Today we are leaving Ayers Rock to Sydney. We spent part of the morning shopping in the tiny Ayers Rock Resort shopping center. In Sydney, we will have dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel. Our long voyage back will force us to leave for the airport tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. Therefore we won’t stay out very long tonight.
Everything is going well. As usual, the Internet is slow and does not allow me to include the pictures. I will post them when I get home.
Dr. L.
Today we arrived in Ayers Rock around 10:30 a.m. after leaving Mt Ebenezer after breakfast. We then went to the Olga’s a group of rocks located about 70 km from Ayers Rock. We walked between these rocks while Dr. Lemaire was preparing a lunch of mixed salad, smoked chicken, and cold cuts.
We then went back to Ayers Rock. We walked along the rock, visited the Cultural Center, and watched the sunset at the rock. At night, we had a barbecue dinner at the restaurant of the hotel. Most participants tried emu, kangaroo, and crocodile meat.
Today we left Mt Ebenezer for our day trip after cooking a hot breakfast in the open air kitchen of the motel campground.
Our goal today was to hike King’s Canyon located about 200 km from Mt Ebenezer and be back for dinner (Beef Stroganoff or cheeseburgers or roasted chicken). The hike took us 2:30 minutes for the fastest and 2:50 minutes for the slowest instead of the normal 3:30 minutes announced on the park poster. Rowan University students and faculty are fit!
But of course the only access to the Internet (that I am using right now!) is in the motel manager’s office! This is why your loved ones are not sending you any emails. We should have a better connection tomorrow night in Ayers Rock…. I know I have said this a few times already!
This morning, after a breakfast of pancakes, we went to the Alice Springs School of the Air. This institution teaches 169 students who are scattered over a vast territory. Every weekday, teachers are conducting classes by computer, radio, and the Internet. The student whose ranch is located the farthest away from the school is 800 miles away.
We then drove south toward Mt Ebenezer where our small motel is located. On the way we stopped at a camel farm and 12 participants rode camels in the local wilderness. We then visited the Henbury Meteorite Craters before reaching the hotel.
For dinner, participants had a choice of lasagna and salad, chicken schnitzel with salad and chips, or fish and chips.
Today we left Tennant Creek to drive the about 530 km to reach Alice Springs. We stopped at the Marbles, an area famous for the large number of gigantic granite boulders. On our way we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn about 20 km from Alice, as the town is known for the locals. We visited the Royal Flying Doctor visitor center and headed to our hotel in time to see the wallabies coming down the hill around 5 p.m. to be hand fed.
At night, we enjoyed a show featuring Chris Callaghan, a country singer, and Rex Neindorf, director of the reptile center who presented a 5-meter long python, blue tongue lizzards, and venimous snakes. Needless to say that your loved ones only held the python and lizzards.
We had a great time! (but of course, no Internet access)
We should have an Internet connection tomorrow. I hope to be able to add the pictures of our activities and the next two blogs.
Today was a very frustrating day!
At breakfast we discovered that someone stole a key to one of the vans in one of the drivers’ room which was locked, took off with this van, abandoned it after a joy ride behind the hotel (leaving the keys in the ignition and failing to spot a very expensive Nikkon camera left in the vehicle). Two of the vehicles had gas siphoned, an I-pod and a cell phone went missing.
Dr. Lemaire spent a large portion of the morning with the police while they were lifting fingerprints from both vans. While all of this was going on students went to the pool and were relocated in different rooms. As luck would have it, the town of Katherine has on average 1 car stolen a year and … it had to be ours. Our hotel never had any such break-in since the present owners purchased the hotel 6 years ago. On the positive side, everyone is in good spirit, the vehicles did not get scratched, and losses are small.
At 1 p.m. we went on a cruise on the Katherine River. This 300 km-long river forms 13 gorges. We visited the top 2 gorges and we saw a freshwater crocodile. After the cruise, some of us spent a couple of hours at the police station to be finger printed (to eliminate our prints from the thieves’prints) and get our statements about what happened.
