Still More This and That

1. Auto body shops make crash repairs
2. There is a very large Korean population in Auckland.
3. In Australia people think of vacations to Fiji; in New Zealand it's Tonga.
4. There's a free bus that runs in a circle route in Auckland. You can get on and off whenever you want.
It's powered by batteries and pollution free diesel fuel.
5. The tallest tower in the Pacific is in Auckland. You can jump off the tower; I saw the wires today but nobody jumping, so I'm not sure how it works.
6. There's a kind of crane contraption where you can bungee jump in central Auckland...I passed it today on the free bus...looks like an oversized amusement park ride.
7. There are 4 sheep for every person in New Zealand.
That's all, folks!

Getting to New Zealand/Auckland

Well, the saga continues. When I got to the airport yesterday, I had trouble. New Zealand didn't want to let me in because I didn't have a return visa for Australia....mine was "attached" electronically to my old passport. I have to reapply online from ourside Australia, which I will do as soon as I finish this.

The Sydney airport is huge and busy. The Auckland airport is tiny. There were only 4 planes on the ground when we landed, including ours. The first thing you notice from the air, besides the love turquoise water, is the greenness of the landscape. It's really different from what my friend Joyce calls the bush color (brownish greyish, green) of Australia.

Auckland is a lovely city. I went on a free sightseeing tour today (sponsored by the bus tour company; very reminiscent of time share tours). Anyhow, the beaches are lovely, the water clean, the streets without litter or graffitti. I learned today that Auckland is physically the size of London but only has 1.4 million people living there.
There are more boats (mostly sailboats) per person in Auckland than any place else in the world, hence it's name, The City of Sails.

The X Base hostel where I am staying is excellent. They have a special floor called The Sanctuary, this is women only. I think hostels don't know what to do with older hostelers. They are afraid to put us into room with scads of 20 year old, so, for the second time (Sydney being the first) Sandy and I are staying (by ourselves) in a dorm room for 9, so it's very luxurious. They give you coupons for free dinners, free drinks, and a free city tour...see above. On the beach in 5 minutes I found a huge collection of shells which I photo graphed and will try to get into this blog. Amazing...no polution or oil spills. There are 50 extinct volcanoes around Auckland, and the Maori people built their settlements on top of them as a defense against warring neighbors. Places have 2 names, English and Maori . Maori is taught in the schools, andMaori culture appears to be valued.

While I'm writing this outside the Internet Cafe there is a street bagpipe bang playing "The Banks of Loch Loman". Sandy booked the hostel hottub for this evening...not a bad way to end the day..We fly to Rotouroa tomorrow afternoon.

More This and That

OK, here are a a few other things of interest so far:
The huge loud birds that gathered every night in downtown Cairns turned out to be FRUIT BATS.

Sydney subway stations have large screen video W/ audio advertisements as well as signs that change every 30 seconds or so.

The cars here are largely Holdens, followed by Toyotas, Mazdas, and other Japanese & Korean imports. I have seen several Lexus 300s and some fords, but that's it.

The big news here is that at the Melbourne Cup (next Tuesday, more interest than the Kentucky Derby here) a mare has already won 2 times and may run again (and possibly win) for the third year in a row.

The Sydney Opera and Symphony and ballet rotate with Melbourne's concert hall, so it appears that being a musician here is a full time paying profession.

Housing in Sydney is as expensive as New York or London.

Sydney's transportation system is wonderful. Everything runs on time: the buses, the subway, the trams, the monorail, often, and is clean although people are allowed to eat and drink on it. In Washington DC a 13 year old girl was arrested for eating a candy bar on Metro.

Although Queensland (northeastern Australia) has wonderful beaches and the Great Barrier Reef, most Australians I've talked to have never gone there because it's too hot, or too expensive.

I will add to this as I think of more.

After the Grab

Well, it's a lucky thing to live in the computerized age...everything can be worked out pretty fast. I was able to get a new purse (sold/given to me by a dear man at the train station market for $5), new passport pictures (free, instead of $12, once I told me tale of woe), and an emergency passport from the US consulate. The only freaky thing was that when I went in with my new purse, carrying a bottle of water, they made me drink some of the water to assure themselves it wasn't poison or something. After the picture I had to go to the Australian immigration to find out what to do about my visa, which had been electronically linked to my ""old"" passport. Turns out that I have to reapply when I get to New Zealand; they gave me the website. After that I went to American express where I got an emergency new card and a cash advance. When I get to Auckland I hope my new Visa card will be waiting, since nearly nobody here takes American express, and they don't at all in New Zealand.

