Jalbert Family Adventure

Australia Part 4 – Great Inland Road

With our Great Barrier Reef adventure under our belts, we took a big sigh and headed for our long, long, long drive back to Sydney. 1,800 miles to go. There was heaps (Aussie for “lots”) to see on the way up but we were not sure what was in store for us on the way back. Our plan was to follow the Great Inland Route (there are only a handful of recommended, paved routes). It was not far enough inland to be truly considered the Outback but far enough inland to be considered The Bush. With all of the flash floods, heat warnings and huge expanses of deserted land, we opted to not venture too far inland.

Our first stop was at a town not far from Cairns that had a lot of shops and, more importantly, a bat rescue center. Our boys had grown quite fond of flying foxes during our adventure in Australia and were anxious to get a closer look. Down a small pathway, a generous lady houses dozens of bats that have either been injured or orphaned or stuck on fences. She rescues them and takes care of them until they are ready to be reacclimated to the wild. She held a variety of bats for us to look at closely. She held them upside-down, as they prefer, and fed them cookies. She explained that despite their name, their closes relatives are primates and that they are very smart. She walked over to the cage containing all of the hanging bats and called “Tilly!” and sure enough, one single bat eased her way from the middle of the cage rung by rung with her feet and walked, upside-down, over to the lady. The bat knew it’s name and the other bats knew they were being spoken to and didn’t budge from their hanging perch. The flying fox had the cutest furry face and deep, dark eyes and nudged around looking for cookies. It resumed it’s vampire-like position with its wings symmetrically covering its body. For us, all evil connotations were permanently thrown out the window.

We were impressed with the amount of recycling that Australia does. Wherever there was a public trash bin, right beside it was a recycling bin. All of the streets and sidewalks were 100% litter-free. All of the toilets used low flush and motels encouraged their guests to leave glass, paper, and cans aside for proper disposal. Australia being an isolated destination, needs to be careful of how it uses it resources and needs to vigorously protect its unique wildlife. The customs folks nearly confiscated our grass baskets from Africa as they may have contained miniscule mites but we got away with a good dousing of spray instead.

When we spied a group of kangaroos from afar at a golf course, we knew we might be in a good place to get up close and personal with these giant mice. Up until now, we had not seen them in the wild. We read about a good campground with cabins nearby so we headed for it. Tourism was low in these parts due to recent floodings but there was no rain in sight and we were one of only a few guests at this huge campground – or so we thought. After selecting our sight, we were surrounded by about 30 kangaroos and wallabies hopping around the campground. It was such a treat to be alone with these strange creatures. They were very cute and came complete with joeys to make our encounter that much more special. Kangaroos are big while wallabies are smaller and prettier. To further accentuate our outdoor adventure, Kookaburras were everywhere flitting from tree to tree overhead. We hadn’t seen one of these large birds in the wild either. We couldn’t believe our luck. We slept in strange pod-shaped plastic huts to the sounds of the Australian bush and woke to an outback-style breakfast outside where we cooked our toast over fire and sat on logs while eating our oats. The boys loved it.

We had to hit the road again and dodge the enormous “road trains” that barrelled past us every 20 miles. They were huge trucks hauling 4 cars carrying coal. The whole car would shudder and shake when they rolled past us. We think we counted 74 tires on these road trains. After the kangas and kookaburras, that was about all the excitement there was for a few days. Just the road and more road and more road. We did see beautiful parrots along the way and a flock of emus here and there but otherwise, the infamous long stretches of Australian highway was what we saw. There was lots of time for pondering so we had to answer some hard questions like “What are eyeballs made of?” and “Can people run faster than the wind?” and “Do germs have germs?” We listened to My Father’s Dragon and watched the beautiful country scenes pass by dotted with old windmills, purple fields, horses, crops, and towns that were a potpourri of saloon-style buildings, victorian hotels, and non-descript motels that we called home.

After spending a couple of nights in the Australian country music capital of Tamworth for some good barbeque and to watch a depressing Superbowl (yes, it was televised in Australia), we finally made it to Sydney and without reservations, needed to go around door to door looking for a place to stay in the outskirts in a town called Manley. Everything was extraordinarily expensive or booked so we ended up in a backpacker-style place (ie flimsy beds, old furniture, no soap, don’t look in corners) type of place. Ughh. We spent the days in Sydney returning the car, going to the museum, touring the Opera House and strolling through the botanical gardens decorated with flying foxes in the trees. We mailed home yet another box of collected trinkets and felt that our adventure in Australia had been successful and worth every mile.

