Travel – Page 22

Down Under in Australia

In October 2012, my family and I visited Australia. We traveled to Sydney, a must-see destination Down Under, and Far North Queensland, a great jumping-off point to the Great Barrier Reef and the world’s oldest living rainforest. The country’s so big that the flight from Thailand was more than nine hours, much of it over Australian territory!

We began our trip with a visit to Sydney Harbour, the best starting point to explore the city. The walking tour through the city’s old town known as The Rocks, Circular Quay port and shopping district, Royal Botanic Gardens, and the iconic Opera House is an excellent daytrip.

Taking in the brilliant sunset from the Sydney Harbour Bridge is a breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime experience that will awe even the most seasoned traveler. After sundown, return to The Rocks for dinner at one of the many restaurants that cater to the cruise liners moored in the Quay.

A visit to Darling Harbour for shopping and entertainment, Taronga Zoo, and one of the city’s ocean beaches are fun trips in Greater Sydney. Plan these excursions on Sunday when all public transportation, including ferries, costs just A$2.50 per person for the whole day.

The Blue Mountains west of Sydney are a great out-of-town getaway. We were awed by the Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters rock formation near the town of Katoomba. A trail descends more than 1,000 steps to the valley floor. It’s a three-hour nature hike to a gondola that carries visitors back up to town.

A three-hour flight from Sydney, the city of Cairns in Far North Queensland is a launching point for trips to the Great Barrier Reef and Australia’s northern wilderness. The city has a laid-back atmosphere with a whiff of adventure. Tourists can enjoy cruises to the reef islands and shoals. We spent the day swimming with the fishes, snorkeling, and helmet diving courtesy of renowned tour operator Reef Magic, and making friends with Wally, a giant fish a la Dory from the movie Finding Nemo that loves to play with humans.

No trip to Cairns would be complete without a drive up the coast to Daintree National Park. We spent the day on the beach at Cape Tribulation and exploring the Jurassic Park-like atmosphere of the world’s oldest rainforest at the Daintree Discovery Centre.

Whether it’s the fascinating mix of Aboriginal and international culture or sweeping vistas, unique animals, or natural and manmade wonders, Australia is well worth a visit. Beware, though. Two weeks is barely enough time to catch a glimpse of this awesome place.

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The Amazon River

This is the third article in a series about the Amazon region of Brazil featured in my illustrated picture book, Alexander the Salamander. This one is about the Amazon River. Previous posts highlighted the city of Manaus, Brazil and piranhas, a well-known fish native to the Amazon. Upcoming articles will focus on the rainforest, indigenous groups and wildlife in the area, and the Amazon Ecopark, an eco-resort. Enjoy these travelogues with photos and stories from one of the world’s mightiest rivers.

The day after we arrived in Manaus, we boarded a small green wooden motorboat with our luggage and headed about 25 kilometers up the Rio Negro to the Amazon Ecopark. The aging vessel was driven by a kindly Brazilian man who spoke no English but smiled a lot and helped us with our baggage. My son, wife, and I were the only passengers on the watercraft designed to hold 12 people plus luggage stowed in the aft. I chuckled at the sight of our bags lounging with a bird’s eye view of the river.

As the city of Manaus disappeared on the horizon, the rainforest surrounded us and left me transfixed on its emerald beauty. The wake behind the boat blended in artistically with the swirling clouds.

I’d seen other tropical forests, but the allure of the Amazon played with my mind and made the scenery utterly magical. The excitement of being in an almost-mythical place that I dreamed of visiting as a child grew as the boat glided deeper into the wilderness.

The occasional bungalow and sagging structure along the waterfront reminded me that we hadn’t quite left civilization behind.

More powerful boats zipped by us, throwing waves in our path and jostling our craft. I dreaded to think what we would find in the river if we fell overboard.

Half an hour later, the boat slowed and veered away from the Rio Negro into a channel that took us to our resort hidden in a cove. The calm, serene water mirrored the rainforest that pressed in on us from all sides.

