Guess where? The sign says it all. Welcome to the charming village of Pinhão on the banks of the Douro River where a few of our gang (Ben, Stephen, Larry and Robin) posed for the camera (well, the iPhone) after our coach journey from Porto this morning (Sunday, September 18).
This is what they were looking at:
The harvest may be over but the vineyards still look magnificent in the sunlight (got up to 31 deg here today). Our artists, joined by Ben, got to work straight away and why wouldn’t they?
Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed a two hour cruise along the Douro to admire the views before checking into Vintage House.
And then on to dinner under the stars before bedtime. A full day of painting (and perhaps a bit of wine tasting) tomorrow.
Another beautiful sunny day in the busy city of Porto. And a day spent painting by the Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia for some:
Tasting some port wine for others:
Taking a ferry across the river:
Or whisking up high on a cable car:
Or — sadly and frustratingly — cabbing it to the airport (twice) to retrieve suitcases that had not accompanied seven passengers between Lisbon and Porto. Two suitcases remain missing and TAP and Groundforce have not been helpful — the lost baggage guy doesn’t even know where Pinhão is (our next destination tomorrow)!
Meanwhile back at art central, Ev gave an afternoon demo and our talented troop produced some fantastic watercolour art of the old Rabelo-style boats on the Douro.
So it’s adeus to Porto and upriver to the vineyards tomorrow. Have to leave you with one final view of the city taken from a new tourist destination called WOW (World of Wine) in a magnificent complex in Vila Nova de Gaia.
I know it says day 2, but really this was the first full day for our talented group of watercolour artists to get into action and the group of 10 spent several hours this morning and afternoon around Porto University producing some lovely work.
Little did we realise though that this is Orientation Week for the university students — first week back at college after the summer — so in the afternoon, our artists were competing for attention from hundreds of very happy (too much vinho, perhaps?) singing and carousing young black-robed future scientists (photographs strictly verboten).
Not that it stopped them from creating more masterpieces:
Meanwhile, the non-painting group explored Porto on a 5km stroll up and down tiny alley ways, dodging tourists (where have they all come from? — I’ve never seen Portugal so full!) and tuk-tuks to see some of the sights of this very pretty city.
The azulejos (blue and white painted tiles) are amazing; the photo immediately above is from the São Bento railway station.
Everyone was on their own for dinner tonight but unfortunately for 7 of our group, the time was spent trying to chase lost luggage. Emirates has not covered themselves in glory this trip — appalling customer “service”. The luggage apparently is now in Portugal but not yet reunited with its owners.
While I’m on a whinge, what is it with restaurants and their menus only available via a QR code? It rather destroys the ambience to have six people all staring at their mobile phones trying to decipher the unreadable menus! Covid is not an excuse!
Down by the riverside tomorrow (the Douro that is). Maybe a chance for the non-painters to do some more port wine tasting? Yes?
After 24 months, here we are in beautiful Porto for the start of the long-delayed Artists Tour of Portugal and Morocco.
How else to begin in Porto other than a tour of a port wine cave across the Douro River in Vila Nova de Gaia. Sixteen of us travelled in our trusty coach (a somewhat scary start when the driver stalled three times) to Taylor’s Wine Lodge for a history lesson on their 400 years of Douro wine making.
Followed by a tasting of a dry white port and an LVB on the terrace overlooking the Douro with stunning views across to the lights of Porto.
Then a wonderful dinner at Barão de Fladgate (with more wine and port) before the dodgy driver took us back to Infante de Sagres Hotel at 10.30 pm.
Tomorrow (Friday 16th) the serious stuff begins with painting around the Carmelitas Church, which Pam and Ev checked out this morning.
Just one week before the group of 18 assembles in Porto for the start of the twice-delayed Artists Tour in Portugal and Morocco. We kick off in the evening of Thursday, September 15. Watch out for daily (mostly) blogs on our tour.
And so the cruise ends. What a fantastic 10 days on Silver Discoverer covering a total of 1528 nautical miles. Highly recommended.
We farewelled our new friends and our friendly crew. The other passengers were mainly Australian — all states except South Australia and quite a few from Melbourne. The crew represented 27 different countries, but were mostly from the Philippines and were truly wonderful. The ship is registered in the Bahamas but the officers are mostly Italian as is the Silversea company.
A chartered bus took us to Cable Beach Resort for a day by the pool, cocktails by the beach to watch the famed sunset across the ocean, and then a fabulous Japanese meal at the small resort restaurant Zensai. An aside here: Trip Advisor, never to be totally relied on, translates 前菜 as “small dainty things” — well, maybe at a stretch, but it more accurately translates as appetiser. And our five courses could almost be described as Japanese tapas.
Sensational! Not the cheapest meal we’ve had but one of the best and a must if you have paid out good dollars for the resort, what’s a few extra to savour these delights? It would be criminal not to book a table. Zensai is owned by a Tasmanian couple who relocated to Broome about seven years ago. The chef is Japanese. Only downside was Mr Grumpy the owner but fortunately we were served by his wife who is bubbly, enthusiastic and quite delightful.
Earlier, we were intrigued by this signpost. Closer here to Singapore than to Melbourne and surprisingly not that far from Tokyo.
Back to Melbourne tomorrow, May 6. And so ends the Kimberley blog.
