travel for the over 60's

Reunion, gorgeous Island

2012-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

Very french and very clean. Would love to have a longer stay here.
www.reunionisland.net/

http://www.airmauritius.com/index_mu.htm
www.emirates.com/Mauritius

We only had a day here off the ship and took the bus to St Gilles. The video shows the town's main street.
quaint.

two fish having a love in, how very french!

Our waitress who talked us into a liqueur gingembre made on the premises. It was delicious. Recipe: take one bottle of good white rum and add heaps of fresh ginger to it. Leave to sit for at least 3 months.

Mauritius

2012-10-06T04:50:00.000-07:00

A day in town and not on a tour. Head for the market to see what the locals eat.
The squashes and fruit were enormous and the celery and leeks were tiny!!!

We found that the fruit and veg of the squash/pumpkin types were all enormous.

The pomegranates were enormous and sweet.

People eat fish sold from the market. No refrigeration here and it was hot! Their digestive systems are obviously stronger than ours!!

Tony holding the palm in which there is a heart, which is on the plate and tasted delicious.

A small quiet place to eat in Port Louis, the capital.
All the resorts are on the other side of the island.

http://www.tropicscope.com/mauritius_information/capital.php

Leaving Port Louis, leisurely!

Lankawi interesting for it's lake

2012-10-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

Lankawi and it's fresh water lake protected from the sea by the mountains that surround it. It is a dead volcano crater filled with fresh water topped up by rain.

The robbers of the island, the monkeys, will snatch anything from you. If you're heading for the lake leave food and anything in a plastic bag on the boat.

board walks everywhere enabling easy access for all to swim

http://www.ecologyasia.com/html-loc/langkawi.htm

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Malaysia/Negeri_Kedah/Pulau_Langkawi-1282739/Warnings_or_Dangers-Pulau_Langkawi-TG-C-1.html

The water wasn't cold

The rest of the day on the beach. No monkeys here. Free to leave belongings!!

In the various ports

2012-10-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

Adelaide: a quiet town 'till we got there...

Freemantle. Definitely worth a longer visit. University town with Perth up the freeway. The area famous for Murray River wines.

Yes, Tony bought the duck and kookaburra whistles which were used to find each other in shopping centres! He was the kookaburra!!

no high rise here and mostly the original architecture. We liked it.

Welcome to Indonesia. What else do you do on a rainy day?
Enjoy the parlour.
Toilets were funny here. Intelligence was needed to find the button/chain/foot pedal.....????

Then Singapore, where we talked Sylvia, travelling on here own, into the fact that she wasn't scared of heights. To her credit she took the plunge!!
Well done.

views from above in the cable car

Amazing art of noodle making.

Sailing to South Africa 2012

2012-10-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

We decided to do a "leg" of the Arcadia's world cruise. 30 days to South Africa. Great fun. The only let down was the food. The positive of this was that we didn't put on weight!!!

You have to admire the power put out of that engine room!

Challenges and games. The boats had to be made from stuff that was available on the ship. Beg, Borrow or dare I say it steal! Tony and mascot, Scruff, who was rescued from ship's shop.
the ship and had to carry 6 full cans without sinking.The pirates came 2nd.

Oh yes! another photo!

Special Bonsai Garden on Oahu

2011-08-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Another reason why traveling is great. This is a very special Bonsai garden. The cove next to Sharks Cove on the north side of Oahu. The keeper of the garden is a homeless old Japanese lady who has taken this cove over and made it her own. She lives in her make shift tent. The public ablution block is her bathroom and if she runs short of cash she sometimes borrows from the local firemen and always insists on paying back on time and with interest!!! (This info direct from those firemen who supply the loan). The local authority leaves her alone while all other squatters get moved on. She earns her keep by maintaining such a beautiful water front. We watched her saying a little prayer over her little trees. Her tools: a pair of nail scissors.
A lesson in non verbal and "just accepted" co operation. ............This is her garden! Note the detail.

She declined to be photographed in courteous Japanese style.

Interesting Hawaiian flag....Did you know........

2011-08-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

I knew that Capt. James Cook had discovered these islands and named them the Sandwich Islands and I also knew that he met with a sticky end here, but I didn't know that Hawaii had a past history with the British much beyond the discovery. They acknowledge their past in their flag. The Hawaiian flag with the union jack in the top left hand corner flies alongside the stars and stripes all over Honolulu.

