Wow! We can’t believe it is July! We have been gone since June 8, and we can tell you boys and girls, “There is no place like home!” It has been the journey of a lifetime and we are very grateful to Fund for Teachers for selecting us to take this trip. We have learned a lot, not only about the plants and animals of Australia, but also about the history, the geology, the food, the people. It has been a glorious 23 days! Tomorrow, we head home, and we look forward to seeing everybody when we return to school. Have a great summer! You might check the blog occasionally as we may add some more pictures and slideshows when we get home. Cheers!

Our last day

Flying Foxes in a tree.




Moreton Fig


On our last day we enjoyed some of Sydney’s most famous landmarks. We walked around the Opera House, across the Harbor Bridge and spent several hours in the Royal Botanic Garden. The bats, flying foxes, are thick in the gardens. They are so numerous they are damaging the trees. The garden has been given permission to try some things to get the bats to move. One is noise, and we noticed some plastic spikes on some of the trees. That looks like it would discourage bats, or anything else from landing.
They had a rainforest walk and we were excited at all the things we recognized and remembered! One of the trees was a ficus, or a Moreton Bay Fig. This is the tree that creates the strangler fig, but this one seems to have germinated in the ground and it didn’t strangle anything. We loved the sign in the gardens. It said, “Please walk on the grass. We also invite you to smell the roses, hug the trees, talk to the birds and picnic on the lawn.” (In the Daintree we were advised not to hug trees, excellent advice for that part of the world.)
And now, a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
Be careful not to be over zealous when planning trips of a lifetime. When planning our trip to Australia trip Mrs. Harding and I, in our quest to save money yet do everything possible decided we co9uld handle the red eye from Perth to Sydney. In doing so we would save money on a hotel room. That also meant we had from 10:30 am to arounf 8:30 pm to find things to occupy our time swince we would not have a place to crash. Most hotels will keep your luggage for you during the day so we didn’t have to lug it around Perth. Traveling with Mrs. Harding, I knew there would not be a problem keeping busy. Our biggest problem was that we usually called it a day around 4:30-5:00 pm when it got dark. We had until 8:20 pm before we would be shuttled to the airport—a REAL airport this time—to wait for our midnight departure.
Sounds easy right? Maybe when you are 20, but as most of you know I am OLD and bedtime comes around 9:00 pm! Even in Australia! We fought to either stay awake or try to sleep in the uncomfortable qccommodations of the airport. Once on board we tried to snuggle in for the 3 ½ hour flight to Sydney. Mrs. Harding did a fine job of sleeping. I on the other hand got in 2 movies! Point to be made—I am not 20 and when planning any other trips no red eye flights! My eyes have certainly been red today!
That, however, is not my small moment. The battery on my phone died—not that we could use it for anything other than the time since my international service failed—but I wanted to charge it up so I could text family when we got to Dallas. Looked for my charger and low and behold it was gone! I struggled to remember when I used it last and that was way back on Magnetic Island! Now on top of no international service I couldn’t even call when we got back to the good old USA!
Sometimes when yo9u are dog tired things you forget come storming back. This was the case with my charger. I had a smalol bag that I kept the charger in and knew my luggage. Upon arrival at our hotel in Sydney and a short nap I looked and voila! There it was! I was ecstatic! I got my phone, hooked it up and after a minute or two I heard the sweet ring of my text alert. Mrs. Harding and I looked at each other with amazement, checked the phone and oh happy days I have international service!!! Now this news was met with exhilaration and irritation as we have one more day until we make our lon g journey home. Irritation or not I anxiously waited for the phone to charge, sent a text to my daughter and son even though it was 2:00 am back home.
It so9unds like such a minor thing, textimg, but when you are this far f rom home for this long of a time, any connection to home keeps you from feeling alone. This trip has indeed been a once in a lifetime event and one I( will remember—I ho9pe—forever! But I do miss home, family and friends and I’m ready to get back. After all there’s no place like home!!!!

June 29-30, Fremantle to Sydney

When we made our reservations, we must have been thinking we were 25 years younger! Yesterday was a grueling day for us. We awoke in Perth and took the train to Fremantle. Fremantle is a suburb of Perth, located where the Swan River empties into the Indian Ocean. It is a lovely seaside town. We went to see the World Heritage listed Fremantle Prison. It was originally built by convicts sent from England, then used to house Australian prisoners. During World War II the Australians detained Italian Americans, in much the same fashion the United States did the Japanese. Some of these prisoners were held at Fremantle. Displays throughout the prison explained housing, punishments, visitation, rehabilitation, rebellions and escapes. This prison operated until 1991. Fremantle is part of a group of Australian convict built prisons listed as World Heritage sites. They are considered an important historical and cultural example of the evolution of prisons over the years. We had planned to drive to Wave Rock, but realized after our travels through Western Australia that this was just a little too remote and scary for us. Fremantle was a great alternative!





After taking the train back from Fremantle, we had several hours to kill before leaving on the red eye to Sydney at midnight. We arrived in Sydney ay 6:00 a.m. tired and miserable. Fortunately our Holiday Inn had a room ready for us, and after a few hours sleep we were ready to explore a little. Because a harbor cruise is highly recommended we rode the Manly Ferry across the harbor to Manly and had dinner. We were able to get some great shots of the Harbor Bridge and Opera House. Tomorrow when we are rested up we plan to visit the Opera House, our 6th World Heritage site on this trip, and then spend the bulk of our day in the Royal Botanical Gardens. They have a special tropical center which we are excited to see. This garden is the site of the First Farm, established when the first convicts landed in Australia. Plants is a third grade unit and since we are moving next year, we hope to find out lots about Australian plants that fill similar niches to those in the US.

