South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana Poems

Tell me a story

          about the woman and her baby
jailed for visiting her husband
without a valid pass

Tell me how she lives
how she forgives

Tell me a story about the man
imprisoned for asking
to be treated like a man

Tell me how he’s smiling
reconciling

Tell me a story about the child of civil war
who watched her uncle shot
by soldiers in the square

Show me how she thrives
hope still alive

Tell me a once-upon story
a now-it-is though then-it-was
not all that long ago

*************************************************************************************

A Day At Honeyguide Tented Safari Camp

Morning…

The monkey super-highway on the

roof of my tent is traffic-jammed

at 4:30 every day.

Crash! Bang! Another one

leaps tree to canvas.

It’s early, my

primate cousins –

please shut

up.

Afternoon…

There is an elephant in my tent.

Well, not right in it, but so close

that I see his eyelashes

and hear him chewing grass.

He smiles at me, winks

and walks away

quietly.

Goodbye,

friend.

Evening…

We are not food or competition

for food, the guide reassures us

as we approach the lion

and his mate resting in

the tall grass. They glance

our way, yawn, stretch,

resume their

feline

dreams.

 

South Africa, Zimbabwe & Botswana Oct,-Nov. 2013

 

More photos here

This was an exciting adventure although it got off to a rather inauspicious start. My flight took off right on time and the plane was emptier than I’ve seen on recent trips. I had a two-seat section to myself, which meant I could stretch out a little. The timing wasn’t really right for sleeping since we left New York at 11:00 AM. By the time I was ready to sleep we were almost in Johannesburg.

The itinerary from Road Scholar indicated that we would arrive at the hotel for Happy Hour, time to settle in to our rooms and then meet for dinner. My flight, however, arrived at 7:30 AM.  Following instructions, I found the tourist information desk and looked unsuccessfully for someone with a Road Scholar sign and for other Road Scholar travelers. I circled the arrival area looking for red Road Scholar baggage tags and listening to hear what language was being spoken by obvious groups of tourists, but no luck.

We had been given an emergency number to call if no one met us in timely fashion and the folks at the information desk were very helpful.  However, three attempts to reach the transportation company sent us to voicemail and no call back. The person helping me even called the hotel to see if perhaps the group had arrived before me, but they had not.

After a little more than a half hour a young man came running up, asking if I was Ms. Hauser and identifying himself as my driver. He said that the driver scheduled to meet me had experienced car troubles and he had been called at the last minute. It seemed I was the only one arriving on that flight so off we went.

It was too early to get into my room, so the concierge showed me to the dining room where I met our group leader for the tour and then two women who had arrived a couple of days early. I killed time chatting with them until my room was available and then tried to figure out how to spend the day until the group arrived in the late afternoon. I was tired, but didn’t want to nap for fear that I then wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

The hotel did not serve lunch and there was nowhere within walking distance to eat, so I took a taxi to a nearby shopping mall, arranged to be picked up in a couple of hours and found a place to have something to eat. I wandered around the mall for a while, browsed in a bookstore and bought an anthology of contemporary South African poetry with pieces in English, Afrikaans and a few native black languages, chatted with a very funny young Israeli guy who was selling products from the Dead Sea and we chatted about New York and Tel Aviv while he applied various lotions and rubs to my hands.

I met the rest of the group when they arrived (eleven of us in all, but only one man!), had our first dinner and heard a little about the activities planned for the next couple of days.

Our first day began with a morning tour of Soweto and an afternoon visit to the Apartheid Museum. Our Soweto guide was excellent.  He categorized much of what we saw as "the good, the bad and the ugly." The bad and the ugly was some pretty disturbing poverty – corrugated tin shacks with no plumbing, people selling all sorts of stuff from little shacks by the side of the road, tracts of housing for migrant workers, unemployed, etc., small houses that might hold four generations and perhaps 10 or 12 people in two bedrooms and a living room. But we also saw nicer homes in more prosperous areas – the good.

We saw Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital - the largest in Africa according to our guide, with a school of nursing that sends graduates all over the world. We saw Freedom Square with a carved representation of the constitution in a tower that is lit from above by a carved-out skylight in the form of an X representing voting. We saw Mandela House and the former home of Archbishop Tutu on the only street in the world that can claim to have been the residence of two different Nobel Peace Prize winners. We saw the Hector Pieterson Memorial, a very moving tribute to a young boy who was killed by police during the Soweto uprising in 1976.

We ate lunch at a restaurant in Soweto where the buffet selections included tripe (I think I was the only one who took that and it was tasty but chewy), cooked veggies, lamb, beef, chicken, pap – a polenta-like corn meal dish – and some delicious bread. I was pleased to have a chance to sample some traditional local foods.

After lunch we visited the Apartheid Museum. The displays were very interesting, but the museum itself was confusing to navigate. I hooked up with one of the other women, who seemed to have a good sense of direction, and I think we saw most of it, but frequently needed to double back in order to move ahead.

The museum had a large section devoted to Mandela, which was interesting, but most of the display showed things that he covered in his memoir. I was surprised that only a couple of people in the group seemed to have read it and recommended it whenever possible. There was a very large group of school kids visiting the museum with their teachers. It’s always nice to see kids having experiences like this.

As we walked along an outside passage we had seen a series of metal containers with long sticks in different colors. When we finished viewing the exhibits and were heading toward our meeting spot we saw what they represented. One wall showed a number of inspirational quotes by Mandela on several different topics – racism, women's rights, forgiving one's oppressors, etc. Each category of quotes was printed in a different color: red, white, green, blue, or yellow. Visitors were encouraged to take a stick in the color of their favorite quote and insert it into one of the display bins lining the walkway. I chose a white one for a quote about true freedom not being realized until women had equal rights with men. It was nice to see that every bin had a good, diverse color selection.

At the gift shop I found a small book of poetry called Voices That Lead, described as "an eloquent epitaph of those heroes of the struggle who gave their lives for South Africa's freedom." Powerful pieces!

We had a very early departure the next day to fly south to Port Elizabeth. We landed a little before ten and set it for Plettenberg Bay for lunch. We ran into rain on and off during the drive of about three hours, so we were concerned that our planned cruise and whale-watching might be cancelled. En route our leader gave us some information about the flora and fauna of the area.

Lunch was in the restaurant of a perfectly charming bed and breakfast. The main course choices were sweet and sour chicken or a Malay dish called bobotie made with spicy ground ostrich meat and a custardy topping.  Of course, that's what I had! No one else in the group was remotely tempted, but when I offered tastes to three of the folks at my table they all agreed that it was delicious.

After lunch we made a couple of scenic stops, one at a gorge and a second at the world's highest bungee jumping place. Not ideal sightseeing for someone who is uncomfortable with heights! But there was a fair-sized display of carved pieces at the bungee place, spread out on the lawn with various craftsmen selling their wares. To my surprise and pleasure I found an owl to add to my collection! I undoubtedly paid more than I should but I was so happy to find it that I didn't even care.

Meanwhile, we learned our whale watching cruise was, in fact, cancelled, but our leader was able to switch that with the activity planned for tomorrow afternoon, a visit to Knysyna Elephant Park. That was an amazing experience. The elephants have all been rescued and provided with a safe home. After a short film, we got buckets filled with pieces of apple, carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato and had a chance to feed the elephants by hand. We were shown how to hold out one piece at a time on a flat hand. The elephant picks it up with his or her trunk and pops it into his or her mouth. It was quite wonderful.

After feeding, we were divided into smaller groups and had a chance to meet a couple of the elephants up close. I patted two of the elephants on their trunks and on their sides and looked into their big, wise eyes. We learned that Sally is the matriarch of this group and strictly controls things.  In fact, two of the young males have been separated from others because Sally won't accept them being in her herd. When the boys get older and can stand up to her, they will be reintroduced and will, perhaps, be able to mate. I could easily have stayed there for a longer time.

Dinner was lovely. The place, a small inn called Boogie’s, was really charming and the food was delicious.  We had ostrich liver mousse, tomato soup, a choice of filet of sole or springbok ragout, and strawberries with ice cream for dessert.  I was pleased to see that most of the group ordered the springbok.  I don't know if I really had any influence on that decision, but I know that one woman, at least, announced that she was going to be adventurous with her meal choices. And everyone enjoyed the meal.

The next morning I walked down to the shops at the waterfront. I got there before they were open, but had a chance to stroll and window shop.  I spotted one shop with lots of critters fashioned out of shells, including a really cute owl. So far, that’s pretty typical.  I buy the first one I see because I think I’m not going to find another one, and then I do find another one that is really different.

Later in the morning we visited the Featherbed Nature Reserve, a private reserve with amazing views of the Knysnya Lagoon (actually an estuary). We took a ferry across the water and then were driven up to the top of the overlook. We hiked down – about a two-mile walk, mostly down stairs carved out of rocks or constructed from dirt and wood. Most of it was pretty easy, but some places were steep and the footing was a little unsure. The last part of the trail was mostly flat, along the water. It was very beautiful with lots of flowers and shrubs on one side and waves and clear blue-green water on the other.

We were supposed to go whale watching, but once again it was cancelled because it was too windy to take the boats out safely. Instead, our leader proposed a trip to the beach at Plettenburg Bay so we could, as he put, dip our toes into the Indian Ocean. It was very nice walking along the shore, getting our feet (and sometimes a bit more) wet, finding shells, spotting blue bottle sea urchins on the sand, and few tiny little snail-like crustaceans skittering along the sand, burrowing into holes when the waves came in.

On the drive to and from the beach we finally saw baboons by the side of the road.  It is really strange to see animals that I picture in the jungle living right in the midst of people's homes. And apparently they are a nuisance, breaking into houses when they can, stealing food and causing damage. That seems so odd, but I guess every area has its indigenous pesky critters.

On Monday we hit the road fairly early for our morning adventure, lunch at Grootbos and a visit to a nature reserve and a school training young people for careers in horticulture related fields. The dining room was lovely, with breathtaking views of the mountains and the Atlantic. Then we set out for a nature walk through the forest, learning about some of the trees and other plants and some of the birds in the area. Our guide, was interesting and made it very enjoyable experience. The vegetation in this part of the country is referred to “fynbos” and comprises several kinds of slender bushes and grasses, some flowering, and all quite lovely.

We had been told about this visit in our trip literature and most, if not all of us, had brought school or gardening supplies for the school. Green Futures Horticultural and Life Skills College trains about 10 students a year in horticulture, language skills, computer skills and other subjects. The program director told us that they have graduated 101 students in the ten years they have been operating, and they have nearly 50 applications for the next bunch. They look for a minimum level of language proficiency, interview the applicants, invite about 20 to come and work with them for a trial period and then select the ones who will continue. It sounded as if most of them are successfully employed, even if it isn't always in a horticulture field. For example, she mentioned a couple who became policemen, one of whom, sadly, was killed in the line of duty.

