The Blue Mountains

Last Saturday, all of us left Sydney to spend a weekend in the Blue Mountains, located about two hours outside of the city. The weather here has been hot and humid so we were all looking forward to getting out into the bush and into some cooler temperatures. After our stop at the Mt. Annan Botanic Gardens that Andy mentioned, we arrived at the site of our first lecture/hike, the aptly named Scenic World, located next to the Blue Mountain National Park. Scenic World is a huge tourist destination complete with a near vertical train ride to the trail head set to the theme song from Indiana Jones. Cheesy, yes, but stunningly beautiful too. Here we took a short hike to start becoming familiar with some of the local flora and then rode a gondola back up to the top where our bus was parked.

The Blue Mountains with the 3 Sisters on the left

The train down to the trail head

The mascot for the national park, the Mountain Devil,
named after the seed pod of the plant of the same name.

The real Mountain Devil with its foliage. The seed emerges
 from the split between its ears.

After our time at Scenic World, it was on to our accommodations for the weekend, the Jemby Renjah eco-lodge. The lodge is set in the middle of a eucalyptus forest with boardwalks connecting the different bungalows to the main dining room/reception area and wild rosellas and king parrots flying among the trees. The lodge was built on an old logging site with minimal impact on the land. Existing fire trails were used to bring in supplies and building equipment, and pathways to the various bungalows were strategically located on already cleared land. The lodge uses solar energy to heat much of its water and compost toilets (which were surprisingly clean and odor-free) to minimize water usage. The best part was being served breakfast and dinner (fish & chips one night, steak the next) each day, a nice luxury after weeks of sandwiches; and every morning at 8:30 am guests were invited to feed the parrots with a staff member . . . really fun, but be prepared for birds landing on your head, shoulders, and arms to get to the sunflower seeds.

Jemby Rinjah

Celebrating January b-days at Jemby Rinjah with
Katy, Sara, and Hannah

A rosella hanging out on the deck

Feeding a king parrot

Our first full day in the mountains was spent on an excursion to the Jenolan Caves, a massive cave system within the Blue Mountains that was supposedly discovered by an escaped convict who used the caves as a hideout. In fact, the Aboriginal people have used the caves for thousands of years and called them Binoomea, or "dark places." In the late 1800's, two brothers explored the system by candlelight, mapping them as they went, and in the early 19th century the caves were developed into a tourist attraction and are now the most visited tourist destination in NSW. Our whole group was treated to a 2-hr long guided tour deep into the caves, where we saw stunning rock and mineral formations and walked along the river that runs through the cave system. It was an amazing experience that was hard to capture in photos, but I'll post a couple of the better ones.

Inside the caves

The "minaret"

After our tour we took our lunches and walked along the river to a swimming hole where some of the braver kids (as well as Andy and myself) jumped off the rocks into the (cold!) water. The trail to the swimming hole is also where we saw some of the local wildlife. The first animal we saw was a red-bellied black snake that was camped out next to the trail. It's extremely venomous (you would need medical attention within the hour if bitten, which would mean a helicopter ride to the hospital), but this one was a juvenile and didn't seem to be too interested in us. We're learning this is pretty typical of the snakes here. If you leave them alone they're likely to make their escape without harming you. The highlight of the day was spotting what we've been told is the animal most rarely seen in the wild here in Australia . . . the platypus! For those of you who don't know, the platypus is an aquatic mammal with a body and fur similar to a river otter, a tail like a beaver, flippers for hands and feet, and a duckbill-like mouth. To make it even stranger, it also lays eggs! It is truly a bizarre animal. I'll post a picture, but like the penguins in NZ, you'll have to take my word for it, since it's barely recognizable in the photo.

The swimming hole where we had lunch

I just jumped but unfortunately Andy missed it!

Andy mid-jump

The platypus is right in the center swimming
over the top edge of the algae . . . really!

Here's what they look like close up.

Red-bellied black snake

That night when we got back to Jemby Rinjah we had dinner and then sat around the campfire playing games and listening to our Aussie bus driver tell stories and sing us Australian campfire songs. We all sang rounds of the kookaburra song too. Any of you know that one? "Kookaburra sittin' in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the forest is he, laugh kookaburra laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be . . ." It all started when we heard the kookaburras laughing in the forest around us. It was the perfect ending to our day . . .

