Bali: beautiful, crowded, noisy, quiet, surreal…indescribable!

We love Bali.

This is the sunrise over Bali as we pulled into port. How can you not love a place like this?

Last year when we were first here, we were so taken by the chaotic traffic, the always-smiling people, the beauty in the temples and architecture, the food, and everything else about Bali – except the beaches, which we did not see – that we said we just had to return.

Fortunately, this year’s itinerary includes Bali. Last year we were only there for a day and had a private guide. This year we overnight in Bali and have opted for two ship’s tours: the first day we visited some of the iconic temples and saw a talked-about orchid garden that really did not live up to its billing; the second day we went to cooking school!

Bali is one of Indonesia’s most populous islands (of about 6500 populated in an archipelago stretching across the South China sea with over 17,000 islands total). Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and Bali has about 4.25 million of the over 250 million total. Bali is also about 90% Hindu. The remaining 10% are mixed Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and “other” – interesting for a country that is about 90% Muslim.

The good news is that it is still a great place to visit. The bad news is one must come soon or it may be gone. The population has doubled over the past twenty years and it shows no signs of stopping. As you can see from the map, Bali is an island on which there is no room to expand.

The first day’s tour began with a stop at a batik workshop and retail store. It was the same place we stopped last year with our guide and the prices were the same as well. We were told that we could bargain by about as much as 30% since we were on a cruise ship. I found a lovely hand-made batik shirt that fit well and that Bonnie liked (the major prerequisite…) for only 750,000 Indonesian Rupiah (don’t choke, that’s only about US$56.00). I offered the equivalent of about US$30.00. The salesman countered with about US$50.00. I came up to about $35 and he quit. No more bargaining. Shame…it would have really looked nice one evening in Naples…

We left the batik workshop and headed out to our first temple stop, Pura Tanah Lot, the most photographed temple in Bali, and possibly in Indonesia. Tanah Lot sits on as rocky promontory out in the Sulu Sea and at high tide is an island. At low tide it is a peninsula. When we got there it was crowded with tourists, worshippers, and families out for a nice day.

 The tide was in, so we could not get any closer to Tanah Lot.

We then headed inland to our lunch stop. We thought we were going to go to one of the westernized hotels for a typical western buffet lunch; however, the luncheon turned out to be the highlight of the day. After winding through the beautiful Balinese country side for about an hour, we turned off the main road onto a single lane country road (still a two-way road) and stopped at a high-walled compound guarded by one of the ubiquitous Hindu Temples. This was our “simple lunch buffet” stop. It turns out that our luncheon host, one Mr. Beratha, is a descendent of one of the last kings of Denpasar, the regional capitol of Bali. The regional kings were deposed in the mid-twentieth century when Indonesia became a real country and not just a collection of kingdoms and fiefdoms.

Bonnie and Mr. Beratha. our host. She is holding the offering basket that the local women had woven as souvenirs of the afternoon.

Mr. Beratha realized that the only way he could keep the family homestead was to turn it into a combination inn, spa, and tourist stop – Puri Tamen Sari. As we alit from the bus, a procession of lovely Balinese maidens led us into the grounds and began strewing flower petals over us. They were followed by, and accompanied by, a group of musicians playing traditional Balinese instruments. If you have never heard a Balinese gamelan, consider yourself fortunate. While the first few notes of these traditional gong-like bamboo instruments are not unpleasant, they seem to just go on and on and on and on… Once inside the compound we were struck by the serenity of our surroundings and by the innate beauty of the stone carvings, temple offering sites (every Hindu home has at least one such site), and views of the adjacent rice paddies and forests.