We then had a chance to plant and name our own tree. Our tour leader and the one man in our group dug the hole, the student with us placed the tree in the hole and filled in the dirt, and several of us took turns watering it. Then we chose a name – one of the women suggested Kaelah, which is apparently her dog's name, and we were all OK with that – and our guide took pictures with lots of cameras of the group gathered around "our" tree.

Then it was on to our hotel for the night – Harbour House, in Hermanus. It's right on the water and there is a seaside esplanade where one can watch for whales. We saw a couple, but they were pretty far off.  Some people had good views from their balconies and a couple saw dolphins in the morning. That night we had a braai, or barbecue, for dinner, and the next morning we left for another one night stand in what has been described as a "charming little town" before three days in Capetown and then the grand finale of three days of safari.

South Africa is much more diverse geographically I than I had anticipated. So far we’d gone from cities, to forests, to farmland to mountains to two oceans. It is also just as economically divided as I did anticipate. In the space of just a few moments we passed fairly expensive homes and vacation villas and shanties made of corrugated tin or scrap wood with black plastic sheeting roofs all huddled next to each other on dirt tracts, laundry hanging outside and grubby kids playing in the dirt. These shacks have no plumbing or electricity, although some clearly are "borrowing" from nearby power lines and we did see a few satellite dishes on some pretty squalid looking shacks. We have been told by a couple of different people that unemployment is 40-45%. That is a breeding ground for crime and unrest, and in the cities that is exactly what seems to be happening.

The next day we drove to Franschhoek through the Winelands countryside. It was all very lovely and scenic until we started to cross the mountains. The mist grew thicker and thicker until visibility was almost zero. As a rough estimate I'd say that most of the time our driver could see between 5 and 10 feet ahead. Signs on the side of the road became visible when we were on top of them. He did an excellent job of negotiating a tricky road under tough conditions and we all gave him a hand when we were down the mountain and out of the mist. We were supposed to have stopped at a scenic overlook, but it would have been pointless.

Franschhoek is, as promised, a charming little town with some cute shops and an outdoor market  with some interesting art. I bought a couple of pieces depicting Zulu warriors, made in a mosaic style using slices of banana leaf. I also visited a Huguenot Memorial commemorating the arrival of the Huguenots in the 17^th century.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Moreson's Bread and Wine. The meal was provided on a system I've not run into before on previous trips. We were given menus with prices and told that we could order whatever we wished up to a total of 110 rand – about $11.00. We could, of course, go over, but would then pay the extra ourselves. It made a certain amount of sense since it gave everyone more choices than we might have had otherwise, but it was a bit odd.

Our next stop after lunch was the Plaisir de Merle winery for a wine tasting. As a non-drinker I was offered a cold can of Grapetiser white grape soda, which I passed on. It was interesting to hear the descriptions of the seven different wines offered. There were plates with small containers of sundried tomato, raw cashews, fig balls, fruit cake and some other things. The woman running the tasting suggested taking a sip of whatever wine was being presented, and then following it up with a taste of one or another of the foods.  She explained which one was recommended for each wine.

We went from the wine tasting straight to our hotel in Stellenbosch with about 2 1/2 hours to relax, stroll or whatever before dinner. I decided to explore. The first route I took wasn't very interesting but I did pop into a bookstore to ask if they had the poet Ingrid Jonker's book. At the bookstore in Franschhoek I had been told that it is rarely available. The owner here looked in his computer and it seemed to indicate that the two copies they'd had were both sold. He suggested a place in Capetown where I might find it and I left. A few seconds later he was running down the street after me with a copy, unfortunately in Afrikaans. I needed one in English, of course. I thought that was very nice of him and I felt sorry that I couldn't buy it. 

In one store selling crafty things I bought a thumb piano, an mbira, for the kids in Tucson. The merchant asked me where in the states I was from. When I told him New York, he asked if I was familiar with Central Park and then told me that his father had worked at Tavern on the Green for several years when he was little. Small world!

The next day we came to Capetown, where we spent three nights.  Our first stop was supposed to be the cable car ride up Table Mountain, but the top was totally covered in mist, so instead we did a little walking tour of the city. We  saw a castle that dates back to very early settlers, the city hall where Mandela mae his first speech after being freed, the Parliament Building and President's House and a street protest demanding land and housing. They only had a couple of handwritten signs that were hard to read. My immediate thought was that they needed a much more efficient coordinator. No one we asked seemed to know why they were marching. The protest seemed peaceful, but we learned later that it turned nasty with a lot of looting and property damage. We were fortunate to be far away before that started.

Lunch was at the Rhodes Memorial, a very impressive memorial with a spectacular view of the city. I’m sure the view from the top of Table Mountain would be even more spectacular, but this was quite nice.

In the afternoon we visited Kirtsenbosch Botanical Gardens, guided by Andrew, who was wonderfully knowledgeable and also quite funny. The plants are almost all endemic or indigenous and mostly left to grow as they would in the wild. We walked through the garden for over and hour and it felt like no time at all had passed. The pincushion plants and some others are just beautiful shades of yellow, orange, white, and red. We also saw gorgeous bird of paradise plants in yellow and a golden orange-y shade, some planted in honor of Mandela. Andrew said there are, I think, 9 botanical gardens considered the best in the world. This is one and the one in New York is one. Some of the plants and trees are endangered and the garden is also dedicated to saving them from extinction. We learned that South Africa has more different plant species than anywhere else in the world. And I believe it after this visit.

We had some free time until dinner, so. I set off to explore the Victoria & Albert Waterfront, an easy walk from the hotel. There was one large building filled with different crafts vendors and another filed with vendors selling all kinds of food.  

A little further on were restaurants, a Ferris wheel, some fairly upscale shops and a pavilion where a group of musicians were playing steel drums.

The next day we still were not able to take the cable car up Table Mountain because of the weather. It was rainy and cold but we did some interesting things. First we drove along the coastal route, with stops at a couple of scenic or interesting places. One stop was at a memorial for a dog named Nuisance who was considered a helper and comrade by the naval ratings (equivalent of noncoms) in the early 1940s. He was given the rank of sergeant and a naval burial.

From there we went on to Boulder Beach to see the penguins.  At this time of year they are molting, losing their winter feathers, and so they are confined to land. It was very different from seeing penguins in Australia. There we were kept away, told to stay quiet, and generally not even allowed to take pictures since we saw them at night and were told that flashes would upset them. Here they were all over the place - not on the walkway itself, but right up next to it, gathered in groups, not at all fazed by our presence. They really are cute, although the ones who hadn't finished mounting look pretty scruffy. We saw a few young ones, but mostly adults.

Next we drove on to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. The flora was lovely, similar to what we saw in parts of Kirstenbosch yesterday. The fynbos - delicate bushes- was lush and green, a function, I'm sure of the moist weather.

From there it was on to the Cape funicular that took us up to a lighthouse on top of the mountain. This was our first occasion to see baboons up close. Apparently they are a huge nuisance and have become really dependent on human habitations for food.  They did not seem at all shy around us, but I didn't want to get too close. They don't look cute or cuddly! The biggest ones I saw were about the size of a medium dog. They are monkey-agile, leaping from the roof of one building to the roof of another and scrambling up the side of the building. We saw one eating what looked like a piece of orange, possibly dropped by a tourist. And our leader warned one woman who was strolling along holding a can of Coke to be careful because a baboon might come snatch it.

We had a choice of walking down rather than taking the funicular, and I would have liked to, but it was still too cold and rainy, so I rode down and poked around in the gift ship for a while. There were some pictures of women carrying bundles on their heads and other images, made mosaic-style from butterfly wings. The label on the back said the butterflies had all died of natural causes and the pictures were really different and not too expensive, but ultimately a little creepy, so I passed.

Heading back to the hotel there was some debate as to whether or not a tour of District Six was on the itinerary. Our booklet said yes, and our leader said it wasn't in his itinerary. But we drove through anyway and he told us a little about the destruction of homes in order to drive out the colored residents and make the area into a white area. When I looked it up I learned that it had been a very vibrant and diverse neighborhood with lots of artists and activists. We also drove though an area called Bo-Kaap, home to a lot of Malay and other Coloreds. The houses are painted lime green, hot pink, fuchsia, day-glo yellow and other bright colors. It reminded me of the houses in Kerala. The people here are of Malaysian descent, mostly Moslem, but I wonder if there is some cultural connection to the folks of southern India that results in the same desire for color and light. We were all still hoping to get to Table Mountain, which had been shrouded in mist since we arrived, but it was not to be.

Our next excursion was to Khayelitsha township, guided by a charming young man named Xolani, pronounced with a click for the X. He described the sound to us by comparing it to the way one would click to a horse to get it to go faster. As we drove through, looking at the "informal settlements" which is what they call the shack communities, I asked how the people in these areas feel about being tourist attractions. His answer was interesting. On the one hand, some do feel vulnerable, but on the other hand, tour companies make donations to community-based projects, so the tourism is a good thing.

We visited three places.  The fist was a day care center.  We saw two small classrooms with about thirty kids in each, very crowded, but the kids seemed happy and healthy.  They were singing songs and didn't pay all that much attention to us. A third room had some littler ones, two of whom were sound asleep despite the noise from the other areas. The school also provides services to older kids in the form of afterschool activities and counseling.

Our next stop was an organic garden project. They grow all kinds of vegetables and market them in various ways. Xolani told us that the chef from one of the big hotels visited and was so impressed that he now purchases veggies from them. The most impressive thing there was home-built biogas production. They feed scraps and leftovers into a big vat, stir it to break it down, it then goes into a "stomach" where it is further broken down and produces methane which they use for cooking. Super clever!

Our final visit was to a senior citizens' center or, as our guide called it, kindergarten for oldies. We were greeted with hugs by one man and about four or five women as we entered. The director explained that many of the others were not there because it was pension day. A couple of others did join us as our visit went on. She explained that she had been an actress and had visited an old woman in preparation for a role.  She was so disturbed by the conditions in which this woman was living that she decided she had to do something, so she opened this center.

We were seated in a row of chairs on one side of a large room and the "oldies" were on the other side. We were asked to introduce ourselves and tell a little about ourselves - our names, where we come from, if we were married, had children, our professions, etc. the director translated into Xhosa and there was a round of applause after each one of us spoke. We all chuckled when the translation for those of us who are divorced involved a vigorous wiping away gesture. And the folks who had several children and grandchildren were rewarded with murmurs of approval. One of our group is Grace and her name got a bit of a reaction. We were told that it was one of the names that African servants were given by their white masters. I guess that, like the Old South, Biblical names were popular even though they were given by people behaving in a most unchristian way.

