DSC_0031 by Verryl V Fosnight Jr
Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
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  1. Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
  2. Australia-Great Barrier Reef 2012Australia-Great Barrier Reef 2012
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DSC_0005 (Sydney Opera House from our room in The Four Seasons Hotel downtown Sydney)
DSC_0006 (Sydney Harbor view ferry boat harbor the Circular Quay is the hub of the network, providing access to 37 other wharves ranging from Manly at the northern end of Sydney Harbor  through to Eastern and Lower North Shore suburbs, suburbs adjacent to the Parramatta River, the Balmain peninsula and Darling Harbor.)
Sydney map (Satellite photo of Sydney showing only a part of the harbor  Right end of red line is Circular Quay and faint blue dashed lines are ferry routes that radiate out from it.  Yellow or gold lines are freeways.)
DSC_0012 (Street facing Circular Quay at left.  Lots of pedestrian traffic at 8-9 and 5PM of people going to work.  Very bustling city with a lot of high rise buildings in area and hotels.  Our ship was immediately to left about 400 yards down.  Sydney is very clean, very bustling, very cosmopolitan, and more beautiful than San Francisco.  We saw no slums, and we took a bus ride on a loop from Circular Quay around north and back in a circle that was one price for 24 hours, so you could tour a lot of the downtown city by getting on and off at will.)
DSC_0015 (Upper deck of one bus on the city tour loop.)
DSC_0017 (Very clean downtown area.  Note how they drive on the wrong side, although they would say it is the correct side since the British invented lanes.)
DSC_0054 (One of the ferries heading out from along the finger of land on which the Opera House sits.  Sydney Harbour Bridge in foreground.)
DSC_0055 (Sydeney Harbour Bridge on Opera House causway)
DSC_0056 (Opera House across from bridge)
DSC_0064 (Interior of Sydney Opera House Lobby)
DSC_0069 (Other side of Sydney Opera House penensula)
DSC_0081 (Sydney Opera House.  Surface is all tiles set on poured concrete formed shape)
DSC_0086 (Vital records building, i.e., "county recorder" in Sydney.  Births, marriages, and death records:  "Hatch 'em, Match 'em, Dispatch 'em" in Australian lingo.)
DSC_0092 (Sydney Hyde Park,  (40-acre) park in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales)
DSC_0094 (Hyde Park, the oldest park in Sydney.  St. Andrew's Cathedral in background)
DSC_0096 (Hyde Park, one of many flower beds)
Sydney Tower (Sydney Tower, tallest free standing in Austalia rising out of Westfield Dept Store.  Next ten pictures from it.)
DSC_0111 (View of Sydney downtown and bridge and harbor approximately south from Sydney Tower)
DSC_0112 (Southwest approximately from Sydney Tower)
DSC_0115 (Southwest approximately from Sydney Tower)
DSC_0116 (Hyde Park and St. Andrews Cathedral approximately west from Sydney Tower.  We were there in November 2012, their spring, and they complained about how dry it had been so far in the spring.  Hatch 'em, Match 'em, Dispatch 'em building immediately to left of St. Andrews, and beside it old barracks  Hyde Park Barracks is a brick building and compound designed by convict architect Francis Greenway between 1818–19; originally built at the head of Macquarie Street (1819) to house convict men and boys.  Australia was originally a penal colony exclusively, you recall, a fact of which the present residents are intensely proud.)
DSC_0118 (Further view of Harbor.  Barracks, Hatch 'em, and St Andrews in foreground.)
DSC_0122 (Northwest of Hyde Park from Sydney Tower.  Lower Right corner is the ANZAC War Memorial, completed in 1934, is the main commemorative military monument of Sydney, Australia honoring the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp of WW I)
DSC_0124 (Hyde Park north end from fountain and including ANZAC Memorial.)
DSC_0136 (More of Harbor from Tower)
DSC_0143 (And more.  Like I said, I think Sydney is more beautiful than San Francisco.  Sorry about the reflection of the Tower windows.)
