On the Road - by Bob Van Leer

Tattoo Observations July 17, 2006

DINNER CANCELLED
By Bob Van Leer

(CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico, July 17, 2006) – The steak dinner was called off. It was to be on an open sided patio and Cabo had one of its three day per year days of rain and the restaurant couldn’t handle it.

  To put it into perspective, it was such a heavy rain that it only rained on one side of the hotel. In Gold Beach it wouldn’t even be counted as a rain. We dined inside and played cards on the patio for the rest of the evening.

Johannesburg 6-3-86 Half-way around the world

By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesburg, South Africa, June 3, 1986) - Today Betty and I arrived in South Africa after a 16 hour flight from New York on a Boeing 747. The name of the continent, Africa, has always conjured up images of a wild, primitive place, the last continent to be explored by civilized man. So what are our accommodations?

Johannesburg 6-4-86 1600 Killed In Violence

By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesberg, South Africa, June 4, 1986) - Even with "jet lag" and being nine hours ahead of Gold Beach time we arose at a fairly respectable 9 a.m. and had time for a short tour of Sandton Centre which connects to our hotel, Sandton Sun (which is rated 5 star). A publicity blurb on the shopping center says, "Sandton Centre itself hosts about 250 merchants in shops which for sheer class and variety probably cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world." However, in spite of what the publicity releases say, prices in the Centre are definitely not cheap.

Johannesburg 6-5-86 Economy Basket Case

By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesburg, South Africa, June 5, 1986) - In a whirlwind tour today lasting from 8 a.m. to midnight we did some sightseeing in the South African countryside and listened to five speakers in four sessions in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa, about 20 miles from Johannesburg.

Cape Town 6-6-86 To Cape Town

By Bob Van Leer
(Cape Town, South Africa, June 6, 1986) - Today was a day of relative rest after the tight scheduling of yesterday; not a single speaker, compared to the five of yesterday. In the morning we toured Johannesburg and shopped for African curios downtown. Then we returned to our hotel, the Sandton Sun, for lunch and to pack for the flight to Cape Town.

Cape Town 6-7-86 Cape Town Viewed

By Bob Van Leer
(Cape Town, South Africa, June 7, 1986) “We spent the day touring the Cape Town area and in the evening had dinner with the highest level representative of the South African government we have talked to yet.

Plettenburg 6-10-86 Dinner With Locals

By Bob Van Leer
(Plettenburg Bay, South Africa, June 10, 1986) - Today a tour of South Africa's wine country around Stellenbosch was on the schedule but Betty and I decided to spend what time we had exploring more of downtown Cape Town. Betty found a whole store with nothing but beads and this kept her occupied for most of the time.

Durban 6-12-86 State of Emergency

By Bob Van Leer
(Durban, South Africa, June 12, 1986) - Today started with a quiet trip to Zululand but wound up with the major development of the day: a declaration of a State of Emergency by the government, roughly equivalent to declaring Martial Law in the United States. President P. W. Botha declared the State of Emergency effective at midnight last night and before dawn police swooped down and arrested activists.

Sun City, Bophuthatswana 6-13-86 Black Tribal State

By Bob Van Leer
(Sun City, Bophuthatswana, June 13, 1986) - This is one of the semi-independent black tribal states set up by South Africa as a part of its attempt to sort out racial problems. No nation besides South Africa recognizes these as independent states, considering them vassals to South Africa. But there are differences.

Sun City 6-14-86 A Luxury Resort

By Bob Van Leer
(Sun City, Bophuthatswana, June 14, 1986) - Today was a day of relaxation. The only scheduled events were lunch and a tour of the facilities. In the morning I took a tour of a game reserve near here, in Bophuthatswana national park. This was different from Wildlife Safari in Winston. These are wild animals in a preserve that extends for many miles. I never did get a figure on the size of the park.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe 6-15-86 Plume From Falls

By Bob Van Leer
(Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, June 15, 1986) - Another whirlwind day started at Sun City, Bophuthatswana, at 4:30 a.m. with a three hour bus ride back to Jan Smuts Airport at Johannesburg. Increased security was evident at the airport with more soldiers around carrying Uzi machine guns. We boarded a South African Airways flight to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls 6-16-86 Victoria Falls Thunders

By Bob Van Leer
(VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, June 16, 1986) - This was a day of sightseeing beginning with a visit to a reproduction of native structures of a number of tribes, set up for tourist viewing. After that we went on a walking tour of the focus of the trip here, the Victoria Falls.

