G Adventures National Geographic Journey, July 2017

1 –  G Adventures Ambassador of Change  2 – Sydney, The Rocks and Sunset Dinner Cruise 

3 – The quaint little resort town of Port Douglas  4 – Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef 

5 – Our exclusive National Geographic behind-the-scenes tour of the James Cook University research aquarium

6 – Planeterra’s Café Chloe   7–  Rafting class 4 rapids on the Tully River  

8 – You know it as Ayers Rock, but it’s really Uluru and it has a neighbor named Kata Tjuta  

9 – Food, Footy, Food, and Fun in Melbourne 10- Random Australia thoughts

I am honored and humbled to have been selected as one of G Adventures 2017 Ambassadors of Change. I think the best way to explain what this means is by paraphrasing the official press release, so here goes: Speaking on stage in front of a crowd of travel agents, operators, suppliers and industry leaders at the New York Times Travel Show, G Adventures founder/owner Bruce Poon Tip announced the seven winners of his company’s first search for U.S. Ambassadors of Change. “Travel and tourism can be transformative forces for good, but we need champions to help us educate travelers about the power of their purchases. G Adventures’ agent partners are key change makers in this vision. We’re very happy to give our new ambassadors this platform and opportunity.” Announcement of the seven winners followed a two-month long, nationwide search for outstanding ambassadors from the American travel agent community to help represent the company in 2017 and spread the word about travel as a force for global good among clients and peers. The seven ambassadors chosen will be asked to help G Adventures promote the life-changing benefits of travel to their customers and peer communities, while educating consumers about G Adventures’ unique products and learning tools. They will also be asked to help amplify G Adventures’ support for the 2017 UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Travel and tourism comprise one of the world’s leading business sectors, driving 10% of all economic activity on the planet, or US $7.6 trillion each year. The sector supports one in 11 jobs worldwide and is collectively the largest employer of women, providing 66 million jobs.

Just a quick note on getting into and out of Australia. They do it right! Visa is online and free. Once you land in Australia, a quick scan of your passport at a self-serve kiosk, answer a couple of questions on the touchscreen, then move up a couple of feet to the facial recognition camera, and you’re in. Same thing on the way out. Loads of self-serve lanes, no waiting, scan your passport, gates open, move forward, facial recognition camera, and you’re on your way. This trip is the 12 day Explore Australia National Geographic Journey with G Adventures. Most of the group would continue on to New Zealand for a combined 22 day trip. National Geographic Journeys are G Adventures highest level of tour and include many special features that aren’t part of their other trips. If you haven’t read my Australia New Zealand blog from January of this year, go ahead and read that to find out about the bridge climb, Sydney Opera House tour, Featherdale and the Blue Mountains. I would say that those four things are must-dos for any first time visitor to Sydney. Having done all of that last time I was here I didn’t feel the need to do it again. This time my short stay in Sydney included a walking tour of the rocks and the Sydney Botanical Garden with the entire group as well as a sunset dinner cruise navigating the Sydney Harbor. It was just the 13 of us, 12 travelers and our amazing guide Keilie, on our 52 foot private yacht. We enjoyed great views, good food and it was a wonderful way to get to know the rest of the group.

After a three hour flight from Sydney to Cairns, we picked up the van that we would use for the next three days. Along the way we stopped at Mossman Gorge for an interpretive walk with a local Aboriginal guide who taught us all about bush food, medicinal plants and the lasting relationship of the Kuku Yalanji people with their natural environment here in the Daintree Rainforest. The walk ended with bush tea and dampers, kind of like scones but made over an open fire. Our hotel for the next two nights was in the quaint resort town of Port Douglas.

This upscale beach town with a population of about 3500 is one of many places that provides access to the 1400 mile long Great Barrier Reef. There’s one main street of shopping that reminds me a lot of many beach towns we’ve visited in the past. We were lucky enough to be there for the Sunday Market, kind of like a craft fair and farmers market where we had a really cool coconut treat. You order a whole coconut for $8 AUD, about $6 US, they drill a hole in it and give you a straw. You then wander through the markets drinking the coconut milk. Once the coconut is empty you walk back to them and they crack the coconut open, shred the meat and then fill each half with a savory salad, or bananas with coconut nectar (almost like caramel sauce) on top. I chose to have one of each and it was delicious.

So calm and peaceful just gliding along underwater!!

