Mon Feb 19 05:26:10 2007

ENGLISH, IMHO.

Finally we bought our own camera. The salesman made the first shot as a test. That was in Nadi, Fiji, while we stuck around before our flight to Australia. We had missed our original flight from LA to Nadi when one luggage van chipped the plane's wing. So we spent one night at a hotel, after waiting, postponements and long lines (much shorter for us, business class, upper class!). Anyway, when we finally got to Fiji, it was too late for the connection, so we stayed another night at a hotel. This one in full local color, with geckos on the wall at reception. It was well after midnight, but still stiffling hot and humid, so we asked about aircondition. "Of course we have it, it is even set at 80!" No chance to make it 70, but after a shower we slept very well. All in all, we lost one of the planned days in Sydney. Now, is all that worth mentioning? In principle, since everything is for the progeny, they may, in the distant future, compare with their own travel experience (and complain about good old times?)

• Australia
  • Sydney
  • Blue Hills
  • Canberra
  • Sydney again
• New Zealand
  • Fjordland
  • Otago, penguins
  • Christchurch, zoo
  • Wellington, Maori museum
  • Auckland
• Fiji
• American Samoa
• French Polynesia
  • Moorea
  • Tahiti
  • Bora Bora
• Hawaii
  • Honolulu, sunset cruise
  • Maui

Australia

SYDNEY

We arrived in Sydney around noon. We had missed the first day, for which there was no program, anyway; so Liliana decided we should go to the opera, that we could see from our room's window. I worried about the distance, but when the hotel info told us it is about 10 minutes walk, I got energized, too. So we went there, used the paid opera-tour voucher that we already had, and even bought tickets for the show that night.

This was really a very pleasant surprise: there is no season for the Sydney Opera, it is open all year long, and has several shows in the various halls every day. With tickets available! Except that we were supposed to watch "Der Rosenkavalier", and I have grave doubts about Richard Strauss, after having seen "Elektra". And besides, it starts with two sopranos in bed, one playing a male teenager ... But it turned out to be quite enjoyable, especially as the bass lead was a born Viennese, singing in dialect:

... mit mir, mit mir keine Noocht dir zu loong

In short, this is the "Three Sopranos" spectacular, as the boy falls for another soprano and dumps his first act love, who forgives him as they all warble in the grand finale.

The opera house is, evidently, a masterpiece. On the tour we got the full history: how the original design was a napkin sketch, how badly it went late and over-budget, how the city fired the original Danish architect who went home, grew old and sick and never returned to see the final building. (Eventually Sydney made up, and Utzon fils is a permanent member of the Opera Architectural Committee) Technically, nobody knew how to actually build the shiny outer shells, till Utzon realized they all could be portions of spheres. The shells have no structural purpose; the auditoriums are huge wooden boxes, for acoustics, and are separately supported. BTW, when walking between the halls one can see the stark cement structure, left uncovered and undecorated.

Lilian opera

me bridge

me quay

bridge

Sydney shore

		Recital at the Sydney opera. I played excerpts from 4'33". BTW, they had worse performances: at some time the main concert hall was used for a boxing match, but only for once, because of the fisticuffs that broke in the audience.

Lilian bridge
	Lilian bridge opera
bridge opera
me bridge quay
Domo operum coronantur, turrium incumbendo.
we Sydney shore2
	we Sydney shore bridge
me harbor
Lilian harbor
me harbor4
Lilian harbor2
Starry
me Sydney shore3
Lilian Sydney shore
	Lilian bridge2
For a modest fee, you can walk over the top of the bridge. Notice the tiny fringe on the skyline.
Mrs Macquarie  Convicts dug the stone steps for the Governor's wife to sit and watch the beauties of nature.
Lilian norfolk pine
me norfolk pine
Sydney Harbor entrance The harbor is a 19 mile long flooded river valley, opening to the Tasman Sea. We drove around most of it, enjoying the view of Sydney and other smaller cities.
Feeding gulls in Sydney. They are cute, small and white with a red beak, and very good at catching tidbits in midair. If you stop feeding them, they squawk and mob you like Hitchcock's "Birds" , very angry. Even angrier were the locals – we were at an open air pub, and everybody shooed the birds away – but I couldn't stop myself.