Then what to do about my camera equipment, and the opals I bought that were taken.
I decided to replace only the camera. I went downtown and after a lot of shoppng bought a new camera to replace the one that was stolen.

That done, I spent yesterday afternoon at the weekend market at The Rocks, where I found a platypus refrigerator magnet and a bottle of BUG OFF, which I hope works as a deterrent to the hoards of flies that are everywhere here. The Rocks is the site of the original English settlement at what's become Sydney. The criminals lived at the foot of the rocks; the settlers and military lived atop the rocky cliffs (The Rocks) to separate themselves from the smell and the masses.
See attached historical picture of area

Before coming back to the hostel I went to the McDonalds by the harbor (the first time since I left the States, but I wanted a LARGE soda), and besides being waylayed by a VERY talkative elder lady weirdo, there was a pigeon flying around the store...which was a first for me.

Last night Sydney went on daylight savings time. Today was going to go opal shopping at Manly today, Sunday,but it's pouring for the first time since I left home, which is really amazing.

Grab and Snatch in Sydney Central Hostel

Surprise! At least it was to me. While I was posting my last blog and looking for epictures, a women snuck up and grabbed my purse which was on the floor just by my left foot. As I was leaving for the airport in 30 minutes, I had my whole life in it...credit cards, money (US, Australian and New Zealand dollars), my passport, my camera, the Epson 2000 my daughter and son in law had given me for the trip, my presceription sunglasses, the waterproof case for my camera....and of course all my photos disappeared as well.

I was left with nothing but 35 cents. Since I had bought the tickets to Auckland, Sandy couldn't get a refund, so she rushed out to the nearest ATM, took out several hundred dollars and lent me her credit card, then she had to leave.

I've spent the last 4 hours trying to put things back together so I can continue my trip. I had travel insurancewhich will cover the cost of the camera equipment, but not the 3 wonderful opals I'd picked out for Diana, Lisa and Martha.

I'm getting new passport photos taken today, and tomorrow I'll be able to pick up a cash advance and an American Express credit card. Too bad nearly nobody here takes that card.
A new Master Card should be awaiting me when I arrive in Auckland on Monday. I'll be chillin at the Sydney hostel until then...and hopefully will have no more adventures.

People here have been really wonderful, which has helped a lot. I''m going to try to replace my camera and the Epson here in Sydney before I leave. Replacing the driver's license, social security, meeicare, and other cards will have to come later. What a shock!

The Blue Mountains and Kangaroos

Today was wonderful! I didn't think seeing a platypus could be topped, but this day came pretty close. I got on the tour bus at 8AM, and we drove for about 2 hours out of Sydney along nearly the same road that the first convicts made, chained together, through the wild landscape so that the land beyong could be developed". The Blue Mountains are called that because they are mostly covered with eucalyptus trees and the trees extrude oil into the air, and from a distance that oil makes the mountains look blue. Sounds strange, but it's absolutely true.

There is a rock formation that's called the 3 Sisters. There're several versions of how they got there...they are one of the most famous sights in Australia.

My tour took me through a different kind of rainforest. The ones in Cairns was tropical rainforest; the one here is temperate rainforest. There were more ferns, fern trees and fewer large tall trees. Lots more eucalyptus trees of all kinds. And more flies. Swatting flies is what's known as the Australian salute. Disgustingly enough, one flew up my nose...I was totally freaked out; I guess it'll come out eventually. Ugh

The gramd finale of the day was a side trip to another natural park where there were kangaroos hopping all around, eating the grass and unconcerned with the people staring at them. I found a mother with a joey in her pouch. Just the tail and a leg was hanging out, very weird looking. I waited and followed her from a distance and eventually...a little adorable head popped out, and the baby started eating grass along with its mom. This was so amazing to see...I took pictures but still haven't found a way to upload my pictures onto this web site. Sigh!

The Amazing Platypus!

The Taranga Zoo in Sydney bills itself as the Zoo
with a VIEW, and it truly is. You take the ferry across Sydney harbor to get there...then a bus or cable car takes you to the top entrance, and you walk your way downhill.

