Australia 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:50:00 +0000

The Flights are booked! Now if I could just figure out how to post this.

It's cold out there.

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:42:00 +0000

-25 feels like -34 with the windchill. Definetely dreaming of Australia.
66 days and counting.

44 days to go

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:54:00 +0000

Passport has arrived.

Slick waterproof camera case has arrived

After much editing, calculating of distances and hard choices route is planned and hotels are booked.

Still 44 days to go.

Sigh

25 days to go

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:25:00 +0000

March 6th, still 25 more days to go.
A few more invites to view the blog were sent out so to the new viewers: Welcome!
(I know it's still early but what can I say, I'm excited about the trip!)
Not much to update, Michael has ordered his suit and I have my dress picked out.

Itinerary Change

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:06:00 +0000

Received an email from Air Canada that there had been an itinerary change.
Our layover in Frankfurt on the return flight has been shortened from 7 hours to 4.5 hours.
Good news for me! Not so good for Michael (he was hoping for a quick trip into Frankfurt).

Whoo Hoo!

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:41:00 +0000

Just checked the Air Canada App and our flight switched from "scheduled" to "on time"! Yeah!
Still two days to go but oh so close.
I am mostly packed and Michael is far from packed. I think he is just going to buy everything when we get there.

Packing Up

noreply@blogger.com (Redhead Pilot) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:49:00 +0000

Michael here:

8 hours til wheels up.. Time to get serious about packing.... after we do some last minute errand running.

Check in

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:30:00 +0000

Well that was almost too easy. We're all checked in (bags are checked all the way to Perth, yeah!) and through security. Now we wait.

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:17:00 +0000

They use bikes to get around the Frankfurt airport

24 hrs down 10 hrs to go

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:25:00 +0000

Singapore airport Koi

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 23:14:00 +0000

First world problem: neither of us brought a good old fashion analog watch and our electronic devices update themselves - sometimes - so we are constantly confused as to what the local time is!

I don't want to jinx it but so far so good with all the flights and the connections. 2 legs down, one to go.

Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:10:00 +0000

Door to door it took 34.5 hours
With crossing the dateline we ended up losing Sunday, it's an odd feeling to lose a day like that.
Add in the travel, and we lost Easter.

We're in Australia!

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:49:00 +0000

Galah Cockatoo

We got to Kalamunda around 4 yesterday afternoon.
Paul and Therese have a beautiful place.
Just the birds in the backyard seem so exotic.

Huntsmen

Even a Huntsman spider was there to greet us on our first day!

yup I think I will like staying here

Cue the Kangaroos

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:53:00 +0000

I think I slept for 12 hours! This jet lag is crazy business.

We took it easy today, ran some errands in prep for the wedding,

explored a bit of downtown Perth and then headed to an area where

Kangaroos were known to be seen grazing. Sure enough, just as the

sun was setting out bounded 5 or 6 Kangaroos. Speaking of wild life,

apparently a "red back" has been spotted in the house but I haven't seen it yet.

Indian Ocean

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Today we had breakfast in King's Park and caught up with some old friends.
Then it was some tourism thrown in with some more wedding preparations.
Even running errands brings you to some interesting sights (and sounds - some of these birds don't qualify as "song birds"). But the highlight was dipping our feet in the Indian Ocean at Cottesloe Beach - next time we'll be more prepared and bring our swimsuits.
To view today's photos, click on the album in the sidebar or click here.

Rehearsal

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:34:00 +0000

Today was the rehearsal for the wedding followed by a BBQ picnic, all in Kings Park.
Kings Park has to be one of the most gorgeous parks I have seen. It includes botanical gardens, bush land, park land and amazing views of the city. It's only 1 km from what the locals call the CBD (central business district, aka Downtown) and covers around 4 square kms.
Despite all the the exotic plants and birds, my favorite site was the magpies gathering around the gardener who was watering the trees. He gave them a gentle spray, and you could just tell how much they were enjoying it.
Speaking of weather, today's high was 27C (81F). It was hot in the sun but there was a cool breeze that made the shade bearable.
After the BBQ, Michael and I had our first try at driving on our own. I think we had more troubles with the navigating than with the driving on the left but that could be because we are still so focused on driving on the left.
For today's photos click HERE

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:59:00 +0000

Fremantle

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:22:00 +0000

The first time I saw someone walking around barefoot I thought it was odd but we were downtown and there were street performers, homeless people, people raising awareness for this cause and that, so I just lumped them in with the rest. Then we went to a bakery in a quiet neighborhood and someone pulled up in their SUV, got out of their car and walked into the bakery barefoot. This really made me take note. Ever since then I have been noticing people walking around barefoot almost everywhere we go, on the sidewalks, in the grocery store, even at the gas station. Odd. Very odd. And this coming from someone who often walks around without her shoes on.

We visited Fremantle today. It's an odd mix of working port and trendy place to be. It's full of tourists, of course, and we lost count of the number of wedding parties having photos taken (that will be us tomorrow). The main area, called 'the market', was packed with people and full of activity. It wasn't a market per se, it felt more like a fair ground with stalls selling trinkets and what not. The area around the market is full of small roads with lots of interesting shops. We also checked out the Maritime Museum (tomorrow's venue for the reception) and caught a glimpse of a tall ship that was just heading out.

