Normanton to Tennant Creek

Summary: From the Coast to the Warm Red Center, words like “empty” and “flat” applied at times, come Fly with me, every town needs a slogan.

Today was yet another full driving day. We went from the jungles next to the Gulf of Carpenteria to the desert near the center of the continent. Gosh Captain Outback, how did you get so far so fast? Partly, our stops were just short because of the heat and Alex slept at opportune times. Partly, going west the sun set later. Partly, I was unaware that Autobahn-like speed limits exist in the Northern Territory. Oddly, I did stay pretty close to the speed limit, so the expected reason (shameless speeding) is not the reason I made good time. Whatever the reason, my conservative estimate of staying in Mt Isa or Camooweal tonight and Tennant Creek tomorrow night was thrown out the window. We’re in Tennant Creek tonight and I am thrilled. I would be more thrilled if the wireless internet that this hotel thinks it has were to work, but you’ll just have to enjoy it all in one big chunk when (if) I do get online again.

That first stretch was quite long and empty, even for the standards of western Queensland. We drove 350km and passed (I should say “stopped at”) one gas station. The landscape gradually evolved from swamp and rather high water tables to washed-out looking creeks. Right before the end of that trek, we got a few hills. Driving west, those hills evolved into nice rolling hills & valleys reminiscent of the American Southwest. Then right as we crossed into the NT, we entered the well-named Barkly Tablelands. If ever given a choice between the Atherton Tablelands and the Barkly Tablelands, take Atherton. Barkly was a classic geometry or drafting image – (at times) a treeless plain and straight lines meeting at a vanishing point on the horizon. Like I said, on the plus side, the speed limit was 130km (over 80 mph). This allowed me to make it to Tennant Creek.

Camooweal was the real dividing line – after two legit towns and a two-horse town in the space of 300km, there was nothing but a gas station (maybe two) for 430km. Also, Camooweal is where I first found the missing Australian National Bird – the fly – it has been with us ever since. Australia has no shortage of flies, but these are not common houseflies. Most flies get the message after you wave at them once or twice. These things just keep coming at your face no matter how much you swat. After about 30 seconds, you understand how livestock covered in flies just go about the motion of swatting. They have given up because they know the flies are not leaving. I had given up until I got back in the car and had a finite space and finite number of flies. I will try not to make this a recurring theme, but if you see me with a hat with little pieces of cork dangling all the way around or with a net over my face…well, now you know.

Australia retains a charming character that small-town America has of welcoming visitors with a cute slogan about the town. I mentioned Cloncurry was the home of the highest temp ever registered in Australia back in the 1800s. Driving into Cloncurry, the sign reads “Welcome to Cloncurry, A Friendly Heat”. The record was something along the lines of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than Death Valley has seen. Making that fact into a cutesy slogan takes hard work. The people at the grocery store were friendly, but I don’t know how the heat facilitates it. Mount Isa’s sign says “Welcome to The Isa – Now you’re a real Australian”. Good stuff. Actually, if you ignore the cauldron-like heat in both of them, Mt Isa and Cloncurry were alright little towns from what I saw (better than Tennant Creek from what I’ve seen so far). If I see them, I’ll try to remember any other good signs like “Welcome to Normanton, don’t mind the water, mind the 8m crocs in the water. Cheers” or “Esperance welcomes you to the land of the one legged dingo” or “Coffs Harbour: mostly strip malls and chain stores, but with a nice beach” (these are not officially recognized slogans or even necessarily accurate, to my knowledge).

Tomorrow AM, Alex and I will drive down to the Devil’s Marbles, an odd collection of boulders that will be a fun place to walk around if for no other reason than it will not be blazing hot at 7:30am. Then we’ll turn around and drive North to Katherine. If we are really jamming, we may go all the way to Darwin, but I am not pressing it.

Cairns to Normanton

Summary: Tropical Rainstorm, The Australian Savannah, urban Dakotas, update from the wide world of animals, and 28-ft Crocodiles.

Hello from the edge of the Gulf of Carpenteria. Today we drove from Cairns to Normanton, cutting across the Cape York Peninsula. It was a good drive, marked by a certain symmetry. When the sun rose this morning, it was windy and there was an air of a looming storm. After driving through sunny and clear weather all day, we spotted a storm on the horizon and met that storm as we arrived in Normanton. We could see lightning strikes ahead, although it was still sunny where we were. It rained a little and then let loose right as we got into Normanton. Whatever your image of a tropical downpour is (mine would be those “Paradiso Lluvioso” Volkswagen ads), we got one… but I am getting ahead of myself.

Today was essentially a driving day. We drove out of Cairns right past Kuranda (by the way, I want to make it clear that did not mean to belittle the town in yesterday’s post, I only wanted to emphasize that the transport to and from Kuranda is unique and exceptional). Driving up to Kuranda it was drizzling with more storm apparently coming from offshore, but at Kuranda the rain cut off and stayed off for the next 7 hours of sunny/partly cloudy driving. The first area after Kuranda was the Atherton Tablelands – starting with a string of small towns in pristine settings. This was completely unexpected – I really thought it would be jungle comparable to Kuranda for a while, but things quickly broke up to lush green rolling hills and meadows surrounded by mountain ridges. This is very pretty countryside. Had our timing been a little later, we would have certainly visited one of the several coffee plantations. The route we are taking (at least to Normanton) is called the “Savannah Way” and what we drove through for most of the day was truly like pictures I’ve seen of Africa’s Savannah. It was mostly flat and rocky with lots of trees, but not remotely jungle or swamp (OK it was swamp those last ten miles). Earlier, we drove over tiny creeks with large trees bent over in the direction of the flow of the water, so those creeks are certainly capable of flooding. As we approached Normanton, the water was higher.

En route we stopped for lunch in Mount Surprise, which is noteworthy primarily for this sign (If you can’t read the fine print, it is “Tastes like shit… but you can live on it”- it may be a quote from Crocodile Dundee). For the record, the lunch was fine. The woman serving us was very friendly and had lots of questions about America. Regarding the population density of Australia, she said “you guys have your empty parts too, right?” “Well, yes and no, some people think states like North Dakota are pretty empty. But Fargo still has over 100,000 and Bismarck has another 50,000 or so. Same basic story in the other ‘empty’ states.” She was surprised. If I had said 15,000 lived in all of North Dakota, it would have seemed about right.

Wildlife: I did not see any Kangaroos until we were almost into Normanton, as the dark skies may have reminded the roos of dusk (which is when they get active). However, we saw more than our share of cattle grazing next to the road. All of the cattle seemed to have a healthy fear of the road. OK, almost all of them. This bull was in no hurry to get off the road and enjoyed standing right in the middle. The fact that a car might come every hour or so was not going to deter him - for some reason he was focused on that termite mound 10 feet in front if him.
I have been asked if that “no travel at night” rule is really a “hard and fast” rule. Sure, it is best not to drive at night, but it is no big deal, right? Honestly, there is no way I would have any comparable “rule” regarding travel at night in the US. Most people know that Australia is well populated with Kangaroos (to the tune of 4 roos per human, from what I heard, but estimates vary). Let me illustrate this night driving rule with someone else’s story. On the way back from Kuranda, we spoke with an Englishman doing the same sort of thing we’re doing. He is taking 5 months to travel around Australia (clockwise) on a Greyhound bus (aside: he wishes he drove). He had a few stories, but this one is quite salient to the wildlife. He said the buses (and road train trucks) are the only vehicles driving at night because the drivers are up high and they have massive “roo bars” on the front of the trucks/buses to keep their front ends from being destroyed. Every night he heard “bam” several times. The buses would slow down or go around when possible, but they would not “swerve” at the risk of their passengers. He said at night they would go for hours on end and only pass one or two other buses or trucks in a 10-12 hour span. There were simply no cars out at night. I’ll follow the pack on this one.

