Last day in New Zealand.

We made it through the tropical rain from Franz Joseph to Greymouth and caught the Transalpine Express train to Christchurch.  A note about the weather….. it “poured” nearly all the way to Greymouth.  At times I could barely see through the windshield, which is not a good thing in the twisty, mountainous roads out of “Glacier Country” and into the coastal region. 

 We arrived in Greymouth with plenty of time to spare, dropped off the car and walked a short distance to the train station to get our tickets and check the bags.  With the rain still coming down from time to time, we walked through the town and found a lunch spot with Wi-Fi access and caught up on a little email and world news.

 The train came right on time, but the fog and rain obscured the countryside.  After an hour or so of the 4+ hour ride, the viewing started to clear a bit and improved thereafter.  By the time we reached Arthur’s Pass, the only direct, west-to-east route over the alps at this point, the weather improved significantly.  For the next couple of hours we saw wonderful scenes of mountain tops, trestles over gorges thousands of feet deep, 15 tunnels cut through solid rock, alpine meadows and pasturelands and various other scenes.  There were even a few towns—very few, obviously at this altitude and remote location.  At one point the “guide” pointed out the remains of the original dirt road used by the horse-drawn carriage to transport passengers from one coast to another—many years ago, of course. That must have been some journey under those conditions. A paved road currently exists for vehicle traffic, but gets closed frequently due to weather conditions.

The sight that intrigued me the most was the vast fields of gravel and boulders (from baseball-sized to watermelon or even VW bug-sized) accompanying the many rivers down the mountain side.  At bends in the rivers, the gravel accumulates into huge fields or “washes” as one traveler described those— many of them hundreds of yards across and extending for miles before, during and after the curve of the river is completed.  I can only imagine the amount of water it took to drag this amount of rocky debris down the slope.  One of the local folks we met recently commented on the sound that the rocks make at night, as the water pushes them over and over down the gorge.—especially during the spring floods.  

 The mountains soon gave way to broad pasturelands filled with sheep and cattle, and before long, acres (and miles) of lush green fields of vegetables and other crops.  As the train pulled into the station, we experienced a vague sadness that this part of our “downunder” experience was over, but this was pushed aside by the memory of the many awesome scenes and activities over the last ten days.  I am sure that I will have more to say about this after we get home to Rhode Island.

Now we sit in the Christchurch airport, waiting for our plane to board.  It stops in Wellington, then on to Sydney.  Tomorrow we catch the Qantas flight to the US and home and are looking forward to sharing these many scenes and experiences with our family and friends in person.

 

April 13, 2012

 As you can see from the date above, we are already back in the US, but there is a little catching up to do on the our final few hours in Australia.

We arrived promptly in Sydney and took the shuttle to a nearby airport hotel—the same one where we stayed after the thwarted Great Barrier Reef trip a few weeks ago.  We got a beer in the hotel “pub” bar and retired early—knowing what the next day of travel might bring.

We arrived at the Sydney airport again around 11:30am on Thursday morning and went through the various

immigration and security checkpoints.  For some reason the airline changed our intended seats on the plane placing each of us in an entirely different row.  The Qantas representative at the check-in kiosk managed to re-seat us into economy “premium” seats—an upgrade that provided quite a bit more space and comfort than we would have experienced with the original selections.  The plane, one of those mammoth two-deckers, soon loaded up and by 2pm we were on the way eastward to Dallas/Fort Worth.

 Not much to say about the ride, but we were quite comfortable and presented with food and drinks several times over the next several hours.  We arrived in Dallas at around 2 pm the same day (after a 14-hour flight) then headed for the 6pm flight to Boston.  To make a long story sort; we stuffed ourselves into 2 regular “economy” class seats and arrived in Boston at about 11pm—again still Thursday.  I report this, not to bore friends with the details of international flight, but to call attention to the fact that all this travel (some 20+ hours) took place during the same day.  I think this is just another example of this time-disorientation/time-travel that I experienced from time to time during the course of the trip. 

 Everything worked out ok, though and the driver we booked was waiting Logan airport with a nice, gray Lincoln Town Car for the trip home.  So we spent roughly the next hour practicing all our Australia/New Zealand stories on him—sort of a rehearsal, I think, for what might happen when we get together with friends and family over the next few weeks.

The Franz Jospeh Glacier

Monday April 9, 2012

We got up reasonably early and started out for Franz Joseph, a small resort town to the northwest of here (5-hour drive) with a glacier of the same name. The day started out foggy but cleared as we headed into the foothills and mountain valleys to the north. Soon we found ourselves in one of those wonderful New Zealand valleys with lush, green pastures filled with sheep and farmlands spreading out on both sides to the foothills, then onward to the craggy mountains.

That lasted about an hour; then we hit with twisty-turny mountain roads
heading up over the mountains to the north and the west. It also began to rain lightly, but enough to slow us down during the 35 kmph switchbacks along the way.

After about another couple of hours, we approached the western hills and eventually the coast. We were able to get a good glimpse of the beaches along the way—mostly dark sand
scattered with driftwood brought in by the roaring surf. I even stopped to get my friend, Brick, another sample of New Zealand sand—this time from the western beaches facing the Tasman
Sea.

Leaving the beaches we began a long climb through a remarkable tropical forest—again with all the windy roads and astounding views into the valleys and river gorges below. We finally reached Franz Joseph at about 3:30pm and checked into our hotel. The town is about 3 or 4 blocks filled mostly with motels, restaurants, shops and tourist services—like glacier
walking. It was too late for a guided tour, but we soon took off for the Franz Joseph Glacier access trail—about 4 km further up the hill.

The first part of the trail consisted of a ½-mile trek on foot through a tropical rain forest. The
trail opened onto a huge expanse of rocks and boulders cut, from top to bottom, by a roaring stream—obviously from melted glacial ice. The glacier lay ominously at the furthest reaches of the open ground—about a mile uphill--curled up as if ready to spring and baring its teeth of ice and grit dragged down from the highest elevations of the mountain towering above.

Linda and I walked across the marked path among the loose rocks and boulders. Finally we reached a place where we could look directly into the giant maw of the glacier. It held the blue of the ice and the sky above—with almost a supernatural glow from inside. I, of course, wanted a
closer look, so I climbed up another rocky hill and got a more face-to-face introduction to our ancient friend. I wasn’t close enough to get a good estimate of the thickness of the ice, but it
must have been 20-30 feet—probably more. What I could finally see was the body of the glacier, stretched out behind up and up the mountain side—as far as the eye could see. I quickly came to realize the immense power of this phenomenon and what it must have been like eons ago when still young and raking down the mountainside with those icy claws.

I rejoined Linda and we made our way back across the rocky field and through the tropical rain forest trail in the dimming light. It is more than just a “pun” to note that the Franz Joseph glacier became one of the many “highpoints” of our travels downunder.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a transition day with a 2-hour drive to Greymouth on the western Pacific coast and a 4 ½ hour Trans-Alpine Express train ride eastward over the alps to return to Christchurch. Soon we will fly to Sydney and after an overnight stop continue our return home.

Happy Easter from New Zealand

April 8, 2012 Easter Sunday

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! At least it is Easter here; not in the US for another several hours. We wanted to wish you all a wonderful day anyway. I will probably give an update for today in Queenstown, but not until this evening or tomorrow—depending on our schedule.

On the road to Queenstown

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Our next venue is only 2 ½ hours drive from Te Anau; so we decided to take an easy morning without rushing. Finally, after a superb egg, bacon and cheese pie at the local breakfast place (plus a “long black” coffee for me) we got on the road and headed toward Queenstown.

We backtracked for about a half-hour to Mossburn; then headed north to Queenstown. The fog
gradually lifted and gave us another perfectly beautiful day to view all the sights. Queenstown is north on a parallel track with Milford Sound but the two are not connected by road. Again, we found ourselves in the grips of two mountain ranges—on the east and west. This situation was reminiscent of the road to Milford, but we knew now what to expect.

Few towns appeared on the road to Queenstown, at least until we arrived at Kingston. A large billboard notified us about an historic coal locomotive, the Kingston Flyer, on an exist to the left. We turned in, but soon discovered that we already “missed the train,” but it was available just 5 Km or so down the road at the other local station. While we were there I took the opportunity to
tell the young woman in charge of the station about the Kingston Trio at the University of Rhode Island. Their most famous song was about “Charlie on the MTA; the “man who never returned.” She seemed to appreciate the story (or was extraordinarily polite); so we said goodbye and got back on the road.

