Kuta - Bali, Indonesia...
We spent 4-hours with a travel agent planning our trip to Flores and the Gili Islands. We also had our onward ticket from Bali to Singapore changed from May 4th to May 19th. Other flights we bought were on Merpati Airlines from Denpasar to Maumere and then from Labuanbajo back to Denpasar. We hired a taxi driver for when we arrive in Maumere to take us across the island. For the taxi, driver, his food and lodging it was $60/day.

It was impressive how exhausting travel planning can be. We found because it was a Saturday that many of the airline offices closed early, so the travel agent sent a courier on motorcycle to deliver and pickup some of the tickets.

They wanted payment in cash, so I had to make three large withdrawals from the ATM because it wouldn't allow me to take it out in one transaction. Fortunately, the $5 transaction fee is only applied once within the same day. I took out about 5,000,000 rupees which is about $570 USD.

After the travel session I slept for about three hours. In the evening I worked on updating blogs and sending updated information for our web site to Ric.

John and I went out to Qbar and had a few drinks. I met and talked with one of the local people, Adi, who was from Java but was studying in Kuta, Bali.

Ubud - Day Tour of temples - Kuta, Bali - Indonesia...
In Ubud we contracted with a taxi driver to take us on a 7-hour custom tour and then drop us off at Kuta, which is about an hours drive from Ubud. The price was about $30 USD.

Heading out through Ubud we drove past 3-miles of shops producing the most amazing collections of artwork, carvings of animals, Indian Gods and goddesses, handmade furnture, bowls of ceramic tiles with inlaid mirror squares, paintings of all types and elaborate sculptures. If only it didn't cost a fortune to ship to the USA, they made some really beautiful things!

We visited the Tegallalang terraced rice fields. I think these particular fields are keep in pristine condition as a tourist attraction. They are right off the road and classic in looks, at as far as terraced rice fields go. At this same area we were accosted by vendors selling carvings, bowls and such and had to literally push them away from the taxi door so we could close them.

Our next stop was at the 11th Century stone carvings that had been carved into walls of rock at Obyek Wisata Gunung Kawi in Tampaksiring. Here we were beseiged by people selling sarongs. You have to have one to enter the carving/temple area, but they are loaned to you when you pay the entry fee, so you don't have to buy one to enter.

The carvings are quite impressive and the amount of stone excavated amazing. We didn't have a tour guide for this area, so I think we missed a bit about the temple.

Next was the Elephant Caves, again created in the 11th Century at Obyek Wisata Goa Gajah in Bedulu. On entering the main area a man approached us and advised us that we needed to wash our face before we entered the elephant caves and led us down to the fountain area. He then proceeded to use our cameras to take pictures of us and then guided us into the caves. There isn't really much in there. He showed us another area where a statue of Buddha has fallen over and then led us to a small cave where animals supposedly slept in the evening.

On returning he asked for a guide fee, which I totally expected, and he said maybe US dollars would be convenient for us, say $20. I laughed and offered him a dollar, still quite generous, at which point he said he would rather have rupees. I gave him the equiavlent, 10,000 rupees which comes out to a little over a dollar. He seemed appreciative.

We visited the Taman Ayun Royal Family Temple built in the 17th Century in Mengwi which is bordered by two rivers that at one time formed a moat around the palace. It had interesting traditional temple structures build in the temple area in pleasing geometric rows. It appears that locals came here and used it as a park, a place to fish and relax.

Our last vist of the day was to Taman Wasata Tanah Lot. This is a very famous temple build into a rock that is surrounded by the ocean at high tide. There is a large and frenzied market place that is the gauntlet before you get to the temple, complete with draw of exotic pets. We found a vendor with a pet fruit bat, that for a small donation, you could feed bits of fruit. There was also a guy that had a large boa (or python?) that was quite beautifully marked. For a fee, he would allow you to drape it around yourself for a photo. No thanks, please!

