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On the 29th of February we flew back to Bangkok from Chang Rai to catch an international flight to New Delhi. Due to our experience with airlines I book ample time between connections. We also had left the bulk of our luggage at the Bangkok hotel because of the flights and flight restrictions we had flying to Northern Thailand. The flight from Chang Rai to Bangkok was uneventful … the taxi rides from the hotels to the airports are always far more exciting. We arrived in Bangkok early in the afternoon, reclaimed our luggage and checked in to our hotel. We had an early out the next morning so we wandered down to our favorite Irish pub, had an early dinner and called it a day.

On the 1st of March we were up early and to the airport. Security on departure was tight but we managed to get out. Getting into India was interesting as the security was crazy and the VISA paperwork, although I had already completed most of it, was tricky. I had our VISA’s so it was just a matter of getting them to stamp the passport. I’m not sure if they couldn’t believe I had successfully navigated their VISA website or they just didn’t trust Americans but everything received close scrutiny. Nonetheless we made it through, found the car the hotel sent to fetch us, and we were off. A few pictures of the hotel and surrounding area.

We spent one night at this hotel but we were coming back. We had booked a flight to Agra for the next day, then to Varanasi from Agra, then back to Delhi where we would spend two and a half day before flying to Nepal. So, on to Agrta and the Taj Mahal …. but first the ride there.

We flew to Agra, but had a stop in a little town called Lucknow. Crowded there as well but we made it to Agra.

So we finally made it to Agra … only to discover that the city of Agra shares the airport with the Indian Air Force. Unlike in America and most other places, the military has priority over everything (it’s a security thing you know) and we had to be bussed off the base and were dumped outside the gate. There was a big gaggle of Tut-tuts, taxis, and oportunists waiting there for us but we had a car from the hotel … except he didn’t show up. We finally found a taxi driver who knew where our hotel was and off we went … here’s the ride.

Ok, so now we are at Agra. We were transported from the airport to the hotel by a very professional sounding individual so we negotiated with him to provide a tour of Agra for us the next day. He agreed and said he would bring a friend who was a guide. Even better! We checked into the hotel and spent the evening there having dinner and an afternoon tody. The next morning we met our driver, and his guide, and we were off to see … The Taj Mahal, The red Palace, and whatever his tour included.

Our first destination was the Taj Mahal. Our driver said he would pick us up at 6 AM so we could see a sunrise over the Taj. Apparently the sun has a coloristic effect on the marble of the Taj and is something you want to see. So we got up and met him at 6 AM. We didn’t make it. It was Sunday and some group had scheduled a marathon race across the city which blocked many of the streets and we spent a lot of time waiting to get through.

We got there after sunrise … but, it was a cloudy day so it made no difference. We wouldn’t have seen the effect anyhow.

The Taj Mahal is an impressive structure. Built as a mausoleum for a rulers 3rd wife (the first to bear him a child) it is impressive, well kept, clean, and well organized. Unfortunately, to get there you need to deal with the local schtick and stand in lines (one for foreigners, one for Indians) ((which I didn’t mind but all the Indians were getting in the foreigners lines because it was shorter.) Something I did not expect is the presence of monkeys. They were everywhere outside the Taj (a park) but nowhere inside. Once in, it was great.

That was the Taj Mahal … number 1 bucket list item for Nancy. Got’er done! From here we are going to see the Red Fort. This is the fort that the ruler that built the Taj lived in as he defended his territory. The Taj, the Red Fort, and another Mausoleum were all designed by the same architect … whose mausoleum we will also see. Going to the Red Fort and touring the red Fort.

From the Red Fort we went to the Architect’s Mausoleum. Much the same kind of stuff. Interesting to look at, at least the first 20 times or so.

We also made short stops at a rug factory and a ornate vase company. I stayed in the car and took a nap. They didn’t allow pictures because of the children they had working there (little fingers can make more knots you know).

That wrapped up Agra for us. We returned to the hotel, had a very nice dinner, and readied for tomorrow’s trip to Varanasi and the Ganges River.

We had to fly back to Lucknow to connect to Varanasi (that’s why no luggage). The flight leaving Agra was late departing and we were told we might consider getting a cab from Lucknow to Varanasi because it looked like we were not going to make the connection. NOT GOOD NEWS!! A five hour cab ride, at night, in India, is not on any recommended way to get there list. We did make the connection. The airline, “Indigo” leaned forward real hard and escorted us through the multiple levels of security, hijacked a bus for us, and we made the plane. Whew!!

The next morning we got up, had a little breakfast, grabbed a car and driver, and we are off to see the Ganges, Old Varanasi, and the local medical University. Here we go:

We made it to the Ganges River. These streets are quite interesting as you can find almost anything yoou can imagine being sold. Food, clothing, dogs, electronics.

The Ganges is a sacred river in India. Every faithful Hindu visits the Ganges once during their life and bathes in it. Then, when they die, the family or friends or someone takes the body back to the Ganges, has it cremated, and the ashes are thrown into the river.

Day to day the river is teaming with boats carrying people and cargo. Quite the activity. It was better than we thought it would be but we didn’t take a dip. We walked along the river for quite a distance. Every so often a street would extend down to the river with wide steps. These were Ghats. I would guess for conveying people and goods up or down between the street and the river at one time. Most of the river bank was paved.

From the Ganges we walked through old Varanasi. Not much different from what we had already seen but the streets were narrower and there were even more shops. Varanasi is one of the contenders (contention being between historians) for being the oldest, continuously in habited cities in the world, 2000 BC. Hang on!

From here we went to the medical university. Our guide wanted to show us the temple they had there. I couldn’t take pictures inside but took some outside. Many are from our car window but they are often the most interesting … but don’t make the best photos.

