Taking the Long Way Home

the glorious Grampians

a selfer with the sky and rocks

After Adelaide, we drove east towards the Grampians, a national park in Victoria about 250 kms west of Melbourne. According to wikipedia, the Grampians Park was listed on the National Heritage List in December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty, and also for being one of the "richest Indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern Australia." Not wanting to miss that superlative, we set off- looking forward to spotting some Aussie wildlife in the wild, hiking, and getting into the Christmas spirit. Grampians did not disappoint. We stayed in a great cabin in the town of Halls Gap- it was the first proper cabin we'd stayed in, with all the comforts of home (including a fireplace, spotless kitchen, cozy den, and two bedrooms with clean, soft duvets.) The bonus? Kangaroo watching every evening and morning on our porch:

coffee?

beautiful bird in front of our cabin- Australia doesn't do boring, brown birds

approaching the Grampians

kangaroo crossing!

gorgeous vista in the Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia

baby Chritmas tree at our cabin in Halls Gap

We decided to do a day-hike:

funky rock formations

look-out at the "top" of the hike

rock scramble!

We also took a drive to check out some of the Aboriginal rock art for which the Grampians is especially famous...

Aboriginal handprints in the rock- thousands of years old

more rock art- see the white figures? they look like stick people...

After a few days in the Grampians we were ready to hit the Great Ocean Road, and celebrate Christmas for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.

A little more publicity! The UN Foundation just posted the webcast interview they did of us back in August 2008 discussing responsible travel off of the beaten track and the implementation of a music program that we worked on in Ben Tre, Vietnam. You can watch the video on the UN Foundation website, at the link below:

http://www.unfoundation.org/blog-multimedia/videocasts/traveling-responsibly-off-the.html

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So, subsequent to our year-long travels (even though we are still in the midst of finishing our blog and on the road in cyber-world,) we returned to Washington, D.C. and ended up getting the opportunity to publish a short piece on sustainable travel for the U.N. Foundation Friend's of World Heritage website and newsletter. If you're interested, you can check it out here:

http://www.friendsofworldheritage.org/stories/laos-meg-catt-oh.html

Cultural and environmental sustainability in travel practices is an issue that is near and dear to our hearts and one that we care deeply about. One of the reasons why we selected to write about the ecotourism operation Green Discovery Laos is because they have been such pioneers in introducing sustainable practices into the burgeoning Lao tourism market. We have randomly discovered that they have also featured our article on their website... with a little picture in the bottom, right-hand corner. Check it out!

http://greendiscoverylaos.com/

You can also read about treks like the one we did in the Nam Ha Protected Area (Nam Ha PA) in northern Lao here:
http://www.greendiscoverylaos.com/trekking/nt.html

Also, to read more about sustainable tourism and the greater-encompassing philosophy of geotourism on Nat Geo's website, check this out:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/about_geotourism.html

Happy travels!

We flew from Cairns in Queensland to Adelaide in South Australia on December 12th. The flight crosses over some remarkably red, vast and arid land on the trip down. Although we didn't get a chance to travel much into the Australian Outback on this trip, we were nevertheless eager to see it from the air.

Once we arrived in Adelaide, we went through the stress that is trying to get a rented car to take in one direction, a week before Christmas. Somehow we managed, and the four of us piled into a compact, bound for Adelaide Shores campervan park. At the park we rented a cabin- pretty snug, but comfortable enough for four adults. The park has access to a pretty nice beach- though the water was COLD... and instead of stingers, we now had sharks to contend with. But I'd take it all for a frontyard like this...

the beach at Adelaide Shores caravan park

Soaking up the sun in South Australia

very cool sunset over the great southern ocean- or indian ocean- depending who you ask

Megan decided to apply to grad school while in Adelaide, which was no easy feat given our general lack of a computer, local phone, fax machine, internet access, or printer. Several days spent at the Adelaide public library ensued- including some pretty frantic essay editing, as computers at the library are limited to a one hour only time limit. While taking care of this, Linda and Chuck saw the sights of downtown Adelaide... and Catt managed to catch some good boomerang pics at the South Australian Museum:

boomerangs galore!

While in Adelaide, we decided to hit up the Barossa Valley, a famous wine region known internationally for its shiraz- though packs a pretty good punch with its cabs, grenache and semillon, as well.

Wine tasting in Australia is awesome. I've tasted in Europe a bit, and several spots in the U.S. and I can say without reservation that the Australian experience is definitely superior. Sure, the wines elsewhere in the world are equally diverse, tasty, and surprising, but it's the laid-back friendliness and TOTAL lack of pretension that makes Aussie tasting rooms so pleasurable.

Catt navigating the vino trail

Yaldara Estates, Barossa Valley, South Australia

at Peter Lehmann's

some lunch with that wine?

Lunch in the Barossa Valley

After a few days in South Australia we were ready to move east- and on to the Grampians National Park!