Finally, the Great Barrier Reef

We took a marvelous boat out to Michaelmas Island in the Middle Reef, and Hastings Reef on the Outer Reef. The boat, Seastar, leaves a full hour and a half before anyone else, so we had the island to ourselves. With only 30 people on board, and 18 of them scuba divers, we had lots of room to snorkel without others around.

The Reef is everything I had ever dreamed. So different from our Caribbean reefs and fish. They have BLUE branch coral! There are so many different kinds of coral, I can't even describe all of them. Green, purple, blue, yellow, pink. Branch, brain, table, mushroom, plate. There are black and white snails that look like yin-yang symbols embedded in the coral.

I saw: a Moray Eel out in the open before it slipped under the vegetation and overhanging shelf. Giant clams, two feet across, with green and pink lips, and purple and blue lips. If you stroke the cilla on the inside of the shell, it "clams" up tight! Watch your fingers! And Batfish, which look like huge angel fish only, unlike the shy Angels, these Bats will come right up to you and "bat" your goggles because they like their reflection! All this on the middle reef.

On the Outer Reef, I saw: a reef shark, shy striped Sweet Lips, 100-pound slant head Parrot Fish that look absolutely prehistoric, a green turtle, and a large Maori Wrasse (Napoleonfish) named Wally (friend of the crew) who had coral embedded in his side. He is blind on his left side, and has lived a hard life. He depends on this ship's crew for food and companionship (apparently) and allowed me to tag a ride on his fin, stroke him, and playfully bumped me on his blind side. Very fun! There are zillions of other fish - small wrasse, damselfish, groupers, etc. Very different colors to what we are used to... lots of white with pale purples and pinks, paler colors in general but then some very bright combinations also. There is a unicorn fish in this ocean that we were introduced to as food on the ship, but we did not see it. It is about a foot long, white, and a horn growing out of its forehead. Yep.

I decided I couldn't do the Reef justice with pictures. You would have liked to see us in our Stinger suits which protect against the jellyfish. Think Teletubbies and you will have an idea.

For those of you who don't know, and those who may have forgotten, part of the reason we took this trip was to celebrate thirty years of a love-filled marriage. We have been so blessed, so lucky, and made some good decisions. We are further blessed by a warm and supportive extended family, as well as the two lights of our life, Julian and Vanessa. I hope everyone will have the chance to do more travelling in their lives.

We are so happy that we were able to take this wonderful trip, see some of the world's amazing places, and check so many things off our "life list".

And, we definitely do not want to go home tomorrow! We want to follow this endless summer forever....

Mossman Gorge rain forest, on the crocodile river, Queensland

After Sydney, we had planned a few days up in the northern state of Queensland, area of the Great Barrier Reef. We are staying in a charming resort town, Palm Cove, between the two touristy towns of Cairns and Port Douglas, both gateways to the Great Barrier Reef. But there is so much more to this area... rain forests, sugar cane fields, Aborigine communities, salt water rivers, amazing flora and fauna.

This entire area has only been tourist-developed in the past ten years. Up until 30 years ago, it was all sugar cane fields, worked by the Italian immigrants who came over after WWII. Back then, the land away from the coast was the more valuable, and people even traded coastal property for inland...you might imagine how they regret that now. Reminiscent of Florida in the 1950s, Australia seems far behind the times in terms of development, which is a wonderful thing. I am so glad we are seeing it now, because it is changing quickly.

With its small population living on the perimeter of the continent, Australia has a huge inland area which is mostly empty. There is land land land, and very few people.

More Maori Dancing

More Sydney photos

Sydney, Australia

Our first view of this fun city was the striking Opera House with the sun rising behind it. A great way to arrive! Strangely enough, both the Opera House and the famous bridge are much smaller than I had imagined - I had thought everything in Australia was supposed to be so big.

This is an incredibly easy city to get around in. The bus, train, and taxi hub is right at the wharf. Beyond the wharf are the financial, shopping, trendy restaurant, museum, botanical gardens and parks districts. It is not a square or a round city, but petaled by the numerous coves in the harbor. It is not too large, and it not too high. The tallest skyscrapers are about 50 stories. There are many residential districts with row housing fronted by charming wrought-iron fences.

Many of the suburbs are across the bay, reachable by ferry or bridge. For instance, the fantastic zoo is approached by ferry, and then one has the beauty of the Sydney skyline behind the giraffes!

We enjoyed our two days and nights here, made so much better with the company of our wonderful niece, Lee. We got to see Lee's Sydney, and she was a marvelous tour guide. She has lived here for about two years. She made all our dining reservations and we had nouvelle Australian at Bill's, a drink at the Orbit bar overlooking the city as it revolved, and a truly exceptional tasting menu at Rockpool, one of Australian celebrity chef Neil Perry's restaurants. While dining at Rockpool we ran into 3 different people from our cruise ship, the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, who were playing hooky from the boat for the night to try out this restaurant! So we felt like we knew lots of people in Sydney... Earlier in the day we had run into another friend, and heard about her grand night at the Opera on Wednesday, at a performance of the rarely performed "Lady MacBeth".