One last bit of wildlife that I want to point out would be the insects. Given how hot and humid it is, you would think it extremely buggy. Actually it is buggy in Normanton, but it wasn’t in Cairns or at any stop along the way. Better yet, we have yet to see any mosquitoes (not that they aren’t there, but we have not seen them). I have not seen any cockroaches, which (like most people) I have a special dislike for. Amazingly, we have yet to see any flies. On previous trips to Australia, I have been amazed at how many there were. One last insect that I have not seen but whose handiwork I have seen all day is the termite. There are little termite mounds (looking like anything from posts to boulders) the whole way. They are just strange looking, all taking on the color of the soil directly beneath them for obvious reasons. We’ll pass tan sand-colored mounds and red ones. Squint at that second photo just above and you’ll see it has about 50 termite mounds in the background among the trees.

Normanton is really quite small (1500), yet it is the biggest dot near a straight line on the map from Cairns to Darwin. To stay on paved roads, I have to swing 350km south, go over to Tennant Creek, then go north to Darwin. There are non-paved roads and even they swing south. To put it mildly, as wet as I think Normanton is, the stuff between here and Darwin is simply marshland or part-time flood-land. Normanton is a sort of gateway to the Gulf of Carpenteria. There is another town, Kurumba, right on the water, but it is even smaller and the road there is indirect on a good day (70km by road, 20km straight line). Winding through potentially flooded roads through swamps during a downpour is just not appealing right now. One thing that put this town on the map is that back in the 1950’s the largest saltwater croc ever caught was captured right here on the Norman River (8.63m). According to Bruce, the tourguide on the Daintree, it is extremely rare to find a crocodile over 5m. In honor of “Krys” the croc, the good people of Normanton erected this statue. It looks so cartoonishly large it just does not seem possible that it is life size, but it really is.

We rolled into Normanton and found that most all of the accommodations were pub motels, so we are staying at just such an establishment – The Albion Hotel. Nice folks, pretty good food, a roof & walls between me and mother nature. I like the place. The pub looked like a cast of extras from the next Crocodile Dundee movie - I mean that as a compliment, but these guys were the genuine article. This Hotel/Pub was clearly the hotspot in town as seemingly one third of the population came through (between 5 & 7pm when we were there) to hang out or buy a 30 pack of XXXX Gold Beer. Every town (at least in Queensland) has at least one bar with XXXX written in garishly huge letters on the outside of the pub - sort of like how every town in Wisconsin has no less than one bar with a little Old Style sign. Another interesting note from this pub that jives with what I heard was that in the Deep North of Queensland, people talk really slow and their accents are more pronounced so it is hard to understand them. Let's just say I certainly said "beg your pardon" a bit more than usual and I suddenly had empathy for non-Southerners not understanding folks in the deep South.

This pub has a colony of cane toads living on the property and Alex loves them. Cane Toads are a pest introduced from Central America to kill another pest (it failed), but one that reproduces wildly while killing off its predators. It secretes a poison such that animals that eat it die and animals that eat its eggs die. I read an article in one of the local papers about people organizing ventures into the swamps to kill them (humanely, but how bad must anything be to make you want to venture into swamps with Taipans, Saltwater Crocodiles, etc etc etc to kill a venomous toad?). They may be terrible for the ecosystem, the environment, various crops, and more than a few crocodiles, they may be brown and ugly, but Alex loves them (at a distance). Still, I hope those trying to stop its progress succeed.

Anyhow, I am not sure when I’ll get to post, but I look forward to keeping things fresh as we roll to Camooweal.

Swimming and Kuranda

Summary: Even their healthcare is good, we swim more before 9am than… we intended to, Kuranda: getting there is most of the fun, Cairns key takeaways

Last night Alex was sick. I had twice thought of mentioning in the blog that he and I have had nagging cold symptoms, but it got deleted prior to posting as Too Much Info. Still, his cough had been going on a while and he seemed to be moving a little slow. So around 4:30pm we called the 24 Hour Medical Centre. They said there was about a half hour wait, but they could give us a solid appointment for 8:30 pm. If we chose to show up earlier they could probably fit us in. Well, I let Alex sleep until it was about time to go, but they still got us in a few minutes early. After thrice answering to different people that we do not have an Australian Medicare Card, we were told in extremely apologetic terms that we would have to pay for the docs visit and any medications then work it out with my insurance company. They really felt bad about sticking it to the foreigner. “Sure,” I said, “we can do that, how much will it be?” $65. I figured there must be a catch – seeing a doctor on short order with no insurance, I was looking for a bigger number. Part of me expected a trainee. No, we got a competent doctor who was in the prime of his career (age/earning potential wise) and he had good bedside manner. Throw in the Amoxacillin, we still got out for under $80 total. That’s a pretty reasonably priced night on the town in any city, let alone that we might get some of it back when we submit a form to our insurance. You’re probably wondering how much the Aussie Tourism Board is paying me (zero so far, but I can be had for a reasonable price if anyone is asking). Seriously, I promise that I will run into some incompetent jerk. I may even find some common trait among Australians that irritates me. Still, for now, even when things go wrong Australia comes out smelling like a rose. If I can have a positive healthcare experience, this really is the Lucky Country.

Umm, that’s great. Your kid? The sick one? Any news there? Alex has a mild chest infection and the doc says it should clear up pretty quick. Whether it was the placebo effect or maybe it was being suspended at great altitude, but Alex was more himself today than the last couple days (a little more ornery and far more energetic). The cutest part is that I gave him the medicine and said it was to make his cough go away. This morning, he kept saying “I (am) still coughing” then running to the fridge as if to say “this doesn’t work – what gives?”

One last odd observation from the doctors’ office: living in California, I have found that doctors’ offices are great places to see how the same thing is written in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, and several other languages. To that end, I have noticed that Cairns seems to have a reasonably large Indian, East Asian and Pacific Islander population. So, I looked around to see if things were written in Malay. Nope, just English and Japanese. Living in Japantown, I feel confident saying that there has not been significant emigration from Japan to anywhere, so it is safe to say that Japanese is there to serve the tourists. I will not make too much of a single data point, but it seems that the only places where many languages are offered are tourism related. One of the comments asked if I had seen many Aboriginal people – I have. Not sure if I never noticed on earlier trips or they simply were not there, but I see more people who appear to be Aboriginal than I had before (primarily in Sydney and Melbourne). Their stores are also prominent. We’ll see how things chance on that front once I get off the beaten track.

