Yesterday I posted about Juan, born in southern Texas, who was denied when he tried to renew his passport. He was told that he really wasn’t a citizen. Alexandra Erin, in a long Twitter thread, delves into the implications.
Only affecting hundreds, maybe thousands of Latinx people so no need to worry? That’s way too many people. And if these people don’t have due process, nobody has due process. If the gov’t turned on you would your proof matter? Go read Kafka’s The Trial.
When the USA revokes your citizenship, it can’t bestow citizenship for another country. One becomes stateless, thrown into a legal limbo, an unperson. There is no home country to be sent to. I add that being stateless makes life quite difficult – and that cruelty is the point.
One person might be made stateless through a lack of due process. The gov’t need not do the same to others. If people like me are stripped of rights and arrested when applying for a passport, would I try to do the same? Would I go to the DMV or try to vote? Just having the threat of being stateless allows all sorts of bigoted people to enforce the rules on their own.
An example is a gay couple. When ant-sodomy laws were still on the books gay couples were assumed to be criminals because what they did in bedrooms was illegal. People felt justified in denying housing even if the gay couple is never convicted or even accused of anything.
Such an environment allows police to stop people on suspicion, at least people they don’t like. Increasingly broad rules applied to increasingly wider swaths of the population deployed by authorities when someone “looks” like trouble. Never mind there hasn’t been any trouble.
Refusal to renew passports is also happening to transgender people. This didn’t happen by Executive Order or even by a tweet from the nasty guy. It seems some federal employees decided it’s time to start doing it. There have always been bureaucrats “waiting for favorable winds to launch their warships.”
A lot of this enforcement is self-directed and from personal opinion (it also keeps the nasty guy’s hands clean). It is decentralized. And harder to block or attack.
But relax. The monster isn’t eating your whole body. It’s just eating a bite at a time.
What to do? “Make a lot of noise. If we are silent, we are complicit. If the only voices heard are those who support what's happening, they can claim universal assent.” Yell at your elected representatives. Vote. Talk is action, though it may not seem like it.
In a separate tweet Rep. Eric Swalwell commented on an article from Vox. House GOP made a list of nasty guy scandals. They’re afraid the Democrats will investigate these scandals if they win this fall. So that’s why the GOP had better stay in control of the House. Said Swalwell, “Umm, so if they know, why won’t they investigate?”
Friday, August 31, 2018
Travelogue – on the rocks
My experiences at Uluru and Kata Tjuta have already been described in posts to this blog, so I’ll pick up the tale with…
Friday, August 17
I finished my laundry and checked out of the apartment at the Ayers Rock Resort by the required 10:00. I had time to wander the Town Square (a particular place in the resort). I listened to a talk on Aboriginal hunting tools (yes, given by an Aboriginal) which includes more than the boomerang. I watched a guy (who wasn’t Aboriginal) give lessons on the didgeridoo to tourists.
There are six commercial flights a day from the Ayers Rock Airport. The two to Sydney leave midday 25 minutes apart and run by two different airlines. So that means there are two shuttle buses from the resort that are 20 minutes apart. My flight was the second of the two, so I took the second shuttle, which had very few people on it. I had plenty of time at the airport.
After checking in I went to the only cafe for lunch. The choices were limited. I took the chicken Caesar salad, which wasn’t enough. So I delved into my stash of peanuts and peanut butter. By the time my flight left the cafe was sold out. I suppose they could make more sandwiches for the last flight of the day a couple hours later.
My flight was delayed in arriving at Ayers Rock. We were told the plane had faced strong headwinds. So there was a delay in boarding. And then we sat. We were told there was a delay in getting luggage loaded – only one luggage crew trying to load two planes. That had me wondering, what other plane? The other commercial planes had already departed or weren’t due in for a while. We left 75 minutes late.
The airline was JetStar though I had booked through Qantas. This must be a discount airline. The crew offered food and drinks for sale, no drinks or snacks for free. I asked for a cup of water. They didn’t charge for that, though it took a while for it to arrive.
The flight was about 2½ hours. I arrived in Sydney at about 6:30. On the way to baggage claim I bought a sausage roll. After claiming my big bag I sat and ate the sausage roll. That was supper. Then I bought my Opal Card for the transportation system and got on the train to downtown.
I walked a couple blocks from the train to my hotel. On the ground floor this hotel has only an entryway, an elevator, and stairs. Reception was one floor up. The room was small, oddly shaped, and the window offered zero view.
Saturday, August 18
After breakfast in the nearby Queen Victoria Building I wanted visitor information. The hotel clerk didn’t seem to know what I wanted. I saw on the map (provided by the hotel) an information place not too far away in Martin Place. Once I got there I saw it was the size of a newsstand and was closed.
My map told about a free walking tour of Sydney starting from the Town Hall, one stop away on the subway from where I was. A train was just pulling in when I got to the platform. I got on. But it just sat there. We heard a couple announcements of waiting for the lights to say the track ahead was clear. Ten minutes later I got off and walked. Both tour guides for the walk were late. They said there was a problem in one subway station resulting in delays through the entire system.
The walking tour took me through the Queen Victoria Building (again), pointing out the statue of the queen and one of her dog and then the huge clocks. The guide also told us about a letter form Queen Elizabeth II that is to be opened in 2060. The tour went on to Hyde Park and the Hyde Park Barracks where the guide told us about early Sydney history. We went on to Martin Place (where I had been not long before). Some kind of military commemoration was being held here so we only walked through. Around a couple corners and we were in an alley. Above us hung a large number of bird cages, all empty. The guide said this was an art installation representing all the extinct bird species. Recordings of their calls played from nearby speakers.
The tour went into the Customs House which has a large model of downtown Sydney under the transparent floor. We went on past Circular Quay and into The Rocks with its alleys. We ended the tour with a good view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
The tour passed a street market, so I went back to it to look over what they had for sale and to have lunch. I visited the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art. This isn’t art for tourists, but it didn’t hold my interest. The museum is not very big, so it didn’t take long.
I went back to the Customs House and its information desk. I got my questions answered. A big one was where might I find an internet cafe? Sorry, they’ve all gone out of business. The Customs House and the State Library have computers for use. But they’re already closed for the day.
I went back to The Rocks. I saw the Observatory grounds, then walked onto the Harbour Bridge (without taking the over 200 steps to the top of the pylon or even considered doing a bridge climb). This was at sunset, so I got a good picture of the Opera House.
I looked for a restaurant in The Rocks and probably should have taken one I had turned down. Prices, even adjusting for currency conversion, seemed expensive. Many restaurants offered “burgers” for about $15 US, though it seemed strange to see “chicken burger” or “pulled pork burger” or “crocodile burger.” I ate lots of burgers during the trip. Dishes other than burgers were usually $20 and higher. Many restaurants listed prices for main dishes in the $25-$40 range. One restaurant at Ayers Rock Resort offered a buffet for $55 a person. I passed on that one. Because I didn’t choose a restaurant in The Rocks I ended up at one near Circular Quay that serves Malaysian street food. The satay sauce had too much onion for my tastes.
I went to the Opera House for that evening’s opera. There were large crowds also heading in that direction because the orchestra was accompanying the first Harry Potter movie. The movie was shown and instead of the background music coming from the speakers it came from a live orchestra. Yes, a very popular idea.
In buying a ticket for the opera I choked on the price – over $200 US for an available seat. Instead, I got a ticket for Monday night, paying $150 for it.
After all that walking I decided to take the subway the two stops back to my hotel. It went one station and stopped. After five minutes I got off and walked. The issues of the morning had not yet been resolved.
Sunday, August 19
I watched one of the clocks in the Queen Victoria Building do its thing at 9:00. Trumpeters appear at the parapets. Then we see a series of dioramas about the English King Charles I, including one where he is about to be beheaded.
Here’s a picture of the other big clock. Above the bands for the time and date are scenes of colonial Australia.
Then I walked to the Australia Museum. Most of this is natural history, though much larger and better done than the small museum in Alice Springs. This museum is much appreciated by kids who have a couple areas designed for them. The main hall had an exhibit of 100 important treasures of the museum with lots of extras. One is a diorama of a busy bird colony with lots of taxidermy birds. The nearby notes say birds are now studied differently so another diorama would probably never be created again. Other treasures included indigenous artifacts from Australia and across southern Asia. Other display halls included taxidermy animals from mouse to giraffe, birds of Australia, native people, minerals, and what animals have to do to survive in an arid continent (hint: the big mammals are gone).
When I was young I learned a song about a kookaburra who sat in the gum tree eating gumdrops and laughing. Yes, I know there are gum trees in Australia, but they don’t grow gumdrops. Of course, I had to take a picture of the laughing kookaburra.
I had lunch in the 4th (top) floor cafe. There were nice views from there.
There’s a couple cool things about the Opal transportation card. First, it can be used on trains, buses, and ferries. Second, on Sundays one would pay $2.50 (Aus) for the first ride of the day and after that it is all free. One could use it to go out to the Blue Mountains west of the city for the day (which I visited on a previous trip) and pay only $2.50.
So I took a bus to Circular Quay and got on the ferry to Watsons Bay. From there it is a short walk to South Head, the bit of land that is the southern side to the entrance of Sydney Harbour. Along that walk one passes Lady Bay Beach, where nudity is permitted. As cold as I was with the wind I wondered about the few nude people on the beach. Here’s a view across the Harbour entrance to North Head.
I was back to Circular Quay at about 4:30. The first stop was back to the hotel to add the hoodie under the sweater and jacket.
I realized Darling Harbour was rather close and was known for restaurants. So I walked over and walked all around. I didn’t want fast food and I didn’t want expensive – or I wanted expensive I would enjoy. I felt cold doing all that walking, I think the temperature was in the low 50s F. I found a restaurant that had chicken breast stuffed with feta and spinach, which looked good.
A lot of restaurants in the Darling area and all around the city offer outdoor seating in weather I consider too cold for such a thing. They manage it with space heaters, some with dramatic tall flames. As I got into this restaurant I saw they really didn’t have indoor seating. I asked for a warm table and was given one under two space heaters. This wasn’t ideal. I had to keep the hood over my head to protect it from the heat, yet the blowing wind was still cold. The chicken was good.
