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.

Fremantle, Western Australia

This is why I geocache, and this is why I love Australia. You end up in some of the prettiest places on earth, and there's sunshine everywhere.
I found this coat of arms in the pub I stayed in. It appears we have royalty at BASF.

Yep sunshine everywhere, just walking around Fremantle looking for the elusive geocache
This is a memorial to fallen heroes of Australia and it's allies throughout the many wars it was engaged in.

Early morning at my first geocache site of the day.

Darwin, Northern Territory

G'day sports fans, now in Darwin and it is really, really hot. Houston has got nothing on Darwin, as a matter of fact, Houston folks are just a bunch of commie pinko bedwetters compared to the folks in Darwin. Darwin is also a city that is rich in history from WWII. Lots of monuments and tours of the underground oil storage facilities. It's a nice place to visit but wouldn't want to visit it in the summer again, after about 11:00 AM it's just too hot to go wandering around outside. I'm planning to take in a crocodile feeding exhibition in the next couple of days, already got 2 geocaches, but plan to spend the hot afternoons in pursuit of cooler activities. Did I mention how good the beer is down here. Cheers

Cairns

Cairns was bustling for the first two days, but now it's Sunday and things are much quieter. Spent the whole day yesterday geocaching and only found about 5. There are an amazing number of mountains around here and it's very difficult to find the roads that lead to where you want to go. Fortunately, I have the GPS with me so I'm never lost. Just this morning I hiked up a trail over the airport to find a cache and took several shots of planes taking off, just to give you a feel for how high up the cache was. Also this morning I hiked a half mile up a trail to Barron Gorge, only to find that the guy what hid the geocache did a real good number. Wasn't one of my brainier days as I did a bit of mountain climbing and dangling over precipices to find the thing, but I eventually got it. Note to self; not as young as used to be and should be much smarter in the future. Tomorrow I head out in late afternoon for Darwin and more fun. Hope all is well for you folks in the real world. Somebody say happy birthday to Nick for me, it's Dec 2. Also, Bob and Jess if you're reading this and heading to Cairns, I recommend staying at the Novotel in downtown Cairns if you want some up close experiences with flying foxes. There are a couple thousand that roost on the hotel and library grounds and come sunset they are quite a distraction as they argue and fly. And the beer is still damned good.

Trinity Beach

Okay folks, it's a problem trying to upload pictures, as nobody seems to have picasa to upload images. On a new computer now and will see how that goes. Otherwise you folks may have to wait until I can find an internet connection for my lap top.

Trinity Beach is awesome. Forget Cairns if you're looking for a nice place to stay and good grub to eat, Trinity Beach has it all and it's quiet. Will post photos of the restaurant that has the best Thai food ever. Yep no exclusions. You say you want pizza, well there's also a place here that has pizza that is better than New York pizza, it's not the best because it's missing Wisconsin cheese, but it's damned good. You say you like fish and chips, well there's a little corner bar that has incredible Hoky or Spanish Mackerel and it's cheap to boot. Also having a blast geocaching and visiting the great northeast corner of Australia. I've seen a snake up close and personal, a couple of giant spiders, and almost ran over Skippy, but forging on. Watch for the pix. Oh yeah, the beer is better than in the States as well.