We drove until the road ended, to the extreme East of Morocco and only about 20 miles from The Algerian border.  From here, the mode of transport would be a 1 ¼ hour camel ride into the endless Sahara to experience living like a desert nomad for the night.

S saddled up on his camel, who didn’t seem very pleased to have a passenger based on all the intimidating grunting noises it made (the camel, not S).  E decided to walk the entire way to camp alongside the others on their camels.

Camels are fascinating animals and not just because they can survive extreme lengths of time without water.  Camels appear very calm and serene animals despite their roles as ships of the desert.  You can simultaneously feel their power and their patience.  They are said to be smarter than horses or dogs.  They recognize faces and remember those that have mistreated them in the past.  While S’s camel seemed not well, he walked steadily and had no trouble keeping up with our camel train.  When told of the camel’s discomfort, our leader shrugged and carried on.

The camel caravan attempted to find the flattest route often swerving around the endlessly undulating dunes.  E and one of our guides walked in a straight line up and down the dunes.  At some points, the camel caravan could spot E climbing up a dune off in the distance and at other times her location was hidden in the valley behind dunes.

E thoroughly enjoyed her walk.  It was more than a little strenuous walking up and down the dunes in the thick sand with shoes on, but she loved every minute of it.  When challenged by a fellow caravanner to run up one of the monster dunes, E dutifully charged up the dune effortlessly – much to the delight of the caravanners.  On the return journey, E also walked and ended up trekking and conquering the tallest dunes in her path.  She was able to get some amazing photos near and far of her fellow travelers on their camels.

We trekked up one last steep dune and from the top we finally saw our camp at a distance in a valley surrounded by tall dunes.  The camp felt very isolated and was a peaceful retreat and escape from city life.  Once we arrived and camels were dismounted, the shoes came off and we were running up and down the surrounding dunes in our bare feet.  Being barefoot made it LOTS easier to move in the sand.

Dinner was delicious and served under the stars.  At first, it was a bit cloudy; however, as the night wore on, the sky cleared and the stars came out to play.  After dinner, we requested the camp turn out any extraneous lights to help the starry night shine ever brighter.  A group of us climbed a tall dune yet again to take in the view.  It was magical.  Laying on our backs, we saw millions of stars and more than a few shooting stars.  We had a clear shot of the Southern Cross…something we in the Northern Hemisphere don’t get to see.

Less gloriously, we saw some mysterious light green flashes of light in the distance from the direction which we had come earlier that day.  We still don’t know if it was heat lightning or camera flashes?  Aliens? Locals having fun with us?  It’s a mystery.

The desert silence was truly awe inspiring, and we tried to get our group to become silent and to take it all in for a while.  As soon as we accomplished our difficult task (we had a gregarious group, so it was like herding cats), the camel drivers in our camp began playing music – lots of drums, singing and hand cymbals.  It echoed throughout the desert.  It was so loud in fact that we saw some quad bikes coming our way.  They stopped a distance away from us and a couple of riders started walking towards our camp.  We couldn’t really see them but did see the glow of their cell phones approaching slowly from a distance and then stopping several hundred yards away to look in on our camp.  This made us city folk a little uneasy – unsure if these were friends or not.  We notified our camp crew and they checked things out and reassured us “everyone is friends out here – no worries”.  I guess they were our “friends” because nothing more came of this during the evening.

At that point, we decided we wouldn’t get the quiet meditative experience of this vast wilderness and decided to join in on the musical fun.  We took turns playing drums and singing through the rest of the evening.  First we listened to local Moroccan music and then took over the instruments to sing our Western favorites.

The next morning, we woke up early to watch the sunrise – running up many peaks and skree running the steep dunes to the bottom.  A few of us rolled down the hills and one of our fellow travelers grabbed a camp snow board and wiped out going down the hill.  He lived…only a little worse for wear.

While we were never that far from civilization, we felt like we were in a different world.  The desert is just endless and massive.  And there are just no signs of water or life – aside from a few small animal footprints in the early morning sand.  All the way to the eastern horizon we could see nothing but sand and dunes.  It’s hard not to feel helpless and small against the backdrop of the massive blue sky and the gloriously red dunes.  We could have easily stayed here longer, but it was time to return to civilization and continue onward to our next area of Morocco – The High Atlas Mountains for a few days of trekking.

We love Scotch Whisky.  Which kind you ask?  Speyside, Lowland, Highland, Cambeltown, Islay?  Yes, please.  Why be choosy? The triumph of “and” over the tyranny of “or.”  We love them all.  But our favorites tend to be from the Isle of Islay.  And that means large amounts of peat and smoke.  It’s a family thing.

For this leg of our journey, we were met by S’s parents (whom we also bumped into while in Ireland and Northern Ireland) and S’s sister and her husband.  See, we told you…it’s a family thing.

First things first.  How do you properly pronounce Islay?  Is it IS-lay?  Is it EYE-lay?  Is it eye-LA?  Well really its none of the above.  In Gaelic, the island name is spelled Ile or Ila (we saw it both ways).  And to the locals, it’s EYE-luh, but since they’re friendly sorts – they’re just happy you arrived to try their pride and joy.

We started in Edinburgh.  We walked the Royal Mile.  We walked Calton Hill.  We sat in pubs drinking scotch and listening to local music.  We discovered a burgeoning gin scene and sampled the product from some local distillers, but this was all prelude to the real reason for the trip.  Our journey to the Isle of Islay and her whisky distilleries.

Edinburgh is on the eastern edge of Scotland, while Islay is on the far western edge.  Only 12 miles from Northern Ireland at the closest point (as we pointed out in our last post about Ireland).  As such our trip began with a van ride through the southern part of the highlands with a day one goal of catching the ferry to Islay.

Our only real stop the first day was for a lunch break in the seaside town of Oban.  We were given 90 minutes to grab lunch and hit the Oban distillery.  After some fresh catch of the day, we hightailed it to the Oban distillery.  Although not part of Islay, Oban is a favorite.  We skipped the whisky tour and headed straight for the upstairs tasting room.  As a family, we got 3 flights of Oban favorites (4 tastes per flight) and got busy comparing and identifying our favorites.

Our van was first onto the ferry followed by what must have been 50 cars, vans and trucks of all sizes.  The ferry crew expertly guided all the vehicles into place and we were ready to cruise.  The captain of this monster vessel is a real pro.  No ferry that big, carrying that much weight, should be as easy to guide as our captain made it look.  He eased the ferry out of the dock, did a 180 turn in place, raced to Islay, repeated the 180 turn and guided the ferry into the dock at Islay.  No drama amazingly, given the tight spaces into which the captain had to fit this monster ferry.  He deserved a nice glass of scotch afterwards!

Or maybe there was drama and we missed it.  We were blissfully unawares as our brother in law bought a bottle of Bowmore which we happily sipped with light snacks during our ferry ride.

Once off the ferry, we raced speedily to our accommodations for the next few nights.  We stayed at the Bowmore cottages.  These are old homes formerly reserved for workers at the Bowmore distillery and now functions more like a hotel for visiting guests.  The wonderful white buildings are located right on the Bowmore grounds, mere feet from the Bowmore tasting room.  Our cottage was known as the Malt Man’s home.  Malting requires continuous oversight and precision, which means living on site.  And true to its name, our home for the next 3 nights was perfectly perfumed by the aromas of peat smoke and malted barley.

We will spare you all the details, but distilling scotch is very similar to the process of making beer.  Simple ingredients:  water, barley, yeast.  There are some extra steps in making scotch:  smoking the barley, grinding the barley, double distillation, higher alcohol content and aging (to name a few).  Even some of the terminology is the same.  Scotch distillers even refer to their barley tea (our term) as wort.

So, what makes one distillery different from the other?  Lots of things.  Their water source.  Their peat source.  The yeast they use.  The malting and peating processes are similar but has some variances.  The water temperatures are slightly different during the process of making wort.  Though one of the biggest differences (if not the biggest difference) was the shape of the stills themselves.  The shape of still affects taste because each shape allows different flavors to either rise through the still, never leave the pot or fall into specially designed traps.

The most striking similarity was that the barley and the malting process are not viewed as proprietary.  Some barley even comes from outside of Islay.  But malting the barley (warming in hot water and allowing the barley to sprout growth) requires large amounts of space, time and labor.  As most of the distilleries are limited by space, they outsource the entire process to the Port Ellen facility (a former distillery owned by Diageo).   With talk that Port Ellen may soon start distilling again, it’s unclear how the other distilleries will change their processes.  Only Kilchoman grows and malts 100% of their own barley.  But they’re a relatively new and smaller producer.

We had two full days of touring distilleries and tasting.  The days were a perfect mix of touring, tasting and lunching at a distillery.  In-between visits, we explored the beauty of the island.

On day one, we visited Bowmore, Kilchoman and Bruichladdich.  Since we were staying at Bowmore, the commute was a stroll across the small parking lot.  Bowmore was the first distillery in Islay and has the most famous aging vault.  It’s apparently perfect in everyway and is still used for the premium spirits that Bowmore distills.  We stopped for lunch at Kilchoman and for a tour and tasting.  As part of lunch we ordered Cullen Skink (a smoked haddock soup).  Trust us, it’s far more delicious that the name implies.  And lastly we hit Bruichladdich, an older distillery that was closed for years and recently reopened.  As such, their oldest spirits are less than 10 years old.  But they made up for it by sharing with us their pride and joy – The Octomore.  It’s the self proclaimed peat-iest scotch in the world.  Some other distillers disputed that appellation, but there’s no mistaking that it was a peat bomb and quite delicious.  S was a bit fearful to try it but loved it.

On day two, we visited Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig.  Ardbeg might have been our favorite distillery to visit.  The grounds were lovely, our tour guide was excellent (she was still in college but her command of the subject matter was excellent) and our private tasting room was full of leather seats and dark wood.  We also had an excellent lunch at Ardbeg.  After our visit to Ardbeg, we went down to a beautiful and massive beach.  It was one of the largest beaches we had ever seen.  You don’t think of Scotland as having a “beautiful beach”, but it was.  In fact, we were told that a resort in Thailand came over and photographed this beach.  They enhanced it with more tropical coloring and used it as a stock beach photo of their resort in Thailand.  Why?  Because of the sheer size and because there were no people in the photo.  Brilliant!  Well until Scotland sued Thailand and won.  Before Lagavulin, we stopped at a second short walk point from which we could see the remains of an old Viking castle.  We could also see the Lagavulin distillery.  S and our brother in law got overly excited and walked along the rocky and marshy coastline to the distillery.  Lagavulin was the only distillery at which we didn’t take the tour.  Instead, we sat in their tasting room and enjoyed flights of their finest scotches.  And last but not least, we visited Laphroaig.  This was the moment we had been waiting for!  Laphroaig is our jam.  Especially the 10 year.  Anything older and it’s loses what makes Laphroaig special.  As if we hadn’t sampled enough scotch in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the first 6 distilleries in Scotland, we bought a glass of Cairdeas.  In Gaelic, Cairdeas means friendship.  The scotch is finished in sherry and bourbon barrels so the color and flavors are quite unique.  It’s quite simply marvelous.

This was a once in a lifetime trip and it was made extra special with the opportunity to share the adventure with family.  This was the first time that just the six of us had taken a trip together (the nieces and nephew were dearly missed) and we are very grateful that our family were all able to make this happen.  Sacrifices were made and worthy memories were the reward.  Next time to the British Isles, we’ll have to do a tour of another scotch region.  But which one?  These are difficult decisions and ones on which we don’t  always agree.  But we will choose one because Scotch is a family thing.