The price of the chicken was $21 US, already a little pricey. I was surprised by an extra $5 (Aus) charge on the bill. The waitress had a hard time explaining it, likely because only foreigners questioned it. What she finally explained was that it was the Sunday Surcharge. It allows the restaurant to pay the staff a little extra for working on Sunday. The surcharge used to be widespread though now many restaurants have stopped charging it. Alas, I hadn’t seen anything in the menu about the surcharge, so was surprised.
Friday, August 17
I finished my laundry and checked out of the apartment at the Ayers Rock Resort by the required 10:00. I had time to wander the Town Square (a particular place in the resort). I listened to a talk on Aboriginal hunting tools (yes, given by an Aboriginal) which includes more than the boomerang. I watched a guy (who wasn’t Aboriginal) give lessons on the didgeridoo to tourists.
There are six commercial flights a day from the Ayers Rock Airport. The two to Sydney leave midday 25 minutes apart and run by two different airlines. So that means there are two shuttle buses from the resort that are 20 minutes apart. My flight was the second of the two, so I took the second shuttle, which had very few people on it. I had plenty of time at the airport.
After checking in I went to the only cafe for lunch. The choices were limited. I took the chicken Caesar salad, which wasn’t enough. So I delved into my stash of peanuts and peanut butter. By the time my flight left the cafe was sold out. I suppose they could make more sandwiches for the last flight of the day a couple hours later.
My flight was delayed in arriving at Ayers Rock. We were told the plane had faced strong headwinds. So there was a delay in boarding. And then we sat. We were told there was a delay in getting luggage loaded – only one luggage crew trying to load two planes. That had me wondering, what other plane? The other commercial planes had already departed or weren’t due in for a while. We left 75 minutes late.
The airline was JetStar though I had booked through Qantas. This must be a discount airline. The crew offered food and drinks for sale, no drinks or snacks for free. I asked for a cup of water. They didn’t charge for that, though it took a while for it to arrive.
The flight was about 2½ hours. I arrived in Sydney at about 6:30. On the way to baggage claim I bought a sausage roll. After claiming my big bag I sat and ate the sausage roll. That was supper. Then I bought my Opal Card for the transportation system and got on the train to downtown.
I walked a couple blocks from the train to my hotel. On the ground floor this hotel has only an entryway, an elevator, and stairs. Reception was one floor up. The room was small, oddly shaped, and the window offered zero view.
Saturday, August 18
After breakfast in the nearby Queen Victoria Building I wanted visitor information. The hotel clerk didn’t seem to know what I wanted. I saw on the map (provided by the hotel) an information place not too far away in Martin Place. Once I got there I saw it was the size of a newsstand and was closed.
My map told about a free walking tour of Sydney starting from the Town Hall, one stop away on the subway from where I was. A train was just pulling in when I got to the platform. I got on. But it just sat there. We heard a couple announcements of waiting for the lights to say the track ahead was clear. Ten minutes later I got off and walked. Both tour guides for the walk were late. They said there was a problem in one subway station resulting in delays through the entire system.
The walking tour took me through the Queen Victoria Building (again), pointing out the statue of the queen and one of her dog and then the huge clocks. The guide also told us about a letter form Queen Elizabeth II that is to be opened in 2060. The tour went on to Hyde Park and the Hyde Park Barracks where the guide told us about early Sydney history. We went on to Martin Place (where I had been not long before). Some kind of military commemoration was being held here so we only walked through. Around a couple corners and we were in an alley. Above us hung a large number of bird cages, all empty. The guide said this was an art installation representing all the extinct bird species. Recordings of their calls played from nearby speakers.
The tour went into the Customs House which has a large model of downtown Sydney under the transparent floor. We went on past Circular Quay and into The Rocks with its alleys. We ended the tour with a good view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
The tour passed a street market, so I went back to it to look over what they had for sale and to have lunch. I visited the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art. This isn’t art for tourists, but it didn’t hold my interest. The museum is not very big, so it didn’t take long.
I went back to the Customs House and its information desk. I got my questions answered. A big one was where might I find an internet cafe? Sorry, they’ve all gone out of business. The Customs House and the State Library have computers for use. But they’re already closed for the day.
I went back to The Rocks. I saw the Observatory grounds, then walked onto the Harbour Bridge (without taking the over 200 steps to the top of the pylon or even considered doing a bridge climb). This was at sunset, so I got a good picture of the Opera House.
I looked for a restaurant in The Rocks and probably should have taken one I had turned down. Prices, even adjusting for currency conversion, seemed expensive. Many restaurants offered “burgers” for about $15 US, though it seemed strange to see “chicken burger” or “pulled pork burger” or “crocodile burger.” I ate lots of burgers during the trip. Dishes other than burgers were usually $20 and higher. Many restaurants listed prices for main dishes in the $25-$40 range. One restaurant at Ayers Rock Resort offered a buffet for $55 a person. I passed on that one. Because I didn’t choose a restaurant in The Rocks I ended up at one near Circular Quay that serves Malaysian street food. The satay sauce had too much onion for my tastes.
I went to the Opera House for that evening’s opera. There were large crowds also heading in that direction because the orchestra was accompanying the first Harry Potter movie. The movie was shown and instead of the background music coming from the speakers it came from a live orchestra. Yes, a very popular idea.
In buying a ticket for the opera I choked on the price – over $200 US for an available seat. Instead, I got a ticket for Monday night, paying $150 for it.
After all that walking I decided to take the subway the two stops back to my hotel. It went one station and stopped. After five minutes I got off and walked. The issues of the morning had not yet been resolved.
Sunday, August 19
I watched one of the clocks in the Queen Victoria Building do its thing at 9:00. Trumpeters appear at the parapets. Then we see a series of dioramas about the English King Charles I, including one where he is about to be beheaded.
Here’s a picture of the other big clock. Above the bands for the time and date are scenes of colonial Australia.
Then I walked to the Australia Museum. Most of this is natural history, though much larger and better done than the small museum in Alice Springs. This museum is much appreciated by kids who have a couple areas designed for them. The main hall had an exhibit of 100 important treasures of the museum with lots of extras. One is a diorama of a busy bird colony with lots of taxidermy birds. The nearby notes say birds are now studied differently so another diorama would probably never be created again. Other treasures included indigenous artifacts from Australia and across southern Asia. Other display halls included taxidermy animals from mouse to giraffe, birds of Australia, native people, minerals, and what animals have to do to survive in an arid continent (hint: the big mammals are gone).
When I was young I learned a song about a kookaburra who sat in the gum tree eating gumdrops and laughing. Yes, I know there are gum trees in Australia, but they don’t grow gumdrops. Of course, I had to take a picture of the laughing kookaburra.
I had lunch in the 4th (top) floor cafe. There were nice views from there.
There’s a couple cool things about the Opal transportation card. First, it can be used on trains, buses, and ferries. Second, on Sundays one would pay $2.50 (Aus) for the first ride of the day and after that it is all free. One could use it to go out to the Blue Mountains west of the city for the day (which I visited on a previous trip) and pay only $2.50.
So I took a bus to Circular Quay and got on the ferry to Watsons Bay. From there it is a short walk to South Head, the bit of land that is the southern side to the entrance of Sydney Harbour. Along that walk one passes Lady Bay Beach, where nudity is permitted. As cold as I was with the wind I wondered about the few nude people on the beach. Here’s a view across the Harbour entrance to North Head.
I was back to Circular Quay at about 4:30. The first stop was back to the hotel to add the hoodie under the sweater and jacket.
I realized Darling Harbour was rather close and was known for restaurants. So I walked over and walked all around. I didn’t want fast food and I didn’t want expensive – or I wanted expensive I would enjoy. I felt cold doing all that walking, I think the temperature was in the low 50s F. I found a restaurant that had chicken breast stuffed with feta and spinach, which looked good.
A lot of restaurants in the Darling area and all around the city offer outdoor seating in weather I consider too cold for such a thing. They manage it with space heaters, some with dramatic tall flames. As I got into this restaurant I saw they really didn’t have indoor seating. I asked for a warm table and was given one under two space heaters. This wasn’t ideal. I had to keep the hood over my head to protect it from the heat, yet the blowing wind was still cold. The chicken was good.
The price of the chicken was $21 US, already a little pricey. I was surprised by an extra $5 (Aus) charge on the bill. The waitress had a hard time explaining it, likely because only foreigners questioned it. What she finally explained was that it was the Sunday Surcharge. It allows the restaurant to pay the staff a little extra for working on Sunday. The surcharge used to be widespread though now many restaurants have stopped charging it. Alas, I hadn’t seen anything in the menu about the surcharge, so was surprised.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Three brothers
I went to see the documentary movie Three Identical Strangers this afternoon. In 1980 three young men discover they are triplets separated at birth, adopted and raised by three different families. The brothers rejoice in each other and the world marvels over their similarities (and doesn’t think to ask about their differences). Their parents begin to ask questions. Why were they separated? Any of these couples would have taken all three. Why weren’t we told of the others? We slowly learn that they were part of a study of nature or nurture – is our adult self more influenced by our genetics or by the care we received from our families? But with the news of the brothers finding each other the study was abandoned and all the record sealed. Such a study is now viewed as highly unethical. The brothers grapple with the knowledge their lives were manipulated.
Before the movie started one of the previews was for American Chaos. It will be in theaters in a couple weeks. The basic idea is a reporter (and I didn’t catch who) has been going around asking people why they voted for the nasty guy. Some of those comments were, of course, in the preview – and *every one* of them was based on preserving social hierarchy, the ranking I talk so much about. So I have no doubt the reason why the nasty guy is in office is people want him to keep marginalized populations marginalized. He’s there to enforce racism, misogyny, homophobia, class warfare, and all the rest. I don’t think I could sit through 90 minutes of that.
When the preview was over I heard a male voice behind me, “Must’ve been made by a Democrat.”
Before the movie started one of the previews was for American Chaos. It will be in theaters in a couple weeks. The basic idea is a reporter (and I didn’t catch who) has been going around asking people why they voted for the nasty guy. Some of those comments were, of course, in the preview – and *every one* of them was based on preserving social hierarchy, the ranking I talk so much about. So I have no doubt the reason why the nasty guy is in office is people want him to keep marginalized populations marginalized. He’s there to enforce racism, misogyny, homophobia, class warfare, and all the rest. I don’t think I could sit through 90 minutes of that.
When the preview was over I heard a male voice behind me, “Must’ve been made by a Democrat.”
But I’m a citizen!