After a stop for some ice cream it was time to head back home. I have always referred to where Paul and Therese live as Kalamunda but today I noticed that the sign actually reads "Shire of Kalamunda". I seem to be the only one who finds it funny that we are staying in a shire. Anyways...while we were driving back to the shire, we were just heading up the big hill when Paul realized it was 10 minutes before sunset so we pulled over at a look out and enjoyed a beautiful sunset (Warning: I uploaded a lot of pictures of the sunset. Don't you just love the digital age!)

For today's photos click HERE

April 7th-9th

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:16:00 +0000

The wedding was very beautiful. All the details were so well planned out to that they made it all look effortless. Just a simple wedding in the garden. They and the photographer had picked out some amazing locations for the wedding photos. The first set were done in Kings Park of course, then it was off to Cottesloe beach for a picnic lunch and more photos (we turned far fewer heads than I would have expected), then we went under a bridge and took photos among the wooden trestles and finally some in front of some walls covered in graffiti. When we got out of the car at the bridge something caught my eye in the water but my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing. I called out to the others and Therese, calmly said: Dolphins. There in the bay were dolphins just as casual as can be.

The reception was held at the maritime museum, again, another beautiful setting. Apparently some people saw dolphins here as well but I only caught a splash of one.

I managed to get some photos of the wedding day loaded. They can be viewed HERE

The next morning we did the usual, we started with a lazy morning which turned into a rush by mid afternoon. All we had to do was get from Fremantle back to Kalamunda and pick up the rental car on the way. Sounds easy enough. The first delay was my fault because I wanted a photo of the barn with the large Dingo Flour painting on the side. Then we went to the wrong car rental location which wasn’t a big deal but it meant discussions were held before a solution was decided upon. Then Paul’s car died. By now it was 37 degrees out and there they were trying to push start his car. We eventually got it started by using the rental car to boost it. The next delay was again my fault because I wanted a detour to pick up a cross-stitch pattern (silly me thought I would have time to kill). We finally got to the house and managed to pack up fairly quickly and finally we were on our way. About a ½ hr into the drive, Michael realized he hadn’t packed his shoes. So back home we went only to find out he had indeed packed them.

Official departure time was 3:30pm. Arrival in Geraldton was 8:20pm. 421 km traveled.

Think highway 10 (sorry for the Ontario only reference). It was a 2 lane highway, without a paved shoulder but a speed limit of 110km/hr. There was very little traffic so that was good but sunset is at 6pm so that last bit driving in the dark was a little stressful. Odd thing about arriving in a city at night, it doesn’t give you the same feel for the town. I am sure Geraldton is a very nice city but all I know of it is getting the keys for our hotel room out of a lock box, we couldn’t find an open restaurant so we had chips from the vending machine for supper and went to bed without having seen a soul.

The next morning we were up early to head out to the airport for a chartered flight over the Albrolhos Islands. Unfortunately there was a mix up and the place we thought we had booked didn’t have us booked and couldn’t get hold of a pilot to take us up but fortunately there was another charter airlines about to head off so we joined in that tour instead. They took us on a flight over the Albrolhos Islands, showing us all the various islands, ship wrecks, settlements, the remainders of settlements, etc. And then we landed on Wallaby Island. It’s surreal landing on a dirt runway, on an Island in the Indian Ocean. A short walk took us to a beautiful beach where we had lunch, snorkeled and “hiked”. We actually saw Wallabys as well as Cormorant, Osprey, Lizards, Grouse…what a way to spend the day. Too soon it was time to head back. Another quick flight over some of the Islands and then it was back to Geraldton. Sigh.

From Geraldton to Kalbarri was not even a 2 hour drive and boy what a difference the entrance to the city made. You come in on high ground, turn a bend and all of a sudden there is the ocean with waves crashing and Kalbarri waiting to welcome you. That is where I will leave this post for today. Time to go watch the waves and the sunset.

Albrolhos

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Yeah! Some more photos were uploaded. Click HERE

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 23:50:00 +0000

Finally have access to the internet but it's not very strong so bare with me. I am trying to upload photos but it is painfully slow and to be honest I would rather be out and about than sitting in the hotel waiting for the photos to upload. So I'll do what I can and promise to upload more when we have a better connection.

As for the blog...change of plans....I thought I had time to write an update but we have decided to take advantage of being up early and beat the mid-day heat (Perth has been beating records for day time highs! o yeah.) so we are off to the z-bend in Kalbarri National Park.