Australia Part 3 – The Northern Tropics

Australia Part 3 – The Northern Tropics

We returned from other-worldy Fraser Island to picturesque Hervey Bay, the launching spot for Fraser Island, and felt the need to stay put for a while and we found a motel that was like a little home along the esplanade of the town with the beach right across the street. This little apartment had lovely decor and a dvd player with free rentals! We think the kids watched 4 movies in 24 hours! Having dvd players in the motel rooms was a novelty for us. We were ecstatic! We watched movies, caught up on schoolwork, watched the bats make their nightly foray towards the giant fig trees and indulged in some much missed Mexican food. Plus, they had wireless internet and a pool! This was beyond expectations! Who needs reservations? We felt like trying to slow down a bit and enjoy a home for a few days. Just like home, the boys would dump their entire cache of Lego on the floor and play for hours. School books would be strewn around, our world map would be hung on the wall, our clothesline would be precariously fastened to a kitchen cabinet and a doorknob and we would cook in our own kitchen. Most places we stayed were categorized as “self-catering” which meant that they had a full kitchen, table, chairs and cooking utensils. Australia had all of the foods that we were used to, just fewer options. It felt embarrassing to see that Australia would offer 15 different cereals where the US offers 40 or 50! It seemed completely unnecessary. Furthermore, ALL of Australia’s cereals were healthy and made from whole grain as were some of their yummy cookies. The boys had their favorite 2 or 3 cereals and we were able to get instant oatmeal – Oliver’s favorite. Things we missed as far as choices were concerned were a better variety of granola bars and snack foods. Australia specializes in potato chips. If you wanted Cheetos or Corn Chips, they didn’t exist. There was usually one brand of popcorn and one brand of pretzels offered in one shape. But the potato chips were practically a “meal-in-a-bag”. Some of the offered flavors were “Chicken, Lime, Chorizo”, “Proscuitto, Parmesean”, “Steak, BBQ, Onion”, “Sausage, Rosemary, Pepper”. They brought potato chips to new heights. We missed bagels, fig newtons, and miniature carrots (we looked like cartoon figures chomping on larger than life big carrots in the car!) Our car was usually stocked with nuts, trail mix, bread, peanut butter, jelly, parmalat milk, plastic utensils, plates, paper towels, crackers and leftover candy that was begged for regularly.

After Hervey Bay we headed north as the boys learned the words to songs on our Ipod such as “Peace Train” by Cat Stevens, “Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet and “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John. We headed to Bundaberg near a sanctuary called Mon Repos which is a popular nesting ground for sea turtles. We were disappointed to have missed them in South Africa so perhaps this would be our second chance. We made a booking and headed over to the sanctuary at dusk as the turtles do not beach until nightfall. We were lucky to be here during the egg-laying season. After everyone arrives they get assigned to a specific group according to when their reservations were made. Later in the evening rangers scan the beaches and when they see a turtle come ashore they call the first group to come observe. If only one turtle comes in then only one group goes. One group per turtle. After a few hours of patient waiting, we were finally called and in the darkness we got to watch a turtle the size of the hood of our car lay over 100 eggs into a hole she dug with her uncoordinated flippers. No lights and no cameras were allowed but the boys sat right up front watching each egg drop into its nest. Then we watched her diligently bury them and attempt to make the beach look unaffected and then she made her way back to the sea never seeing the fruit of her labor. Because we were the last group, we were lucky to watch another turtle who came in beside ours and this time we watched her face rather than her backside as she decided to face the opposite way. These were loggerhead turtles and we learned all about the different sea turtles and why they are endangered and how nature urges these creatures to come back to the same beach they were hatched on 30 years ago and lay eggs for the first time. We also learned that the gender of each hatchling is determined by the temperature of the sand the eggs are laid in. Warmer sand produces females and cooler sand produces males. It was all very amazing especially learning that only 1 out of 1000 hatchlings will successfully return to nest.