 

 

Our short train trip from Dublin to Cork had us rolling through the green countryside passing plenty of old castle ruins along the way.  Arriving Cork (pronounced by locals as “CARK”), we made our way through town to our hotel for the next two nights.  As luck would have it, S’s mom and dad were in town along with 6 of their closest friends – so we met up with their crew and had a round of drinks at a local pub in town.  S and E ordered a shot of Jameson and Bushmills (White Bush) for a side-by-side taste test.  We also horseraced Murphy’s Stout vs Guinness.  Have you tried each of these?  Which would you prefer?  For us, there was no contest.  Guinness over Murphy’s.  And sorry Northern Ireland – we preferred Jameson (but more on this later).  Afterwards we had dinner with mom and dad at the number 1 rated restaurant in town, an Indian restaurant.  It was indeed excellent.

Go for Blarney Castle, stay for the grounds!  The next morning, we took a public bus to Blarney Castle, which is a Medieval castle dating back to 1446 (the original structure was built in 1220). We made sure to arrive early to avoid the crowds and managed to be the first people in line for the day.  This meant walking into the grounds with the perfect, tourist-free, photo of the castle, and no line to kiss the famous Blarney Stone.  We made our way across the grounds and up the spiral staircase tower to the top of the castle and over to the Blarney Stone.  Even with all the rumors of how dirty the stone is (we don’t need to mention details here), S did kiss it – and is still alive and well!

The gem of the day was walking through the beautiful grounds.  The castle itself only took us ten minutes, but we could have stayed the entire day for the grounds.  There were trails meandering through old rock formations, waterfalls, forest and lush gardens.  We did stroll through Poison Garden – featuring all sorts of nasty plants that will cause everything from stomach distress to death.  Notable was a difficult to access area dedicated to cannabis.

We were also lucky enough to visit during the summer months, the only time when The Blarney House opens its doors for private tours.  This is an occupied residence – the owners travel for the summer months.  We could clearly see evidence of people living there, with dog beds in the corner of the great room, and several personal photos displayed throughout the house.  If you’re a Downton Abbey fan, this house would have felt familiar to you.  The house is owned by Sir Charles St John Colthurst, the 10^th Baronet of Ardrum, as is Blarney Castle and the surrounding grounds.

Our next stop on our Ireland adventure was Limerick.  As we strolled to our accommodation from the train station, we quickly fell in love with the feel of this small city.  It seemed much more-quaint than Cork, with cobblestone streets and pubs/shops lining the narrow roadways.  We spent our first afternoon on a self-guided walking tour, taking us through the old town area where we walked by St. Mary’s Cathedral and King John’s Castle.  We unfortunately did not get an opportunity to visit the castle as they closed early that day for a concert.  Wait – a concert you say…at a 13^th century castle?  Yes, please.  We tried to score tickets until we learned they sold out the morning they went on sale and none ever get re-sold.  Plenty of notable bands have played here including U2.  What an amazing venue to see a show!  You owe us one, Limerick!

Our reasoning for stopping in Limerick was to visit The Cliffs of Moher – just a two-hour drive from the city.  It’s easy to see why this is one of Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction.  These magnificent cliffs were formed over 300million years ago and are over 14 kilometers long.  Walking along the trail, it was extremely windy day – we didn’t want to venture too close to the edge, as it’s a long way down into the cold rough sea.  Although it was a wonderful visit, and we enjoyed walking the coastline; we couldn’t help but compare these cliffs to our recent walks in Australia (especially The Great Ocean Road).  There are no losers here and both are to be experienced but the coastline of Australia is just too perfect.

Belfast – On our final train journey in Ireland from Limerick to Belfast (via Dublin) we watched our google map as we crossed from The Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland by rail. No, we did not have to show our passport, but we did have to take out local currency (British Pound).  The Republic of Ireland uses The Euro.  We also talked in great length about how Brexit would affect Ireland as a whole.  For those of you who are not familiar, Ireland is divided into two nations.  Most of Ireland is The Republic of Ireland and part of the European Union.  The northern-most part of Ireland (about 25% of the area in the north-east) is Northern Ireland, and a part of the United Kingdom.  Once Brexit finally takes place, there will be a lot of confusion in Ireland as a whole.

We went on a political tour during our stay here and learned more about the conflicts that took place up until about twenty years ago. We visited Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods and saw murals memorializing the past violence along with tributes to those that lost their lives.  Although Belfast is at peace, the bright lines of segregation remain.  The Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods still have walls separating the two communities (even taller than The Berlin Wall was) and the authorities lock the gates connecting the two communities overnight and on weekends.  Even the children attend schools largely with kids of their own faith.  But there are other uncomfortable signals as well.  As if the conflict between loyalty to the crown (the Protestant side) vs loyalty to self-rule (the Catholic side) wasn’t sufficient, one continuing sign of discord is Israeli flags flying in the Protestant communities and Palestinian flags flying in the Catholic communities.  While there has been talk of tearing down the walls, the majority of residents still believe the walls are necessary.

With that said, the momentum is on the side of peace and the outlook remains positive.  One hopeful sign is the booming commitment to tourism.  Belfast currently has 32 hotels under construction vs the current total of 20 hotels.  We thoroughly enjoyed the vibe, food scene and friendly residents and wish we had more time to spend there.

On one of our unscripted days in Belfast, we took a day trip to The Giant’s Causeway.  We didn’t book it to necessarily see The Giant’s Causeway, but because we’d also drive by The Bushmills Distillery.  Ahem.  Boy, we were pleasantly surprised.  The Giant’s Causeway is a magical area on the coast with over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. These columns of varying height reminded us of the old arcade game Qbert – we were able to mimic this character hopping and walking from one column to the next, up and down in all directions.  They jut outward into the sea and folklore has it that these columns once reached the coast of Scotland.

Speaking of Scotland, it’s just 12 miles at the closest point to Northern Ireland.  From various points during our day, we could see Scotland on the horizon.

The Bushmills Distillery!!  As noted above, we swung by The Bushmills Distillery (the oldest licensed distillery in these parts) after visiting The Giant’s Causeway.  If you know Bushmills as one of the two commonly available Irish whiskey brands, then you need to head to their distillery in Northern Ireland.  We enjoyed a nice lunch of Irish stew accompanied by a pint of Guinness – quickly followed by a whiskey tasting.  We fell in love with Bushmills.  Our favorite was Black Bush, which is finished in Sherry casks vs American Oak for the commonly found Bushmills Original (or White Bush).  We also enjoyed the 10 year which is a blend of whiskey aged in bourbon and sherry barrels.  The 16 year is also a blend of whiskey aged in bourbon and sherry barrels but includes the added step of spending a few months at the end of the ageing process in port barrels.  Needless to say, we have new appreciation for Bushmills and apologize to all Bushmills fans for our earlier comments that we preferred Jameson over Bushmills.

On an adventurous and final note, we walked over the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge – which is not too far from The Giant’s Causeway.  The bridge is only 20 meters long and is about 30 meters above the water below, but for two people scared of heights it was quite the challenge.  Good thing we filled up on liquid courage at The Bushmills Distillery first!  E swore the whole time as she crossed – S thinks she had a religious conversion because there was a lot of holy this and holy that.  S had his camera out and took video of the crossing.  Thankfully without incident.  The bridge connects the mainland with a small island that was formerly used for cow grazing.  For PG-13 reasons, we can’t show the video but we can share some of the spectacular photos of the views.

Combined with our Dublin post, this was our adventure in Ireland and Northern Ireland.  We missed the west coast of Ireland but decisions had to be made given the constraints of time.  We have a fervent desire to return to this part of the world and we are certain that we will.  The Emerland Isle is wondrous and the history is rich and deep.  Plus the live music is extremely good.  The street busker scene in Dublin legendary but the bars throughout almost always have live music of some sort.  Perhaps more optimistically, we also want to participate in the new story that Belfast is writing.  Belfast is firmly on its way up and we loved it.

 

As we woke up on our flight descending in the morning through the beautiful sunrise, and lush green land below us, we got very excited to be on the third leg of our journey – Ireland.  Extra credit if you can name all 9 countries that we’ve visited so far.  Extra extra credit if you can do them in order.  Operators are standing by.

The name Dublin comes from “dubh linn”, Gaelic for “black pool” – where the Poddle Stream (which today runs underneath the city) met the River Liffey to form a deep pool near the medieval Dublin Castle.

We managed to get through customs swiftly and caught the Airlink bus into the city, and found our Airbnb, centrally located by St. Stephen’s Green and Trinity College.  This would be our home for the next two nights and the first city in our journey through Ireland.  If you have read our previous posts, you know by now that we would drop our bags and hit the ground running.

The first order of business was to fuel up.  We found a nice pub and enjoyed our first traditional cod fish and chips.  In the states, you simply get a full fried fillet of fish and some fries.  On this side of the pond, you will get your plate of fish/chips included with a small cup of green mushy stuff.  It may not look very appetizing, but it’s delicious – mushed peas.  We washed all of this down with a few microbrew porter stout style beers.  They didn’t sell Guinness!  Is that even legal in Ireland?

After we satisfied our appetite, we made our way to Trinity College.  Queen Elizabeth the first founded this research university in 1592 and modeled it after Oxford.  As we walked the cobblestone streets, we noticed how pristine the grounds were, and it was an un-Ireland-like warm and sunny day – many students and tourists lounged in the green spaces.

Trinity College is most known to tourists for The Library of Trinity College – which houses 6.2 million printed volumes and significant quantities of manuscripts, including The Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels in a Latin text, written around 800 AD.  Although this book is what drives the large crowds – making it impossible to get a good glimpse through the hordes of people surrounding the case, the real attraction to us was the Old Library.  Our recommendation – make your way through the crowd, quickly circle the case enclosing the famous book, then proceed up the steps into the magnificent Long Room (The Library).

As we ascended the stairs, we caught a whiff of old books/paper, and were greeted with a stunning room filled with rows and rows of historic books and busts of literary and philosophical masters.  The Long Room is the longest single-chamber library in the world and houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books.

Next, we continued our walk to cross the famous Ha’ Penny Bridge.  This white metal bridge is pedestrian only and got its name from the toll one used to pay to cross it – half a penny.  There are 21 bridges spanning the River Liffey, many of which are pedestrian only bridges.

We worked up a thirst on this unusually warm and humid day and decided to walk over to the notorious Temple Bar neighborhood.  Temple Bar has smaller cobblestone streets and is crowded with many pubs featuring live music, restaurants and trendy shops.  The Temple Bar Pub was our choice – we made our way inside and through the crowd and ordered our first round of Guinness.  “Mmmmmm – Guinness!”  Think Homer Simpson chugging his first Duff Beer of the day!

The namesakes of the Temple Bar neighborhood…

As luck would have it, two seats opened up in the over-capacity room, with a perfect view of the small, live music stage.  The first guitarist played covers mainly attributed to artists from Great Britain.  The next set was three artists (flute, fiddle and guitar) playing more traditional Irish music.   Although Irish music is known for its heavy, deeply sad lyrics, this trio preferred upbeat and happy tunes…befitting the festive atmosphere on the warm day.

We noticed a sign above the stage – “Guitarist Dave Browne broke the Guinness Book of World Record for the longest marathon playing guitar 114 hours live from June 12th to June 17^th, 2011.   Woah – how did he do that?!?!  And now you are wondering – is the creator of this great beverage we are drinking related to this great book?  Why yes, they are!  The Guinness Book of World Records was created to settle a pub argument.  In 1951, the former managing director of Guinness was out shooting with some friends when they began to argue over which was the fastest game bird in Europe.  They had no way of finding out the correct answer.  Fast forward three years – they decided the drinking world needed a book to single handedly settle any pub dispute and printed their first volume.

