The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb

I realize I am a day or three late, but here are the pictures.  I saw a lot of great sunsets in Australia, this one was one of the better ones.

On the way to the top.

 On the way to the top, acting silly.

Overlooking the Opera House.

At the top of the bridge.

And the photo to prove it.

And me realizing we are 434 feet above the water's surface.

Sunset.

The whole group.

More pictures of the sunset.

Coming back down, overlooking the city as night falls.

Wee!

 No idea what either of us are doing here.

Or here.

It was the perfect ending to a great day.

Day 21.75 - Stop Me Before I Blog Again

As Rene and I met on Sunday, here are a few random thoughts as I went to bed June 1, that started at 6:00 a.m. in Perth, West Australia and ended in Maui some 36 hours later...

After about 1,000 kilometers of driving, some part of it actually on course, I got the hang of driving on the "other" side of the road on the "other" side of the car, and having the turn signals and wind screen wipers reversed.  My anecdotal evidence?  I rent the Jeep and return to the terminal to pick up Rene.  A little jet lagged, a little on auto pilot.  And the first street I turn on?  I got on the left side of the road.  Really.  Then, to signal my turn back to the correct lane, I promptly turn on the wind shield wipers. 

A tourist.  In his own country.

A funny thing happened on the way to re-patriating myself Saturday night as I was watching TV in my room in Perth Saturday night.  I wanted to check a sport other than Footy or the soccer team going to the World Cup, so I caught up on the NHL Western Conference Finals and the NBA Eastern Conference Finals with a timely and well done report from...

Al Jazeera TV.

We'll know if the NSA is reviewing everything if they review this blog and I get stopped by the TSA every time instead of about every other time I go through security.

I miss being in Australia already and am already planning when I return and where I'll go.

Random pictures with random comments.  I promise to post the pictures from the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb by June 13.  And then will take my seat and shut up.

I wish I had taken this picture of the aurora australis.  Tasmania is one of the places I plan to see when I go back.  This is taken from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website, May 31, 2014, my last full day in Australia.  So, for some reason, I think it is appropriate to include this picture.  You figure out why.  Anyway, you can see the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud (lower in the sky, nearer to the red aurora) to the right of the satellite station and get an idea of how bright the bulge of the Milky Way appeared out in Apollo Bay, Yulura, and Yallingup.

Sunrise over the winery at Cape Lodge, Yallingup, Western Australia.

Warming my feet in the Indian Ocean at Moses Rock, Yallingup, WA.

Sign on Hay Street in Perth, WA.  Maybe I wasn't all that far from home.

At the Blue Mountains.

The fearless leader/follower at the base of Uluru.

A drying waterfall at Uluru.

Tastes like...koala poo smells.

One ticked off cocoworry.

Always asking for spare change at the airports.  In Melbourne, it is for guide dogs.  Close enough to service dogs.  They got all of our change.

Not my favorite bar in Melbourne, guess which one that one was, but my second favorite sign next to Hells Upstairs.

Cheers!

Day 21 - You Don't Have to Go Home...

But you can't stay here.  Last day.  I can tell because all of the vouchers in our travel  book are gone.

My day to time travel.  Left my hotel in West Perth, made the easy drive to the airport to drop off the rental car.  The only thing, at least that I think anyway, that tips anyone off that I am a tourist from the US is I keep trying to get in the passenger side of the car to drive.

On the way to Maui.  I know Rene is excited.  I can tell.  She got to the airport Saturday morning for a flight that leaves Sunday.  You can't say I overlook my wife's mood.  Going halfway around the world and then going partway back will make you wonder what day it is.

Now, it's my turn.  Left Perth at 10:10 a.m. June 1, will fly 14 hours and be at our destination in Maui at 11:45 a.m. June 1.

The last few pictures of our great Australian adventure.  Not the best ones.  Just ones on the last day.  I will try to put together some pictures, different pictures, of each day.   

Looking over the Southern Ocean, headed from Perth to Sydney, at Spencer Gulf, just west of Adelaide. 

Little cloudy in Adelaide today.

Looking back to Sydney's CBD one last time.  The sun broke one last time, but I couldn't get the picture.

Thanks for reading.  We had a great time.  Looking forward to seeing Maui, but I can't wait to come back to Australia.  We'll post the Harbour Bridge Walk and other pictures later.     

I will miss this country a lot.

Cheers for the last time from Australia!

Day 20 - So that's the end of the Freeway

It will be good to get back home, but it is really hard leaving this place.  Checked out of Cape Lodge, made a visit to buy some tasty nougat.  Used my trusty map to get there.  The woman running the shop was from New Zealand and had been in WA two years.  She said Margaret River was too far from home, so she and here partner were leaving next week for Europe.  When I gave her a rather quizzical look, she explained they were just traveling to Europe.

