Susan May: 2016

September 14 - 21 we traveled 800 miles around the southern Colorado Rocky Mountains. On the first day, we flew to Denver, rented a car and drove to Boulder.

The Rocky Mountains cover 3,000 miles, extending from Mexico to the Bering Strait, north of the Arctic Circle, the mountains form the continental divide.

The highest point is Mount Elbert.

The month of September is the ideal time to witness a golden aspen spectacle on a scenic drive in Colorado, but you have to time it right: The color lasts only about a week in most places. It's difficult to predict when exactly the leaves will turn in any given location.

Every day, over 32,000 vehicles travel through the Eisenhower Tunnel and Johnson Tunnels.The tunnels are sixty miles west of Denver, Colorado on Interstate 70. They are the highest vehicular tunnels in the world, located at an elevation of 11,013 feet at the East Portal and 11,158 feet at the West Portal. The tunnels cut through the Continental Divide at an elevation of 11,112 feet. The tunnels are 9 miles long.

Established in 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park protects 415 square miles of spectacular mountain scenery and encompasses 77 mountains of more than 14,000 feet in elevation.

Pikes Peak Cog Railway

The 8.9-mile Cog Railway started operating 1891. Over a half million people reach the Summit House every year by the Pikes Peak Highway, Barr Trail or the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. The 19-mile Pikes Peak Highway is paved to the summit and is open year round, weather permitting. Barr Trail is the longest of any trails leading to the top of the 54 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet and offers the greatest base-to-summit elevation gain in the state - 7,400 feet.

The most visited mountain in North America and the second most visited mountain in the world (behind Japan's Mount Fuji), Pikes Peak forms a stunning backdrop for Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods. At an altitude of 14,115 feet above sea level, Pikes Peak is the 31st highest peak out of 54 Colorado peaks.

Continental Divide

Vail

Vail's average elevation is 8,150 feet above sea level. Outdoor activities are the focus of this 4.5-mile square town in the Rockies.

Moose seem to roam where ever they want to nibble on aquatic vegetation and willows. We saw 3 large moose grazing on along Highway 34 in the Kawuneeche Valley. An adult male stands between five and seven feet high at the shoulder. Large males can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds while females are roughly three-quarters of this size.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Red Rock Amphitheatre

Dedicated: June 15,1941 Stage: 60 feet wide by 70 feet deep

Elevation at top of Amphitheatre: 6,500 feet

The Amphitheatre was built in 1936 - 1941 by Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC. This program was designed to put Americans to work during the Great Depression.

The 868-acre Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, nestled in the Rocky Mountain Foothills just 15 miles outside of Denver near Morrison, was once listed among the Seven Wonders of the World—and with good reason. Ship Rock and Creation Rock, the largest of the monoliths, tower 300 feet above the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. These massive brick-colored sandstone monoliths are taller than Niagara Falls.

Red Rocks Park has been named one of the best concert venues in the world. This incredible open-air amphitheater was designed to preserve the natural beauty of the great sandstone ledges. The massive monoliths act as natural sound walls, creating unparalleled acoustics. The Amphitheatre has seen many world-renown acts, including the Grateful Dead, Sting, Barbara Streisand, Dave Matthews Band, John Denver and The Beatles.

The natural beauty of Colorado is captured in this amazing park and concert venue, providing 360-degree views of Denver and the Plains for over 200 miles.

That black dot on the stage is Ken.

From Portland, Oregon to Melbourne, Australia is 8,757 miles. That adds up to about 16 hours of seat time. We were greeted with a passing rain shower and 66 degree weather that made us feel right at home. We found Melbourne (Melben to the Aussies) to be a friendly, easy to navigate large city of 4,530,000.

Melbourne

Great Ocean Adventure

Our bus driver told us there was 181 curves on this road. He wasn't kidding!

We saw hundreds of stone piles along the beach called cairns.

A cairn is a human-made pile or stack of stones.

Looks and feels like Southern California.

We learned hat constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland beginning 20 million years ago, the stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 80 feet high were left isolated from the shore. The stacks of rock is now called The Twelve Apostles.

Camel Farm

Another very hot day. 103!! Today we rode one lap around a dusty track on our stubborn camels who decided to beat feet in the final turn! Australia's wild camel population is the biggest in the world. Over 700,000 feral camels roam the central desert regions.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs is in the Northern Territory of the central desert of Australia. We visited the School of Air and the museum of the Royal Flying Doctors.

Ayres Rock or Uluru

This beautiful site includes many caves, waterholes, and ancient rock painting. Uluru is a massive sandstone rock in central Australia that is sacred to the Aborigine of the area, who are known as the Anangu.

Waterfalls came roaring down the Rock after a brief rainfall.

This mysterious rock changes color according to the weather and light.

There are just over 23,000 Indigenous in Australia. Many have left their traditional lifestyle of hunting and gathering, and have moved to suburbs. There is a 40% unemployment rate in many Aborigines populations. Aborigines are widely discriminated against which causes some people not to hire them. Even the police and government discriminate against them.

crocodile kangaroo emu wallaby

Cairns Great Barrier Reef

Cairns is the jumping off point to the Barrier Reef, a 90 minute boat ride away. The Cairns region is the fourth most popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Aussies pronounce Cairns as Cans.

Divers and tourists from all around the world come to this area to dive at the

Great Barrier Reef.

Tjapukai Aboriginal Culture Park

Here, we learned how to throw a spear and boomerang. Later we watched performances of the rainforest’s indigenous people.

Kiwi Wildlife Park

We traveled by train through the rain forest up to the Kiwi Wildlife Park.

On the return down the mountain,The Skyrail cable car took us high over the canopy. Amazing!

Sydney

We spent 3 days in beautiful Sydney which included: tour of the Opera House, Harbor tour and hop-on-hop off bus tour.

Enjoying dinner with our fellow travelers. Great view from our hotel room.

Sydney Opera House Facts

seven performance venues

cost to build the Opera House was $102 million

There are 1,056,006 roof tiles covering the sculpted roof area

8 Boeing 747s could sit wing to wing on the site.It took 10 years complete the Grand Organ.

Christchurch, New Zealand

We flew from Sydney to Chistchurch, New Zealand's on southern island. Here, we enjoyed a wonderful Kiwi homemade meal. Five years ago the area experienced two 7.5 earthquakes which destroyed most of the buildings in this 300,000 city. It's been a slow recovery and rebuild.

Queenstown

Founded in 1863, Queenstown now has an urban population of 13,150. Queenstown boasts of 220 adventure tourism activities. Sunniest month is November. Lord of the Rings was filmed here.

Bungee jumping is very popular. It's a wonderful view from the Skyline Gondola.

Our evening ride was a steam powered boat to Walter Peak where we had a

wonderful dinner and sheep shearing demonstration.

Walter Peak dinner and sheep shearing demonstration

Arrowtown

Arrowtown, population 2,015, is an historic gold mining town in the South Island of New Zealand.

Our next flight was from Queensland to Rotorua in New Zealand's north island.

Rotorua

Tonight we enjoyed a traditional hangi feast. The Mori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. The Mori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages at some time between 1,250 and 1,300 AD.