This segment from Sydney to Beijing is a long one -- 25 days -- a we will travel over 8,000 Miles.

When entering an Australian port, we are reminded each time that no food, plants, animals, meats, etc. may be brought ashore (they call it a quarantine). To ensure that this law is not broken a professsionally trained sniffing beagle dog, affectionately known as the beagle brigade, checks each disembarking passenger's bags and there is a big fine for offenders. The sign reads: "we find, We fine."

We finally saw some kangaroos when we visited the Billabong Sanctuary, also crocodiles, koala bears, cassowary birds which have one big middle toe with which they can kick and kill you. We learned that koalas sleep 23 out of 24 hours a day because they are continuosly stoned from eating the eucalyptus leaves that they thrive on.

This area of Queensland was badly damaged by cyclone Yasi and they are still recovering. The damage was mostly flooding and major tree uprooting. The Billabong animal Sanctuary was badly damaged and was closed to the public until mid-April, but they opened it for us for a few hours. A lot of the animal cages were still destroyed by high winds and falling trees.

Brisbane is still recovering from the floods caused by cyclone Yasi. The Brisbane River, which flows right through the city, overflowed its banks carrying with it a lot of boats that are normally moored in the river which people live on year round to avoid the high cost of housing on shore. The water has now receded but is still extremely muddy due to the silting problem from the flood.

We spent the day in Surfers Paradise on Australia's Gold Coast about one hour south of Brisbane. If you remember, we stayed at Surfers Paradise about seven years ago for a week. When you want to swim here you are told to "stay between the flags" where there are lifeguards. They move the flags daily as the position of the rip tides change. Surfers have their own designated area, but are not permitted to surf between the flags. Since we are travelling north, each day gets hotter.

written by  rcodel on February 25, 2011 from Brisbane, Australia
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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As you know, Sydney has one of th most beautiful harbors in the world and is one of our favorite cities. Alida remembers first being there accompanying Dick on a business trip about 30 years ago where she was royally entertained by Dick's Australian business associates, including a visit to the Sydney Opera House to hear a performance by Ann Southerland. We have both visited Sydney many times since, even once with Alissa, and continue to enjoy it here. This time we had the fortunate experience of leaving the harbor at night.

our floating mobile home

written by  rcodel on February 23, 2011 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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Melbourne (pronounced "Melbun") is a big, modern city built around the beautiful Yarra River which is reminiscernt of the Charles River in Boston. The buildings are a tasteful blend of old and modern architecture. It is a well planned city with areas with specific emphasis, such as the entertainment area, sports complex area, museum area, etc. There are large, beautiful gardens throughout the city.

We took a one-hour ride on the "Puffing Billy" train, which is an old steam locomotive train, built in the late 1800's. It took us over old, wooden trestle bridges and through Mountain passes with beautiful views. It reminded us of Thomas the Tank train.

It took us two days to cross the Tasman Sea. The wave conditions were unusually calm. As a result we arrived in Hobart 12 hours early. The last time we crossed the Tasman Sea we had 30 foot waves for two days.

The town of Hobart surrounds a beautiful harbor. It is a lovely, small, quaint city with a population under 100,000. This begins our Australian adventure.

As we leave New Zealand we have only one thing to say: It is a magnificent, beautiful, clean country with very warm and friendly people who are very proud of their country. Everyone should put it on their list of places to go.

DUSKY SOUND

DOUBTFUL SOUND

MILFORD SOUND

written by  rcodel on February 15, 2011 from Milford Sound, New Zealand
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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We spent most of Valentine's Day on a train which took us through the Taieri Gorge. This is a very old railway that is now privately owned and is used only for tourists going through the gorge. It was built by hand in the late 1800's and has about a dozen tunnels through mountains. It is truly an incredible feat that was accomplished. Most of the railroad cars are very old and made of wood. The train ride was 56 kilometers each way going to a maximum altitude of about 2,000 feet. The views were spectacular.

We learned in Wellington that rugby is a really big sport in New Zealand . They are extremely excited about hosting the rugby world cup later this year.

Wellington is a beautiful, hilly city that surrounds a lovely bay. It is like a mini San Francisco with lots of hills and steep streets. It's very near a fault line and has about 360 earthquakes per year, mostly quite small. There are qutie a few houses built on the side of hills not accessible by car with beautiful views of the harbor. Quite a few can be reached by either steep stairs or inclined elevators. Heavy furniture or replacement appliances have to be delivered by helicopter.