MOORISH MOSQUE IN CORDOBA & GRANADA

June 15, 2004 Cordoba, Spain

Out of the hotel by 8 am; it was a long night. We didn’t sleep well as the hotel had marble floors everywhere. The beds scooted constantly, you could hear every shower and/or toilet each time the water ran in rooms all around and above you. About 3 am we discovered water on the floor near the bathroom. We realized it was also dripping from the ceiling. We called the night clerk and he found out the people above us had let their tub overflow. They offered to change our room but we declined and accepted extra towels to soak up the water. So back to bed by 4 am with a drip, drip, drip. The alarm at 6:30 am arrived far too early.

Our first stop of the day was at the Courtyard of the Moorish Mosque in the center of the oldest part of Cordoba. We met our city guide, Maria, and walked through the Moorish streets and then into a synagogue. By 9:30 we were back in the courtyard of the Mosque for our tour of the interior. It is now a Catholic Cathedral but the original construction began in 756 AD. Much of the original Mosque remains with decorative Christian artifacts. It is twelve thousand square foot facility that was built in four different stages over a thousand years. The interior is home to the Roman Catholic Cathedral. The choir loft has two separate pipe organs. The entire Mosque is an architectural masterpiece on a grand scale. It is considered the first and foremost monument in Western Islam and one of the sublime of its type in the world.

Back on the bus after a quick opportunity to shop we headed south again towards Granada, considered to be Spain’s most beautiful Moorish-influenced cities. It was also the last stronghold of the Arabs in Spain. Lunch was on the highway with what else a cheese and ham sandwich. We checked into the hotel in Granada and then loaded back on the bus for a tour of some of the city sights. Pasco, our city guide, took us to the old Moorish section of the city called the Albaicin for a walking tour of about a mile through an intriguing maze of narrow streets with whitewashed houses and patio gardens of bygone Moorish splendor. Then on to the La Cartuja Monastery that was built about four hundred years ago; one of the few monasteries remaining in Spain. The doors and vestment drawers were created using wood overlay studded with pieces of ivory. One of the altars was carved from a single piece of marble. The ceilings and wall were done in a baroque style. . Back on the bus we headed down into the center of the city to the Cathedral of Granada that houses the Royal Chapel. This is the burial place of King Fernando and Queen Isabel. Granada is also the place where Columbus convinced Queen Isabel to finance his trip to India by going west instead of east.

We were home for an hour and then back on the bus for a trip into the city center again for a dinner at a downtown restaurant. They greeted us at the door with a glass of sangria and we sat with a couple in our tour group from Chicago, both retired teachers who enjoy traveling. We rode the bus home but six brave souls decided to walk back to the hotel. They stopped for a beer on the way and arrived back about midnight. All seemed to enjoy their stroll home.

June 16^th: Visit to the Alhambra in Granada

Wonderful night’s sleep; maybe because the hotel was quiet. The quest for the morning was to get to the Alhambra first thing. They only allow eight thousand people per day. We were one of the first groups in and consequently pretty much walked through without waiting. Our tour took two hours; later groups will spend so much time waiting to enter restricted areas that it will take them up to four hours to see all of the sites in the Alhambra.

The Alhambra Palace was the home of the Moorish Kings and is considered to be a priceless historical gem. Without our guide we would have become lost in the maze of rooms and gardens. Per Rick Steves, “Nowhere else does the splendor of Moorish civilization shine so brightly.” The outside is extremely plain and the inside is decorated with intricately laced carvings in stone and plaster that never represent anything but praise to Allah without ever portraying a human face or animal. The Muslims couldn’t make images of living things as that was God’s work. But they could carve decorative religious messages. One phrase—“only Allah is victorious”—is repeated nine thousand times in carvings. We were ready for the bus by the end of the tour.

A fast trip to Costa Del Sol area to the town of Torremolinos; just down the road from Malaga with view of the Mediterranean from our room. The hotel is wonderful and even has a DSL line…but no modem line. Rather than change rooms I’m going to take this down to the business center and send before leaving for our walk to town for the afternoon. We’re enjoying a free afternoon and plan to walk the beach later. We have two nights in this corner of pleasure.

A NEW ADVENTURE: EUROPE IN THE SUMMER

What better way to prepare for the 2009 Tour de France than to relive the adventure my husband and I had following the 2004 Tour de France and witnessing our own Lance Armstrong bring home the trophy again in Paris. But I’m ahead of myself….we have a month of traveling in Spain, Portugal and France before we finally join the race in Dinan, France on July 10th. We'll hurry along so that we arrive in Dinan by July 4th, 2009, for the start of this year's race in Monaco! Buckle your seatbelts and enjoy!

If you double click on the slideshow above it will take you to the album for larger prints that also have Captions explaining each of the photos....something new on this adventure!

June 9, 2004

We headed for LAX in the afternoon and found that traffic was light and the airport was not too crowded. President Ronald Reagan was flown to Washington, D.C. this morning for his State Funeral; most were home watching the TV footage that has been playing for days. We saw flags at half mast for a month in Europe in his honor. While waiting for our plane, a large group of high school students arrived….we were happy to see them line up for the plane to Hawaii and not to New York! Nice group but kids that age can get noisy. Our plane was overbooked but we were fortunate to have two seats at the window…downside was that we were next to the kitchen and had to watch and smell the food being prepared for first class. Their dinner rolls were definitely fresher than our “heat and serve” food in coach. And, they were using real silverware with the china and stemware plus linen table service. Oh well…we’d used air miles and they probably paid several thousand dollars for the privilege. Arrived at JFK in New York six hours later…changed airplane with only a short layover…and headed over the ocean for London about 11 pm.