The blog will have to wait. Just know we are having a wonderful time and all is well (if the number of photos is any indication of how the trip is going - between us we took 1000 photos yesterday)

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 01:57:00 +0000

April 10^th – Kalbarri (Photos click HERE)

What were we thinking! As I think I mentioned in a previous post, we had enough presence of mind to head out early for the Z Bend, and Nature’s Window, but I don’t think we really understood just what we were in for. We were thinking more of getting a head start on the other tourists. What we should have been considering was the heat; we should have left earlier. What on earth were we thinking going out to Kalbarri National Park in the middle of a heat wave? Have I mentioned that it is stupid hot? I lost track when it hit 36 Celsius (97F). Lonely Planet calls the park “arid” and that is under normal conditions. I have to say it was beautiful and I am glad we went but, wow was it hot. It was like being in an oven. And there was no escaping the heat. And then on top of it were the flies. They look like house flies but about half the size. Back in Perth, Therese told me about “The Perth Wave”. That was us, waving the flies away. Because of the heat we only managed the short walk (1 km loop) to Nature’s Window, and the lookout at the Z Bend (1.2 km loop). There was no way we were going to do the full loop at either location.

It is kind of funny, we seem to be on some sort of tourist route. We keep seeing the same people over and over. We even bumped into two people from yesterday’s flight at Nature’s Window. You get in your car, drive to the point of interest, walk around, take your photos, get in the car, drive to the next point of interest…

After the National Park we headed back to the hotel for a quick bite and to freshen up, then we walked down to the beach. Now *that* is the place to be in a heat wave. The hotel is along an inlet so we started walking in the bay at the mouth of the Murchison River, which was impressive enough, but then we crested the dunes and WOW! The view! And the sound! Just amazing. The waves were thundering down on the coast in a magnificent display. I think we spent a good two hours walking along the coastline and didn’t see a single soul. It was heaven.

We walked back to the hotel, ate (food seems crazy expensive so we’ve been trying to limit the number of restaurants we go to), showered and then walked back to the coast to watch the sunset.

April 11^th Kalbarri to Port Denison-Dongara (S29 16.778 E114 55.081; total distance 224 km)

For today’s photos click HERE.

Because we knew it was a short drive we planned to continue the “Point of Interest” route. We got to the first one, The Red Bluffs, took our photos, got back in the car and there was the next one only 200 m down the road. So we skipped a few before going to the next one. At this one we actually walked quite a way down the boardwalk which eventually took us to the next “Point of Interest” – sure enough there were the same people from the last stop, they had driven over. It is a shame because it was a nice walk along the cliffs, but, understandable given the heat.

We did make one stop that no one else seemed to have made and I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that we even went but we did: The Rainbow Jungle. It is a privately run bird park. According to the glossy brochure, it has “dozens of species on show in lush tropical gardens.” The jury is still out on what we thought of the place.

We stopped in the small town of Northampton for lunch and picked up some groceries, but it was just way too hot by then (39C/102F) to look around town so we headed off to Port Denison. Now we’re in a little cottage on a cliff with a view of the ocean, and the blog is all caught up.

Left Hand Rule

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:30:00 +0000

We’ve been here for two weeks and for the most part have gotten used to left-hand traffic. Aside from the obvious differences: driving on the left, traffic circles (and revolving doors for that matter) go clockwise… it’s the little things that are the hardest to get used to. I walk to the proper side of the car no problem, and as long as I am a passenger I reach for the seatbelt over my left shoulder but for some reason as soon as I sit in front of the steering wheel -- which is on the right side of the car -- I still reach over my left shoulder or go to unbuckle it on the right (Michael does this too) which makes no sense since this is no different than back home except that you have a steering wheel in front of you. The one thing I find most annoying is that I keep turning on the wipers when I mean to signal. Road signs are interesting, I think my brain filters out the signs on the left and instead I keep looking at the back of the signs on the right. I find myself using the side-view mirror much more than the rear-view mirror, but that could also be because the rear view-mirror in the rental car is useless due to the car’s poor visibility.

I’m curious if we will have any troubles adjusting when we are back home.

April 13th

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:38:00 +0000

Port Denison to Kalamunda (Perth)

via The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park, and Yanchep National Park.

Total distance: 390 km

Departed Port Denison at 8am; Arrived in Kalamunda at 3:30pm

I had started to type that the weather has changed but it’s our location that has changed. According to Therese, since the day we left, the weather in Perth has been cloudy and cooler (cooler being 25 degrees Celsius). We had a little bit of rain, both at the Pinnacles and Yanchep but nothing more than a few sprinkles really. We opted for the scenic route but I can’t say that it was really that much more scenic. We got the odd view of the ocean but otherwise it was just another long straight road.

Our first stop was Nambung National Park to see The Pinnacles. These are limestone formations which you can read up on HERE or in Wikipedia of course. Although, fascinating on their own, I have to say that the highlight was coming across an emu, not once but twice. They are funny creatures. We were told that there were kangaroos in the parking lot, but we missed out on seeing them.

Next stop was Yanchep National Park. I have only recently learned that koalas are not natural to Western Australia and you will not find them in the wild here. However, in Yanchep they have a koala sanctuary and there we were able to walk among the eucalyptus and see koalas. And this time we did get to see the kangaroos just lounging about in the parking lot.

For today's photos click HERE

An EMU crossed my path today!

noreply@blogger.com (Leone) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:32:00 +0000