G' bye Australia

After chillin’ in Fremantle we moved down to Margaret River, Western Australia’s prime wine growing region. Margaret River would be a great place to spend a long weekend for the wine-loving foodie. We were there on a long weekend (ANZAC day) and there were plenty of people who had the same idea. The region is made for the hippy type with organic food in all of the shops and lots of green initiatives (felt a bit like Boulder, CO or Ashville, NC). While Margaret River is close to the ocean, it felt more like a mountain town than a beach town. Maybe this is because the surfing down there is not for the neophyte. We got the sense that people who surf in the Margaret River area are pretty hard core –the coastline is rugged and the waves are big!

We would love to regale you with stories of a fabulous day out visiting dozens of wineries and enjoying expensive foods, but honestly, we were pretty tired, so we took it easy these last couple days. We napped in the afternoon, did a little bit of wine tasting and site-seeing along the coast, and then watched some Aussie Rules football at a local tavern.

We are back in Perth now and the Western Australia leg of our travels has come to a close. Tony will be boarding a big Cathay Pacific plane tomorrow for the 25-hour journey to New York City to give a talk for work. Erika will be in Perth for a couple more days before travelling to Hong Kong via Singapore. We will meet again in Hong Kong in early May before moving on to the Philippines. Until then there likely will be no updates but we will be back with stories from Asia.

Some thoughts before leaving Oz…
1. Campervans can be tons of fun, but they are work. They take time to set up, take down, and you have to do things like dishes, laundry, cleaning –all in a very small space. Be prepared for a working holiday.
2. The Western Australia wave is an enjoyable part of driving out here. There are so few cars in WA, especially north of Carnarvon, that as you pass other cars you wave hello. Generally it is in the form of lifting a couple of fingers off the steering wheel as an acknowledgement. Almost all the truck-drivers wave, so do locals. Waves can be expected from locals, especially people driving large 4WD SUVs pulling trailers or boats. Women never wave, though.
3. White line fever/hypnosis happens while driving out here as well. No billboards, no other cars, no turns in the road for 30 min or more. It is hard to stay focused sometimes –especially when your passenger is napping next to you. Driving out here is easy, but difficult at the same time. The other thing that makes it difficult is that you always have to be extremely vigilant for large hopping animals crossing the road…
4. We have really grown to love Australia. It has been a wonderful home. It is a great country and we have loved living here. There is so much here to experience and enjoy – the scenery is often breathtaking; there are so many cool and interesting animals; it offers a great lifestyle; we have made some fabulous friends; the culture is generally warm and inviting; the food is good; and the coffee is fantastic. We’ve asked ourselves many times why we are leaving.

But, alas we say goodbye to Australia as our home … until we’re back to visit as true tourists in June. More stories from Asia in about a week.

Fremantle is a cool little town, way better than expected!

For pictures follow the below link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/FremantleAndRottnestIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_jwaeEuq7z6wE&feat=directlink

We spent the last two nights in Fremantle, a very cool town about 20 mins south of Perth. Fremantle was historically a fishing town with a strong Italian heritage. The fishing boats are still here and the city center is now one of the coolest couple blocks in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne get all the Press but Fremantle was Tony’s type of town. Streets fringed with good coffee shops, great restaurants and lots of small breweries with delicious beer. Erika enjoyed the funky bookshops and great people-watching. Imagine a small Seattle or Portland in a location where the sun shines non-stop. Although we only had a short glimpse, if Fremantle weren’t so far away from everything else in the world, we could probably live here.

Many non-Australians do not know that the English were not the first Europeans to land on Australia. The Dutch landed in Western Australia in the early 1600s and there are some who think the Portuguese may have preceded the Dutch. Dirk Hoatag Island in Shark Bay was the first confirmed European landing site in Australia and all along the West coast there are localities with Dutch names. These typically are not Dutch settlements, but are instead the names of Dutch ships that wrecked on their way to Indonesia.

Rottnest island is one of the Dutch-named areas in Western Australia. Rottnest is a small island off the coast of Perth and Fremantle and it translates to “Rat Nest Island”. The Dutch gave the small island such a lovely name because of the large numbers of Quokka – small marsupials that resemble either mini-kangaroos or large rats. Despite the rat-like appearance they are pretty cute and Tony wanted to cuddle one.