Beaches

A small moment with Mrs. Morris

Loading luggage



Gassing up




The "Shedport"


Flying is not one of my favorite forms of transportation. Obviously I tolerate it which is why I am here in Australia. For the most part we have not taken any unnecessary or risky flights, until last Saturday. Check back to my small moment for that day to refresh your memory of that harrowing flight,
If you recall I described the “airport” at Shark Bay as a shed. It is literally a metal corrugated roofed building that is open and separated from the runway with a chain link fence. There are two rows of 5 or6 plastic patio chairs and a wooden lattice roof covers an area with two small round tables. I’m sure this “shed”port is quite lovely on a sunny, clear day, unfortunately we’ve never seen it on such a day.
Upon entering, two quite cheery blokes are there to greet you and check you in. Check in requires a form of ID, the usual questions—are you carrying any explosives, aerosols, sharp objects, etc.—and they weigh your luggage including your carry ons. I fully expected them to weigh me!! At this point you are issued a boarding pass and move to security, Wait, there was no security!! The blokes then move to their next job which might be the sale of a soft drink, chocolate or Mentos. Meanwhile you sit and wait patiently for the plane.
Now if you are anxious about the arrival of your plane or IF it is coming at all, you can ask one of the cheery blokes and they can tell you the latest they have heard over the radio as they also serve as the control tower. Eventually you hear the crackle over the radio and hope that the “shed”port workers/control tower can understand better than you what the pilot is saying. The “shed”port/ticket taker/concession/control tower worker relays back to the pilot information about the wind speed, direction and other vital info which he gathers by looking out at the runway and checking a windsock.
The announcement is made that your plane will arrive shortly and you should be boarding in about 20 minutes. As the plane arrives the “shed”port workers don their bright yellow vests, put on their earphones, and grab their orange ping pong paddles to assume the job of air traffic controller. He scampers out to direct the pilot to its “gate”. I don’t know about you, but if the pilot can’t find his way to the only spot to park on the runway without help I’m a little concerned about flying with him!
With this job completed the air traffic controller dashes off to get on the tram with our luggage to load and unload the other luggage. While he is taking care of this job, the pilots and flight attendant are busy checking and refueling the plane. Two 50-gallon cans are rolled out to the plane, some sort of syphoning-type instrument with a crank handle are inserted into the drum and plane and the pilot begins cranking! Thank goodness there are two pilots because when one gets tired of cranking the other takes over! Meanwhile your luggage can be picked up in the shed at the back of the building.
Refueling and plane check done and it is now time to board. Final job of the “shed”port worker, to announce boarding of flight #192 to Perth at gate #--well, at the only gate we have! In a nice single file line we march across the runway to the plane, climb the stairs and find our seats.
Nervous yet? As the plane taxis out, the flight attendant collects our tickets, does the usual emergency procedures, of which I pay particular attention to the life vest section, and we prepare for take-off. Eventually she comes back through to get out drink order—juice or water. Once served she comes back through passing out cookies—arrowroot biscuits. Back again asking if we’d like tea or coffee! Guess she needs something to do! Our delicious snack is topped off with a chewy mint candy.
If all of this wasn’t enough to make you think twice about boarding this plane add to it the fact that the weather once again was cloudy, rainy and windy. Supposedly Shark Bay gets 3 days of rain a year and we happened to fly on two of them! Lucky us! It was also a small plane which to some of our mates didn’t seem that small when we described our harrowing first flight. Needless to say we were a little concerned—ok I was petrified—about this flight. As it turned out, it was not too bumpy or harrowing and we didn’t have to circle the airport 4-5 times. We landed safely in Perth with only 3 more flights, on bigger planes, to get home! Cheers!

June 26, Dolphins

This is the crowd that came to see the dolphins.



One of the dolphins waiting to be fed.

Although we (well Mrs. Harding) have been very persistent , it appears a trip to the stromatolites is just not going to happen for us. In fact we can’t even get off the resort and into town. There are no taxis, no bus, no shuttle! If we could make it to town, we could visit the Shark Bay Discovery Centre. But there are some excellent displays here and a great menu of videos about the area that play in the theatre. We watched one this morning about the reasons this area is listed as a World Heritage area. There was some great video of the wildlife, the stromatolites and the landscapes. One of the reasons we are having trouble getting to the stromatolites is that they are 100 kilometers away on the road into Shark Bay. Everyone drives by them on the way in, and apparently few people fly.
.We had a delightful morning watching the wild dolphins come in to be fed. They have been coming here for over 40 years. It used to be people could just buy buckets of fish and go out and feed the dolphins. Eventually that caused a problem. The mother dolphins would stay at the beach eating fish all day and neglect their babies. There was a 99% mortality rate among the babies. Now it is carefully controlled. Nobody is allowed to touch the dolphins, and only 5 females are fed. They can only be fed in the morning and each one can only have around a kilo of fish each day. Lots of dolphins come up including babies, but none of them expect to be fed. They are often seen the rest of the day frolicking in the bay throughout the day. The way they tell the dolphins apart is by their fins. They generally have little nicks and indentations in their fins.
The beach here is very different from most beaches we have been to. For one thing it is virtually deserted. Beaches at home are generally full of condos. There are not palm trees here. There is red dirt, low green shrubs, Spinifex, shells, sand and brilliant blue water. It is very lovely, but in a stark kind of way.
And now, a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
Our schedule for the last few weeks has been to awaken with the sun to great whatever adventure lie before us. We have had many a great adventure and this morning’s was to see and possibly feed the dolphins.
I had some misgivings about this activity after watching a documentary about the Japanese capturing dolphins to sell to places like Sea World and then slaughtering those that were left. Not knowing if the dolphins here were kept in a fenced area and used for show was somewhat troubling.
To my surprise we learned that they only feed about 5 of the dolphins that come in every morning and what they give them is merely a snack compared to what they need to survive. The dolphins have been coming to Shark Bay for 35-40 years and have not been touched my humans in over 10 years. The volunteers are very aware of the names and personalities of each of the dolphins and will cut the feeding time down if they notice a calf that needs to nurse, as the mothers only nurse in deeper water.
As we stood about shin deep in the water, these magnificent creatures would swim calmly back and forth inspecting our ankles or just lie still and take a snooze. The younger male dolphins would frolic and wrestle in the deeper water. It was truly amazing to be standing that close to wild dolphins and both human and dolphin be together.. Quite comforting to know that these dolphins were free to live in nature the way they were meant to live.
The dolphins come in to feed 3 times in the morning and though Mrs. Harding tried each time, neither of were chosen to feed the dolphins. As we watched others feed them it was fascinating to see how gently the dolphins took the fish. We have tomorrow morning and I am sure we will give it a go. They are amazing creatures to watch, so if we don’t get a chance all is not lost. Cheers!

June 25, finally

Peter made friends at Monkey Mia.




