Last evening after I posted yesterday’s blog, several of us took an Uber to a pub that advertised Irish music 7 days a week…..@7:30, for dinner as well. Food was great but music was “Guns and Roses” at 9 pm. Disappointed we all were.

Our guide today is Alan

Price of housing is so costly “because they quit building public housing 30 years ago so now there aren’t enough homes and no one to build them”….. sounds familiar. 

Times have changed in Ireland. Used to be that once a woman married she had to quit working. It took till 2010- that you were allowed to ask a doctor for condoms. Then in 2015- same-sex marriages were legally allowed by “a vote” …. the first in Europe.

1980-18%(so govt said)-60% (otherwise thought) was the unemployment rate. In 2025 there was only 4% unemployment. 

In 1996-3rd level education became free… so now there are no “trades”. 

Dublin is main headquarters for all tech companies in Europe. Apple paid 13 B tax in ‘24. 

Kilmaingam Gaol… housed political prisoners from rebellions for independence…including execution of 14 leaders of 1916 Easter Uprising.

Stopped at Kilbeggan-the oldest whiskey distillery in Ireland, for bathroom break & coffee/tea. Walking back to the bus we were hit with hail.

Athlone… army base, has a connection with Palestinians. The city was founded by Vikings because of the River Shannon connection. Stopping at Sean’s Bar, the oldest bar in world is in Athlone. 

“Timmy”… tells us about Athlone and Sean’s Bar. It’s been around since 900 AD.  Walls from the building from the 1700’s were made with woven wicker & horse hair (wattle).  There is a patch on the wall but rest is in national museum. The floor is sloped toward the river because it provides a drain toward the river Shannon when it floods. The tidal estuary is 102 kms long but the river is 360 kms long. Most towns are built around a castle but here in Athlone, the pub was built first in 900 AD …. The oldest established bar in the world. Named Luain’s Inn originally, renamed Sean’s in 1954(?)

Athlone had first stagecoach in Ireland. 

“Timmy”…(I think he was a bartender owner of Sean’s Bar) was writing a manuscript the “old” way…. by hand” using info gleaned back and forth, from the museum in Dublin ….  19 years in the making …. for a book, a history channel and Netflix documentary …..was cancelled because his dogs ate his manuscript. He’s working on it again.

Monks turned perfumes from Spain into whiskey. Aquivit (water of life) made from whiskey, Vikings started in Ireland.  Irish monks were the biggest bootleggers in the work. Whish-kababa, (from the original town’s name Ishikeran… not sure if that the exact name…. Became “whiskey” after 12-13 drinks.

It used to be that 8-14 pints of beer were the rations/day in the army.

“Blind drunk” comes from ….”first take off the barrel is pure Ethel alcohol must not be drunk because it will cause blindness. “Hungover” comes from the drunks being draped over a boom til they sobered up. 

Irish whiskey must be aged 3 years plus 1 day…. So that it is older than Scotch whiskey which is aged 3 years. 

Galway…. Is a university city. We walked over the “raging” River Corrib on a pedestrian bridge, then walked alongside to the harbour. There is the lovely old pedestrian street “Shop Street”with shops and pubs, of course….. and Lynch’s Castle from the 15/16th century. Then back across to the cathedral. Along the way were a bunch of teens from a private school celebrating a pre-grad…. all dressed up but some were “pissed to the gills”. They did not impress our guide.

I’m tired and want to go to bed so there maybe some errors… sorry

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel. We are to do a walking tour of Dublin today according to the itinerary.

We start pretty much from St Mary’s church.

Apparently at the museum, there is a fish trap that they have found, proving Ireland has been inhabited for 7000 years. Our guide also shows us a picture of a tomb with a roof-box proving the Irish knew for 5200 years, how to tell the seasons.

There have been over 600 uprisings over the years in attempt to gain independence. At the courthouse, part of a wall has different colour bricks. In 1976…IRA bombed it. That’s the patch up. 

1170…. Normans arrived in Ireland 

Guinness brewery has been around since 1759 

Adam and Eve’s is the Church with dome. It was originally held in a tavern with masses held secretly because during 17 century religion was not allowed. 

Liffey River….was originally 6 times as wide as it is now. When the Vikings came, the Poddle River converged with the Liffey river where a culvert is seen.  Apparently there is a statue of 2 women with shopping bags talking to each other. It is referred to as “The hags with the bags” sculpture. It’s referring to “gossiping” that Irish are famous for…. lol!!!

