Cairns, Port Douglas, and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

Domestic flights in Australia are reasonable with the discount airlines. We hopped on a plane rather than embarking on what would be the 20+ hour road trip northwest from Brisbane to Cairns, even though they're both in the state of Queensland. There isn't a whole lot to do in Cairns city. It has a weird Midwest-suburbia-combination-beach-town vibe (shopping mall sprawl and bars advertising fruity cocktail specials)... which is all the more strange because there is no actual beach! Instead, Cairns has a man-made shallow lagoon for mostly kiddies and a boardwalk called "The Esplanade" from which you can gaze upon the natural mud flats.

With travel agencies and information centers on every corner, one quickly realizes that Cairns is merely a base for the 600+ tours of the region. You can visit rainforests or vineyards, hot air balloon or sky dive, go caving or whitewater rafting, and the list goes on and on. But these are all secondary pursuits. Cairns's claim to fame is as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. 

Our first trip to the reef went directly out from the port in Cairns. Michaelmas Cay (about 30 km east) has only a tiny segment of beach for visitors since the rest is off-limits as a migratory bird sanctuary. It was nice for easing back into snorkeling since the water was quite calm though chilly. We were glad for the wetsuits and the hot tea after! Hastings Reef was farther out, and the waves were stronger. The site was larger and deeper. Beautiful parrotfish, butterflyfish, anemonefish (a.k.a. Nemo and cousins),  and countless others swam all around us in the gorgeous corals. On the way back to port, we even caught a glimpse of the spray from some humpback whales as they were migrating to their breeding grounds!

For our second trip, we decided to go with a boat out of Port Douglas, which meant getting up before dawn to catch the transfer to the town 70 km north. We were hoping that getting away from the Cairns-based hoards would mean more pristine reef, and the gamble paid off. During our first mooring in the middle of Opal Reef, Rich and I both had trouble believing we weren't swimming in an aquarium. The corals were so brilliantly colored, and the fish were so abundant in number and variety, that I kept expecting to turn and see a treasure chest opening with bubbles floating out! The other sites at Long Bommie (a bommie is the high point of a reef) and Tongue Reef were also very good. We could have gone with the bunch that the marine biologist was leading to Turtle Bay, but our choice to go off independently had its own reward. We didn't even notice that a turtle was so close until it zipped by right in front of us!

Back in Cairns, we splurged at one of the chic restaurants in order to taste some Australian wildlife. Rich finally got to try Moreton Bay Bugs, a prehistoric creature that looks just like a lobster tail with eyes. The verdict was disappointing: shrimp-like, but without any of the sweetness of a lobster or tiger prawn. I opted for what seemed like Australia on a platter: crocodile (slightly fishy chicken with a texture somewhere between breast and shrimp), kangaroo (really tender beef steak), emu (a little tough beef steak - but maybe it was overcooked since even medium rare is pushing it), and the popular Australian barramundi (nice, flaky white fish). I could imagine some of these could be strong and gamey, but this place did a fantastic job balancing the flavors and paring them nicely with a bed of potato/sweet potato mash and braised baby bok choi. I would definitely go back for seconds! 

Brisbane (Australia)

Our first impression of Queensland's capital and the third largest city in Australia was muddled in the jetlag of arrival. Saying goodbye to Rich's cousins and the outskirts, we headed back into the city proper to take in more. Most of the sights are easy walking. A stroll along the Brisbane River brings you past several museums and artsy cafes. We ducked into the Queensland Museum to learn a bit more of the state's history, including sheep ranches, sea cucumber fishing, and lots of mining. This could explain the sort of old Wild West vibe we've felt. I guess gold rushes will do that to a place. Further down river, the South Bank Parklands has pretty bits of rainforest, outdoor eateries, and the occasional monument from Brisbane's twin cities or various other cultural connections. But the real winner for greenspace has to be the City Botanic Gardens, where the huge fig, pine, and macadamia trees that shade lovely stretches of soft grass – real grass for our deprived Barcelona-selves! – made us wish we'd brought a picnic.

Heading up the pedestrian mall of Queen Street, we passed pubs and restaurants, clothing stores, souvenir shops, and money exchanges. It finally hit us that UGG boots are actually a product of Australia after passing countless outlets claiming to offer the best deal. We didn't buy any footwear, but we were quite happy to open our wallets for the farmer's market/food stalls at the end of the high street. Then again, we never could resist grilled sausages or kettle corn. It was a bargain compared to most of the meals we've had in this country, where even one takeout dish can set you back 16 Australian dollars (~ 17 USD or 14 €) - and that's without rice! 

Beerwah (Australia)

Steve Irwin fascinated millions as the Crocodile Hunter on his Animal Planet television show. While you may disagree with his methods, the Australia Zoo, which bears his name and likeness (and the likenesses of his entire family in a huge merchandising empire), in Beerwah is home to many of the continent's most intriguing creatures.

One advantage of visiting in the winter was that we and the other handful of tourists pretty much had the run of the zoo. The enclosures seemed reasonably sized and almost natural to our untrained eyes. The animals were very active. Echnidas (cute little porcupine things that catch insects with their long tongues) and cassowaries (prehistoric-looking giant flightless birds) were moving around so much that all our pictures were blurred.