The next day we celebrated with a visit to the Bundaberg Rum distillery. We were all interested especially after having driven by thousands of acres of sugar cane. It seemed that was all that was grown on the east coast. The boys were interested in seeing how this pirate grog was made and we were excited for the tastings at the end. Bundaberg Rum is very popular and a proud sponsor of many Australian sporting events – everyone drinks or sells Bundaberg. We all felt like having some refreshing rum drinks as the tropical latitude was becoming quite apparent. It was very strange to travel north and have it become warmer and warmer.

We arrived in Agnes Water with hopes of going out to the pristine island of Lady Musgrave, one of the southernmost islands of the Great Barrier Reef. We waited a few days but the wind and rain didn’t let up enough to allow for successful snorkeling. With the price tag associated with snorkeling the Reef, we wanted good weather. So we opted to move north and hope to get out to the Reef from up there.

On our way north, we stopped in an Aboriginal Cultural Center and got some hands-on lessons for throwing boomerangs. That was a blast! We arrived in Airlie Beach which is the launching site for excursions out to the fantastic Whitsunday Islands. The islands are famous for snorkeling, diving and sailing and are the most accessible islands comprising the Great Barrier Reef. The weather looked promising for the next few days (as much as it could be predicted in these unstable skies). We booked two different excursions and on the first day, although there was heavy cloud cover on the land, the skies on the sea were blue. Dolphins chased alongside the boat and the captain let the boys take turns “driving” the boat to a secluded cove. We tried to memorize the fish names on laminated identification charts before diving in to watch oversized Wrasse fish with giant lips dominate the water while clown fish and giant clams and an octopus completed the underwater scenery. Dad even took an introductory diving class and we watched him explore the ocean bottom while we hovered above him. We learned that Wrasse (as do other fish) can change from female to male should the males become scarce. We had donned our stinger suits because of vicious jellyfish that can hospitalize you yet are invisible to see. Nothing is free. It seems that most of our adventures involved looking over our shoulder for some potential danger. We suppose it wouldn’t be an adventure otherwise. On the way back, we enjoyed the seascape as the brilliant green Whitsundays floated atop the royal blue water and the white sea foam splashed the boys legs as they dangled them over the bow of each hull of the fast catamaran. After a day of rest and basking in the pool at our apartment and watching hundreds of cockatoos gather at dusk in their favorite tree, we headed back out to sea for another view of the underwater world. We slipped into our stinger suits. Peter and Oliver went first and Laura and Henry followed. The stinger suits came up to our necks as 95% coverage seemed sufficient, unless you are Henry. Two large typical jellyfish swam on either side of us with, what we thought, plenty of clearance. Their tentacles must have trailed farther than expected because Henry blasted out of the water grabbing his neck. “I’ve been stung!” he shrieked. He was familiar with the situation from his mother’s experience in South Africa. However, he was not prepared for the stinging that ensued over the next 45 minutes. This was not the type of sting that hospitalizes you but seeing the labyrinth of red lashings surrounding his neck like a turtleneck was startling as each serpentine strand swelled into long welts. Peter and Oliver were unaware as we were lifted into the dingy that we hailed to come to our aid. We sat near the back of the front of the boat so as not to alarm the other passengers swimming off the back as Henry’s wails were disconcerting. We tried to apply ice packs but Henry refused as he sweat from the sheer energy of crying. The welts looked gruesome on such a small person but we were reassured that it would only last a relatively short time. After what seemed like eternity, Henry began to settle down, especially when cookies were offered as snacks. Another little girl bought him a bag of potato chips to cheer him up and he got to drive this significantly bigger boat for a while. Later, he was fascinated to look in the mirror at his war wounds and became quite proud of himself after all of the reminders from the crew and passengers of what a brave snorkeler he was.

We took a little bushwalk on one of the islands and while we hiked our guide wondered if anyone had ever eaten ants. When no one raised their hand she asked if anyone would want to try one. Oliver and Henry were the first to put their hands up. She foraged for some particular ants with a lemony pouch on their lower body. She snipped off the pouch and fed one to each boy. They decided the first taste was not exciting enough and asked for a second. Thereafter, they were foraging around the trees gleaning their own snacks much to their mother’s chagrin (she was secretly glowing with pride in her brave boys). Next, we pulled into Whitehaven beach – a gem in the world of beaches. The sand is the purest in the world and tons of it were harvested to build the lens of a NASA telescope. It was as soft as silk and so bright it seemed it would glow in the dark. To walk the beach we would need to wade through the water from the boat. Henry was the first person to put his stinger suit on and jump in! Helicopters landed on the famous beach and we all frolicked on the sand before reluctantly returning to our boat. It was a glorious day to be out on the water.

