With over half of Australia's 21 million people living in its 4 most populated cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth) and a land mass equal to the U.S., you can imagine that once you enter the central and northern parts of the country, people are scarce. Darwin is a major city in the Northern Territory and it has a population of around 80,000. I feel fairly confident in saying that animals outnumber humans in this area and, for this reason, you don't find many people on the roads after dark (kangaroos, like U.S. deer, have a habit of jumping in front of your car on the highways). In fact, exploring this area of Australia reminded both me and Rachel of similar trips we had taken out west in the U.S.

We arrived in Darwin late in the afternoon on May 17th and immediately went to pick up our 4WD camper that we were renting for the next 5 days (see picture of our "home" in front of the "El Questro" sign - more about this wilderness park later). As you can see, this converted Landcruiser did not have a whole lot of space for 2 people, but it sufficed. Thankfully, the camper we are renting for 2 weeks in New Zealand is a little larger or I'm not sure we'd make it to our 3rd wedding anniversary - ha!

Our first stop outside of Darwin was Kakadu National Park (see picture of us by southern entry sign - we came in at night and took this pic later in the week). The Northern Territory is just coming out of its wet season and several of the best sights in Kakadu were still closed, but we braved a few waterlogged roads where we definitely needed 4WD or at least a decent amount of clearance (see pic of us waiting on other vehicles to cross the flooded road). One of the highlights of Kakadu is the Aboriginal rock art within the park. We visited Nourlangie Rock, which, because of its size and shape, served as a shelter for nomadic Aboriginals. As the Aboriginals camped here, they filled the time during the wet season with rock painting (see 2 pics of figures from Nourlangie). The other highlight of Kakadu were the gorgeous views - see the picture of me above the lush, green basin along what's known as the Ubirr hike. At the end of our only full day in Kakadu, we took a sunset cruise along the Yellow Water (see sunset pic) where we saw beautiful birds, trees, and even a good crocodile fight (that was exciting for even our guide!).

We left Kakadu on Friday, the 19th, and made the 7 1/2 hour drive into Western Australia, completing our visit to all 6 Aussie states (Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia and one of its 2 territories - we visited the Northern Territory and skipped the Australian Capitol Territory). Western Australia is even more remote than the Northern Territory - we passed a car on occasion, but felt very isolated. By late afternoon, we reached the El Questro Wilderness Park, a million acre, privately held park. A couple came to El Questro about 20 years ago and built up the settlement into a great hiking, fishing, and camping area (there is also a luxury lodging option here).  Ironically enough, my friend Michelle and her husband know the original owners of this great site. We booked a private campsite by the Pentecost River and settled in (see 2 pictures of our site - one of me eating breakfast and another of Rachel relaxing). The combination of the remoteness and the incredible natural beauty of El Questro made it our favorite place in Austrlia.

We took 3 hikes in El Questro - the El Questro Gorge hike, the Amalia Gorge hike, and the Emma Gorge hike. We started Saturday morning at the El Questro Gorge. You need a 4WD vehicle at El Questro in general, but we definitely needed it on the side road to this gorge. At that point, we had gotten used to offroading and were starting to have fun with the 4WD (along with banging the fridge, stove, and our bags around in the back). The El Questro gorge turned out to be one of our favorite hikes in the world (up there with the Two Towers in Patagonia for us). You hike along the gorge for about 45 minutes and come to a spot where you must wade through chest high water and climb a boulder to continue. We passed several people who reached that spot and turned back, but, as you can tell from the picture of me with the backpack over my head, we kept going. It was an accomplishment just to make it to the other side, but the reward was worth it. At the end of the gorge sits a gorgeous waterfall and plunge pool (see pictures of me swimming in the crystal clear pool and the scenery shot of the same). This was one of the most picturesque spots we've seen on our entire trip. After the 5 1/2 hour hike (roundtrip), we took a break for lunch in the back of the Landcruiser and then took off for Amalia Gorge.

This was a much easier hike with several waterfalls along the way (see picture of me squatting over waterfall) and a beautiful falls and plunge pool at the end of the gorge (picture of me with my arms crossed in front of the falls). The next morning, we packed up our campsite and took a 4WD track to a fishing spot called, the Pigeon Hole (see picture of Rachel in front of the placid section of the Pentecost River). Again, it was fun to beat up our Landcruiser bouncing around the rough road. We then hiked through Emma Gorge and, as it was a hot hike, took a swim in the pool beneath the falls there. On our way out of El Questro, we stopped for a picture of one of the many boab trees we had seen in the area. They are certainly distinctive looking trees.