Just as she predicted, we found the Kingston Flyer just a, few miles down the road. It was a
beautiful, black, coal-fired locomotive just backing up to a row of five or six equally-antique passenger cars to make the run back to the other station.

Soon we got back on the road and finished our travel to Queenstown. The motel appeared just at
our entrance into the town; so we decided to check in and unpack a bit.

After a short break, we decide to walk down the hill into town (about 10 minutes) and find out what’s happening. It was clear from the traffic that this was not sleepy little alpine town. People and cars filled the streets and created a kind of “activity” that we last sensed in Dunedin and Melbourne. We found a local pub housed in an old courthouse for a quick snack then continued to explore the town.

Almost immediately we decided to take advantage of the gondola ride to “Bob’s Peak”—how could I resist a name like that? The peak rises a couple thousand feet above the town and offers a fine restaurant, bungee jumping, multiple hiking trails, the “luge” (small low- slung carts traveling on a cement track down the mountain side), various kinds of hiking, helicopter rides and not to be forgotten, tamden paragliding rides (instructor and rider who jump off the cliff into the wind on an overhead “chute” and glide back and forth downward to the landing base in the town below. It was amazing how the chutes moved in the sky over the town and lake (Lake
Wakatipu) below. We spent the remainder of the afternoon observing activities on the peak; the made the return trip to the bottom and short walk (except uphill this time!) to our hotel.

More about Queenstown tomorrow!

Te Anau and Milford Sound

April 6, 2012
Friday

We got a reasonable early start in the morning and arrived in Te Anau (which means something like water swirling in cave—a reference, some believe to the glow worm cave just across the lake from the city) in mid to late afternoon. The city sits on the shore of a huge and beautiful mountain lake, by the same name, and consists primarily of the lake shore drive and the central business district (CBD in NZ “code”). We took a slightly wrong turn into the town (routine for us, on occasion) and arrived at a naturalist center. We parked and decided to take a walk along
the lake front to unwind after our drive, observing the distant mountains, lovely lake-front hotels, airplane and helicopter flight services and other tourist travel arrangement center—plus quite a few restaurants and bars.

The hotel was just around the corner, as it turns out; so we soon got settled in our room and began looking for a place to get a cold beer and dinner. We found “the Moose” just around the corner (not that many corners in Te Anau); described in the travel brochures as a “regular Kiwi-style grub” so it seemed like a natural.

By the way, the trip from Dunedin surpassed all our expectations about the diversity and beauty of New Zealand’s environment. I should just write up some incredibly poetic expression about the loveliness of the countryside, but my best effort would still not do it justice. We saw
everything from rolling hills to broad plains, forests of stately pines, rivers and lakes, broad green pastures and hills made golden from autumn grass. We kept saying that nothing could exceed the sight we just saw when another more impressive one came into view. It makes me think that we should all live in New Zealand, just for the beauty of it! A “young traveler in a local breakfast shop recently put it best. “New Zealand,” he said, “is like a giant theme park where all the wonderful attractions and sights are put into one place.” I couldn’t say it any better than that!

Today’s drive to Milford Sound provided another example of the beauty and diversity of the countryside. We got started early to complete the 2 ½ hour drive for the 10:30am boat ride and drove north for about 30 minutes when the fog started to lift and we found ourselves embraced by mountains on three sides. And these were real mountains—probably 2500 to 3000 feet high or more! They seemed to literally hang over the road as we wove back and forth in a zig-zag pattern through the rising landscape. By the time we drove for a couple of hours, the mountains seemed to edge closer until we faced what literally seemed to be a horse-shoe shaped wall of cliffs in the front. As we got closer, we saw a little black hole in the face of the cliff—the Homer Tunnel, carved out during the Great Depression years to give automobile access to the Milford Sound area. It extended 1.2 Km through the mountainside and came out onto several miles of steeply-sloped switchback road leading into the Milford Sound area.

Apparently Milford Sound is really a “fiord” like in Scandinavia. Fiords are mountains carved
out by glaciers then filled by seawater. “Sounds” refer to the mouths of rivers, sunken by seismic activity (earthquakes) then filled in by seawater. According to the guide on our excursion boat, the water in the Milford sound is about 700 meters deep—so deep that the skipper was able to edge a full-hulled ship (about 200+ feet long) right up to the waterfalls, “seal” rocks and other attractions without any concern about running aground.

The excursion lasted 2 ½ hours and covered most of the main attractions: waterfalls, highest peaks, overhanging cliffs, etc. One of my favorites included the exit from the mouth of the sound; then a turn-around to see the opening from the Tasman Sea side. The whole thing looked like a simple fold in the cliffs facing the ocean. That may be the reason why Capt. James Cook entirely missed it during two or three exploration voyages up and down the western shore of New Zealand, the area now known as “Fiordland.”

We stopped several times during the drive back to Te Anau to check on several of the “designated scenic views” (more mountains, lakes, rivers, exotic plants and …did I mention mountains?). When we arrived in Te Anau, we discovered an unexpected Kiwi policy of serving alcohol during holidays ONLY when serving meal; so no stopping in for a quick beer before getting a shower and dinner. We managed to work through that situation and ordered some food with the beer which seemed ok with us.

Tomorrow we head to Queenstown and some new adventures.

A visit to Dunedin

April 4, 2012

We left the “Hermitage” early this morning and started the long trek south to Dunedin—on the southeastern coast of the New Zealand’s south island. After saying “goodbye” to Mt. Cook, we traveled again along beautiful Lake Pukakai then through the town of Twizel (pronounced Tweye-zel according to the local gas station attendant).

By the way, this was the most expensive tank of gasoline I ever purchased; at $4 per liter, it cost nearly $90 for ¾ of a tank—and that was in a Toyota Camry!. But given the distances between gas stations in this area, we decided that it was better not to take a chance. Besides, gas is just as expensive everywhere else!

Linda and I decided that this place has the most beautiful and varied scenery of just about anywhere we have ever been! We passed green hills crowded with sheep and cattle; then lakes with the most incredible blue water and coastal hills; then mountain foothills-- golden with long autumn grass; then river gorges thrashing with translucent, blue water and bordered by wide shores of gray gravel and football-sized stones. And it just kept coming!

After a couple hours of driving on the familiar 2-lane roads at 100km/hr; and through several medium-sized communities (at least for here) we decided to stop at a tourist attraction…a place called Moeraki Boulder Beach. After a short walk down a gravel path and a few stairs to the beach, we saw what appeared to be huge egg-shaped stones littered across the beach and surf.
We don’t mean chicken eggs either; these were definitely dinosaur-sized eggs with a few more than 5 feet in diameter!

It definitely offered an interesting break from the driving. Also I stopped to scoop of a half-cup of sand for my friend Brick, who collects sand from all over the world. Apparently the South Island of New Zealand is one location missing from his collection.

After the Moeraki boulders we headed the last few miles into Dunedin and found ourselves in the midst of a georgeous and hilly Scottish town. Apparently, Dunedin (pronounced
done-KNEE-dinn) thrives on its Scottish heritage and offers many churches, public buildings, hotels, private residences, parks and other attractions reminiscent of places we previously
visited in Scotland, years ago.

After settling into the motel, we walked down the main street to observe the local culture.
Apparently there are several universities in the area, reflected by the many youth-oriented cafes, stores, music-video shops and other establishments lining the busy streets. We noticed a beautiful white building along one street; it turned out to be the local train station—a real
traditional monument to the time of its creation. We went inside and found the architecture as
lovely and timeless—with long halls of arches and elaborate ornamentation over the doors and particularly along the railing of the mezzanine above.

Walking only a few minutes further, we discovered the First Church of Dunedin, a gothic-style Presbyterian church built soon after the town’s establishment. Surrounded by a lush, green yard, it seemed to offer just the kind of focal point and source of strength and quiet that a small community would need—so far across the sea from home.

Next we decided to visit the local brewery—Speight’s Brewery. It was closed, so we opted to
visit the brewery bar instead—not a bad option, I might add on a warm autumn day—at least here it is autumn.