Then it was their turn. The women all seemed to have been domestic workers. The one man spoke with pride of having certificates in first aid and conflict resolution. One of the women spoke at length with great gusto about apartheid days, about visiting her husband without the proper pass and being taken to jail. I wasn't sure if she was talking about something that happened to her or just telling us that this did happen. It was all quite moving. They asked our impressions of South Africa. I spoke about the contrasts; others spoke about how kind everyone was. Their impression of America is that there are more opportunities, although they were surprised to hear that there are no automatic pensions for seniors who haven't held salaried jobs. They spoke about their pensions as one of good things that came about with the end of apartheid.

They sang a beautiful song for us, filled with all the gorgeous harmonies that I remember from groups like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others. For a second song we were asked to join them. Then we were asked to sing and I suggested You Are My Sunshine. We did OK, but didn't sound anywhere near as beautiful as they did. They sang a final song thanking us, and walked past us with everyone giving hugs and thank yous. The man, who was described as a poet, sang/chanted/shouted what we were told was a song praising us for having come to visit. It was all wonderful, moving, and memorable.

Our afternoon was technically free, but 10 of the 11 of us had chose to take the Robben Island visit. The one who didn't go was our lone man. He is a golfer and had spotted a public course not far from the hotel. He was able to arrange to play and had a good story to tell us when he got back. He connected with 11 men who were looking to form 3 foursomes and needed an extra guy, so he joined them.

The boat ride to Robben Island was about a half hour and pretty rough seas. Once we got there we were herded onto buses for a drive around the island with a guide who pointed out the various buildings, told a little about the history dating back to its days as an encampment for early Portuguese explorers, a leper colony, a World War Two gunnery installation and finally as a prison. We saw the places Mandela wrote about in his book, and I was happy to have read it before the visit.

After the bus tour we were met by a former political prisoner who walked us through some of the prison buildings, told us about how the prisoners were treated, showed is Mandela's cell and really made it all come alive. It was fascinating and horrifying all at the same time. I had my friend Robert Gibbons's poem for Mandela with me and I read it silently during the tour. I'd have liked to find a place to leave it, but that didn't seem feasible.

When we returned we still couldn't get up to Table Mountain because it was still covered with mist that our tour leader referred as the table cloth. That is exactly what it looks like, a covering of mist that spills over the top and partway down the side like a big, white cloth.. Instead we went up to the top of Signal Hill with views that were pretty spectacular.

Dinner was in a Malay restaurant called Bo-Kaap, like the neighborhood, with some gorgeous views of the city. Besides us there was a large pre-wedding party for a Zimbabwean couple. The groom turned out to have gone to Harvard Law and lived in Cambridge for a while. I told him I had grown up in Brookline and spent a lot of time in Harvard Yard as a teen. Another small world encounter. Their guests, all of whom were dressed in white, had come from all over the world – friends they had made in their studies and travels. When the groom welcomed them he encouraged them to sit near people they didn't know. I thought that was a nice touch.

The next day we left for what would be for me the highlight of the trip – three days at Honeyguide Tented Safari Camp. We had our first drive that afternoon and saw elephants, impala, kudu, waterbucks, giraffes, zebras, lots of birds whose names I don’t remember and generally were amazed. The highlight of our first drive was a huge lion who let us get within perhaps 10 or 15 feet of where he was resting, stretching, yawning, licking himself and generally acting like a the big cat he is. I thought about visiting the Galapagos and how amazing it was to get so close to the birds, reptiles and other animals there.  But none of them are considered dangerous and we knew we were quite safe.  Here there was that little element of danger that added spice to the experience.

During our afternoon safari we stopped for drinks and snacks. We parked near a small waterhole and watched some waterbuck while we nibbled pigs in a blanket and had a drink. There was everything from soda to juice to wine to gin and tonic to scotch. It was all set up on a folding camp table and we were presented with moistened washcloths first so we could wipe off our hands. Quite elegant!

The tents were very comfortable. There was a little veranda with a sofa, lamp, desk and chair, a large bed enclosed in netting with a headboard that held two lamps, a fan and whistle for emergencies, a bathroom area with a sink, large counter, sunken tub and two open air shower heads. Most of the tent was open around the sides, so monkeys could, and apparently do, come in to explore. We were advised to keep our toiletries zipped in a case and our suitcases closed. The front area around the veranda is zipped shut at night, but you can see through the netting and hear things moving.

At about ten minutes to five the next morning I was awakened by the sound of monkeys scampering across the roof of my tent.  I thought I would be too nervous to sleep, but our guides had been very reassuring.  They explained that we are neither food nor competition for food and so the animals really don’t care about us as long as we don’t do anything stupid.

The drums sounded at 5:30 and we wended our way to the dining area to start our first morning adventure at 6:00. Our morning safari was pretty successful. We saw lots of giraffes, a herd of buffalo, three rhinos close enough to get good pictures, kudu, wildebeest, impalas, waterbuck, a little steenbok, zebras and a few elephants. So in less than 24 hours we had seen several examples of four of the Big Five. We hadn’t seen a leopard yet, but we had a few more chances to try.

A funny moment while we were sitting and watching some elephants. One was facing us and quite close. One of the women said that this was closer than seeing them at the zoo. Just as she said "zoo" the elephant shook his head and made a sound, almost as if he was reacting to a word he didn't like to hear.

We drove through, over and around some rough terrain hoping for a leopard, but no luck yet. About halfway through the drive we stopped and again the folding table came out.  This time we were offered tea, coffee or hot coca and little muffins. At about 9 we returned to camp for brunch. Then, after a brief break we set put for a bush walk.

Vaughan took us around and showed us various animal tracks, some insects, some plants, and talked a little about conservation. It was interesting to do a little sightseeing on foot instead of from the vehicle, and we didn’t see anything scary, but I was glad that Vaughan had a rifle just in case.

Now that the day warmed up, I decided to shower.  When I finished and was just dressed, I heard something rustling at the front of my tent.  I assumed it was monkeys in the trees, but when I came around to the veranda I saw an elephant strolling by, eating grass just a few feet away, He stayed around for a while before moving on and another one – definitely bigger than any we saw yesterday or earlier - came by.  This one didn't come as close, but I could see him clearly through the brush.

This experience was amazing. I don't know if I can adequately describe how incredible it was to see these animals in the wild, get so close to them, and feel pretty safe doing it. When we were in the vehicles for the safari drives the only rules were keep arms inside, not stand up to take pictures, and get quiet when told to. And these rules had more to do with keeping the animals from being startled and going away than anything else.  On the walk, things were a little stricter. Besides the fact that Vaughan had a rifle, we were told to stay in single file, always behind the rifle, to stay fairly quiet while walking, and to follow directions without question if told to do something for our safety like climb a tree .Nothing remotely dangerous happened, but clearly it can and sometimes does. Vaughan made a big point of the fact that his concern for our safety was partly selfish. If a tourist dies on his watch he loses his guide license.

The afternoon drive was a success. We saw three cheetahs and later saw hippos. The people in the other vehicle saw a leopard, but by the time we got to where he had been seen he was gone. But we saw more of the same animals we had already seen and, in fact, joked about the fact that we had become very blasé about “common” sightings” like impalas, kudus, and giraffes.

The next morning we set out directly to find the leopard, but no luck. We had two more chances, the afternoon drive and our final morning drive on our last day. We did see a large herd of buffalo, some giraffes, some zebras, lots of impalas running and leaping back and forth across the road, some lovely birds, a couple of elephants and a large troop of baboons including several babies. One baboon sat up in a tree keeping a lookout for anything that might present a danger, very focused, very intent on doing his job.

The afternoon/evening safari was an amazing, awesome success. We started out seeing a lot of birds, and a lovely group of four zebras that were very cooperative about posing. One in particular reminded me of a runway model as he took a few steps across an open area, paused for a moment and turned his head to look our way as if posing for a snapshot – which of course he was! – and repeating the sequence several times as he crossed by us.

We also saw a male ostrich, all black with white under feathers. He shied away as we first approached, but then grew quite calm and we were able to get quite close to him. And we saw a rhino. They seem to be much shyer than the other animals and we could not get super close, but we were able to her some good pictures.

Vaughan made an excellent call when he suggested stopping early for our “sundowner” drinks and snacks. If we did that we could then search for the leopard as it was growing cooler and he would be out and about. So we stopped by a big watering hole where there were loads of geese, a few waterbucks and a couple of visible crocodiles. When we finished he got word over the radio of a leopard and we hurried off. The different guides and drivers stay in touch with each other during the drives, and if one sees something special he notifies the others so they can bring their group to see it as well.

Another safari vehicle stayed in place until we arrived, just as we had done the day before when we spotted cheetahs. Vaughan drove fast over bumpy roads and then into a field until we spotted the other vehicle and the leopard. He was magnificent and we spent several minutes watching him stroll around, use a bush as a scratching post, mark his territory and then climb up on a small termite mound or hillock and pose for us. It was a total treat and completed our Big Five sightings. It was really special to get to see him while it was still daylight. And when it started to get dark our tracker, Ezekial, used the spotlight and we got even more photos.

At dinner Vaughan commented on how cooperative we five ladies had been during the drives when we were trying to find the leopard. We had a few times when we drove really fast, ignoring elephants, giraffes, impalas and other animals in our quest to arrive at a spot where the leopard had been sighted. We were smacked in the face by flying beetles, jarred over huge bumps in the road and often over no road at all, but we didn't care. We wanted to see that leopard and finally we were successful.

Our final morning game drive was a huge success. First thing we saw was a male lion drowsing in the shade with a cub next to him and two females resting under a bush a few feet away. As before, he let us get quite close, looked up a couple of times and put his head down to nap. The cub walked around a little and then headed for its mom.

While we were watching the lions a herd of zebras came along.  They were quite close to the lions, but the lions were either too full or too sleepy to react.  We waited around for a bit to see if anything would happen, but it stayed quiet.

Further along we saw giraffes, a couple of elephants, some more birds - notably vultures sitting at the tops of trees warming themselves up before the day's excursions.  We stopped for our morning coffee, tea or cocoa near a watering hole we had visited before and did a bit more bird watching. On our way back to the camp we passed a little stretch where there were zebras, impalas, a couple of waterbucks and a gnu all together grazing. Quite a sight!  And pretty close to the camp we finally saw a warthog close enough and enough in the clear to get a couple of decent photos.