This morning we got up a little early again, but Alex was quite refreshed having slept about 12 of the previous 14 hours. We went walking into town and Alex noticed the Lagoon. There was simply no way to keep him out of the water. First we took off shoes, then shorts, next thing you know he is rolling in 4-6 inches of water (over sand). The Lagoon is wonderful – sort of a fake beach and water fountain facility staffed with lifeguards and surrounded by grass. The actual beach next to the Lagoon looked a little less inviting at low tide. Still, it is astounding that it can be 90 degrees and humid in a tourist town on the water with beaches and nobody is anywhere close to the beach. Getting back to the story, once I realized that any sunscreen would come right off, I left his shirt on and got him back to the hotel as quickly as I could. We applied sunscreen and found better swimwear. We then went to the hotel pool which is nice and secluded. Actually it is a little too secluded. It is on the same ground floor as the restaurant, lobby, etc. However, to get there, you go to the third floor, walk around until you find an unmarked door guarded with a hotel key entry, walk down two flights of stairs, up a half flight, slide your room key again, and you are there. That is the way you’re supposed to go (I asked). Seriously, this isn’t like “Chris-O’s Crikey Croc Cruise” (in my last post - accurate in spirit if not the more traditional definition of “accurate”), that is literally how you get to the pool. You can imagine my lack of surprise when we found only one other person there. It was quiet, surrounded by a tropical garden, shaped like a watch in a Salvador Dali painting, and completely unencumbered by people who just stumbled into it.

So after doing nothing in particular for a couple hours, Alex and I boarded the mini-bus to go to Kuranda. Our driver, like nearly every other Australian we’d met in Cairns, was from way down South. This one was from South Australia, but the proper answer to “are you from Cairns” is “I moved here from Melbourne area about 15 years ago”. That whole Queensland = Florida / Melbourne = Boston (with a little New York) comment is looking better all the time. Anyhow, we took the “SkyRail Cableway” on the way up and the train on the way back. It was amazing. Kuranda is a little settlement in the midst of the rainforest. In the interest of not duplicating things or spending the whole time trying to get a good shot, I only took photos on the SkyRail. Still, both rides were breathtakingly beautiful. On the ride up, you can get out of your gondola a couple times: the first time to walk through the rainforest and learn about the various trees and undergrowth (quite good) and the second time to check out various vistas on Barron Falls and the gorge. The nature and the landscape here is really dramatic and I confess that the photos do not tell the story adequately. The rainforest has trees that do not even put out branches until they are 50 meters tall, “saving their energy” as it were until they burst through the canopy. There are palms that actually have hooks on the end in order for the leaves to climb up over other plants and reach sunlight. Still others produce seeds that remain dormant until sunlight opens up (typically the falling of a tree), at which point they rapidly spring forth to fill the hole in the canopy. Of course, this environment creates an amazingly dense jungle. Trading notes with some Brits on the train back, we all agreed that we thought “if this gondola falls down, they’ll never find me in all this”. Cool jungle, incredibly steep mountains. They did not go all that high compared to the Rockies (where it can be 100 degrees in Salt Lake City and 65 in Park City) – it was still hot in Kuranda. But the mountains were extremely steep and the stories around the creation of the rail line were pretty cool. Next to all this scenery and history and nature, Kuranda is nice but it is just a tough act to follow. Kuranda is a tiny town now populated with tourist stuff. T-shirts, didgeridoos, stuffed animals, and mini-zoos. There was a classic pub next to the train station that would probably be equally appealing in a torrential rainstorm or sweltering day. There was a Butterfly observatory, a Koala park, a bird center, and the Australia Venom Zoo. Of course, we went to the Venom Zoo. This was purely for the scientific reason that I should see what adders and brown snakes and coastal Taipans and inland Taipans look like so that if I see any of them in other circumstances, I can explain in reasoned, informed terms why I was screaming with such a high pitch. Actually, most things I have read just have illustrations, so it actually was good to see what they physically look like. Nice guys run the place and it seems they just did some big filming with Animal Planet. If you see some special on it, you’ll know. The snakes were far more interesting than the freshwater stone fish (just sitting there) or the spiders sitting on their webs. One snake took a particular interest in Alex, only because Alex stood on the other side of the glass (both the glass tank and the glass separator were between him and the viper, for those of you concerned). Our guide offered, “This is the classic S-coiled striking position. Most snakes’ striking distance is 1/3 the length of their body, so this one would have a range of about 20 cm. Now there are snakes that are 20 feet long and they can…” Moving along, we spent the balance of our time with non-lethal critters who somehow made the cut to be at this Zoo. There were three Majestic Tree Frogs and one had evidently just finished him second double Latte of the afternoon shortly before we arrived. Very Cute, Very Green – I think this is the frog that the Rainforest Café’s logo is based on.

So we are about done with Cairns. Cairns is a regional hub for Northern Queensland. The big industries here are tourism and sugar cane. There is a reason the tourists come here: warm weather, amazing nature, great service oriented towards tourism, and that reef thing. The downtown that one would visit is basically a 4x5 grid of streets set on an oceanfront. (the picture is from the Hilton, facing town) The ocean has no waves, so surfers don’t have to lament being unable to do their thing here because of the jellyfish. Anyhow, we have enjoyed getting the ball rolling here. Tomorrow, we venture into the interior. The plan is to drive to Normanton (just off the Gulf of Carpenteria). If we really move and groove, we could get to Cloncurry (highly doubtful). Cloncurry has the honor of having set the highest temp ever in Australia: 53.6 celsius (back in 1889). I know that 50 degrees is 122, so it seems it reached about 129. I won’t come within 25 degrees of that tomorrow, right? I wonder what the weather in Minneapolis is.

Preview for tomorrow – make our escape and drive West. I have no idea what we’ll see and do of note. (nice preview, huh?) Not sure I’ll get online every day, but I will try.

Daintree River and Port Douglas

Hello again from our tropical paradise

Summary: Photos & Videos – the why & the when, room with a view II, cruising on the Daintree River, Port Douglas is pretty cool, shopping is done, let’s check out their healthcare system.

The videos take forever to upload onto the blog. There will come a day when that is time well spent (rainy day, start the upload, walk away), but that day is not today. Meanwhile, I can write my blog entries while Alex sleeps and upload them along with photos without any hassle. They may not be Pulitzer winners, but you'll see how great this place looks (even if you can't hear their accents!) Thus, you can expect a few more photos to help tell the stories (starting now). What does the view from that hotel room look like?

The objective today was to visit the tropical areas north of Cairns and do some needed shopping. Both goals were achieved and we had a good time doing it.