The legend is that three beautiful maidens (and their little brother, a fourth, lower rock) were walking in the hills, when they were set up by a bunyip. Their father the witch doctor turned them into rocks, but then was himself attacked by the bunyip. He turned into a bird and flew away, but in the proceedings lost his magic stick, so the whole situation cannot be reversed.

We took a lot of pictures, from the bus, from a high vantage point, from the valley and from the cable car.

The tonsure is to prevent me becoming King of the Franks.

Cockatoos. Here we were waiting for the incline train.

This was originally a coal mine. The horses were small ponies, and the miners not too tall, to fit in the galleries.

Notice all the explanations and directions. There were a lot on the trail, most of them interesting, all forgotten.
	me rill
Mine entrance. We didn't go in, it is dangerous.
Mine fireplace. They would light fires, so the draft will aerate the mine tunnels.
	I wouldn't have tried, except for an explanation I read on the roadside: the vines are very strong, and a 2 inch one can hold an average car. So here I am, Tarzan of the (Australian) jungle.
sis
ferns

cable car2

cable car3   Australian Zoo

wallaby lullaby

cassowary

cassowary2

piggy

The real koalas are just as cute and fluffy as any plush koala toy. They mostly relax in their eucalyptus. If you pet them, their fur feels fine and soft, and they don't react in any way. This serenity is explained by the very low nutritional value of their food: they don't have any enegy to scamper or cavort. And think about eating 1 kg of eucalyptus leaves a day! The pungent oil in the leaves would make most animals sick, but not the koalas.

As I was feeding grains to the wallaby, the emus approached. As they have beaks 2 inches wide, and big legs for kicking, I did not protest when one of them helped itself to the whole cup – plastic included.
	owls
These are Australian penguins, so in all probability little blue penguins, also called "fairy penguins" because of their size.

Altogether too many bats. These are big ones, and eat fruit. Some were holding and grooming babies, but unfortunately it doesn't show on our photos.

Tasmanian devil.This one is a cub, but fierce and voracious as advertised.

kangaroo

kangaroo2

I did not recognize the strange name "quokka", but it is just another small kangaroo, the size of a cat, with short tail. See a better image.

quokka2

All too scenic lighting in the terrarium.

croc

croc2

In good old times, the almost mythical Australia was Terra Australis incognita and even Psittacorum Regio, the realm of parrots. Deservedly so ...

We saw some of these, but the very colorful ones are small and fly fast, so there aren't any pictures. The big sulphur crested cockatoo, appearing above, is calm and walks sedately on the grass. We saw a lot of them, although none with such a wonderful crest display.
And I should mention the blue-green-yellow budgerigars that everyone keeps as pets, and which are of course Aussies.

Canberra

The capital of Australia is designed to be a miniature Washington, DC. Its principal feature is a broad avenue – ANZAC Parade – from the Australian War Memorial in the direction of the Parliament House. We also visited the National Museum, which "preserves and interprets Australia's social history" – alas, I didn't get it at all. Very fancy building, but what does it show inside?

lake

The National Library, across the lake. Contains one copy of every book published in Australia.

war memorial4

war memorial poppies

me view2

Lilian view

There was an international food festival at Sydney. All the country flags were made of edibles: the Danish flag had sausage rounds, the Mexican jalapenos and tomatoes, the Greek one olives and feta cheese. It's a pity the snapshots don't show that clearly. In any case, a bright idea, and I enjoyed this street decoration a lot. It soon became surreal: the French flag had just blue cheese (not the deep navy blue on the real flag). I am sure the white was crème Chantilly.

