A COUPLE AUSSIE SURPRISES

                        Always Learning Something New

The Remote

      When traveling, my buddy and I agree that there is too much to see and do in a new place to turn on the TV. We figure if anything wild is going on in the world someone will let us know about it.

      We were in Melbourne, Australia in late 2000 when we the president had not been decided yet. Everywhere we went people asked, “What’s the matter with you Americans? Why can’t you elect a president?”

      One day, after tramping all around the city, we returned to our delightful little boutique hotel. Upon entering our room I asked, “Do you think we should turn on the TV and see if we have a president.”

     “I’m really getting tired of all the questions. I think maybe this might be an exception. The remote is there. Go ahead and turn the box on,” she replied.

      Picking up the remote I pushed the power button. Nothing happened, so I pushed it again. And again. Again. Exasperated I threw the remote on the bed disgustedly saying, “I know I’m technologically challenged, but you’d think I could turn on a darn TV!”

     Just about that time she grabbed her blouse and said, “It’s sure hot in here.”

     Simultaneously, we both looked at her bedside table and saw another remote. She picked it up, pushed the power button and, waala, we had TV! We started to laugh as we realized I had the heat remote and I’d been turning up the heat with every push of the button!

      For years after that, every time we walked into a new hotel room, we’d look at the TV and one of us would say, “Remember Melbourne?” and have a good chuckle.

Early Wakeup Call

      In the Australian Outback the wake-up call came at 3:15 AM. It was only a short ride to the field where our balloon waited, deflated on the ground. We all pitched in to arrange the balloon so it could receive air and inflate. At daybreak we quietly floated over browsing cattle and wild horses running on the plain below. Mobs of kangaroos were hopping everywhere. The animals were way too numerous to count. The unbelievable quiet tempered our comments even though we were all excited.

       I tried to capture the spectacular sunrise on film but wasn’t very successful. As the day lightened we spotted several other balloons in the air. This was my third balloon ride and I’m always amazed at the incredible peaceful quietness.

       All too soon, it was time to descend. After a safe landing everyone pitched in to fold up the balloon and pack it away in its compact holding case.

       On the way back to town we stopped at a tavern that opened just for us early in the morning, We all enjoyed the traditional champagne breakfast and the silence was no more. No restraint on our excitement and noisy comments. Eating on the patio that lovely warm morning enjoying good food, sipping champagne and enjoying good camaraderie was a wonderful fun way to start a day!

YAROSLAVL, RUSSIA

                                 A City with a View!
      When we visited Yaroslavl, the oldest city on the Volga, the day dawned bright and sunny. The lovely water-front town is graced with attractive parks and wide tree lined boulevards and is one of Russia’s most beautiful and best-known towns.  Over ten centuries old and one of the Golden Ring cities, it stretches for miles along the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosi Rivers. Always a major trading center, the prosperous mercantile center boasts a plethora of dazzling churches built by merchants and containing more medieval wall paintings and frescos than any other Russian town.

      In the 8-10^th centuries Finno-Ugric tribes called their outpost Bear Corner. The pagan tribes worshiped bears. Occasionally those tribes exploited their privileged riverfront position by ambushing merchant ships.

       Legend says that Prince Yaroslavl went ashore to talk local inhabitants out of their pagan ways and they responded by turning a ferocious bear on him. In an impressive wrestling match the Prince subdued and killed the bear. He ordered the building of a church and thus the city was born in 1010.

      In 1218 Yaroslavl became the capitol of its own principality. In 1238 Mongol-Tartars sacked the city, but it remained an independent principality and an important port for the next 225 years. Ivan the Great annexed the principality to Muscovy in 1463. When Moscow was occupied in 1598, the Russian capitol was transferred to Yaroslavl until 1613. The years 1613-1703 became a golden age as the city became the most prominent mercantile center in the upper Volga region. Trade routes from both the mid East and Europe converged on Yaroslavl.

      A short road connects Red and Theater Squares. We passed the old gate to the city on our way to the 13^th century Transfiguration Monastery, one of the Volga’s oldest and a regional favorite. The first structure was wood, but was replaced with stone in the 15-16^th centuries.  The bell tower started in the 16^th century was finished in the 19^th century. After 1929 there were no bells in Russia. In 1991 when bells could again be rung these were the first to ring. There are 120 steps up to the top. The 10-meter high monastery wall withstood all attacks. At one time 150 monks prayed, ate, worked and slept here.

     In the monastery garden there was a lone fellow performing a bell concert. We stood amazed at his talent

as he was ringing numerous bells via string pulls to create the most amazing music. At the time we were the only people standing around listening to him. What a wonderful surprise!

