by Posted in: 2012 World Cruise | Australia | CruisingTags: | |

We are in the middle of Great Barrier Reef country now…Cairns, Australia (the correct pronunciation is “Cans”…we’re going to make a really Aussie out of our readers yet)!  Our tour today is to go out to a platform permanently floating on top of the Great Barrier Reef where we can dive, snorkel and basically have a good time at the Reef.

Click here for the detailed Photo Gallery for Cairns.

There was no bus today (yea!) and we got in line with 200 other Regent “reef” explorers to walk a mile to the high speed catamaran that would take us to the reef.  Now, let’s be realistic for a moment, 200 people with an average age of 70+, walking a mile at 8 am in a strange city, is quite a sight but everyone was up for it and in record time we were all loaded up on our large motorized catamaran and settled in for the 90-minute ride.  The cat was comfortable enough, but it soon became evident that the seas were getting rough and that some of us would soon be feeling the “motion of the ocean” in a way that isn’t so pleasant.

Dale and I had found a nice spot at the front of the ship that was fairly flat, but up on the back, outside area, folks were not only getting the full force of the bumps, but there were also getting wet from the ocean spray as it became worse and worse.  To make matters even more difficult for those outside, we passed through a rain squall!  Good times.

We finally made it to the Reef platform, not too soon for me, and they tethered the cat to the platform.  The problem was, the ocean was moving the platform as well as the cat…so between the two, it was a bit of a challenge to move around on either!

Dale opted to do a certified scuba dive and I was planning on snorkeling.  Once on the platform Dale made his way to the scuba group and I checked things out.  The platform wasn’t that large, but it seemed to accommodate the 200 of us pretty well.  There were tables set up all around the area and as soon as we got there, people were struggling to put on their lycra swim guards.

It turns out, there can be pretty significant jellyfish infestations in the water here so they recommend everyone wear a head-to-toe lycra suit.  Not pretty on most of us…well basically not pretty on any of us.  While Dale was on his dive, I opted to start out on a submersible boat ride.

My ride took about 20 of us out to different areas of the reef where we could see the coral and fish as we drifted by.  The submersible has a room, just under the deck, that is filled with windows on both sides.  This is where we sit to watch the goings-on under the ocean surface.  It’s a nice way to go under water without getting wet!

Our day was rather grey, so the water and subsequent color of the fish and coral were muted…not a Great Barrier Reef day but it was still pretty darn good.  I did get to see a turtle and some parrot fish which was nice.

Once back on the platform, we were served lunch and I opted to go for a snorkel off of the platform.  Our friend Sherrie had been snorkeling off and on for the entire time we were there…I think she is part fish and, of course, using Dale’s Canon D10, she was constantly taking pictures of her aquatic friends.

There was a very large (several feet long) Napoleon Wrasse fish that is always hanging out around the platform they call “Wally”.  Wally gets his picture taken a lot…he is really the star of the show.  The staff photographer gets into the water with her scuba gear and underwater Nikon and Wally just comes up to her ready to pose with anyone.  Nick and I kidded that Wally wasn’t really a fish…but a mechanical device remotely controlled by someone on the platform!  Sherrie seemed to think that Wally was real, and after Dale and I saw him close up for ourselves, we tended to agree with her.

After another couple of hours of hanging out, snorkeling and drinking some beer and wine (thanks Nick!) we made our way back on-board the catamaran.  The ride back was much more pleasant and flew by as we relaxed and talked to some new friends we met on board.

The weather turned out OK in the end…not great, but it only rained a few times and the sun actually came out after lunch.  Below is a video of Wally!

Photography Comments:

Off and on rain throughout the day and gray skies meant we didn’t get any of the “classic” great barrier reef shots.  No mind-blowing colors in the water, lots of white-out skies and the hard rain the day before stirred up the water, especially below 30 feet on the SCUBA dive.  That being said, the snorkel on the reef next to the platform was really quite good!  Some colorful coral formations, many colorful fish and the ever popular Wally made for some good times snorkeling.  Of course, without a real underwater 35mm camera and good lighting you will never get really stunning underwater pictures but we did the best we could.  At least we will have something to remember our trip out to the reef.