CRUISE

New Zealand

-->

fjord shore

ship fjord

fjord shore2

fjord shore3

passengers

passengers3

fjord shore4
passengers4
passengers5
	passengers6

Otago/Dunedin was our first port in New Zealand, and we went to a penguin colony. The final approach is by four-wheels, in dust, fog and some rain. But we saw (with binoculars) the rarest penguin species, the yellow eyed, and some little blue penguins. Here they are, little blue, yellow eyed and the Fjordland penguin (which we didn't see, but is cute and fills the row)

By mistake, we made some movies (instead of snapshots) so let's add them here:

• Baby sea lions, Otago peninsula, NZ
• Some more baby sea lions, Otago peninsula, NZ
• Echidnas, Australia. These, beside the platypus, are the only egg-laying mamals. Both echidna and platypus appear on Australian coins, with the queen on the other side.
• Nene geese, Hawaii
• Orange parrots, Australia.

	railway station
building
building2

At the zoo we saw the first kiwis, but they are nocturnal, and difficult to photograph in the dark – besides, the camera batteries were empty. But we got these not too New-Zealandy beasties, courtesy of Lois and Sam. They were a couple we shared the dinner table with, and we became quite friendly.

it took a while till we could find the right assault and battery charger, so there are no pictures for Auckland and Christchurch.

Neither me nor the giraffe, so it must be just atmosphere.

Lois and Sam in the Tahiti garden.

Lois and Sam, Haleakala crater.

	me sanctuary
model
	model2
canoe
Maori dance

The following three pictuers are views from a farm in the middle of nowhere, where we had lunch. The scenery was so lovely, that I did not realize – till the people at the table told me – that we were just in somebody's cement patio, with corrugated plastic roof, and fenced with chicken wire. Nor was the food at cruise level, although they had very good roast mutton.
Actually, what made me fully euphoric was the guests' kid, whom I had noticed practicing piano on our way to the patio.

hills view

me garden

garden

Fiji

In good old times, the Fijians were fierce warriors, as shown by their barbed and hooked weapons. Clearly they were meant to gash, break bones and pierce skulls.

By comparison, Maori weapons look as the worst they could do is paddle some unruly kids. The Hawaiian weapons fall somewhere in between: they have shark teeth as a cutting edge. All of the above made of wood or stone, as the Polynesians had no metals. Strangely enough, on some islands they had no pottery either– no clay available – although some 3000 years ago, the ancient population had beautiful vases, with rich decoration.

This warrior already chopped my right hand ... unfudged photo

But nowadays everybody has been tamed. The Fijians are devotedly Christian, and dedicated to "becoming" clothing – something appropriate to a Victorian age "lesser breed". The cloth is still brightly colorful, but everything gets covered. Males sometimes wear short grass shirts, but only for war dances and such ceremonies. On the other hand, many men wear kilts, and a zigzag cut kilt is part of the police and military uniform.

BTW, Fiji sent some troops to Afghanistan, and they are relatively successful in connecting to the locals : two tribal societies.

All of which being said, Fiji is in a perpetual revolution. They keep changing the government every few months, mostly by military intervention. The problem is that half of the population is Indian, and only half are aboriginal Fijians. These two do not mix, and there is always friction. For instance, the Indians may not own land, although they are the main agricultural force: they were imported by the British because the Fijians would not work on plantations (eventually there was a law forbidding the use of Fijians on estate or corvee work) One good result is that neither Fijian nor Hindi are official languages, so everybody learns English, and they manage very well.
Another result of some revolution was the proclamation of the Republic of Fiji. Queen Elizabeth still appears on all the coins, as "Paramount Chief of Fiji".

But really, a tourist won't experience any of the revolutionary fervor, certainly not between 10 am and 4 pm. During this time we drove to a kava ceremony, followed by a walk in the village and a local feast (very modest, biscuits and soft drinks).

Welcome Choir The natives appreciate singing, and practice their music quite seriously, with lovely results. The songs are rather simple, but pleasant and catchy.
Welcome choir2
Here is the kava ceremony, in the meeting hall. As you can see, this is a very plain concrete building, mostly to provide shade. Kava is the powdered dried root of a pepper relative. One just adds water – from the unceremoniously plastic pail – and stirs. The vessel for mixing is carved wood, decorated and sacred. Strangely enough, there was no pottery: half coconut shells were used for spoons or cups.
Straining the kava through a bunch of grasses
	Serving the prepared kava
The new church Will be complete for Christmas. BTW, the big stumps bordering the grass are giant fern trunks, considered decorative.
With the two policemen of the village

House and garden	Breadfruit tree

feast

feast2

feast3

Everything ended with a conga through the guest hall:

American Samoa

Good for her that she has the sash, otherwise there might be confusion.

