Tablelands Tour and Last Day

Baby Bat
Curtain Fig Tree

Our last full day in N. Queensland Keila took us on a roundtrip tour of the tablelands, the area the lady in the tourist information station in Mareeba wanted us to visit. We went to Tolga and stopped to see some totem poles depicting the history of the region. The town was preparing for their annual ANZAC day parade, and groups of school children were congregating near the edge of the main street. After enjoying a coffee and an Anzac biscuit (the type issued to the military in their rations) in one of the local cafes, we headed to the Bat Hospital in Carrington just beyond Atherton. Keila’s friend, Jenny Maclean, a retired PT now runs a hospital for bats. People in the area phone her to rescue bats from barbed wire, the netting put around fruit trees and even their own homes where the bats fly in an get caught or injured by ceiling fans and sliding doors among other things. We were able to see tiny bats the size of the end of my finger and larger ones hanging in groups in cages. When possible she releases the bats back into the wild, but she also provides a home for those too injured to ever live in the wild again. Her program is world famous and people come to do internships with her. She was very welcoming, showed us an introductory film and answered all our questions. It was a first for me to pet a little bat.
We then went to see the Curtain Fig Tree in the forest and headed out to Yungaburra to take the Peterson Creek walk to see tree kangaroos. We were rewarded by seeing one high up in the trees a long distance away. It was pouring with rain so we headed to a platypus blind, my last chance to see one of these amazing creatures. Alas no platypus. I’m afraid I must leave Australia without ever having seen one. We did see a lovely turtle swimming in the rain however.
We headed to Lake Barrine for a tasty lunch, walked a path to see a double fig tree and headed to Gordonvale to visit Kia and Anthony’s bio-dynamic farm. We were making an unscheduled stop, but Kia received us graciously and drove us around the farm to see the chickens and crops. It was a real tropics farm with sugar cane blowing in the warm breezes.
We returned to Kuranda for our last dinner under the stars and listened to the strains of an open air concert in the nearby amphitheatre. Lee Kernaghan was singing. He is coming to Canada on tour soon so we should look out for him.
Our last morning we headed to Cedar Lodge for brunch, our only chance to treat our hosts. Jean, the Wwoofer, told us about her acquaintance in his 70s who has a Healthy Living Centre in the vicinity. It seems that he lives on a raw food diet and supervises people who are fasting, many of them cancer patients looking for alternative cures. She related a story about a woman from Perth with an eating disorder who took neither food nor water for 2 weeks. She spent a lot of time keeping cool in the swimming pool and spraying her mouth. Not surprisingly she became severely dehydrated and had to be hospitalized. She was worried the doctors would think she was crazy!
The Swiss-German owners of the lodge do rescue work with marsupials so there were wallabies and pademelons hopping around the grounds of lodge. One of the wallabies had a baby in her pouch but he was too little to come out yet. Awww I would l have loved to see that. Keila and I went down to the creek and sat on a swing and pulled on ropes to sit in the middle over the river. Then we sat outside under a canopy for our northern European breakfast of cereal, yogurt, buns and breads, homemade jams, lunch meats and cheeses. The setting for the lodge is lovely, it’s about 5 km. in from the main road. The lodge itself was built by a German and imparts a rather dark and Gothic atmosphere. There are rooms that open onto the garden that looked comfortable but very dark.
Jean wanted us to drive her 6-10 km. further into the bush so that she could visit a fellow who teachers about bush tucker (aka survival food). As we have a rental car, not a 4WD vehicle, we desisted. Also we had to get home to finishing packing, so we dropped her at an intersection of two unsealed roads and wished her luck in finding the his place. I asked Keila how she’d get home, and she said that she’d either hitchhike or someone local would pick her up if she were walking. This area has a delightfully 1960s feel to it; I’ll have to email Keila to find out if she ever returned.
We departed from our friends and their gracious hospitality. We hadn’t seen Keila in 10 years and Henri in 20. They haven’t changed one bit, and we were happy to find that out. They are content living at the edge of the tropical rainforest in N. Queensland, playing host to a wide variety of young and old travelers, both friends and strangers, who happen along much the same as they did when they were living in Montreal. We however are glad to be leaving the hot humid tropics; we’re probably well suited to life in Canada where it’s only hot and humid for about 1 month of the year, and most of that time we hide out from the heat in air conditioned comfort! I’m afraid we must admit that we are spoiled North Americans, not cut out for life in Australia, but we would like to return for a visit. As I write these last words we are winging our way back to Sydney for our last night. We’ve had amazing adventures, far better than we could have imagined. We’ll look forward to seeing most of you followers of the blog soon.
G’day Mates!
Sydney, by the way, looked magnificent. The temperature was about 21C when we arrived, and locals were complaining of the cold – can you imagine that? We took in an Australian film, Under Hill 60, about Australian miners, who were assigned the task of tunnelling under the Germans in WWI to explode Hill 60. It came out on ANZAC day and was filmed in Townsville south of Cairns, and I really wanted to see it before leaving. After the film which was really good, we enjoyed salads and decadent hot chocolate (to ward off the “cold”) at the Guylain cafe at Circular Quay. Not only is the hot chocolate rich, you pour it over a square of chocolate in the bottom of the cup, I’ll have to remember this recipe. We treated ourselves on our last night and enjoyed staying at the Sir Stanford Hotel at Circular Quay right near the opera house, one of those solid older hotels in the English style with lovely antique furniture on display. We slept well and appreciated the comfort of our room, the doors closed with a clunk because they were so solid.

Tree Kangaroo (we did see from afar)

Platypus (we didn't see)

Bush Birthday Party

Henri's Trick

We met back at the house and headed off to Davies Creek for tea, dinner and magic tricks in the bush. Henri had put a lot of effort into corralling us into participating in the magic show. Each group of participants was instructed to come with at least one trick. Fortunately we joined with Keila and Henri and didn’t have to come up with anything original or something copied from the Internet.

Down a very bumpy track that made Duncan happy Keila had refused to let us drive, we arrived at Davies Creek. The area was surrounded by a black railing to help visitors navigate the huge boulders. We enjoyed beautiful views and marvelled that this eucalypt forest was only half an hour from their house in the middle of the rainforest. Their locale affords them access to a wide variety of food, tropical fruits from the forest and more traditional crops from the tablelands.
Keila had made a lovely Baba au Rhum complete with whipped cream and rum sauce, and we enjoyed meeting their friends as we drank our tea. Riette and Henk are originally from Holland.

This occasion was to mark Riette’s 50th birthday. We also met their lovely daughter Sanne, who was up from Brisbane for the occasion. They are leaving for a 3 month trip back to their homeland in a few days. In addition there were Ann, an American who has lived here a long time but still votes in the American presidential elections as I do, married to Chris an Australian she met in the states. We also met Alison, a midwife, and Janet and Peter, all Australians. All had worked with Keila at one time or another. Peter and Janet have a company to lead trips into the bush for several weeks. Keila took one from Cairns to Broome, and she was gone for two months.
Keila organized the program, and we watched the magic tricks, some silly, some clever and some hilarious. Ours had been spoofs on magic tricks and fairly simple to learn. Henri’s was the funniest. He wore white socks and showed his two feet from behind a red curtain edged with gold. He lowered the curtain and was supposed to then balance on one leg and raise the curtain again. However he kept losing his balance and falling over much to everyone’s delight. Peter brought out a chain saw but couldn’t get any volunteers for his trick which was a good thing because that was the intention. I don’t know what he would have done had he been able to recruit one.