After making the 7 hr. drive back into the Northern Territory, we overnighted in Katherine Gorge National Park and did a short hike the next morning before turning our vehicle in and heading to the airport for our late night flight out of Darwin. From about 6 pm until 10 pm, the Darwin airport was a ghost town. By midnight, it was a zoo - there were at least 4 flights leaving to various cities in Australia around 1 am. Not sure why everyone flies at this time of night, but we were right there with them (and then exhausted the next day).   Jeff

It seems like our trip has recently turned into more of a vacation than an education. In places like Namibia, India, and Cambodia, we were constantly learning about different cultures, forms of government, and histories of countries we had never before studied. Australia's culture is so similar to American culture that I actually feel, at times, like we are back home. Sure, there are minor exceptions like the famous Aussie slang that I mentioned in an earlier blog. I find myself saying things like "torch" rather than flashlight and "petrol" rather than gas to avoid confusion with locals (you say you need gas here and they think you mean gas for your grill). And some Aussie women have a bit of an in your business, know-it-all attitude (we've met so many nice people here, but have come across an occasional piece of work like the woman at Ayers Rock who said to Rachel, "you're not going to wear that to the dinner, are you?"). I've even noticed that the news here is very egocentric. Throughout the rest of our trip, I have felt connected to what's going on in the international news world whether through CNN International, the BBC, or newspapers like the Herald Tribune. Australian news is focused on Australia, just as U.S. news is almost exclusively focused on events in the U.S.

It doesn't seem logical that millions of years ago, Australia's climate and terrain were dominated by humid rainforests. When I think of Australia, I think of arid desert with the obvious coastal strips of sand. For the most part, that is Australia today, but there are a few remnants of that former world.

The most dramatic of the remaining rainforests is located in the Daintree Rainforest and the Cape Tribulation National Park (named a "tribulation" by Captain James Cook whose ship was damaged as he came up this section of the coast during an early exploration of Australia). We based ourselves in the beachside town of Port Douglas, a great spot with cafe-lined streets and great boutique shopping.

From Port Douglas, we were only about an hour from the ferry crossing at the Daintree River. We spent all day on Tuesday, May 9th, on the northern side of the river in the Cape Tribulation National Park. We did make one stop before reaching the crossing - at Mossman Gorge (see pic of Rachel on a suspension bridge). Once we reached Cape Trib, we went on several hikes before reaching the beach of Cape Tribulation itself (see pic of me and Rachel at a lookout above the cape). One amazing thing about this area is that the rainforest actually grows all the way down to the beach (see picture of me with roots of trees growing into the sand). The most fascinating thing we did at Cape Tribulation was not during the day though.

Tuesday night after sunset, we went on a guided night walk through the rainforest. There were 4 of us on the tour - 3 girls, me, and a guide whose name was Possum (I was sure he had said his name was "Parson", but trust me on this one, you could look at this guy and see the name "Possum" actually fit). Anyway, we left the lodge from where we had booked the tour, each of us outfitted with a spotlight, and headed into the pitch black rainforest. The entire walk was fascinating. We competed to see who could find nocturnal animals the fastest. We saw tons of spiders, several toads, multiple other insects, and even a few bats flying overhead (see pictures of some of the animals we spotted and one of Rachel in front of a giant tree; the perspective of these pictures is hard without something in the photo to compare them to - some are smaller than they look here). We left the rainforest about 11:30 p.m. and caught the last ferry back to the southern side of the river close to midnight. It was a full day.

We took it easy the next day by taking advantage of the fact that our motel room had a DVD player in it (you can't imagine how excited we got over this fact). We watched Narnia: The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe as well as Memoirs of a Geisha. We had bought both of these from street vendors in Vietnam which came into play when, at the end of Memoirs of a Geisha, the credits started rolling before the movie was over. Oh well, at a $1 per movie, you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, May 10th, we drove south to Cairns and turned in our rental car. We put 6,689 kilometers on the car - equal to driving from New York to LA and then from LA back to Dallas!  All those miles in 3 weeks - crazy. 

Since we had not seen any crocodiles on the night walk (not that we were really hoping for this), we decided to stop at Hartley's Crocodile Farm on the way to Cairns. It was a well run and organized animal park. We took a crocodile cruise and watched as park rangers fed the crocodiles (see pic below). The rangers informed us that crocodiles can actually leap the full length of their bodies out of the water to grab their prey. At this, we all tucked our arms and heads inside the boat! We also saw the world's most poisonous snake and a huge relative of the ostrich, the casuary. The casuary is actually quite dangerous as it can leap up into the air and use it's powerful claws on you (I'm actually a little nervous in the picture of me close to the casuary).

