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

Nov '14 -Feb '15 MD to NM

At Linville Falls Park, NC

Pat with her father

After returning from Greece, we moved into Tom and Julie’s house for several months. Their hospitality is remarkable and much appreciated. We thank Susan and Windsor for storing our RV in their driveway for almost 2 months. We enjoyed a pre-Thanksgivings dinner at Mimi’s with our friends and later Pat’s family gathered at Linda and Rick’s for Thanksgiving dinner.

We took a break from winter in MD and headed down to a timeshare in Boone, NC. From here we could do hikes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We went down as far as Linville Falls. We also did a day trip to the Biltmore in Asheville. We went down to see the mansion decorated for Christmas, but taking pictures inside was not allowed, and it was only modestly decorated on the outside. We returned to MD in time for Carol and Cordale’s annual Christmas dinner and party. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my family at a Baltimore restaurant. On Christmas morning, Jenn fixed us breakfast and later that day, Pat’s family had dinner at Linda and Rick’s. We were all delighted when Jenn and Patrick became engaged in January. 

Patrick and Jenn 

Jocelyn and Chris  

One weekend we went up to York to visit with Pat’s father. First I caught the flu, the next day Pat came down with a cold. We settled in at our pre-paid hotel room and kept our distance from Pat’s father. I had to cancel my prostate biopsy. (I guess having the flu wasn't all bad). Later that week, we attended the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA with my sister Barb. We saw a performance of “Moses”. It’s quite a spectacle with all the live animals.

 One problem with RVs is that they have to be level when parked so the refrigerator doesn't overheat and self destruct. The big RVs have automatic levelers; we just have leveling blocks. Believe me, leveling the RV several times a day gets old real quick. Some ingenious engineer created a device to monitor the boiler temperature of the RV refrigerator; shut it down before it overheats, and restart it when it cools down. I convinced Eldon to help me install it. We didn't set any speed record for installation, but after 2 short days of tinkering, we got it done. Meanwhile, Lois kept our bellies full of homemade goodies. Now, no more leveling-Hallelujah! 

Happy to be heading South

Pat spent a good deal of the winter dealing with her back problems. This included getting an MRI, 6 weeks of PT, and three epidural shots. On the plus side, now she needs less pain meds. That’s a good thing for obvious reasons, but also because the DEA expanded the list of what they consider controlled substances and have cracked down on their distribution. Now they are much more difficult or even impossible to get while traveling. At one point, we thought we would have to fly back to MD every three months to get a refill. It might still come to that.

View from Jekyll Island, GA

Sunset at Jekyll Island

I spent (believe me, “spent” is the correct term) a lot of time on the computer planning our trip to Hawaii and Australia. We planned to drive the RV to Albuquerque, NM and fly from there. Since airfare was involved, the travel dates were set in concrete. The initial plan was to leave MD in early January and slowly work our way south and then west. Pat’s PT schedule required another month in MD. So Pat stayed in MD, and I did a solo RV trip on a compressed schedule. I picked Pat up at the Dallas airport and we enjoyed a few days camping in West Texas. Pat developed a severe tooth ache, so we hurried to Albuquerque, where Pat found a dentist to perform a root canal and install a crown done before we leave. We spent several frustrating days trying to get stuff done before our trip; it seemed we kept running into incompetent employees. On our last weekend in NM, we explored El Malpais and El Morro National Monuments. Next stop, Maui.

Wake-Robin

Meaher SP, LA

Palo Duro SP, TX

Palo Duro

El Malpais National Conservation Area

Palo Duro

La Ventana Arch

Twisted Juniper

Oct 2014 Turkey

House of Mary

We first arrived in Turkey via a cruise ship at Kusadasi, which is the port for Ephesus, one of the greatest ruined cities in the western world. The House of Virgin Mary is nearby and the excavation at Ephesus is ongoing. Ephesus was a Greek and later Roman city that became the chief port on the Aegean and important in the spread of Christianity.

Turkish Folk Dancers

At Ephesus

Dolmabahce Mosque

We disembarked from our cruise in Istanbul, and started with a boat cruise up the Bosphorus Straits. I heard the call to prayer over the loud speakers and I expected everyone to stop and pray. Surprisingly, nothing stopped, no one prayed, everything just continued as normal. I was soon to discover that Turkey was about to overturn my perception of Muslims. To put it in terms you can relate to, Turks are the left wing, commies (in other words, Democrats) of the Muslim world. This all started in 1923 with the formation of the Turkish Republic and their new leader Ataturk. He moved the country away from religious laws to establish a secular state. Turks smoke, drink, have nudity on TV - no wonder they revere Ataturk! The call to prayer is considered a reminder that when it is convenient for them, they should consider praying. If you have never heard the call to pray, consider yourself lucky. Imagine someone with a bad cold trying to yodel “La-ilaha-illa-Allah” for five minutes over a hundred loudspeakers.  Lying in bed at 5 in the morning, I found this call to prayer very effective; I prayed it would end so I could get back to sleep.

Hagia Sophia

Palace Band

Blue Mosque

We did visit many mosques and museums. We heard Hagia Sophia was not to be missed, but we like the Blue Mosque better. Of course many of the mosques were once Christian churches, but all pictures and statues were removed, covered or destroyed. This Islamic iconoclasm also affected most of the churches we later visited in Cappadocia. Hagia Sophia was built in 360 AD, and remained the world’s largest Christian church until it was converted into a mosque in the fifteenth century. It has been a museum since 1935. After 5 days in Istanbul we had visited all the major tourist attractions and more than enough mosques. The congestion and bustle of a city with more than 14 million people was wearing us down, so we welcomed our departure to Cappadocia.  

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Spice bazaar

Spice Bazaar

Our Hotel Room 

Cappadocia was a different world. Fairy chimneys dominated the landscape. We stayed at the Cave Suite Hotel, with our room inside a fairy chimney. The fairy chimneys have been used for centuries as free, easy to excavate housing and for churches and monasteries. The chimneys are composed of volcanic ash with a hard cap stone to slow erosion. Persecution of Christians forced the population underground starting in the 6^th century. So far 36 underground cities have been found. We explored two of them, going eight levels down. The most popular activity in Cappadocia is to ride a hot air balloon over the unusual landscape. We had to wait several days for the winds to calm, but we finally got our chance and it was magical.

Selime Monastery

Local Village

Getting Started

Up, Up and Away

Safe Landing

Ataturk Mausoleum

Not so magical was Ankara, the capital of Turkey. I think we were the first tourists to visit the city. We did visit a couple of interesting museums and the Ataturk Mausoleum, but we were ready to leave after two days. We needed three flights to get us to Santorini. It was a hectic day where we nearly missed our connecting flights, but we made it back to Greece.

Where Einstein got his milk