Dream Come True: Australia Day, Part 2

Sydney Opera House

Since I was a teenager I had dreamed of visiting Australia. I longed to see the Sydney Opera House, spend time in the Outback and marvel at the Great Barrier Reef. It's hard to say when this dream actually started, but I think the seed was planted when I was about 13 and I got a small, stuffed koala as a present. A small collection soon followed.

Then in my late teens I saw this film that really set the dream in motion. The Man From Snowy River (1982) is a classic Australian film set in the mountains and flatlands of southeastern Australia in the late 19th century. It tells the story of a young man who becomes a part of a search for a wild horse. Why did a western from Australia make me want to go there? I have no idea, but it did lead me to watch other Australian films which led me, more and more, to wanting to visit this beautiful country.

Since Australia is so far away I never thought it would happen. I assumed that it would remain a dream. But five years ago I had the opportunity to accompany my husband on a business trip to Australia. My dream was finally going to come true!

Because of limited time we didn't really stray that far from Sydney. Which meant that I didn't get to see the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef or even the mountains from The Man From Snowy River. But that's o.k, because we still got to see some amazing places. One place in particular has stuck with me. It is now one of my favorite places.

The Blue Mountains

That place is about a two hour drive west of Sydney near a town called Katoomba - The Blue Mountains National Park. This very popular national park is a part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area due to its many and varied examples of plant life which still produces great scientific discoveries. All I know, is that this was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen in my life.

The Blue Mountains are technically a sandstone tableland and not mountains, but they still provide very challenging hiking trails nonetheless. My husband and I attempted one of these trails. I really enjoy being in the great outdoors but I am very far from being an outdoorswoman, but I knew that I had to do this.

The Three Sisters

Our hike started in the early morning at the Echo Point Lookout which provides the best view of The Three Sisters (above). One Aboriginal legend has it that these three pillars are three sisters from one tribe who fell in love with three brothers from another tribe that they were not allowed to marry. The brothers went to war over the sisters. An elder from the sisters' tribe turned the sisters to stone to protect them planning on reversing it when the war was over. Sadly, the elder was killed in battle and the sisters remained as stone pillars.

After a short climb down to the Three Sisters the difficult part began. We climbed down 872 steps and 1,000 feet to get to the valley. It was very steep in places and my left leg was incredibly sore the next day. But it was worth every step to see the view on the way down and the forest and the valley floor when we got to the bottom.

Ascending just a few of the 872 steps!

The walk across the valley was breathtaking. We saw such wonderful and unique trees and flowers. After walking 2.5 kilometres we were able to take a cable car back to the top. But the most interesting way to get to the bottom was the Katoomba Scenic Railway, originally built to haul coal out of the valley in the 1880s. So we decided to ride it down and then back up again. On the way down they played the Indiana Jones theme!

Katoomba Scenic Railway

I did get to experience one of my dreams on this trip. While visitors are no longer allowed to hold koalas they do allow visitors to touch and pet them. I was almost in tears when I touched this koala hanging out on his perch and munching on eucalyptus leaves. It is a prized memory.

Our other stops included The Barrington Tops National Park which includes a temperate rainforest, a ride on a train on the Zig Zag Railway, and a boat ride across Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach.

While I didn't get to see as many places as Ms. B did, I loved everything that I saw and every moment spent in this beautiful and amazing country!

Don't forget to watch for kangaroos or koalas crossing the road!

From the Catalog:

-- The Man From Snowy River [DVD] - the film that set the dream in motion!

-- The Man From Snowy River & Other Verses by A.B. Peterson - the poem that the film was based on.

-- Strictly Ballroom [DVD] - a hilarious look at an Australian ballroom champ who wants to break all the rules of dancing while his family desperately tries to stop him.

-- Breaker Morant [DVD] - Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.

-- Muriel's Wedding [DVD] - Muriel longs for the big city life of Sydney in this Australian comedy.

-- Australia [DVD] - Baz Luhrmann's epic about an Australian ranch during World War II.