Gold Beach, Oregon 7-2-86 Pressure May Bring Solution

By Bob Van Leer
(Gold Beach, Oregon, July 2, 1986) - Near the end of our stay in South Africa I asked our group of 15 traveling newspaper people, "Do any of you see a happy ending to this?" Nobody replied. And that about sums up South Africa today.

Long Night Flights 10/26/1993 Leave on Saturday, Arrive on Tuesday

By Bob Van Leer

(KAMPALA, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA, Oct. 26, 1993) - Betty and I arrived here today about noon after the most complicated trip we've ever had to get anywhere overseas. Uganda is a small land-locked African country south and east of Kenya. It's about the size of Oregon with a population (1989) of 17 million. The country is struggling to get back on its feet after a couple of decades of government mismanagement and civil war.

Uganda 10/27/1993 Uganda Has Lively Press But Some Like National Enquirer

Government Encouraging Foreign Investment
By Bob Van Leer

(KAMPALA, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA, Oct. 27, 1993) - Today was spent in professional activities starting with a morning meeting with the Uganda Journalists' Association and a meeting with the director of the Uganda Investment Authority in the afternoon. We finished the day with a visit to the Kasubi Tombs, burial place for the kings of Baganda, now part of Uganda. Uganda has a lively press, too lively to suit some of the government officials, and an attempt is being made to pass a law that would regulate the press. Some of the papers are lively on the order of National Enquirer at home. In the news today was a report of the second of two journalists at one newspaper being jailed after charges of "publishing and printing seditious stories". Just what these stories were, we couldn't find out.

Safari Park 10/28/1993 We Arrive At A Safari Park After A Full Day's Drive

Uganda Brides Paid For With Cattle
By Bob Van Leer

(QUEEN ELIZABETH II NATIONAL PARK, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA - Oct. 28, 1993) - We are spending the night at Mweya Safari Lodge on Lake Edward in the national park after a day's drive from Kampala. We arrived here in late afternoon at just the right time for animal viewing as we drove through the park to the lodge. The lodge is located on a high point jutting out into the lake. The border between Uganda and Zaire is just a couple of miles into the lake. Queen Elizabeth Park, also known as Ruwenzori Park, once reportedly had the distinction of carrying the largest wildlife biomass in the world due to incredible numbers of heavy-weight animals - elephants, hippos and buffalo. But much of the game was wiped out by armies in the wars in Uganda. Some of the herds have bounced back.

Wildlife 10/29/1993 Wildlife In The Thousands, What Africa Is All About

Lioness Kills Wart Hog, We Disrupt Kill
By Bob Van Leer

(MBARARA, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA, Oct. 29,1993) - Today was spent observing what Africa is famous for - wildlife. There is an incredible diversity here. We started the morning at 6:30 a.m. from the Mweya Lodge for an early morning game drive through the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Just away from the lodge we saw our first hippopotamus. We had always associated these large animals with water. But here it was on top of a ridge several hundred feet high and a mile or two from Lake Edward. Our guide, James Bakeine from Nile Safaris, said hippos can travel 60 miles from water. The park was created in 1952 and covers an area of nearly 200 square miles. It stretches from the foothills of the Rwenzori Range, Ptolemy's legendary Mountains of the Moon, about 80 kilometers southwards to the Ishasha River.

Uganda 10/30/1993 Meeting With The President Highlight Of Day's Activities

Tour Of Ranch Of Vice President
By Bob Van Leer

(ENTEBBE, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA - OCT. 30,1993) - The highlight of today's activities was a meeting with Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, at the State House, the official residence. Museveni is intelligent, articulate and educated and has what the military refers to as "command presence". This partly explains why he was able to take a force of 27 men, built it to a guerrilla force of about 20,000 and finally take over the country from the corrupt regime of Tito Okello.

