Jack fruit Peppercorns
Nutmeg with maze
Turmeric root
We visited a tea plantation
Good morning Shahira!!
we had some cute visitors this morning at breakfast looking for water melon.
We have a brand new bus! Our fabulous driver Bala is very happy, and so are we!!
Before heading on to Periyar, we made a stop to visit Tirumalai Nayak Palace.
it belonged to Hindu kings who had the foresight to hire an Italian architect and all Hindu, Islam and Christian design elements were incorporated into the design.
We gave a
The large pillars are five feet in diameter.
We stopped for some fresh coconut along the way
We are staying at the lovely Cardamon County Hotel.
floating flowers in larg dishes await us, as ell as an aindian dance show.
Another fabulous day! We are here for two nights and visiting a spice plantation tomorrow.
Adelaide is a beautiful city. It is one square mile in size and is clean and green. After breakfast we visited the National Wine Centre which has the largest tasting room in Australia where visitors can sample 120 different wines, thanks to the installation of state-of-the-art Enomatic wine preservation and dispensing machines. Next we headed to the Adelaide Hills for more wine tasting and lunch at Maximilian’s Restaurant.
And, we saw a couple of Koala bears on the way home!
On the way home, look what we saw in the trees!
The rest of the day was at leisure to tour Adelaide, catch up on laundry, emails or just relax.
We drove through Tamil countryside to Madurai, one of the oldest cities in India, a metropolis that traded with Ancient Rome and now inhabits 3 million people spread out over 20kms. No buildings are higher than four stories, except for this temple .
we visited the Meenakshi temple., considered to be the height of South Indian temple archirecture. It’s a six hectare complex with 12 tall towers encrusted with a mind boggling array if gods, goddesses , demons and heroes.
afterward we went shopping ! Some ladies are having custom tunics and pants made that will be delivered to the hotel this morning.
This is was our last temple visit and today we are driving to Periyar, where we will be visiting the Western Ghats.
These beautiful color are used for the designs in front of people ‘s homes and offices. They are usually just in white and only in color for special occasions. It is a sign of welcome and to keep the bad spirits away from the house.
I had to be creative and help out put some purple color in there of course!
The end result and sad to say goodbye to these wonderful ladies.
It’s is getting cold….. Not!!
Selling fish out of the back of the truck
Visit to Pillayarpatti where we visited a school for the training of priests.
The head / principal of the school.
Boys can start at the age of eight and stay until 16, but can be priest as young as 13
He was carrying five of these!!!
Lunch was such a treat at the hotel Taj Madhurai in Madhurai. Delicious!
We went out again afterwards to visit the Meenakshi Temple. Out last one on this trip. It is considered to be the height of South Indian temple archirecture. We explored the six hectare complex with 12 tall towers, encrusted with a mind boggling array of gods, goddesses, demons and heroes.
We we ended the day with tuk tuk rides back to the hotel
Our morning began with a tour of the town, the main service centre for the vast Outback region. Alice Springs is set against the rugged mountain backdrop for the magnificent MacDonnell Ranges 1500 kms from the nearest capital city. Our tour included a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service to see how this marvelous facility operates to provide medical aid to those who live in the remote ‘outback’. This service was founded by Rev. John Flynn in 1928 and services 250,000 Australians. There are 24 planes manned by specially trained pilots and nurses who are also trained extensively in midwifery. Doctors provide medical advice by phone from the hospital and fly to patients about 20 pentcent of the time. Here is the central office in Alice Springs and one of the old radios used to communicate.
Here are the airplanes that are fully equipped flying medical facilities.
Next was a visit to the School of the Air where we learned how children who live beyond 50 kilometers from the nearest school are educated remotely by computer (originally radio). Here is a teacher who is connected live to her students daily.
Above is a quilt the students created and our ‘teacher’ who was telling us about the school.
After our tour, we transferred to the airport for our flight to Adelaide. Upon arrival in Adelaide, we dined at the First Lounge Bar at Hotel Richmond where we enjoyed porcini muchrooms balls, chimichurri chicken, salmon, steak and pumpkin risotto. We had so much fun that other visitors to the restaurant wished they were with our group! We are staying two nights in the Crown Plaza Hotel.
Tomorrow we head out on a wine tasting excursion.
At 5:30 am we drove to the eastern side of Ayers Rock to view the sunrise at 6:31 am and watched the first sunlight of the day creep across the desert plains.