Tomorrow we head for Te Ananu, a community on the Milford Sound area of the southwestern
coast of New Zealand. Obviously, we are in for more panoramic vistas and wonderful experiences. So after taking a few moments to update the blog and other tend to email obligations, we will soon begin to wind down the evening and look forward to tomorrow.
Still, we wish we had more time to explore Dunedin—a place that feels more like home than many places we visited thus far during this trip.

April 3, 2012

Welcome to New Zealand!

We arrived in New Zealand yesterday evening (Monday, 2 April 2012) at Christchurch around 6pm, picked up our car and headed out to the hotel on Panpanui Street. Thrifty didn’t have another CPS device available; so we got a good map and eventually found our way. The hotel even had a hot tub (albeit a smallish one); after a dinner of pizza and beer, we took a dip and then settled in for a long, night’s rest.

We intended to get an early start this morning (April 3, 2012), but didn’t get started until about 10am. The hotel breakfast was expen$ive, so we swallowed our pride and got a “Huge Kiwi Breakfast” at McDonald’s (they are everywhere in Australia and New Zealand, it seems. In the process, we learned that McD’s often provides Wi-Fi access for free—useful information for
the days ahead. (Most hotels charge $5 for a half-hour or hour of access; it always makes me angry.)

Several of our friends visited Christchurch previously and gave enthusiastic reports of its beauty and charms; so we decided to take a look for ourselves—in spite of the reports about the earthquake damage. Sure enough, we entered the City Center and found ourselves confronted by one dead end after another. Finally, we parked the car and tried to explore the area on foot. After about ahalf-hour with no success, we stopped at a gated construction zone and asked a
young soldier on duty about ways to view some of the sights—even at a reasonable
distance. He pointed out a couple of things down the street, like the Christchurch Cathedral now hunkered down without a steeple or windows. But he wasn’t at all encouraging about seeing much of anything and advised us to explore other areas of the city, or the country instead. So that’s what we decided to do.

We finally got on the road and headed out of the city on route 73 (later to become route 72). Today’s objective is Mt. Cook, a 12,316 foot mountain in the Southern Alps region of
New Zealand (near the western side of the south island). The route, known as the Southern Scenic Highway, passed through several small towns, such as Geraldine, Fairlie and
Lake Tekapo—the latter of which offered the Church of the Good Shepherd, a lovely little one-room chapel perched on the very bank of the alpine lake, with turquoise water surrounded on three sides by foothills of the incredible mountain peaks forming a solid line across the northern view of the lake. Without a doubt, this drive was one of the most beautiful we have ever seen, with the views changing from evergreen forests to agricultural fields stretching into the distance, to green covered hills falling over each other in a jumble and dotted with sheep, cows and yes, we
even think we say herds of domesticated deer in a couple of places.

Finally we rounded a corner and caught our first sighting of Lake Pukakai, a long, turquoise body stretching from the road for several miles to the very foot of Mt. Cook. We stopped numerous times to take photos and capture the beauty and grandeur of the towering mountains, but the camera never seemed to do it justice. As we approached our destination, a local hotel complex known as the “Hermitage” we found ourselves fully in the mountain’s presence. There it stood with a white crown of glacial snow shining in the late afternoon sun.

Later, as the sun set, the mountain top turned pink then rose-colored and draped with similarly-tinted clouds blowing across its shoulders. According to one of the staff at the hotel, the
ability to view this kind of show only occurs a few times a year—if that! We thought ourselves very fortunate to be here at just one of those rare moments.

Tomorrow, on to Dunedin…..!

1 April 2012

April 1, 2012
April Fool’s Day couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Just when I am trying to remember
what we did, and when, I now understand that the time changed. Today, Australia “fell” back an hour into Eastern Standard Time (since it is autumn here) while the US “sprung forward”
into daylight savings time. So now, by my calculations, the times are another hour different between the two places. Someone is messing with my mind! Does this remind you of my
comments about the sun on the NORTH side and the whirlpool of water going down
the drain in the opposite direction? Not only that, but now I have to change my electronic
watch—using the 200-page user’s manual written in extremely small type. Nothing is ever easy in this traveling business.

Ok, so enough of the grousing; on with the travels.

Friday, 30 April 2012

Linda and I got up early and set out by car from Melbourne through the Otway Ranges toward Part Campbell and the “Shipwreck Coast”. We got some good advice from an adviser at a tourist
information station to head straight for Port Campbell along the major highways, bypassing the Great Ocean Road (a 4+ hour drive) until tomorrow (Saturday). So we cut through a large area of small towns and large farms (including some incredible scenery of expansive, green fields and some equally, green, steep hills all dumped on top of each other.) After a couple of hours we
arrived at Port Campbell and checked into our hotel.

The afternoon was getting on, but we still have plenty of good light left so we head out to some of the local sights. First we stopped at a rather large tourist area known as the Twelve Apostles. Here the surf beats against the soaring sandstone cliffs. Over the eons, the surf starts to gouge out rock at the base of the cliffs; then cuts through an arch. Sooner or later, the arch collapses leaving these huge sandstone monoliths standing alone in the surf. This happens so often in this area that it forms a number of these towers, or Apostles, along the coastline. They looked especially lovely in the late afternoon sunshine.

A little further along we discovered the Loch Ard Gorge, a huge gouge cut by the surf into the sandstone cliffs. This time the boiling water formed large caves and arches into the sides of the gorge. As the surf pounded in, and especially when two waves formed an even larger one, it created a resounding “boom” against the sandstone walls. The National Park Service created several strategically-placed observation platforms along the trails for tourists to
observe the action below.

As the light started to transform into a shade of gold, much like the face of the cliffs, we returned to Port Campbell for an evening meal of locally-caught ocean perch, “chips” (of course) and local tap beer on the outside deck of the local restaurant. The restaurant sits directly opposite the town beach, situated at the end of a lagoon cut into the cliff walls by the surf. Although not as active as the coastline by the Twelve Apostles, it made a perfect place to end a beautiful day.

Saturday 31 March 2012

We began the day with a quick breakfast (or “brekkie” as the Australians say) at a different local restaurant, and then set out for Princeton, a small town located just to the west of Port Campbell. It was backtracking a little, but we wanted to see two additional attractions along the coast—the Arch and London Bridge. The modest-sized Arch nestled right up to the cliff wall directly below the observation platform. As before, the surf cut a hole through the center forming and arch. The enormous London Bridge sat further away from the cliff with a large, flat crown covering the entire top. If my understanding is correct, sometime in the distant future the waves will wear out the sides of the arches, the top of the arches will crash into the surf and we will have two more “apostles” to add to the region’s collection.

We left the arches behind and started on the day’s journey up the Great Ocean Road back in the general direction of Melbourne. By the way, I didn’t mention that we included
a GPS system as an option on our car rental. We named it “Princess Margaret” because of the cultured, female, English voice giving us directions. Princess Margaret got us through many difficult places, sometimes in the countryside, but especially in the large cities like Melbourne, and even in a few of the modest-sized cities. It’s enough to handle driving on the other side of the road, especially with the steering wheel on the right ride, and negotiating “round-abouts” and various other kinds of highway constructions—without having to figure where to go and what streets to take.

Directions did not pose a problem on the Great Ocean Road. It extends for several hundred
kilometers along the coastline, south of Melbourne. Mostly it consists of a winding, two land
blacktop highway build during the 1930s Depression all along the coastal escarpment. When I say winding, I don’t mean occasionally curvy; rather the curves happen one after another in rapid succession. Speed limits sometimes creep up as high as 80 kph, but most often hover around 30-50 kph especially around the many hairpin turns. Add to this situation the fact that the road is a favorite of bicyclists in the area and more than once I turned a sharp curve only to discover an oncoming car on my right and a bicycle (and often more than one) on my left. Signs along the highway post it as a “high risk area” which is directed, no doubt, to the
bicyclists. Still we saw hundreds of them pedaling up and down the hills and around the sharp bends all along the coastal road.

The Great Ocean Road offers many observation points and look-out platforms all along the route. I have to say that it was one of the most beautiful and unusual coastal
drives that I have even taken. Given more time, we would have driven slower, stopped more often and enjoyed its many offerings throughout the drive back to Melbourne. But Saturday night is party time at my cousin’s place; we pushed on ahead to get back and change for the festivities.

