I’ve done a slide show of quite a few pics from New Zealand.  I quickly realized that there were too many so will give you all a break and do the same for Australia and Abu Dhabi in the next few days.  I’m also going to check with the hosting company to learn how I can save all of this in a specific place if you ever want to come back for a refresher.  Thank you all for putting up with my beginning skills in this area and hope you have enjoyed.

 

Link is here.

 

 

Well, the business is over and was successful so this afternoon Wayne and I went for a little sightseeing in Abu Dhabi.  We took a shuttle into the city center from our hotel on Yas Island.  We were dropped off on the Corniche which is a man made water feature that runs through the city. 

It is an incredibly beautiful structure with tile work that goes on forever.  We hopped into a taxi and went to the new cultural center being constructed on Saadiyat Island.  The Abu Dhabi Louvre is scheduled for opening in 2015 and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi designed by Frank Gerhy is scheduled to open in 2017.  This is definitely a land of no small plans.  Here is the model for the Guggenheim.

 

In fact, there is no stopping of building in the entire area.

No wonder Christchurch New Zealand cannot get any cranes for rebuilding because the skyline of Abu Dhabi is filled with them.

We took a brief break at the Emirates Palace Hotel.  Needless to say, at a construction cost of $6B US it is way over the top.  Cars pull up to the entrance on marble inlaid drives.

If that were not enough excess we went to the Grand Mosque.  The carpet in the main section weighs 35 tons.  The capacity is 40,000 and it is clad in a special marble.  The 96 interior columns in the main section are inlaid with mother of pearl.  Stunning.

We have been away for over 30 days at this point and are actually looking forward to climbing aboard Etihad flight 151 tomorrow morning.  Our pick up is at 6:45 AM but when I checked flightaware I found that it is habitually is late so we could be facing a five or six hour wait at the airport.  I’ll do a summary post when we are home and have everything settled but for now, thank you for taking the journey with us.  Farewell for now.

 

 

Sorry this is out of order but I’m carefully watching computer memory to prevent another meltdown.  Our last day in Sydney we took a cruise that allowed us to view this incredible city from the vantage points of the first settlers who realized what a unique harbor had been created by nature.

Seeing the incredible homes with these views from the water made us understand why this is such a special place.  This is actually Russell Crowe’s Penthouse on one of the harbor inlets.

But better than looking at real estate was sharing lunch with such nice women as Marie and Patricia, two Aussie sisters of Irish descent who take three days together every year to have an adventure.  They were full of stories of their lives in Australia and the sports teams that both support.

Our trusty pilot Ben clearly loved being on the boat and served a mean platter of fruit and cheese.

The next morning we had to say farewell but the sun came out and glinted off the opera house to let us see every unique detail of this magnificent building.

 

Lee, who was one of the workers picking up the granite tiles to restore the waterproofing after over 50 years clearly loved and respected the structure.

Our flight to Abu Dhabi was over 14 hours a third of which was over the continent of Australia.

We arrived and got to our hotel exhausted.  But still had a wonderful breakfast environment right by the pool.  Abu Dhabi is hot, hot, hot!  We are staying on a man-made structure called Yas Island.  It is home to the Formula One racing course.  It is so big that this morning at 10:30 I walked from gate two to sixteen and covered two miles.  I felt the first effects of heat stroke and went to the nearest water sign.  Can you figure out how to work this?

The red roof has a giant Ferrari symbol on top that in scale is massive.  Everything here is massive, just think of Dallas on steroids.

I’m working this afternoon and Wayne took a shuttle bus downtown to get a better flavor for the city.  This will probably be the last post for a couple of days since I will be working until Monday when we return to Chicago.  I’m planning on doing a summary post since there have been so many compliments on the photos.  See you all soon!

Since my computer is basically two Dixie cups and a string at this point I will have to keep my posts to a minimum at least until I’m finished with work in Abu Dhabi.  But here are a few sites from our stay in Sydney.

After seeing these iconic images over and over to experience them face to face is an experience difficult to absorb.  The opera house and the bridge are both beautiful and each have their own story to tell about the barriers to their creation.

At the opening of the harbor to the Pacific is the “Gap” cliff walk.  Unfortunately it has become a place well known for suicide and they have taken numerous measure to prevent as many occurrences as possible.

We are checking out of the hotel this morning and boarding our flight to Abu Dhabi.  We have have fallen in love with yet another city down under.

 

 

 

So here we are in Sydney with a singular photo to prove it.  Unfortunately something has got my computer in meltdown mode and after two trips to the Apple store I’ve managed to get it working again but with only three gigs of hard drive to spare so I will have to be a bit more judicious in what pics I take and post.  I decided to spend the time enjoying Sydney and living with the small hard drive space rather than running from Apple store to Apple store.

Yesterday we climbed the harbor bridge and it can truthfully be said it was the thrill of a lifetime.  Here is a short video.  The sound is not good with much wind but Wayne is talking about the cruise ship that was leaving the harbor and everyone on deck was waving to us while we were on top of the bridge.