 

 

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by Posted in: 2012 World Cruise | Australia | CruisingTags: | |

Today we arrived at the port city of Townsville in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland about 800 miles north of Brisbane.  Honestly, we’ve never heard of Townsville before but we should have.  Townsville is adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef which is about an hour’s fast boat ride offshore.  There is also an interesting island called Magnetic Island that is about 5 miles away and a popular tourist attraction.  It is called “magnetic” because Captain Cook thought forces from this island were throwing off his compass.  Turns out it wasn’t the island that was the problem but the large amounts of uranium contained in Castle Hill, a large granite hill in the middle of Townsville.

Click here for the detailed Townsville Photo Gallery.

During WWII 50,000 U.S. and Australian troops were stationed here and they staged many bombing raids. Today, Townsville has one of the most successful and diverse economies in Australia and even has an international airport.

We were optimistic that the weather would hold today as we planned to go to the Billabong Sanctuary as part of a bus tour of Townsville.  It continues to get warmer and more humid each day as we move closer towards the equator which we’ll reach at the end of this leg of the trip in Singapore.

We traveled about an hour on a bus to get to the Billabong Sanctuary and were immediately welcomed by an unexpected deluge. Well, actually, they always expect rain this time of the year in these parts as we enter the tropics.  We dashed as best we could in the slippery mud to a covered area where we saw for the first time what a “Billabong” is.

We thought, when we first heard the term, that a Billabong was some sort of Australian bird or reptile or maybe even trendy sportswear (there is a brand of clothing with the same name).  But as it turns out, a billabong is a section of still water adjacent to a river, cut off by a change in the water course, leaving the former branch with a dead end.  But as we stood in front of one, it was really nothing more than a pond.  In the arid Australian climate in which these “dead rivers” are found, they are dry for a significant part of the year, fill with water seasonally, support a great deal of wildlife and are very important in the Aboriginal culture.

The guides gave us some background information on the sanctuary and then brought out a python and a baby freshwater crocodile for us to hold!  Soon after we found our way to the Koala area and got to hold a 5-year-old female.  She was very nice and had a soft and fluffy coat.

The koalas had their own area in the park and we watched them for a while as it began to rain, starting softly and then turning into a downpour that lasted for 20 minutes.  Because it was raining so hard, we were “trapped” standing in the koala area under a tin roof with 20 other people.  As we were waiting, a kangaroo hopped over to us and stood under the roof with us like he was our dog.  He was getting out of the rain as well!  We were able to take some photos of him as he comfortably hung around next to us.

When the rain started to subside we walked around the park some more, found friendly black and white cockatiels and then made our way back to the large covered area where we had started our tour.  There were some more folks from another Regent bus getting an overview and we stayed to watch.  They ended up bringing in some more animals, including a wombat – which looked like a “ROUS” (Rodent of Unusual Size), but is actually a marsupial.  The wombat was so docile, the handler cuddled it like a baby (like a big, rodent baby), it just lay there with a very peaceful look on its face.

Next, he brought in a dingo, which is a free roaming wild dog but seemed quite tame and more like a pet than a wild animal.  It was obvious that the workers at this sanctuary spend a lot of time working with these animals.  Dingos are different from domesticated dogs in that they breed only one time a year but have been inbred with domesticated dogs over the last few decades.  They are considered to be pests by sheep farmers but helpful to the cattle ranchers as they are major predators to the damaging rabbits, kangaroos and rats.