To tell the truth I came to see my favorite animal, the platypus and I DID! Yay!
What an amazing animal!
It's a mammal that lays eggs(usually 2) and suckles its young from its stomach (no nipples) .
Apparently when the baby sucks, milk oozes out (from somewhere...I have no idea where or how)
It has only 1 opening for elimination, sex, and giving birth. The echidna is the only other animal like this.
Scientists think these animals are caught somewhere between reptiles and mammals in the evolutionary food chain, and are very ancient animals.
It has webbed feet, but used only its front feet when swimming.
It uses the hind feet for making a burrow.
It's bill is leathery...and has sensors in it to find food when it dives, because the platypus shuts its ears and eyes underwater.
Platypuses eat crawfish, and since they have no teeth, they have to gum them.
When the female is building her nest, she scoops up mud and puts it into her tail, which she then curls up and takes it to its burrow.
It has a double coat of hair, which keeps it warm and dry in and out of the water.
It's nocturnal and shy.
It has a tail that looks like a beaver's.
The male has poisonous spurs on its hind feet.
When Australian scientists first sent a preserved platypus to their counterparts in England, nobody believed it was real...they thought it had been sewn together as a hoax.

The Taronga Zoo finally bred platypuses in captivity several years ago...the first time ever, under their romantic outdoor waterfall. When I was there it was daytime, so they were most likely sleeping. At least I got a chance to see them in the nocturnally lighted tank! Yay!

This and that!

Here're some things I've seen or learned on this trip. I'll be adding to this as I think of things.

1. In Guam when they want a new coconut tree. they split a coconut in half lengthwise, then tape it to a living tree. The coconut they sprouts on both halves and makes 2 new baby trees.

2. The one downside of Sydney is its FLIES. They are smaller than those of the US, but follow you everywhere, and try to land everywhere, especially on your face. You can see people swatting flies as they walk down the street.

3. Sidewalk advertising signs scroll down so each one has at least 4 advertisers.

4. The Sydney subway allows food and drink. No smoking, no alcohol and no putting your feet up on other seats. It's cars have 3 levels: the one you come in with with just a few seats, then the upper and lower levels. There is nearly no graffitti and no littering. In fact, so far I've never see a steet with litter or blowing papers since I got here. There are elevators, escalatorsand rest rooms in most subway stations. There are also computerized scrolling signs at each track telling you when the next train will arrive and what stations it goes to. Inside each car is onr of those digital scrolling display that also tells the next stations.

5. Sydney is a truly international city. It has a HUGE Asian (from everywhere) , German, Turkish, amd Italian populations. Aside from the very occasional aborigini (not like Cairns where there were a lot or native people on the streets, going and coming from work) there are no black faces. Jane (my Servas friend) says that there are a lot of new immigrants from Sudan, but I've only seen 1 so far.

6.Burger King is called Hungry Jack in Australia.

7. People not only drive on the left; they walk on the left on the street, and use lefthanded handrails on staircases. This last takes a little getting used to.

8. The Taronga Zoo washes all its enclosures every day, and recycles its water.

9. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is MUCH larger than it appears on TV or post cards. It's huge...the longest single span arched bridges in the world. And, yes, there are people climbing it 365 days a year, even in the evenings.

10. There is a very low police profile in Sydney. In 3 1/2 days I've seen 6 cops and heard 1 siren.

11. There are penguins that live in the Sydney Harbor...and no, I 've only seen them in the zoo.

Sydney by foot

Wow, yesterday was very busy. It's a miracle my feet survived. I took a subway to the Botanical gardens, then walked across them to meet Jane, the Servas woman I'd written to.

She turned out to be a lovely person (the 71 meant the year she was born, not how old she was) who's also an ESOL teacher. And, amazingly enough, her dad produced a TV special on platypuses that was sponsored by National Geographic...she's going to try and put me in contact with the team in Melbourne that did all the research and photography for it. Small world!

I met Jane at the Art Museum of New South Wales, which was having a small but very interesting show of OLD photographs. There were processes I'd never heard of, and the photographs were really interesting.

After that, I walked across the Botanical Gardens to the harbor and then to an area called The Rocks, which is where the original convicts were housed. The people who were free settlers lived on the clofs (Rocks) above them, to avoid the small and mixing with the masses. It's a little like an historical Georgetown, Australian style with old buildings and interesting shops, and views of the bridge and occasional glimpses of the harbor.

I then walked back down to the harbor, grabbed a sandwich. Ate half the bread and fed the seagulls the rest, and walked over to the opera house to see Pinafore and Trial by Jury. The setting was an old steamer. The cast was good (I don't if they're the actual Opera cast or just in for that show ...the program was $15, and my need to know wasn't that great). They played the whole thing in a slapstick way, which is something I'd never seen before...interesting but weird.