We also took the cliff walk at the opening of the harbor to the Pacific.  Stunning.  More to come.  Tomorrow we are off to Abu Dhabi until the 14th and then home after a month of travel.

 

We knew we would love this place but didn’t realize how much.  I want to live here.  Waking up in a tree house in the rainforest is something I never thought I would do.  But here we were and decided to spend a day with our feet planted on one piece of property.

Again, the flora and fauna is remarkable.  I ran into the gardener who came over from France to become acquainted with  rainforest plants and he confirmed that it is just a matter of letting things do what they do.  These sprigs on our porch have grown about a foot since we first arrived.

The swimming pools look as though they were carved out of the rocks.

And if that were not enough the place is filled with wonderful staff who make sure you feel comfortable and have everything you need.  Here is Sharada who first greeted us on arrival and has been a warm smile during our entire stay.

If that wasn’t enough, the property borders a river and has it’s own “billibong”, which is Aussie for swimming hole.

Here you can see the height of the tree houses.

I was able to meet Serena, who is the local florist responsible for incredible floral arrangements throughout the property.

She had a full 30 gallon garbage can of flowers from her garden that she was arranging.

Our day ended at dinner, and we so loved the food that we told the chef to just cook what he wanted us to eat.  Would it be possible for anything to taste bad in this setting?

We sated ourselves with smoked salmon with mango and pesto, filet of beef with Shiraz glace and potato cake, and finished off with a mango souffle and an Avvocato with coffee and Frangelico.

Tomorrow we are told we have to leave here although Wayne has threatened lies, torture and any number of things to stay in this state of perfection.

Next time we’ll say hi from Sydney.

 

 

Evidently Australian turkey guard the doors at the Silky Oak Lodge because this one was insisting that I give him food before letting me pass to breakfast.

This bird was the only thing standing between me and this cappuccino.  Guess who won.

Who knew that we would be seeing two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in our visit to Australia.  Today we went deep into the Daintree Rain Forest.  Not only a heritage site but at over 100 million years in age, the oldest rain forest in the world.  We got picked up in a four wheel drive vehicle that looked a bit over the top to thrill the tourist.  Little did I know how much we would need it to climb mountains and go through streams to reach the heart of the rainforest.

Our first stop was a river cruise on the Daintree River.  We were up close and a little too “personal” to snakes and crocodiles.  Don’t take offense but they are really lazy creatures who eat their young, live solitary lives, and just hang around the shore line until dinner presents itself.

Then we were off to take a hike into the forest itself.  It is very hard to describe with pictures the feeling of being completely surrounded by the flora and fauna of a rainforest and to see the natural cycle of the forest before your eyes.  I’ll let some pictures talk here.

 

Oh, and lizards

And spiders the size of your hand.

And Peppermint Stick Insects.

We ended the day with a dip in a fresh water creek, with water so clear and pure that your skin was rejuvenated when you came out.  And guess what happened, it rained in the rain forest.  So there we were standing in the water with the warm rain washing over us.  I only have a picture of the swimming hole because you can’t take an iPhone into the water without some protection.

The most memorable part of the day was our lunch at a cafe/animal rescue facility, Lync Haven.  There website does not do justice to their work.  Our guide filled a bucket with apples and other fruit and we hand fed them to the rescued kangaroos.  Max, who likes to hold the bucket in his arms had a hand injured and could not survive in the wild.  Jack who had the equivalent affection of a dog like to be scratched behind his ears and on his chest.  His mother was killed by a car and he had to be hand fed to survive.  Jack loved our guide and actually hugged him around the legs until he gave him the scratches he so desired.  These “roos also recognized a Swedish couple upon their return after twenty years.  Don’t tell me animals are without emotion.  I was so overwhelmed that the pictures I took don’t reflect the moment they way I would like, but here they are.

Tomorrow we are just staying at the Silky Oak Lodge all day, absorbing the beauty and maybe taking a dip in the river swimming hole.  On Sunday we travel to Sydney so I am offline until then.

Again, thanks for all your comments.

 

 

We landed in Cairns last night just as dusk approached.  Thank Mother God that we had a driver because we would never have found our way to our hotel 90 minutes from the airport.  We are literally at the end of the road on a mountain rainforest.  We started our trip at the mega-airport at Ayers Rock.  The choice was between gate one or two.  We actually like this kind of traveling. Even the clouds in Australia are those of an open sky.

 

By the time we landed and our driver drove us the 90 minute trip to our resort it was pitch black.   We saw so many stars along the drive but I don’t have photos that would do them justice.  So we arrive and get into our room and look into a darkened rainforest.  We settled into our rooms and had a cocktail on the balcony of our tree house.

Time for bed!

At the crack of dawn we were met by Andy who took us to our boat for the sail to the Great Barrier Reef.  What can one say about this?  It is an experience of a lifetime.  There was a trusty Jack Russell terrier who monitored everything that happened at the port before our launch.  It was clear this was his territory and he was going to make sure everyone got on the right boat.

Our trusty skipper, Graham, has been with the boat for nineteen years.  And our snorkeling coach, Scott,  actually is doing this as part of the social endeavor of this enterprise to help at-risk adolescents.