We continued north to the towns of Townsend and Cairns. Both are nice towns with fabulous “lagoons” built at the waterfront. Because of the poisonous jellyfish in the water, towns need pools. The pools are so nicely incorporated into the landscape that they call them lagoons as if they were part of the natural landscape. The fabulous and often warm pools have helped improve the boys confidence in the water to include diving, cannonballs, underwater obstacle courses, somersaults and swimming long distances in deep water. The esplanades in both towns are so well laid out and each have a waterpark and playground. The one in Townsend includes water spraying out from guns, poles, mushrooms, sprinklers and a giant bucket that gets poured regularly on those below. Even Dad joined in the fun. On the way to Cairns we stopped to explore Wallman Falls – the tallest falls in Australia. Strangely (or not so strangely with our experience), we were the only ones there. We thought we could swim under them so we climbed down, down, down the face of a cliff on a zig-zag path through rainforest and timber and vines as brush turkeys flurried away at our approach. We got to the bottom only to see that there was no easy and safe access to the pools below. So, we took pictures and started our nearly vertical ascent back to the top. It was definitely a test of perseverance and our reward, besides personal gratification, was a package of melting Tim Tams – Australia’s favorite chocolate covered cookie.

We could not get enough of the tropical landscape and wanted to wander further and further until we could reach the tip of northeast Australia but, as it was, we had traveled 1800 miles – roughly equivalent to the distance from Maine to Florida and we still had to get back the same distance. So, due to time and dirt roads and a profusion of man-eating crocodiles living in the northern reaches, we only went as far as the lovely and UNESCO-protected Daintree Rainforest, home of the elusive and endangered Cassowary. The Cassowary is a flightless bird smaller than an ostrich with a remarkable bony mass protruding from the top of its head. It is like no other bird we have seen or read about. We saw one in sanctuary but its home is in Daintree. Unfortunately the harvesting of timber threatens the Cassowary’s life and, thankfully, most of the rainforest is now protected. Few people have seen the shy bird despite its size. We were always on the lookout from the road. We took sidetrips into green, green Mosman Gorge for a good look at the rainforest landscape and for a swim among the boulders where iridescent blue Ulysses butterflies eluded Mom’s camera and then we drove further towards Cape Tribulation to a recommended ice creamery where they dished out flavors-of-the-day. We enjoyed passionfruit, coconut, and black sapote (a fruit that resembles chocolate!) all made on the premises. We were far from our motel in Cairns when we headed back from Daintree. The sun began to set and all was quiet on the roads. As we turned down a sideroad to explore one more beach, a Cassowary emerged from the bush and crossed the road right in front of our car!!! We nearly jumped out of our seats and as Dad jammed on the brakes and Mom fumbled with the camera, we caught a glimpse on film before it blended back into the bush. To this day, Henry claims that this is his favorite unexpected encounter with wildlife.

After contemplating wind speeds, visibility, wave action, sunshine, jellyfish and the boys’ enthusiasm, we decided to give the Reef one more visit and booked a trip out the next morning (since Henry missed out on the last one). This trip took us out to the outer reef to a permanent pontoon to which a glass bottom boat and a semi-submersible were docked for activities besides snorkeling. We saw some more of what the Reef had to offer and although we never really hit the proverbial sweetspot of the Reef with oodles of fish and fluorescent colors and patterns, we feel that it was time well-spent on one of the precious natural wonders of the world and one that is in danger of becoming extinct due to the very imminent dangers of global warming.

It was time to start heading south again to return to Sydney.

