ahhh...bali!

Yay! Bali! Home of surf and beach and other beautifulness. The last time I was here, I bought a timeshare in a moment of weakness. Don't ask. However, I do have to say that the hotel is a welcome luxury after campervans and hostels...
Lovely touches like flowers in the bathtub...

Towel animals and flowers on the comfy bed...

And yummy champagne to celebrate our first wedding anniversary!

Ah, yes, now back to surf and beach and laying around the pool...

cairns and the GBR

We took a nice little flight from Alice to Cairns, and settled into our hostel. We had an early morning boat to catch for a 2 day liveaboard to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Yay! We went on a 60 ft sailboat called the Rum Runner. Ah, glorious sailboats! Unfortunately I got a bit turned around that morning, and we headed in a direction NOT towards the marina...fortunately we met up with a lovely young man who was headed to work (at the horrible hour of 6:30am!) who got us straightened out. We got to the marina even with enough time to get Josh some breakfast. Here's our boat, with captain Jase and host Becky (she is a great cook!).

Don't let this blue sky fool you. The one issue with our trip was the weather! Winds and waves and barely any sun peeking through those clouds. Thank goodness it was still quite warm.

Sunrays through the clouds at our protected little spot behind a cay (which is also a bird and turtle sanctuary).

Josh doing another intro scuba dive! Poor me and my history of pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema (back when I tried an intro dive) didn't get to go. It's ok, though, I really like snorkeling better. It's too dark down there.

Bat fish that hung around the boat--they are large and super cute.

Hi Josh!

Can't wait to get a sailboat. Someday. We had a fabulous time at the reef, saw turtles almost every time we went snorkeling (which was at least twice a day!), tons and tons of beautiful fish and coral, Nemos, a blue spotted ray, sea cucumbers, all that lovely stuff.

The next day we had a rainforest tour booked--lots of time in a minivan, which got a bit tiring, but more beautiful things to see and a terrific driver/guide that grew up in the area (and he is Aboriginal), and told us Dreaming stories, and gave a FANTASTIC rainforest tour when we were in the Daintree. Granted, I can't remember all the details now, but he told us the names of so many plants and trees, and stories about them, and way that the Aboriginal people used them (medicines and the like). I was mightily impressed.
Here's the Mossman Gorge. Josh didn't get to swim in it cause it was so high with all the recent rainfall. Sad.

This was supposed to be a view of a mountain. Nice, huh?

Our guide George at the Daintree Wildlife Centre.

Green ants--aren't they cute? The picture is actually right side up--these guys are all walking upside down.

Here's a cassowary--a very large, flightless bird that lives in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Funny looking guy. Don't tell him I said that. The thing on top of his head is a casque, which is a horn-like but soft and spongy crests. These consist of a keratinous skin over a core of firm, cellular foam like material. Even more fun! No one knows exactly what it's for.

These fan palms are my favorite. So pretty!

Pretty trees.

Josh loving the kindle.
Super funny cassowary sign. On the top it says 'chill out, not flat out.' In case you couldn't tell, the sign used to be just a little half circle (the cassowary's stomach) for the speed bump.

The beach at Cape Tribulation.

Cool flower that only blooms for 24 hours, and is yellow first, and then turns to pick. Curiouser and curiouser.

Then we got to go on a Daintree River cruise and look for crocodiles. We saw 3!

Now off to Bali.

the outback!

So once we left Sydney we headed to Alice Springs, which is a 'thriving outback town' in the Northern Territory. Something I read mentioned that it's sometimes mistakenly referred to as a city. Funny. This was our base for the next week or so, to explore the outback (I just like saying that), seeing the big rocks (Uluru, Kata Tjuta, etc) and finding some good walks.

We wandered around town first, and also went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base, where they have been running this service for the past like 80 years. And it's a non profit organization! It provides emergency services and even things like GP and specialist visits to remote areas. They now get grants and things, but is still dependent on community contributions. Pretty cool, huh? The mural that Josh is checking out is pretty cool too. We watched a video about the service, saw the actual base area where they take the calls and route the planes and stuff, and saw the small museum that they have set up. Lots of old equipment and the old medicine cehst they used to bring, as well as a mock up of what the plane really looks like inside, complete with mannequin patients and nurse/doctors!

The sunset in the desert.

We rented the big caravan (which is a manual and I am so bad at them, so Josh, bless his heart, did most of the driving...and by most I mean all but about 15 minutes) and headed off to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, which was a long, flat 4 1/2 hours. On the map it has at least 4-5 areas marked as areas that have petrol and food and stuff, and I assumed were towns...oh no, they were just petrol stations or accommodations and cafes. There was seriously not a town to speak of for about 440 kilometers. Crazy just how expansive the land is.

Here's Josh, looking HOT as we walked around Uluru. Uluru is a 'world-renowned sandstone formation that stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high (863 m/2,831 ft above sea level) with most of its bulk below the ground, and measures 9.4 km (5.8 mi) in circumference. There is a climb up to the top, but there are signs everywhere asking you not to, as it is a very sacred place to the Aboriginal people, especially the Anangu Traditional landowners. So we didn't, but there were lots of people who did, and actually lots of people who have died (most due to cardiac arrest). You'd think that people would have more cultural sensitivity. But anyway. They also have a great cultural center there with lots of the info relating to the Dreaming stories of the Aborigines, as well as some of the bush foods (aka 'tucker') and other things that have been used to survive in the outback.

Who knew that Australia has camels? Not I, said the fly. They apparently were brought in to the country and were used in the outback. Now they just wander. We saw a herd (is it called a herd??) of them at the base of Uluru. Aren't they cute?

Then we hung out at a good spot to watch the big rock turn colors at sunset.

