We checked out of our hotel and signed the paperwork for the van, which were both located in Cathedral Junction. Our plan was to spend the night a couple of blocks away at the campground attached to Glouchester hostel. Len wanted to get our shopping done first so we drove about 4 blocks to south city mall and were in the grocery store when the earthquake hit.





First there was a loud noise like a jet and then the most violent shaking up down and sideways, lasting about 15 sec. The store was chaos , screaming, sirens, and bottles popping on the floor. As soon as it stopped we headed out and withing a minute the parking lot looked like a geyser bsin with water and sewer bubbling thru the pavement. We had no idea where to go but figured away from the city there was less to fall on us so we joined the massive traffic jam and headed west finally stopping at Springfield to camp. It felt good to have nothing but a camper over our heads. There were several aftershocks that we felt in the van. We were so fortunate, it is heartbreaking the loss of life and a beautiful city in ruins.

Christchurch is a beautiful city, more English and England. Beautiful manicured gardens and acres of flowers. We rode the trolley past a school and all the students were dressed like Harry Potter.

Cairns is beautiful, warm with palm trees and the beautiful coral sea. We rode the train up to a village of Karunda and saw the Barron falls on the way. The trip down was by two long cable cars over the top of the rainforest.

The second day we took the Ocean Freedom out to the reef. It is a small boat with a crew of 6 and only 30 tourists. We snorkeled at two different locations, it is fabulous. We saw lots of colored coral, fish and turtles.

Cairns has no beach so they have built a boardwalk about 2 miles long on the waterfront. Our hotel looked right over the water.

Alice Springs is nice, it is surrounded by bluffs, and was very green which was unusual. They usually have 5in of rain annuallly and have had 50 in the last year. We drove west to see Stanley Chasm which is the bottom photo.

What to say abour Ayers rock, except to quote 10 year old Mike from Nova Scotia, " Jeez it is just a rock, we came all this way to see a rock?"

It is 350 miles from Alice Springs through desert, the temps exceed 100 and the air buzzing with black flies.

we drove the great ocean road along the coast sw of Melbourne. after cape otway it faces west and catches the full brunt of the souther ocean. it is the wildest surf I;ve ever seen. it is called the shipwreck coast because over 80 sailing ships crashed there.

the dates on these posts are wrong, we are in the cairns airport and this is the first good wireless connection we have had since leaving melbourne. our b & b the georgian courn was in east melbourne a district of houses build during the gold rush boom times of the late 1800 s and most are on the historic register.

Photos top to bottom:

Federation Square, a central gathering spot across the street from Flinders St station.

The spire on top of the National Arts Center

Stained glass roof inside of the Victoria Art Museum

Flinders Street Station

After a week of temps near 100 and high humidity in Sydney we thought we would never be cool again, and here we find ourselves in Melbourne looking for the sunny side of the street. It is an interesting city, lots of nice neighborhoods and rows of cute little houses one and two story with metal filigree railings just like New Orleans.

There is a free trolley running around the perimeter of the central city. It stopped in front of the Princess theatre, a beautifully restored 1860's building. Hairspray was on and since neither of us had seen it we decided to go, and had a great time. The singing was very good.

The coastal walk goes along the cliffs from Bondi to Cloverly. We got out early before the
haze burned off to avoid the worst of the heat. Another day in the hi 90's. The pool is salt water
.One photo is Waverley cemetary with a million dollar view.

We toured the Opera house. It has a large symphony hall , an opera theatre and several small theatres. The history of the construction is interestings. started in 1959 and completed in 1973. Once the design was chosen the engineers couldn't figure out how to build it.

There is a category 4 cyclone headed straight at Cairns hitting tomorrow morning. We will be there in 2 weeks, by then they will be cleaning up the mess and fighting about how to pay for it. All there is on the news is the fight about the flood tax to clean up the Brisbane mess.

We took the bus to Bondi the famous surfer beach, we walked along the beach and in the waves for a bit. It is a beautiful spot.

I have no internal compass here, the sun shines out of the north :) Sydney is built around the harbor and stretches for miles, it is all connected by an extensive ferry system. We got a 7 day travel pass and have been riding a ferry in the afternoon to cool off and see different areas. The cell phone problem turned out to be the crap phone purchased from Fryes. We found a shop that helped us out and purchased a new unlocked phone for $39.

The food is different than expected, I thought it would be lots of fried burgers, and greasy food. There are lots of healthy options. Every shop has "gluten free" posted, it must be the current disease.

It has been hot here but we are getting used to it.

I scrolled down and the old posting from Mexico is run together with Australia. I would fix it if I knew how. Sydney harbor is beautiful, about as long as the Seattle part of Puget Sound and the water is a clear aquamarine. We took the ferry to Manley a beach town on the north end of the harbor , walked on the beach and had lunch. It is a perfect sunny day. Out B&B is right in the Rocks area where all the expensive hotels are, Shangrila is next door at over 4oo a nite. We have an ok room and the breakfast was great. We haven't found the Australian hotels so far to be real up on cleaning:) I still don't have cell phone service but have figured out it is the phone I bought at Fryes and not the Sim card. We will get a prepay phone tomorrow and let you know the number.