The next morning, and our only full day in Dublin, we planned a little bit of sightseeing and a little bit of beverage tasting to fill our day.  After fueling up on coffee, we walked through the brisk and misty morning air to our first stop, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  This is Ireland’s largest church and was built between 1191 and 1270.  Remarkably, we found out that morning that The Pope would be paying a visit to Dublin in two days’ time.  We felt honored to be walking through this beautiful Cathedral days before The Pope would visit.

Next, onward to the Dublin Castle.  We opted for the guided tour, which gave us access to the excavation site of the Viking era, medieval Dublin and to the Gothic Chapel Royal. We were able to see part of the old city walls, one of the remaining towers (The Norman Powder Tower which was spared by the fire that destroyed most of the castle), the double archway and the postern gate (a smaller gate in the rear of the castle with boat dock access that allowed daily access for merchants and locals).  The Chapel Royal has since been deconsecrated to support separation of church and state, given the government presence onsite.  It is now mainly used for cultural events.  As a fun note, Bram Stoker, of Dracula fame, worked at the Ireland Revenue service for years and it is thought that the Gothic Chapel Royal (which sits across the courtyard) served as inspiration.

Inside the Powder Tower…

The postern gate…

The double archway…through which the moat flowed before being sealed for security reasons and to stop the spread of the plague.

Afterwards, we walked through part of the State Apartments (some were closed due to the upcoming Papal visit).  Proudly displayed throughout the rooms is the Coat of Arms of Ireland – a gold harp with silver strings on a blue background.  Ummmm – wait, this looks a little familiar.  It was on our pint glass yesterday.  Do Guinness and Ireland share the same symbol?  Fun fact – Guinness trademarked the harp logo in 1876, while Ireland was a colony.  When Ireland gained its “independence” in 1922, they quickly settled on a harp as a logo but ran into the Guinness trademark problem.  A resolution was quickly found…the new republic’s harp would face the opposite direction as the Guinness logo.  But why a harp at all?  The last independent king of Ireland would play his harp before entering battle.  So, it’s a fierce symbol of independence.

OK, that’s enough history for the day.  After grabbing a quick lunch, and ensuring it was after a respectable 12:00pm, we walked into the Jameson Distillery for the Whiskey Experience Tour.  This interactive tour took us through a short interactive film on the history of Jameson (we promised no more history).  In the second portion of the interactive tour, we learned about the making of Jameson from start to finish.  The third part of our experience was the best part – tasting.  We were presented with a shot of Jameson (which is triple distilled), Jack Daniels (to try the most popular American Whiskey) and a shot of Johnnie Walker Black label (the most popular Scottish Whisky).  Obviously, this is a sales pitch for Jameson – so, of course they would have us comparing their whiskey to those that are severely inferior.

After the tour, we made our way to the main bar and cashed in our free drink ticket, included with the tour.  We opted for a mixed cocktail of Jameson, ginger ale and lime.  It was quite refreshing and would have been perfect for the warm weather the day before.

Our final stop of the day was The Guinness Storehouse.  This experience takes you through the brewing process, the history of Guinness and the marketing history and tactics.  We had an opportunity to learn how to properly taste Guinness – with cute little shot glasses, and finally were learned how to pour our own Guinness.  If done correctly, there are 6 steps to pouring a Guinness and it should take 2 full minutes time.  So, the next time you order one in a pub, be patient with the bartender.  It’s worth the wait.  Our tour ended with one of the best views of the city.  We grabbed our self-poured pints of beer and headed to the skybar on the top floor.  This bar offers 360-degree views of the city with floor to ceiling glass.  It’s a perfect way to enjoy a pint, so long as the crowds don’t get to you.

Our shot glasses of Guinness during our tasting lesson…(ahem, not us in the background)

Without boring you with the finer details of what we learned, here are a few fun facts we didn’t know before visiting The Guinness Storehouse:

1. Guinness invented the first nitro beer
2. Guinness is not black – it is a dark ruby red. Test it – order a pint and hold it up to the light
3. Arthur Guinness knew he would have the best beer; he signed a 9,000-year lease on his first distillery site. Commercial Real Estate Brokers reading this fact are drooling right now!
4. The Guinness family have been very generous and loyal Irish citizens. Arthur Guinness founded the first Sunday School in Ireland.  In more recent times, they have been huge philanthropists – they helped fund the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and landscaped St. Stephen’s Green into the vast park it is today – to name just a few notable things the family has done for Dublin.

Given that we gave ourselves less than two full days to explore Dublin, we feel more than satisfied with our experiences.  We put together a fine mix of history, sightseeing and sampling the local refreshments.  On our final morning, we took a final saunter through historic St. Stephen’s Green (awed by the bravery of the Irish citizens) before boarding a train headed for Cork and Blarney Castle.

Melbourne has a completely different vibe than Sydney.  Sydney feels more cosmopolitan and global, while Melbourne feels more local and has a younger hipster feel.  There are so many restaurants in this coastal capital, it would take three lifetimes to dine in each.  Melbourne is a fine walking city with a thriving 24-hour culture and lots of central parks and green space, a nice mix of San Francisco and Berkeley in the Bay Area.

Besides having five full days to unwind and laundry to catch up on, we were told that we had to do 3 things in Melbourne:  Catch an Aussie Rules Match, get lost in the Laneways and attend a movie at the Melbourne International Film Festival.  Judge for yourself on how we did.

Aussie Rules Match –

Our visit to Australia would not have been complete without attending an AFL (Australian Football League) game of footy as the locals call it.  The match we attended was between The Melbourne Demons and The Sydney Swans.  What we didn’t realize at the time we booked this game is that The Sydney Swans used to be the South Melbourne team.  Hence the strong showing by Swans fans.  Oh, and yes – we happened to be sitting in the Swans section (even though S wore a Melbourne Demons beanie). The crowd was super tame at the outset but grew steadily rowdier with beer consumption and as The Swans took the lead in the low scoring game.  Once we got a hang of the rules, the game became more and more interesting.  The gentleman sitting in front of us was kind enough to provide some comical play by play information throughout the game.

In case you were wondering, The Swans won, dealing a huge blow to the championship hopes of The Demons.

Video of some pregame action… 

Getting Lost in The Laneways –

Get lost in the laneways, we were told.  When hungry or thirsty in Melbourne, leave the main streets!  Pick a random laneway (alley), and you will discover many hidden treasures.

The Laneways came about from a few circumstances.  The original city plan provided for these little alley ways to assist in servicing the city while avoiding main streets, controlling traffic flow.  In the early 1990’s The City of Melbourne encouraged public art displays down their alleys.  In addition, shop and restaurant owners were looking for an alternative to escalating rents on the main thoroughfares.

One of the first bars to start on this trend was Meyer’s Place Bar. In 1994, a small group of friends pooled their money together ($30,000 Australian) and built a small bar made of recycled timber, shag carpeting and a cast-on-site (‘cement”) bar.  It quickly became “the place” to drink.

Ironically, Meyer’s Place Bar is no longer located on Meyer’s Place.  They were forced to relocate recently when their lease expired.  The owner did however get the last laugh when he pulled out the original bar and relocated it to his new location.

Today, The Laneways wind through the city like a hidden maze, each offering their own character of shops, dining, bars/clubs and street art.  One of the Laneways we visited was the AC/DC laneway – as seen here.  Though the band is from Sydney, a healthy tribute has sprung up to the band alongside one of the best live music venues in the city.

One of our dining highlights was catching up with two friends that E had met on her Antarctica adventure.  We started with a bottomless brunch and ended up venturing to a speak easy gin bar in St. Kilda called The Store Room.  We walked into a doorway and picked up a rotary dial phone, and voila! The door opened into a dark and eclectic speak easy bar.  The cocktails tasted fantastic and the presentations were sublime!

S’s drink served complete with the burnt woodchips that provided the smoke for his drink…

 

St. Kilda Penguins –

Speaking of St. Kilda – When you are in Melbourne, you have two opportunities to see these cute little creatures coming home for the night after a long day of feeding in the ocean.  You can drive two hours to Phillips Island and sit on cold metal bleachers with a huge crowd of tourists, shivering in the driving damp winds, or you can take a stroll to The St. Kilda Pier.

After we warmed up on crafty gin cocktails, we took a ten-minute stroll to the pier shortly before sunset.  Although there was a small crowd of people gathered, it was much tamer than the alternative.

There are about 1,400 penguins that call The St. Kilda Pier their home.  They are the smallest species of penguins called Eudyptula minor penguins (fairy penguins) and only grow to an average of 13 inches in height.

We couldn’t have timed it better.  A few moments after we arrived, we heard the unmistakable peep of a few penguins.  We then saw the little guys swimming and waddling up the small beach to the rocks, to nestle in for the evening.  It was super cute.  We captured a photo of one here.

 

Melbourne International Film Festival – (Jirga)

It just so happened we were in town during the Melbourne International Film Festival.  We hadn’t attended a film festival before and decided it would be fun to catch a flick.  We chose Jirga, a film about an Australian soldier that returned to Afghanistan to make right to the family of a civilian man he inadvertently killed during the war.  The film was well done and sent a positive message about the act of forgiveness and letting go.

The film was supposed to be made with known actors and filmed in Pakistan.  But the locals pulled the filmmaker’s permits at the last moment (out of fear that Islam would be made to look bad).  The producers quickly scaled down production and took the great risk of filming in Afghanistan with …um…local (the Taliban in some cases) serving as actors.  The director filmed the whole thing himself with a handheld camera.   We were told that everyone (producers, director, actors and locals) took great personal risks to tell this story, which only added to our appreciation of the movie’s artistry.

After the film was finished, we were surprised to learn that the director was in the audience to lead a question/answer session afterward.  We didn’t stay for this portion as it was our last night in the city.  We wanted to have a nice dinner before our flight back to Sydney early the next morning.

Good to see you again Sydney-

On to our final segment in Oz – we returned to Sydney for two quick nights before our flight back to San Francisco. This gave us one full day to explore another part of the city.

The weather turned out to be a stunning sunny day, with a temperature in the mid-seventies.  Australia couldn’t leave a finer impression on us.  We took the ferry over to Manly Marina.  The views of the Harbor and Opera House were amazing.  Upon reaching the marina, we decided to go on another long coastal walk.  We walked along the coast from Manly Marina to Manly Beach to Shelley Beach and then around the Sydney Harbor National Park.  There was a lookout point with the City of Sydney far-off in the distance.  A truly spectacular view on a gorgeous day.

A view of Manly Beach…

A view of Manly and several beaches to the north from a vista point…

Hey look, Australians built a pool next to a large body of water, where have we seen this before?…

The view of Sydney from the North Head of Sydney Harbor National Park…

Spending our last day walking the coastline and park was an appropriate ending for our trip to Australia since it’s how we spent our first day in Australia too.  Recall that we walked 10.6 miles on our first day and 11.4 miles on our last day (though it was much warmer on our last day).

Our Next Habitat Build – Nepal!

E being the consummate planner that she is has been religiously scanning the Habitat website looking for our next build location.  We’ve kicked around parts of South America, Central America, Europe and Asia.  But one build in Nepal seemed perfect in terms of location and timing.  It wouldn’t be so much a build as continued clean up after the massive earthquakes from a few years ago.  We loved that idea.  So we looked at flights.  It costs $3500 per person to fly from San Francisco to Kathmandu.  Bummer.  Again, E being the travel expert that she is, she started playing with routes.  How about we fly to Mumbai, spend a few days and then fly to Kathmandu?  Less than $1,000 per person?  Um, yes, please.

