Leaving the tropics of sea and rain forests, we headed to the hot, dry desert of Central Australia or the Red Center, as it is known. We flew from Cairns to Alice Springs to find it was cool, meaning it was basically below 90°F the whole time we were there and because it was dry, […]
David
Happy Feat Dance Group
David, Julian and I arrived at the venue for Happy Feat as Leigh Caldwell’s volunteer staff were setting up and participants were just beginning to arrive. The participants ranged in age from early teens to 60s and their “special needs” were as widely varied as their ages. Leigh, though physically a tiny woman, is a […]
Julian’s Encounter with Nigel
Julian went scuba diving yesterday and did three dives at Flynn reef in the Great Barrier Reef. Here he is with “Nigel,” a Maori Wrasse who tends to hang out there.
Serendipity in Townsville
We have joined Servas International, a worldwide cultural exchange network in which members host international travelers in their homes for a few days at a time without accepting payment. The mission of the organization is to “build understanding, tolerance, mutual respect, and world peace” by “encouraging individual person-to-person contacts.” Our experience has been discovering things […]
Travels in Eastern Australia
In early March, Julian joined us in Sydney, having spent several weeks in Japan. We met him at the airport prepared to fly to Tasmania. Shortly before our scheduled take off, we noticed huge black clouds heading straight for the airport. A short time later thunder, monsoon rain and lightning filled the air. Over the […]
Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef
On March 15, Julian and I selected Wavelength Marine Charters for a full-day boat trip to the Outer Reef of the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas, Queensland. It was a good selection. It took about an hour and a half to reach the outer reef and we visited three different sites. There were two […]
Antarctic Exploration Huts
During our trip to the Ross Sea we were able to visit huts used by four different British Antarctic expeditions during a period known as the “heroic age” of exploration (1897-1917). In 1898, Carsten Borchgrevink led the Southern Cross Expedition (named after the ship he sailed) which was the first expedition to use dogs and […]
Tasmanian Devils
The Tasmanian Devil is an amazing creature, a marsupial the size of a small dog. They like to sleep during the day, but they become active at about five minutes to 3:00 pm, which is feeding time at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park on the road to Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula. Devils exhibit […]
Adelie penguin behaviour
When spent a couple of hours at the Adelie penguin rookery on Ross Island in Antarctica and were able to observe all kinds of behavior–parading along single file from one end of the beach to the other, emerging from the water after feeding on fish, chicks waiting patiently for their parents to arrive with food, […]
The gifts keep coming
We spent two days at Okiwi Bay on the north end of the south island of New Zealand. This gift was the result of an invitation from Jeanette who sat in front of us on our flight from LA to Auckland. After David lifted her bag from the luggage bin as we deplaned, she invited […]