Apologies for writing this in English – though I haven't really a good command of this language. But since it is the only language that nearly all my friend can read I've decided to use it. All pictures in this report – and a few more are stored in a my Australia photos album.
The primary reason to go to Oz was a meeting of ICANN in Sydney. I was appointed by W3C to the 2009 ICANN Nominating Committee. My wife Edith who is also a shareholder of my company ict-Media GmbH participated in the ICANN meeting to learn more about the business. I also used the opportunity to visit some friends from W3C. Beside of this it was a great opportunity to visit the country.
The trip started on July 18th. The flight from Frankfurt arrived on July 19th in Singapore and left us some 6 hours till the departure of the connecting flight to Sydney. 6 hours on the airport? From the girl at the info desk I learned that it was only a short trip to the city and that there was a free bus shuttle bus to the center. So we used the opportunity for an excursion to Singapore city – close to the Equator. The weather was hot and we were tired ... but it was nice to stroll through the city. And later on the flight to Sydney it was easier to find some sleep.
We arrived in Sydney Saturday morning, June 20th, winter in Sydney – it
looked very much like the summer we left behind in Germany: pouring and ~15°C.
But this changed on Sunday when the sun was shining and we took the opportunity
for a walk through the Sydney Royal
Botanic Gardens & Domain. 
From there we went on to the Sydney Opera House
and participated in a guided tour. From there we continued via Sydney Harbour
Bridge and the Rocks back to our hotel in George Street.
Beside this first excursion the conference left time to go to the newly built quarter of darling harbour, to visit Bondi Beach, take a look from Sydney Tower and – on the very last day – take ferry through the harbour.
Beside the touristic activities and the the conference a few more personal things can be noted:
We left Sydney on Monday, June 29th in the afternoon for a short flight
to Canberra. Since I had a meeting at CSIRO
we stayed at the at the University
House on the Campus. When we went downtown to have dinner in the evening it
was a huge contrast to Sydney: the city appeared to be dead. Nobody on the
streets, only a few restaurants – most of the where closed.
The next day after my meeting I had the opportunity to walk through
Canberra at daytime. A strange place! The artificial lake Burley Griffin.
Somebody must have told them that symmetry is heaven. There is an axis from the
parliament to Mount Ainslie (on the other side of the lake). Everything around
this axis is arranged in perfect symmetry.
My friend Amit Parashar who lives in Canberra tried to convince us that life is nice in Canberra by taking us to a wonderful Indian restaurant for dinner and showing us Canberra at night from the – nearly closed – Telstra tower. Well ...
We left Canberra on July
1st to go to Brisbane. We met with some friends and I had a talk at the
University of Queensland on July 2nd. The trip from Brisbane onward was
organized by Umfulana Tours. Since it
was our first time in Australia and there was no time to organize things by
ourselves I had looked for some trustworthy tourist office to do the job.
Brinka Hellack from Umfulana did a great job on this. A nice itinerarie with
room for extensions and a top selection of B&Bs.
After arrival in
Brisbane we picked-up our rental car and tried to find our first accommodation.
We missed the highway exit ... and had some opportunity to get used to
left-hand driving and right-steered cars. Anyhow we managed to arrive at Ansley B&B. Our hostess Gena welcomed
us with a tea and gave us an introduction to Brisbane and how to get around.
Not too difficult after all: buy a day ticket for the bus which also includes
free use of the City Cat ferries and enjoy your day. So – after a breakfast
with my friends with Liz Armstrong and Hoylen Sue – we spend all leisure time
that was left on July 2nd on the river and on the very beautiful campus of the
University of Queensland.
July 3rd and finally on vacation. The plan is to
drive from Brisbane to Hervey Bay. Gina served us an excellent breakfast with
tropical fruits from her garden. We left the Bruce Highway at Beerburrum and
followed the Glass House Mountains Rd. We missed the Landsborrough Maleny Rd in
Landsborrough ... and ended up on the Bruce Highway again at Meridan Plains. We
took the next exit at Palmview and headed west. Via Palmwoods we finally
arrived in Montville – a strange place with a lot of touristic facilities:
restaurants, souvenir shops – not only related to this place.
Heading north we reached the Kondalilla National Park where we spend an hour. It was our first impressive contact with the Australian rain forest and a few animals like the laughing kookaburra.