As the magic tricks ended, meal preparation began. This was unlike any picnic or camping trip I’d been on where the fare is fairly simple. About half the people began chopping vegetables for a stir fry, others were chopping vegetables for a salad. It was explained that this was not the usual Australian camping tucker but special because of the birthday party. We feasted under a few bright lights, balancing our plates and slapping at the bugs. As two of the women plan to go up into a hot air balloon to celebrate the actual event, one had made a delicious chocolate cake in the shape of a balloon. It was decorated with M&Ms and tasted divine. At one point Peter shone his flashlight on the nearby creek, and we saw a group of turtles at the water’s edge. Magic!

We said our goodbyes and headed for home at about 10:30 p.m. We were relieved to be returning to the house for hot showers and a comfortable sleep albeit under the mosquito net.

Tjapukai

Didgeridoo
Making Fire

We enjoyed breakfast on our patio overlooking the park that overlooks the beach in a quiet sector of Port Douglas away from the main centres of activity. Keila wanted us back by 2:30 p.m. and we had booked tickets at Tjapukai, the Aboriginal Cultural Park near Cairns so we departed early. The drive along the ocean was lovely with a few strategic lookouts. It seemed we were back in Cairns in no time. Unlike the rest of Australia, the significant sights are within an hour or two of one another. And the climate and terrain are so varied; rainforest, tableland and dry eucaplyt forest are all within an hour from Kuranda. This is a surprise, because in the rest of Australia one must drive so far to get from one major attraction to another.

We arrived at Tjapukai in the pouring rain just in time for the history film. Archival footage relates the history of the locals from the aboriginal point of view rather than the Eurocentric one that white people are accustomed to seeing and hearing.
From there we moved to an excellent dramatization of the Dreamtime Stories I thought I’d hear from Kuku Yulangi guide, Rosie. The stories explained the division of the seasons into wet and dry and told the story of people and animals associated with each e.g. kangaroo, possum, snake and lizard are animals from the dry season and crocodile, platypus, frog and turtle are from the wet. The Tjapukai people spoke their language and all viewers wore earphones and dialled to hear their own language.

Next we moved to didgeridoo demonstration and explanation of bush tucker that we had heard in other locations. We saw traditional dances and the program ended with spear throwing and an explanation of the boomerang. Because it had been so wet the program was shortened, and we didn’t have a chance to try to launch it ourselves. The presenter told us to duck and then duck lower so what he could throw it over our heads, but then said he was kidding, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief and laughed together. On our way over the bridge we looked down to see turtles swimming in the muddy river. They kept their heads out of the water as they seemed to “dog paddle” or shall I say “turtle paddle” along slowly.

Trials and No Tribulation

Duncan at Cape Kimberly with Snapper Island in the distance

Crocs sighted RECENTLY

Daintree Organic Ice Cream Co.
Cooper's Creek Flood
Croc Info

We set out the following morning for Cape Tribulation, the place near where Captain Cook’s ship, Endeavour, ran aground in 1770. Cook spent several months here while his ship was being repaired. His foul mood is reflected in the names he gave local landmarks: Mt. Sorrow, Mt. Despair, Mt. Misery and Weary Bay.

We took the cable ferry arriving before 10 a.m. to beat the crowds – we were almost the only car, of course. A friendly man and woman at the Kuranda tourist information station told us to be sure and go to Cape Kimberly, and we followed the signs down an “unsealed” (gravel) road for 5 km. We passed a sign that said KEEP OUT with a picture of a pirate above it. In addition, there was a very unfriendly notice saying No Toilets, No Phone, Keep Going or something to that effect. This had been the Koala campground listed in the Lonely Planet Guide we’d borrowed from Keila having lost our trusty DK guide in Adelaide somewhere. However the area looked defunct and dreary; I certainly wouldn’t relish camping there.

After reading the crocodile warning signs, we set out through a small stretch of mangrove swamp, looking to the right and left for crocs. I wondered what on earth I’d do if I saw one! Entering the beach we picked our way through tourist debris – plastic and glass bottles and one stray sandal. This was NOT what I had expected to see. There were two other couples, one just ahead of us on the path, and I must say given the croc warning signs, I was glad about that. I’m not sure if I hoped they’d get eaten first or whether they’d be able to get help if we were attacked – maybe both those things. We took a few photos and short videos of Snapper (!) Island – this seemed an unfriendly place – and headed back through the swamp to the car. On the way I did my bit for Daintree National Rainforest and picked up most of the large detritus. Duncan looked a bit exasperated as I deposited it in the trunk of the car.

Next we headed for the Daintree Rainforest Interpretive Centre. This was an award winning concern according to the signs outside. They made great coffee so we sat for awhile reading our guidebooks and familiarizing ourselves with the acoustic=guides we’d rented. I wished we had longer there; we finished the aerial walkway learning about all the plants, animals and aboriginal tucker (food) before reaching the AV centre. The rain began and soon we were in the middle of a rainforest deluge. Thank heavens we were in the shelter. We tried to watch the numerous informative films but the sound of the rain was drumming loudly so we contented ourselves reading about Big Bang, how cyclones are formed and the geology of the area. There was on film Australian Killers where I learned that the giant cassowaries, relatives of the ostrich and the emu, can be very dangerous as can the platypus. Now that came as a surprise; the male platypus has a venom sack and injects the poison through a claw on its underside. This amusing looking creature can kill too! That great little critter from the Australian story I’d used in my classroom year after year, Wombat Stew, could bump me off though it’s highly unlikely because it’s very shy. Keila, who has lived here twenty years, has never seen one though Henri has been lucky because, according to Keila, he has more patience to wait and watch.

We returned to the reception centre for lunch and braved the elements to climb the Canopy Tower afterward. Parts were sheltered but as the water was coming down in sheets we decided to throw in the towel (I wish we’d had one) and come back later if the rain stopped.
We headed for Cow Bay, another deserted beach recommended by the information pair in Kuranda. This time there was a large sandwich board announcing that crocs had been sited RECENTLY in the area and to take even greater care. The walk wasn’t as foreboding however because we walked a sealed path through the sand to reach the beautiful deserted beach. No one to help us this time! When I fantasized about finding these beaches I thought maybe we could swim but no dice. The wet season has extended this year and the stingers or Irukandji are still in the water. So we had to content ourselves with gazing at the waves.

Next stop: Daintree Ice Cream Company where we shared a four scoop cup of Wattle Nut (tastes like cappuccino) , Passion Fruit, Sugar Banana and Saputo (tastes like chocolate pudding)ice cream. It was good but not as good as Maggie Beer’s. The grounds were beautifully landscaped so we lingered for photos.