June 10^th: Madrid, Spain

Six hours later we arrived in Heathrow Airport, we had to change terminals this time and there was a bit longer layover of several hours. Jim found a magazine with all the details of the Tour de France so that kept us busy. We boarded a British Air plane for our final journey to Spain. Two hours later and we were in Madrid. Customs was a breeze and only required us to show our passports. Once we got our luggage we walked right out the door! The plastic ties (replacing locks) had all been cut on Jim’s luggage. But, as far as we can tell…nothing was disturbed or taken. Looked for the hotel shuttle but couldn’t find one but we got a shuttle bus for only 13 Euro and had a great trip into the city with a family from San Jose. The husband was born in Portugal and his wife in Mexico so they are spending a month here so their two sons (about ten and three) can experience the culture and language. They both speak Spanish fluently. He would talk to the driver and then to us. Our first hotel is a Best Western Hotel Madrid. Location is walking distance to the Palace and Museums.

During the entire trip we took the No Jet Lag pills that I’d purchased over the internet before leaving. By the time we arrived at the hotel we’d been traveling twenty-four hours, fourteen hours in the air. We actually felt pretty good. We’d each had several short catnaps during the flights but very little sleep overall. We were able to go out walking after we unpacked and didn’t actually go to bed until after 11 pm Madrid time. This was after we tried unsuccessfully to use our new cell phone and sign on to the internet. Oh Well. Lovely evening outside…streets were again crowded with people out for the evening. We’ve learned that lunch is at 2 pm and dinner starts at 10 pm. Also noticed that women wear long pants or skirts; we don’t really see any shorts on men or women except for tourists. Same was true during the heat of the day. Looks like the shorts will stay in the luggage for now.

We walked to the Opera and then on the palace and Cathedral; a gentle walk among gracious people. Back to our hotel room we discovered that the air conditioning was not functioning….fan works but not the cooling. No extra rooms in the hotel. They’ve promised to try to fix it tomorrow. Cold showers were the order of the evening; no blankets on the bed. We survived. We’re staying at the Hotel Madrid, a Best Western, that is located in the center of the historical Madrid, just a half block off of Puerta del Sol; think of Time Square in New York City…that’s Puerta del Sol. The heart of the city of Madrid, walking distance to everything!

June 11^th: Madrid, Spain

Jim woke up about 5 am and went walking to the various museums that we are going to today. About four miles of walking and then went back to bed. I slept through until about 10 am and Jim woke back up about 11 am. We’d missed breakfast at the hotel so headed for McDonalds….seems like there’s one every two blocks. No breakfast foods on the menu so we settled for cheeseburgers. I ate the meat out of a double cheeseburger and Jim ate the rest of the sandwich and another cheese burger. After breakfast we headed back towards a phone shop to see if we could get the cell phone working. We’d purchased a new phone that allows us to change the chips for each country. Now we just need to make them work! We stopped outside of an Internet Café to read the signs and a delightful young woman said, “May I help you with something?” Oh how nice to hear the language. She was born and raised in Boston and had decided to move here after spending a year in Spain during college.

We laughed and said we were just checking the prices for the use of the Internet. And then I said…do you have a minute to spare? I’ve got this cell phone and I can’t figure out how to make it work. Everything is in Spanish since I put the new chip in! She laughed and said of course. We were lucky in that it was Zoe’s day off and she spent at least half an hour with us. Took us to two shops and by the time she left us we had a working cell phone, additional minutes and the phone was programmed for English. I called my cell phone at home and left a message…nice thing is the phone numbers that I had in the phone are all still there. I just have to modify them to add the “001” before each number. She also pointed us in the direction of one of the best plazas in town, Plaza Mayor. The rest of the day was spent at two museums: Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the National Museum of Art “Reina Sofia”.

The Thyseen has all the great masters: Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, El Greco, Dega, and more lesser known. The masters were under a “glare-free” glass and lots of guards. We were not allowed to take photos. This was originally a private collection donated with the building to the government. They’ve expanded the collection and spent a fortune converting the home into a first class museum.

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia is located within sight of the main train station that the terrorists hit just a few months ago. We were there primarily to see Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” painting. One whole floor was dedicated to Picasso’s art. Sculpture and paintings. Very impressive. It was fun showing our I.D. and getting in for free as Seniors (over 65)…doesn’t always work as they sometimes limit it to European’s only.

Since it was after 5 pm we went to a local bar/café called La Piconera and had a great little dinner…who says you have to wait until 10 pm! I had fresh tuna in a salad and Jim had eggs & potatoes. That with the olives and bread made a filling dinner. Hiked back to the hotel and rested before heading out about 9 pm to see the evening sights. One thing that I’ve noticed is an abundance of Starbucks, in addition to the plethora of fast food from McDonalds, Burger Kings and even Subways . Don’t remember the Starbucks or Subways two years ago. We started out by following one of the recommended walking tours in the book that friends had given to us…it was printed in 1995, but still works. Saw some neat little plazas, one huge department store and other historic places. It was still daylight by the time we reached the Palace and Cathedral area. Strolled through the parks listening to the street musicians as we watched the street performers and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the valley’s surrounding Madrid. A very humid day, enough to make me carry an umbrella, but no rain drops.