Walked back to the subway along the gorgeous night lights of the Sydney Harbor, caught the train, and then came out of the station at the wrong exit and got lost. Egads, alone on the street at night. Anyhow, I stopped at a pub, got directions, and carried on


thought today my feet would be killing me, but so far they're not. I hope to get to the zoo, which allegedly has a great collection, including some , well, you know.

I'm going to try to find out how to get to the zoo (some ferry but I don't know which) and make reservations for a bus to the Blue Mountains tomorrow. This means that tonight I'll probably start packing up because on Thursday we leave for Auckland, and last time we got socked for 50lbs overweight (not on any of the other airlines) but I can't think of what to jettison.

Wonderful Sydney!

No wonder newspapers all over the world have voted Sydney the best possible place to live.
It's incredible. The streets are clean, the lights synchronized and the traffic signals beep so blind pedestrians know when to cross (that was true in Cairns, too). The trains and metro are easy to ride (I don't know yet about busses) The water in the harbor is a lovely turquoise.

We took a subway from the hostel (right across the street. How convenient is that) to Circular Quay, and walked around the Quay to the Opera House, where we were able to get on a tour without a long wait. Most people know the Opera House from the outside, which is wonderful, but the inside is fantastic as well Much of the wood is eucalyptus and a wood that looks a lot like birch. I've taken a lot of pictures, but I can't really describe how the endless glass windlws frame the lovely Sydney skyline and harbor. The water is aquarmarine and glistened in the sun. Ferries were leaving, and we decided to hop on one and go to Manly Beach.

What I didn't expect was that, despite the hordes of people that swarmed out of the subway to get to the beach, that the town itself would be cute. It was fun to look at the Auastralian version of our dollar store (theirs is a $10 or less store), look at the craft fair and hang out at the beach.
Ah, the beach...cream colored soft sand kissed by a turquoise sea. Did I mention the palm trees and Norfolk Pines. Amazing! And this just a 30 minute ferry ride from downtown Sydney. Wow!

While we were waiting for the ferry I called the Opera House Box Office which is only open from 3 to 5PM on Sunday, and managed to get a ticket to see their production of HMS Pinafore and Trial by Jury (a G&S double bill, oh joy oh rapture) tomorrow night, the only time it's playing before we leave Sydney on Thursday. Yay!

If the weather holds (did I mention that it hasn't rained since I left home?) we're planning to go to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday. Otherwise it's sightseeing and museums and just walking around this lovely city. You can guess I love it here!

Leaving Cairns (pronounced CANZ)

After an amazing day yesterday with 3 reef snorkels and a trip from Port Douglas to Cairns on a huge catamaran ferry, we settled in for another night at our hostel/hotel. We packed so we would have only 1 carry on, but we were still 50 lbs overweight and had to pay. That's what you get on a cheap airline (Jet Star, the Australian equivalent of Southwest). Anyhow, I'm now in
Sydney, staying a the HUGE Sydney Hostel that has a travel agency, video lounge, pool, sauna, cafe, and reasonable rooms.

We paid $9 extra to have the whole thing to ourselves. Great. I''m going to try and get tickets for the Sydney Opera which is having a Gilber and Sullivan festival. The weather is MUCH cooler than Cairns; I changed to a long sleeve shirt after a week of shorts and tee shirts. To be continued.

Tjapukai Aborigine Cultural Center

Sorry I missed writing about this when I was in Cairns. I took a trip our to see this center. It was a little hokey, but very interesting, and I had read a lot of books and knew some things already about aborigine culture in general. This group has created a 5 part presentations/demonstrations as well as a small but great museum: dance and music, traditional medicines; boomerang and spear throwing (I couldn't, but I tried); the creation myths of the Tjapukai, and history as seen through their eyes.
Here's a link that tells more about the Tjapukai people. I had a chance to talk with one of the men, and he was very interesting.
http://www.tjapukai.com.au/pics/intro.jpg

Our last day on the reef!

Well, we loved the reef so much we went again today...our last before leaving for Sydney. Took this amazing catamaran to an outer reef and snorkeled 3 times. My pictures are improving...now the fish are mostly in the pictures, even if they are swimming away (fish fannies). The reef is amazing...there are so many kinds and colors (yes, including purple) of fish and coral. Coming back we took a boat taxi instead of the bus...it was a nice way to say goodbye to the reef. Wow!

I'm writing this from an internet cafe across from the night market...the place for the most incredible kitch you can imagine....or lucily, maybe you can't.