If that were the end of our story, that’d be enough.  But it’s not.  To officially become a volunteer on a build, we have to reach out to the Build leader and make sure there’s space.  Sometimes there’s a short call which takes place to make sure there’s a cultural fit for both sides.  Before we spoke to the Build leader, we were still kicking around whether this was what we wanted to do.  The build fit our schedule, but did it speak to us?  Did we feel compelled?  Well whatever hesitation we had soon disappeared…

On our last night in Sydney, we were walking back from Circular Quay to our Airbnb (after finishing our walk around Manly) and we strolled into a taqueria of all things.  It was a happening after work spot apparently.  We asked the host if there was room.  There wasn’t.  He suggested that we try and find room at the bar, have a drink and he’d let us know if a table opened up.  As luck would have it, two seats opened up and we slid right in.

Because of the work/holiday program for kids under the age of 32 (if you don’t know what it is, look it up, it’s a tremendous program for the youth of the world), we’ve taken to talking to young people around Australia to discover where they’re from and learn their story.  We’ve met kids from all over the world but mostly from the US, Canada and Great Britain.  Our server in the taqueria was from Chicago.  After getting our drinks and food, the host returned to say that a table had opened up and we could move if we wished.  We were happy where we were, so we declined.  But we asked, you have a slight accent, where are you from?  Nepal comes the reply.  Isn’t the world a magnificent place!  We excitedly told the host what we planned, and he gushed that his homeland needed the help.  A few moments later, he brought over 3 shots of tequila and we did a toast “to Nepal!”

We don’t meet many people from Nepal.  And to have met this chap at the time and place we did makes this build fate.  We know that you’re not supposed to confuse coincidence with fate.  But in this case, how can we not?

So anyway, it’s done.  We spoke to our Build leader and we’ll be headed to Nepal next May.  If you’d like to contribute to Habitat-Nepal and to help support our attending this build, please donate at the following link:

https://share.habitat.org/emily-salil-mehta-gv19362

So that’s it! 

The final installment of our 35 days in Australia.  This is a massive country and it’s almost impossible to cover well in one trip.  Despite all of our excellent adventures, we can count at least one adventure that we had to pass up to complete one from our itinerary.  We will certainly return one day and conquer what we missed:  Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, Tasmania and Western Australia.

 

After leaving The Outback we needed to catch our breath, shower properly and sleep in a comfy bed.  Our tour thankfully gave us two days in Adelaide to explore the city and get ready for two very long days as we drove from Adelaide to Melbourne.

Our new tour leader informed us that our two days together couldn’t be more different.  The first day wouldn’t involve much walking but would instead require 500 kilometers of driving.  As a reward, he hinted that the second day would blow our minds.  We think both days were pretty spectacular.

To make the trip work properly and allow time for mind blowing things on Day 2, we needed to make good time and get from Adelaide to Grampians National Park – a nature reserve in Victoria featuring beautiful waterfalls, sandstone mountains and impressive vistas.  We would spend the night in the Grampians at a group hostel and then link up with the Great Ocean Road, which starts just to the southeast of the park, and end up in Melbourne late on Day 2.

So, let’s get started…with a picture heavy review of our two days

As we left Adelaide, we soon crossed over the Murray River, which at 2,500 kilometers is the longest river in Australia.  A large part of the river forms the natural border between New South Wales and Victoria before flowing into South Australia (where we crossed over it).

Soon after leaving the Murrary River, we made a quick stop in Coonalpyn.  A local artist has taken to decorating grain silos with portraits of local school children.  The paintings are huge.  See for yourself.  They’re quite good too.

After a quick stop to check out the grain silos, we soon reached Bordertown, which as luck would have it is near the border of South Australia and Victoria.  Someone (though our leader said it’s not clear who’s done it) has taken the time to build an unusual kangaroo reserve.  It features mostly albino kangaroos.  The powers at be are allowing the kangaroos to breed and removing the kangaroos with color and leaving behind only the albino kangaroos.  Why?  We have no idea but the bundles of white fur hopping all around made for quite the spectacle.

Again, after a short ride, our attention was turned from white fur to a pink lake.  The lake is cleverly named Pink Lake.  This salt lake has an unusual bacteria which grows in the lake and produces the pigment for which the lake is named.  The more it rains, the less color in the lake.  The brighter the sun and the less overcast, the pinker the lake.  Luckily for us, it had been dry recently and the lake had a wonderful pink hue.

After a long ride, we entered the Grampians National Park.  The Grampians were formed by compacted sand over millions of years. The mountains are full of silica and quartz, which makes for very hard rock, and were pushed higher by tectonic and volcanic activity nearby.  Notably, the Grampians are older than the Himalayas by 50 million years and predates the Alice Springs orogeny, so they’re older than Uluru and Kata Tjuta also.

As we entered the park, we visited Broken Falls…

Then Mackenzie Falls…

Then Reed’s Lookout and the Jaws of Death…

…and finally, Boroka Lookout…our hostel was close to the lake in the distance…

After a good night’s rest, we began the journey early in the morning for Melbourne.  After a short drive we arrived at Grouse Lookout, which featured excellent views of Mount Eccles and the Grampians off in the distance.  Mount Eccles is a volcanic dome; several of these volcanic domes are scattered throughout eastern Australia.

The Grampians…

Mount Eccles

As we drove in and out to Grouse Lookout, we saw lots of wallabies.  Both redneck wallabies and swamp (or black) wallabies.  They’re harder to photograph than kangaroos because they’re notoriously shy and prefer rockfaces or steep hillsides.  It’s not uncommon to drive near one and only see the tail as the animal scampers up a steep hillside into thick brush or down into a gulley next to the road.  Kangaroos are more gregarious and prefer wide open plains.  They’ll stop, stand up and take a peek at what’s entered their field.

We stopped at Tower Hill Reserve where we were promised koalas.  We saw two adults.  The first was a female perched high up in a tree.  She was awake and moving around, which is rare.  After a short hike, we saw a second koala, but it was difficult to tell if it was a male or female.  They’re fairly well obscured by the tree branches.  So, we moved on.

After joining the Great Ocean Road, we stopped at Warnambool, a popular whale nursery at Logan Beach.  We did see one mother whale swimming with her baby.  They were pretty far out but we could see their flippers and see their exhale spouts.  More interestingly, we caught a playful seal body surfing in the huge surf.  The seal kept looping wave after wave.  It was pure joy to watch!  We’re not sure who was having more fun, us or them!

After another short drive we stopped at Bay of Martyrs.  ­­­­Famous for more notorious reasons (best not to mention why), the Bay of Martyrs is now more famous for the London Bridge natural landmark.

First a picture before the collapse…

Now a picture after the collapse…

The coastline here is simply magnificent…

Then a short drive further up the Great Ocean Road to the Loch Ard Gorge, site of a famous ship wreck.

The Island Archway…

The Razorback…

Site of the shipwreck (just beyond the rocks)…

We also visited the cemetery for the less fortunate aboard the Loch Ard…

Just a bit further down the road we came to the famous 12 Apostles formation…which is odd because there are more than 12 Apostles (technically anyway) and there aren’t 12 rock formations making up the 12 Apostles rock formation…

Again, the coastline along the Great Ocean Road is stunning…

The Great Ocean Road was originally built as a private toll road but is now owned by the government.  This is all that remains of the original toll gate at the Road’s eastern end…

The Great Ocean Road was built by soldiers returning after World War 1.  Midway through construction, the builders of the road decided to dedicate the road to their fallen comrades.  The statue tribute to comrades at the eastern end of the road.

As sunset quickly approached, we made for Point Addis Marine National Park.  This is more a surf spot (frequented by our tour leader) than a tourist spot.  So, it was a nice quiet spot from which to watch the sunset and reflect on a great day.

So that’s it.  A picture tour of our 2 day trip from Adelaide to Melbourne.  Day 2 was definitely our favorite of the two days and was full of one awe inspiring sight after another, but Day 1 got a bum rap.  Between the wildlife and the natural wonders, Day 1 was pretty magical as well.  As we were when we left The Outback, we are left wishing for more time in the Grampians and perhaps an extra day along the Great Ocean Road, but we are not saddened in the slightest.  These were two magical days and are glad that we got to share it with you all.

 

When you think of “The Outback”, what comes to your mind?  PLEEEAAAASE don’t say the cheesy American chain restaurant with the Bloomin’ Onion horror show that will clog your arteries and make you gain ten pounds in one sitting while reading the menu to see if you can order a “Shrimp on the Barbie” and a Fosters.

We had a general idea of what to expect on our travel through this vast area of Australia, but we had no idea how diverse this landscape really is.  We thought about it but we’ll spare you the geography lesson of how Australia came to be…skipping the separation of the prehistoric super continent and the migration of the continents to their present locations, the importance of India sliding past Australia and the Alice Springs orogeny.  We will also not mention that Australia used to be covered by rain forest until relatively recent volcanic activity literally changed the landscape.  And we certainly won’t mention that the absolute isolation of Australia for millions of years is central to the present flora and fauna of this magnificent island continent.

We joined an overland camping trip that would take us from Alice Springs all the way to the South in Melbourne over 11 days.  In this post, we will talk about our experiences for the first 7 days from Alice Springs to Adelaide and the 24 miles we trekked during this segment of our trip.

This been our hardest blog posting to date.  We didn’t know how to even get started…how to organize our thoughts…trust us, there have been many false starts.  It is just not possible to summarize how wonderful our journey was into words or to somehow translate what we witnessed via two dimensional pictures.  What follows are some of our favorite memories and highlights from our time in The Outback.

The Hiking –

We hiked Northern Australia’s King’s Canyon – formed 450 million years ago.  We started on the canyon floor and trekked up 500 steep steps to the rim of the canyon and walked the perimeter.  It was beautiful especially since we started our hike at first light.  A smaller version of the Grand Canyon in the US but certainly no less stunning.  One of our favorite elements from the hike was passing by rippled rocks, which were formed by the sea covering the rocks hundreds of millions of years ago.

We walked the perimeter of Uluru (aka Ayers Rock) at sunrise.  We did not climb it; Uluru is highly sacred to the local Aboriginal people and climbing it is considered very disrespectful.  The park service has thankfully decided to close the climb in October 2019 and it’ll sadly be quite busy until that date.  The climb isn’t easy, there is only a cable to hold onto as a railing.  Apparently, some people get scared once on the top and have to be assisted down by park rangers.  We did hear another story of 3 people that got stranded – so afraid to climb back down that a helicopter was called all the way from Alice Springs (a 3-hour drive away) and they were then charged $30,000 each for this service.  YIKES!

The sunrise at Uluru is nothing short of magnificent.  We had an opportunity to visit at sunset and again the next morning during sunrise.  The rock face changes color every few minutes based on the sun’s position and the cloud formations – in just a few minutes you can watch as the rock transitions from a purple to a fluorescent orange.  Uluru itself is a monolith filled with iron ore, so the orange color is really rust or oxidation.  Where the surface of the rock has been eroded, one can see the non-rusted, gray colored rock.  Very cool!

A member of a local Aboriginal tribe took us on a short walk around Uluru and demonstrated their forms of art, construction of tools and hunting and gathering techniques.  She showed us a type of fig tree, while alerting us to which fruit to pick and eat.  Even more amazing was her guided walking tour of shallow caves and her interpretations of the art work on the walls dating back as much as 25,000 years ago – art that told important religious stories and others that taught young boys how to hunt.

Finally, we walked down into a gorge at the rock face near a watering hole.  It’s the only permanent water source near Uluru and as such is highly sacred to the Aboriginal people.  When the wind was still and our voices silent, one couldn’t help be moved by the serenity and the sense of importance of this place.