Many people walked around the rock where the temple is built and looked confused as to what to do. It doesn't appear that you're allowed to walk the "carved into stone" steps up to the temple itself. From where you are it is not particularly photogenic. A type of Hindu priest was blessing some people. Kids were playing in the water pools. Cameras everywhere and a guy was selling a multisailed ship kite.

This is supposed to be a beautiful site to see the sunset. As we waited for sunset we went to a restaurant up above the temple and had some dinner. Kids were harrassing us, trying to sell us a 20-post card set of the temple area, for about the 100dreth time.

When sunset came, we moved back down to below the temple and found again, it was not a good area to take pictures from. We finally discovered an area near the upper temple area where there were great views of the sunset.

After sunset we departed the and frenzy of the area took the taxi to our final destination, Kuta. It was a long day and perhaps a few too many temples.

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Padangtegal, Ubud - Bali...
(Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana)
We woke up fairly early and strolled down to Monkey Forest Park, a sacred monkey forest sanctuary. On our way we navigated through offerings made to the Hindu spirits that were placed in front of homes and businesses. The offerings were of food and flowers often placed in a freshly constructed bamboo tray along with a burning stick of incense. We later learned this are typically offered three times a day as meal offerings to the spirits.

Immediately entering the sacred forest I felt like I was in another world, a world entwining the spiritual and natural. A world that felt like it had been in existence forever. We descended a stone stairway across a deep stream into a thick rain forested area called the Holy Bathing Temple. The stairways' rail was a thick stone snake that, like most of the stone, was covered with a furry layer of green moss. Statues adorned most of the stonework, including figures of gods, monkeys, frogs, elephants, snails and dragon-like faces. Most of the temple had been built in the 14th century, but one area had two equally amazing carvings of Komodo dragons sculpted in 1999. They were part of the continuing effort to inspire respect for all creatures, inculding the endangered Komodo dragon. The entire Holy Bathing Temple area was dwafted by huge trees covered with an amazing tapestry of vines.

We ascended out of the bathing temple into utter chaos. Two rival monkey groups were fighting over the morning feeding area of the park. About 50-60 monkeys were screaming, chasing and leaping at each other. After the encounters were over, they settled down and started feeding on potatoes that the guardians of the park provided. The world of monkeys seems like a world of fun and we were right in the middle of it. They are so agile and active that it was impossibly to absorb all that was happening around us.

John, with his backpack on, attracted attention and soon had monkeys crawling all over him, pulling on pack zippers and reaching their hands in his pockets looking for food. He was surprisingly calm and I was able to get some good photos and video. Later on a few jumped on me to explore food opportunities. They are amazingly human-like and have very soft little hands. It's still very strange to realize they are totally wild animals and still have they crawl all over you. One even started going through John's hair looking to groom out bugs or fleas (John, maybe it's time to got your hair cut!).

There were lots of baby monekys, they estimate there are 120-young ones this year. Many of them were amazingly independant. Others had protective mothers that would not allow them to stray, holding onto their tails to keep them close.

The variety of behavior is amazing. One monkey was trying to get a snail out of it's shell by washing it, tossing it back and forth and rubbing it on the stone pavement. Others were wrestling, leaping from or into trees. grooming each other and various other activities that I will leave unstated.

The park is enchanting and hard to leave with the only incentive for exiting being the growing number of human visitors. Near dusk we made another visit to the park and our monkey friends.

Kecak Fire and Trance Dance - Ubud, Bali...
(presented by the Desa Adat Sambahan village - Ubud, Bali)
We bought tickets and attended an evening performance of the Kecak Fire and Trance dance in at Pura Batu Karu in Udon. It was an amazing 1 1/2-hour experience.

