Australia - the Blue Mountains & the Three Sisters

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - Blue Mountains & the Three Sisters

Today I went on an optional excursion to the Blue Mountains to see the rock formation called the Three Sisters.  It was an all-day trip as it takes a couple of hours’ drive outside of Sydney just to get to the Blue Mountains.  On the way we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got a chance to see a number of birds, marsupials, koalas, penguins and, if you wished (but I didn’t), crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles.  I can’t even begin to identify what all the animals were but we did see emus, wallabies, kangaroos, more koalas, penguins (finally was able to take pics of the penguins since we couldn’t on Phillip Island).  I also saw the Common Wombat for the first time.  I never knew what a wombat was but it turns out they look like a cross between a hairy pig and a piggy-looking big furry rat.  There was also an 11-month-old koala named Mikey who we could get our pictures taken with.  We couldn’t hold Mikey but we could pet his back.  Mikey’s fur wasn’t as soft as I expected, it was more wiry.  I don’t know if that’s because he’s still so young or not.  The koala I held in Kuranda was softer and presumably older.  They had a number of koalas but they were all pretty much sleeping.  Cute as heck though.

After Featherdale, we made it to Echo Point to get our first look at the Three Sisters.  I will never cease to be amazed at how beautiful the scenery is here.  It’s mind-boggling the millions of years it took to get to what we’re seeing now but it’s well worth the wait.  Pictures can’t begin to capture how amazing it is to see in person and how beautiful. 

After Echo Point, we were driven to Scenic World where we had lunch and, if you wished, you can take a scenic railway ride down or a scenic skyrail (gondola) ride back up.  I’ve already done both in Kuranda so I elected to take on some of the walking trails and hike the Blue Mountains.  I didn’t go as far as I would’ve liked as I hadn’t known about the walking trails before the trip and only had sandals on.  The trail was pretty well defined but since it goes up and down the side of a mountain, I didn’t want to risk slipping.

On the ride back to our hotel, our driver stopped at Olympic Park which was built for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.  Pretty huge venue and I can imagine how exciting it must’ve been during the Games.

Our weather today was absolutely perfect – sunny and mild temperatures, a little cooler in the mountains than in Sydney but very pleasant nonetheless.  We’ve really been blessed every step of this trip with great weather and dodging the extreme conditions like Cyclone Yasi (Cairns), flash flooding (Alice Springs), and heat waves (Melbourne and Sydney).

I walked around our hotel area before and after our trip today to get a better look at Sydney.  Like Melbourne, there’s some impressive architecture here and a beauty that appeals to me coming from a bay area.  Sydney has some eye-catching bridges and there’s always something appealing about a river running through or a bay against a metropolitan city.  I’ve been enjoying the sights but I have to admit, I think I lean towards Melbourne, simply because it doesn’t feel as crowded or the pace as frenetic.  Sydney channels its inner New York City with the plethora of taxi cabs, traffic and sidewalks choked with people.  And like New York City, I love visiting and enjoying the city but I would probably max out and need some breathing room after 3 days.  

Australia - Sydney: first impressions

Monday, February 7, 2011

I'm starting to lose track of days and dates but I'm pretty sure it's Monday the 7th.  We left Melbourne this morning and boarded a flight to Sydney, the last city in Australia on the tour.  After we landed, we got bussed around to see a bit of the city and did a brief stop at the Sydney Opera House for anyone who wanted to get tickets for a show then went to Bondi Beach.  I passed on getting a ticket - although I'm sure it would be awesome to see a production at the famous Sydney Opera House, I have to admit that opera's not really my thing.  They're showing Carmen on Tuesday and Madame Butterfly on Wednesday.  I've already seen Madame Butterfly long, long ago and I'm going to Blue Mountains tomorrow for the whole day and didn't want to worry about getting back in time for Carmen.

The opera house was very impressive though.  We have the official tour on Wednesday so I'll reserve my commentary for then.  On the way to Bondi (pronounced bond-eye) Beach, our bus driver toured us around the city and gave an interesting talk on the sights and history of Sydney.  The ocean view from Bondi was spectacular.  Being from the Bay Area, I love any views involving an ocean and this was no different.  We also lucked out incredibly on the weather during this entire trip.  Sydney had been under a heat wave prior to our arrival then cooled off considerably just before we got here.  Temps are in the 70s which is perfect for me.