The last full day of our amazing Kimberley cruise. We skipped an early morning (6 am departure!) zodiac trip to see more rock formations in favour of a sleep in before our exciting fast boat tour to experience the horizontal falls.
As the tour brochure says, this is one of the icons of the Kimberley coast. The falls are a pair of stunning breaks in the McLarty Range, about 300 metres apart. The sandstone, shale and dolomite range is 1.8 billion years old! The first of the gaps is about 25 metres wide and the second and more spectacular gap is just 12.5 metres.
With massive tidal differences of up to 10.8 metres, the horizontal falls — technically termed “pinch rapids” — are a natural phenomenon created as seawater builds up faster on one side of the gaps than the other, creating a waterfall up to 5 metres high on a king tide. With each change of tide, the direction of the fall reverses, creating vast tidal whirlpools on the outgoing side.
The ship sailed for Broome at lunch time and we had the most relaxing afternoon around the pool, cocktails while watching the sunset, and a great dinner with some of our new friends from the cruise.
It was also a chance to farewell our wonderful Expedition crew.
It keeps getting better! Today was definitely one to remember — a real OMG experience.
First though was the morning expedition to see examples of Wandjina rock art at Raft Point in Talbot Bay. This is quite different in style to the Gwion Gwion art we saw a couple of days ago and “conforms” more closely with photos we’d seen before of Indigenous painting.
It was quite a strenuous walk up a rocky path to reach the gallery but well worth the effort (and good exercise, too, after all the food we’ve been devouring). Pam decided to stay on the Silver Discoverer, which was a wise move.
Neil, a representative of the traditional owners, was on hand to welcome us to country and explain the meaning of the art (the origin of life). You can see from my pic above that some of the art has been retouched — this was done about 8 years ago — and while it may sound pity for this to happen, it is something that has been done every now and then over millennia.
Neil, second from right, explaining the art. Great bloke — avid Bombers supporter!
During lunch the ship relocated to where we were embarked in convoy on the six zodiacs for a trip to Montgomery Reef — the 8th natural wonder of the world, according to David Attenborough. Covering an area of 400 square kilometres and about 80 km long, the reef is subject to unusual tidal movements of up to 10 metres.
When the tide is out, vast lagoons, sandstone islets and a central mangrove island are revealed. The outward movement of the tide forms a torrent of water, creating a river cutting through the reef and hundreds of cascading waterfalls.
The lagoon in the middle of the reef can’t be seen from the river, which is where our zodiacs took us, but it is never completely emptied by the outgoing tide. Migratory birds have a feast as the receding water reveals a mass of small fish and little crabs. Turtles were everywhere but they just pop their heads above the water for a few seconds and are impossible to photograph. Black tipped reef sharks and dugongs live here too but we didn’t see them.
My photography can’t truly do justice to this natural phenomenon but take it from me, we were all just gobsmacked at this previously unknown world wonder. A real highlight of the 10 day cruise.
A fantastic day — rivers, bird life, crocodiles, mangroves, helicopters, waterfalls. And all before lunch (which was at 3.30 pm).
We started early in our zodiacs for a cruise down the Hunter River and Porosus Creek, aptly named for the saltwater crocodile species that inhabits the area.
Only a baby — about 2 metres long — but exciting to see it up close and personal. Less threatening was the bird life:
It truly was a wonderful way to spend the early hours of the morning, puttering up the creek in among the mangroves. Very peaceful. We killed the motors on the zodiacs and spent time just listening to the sounds of the environment. Magic.
Back to the Silver Discovererbriefly before heading back by zodiac to a nearby sandy beach for a helicopter ride to the Mitchell Falls. A somewhat scary 25 minute ride as the passenger section of the helicopter has no doors. Great for sightseeing but you need to be securely strapped in!
This is the Porosus Creek from the helicopter. The haze is from purposeful back burning in the area. Here’s another shot of waterfalls taken by hanging out the door of the helicopter!
We landed near the Mitchell Falls and spent an hour photographing and admiring the stunning views:
Back to our ship for a very late lunch, a snooze, the daily informative lecture from the Expedition team, cocktails, dinner, wine, music from our resident Filipino pianist and finally bed.
Today was mainly about art. Our trusty ship cruised into Vansittart Bay overnight (yes, I know, these place names are ones I’d never heard of before either).
This morning we were transferred by zodiacs to Jar Island for a hike up the hill to view the mysterious Gwion Gwion rock paintings. They are often referred to as the Bradshaw paintings because they were first discovered (by non-Indigenous Australians) by Joseph Bradshaw in 1891, when he stumbled upon them while lost on a Kimberley exploration.
There is some controversy about their origins although experts believe them to be at least 17,000 years old! Some scholars believe they were made by visitors from the near north, when the Australian continent was joined by a land bridge to New Guinea and present day Indonesia.
The elongated hands and fingers of these paintings evoke similarities to art forms found more commonly in those countries, but who knows?
I had to lie on a rock and point my camera up to get this fish painting, which is one of the best preserved as it is totally protected from sunlight. Amazing stuff! Remember, this was done more than 10,000 years before the pyramids!
Pam at the Gwion Gwion gallery with one of the expedition leaders, Greg (the crocodile expert from North Queensland).