Near Uluru is an even more spectacular formation…Kata Tjuta, which is a series of domed rock formations.  Uluru is beautiful, don’t get us wrong, but Kata Tjuta is a little bit natural wonder and a little bit Dr. Seuss.  It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.  Even during our sunrise hike at Uluru, we kept looking for Kata Tjuta.  So by all means, come for Uluru but stay for Kata Tjuta.  We think any time that you spend there will be well worth it.

Lastly, on our final day of the trip, we spent time hiking in the Flinder’s Ranges and Alligator Gorge in Mount Remarkable National Park.  We had the pleasure of walking through dried our riverbeds with amazing rock formations and we were fortunate to see MANY MANY kangaroos and wallabies.  Roaming free and grazing.  It’s quite impressive to see the full height and stature of a full grown adult male Red Kangaroo.

Camping –

Australians love to camp.  Give an Aussie a 3 day weekend and a good many will pack up the car and drive out into the bush.  They sleep in a swag bag directly under the stars.  A swag bag is a canvas cocoon with a built-in mattress pad.  Unroll the swag on the ground, zip open the main pouch and snuggle inside of it with your sleeping bag.  Zip up the main pouch and only your face is exposed to the elements.  It was super cozy and gave us the best view in the world – millions of stars and planets with no ambient light for miles and miles.  We slept in swags one night under the stars; the other camping nights were in permanent tent cabins.

Food was basic, but plentiful.  The campsites did have basic kitchen facilities for cooking.  It was great dining under the stars with just a few candles!

It gets chilly in the outback at night – most nights for us it was down to 30-35 degrees Farenheit.  During portions of our bus travel, we would stop by the side of the road and collect fire wood (careful not to pick up pieces hiding deadly snakes and spiders).  This served us well at night in the cold and served as a wonderful communal gathering point after meals were complete and dishes were clean.

We even learned a very popular campfire song, as demonstrated by our tour leader…

Meeting the locals –

The pace of life is much different for those that chose to live in the outback.  We got a good taste of their lifestyle when we stayed one night in William Creek.  It is known to be the smallest town in all of Australia, with a current population of 12.  Seriously, see the photo below.  They update it with chalk as needed in their pub.  It’s located on the largest cattle station (Americans would call this a ranch) in Australia. The town has a pub (noted as one of the world’s most remote), an airport (for scenic flights to Uluru), two motels and a campground.  We had a great time hanging out with the few locals in the pub.

The locals in William Creek are very trusting.  While at the bar, the manager asked if we had the time in our schedule to deliver their mail to a local processing station many miles down the road!!  We didn’t but that’s quite the ask.

Traveling overland through the Outback –

Our group of campers traveled by a rugged bus.  It needs all-wheel drive to navigate some of the unpaved parts of the Outback.  Most of the travel days were long (five-six hours of driving per day were common), but we got to see quite a bit.  Many times per day, our tour guide would slow the bus down as we would see emus running along the road and kangaroos hopping around in the distance.

We traveled the famous Oodnadatta Track for two days of our travel.  This is an off road, seriously bumpy experience.  We felt like we were in a blender for hours when we finally stopped.  Seriously, this video does not do justice.

We also came across random roadside art.  It reminded us of what one might expect to see at Burning Man. Basically, creating this art is what the locals do for entertainment.  Importantly, the art work re-purposes existing scrap metal.

Have you ever been on a boat, in the middle of a large body of water and realized just how big the world is?  This is how we felt driving through the outback.  The landscape is so vast – you feel like you are on another planet.

Sleeping Underground –

Yes, we really did sleep underground.  We stopped over in a town called Coober Pedy for the night. Coober Pedy has a population of about 1,800 people – all living there to mine opals (this is the Opal capital of the world) or support those who do. It gets extremely hot in the summer – 131 F.  Given the extreme temperatures, the town has largely been built underground.  No, not meters under the earth – but simply built into hillsides and in some cases in abandoned opal mines.  The homes stay cool year-round.  We visited an opal mine and a museum. We also visited an underground home, which had plenty of fresh air and was appointed very nicely.  We looked for an underground pub but couldn’t find one.  Those are all above ground apparently, as are the grocery stores and restaurants.

We stayed overnight in a hostel built into a hillside and were extremely comfortable.  Here’s a photo S with some friends in the underground hostel.

The next morning we toured the town further and visited an underground church.  The church was huge and carved very nicely.  We can’t imagine how much time and skill it takes to work with such hard rock and produce such delicate work.  Kudos to the artists!

Up Close Wildlife –

We hiked through The Dutchman’s Stern Conservation Range and saw MANY kangaroos.  We didn’t get many photographs because the kangaroos were too far away.

In Coober Pedy, we visited Josephine’s Gallery and Kangaroo Orphanage.  This sweet couple takes in kangaroos, echidna and other animals in distress and raise them.  We had an opportunity to feed two kangaroos and pet a two-week-old kangaroo joey while he was being fed.  As a side note, kangaroos are lactose intolerant, so only special formula can be given to them.

What does one feed adult kangaroos?  Any guesses?  We fed them peanuts and wasabi peas.  The kangaroos approach slowly, steady your hands with theirs and eat the wasabi peas right out of your palm.  It’s really pretty cool.

Camping in the exact center of Australia –

We spent the night in Erldunda.  This small rest stop/town is known for being the exact center point of Australia – both north-south and east-west.  They have a few Emus in residence and a cute little pub – which we, ahem, did spend some time in.

Sadly It’s All Over

Well, we hope that it we did it justice.  We met a lot of great people on our tour and had a great tour leader.  As you can tell from the video, she really gives it her all.  Her passion for the Outback was truly infectious.  We hope to come back to Australia some day and clean up the bigger parts that we missed.

We weighted our time in Australia disproportionately towards the Outback and it turned out to be a good decision.  We missed the rain and the extreme heat and still got to enjoy the best parts.  The only regret from our time in The Outback is that we didn’t have more time to spend.  We could easily have spent more time in the reserves and conservancies waiting patiently for passing kangaroos, wallabies and emus.  We needed more moments of introspection at late night campfires with nothing but the countless stars and planets to interrupt our thoughts.  Hundreds of shooting stars.  Unfettered views of the Milky Way.  Wondrous natural formations.  Totally unique fauna and flora.  We were so sad to return to city life.

We’re not done with Oz yet.  We have two more posts coming of our time in Australia.  One on the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne.  And a final post summarizing our time in Melbourne and Sydney.  Stay tuned for both.

While at a cool, hidden in an alley, café in Brisbane, we got to talking with the young lady behind the counter.  She asked where we were from.  San Francisco, we replied.  She said that she loved San Francisco because we had old buildings and numerous historical sites.  We looked at each other and laughed.  Europe and Asia are where you go for ancient sites and historic buildings.

That said, what our new friend said was true on some level.  The States have more old stuff than Australia does.  But that’s not why we came to Australia.  We expected to see the natural beauty and the extraordinarily friendly people.

Given what we’d already experienced and how we’d allocated our time in Sydney, we knew that we were on the right track.  That said, the coastline from Brisbane in Queensland to Darwin in the Northern Territory was going to exemplify one type of this country’s natural beauty – the coastline, the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef.  Even in the dead of winter, we expected to witness natural wonders and could hardly wait to get started.

The best way to explore the natural beauty of Australia is on foot.  We accomplished this quite well in walking 23 miles through Sydney in our first three days, and we continued this trend in our East Coast Adventure where we trekked another 45 miles during our tour of the Australian East Coast.

It took us 14 days to progress through our itinerary and here’s a quick glimpse…

We flew from Sydney to Brisbane where we spent two nights.   After a two-hour bus ride to Noosa, we spent three nights followed by an overnight train to Airlie Beach.  This was quite luxurious – we had lie flat seats, like first class seats on a plane, complete with plush bedding and personal care kits – and included meal/beverage service. From Airlie Beach, the gateway to The Whitsunday Islands, we embarked on a two-day/two-night catamaran adventure through these amazing islands and part of The Great Barrier Reef.  After leaving Airlie Beach, we made our way to Darwin.  Traveling in Australia is expensive, and it is not always easy finding direct routes.  To travel to Darwin from Airlie Beach, we had a choice of taking three flights with two connections for the tidy sum of US $1400 combined.  Or we could take a three-hour train to Townsville, spend the day wandering around this small coastal town adjacent to Magnetic Island and then hopping on a direct flight to Darwin.  We chose the latter option saving US $600 and the opportunity to visit another town along Australia’s magnificent coastline.  After three nights in Darwin, we boarded a flight for Alice Springs and the Outback!  But that’s a subject for a later day.

During these two weeks, we were not disappointed.  Rather than a chronological and clinical review of the 14 days, we’ve decided to break down our adventures into three major adventure buckets:  coastal/river treks, sunsets (and one lunar eclipse) and beach/snorkel adventures.

Coastal and River Walks…

Like a lot of coastal Australia, Brisbane is built along both a river and the Sea.  We started on the North Bank of the Brisbane River and walked through their central business district to the Botanical Gardens and along their riverfront.  We then crossed over the river to the South Bank and visited a Queensland Natural History museum – the extinct mega-fauna was illuminating!  As we continued our adventure we came across The South Bank Beach Lagoon.  In a theme that would recur around Australia, we found a sandy beach and a lagoon like pool built alongside the Brisbane River.  Alongside.  We had never seen anything quite like it, but the people of Oz need their beach and waterfronts.  Despite being a workday just past lunch time and a cool day, many people were sunbathing at this man-made beach.  Again, it’s the dead of winter!

In the photo below note that the lifeguard stand is on the lagoon while the boat is in the Brisbane River.

In Noosa, we walked along the coastline from Noosa Head Main Beach to Sunshine Beach and back within the beautiful Noosa National Park. This coastal trail included passing by Tea Tree Bay, where we hoped to spot a few koalas; after a full day of loafing and chowing down on eucalyptus they must have been napping so we moved on. Further down the trail, we came to Boiling Pot (aka Witch’s Cauldron), Granite Bay with Dolphin Point Lookout and Hell’s Gates, where we stopped for a rest and watched whales swim and breach in the distance.  Next was Alexandria Bay and on to Sunshine Beach.

Look carefully for the Boiling Pot/Witch’s Cauldron…

A view of Dolphin Point across Granite Bay…

Alexandria Bay…

Sunshine Beach…

After climbing back up the 184 steps from Sunshine Beach on our return to Noosa Head Main Beach…

On our very windy last day in Noosa, before catching the overnight train to Airlie, we walked more coastline towards Noosa Parade and The Noosa Spit Recreation Reserve (to the West while our earlier hike at Noosa was to the East), where we watched many kite surfers.  We were warned to stay away from the water due to crocodiles but all we saw were driftwood logs that looked like crocs on first glance.

Some friends we made during our hike…the diameter of the footfall of these spiders are easily 4 inches (10.2 centimeters).  We hoped this would be our only opportunity to see these scary creatures – and that we would not be sleeping with them in our upcoming Outback trip.

In Airlie, we also explored a lot of coastline including the Bicentennial Walk, which is a gentle stroll rather than a hike.  During our walk we came across numerous signs with warnings to avoid the water due to stingers or dangerous jellyfish.  Notably, each sign had a bottle holder on the side.  Each bottle was full of vinegar to help dissipate the effects of a stinger attack.  Hopefully that meant no one needed any recently. We decided not to take the chance and go for a swim.  The Beach looked just fine from our vantage point walking.