The safari experience was clearly the best part of the trip for me. In Johannesburg I found the Soweto tour and the Apartheid Museum interesting. The little stops in Knysna, Franschhoek and Hermanus had lovely the scenery and it was fun being right on the water with potential for seeing whales and dolphins, but I wouldn't necessarily have wanted to spend any longer in those places than we did. Capetown was interesting, but I liked the tour of Khayalitsha best. Robben island was fascinating as well.  And the penguins were fun to see. 

But this was unique.  The closest thing I can compare it with is the Galapagos, as I said before, but the animals there are not predators and not dangerous for the most part except to each other. We got closer to them there and that was pretty amazing, but here, being in an open vehicle just 10 or 15 feet from a lion or leopard, having an elephant walk calmly past your tent, having to stop the vehicle to let a herd of buffalo cross or watching impalas leaping back and forth expending energy is just sensational.

We flew from Hoedspruit, a tiny airport with one runway, to Johannesburg and said goodbye to the seven who were returning home. Four of us had signed up for the extension.  We returned to the same hotel in Johannesburg where we had stayed at the start of the trip and prepared to fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in the morning.

Getting into Zimbabwe was quite an experience. Two planes landed at more or less the same time, and we all formed one long line outside the airport building. Eventually we were separated into people requiring a single entry visa and those requiring a double entry. We needed double. It was a very slow process. There was only one person at each desk who took our immigration form, passport and money, hand wrote a receipt, found a blank page in the passport to paste and stamp the visa, wrote something in a ledger on his desk and then handed back the passport. Each person took about 2-3 minutes to process and we were at the back of the line! Our luggage had been brought from the plane to a large space just beyond the visa desks – no conveyor or anything, just piled up there. The one good thing about being at the end was that our luggage was clear of other suitcases.

More photos here

Our new tour leader, Priscilla, met us and suggested that we not go to the hotel as originally scheduled, but go straight to our first visit to a tradition village. She said it was close to the airport and if we went to the hotel we would just have to come back. That was fine with all of us.  After standing in line for nearly an hour we were happy to be sitting on the minibus drinking cold water.

The village visit was fascinating. The headman, Mr. Mpisi, spoke to us at length about the way things are organized in the community.  He described himself as the servant of the people, not their leader. He also spoke about God communicating through all of nature to everyone who listens. We walked around a bit, saw goats and chickens, some school kids, a communal kitchen, heard about how the women's council and the wife of the chief have more power than the men and learned that villagers can form collectives to get bank loans. It takes 6 women or 10 men. Apparently they consider the women more industrious and more responsible. We also saw some lovely carved pieces and paintings that were for sale. And I got to show off a skirt and hat crocheted out of cassette tape, accessorized with a purse made from two phonograph records with a strip of cloth glued between them. Not a pretty picture, but a very creative use of available materials.

The following day's activities started early.  We left the hotel at about 7:30 and headed for Botswana. It was about an hour's drive on an almost totally deserted road. While we were driving Priscilla told us a little about Zimbabwe's history. It started academically with names and dates, but when she got to the civil war that ravaged the country from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s it got very personal.  She told us about government forces coming into her village looking for rebels. They tortured her uncle and then shot him, forcing the villagers, including the children, to watch. They also prevented his family from burying him and the villagers had to watch his body rotting in the sun. She said she had scars herself from being tortured. Horrifying, sad, and hard to understand how she could talk about it and not be seething with hate. At dinner she spoke a little about it again and credited the elders in her village and family with helping the kids get past the nightmares and fears and to understand that punishment would eventually come to the people who did these terrible things, so they didn't have to worry or plan to take revenge themselves.

She spoke pretty openly about Mugabe and the problems he has caused, but said that anyone who had lived through civil war would not want to ever experience that again. Mugabe is old – nearly 90 –and will be out of power soon enough by natural means so there is no need to try to get rid of him now.

Getting through border control leaving Zimbabwe and entering Botswana was easy enough. We left our Zimbabwean driver, Tumi, and picked up our Botswana guide and driver, Oona. Then it was on to the Marina Chobe Lodge, a pretty fancy looking hotel on the Chobe River and near Chobe National Park.

We loaded into a four-by-four for a safari drive. It was different from Honeyguide in that there were a lot of other vehicles, some carrying as many as 12 passengers.  Also, the vehicles cannot go off-road. Despite that, we saw lots of hippos, a few crocodiles, many antelopes of various kinds and loads of elephants. The elephants were in nursing herds, led by a matriarch.  There were lots of babies, including a few that were still nursing.  Quite a sight! We even saw a lion, although he was not real close, sleeping under a bush. Sadly, the rhino population has been decimated by poachers looking for rhino horn to sell in the middle East and Asia where it is presumed to have aphrodisiac powers.

After a lovely lunch at the lodge, we set out for our afternoon excursion, a boat cruise on the river to see birds and other wildlife. We saw a lot of interesting birds, more crocs, hippos and elephants from a different perspective. At one point we watched as maybe 40 elephants came down to the water to drink and cool off. It was really amazing.

Back at the hotel, one of the women and I walked down to the gorge. There were a couple of persistent vendors along the way who tried to sell us carvings and, in one case, an old 5 million Zimbabwean note. When I said I didn't have money he offered to trade for my shoes! And when I said I needed my shoes, he offered to trade for my socks!

The gorge was quite spectacular, but pretty scary. There was a lookout point with a platform and I couldn't even get near the fence. A security guard showed us where the bungee jumping, zip lining and other “adrenalin activities” take place. He also walked us all the way back to the hotel, which was very kind of him.  I gave him a couple of dollars for his trouble. I don't know if he expected a tip, but I felt he deserved something. Later I read a very funny anecdote about the opening of the bungee jump.  There was a sign that said “Bungee jumping: $100.” An elderly security guard asked to try.  When they had him all strapped in, he asked when he was going to collect his money.  When they explained to him he didn’t get paid for jumping but had to pay them, he tore off the harness and ran away!

The next morning we were free and one of the other women and I planned to visit the shops and the open-air crafts market. After breakfast we walked into town.  It is not a long walk at all, but it was very hot and humid and I was totally dripping by the time we got to the shops. I wasn't really looking for anything, but the first time my companion made a purchase I realized that I needed to buy something in order to have small bills. So in one shop I bought a cute carved giraffe - very folk artsy. It was $12 and the woman in the shop had to call to a friend and send her to go get change of a twenty. It took a while, but it was sort of cool under the ceiling fan so I didn't mind too much.

We poked into a couple of other shops and then headed for the open market. We wanted to check out the women's collective. There were three large buildings with long rows of stalls, items displayed mostly on the floor and a woman at each one.   They were pretty aggressive, picking things up and shoving them in our faces, offering good prices for bowls, carved spoons, small animal carvings, beads and so on. Despite the fact that it was a little unsettling, I really did want to support them.  I ended up buying a carved wooden wall hanging of the Big Five.

I wanted to stop at another shop that benefitted blind and disabled, but with the condition that if it was the same set up I wouldn't be able to deal.  However, it turned out to be a proper shop. It was a relief to not be pushed to just look, just feel, just hold.  And as we were leaving the market a guy we had seen on the way in came running out to entice us into his shop. When I said we had no more money he said, "I knew you were going to say that. Thanks for being understanding." I thought that was sort of rude, but I guess they do hear the same comments from tourists all the time.

Our final activity included a wonderful lecture about the life and accomplishments of David Livingston, who “discovered” Victoria Falls. The lecturer was a fascinating storyteller who really made the history come alive. And our visit to the falls was spectacular.  They are one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and rightly so.  We were there at the very end of the dry season, so some parts of the falls were dry or nearly dry and they were still amazing.  The power of all that water pouring over the edge of the drop and cascading down the sides of the gorge is just incredible.

The next day it was time to leave and return home. The flight from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg left right on time from the tiny airport, and the transfer to our flights back to the US went smoothly. It was a strange feeling to be in an airport thousands of miles from home and know my way around.  We were in the same terminal and same gates almost as when we flew to Zimbabwe, so I felt like an old hand. I exchanged my remaining rand at the first bureau I saw, so no more shopping.

We had about an hour and a half before boarding, so I did wander a little. It turned out that there was another, much stricter, security check at the gate. The security for our flights within South Africa and even from South Africa to Zimbabwe and back had been pretty informal.  No water confiscated, no shoes off, no little baggies with 3-ounce containers, no pat downs. The gate check for our flight home was US style - shoes off, pat downs, carry-ons opened, liquids dumped or small containers in a Ziploc bag. I got checked and patted down, boarded the plane, and settled in for the long trip home.

All in all it was a wonderful adventure and I brought home a few nice souvenirs, many photographs and lots of great memories.

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New Zealand & Australia Poems

Crossing the Date Line

I lost Monday.
It’s always been right where I left it.
I packed so carefully
I was sure it must be in my suitcase
tucked it into a pocket or stuffed
in my shoe to save space.

Maybe it fell out while I was juggling
shoes, jacket quart-sized baggie
full of three-ounce liquids
holding my hands over
my head at security.

Could I have left it in the seatback or overhead
despite solicitous cabin crew warnings
to check carefully for personal items?

Not to worry.
I’ll get it back on the trip home
when I arrive five hours
before I even left.

******************************************
The Southern Cross

Te Punga, the Anchor hangs in the sky
trailing pointer stars
a rope connected
to a war canoe drifting
through the Sea called Milky Way
bringing The People to Aotearoa.

Here where the world is upside down
Orion stands on his head
and the stars of the Southern Cross –
the stars of Te Punga the Anchor –
are an astral child’s kite
flying gaily in the night sky.

******************************************

Uluru rises from the desert
like a whale breaching the ocean.
Rippling pleats and folds of rock
filigreed erosion
imprint the red walls
telling Dreamtime
tales of Time
before
    Time.

New Zealand & Australia, March 2013

NEW ZEALAND

 (more photos of New Zealand here)

It was March 3 when I left New York. We crossed the date line so it was March 5 when I arrived in Auckland. This was a very, very long trip! I managed to sleep on and off for about 6 hours, deeply enough to dream a couple of times. On the NY to LA leg I had the row to myself, but I didn't want to stretch out and possibly make it hard to sleep on the long flight.  On the LA to Sydney leg the middle seat was empty, so that gave my row mate and me a little wiggle room.

Once we got to Auckland we met the whole group – 32 of us all together.  Eight would leave at the end of the New Zealand leg of the trip and seven others would be joining us in Australia. We had a very brief introductory meeting and then dispersed to our rooms to collapse after the long trip.