Temple’s Bar is not because there are lots of bars but because of when the river was much wider, a sand bar was built to Sir William Temple’s big fancy house. It is I n the left bank of Dublin… a bohemian and artist section. 

Large Viking settlement now is covered by city hall. The Vikings traded in gold and silver … and slaves (the most valuable were monks) … Vikings were not literate but monks wrote their info. 

 In the area of the fish market we are told about Molly Malone, who was a fish monger that sold her body at night…..Red light district….. hence “the tart with a cart”. Near here apparently Handel … wrote “The Messiah” of which was performed in 1742. 

Christchurch Cathedral-built in 1040. It is inside the walls of Dublin. Normans built it. They were stone builders. 12th century Saint and archbishop Lawrence O’Toole’s heart was kept inside the cathedral. Thieves stole his heart from the cathedral in 2012 but it was recovered 6 years later. 

50,000 Irish were killed during WW1  and commemorated at a peace garden

Guinness family built accommodations, at reduced rate for poor people, men’s hostel, are all these red brick buildings …. near St. Patrick’s church. They are near the employment exchange turned city hall 

Cost of 2 bedroom apartments in Dublin, are 600-700,000 Euros. Yikes….. more than ours!

St Patrick’s …. National church of Ireland but is Protestant …  is outside walls of Dublin. 

There was a huge storm (hurricane)in Ireland in 1839.  In 

1909 when British national pension started, to qualify, question was if  you were born at time of big storm. 

Walls of Dublin-Dublin Castle, the seat of British rule for over 700 years.  Lots of work is being done on it because from July-Dec,  Ireland will hold EU presidency here. 

-1740/41- was the potato famine. 

Blue is colour of Ireland not green as one would imagine. 

In 2011… Queen Elizabeth came and laid a wreath… was very significant. 

Trinity college for boys from age 15. No girls were allowed until 1969.   Book of Kells has survived for over 1200 years, is at Trinity College. We didn’t see it. Maybe when we come back…. 

OMG it rain while we were out on our tour. One of the reason I think there are so many pubs, maybe that, the Irish had to get out of the rain somewhere… lol!

Yesterday I sent out a short blurb saying that we would be going. And then someone pointed out that I dated April 21….. not March! Oops!

We caught the bus on Royal Oak Drive that would take us to the ferry and then on to the Vancouver airport. As the bus driver parked it, he said that the ferry that we were to catch was not going … mechanical issues and that they were sending another. I am certainly glad that there originally was to be 3.5 hours between arrival at the airport and the plane’s departure time. Everything fell into place….. no waiting around but not rushing either …. yeah!

March 23/26-Our first stop is Reykjavik. Guess what? It was snowing….not surprising since it is Iceland. The plane was delayed in leaving because it had to be de-iced. That’s a first for me.

We were met at the airport by a fellow from Exoticca Tours named John Fearghail and then a driver took us to our nice hotel in Dublin. We did not do anything for the rest of the day ….just napped.

I thought I could do all of Sydney in one go but ….. so here goes the final.

The 12th was wet and windy… not so nice but we took a catamaran “Captain Cook Cruise” around all the massive numbers of bays that make up Sydney Harbour. Our first of 2 times we got off is Watsons Bay. Smallish settlement with lovely waterfront homes. What a surprise when you walk up and over the hill….

Next stop that we got off at… Manley

Thanks for coming along on my journey…. Gail

This post will basically be just pictures of the city.

The first group are of our entry into the harbour. It meant if we wanted to see the grand entrance and welcome by a water-spraying fireboat, we had to be up at 5 am.

Next, a walk later on the 10th, around the neighbourhood called The Rocks…. Predominately George Street. It was first inhabited by sailors and convicts in the early 1800’s.

Next day we walked and walked…. Along the waterfront by the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair& Road.

I just took the shuttle into the city and walked around exploring the area on either side of the river. It was a lovely day with sunshine and not hot temps. I put on a good number of steps on my journey. That whole area has extremely wide pedestrian walks (along with bicycle riders. Unlike at home, the bicyclists are not racing past you). Along these walks are so, so many restaurants with very few shops. It’s a Sunday (I don’t know if that’s the reason) but there were huge number of pedestrians.

