We Are Off Again

As I type it is 7:10AM Tuesday, February 22. According to my computer it is 3:10 PM on Monday in Bradenton. We travel from Sydney through Los Angeles to Atlanta to Tampa- arriving in Tampa at 6:06PM Tuesday afternoon. Hoping all connections get made and travel is smooth. Looks like if all goes well it will be about 29 hours door to door.

This has been a wonderful visit. Interesting scenery, fascinating  animals, and special, special people. The best part of all this was to spend time with Bill, Katherine, Michael, Jack and Ethan. It is good to see that they are living in a marvelous place and they are working out all the complexities of life in another culture. There is joy because of the wonderful visit and sadness because we don't know when we'll sit around the table and share conversation again.

Sunday in Sydney

Yesterday, Sunday, February 20th, was a quiet day for this crowd. After the busy, long and tiring Saturday touring the Blue Mountains people slept late and were slow to get into action. We had a great time watching the video that Bill took of the visit to Featherdale, the animal park. We also had a great time watching a long section of the journey in the Rainforest when Bill had accidentally turned on the video in his pocket. We saw people walking upside down. Was funny and we said we'd save it and tell people this was what life was like "down under."

We did lots of game playing- Headache, Backgammon, and Banana Grams- plus some time was spent by each boy playing computer games. The porch was the perfect place to hang out for the end of the day.

A beautiful cockatoo kept flying by and perching on the roof next door. We heard the Kookaburras laughing. The sounds continue to amaze us.

Ethan especially likes playing Headache so each one of us had a turn playing the game with him. Often it was so long we laughed and said we knew now why it was called "Headache." At least most of the game is enclosed so pieces were less likely to fall off the edge of the porch. He is a good game player because he knows and abides by the rules. Ethan did keep saying something he learned from Jack in response to any suggestion from any of us...."Never trust your opponent."

Jim was fascinated by the huge Flying Foxes. Night after night we have seen them fly by at dusk. We did see some up close at the animal park. They look like BIG bats with red faces that resemble the face of a fox. Jim took 72 pictures of bats as they flew by. All of a sudden the sun began to set.

Sunset Over Downtown Sydney

Sunset Over Mosman Bay

The sight was so beautiful. We sat and watched and were amazed. Since Sunday evenings we often go to the beach and watch the sunset it seemed perfectly fitting to spend this Sunday evening watching God's wonderful creation.

A Day in the Blue Mountains

Ethan sleeping and eating

We got up very early on Saturday morning, dressed and headed for the Mosman Bay Ferry Wharf. Ethan even looked like he slept as he ate his toast. The small van from Australian Eco Tours met us at the Wharf right on time. Our driver, Larry, was cheerful and knowledgeable. The seven of us were off for a fun-filled and loooong day. We stopped and picked up people from one hotel who were from California and others from another hotel from Alabama.

Here we are- a bunch of Americans off to see the Blue Mountains.

Great Breakfast

We first traveled to Featherdale Wildlife Park, a privately owned wildlife park, situated on 7 acres of natural bush setting. We first enjoyed a continental breakfast which featured ham, cheese, croissants, potato rolls, juice, coffee and Vegemite- the Vitamin B supplement that all Australians seem to enjoy several times a week. Must be an acquired taste- or so we decided when I tried some on the Indian Pacific train journey. A koala even came to breakfast with us.

blue penquins

Ngukhur- 14 ft. long croc

Big Lizard

The park is home to the world’s largest collection of Australian native animals, and we were able to get up close and personal with over 2,200 animals from more than 330 different species. We cuddled up to a koala, hand fed kangaroos, emus & wallabies and even got chased by an Emu who pecked at Jack’s shoes.  We saw 'Ngukhur' a 14 foot long saltwater crocodile. 

Wombat

Flying Foxes

Albino Kangaroo

We saw Flying Foxes and other creatures at the Ghost Bat & Bilby Nocturnal Exhibit. The wombats came out to play and there were even blue penguins. Kangaroos and Wallabys were everywhere and there was even a rare Albino Kangaroo.

Jack, Ethan and Michael all had fun feeding the variety of hungry creatures.