The rain had stopped, but we decided to head for Cape Tribulation and stop again at the interpretive centre if time permitted. Just before Cooper’s Creek we had to stop short for a line of traffic. We turned off the engine and walked forward to investigate. Had a croc been sighted or even worse attacked? The heavy rains resulted in a raging torrent .8 metres high crossing the road. This was interesting to see because many times on our trip we’d passed signs with measuring sticks up to 2 metres high warning of flash floods but there had never been a drop of water. Now we were able to witness what happens. The road was inundated by fast flowing ochre coloured water, and I wouldn’t have wanted to be crossing in a car or even an SUV. People were gathered on both sides of the torrent, and it didn’t look like this flood would clear soon so we returned to our car. We were passed by a pickup truck that went barrelling down the road and apparently made it across because we heard a great cheer and clapping from the crowd.

We retraced our trail and stopped at Floraville Organic Ice Creams to drown our sorrows in passion fruit ginger ice cream. Floraville got our vote for having the better ice cream of the two we’d visited today but Maggie’s and Bruny Island win hands down.
We decided to head for the ferry before all the traffic on the other side of Cooper’s Creek made it across. We just missed one but were first in line for the next one. We had a chance to study the Daintree River, and I must admit it looked ominous. I’m sure there were lots of crocs lurking because there are croc spotting river trips every hour on the hour. I got out to read the information placard and it said things like, if you fall into the river, get back onshore or in the boat ASAP, or nNever dangle limbs outside the boat etc. Well that’s enough for me, I’ve decided to stick to Hawaii when I crave the tropics now that I’ve had a chance to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef – no crocs!

Up to Port Douglas

Tablelands Termite Mound
Rosie, Our Dreamtime Guide

We’d heard mixed reviews of Port Douglas. Our Adelaide hosts compared it to touristy Queenstown in the South Island of NZ, but Keila was very positive. She’s arranged for us to stay in a tourist apartment owned by her friend, Margaret. We didn’t have an exact address, only a general location and a phone number, so we headed off via the tablelands. Surprisingly one has to drive only about ½ hour to this area that is a completely different terrain and climate than the rainforest. Soon we were passing giant termite mounds and fields of sugar cane, though you see the cane in the rain forest too. There are lots of cows and Henri just had an exhibition that featured the cows of the tablelands.

We stopped at a tourist information station and asked about the Port Douglas area. The people there were very disappointed we were only passing through the tablelands and didn’t actually know much about the area where we were headed. We visited their Tablelands Heritage Museum trying to absorb as much local history as possible in a short amount of time. The displays were informative and interesting but we would have needed more time to derive the full benefit of all their hard work.

Before too long we’d arrived at the Mossman Gorge area where we planned to take a one hour hike. I was very interested in the Dreamtime Walk organized by the Kuku Yulangi tribe. We signed up for the 1 o’clock tour and donned our hiking socks and boots upon the recommendation of the person who sold us the tickets. We met Rosie who was to be our guide for 1 ½ hours. She explained that she was one woman working with four men and that we would get a tour from the woman’s point of view. We headed off into the rainforest taking shelter from the rain under the tall trees. We followed a serpentine path through the forest stopping to look at trees, fruits, nuts and sacred spots. At the “women’s place” she asked Duncan to wait up the hill while she explained to me the significance of the site. The men had their spots too so I guess I would have been sent away had our guide been male.

We didn’t learn about any of the creation stories on this tour which is what I was anticipating given the name of the walk. However we learned about the role of women within the tribe. At the end Rosie served us tea and damper (bread that would have been cooked in an oven in the ground in the “good old days” as Rosie kept saying. She answered our questions, and we headed for the Mossman Gorge. Unfortunately the whole area was under construction so we gave up our idea of a hike, but saw a few of the accessible spots and headed for Port Douglas.

The town was much nicer than I anticipated, in fact it wasn’t like Queenstown at all. It did have lots of tourist accommodation, some very chic , and holiday homes. We went to the intersection suggested by Keila and asked at one tourist apartment if the woman on reception knew Margaret. She shook her head no, but then when we showed her our map, she pointed across the way and told us we’d find her there. Sure enough Margaret was there and led us up to apartment #4, our home for the next two nights. She encouraged us to take a tour of the Daintree National Rainforest but said it might be too late to sign up for the best one. After studying the literature, we asked her to check, but she was correct, we’d have to come back another time. Duncan studied the brochure and tried to replicate the tour as best he could. We had to leave out the Bloomfield Falls section that required a 4WD. I remembered the unsealed roads with ten fords in Wanaka and decided we’d stick to the main road.

We had a great dinner at The Tin Hut, one of Margaret’s recommendations sharing a giant tub of prawns and had the fish special while sitting outside looking out over the water at the passing boats. The place was really hopping, and it was actually a club but the public was invited to dine there. Lucky us.

In an Octopus’s Garden...

Dunc in his stinger suit and wet suit
Keila with in her gear with flippers
Rescue dingy at the back

I’d been looking forward to snorkelling on the world famous Great Barrier Reef. I didn’t realize that Duncan had been dreading this experience. Neither of us is terribly fond of boats, but he gets seasick and I generally do not, especially if I stay outside while on the boat.
We’d booked our trip with the firm Passions of Paradise in Cairns on the recommendation of one of Keila’s friends. We left next morning at 8 a.m. on the catamaran with about 60 other passengers. The trip to the reef took almost two hours and Duncan and Keila had a rough time. Keila sat outside for most of the trip. Duncan tried various places on the boat and found standing at the back was best. I enjoyed being outside ; when I went in and tried to read the newspaper I felt queasy so returned to the deck at the side of the boat.

Looking around, the average age of the passengers was about 25. We were definitely in the minority with about 10-15 seniors on the trip. The young staff shared information on snorkelling equipment and encouraged us to buy a stinger suit to avoid the stings of the jellyfish lurking in the water. We also rented wetsuits so that we would be warmer. We looked like blue frogs in the stinger suits with the hoods and mitts on our hands. The weather was rainy and overcast. No brilliant blue skies, pictured in all the travel brochures, for us.

A small boat dropped us at Michaelmas Cay, a bird sanctuary and from there we began snorkelling. The rain started coming down, but it didn’t really matter since we were wet anyway. There were fewer fish than I had seen in the Bahamas many years ago but the coral gardens were quite amazing. I saw lots of beautiful fish, but there were not great schools of them as I had imagined there would be. Because it was cloudy the colours were not brilliant but it was still beautiful.

I snorkelled for about 40 minutes then joined Duncan back at the Cay. He didn’t seem to be enjoying the experience as much as I and that was unfortunate. When I asked why he hadn’t stayed back in Kuranda, he replied that he felt he had to see the reef. As it was nearly time for lunch we headed for the boat. It took me about 15 minutes of snorkelling and popping my head out of the water to check my course. I got into the boat and stripped off all the gear greeting Keila who’d arrived before me.

I kept an eye out for Duncan, and he arrived about 10 minutes later. I’d heard that one person had had to be “rescued” with the small boat they kept for people who didn’t feel they could make it back to the boat. We’d learned a series of signals before setting out. Hand on the head: I’m fine, fist in the air: pick me up, waving and yelling: Help! It turns out Duncan was the one they’d rescued. He kept drifting off course and didn’t think he could make it to the boat. He’d gotten a bit scared and decided to yell for help. He and I had put on floater belts so he wasn’t really in danger. He just gave the crew a chance to practise their rescue skills. His rescuer jokingly called him “a silly old bugger” when she’d pulled him into the boat. Duncan thinks he gave her a scare.