That was the last stop on our tour of Varanasi. We returned to the hotel, took a little nap, had a mediocre dinner (We stayed at a Hilton in Varanasi. It was a big let down. The staff was lethargic, the food was marginal. If you didn’t have the buffet you had to wait 30 to 45 minutes for any other food, and the management did not seem to care). After dinner we got ready to fly out the next day and went to bed. Last time I stay there by golly!!

We are going back to New Delhi for three days. Much more time than we need there but when we planned this we decided we would need a day off by this point so that’s what we did.

The next day, the 6th of March, we had a late afternoon flight to New Delhi. It was a direct flight so we had no worries about connections. We got back to New Delhi (we used two different airports in New Deli, one on each side of town), got a cab back to the hotel, recovered our stored luggage, had dinner in the hotel dining room, and turned in. In New Delhi we stayed at the Crown Plaza. Hotels are not very expensive in India, nor Thailand, so we tried to stay at better hotels. One less thing to fret over. The Crown Plaza was the absolute opposite of the Hilton in Varanasi. The staff was awesome, management ran things professionally and efficiently, and the entire place was comfortable and welcoming. The next day we took off. Other than going down to eat breakfast and dinner we never left the room. We just lazed about reading, catching up with email and the news, and resting. We were both happy we had scheduled in a day of rest. The next morning, the 7th, we were up and ready to tour New Delhi. Nancy had arranged for a car, had told the concierge where we wanted to go so he could explain that to the driver, and we were off. No guide this time, just seeing the sights. We were going to visit a very old Muslim Minaret, The Gate which is the capitol building complex, and another Red Fort … in that order. We had some idea what these places were but not sure how they would turn out. Here we go to the Muslim Minaret and beyond.

So now we are at The Gate. This area was built to be the Capitol area when the Capitol was moved to New Delhi. Anyone know what the old capitol of India was? It strongly resembles Washington DC Mall. It is a long, narrow strip with ponds, memorials, and gardens. The Capitol sets on one end of what is referred to as “The Ceremonial Axis of India” and The Gate, a War Memorial on the other end. From Wikipedia “

India Gate
India
For the dead of the Indian Armies who fell during World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War
Established	10 February 1921
Unveiled	12 February 1931
Location	28°36′46.31″N 77°13′45.5″E India Gate (Delhi)
Designed by	Sir Edwin Lutyens
13,313 engraved names, 12,357 Indian[1] and honours 70,000 fallen soldiers of undivided India[2]

The India Gate (formerly known as All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Kartavya path on the eastern edge of the “ceremonial axis” of New Delhi, formerly called Rajpath. It stands as a memorial to 74,187 soldiers of the Indian Army who died between 1914 and 1921 in the First World War, in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. 13,300 servicemen’s names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.^[2] Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of the ancient Roman triumphal arches such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and later memorial arches; it is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.” Our driver anted to show this to us. He dropped us off and walked through the underpass to see it. Quite impressive.

Very interesting place. India was a British colony during WWI which is why all these Indian soldiers got to die in a far off land.

We left The gate and drove to the Red Fort of New Dehli. traffic was heavy and the driver explained it was a holiday and many people were out. When we arrived at the Red Fort it was so crowded that we decided not to try and see it. It was built by the same arcetect as the Red Fort in Agra and for the same guy so we assumed it would not be all that different. We finished the drive and went back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s trip to Nepal. Here are a few last pictures of down town New Delhi, at least the part concerned with government.

See you in Nepal. Hope you enjoyed India.

*** Note from Bill *** I split this out from the other post in Thailand because it was getting too large. Everything slows down and it get really frustrating.***

So here we are in Chang Rai. A good sized town and much more developed than up North at the Golden Triangle. We enjoyed visiting the Karens and have now arrived at our hotel. It turns out that the hotel is really a resort and is quite nice … don’t mind that a bit. Here’s some pictures from around the resort … The Legends.

Nancy did her thing with the host and booked a tour for the next day. It included a car and guide (same guy) to take us on it. We were to see several temples and museums. As it was a private tour we could add or delete as we pleased. So we did. Here’s the tour and some pictures from it.

The Lady Buddha was huge, China seems to be building some sort of conclave here. They are also building a large housing area for older people as well as a large hospital. I assume for older Thai’s but who knows. The view from the Lady Buddha’s eyes (from inside her head) is very impressive. Both the White Temple, and the Lady Buddha are fairly new being built and opened within the last ten years or so.

Now we come to a different kind of place. This guy was also an artist who started using unusual stuff in his art. The setting are strange but interesting. I viewed his art show as more of a museum than any thing else. See for yourself.

That was that and that’s about all I have to say about that. Lunch was included on the tour so our guide took us to his favorite local restaurant for lunch. Not sure what it was we had but it was pretty good and I’m still alive so it passed my two basic tests.

After lunch we went to the Blue Temple. They had two museums there … we went through both. On the walk in, there were a bunch of beautiful Orchids along the path.

We slapped the mat at this point and told the guide we had seen enough very beautiful things today and had us take back to the hotel. We had dinner there, our last night and left the next morning. We flew to Bangkok, spent the night in the same hotel we had stayed in before (we left our big suitcases there and traveled North with a Back Pack worth of clothes). We left the next morning for New Delhi, India. Our tour of Thailand was finished. We had an interesting time, enjoyed seeing so many different things and met many interesting people.

First stop on our four country Bucket List Tour. Arrived in the afternoon, picked up by a hotel car, taken to the hotel and checked in. Nancy arranged a couple tours with one of the Bell Captains and we went to our room, checked in, then took a walk downtown to see what’s what. Found out you shouldn’t drink the water so we hydrated with a couple local beers.

They must have worked well as we never suffered from dehydration or food poisoning.