30 March 2012 - Catching Up on Posts

Friday 23March 2012
Whoa! I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog; so
let’s get to it. You might be interested to learn that I am writing this on the
Overland Express train from Melbourne to Adelaide—an 11-hour ride through
prairie and sheep ranches, so far at least.
A whole lot of nuttin’ out there!
We are only 4 hours into the trip; so I will let you know more about it
later. Now back to Wollongong…and on to
Melbourne.
We left Wollongong about 3pm and hired a car to drive us to
the airport —bound for Melbourne. My
cousin, Bernie, met us at the airport and drove into town—giving us the first
up-close look at this beautiful city. We missed dinner on the flight; so he
took us directly to a restaurant along the Yarra River in the center of
town. The area, known as the Southbank
offered an esplanade bordering the river and filled with restaurants, shops and
other attractions—including the new arts center with playhouses, exhibit areas
and concert halls. We sat on the restaurant deck overlooking the river, but the
weather was cool and damp so had to stay behind the plastic screens lowered over
the openings. It got quite late for us
weary travelers by the time dinner ended; so we headed home, but not before
viewing some interesting buildings and figures—like the one resembling the
Eiffel Tower, except bright white and sitting on top of another building. Then there was the building that looked like
a jumble of huge children’s blocks with the edges lined by neon lights. Quite a
sight!
Saturday 24 March 2012
Bernie promised a full day of touring the city sights and
delivered in a big way. We started off
at the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) War Memorial in the center
of town. It stood on a green hill overlooking
a long mall leading right into the city center. The veranda looking out from
the second floor offered wonderful views of the grounds and the city.
Melbourne also supports a free bus that follows a circular
route around the city center. We
climbed aboard to get an overall view of things and decide what to visit. The trip included several sports venues (did
I mention that Aussies are NUTS about sports!) and other cultural centers. We stopped at the Australian National Gallery
and visited an exhibit of high school student entries to an art contest. The entries captured some of the key issues
of adolescence: friendships, isolation, family, sexuality and concerns about
the future. Quite well done and
moving….!
Next we visited the Victorian Marketplace—a vast area of
several city blocks (both outdoor and covered) offering food, clothing, music
and video recordings, souvenirs, knick-knacks, appliances…almost anything one
can imagine. We sampled some Turkish
sandwiches and a German bratwurst. I had
to stop for a moment to take in the butcher shop sign advertising beef,
chicken, pork and kangaroo.
After several more visits to local attractions, Bernie
decided to finish off the day with dinner at a local Vietnamese
restaurant. Both he and Peter have visited
Viet Nam many times and ordered their favorite dishes for us to try: several appetizers and main dishes—more than
enough to get us in the mood for a restful night’s sleep.
Sunday, 25 March 27, 2012
Today, we visited the Healsville Sanctuary in the hills to
the northeast of Melbourne. This
facility hosts, protects and restores Australian wildlife. The self-guided tour started with visits to
the emus, kangaroos and echidna—a kind of tiny porcupine with a nose like a pinkish
tongue depressor. Clearly the Koala
stole the show-- sitting up in a tree, hardly more than an arm’s length away,
munching peacefully on green leaves. The
platypus came in a close second in his darkened enclosure (they are nocturnal)
darting about in the water to catch tiny fish, worms and other edibles. Later in the afternoon, we viewed a “birds of
prey” show where a ranger demonstrated the dramatic colors and flying prowess of
hawks, buzzards and various other native birds.
We also viewed a demonstration of a boomerang and a didgeridoo, a native
tube-like musical instrument, by a ranger of indigenous descent.
On the way back to Melbourne we stopped at the Chandon
vineyard (quite a lovely setting) and sampled about a dozen sparkling and
“still” wines. Several were quite good; so we took a couple of bottles home to
have with dinner.

Monday 26 March 2012
Bernie took the day off to give us another tour of the city
of Melbourne. We started with a tour of urban alleys with some of the most
extensive and beautiful graffiti I have ever seen. This is not your typical graffiti often made
by a delinquent adolescent with a can of spray paint, but a true art form. At a couple of places we visited, the
graffiti served as a backdrop for some professional videographers making movies
in local cultural settings.
We also visited alleys without graffiti but lined, instead,
with coffee shops and various up-scale outlets. I thought of the narrow,
cobble-stoned streets as a kind of “Jack the Ripper goes retail” environment
reminiscent of those alleys of East London that we visited in 2007.
Australians seem to like recycling old buildings into
innovative uses. Given the global
drop-off in the use of paper mail, the Melbourne Post Office presented a unique
opportunity. Now the beautiful,
Edwardian building hosts three levels of upscale retail shops, including one
curiously called the “Egg Maternity”. We
didn’t do any shopping but explored the various levels and complimented the
wonderful displays.
I spent part of the afternoon meeting with a colleague at
the Victoria Department of Health to share some information about various local
and international public health programs concerning social marketing. It still surprises how similar our
experiences and challenges can be—even a hemisphere away. Like most Australian meetings, it seems, we
sat and talked over coffee in a local café.
When the meeting ended, I joined Linda and my cousin at the
Victoria Parliament House just up the street. The building is one of those grand, old
mid-1800s stone structures with pillars and a bank of steps from the curb to
the front door. The inside provided more
of the same and included various photos of State Governors and statues of several
queens. The guide led us into both
“upper”and “lower” chambers (no longer described as “lords” and “commons”) and explained
the various official positions and roles of the Parliament. One of the historic members holding the
position of Sergeant of Arms actually had the surname Sergeant. The chambers were beautiful and sumptuously
decorated with angels, ancient figures and lots of real gold leaf—over $20
worth as I remember.
We departed from the Parliament House and walked through a
few blocks to catch of the trams back to my cousin’s place in Ellwood. It’s a
curious thing about Australia, by the way.
The wheeled device that you put your groceries in at the market is not
called a “grocery cart” but a “trolley.”
Similarly, the tracked vehicle on the street with the pole stretching up
to the electric line is not a “trolley” or “streetcar” but a “tram.” Likewise, I discovered that the term “punt”
(as in American football) also means “placing a bet” in Australia. These incidents sometimes make the
interaction interesting—especially if you tried to bet on American football (or
punt on a punt?) If you don’t believe me, just try ordering a “long black”
instead of a “regular cup of black coffee” next time you need a jolt of caffeine
after a long day of touring around.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Overland Express to Adelaide. We are still on the train after about 8 hours
of viewing countless miles of sandy-colored soil, scrub vegetation and
unimaginable number of sheep in the countryside between Melbourne and
Adelaide. One of the train crew says
that it should get more interesting in a couple of hours when we cross the
Murray River, but I don’t know what that means.
It is getting a little more “inhabited” with little more than a couple
of really small towns and a few villages so far. Let’s see what happens and I
will describe it in my next installment.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Whoa…I’m way behind again…which is easy to do in this
traveling situation. Let’s move on to
Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and the next couple of days.
We arrived safely in Adelaide after the 11-hour trip and
found a shuttle to the hotel in the middle of town. We saw a bridge, a river and some other
indications of civilizations closer to the city and even some multi-level
office buildings in the city (perhaps 30 floors high) in the distance; so we
went out for a quick dinner at a local pub and turned in fairly early to get
ready for the next day.
Wednesday also started early—with a wake-up call at 5:30am
and a 15 minute walk to the city bus terminal for 7:30am pick-up by the
excursion bus. Linda booked us on a one-day “highlights” tour of Kangaroo
Island, a large, sparsely populated island off Point Jervis to the south of
Adelaide. The bus, one of the large and luxurious 40-passenger types, took
about 1 ½ hours over narrow, twisted roads to arrive at the ferry
terminal. The ferry, a large,
industrial-strength modern catamaran type, soon crossed the 18km stretch of
water and dropped off at Penneshaw, the entry port for the island.
Kangaroo Island is 155km long and 55km wide and was
discovered by Matthew Flinders (an English explorer) in 1802. It offers about
18 native mammals, 250 birds and over 900 plants which are native to the
island. Only about 3000-4000 residents live there full-time, but many Australian
vacationers visit there during the summer and special holidays. Of course, there are lots of day-visitors
like us!
The bus-driver/guide first took us to Seal Bay, a large
breeding ground for Australian sea lions.
The animals spend 2-3 days feeding at sea and return to this area to
rest on the beach, on the rocks and in the dunes. We saw a female animal with a young nursing
“pup” lying on the warm sand under the wood walkways during our way to the
beach. When we got to the beach itself,
it revealed a large number of sea lions of all shapes and sizes (possibly a
hundred or more) in various stages of sleep, play or fighting up and down the
beach. The same was true as we looked
across the beach to other areas up and down the coastline.
Next, we stopped for lunch (always a welcome break after an
early morning start.) Just outside the
facility we spotted a lovely, little koala sound asleep about 20 feet up in a
tree near the walkway to the “birds of prey” exhibition. This event again featured some of the
interesting Australian birds like hawks, an eagle and two kookaburras. This
“ranger” even let some of the kids hold the birds on a thick leather glove—they
were delighted.
The bus drove from place to place over tiny, two-lane paved
roads; so it was easy for us to observe the extensive vegetation and brush
lands. In some places the
nearly-ubiquitous eucalyptus trees grew to incredible heights, but most of the
land seemed to be covered by dense, low shrubs and rough grassy plants.
At the next place, we visited the “Remarkable Rocks” a
jumble of massive (house-size) stone boulders etched into curious shapes by
nature. They lay on a high promontory at
the very edge of the shoreline. We were
able to walk among and even between them—looking up into the enormous holes and
features carved out by wind and moisture.
Finally we visited the beginnings of a new island on the
shore of Kangaroo Island. To see the
Admiral’s Arch, we walked on long, wooden walkways across the shelf of land
leading to the cliff overlooking the surf.
Then we climbed down several flights of stairs to find a gigantic stone
arch supporting the entire area that we just crossed. The sea is slowly wearing away the material
connecting the rock formation to the cliff and land above—leaving an arch,
something like the rough underside of an overpass on the highway--only much
grander and more rugged. One guide told
us that the stalagmite-type structures hanging down, bat-like, under the arch
were actually “petrified roots” covered with limestone drippings and hardened
into rock. This was quite a sight and
well-worth the long climb up the face of the cliff and rocky shelf (on wooden
walkways, of course) back to the bus.
The sightseeing ended about 7pm and bus returned to the port
for the ferry trip back to the mainland.
By the time we got back to Adelaide, it was about 10:30pm making for
another couple of tired travelers.
Today (29 March) is Alexis’ 29th birthday….so it
felt a little funny being half-a-world away.
Not only that, we arose at 8am thinking about her birthday but realizing
that it was still March 28 back home and wouldn’t be her birthday for hours! Things like that make me a little crazy! Like my cousin telling me that he is
fortunate that the porch faces NORTH because it gets more sun! Then I start noticing that the sun comes up
in the NORTHeast and sets in the NORTHwest.
It makes one think that nothing can be taken for granted anymore! (Did I mention that the water in the toilet
flushes the other direction! Go
figure…..!)
So we decided to have an easy day today and rented a car for
a short excursion into the hills near Adelaide.
We drove northeast (where the sun comes up!) and found a sign indication
the way to Mt. Lofty! Who could
resist? At the end we found a lovely overlook
of the entire Adelaide area, probably 20 miles from north to south. We even
made some new friends; two couples—one from Adelaide (“over there” he said
pointing) and the other from England, near the Welsh border.
We continued to Hahndorf, a quaint German-style town just a
few miles further. Mostly it contained
souvenir shops and German merchandise, and we managed to find a German tavern
with some great beer and food.
We spent the remainder of the day driving through the
Barossa Valley, the region’s main wine-producing area. The vineyards came one after another along
the road with many announcing “tasting” services and various tours. We even found a lovely little local place
known as the “New Eden Lookout” that gave a perfect hill-top view of the many vineyards
and valleys below. What a gorgeous
sight!
So tomorrow is another day with our return
flight to Melbourne (no 11-hour train ride this time.) Then we plan a drive
southward on the Great Ocean Road to view the “Apostles” and other sights. More about that later.

