What’s the Difference Between Uluru and Ayers Rock?

November 8, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

The difference between Uluru and Ayers Rock is nothing except the former was named by the Aborigines and the later by the Europeans who came later. Located 280 miles from Alice Springs, we took a bus.

The bus trip provided the means to see more of the Outback. On the way we saw cattle with no fences, wild camels with no boundaries, and a place that breeds camels and allowed us to take a ride.

He rides a little high

It is estimated that there are over 300,000 feral camels in Australia. They were brought here in the 1800s for colonization of the Outback. They have done quite well surviving here.

But what goes up, must come down.

We got to Uluru in time to celebrate sunset at the rock with a champagne reception.

Martin, Chuck and Cindy in front of Uluru

Uluru is a sandstone formation in the center of the Outback. It is a holy place for the Anangu tribe of Australia’s aboriginal people. It wasn’t even seen by the Europeans until 1873. They renamed it Ayers Rock.

Uluru

Today it stands over 1100 feet high in the desert, but it once stood at the bottom of the sea. It is estimated to be over 600 million years old.

Uluru is a beautiful backdrop for photography

The monolith is over 2 miles long and 1.2 miles wide. It was formed as the hard rock of a mountain left over from the erosion of the softer parts of the mountain. It has a lot of iron, thus its red color.

Its rock formation make it special.

The next day we visited the rock, learning about the dreamtime (creation) stories that the formations describe for the local tribe. It also made a wonderful place for photography. Uluru is located in the Uluru/Kata-Tjuta National Park.

In this creation story the rocks form the body of a large snake. His head is above his body, which is above the people walking below.

The next day we traveled to another nearby rock formation called Kata-Tjuta/the Olgas. This was a group of dome shaped rocks, one of which was over 1,700 feet high. The rocks were once parts of a single monolith.

Chuck in front of Kata-Tjuta

I was impressed that my youngest daughter knew all about Uluru. I had never heard of it. I loved it, but Chuck after seeing the second formation said, “I think I’ve seen enough rocks now.”

The Real Truth About Australia’s Deadly Animals

November 7, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

Australia is known for its vicious, biting, dangerous wildlife. It has deadly animals that want to bite you if not kill you. When someone lists the top most dangerous creatures in the world, Australia’s top the list.

We visited the Alice Springs Reptile Center so we could get a quick lesson in what to stay away from, what not to do, or what to do, especially if we get bitten, most especially by the King Brown Snake, which is where I’ll begin.

The Brown Snake

The center explained that most people are bitten by the latter, because they either try to kill it or they find themselves standing on it. The snake, though, can be aggressive, meaning he will attack by chasing you until he bites you; and he is the second deadliest snake in the world.

Brown Snake, photo by Wikipedia

We were told to stand still if one is too close until it slithers away, even if he decides to slither across your shoes. Everything in my being, if not in my raising, told me that this is ill-fated advice at best, totally opposite of the way I was raised. Running like hell is what we Florida kids did instinctively.

The Reptile Center also told us to wear long slacks and no sandals, which was most of my wardrobe. It seems this snake’s fangs are microscopic and probably won’t reach your leg if your slacks aren’t tight. So much for my narrow legged ankle pants in the Outback.

By the way Australia has the first most venomous snake, too. He just didn’t happen to live in an area we visited.

Box Jelly Fish

Another deadly creature is the almost invisible box jelly fish, with his long tentacles and venom that causes a person’s heart to stop. They are so prevalent that people only swim on the north shore in areas with nets for protection.

Box Jellyfish, photo by Wikipedia

Spiders

My Mama would have hated this place, because Australia has over 520 species of spiders, most of which are extremely poisonous, including the world’s most venomous–the funnel web. The latter likes to hang out in your shoes.

Funnel Web Spider, photo by Wikipedia

The Saltwater Croc

I mentioned the saltwater crocodile earlier. All I can say is that this archaic thing not only can eat you but even looks like he wants to eat you. Our alligators here in Florida look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm next to this unholy looking thing. He looks like an alligator that is demon possessed. Up on the north shore they rule the roost up there with hardly any predators, and they will eat almost anything.