(click photo for slideshow)

Australia Part 2 – The Coast

Australia Part 2 – The Coast Jan 2 – Jan 11

At this point, we believe that Peter has driven more miles on the left hand side of the road than the right, however, it still continues to be difficult crossing the street. We end up looking 360 degrees before attempting to cross despite the friendly reminders painted on each corner to ”Look Right’. We arrived at Hertz with the throngs of other folks who stayed in Sydney until the fireworks were over. We were lucky to secure a car and headed west towards a favorite Australian destination – the Blue Mountains. Our original plan was to see more of Australia than just the east coast but eventually it sunk in that it was a lot of land to cover and intra-continental flights would have been expensive for us. After covering so much territory in South Africa we figured we would focus on one area. As much as we would have liked to see Ayers Rock/Uluru, it would have been a very long haul with not much in between along with the worries of breaking down in the hot outback. We also decided not to go south of Sydney as we anticipated that the wilds of Queensland would keep us very busy for 6 weeks.

Outside of the city, we saw our first cockatoo squawking over our heads as we went in search of lunch. We also had our first experience competing with the other Aussies travelling on their summer vacation as we drove from one lodging to another all full with tourists and no vacancies. So far, we have always landed on our feet and have not yet had to spend a night in the car and we still prefer to travel with no reservations to have as much freedom as possible. The only time we attempt to make reservations is when we are heading to cities. It is easy to drive from place to place in a small town versus a large and confusing city. Campervans would have been a good fail-safe option but with minimum research, we couldn’t find anything that wouldn’t exceed our daily budget and, besides, tight quarters for 4 people 24 hours a day would have been hard. Instead, we had to pay a premium for the “last room” at the local motel. The Blue Mountains are known for their blue haze from the evaporating eucalyptus reflecting the sun. We walked a recommended cliff walk and viewed the “Three Sisters” which are three famous pinnacles of rock that attract a lot of tourists. We descended into the valley on the steepest rail in the world according to Guinness. We meandered through orchards and discovered Australia’s famous meat pies. Little four inch pies stuffed with meat, chicken, vegetables, spices and any combination of these. They are sold everywhere.

Once we left the blue mountains, the first matter of course was to see a koala. It wasn’t long before we came upon a koala sanctuary where we were able to mingle with a koala – up close and personal. In addition, we interacted with wallabies and crocodiles. Koalas are very soft and sleep most of the day. The sanctuary was only an appetizer for our coveted main course – The Australia Zoo owned by the late Steve Irwin and his family. We arrived at the zoo promptly the next day – an hour early actually because we didn’t realize that by crossing from New South Wales into Queensland, you gain an hour since Queensland doesn’t participate in daylight savings time. The zoo was phenomenal to say the least. All of the animals are in natural habitats and there is a wide range of interesting animals many which we had never seen including the fierce Tasmanian Devil, Dingos, Wombats, Cassowaries, Kookaburras, Galapagos Tortoises, and of course, meat-eating crocodiles and kangaroos. There was an undercurrent of sadness as Steve Irwin’s face was larger than life on various billboards and posters around the zoo enthusiastically wide-eyed while posing with a native Australian creature. The conservation message was loud and clear delivered in a friendly, inspiring way. One of the highlights for us was to arrive at the 12:00pm crocodile show and be wowed to see Terri Irwin host the show along with Steve’s best friend and director of the zoo, Wes. She hand-fed several gigantic crocs and got the crowd roaring with applause. We were lucky to catch her in town.

We continued to meander up the coast. We would just pull into a town and usually there was a plethora of motels to choose from. While the term “motel” in America has less than favorable connotations , the motels in Australia were so spic-n-span and well maintained that we wouldn’t choose any other lodging. Australia is chock full of motels- nice, clean, lovely motels. One of the first motels even offered us complimentary beer or wine upon arrival!. All motels provide a pint of fresh milk for your morning coffee or tea and most have wireless internet. They always had a refrigerator and often had kitchen facilities. They are extremely clean – extremely. This was the first place on our trip where motels were king! There were at least a dozen in every town, even small towns. We don’t recall seeing a single motel in Egypt or Morocco. So, we motel-hopped happily up the coast and the competition for vacancies weaned as we headed north into hotter and hotter weather which was unfavorable for summer vacation.