When the rain started to die down again, I decided to take a walk around the remainder of the sanctuary.  While it wasn’t raining that hard, the dirt paths had become so muddy it was hard to walk without slipping.  I made my way and found some large salt-water crocodiles, smaller fresh water crocodiles and several wallabies – that are really just smallish kangaroos.  By the time I got to the end of the sanctuary, I realized that the time had come to hurry back to the bus in the slippery mud and found the bus just in time.  Of course, they wouldn’t have left me there in any case as they do a passenger count and Dale wouldn’t leave me stranded!

The driver took us on a drive around Townsville and gave us the typical bus tour TMI (Too Much Information) background and history on the area.  He was very thorough and we learned more than we may have needed to know.  We also took a drive up to Castle Hill, just a few feet short of being a mountain, to get a panoramic view of the area in a slight rain shower.  The locals use the hill as a walking and running track and don’t really like the fact that these tour buses, which pay for special permits, interrupt their “private” exercise facility.  We finally made it back to the Voyager and had dinner with our new friends, the Dooleys. Next we’re off to Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef.

Photography Comments:

Not much to say.  It was raining much of the day which, of course, makes it difficult to keep your lens dry.  So, photo hygiene is important.  Keep checking to make sure you don’t have water drops, wet or dry on your lens throughout the day or your pictures will be fuzzy.  Of course, when I talk to people on buses I seldom find people who EVER check to make sure their lens is clean.  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that do but I just never seem to find them.  They are pretty happy when they find out that, just by cleaning their lens for them with my lens cleaning cloth, that their pictures improve dramatically.  That’s nice!  It is especially hard in an area like Northern Australia where, even when it’s not raining, it is terribly hot and humid which causes your lens to cloud up, sometimes leaving small water droplets.  In a situation like this you just have to settle for documenting where you’ve been while you try not to slip in the mud.  Also, the bus windows were very wet with large water drops…an almost impossible situation even if you get the camera right up against the glass.

Koalas are nice photo subjects since they move slowly.  In fact, all the animals today were good subjects because, except for the birds, they all just stood there looking at you, barely moving at all.  Even multiple flashes don’t bother koalas who seem to love having their picture taken.  Margaret didn’t have a camera with her when she did her walk-a-bout with the crocs so there aren’t any shots of them.

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by Posted in: 2012 World Cruise | Australia | CruisingTags: |

OK, this title doesn’t really rhyme like the old saying because the locals don’t say Bris’-bain, they say Bris’-ben.

We arrived in Brisbane early this morning after navigating up the long, wide, deep Brisbane River to the main port area.  The river meanders gently for over 14 miles before you arrive at the downtown area.  Like many parts of Australia this area was originally founded as a penal colony.  During WWII it was the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur.

Click here for the detailed Photo Gallery.

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia with over 2 million people.  It is also the capital and largest city in the state of Queensland which also includes Townsville, where we will visit in a couple days.  Brisbane is a vibrant city and one that deserves more time on a nicer day.  There are world-class museums and art galleries.  Fantastic restaurants and shopping centers and tons of beautiful historic buildings including cathedrals, government buildings and old residences many built during the gold rush days of the 1800’s.  There was even a church, that took over 200 years to build, that was just completed in the last 10 years!  There are many interesting bridges crossing the river, some which have rather interesting architecture.  The main bridge in the downtown area is called the Story Bridge which is a cantilevered design built by John Bradfield, the same man who designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  Both bridges have highways, the length of the bridge named after Bradfield.

The tour today is a bus ride to downtown Brisbane followed by a riverboat tour on an authentically re-created 1800’s paddle wheeler called Kookaburra Queen.  Of course, it was all made more interesting by on and off again rain throughout the morning.  It was wet, but not enough to keep away the ambitious tour goers from the Voyager.  Well, except for Margaret who is still recovering from her cold.