First impression of Sydney is it's very much a combination of New York City and Hong Kong.  As in literally, if Manhattan and Hong Kong ever got married and had a child, they'd name it Sydney.  It's definitely got much more of a big city, bustling feel than Melbourne although they're approximately the same population (Melbourne is about 2.1M people and Sydney is 2.2M or thereabouts).  It also feels more crowded with tighter streets, more cars and more people moving faster.  Where the Hong Kong impression comes in is there are a ton of shops here.  I can shop but I conceded defeat in Hong Kong as I couldn't possibly shop enough there to even hit a fraction of the stores.  I get that same sense about Sydney.  There are also a number of foodie shops along the streets and many places to eat although I'd have to give the nod to Melbourne on that.

I keep looking for "real Aussie food" but in Sydney, it looks like the plethora of Asian and Middle Eastern food is "real" Sydney food.  Coming from the diversity of the Bay Area, this doesn't strike me as anything new.  I had to concede my search for barramundi fish n chips tonight and go Italian with a really good slice of bbq chicken pizza.  Heavy Italian influence here as well so that's still technically "Australian food".  I think.

Tomorrow: the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters

Australia - placeholder for food eaten in Melbourne

Food eaten in Melbourne - looks like a lot, eh?  But I've been taking pics of almost everything I've eaten, except for the fruit and breakfasts

Pork bun from Breadtop - hardly any filling and most of it seemed like gravy and onion bits as I don't think I saw any pork but the bread part was to die for

Coconut Custard Roll from Breadtop - hands down my favorite

Another meat pie - I love these because they're cheap and filling, although almost too much so

Hazelnut cookie from one of Melbourne's many bakeshops.  This was pretty good except a little big and turns out there's jam in the middle.  I don't like jams or jellies in my cookies (or at all) so I only ate the edges where there was no jam and picked off the hazelnuts on top :). 

Sausage roll - also a common item I see in the food shops.  This one looks deceptively individual-sized but it was so packed with sausage that this could've fed me for 3 meals or even 2 if I was really hungry

Spaghetti Carbonara from Little Italy - good except too many onions on top and a bit greasy down towards the bottom.  But I was in Little Italy so I had to try a pasta.

Just like I had to try a gelato on Lygon St - they let you have up to 3 flavors in their smallest cup so I tried the chocolate, vanilla and coffee - yum.

The apple shortbread cookie from one of the bakeshops in St Kilda - not much apple but the shortbread cookie itself was good.  Didn't finish all of this either - too much.

Australia - walking around Melbourne

Sunday, February 7, 2011

Have to start off by saying again: I LOVE Melbourne.  I had an awesome day yesterday just walking around the city.  There were some scattered showers in the morning but after that it cleared up nicely and ended up being a crisp, cool but sunny day.  During the rains, I ducked into the many Melbourne city shops and malls to wander around and look through the different stores, doing my price comparisons (still can't get over the sticker shock for books).  I noticed a lot of the same stores we have in the US and educated myself on which were international: Mrs. Fields, GNC, Borders, and a few others I can't remember.  Also peeked into some clothing stores that I thought had some cute clothes, many of which my nieces would love.  But I refrained from buying - I didn't want to go on a shopping spree for myself and I'm still finding the sizes confusing.

Once the sun came out, I really walked around.  I went down to the Yarra River and walked along the riverfront, snapping pictures of the beautiful Melbourne skyline.  They also had a Sunday market of artsy stuff so I poked around to look at their wares.  Chinatown was celebrating Chinese New Year so I also watched some of the celebration ushering in the Year of the Rabbit.  I filmed the most hilarious performance on my flip cam that I'll have to post later - it was a bunch of ladies doing a dance but what made it funny is their "choreographer", an older Chinese lady, was very vested in them performing all the dance steps correctly and wasn't shy about correcting them during their performance.