After lunch we moved to another area and snorkelled off the back of the boat. The sea became much rougher with whitecaps so Duncan decided he’d stay onboard. Keila and I held hands for awhile to keep track of one another but then found we were able to navigate easily by using the beautiful corals as landmarks. This area was in deeper water, and we were clearly able to see the drop off where the reef began and ended. I loved being in the warm sea looking at neon coloured fish and corals. The fish seemed oblivious of all the “blue frogs” amongst them. One fellow snorkeler pointed and said he could see a shark, but I couldn’t see it. There are no Great Whites up here so I wasn’t worried!

The trip back was even rougher, many people were using the little brown bags. We sat at the front of the boat for awhile until we started getting wet, then we moved to the back of the boat. Keila was flat out on a bench the rest of the way home.

Duncan’s mood improved somewhat when we were back on land. However he went to bed very early, worn out by the day’s events. Keila, Henri and I performed our magic trick act for Jean. We’re going to a friend’s 50th birthday party on Sat. and have to perform magic tricks. Henri has engineered the act consisting of silly tricks. It should be funny.

Kuranda and Cairns

Rainforest Boardwalk
Aboriginal Mural
Rainbow Lorikeets
Croc Warning Sign
Mangrove Swamp Walk

Our first day we decided to stroll with Keila around Kuranda to get our bearings. She took us to the famous Kuranda Scenic Railway, closed until May 16 because of a landslide. We won’t be able to take this famous train. However, they also have the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, one of the world’s longest gondola cableways that glides over the valley that we will take down to Cairns and back if we have time.

We spent the day strolling through the shops and galleries in this pretty town visiting Bird World and the Koala Park and enjoying a delicious lunch at colourful Vibes Cafe on the main street. We took a long walk back through the rainforest and along the river back to the train station and up to their house. In the evening we enjoyed a chicken dinner followed by the film Samson and Delilah that had been recommended by Jack and Sue in Melbourne. It was a film about the relationship between two young Aboriginal adolescents. It was very moving though difficult to watch. The plight of the young reminded me of the sad stories of the Inuit youth at Davis Inlet in Canada.

The next day we toured Cairns with Keila. We began by walking along a boardwalk in a mangrove swamp near the airport. I was somewhat disconcerted by the Croc warning signs at the entrance to the boardwalk. Two jokers sitting on a bench warned us to look out for the crocs, because there had been an 8 metre croc sighted in the area! It was hot, humid and primeval with plenty of mosquitos. We saw mudcrabs and read about how mangroves survive. Next we took a long walk along the sea to the lagoon saltwater pool. We had lunch with a former colleague of Keila’s, Kia, and her mate at a restaurant overlooking the water. Kia and I had arranged for our special education students to be pen pals for a few months in the year 2000. It was fun to meet her face to face and hear about the students. We swapped information and compared the special education systems in N. Queensland and Toronto. The frustrations for professionals and our students are similar in both countries.

We finished our day with a steamy walk in the Botanical Gardens followed by a visit to the dam at Barron Falls. It was too late to visit the interpretive centre so we headed back up the windy road to Kuranda. Henri served drinks and snacks before a dinner of rack of lamb. Then we watched another Rolf de Heer film The Tracker that was excellent.

6 Meeroo St. Kuranda, N. Queensland

Keila and Claudia at Barron Falls
Henri in his studio
Dinner on the Verandah

My friend Keila is an occupational therapist by training and worked with me at MacKay Centre in Montreal for three years. We had a close professional relationship – a mutual admiration society really. When she left MacKay, I went into mourning. We also worked together training professionals to learn Blissymbolics, a graphic communication system used by people who are unable to speak. Whenever we get together we seem to push each other to exceed our limits. She pushed me to assist her in French at Bliss workshops in Quebec and Paris. I worked for weeks to prepare, and these were exasperating and exhilarating experiences. The parent of one of my French Canadian students, helped me to translate the material I was to present, and I basically memorized my parts and used lots of overheads and slides to compensate. Participants seemed to be able to understand me, but I remember standing in front of them wondering seriously if I wasn’t crazy to be doing this. I kept worrying someone would ask me a question and I wouldn’t have any idea what they’d said, but alas this didn’t happen.
Whereas she always challenged me intellectually, I challenged her physically. We’d enjoyed hiking together in the Adirondacks when living in Montreal, and on a trip to France decided to meet up and hike in the French Alps. I remember that my backpack was damaged by the airline, and we’d had to return to Paris to get another necessitating a later start than anticipated. She’d wanted to camp when it started to get dark but I insisted we carry on to reach the hut high in the alps. I remember the moon was shining so we were able to see the white stone path. I felt like I was Gretel only following a path of stones rather than breadcrumbs. She says I kept referring to my Outward Bound experience and insisted that we persevere; I knew we’d make it, she says she wasn’t as confident.
Another time we’d skied to a hut in a Quebec provincial park and on the way out the next day, I’d wanted to take a more challenging trail back. Our husbands carried the packs out on the flat trail, and we took the harder track. About half way along, Keila took a fall and felt her patella go sideways. When we got back to the car, her knee swelled up, and she required a few sessions of physiotherapy.
When she’d suggested taking some long hikes in Australia, I told her those hut to hut hiking days were behind me. I don’t think I could sleep on the ground anymore and the hikes in NZ have shown me that three to four hours of strenuous hiking is my limit now.
We arrived at 6 Meeroo St. in Kuranda after an uneventful flight to Cairns. Keila and Henri live in an open plan home on a street with a few other homes hidden from the street by rainforest vegetation. In summer they leave the doors and windows open, and there are surprisingly few insects given the situation. However we did end up sleeping under mosquito netting. Duncan has extra sensitive hearing and just one mosquito buzzing around his head will drive him mad. I found it difficult to get used to the net the first couple of nights but by the third, I slept well. It was better than having him up swatting and swearing at 3:30 a.m.
Henri is an artist; I love his work and several of his paintings and drawings grace our walls at home. He has a beautiful studio on the top floor of their home filled with his large and small works. He signs representational works as Teval and income from these sold to tourists at the markets and galleries in Kuranda allows him to create his more original works under his own name Henri Hunsinger.
Keila and Henri met in their twenties when both were travelling the world with their backpacks. They love the free and easy atmosphere of Kuranda, and their home is generally filled with visitors from around the globe. Celine, a former classmate of Henri’s from Montreal, was staying when we were there and Jean from South Dakota was WWoofing. Wwoofing allows people to work for their room and board and travel at the same time. Wwoofing stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Our friends aren’t in the catalogue as they don’t have a farm but friends refer Wwoofers to them. Keila and Henri have hosted Wwoofers who helped them build the rental property located next door and currently Jean does cleaning in exchange for room and board.
We enjoyed our first of many meals on their back verandah under the stars. Keila is an excellent cook and prepared incredible all with entree, main course and dessert at a minimum. We enjoyed salmon, lamb, chicken, steak and pasta main courses. She always insisted on doing all the cooking, and we helped with dish duty sometimes. Ironically it took us 20 years to get to Australia to visit them; Keila will be travelling to Canada and Europe. She will be at our house at the end of May for a visit. Again, I’ll have to get my act together.