This opera performance was part of the memorial service which took place at the Opera House on Wednesday, March 25, in honor of the Danish (sic) architect, who died about a month ago, and who had to really fight for his design 30 years ago. Now, of course, his design is iconic of Sydney, and Australia. His elderly children attended the ceremony where he was honored by Cate Blanchett and other Australian actors, and by Aboriginal dancing and singing.

One thing I had most wanted to do in Australia was to hang out with koalas, and Lee helped make this possible. We spent most of Thursday at the zoo, and had a special Koala experience, which included a very private and personal visit with some of these creatures. Of course, during our whole visit they were sleeping and digesting their Eucalyptus diet, but we got lots of pictures of them and learned all about them. There was a mother and two daughters - one 18 months old, and one 6 months old. I even got to stroke her little leg - very dense fur! Later we saw some who were more awake, and chowing down on their eucalyptus luncheon. And we also saw a brand new baby Pygmy Hippo who was born just before Christmas - so cute.

We got to see Lee's apartment in the Woolahara neighborhood, and also saw the charming Paddington neighborhood with it's chic housing and boutiques. I spent most of Wednesday at the New South Wales art museum with its permanent collection of Aboriginal art and the Archibald Prize collection of portraits.

There's lots more to see and do here, but we feel we saw a lot in a short time. It's a very athletic and outdoorsy community... many of the place names - Hyde Park, Charing Cross, St. James - are from London, but the weather is so much better!

We leave later today for the Cairns area, where we're looking forward to some time on the Great Barrier Reef. In the meantime, see ya latah, from Austraya!

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

This beautiful bay and islands reminds me very much of Vancouver in British Columbia. It is green and forested. However, this is the birthplace of the Maori civilization in NZ, far from Canada.

This Northwestern corner of NZ's North Island is the first place in New Zealand the Maori people came to, in their journey from Asia. It is here that the treaty between themselves and the English was mis-translated from their oral dissertation and they unknowingly signed a document that did not represent what they had designated. Instead, they become sovereign to the Queen of England and gave away all their rights. Today, just as in the U.S. and Canada, these native peoples are attempting to get back what was taken away from them so many years ago.

The people we met are funny, open, friendly. We had the privilege of seeing some traditional dance and song, which I have attached. It is powerful.

Enjoy!

Auckland photos

Auckland, New Zealand

addendum to Rarotonga... we figured all those swells were tsunami-related water movement from that morning's underwater volcanic explosion near Tonga. Very exciting!


It was a total astonishment to approach Auckland before daylight, and be buzzed by all that neon after days and days on sea and at rural islands. Culture shock. Auckland is an architectural wonder...old stone buildings near the wharf which translate into modern highrises with swooping geometric shapes. It is temperate, and has a thriving organic agricultural movement. We lucked into one of the local farmers' markets, and spoke with purveyors of honey, lamb, vegetables, flowers, bread, olive oil.... The honey makers are 1/4 Maori. We purchased Pohutakawa honey - different from any other I've ever tasted. When I asked what is 'Pohutakawa', I learned it is a tree with large white flowers.

Then we hopped on a local bus and went up to the Auckland Museum, where the major permanent exhibit concerns the country's Maori heritage. We feasted our eyes on shell jewelry, capes made of feathers, canoes, paddles, pataka (ceremonial storehouses) of elaborate red (from hematite) and black wood carvings, all things made from flax - skirts, dresses, table mats; and elaborate headdresses of feather, bone, wood.

There was also an exhibit of Sir Edmund Hillary, commemorating the one year anniversary of his death. It was a 9-minute film of his ascent of Everest, and the actual ice axe used. What I was most struck by was Hilary's insistence on sharing the achievement with Tsenting Norgay (sic), because most accounts I have read of mountaineering seem to omit the participation of the local sherpas.

Then a long and scenic walk back to the harbor along Parnell Road, an area of Victorain timber villas which have been transformed into boutiques, shops and restaurants. The recent influx of Chinese and Japanese immigrants was apparent in the myriad restaurants with those cuisines. I can tell you that the fashion industry is thriving in New Zealand - lots of local designers, using local materials, like the fabulous New Zealand wool.

Hello, Rarotonga - - Goodbye!

We were awakened early in the morning by what felt like the ship hitting something solid! At first I thought we had hit a reef or something, shades of Titanic... it turned out that the swells around Rarotonga were so huge that they felt like solid material. We could observe a tanker being tossed around like a feather in wind drafts.

So...the Captain decided we simply could not stay, and we left. Hello and Goodbye, Rarotonga - I didn't even have a chance to take one picture as we came and left! I would say it was larger than Pitcairn and smaller than Easter Island.