In Cairns, we decided to save money and stay at a backpacker hostel - it was a good idea in theory, but we're both getting too old to deal with the noisy twentysomething crowd. At 4 a.m., the party was still going strong only about 15 ft. from our bedroom window. Somehow, on our way back through Carins on Saturday night (after the Reef Trip we took - see below), we lucked out in that after we purposefully left from 9 p.m. to midnight (we went into town to see Mission Impossible III), the place was peaceful the rest of the night.

Cairns was our base for one last trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  We caught a transfer launch to a boat anchored about 3 hours offshore, right on the reef.  Any other time, this 2 day trip would have been amazing, but our weather conditions were less than desirable for snorkeling and diving.  It threatened rain most of the time we were there, but worse than that was the wind.  Visibility below the surface was clouded and the currents were extremely strong.  The highlights of the trip included a night dive for Rachel (see Rachel in her dive gear and in a picture with "Nemo") and the chance to take our picture with a friendly turtle (see picture of Rachel).

On Sunday morning, we took off for the well known Ayers Rock.  Jeff

Heron Island is unique to the islands of the Great Barrier Reef in that it is itself a part of the reef. Called a "coral cay", this island is a fantastic place to explore one of the most beautiful sights of Australia.

We caught our boat transfer on Wednesday morning, May 3rd, from Gladstone and made the 2 hour trip out to the Heron Island Resort, the only lodging option on the small island. On the ride over, we met 2 great Australian couples traveling to the island for one of the couple's 40th wedding anniversaries. Angus and Kay were celebrating their anniversary and Kay's sister, Judy, and her husband, Roy, were along for the fun. We hit it off with this group and ended up having dinner with them on the second night we were on the island (see the picture of the 6 of us at dinner; Roy and Judy are in the foreground).

The main focus of Heron Island is obviously the reef, so as soon as we arrived we went to check out the crystal clear water (see the picture of the coral in the water). As Heron sits on the reef itself, you can snorkel right off the beach - there is really no need to take a boat out. Rachel did go on one dive, but snorkeling allowed us to see just as much. We saw rays, 3 ft.-long reef sharks, and tons of colorful, smaller fish. The coral of the Great Barrier Reef itself is not as picturesque as the reef we saw in the Red Sea, but we still loved the unbelievable view of the world under water.

One morning, we went on a reef walk with one of the island's naturalists (see picture of me with yellow viewing cone - the cones break the waves so you get a clearer view of the coral). The guide was extremely informative and we were able to pick up sea cucumbers and starfish (see Rachel with a blue starfish) along the way. We probably made for an entertaining sight as the entire group stood mesmerized at one point during the walk watching a starfish for 5 minutes work to right itself (the naturalist had turned the starfish over on its back).

One more thing we enjoyed about Heron Island were the sunsets - they were almost as beautiful as the reef itself (see pics of both me and Rachel at sunset). We caught the boat back to the mainland Saturday afternoon and drove to Airlie Beach, where we had scheduled a full-day sailboat cruise (see pic of me and Rachel on our purple catamaran) through the Whitsunday Islands.

The Whitsunday Group is a cluster of islands just off the coast of central Australia (see the nautical map of our route for the cruise). The islands are known for their beautiful beaches and pristine waters (Julia Roberts has a house on one of the islands), and we made two stops during the cruise exploring both. We stopped for a few hours on Whitehaven beach, ranked as one of the top 5 most beautiful stretches of beach in the world, and then stopped at a small cove for some of the best snorkeling we found in all of Australia. We spent the rest of the cruise relaxing and talking with a father and daughter on the cruise who were from the Sydney area (see picture of me talking).

For a change of scenery after this time on the reef, we drove up to Port Douglas to explore the rain forests of the Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation.  Jeff

We made it to Sydney on Thursday evening, April 27th and met up with my friend from Washington, D.C., Michelle Sprang, and her fiancee, Marshall Baillieu (Marshall is originally from Melbourne, but now lives in Sydney). Thursday night, we all went to dinner at a cool restaurant called Icebergs, located near Bondi Beach (see the picture of the 4 of us at dinner). It was so much fun catching up with Michelle and getting to know Marshall.