Tried a bread shop called Breadtop that had a fascinating number of products displayed and enjoyed a pork bun for lunch and a coconut custard bun for a snack later on.  Then I walked to Lygon St which is Melbourne's Little Italy.  That was fun - Lygon St is lined with restaurants and little shops.  A bit like walking downtown Los Gatos at home.  I checked out the posted restaurant menus and sampled some gelato.  I was in Little Italy - had to have gelato.  I'm getting used to the prices here but I still cringed in sympathy for a family of 4 who'd have to spend a minimum of $20AUD just to get the smallest scoop for each person.  Oh and I also discovered a tiny Italian grocery store and bought a jar of "crema gianduja" - can't wait to bake with that when I get back home.

What I love about Melbourne is it seemed to combine all the best aspects of the cities I like: it had the charm and architecture, complete with river, like Boston, the mild temperate climate (at least while I was there) of San Francisco, the big city bustle of New York and the plethora of foodie shops with tasty food like Paris.  The crowds increased as the day wore on but it was nothing like the bigger cities so I really enjoyed just walking around all day.

Came back to the hotel at the end of the day and did laundry.  I'd packed enough for 2/3 of the trip and we're about at the halfway mark so I should be set for the rest of the trip.  We're off to Sydney later this morning.

Australia - Melbourne & Phillip Island

Saturday, February 5, 2011

We got to Melbourne from Uluru the day before (Friday, Feb 4) but got in late.  We flew from Uluru to Sydney then to Melbourne.  The Sydney to Melbourne leg was delayed because of weather problems then once we got to Sydney, we had to circle in a holding pattern almost as long as it took to fly there in the first place due to weather issues.  It was raining and there were minor floods (but nothing compared to the ones in Brisbane).

So Friday was a late night and I didn't go out once we had checked in.  We're staying at the Rydges Melbourne and it's a pretty nice hotel.  Unfortunately when I walked into the room they had first given me, I thought someone must've left the faucet on as I could hear water running.  Turns out there was a steady stream of water dripping from the ceiling onto the bed, thoroughly soaking in.  I was on the 21st floor and the hotel has 22 floors so I don't think it was a roof leak on the hotel itself.  More like someone left the water running in the room above me and it came pouring down.  Fortunately the hotel quickly gave me another room on a different floor and I was able to crash.

Saturday, we had a city tour of Melbourne from the bus and it was interesting to see the architecture.  Some of the houses with their iron lacework/trim almost made it seem like being in New Orleans, according to my fellow travelers who'd been to Louisiana.  The driver took us around to Victoria Market where we stopped and shopped for an hour.  It was much like a farmer's market where you could buy clothes, fresh fruits and veggies, cheeses, breads, wine, organic stuff, etc.  Cheapest place we've been to in Australia so far.  I didn't buy much but enjoyed poking around the different stalls and stretching my legs.  After that, we went to St Kilda and had a 30-minute walk around.  Also fun as the main street they dropped us off at were lined with cake shops.  Their front window displays were fun to look at and mouth watering although most of them I just like to look at but would find it too overwhelming to really eat.

You know I had to take a picture of some of the bakery storefronts in St Kilda:

The city tour ended around 1 pm and we weren't meeting until 3 pm for the next excursion so I took the opportunity to walk the streets of Melbourne.  Our hotel was centrally located right near Chinatown and Little Italy.  I walked almost the entire two hours just absorbing the sights.  I must say, I LOVE Melbourne.  It's got a lot of character and architecture and you can stumble upon an old church and right next to it or across from it is a modern office building.  Or a beautiful park.  There are also more breadshops lined with tempting goodies, reminiscent of Paris where I could walk into any place and get an awesome baguette.  It has the bustle of a New York or San Francisco or Boston but without being crowded like those cities can tend to be.  It could be because we were there on a weekend and Melbourne is a commuter city with most of its residents living outside the city center but still, it was ideal as a tourist. 

Our afternoon excursion was to see the penguin parade at Phillip Island.  It was about a 90-minute to 2-hour drive out there one way but we had to take some detours due to the recent flooding as some of the roads we needed had been closed off.  It was an overcast, cloudy day but I didn't mind that.  Prior to our arrival, there had been a heat wave in Melbourne but now it was cool because of the rainy weather.  I'll take cool over hot any day, especially having come from the Outback.