Dinner at the hotel consisted of either a warm chicken salad or pasta carbonara.
And guess what? No Internet connection again.
Today we first went to Nourlangie Rock in Kakadu National Park. The Nourlangie plateau dominates the savanna. Aborigines have used caves in the plateau to paint hunting scenes and some of their gods using common minerals (hematite, limonite, manganese oxides …) as colors for the paintings. We then drove to Pine Creek where we had lunch in the only motel/restaurant. We then drove another hour to reach Katherine where we will spend two nights.
We had dinner at the restaurant of our hotel. The owner’s son is a chef. He prepared for us chicken schnitzels with salad and fries or grilled fish with salad.
Again … no Internet connection but we are doing well.
This morning we went back to the center of Darwin for a breakfast at Salvatore’s. Right after breakfast, we began our journey to Kakadu National Park located about 250 km from Darwin. On our way we stopped at Fogg Dam were thousands of birds live. We then went on the Yellow River cruise at 4:30 p.m. This is by far the best cruise of the day. We saw 21 crocodiles, 4 Jabirus, 2 brogas (giant cranes), hundreds of ducks and geese, and sea eagles.
We are doing well … but no Internet connection again!
Today we left Queensland for the Northern Territory. As soon as we arrived in Darwin, we went to Mitchell Street in the center of town before going to the Fisherman Wharf where we had dinner. We then went to our hotel at the Hi-Way Inn in the northern part of town. As usual, we had no Internet connection but we are doing very well.
This morning we left Crocodylus Village and drove south to the Mossman Gorge. Most of us endulged in eggs with bacon or sausage, but some had pancakes. After our delicious homecooked meal, we set off toward Mount Carbine. Our first stop was at the Daintree Wild Zoo where we saw baby estuarine crocodiles, cassowary, kangaroos, and wallabies. They also had talking parrots and a dingo pup.
We hiked along the river and had lunch of fresh sandwiches. We then went to a winery. Since a tropical climate is not appropriate for growing grapes, local farmers use tropical fruit to make fruit wine (mango, lychee, passion fruit, pawpaw, …). We had a wine tasting and crossed the coastal range to reach Mt Carbine where our hotel was. This gave the participants a taste of the outback. The”town” has less than 200 inhabitants, a single convenience store at the gas station, and a pub/restaurant. We discovered that MT does not actually stands for mount but for mining town.
At four o’clock, the owner of the caravan park/motel always give a talk about mining activity, plants, birds, and the group walked to the top of a hill to watch the sunset.
Today we went to the Great Barrier Reef on the Rum Runner, a 43 passenger-catamaran. On the way we saw three whales including a baby. When we arrived there, some of the participants went scuba diving (Sara Steinhaus, Dana Litwornia, Dr. Lemaire, Kaitlin Phillips, Zachary Moore, Justin Lammer) while the others received fins and mask to snorkel. Some of us even spotted a sea turtle.
Today we did something that many people would never think of doing… we fed bats!
You would never think to describe bats as cute and cuddly but after spending time at the “bat house” in Cape Tribulation, Queensland, many of us overcame our fears and some even let the bats crawl on them!
We took a walk through a regenerated rainforest which has taken 21 years to regrow. Despite licks and nibbles on our earlobes, nose, and cheeks, we did not turn into vampires. We found our way to the sunny shores of a Queensland beach. Our night ended with a fantastic dinner in the rustic restaurant of Crocodylus Village.
Justin and I (Megan) are writing this blog under a sky of stars and a glimpse of the Milky Way, while surrounded by toads.
Today started off eventful even at breakfast. The group discovered a toilet possibly smarter than us. It talked, gave us music, and a ten minute time unit. From there we went to the Rainforest Habitat Sanctuary in Port Douglas. Dr. Lemaire gave us food to feed wallabies, kangaroos, and many different birds. Do not think of a zoo while reading this because it was more like being in the rainforest and not even close to a zoo. There were many beautiful birds flying free and roaming including Australia’s biggest bird, the cassowary.