McLaren Vale

Port Walunga
Rod, Anthea and Chappy

Godfrey was keen that we visit the McLaren Vale on Sat. before returning to Adelaide for our last night. Our friends have bought property near Port Walunga and Maslin Beach and plan to build a beach house within the next two years. They anticipate spending 6 months in Toronto and 6 months in Adelaide once they retire.
We got away just before 9 a.m. and made it to Walunga Market at around 10:30 a.m. The market was lively and filled with vendors selling local produce, fruits and vegetables, meats, cheese, honey, jam, chocolate, coffee, tea, lotions and soaps etc. We walked through and bought a tussie mussie, or herbal bouquet, for Anthea and some chai tea for Keila in Cairns. I was sorry that we weren’t staying in the area for a while so that we could sample more local specialties.
We had some difficulty locating Port Walunga as it wasn’t marked anywhere, and we had to ask directions from a local. We took a stroll along the pristine beach unmarred by development. Houses are set discreetly out of sight. It looked a perfect place for a swim and there were a few people in the water. Maslin Beach is a little further down, and we found the road to it was marked and easy to follow. There is an unobtrusive sign announcing the “unclad” section to the left of the stairs leading to the beach. We peeked but didn’t see any nudes!
After that we visited the tourist information office to find out which wineries served lunch. We’d tried the small famous Star of Greece cafe, only to be disappointed because we had no reservations. Because it was Saturday, winery restaurants were crowded and we tried two before finding a table at Settlers Winery. We shared a delicious pizza and salad with glasses of shiraz and cabernet merlot. We sat outside looking at the vineyard enjoying the beautiful view.
We went back to the tourist information station to get directions back to Adelaide and arrived within 35 minutes. Rod and Anthea got home from their Australian rules football game at about 6:15 p.m., and we treated them to dinner at a local Indian restaurant, the least we could do to thank them for their two previous dinners. We’ve enjoyed staying with both ATC families; they set a very high standard. We’ve agreed to host to Aussies from Brisbane in June, I’ll have to get my act together. We got up early, said our goodbyes and headed to Adelaide airport. Now we are off to Cairns or more accurately Kuranda to stay with our friends whom we met in Montreal in the 80s.

Cockatoo Valley and the Barossa Wineries

Resident Kangaroo

Monty and Duncan
Millie
Saltram Winery Restaurant

The Miner’s Cottage is in the Cockatoo Valley adjacent to the Barossa Valley, famous for big red wines, especially Shiraz. The Cockatoo Valley is named for the flocks of beautiful noisy galahs that inhabit it. Each night they gathered in the trees above our heads and squawked incessantly. There were also grass parrots, harder to see, and in the morning noisy kookaburras laughing in the trees. We only heard them if we left our door open as the walls in our cottage were too thick. They would lead the dawn chorus between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. with their unforgettable laughter. Each evening we strolled the fields to see the kangaroos and birds with Godfrey’s binoculars. This was my favourite place in Australia outside Tasmania. It is such a unique environment. Twice we saw a mother and baby kangaroo close by in the field adjacent to the cottage. Magic! I never tire of watching them move.

The wineries we visited in the area were excellent. We were given lists from Godfrey of the Miner’s Cottage, Jack of Melbourne and Rod of Adelaid. We eventually visited Turkey Flats, Saltram (great lunch), Yalumba, Bethany, Whistler, and The Willows. We found it frustrating to buy only one or two bottles. We especially enjoyed the town of Angaston and kept returning to Blond Coffee for delicious lattes and other goodies.

Our second day we had lunch at Maggie Beer’s. I’d seen her gourmet pates, chutneys and jams at all the markets and small shops throughout Australia. This shop and cafe was a food lover’s paradise. Virtually everything she sells is available for tasting, and I tasted everything except the pasta sauces. They make up little picnic baskets with a selection of her goodies and you get to taste them all before choosing from their list. We chose duck with peppercorn pate and the pheasant pate. Rice salads, cornichons and plum paste to cut the rich flavour of the meat were included along with warm bread rolls. For dessert we had passion fruit and vanilla and honey ice creams. These were as delicious as those on Bruny Island. We sat on the patio overlooking a small lake and enjoyed the view.The place was filled with people so I think she is the Delia Smith of Australia because many of her cookbooks were on display and for sale in the shop. At 2 p.m. every day she does a cooking demonstration using verjus, sort of a non-alcoholic grape juice. I had some at home once but didn’t use it and ended up throwing it out. Perhaps I should have stayed for her demo.

We stopped touring at around 3:30 p.m both days and returned to the cottage. It was too special to be away for long. There was a resident dog, Monty, and a cat, Millie, and they always showed up at mealtimes. I cooked on the barbecue behind the cottage every evening, and we ate outside even though it was cool. When the dog heard the barbecue igniter snapping, he showed up with the cat. However, they were very polite and sat patiently waiting for tidbits. We didn’t feed them until our final morning when I broke down and gave them a few bits of bacon rind. Godfrey provided us with such delicious bacon and sausages with fresh eggs from his hens so one night we finished leftovers and had omelettes with the meats.

I really loved it here, there was a bouquet of Australian flowers, dishes of chocolate coffee beans, beautiful foods for breakfast, bacon and sausages surrounded fresh tomatoes, the butter was graced with sprigs of fresh lavender. I wanted to stay for a whole month and do little more than sleep, eat, taste wines, take walks and write the blog. Godfrey is planning to build an eco-cottage back where we take our walks. I want to come and stay again.

Back of the Miner's Cottage

The Miner’s Cottage

The Miner's Cottage in the Cockatoo Valley
View from picnic table
Interior
Loo out the back

I wish I could make time stand still. I felt this way when we lived in a 400 year old cottage in Headley nr. Epsom, UK. When an environment is so perfect, suits me so well, I’d like to stay forever. I am sitting at the picnic table behind The Miner’s Cottage in the Cockatoo Valley outside the Barossa wine region of South Australia. I’m looking at Godfrey’s back garden framed by Eucalypt forest. Last night at Godfrey’s direction we took a walk at dusk to see a herd of kangaroos in a nearby paddock, then surprised two hopping right by the cottage, across the yard and out the drive, right in front of Godfrey who was riding his bike. The trees overhead were literally filled with cockatoos! Like Godfrey I want to stay here forever!

We owe our presence here to our Toronto friends, David and Bill, who stayed here several years ago. I was intrigued when they described it and decided right then and there that I wanted to visit. It is an old Miner’s Cottage that dates to the end of the 19th century and is both rustic and luxurious. The owner, Gregory, immigrated from NZ in 1981 and says he loves Australia and is now a citizen. He has created a little piece of paradise here with all the amenities. The cottage consists of two rooms, a sitting room and a bedroom, with the loo out back. One must exit the cottage as in the old days to visit the facilities. But what facilities! Adjacent to the back door is another door to the bathroom with heated floor tiles, claw foot tub, shower etc. The cottage is similar to those I imagine exist in rural France with 2 foot thick walls, period furnishings and modern bathrooms. In another building, formerly a garage I think, Godfrey installed has a full kitchen with stove and dishwasher and LCD TV/DVD. Behind this is another bedroom with shower and behind a cupboard a washing machine. It is a perfect meld of the old and new. There is a Bose Docking Station for the i Pod but no WiFi – we’ll have to go to the library to get online.