We woke up at 4:30 this morning. OK, Alex woke up at 4:30 and proceeded to encourage me to wake up, but I held my ground until 6am. We had breakfast, booked our plans for tomorrow (Kuranda), packed some things to go back in the car, and hit the road at about 8. Having already had a full morning, one of us fell asleep as we passed Port Douglas. We kept going further north and it was just amazing: cane fields, mountains, beautiful empty beaches, palm trees aplenty,… and we got to the Daintree River and the Ferry Crossing. The mountains were simply spectacular. My expectation was that there would be mountains, but nothing as beautiful as these. This was full-on Kauai or Maui beautiful. Given my cautious nature, I was really not planning to do any croc-spotting river tours, but I admire smart marketing. There was a Daintree scenic drive that went past these croc-tours and Alex was asleep, so I was making due with one of the prettiest stretches of road you can imagine. Passing these tours was something of an eye-rolling comedy show. I don’t recall exactly, but one sounded like Crazy Chris-o’s Croc Cruise (the word “Crikey” was in there somewhere). Then I pass Earth Friend’s Respectful of Nature Ecological Experience – OK, I am making up that name because I was trying to keep from swerving into sugar cane due to eye roll, but I stand by the theme of the name and would venture to guess that no less than three of those words are in the actual name (and I offer bonus points if you can guess the dominant color in the signage). Quick aside: I do not intend to make fun of what he is doing or those thinking about the environment. The funny part to me is that these are all people doing (essentially) the exact same thing - driving a boat up and down a river while yapping away about a thing they love. What I love is the self-segmentation. (OK, maybe I am not in his target audience)

So as I am grinning ear-to-ear, I see one where the only message on the sign is “next cruise at 9:30”. It was 9:20 and reasonably temperate outside (maybe 75-80 degrees). Why not? What, have I been on too many tropical river cruises? So thanks to that action-oriented message, I turned around and we got on (there is a little jungle walk to the boat). The guy running the tour is this salt-of-the-earth good guy, telling great stories and jokes at everyone’s expense (in a way that everyone appreciates). We saw these huge fruit bats and he said there are a couple crocs who sit underneath opportunistically for when a branch breaks and they fall. Naturally, we saw a few 2.5m and 3m saltwater crocodiles, but we did not get right up on them where they could jump in the boat. Plus, these were rather relaxed-looking crocs that seemed comfortable with us pulling up. I’ve seen that in some places (places named Darwin) they practically train the crocs to jump out of the water, but there was none of that. Our guide says they feel more comfortable with the motors on because turning the engine off (going silent) was predatory behavior. There’s a logic there, but I simply have no idea if the crocs would agree. All I know is that not a single croc (out of four) tried to evade us as we got closer. One boat was behind us for about 15 minutes, doing the same sight seeing we were – apparently it was the aforementioned Earth Friend and the tour owner/ tour guide (no conglomerates here – you own the boat, you give the tour) was a Green Party member of the city council. Either he commutes a long way or their definition of city does not jive with mine. I have lived in dorms with more people than any of those cities. Anyhow, it is clearly a friendly community among these guides. As you know, I mentioned that the Daintree Forest has some spiders as big as your hand. Well, they may have seen me, but I never saw any of them. I just saw this idyllic brackish river with mangroves, eagles, inedible fruits, bats, frogs, cows, and crocs through the eyes of a tour guide who is at ease with the scene. So their self-segmentation got me as well – poetic justice, no doubt. Alex just wanted crackers, which I did not have. So he asked again. A few times.

After the cruise, we got a snack on the way out and headed south to Port Douglas. Port Douglas is supposed to be a fun place to party, so I showed up at lunchtime on a Sunday. Actually, Port Douglas is the upscale town next to a stretch of beautiful resorts, beaches, and spas. Palm Cove, which somehow made its way onto my map (above) touts itself as the Spa Capital of something (Queensland? Australia? – I missed it). It is probably the foremost of several beautiful resort towns between Cairns and Port Douglas, but Port Douglas was more my speed. It was kind of like Carmel, California, but I would venture to say it has a bit more of the cool factor. Maybe more like Santa Barbara. I’ve mentioned (to the point of excess) that there are box jellyfish and saltwater crocs up here, but the box jellyfish are a seasonal thing (that can be prevented in small areas with netting) and saltwater crocs do not show up on populous beaches very often. My point is that Port Douglas sees themselves as the cultured folks (compared to Cairns), but it is also a tad small. True to reputation, I’ll bet that place is good at night as well. If you’re in the neighborhood I recommend you stop by. The only reason I can't say more is that I don’t have enough info to say much more. Good initial impression.

Last thing was doing shopping, but you don’t need my rundown on that. The weather was perfectly clear all day, but it did start getting warmer. This last Beach view gives you a sense of how those deserted beaches look around here.

Shopping: so some brands are familiar to this American (K Mart, Target), some are sort of familiar (Woolworths, went under in US about a decade or so ago), but at the end of the day, we got the stuff we needed. We even got a custom first aid kit, based on saying to the “chemist” (pharmacist to those of you wondering if I pulled up to a meth lab) that I am traveling from here to Perth and back with this toddler.

Said toddler has had a nagging cough, but nothing serious I hope. Today was rather hot, but I took his temperature and he has one. This evening after his nap, we will go to the Medical Centre. Tomorrow is a relaxing day, taking the sky lift to Kuranda and the train back.

Australia Day

Wow, what a flight!

First, let me introduce a New Feature: the Executive Summary – as long as I remember to do it, I’ll start each post with a summary so you know what the highlights are.

Summary: Automatic for the People, Civilized Theater, Model Citizen in the air, Fantasy Island on the reef, Cheerful Aussies celebrate their day, Hertz begs me to keep some of my money, hot weather leads to Night Swimming, a room with a view, and plans for Tomorrow.

Before I get to the flight, there were two things I found interesting, but I gave you that flight teaser and there is no later point in the trip to more rationally fit these in, so here goes:
At SFO’s International Terminal we saw this giant automat built into the wall. Now, automatic dispensers of everything from soda to laundry detergent have been around for a while, but I saw that this was branded with Sony. They sell headphones and digital cameras. Yes, this is kind of out there, but have you ever said “I just need a $250 digital camera – I don’t need much selection (like you get online) or even someone to ring it up”. Evidently somebody thinks someone will.

Second thing – has anyone out there been to a Sundance Theater before? It was just a movie theater a block from my house. It was renamed “Sundance” and they have been refurbishing it for a few months. (wow, a new movie theater… tell me the blog is not going downhill already) Aneta let me out of the house to catch this movie and give her one last bath night with Alex. Well, this Sundance place is set up like a dinner theater – you have tables between every other seat and they serve adult food: I had a Panini sandwich and wine (Western Australian Shiraz, of course) for about what one might normally pay for the extra jumbo Sprite and monster popcorn. It was a pretty civilized experience.

But you didn’t come here for odd observations of San Francisco. So, what was the flight like? That flight was a dream come true. In the 14 hour flight (think of yourself, alone with a good book for 14 hours – you’d still get sick of seat 38B), Alex must have slept eight hours and he was quite pleasant when awake. The poor sap - er, seatmate - hemmed in between the window and us was quite good with Alex and said he was amazed how well Alex behaved. I was amazed at how well Alex behaved and I know him – he’s a good traveler and a good kid, but he was ON. When he was not sleeping he was generally relaxed and playing with headphones. On the advice of a friend & former client, I brought a variety of things hidden, wrapped, or otherwise unknown to Alex until I would pull them out at select moments… it did not matter to him or even slow him down. His favorite toy frog that makes a legit frog noise? Thanks Dad, now put the frog away and let me play with those headphones. The amazing part is that the headphones were still in one piece and functioning when I put them away on approach into Cairns. He was a little more agitated en route to Cairns until we went for a walk and found a) lots of space on a half-full flight, and b) two other kids his age, one of whom was enjoyed playing with him for about an hour. That child’s mother is from the US, went to “uni” at Tulane (clearly Aussie lingo), but emigrated here and has not been back for a decade. They were returning from a holiday in Tasmania. She recommended several things (including the reef) but had an answer I’ve gotten a lot when I say “how do I visit the reef with a toddler?” “Yeah, it is tough to do without someone to watch him. You could, well, um, hmmm. I’m not sure.” Naturally Alex fell asleep within 5 minutes of landing in Cairns. For those of you who have flown Northwest or other airlines lately, you'll appreciate this: Qantas gave a choice of braised lamb or gnocchi (we got one of each and both were pretty good). Yes, we were in economy. The flight scenery was also cool as we crossed over the Great Barrier Reef. This photo gives you a sense of what we saw, but photos from airplane windows are rarely good and there were much better scenes. It did not occur to me to get out the camera until we were back at our seats and almost on approach. There were huge reefs, evidently so shallow that the water was breaking right next to them. Mammoth reefs with a little crescent of sand – just imagine your own little 25 meter stretch of beach with a palm tree. Cairns & Townsville were also attractive from the air – especially Cairns with the backdrop of large jungle-clad mountains.