One of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip was diving the Great Barrier Reef. It can be done from a number of places, but Port Douglas is one of the better choices because it is smaller and therefore the boats are less crowded. We set out about 9:00 for our 90 minute cruise out to the reef. Once there, we would move to three different spots so we could make three dives, each one lasting a little over half an hour. Those that were already certified divers could sit back and enjoy the ride, while those who were not certified spent that time doing a quick introductory class and so that we could start diving as soon as we got to the reef. We did stop the class for a few minutes so that we could go see the whales that were swimming right near our boat. Once we got to the reef, it was wetsuits and tanks on, and right into the water. In between each dive there were snacks and hot drinks served, with a full lunch between dives two and three. Only after the third dive did they offer beer and wine. It was the most amazing underwater experience I’ve ever had. The color of the coral and the quantity and variety of fish was something I had never seen before.

Our behind-the-scenes tour of the James Cook University research aquarium, founded by marine biologist and National Geographic grant recipient Dr. Jamie Seymour, was so interesting.  Jamie has studied Australia's venomous marine creatures for over 20 years.  This is a place that is not open to the public, but we got to visit since we were on a G Adventures National Geographic Journey.  It was really cool to see all of these animals in a research setting rather than in an aquarium that was designed for tourists.  Jess, one of the researchers, showed us around and explained how each of the venomous snails, fish, shrimp, etc. could kill us, some of them within minutes!!  Again, this place isn’t open to the public for a reason.  In addition to those fun facts, she fed some of them, taught us a ton, and showed us a great time in this very unique setting.

Very happy to continue my duties as a G Adventures Ambassador of Change with a visit to Cafe Chloe in Tully Australia. Meet Ernie. Ernie is an Elder of the Janbanbarra Jirrbal Rainforest people of Far North Queensland. We spent the day hearing about the Aboriginal people, their past and their culture from Ernie who is in his mid-eighties, and his daughter Sonya. Cafe Chloe had been a dream of theirs for many years. With persistence along with mentoring and the financial support of Planeterra, it became a reality early in 2016. Students from the local high school are trained here for careers in the hospitality and tourism industries so that upon graduation their career options are greatly increased. 

In addition to the first-hand history lesson, we had a wonderful lunch, learned about many of the various plants in the area, and spent some time painting with the sounds of traditional didgeridoos playing in the background. With the help of G Adventures and Planeterra, Ernie and Sonya are turning an abandoned train station into a tourism school, restaurant, and museum.  The last few appliances were being installed in the commercial kitchen during our visit, and when they open to the general public in the near future, Cafe Chloe will surely be a huge benefit to the people of Tully as well as those who visit this beautiful area.

Such a fun day shooting class 4 rapids on the Tully River. We started our rafting adventure from our hotel in Cairns, which meant we would have about a 12 hour day, but it was so worth it. The rafting company, Raging Thunder (yes, we thought they might be taking us to a male revue) picked us up at about 6:30 am. A quick stop at their offices in Cairns to fill out the paperwork and rent water shoes if needed, and we were back on the bus for the two hour drive to the river. After about an hour and a half, another quick rest stop at their office in Tully for bathrooms, coffee or snacks, and we started up the canyon to the river. The four of us were paired with a couple from England and Germany and then into the rafts and on our way. The part of the river that we raft on is just below the dam, so there is always a decent water flow, but our guide Paul said this was the highest and fastest he’s seen the river this season. The first few minutes were spent teaching us a few important things that would come in handy later. We also purposely jumped out of the raft just before a small rapid to practice the safe way to handle this situation should we fall (fly!!) out of the raft at any time. After about two hours shooting the rapids, we stopped for a great BBQ lunch, then back in the rafts for another couple of hours, and even more fun. On the way back to Cairns, we stopped at the Tully office once again, this time to look at our pics. I think it is a very reasonable $70 AUD (about $53 USD) for a flash drive with all of your pics. We split it four ways and I emailed the pics to our new friends…they were students on a very limited budget and really appreciated it.

Uluru turns an amazing shade of bright orange at sunset, the perfect time and place for a champagne toast!!

The flight from Cairns on the coast to Yolara in the desert is also about 3 hours. Such a difference in both the landscape and climate.  You fly into Yolara which is the little town/village located just outside the gates of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and serves as the base for all of the activities in and around Uluru.  There are a number of hotels, a few stores, restaurants, and a grocery store here.  Better known as Ayers rock, this 600 million year old rock used to be at the bottom of an ocean but now stands 2,831 feet above sea level and 1,142 feet above the surrounding desert.  On October 26, 1985, it was officially given back to its rightful owners, the Anangu tribe of Aboriginal people. The rock is a holy place for these Indigenous people and while not actually against the law, they respectfully request that tourist do not climb up the rock. This does not stop everyone and there is actually a chain in place to make it safer for those who want to make the trip to the top.