Tanzania 10/31/1993 Flight To Tanzania From Uganda Crosses Equator

Tanzania Larger By Four Times
By Bob Van Leer

(ARUSHA, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA - Oct. 31, 1993) - Today we left Uganda for a short (1 hour, 15 minutes) flight from Entebbe to Arusha, Tanzania, crossing the equator again. Our flight had been scheduled to make a stop in Burundi, a small country to the west of Tanzania, but the country is in a state of anarchy and the stopover was canceled. Burundi is being torn apart by clashes between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. The Tutsi are a minority but have traditionally lorded it over the Hutus. In the country's first free election this year a Hutu was elected president. In a coup attempt last week, the president and a number of senior government officials were killed. But the coup fell apart. The remainder of the government is still holed up in the French embassy and out in the countryside the tribes are slaughtering one another to settle old scores. 

Wildlife Viewing 11/01/1993 Wildlife Viewing At National Park Highlight Of The Day

Thousands Of Animals But One Elephant
By Bob Van Leer

(LAKE MANYARA NATION-AL PARK, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA - Nov. 1, 1993) - From our room at the Lake Manyara Lodge we can look out the window and see baboons in the flower beds and way down below on the plain around the lake wild animals abound. The hotel is on the edge of the escarpment looking over the Rift Valley 1000 feet below. The valley marks where the African continent is in the process of tearing apart. The easternmost portion is separating from the bulk of the African land mass. The valley floor is so far below it is difficult to identify some of the animals even with binoculars, but I can identify a dozen giraffes.

Lions, Leopards, and Zebras 11/2/1993 Dominate Today's Game Drives

We Have Now Seen Four Of Big Five
By Bob Van Leer

(SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA - Nov. 2, 1993) - We arrived this afternoon at the Seronera Wildlife Lodge in the middle of the Serengeti National Park after a grueling 205 kilometer drive from Lake Manyara Park We came on the main road through the park, actually the only one. The quality of the road is that of a poorly-maintained logging road. Our drivers zip along the roads as if they were freeways even though the roads are washboarded most of the way. There are places where there is a dust layer of six inches or more on top of the road. This must be a lot of fun when it rains. Right now it is the end of the dry season and everything is parched. Everything in our van is covered with a layer of red dust. We climbed to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, which we will visit tomorrow, went through a forest on top of the mountain and passed the Olduvai Gorge, the site of the oldest human finds. We will also visit Olduvai later. The Serengeti is a broad, flat plain interrupted with small hills of rock called kopje, or little head. We can't see the end of the plain. The park continues north into Kenya.

Flat Tires and More 11/03/1993 Shorten Activities Of Day

Can't Walk For Help - Might Get Eaten
By Bob Van Leer

(NGORONGORO WILDLIFE LODGE, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 3, 1993) - Stranded in the Serengeti Sun may be the title of a book about this trip. The two-day trip to the Seringeti brought our caravan of three vehicles four flat tires and three mechanical breakdowns. Sylvester, our head guide, claimed this was unusual. But the drivers were quite adept at changing tires. During a game drive this morning two of our three vans broke down. Ours towed another back to the Seronera Lodge and the rest of the party doubled up in our van. We were scheduled anyway to return to the lodge for lunch. 

Ngorongoro Crater 11/4/1993 Floor is Miniature Wildlife Preserve

What Crater Lake Would Be Without Water
By Bob Van Leer

(ARUSHA, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA - Nov. 4, 1993) - A tour of the Ngorongoro crater this morning was the highlight of the day. This bowl-shaped crater is about 10 miles wide and the floor is about 5600 feet above sea level with the rim height averaging 2000 feet above this. The crater is the relic of a gargantuan volcano that collapsed into itself. This is what Crater Lake might look like without water. The crater floor is a miniature Serengeti. Most of the floor is open grassland and shallow lake and covered with a wide variety of wild animals easy to see and photograph. Generally, they don't seem at all bothered by vehicles. To them the vehicles are a zero sum - they don't bother the wildlife and they aren't good to eat. Our lodge is right on the edge of the crater rim which gives an incredible view of the crater. I could see an elephant in the small patch of forest below the lodge, the only trees in the crater. Access to the crater floor is by four-wheel-drive. For width, the roads are actually better than some of the logging roads in Curry county. But the grades are steep and there is no pavement. 