Saltwater Crocodile, photo by Wikipedia

We were told that he responds to vibration, thus the instructions to stay away from the banks of rivers, streams, beaches, mangroves, you name it. One minute you think you are all alone, and the next minute you’re his dinner. Actually he really doesn’t like the taste of you, but you are big enough that he wants you dead.

Other Things that Can Kill

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are also poisonous centipedes, snails, octopi, and fish, to name a few. Even the Outback itself crisscrossed by remote uninhabited hot, dry miles and miles of roads with no service stations, towns, or civilization can be a problem for the unsuspecting. Did I say hot? It gets up to 122 degrees out there in the summer which is in December/January. All kinds of things can happen out there.

The Mighty Cassowary

There is a bird called the Cassowary that goes around kind of mad at the world and will chase you down and beat you up, maybe even kill you if given the chance. Somewhat like ostriches and emus, he grows to six feet tall and can run 31 mph. A cousin to the raptors as seen in Jurassic Park, Cassowaries are smart, can jump five feet, can swim, and will find you. You cannot hide.

Cassowary

The fauna of Australia are truly interesting. Of course, marsupials are not mammals; and before it was inhabited Australia had lots of the former but hardly none of the later. Australia has over 200 species of marsupials native to the continent, a very ancient land, one of the oldest in the world. It has shallow soils, and its marsupials can survive better here than our mammals.

Believe me. This is a strange land down under here. I never encountered any of these varmints, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t looking…all the time.

What No One Told You About “Waltzing Matilda”?

November 4, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

In the Australian Outback, there’s a School of the Air and also the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Both were established because people living in these remote and isolated conditions lack medical services and educational services. We also learned the meaning behind the song “Waltzing Matilda”.

The School of the Air is the largest classroom in the world serving over 521,000 square miles, double the size of Texas. Enrolment is for pre-school, primary, and middle.

It provides educational materials and personal communication with parents and home tudors. It began using radio to provide education for these children but now use satellite, email, and home tutors. We watched a teacher doing a class live with students from a studio in Alice Springs.

An Air Teacher in Her Classroom. The TV Monitor at top left shows what the students see.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is an air ambulance service for these people. They take the finest care to the furthest corners so that any who lives, works, or travels in the remote areas of the Outback can enjoy the best of health.

We toured the inside of one of these planes.

We also saw a live map of where these planes were currently serving throughout Australia.

That evening, we went to a Bush Bar-B-Q where the cooking was done in dutch ovens near a banked fire. We also learned about the stories behind some of their more familiar folk ballads.

Did you know that “Waltzing Matilda” was a story about a drifter (or swagman) who was waltzing with his matilda (his bedroll or swag) one lonely night by a billabong, a pond while waiting for his billy to boil. His billy was a pot.

Anyway, he killed a jambuck, a sheep, which belonged to someone else. When three police came for him, he fled into the pond and drowned.

The singer also said that “waltzing matilda” has a double meaning, as the drifter carries or this thing he calls matilda on his back as he wanders from place to place. So now you know the rest of the story.

Listening to Australian Ballads

The singer said that many Australians believe it should be their national anthem, but folks are worried that a national anthem about a drifter who commits suicide may not be entirely appropriate.

Our Bush Bar-B-Que

Still, though, it is a beautiful song; and it was a wonderful evening.

Five Surprising Facts About the Outback

November 3, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

All of Australia’s Outback from the semi-arid south to the tropical north have several things in common–a low human population; amazingly large, intact natural areas; and an economy that depends on a pastoral lifestyle where livestock relies on the Outback’s natural environment or mining.

Cattle run free, and apparently there are no fence laws in this area of the Outback.

The next day we flew from Cairns to the Outback, the vast, remote interior of Australia. This part of the Outback is called the “red centre” and is arid. We flew into Alice Springs, just about the geographical center of Australia.