Our first day out, after a good night of sleep, we went to the Grand Palace where the King of Thailand lives. Thailand has had a spattered mix of kings and civil leaders in its history. If you are into that kind of detail I recommend you look it up. Quite involved and way too long for me to describe. Besides, I’m sure you are aching to see my pictures! Here we are at the Grand Palace. We were picked up by a driver and driven to the palace. As we walked in this little old lady offered to be our guide for a small sum of money. Her english was good so we said “Okay!”. She took us in and proceeded with her three hour tour. Very ornate, extremely decorative and a great dal of fine detail. Quite interesting. The first few pictures are on the drive from the hotel to the palace.

We went to another Temple. The Temple of the Sleeping Buddha. Not nearly as opulent or well kept but worth a walk through.

Those were our two tours for the day. We did not have a guide during the second temple but much was the same as the first. Thousands of temples in Thailand … all a little different but basically the same. All interesting to see … at least the first hundred or so.

So fearing the heat, humidity, and dehydration we went back to the hotel. Walked around a bit and found an Irish pub … just what you would expect in Bangkok. Had some refreshment and a bite to eat.

We had a pleasant dinner at the hotel and turned in. That was our first day in Bangkok, Thailand. Interesting place. Next up tomorrow … the Train Market, the Floating Market, and an elephant ride. Stay Tuned. More posts coming.

Here we are, another day in Thailand. Today’s activities were booked by Nancy a couple months ago. She wanted to ensure she would get to ride an elephant while we were in Thailand. Many places have stopped providing elephant rides due to pressure from animal rights people and organizations. They claim it is cruel to the animals so most “camps” now provide an opportunity to feed, bath, and walk with an elephant but not ride one. Nancy found a tour service that would provide an elephant ride and assured her the animals were well cared for, loved, and not abused. So, Nancy booked a full day tour (the only choice) that included the Train market, the Water market, and an elephant ride. We were told to meet the tour at a specific intersection in Bangkok and we would be whisked off on an exciting full day tour of Thailand.

We took a cab to the appointed spot at the appointed time and met up with our group of about 5 people. We had about an hour drive to a location where there was a very large market that had a set of train track running right down through the middle of it. We were kinda dumped off at the edge of the market and told to be back to the dump off spot in one hour. I don’t think anyone knew what was going on or what to do. Nancy and I walked into the market and strolled along looking at all the stuff they sold and figured out (from a train schedule) that the train comes through every 30 minutes or so, then returns. Most of the market stalls that were next to the tracks had a row of chairs that you could sit on to watch the train go by. We had no idea what kind of train it was so when everyone looked like they were getting ready for a train to come by, we rented a couple seats and waited. Soon, all the merchants with stalls along the tracks started taking down the awnings they had in front and making sure everyone sitting on their chairs were behind a line. No one stayed in their chairs, they all walked out onto the tracks to see if they could see that train coming. Soon it did. A full sized train, not long, maybe ten cars, but full sized engine and cars, with people in them, slowly went by. As it neared people would return to their seats behind the line, sit down, and wave at the train as it passed. When it had passed, the merchants reassembled their awnings, put their displays back out front, and life went on. Have a look!

Ok then … we made it back to the van by the appointed time and we were whisked off to see the Floating Market. I wasn’t sure what to think after the train market so I just waited to see what would happen. Another drive through the country and we came to the “Little Venice” of Thailand. Situated on the edge of a large lake, canals were dredged out and people started selling things along the edge and from their boats. Many different kinds of boats and most anything you can think of to buy. Before the pictures of the Floating market are a few window shots as we wheeled our way across rural Thailand.

That was the Floating Market … interesting. So those who had booked the elephant ride, or wanted to go because everyone booked all three adventures, were loaded up in the whisk van and taken to the elephant camp. There we queued up on a platform and prepared to step up onto our seats on top of an elephant. The driver, or Mahout, sat in front on the back of the elephant’s head. We sat in a seat saddled onto the elephants back right behind the Mahout. The Mahout was friendly and talked during most of the ride describing his life, how he cared for the elephant, etc. Interesting. Let’s have a look!

And that was the end of our ride. Nancy had her elephant ride … I’m happy. Happy wife, Happy life you know! From dismount we were given the opportunity to buy 400 pictures of our ride. Wd declined and loaded up in our van, went back to the Floating market and picked up those on our tour who chose not to abuse elephants and drove back to Bangkok. Another interesting day. ON the way back to the hotel we saw this German restaurant so we walked down to if and had dinner. On the way back from dinner we stopped to make sure Fitzgerald was doing okay. All is well.

The next day was Sunday. We decided that as long as there was a church very near by offering an English Mass we would do that to start our day after a quick breakfast.

After Church we took a Taxi downtown … the new part of downtown that hosts one of the tallest buildings in the world. The Cube. We took an elevator to the top and viewed Bangkok.

There was a large glass floored area you could walk out onto and look down. Camers were not allowed but phones were so I took some pictures looking down.

So that’s The Cube. Nancy wanted to see China Town and a big gold Buddha they have there so we took a taxi to China town. Traffic was heavy and our taxi driver said he was not going any further. He pointed in a direction and said China town was that way and not very far. It was that way but a bit farther than he indicated. Anyway, we found it. The trials and perils of travel and all that you know! Here’s some pictures.

China town was not like any China Town we found in the US or other countries. It was basically just another big market. The temple was interesting with an interesting history of the Buddha. Thailand has many temples housing giant golden statues of Buddha but Wat Traimit houses a giant statue of Buddha made of pure gold. Although the statue is several centuries old, its identity was only revealed only 67 years ago. It weighs 5.5 Tons. Go to telegraphindia.com to read MUCH more about it. An interesting history.

This was our last day in Bangkok, for now. Tomorrow we fly up to the Golden Triangle. Don’t miss it.