Haven of Peace 11/5/1993 Dares Salaam Fabled Port - Nmae means "Haven of Peace"

We Don't Get To See Mt. Kilimanjaro
By Bob Van Leer

(DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, NOV. 5, 1993) - This is one of the fabled ports of the world. The name translates to "Haven of Peace". It was founded by the Sultan of Zanzibar in the 19th century when Arabs held sway in East Africa. The city has now grown to a population of 1.5 million and is one of the world's major ports. The harbor is full of ocean-going and smaller vessels. We arrived here this afternoon after a 50 minute flight from Kilamanjaro Airport at Arusha. The morning was spent in meetings in Arusha. The most interesting was with Gerold Ngwenya, hunting manager of the Tanzania Wildlife Corporation, a government agency that manages the country's wildlife. Ngwenya said Tanzania has the largest wildlife population of any country in the world. He said wildlife is not managed for Tanzanians alone but is held in trust. But Tanzania needs to use animals for the benefit of the country.

Magogoni Fish Market 11/06/1993 Is An Assault of Sights and Sounds

Wedding Around Pool Draws Hundreds
By Bob Van Leer

(DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 6, 1993) - Our fifth floor room overlooks the hotel pool area which has been taken over this afternoon for an elaborate wedding. The bride has a gown with a train that must be 10 feet long. Several hundred people are at the ceremony and, out of sight under a canopy, a band is playing. The bride and groom and attendants are under a specially set up tent. The ceremony has been underway now for a couple of hours. It appears to be a Christian service with African overlays. There are dancers and ululating calls that are not what we are used to seeing and hearing at weddings. An affair of this size we should be able to read about in the local daily newspaper tomorrow. 

Zanzibar 11/07/1993 Last Bastion of the Slave Trade In Africa

Also Known As The Spice Island

By Bob Van Leer

(ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 7, 1993) - We are staying tonight in a hotel in the old Arab city of Zanzibar located on the fabled island of the same name. The history of this island reads like a chapter from The Thousand and One Nights. It has firm credentials as an exotic destination. Zanzibar was the last bastion of the African slave trade. The public slave market came to an end on June 6, 1873, but continued unofficially for some time after that. An Anglican church, the United Mission to Central Africa Cathedral, was built on the site of the slave market right after selling was stopped. Our guide said the actual sale area is the space now right in front of the altar. One guide book said nearly 50,000 slaves passed through its market every year. Under intense pressure from the British, the ruling sultan finally outlawed slavery. The market for slaves had been the Arab states.

Tanzania 11/08/1993 Tourism Is Biggest Potential For Tanzania Development

Thief Tries To Steal My Camera
By Bob Van Leer

(DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 8, 1993) - Tourism has the biggest potential for Tanzania according to Fulgence M. Kazaura, permanent secretary and secretary of the Planning Commission in the President's office. We met with Kazaura after a return trip from Zanzibar on the "fast boat". Our stay on Zanzibar was just overnight. I had my first experience with crime in Tanzania. We had been warned about "snatch and run" bandits but it is different when it actually happens to you. I had a camera in one pocket and moved it to another pocket to get out something. In the process, the camera strap was left hanging out of my pocket. I felt a tug and grabbed the camera in the pocket and at about the same time felt a snap as the strap gave way. I turned to see a man dashing between two sidewalk stalls with the strap in his hand. The camera suffered slight damage but still works. For all his efforts, the thief wound up with a broken strap. Unsettling, but on the other hand, I was whacked on the back of the head from behind in Portland just about a month ago. 

Infectious Diseases 11/09/1993 Are Main Health Problems

Tomorrow Starts Long Journey Home

By Bob Van Leer

(DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 9, 1993) - The main health problems in Tanzania are infectious diseases, problems solved generations ago in the United States. There is one noticeable exception to this, AIDS. We met today with Ministry of Health officials and the Minister for Communications and Transport. Dr. Fatma Mrisho, assistant chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, said infectious diseases, especially childhood diseases, are the principal health problems in Tanzania. She listed: malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, AIDS and cholera and said AIDS is moving up on the list. The degenerative diseases, heart and cancer, that are at the top in the U. S., didn't even make her list. These are diseases of old age and not many people here get to old age.

Nonstop Flight to Rome 5/20/1996 On Italia Airline on May 19,1996

Staying In Downtown Small Hotel
By Bob Van Leer

(ROME, Italy, May 20, 1996) - We had just got comfortably seated in an outdoor cafe under an awning when a rain hit in full force. We were at a small cafe near the Victor Emmanuel monument in downtown Rome. Our party of five arrived in Rome the day before. Betty and I were accompanied by our youngest daughter, Sally Shuey, and her husband, Dave, and their three-year-old son, Jordan.

