Exploring Canberra

On day two in Canberra we were greeted by a day of changeable and chilly weather.  We were destined to do inside activities.  We also realized  that we needed to find warmer clothing as the weather is unseasonably cold.  First stop...the mall where we knew that coats, hats and gloves would be readily available, it being November!  True enough in the Northern hemisphere, but in the southern...not so much.  Bikinis, tee shirts, beach buckets a- plenty...but no warm clothing at all!   I managed to find a long sleeved shirt...but Paul found nothing at all!  We decided we would have to layer up as the temperatures were soaring towards 11°C!

We continued our day with a drive to the New Parliament Buildings.  

This very impressive structure was built in the 80's and was therefore not in existence when Paul lived here.  We visited the marble hall, sat for a while in the senate gallery and viewed the art work in the various halls.

Then we made our way to the Australian  mint where Paul once worked.   We joined a fascinating tour where we learned about the history of Australian currency.  This was fascinating!  When the British first arrived and established Australia as a penal colony, there was no currency at all.  The Aboriginals had a barter system which was foreign to the British.  The soldiers developed a rum based monetary system originally.  This was replaced with currency made from Spanish silver coins, and subsequently with Pounds and pence.  Today, the currency is Australian dollars and cents, this system having been introduced in th 1960's.

During our tour we saw the medals from the Sydney Olympics.  These were of great interest to me as I was doing communications work for these games back in the day.  The medals were struck at this mint, and the bronze medals were made from decommissioned 1 and 2 cent coins.

We also saw samples of the blank coins that are used in the minting process.  When Paul worked here he inspected the blanks before they were struck.  Truly a walk down memory lane.

Our next stop was the Telstra tower, an imposing structure atop Black Hill where we had been told to go to the revolving restaurant.  This telecommunication tower is on a hill which could give good city views and provide a good meal....was our thinking.   Once we arrived we discovered that the tower was closed (and had been for years) and the lookouts etc. left to go fallow.  It was deserted except for a few hikers and the view blocked by overgrowth!  We had a good laugh...dodged the rain, found a spot which gave a small view point.  Then we made our way back.

We were staying in an apartment hotel which was well appointed and this gave us a chance to do some laundry and repack our bags.  We used up our groceries and relaxed for our last evening in Canberra.  We were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow...and a visit from a loud and interesting bird 

Canberra Nov 20

We were off on the driving portion of our sojourn and headed off to Canberra.  We drove 4 hours and arrived in the Aussie capital.

This was an important stop for Paul as he used to live there with his family when he was 19.  

We started the walk down memory lane with a visit to the home and neighbourhood where Paul lived.  We found the house he lived in.

As it has been 50 years since Paul was here it was not surprising to find things had changed.  In his neighborhood, trees were bigger and development had exploded!

We made our way to the lookout on Mount Ainslie for a birds eye view of the city.  We could see the impressive war memorial at one end of the planned area of the city and the old Parliament buildings at the other.  A large man-made lake lies between.  

Then we headed to the city centre...which was a quaint understated area when Paul lived here.  What a surprise to find a huge mall surrounded by apartment buildings!

We ended our day in the comfort of our temporary apartment where we had to turn the heat on to chase the chill of the night away!  What a difference from Airlie beach where it had been 31 degrees!

Nov 19-Travel Day to Sydney

We awoke to another beautifully sunny day.  We were in a different apartment with a better view of the harbour in Airlie Beach.

We had a visit from a beautiful bird....

It was a day of transition as we were scheduled to fly back to Sydney to take up phase 3 of our adventure...namely to start the drive toward Melbourne.  

As we approached our destination we flew directly over the impressive landmarks of Sydney.

Once we arrived and cleared the airport we tucked ourselves in for the night at a hotel right beside the airport.

Nov 18-Hartley Reef

We arose on the 18th to a beautiful sunrise after having slept under the starry sky all night!  It was beautiful!