Here we are at the Golden Triangle of Thailand. Its called the Golden Triangle because three countries come together when two rivers (The Mekong and The Ruak) converge. Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), Laos, and Thailand are all in this one little corner. It’s called “Golden” because the area was used heavily by drug smugglers and dealers and a great deal of money and gold passed through. We had planned to spend three days up by the Golden Triangle but when we arrived there we found there was not really a great deal to see there and the other stuff we wanted to see was back in Chang Rai. So I cranked up booking dot com and booked two nights in Chang Rai. We would be much closer to the temples we wanted to see there and close to the airport when we flew back to Bangkok. We arrived at the Golden Triangle fairly early so we walked around a bit and found there was really no where to go. We booked a driver for the next day to take us up to the Golden Triangle site, let us tour a bit, then drive us back to Chang Rai. We had dinner at the hotel, took a ride to the center of the community we were staying in and walked around in the market, then returned to the hotel.

The next morning, after breakfast we proceeded with our plan and our driver took us to “the Golden Triangle” which is really just a gathering of businesses, Temples, and concessions. That worked though because we ended up having an interesting morning.

The next morning we grabbed a bit of breakfast, met our driver, and we were off to the Golden Triangle. We took our bags with us because we planned to spend a couple hours touring the Golden Triangle then head south to Chang Rai.

We drove down to Chang Rai which was about an hour drive. along the way, Nancy had read up about a village where they had long Necked Karens and she wanted to see it. This scared me a bit due to all the bad press about Karens lately but I put my trust in Nancy and we went there.

That was the long necked Karens. The path was about a kilometer long linking up the three villages. The Karens were all selling things they had made. I looked like they lived there. From here we were taken to our hotel which was a very nice resort. Nancy arranged for a driver and some tours for tomorrow and we settled in for the evening. I’m going to end this post here. It is getting too long and slowing down. I will pick up from here with a post call “Chang Rai and the three temples”.

After several years of attempting to check off a couple of Nancy’s bucket items we finally planned and executed a trip to Thailand, to ride an elephant and see the Golden Triangle; India, to see the Taj Mahal and the Ganges River; Nepal, to visit Kathmandu; and Indonesia, to revisit Bali. I know that was a long sentence but it was a long trip. None of these places are in, on, or anywhere near my bucket list so I told Nancy that where we went and what she saw was to be entirely up to her. I would take care of the logistics i.e. … flights, hotels, VISAs, etc. With that agreement we took out maps, search engines, and advertisements and worked out where we would go, for how long, and what we would see. Here’s a MACRO map of the trip.

In a nutshell, we drove down to Brisbane and caught a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. We overnighted in Brisbane before our flight and celebrated our anniversary at Gino’s Italian Cafe … nice evening. We departed from Brisbane, had an aircraft change in Denpasar, Indonesia, and arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. A couple days and an elephant ride later we flew up to Chiang Rai, rented a cab, drove up to a little village by the Golden Triangle and spent the night. Later the next day we traveled back to Chiang Rai and spent a couple days visiting temples and other sites there. From Chiang Rai we flew back to Bangkok just for an overnighter and a connection to New Delhi in India. Once in India we spent one night in New Delhi and flew to Agra the next day to see the Taj Mahal. After two nights in Agra we flew to Varanasi, India to see and visit the sights there including the Ganges River. From Varanasi we flew back to New Delhi and took a day off, spent the next day touring, and prepared to travel to Nepal the following. We flew to Kathmandu in Nepal, spent two nights there, and then flew to Denpasar on Bali, in Indonesia. After two nights there we flew home to Brisbane and drove home.

Saw and enjoyed many things during the three plus weeks we were traveling. To avoid this post from being too long I am going to post each country separately. They will be listed under this initial post, will include many pictures and a more inclusive description of what we saw and did.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the trip. While there were many hotels, flights, and VISAs we were fortunate to have not encountered any difficulties so we had a good time, saw many interesting things, and are pleased we took the trip. All in all we had 10 different hotels stays, 10 different flights, and three sets of VISAs to get during the 24 days we were “on the road”. See you in “Thailand”!

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands, located between the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian mainland is a very popular activity of sea going, island hopping, kayaking, boarding, relaxing, boating, sailing, yachting Australians …. and people from many other parts of the world.  Sailing the Whitsundays is something Nancy and I have often talked about and had a great interest in doing.  We agreed that sailing the islands in either a monohull or catamaran would be the way to do it.  However, there was a doubt on one of our parts regarding my ability to safely operate and navigate a large sailboat over this vast and rugged part of the Australian coast.  I did not want to hire a Captain.  We came up with a solution both of us were happy with.  We would get a boat big enough for the two of us and the five people in our son Andy’s family.  The doubters or faint of heart members of the groups were comfortable with the combined sailing capabilities of Andy and myself and it looked like we had a window of opportunity over the last two weeks of the young folk’s Summer School break, in mid to late January.  I found a company willing to lease us a 12 Meter (40 Foot) Catamaran for the period and we were ready to go.  This all occurred during the September through December period. So where are the Whitsundays you ask? Lemme show you.

So now you know where we went. Now a bit about the boat. The Catamaran, “Mandala”, was offered for charter by Carter Yachts Australia, located in Arlie Beach, Queensland.  The Mandala has four staterooms, two bathrooms with showers, (one on each side servicing two of the four staterooms), a large galley/living area, a large outdoor seating area, and air conditioning in the main galley.  Plus it had a large flat area, part of which was a net, in front to use for relaxing.  We figured it would meet our needs.  Nancy and I got one bedroom and the five other Rumpel’s got the other three bedrooms.  All bathrooms were available for all to avoid long waits.  Here’s some pictures of the Mandala that I borrowed from their website.

The time that passed between September and 9 January was used to complete our planning and preparation. First, Andy and I needed to present our sailing qualifications to the charter company for their review and approval.  This helped satisfy the state government and insurance company requirements.  Then everyone had to submit a list of height, weight, shoe size, and IQ to be fitted for sting suits, flippers, goggles, snorkel tubes, and a paddle board and a kayak.  Lastly we needed to decide how we were going to feed this small crowd over the seven days and nights we would be sailing.  The charter company recommended we review the Whitsunday Provisioning website.