The highlight of the sanctuary was feeding the kangaroos and wallabies. They were docile and had beautiful eye lashes.
Some of us found out the hard way that these small beautiful animals had very sharp claws but nobody was scratched. After we all got to take our photograph holding a koala. This was one of the most amazing event thus far. For everyone that knows me, I wanted to steal one, but after talking to its handler, the small furry creature would probably mall my face off.
Later in the day, we went on a boat ride on a the Daintree River. Our captain, Dan Irby, told us extremely detailed facts about the area and was able to bring us right up to a 15-foot crocodile. The sights are so incredible, our cameras don’t do them justice and one wold have to see it to believe it.
Today our wake-up call was 5:30 a.m. and we left the Formule 1 hotel before 6:30 a.m. for the airport. We ate breakfast there . Everyone could get a drink and a pastry. There were very tasty selections of fruit toast, muffins, and other goodies.
After breakfast we boarded the small plane of about 110 passengers. It is funny because you have to pay for your movie, the headset is free though, and if you are hungry you must pay for your food as well. Anything to make a buck!
We drove approximately a half hour from Cairns to lunch in a restaurant located across the street from a beautiful beach where we wandered around for a while before we returned to eat lunch. After lunch we continued on our way to our hotel in Port Douglas. The hotel had a cozy pool and was within a five minute walk of the beach which was absolutely gorgeous. The water was slightly warmer than Jersey beaches but not bad considering it is winter. After the beach we went to the Tin Can for dinner where we sat on a patio overlooking the Coral Sea. Everyone dinned on a array of seafood, chicken, and beef and many desserts were ordered by Christine Deehan and shared among the group. After dinner we all hung around the hotel, made new frends, and walked along the moonlit beach.
Today we went to the Blue Mountains. The blog will be inserted another day!
We left our hotel at 3 a.m. today to take our 5:50 flight to Sydney. As for all of our flights so far, everything went smoothly and we probably had the most efficient check-in so far by Qantas. We had breakfast at the airport and used the 3:30 flight to sleep.
When we arrived in Sydney, the weather was superb but cool (48 F). We dropped off our luggage at our hotel and headed to the Fish Market. The Fish Market is located along one of the many harbours of Sydney. Fishing boats were downloading crates of fresh fish and pelicans, ibis, and seagulls were watching the port activity very carefully. The Fish Market is a very popular place for lunch and we ate on their back deck feeding the birds (60 F).
In the afternoon, we went to the Opera House and attended a private visit of this enormous building after enjoying some free time along the Darling Harbour.
In the evening, 13 members of the group enjoyed visiting the area around George Street while Dr. Lemaire accompanied Dana for an emergency dentist appointment since she broke 2 teeths eating (really) hard candy!!! The dentist was wonderful.
Our day began with a visit to Firestone to fix the tire of one of our vans. Since it was a simple puncture, the repair only delayed our departure by 30 minutes and we continued south to visit the most active volcanoes New Zealand has. They are located in a national park south of Turangi but visitors can mostly only drive around the national park. There are many foot paths though. Two short access roads climb the slopes of one of them and a ski resort can be accessed if you have chains.
We observed Tongariro, an andesitic volcano, that began forming 275,000 years ago. Its summit was covered with ice and snow. The road then went around Mount Ruhapehu, a massive volcano that erupted for the last time in 2007. At the present, its activity is limited to small earthquakes that occur a few times a week.
After lunch, we visited the Kiwi House where people are breeding kiwi birds and then releasing them in various parts of the country where their number is too low. We ended the day in Auckland, just 2 miles from the airport and had dinner in an Indian restaurant
Monday in Rotorua was the day most of us had been waiting for- the great sheep show at the Agrodome, in an edifice similar to a church. We took front row to an exciting sheep fest. Seventeen different breeds of sheep were on display. Some of us even got to take part in the show. Although we didn’t get to shear sheep, we did get to milk a cow and feed some baby lambs.
After lunch, we visited Te Puia. There we witnessed natural geysers erupting, mud ponds, kiwis, and a Polynesian show. Our day ended with stunning, rolling emerald hills on the North Island countryside.