French Polynesia photos

Pitcairn photos

Tahiti - Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora

Quite honestly, any island after Easter and Pitcairn is just gravy. Nothing can compete with the emotional impact of those two.
But...these lovely islands of French Polynesia are definitely the classics we think of when we remember Rogers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific". The women and the men are beautiful, the traditional dances are stunning, and the flowers and the fruit are exotic. At 17 degrees latitude South, the air is very similar to what we feel in Tortola - warm, fresh sea breezes.
Papeete (Pappy-eh-tay), the capital of Tahiti, is urban the same way that New Orleans is urban, with the smell of coffee and beignets prevalent. We visited the local market, filled with sarongs, wooden carvings, shell and pearl jewelry, fish and flowers. Later in the day we went to a local beach, where everyone spoke French, but then moved up the beach to a local surf break where everyone was speaking Tahitian. There are 18 Tahitian dialects.
That night we watched local dancers and you simply cannot believe how fast these women can move their hips! For the men it's the knees - everyone had amazing thighs and calves.
The next day it was on to Moorea...at every stop one is greeted by ukulele music and flowers to put in your hair. We took a snorkeling trip where we swam with stingrays and sharks - and the stingrays just put themselves all over you! They are soft and slippery.
Our guide then brought us to one of the many motu (islands) surrounding the main island, and demonstrated how to make Poisson Cru (Ceviche) with fresh tuna, salt, sea water, peppers, onions, and the milk from squeezing the coconut meat - delicious! He then demonstrated how to husk and crack open a coconut, knowledge which will serve us well in Tortola. You need only use sharpened sticks, and no machetes.
The current from beyond the reefs was quite strong, so you had to swim against it but then were able to simply drift over the coral and see the many creatures. The fish are so different from the ones in the Caribbean, and all so beautiful. There are unusual spotted sea cucumbers as well. The oyster shells are green and pink inside, with black scalloped lips.
Yesterday we went to Bora Bora. We drove around the island, looking for petrogylphs and temples. However, this island was used as a staging ground during WWII, and there are U.S. cannons and an old naval base on it. It was not as pretty as Moorea. But, like the other islands, it had numerous motu ringing the lagoon of myriad blues, and had abundant fruit hanging from the trees - breadfruit, soursop apples, mangos, papaya, and a bumpy red one whose name I do not know.

Pitcairn Island

Not geographically, but in all other ways, Pitcairn Island is one of the most remote spots on earth. The 60 inhabitants, 48 born there, 12 from away, live a communal life style where all contribute to the upkeep of the community as a way of paying taxes. They are visited by a supply boat only two times a year, and make do with local materials for building needs, food, etc. Everyone has a garden and everyone fishes. About 8-10 cruise ships visit a year, between the months of December and March, and this is a much looked forward to event.
Rather than landing on the island, which has a very tiny bay and tinier entrance, the Pitcairners come out to the ship. They bring their openness and friendliness, their woven baskets and handcarved wooden animals and canes, abalone jewelry and honey. The bees live in one special grove on the island, and the honey is delicious!
I have never met a people so open, and eager to share their lives. 39 islanders came on board - only the schoolteacher and the children stayed ashore. They ranged in age from 15 to 95. All climbed aboard and off the ship via rope ladder - even the 95 year old was agile. Their long boat is deep - all items are stowed on the bottom, then flat boards are placed on top of the goods and this creates the seating area. As I watched the islanders depart the Mariner ship I could see the love and cooperation they show each other as everyone is helped into the longboat. I could also see the genetic inheritance of seafaring, as their bodies move in rhythm with the two moving ships, and there is a stability and a lightfootedness which combined handle the rolling of the sea with grace.
Everyone is proud of their Mutiny inheritance, and proudly proclaim themselves descendants of the mutineers of the ship HMS Bounty. There are only 9 surnames in the village: Christian, Warren, etc. I spent a long time speaking with Dennis Christian, who is a 7th generation descendant of the infamous Fletcher Christian. They are up to the 9th generation on the island now. Naturally there are some very distinct facial characteristics among the people, coming from the English sailors and their Polynesian partners. There is a swarthy look, a Polynesian look, and a sort of red-headed, freckled look as well.
Before departing, the islanders sang some songs for their visitors. One was an original song about Pitcairn Island written by a local in 1966, simply beautiful, and another was "In the Sweet Bye-and-Bye", one of my favorites. I don't know why, but I cried as these people went home. I cried for their isolation, their openness, their caring for one another. They seem so strong and resilient. I want to come back someday and spend more time here. The only way to get here is by boat.

More Easter Island

Easter Island

Ahhh, Easter Island, a place I have wanted to visit since I was 9 years old and saw a picture of the giant heads in my geography book. I was not disappointed.

Besides seeing all these giant statues by the sea, we visited a ceremonial village, Orono, and peered into an extinct volcano. The caldera was filled with water and small islands of rush. This is where I received the most powerful feeling of ancient power - not from the statues. Each year in this village, people would climb down the cliff, swim one mile to a small island, fetch an egg from a Sooty Tern nest, put it in a rush basket around their necks, and then swim back and scale the cliff to the top. The winner's sponsor then got to be "Birdman" for a year. This meant he lived in a tiny stone hut, and could not cut his hair or nails for one year! Who would want to win that honor?

It is said that Easter Island is the remotest spot on earth. It is far far away from any other piece of land, and sits by itself in the ocean. However, there are daily flights from the Chilean mainland and satellite tv and internet - not so remote anymore.

We saw the schoolchildren walking home from school, all wearing red shirts. Two were on bicycles, and one on a skateboard.