The tour guide was a crusty old guy who was about 5 feet tall, had huge mutton chops, a cute captain’s hat and an ever-present accordion.  He was a hoot as he told us about everything on both sides of the river, from historic buildings to modern museums, from expensive residences to the ferry system.  We went a couple miles up-stream, came back to our starting point and then about a mile downstream and back.  They served us tea, coffee and cake and took very good care of us.  On the bus ride back they gave us some more city history before stopping at a shuttle stop downtown to let drop off those of us that wanted to explore.  I got off, walked a block to the pharmacy and picked up some medicine for Margaret.  The pharmacists were very helpful and the large shopping mall was very busy.  A quick walk back to the stop and I found the free Regent shuttle waiting.  In a half an hour I was walking through the terminal returning to our home on the Voyager.

When you have a river this large and so many buildings right on the banks, you will eventually have flooding and Brisbane is no exception.  There have been many severe floods and the last was just last year.  A perfect storm of rain, high tides and high winds created a real nightmare in the area where we had our tour.  Most indications of it are already gone, a sign to the resilience of the people here.

Photography Comments:

Another gray, rainy day.  Not much going on today in the photography department.  The bus windows were wet with big rain drops that definitely dampened (so to speak) my picture taking ambitions.  This city would be totally fantastic if you had a few days to scout things out as far as lighting.  Night time pictures would be great in the area where we took the ferry.  I even had to succumb to including pictures taken through a very wet bus window on this outing.  Sorry.  Oh well, there’s always next time and Brisbane is definitely worth another trip!

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by Posted in: 2012 World Cruise | Australia | CruisingTags:

We entered Sydney harbor at about 5:30 am, just before sunrise.  The main harbor basin is close to downtown and the sky was still a deep blue while the lights twinkled on the famous Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the downtown area.

Today is a disembarkation/embarkation day as we end our first cruise segment, the “Grand Voyage” we are on is comprised of 4 separate segments.  So we say goodbye to some new friends and hello to a whole new group.

Click here for the detailed Photo Gallery.

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia, but not the capital.  Back in the 1850’s Melbourne and Sydney were both booming and highly competitive following the success of the Australian gold rush.  When officials needed to determine the country’s capital city, they elected to create a new, made-up city they named “Canberra”, which they located between the two cities.

Margaret has been in bed since our day at sea yesterday with a cold, and isn’t feeling well this morning so I took the tour to Featherdale Wildlife Park by myself.  Well, not exactly by myself but with a couple buses full of other Regent guests. My bus arrived about 45 minutes late and proceeded to take us on a brief tour of “The Rocks” area, one of the first settled areas and the original site of the prison.

There are many historical buildings in this area and the guide discussed several.   The Sydney Harbour Bridge built in the 1930’s, which, along with the Sydney Opera House, was designed by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon and completed in 1973, are the most iconic structures in Sydney.  Interestingly, Utzon never saw the completed building because of the contentious relationship that developed between the city and him over the cost and duration of the project.  It was supposed to cost $4 million and take four years to complete but instead, it took $14 million and 14 years.  At this point, no one would argue that it was well worth it and one of the world’s most iconic structures.

The bus ride to the wildlife sanctuary was about 45 minutes through very typical suburbia.  It could have been many cities in America as we drove on a large divided highway with dense business and residential buildings.  Most of the houses had thick red tile roofs and didn’t offer much in the way of interesting architecture.  We exited the highway and then drove through neighborhood streets until arriving at the park.

The park was organized into different areas; each featuring different kinds of animals.  Through much of the main areas small kangaroos (or they could have been wallabies) roamed about looking for food handouts.  There were several types of birds, many quite tame, and koalas were visible in small trees behind low fence barriers.  We entered a café area where we were served special Australian red tea, coffee, cakes and even scones with jam and lemon cream.  Yummy!

One of the workers brought in a koala and showed him to us while discussing their history and challenges.  We were then free to explore the park for an hour.  There were more native birds, more kangaroos, more koalas, bats, a Tasmanian devil, wombats, a dingo and a crocodile.  They made a couple koalas available for picture taking and petting.  All in all, it is a well done park and I had a good time.

