June 16 2011

This is the next installment in our aging travellers blog.  This one comes to you from Australia.  I was invited to speak by Lawrie Powell.  For those who don’t know him, he is the doyen of hepatolgists in Australia.  This time I am travelling on my own.  Not enough frequent flyer points for Irene to come with after Thailand and India. 

I arrived on Saturday in Sydney and immediately transferred to Brisbane, where I was met and taken to Coolum, a resort on the Sunshine coast (the coast north of Brisbane, as opposed to the Gold coast, which is south of Brisbane.  The resort was close to the beach, but not on the beach itself.  The meeting is an annual event for the gastroenterologists in Queensland, and they attract about 200 people.  This meeting was on cancer.  The first day was GI tract cancers and the second day cholangiocarcinoma.  HCC was the third day.  They kept me busy.  I gave a presentation on cholangiocarcinoma and then was asked to help judge the young investigators for prizes for the best work.   I thought I was going to go off after my talk, but nothing doing.  Then the next day, in addition to a talk on HCC, there were case presentations, and off course, being the visitor, I was asked to comment on everything. 

Fortunately, the meetings were in the morning only, and the first afternoon was free, allowing me to walk around the place.

I really like the lack of formality that surrounds meetings in Australia, at least those that I have been to.  Everyone was very friendly.  I had several people with varying connections to South Africa coming to speak to me.  Some had left SA as adults, some as children and some were born in Australia, but had parents or other relatives who came from South Africa.  They all wanted to know my opinion about the current political and economic state of the country, as if I should be an expert.  My connection with South Africa is quite tenuous these days, and I don’t follow what’s happening very much. 

Our meetings in Canada and elsewhere are seldom this informal.  I guess we Northern Hemisphere inhabitants are just a little (or in some cases a lot) anal.  A case of tight sphincteritis. 

After the meeting back to Brisbane, and then the next day (yesterday) I caught a flight for Cairns, and rented a car to travel the 100 km or so to the Daintree, a small village, essentially at the end of the road.  From here to go further north you have to take a ferry.  Shortly beyond the ferry the road becomes a 4-wheel drive only track. 

Irene and I were here 6 years ago.  We stayed at a delightful B & B, the Red Mill Inn, which is where I am staying now.  It’s a good jumping off point to go birding.  The village is tiny.  I doubt that there are 1000 people here, most farmers, owners of B & B’s, of which there are several, and operators of wild-life cruises on the Daintree river.  There is a general store, three restaurants (only one open at night, but last call at 7.00 pm) and a post office.  The dinner menu at the restaurant is short, and strangely enough, it’s exactly the same as the lunch menu!  Tonight is a big rugby league game (this is the form of rugby played by men in vests without sleeves, as opposed to the rugby I know, which has shirts like soccer shirts, and has different rules).  So the have a TV projector in the restaurant, and the locals are gathering to watch the game.  It’s a good way to do it.  Very social! 

I had a curry tonight.  It brought back memories.  No, not of India, but of my mother’s curry, which came as a powder in a box.  You dissolved the power in gravy and hey presto, a curry.  There were chunks of beef floating in the gravy and it was served over overcooked rice.  It tasted nothing like any curry I have had in India, nor even in an Indian restaurant.  Oh well, I was not really expecting more.  As long as it fills the void in my stomach it’s acceptable.  I can always get good food at home. 

I have spent some time birding and taking photographs.  Here are some choice ones. 

This is a pied heron

This wierd-looker is a tawny frogmouth

Yes, I know, this is not a bird, but I like the light effects!

June 16, 2011

Spent the day birding once more.  About 60-70 species all in all.  Quite good.  One of the things that I enjoy about birding is that it takes you into rural areas, forests, and other relatively unpopulated areas.  We spent a good deal of today in the rain forest, but also on the drier savannah.

I also had the opportunity to visit small Australian towns that I would not otherwise have seen.  In a way it is like visiting small towns in India or Thailand, except that the culture is more familiar, e.g., the local ladies going for their morning yoga session at the community center.  We do this in Toronto as well, so it’s not a strange culture.  Nonetheless, it is s slice of life as it is lived in rural Australia. 

The innkeepers here are fantastic.  They are so friendly.  Because we were going into the forest and might have come across rough roads they lent the guide and I their 4-wheel drive vehicle.  They also made us some lunch.  This is above and beyond what B & B owners usually do.  He used to be a pilot for Japan airlines freight, but got tired of being away from home and of spending long hours flying, mostly at night.  Now he runs a B & B.  Quite a change! 

Tomorrow I return to Sydney to catch the flight on Saturday.  So this is probably the last entry on this trip.

Here are photo’s from today. 

THis is a galah.  In some area they are as common as sparrows.  Imagine having such a beautiful bird around instead of sparrows

Yes, this too is a bird, a bush stone-curlew.  And no, I have no idea why it's called that!

More next week when I am in Taiwan and Japan