After breakfast on our last day, we all set off on our 6-hour bush walk down into the rainforests of the Blue Mountains. It was an amazing hike that took us through dry eucalyptus forests to the wet rainforests along the river and back up again. The hike followed an ancient Aboriginal trail and passed alongside (and sometimes under) fantastic sandstone cliffs and rock formations. We stopped for lunch at the top of a waterfall with a spectacular view of the valley. The kids, of course, had to take off their shoes and wade on the flat sandstone rocks about 10 feet from where the water went over the edge and fell to the valley floor. Andy watched like a nervous parent until they were all safely back on the trail! It was a long, steep and hot climb back to the bus, and when we got to the top we were informed by Nat that we had all walked right over a tiger snake on the trail without seeing it. And I thought I'd been keeping a good eye out for snakes!

Starting out in mostly dry
eucalyptus forest

Andy, Dick and Marnie on the trail

Lunch at the top of the waterfall

Playing a little too close to the edge!

The whole group with the Blue Mountains
behind us

We're back in Sydney now with just a little over a week left here before we move on to our next stop, an Aboriginal camp in the Hunter Valley. Andy and I plan on making the most of this week with at least a couple more trips to the beach, a tour of the Opera House, and explorations of a couple more suburbs. We'll keep you posted!

~Philip

From Sydney to the Blue Mountains

Life has been a whirl of lectures and excursions since we posted our last entry, and I’m happy to say there’s nothing I’d leave out if we had to do it all over again. All of our lecturers and guides have been uniformly excellent, making it a pleasure to be a student again. Over several days we got a crash course in Australia’s colonial history as well as an overview of its major flora and fauna. Did you know that Australia has almost 800 reptile species (many of them deadly) while North America has fewer than 300? Or that eucalyptus leaves are toxic to most animals other than the koala, which is uniquely adapted to eat them? We also learned that you don’t tend to find “climax” forests dominated by one species of tree in Australia, due to the climactic extremes and relatively poor soil. Instead you find a diversity of flora marked by unique adaptations to the difficult conditions. There are, for instance, hundreds of varieties of eucalyptus trees. On an appalling note: until 1967, Australia’s Aboriginals were categorized not as humans but as part of the “flora and fauna” of the continent . . .

We encountered more appalling history at the Hyde Park Barracks downtown. The same Governor Macquarie mentioned in the last blog entry ordered a convict who’d once been an architect to design and build the barracks, where thousands of convicts slept, ate, and, most of all, worked. Inside was a replica of a wooden triangle to which convicts were tied, then lashed 50 to 100 times with a cat o’ nine tails and doused with salt water—all for such crimes as speaking too loudly or not working at a fast enough pace.

Last week our evenings were nearly as busy as our days. As part of the program, we all attended a speakers’ series called “Sydney Stories,” one evening hearing from a comedian who fled with his family from Vietnam in the 1970s, on another an Aboriginal performer involved in Australia’s civil rights movement, and on yet another a folk historian/musician who shared stories of working-class Sydney (and bawdy songs with lyrics that shouldn’t be repeated here). One night, Philip, Nat, and I also went to an interview/performance/movie in the beautiful neo-gothic quadrangle of the University of Sydney. There we had the privilege of listening to Kev Carmody, an Aboriginal folk singer who wrote and sang the music for the film “One Night the Moon,” which was shown on an enormous screen while we lay on the grass. Set in rural Australian in the 1930s, the film is both gorgeous and heartbreaking—definitely see it if you can.

The past couple of days were spent in the Blue Mountains, two hours west of Sydney. They’re dramatic not because of their height but because of the canyons carved among them. Imagine Arizona canyon country—but filled with eucalyptus trees. On the way, we stopped at a botanic garden for native species and had the bizarre experience of learning about Australian botany from a guide who told us he believes in creationism instead of evolution. At one point he said that, like Jesus Christ, shade trees are our salvation. Weird . . .

Staying with our group for our entire weekend in the mountains was Howard Barker, a naturalist/expert on all things Australian. His knowledge is truly encyclopedic—and he was extremely enthusiastic about sharing it. We were lucky to have him along, but I think we all suffered from a bit of information overload. Speaking of which, I think it’s time to finish this entry. I’ll leave it to Philip to tell you all about the snakes and mountain devils, as well as our sighting of one of the most elusive creatures in the Australian bush . . .

~Andy

Hyde Park Barracks

Convict hammocks

Typical Sydney row houses

More row houses

Koala at the zoo

Philip and his new friend

View of the "Grand Canyon" in the Blue Mountains

The Students Have Landed

I write this from the rooftop of Arundel House, our University of Sydney accommodation, enjoying a sweeping view of the city and a refreshing breeze. During the school year, Arundel House is a women’s dormitory run by the Anglican Church, which explains the strict no-alcohol policy as well as the numerous books promoting Christianity conspicuously placed on tables and shelves in the common areas. The day Philip and I arrived, a few of the permanent residents who’d chosen to stay over the summer break were chatting and giggling in the TV lounge. We felt as if we’d walked onto the stage set of “The Facts of Life.” One of the residents is a dead ringer for Natalie (Note for the uninformed: “The Facts of Life” was a sitcom in the 80s set in a private girls school).