For more info on the history of Hawaii centred around the British connection I chose the link below:

1. http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/hawaii.htm

O Other links are more American orientated and there seems to be a bias in all directions as to what happened here depending on the author..... hey, history was written by the victors. The influence the British had is recorded in the state flag, just another very good reason why flags should be an acknowledgement of a country's past, it gives interest and meaning to that piece of cloth, don't you think?

The 3rd flag in this picture belongs to the Dole pineapple plantation where we had the typical American fare!

pineapple ice cream and fresh pineapple for $4.95
We shared this......

another concoction. This person wasn't sharing!!

The plantation is on the way to the northern beaches of Oahu. A slick operation.

Turtles everywhere

2011-08-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

The turtles are enormous and a great attraction. We spent heaps of time snorkeling on the north coast of Oahu.

........and then there's the movie

Ko olina Golf and really interesting stuff!

2011-08-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, we played golf.  This is Ko Olina golf course.This is Tone's "can't find it" tee shot.

Playing with Tony is different. No one behind us and a paw paw tree right on the fence line of a locked up property........just had to pick the ripe ones.
It was golfing and harvesting. Well, they were only going to go to waste....and they were delicious.

Haven't seen this sign for years! The idea that property is private from intruders is extinct in Oz!

Another sign you don't see in Oz.....These beaches are for the public but it's private property. People have been warned, no compensation for being an idiot.

This is a microwave! It's a drawer without a turn table. Exceptionally efficient!

What is it? It's a "Daiquiri whizzer" for campers,silly! It runs on diesel and starts like some lawn mowers and the handles work Al a motor bike style. Rev it up for different speeds!!! These campers were serious about their sun-downers!

Interestingly, the price of alcohol is way cheaper than Oz and we are yet to see drinking on the beach or drunkenness.

There's a message here somewhere. The legal drinking age here is 21....

Tony's 70th birthday

2011-08-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Dinner at the Marriot KoOlina Resort

Graham's gift to his dad of "Grange" a decade ago, had made it! Very drinkable.

.....and just to make sure guests don't get out of hand in the decorative pools around the hotel

They're full of small Hammerhead Sharks.

For more photos of Tone's 70th click on his Facebook badge on this site. I'm on open wireless WiFi at the moment and it's taking forever to upload a photo. Amanda is uploading her photos to Tone's FB.

snorkling and diving

2011-07-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

We now have Tony's Son (Graham) and daughter (Amanda) and her husband (Roger) with us. All here for Tony's 70th birthday on July 29. They can be seen in the right hand corner of the boat.

Be patient.....dolphins seen more towards the end of this video....... more impressive videos from U tube in side bar......

The dolphins were surfing in the bow wave as the boat was being turned around. Sorry, no spinning captured on my video.

The most amazing feature today were the spinner dolphins. They're a smaller variety of dolphin and literally spin out of the water.

Tone checking out the dolphins.

Today it was snorkeling for us and diving for the youngsters. Unlike Australia the reef here is volcanic rock.

Hawaiiam vacation 2011

2011-07-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Away from winter in Australia and a world away from the US debt crisis, in spite of being on U.S soil, Hawaii is truly a holiday destination. The people, whether local or tourist, are really friendly and chatty. I have been given discount coupons by strangers who have found themselves with an excess. Information is given freely and the staff, wherever one goes, bend over backwards to be helpful. Some of these photos will amaze Australians who are used to excessive regulation.

What?
No helmet!

Because the beaches are private property (but public usage) you've been warned. There's no compensation for being an idiot. A respect for private property.

Another good idea. Pier/walls using the volcanic rock extend out from the shore and a short wall has been built between these pier walls to form a large pool area making it safe swimming without netting.

Didn't know you could seat 3 in the front any more!

The arm rest in the front seat...........

becomes another seat......This was one of the large American cars!

Can you
guess what
this is?

A microwave! yes it's a drawer built into the kitchen units and has no turn table!

Extremely efficient too.

Not just a speed limit but a minimum speed limit as well. Keep that traffic flowing.

Even in Honolulu workers have to deal with the end of day traffic heading home!

So, is there a downside? One thing you don't come to Honolulu for is the food!!!!!! If you're into hamburgers tacos and the steak house...that's it!

