2023- Australia

View photos - https://link.shutterfly.com/AIdG33iLQxb   

After a 3-year pandemic break and 24 hours flight time over three flights, Australia for a month was my choice for my 41^st country. The 6^th largest country in the world, but far smaller when it comes to population, the bulk of civilization is mostly situated along their long coastlines with the desert outback residing in the center. Four inter-country flights allowed me to see Sydney (4 days), Tasmania (Melbourne (3), Great Ocean Road (4) and the tropics at Cairns (5). Three flights totaling 24 hours travel time from Asheville to Sydney and 9,000 miles. Its summer in February.

Sydney, a sleek city with a public transportation system beyond any we have in the USA. Tourist life bustles around their Opera House and Harbor Bridge. An Opera House tour, a performance and dinner at the 50-year-old building, which still looks new. Designed by a Danish architect in 1956 with an estimated completion date of four years, ended up taking 14 years. The Sydney Harbor Bridge, which I crossed twice via bicycle, is the largest and highest (1,489’) but not the longest, steel arch in the world. It was built up from each side separately then connected in the middle in 1930 after seven years of work. Much later, they built a tunnel under the harbor to relieve traffic on the bridge.

I loved the 17-mile guided bike ride of Sydney, a very busy city, remember they drive on the opposite side of the road. My scariest moment was when our guide (an 80-year-old renegade, who sometimes fastened his helmet) told us to hop onto a very long escalator, take half a step back then ride it to the top, holding onto our (heavy) e-bikes. Immediately my front wheel flipped sideways, and I was struggling to hold onto the bike. I had visions of wiping out my fellow rider and whoever else was behind him. I made it to the top and, with the help of my guide, got off safely.                                                                                                                                                                                     A ferry ride across Sydney Harbor to Taronga Zoo to see animals unique to this region. Among them, Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallaby, Tasmania Devil and the nearly extinct Cassowary bird. Very plentiful, kangaroo meat can be found on restaurant menus. Museums, botanical gardens and China Town completed my Sydney journey.

            A 2-hour flight south of Sydney and I’m in the cooler climate of the state of Tasmania, roughly the same latitude and similar climate as Patagonia, 10,000 miles across the ocean. Tassie is similar in size to West Virginia, with a small population of 500,000 with nearly half that number located in the capital of Hobart. 

          In the 1800’s, Tasmania, along with Australia, was used by the U.K. for prison colonies, usually with brutal, inhumane conditions. Over the years, 167,000 convicts were sent on the 4–6-month journey, with 74,000 of those landing in Tasmania. Many of their descendants come from the surviving prisoners, since there was no paid transportation back to their home countries. Their crimes in the U.K. were often minor thus, creating a slave trade of prisoners to help settle the addition to the British crown.

            Three of my 11 days were in the capital of Hobart which nicely coincided with their biannual 5-day Wooden Boat Festival. It’s the largest wooden boat festival in Australia with all types of interesting wooden boats on display. I scored a 3-hour sail on the 14’ Tinkerbell, with a local, for the parade or 200+ wooden boats and eight historic Tall Ships. The next night was a dinner cruise on the historic 106’ Soren Lorsen, along with a band of eight musicians hired to entertain us with sea shanties.

            I had a loaner mountain bike to commute around Hobart which I also used to catch a tourist bus to the top of Mt. Wellington and do the 15-mile descent into Hobart. The mountain peak is brown, rocky and 10+ degrees cooler. Next clime is a beautiful eucalyptus forest. Mt. Wellington is their version of our Mt Mitchell only at 4,200’.  Another day I rented a car to drive 1 ¼ hours to Maydena MTB Park for a downhill ride. The full-face helmet and pads that came with their rental bike was overkill as I took the green trails down the mountain. For my birthday, I treated myself to a 30-minute seaplane scenic tour.

Next, a 7-day van trip with the first three days of their “wild west”, a designated World Heritage Site by UNESCO covering 3.9 million acres or, 23% of Tasmania. Of over 1,000+ locations in the World designated as World Heritage Sites, Tasmania tied for first place, meeting the most criteria. Starting with the SW coast, same latitude as Patagonia, a cool temperate rain forest, we did multiple short hikes to waterfalls the first day. Second day was a boat tour of their harbor, five times the size of Sydney’s, then down the Gordon River to the bay. We stopped at Sarah Island for a guided tour of a former penal colony and another island to learn about their trees. Their Huon Pine is a prized tree, endemic to the SW corner of Tasmania. It grows 65’ and lives 800 – 2,000 years. The old growth pines are nearly extinct, having been logged or destroyed when rivers were dammed. It’s prized for ship building, extremely resistant to rot. We saw some of the remaining young stands of Huon Pine, covered in moss. The trees grow in colonies and falls horizontally after a few years then, climbs toward the sun.