Phillip Island is a sanctuary for the little penguin.  That's literally what they're called because they're the smallest of the 17 different types of penguins, standing no more than a foot tall.  Supposedly the sight is something else because at night when they return from fishing in the sea and make their way back to their nests (burrows) there are hundreds, sometimes thousands of them and there's a viewing place on the beach where tourists can see them come up from the water.  Unfortunately, I say supposedly because I didn't see that many.  We waited on the beach for over an hour until it got dark enough around 9 pm for the penguins to return home.  But it was dark, there weren't really any bright lights to see by and it was hard to see.  They told us we could hear the penguins calling to each other as they came in before we could see them.  That might've been true if the hordes of other tourists managed to shut up long enough to be quiet and listen to the penguins. But they didn't.  It also started to pour down rain so imagine a horde of noisy, rain-soaked tourists flooding the place.  If I were a penguin, I wouldn't come out of the ocean either to face that.

As it was, I did see a few penguins up close as I walked back to the bus as some of them had their nests near the walkways.  The little buggers were cute with their waddle.  But I'm not sure this particular excursion was worth it.  They told us later that not a lot of penguins came out (you think??) because of the stormy weather.  Again, it's just one of those things you roll with and just suck up because it's not within anyone's control to make penguins come out of the ocean or shut up the yakking tourists.  Or keep the rain from coming down in a deluge.  Our bus driver was missing in action so we ended up waiting, huddled outside the locked bus, as the rain came pouring down and other buses drove off.

When we finally did pile onto the bus and head home, it was late and we were all tired, cold and grumpy.  Erica, our tour guide, was smart enough to know we wouldn't appreciate a bunch of commentary so she wished us goodnight and suggested we all take a nap until we get back to the hotel.  Unfortunately, the bus driver didn't get the hint and tried to give us a trivia quiz.  Even more unfortunately, a wallaby darted out in front of the bus as he was driving and talking and he hit it.  UGH.  He stopped and reported it to the rangers and seemed to think the wallaby would just hop away but I don't see how a small wallaby can withstand the hit from a huge tour bus and come out the winner.  UGH again.  The driver took up where he left off on the quiz and after the half-hearted answers, he finally dialed back on the commentary over the microphone but then turned on the radio.  The tour group is a pretty good-natured one but I think we'd finally reached our limits - disappointing penguin experience, getting soaked in the rainy weather, hitting/killing a wallaby and having someone talk your ear off for hours on the trip in and now it looked like the trip back.  Someone asked the driver to turn off the radio and the driver gave us some lip about it but everyone else clapped once the radio was turned off.  We just wanted to nap in peace.

Which lasted until we were about 15 minutes away from the hotel and the bus driver's commentary started up again.  This is probably one of the biggest drawbacks of a tour for me - I know it's their job to point things out as we go but when we're doing long drives, other than a few facts here and there, I'd prefer to enjoy the drive in relative quiet, not have someone talk at me for 2 hours (yeah, I was pretty crabby by this time too but kept my crankiness to myself as there seemed to be enough to go around, lol).  We ended up getting to the hotel after midnight because of more detours due to flooded roads.  I was pretty glad to get to bed.

Today, Sunday, February 6, is another day.  There was another tour excursion to wineries but I don't drink and I wanted some free time to explore Melbourne so I gladly opted out.  As soon as I finish updating my blog, I'm off to go explore Melbourne some more.  I love the city so far and the best way to see it is on foot.  They're celebrating Chinese New Year here (lots of Asians in Melbourne) so I expect to see some fun stuff on my walking travels today.  I'm also excited to try some of the bread shops, especially in Chinatown.  Pork buns!  Custard buns!  I keep trying to try "real Aussie food" but it's become inevitable that there's more to that than fish n chips and meat pies.  There's such a strong Italian and Asian presence here that I'm going to enjoy some of those foods as well.

A shot of part of the Melbourne skyline from the river walk.  Look at that beautiful blue sky!