Emu Pecks Jack's shoe

We departed the Park and traveled to the Blue Mountains, stopping at Bilpin alongthe at The Fruit Bowl We continued further to Mount Wilson where there was an opportunity for a short nature walk to get the first glimpses of the Blue Mountains. Larry told an Aborigines Tale about Creation. The Creator came to earth and brought all the animals and all the plants to the land. He also brought people who were to be the caretakers of the animals and the lands. When the creating was done the Creator stepped back to the sky by stepping onto Mount Hay and Mount Banks- which of course we saw.” We began to think about the difference in the Genesis creation story where Adam and Eve were given “dominion over all living things.” Sure different than thinking of yourself as a “caretaker.”  

From this point, we crossed the mountains to Govetts Leap for the magnificent valley and waterfall views followed by a visit to the historic town of Hartley Vale. When the Victoria Pass road was completed in 1832, the doorway to the west was open and settlement in Hartley, at the base of the hill, began in earnest. The next 50 years saw Hartley grow into a bustling township surrounded by churches, a post office, stage couch facilities, and inns.  Unfortunately, Hartley was by-passed by the railway and, over a period, fell into disuse.  Luckily, today we are left with a remarkable remnant of a town largely unchanged since the mid-nineteenth century.  Hartley Vale has a population of about 8. We saw one buildining dating from the 1860’2 that served as a school, dance hall, and church or as Larry said, “ a place for work, whoopee and worship.”

Lunch was at the Katoomba Golf Club. Pretty good food and served with dispatch so we could continue our journey.

After lunch, we traveled to Megalong Valley for amazing mountain views. We stopped at Cliff Drive to experience The "Three Sisters" where Larry told us another Aboriginal dream-time legend that tells of three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' who lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

Three Sisters

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was forced to use his magic bone and turn himself into a bird in order to save himself. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, he searched everywhere for the magic bone he had hidden. He could never find it. So the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come and often around the rocks a small bird can be seen scratching looking for his magic bone.

Part of our journey was on the Great Australian Highway. In 1813, acting on the instructions of NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth, travelled west from Emu Plains and by staying to the ridges were able to confirm the existence of a passable route directly west from Sydney across the Blue Mountains. They retraced their steps marking and initialing trees to create the route. The governor then made a deal with the convicts to build a road. No matter what their sentence was, when the road was complete they would receive a pardon and a land grant. So it took them 90 days to build the road. In the afternoon we traveled a piece of the road that is bring widened  and the roadwork had been going on for 30 years with a promise to finish the end of 2012. One of group wondered why they didn’t just get the convicts back.

We then visited the Scenic World attractions for a ride into the Rainforest on a Cablecar , a walk on a boardwalk through the floor of the forest, and a ride up on a steep incline railroad. Turns out Michael had been here just for the Rainforest on a Bush Walk from his school.

Bill, Katherine, and boys at floor of Rainforest

 It was an interesting place filled with people from many, many different countries. However, Scenic World felt to us like the Gatlinburg of Australia.

Bridal Veil Falls

Toasting the Day

We ended the time in the Blue Mountains at Wentworth Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. The views were terrific and the waterfalls tall.  We enjoyed glasses of chilled champagne and orange juice to toast the day in the Blue Mountains, before we finally headed back to Sydney.

Jack with Ice Cream

Ethan loving the Ferry

Our wonderful day ended at the Circular Quay Ferry Wharf. There was time for a snack of ice cream as we waited.  Many ferries came and left in the 40 minutes we waited. Lots of people use this as a major transportation around the area. Fairly cheap, runs often, and is on time- can't beat it! We rode across the beautiful Sydney Harbor back to Mosman Bay Wharf. 

Opera House

We viewed the magnificent Opera House and the Harbor Bridge, called by locals The Coat Hanger. We could see the walkers on the top of the bridge.
It was a long and a fun day of seeing interesting sights, having different experiences, and sharing time together!

A Quiet Day at Home

We had a wonderful, quiet day at "home" as the younger Barnetts went to school, work and lunch with friends. Katherine had a fun lunch with some American moms with children at Redlands School.

The routine with the school is complicated and different for each one of the boys depending on the day. Some days are the whole uniform with blazer, tie, serious black shoes and knee socks. Some days are the sport outfit of knit shirts, shorts, and sneakers. Each one carries a heavy backpack which Katherine says frequently has nothing but a note from the teacher in it. We talked this morning about breaking the rules and leaving them in the kids lockers. They are supposed to walk out the door carrying their backpacks and also are supposed to wear their blazers all the way home. Seems like silly and unnecessary rules- especially when the backpacks are  empty and the temperature is 95 degrees.