Today Rottnest island is a day-retreat from Perth. Surrounded by a beautiful coastline with reefs and rocky outcrops for snorkeling (we didn’t swim, it was too cold), it is an attractive place to spend the day. There are very few cars and everyone rides bicycles around the small island which adds to the fun. Besides the Quokka, we had two great wildlife encounters. One was a pod of dolphins playing in big surf off the west of the island. They would enter a 12 foot breaking wave that formed a full tube and ride it as the wave built. You could see the dolphins through the wave. It was incredible, but unfortunately we did not have the good camera and they were too far out to get a good photo. As the wave broke, the dolphins would all jump out the back of the wave at once. It was common to see 3 or 4 dolphins all completely out of the water at once; very cool. The second encounter was a large stingray that coasted by a beach as we were sitting and enjoying the sunshine. The ray was probably 5 feet in diameter and about 10 feet from the shore. He cruised by, splashed his fins above water once or twice and moved on to deeper waters.

Fremantle was also our last two nights sleeping in Mad Max. We love the big fella but are looking forward to a bed we don’t have to make up each night and a proper bathroom to ourselves.

Kalbarri and the pinnacles: beautiful coast, beautiful desert and lots of flies.

For pictures follow the below link

http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/KalbarriAndThePinnacles?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXF6p_3vMTkUA&feat=directlink

Kalbarri was voted the #1 tourist destination in Western Australia in 2003 (said a sign on the side of the freeway). One could see why. The coast line is beautiful and there are heaps to do (as an Aussie would say). To the west is the Indian Ocean and running from the east through the town is the Murchison River. Unlike to the North where the reef fringes the shore, in Kalbarri the barrier islands and reefs are much further out leading to some pretty spectacular waves and a dramatic coastline. Judging by the number of anglers on the coast and the large number of fishing boats and tours leaving each morning, there is also plenty to catch in the area. As we have seen in the past weeks, Western Australians love to fish…

We decided a nice hike in the Murchison River Gorge in the Kalbarri National Park would be a good way to spend a day. After seeing so much sea life for the last week we wanted an inland experience. The hike was beautiful; red earth and sandstone cliffs contrasting against a cool blue-green river. The walk was challenging enough to be exciting (some jumps and scrambling up, down and over rocks) but not exhausting, despite the glaring sun. We not-very-intelligently decided to start the walk at 11am, which meant we were walking in the hottest part of the day. The worst part, however, was the flies. Lots and lots and lots of flies. For those who have not experienced Australian flies this might not seem like anything – but trust me this was the biggest obstacle of the day. The swarm of black insects, relentless, buzzing and crawling over every inch of our faces was a far more daunting foe than the heat and sun that we had been warned about. They just kept accumulating on our hats, bags and clothing as the walk went on. They never tired in their persistent desire to drink the fluid from our eyeballs and fly into every orifice on our face like heat-seeking missiles. Tony lost his mind about half way through, threw his back-pack at the swarm like a 5-year old child and was actually running in the hot desert sun to get away from them. Enough about the flies; we strongly recommend a fly screen when bushwalking in WA.

Despite the flies, Kalbarri was gorgeous and the pictures will attest.

After Kalbarri, it was on to Jurien Bay, which is marked by “the Pinnacles”. The Pinnacles are a desert-area with thousands of limestone columns of various size and shape pointing towards the sky. We went late in the afternoon as the sun was setting and the limestone columns were somewhat mesmorizing. We agreed that Aliens were the only explanation and that this was probably an alien graveyard. Highlighting the experience was the curious echidna that walked out and shared a few minutes of the evening, like a friend dropping in to say hello.

The next morning as we drank our coffee and walked along the Jurien Bay foreshore, there were a bunch of kids fishing. We walked up to ask what they had caught and one cute young girl grabbed a 6-inch Gar Fish out of a bucket and proudly showed it to us and said “this is the only one that is edible”. To be young and Western Australian… next we are off to Fremantle, Rottnest Island then down to Margaret River.

