Rocks, Kangaroos and Fire

I never seem to tire from experiencing new ecosystems and landscapes in Australia.  Each amazes with unique flora/fauna, and the concept of balance seems to be absent from this country.  Imagine a land where you are either in severe drought or torrential floods, and where fire both destroys and gives seed to new life.

That is the Australian bush and Girraween National Park.  Girraween in the native Aboriginal language means "place of the flowers" and we were lucky to be there during the spring bloom.  Pinks, reds, yellows, whites contrasted to the hard, rough granite boulders that make up the hardscape.  The fantastic rock formations at Girraween are the result of erosion, and the resulting boulders look perilously unstable.  The result are alien-looking formations that are named the Turtle, Sphinx, Granite Arch, Castle Rock and the Pyramid.  We of course climbed them all.. and I will say Castle Rock is not a rock, it's a mountain as is the Pyramid.  Large exposed expanses of granite at a 42o slope (no hand rails mind you) reach upwards as the sun beats down, and heat radiates from the rock.. the hikes were tiring but so rewarding.  Everyone made it! Views from the top were breathtaking and the sense of accomplishment thrilling.

Girraween wild flowers:

We camped for 5 days at the Castle Rock Campground in 2-person tents.  Lucky to have Jan as our cook, dinners under the main tent were always a treat! The best part about the campground was our camp-neighbors, the kangaroos!  Kangaroos were everywhere, especially hanging out by the camp facilities.  A walk during the night to the bathroom often involved hearing the thumping of kangaroos hopping by on the dirt path.  By day, they would lounge and graze in the neighboring field. 

Our neighbors:

Along with the daily hikes and boulder bounding, we were busy gathering data in the field for Terrestrial Ecology.

Trapping yabies in the pond:

Taking a break to analyze data and have a picnic:

 Kangaroo scat counting (how many people can say they've done that!!):

The last night we had a wonderful display of student talents.. I won't embarrass anyone with videos and pictures.  The Lion King in 4 quick acts as well as the interpretive dance of the Thylacine and the Osprey were impressive. We ended the night singing Waltzing Matilda! John puts on a formidable trip in the field, and we were sad to leave.

Off the grid

Tuesday morning we are heading off early for Girraween National Park!   We will be completely off the grid and are returning on Saturday evening.  Thanks for your patience while we have another amazing adventure in the Australian Bush!

Sydney

Last Wednesday, the kids and I headed down to Sydney to meet Mark who was just arriving from the States.  Finally!  Shared parental duties and adult companionship - much needed!  We spent 3 nights in Sydney, and the mission for day 1 was to keep Mark awake through dinner time.  Learning from our experience with the students, we checked into our hotel and started walking the city.  Our hotel was in St. Martin's Place, essentially the "Times Square" of Sydney.  Our first destination was the beautiful St. Mary's Cathedral in Hyde Park.  The church is really beautiful with a classic cruciform shape, but curiously, instead of pointing east-west, the church points north-south.

From Hyde Park, we crossed the street and walked through the Botanical Gardens, established in 1873.  Gorgeous of course, but I was struck that unlike Brisbane, there were few birds in Sydney, even in the Botanical Gardens!  Of course we saw a few sulfur-crested cockatoos and the occasional ibis (we are in OZ after all).. but really, that was it! Perhaps it was the urban setting - Sydney is much like NYC or any other large metropolitan city.  Perhaps I am becoming attached to my temporary new home in Brizzie, but Sydney did not appear to me to be particularly "Australian".  Of course, just as I'm thinking that the Botanical Gardens are not that impressive, we turned the corner and had a breath-taking view of Sydney's famed Opera House and Bridge. Wow.  Now I confess I did see the Opera House from the plane as we were landing, and it looks beautiful from the sky.. but across the water there was definitely an awkward look to the building. Unfortunately, I had tried to get tickets for a performance while we were there, but it was completely sold out (allocation exhausted, according to the website).  Judge for yourself from the pictures, it is quite the architectural structure!

Having accomplishing our mission for day 1 (lots of walking a sun will keep anyone awake), day 2 was devoted to doing fun kids activities.  We heading to Darling Harbor and spent hours in the Aquarium and National Navel Maritime Museum of Australia.  A highlight for me at the aquarium was seeing the dugongs!  The aquarium has two of only 6 dugongs in captivity in the world.  Dugongs are not manatees, though closely related, and graze on sea grasses.  They come into Moreton Bay (off Brisbane) seasonally, and the Aborigine have many folk stories based on the dugong.  They say when you see cut grass washing up on the beaches, you know the dugongs have arrived!

Cool movie of a dugong swimming above us!

Our last day in Sydney was probably my favorite.  Being from the Boston area, I finally felt a personal connection to Sydney when we went to The Rocks.  This neighborhood sits on the opposite side of the Opera House from the Botanical Gardens and is where Captain Arthur Philip landed with the first ships filled with convicts to colonize the island in 1788.  Just think how young AU is as a country.. by 1788 the US had already had their Revolutionary War!  That of course is how AU got it's start, the American colonies refusing to take more convicts from England, and so England was in a bind to find a new frontier to ship convicts to.  In fact, less than a third of the number of convicts shipped to America, where shipped to Australia!  Our tour guide through The Rocks was smug to tell us that the current Four Seasons Hotel was the site of the gallows (good thing we didn't stay there!).  In such a modern city, it was a pleasure to wind our way through narrow old streets that had once been sewage canals, and excavation sites that were still unravelling the history of this land of OZ.

The Rocks 

 Circular Quay

 Hidden alley where there's a pub you can grill your own..

 First Pub in OZ!!

 I wouldn't want to be caught in this alley at night!

Each convict had their own signature markings on the sandstone blocks they cut.

 View from The Rocks.

 Happy Birthday Emil!!!!