Rachel and I took off the next morning for the Blue Mountains. This mountain chain is about an hour and a half north of Sydney and is an easy day trip from the city. The name of the mountains actually comes from the blue haze that you can see hovering above the mountain tops (see me and then Rachel alternately in front of the mountains). We spent several hours hiking and exploring the Blue Mountains and then hit the road for the Hunter Valley wine region. We should have gone all the way back to Sydney and then taken the easy highway up to Hunter Valley, but we opted for a shortcut on what looked like, on our map, good roads. As with most shortcuts, they always appear to be better than they actually are - we were still on a paved road when I realized we had a flat tire. The worst part wasn't changing the tire (picture of me having fun on the roadside), but the fact that shortly after our flat, we hit unpaved road and then were driving without a spare. We eventually arrived at a town called Cessnock, near Hunter Valley, and got some much needed sleep.

The interesting thing about the Hunter Valley wine region is that the area only produces about 3% of Australia's wines. Barossa Valley (where we were the previous week), by contrast, produces 70% of the country's wines. However, Hunter Valley has many more wineries and is much more commercialized than Barossa simply because of its proximity to Sydney. Some of our favorites included Rothbury Estate, Tower Estate, Brokenwood, and Tyrrell's, where we took an informative tour of the winery (see Rachel in front of the many wine vats).

Our next stop along Australia's east coast was Brisbane. My cousin, Millie Minton, lived in Brisbane for 3 1/2 months in 2004 while interning at a company called Drizabone. Millie lived with one of the Drizabone employees' families (the Schaers) during her internship, and Sharon Schaer and her daughter Kelsey came to the U.S. for Millie's wedding last fall (where we met them). The Schaers (Hans, Sharon and their 2 daughters, Jess and Kelsey) were kind enough to not only let Rachel and me stay with them for 3 nights, but to also play tour guide for us while we were in Brisbane. The most important thing we did though was having the opportunity to sample Hans' cooking - he is a professional chef with Qantas Airline. The Schaers could not have been nicer or more accomodating - it was so much fun to see how a true Australian family lives (and did I mention those home-cooked meals!).

Sharon became a tourist with us on Monday showing us downtown Brisbane (see picture of me and Sharon under the beautiful pink flowers along the river) and later making the trek out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for a look at some typical Australian animals. We saw massive eagles, kangaroos (including the picture of the kangaroo convention and of the kangaroo with a joey in its front pouch), and, of course, koalas (see picture of Rachel cuddling with a koala).

Kelsey was on tour duty Tuesday and navigated us south of Brisbane to the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise (see pic of me and Rachel in front of the sign for the beach). Rachel appropriately described Surfer's Paradise as a much cleaner version of Destin, Florida. It really is a beautiful beach and I would love to go back there and spend a week relaxing. We took a trip to the top of the Q1 Residential Building (the largest residential building in the world and 20th largest building in the world) for great views of the coast from the 77th Floor observation deck (see pic of Rachel and Kelsey). We sadly said goodbye to the Schaer family on Wednesday morning and traveled north to Gladstone for our trip out to Heron Island.      Jeff

There is a buzz in Beijing....or maybe I should say a loud hammering noise.  The citizens of China's capital city are more than a little excited about hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics.  Everything in Beijing is being restored - great if you are going to the Olympics, but not as great if you are touring the city in March of 2006.  Picture #4 of Rachel in the Forbidden City sums up a lot of our sightseeing here. 

We did enjoy this historical city, despite the "under construction" signs.  The center of Beijing is, of course, Tian'anmen Square.  Most people know Tian'anmen Square from the 1989 student protests symbolized by the picture of a lone protestor standing resolutely in front of an approaching tank.  This square has historically been a site for demonstrations and organized gatherings (Tian'anmen can hold around 1 million people - it is massive).  We took lots of pics around the square, especially of the gate leading into the Forbidden City from which hangs a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong (pics #1 & 3).  Chairman Mao dominates Tian'anmen Square, not just with his portrait, but also with the mausoleum housing his embalmed remains.  Like Lenin in Russia and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Mao is on full display over 30 years after his death (the Communists are aetheists, and thus don't believe in an afterlife, so I guess they figure why not keep your body preserved in this life - it's a little morbid though). 

Mao came to power during the Communist Revolution in China in the 1930/40s.  He, Zhou Enlai, and Chang Kai-shek were all early followers of Communist doctrine.  Most of the Communist revolutions in the early 20th Century came about as reaction to nationalist movements against either colonial occupiers or Imperial governments (Russia, Vietnam, and China all fall into this category).  But some of these early leaders were more loyal to their country's nationalist movement than to Communism itself.  Chang Kai-shek was one of these "nationalists."  He and Mao (Zhou was allied with Mao) became sworn enemies and civil war erupted in China.  Chang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Party members eventually fled to and created the government in Taiwan (a hot issue in China right now - the Chinese refuse to discuss Taiwan unless it is under the framework of the "One-China" policy; in Chinese newspapers, any reference to the "president" of Taiwan is in quotes as they don't recognize Taiwan as separate from the mainland).  So, from what I can surmise, U.S. support of Chang Kai-shek and the Nationalists was more the lesser of two evils and not "Democracy vs. Communism." 