DSC_0159 (Our Cruise Ship Holland American Lines Oosterdam tied up the day before out boarding.  Sydney Opera House in distance.)
DSC_0163 (Circular Quay from near ship)
DSC_0172 (We're on board, awaiting departure, and awaiting our luggage, so no use going to our stateroom.  Besides we wanted to be able to turn around.  Some of the ferries were real fancy)
DSC_0180 (Weighing anchor and on our way backing out under our own power with transverse screws to steer.  Will make reverse turn backwards toward bridge then reverse direction to head away from bridge.  No tugs required.)
DSC_0187 (turned nearly in correct direction with Bridge behind us and heading out into Harbor.)
DSC_0199 (Well past Opera House)
DSC_0222
DSC_0234 (The trip out of the Harbor took about an hour.  It is really big.  First Port of Call was Brisbane where we went to this private commercial zoo.)
DSC_0278 (Koala in Gum (eucalyptus) tree)
DSC_0285 (Dingo)
DSC_0291 (Laughing Kookaburra.  Well the sign is in focus.  I have other pics in focus, but don't want to upload all 700)
DSC_0298 (Tasmanian Devil)
DSC_0301 (Tasmanian Devil)
DSC_0307 (Koala)
DSC_0308 (Koala)
DSC_0312 (You can read)
DSC_0314 (Golden Brushtail Possum)
DSC_0317 (Very ugly lizard's sister)
DSC_0318
DSC_0326 (Kangaroo, probably giant red"s?)
DSC_0333 (Just starting his hop)
DSC_0343 (An even bigger and nearly as ugly lizard about 24" long)
DSC_0351 (Croc)
DSC_0365 (Perentie Monitor, Austgralia's largest lizard can grow up to 2.5 meters (8 ft 2 in) in length although the average length is around 1.75 to 2 meters.  This one was nearly 6 feet nose to tip of tail.)
DSC_0377 (Fred Groothuis, a fellow traveler)
DSC_0388 (Hamilton Island.  These were the piggyback boats that the Oosterdam carried along with it.  They carried us to shore whenever we got there.  The ship anchored anywhere 1/2 to 2 miles off shore, so it was a long ride.  Once the weather was too bad with rough seas, and all activities ashore were cancelled.  That day we got back before rough seas came up and Fred and Sarah got drenched by a swamping wave.)
DSC_0400 (One of the many, many lounges on board ship.)
DSC_0402 (We saw some decent jazz in this lounge.)
DSC_0405 (A three story circular staircase and lounge)
DSC_0414 (The library and computer room.  Second most costly place to hang out, only slightly less expensive that the jewelry store.)
DSC_0416 (Library reading room, bar, lounge, and fore observation deck with Hamilton Island(s) in view.  Library and bar.  Where where those when I drank?  Taken to show view out fore windows.)
DSC_0482 (Interior of library lounge.)
DSC_0418 (Gym on deck above library lounge facing fore.)
DSC_0428 (Hamilton Island, one of the Whitsunday Islands (misnamed because Captain Cook was off a day due to Pre- International Date Line calculations), Marina Village overlooking Catseye Bay.)
DSC_0432 (Oosterdam from Hamilton Island heights.)
DSC_0436 (Whitsunday Islands.  We took the free island bus around the whole island and got on and off several times to see sights.  Whole loop was perhaps 5-6 miles.)
DSC_0438 (Holland American Lines Oosterdam with tender boat on its way out to it.)
DSC_0448 (Hamilton Island Beach owned by a resort or at least accessible through the resort.  It was a public beach, and I think the whole island is a national park of Australia.)
DSC_0449 (hibiscus)
DSC_0453 (yellow flower.  We didn't have these in Wyoming.)