Adelaide Day Two

Japanese Pumpkin at Adelaide Market

We had ½ day left for Adelaide so we visited two beaches near Blackwood, Brighton and Glenelg, before returning to the city to Tanunda, an aboriginal interpretive centre for a cultural presentation at noon. The beach area at Brighton was very small but pleasant. Glenelg reminded us a bit of St. Kilda’s outside Melbourne. Both St. Kilda’s and Glenelg are reached by a ½ hour tram ride from the city centres. Glenelg’s historic waterfront was larger and more developed than Brighton’s.
We parked the car and walked for about 15 minutes before reaching Tandanya. The museum has existed since 1989 and changes exhibitions every few months. A very agreeable man from the Kaurna tribe showed us a map of all the indigenous tribes that had inhabited Australia before the convict ships began arriving. They covered the entire country and there were hundreds of them. The Aboriginees only got the right to vote in 1967 and prior to that there were civil rights demonstrations that paralleled those in the US. I read in The Lonely Planet guide to Australia that 97% of Australians voted in favour. It seems the politicians are the slowest to respond and implement change. Why is that?
The plight of the aboriginals is similar to the First Nations people of Canada and the US, they were forced onto mission sites sometimes far from their homeland. Their means of supporting themselves was taken away and now many have drug and drinking problems. My friend knew a woman of our generation who trained as a nurse but was unable to work as a nurse in Australia only a nurse’s aide. She went back to school and is now a teacher.
Our guide played the didgeridoo explaining that only men could do so because the circular breathing required interfered with childbearing. I doubt this is true but there were signs in the gift shop warning that women were strictly forbidden to play the instrument in the shop. The demonstration was fun, he played various imitative sounds e.g. a kangaroo hopping, a motorbike.
We left Tandanya and headed to the Adelaide Market for lunch and shopping to stock up for our Miner’s Cottage self-catering experience as we weren’t sure if the shops would be plentiful or open when we reached the Barossa Valley. Many of the shops were closed on Wed. But we stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables, local cheeses, bread and salmon fillets for dinner.

Cape Bridgewater

Petrified Forest at Cape Bridgewater The Blue Lake in an exinct volcano crater

Our DK guidebook really missed the boat on Cape Bridgewater. They assigned the blowholes no stars, not even one. We were going to bypass the sight and head for Mt. Gambier and the Blue Lake. However the tourist placard outside Portland led to debate and a change of mind. I just love those ocean views, and we’ve moved from the Tasman Sea south to the Southern Ocean. It still confuses me to think of anything in a southerly direction as being colder. We skirted the city of Portland and headed for Cape Bridgewater. There are wind farms all along this coast which may be why the DK gives it a miss. However the view of the wild and raging sea is unsurpassed. You know the paintings you see in art galleries of ships in a raging sea? Well that is what we saw. Whitecaps, sea foam, waves crashing into the rocks and blowholes, finally blowholes that were blowing. The view is somewhat diminished by the wind farm along the edge but in a way it adds to the surrealistic feel of the place. You have the ocean, the wind farm and a petrified forest all by turning 360 degrees. I was mesmerized by the sea. We put on our Goretex jackets, secured our hoods and stood there watching the blue black sea and feeling the spray. Returning to the car and licking our lips, we tasted the salt. I would just love to have the time to take a cliff walk here or to stay in one of the rental homes with excellent views of the sea.

We stopped for lunch at a small cafe in Bridgewater. There is a beautiful beach here with turquoise water and shallow waves. Even though it is a cool day, one “polar bear” (brave man) is out there swimming and braving the elements. The signs warn that after Easter Monday there are no lifeguards. We can see whitecaps and blue black sea at the horizon so there must be a shelf here with high waves breaking further out, creating a safe bathing beach though there are lots of warning signs about sudden drop offs and the dangers of diving.

We moved on to Mount Gambier and the Blue Lake. The DK books warns that the water changes to winter grey in April but happily for us, it has maintained its brilliant “Windex” blue hue. This inactive volcano crater holds the town’s precious water supply. We were happy we stopped off to see it, but I wouldn’t have traded this view for the blowholes.

Adelaide Day One

Duncan fleeing The Smelly Cheese

Duncan at Cricket Pitch in Adelaide

We arrived at the home of our ATC hosts, Rod and Anthea in the late afternoon after driving along the limestone coast. Rod had sent us detailed instructions to help us find them in Blackwood outside Adelaide. As we didn’t have a detailed map to follow, we were grateful that his directions were meticulous. Every time we ventured out of their subdivision in the car without them on subsequent journeys, we seemed to get muddled trying to find Coromandel Parade.

Rod and Anthea had just returned from four weeks in New Zealand and were pleased to share experiences. They had stayed exclusively with ATC members and had followed a route similar to ours – not surprising since it is a long narrow country. We showed them our DVD Ata Whenua and they liked it so well they ordered it too.
They invited us to eat with them and as it was our 31st wedding anniversary, we contributed the beautiful wine given to us by our Melbourne hosts, Jack and Sue. They had a lovely cocker spaniel, Chappy, who had an interesting history. They had adopted him after his owner, who was an amputee, had died leaving a bequest to take care of him in perpetuity. Rod and Anthea had to see that he went to his owner’s funeral, and Chappy’s final resting place is all arranged and paid for by the bequest. They don’t pay for any veterinary services and admitted that they take him more frequently than is probably necessary because of this.

The next morning Rod drove us to the train and it took us about 25 minutes to get into Adelaide. Adelaide was designed by the same planner who designed Christchurch, NZ. It is smaller city than the others in Australia we’ve visited, and like Christchurch is very attractive and easy to navigate. Apparently the temperature goes into the 40s in summer. How do they stand it? There is no Tourist Tram but free Tourist Buses follow a circular route around the heart of the city.

Our first stop was their lovely market, about four times larger than our St. Lawrence Market. Everything looked fresh and beautiful. I was sorry that we weren’t self-catering and couldn’t take advantage of all the beautiful Australian produce.
We stopped for lattes with a double shot, our new coffee drink. The flat whites seem to be milkier here than in NZ so we’ve been experimenting. We sought out Bistro Dom that I had read about in an Australian House and Home magazine. The server was charming and heated our shared pain au chocolat; it was wonderful just like those from Au Duc de Lorraine in Montreal.
We walked all around the city, then went down by the river for a walk. We decided to rent bicycles for one hour to get up to a city viewpoint. The cricket field was open so we took advantage and rode our bikes in to have a look fully expecting someone to throw us out at any minute, but no one stopped us or seemed to care. Good on ya maintenance workers.