Though the cost of admission was still dear, as the Aussies would say, zookeepers seemed to be around every corner with an animal you could meet. There were dingoes, baby alligators, and wombats (marsupials which look like rodents of unusual size... and adorableness). One exhibit was dedicated to native snakes with increasing levels of venom. Naturally, the focus of the stage show in the “Crocomuseum” was the saltwater crocodile. When the park staff in true Steve Irwin-style taunted Charlie the Crocodile, not comfortable with the ethics of such tactics, we were both secretly rooting for him to take a chunk out of one of them.

For us, the real highlight of the Australia Zoo were the koalas and kangaroos. So many koalas were in the trees that we half wondered if some of them were just planted teddy bears. After all, they sleep for 20 hours a day, digesting the toxic eucalyptus that is the mainstay of their diet, so it'd be hard to tell from the motionless balls of fur. Rich was lucky enough to catch one awake and snacking with a baby in its pouch! Being there on a school day was great, too, because the kangaroos were still hungry enough to eat from our hands. They weren't too grumpy so we could spend quite some time hanging out with them, and if the roos got tired, they could wander back into their own private rest areas.

Rich was disappointed there weren't any duck-billed platypuses, but all in all, we had an excellent visit to the Australia Zoo!

Brisbane, Beenleigh, Mount Tambourine, Surfers Paradise, and Burleigh Heads (Australia)

When we were barely newlyweds, Rich got sent off to Australia for work for almost 2 months. I had wanted to go visit him, but that whole wedding-and-honeymoon business had already used up a lot of time and cash. When he told me he was going for work again – let alone during August a.k.a. the month that all of Spain takes its vacations – there was no way I was going to miss this second chance!

If you drew a line from Spain straight through the center of the Earth, you would end up in Australia. This explains both the shockingly high airfare to Brisbane and the fact that the flights, strangely enough, show you could go in either an easterly or westerly direction. We'd heard good things about Emirates... but let's face it, everybody in economy just wants to get off the plane after watching 5 films and eating 6 meals... even with regular hot towels and tea service.

Rich's cousin was kind enough to pick us up when we landed at 2 a.m. and generous enough to let us stay with her family at their place in Beenleigh, a suburb of Brisbane. Our introduction to the land of Oz (as the Aussies call it) came the next morning when we were drinking tea on the back porch and a wild cockatoo landed in the big palm nearby! It's winter here, but you wouldn't know it during the sunny days, whose warm temperatures equal those of an English summer. Brightly-colored lorikeets stopped by later, and ibis(es?) and bush turkeys are so common they're almost pests... especially if the bush turkey decides to build his nest – basically a huge compost pile – in your yard.

We went for a drive – left side of the road, folks! - up to Mount Tambourine. There were gorgeous views of the lowlands (lots of horse country), and we watched a para-sailer ride the thermals below. The wineries were closed when we got there, but we did have a lovely coffee with views of the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise to the strains of terrible country music. After about the 10th kookaburra, we stopped taking so many pictures of the birds each time we saw one.

Surfers Paradise up close is a flashy, touristy cluster of high-rise hotels, casinos, and clubs. However, just a little further south, Burleigh Heads is a quieter beach town with a nice little National Park. We took a stroll through the eucalyptus forest, with a slightly faster pace in the rock fall danger zone! Whales are sometimes spotted off the coast here, but all we caught were surfers. Lunch was at a restaurant at a life savers (life guard) station. Rich's cousins are members, so we were privileged to partake of their excellent fried seafood and what was the best seafood chowder ever! We've been talking about it ever since.

Farmer-to-Farmer Program: Day 12-14 Kedougou, Tambacounda, Dakar, and Goree Island (Senegal)

I was very disappointed that I was too sick to do the final day of training in Dar Es Salaam. We left the training materials with KEOH, who will do the follow up with the women's groups. After wrap up sessions with KEOH and the USAID-Yaajeende office in Kedougou, we said our goodbyes and hit the road again. My volunteer coordinator and our driver kindly arranged to break up the long haul back to Dakar with an overnight stay in Tambacounda so as not to overtax my recovery. It ended up being a good idea for everyone involved since traffic into the capital added an extra 2 hours onto the 9 hour journey.

Dakar is big and sprawling with 2.5 million people calling it home. We passed open markets selling all manner of goods, and should you not want to bother getting out of the car, quick-footed salesmen dodge traffic to sell cashews, bags of water, and a yellowy green fruit (very tart, good when juiced and mixed with sugar, and popular with the monkeys in the bush) at your window. Our neighborhood was mostly other hotels and government and NGO buildings. Dinner was at a lovely seaside venue, where I had yummy shrimp beignets and juice from the fruit of the baobab tree (creamy, sort of pear-banana-custard apple flavor).

I had an extra day to see a bit before leaving Senegal. We headed out to Goree Island, a settlement just off the coast. For many years, it was a major trading stop. The colorful architecture and balconies are reminiscent of New Orleans. You can visit the House of Slaves, where many Africans taken during the slave trade passed through the Door of No Return on their way to the New World. For less grim thoughts, Goree seems to have become a popular beach for day trippers. There's also a good view if you climb to the top of the island and look out the old gun turrets that used to defend it. Learning a tiny bit more about Senegalese culture and history made for a nice way to finish up my assignment.