DSC_0458 (Yep, you guessed it--red flower)
DSC_0456 (Bird of paradise)
DSC_0475 (Catseye Bay marina)
DSC_0487 (Oosterdam tender from ship to shore)
DSC_0485 (Back on ship from Hamilton)
DSC_0003 (There was this flat screen on the wall on the ship that showed a map and our position as well as (on other screens, longitude, latitude, sea temp and depth, ans ships speed and bearing.)
DSC_0018A New Caeidonia Lifou Isle des Pins Sat Image (A bit of the 74 Whitsunday Islands on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.  We first west to Noumea (lower left edge of New Caledonia) then to Lifou, then back down to Isle des Pins (Island of Pines) where the red "A" is.)
DSC_0020 (from the tender onto Lifou via dock.)
DSC_0023 ("Welcome to Lifou")
DSC_0027 (Lifou is a Commune of France in the Loyalty Islands Providence of New Caledonia about 300 miles off the cost of Australia)
DSC_0030 (Last was a village with very home made wares, and commercial, but not professionally done--really just home crafts.  We walked up this trail about a mile and arched back to the sea, past houses (shacks) and small farm plots.)
DSC_0032
DSC_0034
DSC_0037 (On the trail.  Very humid, not too hot, but uncomfortable with the humidity.)
DSC_0042
DSC_0046 (Dock with tender in distance from where we walked and back.)
DSC_0054 (Churches, like many places are the fanciest buildings going.  Go figure.)
DSC_0064 (Growing wild, like the others in this album.)
DSC_0077 (On the other side of the dock where the tenders took us was this boat dock hewn out of the coral by hand and still used.)
DSC_0092 (Dock again on our way over to the other side of it to its left)
DSC_0100 (Back here again)
DSC_0104 (Coral through the clear water at the edge of the land)
DSC_0015 (The only picture of the eclipse we show here.  It was a bust, and I have not even developed the film in my special camera I took for it.  Great clouds though, and a lot of disappointed astronomers on the deck.)
DSC_0107 (Back to Lifou on the east side of the dock on another walk)
DSC_0111 (The dock from a few hundred yards)
DSC_0113 (Beautiful view, but sign seems to have been painted with the one can of paint on the island "Carry your waste"????  Don't litter?)
DSC_0114 (Natural diving board.)
DSC_0115 (There were burned piles of trash(??) all over the island.  I suppose this was their waste management system.  These folks are poor, but probably live pretty well off the land and sea with some  fishing and tourist money occasionally.)
DSC_0117 (Lava cliff a few yards from the ocean, all overgrown with jungle)
DSC_0119 (I love variegated leaves in tropical plants.  In Cypress my yard was very colorful with no flowers, just colorful variegated leaves)
DSC_0120 (Again these were growing wild.)
DSC_0129 (Speaking of wild.  An example of the tourist industry, such as it is.  We did not see these dancers until 1-2 hours after we arrived.  They were there gratis but accepted some tips.)
DSC_0145 (On to the Isle des Pins, the Isle of Pines.  This was a swimming lagoon with the rock under carved by the ocean)
DSC_0150 (We took a taxi for about $10 for the two of us up the the top of the island and stopped to see some sights.  The native driver did not acknowledge that he spoke English.)
DSC_0151 (There he is.)
DSC_0160 (One of the stops was at this strange Christian monument with a statue of Christ in the center of a ring of totems all facing in as in homage to Jesus and guarding him.  Strange mix of religions.  Not that all religions aren't very strange to begin with.)
DSC_0164 (You can see the back of one post on the right and all them have the carved sides facing inward.)
DSC_0167 (This was a fishing village on the shore a mile or 3 from the landing dock.  It was 15 or 20 hovels and plots right against the sea, because the sea was their livelihood, I suppose.)
DSC_0168 (Fishing nets hung out to dry, dugout canoe/outrigger on edge of sand beach)
DSC_0169 (Kids playing life's games, learning to fish like dad.)
DSC_0172 (A couple of motor boats, so it is not all manual labor.)