Beautiful Coral Bay

For more pictures follow the below link
http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/CoralBayWesternAustralia?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2axayb47fIdw&feat=directlink

We were a bit sad to leave Exmouth, but the next stop was back to Coral Bay –which is a very small touristy town on the southern part of the Ningaloo Reef. After arriving we watched the sunset while riding quad bikes through the sand dunes –not a bad way to end the day. Watching the sun set into the ocean doesn’t get old.

Now Coral bay has a year round population ~ 200 people, with probably about 1000 tourists during peak season (which is now). Despite being “crowded” it is a little slice of heaven on earth. The bay is protected by the reef resulting in calm, clear and warm waters that are inviting for a swim. The best part – the reef is right off the bay. Like 10 meters into the water. By wading out just a few feet you are met by a school of Northwest Snapper (or Spangled Emperor to use the local name) and by the time you are chest deep the coral starts and you are surrounded by schools of beautiful fish. For all the press the Great Barrier Reef receives, it is amazing no one talks about the Ningaloo reef. It is possibly the best kept secret in Australia tourism. Maybe this is because the Western Australians like to keep it all to themselves, or it could be that it’s just so hard to get to. With a protected bay, no cars, beautiful sunny weather, kids running all over the place, there’s lots to do for kids and families, and just as much for teens and adults.

The next morning we were up early to pack up again then head out for a morning kayak and snorkel in the reef. If you find yourself in Coral Bay we highly recommend the kayak and snorkel. There were only 4 of us plus a guide. The guide did all the picture-taking so we were free to swim and enjoy. After a 20 min paddle to the outer reef, we moored to a buoy and jumped in – right over a nurse shark! (Actually we didn’t see him, he swam off too fast but the guide got a pic). The snorkeling was awesome! Beautiful coral and amazing wildlife; we swam with 3 green sea turtles; blue spotted sting-rays; giant blue clams; a passing eagle ray (the big manta rays); lots of colorful fish both big and small; and SHARKS! Admittedly, we were a little nervous to swim with sharks, but they are beautiful harmless creatures on the reef. We saw white-, grey- and black-tipped reef sharks. Erika dove down about 10 feet to see one under some coral (which scared it out so Tony could see it without diving). They were so graceful and peaceful; it was like swimming in an aquarium. We got a really good look at them after paddling another 20 min in the Kayak to the “cleaning station”. Here the sharks come in to get their gills cleaned by “cleaner wrasse” --small fish that swim in their mouths and gills and eat off the parasites. As we did a drift snorkel we could see 5 or 6 sharks circling below, including a 2+ meter grey-tipped reef shark; just amazing. After that snorkel it was back in the Kayaks, some lunch at the pub at Coral bay, then off to the next stop.

Pictures

Pictures might be a few days behind postings. It takes a long time to upload pictures and internet is slow in Western Australia. When we get them up we will put a link in the original post. You might need to scroll back down to a post you have read previously if you want to take a look.

The Ningaloo Reef and WHALE SHARKS!!!!!!!!

For more pictures follow the below link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/ExmouthAndCapeRangeNationalParkTheCoralCoastWesternAustralia?authkey=Gv1sRgCK3Ltcj14u7arwE&feat=directlink

We’ve spent the past 3 nights in a nice little campervan park about 20km north of Exmouth, which is on a peninsula with both the Cape Range National Park and the northern end of the Ningaloo Reef. The Ningaloo Reef is sensational! You can snorkel with beautiful coral and all kinds of colorful fish (and sharks!) right off the beach.

One of the big things that the Reef is known for this time of year are the Whale Sharks that come in every year. They come in because the coral spawn in April (10-12 days after the full moon) and this increases the krill and plankton in the ocean which attracts the whale sharks. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea, and when we found out we were going to be in the area at this time of year, we decided to book a tour to swim with them. There are a lot of groups that have tours, but we went with Ningaloo Blue, which we would highly recommend. They are all expensive, but we talked to a few other people who did tours with other groups and they were pretty disappointed; we weren’t. J See our pictures! We went out for the day and Tony swam with one whale shark (then got a bit sea sick) and Erika swam with 3; they were magnificent!! As soon as Erika jumped in with her snorkel gear and camera ready, a 5 metre one was coming right at her and it was absolutely exhilarating. This one was swimming fast so instead of taking a picture, she got out of the way (a wise move). However, she did get a few really great pictures after the initial fright. They are truly majestic animals and it was an amazing experience. Two of the three she swam with were moving quite fast but the last one was crusing nice and easy and was not camera shy. Check out all the fish that are swimming along with him; whale sharks bring friends.