After our stroll, we lounged with the locals and tourists at The Airlie Beach Lagoon, directly behind our hotel.  Again, just like Brisbane, the locals at Airlie built a fake beach and a pool right next to the Coral Sea!

The view from the Airlie Beach Lagoon of the Coral Sea…

Note The Whitsunday Island group in the background…

Sunsets and the Lunar Eclipse…

Sunset from Noosa Head Main Beach

Sunset at Abel Point Marina in Airlie Beach…first on our walk to the Marina and then from the Marina…

Sunset on the catamaran at Whitsunday Islands…

Sunset at the Darwin Ski Club…the sunsets in Darwin are extra red this time of year because the locals burn local grasses to reduce the impact of bush fires later in the year.  The air quality spices up the sunsets nicely.

We got up at 5am in Darwin to watch a once in a century total lunar eclipse.  Here’s a photo but as you’d expect with a total lunar eclipse, it’s not a great photo.  But there’s Mars chilling out too.

Beach and Snorkel Adventures…

Without a doubt the highlight of our Beach and Snorkel time in Australia thus far was our time on the catamaran and The Whitsunday Islands.  We joined a sailing catamaran (Wings) with 16 other passengers and two crew for two days and two nights. We, with comical results, had the opportunity to assist in sailing (photos and videosw withheld).  We snorkeled four different spots including Hook Passage, Mackerel Bay, Manta Ray Bay and Chance Bay.

It’s just flat out one of the prettiest places that we’ve ever been…we hiked to a vista point and looked out the clear blue water and the shifting sands…

Don’t mind us, just strolling through the shallow water nursery looking for baby nurse sharks…

As we moved into the open water, we waded through the warm, shallow and clear waters of Whitehaven Beach looking for sting rays.  Oh, hello…

Too close?  Message received.

We swam with many colorful fish and coral, turtles, maori wrasse (crazy big fish) and aggressive black tipped cousins of the bluefin tuna. They were massive and very quick!  Even though it was not jelly fish season, we wore full stinger suits.  Neither of us got stung; however, there were still some stingers floating in the water and some harmless jellyfish that one could hold in their hand (imagine trying to grab slimy jello floating in the water).

We anchored for the nights off Whitehaven Beach and Tongue Bay and got an amazing view of the stars and fed sea life while observing them in LED lights at night.

We saw SO MANY whales throughout the sailing – one of which was only a few meters from our catamaran and on another occasion we watched a mom coaxing a new baby whale to start swimming and to stop playing around.  Truly epic.

In Darwin, we were kids at heart.  We visited the wave pool.

Oh and hey look, another artificial lagoon near a large body of water….

Some Fun Stories from our Adventure 

Hours before the World Cup Final, we went scouting for locations to watch the match in Brisbane.  We went to the Treasury Casino expecting a vibrant sportsbook and betting venue.  Surprisingly, the mood was very dismal.  We are used to the high energy atmosphere of Vegas.  Here – the scene was depressing.  Despite the occasional whoops of joy from tourists playing baccarat or blackjack, the overall mood was decidedly not fun.  On the positive side, S won about $200 AUD in just 30 minutes of black jack.

We had contacted an outdoor pop-up beer bar about watching the Final match.  They assured us that we didn’t need a reservation and that they’d be showing the match.  When we walked by at 9pm (for the 1am Final match), they were open but had a sparse crowd.  Upon our return a few hours later, the bar was closed!  We ended up watching the Final match in our hotel room at 1am.  Boo!

Noosa was recommended to us.  We may not have chosen this location as a stopover otherwise. We really enjoyed this town.  We pictured Noosa as a surfer friendly beach town.  And it is, if one stays far away from the beach and the surf.  The main drag in Noosa is lined with overpriced clothing stores and more overpriced restaurants – picture Carmel-by-the Sea, California and not Ocean City, Maryland. That said the city was well maintained and safe.  Perfect for late night strolls after dark and early morning jaunts.

Noosa Heads YHA (Halse Lodge) – Our home in Noosa was nothing short of amazing.  Yes, it was a hostel.  E has stayed at over 100 hostels in her traveling experiences and this one was by far the best.  It is a historic heritage lodge complex, converted into a YHA Hostel.  They offered a full bar and restaurant, nice common room with a pool table, lounge spaces and beautiful grounds with outdoor seating including heat lamps and tiki torches.  One night, they had a Flamenco Guitarist and a pub trivia game.  The property itself was perfectly located near the entrance to Noosa National Park, directly across from Noosa Main Beach and provided easy access to Hastings Street (the main drag in Noosa).  And in a WTF moment, people not staying at the hostel came to have dinner and marvel at the heritage lodge.

Bush Turkeys – We wish we had photos, but these cute fellas are everywhere in Noosa.  We had at least ten of them walking around our hostel grounds, and many walked along sidewalks and cafes throughout the town. They were totally harmless and probably hungry.  They didn’t mind getting close to tourists and locals.

Crocosaurus Cave – In Darwin, we went to visit the Crocosaurus Cave wildlife exhibit.  Similar to the two wildlife exhibits in Sydney, Crocosaurus highlights animals that one would expect to see in the Northern Territory and in South Australia.  We saw some of the big crocodiles being fed and we got to pet some baby and adolescent crocodiles.  But the highlight without question were the baby crocodiles swimming in their own exhibit.  They were active and oh so cute – far from the monsters that they would soon be.  We also got to spend some time with the deadliest snakes in Oz and the precocious goannas (goannas are monitor lizards, so they’re related to the Komodo Dragon).

Responsible Service of Alcohol Marshals – When one walks into a bar anywhere in the world, it’s not unusual to find bartenders, servers and bouncers.  But in Australia there’s one other key employee, the Responsible Service of Alcohol Marshal.  The RSA Marshal is a staff member trained to assist customers requesting help or to prevent customers from getting too inebriated.  Keep in mind, these are not government officials but bar employees that are specially trained and attired to signal their role.

Uber in Darwin – When we landed at Darwin airport, we expected to fire up the Uber app or hail a taxi and be on our way shortly to our hotel.  Well, to our chagrin, Uber wasn’t coming to Darwin until the week we left so we diligently waited for a taxi.  And waited and waited.  We waited 20 minutes and only saw two taxis.  Finally, the local in front of us had had enough and he called the taxi company.  When the first taxi finally arrived, the local offered to share the taxi with us.  He saved us some money but more importantly told us hilarious stories of his travels in the United States.  We don’t know who that chap was but he made an unpleasant ordeal very entertaining.

A friendly local in Townsville – We took the public bus from the coast in Townsville to the nearby airport.  We thought we’d save some money and get a little exercise in.  The bus stop nearest the airport still left a bit of a walk to the terminal building, so we strapped on our packs and began walking.  About halfway to the terminal building, a woman in a station wagon pulled over in front of us and asked us if we wanted a ride to the airport.  After politely refusing, she said that she was going to pick up a friend and that it’d be easy to drop us off.  Again, we politely refused and the woman departed.  We knew that the people of Oz were genuinely friendly, but its still surprising to witness it firsthand.  It’s a very good thing.

Onto the Outback!

What a marvelous way to spend two weeks in Australia.  Lots of beautiful scenery and even more beautiful memories.  Loads of natural beauty, delightful sea creatures and the right amount of warm sun.  One could easily spend more time on this part of the journey and there was plenty for which time just didn’t allow.  But we have no regrets especially since we would soon be embarking on our overland journey through the Outback!  Hooray!

On the road again…I just can’t wait to get on the road again…thanks Willie, we’ll take it from here.

After spending a great week catching up with family and friends, we carefully repacked our backpacks and took a long 15-hour direct flight to Sydney.

Packing was a bit more difficult for this part of the trip as we’d be facing a much wider range of temperatures.  It’s now the dead of winter in the southern hemisphere.  But Australia is a massive country and that means wide temperature ranges.  Sydney can range from the low 60s during the days to the high 40s at night.  Up through the Gold Coast, temperatures will be similar if not a touch warmer.  Darwin will see temperatures in the 90s during the day and the 50s at night.  During our adventure in the Outback, temperatures will plummet into the 30s at night.  This is far from the daily humdrum of 95 and humid like Southeast Asia.

Day 1…

After landing at 630am, we grabbed an Uber into the city (thanks Sydney Airport Holdings for making it so easy!!!) and checked into our Airbnb.  (Did we mention that we accept corporate sponsorships?)  We opted to book a room in someone’s apartment, and she was kind enough to let us drop our bags and shower much earlier than “check in time.”

As you read with our experience in Inle Lake/Taunggyi Myanmar, we love to hit the ground running after flights.  Sydney was no different.  We started off with a power walk to Circular Quay.  This harbor area (between the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge) is the transportation hub of the city, the terminal for city trains, buses and ferries.  We noticed a large festival being setup for Bastille Day and learned that there is a large French population living in Sydney.  Little did we know at the time that the ex-pat French would get to celebrate Bastille Day and winning the World Cup soon after.

We grabbed a light breakfast at a café in the ground floor of the AMP building (an asset management firm that provides life insurance, superannuation and brokerage services).  It was humbling watching all the power meetings taking place, as we slummed in our water-wicking t-shirts and travel pants.  We ordered what seemed to be the brekky staple in Australia – a flat white and avocado smash. A flat white is an espresso with foamed milk.  It’s a better latte with more espresso and less foamed milk.  Avocado smash is toasted sourdough bread with smashed avocado and is usually topped off with cherry tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles, sautéed onions and a balsamic reduction drizzle.

After powering up, we walked to the nearby Sydney Opera House.  It’s especially beautiful in person on a day when the sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds.  The color changed and evolved with every passing moment.  Modern, elegant and totally unique.  Check out these 2 photos taken only moments apart.

Up close, we realized that the roof is not made of smooth concrete but completed with two types of tile.  From far away, it appears monolithic and up close it is delicate and nuanced.  We were also reminded that the Sydney Opera House complex is made up of multiple buildings – not just one as it appears from a distance.

Next, we walked over to the epic Harbor Bridge and decided to walk across it to North Sydney and back.  It offered a beautiful view of the Harbor and The Opera House.  As if the Opera House could get more stunning, the views from high up above and from the water side of the complex continued to amaze us.  While walking across the east side of the bridge, we saw the folks lining up to start their Bridge Climb. A voyage up the bridge’s metal framework with a bird’s eye view of the Sydney area as a reward.  Um, no, thanks.  Feet firmly planted on the ground, thanks.

It was now about 130pm.  Having been on the go since 630am with only a small brekky, we had worked up a thirst and grabbed a beer at The Endeavor Tap Room in The Rocks.  Ironically, the Rocks is now home to the usual bourgeoisie mix of fancy restaurants, bars and shopping while it began as home (read: slum) for the city’s earliest undesirable inhabitants (the poor, aboriginals and arriving convicts).

But what to do now?  A beautiful sunny day and it’s starting to warm up.  We got ambitious and decided to catch the local bus to Bondi Beach.  The bus system is very easy to navigate and only requires going to a convenience store and purchasing an Opal Card – which for $10.00AUD comes with that amount preloaded for use.  The system is very user friendly.  Use an app to re-load your card and the more you use the card the cheaper the rides become.  Plus other usage based perks.

When we arrived at Bondi, we stopped at Icebergs for a light bite and a glass of wine.  OK.  Imagine in your mind, two words.  Beach and Australia.  You may or may not know it, but Bondi is what will come to your mind.  A massively wide and white sand beach.  The water is a wondrous rainbow of blues and greens.  And clear with large and recurring waves.  The views of Bondi Beach from the restaurant were incredible and we took special note of the numerous surfers midweek during business hours.  After satisfying our appetite, we headed for the coastal trail departing from Bondi Beach.  We were told that the walk from Bondi to Bronte is a must do.