After a lovely breakfast we were in for snorkeling where the reef was even more beautiful than the day before!  It was hard to get good...or any pictures...so I bought some...they appear below...

We left the reef at 3 pm and made our way back to Airlie beach, having met some incredible people who shared the experience with us!

We arrived back in Airlie late and prepared for our flight back to Sydney the next day.

Below are some professional shots of the reef

Nov 16, 17th Reef Sleep

Nov 16th was a quiet day.  We had no planned activites so thought we would go to the beach. 

 Unfortunately this was a non-starter as it is deadly jelly fish season.  

Instead, we decided to take the day to relax and enjoy the swimming pool at our apartment.  We took a quick trip into town to find a pharmacy and to grab a burger.

Nov 17th we started very early.  We left our apartment at 0715 to get to the Port of Airlie by 0730.  We joined a vessel in the port destined 100 km off shore to the Great Barrier Reef where we were to stay for the night in a pontoon boat which is stationed just off the edge of Hartley reef.

What an experience!  We could snorkel as much as we wanted...wearing sting suits of course!  

Paul had always drempt of diving on the Great Barrier reef and was able to at last...not once but twice!

The reef is indescribable!  Teeming with life and new coral growth it was an experience like no other.

In the evening...a huge, and I do mean huge (300 kg) fish could be seen through one of the lit underwater windows.   He is named George apparently and he stayed near the windows all night.

In the evening we had a delicious meal and eventually settled into sleeping pods for the night.  We kept ours open and slept under the stars!  

Nov 15, 2022 - Boat ride to White Haven Beach and snorkeling en route.

An early rise was necessary as we were booked on an outing to do some snorkeling in the great Barrier Reef National Park.  Snorkeling in this area has long been a desire of Paul's as he was unable to when he lived here 40 years ago.

We boarded the Camira a large catamaran at 815 am.  It was already quite hot as we left for our adventure.

Our first stop was at an island reef.  Before we could enter the water we had to don "stinger suits" as there can be stinging jelly fish that actually kill one in these waters! 

The suits cover one literally from foot to crown of the head and prevent stings from penetrating to the skin.   Once we wriggled (actually wriggled) into these close fitting suits and got our fins and masks on...it was into the water we went.

We saw some beautiful corals, small fish, sea cucumber and even some clams!  It was incredible!!!  They had to make us stop when time was up!

Then we were off to our next stop...white haven beach.  We arrived around noon so the heat was crushing. The first order of business was a hike to a lookout to see the beauty of the beach and surrounding islands from on high.  The hike up was challenging for us both with our various infirmities and the crushing heat but we took our time and eventually arrived to see the beauty of the beach stretching out below us!  This is White Haven beach  a beautiful beach with very pure silica sand.  It is also the third most photographed site in Australia!

Then we hiked a bit further to the beach itself where Paul got back into his stinger suit and went for a swim.  He saw stingrays very close by and marveled at how well he could float in the salty water. 

In short order we had to return to the drop off point...another hike....oh my poor aching foot!

We enjoyed a barbecue for a late lunch and then the skipper set the sails and we enjoyed letting the wind push the vessel back towards our departure point.  What an incredible vessel!  We actually got up to 11 knots on the sails alone!

It was a great day...which ended with an early bed time as we were dead tired when we got back to our wee apartment at 6:00 pm.

Nov 13/14 - Travelling days

We left Port Macquarie with one goal in mind...getting to Sydney.  We knew it would be a long drive on a motorway so only marginally interesting...like most any expressway.  

The traffic was very heavy, getting more so as we approached Sydney, with many bumper to bumper slow downs.  This was made far worse by the onslaught of a thunder storm!! Paul was doing all of the driving and he made it through like a champ even though it was stressful.

We crossed a bridge or two and we could see downtown Sydney in the distance.

Seven hours after our departure we found our hotel and collapsed!  We ate food we had brought with us and just stayed in.

The next morning we made our way to the airport where we were booked on a Jetstar flight to the Whitsundays...north of Brisbane from whence we had just driven!