AUSTRALIA TRIP CONTINUES .........FROM BAROSA VALLEY ONWARD

This is Part TWO of the Australia travels......To see photos from the first half of this trip, go back and click on the link for February.......That's when this journey began.

It is Wednesday, March 9th, and We are at THE LOUISE hotel in The Barossa Valley in South Australia,  just North of Adelaide.
We visited two of the most prominent wineries down here, although there are many great producers.
They call Tasting Rooms here the "Cellar Door" , which is pretty charming.  Today we visited Peter
Lehmann Winery and had a formal tasting with 4 whites, four reds and bread and cheese. The wines were wonderful and quite a range in style and price. We stopped for coffee at a wine country institution... Maggie Beer started out making sandwiches and preserves and is now a famous purveyor of all sorts of food related items. She was in the shop promoting her latest cookbook as we arrived.   Lunch was at The Vintners restaurant and was yummy! Our afternoon stop was the famous Penfolds winery.... they are famous for their fine reds... "Grange" at the top. We had a class on blending our own wines using 3 varietals. It was like Chemistry class.... Photos of this day are in the previous section of the blog ( The Feb. Link).....
Tomorrow morning we will make a 2 hour drive to another wine region south of Adelaide called McLaren Vale. The climate here is very Mediterranean, and perfect for growing grapes. It is Early Fall here, but they are still getting some very hot dry days. Yesterday afternoon it was about 102 degrees F. Beastly..... But today is cloudy and much cooler. Like 85 or so.

It is now Thursday afternoon and we did our McLaren Vale Tour today. It's located about an hour South of Adelaide, and is a lovely region with rolling hills and the ocean to the West. Those sea breezes provide a cooler climate for the rieslings and pinot noir varietals. We visited Oliver's Taranga
Which is a small Family winery. Loved the M53 2010 Shiraz! Next was D'Arenberg, then lunch at
Coriole, which had beautiful flower gardens and an outdoor restaurant. Fresh salads from their gardens and cheeses from their sheep. Last stop was a place called Samuels Gorge for a quick taste but we were tired by then.

More fruit than we've ever seen on the vine. This is ready to pick! and delicious stuff! This vineyard is at the Oliver's Taranga winery, our first stop of the morning in McLaren Vale.

11 am among those vines......

Oliver's Taranga is a 6th generation family winery, started in the mid 1800s. This is their original home, updated.

In a completely different style, the "Cellar Door" tasting room at d'Arenberg Winery

The gardens at Coriole Family estate and winery. This one is similar in Philosophy to Preston, where Dan works.
They are self sustaining and grow or raise  everything they sell in the shop and restaurant. They also host weddings on the lovely patio.

Looking up the hill from Coriole's cellar door

Ray's beautiful shot of the vineyards with farmland in the distance. They don't grow a lot of crops here, but rather raise cattle and sheep.

Adelaide was our destination on Thursday evening.  We Liked this town of about 1.2 Million residents. The downtown goes all the way to a beach neighborhood and all is accessible by trams.  Dinner at a fun place called Press.....

Adelaide downtown with the old Parliament building in the foreground.

Friday morning we departed Adelaide and flew way up North East to the town of CAIRNS.....It is the closest access to the famous tropical DAINTREE RAINFOREST.  Our hotel there is the SILKY OAKS LODGE, and it is set right in a rainforest world with a spring fed river, the Mossman, flowing by outside our cabin. The nighttime critter sounds are amazing, and the restaurant is opener overlooking the river valley. A very special spot.

The balcony outside our bedroom looking into the rainforest. Just outside is the Mossman River......

The cabins of the Silky Oaks are just barely visible through the forest.... this is seen from the Mossman River.

A Boat ride on the Daintree River on Saturday morning

Rays shot of the rainforest that falls right into the river. We spotted a small crocodile along the bank.