I rearranged some stuff, showered, did a little hand laundry and was brushing my teeth when the fire alarm went off. I was stark naked at that point, scrambled to put on my PJs, poked my head out and was told that some folks had already gone down the fire stairs. Not one to jump to a hasty decision, I called reception and was told to do just that, so down we marched, out to the street.  Some folks were still dressed, some were in night clothes.  We were out on the street for about 15 minutes, I think. It turned out that there was a small fire in the kitchen. Everyone seemed to take the experience in stride and I felt that boded well for the rest of the trip. There’s nothing standing around in your PJs, chatting with strangers on a strange street in a strange city to bond a group together!

We started the first official day with an interesting lecture about New Zealand history, told with lots of neat little anecdotes. The lecturer was lively and engaging and I learned a few interesting facts. For example, New Zealand was the last major land mass to be discovered and settled by humans - only about 900 or 1000 years ago. And also New Zealand gave women the vote in 1893 - nearly 30 years before the US woke up.

We had morning tea after the lecture - tea or coffee and tomato and cheese sandwiches on croissants. Then we set off to walk to the harbor very close by for a cruise. It was very pleasant, quite lovely and interesting.

The final stop of the day was the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Despite the name, it's a museum of New Zealand history with lots of gorgeous Maori stuff and some flora and fauna displays and a war memorial section on the top floor. We really could have used another hour or so to explore, but the overview we got was well presented.

When we got back to the hotel I went exploring. In a nearby bookstore I picked up a nice anthology of New Zealand poetry. Afterwards I joined one of the couples for a very nice seafood dinner in a restaurant near where we had started our harbor cruise. Our site coordinator had handed out a list of suggestions for our first dinner on our own and the one we chose, Soul, was listed as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world! I had a lovely red snapper served with a mint and cilantro salad for $32NZ. Although I had a very pleasant evening, in general I feel that dinner on our own the very first night is not a great idea. It really is too soon for anyone to have made any connections with the other travelers.

The next day we were accompanied all day by Dr. John Walsby, an inshore marine biologist, and the most exciting speaker and repository of knowledge on history, geology, biology, climatology and you-name-it-ology.  We began with a lecture at the hotel where he introduced us to various types of shellfish found in NZ, went on to discuss the climate and how NZ's position roughly halfway between the South Pole and the equator results in a very changeable climate. This was illustrated with high pressure systems, low pressure systems, cooking analogies, and more. He then went on to explain how the land actually came to be, introducing plate tectonics, a lovely comparison of the earth to an egg that has been cooked in a microwave so that the yolk is solid but the white is still jelly-like and then dropped so that the fractured shell can move on the jelly surface. He barely stopped for breath, peppered his talk with jokes, wonderful analogies and generally made what could have been pretty dry stuff sound very interesting and engaging.

Then we set off to explore a bit, still with John, visiting a volcanic lake, which was beautiful and populated by many of New Zealand’s flightless birds. It seems that there were no mammals native to the islands, so the birds had no need to develop or continue flight to escape predators.

After lunch we set off for another excursion, this time to a volcanic cone. In this part of the world they are common, but not very high. This one really was a stroll to the top, with frequent stops for explanation of the types of rock and how they came to be where they were and how they were - strata of scoria and ash, some basalt. The top had been a gun emplacement during World War II and the tunnels and gun turrets are still in place. We had an amazing view of Auckland Harbor and the city on the other side. Just gorgeous.

All of us seemed to be as fascinated by John's energy, knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for his material. One of the women commented that she could picture a freshman in his class hearing some of his lectures and deciding then and there to major in whatever the subject of the lectures might be.

Albert, our tour leader, told me about another book store in Auckland where he was sure I’d find a collection of poems by Hone Tuwhare, the Maori poet I had read about. They had exactly what I want: a complete works collection, with several poems that he wrote in English translated into Maori by the editors. Maori is pretty much phonetic so I can read the words and feel them in my mouth. I may not be perfect but I won't be too, too far off.

Auckland is a lovely city. I have enjoyed our couple of days here and now I'm looking forward to exploring some of the other parts of this beautiful country.

On Friday we left Auckland after breakfast and drove to Rotorua with a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was basically a bathroom break at a nice little spot in Hamilton. We had about a half hour to stretch our legs, walk down to a river and look at souvenirs. I found put that there are three other knitters in the group who were all looking to buy nice merino yarn. There is some yarn that combines merino with possum fur and is referred to as New Zealand mink.  We saw some things made with that yarn and they were yummy!

At lunch I got a chance to taste New Zealand mussels – different from the ones I’m used to – which had been highly recommended by John Walsby.  They were indeed delicious.

Our afternoon excursion was a visit to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. The initial cave part was interesting, but not particularly spectacular. We got to a section where there were glow worms and we saw a few little sparkles, got to see the "fishing line" secretions that they drop down to catch food and I think many of us were wondering if this was all there was. Then we got into a boat and were pulled silently through the dark along an underground stream through an area where the ceiling was covered with hundreds and hundreds of little lights. It was breathtakingly beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen before. I don't even know how to describe it adequately.

Saturday in Rotorua was a very full, very interesting, very productive day. Our morning was spent at the Waimangu Valley Geothermal Site - the newest geothermal site in the world. We started with a ride on Lake Rotomahana to see various rock formations and geothermal spouts. it was a little cold and windy but it was beautiful.

After the boat ride we explored on foot, with a walk down the valley learning some of the history of the geysers and volcanoes, a little about the plants – we tasted something bitter that is used for stomach upsets, saw tea trees and a couple of varieties of tree ferns. The silver fern, so-called because the stems are silver, is a symbol of NZ. We also saw black ferns which are carved into beautiful objects with really intricate natural graining.

Lunch was a lovely old hotel called Princes Gate. For the first of several times during the trip we had chosen our main course and dessert a couple of days before and, of course, no one remembered what they had picked. I had salmon, which was delicious, and a chocolate raspberry tart that was sinful. Then we had a little time to stroll in the Government Gardens just a little ways away.

Our afternoon visit was to Te Puia where we got to see the geyser Pohutu, which sprayed me a little but not as much as Geysir in Iceland. We saw the mud pools and went through the kiwi house, although I did not actually see the kiwi, and then a quick visit to the weaving and carving schools. We saw a couple of people working on thing and, but didn't get any lecture or real demonstration from our guide. He did show us how to strip flax (actually a kind of agave) down to fibers using a mussel shell. There were some nice pieces in the gift shop and I bought a green stone pendant, a single twist design that symbolizes the path of life.

That night we went back to Te Puia for a ceremony including haka dancing and dinner. One of the men in our group was selected to be our chief for the welcoming ceremony and several oour group participated in learning some traditional women’s dances and men’s warrior dances called haka.

Sunday was a big travel day with most of our sightseeing consisting of what we saw out the bus window. The flights from Rotorua to Christchurch and Christchurch to Invercargill were notable mostly for the total lack of security.  It was like the old days.  We went into the airport, got our boarding passes and got on the plane. No x-ray machines for carry-ons, no shoes coming off or liquids in little baggies. It was nice being in a country that trusts people to do the right thing and one, as someone pointed out, that has no real enemies.

As always, our tour leader regaled us with stories and jokes during our bus rides, interspersed with information about the places we were visiting. On this journey he told us one about Captain Cook, constipated sailors and a Maori herbal cure that ended with the punch line "With fronds like these who needs enemas." Groan!!

Lunch was at the Salvation Army citadel in Invercargill. It was a lovely, home-cooked meal served by three older lady volunteers and one man. It was an interesting and pleasant change from restaurants and many of us commented on how nice it was to have this kind of home-y experience so far from home.

After lunch we had a lecture introducing us to the geography, climate and a little history of the South Island. Then we drove on to Te Anau with a stop for ice cream. The scenery along the way was gorgeous and we made one stop at an overlook with a gorgeous view of the sea with rolling waves and breakers. There were beautiful cloud formations in the sky and the sun shining on the water through the breaks looking like silver. The rest of the scenery was rolling fields, many with cows, sheep or deer grazing, and  mountains in the background.

 We got off to an early start the next day and made several stops on our way to Milford Sound to enjoy some amazing scenery. We stopped at Mirror Lakes and saw mountainsides reflected in water that was a still and clear as glass. We made another stop to look across an open field into a pass connecting two mountains with others hiding in the mist behind them.  A third stop was at The Chasm where we saw tall silver tree ferns, a river running over rocks that had been smoothed by the bubbling water until they were shiny. We walked along a path that felt as if we were miles and miles from any civilization. One quick stop was by a bubbling little brook with sweet, clear cold wate

The Milford Sound boat ride was super. The scenery was astounding – tall rock faces, mountains, beautiful water, several lovely waterfalls, glaciers in the not too far distance, cute little fur seals swimming and sunning themselves on the rocks.

On the way to the sound we went through the Homer Tunnel – long, very dark, unfinished side walls and only one way. Traffic has to wait until there's nothing coming the other way to enter. They have a good system of lights and timer countdowns and the wait wasn't bad, but you can see that it must be a pain during heavy traffic in one direction or the other.

The drive to Queenstown was long, but very scenic. We had to backtrack south almost all the way to Te Anau and then turn north to Queenstown. I actually dozed off once or twice for 10 or 15 minutes each time.  I don't think I've ever done that on a bus ride on any of my trips. But having awakened at 5:45 and then spent the morning out in the fresh air I'm not surprised.

Our hotel in Queenstown was right on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and every room had a lovely private balcony with a great view of the lake. This one was is a little ritzier (I guess, since I'm in NZ I should say its posher) that the others. The rooms were bigger, the TV was also Internet capable for a price, and the bathroom had one of those fancy showers with only a half door. I hate them! I must say, however, that with this one I did not flood the bathroom the way I have in past encounters with this style.

We started Tuesday with a walk through the Queensrown Gardens. The garden is very beautiful. Lots of gorgeous trees, including a couple of huge redwoods, lots of lovely fall flowers, fountains, pools and a memorial to the Antarctic explorer, Scott.  Then we joined the rest of the group to board a coal burning vessel called the Earnslaw for a trip along the lake to a sheep station. We had a demonstration of sheep shearing – interesting, but I'd seen it before in the Faroe Islands where it wasn't a demonstration for tourists but actual work – and a show of how the sheep dog, a sweet border collie named King, gets the sheep to go where he wants them to go. Apparently some sheep dogs get their message across by barking and some by simply eyeing the sheep. King is an eye dog and it was pretty neat to see him fix the sheep with a sort of schoolteacher stare and off they went to the place he wanted them to go.

When the boat trip ended we were free to do whatever we wanted, so a bunch of us set out to find the yarn store. I remembered that it was on Beach Street, so we just had to walk along and there it was. We all found something we liked. I bought some very pretty hand-dyed merino, possum and nylon in shades of blue and gray which I had shipped. Then we set out to wander, found a very nice little shop where I found a very cute little jade owl. So I had my poetry books, owls, a tee shirt and yarn. All my New Zealand quests were fulfilled.