Great Ocean Road

Great Ocean Road between Lorne and Apollo Bay

London Bridge has fallen down

The Arch

Yesterday is a blur in my memory. We drove almost the entire length of The Great Ocean Road in one day, leaving Jack and Sue’s home in Blackburn at 9:30 a.m. and arriving at our accommodation in Port Fairy in the dark at 7 p.m. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone cover the 290 km. in one day, because there is too much to see and do. We arrived in Lorne after three hours and had lunch at the Bottle of Milk. Sorry Jack, but we missed Bell’s Beach – the road was closed – I guess because of the surfing event held there the day before. We started down the road and the sign said Wrong Way Turn Back. We went to the detour sign but it just led us to the main road again, so we had to give it a miss. Next time.
The stretch of road between Lorne and Apollo Bay is dramatically beautiful with many scenic turnouts. We didn’t realize that the Ocean Road was built by soldiers who returned from WWI. The government made an effort to employ the survivors of the Great War and building this road was one of the projects. It also serves as a tribute to these men who built the road with picks, shovels and crowbars. The road is 400 km long with spectacular views all along. If we had had more time we would have taken a hike either along a coastline or in the Otway National Park that we drove in and out of along the way.

The most stunningly beautiful sights come at the end with the Twelve Apostles, The Arch and London Bridge. The rain was tipping down when we were at the viewing area for the Apostles. We waited it out with a cup of tea in the visitors centre and ventured out again to take in the beauty of the site.

When we arrived at The Arch and London Bridge, about 1 hour later, the sun had come out and was shining on the formations so we took some memorable photos. Apparently one can see the Blue Penguins (or Fairy Penguins as they call them here) at sunset, but we felt we must head toward Port Fairy as we still had some distance to go. We arrived at dark and had a bit of difficulty finding The Coastal Barn, our self-contained apt. for the night. When we finally found it tucked away on a back street, it was all dark, but the owner who lived next door was on the lookout for us and gave us a very warm welcome. She provided a basket of food for the next day’s breakfast, fresh eggs from her own chickens, ham, juice, coffee, a loaf of wholegrain bread and date bread slices to have with a cup of tea. We headed into town and tried one restaurant but it was fully booked because it was Sat. p.m. They recommended Saltra Bistro. They could only sit us in the bar and serve us a limited bar menu because they were fully booked, but we didn’t mind as we were tired and wanted to get back to our cosy B and B ASAP. We enjoyed their Prickly Moses draft beer, it was cold and really hit the spot.

During the night rain began and by 6 a.m. was pelting down. We felt very snug under the covers as we dozed waiting for morning light. We enjoyed our cooked breakfast before heading out for the next day’s adventures.

Melbourne Day Two

In Mr. and Mrs. Cook's Garden

Jack giving navigation pointers to Duncan

We arose and after visiting the ABC shop to get The Gourmet Farmer DVD, Sue dropped us at the tram to go downtown. We passed through Box Hill, Richmond, Kew, Surrey Hills. At Richmond the tram we were riding hit a car that had moved onto the tracks. The driver slammed on his brakes, and we were jerked around but able to maintain our footing. The tram driver handled the whole thing very professionally. It was obviously the fault of the driver who was a senior. He took photos with a digital camera, spoke with her calmly, and we were on our way again after about ten minutes.

We’re surprised at all the British names of towns, Richmond, Kew, Surrey Hills etc. We thought Aussies weren’t all that fond of the Brits! I guess the early Brits chose the names of the towns. We walked through Fitzroy Gardens, visiting Cook’s Cottage, the home of Captain James Cook’s parents that was transported brick by brick from Great Ayton in Yorkshire UK, very close to where we had stayed in Tholthorpe nr. York when we exchanged homes with the Berry family on five different occasions. We are both reading Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz, a NYT journalist who wrote about retracing Captain Cook’s three sea voyages. We bought a map showing his routes at the gift shop. We feel we are retracing his steps as he was in Hawai’i, NZ and Australia, and we’ve seen plaques, monuments etc. frequently on our journeys.
We saw the Fairy Tree, carved in the 1930s by the author of a famous Australian children’s book and a miniature Tudor village created from stone and sent from the UK to thank Melburnians for the food parcels sent to Lambeth in central London after the war. We enjoyed lunch in the Pavilion before moving to Neil Potton Art Gallery for a one hour tour on Aboriginal art.
Our very knowledgeable guide equipped with a highlighted map of Australia gave us an overview of the Aboriginal art in the collection. There has been public interest in the art only since the 1970s when collectors and galleries began acquiring it. The original art was painted in caves but members of the groups in the centre of the country near Alice Springs were encouraged to recreate their Dreaming compositions on bark. The Dreaming compositions depict the creation myths and stories of the Aboriginal people who unlike the Maoris, have inhabited this land for 30,000 to 40,000 years. We also saw paintings and figures woven from sage grass by women artists and contemporary paintings with very political themes by both sexes. The history of Aboriginals here parallels the sad history in North America. Currently the Aboriginal population is a little more than 1%. Some land is being returned, politicians are apologizing, but of course reparation will never restore what’s been lost. It’s the same story in Canada and all over the world.

We then moved to the ACMI and saw an amusing display of the claymation Australian film Mary and Max. The figures reminded us of Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit. This features the penpals, Mary from Australia and Max from NYC. We were intrigued and bought a copy of the DVD. While watching Dance Me to My Song, we noticed that many other people were watching Mary and Max on their screens. The film was very moving. It was written by the starring actor, Heather Rose, a young adult with CP who uses a speech generating device to communicate. The film was shown at an ISAAC convention, and I’m certain had a huge impact on the audience particularly individuals with disabilities. It is about the relationship between the young woman and her abusive care giver. I was reminded of a personal friend, who had faced similar challenges in her life. Those of you who know me can imagine my reaction when the care giver took away the communication device and said, “I just don’t want to listen to you today.” The film was harrowing, and we both felt we needed to walk around a bit without speaking when it was over, just to absorb all we had seen. I am very interested to know why this film has become so hard to obtain. One shop owner told us there was a copyright issue and that it was no longer available in the stores.

We hopped another tram to St. Kilda, a seaside town, and walked along the sea and on the main thoroughfares trying to make a choice from the many restaurants. Jack told us to find one that was busy because the food must be good there so that is what we did. We chose an Italian cafe Rococo, and it was excellent. We had salads with parma ham and calamari and two flat whites to end. We now apply “Jack’s Rule” when choosing a restaurant in an unfamiliar locale. It took us quite awhile to make our way back to Blackburn, two hours, so we retired early. Unfortunately Sue’s mother had fallen and sustained serious injuries so Sue was at the hospital and left very early next morning so we didn’t have a chance to say good bye. She left us a note with a gift of a DVD, Ten Canoes, by the same director of Dance Me to My Song. (Vivien and John, we have our first films for our intended movie discussion group, Ten Canoes and Mary and Max. We’ll get a new TV when we get home. We promise!)

Next morning Jack presented us with a beautiful gift of a photo album as a memento of our short stay and a beautiful bottle of wine that we enjoyed on our wedding anniversary on April 12. We were their first ATC guests and they certainly went above and beyond the call of duty. We hope they’ll read the blog and come visit us in Canada so that we can reciprocate!

