Sunday, October 2, 1988 – Ayers Rock / Uluru
Alarm clock in Yulara Resort wakes me up at 5:30 am. Departure to the Ayers Rock (known as Uluru to the Australian Aboriginals) is at 7am. It is sunny and the skies are clear. After 25 minutes the bus stops under the Ayers Rock in a place, where a chain helps people climb the very steep wall. Everywhere else on Ayers Rock the walls are almost perpendicular. People along the chain resemble a row of ants. Ayers Rock is 3.6 km long and 348 m high over the flat terrain around it. Some 2/3 of the Rock is hidden underground. It is suppose to be the biggest rock in the world.
I start to climb at 7:30 pm. Despite the steep slope, it is not beyond my reach. After climbing the first third, I begin to worry, how I would handle the steep descent. It frightens me to look down to the foot of the mountain. While sitting on a rock, wondering what to do, I decide that I would rather go down from this height, than from a higher place later. Soon, however, I find that the descent is quite easy. After getting down about one half of the previous assent, I make a new decision that I would climb this famous mountain after all. But I think I wasted some energy and the climbing is not as easy any more. In addition, due to steepness of the Rock, one has to climb leaning forward, almost squatting. My knees hurt. After 40 minutes climbing, at the upper end of the chain that leads up to the plateau at the top of the Rock, my knees became soft. At this time I can’t even stand on my legs. I am collapsing on the ground and watching other people continuing walking over the more or less flat top of the mountain to the middle of it, where there is perhaps a triangulation point. I am surprised by the old Japanese, both men and women, for whom (at least it seems to me) the climbing of Ayers Rock is not a big deal. This morning the temperature was pleasant, but it is increasing every minute. At 8:20 I am recuperated enough to start going down. The descent goes well and I’m down in 20 minutes.
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DU_78/79 DOWN UNDER TRIP
Date of travel: Dec 14, 1978 – Jan 7, 1979
ITINERARY:
Flight from Los Angeles, California via Honolulu, Hawaii to
FIJI – (3 days, Nadi, Lautoka with sightseeing of the Viti Levu island, a day by boat on Molololailai island), flight to
NEW ZEALAND (13 days, bus tour through the North and the South Islands visiting: North Island: Auckland, Waitomo / Glow-warm caves, Rotorua / flight above volcanoes, Palmerston North, Wellington, ferry to Picton on South Island: Greymouth, Haast, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Omarama, flight above Southern Alps, Christchurch), flight to
AUSTRALIA – (5 days, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, all with sightseeing trips and flights between cities), flight to Tahiti via Auckland (New Zealand)
TAHITI (France) – (2 days, bus tour around the island) and flight to Los Angeles and San Diego, California.
Travel office: Brandon Tours (through May Company Travel in Oceanside)
Who took part: 20 travelers (incl. Aramis), Brandon Tour leader, bus drivers, local guides
AUS-88 My second visit of Australia and the first by myself of this country
Date of travel: Sep 15 – Sep 9, 1988
ITINERARY:
On Sep 15 a train from Oceanside to Los Angeles and a shuttle to LAX. From there flight by Qantas via Honolulu on Hawaiian Islands to AUSTRALIA, where (thanks to 180 meridian) on Sep 17. Between Sep 17 and Oct 9 I visited the following places in Australia: Cairns, Queensland (with Kuranda train and a boat ride to Fitzroy and Green Islands), flight to Brisbane, Queensland (EXPO 88 and a trip to Gold Coast with a local travel company), flight via Sydney and Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania (a trip to Port Arthur), flight to Melbourne, Victoria (sightseeing the city), flight to Perth, Western Australia (a bus trip do Fremantle), flight to Adelaide, South Australia. Then by overnight bus from Adelaide to Alice Springs, Northern Territories (here sightseeing and a trip outside to a group of aborigines). Continuing by bus to a group of mountains called Olga’s and Ayers Rock (which I climbed). Returning by bus south and a stop for a day in Coober Pedy, where opals are mined. In Adelaide, South Australia (a bus trip to Hahndorf and Barossa Valley). Flight to Sydney, New South Wales (sightseeing and a trip to Blue Mountains). On Oct 10 flight from Sydney via Tahiti to LAX. From here by shuttle and train to Oceanside.
Travel office: A Czech travel office of Mr. Mach in Los Angeles arranged all my flights to, in and from Australia. I arranged accommodation and the bus tour on the spot.
Who took part: I traveled by myself.
AUS-92 My third visit of Australia and second on my own to that country.