I’ve still got a few days of travelogue to go, but there are some news items that needs to be shared. Here’s one of them.
Melissa McEwan of Shakesville is getting real tired of being a Cassandra – a person who tells the truth but who is ignored. During the horrific news about children being ripped from parents at the southern border, she commented that while the action at that time was against immigrants (and people asking for asylum are not acting illegally!) the nasty guy and his minions would soon target those who have been here legally for a while and then also target US citizens.
On to the story of Juan, born in Brownsville, Texas. He applied to renew his US passport, and was denied. Note that he previously did have a passport. The reason for the denial – the State Department didn’t believe he was a citizen. Juan has a birth certificate. The gov’t says there is “significant incidence” of citizenship fraud (and the gov’t gets to define “signficant”).
Juan was told to bring supporting documentation – evidence his mother got prenatal care, his baptism certificate, rental agreements from the time he was born. Sure. Everybody has a copy of their parents’ rental agreement from 40 years ago. Also note that bit about baptism certificate – only Christians need apply.
So Juan was able to gather some of those records, but was denied again. The gov’t is the one who gets to decide that the birth certificate is fraudulent and also gets to decide whether supporting documentation is sufficient. So if you’ve been targeted there is no way to win this game.
McEwan and her various commenters remind us that it may be Latinx people along the Texas border now, but they’re only the first step. Then it might be on to all immigrants, the queer, trans, disabled, of a religious minority, visible dissidents, or any other marginalized class. The goal posts can be moved as far as needed.
Melissa McEwan of Shakesville is getting real tired of being a Cassandra – a person who tells the truth but who is ignored. During the horrific news about children being ripped from parents at the southern border, she commented that while the action at that time was against immigrants (and people asking for asylum are not acting illegally!) the nasty guy and his minions would soon target those who have been here legally for a while and then also target US citizens.
On to the story of Juan, born in Brownsville, Texas. He applied to renew his US passport, and was denied. Note that he previously did have a passport. The reason for the denial – the State Department didn’t believe he was a citizen. Juan has a birth certificate. The gov’t says there is “significant incidence” of citizenship fraud (and the gov’t gets to define “signficant”).
Juan was told to bring supporting documentation – evidence his mother got prenatal care, his baptism certificate, rental agreements from the time he was born. Sure. Everybody has a copy of their parents’ rental agreement from 40 years ago. Also note that bit about baptism certificate – only Christians need apply.
So Juan was able to gather some of those records, but was denied again. The gov’t is the one who gets to decide that the birth certificate is fraudulent and also gets to decide whether supporting documentation is sufficient. So if you’ve been targeted there is no way to win this game.
McEwan and her various commenters remind us that it may be Latinx people along the Texas border now, but they’re only the first step. Then it might be on to all immigrants, the queer, trans, disabled, of a religious minority, visible dissidents, or any other marginalized class. The goal posts can be moved as far as needed.
Travelouge – mind the gap
I think I’m getting over jet lag. On Monday night I went to bed at the usual time and slept well – without waking at 2:00 unable to sleep for a couple hours. I slept for nine hours.
Tuesday night I again went to bed at the usual time and couldn’t get to sleep for a couple hours. When I did sleep it was for the usual 7 hours.
Last night was similar to Tuesday night, though I got to sleep a little quicker than before and was up around 8:30.
On with the travelogue.
Monday, August 13
I had a morning flight from Cairns to Alice Springs. I got a window seat. After passing over the rainforest and eastern mountains there was a lot of land with no sign of humans and not much sign of vegetation. Some of the ground was a pretty red color.
The transfer from the airport, a ways south of town, was straightforward. There are maybe ten flights in and out of the Alice Springs airport a day. The shuttle company is ready to go after each one lands. They also have a set schedule for pickup at each hotel – for this flight we’ll be at this hotel at this time.
I got to the hotel at noon. They said the room wouldn’t be ready until after 2:00. I left my suitcases and started to explore the town.
The tourist area of Alice Spring is Todd Mall, a pedestrian zone. There are many shops and a few restaurants. Todd Mall is known for a few art galleries for indigenous art. They weren’t as interesting as I had hoped. This is art to decorate the home. It is in the traditional dot style of many of the indigenous people, but is art that doesn’t offend the tourist. There is nothing to hint that these might be oppressed people. So this perusal took little time.
After lunch I took a city bus to the Araluen Center and the Museum of Central Australia. I got there after 2:00 and it closed at 4:00. The museum’s temporary exhibit was a series of photos taken in the area between 1915 and 1918, 100 years ago. They were quite interesting. The permanent exhibit was a natural history display, the geography, plants, and animals of the region. Nice, but not great.
In choosing the museum I had to skip the Araluen Arts Center. I didn’t have time for both. The precinct had art of Albert Namitjira (click here for some of his art) who was one of the famous indigenous artists. I suspect I made the wrong choice on which exhibit to see.
https://araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au/art-collections/albert-namatjira-hermannsburg
I was done at the museum a bit after 3:30. I checked the bus schedule and saw it would be 35 minutes to the next one. I figured I could walk the two miles back to downtown in that amount of time (checking the maps just now I see it was only one mile) and get there ahead of the bus. So I did.
I checked into the hotel and rested a bit. I had enough time before sunset to climb Anzac Hill. This is a small hill on the north edge of town that provides a view over the town and of the surrounding hills. It also is a memorial to the Australia New Zealand Army Corps and the various wars they fought in.
Back down the hill and supper. That’s when I found Todd Mall closes at 5:00 – including the restaurants. It makes one wonder where they expect the overnight tourists to eat. I found two restaurants open in the evening and one of the two was closed due to “unforseen circumstances.” The other was packed, so all they could offer was a seat at the bar.
Tuesday, August 14
Alice Springs is much colder than Cairns. Yesterday the high was above 70F. This morning the low was 38F. I started out wearing my sweater, hoodie, and jacket. My parka didn’t fit in the suitcase.
Many, perhaps most, hotels now put a duvet or comforter on the bed. In most hotel rooms for most of the year these are inappropriate. I have a duvet for my own bed in Detroit – and use it in cold February. My hotel in Cairns, as did the hotels in Ayers Rock and Sydney, had one. In Cairns I rolled it up each night and lay under the double sheet.
My bed in Alice Springs didn’t have one – and really needed it. As I said, it got cold. I searched the room for blankets and didn’t find any. I spread a bath towel over the sheet and used 3 of the 4 pillows as mini comforters. At 3:00 am I added sweater and jacket on top. One might ask why not call down to the front desk for blankets? Well, they had already closed for the night.
The day’s adventure was a tour of the West MacDonnell Range and its pretty gaps and gorges. More than 300 million years ago a mountain building event created the MacDonnell Range. It is the only east-west series of mountains in Australia and the whole thing is about 400 miles long. When created they were pretty big – likely above 10,000 feet. Not much is left. The highest peak is about 3,800 feet above the surrounding land and much of what is there now is a double row of ridges maybe 500 feet high. These ridges are occasionally interrupted and it is these pretty gaps that people (like me) come to see. One of these gaps also determined the location of Alice Springs. It is where it’s at because a gap provided space for the Darwin to Adelaide telegraph line, railway, and road.
I was picked up at the hotel at 7:45. We stopped at a few other hotels around town and the 20 seat bus was almost full. The driver announced there had been a mixup and more were coming, as was a bigger bus, one for 36 people. It wasn’t a long wait. We left Alice Springs about 8:45 with 25 on board.
The first site was close to town. It was the grave of Jim Flynn, the guy who started the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He studied the lives of people in the outback and saw that too many people were dying of things that were treatable when doctors were available.
The driver was a pretty good storyteller. Between each site (and it sometimes took 20 minutes to get to the next one) he told about the site and the people involved, such as why this person named the site after that person. He told stories of explorers of the region. And he also told stories of how the indigenous people used the land. For example, he told about the many uses the indigenous people made of the mulga tree.
Here are pictures of the various gaps and gorges and chasms.
Simpsons Gap. Nobody remembers who this Simpsons person is.
Standley Gorge with its famous vertical walls. We heard the story of Ms Standley, though I don’t remember it.
The Ochre Pits. Ochre, in a variety of colors, is used by the indigenous people to paint their bodies. The various colors signify different things. These pits are a source of ochre and are seen as sacred. We weren’t to touch (and certainly not take!) the ochre.
Glen Helen Gorge. This was as far west as we went. There is a resort here and where we had lunch. The water in this picture is the Finke River, considered the oldest river on the planet and the one that has shifted least from its original position. Want to know what that means? Go find a geologist.
After lunch we stopped at a panoramic overlook. This is Mount Sonder, a bit to the northwest from where we were.
Ormiston Gorge was the first stop on the way back to Alice Springs. It is a beautiful valley. If it were summer the driver would suggest the pond here would be a good place to cool off.
Ellery Creek Big Hole. The last stop for the day. The driver said the water might be inviting but you do not want to swim here. The water is very deep (300 feet?) and one of the springs that feed it is very cold. If you swim into the cold water your muscles will cramp and that’s the end of you. So enjoy the beauty from the solid ground.
From there we went back to Alice Springs.
The second Todd Mall restaurant was open so I ate there. On my way up to the room for the night I stopped at the front desk and asked for blankets. The clerk said there should be some there. I said I hadn’t seen any. He was soon at my room with two blankets. They were quite welcome.
Tuesday night I again went to bed at the usual time and couldn’t get to sleep for a couple hours. When I did sleep it was for the usual 7 hours.
Last night was similar to Tuesday night, though I got to sleep a little quicker than before and was up around 8:30.
On with the travelogue.
Monday, August 13
I had a morning flight from Cairns to Alice Springs. I got a window seat. After passing over the rainforest and eastern mountains there was a lot of land with no sign of humans and not much sign of vegetation. Some of the ground was a pretty red color.
The transfer from the airport, a ways south of town, was straightforward. There are maybe ten flights in and out of the Alice Springs airport a day. The shuttle company is ready to go after each one lands. They also have a set schedule for pickup at each hotel – for this flight we’ll be at this hotel at this time.
I got to the hotel at noon. They said the room wouldn’t be ready until after 2:00. I left my suitcases and started to explore the town.