Cyn along the rainforest boardwalk. This is a happy solution to protect the floor of the rainforest from our feet, and to keep us from the critters that bite. We walked for an hour with our naturalist guide, Rick Hall, who told us all about
the living flora and fauna.... it turned out to be a beautiful day and we did not need the "brellies".... It had rained hard most of the night before.

A very tall fern tree.

Australian Green Ants..... if you squeeze the green sac, you get medicine.....

Before lunch, we took a walk along the beach. The rainforest runs right up to the shore, and the water is heavenly warm!

Our lunch place was a cafe / zoo and this guy oversaw the lunch crowd.

His buddy.... gorgeous colors!

Rick, our guide, put his hand behind the web to show the size of this spider......

This was fun.... they had a collection of wallabies and small Kangaroos in captivity there. We went inside the "paddock" and fed them slices of sweet potato. they came right up and took it from our hands.

Ray and the wallabies .

This flower is called a "Backscratcher" because of it's spines. 

Our last stop on Saturday afternoon was this lookout point.... We see the rainforest, the sea, and the mouth of the Daintree River. 

Sunday was our day to check out of the Silky Oaks Lodge and begin our journey to the town of Cairns. Enrollee to Cairns, we stopped and took a delightful hour to take the "Skylift ride" on a big cable so we could look over the top of the rainforest and eventually arrive in the outskirts of Cairns. This is the view of from the ride, looking out over Cairns and the Coral Sea.

We flew Sunday afternoon from the Cairns airport in a tiny Cessna plane ( just us and the pilot) to the island resort in the great Barrier Reef at a place in the North Reef called LIZARD ISLAND...... THIS IS THE BEACH IN FRONT OF THE MAIN LODGE.

Here is the resort from the water. The only things on this small island are the resort and a marine research station.

Snorkeling at Eagle's Island with our guide, Cassie. The water, the coral and the fish were a brilliant combination for a delightful morning. They gave us full length black suits to wear to protect us from the sun. Very helpful.

We saw a turtle similar to this one. Our guy was a green turtle and he was nibbling on small sea grasses.

We saw many beautiful fish.... all sizes and colors. this guy is a gorgeous specimen!

Inside the Concert Hall at the Sydney opera house. SYDNEY is the last stop on our 3 week journey in This great country.
We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, the 16th March. They were setting up the stage for a "Pet Sounds" concert by Brian Wilson of the Beachboys.

A city pose with the Sydney Opera House and the bridge behind us.

The 2 shells on the right are the Exterior of the opera house. There is an opera theater, a concert Hall...and 3 other smaller theaters in this complex. The shell to the left is the exterior of a restaurant. What a good idea!

Here's a beautiful shot of the Opera House and Bridge.

This shot gives perspective on the grandeur of the Sydney Harbor. We had a few great meals here . One at Tetsuya's,
a famous Japanese seafood restaurant, and a dinner at EST right on George street, the Main drag. Also a very fun Chinese lunch at Orchid Dumpling near our Hotel, the Park Hyatt.

The day we toured the Opera House we had lunch at this wonderful Italian place in the Paddington neighborhood. The art is from the owner's personal collection.

The building in front of the bridge is the hotel we were in... The PARK HYATT.  It was a great location.

Manly Beach on Saturday afternoon. A beautiful thing...... We walked the shore and along the coast.

One of Sydney's harbor areas. We went by on our fast ferry to Manly.

Another opera house shot from our little balcony.

We finished our trip on Saturday night with a stroll around the harbor area and up to a historic neighborhood called "The Rocks".  Dinner was at " Fish at the Rocks", a much more casual place

with lively vibe and good food. 

Sunday morning  at 11 am we departed Sydney and flew for 12 hours over the date line. So we arrived in LA at 6am the same morning. By the time we get to JFK, it will be Sunday evening. A very long day, but Australia is worth the journey. We want to thank our travel agent, Leah Reilley at Artisans of Leisure in NYC for finding us great things to do and wonderful places to stay.....

