Hawaii and Australia Part 1 Maui and Tasmania Feb/Mar 2015

Oriental Gardens

We flew from Albuquerque to Honolulu and then made the connection to Maui. We planned to spend three nights on Maui to break up the flight to Australia. Since it was February, it was prime whale watching season. We took an afternoon trip and it was amazing; the guides called it “Whale Soup”. There was always one or more whales nearby to watch. The females were traveling with calves and we watched them until sunset. We visited the Ioa Valley, but the hike we wanted to do was closed, so we toured the nearby Oriental Gardens. We drove half way up Haleakala to do a hike at a state park. We found this area closed also. It seemed that a lot of our favorite hikes on Maui were closed. I guess hiking doesn’t add to the economic development of the island. We did drive part way down the Hana Highway and managed to find a few short hikes.

Humpback Whale

Hogart Falls, Tasmania

Paddymelon

We flew to Honolulu and on to Sydney. The next day we flew to Hobart, Tasmania and picked up a rental RV (Sprinter van). We had heat in the RV for one night and then the circuit board shorted out and we went for two weeks without heat. (Yes, we could have stopped to get it fixed, but that wasn’t how we wanted to spend our time). You might wonder why we were worried about heat in the middle of summer in Australia. Well we expected summer weather and packed accordingly. We found out the hard way that the mountains in Tasmania can get quite cold at night. We found a thrift store and picked up some heavier clothes.

From "The Ship That Never Was"

Eastern Quoll

Dove Lake and Cradle Mt. 

Platypus

 We spent 3 weeks on the island, visiting our favorite sites (Mount Field NP and Cradle Mountain NP) from our last visit in 2008, and exploring a few new destinations. From Strahan, we took a cruise to Hells Gate and toured Sarah Island, a former penal settlement. We took a passenger ferry to Maria Island and explored the island on foot.

 

Hiking on Maria Island

Painted Rocks, Maria Island

We took our RV to Bruny Island and found many hikes to do. Captain James Cook and other famous explorers stopped at Adventure Bay to restock their ships from Bruny Island. We took a wildlife cruise down the wilderness side of the island where we saw seals, sea lions and a lonely penguin.

Fluted Cape, Bruny Island

Macaroni Penguin

We continued our travels down to the southernmost bar in Australia. We soaked at a thermal pool, but we were disappointed to find that thermal did not mean hot. The water was less than 80 degrees. Trust me, that was not warm. After a few hikes in Hartz Mt. NP, we returned our rental RV and flew to Melbourne.

Hawaii and Australia Part 2 Melbourne March 2015

Car from "Dirty Dancing"

Using our Fernie property, we arranged for a house exchange on the east side of Melbourne. It was a good location with easy rail transportation downtown, but not far from the mountains and parks. When we emerged from the subway station downtown, we were standing in front of a theater with the stage show “Dirty Dancing” playing. We got tickets, a quick lunch, and then we watched the performance.

Sulfur Crested Cockatoo

JFK Memorial in Melbourne

Tasmanian Devil

Flinders Station

Melbourne proved to be an easy and interesting city to tour. There was free transportation around the Central Business District. We visited the Melbourne Museum, the impressive Royal Botanical Gardens and The (Captain James) Cook House. Graffiti has been raised to an art form here. You can watch the artists at work in the alleyways. The architecture stands out because it is so colorful. 

Kookaburra

St Patrick's Cathedral

Outside the city we went to William Ricketts Sanctuary. Mr. Ricketts was an odd fellow, but his sculptures convey the message of the destruction of Aboriginal culture by the Europeans and how all living things are part of the natural world which must be preserved. All of the critters that Australia is known for, we found at Healesville Sanctuary. We also took a trip across town to visit with Pat’s second cousin, Charles Potter, whom she had not seen for about 50 years. The week pasted quickly and then it was time to fly to Perth in Western Australia.

William Ricketts Sanctuary

Koala

Reunion with Charles Potter

Hawaii and Australia Part 3 Western Australia April 2015

Dinner with Hope

We picked up another rental RV near the airport, and drove to Fremantle to have pizza and beer with my second cousin, Hope McCarra, whom I had never met. Hope is an adventurous free-spirit who has spent her teaching career in NZ and Australia. From Fremantle we headed down the Indian Ocean coast to Penguin Island to see the Little Penguins (aka Blue Penguins). The Margaret River area is known for its wineries, Karri forests, and beaches. Its temperate climate makes it a great vacation location.  We hiked the trails around Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse and toured Jewell Cave.

 

Little Penguins

Banksia

We continued down the coast to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and the great Southern Ocean. After a hike to Beedelup Falls, we took a picture of a Kookaburra near the parking lot. We returned to our van and fixed crackers and cheese. The Kookaburra flew in our open back door, grabbed a piece of cheese, and flew out before we could register what happened. Near Walpole, we did a tree canopy walk, 120 feet above the Valley of the Giants. We toured a banksia farm (174 varieties).  While hiking in the Stirling Range NP we saw a group of wild Emus running through bush. Our 10 days of exploring the area was not long enough. We returned to Perth for the Easter Weekend and spent a couple of days exploring the city including the Western Australia Museum and Kings Park.