The tourist area of Alice Spring is Todd Mall, a pedestrian zone. There are many shops and a few restaurants. Todd Mall is known for a few art galleries for indigenous art. They weren’t as interesting as I had hoped. This is art to decorate the home. It is in the traditional dot style of many of the indigenous people, but is art that doesn’t offend the tourist. There is nothing to hint that these might be oppressed people. So this perusal took little time.
After lunch I took a city bus to the Araluen Center and the Museum of Central Australia. I got there after 2:00 and it closed at 4:00. The museum’s temporary exhibit was a series of photos taken in the area between 1915 and 1918, 100 years ago. They were quite interesting. The permanent exhibit was a natural history display, the geography, plants, and animals of the region. Nice, but not great.
In choosing the museum I had to skip the Araluen Arts Center. I didn’t have time for both. The precinct had art of Albert Namitjira (click here for some of his art) who was one of the famous indigenous artists. I suspect I made the wrong choice on which exhibit to see.
https://araluenartscentre.nt.gov.au/art-collections/albert-namatjira-hermannsburg
I was done at the museum a bit after 3:30. I checked the bus schedule and saw it would be 35 minutes to the next one. I figured I could walk the two miles back to downtown in that amount of time (checking the maps just now I see it was only one mile) and get there ahead of the bus. So I did.
I checked into the hotel and rested a bit. I had enough time before sunset to climb Anzac Hill. This is a small hill on the north edge of town that provides a view over the town and of the surrounding hills. It also is a memorial to the Australia New Zealand Army Corps and the various wars they fought in.
Back down the hill and supper. That’s when I found Todd Mall closes at 5:00 – including the restaurants. It makes one wonder where they expect the overnight tourists to eat. I found two restaurants open in the evening and one of the two was closed due to “unforseen circumstances.” The other was packed, so all they could offer was a seat at the bar.
Tuesday, August 14
Alice Springs is much colder than Cairns. Yesterday the high was above 70F. This morning the low was 38F. I started out wearing my sweater, hoodie, and jacket. My parka didn’t fit in the suitcase.
Many, perhaps most, hotels now put a duvet or comforter on the bed. In most hotel rooms for most of the year these are inappropriate. I have a duvet for my own bed in Detroit – and use it in cold February. My hotel in Cairns, as did the hotels in Ayers Rock and Sydney, had one. In Cairns I rolled it up each night and lay under the double sheet.
My bed in Alice Springs didn’t have one – and really needed it. As I said, it got cold. I searched the room for blankets and didn’t find any. I spread a bath towel over the sheet and used 3 of the 4 pillows as mini comforters. At 3:00 am I added sweater and jacket on top. One might ask why not call down to the front desk for blankets? Well, they had already closed for the night.
The day’s adventure was a tour of the West MacDonnell Range and its pretty gaps and gorges. More than 300 million years ago a mountain building event created the MacDonnell Range. It is the only east-west series of mountains in Australia and the whole thing is about 400 miles long. When created they were pretty big – likely above 10,000 feet. Not much is left. The highest peak is about 3,800 feet above the surrounding land and much of what is there now is a double row of ridges maybe 500 feet high. These ridges are occasionally interrupted and it is these pretty gaps that people (like me) come to see. One of these gaps also determined the location of Alice Springs. It is where it’s at because a gap provided space for the Darwin to Adelaide telegraph line, railway, and road.
I was picked up at the hotel at 7:45. We stopped at a few other hotels around town and the 20 seat bus was almost full. The driver announced there had been a mixup and more were coming, as was a bigger bus, one for 36 people. It wasn’t a long wait. We left Alice Springs about 8:45 with 25 on board.
The first site was close to town. It was the grave of Jim Flynn, the guy who started the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He studied the lives of people in the outback and saw that too many people were dying of things that were treatable when doctors were available.
The driver was a pretty good storyteller. Between each site (and it sometimes took 20 minutes to get to the next one) he told about the site and the people involved, such as why this person named the site after that person. He told stories of explorers of the region. And he also told stories of how the indigenous people used the land. For example, he told about the many uses the indigenous people made of the mulga tree.
Here are pictures of the various gaps and gorges and chasms.
Simpsons Gap. Nobody remembers who this Simpsons person is.
Standley Gorge with its famous vertical walls. We heard the story of Ms Standley, though I don’t remember it.
The Ochre Pits. Ochre, in a variety of colors, is used by the indigenous people to paint their bodies. The various colors signify different things. These pits are a source of ochre and are seen as sacred. We weren’t to touch (and certainly not take!) the ochre.
Glen Helen Gorge. This was as far west as we went. There is a resort here and where we had lunch. The water in this picture is the Finke River, considered the oldest river on the planet and the one that has shifted least from its original position. Want to know what that means? Go find a geologist.
After lunch we stopped at a panoramic overlook. This is Mount Sonder, a bit to the northwest from where we were.
Ormiston Gorge was the first stop on the way back to Alice Springs. It is a beautiful valley. If it were summer the driver would suggest the pond here would be a good place to cool off.
Ellery Creek Big Hole. The last stop for the day. The driver said the water might be inviting but you do not want to swim here. The water is very deep (300 feet?) and one of the springs that feed it is very cold. If you swim into the cold water your muscles will cramp and that’s the end of you. So enjoy the beauty from the solid ground.
From there we went back to Alice Springs.
The second Todd Mall restaurant was open so I ate there. On my way up to the room for the night I stopped at the front desk and asked for blankets. The clerk said there should be some there. I said I hadn’t seen any. He was soon at my room with two blankets. They were quite welcome.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Travelogue – hanging by a cable
Jet lag lingers. I last posted on Saturday. On that day I had a middle of the night work session, then got up at 10:30. The day went well and I went to bed at my usual 11:00.
At 2:00 I was awake. And didn’t go back to sleep. I lay in bed mentally working on a computational puzzle, which I’ll eventually share with my friend and debate partner. At 6:00 decided to get up because I needed to get up at 7:00 anyway.
I did get a little sleepy mid afternoon but a long and wonderful phone conversation with my brother took care of that. I was nodding off around 8:00 so, after having been awake for 18 hours, was in bed by 8:45.
And awake at 2:00. It’s now 3:20.
Back to the travelogue
Tuesday, August 7 to Saturday, August 11
In the previous post I was describing the International Handbell Symposium and its massed ringing concert of international music. Here’s a photo of the ringing hall during the last rehearsal. My spot was in the second row on the right. An origami class created paper cranes that were placed across the front of the director’s podium.
The Symposium included a lot of massed ringing rehearsal, but there were a few other activities. I attended four workshops. The first was a description of the culture of the Peranakan, one of the ethnic groups in Singapore. The word Peranakan means child of the soil, though that might be hard now with huge population density in the modern city. This culture was originally from along the Malacca Strait and has pulled in influences from Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The presenter talked about the food, bead work on clothing (the phoenix is female, the dragon is male), the favorite colors of pink and green, and the music tends to be a blend of English and Malay.
I attended a workshop on solo ringing, which I’ve done. The workshop title suggested it might be more advanced than it was.
Another workshop was Canadian folk songs. The presenter talked about the various tunes and we rang through them.
A last workshop was Korean folk dance, well, one particular dance. This one featured extra long sleeves pulled over the hands so that arm motions would make the long cloth flutter. After we all learned the dance the leaders asked participants to perform in small groups while the rest watched. Most in the class were young. I was part of the “old” people – older than 30. As four of us “old” people did the dance others had their phones out capturing the moment for the world. I was shown one of those videos and it may be posted somewhere. No need to go looking for it.
Many of these international symposiums include a cultural excursion. So one afternoon all 350 of us boarded buses and went up the hills to Kuranda and the Rainforestation. Yeah, culture for the tourist. The site included several areas. My half of the group started with the Aboriginal dance theater. Three guys playing didgeridoo and beating sticks accompanied three others who did traditional dances, most of which imitated the kangaroo, snake, and emu. Thankfully, this was only 15 minutes. Then the men allowed us to throw boomerangs (I declined) and demonstrated throwing spears (two of them are record-holders).
The next section was a small zoo, featuring kangaroos, dingos, koalas, and crocodiles. After a pause for a snack (which one could buy) we were loaded into amphibious vehicles, old army ducks, for a tour through the rainforest. The guide pointed out various interesting plants. Of course, one could buy a photo of oneself sitting in the duck with a dozen other people.
Then came supper, which was very nice, and dancing. A three person band played music that would accompany dancing out in the bush and taught us some of the dances. The space for dancing was much too small for this size crowd, so I was content to watch.
On Saturday after the final concert (and a chance to change into party clothes) the symposium ended with a banquet. It was to start with a parade of flags at 7:30, so we were told to be seated at 7:15. The parade happened around 7:35, and … The appetizer was served at my table at 8:10. The main course was served at 8:45. The dessert was served at 9:30. Then the speechifying started – thanks for the workshop leaders, the massed ringing directors, a special honor and response, and … At 10:00 I left. I had booked an early morning event for the next morning. The speechifying could continue without me.
My hotel offered a laundry service for a pretty good rate, saving me the hassle of taking the time and of hauling my clothes to the partner hotel to do it. So I had them do a week’s worth of clothes. Alas, the bundle came back minus a sock. The hotel desk clerk was all apologetic and offered a bottle of wine (I don’t drink) or can of soda (most have sugar or caffeine and I avoid both). I suggested perhaps a voucher to buy a pair of socks. That he wasn’t authorized to offer. Nor could he offer a small discount on the room. So no reimbursement. Sigh.
Sunday, August 12
The early morning event I had booked was to take the Kuranda Scenic Train from Cairns up the hills to Kuranda. That town sits at an elevation of just above 1000 feet. Building the route was begun in 1887 and the railroad would be glad to tell you how difficult it was and what a marvelous feat of engineering it was for its time with tunnels to blast and bridges to build the 22 mile route.
Here’s a photo of the train at the tight horseshoe bend. The old style cars are pulled by modern locomotives that have been painted by an aboriginal artist to show the legend of Buda-Dji, the snake that carved the Barron Gorge, which the train passes.
Here is a photo of the smaller waterfall along the route.
The big one, the Barron Falls, was only a trickle this time of year. The hotel desk clerk (who doubles as a travel agent) suggesting looking for a video of the Barron Falls in flood, which it did last March.
At this point in my writing I was sleepy enough to go back to bed. The time was 4:30. I slept to 10:15.
Kuranda is a pleasant tourist town (emphasis on tourist), so I spent most of my time on the trails that circle the city and go along the river and through the rainforest.
