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| Sydney Opera House |
Australia and New Zealand aren't on the same continent, but for travel purposes, they may as well be. If you are coming from a distant place, it takes a very long flight to get to either of these two countries, but they are a (relatively) short flight from each other. New Zealand has always been one of our favorite destinations, so we added it to our itineary whenever business took us to Australia.
New Zealand
Below are a few more New Zealand locations and events that were not included in that trip.
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| Auckland skyline with the Sky Tower and Port of Auckland, North Island, New Zealand. |
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| Sheep grazing on the costal hills of Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand |
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Tama-te-Kapua Meeting House, centerpiece of the Māori village of Ohinemutu, Rotorua, New Zealand
The Māoris led a sophisticated life that was respected by the Europeans, unlike the native people of Australia. |
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| Wellington Harbour. Before crossing the Cook Strait to the South Island, New Zealand. |
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| Mary and the Moeraki Boulders, Koekohe Beach, South Island, New Zealand |
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Our camper in the Milford Sound campground, South Island, New Zealand.
In 2005 we rented a camper in Auckland and explored both Islands, turning it in in Christchurch. |
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| Doubtful Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand |
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| New Zealand is famous for it's sheep. Here a herd blocks our road on the South Island. |
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| Red Pokers on the New Zealand South Island in February. |
Australia
Colonial History
In the 17th and 18th centuries, British jails were holding facilities for those awaiting trial, for debtors, and for vagrants. These undesirables filled the penal system to overflowing, so tens of thousands were sent to North America as indentured servants. When the Revolutionary War closed off America, Britain began looking for alternate destinations for prisoners. In 1770 Captain Cook explored Australia and claimed it for Britain. Between his reports and a desire to prevent French settlement, Britain chose Australia as its new location for penal colonies. Eleven British ships arrived in Sydney Cove in January, 1788 with about1400 settlers, approximately half of them prisoners. Once their terms were up, prisoners could not return to Britain so they became free settlers near the penal colonies. After a few years, free settlers began to arrive directly from Britain and settle in land west of Sydney.
By 1800 the growing British colony around Sydney began to exhaust the available farmland, but the Blue Mountains to the west considered an "impenetrable barrier" to expansion. An island to the south, (Tasmania) had been sighted in 1642 by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and was considered a viable option for expansion. So in 1804 a penal settlement was established at a harbor near present-day Holbert. About 75,000 prisoners had were eventually transported to Tasmania.
Back in Britain, transportation to Sydney evolved from a feared punishment to an attractive economic opportunity for free settlers. In 1825 a new governor, Ralph Darling, was sent to increase the deterrence offered by the Australian penal colonies. He increased the harshness of convicts' lives and established an isolated penal colony in Brisbane, a harbor hundreds of miles north. Brisbane was designed it as a place of especially harsh punishment for serious offenders, with no free settlers allowed nearby.
The other two large cities in Australia, Perth (founded in 1829) and Melbourne (founded in1835), were established as free settlements rather than penal colonies.
Native people had lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years. Their relationship with the new arrivals in Sydney began with curiosity and diplomatic attempts, but it rapidly deteriorated as smallpox ravaged their population and their land was confiscated by settlers. Native people avoided the settlements near Sydney and fought fiercely (but unsuccessfully) to keep the new arrivals from expanding further into their territory. The settlements in Tasmania, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth suffered the same fate: native people were decimated by disease and eventually driven out by guns.
Blue Mountains
We heard from our friends in Australia that the Blue Mountains were a great opportunity for photography while we were in Sydney, so one weekend we took a train from Sydney to Katoomba, a Blue Mountains tourist center two hours away. We stayed for two nights and joined a day-long photo tour which stopped at six scenic locations, giving us a quick overview of the expansive mountains, steep ridges, and waterfalls west of Sydney.
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The Three Sisters, seen from Echo Point in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, Australia.
Note the footbridge from the cliff on the left to the first "Sister". |
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| Mary at Mount Hay, Blue Mountains, Australia |
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Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, Australia
On the right is a steep stairway carved into the cliff giving access to the area under the falls. |
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| Mary overlooking Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia |
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| Leura Cascades, Blue Mountains, Australia |
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| Megalong Valley, Blue Mountains, Australia |
Sydney
The central business district of Sydney is in a sheltered bay about 20 miles from the ocean. The Circular Quay at north end of the business district is the transportation hub of the city, connecting it to public ferries, busses, light rail and the cruise ship passenger terminal. Sydney Opera House and the Royal Botanic Gardens are on the east side of Circular Quay, and the iconic Harbour Bridge is on the west.
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| Ferry docks at the Circular Quay in Sydney. The Opera House and Botanic Gardens are to the east, about 20 miles into the Harbour from the ocean. |
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Sydney's Circular Quay connects ferries, light rail, trains, and the overseas passenger terminal.
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The iconic Harbour Bridge spans the Sydney Harbour to the west of the Circular Quay.
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| A tug boat brings the Queen Elizabeth into dock at the base of the Harbour Bride on the west side of Circular Quay, |
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| West of the Harbour Bridge, the skyline of the Central Business District dominates the skyline. |
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| The famous Bondi Beach is on the ocean about 20 miles East of the Circular Quay. |
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| Bondi Beach is home to many banksia marginata shrubs which have beautiful blooms in February. |
Tasmania
Tasmania is famous for its dramatic wilderness, beautiful mountains, and rugged coastlines, so tourism is one if its major industries. In 2007 we had a few extra days in Melbourne and decided to check out nearby Tasmania. After a short flight to Launceston on Sunday morning, we rented a car, and drove west for an hour to Cradle Mountain National Park. We spent the night in Cradle Mountain Lodge, then drove to the east coast and stayed in Coles Bay. That gave us a day and a half to explore Freycinet National Park. Tuesday evening we drove back to Launceston and stayed at a hotel near the Airport, ready for our flight to Melbourne Wednesday morning.
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Cradle Mountain NP, Tasmania, Australia
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| A wombat at Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia |
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| Cape Tourville Lighthouse, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia |
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| Rainbow over Sleepy Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia |
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| Huge cavities formed by tafoni weathering at Sleepy Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia |
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Kangaroo at Wineglass Bay Lookout parking lot Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia
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| Mary rests on the steep climb to Wineglass Bay Lookout, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia |
Brisbane
The city of Brisbane is famous its Botanic Gardens, established by botanist Charles Fraser in 1828 as an area for experimental crops and expanded into a botanical garden in 1855 by curator Walter Hill. The gardens are located along a sharp bend in the Brisbane River that was subject to frequent flooding, so the official Botanic Gardens were moved upstream a few miles in 1976 and the original gardens became a stunning downtown park. Because of Brisbane's sub-tropical climate, many experimental plants from both the tropics and temperate zones flourish in it's Botanic Gardens.
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| Spring in the City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, Australia. |
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Mary at a Bunya Pine on the Bunya Walk in the City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, planted by Walther Hill around 1860.
This tree is a close relative of the Monkey Puzzle tree in our greenhouse - but much larger!
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| Royal Poinciana trees line the riverside walkway in the City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, Australia |
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| The Banyan Fig, one of three Eagle Street Fig trees planted by Walter Hill in Brisbane in 1889. |
Melbourne
Perth