It is obvious why this is called the ‘Red Centre’ of Australia’s Outback.

The Australian Aborigines came to this island continent over 65,000 years ago and are probably closer related to the people from New Guinea, the Philippines, and India.

One of our group sits down to negotiate for a piece of art with an Indigenous Australian.

We learned that as hunter/gatherers, they are especially adept at finding naturally occurring food in the Outback. Though with much effort, they know exactly when, where, and how to find what is edible.

The men were especially good at hunting and slipping up on their non-suspecting prey. We learned how to throw a boomerang (one that is nonreturnable) to bring down a kangaroo, one of their food sources.

One of the men demonstrated, and then we all got to try our hand at throwing a boomerang at a target.

We also learned about several of their other tools and weapons.

This one was used in war. The pointed part could eviscerate an enemy or brain them. It was used like a tomahawk.

By the way we did not see any kangaroos in the wild. In this area there is a severe drought, and the kangaroos have moved on to areas with more water.

Most communities in this area were nomadic, moving seasonally and often according to food sources. They were always in search of the scarce food sources. We visited a small village to see how they built their structures.

Finally, we had an opportunity to buy some Aboriginal art. Their art tells a story mostly about their culture.

Mary with a piece of her art, which was for sale. The fruit was called desert tomatoes. The U and / are women. The / is her digging stick, used to find food in the ground such as roots, etc. If the U had two straight parallel lines by it, then it is a man. A simple U means people. Their art told their stories before they could write.

What No One Tells You About the Great Barrier Reef

November 1, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel 2 Comments

The Great Barrier Reef is actually over 2,300 reefs in one giant coral reef system running approximately 1,400 miles along the northeastern shore of Queensland, Australia in the Coral Sea.

One of the 900 islands on the Great Barrier Reef seen from the air on our first day.

Queensland is like one of our states. The reef sits about an hour and a half by boat from the city of Cairns. Our group of 20 individuals took a catamaran out on a fairly rough day at sea. The rain limited our visibility for photos but not for exploring.

Our Catamaran Trip to the Reef

The views looking back at the mainland were awesome. This coastline of Australia had mangroves, humidity and palm trees like Florida. Unlike Florida, though, it also had mountains and saltwater crocs.

We snorkeled wearing wet suits, because of a particularly bad jelly fish. We swam out from Michaelmas Cay.

We found the diversity of life on the reef to be amazing. Two of my most exciting moments was swimming over a giant clam…

and having a very large manta ray swim under me.

And all the other sea life!

We also took a submarine type boat to see another part of the reef in this area.

By the end of this trip, this was by far my favorite day!

A Train to Karanda

October 31, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

On day 2 in Australia, we traveled by train through dense rainforests, past spectacular waterfalls, and beside deep ravines.

Kuranda Scenic Railway

The railroad was built in the late 1880s. We traveled through 15 tunnels and over 37 bridges. Since we were near the coast, we also had views of the sea as well as the fields around the area.

Queensland near the northern coast of Australia

Kuranda is a village in the rainforest on the northern coast of Australia near Cairns. We ate lunch in the village and returned by skyrail.

A Sky Ride Above the Rainforest

That evening we had dinner together on the roof of our hotel with the rest of the group from Georgia Tech.

Our Rooftop View

Then each of us got to hold a koala and have our picture made.

My Moments with a Real Live Koala

The minute they hand you the koala, he hangs on for dear life as if giving you a caressing hug. It was so sweet.

A Koala Handler

Australia or Bust

October 30, 2018 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel 4 Comments

We just got back from three weeks in Australia and New Zealand, so we picked five photos from each day. Enjoy the photo album!

The flight over was 22 hours counting connections, airports, and the flights themselves. Strangely enough, the jet lag wasn’t bad at all. Not sure why.

We finally got to Cairns in the Queensland region around noon after losing a day on the flight over from Los Angeles. On the north coast of Australia and its most tropical, the city is pronounced Cans.