The LC students have been here three days, and so far things are going great. Everyone is enthusiastic and the group has a nice dynamic. A lot of credit goes to Nat, our efficient and cheerful program coordinator, who fortunately made it down to Sydney from Brisbane a few days ago in spite of catastrophic floods (see http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/). Hopefully the recovery will be well on its way by the time we reach Brisbane in a few weeks.

In the meantime we enjoy Sydney, which is a world-class city and overgrown beach town rolled into one. The day after the students arrived we took a bus tour to introduce us to downtown and some inner suburbs. (Note: By “suburb” Australians mean any neighborhood that lies outside a city’s central business district, so a suburb can in fact be what an American would call an “urban” or even “inner-city” neighborhood.) Our friendly and informative bus driver fit the stereotype of the Aussie bloke. Five minutes couldn’t go by without his referring to beer (by the way, the Aussies seem to despise Foster’s—go figure), and he made sure to point out his favorite pubs as we drove along. Not surprisingly, our first stop was the opera house, which is truly a remarkable building. We then made our way to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, a bench carved from stone that commands a view of Sydney Harbor. Lachlan Macquarie, governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, ordered convicts to carve the chair and build the road that led to it so his wife, who pined for home, could watch ships arrive in the harbor from her beloved England. Many of those ships were crammed with convicts condemned to servitude in New South Wales, which Britain established as a penal colony in the 1780s. For a gripping history of Britain’s system of “transportation,” which conveyed tens of thousands of convicts to Australia, Tasmania, and Norfolk Island from the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, check out Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore. It’s a long but fascinating read.

After visiting Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, we left behind Australia’s convict past and enjoyed its recreational present at Bondi Beach. Philip and I didn’t have bathing suits or towels with us, so we only waded into the ocean, but some of the students dove into the surf. They were good about staying between the safety flags, since Australian beaches are infamous for their rip tides, which drown lots of people each year. People worry about sharks and jellyfish, but the rip tides are what kill.

The last couple of days have been spent attending top-notch lectures at the University of Sydney. It’s been fascinating to learn about the geological history of Australia (main lesson: the continent’s landscape is very, very old and thus very, very worn) as well as the debates surrounding when and how the Aboriginals arrived tens of thousands of years ago. I’d give more details, but I think Philip is anxious to explore more of Sydney today. I've attached some pictures below . . .

~Andy

Wading at Bondi Beach

Bondi Beaach

One of Sydney Harbor's many inlets

Students enjoying a view of the harbor

Sitting on Mrs. Macquarie's Chair

Hello Sydney!

Andy and I have been in Sydney for about 3 days now and are settled into our dorm at the Arundel House at the University of Sydney. We've spent the last few days getting ready for the arrival of the Lewis and Clark students, but finally had a chance to take the train down to the harbor yesterday to explore a little. Our first stop was the Sydney Opera House, which is just as fantastic in person as you would expect it to be. It was amazing to stand in front of something so iconic. We wandered around the harbor and took a walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens and then zigzagged through the streets of downtown Sydney on our way back to the dorm. It's a beautiful city with some really great architecture and lots of nice pedestrian areas with cafés and shopping. We're already planning on a tour of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge climb (for you Kurtis!) before we leave Sydney in a couple of weeks. As a group, the students and Andy and I will be attending several events that are part of the Sydney Festival, and also taking a bus tour to get a history lesson on the city. It should be a fun and interesting time here.

As for the wildlife . . . upon arrival at the Arundel House, our tour guide, a student who's staying here while attending the uni, pointed out a couple of interesting things to look out for. Apparently there are large cockroaches that are common all over Sydney (I guess like any big city), and we were lucky enough to have one visit our room that very night . . . . She also told us to watch for the huntsman spiders that wander the house. They are supposedly the size of my palm, but are completely harmless.  I saw my first one last night on the stairs down to our room. It was a baby, which means it was only 2-1/2" to 3" in diameter . . . can't wait to meet its mother :-). There are also large bats, known as flying foxes, here in Sydney. They roost in trees all over the city, including the ones across the street from our house, and are especially numerous in the botanic gardens.

I'll put a few pictures up from our time at the Harbor yesterday as well as a picture of Charlotte and the bats. Sorry, no cockroach pictures yet . . .

~Philip

Sydney Opera House

Harbor Bridge

Shot from the Royal Botanic Garden

Look closely...the bats are hanging from the
branches and there are herons perched
on top.

Charlotte hanging out on the stairs

A few pics from Christchurch

A shot of Christchurch from the Art Museum

In front of Designer Cottage, our B&B.

