stevehulford.com

Spring in March

2010-03-08T20:29:01Z

This is a scene in High Park on March 7th

The incredible spiderman

2010-03-08T20:28:37Z

Sent from my iPhone

Patio weather on march 8th

2010-03-08T12:26:56Z

We had spring like conditions in Toronto on March 8th. I was able to grab a lunch outside on a patio with some fine Sashimi. The temperature hit over 12 degrees today with no cloud in the sky.

Australia - Part 11

2010-03-07T13:12:59Z

Greetings from Manly Beach,

Today we arrived at our final destination before boarding the QM2 tomorrow afternoon. We heard she was due to pass Sydney Heads at 5:30 PM so rushed up there for a photo op but found that half of Sydney had the same idea so all we saw was the rear end heading down the channel. Oh well, we shall be seeing plenty of her soon.

Hope to be able to send emails from the ship but will also do in our land ports so plenty of opportunities to come - stay tuned.

Barbra and David

Australia - Part 10

2010-03-06T09:52:05Z

Saturday March 6, 2010

Greetings from The Blue Mountains,

On Thursday we left Canberra and drove about 325 Km up into the Blue Mountains, situated about an hour's drive west of Sydney. We choose the tourist route instead of taking the motorway into Sydney and then heading west, passing through a few small towns, making the journey a little more interesting but perhaps a little longer. The road was fairly good, winding its way through rolling farmland before climbing into the higher elevations. The Blue mountains are really a huge escarpment, similar to their namesake in Ontario but agreat deal bigger. Our destination was the town of Katoomba at an elevation a little over 1000 m and perhaps the largest town in this area. We were staying in an "apartment" but it turned out to be a period home that had been converted into 3 apartments (see pic). Not only did it appear old from the outside but we think the furnishings inside dated from the same period complete with the old-style toilet with a chain to pull, something not seen since the old days back home. However, it did have central heating and a TV and became quite comfortable once we settled in.

The views from some of the many scenic outlooks were simply spectacular, particularly the view of the "3 Sisters" (3 prominent peaks) and the views over the valley. On Friday in rained most of the day and we were only able to make limited use of the many hiking trails in the area, however, today was again sunny so we made an early start and got to see even more spectacular views with the mist still in the valleys (see pics). We travelled down into the valley about 300 m below on a railway that is reputed to be the steepest in the world that descends at an incline of 52 degrees. This was originally built in the 1870s as a way of hauling coal from mines situated below. Once in the valley we were able to walk on a 2.5 Km boadwalk within the rainforest before ascending by cable car. We then took another cable car across from one peak to another, providing more spectacular views (see pics).

Tomorrow (Sunday) is our last full day in Aus and we will be driving back to Sydney where we will have lunch with some Aussie friends before spending the night in Manly, close to the famous beach. At this time it is not clear when the next update will occur so stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 9

2010-03-06T09:31:35Z

Wednesday March 3, 2010

Greetings from Canberra,

Yesterday we arrived back in Hobart after a crueling 4 1/2 hour drive from Strahan. This drive took us through the mountains and consisted of an endless winding series of narrow roads making conditions, particularly for the passenger, very uncomfortable. However, we arrived about 2:30 in the afternoon with cloudless skies and temps back in the mid 20s - very pleasant! After unloading the car we immediately set out to walk into town to relief some of the tension of the drive, a walk of about 20 mins. Hobart has a population of about 160,000 with a beautiful downtown core centred around its harbour. It has a thriving fishing industry but also accomodates pleasure craft of all types and the odd cruise ship (see pics). Dotted around the harbour are restaurants and bars and a large number of establishments serving fish and chips - an Aussie specialty, plus many other varieties of sea food.

Today we left Hobart and flew to Canberra, the nation's capital, a flight time of about 1 1/4 hours. Canberra is situated between Sydney and Melbourne and was first established as the capital city in 1913. It is actually Australia's smallest Territory known as the ACT or Australian Capital Territory and has a population of about 350,000. We found it to be an extremely well organized and laid out city with wide roads but absolutely no sign of any commercial enterprise. We found this very strange, particularly since we were looking for a supermarket. Even the so called City Centre had little resemblance of such, except a few banks. I'm sure that once one learns where things are this concept is pretty good but for a visitor we found it very difficult. In our opinion we felt the city lacked the sort of heart beat found in Melbourne and Sydney and most other major cities. Before returning to our Motel we drove around Capital Hill visiting both the old and new Parliament Houses (see pics).