Cairns at Night

After a quick lunch we took a flight out to the Great Barrier Reef to see it from the air. We knew it would be important to stay awake for the rest of the day, and we thought the flight out and back might help. In two days we will go snorkeling on the reef.

The Great Barrier Reef near Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Coming back we saw the sugar cane fields, but there are now so few of them. Malaysia seems to have taken away their sugar cane market.

That night we had dinner with our tour director who will be with us during the entire three weeks both in Australia and New Zealand. An Aussie himself he gave a brief presentation on what is unique about Australia, its people, its economy, and its culture.

Most interesting was his warning about swimming at the beach or even walking along the shoreline anywhere. It seems that the salt water crocodiles are frighteningly deadly as is a certain box jelly fish. In short, absolutely no walking anywhere near the water, even on the road by the mangroves; and absolutely no swimming except in the daytime in a designated area.

Cairns at Night

What I Learned About the French Riviera

November 28, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel 2 Comments

Most people come to the French Riviera for its sun, beaches, and views, but we discovered so much more. The villages and countryside are awesome, too.

Today, we left Nice and headed back toward Monaco and visited Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, both Medieval hilltop villages with amazing views in the French Riviera.

What makes it very special here are the roads that are high on the mountains overlooking the sea. These roads cut into the mountains and into the sides of the cliffs. It makes for awesome views and nail biting rides. If you remember, Princess Grace lost her life on a road like one of these.

Èze

First, we stopped in Èze, a village high up a mountain on the sea.

It has narrow winding streets that we just loved.

Èze was a great place to stop for lunch and see great sweeping views of the French Riviera.

The village sits on a high cliff over 1,400 ft above sea level and is very near the Italian border. Its oldest building dates back to 1306. We learned that Walt Disney spent a significant amount of his time here.

Èze, population about 3,500, is very popular with tourists and especially with honeymooners. It is what some call a village-musée, a “museum village” because few residents of local origin live here now.

Chuck and I wandered through it and spent a significant bit of our time having lunch in a little alley restaurant. We were entertained by a blind kitty.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence

Afterwards, we went to Saint-Paul-de-Vence. This village sits high on a hilltop also in the French Riviera. It is one of the oldest medieval towns and is known for its art galleries.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence was a haven for the famous, mostly due to the La Colombe d’Or hotel. We were told that all kinds of celebrities stayed here including Satre, Picasso, Sinatra, and many more. This was their base of operations here in the French Riviera.

Saint-Paul was an old border village from the 16th century separating France and the House of Savoy. The views are fantastic over the hills and down to the sea.

On the south side is a panoramic view of their beautiful countryside. Walking along the cobblestoned ‘Grande Rue’ its main street is most impressive. We ambled down its narrow cobbled side streets, too, taking some time to do a little shopping.

We loved the patterns in the cobblestones.

This is a great place to just ramble.

Chuck took one look at the Grand Rue and its shops and mumbled something about his wallet. Funny man. He acts like I don’t have any credit cards. ☺

This was the end of our trip to Southern Europe and we flew back home from the Nice airport. Both of us had been to France, the first time over twenty years ago; but this was our first trip to the French Riviera. We really enjoyed it. We hope you did, too.

Everyone Loves Paris: Here’s Why I Love Nice

November 26, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel 3 Comments

Nice is also called Nice La Belle or Nice the Beautiful. We visited it recently and agree with its nickname. Here’s why!

We entered Nice from the east with sweeping views of the city below from a ridge high above. This is a large city with over 1 million in its metropolitan area, making it the fifth largest city in France.

Nice from high above on the east.

We stayed here two days touring Nice and then two more villages nearby. We lodged in the Hotel Splendid which was within walking distance of their promenade by the sea. Anyone visiting for just a couple of days will want to stay near this area. Everything is in walking distance. Near the Hotel Splendid is the Casa Corleone, a great Sicilian restaurant, and one of the best meals we had the entire trip. Love this place.

The Hotel Splendid in the background.