The landing/ customs/ rechecking/ transit to domestic terminal went as smoothly as possible and we were moved up to an earlier flight. Australia Day was in full effect and lots of folks were wearing something Aussie - either red, white, & blue or referencing a national team in their green & yellow colors. Not only do they sometimes give their team non-national flag colors, they give them names. What do you call the US National Soccer team? The US National Soccer Team or Team USA... Something like that. Basketball’s “Dream Team” was the lone exception, but then they started losing to hard-to-locate countries. Australian National Soccer Team = Soccerroos. Australian National Rugby team = Wallabies (I’ve got the hat but did not get the chance to wear it). Quick "team name" aside: one comment had suggested that I avoid the habitat of the Taipan (a snake that I will do my part not to meet) - the local basketball team is apparently called the Taipans. Back to Aussie Day: there is even a ceremony naming the People of the Year in Australia with the Prime Minister and everything. Driving in Cairns about a block from the Hilton, I was at a stoplight next to a pub. Maybe I had that befuddled “it should be right here - where the heck is it?” look on my face or something, but this girl yells at me and waves an Aussie flag with a big smile. Everyone was looking quite cheerful (for 1pm on a blistering hot, humid day). Naturally I realized that I was exactly where I’ve been planning to be for the past 5 months (even if I couldn’t spot the hotel at that moment), so I got a big smile and waved back with Alex’s hand. The part that I found hard to fathom was that at the end of a day of revelry, “barbies” and beer, they don’t have a firework show in Cairns. Maybe there’s a fire danger, maybe it was canceled due to rain for a decade in a row and they gave up. Either way, they just don’t do fireworks for Australia Day here. Perhaps I assumed too much from that Perth photo I had a few posts back.

Cairns Airport is small, which is nice when you want to get on with it and not take 3 shuttles with a tired toddler or several bags. We had to detour around some construction, but it was like your typical Hawaiian airport (outside of Honolulu, more like Lihue or Kona or Kahului) or a smaller Western US city (Boise, Albuquerque, Colorado Spring, or Tucson). The lady at the Hertz counter says “If we change this to a monthly rate, you’ll save $600” “Does it have free unlimited kms?” “No, but it is some high number, no need to worry” “We’re going 16,000 kms” “Oh, well I’ll just change the rate to free unlimited then!” Going out of her way to save me money then changing the terms to make sure it still saves me money - whoa. Any questions out there about why I chose Australia over Europe? Yes, my experiences at rental car offices in Germany and Spain fall short of this one (and I have documentation in case someone claims otherwise when I return it). This blue Camry is a nice ride and like most cars in other countries, while the name is the same the appearance is a just a little different. You’ll surely see a photo at some point. Naturally it is a right-hand drive vehicle so naturally most things are reversed from what I am used to. Of course, I activated the windshield wipers when trying to use a turn signal much to the amusement of my copilot. Alex was drowsy when we got in the car, but he just started giggling as soon as I was driving. It was like we all played a joke today where everyone drives on the wrong side. He just kept laughing as we drove to and around town. Where was I? Ah yes, why did it remind me of Hawaii? That warm embrace of hot, sticky humidity. It must have been 90 degrees (made warmer because someone did not feel like walking at the three carry-on backpacks got heavier), but it did cool off to 70 when we went on our walk this evening. Alex and I both had a little nap in the afternoon and I interrupted his to go walking, but he went right back to sleep 2 hours later. The lagoon (a giant swimming pool downtown, next to the beach) was packed – it was dark out, but there were lots of kids still in the water. Perhaps the parents decided to wait until dusk/dark for sunburning and comfort reasons. Not one person was on the beach.

Lastly, our room is a nice one. We’re on the top floor overlooking the harbor. I will try to attach a quick video (it took too long to upload, I'll try again on my next post). Turn off your sound as the sound quality is second rate. If it was good, you’d hear music and kids playing underneath us. Looking at the harbor, you might think I must be outside town. No, I am in the heart of downtown Cairns on the Esplanade. The thing is, there just isn’t anything on the other side of the harbor. The city is behind me and to my left. Future videos will be even shorter as the upload time is...long.

Tomorrow, we’ll drive up towards (but not to) Tribulation Point. The weather should continue to be great. We will surely hit Port Douglas and maybe do a river cruise (watching the wildlife) at the ferry crossing. A honeymooning couple from Melbourne recommended Tribulation Point and the Daintree Rainforest, adding that they have spiders as big as your hand. Hey great. (That just cleared some space on my “Things to Do” list) And the road past the ferry crossing is winding with cliffs. Alone in a left-hand drive car, that might sound pretty good except for the spiders as my reward for getting there. Anyhow, that clarifies that the ferry crossing won’t happen. And I'll do that mundane thing of getting bottled water, fix-a-flat, etc.

Famous Last Words

OK, there is nothing "Famous" or "Last" about these words, but it seems like a good post name and I can't think of when else I could us it. "Point of No Return" was passed some time after I'd bought tickets and my first three hotel nights - and I plan to return - so that name was a no-go.

First off, I really appreciate those of you coming to the blog, commenting or writing to me. What was meant to just be a great vacation after one job but before another has turned into something else with this blog. Let me credit Aneta for the idea.

Now that I am done with work (last day was Friday the 18th), I can wrap up some things before the flight: find Deet mosquito spray (done), figure out how to load images from our digital camera onto this computer (done - see driver in training), figure out what is wrong with video camera and how to upload videos (kind of done), find Aussie plug adapters (we already have two!)... There's more: which CDs and DVDs make the cut? Which toys make the cut?(hint: small, light, and playable in a car seat) The Sat Phone showed up - very cool, a little bigger than I imagined from the photos and it does have an antenna, but it still is about the size of that first cell phone I got back in '96 and the coverage is better (as long as you stand outside) and the call quality is about the same (same as 1996).

In another development, I touched base with the guy who runs the Alumni Association for South Carolina. I had met him back in 1999 - he remembered me right away and within 24 hours I got a couple DHL packages with Carolina stickers, beer coozies, and a shirt. It looks like beer drinkers in pubs across Australia will be treated to both Gamecock and Hokie imagery (if that Hokie box arrives today). Yes, I know what you're thinking: my six years of education gave me better named mascots than yours did. You're right. You could go to Stanford and Harvard and get nothing more than two words for "red" (Cardinal and Crimson for those not sure what I am talking about). Then what would you do? The question answers itself. This really explains why so many more people go to South Carolina and Virginia Tech.