Well boys and girls, I am a little discouraged today. After a difficult trip, which Mrs. Morris will be telling you about, we arrived at the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort in Shark Bay. Now if you were in Mrs. Harding;s class you know that the reason we are in Shark Bay is to see the stromatolites. For those who don’t know what stromatolites are, they are a primitive cyanobacteria that created the oxygen that enabled life to develop on earth. Unfortunately as more complex life forms evolved, the stromatolites became food for them. Living stromatolites only exist in 2 places in the world, Shark Bay and the Bahamas. When we were planning this trip I looked into car rental here and it was pretty ridiculous. I could rent a 2004 for $78 plus a $32 delivery fee each way. The website did say they offered tours to see the stromatolites so I decided to wait intil I got here and see what was available.
Apparently this is the low season, so no tours are operating, the car they normally have here to rent is broke down, and the car hire company is booked out the whole time we are here! I am disappointed, but I will not give up and will keep trying to find a way to get to Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites. In the meantime, we have a lovely room with a patio that overlooks the Indian Ocean, dolphins are frolicking in the water and in the morning we get to go down to the beach where we might get chosen to help feed the wild dolphins. After reading this small moment from Mrs. Morris, you will understand when I say I am just glad to have my feet on the ground.
Harrowing!! That is the only word that can describe today’s adventure! Harrowing just plain harrowing! We flew to Monkey Mia in Shark Bay today. Last night Perth received the most rainfall on that day in 25 years! From our vantage point on the 5th floor of the Perth Hyatt we didn’t seem to think much of the rain. This morning brought cloudy skies, but we had seen that the day before and it cleared off nicely by midmorning so we didn’t think much of it. We were just excited to go a little further north to some warmer weather, sunshine and the beach.
The plane in which we would make this journey was a tiny 30- seater and I knew if there were clouds there would be rough flying. The sky was clearing so I relaxed—a little. Take off was “smooth”, we flew above the clouds and got above them into sunshine. About halfway to Shark Bay we landed at an “airport” in Kalbarri, more like a shed with a landing strip, where 2 more passengers boarded. There were now 9 passengers and 4 crew members, who looked like they were barely old enough to shave. Still the sky was clear, take off was good, no worries! Ha!
As we approached Shark Bay the clouds began to thicken. Suddenly the pilot came on and announced that we would be circling Shark Bay for, what we thought he said, 2 hours waiting for the sky to clear! I looked out the window and sure enough there we were circling the ocean!
We circled once, then twice, then the third time and still the clouds were thick. As we started the 4th circle Mrs. Harding said “I don’t like this,” and I began to get really nervous! We need to put on our life vests! How long can we do this there’s only so much fuel! I really don’t want my kids to have to come to Australia to find me! IF they CAN find me since I will be eaten by a shark if we crash! Just land the plane on the endless highway with no cars on it already!
On the 4th (I think) attempt we went in for the landing. The sky was full of clouds and it was raining! And the airport was another shed with a landing strip! I held my breath, closed my eyes and as soon as I felt the bump of the wheels on the ground I let out a sigh of relief. We were on the ground—NOT in the ocean! As we rode the bus into Monkey Mia, the driver told us that the pilot had said if we didn’t make it on that attempt we were going back to Perth! We were just glad to have our feet on the ground!
It’s good to be here, safe. The sun came out for about 30 minutes and we wandered around. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for some sun and warmer weather as we will be here until Tuesday. We will go back to the shed with a landing strip, airport, and board that tiny plane once more to head for Perth. Weather for Tuesday! More rain!!!! Between the rain and the ash cloud from the volcano in Chile I hope we make it home! Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and a less harrowing trip back to Perth! Cheers!
 

Francis Peron National Park

Shark Bay is home to the largest sea grass meadows in the world. Because of this they are home to the largest population of dugongs in the world. Dugongs are similar to manatees and are sometimes called seacows. Sadly, it was the wrong season for us to see one. In the picture below, you can see a line where the water changes from a lighter to a darker color. The darker color is where the sea grass is growing. This environment is one of the reasons Shark Bay is a World Heritage area.




World Heritage areas are regarded as globally outstanding. They are the most important natural and cultural treasures on Earth. Shark Bay is one of a very few places to meet all four natural criteria for selection as a World Heritage area. In addition to the stromatolites and the seagrass beds, the area mis home to some of Australia’s most endangered mammals. These small marsupials have been driven to the brink of extinction by feral cats and foxes. Because the area is a peninsula they have built a fence across the narrow part and attempted to eradicate the foxes and cats. They have had some luck eliminating the foxes, but are still struggling to reduce the number of cats. Endangered mammals include the
•Shark Bay mouse
•Western barred bandicoot
•Greater bilby
•Rufous hare-wallaby (Mala)
•Banded hare-wallaby
•Shark Bay boodie
•Woylie
•Greater stick-nest rat

There is an ongoing project to breed and release sefveral of these species in Francis Peron National Park. It is called Project Eden.

Here is a slideshow of our visit to the park. We had morning tea there. We included a picture of our guide, Keith.



We enjoyed a great trip to Francis Peron National Park.Our guide cooked us a delicious lunch and we saw spectacular views over the Indian Ocean. We saw a sea eagle, rays, a shark, dolphins and a school of Skipperjack fish.We learned about uses of many native plants, one is even called the medicine plant. We are not looking forward to flying back in the rain tomorrow, but our guide assures us there will indeed be rain. We hope to post lots from Perth tomorrow night. Cheers!

June 26, 2011

As expected Internet access is a problem here at Monkey Mia. We have written posts on the laptop,and have pictures, but can only get onto tis old coin operated machine You will have lots to read in a couple of days, but in the meantime we are fine and having a grand time watching the dolphins frolic in the Indian Ocean. Tomorrow we will visit Francis Peron National with an aboriginal guide. Sadly we cannot get to the stromatolites. Cheer,

June 24

We enjoyed this sculpture of paper airplanes in downtown Perth.



Please revisit the Australian Signs slideshow. We have added a few more that are kind of funny, but a little naughty!

This morning we rode on the ferry to the Perth Zoo. Peter enjoyed the ferry ride aand the lovely view of downtown Perth. As we exited the ferry there were dolphins playing in the river. Everyone was excited to see them but not surprised. We were surprised that they came that far up the river!
One of the reasons we chose to go to this zoo was because of their Asian Rainforest exhibit. As with most rainforests the biggest threat to the animals is loss of habitat. They also had an excellent bushwalk. There was abotanical walk through the Australian rainforest, but since none of it was labeled and there were no signs, we didn’t learn anything new there.
Here are some new and interesting things that we learned.
The black and white ruffed lemur is the largest pollinator in the world.
Citronella comes from a lemon scented gum tree.
Over half of Australia’s threatened frog species are infected with a deadly fungus that interferes with their ability to breathe through their skin.
Crocodiles cannot chew. They perform a death roll to tear off chunks of larger prey.
Australia’s largest lizard is the Perentie Lizard. They violently shake their prey until dead, then swallow it whole.
Who knew there was such a thing as feral bees?
Feral pigs eat Cassowary eggs.
The pouch of the female wombat is backwards to prevent dirt from entering it while they are burrowing.
Dingos don’t bark and they don’t smell like dogs.
We saw a Wollemi Pine!! Remember the tree that was thought to be extinct, and then was found within 100 miles of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. We watched a video that showed how they had to use a helicopter to harvest seeds from the top of the tree.