June 12^th: This morning we ate breakfast in the hotel, included in the price of the room, and it reminded us of the hearty German breakfast. Eggs, meats, cheese, rolls, fruit and cereal. Also sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Very filling and much better than a hamburger from McDonalds. Walked over to the Cathedral to see the inside, check on the Mass times and also light candles for our siblings and children. Opps…they’re electric candles….but that’s ok…we said the same prayers.

Then on to the Palace for a tour of about twenty of the two hundred some rooms. The best part happened in the Music Room. On display were five instruments, 2 violins, a base violin, a cello and a viola. The only remaining set of instruments for the performance by a Quartet…Queen Sofia enjoys a musical now and then. These instruments are used to entertain her guests. Each instrument is valued at about three million dollars; they were created by Antonius Stradivarius in Cremona, Italy, between 1664 and 1736. Our last stop in Italy will be in Cremona in August.

But the best part is about a young high school girl from Colorado, one of a group that is touring and playing here in Spain. She is a violinist and was so emotional in seeing these instruments that she was sobbing her eyes out. I spoke briefly with the parent chaperon who was consoling her. Gave new meaning to what I was seeing there in the room.

From the Palace we walked across the Historical area toward the Museo National Del Prado. The Prado is known worldwide for having the best collection of old masters. The only thing that comes close is the Louvre. Again, being 65 years of age gained us free admittance. We so enjoyed following Rick Steve’s book on Museums. Jim was beginning to feel sated. I just followed along and absorbed the art lesson.

From the Prado we continued to the East and walked through the Retiro Park, Madrid’s answer to Central Park in New York. Originally it was the playground of the royals. A small lake in the center provided rowboats for rent. Being Saturday afternoon the population was out enjoying life. We were having overcast day (weather wise) but they were sunbathing, playing games and just enjoying themselves. We walked all the way to our next hotel, Fiesta Hotel Gran Colon, about four miles from our hotel. We decided to go back by the Metro; we purchased a ticket good for ten rides. Nice to ride home and we only had one transfer. We freshened up and then went across the street to the Bar Cadiz for our light evening meal about 5 pm. After dinner we set out to find the center of Spain…a spot on the sidewalk in front of the old Franco Police Station in the center of Puerta Del Sol. As you look up you see the Pio Pepe….the first billboard in Spain.

Slowly we meandered to the Cathedral again for Saturday evening Mass. It was nearly dark as we strolled back to the hot hotel room to call it an evening. They’ve given us a portable fan so we decided that the location was top good to lose as they have no other rooms available and or only choice is another hotel out of the area.

June 13^th: Sunday morning and we slept in. After breakfast in the hotel we packed our belongings, called a cab, and headed towards the new hotel. As you now know, I now have internet access. We made it a slow day so the feet could rest. Our big treat today was a trip by the Metro to the Bullfight. The Plaza Toros of Madrid. Purchased our tickets and then walked, talked and watched the people for three hours. We ate our evening meal at the Cafeteria Ceasar; across the street from the Arena.

About 6 pm we went inside and climbed to the nose-bleed section at the top…the cheap seats. But we did spring for an extra two dollars each so that we were in the shade. The program started promptly at 7 pm. Lots of drama. The first bull was really good and actually flipped the toreador during the ceremony…of course we both missed it with our cameras. The second and third bulls were allowed to live. The fourth bull was a feisty one who actually toppled a horse and gored the horse. He was finished by 8 pm and we decided we’d seen enough. Our plan was to stay for only one so we could say we’d seen a bullfight; but they go so rapidly we decided to stay a little longer. But by eight the concrete seats were getting pretty hard. Back to the Metro and home. We have an early call tomorrow morning at 6:30 am. On the bus by 8 am and headed south towards Toledo and Cordoba with our tour group.

June 14^th . Toledo, Spain

Six am wake up call this morning. Arrived at breakfast and found a room full of at least four tour buses. Very crowded and everyone trying to get out and on the road early. We had some high school girls sit with us and when I asked where they were from they said Colorado Springs. I asked if they’d toured the Palace on Saturday and when they sad yes, I related my experience with the girl crying over the Stradivarius music instruments. They laughed and said yes, that was Amy. I found out that they have been playing at pre-arranged places throughout Spain and Portugal. When I mentioned that we were going to France to see the Tour, the one next to me said how much she’d love to see the race as when they lived in Texas, her father actually raced against Lance Armstrong in his early years of racing. She said he was never able to beat Lance in a race. I told them to tell Amy that she made my journal on my experience in the palace.

On the road by 8 am, we battled our way through rush hour traffic to get out of Madrid. However, the tour guide doesn’t really know what traffic is…I thought we were moving pretty good. It was about an hour and half for the drive to Toledo, our first stop.

In Toledo we exited the bus at the top of the hill and walked for about 2.5 miles down thru the town on narrow cobblestone streets. We were told to ask directions to St. Martin’s bridge if we got lost from the tour group as that is where our bus would be meeting us. We stopped outside the Cathedral. Sorry that we were not going inside as it is magnificent according to Rick Steves. Oh well, an excuse for coming back someday. But we did stop at the small church of Santo Tome to see the original oil painting done by El Greco specifically for that church and wall when he lived in Toledo. Painting is called “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”. It was only removed from the wall once during the Spanish Civil war from 1936 to 1939.

