Apr 17, 2018 - Home - UPDATE NOTES

Hi All, Departing Sydney we headed for a famous wine growing region of N.S.W. called the Hunter valley, named after the river that flows through the area. Lots and lots of wineries charging exorbitant prices for wines you can buy locally for half the price but they and the vineyards make the environment look really great. The area also features the Hunter Valley Gardens, a garden started in 1999 and is on over 50 acres, they were beautiful to say the least, the photos tell their own story but the garden is made up of several themed gardens...

Apr 16, 2018 - in the rain forest

The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage listed site and the rain forest that is located along the shore here is as well. We didn’t need to see the name to know that the George Daintree Rainforest at Mossman was a rain forest. We have had good luck with the weather so far on this entire trip, but today it just poured. We were scheduled to go on a walk through the forest with a guide, but instead he took us a short way into the woods under a tarp and told us the same things that he would have said while walking. It poured so hard, it was...

Apr 14, 2018 - fly to Cairns

Ever since we crossed the International Dateline, we haven’t been ourselves. We go to bed before 10 and rise before 6. That’s just not the way we normally live, but there is so much to see and do, we try to cram in as much as possible. We probably will never be here again and especially at a special spot like Uluru. We rose before dawn to travel to the sun rise viewing platforms to see the new day arrive on the rock. We were on the other side of Uluru from where we saw the sun set and there were far fewer people. For me it was a more...

Apr 13, 2018 - Arrived in Paris

Although the second leg of the flight was shorter than the first, it felt longer! Bot Lil and I managed to get some sleep and arrived in Paris not feeling too bad. We caught our transfer to the hotel which ended up being about an hour and a half trip. The driver dropped us off last and we were able to get a feel for where we were in Paris. First thoughts were, busy, pretty and crazy drivers! We had prebooked tickets to jump the queue at the Louvre but the ticket place was twice as far from the accommodation than the Louvre. As we passed the...

Apr 12, 2018 - Day 1

We left Brett and Reef at Varsity and headed to Brisbane on the train. Reef was pretty sad that he couldn't go to ‘Frizz on the other side of the world’ with Mars, it was hard to leave him. In addition Molly was in a car accident during the day, a driver ran a stop sign in Arakoon and hit her as she was driving in her van. It is a write off, she is okay but her friend had a head injury and was taken to hospital. Thank goodness Brett was staying home to sort her out and mum and my sister and brother in law were close by in South West Rocks....

Apr 11, 2018 - The Granite Belt

We spent a couple of days with Wina and Chris (Steve’s ‘oldest’ school-friend), enjoying the countryside and wines of the Granite Belt. Early settlers to this area on the NSW/Queensland border made their living from mining tin, but when the price fell they were forced to diversify into soft fruit. Wine-making started in 1931 and there are now 51 producers. However, despite the area’s growing reputation, it only produces 0.1% of Australian wines and only five or six of the wineries make a profit.

Apr 8, 2018 - Sanctuary Cove

Beautiful Sanctuary Cove gets a blog all of its own. We stayed with Chris and Wina for 9 days, the longest we’ve stayed anywhere. Sanctuary Cove is at the north end of the Gold Coast, so was perfect for getting to the Commonwealth Games venues. Apart from attending sporting events, we ate some fantastic food at local restaurants and enjoyed a slice of ‘village’ life including ‘Sunday Sounds’ and buggy travel.

Apr 6, 2018 - Brisbane

Brisbane, capital of Queensland, has a relaxed feel to it. We only had a day in the city, but we travelled in and around it quite a lot during the Commonwealth Games (see later post). The highlight is therefore a bit strange…the bus-way. I must also add that we found the Brisbanites to be super-friendly. One bus driver drove us two kilometres off-route back to our campsite late at night.

Apr 4, 2018 - Planning for Friday

Wed 4th April Our current thinking yesterday was to get away on Friday to go to Toowoomba. But we've now heard that our Sydney friends are going to be in Stanthorpe on Thursday and Friday so we quickly rethought our timing and have decided to change direction and meet up with them.

Mar 30, 2018 - Easter weekend

Leaving Lady Elliot, our pilot wanted a volunteer to sit in the co-pilot seat. Two of us raised our hands. I beat out the guy who was too big for the seat. Great views from upfront. No wonder my Dad loved flying. Bits of the flight were rough due to effects of a near-distance cyclone, but the pilot pulled off two of the smoothest landings ever. Our friends delivered us safely to Brisbane, where we said good-byes. It turns out Good Friday is an Australian holiday. When we arrived at our Brisbane hotel, we learned that most everything was...

Mar 30, 2018 - Notes from the Reef

Lady Elliot Island is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. The resort leases the island. Thousands of birds including frigate birds, white capped noddies, seagulls, and mutton birds. Poo galore. Expect to get pooed. We did. Mutton birds nest underground. A family of them live under our cabin. At night, the young cry to be fed with a wailing cat/baby like cry that is startling at first, irritating after 15 minutes. Our first night, they cried all night. Mo threatened to leave on the next flight. Earplugs and sleep aids came to the...

Mar 27, 2018 - Great Barrier Reef

We are on Lady Elliot Island, 30 minutes by air from the mainland. See www.ladyelliotisland.com.au for details. Our highlights have been spotting manta rays from the comfort of a glass bottom boat; seeing turtles while snorkeling from the security of the glass bottom boat; getting a private wading tour of the tidal lagoon; and spotting a hatchling loggerhead turtle making its solitary way to the night sea. On the other hand, I am intimidated by rough seas, tides, currents, and sea creatures. When we set off to do a self-guided snorkeling...