This is your BONUS photo and belongs in the Melbourne section ( sorry)....... These little guys are the "Fairy Penguins"
on the beach at Philip's Island, off the coast of Melbourne. Every evening after dusk, groups of them return from their feeding expedition in the sea and make their way across the beach to their nests in the sand dunes. As usual, this event has become a tourist attraction. Large groups of people buy tickets to watch their little parade. But since it happens at night, it is very magical, as we can't make noise or take any photos. I borrowed this photo from the web.
SO GO BACK TO THE FEBRUARY LINK AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG AND VIEW THE PHOTOS FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE TRIP.  I had to divide it up between 2 entries, and can't reverse the order at this point. But YOU will figure it out!

Journey DOWN UNDER...... FIRST HALF OF THE TRIP...... March 2016

WELCOME DOWN UNDER, MATES!! G'DAY!

The iconic Sydney Cityscape....... We're saving Sydney for last....... .

SUNDAY, Feb 28th ....... Arrival in Melbourne

Departure on Friday evening, February 26th from JFK. We stopped at LAX to board a huge Delta Airbus to take us and 290 others on a 14 hour flight to Sydney. We groggily navigated immigration, and took another short flight to Melbourne, where our exploration of this massive country begins.

We checked into the PARK HYATT HOTEL and grabbed lunch at a Thai Fusion Place in town. The Red Spice Road..... delicious! Then walked back and passed this wonderful Bakery.

The Hoptoun French Bakery on Collins Street ..... Gorgeous. they were lined up to get in.

Just across from our Hotel is the largest church in town.... and there are many! This is St Patricks Cathedral.

 Later on Sunday we set off for a walk through Treasury Park and past Federation Square to cross the Yarra River and meander the 

SOUTH BANK DISTRICT, full of music, shopping and bars and dining. We passed the Art Center 

Melbourne with a huge state of the art theater on our way back to the hotel. Melbourne is the capitol of the state of Victoria, and our hotel is surrounded by government buildings and offices.

Sunday evening walk to Southbank......... Passed this structure at Federation Square. Awkward to photograph.

The main bridge from the downtown area to Southbank, crossing the Yarra River.

Melbourne Skyline

Let's see.... we are learning that Australia is the world's 6th largest country and it's largest Island.

It is the only continent that is also a country, and it is the only nation that began as a prison.

Australia is the home of the largest living thing on the planet, the Great Barrier Reef, and of the largest monolith, Ayers Rock. It has more things that can kill you than anyplace else on earth: snakes, lizards, spiders, jellyfish, sharks and, oh yes, crocodiles. It is a place where seashells will not only sting you , but actually sometimes GO for you. Apparently Portuguese Man of Wars are not limited to the waters around Portugal........  and the climate is exceeding inhospitable...... very hot and dry. Most of the good topsoil here has dried up and blown away. The vast stretches of empty land outside of the major coastal cities is mostly not used for farming, except a few fertile valleys which are wine regions. We're going there. Hopefully they don't have jellyfish or crocodiles. Just lots of vineyards.

The Melbourne Central Train Station. This was meant to be built in Mumbai India, but at the time it was planned, Melbourne was among the richest cities in the world ( due to a massive Gold Rush here). So this impressive and elegant station was built here. Around 1860. It is located just across the street from Federation Square. WE walked past both on Sunday evening on our way to Southbank and the river.

Another Shot of the same Train Station, from the back. Beautiful Tower here......

Monday, FEB 29th afternoon driving tour of the city with our driver, Simon

Many contrasting architectural styles because the city does not allow old historic buildings to be torn down in order to make way for new structures. Heres a fine example.

 WE drove through the near suburb of Fitzroy. A Very funky and artsy area loaded with small shops and bars. This is one of the more famous street art works by a guy names Smug Sofles.... HE is a "Bogan Man", meaning a caricature of al things Aussie   right down to the tattoos and the sloppy t-shirt  f ....