We
continued north till Mapleton where we turned right and went east and reached
the Sunshine Coast near Maroochydore. We drove north along the coast till Noosa
Heads. It was late afternoon when we arrived there and we still had to go half
of the way to Hervey Bay. So we decided to go back to the Bruce Highway till
Maryborough and turn east there for Hervey bay.
In Hervey Bay we stayed at
Alexander Lakeside a
truly luxurious B&B. After more than two weeks travelling we where happy
that our hostess Sharon allowed us to use her washing machine ("I don't need it
tonight").
Another excellent breakfast was the starter
for our tour to Fraser Island, the biggest sand compilation on earth as
our guide Henning claimed. Henning turned out to be a German from Hannover and
4 of the 7 participants of the tour where also Germans. It was a very
instructive tour – though we didn't meet any dingos. Part of the game: the
drivers had to cook a barbecue for his clients. Next morning we said good bye
to Sharon, John, and the animals in her lakeside garden continued north to
Rockhampton.
July 5th on the way to
Rockhampton. We did neither feel attracted by an airshow in Bundaberg nor by
the Bundaberg Rum production. Nevertheless we left the Bruce Highway at
Childers and headed towards Bundaberg. A lot of sugar cane fields all over the
place ... and they accompanied us north till Cairns. From Bundaberg we
continued to Moore Park Beach to have a break. When we reached the Bruce
Highway again at Gin Gin we saw aur first kangaroo. A victim of the trafic on
the Highway. It was the first out of some ten that we saw during our trip
killed by the traffic. Various birds of prey took advantage of the free
lunches.
In Rockhampton we
resided at Athelstane House
B&B, a wooden house of the 19th century. Our hosts Marion and Stanley
served us a welcome tea and showed us their amazing home while lots of Rainbow
Lorikeets played in the garden.
Rockhapton offered us quite a
few things to do. We decided to start with a visit on Mount Archer. While we
drove along the switchback we saw two kangaroos – alive. They remained the
only two that we met in the wild..
From Mount Archer we continued to Emu Park. There is a beach, a little
museum and – a few kilometers away – a crocodile farm. We took a guided
tour at the crocodile farm and learned about salt water and fresh water
crocodiles – and how to avoid to get devoured by the salties. In the museum
we saw a lot of things that would otherwise be considered as garbage – but we
also received a hands on technical tour through 100 years of railway
technology. We took a self guided walk along the beach – one of the
attractions a singing ship to the honour of James Cook. But frankly: what
impressed us most was the beauty of the scenery.
Rockhampton is known as the Beef Capital of Australia – and since neither Edith nor me are vegetarians we decided to take advantage of this. The Bush Inn Bar and Grill in the Criterion Hotel is where you get a good steak at a very reasonable price.
Airlie Beach is 500km
north of Rockhampton ... sugar cane fields, sugar cane fields and sugar cane
fields followed by sugar cane fields. Given that you are not allowed to drive
faster than 100km/h it requires quite some time on the road.
Nevertheless we
decided to take a detour via the Eungella National Park, a rain forest area
where you can see platypus – if the platypus decide to show-up.
Our accommodation in Airlie Beach was another stylish place and – just to mention – another breakfast you can dream of: Whitsunday Moorings B&B. 40m above the beach with a gorgeous view over the sea. We went out for dinner in the city. Airlie Beach is a tourist destination with a focus on backpackers. We ended up in a big open air place "Beaches Backpackers" that advertised live music. The food was OK. The music was by Matt Angell – solo. This guy knows how to play the guitar how to sing. Beside his own songs he played excellent covers from Clapton to Young as well as some blues classics.
The next
day we started one of the most spectacular excursions of our stay to Whitsunday
Island and Hayman Island with Whitehaven Express. But when the
boat was supposed to depart the captain call a repairman since the boat refused
to move. 30min later it was fixed and we could start.
The tour had three stops: a
short bush walk to Hill Inlet with a great view, Whitehaven Beach with
incredibly fine sand (and a barbecue arranged by the boat crew) and snorkeling
or glass bottom boating in Mantaray Bay. Unfortunately the sea was pretty rough
that day. So the water was a bit turbid. Nevertheless one could see impressive
corals and quite some fishes.
