Shark Bay From Above

Now for the nasty sharks. You can see the dark shadows under the water in these photos. They're the types of sharks that demand respect like bronze whalers & bull sharks. There are also some Shovel nosed sharks as well.

If you look closely to the top of frame in the photo above, you'll see a couple of scuba divers. They're "cleaning the fish tank" while being circled by some pretty big sharks with very bad attitudes. They had a shadow boat with them the whole time. The bronze whaler shadowing the divers would be pushing 5 feet long.

The bull shark in the below photo is easily 8 foot. Nasty piece of work that one let me tell you.

What I like about this enclosure is that the sharks behave naturally and swim about as they please instead of doing circles like in all the other shark pens I've seen. It's fairly typical of the way Seaworld on the Gold Coast set up they're animal environments with lots of room for the animals to swim freely.

Shark Bay Reef Section

Next Stop was Seaworld's newest attraction (although its a few years old now), Shark Bay. They were just finishing off the landscaping & scenery last time I was at Seaworld.

Pictured above is a segregated shallow reef section which is full of colourful fish & small rays that are typical of life in the reef lagoons on the coral atolls on the Great Barrier Reef.

Below is the reef enclosure for the smaller shark species like Black Tipped Reef Sharks & Leopard Sharks. The Leopard Shark is the lazy one sitting on the bottom in the second picture.

Polar Bear Shores

Once we were inside the gate we headed straight for the Polar Bears before the noisy kids messed it for us. They've done a great job with the habitat. The bears don't seem stressed at all and actually look quite content & relaxed.

They have an air conditioned den & a great big chilled pool. They even have cooling water sprays like you see in some beer gardens these days.

The bears (called Nelson & Hudson) were playing up big time when we got to their enclosure. They were wrestling in the small pond. They were play fighting like our two kittens do.
Right after the games in the pond it was time for a dip in the pool. They seem to really enjoy their swim in the cool pool.


We had to leave them after that to see some of the other attations but we would come back later.

Seaworld

Brisbane Day 2 - Seaworld

It had been a number of years since either of us had been to Seaworld on the Gold Coast so we figured it would be a nice idea to go down there & check it out for the day. Hopefully being a Thursday off season there wouldn't be too many kids running around making trouble for themselves. We weren't too far wrong as it turned out.

Brisbane Trip

Brisbane Day 1 - Transit

After a little under 12 months in the travel no fly zone thanks to our wedding (and the planning of) we are finally back on track.

A couple of weeks ago we decided we'd had enough of the wettest Perth winters since 1996 (good for the dams, bad for cabin fever) and decided to do something about it. Queensland seemed like a good idea since that weather is always nice there at this time of year & we could spend some time with my parents who live in Brisbane & haven't seen much of since leaving for Canada.
We booked the flights only 4 days out and paid the price for it literally. I only gave work 2 days notice but they didn't seem to care & the boss never knew I was gone.

We flew out late morning Perth time & landed in Brisbane early afternoon where my Dad was waiting to pick us up. Heading East is was a fairly short flight (about 4.20 hrs) thanks to the trade winds. That night was a bit of a catch up with my folks & kick back.

So long Canada

So that's it for us from beautiful Western Canada (and Western USA). It's been a fantastic experience & saw some amazing sights & animals. I'm already missing the mountains, lakes, glaciers, animals & birds. I can't wait to come back. Now we're off home to Perth to start a new chapter of our adventures.

Last Day

Day 47 - Ipanema & Exit.

It was our last day in South America & we'd pretty much run out of things to do in Rio.

After breakfast we went for a nice long walk along Copacabana beach (just near the hotel). It was very pleasant & reminded me of some of the beaches in S.E. Queensland.

On the way back to the hotel, Kerri dragged me around a lap of the shops and managed to pick up a couple of dresses.

We'd organized to meet up with Corina & Sandra who were staying at the next beach, Ipanema. Nic came along with us. We caught the bus & hopped off a block away from their hotel. We all Went for lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant before spending an hour or so at the beach. The surf was quite heavy & a side sweep was washing swimmers along the coast. It didn't stop me having a go, but it was hard work & I had to choose my waves very carefully for fear of breaking my neck.We said good bye to our Swiss friends & headed back to the hotel. We were pretty much sorted, but we had to do our final pack before heading to the airport. Part of it was disposing of some clothing (including my faithful hiking boots) that was beyond help after the abuse over the previous month & a half. It also involved a last ditch effort to try to find the camera that went missing in Bonito. Fortunately it did show up 4 months later back in sunny Perth. Suellen had managed to track it down & send it back to us.
I was glad to the point of being excited to be heading back to Canada & ultimately Australia. By the same token I was also very sad that the amazing journey was over & reality was imminent.
I've posted some photos of Rio de Janeiro on my Flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7663586@N02/sets/72157621609505939/show/

The friendly taxi driver who had taken us around for the city tour a couple of days previous was co-incidentally the same one who took us to the airport. We had a lovely chat with him & it was a somewhat fitting way to leave the continent. Our flight back to Calgary left later in the evening & did a short hop to Sao Paulo before the long flight to Houston.
We arrived in Houston early in the morning but late enough that the cafes were open for breakfast. Strangely being able to have a normal bacon, eggs & toast; and Hotcakes never tasted so good! We clearly missed western food.
The last leg to Calgary took us over Colorado & Montana which were both covered in the now familiar white powder. I made a mental note to visit both states some time. We slipped through customs in Calgary without so much as a peep & the lady that processed us was so very friendly despite our sleep deprivation. We'd left Rio where the temp was in the high 20's only to land on the other side of the equator in the mid negative teens. It was a bit of a shock for sure. We'd made it though.

