TOAL-Trip of a Lifetime

Almost the middle of Australia, Uluru is the Aboriginal name. White men call it Ayers Rock. At 1141 feet high, 2.2 miles long and 1.2 miles wide, it is an impressive monolith in the desert. The Aboriginal owners of Uluru call themselves Anangu.  Uluru is only the visible tips of a massive underground rock slab. No one knows how massive the rock is underground. It is made of  arkose sandstone, rich in feldspar. It would be grey but has a high iron content, which causes it to turn red as the iron rusts.

The Anangu people belong to the oldest culture known to man dating back 60,000 years. They believe that their culture has always existed in Central Australia and that this landscape was created at the beginning of time by the travels of great ancestral beings. Uluru is said to provide physical evidence of these ancient events. It has been used for traditional ceremonies and rites of passage for over 10,000 years.   Rituals are still often held today in the caves around the base where ‘No Photography’ signs are posted out of respect.  Many of the caves around the rock hold deep spiritual meanings and contain ancient rock paintings. The Anangu would prefer people not climb Uluru out of respect and airplanes do not fly directly over the rock.

 

The sign about last shop for 1000 km is not kidding. The outback is huge. There are no gas stations, hotels etc for many many miles. Camels, Kangaroos, wallabies and wombats are wild and numerous.

 

Saint Damien served as the pastor of the Kohala mission for eight years from 1865 until 1873. In 1873, Saint Damien left to care for the lepers of Molokai. Saint Marianne Cope also served at this church before joining Saint Damien on Molokai. The interior has many beautiful paintings of bible stories. Saint Damien worked among the lepers in a quarantine leper colony, teaching, dressing their wounds, building schools, houses, roads, hospitals and churches. Saint Marianne and her nuns assisted him.

Ok, this is the last type of termite I will mention. These are common in northern Australia. These are definitely wood eating termites. They eat the tree from the inside out. They build a covered walkway to get down to the ground from the nest. The aborigines use these hollowed trees to make their didgeridoos.

These termites eat grass and other plant material. A single mound may contain 10,000 plus termites. The mounds are built slab like, oriented north-south. They get sunshine east and west but very little of the mound is exposed to the really hot noonday sun. They are found around Darwin, in low lying areas that flood in the rainy season. The mounds when built near each other look like graveyards.

Loved this place, yes we are fans of the Hobbit

Cathedral termite mounds are found across northern Australia. They often reach 15 feet in height, with most of the mound being underground. Termites build the mound in a north-south orientation to reduce the exposure to the sun. Inside the mound is an extensive system of tunnels and conduits used as a ventilation system for the underground nest. This is a spheroidal mound with many chimneys or ventilation holes. Mounds in the picture are 50 years old or more. No termite is in charge of building these complex structures. We do not know how the termites know to build such a complex climate controlled mound. These termites eat grass and dead plants. The soil near the termite mound is very rich in nutrients, so vegetation grows near the mounds, which the animals enjoy. I have 2 more types of termites to discuss, in future posts.

In 1815, Russians started building a fort near Honolulu Harbor. When King Kamehameha I discovered the Russians were building a fort and flying the Russian flag, he had them removed. The fort was completed by Hawaiians under the direction of John Young.  By 1838, the fort had 52 guns mounted on the parapets. The fort protected Honolulu Harbor and housed the police, jail, courts and Governors office.

Images of the coral blocks from the fort, the original fort and Fort Street Mall. Today Fort Street has a lovely pedestrian mall full of unique shops.

Fantan Alley is part of Chinatown in Victoria B.C. It is the narrowest street in North America, 35 inches wide at its narrowest point. About 0.2 miles from Victoria’s harbor. It was named Fantan Alley after a Chinese gambling game called Fan-Tan. Sailors used to run uphill to Fantan Alley when on shore leave, thirsty for alcohol, gambling, sex and the opium dens. Today it is full of unique stores, art galleries, restaurants and even chocolate shops.

The capital of NZ, population 405,000, it sits on a hill above Wellington harbor. It is the worlds windiest city. Reminds me of San Francisco, including the use of cable cars. NZ has no snakes, no chiggers, no japanese beetles, no venomous insects, one Rare venomous spider. Photos of the Botanical Garden, cable cars and painted ladies.