      We walked along the lovely tree lined promenade. Landscaped in the 19^th century the long promenade is bordered by a picturesque green belt referred to as linden alley. Yaroslavl’s embankment is considered one of the most pleasant found among Volga towns. The colonnaded gazebo, perched atop the bank, offered wonderful Volga panoramas.  While enjoying the great views a local docent informed us, “Fifty percent of the income for the city is from chemicals. Eight state universities cater to 20,000 students. One-half of all Russians were in WW II and 20% of them never returned. Half of the churches have been destroyed. And by the way, the river freezes in winter.”

      Elijah the Prophet Church, 1647-50, features an asymmetrical exterior created by five unevenly arranged green cupolas on the main building, covered galleries, a belfry, portico, and a bulky spire of an adjoining chapel. Frescos, painted in 1680, blanket the interior. The 1696 lace-like iconostasis is regarded as a Russian baroque masterpiece. The 1660 carved wooden czar thrones are superb examples of ancient craftsmanship. The frescos in this church were done by 15 artists in only three months and they were lovely!

      Many Russian churches combine both summer and winter churches. The winter church is smaller and as is typical has no seats or pews. In the small winter church we listened to the most fantastic quintet.  The men were exceptionally good and had wonderful voices, and I still wish I had bought one of their CDs..

      Toward the end of the city tour the docent walked us through the greenbelt to a statue saying, “This is the only religious statue in the country”

       The first professional theater was established in the city in 1750, and late afternoon we attended a very good folkloric show in one of the theaters.

       I found Yaroslavl a delightful town. We were getting a pretty good handle on Russian churches, and I was both amazed and impressed at the many well preserved and wonderful frescoes we saw.

KANGAROO ISLAND

                                    Australia's Third Largest

     Kangaroo Island, discovered in 1802 by the English explorer, Matthew Flinders, is Australia’s third largest island. It is 90-miles long, 20-miles wide, and about the size of Long Island. The population of 4500 is located mostly in four cities, the largest of which is Kingscote with a population of 1800. The island is home to 20,000Kangaroos--about five kangaroos for every person.

    The island was hilly, covered with trees, and had no public transportation, but has 19 conservation/ national park areas. Norfolk Pine trees always grew along the coastline. Because they are tall and straight, if a ship, in days of old, lost a mast, the pine was ready and waiting to be cut to make a new mast.

Only pockets of land on the island are fertile enough for agriculture. Crops include canola/ olive oil, honey, and eucalyptus oil. Vineyards are in their infancy on the island. Fish farming is taking hold. Fishing includes crayfish, oysters, and mussels. There are two cheese factories. The narrow leaf eucalyptus grows only on the east side of the island. Trees can be re-harvested every three years. At the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil Distillery we learned much about making eucalyptus oil from the wife of the owner.

Japan is the top producer of the oil as only 10% of the world’s eucalyptus oil comes from  Australia, and 3% of that from Emu Ridge. At one time there were 48 distilleries on Kangaroo Island, we visited the only one left. Sheep raising replaced the industry as it is easier work and the money is better.

A ton of leaves is put into a large caldron of boiling water. Depending on the season the ton of leaves produces 5-30 liters of oil. At this point the oil is light amber in color but after a second distillation the oil is colorless. We held a leaf up to the light to see the small oil seeds from which the oil is extracted. It was amazing, the seeds were so tiny.

Seal Bay Conservation Center is located at American Beach, the site of an 1803 ship wreck. A National Park naturalist, took us to the beach. The area is home to a colony of 600 Australian sea lions. The population has remained pretty constant for several years, and it is thought that the environment cannot sustain any larger numbers. These opportunistic feeders are loners and not at all family oriented.

Hunters used to hunt sea lions for the skin and blubber until they were almost extinct. A reef protects the bay, and the sanctuary extends one mile out and five miles along the coast.

The gestation period is 18 months.  An adult female with an un-weaned pup will consume 8-10 kilos of food a day. The female goes into heat again 17 days after birthing! They are not synchronized breeders. A female has four teats. Sea lions are mammals and have hair and ears. The large front flippers allow the animal to walk, where seals cannot. They are deep divers. These animals go to sea for three days at a time, then return to rest and sleep on the beach. A bull often stays a month at a time on the beach.

Living up to 25 years, males can weigh up to 600 kilos, and are brown to yellow in color, where the female is more cream colored. Forty bulls live in the bay. Pups stay on the beach 12-18 months to suckle from mom. Mortality rates are high, only about 30% of pups will make it to maturity.

It was very windy and cold on the beach. It was a long walk, but worth it as there must have been three dozen sea lions sleeping on the beach in the immediate area.

land

MANGROVES and CROCKS

                              Beware of a Crocodil
        I’ve seen many mangroves and snorkeled for a short time in one in Belize, but I’d never seen any as tall or as big as some we saw in Australia.