Mandala has a fairly generous freezer and refrigerator.  One option we looked at was making a list of what we needed for the 49 dinners, 49 lunches, 49 breakfasts, as well as morning and afternoon tea, and snacks and drinks for all in between.  We would then descend upon a grocery store when we got to Arlie beach (A five hundred kilometer drive), buy all the stuff, and bring it on board the night before we sailed.  The charter company allowed us to board Mandala the afternoon before our charter started and stow our gear, food, and kids, as well as spend the night on board before Andy and I would attend a 4 hour brief the next morning before we sailed.  The next option was to prepare all the meals at home, before we left, package them, and bring them with us.  The third choice was to use WhitSunday Provisioning which offered three levels of provisioning with the highest level being Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, and Dinner being provided for each day for each person.  They had a planned menu that listed what foods you would have for each eating event, and instructions how to prepare it.  Everything was fresh and eating/dietary restrictions were accounted for.

Not knowing if we would find all the groceries we planned to buy when we arrived, nor how expensive they would be in this high density tourist area ruled out option one.  I didn’t really feel like (call me fussy) dealing with 98 precooked meals as well cereals, juices, bread, chips, etc for breakfast, teas, and snacks, then eating what would equate to eating leftovers for the week, ruled out option two.  Whitsunday Provisioning was our choice.  Bring your own drinks and extra snacks, everything else was there, fresh, packaged by meal, and ready to go.  I’m sure it was most likely a bit more expensive, but not knowing the cost of groceries in Arlie Beach, and getting everything at one time in one place was well worth the cost if it was more.  That took care of provisioning.  Lorna, at Whitsunday Provisioning was exceptionally helpful, cooperative, and had a great deal of advice.  She made it obvious that our needs would be met … and they were.

We had everything pretty well nailed down by the holidays so all we needed to do was enjoy Christmas and New Years, then get packed and ready to go.  We would leave early on the morning of the 9th of January and get to Arlie Beach by mid afternoon … and that’s pretty much how it happened.  So  here’s the story … and a few pictures.

9 January, 2024 – We hit the Bruce Highway (A1) just outside of Tannum Sands and headed north.  We were on the road within 15 minutes of our proposed departure time, traffic was light, and the weather was cloudy but not raining.  We made occasional pit stops for food, fuel, and relief but stayed pretty much on schedule.  Around noon we started picking up rain showers that were squally at times but kept pressing on.  At MacKay, Andy and Candy decided to stop and feed the family, Nancy and I elected to press on, get to the boat, check in, unload our stuff in case Andy and Candy were late and needed a car to pick up some groceries they had ordered from a local grocer in Arlie Beach.  As it turned out, Andy and Candy elected not to eat in, did a pit stop, got some carry-out and were on the road about 30 minutes behind of us.  We drove through some really heavy rain storms, including road flooding, but made it safely.  We had just checked in and were finishing unloading our car into a cart when they arrived,  It was still fairly early so they unloaded as well and we all hauled our stuff out to the pier where Mandala awaited us.  We had about two hours to unload, unpack, find places for all our stuff, get a briefing on how to live through the night on the boat, get to the grocer, and find some ice … as well as pick up our diving gear and make sure it fit.  We then ordered pizzas for everyone, relaxed on board our yacht, and enjoyed a relaxing dinner.  It was an early up the next morning for our departure prep, pre departure orientation and operating instructions so we went to bed early.  Let me mention here that when you are north of the tropic of Capricorn, in the middle of January, it is HOT.  Mandala did have air conditioning but very little of it got into the staterooms.  Consequently we quickly learned to take advantage of the sea breezes and wind direction.  Helpful but still a tad on the warm side.

10 January – The day has arrived!!!  The adults were up before six seeking coffee and cool air.  The younger ones were sleeping in.  It was raining outside but looked like it might stop  in a while.  Our briefing was scheduled to start at 8 and our provisions were supposed to arrive before ten.  Our guidance was we were to be out of our spot before 10.  We were enjoying some morning coffee and some cookies one of the Mom’s had brought when Lorna from Whitsunday Provisioning showed up with a massive cart filled with boxes of produce, and many styrofoam boxes of frozen products.  All we had to do was transfer it onto Mandala, and the Mom’s find room for it all in the fridge, freezer, cupboards, and stow spaces.  Whilst Nancy and Candy were stashing the food products, Steve, from the Charter Company showed up to start our brief.

Steve was a self proclaimed surfer who worked a couple months a year briefing people who rented or chartered yachts for the many yacht leasing companies in Arlie beach.  He had been sailing the Whitsundays for many years or had listened to enough briefings to have a standard spiel about where to go what to do, and what not to do.  Most of it was common sense but then I would guess there are many people who charter these yachts who don’t possess that attribute.  He did make a big impression on the folks who knew little about sailing and that proved to be the hurtle Andy and I had to deal with each time we made a decision regarding the boat.  “Steve said we needed to do this”, or “Steve said we needed to go here” … jeez, it was like tides, depths, currents, and winds were something we had never heard of.  I finally figured out Steve sought admiration and his limitless knowledge was most assuredly a source of admiration from a few of our party.  He ate that up like a self licking ice cream cone and it was only when Andy or I asked a question that he would focus back on what he was trying to tell us.  

At ten we sailed, with Steve, to do mooring, anchoring, starting, stopping, and man-overboard exercises so we would know what to do if we moored, anchored or someone fell overboard.  I guess he figured the certifications Andy and I had from the American Sailing Association didn’t cover those remote or unimportant events.  Finally, by noon, he called it done, jumped in the dingy we had been towing all morning, and left in a cloud of dust … or something. 