After an uneventful bus ride back I walked to the ship to find Margaret still under the weather.  I grabbed a quick hamburger at the pool café and decided to head out to do more sightseeing on what had turned out to be a glorious blue sky day in Sydney.

I first went to the Circular Quay dock area, which is close to the terminal building, to catch a 2:45 pm ferry tour boat.  It was just pulling out as I walked up and the guy manning the entrance wouldn’t let me jump on.  No problem, I bought a ticket to their competitor’s 3:00 pm hop-on, hop-off fast ferry and, before I knew it, I was sitting outside snapping pictures as we went from stop to stop on a whirl-wind 1 hour harbor cruise.  We got to see Rupert Murdoch’s Sydney home, which is a very large house on the edge of the harbor.  There is a LOT of expensive real estate on the over 50 miles of coastline inside the harbor.  It was truly a Richard Scary kind of day (e.g. lots of stuff going on, boats of all shapes and sizes moving in all directions) on the harbor, as, I’m sure, many days are.  It was a great overview and I highly recommend the Captain Cook’s tour service.

I returned to check on Margaret and decided to go out one more time to take pictures at the Opera House and take a walk-about in the downtown area.  I saw some people carrying flowers back to the ship so I got directions to the flower shop and decided to pick some up on the way back.  I walked over to check out the Opera House tour, which is expansive and I’m sure a worthwhile tour, but unfortunately I didn’t have time for it so I headed toward downtown.

I had time to stroll through the botanical garden and the Government House building and then started my search for a florist.  The first one I found had just closed for the day, but a woman who owns the business across the way, pointed out another one a couple blocks down.  Less than 45 minutes later I had a huge bouquet under my arm, complete with fig branches, orchids, lilies and other interesting plants that were guaranteed to last at least two weeks.

Back on the ship Margaret was impressed with the flowers and improvised our wine chiller to act as a vase.  It was a productive day and I’d love to come back sometime to spend more time and get to know this area better.  Given that, and since Margaret missed today, we’ll have to put it back on our list!

Photography Comments:

Over 100 early risers were up on deck enjoying the arrival scene from the front of the Voyager.  Each one snapping pictures with cameras of all types.  I set up my tripod in an open spot and started taking pictures with the D700.  The sun hadn’t come up yet and it was still dark so I used ISO 6400 and 3200, then switching to 1600 when the sun started shining.  It was tough to get a sharp picture even with the tripod because the boat was vibrating quite a bit as it started slowing down coming into port.  But, I got a few interesting shots.  The blue colors were just brilliant!

It was fun shooting at the animal sanctuary although most of the really nice birds and the bats were in cages so I had to shoot through the thick wire lattices.  I also had some focus problems when the focus switch accidentally got switched to the entire scene mode rather than spot or center average mode which turned out to be problematic for shooting koalas in trees as it would focus on a tree branch rather than the nose of the koala.  But, I was enjoying interacting with all the creatures far too much to notice little things like that!  Just another reminder to ALWAYS check your settings, just like a pilot about to make a flight, before starting your shoot make sure to check ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focus and exposure settings, etc.  Or, just shoot on Auto and forget about it.

In my hurry to get out on my afternoon explorations I forgot to take my D700 so I had to settle for using the Canon D95 point-and-shoot and the Fuji X100.  This was too bad since they were having fast scow races in the harbor and there were over 100 other sailboats out on a Wednesday afternoon.  Amazing!  I took a few pictures to show the general idea.

It was awe inspiring walking near the opera house but it was mid-day lighting which is brutal when shooting something that is stark white.  It would be fantastic to have a few days in Sydney to watch the lighting and get to the right places at the right times to capture the exact scene you want.  A fantastic city in almost all possible ways!

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by Posted in: 2012 World Cruise | Australia | CruisingTags: | |

Today, our 2nd in Melbourne, we are going to scout out some kangaroos and koalas and get a good background on Aboriginal customs (the K was just for the kute title).  We got up early and were on the “bus to the bush” by 9:00 am.  This was our 3rd Australian port day and we still hadn’t seen any wildlife so we were excited (along with 90 or so other people) to get on our buses and experience something uniquely Australian.

