More Australian Trip photos

Greetings Group.. I'm finally getting around to posting a few pictures of our trip with Ralph and Susi  to Australia and nearby.  At this point, we are on the 15th day of the trip--Feb 25--and still have 15 to go--plus air travel to here and back home.

Day 1--Feb 12

This first pic is of a set of Rocks in Pirate Bay near Port Arthur.The very Skinny rock to the left of the left-most two rocks is called Candlestick Rock,according to someone in our tour group.

 

 

Here is an Emu feeding and getting some help from his :friends."  This was at a Wildlife refuge--not out in the wild..

 

Next two shots are of the very mild mannered Tasmanian Devil at the same refuge.  The animal trainer actually was able to pick the Devils up and lit us pet them--gingerly..

 

You can probably guess what this is--one of many varieties of Kangaroo.  This is one of the smaller varieties and we haven't seen the really big boys yet....

 

Day 2--Feb 13th

We spent this day wandering around Port Arthur and taking a scenic trip out into the countryside.

This photo is the Tasman Arch, the middle arch in a group of 3.  The first arch is very small--just getting started--and the third arch is actually crumbled in since it finally got too big to support itself..

 

This is a pic of Tessellated Pavement where sea action and other effects have cracked the flat surface rocks and added some deposits to emphasize the straight lines in the rocks...

We hiked back into Wineglass Bay to get this photo.  Quite a hike!!

Day 3—Feb 14

 

Here is a shot of Remarkable Cave from the Inlet side and the Cave Outlet side.  It is a big hole blasted in the rock from years of ocean action. 

Port Arthur was one of the early areas in Australia that housed colonies of prisoners.  Here is a photo of the old prison and surrounding buildings.  The prison was closed about 100 years ago but the town of Port Arthur kept going.

Russell Falls—and Horseshoe Falls

An unidentified micromarsupial near Russell Falls..   Note the big hind legs – and it hoped like a kangaroo…

This is a view of the Melbourne Skyline.  We visited a local rain forest park and took this shot from up above the city..

Downtown Melbourne at the Train Station.  Old building that occupied most of a city block

Koalas at the Melbourne Zoo.  This was our first chance to see Koalas in Australia, but we had several chances as the trip went on.

 

Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (North Central Australia) is near Ayers rock and the real Outback area….The first photo is the Veterans Memorial in the city—typical of the genuine respect shown for military participation all over the country.    The second photo is of the Gallah bird which is considered a real junk bird in the area.  A term of huge disrespect for any person is to call them a Gallah—like “stupid”  or “idiot” in our country…

On the way to Ayers Rock, we stopped for a little amusement and rest at an Aborigine roadside stop.  the offered Camel rides and here is a photo of what the camel thought of being ridden…..

Here are three photos of the Iconic Ayers rock and its companion rock, the Olgas…The first picture is Ayers Rock at sunset—beautiful color.  The second photo is Ayers Rock at sunrise with the beautiful color of the early light.  The third picure is the Olgas at sunset….

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This is the day we went to the Great Barrier Reef.  You can see the complex coral formation—and realize that there are many (!) more different configurations of coral in this huge area.

Grammy gets a first-hand didgeridoo lesson and lives to tell about it.  Second photo came from downtown Cairns—some local advice to shoppers….

Attention Ernie—here is a photo of the Papayan Frogmouth Owl..a really cute little thing that you might like to snuggle with….

This is a brief summary of photos through 2/25—and I hope there will be more to follow. 

One or two a day—I hope that is enough to give you an idea of what’s going on with us….

Greetings from Down Under...funny how things actually look normal from upside down....and the weather is nice!!

Day 1 at the Wildlife Preserve--the Mom gets Brave

More on all this good stuff later.  I'm going to have to figure out a better way to do this.  Internet here in AU is "possible" but frail, and phone is just a little better, and more costly.  You may get the rest of this blog when we get back to Three Fingers Ranch.....

The Mom and the Dad....having fun.

I'm starting this blog to see if I can keep up with the details of the Australia/New Zealand trip.  I'll send this one out and keep it brief, mainly to make sure I can even send a blog to anyone....and by the way, here is a photo of the folks we are going over to meet.  Susi sent this to Travis to show his kids--that explains the label on the photo...

From the Walkabout Group (Us)

Who'd have known.....too much time to prepare for a long trip is too much!