A few facts about the whale shark: The largest one ever found was 19 metres and it was found near the Philippines. The average size of most whale sharks is 4 to 7 metres. Whale sharks are filter feeders that eat millions of tiny plankton, so they are not dangerous to swim with (other than their great size and weight, which could hurt you if you are positioned in the wrong place). Each whale shark is distinguished by the spotting behind their gills. Nigaloo Reef is the only place in the world they are found with regularity.

After the day out with the whale sharks, we did lots of snorkeling (if you will ever be in the area, Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay are 2 great snorkel spots) and a short hike in the national park. There were lots of animals, but most of them came out at dusk and seemed to walk across the roads too often. We saw a goanna; dozens of both red and grey kangaroos; rock wallabies way up on a rocky ledge; an echidna; some very large eagles (that were feeding on the roo carcasses on the side of the road); and hundreds of tropical fish in the water. Tony also spotted a reef shark sitting at the bottom of a coral stack, but Erika didn’t care to go back to check it out!

Other than that, we spend our nights trying to catch the sunsets; cooking dinner on the shared BBQ (grill for the Americans reading this); enjoying the millions of stars that are visible with so few lights around; and looking back at our pictures from the day and talking about how lucky we are.

Easter Weekend in Shark Bay

It’s Monday, the day after Easter today and it’s been a little harder than expected to find reliable internet access, so here is a summary of our adventures from the past few days.

On the road: we started in Geraldton on Friday morning, drove about 460kms to Denham, where we stayed for 3 nights, and today we drove from Denham to Carnarvon (330kms). We continue to be amazed by the wide open spaces of Western Australia. Indeed, the sparsely populated stretch from Perth to Geraldton is starting to look crowded compared to the open areas up here. It is not uncommon to be the only car on the road which stretches in a straight line for as far as we can see in front and behind. The isolation and distance between Western Australian towns is something that has to be experienced to truly understand.

Given all the driving we have gotten quite acquainted with our campervan which has been named “Mad Max”. Why? Clearly it is a male car and one that deserves a masculine if not macho name. “Max” is a good name and “Mad Max” is even cooler. It’s also homage to the famous Australian film which takes place in outback areas like where we currently find ourselves. With a bed and kitchen in the back it is serving well as a home away from home.

Denham is in the Shark Bay World Heritage area and is 25 km from Money Mia. The scenery is stunning; the lookout from Eagles Bluff and sunset from Denham lookout were magical. Really, all of it was beautiful (except for the townies in the local pub!) and we hope the pictures did it justice.

We saw plenty of animals in the Shark Bay area including: our first sighting of Emus in the wild; LOTS of dolphins; sea turtles; pelicans; a sea snake; and a few sting rays from a distance. At Monkey Mia a small number of female dolphins are feed from the shore and they come in very close with their young. We had dolphins within feet of us while we were knee deep in the water. J We also saw stromalites, which are pillars of blue-green algae that were one of the first life-forms on the planet (fossil record from 3.5 to 2.0 billion years). They only exist in very special conditions in a few places on the planet and Shark Bay is one of them. For the Biologist… this was cool.

Finally, the best story from the past few days… we saved a baby emu! The first ones we saw were a mother and two chicks. We stopped the car to take pictures and saw something was up with one of the chicks – it had its leg wrapped up in a wire fence. The poor thing was terrified as we approached, but we were able to gets is leg free and after a few tenuous steps we were happy to see it run away with no problem.

Tomorrow we are off to Coral Bay and then up to Exmouth –the Ningaloo Reef!! More stories to come.

Here are some pictures. Follow the below link or copy and paste it into your web browser.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tonycesare/GeraldtonToCarnarvon?authkey=Gv1sRgCIvE96Orwui76wE&feat=directlink

Perth to Geradlton

Western Australia is not crowded.

Low brush, blue sky and plenty of open space; that is pretty much everything we saw today on our 5 hour drive from Perth to Gerladton. That and a flock of ~ 20 black cockatoos (very cool). Western Australia makes the wide open spaces of the western United States look crowded. The wide open spaces are beautiful and impossible to capture in a picture. It has to be seen in person.