Thursday 22 March 2012
My last day at the Center for Health Initiatives, University of Wollongong

My last full day at CHI arrived on a cool, cloud-covered Thursday. I spent much of the day saying thank you and goodbye to some newly-made friends and colleagues. I especially wanted to thank Christine Cairns who responded with inevitable good cheer and effectiveness to my never-ending requests for help with the copier, stapler, scotch tape dispenser, AV equipment, time schedules, travel arrangements, getting a computer account, logging (and dialing) on the
phone and, most importantly, how to work the coffee machine. It is one of those that grounds the beans for each cup then saturates it with steam to make something known locally as a “long
black”. I gotta get one of these when I return to the US!

Later I sat through a routine staff meeting about some changes in the way the university tracks time-off and a number of other topics reminiscent of universities and government bureaucracies across the globe. Near the end of the meeting I showed the world debut video of my song
about the International Social Marketing Association (i-SMA). I suggested that it was not just a song but something meant to be entertaining, instructive (about social marketing practice) and possibly inspiring (even I knew that I reached a little high on that last one.)

They loved the song and even suggested that I add the alphabetic motions (perhaps with help from a chorus line!) made famous by the Village People on the song, “YMCA” --the soundtrack that I used for the i-SMA song. Who knows what might happen at the 2013 Toronto meeting of the World Social Marketing Conference?

Then as a final gift to me, they all agreed to get into a group photo for my blog. As one last request, one of the student staff members requested that I write up a short summary of my experience at CHI for an upcoming edition of the CHI newsletter. So I returned to my office and spent an hour putting thoughts and words on paper. I am adding this to my blog immediately below…..

CHI Newsletter (for Uwana) 22 March 2012
By Robert Marshall, PhD, Visiting Professor of Community Health, Brown University, and
Assistant Director (retired), Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, RI

The offer to spend three weeks at the Centre for Health Initiatives (CHI) in Wollongong presented a terrific opportunity, but neither my wife, Linda, nor I knew exactly what to expect from the experience. From the very first day we realized it would be wonderful!

We arrived on Saturday and spent the weekend exploring the town beach, harbor, local restaurants and swimming areas—including the “rock pool.” Later we ventured out to see the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple, the Mt. Keira overlook and various other local attractions. After
only three short weeks, we agree with the local population in saying “we love the Gong!”

Of course, a large part of the attraction came from the University of Wollongong (UOW)
connection. Many US campuses feature large open areas often called “quads” or “greens,” but this became our first experience with a “university set in a jungle” or so it seemed to us. We walked around during a couple of visits and marveled at the way we transitioned from a forest of eucalyptus trees to a pond surrounded by giant ferns, grass and other low vegetation. Getting lost was easy, even with a map, but students and others generously helped us find our
way back to the green bus for the journey back to the town center.

My “official” duties started off with a short presentation to the Illawarra Health and Medicine Research Institute (IHMRI) a gracious and welcoming interdisciplinary group of professionals and others dedicated to excellence and innovation in research, services and population
health. Later I settled into an office at the CHI and began interacting with faculty, project staff and students. I brought some of my lectures and other materials along; so I was able to share them with faculty and students. They offered some really remarkable insights that I can’t wait to discuss back home. Some of the best moments occurred with graduate students, observing
their participation in class and listening to their thesis projects and other work. It soon became clear to me that the discipline of social marketing at CHI stood on a firm foundation linking
research, training and practice. Also I appreciated the warmth of everyone’s welcome and their willingness to share projects and ideas.

Clearly the visit didn’t become all work and no play. Linda and I explored up the coast to the Cliff Bridge, the Hindu Temple in Helensburgh and the hang gliding center at Bald Hill (no…we didn’t try it out for ourselves.) One weekend we drove southward to the “blowhole” in Kiama, the Minnamurra Rain Forest and the national park at Jervis Bay. Our trips also included a visit to lovely Canberra, a tour of Parliament House and a visit to the National War Museum—I
especially liked the bronze sculpture of Simpson’s donkey.