Melbourne Day One

Melbourne Market

Victorian City Baths

Melbourne Arcade

We spent three nights in Blackburn, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, at the home of Jack and Sue, members of the Affordable Travel Club. We joined this club last year encouraged by friends who were members. They had travelled to NZ and Australia a few years ago and stayed almost exclusively with ATC members. ATC is based in the US and a modest membership fee gives one access to a listing of members who are willing to receive visitors. There is a nominal charge for breakfast, and memberships provides travellers opportunities to meet locals and to find out about not only the area but education, politics, culture etc. It is not obligatory to receive visitors when contacted but optional. In Toronto we hosted an American couple from Maine last summer, but this was our first visit as travellers. Upon arrival we enjoyed tea and scones while getting acquainted. Sue and Jack invited us to dine with them too, and we appreciated the invitation because this had been a travelling day, and we didn’t feel like searching for a restaurant. Sue, a retired teacher, had travelled extensively in Canada with her sister a few years back. She’d enjoyed her time there and expressed a wish to revisit the west coast. Jack is interested in the Maritimes, particularly Halifax. We hope when they visit, they’ll consider a stop in Toronto.
They were superb hosts taking us under their wing and providing invaluable information about their city of which they are justly proud. Melbourne has trams, the equivalent of Toronto’s streetcars and a very multicultural feel. The first night Jack drove us to the downtown area pointing out landmarks and highlights of the city. He lamented the fact that we had only two full days.
Our first day we took train into the centre of town and visited the central market with over 1000 stalls (!) selling clothing, electronics, produce, meat, fish and gourmet food items in their deli division. We took lots of photos of the Victorian era stalls. We visited the Victorian era City Baths, now a fitness centre and beautifully restored, Lygon St. with all its ethnic restaurants, the central shopping arcades that are exquisite Victorian structures similar to the Burlington Arcade in London, UK, but in my opinion more interesting. We ate lunch in the food hall of David Jones dept. store, and I enjoyed looking at all the foods, wines, cookbooks etc. We could see that Jack and Sue were correct, two days was a pittance.
I was trying to track down a DVD made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in one of their stores. The shop assistant very kindly reserved a copy at an eastern suburban store and Sue drove us there to pick it up the next day. The program was called Gourmet Farmer, and this is the one we found out about on Bruny Island. Apparently they cannot keep the DVD on the shelves it is so popular.
We decided to visit the Docklands area and hopped the Tourist Tram. This is a free tram for tourists that follows the rectangular city centre. One can hop on and off at any point. We mistakenly hopped off at the wrong place and ended up in a large shopping mall so we decided to enjoy a “cuppa” at a shop on the upper level. We were entertained by the “barista” who made our tea. We asked for directions to Docklands, and she happily obliged and told us (very unselfconsciously) that the best time to visit is “Tight-Ass Tuesdays”. I thought maybe there they had comedy routines on Tuesdays, but it turns out it’s one night of the week when some restaurants reduce their prices! She was very funny and asked all about Canada wanting to know if Victoria was close to Toronto. She has a friend in Victoria.
We hopped back on the Tourist Tram deciding that the huge Docklands area would have to be a destination on another visit. Before circling we’d visited Federation Square and seen the Neil Potton Arts Centre and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). I’d been able to track down Dance Me to My Song, an extraordinary Australian film, we’d been unable to find elsewhere. My friend and former colleague, Keila, urged us to see the film while in Australia, but we’d been unable to find it anyway. We booked to see the film in a personal viewing area the next day. I hope this is what our new Bell Lightbox Centre will be – an archive of all Canadian films that one can view without charge.
We returned home by 6:30 p.m. so that we could go out to a Thai restaurant, King and I, with Jack and Sue. We bought a bottle of wine in the shop next door as BYOB is common here and enjoyed an excellent meal and conversation. I’d chosen Jack and Sue from the ATC catalogue because they were retired educators and shared similar interests in books, theatre, food, wine and travel.

Bruny Island

Bruny Island Cheese Co.
On our last day in Tasmania we debated whether to hike on nearby Mount Wellington or to go further afield to Bruny Island. The weather decided for us as Mount Wellington was shrouded in cloud, and the sun was coming through the clouds in the direction of the island. We caught the ferry and headed for the area called the Neck, a small isthmus connecting the north and south ends of the island. We stopped at a wonderful tavern that offered tastes of all things smoked, smoked salmon, smoked trout, smoked cheese, smoked chutney etc. After a few tastes we headed for Bruny Island Cheese Co. that had a cafe, it was time for a.m. flat whites. This was a gourmet paradise! I wanted to buy one of everything they had on offer: honey, jams, mustard, dukkah (that nice spice/nut mixture to accompany bread dipped in olive oil), organic ice creams, bread baked in a wood oven and most importantly cheeses. We tasted each of the sheep and goat’s milk cheeses and opted for a take-out tray of cheese, bread, olives and preserved cherries to add to our picnic lunch along with bottles of locally produced apple juice and elderflower cordial. The cheese maker is Australian, but this food would please any Frenchman. In fact there was a crowd of French people in line in front of us. They are like bees to flowers, go to any gourmet food shop, and you will find yourselves in line behind them! I guess this helps you find the finest foods. We found a picnic site on our little map and walked about 20 metres to a breathtaking view of the Tasman Sea. We sat in a protected area with sea views and enjoyed the most unanticipated superb picnic. I must say that the food here in Australia is awfully good. They have the climate and conditions to produce wonderful fruits, vegetables, seafood and wines. Here in Tasmania the weather is cooler so they produce exquisite cheeses similar to those in New Zealand. After our picnic we climbed about 200 stairs to a lookout over the penguin nesting grounds with a 360 degree view over the Neck and what must be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Then we hiked for 1 ½ hours to Miles Beach at Moorina Bay, part of Queen Elizabeth Cape. After skirting a small airfield, we entered a eucalypt forest and coastal heath area until we reached the sea. About 2/3 of the way I froze in my tracks and stared at a large wallaby. He stared at us curiously for at least a minute and then turned and hopped out of sight. Later we surprised a pademelon as we re-entered the beach trail. I knew the wildlife in Australia would blow me away and it does. We also saw 4 black swans, various gulls and some birds feeding in a small lagoon that were too far away to identify. We had just enough time to return to Bruny Island Cheese Co. to sample their organic ice cream before heading off for the ferry. I had rhubarb with bay and Duncan had raspberry. We both agreed that THIS was the best ice cream we’d ever tasted. Sorry Ed! We returned back to Hobart for our final evening and dined at FISH 349, a lively spot near our favourite cinema, The State. We’ve been to three films while here, Five Minutes of Heaven (Irish), Welcome (French) and Mic Mac (French). This is a luxurious little cinema with a cafe in front. Our first night there were four in the audience for the Irish film. We sat on leather double seater sofas and could have had a glass of wine if we were so inclined. The next night there were four patrons again in a small upstairs viewing room with more traditional seating, and the third night there were about 20 viewers in another small room. In our opinion, this was a film lover’s mecca. They were also showing a film from French Canada in the afternoon that was at the Toronto Film Festival last fall. Hats off to the cinema owner!