Day 3 was a 3-hour hike around Dove Lake, at the base of Cradle Mountain, their 6^th tallest mountain. Next, a short hike on the 50-mile Overland Trail, one of the most popular multi-day hikes in the World, hiked by 9,000 people per year from 50 countries.

Fun fact – Tasmania grows 50 – 60% of the World’s legal opium crops. “Legal” meaning for prescription drugs i.e., codeine, morphine, etc. The plant itself is very toxic if not distilled properly. Next fun fact – Tasmania has some of the cleanest air quality recorded, year-round, in the World.

            Tasmania does not have the appearance of a wealthy island. Majority of housing is modest ranch 3BR/2BA. Their industry is mining, farming, aquaculture, fishing, forestry and tourism. The majority of the island is rural or, protected forest, much of it inaccessible. And absolutely gorgeous!

Day 4 was a hike at Cataract Gorge near Launceston, including animals wandering in the bushes.  Next stop, Bay of Fires beach with white, soft sand and rocks covered with orange fungi. Very beautiful and, unique. Last stop, an animal reserve and my first to hand-feed Forester kangaroos (smaller) and a white wallaby. I had no idea they would be so friendly. I learned there are multiple members of marsupial’s, meaning the mama carries the baby in her pouch. Marsupials I viewed today were kangaroos, padymelons and wallabies. The large gray kangaroos live more in the interior of Australia, not along the coasts.

Day 5 was a hike up to the overlook to Wineglass Bay, quite beautiful hiking through the eucalyptus forest.

Day 6 I skipped the tour to Bruny Island (oysters) and instead went to the Botanical Gardens, MONA Art Museum and the Tasmania History Museum. MONA is the most visited attraction in Tasmania, an abstract, cutting-edge private art gallery underground. You either hate it or love it. Viewings include a “poop” machine and a wall of vaginas.

            Next, a flight to Melbourne for another city bike tour and touring their botanical gardens and their war museum. A 2-hour ferry tour across their bay lands me in Geelong. Starting with a tour of their Wool Museum, much more interesting than expected. Sheep shearers used to ride their bikes long distances, with their bedroll and equipment, to migrate to the various sheep ranches. In Geelong, I pick up my rental hatchback and a mountain bike for four days of touring their Great Ocean Road and enjoying a couple of their mountain bike trails. The Timboon rail trail passes by remnants of trestle bridges set in beautiful rainforest and also, through live woodlands and cattle grazing country. The Forrest Mountain bike trails were a dustier shrub forest with my excitement of a small kangaroo hopping across the trail in front of me.  I stopped at a golf course for a guided tour via golf cart of the 300+ kangaroos living on the golf course for the past 70 years. The Great Ocean Road is a winding road cut into the cliffs along the coast, built after WWII.

My final stop, the tropics of Cairns in the NW corner of Aussie. Home to the oldest tropical rainforest (Daintree) in the world and easy access to the Great Barrier Reef. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Hot and humid with lovely warm water, you cannot swim in it from shore unless protected in a netted swimming area. From here and across the upper width of Australia are 300,000 saltwater crocodiles, far larger than our alligators. Do not even go ankle deep in the water. One granddaddy croc in the area, Scarface, has attacked and killed a full-grown cow. Only 1% of baby crocs survive due to predators and flooding. Even the mothers will eat their own offspring. Babies innately know not to approach mama unless her mouth is full.

The reef tour via an 80’ yacht took us 25 miles out to their platform for 5 hours of play including a glass water boat tour, submersible tour and snorkeling. I added a helicopter tour and a 1-hour guided snorkel tour with a marine biologist who took us out to their research area of this reef. Amazing how she could talk so much in the choppy water. We saw the Mars Stars, a research project funded by Mars Candy (yay M&M’s) to re-grow the reef where damaged by the 2011 cyclone.

An aquarium visit gave easy viewing to the strange and wonderful creatures in their local oceans, creeks and rivers. Their Crown of Thorns is a starfish that destroys the reef by turning its stomach inside out, engulfing the reef and consuming. A day trip to the Daintree Rainforest on a 4WD bus included educational walks, a boat tour searching for crocs and swimming in a cool-water river with a temp of 70. Crocs stay in water of 82 - 92.