With only a short time remaining before our departure to other parts of Australia and beyond, I pause to think about what this experience means to me as a practicing professional. Putting aside the wonderful sights and travels, I think this experience reconfirms for me the worldwide excellence and passion of public health practice. Few tasks call upon our intellect and energy with the same degree of intensity. And few practices offer so much to the health of entire populations. And it is even clearer, after this exchange visit, that the discipline of social marketing can play an important role worldwide in assuring the public health now and into the
future.

The Buddhist Temple

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Buddhist Temple

I left the office a few hours early today and met Linda downtown. We decided to try one more time to see the Buddhist Temple just to the south of Wollongong. We found out the bus #34 goes right by there; so we hustled down to the stop, waited for the bus and headed out. The ride
took only 15 or 20 minutes and discharged us in front of the 15 ft. high iron gate. In the background we could see could see a massive cluster of soft-peach colored buildings with deep-glossy orange roofs—Nan Tien Temple. Apparently, this is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere—the others being in the USA and Taiwan. The buildings and rooms included the Main Shrine, Front Shrine (compassion hall), Pagoda (several stories high) and
several others. We wandered onto the grounds and around a sizeable lily pond surrounded by green lawns, diverse shrubs and trees and multiple tiny Buddha figures placed throughout the property. Next we entered the front hall with its multi-armed figure symbolizing great compassion. Then we walked up several levels and entered the great courtyard (beautifully landscaped) where a kind gentleman took a picture of us in front of the main shrine.

We climbed the final level and entered the main shrine with the five Buddhas symbolizing: confidence, longevity, wisdom, inner beauty and peace. Altogether it presented one of
the most beautiful and fascinating structure I have ever seen. Tiny little figures, each with a tiny
inscription in calligraphic or alphabetic symbols memorializing a designated person, covered every-square-inch of the 25-foot high walls. Finally we left the main compound and walked
to the pagoda—an eight story resting place for the deceased believers. We weren’t permitted to go up to other levels, but we explored the ground level and enjoyed the ornate décor and
soaring structure of the worship center.

We left the building compound and proceeded across the exquisite grounds to the bus stop. It arrived after a few minutes and returned us to the western culture of Wollongong. It was a
hot, sunny day; so offered a good excuse for a cold beer at the Illawara Brewery—just down the street from our apartment. A perfect end to a beautiful day I would say…..

Tomorrow is our last full day in Wollongong; then we head to Melbourne on Friday.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Making lemonade out of lemons….

Here it is….Tuesday already. Obviously we recovered from our thwarted plans to visit the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rain Forest—even though the disappointment took some of the wind out of our sails. Still, this is an amazing place with much to experience; so we decided to put the cancellation behind us and strike out on a new plan. We rented a car and mapped out some adventures for Sunday and Monday.

Sunday, 18 March; 2012 Northward on the Grand Pacific Drive:

The Grand Pacific Drive extends from Sydney southward along the coastline to Bateman’s Bay (pronounced byte-mens baie) and maybe beyond. We decided to explore the section northward
and see what we could see. That turned out to be small seaside communities of Corrimal,
Bellambi, Woonoma, Bulli, Thiroul and the like, each one with beautiful public beaches reaching out into the Pacific waves. An additional few miles north we reached the Sea Cliff Bridge-a roughly 1km section of highway built right into the side of the cliff overlooking the shore.

Apparently, the original cliff road crashed into the surf after a landslide on the cliffs and had to be replaced in 2005 at a cost of about $50 million. The bridge juts out from the cliffs and
overlooks the ledge rocks and surf below. In addition to the two auto lanes, if offers a bike lane and pedestrian walkway with spectacular views. We walked all the way across and back on a sunny, autumn day and had a wonderful time. Quite a view…!

One interesting feature of the bridge is the display of padlocks attached by visitors to the vertical sections of the railings across the span. Couples and families etch their names and significant dates onto the sides of the locks and fasten them to the railings as a memento of true love, marriage, birth of children or other sentimental occasions. It’s an interesting practice worth copying elsewhere—maybe even back home.

We parked the car in the village of Coalcliff to get access to the bridge. Apparently this community was the site of one of the original veins of coal that gave birth to the local economy. The railroad, with long strings of coal cars, still runs along the face of the “escarpment” as the west facing cliffs are known locally.

Next, we continued northward along the Pacific Highway to Stanwell Park and up a long incline
to Bald Hill, home of the regional center for hang gliding. Here, glider pilots leap off the face of the cliff and soar above the surf and beaches many feet below. As we approached the area several gliders hung nearly-stationary in the air, faced into the easterly (prevalent) breeze. A brief visit to the staging area revealed several commercial operations offering tandem-soaring lessons for
tourists and students. About a half-dozen gliders were in various stages of preparation for flight in the observation lot. We stopped a little further along in the village of Otford at a roadside shop featuring “homemade apple pie.” It tasted quite good, especially with vanilla ice cream, and quite unlike any other apple pie. Instead of traditional crust, it contained a breaded or cake-like top with apple filling underneath—just the thing to give weary travelers a pick-up.

From Otford we explored various roads up the coastal mountains and arrived at the small
town of Helensburgh. We drove through and remarked about the town’s “quaintness”… and drove on. Just before the last intersection joining a major road, I looked up and saw the most exquisite building with two large towers covered with intricate carvings and figures. We stumbled on the Hindu Temple, Sri Venkateswara built in 1978 to provide a place for meeting and worship to the surrounding Hindu community. According to some information, the location for building such temples were required to fulfill five criteria: (1) virgin land (2) on an island (3) surrounded by forest (4) near a source of water (5) nearby ocean. The temple was very busy
with worshippers, weddings, families, tourists and other visitors—so we walked around the exterior, took lots of pictures and moved along to other sights. It provided a beautiful exit to
our visit to the Helensburgh area.

To close out the day, we drove onto the Prince’s Highway and proceeded southward towards Mt.
Keira. This is the highpoint of the local escarpment overlooking Wollongong and the surrounding areas, both north and south along the Pacific shore. The lookout area appears close to the city from below, but from above the area spreads out in intricate detail—extending from the steel and coal mills on the southern side to the beaches, lighthouses and coastal highway to the north. We could even see our apartment building near the town center and soon started on our way back for a relaxing evening with a glass of wine and a home-cooked dinner.

Monday, 19 March, 2012
Point Jervis:

We decided to go south on Monday, down the Prince’s Highway for about an hour’s drive to Jervis Bay. The scenery completely blew us away! Unlike the winding seacoast or soaring
mountains, this area presented us with green, rolling hills and fields extending out into the mountains, on one side, and the bluest of the bluest of oceans on the other. When we crested the rise of the highway, we saw one lovely scene after another spread out before us. The road also goes directly through several towns and cities on its way southward—places like Nowra, Kiama and Berry, to name a few. Some of these were quiet little villages; others like bustling cities.

Arriving at Jervis Bay, we entered the Booderee National Park (don’t you just love the names!), an anvil-shaped peninsula sticking out into the Pacific. Lunch became the first item of business; so we stopped at the “park store” and had a “take-away” sandwich.

Next we visited a place called “Green Patch”; a visitor’s area including camping, hiking trails, fishing and assorted other tourist activities. We took a short hike down to the beach—another gorgeous stretch of white sand stretching out along the distant coastline—and up to an point called “Bristol Point” with a skillet-like plate of rock and water on three sides.

Oh, yes….and we saw our first wild kangaroos! One hopped across the road as we drove in; then we saw three others “lounging” in the grass near the walking trail. I approached them and took several pictures; they seemed less impressed with me than I was with them. It looked like an
adult couple and one young animal, but what do I know about Kangaroos? They were still there when we returned from our short hikes! Nice life…..!

Next we waked through a couple of forest trails for a couple of hours, observing the wonderful foliage—especially the huge eucalyptus trees shedding their bark and the green ferns spreading across the forest floor. By that time, we had pretty much used up the day (and our energy reserve) and decided to head home.

Linda took the wheel (with a minimum of whining and protesting from me) and we headed north up the Prince’s Highway through all the beautiful scenery to Wollongong.