South America Highlights

I'm very glad we took the six week trip across South America. It had it's moments & made me quite ill at times, but it was worth it no question. As with any trip, you learn from your mistakes & do it different next time. There were some fantastic highlights though & below are a short list.

Ballistas Islands - wonderful wildlife.

Huaccachina - Buggies & Sand boarding

Arequipa - Beautiful white city & volcanoes

Colca Canyon - Condors & other wildlife life plus the deepest canyon on the planet.

Machu Picchu - Lost City & spectacular valley setting

Lake Titicaca - despite all it's tourist traps & the dreadful home stay

Uyuni Salt flats

Bolivian Southern Desert - Amazing lakes & surprising array of wildlife.

Santa Cruz - Wildlife at the Butterfly Park

The Pantanal - Mind blowing array of Wildlife

Bonito - Rio da Prata & Abysmo

Iguazu Falls - Incredible water falls & butterflies

Ilha Grande - Rain forest Island and amazing wildlifeRio de Janeiro - View & Animals at Christ the Redeemer

I know it looks very much like a nature expedition, but I've got to be honest, South America is very much like a big scenic zoo. People in general don't interest me that much and nature has much more to offer, particularly in that vast corner of the globe. If you want action, go to New Zealand; if you want a culture shock, go to Asia; if you want to see old buildings, go to Europe; if you want to see wildlife & spectacular scenery, the Americas & Africa are your place.

If you ever get a chance to go to South America, don't pass it up. Its something you won't regret & a trip you'll never forget.

Hang Gliding

Day 46 - Hang Gliding

Our plan for our last full day was to go hang gliding off one of the near by peaks (the one in the centre of this picture.

Good idea in theory. Unfortunately it didn't quite go to plan. We were dropped off by taxi to the beach below the peak. We were told to wait for our pilot there. We were left without any idea of who to talk to for over an hour. There must have been at least 10 companies doing the same thing. I asked enough of the other pilots the right questions to find the right guy.

Finally we were on our way to the top of the peak. When we arrived, we saw a line up of 20 gliders lined up waiting & about the same rolled up waiting. They weren't going anywhere because the peak was totally shrouded in cloud. They aren't allowed to launch unless they can see the landing point. I would think it would be quite dangerous in the air as well.

Around 2.10pm it was called off & we reluctantly headed back to the beach & the hotel.

It was very disappointing but we didn't loose any money on it (and it was about $270 AUD!). We just lost the best part of a day.

Late in the afternoon we went to Rio de Sol which is a big shopping centre. Kerri wanted to see it. No big deal. Could have been a shopping centre anywhere. That's about as interesting as the day got unfortunately.

Sugar Loaf

The final stop on the city tour was Sugar Loaf. We had looked down on it from the foot of JC earlier in the afternoon, but when we arrived we were looking up at this towering rock.



The easiest way to reach the top is by taking two cable cars. The first one takes you to the first hump. The the second one takes you up to the peak of its bare volcanic plug.

There are some nice views from the first hump but the weather wasn't being even a bit co-operative. We did take the second cable car to the top, but were shrouded in cloud and saw nothing except what was 3 ft in front of us.

We were returned to our hotel after Sugar Loaf. We had enough time to get organised & re-join the rest of the crew for our final dinner together. It was a smorgasbord meat fest similar to a couple of similar ones we'd been to throughout Brazil, but was a clear winner in the classy stakes. The next day everyone would go their separate ways (and I mean separate!)

Mike was staying on in South America for another 3 months; Nic was heading to New Zealand & Australia for work, Nora & Vincent were headed home to the Emerald Isle; Corina & Sandra, back to Switzerland; Vixy was staying in Rio for a few days then back to the UK; Special K was heading to the UK via New Zealand; and lastly, Hina & Smita were going home to the UK before a trip to India.

It was sad, but I think most of us were ready for a change after spending the last 6 weeks together. Fortunately the Internet makes the world a small place these days. I expect to see at least half of them again at some point.

As for myself, I was done with the trip. I could have hopped a plane back to Calgary that night. After the city tour, Rio didn't hold much interest for me. I'm more a wilderness kinda guy. I was already stressing about trying to get work back in Australia after the news of the economy crashing had filtered to me during the last 2 weeks of the trip. We still had nearly 2 full days to fill in.