But....if you're into shopping, I thoroughly recommend Ala Moana shopping centre. We must have walked 10klm and that doesn't include the detouring into the shops or the looking around. We were there from 10a.m 'till 9p.m when the shops close here. We felt like we had dragged our eyeballs across the beach and for the next 24 hours looked that way too!!! We had shopped and we finally dropped!!!!

UP AND ABOUT AGAIN

2011-02-22T00:47:00.000-08:00

Tony is up and about again having had another hospital stay. At least this time it was at home. The upgrade at Pindara private hospital is fantastic and still on going. Old scar tissue from 40 years ago had to be severed from organs and it was very successful. Both surgical procedures, the gall bladder removal in Cairns and now the scar tissue problem (this time via laproscopic surgery) were done by South African surgeons. Both surgeons immigrated to Australia 5 years ago. Tony now takes pancreatic enzymes with every meal and snack. His huge loss of weight was due to non absorption of food. I'm happy to report he's now putting on weight.

SO FIRST TRIP WITH TONY FEELING MARVELOUS, WAS VALENTINES DAY IN SYDNEY. OUT ON SYDNEY HARBOUR FOR DINNER AND CABARET CRUISE AND STAYED AT SEBEL PIER ONE UNDER THE BRIDGE IN THE ROCKS AREA OF SYDNEY.


A PIECE OF ART ON THE ROUNDABOUT WITH TONY OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND?


VIEW OF THE BRIDGE FROM HOTEL FRONT DOOR


SYDNEY CITY FROM THE BOAT. THE OPERA HOUSE WOULD BE ON THE LEFT.

I WAS TAKEN TO SEE THE JERSEY BOYS. FABULOUS, SLICK, LOUD, BRILLIANT PRODUCTION. IT'S THE STORY OF FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS.
A BRILLIANT TRIP.

Behind the Harbour Bridge, Sydney

2011-02-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

Darling Harbour from our lunch table. Facing west.

The back of the ciyt from Darling Harbour, Sydney. Facing east. The restaurant (above) is over there, on the right!

Some interesting stuff

2010-10-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

If anyone out there has seen anything like this please let us know!!!!

We think it maybe because these mushrooms are trying to expire in an extremely humid environment!

This is the before

This is the almost gone!
By day's end there was nothing left to photograph.

Convalescing in Style

2010-10-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

Just 15mins north of Cairns on Cairns Northern Beaches is Palm Cove. Here we found a one bedroom fully self contained unit on the ground floor...very important for an invalid!

Darrel and Sue, who manage the units called Allasio, were so helpful,. A big thank you for making our stay so easy.

with Darryl and Sue

A week after being in hospital.

great pool and BBQ area. The water was 26 degrees as was the ocean across the road.

out of the unit and into the pool

For more on Palm Cove see an earlier blog in the archived section.

Tony zipped!

2010-09-28T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering why the blog has slowed somewhat it's because we've been forced to slow down. A Caesar Salad was apparently the last straw for Tone's gall bladder!!!! In excruciating pain I rushed him to Cairns Base hospital where he was held under the influence of morphine and after a scan and stomach drain via a tube down his nose he was in no position to argue the case against surgery. Three hours later he was stapled up minus his gall bladder. No other problems and he is now on the mend. The zip was removed today....Yayh!!!!

This is what an emergency zip looks like. No consideration for the cosmetic appearance. Bellybutton? What bellybutton?

We will however keep the post coming on whatever interesting stuff we stumble upon.

CRAB ART

2010-09-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, crabs can do art too. Some of the crabs are so small and and almost transparent. Every morning when the tide goes out leaving a blank canvas, these little creatures busy themselves re establishing a home and in the process giving us something else at which to marvel. The size of the hole represents the size of the crab and therefore the size of the balls of sand. I'm thinking of getting an enlargement of one of these pictures....know just where I'll hang it too.

A contribution from the bird life gives this one some "movement" don't you think?

CAPE TRIBULATION

2010-09-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

A RAIN FOREST IN THE RAIN IS SENSATIONAL. IT DOESN'T USUALLY RAIN IN THIS REGION AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR SO IT WAS A REAL TREAT TO BE HERE WITH THE FOREST LOOKING SO FRESH, JUST BEAUTIFUL. THE WET SEASON KNOWN AS "THE BIG WET" IN THE FAR NORTH TROPICS OF AUSTRALIA BEGINS AROUND THE END OF OCTOBER AND GOES THROUGH 'TILL MARCH.