We left Fiji today at 8:45 a.m. and we had a fun filled day of flight and car rides. New Zealand may be the greenest place on Earth. As we drove from Auckland to Rotorua, the sides of the road were filled with sheep and brown and black cows grazing on lush pastures.
When we arrived at the Red Rock Inn, we were able to relax in the natural geothermal hot springs. The hot spring was very relaxing and the smell of sulfur did not even phase us. After the dip, Dr. Lemaire made an amazing chicken and lamb dinner.
Today we first went to the tropical fruit and vegetable market, and to the handicraft market both located off Queen Road in the center of Nadi. After exchanging money at the ATM, we ventured into the area where artisans and other merchants were selling their goods among which were colorful jewelry, wood-carved tribal masks, Kava bowls, bright sarongs and more! Before we even stepped inside the first shop, we were invited to taste Kava, a medicinal root mixed with water from the pepper plant. Several of us (the brave ones) went into the shop, sat in a circle, and watched as the Fijian man prepared the ddrink and allowed us to taste it. This ceremony blesses people and their families for good luck, health, travels … as well as welcomes people into the country of Fiji.
Afterwards, we walked around the town where many merchants asked us to look at their things and asked about us and our families. Haggling is a must!
During the second half of our day we drove throughout athe island seeing the beautiful countryside. Everywhere we went people along the street would wave. Our next stop was along an extinct volcano in the volcanic mountain range located in the center of the island. We then went to Ba, a sugar producing town along the northern coast of the island. At the sugar mill there were at least 50 trucks loaded with sugar cane, waiting to be weighted and be unloaded at the factory.
We finished our visit of the area by stopping at the orchid park of the Sleeping Giant created by Raymond Burr who was famous for being Perry Masson. Then we went back to our hotel for an amazing dinner at our hotel. (K.B. and J.K.)
More on this day will be posted very shortly.
Isn’t it strange that the next post is July 31? After departing Los Angeles, we crossed the International Dateline and lost a day (July 30th), and landed in Fiji after an excellent flight of 10:40 minutes in Nadi (pronounced Nandi) in Fiji.
After a LONG flight and what seemed like an even longer wait in the airport ( damaged luggage, missing voucher at the travel agency, inefficient clerk at Budget Rental) we finally were on the wrong side of the road cruising through Fiji. It is not possible to describe the beauty of Fiji from the crystal clear waters to the mountains covered with lush vegetation. After stoppping at the hotel, we ventured out to Bounty Island which was about the size of the Rowan University campus. We had a full day of snorkeling, swimming, tanning, and exploring all with the main island of Fiji in the background.
Dinner was at the hotel which is about 20 feet from the Pacific Ocean.
Our trip began early this morning when we gathered in front of Robinson Hall at 3 a.m. All of our flights were on time and we reached Santa Ana John Wayne Airport around 11:30 a.m.
As scheduled we went to the Tarpits La Brea Museum, a small museum located where thousands of animals became trapped in very thick asphalt and died. The La Brea tar pits were more than expected. I did not expect actual tar still bubbling or the smell of it.
I loved the viewing area where we were able to watch college students excavate fossils through feet of sticky tar. Every year between 2,000 and 3,000 skeletons are retrieved from the tar pits, cleaned up by students and other volunteers, analyzed, and displayed. Among the most frequently found animals are sabertooth tigers, mammoths, horses, and golden eagles.
We had a lunch at Baja Fresh, a kind of Mexican fastfood restaurant that features freshly made dishes accompanied by different types of salsa.
Later in the afternoon, we visited Hollywood. It was fashionable and over the top. We ended our brief visit in California at Los Angeles International Airport to take our third flight leg of the day toward Fiji. (pictures will be loaded when we have a good Internet connection).
The trip will depart Wednesday, July 29th and the return on Friday, August 23rd. You will travel in Fiji, New Zealand, Australia (New South Wales, Northern Queensland, and the Northern Territory)