Mangroves protect 70% of the tropical shore around the world. As much as 70% of the mangrove roots are above the surface. A filter at the bottom of each root filters salt out of the water. Mangroves in that area grow 30-50 feet tall. Mangroves grow in brackish areas.

Our skiff captain kept up a steady commentary as we moved slowly along. Thornton Peak, 1300+ feet, towered in the background. That mountain range collects the rain clouds and then sends the rain to the valley and coast. The normal rainfall is about 60-inches a year. The estuary we were floating in contained 20 of the 69 known mangrove varieties.

After awhile the captain started talking  about crocodiles. Crocks prefer temperatures of at least 30 degrees C. Female crocks are territorial and  can grow 14 feet long. Males, reach 23-27-feet long and can weigh up to two ton! Males wander in and out of territories. It is possible for them to live 80-100 years. Crocks eat mud crabs, wallaby, and mud pigs among other things. Capable of slowing their heartbeat, they can stay submerged in the water for an hour.

Crocks breed December to April. They lay 30-80 eggs in a nest and the gestation period is 6-8 weeks. Mama monitors the nest for the first 90 days and then uncovers it removing the 10-inch hatchlings to the water.  The temperature of the nest determines the sex of the egg, 85 degrees is good for a female, 90 degrees for a male. While laying her eggs the crock goes into a trace-like state, afterward she returns to her vicious self.

 A baby crock is 4-5 years old before it is safe to be on its own. Survival rate is a half percent! Crocodiles have been protected since the 1970s and there is a fine for those caught poaching.

These cold-blooded reptiles can swim up to 20 miles an hour and run 11-mph but cannot zig zag. A crock has no tongue and cannot swallow under water. It has piercing, but no grinding teeth. The growth rate is about a meter every ten years. Its brain is in its head between the eyes. They thermo-regulate through an open mouth.

We spotted a baby crock close to the water’s edge, and later a large crock sunning on the river bank. They look pretty harmless when sleeping, but beware of this predator’s strong jaws!

DAINTREE RAIN FOREST

                                What a Wonderful Stay
       I have stayed and visited several rain forests and I have found them all exciting and delightful. Our accommodations have always been great, but the Daintree facilities were especially nice.

      It was a two-hour ride (160 K) from Cairns to Coconut Beach Rainforest Resort, our hotel at Cape Tribulation in the Daintree Rainforest. We drove onto a small cable ferry to get across the Daintree River. The road after crossing was narrow and winding. It seemed like a long ride as the last hour or so was in the rain.

    It was still raining quite hard so the hotel supplied us with large umbrellas and guides escorted us to our cabins. The first part of the facility opened in 1989. Our large cabin had a gorgeous wooden floor and was lovely, but it was morning before we could see where we were situated. During the night we listened to lots of nature noises. It was great! Waking in the morning, I was quiet so not to waken my travel partner.  While I sat with a cup of coffee in our sitting area I looked out into a forest of greenery and could see nothing but lush foliage! It was beautiful, quiet and peaceful!

     The impressive facility also has a 40-unit villa, large reception area, long house, pool, bar, in-house accommodations for 70 staff, and an education and adventure lodge. There is also a private beach.           Because of its rainforest location, great care had been taken to design the resort to blend into its surroundings, and to be ecologically sensitive to the World Heritage Area. Covering 250 acres, it was designed to have minimal impact on the local flora and fauna.  The cabins were built on high set poles, requiring minimal removal of trees. The use of boardwalks minimized the impact of pedestrian traffic, preventing damage to the forest floor. The facility has its own water supply and generates all its electricity.  It truly was a fabulous place, somewhere I would love to return to!

Capt. Cook named the area Cape Tribulation after his ship ran aground on Endeavor Reef. The rain forest, only 10-20 degrees south of the equator, was named  in 1832 after Richard Daintree, an explorer and businessman. It is all wilderness area, covering 100 hectares, and is 130 million years old. The Daintree National Park, established in 1979, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1988.

The area protects 70 species of animals and over 200 bird species including the cassowary, plus many flowers and plants. It is the only place in the world where two World Heritage Sites meet---the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.  The Daintree Rainforest is a  coastal rainforest and runs in pockets for 450 kilometers. It is an upland rainforest and is the largest rainforest in the Heritage complex. Thirteen of the 19 flowering plants are found only here, and 60% of Australia’s bat species live in this rainforest. There are no monkeys in the country.

One afternoon a biologist took us on a nature walk to identify much of the flora and was most interesting. She was very animated and it was obvious she loved her job.

Another day we took a catamaran several miles to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. The snorkeling was much better, the reef more alive and interesting here than when I went off from Green Island, a much more popular and busy tourist attraction. Five years earlier Green Island with its tourist mentality had been a big disappointment.