From the Web: 

-- The Lost Valley of the Wollemi Pine [Scientific American] - a 2012 article about the discovery of a species of tree thought long extinct found in the Blue Mountains.

-- How Australia Put Evolution on Darwin’s Mind [Smithsonian Magazine] - a 2015 article about Charles Darwin's little known trip to the Blue Mountains in 1836.

-- The Blue Mountains National Park - official page of the park.


--Post by Tracy

Terror Incognita: Australia Day, Part 1

January 26th is Australia Day, the official national holiday of Australia. 

We celebrate the day with a two-part entry on this weird, wild, and wholly unique country:

Sunrise in the Outback

Taipan snakes. Funnel web spiders. Redbacks. Great white sharks. Saltwater crocodiles. Bluebottles. Box jellyfish. Cone shells. Cassowaries. Blue-ringed octopuses. Coffin rays. Stonefishes.

That's a small, utterly non-comprehensive list of all the things in Australia that are venomous, poisonous, or otherwise capable of causing extreme bodily harm to a human who ventures just a little too close. And that is, of course, only considering the animals; I've left off such things as floods, hurricane, cyclones, temperatures so hot they can literally cook a person alive -- and riptides, which many consider to be a far greater danger than any of the local wildlife.

Australia: A Summary

The point remains: Australia is not for the faint of heart. So imagine my surprise last May, when I found myself signing on for a two-week trip to the Land Down Under. I was, as my friends and family could've all told you, somewhat apprehensive about just what creepy-crawlies (or, y'know, massive crocodiles) I might run into while I was there. But there was undeniable appeal at the chance to go somewhere so utterly unique, so completely unlike anywhere I had ever gone before.

The Australian Outback

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to bounce from place to place in Australia, getting to experience several different locations entirely different from one another. There was Cairns, for instance: a veritable tropical paradise of a city, situated on the northeast coast of the country (or, if you prefer, the northeast coast of the continent, Australia being the only place that can claim the distinction of being both continent and country).

Cairns is where you go if you'd like to view the Great Barrier Reef, located just off the coast. Exactly how big it is has become a matter of some debate (280,000 square kilometers by one reckoning, 344,000 by another), but by even the shortest of estimates, it stretches the same length as the west coast of the United States. It contains incredible amounts of wildlife: fifteen hundred species of fish, four hundred types of coral, four thousand types of mollusks -- and is said by many to be the largest living thing on earth. (Some argue that, as the reef is composed of three thousand separate reefs, it is not a single entity; that hardly makes it less impressive.) Comprised of trillions of miniature coral polyps, the Great Barrier Reef is centuries old.

Saltwater crocodiles at the Marineland Melanesia Park 

on Green Island -- off the coast of Cairns, Queensland

Then there was Sydney, Australia's most famous city (despite the fact that Melbourne is swiftly gaining popularity and may soon overtake Sydney's population numbers -- and that the actual capital of the country of Australia is Canberra). It has the Sydney Opera House, Australia's most famous bit of architecture. There's also the Harbour Bridge, which our guide informed us many tourists will pay hundreds of dollars to climb across the top of (because, I was forced to assume, there are actually tourists who do not find Australia hazardous enough to begin with).

The 'roos at the petting zoo outside Sydney are 

realizing I'm almost out of treats. 

I felt like the little kid in "The Lost World" when the dinos 

find out she doesn't have any more sandwiches for them.

And then, of course, there's the Australian outback. There are great, vast expanses of outback; in fact, it comprises the majority of the continent. It redefines the concept of "in the middle of nowhere." But despite overwhelmingly high temperatures and the usual assortment of dangerous creepy-crawlies, the outback is undeniably magnificent. And nowhere is this more evident than at Uluru.

Uluru (the Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock) is a rock formation that's a mile and a half long, five and a half miles around -- and a hundred million years old. It's a type of geological marvel known as a bornhardt: a deposit of weather-resistent rock that's left behind after the wind and rain and water has worn away its surroundings. The thousand-foot-high structure is considered a holy place by the Aboriginal people -- and it's not hard to see why.

