We left for Uluru in the morning by coach and stopped at the Steven's Well Camel Farm. John and others go for a short ride on camels, posting all the way, and then we're back on the coach. The next stop is at Ebenezer Roadhouse where we had morning tea and saw an aboriginal art display. We go on to Uluru and I let John go on the walks and I stayed on the bus to rest my knee/leg (sore from yesterday's walk into the Standley Chasm) Ron, the bus driver, drives those still on the bus around Uluru again. I am impressed with the three-dimensionalness of Uluru--many holes, caves, falls (now dry) and other designs (frog), also green trees growing in crevices where there is water. We then check into the Outback Pioneer Hotel with ... read more

After breakfast we leave for the Alice Springs Desert Park. It's hot so we start in the earlier morning. Birds and floral and fauna of area in the Park are quite pleasant. Martin does a good job giving us a running commentary all along. Lunch is served for us at the Park. In the afternoon we hear a lecture on Aboriginal Art in Central Australia. We do laundry and rest in the free time this afternoon. Then we depart for the Ooraminna Bush Camp on Deep Well Station (Cattle Ranch). We hear about life on a cattle station. The Station is around 450,000 acres in size. We have station roast dinner prepared by the Hayes family ( the owners of the station). We had been welcomed by Mimosas and chicken skewers and them some cinnamon and ... read more

Today we went to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill, a recreated 1851 to 1864 gold rush town and mine. There were guides in costume and a whole class of school kids with teacher in period costume "experiencing" how life would have been at that time. They were there for a week's time. The town was very well thought out and the "gold pour" demonstration was interesting. The "gold pour" showed how the smelted gold was poured into ingot form and cooled in water for immediate handling. The ingot weighed 3 kilograms, worth $85,000 NZ. We had lunch at the "New York Bakery". The restaurant was one that had been operating in Ballarat at the gold rush time. Then we traveled back to our hotel and had our last dinner in Melourne at the hotel buffet. Then we ... read more

We start the day with three lectures--Intro to Australian and its People, Intro Australia economy and health system, and the Opal. Then we went to the Queen Victoria Market--basically a farmer's Market and vendors market. We left Melbourne at 3 pm for Phillip Island and the Little Penguin Parade. We ate at a restaurant called the San Remo Hotel just before we went on to the island. Its was very windy, cold, and rainy. We saw about 30 little penguins come in from the waves and walk to their burrows. These penguins used to be called Fairy Penguins but the pc term now is little penguins. We finally returned to the hotel at 11:15 pm and fell into bed extremely tired.... read more

We went to the Antartic Centre at the Christchurch NZ airport before boarding a bigger plane to Melbourne. We were met by Don Sinclair and got through security and Australian customs. My declaration card was properly filled out this time. Then we went to our new hotel arriving late around 6:30 pm local time and got settled in the room. After dinner we unpacked. Yes, we get to stay for 5 nights in one place! ... read more