Another Fitzroy beauty

Our final stop on Monday tour was St Kilda beach on the south side of town. See the windsails above the water. Very buff guys were sailing against a heavy wind. WE had a wonderful lunch at Cumulus prior to the tour and dinner that night was at a wonderful Italian place called Ceccio..

Another city shot showing the trams. They were plentiful and free to all in the center of town.

Tuesday, March 1st at noon time we met our guide, Jeff, who took us for a day trip to Phillips Island for a look at Koala bears, Wallabys and little penguins and other .Coastal Australian Wildlife and the natural beauty of this Island just beyond Melbourne.

These rocky islands just off the West Coast of Philips Island are called The Nobbies and they are indeed a windswept pile of rock with a seal colony of admirable size

Kim, our guide for the afternoon took this shot at the Nobbies

We bought wines at Oakridge, Yarra Yering and Dominique Portet  in the  Beautiful Wine Country of the Yarra Valley on WEDNESDAY , March 2nd

. The
Dinner Wednesday Night at VUE DU MONDE on the 55th floor of a Melbourne High Rise.

We had a 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings

amazing......This was the Duck.

Night scene from the restaurant

MONDAY, March 3rd we flew to the middle of the country, deep in the Outback to see a couple of remarkable geological ..     Phenomenon: Uluru ( Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta. These enormous rocky outcroppings were formed over millions of years and over 500 million years ago. Difficult to comprehend. Here we are with Kata Tjuta in the background. This journey was WAY out of our way but worth it to help us comprehend just how much of Australia is empty rock and soil and desert. We saw SO much of that from the plane.     phenomenon: 

We began at Sunrise on Tuesday Morning and then took a 1 hour hike through the Walpa Gorge of Kata Tjuta....... "Kata Tjuta translates to "many heads" 

Uluru, or Ayers Rock at Sunset. This massive granite monolith is world Famous and emerged from beneath the earths surface many millions of years ago. 

Did we mention the bush flies at Uluru? These nets came in very handy and we were not the only tourists wearing them. Rays head and torso was just swarming with them at certain times.

A closeup of Uluru as we walked around the base 

On Saturday, March 5th, we journeyed to the State of South Australia to spend 3 nights at The "Southern Ocean Lodge" on .KANGAROO ISLAND, off the coast of Adelaide..

This and the photo above were taken as we did the Cliff walk adjacent to the Lodge. We saw a pod of dolphins in the water below us and a variety of birds

Saturday evening before dinner they took us for an outing called Kangaroos and Canapés ( known affectionately as Roos     . .....and Booze

Sunday morning was a 3 hour tour of the Southwest windswept corner of the Island. A farmer planted a roe of Eucalyptus    trees and the koalas came  They live on Eucalyptus leaves

  Just beyond the lighthouse is a mass of rocks which are home to a seal colony

A lovely boardwalk allows access to these huge granite rocks known as the Remarkable rocks

Ray posing in front of one massive stone that has seen millions of years of erosion

The Remarkable Rocks seen from a distance  

A sample of Aboriginal art

Beautiful colors and distinctive style

   ..... This is a view of the outback from the plane as we flew from Uluru to Adelaide to get to Kangaroo Island. It was  so important to me at least, to see how massive and empty this country is.... 24 Million inhabitants and 95 % of them live in the cities and towns along the coast..... The middle of the country is so dry and barren it is uninhabitable .......o     .

Before we left Kangaroo Island, Ray went to the beach one more time to see a colony of Sea Lions. 

On Tuesday morning , March 8th, we flew to Adelaide and then drove an hour North to the Barossa Valley for more wine country. Our Hotel is the Louise and dinner is at an excellent wine country restaurant called Appelation 

Starting at Peter Lehman and moving on to Lunch at "the VINTNERS", followed by a session with a wine tasting staffer at Penfolds we had our own personal wine blending experience. We set off on Wednesday at 10:30 the serious wine tasting began in earnest.....

Here we are at Penfolds trying to look sober with our wines that we bottled ourselves!