Lunch was at a Thai Cafe. Alas, I got there just after a Chinese group cleaned them out. I did have a meal of fish cakes. Afterward, I went to another shop for a sausage roll (sausage meat in a pastry tube).
The trip back down the mountain was by Sky Train. The best way to describe it is with a photo:
I’ve been on these sorts of things before, such as at Cedar Point in Ohio. This one is notable for a couple things. First, it is long, the whole thing is 4.5 miles. Second, it glides over the rainforest, allowing one to see it without disturbing it. The support towers were brought in by helicopter so an access road didn’t need to be built through the rainforest. There are two stations along the way. One has the option of getting out and provides a look at the Barron Falls from the opposite side of the gorge from the train. The other stop requires getting off (the whole distance has two loops of cable, not one) and offers a look at the rainforest. Here I heard a bit from a nature guide about the plants and animals, mostly nocturnal, around us. Why are tree snakes rarely venomous? While waiting for the mouse to die it will likely fall out of the tree. Dinner is now on the forest floor. This ride across the rainforest and down the mountain was one of the highlights of the trip. Here’s a photo of the final descent.
At 2:00 I was awake. And didn’t go back to sleep. I lay in bed mentally working on a computational puzzle, which I’ll eventually share with my friend and debate partner. At 6:00 decided to get up because I needed to get up at 7:00 anyway.
I did get a little sleepy mid afternoon but a long and wonderful phone conversation with my brother took care of that. I was nodding off around 8:00 so, after having been awake for 18 hours, was in bed by 8:45.
And awake at 2:00. It’s now 3:20.
Back to the travelogue
Tuesday, August 7 to Saturday, August 11
In the previous post I was describing the International Handbell Symposium and its massed ringing concert of international music. Here’s a photo of the ringing hall during the last rehearsal. My spot was in the second row on the right. An origami class created paper cranes that were placed across the front of the director’s podium.
The Symposium included a lot of massed ringing rehearsal, but there were a few other activities. I attended four workshops. The first was a description of the culture of the Peranakan, one of the ethnic groups in Singapore. The word Peranakan means child of the soil, though that might be hard now with huge population density in the modern city. This culture was originally from along the Malacca Strait and has pulled in influences from Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. The presenter talked about the food, bead work on clothing (the phoenix is female, the dragon is male), the favorite colors of pink and green, and the music tends to be a blend of English and Malay.
I attended a workshop on solo ringing, which I’ve done. The workshop title suggested it might be more advanced than it was.
Another workshop was Canadian folk songs. The presenter talked about the various tunes and we rang through them.
A last workshop was Korean folk dance, well, one particular dance. This one featured extra long sleeves pulled over the hands so that arm motions would make the long cloth flutter. After we all learned the dance the leaders asked participants to perform in small groups while the rest watched. Most in the class were young. I was part of the “old” people – older than 30. As four of us “old” people did the dance others had their phones out capturing the moment for the world. I was shown one of those videos and it may be posted somewhere. No need to go looking for it.
Many of these international symposiums include a cultural excursion. So one afternoon all 350 of us boarded buses and went up the hills to Kuranda and the Rainforestation. Yeah, culture for the tourist. The site included several areas. My half of the group started with the Aboriginal dance theater. Three guys playing didgeridoo and beating sticks accompanied three others who did traditional dances, most of which imitated the kangaroo, snake, and emu. Thankfully, this was only 15 minutes. Then the men allowed us to throw boomerangs (I declined) and demonstrated throwing spears (two of them are record-holders).
The next section was a small zoo, featuring kangaroos, dingos, koalas, and crocodiles. After a pause for a snack (which one could buy) we were loaded into amphibious vehicles, old army ducks, for a tour through the rainforest. The guide pointed out various interesting plants. Of course, one could buy a photo of oneself sitting in the duck with a dozen other people.
Then came supper, which was very nice, and dancing. A three person band played music that would accompany dancing out in the bush and taught us some of the dances. The space for dancing was much too small for this size crowd, so I was content to watch.
On Saturday after the final concert (and a chance to change into party clothes) the symposium ended with a banquet. It was to start with a parade of flags at 7:30, so we were told to be seated at 7:15. The parade happened around 7:35, and … The appetizer was served at my table at 8:10. The main course was served at 8:45. The dessert was served at 9:30. Then the speechifying started – thanks for the workshop leaders, the massed ringing directors, a special honor and response, and … At 10:00 I left. I had booked an early morning event for the next morning. The speechifying could continue without me.
My hotel offered a laundry service for a pretty good rate, saving me the hassle of taking the time and of hauling my clothes to the partner hotel to do it. So I had them do a week’s worth of clothes. Alas, the bundle came back minus a sock. The hotel desk clerk was all apologetic and offered a bottle of wine (I don’t drink) or can of soda (most have sugar or caffeine and I avoid both). I suggested perhaps a voucher to buy a pair of socks. That he wasn’t authorized to offer. Nor could he offer a small discount on the room. So no reimbursement. Sigh.
Sunday, August 12
The early morning event I had booked was to take the Kuranda Scenic Train from Cairns up the hills to Kuranda. That town sits at an elevation of just above 1000 feet. Building the route was begun in 1887 and the railroad would be glad to tell you how difficult it was and what a marvelous feat of engineering it was for its time with tunnels to blast and bridges to build the 22 mile route.
Here’s a photo of the train at the tight horseshoe bend. The old style cars are pulled by modern locomotives that have been painted by an aboriginal artist to show the legend of Buda-Dji, the snake that carved the Barron Gorge, which the train passes.
Here is a photo of the smaller waterfall along the route.
The big one, the Barron Falls, was only a trickle this time of year. The hotel desk clerk (who doubles as a travel agent) suggesting looking for a video of the Barron Falls in flood, which it did last March.
At this point in my writing I was sleepy enough to go back to bed. The time was 4:30. I slept to 10:15.
Kuranda is a pleasant tourist town (emphasis on tourist), so I spent most of my time on the trails that circle the city and go along the river and through the rainforest.
Lunch was at a Thai Cafe. Alas, I got there just after a Chinese group cleaned them out. I did have a meal of fish cakes. Afterward, I went to another shop for a sausage roll (sausage meat in a pastry tube).
The trip back down the mountain was by Sky Train. The best way to describe it is with a photo:
I’ve been on these sorts of things before, such as at Cedar Point in Ohio. This one is notable for a couple things. First, it is long, the whole thing is 4.5 miles. Second, it glides over the rainforest, allowing one to see it without disturbing it. The support towers were brought in by helicopter so an access road didn’t need to be built through the rainforest. There are two stations along the way. One has the option of getting out and provides a look at the Barron Falls from the opposite side of the gorge from the train. The other stop requires getting off (the whole distance has two loops of cable, not one) and offers a look at the rainforest. Here I heard a bit from a nature guide about the plants and animals, mostly nocturnal, around us. Why are tree snakes rarely venomous? While waiting for the mouse to die it will likely fall out of the tree. Dinner is now on the forest floor. This ride across the rainforest and down the mountain was one of the highlights of the trip. Here’s a photo of the final descent.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Travelogue – welcome to country
I’m awake!
I posted last night at 3:30 am. I went back to bed at 4:00 and slept to 10:30. We’ll see if I’m up in the middle of the night tonight.
I can now get to the parts of my trip to Australia not included in previous posts.
Thursday, August 2, leaving home.
I stayed up late the night before to get a jump on jet lag, so got up after 9:00. I got to the Detroit airport at 4:45 and bought a salad for the flight. We took off on time, about 6:20. I had a good view from my window seat and a map display on the screen in front of me. We flew south until we were west of Toledo, then headed west. We passed over Quincy, IL, cut a corner of New Mexico and the tip of Nevada. I ate my salad about an hour out of Los Angeles. We landed about 8:15 local time. I collected my suitcase and headed into the huge Bradley Terminal, where I checked in for the Qantas flight. At the gate I saw it was delayed – original time 11:30, new time 12:15. Actual time 12:30. This is 3:30 am Detroit time. I slept some on the plane, probably not a full night's worth.
The plane arrived in Brisbane at 6:45 am Saturday morning local time – 4:45 pm Friday Detroit time. There was already too little time to make the connecting flight. Qantas knew that and rebooked me on a flight that left at 9:50. That flight was also delayed, though only 15 minutes. I got to Cairns at 12:30. The shuttle to the hotel didn't leave until 1:45 (also late). So lunch was at 3:15. I wandered around downtown Cairns, along the esplanade, past the convention center, and into a mall. I had supper at 6:15 and was in bed by 8:30.
Cairns is quite a ways north on the Queensland coast. It is definitely tropical. Though winter (the dry season) there were only a few times where I wanted or wore a jacket. The town, definitely the central business district, is geared to tourists, with 3-4 adventure booking agencies per block interspersed among the hotels, restaurants, and trinket shops. I could tell when I walked out of the tourist zone – suddenly no restaurants. The town is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, so crowds head to the dock each morning for their day trip to the reef. There are also a wide variety of other adventures – rainforest, wild animals, rafting, aboriginal culture, etc.
Sunset was about 6:00 pm. On the way back to the hotel I heard several trees full of noisy birds. Later someone said they weren’t birds, but bats. I didn’t actually see any of the critters.
Sunday, August 5
In the morning I took a city bus to the Flecker Gardens north of town. This showed a lot of the native species. I also walked through a section of rainforest and saw a stand of bamboo.
Nearby were three repurposed large storage tanks. They were built for WWII. They are huge cylinders which I guess to be over 100 feet in diameter. One is now an art gallery. The other two are concert venues. I walked through the gallery. The other two didn’t have concerts scheduled while I was in town.
Every hotel gave me passwords for their wi-fi. I took my little netbook computer, but I knew I couldn’t plug it in directly in most hotels because it uses 110v power and what comes out of the wall outlets is 220v. I looked in a couple stores where I could get adapters for the different shaped plugs. All the products said that USA devices also need a transformer. The stores didn’t have those.
My hotel was small, less than 30 rooms. I ate breakfast at a partner hotel a block away. The desk clerk at my hotel suggested I could go to the other and use a computer available for guests. So I did. I logged into my mail service and got the message that the mail site was incompatible with an obsolete browser on the computer. So much for that.
