Had to try the burgers

Today, I tried the "Aussie Burger" at Happy Jack's (aka Burger King). It consisted of a beef pattie, raw onions, tomato, lettuce, cheese, beet pickles, a slice of ham and a fried, sunny-side-up egg, on a sesame seed bun. It was kind of tasty but in an odd sort of way - especially with the egg's rubbery texture - not something I'd order again.

Glenn tried a Malibu Whopper. It was like a regular Canadian Burger King Whopper with an added slice of ham and ring of pineapple. He thought it was pretty good - kind of sweet - just like him ;)

Happy Birthday, Mom

Happy Birthday, Mom. Have a great day!

Celeste's pics

Here are some of the pics from Celeste's camera.

Here is me at the Whakawhaka thermail and cultural poark in Rotorua, NZ.














These are the dunes at Stockton/Port Stephens. Beach on the left, covered dunes in the middle, and drifting dunes in the background. And here is the vehicle we rode in.













Here is the track through the rainforest on Fraser Island. This shows the lush vegetation and the narrow road, but it not as rutted as many other sections because it is more damp and thus more ssolid to drive on, like wet sand on the beach.


















This is the Tjapukai cultural singing and dancing group that we saw in Cairns yesterday.

Mad Dogs

Like that old song goes, “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun” – well we’re not Englishmen but we do go out in the midday sun. To tour anything you pretty much have to do it during the heat of the day as most places aren’t open in the evening. 30 degree temperatures with humidity just saps your energy. Staying hydrated and in the shade helps but the most important thing is slowing down! I purposely try to walk slowly so as not to get too overheated and I usually start out that way but by force of habit I find myself picking up the pace like I’m walking around Wascana Lake. It’s tough for an old dog to learn new tricks – even a mad one.

Pick-me-up trucks

They don’t have the same kind of pick-up trucks here that we have at home. There is no doubt that their working trucks are working trucks. Here are a few of them.
































When they want something a little nicer, they drive these "El Camino" type vehicles.

Cairns, Day 3 (for Feb. 28)

Today was, as they say in the travel guides, “at leisure.” We began by comparing and choosing which Great Barrier Reef Cruise we were going to do. When I went to the front desk to book it, they warned me that the water was forecast to be a little rough tomorrow. We discussed it and Celeste decided to tough it out. I put Gravol on the shopping list and went back to book the tour.

Next ‘leisure’ activity was repacking for our flight. We probably won’t have much time or energy left tomorrow, so we wanted to be ready to go. We had to pack up all the stuff that we no longer kept in suitcases (jackets, hats, etc.) and fit all the souvenirs in somewhere.

In making other preparations, I noticed another discrepancy. The original plan was to stay near the airport, turn in the car the day before our flight, and ride an airport bus or cab to the terminal. That plan was made so long ago that it was totally forgotten and we are quite a way from the airport. We would either have to rent the car for another day when we are leaving in the morning or relocate to another hotel. And it was due to be returned while we would be on the cruise. After weighing all the alternatives, we decided to return our car a day early, walk the few blocks to and from our cruise tomorrow, and catch a cab to the airport the next day. So we returned the car and set off to explore downtown.


They don’t seem too worried about stingers (jelly fish) here after all – not when there can be saltwater crocs in the water! Also, what used to be sandy beaches has become a mud flat after decades of dredging out the channel to the harbour and changes to the river’s drainage pattern. So, they have made the best of it with a park on the shore something like Townsville. There is a mile or more of lawns and sidewalks with a large water park for the kids. The highlight is a huge saltwater pool with a sand beach.

We got Celeste’s pictures developed and put on CD without asking enough questions. $62 later, we had a beer on the Esplanade and reviewed the pictures. I will post some soon. From there we went for a Mexican supper and back here to tell you our story.

And a special Happy Birthday to Mom Kuntz!

Cairns, Day 2 (for Feb. 27)

The day started relaxed enough. We slept in a little, had some breakfast, and then I sat down to plan our activities for the next couple of days. I thought we would do something in town today, allowing me the morning to work out the next two days. We decided we would do a package that included an aboriginal cultural park, a gondola ride for 7.5 km over the rainforest, and a return train ride. We went to the front desk to book that with the intention of returning to our room for more planning. We found that the last train left at 3:30 and, if we wanted to fit in the whole package, we had to leave right away. We flew into panic mode and were on our way before 11 to catch the start of the 11:15 aboriginal show.

The Tjapukai Cultural Park was very good. We started with a video presentation of the history of the local tribe – very sad. Aboriginal relations here and in New Zealand were a little more confrontational than in Canada. Next was a dramatic multimedia presentation about some of their legends, then a music and dance performance. (Camera battery troubles for me again. You will have to wait until we develop pictures from Celeste’s camera.) Then a young lady gave a presentation on bush foods and medicines and a young man gave a didgeridoo demonstration. From there we went to a boomerang and spear throwing demonstration, but had to rush through to catch our gondola ride.



