Fun in Kuranda

The train to Kuranda.

Me trying a didgeridoo.

Today, we woke up at 6:50am and cought a bus at the entrance of our little hotel.  The bus brought us to a train station that was built more than 100 years ago to get to the top of a mountain where someone found gold (go figure!).  The train ride was about two hours, counting stops.  From the train, we could see beautiful views of waterfalls, cliffs, and places where the first tries at building tunnels and passages collapsed.  (Not very comforting.)  After the train to the tiny town of Kuranda, we shopped at the heritage makets.  My brother and I bought a didgeridoo, a traditional Indigenous (Aboriginal) Australian instrument.  It may be the oldest musical instrument in the world, besides clapping sticks, which are also Aboriginal.  I learned from Jimmy, our teacher, how to circular breathe and make various "animal noises."  It was a very interesting experience.

To get back to our hotel, we took a sky rail, which is like a gondola, from Kuranda.  We got to see beautiful views of the rain forest from the perspective of a bird.  It was amazing!  After writing this blog, I'll practice the didgeridoo a bit more, go for a quick swim, and then go to bed.

One of the sky rail capsules over the rain forest.

Rockhampton Grammar School

Today, we had breakfast at the Rockhampton Grammer School, and my brother, mother and I went to a zoo.  The zoo was small, and some places blocked off, due to the cyclone (the Southern Hemisphere hurricane) that hit Queensland about six weeks ago.  Then, we started a 8 hour drive to Townsville, more then half way from Rockhampton to Cairns.  Cairns is still in Queensland.

Mt. St. Bernard and Goodbye Caravan

Note: The current words that you are reading is a note that regards blogging.  This blog is a combine between yesterday, and the day before that.  Here we go.

My brother and I with some aboriginal children

Today, we visited a boarding school called Mt. St. Bernard Collage.  This school is very nice, and I love its background.  It all started when a person found gold in Cookstown, and people started mining it.  Some of the gold miners were bringing their families to the site.  Five nuns from Ireland started teaching the children, and long story short, that became a full on school.  We had the pleasure of meeting the principle, who seemed extremely nice.  When my brother and I showed some of the students the violin, in return, the students, and one of the teachers tought us an original dance.  That would be a fun school to go to. Alas, today was the final day in our caravan.

 It took about 3 hours to collect all our luggage from all the cabinets, and all the various compartments.  We drove a whopping 70 hours in three weeks!!!!!  WOW!!  It was a little promotional for my family because we had so many cool memories.  Thankfully, we got a rental car, where I didn't have to hold on to everything when we turned.😜

Us eating outside of our caravan.

Ferries and a nice hairdo

Today, we went on a few more ferries, all across Sydney Harbor.  In between two ferry rides, we played our violins by the Sydney Opera House.  This required getting a "busking permit," or a permission to perform on the street, in Sydney Town Hall.  Now we can add Sydney to the list of cities we have played in.  Here is the list so far: Paris, London, Boston, Belgrade, Hobart, Prague, Portsmouth, Leipzig, San Diego, and Sydney.  This was fun.  We took a break to take a ferry across the Sydney Harbor to a restaurant called Doyle's.  There, we had wonderful fish and chips, overlooking the Waterfront.

A picture from the ferry

On the ferry

Today, we also visited a zoo.  It was cool seeing some of the native spices of Australia.  These include kangaroo, which I fed, some of the natives snakes, some birds, and Tassie Devils.  Tassie Devils are like black cats that eat dead birds (or any other dead animals), feathers and bones included. They are like nature's garbage disposals.    They make a shrill sound that is kind of creepy.  They are endangered, because they compete for food with some of the animals introduced by the European settlers, such as foxes.  I fed the kangaroo with its version of chocolate:  sweet potatoes and carrots.  One of the native birds has the bottom part of its legs bent forward, which is amazing, because the legs are shaped like kangaroo's. Today was really fun.

Us busking in front of the Sydney Opera House

Brisbane

Today, we drove 6 hours to complete our trip from Sydney to Brisbane.  At lunch time, we pulled up at a park in a town called Sandy Beach to practice violin for about four hours.  When we arrived at the caravan park, it was about 10:30pm, so we washed up and went to bed.  

The next day, we woke up around 9am.  For breakfast, my brother and I made animal-shaped pancakes.  We made 2 Emus, 6 Wombats, 1 Echidna, 1 Platypus, 2 Kangaroos, and a Dingo that we had to give plastic surgery to. 

At lunchtime, we recorded our auditions for Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra's premiere ensembles.  After trying various backgrounds, and settings on my dad's camera, we finally had a good take for each of us.  We will upload those when we have some high speed internet connections.  (Most of the wifi in caravan parks is pretty weak.)

For dinner, we drove into downtown Brisbane.  We parked our big-rig next to a Ferrari dealership, which is where we spent the next 15 minutes gawking.  Then, we went to one of the most famous places in Brisbane; the Story Bridge.  Ay night, the bridge was lit up in beautiful blue lights.  From "The Coffee Club," the restaurant we went to, there was a beautiful view of the bridge.  Today was a great day.  Tomorrow, we will begin our drive up to Rockhampton, where my dad is going to visit with some boarding school headmasters.

One of the supporters snapped, so I stepped in!

Close Encounters of the Koala Kind

"So that is what they look like up close!!"

Me (left) with a Koala (right)

ZZZZZZZZZZ

We are currently driving north of Brisbane toward Rockham- oh, wait, whoops, let me start that again.  Today, we are driving north from from Brisbane, toward Rockhampton.  On our way we stopped at yet ANOTHER zoo that had the same familiar Australian animals, except for the wombats being to the left of the koalas, and with the echidna being across from the wombats, as opposed to having the echidna next to the koalas, and the wombats on the other side of the zoo by the dingoes.  All kidding aside, this is a legendary zoo founded by Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, and is now run by his family.  The animals are in their natural settings, and have a lot of room to roam.  We saw the same animals as before, but in this zoo, I got to hold a koala, which is more interesting than watching one eat or sleep.  Koala is basically like a giant fuzzy warm football that has a heartbeat, two opposing thumbs on each hand, and smells like eucalyptus.   We also got to see a crocodile show, where a staff member made it jump out of the water.  One thing is for sure, Australian wildlife is very different than North American wildlife.  

Today, we (yes, I got it right) also visited the Glass House Mountains that were originally named by Captain Cook (who mapped the east coast of Australia in 1770s).  He thought they looked like the furnaces you melt glass in, hence he named them the Glass House Mountains.  These mountains are volcano plugs, formed by lava cooling.  The original sandstone mountains surrounding the lava plugs eroded over millions of years, leaving the extremely pointy, and jagged formations (plugs).  They were fascinatingly beautiful.

I still can't decide whether I like the wombats next to the echidnas or on the other side of the zoo.

Barbie at Rockhampton

A traditional Aussie meal: snags on a barbie

Today, we visited a school in Rockhampton, 650 kilometers north of Brisbane, called the Rockhampton Grammar School.  My dad will do a workshop here in the morning.  For now, we are visiting the director of boys' boarding, a teacher named Stewart Norford.  My brother and I played a little on the soccer field with some of the other children.  It was heaps of fun!  (As they say in Australia.)

Earlier this morning, we went to a beach on the Coral Sea, and it was surprisingly warm, compared to Hampton Beach!  The sand was made up of tiny seashells, with a few bigger ones mixed in.  It was amazing!

My brother and I playing 500 in the Coral Sea at the Tropic Of Capricorn