Australia - food tried in the Outback

The food I tried in the Outback

Kangaroo (bottom left)

Crocodile (middle left)

Camel (bottom right)

 Barramundi Fish n Chips at Bo Jangles

 Meat pie

Cheeseburger and fries at a cattle station in the Outback between Alice Springs and Uluru

Vanilla slice from the cafe at Royal Flying Doctors Service - it's more like a custard cake with thin slices of something like phyllo dough but not as flaky.  It's not really a cake like I think of cake but if you like custard, it was pretty good.  But rich.  I couldn't eat the whole thing.

Australia - Uluru

February 4, 2011 - Friday

We spent last night at Uluru and are leaving this morning for a tour at the Uluru Base and Culture Center then boarding a flight to Melbourne.

This is just a placeholder post as internet is expensive here so I will have to find a cheaper place in Melbourne to blog from....(writing on Feb 6 - finally found an internet cafe in Melbourne to blog from without costing me an arm and leg).

Uluru (formerly known as Ayer's Rock) as we waited for the sun to set

Back in Uluru, on our last morning in the Outback, we toured the base of Uluru then the Culture Center to look at aboriginal history and art.  So far we had been lucky in the weather, beating Yasi out of Cairns and leaving Alice Springs before the flash flood warnings.  On our last morning in the Outback, it was hot, hot, hot.  And the flies they told us about were in full evidence.  We had to wear fly nets over our heads to keep them at bay.  Even then, I sense we were still fortunate in that there weren't as many as there could've been.  Fortunately they didn't seem to be biting but there were still enough of them to be annoying.

I've got to admit - I don't have the fortitude for the Outback.  I'm glad I experienced it on the trip but it isn't somewhere I'd go back to.  First, I'm a weather wimp.  Can't stand the heat.  And even if I could, second, I'm enough of a girly girl to be squeamish about all the insects and reptiles out there.  All the dire warnings about what to watch out for in the outback (snakes, flies, lizards, ants etc) were enough to make me shudder and let my imagination go into overdrive.  Never mind that they had us stay in a decent place at Uluru and I didn't actually have them in my hotel room - just thinking about them and looking for them were enough to make me edgy.

I have to give major props to all the people who can live in the Outback and love it there.  It takes a special kind of person to not only deal with the weather and the bug/reptilian life but also the isolation and the challenging way of life that comes when you're in the desert miles and miles away from the sea or cities.  I couldn't do it.  So you can imagine how grateful I was to board the flight to Melbourne :).

Australia - Alice Springs

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

We left Cairns this morning along with many other people packing up to head out away from Cyclone (Hurricane) Yasi heading for the Queensland Coast.  Looks like we left in the nick of time.  We found out later that our flights was one of the last ones out of Cairns and they shut the airport down shortly after. Our flight to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (the Outback) was only a couple of hours long but what a different environment altogether!  Prior to landing, we were told to expect very hot temperatures, around 110-120 degrees.  I'm spoiled by the climate at home and my normal operating temperature is 50-70 degrees.  We were also warned about the flies in the outback and how they can bite and fly in your face.  Many tourists opt for the fly netting to put over their heads.

When we landed, it was raining.  The rain didn't last long and it was pretty hot although a "mere" 105 degrees or so.  The afternoon was free time and I explored a bit of Alice Springs, although the heat chased me indoors and I amused myself by doing a thorough inspection of Woolworth's, a grocery chain in Australia.  Many people travel for the different adventures that other countries have to offer.  That's well and good and I enjoy that too but I also enjoy checking out the food scene, whether it's restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.  You can learn a lot just by checking the aisles, the packaging, the sizes and the pricing.  I found it pretty fascinating.  Yes, I'm in the Outback and yes I'm hanging out in a grocery store.  Yeah, that might sound weird.  But in 105 degree weather, it was just self preservation.

Our hotel in Alice Springs is a far cry from the one in Cairns.  I have to admit to not being all that impressed with it.  The air conditioner doesn't work that well, the faucet in the bathroom drips, the TV needs sine coaxing to turn on and one of the lamp bulbs is burnt out.  But it's only for a couple of nights and I'm no diva so I just suck it up.  I could transfer to a new room but it doesn't seem worth the bother especially as my fellow travelers are having similar problems with their rooms.  I don't want to be the spoiled American tourist who can't roll with the punches so I'm just rolling.