Old Town

The next morning we went first to the old town which is south-east of our hotel. We took a bus, though it may have been within walking distance.

Walking in the Old Town section of the city

They renovated and changed much of the old town down near the sea. Our tour guide showed us a hotel that faced the Boulevard, and she told us that most of the old grand hotels that were built up until the beginning of the 20th century faced the boulevard and not the sea. People were less interested in seeing the sea and more interested in being seen.

One of is grand old hotels.

A closer view

Then we took a walk through their marketplace which for vegetables is open until 2 pm and for other non-perishables is open until 5 pm. They gave us time on our own to shop, use the facilities, and snack. We met our guide at the other end of the market 30 minutes later.

Between the market and old town

Nice’s Churches

As a group, we walked north deeper into the old town where we stopped at a small magnificent cathedral that was built in the 1650s.

Eglise de Gesu

This is the Eglise de Gesu and it has beautiful Baroque interiors. It looks out at the intersection of the former Street of the Jews, where the city’s Jews used to be locked in at night. This street is now called the rue Benoit Bunico. The Eglise or church sits at the intersection of Benoit Bunico and Gesu Street thus the name of the church. Gesu is Jesus in the Nissart language.

Inside the Eglise de Gesu

But Nice grew rapidly in the 1600s and the church was already too small when completed so they built a larger cathedral to replace it within 20 or 30 years of the smaller one.

We also visited the newer church built in the late 1600s called Cathédrale Sainte-Reparate, which was built on the site of an earlier church from the 1200s.

Cathedrale de Sainte-Reparate

It too was beautiful inside.

Cathedrale de Sainte-Reparate

Note the umbrella.

It had a yellow and red umbrella showing that the Pope made this church a basilica.

There were several amazing paintings, too.

They named the basilica after a young Palestinian teenager called Reparate, who refused to renounce her Christian faith in 1060. Her torturers tested her but the angels foiled their attempts. It poured rain when they tried to burn her, and she didn’t die when they poisoned her. Finally, they decapitated her.

To deny her a Christian burial, her murderers left her body on a raft in the sea; but the angels intervened again and the raft came into the bay of Nice where her body arrived untouched and pristine. Today the bay in Nice is called the Bay of Angels, and the young martyr became Sainte Reparate, the patron saint of this Cathedral.

This old town part of Nice looks like an old medieval village.

Streets of Old Town

More of Old Town

More of Old Town

This is another city where they did something to the river. In this case, they covered the river and put a park on top of it so the river runs underground.

The river is under the grassy area which is a park.

The park built over the river.

By the Sea

Later, Chuck and I walked down to the promenade by the sea. It was a beautiful day, and there were sunbathers. There is a wide sidewalk that stretches between the boulevard and the beach. On the other side of the boulevard are the hotels, most of which now open on the sea side of their buildings.

The Promenade in Nice

Looking down on Nice from the east

The grand old hotels in Nice that now open toward the sea.

This is the promenade where the terrorist drove his truck on Bastille Day. We saw several armed men and women in full riot gear patrolling the streets and the Promenade de Anglais Boulevard which was closed the night of the attack and made into a pedestrian thoroughfare. Today, though, I never felt unsafe.

We also walked down toward the sea to a street which is full of restaurants and had a great plate of paella. This is a great city for walking.

More of the Old Town

We usually avoid cities but we loved Nice.

What is the Difference Between Monaco and Monte Carlo?

November 23, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Travel Leave a Comment

Since the 12th Century, Monaco has been an independent country. Today it is a constitutional principality. It is a constitutional monarchy and a city-state with four quarters.

The oldest quarter is called Monaco-Ville and is the high area or as the locals call it, “the rock”. This is where the first Grimaldi built his fortress and palace, easy ground to protect.

Photo from Wikipedia

Monte Carlo is another quarter and sits on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps and along the French Riviera. It is in the center of Monaco and is where the famous casino is located. The other two areas are Fontvielle, the newly constructed quarter with the only beach and La Condamine which is the port area.