Our next exciting adventure was to Fraser Island. It’s notoriety is that it is the largest sand island in the world yet it boasts many diverse ecosystems. Despite the threatening forecast, we rented our 4-wheel drive vehicle which is required for driving on an all-sand island. The allure is that you can drive along the beach for 70 miles and camp most anywhere along it. The only thing to remember is that you can only drive on the beach during low tide. So along with rented camping gear, we drove onto the next morning’s ferry. Peter was happy to get behind the wheel of a Land Rover Defender, Laura was happy to be on a pristine island and the boys were happy to go camping. The sand tracks meandered through ancient forests and past florescent-blue lakes and over dunes until they spilled out onto the main coast long and desolate enough for aircraft to land on. The forests were filled with towering Satinay trees so water-tight that they were harvested for boat-building and for lining the Panama Canal. It was very exciting as we bump-bump-bumped along in our rustic vehicle watching downward to avoid the ocean waves and upward to avoid collisions with planes. We also were on the lookout for the elusive Dingo – a sweet-looking, honey-colored dog that lives in packs on the island. We found an isolated spot – just us and the ocean. No vehicles passed by as it was high-tide. We set up camp, ate and got comfy just in time for the rain that had been threatening all day. Well, we must have done something wrong because after a few hours, our sleeping pads were floating in no less than 1 inch of water! We migrated to the truck and slept airline-style for the rest of the night while the boys lay on the bench seat none the wiser. The next day we climbed sand dunes, waded in a spring-fed creek, built sand castles and forts and enjoyed our solitude. A Dingo paid us a visit as we were setting up camp the next evening and sniffed around and looked for some handouts but got none and his lean body scampered away. Oliver and Henry were elated to have been approached by a wild Dingo!!! We built a better house and stayed dry the next night. There were plenty of Dingo tracks the next morning telling us that they returned to see if we left any peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the sand. We took a dip in the idyllic Lake MacKenzie and headed back to the mainland. We didn’t have much sun but the overcast and windy atmosphere lent itself to the wild and uninhabited nature of this island and what life must have always been like along this windswept coast. While we waited for the ferry, we passed the time looking at slideshows from the earlier part of our trip trying to keep the memories alive in our heads and especially for the boys. The number of images, places, languages, music, vegetation and animal life must be so intertwined in their minds. To help, we play the “JFA game” where Peter asks questions such as, “Where were we when we saw the Blue Mosque?” or “What city did we eat chocolate crepes in?” or “Where did we sleep in a bivouac?” or “Which country did you drink peach juice every day?”

We were only 9 days into our driving adventure and had seen some beautiful scenery and animals. We couldn’t wait to see what else Queensland had to offer us as we traveled further north into the Tropics.

Australia Part 1 – Sydney

We were nervous due to our pessimistic thoughts that somehow we would not make it successfully to Sydney for Christmas. We loved Africa but we wanted to be somewhere more…familiar for the holidays. We imagined Australia to be more like home…but warm. Afterall, both countries originated from England. Maybe they’ll have plum pudding? Maybe there will be Salvation Army Santas outside department stores. We had missed our flight 7 weeks earlier when trying to get from Madrid to Africa due to our own negligence and flew standby on a flight the next day by the skin of our teeth. After we heard about the hundreds of flight cancellations in Chicago due to snow and ice, we got to the airport 5 hours before the scheduled 6:00pm flight to ensure we would take into consideration any unseen events which, in the end, did not occur.

We arrived safely and on-time aboard our lovely and comfortable Qantas flight. We had our choice of several movies, good food and Wiggles treat bags for the boys which were a big hit and slept most of the 11 hour flight. We love Qantas! Despite not having internet access in Bostwana, we had slipped into an internet cafe and quickly googled a few hotels in the Sydney area. We phoned Radisson and secured a nice room right in the center of things at a reasonable (for the city) price. So we landed, boarded a train for a quick ride into the city, walked a few blocks to our hotel and relaxed. We had made it literally halfway around the world and in a place where we wanted to be for Christmas – this was all we could ask for.

Our nice hotel was located right beside Darling Harbor which is one of the major stomping grounds in Sydney. It was a great place to be. We were so excited and feeling so fortunate to have landed such a great spot with little planning and a lot of luck. We originally hoped for a homey guest house decked out in holly, garland, gingerbread spices wafting throughout and a cozy place to celebrate the holiday. However, our standards have adjusted accordingly and we are relieved to simply have a place to sleep. Christmas would take on a new flavor for us like our lives these days, it would be a bit spontaneous. This is normally NOT our lifestyle – usually we try to plan things out. Now, we are landing in cities without even a guidebook in hand and simply figuring out how to get around by the seat of our pants as well as figure out where to go Christmas shopping with 2 days to spare!

