Highlights from Australia

After 6 weeks in Asia, we were excited to get to Australia. In our 6 weeks, we had gained a deep appreciation for western democracies and we were anxious to get back to one. We were so anxious, in fact, we ended up leaving two days early for the Land Down Under.

Australia is called the Land Down Under because British explorers went looking for lands under Asia. Australia is what they found and claimed it for their own, using it as a penal colony. The first settlement was in Sydney Cove in 1788, creating the beginning of Australia’s largest and most well known city. Australia remains, to this day, part of the British Commonwealth; and everyone with whom we spoke were appeared to be happy to be a part of it.

Our first stop in Australia was the Great Barrier Reef.

GREAT BARRIER REEF
After traveling for 24 hours from Asia, we finally arrived in Cairns, Australia. Cairns is in the north-east part of the country and sits on the Coral Sea, which borders Australia to the east. Cairns and its nearby towns are best known as a jumping off points for exploring the Great Barrier Reef. Our final destination was Port Douglas, an adorable town about an hour north of Cairns.

Our Hometown Priority!
While that’s all well and good, our minds were elsewhere when we landed in Cairns; our minds were with our Chicago Cubs. After all, game 7 of the World Series had ended while we were in the air — or so we thought! The very first thing we did upon arrival was scramble to find out if we were World Series Champions. There was no internet so we turned on our cellular data as we made our way to our shuttle. We couldn’t believe it; there had been a rain delay so the game was still in progress. And it was tie game in the 10th inning!!!! We hopped on our shuttle only to be joined by a Cleveland native. Our one-hour shuttle ride to Port Douglas (our final destination) was nail-biting and joyfully contentious with our new-found Cleveland nemesis and friend. The couple in the back were clearly rooting for the Cubs; so while we wished we were with our fellow Chicago fans back home, our experience was still pretty exciting. When the Cubs clinched it, the shuttle was in a fantastic uproar with the shuttle driver trying to make sense of what the hubbub was all about. We explained and proceeded to realize that several Aussies actually follow American baseball! We had fun meeting other genuine Cubs fans throughout the remainder of our trip.

After an exciting shuttle ride, we arrived in Port Douglas. We were staying at an adorable hotel called Peppers Beach Club, walking distance to Port Douglas’s laid back Main Street. We found Port Douglas to be a perfect spot to enjoy the reef, the rainforest, good food, and cute shopping.

Outer Reef
First things first. We were in Port Douglas to explore the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world. Actually, it is the largest living organism in the world. Our first day was spent snorkeling three different locales in the outer reef. We chose to snorkel because the coral comes alive through light (photosynthesis), making much of what there is to see not far from the water’s surface.

There are several spots along the outer reef and we hit three of them. We had to wear lycra suits because it was stinger season. As you can see, we were still relishing in the Cubs victory in our lycra.

By going to three different sites, we were able to see different parts of the reef. The fish were brilliantly colored and plentiful while the coral was mostly white, brown, and green. We asked if this was the result of the reported ubiquitous bleaching. We were told that 95% of the reef is always white, brown, and green; but the warm waters had in fact reduced the number of fish and some of the brilliance of the coral that we were seeing. In spite of this, our experience was incredible. We saw sharks, we swam with barracudas, and we admired the brilliant varieties of fish that are way to numerous to list. Let’s just sum it up by saying the boat had to literally horn us out of the water at each stop. Paul and I just couldn’t get enough. One of my best experiences on this trip was feeling one with the sea creatures. It was so peaceful yet such a colorful feast for the eyes.

Lower Isles
After so much excitement, Paul got a little run-down. So the next day I was on my own to snorkel the “lower isles” and its surrounding reef. This area is closer to Port Douglas (only about an hour’s sail ride away). It’s unusual in the fact that you land at an island and snorkel the reef from the beach (versus from the boat).

This area is best known for its sea turtles, which were beautiful and plentiful even though they say the population is down after years of reef erosion and warm waters.

With diverse fish and coral, snorkeling the lower isles was very different than snorkeling the outer reef.

Another thing I loved about the day was the sail back to Port Douglas; it was simply stunning! The only thing missing was Paul.

Daintree Rainforest
With Paul still feeling run down, my other loan excursion from Port Douglas was to the Daintree Rainforest, the oldest and most diverse rainforest in the world. It’s hard to believe that the rainforest and reef are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the two met here.

With just an afternoon to explore, I toured a small part of the Daintree River, the Aboroginal town of Mossman, and Mossman Gorge. Here I learned about the sugar cane trade, a trade critical to Mossman’s survival. I also learned about the various flora and fauna in the rainforest. Most memorable to me, an urban dweller, was seeing and hearing about the crocodiles in this area. They are sea water crocs, meaning they mostly live in fresh water but can survive in sea water. These crocs are encroaching many of the resort and town beaches in the vicinity. Even our Port Douglas 4-mile beach was shut down due to crocs. What I learned was that any fresh water creek that empties to the ocean puts nearby beaches at risk for crocs, especially during mating season when they come out to lay eggs. As a result, there had been several deaths by crocodiles; and every local with whom we spoke said they simply avoid their own beaches because of the crocs. Rest assured, we avoided the beaches too!