What I cannot understand is why Chairman Mao is still revered.  Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Stalin, etc. all were iron-fisted rulers who simply adhered to a failed form of government (Communism, in my opinion, is not a sustainable form of government).  Mao, as much as he was iron-fisted, was inept.  His policy decisions were directly responsible for the starvation of somewhere between 30 and 40 million people....and this was even before he initiated the Cultural Revolution (another brilliant idea).  But there he is, looming large over Tian'anmen Square.  It is just another example of the mastery of propaganda by the Communists.  I have to admit, I did buy a Mao wristwatch, more poking fun at him than anything though.  Keeping with our Communist-themed morning on Saturday, we visited the Great Hall of the People (that name cracks me up) where the National People's Congress (NPC) meets.  It is actually a very impressive building, inside and out (pic #2 with guards marching by).   

On Sunday, March 26th, we traveled to another well known sight of Beijing - the Great Wall of China.  Portions of the Wall have been restored and provide tourists with a view of the Wall as it was approximately 700 years ago (we visited the Badaling portion of the Wall - an hour and a half outside the city).  There were a few other people visiting the Great Wall the same day as us (see pic #8 of the crowds), but we did manage to find some isolated spots along the Wall for good pictures (pics #6, 7, & 9).  The most amazing thing about the Great Wall, in my opinion, is not in seeing a portion of the Wall itself, but in knowing that the Wall stretches over 7,200 kilometers (greater than the distance across the U.S.).  It is an amazing architectural accomplishment and, without question, the most ambitious building project in history (even if it didn't really hold out the invading Mongolians for long).  

More so than Tian'anmen Square and the Great Wall, the symbols of China you will see when the Olympics arrive in '08 may be the Forbidden City and Tiantan (better known as the Temple of Heaven).  The Forbidden City was home to the court of the Ming Dynasty.  The most impressive thing about this palace complex is its size - it is said that many members of the Imperial Court lived their entire lives without setting foot outside the palace walls.  We spent an entire afternoon visiting this complex and were worn out afterwards.  Aside from the shots of the Forbidden City receiving a face-lift, we did get a good picture or two (pic #5 of the entrance gate to the Forbidden City).  When the emperor and his court did get out of the Forbidden City, they retired to another complex known as the Summer Palace (pic #16 of the four of us with lake behind us).  You could get lost in this expanse of gardens, pavillions, and temples.  The spiritual center of the Ming Dynasty was at Tiantan (pic #10).  We couldn't get too close to this temple though as it was....being restored.  Oh, well. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting things we did in Beijing was a Hutong Tour.  "Hutong" is simply the name for an ancient city alley in Beijing.  This area of the city is a maze of old homes and businesses that can only be visited by rickshaw.  The only problem with this mode of transportation is that it is not the best way to go on a cold day - Beijing was really, really cold while we were there (as you can tell from the hats and gloves in pictures).  I decided to warm up by taking over on the rickshaw (pic #13)....but didn't fare too well (pic #14 of rickshaw being repaired).  We got to explore courtyard homes, several Chinese gardens, and an impressive Drum Tower complete with drum demonstration (pic #12).   Throughout our time in China (and on this day as well), we were entertained by the many groups of early morning exercisers we saw.  From retirees practicing tai-chi to badminton players (playing without a net, just hitting back and forth in the park) and sword exercise (pic #11), everyone seems to get their morning workout.  The best, by far, were the employees out front of respective businesses all doing choreographed exercises before beginning the day's work.  These scenes were truly entertaining. 

The weather warmed up a little on our last day in Beijing (Tuesday, March 28th) just in time for a visit to the Beijing Zoo.  I can't say that the Beijing Zoo is in good condition (most of the cages and animal sanctuaries were in a sad state of disrepair - we all felt sorry for the animals), but the prized Pandas do have a nice home and were outside and active (pic #15). 

Mom and Millie left us Wednesday morning to head back to the U.S. and we headed on to Tokyo later that afternoon.  We have been so fortunate to have so many people visit us along the way and it is always hard to see them go.  As we told Mom and Millie later, it was sad not to knock on their hotel room door Wednesday morning so we could all go together to breakfast. 

Jeff