Tomorrow we will get on a tiny little plane and fly to Shark Bay to see the stromatolites in Hamelin Pool and the wild dolphins at Monkey Mia. We will be there for 3 nights and are unsure if we have Internet. So once again, don't worry if you don't hear from us.
We have one more day in Perth and haven't decided for sure how to spend it. The KIngs Cross park is supposed to have alovely botanical garden. Maybe you boys and girls could do some research and e-mail us. We read that Freemantle is a World Heritage site and it is pretty close. So far we have visited three World Heritage sites, The Wet Tropics, the Great Barrier Reef and the Riversleigh Fossil Beds. Shark Bay and the Sydney Opera House are both World Heritage listed as well. See what you can find out about Freemantle and let us know if you think we should go there and what we will see. We had planned to drive to Wave Rock, but we decided our days of driving through the Outback are over.

Slideshow from Western Australia

June 23

The Pinnacles Desert



Our morning started with a walk down to the shores of the Indian Ocean. The air was crisp and it smelled of salt. There are no palm trees here, but lots of grasses and low shrubs. The sand is white as snow and the water is the bluest we’ve ever seen. It is hard to capture on film, but we tried. The swimming beach was covered completely with a thick layer of what we believe to be seaweed. This wasn’t the case everywhere, but it was here. We weren’t planning to swim anyway.
After breakfast we headed to the Pinnacles desert. We expected this to be impressive, but as we topped a hill and got our first glimpse of it we gasped. It was the magnitude of it that amazed us. There were so many pillars. As we drove and walked around to see them, the Indian Ocean with its blue waters and white sands were a constant backdrop. It was quite an experience. We were looking forward to the visitor’s center and finding out how these pillars were created. They don’t know! There are 2 main theories. Two main theories prevail, and in both plants play a major role. One is that they are calcified remains of an ancient forest, another is that they are the remains of a plant rich sand dune. Apparently little research has been done. It is an amazing sight, nonetheless.
And now, a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
“It’s a long way out there!” is the comment we heard over and over again when we told people of our plans to drive to the Pinnacles. Warnings heard we were determined to head out on this adventure. Only one problem I was the chosen driver! Now if you’ll remember I drove a few kilometers when we were in the Daintree. No traffic there but I did get a feel for driving on the left. Here in Perth I was driving out of the airport into a city of a million people and did I mention the Pinnacles are really far away in an area that makes the middle of nowhere seem crowded?!
After my knees stopped shaking and my heart stopped racing I took a deep breath, hopped in our cute, blue Toyota Corolla and started the engine. The main thing I needed to remember was to stay in the middle and keep to the left not big deal.
Mrs. Harding was navigating and had gotten some directions and we were off—in traffic! Our first stop was McDonalds, not for food although we did get our “emergency ration of water”, but mostly because we already needed to turn around and I needed the bathroom!! Scared? You bet!
Back on the road again I relaxed a bit. We were in traffic similar to what we see around Woodland Hills and headed in the wrong direction again. Stopped for more directions and back on the road again in the right direction when we were directed by some policemen to make a detour due to a fatal accident on the road we were taking.
DETOUR! Now what!? Mrs. Harding in an excellent map reader and found an alternate route and out of the city. Most roads are two lane roads on which you can drive 110 k/ph. And I did!! Sometimes inadvertently got up to 120 k/ph!! (even had the opportunity to overtake a few cars and not in an overtake zone, Mr. Harding) We saw a lot of nice country and drove and drove and drove…in silence…when simultaneously we said “Where are we!!” Lost in the Outback!!! Oh no!!1
We rounded a corner and Mrs. Harding saw a sign that said Indian Ocean Drive/Pinnacles which is the road we had to detour and wanted to begin with. Now our goal was to find a safe, cozy place to stay before it got dark. The Pinnacles would wait until tomorrow. So we drove and drove and drove some more until we came to a tiny seaside city called Cervantes.
Of course the trip back home is always faster than the trop away from home. The drive was still a long one and I did a good job at staying on the left side of the road. Only used the wipers for a signal about 100 times! (far more than Mr. Harding) and I tend to hug the right side of the road. The most traffic was in the city of Perth and we were glad to return the car to Hertz. No more driving for us. Wave Rock is a longer distance than the Pinnacles and driving and getting lost is too stressful! We are still alive and the experience was worth it. The Pinnacles were breath taking!
Two days here in Perth and someone else is doing the driving!!! Cheers!!

Western Australia, Day 1, June 22

Today was a long travel day. We woke up at 3:30 am, left Cairns at 5:30 and arrived in Perth at noon. After picking up our rental car we drove north through desolate country to see the Pinnacles Desert. We will see it early in the morning. We didn’t stop to take pictures, but will take lots tomorrow.
The changing terrain was amazing. We expected, once again, red dirt and spinifex, but it was so much more lovely than we anticipated. Shortly after we left town there were really tall evenly spaced conifer trees all around. Then the land became very sandy, the sand was white and there were shorter deciduous trees. We came through areas of rolling green pastures with a few beautiful large trees, and yes we did come through red dirt with low scruffy shrubs. As we got further north we occasionally saw vast, white rolling sand dunes. It changed back and forth throughout the drive. We traveled on the Indian Ocean Road and were excited to have our first views ever of the Indian Ocean. We saw emus and kangaroos. We will post pictures tomorrow.
It was a long drive into the middle of nowhere. At times we were a little nervous. Mrs. Morris did all the driving and Mrs. Harding the navigating. We took one wrong turn and we were diverted from our planned route due to a fatal traffic accident. It was a relief to make it to the little town of Cervantes, just before dark, where we found a motel room. The best place in town to eat we were told, by several people, is the Bowling Club. This being a seaside town with a strong fishing industry we both ordered the rock lobster. But sadly they were out, so we settled for the prawns. Yum!

June 21

These photos are recreations from the visitor's center of the Riversleigh Fossil Beds.