DSC_0173 (The fishing village.  lots of corrugated steel for building materials)
DSC_0174
DSC_0182
DSC_0191 (Another church, undoubtedly missionary, because it is Christian.)
DSC_0194 (Biggest house on the island was the rectory)
DSC_0196 (plain and simple inside the church, but large wooden statues)
DSC_0222 (Back at the lagoon.  
See my purse.)
DSC_0224 (Kids swimming and diving at the lagoon)
DSC_0225 (Whee...)
DSC_0236 (Watch the little girl and Sharon)
DSC_0238 (She had found this coral on the bottom (supposedly) and wanted to show it to Sharon.  She was very proud.  I have always wondered it we were supposed to buy it from her, and where she really got it.  It seems unlikely any loose was left in this well used place.)
DSC_0243 (Prison/fort built by the French.  The Isle des Pins was discovered by Westerners by Captain James Cook in 1774, but he never landed there.  The French took possession of the island in 1853 at which time the native Kunies opted for the Catholic religion. In 1872 the island became a French penal colony, home to 3,000 political deportees from the Paris Commune, and I assume their name stuck.)
DSC_0001 (On to Amedee Island in New Caledonia, a resort on a very small island.  Mostly day visitors, no hotel, no restaurant, but the food was mainly provided by a family or clan who had the concession to provide a big buffet every day much like a Hawaiian Luau on the Islands with native dancers etc.  This is the beach, and folks come to sit in the sun all day.)
Amedee Island New Caeidonia Sat Image (Amedee Island and lighthouse, our next stop)
DSC_0002 (This is the pier where we got in line to get on the famous glass bottom boat to see the fish on the reef.  All these islands are closely regulated for side tours and only accept so many people a day to protest the islands and the habitat.  As a result we did not get some of the side tours we wanted.)
DSC_0003 (The Amédée lighthouse, or "Le Phare Amédée", is an iron lighthouse located on Amédée Island, 24 km away from Nouméa, New Caledonia.  Build in France it was assembled in Noumea.  Its light signals the entrance to the passage of Boulari, one of only three natural passages in the reef surrounding New Caledonia. On the other side of the world, the Roches-Douvres Light in the English Channel is the twin brother of the Amédée lighthouse.  It is now a very popular tourist attraction.)
DSC_0005 (Reef visible through the clear water)
DSC_0007 (Reef just under water)
DSC_0008 (Beach overlooked by lighthouse)
DSC_0014 (Glass bottomed boat.  There were a sharklike sucker bottomed fish that attached themselfs to the slick glass and hitched a ride with the boat for the food thrown overboard to the other fish to attract them.)
DSC_0023 (The lighthouse protects the approach through the reef, which makes up the biggest lagoon in the world.)
DSC_0026 (Better view of sucker belly fish--don't know proper name.  Ran from 18 to 24 inches long.)
DSC_0028 (It was very hard to see the fish through the glass bottom boat, it fact I don't think we saw any but the hitchhikers.  But when we stopped, they showed up to eat the bread thrown overboard by the crew.  The yellow crust of bread is in the upper right corner of the picture.)
DSC_0030 (More fish swarming around the glass bottomed boat to get bread thrown off by the boat crew)
DSC_0031 (and more.  Note how shallow the lagoon made by the reef is.  We sailed all the way around the reef, and the island at the center and to do so, I think we went through the reef entrance and we were a mile or more from the island as we circled it.)
DSC_0032
DSC_0035
DSC_0079
DSC_0080 (These pictures of fish were taken only when the boat stopped.  When on the move it went pretty fast.)
DSC_0084
DSC_0087 (Fish swarming around the glass bottomed boat to get bread thrown off by the boat crew)
DSC_0089 (Bread in the water!  You can see the fish in these photos better than you could over the side of the boat, and the glass bottom was a marketing department ploy.)