Saturday 17 March 2012

As the famous Scottish poet Robbie Burns said “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley”

We should be in Cairns or Port Douglas right now getting ready to spend the weekend on the
Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest. Unfortunately, we spent last night in an airport hotel in Sidney were we started out about 12 hours before. We left Wollongong by shuttle at 11:30am and boarded our plane at 2:30pm in Sidney. The flight on Virgin Australia was completely full, including a professional basketball team scheduled to play on Saturday. Linda and I sat with a couple of guys from Indiana and Ohio on holiday in Oz, like us. We approached the Cairns airport at 4:30 pm (Cairns time), but were “waived off” by the traffic control due to low visibility; so we circled for a while waiting for the weather to clear. (We saw TV in the morning warning about heavy storms moving in from the west!). Finally, the pilot came on and said that we were running low on fuel and needed to go back to Townsville (who knew?) to refuel. The flight took about ½ hour, but after we landed the pilot came on again and told us that there was another change in plans. The Cairns airport was closed as well as the roads from Townsville to Cairns due to bad weather. The basketball team got off, but the rest of us stayed on and headed back to Sydney.

The flight crew was very apologetic and did their best to make us comfortable. They even scrounged around during the refueling to secure some more food and booze to calm a hungry and disappointed group of passengers. Finally we landed in Sydney again at around 10:30pm to deplane and get instructions from the passenger service staff. So they gave us a coupon to spend the night at an airport hotel; and a coupon to get a taxi back to Wollongong in the morning.

Linda and I decided to cancel the trip. We couldn’t get back to Cairns until after 4pm the following day (Saturday) which would only give us one full day on Sunday to take in the attractions. With the weather so threatening, we decided to return to Wollongong (where the weather has been wonderful for the past few days) and try something more local. Its really disappointing to miss out on such a great attraction and Linda put in a lot of effort to make all the arrangements, but there is still a lot of other things to experience under more predictable circumstances. We will see how it all turns out…

Saturday March 17, 2012

We made it back to Wollongong via taxi generously provided by the Virgin Australia company. They gave me a paper credit card; the driver swiped in through his portable card reader and I signed it. Very technical and efficient. I didn’t even look at the cost of the 60+km trip.
So we got back into the apartment, caught up on email and talked about a couple of local trips for tomorrow (and Monday?). There is a “southern highlands” nearby that offers some great views, small village environments and vineyards—how bad could that be?! We decided to rent a car and see what happens. It’s not the Great Barrier Reef but its not another long plane ride and a monsoon either. I will let you know how it works out……

March 16, 2012 Friday.
So I didn’t get around to updating the blog yesterday—too much going on. The car will pick us up in a couple of hours for Sydney Airport and our long-awaited trip to Cairns (pronounced locally as “cans”) and the great barrier reef. So there will be more about that later.

My new colleagues at CHI (Center for Health Initiatives) really made my day interesting, yesterday—even more than usual. I ran into Don Iverson and his wife having coffee on my way into the office, and spent a half-hour chatting with them and sharing some stories about
mutual friends back in the States. Public health can make the world seem really small and personal sometimes; maybe it’s the personal contacts and shared over the years that makes the field so special—in addition to the special nature of the work, of course. After we broke up our coffee club, I went into the office and spent some time discussing PhD thesis projects with a couple of graduate students. They both are working on a project to get older adults to recognize the symptoms of undiagnosed asthma and seek more information and follow-up services through the local asthma organization. The discussion was interesting and fun! It is amazing how health related systems in the US and Australia can be both so similar and so different. We talked a lot about the challenges of working with community based organizations. They completed an impressive amount of work and I gave their thesis supervisor a good report, including a short list of issues I recommended they think about further.

Later I went into a meeting with the Director and one of her senior project staff working on an “acquired hospital infection” project. Again the discussion turned to the challenges (and benefits) of working with local organizations and professions—especially those that cross
many lines of operation and interest. We went over several options and decided on an approach to the project that would fulfill three goals: respond to the interests of the project sponsor; apply a systematic social marketing approach to project design and intervention; achieve the stated objective relating to reduction of hospital acquired infections. It was a great professional discussion and I wish I could be here long enough to participate in the success of the project.
But alas, time is already drawing short with only one more week in Wollongong. As the locals say…”We love the Gong!”

Wednesday 14 March 2012

The last three days we avoided any driving “on the other side of the road” or other exciting events. Linda swam almost every day in the “rock pool” near Wollongong Harbor -- with no surf crashing across the surface of the pool this time. I jumped into the surf at the City Beach (just down the street from our apartment) and got battered about pretty good. The water was warm, but the ocean floor went down, then up, and down again—giving the waves an opportunity to build up pretty good before crashing into the beach—and the swimmers trolling in the water in-between. I got in a couple of good “body surf” runs, but spent most of the time luxuriating in the water.

I enjoyed a couple of interesting days at the Center for Health Initiatives this week. Sandra introduced me to Patrick Crookes, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences and Angela Brown, Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, both at Wollongong. We shared a far-ranging discussion about the differences between health care in our respective countries and training in various healthcare professions. Patrick mentioned some links with international exchange training program that could be interesting (and fun) for various programs in Rhode Island. I also met with Heather Yeatman, Assoc. Professor of Health Sciences and a colleague of my cousin, Bernie Marshall at Deakin University (Melbourne). The world doesn’t seem so big after conversations with folks like these and the possibilities for establishing various kinds of joint research and training appear quite possible. Something to
think about for the future…..post retirement (which is now, of course!)

Yours truly made today’s edition of the local newspaper, the Wollongong Mercury. It was something of a “put-up” job but I happened to be the only “older person” in the office when the reporter/photographer arrived to do a shot about a new asthma program. So I sat where I
was told, smiled, and became the up-front face in the photo (see sidebar photos). Not bad for the ‘out-of-town boy” after just a few days. It was a very generous gesture by my host—in
spite of the “older person” focus of the program. (I have already forgiven her…..mostly!) Ha!
I also joined in a couple of discussions with some post-doc people doing some major
projects for the center. Again, I discovered how small the world can be with shared colleagues in England, Scotland and Canada. Tomorrow promises more of the same interesting discussions and sharing among colleagues.

More about Canberra

As the boulevards (and the roundabouts) became more sophisticated (and complicated), an unusual structure loomed in the sky ahead. It looked like a modernistic spire of metal, possibly stainless steel or aluminum; stretching over a wide area in the center of the city. Soon we
approach a series of concentric circular highways with names like National Circle, State Circle and Capitol Circle—all surrounding the massive structure centered, somehow, under the middle of the lawn at the exact center of the circle—the Parliament House. We circled off to a side street and parked at the curb not far from one of the several gardens and lakes in the area.

After consulting the tourist map, we set off along Coronation Ave., one of the spokes in the vast wheel that is Canberra, past the Chinese consulate to the Federation Mall –a long, massive stretch of sidewalks and green lawn stretching from the Parliament House to the river, over the
Commonwealth Bridge to a structure on the opposite shore (more about that later). Turning up the hill, we proceeded to the impressive, contemporary structure buried (it seemed) under
the green lawn running up each side.

After going through security, we entered the structure and found a welcoming assortment of
exhibits, balconies and special rooms. The café offered both cold refreshment (it was a hot muggy day, after all) and an outdoor patio overlooking the entrance plaza with a view down the
mall to the river and city beyond. The floor of the House (blue-gray) and Senate (maroon) Chambers were closed, but we gained entry to the galleries with a nice view of the leader’s desk and all the members’ chairs. Later we took the elevator to the lawn-covered roof and observed a wide-open view of the surrounding city and countryside. By the way, Canberra was established in a largely uninhabited area of Australia between Sydney and Melbourne—the two leading cities of the day and fierce rivals to be the national capital.

We exited the capitol and returned to our car determined to find our way down the length
of the mall to the structure at the end. Strangely enough, we succeeded and arrived at Anzac Ave. at the entrance to the Australian War Memorial. Frankly, I don’t like war memorials all that much, but this one had a softer, welcoming nature to it. On the path to the entrance there were several bronze sculptures. One commemorated Simpson and His Donkey, the story about the young medic who repeatedly transported wounded Australian soldiers to medical help on the
back of his donkey – often exposing himself to lethal fire. As the exhibit noted, he only lasted 4 days in battle and was killed trying to do his duty.

The inside of the memorial contained many exhibits of past military campaigns (I didn’t realize that the Australians were involved in so many) and the names of fallen soldiers. Even for someone from a different time and place, I found it to be quite moving.
We left the memorial at the end of the afternoon and found our way to Federation Highway
headed toward the northeast and Wollongong. After about 2 hours driving (Linda took a turn at the wheel on this stretch), we exited onto the Picton Rd. and headed over the coastal mountain
range towards Wollongong.