Photo: Carnivorous Kangaroo with a broken leg, being attacked by unseen predator.


Photo:Palorchestus was a large extinct marsupial unlike any that exist today.


Photo: This large flightless bird went extinct about 26,000 years ago.


Photo: Matsaile Snake-A constrictor found in Australia that rivaled the size of the South American Anaconda:


Chances are slim that we will be online for the next couple of days while we transition to Western Australia. If we can get off a short note we will.
As I said the Riversleigh Fossil Beds and a World Heritage Area. They are set aside because of their biological and historical importance. It is impossible to overstate their contribution to the fossil record. 200 mammal species that had never before been known to man were discovered at Riversleigh. Half of what we know about the evolution of Australian mammals come from bones found at a single site at Riversleigh. With a few gaps, Riversleigh provides a pretty complete picture of 20 million years of mammal evolution. It documents the changes in habitat from humid lowland rainforest to dry eucalypt forest and woodlands. Evidence unearthed at Riversleigh indicates that all of Australian mammals have rainforest origins.
The completeness of the fossil record is one of the things that makes Riversleigh so remarkable. Another is the quality of the fossils. The fresh water lime rich waters have preserved even soft tissue, like brains. Scientists have been able to piece together their findings and provide more complete information about the mammals thaT lived there than is often possible. Some of the mammals found there include the giant flesh eating kangaroo and a wombat the size of a rhinoceros.
And now a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
There is no one, least of all myself, that can say this has not been a once in a lifetime experience! When I think back on the things we have already done it seems those adventures were weeks ago instead of just days. Part of that feeling come from the dramatic changes in the landscape we have experienced and there is more to come!
Although the adventures are grand, the longing to be back to the things that are familiar is growing. I am thankful Mrs. Harding has her computer because those e mails from family and friends definitely keep me connected to those familiar things. It seems forever that we have seen any of you but oh the stories we will have to share when we return! Until then keep reading our blog and viewing the scads of pics still to come! Cheers!

A few observations, June21

Picture is a barking spider. We didn't hear it bark.
Food in Australia is more expensive than we are used to. Breakfast is seldom included in a room rate, but we almost always have tea and coffee making facilities. The coffee is almost always instant. Fortunately a thoughtful friend gave us coffee singles before we left.
There does not seem to be the number and quality of restaurants that we have in the states. Particularly in Mount Isa,we were only able to find fast food. Our hotel has a restaurant, but it doesn't look like a restaurant. It is in the lobby and we order at reception. One of the items under the light and tasty option was a hamburger with "The Works." This is a burger with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, pineapple. bacon, egg, cheese and sauce. We did not choose this "light" option.
Toilets here don't flush like ours. They usually have some kind of button on the top, sometimes a foot pedal, but not a single one has had a handle on the front of the tank.
Their is an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano impacting air traffic in Australia. This is the secdond round. We hope it doesn't affect us, and if it does we would prefer not to be stuck in MOunt Isa. We head to Cairns tonight on a small plane, and are scheduled to leave for Perth at 5:30 in the morning. This will be our first time renting a car without Mr. HArding driving us around. We are a little nervous. Perth is a big city.
Today is June 32st. It is typically the longest day of he year at home. It should be one of the shortest days in Australia. Of course all days are 24 hours. We are talking about the amount of daylight hours. It was supposed to get down to 2 degrees Celsius last night. Boy were we glad to have heat!

Some of our favorite signs

The Train Ride

Spinifex

Our day began early on Magnetic Island. It was cold and we had no heat. I laid in bed under the covers and watched an old Australian TV show, Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo. It was like an Australian version of Lassie. The little boy was locked in the cabin of a runaway boat and Skippy used his little kangaroo paws to open the lock and save the day! By the time we drove onto the car ferry at 8:00 the sun had warmed it up and we were looking forward to another glorious day. Once we arrived in Townsville, we located the train station and the airport. We spent the morning looking around and walking on “The Strand”. Mr. Harding dropped us at the train station and headed off to the airport. We were sad to see him go!
Neither one of us has ever taken a train journey. We have ridden on trains, but never on an overnight journey or on a sleeper car. It is so fun! It is not large, but it is way more comfortable than an airplane. It is about a third the size of our locker areas at school. We have 3 bunks and we all sit on the bottom one until we pull the beds down. If we had three people, there would hardly be room to turn over. Since we have 2 it won’t be quite so crowded.
Our train left at 12:40 and we looked out the window all afternoon. We were hoping to see kangaroos, preferably lots of them, but sadly that was not to be. One of the things we have seen a lot of is termite mounds. They are beige colored and look kind of like rocks. We saw a few that looked like castles and for a short while they were bright red. There were some camels along the track, but we don’t know if they were wild or domestic. Australia does have quite a few wild camels.
One of the things that surprised us is the train doesn’t seem to be going very fast. Because we are traveling beside a road we notice that cars and trucks move past us with some regularity. It has been interesting to watch the changing scenery. Near the coast it was fairly tropical, but the forest quickly became more sparse and dry. The grass is brown. We think this is because it is winter here, but it may be from drought. We will try to find out. Sometimes there are no trees and it looks kind of like the grassland of western Oklahoma. Then we get back to trees. It is dark now and we think when we wake in the morning we will be surrounded by red dirt, but we really don’t know. Surprisingly we have not seen cactus. We expect to see lots of Spinifex tomorrow. It is even in the name of our hotel!