In all honesty, I think he was seriously concerned that we all enjoyed a safe vacation, he just didn’t read his audience very well.  Mostly lost the ones who needed the info and spent too much time telling things to people who had no idea what he was talking about and couldn’t remember what he said a day or two later but were fascinated with what he had to say..

We continued on and motored across a rather expansive bay and tied up to a mooring ball in a sheltered cove.  Part of Steve’s briefing included the types of Jelly Fish that live in the waters around the Whitsundays.  He emphasized a certain type that was smaller than your finger nail, you could not feel it when it stung you, and there were no side effects until a hour or so later.  Then pains immobilized your arms, stomach and back.  You had to be rushed (by Helicopter) to a medical facility that could treat you.  Most people survived, if treated quickly enough.  I asked him how many cases of these horrible stings occurred last year here in the Whitsunday’s.  His answer was a vague, “maybe 4 or 5 out of the two million visitors they had last year”.  More people than that had been struck by lightening but he had made his point.  Now everyone was afraid to go in the water.  We had sting suits, boots, etc.  Finally the younger Rumpel family took our tender/dingy and drove over to the Island we were moored next to and did a little jungle hike (no danger there!)  They did see, and we saw a few times after, wild goats that lived on these islands.  I explained to them that the goats had walked across the ice during the glacial period to get from the mainland to the island.  My input was greeted with skepticism but no one else had a better answer.  I will stick to my story.

Okay!!  So now we are on the boat, fully checked out, fairly settled in, and ready to explore the Whitsundays.  The things to do were, sail or motor to and around the various islands, explore the islands on shore (several had hiking trails to lookout points on top), snorkel to view the coral reefs, fish, kayak, paddle board, or just chill out on the boat enjoying the breeze and tranquility.  We had the boat for a week so there was ample opportunity to do all of the above … and we did.

In order to keep the galley from getting over crowded or the same people being stuck with cooking all the time I made up a roster for the kitchen. We had six adults so two were in charge of KP each day. Worked out each person worked two days during the trip. Christian, our Grandson had “Fish Watch” every day, and Andy and myself, in addition ot doing our share of the KP, alternated being Skipper and First Mate.

Looking at my pictures I find the scenery a bit redundant so rather than do this post day by day, the rest of it will be a summary of the days we were sailing the Whitsundays.  Steve did tell us that the coral reefs had been killed by a severe storm a few years back and were in the process of regenerating.  That kinda killed the coral viewing part but people in our group did snorkel, some reported seeing coral.  So, here are the rest of the photos.  Many of the pictures are of the islands with many trees and rocky shores. The beaches are not sand but actuall coral that has broken off and washed ashore. Enjoy.

Australia sold one of its islands to China. Here is China’s attempt to build a resort on that Island. It appears finished but no one was there.

We docked at a resort on Hamilton Island (HI) for two days. We had originally planned to dock there just one day but everyone was kinda salted out and wanted to enjoy a little shore time so we extended a day. We ate at the resort, swam at the resort pool (no jelly fish), and spent the time kinda recharging.

Here are some photos I took at Hamilton Island. There are no private cars on Hamilton Island. Golf carts are the principle mode of travel and you can rent them, or just take one of a couple buses that take you around the island. The resort there is big and there are other establishments to provide food, drink, and souvenirs.

So that was our trip. We made reservations at a hotel in a town named MacKay that was about an hour south of Arlie Beach. We turned in the boat, transferred all our gear, and headed south to MacKay. The reason for the hotel was two fold. One, we were all tired and a six hour trip on a hot road after getting off and unloading the boat was just asking for problems. The other was everyone wanted to take a long hot shower, maybe swim in a freshwater pool, relax for a while, have a nice dinner, and drive home the next day. That’s what we did and it all worked out fine. Had a nice family dinner right at the hotel dining room and turned in early. Driving this far north is a challenge because of all the big mining equipment they move around. The roads are all narrow two lane roads with passing zones every ten miles or so. Here’s a sign I saw along the way that highlighted the problems.

And they all drive on the wrong side of the road!!!! Thanks for coming along. Next trip to Thailand, India, Nepal, and Indonesia.

We finally got our new Caravan. Campers, of any kind, are in big demand here in Oz and the waiting lists for new ones are long. We picked ours up in October and have finally both found the time to set it up so we would have everything we need while traveling. It’s been fun setting it up and getting it ready. Australia has very strict laws about towing trailers so we had a lot to learn and many “T’s” to cross and “I’s” to dot.

We decided our first formal trip would be to Cairns in northern Queensland, about 1200 kilometers (720 miles) north of where we live.

We planned the trip following the A1 or Bruce Highway with overnight stays in Mackay, Townsville, and Cairns, with our stay in Cairns being two nights. Looking to mix in a little exploring we decided to find a more inland route to return by. We selected the Gregory Development Highway for that adventure. Development highways are part of a larger plan for Queensland highway development. Some are paved, some not. The Gregory, at least the part we traveled on was all paved and a fairly decent road. If you recall previous posts I describe how quickly paving ends once you depart a main road. This road was all paved but just recently so there are stories on the internet about how treacherous it is. Took a great deal of research but decided to take the road to The Lynd from Cairns, then down to Charters Towers where we planned to spend the night. Then on down to Emerald and Biloela where we planned to spend the second night. Range was a big factor in these choices because once you are inland on these Development Roads there can be stretches of six to seven-hundred kilometers of no facilities. Running out of gas along these roads is not a good thing. To tip the scales in our favor I purchased and mounted on the caravan, two twenty liter (5 Gallon) fuel containers. This extended our range for another 250 to 300 Kilometres. We have a Hyundai Tucson Diesel which normally gets exceptional milage. Howerver, once you start towing a two ton caravan, the milage drops radically, it actually doubles our gas consumption. That’s what made the fuel cans so important.

Anyhow, we got all that figured out, loaded up everything we thought we would need and headed north.

