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08/27 - On To Australia - First Stop - Vancouver BC

We like to fly to Australia via Vancouver. The alternative is via Los Angeles, but that means flying down to LA and dealing with LAX in both directions. YVR in Vancouver is a much smaller, calmer airport, and, for us, it's easy to get to Vancouver.

We always spend an extra night so we get to eat dinner at Le Crocodile which was in top form as usual and to walk the loop along the shore in Stanley Park. One isn't really in Vancouver until one sees the bright yellow mound of sulfur across the water. It's one of the city landmarks. The featured bird on this walk was the heron. There were lots of them perched on rocks and enjoying the waterfront much as we were.


Flying in to Vancouver BC

We had no idea.

Nothing says welcome to Vancouver like its huge mound of sulfur.

One of many great blue herons

The Lion's Gate Bridge








Return to civilization

Keywords: australia, flying, vancouver

Keywords: australia, flying, vancouver

08/26 - Flying in to Sydney

It's a fifteen hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney. Australia is pretty far away. Mostly, we slept. The scenery over the Pacific is pretty dull especially at night. Dawn, however, was something else, and we did get a nice view of the city on our approach the airport. Excuse the poor image quality. Airplane windows are not as transparent as one might like.

Dawn light

Daylight

Sydney with the harbor bridge top right

Keywords: australia, flying, vancouver

Keywords: australia, flying, vancouver

08/25 - Sydney Taronga Zoo

One of the first things we do when we get to Australia these days is go to the Taronga Zoo. Our flight arrives early in the morning, so we have the whole day. We took a ferry from Circular Quay to the zoo and wandered about. It's a great way to get ready for spotting wildlife.

Downtown Sydney

The iconic Opera House

Platypus

View from the zoo

It rained a lot in Sydney.

Echidna

Some little guy











Someone in a log

This is an iPhone night vision picture.


Creepy creatures

Another platypus

Underwater

Keywords: australia

08/24 - Welcome to Sydney

Sydney is having a rainy winter, the rainiest since some time in the 1850s, so rain is going to show up a fair bit in this account of our journey. We were prepared for rain with rain coats and rain pants, but we had to scramble and buy a pair of rain hats because we had forgotten to pack ours. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, we're no strangers to rain. Rain gear is a local industry, so we weren't the only ones wearing familiar brand name garb.

We had a lovely dinner with barramundi, local oysters and bay bugs among other things. There was a woman eating a plate of spaghetti at the next table. She seemed more interested in recording things with her phone than her food. That was her loss and this gull's gain.

Enjoying the left overs

The harbor bridge in the rain

The Opera House and the Bounty replica, also in the rain

Keywords: australia

08/23 - A Rest Day in Sydney

The rain held off for much of the day, so we explored Sydney a little. Jet lag may have caught us, so we didn't really explore very much.

A view of our hotel

A local

The harbor

A store window

Evening

Keywords: australia

08/22 - Sick in Perth

We made it to Perth. That jet lag, that was an incipient cold, and it was a lulu. It was our first cold since the arrival of COVID-19 when we started wearing masks in public. We slept over 20 hours a day, felt awful, barely ate and generally crumped for days.

Keywords: australia

08/21 - Recovering in Perth

Things could have been worse. Our original plan was to head north to Ningaloo Reef and stay at an eco-resort where we would live in a tent with a limited water supply and perhaps a USB charging socket or two. We had to cancel that. Instead, we stayed at COMO The Treasury, a luxury hotel conveniently located in the heart of Perth.

By the third day, we were starting to feel slightly better. We made our way up to the medical center at the Perth train station. It was only two or three blocks from the hotel, but we were in no shape to walk there. We did manage a short walk around Stirling Gardens across from our hotel. We didn't go far, but it was a sign of recovery.


Around the Perth train station

A tree in Stirling Gardens

More greenery

We're not sure about this guy. Is he a sec-bot?

A path in Stirling Gardens

Keywords: australia

08/20 - Perth Kings Park

The next day, we were much better. We took a short walk through Kings Park and the botanical gardens. It focuses on Western Australian plants and attracts a variety of Western Australian birds. We made a big loop and took the skywalk. Last time, we were a bit too nervous to take the skywalk, but we are planning to take the skywalk through the tingle tree forest and decided that this would be good practice. We still need to get our strength up, but we're ready for the tingle trees now.

A beautiful day, a beautiful setting



A view of Perth











Keywords: australia

08/19 - Perth Along the Swan

Our recovery continues. We took a longer walk along the Swan River in Perth from the Barrack Street Jetty heading east. It was an easy walk along the river trail. We made it to the new bridges and crossed both of them. We had passed the bridges on our way from the airport to our hotel, so we made them our goal.

We saw some uncooperative black swans on our route. They were asleep on the water, so the photo doesn't do them justice. There were a few other birds and flowers and lots of other people out enjoying the path. The day was sunny, and the river was calm, so it was a good day for a recovery walk.

We were too tired to walk back, so we made our way onto the street grid. It turns out there was a bus station right there, so we boarded the bus heading our way. Buses are free within the central district, but we were a bit out of range. We had to pay. In the old days, one would reach for one's wallet and in the really old days for one's change purse. (Look it up.) Being au courant, we readied our phone, but the driver explained that we had to download the right app. We must have looked panicky, so he waived the fare. He had a bus to drive and likely didn't want to play tech support, and who can blame him. So, thanks to the Perth transit system and our wonderful driver.


