21) Eat your heart out DV!

After much prodding by our friend Dave we sought out the "Apple turnover with fresh cream". So Dave - this is for you!



Now that we know what to look for, they are easy to find. We are starting to believe that AU has the highest per capita for two things - bakeries (at LEAST 1 per block) and realty offices - according to the paper housing values in city areas increased up to 200% in the last 10 years - yikes!


But this bakery is along our favorite bit of local beach. Due to a stormy winter and unusually high tides the beach face is getting hammered. In the pic on the left taken in May ) there is a scarp. But note how far to my left the trees are. In the right photo (taken in July) the sand has been eroded back about 25' - the rocks are there to prevent the sidewalk along the esplanade from washing into the ocean!














A big part of the problem lies down S. To protect navigation into river mouths, weirs were built. But this has also prevented the sand from the rivers from migrating along the coast on the northern long-shore currents to replenish beaches. The answer?

Soon they will start pumping a sand/water slurry from down south up to this beach. Should be an interesting process - man improves (?) nature!

20) Clipping Bolts in Brissy

We finally tracked down the errant climbing shoes and headed out for our first venture onto Aussie rock - the famous international destination at Kangaroo Point. Easy to get to - Drive N on the M1 to Brisbane. Stop in the center of town on the river and voila - Kangaroo Cliffs.

We parked on the street and peered over the edge - a row of concrete bollards for TR anchors festoon the cliff edge, a narrow park lies along the river, complete with barbies, artwork, picnic tables, lights for night climbing, a bikepath, and a 15-22 m ignimbrite (Brisbane welded tuff - 220 myo) cliff. The towers of downtown Brisbane, the yachts anchored on the river, and the smell of "sausage sizzle" make this the ultimate QLD urban climbing spot!

We navigated the approach without incident (I might add we lost our guidebook some where in the house so this was no mean feat. Reminiscent of getting to 3rd Pillar of Dana. Here is Nancy on "the approach")



It is mostly sport routes - some with gear. But the common "carrot bolts" make it seem more like sketchy trad climbing. It is an old quarry so there are a few drill hole holds and the rock is pretty solid. Very crimpy with the occasional snarly finger chewing pocket. There is a consistent horizontal joint pattern - many of the holds are large but ever-so-slightly sloping out.


With 3 months of not climbing, a new area, no guidebook, strange rock, locals who convinced us that the best warm-up was = 5.7 (a check in the guide later suggests that the locals enjoyed baiting the yanks onto a 5.10 a/b) we enjoyed a fine afternoon of remembering how to climb and dogging on the occasional bolt.

But some of the newer AU climbers take their new-wave bolting quite seriously! You can wrap an entire runner around these bad boys. Not too many routes in this area so we are going to got back for some firsts.






















When the weather gets hot the river offers a pleasant respite. But I think night climbing is where its a. Unlike the famous Eldo night ascents, you don't even have to bring your own headlamp!

19) Darkness Always Comes

On Saturday we just wanted to get out of the house - we were not looking forward to trying to heat the place with the hair drier again. I recalled a "water garden" just up the street a few k so we drove up right at dusk (which in 5 pm).

There is a new memorial to the Aussies who defended the Kokoda Trail in PNG during WWII (that event looms large in the Aussie psyche it seems.) There are many trekking companies that now cater to those looking for leech infested, mozzie riddled, jungle-slashing mud-fests. It's 96 km (61 miles) and has been run in 17:20! Anyone who wants to come on down and speed-hike it should email Nancy. I'll do support!) (you can open the cross section map below in a new window to read it. This has some vertical to it. I don't think its been mtn-biked yet....)





The waters in the "cascade garden" were not flowing - either they are off for the winter or off for good. But it is a nice strip of park along a canal and has some great trees.

It was the trees in the twilight that caught my attention. Something noisy in the trees and it was not just the ubiquitous Australian White Ibis that we see everywhere. There was too much chirping, squabbling and general mayhem to be birds. We peered into the gloaming night, we parted the tendrils of impending dark and saw that suspended high about us, inky black against the dusky sky, were foxes. Thousands of flying foxes in a "camp". These are not your typical little brown bat - these are full bore Pteropididae bats with wingspans up to a meter. As dark fell with a thump, they rousted themselves and flowed out over the canal - truly amazing. The Batman films should have used footage from this in the flick!