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to our friends Gordon and Wendy Haywood and set off to drive the 313 Km to the Blue Mountains; a journey we expect will take us about 5 hours. We will be staying in the small town of Katoomba for 3 days where we plan to explore the area and take a few hikes - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 8

2010-03-06T09:18:14Z

March 1, 2010

Greetings from Strahan, Western Tasmania,

Yesterday we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge, just outside the Cradle Mountain National Park following about a 3 hour drive from Launceston. With the temperature down to about 8 C upon arrival we believed we must be at a high altitude. In addition, with a strong wind blowing it seemed that we were back in Canada. One of our goals was to take a drive into the park and take the 2 hour walk around Dove Lake, situated at the foot of Cradle Mountain with an altitude of 1545 m, however, the wind and driving rain quickly changed our minds (see pics). We did find another walk a little more protected so managed about 45 mins before the cold got to us so we retreated to our cabin for a glass of wine - much more sensible!

Our accomodation this night was one of a series of small 2-bedroom cabins that we had to ourselves and it was situated within the forest. At sunset we anxiously awaited the arrival of wildlife that we were told to expect and we were not disappointed. A family of Wallabies, a pair of adults and a baby soon appeared in front of our balcony and calmly hunted for treats in the undergrowth allowing a good photo opportunity (see pics). The next morning brought clear skies once again but also ice on the car windscreen - something I never expected in Aus - in the summer.

Today we drove for about 2 hours and arrived at the west coast town of Strahan (pronounced Strawn), a former lumber and mining centre but more recently become famous for fish farming. There are a number of things to do here; our friends Gordon and Wendy had planned a train ride through the forests to an old mining town but we, prefering to do things more spontaneously, arranged a last minute float plane trip down the Gordon River. Once again this turned out to be a good choice as we enjoyed spectacular views along the river and surrounding forests and mountains, including an exhilarating landing and take off in a very narrow and winding river valley (see pics).

In the evening we enjoyed a locally farmed sea trout for dinner washed down with afew glasses of fine Aussie wine - a great end to a great day! Tomorrow we return to Hobart, completing our circumnavigation of this wonderful island state of Australia. On Wednesday we will fly to Canberra and onward to the Blue Mountains - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 7

2010-03-06T08:22:26Z

February 27th, 2010

Greetings from Van Dieman's Land,

When first named in honour of the Dutch explorer, Van Dieman never realized he had discovered an island. It took British explorers Flinders and Bass, travelling along its northern coast in the late 1700s to make this discovery and finally rename this great land Tasmania.

Yesterday we left Hobart after visiting the summit of Mount Wellington, the highest peak in these parts at about 1300 m. The weather was again excellent so we took advantage and made this slight detour. The view was incredible and we could see right over the city and beyond. I don't think the pictures really do justice (see pics) as on such a clear day at high altitude there always seems to be a slight haze that only special UV filters can correct, something the small compact camera's lack.

We drove north up the east coast enjoying more spectacular vistas until we reached the Fracinet peninsular, which is partly a National Park, until we stopped at our destination in Coles Bay. Here we were able to access some great trails that took us to the coast where we could view part of the main attraction in these parts - Wineglass Bay (see pics). It is uncertain how this got its name but likely due either to its shape or the fact it sparkles like a glass of wine when weather permits and today was such a day. Unfortunately we were too late to take the cruise or water taxi and the overland hike was perhaps a little too tough for us old timers so we planned to take a short flight the next day - weather permitting! Well, the next day Mother Nature had other plans and it rained so we were out of luck.

We left Coles Bay a little dissappointed and again headed north and eventually west towards our destination of Launceston, Tasmania's second largest city. By the afternoon the weather improved and we were again treated to sunny skies. We arrived in Launceston at about 4 pm, found our accommodation and then set out to explore the Cataract Gorge - a really scenic spot first developed in the late 1800s (see pic).

Tomorrow (Sunday) we head west again to Cradle Mountain and the wilderness lodge that will be our stop for the night - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 6

2010-03-05T23:54:06Z

February 25, 2010

Greetings from Tassie,

Yesterday (Wednesday) we met our friends Gordon and Wendy Haywood and flew from Melbourne to Hobart, situated on the southern end of Tasmania. Only a short flight of just over an hour but a completley different landscape reminding us very much of the south island of New Zealand. We will be spending the next 7 days circumnavigating this small but very beautiful state of Australia. We picked up our rental cars at the airport and headed into town. While the temperatures here are typically lower than the mainland it was still warm (low 20s) with perfectly cloudless skies.