After a welcome drink offering and a welcome dance offering, we were led to a pavilion where we found a variety of local craftsmen demonstrating their trade. This was not an attempt to sell us anything, but was Mr. Beratha’s way of showing how proud he is is of his island and of his neighbors, many of whom are craftsmen and rely on this type of demonstration to showcase their talent. We saw a lady hand-making a parasol from bamboo and cotton thread, a woodcarver, an older man had weaving mats that would used as rainproof coverings for someone’s roof, two ladies hand-making confections of rice flour, sugar and honey, and several ladies hand-weaving small baskets in which offerings to the Hindu gods would be made.

We also learned something about the Hindu religion that we never knew. We did know that in Hinduism, many gods are worshipped through the statuary and rituals associated with that god’s particular strength or realm. What we did learn is that of all the gods. there is one supreme god and that all the lessor gods are considered his hand-workers. We also learned that Hinduism is not an idolatrous religion as might be thought from the elaborate carvings and displays in the temples, but that these images and idols are the earthly representation of the heavenly beings and they are used for personal communication with the gods.

After the demonstrations, on to lunch! Lunch was a buffet spread of salads, vegetables, fruits, and hot dishes unique to Bali or to Indonesia. We had Nasi Goreng, the Indonesian national dish, which is a type of fried rice with vegetables and chicken. We had Beef Satay, which is marinated beef on skewers with a spicy peanut sauce. We had grilled fish with Sambal Olek, the national flavoring of Indonesia, which is a spicy (actually, a fiery hot) dipping sauce…mmmmm, good! We had Mei Goreng, which is similar to Nasi Goreng, but made with thin curly noodles rather than with rice. We had one of the best, if not the best, egg drop soup. The soup was accompanied by a deceptively smooth and simple looking thin brown sauce that we were cautioned to use sparingly. Of course, I threw caution to the winds, since I profess to like a little spice in my food, and I was not disappointed – I couldn’t speak for a few minutes and it was so good it brought tears to my eyes. We washed all that down with a local Balinese beer…mmmmmm, good!

As we were leaving for our next stop, we had more entertainment on the way out. You have probably heard of Fred Astaire - well, did you know he had a brother: Ed Astaire!

After our lunch (and for a few of us, a teeny nap), we  re-boarded the bus and headed off to our next major temple stop, Pura Taman Ayun in Mengwi.

Pura Taman Ayun is famous for the elaborate pillars and carvings that abound within its walls. It is unusual in that it consists of three “rings” or courtyards. Anyone can enter the outer  and middle rings, but only worshippers can enter the inner ring. We were fortunate in that there is a festival of some sort on March first and they were in the process of preparing the temple for that festival. They had draped brightly-colored cloths and had spruced up the grounds. There were small groups of people weaving offering baskets and more were setting up prayer stalls in the inner courtyard. We could look over a low wall into the inner courtyard, but could not physically enter it.

 The entrance to the inner ring. Only the true believers are permitted inside.

We were able to view the inner courtyard from the low wall surrounding the other three sides. The cloths and other decorations are in anticipation of a major celebration - the name of which I was unable to interpret.

We walked all around the middle ring and exited back to the bus. I did forget to mention that it was quite warm this day – actually, it was HOT, Hot, hot! We couldn’t wait to get back to the air-conditioning. We had one more stop – the Bali Orchid Gardens (BOG).

The BOG was scheduled for about a 30-40 minute stop. After about 10 minutes we were ready to call it quits. I have nothing against gardens and orchids, but this visit turned out to be a walk along the paths with a few photo ops of starring orchids with no curating along the way. We really didn’t know what we were seeing and had no idea of what the significance was of the garden’s existence at all. Most folks, once coolly ensconced on the air-conditioned bus once again, agreed that after the temples and the lunch, we could have skipped the gardens. By this time is was after 6:00 PM and we were all anxious to get back to the ship – for more food…

Tomorrow we learn about Balinese cuisine – hands on. Stay tuned…

Darwin: destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed…the beat goes on…

Darwin is an interesting city. It is the northernmost city of any size in Australia and is not in a state, but is in a territory.