We arrived in Mackay early in the afternoon so we took our time setting up making sure we did it all correctly. Of immediate and obvious importance was the Air Conditioning we had elected to have installed in our caravan. We were traveling north but towards the equator not away from it. It is also getting into late Spring so Summer is starting to show up with high temps and very high humidity. About half way to MacKay we crossed the tropic of Capricorn … as a matter of fact, the area we traveled is called The Capricorn Region. The air conditioning worked good and was very welcome.

Once we got set up, we drove downtown and walked along the old main street to the Thursday afternoon market. It was just being set up so we settled in at a small river side Bistro and thought about what we would do for dinner.

It turns out we decided to have a selection of share servings the Bistro offered so we had plenty, a good variety, and a nice dinner. Back to the campground and our first night of sleep in the caravan.

I guess this would be a good time to mention that I did not take a lot of pictures along the way. I kept my focus on driving the Tucson and keeping the trailer in tow on the narrow, two lane road that had a fair amount of traffic on it. Besides, they would look just like the hundreds of window shots I’ve posted from our earlier trips. One thing I did notice. As we went north, everything became more tropical, lush, and green. As I mentioned, they were harvesting the Sugar Cane so there was a great deal of activity with that. Long ago they set up a series of narrow gauge railroad tracks that go all through the fields and eventually to the processing plant. There were hundreds of little cars specially designed to haul the cane on it was cut.

We left MacKay moderately early headed north to Townsville. While the area along the way to MacKay from home was mostly crops and farmland, much of the second leg from MacKay to Townsville was dry and rocky. The area is called the dry tropics and it is that. There were some sugar can fields that were being harvested but not many cattle and more rocky terrain. The east coast of Australia, especially Queensland, has several small mountain chains that run the length of the state. They start about 30 to 50 kilometers in from the coast and occur every 20 to 30 kilometers creating valleys that run north and south parallel to the coast line. There are three or four of those chains, then the land goes flat across what is called the Outback.

Townsville is largely a military town with a large Army installation there. The city is bigger than Gladstone and bigger than MacKay. Each of these cities are located on a major river that runs into the Coral Sea. The cities were originally established where larger ships could dock and unload and smaller ships or boats could take supplies, stock, and people inland. We went to the local K-Mart to buy a couple pillows. We found the ones we brought to be a bit shy of what we found comfortable. We made dinner at the caravan, took a walk, and turned in.

Made it to Cairns early in the afternoon, checked into the campground, set up, and set out for downtown. Located on the coast, Cairns is noted as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and all it has to offer. We wanted to see the park and businesses along the sea.

The next day we went Platypus hunting. There is a small town about 40 kilometers west that has two Platypus viewing platforms. It is hailed as the best place in Australia to see Platypus. These unusual and bashful animals are very difficult to find and see, plus they have become very rare. The drive there was over one of those mountain ranges I mentioned earlier. It was 40 kilometers of uphll curves followed by downhill curves. It was one of the ways we had considered for our trip home. Anyhow, we made it to the town, found the platforms and spent about 45 minutes to an hour at each one trying to see a Platypus.

We never did see a Platypus. As I said, they are difficult to see and like looking for any wild creatures, sometimes they are just not there. Anyhow, there is a wild life park on a different route back to Cairns that we stopped at. The visit included a ride on a “DUCK” (just like Wisconsin Dells!” and a walking tour of the animals.

So that was the game park. Nice afternoon … nothing real glamorous but well presented. We left the park and returned to Cairns following the second route. Had to cross the mountains again but better road, fewer curves. Decided this was the way we were going when we left tomorrow. Meanwhile, when we got back to the city we again went downtown looking for dinner.

We had a wonderful dinner at a Greek Restaurant that we found. Our server was a young lady from Germany that was working her way around the world. Had a nice time and a great meal. The owner was even familiar with Hella’s in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

The next morning we packed up and headed out for home. We made it all the way to Charters Towers the first day. Long trip but absolutely nothing to do along the way. We stopped at every Roadhouse we came to (two of them) and filled up with fuel.. Spent the night in a nice campground, had dinner downtown at a hotel pub. Charters Towers is a very old mining town. The town, like most small towns in Australia, was well kept, clean, and pleasant.

After filling up with fuel in the morning we headed south towards Emerald, our planned second stop. As we got near to Emerald, it was still early and we were anxious to get home so we decided to go all the way to our house. We did, a long day, a little over 900 kilometers, but we made it safely home.

That was our first trip in our Caravan and our first long trip since we moved here. Many more to come. Stay tuned and Thanks for coming along..

Brisbane is the Capitol of Queensland and the third largest city in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne being 1 and 2 respectively). It hosts a population of just over 2.6 million people. It is the only really large city in Queensland with other populations centers having significantly less people.

I had some business in Brisbane so Nancy and I decided to make a weekend of it. We were able to get a room at the Royal Albert hotel right down town so we were all set.

Friday morning we got a Nine AM start and completed the 505 kilometer (just over 300 miles) drive Friday afternoon checking into our hotel and getting settled. We walked about a bit later in the afternoon to get a feel for the “Vibe” of downtown. It is a very active city and the sidewalks were packed with people all weekend. After I completed my business late Saturday morning we decided to a bit of serious looking about and, after putting on our walking shoes, departed to see the sights and participate in the life of Brisbane. Here are a bunch of pictures from our walk.

Soth Bank was very nice with so many things to do. The weather had warmed up a bit so people were out in droves to get some fresh air and sunshine. We had two really good dinners (neither was a Parmy). One Friday evening and one Saturday night. Our hotel was over a hundred years old and was an interesting, and enjoyable place to stay. We had a nice roomy room that was quiet … what more can you ask for?