From there we continued on our journey to the Jewish Synagogue, one of two that are left of the ninety some that were built in the city. The city is still decorated from the celebration for Corpus Christ feast day last Sunday. The whole town was decked out with statues, flags, flowers, etc. Due to the heat the paths for the procession were also covered with an awning strung from the tops of the buildings. The guide said that it was 110 degrees yesterday. We’re lucky this morning as it’s much cooler. Upon reaching St.Martin’s bridge, we boarded the bus for a short jaunt to the Artist Building where the government trains artist in the old method of gold threading in steel. Toledo has been known for centuries for their steel manufacturing…the best armor and swords come from Toledo. The artists use the steel to make jewelry, and intricately designed plates and other pieces of art. They take small pieces of steel. They cut fine lines into the steel to form an intricate design. Then they use threads of 24 caret gold to fill the lines. The gold is then pounded into the steel. The piece is than baked to set the gold and make it permanent. A six inch plate is worth about seven thousand euro. As an anniversary present, Jim purchased a two inch medallion with a bull and toreador design for our souvenir of Spain for the curio cabinet.

Back to the bus and a short trip to the next stop; just long enough for our director to “sell” us on the value of all the extra tours. There are ten extra tours available during the tour; we’ve decided to do five. We’re skipping the fancy dinners and will eat smaller meals…better for the waistline and the wallet. We’ve learned that if you do everything they offer on the schedule; you’re exhausted by the end of the trip.

While he was talking, we entered into the area of Spain known as La Mancha and I saw a castle on the hill surrounded by about ten windmills. Yes, just like the Man of La Mancha story that was written by a famous author from this region. This area is also known for the wine that it produces. The vineyards are different in that the grapes are left low to the ground and the grapes actually mature laying on the ground.

After a short lunch stop we were back on the bus by 2:30 for a three-hour drive to our next hotel in Cordoba. Lunch choices were slim…a salad or sandwich. In Spain you have a choice with sandwiches: Ham and cheese or cheese and ham. They also do not put any condiments on the sandwich. We ate lunch with two schoolteachers from Mission Viejo, California. Our tour consists of fifty percent Australians and fifty percent Americans. Mostly from California; but also a few from the east coast. The afternoon drive was definitely Siesta Time!

We have four teenagers traveling with parents and a nun from Australia traveling by herself. She wears her habit all the time, probably about seventy years old and seems to be having a good time. Ages for most of us are about 60 to 70 years of age. The vistas along the highway are mostly very small villages and farms. The area that we are traveling in now is known as Andaluisa. Lots of hills that are planted with producing olive trees. There are five hundred million olive trees in Spain and three hundred seventy million of those are located in the region of Andalusia. A very large industry for Spain. The harvest is from November to March. The majority of the pickers are from other countries. The soil in the plains is very rich due to the alluvial flow from the mountains known as the Sierra Nevada. The olive trees are relegated to the rocky hillsides going all the way to top of each hill. The Sierra Nevada is also their skiing resort and has snow almost year round. Fields of sunflowers are in full bloom now and the wheat crops are in the process of being harvested. Later we saw fields of asparagus, onions and other vegetables. Cherry trees and almonds trees; lots of lemon and orange trees except the oranges are more ornamental as the juice is sour. Wild Scotch Broom, a yellow bloom that is commonly seen on the way up the mountains to Big Bear in California. The buildings are all painted white to reflect the sun. The olives are all harvested by hand as the machines they’ve tried to use to shake the trees causes the roots to break.

We arrived in Cordoba, checked into the hotel located on the hillside outside of town in an area of upscale private homes. It is very beautiful and reminded me of a country club, but no cell phone reception. The evening was filled with our welcome drink…sangria…walking about the grounds and dinner in the hotel. Off to bed early as we will begin again in the early morning.

SNORKLING THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

August 3, 2008 Port Douglas, Australia A visit to the Great Barrier Reef

This is the last chapter of our adventure in Australia!

Yesterday afternoon while I was online sending my journals we acquired more roommates. I think they were a bit shocked when then walked into the room and found an old lady using her computer! But, we’ve become good friends. Amir and Lior are early twenties and from Israel; their companion who they met in Darwin is Adam from Germany, also in his early twenties. The girls returned from the beach and smiles returned to the boys faces! All three speak excellent English.

After enjoying a steak dinner, five of us walked downtown to the Ironbar for the Cane Toad Racing event that occurs every evening at 8:15. They have names for the toads and everything. Our numbers were not chosen, one has to purchase a $5.00 ticket to view the event; so we were part of the cheering section. Afterwards we were allowed to pick up the toads and give them a kiss. Oh yes I did but Mary wouldn’t touch them!

From Toad Races

Mary & I left to go over to the Zinc Restaurant to see the fish in the bathrooms before buying an ice cream cone to eat while we walked home. The others were also home early as we all had an early start this morning.

NOTE: I also found out about the pretty patterns on the beach: they are made by Bubbler Crabs, tiny sand colored crabs that are mainly in tropical Australia. They are rarely seen except after the tide goes out you see the results of their feeding by observing the tiny balls of sand that they leave in radiating circular patterns out from their small burrows.

Our day started at 7 am but I was awake before six and finished in the bathroom before the kids rolled out of bed. Adam was sleeping in but the two Israeli boys were joining us for the HABA boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. The bus arrived to pick us up for the short ride to the Marina at 8 am. Checked in and walked to the boat; we all left our shoes on the dock and boarded for our adventure. About fifty people; half were diving and the rest of us would explore by snorkeling. We established camp in the lounge and were soon joined by another young man named Sam who is from Melbourne; 26 years old and a rep for medical supplies. The girls decided he would be perfect for Bec and continued to promote the relationship all day long! Right now he is out with all of my roommates at the Ironbar for karaoke night…I elected to stay home even though they all encouraged me to go with them.