Back from Mantaray
Bay the sea was really rough and caused some seasickness for some. Beside the
rough sea it was our captain who got the boat jumping over the sea: full speed
ahead was obviously the only acceptable way to move once he left the coast.
Mission Beach was a one night stop on our way to Cairns.
Hundreds of kilometers of sugar cane fields again.
We decided to have a break
in Townsville to visit the aquarium there. It was sort of an opportunity to see
some of the things that we could not see at Manatray Bay – and to learn and
better understand the ecological issues with coral bleaching due to the climate
change or other influences.
We arrived at the Hibiscus Lodge – another wonderful
place in the eveining. Our hosts Adrienne and Bob showed us our room ("the
honeymoon suite") and we kind of immediately walked out to find some food. The
first restaurant (Blarney's By The Beach) we found had a Caribean flair:
removable walls, next to a djungle garden, mild temperatures, a mosquito once
and a while ... We noticed we had really arrived in the tropics.
Taking advantage of the fact that we had only 150km to go to Cairns we
chose to drive through Atherton Tablelands. Our first stop was a few Kilometers
west of Palmerston near North Johnstone River. A nice trail leads down towards
the river through a dense rain forest.
We continued to Millaa Millaa
and followed the Waterfall Circuit with Zillie Falls, Ellinjaa Falls and the
Millaa Millaa Falls. Millaa Millaa Falls is the most spectacular and popular
one. From Millaa Millaa we continued via Malanda for lunch and to look out for
some tree kangaroos – without success. We went on via Mareeba to Kuranda.
Kuranda seems to be a daytime-only village mainly consiting of a few parks, shops and restaurants. When we arrived at 17:00 it was sort of closed. We arrived there from Tablelands by car. The usual way to go there is from Cairns: either by the famous Kuranda Railway & Scenic Train or by the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. The last train back to Cairns departs from Kuranda at 15:30 and the Skyrail operates till 17:15. And for either way: the journey is the reward. We took a short walk through the village and along the nice Barron River and went on to Cairns.
We left Kuranda and took the winding road down to Cairns. Our accomodation was located in the North of Cairns so we didn't need to go through the City. A really steep drive lead us up to Kookas B&B where our hostess Marlies showed us our room and severed us a welcome drink. Marlies is from Switzerland and many of her guests are German, Austrian or Swiss. We then took a walk to probably the only restaurant in walking distance: "The Naked Nut Restaurant" which turned out to be a nice place with excellent food.
For the
other day we made – with some advice from Marlies – the following plan:
Kuranda Railway to Kuranda, back using Skyrail over the rain forest and a visit
at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural
Park.
We entered
the train in Freshwater Station. The slow travel to Kuranda was great
experience underpinned by information about the architectural and historical
highlights of this remarkable train.
After another walk through Kuranda and along the Barron River we entered the Skyrail to fly back to Cairns over the rainforest. To see the rainforest from above is also a great experience.
Right next to the
valley station of the Skyrail the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park is located.
It is an exhibition of Aboriginal culture and art accomponied by artistic
performances. The ~8 artists are professional entertainers. All over the day
they provide shows (Dance Theatre, Creation Theatre, and History Theatre),
demonstrations (Didgeridoo Demonstration and Bush Foods & Medicine
Demonstration) and exercises (Spear & Boomerang Throwing). And they are not
shy to use modern technology to entertain and educate their audience.
On our
last day in Cairns (Jul 12th) we went another 100km north to visit the Daintree and Cape Tribulation National
Parks. Daintree NP claims to be the oldest tropical rain forest on earth
– meaning many species in the park exists for millions of years with little
change of their primitive characteristics. We drove along the north Cairns
beaches via Mossman up to the ferry across Daintree River. We stopped at
Alexandra Lookout with a spectecular view over the Daintree River estuary to
the Coral Sea.
We had our first rain in the rain forest (normally it rains in summer) and
went to the Daintree Discovery
Center. This is definitely the place to go if one wants to get a close and
concrete introduction to the rain forest. Excellent educational material and an
audio giude provide the information. 
Sort of center
of the Center is the Canopy Tower: it is 23m high with 5 viewing platforms and
guides through the different levels of the rain forest.
From the Daintree Discovery Center we continued north through the rain forest to cape tribulation. It provides nice views on the beach and the rain forest.