Well, the weather in Cairns looks very ...warm and stormy. Wish me luck on the planes. Wish the people sitting around us luck. Have a nice January 25, I won't have a January 25 (not sure why I find that so interesting). Next post from Oz.

Odds & Ends

This blog entry is something of a catch-all, so I will ask your indulgence in advance for my lack of transition from topic to topic. Since there is no narrative, things might get a little disjointed.

Common Question: "So are you gonna get an Australian cell phone or a Satellite phone or just hope you get reception on that old Sprint PCS Treo artifact you carry around?" First thing: I know that Sprint PCS phones work down there (in cities). Second, much of Australia is on the CDMA network, like Sprint. But, as you may have noticed I will be in some remote places, so I'm leaving my US phone behind and I have just booked an Iridium satellite phone. My image of sat phones is Arnold Schwartzenegger driving a Hummer with a sat phone that has a baseball-bat-sized rocker arm for an antenna. Granted, it will still be bigger and heavier (13 oz) than any phone I've used this decade, but the Motorola 9505A (pictured) does at least look like a cell phone, allowing me to keep my sophisticated, urbane look when I am amongst sheep farmers or extras from the next Mad Max movie. From what I can tell it is the top of the line. Anyhow, based on price alone, I don't recommend renting sat phones unless you're really planing to be in the middle of nowhere (or a guest star on "Lost" or "Cast Away II"). The cool thing about this phone plan - for me, at least - is that incoming calls and texts are free. It will be pricey for others to contact me, but the estimated $200 extra in rental costs should be more than offset by the price difference between making & receiving calls if that tells you anything. Aneta can call us at times that work for her, which will be more convenient all the way around. She wants to chat with us every day, which is cool. We don't want Alex forgetting anyone. Knowing how articulate Alex generally is on the phone, I just hope her expectations are not too high. There is one exception: if there is anything I don't want her to hear, I am certain Alex will state every word clearly several times in both English and Bulgarian. I better start figuring out an innocuous word to say in front of Alex for scary animals: snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, sharks, funnel web spiders, etc (everything that is not a koala or kangaroo) - the word "mangoes" seems like a safe choice. He'll go on in an animated fashion about seeing lots of mangoes and she'll get on about her day without being too concerned. If you see her, don't tell her my plan. Thanks.

Aneta's flight & hotel plans to meet us in Melbourne are now set. She had considered Sydney because we wanted to meet some friends there, but the timing for Melbourne is better (Feb 24-Mar 2). Those Sydney friends will actually drive down from Sydney to see us in Melbourne for a day and then host me and Alex in Sydney. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Nice thing about technology - you can check the weather in every tiny town worldwide. Since we are within 10 days of departure, it is possible to see weather forecasts for days I'll be in Cairns. Every town from Cairns to Broome is either having a thunderstorm now, will have one, or is 100 degrees, so it looks like summer is going as scheduled this year. Since San Francisco is 50-something and cloudy (and the rest of the US is much colder as a co-worker in Minneapolis informed me today), the concept of skipping straight to summer looks very good. The fact that spring will be in full effect when we return is not lost on me either. I've spent much of my life trying to figure out how to have football season but no winter and I may have just done it this year.

Another cool thing about technology is the ability to track how many people visit the blog. A mere three months after starting the blog (and a week before leaving) I have installed something to track all you unique visitors. Don't worry about the low number (if it shows), I think the numbers are pretty good based on the published (and informal) comments.

One more fun development (getting back to the task at hand) is that in my research I have learned that many pubs and roadhouses across the outback like to have a variety of bumper stickers, license plates, and other decorations that one would associate with a tourist trap (yes, it is very highbrow, I love it). I don't normally get too excited by things like this, but since we're just out for a good time and we know this in advance, I thought it might be fun to be prepared. We can leave our mark without carving this web address in every gum tree between Noosa Heads and Gnoorea (no, I have no idea if it is pronounced like the disease). As a proud Virginia Tech alumnus, I figured it could be fun to leave a trail of Virginia Tech images around in the middle of nowhere (of course I'm a proud South Carolina alum too, but there could be a limit to how many silly-sounding bird mascots this nation can handle). If nothing else, it would cause future VT fans coming through to grin and wonder. So with 10 days to go until before the trip, I took a shot in the dark and wrote to the head of alumni relations, explained the story of my upcoming trip, and asked for a bunch of bumper stickers while making clear I want something that looks good in a bar (such as the Hokie bird - this image is from flickr via a Yahoo search), not a sedate proper "Virginia Tech Alumni Association" logo that might look good on some engraved desk set. I've met this gentleman a couple times - he's a good guy and very quick to respond (which I appreciate). He said he would hook me up. Thus, if the demand for high quality US collegiate mascot decorations is strong, I may become the Johnny Appleseed of Hokie bird stickers across remote stretches of the outback (forcing future generations of Australian beer drinkers to wonder just what a Hokie is). Last time I was in Perth/ Fremantle I saw some dude with a University of Virginia cap, so I know that the enemy lurks close by even on the farthest corners of earth. I'm just here to up the ante.

Lastly, in keeping with the title of this post, I am starting to put together my packing list with various odds & ends. One of my "bags" will be a cooler (that's "esky" in Australian). At home, we have at least one more cooler than we need or have space for so I plan to leave it behind at the end of the trip, but it is quite practical as luggage as well. It is a nice shape/volume for carrying odd items like Alex's potty and various stuffed animals. And of course, once we get there it is a big cooler, which will be handy in keeping drinks cold on the road. We're also packing all sorts of items: CDs & DVDs, sunscreen, prescription sunglasses (the only kind of glasses I'm bringing), industrial strength mosquito spray (deet), Cholula hot sauce... the basics. Then there is the list of things to get when I get there: water, juice boxes, caffeinated drinks, food that remains edible & not messy after getting blazing hot, a good Australian road map, fix-a-flat...well, you get the idea. There's more to do, but it is certainly rounding into form as we finalize things.

"Mangoes", Sat phones, Hokie Birds, devoted friends, thunderstorms, and mosquito repellant - things are looking good. This pre-game show will be over soon, kickoff is in 8 days.

Day by Day Guide

Now that you've gotten the overview, state-by-state with highlights and images, you may be wondering what I really think my agenda will be: how far per day? When are the long days and when are the more relaxing days? How many miles will I travel on a long day? Actually, I won't be answering that one in miles as Google maps (and my rental car) think in kilometers. If it has been a while since you've thought in kilometers, the conversion is about 1.6 km/ mile. Put differently 100km/hr is about 62 miles/hr. Actually, because most of these roads are 2-lane roads, I do not expect to average 100km/hr at any point on the trip. The images in this entry are both from Western Australia Tourism and no, unlike this first image I do not intend to be on dirt roads (not that a little dirt won't kick up).