Our first adventure during our hour and a half ride to the reef was a stop to watch whales frolicking in the water very near the boat. We watched them for a good ten minutes before they finally left the area. There were three of them giving us a show. Our first stop on the Barrier Reef was at Cathedral Reef. We spent nearly two hours there; wonderful coral gardens and colorful schools of fish. It took a while for me to adjust to breathing through my mouth; but I mastered the skill and really enjoyed the moments. Mary held tight to my hand most of the time; I think she didn’t want to answer to her father if anything happened to me. After a while I shooed her off to the younger set and returned to the boat for a rest before grabbing a noodle and venturing out among those that were staying close to the boat. We had wetsuits and flippers that made it effortless to move about in the water.

They feed us a wonderful lunch during our trip to the next reef as the Marine Biologist on board kept us entertained with a lesson on the different types of fish and mammals that we might be seeing during our next adventure. Opal Reef had less of a current and was easier to swim in. Mary and I both swam without the wetsuits as the water was warm and very comfortable. Actually, Mary had taken her wetsuit off within five minutes at the first stop. This time we stayed mostly with the Marine Biologist as she led us around the reef, explaining what we were seeing as we snorkeled along. Occasionally she would dive down and bring something off the floor for us to touch. Mary enjoyed swimming further out and eventually spotted the large turtle and actually swam some distance with the turtle. I have a photo that I took from the top bridge that shows her swimming with the turtle just under the water. Everyone had a wonderful time! We didn’t see any sharks except for the lady who didn’t swim well and had paid for the ride in the glass bottomed boat.

On our way home we again stopped for a whale who decided to give us a show. He didn’t totally breach the water for us but circled our boat several time so close that we could almost feel the spray; lifting his tail high out of the water time after time!

We continued home sharing photos and stories with our group. As I said; Sam has joined the party and after dinner the three girls and four boys all headed for the bar and karaoke. I’m charging all of the electronic equipment with only two plugs in the room. I have a feeling they will be piling into the room about 2 am. I hope I’m sound asleep by then. Right now I’m going to close this and hope that I can send you a journal and some photos tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day and we’re going to the Daintree Rain Forest, the oldest in the world they say; and then to Cape Tribulation. It should be a busy day and then we head for the airport tomorrow night. Hope to send you one last journal before we leave.

Port Douglas August 4, 2008 Daintree National Forest

I’d just turned out the lights about 12:30 am when the girls came home. We never heard the boys come in. The girls were all in great spirits from their very successful evening of karaoke at the bar! Up at 7 am we quietly packed our bags and left the room by 8 am; the boys didn’t stir so if we woke them they pretended to still be asleep. Had our breakfast and then caught the bus with Becky, Becks and Sam for an all day tour at 9 am.

Our adventure today was to explore the Daintree National Forest; according to informational material, it is the oldest living forest in the world. It also is unique in that it connects to the Great Barrier Reef and both are National Heritage Sites.

On our way there we drove down the highway bordered on both sides by sugar cane fields again. This time I became aware of the very narrow gauge train tracks along side the road. Our tour driver/director said that this train was used to get the sugar cane to the mill for processing. The sugar cane must be processed within fourteen hours of harvest or it is spoiled.

Twenty of our tour mates had come all the way from Cairns this morning; a much longer trip than we had. Nice group, young and mostly from Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

We stopped for tea after reaching the edge of the forest. From there we boarded a small cruise boat for a wildlife cruise on the Daintree River. We were looking for crocodiles and snakes. Found three crocodiles, but no snakes. The captain was very good with his running narrative and Mary kept us all entertained with her constant questions and remarks. He was talking about the lack of parenting for the young and somehow it was suddenly about humans and she said, “This is my mother”. We all laughed and when the trip was over he thanked Mary for adding some fun to the journey and said goodbye Mum to me! A fun hour on the boat while the bus was transported across the river on the ferry boat; there are no bridges that cross the Daintree River and this is the only ferry crossing.

Once inside the bus we continued on until we reached the Marrdja Botanical Boardwalk through the forest. A raised boardwalk allowed us to stroll easily through the rain forest and observe many of nature’s treasures. One was a green ant. It has a bulb on it’s bottom that hold a juice that is full of vitamin C. People take a nest of them, crush them and use it as a cold remedy. She said we could lick it to check the taste. Becky tried and then I did. Our tongues tingled for about thirty minutes from the tart taste. It didn’t hurt the ant she said. We also smelled a cocoa ant. Then we saw the basket ferns, the bird nest ferns that are also known as “widow makers” because when the fall it can kill you. I also saw a beautiful stag horn fern.

From there we drove up the Cape Tribulation; the area where Captain Cook first ran aground and his troubles began. There we had a lunch and a stroll on the beach before heading back towards Port Douglas. We made a stop for an ocean view from the Alexander Lookout and then a half hour stop at Mossman Gorge. We ran to the swinging bridge (we were there on Saturday) and the girls ran across while I did the videos to show how well it bounced!

Lots of fun; we left the tour when it stopped in Port Douglas. The others had a half hour to explore before boarding the bus for their trip back to Cairns.

We will be having dinner and then boarding our bus for a ride to the airport at 8 pm. We have a 5 am flight out of Cairns tomorrow morning to Sydney and then home. So it’s a night in the airport because of the distance.

I do hope that you’ve enjoyed our adventure in Australia. Tune in tomorrow for the start of our next ARMCHAIR TRAVEL as we begin a three month trip with my husband in the summer of 2004 in Europe.

