Bart Bear's Blog

In early November we did a short cruise to complete our year celebrating Dad's 80th birthday. Mum and I took him on a cruise up the Queensland coast from Brisbane to Cairns. Since we have visited all of the places the ship called at we didn't need to go ashore at all. The ship was "Quantum of the Seas", the largest ship we have sailed on. The usual crew of Scruffy, Milkshake and Blue tagged along. The weather did not do the right thing, it was cloudy, windy and wet the whole cruise. However, I had the big ship to explore and the ocean to scan from the balcony, searching for whales and flying fish. First stop was at Shute Harbour in the Whitsunday Island group. Transport from ship to shore was by the ship's boats and some local fast catamarans. The Whitsundays are mostly uninhabited except for campers but there are a few resort islands. The one in image 6 is Daydream Island. We visited it a few times some decades ago. In the meantime it has been destroyed by a cyclone, rebuilt and is now owned by a Chinese company. On the way back from Cairns we went past Willis Island, the only inhabited island in the Coral Sea. It's a low coral cay with a weather station on it. Plus a gannet colony; gannets followed the ship most of the day. Inside the ship was very like all other Royal Caribbean ships we have been on. One of things that I liked was a restaurant called Wonderland. It had a huge finger pointing to the entrance and a huge chair outside. The food is spectacular; try it if you get the chance. There was another huge chair near the Pub and a huge red bear near the walking/running track. Outside another great restaurant, Jamie's, is a huge crystal artwork. And there are lots of small statues just the right size for a small bear to ride. The shows are spectacular, the image shows a wall of drummers/acrobats. One fun thing is a robot bar - dial in your mix and the robots make your drink. Mum made a good one, Dad made an almost drinkable experiment... The great thing is now that I am over 21, I can legally drink alcohol even on American ships, no need to sneak some of the Oldies' booze. A good cruise, but I have to admit that I prefer the smaller ships.
 

Labels: boats, cruising, Queensland

There are 2 ways to return to Cairns from Kuranda. You can go back by the train or you can take the Skyrail. This way you sit in a small gondola that carries you above the dense rain forest and down the range to the station where you can get a shuttle bus back into Cairns. There are 2 stops along the way where you can leave the skyrail and walk some of the trails to scenic lookouts. From the gondola you can see all of the flowers, creepers, vines, and birds that live at the top of the forest trees. There are also great views of some of the waterfalls and gorges. The drop down the range gives you splendid views of the northern beach suburbs of Cairns. I love this trip but the Oldies sometimes get a bit jumpy when the wind makes the gondola sway or when there is an unexpected bump and rumble as it passes one of the support towers. If you visit Cairns you really must do the railway and skyrail trip to Kuranda.
 

Labels: Cairns, Kuranda, Queensland

A must-do thing anytime you visit Cairns is to take a trip on the tourist train to Kuranda. Kuranda is a small village in the rain forest on top of the mountain range inland of Cairns. The railway was built between 1886 and 1891 to provide a link between the mining towns on the Atherton tableland and Cairns. During WW2 it linked the ports of Cairns and Port Douglas with the military camps and hospitals on the tableland, and the railway between Cairns and Brisbane. The line is 75km long and rises to 327m above sea level. It was built entirely by pick, shovel and dynamite, one of the great engineering feats of colonial Australia. Today it is one of the world's great tourist railway trips. Although the engines are now diesel electric the carriages are restored vintage units, including a "luxury" Gold Class carriage (drinks and snacks all during the trip). I bought the Oldies seats in this one from my pocket money.The line passes through 15 tunnels, has 93 sharp curves and passes over dozens of bridges across ravines. From the train you see many waterfalls. The train makes a photo stop at Barron Falls, usually the most spectacular one, but this time the best was Stony Creek. The almost-last image is a view across the Barron Gorge to Stony Creek Falls and the long railway bridge which crosses the ravine here. We have done this trip 4 times now and will definitely do it again if we have the chance. And about those bars across the windows to stop passengers leaning out, well they don't stop determined small bears.

Labels: Cairns, Kuranda, Queensland, train

 

Labels: astronomy, Cairns, Queensland

During our last visit to Brisbane we did a special river cruise. Fifty years ago, when Mum was a little girl, her parents took her to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and she cuddled a koala for the first time. Readers of my blog know that she has cuddled lots of them since then (search koala). Anyhow, it seemed like an anniversary that we should celebrate, so Dad and I shouted her the trip. It is a beautiful cruise up the Brisbane river to the sanctuary, lots to see, interesting commentary about the history of the river, and a great crew. The steep path from the jetty to the sanctuary entrance really tested the Oldies fitness, but they managed it. So here's Mum, 50 years on, cuddling an absolutely huge koala (not the one from 50 years ago). As most of the koalas are much bigger than me, I just talked to them whenever I could find one that was actually awake. Koalas sleep for over half the day and eat for most of the rest of it. Lone Pine was founded in 1927 and is the world's first koala sanctuary. Do visit it if you are looking for something to do when you are in Brisbane.