Click here for Melbourne Day 2 Photo Gallery.

First we drove to You Yangs Regional Park in south central Victoria.  We stopped at Big Rock, which is a granite rock outcropping that was (and still is) significant to the Aborigines in the area.   Roger, our guide, told us that tribe elders would call meetings and tribes would come from all around the area.  They would perform rituals and rites of passage.  They also constructed “rock wells” which were holes they created in the granite rock by pouring cold water over hot coals and then chiseling out the granite.  This was used to store and protect rainwater.

Next, we were off to the Koala Walk.  We ended up walking quite a ways into the bush (I cursed the fact that today of all days I didn’t have on my hiking shoes, but instead open toe sandals!!).  We had “spotters” out looking for koalas so our Koala guide, Sue, knew there were some in the area.

We finally spotted one, high up in a eucalyptus tree.  She was sort of hard to see, and didn’t move at all the whole time we were there…but nonetheless we got to see one.   Sue took us to another spot where there was another female…again, rather high up in a tree.  Sort of underwhelming and I was a bit too preoccupied looking down at my feet…lots of creepy crawlies in Australia and I needed to protect myself.  We had walked past a nest of bull ants and I was afraid they were coming to get me!

After we were back in the bus, we drove to the Serendip Sanctuary.  All three Regent buses met here and they served us a barbeque lunch.  While we ate, an Aborigine, Norm Stanley, talked about his culture and showed us some of the tools and weapons they’ve used for thousands of years.  He taught the more adventurous of us how to use a boomerang and played music on his didgeridoo.  The didgeridoo is one of the worlds’ oldest musical instruments. It is a long tube, without finger holes, through which the player blows.  My girlfriend Astrid had asked me to bring back a didgeridoo for her kids…she didn’t tell me they average 5 feet long and weigh 30 pounds!

After lunch, we drove over to a large field that is home to both emus and kangaroos – which meant it was filled with emu and kangaroo excrement!  Again, wish I had on better shoes.

The emus, which look a lot like an ostrich, were out in the open, but the kangaroos would prove a bit harder to flush out.  Roger had us walk across the field with a slow, deliberate pace until we got to the area of small trees where the kangaroos were hanging out.  Roger told us how lucky we were that the temperature was cool as that meant the kangaroos would be easier to flush out in the open field.  They tend to stay in the shade when it’s hot.

We, in essence, outflanked the roos and moved them out into the field.  There were about 40 in total, some moms with babies in their pouches and some large males.  We even got to see some adolescent males having a bit of a boxing match!

Back on the bus we took the 1 hour return trip to the ship where I soaked my sandals in hot water and slowly began to realize that unfortunately “I might be coming down with something…”.

Photography Comments:

More high clouds and it was white-out type of sky until the late afternoon when we had plenty of blue skies and the colors popped.  Most of the day I used the D700 and I let Sherrie try out the D7000.  It would have been nice to have my old D200 and 18-200 on this trip or at least the 18-200 lens on the D7000.  I loved that lens!  All I can say is that I got some shots today that documented what we did but only a few that I felt were good.  I really liked the colors on the low shot of the field with the Man and Woman mountains in the distance and the shot of Margaret and Emanual decanting the wine.  I also liked the color and drama of the ferry shots at the end of the night.  Yes, I am really liking the results I’m getting from the Fuji X100.  But, before you go out and buy one realize that it is a strange camera, a little flukey and only has a 50mm equivalent lens.  No zooming and no lens swapping.

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  • February 25, 2012 - 5:02 am

    Sherrie - Great photos and of course always enjoy Margaret’s write ups as well. Please keep them coming and can’t wait to order a book at the end of your “Grand Voyage”ReplyCancel

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