Speaking of dark -- many folks reminded us that we were moving to winter again. Ok fine, gets down to 50 degrees (It did snow in Sydney last night! 1000 km south). But the part we did not consider was latitude. It is past solstice and sunset is only getting marginally later - it is still setting at 5:18 with a 10:46 hour day. So when does it stay light later?

It doesn't, really. Even on the Summer solstice it sets at 6:44. But it RISES at 4:50 am!! (day is 13:53 hrs)(in contrast - Boulder Summer solstice = sunrise at 5:33; sunset at 8:32 for 14:59 hrs daylite). So we never get that long after work playtime.... means all the fun stuff has to come early, early, early. Sigh.....

Daylight savings time? Nah - QLD doesn't do it (though the rest of AU does!)

Darkness always comes.....

18) Lamington - Geology 101

We have been focused on the local National parks (Lamington, Mt Warning, Springbrook, Nightcap and Border Ranges) as World Heritage sites and remnants of the great subtropical rainforests that used to be here. Indeed, Lamington contains the largest subtropical rainforest remnant in the world and one of the most extensive Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforests in Australia. But someplace, down under all those vegetables there is........

rock. Volcanic Rock.

It seems that about 24 M years ago the Focal Peak and Tweed shield volcanoes erupted here. The subsequent caldera collapse and erosion has left a large caldera rim of basalt and ryolite that forms the escarpments and the central plug of Mt Warning. So when you stand on one rim in Lamington looking across the Numinbah Valley to Springbrook, we are actually seeing the same formation.

We took a track out to the rim passing through 5 different
rainforest types and seeing the usual slow motion play of life and death with strangler figs, seriously ingrown trees,






and delightful (but tiny) carnivorous sundews along the trail (like everything else in AU its deadly!!!!) These things digest their prey .... live!!!




(Sundew)









Yes those are "fern" trees Nancy is under- looking for the elusive Glossy Black Cockatoo (not to be found today). But we did hear some wild ones -- see this site to hear the "Eastern Whipbird" (my favorite -- click the green button on the website this links to-under the picture of the bird) and the Eastern Catbird which "Earns its name from its very distinctive call, similar to a cat or a baby crying. "(click on the little ear on the page this link opens).



More great waterfalls









But now we knew there was rock. Rock means.. climbing. There are some 100m cliffs here. Rock is solid - sort of). One small problem: Its a damn jungle! (No wonder there was no guidebook to this place.) If anyone wants to get a bunch of firsts - bring a whole bunch of wire-brushes!

So we headed back to the beach - where the sea breezes are blowing, the salt-tang fills the air and makes everything feel greasy and the bouldering is.. well its not Hueco!

17) A few more animal pics

Had a few more entertaining pics to share from the Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary.

Barking Owl (aka "screaming woman owl"-
this does make some pretty odd noises
when flying...)-














Lorakeet




















Walabee (or is that
a Kangaroo?) w/
Joey
















These guys are big - "growing to 6.2 m (20.3 ft) and weighing 1.5 tonnes" it is said they can lunge 3/5 of their length out of the water for din-din. So for a 5 m critter that is about 10 feet! Yikes!

"any man who tried to wrestle them would have the balls of a lion, the strength of a elephant and be as mad as a cut snake-" (http://www.convictcreations.com/animals/crocodile.htm)





"The saltwater crocodile is the one animal that has the capacity to frighten even Australians. People who would calmly flick a scorpion off their forearm or chuckle fearlessly at a pack of skulking dingoes will quake at the sight of a hungry croc" - Bill Bryson

Finally - every night the lorakeets come roost in these conifers down by the beach. That racket is impressive! So this is NOT a good visual video - just crank your volume up and hold your speakers over your head!

16) Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Visiting the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday, we were among the first to arrive and the last to leave, packing as much wildlife learning as we could in a day. We needed to arrive early enough to feed the wild rainbow lorikeets, as they swirled through the Sanctuary looking for their "power boost" before they head out for their normal day of fun and frolic. Anybody who's as colorful and happy-looking as a lorikeet is sure to bring a smile to your face! Even though the numbers were not as high as they are at times, the flock was impressive to us. Dirk also recorded the sound of lorikeets settling in for the night in some local trees. It's fun to be amidst so many birds--just watch out, that's not rain plopping on the sidewalk right next to you!