This morning we took off again with perfect weather to visit one of the most popular tourist spots in these parts - Port Arthur, the former penal colony where in the 1830s they built a prison to house repeat offenders - those who had previously been sent from Britain to Aus and had committed further crimes. This prison continued to operate until about 1877 at which time it only housed the elderly and those who couldn't be looked after elsewhere. Eventually it was abandoned and later largely destroyed by fire. Despite the spectacular location, the life of the inmates was pretty bad. The intent was to attempt reform in the form of hard labour, torture and isolation, something at the time thought to be the right approach but inevitably failed miserably with most who left the prison returning to crime.

We couldn't have wished for better weather this day with temps in the mid 20s and cloudless skies making for a great tour of this wonderful spot. Tasmania is considered to have the worse ozone depletion problems, even worse than Oz and we were told to be very careful and always apply the sun block. Today was a good example as even after using a number 50 the sun still managed to do some strategic scorching.

Tomorrow we are off again heading north up the eastern coast of Tasmania towards our destination of Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsular. Before leaving Hobart and if the weather remains good we will drive up to the top of Mount Wellington, an often snow capped peak of nearly 1300 m, and hope to have a spectacular view over the city. More later - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 5

2010-03-05T23:39:30Z

Friday February 22, 2010

Greetings from The Great Ocean Road,

After arriving in Melbourne - Australia's 2nd largest city with a population of 3.9 million, we spent a busy day exploring the city by foot and tram. Melbourne has a wonderful public transit system in the form of trams or street cars. Because of its wide roads the trams have remained and now form the backbone of the transit system. They seem to blend well with the car and they even have a unique turn for the auto such that when making a right turn (they drive on the left in Australia) it is executed from the extreme left lane so as not to block the passage of the tram (take note Toronto). This manouver is referred to as the "Melbourne hook turn" and is a little unnerving for the uninitiated.

The next day we set off to explore the Great Ocean Road the start of which is situated about 100 Km SW of Melbourne. This road is considered one of the world's greatest ocean drives similar to US Hwy 1 between San Francisco and LA. The Great Ocean Road was built by Australian military personnel returning after WW1 as a make- work project and was certainly a great achievement. The road begins in the coastal town of Torquay and runs about 250 Km to Warrnambool. We drove almost the entire length to visit the most famous spot - the 12 Apostles, which are basically a series of limestone monoliths left behind by erosion of the land. This was definitely a worthwhile trip as the views along the coast were spectacular and the 12 Apostles themselves incredible (see pics).

During our trip along the Great Ocean Road we were also able to view two things we had on our wish list - Kangaroos and Koalas, both in their natural habitat. We had stopped at a roadside information centre and were given two locations where sighting could be ensured. Well, we weren't disappointed; the Kangaroos were on a golf course and we found a Koala dozing in a tree (see pics).

Fortunately our journey back to Melbourne did not require us to go back over the same road as Barbra was beginning to feel the effects of the winding roads. We headed inland to rolling plains and fairly flat country and made it back in a couple of hours - an end to a great day

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we fly to Hobart Tasmania to begin a 1 week tour of the island - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 4

2010-03-05T23:30:55Z

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Greetings from Melbourne, We spent two nights in the seaside town of Lakes Entrance so had a full day to enjoy the area. After all the driving of the previous two days we decided to stay put and explore the area on foot. Lakes Entrance is on an inlet from the ocean and to access the beach one has to cross a footbridge to a large spit of land. From there it is possible to access a number of trails either along the beach or through the bush. We choose the beach route but soon realized that the heat and the intensity of the sun would not allow us to venture too far. This was a magnificent beach stretching miles with very few people around (see pics) but the water was surprisingly cold and the waves huge so swimming was not an option. We thought this spot might have provided some natural protection from the sun but this was not to be so we headed back to the hotel for a nice swim in the pool.

The next day we were off again in the direction of Melbourne 300 Km to the west. The roads are fairly good in these parts so we were able to make good time. Our friends in Sydney had loaned us their GPS for the car so we gave it a try in order to locate our destination in the centre of Melbourne. Both Melbourne and Sydney have toll roads and it is necessary to pay either prior to or after using the road by purchasing certain vouchers. We managed to avoid the Sydney tolls but not so in Melbourne. Our GPS insisted we use the M1 into the city where the last few Km are tolled so we now have to pay the fee before the car rental company receive a bill - a real pain!