The panoramic view leaving the coast and the ride in general was quite spectacular. (I picked up some new batteries.) We rode much higher above the ground than your average gondola ride. They provided a printed guide describing what to look for. It was very helpful, but we were moving along so quickly that it was hard to keep up with what they were describing. There were two transfer stations en route where we got off and looked around. One of them was at Barron Falls on the Barron River. The other had an interpretive centre. The whole trip took an hour and a half. We had 45 minutes at the top in the village of Kuranda. We had been there by car the day before and the time was pretty short, so we just browsed the gift shop and waited for the train.


We hadn’t been on a train since we rode from Winnipeg to Regina before 1983, so it was a pleasant novelty. There was interesting commentary en route, a stop at Barron Falls for pictures, and it slowed down on several other occasions for picture-taking opportunities. With the bus transfer back to our car and the drive back, we reached the hotel at 5:30.

We went out for supper and I tried the Aussie Bush BBQ – barramindi (fish), crocodile, kangaroo, and emu sausage with a selection of 3 dipping sauces. The barramundi was very good, comparable to our walleye. The croc was a pale yellow, and a little bit chewy or rubbery, kind of like squid, but not so much. The kangaroo was like very tender beef, but with a lighter flavour. The emu sausage was quite dry, kind of like a deer sausage, but very good, especially with some sauce. Celeste had a steak. She wanted to see if she could taste any difference from the steaks at home, but these were grain fed Angus beef, so we couldn’t detect any difference.

After supper we toured around downtown. What a ‘happening’ place. The streets were full of people for several blocks. The height of the action was on the Esplanade along the beach. We were there around 8:30 and it was like one huge outdoor restaurant for about two blocks. Across the street they have a beautiful seaside park, including a huge saltwater pool due to the problems with jellyfish for so much of the year. We will have to check all of that out tomorrow in the daylight.

When we got back to the hotel, Celeste was feeling the heat, so we took a refreshing dip in the hotel pool. Then, it was time to get to work and tell the day’s story.

Cairns (for Feb. 26)

Wouldn’t you know that, as soon as I make some generalizations, they cease to be consistent. The weather stayed beautiful through yesterday afternoon, evening, and this morning. There was a little bit of cloud build up today, but nothing serious. Only a bit of drizzle in late afternoon. And those scattered hills became a range of hills/mountains to the west of us all day.

Before leaving Townsville, we checked out their Sunday morning market. It was a bit of a disappointment. There was nothing special there – mostly the same old arts and crafts you would see at home. The main difference was the produce. Here there is fresh mango, pineapple, star fruit, passion fruit, avocado, etc. compared to the carrots and lettuce at home.

We hit the road at 11 and drove through some forested parkland. Even when we weren’t in parkland, there was a corridor of trees on each side of the road most of the time. When you could see through, there was sugar cane again, mango orchards, and cattle grazing. Eventually, the land became more open and the same land uses were evident. As we went further north we also began to see bananas.



I had planned for a decision point at Innisfail, 80 km south of Cairns. If we reached there in good time, we would turn inland to the Atherton Tablelands. If not, we would drive straight through to Cairns. We arrived at Innisfail at 2:30 a little late, but still doable, and decided to take the detour. We first drove 65 km west, stopping at Millaa Millaa Falls. As we left the coastal area, at first we drove through very green rolling hills with grazing cattle and a little sugar cane. That gave way to thick rainforest as we climbed the steeper face of the tableland. At the top, I expected more rainforest, but, instead, it opened up into rolling grazing land. It was very green and hilly, looking like Switzerland without the Alps. Apparently there is a large dairy industry here.

We turned north for 75 km and the further we went, the flatter and drier the land became. It must be in a bit of a rain shadow, something like the Okanagan, from a couple of larger mountains nearer to the coast. Although there was still some grazing, we started to get into more sugar cane again, and then corn became predominant. There was now a real mixture, with some bananas thrown in, a couple of wineries, mangoes, and irrigated coffee and strawberries. We turned east for 50 km and the land became hillier again, mostly covered with scrubby forest and cattle grazing, then becoming thicker forest, although never becoming like the rainforest we had climbed through originally. Finally, we made a steep descent from the plain on 15 km of curvy road that Tony Jones would love, and drove the last 15 km on the coastal plain, arriving at our hotel at 7. After a bit of touring around, we settled in for the next few days.

We learned one of the advantages of a bus tour at Millaa Millaa Falls. Entering the area a sign directed cars to one parking area and buses to another. I figured they needed a special place for buses due to their size. Like good law-abiding Saskatchewanians (suckers) we drove to the car park and walked down the 50+ steps only to find the bus parking area right at the foot of the falls!