Daintree Creatures

So I have now met a few creatures that are a little more "Australian" than a rat.  We saw these guys on our hike through Daintree Rainforest, which was quite the hot and steamy rainforest!

GOANA
(He visited us at lunch.)

BEARDED LIZARD
(Sorry, I can't remember what type he is.)

DAINTREE RAINFOREST AND THE COAST

Sydney

We are already about to head out from Sydney. It's hard to believe the first leg of the trip is over. Yesterday we walked from Bondi Beach to Clovelly. It was gorgeous. I guess there is a very popular reality show here based on lifeguards on Bondi Beach. The sand on the beach was some of the finest I have seen, and the water was made up of the most beautiful hues of green and blue. The waves were also amazing. We didn't swim, but the water was warm and wading was quite pleasant - though one of us did take a spill into the surf when a voracious rogue wave barreled in unexpectedly. That was on Tararama Beach - or something like it anyway. It was closed for dangerous conditions, which seemed to be waves that were way over our heads. No big mishaps to report yet. The sun seems quite strong, and my winter sun-deprived Alaskan skin is now a pretty shade of pink. We sailed through the harbor and saw a few 50 million dollar homes we'd like to buy - and of course viewed the opera house and the harbour bridge - and a few nude beaches! We've walked and walked and walked around the city. We climbed a Harbour Bridge pylon for a great view of the city, visited the open air markets, and the botanical gardens. The gardens were lush and green, with lots of fun birds (and screeching white cockatoos) flying around noisily. The umbrella cheese tree was my favorite. It was hard for me to believe that Australia is heading into fall. It feels like spring or early summer to me. The food has been nothing short of stellar. Last night I had the best sushi I've ever eaten - and the night before that the best seared tuna I've ever had. Add that to some absolutely divine dark chocolate mousse cake (obviously I can't be a food writer because the only way I can think to describe it is "indescribable,") and I can easily report that I have one satisfied belly! Oh, and I've been anxiously awaiting my chances to see Australian wildlife, so I'm afraid that I rather pathetically must report that my first (and only, other than the birds) creature was a rat! Here's a picture from our walk yesterday. I think it is from Bronte Beach. I like the "ghost" surfers in it.

BRONTE BEACH
(Coastal Walk Between Bondi Beach and Coogee Beach)

We Out!

The cab is here...Australia here we come!!

The Paradox of the Dumbest Smart Woman

So I got in the shower this morning, and within about five to seven minutes I was completely out of hot water.  I thought perhaps Mr. Carport Furby had gotten into the other shower and stolen all my hot water.  It seemed odd because usually the water gets hotter at that point for some reason.

Anyway, I hurried to get out of the cold water.  As soon as I shut the water off, I noticed that it still sounded like water was gushing out somewhere.  I puzzled over it for a couple minutes, wondering if per chance the sounds from Mr. Carport Furby's shower were carrying through the exhaust fans strangely or if maybe a pipe burst in the wall or something.  Yes that made sense, if the hot water pipe broke, then it would sound like a waterfall in the walls and I would have run out of hot water really fast.

And then I stepped out of the shower, only to notice that the noise was even louder.  I carefully stepped past the bathtub to see that I had somehow managed to turn on the hot water faucet in the sink at full blast - and then left it running for my whole shower, until there was no hot water left.  Yes, the mysteries of my brilliant mind are always fun to watch as they unfold.

Iditarod!

We went to the start of the Iditarod in Anchorage this past weekend. I had a blast; there was so much energy in the air. It was really cool to see all the dog teams and listen to them announce each team. It was pretty warm out - upper 20's, I think. And there was a pleasant kind of fog hanging in the air. I was really surprised by the dogs. For some reason I had this idea of sled dog teams as big, burly, furry huskies, but they are actually a much more motley looking crew. To me, they all looked like they could be mutts of various breeds, but I hear that they are actually "Alaskan Huskies," meaning that they are bred to be lean with good endurance and strength. They all seemed so exhuberant; there was barely a moment without excited yips in the air. We were supposed to meet some friends for lunch, but it didn't happen because they came into the start from the south side, and we came in on the north side. And unfortunately we weren't able to get across the road. We kept thinking that if we went far enough down, we could cross, but there were just too many people and all the intersections were blocked. We had fun laughing about it anyway - it felt like we were a couple in a novel, kept apart by circumstance, so close, yet so far away. After we gave up on meeting up, we continued to walk around. We checked out the Fur Rondy (annual winter festival in Anchorage) fur auction, snow sculptures, and the model train exhibit. All in all, an excellent winter excursion.

Timing

And as an aside, I can't get seem to get my profile in the right time zone.  And I am now going to start rocking labels! Woohoo!

Baby I'm Back

So I didn't post at all in the year 2012.  Who knows why?  But I'm getting ready to go to Australia, so it's time to resurrect old Carport Furby.  There may be fun stories to share - kangaroos to hop with and all that...so here goes!