Labels: animals, Brisbane, cruising, Queensland

The Gold Coast beaches stretch for 30 Km, from Tweed Heads in New South Wales to Southport in Queensland. Only a few headlands and creeks break the strip. Surfers Paradise is the best known of the beaches, but in my opinion it is not actually the "best" as the surfing is better at others. I have been on most of the beaches, but Mum won't let me in the water so I have to be content with playing in the sand and terrorizing (small) crabs. Here are pictures of the beaches at the ends of the strip. The first one is at Coolangatta at the southern end of the Gold Coast. This is a good surf beach and if you look carefully you can see lots of surfers waiting for the best wave. The breakwaters protect the mouth of the Tweed River. Just south of the river you can see a jetty carrying a long pipe out beyond the breakers. This is a sand pumping station and it serves two purposes. One is to stop sand from clogging the river mouth, the other is to pump sand north onto the Gold Coast beaches. The natural drift of sand is northwards so this station makes sure that the beaches have new sand replacing the stuff that drifts away. The second picture is on the Spit at Southport, the northern end of the strip. You can see the high-rise buildings in the background and some of the hundreds of yachts that anchor here. I think it is great that right in the middle of one of the most "developed" areas of Queensland you can find a quiet area of beach like this for small bears to explore. There are proposals to turn the Spit into a cruise ship terminal, shopping malls and casino. Personally, much as I like cruising, I would be sorry to see this small patch of beach and native vegetation go under concrete and tar.

Labels: beach, Gold Coast, Queensland

Canberra winters are so cold and bleak that some sort of escapes are necessary. Last week the Oldies and I escaped to the Gold Coast. We stayed at our favourite resort, Pacific Views. You can see how well the name fits by the picture taken from our 18th floor balcony. Those things that look like smudges on the beach and over the waves are actually kite surfers (click on the photo and you will see them better). I sat on the balcony and watched kite surfers and board surfers every day. I didn't see any body surfers, I guess the water was too cold for them. Dad didn't go in, so it must have been really cold. All along the Gold Coast beaches there are lookout towers for Lifesavers (these days they are being called Lifeguards because American television is eroding our good old Aussie names). From them you can see if anybody gets into trouble in the surf and start rescue proceedings. They are manned by volunteers and, as you can see if you look closely at the clicked photo, sometimes by small bears. Nobody got into difficulties while I was on watch. The main street in the suburb we stayed in, Main Beach, is called Tedder Avenue. Some people insist on calling small bears like me "Tedda Bears" so I got the Oldies to take the other photo just for them :-) Find the bear in the photo. Yes, it was warm and sunny and we are now back in cold Canberra.

Labels: beach, Gold Coast, Queensland

Here are some interesting critters that I met in the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville. This museum is a "must visit" place when you are in Townsville. It is full of stuff that explains the history and critters of the tropical north of eastern Australia. One section is on maritime history and has a big display about shipwrecks. The most fun thing in that section is this monster-size sea captain. He is posed like he is taking sights with his sextant. Obviously, he would be helped enormously if he had a small bear to read the charts while he did the measurements, so that's what I am doing in the photo. There are lots of life-size models of dinosaurs that used to live in Queensland. I got Dad to take photos of me with some to give you an idea of the size of these critters. The little one looks cute and harmless and would make a great "horse" for small bears. The big guy is a different story; he is totally scary. Imagine meeting something like that while you were surfing. No, I am not scared white by the critter, that's the colour that the camera makes me when the flash is too close. What are they? I will let you Google them and find out for yourself; it's a cold, wet day in Canberra and I am off to find a warm place to hibernate for a while.