The gondola rides up and down to the Skyline restaurant were not as bad as I thought they'd be, but I also did not ever look out. Both ways I was facing the side of the mountain, so it was almost like being on the ground. I rode up with one couple who did a wonderful job of distracting me, and I rode down with two sisters who were both a little nervous so we sort of gave each other moral support. I would have been happier with a different means of transportation, but I did it. There was a terrific observation deck and I went out to get a few photos of the spectacular view. I was less nervous out there than I would have anticipated. Maybe having made myself do some of these things has resulted in my getting over some of my fear of heights. Or maybe it’s possible to outgrow a fear just as you can outgrow an allergy.

The following day was a travel day, so not as much sightseeing as some other days, but we did see quite a lot nevertheless.  In the morning we checked out of the hotel and went to Arrowtown, an old mining town that has been partially preserved. We saw a very nice small museum showing a lot about the town in the 1800s. We had been told to check out the toilet so the tour leader and I found our way to the schoolroom and the "lavatory" sign. When I opened the door I shrieked because there was a man sitting on the toilet! Of course, it was a mannequin, but he was very realistic looking!

I walked around a bit, including a jaunt down to the Chinese village. The Chinese had been brought over to do the labor and, much like the railroad workers in the US, were segregated and shunned. It was interesting to see the shacks and read the explanations but none of it was surprising or new to me.

The schedule for the day had gotten changed around because our flight to Wellington was later than the original itinerary called for, so lunch was odd. Lunch was theoretically included even though the schedule didn’t allow for us to eat together, so we had been given money to purchase our own meal whenever and wherever we wished.  This happened a couple of additional times during the trip.

Our flight to Wellington was about an hour and a quarter over some awesome mountains and glaciers. When we landed got a little tour of the city along with a cable car ride up to the botanical gardens and a slow walk down from the top. The gardens were beautiful, especially a special section of roses and begonias in glorious colors.

The hotel was right on the harbor and all of our rooms had gorgeous harbor views. After dinner at the hotel about half of us went to see the city lights from a scenic observation point on Mt. Victoria. It was really spectacular. And we got to see the Southern Cross in a beautifully clear sky.

Our first stop early Thursday morning was Zealandia, an area of the valley that has been fenced off with a cleverly engineered fence to protect, preserve and encourage regrowth of native birds, some plants and some insects. We got to see several kinds of birds that are native to NZ and, in some cases, endangered. The funniest was the takahe – sort of small turkey-sized bird with iridescent blue feathers and bright red beak named Little T. He was sort of hiding until one of the volunteers came walking through.  Apparently T thought he was about to be fed and he followed the guy around like a puppy dog. It was very funny to watch and gave us some great chances to take his picture.

The fence is amazing.  It is 8.6 kilometers long and is specifically designed to keep out the animals that are known to be predatory, either because they eat the birds or because they eat the eggs. The fence is several feet high to stop the jumping animals, the wire mesh has only tiny spaces to block little ones like mice, there is a metal piece called a top hat that foils any animal that tried to climb, and it extends a ways underground to stop the burrowing animals. When we drove a ways off to visit the Wind Turbine lookout we were still within the borders of the fence. Our guide told us that they have managed to re-establish populations of some birds that were seriously endangered. It's really a pretty amazing concept. They even ask visitors to open and shake out bags in case something might be stowing away that could cause a problem. Our guide told us that a little girl visiting with her family had a kitten in her bag. On the front of the main building is a quote: The future is no longer what is going to happen; it is what are we going to do.

Our afternoon excursion was to Te Papa Tongawera, the National Museum of New Zealand where we saw exhibits about Maori culture and, New Zealand history. Most memorable to me was the information about the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 and considered to be New Zealand’s founding document. The Treaty states in broad terms the intention to establish New Zealand as a nation and to establish a government.

After lunch we had a very interesting lecture on New Zealand politics. I had never really understood the whole parliamentary election/prime minister process and our lecturer explained it very well. It's really an interesting approach with a party in control really being in control and the whole idea that parliament, not the prime minister or, in the case of a Commonwealth country like NZ, Australia or Canada, the Governor General is sovereign. And the Queen, even though she is technically the head of state, basically has no real power at all. This system seems to result in a more representative and also a less confrontational arrangement than what we have - at least compared to what we have now with the two parties basically refusing to agree with each other regardless of the merits of the other party's position.

Friday morning we had a very nice tour of the Parliament Building along with some more explanation of how the system works here. It's very different from our political system, but has some features I like a lot. My favorite is the fact that, although MPs are required to vote aye or no with their party on many issues, there are some, such as abortion, gay marriage or legalization of pot where they are free to vote their conscience without regard to their party's position.

We then went on to the Supreme Court building - another beauty with lots of wonderful features. For example, there is a large window into the courtroom so that passersby can see the court in action and the court can see what is going on outside – true transparency of justice in action. Our guide told a very interesting, story about a recent case involving a Maori man married to a pakeha  (European) wife. He died and, as per his request, was to be buried in Christchurch near plots for his wife and kids. But his Maori relatives, whom he had barely seen in years, descended on Christchurch, took the body from the mortuary, and buried him on the family Marae up north. The wife went to court and ultimately won the right to bury him in Christchurch as he had wished, but so far no one has wanted to go get the body away from the Maori relatives!

We had a lovely lunch at the Wellesley Hotel and our leader presented little token gifts to the eight who would be leaving us the next day.  After lunch four of us walked to Old St. Paul's, a very lovely old church and then to Katherine Mansfield's house. One of the women I was with asked the gift shop volunteer how to get there and she actually drove us there! Amazing! I know I read Mansfield’s stories at some point, but I don't remember them. The house was small, very well restored, and the guide sheet mentions various stories that include mention or description of certain rooms, family members and so on. I decided to try to find them online when I got home and discovered that they are available.

Then we set out to walk back to the hotel. It was a pretty long walk and we took our time, but it took about an hour for us to get maybe three quarters of the way. We stopped in a couple of shops and once just to sit a rest for a few minutes. I got back to the hotel in time to wash up a little, change my shirt and meet the couple with whom I was having dinner. Our tour leader had recommended a place where we could get Bluff oysters, but the only available reservation they had was at 5:30. Ortega's it was pretty close to the hotel and we had a lovely meal. I had 6 oysters, which were delicious, and feta empanadas with an apple and orange salad and a selection of sorbets (raspberry and mango) for dessert.

Now it was time to pack up and get ready for the second half of the trip. I cleared all the New Zealand papers, brochures and maps out of my folder and put them in the front pocket of my suitcase. New Zealand is absolutely beautiful. The scenery is just gorgeous and very different from one place to another. The people have been very nice – especially the woman who drove four total strangers to our next tourist stop! Shopkeepers have been totally low key, servers in restaurants and hotels have been great, notably the bartender in Wellington who gave me two hours of free Wi-Fi. All in all it has been a wonderful place to visit.

Saturday we had a lovely last day in New Zealand with a bus ride all along the southern coast, punctuated by several stops to walk along the shore with a lecture about geology by Hamish Campbell who rode with us on the bus and pointed things out as we passed. We finished with a picnic lunch on the grounds of one of the Marine Life Reserves where we could also walk the shore, look at the water, catch glimpses of the South Island through the clouds and enjoy each other's company on the last day for 8 of our group. Our leader had even provided a choice of wine or fruit juice to go along with our sandwiches, bananas, muesli bars and cheese and crackers.

AUSTRALIA

 (more photos of Australia here)

We were met at the airport by our site coordinator for Sydney and arrived at our hotel about a half hour later. I was not impressed with the hotel. Dinner was pretty mediocre. For one thing, the tables and somewhat battered wooden chairs felt sort of like a high school cafeteria. There was no water except what looked as if it was left over from breakfast with tiny glasses. The food was OK, but not great. There was plainish chicken, some nice salmon, potatoes and broccolini and some salad stuff, but no dressing. There did not seem to be enough dessert for everyone. And after dinner, while the site coordinator was trying to give a overview of the program for the next few days there was a lot of noise coming from somewhere nearby, making it hard for people to hear. Our handout said there were safes in the room, but there was none in mine and a couple of people discovered that we could not use the stairs to get down to the lobby from our rooms on the second and third floors.

We met our 7 new group members - 3 couples and a single woman. One of the couples had been in Adelaide, but the other folks were pretty tired from having arrived that morning. One of the women expressed what seemed to be some concern about the fact that we all knew each other already, but I think they found that we were a pretty friendly group. It was hard to tell who was where at dinner - two long tables too close together to move much - but it seemed as if the new folks were scattered among the “veterans” and were getting to know people.

I looked in the yellow pages phone book Sunday morning and found that there is a big book store not very far from the hotel so I felt sure I’d find my Australian poetry fairly easily.

In the morning we had a really interesting lecture on Australian history with an overview that started from the arrival of the first humans about 60 thousand years ago – the first humans to travel over deep water in their migrations rather than overland like the precursors of the American Indians over the Bering land bridge or the migration out of Africa into Europe and Asia. The lecture took us through to the European settlers, the transportation of convicts, the recent influx of refugees from Vietnam and now from Somalia and the Middle East and a little about the government parties. Our lecturer included lots of funny anecdotes, like the fact that when Cook landed the Aborigines were fascinated by nails. They had never seen them and realized that they would make building things a lot easier.  So the sailors started trading nails for sex and Cook had to post armed guards at the ship's carpentry shop. He also talked about the "Columbian exchange" that affected most settler countries. Eurasian colonists brought smallpox, but caught syphilis. They brought alcohol and were introduced to drugs. I took lots of notes that I will most likely never look at again, but it really was interesting

One more demerit for this hotel, which our leader described as "interesting." We had a tea break during the lecture and they brought up some very tasty little meat pies, a tea selection that did not include any black tea – no English breakfast, no Earl Grey – and two urns, one marked coffee and one marked hot water.  Turned out they both had coffee, which I discovered when I drowned my green tea with jasmine in coffee.

Our afternoon excursion took us down, or rather up, to the harbor for a walk around and a view of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge along with some other lovely sights. One stop was at Mrs. MacQuarie's Chair, a seat carved out of the rock where she sat and watched the harbor to see if her son's ship was coming home safely. One of us  had been delegated to play the role and she mimed watching, crying and smiling as our site coordinator told us the story. There is a steel rod supporting part of the rock and we heard that a previous group, after hearing the story, asked if she then went out and became a pole dancer, so our “Mrs. MacQuarie” mimed that as well.