I think it is very important that we respect their wishes, and am happy to say that while we saw hundreds of people around the base of Uluru, we only saw a few actually climbing it.  Most visitors are content to walk up to the base for a closer look at the cave paintings and beautiful flowers, or walk the roughly 6 miles around the whole thing.  We chose to ride bikes around the base and had a great time during our roughly 10 mile journey that started from the nearby Cultural Center. In addition to the bike ride, we visited Uluru at both sunset and sunrise. This allowed us to enjoy amazing views with ever-changing colors as the angle of the sun changed in the sky. About a 30 mile drive from Uluru is the lesser known, but equally as impressive, Kata Tjuta, which means many heads in the Anangu language.  About the same age as Uluru, Kata Tjuta is made up of 36 separate domes – the many heads. One of our other activities while in the desert was a visit to the Field of Lights.  This is an art installation designed by Bruce Munro and is his largest work to date. This brilliant display consists of more than 50,000 slender stems crowned with radiant frosted-glass spheres and covers an area the size of seven football fields.

Last time I was in Melbourne, we were at the coast, this time I am in the CBD, or Central Business District. Here in Melbourne, the trams within the CBD are free. In addition to being the center of the city, this is also one of the areas that makes Melbourne famous for food. The CBD is about 1 kilometer by 1 ½ Kilometers, and is home almost 1000 restaurants…..that’s a lot of restaurants. Each of our dining experiences was wonderful, and in addition to great dinners, we had another National Geographic Journeys-exclusive experience. This time it was a guided walk, led by local author and culinary storyteller, Monique Bayer. We had a great walking tour of the city, learned about the street art and even saw a painting done by Bansky. Our progressive lunch included three stops. Appetizers (or entrees as they’re called here) at Lucy Lui, a wonderful Asian fusion place, then our main course at The Mess Hall included two handmade pastas, potato gnoochi w/pomodoro, basil & pecorino and pappardelle w/ wild boar ragu & peas. We finished the meal with the best Gelato in the city, specially made by Massimo Bidin at Gelateria Primavera.

After our delicious food tour, a few of us walked over to the MCG to watch a Footy Match.  Okay, let me translate, a few of us walked over the Melbourne Cricket Grounds to watch a Rugby match. That’s one of the things I really like about Melbourne, everything is walkable. We watched the Melbourne Demons win their match over Port Adelaide 88 to 65 and learned a lot in the process. The next day I made use of Melbourne Bikeshare. I’ve done this in a number of cities and love the simplicity. You put your credit card in the machine and get a code to unlock a bike. You can ride for 30 minutes at a time (more than that costs extra), plenty of time to get to the next site, then re-rack the bike. There are racks all over the city, usually every few blocks. When you’re ready to move again, you get a new code and repeat the process. It’s very reasonably priced as well, in Melbourne, 24 hours was $3.00 AUD, about $2.25 USD.

Just some random thoughts on Australia. The accommodations when traveling on a National Geographic Journey with G Adventures are upgraded and very nice. Each of the hotels we stayed at had a nice included buffet breakfast, some had gyms, all were very clean and comfortable. As is the case almost everywhere I've traveled, the people are exceptionally nice, and always willing to give travel tips from a local's perspective; their favorite restaurant, view spot, bike path, etc. In addition to driving on the other side of the road (I don't say the wrong side anymore) people walk on the other side of the sidewalk, same with bikes on bike paths. An important one to keep in mind is that escalators go up and down on the opposite side that we are used to in the US.  I saw a number of people walk up to the wrong side of an escalator, sometimes with embarrassing, and occasionally pretty painful, results. So it's important that you don't just look both ways when crossing the street but to be aware of this at all times. We actually started noticing that when people walking towards us would pass on our left, they would say hello or good morning, but if they pass us on a right it was usually "g'day mate". Also, regarding the money, they use the plastic bills that many countries use these days, assorted sizes and colors for the different denominations. One thing to keep in mind is that the $2 coin is actually pretty small, one of the smallest they have, remember it's not like a penny at home. It's actually worth $2.

Shoot an email to: doug@plazatravel.com if you have any questions or want more details about this, or any of my other trips!