Until We Meet Again

In just a short while, Margaret and Murray will be taking us to the airport for our flights home to Iowa. Last night, M&M topped everything off by taking us to a favorite attraction called Outback Spectacular. They are currently doing a show called "High Country Legends." While we were served an excellent steak dinner, the performers acted out a tribute to Australia with emphasis on the outback regions, Australia's relationship with horses, and the many men and women who helped settle this marvelous country. The show was funny, musical, action-filled, full of superb horses and horsemanship, and frequently very moving. We loved it all. Upon entrance, they took posed photographs of each group. Here is ours. 

This has been an amazing 51 days of adventure, not least the last three weeks with M&M. They have been marvelous hosts and have been and will always be great friends. Kathie and I are feeling pretty emotional this morning about our departure and about our having to say goodbye (for now) to Australia but most especially to Margaret and Murray. So, with a tip of the hat to them and to all of the truly amazing things we have seen and done, I hereby sign off from Australia. When you return here next, we will be back home.

The Gold Coast

We drove to the Gold Coast yesterday morning and had lunch there before checking into our hotel for our final evening together. The Gold Coast is an area about one hour south of Brisbane. Those of us from the U.S. might compare it to Miami or another spot where there are lots of high-rise condos and tourism near the sea. The beach here stretches for a long way and is very popular. The sea and the surf was beautiful yesterday.

The area where we had lunch is called Surfers Paradise.

I finally got one great shot of the Australian flag there. It features the Union Jack from its colonial days, a star below the Union Jack with eight points corresponding to the eight states in Australia, and an image of the Southern Cross constellation, which we have seen many nights. It has been fun to see a different sky down here.

One of the things we didn't see but had hoped to were the famous Gold Coast Meter Maids. Starting in 1965, after the city installed parking meters and there was much complaining about parking tickets,  someone concerned about the area started a group of gorgeous, gold bikini-clad women to go around with bags of coins plugging the meters so that parking tickets would not be given. Naturally, they became an attraction in and of themselves. This poster on the beach was all we could find of them. Of course, Murray and I were very disappointed. However, we decided it was their loss if they missed an opportunity for a photograph with us.

Party at M&M's (Plus a Muscle Car)

Yesterday was our last at Margaret and Murray's home. They concluded the day with a party, which included many of their neighbors and friends from a garden club with which they are involved. M&M had wanted us to meet their friends, and their friends had wanted to meet the two Americans M&M often mention.

When we hosted M&M in 2012 during their U.S. trip, we got to talking at one point about the fun white elephant parties for which our friends David and Donna are famous. Margaret took this idea back to Australia with her in the form of a bad taste party, a major part of which is the exchange of tasteless gifts. Kathie and I had been asked to bring presents with us for this event. Everyone had been asked to bring local types of nibbles and to dress so as to honor Australia in some way. Here are the hosts of this party in their selection of regalia.

I tried to take a representative set of photos of the guests. Name tags helped Kathie and me keep track of everyone. They were all delightful and fun conversationalists.

Kathie's selected gift turned out to be a toy wombat.

The gift I carried to Australia was a T-shirt I had gotten at the Burger Jones restaurant in Minneapolis when we visited Sandy, Will and Anders last January. M&M's neighbor Adrian picked it and was thrilled with it. (More on Adrian below. We both just loved meeting this gentle giant of a man.)

Another guest, Val, I believe, got this wonderful device for mounting bottles of spirits for dispensing drinks. M&M have a rule that no gift can be recirculated for three years, and Val announced that the clock was already running.

Margaret got this swell "in case of emergency, break glass" framed bottle of Johnny Walker Red.

The laughing and fun kept the party going quite late. This morning, we were getting ready to leave for our last day together near Brisbane before M&M take us to the airport for our return flights home. However, Adrian (see above) had visited with me quite a lot about the cars he has been restoring, so I promised him I'd sneak over for a look shortly before we left. There are two Falcons that he has worked on, the first being this fully functional station wagon model. These cars are about 43 years old.

However, Adrian's pride and joy, and the car he is still refitting is this Falcon 351-GT.

I explained to him how I'd love to have it to drive to UI Hawkeye sporting events.

Adrian and his brother, Robin, who we also met at the party, are working on all of the electrical components this weekend. The V8 engine was beautiful, and they have incorporated some state-of-the-art features as upgrades.

The car has been enhanced with air conditioning, a modern digital sound system, and a two-way CB radio. Except for the air conditioning ports he had to expose in the dash area (though they are not very noticeable), everything is hidden, including the controls which are now inside the glove compartment. The car will mostly look like the original.

He had this poster hanging on the wall for motivation.

I'm sure my friend Dick will get a kick out of these pictures.

Departing Cania Gorge National Park

We are back at M&M's. Left Cania Gorge yesterday morning but stopped before exiting the park for one last walk to areas called Dripping Rock and The Overhang. Came across a field of the most beautiful purple flowers.

The actual Dripping Rock spot was below a massive overhang of rock, and at the bottom, numerous ferns were growing on the cliff face with water streaming down slowly from above and keeping them moist.

Thousands of years of water have carved amazing features in the cliff face.

Murray is descending along a sheer cliff face down to the area called The Overhang.

Here is that area with Murray heading down into the area.

He took this photo of me there as well.

More pretty flowers.

Remember my previous comments in another posting about the water damage from flooding caused by Cyclone Marcia? Here is what it did to part of the trail in the park.

Big party planned for tonight with nearby friends. Tomorrow we head to Brisbane to see a show, then we fly home the next day.

Cania Gorge National Park

(Am catching up with a number of posts all at the same time beginning with "More Cairns.")

The last night of our travels with M&M through Queensland was spent in Cania Gorge National Park where there are beautiful rock cliffs rising up on either side of a pretty valley.

Shortly after we arrived and checked into a local van park, we took a hike on one of the trails to an area called Two Storey Cave.

The rock formations were both beautiful and dramatic.

The grazing land in the valley floor is evidently leased out to stockmen.

In the evening, we had a glass of wine while we waited for the bird feeding that the van park people do. Before we even got to the feeding site, a King Parrot decided to grace us with a personal visit. The poor guy had only one leg, but that seemed not to slow him in the least. We fed him some nuts and bird seed, and he was more than willing to take individual nuts right from our hands.

This amazing cloud was difficult to ignore as we walked toward the feeding area.

The birds built-in clocks were telling them that feeding time was nearing. If you look closely, you can see Lorikeets and other birds gathering.

When the feed was put out, the Lorikeets descended in huge numbers, and the sounds of their squawking was fun to hear.

The man doing the feeding poured grain into our hands, and the Lorikeets were more than willing to accept what was offered.

Eventually, a large number of Cockatoos arrived as well.

So, the Lorikeets and the Gawahs became a little more tentative, yielding somewhat to their bigger cousins.

These two guys were seriously unhappy with each other.

Here you can see all the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos that showed up.

Kathie and I were totally blown away by the rewards we got from seeing all of these amazing colors and activities.