Though I didn’t find a power transformer I did find a bookstore and bought a couple books. One that I bought and read during the trip was *Kings in Grass Castles* by Mary Durack. This was a biography of her ancestors, primarily her grandfather Patsy Durack. He and his parents and siblings left Ireland after the potato famine and settled in Australia. The extended family opened southwestern Queensland for settlement, though it was a rough couple years. The area was in drought when the arrived and when the rain came it also brought a huge flood. But after that Patsy and his family did pretty well. About a dozen years later they heard about better land in the Kimberley region, the northern part of West Australia. They drove cattle across the deserts of the Northern Territory, losing all the cattle, most of the horses, and nearly their own lives. They took a different route for a second attempt. The problem was they were crossing land that had not yet been mapped. Patsy deeded the western lands to his sons, which was a good thing because he entrusted the eastern estates to his brother who lost it all in land speculation that went sour.
I enjoyed the book as a good introduction to white bushman history. There was a fair representation of the native people, who first welcomed the white people – until there were too many of them. I learned that some of the natives willingly worked for the white bushmen and enjoyed riding horses and wrangling cattle. Though I enjoyed the book I declined to buy the sequel. There was one difficulty in reading the book, that of names being used several times. Patsy’s brother was Michael. This Michael also had a father, a cousin, and a nephew named Michael. There were also a couple more family members with the name Patsy and a few named Jerry. I frequently consulted the family tree provided at the front of the book to remember which Michael had which nickname.
Monday, August 6
In the morning I went to the Cairns Art Museum. It featured indigenous art, but this wasn’t the pleasant inoffensive stuff for tourists. This art was about resistance and protest. One video was of a black dancer with a bulls-eye painted on his chest. Another display was of a black domestic servant, normally seen as invisible, but she is in an oversized dress that spreads across the floor and demands attention.
The museum isn’t very big, so I spent the rest of the morning sitting in the oceanside esplanade and reading.
I spent the afternoon at the Cairns Aquarium. It has displays and tanks of fish of the various zones in Queensland – the rivers, the tidal zone, and the ocean and reefs. A couple of the tanks were quite large and one of those held a few sharks. Once an hour a museum guide gave a talk at one of the tanks. I think I caught three of them. I had a good time there.
That evening was the opening ceremony for the International Handbell Symposium (my primary reason for making the trip). We had a parade of flags with the presidents of each national handbell guild. So we had flags for USA, Britain, Canada, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, walking together, New Zealand and Australia. We had a welcome to country by representatives of the local indigenous clan, by the head of the International Handbell Committee, and by the Australasia guild. There was music by vocal and bell choirs, including a new piece by a New Zealand composer for bells, voices, and Maori instruments. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Tuesday, August 7 to Saturday, August 11
This was the actual Symposium. We met in the Cairns Convention Center. Most of the time was taken up with rehearsal for our final massed concert, though there were a few other activities. There were at least 350 ringers from the countries listed, smaller than most Symposiums and probably less than half of the size of the Symposium two years ago in Vancouver.
There were 9 massed numbers, pieces all 350 of us played together. Each guild selected a piece with the Australians choosing a second piece. The Australians and Canadians held composition contests and the pieces they selected very much had a national character. The Aussie piece celebrated the Great Barrier Reef and the Canadian piece celebrated the Aurora Borealis. The Hong Kong director chose his own arrangement of the Yellow River Concerto, famous for blending Chinese and Western composition styles. The Singapore director brought an arrangement of one of their folk tunes. The American director brought an energetic piece of original American handbell music and the British director brought an original piece by one of his colleagues.
Alas, the Korean director brought an arrangement of a piece by Georges Bizet, who is French, the Japanese director brought a piece by Edward Elgar, who is English (at least it was the Japanese director’s arrangement), and the second Australian director brought a Les Miserable Medley.
The concert on Saturday afternoon went well. It also included an indigenous welcome to country. In addition to the nine massed pieces there was also a piece by a festival choir, those ringers who would rather rehearse than attend workshops.
I’ll have more about the Symposium in my next post.
I posted last night at 3:30 am. I went back to bed at 4:00 and slept to 10:30. We’ll see if I’m up in the middle of the night tonight.
I can now get to the parts of my trip to Australia not included in previous posts.
Thursday, August 2, leaving home.
I stayed up late the night before to get a jump on jet lag, so got up after 9:00. I got to the Detroit airport at 4:45 and bought a salad for the flight. We took off on time, about 6:20. I had a good view from my window seat and a map display on the screen in front of me. We flew south until we were west of Toledo, then headed west. We passed over Quincy, IL, cut a corner of New Mexico and the tip of Nevada. I ate my salad about an hour out of Los Angeles. We landed about 8:15 local time. I collected my suitcase and headed into the huge Bradley Terminal, where I checked in for the Qantas flight. At the gate I saw it was delayed – original time 11:30, new time 12:15. Actual time 12:30. This is 3:30 am Detroit time. I slept some on the plane, probably not a full night's worth.
The plane arrived in Brisbane at 6:45 am Saturday morning local time – 4:45 pm Friday Detroit time. There was already too little time to make the connecting flight. Qantas knew that and rebooked me on a flight that left at 9:50. That flight was also delayed, though only 15 minutes. I got to Cairns at 12:30. The shuttle to the hotel didn't leave until 1:45 (also late). So lunch was at 3:15. I wandered around downtown Cairns, along the esplanade, past the convention center, and into a mall. I had supper at 6:15 and was in bed by 8:30.
Cairns is quite a ways north on the Queensland coast. It is definitely tropical. Though winter (the dry season) there were only a few times where I wanted or wore a jacket. The town, definitely the central business district, is geared to tourists, with 3-4 adventure booking agencies per block interspersed among the hotels, restaurants, and trinket shops. I could tell when I walked out of the tourist zone – suddenly no restaurants. The town is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, so crowds head to the dock each morning for their day trip to the reef. There are also a wide variety of other adventures – rainforest, wild animals, rafting, aboriginal culture, etc.
Sunset was about 6:00 pm. On the way back to the hotel I heard several trees full of noisy birds. Later someone said they weren’t birds, but bats. I didn’t actually see any of the critters.
Sunday, August 5
In the morning I took a city bus to the Flecker Gardens north of town. This showed a lot of the native species. I also walked through a section of rainforest and saw a stand of bamboo.
Nearby were three repurposed large storage tanks. They were built for WWII. They are huge cylinders which I guess to be over 100 feet in diameter. One is now an art gallery. The other two are concert venues. I walked through the gallery. The other two didn’t have concerts scheduled while I was in town.
Every hotel gave me passwords for their wi-fi. I took my little netbook computer, but I knew I couldn’t plug it in directly in most hotels because it uses 110v power and what comes out of the wall outlets is 220v. I looked in a couple stores where I could get adapters for the different shaped plugs. All the products said that USA devices also need a transformer. The stores didn’t have those.
My hotel was small, less than 30 rooms. I ate breakfast at a partner hotel a block away. The desk clerk at my hotel suggested I could go to the other and use a computer available for guests. So I did. I logged into my mail service and got the message that the mail site was incompatible with an obsolete browser on the computer. So much for that.
Though I didn’t find a power transformer I did find a bookstore and bought a couple books. One that I bought and read during the trip was *Kings in Grass Castles* by Mary Durack. This was a biography of her ancestors, primarily her grandfather Patsy Durack. He and his parents and siblings left Ireland after the potato famine and settled in Australia. The extended family opened southwestern Queensland for settlement, though it was a rough couple years. The area was in drought when the arrived and when the rain came it also brought a huge flood. But after that Patsy and his family did pretty well. About a dozen years later they heard about better land in the Kimberley region, the northern part of West Australia. They drove cattle across the deserts of the Northern Territory, losing all the cattle, most of the horses, and nearly their own lives. They took a different route for a second attempt. The problem was they were crossing land that had not yet been mapped. Patsy deeded the western lands to his sons, which was a good thing because he entrusted the eastern estates to his brother who lost it all in land speculation that went sour.
I enjoyed the book as a good introduction to white bushman history. There was a fair representation of the native people, who first welcomed the white people – until there were too many of them. I learned that some of the natives willingly worked for the white bushmen and enjoyed riding horses and wrangling cattle. Though I enjoyed the book I declined to buy the sequel. There was one difficulty in reading the book, that of names being used several times. Patsy’s brother was Michael. This Michael also had a father, a cousin, and a nephew named Michael. There were also a couple more family members with the name Patsy and a few named Jerry. I frequently consulted the family tree provided at the front of the book to remember which Michael had which nickname.
Monday, August 6
In the morning I went to the Cairns Art Museum. It featured indigenous art, but this wasn’t the pleasant inoffensive stuff for tourists. This art was about resistance and protest. One video was of a black dancer with a bulls-eye painted on his chest. Another display was of a black domestic servant, normally seen as invisible, but she is in an oversized dress that spreads across the floor and demands attention.
The museum isn’t very big, so I spent the rest of the morning sitting in the oceanside esplanade and reading.
I spent the afternoon at the Cairns Aquarium. It has displays and tanks of fish of the various zones in Queensland – the rivers, the tidal zone, and the ocean and reefs. A couple of the tanks were quite large and one of those held a few sharks. Once an hour a museum guide gave a talk at one of the tanks. I think I caught three of them. I had a good time there.
That evening was the opening ceremony for the International Handbell Symposium (my primary reason for making the trip). We had a parade of flags with the presidents of each national handbell guild. So we had flags for USA, Britain, Canada, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, walking together, New Zealand and Australia. We had a welcome to country by representatives of the local indigenous clan, by the head of the International Handbell Committee, and by the Australasia guild. There was music by vocal and bell choirs, including a new piece by a New Zealand composer for bells, voices, and Maori instruments. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.
Tuesday, August 7 to Saturday, August 11
This was the actual Symposium. We met in the Cairns Convention Center. Most of the time was taken up with rehearsal for our final massed concert, though there were a few other activities. There were at least 350 ringers from the countries listed, smaller than most Symposiums and probably less than half of the size of the Symposium two years ago in Vancouver.
There were 9 massed numbers, pieces all 350 of us played together. Each guild selected a piece with the Australians choosing a second piece. The Australians and Canadians held composition contests and the pieces they selected very much had a national character. The Aussie piece celebrated the Great Barrier Reef and the Canadian piece celebrated the Aurora Borealis. The Hong Kong director chose his own arrangement of the Yellow River Concerto, famous for blending Chinese and Western composition styles. The Singapore director brought an arrangement of one of their folk tunes. The American director brought an energetic piece of original American handbell music and the British director brought an original piece by one of his colleagues.