Date of travel: Oct 1 – Oct 19, 1992
ITINERARY:
On Oct 1 on train from Oceanside to Los Angeles then on shuttle to LAX and flight on Qantas via Hawaiian Islands to AUSTRALIA, where (after 180 meridian) on Oct 3. Between Oct 3 and Oct 19 I visited: Cairns, Queensland (with snorkeling on Barrier Reef and visiting Green Island), flight to Darwin, Northern Territories (with Kakadu Nat. Park), flight to Perth, Western Australia (with Fremantle and Pinnacles Nat. Park), flight to Adelaide, South Australia (with trip to Murray River), flight to Melbourne, Victoria (with trip to Echuca on Murray River), flight to Canberra, the capital of Australia, and flight to Sydney, New South Wales (mostly sightseeing the city and a trip to Hunters’ Valley). On Oct 19 departure with Qantas on a nonestop flight (13 hours) to LAX. Shuttle and train to Oceanside.
Travel office: Some help from May Co. Travel and Qantas for flight to and from Australia and Anset in the country itself.
Who took part: I traveled by myself.
DU-12 South Pacific (FIJI, AUSTRALIA, NAURU, SAMOA, American Samoa, TUVALU)
Date of travel: Nov 1 – Nov 22, 2012
ITINERARY:
On Nov 1 in the afternoon I drive a rented car from Vista, CA to Los Angeles airport. From there I take a plane to Nandi, FIJI. Thanks to the Date Line the plane lands early in the morning on Nov 3 there. Spending the day on the airport I fly in the evening from Nandi to Brisbane, AUSTRALIA where one night in a hotel. On Nov 4 I visit the Brisbane downtown.
Just after midnight on Nov 5 I fly to NAURU Island, where in the morning. I am taken to my hotel. I spent 2 days on Nauru. One of the days I take a tour through the island where the Australians have a detention camp for immigrants. In the afternoon on Nov 7 I fly back to Brisbane and my hotel there. Next 3 days I spent sightseeing the city. In the evening on Nov 10 I fly to Nandi, Fiji.
Early in the morning I am driven from Nandi to Sonaisali Resort. Last part is a boat ride to the island with the resort. I spend next 3 days in this tropical paradise. Late on Nov 13 I fly from Nandi, Fiji to Apia, SAMOA. Next 3.5 days I explore Samoa and one day I fly to Pango Pango in AMERICAN SAMOA. On Nov 17 I take a plane from Apia via Nandi to Suva, Fiji. Here I stay 2 days and do sightseeing of the Fiji capital, Suva and its surroundings.
On Nov 20 I fly to Funafuti Atoll in the island country TUVALU. I land there before noon. Local man drives me to my rather primitive hotel. In the net 2 days there I walk through the village, take pictures of the Tuvalu government house, buy some Tuvalu stamps and spend more time in a nice hotel, which seems to be a gathering place for foreigners who are here on business. I should have had room in this hotel. In case the ocean level rises in the future, Tuvalu Atolls will be impacted first, because they are only few stops above the sea level.
On Nov 22 afternoon I leave Funafuti Atoll for Suva, Fiji and then take another plane to Nandi on the other side of Viti Levu Island. In Nandi I board a plane and an hour before midnight it takes off for Los Angeles where I land at noon still Nov 22 due to the Date Line. I get a car from Hertz and drive home to Vista.
Travel office: I arranged the flights and hotels by myself.
Who took part: I traveled alone.
DU-16 Down Under (Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand)
Date of travel: Oct 14 – Dec 5, 2016 (total 53 days)
Australia Cruise – present position
ITINERARY:
Late in the afternoon on October 14, 2016 I drive in a rented car from Vista to Los Angeles airport. Qantas plane Boeing 747-400 takes off before midnight. After 13 hours early in the morning it lands in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on October 16, thanks to the 180th meridian. Later that morning another flight to Alice Springs in Northern Territory of Australia. Here I spent 3 days getting familiar with the town in the center of Australia, where I spent some time in 1988. Then on October 18 short flight to Sydney, NSW for 2.5 days on my own.
At noon on October 20 in Sydney I boarded the Holland America ship Maasdam (almost 56k gross tons, over 1100 passengers and some 600 crews) for a 43 day cruise circumnavigating Australia and visiting the islands of New Zealand from the Milford Sound in the southwest, the major places of the east coast, to Auckland in the north.
Sailing counterclockwise the Australian continent with some days just cruising, we visited Brisbane, Hamilton Island and Cairns in Queensland, Darwin in Northern Territory, Komodo and Bali islands in Indonesia, Geraldton, Fremantle, Perth and Albany in Western Australia and Adelaide in South Australia. Due to high waves we could not visit the Kangaroo Island. Then Burnie in Tasmania. Tasmania is the only island state of Australia. Melbourne in State of Victoria followed and on November 18, after 29 days of sailing we were back to Sydney, NSW.