The Northern Territory has not achieved statehood because of several factors, chief among them is that there are only about 300,000 people in the entire territory (an area large enough to fit in two times the size of Texas with a little left over). About 200,000 of the inhabitants live in the greater Darwin area. In addition, most of the land is owned by the aboriginal peoples and they are not really keen on the idea of pledging to the Queen.

Darwin was just about destroyed by the Japanese in 1942. It was the only “mainland” Australian city to have been the victim of the Japanese air force and navy. They just about leveled the city and for a short time thereafter, the Australian government jousted internally as to whether or not to rebuild it. Local pride won out and the city was rebuilt.

The inhabitants of the Northern Territory (NT) are closer to those of the American pioneers than to the original British settlers. They consider themselves fiercely independent and since they are over 2500 KM (about 1600 miles ) from Canberra, the Australian Capital, they pretty much believe they can do what they want. It’s Queensland with a vengeance.

Christmas Eve 1974 was the next big event in Darwin’ recent history. Cyclone Tracy (our Florida friends will know a cyclone is a hurricane on steroids) made a direct hit on Darwin. The winds were in excess of 180 MPH. We know that to be a fact since the anemometers were ripped off the buildings at that speed and the storm increased in fury. Darwin was knocked flat again.

Darwin rebuilt – with a new cyclone building code – and most of what is currently in place was built after 1975. Frankly, while Darwin is a nice small city – really more a big town – we felt that since everything was 40 years old or less, the architecture, historical context, and ambiance of the area was quite “vanilla” by comparison to other Australian cities.

Darwin is also about as laid-back as any place you might ever visit. Perhaps it is because of its remoteness that even small achievements loom large with the locals.

We only had a day in Darwin and we opted for a Darwin panoramic tour – big mistake. Probably the worst tour we have ever taken. There is not a lot in Darwin to begin with, but we made do with a trip to the Botanical Gardens, followed by a short stop at a bayside lookout to view the city from afar.

The botanical gardens were idyllic, but we only had a few minutes and could not really wander to appreciate them. Coupled with the really hot and humid weather, we were just as pleased to get back on the air-conditioned bus.

This was the view from the East Point public park. We were told that this area played an important part in keeping the Japanese subs from entering the harbor, but our guide failed to show us what was there - again, we only had a short stop and could not wander too far.

One of the highlights of the tour was to be a stop at the Fannie Bay Goal (pronounced “jail”). Unfortunately, we were told that the Goal was closed for the rainy season. The tour company substituted a short stop at an old Qantas Air Hangar  (circa 1935). The hangar was sort of a big boys’ hangout for those really into welding, restoring, tinkering, puttering, drinking, “bs”ing, chewing, drinking, driving vintage cars, plows, and locomotives, and did I mention drinking….

Our final stop was the NT Art Gallery and Museum. We did see and enjoy an entire  exhibit room about Cyclone Tracy. We also got to see “Sweetheart” a large croc that had to be destroyed due to his fondness for small boats and their inhabitants.

"Sweetheart" is the stuffed remains of the roughly 16' croc that played havoc with the local fishermen until he was finally caught.

The most interesting room in the museum was the display of indigenous artworks. Until one has an opportunity to see these pieces and read about their meaning and about the artist, one cannot really appreciate a people with over 500 languages and an oral history going back over 10,000 years. Due to local regulations, I could not take any photos of the various pieces.

It was too hot and humid to wander through the rather compact downtown area so we just proceeded directly back to the ship and air conditioning. Travel may broaden one’s horizons, but there is no substitute for air conditioning…

We now have two sea days to recover from our Australian adventures (and non-adventures) before we get to Bali. In Bali we have several fun things planned, including a cooking school. Stay tuned…

Thursday Island: tell me again why we had a stop here…

We had a quick stop today at Thursday Island. Thursday Island is between Wednesday Island and Friday Island. I am not kidding. Just look at this map:

Thursday Island is unusual in that it is part of Australia, but does not have any history of the aboriginal peoples or culture that characterizes the rest of Australia – nor do any of the Torres Strait Islands. These islands also do not exhibit the culture of Papua New Guinea. The people are Melanesian and the culture is very similar to that of other Melanesian islands. We had hoped for a cultural experience, but aside from a small art museum, a WWII fort, and a cemetery honoring the Japanese pearl divers, there was nothing that we could see that touted that history and culture.