Time Out!  In the 4.5 years that we’ve known each other, we’ve completed some seriously amazing hikes.  Cinque Terre in Italy.  The aptly named Dragon’s Back trail in Hong Kong.  Upper Yosemite Falls in Yosemite.  The rice paddies in Sapa, Vietnam.  Those are world class and unique.  Bondi to Bronte fits right in.  Soaring cliffs, pounding waves, crescent shaped coves.  We live in California and this is every bit as beautiful as Big Sur.

On the trail with a view of Bondi…

On the trail with a view towards Bronte…

At 300pm with two hours til sunset and just arriving in Bronte, we decided to press onto Coogee.  Bronte to Coogee isn’t as epic as Bondi to Bronte but it’s pretty darned sweet.  The defining portion was walking through Waverly Cemetery, which sits on picturesque bluffs above the ocean.  Dating back to the late 19^th Century, the Cemetery is home to some of the most famous Australians of the late 19^th Century.  Business people, poets, statesmen and (sadly) more than a few children.

Finishing our hike, we hopped back onto the bus and returned to our Airbnb in Surry Hills, which is considered a hip and up-and-coming neighborhood of Sydney.  A little bit industrial and a little bit grimy, but definitely on the rise.  The neighborhood is home to a burgeoning restaurant and bar scene.   This made it tough to decide on where to go on a nightly basis.  We settled on Izakaya Fujiyama for dinner – an eclectic Japanese restaurant with a fun sake menu.

We covered a total of 11 glorious miles on day 1.  Not bad considering we’d just hopped off a15 hour flight earlier in the day.

Day 2…

In the morning, we found a cute café down the street called Point Blank and had (you guessed it) flat whites and shared an avocado smash.  We took some time to catch up on some reading.  S also opted for a Long Black which is a heavier espresso version of an Americano.

So don’t screw with Aussies over coffee.  Their game is strong.  Ask for a drip coffee and you’ll get a pour over.  And the coffee is expensive.  Order your drink but don’t go looking for a counter with cream and sugar.  LOL.  You order what you want, silly koala, you don’t adjust after the order.

The barista asked where we were from.  San Francisco, we replied.  He said that he’d visited Los Angeles for a conference.  Nice city, bad coffee.  See what we mean?  They take coffee seriously.

After our coffee lesson, we met Ashlee and her boyfriend (Peter) at The Horse Pub in Surry Hills.  Ashlee was on E’s Antarctica trip almost four years ago and they’ve remained close via Facebook over the years.  S had heard the stories about Antarctica (and Ashlee) over the years but it was fun to listen to the ladies tell their stories again.  Peter and S dutifully watched their two ladies reminisce and carry-on like we were watching them on the MV Plancius years ago.  Truly time well spent.

After lunch, we went to the Sydney Wild Life Zoo – located in Darling Harbor. Since we would be spending five weeks in Australia, it seemed mandatory to become more acquainted with the animals of this great land.  We had the opportunity to observe salt water crocodiles, kangaroos, koala bears, wallabies, cassowaries, echidna, platypuses and many deadly snakes and insects to name a few.  We stood nose to nose with a cassowary.  Thankfully there was a thick glass divider between us.  A cassowary is a famously grumpy bird with a middle toe meant to do grievous harm.  Find one in the wild and you’ll quickly wish you were elsewhere.

Hello Mr. Bearded Dragon…

Look kids…cassowary…check out the middle toe!  The two inside toes are nothing but a long nail!

Aww, hello, baby koala!

Our fellow travelers tell the same joke in Oz.  Nothing tried to kill me today.  But seriously, this zoo is a great place to visit if you want to spend just an hour or two within the city and feel like a kid lurching from exhibit to exhibit and from pen to pen.  If you have more time, the Taronga Zoo is world class with spectacular views of the city from North Sydney.  The giraffe pen apparently has the best views of the city at night especially during a light festival called Vivid Sydney.  But the Sydney Wild Life zoo specializes in local animals and that’s what we wanted.

Day 3…

We woke up early and took a brisk walk back over to Darling Harbor.  From the outset of our walk, we noticed a lot of grown ups walking around in very strange costumes.  It took asking a few people to figure out there was an Anime Convention in town.

We grabbed a light breakfast at the Tokio Hotel in Cockle Harbor.  You’d think that Cockle Harbor and Darling Harbor are different harbors.  Technically perhaps, but we’d all recognize it as one harbor.  The Pyrmont Bridge splits the harbor horizontally.  On the north side of the bridge is Darling Harbor.  The south side is Cockle Harbor.  It took us a moment to figure it out.

On a side note – when you see the word “Hotel” in Australia, it doesn’t always mean place to stay the night.  It might mean pub or restaurant.  Our breakfast spot – the Tokio Hotel – had no rooms.  We know cuz we looked (we still needed a place to stay when we return to Sydney in a few weeks).

Afterwards, we headed to The Sydney Aquarium to finish our “Australian life” orientation.  We wanted to see what we would be swimming with a couple of weeks later at The Great Barrier Reef.  We saw seahorses, jellyfish, starfish, dragon fish and lion fish to name a few.  We walked through a few undersea tunnels and observed various kinds of sharks, sting rays, lung fish and turtles to name a few.  It felt like a role reversal except this time we were the ones being observed.

Because it’s Australia, there are lots of peculiar animals.  Like the dugong, which has the front half of a manatee and the backhalf of a dolphin.  Or the ray shark.  Which has the front half of a sting ray and the back half of a shark.  We’re not sure if they’re relics from an earlier time or specialized hybrids for local waters.  Either way, we’ve never seen anything like them.

Oh and penguins!

From the aquarium, we headed to Blackbird, back in Cockle Bay to meet our friends Jay and Lauren for lunch.  They were a part of our tour group in Vietnam and it was great to catch up with them.  They’re the perfect Australian archetype…passionate, outdoorsy, athletic and always up for a good time. Jay moved to Oz at an early age and joined the military.  He served in Afghanistan (respect!) and is currently a fireman and gym owner.  Lauren is a physio and a wonderful compliment to Jay.  They’re both competitive Cross-Fitters.  They compete nationally and will soon dominate globally we’re sure.  Better people you won’t meet.  That we know for sure.  Jay spotted Lauren in a restaurant where she was employed.  Love at first sight, well at least for Jay.  So glad that he was right!

As we noted earlier, Sydney had been chilly at night and we knew that it would soon be a lot colder in the Outback – so we decided to walk over to the Westfield mall (Westfield is a shrewd global mall operator and based in Australia) and find some gloves.  We tore through a Zara, an H&M and a Uniqlo but found nothing useful.  We were beginning to think Australians didn’t wear gloves, but got lucky and found some in a convenience store on the way home.

In summary…

We walked 23 scenic miles in three days, ate many great meals, reconnected with wonderful friends, consumed many flat whites with avocado smashes and feel confident that we spent our time wisely. We will be back in Sydney at the end of our Australian Adventure and will have 1.5 days more to uncover more great things about this city.

Two last post scripts from our time in Sydney…

One, we flew from Sydney to Brisbane and left from the domestic terminal.  To receive our boarding passes, proceed through security and to board our flight we were never required to show our identification.  Not even once.  In fact, non-travelers can go through security and bid farewell to their friends and family at the gate.  And to think, we were worried about bringing water through security.  Don’t worry you can.

Two, sports betting is legal in Australia.  Some bars have betting stations that take bets or you can use one of the many apps to place bets (although not for us Americans as ID/passport checks are required).  More notoriously, there are flashing lights and neon signs everywhere in the city for VIP Sports Lounges.  They’re like mini-versions of a sportsbook at your favorite casino.  Loads of televisions, alcohol service and basic pub food.  To our eyes, it’s a bit unusual but it’s part of landscape in Sydney.

We’re back! We just walked back in the front door and it’s good to be back in San Francisco. It’s hard to believe that 85 days on the road could blow by so quickly. Time flies…we’re told. So many good stories, so many good memories.

One month into our journey we wrote a piece listing some miscellaneous observations that didn’t belong with other things that we’d written. With our trip to Southeast Asia over, it’s time to add to that list.

A Couple More Things About Myanmar –

Transportation Inside Myanmar

Getting between cities inside Myanmar caused us some planning nightmares. Turboprop planes. Narrow roads on mountain passes. Rickety train lines that haven’t been updated in decades. How does one decide? The travel websites normally do a wonderful job of providing insight but in this case they raised more questions than they answered.

Flying between cities inside Myanmar was our biggest conundrum. The domestic airlines don’t exactly have the best reputations for safety and the airplanes are all turboprops. Given that we had to fly over mountain ranges during the rainy season, we had real concerns about taking flights. On the flipside, flights can take as little as 45 minutes while bus and train rides can easily eat up 10 to 20 hours.

From Yangon to Bagan and from Mandalay to Inle Lake and from Inle Lake to Yangon, we chose to swallow our fears and take flights on the domestic airlines. On one of our domestic flights, from Mandalay to Inle Lake, the check in/boarding process didn’t inspire confidence. The airline provided us with hand written boarding passes, and a sticker with our destination to wear on our shirts. We were told to “just sit anywhere” on the plane and were handed an old school, hand written luggage tag for baggage claim.

The flight operates in a continuous circle from Yangon to Bagan to Mandalay to Inle Lake and back to Yangon, like a typical bus route. The total flight time was only 30 minutes. Interestingly, the two flight attendants were still able to serve a meal and beverage. Think about this – the TOTAL flight time was 30 minutes – the actual time at “cruising altitude” was only about 10 minutes.

We flew both Mandalay National Airlines and Yadamarpon Airlines and were pleasantly surprised. The planes were very modern, the staff was professional, we always departed and arrived on time and the flights were very smooth. All of our worries were over nothing. We’d happily fly inside Myanmar again.

From Bagan to Mandalay, we decided to take a bus because it was only a four-hour trip and we thought it would be a nice way to observe the countryside. We felt like royalty as we were THE ONLY passengers on the large coach bus. The bus line had more employees on the bus than paying passengers. We had a driver, a driver’s assistant, a bus attendant (serving drinks) and a mechanic. The bus even had video monitors at each seat and a full library of movies and television shows to keep passengers entertained. Again, an excellent experience.

An interesting fact about Myanmar – until 1970, drivers in Myanmar operated right-hand drive vehicles that drove on the left side of the road. As a former British colony, this makes sense. Today however, cars drive on the right-hand side of the road, but most cars are still right-hand drive. Because we said most cars that means some cars are left-hand drive but drive on the right-hand side of the road. This can cause quite some confusion when local bus passengers must walk into traffic to board the bus on the left-hand side. But there’s another problem. Toll booths are set up for cars and buses to pay on the right side of the vehicle but in some cases the driver is sitting on the left side of the transport. As such, buses often have an assistant driver whose sole job is to pay tolls for the driver. So nutty.

During our long bus ride to Mandalay, we got to observe some quite interesting local infrastructure. For instance, we shared a LONG one-lane bridge that was also outfitted with train tracks. That’s right. Both cars and buses must not only share the bridge with traffic coming the opposite direction but also with trains.

Dining

1)  If you ever find yourself in Mandalay and craving a good Indian restaurant – you MUST visit Indian Tadka. Not only was it one of the best meals we had on our Southeast Asian trip, it may have been one of the best Indian restaurants at which we have ever dined. Importantly, we were the only two diners in the restaurant.