This guide does not set in stone where I'll be. There are few reservations along the way (dates in bold are reserved). This is more like a benchmark so that I will know if I am ahead of the pace or behind it. It will also let those of you following along at home know what the plan is and how far from it I am straying at any given time. Anything from car problems and weather (big issue early in the trip) to route changes, towns that do not look inviting, and Alex's sleep will slow or accelerate things. Prior to Melbourne, many days will involve longer days on the road, but you can be sure Alex and I will get up early and stay up late so that he has fun. As I've mentioned before, I expect to drive almost exclusively during the day - we'll have about 13 hours of daylight most of the time (tropics have shorter days, but as the Southern Hemisphere days get shorter we'll be further south mitigating the effect). Each city is listed with the date when I would spend the night there. "Travel" indicates the estimated time (rounded to nearest hour) & distance we will drive that day to get there (according to Google maps). Also, I've allowed for extra days in case things get delayed by listing stays in Monkey Mia, Perth, and Adelaide a little longer than I expect. Style comment: sorry for the elipses (...), but creating a table and spacing does not come naturally to this web format. Enjoy!

DATE...DESTINATION...TRAVEL...SCENERY/ HIGHLIGHTS
Jan 26-28...Cairns...23 hrs (air)...Cairns, Kuranda, Port Douglas, the Hilton
Jan 29...Normanton...8hr 678km...mountains, jungle, rain, big crocodile statue, maybe Gulf of Carpenteria
Jan 30...Mt Isa...6hr 492km...more jungle, more of that big crocodile statue
Jan 31...Tennant Creek...7hr 648km...out of jungle into serious desert
Feb 1...Katherine...9hr 750km...Devil's Marbles, Katherine Gorge, more jungle
Feb 2-3...Darwin...7hr 538km...Kakadu National Park, Timor Sea, probably watch Super Bowl while explaining American Football rules to locals
Feb 4...Kununurra...9hr 803km...jungle, tributaries, much water
Feb 5...Fitzroy Crossing...8hr 656km...Bungle Bungles, the Kimberly Range
Feb 6...Broome...4hr 364km...Broome is a cool town on the Indian Ocean
Feb 7...Karratha...9hr 779km...ocean on my right, desert on my left
Feb 8...Wooramel...9hr 753km...see yesterday
Feb 9-10...Monkey Mia...2hr 206km...swim with dolphins in Shark Bay, exit Highway 1 for first time since Feb 4
Feb 11-14..Perth...10hr 840km...Rottnest Island beach, Perth, Fremantle
Feb 15...Margaret River...5hr 295km...wine tasting
Feb 16...Denmark...4hr 301km...wine tasting, tree-top walk in Walpole
Feb 17...Esperance...6hr 514km...drive along Southern Ocean, enjoy my birthday
Feb 18...Eucla...10hr 912km...see yesterday, but without people
Feb 19...Pt Augusta...11hr 959km...see yesterday, still no people
Feb 20-23...Adelaide...4hr 307km...best wine country on earth (and people again)
Feb 24-Mar 1..Melbourne...9hr 721km...Aneta, Melbourne, Ocean Road, Phillip Island penguins
Mar 2...Lakes Entrance...4hr 320km...drop off Aneta at the airport, head for the rolling hills of East Gippsland
Mar 3-7...Sydney...9hr 704km...Canberra, Sydney, Bondi Beach
Mar 8-14...Port Macquarie...5hr 383km...beach time, subtropical
Mar 15-17...Gold Coast/Brisbane...7hr 524km...beach & city, back into jungle
Mar 18...Maryborough...4hr 311km...Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo in Beerwah
Mar 19...Mackay...8hr 697km...up the coast, deeper into the tropics
Mar 20...Townsville...5hr 388km...picturesque town, children's water park
Mar 21-22...Cairns...5hr 345 km...back in case we missed anything
Mar 23...Sydney...2hr (flight)...one more night on the town, right Alex?
Mar 24...San Francisco..18hr (flight)...stories to tell (if I haven't posted them all)

If you assume we put another 50km on the car during every "extra" day in a town (29 days in total), we should drive approximately 16,638 kilometers or 10,334 miles.


Opportunities like this really don't come along very often. I can't wait to get started.

Trip Preview - Queensland (Part 7 of 7)

And here we have the much-anticipated conclusion to the 7-part preview - wrapping things up in Queensland. As you know, the story began with me landing on Australia Day in Sydney and flying up to Cairns. Trolling around the web for worthwhile images over the holidays, I came across two that I had to include - from snopes.com of all places! Yes, the same site that clarifies urban legends had two images that made sense for this. The first is an image from Australia Day (OK, it was from the other end of Australia in Perth, but it still fits). Yes, this is a real photo - a wide angle photo digitally altered to reduce the red of the fireworks on the left, but wow! Fireworks on the left, lightening to the right (and a barely visible comet in the middle). Amazing.

The second is a good reason that Alex and I will not be on the Great Barrier Reef. Now this one is photoshopped, but it is a fun way to get things started. No, we are not afraid of sharks (more specifically, fear of sharks would be the last reason to avoid the Reef), I am just wondering what a toddler can do on the Great Barrier Reef. If we can figure it out, we may go out there. I'm not scuba certified and Alex is enough of a handful on land.

By the way, many of the photos we've been looking at to this point (that I have not attributed) are from Google Earth. Just Google Earth a location and you get many photos from that place. This one below is a Google Earth image of the Gold Coast.

Now where were we? Ah yes, we were sitting on the beach for a week, resting up for the final sprint - the home stretch of the trip. We were in the northern part of New South Wales working on our tans and getting into the rhythm of being in one place for a few days. If we get antsy, we'll leave a day or two early, but I doubt it.

Anyhow, we will cross from Tweed's Head, NSW into the Gold Coast & Brisbane, Queensland. The Gold Coast is a stretch of beach resort cities. In some ways it is culturally a cross between Vegas and South Beach - glitzy, trendy, maybe a little shallow - but a cool place without a doubt and the home of many beautiful resorts. There are five resort towns on the Gold Coast - all smallish villages with beautiful beaches and loads of big resorts. We will stay up here at least one night. This really does resemble the stretch of upscale beach communities North of Miami: Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, etc. From what I can tell, it may not have some of the breathtaking natural beauty we've seen in much of Australia, but the beaches & resorts are fantastic and the communities are new and vibrant. Many people have come here on vacation and said "why do I live in __ with higher unemployment, expensive real estate and cloudier weather? This place is booming, housing is cheap, and jobs are plentiful." Equating Queensland with Florida just makes sense - and I guess that's why I am doing it for a second time (I just realized I said something about it in Part 1 - I am nothing if not repetitive).

I am starting to feel bad about equating everything in Australia with somewhere in the States. Let's be clear here, Australians do things differently than we do in America. More often than not, it is similar but not the same. I use these comparisons to make things sort of fit with how we look at things in the States, because (frankly) the drivers that make some hot, humid, resort destination like Queensland boom are the same ones that make Florida boom. If we all forgot the technology for air conditioning today, people would start moving away tomorrow around noon. I half expect to find that Brisbane residents have Melbourne accents the way so many Miami residents sound like they grew up in Brooklyn (oh wait - they did grow up in Brooklyn).