We then went to the Opera House for a guided tour, which was fascinating. We heard about the design, the problems that arose in building it and got to see a couple of the performance spaces. In one of the small theaters we were told that we all needed the chance to tell people back home that we had sung at the Sydney Opera House.  Our leader told us that his birthday was the next day, so we sang happy birthday to him.

We started Monday with a drive around some of the eastern suburbs of Sydney with lots of scenic stops for photos. One stop was at Bondi Beach where I took off my shoes and socks and waded into the Tasman Sea. The sand was the softest I've ever felt and the water was surprisingly warm. The waves are pretty big and every now and then one came in farther and faster than expected, but it was fun to be there.

One other stop was a place called Gap Park. There are high, rugged rocks over the sea and apparently it was at one time a popular place for suicides. Now it is well-lit at night and there are signs all over telling people to call hotlines if they are in need of help or of they see someone who seems to be in need.

One of the suburbs we visited is Double Bay, humorously referred to Double Pay  because it is expensive. Our site coordinator told an amusing story about the Woolworth's supermarket that wasn't doing very well there.  Someone had the idea to frost the windows and now it is one of the most successful in the chain.  The reason? Folks in Double Bay didn't want to be seen shopping in a chain market and now they are not!

After the drive around we had a cruise on the harbor ferry.  We got to see the bridge and opera house from different angles, heard a little about the zoo, which we are visiting tomorrow, and got a different view of the city.  As one of our group put it, we saw things from the inside and from the outside.

We had lunch at a cute little café and afterwards walked back to the hotel. I stopped along the way at the big Dimocks bookstore to look for poetry. I spent a while combing the shelves and found two books by indigenous women, both winners of prizes given to indigenous writers and so I got them both. I think I will be happy to have them.

I have friends who have been living in Sydney for a while and this was a “free” evening so I had made plans to get together with them. We made one stop at a fascinating and very cool butcher shop called Victor Churchill, established in 1876. We then went to Bondi and walked along the park above the water, stopped at their apartment in Double Bay (very cute and cozy) and went for dinner at the yacht club. It was very informal, outdoor seating near the boats and lots of fun. After dinner we went for ice cream in their neighborhood, walked a bit more and it was back to my hotel. It was a lovely afternoon and evening and I was delighted that the scheduling worked put so we could get together.

After breakfast on Tuesday we visited a jeweler who specializes in opals, learned about where they are found, the three kinds (white, black and boulder), how man-made pieces are made (a mineral background, a thin slice of opal and a silica coating) and had a chance to see some lovely pieces.  A few folks bought for themselves,  or for kids and grandkids.

From there we went to the zoo.  We didn't get to see the whole place, but did get a nice tour of the part that has Australian animals and a little lecture with a chance to see a lizard, a very poisonous spider, a stick insect and a sleepy possum close up. It was interesting – and a good thing that no one in the group seemed squeamish about touching the lizard or getting close up to the bugs, which were in closed containers, but still... The koalas are very cute, the wallabies are fun, we saw a kookaburra, but not in a gum tree although some of us did sing the song, a napping kangaroo, a few nocturnal critters like possums, bilbies, various mice and rats, echidnas, a platypus and more.

After lunch at the zoo our leader had us go around and introduce ourselves for the Australia folks and give a bit more information about ourselves than just names and home towns. It was interesting to hear who said what. We all learned some things about each other that had not come up in conversation. We are a very interesting and diverse bunch.

The ferry back was fine and then I again joined the group that was walking down George Street back to the hotel. I made a detour through the Victoria Building to take a couple of pictures, strolled along and snapped a few more, detoured into the Chinatown shops and bought a souvenir tee-shirt and then came back to relax before our very early dinner and evening at the opera.

The production of La Bohème was lovely. The voices, the sets, our fabulous seats all made it a memorable evening.

The next day we had an early departure for Melbourne where we were met by our site coordinator.. We got a bit of a tour around the city, with a stop for a light lunch of finger sandwiches and fruit  in Fitzroy Gardens. After lunch I walked around a bit. The highlights of the garden were a miniature Tudor Village, donated by a borough in England in gratitude for food packages sent to feed the children during World War II, a fairy tree, Captain Cook's Cottage and the Conservatory. The begonias in the conservatory were beautiful.

Then we went to the Galaxy Skydeck - an observation deck 85 stories up. It's all glassed in, although there seemed to be one place you could go outside (I didn't) with a spectacular 360 degree view of the city.

Next stop was the Shrine of Remembrance, built to honor the huge number of young men from Victoria State who died in World War I. Nearly 10% if I remember correctly. And because recruiters put men from the same town or village into the same regiment, in some cases the entire male population of a community was wiped out. The shrine is very moving. There is a stone engraved with the words "greater love hath no man" set in an enclosure slightly below floor level so that you have to bow your head to see it. There is a skylight directly above it that is opened every November 11 at 11:00 AM. The sun shines directly on the word "love." Visitors can create a replica of the event, complete with prayers, and it is very, very moving.

From there we got to the hotel – once again we were in Chinatown! My big project was contacting my credit card company who once again ignored my instructions that I would be traveling and denied my card when I tried to charge something.  The same thing happened in Turkey and I had to call to straighten it out.  I was told that notifying them of travel plans was no guarantee that the card wouldn’t be denied! Ridiculous! I will contact them to try to get some resolution, especially reimbursement of the phone charge for the call.  We’ll see how it works out.

After dinner we saw a really good little film about Australian birds and wild life and how they have adapted to the climate and landscapes. Some shots were really funny – a frog trying to eat a nasty-tasting snail . And some were amazing to see – a baby kangaroo, really an embryo, coming out and crawling up its mother's belly into the pouch.

We had an interesting lecture Thursday morning about the Australian economy, before, during and after the global financial crisis of 2008. In a nutshell, the country went from having a long history of a budget in surplus with no national debt and low unemployment to resolving the problem with widespread stimulus packages that led to a deficit and unemployment that never went as high as predicted, but was still pretty high.

The health care system is similar to England or Canada – mostly government subsidized, people get the national program and can have private insurance, it is relatively low cost and it covers just about everything. Private insurance gets you faster treatment for non-emergent conditions but not necessarily better care. The public hospitals are all teaching hospitals so the doctor who sees you there might be a leading specialist in his field using you as a teaching case.

We then took the tram up to Victoria Market. We were provided with tram cards for the duration of our stay which have been preloaded with money. Cool system! We were also given cash for lunch today and tomorrow, since it is that odd combination of meals on our own and yet included in the program. We got $30 for the two lunches and the one I had today cost $6 and change, so I was ahead of the game. (Not so far ahead as one of the men in our group who popped into the casino, put a dollar into one of the machines and won $250! He treated everyone to drinks at dinner with his winnings).

The market was interesting, but not all that appealing. It's pretty big with sections for meat, fish and poultry, sections for produce, household stuff, clothes, and so on. in the food sections some vendors were calling out to attract buyers, but everywhere else was low key. I found a very cheap wooden owl, so that quest was covered in case I didn’t see another one. I had pizza at the food court and then I wandered a little more and then strolled back down Elizabeth Street. This was the first hotel that did not offer even 20 minutes of free internet time, so I popped into the internet café across the street to check email and post on Facebook. I managed to do that for at least a few minutes just about every day, usually thanks to some sort of free Wi-Fi arrangement in our hotels..

At 2:30 we took off for Philip Island and the Penguin Parade with a stop at Maru Animal

Park where I fed wallabies and kangaroos and saw emus and a koala. We saw a female with a joey still on her pouch and that was pretty amazing. We made a second stop at a scenic spot called The Nobbies where we could see waves crashing into rocks and where breeding boxes for penguins were set up, so we saw a couple of penguins there and a glorious view of sun on water.

After a huge dinner of fish and chips we headed for the Penguin Parade. After dark we saw groups of birds coming onshore and walking up a long path to their nests. It was really amazing to see so many of them – dozens and dozens  – and to hear them calling and talking to each other. The sound was like a whirring chirp punctuated with cries that almost sounded like a baby. They came marching up the path in groups of maybe 10 or 11, pausing periodically and seeming to rest before continuing their trek up to the nests. These penguins are small, so the walk must have been very hard for them.

In the gift shop we saw plush penguins wearing knitted sweaters. Our site coordinator told us that when the penguins get covered with oil from a ship they are washed off with detergent that also removes their natural oils so they can't swim for a while. To keep them warm they actually are put into sweaters.

We had a relaxed start at 9:30 Thursday morning to walk up to the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia Collection.  The lecturer told us a little bit about several pieces of aboriginal art and also showed us pieces from the early colonial period and a couple of more modern pieces. After the guided tour we were free so I tagged along with one of the couples to spend more time looking at the art. Then we strolled down Swanston Street and stopped at Pie Face for lunch. I had a classic mince meat pie which was yummy and a little lemon tart which was a little too sweet, but still good. My companions left to go back to the hotel and I decided to wander some more.  Since the city is laid out on a grid, it's pretty easy to roam around and not get lost.

I found some neat things to look into - the Scots Church, an alleyway covered in fabulous graffiti art, St. Paul's Cathedral, a busker on Bourke St., a little demonstration demanding that bank that owns and/or manages a number of commercial properties pay its cleaning staff a living wage, a street corner evangelist and several interesting buildings and interesting pieces of public art. I have no idea how much area I covered walking up and down streets, but after a out an hour and a half I was ready to come back to the hotel for a cup of tea and a chance to rest my feet for a while.

That night was a dinner on our own, but our site coordinator invited us to join him at one of his favorite restaurants. Several of us joined him for a very pleasant meal, a stop for ice cream after dinner and a stroll back to the hotel. Earlier in the trip we had seen something called “bugs” on a dinner menu. I had been fairly sure that this referred to something akin to crayfish which are called “mudbugs” in some places in the US. When I saw Moreton Bay Bugs on the menu here I had to try them. They were like small lobster tails, broiled and garlicky and quite yummy. I have also become a fan of lemon, lime and bitters, a very refreshing soft drink. And for dessert I had fig ice cream – actually vanilla mixed with fig preserves and also quite delicious.

Saturday found us in Alice Springs, right in the center of Australia. The temperature was in the high nineties when we arrived. We got to our hotel – reminiscent of the Spanish courtyard arrangement - had some lunch and got a program overview and then visited the Alice Springs School of the Air. It services about 120 students scattered over an area twice the size of Texas via Internet. They have their own satellite! It's a pretty amazing set up with just a few teachers conducting lessons for a handful of students,  book work delivered by special mail pouches and home tutors for each kid, often a parent but sometimes a hired live-in. A few times a year there are activities that bring the kids together to meet their "classmates" face to face, and the teachers also travel around and meet each student personally a couple of times a year.