Our stop was really only for a half-day and the entire stop consisted of a ten-minute tender trip from our anchorage to the town; a twenty-minute walk for several blocks in exhausting heat; a five-minute stop for a refrigerator magnet;  a ten-minute tender ride back to the ship. The rest of the day was just another sea day.

Thursday Island does hold a strategic position as the central administrative area for the Torres Strait Islands of Australia. It is only a short hop from the islands to Papua New Guinea. There are about 3000 people on the island and aside from the occasional cruise ship, there is absolutely nothing to do.

Here are a few pix that I took. You will notice the absence of people in most of them. The islanders know enough to stay indoors when it is this hot…

The view on the approach to Thursday Island.

“Welcome to Thursday Island” and here is what you are really here for – the restrooms…

It is beautiful.

This sculpture is another greeting a little further up the walk from the restrooms and is really a better welcome to the island.


We are now on the way to Darwin. After Darwin, we change course slightly and head up into Malaysia and Indonesia and parts north. Stay tuned…

Cairns: visits to two worlds that are worlds apart…

We overnighted in Cairns in the north of Queensland State. Before we go any further, I need to tell you the proper way to pronounce Cairns. It is not pronounced kai-rns. It is correctly pronounced, by the locals, as a nasal kaaaaa-ns. If you do not get that nasal “aaa” just right it actually sounds funny to the ear. OK, now on to the real reason for our stop in Cairns: the rain forest and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).

Most people immediately think of the GBR as the only reason to be in this part of Australia. They would be wrong. We spent two action-packed days in Cairns and we were able to see and experience both of these seemingly opposite phenomena. Until we took this trip, we always thought that the area around Cairns was noted only for the GBR. However, the primeval rain forest which begins in the Great Dividing Range, Australia’s only true mountain range (from Cairns in the north all the way to near Melbourne in the south), is also one of the great wonders of the world. It is almost eerie how you can look ashore from the ship and see the great green expanse roll down the mountainside to hit the shallow sandy beach and then immediately turn into the bluest, clearest water you might ever see.

On the first day we took the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Cairns up to the small village of Kuranda. The railway was built after gold was discovered in the area in 1873. Imagine carving a railroad by hand – literally – in those days. They did have explosives to break up the rock, but they had no tunneling gear, they had no large earthmovers. They had no heavy machinery to move easily in the mountains. Here are some interesting statistics about the building of the railway:

Distance = 37 km (about 22 miles)

Ascent – 327 M above sea level (about 1030’)

Earth removed = 2,300,000 cubic meters of earth (over 3,000,000 cubic yards)

Individual open cuts = 106

Hand-carved tunnels = 15 with a total length of 1746 M (about 5500’)

Bridges – 55 with 244 M (about 770’) of steel spans and 1894 M (about 6000’) of timber spans

Curves = 98 including two 180 degree switchbacks

All of the above was accomplished between March 1884 and April 1890! Quite a feat for the times considering the climatic conditions as well as the terrain and local ecology of the area – think crocs, flies, and other rather nasty stuff that crawls, swims, bites, etc.

We rode up in one of the “heritage”rail cars that was built in the 1890s and is over 100 years old. The railway has been designated a National Engineering Landmark by the Australian government and it seems that by doing so, enough funds have been allocated to assure both upkeep and safety.

The ride up the mountain was spectacular! We rode through the rain forest and in many places they have cleared just enough so that the branches of the trees don’t touch the cars, but it seems that you are in a green tunnel. Every time we went over a bridge, the land dropped away precipitously and you wanted to hold your breath for a few until you realize that you are not dropping.