2)  We went to a local restaurant in Mandalay during a long day of sightseeing. We asked our driver for a local restaurant (i.e. Myanmarese cuisine). Instead he brought us to a restaurant where local Myanmarese eat. The menu is very simple, you have a choice of small, main dishes. We ordered a Myanmarese chicken curry and a dish of steamed vegetables. What we did not expect was the HUGE amount of side dishes that automatically came with the meals we ordered. Not only do they have a staff member dedicated to serving unlimited steamed rice (she came back a few times asking if we wanted more), they provided us with all sorts of standard side dishes to accompany our two meals. For US $8 we got our two main dishes, all the side dishes, a bottle of water and 2 large ice-cold beers.

3)  Despite the heat and most restaurants/bars being open air, your beer will stay cold. Bars and restaurants supply beer cozies. This was true not only in Myanmar but throughout Southeast Asia.

Shopping Experience in Yangon

Since we wanted to pack as light as possible for our Southeast Asian adventure, we decided that we would buy all our gear in Yangon for our Habitat for Humanity Build. To that end, we arrived a day early. Shopping turned out to be an entertaining day. While we did do some shopping in Ho Chi Minh City, there were a good many things that we still needed to find like pants for E, a few water-wicking shirts, hats, work gloves, proper shoes and socks.

We first went to a local market, Bogyoke Market. We meandered through this busy market only to discover most of the items sold there were local dress only. We did, however, find a shoe shop and purchased two pairs of sneakers and socks for the equivalent of only $25.00. These were not the best quality; however, we only needed them for a week and E at least was able to go for one 3-mile run in her pair.

Frustrated by our inability to find what we wanted, we decided to head over to a local store called Ocean Market Center to get the rest of our items. It was a local chain, similar to a Kmart or Walmart. We found the rest of our items there; however, we knew finding work gloves would be a slight challenge. We found a generic picture of work gloves online and saved it to our phone. We showed them to an employee and found them straight away. We’ll have to remember that trick in the future.

Additional Thoughts from Southeast Asia –

Restaurants for a Cause

Have you ever traveled in a third world country and found the service levels wanting? It’s elementary that the locals can’t deliver a simple level of service because they’ve never lived the experiences. How do you explain a martini to someone that doesn’t drink? A bottle of ketchup should come standard with an order of French fries.

The heart-breaking part of the story is that many kids leave their local villages for the allure of the big city. However, they find the big cities a challenge and often find themselves in a bit of trouble. Their positive intentions are often met with “employment” as drug mules, street criminals and prostitutes. Hardly a good situation.

But there is a remedy for both of these challenges. We found several training restaurants scattered throughout Southeast Asia dedicated to bridging this service experience challenge and finding gainful employment for the street youth. We were very happy to support them when we found them.

Our first experience was with Oodles of Noodles in Hoi An, Vietnam. Our second experience was with Sanon Training Restaurant in Bagan, Myanmar. But we found many more as we scanned local street maps for dining options.

The goal of these training restaurants is to get the kids off the street and to give them the language skills and training to build careers in hospitality. The benefactors provide housing, food and teach language skills. The kids also train as hosts/hostesses, servers, chefs and bartenders. The training restaurants also provide mentors that follow early careers and help the kids find employment at local restaurants, the big resorts and other venues catering to tourists. The training restaurants rely solely on benefactors and restaurant profits; the kids don’t have to pay a thing. It’s truly a win-win situation.

Although a slightly different theme on doing good while dining out, we found a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms in Bangkok, Thailand. Yep, that’s the name. A percentage of their sales goes to the promotion of safe sex (AIDS and STD’s are rampant in Asia) and they even provide free condoms with your restaurant bill. Scattered throughout the restaurant are other displays for which diners can contribute funds – one notable display was for teaching local kids to swim as 4 children die every day from drowning accidents in Thailand.

We are very fond of these concepts. Not only do we feel like we are giving back (even if in a small manner), but we think this is a great practice for this region as tourism is a large part of the economy and improving service levels can only help.

Our Experience Watching American Sports in Southeast Asia

We travel a lot and it makes following our favorite sports teams a bit challenging. On this trip, we had the opportunity to watch quite a few games in local bars when we were in the larger cities. E was super excited to watch the Capitals win the Stanley Cup and we watched the Warriors win the NBA title a few days later.

Even though the games started at 7:00am or 8:00am local time, we were able to find bars showing them in Ho Chi Minh, Singapore and Phnom Penh. The bars cater to expats and always have rugby, cricket, futbol and basketball on the televisions. Naturally, they even serve alcoholic beverages this early in the morning. Particularly noteworthy was the eclectic mix of people watching the games drinking a cold beer versus those that were in their suits and ties coming in for a quick breakfast on their way to the office.

For the World Cup, we were also quite lucky. Although the games started at 7:00pm, 9:00pm, 11:00pm or 1:00am, we found several fun places to watch the earlier games. In Penang, Malaysia, we watched the Spain-Portugal epic match while being serenaded by a quite talented cover band. We lounged in plastic recliners in front of a big screen at an open-air pub overlooking the ocean in Ao Nang Beach, Thailand. In Bangkok we sat under an awning at a pub along a main road – also watching the game on the big screen. During the France-Argentina Round of 16 game, there was a huge thunderstorm also taking place – causing a few glitches in the game broadcast. Turned out there was some spectacular action in both the game and in the sky!

Before the World Cup is over we will have watched games in 4 countries and on 3 continents!!

More Random Thoughts –

Here are some final random thoughts that don’t belong elsewhere:

1)  Don’t bother packing a tooth brush. Every hotel provides a toothbrush and toothpaste for your use, and they even replenish them daily should you choose to have housekeeping.
2)  Vending machines have come a long way. We’ve all seen vending machines that even cook food while you wait. But we’ve never seen a vending machine that dispenses gas before. But there it was just down the street from our hotel in Ao Nang. Pull on your motorbike. Drop in a few coins and pump your gas.
3)  Speaking of gas stations. In Myanmar, the stations are full service. Drive in and tell the attendant what you want. Gas, water, food. Whatever you need. Nothing unusual about that. But it takes a moment to notice that all the attendants are females. Young attractive females. We get that sex sells, but gasoline? Really? Look we’re not responsible for the news, we just deliver it.
4)  Carry a small plastic bag with you when you are sightseeing. You must remove your shoes before entering any temple complex and you may want to carry them with you for peace of mind. Most people slide off their shoes and leave them in cubby holes at the entrance; however, on a few occasions we’ve heard that shoes can go missing. Not a big deal if you are wearing cheap flip flops; but, the streets are dirty and you may not be excited about walking barefoot to the nearest shoe hawker stall.
5)  S is not a big guy. In the US, he’s a large for most clothing items. When buying pants in Thailand, he’s apparently a XXXL and in Myanmar he’s a XXL for shirts. Actually, we’re not sure what size shirt in Myanmar because XL is the largest size we found in most cases.
6)  If you order a cocktail, don’t expect a plastic straw. Often you will get a metal or bamboo straw. We are OK with this – it’s much better for the environment. We’ve mentioned this before, but its fascinating given that all water is served in plastic water bottles.
7)  Smoking is still allowed inside restaurants and pubs. Open air or not, doesn’t matter. We were not a fan, but what can we do? Just know to expect it.
8)  There are a lot of stray dogs all over Asia. Most have mange and fleas but more than a few have rabies. In most cases, they leave you alone; however, some travel in packs and others will protect their turf. They also like to chase and nip at the heels of people on motor bikes. They intimidated E quite a bit and gave both of us quite a scare when 4 of them began running toward us and barking wildly as we rounded a corner while visiting a quiet temple off Inle Lake. We are sharing this so that you are not surprised if you visit any of the areas we did. Take tuk-tuks at night, don’t look them in the eye, behave confidently and cross the street if need be. We were never in real danger but it’s discomforting.
9)  One parks in a driveway and drives on a parkway. So what’s a sidewalk for? Parking your motorbike and setting up hawker stalls naturally. If you are reading this post while casually walking down a sidewalk – enjoy your nice comfy “commute.” Sidewalks as a place to walk are unheard of in most of Southeast Asia. In many spots, sidewalks don’t even exist. In others, they’re in poor shape. When they’re in decent shape, you walk in the Street due to impediments placed on the sidewalks like roadside restaurants, shopping stalls and motorbikes. And don’t get us started on the open sewers.
10)  There aren’t many communist countries left in the world, but there are four alone in Asia (China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam). When you think of a Communist country, you may think you would “know” when you are visiting one of those countries. There must be visible signs, right? We visited two on our trip and we couldn’t notice hardly at all – well aside from the omnipresent hammer and sickle flags. In fact, Laos sells drugs openly in bars. We stuck with alcohol; however, we observed people inhaling nitrous oxide balloons, and ordering items off menus such as opium tea, marijuana pizza and magic mushroom shakes. Don’t worry Facebook works everywhere we went.
11)  Most kings and queens have long abdicated their thrones in Southeast Asia. Thailand, however, is a notable exception. You will see The King’s photo in every bar, restaurant, hotel, other public establishments and throughout the city. Do not say anything derogatory about The King – you will go to prison for a long time.
12)  Those of you itching to get a tattoo, DO NOT consider getting a Buddha tattoo. This is highly offensive and a crime.
13)  Locals would love the opportunity to practice their English with you. If you have any free time, embrace it! This is a fantastic way to spend some time engaging with the locals. When we finished our Inle Lake boat trip, we were invited into the boat company’s office where our boat driver and four other boat drivers were awaiting their teacher to arrive for an English lesson. They asked us to come in and chat with them for a while, so they could practice. We had a great time and a couple of good chuckles.
14)  Malaysia is the fourth most populous country in the world and the largest Muslim nation. On our flight to Kuala Lumpur, aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight, we observed a lot of Muslim references on each of our personal video screens. Their interactive map displayed the direction and distance to Mecca, and the only “reading material” was The Quran.  Before takeoff, a long message was posted on each personal video screen that read, “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate. All praise be to Allah, the one who has placed this transportation at our service, that we ourselves would not have been capable of, and to Allah we shall return. In the name of Allah, we begin to move (take-off) and stop (land). With his protection, Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.” It’s unclear to us whether the message was shown to travelers because it was during Ramadan or if the message was meant to reassure passengers after the airline lost 3 planes in 2014.

A Cost of Living Comparison

We thought it would be fun to discuss and compare the cost of living around Southeast Asia. Some people track it by comparing the cost of a Big Mac meal from McDonalds (also known pejoratively as the American Embassy). We were never going to walk into one, so we decided early on to compare the cost of a small bottle of water. We visited Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia. Before you peak at the order of cost below, where do you think it would cost the most/least to buy a bottle of water? Here are the costs in order from the least expensive to the most expensive:

Thailand at a cost of $0.21, or 7 Thai Baht
Myanmar at a cost of $0.22, or 300 Burmese Kyat
Laos at a cost of $0.23, or 2,000 Laos Kip
Cambodia at a cost of $0.30, or a cost of 1,200 Cambodia Riel
Malaysia at a cost of $0.38, or 1.50 Malaysian Ringgit
Vietnam at a cost of $0.44, or 10,000 Vietnamese Dong
Singapore at a cost of $1.20, or 1.60 Singapore Dollars

Thailand/Laos/Myanmar are very similar in cost and then you see a small uptick until you get to Singapore. Everything is expensive there – as expected. The only real shocker was that Vietnam was more expensive than Malaysia.

We hope you learned some fun things and think that we dispensed some useful advice if you plan on heading to Southeast Asia. We are happy to answer any additional questions you may have and/or provide some suggestions when you are ready to plan your adventure to this amazing part of our world. Please comment below or email us with feedback. Did you enjoy the photographs and videos? Are the posts too long, too short or about right? Please help make the blog more useful.