Here's a description from the pamphlet:

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Kecak is a special dance that's accompanied by human music voice, called gamelan suara. In this dance, the story is developed through a choir of more than one hundred men. These men sit positioned in a concentric circle around the primary stage. As they sing, sway, stand or lie prone, their voices and dances tell a fragment of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
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The audience, about 40 of us, sat in a 1/4 arc about 10-feet from the choir. The center of the circle was established by a candelabra of flames. Actors and actresses would enter and depart from the top of a wide, high staircase to our right. They were dressed in striking costumes with dramatics expressions frozen on their masks.

Usually there were two sections of the choir, one making a monkey-like rhythmatic sound, the other acting as a chorus. Actors or actresses might sing their own part of the story or the story teller might sing for them. The dance is very stylized but manages to express the spectrum of the human story, from love stories to battle scenes.

The large chorus was amazingly cohesive and alive. You could tell that they love being part of this story and value their own part in expressing it. The sound from them is awesome. Once you've heard and seen them do the monkey rhythm, you can't help but miss it when it stops and get excited when it starts again. It is a frequent but welcome thread in the dance.

I'm afraid I didn't study the pamphlet before attending the dance, so the scenes of the actor and actresses were enjoyable, but not very understandable in a story sense. I would compare my experience to attending an opera where you don't know the story of the opera before you come to it.

The Trance dance is another experience entirely. Again from the pamphlet:

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Trance Dance (Sanghyang Djaran)
The Sanghyang Djaran is a God-inspired trance dance the function of which is to protect society against evil forces and epidemics. It can take several forms. Here it is presented as Sanghyang Djaran, where djaran means horse. In Java, as well as Bali, the hobby horse is associated with trance and is also seen in the Kuda Kepang in West Java serving a similar function. The horse rider is lulled into trance by the repetitive sounds of the gamelan suara. While in that state, he walks on a bed of burning coconut husks responding to the dynamic sounds of the gamelan suara.
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What happens is the bare footed horse rider runs through the pile of burning coconut husks, kicking them in every direction. Attendants sweep them into the middle again for another run through. The results are somewhat random and add a sense of excitement for the audience, which at any time may become an unwilling recipient of the flaming byproducts of the trance dance.

After the dances of the evening ended, the actors and actresses came out to allow us to take photos of them and of any of us who wanted a photo with them. It was a very fine evening. My kudos to this group!

Balinese Macaques Monekys...
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The monkeys that live in the sanctuary are called Balinese macaques, also known as long-tailed macaques. Their scientific name is macaca fascicularis and, aside from humans, macaques are the most widespread and successful of all primates.

About 237 macaques currently reside in the forest. There are approximately 30 adult males, 87 adult females and 120 young. These macaques live primarily in three clusters of females and males. Each of these groups tends to use different areas of the forest different times of the day. However, nearly all the macaques use all of the forest. Conflicts sometimes arise when two groups are in the same area.

Adult males weigh up to 8-10 kilos and have large canine teeth. broad shoulders and facial hair that resembles a mustache. The adult females are smaller than the males (4-8 kilograms) and have long facial hair resembling beards.

Balinese macaque society is centered around groups of related females called "matrilines". Male macaques usually migrate in from other areas in an attempt to associate themselves with the female matrilines. Both male and females have sets of dominance relationships, but they are not always clear or consistent.

Mating can take place all the year round but most infants are born during the months of May - August. Macaque mothers range from very protective to very permissive with their infants. Many females who are not the mother spend time holding and caring for infants. Sometimes you will even see an adult male "mothering" as well.

Research and Conservation
The sacred monkey forest serves not only as an important component in the spiritual and daily lives of the villages, but it is the site of several research and conservation programs. The maintenance and management of special places like this pull the attention of researchers from all over the world.

Especially interactions between human beings and the monkeys of this sacred place are subject to surveys and research studies.

It is important to treat the monkeys with respect as this is their forest home and you are a guest in it. Please remain on the paved paths. The monkeys may become aggressive if you invade their private areas (Wenara Wana staff and researchers may occassionally be seen in these areas - please do not follow them). Absolutely do not tease or provoke the monkeys for any reason.