The Roman Ruins 5/21/1996 Easy to Find

Some Of Infrastructure Still In Use
By Bob Van Leer

(ROME, Italy, May 21, 1996) - A Roman ruin is never very far away in Rome, and some of the infrastructure the Romans built is still in use more than 1500 years later. Rome is an old city, we were told 2760 years old. It has a population of about 4 million. Myself, Betty, daughter Sally Shuey and husband Dave, and their three-year-old son, Jordan, are in Italy to take a cruise. We did a little shopping and generally wandered around downtown Rome this morning. Yesterday's rain was long gone and the day was beautiful.

Boarding at Geneva 5/22/1996 We Board Ship At Genoa, Italy

Beef From Argentina, Not Britain
By Bob Van Leer

(GENOA, Italy, May 22, 1996) - Our cruise ship, Eugenio Costa, left Genoa at 5:00 p.m. today sailing south to Naples. Most of today was spent getting from Rome to Genoa to board the ship. We left our hotel, the Medici, at about 9:00 a.m. Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:35 p.m., but DaVinci airport is a long drive from downtown Rome and we didn't want to miss the plane. In decent conditions it is a half hour-45 minute drive. The flight is only about 50 minutes aboard another Al Italia jet plane. The weather was hazy, but not enough so that we couldn't get a good view of the Italian coast on the way north.

Pompeii 5/23/1996 Died of a Rain of Ash During Three Days in 79 A.D.

City Preserved At That Point In Time
By Bob Van Leer

(NAPLES, Italy, May 23, 1996) - A trip to Pompeii was the highlight of our stay in Naples. We arrived at Naples at 1:00 p.m. after an overnight trip of 336 nautical miles. Naples is a city of 1.5 million, the third largest in Italy, with another 2 million in its suburbs. It is a major port city and dates its origin to 600 B. C. Shortly after tying up to the dock (we backed in), many of us assembled for a tour of Pompeii. One bus won't do because of the multiplicity of languages.

Mt. Etna, Sicily 5/24/1996 Is Largest Active Volcano In Europe

Eruptions Expected Every Five Years
By Bob Van Leer

(CATANIA, Sicily, May 24, 1996) - Mt. Etna dominates this region not only by its height (3300 meters) but by its frequent eruptions. It is Europe's largest active volcano and eruptions are expected on the average of every five years. The last was 1992 and the volcano is always smoking. We took a tour up Mt. Etna to the 2000 meter level. The last dozen miles of the road was built through a lava slide of 1983. That eruption took out miles of road and a number of houses

A Day At Sea 5/25/1996 A Day To Layback

Cruising From Sicily To Egypt
By Bob Van Leer

(AT SEA, May 25, 1996) - Today was a day to lay back and relax. Our cruise ship, the Eugenio Costa, is plodding along at a steady 21 knots per hour on the 821 nautical mile trip from Catania, Sicily, to Alexandria, Egypt. Plotted on a map, our course is a straight line between the two cities. I expected the Mediterranean to be busier, but we haven't seen another ship since we left Catania. 

Egypt in a Day 5/26/2007 Visit to Pyramids Highlights Day

Tut's Tomb Relics At Egyptian Museum
By Bob Van Leer

(PORT SAID, Egypt, May 26, 1960 - Egypt is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and one of the most interesting to visit. We spent a whirlwind day visiting some of the highlights of the country, including the pyramids, sphinx and the wonders of Tut's tomb.

Jerusalem 5/27/1996 A Holy Site for Three of World's Religions

Election Posters Dominate Israeli Landscape
By Bob Van Leer

(ASHDOD, Israel, May 27, 1996) - Israel is having an election in two days and the countryside is blooming with election posters and plastic campaign banners. No surface is safe. Banners are strung from trees in the forests. The battle of the signs is so intense that one Israeli is charged with shooting another Israeli in the leg for putting his candidate's posters over the other fellow's posters.