On the river I see many racing skulls with their instructor following behind, a helipad and black swans.

These are just miscellaneous pictures taken at sea level.

And then I went up the Skywalk….what a view!

And the return to port.

As we are sitting down to dinner leaving Port Phillip, the ship cranks hard and I, along with a good number of others, are wondering what the captain is trying avoid hitting (as another ship was not paying attention on a previous trip to Asia). We could not see another ship only churning wake. When look at the map of the are, we understand the tight turn the captain needed to make.

Dec 8/25-Burnie, Tasmania

Another terribly rocky night on the seas last night and not any better when we got to Burnie. Even with pier facilities & 2 tugs pushing, it was impossible to dock and so…. Back out to sea we go. Disappoint that another port was missed.

Unfortunately the seas were not cooperative to take the tenders into shore. They tried but I watched from the cabin as they bobbed around like corks. Not a good idea. I’m disappointed to have missed it but … nothing you can do about it.

Dec 5/25-Adelaide, SA-Cleland Wildlife Park and Mt Lofty 

It is 45 minutes to Adelaide by train from Port Adelaide. Port River is home to  bottlenose dolphins. 

All vehicles here are imported now. They no longer are into the production of vehicles. Adelaide  now is going into the production of nuclear powered submarines for US and UK…. Plus for their own navy . It is also a training centre for that product with 20,000 workers at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. 

In 1834, Adelaide, SA became a free state of English settlers (not convicts like a lot of the other states) and German Lutherans that were persecuted in their home country. It has a population of 1.8 m. Driest part of a dry state. Up to 40 degrees in summer but not the  humidity of the east coast cities. Originally it was named Port Misery because of swamps with lots of mosquitoes. Clippership Adelaide. Oldest original in world …brought 250,000 passengers to Australia. Being refurbished after being sunk in Scotland. 

1870-80’s Merino wool factories. 

Flinders circumnavigated Australia in 1801. … gave Australia its name. 

The city is completely surrounded by parklands. The north is residential, south is commercial. With the border streets are named south, east, north and west terrace. There are very large gum trees but sometimes they drop big branches when under stress from drought which has been happening.  

Free trams run throughout  the city but part the the tracks under construction presently so they only goe part way then bus continues to the port. 

SA was the first state to give women the right to vote. 

51 hectares botanical gardens.

There are no toll roads in South Australia. Adelaide Hills is a wine area. 

We will have 2 hours to look around Cleland Wildlife Park. The area is prone to bush fires. 42 years ago all was lost and had to be rebuilt.  28 people lost their lives. 

Koalas sleep between 18 to 20 hours per day. Koalas intermittently eat, sleep and groom throughout the day. Their diet consisting of eucalyptus leaves is low in both nutrition and energy. Sleeping on and off throughout the day is a strategy for conserving energy. There is a common misconception that koalas get ‘drugged out’ or “high’ on eucalyptus leaves and that’s why they sleep so much. This is incorrect. Koalas are adapted to digest and excrete the toxins in the leaves and sleep a lot due to their high fibre yet low nutrition diet.

The emu is Australia’s largest, flightless bird standing up to two metres tall.

Displaying dedication and determination, the male emu assumes the responsibility for raising the next generation. Rarely leaving the nest even to eat, he spends eight weeks sitting on the eggs and tends the chicks for up to 18 months.

Yellow-footed rock-wallabies have thickly padded and textured hind feet with a flexible middle toe that enable them to grip, balance, and spring off steep and uneven surfaces. Due to its bright and distinctive coat, the yellow-footed rock-wallaby was hunted to near extinction. With the introduction of recovery programs the yellow-footed rock-wallaby population has recovered from the brink of extinction. Did you know? A yellow-footed rock-wallaby can jump up to 4 metres between rocks.

Echidnas have existed throughout most of Australia for around 80 million years. Easily recognisable, with bodies covered in long sharp spines, echidnas feed on ants and termites by flicking them into a toothless mouth with a long sticky tongue.

Echidnas have been referred to as living fossils, representatives of the egg-laying mammals known as nonolenes. A single soft shelled egg is laid directly into the belly pouch the female. The hatchling sucks milk exuded from numerous pores surrounding the mammary glands and remains in the pouch until hatching

Kangaroo and emu are on coat of arms because they are different…..they cannot walk backwards.  