The most special siting was that of a cassowary, a rare bird. Estimates say there are only about 1500 left and are found in this part of the world. This bird is one of the closest relatives to the dinosaurs. At heights and weights that surpass most humans, seeing these creatures was a treat not just for tourists, but for natives too. Our guide was so excited when he spotted one.

A Wonderful Surprise
The most fun and unexpected surprise that happened in Australia was bumping into two high school friends in Port Douglas. After they posted a photo of barramundi on Facebook (a delicious local fish), we figured out that they were just down the street. Needless to say the next night we found ourselves together, barramundi and all, swapping stories about our reef and rainforest adventures and reminiscing about our highschool biology lab days.

SYDNEY
Our second and last stop in Australia was Sydney, a 3.5 hour plane ride to the south of Port Douglas/Cairns. We only had one day in Sydney, so our priorities were the Opera House and environs. We were staying in “the Rocks” neighborhood at the Quay West Suites, right near the Opera House with a view that melted my heart every time I looked out the window.

The Sydney Opera House (SOH)
As soon as we got organized, we bee-lined it for the Opera House Tour. This was a huge highlight — what an architectural wonder to learn about!!! Set at the tip of the peninsula in Sydney Harbor, it’s one of the most well known city and waterscapes in the world — and it deserves its notoriety. I was truly awed by its beauty, which perfectly complimented the environs upon which it is situated.

As most things that are beautiful, meaningful, and lasting, they take hard work. The SOH is no exception. Completed in 1973 after 16 years, 10,000 laborers, and $102 million (original estimates were 3 years and $7 million), it’s home to 1600 performances per year in its 5 performance spaces.

The “sails” that are so famous are three interlocking “shells” that roof the two main performance halls and one restaurant (there are three additional performance spaces below).

The SOH was built in three stages. First the platform, second the shells, and finally the inside performance spaces.

The building of the SOH was not without controversy. In 1957 Danish architect Jorn Utzon was awarded the project for the Sydney Opera House. He designed it as an urban sculpture to suit its harbor location. However, he did not vet it for function. After the platform was built, it took several months for Utzon to develop a functional construction for the “sails” or “shells”. He finally uncovered a solution and had over 1 million (self cleaning) tiles made for the shells. To this day, only 24 have been replaced.

While a brilliant solution, frustration had mounted so high that Utzon was asked to leave the project in 1965 and the interior was eventually completed without him over the course of the next eight years. Sadly, he never even saw the structure in its completion. The story has a happy ending, however. And has a relation to our hometown of Chicago.

Eventually, people of Sydney realized his great contributions and, at the end of his life, Utzon was asked to return to oversee future plans. He felt he was too weak to travel so the job was given to his son, Kim Utzon, a Pritzker Prize winning architect. The Pritzker Prize is an architecture award funded by our hometown Chicago Pritzker family and is considered to be one of the most prestigious in the industry.

On a very light note, the very first thing Kim Utzon did was change the bathrooms. Evidently they were terrible and he feared that they would be the only thing that people would remember about the opera house. From what we understand, these are the only bathrooms in the world designed by a Priztker Prize-winning architect — and they are the only bathrooms I’ve ever taken a picture of!

The Rocks
From the Opera House we walked along the Quay Harbor to an area called “the Rocks”, the oldest part of Sydney. It’s an adorable area with views of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge at every turn. It was November, which was springtime in Sydney. And I particularly admired the Jacaranda trees that were flowering the most beautiful purple flowers. It made me want to plant hundreds of these trees at my alma mater, Northwestern University.

It was Election Day in the states. So we stopped at the “oldest pub in Sydney”, the Fortune of War, to have a bite and watch the early election results.

Paul went back to the hotel to continue watching and I decided to take a bus tour, which turned out to be a waste. I continued to get election updates. I was so stunned I couldn’t concentrate on anything I was seeing or learning. I returned to the hotel where Paul and I half-seriously considered staying in Australia.

Dinner With Friends
Luckily, that night, we had the chance to be with friends who helped us take our minds off the election results. We dined with a cycling friend of Paul’s and his wife, Peter and Helen. After a drink at their gorgeous home in Wahroonga, a suburb of Sydney, we enjoyed more fresh barramundi and wonderful conversation at their local town restaurant. It was a perfect way to spend our last night in Australia.

Off To Fiji
With only two stops in Australia, we merely had a small sample of what this vast, beautiful, modern yet untouched country had to offer. We quickly knew this was a place to where we wished to return — and soon!

But for now, it was off to the final destination on our round-the-world tour. We were off to Fiji!