Cyprus 5/28/1996 Divided by "Green Line" Separating Greeks and Turks---

United Nations Keeping Peace Since 1963
By Bob Van Leer

(LIMASSOL, Cyprus, May 28, 1996) - Cyprus is one of a number of intractable international problems. The United Nations (UN) has stationed a peacekeeping force on Cyprus since 1963 and is no closer to a permanent solution now than it was then. In a sense the UN has some success to show, the Greek and Turk communities on Cyprus are separated and not shooting at one another. But the fundamental issues between the two communities appear no closer to solution than in 1963.

Rhodes 5/29/1996 More Peaceful Place

Doesn't Have Tensions Of Cyprus
By Bob Van Leer

(RHODES, Greece, May 29, 1996) - Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands, in the Aegean Sea, and only about six miles from Turkey, but without the tensions that mar Cyprus. The population of 78,000 on the island is more than 90% Greek and no one disputes this island is part of Greece. It is considerably smaller than Cyprus and time has passed it by as being any influence in the area.

The Last Landfall 5/30/1996 Is Short Stop

Mediterranean Cruise Winding Down
By Bob Van Leer

(KYTHERA, Greece, May 30, 1996) - We made a short stop today at a tiny fishing village on a Greek Aegean island. The harbor was much too small for our ship to enter, so we anchored off shore and entered the harbor in lifeboats. here was a lump running in the ocean and getting passengers loaded in small boat was an exercise in coordination. Only one person could be loaded at a time and this with the assistance of two crew members. But nobody missed and fell.

Missing Passport 5/31/1996 Causes Anxious Moments at Airport

But Jordan's Passport Found On Bus
By Bob Van Leer

(AT SEA OFF ITALY, May 31, 1996) - Today was quiet and uneventful as we sailed back to Genoa where we left May 22. We passed through the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy for the second time. Navigation in the strait is tricky enough to require a pilot to take us through. It is not long, just a half hour to go through.

Singapore, Jan.4, 2002 Island Nation

By Bob Van Leer
  (SINGAPORE, Jan. 4, 2002) - We flew into this island nation yesterday after a 27 hour trip from Medford. We will board a cruise ship, the Crown Odyssey, here but first we have a couple of days to explore Singapore.

Bali, Indonesia, Jan. 8, 2002 Fabled Bali

By Bob Van Leer..............
(BALI, INDONESIA, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002) - Our ship dropped anchor this morning at the fabled island of Bali.

Komodo, Indonesia Jan. 9, 2002

By Bob Van Leer
(KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia, Wed. Jan. 9, 2002) - Today we went for a long hike in the woods to see the fabled Komodo dragon in his lair.
We anchored in the island harbor after an overnight run from Bali.

Darwin, Australia, Jan. 12 2002 The "Top End"

By Bob Van Leer
(DARWIN, Australia - Jan. 12, 2002) - This is the northernmost city in Australia with a population of about 90,000. The locals refer to this part of the state as "The Top End".

Cairns, Australia, Jan 17, 2002 Most Northerly

By Bob Van Leer
( CAIRNS, Australia - Thursday, Jan. 17, 2002) - After three days at sea we arrived in Cairns, a city of about 130,000 people, the most northerly city on the east coast of Australia.

Brisbane, Australia, Jan 22, 2002 Barrier Reef Is The Largest

By Bob Van Leer
(BRISBANE, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002) - The past couple of days we were exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

Sydney, Australia, Jan 23, 2002 Largest City

By Bob Van Leer
(SYDNEY, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002) - This city of 4 million people is the largest in Australia. It is more than 20% of the population of the whole country (19.1 million).

Hobart, Tasmania, Jan 28, 2002 Smallest State

By Bob Van Leer
(HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, Monday, Jan. 28, 2002) - This is the smallest of the six states (and one territory) that make up Australia. It is a triangular island off the southeast coast of the mainland.

Milford Sound, N.Z. Jan. 31, 2002 Milford Sound is Breathtaking

By Bob Van Leer
(MILFORD SOUND, New Zealand, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2001) - Early this morning we entered the majestic Milford Sound, a glacier-carved fiord on the southwest coast of South Island, New Zealand.

Tauranga, N.Z. Jan. 31, 2002 Little Yellowstone

By Bob Van Leer
(TAURANGA, New Zealand, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2002) - In the past several days, we visited three small New Zealand cities and the capital of the country, Wellington.