Perth downtown

All sorts of things going on in town

Interesting shop windows

Perth is on a resource roll, so there are a lot of new and renovated buildings for lease.

Another interesting shop window - These kinds of stores have been squeezed out in the US.

The spire


The Barrack Street jetty

It looks like a resort town, but some of those are mining company offices.


Uncooperative swans




It's hard to get a good picture of these bridges.


Keywords: australia

08/18 - Tingle Trees and Skywalk

We made it to Denmark. On our first day, we headed over to the Giant Tingle Tree Walk, a skywalk in Walpole-Nornalup National Park. The trees were impressive with broad bases rapidly tapering and then long trunks reaching for the sky. It's hard to photograph trees like this. Perspective effects make it hard to get a sense of scale.

We made our way up the skywalk, a wobbly steel ramp that led up to the canopy. It moved a bit as we walked but felt pretty sturdy. We were soon among the twisty, leafy branches of the tingles and karris. We could look down at the forest floor. We made our way along the skywalk from platform to platform pausing to admire the views. It was a very different forest from the redwoods, much more exotic for us.

After descending, we took the Valley of the Giants loop to see more. Here we could see the broad buttresses the trees formed to support their height. Then, it started to rain a bit, but we weren't going to let a bit of rain stop us.


The skywalk

Amongst the tree tops











Broad buttresses support the tall trees.





Raindrops





Keywords: australia

08/17 - Elephant Rocks and Green Pool

The next day we drove to the William Bay National Park not far from our hotel. We walked down to the water to see the Elephant Rocks, dramatic rock formations erupting from the sand. We took a staircase down to a small beach where the tides flowed through the rocks. Then we head a bit west to see Greens Pool, a relatively protected inlet of calm water along the Southern Ocean. There were people swimming there even now in the middle of the winter.

Coastal country

Local fauna



Elephant Rocks

Australian wisteria




The ocean at play











Green's Pool


Keywords: australia

08/16 - Waterfall Beach

A short way west is Waterfall Beach. We walked down to the waterfall. We got our feet wet, caught by the waves.

Windmills in Denmark










A cuttlefish bone

Keywords: Australia

08/15 - Exploring the Trail East

We had noticed a trail from the parking lot heading east. We decided to explore it. Early on, it crossed the creek flowing south to the waterfall and kept on going. We followed it for a ways, but we were still recovering from our colds. We made it through the thicket then climbed up for a view. Then we turned around and planned to return the next day.

The trail east



Land anemones?



The thicket










One of the views of the water


Rock formations

Keywords: australia

08/14 - Denmark Rainbow and Mystery

With all the rain, we were not at all surprised to see a rainbow. In Australia, they do rainbows to the south, so that was novel. We also saw a sign warning us of some curious Australian hump like animal, but we didn't get to see one.


Perhaps related to the echidna

Keywords: australia

08/13 - Waterfall Beach Towards Lights Beach - Part 1

We drove back to Waterfall Beach and took the trail we had explored the previous day a fair bit farther. We crossed the waterfall creek, past the view of the beach and then down through the thicket. The trail was the Munda Biddi bicycle trail, so it was broader than the nearby Bibbulmun Track that runs more or less parallel.

We hiked up hill and down hill with great views inland. The fog or perhaps mist gave distant vistas an air of mystery. The trail ran east towards Lights Beach, and we made it perhaps 3/4 of the way there. It was wild coastal country with gnarly trees, a variety of bushes and a surprising number of flowers in bloom.


A beach view early on our walk

The trail

Mysteries

Tracks



A mound of rocks in the mist

Gnarly trees















Keywords: australia

08/12 - Waterfall Beach Towards Lights Beach - Part 2

There was a bit of light rain, but the worst of the rain held. There's not a lot to add to the narrative here. We walked on and on heading east, and there always seemed to be something new ahead to see.


A garland


There look like geraniums with their crinkled leaves.









We may have discovered wild Australian chervil.


An anthill entrance








Keywords: australia

08/11 - Flying From Albany to Busselton

We weren't sure we were up to the drive from Albany to Busselton. It was a four and a half hour drive, and it looked like the first two or so hours were through wild country. It wasn't the desert outback. The drive was largely through forest, but there didn't seem to be a lot of gas stations or much of anything. We suspected that cell phone service was sparse.

Instead, we chartered a small plane and flew. It was very comfortable, and we slept part of the way. There were sleep inducing clouds and calming scenery.

When we arrived in Busselton, it was to discover the rental car counters deserted. It was luck that we could push the automatic door open and make our way to the facilities. The desks were only manned when scheduled flights arrived or departed, and we had arrived at an awkward hour.

The car rental people, when they arrived after a modest wait, handled us efficiently. We left Busselton and made our way to to Yallingup.










Keywords: australia

08/10 - Plantagenet at Lamont's

We had dinner at Lamont's over at Smiths Beach Resort. We had dined there on our last trip to the area and finished two bottles of their Plantagenet cabernet sauvignon from the late 1990s. The winery had closed some years back and Lamont's had bought up their closing stock. When we made our reservation, we mentioned Plantagenet largely in jest. Surely, we had knocked off the last bottle, and if we hadn't surely someone else had done so. We were wrong. There was a bottle of 1997 waiting for us. The food was, as usual, excellent and the wine a real treat.

Keywords: australia

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