Tonight we had a "barbie" at our hotel.  Erica, our tour guide, got kangaroo, camel, crocodile, burgers, chicken wings and sausages for the barbie and we cooked it outside at the hotel's barbecue facilities.  Unfortunately we got hit with a thunderstorm so after the meats were cooked outside, we went indoors to eat.  I've never had 'roo, camel or croc so it was my first time trying them.  Honestly, the kangaroo and camel tasted like tough beef, if a bit gamey.  If you didn't know what you were eating, it was like eating overcooked beef.  They looked the same too. Can't say I loved it but it was good to try and say I've eaten it. The crocodile was a bit of a surprise.  It looks like white breast meat and interestingly, it really did taste like chicken!  That was the funniest part.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Day 2 in Alice Springs: there was an optional excursion this morning to visit an Aboriginal village but I skipped it.  The excursion is only a few hours long and I wanted some free time to explore Alice Springs as we were already booked for that afternoon.  I went back to the Todd Mall to poke around and continue my exploration of the stores, products and prices.  I discovered a Target at the mall so that was amusing to snoop through.  It's much smaller than the Targets at home and mostly stocked with soft goods (clothes for men, women and children) and a few hard goods (small appliances, books, CDs, DVDs).  Still finding things pricey here.  I also browsed through a bookstore and was horrified to discover paperbacks were $20-$30 AUD.  For a bibliophile like me, I would go bankrupt in a month if I bought books here.

In the afternoon we visited 3 main spots in Alice Springs: the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the School of the Air and the Telegraph Station.  The RFDS is just what it sounds like - doctors and nurses who fly out to service patients in the Outback who don't have easy access to medical care.  It's funded primarily by the government and private donations/fundraising.  It was pretty interesting and gave us a good idea of the vastness of Australia and what it does to serve its people's needs.  Same with the School of the Air where children spread through the region don't have access to a brick and mortar school so they have a virtual classroom and interact with their teacher and other students hundreds of kilometers away via computer.  It was fascinating.  Also funded by the government like any public school.  They also told us the kids typically score in the top 10% on standardized tests compared with other schoolchildren who go to a regular school.  The government pays for the computer, satellite dish, and other equipment the children need to be hooked up into their virtual classroom.  That's what I think tax dollars should be spent on - education.

Lastly, that afternoon, we also visited Telegraph Station which used to be where the telegraph master and his family lived and where they ran the telegraph out of Alice Springs.  It was an outcropping of various buildings that gave a sense of how they lived back then.  I can't even begin to imagine those conditions and the fortitude of the people who lived there at the time.  I think it takes a certain toughness to live in the Outback at any time.

Dinner that night was at a local bar where they offered tourists a $15 menu.  After the priciness of some of the places we visited, $15 was a bargain.  The offerings included camel pie and kangaroo but since I'd already tried those at the barbecue (and considered them to be once-in-a-lifetime experiences), I went with the barramundi fish and chips.  Bo Jangles was a bit quirky but fun.

Ned Kelly was Australian's most famous outlaw - you turned the handle on the coffin to get shelled peanuts

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thursday morning started at 4:30 am for those of us who went on the sunrise hot air balloon ride.  They took us out to where we would take off from, tested the wind for favorable (or not) conditions and determined we'd be able to go on the ride that day.  It took about 45 minutes to an hour to fill up the hot air balloon with a huge fan and the flames from the "office" of the hot air balloon basket to warm up the air.  There were 2 balloons and we fit about 19-20 people in each one.  I have to say this was one of the highlights of the trip.  It was really smooth to go up in the air and we had beautiful weather for it.  The sunrise was partially obscured by the clouds but it was so pretty to be up there that it almost didn't matter.  What there was of it was beautiful.  Heights don't bother me so I enjoyed looking out at the view as we got higher and higher.  The takeoff, the ride and the landing were all as smooth as can be and a very enjoyable experience.  I'd recommend it to anyone who wanted to try it.