We had a couple of opportunities to stop for photo ops and we could see from the front of the train to the rear at the 180-degree bends. We also came within a few feet of a spectacular waterfall.
 

 

Here are two views of our train as it rounds the first 180-degree bend. Note the steel trestle is from the late 19th century.

 






















The falls from our train car window. The water was only a few hundred feet away.

 

















Typical view from the train as we ascended the mountainside into Kuranda.

After a journey of about an hour and a half we reached the small town of Kuranda. Kuranda was, at one time, the jumping off point for gold miners. Later on, it served as a marshaling point for troops assigned to look out for invading Japanese during WWII. They never came.

Kuranda is now the quintessential tourist town. The population of about 3000 is almost entirely devoted to tourist attractions, souvenir shops, craft shops, artists' shops, and restaurants, cafes, and other places to eat or drink. We had about an hour to wander the town before the next part of our adventure. Since it was near noon and since we had not had a feeding since breakfast four or five hours earlier, we opted to spend the first part of our hour in a restaurant famous for its “meat pies” and “rolls.” Meat pies and savory-filled pastry rolls are to the Australians what hamburgers and hot dogs are to “Staties” (those of us from the US).

The meat pies range from the relatively mundane – chicken, lamb, beef – to the exotic – emu, roo (kangaroo), ostrich, but no Koala… They are about 5-6” across and about 1’1.5” thick. They can be eaten with a knife and fork, but that takes all the fun out of it. The pastry rolls consist of a flaky sort of puff pastry filled with a ground sausage mix, a feta and spinach mix, or whatever the local vendor deems right…They are about 2-3” in diameter and about 6-7” long. Each is a mini-meal in itself and when paired with an ice-cream or gelato for dessert makes a great light lunch.

One of the first things we eat when we get to Australia are sausage rolls. For about $3-$4 you get a pastry roll filled to the brim with a savory sausage mix. You sit on a curb, at a small table, or just stroll along the walk, and eat it right out of the paper sack it is served in. You also go through several napkins…

After a short recon of the crafts, souvenirs, and other stuff on offer in the markets, we went back to our meeting point and were taken to the Kuranda Skyrail station for the trip back to Cairns.
 

Does anyone have any idea why a rational person would want a kangaroo scrotum keychain or bottle opener for a souvenir?

The Kuranda Skyrail Rainforest Cableway (the Skyrail) was built in 1994-1995 after almost eight years of preliminary planning, environmental studies, public hearings, and construction review. It runs from the small village of Smithfield at the foot of the Great Dividing Range of mountains (through which the Kuranda Scenic Railway runs) to the summit at Kuranda. It Skyrail is 7.5 km (about 4.7 miles) long. There are 115 gondola cars (103 seating six each, 11 with glass bottoms – Diamond cars – and one with an open top seating four for those who have absolutely no fear of heights…

There are 32 towers supporting the cableway which runs at about 5 m/sec (about 11 MPH). The highest tower is 133’ high and the steepest slope of the cable is 19 degrees. There are four stations – one at each end in Kuranda and Smithfield – and one about one-third of the way up at Red Peak that requires getting out of one car and changing to another. The fourth station is an optional midway stop above the Barron river for a view station.

Now that you know more than you really needed to know, let me tell you that the ride was unbelievable! The day was clear and we could see all the way to the coast and to the city of Cairns. As we floated above the rain forest, we could hear birds, but not see them. We could see down into the rain forest, much of which has probably existed untouched and untrodden by man or several thousand years. 

The Skyrail station as we waited to board.

One of the cars as we passed in the sky.

  















Above are two views from our car. On the top is a view overlooking the primeval rain forest and on the bottom we are looking out to the Coral Sea and the city of Cairns.