When we returned from that visit we had a lecture about Aborigine culture and art. It was interesting and I did learn a few new things, notably some coming of age rituals (circumcision at about age 14 with no anesthetic, but following three days of rituals that keep the boys awake to the point where they are a little delirious), strong kinship taboos, strong attachment to place and to ancestor spirits.

Dinner was at the botanical gardens.  We had a barbecue with nice steak cooked to order, a salad, coleslaw and potato salad and fresh fruit and ice cream for dessert. There was a singer named Skip entertaining us with Australian folk songs, most of which I gathered he wrote himself. He got us singing along and even playing some simple homemade instruments. After dinner we had a little talk by an. It was  interesting and the sky was beautiful. There is almost no light pollution so the stars were very impressive, especially for someone used to the city where I can only see a couple of stars and then only on very clear, moonless nights.

Sunday was my birthday! I got sung to on the bus and presented with a very cute little koala pin that will live on my backpack.  Later in the day the folks I was walking around town with bought me an ice cream cone. :)

It was somehow not as hot as it had been the previous day. Maybe it was a little cloudier, maybe I got acclimated quickly –- don't know. We set out early and first visited the Alice Springs Desert Park. We saw lots of desert plants and trees, a small aviary with a few birds, a walk-through exhibit of nocturnal animals, reptiles and insects, many of which were out and active. And there was an interesting film about the desert with some very interesting images of the land that was and the land that is. And there was a gift shop with some beautiful Aboriginal art and I bought a nice piece for $230.

Our next stop was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and another well done short film about the service, mostly first person accounts by people who suffered accidents or illness and had to rely on the service to get them proper care. It was interesting, and clearly a pitch for donations.

A couple of people chose to walk around downtown - if downtown is appropriate for basically a couple of blocks of stores - and I went with one of the couples who had joined us in Sydney . A few galleries were open and we explored a little.  I saw some nice pieces, mostly much more expensive than what I spent at the Desert Park, and. nothing that made me sorry I had made the earlier purchase.

We poked into another souvenir type shop and ended up giving the guy there advice on where to go when he comes to the US on a vacation with his family. We talked him out of spending 5 days in Las Vegas and convinced him to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco and/or San Diego and La Jolla. It was sort of funny and also fun to be tourists but giving travel advice.

Dinner that night an experience to try indigenous food. We were told there would be a sampling plate and then a "normal" meal.  Dinner was lovely. We heard a little about the history of the place where we ate, which means in English "women can cook." We were served a tastings plate with kangaroo meat (tasty), bush tomatoes( not a strong flavor), various dipping things, feta cheese, bread and wattle seed (crunchy). The main course was very tame - fish, mashed potato and salad. And dessert was ice cream with meringue bits, cream and fruit. It was all very nice.

We had a very early start t Monday and a long drive to Uluru broken up by a couple of fun stops. The first was at a camel farm where a Japanese camel handler named Sam helped several in the group experience a ride around a paddock. They rode two to a camel with a little bit of a trot towards the end of the ride. It was silly and fun and the folks who did it enjoyed it and the rest of us enjoyed their enjoyment.

The second stop was morning tea break complete with scones, with cream and jam. It was all quite lovely and very civilized in the midst of our drive through a very barren, very forbidding looking desert. We saw a DVD about the man who envisioned a transcontinental telegraph for Australia and the explorer who, after six tries, finally found a workable route from the south to the north for the telegraph to be put in place. I can't even imagine how anyone survived the trek.

The countryside is red dirt and scrub. We passed through cattle stations that were a million acres large with one head for every 80 acres. I can't even grasp such vast areas.

When we finally arrived we had lunch at the Uluru cultural center, had a little time to look around in shops and the information center, and then we set off to see Uluru up close. Like the Taj Mahal, it's even better in person than in pictures because there are details that just don't show until you are right there. The rock is red, but it's also streaked with black and white, there are paintings on some surfaces and in some caves, folds and twists and honeycomb erosion that are gorgeous.

After we checked in and had a little time to refresh we went back to see Uluru at sunset. The colors change almost minute by minute as the setting sun changes the angle and the light, passing through reds and oranges to almost purple. And the sky was also streaked in pink and yellow with a nearly full moon rising as the sun set. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Dinner at the resort was a food adventure dream. The seafood bar offered oysters, mussels, prawns and marinated squid – interesting choices for a place in the middle of the desert and hundreds of miles from the sea. The salad bar had kangaroo, water buffalo and wallaby and the main course buffet had a different preparation of wallaby and also crocodile stew. I was in heaven! And I was happy to be sitting near other diners who were also excited about trying all the new stuff.

It was the first night of Passover and one of the women had matzah that she got when she visited a synagogue in Melbourne. She put it out and invited everyone to share and then three of us explained a little about explained to several people what Passover signifies..

On Tuesday we had breakfast at the cultural center which meant I had a chance to buy a fly net.  Best $10 I ever spent! The flies don’t bite but they swarm around faces looking for moisture in your eyes, nose ,mouth or just wherever you are sweating from the heat. It made a huge difference in my ability to enjoy the sights as we walked around. It also meant that I had fantasies of being Aiel and wearing a shoufa. (If you’ve read Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books you get the reference. )

On the bus ride to Kata Tjuta we were treated to the sight of several wild camels. It was really something to see them, just grazing by the wide of the road. There were four or five of them that I saw, including one that was more gray than crown and there was also variation in the size of their humps.

Kat Tjuta is an amazing rock formation with 30+ domes in various shades of brown and red. One of the domes has a row of what looks like windows going straight across, undoubtedly the result of some sort of erosion, but fascinating to look at. We also had a chance to hike a little into Walpa Gorge between the domes. The trail was very rocky and uneven, but the scenery was amazing even though I had to stop walking every once in a while I order to look around. It was quite spectacular and one of the most striking things was the amount of green alternating with the red sand. Just gorgeous.

We had lunch at the same restaurant where we had supper the previous night, so I got to eat a little more kangaroo and wallaby before we set out for the airport. I did find an amulet-like necklace at the resort gift shop. Amulets are not part of Aboriginal culture, but this is a sort of raw looking opal and it ill serve the purpose.

We got into Cairns around 6 and got to the hotel around 7. The first thing we ran into was keys that didn't work.  Apparently they were coded with the wrong date. We had a lecture about the reef from the man who will also take us snorkeling.

Wednesday we visited The Great Barrier Reef! Gorgeous coral in all sorts of fantastic shapes, sizes and colors, loads of fish - some colorful, some fairly drab but all fascinating. giant clams and a ray! The only down side is that I was really, really sea sick on the way there.

The boat ride took about two hours and it was rough with lots of up and down and lots of side-to-side rolling. I was OK at first having taken a seasick pill and then two ginger tablets. But once I had to bend down to try on flippers it was over.  And going below to collect equipment was the coup de grâce! I was told later that I looked pretty green around the edges and I felt pretty awful. I had taken a ticket for the semi-submersible but I passed on that spans went right to the beach as soon as we anchored. I made the right choice since a few who went on the semi-sub came back a little green themselves.

And once I was on the beach and in the water I was fine. One of the guys from the boat came and offered to show me around the reef and I got a fabulous tour of the coral. I hung put for a bit and then went back for a bite to eat - literally a bite. I had a small roll and couple of crackers.

Then I went back to the beach again and went out three more times on my own, seeing all sorts of wonderful things. The water is fairly shallow where we were, and much of the time I could have stood up with no trouble. When I was coming out the final time a group of lovely pale grayish-blue darters followed me like puppies almost to the beach into water so shallow that I could see them without putting my face in the water.

The next day was rainforest day. Our lecturer was terrific. He is apparently self-taught and seemed to imply that he dropped out of school at 16 but he spoke as if he had college degrees in botany, ecology, zoology and a whole lot more. He made one point in particular that fascinated and surprised me. He talked about flowers appearing fairly recently in evolutionary terms but being of paramount importance. Without flowers there would be no food and without food there would be no life. He also talked about the rainforest as 2% of the 22% of earth that is land, but home to something like 75% of all known species.

We walked a little around a village called Karanda - sort of a combination ecology center, arts colony and shopping mall. There is a bat place, a bird place and a butterfly place, a number of shops specializing in wares created by local artisans and several galleries. There is also a very nice restaurant where we had lunch - one of the preselected meals. I had a delicious rare steak!

After lunch we took a cable car up over the rainforest canopy to look down on what Brian had called a field of broccoli. It was very high up and I was not very happy, but the views were spectacular. I was definitely less nervous than I expected. I took a few pictures, but the windows of the car weren't that clear and it had been raining, so some of the pictures were taken through drops of water.

Then we walked a bit more to the Tjukapai center where we saw a demonstration of dance and music (simple animal imitations, very earth- bound movement accompanied by a didgeridoo), a combo film-play about the creation of the earth (mankind as born from someone's calf!) and the a short demonstration of how to play a didgeridoo with the musician accompanying a short film about animals. Finally we had a chance to try throwing a spear in a spear thrower and throwing a boomerang. 

In the evening we had a M.A.S.H. (Memories And Shared Highlights) circle and our official farewell dinner. Several of us commented on how enthusiastic our lecturers and site coordinators were about the topics and places they were presenting.  And several commented on how congenial the group had been. Of course, no one was likely to say anything negative under those circumstances. We got a good laugh when one of two women, next door neighbors traveling together for the first time, said she was happy that she wasn’t going to have to sell her house because they had gotten along so well.

Friday was our last day and we were free for the morning.  I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast, took my time, chatted with various folks, spent a while on email and then strolled around Cairns for an hour or so. I walked along the Esplanade, which is very pleasant, or would be if the humidity weren't so high. In true tropics fashion there was intermittent light rain and I got sprinkled on at least three times during the walk.

There were interesting displays about Aboriginal culture in the area, Cairns history and local flora and fauna. Eventually I needed to cool off and headed back to the hotel. Lots of folks were sitting in the lobby, so we chatted, shared photos and generally killed time.

At the airport I had some lunch and spent my last few Australian dollars on a little pair of heart shaped earrings made of iron ore.

 It was a very good trip. I was surprised at how different New Zealand was from Australia and how different the coastal cities of Sydney and Melbourne were from the desert and then the tropical coast. I sort of knew it would be, but it's always different when you see it for yourself. I was also surprised by how different the experience and present lives of the Maori were from the Aborigines. The Maori are much more assimilated into mainstream life. I suspect it has something to do with their being a much more attractive people by European standards, plus having been more savvy about recognizing what the Europeans could do for them. Even though they were warring tribes, they were more of a single people than the Aborigines and that probably had something to do with it as well.

It will be interesting to see where the poems come from -- the NZ scenery, the desert and Uluru, the reef or the rain forest, the Aboriginal paintings? Well see...