Animals, cliffs, and waterfalls

Who can ever climb around too many cliffs? If we were better photographers we would capture the thrilling sensation of standing on the high edge, looking down on the crisp white against vibrant blue of the ocean.

Further visual rewards on this same hike around Noosa Head include trees such as this.

Some might say it's cheating to feature animals we see in a zoo . . . and we would be among them. Hmmm. We go because it's Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's family's place: The Australia Zoo in Beerwah, near Brisbane. The animals there are either rescued creatures who cannot survive in the wild or there's an effort to rebuild their diminished wild numbers. The thrust of the zoo, which permits touching of certain animals as well as offering shows of their behavior, is also to expose and educate the public. They believe that humanity is more likely to prevent habitat loss if people appreciate and care about the animals. They're doing an excellent job.

Here's the flightless cassowary we watched for so diligently in Queensland's tropical rain forests. He's a relative of the emu. A handsome bloke with a fetching sort of helmet, he's actually quite dangerous. The inside toenail on each foot can rip a person open from stem to stern. Maintain a respectful distance.

We've seen wild echidnas and koalas, but still, who can resist these marsupials? A little-known factoid: the echidna and the platypus are the only mammals who lay eggs! And they're both marsupials. And they each look like something out of a surreal dream.

As for the koala, he is NOT a bear. His diet is eucalyptus tree leaves which are nutritionally not far above paper, so he conserves energy by sleeping on high tree branches for 18 to 20 hours per day.

The endangered giant tortoises are actually from the Galapagos Islands. Back in the 1700s and 1800s ships at sea routinely captured large numbers of these huge creatures, who can go for weeks without eating, to carry them alive on board as a fresh meat source. Even when their numbers were clearly diminishing drastically, the attitude was to grab them while they could, before they were all gone!

Charles Darwin took one as a specimen in 1835 and named him Harry. Later she was more appropriately renamed Harriet. Visitors could meet Harriet here until her death just two years ago at about 200 years of age.

Australia is a mecca for snakes, many of them seriously venomous. Also plenty of pythons. Don't these guys look relaxed?

A few days later near misty New England Nat'l Park, we finally encounter feral camels. They're sharing space with a mob of kangaroos. If you look closely and use your imagination you can see them, too.

Inland from the east coast, precipitous mountains and gigantic rocks jut upwards in eye-catching, gravity-defying shapes. Late spring and early summer rains create lush green landscapes. Waterfalls are gushing enthusiastically. Art always likes me to walk first on a trail so I catch the spider webs in the face.

On a final note, exemplifying how Art imitates Nature, here is The Rock Roadhouse. Who needs to go to Uluru in the Outback when you can come here to shop, eat, and buy fuel in an east coast faux Uluru?

We send each of you the warmest of holiday wishes from balmy Oz. As for us, we'll spend Christmas with our crazy Aussie friends Barry and Jeanette, south of Sydney in New South Wales. Stay tuned for the outcome of their promised Live Wombat Patrol!

Southern Queensland

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Oh the drama! Our laptop has entered permanent sleep mode. The upshot is that we now own a new (used) PC laptop, a scary proposition for this die-hard Mac addict. Salvaging files and learning a new platform are as much fun as a broken nose. Persevere!

The coastal town of Bowen features impressive historic murals on many of its buildings. We decide to go walk-about from block to block to view them. We don't even finish two blocks before we feel woozy from heat and bright sun. Silly though it feels, we wimpishly drive from one to the next.

At Eungella National Park the mountainous views are enshrouded by heavy mists and fog. It's a lovely pocket of lush rainforest, and we're lucky enough to see several platypuses (platypae?) swimming in river pools. This photo is more a view of the surroundings than of the small creature paddling in the foreground. Claudia and PJ, we need you here with your cameras to do him justice!



Just inland from the coast, we drive past miles and miles of sugar cane fields and refineries with their characteristic aroma of steaming sweet greenery. The landscape is criss-crossed by narrow-gauge tracks for the cane trains which haul the crops from field to refinery.

We zig inland to visit Carnarvan Gorge. On the way we pass this emu family. After mum lays about a dozen eggs, dad takes over the rearing of the kids while mum takes off to find another male for her next batch of babies.

Carnarvan Gorge is a spectacular heap of eroded and sculpted rocks. The climate is much drier here. Also cooler! Although we are out of shape from inactivity we walk many kilometres, knowing we'll pay later with stiff muscles.

The crack through the towering rocks here is the gateway to a hidden amphitheatre around a pool of clear water.

Not surprisingly this area is sacred to the Aboriginal people who inhabited it for many generations. Here they left a striking record of pictographs on a rock wall.

There are plenty of wallabies and kangaroos bounding about. One of the most beautiful is the small and delicate whiptail, or pretty face, wallaby.

Along Rifle Creek we wash our vehicle with river water. You know how it is with home maintenance. It's so clean outside, we launch into a deep-clean inside. Well, while we're at it, why not touch up the paint on a few scratches and dings?

Shiny as our Troopy is, we obviously appeal to a couple of cockatoos. They march around squawking orders for a while, then pose on top perfectly!

Fraser Island is the world's biggest sand island, a gigantic dune held in place by trees and scrubby growth. After crossing on a ferry, we drive about 30 kms along the beach (passable only at low tide). That's the easy part since most of it is fairly packed. Abruptly inland it's a mecca for 4-wheel-drivers. All roads consist of narrow winding tracks of soft or softer deep sand with exposed or not so exposed tree roots. Yikes! It's hard to even WALK in this stuff. Despite Art's valuable experience with a 4wd in Vermont's snow and mud we become embarrassingly bogged a few times till he reeeeeeally reduces the tire pressure and drops the 4wd gears into low range. Aha, now we swear this Troopy could actually climb trees. From then on we are able to breathe like normal people and have fun plowing slowly up and down and around to beautiful perched lakes and striking overlooks.

On the beach is the quite complete wreck of this old passenger liner. In the 1930s while it was being towed to Japan for scrap metal, a cyclone blew it off course, and it washed up here. That saved the Japanese the trouble of sending it on to us, in different form, at Pearl Harbor.

We find some amazing beach camping on Fraser Island and the adjacent nat'l park south of it. We also do some trash-picking. The favorite food of sea turtles is jellyfish. Sadly and often fatally, plastic bags can be mistaken for yummy jellies.

Given the sidetrack of The Great Computer Disaster we miss wishing everybody (well, in America anyway) a Happy Thanksgiving. Now the Christmas season is in full bore, and we are in a new state: New South Wales.