With Chet, our fabulous host at Designer Cottage

Goodbye New Zealand . . .

Sitting in the Christchurch airport we thought we’d put together a list of some of our favorite things about New Zealand. Here they are in no particular order:

Laid back attitude toward life (or so it seems from the Kiwis we met)

Roundabouts in place of traffic lights (we didn’t stop at a single light for a weeklong stretch of driving)

Absence of freeways (we passed through towns instead of passing around them)

Dramatic diversity of landscapes in such a small space

New Zealand-speak: for example, brekkie (breakfast), trundler (shopping cart), cheers! (said on just about any occasion), sweet! (see “cheers”)

Maori haka, language, and art

Fern trees

Ubiquitous dual-flush toilets (so eco-friendly!)

Footwear not required (more to Philip’s liking than Andy’s)

And last but not least, any combination of the four food groups can be eaten in the form of a pie.

~Andy and Philip

From Te Anau to Te Nikau

I write this on the verandah of our little bungalow tucked into the rainforest at "Te Nikau Retreat," located in the stunningly beautiful and charmingly named west coast town of Punakaiki. The air is filled with the busy songs of birds and the gentle lull of the ocean, which, we discovered yesterday evening, is only a five-minute’s walk away.

Here’s a rundown of what’s happened since our last post:

Three days ago we left Te Anau and drove several hours to Queenstown, a lakeside cornucopia of more ways to terrify yourself for inordinate amounts of money than anywhere else on earth. It’s got bungy jumping, skydiving, hang gliding, etc. We settled on parasailing, which, on Queenstown’s terror scale of 1 to 10, is perhaps a 2. Up in the air we had an unbeatable view of the town, lake, and mountains (named, like some 1950s singing group, "The Remarkables"), and although the jerking rope made the initial ascent somewhat nerve-wracking, the ride soon became surprisingly peaceful. Parasailing was an unplanned indulgence, so we decided on a low budget dinner: reduced-to-sell meat pies eaten on a park bench in the city gardens. Having grown up near the Sun Valley resort in Idaho, Philip felt immediately at home in stylish and outdoorsy Queenstown. I enjoyed the town too, but after spending an afternoon there, both of us were ready to leave behind the posh, adrenaline seeking crowds and return to the typically low key New Zealand that we’ve come to love.

The day before yesterday we bade Queenstown goodbye and drove through spectacular mountain scenery on our way to the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers on the South Island’s west coast. We ate lunch by a picture-perfect river, stopped to see magnificent Fox Glacier, and walked around a lake with stunning views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman (sorry for all the superlative adjectives, but this really is a superlative country). We also got a good look at a weka, one of New Zealand’s flightless birds. The day was topped off by a soak in glacial hot pools that were reminiscent of (if not quite equal to) onsen in Japan. Then it was back to the Franz Josef hostel for the night.

Yesterday morning was spent hiking Franz Josef Glacier, one of only three "warm" glaciers in the world (the second being Fox Glacier just down the road and the other located in Argentina). It starts high up in the freezing New Zealand Alps and makes its way down to a rainforest where it never snows—not even in the depths of winter. It was bizarre to start our hike in warm, dense rainforest and within an hour be walking, with the aid of crampons, on a massive river of ice. Making our way across the glacier’s rugged icescape was a jaw-dropping experience, made all the better by our expert (and charming) guide Ben, who occasionally swung his pickaxe in rapid circles to cut away steps in the ice so our group could pass. Apparently it takes three months of training to use a pickaxe properly (the "wax on, wax off" scene in the Karate Kid comes to mind). Prior to his job as a guide, Ben prospected for gold near his hometown of Kumara and collected moss in the New Zealand bush for export to Japan. To collect the moss, he was lowered into the bush by rope from a helicopter. We also learned that he’d never left the west coast of the South Island except for a short trip to Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island. This tendency not to travel too far within their own country seems pretty typical of New Zealanders, at least based on the conversations with Kiwis we’ve had so far. A lot of North Islanders tell us they haven’t made it to the South Island and the same goes for South Islanders in reverse. Because every corner of New Zealand is so beautiful in its own way, it seems Kiwis are content to stay just where they are. I guess it’s appropriate they’re nicknamed after a flightless bird . . .

After descending the glacier, we got back in the car and headed up the (insert your own superlative adjective) coast up to Punakaiki, where we marveled at the wave-pounded stone formations before making dinner in the retreat's communal kitchen and heading to bed in our private rainforest bungalow. Now that I’ve finished my cup of tea along with this blog entry, it’s time to leave this peaceful verandah and drive back to Christchurch for our last night in New Zealand. Then it’s off to Sydney!

See photos of everything I've described in the post below!

~Andy