it was very interesting. After more than an hour on the boat, we came back to the camp and ate the cake with coffee and tea. It was actually very good. We then again boarded the carriage and headed back to the bus. On the way we got a show: there were two large birds, about a meter tall. Apparently the male was in a romantic mood and he started dancing for the female by spreading his wings and jumping up and down. She then joined him in the dance. It was very interesting and according to the guide we were very lucky to see it.

On our last day in Airlie Beach we went back to the water. We took another tour on a boat with about 25 people and visited some of the Whitehaven Islands. We first went to one island where we hiked up to the top to a viewing platform. From there we had a beautiful view of several of the islands with their white sandy beaches and beautiful turquoise water. The water was so clear, that from the top of the island we could see that on the other side of the island was a large group of sting rays in the water, and they were a couple of hundred meter from us! Then we went to a beach to go swimming. The water was so clear that we could see our toes even when we were neck deep. There were also fish in the water, although they were not as friendly as the ones on the reef. While here, we also had lunch. The boat crew (two people) brought a grill and meats and salads and breads and after grilling we had lunch. We also had some uninvited guest! Two reptiles about 4 feet long each came looking for food. The animals, called guanas, seemed to be the same as the one we saw on Great Keppler island, just bigger. After lunch our guides disappeared and we stayed on the island. They left the trash can with the left over food and one of the guanas decided to dive into the trashcan looking for food. It came out very happy with the plastic bag where the meat had been kept. When the guides came, we again got on the boat and went to another part of the island to snorkel. Here, there also was some coral, and although it wasn’t as big and spectacular as the Great Barrier Reef, it was still interesting. There was less variety of corals, but the tide was very low, and the coral only had one foot to water above it. We could really see everything very clearly and there were also lots of fish.

The next day we left Airlie Beach and flew back to Sydney. We flew 1 1/2 hours to Brisbane and then 2 more to Sydney. This time we were staying in a different part of town a little closer to downtown. Since we knew Sydney already we went to our hotel on city rail. The area where we stayed was very interesting: a strange combination of hotels, restaurants, internet cafes and brothels. Since it was already late afternoon we went for a walk on the area and we found a park with a very large tree. There was lots of commotion on the tree and looking closer we noticed that it was full of fruit bats. The bats were very large with more than a 2 feet wingspan

The next day we went to the opera house and took the tour. The building is as beautiful as it looks in the pictures, but it is not white! The outer walls are covered with tiles; some are white and shiny, and others are more cream color and opaque. A Danish architect who won a contest for his design designed the building. The actual building of the Opera House was supposed to take 4 years and cost 4.5 million dollars, instead it took 14 years and end up costing about 65 million dollars. The Danish architect built the outside of the building, but during construction he ended up fighting with the Australians and left. Another architect, an Aussie, designed and built the inside. Inside, there are several theaters: two large ones and several small ones. On the tour we only visited the concert hall, which is the largest, and one of the smaller theaters. The other big one, where operas, plays and ballets are performed, was closed for rehearsal.

After the opera house we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, where we saw an exhibition of lunar pictures. A photographer from San Francisco was given access to files from NASA and to the negatives of pictures taken by astronauts during the Apollo missions. Some of the pictures were those taken by the astronauts, others were composites of several negatives to make huge panoramic pictures of the surface of the moon. There were also some pictures of Earth, including the first picture ever made of earth from out of space. The exhibition was very impressive and we were lucky to have had the opportunity to see it. We then went shopping, first to the Rocks and then to Downtown. The Downtown area was very nice. The skyscrapers and the shops are all on the same place. The stores are downstairs and the offices are upstairs. The shops were also nice.

On our last day in Sydney we went do Darling Harbor. Darling Harbor is basically a tourist’s place with shopping center, lots of restaurants, an Imax theater and other entertainment places like arcades. It is new and pretty. Close to Darling Harbor is the Powerhouse Museum, which is like a museum of work, museum of innovation, technology and science, all put together. Some of the interesting things we saw were a replica of the astronomical clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral; huge steam machines; a train with 1^st , 2^nd and 3^rd class compartments; a robot that speaks and moves like a human; an exhibition of turn of the century medicine; and a huge Lego exhibition. Since it was our last evening in Australia we decided to have a nice dinner (not that we hadn’t had great meals the whole time) and we went to the Steak and Bourbon which turned out to be a famous place. Some of their exclusive clients include President George Bush Sr. and Barbara.

As if we were not satisfied enough with the trip, Theo loved the Airport. The gates are on the outer parts of the building and in the middle were lots of shops and there was a large waiting area with tables, for those who wanted to do some work, and other with sofas and tables, so one can wait in comfort.

Food: The food was overall great. We particularly like their French fries (chips) they were always perfectly cooked. I’ve had fries here three times since we came back and they don’t seem to be as good as the Australians.

Driving: Yes, the Aussies drive on the wrong side of the road. We didn’t get to drive, but the people who we talked to said it was not a problem. The driver also sits on the wrong side of the car, so that kind of reminds you to stay on the other side of the road. The only thing those people said was that every time they wanted to signal to turn, the wipers would go on! In any case, I did notice my hart beating faster, at the beginning of our trip, when I would see cars coming on the wrong side of the street. The first reaction was "they are driving on the wrong side and they are going to hit us", but then I noticed we were also on the wrong side. The other thing I wanted to mention about driving is that the Australians have not adopted the American choice of cars: no SUV! The streets were a pleasure with just normal sized cars.

Culture and Racism: I very often hear the Europeans saying that America has no culture. After visiting Australia I think I know what they mean. Australia, like the US has no history, other than modern history. There’s no old buildings or ancient civilizations. Of course there are the Aborigines. The problem is that the Australians are new to the island and they are neither proud nor interested in the Aborigine culture. It is not their culture, and if it were up to them (the majority) the Aborigines wouldn’t exist at all. I read in the newspaper that until the 70’s the Aborigines were not even considered people by the Australian government! Fortunately things are slowly changing and now there are organizations like the Dreamtime organization that wants to learn and educate people about Aborigine culture.