On the road.  I've got these roundabouts down.  No hesitation, no wrong turns.  And I saw where the Kwinana Freeway started from the drive from Margaret from the Forest Highway, which was most of what I drove Thursday.  Oh well.

Hey, I like INXS as much as anyone, but after I heard Bitter Tears for the fourth time in less than two years, it was time to surf.  Channel surf.  Found a community radio station in Harvey at 95.5.  Kind of reminded me of KDHX in St. Louis, except for the early days of rock.  Two blokes from the UK talking about and playing old time rock and roll.  I was looking for my phone when they couldn't recall the day the music died was when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper were lost in the plane crash.

Got to Perth and to the CBD.  No incident.  Interesting shopping area.

A lot going on on a Saturday afternoon.

The effective hourly rate is $90/hour, though it has gone up.

These are pictures of the Supreme Court and the park area around it.

The court house.

The oldest court house.  Built in the 1830's.

The trunk to...

this tree.

Looking back at some of the office towers in the CBD.

Looking down the walkway at the banks of the Swan River.  Peaceful walk.

The Swan Bells.

If you happen to be driving along the Swan on Riverside, and want to stop and take a walk, pull off at Governor's Street and you will see

No worries.

One last look at the Supreme Court Gardens.

The picture isn't very good, but these are all over Australia.

No, not Minprovise, the type of vehicle.  A tip of the cap to the old Ford Ranchero.  We need those to come back.

Back to the hotel and time to get ready to leave.

Cheers!

Day 19 - From Cape to Cape to Cape

With a lot of help from my Kia.

The first Cape is Cape Lodge.  Walked the property this morning.  Very pretty and well kept.  First class.  And the night sky last night was crystal clear, which is pretty amazing being 5 kilometers from the coast.  You can see the Crux, the Emu, and the disc of the Milky Way almost as well as you can from Yuluru.

They keep their own garden  and the chef picks fruits and veg from the garden for the meals.

Daybreak.

And they make their own honey.

For the Next Cape, Go South, Middle-Aged Man

I decided to start at Cape Leeuwin, the most southwestern part of Australia.  It is also the point where the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean meet.

The lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin.  They have scopes at the top of the walkway around the lighthouse.  There was an older man looking through the scope and was about to have a stroke because he thought he was a whale.  The woman working in the visitor center, a self-proclaimed expert who has a sister who has been living in Seatle by the way, scoffed and said he just saw the surf crashing far out at sea. While she was telling me why the himpback whales aren't here right now, she got out her atlas and had me point out where I live and where everyone in my family lives.

It's hard not to just sit and watch the two oceans clash.  Sometimes, the Southern Ocean is winning, then the Indian Ocean.  Here's the meeting point, sort of.

In the picture above, if you go in a straight line over that rock to the far left, you will come to the closest continent in from Australia from Cape Leeuwin, Antarctica.

Go in a straight line between the area where the wave is breaking and the rock you see in the middle of the picture and the continent you will hit is South America (Uruguay).

Straight out from here and you hit Africa.

Straight from here and you will end up in Asia (India).

That's Cumberland Rock in the Indian Ocean.  I think the name of it is Cumberland Rock.  Could be some other name with a c.  My notes are too scribbly.  Any way, if you go halfway around the world to the Northern Hemisphere, you end up in Washington, D.C.  I like it here for know, thank you.  People here act like adults.

I know know that I wasn't going to be able to walk the Cape to Cape Trail.  Turns out the trail is 135 kilometers.  But I was at the start from Cape Leeuwin at the Wagon Wheel.

And the start isn't easy.  Rocky and wet.  With a bunch of vegetation that they have signs up all over the place saying snakes are in there.  So, I maybe make it out a kilometer.  Besides, I have to go back and get my own car.

Didn't want to step on the blue bubble gum, even with shoes on.

On to Cape Naturaliste, the far north end.  The trails loop here and are well marked.

My car is up there somewhere.

Seriously, if you go of the trail here, you will be immediately corrected.

So easy,  I walked it backwards (of course).  Trust me, I kept seeing these posts with nothing on them.  I looked at the other side where it had the footprint that it was a trail.

No sign.

Sign, though very faint.

There are parts that sound as hollow as Uluru as you walk through the trails.

I took the loop that took me from the lighthouse, where I left my car, down the cliff to the beach in a cove at Bunker Bay.  Time for more pictures.

In the picture above, see that tree in the middle where the beach juts out in to the cove?

This one.

Throws pretty good shade.  A self-satisfied selfie.  The hike was a lot easier than it may have looked.

Sponge.

More pictures.  I could hear seals barking, but didn't spot them.  Quite the scout, I am.

On to Sugarloaf Rock for the sunset.

Sunset at Sugarloaf Rock.  My iPhone gave out on me.

Back to Cape Lodge for another outstanding dinner.

Cheers from the other side of the world.