Sydney

Finally Sydney, the last stop on my tour of Downunder. This is a view of the Opera House from just on the other side of the Darling Harbour Bridge. As you can see there are tours that go on the bridge and actually climb to the very top. As I was sitting here I met a guy named Romanov, who is living in Perth, here to visit friends and family from Britain, and is the first heir to the imperial throne of Russia. How about that!

I also promised some people I would photograph their travel bugs in a world famous site, so here it is.

East Coast of New South Wales

The east coast is really nice. They are experiencing the first real rainfall that they've had in 6 years. Some of the drought restrictions will probably be lifted, and for once they are not anticipating major fires in NSW. These pictures are typical of the views from geocache sites in the 3 Brothers Mountains area. You will also notice a little friend of mine Mixophyes Iteratus. I was off to Bruxner National Park in the middle of a foggy night on a rainforest stream to find these guys. Unfortunately, no carpet python pictures.

For those of you who have been on the Vanishing Frogs Expeditions, you'll recognize the Vincent Tree.

Umina Beach and Newcastle

This is where I caught up with two friends from Earthwatch Vanishing Frogs expeditions. Meet Princess Karen and Prince Andrew, or if you prefer, Dr. Karen and Dr. Andrew, or if you would like the nicknames, Gorgeous and Hairy Git. (I did not make up these names). There was a morning of paddling on Patonga Creek. There was also a frog reunion, ceramic frogs that were sent to us by another volunteer, Ros Spice, got together and this was the first time they've been in the same place in 6 years.

Mt. Katoomba, New South Wales

Mount Katoomba is part of the Blue Mountains, although I wouldn't know if that's true, because this is the first rainy, foggy day of the trip. I'm told that on a clear day you can see about 20 miles in each direction, today it's about 100 feet. This is the first big rainfall this area has gotten in several years, so my timing is a bit off.

Govetts Leap Lookout

Bridal Veil Falls

This is a very clever trail bandit. I put down my backpack to take a picture. There was only about 2 inches of zipper that wasn't zipped and I was only 10 feet away. In that short time, he managed to get the plastic bag containing my sandwich and was trying to pull it through the opening.

Melbourne, Victoria

Melbourne is Australia's second largest city and it's industrial center.

Why am I here, to check out all the hidden pubs and geocaches I can find- to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The rewards of a hard day of exploring.

Hey, this is just like being home, but I don't recall these high rises in Southgate.

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is just north of Fremantle and has the same gentle climate, but a whole lot more people. Once again there are many remants of past wars and maritime loses.

This river connects Perth with Fremantle and the Indian Ocean.

















Some more of the gorgeous coastline of Western Australia

Albany, Western Australia

Things are even better in Albany, sunshine, more sunshine and yes, cold beer. Stayed in this nice, quiet, inexpensive spot called the Discovery Inn which I would highly recommend to anybody.

Discovery Inn- It's quiet, inexpensive and really nice.

Yeah, it's Mercer, but not Mercer, Wisconsin.

Just another incredible view from a geocache site.






















This picture was taken from a hill which has a microwave tower that looks like the Eiffel Tower.





















Just another spectacular view from a geocache.