June 20, The morning was lucky. We finally saw a big kangaroo from our train, and we saw another camel. Mrs. Morris spotted an emu! The terrain was really rather pretty this morning, lots more trees and plants than we expected, and quite a bit of color. It kind of resembles southwestern Colorado, or southern Utah. I was expecting western Oklahoma, but there was far more birdlife and colorful foliage.
Our first stop, after dropping our luggage at the motel was a place called the Outback at Isa. The town of Mount Isa is a mining town, and home to one of the largest mines in Australia and the world. The mine dominates the town. It is not particularly attractive. They mine for zinc, copper, lead and silver mines. The mining museum was pretty interesting. It included a lot about the history of the town. The mine took pretty good care of the people who worked here. But the townspeople were poor. They used to light the spinifex bushes on fire to see their way home at night. We touched some spinifex in the Outback center, and it really is sharp as needles. Remember, we read spinifex is all over the Outback, is food for nothing and very difficult to navigate. We don’t know why they named our motel after it. It grows in giant clumps, two by 6 metres and is green on the outside and brown in the middle. We didn’t actually see any green. While we were wandering through the Outback garden which was beautiful we saw large clumps of spinifex, apricot trees, gum trees and many flowering plants. It wasn’t very big, but we got turned around and couldn’t find our way out. Now we can truthfully say we have been lost in the Outback!
Tomorrow, we will spend the day at the Outback at Isa complex, once again. However, our day will be devoted to visiting the visitor center of the World Heritage listed Riversleigh Fossil Beds. And now a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
Our adventures through the Land Down Under have taken us on a few different modes of transportation. We zoomed across the ocean on a pontoon-like speedboat to reach the Great Barrier Reef, cruised down the Daintree River in a flat bottom motor boat at night to view creatures of the night, and taken two ferry rides, one short one across the Daintree River to reach the Daintree Rainforest and one 35 minute cruise across the ocean to reach Magnetic Island. Yesterday and today we experienced yet another mode of transportation—the train, a REAL passenger train in which you could ride in a sleeper car, not just a cruise around the amusement park.
Being the romantic sort that I am, I was eagerly anticipating all this adventure had in store for us. What encounters would there be with the other passengers, would the dining car be as mysterious as all the movies portrayed? Of course the movies don’t show all the issues involved with traveling. Issues such as what does one do with one’s luggage, and what does one really need on a sleeper train?
There was also the dilemma of traveling in a berth for three now that there would only be two of us since Mr. Harding left us today. Who would be our third companion for our overnight train ride? Mrs.. Harding, for those that don’t know, is one who will ask questions to anyone who looks as if they might be of help and she did indeed find someone to ask. A woman about our age was standing with her luggage waiting to board our train and she seemed to know the ropes. After a chat, we determined that she might very well be our new overnight travelling companion.
When we first made our reservations and couldn’t get the two person berth I was not that concerned about sharing with a stranger. Now for some reason I was having second thoughts. The “room” we were sharing had a long seat that served as bed #1, the back of this seat was bed #2 and then above that was bed #3. Not a lot of room to share with someone you know let alone a perfect stranger! But here we were. Surely it would be ok.
As Mrs. Harding said her farewells to Mr. Harding, I sat in our compartment with our soon-to-be new Aussie friend, Sue. I was rearranging my backpack and inadvertently dropped some coins on the floor which Sue immediately reached down and picked up. Quick note about Australian money, there are $2, $1, $.20, $.10, and $.05 coins and I forget to spend it.
Now, I’m sure you, like me, expected that Sue was being polite and hold those coins until I was ready to take them and put them away. WRONG!!! She immediately got out her purse and put them away!! I was at a loss for anything to say and really felt a little violated. What does the next 21 hours hold as we are stuck in close quarters with a thief!!
Lucky for us Sue preferred riding in the dining car as opposed to the sleeping berth so she left as soon as we were under way. I quickly told Mrs. Harding that Sue was a thief and we quickly began plotting how we would spend the night watching our belongings. Sue had really put a stink on my mysterious train ride adventure!
Because Sue had spent time in the dining car, which is not mysterious or romantic, she had complained that she had requested a lower berth but got the upper one instead and with her bulging disk problem she wasn’t happy. It was part of our plot not to offer to sleep up top so she would be sleeping up there. She whined enough that she was “upgraded” to a single berth and Mrs. Harding and my fears were alleviated.
From that point on we enjoyed our train ride, even catching a glimpse of a kangaroo, emu and camel! So, for all the kind, helpful Aussies we have encountered thus far, we thank you and haven’t let this experience spoil the rest of our adventure! It was only about $.70 that she took and for all I know she needed it more. Or there may be a rule in Australia that if money falls down from someone’s purse and you pick it up, it’s yours! Cheers!

Wildlife Slide Show

Here are a few shots of wildlife we have seen. We included a Boyds Water Dragon. It was in the coloring book. Brad and Blake did the research, we think. There is a spider called a bird dropping spider and a pine cone lizard. See if you can tell which ones they are.

Real Australian Pavlova, Yum!

Just photos

June 18

Sadly, I still am not able to put on the slide showa, but here are some pictures and hopefully in 2 days I will be able to put on lots and lots of pictures.
Magnetic Island is affectionately referred to as Maggie by the locals. We have rented a small house here and it feels like a treehouse. There are sliding glass doors on 3 sides and it is up on stilts, so we are really in the treetops. Our house borders the National Park. Last night we saw a small rock wallaby hopping around and this morning we saw a male brush turkey working on his mound. Male brush turkeys incubate the eggs, so I am guessing, the better his mound, the more likely a female will choose him as a mate. We haven’t seen the resident koala or kookaburra yet.
Early this morning we took a hike up to The Forts. Magnetic Island was a gun emplacement and radar station used to defend the Townsville Bay from the Japanese during World War II. You can see from the photos what a great view the lookouts would have from Magnetic Island. Mrs. Morris is standing on one of the bases for the guns. They must have been huge. Supposedly, there were many koalas along the trail, but after we read the warning about death adders, we tended to look down rather than up. Fortunately we were able to see several koalas later in the day at Bungalow Bay.
After a delicious breakfast at Horseshoe Bay, we went to Bungalow Bay for a guided walk through their wildlife center. We got to hold lots of animals, lizards, a snake, a crocodile and a koala. The koala was named Barney. Peter was too little to hold him so he held Peter.
We learned that Captain Cook named this island Magnetical Island, because he thought it interfered with his compass. There is no magnetic interference here however. Our guide thought perhaps Captain Cook was hitting the bottle a little too hard.
Tomorrow we go to the Outback on the train. It is doubtful we will have Internet until we disembark the train. In Mount Isa we will be exploring the fossil record of Australia’s rainforest. Look for another post in 2 days. Cheers!
And now for Mrs. Morris’ small moment. Spending time out in nature can often be a humbling experience. We have encountered many humbling experiences since we began our adventures in the Land Down Under and today is no exception. As has been the beginning of most of our mornings, we took off on a “short” 4K hike up the Fort Walk. This hike extolled the spectacular views of many bays in the area and warned of death adder snakes and rocky terrain but we forged on.
Magnetic Island was used as a lookout point during World War II. On the way up we encountered two gun emplacements, where some of the “rocks” are actually false and are the remains of the camouflaging over the gun barrels. The guns were a precaution and never used. At the top among the granite boulders and trees are two buildings, the Observation Tower and the Command Post. All building materials were carried up from a hastily built track, as there were no roads at the time.
The views were indeed spectacular, the terrain rocky and we encountered no death adders, but it did start my feeling of humbleness. Thinking of the men that may have walked this same path was thought provoking. Being in the gun emplacements, the observation tower and command center waiting for something horrendous to happen must have been extremely stressful to say the least. I wonder what they may have been feeling and thinking. Were they as in awe of the terrain as we are today or were they too engrossed in the task at hand?
So today, as I hiked up the Fort Walk I was not only humbled by nature, but by the history of this country from a time when the whole world was at war. I felt small.

