|
Previous | Next
Yallingup, Australia (150
miles south of Perth)
Monday morning, we were anxious
to leave the heat and humidity of Bali, Indonesia. We were
packed and on our way to the airport by 8:20 AM. As usual,
Tom and Pam were at the airport an hour ahead of us to do
their preflight routine. They were ready and waiting when
we arrived and looked like they were about to melt. There
is no air-conditioning on the airplane until we start engines
and, of course, there is no air-conditioning after we start
engines because it is not working. We are hopeful of a repair
in Perth, Australia.
The wheels were up at around
9:00 AM and we were off across the Indian Ocean for the land
down under, Australia. We had mixed emotions because we were
leaving the exotic behind and entering a land with a much
more familiar culture. The first leg of Monday's flight was
to Port Hedland, Australia (a distance of 726 miles). For
the first time in a month, I am completely caught up on my
journal and Ashley and I decided to have a game of gin rummy.
Until now, I have spent almost all of my flying time either
writing or editing snap shots.
The photos are very time consuming.
First, we transfer up to fifty or sixty photos per location
from the camera to an "Original" folder on the Mac. These
files are about 1.5 Megs each. Secondly, we select ten or
twenty of them and copy those to the "Web Snap Shot" folder.
Next, I enhance the lighting and contrast and crop as needed.
Then, I add a caption and resize the photos to 9" x 6" (about
150 K) so that they can be transmitted to the web site. The
transmission takes as much as 3 minutes per photo depending
on the Internet connect which varies from 9600 (believe it)
to broad band.
As we approached the shoreline
of Australia, we spotted a large freighter leaving port and
heading out to sea. She was riding very low in the water and
was obviously fully loaded. Four tugboats were making sure
she stayed in the middle of the channel and, upon closer look,
you could see why. Her screws were leaving a trail of red
mud in her wake as they scraped their way to deeper water.
A few minutes later, we were
over land and we discovered what cargo the freighter was hauling.
The scene below looked as though we had taken a wrong turn
and were about to land on Mars. Everything below us on the
flat terrain was red, covered with Iron Oxide. The primary
industry in Port Hedland, Australia is mining iron ore.
After landing and taxiing to
a stop, I decided to be helpful and, for the first time on
the trip I got up and opened the cabin door. As soon as it
was open, Tom yelled, "Don't open the door!" I pulled the
door shut as fast as I could, hoping to avoid the expected
spray of bullets from the oncoming squad of Australian terrorists.
Actually, the problem wasn't terrorists at all, but a regulation
requiring that we fumigate the interior of the airplane before
opening the door.
After satisfying the above-mentioned
requirements, Tom opened the door and we stepped out to a
climate not unlike Arizona in July. The temperate had to be
at least 100o Fahrenheit and very dry. The difference was
the flies. We were soon to learn that Australia has lots of
flies. Waving flies off of your nose is called the Australian
salute.
Do you remember the picture of
Ashley in Cambodia "Cutting a Deal"? She was in the process
of buying a musical instrument. Well, it seems that the sound
box on the instrument was covered with python skin. The Aussies
aren't keen about tourists bringing Cambodian python skin
into the their country. One of our welcoming party then produced
a knife that Crocodile Dundee would have been proud to have
carried and advised that we could either remove the skin or
they would dispose of the whole thing for us. Reluctantly,
we removed the skin. Actually, everyone was very nice and
we had a great visit.
Soon we were on our way south
toward Perth (another 706 miles). After a smooth flight over
barren land, we landed at about 4:00 PM. This time I let Tom
open the door and we stepped out to a beautiful sunny day
in Perth with a temperature in the high 70's. We were greeted
by our handler, Ian, who soon had us loaded (our luggage that
is) and we were on our way to the Hyatt-Perth.
Perth is a beautiful clean city.