2800AUD per night starting for Sequoia Lodge at Mt Lofty

1100 species in the park. 

Mt Lofty named by Flinders…. Seen from Kangaroo Island, is 710 metres above sea level 

Did you know that pandas breeding window is only for 48-72 hours …once a year. 

The areas sandy beaches have a gentle slope, but have been destroyed by an algae bloom that killed all the fish and coral. 

We did not have an excursion, just walked around the town. These are miscellaneous pictures of the really quite old town

Wonderful freeways, beautiful homes along the way, boats in the bay, clean…. no garbage, lots of Jacaranda trees …..  gorgeous. Great first impression. 

I got an Uber into the meetup point. My driver was a fellow, Joseph, transplanted from South Sudan. His English was really very good. Apparently English is an official language there…. who knew!  He said that the war there is not the worst of it but it is the corruption that is depleting the resources for South Sudanese people. 

The area for the pickup appears to have a few homeless…. not at all like Pandora Street in Victoria though. One very nice feature here is that there is free wifi on the street. I’ll need it to book my Uber back to the ship.

Guide today is Caspar. There are only 8 of us. Perth is the most isolated city in the world. 

Western Australia has been inhabited for 65,000 years by aboriginals. They have 14 languages. Place names ending with “up” are aboriginal …. meaning “place of”. 

Dutch came in 1600 ‘s… searching for Dutch East Indies ….named the Black Swan River after they found the black swans native only to Australia.  They are found in fresh and brackish wetlands along with turtles. 

Apparently the locals burn the land to improve the following year’s crops. 

We stopped at Lavender Estate farm for coffee and wonderful scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam…. yum !! The lavender has not really started to grow for the season. Then another 1.5 hour drive to the beach. 

Melaleuca trees also known as bottle brush. Pine trees & carrots grow in dry climate. Cockatoos eat the pine trees. Draecenas growing wild. We passed through area of controlled fire but only the Australian “Xmas” trees survived. Another controlled burn area burned 70,000 hectares. It started after a prolonged drought, from lightning and winds up to 100kms hour that caused it to jump the road … was no longer under control.  I believe we were told that for each dead one …5 will grow.  We passed by the town of Lancelin, a top secret defence military base. It is on the coastline. The area recently lost 20 metres of coastline with a lookout tower collapsing . The area is protected…. For plants and animals… and watching stars. Owls, no bright lights are allowed to protect animals. Many endemic species not seen anywhere else in the world. 

Came across cars stopping on road in the middle of nowhere…. A guy in the middle of the road trying to get someone to stop. Scary …. thought he was high or crazy but then we a car in the bushes. He probably had an accident and was trying to get help. We could not stop. Others did. 

Orange coloured “Christmas” (fouchar) trees…. Are parasitical… over take everything around them. They only grow in Western Australia. Eucalyptus tree are bigger than the orange trees here but not east of here in the desert.

Whales are now protected as in Canada.

20,000years ago water was 130 metres under water 

Right side of the road there is no vegetation… blowing sand moves 5-10 metres in north-easterly direction every year.

Lobster Shack stop. Lobsters were over fished in early 2000’s. Now they have returned and fishing has resumed but you have to release all females if you catch any. $400,000,000/year are exported now. Cervantes, the town where the Lobster Shack is, is a tribute to the writer. Some of us had lobster roll and chips for 36 AUD at Lobster Shack …. A licence to print money. 57 for 1/2 lobster. 

Leaving there was a sign…. Lake Thetis, Namburg park (we have a Thetis Lake at home). Here they have the oldest fossils in world…3 billion years old. There was evidence of kangaroos around and yes we got to see 2, a male and a female. 

There are 50,000,000 Kangaroos in Australia, 2x human population. Females can look after 3 babies at a time…. One youngster, a Joey in the pouch and one envetro.

Namburg Pinnacles National park north of Perth, is what we have all come to see. Scientists don’t know exactly what or how these have come to be. One of the best explanations is limestone formations that rose from the desert after the sea receded, leaving behind deposits of seashell fragments. Over the past 100,000 years, rainfall has dissolved and redeposited this calcium carbonate, cementing the sand and eventually leading to the unique pillar shapes. Some thought us that there were trees that grew there and that as the water receded they sucked the calcium and lime and with the sun and sand, fossilized them. Some do look very much like petrified trees.