On our way back we stopped in
Port Douglas. It provides huge contrast when you just come out of the rain
forest. Packed with cars and people, huge restaurants, a cacophony of several
music sources when you walk along the streets. We chose a Greek restaurant for
dinner and found out it was rather a place to forget. We drove back to Kookas
B&B to pack our bags and clear the car.
The next morning after we said good bye to Marlies we went to the airport, returned our car and took our plain to Ayers Rock to visit the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Given the very violative environment and half a million tourist every year it is obviously a challenge to find a good balance between ecology and tourism. So all accommodation is removed from the Park to a place 15km north named Yulura with an Airport another 5km north. With respect to accommodation all facilities (hotels and campground) are operated by Voyages Hotels and resorts. So one should not expect competition – neither in quality nor in price.
Our accommodation was part of our
Umfulana Travel package (amazing: even they rely on a third party, DERTOUR, for the reservation). To get around
we bought a 3 day ticket from Uluru
Express – a small company with small buses – that allowed us to move
around, enter the park and get some information from the drivers.
The amazing thing about the park
is that – to protect the environment – you are only allowed to move on a
few walks:
All walks can easily be done in one
day.
The situation at Kata Tjuta is similar. Only two walks are provided here:
To climb or not to climb
– a question? The Aborigines ask you to respect their quest not to climb
Uluru – for religious reasons and for safety reasons(!). Nevertheless there
is a path and poles with chains to the 350m elevation. And legions walk up and
down screaming, sweating ... Even if it was not discouraged: there are other
places in the world where climbing seems much more attractive.
A bit more confusing appears the
request not to take pictures in certain places. In some places any commercial
photography is prohibited. What? This is a natural world heritage and people
are asked not to take pictures? Sounded strange to me – even if I'm inclined
to accept some religious background. Sometimes religious caveats perfectly
match with business interests. Honi soit qui mal y pense!
We arrived at Ayers Rock airport at
noon and managed to find an Uluru Express bus to go to the Park, have a short
walk and watch the sunset (the bus took us from the Base Walk to the Dune Walk
for sunset). Uluru when you see it the first time is really huge and the
lightshow at sunset is impressing.
When we came back to the resort
we did not find a place in the restaurant. So we decided to take away our food
(2 pizzas) and a bottle of wine and dine in our room (the nights are really
cold out there in the desert in winter).
Early rise the next day. 6:30 to
complement the sunset experience with a sunrise. Either I was not in the mood
or it was to cold ... the sunrise paled in comparison to the sunset. We
continued with the base walk. Pretty chilly in the shadow but as soon as we
were in the sun it improved. This walk provides a close-up view to Uluru and
the many facettes of its surface. We made the Base Walk including the Kuniya
Walk and appended the Liru walk to the Cultural Center before the bus picked us
up at noon.
In the afternoon we took the
bus to Kata Tjuta and did the Gorge Walk. As mentioned above this is rather a
short walk into a gorge between two huge Kata Tjuta rocks. Since we hadn't
planned an alternative – and the bus was ready to go there – we watched
another Uluru sunset. We were a bit faster this day and managed to find a place
in the restaurant (reservations only for groups).
The next day: no sunrise –
rather sleep longer in the cozy room and have breakfast. Breakfast was out when
we got up. We wanted to spend the morning at the Cultural Center and took a bus
around 9. They have a cafe at the Cultural Center. Given all the ecological
efforts it is amazing that they only use disposable dishes. We attended the
exhibition, bought a few souvenirs looked took a walk around the Center and
returned to the resort for another bus to Kata Tjuta.
When we arrived at Kata Tjuta we saw a
wild camel. A camel in the
Australien desert? The ancestors of these animals where imported to help
with the building of a transcontinental phone line. They where set free after
the work was completed and refused to die in the wild. 
The walk through the Valley
of the Winds was very beautiful. A varied landscape, a wonderful light and
great views. And since it was our last evening we ended our time in the park
with another Uluru sunset.
The next day after viewing a Kata Tjuta sunrise from the resort we had a low level breakfast at the top level hotel Sails in the Desert. Our flight back to Sydney was at noon. One day later we took our planes back home.
Copyright © 2007 - 2012 Klaus Birkenbihl