Down Under - February & March 2003

The shore excursion would take us from Sydney to Cairns for the great Barrier Reef and then on to the Red Center for Uluru (Ayers Rock) before returning to Sydney.

Our plane at the Cairns airport

The nice think about the shore excursion is we didn't have to schlep our bags. We just identified them and porters did the rest!

Getting ready for a short bus ride.

Cairns, Queensland

Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 19:26:59 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: In Cairns (pronounced "cans")
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Hi, 

We got off the boat this morning and flew to Cairns.  We're checked into the International 
Hotel.

Now the cool thing is that we're Platinum Members of the Captains Circle.  One of the 
benefits is preferred treatment.  The flight up was a charter.  We got BUSINESS CLASS seats.  
Mom and I had a VB (Victoria Bitter) on the flight.  We've got a room here on the top 
floor with a spectacular view of the coast.  It's currently all mud because the tide is out.

We're off in just a few minutes to tour the Rain Forest nearby.  Imagine, a rain forest 
in Australia.  The guide said it gets the most rain in all of Australia.

We'll connect late and send updates on Melbourne (A way to cool city) and other stuff.

Mom & Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

Mountains to the south

This is our hotel. We stayed on the 14th floor.

We're on our way to the Kuranda Rain Forest cable car.

First we have to pass through the gauntlet of stores

Past the empty streets and construction

into the edges of the forest

and finally to the cable car station.

High above the Kuranda rain forest

Christina

The 7 kilometers of cables were built with helicopters so as to not disturb the rain forest

That's the Coral Sea and Cains in the distance

Early morning in Cairns

This is our catamaran that will take us to Moore Reef

Cairns from off shore

Fitzroy Island

The "beach" was pieces of coral ground smooth by the surf. It wasn't a very pleasant beach to walk on.

Joe got his feet wet in the Coral Sea

Ya gotta love the Aussies!

The Great Barrier Reef

That's Cairns in the far far distance

There was a semi submersible for us to ride on

and a glass bottom boat

A helicopter ride was available

Excellent snorkeling for those that snorkel!

Beautiful sunshine

A spectacular view

with beautiful cloud formations over land

Christina on the pontoon

Christina

The greenish band just above Christina's shoulders is the reef just under the water. Blue water is deep water.

First we'll do the glass bottom boat

Lots of coral

more coral

still more

This is the permanently moored pontoon boat at the reef.

We had a buffet lunch

Christina on the Semi Submersible

We saw big fish and little fish

We saw turtles and giant clams

Christina saw sharks

Ah! Maize and Blue fish

On our way back to Cairns

The weather was getting pretty bleak in Cairns!

A Panorama from Fitzroy Island

Sunset in Cairns

The Cairns Airport, we're waiting for our flight to Ayers Rock

The Outback sometimes called the Red Center

The Red Center

Our Qantas flight at Ayers Rock.

The Connellon Airport

Yulara is the resort area near Uluru. We stayed at the Sails in the Desert

The Sails in the Desert Resort

This is the restaurant where we had dinner

We took our tour bus to Kata Tjuta viewing area

And about 40 kilometers away is Uluru

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta, we're due south and about 3 miles away

The flys are terrible in the Red Center and almost everyone wears a net bonnet to keep the flys away. The region is so dry the flys will try to drink the moisture from your eyes!

Kata Tjuta

Christina is so strong she can hold Uluru up with one hand!

Our bus took us closer and due east of Kata Tjuta

That red color is the rusting iron ore in the rocks.

Uluru

Uluru is 863 meters high. Scientist estimate that it goes down 5 or 6 kilometers! We're seeing just the tip of the iceberg. A paradoxical metaphor for the middle of the outback!

On the rock just above Christina's head is a lighter area. That's the assent area. There's a chain on posts for the first 800 feet.

We stopped at the Mutitjula Waterhole

Joe's touched Uluru

Aboriginal paintings on the rocks

We heard our first "Creation Story" here.

Every mark and feature on Uluru has a creation story behind it.

The Aborigines will share only two of those stories with outsiders

Son Steve thinks there's only three creation stories. The two the aborigines share and a third that is in essence, "We'll tell them there are thousands of creation stories but will only share the only two that really exist.

Open water in the outback.

More aboriginal paintings

Christina has touched the rock

The sun was getting low on the horizon. Time to get to the sunset viewing area.

From the sunset viewing area

We had champagne to celebrate the event

Uluru in it's full glory of the sunset.

Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 15:52:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Cruise Buddies 
Subject: Three times in one trip!
To: the.wack@eloptac.com

Stretch your memories.  It's something that Mom remembers as clear as if it was 
yesterday.  It was February 26, 1998 on the deck of the Statendam.  The total 
eclipse of the sun had just reached its peak moment and Chip said, "Way to go, God!" 
She's used that phrase several times since then, three on this trip.

Fjordland National Park - The beauty and grandeur of the fjords was breathtaking.  
The rugged beauty is hard to describe, the waterfalls, the rainbows, the cold, the 
rain, the sunshine, the wind, the rocks, the surf, the trees and the mountains.  
We've got lots of pictures but we're afraid they just won't capture the feelings 
we went through as the Regal sailed the fjords.  It left us speechless.  It was 10 
days ago and we still find it difficult to describe.  WTG, God!

Uluru - This rock has been a part of the Aboriginal life and culture for over 
40,000 years.  Let me remind you that our own culture goes back about only 3,000 
years.  Every mark on its surface has a "Creation Story" behind it, some of the 
stories are for women only and some are for men only.  The Aboriginals will share 
only a very few with the outside world.  So as the sun began to set our bus parked 
west of the rock on the rise of a sand dune.  Carmel, our tour guide and Andrew, 
our bus driver (and cuter than Jamie Oliver), broke out champagne, chips & salsa, 
and crackers.  Of course these treats would have nothing to do with what we were 
about to witness, okay, maybe the champagne but only a little.  As the sun set the 
rock turned from its normal impressive red color to a vibrant red.  It was an amazing 
experience to watch the colors and contemplate the long culture and myths 
surrounding it.  WTG, G II

Milky Way - After dinner at the Sails in the Desert at the Ayers Rock Resort we 
walked out into a small grassy area in front of our room.  There was no light, no 
haze in the air and no moon light to dull the magnificence of the skies.  Our eyes 
quickly adjusted to the darkness and the wonder of the stars opened to us.  Orion 
jumped out at us and we both could clearly see his belt.  Orion is upside down when 
viewed from down under.  We found the pointer stars and followed their line to 
the Southern Cross.  And drifting behind the Southern Cross and across the dark 
sky and easily visible was the light haze of the Milky Way.  Wow!  I've never, 
never, never seen the stars this clearly in all my life.  I was standing in a 
friking life size planetarium!  WTG, G III

Mom & Pops

ps....is anybody reading these? We LOVE getting email back.  That way we know 
that somebody is reading these and not going, "oh mom and dad wrote again, 
won't even open it" So let us know if you are reading these.  If so I'll let 
you know about the food in detail next time around.  Have seen the Cadbury 
chocolates, no whole nut here, just hazelnut, broken up, still tasty though

mom

PPS - We're in Sydney and have checked into the Renaissance Hotel.  Our room 
isn't ready so we'll go walk about the town.

Pops

Joseph & Christina Harlan - On vacation somewhere in the world!

We left the Sails in the Desert early in the morning

And went to the Liru Cultural Center

Which is in the shadow of Uluru