PORT DOUGLAS: Mossman Gorge National Park

 August 1, 2008... Port Douglas, Northeast Coast of Australia

 After a day of travel we arrived very late at night and had to spend the first night in a very crowded dorm room.  We woke about 7:30 am; by 8:30 am we were packed and out of a very messy room.  We couldn’t check into our new room until 11:30 so we found the Internet Corner and logged into our computers as we ate breakfast.  Finally, I am able to connect with wireless on my own laptop again!  Who knows why, but it works here and I’m not going to question why.  We still have food with us from Sydney.  Communal kitchen is well stocked with dishes, etc.  Many of the guests make all of their own meals.  We’re lucky as our dinners are included in the tour package we purchased for our stay here.  They provided breakfast for everyone; but it’s just plain cereal, toast and coffee or tea.

We have been placed in an eight bed dorm room again but it has an in suite bathroom so we don’t have to go down the hall to the common bathrooms.   Also, it looks like there are only going to be four of us in this room.  We’ve all four booked the package tour as opposed to just renting rooms so they’re being extra nice to us.  Our roommates are two girls in their late twenties who teach English in schools in Tokyo, Japan.  One of the girls is from Ohio and the other from Melbourne Australia.  They met in Japan when the same company hired them; recruiters had come to their colleges during their senior years.  Both have an adventurous spirit and enjoy the challenges of living in a foreign country.

We’ve bonded rather well and have enjoyed sharing stories about our adventures here in Australia.  Becky (Rebecca) has been here for two weeks, mostly around Darwin.  Becks (Rebecca) is the Australian and just arrived yesterday from Tokyo; she will fly from here to Melbourne to visit her family.  Becky will be going to Sydney from here to visit friends.  We’ve really been very fortunate to have wonderful people around us during this trip.

Today we spent the afternoon walking all over the town; it’s very much like being in Hawaii.  Saw a wedding going on at St. Mary’s Church.  Did some shopping…but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $250 for a beautiful “rock”…literally…as a souvenir.  My journal and photos will have to do.  This is the first trip that I haven’t done postcards; seems strange but photos on my blog and journals will do.

We walked to town together and then split up with Mary and I exploring the Marina and then headed for the beach.  Low tide and you could walk forever on the hard packed sand.  There were some interesting patterns on the beach made by some sea creature as they deposited small balls of sand as they tunneled.  By the time we left the beach we had a long walk back to our hostel and dinner. 

Tomorrow we start our adventure tours. 

 Port Douglas…August 2, 2008

 ^{Woke up about 7:30 and we ambled down to fix our breakfast with cereal that we purchased yesterday at the store.  We still had tea bags for our hot drink along with fruit.  We were all sitting around the pool enjoying our breakfast because we’d been told that we didn’t have to be ready until 9 am.  Suddenly at 8:30 the hotel staff showed up and said our bus had arrived to pick us up for our tour today!  Seems as though they’d made a mistake on the time; luckily we’d all put our backpacks together last night and we were able to dash up the stairs…we’re on the third floor; get our bags and run to the bus.  We all had on our flip flops and changed into our boots after we got on the bus!  From there they made a few more stops and eventually our group numbered eight people:  a couple from Poland; another from Wisconsin and the four of us.}

Half an hour later we arrived at our first destination having passed field after field of very tall sugar cane.  We are in the Mossman Gorge National Park and our first hike is a discovery walk through the Kuku Yalanji, a Rain Forest, with an aborigine woman named Rosy.  She was a real little spitfire who shared with us many of the secrets of her people for survival in the forest.  Before we entered the forest we were all given bug spray for our arms and legs.  We learned how to make fire from a seed, houses and weapons from trees and leaves, soap and healing balms from a plants and many more very interesting things.  She stressed that her people were lucky because if there is another world war they will know how to survive off the land; she felt sorry for us.  She stressed three things:  Common Sense, Patience and Communication.  These she felt would allow anyone to survive in this world.

She told us how her people are buried inside of trees, never in the ground.  They open up the tree and put the body inside; then the tree continue to grow around the body.  She talked about the government taking the children from their parents and many other cultural customs and history. 

Rosy had married a white man and had two sons with him.  She said she finally left him because he didn’t communicate.  She also said her sons had many European features but that they both had the bulbous nose which is so distinctive among the aborigine people.  She was really a fascinating woman who has come back to the rain forest to share her knowledge that she learned from her parents and grandparents with others.   

At the end of the two hour tour she gave us hot tea and damper cake that she’d made that morning.  Soon we were back on our bus headed for our second tour of the day.

Nearby was Mossman Gorge walk.  We went on our own hike on well marked trails.  We had an hour and half to complete a two kilometer loop walk through another rain forest that included a swinging bridge that was limited to twenty people at a time.  We waited until it cleared on the way back so that we could run across it!  Wow…could it ever swing!

We had just enough time to stop at the swimming hole; exchange our boots for flip flops and wade in the icy cold water before heading back to the bus and our trip home.

We walked to town and purchased fish & chips for lunch.  The three girls took their food and headed for the beach.  I decided to return to the Hostel and work on photos and my journal.  I enjoy being with the girls but sometimes I know when to take some time away.  We do get a bit wiser as we grow older; but Rosy did say that I was the youngest 69 year old she’d seen!   Probably says that to all the old women on her tours!