Our guide told us that we were very fortunate that day because there was no rain – after all it is a rain forest and it can’t have grown that way without rain – a lot of it. Another beautiful day in paradise…

The ride down to Smithfield took about 45 minutes and then it was on the bus and back to the ship. We were exhausted, but we have another big day ahead tomorrow: we will be snorkeling on the GBR!

We awoke the next morning to another bright, sunny, HOT day. Our trek to the GBR was a little easier than our visit to Kuranda yesterday. We only had to walk about 1000’ down the quay to our new boat (for a day). The dive boat that was described to us in the shore excursion blurb as a “…catamaran with full toilet facilities and will serve a light buffet lunch…” It was indeed a catamaran, but was built specifically for GBR diving and carried about 150 passengers on two decks.

The catamaran was very comfortable.

We had exclusive use of this vessel for our group of about 60 people. There were modern separate toilet and changing facilities, air-conditioned indoor seating – either theater-style or with small tables between seat rows. They also had lockers for valuables. The buffet lunch turned out to be almost as good as what the ship served: hot and cold appetizers and salads; cold cuts for sandwiches and hot entrees – including cocktail shrimp; desserts; afternoon snacks of fruit and assorted antipasti.

Once underway we had our safety briefing and were told what the day’s program would consist of: about an hour and a half ride out to our exclusive spot on the reef for snorkeling, SCUBA diving, guided underwater and surface water tours, a ship’s photog for souvenir pix, and a marine biologist on board to show pix of some of the corals and fish we might encounter.

When we got to the reef, it was glorious! We both got in the water. It was like swimming in a bottle of gin – the water was so clear that you could see all the way down to the sandy bottom some 30-40’ below. In areas where it was shallow (3’ to 10’), one can see even the smallest and most colorful of the fish and corals.

 























We were advised to wear “stinger” suits because of the jellyfish in the water. The suits are a very lightweight lycra and fit skin-tight. The red thing by my head is the hood and the sleeves have built-in gloves. It is really full-body protection. I may look as though I managed to slip mine on easily, but what you see is the result of Bonnie, our friend on the left, and me struggling for about ten minutes to get all the parts where they belong. Having had the experience of putting me in a suit, we only took about two or three minutes to get Bonnie suited up.

We had brought our own mask, fins, and snorkel from home so we knew they would fit well and had no problem seeing everything. The good news is that we both snorkeled the GBR!

We had about four to four and one-half hours on the reef and then another hour and half back to the dock. Although I did not have an underwater camera, one of our friends kindly gave me a few shots they had:

 















We are currently on the way to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, one of the northernmost points of Australian land. Stay tuned…

 

 

Newcastle and Townsville: where in the world are we?

After we left Sydney, we began our voyage north along Australia’s east coast. We headed for Queensland and a very different view of a really spectacular country. We are going to be stopping in Newcastle, Townsville, Cairns, Thursday, Island, and Darwin.



















Our first stop in Newcastle was oh, so unexciting…

We did not have a lot of time in Newcastle. That’s the good news. Newcastle does not have a lot going on.

We did not have a lot to choose from in Newcastle, so we opted for a short “panoramic” tour. Loosely translated, that means that they load you on a bus, you see a few of the local landmarks and sights, and they bring you back to the ship – all in about three or four hours – and that’s exactly what we did.

We began by driving through the city and getting the so-called lay of the land. Frankly, there is nothing very memorable about the first part of the tour. Our first stop was at the Newcastle Museum. The museum tells the story of Newcastle’s history as a coal and steel center of northern Australia. The day we were there, the wing of the museum that had the most interesting exhibits about that era was closed for repairs. Oh well, on to bigger and better things…

The good stuff actually began after we had a stop at Blackbutt Reserve Park. This park is in the middle of the city and is free to residents and visitors alike. The city has set aside several hundred acres as a public park and zoo to showcase the local flora and fauna and to provide a really neat picnic venue for families and organizations.