Alas, the Korean director brought an arrangement of a piece by Georges Bizet, who is French, the Japanese director brought a piece by Edward Elgar, who is English (at least it was the Japanese director’s arrangement), and the second Australian director brought a Les Miserable Medley.
The concert on Saturday afternoon went well. It also included an indigenous welcome to country. In addition to the nine massed pieces there was also a piece by a festival choir, those ringers who would rather rehearse than attend workshops.
I’ll have more about the Symposium in my next post.
What time is it?
Going to Australia three weeks ago I fairly easily adapted to the local time. On the day of arrival (after some sleep on the various planes) I stayed up to the local time I wanted as my regular bedtime. After a night's sleep everything was fine.
On the return, no so much. I arrived home Thursday after not much sleep on the plane. I went to bed at midnight, not too far from my usual time. At 4:30 I was wide awake. At 5:30 I decided to get out of bed and do something useful.
Then at 5:30 this afternoon I got sleepy. Moving around to fix supper woke me up a bit, but when trying to do some evening work at the computer I kept nodding off. So by 8:00 I was in bed.
And wide awake at 1:30.
It is now 3:30 am. I might be able to try sleeping again.
On the return, no so much. I arrived home Thursday after not much sleep on the plane. I went to bed at midnight, not too far from my usual time. At 4:30 I was wide awake. At 5:30 I decided to get out of bed and do something useful.
Then at 5:30 this afternoon I got sleepy. Moving around to fix supper woke me up a bit, but when trying to do some evening work at the computer I kept nodding off. So by 8:00 I was in bed.
And wide awake at 1:30.
It is now 3:30 am. I might be able to try sleeping again.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Travelogue – exploding toothpaste
I’m home.
Both flights today were “uneventful” (the way I like them – no delays, no storms, just routine flying). But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any drama on the way home.
I was up at 5:15 Sydney time and showered, packed, and out of the hotel by 6:50. The hotel is about halfway between two subway stations. I used the Town Hall station for most of the week because I could go through the glamorous Queen Victoria Building. It was beautiful and a bit warmer (though the building doesn’t have doors). An underground hall lined with shops connected directly to the station.
This morning, with big suitcase, the QVB elevator, which is at the far end of the building, wasn’t working. So I had to come about ¾ of the way back to get the escalator. And I just missed the subway to the airport, with the next not due for 11 minutes. By the time this train got to the airport it was crammed with people with big suitcases.
I had forgotten to put my tube of toothpaste into my checked bag (Aussie in-country flight security is much more lax than for international flights). So my security check was delayed while they searched my carryon, confiscated my toothpaste, then did another scan of the bag. In the process a few of my remaining Aussie coins fell through the rollers that move the bags along. Once extracted I donated them, put them in a collection place for worldwide charities.
I finished one book the day before so started a new one on the flight. A fresh book for a 13 hour flight was a good idea. Alas, the book was boring. I had bought it because it was an Australian classic and funny. It didn’t seem at all funny to me.
I took advantage of the entertainment system and watched Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, a 1994 Australian classic of gay camp. Two gay men and a transgender woman are hired to do a drag show in Alice Springs for a few weeks. The movie is about their travels from Sydney by way of the used bus they bought. Which, of course, breaks down in the desert. It won several awards for those drag costumes, including an Oscar, and Terence Stamp, who plays transgender Bernadette, also won several awards.
After serving a meal the cabin lights were turned off, suggesting we might want to sleep (we were going through night, though leaving Sydney at 10:00 Thursday morning and arriving in Los Angeles at 6:00 Thursday morning). But it was difficult to sleep having had a full night’s sleep just a few hours before.
I also watched Pleasantville, a 1998 movie starring Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon as teenage brother and sister who are transported into his favorite black & white TV show of life in 1958. As each character is nudged out of being simply pleasant and into some emotional depth they are portrayed in color. It’s a pretty neat story.
I succeeded at sleeping for a while. But middle seats aren’t all that comfortable.
Back to the entertainment system to listen to some music. But it was now playing in only one channel. And after telling it to play an album then trying to find out how many tracks remained I managed to freeze the system.
Back to the boring book, which I started skimming and finished before we landed.
It was a long flight.
I had a comfortable layover in Los Angeles and remembered to swap books before re-checking my big suitcase after customs. During that layover I ate lunch and bought a salad for the flight.
The flight from Los Angeles flew directly over Las Vegas, north of the Grand Canyon (I think I got a photo of the west end), and across the tip of Lake Michigan. I slept across eastern Colorado and all of Nebraska and Iowa.
An early landing in Detroit where a friend gave me a ride home. Then I ate the salad.
Both flights today were “uneventful” (the way I like them – no delays, no storms, just routine flying). But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any drama on the way home.
I was up at 5:15 Sydney time and showered, packed, and out of the hotel by 6:50. The hotel is about halfway between two subway stations. I used the Town Hall station for most of the week because I could go through the glamorous Queen Victoria Building. It was beautiful and a bit warmer (though the building doesn’t have doors). An underground hall lined with shops connected directly to the station.
This morning, with big suitcase, the QVB elevator, which is at the far end of the building, wasn’t working. So I had to come about ¾ of the way back to get the escalator. And I just missed the subway to the airport, with the next not due for 11 minutes. By the time this train got to the airport it was crammed with people with big suitcases.
I had forgotten to put my tube of toothpaste into my checked bag (Aussie in-country flight security is much more lax than for international flights). So my security check was delayed while they searched my carryon, confiscated my toothpaste, then did another scan of the bag. In the process a few of my remaining Aussie coins fell through the rollers that move the bags along. Once extracted I donated them, put them in a collection place for worldwide charities.
I finished one book the day before so started a new one on the flight. A fresh book for a 13 hour flight was a good idea. Alas, the book was boring. I had bought it because it was an Australian classic and funny. It didn’t seem at all funny to me.
I took advantage of the entertainment system and watched Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, a 1994 Australian classic of gay camp. Two gay men and a transgender woman are hired to do a drag show in Alice Springs for a few weeks. The movie is about their travels from Sydney by way of the used bus they bought. Which, of course, breaks down in the desert. It won several awards for those drag costumes, including an Oscar, and Terence Stamp, who plays transgender Bernadette, also won several awards.
After serving a meal the cabin lights were turned off, suggesting we might want to sleep (we were going through night, though leaving Sydney at 10:00 Thursday morning and arriving in Los Angeles at 6:00 Thursday morning). But it was difficult to sleep having had a full night’s sleep just a few hours before.
I also watched Pleasantville, a 1998 movie starring Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon as teenage brother and sister who are transported into his favorite black & white TV show of life in 1958. As each character is nudged out of being simply pleasant and into some emotional depth they are portrayed in color. It’s a pretty neat story.
I succeeded at sleeping for a while. But middle seats aren’t all that comfortable.
Back to the entertainment system to listen to some music. But it was now playing in only one channel. And after telling it to play an album then trying to find out how many tracks remained I managed to freeze the system.
Back to the boring book, which I started skimming and finished before we landed.
It was a long flight.
I had a comfortable layover in Los Angeles and remembered to swap books before re-checking my big suitcase after customs. During that layover I ate lunch and bought a salad for the flight.
The flight from Los Angeles flew directly over Las Vegas, north of the Grand Canyon (I think I got a photo of the west end), and across the tip of Lake Michigan. I slept across eastern Colorado and all of Nebraska and Iowa.
An early landing in Detroit where a friend gave me a ride home. Then I ate the salad.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Travelogue - Rock on
Yes! I'm in a hotel room that allows me to use my computer! It has a 115V outlet for "shavers only." I doubt my computer uses much more than a shaver does. Alas, it means I have to use it sitting on a chair in the bathroom.
This hotel room is in Ayers Rock Resort. It is designated an "apartment," meaning I have a dining room and kitchen and, in the closet, a clothes washer and dryer!. I'm putting that washer to use this evening, though it is smaller than mine at home and I'll have to do a second load in the morning before catching my flight.
Ayers Rock is the name of the resort and of the airport even though that gigantic hunk of rock nearby is now known as Uluru. The resort is a series of hotels and a campground, a little community. If one wanted one wouldn't have to venture out. One could even climb a hill for an overlook to that hunk of rock. But one would be missing the reason why the resort is here.
The resort reinforces that self-contained idea. They provide a shuttle to get around the resort. But they don't provide transportation to Uluru. However, there are several companies that vie for that service -- for a price. The resort is also the only game in the area. If you don't stay at the resort the nearest hotel bed is halfway back to Alice Springs, about three hours by car. I paid much more for this apartment than I usually do for a room because by the time I booked it was this or a campsite, and I knew it was going to be cold. When I booked it I wondered if there was ever a problem that someone paid for a non-refundable flight, then couldn't get any room.
I arrived yesterday afternoon. The plane left Alice Springs early and we made good time (the flight duration is only 55 minutes). But when we got close to the Ayers Rock airport we were told there was no gate available for a while. A later announcement suggested maybe a medical flight had to take off. So we circled for about 20 minutes (making the flight late), allowing repeated views of Uluru from the air.
Once landed and luggage collected resort shuttles whisked us to our hotels. Alas, it seemed the checkin staff wasn't quite prepared for a busload of people appearing all at once (sheesh, aren't they used to this happening a few times a day? Like after each plane lands?).
Once the rush had subsided I went back to the desk to plan my stay. I then went to one of those lookout hills to see Uluru at sunset (which is a Really Big Deal around here). After sunset everyone heads to the restaurants, especially the ones that don't cost huge bucks. Yeah, it is that kind of resort. I'm not sure I want to know what one can get to eat when the buffet costs $50 (US) a person. No doubt crocodile and kangaroo are included.
Uluru isn't the only attraction here, though it is the one with all the fame. Also nearby is Kata Tjuta (catta jootta), which translates to "many heads." It is a huge number of stone domes (Uluru is a single dome) and a few of them are higher than the main attraction. When I saw this in my internet searches I knew I had to spend time here. That meant some choices.
A transport company offers a trip to Kata Tjuta and then a shuttle service to various points around Uluru. Decent price for it too. The catch -- the only trip to Kata Tjuta was at 5:45 am, time to watch the sunrise light up the rocks.