One time a Grimaldi disguised himself as a monk but took up his sword. That is why their crest is a monk and a sword. And Monaco in French means monk.

Prince Albert II is the current prince of Monaco and is the son of Prince Rainer and Princess Grace. His full name is Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi.

Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly at Engagement Announcement

05 Jan 1956, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA — 1/5/56-Philadelphia, PA: Prince Rainier III of Monaco and lovely Grace Kelly, reigning “Queen” of the American screen, pose for photographers at the home of Miss Kelly’s parents after the pair’s engagement was announced Jan 5, 1956. The wedding plans were disclosed to more than 40 American and European reporters and 25 photographers and cameramen at a news conference in the Kelly’s red brick home. The couple announced they would be married shortly after Easter. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

There’s also his sister Princess Caroline who lives in a villa near the Musee Oceanographique de Monaco. Another sister is Princess Stephanie.

Monaco has 0% unemployment. Its major problem is space and room to grow with 38,000 inhabitants. Only 19,000 are native. To be a resident you must live here six months plus one day of the year.

Every day more than 40,000 people come to Monaco to work. It is very expensive to live here at least $10,000 per square meter, which is ten square feet.

Monaco is a tax haven with no direct taxes. They get most of their tax dollars from vat tax, but the casino pays for everything else needed by its residents.

We sailed to Monaco our last port and are now on a post-cruise adventure. We will stay two nights in Nice, but today we tour Monte Carlo.

We headed first to the rock which is where the Royals built their fortress. The old town is immediately below the rock. The photos appear smoky because it was. They are experiencing a drought here, and there were forest fires in Italy, which is only five miles away.

Prince Charles, an earlier Grimaldi was the first to build the casino. The casino was built in 1863. The natives were forbidden to gamble. Before the casino, Monaco was a poor country, but after the casino, it became very rich. The area of the city-state called Monte Carlo is where the casino is now. Monte Carlo literally means Mount Charles.

The Casino (Photo on Wikipedia.

His son Albert I built the Institute Oceanographique upon the rock. We started our walking tour there.

Then we walked through a beautiful garden/Park with wonderful views on one side and a cathedral on the other. One of the best was looking straight down on a marina.

We noticed that a lot of the plants are the same as in Florida. I even saw a camellia bush. there was beautiful statuary throughout the garden.

Saint Nicholas Cathedral is where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier in 1956. Built in the late 1800s it is Romanesque in design. This has significance to me, as I’ll explain later.

Many of the Grimaldi’s are buried here including Princess Grace and Prince Rainier.

The inside was beautiful. This was extra special for me. In my Grandmother Roe’s house was a “Life” magazine that told the story about Grace Kelly marrying her prince. There were pictures of the church they married in and the gowns she wore.

I thought she was beautiful and loved to look at the photos. It was like a real live fairy tale. Both Mama and Ranny were fascinated by it all, too. So here I am standing in this same church more than 50 years later.

Across the street from the cathedral is a 14th-century building that was also a church at one time.

We visited the palace where Albert II lives (just the outside). The old part was built in the 14th century. He was also married here.

In the view from the wall near the palace you can see France just past the city up above

and to the right of the city, there’s a peninsula far in the distance. That is Italy, about five miles away. Monaco is indeed a tiny country.

The Monte Carlo Grand Prix is their main event. Over 20 million people come here to see the race. The Formula One event began in 1929.

In the streets of Monte Carlo, the cars reach speeds of 200 mph. They follow the Circuit de Monaco and even use the city’s tunnels. You can read about it here.

The streets here are used for the Grand Prix.

There are lots of tunnels in the city, 42 miles in all. Because of them, you can drive quickly through it. They disappear under buildings and under other roads above. In fact, we even changed countries in one of the tunnels going from Monaco to France.

This tunnel has openings looking out on the Mediterranean.

Entering this tunnel which runs under a hotel.

Leaving this tunnel. See the city beyond.

This is a fascinating city. I’m glad I saw it. Here’s a few more scenes.

OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TO BE FEARED