What do you mean you are at the airport!!!

Hi Everyone!







Sorry for the delay between blogs... we have been having a bit of an issue finding reliable email access. So I am afraid this blog will be a bit long again... sorry :(







Sydney (thought I would use some color)







We did a stop here because Bob's friend Tom decided to tag along on our trip up the eastern coast line . We had expected him to come into Sydney on the 22nd of June. We got into Sydney on the 20th. We figured that we would spend the day tooling around on the 21st and then go pick up our rental car on the 22nd at 7:30am and then go pick up Tom at the airport. Sounds like a good plan, right? Yah no...received a phone call from Tom bright and early on the 21st at 7:30am. I awoke mind you to the cellphone scaring the crap out of me and for whatever reason the alarm clock that was provided by the hostel didn't like the fact that the cellphone was going off and decided to alarm at full blast. We had screwed up the date in which Tom was suppose to come in and we got the great task of flying out of bed and running to the car rental place and then to pick up Tom... Tom had to spend 2 extra hours at the airport....OOPS!






Anyway, after that fiasco we decided to still continue on with our plan and hit the town. Spent the day touring around doing the bridge climb, looking at the opera house and we met one of Bob's friend, Shannon for dinner there. Very nice day and then out bright and early up the coastline.






Coffs Harbour






We did a layover stop here on the way up to Brisbane. We got up bright and early to try and drive to Gold Coast. We on the way we discovered the BIG banana. This I have to digress on just a bit. This country prides itself on creating large creations of animals or things and then they put a gift shop and a restaurant in and then they let the money roll in. We have also seen big prawn, a big mango, a big marlin,a big Capt. Cook, a big wool merino,and a big bull (this interestingly enough comes complete with all of his anatomy there was an issue of him being castrated by the locals that they had to have his boy bull parts disintegrate upon removal, ouch!). The list doesn't end there. There is an entire map devoted to BIG items.. gotta love this country.





Caloundra.


Next stop on the Rt one road trip.(Rt one goes the entire length of the eastern seaboard of Australia.. makes getting around without a map easy). This part of the trip was suppose to only take 4hrs to get there. For whatever reason it took 6hrs. We wanted to go to a koala sanctuary. This place allows you to hold and pet a koala and feed a kangaroo. We unfortunately got there at 4 and it closed at 5pm. So we did the hour a bridged version of the park. Gotta say it was worth it. Those koala's you just want to stick one in your pocket. The kangaroo's were in an open paddock you were able to get right in there with them and feed them like a sheep.








Australia Zoo


Drove the next day from Caloundra to Beerwah to the Australia Zoo...Steve Irwin's zoo. This zoo was started in 1970 by Robert Irwin, his father. The Irwin family are all conservationists and Steven spent his life with his dad capturing crocodiles and he took over the business when his dad retired. There was a sad memorial to him in the park. All kinds of letter and pictures from all over the world mourning his death, really amazing.





We got a great day there. It was the warmest day since we have been here. It was fun poking around the zoo with more koala's, kangaroos, wombats (Bob's favorite), and all the other native animals from Australia. The interesting part about this is that a lot of animals were brought here from England. The dingo, for example, was brought here for hunting. A settler decided it would be a good idea to bring over 24 rabbits to let loose and hunt. Not thinking about the consequences of such a thing, the rabbits mated like crazy and they are a huge nuisance to the plants and animals and are hurting the ecosystem. Brilliant huh! There are countless other things that were brought into this country that has turned very bad. They imported camels from Saudi Arabia to help build the railway. When they were done they had no more use for them so they just let them go. So, now one humped camels still roam Western Australia free and wild. The REALLY funny part about that now is that if Saudi Arabia wants camels now they have to get them from Australia, funny huh.





Rockhampton


Packed up the next day and headed to Rockhampton. My friend Angela lives there and was gracious enough to take us out for the night and let us spend the night there. Thanks Ang!!





Witsunday Island





We had at this point spent a ton of time in the car. We decided we needed a break and thought a day playing in the islands was just the way to do it. The Witsunday's are a bunch of islands about 800km south of Cairns. This is the beginning of the Great Barrier Reef. A beautiful area much like the cape at home. Took a ferry around the island and relaxed. Felt really nice!





Cairns


The last leg of our trip with Tom. We are here now. The place is very touristy. Lots of tour buses, of all different ethnicities all trying to capture the pictures of the different tourist attractions. I think on this trip we have learn to appreciate the non- touristy things more. They are harder to find and usually worth the trip. Don't get me wrong the Great Barrier Reef is amazing and scuba diving there is something that you cannot measure anything against, but there are times on our trip that we have pulled over to check something out and it has been such a joy to find it hidden in amongst some trees. The nice part I think that it is untouched and there are no crazy tourists trying to jockey for a position. It makes me wish, we had more time to find those spots. Our trip has thus far been a very fast pace. We are not in a place for more then a 2-3days, which makes finding the unfindable a little bit harder. I guess, if it was easy then it might lose its mystery to finding it in the first place.



-Gina





Uluru/Ayers Rock





And a quick update from Bob. Today is the fourth of July and our last day in Australia. We are currently at Uluru, otherwise known as Ayers Rock. We can't post pictures from here, but here is a photo of it. I am sure you will recognize it straight away.
http://www.zetleins.onau.net/photos/uluru.JPG

Uluru itself is just as amazing as you might imagine from the photos. It took us three hours just to walk around it, and it's about 350 meters high. The sunsets are absolutely stunning, with the rock changing color by the minute, finally erupting into a blazing red just at sunset before dimming completely when the sun goes away. It has been worth it to come here, despite the annoyances that we have encountered.

First off, understand that the Australian outback is a pretty fantastically remote place. The main train line through the middle, from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north, was started in 1877 and the first train finally rumbled down the finished track in -- ready for this? -- February 2004. Uluru is right smack in the middle of this place.

Once this place became an international symbol of Australia and started attracting visitors in numbers, one company decided to cash in. So they built a purpose-built town just outside the national park, with three or four hotels. As you might imagine, the whole thing is built to twist the knife into tourists' wallets as best they can. There is no competition here, just this resort. For example, a ride to the Rock and back costs $35 (it's a fifteen minute drive).

So we are staying in this resort and trying to do it on a budget. Dorm beds go for $110 in this place, but we booked early and got them for $41. There's a self-catering kitchen.. but it has one frying pan, no spatulas, no plates, no cups, and no silverware other than butter knives. There is a 1% surcharge on all credit card charges at the resort. Needless to say we are a bit put out that it's so expensive to be here and they can't even charge my credit card without a fee, or provide me a fork. So the lesson of Uluru is, if you have the opportunity to gain monopoly, take it.


Bottom line - Uluru is amazing, but seeing it is a tourist trap of epic proportions. The thing is though, it's totally worth it.

Internet cafe time is fading fast (internet: $.20 a minute here) so I'm going to sign off. Tomorrow, off to Bangkok and then to Angkor in Cambodia.