Lilian with statue in Pago Pago

Cruise poster

no kiss

manekins

Explanation of the 'ava (Samoan version of kava) ritual

Then we took a bus trip in the island, ending at a typical village – i.e. one family set up its vilage as a tourist attraction.

In the background, the "flowerpot" rock. There are two of them, a fisherman and his wife metamorphosized.

The busses were actually wooden contraptions. Works well enough in that climate.	People bury their relatives in front of the house, so they can be near in spirit.

Another curiosity we saw was a stone church on the shore. Nothing special, a reasonable building 3 floors high. However, by the second floor one could see traces of mud – from the latest tsunami.

The bus is decorated on the side with flowers, to show it is a tourist bus.
buses
palm on arena
	climb coconut tree
This baby was desperate, even though I tried to amuse him with the nail clipper. But maybe I was just too ugly ... as seen above
nursery
nursery2
Palm leaf hat. I am holding a cocoa cup: cocoa seeds from the tree, roasted, crushed, just add hot water.
cooking
cooking2
There are no cooking utensils. Simply wrap the raw food in leaves, and bake the package under hot rocks, covered with more leaves, "till done". This is actually an art, because you cannot check, but have to estimate doneness. And only men are supposed to do this kind of cooking, on festive occasions. Anyway, the result is surprisingly tasty: I loved their fish in coconut milk, and "Samoan spinach" – taro leaf in coconut milk. Some other food, taro root or breadfruit, is too bland for me.
cooking oven

dance+tourists2

Thick and thin: Samoans certainly worry much less about overweight.

French Polynesia

I thought that the flag was recycled from Lebanon – which was also French for a while – but ... It is based on the original Tahitian flag of queen 'Aimata Pomare. When the French protectorate was established, it changed to The current flag shows a twin hulled canoe under sail and the x-s are people on the boat – a big war canoe could carry 150 fighters.

	Moorea paradisiac tropical island, if any
ridge
Lilian boat+ridge
ship+ridge2
Ship's tenders, which took us ashore.
tender+ridge

ship in port

marina

ship in port2

These are luxury hotel huts, with price around $1000 a night. In recession times, of course, there aren't many customers. So some of the resorts are closed – the price stays the same. Not clear to me what the big deal is, maybe dolphins under the floor ... Not much privacy, either.

snorkelers4

Notice the blue gulls. They are, of course plain white, but the shallow lagoon reflects this azure light. Much more beautiful in reality than my pictures.

What every snorkeler is watching are these big stingrays. They are placid and unafraid, and the guides feed them. Only beware not to step on the tail, or even touch it. There are also small reefs with colorful coral fish, but the current is strong and I could not stay in place enough to look. The stingrays, on the other hand, love shallow water, so we could just stand and see them pass by.

Moorea ridge, departing

Tahiti

The Polynesians have a "third gender" as an established cultural tradition. Probably needed in warlike societies, for non-macho men and viragos; American Indians, Montenegrins, etc., had them, too. BTW, notice the fancy name, and the fact that (s)he is Chinese, not Polynesian Tahitian. I, obviously, read the Tahitian first, which I happen to understand: vahine=woman, tane=man (the male of the species). Combined with Miss? Live and learn ...

Bora Bora

Basically, we went snorkeling, and in just one hour got burnt crisp. But, of course, it was worth the trouble, although I have no pictures – the camera is not waterproof, not even dustproof. What's more, we had some free time on the island.

 

 

island
islet
Lilian islet
coast
Seascape with monsters
snorkel boat
	Lilian snorkel boat
Lilian snorkel boat2
Lilian 2 snorkel boats
Bora Bora coast, with hut resort.
coast4
	Then we went shopping, and I took a picture of Liliana in front of the local peak.

Hawaii

Big problem ... I look for historical buildings, art, or exotic fauna and flora. Not much in Honolulu, it is just a big, moister version of Las Vegas, albeit in a very charming setting. Well, at least the only royal palace in the U.S.A.