Tree Top Walk

Downtown Perth

We left Perth and headed north with Exmouth as our most northern destination. Our first stop was the Pinnacles Desert. We were greeted by hundreds of bush flies, who like nothing more than getting in your eyes, nose, mouth and ears. After this, we wore head nets for the remainder of our time north of Perth. We explored a few towns on our way up the coast. We took a cruise out of Monkey Mia and saw Bottlenose Pacific Dolphins, Green Turtles and a Manta Ray. 

Pinnacle Desert

Green Sea Turtle

After 15 hours on the road from Perth, we made it to Exmouth. This area is famous for the Ningaloo Reef, which is the best reef we have snorkeled (including the Great Barrier Reef). We came here to swim with the whale sharks. The coral blooms in March and April attract the whale sharks to the area. The whale sharks are very large solitary fish. Fortunately they are not meat eaters! Growing as large as 60 feet long, they are quite impressive. We took a boat out to the outer reef and waited for the spotter plane to locate a whale shark. Our boat would move into position in front of the whale shark, and we would jump in the water. Usually, the whale shark would not be bothered by a group of swimmers and just continue to feed as it moved by us. We would then try to keep pace with the whale shark by swimming as fast as we could. Once the whale shark outpaced us we would return to the boat and wait for the next whale shark sighting. For the first four whale sharks, they moved away too fast for me to follow them for long. The fifth time I was in a better position and was able to keep pace with the shark for a few minutes. Swim racing was never my thing and I was soon exhausted and had to stop for air. But it was a thrill I will not soon forget!

Basket of Red Kangaroos

Our Aussi Home

Also in this area was Cape Range NP and we explored a couple of gorges. After several days in the Exmouth area we headed south. We wanted to do more snorkeling at Coral Beach, but the weather turned bad, so we continued south to Fremantle. From here we took a passenger ferry to Rottnest Island. We took advantage of their hop on hop off busses to explore the remote corners of the island.

Firewood Banksia

Quokka

We hiked to their pink salt ponds and saw NZ fur seals along the coast.  While visiting the Rottnest Lighthouse, we spotted a Quokka, a rodent that only lives on this island. Back in Fremantle, Hope treated us to breakfast, before she left for a weekend of surfing with friends. We toured the Fremantle Prison and walked the historic downtown district. We returned our rental RV and flew to Sydney for a 24 hour layover. We visited the Maritime Museum before heading back to Honolulu.

Sunset over Indian Ocean

Hawaii and Australia Part 4 Hawaii May 2015

Heliconia

Several years ago, my sister Barbara was scheduled to join us and her daughter Sharon in Hawaii. Barbara was too ill to make that trip, so this was her make-up trip. We picked her up at the airport and the three of us spent the next day recovering from jet lag while sunning ourselves on the beach at Waikiki. Touring Pearl Harbor and the Dole Plantation filled our remaining time before we flew to Maui.

Pat and Barbara in tropical garden 

We picked up a Ford SUV and drove to our timeshare in Kihei. We checked in at the office and they gave us an assigned parking space and the combination to the unit. Our assigned parking spot was full. We hauled our bags up to the unit, only to find it occupied! We thought maybe they gave us the wrong unit number. It turned out the unit we were supposed to be in was occupied by the adult children of the elderly owner of the unit. She had deposited this week, and then she forgot that she had and gave the week to her children. The manager of the complex found us another unit for one night. The next day the “children” moved out and we moved in. No one was happy with all this moving around. Then we had to return our SUV because the hatchback would not close properly. This exchange took over an hour. The week was getting off to a rough start!

Maui coastline 

After we got settled in, we went to several beaches and did some snorkeling. Barbara wanted to do the Hana Highway so we circled Haleakala in a 10 hour trip. We saw lots of waterfalls and beaches, but my back hurt from so much sitting. Moving our heavy bags around further aggravated it. Barbara wanted to do a glass bottom boat trip (since she didn’t snorkel) but due to the trade winds blowing at 15-20 mph, the seas were too rough. We did enjoy the Maui Ocean Center which is a very well presented aquarium. Barbara’s time in Hawaii flew by way too fast. She headed back to MD and we moved on to Kauai.

Luau entertainment

We stayed at a timeshare in Lihue and did a little hiking and snorkeling. We went to a Luau and I got a severe case of the chills. Chills and fever continued the next day. I was also having a problem with my leg. (It was later diagnosed as phlebitis). So it turned out to be a restful week as I recovered from my ailments. We flew back to Albuquerque, where our RV was parked.

Waimea Canyon