I don’t know what you are thinking, but Blackbutt refers to one of the indigenous species of tree that is quite evident throughout the park. After alighting the coach (Australian for “bus”), we proceeded to a wooden walkway through the woods containing pens and housing for the local animal species. It was a smaller scale version of the zoo we had seen several years ago in Sydney (Tauranga Zoo), but was exceptionally well-done and well-maintained for a city park.

The boardwalk walk took about an hour and we were ready to move on.

The next stop was Fort Scratchley. I am not making that up.

Fort Scratchley was named after Lt. James Scratchley, the individual who designed and oversaw the construction of the fort. The fort overlook s the Newcastle harbor. That is important because Newcastle was, and continues to be, the coal capital of the southern hemisphere.

During WWII, the Australians were concerned that the Japanese might try to disrupt the shipping operations in the harbor, so the fort was designed and built. The defenders had two 7” cannons that could throw a shell over 12 KM (about 7 miles) out to sea. The guns were never fired during the war.

Today, a group of volunteers continues to keep the memory of the fort’s wartime importance and maintains the guns and other memorabilia at the fort. Every day at 1:00 PM a small cannon is fired to set the time and every time a cruise ship arrives or departs, one of the the 7” guns is fired three times. Must be interesting for locals, since we arrived at 7:00 AM…

So much for Newcastle. On to Townsville.


Townsville sounds like it could be another snoozer, but it turned out to be a highlight of this part of our voyage through northern Australia.

Townsville is actually larger than either Newcastle or Cairns, our next stop. It is a relic of the Queensland history of Australia’s rough and tumble frontier days. The folks in Queensland tend to say: “rules, we don’t need no stinking’ rules” (to paraphrase one of my favorite movie lines…).

We had several choices of tours and opted for a boat ride out to Magnetic Island.

Now that I have your attention, Magnetic Island is no more magnetic than any other island in the Pacific Ocean or the Coral Sea. It seems that while passing this small island off the coast of Queensland, Lt. James Cook (we know him as Captain Cook, but  that is another story…) had a compass aberration and thought it was due to the proximity of the island. Time has proven that it was indeed a hiccup and had nothing to do with the island, but the name stuck.

Out trip was to visit the Bungalow Bay Koala Village animal sanctuary.

The ferry ride out was a non-event and once on the island, we transferred to a bus for the short ride to the sanctuary. We have visited other animal retreats and sanctuaries, but this one was unique. Remember Queensland tends to scoff at rules and regulations, so the Australian regulations governing the handling, exhibiting, and viewing of animals tends to be more elastic here than elsewhere.

We were no sooner shown to the area where we would spend the next hour and a half meeting local creatures than a rather large albino python was brought out for all to see, touch, hold, photograph, and otherwise become new best friends. Tony, our erstwhile guide and animal handle explained that all of the animals we would be seeing had been born in captivity and had been raised around humans. Based on this rather dubious distinction, we were led to believe that being up close in a small crowd, making human noises, and touching or handling the creatures was not harmful. I dunno…

At any rate, Tony began to bring out the little darlings and encouraged everyone to hold, touch, coo at, or otherwise act stupid. I succumbed and would up holding a Koala, a parrot, and a snake. Bonnie was having none of it, but couldn’t resist the birds.

My new best friends are for the birds…

This is a croc, not a gator…can’t you tell? At least we are both smiling…

It’s tough to tell who’s cuter, isn’t it?

Want to hear a funny noise? just put your neck in here…but always watch where he is aiming his head…

Talk about cute…what could be cuter than a hairy-nosed wombat (THE ONE BEING HELD, not the one on the left…).

Bonnie is also good at making new friends.

Oh no, another cute Koala picture…

It is no contest as to who’s the cutest in this picture!

After this close encounter of the weird kind, we got back on the bus, back to the ferry, and back to the ship.

Tomorrow we are in Cairns for two days and what we believe will be  several unique adventures: a train ride, a skyrail, and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. Stay tuned…