Just a note

As suspected we had no Internet in the Daintree. Well if we drove down the road to the 3 yellow bowls an pulled over beside the road we might could have gotten access. I have posted 3 days worth of adventures. Scroll back to June 13th to begin where I left off 3 days ago. As usual I am having Internet and computer issues. I put up a few pictures but have tons more. As soon as I can I will post more slide shows/ Please send an e-mail to Mrs. Morris or Mrs. Harding at our school e-mail to let us know you are reading our blog. We would love to know what you think of our adventures. Mrs. Harding's personal e-mail is being forwarded by Erika and I would love to hear from friends who are listening.June 16, 2011
We spent the morning at the Daintree Discovery Center. They had walkways through the rainforest at all levels. We climbed a tower to the canopy and emergent layers. On the floor we followed the Bush Tucker trail. This trail talked about the plants the aborgines used for food and medicine.
The bulk of our day was spent traveling. We drove from the Daintree down to Mission Beach. Mission Beach recently took a direct hit from a cyclone and suffered major damage. The damage to the rainforest here is still evident, but otherwise they are getting things back in order. It is a lovely town and we look forward to exploring it tomorrow. We then drive down to Townsville and take the ferry to Magnetic Island. We think we can find Internet on Magnetic Island, but if you don’t hear for a couple of days, don’t worry.
And now a small moment from Mrs. Morris. Lions, and tigers and bears oh my! No, it’s funnel spiders, crocs and cassowaries oh my! The cassowary is an endangered species in Australia. There are only about 100 in the Daintree Rainforest and we were fortunate enough to see two of them walk right by us. In all of Australia there are only 1000 total. So, what are the chances of walking into another cassowary?
As we left the Daintree Rainforest I thought how fortunate we had been to have seen two cassowaries so close and our chances of seeing another up close and personal were pretty slim. Our journey took us back through Cairns toward Townsville. Eddie, our proprietor at the Rainforest Bungalows had recommended a hotel called MaKays in Mission Beach. It is in an area called Cassowary Coast.
As we checked in I thought the owner seemed rather irritated at our arrival and seemed preoccupied. He casually mentioned that they had a cassowary that was trapped in their backyard. I immediately thought we should go and have a look so I started out the door towards the backyard. As I approached the backyard I thought what will you do if you come face to face with this cassowary and I turned to go back to the office. I looked back and saw the cassowary turn the corner I had just left! Had I continued I would have come face to face with the cassowary! The manager asked that I close the door. I then walked out the front door and saw the cassowary running down the road away from the hotel.
So forget all the other dangerous animals that inhabit Australia. I think the cassowary is the one that we may encounter most frequently,

June 15

A guided hike in the Cooper Creek Wilderness was a fabulous way to begin our day. This is one of the most pristine areas of the Daintree. The forest here has never been farmed and has been growing continuously here for 130 million years. Combine that with a guide whose knowledge was tremendous and you have a spectacular hike.
We saw 2 Cassowaries, one they called Big Bertha, the other we forget. There are only 100 cassowaries left in the Daintree. This is really significant because cassowaries eat 200 different fruits in this forest. The seeds of 37 of these fruits only germinate if passed through the digestive tract of a cassowary. So many of these plants will be lost for good, if the cassowary becomes extinct. One of the biggest threats to the cassowary and the Daintree ecosystem in general is feral pigs. There are 10,000 feral pigs living in the Daintree, and because it enjoys World Heritage protection, the pigs are protected as well. The pigs tear up the forest and compete for valuable food and resources. The pigs are actually a huge problem all over Australia. There are 24 million of them, more pigs than people. Our guide says 85% of the people live in the cities, and to them every pig is “Babe.” It is a big problem and we continue to hear about this everywhere we go.
We saw an Idiosperm tree, which you will remember produces the Idiot fruit. We thought this was pretty funny. Well, apparently, nobody realized this poisonous fruit was here until the 1970’s when a farmer’s cows began to die. An autopsy revealed these fruits in the stomach contents of these cows. The fruits were sent to Sydney where they were surprised to see a fruit of an extinct tree. Apparently the last known specimen was found by a German in 1901. When he returned to study it further the following year, the entire field had been cleared to raise sugarcane. Click on the arrow in the picture to see a slideshow of pictures from this hike.
After this great hike we headed to Rainforest Rescue where we presented the Nursery manager with your money. They were delighted. We also presented them with several copies of your coloring book which they loved. Then we pitched in to peel and plant cassowary plums. After that we repotted seedlings to be planted in areas they are working to regenerate. After our work we sat down and had a spot of tea with the volunteers. We have included some pictures of the nursery, the area they are replanting, and of us working with the volunteers. We have included a separate slideshow of pictures from our visit to Rainforest Rescue.


As I knew, tomorrow holds another adventure and today was no exception! Maybe an adventure not quite so harrowing, but again it depends on your view of adventure. In anticipation of Mr. Harding’s departure back to the good ole US of A, it was time for me to have a go at driving. Our current location in the Daintree is a good place to give it a go as there is little traffic so there is room for error like driving on the wrong side of the road. Mr. Harding sat in front to give pointers and I was determined not to use the windshield wipers for a turn signal.
It is an odd feeling to be operating a vehicle fron the right side and ai kept reminding myself of the fact that I had learned to drive once before and this was no different. Down to the first turn which ws a right turn, comparable to our left turn, hit the signal and on came the windshield wipers! Mr. Harding laughed, as I had done to him, and politely stated, “It’s not so funny when it’s you signaling with wipers.” I successfully navigated the winding roads and cars coming from the other directions without crashing. I got us safely to our first, then second destination where I gladly handed the keys back to Mr. Harding.
Mrs. Harding has given me the job of driving in Perth, a city of a million people. Something tells me this is a job she isn’t going to take away from me!