Royal palace 'Iolani
	Kamehameha statue, right across the palace. We could not take a snapshot, because the bus was too fast. It stopped, however, at all the malls, Gucci, Pucci, hotels, Waikiki beach, etc ...
Royal palace
	skyscraper2
nice court
canal
canal3

                Honolulu harbor cruise at dusk

me+hula dancer
Honolulu coast
sunset
	Lilian, Honolulu shore

	Hula posture for "male", a warrior with wide shoulders.
sunset+ship
Trying to catch the green flash ... Had we known, we would have used the movie option. But anyway, it wasn't clear enough that evening.
Honolulu coast2
A carved tiki to protect the boat
The hula orchestra, rather overflowing and singing rather far from the notes, but ...
yellow hula
Lilian hula
This is the "sea" position, arms undulating like waves.
Lilian hula3

 

 

 

 

hula4

hula5

Maui

We then descended into the tropical 'Iao valley, all bright green, where there is a Heritage site with gardens in the styles of the various ethnic groups: Chinese, Korean, Portuguese ... Finally we visited the Maui aquarium.

Lahaina coast
nene
Lilian+nene
Details of nene's neck
Lilian+silver sword
	Lilian+silver sword2
crater
we at crater
silver sword
lunar

There is on top of Haleakala a "Science City", with very limited access. They track satellites and whatever else

crater2
	peak
crater3
parking
Lilian+flower
	Liliane über alles! at least above the clouds
chinese garden
korean garden
	korean garden2
turtle

Hawaiian turtles are very intelligent: they understand – and even respect – subaquatic traffic signs.

From:
«  ... gulls in Sydney

Some gulls do impressive aerobatics when you throw them food, but some remain indifferent, e.g. the gulls in Vancouver (fitting my prejudices about Canadians) On the other hand, when we lived in Virginia, we sometimes went to New York, and took a ferry on the way. The gulls followed the ferry, and provided flying circus entertainment.

From:
«  the original Tahitian flag of queen 'Aimata Pomare

'Aimata has nothing to do with Aimée or such. It means "eat eye", i.e. ritually eating the eye of a defeated enemy. Tahitian mata for "eye" is Proto-Oceanic (compare Fijian, Gilbertese, Ilocano, Indonesian, Malay, Maori and Tagalog mata, Hawaiian maka). Tahitian 'ai for "eat" is also common: Tongan, Maori kai, Samoan and Hawaiian 'ai.

From:
«  the original Tahitian flag of queen 'Aimata Pomare

Pomare is the name of the Tahitian dynasty, and means "cough at night":

po = night (the same in Maori, Samoan, Tonga, Easter Island and Hawaii)
mare = cough

From:
«  ... how badly Sydney Opera House went late and over-budget

The Opera House was formally completed in 1973, having cost $102 million. The original cost estimate in 1957 was $7 million, and the original completion date set by the government was 26 January 1963 (Australia Day). Thus, the project was completed ten years late and over-budget by more than fourteen times. (see Wikipedia)

Morality: hurry up and build a house, real estate is for real!

From:
«  ... the original Danish architect

Jørn Utzon, almost as sonorific as Gutzon Borglum!

From:
«  ... a masterpiece

        Violets

            Dorothy Parker

You are frail and blue and shy
Little sisters, so am I!
You are nature's masterpieces —
Here the resemblance ceases.

For some reason, I can't find this on the internet, only some version that I don't like. But I don't think it's my own invention.

From:
«  ... assault and battery

We had lectures on the ship from a former district attorney from LA, about Hollywood murders, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando's son and poor Mel Gibson and Madonna, who got pestered by stalkers. Lilian never missed them, she can't leave work at work.

ROMANIAN , ETC.

Premiu cu cununa Poza neatinsa de mina omului, asa era de la mama ei.

Minerul, saracul, munceste si noi petrecem in jungla australiana! Noroc de căluţ ca-i de bronz ...

Monstru Marinică

חברה, זה לא נורא מאומה לא קרה כי העיקר מצב רוח ושירה מה, לי זה לא איכפת העיקר הוואי נחמד והיתר יסתדר לבד

Paradisiac

Nu te pune mă! cu militia, politia Ca te bagă (n) mă! te bagă la gherlă Si nu te scoate mă! nici tac-tu nici mă-ta Si nu te scoate mă! nici Sfatu Popular!

Idolizare

bigA Ă
a ă
bigI Î
i î
bigS Ş
s ş
bigT Ţ
t ţ
bigA^ Â
a^ â