If you wish to feed the macaques please do so carefully., and it they take food from you, please do not attempt to retrieve it. It is also of great importance that you treat the trees, the plants and other animals and structures within the monkey forest with great respect.

This is a holy area and an important ecological reserve. Please strive to enjoy the beauty and magic of this place while at the same time conserving and respecting what lives in it. If you have any question or if you needs assistance, please ask the Wanara Wana personnel (identified by their green uniforms) or a member of the reseach project.

Dear parents, please look after your children and guide them through this sanctuary.

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary and the Tri Hita Karana Doctrine...
For those who are interested, this is the text of the brochure for the park that explains the religious philosophy behind it:


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Tri Hita Karana Doctrine
In accordance with Balinese Hindu philosophy, peace and liberty are obtainable in our lives only when we respect and observe the three harmonious relationships known as the Tri Hita Karana:

1. The Gods blessed life and created nature and its contents.
2. Nature offers subsistence, nourishment, needs and activities for human beings.
3. Human beings have an obligation to establish traditional village structure, to build temples in which to worship, to hold various ceremonies, to make daily offering, to preserve nature and to solve problems together.

This doctrine can be seen in practure during many special ceremonies. Two ceremonies which are related to the monkey forest are Tempek Kandang, where people make special offerings to the forest (and all the animals in general), and Tumpek Nguduh, where plants are equally celebrated.

The Temples
Based on analysis of the Pura Purana, a holy lontar book, which is an historical record of the temples, the Holy Monkey Temples were built during the mid-14th century during the Pereng Dynasty or early Gegel Dynasty. There are three holy temples in the sacred monkey forest:

The PURA DALEM AGUNG TEMPLE is located in the southeastern poriton of the main forest area. This temple is the main temple for the village of Padangtegal and it is the most promoinent temple in the monkey forest.

To the northest, down a long flight of steps and next to the stream you will find the HOLY BATHING TEMPLE with a structure of the "Three Mandala COncept".

The Utama Mandala, in the northern position is the area of the Gods. The Madia Mandala, for disciples of the deities is located at the centre and contains the holy pool. The Nista Manadala at the southern bridge is the special bathing place for humans.

The third temple, PURA PRAJAPATI (funeral or cremation temple) is located on the eastern edge of the main rain forest alongside a graveyard.

In addition to the three temples you will also notice two graveyards and a number of statues and carvings throughout the sacred monkey forest.

Whitsunday Sailboat Cruise - Ragamuffin II - Day 3 ...
We took the dingy onto the beach at Whitsunday Island. Walking along the beach John and I saw several clear jellyfish washed up. we're not sure what type they were. Thought that they might be box jellyfish but were later told by the mate on our ship that they were out in this region, although a still deadly small form of them was. That was why we wore the stinger suits. We also saw a sting ray in and a shark in the shallow water next to the beach. Further down the beach we found a goanna slithering through the vegetation near the beach.

The sand was very white and squeky, like on Fraser Island. It was also quite fine. One of the beaches on Whitsunday Island is supposed to be on the top 10 best beaches in the world list. Un fortunately for us, the weather wasn't all that great it was quite overcast.

In the afternoon we went through several rain showers, mostly pretty light rain. I had the opportunity to steer the boat and managed not to hit anything or tip it over. It was pretty fun. Don't think I'll leave my day job when I get back to the USA, though.

We got back to Airlie beach about 4 pm and I think everyone headed for a real shower after they got back to their hostels. Matt had booked a table for us at the Beaches Backpackers bar for 7:30 pm and we all showed up. John and I had dinner their and the food was very good. I had Burramundi (a fish) and chips, John has the Chicken Parmasiana. People had already bought a few picthers of beer, but Matt bought two rounds of three pitchers each for all of us! What a generous guy! Needless to say, we all got a little drunk (OK, maybe a lot), but we could all walk home.