Pic of the other balloon from the balloon I was in:

After the balloon ride, we got back to the hotel and immediately took off again for the 6-hour bus ride to Uluru, formerly known as Ayer's Rock.  On the way we stopped at a camel farm where we could pay $6 to ride a camel around a small track.  I'm not much of a rider and have gone on horseback a few times when I was younger.  Riding a camel is a lot different than riding a horse.  And infinitely funnier.  The movement of the camel as it steps down and steps up so you can mount the saddle is similar to a rollercoaster movement.  I had a fun time on it but was glad the ride only took a few minutes as it definitely wouldn't have been comfortable for longer.  At the back half of the track, the guide had the camel trot.  Trotting was actually easier to hang on than walking.  Overall, it was hilarious.

To be continued as I'm running out of internet minutes
Still need to cover:

Observations about the aborigines in Alice Springs

Australia - a little on the food I tried in Queensland

Lamington: named after Baron Lamington who was a governor of Queensland in the early 1900s, a lamington is a square of vanilla cake covered in chocolate icing and rolled in coconut.  I bought a lamington in Kuranda ($3.50 AUD) and tried it before we left Cairns.  It was pretty good.  It was a standard white cake and chocolate frosting but I liked the added texture of the coconut.

ANZAC - I'd heard of Anzac biscuits before and even had a few recipes of them in my baking books.  What I didn't know is that ANZAC stands for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.  Anzac "biscuits" are essentially hard, crunchy cookies.  I tried a macadamia Anzac from Kuranda ($1.20 AUD) and thought it was pretty good.  It's a butter cookie without being buttery and has a nice crunch.  I'm going to have to try and make this when I get back home.  They seem to have a lot of macadamia products here as well as fresh pineapple (which I love).

Chicken & Potato Pie - the meat pie is an Australian staple as it's hearty, filling and (generally) nutricious.  It's also one of the cheaper foods I've found here - $5AUD for the one from Kuranda.  What I liked about the pie I tried is its simplicity: crust, chicken & gravy filling and mashed potatoes swirled on top.  No ruining it by adding veggies (can you tell I don't like vegetables?) to be overcooked inside the gravy.  Just meat and gravy - that's my idea of a meat pie.

One of the things I'm constantly doing as I travel is checking out the food being sold or offered at various places like restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, hotel buffets, etc.  A couple of observations so far: first, I'll reiterate again how expensive things seem to be.  It's not just that I'm shopping in touristy places or airports.  Woolworths, a grocery store chain in Australia where many locals seem to shop, bears out the prices.  Think of it as like a Safeway in the US.  Cake mix was "on sale" for $4.93 AUD.  A 1.2L container of ice cream was $7 AUD.  Bananas were $2.50 a kilogram.  A can of Spam was on sale for $3.30.  For those of us in the US, we're really fortunate...and spoiled.  Never again will I complain how much food costs.  I've seen much higher in other parts of the world.  I don't know what salaries are like here but I hope they're high enough to compensate for the cost of food.  Feeding a family here must be enormous.

In the confectionery aisle - which is the aisle I always pay particular attention to - there are also brands I'm familiar with, namely Nestle and Cadbury.  But they offer a greater variety of flavors which is really cool.  Before I go home, I'm stocking up on some of this stuff that we don't have in the US.  Snickers and Kit Kats also seem popular here but they have "limited edition" Snickers with a chocolate wafer and almonds and caramel more than nougat.  M&Ms are also common in plain, peanut, mint, and crispy.  I'm still on the lookout for caramel M&Ms which I once had in So Cal but I think those were a test run and I don't think the M&M people have continued making them.  Darn.

Before I left for Australia, my friend Cheryl, who used to live here, recommended I try Tim Tams.  I don't know whether to thank her or curse her.  I bought Tim Tams in Cairns and they're delicious.  Think of them like Kit Kats in cookie form but much, much better.  I don't usually like KitKats as the wafer part always seems soggy.  But not in Tim Tams.  They're crisp chocolate wafer cookies sandwiched with a chocolate creme filling (same texture as the filling in Oreos but chocolate) and enrobed in milk chocolate.  YUM.  I also tried the caramel Tim Tams where instead of the chocolate creme filling, it was caramel.  More YUM.  Yeah, some boxes of those are going in my suitcase before I leave this country.