Tonight we’re going in to town after dinner to rent some toads to race; they have nightly toad races at one of the bars in town.  Should be fun; but since we have to on the bus by 8 am tomorrow morning for our all day snorkeling adventure on the Great Barrier Reef; it may be an early evening.  

AYERS ROCK WALK ABOUT

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The guide woke is up very early in morning with a roaring bonfire for light as it was still dark. We rolled our bags while the guide made us breakfast; nothing fancy but filling.  And, we were on the road by dawn and headed for the National Park.

The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and Ayers Rock (Uluru) are both located in the National Park.  We arrived late afternoon and visited The Olgas first.  Our hike there was not quite as tough but still took us nearly three hours to complete.  Off in the bus for the Cultural Center at the base of Ayers Rock.  There Mark pulled out his magic pot and cooked us a great hot lunch before we walked over to visit the center.  Afterwards we took a short walk at the base of Ayers Rock to see some of the sacred sites.  This whole area is considered very sacred by the Aborigine people and they ask you not to climb Ayers Rock.  Several of the sites at the base are clearly marked that no photographs are allowed.   

Ron, yes the 80 year old, and Matt, a 22 year old Brit were the only ones planning to climb the rock.  Just as they arrived today, rangers closed the trail because of a possible storm.  So they will try again tomorrow morning.  Off in the van we drove to the sunset viewing area to watch the changing lights on Ayers Rock as the sun set amid a cloudy sky.  We were also allowed to enjoy some of our beer while we waited for the sunset.  Some groups had chairs and champagne but we were definitely having more fun!  Mark had fixed our dinner of chicken curry while we viewed the sunset and we enjoyed a tasty treat before leaving the viewing area.

Arrived at our “out back” campsite, similar but a different area, after dark again.  Toilets were again in the bush wherever you could get out of the light of the bonfire.  Since we’d already had dinner we got the rolled swags out as soon as our bonfire was built.  Mary had a headlamp and enjoyed gathering wood with the boys!  Around the roaring fire we sang songs of every nation but mostly English.  We played Musical Swags with Ron (80) and Linda, from Connecticut being the last two survivors…Linda won! 

After a bit of fun with the Hocky Pokey…which everyone knew….we unrolled our swags, inserted our sleeping bags and called it a night with another fantastic star watch.  It was warmer tonight with the clouds but no rain and they didn’t seem to spoil our view.

Up again by 6 am, we were on the road without toilet or breakfast to get to the viewing area for sunrise and Ayers Rock.  Because of the cloud cover we actually went to the sunset viewing area so that we’d have the view of the clouds behind Ayers Rock as the clouds prevented the colors that normally envelope the mountain at sunrise. 

Ron and Matt both got to climb the rock; they arrived minutes before the rangers again closed the mountain to new climbers because of wind.  Coming down our hikers managed to save a woman who lost her footing; Ron grabbed her as she slid head down the mountain.  He really is our #1 guy!

The rest of us spent the morning walking the base of Ayers Rock; a flat but very long two hour walk.  We were very tired, smelly and definitely dirty by the time we climbed back into the bus for our long journey back to Alice Springs.  We left Ayers Rock at noon and arrived in Alice Springs at 4:30 pm.  During our walk in the morning, Mark stayed at the bus and prepared a tasty pasta lunch with tuna and corn.  We dished and ate as we drove.  Being in the front seat, I dished the dishes as we passed them back into the bus.  We had left over chocolate, crackers and marshmallows from last night; did I mention we did some-mores!    

We arrived back at Annie’s Place in Alice Springs and hot showers, laundry and dinner in that order.  We had a huge table that fix us all; dinner was extra cheap at $5 a dish; plus the beer flowed as pitcher after pitcher arrived on the tables.  The music blared even louder than on our trip.  There were many Ipods on our bus, all full of fun music which I’m sure a few of the older folks didn’t enjoy as much.  But, the youth outnumbered us and the music was very loud and rock and roll!  Mary was the cheerleader and kept everyone in stitches as she danced with her hands on the bus as we rumbled down the highway.    She seems to know the names of the bands and lyrics to all the songs they were playing. 

The party went on into the wee hours and the last revelers left when the bar closed.  I departed about midnight, ready for a real bed.  We even danced… all of us….old and young…on the table tops during the party.  The star of the party was Sam (from England) who was celebrating his 21^st birthday.  At sunrise that morning, we surprised him with a cake with candles and champagne!  His mum had given him a “birthday celebration” package before he left home six months ago.  He had a pin the tail on the donkey, balloons and noise makers.  I must say it was one heck of a party! 

Today is Thursday and we’re waiting for our afternoon flight to Cairns and Port Douglas.   Mary has been a real trouper and picked up much of my share of the workload on this tour.  I try to be open to adventure and having fun.   We're anxious to get to the coast for some warmer weather! But,  we'll miss the sunrises and sunsets of Ayers Rock...

From Mulga Day Two

ALICE SPRINGS - OUTBACK ADVENTURE

Alice Springs…Sunday, July 27, 2008

Woke up this morning to rain; but we were out and at the car before 6 am.  Those ponchos came in handy again.  Using instructions from the staff at Greenhouse Backpackers we made it to the airport in less than an hour.  Raining all the way!  Checked in, called home and settled in to wait for our plane for Alice Springs.  We got an aisle seat for me and a window for Mary; a very nice eighth grade boy sat between us.  He was with his “footie” ball team traveling home to Alice Springs.  His dad works in the gold mines and mother is an attorney.  Mary had fun conversing with him as I caught an extra few winks on the two and half hour trip.  They fed us a wonderful chicken sandwich on some of the most delicious bread I think I’ve ever eaten. 