Those who know my usual hours may be surprised to learn this wasn't as much of a hardship as it might sound. I had to reset my internal clock when traveling halfway round the world, so I reset it in a way that would work for this trip. I knew I would have a few early mornings and probably only a couple late nights, so I've been going to bed between 9 and 10 rather than my usual 11 to 12 and getting up around 5 to 6.
Temperature this morning was about 43F. So about 60 of us (only 20 from my bus) tried to keep warm on the viewing platform for 45 minutes. Once the sun was up our driver wanted us back on the bus within 15 minutes. He wanted us to be first to the toilets and then first on the trails in amongst the domes.
I took the more difficult 3 hour hike. In some sections there wasn't much of a trail and the way was steep. It was a strenuous hike. I made it to the second overlook (a particular place on this trail) and back to the bus within the 3 hours. Beautiful views along the way. Here's the view at the second lookout.
We were taken back to the resort. I had time to rest and have lunch. Then I took the 2:00 shuttle to Uluru. I had time to walk to the watering hole and walk along the base trail, covering about a quarter of the way around. Then an hour rest before the shuttle picked up me (and several others) to take us to the official sunset viewing area.
And once the sun had set we (and everyone else) quickly went back to our cars and shuttles to join the evening parade back to the resort.
This hotel room is in Ayers Rock Resort. It is designated an "apartment," meaning I have a dining room and kitchen and, in the closet, a clothes washer and dryer!. I'm putting that washer to use this evening, though it is smaller than mine at home and I'll have to do a second load in the morning before catching my flight.
Ayers Rock is the name of the resort and of the airport even though that gigantic hunk of rock nearby is now known as Uluru. The resort is a series of hotels and a campground, a little community. If one wanted one wouldn't have to venture out. One could even climb a hill for an overlook to that hunk of rock. But one would be missing the reason why the resort is here.
The resort reinforces that self-contained idea. They provide a shuttle to get around the resort. But they don't provide transportation to Uluru. However, there are several companies that vie for that service -- for a price. The resort is also the only game in the area. If you don't stay at the resort the nearest hotel bed is halfway back to Alice Springs, about three hours by car. I paid much more for this apartment than I usually do for a room because by the time I booked it was this or a campsite, and I knew it was going to be cold. When I booked it I wondered if there was ever a problem that someone paid for a non-refundable flight, then couldn't get any room.
I arrived yesterday afternoon. The plane left Alice Springs early and we made good time (the flight duration is only 55 minutes). But when we got close to the Ayers Rock airport we were told there was no gate available for a while. A later announcement suggested maybe a medical flight had to take off. So we circled for about 20 minutes (making the flight late), allowing repeated views of Uluru from the air.
Once landed and luggage collected resort shuttles whisked us to our hotels. Alas, it seemed the checkin staff wasn't quite prepared for a busload of people appearing all at once (sheesh, aren't they used to this happening a few times a day? Like after each plane lands?).
Once the rush had subsided I went back to the desk to plan my stay. I then went to one of those lookout hills to see Uluru at sunset (which is a Really Big Deal around here). After sunset everyone heads to the restaurants, especially the ones that don't cost huge bucks. Yeah, it is that kind of resort. I'm not sure I want to know what one can get to eat when the buffet costs $50 (US) a person. No doubt crocodile and kangaroo are included.
Uluru isn't the only attraction here, though it is the one with all the fame. Also nearby is Kata Tjuta (catta jootta), which translates to "many heads." It is a huge number of stone domes (Uluru is a single dome) and a few of them are higher than the main attraction. When I saw this in my internet searches I knew I had to spend time here. That meant some choices.
A transport company offers a trip to Kata Tjuta and then a shuttle service to various points around Uluru. Decent price for it too. The catch -- the only trip to Kata Tjuta was at 5:45 am, time to watch the sunrise light up the rocks.
Those who know my usual hours may be surprised to learn this wasn't as much of a hardship as it might sound. I had to reset my internal clock when traveling halfway round the world, so I reset it in a way that would work for this trip. I knew I would have a few early mornings and probably only a couple late nights, so I've been going to bed between 9 and 10 rather than my usual 11 to 12 and getting up around 5 to 6.
Temperature this morning was about 43F. So about 60 of us (only 20 from my bus) tried to keep warm on the viewing platform for 45 minutes. Once the sun was up our driver wanted us back on the bus within 15 minutes. He wanted us to be first to the toilets and then first on the trails in amongst the domes.
I took the more difficult 3 hour hike. In some sections there wasn't much of a trail and the way was steep. It was a strenuous hike. I made it to the second overlook (a particular place on this trail) and back to the bus within the 3 hours. Beautiful views along the way. Here's the view at the second lookout.
We were taken back to the resort. I had time to rest and have lunch. Then I took the 2:00 shuttle to Uluru. I had time to walk to the watering hole and walk along the base trail, covering about a quarter of the way around. Then an hour rest before the shuttle picked up me (and several others) to take us to the official sunset viewing area.
And once the sun had set we (and everyone else) quickly went back to our cars and shuttles to join the evening parade back to the resort.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Adventure before dementia
I'm sitting at a computer in a youth hostel in Alice Springs. I have about 20 minutes before my session ends. That's the fun of traveling with an internet device that doesn't like the local current. So I'll write what I can in 20 minutes.
I'm not staying at the hostel. My hotel in around the corner. Many times I'm annoyed with a hotel bed that has a big puffy comforter -- in July. Looks great, way too hot. I dealt with such a bed in my hotel in Cairns last week. This bed didn't have a comforter. Only a sheet. And it got down to 37F last night. Yes, I was cold. No blankets in the room. I put a bath towel over the sheet. Used the extra pillows as insulation. Grabbed my jacket and sweater to put over me. I'll ask at the desk for a blanket for tonight, or at least extra towels.
The title to this post came from a sign sold to tourists. I decided that's what I'm doing, even if dementia is hopefully a couple decades off (at least!).
Today was a day trip into the MacDonnell Mountains. They aren't very high (at least not now). Whenever there is a break in the range there is usually a gorge of some sort. Many of these are quite beautiful. So the tour (about 25 of us in a small bus) went west from Alice and stopped at a few of these. We had lunch at Glen Helen (another such gap) and saw a couple more on the way back to town. I took lots of pictures, but can't share right now.
Over the last week I was in Cairns for the International Handbell Symposium. The final concert on Saturday was wonderful! It will be posted online soon and I will send out a link.
On Sunday I took the Scenic Train from Cairns up to Kuranda. Quite nice. Kuranda is very much a tourist town and I got tired of it quickly. The way back was by SkyRail. My siblings will remember the sky ride in Cedar Point. This is the same idea, but several kilometers long and floating above the rainforest. I heard they installed the 30-some towers by helicopter so the disturbance to the rainforest would be minimal -- no road through the jungle. The ride was wonderful!
I'm off to Ayers Rock (that's the name of the resort community, even if the thing we all come to see now goes by its indigenous name of Uluru). The flight is midday tomorrow.
Sometime when I have a longer internet session I'll do a proper travelogue.
My time is about up.
I'm not staying at the hostel. My hotel in around the corner. Many times I'm annoyed with a hotel bed that has a big puffy comforter -- in July. Looks great, way too hot. I dealt with such a bed in my hotel in Cairns last week. This bed didn't have a comforter. Only a sheet. And it got down to 37F last night. Yes, I was cold. No blankets in the room. I put a bath towel over the sheet. Used the extra pillows as insulation. Grabbed my jacket and sweater to put over me. I'll ask at the desk for a blanket for tonight, or at least extra towels.
The title to this post came from a sign sold to tourists. I decided that's what I'm doing, even if dementia is hopefully a couple decades off (at least!).
Today was a day trip into the MacDonnell Mountains. They aren't very high (at least not now). Whenever there is a break in the range there is usually a gorge of some sort. Many of these are quite beautiful. So the tour (about 25 of us in a small bus) went west from Alice and stopped at a few of these. We had lunch at Glen Helen (another such gap) and saw a couple more on the way back to town. I took lots of pictures, but can't share right now.
Over the last week I was in Cairns for the International Handbell Symposium. The final concert on Saturday was wonderful! It will be posted online soon and I will send out a link.
On Sunday I took the Scenic Train from Cairns up to Kuranda. Quite nice. Kuranda is very much a tourist town and I got tired of it quickly. The way back was by SkyRail. My siblings will remember the sky ride in Cedar Point. This is the same idea, but several kilometers long and floating above the rainforest. I heard they installed the 30-some towers by helicopter so the disturbance to the rainforest would be minimal -- no road through the jungle. The ride was wonderful!
I'm off to Ayers Rock (that's the name of the resort community, even if the thing we all come to see now goes by its indigenous name of Uluru). The flight is midday tomorrow.
Sometime when I have a longer internet session I'll do a proper travelogue.
My time is about up.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Up in the air
I leave tomorrow for my third summer trip. This one is to Australia! I don’t know whether I’ll be able to blog because my computer plug doesn’t fit their wall outlets (and if I have just an adapter their power will fry my computer (I need a new one anyway)). If I do blog it will probably be all travelogue – I hope to ignore American politics for three weeks.
I’m dreading the outbound travel – 5 hours to Los Angeles, 3 hour layover, over 13 hours to Brisbane, 1.5 hour layover, 2.5 hours to Cairns. I’ll get there about 10:00 Saturday morning, which will be about 8:00 Friday night Detroit time, something like 27 hours in transit.
The primary purpose for the trip is another handbell event, this one the International Handbell Symposium. There will be handbell people from USA, Canada, Britain, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, of course, Australia – New Zealand. These events have been held every two years since 1984. This will be my 13th out of 18 events.
After it is over I’ll have about 12 days to travel around the country.
I’m dreading the outbound travel – 5 hours to Los Angeles, 3 hour layover, over 13 hours to Brisbane, 1.5 hour layover, 2.5 hours to Cairns. I’ll get there about 10:00 Saturday morning, which will be about 8:00 Friday night Detroit time, something like 27 hours in transit.
The primary purpose for the trip is another handbell event, this one the International Handbell Symposium. There will be handbell people from USA, Canada, Britain, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, of course, Australia – New Zealand. These events have been held every two years since 1984. This will be my 13th out of 18 events.
After it is over I’ll have about 12 days to travel around the country.
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