It's back to the hostel (our third time there so far) to repack for Sydney tomorrow. I melted my favorite pair of pants using an iron in the apartment we rented at Port Douglas...so tonight I fouond an iron on patch to at least be able to use them, and you guessed it...it has a kangaroo and a boomerang on it. Sigh!

10/20

Yesterday I took a 4WD trip to the Daintree Rainforest, which is the oldest surviving rainforest on earth. Knowing that, I was expecting to set huge tall trees, with their leaf canopy completely blocking out the run. Surprise. While the kinds of trees are very old, the large ones have been logged, so that it's the exception, rather than the rule, that a tree is over 100 years old. What a shame!

Meanwhile, I was on the lookout for a live platypus, the anumal which has most fascinated me since I was a little kid. They are mostly nocturnal, live in river banks, and very shy. Result: no sightings, although I did manage to see 2 pretty face kangaroos in the bush on the side of the road.

WHen I got back to the hostel I found that my bus reservation to Port Douglas had been cancelled. Luckily I was able to find another one that left shortly after. The trip is supposed to be lovely, but I don't know, since it was all at night. Port Douglas is a lovely historical town with lots of beautiful historical buildings and homes, lots of expensive shops, a huge marina, and LOTS of money. I'm staying at a great hotel with a wonderful palms and rocklined swimmingcpool. Plus washer, dryer, dishwasher, palm shaded balcony, and comfy beds. We booked at the last minute, so we got a great deal.

Tomorrow we go out onto the reef again for 2 last snorkels, then take a fast ferry back to Cairns. On Saturday we leave for 5 days in Sydney.

The weather is great, the surroundings are wonderful. It's a beautiful day

Great Barrier Reef

I'm finally back in Cairns after 3 days/2 nights on the Great Barrier Reef.
The boat was small and crowded; my room was on the other side of the wall where everyone congregated in the mornings and evenings (well, all the time as there was nowhere else to go) so getting to sleep was interesting.

Sandy and I were the oldest on the trip. The average age was about 29. It felt weird to be 40+ years older than Two couples were on their honeymoon. It was an interesting mix of people from Australia, Japan, Italy, Spain, England, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland. There were a LOT of computer related divers, 3 teachers; 3 dental technicials/assistants, a med tech marine, a girl who'll be entering Sandhurst (like our West Point) who's already a dive master at 22, a stock trader...and others I can't remember.

The trip out to the reef was rough...at least 5 of the 36 of us got horribly seasick...This boat took us to the outer reefs, right near the continental shelf, so it was a 3 hour trip each way. Once we got there we went to our cabins, unpacked and got briefed on where we would be going that afternoon. The snorkeling throughout the trip was great. The first time out they gave me a snorkel that leaked and I kept getting water when I was trying to breathe.It freaked me out, and I took it as a horrible omen. Once we got that settled, things improved dramatically. The fish are amazing, and there were blue, purple, yellow, and green coral of kinds I'd never even heard of before. Taking pictures when you're snorkeling isn't as interesting as when you're diving right next to the fish...the water was so clear that what I was looking at was at least 20 feet down, sometimes more. Some of my pictures came out well at least.
Sandy rented a camera and took pictures diving, which I'm sure I'll get to see/share.

I had an interesting adventure the second day. Turns out that after we anchored and went into the water another boat from the same dive operation that looked exactly the same came there too. So when it was time to swim back to the boat, I got nearly to it, only to find out that it was the wrong boat. You can bet I was TIRED and embarassed. Anyhow, also turns out that 2 of the divers did the same thing so I didn't feel so bad.

The first day I went on 2 snorkeling trips. We moved to another reef the second day, and I went out on 3 trips.Again we moved to a new reef and went out again on the third day, when I snorkeled twice. Today there was a strong current so we kept reasonably close to the boat, but there was a LOT to see.I think that just today alone I saw at least 25 different kinds of fish. Besides fish and coral, I saw a LOT of sea cucumbers, a shark, and a medium sized turtle. It was really an amazing experience!

We rechecked into the Koala Beach Backpackers, and will stay tonight and the next. We're using tomorrow as a free day, so rest, hang out, whatever. Then we get onto the motor taxi (really a large passenger carrying speed boat) for the trip to Port Douglas, where we'll spend 2 days seeing the rainforest and visiting the village of Kuranda (traveling by a scenic train, and a gondola the other way). Port Douglass is less commercial than Cairns, which is modern and great, but geared to reef tourism. The government of Queensland allegedly spent millions of dollars to make parks, lovely open walking shopping streets, a pretty waterfront, a casino. What you can't imagine is the number of birds here...the noise in the evening and morning when they are getting ready to leave or return is the loudest I've ever heard. There are palm tree with the leaves sagging under the weight of the birds (they don't seem to like the other trees).