DSC_0090
DSC_0108
DSC_0109 (Sea Snake on Amedee Island.  These small to medium snakes (3/4" diameter by 36 inches long) are the most poisonious creature in the world, but not dangerous.  They have fangs at the back of their throat that only point down the throat and are not movable, so they cannot strike or bite.  They said you could only get poisoned by sticking your finger down it's throat, like a fish being swallowed that gets poisoned when swallowed.  As a result, they are harmless to humans and crawl around the beach and leaves to nest.  Your job is not to step on them and hurt them.)
DSC_0111 (Blue Banded Sea Snake.  They were just crawling around on the beach after coming our of the ocean to feed.  They may be the most poisonous snake in the world, but have fangs only far back in their mouths, and they are small.  This one was about 30-36 inches long and about 3/4 inch in diameter.  The local guides told us you would have to stick your finger down their throat to be bitten.)
DSC_0122 (Entertainment at the buffet)
DSC_0124 (More entertainment at the buffet)
DSC_0130 (They had quite a troup of dancers who put on a good show)
DSC_0138 (Audience participation)
DSC_0139 (The beach and postal letter box)
DSC_0150 (Nude beach for some)
DSC_0162 (And not for others)
DSC_0169 (Bird in the tree above the beach)
DSC_0171 (Sharon mailed cards or letters to us, David, Bob, and Bobbe and Robb.)
DSC_0174 (I guess we got them, I never saw them)
DSC_0202 (Kids entertaining while we waited to get on glass bottomed boat)
DSC_0204 (Heading for the reef opening, I think.  You can tell how fast we were going.)
DSC_0214 (We got to the city of Nuomea, the capital of the collection of islands that is New Caledonia on a Sunday.  It is a large, modern and industrialized city of about 175,000 people.  We only were able to drive around it on a tour bus without stops, because it was closed down on Sunday.)
DSC_0216 (Noumea)
DSC_0219 (Noumea)
DSC_0220 (Noumea)
DSC_0221 (Sunday is obviously a holiday in Noumea)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 03 2012 - Copy (Our stateroom on the Oosterdam.  Well, we said, we did not need a lot of room, because we would only be sleeping and showering in it.    

But this is ridiculous.  We leave in 2 days for Alaska in a Holland American cruise, and we paid a bit more for a bigger room.  Working our way up.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 07 2012 - Copy (The buffet dining room.  I must have just come in from the deck.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 12 2012 - Copy (The buffet.  We ate all but a few meals here, and the others in the formal dining room.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 13 2012 - Copy (The pool.  Sharon has a girlfriend here in Sedona, Suzanne Holder, who did this sculpture and a great many more for cruise lines, and we think for all the Holland American ships.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 34 2012 - Copy (On the day after the cruise, we stayed at the Four Seasons in Sydney and used the day to take a ferry boat cruise of the harbor.  This is across the bay from the Circular Quay, our first stop.  In effect we took a water taxi.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 40 2012 - Copy (one of the many ferry stops)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 41 2012 - Copy (Sydney from across the harbor to the south of downtown.  The Sydney Tower is at the left.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 47 2012 - Copy (Our destination, a replica of Captain Cook's ship.  Sharon is distantly related to him.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 53 2012 - Copy (We did not go on, because we were too cheap to lay out the $30 each.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 71 2012 - Copy (Sydney)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 76 2012 - Copy (From the next leg of the ferry trip)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 88 2012 (When we got back to the Circular Quay, some aborigines were set up to play for tips.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 89 2012 (These aborigines look like statues in the photos, I know, but they were live human beings.  The long, deep bass sound from the horn into the microphone could be heard far away, I imagine.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 90 2012 (You can see the old man has moved his head.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 92 2012 (Sharon is so shy.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 93 2012 (I really should help her get over it.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 94 2012 (He was posing for the camera.)
Holl Am Cruise Australia Sydney 95 2012 (Customs House facing the Circular Quay, which has been subdivided into offices, since it is no longer needed to collect duties.  Christmas decorations were going up this spring, November, 2012)

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