Nov 11, Ayers Rock Australia

Ayers Rock

A couple more comments about the experts that are traveling along with us on the trip; I’ve mentioned that on each leg of the flight we have a lecture related to the location we are heading towards. It really helps give us the background and understanding of the locations. Our third expert is David Aguilar, who is the Director of Programs at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. David is a great lecture; full of expression and vitality wish I had a lecture like him back in collage. David has also done some constellation viewing with us at night and in the early morning.

Sun Downers at Ayers Rock

After the comment about the stars I have to interject my star comments at this point. The stars and constellations in the Southern Hemisphere are just so much more brilliant than what we witness in the Northern Hemisphere. I guess I have to mention that the stars seen in this half of the world are not the same as what we see in the Northern half. Linda and I experienced this in Africa, it’s really different and quite beautiful.

On to Australia, the smallest of the world’s continents. After clearing customs in Brisbane fly on into the central area near Ayers Rock. This area is called the outback, and it’s outback for sure. Hot and arid common temperature is 100F with many days above that. The landscape is flat and desert, flat that is except for several huge monoliths. Ayers Rock, or Uluru as the aborigines call it, is a sandstone formation that stands 1,142 ft tall and has a perimeter of 5.8 miles. The other nearby rock formation are the Olgas, a series of rock formations that are several humps. Against the sunrise and sunset these formations take on beautiful color variations.

Face nets for flies in the Outback at Olgas

Technology, I have to say something more about the obvious things that strike me. Toilets, simple aren’t they? With so much about water conversation this is an idea you would think would go viral. Every toilet I saw in Australia had two strengths of flush. The operator was in the top of the tank and was about 2” round with two halves that were independent. One you pushed for half a flush and the other for a full strength flush, doesn’t that make sense?  

Nov 7, 8 Easter Island

Model?

A few facts I didn’t know about Easter Island. First, Easter Island is the most remote island in the world. It’s airport is a little over five hours from the next closest commercial airport. What that means, and I’m not sure I can explain this correctly, but planes can’t depart for Easter Island until they are cleared by the Easter Island airport. What this means is as a plane is cleared for approach to Easter Island the airport runway can’t be used by any other aircraft, because an aircraft approaching may not be able to turn around or reach the next airport in the event of a runway closing. So this severely limits the number of flights coming to the Island each day. Second, as we approached the Island I saw this magnificent 11,000 foot runway and marveled how an Island the size of Easter Island could have such a long runway. Didn’t know this was a backup landing strip for the Shuttle program, fortunately it was never needed, so in some ways my tax dollars at work.

Alternate Landing site Shuttle

Again I can’t say it enough that this blog is not meant to be an encyclopedia, but more the things that strike me and I think that might be of interest to others. The thing I first think of are the Moai, the carved stone torsos you see so many pictures of. There were many tribes on the island, and each tribe would erect a Moai of their Chief. It has been documented there were 887 of these on the island. All were “thrown down” by the waring groups towards the end of the 1800’s. It is believed they were erected from 1100CE to 1680 CE. The recent photos are of Moai that have been restored in the 1990’s.

Interesting is the quarry, the volcanic rock was rough carved and separated from the cliff face and then slid down into a hole and half buried, then was carved and once finished on top dug our and finished on the bottom. Also interesting is all the conjecture on how they moved them to the final place. Some of you may have seen the new National Geographic video of them walking the Moai, this theory is laughed at by the two Archaeologists we had that lead the tours. These two gentlemen have been working on the island for 40 and 55 years respectively.

Moai under construction in the quarry

Another interesting area of the island is Rano Kau, a 1,063 foot tall extinct volcano at the southern tip of the island. We hiked up to get this shot from the rim and as we approached the island our 757 jet flew CW and CCW  around the island so all the passengers could get a good look at the island from 1,700 feet. Nice when you’re on a charter.

Later that evening we were entertained by a young group of dancers trying to maintain the traditional Island dances but interweave some more modern music and steps. After the presentation was finished the dancers invited us Gringos up to dance with them, well of course I did, it was fun. 









Click the play button on the video below to see the group dancing 1 minute