We did manage to find our accomodation quite easily so the GPS proved it's worth. We have a nice 1 bedroom apartment in the heart of Melbourne and can access many of the attractions by foot. Melbourne has a good public transit system with extensive use of street cars (trams) and a subway. There is also a free tram that circles the centre core so is very useful. Sydney also has a free shuttle system that runs through the city core, in fact this idea of free transit is something being pursued quite aggresively in Aus as a way of getting people to stop using their cars - maybe something Canada should consider!

Tomorrow (Monday) we will explore the city and the next day we plan to drive to the Great Ocean Road - a popular attraction in these parts and a must do for visitors - stay tuned.

David and Barbra

Australia - Part 3

2010-03-05T23:09:48Z

Friday February 19, 2010

Greetings, We spent two days in Sydney following our long trip; definitely a good decision considering the severe jet lag. We had originally planned to rent a car upon arrival but instead decided to have this couple of days to recoup. On our second day in Sydney our friends (made on a previous cruise) met us in the city and treated us to a day sightseeing, lunch on the Manly waterfront and eventually to their home. They will also be storing one of our bags during the 3 weeks in Aus and also most graciously be permitting us to stay at their home before we leave on March 8th.

On our third day we picked up the rental car and headed south down the A1 - the main coastal highway. The south-east coast below Sydney is simply spectacular and is accesible by a series of coastal tourist routes that leave the main highway and wind their way along the shoreline and through many small communities. We found many opportunities to stop and enjoy the view and and marvel at the endless expanse of deserted beaches. Our first day on the road ended after about 300 Km at the town of Batemans Bay.

Our next day on the road began at 9 am under sunny skies. Our plan was to get as far south as possible so that we could perhaps enjoy a couple of days in one spot before reaching Melbourne. Again the road and tourists routes led us to many scenic beach fronts and we made the time to stop and enjoy a coffee and lunch along the way. The weather so far has also been superb with air temps around 25 C and mostly clear skies.

We had hoped to have the opportunity to see some Kangaroos and Koalas in the wild but so far have only seen the former as unfortunate victims of late night encounters with the automobile. It seems that the kangaroo and deer share the same habit of wandering onto highways. We will continue in our guest to see some of these creatures.

Our second day of travelling ended after nearly 500 Km in the town of Lakes Entrance situated along the south coast of Victoria about 300 Km east of Melbourne. This is a vacation spot with a major seafood industry, particularly oysters and prawns (shrimp), which we were able to sample before retiring for the night. Our plan is to take in a bit more of this area before heading to Melbourne - stay tuned!

David and Barbra

First Dinner at the New House

2010-03-01T19:45:36Z

Sent from my iPhone

Almost our house

2010-03-01T10:07:51Z

Sent from my iPhone

Kate watching ice dancing

2010-03-01T08:43:28Z

Tobogganing down the slide

2010-03-01T08:30:53Z

Kate making snowmen

2010-03-01T08:18:19Z

Funky Kate

2010-02-28T19:49:09Z

Steve and Grams

2010-02-28T18:55:47Z

Australia - Part 2 - let the adventure begin!

2010-02-27T10:14:37Z

Tuesday February 16, 2010

Greetings from sunny Sydney,

Well, we made it safe and sound. Twenty five hours in the air plus another six on the ground, this was a long trip at 18,630 Km. The concern about travelling through the States, particularly Chicago, was not an issue. Getting through security at Pearson, even early Sunday morning, took about an hour - much better than expected and the weather in Chicago was clear and sunny. Both our JAL flights were completely full but on-time and very well organised. For a company in receivership - not bad at all!

Perhaps the worst part of the trip was the 5 hours or so in Narita Airport in Tokyo. By the time we arrived it was 1:30 AM on Monday Toronto time and with little if any sleep on the plane the only place we could find somewhere comfortable to crash was at the departure gate for the next flight. Not the greatest and with heavy rain and 4 C temps outside - not the most desirable place to be.

We arrived in Sydney at 7:30 AM on the 16th, about nine and a half hours flying time and effectively our second morning - and still without sleep! However, the sky was clear with temps in the mid 20s so all was well. Of course, at this time of day check-in at the hotel was not to be expected and this was no exception. The 4 hours walking the streets was a little tiring but at least it was warm.

We decided we should spend our first two days downtown to get over our jet lag so will be picking up our car on Thursday. Tomorrow we are meeting up with some friends whom we had met on our South America cruise and probably look at some more of this great city.

One final note - just to reinforce the belief that we get screwed by Rogers and all the other carriers in Canada - we bought a cell phone SIM card for $5 and calls to Canada cost $0.10/min. Not a bad deal, especially since we don't pay to receive a call!

Stay tuned.
David and Barbra