Uluru

So, yes: it's wild and massive and even, perhaps, at times, a bit terrifying. But Australia remains a truly fascinating place.

Just be sure to check the sheets for spiders before you go to sleep. I know I did.

And, hey: not all of the animals are scary.

-- From Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent:

"I want," he said, "A book about the dangerous creatures of [Australia] --"

"Hmm …" He picked up a book at random and read the cover. "'Dangerous Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Jellyfish, Insects, Spiders, Crustaceans, Grasses, Trees, Mosses, and Lichens of Terror Incognita'," he read. His gaze moved down the spine. "Volume 29C," he added. "Oh. Part Three, I see."

He glanced up at the shelves. "Possibly it would be simpler if I asked for a list of the harmless creatures of the aforesaid continent?"

Something white [came] zigzagging lazily through the air. Finally he reached up and caught the single sheet of paper.

He read it carefully and then turned it over briefly just in case anything was written on the other side.

"'Some of the sheep,'" he read aloud. "Oh, well. Maybe a week at the seaside'd be better, then."

Uluru

From the Catalog:

-- The Last Continent - a satirical novel by Terry Pratchett

-- In a Sunburned Country - A hilarious, and highly informative, Australian travel guide by Bill Bryson

-- Crocodile Hunter's Croc Files [DVD] - Host Steve Irwin takes viewers on an informative tour on the wildlife of Australia

-- The Rescuers Down Under [DVD] - An animated film set in the Australian outback


-- Post by Ms. B 

Celebrating America's Natural Beauty

The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.

When my husband and I go on vacation, we almost always try to incorporate a National Park into the trip, if possible. Between the two of us, we've been to Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mammoth Cave, Shenandoah and many more. The National Park Service (NPS) is the agency legislated to administer and maintain these parks and many other parks, monuments and historic sites. This past weekend the NPS celebrated it's 96th birthday.

The National Park Service Act was signed into law on August 25, 1916. While there already were National Parks in the United States before the law, there was no one agency responsible for them all. The NPS had a difficult beginning, but with the vision and determination of two men, Stephen Tyng Mather and Horace Marden Albright, it has become one of the most popular government agencies in this country.

There are almost 400 National Parks and Historic Sites in every state and several territories. Initially many of the parks were only in the western states. This was mostly due to the land being easily available and not inhabited. By the mid 20th century many National Parks were established in the east after many prominent families donated land to the NPS. The donation of land by the Rockefeller family led to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail.

Another aspect of the National Park Service is the National Historic sites which include places like Gettysburg National Military Park, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site and Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site. These parks were established to preserve the places that are important to the country's history.

Yosemite Valley

My favorite park is Yosemite National Park in California (followed closely by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore). While on a trip to San Francisco several years ago, my husband and I realized how close we were to the park so we decided to rent a car and drive there for the day. Of course, if the drive would have been on a straight road we would have made it there in about an hour. But since it is mostly windy roads, it took us a bit longer than we had planned. But, it was worth it. The Yosemite Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have every seen.

So take my advice, if you have the chance please visit a National Park or Historic Site. You won't regret it!

NPS Info:

Official National Park Service Site - learn all about the many different parks and historic sites you can visit.

NPS Facebook page - keep up with current events going on at the parks

National Park Foundation - the only national charitable nonprofit whose sole mission is to directly support the National Park Service.



NPS @ your Library:

Books about the history of the National Park Service

Documentaries about National Parks

National Park mysteries: Nevada Barr, a former National Park Ranger, has written a series of mysteries that take place in several different National Parks. The crimes are investigated by Anna Pigeon, herself a National Park Ranger. Read all 17!

Books by Ansel Adams: The photographs by Adams is what lead to my desire to go to Yosemite. Check out some of these books of photographs or read his autobiography to learn more about our national treasures and the man who made them famous.

-- Post by Tracy