Soon it was time to get into the water and experience the reef as a guest to this great ecological treasure.

   

On our way back to shore we chatted with the crew and guests and took in the glorious sky while getting a good share of sea spray.

Once back at our hotel we marveled at the flora and fauna we missed last night.

We made our way to to our tree house, “Bandiccot“, which is a mole type animal.  I guess that means we will have to sleep until spring.

We then enjoyed dinner in one of the most amazing places of our lives, hearing the river, watching the birds, and eating beets and kangaroo.

 Talk to you again soon.

 

 

 

Just figured out the only way to share this was to upload to YouTube so here is the link.  The clarity is much better if you do not go into full screen mode.  Remember, I was taking these shots without a tripod while tramping through the brush so I apologize that they aren’t the best in the world but should give a taste of what we saw.

 

So, how does one get up close and personal with such a large monolith as Uluru?  Stick with your intrepid guide, Rebecca!  She was with us this morning and came back for another dose of mostly the same crew in the afternoon.

She has an extremely respectful approach to her work and the environment in which she lives.  She taught us much about the sacred sites and was always mindful to stress the importance of this unique place to those who originally occupied it.  There is a climbing trail for those who want to climb the rock although the Aboriginals never climb the rock as it is sacred to their culture.  As a condition of the “handback” in 1985 the climbing path will be closed in 2020.  You can see the trail that has been worn in the rock by climbers.  Rebecca, out of respect for the land, has never climbed the rock.

Seen from a distance, Uluru has the face of an imposing monolith but once you approach you find out it is filled with nooks and crannies.  It is impossible to understand the scale of this “ROCK”.  And it is a solid piece of rock.

Here are some of the sights we saw this afternoon.

There is water at the rock.  When it rains it rolls down the side in a water falls and the algae that grows turns black.  You can see the water paths in the picture above and here is a water hole, one of the most valuable sites at Uluru.  Water attracted animals so not only did it provide hydration for the Aboriginals it made for a more fertile hunting ground.

And here is the reflection of the rock in the water hole.  As you can see, it was a very peaceful and contemplative place.

We then viewed some rock paintings that still exist after thousands of years.

After a day of hiking and much drinking of water, there was only one thing left to do – toast our incredible guide and another sunset.

Oh, an by the way, something just crawled across the floor of our room.  We think it was a lizard but are not sure.  One thing is a fact, there are some very different bugs here than in Chicago.

 

 

After a short plane trip yesterday flying over the vast wilderness of Australia we arrived at the Ayers Rock airport which has only one runway and no real taxiways.  Therefore the plane lands and turns round on the runway and goes to the terminal.

You can see that there are no roads here, only open space.  Where New Zealand had varied and richly different topography within the space of a few miles, here it is the vast open areas that are overwhelming.

I did catch one pic of our plane from the terminal.  Sorry for the focus but they are very snarky about taking pictures on active airfields so I had to sneak this pic.

Don’t say we weren’t warned!

 

Uluru which is what most people know as Ayers Rock is a sacred Aboriginal location.  Taken over by European and English settlers and turned into a tourist attraction is was only handed back to the Pitjantjatjara Aborigines in 1985.  It is one of only 29 UNESCO world heritage sites that have “dual” or “mixed” designations.  Uluru was listed for cultural and geological purposes.  Take a look at the link above for a full explanation of the unique geological aspects which created this place over millions of years.

The resorts here are all owned and run by the national park which helps keep them organized and reduces the impact on the environment.  The silence of the place creates peace and tranquility.  Here is a pic of the balcony off our room.

Last night we were scheduled to have a a dinner while watching the sunset over Uluru.  There was a rare thunderstorm which forced cancellation of the dinner but that was fine with us.  We got to see this incredible place with an unbelievable weather system passing through that created rare light and shadows.

A dingo wandered into our gathering, not sure if he was there for the food, wine, or us.

We were seated at tables in the open air but had to hurry and leave when the lighting and thunder started.

Who needs dinner when they can see this?

Not settling for a sunset, we rose about 4:45 AM this morning to see the sun rise.  We were again blown away even in our sleep deprived state.  The same weather system made the experience more stunning.  For those of you trying to figure out how we could see the sun rise and set over the same place, we were on the other side of Uluru for the sunrise.

After watching the sun come up we shared a breakfast and here is where the flies come in.  They are very intense, everyone has to wear a net and they still bother the heck out of you.

But you can’t beat the view

After breakfast we headed to the “Four Domes”.  Similar to the “big rock”, these were formed over millions of years.  It is impossible to understand the daunting scale of these incredible formations.  So I’ll be quiet now and let you enjoy the view.

The “pock marks” in the face of the stone are formed when boulders literally fall out of the face.  Geologists predict the next will fall in about 1,000 years.  Well after we are gone.

 Tonight we are off to another sunset dinner, maybe this time we’ll get to finish the dessert!  Please keep the comments coming and feel free to share.  We appreciate all the feedback and it seems that folks are liking the daily diversion.  Oh, and for you Chicagoan’s, it’s about 85 degrees today.  But it’s a dry heat!