Sunday morning we got up, attended mass at a parish where the priest we came to know in Coomera now presides. Always good seeing old friends. He is not old, is from Nigeria, and a very interesting man. After church we drove back to Tannum Sands, stopped by Andy and Candy’s for a quick catchup, and went home. It was a very nice weekend which we intend to repeat sometime in the near future. Hope you liked the pictures.

In late June, Nancy and I were getting tired of unpacking, hanging, arranging, etc in our new home so we decided to take in a little local color. Mount Larcom is a small community North of Tannum Sands and is basically a small town along the only highway that leads north along the coast. They do put on an impressive Fall fair (they do it in the Fall because of the heat during the summer is unbearable) so we decided to go there and see what it is all about, We spent about six or seven hours there. Took a couple breaks because it was still quite warm, walked through the animal barns, and wandered through the midway. The festival was much like a county or state fair where you have displays of equipment, animal shows and judging, and contests. Plenty of food, fun, and entertainment. Take a look:

So that was our day at Mt Larcom. We will go again next year. Interesting things to see and do. Hope you liked it … we did.

K’Gari is the new, socially correct name for Fraser Island. We went there several years ago to celebrate an anniversary and had a very nice time. Now, while we patiently wait (maybe not too patiently actually) for our Caravan to be ready, we decided to take a few days and go there again for some sightseeing and relaxation.

Fraser Island, at 125 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide and with 120 kilometers of beaches, is the largest sand island in the world and is home to its own eco system. It hosts Lake McKensie which is a beautiful clear lake located well inland on the island. The lake has no source of water other than rainfall but continues to be clear and full.

I will add a few pictures here but most of them will be added to my larger post for our first trip to Fraser. That way I won’t have a redundant post. It has not changed a great deal so the old and new pictures will compliment each other. I’ll rename it K’Gari. Those pictures that follow here are just a few “teasers” to give you a taste of what we did over our three day stay there.

We had three events planned and booked for our stay. We were scheduled to arrive mid afternoon on Tuesday so we booked a Sunset Cruise for Tuesday evening (can’t do that until sunset right?). Then on Wednesday we booked a day long rental of a Suzuki Jimney, a small jeep like four wheel drive vehicle, that we planned to tour some of the hotspots on the island. Then on Thursday we booked a half day whale watching cruise from seven-thirty till noon. We had did the Jimney thing before but the two cruises were new. I got a bunch of pictures from all three events but you will need to go to my K’Gari post to see those.

Tuesday we checked in at the center, checked our luggage, parked our car in the secure parking provided, and caught the ferry to K’Gari. A pleasant 45 minute voyage on a car ferry. Many people bring their own cars, campers, camping gear, etc so the ferry takes all comers. We arrived at Kingfish Bay Resort right on time, our room was ready so we dumped our stuff and set out to look around. To be able to rent a vehicle on the Island you must attend a briefing that tells you of all the dangers, perils, and fixes available while you drive around. The roads are sand, deeply rutted, narrow, steep in places, and difficult to drive on. No worries … its all fun. Because we had time we knocked out the briefing Tuesday afternoon rather than waste touring time on Wednesday. We finished the briefing in time to walk down to the pier, have an afternoon toddy, and board the sunset cruise boat.

So we cruised up and back down the west side of the island. They served some nibblies and wine, we saw a few boats, and of course, the sunset. Pleasant evening. Nice cruise.

When we returned to the dock, Nancy and I made our way up to one of the dining areas that was open. Had a little dinner and proceeded back to our room. We have a big day planned for tomorrow in our Jimney

Wednesday morning we got up early, dressed in our finest four wheeling clothes and went up to the resort for breakfast. The rooms at the resort are spread out along a large ridge facing the bay. There are covered, board walkways connecting all the rooms and the resort lobby. Breakfast was included.

After breakfast we went over and picked up the Jimney. Another, not quite as long, briefing on how to operate the vehicle (jeez) and we were off.

We explored many of the roads. They were all very narrow so you had to find a place to get off to meet other vehicles, or let faster ones pass. We went to the east side of the island and drove up and down the beach, we stopped off at an old timber camp, visited Lake McKensie, and stopped for a treat at a resort on the east side. It was a fun day. We had dinner and called it a day after a brief stop at the hotel lobby. We had an early up on Thursday because we had to catch the seven-thirty whale watching cruise.

Thursday morning found us at breakfast early and walking down to the pier to catch our boat. We were not real excited about this tour because we have been on a number of other ones and the whales never got very close to the boat. But, it was a half day at sea, the weather is still cool but sunny. After all, it is the middle of winter.

That was our whale watching cruise. We saw a number of whales, males fighting, a Mom and baby, and a curious guy that kept us entertained for quite a while. Best whale cruise EVER!!

We had a special dinner that night at the resort. They have a dining room that seats reservations only and has some specialty dishes. Had a lovely, tasty dinner to finish off our three days on the Island.

Friday morning we got up, had breakfast, checked out, and caught the ferry back to the mainland. Bailed out our car, loaded up our bags, and headed north to home. Four hours later we were back in Tannum sands with all kinds of fine memories.

As I mentioned before, there are many more pictures. They will all be in a post called 2023 K’Gari. Some from our first trip and many new ones from this trip. Go back to the menu and find 2023 K’Gari … you might not be disappointed.

We left Ubobo on Sunday morning right after church so we could get home and make the turn to leave Monday morning for Hervey Bay. So Monday morning we got up, packed, loaded the car and headed south to Hervey Bay … a three to four hour trip. No hurries, no worries!!

Hervey Bay is a small town located on the Sunshine Coast between Brisbane and Gladstone. We have reservations to catch the noon ferry to Fraser Island (K’Gari) on Tuesday and we decided to get in the area the day before instead of worrying about being delayed and missing our trip. We spent the night in a nice Motel and went “downtown” for dinner.

So the next morning, Tuesday, we got up, had some coffee, and drove the short way to where the Kings Bay Resort Checkin Center was located. See you there.