Oct. 13

Friday October 13



This is our second full day in Cairns and we are having a great time, marveling at the great difference between here and Sydney … much smaller and laid back, a kind of Lake Geneva-ish vibe to it. Lots of hippies and street musicians on foot, bicycles, skateboards, etc. Tons of clubs, coffee houses, restaurants along the “Esplanade,” which is kind of the main drag through town along the waterfront.



Our motel (Breakfree Royal Harbour) has a cosmopolitan feel to it, with a sleeping area as you first enter the door. Then the space opens to a kind of studio apartment with kitchenette (complete with our own washing machine!), sitting area, and then a lovely balcony overlooking the swimming pool, and we can see clear to the ocean.



View from our balcony

Far outshines our tight accommodations in Sidney. We are quite happy here, and both of us have a suitcase full of freshly laundered clothes!



Well, so much has happened since the last blog entry Oct. 9, so let’s get to it.


Tuesday October 10

We did two major things today. One was Sydney's Taronga Zoo, opened in 1919. It is built into the side of a steep hill; you take a cable car "pod" to the top, and slowly walk your way back down, taking in all the animal exhibits along the way. The admission was $46 Australian apiece, and the ferry $17 apiece round trip, but well worth it, I thought. They have an extraordinary exhibit of lizards, which I guess is only natural because Australia has so many. We also saw giraffes, elephants, tigers (tigers barely!). Also, an extraordinary show of seals showing their various behaviors. One trainer guided an Australian Sea Lion right in front of us, and he is beautiful, with a light brown patch of fur  on the top of his head. Much different (and smaller in size) than the California Sea Lion which we in the states are more accustomed to seeing.

Australian Sea Lion

lizard



 

The Sydney Opera House “package” on Tuesday Oct. 10 was simply wonderful, and a great “capper” to our stay in that city. It began at about 3:30 that afternoon with an included early dinner at the Opera Bar. We (Julie and I) had our choice of three entrees, and we both went with the fish 'n' chips, which was a generous portion of beer battered white fish served with lemon and tartar sauce, and French fries. Water for Julie, and Australian blonde beer for me. All excellent.



We met up with our tour guide at approximately 5 p.m. and given headsets so the tour guide didn’t have to speak so loud, thereby not disturbing anyone who might be practicing in the various venues we visited. There were 31 people in our group. We got to see one of the smaller performance "playhouse" venues where production people were setting up the props. We got to see various utility spaces, and a practice ballet studio. And we got a peak at the choir rehearsal (from the highest balcony) in the Great Hall for the performance we were to see that evening.



After the tour, we lined up for entrance to our section in the performance hall, and we had beautiful floor (orchestra) level seats

seated at the Opera House

for the performance of “Songs of My Country” which consisted of three boys’ choirs which each performed singly, then joined for a combined finale of near 200 voices on the stage. The choirs consisted of the Sydney Childrens’ Choir, the Gondwana Indigenous Childrens’ Choir, and the Vienna Boys Choir.



The first two choirs performed music composed by various Australian composers, and there was accompaniment by various musical instruments indigenous to Australia, and lots of hand/body gestures. Some of language was native Aboriginal and we couldn’t understand it, but we enjoyed the melodies and harmonies. The songs sung in English spoke of mythic themes involving the earth, sky, and ocean. After the intermission, the VBC took over and did a program consisting of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Strauss, and others. Some numbers were sung a cappella, while others were accompanied by a pianist who was also their musical director. As a finale, all three choirs came together and performed a world premiere number composed especially for this event. It started with a Beethovan-like riff, and blossomed from there, with nods to ancient and modern Australian music with the most modern contributor to the musical suite being born in 1993, just 24 years old! The performance lasted nearly 15 minutes, and ended with a thunderous crescendo that brought the audience to a standing ovation that had to have lasted 5 minutes or more as the conductors and various musicians took their bows. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house; certainly not mine. They also performed one encore number.



