2025 – Australia

Sadly, the end of our trip is in sight. We sweated through the heat and humidity on a long walk along the Esplanade in Cairns, had a nice al fresco lunch, then headed out to catch for our flight to Sydney. Quick dinner at our airport hotel then early to bed. Final thoughts – Australia…

Organized tour to the Barron Gorge National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Kuranda village. The trip up to the village was by SkyRail gondola over the rainforest with awesome views. There were two stops along the way, first at Red Peak for a (board)walk in the primordial forest which we were told was…

Most of Hamilton Island is owned by one company. As such, there was well organized transportation to airport. Our next destination was Cairns (curiously pronounced “cans”), to our north but still in Queensland. However, “yuh can’t get there from here”. We had to fly 559 miles south back to Brisbane in order to fly 1054…

This was Anzac Day, a national holiday rather like our Veterans’ Day but taken much more seriously. Scott attended the dawn ceremony and found it very moving. The rest of us, having, as mentioned previously, over-indulged the day before opted to sleep in. Tricia and Don had some quality time with a koala and then…

Day long catamaran trip around the Whitsunday Islands with a very international group of fellow boaters. The islands sit on a continental shelf that’s part of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. First stop was at Chalkies Beach on Haslewood Island for snorkeling or, in my case, noodle floating. Lunch on board then a stop…

Every Aussie who heard we were going to Hamilton Island raved about it and we quickly found out why. It’s SO beautiful, the accommodations are excellent and there are lots of great restaurants. The fabulous weather, many free range wallabies and cockatoos didn’t hurt either. After a lazy morning we took off in our golf…

Every Aussie who heard we were going to Hamilton Island raved about it and we quickly found out why. It’s SO beautiful, the accommodations are excellent and there are lots of great restaurants. The fabulous weather, many free range wallabies and cockatoos didn’t hurt either. After a lazy morning we took off in our golf…

Lovely Lune croissants for breakfast at the laundromat! Afterwards, Scott took off on a self-guided walking tour and the rest of us explored the Roma Street Parklands, a very nice garden with lots of flowers and water features. After a short beer break at our hotel we hopped on them ferry for a tour up…

Happy Easter! We took off for a tour with our guide Tania at 8:00 a.m. First stop, a hike through the Coombabah Wetlands, a mosquito-filled but picturesque swamp, then off to the Gold Coast south of Brisbane. Walked out to the end of The Spit, a narrow bit of land jutting out into the Coral…

Flew from Adelaide to Brisbane, entering our 5th state (out of 8 states and territories). We took a long walk along the Brisbane River then had an excellent French dinner.