WE STAYED OUT OF CARAVAN PARKS IN CAPE TRIB. AND WENT NATIVE IN THE NOAH NATIONAL PARK AREA......

CROSSING NOAH BRIDGE

A VIDEO OF OUR DRIVE IN THE RAIN FOREST WITH SANDY WHITE'S CD PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND

ONE OF THE MANY RIVERS

CAUGHT THIS LITTLE GREEN TREE FROG MAKING OUR EVENING EXTRA SPECIAL

THE FOREST WAS ABUZZ WITH A SYMPHONY OF INSECT AND FROG CALLING ALL NIGHT! THE BIRDS CHIMED IN AT DUSK AND DAWN. THIS IS A VIDEO OF A LITTLE GREEN TREE FROG

WITH HIS MATES IN THE BACKGROUND. I HAD NO PROBLEM

SLEEPING TO THIS "MUSIC", TONE ON THE OTHER HAND STUFFED HIS EARS WITH EAR PLUGS!

WALKING AROUND IN THE DARK WITH OUR HEADS ATTACHED TO OUR NIGHT ARMOUR, THE GOOD OLE LED HEADLIGHT, WE FOUND "TOAD, OF TOAD HALL", WITHOUT HIS CLOTHES!

THE FOREST IS COMPLETELY DARK ....PITCH BLACK IN FACT, AT NIGHT BECAUSE OF THE CANOPY. THIS WORKED TO OUR ADVANTAGE IN THE CAMP SITE. OUR AWNING WAS ANGLED TO CATCH THE RAIN AT ONE END WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A REALLY FUN, FROLICKING SHOWER!!!!

4 DAYS IN THE FOREST AND WE HAD NO LAUNDRY!!!!!

Magnetic Island: a feast of critter and bird magic!

2010-09-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

only for those of my friends who are COMPUTER CHALLENGED: where I have added a link you will have to manually go to that site by copy and paste! this is how it is done: Highlight the URL, right click mouse, choose copy, go to address area of your browser and right click again, then choose paste).

BACK TO THE MAGNETIC CRITTERS AND BIRDS and Magnetic island. Apparently Capt. Cook's compass went haywire here and that is how the island was named. Other tests have been done as to why Capt Cook's compass played up in this part of the world, but to no avail. Just one of those things!

When we went to collect our tickets from Marilyn we had no idea that a wonderful experience awaited us. She nurtures orphaned wild life and allowed Tony to feed Chrissie, the 7 month old Rock Wallaby.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-wallaby

This little possum with baby in pouch made herself at home in the tree behind our van. No guessing why!

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/possums.htm

.....and then there were the birds. Rainbow Lorikeets are found from north to south down the eastern seaboard. Nectar eating birds they don't actually eat the fruit but suck the juice out and leave an unholy mess of dry chewed bits of fibre all over the floor!

http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2001/archives/2001_archives/roadtests/birds?p=1200

There's plenty of competition in the noise department from Australia's noisiest and most gorgeous bird, the kookaburra.

http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Dacelo-novaeguineae

http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/kookaburra.au

Waiting to be fed at the hotel where the jazz was on. Yes, the jazz was competing for a little while.

Not to be outdone, the curlews had a go every evening with their blood curdling cries.

Just had to finish this post with the colourful lorikeets.

Magnetic Island

2010-09-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic time we had here. A great Island. 8klms of the coast from Townsville. An unusual island because it is residential for many but with heaps of holiday accommodation. Both of us felt the real sense of community amongst her residents. Marilyn who organises the jazz festival is also a wildlife saver. Chrissie, the rock wallaby, was orphaned and is about to be trained to go into the wild. We had the wonderful experience of dining out with her........

And then she had cuddles from Tony.......

The beaches were fabulous.........

Horseshoe Bay


West Point

Arcadia Beach

the picnic area at Arcadia Beach

Rocky Point Beach

And Balding Beach where we became dare devils and did some rock climbing! Loved rock climbing as a child, a little harder these days, but still fun!

Balding Beach

pose atop the rocks!

easier going down!

Yes there is a golf course and you won't believe the price.....

We thought the war time golf rules were interesting......