It is hard to describe to you all the beauty of the Great Hall’s interior. A vast space with vaulted ceilings that seemed to go on forever. Organ pipes and the organ console mounted high up on the front facing wall. Truly an architectural wonder that matched the beauty and majesty of the outside. We were most fortunate to be here this year, because next year they are closing the Great Hall for 18 months for renovation. The next largest performance venue is also quite beautiful (and is closed at the moment because they are completing renovation on it) but the second venue is not quite as large and doesn’t contain the organ and pipes. What we got to see tonight was the cream of the performance venues, and the only one large enough to contain a full symphony orchestra with organ and choir accompaniament. What a thrill to cap off our time in Sydney!



Oct. 11



Time to say goodbye to Sydney. We had a quick breakfast in our hotel room of “take away” from one of the nearby food kiosks on the street … egg, bacon, cheese, and spinach wrapped in a flour tortilla-like wrap, and we split a blueberry muffin. Delicious.



With no shuttles available to the Sydney airport, we were left with a $50 Uber ride as our only option. I don’t think that was too back, because I heard the shuttle ride was $20 apiece, and it was a moot point anyway because the one shuttle bus was full already. Anyway, we got to the airport in good order, but had quite the cluster-fuck experience checking in because our combined checked luggage was 4 kilos (about nine pounds) over their weight limit, and we got socked with a $100 luggage surcharge. This is Tiger Air, if anyone is interested. Base fares are low, but then they get you with a skinny luggage allowance. I guess you just have to accept this if you’re going to travel. No point in getting too upset about it, because they’ve got you by the short hairs.



We arrived Cairns in about three hours, and set our watches back yet another hour. A $12 Unber ride brought us to our motel in the heart of downtown Cairns.

 

We got our luggage partially unpacked, and then set out to find a place for a nice dinner. We were early (especially with the time change) so finding a nicer dining venue on the oceanfront was a bit a challenge since most places didn’t open for about 90 minutes from our arrival time at the ocean’s edge. We found a place called “Dundee’s” (as in “Crocodile”) that served us drinks and some appetizers (garlic bread, cold antipasto platter) to tide us over before dinner. I had a cold local brew, while Julie had an ice cream drink made with some kind of chocolatey liquere. At 5:30, we were seated for dinner on the boardwalk and shared a delicious “surf-n-turf” dinner of top sirloin (medium-rare) and about 8 large-size shrimp, all bathed in a rich butter sauce, with baked sweet potato and various julienned vegetables served on the side. It all came to $105 Australian, including the apps and drinks, and we both thought this was a good value to the quantity of quality of food we received.

One of the interesting things we observed about Cairns is the daily arrival around sunset of the fruit bats ... hundreds and hundreds of them. We see them perform a circular pattern around this area of the city. No doubt this is their feeding time. They are huge!

We skipped dessert at Dundees because we both wanted to do a little grocery shopping at the local supermarket (Woolworth’s, if you can believe it) for breakfast provisions and a few little treats for the room, seeing as how we had this beautiful little kitchenette. We bought some pastries, a loaf of bread, a small jar of peanut butter, a jar of apricot preserves, some bananas, and a couple containers of yogurt. At the deli concession, I bought a caramel tart for dessert that evening, but Julie passed, saying she was full. On the walk back to the motel, I popped inside a McDonalds for a “coffee” and was told the only coffee they make is a latte concoction that cost $4.50, which was a dollar more than the caramel tart! But I was too tired to argue, so I bought it. At least it was made by a barista and came out of a real espresso machine.


Back at the motel, I consumed my evening treat, and then if was off to bed.



October 12 (Thursday)



Today, it was early to rise because we needed to be at the reef cruise terminal by 8 a.m. We had pastries, bananas, and yogurt for breakfast, then set out on the 0.3 mile walk to the reef terminal. We got checked in, and boarded the large catamaran which would take us on the 1.5 hour journey to the reef platform. There were perhaps 80 of us on board for the day’s adventure. The water was quite choppy, and we witnessed several people upchucking and/or looking to be in various stages of motion sickness.



We received several instructional sessions from various crew members on our way out on how to proceed once we reached the floating platform. Once we arrived, I stripped to my bathing suit, got a pair of flippers, a mask, and snorkel, and proceeded to the exit platform where I donned my equipment and basically flung myself into the water with the other snorkelers. It was beautiful. Fish of every size and color were swimming around me everywhere. I wasn’t in the water five minutes, when I felt something slippery rub up against me, and I turned to see “Wally,” a Giant Maori Wrasse, who has claimed this section of ocean by the floating platform as his “territory.”