Port Douglass is smaller, more laid back, and supposedly very quaint. We come back to Cairns on Friday to fly to Sydney. We'll have to make reservations at the central hostel before we leave if we want to get a twin room...apparently they go fast.

Amazing day

The weather is sunny, there's a little breeze, and we will have lunch at the hotel restaurant facing the beach(actually just adjoining the beach) framed by palm trees, looking out over the clear lagoon and island, past which the ocean waves are breaking.

Early this morning when I went out to the pool, there was a Japanese man standing on the beach facing the water, and playing the most beautiful music on a large bamboo flue. It was just magical.

We fly out of Guam at 6:15 this evening, and arrive at Cairns about 11:45P.M. Tomorrow we'll meet with the couple I've been emailing with to plan some more of our trip. I just found out today that we're booked on November 8th for swimming with dusky dolphins in the ocean just outside Kaikoura, New Zealand. More about this later.

It's too nice to sit here blogging today, so I'm off to the restaurant and the beach.

feeling better!

Yesterday was horrible in that I was completely off my schedule and sleep deprived. I hadn't slept the 2 nights before the trip and the flight was long...
I managed to misplace nearly everything I owned yesterday, and the darndest time finding each.
Today I awoke fresh and feeling great! We have to check out at noon and don't have to be at the airport until about 4, so we are hoping that we can have everything packed, store our suitcases at the front desk and hang out at the pool. Since the pool overlooks the shallow coral ringed bay and the ocean breaks on the reef, this isn't a bad place to be.

GUAM, continued

My god the food is good here. They give you ENORMOUS portions, which may explain why most of the Chamorros (Guanese) are as fat as most Americans.
Still mixed up with the time. Fell into a heavy heavy sleep this afternoon. Sandy woke me up to go to the Night Market at Chamorro Village, and I had been dreaming; it took me longer than normal to wake up.

The market was interesting. Japanese tourists are the main economic source of income for Guam, and they nearly outnumber the natives. The market was interesting. Great barbequing,
tacky tourist stuff, a hokey outdoor concert of near naked island girls doing "native" dances. The fun part was sitting down in the dining hall (open on 3 sides, full of tables with chairs jealously guarded by the Chamorros. A small group singing Bob Marley songs and people dancing.

It's hot and terribly humid here. I will always think of this when I complain of the D.C. humidity. The market being outdoors was hot enough so that Sandy and I were just dripping wet with sweat. The air conditioning is always on high, so going from one extreme to another is interesting.

Sunset was lovely. Lagoon fringed with palm trees. Really lovely.
We fly to Cairns, Australia tomorrow evening and get in there at 11:30.

GUAM

What a trip!
2 1/2 hour flight that started at 6AM, I got to Houston, where there was an hour layover.
Then followed a 7 hour flight to Honolullu, followed by another hour layover.
The last leg was a 7 hour flight too Guam, where we arrived to find that we'd been given a room with one bed. Changed rooms and collapsed into bed after about 20 hours from leaving home.

Our hotel, The Santa Fe, has apparently changed hands. It looks great from the outside, and is right on the beach...a real bargain for less than $100 a night, including taxes. The beach is lovely white powder sand, and shallow for a long way out; there is an outlying reef over which the ocean breaks, so the water here is calm and warm. The pool overlooks the ocean too!
The next door restaurant, Shirley's , has the most amazing international breakfast menu, serves wonderful coffee, and gives enormous servings for a great price.

After a 2 hour nap, we're ready to go down to Chamorro Village for the weekly Night Fair, where there are food,, crafts, and who knows what.
To be continued

Decision, decisions!

With limited time and money you can't see and do everything, so what you chose to do and where you stay are decisions that make or break the trip. Luckily, with 2 of us, we can each plan a part and share ideas. Right now our itinerary is to spend 2 days in Guam to recover from the long flight from Houston, then fly to Australia to Cairns and snorkel and/or dive the GBR.
From there to Sydney, then to New Zealand, back to Melbourne. Hopefully we'll connect with a college friend in Canberra, then back to Sydney for a few days. From there to Cairns, and after a stop in Nagoya, on to Hawaii for a week. Details to follow