Had a couple of beautiful meals at a very french restaurant where we met people from Townsville who had a holiday house on the island and invited us to their home for coffee. You can almost taste the meal from the visual......

An entree, duck pate and duck meat all very tasty.

and the music.....what would we do without music? This jazz festival is unique as none of the musicians are paid! Their air travel and accommodation is taken care of and they get to have a 3 day weekend in better weather where they can catch up with one another, make new connections, swap ideas, and jam together. For us lucky listeners, we get to see a whole bunch of the best musicians all in one place and freshen up our music collections.


Krissie on stage


A jamming session.

Bye bye for now Magnetic. We'll be back.
(I will try to post some clips of the music on another post.)

Townsville

2010-08-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

Townsville has grown enormously over the past 10 years. I suspect it's because, like Darwin, the growth in military personnel has a lot to do with it. The city is small and seems wedged between the Ross River and Castle Hill and therefore the suburbs have spread out with huge shopping centres acting like satellite cities and welding the whole area called Townsville together.

Looking down across the city from atop Castle Hill, a striking anomaly on a flat landscape.

Visiting American soldiers used it as a lookout during WW2. The Townsville area was known as Base Section 2 to the Americans.

We were unable to take photos of the main street as there are major renovations going on there. They hope to be finished in time for Summer. On the South side of the river old Townsville still exists but also with a bit of updating and certainly all the trappings of a city such as jazz music outside the bistro where we had lunch.

looking across to Magnetic Island from Castle Hill

On the South Side. Typical old Queensland building.

The upgrade of the Strand, a 2.2klm stretch of beachfront was opened in 1999 and is fabulous.

The Strand

Activities on the Strand

The Rock Pool at the north end of The Strand

The fountain in Anzac Park on The Strand in one of it's colours.

Known in Australia as the Banyan Fig. It's botanical name Ficus Benghalensis. I've Google d this and find it is also called the Bengal fig, Indian Fig, east Indian fig, Indian banyan etc. You will notice in my favourite books a book I picked up in the Cooktown museum called 1421. The evidence being collected suggests the Chinese discovered and charted the world long before the Europeans and while doing so move plenty flora and fauna around the globe. This doesn't sound like an Aussie indigenous tree to me?!

A perfectly comfortable 50 minute trip to Magnetic Island in Bugalugs on the barge.

Townsville Culture Fest.

2010-08-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

The cultural fest was in full swing when we got here. Just a taste of what we saw: Tai chi marshal arts from China. Traditional Fiji harmony and a Maori performance from New Zealand.
Food stalls representing different nationalities made deciding what to eat difficult. The easiest way was to make up a tapas from a few stalls and then find a seat. That's what we did.

More to come on Townsville!

Charters Towers

2010-08-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

We loved it!!!!!! interesting, friendly, good feeling place. This town came into being in 1871 with the discovery of gold. The city was first called Charters Tors after mining warden Charters and Tors for the hills in the vicinity of the the gold find. It was at one time the 2nd largest city in Queensland and was known as 'The World'. The theatre now goes by this name. Total gold production 1872-1911 was 6,800,000ozs.

This arcade was built in 1887-88 and called The Royal Arcade. In 1890 it became the Charters Towers Stock Exchange.When mining was at its peak this exchange had 3 calls a day. I guess busy for its time!

There are 3 boarding schools here. St Mary's opened in 1892. the State High School opened in 1912 and the Mount Carmel College opened in 1902.
Education is also delivered from here to children in the outback in the famous 'distance education' programs and international students who seek an Australian curriculum certificate enrol as full fee paying students.

The entrance to the cinema/theatre. Lovely auditorium.

We saw "Steaming" here. Very good.

Charters Towers was the birthplace of the ALP. Bob Katter is the Independent for this seat of Kennedy which is huge! His father left the Labor party when it lurched too far to the left. It'll be interesting to see what happens in this election. I suspect Bob will hang on?

The US Army Airforce had their airfield on the site of the present airport. During world war 2 15,000 US personnel were stationed here.

street scenes

The bowlers have the weather under control with a retractable sun block "roof".

Arthur and Tony swapping Addresses in the bar at the Civic Club. He has promised to send us a box of mangoes. This town has mango trees all over the place and most of the fruit just falls to the ground and rots!

At the Civic Club. The other side of this room was a mirror image. Both tables in beautiful playing condition. Made round 1901.