Our arrival started out in a jolly way. Sydney was celebrating the holidays with its annual ‘Carols in the Domain’ concert. The Domain is Sydney’s “Central Park” and everyone gathers on the lawn one evening a few days before Christmas for a televised concert. We squeezed in among the throngs of Aussies and one family was nice to offer a section of their oversized blanket to us. This nice family shared masks, candles and cookies with us too. The mother was still glowing from spotting Russell Crowe earlier in the day. It was great as we listened to Christmas carols, watched Santa make a helicopter landing and got an unexpected visit from the Wiggles. As it got darker we were shocked to see hundreds of seemingly giant bats (aka flying foxes) take to the skies for their evening flight. While everyone else was unfazed, we didn’t know whether to be frightened or in awe. We weren’t sure how to accept bats into our Christmas mood and it emphasized for us that although we expected Sydney to be more familiar, it would still be different.

Although we were only a few hours hence on the global timetable, we were somehow very jet lagged and were sleeping until close to noon (the comfy beds at Radisson may have played a part). We only had a couple of days to hunt down the few and far between toy stores for the boys to make their “wish lists” and find wrapping paper, stockings and a few items to make our humble abode festive. It was odd seeing people Christmas shop with their hair still wet from the morning’s surfing, flip-flops echoing in the Victorian archways and red and green garland on the lamp-posts glistening in the hot, hot sun. Perhaps California is the same way. We thought to create a paper Christmas tree from green wrapping paper. We went back to the hotel and cut it out and stuck it to the wall. Then the boys colored paper ornaments and stuck them on. They were so incredibly proud – more excited than we expected. We played Christmas music on the laptop that we had loaded before we left Marblehead. We couldn’t find Christmas stockings so we bought colorful small gift bags and placed them by our paper mantle and yule-log (we pretended to need a fire in the balmy Sydney weather). A woman on the airplane had reminded the boys to leave a magic key for Santa so he can get in when there is no chimney. So we cut out some magic keys and stuck them on the wall outside of the hotel door. The children were assured that Santa would know where they were in the world and, alas, that theory was proven correct when the boys awoke to a small pile of treasures “beneath” the tree. With our “Do Not Disturb” sign on our door, we remained inside our hotel cocoon and called our family, watched the boys play Lego and watched “The Grinch” which appropriately reminded us that the spirit of Christmas is within the heart and not under the Christmas tree. With their modest gifts, the boys were very grateful and happy to have created their own “home away from home” and we felt that they really understood that concept of Christmas in our hearts, as did we. They also seem to understand that the abstract benefits that we are gleaning from our adventure are a gift that will stay with us and that is what we are thankful for. But you still need a good meal so we ventured out for Christmas dinner and found a restaurant overlooking the Sydney Opera House. They handed out Santa hats to everyone and there were crayons and champagne to keep everyone happy.

We knew we were staying for the New Year’s Eve celebration so we relaxed for 10 days in Sydney – the longest in any one place. Darling Harbor was full of life and full of kids activities. With Australia being a part of the British Commonwealth, Sydney was the perfect blend of British influence, architecture and finery with Aussie character – rough and relaxed. Think tea at the Ritz and a stroll in Hyde Park with a barefooted cowboy adorned with various tattoos. It is a place where you don’t have to be a patron to use the restrooms, you see more surfboards than dogs, you can shop for groceries barefoot, there is a recycle bin on every corner, no cigarette butts in the gutters, and the most spoken phrase is, “No Worries” (Aussie for “You’re Welcome”). We were happy to stay for a while.

We saw an Ice Man exhibit about an ancient man buried under ice who was found in the Tyrol Mountains a few years back. We took in a movie for the first time in months (The Bee Movie), enjoyed a cruise around the harbor and got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean from the “other” side. The city is friendly, easily walkable and very inviting. It`s clean as a whistle and seems to have the latest of all a city could offer – monorails, high-speed ferries, gleaming skyscrapers, fumeless buses, efficient trains, international foods, IMAX theater, museums, botanical gardens – we suppose it is what you would expect from a young country who learned from everyone else’s mistakes.