Glorious red! I actually took a bunch of pictures, but I had quite the time trying to upload these, so there's just the three shots...daytime (above), red at sunset, and the sun leaving the rock.

Disappearing sun!

The next day we went to see Kata Tjuta. These are a group of large domed rock formations or bornhardts, which are near Uluru. Funnily enough, Uluru and Kara Tjuta are the big attractions in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It has 36 domes, and covers an area of 8 sq mi. They are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1,791 ft above the surrounding plain (650 ft higher than Uluru). A number of legends surround the great snake king Wanambi who is said to live on the summit of Mount Olga and only comes down during the dry season. The majority of mythology surrounding the site is not disclosed to outsiders because it is so sacred.
We went on the Valley of the Winds walk, which was supposed to take about 3 hours and unfortunately only took about 2...unfortunately because it was so beautiful! While Uluru is the big attraction, we actually both liked Kata Tjuta better...the walk was amazing, the scenery was ridiculous, and it was just plain awesome.


Trying to get all the coolness of this place into one little picture!


Kangaroo signs!

And camel signs! Again, who would have thought??

After that fabulous time, we drove another bunch of hours (okay, only three this time) to Kings Canyon. Remember when I mentioned that Josh bought a pair of stubbies? Here they are!

More gorgeous scenery. I can't get enough of the blue sky/red rock combo.

Kings Canyon is part of Watarrka National Park. The walls of Kings Canyon are over 300 meters high, with Kings Creek at the bottom. We walked on the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, which as it sounds, traces the top of the canyon. It starts with a nice steep hill (but unlike NZ, you don't climb for 2 hours or more to get to the top!! This one only took about 15 minutes) but has spectacular views of the gorge below and of the surrounding landscape. We also passed the 'Garden of Eden,' a permanent waterhole surrounded by lush plant life.

These are called the Beehives, and look like a lost city on top of the canyon.


After Kings Canyon, we headed back to Alice Springs. We made a day trip to the Standly Chasm, where we hiked up a bunch of stairs and had a great view of the MacDonnell Ranges and the surrounding land.

Check out this ghost gum!

Here's Simpson Gap, another quick trip from Alice. Apparently the region had been getting an unusual amount of rain, and all the rivers that say 'usually dry' on the maps all were flowing! it was great.

Simpson Gap has rock wallabies that you can watch--they are super nimble and fun to see. Unfortunatley they're too far away to get with the camera well!

And a spectacular sunset for our final night.

The next day we had to head to the airport, but not before we went to the Alice Springs Desert Park and the Reptile Center. Amazing. Here's a Thorny Devil. They are the coolest things ever.

And finally a red kangaroo for Josh!

Josh getting cozy with a Bearded Dragon.

And this guy is a Blue Tongued Lizard. Aptly named. The blue showed up better in person. :)

the land of oz--blue mts and sydney

Off to Oz we go! I feel like Dorothy. Josh doesn't. So we flew to Australia and got into Sydney in the early afternoon on Saturday. We got our rental car (after much hoopla from the dude, as there was an issue with not being able to give him the credit card we wanted, blah, blah, blah, finally his manager made everything ok) and jumped in the car and drove the 90 minutes or so up to Katoomba, which is in the Blue Mts. Some of the architecture is Art Deco, and looks pretty cool.
The next day we hiked in the Jamison Valley area for a few hours--did some bushwalking, as they like to say. I read that the Blue mountains have a blue-ish haze because of the eucalyptus trees. Not sure if that is indeed the truth, but it was beautiful.

Here's a view of one of the valleys.
And this is the awesome view into Jamison Valley, with the Three Sisters Rock formation to the left. The valley is ever changing with the weather, and I think this view of the river of clouds is my favorite.

Another pretty view, now without the clouds!

Look at those marsupials... After our hike we drove to the Jenolan caves to have a tour, and we saw kangaroos, a wallaby, and a dingo (we think) on the road. A dingo ate my birthday cake!

Then we went to the caves, which is a consists of a huge number of caves about an hour west of Katoomba. Josh is going spelunking!

We stopped at the Koala Park on the way back to Sydney, where we got to feed the kangaroos.

Josh feeding the little joey in the pouch!

Super cute koalas. We got to pet them. I want to take one home. They're so cute and cuddly. Do you think that they would let it through customs?


There's a dingo!

And they have cockatoos (can't spell that) at the park, but also these super cool ones out in the wild, with a bright yellow mohawk! This guy really wanted to be our friend. He was cute.

After getting into Sydney, we wandered around to check out the sights. Here's the Opera house at night.

Josh at the door of our room at hostel--they had lots of fun art on all the doors.

Then we took a walking tour of Sydney--this is the Queen Victoria Building, which now houses lots of fancy shops, but is absolutely beautiful, with wrought iron railings, gorgeous stained glass, and lots of other pretty bits.

Giant chess players in Hyde Park.

A cool artsy thing in 'the Rock' area, which is one of the oldest areas of Sydney, where the first European settlement was. Note the shackles on the ankles.

And these birds were everywhere! It's an ibis.

A different look at the opera house.

To get a harbor cruise in, we took one of the ferries over to Darling Harbor at the recommendation of our tour guide. Awesome! And then we went to the aquarium.

The Harbor Bridge with the Opera House in the background.

Here's Crush at the aquarium! We saw Nemo too. And lots of other characters.

And one more shot of the Opera House at sunset, just before we went to the opera! We saw Girl of the Golden West, which is a story set back in the 1850s in California Gold Rush. For some reason, I assumed that it would be in English. Turns out it's actually the La fanciulla del West, by Puccini. And it was definitely in Italian. Hmm. But there were surtitles!