There was a fantastic "Free Flight Bird Show" that was so good we watched it twice. Trained eagles, falcons and owls swooped low and fast over our heads--close enough that Dirk's head was brushed by the Wedge-tailed Eagle's wing feathers! The regal (in stature more than name) Black-breasted Buzzard demoed his ability to use a rock to crack open a fake Emu egg (because the Emus would "chuck a wobbly" (that's "throw a tantrum," to you Yanks) if real emu eggs were used). All the birds freely flew in and out of the stage area on cue, we were impressed by the bird's intelligence as well as by the training by the bird handlers.

Recognized as the iconic symbol of Australia, the koalas were pretty content to stay curled up in a ball, parked up in trees in various parts of the Sanctuary, because it was a cool sort of a day. It was possible to pay for a photo of one of us cuddling with a koala, the proceeds going toward supporting the wildlife.

Instead, we opted for contributing more money to attend a "behind the scenes tour" where we learned about how they train the birds, how the wildlife food is prepared, how they care for sick and injured animals, and how they manage the captive breeding program, in particular at this time, turtles and echidnas. We had the opportunity to witness a little echidna being anesthetized and splayed out in a most undignified manner on his back, exposing his soft furry underbelly while being ultrasounded. And Nancy played falconer and fed the Brahminy Kite a decapitated mouse. And Dirk had the python trying to hide in his warm pockets. We also got the spiel about the Sanctuary mission to help the public appreciate the wildlife so we will protect it. We can hope awareness will help change the direction for all these endangered animals...

Dirk was keen on partaking of the "Adventure Parc" where we could "imitate the actions of some of our favorite animals." Described as "featuring a series of tree-top climbing challenges and a 20-metre high flying fox which takes riders directly over the Sanctuary’s crocodile enclosures" how could we resist? Dirk impressed the young ladies assisting us "adventurers" by expertly donning a climbing harness. With a harness, two locking biners, a pulley without a safety, and leather gloves, we were ready to go! The zip line was definitely the highlight, prompting a terrified "SLOW DOWN!" by the staff as Dirk came winging toward the unprotected "Flying Fox" landing zone. But no harm was done, and we survived unscathed. (see video below)

Since we stayed late enough and were pushing dusk, we were lucky enough to see the more nocturnal animals being a little more active. A lone wombat emerged from his burrow and snuffled about, but turned his backside to us as we approached his pen, no doubt trying to avoid our prying eyes. We understand their "intelligence is not generally appreciated," and that they are really very playful and quick to learn. They look similar to a guinea pig about the size of a large corgi, and we learned that a backward pouch keeps dirt away from the Joey when the mother is burrowing. News from a few days ago is that Australia's treasury secretary is taking 5 weeks off to look after endangered northern hairy-nose wombats. Only about 100 of these little guys exist in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland. Guess it's for a better cause than Prez Bush taking as long to go to Crawford and muck around the Ranch.

The Tasmanian Devil was cute as a button, we saw no trace of the wickedness of the Disney Taz Devil character. Apparently, though, it has a blood-curdling scream (which we did not hear), a cranky temperment, and "will hold a kangaroo leg in its paws and chomp away as if eating a carrot" (neither of which we saw). All we saw was the little guy yawning and roaming around his pen, climbing up and down the rock piles and looking for something to eat. Devils in the wild are now being decimated due in large part to an outbreak of "Facial tumour disease" (a third of the population since 1995), and captive breeding programs are underway to maintain genetically diverse populations.

The rest of our day consisted of feeding the kangaroos and wallabies (Nancy thinks the difference between them is that the Wallabies are cuter), witnessing the Eels and Pelicans (at the same time and place) being fed male baby chicks and fish, respectively, spying the tree kangaroos high above our heads, watching the crocs (both fresh-water and "salties") *not* getting fed (for the winter--6 months) because it's too cold for them to digest anything, trying (still) to figure out more of the bird species, finding out that dingos are descended from the Indian wolf and look nothing like our Kiley, imprinting the three words to deal with snakes (LEAVE IT ALONE) since 96% of the people in Oz injured or killed by snakes were trying to catch or kill a snake, and more. Riding the little train while viewing the habitat and eating an ice cream cone rounded out the fun day of learning more about the Australian wildlife.

PS. Dirk was pleased to find that the Hume's Problem of Induction, Popper's falsification and modus tollens have some basis - there are indeed black swans in Oz!




Oh my - you all must see this. The AU gov has a website that will help you find..well go and look at this yourself!



Hey Nancy its easy! Just LET GO!