We headed to famous Bondi Beach to soak up the sun and watch some serious lifeguarding. The seas are rough along the coast and there is dangerous marine life to watch out for. The lifeguards earn their paycheck. They monitor the swimmers via Skidoos, dune buggies, surfboards, motorboat and from the chairs and control tower. Helicopters buzzed by constantly and whistles were blowing reminding swimmers to “Stay between the flags”. We later tuned into a reality show entitled “Bondi Beach” depicting the stressful life of a Bondi lifeguard. Aussies also take the sun very seriously and posterboards and newspaper ads continually remind everyone to reapply their sunscreen as Australia has a skin cancer rate of 1 in 3 – one of the highest in the world.

One of the administrative things we needed to take care of was to secure our visas for India. We could not obtain them before we left home as we did for some other countries because the visas we need for India are only good for six months from the date of issue. So we had to wait until it was closer to our Indian adventure to apply. This meant leaving our passports with the India consulate and, adding Christmas and Boxing Day to the mix, they would not be ready for 7 days which was 5 days later than we planned on being in Sydney. This meant having to venture around Australia without our passports until we returned to Sydney in early February. Yikes. Travelling without passports seemed like travelling without your wallet or your glasses. What if something happens like an accident or a national emergency? Alas, we had no choice and had to leave them if we wanted to go to India.

We had to gear up as the New Year approached. We had scoped out the city and identified the best spot for viewing the fireworks display. Fireworks is an understatement in Sydney as it was to be a dazzling spectacle so we were willing to do whatever it took to see it loud and clear. First, it involved paying a premium for our hotel room for the 2 nights closest to New Year`s. Ouch. Next, it involved getting to the city park early enough to grab a spot. So we grocery shopped (with shoes on) for the day’s picnic essentials and stuffed them in our packs along with essential toys and reading material and a sheet from the hotel’s unmonitored linen closet and headed toward the park at 7:00am. We arrived at the park’s entrance gate and they told us that the gates would not open until 10:00am! We queued up with the 200 other people crazy enough to wait (who were all, by the way, between the ages of 17 and 28 – our little family made up the oldest and the youngest in the crowd). The sun was beating down on us even at that early time of day so we pinned our sheet to the railings and created a little tent, munched on muffins and played with our newly acquired army men and tanks. The crowd hit a beachball around and if you failed to keep the beachball off the ground you were berated by the crowd so we all had to pay attention which kept the boys entertained for a while. We hadn’t done this since college (sans the army men). Finally the gates opened at 10:00 and Peter ran ahead to secure a spot. He nailed a spot at the furtherest tip jutting out into the harbor with an unobstructed view of EVERYTHING – harbor bridge, opera house, skyline – perfect. We continued our vigil for another 14 hours in the hot sun for a total of 16.5 hours. Our children were unbelievably patient – they always rise to the occasion but this was a new threshold. They played army, ate ice cream, read books, and waited and waited. These are the same children who on the one hand can race uncontrollably through a department store like a couple of Tasmanian Devils and on the other hand, wait in harsh conditions for an event they don’t even fully understand the importance of or appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime aspect of. The killer for us was that all this waiting was for a mere twelve minute show at midnight. Back in college at least Bruce Springsteen put on a two hour show!

During the day they had aerial shows, fire boat geysers and the harbor filled up with all sorts of marine vessels. The Sydney Harbor bridge was outfitted with an illuminated hourglass that dropped giant grains of sand every five minutes to help us countdown (and remind us how slow time was going). There was a 9:00pm family fireworks show that was fantastic. Then an electric boat parade followed where tallships were outlined with illuminated garland and sailed in procession around the harbor. Finally, midnight arrived. The harbor exploded and was lit up from the light of six separate barges shooting off identical fireworks from various locations a mile long. The harbor bridge exploded upward as it had been planted with loads of fireworks which turned the infamous roof-lines of the Sydney Opera House shades of red, green and blue. Our little hotel sheet had been encroached a bit by an international melting pot of people just like us who were there to see the spectacular show. One desperate woman who barely spoke english had asked if she could leave her children on our blanket with us so they could see the show (we declined). Everyone else just sat tamely, politely and enthusiastically and we all watched together as a cohesive group of spectators. There was no chaos, no unruly behavior, no pushing – it was New Year’s Eve Aussie-style, no worries.

After a bit of recouping and resuming our “sleep till noon” routine, we rented a car and headed out of Sydney for our adventure along the east coast of Australia.

(click picture for slideshow)