Hamilton

 

License plate used on golf carts, not for use on the mainland.

Today we toured the “lagoon” and one of the seventy-four small islands off the west coast of Queensland that make up Whitsunday National Park. What makes these islands so remarkable is their location right on the Great Barrier Reef. While we did not go underwater, we did enjoy the beautiful turquoise waters above the reef. 

 

Frankly, the day started out rather slow. We took a lagoon tour that was supposed to be narrated, but our narrator was an Aussie and we needed subtitles in order to understand him. We sailed around in the still turquoise water for two hours. It was pretty, but there were not any photo opportunities. 

Buggy by a local church. A wedding was happening so we did not stay.

 

When the boat docked at Hamilton we rented a golf cart and drove alll over the island. The carts, called “Buggies,” are everywhere, climbing the hills like electric mountain goats. We went on every paved road we found and looked at the beautiful views. What a place. The buggy have left hand drive, but they are driven on the right side of the road...it was confusing at first, but we got the hang of it in a couple of minutes.

On 15% of the National Park can be inhabited so there is a huge hotel and many cottages. There are some really nice yachts in the harbor too!    

 

All is not perfect on this island paradise though...a cyclone came thru last February and destroyed a lot of the million dollar “cottages.” A few repair trucks will not stop the tourist or the local, so life goes on regardless of the upheaval around them. 

 

 

There were cockatoos and love birds on the waterfront...the locals don’t much like the cheeky cockatoos.

The cockatoo uses it’s beak to chip away at wood, thereby destroying homes much like an American woodpecker. One lady told me that they are smarter than the average woodpecker, so they are more destructive. On the other hand, the Rainbow Lorikeets were just spectacular. How can you not enjoy looking at these brightly colored birds that hang out with each other all the time. 

O

Sydney

O

New South Wales License Plate

 

We landed in OZ this morning. We were "parked" almost in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House and next to the “Coat-hanger Bridge”! We’ve seen both before, but never  from this perspective. 

 

 

 

We had to leave the ship—The Aussies demanded that everyone disembark by 9:30 and not return for at least 2 hours. That was a good time to take a shore excursion which included a tour of the Opera House.

Opera House and Coat Hanger Bridge

 

The Opera House has great elevated cement and steel and glass spaces with amazing angles that play with the light. It’s hard to describe how large the rooms are, except the ceilings soar above you.

 

Yesterday the Opera House celebrated it’s 44th Anniversary so everything was all shiny. There are two buildings that make up the Opera House, and one is closed until December for a 70 million dollar renovation. The plans are to reno both sides in the next 6 years so it will be a state of the art Opera House for it’s 50th anniversary. 

 

Main concert hall with a HUGE tracker organ in the background.

 The pipes range in size from tiny (1/2 inch) to enormous (four stories or 40 feet)!

 

From there we took a bus ride around the city. We’ve driven the city before, but this time we had narration. We learned about different neighborhoods; places to eat; different beaches. We visited the famous Bondi Bay and saw a sailboat race. 

 

Bondi Bay 

Regatta

 

In case you did not know it, Sydney is huge. According to our guide, it has the largest bay in the world. I thought that San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro had large bays, but this one is larger and more complex...and has many “arms” of land reaching into the bay, and each is filled with  buildings and parks making it very developed. On the sailaway tonight, we had a good view of the buildings that ring the bay right before the city lights went on. It’s has an amazing nighttime skyscape...but we left before we could see it. We’ll be back in a month, and we’ll see it then.

 

 

Noumea, New Caledonia

We stopped on 2 islands in New Caledonia...one was very tropical and the other was having a draught! There were brown hillsides...we were surprised. But, because of the draught, there was no humidity, which was quite pleasant.

Unlike the other islands we’ve stopped at, Noumea has more of a  “city-like” feel. Traffic was everywhere.   

 

The typical hustle and bustle of everyday life. There was traffic at Suva, Fiji, but there was a tropical “flavor” to the area...a slowness that was not evident in Noumea. When it’s hot and humid, things move a lot more slowly.

There was also graffiti. The fence was painted, but the street artists took it to another level. Graffiti is found just about everywhere, but we did not see too much of it in the parts of Samoa, Fiji or Vanuatu that we visited. 

In Noumea we visted a World War 2 Museum  

Generally, we don’t visit museums that do not have English commentary, but we broke our rule and discovered an interesting account of the WW2 from the French perspective. New Caledonia was not in any battles, it was a staging area for the Americans in the South Pacific. (I don’t know what McHale’s Navy was doing in New Caledonia...I just remember the fellows speeding around in their PT Boats.)

The museum is housed in an old quonsat hut from the era, except now it’s in town. It has a number of exhibits about what it was like to be in the tropics during the second war. There is the ubiquitous Jeep  

Hanging from a wall! It really could go anywhere! There are newspaper headlines  

And photos  

I liked this photo of deGaulle inspecting the troops...in addition to everything else, it shows how tall he was compared to the rest of the soldiers

And then the War in Europe ended. Even though we cannot read French, we know exactly what this headline says! 

We left the Museum and returned to reality 72 years later. I have to wonder if we ever learn anything about war and peace!

   

 

Tadine, Mare, New Caledonia

Holland America Flag, French Flag, New Caledonia Flag

 

We are at the tender port of Tadine in New Caledonia.

Any minute now, I’m waiting for McHale’s Navy to pick us up and transport us to a 60s-era World War II comedy. I loved McHale’s Navy and I always wondered what it would be like to see New Caledonia...today I’m seeing it first hand! It’s a real treat!

 

We are on the island of Mare´and it’s the first island we’ve seen on this cruise that has a substantial number of conifers. The typical palm tree is very evident, but the tall pine trees dot the landscape.

 

The coastline here does not lend itself to beaches. There are a few, but mostly we see a rocky coast in very calm seas.

 

 

 

There are few villages, but not many. The place has not been “touristed”so if you want to see a “natural” tropical island, Mare might be the place to go.

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Flag of Vanuatu 

 

We landed in the independent nation of Vanuatu this morning. Port Vila is the capital and it’s on the island of Etafe, one of 83 islands that make up the country. All the islands are tiny specks in the Pacific where 200,000 souls call home.

 

 

 

Like all of the islands around here, this one is lush with greenery, flowers and palms and papaya that seem to grow out of nothing.

Blue Lagoon

Wild Papaya

Two years ago a killer cyclone devastated this group of islands, and wiped a few of them bare, yet now there are trees and grasses in abundance. What does not regrow quickly are the works of man that take time to recreate. The homes and streets were destroyed and they are still being rebuilt. Today the capital  city is being repaired, a convention center is being built;

Parliament has been restored;

some streets are getting paved.  They are even expanding their port facility another 200 meters.

 

The people are a friendly group; more than willing to host haoles from the ships that visit about 3 to 4 times a month. While there are not stores per se, a thriving tent market opens with a ship is in town.

 

Housing covers the gamut from fancy

to basic.

Our guide did not have electricity and running water, yet when I asked if she wanted to live in one of the fancy houses, she said NO! She explained that it was too easy and folks needed to work to make a living. 

 

The people are water babies. Our guide said her 2 year old swims like a fish and does not want anyone to guide him. She said all the kids are like that.

 

Not all is heavenly in this island paradise. Unemployment is high at about 50%; wages are low, 1.60-1.80 and hour. A person can have a maid working for them for less than ten dollars a day, and that’s a good job. 

Beach combing

Jet surf board?

Local star fish

Clear water lagoon with star fish

Fancy Resort

Ordinary house