The afternoon faded and the sun set behind the trees, casting its golden rays through the breaking clouds. The shadows deepened, painting the landscape in dark hues that blurred the outlines of the sky, forest, and river. Aside from the rumble of the outboard motor that sounded taxed by the hour-long journey from Manaus, the jungle was quiet. Life was all around us, but the stillness was deafening when the motor cut out.

During our five days in the Amazon, we ventured up and down the lifeblood of the rainforest. The melding of trees, plants, wildlife, river and sky instilled a sense of natural harmony. I was grateful to have experienced this wondrous place in person, albeit as an outsider looking in.

About Alexander the Salamander

A young salamander named Alexander living in the Amazon River Basin joins his friends Airey the Butterfly and Terry the Tarantula for an unforgettable jungle adventure. Come along with Alexander and friends as they meet birds, monkeys, and other creatures, enjoy the beauty of the rainforest, and face danger along the way.

The first book in the World Adventurers for Kids Series, Alexander the Salamander is an illustrated story inspired by the authors’ visit to the Amazon in 2008. Fun for kids and adults alike, the story teaches children the importance of listening to teachers and other authority figures.

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Piranhas!

This is the second in a series about the Amazon region of Brazil featured in my illustrated picture book, Alexander the Salamander. This post is about piranhas, a well-known fish native to South America. Upcoming articles will focus on the Amazon River Basin, the rainforest, indigenous groups and wildlife in the Amazon, and eco-resorts. Enjoy these travelogues with photos and stories from the world’s largest rainforest. They lurk in the dark waters of the Amazon River, elusive but potentially deadly with their razor-sharp teeth that can tear into flesh. They swim in schools, but their curriculum is survival by finding innocent victims to eat. They are attracted by the scent and sight of blood floating in the water, and when they attack, they swarm and subdue prey through death by a thousand bites. They are the PIRANHAS! Deadly, dangerous piranhas! Be careful…do not go into the water! I’m kidding…sort of. The perception of piranhas as prone to aggressive behavior when it comes to feeding may be true, but their reputation as bloodthirsty, rapacious killers is overblown. The image of these members of the Characidae family that movies such as the 1978 film Piranha and its spawn — most recently Piranha 3DD — portray outstrips what these fish can really do. They certainly aren’t as docile as my buddy Percy the Piranha featured in Alexander the Salamander, who nibbles Alexander on the nose to say hello. They are predators, scavengers, and even herbivores, and there have been confirmed cases of people killed by piranhas. However, the fish are also prey for other animals higher up on the food chain, including the cormorants, caimans, dolphins, and humans. Humans? Certainly. Humans kill and consume far more piranhas than the other way around. When we visited the Amazon River Basin in July 2008, we went piranha fishing. Floating in a skiff in the murky waters of a tributary, we dangled raw beef cubes as bait from fishing poles and snagged some. An unorthodox means to catch fish for sure, but it worked. We caught a couple large ones and ate them for dinner. They were tasty but quite boney. The face and gills were the only remnants after we finished feasting on them. Piranhas make a good prop when you tell your friends at home that you went piranha fishing. The dried and lacquered fish mounted on wood stands made by local souvenir vendors are great desk ornaments, especially the red-bellied piranha reputed to be the most ferocious of all. Here my son holds up mounted red-bellied and gray piranhas. He wasn’t scared of them in spite of their wide, toothy grins staring at him. Piranhas also make good key chains, although their teeth have a tendency to catch on clothing. I didn’t see any piranha Christmas tree ornaments, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to swap the key chain for a hook. No trip to the Amazon would be complete without a piranha fishing expedition or souvenir. Before you go overboard and jump in to swim with them, however, consider this — the most feared fish in the Amazon isn’t the piranha. It’s the candirú, also known as the toothpick or vampire fish, a parasitic catfish with a lethal reputation for invading the internal organs of fish, animals, and humans and feeding on blood and tissue. Best stay out of the water.

About Alexander the Salamander

More About Brazil

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