Let me take another aside here. From somewhere around East Gippsland, we've been running between the coastal mountain range and the coast. The mountains are mostly low risers, but create a nice backdrop for the coast. So ever since Sydney, I have been driving on the left facing North,with mountains on my left and water on my right and the sun in my face.

Digressions are over, let's get on with it. Just north of all this "cool stuff" on the Gold Coast is Brisbane (image from Google Earth again). Brisbane seems like a really good city to visit as well. Again, the natural beauty is not off-the-charts amazing, but it is a good sized city, it seems to be quite walkable, a river runs through it, and sharks swim in the river (back to my violent animal theme). While it will be sultry and humid, it will be populous, offer a variety of food options, and bring me back into the world of traffic. It could be like a cosmopolitan version of Jacksonville or a Miami where Latinos are replaced with Asians... I have no clue but Alex and I will take a day or two to figure it out. Everything about Brisbane is inviting (at this distance) and sultry. There are a few hot (literally hot) cities on this itinerary: Cairns, Darwin, Broome. The thing is that most are tiny towns worthy of note primarily because they are remote, kind of like Kailua Kona or Key West. Brisbane is the last of the legit, decent-sized cities on this tour (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, and Brisbane qualify on my scorecard).

The real shame here is that after Brisbane, we are looking at maybe 5 days to zip up the coast. As I've said, Queensland is a really nice place, but time is not on our side at this stage. After really jamming from Cairns to Melbourne (about 7000 miles in about 25 days), we dramatically slowed down the pace from Melbourne to Brisbane (1300 miles in 25), but we'll have to kick it up a bit for this last part to cover the last 1000 miles in 5 days (no worries).

One place we'll zip to is Beerwah. Aside from a name that is enticing to those of us who like beer, it is the home of the Australia Zoo, Steve Irwin's wildlife zoo. Best I can tell it will be a great place to go and you just know it has plenty to keep Alex's imagination inspired (or maybe that's just me). Since Steve Irwin was such a fun, energetic, engaging guy - pretty much the opposite of world weary & sarcastic - I expect his zoo will be something to see.

This misty image from near Beerwah is also from Google Earth. From there, we will continue north towards Fraser Island. I have heard great things about this place: a big natural park - lots of wildlife, great for camping, and so forth. Here's the thing: there is a big difference between hiking a beautiful, wild island with adults and hiking anywhere with a toddler. Maybe I'll feel different after 2 months in the bush with Alex, but I really don't have any plans to be out of earshot (or line of sight) from the parking lot when it involves a 2-year-old and a jungle. For that matter, let me put to rest any suspicion that we'll be camping across Australia. We'll stay with a roof over our heads every night. I think a string of roadhouses & motels will be plenty interesting on our tour without pitching a tent or meeting any more flies or mosquitoes than necessary. In conclusion, as things stand, Fraser Island is worthy of mention but it will not be on the agenda.

That's nice, where will we go? We will pass through and stop by at an assortment of towns, beaches, and national parks as we go deeper and deeper into the Deep North. While none really have big populations, the folks who have named these places just north of Brisbane deserve credit: Gympie, Noosa Heads, Gin Gin, Seventeen Seventy (huh?), Biggenden, Doolbi, and Eurimbula all caught my eye. Perhaps the coastal Queenslander town-namers could have some sort of playoff with the ones naming everything in the southwest corner of Western Australia. Queensland would win for comedy, but Western Australia has them beat on tongue twisters. Further up the coast, this name creativity apparently peters out and the decent sized towns en route to Cairns have names like Gladstone, Rockhampton, and Townsville.

Best I can tell, the only thing that changes as we go from places like Gympie to places like Rockhampton (aside from the smirk on one's face at seeing "Biggenden wishes you a big grin" or whatever) is that the water gets dangerous again. Somewhere around the Town of 1770, those beautiful beaches re-acquire our friends from parts 1, 2, & 3 of the series: box jellyfish and saltwater crocodiles. Same gorgeous beaches, same idyllic clusters of palm trees, more heat & humidity to make the water enticing... but I suspect we'll be done with lounging on the beach.

To me (at least) "Rockhampton" sounds like some upscale village you would expect to find in Connecticut or outside of London, England with stone fences in front of large houses - not a sweltering bend in the river where crocodiles and bull sharks compete for the river's bounty. Note to anyone from this part of Queensland: I mean no disrespect, but if you would like to swim in the Fitzroy River, you can be assured that I will not be there to crowd you.

Townsville (images above again from Google Earth) is the last town before Cairns. Actually, it has more people than Cairns. As you can see above, they have a Children's Waterpark on The Strand and it seems like there is more where that came from. I don't mean to harp on this, but is "Townsville" the most vanilla name possible? It looks like an attractive city and I think I will enjoy visiting it. But "Townsville"? The name just screams "committee". Since I don't actually know the history, I will share my undocumented, unprovoked, unsubstantiated conjecture on how the name came about. If anyone has a better or more fact-based story for it, I am open to suggestions, but just seeing the name here is how I think it happened. This town had a name like Coombalingaroo, but they discovered there were already 6 towns in Queensland and the Northern Territory with that same name and mail was always getting mixed up, so they needed to rename it. There was a guy who founded the city, built it, owned most everything, and they figured they would name it after him: "Smithtown". But a lot of people did not like the ring of that and preferred "Smithville". Well the place was divided and they formed a committee to find a compromise. Somewhere along the way, Smithvilletown and Smithtownville were suggested, but nobody liked either. Then Smith's son piped up, saying "why don't we just call it 'Smith'?" Aussies are not fans of tall poppies (those who call attention to themselves), so the panel voted unanimously to call it Townsville.

Now, the other curveball I could think of would be if the place was named after someone named "Towns". If so, the question is if the town is named after some imperious-sounding British guy (Chester Eustace Wentworth Towns IV) or someone with a more "casual" name ("Stumpy" Billy Towns). As for me, I am going with it being almost named after someone like Smith.

And that brings us to Cairns (images thanks to Hilton Cairns - the place where I am staying at least on the first stop). After this little circuit of the continent, I think we will enjoy returning to a familiar place and getting a good night's sleep. If it is anything like the Doubletree in Torrance, the hotel staff will fall in love with Alex (they asked about him for the rest of the year after I had to drag him along on a business trip in Feb '07). Depending on when we get into Cairns, we may be able to either retrace any especially cool experience from January or hit anything that we did not have time to get to (or the weather prevented) the first time. Regardless, I will pull that car back into the Hertz returns and have the camera ready as the guy reads the mileage counter. Yeah, free unlimited miles. Over 10,000 of them. That's right.

It is a little early to get sappy about all that I have learned and gained from the travel, since I have not left yet. One thing I can say is that since the notice went out in my company that I'm leaving on this trip (about a week ago), it has really hit home that this trip is coming really fast - three weeks from now and we are gone. That's as indulgent as I will get for now.

Getting back on track, we fly down to Sydney on March 23rd and fly on to San Francisco on the afternoon of the 24th, arriving the morning of the 24th. Time travel - you just can't beat it. Oh, and we'll miss out on the US Presidential Primaries - yeah, every reader just got a little more jealous with that. Well, this concludes the plan. I will post a couple other items between now and our departure, but if you like what you see, you can look for the posts every day or two starting at the end of the month. ("Good on ya" if you've already saved this site as one of your favorites).