AUSTRALIA
The following 'Overall Summary' gives an indication of my COVERAGE in the Australian Continent but a fuller travelogue is given in the Australian Page! and this will be introduced and expanded as time progresses!
Date Day Activities Sleep at.. 17 March Tues Malvern Link train 0629 On Qantas plane Arr Paddington 0850 (first notice the very ExpressTrain to Heathrow parched desert land 1015 Checkin at Terminal 4 indicating drought) Flight QF2:London- SydneyIMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA in 'EL NINO'
I noticed the DROUGHT here in the far NORTH of Australia - and later on - was aware of the dried up River Beds (e.g Alice Springs etc) elsewhere. Farmers and others were struggling for survival and 'praying' for rains. Unfortunately, the El Nino effect was having its biggest bash of the CENTURY (that of 1997-8). Normally, of course, the very warm waters of the Central Pacific are pushed West and provide Australia with more than sufficient precipitation! The El Nino effect, occuring every few years, pushes that warm water (and interacts with it and absorbs its very moisture into the winds which head EASTWARDS to the west coasts of North and South Americas. Those countries, then, get severe storms and flooding - as we have all seen on TV!! I was in the middle of the 'moisture denial' phase that Australia was suffering!! It was really the tele-connection between EL NINO and LA NINA!! 18 Mar Wed arr Sydney - 2045 Novotel Darling Harbour (You may recall that the SYDNEY Olympics had its BOXING at Darling Harbour - at the Exhibition Centre - and that is where the British boxer, Audley Harrison, made an historic record as a Super Heavyweight! It explains, even way back in 1998, why so much building-work was confusing us all around the Harbour!)
19 Mar Thurs "Settling-in" day & Ditto Personal walks/explorations MADE with DIDI. We had discussed making these walks whilst on the very long flights over from the UK! I had presented DIDI with a proposed walking route, missing out the shops, getting in ALL the parks, the harbour surrounds, the OPERA House, and whatever 'grabbed our fancy'! After just one small-stop in-town for Currency, an attractive old shopping arcade and the fabulous AMP Tower (tallest in Australia) we headed off for the GREEN areas. Totally enchanting!! Click for AMP TOWER photo - at 305metres tall, the tallest Australian building!! Click for Peninsular view from AMP TOWER Click for fabulous View from Peninsular Click for Didi's relaxation in Botanic Garrdens 20 Mar Fri TourOpera House & Ditto Harbour Bridge Click for Opera House photo 21 Mar Sat Bondi Beach ,Paddington, Ditto The Rocks, BLUE MOUNTAINS
All over Australia, up to now, they had boasted about their individual things being "the biggest in the World". In most, nay ALL, cases I had visited even larger items elsewhere the World. Their boasting has got to be taken with a pinch of salt!
However, on todays trip, outside the construction of the SYDNEY OLYMPIC STADIUM, we saw, at a distance, the QLC. Those initials stand for "Quite Large Crane" - but, I hear elsewhere, that the QLC is the World's Largest Crane!
22 Mar Sun Fly from Sydney to Cairns Pacific Internat. Hotel - Cairns Click for scene from my WINDOW Click for Typical Cairns scene 23 Mar Mon Full-day - Catamaran to Pacific Internat. GreenIsland plus cruise Hotel - Cairns in glass-bottomed boat. (For Coral-viewing PLUS large-fish observations!)
Sorry about parallel lines - they are internal reflections!!
(No drought here as the 'alfresco meal' on the island AND Catamaran's return to mainland were interrupted by an aussi-type tropical CYCLONE with its winds and severe downpour!!) 24 Mar Tue Fullday's exploration. Ditto Trip North to Great Dividing Ridge,Kyranda & Barron River Gorge.
Click for one view of Aborigine Show
Click for another view in Aborigine Show
25 Mar Wed Fly form Cairns to Ayers Desert Gardens - Rock.Visit the Olgas(rocks) Ayers Rock
Click for one view of the Olgas
then AYERS ROCK for sunset!