Whitsunday Sailboat Cruise - Ragamuffin II - Day 2 ...
We went back to Luncheon Bay to allow a couple of our people to link up with a scuba diving boat and make a dive. Meanwhile we did some snorkeling. This was the home of "Elvis", the friendly bump headed Murray Wraisse. He was huge and very funny looking! I had seen one in the Melbourne acquarium and thought it was the funniest fish I'd ever seen. It made me laugh. Elvis would come within a foot or so. You could reach out and touch him but were asked not to because if he was touched too much he would get sick. He was probably 4 feet long and 14" high. He was very curious and would come face to face with you. He had his own entourage of follower fish as well.

The other impressive creatures in this area were giant clams. These were gigantic as well! One was about 4-feet across. Others were much smaller and wedged into the coral. Their "lips" were the most incredible colors, irridescent blues and greens!

Later we took the dingy over to Manta Ray Bay and saw another Murray Wraisse called "Wally". He was friendly and we were the only ones around this time, so it was an even better experience.

I talked with Matt quite a bit. His life was all about the sea. He been involved in sea sports and sailing as an occupation since he was 21. His next goal was to purchase a sailboat and subcontract to one of the Whitsunday operators for proving the cruises. Hope it all works out for him!

Before coming to Australia I been informed and terrified by the presence of deadly box jellyfish during certain months of the year. We were just at the end of the season. There poison is very deadly, but I found out that most people don't receive enough of it to die. The poison is injected by very tiny stinger cells. By wearing a thin suit of clothing, like nylon stockings are made of, you can generally prevent the stingers from penetrating deep enough to inject the poison. We all wore "stinger" suits when we went snorkeling. The thing is, they just cover you legs, arms, torso, and chest. Your neck, bottom of your feet and face are exposed. Seems kind of risky to me but it appears that statistically they turn out to be very effective. Matt has never seen anyone stung by a stinger, but had another captain has three people stung who developed severe symptons. One was in intensive care for three days. The three people were not wearing stinger suits while three others diving with them wore suits and had not stings. I think ever since Matt always wears, and recommends others wear, stinger suits. The major issue with stinger suits is there's no way to look fashionable in a stinger suit! Then again, I don't think people who are stung look very trender either!

We made our way over to one of the beaches off of Whitsunday Island and moored the night there. We saw a few lone squids, but no major action like the night before. We had a fun evening on deck drinking beers and telling stories.

Whitsunday Sailboat Cruise - Ragamuffin II - Day 1 ...
Matt is the captain, Andy the crew. 20-knot winds the first day, we were keeled over pretty strongly, waves breaking over the bow. The person closest to the bow got the brunt of the waves. Sometimes they had an impromptu, drenching shower.

Because of limited cockpit space, we did a lot of our activities on the deck, like eating meals. This proved to be a bit of a challenge, the first day lettuce leaves were found all over the deck. Lunch was pasta salad (spicy!), lettuce salad, and sandwiches. It was quite good. Each of us had to do dishes, but only once during the cruise. Showers were limited to 2-minutes, basically a soap down, then a rinse cycle, kinda like a car wash!

On the deck I met four young guys spending a semester in school in Sidney on an overseas study program, Brian, Kyle, Mark and Henrik. Brian and Mark were from Chicago, Kyle from Las Vegas and Henrik was from Denmark. They were real nice guys and seemed to get along with each other and others onboard well, as actually everybody onboard did. They had driven from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach during the night, arrived at their hostel, had about an hours sleep and started on this cruise. Needless to say they slept well the first night!

We stopped at Luncheon Bay for snorkeling. I almost always enjoy snorkeling even when the visibility isn't great, like at this location.

Dinner was pasta with garlic bread and salads and very tasty!

After dinner we watched at close hand an enactment of natures food chain. A large school of squid were feeding on small fish. Meanwhile several sharks were feeding on the squid. When spooked the entire school of squid would leap out of the water at once. The sharks circled and then moved in incredibly quickly for the kill. The squid were quite beautiful, they appeared in red irridescent colors and floated gracefully through the water. We watched this scene play out for over an hour. The sharks were probably white or black tipped reef sharks or gray nurse sharks. Not the kind of shark that normally attacks humans. Even so, it was very impressive how fast they could move!