It also happens to be the most isolated metropolis in the
world. It is almost 2,000 miles to the nearest city of any
size. This isolation has certainly helped shape the character
of the people. Although Perth has almost 1.5 million inhabitants,
it seemed to us to have a definite small town feeling. It
was much like being in Lubbock, Texas with the same friendly
self-reliant folks except that this city is on the Swan River
and just a few miles from the Indian Ocean. The Hyatt is an
excellent hotel with a good restaurant and comfortable rooms
but most of all; it had an Ethernet connection for my Mac
(heavenly).
Our guide in Perth was Wanda
Woodhouse, a neat lady that reminded me of Bucky O'Donnell.
She was definitely a Democrat or whatever Australians call
them (Labor Party I think). She was also very likely to speak
her mind which is very unusual in a guide since they are normally
so diplomatic they would never give an opinion on politics.
She said the Australians were scared to death when we elected
George W. Bush as president and that they couldn't believe
that the greatest democracy in history couldn't count the
votes. We enjoyed her company although the tour planned by
the "A & K" Melbourne office was less than optimal.
On Tuesday, Wanda and our driver,
Peter, took us on a tour of Perth and then down the Swan River
to the port town of Freemantle. If you recall, Freemantle
hosted the America's Cup sailing race in 1987. We had a nice
lunch looking out at the river and then rode the ferry back
to Perth. The ferry ride was a real "yawner".
Wednesday was golf day. Peter
picked us up at 7:30 AM for the ride to the Joondalup Golf
Club. Joondalup is about a 30-minute drive north from Perth.
One of the reasons I am a few days late in writing this entry
is that I have been avoiding the painful memories of this
match for as long as possible. To say that Tom won would be
a gross understatement. I won the first hole and that was
it. Tom won twelve of the remaining seventeen and we pushed
the other five. This was the result of some superb play by
Tom and some ghastly play by Pat. I lost a record eleven golf
balls, the most of my entire life, and there were no water
holes on the course. It is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design
with very narrow fairways and narrow rough areas. It is a
beautiful layout but has lots of blind shots to the greens.
We saw a family of kangaroos on the second hole but, by the
time I was ready with the camera, they were gone. I'm now
down $10.
Thursday morning we were packed
and on our way to the airport at 8:00 AM. The flight to Busselton
was less than an hour and we were able to go VFR, which means
that we could select our own route and fly at a low altitude.
We flew just off the coast at about 2,000 feet and had a great
view. The Busselton airport was quite a change from what we
had experienced previously. It is out in the countryside and
surrounded by cattle ranches. When we arrived, there was no
one at the airport. The ramp in front of the terminal building
was quite small so Tom decided to park in the grass. That's
when we got stuck in the sand. There was a moment of high
anxiety but our mighty Pratt & Whitney PT6A-41 engines, each
with 850 shaft horsepower, saved the day. With a burst of
full power, we leaped forward and out of trouble.
By the time we had unloaded our
luggage, our rental car arrived. It was the first time we
had rented a car and been on our own since leaving St. John's,
Newfoundland. The rental agent told us that when we returned
the car to lock the keys in the boot since no one would be
there. It felt great to be behind the wheel again even though
it was on the wrong side. The drive to Yallingup and the Cape
Lodge was about 40 minutes. This is the Margaret River wine
region and there are vineyards everywhere. As we drove along,
the scenery at times reminded us of Napa Valley and, at other
times, the hill country of Texas. At all times, it was beautiful
and quite cool with a temperature around 60o Fahrenheit.
On Thursday afternoon, we visited
several vineyards, enjoyed some excellent wines, and generally
had a relaxing time. Friday morning, we were lazy and decided
to hang out while Tom and Pam took the car and did some sightseeing
and lunch. Later, we took the car and had dinner at a lovely
little restaurant called Flutes where we were well taken care
of by Elizabeth and Kate.
Tomorrow, we fly over 1,800 miles
to Cairns, Australia by way of Alice Springs. We will be back
in the tropics.
Till next time,
Pat
Previous | Next
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)