Labels: animals, models, Queensland, Townsville

You can find all sorts of interesting things in museums. Here are some things that I found in the museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville. While the Oldies were spending ages in the section that had the remains of HMS Pandora and the history of the shipwreck, I wandered off to find the dinosaurs. There are a lot of model dinos there, all of real ones that lived in Queensland zillions of years ago. Most of them are full-size and a bit scary if you are a small bear. But I did find one that was just the right size for me to ride. I am not sure what sort of dino he is, because Dad didn't take notes. He may be a small Muttaburrasaurus (the dino, not Dad), maybe some reader can tell me. Anyway he looks like a plant-eater and a fast runner. The scariest thing was hanging over the stairs. I went off to find Nemo, like the sign said, and there he is with a humungous shark chasing him. I wanted to skewer the shark with one of the harpoons from an exhibit, but the Oldies wouldn't let me. A pity because the shark is full of gas and he would have zoomed off like a rocket if I hit him in the right spot.

Labels: animals, fish, Queensland, Townsville

The most prominent thing you see in Townsville is a big hill called Castle Hill, right in the centre of town. It is 286 metres high and you can drive right to the top of it, like we did on our way up to Cairns for the eclipse last year. Actually, the settlement was originally called Castletown; it changed its name to Townsville in 1865. You get great views of Townsville from the top of Castle Hill. There are trails that let you walk right around the summit, so you can see the whole city and surrounding country. During WW2 the hill was a communications and observation post with a radar station and lots of searchlights. The remains of some of the buildings are still there. In the background of the bottom picture you can see Magnetic Island. You can learn a bit more about that island from my earlier posts.

Labels: Queensland, Townsville

Here's a real dragon. It is an Eastern Water Dragon, called that because these critters live all along the east coast of Australia, they live near water, and they are part of the dragon family of lizards. They like to laze away on branches of trees that hang out over the water. When they get scared they jump into the water and swim down to the bottom until the scary thing has passed. They can stay under water for almost 30 minutes! Actually, they scare lots of people who are walking along the river bank or canoeing near shore. They grow to be fairly big, nearly 1 metre long, and a lizard that size suddenly zipping past your head is pretty scarey. This one was sunning himself near the pool at the apartment we stayed in at Brisbane for the astronomy conference last year. He wasn't scared of people or small bears at all.

Labels: animals, Brisbane, Queensland

There is no better place for small bears to rest than in a comfortable tree near a beautiful beach. You can see lots of photos of Scruffy and I resting at some of the best beaches in Australia if you look back through the blog. This beach is at Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, near Townsville in Queensland. We visited there while on our way up to Cairns for the eclipse last November. Magnetic Island was named by Captain Cook back in 1770. His compass had problems while he was sailing past and he thought the rocks on the island must be magnetic. They aren't, and nobody knows what was upsetting the compass. As far as I am concerned Maggie Is is most memorable for the small rock wallabies that I met there (see the photos earlier on the blog).

Labels: beach, heroes, Queensland, Townsville

 While we were in Brisbane on our way back from the eclipse there was a huge storm. Brisbane is just a little bit above and left of the centre of this radar map. The big storm cell is just over 300km across. It hit Brisbane just as we were trying to get to sleep and lightning hit the train track just outside our hotel. I have never seen Dad jump so high from a prone position. I wish I had the video camera running as nobody would believe Dad is so athletic :) Actually I love watching storms. The lightning is spectacular and small bears are not afraid of thunder. I don't like the damage that strong winds cause and really hate the bushfires that lightning sometimes starts, but I do love the spectacle when there is no real danger.

Labels: Brisbane, Queensland

It seems like ages since the eclipse in Cairns. A lot of exciting stuff has happened in the meantime, particularly our New Zealand cruise. So for a while there will be a mix of photos, hope you can sort them out. Anyhow, here are Scruffy and I waiting for the eclipse to start. Our balcony at Amaroo had a table in just the right place to give us a good view across the ocean and to the side of the Oldies. We spent the time before the start of partial phases with a glass of breakfast champagne and our Kindles. Actually, I use Dad's Kindle because he has lots of great S-F stories on it; Scruff uses Mum's because he is getting interested in ancient Egypt too. Of course, when the eclipse started we had to wear proper protection to look at the Sun. Once the Moon completely covered the Sun during Totality we could look with our unprotected eyes, but before and after Totality we used eclipse goggles. We are getting quite a collection of these goggles now; this is our second eclipse and Mum likes the different designs. Whatever else you do, make sure you see at least one Total Solar Eclipse in your lifetime. You will never forget it.