Me and "Wally" Great Barrier Reef

He kind of startled me, but we were told from the beginning that he would likely “visit” various snorkelers in search of food handouts. I was lucky in that one of the professional photographers was close by, and snapped several photos of me and Wally. Lucky because once Wally senses that you have no food for him, he moves on rather quickly. One of the staffers on the platform performs a “feeding demonstration” in the afternoon alongside the entry platform, and of course Wally is right there in the thick of things getting his share.


I had no problems with motion sickness, and went in for two separate swims into the reef. However, unfortunately, (sis-in-law) Julie after succumbed after about 15 minutes on the platform and became nauseous and woozy. So much so that she could not partake in the included luncheon aboard the platform, nor even look at the food. Yours truly had no such issues, and filled my plate from the buffet line of cold salads, fresh fruits, cold meats, even sushi. They had several hot items as well, but I wasn’t in the mood for hot food. They only had water on the platform. If you wanted other beverages, you had to cross over to the catamaran (which was lashed to the platform during the entire time) where they had a full bar of alcoholic and soft beverages.



Julie and I partook of the glass bottom boat sailing (which was included in the price) but by this time she was green around the gills and couldn’t fully appreciate it. I took advantage of the semi-submersible boat ride (also included) but Julie stayed behind on the platform.



At 3:30, it was “all aboard” the catamaran for the 1.5 hour boat ride back to the Cairns harbor. The ride back seemed to be more “gentle” than the ride there. I purchased some photos, which were processed right there aboard the boat (amazing!), and I also had a cold Corona. Julie sat still in her seat for most of the journey, now reporting a headache in addition to the floppy stomach. I have never witnessed her seasick in all the cruises we have done together, but the motion aboard this smaller boat was on a whole different level, and I suppose everyone has their level of tolerance. I felt bad that Julie couldn’t have felt better on this adventure, but she reported it was an amazing experience nonetheless.



I struggle with words to describe my thoughts/feelings about the GBR. How do you begin to describe a living organism that stretches over 1,400 miles and is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands? I am at once thrilled to have seen it, if only a tiny, tiny part of it, but also sad to bear witness to its decay. It must have been exponentially more beautiful 50 or even 20 years ago when the colors formed an underwater tapestry of bright, vibrant colors. What I saw today was mostly grey, with an occasional splash of blue or purple. It is said the GBR is dying. I am not going to get into the politics of whether this is “our” (humankind’s) fault, or simply the earth cycling through a natural series of ever changing events on a scale that we can scarcely imagine. Probably some of each. We are definitely a species that has still has not learned the concept of not shitting where we eat, so we are very likely hastening the process whereby eventually our poor planet will no longer sustain us. But certainly from what all I’ve read, the planet has gone through cataclysmic changes over the millennia without any “help” from us. Whatever you choose to believe, it is sad to think that one day this wonderous place will no longer be here.



We got back to the dock and walked back to the motel, Julie trying to shake off the stomach flops as best she could. She went ahead to the hotel, while I stopped at a coffee bar just outside the hotel and got a regular coffee for $2. I made a quick stop at the pool deck for fresh towels for the room, since ours were damp with seawater. First order of business was showers for the both of us to rinse off seawater and sunscreen. I then enjoyed my coffee with a piece of toast with apricot jam, while Julie relaxed and got her stomach under control (but the headache continued to linger, into today). She finally felt well enough to have some dinner, so we found a German place just down the street, and we each got a sausage platter, and I had a nice Munich lager. Afterward, we went down the street a little ways to a Swiss gourmet ice cream shop called Movenpick, and we each got a double scoop in sugar cones. Mine was Swiss chocolate on the bottom with a macadamia nut/caramel swirl on the top. Julie went with mint chocolate on the bottom, Swiss chocolate on the top. Damn near peed myself. Delicious, especially the Swiss chocolate. Might have to go back there for an encore. I’ll bring a Depends just in case. Back to the motel. Finished another novel, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” by Michael Connelly. Excellent. Off to bed.


That’s all for now. We are off the Brisbane tomorrow.

Bruce







Bruce