By this time, we were looking forward another night in our accommodations and a slow, lazy
Sunday to recover from all our weekend travels.

Friday, March 9, 2012:
We decided to take a long weekend and explore some of the area south of Wollongong; so we rented a car (Ford Focus) and headed out early on Friday morning. I drove in the
British arrangement (wheel on the right side/car in the left side of the road)
previously in England and Ireland; so it wasn’t a complete shock. Still….it took me a little while to settle down and get comfortable.

Our first stop was Shellharbour, a beautiful little town edged right up to the shoreline. The
public beach offered a “rock pool”—a salt water pool carved right out of the
shoreline rocks. When the waves roared in, they crashed right over the edge of
the pool giving it a very rough surface. Linda couldn’t resist; so she changed into her suit and climbed right in. What a refreshing way to start the day…..

A little further on we entered Kiama, another incredible seaside town with lots of shops and local attractions. The “blowhole” sat at the end of a public park on a short peninsula
surrounded on both sides by crashing surf. The wind was really blowing that day making the waves pound against the shore—more so than usual, according to the local folks. At the end of the peninsula we saw a gaping hole (“blow hole”) worn up though the black, lava-like rock. When the waves came in, they pounded into the hole and shot a plume of seawater into the air—sometimes 40-50 feet high and accompanied by a cannon-like roar. I took a few photos and a couple of short videos of the action.

We left Kiama after a couple of hours and decided to head inland via the Jambaroo Road to the Minnamura Rainforest. This trip took us from the ocean shore, over some of steepest and most serpentine roads I have ever traveled (driving on the other side of the road, mind you) to a mountaintop forest sanctuary unlike anything either of us had ever seen. The national park provided raised wooden platform pathways up the side of the mountain with an incredibly dense and diverse growth of vegetation. The trees and vines were so intermingled that they seemed to form a single, fantastic organism. We couldn’t identify or appreciate much of what we saw, but it was spectacular. The raised pathways extended for about 4.6 KM each—almost entirely uphill during the first leg. At the end we arrived at the breathtaking Upper Minnamura Falls with its torrent of clear water thrusting out of the trees overhead and into the jungle below. The
sight made the walk well worth the effort.

After all the effort, we decided to take it easy for the night and found a motel room and a fish dinner at a nearby coastal town, Batemans Bay (pronounced like byte-mins baye—or something like that).

Saturday, March 10, 2012:

The next morning we crawled out of bed nursing our various aches and pains after the mountain hike of the previous day and decided to make the drive to Canberra over the King’s Highway.
The drive, about 2 hours, took us westward into the highland hills and into the mountains separating the Capitol City from the coast.

Once we crested the mountains an entirely different landscape stretched out before us.
Whereas the Sydney to Wollongong area and coastal areas beyond displayed a vibrant green, we suddenly came upon a vast and hilly brownish prairieland broken up by low, scrubby trees and scattered with cattle and sheep in every direction. Linda and I both thought that this reminded us of Texas. We drove through a couple of “cattle-town” like areas, but most of the drive was wide open and uninhabited—at least that’s the way it seemed.

Finally we hit the outskirts of Canberra with its landscaped boulevards, incessant roundabouts and ubiquitous road signs—all an indication that the quest for the seat of government was about to draw to a conclusion. A stop at the local tourist information bureau gave us some tips about how to get into the city, what to see and where to park (apparently not a big problem in the Capital on a Saturday….!)

RIMarshallsDownunder

Greetings from Australia! This is an occasional journal of Bob and Linda Marshall during a 6-week journey to Australia and New Zealand. The journey includes several
phases, starting with a visit with some Australian relatives in Sydney during
our first few days; a 3-week stay in Wollongong during which I (Bob) will
become a visiting Professor of Social Marketing at the University of Wollongong
Center for Health Initiatives; several side trips to various places; a visit
with a cousin and other family in Melbourne, with some additional sides trips
in the Victoria and Adelaide areas; then finishing off with a self-drive tour around
the Southern Island of New Zealand. It promises to be (and in many ways already has been) a wonderful experience.

Well….enough of the preliminaries. Let’s get to it. We already spent four days exploring
some interesting and beautiful places; so there is already a lot to catch up on.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012:

The hardest part is getting here—although everyone did their best to make it tolerable.
It involved a 6 ½ hour flight from Boston 28 February 2012) to LA; then a 15-hour flight to Australia. The weather was a little rough in Sydney; so we landed in Brisbane to refuel then
continued on to Sydney arriving about noon on Thursday, 1 March 2012. Where did two days go over the course of this trip; something to do with the international dateline, I suppose!

Thursday, March 1, 2012:

We stayed in the Marriott Circle Quay at the edge of the main harbor downtown. It
provided easy access to many of the major attractions: the Sydney Bridge ( where
people walk across on top of the arching cables); the Opera House; the “Rocks”
(a renovated historic seaport section with restaurants, hotels and other sights). The weather provided frequent showers and muggy atmosphere so we spread our time between outdoor walks and indoor exhibits.

The Australian National Museum provided a wonderful display of contemporary and historic exhibits. One portrayed the “Cannery Road”, a trail carved through part of the western
outback, bringing livestock and other supplies to the population centers and
shipping routes—much like the cattle drive routes of the old west in the US. It described the impact of the trail on indigenous populations—especially the incorporation of the scarce and sacred water wells along the way. The indigenous art displayed the rich art of the inhabitants and various sacred and cultural artifacts.

One real treat involved the visits with our “cousins” Helen and Judy (and her 13-year
old daughter, Christine) who live in a nearby suburb. My great grandfather had four siblings who
moved to Australia; these “cousins” represent one group who live in the Sydney area. We visited with them in the Darling Harbor section of downtown Sydney and shared lunch—overlooking the National Maritime Museum and other nautical attractions.

On Saturday, 3 March 2012, the hired car came to pick us up and take us to Wollongong—about 1
½ hours south. The driver was local; so she filled us in on many of the sights and features of the area. She drove us along one section of the road called “Cliff Drive” a newly-built section of modern highway hugging the cliffs over the eastern shore to replace the previous, old road brought down by landslides and torrents of rain. The ride was pretty foggy, but we could see both the shoreline beneath us and the mountain range looming in the nearby forests. She dropped
us off at an apartment complex only a few meters from the Wollongong City Beach and near to the WIN athletic (rugby, I think) stadium. The city center is only blocks inland; so we have access to both features of the community. Not to downplay the nearby location of the Irrawarra Brewery…where we had dinner recently and a couple of local craft beers. The town has
a supermarket and a Woolworth’s (more of a Sam’s Club combination of food and
retail merchandise) store. We walked through the town center..a sort of pedestrian mall lined with stores, restaurants and other various retail and service establishments. We quickly learned about the Wollongong Shuttle….a free bus making circular tours through most of the significant areas including the university, harbor area and the hospitals. The shuttle runs both directions in a circular route; making it easy (and cheap) get most anywhere.

Monday, March 5, 2012

My first day at the Center for Health Initiatives at the University of Wollongong. Linda and I
hopped on the shuttle and easily found the new “Innovations” campus—laid out like a small group of modern buildings on an open “office park” setting. Here I met Dr. Sandra Jones, Director of the Center for Health Innovations and my key sponsor and colleagues during the 3-week exchange. By the way, the -main university campus, in contrast, is laid-out like buildings strewn throughout a “jungle” setting and connected by a series of paths and ponds. No “college green” or “quad” here, but an impressive collection of buildings set into the trees, vines and massive shrubs. Linda and I bought a “mobile” (aka cell phone) at the college postal store so we could stay in touch over the next several weeks.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012:

Today I returned to the Innovations Campus to set up my temporary office, arrange for a computer account in the university system and meet with a few people about mobile
communications technologies and health-related behavior change. That is a continuously developing topic; so I will pick up on it later. Tomorrow I am scheduled to meet with some graduate and post-doc students; then give a presentation to a community and local health agency group at a community meeting hall. I am presenting some examples of programs where we used a social marketing approach to behavior change in Rhode Island. More about that later…..