Labels: astronomy, Cairns, eclipse, Queensland

On the way up to Kuranda on the train you can see several waterfalls tumbling down into the Barron River Gorge. Here are the two that are easiest to see, both about 130m high. The one on the left is Stoney Creek Falls and the train goes right alongside it. The train is moving fairly slowly as it passes the falls because it is going across one of the longest curved lattice railway bridges in Australia. The one on the right is Barron Falls. It used to be really spectacular, but now most of the water is dammed and used to run a hydroelectric station that powers the Cairns area. The train stops for a photo break at Barron Falls station, and you can also get photos by taking a short walk from the Skyrail station on the other side of the gorge on your way back to Cairns. The trip from Cairns to Kuranda is really one of the most scenic short trips in Australia, so do it sometime (and take your small bear with you).

Labels: Cairns, Kuranda, Queensland, waterfall

One of the best day trips that you can do from Cairns is to take the Kuranda Scenic Railway up to the market town of Kuranda, and come back down via the Skyrail cableway. I have done this trip 3 times now and absolutely love it. This time the train was very long, around 16 carriages, and needed two big diesel locos to haul it. Cairns was, of course, jam-packed with visitors for the eclipse and lots of them were visiting Kuranda. The train runs through rain forest for most of the trip and it has dozens of trestle bridges and 15 tunnels. It also has a station near the top of the climb where you can get out for a short stop to see Barron Falls. It was raining gently this day and it made the views a bit spooky, with clouds right down on the tops of the hills. We even saw a lyrebird fluttering down the embankment near where the bottom photo was taken. Do the trip if you are visiting Cairns, up by rail, back by Skyrail. Lots of shopping for Mums at Kuranda. You will enjoy it.

Labels: Cairns, Kuranda, Queensland, train

We spent a day at Port Douglas during our eclipse trip. Our aim was to find a historic lighthouse, Island Point Light, that we had looked for on our last trip but couldn't find. No problem this time because the locals had signposted it and even put in a path to it. The problem last trip was that we were looking for it near the top of the hill. In fact it is near the bottom, facing out to sea. It replaced an old wooden one built in 1878 and destroyed in a cyclone in 1911. The lighthouse has not worked since 1997. The "lighthouse" today is a strong light attached to a communication mast at the top of the hill. There is another lighthouse near Port Douglas, on the Low isles near the start of the shipping channel. We visited that one on our last trip to Cairns and you can find pictures of it way back in the blog.

Labels: Cairns, lighthouse, Queensland

These little critters are Allied Rock Wallabies. They are an endangered species that exist only on a few islands off the Queensland coast near Townsville. Dogs, cats and foxes have eaten all of the ones that lived on the mainland. We found a group of 20 or so of these living in a big rocky area near an old wharf on Magnetic Island. The mother wallaby in the main picture if full size, about 70cm from nose to tail. The joey in her pouch is one of the cutest critters I have ever seen. The wallabies were not scared of the Oldies because people feed them a special mix that you can buy from shops on the island. It took a bit of work to convince them that I wasn't a ferocious carnivore, but eventually they came down for a chat and I am now welcome to visit their rock pile whenever I am passing.

Labels: animals, Queensland, Townsville

We are back from our eclipse trip. We saw lots of interesting things, but of course the eclipse was the main thing. We were lucky. There was lots of cloud as the Sun rose and it got thicker as eclipse started. We didn't see the start of the partial phases, but as you can see, we had the special glasses on and caught glimpses of the Sun slowly disappearing behind the Moon. Then just as Totality began the clouds parted and we saw about 90% of the event. People on beaches to either side of ours saw nothing, so we really were lucky. The eclipse photo is from our friend Steve. He drove up to the Atherton Tablelands, inland from Cairns, and had clear skies. Eclipses are spectacular. Even if you don't see the whole thing you experience the eerie darkness and the cool wind that blows during totality. And it's fun to see the confused reactions of birds and animals that can't work out what's happening. That was my second Solar Eclipse and I hope that the Oldies will take me to more of them. Actually the reactions of people (including the Oldies) are some of the funniest things that you see at eclipses.

Labels: astronomy, Cairns, eclipse, Queensland

Yes, I am off travelling again. In just over an hour we head to the airport and fly off on our way to Cairns. There is a Total Solar Eclipse there on Wednesday next week and hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are travelling there to see it. Scruffy and I have seen an eclipse before, at Ceduna in December 2002, and are really keen to see this one. We have had our accommodation at Trinity Beach booked for over 4 years! If you have never experienced a Total Solar Eclipse then you really need to do so. It is totally awesome in every sense of the word. Naturally, planning an eclipse expedition takes a lot of work and here's me doing the background reading on my Kindle (which Mum mistakenly thinks is hers). If any of you are in the Cairns area for the eclipse, look for the two small bears with eclipse glasses and camera.

Labels: Cairns, eclipse, Queensland