26 Mar Thur 'Base Walk' around Ayer's Rock. Plaza Hotel Overland to Alice Springs through Alice Springs Outback wilderness. (Very arrid and drought-bound!) 27 Mar Fri Flights to Adelaide and to Novotel Langley Perth later , then to hotel Hotel,Perth - for 3-night stay. with NB adjacent to Langley view of SwanRiver. Park - saw a THIATHLON there. Have seen an FIA World Rally Championship on TV since!! 28 Mar Sat Half-day tour - visits to Ditto Kings Park (bush-land) and Lake Monger 29 Mar Sun Freemantle trip, Ditto Margaret River area 30 Mar Mon Indian Pacific Railway Indian Pacific journey from Perth to Railway Adelaide calling at (Own 1stClassCabins) Kalgorlie(GoldMining), (Very arrid and drought-bound over the NULLABOR Plain!!
- just a thought - 'Nullabor' means NO TREES, so why is the place covered with them? Albeit, they are quite small ones - but VERY widepread!!) 31 Mar Tues Western & South Australia Ditto 1 Apr Wed Adelaide's Adelaide Inn for tour of City breakfast. (inc KingWilliams St) Old Adelaide Inn, Adelaide 2 Apr Thurs Travel Inland. Cross Great Murray River Commodore Motor to Keith. Inn, Mt Gambier Lunch at Willalooka Tavern Coonawarra in afternoon (wine tasting) .. Then on to Mount Gambia (volcanic crater lake) 3Apr Fri Mount Gambia to Hotel Melbourne. Coastal Drive- Grand Chancellor - Dramatic Coastal scenery. Melbourne Twelve Apostles (jagged stone pillars) in sea... see below:-
Continued via dairy pastures to Colac, Geelong - arrived hotel evening 4 Apr Sat Open City with leafy boulevards, green parks, Ditto tramsetc. Old Railway Stn and beautiful houses. Yarra River Half day tour to Cook's Cottage, Greek & Chinese Quarters.
These shots are selectable by hyperlink... just click!! In Botanic Gdns - Melbourne The inevitable Black Swans - Melbourne Roy feeding Black Swans 5 Apr Sun Natural History tour to Serindip Sanctuary, Ditto Brisbane Range Nat Park, dusk walks for waterfowl,Grey Kangaroo, Emus & Koalas 6 Apr Mon 1530 checkin at Melbourne for 1735 QF1 flight Quantas (Qantas) to Bangkok arr 23.35 7 Apr Tues Bangkok dept 0030 hrs to Heathrow arr 0650 Rail to Malvern
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MAY: ALYKES on the island of ZANTE(Zakinthos), GREECE
This was my first ever trip to that Country - and further South than I'd ever been in Europe. However, by the time we ventured to this romantic spot on the island of Zante, I had already been to the Southern Hemisphere - and had already been to Egypt. So it was my third-most-southerly trip. Location:-
It set the record for my most southerly European visit!! It follows the precedents set by the visits to Italy, Africa and Australia by NOT being to cool countries. Like many of the 1997 trips, this was, essentially, a romantic walking and rambling visit. It proved, in reality, to be a TORRID TORTURE-CHAMBER with the incredibly hot atmosphere, the burning sun and the biting insects. It has caused me to re-assess the wisdom of ventures into such atmospheres. Unlike Italy, Egypt and Australia - I did not return to a cool hotel room to avoid the onset of heat.
The company was 'terrific' - shame about the temperature and the mosquitos! There were more, cooler, trips with the wonderful lady who accompanied me for a year. The coolest part of this island (but still too hot for me) was in the shade provided in the olive groves.
We went on a special 'lap' of the island by boat passing all sorts of places like "smuggler's cove" etc.
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USA's NATIONAL PARKS
The FABULOUS National USA Parks record is not actually on the
file, but you can find the USA NATIONAL
PARKS VISIT
on
this link!Return to Top of 1998 index