As the expression goes, living onboard you're in very close quarters. Fortunately we all got along well and I didn't see any incidents of any sort.

Matt, our captain, slept on deck and tended not to be an early riser.

A night in Rockhampton...
We drove Brett and Sven to the Hervey Bay Airport and then headed to Rockhampton as a one night stopover on our trip to Airlie Beach. It was raining. The place we stayed in Rockhampton, the Ascot Stonegrill Hotel, was quant and run by a charming lady, Robby, who addressed me as "lovey". We spent much of the evening trying to catch up on choosing and organizing photos for future posting on the web site on my PC. Not much happening in Rockhampton, the Beef Capitol, on a Sunday evening.

Fraser Island, Day 3...
Sven, John and I body surfed at the beach, despite previous warnings of this being a tiger shark breeding area. We didn't have any sightings, but had a blast in the water.

Israelis cook breakfast, we have dry food because the dingo drank our milk. Lots of small blue bottles (man of war jelly fish) on the beach. We leave almost on time for Lake Wabby. We came in by the lookout rather than over the bigger expanse of dunes. Saw a goanna at the trailhead and later as I was walking with Camila. Argument with the Israelis as to weather to go to the store for water or go to Lake Mackenzie. Finally headed for Lake Mackenzie. Late leaving Lake Mackenzie but still managed to make it to the ferry in time. We stayed in a room with a refrigerator, TV, and built-in bathroom, luxury!

Fraser Island, 2nd day...
Sven drove north to Indian Head while the tide was still quite high. We had to make excursions into the soft sand and sometimes into the wet sand to avoid colliding with other vehicles. Normally you're supposed to drive on the hard sand, which is about 10-20 feet from where the water reaches. Above the hard sand is very soft sand that is difficult to maneuver through and slows you down quite a bit.

At times you have to take a side route up onto the mainland through soft sand to go around obstacles, like rock cliffs and all. Indian Head is the most challenging one. The technique is to start in 2nd gear, floor the gas pedal and keep it floored until you're through the soft sand and have better traction. We met another vehicle coming the other way and escaped a low-speed collision by inches. Maneuvering in soft sand is very unpredictable.

We saw some sea turtles from Indian Head cliff. It's an awesome viewpoint and you can often see sea life from it in the water below.

We contionued on to the Champagne Pools. These protected pools provide the only salt water swimming/wading on the island. Fraser Island is a breeding ground for Tiger sharks, one of the few man-eating sharks. It also has severe riptides that can carry a person out to sea. The pools are so-named because water breaking over the protective reef into the pools becomes frothy and appears like champagne bubbles.

I was the driver driving back to the aboriginal campground for lunch. We had a 30-minute lunch of sandwichs while the Israelis cooked a 2 1/2 hour lunch. That gave us quite a late start.

We arrived at the next site, Eli Creek, at 4:30 pm. Driving on the beach is supposed to be finished at 5 pm per the park service. We had a discussion with the Isarel group over their proposed change to the itinerary to stay at a camp ground with showers that was 80-km down the beach. It was too late to travel that far on the beach in the dark. We went to Happy Valley store for ice cream and cokes, and camped in the dunes at Cornwall Break.

It was cool camping in the dunes!

Fraser Island - 1st Day...
Caught the ferry to Fraser Island. We had a bone crunching drive to Lake Mackenzie with our first driver, a 20-YO Israeli guy.

Lake Mackenzie is an awesome, crystal clear lake with a beach rated as one of the top ten in the world. It was fresh water, so you could exhale and drop to the sandy bottom and look at the underwater world around you while standing on the bottom. Very cool! We would also dive underwater and follow the sandy bottom towards the middle of the lake. We quickly found that the surface was a whole lot further away then we guessed, rising to the surface gasping for air!