Our transportation to Annie’s Place was waiting at the airport.  We’re all checked in for the night and then at 5 am tomorrow morning we leave for our three day outback experience with Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock with the Mulga Tour Company.  We’ll sleep two nights under the stars.  Warm during the day and very, very cold at night we’re told. 

This afternoon we headed downtown and toured two museums.  The first one was of the Flying Doctors that have created a wonderful medical system for Australia with their airplanes.  Mary purchased her “outback” hat in the shop there and also some Australia music on a CD for their follow up meeting for World Youth Day.  The CD has many of the songs that her group learned while they were here.

Our second museum was about Australian Women and how they have contributed to the building of the country.  One of the first things we saw was a huge quilt made up of squares signed by many of these women.  Wonderfully displayed with many artifacts; this Museum was just moved last year into the “old jail”.  So it is a double museum as they have preserved the jail and it is also open for viewing. 

We then walked into the main part of town and saw many aborigine people, they make up about ninety percent of the population that live here fulltime.  Found their K-Mart…yes, and also a Best Western Hotel.  Walked around town and saw Bo Jingles Bar and just had to stop in for a beer and listen to their two guitar playing singers perform several songs before walking back to the Hostel.   We’ve had showers, packed our single backpack that holds everything we need for the next three days; we ate dinner here and will try the Internet in a bit.  Do hope my computer signs on and I can sent a few things.  If not, see you in three days!

Alice Springs  Monday, July 28, 2008

Up at 5 am; we were in the lobby with our bedsheets by 5:30 as we’d been told.  Where was everyone?  Finally Amtje and Jochem (Beligium) arrived and no one else!  We were a bit put out when everyone started showing up about 6 pm…a half hour late!  The four of us hadn't realized that we were in a different time zone and should have set our clocks back half an hour...yes...they have half hour time differences in some areas of Australia!

We put our extra bags into the storage room, left our computers with the office staff, ate a quick breakfast of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches provided by the tour and loaded into the Mulga’s tour bus.  This bus was our home for the next three days and two nights. 

By dawn we were well down the road and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.  Our destination for Monday was King’s Canyon; a six hour bus trip!  Mary had snagged the front seats behind the driver and we’d planned to move about on other days; but the first thing that Mark, our tour director and driver did was to have everyone introduce themselves and then Sam, who had the seat opposite the driver, write the names on the windshield.  When asked about rotating seats Mark said “no, every one generally keeps the same seats for the whole trip”! ; so we did! 

Our tour had seven college students, two girls and five boys, from England, all in their twenties.  Five of them have been studying here for six months.  We had a married couple from New  Zealand, Ron was the oldest member of the group at 80 years and I was second at 69.  Joan, Ron’s wife is only 68.  The only other Americans were Dave and Linda from Connecticut, either early sixties or late fifties.  Maeliss and Nicolas are married, late twenties, early thirties, and attorney’s living and working in Paris.  Yes, they were French but spoke excellent English.  We had a single girl from Austria.  Two German girls in their twenties who have been working here for a year and their parents who’d arrived to tour with them.  The parents spoke very, very little English.  Our Belgium friends are both teachers and just good friends who travel together during vacation breaks.  That should total twenty five with thirteen women and a dozen men including our guide. 

We ate lunch along the road; they’d prepared tuna and egg sandwiches for use and continued our drive.  Along the road we’d see an occasional kangaroo, some of them dead after being hit by cars; a common occurrence, also lots of cows roaming loose and also prey to the vehicles driving at night.

We stopped at the Camel Farm and those that wanted got to ride a camel around the ring; yes, Mary and I shared a camel for the brief ride that also included a run at the end; a very jarring experience. 

Arrived in King’s Canyon in the early afternoon and hiked the Canyon Rim trail.  The worst part of the trail was near the beginning, they call it “heart attack hill”.  Not too long but very, very steep.   The hike was over three hours and it was hot!  Each person carried their own l.5 liter bottle of water and we each drank all of it before the end of the trail.  And this is their winter:  it’s probably over 120 degrees in this canyon in the summer months.  They haven’t had much rain in nineteen months so definitely a drought.  We were a sweaty, smelly bunch as we climbed into the bus to continue our adventure.

It was dark by the time we pulled into our private campsite for the night.  In the dark we all helped unpack the bus; used our torches (flashlights) to gather firewood and built a roaring bonfire in short order.  Ah, light!!!    Mark then set up his kitchen and fixed us a great dinner of rice, beans and camel meat.   We all washed our own dishes and helped to clear up afterwards. 

I forgot to mention that during the afternoon we taken a count of those that wanted beer or wine and had stopped to purchase our drinks for the next two days; so we washed our food down with beer and enjoyed the stars.  Around the bonfire we shared stories and really got to know one another.  Ron, our 80 year old is the life of the party.  He plays on a tennis team and has climbed many major mountains in his lifetime. 

Soon we grabbed our swags, a large canvas sleeping bag that is water proof.  Inside of that we had a sleeping bag.  It got really cold the first night and we put on many layers of clothes plus raising our hoods on our sweatshirts to protect our head and ears from the cold.  No, I did not get up during the night once I was tucked in.  Our bathroom facilities were out of the rim of the bonfire in the bush! 

I can’t remember the last time when I’ve seen so many stars and the Milky Way.  We also had a great view of the Southern Cross constellation; someone called it "our thousand star hotel"! We all slept soundly after a very active day and tomorrow will be more of the same!