We returned to the hotel for breakfast and then returned to Ayers Rock for a leisurely drive around the base of the rock. Nothing can give a sense of its size except standing beneath the towering 348 meter wall of rock. From one angle it looks almost like a high box; from another, it sprawls elegantly across the plain. Our guide also took us on a walking tour of the Mutitjulu Waterhole to see significant Aboriginal rock art and enjoyed the flowers of the desert.
Our next destination was Alice Springs. which was approximately a 5 hour drive along the Lasseter and Stuart Highways. We saw Curtin Spring Station and Roadhouse, one of the largest in the district with thousands of miles of cattle farm. We passed Mt Connor which is a rock formation which is often mistaken for Ayers Rock. For lunch we stopped at the Mt. Ebenezer Roadhouse for lunch. A hamburger costs $18 and a cheese burger costs $9. The hamburger is more expensive because salad is included and vegetables are very expensive in the outback.
Our last stop was a camel farm. Camels were brought to Australia years ago to labour in the desert. Now most are wild. Linda and Barry took a ride!
Upon arrival in Alice Springs we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Alice Springs Lasseters Hotel.
What a truly awesome day! We had a 7:00 am flight from Cairns to the ‘Red Centre’ of Australia and Ayers Rock. Ayers Rock rises 4000 meters in the air and is a double Unesco World Heritage site. One for its geology and one for its cultural signficance. It is named for Sir Henry Ayers, the chief secretary of the colony of Adelaide. The rock was government run until 1986 then it reverted back to its original Aboriginal control and name Uluru. Before we went to Ayers Rock, our coach transferred us out to the Olgas also known in the Aboriginal language as “Kata Tjuta” translated as “many heads.” On the way there, our coach stopped and picked up a ‘thorny devil’ and brought it into the coach so we could all have a look.
The Olgas are a collection of 36 domed red rocks. The name comes from the discoverer who named it after Olga, the wife of the King of Germany. The Olgas are a series of red ignous rocks located 32 kms to the west of Ayers Rock. Each of the 36 domes has a story in mythology and is very significant to the Aboriginal Dreamtime (legends). We walked for an hour in the Olgas and marveled at the red rock formation. Flies were everywhere. Thankfully we had our head nets to keep out the bugs. Not an attractive look but very efficient. Thank you to Women’s Travel Network for their foresite. People who didn’t wear the hats got tired of breathing in and swallowing flies. The temperature was only 33 degrees with a breeze and no humidity. What a difference from the 40 degree humid temperature in Cairns.
Our coach driver talked a little about the aboriginal people of Australia. They have a belief in Tjukurpa which defines the laws and practices of a land steeped in ceremony and tradition. Stories are told and passed along from generation to generation. There are three important numbers: 0, 1, and many. For example, I have no kangaroos, I have one kangaroo, I have many kangaroos. Familes share in the education of the children. A grandather or uncle may take a child on a walkabout for a month to learn the history, tradition and culture of the land. Men are hunters and leaders of the village and women do the day to day work.
In the evening we were picked up by our coach and transferred to a secluded place in the desert for a spectacular Sounds of Silence Dinner We walked through the Outback to a clearing where we sipped champagne, ate canapes and watched the sun fall from the sky. I guess the snakes and spiders were told to stay away.
We were then introduced to a feast of Northern Territory delights including barramundi, kangaroo and emu as the sounds of the didgeridoo echoed across the landscape. We were treated to one of the world’s best sunsets and stargazing and shown the constellations of the southern hemisphere. The handle of the big dipper can be seen in the southern hemisphere low on the horizon. Two strong microscopes showed us two new galaxies. The night was clear, bright and airy. An amazying evening. Here is the sunset over Ayers Rock.
Tomorrow we are getting up at 5:30 am to enjoy the sunrise. Tonight we stayed at the absolutely stunning Sails in the Desert hotel.
This is our last day in this amazing place and what a day it was! We started with a visit to yet another fascinating temple, including horses, monkeys and an ox.
Spot the best horse!!
Afterwards we visited a tile making business. A very unique process and Leslie got to make a beautiful design on one of the lies.
We visited a few of the old mansions of old glory. The monkeys are a pain here so some of the courtyards are protected with mesh to keep them out.
We also visited a snack asking small industry, making something like donuts and other Indian treats.
That was just the morning!!!
More to come.
Early morning river crossing
A dosa pyramid for breakfast
We stopped enroute and learned About THE art of statue making.
Before and not quite after
Shirley breaking THE mold
THE executive dish And Bottle washer…
Working on THE finished product
Shahira is happy!
Mollie Showing off her purchase
THE kids are so cute!