Australia - Kuranda

January 31, 2011 - today we took a ride on the Scenic Railway up to Kuranda, a "hippie" village in the mountains.  The train ride was about 1 1/2 hours through 15 tunnels and a number of bridges with 1 horseshoe turn and a stop at Barron Falls which were utterly gorgeous.  It was a nice ride up there and they gave a good voiceover on the train about its history.  I can't wait until I can upload pics to these blog posts.  Everything was beautifully green.  I could easily imagine I was back in the rain forests of Belize, complete with the humidity but sans the man-eating bugs and howler monkeys.

Barron Falls:

When we got to Kuranda, we walked along the town's main strip lined with tourist shops and ended up at the Heritage Market where we went to the Koala Gardens.  For a tour-discounted entrance fee of $12AUD you can get into the gardens which boasted crocodiles, wallabies, lizards, a cage of snakes and, of course, koalas.  For another $16AUD, you can "cuddle" a koala and get your picture taken with it.  I wasn't so hot about the picture (in the humidity, my face was shining like a homing beacon and my hair was flatter than limp noodles) but it was the koala that mattered, right?  The picture taker's assistant positions your arms before plucking the koala from the last tourist and putting it in your arms.  You have to cradle "the bum" with one hand and keep the other hand up so the koala can be draped in your arms.  I've never held a koala before and hadn't realized how sharp their claws are.  Fortunately the one I held didn't scratch me or break skin although it got a pretty good grip on my shirt when it was time to give it to the next tourist.  We could get our picture taken with one of the two koalas they were using for that purpose.  I got the smaller one which I wanted - the big one looked like it could take me on and win.  Both poor things looked a mite cranky but I would be too if I had to put up with a never-ending lineup of tourists.

Within Koala Gardens, they also had a small lake for the crocodiles (don't disturb them and they won't disturb you), some lizards (in a fenced off area but the top half was open which made me wonder what makes them stay there), and wallabies (who I consider kangaroos) including some "joeys" or baby wallabies.  I've never seen them up close before so that was pretty cool to experience.  There was also a snake cage for the snakes but I channeled my inner Indiana Jones and skipped all that.  Some things I don't need to experience and snakes are on that list.

We had a few hours to kill in Kuranda so I did a lot of walking.  The town's main strip isn't very big so I traversed it several times before sitting down and writing postcards.  It was pretty hot and humid so it kind of kills the desire to do much.  I did finally get to try a meat pie - or rather, it was a chicken and potato pie.  Pretty good.  It was deceptively small but actually quite filling.  I also bought a Lamington and a macadamia Anzac but saved them for later.  More on those later in a separate post once I can get the pictures up.  I'm trying to try as much authentic Australian food as possible - that's one of the pleasures of traveling, after all.  Unfortunately the heat and humidity is a bit of an appetite killer and the chicken & potato pie did me in so I saved the desserts for later.  Although I did indulge in ice cream (hey, it was hot) and tried a flavor called violet crumble which was a mocha and chocolate swirled ice cream with a toffee crunch.  It was GOOD.

Violet Crumble gelato

ETA: criminy, I was so focused on the food I can't believe I forgot to mention the gondola ride down.  We took the train up and the Skyrail gondola down.  It's listed as the longest gondola ride in the world and I'll say it lives up to that.  It was an awesome experience.  You're up ridiculously high so if you're afraid of heights, this won't be the best ride for you but I loved it.  I may feel icky on 15-foot waves in the Coral Sea but hanging in a little gondola over the highest trees you can imagine that are so tall you can't see the ground they're growing in is cool. Not to mention the scenery was just top notch.  I am in awe of all the people who built this thing.  Not only is it so high up but it's a long ride and a lot of towers to build and a lot of cable to string up between the towers.  I'll have to look up how they built it and how long it took - it's really quite impressive.  My pictures don't do it justice because you can't really get a sense of how high up you are through pictures.  Only that you're hanging all the way up there in an enclosed "car" hanging on a cable.  Awesome.