A couple of things we have learned so far. 1) Don’t be in a hurry at Britz Campervan rentals in Perth. You are going to be there a while, just accept this and remember to bring a magazine or book. 2) The Perth Ambassador Hotel is affordable, rather central, and if you like 1970s décor it will be your kind of diggs. 3) The Toyota Hiace: drives well; has good pick-up (but not too much); the 5-speed manual is a lot of fun in right-hand drive configuration; and has the aerodynamics of a grand piano, which adds excitement on windy drives.

Geraldton has all the makings of a good beach town: a nice beach front; an artsy vibe; good eats and townies. An over-served gentleman was shown the paddie-wagon just outside our restaurant (see the image) and some young trouble makers wanted us to take their photo down by the beach.

Tomorrow we move on to Monkey Mia and Shark Bay where the fun will begin.

When you ain't got nothin' you got nothing to lose

“How does it feel; to be on your own; with no direction home; a complete unknown; like a rolling stone.”

I am sitting on the A330-200 to Perth and listening to Bob Dylan. Erika is asleep in the seat next to me. In the headphones the troubadour sings: “HOW DOES IT FEEL?” I can tell you it feels fantastic. Erika and I are now jobless and homeless… but in a good way. We are officially on our post-Sydney adventure.



The last several days have been a flurry of emotion. I admit tears welled in my eyes at the going-away Bar-B-Q hosted by my laboratory (images are the very cool going away present my lab gave me: my lab-coat personalized with messages from the lab). Moving out and packing up was a task -- and an un-enjoyable one at that. It is amazing how much stuff we accumulated in just three and a half years in Australia. It all had to go somewhere, and it was difficult making it all disappear. But get this: now that we sold the car, we have no keys. How often do people not own a set of keys?



And the most important part…



GO TAR HEELS!!! We watched the national championship game over Tuesday lunch at the North Annandale (our local pub). That was an incredible display and they are an amazing team. Watching it during the daylight hours 10,000 miles away was not as much fun as it was in 2005 at the CSB on Franklin Street. However, the result still brought immense joy and pride to these Tar Heels down under.



2 hours 50 min to Perth. Tomorrow we get our first glimpse of the Indian Ocean.

Leaving our home Down Under

After more than 3 years in Sydney, we finished work today (Apr 3) and are looking forward to our adventures ahead. We've been here longer than expected, but certainly not longer than we wanted. There will be so many things that we will miss about Sydney --the great pub culture with so many in close-walking distance; the ridiculously beautiful beaches and scenery that you find almost everywhere; the colourful and noisy birds that wake us up almost every morning; running down by the bay with a backdrop of the Anzac and Harbour bridges and the city slowly waking; surprisingly great coffee; wonderful bushwalks in every direction; and of course our many friends we have made along the way. Sydney is a beautiful, vibrant city and we will certainly miss living here.

Looking ahead, we've got some adventures planned. We leave next Wednesday for Perth to explore the west coast of Australia. We have heard nothing but good things and we are looking forward to swimming with dolphins, dugongs and even possibly whale sharks up in the Ningaloo Reef; watching the sun set into the ocean; some good wine in the Margaret river; and of course a bit of driving to see as much as possible. In early May we will head up to Hong Kong then travel through SE Asia for about 6 weeks --Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore -- before coming back to Australia to explore the wondrous Catherine and Kakadu national park up near Darwin; then a final stop in the Red Centre --also known as Uluru --or Ayers Rock before we come back to Sydney for a few days. We fly back on July 4 --I'm sure by that point, we will be happy to come home for the northern hemisphere summer. Our last stop after a few weeks visiting family and friends in July will be San Diego/La Jolla. We heard that area is pretty nice as well...

The reason we wanted to have a blog was so that we could share with friends and family (who we often think of and miss dearly) where we are and what we are up to. We will try to post as mush as possible while we are traveling so stay tuned.

Until then, we wish everyone a safe and happy Easter! We will spend our last few days in Sydney dealing with the many hassles and headaches of packing and moving back across an ocean.

XOXO
Tony and Erika