After lunch we stopped and took pictures at the Maheno shipwreck and continued north to the aboriginal campground where we were staying for the night.

We cooked a good dinner of steaks and potatoes with onions. Afterwards our group and others gathered around the campfire. Smiley, a 22-YO aborigine, performed a traditional aborignal dance and song. He was dedicated to carrying on the aboriginal traditions. He still went hunted with spears for kangaroo and wallabee. He also taught traditonal aboriginal dances to children on the mainland.

About midnight a group of us walked to the beach, lay down in the sand and watched the brilliant, full moon go in and out of the clouds.

Aboriginal Bush Walk...
I went on a 7-hour walkabout today with five other participants and an aboriginal guide. The area, near Faulconbridge, was about 1-1/2 hours by train from Sydney. It was one of the most low-key, yet the most significant things I've done in the Sydney area. We basically followed our guide through 8-kilometers of small trails, bush scrambles and minor rock climbs to several ancient aboriginal sites. He explained what they meant and how his people had existed for the last 50,000 years and how the earlier European visitors pretty much wiped them out in 200-years.

How can it be that a culture that has existed for far longer than any other on earth, over 50,000 years and a culture that had virtually no war, is hardly known about, even by native Australians? On the other hand, billions of dollars is spent researching and making movies about the bloodiest cultures on earth. Somethings wrong here...

Here's a little about the aborigines that I learned from our guide, but I copied from MS Encarta:

"Until Europeans began to settle in Australia in 1788, the Aboriginal way of life was supported by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Like other hunting and gathering peoples, Aboriginal people had an extremely detailed knowledge of their environment, especially plant ecology and animal behavior. The deep connection between Aboriginal people and the natural world influenced every part of their culture, including their food gathering, tools, trade, religion, art, music, language, and social organization."

"Before the arrival of Europeans, Aboriginal societies were organized in a variety of ways ... However, all Aboriginal societies also had certain characteristics in common. They were essentially egalitarian—that is, no one had significantly higher status than anyone else. There was, of course, some variation in people’s status and influence according to their age, gender, knowledge, skills, and personality. In addition, all Aboriginal people maintained exchange relationships with other groups to whom they had ties by blood or marriage. These relationships involved visits, the exchange of gifts, and participation in each other’s ceremonial life."

"Unlike tribes elsewhere, those in Australia had no overarching political or social organization, nor was the tribe a landowning group until after European contact."
(quoted material from Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)

Wow! A classless society without wars that existed for over 50,000 years! What are we doing wrong???

Sydney - pick Tom up at the airport...
We picked up a friend of John and mine's, Tom Jones, at the Sydney Airport, $19 for an hours parking! Wowser!

We walked to the Sydney Opera House and ate lunch in front of it - overlooking the harbor. It was a beautiful day (we've had a lot of those, fortunately!), but a bit windy. One of the surprising things about the "shells" of the Opera House is that they are made of grouted tiles that are white and beige, but from a distance they looks totally white! It is quite an awesome structure.

We walked by the shore over to the botanical gardens. Along with some huge and beautiful species of trees, it has also become the seasonal home for over 3,000 Silver faced flying fox bats. We saw trees with hundreds of them hanging off of the branches like pine cones. They have brownish heads that look like miniature fox heads but are a lot more cute than one would associate with a bat. There always seemed to be a couple of them shreeking, fighting, and carrying on in each group while the rest were trying to sleep.

Further along in the park we saw white cockatoos with yellow crests (sulfur crested cockatoos) in the trees about 15-feet away. One of them clipped John's head as it flew by after it had been spooked by a crow. We're thinking of catching a few and bringing back to the US to sell to finance our trip.

After the park we took a ride on the monorail. Unfortunately it is worse for the wear, but it did give us some views of different parts of the city.

Dinner was chinese food in an outside cafe in Sydney's China town.