June 14

Well, it wasn’t really part of our purpose for being here, but the Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. This morning we decided to take a boat ride out to the reef and go snorkeling. I saw a stingray and a big turtle along with all kinds of fish and coral and sponges. Things did not go that well for Mr. Harding and Mrs. Morris.Peter made a friend, but was disappointed they didn’t have a mask to fit him. We all got very cold.
After lunch we went to the Bat House. At the Bat House they rehabilitate flying foxes that have been orphaned. They were really cute, but their claws were sharp. My attempt to hold one did not go well. We learned about the differences between micro bats and macrobats. Ma
crobats don’t necessarily have sonar like micro bats. Macrobats have a better sense of sight and smell and eat nectar and fruit. Microbats eat insects. We went on a self guided tour through the rainforest that they are regenerating. It was formerly cleared for cattle. They have done a great job replanting the rainforest here.
This evening we took a cruise on the Daintree River with Dan Irby. Dan is from Tonkawa, Oklahoma and graduated from OSU with a degree in physiology. After spending many years doing medical research he ended up taking people on river cruises. It was a fabulous cruise. We saw several large saltwater crocodiles. We saw a White Lipped Tree Frog and learned that it is the biggest frog in Australia, and the biggest tree frog in the world. Dan said he had a surprise for us and that it was 6 km. up the river. We kept seeing flocks of cattle egrets fly up the river. Well, we rounded a bend and flocks of cattle egrets were congregated on the trees and they just kept coming down the river in waves. They looked like a waterfall. I tried to capture it with a picture, but II don’t think I did a very good job.
Did you know Australia has no hummingbirds? I didn’t! The bird that fills that niche is the yellow sunbird, according to Dan.
We were traveling in mangroves which grow in tidal zones. The river looks like it is flowing the wrong direction as the tide comes in. At the base of each mangrove the roots look like gnarly twisted masses. They have all these little points coming up from the bottom, These are breathing tubes.. Because the roots are always underwater, they don’t get air, so they grow these tubes.
Finally we got to see the Southern Cross. This is a constellation that you can only see in the Southern Hemisphere. And we saw the big dipper upside down!



And now a small moment from Mrs. Morris.
Adventure. What comes to mind when you hear that word? For some an adventure is as simple as a trip to the mall. For others it is snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Along with thoughts of adventure comes knowing your personal limitations.
This particular adventurous morning began as most of our other adventurous mornings. It was our first morning to wake up nestled in the Daintree Rainforest. We had our usual morning coffee, breakfast bar and the anticipation of what the day would bring. This day brought the nervous anticipation of snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Now, I am not one for swimming in anything but a cement swimming pool, but being the good sport that I am, I agreed that this would be a good adventure. After all, who comes this far, and is this close to one of the Seven Wonders of the World and doesn’t experience it to its fullest?!
During the short, winding drive to Ocean Safari I sat in the back seat thinking, are you really going to give this a go? After all I am the one who ONLY waded along the shore of Coco Beach in Florida while Mrs. Harding frolicked in the waves. But again being the good sport that I am I sat in silence. We arrived, purchased our tickets, donned our wet suits—due to the cold—and waited for departure.
The boat ride to the reef was, let’s see how did the brochure describe it? Exhilarating?! It rivaled any roller coaster ride I have been on as of late and fostered my anxiety of what we were preparing to do. After a bumpy 25 minute ride we arrived at the reef. The snorkeling master gave his presentation on safety while snorkeling, where to snorkel, how to put on your mask and clear your snorkel—just say two—and if you get caught in the current you’ll end up in Papau, New Gineau! All the while I am thinking, there is no way I am getting into that water!!
One by one the other participants eagerly lined up to receive their masks, snorkels, and fins and plopped right into the water. I politely waited allowing others to go right ahead, then politely said, “No thank you.”
At first I felt overwhelmed, embarrassed and relieved. I had spent a lot of money to do this, others had never snorkeled before and were giving it a go, it had to be safe were all the arguments I had with myself and still I could not convince myself to leap into the water. Trying hard all the while not to cry as I explained to the snorkel master that I was not getting in and I was truly ok with that decision. I slowly relaxed and focused on a 7 year old boy that had taken the leap and was already back on the boat. Slowly the attention on me was gone and I fell into the rhythm of the rocking of the boat and watched all the others enjoying their swim. Mrs. Harding was in heaven as she viewed a turtle and sting ray.
So my adventure today was not of the positive adventure type. My “better safe than sorry” side won out. And that’s ok because I am still here in Australia and not in New Guinea! I was reminded today of something else I’ve always know—listen to your gut feelings and knowing your personal limitations is the right thing to do. Adventures are in the eye of the beholder. I’ll see you at the mall! Tomorrow holds another adventure!

June 13

June 13 started out with the roar of lions, yes lions. Our apartment is located next door to a traveling circus, During a brisk walk down the beach for coffee we learned that today is a holiday. It is the queen’s birthday. Of course Australia doesn’t have a queen. It is the queen of England’s birthday. The United States used to be a British colony, but we don’t celebrate the queen’s birthday. I didn’t even know when it was!
Before we left for the Daintree we visited the Rainforest Habitat Center in Cairns. The birds were magnificent. We saw a cassowary, some huge pelicans, tons of moorhens and they were fighting ferociously. We think it must have been males fighting during mating season. There was a majestic black swan. The kangaroos ate out of our hands. Interestingly, kangaroos in Australia fill a similar niche to deer in the United States. They are a grazing animal, and seem to live all over Australia. They have claws, not hooves like deer.. One of them had a baby in it’s pouch. Mr. Harding saw it peek it’s head out. We all saw the pouch moving as the baby squirmed around. We also saw a huge crocodile and several smaller ones. And we saw our first tree kangaroo! I know you remember, the tree kangaroo fills the same niche as a monkey in other rainforest ecosystems.
After a fabulous morning there we headed to the Daintree. A guide from the rainforest habitat advised us to stop at Mossman Gorge and we did so. I have included some pictures. The gorge was beautiful And the rainforest there was fabulous. The ferns were amazing and really huge. We stopped at a place near there where you can take a guided rainforest hike with an aborigine guide. But, they were closed. Do you suppose the aborigines care if it is the queen’s birthday?
We had to take our car on a ferry to get across the Daintree River. That was kind of fun. The drive from there to our cabin was hair raising and we were glad we had Mr. Harding to do the driving. He has to drive us back down there tomorrow to go on a crocodile cruise with Dan Irby. Lots of people offer cruises on the Daintree, but we picked Dan because he is originally from Tonkawa, Oklahoma.

Australia, First 2 days

Here are some images from our first couple of days. To watch the slideshow click on the arrow. To see it full screen click on the box in the corner with 4 arrows.