2025 – Australia

Spent the day exploring the famous Salamanca Market, a collection of many booths selling jewelry, local products and food from all over the world. Flew to Melbourne, arriving late and tired so opted for dinner at the hotel.

Despite the fact that “Winter is Coming”, it was a very hot day in Melbourne. Having no organized activity scheduled, we spent it entirely outside. Forty-five minutes of it was spent standing in line at Lune Croissanterie. They do AMAZING things with croissant dough and it is totally worth the wait! Strolled the famous, graffiti-filled…

Our Great Ocean Road adventure road! We were driven through the countryside to the Twelve Apostles, a famous set of rock formations in the ocean between Melbourne and Adelaide. It was a long drive but well worth it. Trip included several short hikes, a favorite being in a very cool primordial rain forest. The drive…

Spent the day in the Yarra Valley wine region including “brunch” at Domaine Chandon, with a beautiful facility and grounds. We each got a flight of 4 different, delicious sparking wines they make so in all, tasted 16! We did a cheese tasting at the Yarra Valley Dairy, a chocolate tasting at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie…

Flew to Adelaide in the state of South Australia. Checked into the EOS hotel at the Sky City Casino where they promote “gaming” which sounds ever so much safer than “gambling”! The hotel and our rooms are extremely nice, modern and well thought out (with the exception of our large balcony which is in full…

On a private tour we headed off to the Barossa Valley, a beautiful, famous wine region outside of Adelaide. We made a few stops, first to the “Whispering Wall”, a dam with extraordinary acoustics. Then to Maggie Beer’s Farm Stand (she’s like the Australian Martha Stewart) for “elevenses”. We had a yummy lunch of charcuterie…

It was a leisure day for us so we had a lazy morning then walked along Torrens river to Adelaide’s fabulous botanic garden. Unexpectedly, we were there during an amazing exhibition of Dale Chihuly glass vessels and sculptures. Many of them were in a pavilion but the largest, most spectacular were set among the gardens…

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.

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…

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…