Playing Sorry with Ethan

Yesterday- Thursday- Bill and Katherine had a conference with Ethan's teacher about his extremely advanced reading ability, so Katherine brought Ethan home and returned to Redlands to meet Bill. Ethan is in a class of 12 Kindergardeners so the teacher should be able to pay attention to each child and their different abilities.  Ethan and I had great fun playing Sorry and then Jenga. 

Jack plays the cello

Jack and Michael arrived home on the bus after Michael had Tennis and Jack had musical theater. Jack came in lugging a cello. Teachers at the school encouraged him to bring the instrument home to see how he liked carrying it. Students must learn either the violin or the cello in the 3rd year-which is where he is. We wondered if the teachers try to  push the boys toward the cello and the girls toward violin. Sure was a big load for Jack to carry.  We think he thought it would be fun until he had to carry it home on the bus. 

After all the activities and the conference everyone was home by 5:00 except Bill. The younger boys played while Michael worked on a big project. The design of this house is great with much space for together fun and space for private studies and work.

Bill got home on the bus about 6:30 and we ordered Thai for supper.

After dinner we enjoyed watching the Sydney Skyline. We were hoping for a photo of the huge flying foxes that sail by. We saw a couple but they were too fast for the photographers. There is always tomorrow to try again.

Traveling on the Indian Pacific

Indian Pacific Symbol- Australian Wedge Tail Eagle

The train station in Adelaide- The Adelaide Parklands Station- was very nice. We arrived about an hour early and checked our bag which now mostly contained dirty clothes. The symbol for the Indian Pacific is the largest eagle on earth, the Australian Wedge Tail Eagle. It conveys a sense of power, momentum and purpose . The eagle is used as the symbol of  the freedom and adventure of one of the world’s greatest train journeys.

Washing the Train Windows

As we sat and waited much preparation was going on as golf carts ran back and forth while staff members with lots of keys and two-way radios moved up and down the track. The windows even got washed on both side of the train. The Hospitality staff made a big deal about welcoming us aboard as they lined up in front of the train in their Aussie Hats. We were off at exactly 10:00AM headed for Sydney.

We traveled in Car J; Berths 15 & 16. We passed through huge wheat and other grain fields before the land flattened out and got fairly green. Once again the red desert sand appeared. Stacy, the Hospitality Hostess said it was normally greener this time of year. We did see many ponds of water. We found the scenery fascinating and we even saw several flocks of emus and one hopping kangaroo plus lots of cattle and sheep.

Broken Hill

 Our welcome reception was at 12:30PM in the Lounge Car. For this journey there are 17 cars and there are 120 passengers aboard. People are so friendly and chatty with each other. We talked with a man who really knows trains. He said our engine had 4000 horsepower and the carriage are of the American BUDD design. 

After the reception and lunch we went to our compartment to await arrival in Broken Hill. Jim even took a mini-nap and you can tell our compartment was a little too chilly for him. We arrived about 4:30 and got off the train for one of the train-sponsored "Whistle Stop Tours." We saw the highlights of the city. It had been a big silver mining town and then went through a down time. Now the mines are all being reopened because of the discovery of lead, tin and silver. ....plus deposits of uranium and titanium. There were signs of new life and an expanded economy. We all scrambled aboard about 5 minutes before the train whistle blew and we were off.

Sunset over Lake Menindee

After a brief stop in the compartment we went to the Outback Lounge to see the most amazing sight- Lake Menindee. This lake is normally a dry lake bed, but because of all the rain it is filled and when like this it holds 4 times as much water as Sydney Harbor. Sunset over the lake was beautiful.

Dinner in the Queen Adelaide Dining Room was tasty but by that time the train "driver" had started going so very fast that the train was rolling and rocking and the people were reeling and staggering. It was loud. Jim complained and the staff all assured us that this was just a rough section of track- some where the wooden "sleepers" are being replaced with concrete sleepers. We could hardly eat our dinner for fear of the food bouncing away.

We went to bed but it was so rough that Jim thought he might get thrown out of his top bunk. He got up twice and went to the Lounge Car to rest. Neither of us slept more an hour at a stretch. Lots of people complained this morning about the speed and not being able to sleep.  One thing we are learning about Australians is they never hesitate to express their feelings and opinions.

Sydney Central Train Station

The Indian Pacific Train

We arrived at Central Train Station in Sydney about 30 minutes late. The train quickly got all the passengers off and the luggage came off the car quickly. We were down in the area beside the train engine. We got a taxi to Bill and Katherine's house and happily settled into life at 9 Avenue Road in Mosman.